Nosing Around

A small, wet, malodorous dog sits on the couch next to me. Every once in a while, when I am intent on the keyboard, she will press against me or place her nose on my arm, and I recoil violently, and give a sharp exclamation of horror. She finds this entire act to be tremendous fun. I am less ecstatic, but she is so winsome that I cannot bring myself to shove her off the couch. Instead, I eye her balefully, and then turn my attention back to the screen.

Firstly, if you saunter over to the ‘Reviews’ section of this website, you will see four brand new reviews. They come from some extremely good review publications, so I am in (almost) silent awe at the thought that my book has featured in them. The first is from Booklist, which is a publication of the American Library Association. The second comes from Kirkus Reviews, and the third is from Shelf Awareness. The fourth is from Lev Grossman, who had kindly written one of the very first blurbs for The Rook.

Mr. Grossman wrote (among other things) the influential The Magicians and The Magician King, but he is also a senior writer and book critic for TIME magazine, and he put The Rook on his list of seven books he’s looking forward to 2012. At Number Two! Right behind William Gibson! I have not gotten so many excited emails from friends and relations since I announced the book was getting published. Or possibly since I got the puppy.

And, I just realized this morning that it is one month until The Rook will be released upon the readers of the United States of America. The eleventh of January. That is very soon. I will be in Japan when that happens, celebrating a friend’s wedding, which is probably just as well, because otherwise I would be phoning all my friends in the States, and asking them to check their local bookstores for copies of the book. And asking them to move it to a more prominent spot. Still, it’s an exciting thought.

This blogpost was interrupted by no fewer than three dog-nose incursions.

 

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