The Buried Pyramid, by Jane Lindskold

I really wanted to like this book. As a longstanding fan of both the Amelia Peabody books and the Indiana Jones movies, I was definitely its target audience. I love me some archaeological adventures, especially when set in Egypt. So when I saw this one on the shelf at Third Place, it didn't take me long to give in to the impulse to scarf it up. But I should have taken it as a bad sign when irysangel told me the first fifty pages were quite boring. I should have taken the negative reviews on Amazon as bad signs as well, though in fairness I must say that I did not quite agree with all of those reviews.

At any rate, it had all the right bits and pieces for me to like: the mysterious archaeological setting, the worldly older British guy, his American ward, a geeky younger scholar guy who could have served well as a love interest for the lass, a crafty and beautiful antagonist, mysterious attackers, the exotic Egyptian setting, magic, mythology, and gods. With the exception of the truly supernatural aspects of the plot, hell, I get all of these things or things which are very similar in Amelia Peabody books. Same note re: Indiana Jones movies.

The pieces just weren't put together right. Between a clunky writing style, way too many usages of contemporary phrases in what should have been period dialogue, and an unsatisfying ending, I don't recommend it.

( Spoilers back here... )

Bantam says no on Lament of the Dove

This afternoon on the MurkMUSH, I got the word from solarbird that a letter had come in from the editor at Bantam to whom I'd pitched Lament of the Dove and Faerie Blood. Turns out she says "no" on Lament. To wit, AGH.

Bad thing about the rejection letter: Said that she was "not quite sufficiently taken" by the book to add it to their list. No elaboration as to why.

Good things about the rejection letter: Not a form letter, even if it was really short. Actually addressed to me as opposed to "Author", and actually signed and everything, which is nice. Also said that "the material is well-written", and that part really rather pleases me, coming from an editor at a house that handles people like Connie Willis and Ursula K. LeGuin and George R.R. Martin! Also, about two and a half months? Pretty decent turnaround time on a verdict, I think!

Probably meaningless but nevertheless vaguely interesting thing about the rejection letter: I sent Lament to this editor five days after I sent her Faerie Blood, but I'm getting the rejection on Lament first. Most likely this means I can expect the rejection letter for Faerie Blood any day now, though it would be nice if this actually meant she's taking longer to think about Faerie Blood since it might have a better chance. But really, I suppose this means I can expect the rejection letter on Faerie Blood any day now. Sniff. :)

Tonight I will have my obligatory sulk, and then Lament heads out to Tor, probably on Saturday as I expect to spend the next couple of evenings preparing another partial.

Publisher turnaround times

Faerie Blood's turnaround times so far:
First outing to Tor: two months, eighteen days.
Second outing to Tor: three months, twenty-seven days.
Partial outing to Luna: one month, twenty-seven days.
Full outing to Luna: five months, eleven days.

Lament's turnaround time at Bantam: two months, eight days.

All of these are counting the turnaround time from the day I sent the manuscript out to the day I got a solid reply back one way or another. So Bantam's turnaround time is comparable to Tor's, pretty much. Luna is still in the lead for fastest reply as well as longest reply, though they've so far been the only ones to see one of my fulls. This is all pretty good, I think, considering the various tales of woe I've heard others tell about a manuscript languishing for months on end, even up to over a year, in certain slush piles.

Of the rejections I have received from publishers, one was a form letter, one was a form letter with a note scribbled on it, and two were personally addressed.

A pretty decent track record so far for a comparative newbie, I think.

Thank you, Livejournal, may I have another?

Because really, yeah, when I wanted to tweak one little custom option on my layout, what I really meant for you to do was to COMPLETELY DELETE ALL OF THE CUSTOM CODING I'D DONE ON THE THING. ARGH!

You know what I really don't want to do? Recreate all the little tweaks I did on this damned layout by hand. Because of course I didn't save it anywhere local on my own box for this very eventuality, because that would have been CLEVER. And I'm really not in the mood to have to allocate time to create a whole brand new journal layout, either. I've got writing to do!

I'd switch to one of the new styles, but there are so few journal styles that really appeal to me. The ones from Vox are too cutesy, by and large, and too busy as well. I don't need most of the extra bells and whistles that show up in the newer journal layouts, and I don't need a whole bunch of colors, either.