A Marriage for Mary
A new short story is born!
Yes, yes, a short story isn’t a novel, but it’s a bright and amusing bit of new life that wasn’t here last month, and now is, so: yay, me! (Although “here” is a relative term. It’s here for me. You’ll have to wait until March. Sorry.)
Here’s how Random House describe it:
Laurie R. King takes readers way back in her bestselling series with this exclusive ebook short story, as Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes embark upon the riskiest adventure of their partnership: their wedding.
Though she cannot entirely discount the effects of the head injuries they were both suffering at the time, Mary Russell is delighted by Sherlock Holmes’s proposal of marriage. After all, they have become partners-in-crime, and she has recently come into her inheritance: what remains but to confirm the union with her mentor-turned-partner through a piece of paper? Russell’s pragmatic side tells her to head straight to the registry office—until Holmes surprises her with a sentimental wish to be married in the chapel of his ancestral manse. There’s just the small issue of ownership: the manse is not exactly his, and he is most definitely not welcome there. Of course, such obstacles have never deterred Sherlock Holmes before, and they certainly won’t keep him from concocting an elaborate scheme to evade angry dogs and armed butlers—all in the name of wedded bliss.
More about writing it next week, and eventually some pre-order information, and all that. At the moment, I’m madly trying busy with the copyedit, trying to send it back before the weekend…
Dear Laurie,
PLEEEEEEASE: be as fast as lightning with your copy-editing and all the thousand little things that have to be done before an ebook can be published! The only good thing for your readers is that February is around the corner, which means that March is also not too far way, and then April is coming closer, sigh… 🙂
Wishing you a fruitful and undisturbed weekend,
Sylvia Barnard
PLEASE, as I have indicated before, not everyone has a device to be able to enjoy ebooks! I have elderly friends who do not have the mean$ to purchase a device, plu$ those cost of monthly fee$ for Internet connections. As a mature lady, would you please take some of your peers into consideration? I have begged that Mary Russell’s war be published in paper form. What about the book on her marriage?
I understand that e-readers are not for everyone. However, it might be helpful to clear up one misconception. If you own a Kindle 3G e-reader, there are no monthly fees and you do not need an internet connection. The device comes with a built-in cellular connection that can only be used to connect to the Amazon shopping site, but it lets you download an unlimited number of books.
A simple older Kindle 3G can be purchased for about $40-$70. Once you have it, you can download literally thousands of free e-books, including many classics in the public domain. Newer books can be purchased, often for a lower cost than the paper copy. The Kindle is lightweight, easy to hold, and you can adjust the text size to make it larger. I can’t think of a better gift to give a homebound senior who loves to read. They can purchase any book in the world from the comfort of their own home and start reading it in less than a minute.
Absolutely. My family bought me a Kindle five years ago, and I have saved lots of storage space by not bringing about 200 more books into my home since then. Often the Kindle version is less expensive. I too like the heft of a book in the hands but I got used to electronic reading very quickly. When I was waiting out the dreary time before cataract surgery, the only format I could see was electronic. Ink on paper was quite lost to me. It is so easy to carry a library about with you. There are lots of free books to download as well. Go get Granny that new technology, please.
Also, as someone else pointed out below, if you have a computer with an internet connection you can download e-reader software to that and read the story there.
I downloaded Kindle on my computer, and it wouldn’t even open.
I fended up buying a cheap tablet and putting Kindle on it. That worked.
I hate spellchecker. ?
I agree with Lillian. Some of us, even though we can afford the device and fees involved with e-books just love the comfort of a book in our hands. Perhaps a new compendium of Mary Russell shorts could be published for all. Many thanks Lori for your wonderful stories.
I agree whole heartedly. I can not afford the device and I would love these stories. Please do consider us. Thank you
Really – used Kindles with 3g are about $20-40 on ebay. And there is free Internet at every Macdonalds. You can get a brand new Kindle Fire for $50. (You would have to go to someplace with free wifi, but if you are posting here you have some sort of internet.
You may also want to check with your local library. Some libraries have ereader that you can check out, just so you can access electronic books that aren’t available in paper.
Fellow devotees,
Please do check in with your local public library–MANY libraries have devices that can be borrowed, or one can use the Internet there at the library to read through the web browser. Don’t give up!
Thanks, Laurie, for filling us in beyond “…having the bad manners to elope”! I can’t wait!
Librarians are such resourceful people. Thanks for your kind input. I was speaking in behalf of those who are avid readers and are very much home bound and depend on friends who bring them books, ergo the plea for printed books versus ebooks. I often feel we are at the mercy of technology. Wonderful tools that are here to stay, but can serve to leave many out.
I love paper books, and will put my vote in for a short story collection as well, however, I’ve *listened* to all of the books in addition to reading some of them, and would love to hear Jenny Sterlin read the short stories as well…
We fans are a demanding lot, aren’t we? 🙂
Fervent, perhaps…
I’d agree with the previous comments and must add that Jenny Sterlin is THE voice of Mary Russell. Please be sure to arrange for her to do the audiobook version. Thanks.
Not that I have much say in the matter, but yes, Jenny is great!
I agree, I agree, I agree! Please keep those of us without electronic readers included re the details of Russell and Holmes’ marriage! I have always wished for more of their backstory, and knowing that it’s out there and that I am not able to access it is driving me crazy !!!!!
Presumably you are posting from a computer or cell phone. The device you are using can download the Kindle app and read the e-book, I promise. 🙂
SUCH a vigorous response in defense of e-reader devices! I am not asking or promoting an either/or format for our beloved author’s publications, SIMPLY AND ONLY asking for consideration of the possibility that Mary Russell’s War and other upcoming e-books also be published in print as there are others who cannot afford electronic devices and, because of ailments, cannot get to a library to utilize them. Persons of modest income and persons who cannot get out on a regular basis literally treasure their printed books that are read, re-read and kept for many years. Thank You.
On this subject I will say no more.
I am looking forward to reading the new story. Thank you for writing it.
However, is there perhaps an error in the Random House text? We know from previous stories that Holmes comes from a family of small squires with, presumably, a family mansion. The Random House text has ‘manse’, which, in Scotland and England, is a house belonging to the Church in which a Presbyterian or Methodist Minister lives.
Or have I missed something….?
violaverify (who currently is living in her fourth manse, and knows whereof she speaks!)
Good heavens, mysteries upon mysteries!
I shall take Random House to task.
March!!! OMG and “snort.” Don’t tease us so! You’re just like Holmes with his hints and insinuations! Okay. You have our attention. Please, more info, soon.
Squeeeeee!
Marcy says:
Yes it is MANSE for Presbyterians and we minister’s wives say PARSONAGE.
United Methodist minister’s spouse weighing in here … we live in the USA in a parsonage. But when he served English and Scottish Methodist Churchs (i.e., “chapels”) we lived in manses.
And Laurie isn’t being very nice … I need something Russellian to read in any format NOW.
So looking forward to this!
Although I have an e-reader and buy all of the short stories, I too would dearly love to buy a physical volume of the short stories to add to my Mary Russell collection 🙂
I daresay Ms. King would love to have all the stories out in paper, but my guess is that it (1) costs much more to publish that way, (2) one needs an assortment of stories first because no one will publish a 1-story book and (3) it’s up to the publisher, not Ms. King. So maybe contact the publisher and “encourage” them a bit? 🙂
OH, this sounds terrific. About the time it’s available I’ll be craving something really good to read. My TBR pile might be whittled down by then. Thanks.
Yes, all stories in printed form please – e-readers have no heart or soul.
I am super excited for another short story. I love how the short stories fill in bits and pieces of the background on our beloved Mary Russell and Holmes.
I LOVE books in all forms – as long as it has a great story line and engaging characters I will read it. I love books in Hardback, Paperback, E-Book & Audio , New, Used, Library, Shared with Friends etc. So Laurie please keep writing so we can keep enjoying your work.
Another story to anticipate! Yeah! I understand the eBooks vs. paper books issue. Unfortunately, eBooks are here to stay, and many authors have taken advantage of them to write short stories in their protaganist’s life to fill in gaps and/or to add more depth to their characters. Hopefully, eReaders will go the way of the calculator and come way down in price. A plus for eReaders and older readers is that the reader can make the print very big to make reading easier. Time will tell. In the meantime, keep Mary Russell adventures coming, please.
E-readers are unnecessary. I do not own one but have downloaded your short stories to read on my computer. Here is how: When you purchase the story, the choices for downloading are also given, which always include “computer”. If you’re not sure how to do this, have a computer-literate soul (a child, for instance) with you while you make the online purchase. They can download it to your computer files with one click and show you how to retrieve it in perpetuity. Please correct me if this has changed.
Oh my word, finally! I’ve always been slightly disappointed that we never actually seen the wedding. Knowing Holmes, there has to be more than an old man’s sense of romanticism. I can’t wait to see what happens!
By the way, will this ebook along with the other stories be available to download on an iPad? I’m still very new to the process of obtaining ebooks.
But anyways, I can’t wait to read this in one way or another! Thanks again for your amazing stories!
Yes, it should be available in all formats, in all countries. And although audio may take a little longer to appear, we’ve contracted for that too.
That’s amazing! Thanks for letting me know! I’ll be sure to tell the co-workers at the library I work in. No doubt they’ll add it to our collection!
A basic Kindle costs $69 US (or less, if you shop around). My income is less than $900 a month, and I can afford that. As to computer fees, etc, what you do is go to free wifi hot spots or your beloved public library which probably has that, and you can “hook up” to lots of electronic fare. It comes with a USB cable to connect to a computer for recharging, and I did pay a bit more for a conversion plug to recharge from household current.
I absolutely love my little basic Kindle because it’s easy on my arthritic hands, fits in a 1-quart zippy bag for protection from the elements (the bag will hold the charger, too), stores such an incredible amount of reading material, and slips into a large pocket or handbag, etc, for the ultimate portability. Also, you can set the “print” size to suit your needs.
Why am I not surprised? Maybe because I was secretly hoping this would finally be written? Or is it because the hopeless romantic in me wanted all along to hear more than a brief few sentences of an elopement? You are a wicked woman for writing a wonderful wedding short story for us right when the debut of Mary’s “Murder” is right around the corner. And yet I could never be mad at you. I’m tickled with excitement over reading this little story. Especially now that the other short stories are to vanish from our fingertips if we haven’t already bought them. Please keep us posted! And please do try to visit the East coast on your next book tour! The conventions make seeing you much more difficult and tedious when the entire mystery mass community swamps the place like mosquitoes in the tropics.
I am happy about this short story. That is all.
Can’t wait to read this! Looking forward to it, Laurie. Thanks so much for prodding Miss Russell into finally telling us about her wedding.
I’m looking forward to this story! Weighing in on the e reader debate, one huge advantage of the e reader is being able to read it once the lights are all off and your partner is snoring away; yet I will always love the tangy smell of a new book.
I am happy that Laurie is continuing to writing Russell and Holmes stories. Thank you Laurie
You are an incredible tease!
As to format, much as I once swore there was nothing like paper, after moving with truckloads of books, I’ve come to appreciate the books I can download in seconds in the middle of the night, which is what I did with your second Russell & Holmes book as soon as I finished the first, then the next, and the next…I also have each as an audiobook, which syncs with the electronic book so I can leave the car and switch back to the written word without losing my place. And then at some point I decided these were books that I wanted on my shelves and in my hands, so I went back to the Internet and found signed copies at your independent bookstores and they have a proud place on my shelves. Each type has a different mood and a different feel to it.
Here is another vote for a paper edition. Yes, I could read the stories on my computer, but don’t enjoy the experience. I would never want to take someone e-reader away if that person prefers to consume literature in that format, but I do not want my choice for physical books taken away.
I read books any way I can get them I have an iPad, which in addition to iBooks, has the Kindle app. I collect some authors in both book form and as eBooks. I understand individual preferences for reading. I read somewhere that the retention of those reading on the screen is less than reading in paper format, so I read both. I like the iPad for carrying series that I like to reread – it’s very handy for taking “books” with me. I believe this will continue to be an ongoing argument for some time to come. I also think books will continue to be published in both formats (just look at vinyl records!).
Diane,
I think you’re right, but it’s too bad that it has become an argument. Both e-books and hard copies have a place. My brother finds it easier to read on a screen and “reads” novels by listening to audiobooks; I prefer a page. Yet he and I manage to get along (at least about that :). I thinks it’s wonderful for people to have choices.
Ruth
Just finished reading The Marriage of Mary Russell. (Sighing happily.) Thank you so much, Laurie. (More sighing. )
Wonderful wedding story! Wonderful surprises and teases all around. Looking forward to future adventures.