Cat and Zoe
Posted on April 21, 2009 Posted by John Scalzi 33 Comments
Cleverly addressing two constituencies at once, here’s a picture of Ghlaghghee and a picture of the mass market paperback edition of Zoe’s Tale, a contractually mandated box of which just showed up at my door a week ahead of its official April 28th release date. Both are quite lovely in their way.
The PB edition is actually coming out a little early, relative to the hardcover release: nine months out rather than a year, as these usually are. At first I was a little concerned about this, but then Zoe got nominated for the Hugo, so having it out in paperback soon enough to capitalize on the nomination is actually a bit of good luck. Funny how these things work out.
I’ll make mention of Zoe again on the official release date, which is, again, a week from today, but it’s quite possible you’ll start seeing it in bookstores before then. If you do, please remove it from the shelves by way of grabbing hold of it, marching it up to the book store counter and then furiously purchasing it. That’ll show them! Yes. That’ll show them all.
No “Hugo-Nominated” blurb on the cover, though. Do they send out stickers for the bookstores to apply in a case like this?
Well, the nomination came after they started printing, so that’s not too surprising. I’m sure future printings will have it on there.
When does the cat get Hugo-nominated?
When he starts walking through walls?
She. And she can, so long as there’s a door-shaped hole in the wall. Which there frequently is.
I predict that Chang will not be pleased by your resting a copy of your book on Ghlaghghee. I also, and separately, predict that Chang will not be pleased by your resting a copy of your book on Ghlaghghee.
You should post this picture to http://stuffonmycat.com.
Viral Marketing!
Swift move. Now every time someone sees something about books on the web they’re going to email the link to you.
You know how you do pimp threads for people to pimp their stuff? I think you should have a Post A Picture of Your Pet day. My cat looks just like Ghllaohoahoehaodlhaallhfluffy.
It’s good that you were smart enough to give the cat top billing in the post. Ghlaghghee would have made your life a living hell otherwise.
Her Imperial Mistress’s fur appears to be mussed by the book. Tsk tsk, Scalzi. Tsk Tsk.
Odd; Amazon doesn’t consider it to be another edition of the hardcover.
@5 John Scalzi I have a friend who designed and built her house with cat sized doorways between rooms. Imagine my surprise when I was in the bathroom with the door securely closed and a cat appeared to walk through the wall (the passage was obscured by the toilet) into the bathroom!
Heh, random chance, finished reading it today, my local (UK) library seems to get a large number of TOR US hardcovers. Which, y’know, is a GOOD THING.
But Dude! You made me laugh, lots. And, y’know, any tears in my eyes when the Obin started singing were definitely a figment of someone else’s imagination.
I’d say definite for the Hugo, but that’s some fine competition you have there.
I’d say that’s not bad company to be in, though.
@MatGB That scene with the Obin made the book for me! I forgave the two or three little nitpicks I had because of that scene. It rawked!
MatGB:
Fortunately I’m up in two other categories as well. On the other hand, that means I could be a three time loser!
True, but at least the competition is good. It’s the first time I’ve looked at the Hugo nominees and could honestly say I wanted to read them all. I even already owned one and had read another. That’s not happened before, this is cool.
Meh, it’s after midnight, and I’m rambling. G’night all.
No tape. Doesn’t count.
O Great Scalzi, how wonderful it is to see a picture – no matter how poorly focused and composed – of Her Most Glorious Shimmering Radiant Perfection, the Beauteous Ghlaghghee.
Since you’re not doing anything, perhaps you might spend some time to improve your photographic skills. To that end, the Executive Committee is pleased to provide you with some helpful tips:
1. Remove the book-shaped object. Nobody cares about it, and what’s worse, it obscures Her.
2. Again, you seem not to understand depth of field and how to select the proper equipment to account for it. In this case, the book-shaped object was in focus and Magnificent She was only partially in focus. This is wrong. Fix it.
The Official Ghlaghghee Fan Club
cwinc @#20: She’s not out of focus, it’s the shimmering.
I’m really looking forward to the book…The Old Man’s War series are simply fantastic.
– A fan from Taiwan
Coincidentally, I just finished reading it a couple days ago (yay libraries!). And was quite pleased that the two big things I had issue with in Last Colony (what happened to the werewolves? what happened on Zoe’s trip??) were resoundingly resolved.
If only our Persian cat loved this novel as much as I did! I certainly wish you luck, Zoe deserves the award as far as I’m concerned. Zoe’s speech to the Obin had this middle-aged nerd sobbing.
I plan to grab a couple of copies and the first will go to my 14 year old daughter. I think she would be good friends with Zoe.
Lovely cat!
dglewis@21: She’s not out of focus, it’s the shimmering.
Like the way vampires sparkle now?
John H@1 & John Scalzi@2
Not having the Hugo Nominated blurb makes these collectors items. All the more reason for people to rush out and purchase not one but multiple copies.
Quick, quick, get moving before the publisher gets the bright idea to mail Hugo Nominated stickers to the book retailers to stick on the covers of the books!
Really, it can’t be worse than sticking your money into the stock market right now. In the end if the investment doesn’t deliver a big dividend at least you’ll have a good supply of gifts to give to people.
These comments make me feel like less of a sap because I cried at a few parts of Zoe’s Tale.
From my library’s catalog, the subject headings for Zoe’s Tale:
# Teenage girls — Fiction.
# Space warfare — Fiction.
# Life on other planets — Fiction.
# Space colonies — Fiction.
Not a single mention of cats. Have they made a mistake?
I don’t recall there being a cat. Actually, I think there may’ve been a few owned by minor characters mentioned in passing. There’s a dog. And, I suspect, not the sort of dog I’d get on with…
There is an alien race called the Glagh … due to which I tend to picture them as malevolent cat-ewoks.
Now I find this out…..I bought it in hardback a couple days ago *after already owning it in audible.com audiobook format.*
Come to think of it, I have purchased Old Man’s War 3 times now in various forms……
Not that your situation seems to need it, but I bet you could use another few hundred thousand of me all the same. (and please forgive this shameless display of brown-nosing)
I suppose for your next trick you’ll be taping a piece of bacon to Zoe.
Or did I somehow miss that on the CBP?