(no subject)

SILVER PIGS was absolutely delightful!

I need more Lindsey Davis.

Do they need to be read in order? I have a feeling that the relationship builds over the course of the books.

Alas, I only have LAST ACT IN PALMYRA on hand, which I had bought because aa friend had recommended the series and that was the first one I found. But he said it was actually the weakest book in the series, so I've put off reading it.

I may see if I can scrounge up some of the other Davis titles, although I may just give in and start reading it unless someone tells it's really worthwhile to read them in order, in which case I'll be anxious for however long it takes to find the rest of 'em.

2005 Year-End Publishing Summary

In 2005, I published 6 new books (5 in Spain, 1 in Colombia) and had a reprint of 1 previously published title (in Germany). I also had 6 (other) books cancelled this year. (Sigh.)

The books I managed to publish are:

(Note: Items marked with an * are translated editions.)

5 new children's picture books written in Spanish and illustrated by Sara Rojo Pérez:

LA AVENTURA DE CECILIA Y EL DRAGÓN (Candela/Bibliópolis)
*L'AVENTURA DE LA CECILIA I EL DRAC (Candela/Bibliópolis) Catalan

MANUAL PRÁCTICO PARA VIAJAR EN OVNI
*MANUAL PRACTIC PER A VIATJAR EN OVNI (Candela/Bibliópolis) Catalan

MI GATA EUREKA (Candela/Bibliópolis)
* LA MEVA GATA EUREKA (Candela/Bibliópolis) Catalan

AMIGOS Y VECINOS (La Librería)

¿LEES UN CUENTO CONMIGO? (Panamericana)

1 new children's picture book written in Spanish but not illustrated by Sara Rojo Pérez:

FELIZ NAVIDAD, RACHID (La Librería)

1 reprint short story collection for adults (originally written in English):

*2 BOYS IN LOVE: ROMANTISCHES UND EROTISCHES KURZGESCHICHTEN (Mattei Medien) German

So I guess that would be an overall total of ten books published, counting each translated edition as a separate thing.

In English, I seem to have published nothing original, only reprints of three poems in the anthology VELVET HEAT (Pretty Things Press), and a reprint (written for and originally published in a German anthology) in LADY CHURCHIL'S ROSEBUD WRISTLET of an illustrated essay with Sara Rojo Perez titled "The Well-Dressed Wolf." Oh, and a reprint online of "Journeybread Recipe" in Endicott Studio's THE JOURNAL OF MYTHIC ARTS.

Actually, it was a very light year for short stories or poetry, in general, with no originals (in any language) and only two stories reprinted in Polish, one short story reprinted in French, and an indeterminate number of stories and poetry reprinted in Indonesian. (I forgot all year to pick up the payment they, the Indonesian magazine, sent via Western Union to New York City... Oops.) Also a reprint of my essay from I DO/I DON'T in a German magazine. (I think I'm still waiting for that payment, too, come to think of it...)

I think I need to try and write some new short fiction, poetry, and essays/articles in 2006! (For one thing, good for cash flow. Also, keeps name out there so people don't forget who I am! And also, I need to refurbish my stock of reprintable texts since so many things have already been translated or reprinted a bunch of times...)

As things stand now, I should be publishing at least 8 new titles in 2006 (not counting translations as separate editions for this tally, although so far that would be only a Catalan edition for COMO LIBRARSE DE UN UNICORNIO this spring), plus probably an English-language edition of one of my books that's only been published overseas (more once the contract is actually signed and not just agreed upon), and Greek editions of HIS TONGUE and TWO BOYS IN LOVE. (While that would be an overall total of 12 titles so far for 2006, they do not break down to one a month, but clump altogether.)

Reading in 2005

I seem to have read 189 books (fiction or non-fiction; not included in this tally are books of poetry) in 2005. (Actually, I had to read Ralf König's WIE DE KARNICKEL--157 pgs--a few times, even though I'd already read the Spanish translation last year, since I had to go over the English translation for readability and compare it to both the German and Spanish editions, and then read it again to make sure it was laid out properly... So maybe it should be 190 books total?)

This is quite a bit higher than previous years, which seem to have been 153 in 2004, 164 in 2003, and 143 in 2002. Seeing how little I actually wrote/published this year (see previous post) is probably related; more "down" time (especially in the first part of the year when so many books of mine got cancelled). Looking at the month-by-month breakdown, I seem to read more in winter months, and there are also periodic drops in reading rate when I am traveling heavily.

January subtotal 33
February subtotal 19
March subtotal 13
April subtotal 11
May subtotal 26
June subtotal 10
July subtotal 7
Aug subtotal 21
Sep subtotal 13
Oct subtotal 7
Nov subtotal 15
Dec subtotal 14

Most-read authors in 2005

12 Charlotte MacLeod
11 Dorothy Gilman
8 Donald Westlake
7 Donna Leon
7 Octavia Butler
7 Holly Black
5 Henning Mankell
5 Sharon Shinn
4 Sara Paretsky
4 Elizabeth A. Lynn
3 Marian Keyes
3 Charlaine Harris
3 Lawrence Block
3 Elizabeth Bear
3 Alexander McCall Smith
3 Guy Gavriel Kay

Breakdown by author gender:
Male author: 59.5 books
Female author: 129.5 books
(The halves comes from George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle's WINDHAVEN.)

By genre, I read overwhelmingly more mysteries than anything else this year.

Some of my favorite books of the year come from authors who I read only a single title by this year (not always through lack of trying to find more work by them!) like Dodie Smith's I CAPTURE THE CASTLE or Naomi Mitchison's TRAVEL LIGHT or Megan Whalen Turner's THE THIEF.