From: Lisa Goldstein

Wow! Thanks for all the kind things in this review [Margo MacDonald's review of Dark Cities Underground and Lisa Goldstein Reading List appeared in the mid-July issue]. The only thing -- I don't remember saying "Find a genre and stick to it," though I probably did. If I did, what I probably meant was that this is the way to success in genre publishing, not necessarily the way to write successful novels.

The other thing that was cool about this is that, yeah, Mask for the General is my least favourite book too (though I've met people who have loved it). It's great to find someone who gets what I'm trying to do.

Margo's reply:

Sorry about the paraphrase you mention. I finished writing the article while I was living in London -- without the benefit of my library to refer to. The quote I was thinking of comes from one of your notes in Travellers in Magic. My brain simplified it down to "Find a genre and stick to it." Now that I've been reunited with my library, I've been able to look it up and see that the actual quote is:

"...after I made some of the changes they had suggested I realized that I could not imagine it [the short story "Split Light"] in any of the existing science fiction markets. This complete inability to write for a market has been a recurring problem throughout my career. I would not recommend blithe disregard for the marketplace as a way to go to any beginning writer; in my own case, however, I don't seem to be able to help it."

Margo MacDonald

Forthcoming Books/New Arrivals

From: Rose Brunette

You are my favourite site. Every fortnight I browse through every page, particularly I enjoy Forthcoming Books and the summary of New Arrivals, both of which seem to be missing from the August issue. Am I looking in the wrong place or have you stopped doing them?

 
From: wildwily

What happened to the new releases and forthcoming pages? That was the main reason I checked your page up to 20 times a month.

Yes, you're correct: both were absent from the August 1st issue. One of our number has retired and the rest of us are trying to pick up his pieces, including those two. Forthcoming Books is expected back this issue, with all the material that would have been in last issue as well. New Arrivals is scheduled to be back in our September 1st issue.

From: Kent Johnson

[Further to the SF Site review quoted on the Australian paperback release of the 6th book in John Marsden's Tomorrow series...] ...the publisher has redesigned the covers for the series to make them more homogeneous. The covers are very striking war-themed covers, mostly in reds, yellows, oranges and blacks. (The cover for The Night is for Hunting has not changed.)

The final book of the series, referred to only as "Books Seven," because the title is being kept under wraps until publication, will be released in Australian hardcover on October 1, 1999.

Kent Johnson
San Francisco
kjohnson@slip.net

Thanks for the heads-up.

Will the real Thomas Harlan...

Hi guys,

Yes, I am who I say I am... nice letter, though [see the previous SF Site Letters column]. My website for Oath of Empire has more info: www.throneworld.com/oathofempire.

Thanks,

Thomas Harlan
thomash@throneworld.com

Thank you, for letting us know you're really you. The Oath of Empire site is now linked from our Authors pages.