Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Endings and Beginnings


Old year, new year? No... old series, new series. A Revolution of Rubies is now in the publication pipeline. It may not be the last book ever in the Applied Topology series, but for now it's the sixth and last, after which I'm going to publish a Regency fantasy and then start a new series that's kind of a spin-off from the previous one. I've been trying to think of something different to put at the end of this book, since I don't have a teaser chapter for "next in series" this time.


I’ve noticed that a lot of books now have a list of Book Group Questions at the end. I can see the benefit from the publisher’s point of view – getting a book picked up by a discussion group has to be great for sales – but most of the questions seem to be written by literary types who are all about symbolism and subtext and not at all interested in storytelling and having fun. So I had a crack at creating my own BGQ’s for A Revolution of Rubies. And concluded that I’m no good at this; most of these questions are only fun before you’ve read the book. Oh, well. I put the opening of the Regency Fantasy,Salt Magic, at the end of the book, after all. But I hate to just throw the questions away, so here they are:

1. Thalia and the rest of the Center for Applied Topology have been sent to Europe to ingratiate themselves in diplomatic circles so that they can help bug the homes and offices of the diplomats. What could possibly go wrong with turning a bunch of topologists loose among diplomats? What couldn’t go wrong?

2. Would you steal a woman’s borrowed rubies in order to get access to her niece’s paranormal abilities? Wouldn’t you even wonder about the wisdom of provoking someone who can become invisible and walk through walls?

3. If a foreign agent and a woman with serious skills in card manipulation walk into Casino Barcelona, who’s going to have to borrow cab fare home?

4. Lensky flatly forbids Thalia to try using her paranormal abilities in certain contexts. More than once. Whatever could have given him the illusion this would work? Will the handcuffs do it?

5. A Revolution of Rubies takes place in Paris, Barcelona, and the imaginary Central Asian country of Taklanistan. Talk about these places from Thalia’s point of view, with particular attention to the various forms of chocolate-enhanced snacks available in each one.

3 comments:

  1. Good questions. Makes me think I should think of some for my series too.

    Anyway, happy new year, and to happy (successful) new series.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have yet to find those questions that are supposed to spark discussion at all helpful in doing that. They always seem stupid or meaningless in the grand scheme of things. So I am glad you are not taking that route, in spite of your fun questions here. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
My Blogger TricksAll Blogger TricksLatest Tips and Tricks