Michaeline: New Stories from Bujold and Crusie!

A lady reading at a desk in her bedroom. She's wearing a warm robe.

It’s going to be a good year for reading! (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Since Christmas, I’ve been on internet half-rations – I’ve only checked the news, the blog and some YouTube. Yesterday was my first day back, visiting my usual haunts, and boy, the stuff I missed! (Trigger warning: FOMO!)

On December 25, 2018, Lois McMaster Bujold announced a new novella on her Goodreads blog! The story, set in her Americana Wide Green World universe, features Lily and Barr. She says it will be a stand-alone, but since she’s aiming to self-publish the story in “late January”, there’s time for long-time fans to have a leisurely re-read of the four Sharing Knife novels (starting with Beguilement; link to Amazon here). Whoo-hoo!

And on January 1, 2019, Jennifer Crusie wrote on her blog, Argh Ink, “Happy 2019, everybody. I’m gonna finish a book this year.” Well, a happy new year to all of us fans, too! I’ve been following the book-in-progress on her blog from its conception, and the first act promises a lot of fun: demons, cops, murder mystery, romance and some really excellent vicarious diner food. The Nick-and-Nita book may not be out in 2019, but at least it’s almost out of Jenny’s hands – she has excellent taste, and I think the biggest barrier to more Crusie out in the wild is that she doesn’t let ‘em go until she’s reached a point of satisfaction. It’s probably for the best. We fans are voracious, and the most frequent response to a new story is “more please”, which is simply not sustainable. At any rate, in a few weeks (according to an ETA on Jan. 4), it’ll be in her editor’s hands.

What a convergence of the stars! My two favorite living writers are going to release new stories! And I know a lot of my favorite bloggers (right here on Eight Ladies Writing) are also going to release new stories in 2019! (Please comment, Ladies!) And of course, keep an eye on the Friday writing sprints here on 8LW. Our readers are welcome to play, and of course, our Eight Ladies often put up a short, sweet nugget of fictional delight. Are there any new stories that you are keeping your eye on?

It’s going to be a good year for reading, y’all! Get your reading glasses polished!

7 thoughts on “Michaeline: New Stories from Bujold and Crusie!”

I’m polishing my reading glasses as we speak! Looks like a good year for new books. Thanks for the heads up on the new Bujold story. Somehow I missed all announcements on December 25. 🙂

Michaeline Duskova | January 5, 2019 at 9:22 am

I didn’t put “more reading” on my list of resolutions, but I think it’s going to happen naturally! I wonder what else is coming out that people are excited about?

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Very exciting, Michaeline! A new Crusie is good news, even if it’s still a way away, but I’m super-excited for the Bujold.

I love the Wide Green World books. I’d love to read another story in that universe, especially one featuring Barr and Lily. Barr grows into a fascinating character over the four books and I’ve often thought that his shock discovery at the ending of the last book (Horizon?) reads like, not exactly sequel bait but definitely future story potential. Hurrah! 🙂

Michaeline Duskova | January 5, 2019 at 9:26 am

It’s fascinating how Bujold has more freedom to visit all of her universes with shorter stories and self-publishing. It kind of reminds me of the short stories of Dorothy Sayers — *Gaudy Night* seemed like the end, but back then, there was a stronger short story market, and then we got *Busman’s Holiday*. We got several lovely stories about the Chalion Universe, then a fantastic bonus about the Vorkosigans with “The Flowers of Vashnoi” and now this.

I do need a re-read, though.

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Thrilled about the Crusie. I’m not yet a Bujold reader, and it’s nice to know there’s a delicious body-of-work just waiting for me to have more reading time.

My second book will be out some time in January. I’m currently tinkering with the format. Vellum is amazingly easy to use in out-of-the-box mode, but like most software, it gets trickier if you want to customize things.