Once upon a time, a woman with two small children sat down and wrote the words, “I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him.â€
She eventually finished the book, and called it The Beekeeper’s Apprentice. It found a publisher, and came out like this:
…although it nearly came out looking like this:
but Laurie burst into tears and her soft-hearted editor took pity on her, and her career.
In October, the latest in a lengthy series of Beekeepers will appear on the shelves, looking like this:
And over at the Laurie R. King Virtual Book Club
We’re discussing all those words inside, which haven’t changed no matter what the cover looks like.
(And on the 21st, we’re giving away one of those first ones, with the non-flocked cover, to a member of the Virtual Book Club. Good luck, all!)
Roxanne says
July 24, 2007 at 8:40 amThose have to be some of the best opening words ever written. Truly. That whole first chapter is so wonderful. I still find myself giggling (to myself) when I think of the cows scattering and snorting away as Holmes enthusiastically gesticulates to punctuate/illustrate his words . . .
Hmmm. I was just this moment wondering to myself: would Holmes have noticed Russell if he had bumped into her, say, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of London, rather than on the bucolic Sussex Downs? Or did his “retirment” and isolation and obvious lack of company leave him open to better appreciate her ?