Was up early, had some breakfast, and then did some novella editing. Afte that, well, Sunday, New Year’s Eve, was a little stormy. The family was due to go to see the musical &Juliet, tickets having been acquired as part of Marianne’s birthday this year.
For some reason, the eldest took it into her head not to be part of this, so after a lot of disagreement she remained at home. This meant that three of us headed off to the show, while one stayed home (though ultimately had lunch and spent time with her grandma).
We got to Crown about 11.30am, had a very unspectacular lunch at The Merrywell (like so many places now, overpriced and mediocre), before taking our seats. The show – a jukebox musical that posits Will Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway arguing over the ending of Romeo & Juliet – was amusing fun with a bit of bite to it. Probably the weakest musical we saw all year (after Kimberley Akimbo, Hamilton, Hadestown, Merrily We Roll Along, which we saw in New York), but still fun.
Then home via nan’s, where we had an unexpected dinner of Christmas ham, lovely salads etc, and got to say Happy New Year. We got home around 6pm and some idiot who shall remain unnamed left the sprinklers on all night, which will no doubt show up on the water bill. After that, a quiet evening, an annual rewatch of Carrie Pilby, and then the annual exchange of lists, and bed.
A good day, all in all. The following morning was a little more difficult. I started with a Zoom call with Liza about this year’s Locus Recommended Reading list, which is almost complete, and then a few hours editing that novella, before a very pleasant lunch with Marianne at Leederville’s The Servo (a rare outing for just the two of us), before heading home. Tomorrow is my 60th birthday, which I feel little enthusiasm for, and then after that, the return to work.
For our second episode of 2024, we’re joined by the inimitable Kelly Link, whose forthcoming first novel The Book of Love is already receiving stellar advance reviews (including one from Gary in Locus). Kelly explains how the novel evolved, it connections to various genres from romance to supernatural horror, the importance of valuable encouragement from friends such as Holly Black and Cassandra Clare, the challenges of shifting from short fiction to a long novel, managing multiple narrative viewpoints, and maintaining the balance between the interiority of the characters and the large-scale history and spectacle of the fantasy elements. She also updates us a bit on Small Beer Press and her own plans for future work.