my dear faithful readers
firecatz
I have absolutely not forgotten The sending... Nor am I blocked. I have been working on it for years as u know, and when I work on other things it is either because I need to think or get some space about something in The Sending. This year I will have three books come out. The Cat Dreamer which is smaller, Little Fur which is for me a book that has been a long time in the coming and one where I go out on a limb... but that is good for anyone, not just a writer. I also have a really big stand alone book coming out, which I have been working on for six years, called Alyzon Whitestarr. It is not that I let other books get in the way or get diverted, it is only that my life is a tapestry of book threads that weave in and about one another, so that I am never exactly sure when one will finish. But I am sure that I will finish The sending by the end of this year. I have been in australia for a short tour, not quite two weeks, and I go home to do the final edit of Alyzon Whitestarr which will come out this year, which I have to deliver by mid april, and then the rest of the year will be devoted to The sending.
But I hope any of u who are within a reasonable distance of melbourne will be able to come to the book launch of Little Fur on July 31 this year. I will post the addres of the launch closer to the date. Little Fur is a book aimed at younger kids, but its pretty special to me so I would love u all to share the day.
I am endlessly touched and motivated by your fidelity!
warm good wishes
isobelle carmody
ps I am afraid that I will not finish Darkbane until next year, but anyway the publishers would not bring it out in the same year as they bring out The Sending.
pps Also, as well as Little Fur, there is another book, A fox called sorrow, which will come out next year, and which, like Little Fur is smaller and is aready written...
Here is the latest information on the release date, straight from the horse's mouth (so to speak). When Frankie, Emerald and Yvette met Isobelle at the launch of Little Fur, one of their first questions was, quite naturally, "When is The Sending coming out?" And the answer was as follows:
Elspeth
Isobelle Carmody: Well, I've almost finished it. I thought I'd finish it before I came here, and it comes out next year (2006). It should come out next year, if it doesn't, it will slip into the beginning of the following year (2007).
Naturally, we hope it won't slip into 2007, but if it takes that long to make The Sending the perfect conclusion to the Obernewtyn Chronicles, then we can't complain too much. :)
Read the whole interview HERE.
Roz was saying at NYE that she's had a letter from IC saying that she's finished the 1st draft, I think. Roz, can you confirm that for me? So that's progress...
Squarmi
Squarmi :)
Sorry... I should have posted this here earlier.
Yes, that's right. She said the first draft is just about done but then it's a matter of getting it edited. She's just about to go on a trip to India (might be there already) and was hoping to have the first draft done before she went.
I wouldn't imagine it would take long to have completed the first draft, as she had so many notes, but tightening it up etc might take a bit longer.
Another thing, she has finally signed a deal with the publishers for the Beforetime Chronicles, but she didn't say how many books it would be.
Hope that's good news for you guys! I'm very excited ;D :roll: Roz
My hope is that it [the final Obernewtyn book] will be finished by August - the publishers are agitating to get it out this year, but much as I want it to come out, I'm anxious not to be hustled at the final stage.
Isobelle
Hey guys, I thought this newsworthy enough to start a new threat to alert your attention to it (could one of the web tekkies add it to the 'When is The Sending coming out?' thread?).
Roz
Deb alerted us to this post from allscifi.com... I've copied it here:
endora posts on 12/8/2006 9:29:00 AM
I have heard that there will be two books. Apparently she has been working on it for years trying desperately to make it tight enough to fit into one book, then in one of the rewrites a week or so ago, she suddenly realised that there is a complete book ready to go if she simply shifts one event slightly and even that would happen eventually. Having it come out as two books will then give her the room she needs to finish the final one. Apparently she has been stressing on what to leave out and if this is what will happen, she wont have to leave anything out. The good news is that while she is editing one, to come out next year, the final half will be finished at the same time as the next one comes out. The publishers will bring that out a year later. maybe less. How do I know all this. Well by this incredible coincidenc, I am in prague and sittingin a cafe and in she walks with a friend and they sit at the table next to me and start talking. And I hear all of this nearly swallowing my spoon. so I fnally pluck up the courage to speak to her and she was so nice and I said I swore not to tell anything I had overheard and she said she did not mind me telling people, but that the final decision is yet to be made The publishers might prefer her to wait another six months and try to fit it all in one book. She said all she cared about was that the books were good, and I asked if it would be like Tad Williams green angel tower one and two, and she said no that was confusing. She said she could not do this unless she really felt there was a complete book here. She seemed really happy and she said the best thing was that all those people who had been waiting would get one book next year and then the final one the year after. It was the most amazing thing. I can still hardly believe it happened. maybre I dreamed it...
http://www.allscifi.com/Board.asp?BoardID=2290
Good morning Melinda - thanks for your enquiry.
Penguin
I have just gotten off the phone to Isobelle's publisher and I am thrilled to confirm the following for you.
There will be two more books in this series.
"The Stone Key" to be published late 2007
"The Sending" to be published in 2008
We receive a lot of enquiries from all over the world regarding the release of the next title so it is obviously very much anticipated (especially by many of us here at Penguin!)
Enjoy!
Kind regards, Brad Chappel
Manager Customer Service
I've finished the last edit and am half way through the galley
IC
proof!!!! It is a monster lol.
The last installment of the Obernewtyn series, The Sending, isn’t far from being released. How difficult is it to close a series that’s been with you for so long?
Further away than my fans or publisher like. It was supposed to come out this year, but I found I just could not work when the book was scheduled and everyone was hanging on me to finish. It was like trying to work in a room where people were shouting at you that you were going to miss the bus. Luckily, Penguin have been able to bear with me and have eased the pressure, so the book will be coming out next year. They will make an announcement about it, but I think the word might already be out, and my name’s probably mud. I know some writers can deliver a book exactly when they say they will, but I honestly don’t know how that is possible. For me, a book is a journey and I don’t know how long it will take. I have a map, but it is sparse and there are so many things to see and learn and explore before I find what I set out to find. I write in order to think and that means I don’t know how long it will take me to figure it out. I think of it as a very organic process, but that might be a nice way to say utterly disorganized. The thing it that whatever word you apply, that is how I work and if people like the stories I write, then they have to allow me the means to get them.
I do think there is a bit of a perception that I am spinning it out or that I am unable to close. Neither is true. Despite the size of the books, I really have to work to get everything in each one and I cut and cut and cut to do it. They are absolutely not padded. I imagine padding would be such a boring thing to have to do. Cutting is hard work but incredibly satisfying, and it is balanced with elaborating and clarifying, because the stories are all very complex. For me, the process of editing does not happen after the book is finished but is part of the whole creative process. Sometimes this has meant publishers have felt I am close to done when I know I am not. But I do know where this series is going and the last book is completely written in first draft. But, as I said, that does not mean it is finished. There is a lot of stuff to be sorted out, honed back, a lot of threads to be joined and that happens in a to and fro process that is hard to control. But I am on it. I am getting there and I will get there. And I am not afraid to finish or trying for perfection. I need the books to be ended properly. I need to feel a true sense of completion or how will readers feel it? I actually think I am closer than I think, now that I am no longer under such pressure.
...The good news is that the next book, which will be called The Sending, is able to come out sooner than it would have done with any other solution, and though The Red Queen will not come out in the same year, this gives me more time to add what needs adding to the final book. The Sending will be published in September 2011....
