Question question

Anyone have questions for a December Q&A? Or are you too busy stirring up your figgy puddings?

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8 Comments

  1. Maria on December 2, 2006 at 4:57 pm

    Hello Ms. King,

    No figgy pudding here. One nasty writing project, however.

    I am glad to hear your husband is doing better. I am a physical anthropologist residing here in the U.S. I love your books and recently stumbled across your Mary Russell novels while writing my dissertation. I can’t stop reading them (meaning will I ever get my dissertation done?). Either way they are a great distraction from the world of bones and disease process.

    I wanted to compliment you on your style in handling Sherlock, which from what I understand, can be a handful, especially among those of us that are dedicated Sherlock fans. You are true to his form and I love the new dimensions of his personality you have developed.

    I was interested in knowing why with Russell and Holmes their softer feelings for one another are never explored. I think Locked Rooms captured some of those feelings, but in an interesting way. I don’t mean to say that the stories should be dripping with romance, that can ruin a story. I think it would be interesting to see the softer dynamics between the two characters since they are essentially intellectual equals. I can also imagine why you would leave this out of your novels as well. Also, the wedding, will we ever know? Will there be a novel that includes the wedding and the characters being simultaneous sucked into a mission from Mycroft?

    Thanks so much for taking the time to read my question. I hope things come through with TOUCHSTONE. I look forward to reading it. Best of luck with your work.

  2. Anonymous on December 2, 2006 at 6:05 pm

    Big sigh …

    I can only assume that the delay of TOUCHSTONE to 2008 pushes the next Russell story to 2009? Please say it isn’t so …

    Adele

  3. Elisa on December 2, 2006 at 6:11 pm

    When will Leigh Richards be writing again? I’ve just reread Califia’s Daughters and want more. Clamor, clamor, clamor.

  4. vicki on December 2, 2006 at 6:34 pm

    Well, I’ve finished Folly and I am replete with safisfaction. I love the way you take past history and weave it into a new story. You did that in several of your other books, too. Is there that idea in Touchstone?

  5. Liz on December 2, 2006 at 10:55 pm

    I don’t think I even know what a figgy pudding is…

    Anyway. Question time. I ask on behalf of several people:

    The Martinelli novels explore queer themes and issues in a highly textual way, but similar themes arise in the Russell novels, not just through the obvious presence of lesbians, but in the subtext. Is this intentional, or merely fortuitous?

    (We’ve found it highly rewarding to apply queer theory to the Russell books. Hours of fun. Thanks!)

  6. Anonymous on December 3, 2006 at 2:21 am

    Dear LRK,

    Have you read the work of Mary Renault? If so, what do you think of her mid-career switch from plain fiction to historical fiction? As a writer of both, what do you see as the advantages/disadvantages?

    Edna
    Age 56

  7. Anonymous on December 9, 2006 at 8:24 pm

    Is it too late to ask a couple of questions in December? I just finished “The Art of Deception,” which I very much enjoyed. I have a couple of questions though.

    In Martinelli’s initial interview with Ian Nicholson, he tells her he saw Gilbert around noon on Saturday. But then, when she’s creating a timeline of Gilbert’s final days, and when she’s interviewing Brancusi, Martinelli now thinks that he disappeared at 8:38 am on Saturday, when he called Ian on his cell phone (rather than at the alleged noon hand-off of the story to Ian), and that Brancusi “was apperently the last person to see Gilbert alive.” (p. 294) That confused me, and had me scurrying around the text looking for something I missed … did I miss something?

    Also, it seems to me that if Gilbert ate white beans and meat between 8:00 and 11:00 on Friday night, that meal would have been pretty well digested by noon on Saturday, when Ian claimed to have seen him before heading off on his trip. Wouldn’t the fact that his meal wasn’t digested have tipped Martinelli off that perhaps Ian was lying?

    Marta
    http://www.thewidetent.blogspot.com

    (for some reason I’m having trouble logging into my google account)

  8. Anonymous on January 4, 2007 at 5:46 am

    Hello Ms. King
    I found you and read all of Mary Russel’s books in three months plus the Folly books along with the stand alone novel about the college professor who infiltrates cults in order to save the people in them( who’s name escapes me because of the martinis I’ve had tonight). When can we expect more Mary Russel and Folly books? Or more stand alone novels. Luckily all I do for a living is work for my daughter at her horse back tiding school and have no dissertation to finish, thus having plenty of time to read your novels. I’m so impressed with the depth of your knowledge and your creation of characters that absolutely ensare the reader. Anyway having just now found your sebsite I’m behindthe current state of your newest books and can’t wit to find out what comes next. Now I wish I hadn’t devoured everything so quickly as I have to wait for the next book to come out as I do with my other favorite novelist. You are a beautiful rider who’s language captivates. Thank you for the happy hours of reading I’ve enjoyed.

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