* * *

For those of you who want to be notified if and when a physical rendition of the Weirdin from Moonheart gets produced, I've created an automated mailing list at:

http://www.charlesdelint.com/weirlist.htm

This list will generate even less mail than the one you're presently subscribed to it as we'll only be sending anything out when we actually have some news.

* * *

The book sale went well--thanks to you who asked about it, and of course, to you who came and helped make it a success.

* * *

On the recommendation side of things, I haven't had a lot of free reading time, but I'm halfway through Steve Earle's short story collection Doghouse Roses, and biased as I am, I'll still recommend it to anyone interested in good storystelling. Earle even slips in some mythic fiction amongst the gritty real world stories.

There's been a lot of raving in certain circles about the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and it's unquestionably a fine album of traditional American music, though to my ears there's a fair amount of filler material and the CD doesn't really flow. The real soundtrack gem, so far as I'm concerned, is that for Songcatcher, featuring the voices of some of today's finest country singers (Julie Miller, Allison Moorer, Emmylou Harris, Sara Evans, Gillian Welch, Iris Dement, Dolly Parton--oh the list is just too long) doing mostly traditional material such as "Pretty Saro," "Fair and Tender Ladies," "Mary of the Wild Moor" and others. It's high lonesome singing at its best.

* * *

* * *

The new Lunasa CD has finally made it in to our household and what a treasure it is. It's called The Merry Sisters of Fate(Green Linnet) and you need a copy right now.

Not much else to report except if Kevin Welch happens to be playing in your area, drop everything and go see him. MaryAnn and I caught him at the Black Sheep Inn last week, playing with Kieran Kane. We gave up our own gig at Patty's Pub, so the tickets were very expensive for us, but worth every penny. This is the third time we've seen him and neither he, nor his CDs, ever disappoint us.

Newsletter #6.2 - August 20, 2001

Hope your summer is going well. I can't believe how quickly it's slipped by this year.
I just have a couple of brief announcements. The first is that Greenmantle is finally available in an e-book format, for those of you interested in such things. You can find more info at

http://www.peanutpress.com/book.cgi/0740808788/08992862-17919-73185

A number of you have expressed some curiosity about Firebird Books, the imprint that will be reprinting some of my early novels. In the words of my editor there, the lovely and talented Sharyn November: "You can always send people here--it has an informational email address, if nothing else ..."

www.firebirdbooks.com

And that's it for this time. Enjoy the warm weather, if warm weather you're having.

Newsletter #5: April, 2001

First up, I have confirmation from Patrick Neilsen Hayden at Tor that The Onion Girl is scheduled for October of this year, just a few months after the August trade paperback edition of Forests of the Heart hits the bookshelves. John Jude Palencar, who did the cover the gorgeous cover for Forests, has done the cover art for The Onion Girl, but I haven't seen it yet. As soon as I get an image of the cover, I'll put up a page with the art, sample chapters, and the like. And of course I'll send you all a message to let you know when it's done.

I've finally seen David Mack's cover art for The Road to Lisdoonvarna and now you can, too. Go to:

www.charlesdelint.com/lisdoon.htm

There's a link to a slightly larger version near the end of the page. Isn't it gorgeous? The book is going to press this week and should be available shortly. You can link to the Subterranean Press site through the above url, or directly by going to:

www.subterraneanpress.com/html/delint3.html

I now have dates for the Firebird reissues of some of my earlier novels. Mass market editions of The Dreaming Place and The Riddle of the Wren will be published in the fall of 2002 in conjunction with the hardcover publication of an as-yet unnamed short story collection. Mass market editions of Wolf Moon and The Harp of the Grey Rose will appear in the spring of 2004 with the mass market edition of the collection. Fans of John Jude Palencar's art (and I'm certainly one of them) will be happy to hear that he'll be doing the cover for the collection.

Firebird, by the way, is a new imprint edited by Sharyn November for Puffin Viking and, from what she's told me, they'll be bringing all sorts of wonderful books back into print, as well as publishing new ones.

Two-stepping through Texas…

Back in October 2000, MaryAnn and I accepted an invitation for this March to attend Aggiecon in College Station, TX, incorporating a signing at Book People in Austin into the trip. It wasn't until a few months later that we realized we would be arriving in Texas the week following the South by Southwest music trade fair in Austin (their slogan: a thousand bands in five days).

Well, by now you know that we're music junkies, so we decided to come a week earlier to take in SXSW. Unfortunately, most people book hotels for that weekend a year or so in advance. MaryAnn went on the Internet and started phoning around for accommodations, but no luck. Everything had long since been booked.

Enter our friend Jayme Blaschke. When we contacted him, he immediately set to work and before we knew it we had a place to stay with another author, Wendy Wheeler (check out her story "Skin So Green and Fair" in the Windling/Datlow anthology Silver Birch, Blood Moon for a wonderful Haitian take on "Beauty and the Beast"). Now we'd never met Wendy, but it just goes to show you how genuinely friendly this field can be when someone will take in a pair of perfect strangers and show them such hospitality.

Whom did we see at SXSW? Oh, lots of great music. Highlights were Lucinda Williams, Kim Richey and Greg Trooper, all playing new material from upcoming releases; an evening of Slaid Cleaves, Bill Morrissey and Ray Wylie Hubbard; a free Los Super Seven concert at Waterloo Records (the best indy record store I've been in); another free concert with Kasey Chambers at Waterloo Park where Chambers was able to ignore the Australian contingent near us doing a loud shouting call-and-response of "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!" and "Oi, oi, oi!" between each song (Chambers is from Australia); Rosie Flores with her great mix of rockabilly and western swing; and then the best show of the weekend: Kevin Welch and the Danes, with Claudia Scott singing backup, which just cemented our feelings that he's one of the great American songwriter/performers.

We were also able to take in another concert the following week at Southwest Texas State University for the "Texas Music History Unplugged" show featuring Terri Hendrix, Tish Hinojosa, Ray Benson (from Asleep at the Wheel), Lloyd Maines (father of the Dixie Chicks' lead singer) and Joel Guzmán (a fabulous button accordion player).

Besides the music, we also enjoyed (too much, MaryAnn might say) all the Mexican food; El Mercado, a Mexican market in San Antonio where we got several beautiful little Zapotek rugs; driving through the hill country west of Austin with meadows full of Indian paintbrush and blue bonnets and some yellow flower I didn't recognize (remember, we left four feet of snow at home and hey, this is my first mention of the weather in this newsletter); lots and lots of grackles--go corbae, I'm sure the crow girls were hanging with them; the three sunny T-shirt days we got; and our visit with Elizabeth Moon (check out Remnant Population from Baen if you want to try a stand-alone book of hers).

Our visit with Elizabeth was also organized by Jayme. We'd never met her before, but she put us up for the night before we headed on to College Station, and took us for a long walk with her son Michael through this new land that she and her husband Richard have recently bought. My favourite part of it was what she calls the dry woods which are made up of lots and lots of prickly pear growing in amongst the stands of ash junipers, cedar elms with their cedar-ish bark and small green leaves, and other small trees. What a beautiful place. And Elizabeth is a fountain of knowledge, the kind of person you love to walk with because they can tell you a little bit about everything around you, but in a pleasant, informative manner (as opposed to folks who can bore you to death with how much they know).

The convention at College Station was the usual mix of ups and downs that such things can be. Some of the organizing wasn't the best it could be (I ended up missing a couple of panels I was supposed to be on because of how they were listed in the program book), but over all it was an enjoyable experience. For one thing, we got to hang with Jayme again, though when he showed up one night as this enormous Herne the Hunter and I didn't recognize him at all, I realized there are some serious dark waters in that man. We also enjoyed the far-too-short visits we got in with Joe and Karen Lansdale and Ardath Mayer; meeting Mark Finn (who has a really fun new book out called Gods New and Used) and the rest of the Clockwork Storybook gang (check them out at www.clockworkstorybook.com) where we spent far too long talking about monkeys and Elvis, coming to the conclusion that anything is better if you include one or the other, preferably both, in whatever you do (I guess you had to be there); the concert which MaryAnn and I always enjoy, and thanks to Lee Martindale's husband George for loaning us his guitar (and again, I'm sorry I botched up my restringing of it--note to self: always wear your glasses when restringing a guitar); and having dinner with some Tamson Housers (Carisa and Hans, and Ari and Rupert) and getting to enjoy the kid energy of Ari and Rupert's four kids.

After the convention we got to hang around in Austin a little more before the signing and concert at Book People which is this fabulous, huge bookstore that's as good for books as Waterloo Records is for music, and coincidentally, they're pretty much across the street from each other, so if you go to one, you can easily visit the other. And they're just down the street from Adventures in Crime and Space, a wonderful genre book store run by the inimitable Willie Siros. Make sure you visit it as well, if you're in the area.

We were treated well at the bookstore by Rick Klaw, Dara Wolkovich and the rest of the staff, and the concert was fun--lots of Fred songs and the like. Wendy Wheeler showed up and her friend Regan Brown (author of The Woman's Way: Celebrating Life After 40) lent us a nice Martin guitar which made the gig go all that much better. And afterwards Sara Felix (she used to work at Willie's store) took us out for Mexican soup which we've decided we like as much as Vietnamese soup, and we like Vietnamese soup a lot.

After that, it was pack, and repack, and off we went home. Through Chicago again (twice this trip) and all went as smoothly as can be.
* * *
As for music or book recommendations this time out, I can't resist two: We never got to see him while we were in Austin, but Wendy Wheeler turned us on to Bob Schneider. His Lonelyland is a killer CD.

And while I haven't read it yet, Gordon Van Gelder (my esteemed editor at The Magazine of F&SF) sent me a copy of Kathleen Alcalá's new book Treasures in Heaven which I know I'm going to love. Her two previous novels, Spirits of the Ordinary and The Flower in the Skull are among my all-time favourite books. She does for Mexican women what Barbara Kingsolver does for Appalachian women.

Newsletter #5.1: May 3, 2001

MaryAnn and I are about to head off to Saint John, New Brunswick, where I'm speaking at a gathering of the Periodical Writers of Canada, but I had a few things I wanted to pass along before we left.

First off, the cover art for The Onion Girl has arrived, so I've put up a page, including a link to some sample chapters. You can find it at:

www.charlesdelint.com/onion1.htm

My take on the cover? I think it's gorgeous. The woman doesn't look like anyone in the book, especially not Jilly, but it's a lovely piece of art and I'm delighted to have it for the cover. I just wish the woman could have been a little bit scruffier...

Secondly, ever since I mentioned that my story "The Sacred Fire" from Dreams Underfoot appeared as an episode of Showtime's The Hunger, I've been asked how folks can get a copy. Well, the series is now available on DVD at $12.99 each. "The Sacred Fire" is on the one titled The Hunger: Soul Snatchers and, if you feel like supporting Endicott Studio's charitable endeavors, you can order a copy from Amazon.com at the link above.

Naturally, it should also be available wherever you normally buy your movies.

Please note that this DVD that can only be played on Region 1 machines (Canada and the US). I haven't actually seen it myself, so I can't tell you what the rest of the material is like. They will be horror stories, however, so be warned if you don't go for that sort of thing. When I saw the initial broadcast of "The Sacred Fire" I particularly liked how they brought to life Crowsea and the parts of Newford bordering on the Tombs.

Lastly, Fred Eaglesmith's new CD is now available. It's a two CD live set called Ralph's Last Show: Live in Santa Cruz and features the four-piece acoustic line-up of the band before bassist/backing vocalist Ralph Schipper left and was replaced by three (!) other musicians. Is it good? Hey, I'm biased, so all I can say is I love it. You should be able to find it wherever you normally buy your music, but again, if you want to support Endicott Studio's charitable endeavors, you can get it from Amazon.com through the above link:

Newsletter #5.2: May 7, 2001

Thanks for all the comments on The Onion Girl cover and sample chapters. I wish I could answer you all personally, but there just isn't enough time in a day.

I wanted to share a bit of one of the many emails, however, because it's made me look at the cover in a new way and now I'm much more satisfied with it, in terms of how it fits the story. I already loved it as a piece of art.

Anyway, before I go off on some long digression, our pal Rob Blake had this to say about the cover:

"Given the 'onion' simile, perhaps what we see on the cover is a layer to Jilly that we've never seen before. A Jilly with all the magic that makes her who she is portrayed as she would have been had Life not reached out and knocked her around a few times? Not so much the ragamuffin that we of the outer world see, or that Jilly tries to come off as, but the Jilly as she 'could have been' or she (perhaps) wishes to have been?"

The cover, by the way, is by John Jude Palencar--something I managed to omit from the previous newsletter.

* * *
MaryAnn and I enjoyed our whirlwind trip to Saint John, New Brunswick. A real high point of the weekend was our lodgings. The organizers of the conference put us up in a B&B on the Bay of Fundy called Inn on the Cove. A lovely place overlooking the water and from which we were able to get in one nice long hike along the coast on the Sunday morning/early afternoon after which we had to jump on a plane to come back home. Our hosts at the inn were Ross & Willa Mavis, who besides running an inn, are also gourmet cooks, so you know the breakfasts were good. You can see what the inn is like by visiting them on line at:

www.innonthecove.com

Newsletter #5.3: May 9, 2001

Yes, it's already me again. But I have a couple of things to pass along.

The first is that John Jude Palencar was nominated for a Chesley Award for his cover for Forests of the Heart. Way to go, John, and congratulations! The Chesleys are presented by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists--think of it as a Nebula for art.

The second is a word of warning. Cat Eldridge recently forwarded an ad he got off the ABE book search site. It seems that Mythos Books, LLC, Poplar Bluff, MO, U.S.A., are offering one of the 26 copy limited editions of Seven Wild Sisters for $1000.00 which they'll ship on publication. Considering that the book isn't even written yet, never mind published, this seems outrageous to me and I just hope that all of you who can afford such books will do a little research before shelling out any sort of big dollars to the secondary market. That price is over twice the selling price of the book on publication and frankly you'd be better off simply getting the regular edition and contacting Charles Vess directly about buying an original sketch--all of which would cost you far less. I don't know if Charles would be interested, but you can reach him and ask at:

www.greenmanpress.com

Newsletter #4.1 - April 4, 2001

I'm hoping to get an actual newsletter detailing some of the highlights from our recent trip to Texas together, but haven't found the time yet. In the meanwhile, the webmaster at BookPeople (where MaryAnn and I played a concert before the signing) sent me an url with some photos from the event. So for those of you who couldn't make it, you can have a look at:

http://www.bookpeople.com/infobook.html?isbn=delintphot

The page was pretty slow to load, but that might simply be my connection.

Oh, I should also mention that neither guitar is mine. The one leaning against the wall is a rental that BookPeople provided, but the one I actually used was the Martin lying on the floor which was kindly loaned to us by Wendy Wheeler's friend Regan Brown.

Newsletter #4 - March 12, 2001

We're still living in the land of ice and snow, with spring but a distant gleam in nature's eye. (Someone mentioned to me this week that Canadians are inordinately preoccupied with the weather. I guess it's true, since I seem to open each of my messages to you with some weatherly comment.)

But while our neighbours shovel snow, MaryAnn and I are about to head off for a couple of weeks in Texas. The official reasons for the trip are to attend Aggiecon in College Station (March 22-25) and to do a concert/signing at Book People in Austin (March 27). Hopefully we'll see a number of you there.

The unofficial reason for the trip is to get a break from the winter (yes, there's that weather talk again), explore a bit more of Texas than we've been able to in the past, and take in a few of the acts performing at South by Southwest in Austin. The latter is a music trade fair with, to quote their promo material, "1000 bands in 5 days." It's going to be hard to pick and choose who to see. I mean, besides the excellent people we'll never have heard of before, SXSW will be featuring performances by such favorites of ours as Kasey Chambers, Slaid Cleaves, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Rosie Flores, Kristen Hersh, Los Super Seven, Kim Richey, Greg Trooper, Gillian Welch, Kevin Welch, Lucinda Williams…take a breath…not to mention some Canadians like Sarah Harmer, Oh Susanna, Luther Wright & the Wrongs…did I mention there are 1000 acts performing?

And if that's not enough music, we've also learned that Terri Hendrix is playing a special one-off gig at the Evans Auditorium in San Marcos (along with Tish Hinojosa and some other artists), so we'll finally get to see her play, and pick up the new live CD while we're at it.

Book news:

The big news is that Forests of the Heart is on the final ballot for the Nebula Awards. Bettina, Ellie, Hunter, and the other characters have all told me how pleased they were when they heard that.

For those of you waiting for the softcover, Tor will be publishing a trade paperback edition for the North American market in August, while Orion in the UK will be publishing simultaneous hardcover/trade paperback editions in July.

Since contracts are in hand, if not signed yet, I feel I can mention these recent sales:

The lovely and talented Sharyn November at Firebird has bought a children's picture book called A Circle of Cats. I've already turned in the words and Charles Vess will be doing the illustrations.

The equally lovely and talented (though in an entirely different way) Patrick Nielsen-Hayden at Tor has picked up The Wild Wood as a forthcoming Orb trade paperback title. Sadly, I doubt it will feature any of Brian Froud's art from the original edition, but I'm sure Patrick and Irene Gallo (Tor's art director) will make the book look quiet attractive.

Lastly, this isn't completely new news, but the vintage mystery novel (meaning I wrote it awhile ago) that Subterranean Press is publishing this year finally has a title. We were calling it Swann, but we've now settled on The Road to Lisdoonvarna which, oddly enough, is the title I was considering back when I was first writing it. The real news, however, is that David Mack of Kabuki fame will be doing the cover. I can't wait to see what he does. Have a look at his site:

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/6561/index.html

And you'll see why I'm excited.

* * *

Debbie Cottrell, the moderator for the de Lint newsgroup on ONEList, recently told me that the sign-up information on my site was out-of-date (it's fixed now). The group is now on Yahoo. If you were already signed up, I believe you've been automatically been switched to the new list. If you want to sign up, you can do so at the following url:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/deLint

* * *

CDs getting a lot of play these days include the All the Pretty Horses soundtrack, written by Marty Stuart, Kristin Wilkinson and Larry Paxton. Stuart's mandolin and guitar work are in great form and he turns in a gorgeous vocal on one of the few songs, "Far Away." The album ranges from a Tex-Mex flavour to an Appalachian one.

In Celtic music I've been enjoying accordion player John Whelan's new CD, Celtic Fire. My introduction to his music was through a wonderful duet album with Eileen Ivers that came out years ago and is still a favourite of mine, and I've been keeping up with him (and Ivers) ever since. This new release is up to his usual high standards--lots of great tunes, with a stellar cast of supporting musicians.

Eliza Carthy's Angels & Cigarettes isn't as adventurous as her Red Rice set from 1998, but the songs are all self-penned and strong, and the performances grow on you the more you play the CD.

Kim Robertson recently sent me her Dance to Your Shadow CD, a lovely collection of tunes and songs. For a touchstone, think Loreena McKennitt.

But the highlight for me is an advance copy of the Ani DiFranco double CD revelling/reckoning that was lent to me by a friend. It has a street date of April 10th, so mark that on your calendar. The 1st CD has a jazzy flavour featuring some great trumpet work by Shane Endsley. The 2nd CD is folkier. DiFranco's voice is fine form on both CDs, and the lyrics, as one might expect, are poetic and provocative--often both in the same song.

That's it for this time out. To all of you, be kind to one another and keep your strength.

Newsletter #3.2 - February 5, 2001

We have far too much snow at the moment--it's three to four feet high on our front lawn with more coming every day. So those of you in warmer climes, please send some warm thoughts our way.

Those of you who own Palm Pilots, Visors, Windows CE devices and the like might be interested to know that Svaha, which was recently reprinted by Tor in trade paperback as part of their Orb line, is now available as an e-book as well from peanutpress.com. You can get it at:

www.peanutpress.com

I don't know about you, and I'm certainly not ready to give up the experience of holding a physical book in my hand while I'm reading, but MaryAnn and I also enjoy reading on our Palms--everything from news stories downloaded from the net, manuscripts of upcoming novels for review purposes, e-books that we've purchased, manuscripts from friends, and favorite stories that we've managed to get e-versions of. For instance, just last night I was rereading Terri Windling's wonderful "Red Rock" which I downloaded from her site at

www.endicott-studio.com

I'm not sure if it's still up, but it might be. As well as "The Color of Angels," which I'd also recommend.

I've had a few new sales of late. I'll wait for the contracts to be signed for one of them, but I can tell you that both Forests of the Heart and The Onion Girl will be published by Orion in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

We got to see Steve Earle this past weekend--can you see the smile that's still on MaryAnn's face? Not that I didn't have a great time as well, but she was still playing his CDs and dancing this morning, three days later.

CDs I'm playing a lot these days include the new live set Wonderlust from Heather Nova, the Oysterband's best of 2-CD Granite Years, Oh Susanna's Sleepy Little Sailor, and the Dolly Parton's 2nd bluegrass outing, Little Sparrow.

Newsletter #3.1 - December 6, 2000

Snow has arrived and it's staying on the ground, so I guess winter's here for the duration. I have to pass along a couple of comments from subscribers to the list on the last newsletter because they're too funny:

Susan Witt wrote that after she told her sister the name of my novel The Onion Girl, her sister immediately said, "And the sequel will be titled The Garlic Guy." How did she know? And Selena Vincin reminded me that the HEB chain of stores (which Serena Powers misheard as HIV stores) are named after one Harold Eustace Butt…

In book news, the Orb edition of Svaha is now out, or at least MaryAnn and I saw a copy in a store in Asheville, NC, last week--our copies have yet to arrive. And contrary to what I said in the last newsletter, it appears that The Little Country will be the next Orb book, with Mulengro to follow at a later date.

Because of numerous queries (and because I want to show off this great sketch of Charles Vess's), I've now put up a small information page about our upcoming Seven Wild Sisters collaboration from Subterranean Press. You can see it here.

A current favourite in the CD player these days is Welcome to the Hotel Connemara by De Dannan. All acoustic/trad. instrumental versions of classic rock songs. Sounds gimmicky, but it's a delight. It's not listed at Amazon.com,but you can find it here.

And here's one of the perk's of being in my business. Editors send you forthcoming novels in ms. form, hoping for a comment that can be used as a blurb. Well right now I'm reading the ms. Jane Lindskold's Through Wolf's Eyes and it's that rare high fantasy/secondary world novel that I'm just loving. Watch out for it in August 2001 from Tor.

If I don't get another one of these updates out before the end of the year, here's wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.

Newsletter #3 - October 31, 2000

Happy Halloween!

I keep hoping to find the time to put together a decent-sized newsletter, but the time's simply not there. So here's a brief update instead on some upcoming publications and the like.

* * *

MaryAnn and I just got back from the World Fantasy Convention in Corpus Christi, Texas, last night. Going down was a nightmare with Air Canada bumping us from our flight and then losing our luggage for three days, but on the upside, we came away with Moonlight and Vines winning the World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (a tie with Stephen Donaldson's Reave the Just and Other Tales ). In between, we had a great time.

The artist Guest of Honour this year was our good friend Charles Vess, so we got the chance to hang out a lot with him (I especially liked the quip from Scott, one of the con security folks, who said, when he saw us walking down the hall towards him, "Look, it's Charles squared!") We also got to finally meet (in person, as opposed to talking on the phone and emailing) Sharyn November of Viking Puffin, my new editor for YA books, who turned out to be even more fun and nicer than we'd imagined she'd be (and MaryAnn and I were exercising our imaginations before we went down). We also spent a lot of time with Nina Kiriki Hoffman, a darling of a person and a great writer if you haven't tried her yet. (I'd recommend you start with A Red Heart of Memories.)

There were lots of other old friends there, of course, everyone from my editors Patrick Nielsen Hayden (who can always choose a good restaurant) and Jo Fletcher (looking especially fetching with her black cowboy hat at the banquet), to writer and artist friends like Joe Lansdale, Joe and Gay Haldeman, Tim and Serena Powers, Walter Jon Williams, Delia Sherman, Ellen Kushner, Jayme Blaschke, and really too many to list here. The only disappointments were that Charles's wife Karen couldn't make it, and that Terri Windling (who also won an award for editing Silver Birch Blood Moon with Ellen Datlow) hadn't come.

* * *

Some highlights:

• Meeting readers, both those I've met before at other events, and new ones that I was meeting here for the first time. Other writers can say what they want, but I know I've got the best and friendliest readers in the business.

• The Sense of Wonder panel in which a domestic balloon gone feral spent the hour floating about the room, gently come down at times to touch various panelists and members of the audience.

• Making music in one of the halls on Saturday night with Nina (fiddle, guitar and voice), Delia and Ellen (voices), MaryAnn (mandolin, guitar and voice), Barry Jens (guitar and vocals; he brought the guitar--thanks, Barry) and his wife Tina (vocals), and a woman who sang a spirited version of, if I'm remembering this correctly, "McPhearson's Rant." When all the women were harmonizing on pieces like "The Grey Funnel Line," it was pure magic.

• Bursting into the middle of a panel to get the audience to sing "Happy Birthday" to Joe Lansdale on the Saturday and presenting him with a very expensive "Glow worm" flashlight that we'd purchased earlier at Wal-Mart. Walter Jon, who shares the same birthday, also got a flashlight, but unfortunately (well, for me, rather than him, I suppose) wasn't on any panels that afternoon for me to interrupt.

• Hanging around the bar area with the ever-changing coterie of folks for both quiet and boisterous conversation. I might not drink much (sadly, not a single bottle of Tequiza to be found in all of Corpus Christi), but it's the best place to see everybody.
  * * *
  

Last year at the WFC banquet I won a goldfish (rather than an award) which I gave to Irene Gallo, the Art Director at Tor, since I didn't feel I could bring it on the plane with me. This year I found out that she'd named it Charles de Fish and kept it in her office ever since the banquet; sadly it died a couple of weeks before this year's con. That's not a highlight--I just thought I'd share it.

* * *

Of course, WFC is a place where a lot of business gets done, so this is probably a good time to give you an update on what will be coming in the next year or so:

• I'll be turning in The Onion Girl to Tor within the next couple of weeks so hopefully it'll be out some time late next year. Next up from Tor is an Orb trade paperback edition of Svaha, which will be followed by an Orb edition of Mulengro next year. The paperback of Forests of the Heart should be out early next year.

• I got to speak with Bill Schafer from Subterranean Press a few times and can now tell you about a couple of upcoming projects that I have with him, though first I should say that he brought a few copies of Triskell Tales to the con and it looks gorgeous. It was fun seeing folks stop MaryAnn for an autograph--something she's not quite used to yet. Coming early next year from Bill's press will be a mystery novel of mine set in Ottawa during the mid-eighties; I'm still trying to come up with a good title. The working title I had was Swann (after the main character), but we'll find something that's better and hasn't already been used so recently, though I first started working on this book long before Carol Shields published her novel. The other project with Bill will be a collaboration with Charles Vess on an illustrated novella with the working title of Seven Wild Sisters.

• As I mentioned above, we finally got to meet Sharyn November at the con. For those of you wondering why I called her my editor, that's because we've just recently signed the contracts for a YA short story collection that will be published in hardcover and mass market under a new imprint she's launching in 2001. Sharyn also bought the reprint rights to The Riddle of the Wren, The Harp of the Grey Rose, Wolf Moon, and The Dreaming Place. These will start coming out in the fall of 2002 with the release of the collection. Unfortunately, Sharyn didn't buy a number of ideas that Nina, Charles Vess and I pitched to her over the weekend. There was a ten-book Parry Hotter series, chronicling a young wizard's life in Wizard Gaol, one book for every year he's incarcerated. Then there was our "Oil Fairies" series which would introduce such loveable fey characters as Greasy, Slippery, Slick, and the like. Sharyn said it was too crude, but we were certainly willing to refine it. And then there was the one dearest to Nina's heart, the Pelican Bob series, about a young boa constrictor named Pelican Bob. The first book would have been called The Little Snake Who Wanted Wings. We'd even written the first few lines which started with: "Sss, sss, sss," said Pelican Bob, the little snake who wanted wings… Maybe you had to be there.

• Lastly, though nothing has been finalized yet, there's an excellent chance that there will soon be a British/Australian edition of Forests of the Heart, followed next year by The Onion Girl which would be published simultaneously with the American edition.
  * * *
  

Having a small brain, I can't remember everything that went on at the con (and would probably bore you if I did manage to remember it all.) There was the Wal-Mart adventure. Many fine meals. The strange man in the elevator who tried to convince Tim Powers that rather than buying DietCoke, he should buy the generic brand at a place called HEB, which Serena misheard as HIV and was naturally not so keen on the idea. We also took a short drive out to Padre Island where we saw lots of flat, dead jellyfish on the beach. Happily, we also got to see some live ones at the aquarium.

MaryAnn took a roll or two of film at the con, so when we get the pictures back, I'll put them up on a webpage and send you the url. Until then, here are a couple of urls:

http://www.kcsciencefiction.org/00wfc03.htm
http://www.kcsciencefiction.org/00wfc07.htm
http://www.sff.net/people/terry_mcgarry/fconpx.htm

And while I'm passing along urls, Cat Eldridge recently sent me this one:

http://www.geocities.com/moonshadow.geo/books/delint.html

It appears that the owner of the site is trying to start up a Newford Ring, so if you have a site that would fit, you might want to add it to his ring.

* * *

Next year, the convention's in Montréal, Québec. I'll be the toastmaster (and will be very hard put to follow the wonderful speech Joe Lansdale gave at this convention). I hope to see some of you there, or perhaps sooner. At the moment, the only other confirmed convention for us is ConCat 12 in Knoxville, Tennessee, (November 24-26) where I'll be sharing Guest of Honour duties with Charles Vess. I think they should call this year's con, Charles squared… But it looks like we'll also be at Aggiecon in College Station, Texas, (where I know they won't have any Tequiza, it being a dry campus) next May. If that happens, we'll also do a book signing in Austin. I'll let you know when that's confirmed.

On the CD player: Greg Brown's Covenant and Dar Williams's The Green World are in constant rotation. I'm also much enamoured with The Captain by Kasey Chambers which features the talents of Buddy and Julie Miller on a few cuts. As Chambers says in her liner notes, "If angels could sing, they would sound like Julie Miller." Try Miller's last CD, Broken Things , and hear for yourself.

There's been a singular lack of new Celtic music to excite me lately, though Jimmy Young (from the group Rua) sent me his 1999 recording Pipeworks (Greentrax) this summer and it's a real delight, especially if you like Northumbrian piping as much as I do.

And of course there's still lots of Fred J. Eaglesmith getting played around here (and in the car and wherever else I happen to listen to music). It doesn't matter what Chris Simmons (a musical correspondent of mine from Spokane, WA) says, you can't go wrong with Fred.

A final note: I got home from Corpus Christi to find 421 messages waiting in my in basket, so if you write to me, while I certainly read and enjoy any mail you might send, I won't necessarily be able to reply to it.

July 17, 2000

I'm happy to report that the e-book editions of my work that I talked about awhile ago are now beginning to become available at peanutpress.com. Newly available are Dreams Underfoot, Memory and Dream, and The Ivory and the Horn. Still available is Someplace to Be Flying which peanutpress.com published back in 1998. Hopefully the rest will soon become available.

Newsletter #2 - July 2, 2000

Hello all.

Hope you're all enjoying the late spring/early summer.

A little business to get out of the way first: whenever these mailings go out, I always get a handful back because in-boxes are full, or email addresses have changed. Due to time constraints, I can't resend those. If you think you've missed a newsletter, you can check the archives on my site.

And as I've noted before, while I enjoy reading your comments on the newsletter, there simply isn't the time to respond to them. Hope you understand.

NEW RELEASES

Of course the big news is that Forests of the Heart (Tor Books) is finally out. Readers have been sending kind emails, which are much appreciated, and MaryAnn's been collecting reviews which are now posted here.

Also out is My Favorite Fantasy Story edited by Martin Greenberg which gave me a chance to introduce a Barbara Kingsolver story to readers of genre fiction. "Homeland" has everything I love about her writing in it. I was also delighted that Tanya Huff chose my own "Ghosts of Wind and Shadow" for the same anthology as it's probably the first and last time I'll be in the same anthology as Kingsolver, who remains one of my all-time favourite writers.

Choosing a favourite story was difficult, of course. The other two that really stand out for me over the years are "Distances" (from Sherman Alexie's collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven ) and "Blue" (from Girl Goddess #9 by Fransesca Lia Block).

Mind you, I was thinking of out-of-genre stories when I was approached to contribute. I can't even begin to list the in-genre ones, though stories by Roger Zelazny, James Blaylock and Harlan Ellison would be close to the top of the list. The one at the top (though strictly speaking, it's a novella) would be "The Color of Angels" by Terri Windling (it appeared in the now out-of-print The Horns of Elfland) or her "Red Rock" which is currently available in the latest issue of Century (a lovely little magazine out of New York City edited by Robert Killheffer and Jenna Felice).

RECOMMENDATIONS

Life is good. The new Steve Earle CD (Transcendental Blues ) is finally out and in constant rotation in the Harris/de Lint household, we finally opened up our cottage (though all we managed to do was sweep it out, hang up the curtains and mow the lawn), and except for some pretty much local events (Ottawa, Toronto, Montréal) that are coming up, we can now buckle down to get some real work done: MaryAnn will be drawing and painting all summer, working on interior illustrations for Triskell Talesand preparing for a September show that will run simultaneously on the Endicott Studio website and at Rasputin's, a local restaurant/folk club, while I'll be concentrating on The Onion Girl, getting more written over the next few months than the few lines a day I've been managing over these past weeks.

Besides the Steve Earle CD, I've been listening to the new Terri Hendrix (Places in Between ), Slaid Cleaves (Broke Down ) and Under Feet Like Ours, a CD by a duo billing themselves as Tegan and Sara (they're twins and based in Toronto), though Fred Eaglesmith's CDs are never long out of the player. MaryAnn has been particularly taken with CDs by a couple of local acts: Starling (Sustainer) and Jim Bryson (Jim Bryson & the Occasionals).

I didn't mention Steve Earle playing with the Del McCoury Band the last time out. The Mountain is acoustic, bluegress, but it's still Steve and it's a terrific album. Of course, I have a huge bias towards anything he records. What can I say? He and Fred could easily be my desert island choices--they're already in the CD player often enough.

* * *

I haven't been reading nearly as much as I'd like to, what with travelling and all, so I don't really have any new recommendations along those lines this time out. But since I still get regularly asked what are some of my favourite books, I'll take the time here to list a few. Long time favourite authors (running the gambit in mood) are Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Hoffman, Andrew Vachss, Robert Crais, Thomas King…well, this could go on forever.

In the genre (so to speak) there are two books that have really stuck with me over the past few years: Terri Windling's The Wood Wife (Tor) and Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack (St. Martin's Press). Also Jane Lindskold's two Athanor novels, Changer and Legends Walking , are well worth your attention. They're a Zelazny-esque take on the immortals living among us; serious and seriously fun.

Outside the genre, one of my all-time favourite books is La Maravilla by Alfredo Véa, Jr. (Plume Fiction), set in the Southwest. And I'd also like to recommend Zak Mucha's The Beggar's Shore (Red 71 Press), a harrowing story of a kid trying to make a life for himself on the streets of Chicago after escaping from the religious cult in which he was raised.

More next time.

UTAH AND BEYOND

CONduit in Salt Lake City was easily one of the best conventions that MaryAnn and I have attended to date. To be honest, we were kind of expecting it to be, since the con committee's organization and kindness became obvious long before we actually arrived at the hotel and met them in person.

But it was more than simply the con committee. Everybody we met was friendly and enthusiastic, generous with their good humour and time. The panels were all well-attended and the concert we gave on the Saturday was particularly enjoyable. When we arrived for it, we saw they were opening up two rooms and we mentioned that perhaps they should leave it to just one room so as to keep it more intimate. We were picturing this large room with a few people scattered throughout, but they assured us that we'd need both rooms.

Turns out they were right. The double room was filled almost to capacity and it was a fun hour. From conversations afterwards, there was more than one person that left as a new fan of Fred Eaglesmith. The same thing happened at the public library where we performed a short set before I did a reading and signing. It was also well-attended, and I liked the fact that people who couldn't make it to the con still had a chance to say hello.

It was also great to hang out with Rick and Becky LeMon (Rick's the Iron-Fisted Dictator of the Tamson House list, Becky's the voice of reason) who also happened to be in Salt Lake City at the same time. We went to a great Mexican place called the Red Iguana (first introduced to us a couple of days earlier by Scott Rich--thanks, Scott) where the wall near our table was signed by various members of Los Lobos.

But if the con was fun, the southern Utah trek that we signed up for after the con was purely amazing. We opted for hiking in the scenic Bryce Canyon area, rather than go looking at dinosaur tracks and fossils, and what a time we had. It was also great to get to know some of the con committee better on the hikes.

You can find some photos here.

* * *

Next up was Wiscon in Madison, WI. It had to a lot to live up to, considering how well we were treated in Salt Lake City but our friends Kathi and Kim Nash (the con's co-chairs) were well up to the task. And like CONduit we met lots of wonderful readers as well as connected with a bunch of old friends like Terri Windling, Charles Vess and Karen Schaffer, and our musician pal Dave Clement who took the bus all the way down from Winnipeg to be there with us. We ended up having a great song-swapping evening with him, Erin McKee and a couple of other musicians on Saturday night.

Wiscon's a different convention from most we go to. Like the World Fantasy Convention, there are a lot of professional writers, editors and the like in attendance, but here they seem to gather to discuss books and social issues as much to do business which makes for invigorating and lively discussions that carry on from the panels out into the halls and elsewhere.

The concert here was well-attended as well and I got to play my new favourite song "Good Dog" (written by Fred E., who else) for Karen who likes dogs as much as I do. MaryAnn and I have cats, of course (the prerequisite for being involved in the F&SF field it seems), but dogs can be good friends, too, if a little higher maintenance.

Madison's a pretty cool city, if you haven't been there before. The con's held in a hotel right downtown near State Street which is a few long blocks with great restaurants and funky shops. I did a reading and signing in one of them--A Room of One's Own--before the con and again, it was nice that I got to meet some of the college students who couldn't attend the con itself.

I gave a speech at Wiscon and you can read it here, if that sort of thing interests you.

* * *

Our last stop for this little jaunt was Austin, TX, for a signing at Adventures in Crime and Space, and boy was it hot and muggy--like Ottawa in July. We liked Austin a lot--it being one of the NA Meccas for good music, but alas, while I got to fill a few holes in my CD collection at Waterloo Music (thanks for the recommendation, Charles), we didn't get to take in any live music as we'd hoped. We got in too late on the Monday night and we were too tired after the event at the bookstore to go out and look for some on the Tuesday.

It was great meeting all the readers at the signing and a special treat for me was the opportunity to see my old correspondent Mike Ambrose, chat a bit with Jayme Blashke, meet my cyber pal Rob Blake (he of the Tamson House Library fame), and finally say hello to William Browning Spencer, the author of such great books as Zod Wallop and Irrational Fears . I didn't even know he lived in Austin; if I had, I'd have brought one of his books for him to sign to me. Do yourself (and him) a favour and go out and buy (or at least request) his books from your local book store. Bill's one of the better writers we have in the field and deserves our support.

* * *

Our trip ended with a night spent on a cot in O'Hare airport since weather delayed our flight to Chicago and made us miss our connection to Ottawa. Though perhaps "night" is a misnomer since they woke us up to take back the cots at 4:30am.

But now we're back home, playing catch-up. I've a book to write, MaryAnn has painting to do for her upcoming show, my mother's dog is visiting for a couple of weeks, and our cats are put out because of that and because we had the nerve to go away and leave them with MaryAnn's parents while we were gone. Though I don't know why they're complaining--they get spoiled rotten there.

Until again, stay strong and dream true.

Newsletter #1 - April 15, 2000

INTRODUCTION

Thanks for signing up to my newsletter list--as I finish up writing this today there are now 350 of you--and thanks as well for your patience, as all you've gotten after signing up (some of you many, many weeks ago) has been this great silence. The good thing, I suppose, is that any fears you might had about how much mail this list would generate have undoubtedly been alleviated.

This will remain an irregular mailing, made up of occasional bits of news or even more occasional newsletters such as this one. I'll send you news of upcoming books and sales, recent publications, and public appearances, with some commentary on what I'm reading and listening to these days. And when time warrants it, little bits of whatever else I think you might find interesting.

My plan is to send this out to you folks on the list first, then put it up on the website a couple of weeks after, so you'll get the scoop. I don't know about you, but I always love getting the scoop.

* * *

A quick note here about the books and recordings that will be discussed further on in this newsletter. When I put this newsletter up on my site, the titles will all have links attached to them and that's for a reason. Naturally I expect you to support your favourite local-to-you book and CD stores, but if you're going to order on-line anyway, then why not do so with one of these links. They'll take you to Amazon.com and a percentage of the money you pay them will be kicked back to the Endicott Studio (Terri Windling's website, though it's also much more, check it out at www.endicott-studio.com). They, in turn, will donate all money collected to Children First, a small organization (badly in need of funds) which helps Native American children in family crisis situations.

It'll take you no longer to order the material you're looking for, but you'll be helping these kids by doing so, which is a good thing, right?

* * *

One more thing. When people are looking for rare or out-of-print editions of my books, I tend to recommend that they try Booklynx, run by my friend Kathi Nash, as she usually has a lot in stock and her prices appear to be fair. Her email has recently changed. It's now: kimnkat@home.com.

NEW RELEASES

Of course the big news is that Forests of the Heart is coming out in mid-May--the release date's been moved up to have the book out for some events that will take place around that time (see below for more details). A few sample chapters and more information is on the website.

For those of you who have been trying to track down a copy of Svaha, the reason it's been unavailable for awhile is that Tor is repackaging it for their Orb imprint. I've just proofed the galleys for the new edition and it should be out this year, probably in late summer/early autumn.

Coming out in October this year from Subterranean Press is Triskell Tales: Twenty-Two Years of Chapbooks which, as the title says, reprints all the Christmas chapbooks from the past twenty-two years as well as some other goodies. Again, more info and a link to Subterranean Press's website can be found on my own website.

Lastly, I've long been a fan of the Private Eye novel and back in the mid-eighties, I tried my hand at one. My agent at the time wasn't that keen on it (mind you, he also wasn't all that keen on Trader either) and nothing much came of marketing it, so it's been sitting in my files for awhile. Recently, while talking to Bill Schaffer at Subterranean Press about the above-mentioned collection, we got to talking about this book and the upshot is it'll be published under his imprint sometime next year. When I have more details, I'll send them to you through this list.

* * *

I haven't been writing as much short fiction this year as I'm trying to concentrate on finishing The Onion Girl and actually delivering the manuscript on time for a change. But here are a few recent sales:

"Pixel Pixies," which was this year's Christmas chapbook, will appear in both this summer's edition of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling), and in October as part of Triskell Tales.

"Trading Hearts at the Half Kaffe Café" was commissioned by Martin Greenberg for Single White Vampire Seeks Same. I don't know if they'll keep that title, but I hope they do.

"Making a Noise in This World" was commissioned by John Helfers for a DAW anthology called Warriors. The title of my story was taken from a song on Robbie Robertson's last CD, Contact from the Underworld of Redboy.

UPCOMING PUBLIC APPEARANCES

Salt Lake City, Utah; May 18-21

where I'll be Guest of Honour at CONduit 10 (May 19-21)

I'm also appearing (with MaryAnn) at the Salt Lake Public Library on Thursday, May 18, at 7:00 p.m. MaryAnn and I will perform a short concert of music, followed by a reading and book signing. The event is free and open to the public. The library is located at 209 East 500 South, Salt Lake City.

Madison, Wisconsin; May 25-29

where I'll be Guest of Honour at WisCon 24 (May 26-29)

I'm also appearing a bookstore in Madison called "Room of One's Own" on Thursday, May 25, from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., where I'll do a reading and book signing.

Austin, Texas; May 30

where I'll be doing a reading/book signing at Adventures in Crime & Space Books and possibly a concert with MaryAnn.

Toronto, Ontario; June 20

where I'll be doing a reading/book signing sponsored by the U of T Bookstore at Hart House

Montréal, Québec; June 30

where I'll be doing an hour concert with MaryAnn, a reading, Q&A, and signing at Indigo

You can get more details on my website for all of the above. There are also other events coming up over the summer and I'll let you know about them when they're confirmed.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Books

I wish I had more time to read, simply for pleasure, but between research and reading for my F&SF column, there never seems to be enough time. Since you can readily read what I've got to say in my F&SF column, either as the magazine comes out or on-line (www.sfsite.com/fsf/), I'm not going to repeat the titles mentioned in it here. And in fact, if I want to get this out at all, I'm going to keep this very brief. But I will update it when I can.

Anyway, at the moment I've got a few books on the go and I'm thoroughly enjoying all of them:

Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko

The Memory of Fire by George Foy

The Books in My Life by Colin Wilson

1632 by Eric Flint

Which Lie Did I Tell? by William Goldman

A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert edited by Steven J. Phillips & Patricia Wentworth Comus

Blackberry Wine by Joanne Harris

And yes, I still read comic books, though as far as I'm concerned, the only ones that really matter are Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore (even if you think you don't like comics, you'll like this), David Mack's Kabuki (Mack is a seriously brilliant artist), Matt Wagner's Mage (which, alas, has finished its current storyline; hope we don't have to wait as many years for the next installment as we did for this one), and anything by Charles Vess.

Music

Okay, I might as well get it out of the way right at the start: Fred Eaglesmith rules. For a long time, MaryAnn and I were unfamiliar with his music, if not the name, and for some reason had never taken in a show or heard one of his CDs. Well, a few years ago we finally went to one of those shows and it was game over. Now we see him every chance we get, have all the recorded music we can find, and even have a running joke about him at our own gigs ("Okay, folks. For those of you counting, this is Fred song #3 of the evening…"). We invariably do one or two (or three of four) of his pieces at the Thursday night gigs.

The best introduction to his music is Drive-In Movie, full of all these wonderful story songs played out against a mostly acoustic, somewhat countryish backdrop. The follow-up CD, Lipstick Lies & Gasoline, adds a bit more of electric punch to the brew, while 50-Odd Dollars, the most recent, cranks that up another notch still. The earlier albums are all wonderful as well--pretty acoustic, and often recorded live.

* * *

It might seem that I've lost much of my interest in Celtic music of late, but that isn't the case at all. The trouble is most of what seems to come out nowadays are these hybrid recordings--electric instruments with R&R arrangements, dub versions of classic tracks, Celtic music mixed with other World musics or club/dance/industrial backings, endless New Age permutations or Celtic compilations with the word "Celtic" in the title--and while some of them are fun to listen to, most of them simply don't have the staying power for me.

Celtic music is gorgeous as it is--plaintive airs, driving dance music--and a lot of these performers seem to lose sight of the simply beauty of the music in its purer form. So mostly I find myself listening to my old Bothy Band and Silly Wizard CDs, or some of the newer groups like Solas, Déanta, and the like. Last year saw only a few really outstanding discs get (and still getting) multiple plays on my CD machine. A couple of these are Lúnasa's OtherWorld and Lost in the Loop by Liz Carroll. These are artists who understand the music's inherent worth and work with that, rather than gimmicks.

* * *

These days, especially when I'm writing, I'm listening to a lot of Bill Evans (the jazz pianist), not the Verve recordings that I usually turn to, but the earlier Riverside recordings, especially Moon Beams, How My Heart Sings! and the classic Everybody Digs Bill Evans. There are apparently enhanced versions of these CDs either just out, or coming out, but I see no reason to buy them since the original recordings are so outstanding just as they are. I was also delighted with the recent Columbia compilation of all the Miles Davis/John Coltrane collaborations: The Complete Columbia Recordings, 1955-1961.

* * *

I'm not a huge guitar fan, though lately I have been enjoying a lot of that Nuevo Flamenco by the likes of Ottmar Leibert, Robert Michaels and the like, but Bill Frisell's acoustic/roots-based recordings of the past few years has me reconsidering the instrument beyond that Latin-style of playing. I'm particularly fond of Good Dog, Happy Man. His version of "Shenandoah" (one of my favourite songs) is worth the price of admission alone, though the CD on a whole is a wonder from start to finish.

* * *

Recently MaryAnn and I caught Lila Downs playing in the auditorium of the National Art Gallery and were completely blown away by her show. It would take too long to describe here, so just let me say, if you see she's playing a show near you, don't miss it. Her music ranges from original compositions and traditional Mexican folksongs to material drawn from the Mixtec and Zapotec traditions and her delivery reminds me a little of Lhasa (whose La Ilorona CD is an utter delight). Downs has two CDs that I know of: Yutu tata Arbol de la Vida and La Sandunga.

* * *

But the big excitement in the de Lint/Harris household these days centers around a couple of CDs that will be coming out this summer: Steve Earle's Transcendental Blues (supposedly along the lines of El Corazón and coming in June) and his sister Stacey Earle's Dancin' with Them That Brung Me (due in July, when she'll also be playing a local-to-us club, The Black Sheep Inn, in Wakefield, Quebec). Early copies of Stacey's CD can be ordered from her website (www.staceyearle.com), but I guess we'll all just have to wait for her brother's CD, except for those of you lucky enough to be on reviewer's lists for E-Squared releases, which we, alas, are not. Though you can, as I did, listen to an MP3 sample of the title cut at www.myplay.com.

* * *

I find it hard to stop talking about music; there are just so many great albums around. So let me just end with recommending a few more artists that get played around our house a lot: Kim Richey (a big favourite of MaryAnn's, her latest is Glimmer), Greg Trooper (especially Popular Demons), anything by Buddy and Julie Miller (their most recent solo albums are, Cruel Moon and Broken Things, respectively), Bab Kennedy's Domestic Blues (an Irishman gets the Twangtrust production), Cry Cry Cry (made up of Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell), Rock Art and the X-Ray Style by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, and…

Oh, it's just endless, isn't it? So let me finish up with a couple that were brought to my attention by readers that I'd like to pass on: Fists of Flood by Jennifer Daniels and Too Much Plenty by Beki Hemingway (think of a punchier Dar Williams as a touchstone for the latter), and last but not least, Terri Hendrix. I just love her Wilory Farm and she has a new CD due out any time now.

AZ TRIP

As often as we can, MaryAnn and I like to get down to the Sonoran Desert outside of Tucson, Arizona. We love this area, as you might have noticed from the way it creeps into some of my books and stories, and the fact that we have some wonderful friends there only makes it all that more attractive. There's something about this particular desert that just fills our spirits, recharging our batteries in a way that the eastern woodlands don't. (Mind you, these eastern woodlands charge up a different battery, so it's not like we're suffering here.)

This year we stayed at a B&B in the Avra Valley (which we first stayed in a couple of years ago on our last visit) and spent most of our time hiking and painting in the Tucson Mountains. Here's a link to some photos from the trip if you're interested in that sort of thing:

We also took the time to participate in the first Faery Festival at a Tucson toyshop called Mrs. Tiggy Winkles, which is odd for us, because here in Ottawa, there's a small local chain with the same name, but they're no relation to the one based in Tucson. I did a couple of readings and signings along with Terri Windling and Ellen Steiber, and MaryAnn and I played a short set of music. It was all good fun, and especially nice to meet some of my local readers--and some not so local who drove distances of a couple of hours or more to be there. Thanks to all of you for coming down.

* * *

And that's it for this time. I make no promises as to when I'll manage to get another newsletter like this out, but now that the ice has been broken, so to speak, I'll try to send out little updates at least every month or so.

Thanks again for all your interest and support, and dream true.

That's it for the newsletters. Now here are the archives of the old "What's New?" pages:

February 22, 2000
I've decided to try a newsletter/mailing list. Those of you who regularly visit this "What's New" page are probably already laughing, considering how well I keep it up to date, but perhaps this will work better. We can only see. But to start with, you'll have to subscribe.

In regards to my cameo in an independent film that I mentioned a month or so ago, the director's name is Josh Stafford, and apparently the film will be finished in April.

And just for a laugh, here's the cover of the current issue of Ottawa City Magazine.

Doing the three-hour photo shoot for the cover and interior photos gave me a whole new respect for people who have their picture taken for a living. The crow came from the Museum of Natural History here in Ottawa. The poor stuffed beastie is a hundred years old and, according to the photographer, the museum wouldn't let him take it outside so he had to build a little forest in his studio for the shoot.

But the funniest part of all of this so far was when someone stopped me in a store, saying "Don't I know you?" After going through a couple of possibilities (at a gig, or from back in the days when I worked in retail), I realized it was from the magazine cover. "Oh, right," the person said. "I didn't recognize you without your crow."

February 13
As promised, here is the information on a new collection, due this fall from Subterranean Press. Just click on the banner below.

January 31, 2000
Will wonders never cease? Not quite a month has gone by, and here's yet another update. First and foremost, there's finally some information and sample chapters from Forests of the Heart available right here.

And while I'm not sure where else it's shown, the episode of The Hunger based on my short story "The Sacred Fire" ran on The Movie Network here in Canada a few times during the past month. They did an all-round fine job of it, and I particularly liked the way they brought The Tombs and Crowsea areas of Newford onto the screen. I knew they could do Crowsea because it was filmed in Montréal, and the old parts of the city are just right for it, but I never knew they had sections that could pass for the Tombs.

Lastly, I should have some news in a week or so about a new short story collection that will be available before the end of this year in a limited-edition run from a specialty publisher. As soon as everything's confirmed, I'll post a notice here.

December 4, 1999
Quick update here. Chris and Andrea Simmons (mentioned in the December 1st entry below) are now the proud parents of a baby boy named Luke. Congratulations, guys!

December 1, 1999
I have to laugh as I read back on some of the older entries on this page. It seems I'm constantly apologizing for not adding much new, that is when I'm not whining about a lack of spare time. It seems I need a kick in the rear just to buckle down and do some work on the site - or rather to find the time to do some. But a reader recently sent me an email saying:

"Nothing new since June???? Oh come on!! LOL!! Even my life is more exciting than that!!! and I'm a decidedly boring person!"

And shamed me into finding something to say, so here I am again. I've updated a few pages (bibliography, forthcoming books), tidied up a few others, and now I'm left with the final task of putting a few words down in this space.

Like the reader quoted above, I consider myself fairly boring as well. It's not that I'm bored - I like my life - but much of it entails my sitting at a keyboard, writing stories, and while that's entertaining for me (being the one doing it), I think it'd be very dull to watch. And even duller to write about. But racking my brain, I find there are a few things I can talk about.

First, the next novel, Forests of the Heart, has been turned in, edited by Terri Windling, I've done my final corrections, and now it's in production with a release date of June 2000. Those of you who might have seen me at a recent convention or signing, will already have a taste of the cover from the bookmarks I've been handing out. Unfortunately, until I get a cover proof from Tor, I won't be able to put that up on the site. But when I do, both it and a few sample chapters will be available for you to peruse.

MaryAnn and I went to conventions in Spokane, WA, and Providence, RI, in the past couple of months, the latter being the 25th World Fantasy Convention. We had a great time there, of course, cheering on our pal Charles Vess when he won an award for best artist, hanging with him and his wife Karen who's pretty mobile now, though she still walks with a cane and has some paralysis. (Thanks again to all of you who contributed to the Good Goddess Fund--it was a tremendous help to them.) Other high points were visiting with Terri Windling, Pat McKillip, Tim and Serena Powers, Walter Jon Williams, Nina Hoffman, Kathi and Kim Nash, and other friends too numerous to mention that we hadn't seen for ages; playing some songs with my other Tor editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden who's a fabulous guitarist (he's one of the few people I know who can jam on a Celtic tune and make it sound good); making a whole bunch of new friends; taking in the art show which, as might be expected, was of its usual high quality; and just generally having a good time.

InCon (the con in Spokane) was a quieter affair, but I like that since you get to spend more time with folks. One nice evening we visited with locals Chris and Andrea at their home. Also present was Donna, another of my readers from the east coast, and we had a great time, enjoying a home-cooked meal and getting a Steve Earle and Fred Eaglesmith fix from their CD player. Andrea was very pregnant at the time; by now she should have had her baby and I hope everything went well. The con committee in InCon was particularly friendly and we got to have a huge dinner with them on the last night of the con.

We were also in Montréal recently, playing some music at a Chapters store before I did a reading and signing with Terry Brooks. The evening before that, I hosted an event at the National Library of Canada here in Ottawa which included Terry as well as Toronto sf writer Rob Sawyer.

Oh, and if you're into independent films, some local film makers needed an author for the "at a book signing" scene in their film, so now I've had my few seconds of celluloid fame. Once it's done, I'll post the name of the film and the director (I only know his name is Josh) on this page. The day before that I spent three hours at a photographer's studio, being shot for the cover of an upcoming issue of Ottawa City, a local magazine. I shared the camera time with a hundred-year-old stuffed crow that had been borrowed from the local museum. Both experiences were instructive - there's so much more that goes into that sort of thing than the final product we normally get to see.

Lastly, for those of you who use a PalmPilot or have access to a Windows CE environment, I'm just finishing up negotiations with a company called peanutpress.com to publish a number of my books in those formats. Again, when I have more details, I'll post them here.

In case I don't get back to this page before the calendar rolls us over into the year 2000, here's wishing you all a wonderful holiday season, and thanks once more for all your interest and support.

June 18, 1999
Just a quick note here about a new discussion group that has been set up at ONElist by Debbie Cottrell in Victoria, BC. The description at the site reads:
DeLint [English] [For People Over 13]
This list is for readers of fantasy author Charles de Lint
and those who appreciate urban faerietales,
Celtic music, folklore, and related topics.
To join go to: Books...Authors...DeLint.

April 9, 1999
Considering how often I actually update these pages, I should really call this one, "What's Old?", rather than "What's New?" But I've been making an effort these past few days to freshen things up and there's now a new article available, while the "Bibliography" and "Published Books" pages have both been updated.

On the writing front, I'm on the next-to-last draft of Forests of the Heart and hope to turn it in to Tor within the next couple of weeks. I'm just waiting for MaryAnn to finish her edit before I do the final draft. In the meantime, I have all this copious spare time (ha!) which I've been putting to good use updating these pages, sketching out scenes for the next book, and doing some more organizing from our move last summer. At one point, I simply stuffed books on the shelves and left many boxes unopened. So now I'm organizing those shelves. (So I can actually find a reference book when I leave the keyboard having to know something immediately, but the book's not to be found. Or only found when I no longer need it.)

Or course, the sad thing is that, as happens with every move, a number of those titles have simply vanished into limbo - run off on holiday with all those single socks that disappear from our dryers and key chains that go "missing." But we know better now, don't we? And please don't go blaming the pennymen.

I've also been catching up on my email and other correspondence. The amount I get has been increasing steadily, and while I still try to answer it all (at least the first letter someone sends me), my response time isn't always as quick as it once was. If you haven't heard back yet, please be patient. But if a month has gone by, then yours is one of the responses that were bounced back. I've given up resending them. So make sure that your return address is correct if you'd like a response.

December 7, 1998
Oh my god, another update already. But I just wanted to tell you about a new CD recently put out by a friend of mine. You can read all about it here. And for those of you interested in such things, MaryAnn plays mandolin and I play some guitar on one track.

December 2, 1998
Well, I do apologize for not adding much to these pages over the past year. (This is becoming a familiar litany, isn't it?) Between our recent move, working on the new novel, and simply trying to ground myself in this new environment, I just can't seem to find that spare time I misplaced a few years ago. So much falls by the way. Happily, most of this site remains timely; it's the news sections that suffer.

And there's still not much new. Moonlight and Vines is due in the stores any day, I'm still writing the new book (at a glacial speed, to steal Poppy Brite's recent comment on her own book when I was talking to her the other day), the Thursday night open sessions have moved to Patty's Pub and turned into more of a gig with MaryAnn, myself and a few invited musician friends. Our fiddler Don Fletcher is there most weeks.

On the chance that I won't be adding anything to this before the new year, here's wishing you all the best for the holiday season (however you may celebrate it) and a happy new year.

May 10, 1998
I wish I had more time to update these pages properly, but since it's often a case of getting some writing done, or updating, the writing usually wins out. I'm hoping that's the way you'd like it as well. Still, most of the pages have had minor revisions or additions in thte last couple of days.

There is little news except that I've turned in the third Newford collection to Tor--it's called Moonlight and Vines and it's scheduled for a January 1999 release.

I'm getting an awful lot of mail these days--which I do enjoy--but because of the volume, please be patient in regards to a reply.

Other than that, I'm working away on the new novel and looking forward to an uneventful summer so that I can get it done by the fall.

January 20, 1998
My new book Someplace to Be Flying will be available in February. For more information, click here.

November 29, 1997
Since many of my readers often express curiosity about MaryAnn's artwork, I just thought I'd let you know that I've finally convinced her to put some of it up on her own website. Drop by and say hello to her.

November 15
As you can see from the new welcome page, I've been doing some work on this site, changing the looks of things here and there, updating sections and just general maintenance. There've been too many little changes to mention them all, but I will note that there are now a few chapters of Someplace to Be Flying available for those of you who like to look at teasers of books that aren't published yet.

For the other changes, I'll leave them for you to discover as you go exploring through these pages on your own.

Forthcoming Publications

In Person Appearances

A little bit about the Novel in Progress

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