Kevin's Watch

"Commentary on the world we live in is not my conscious purpose. My conscious purpose is to write a story that feels important to me, about characters who have a lot of meaning to me, and who are not me. I have a passionate belief about storytelling that it's not only the best survival tool we have, it's the only path to redemption: we have to be able to get outside the bounds of our own skulls in order to consider reality as it appears to people whose cultures are different, as it appears to people whose knowledge-base is different, as it appears to people whose color and gender are different - if we cannot empathize, if we cannot cast our imagination somewhere outside our own skulls, we are DOOMED to live in a world that is terrifying and ignorant. And what I am trying to do is to create characters and make them as real for you as they are for me and see if I can get you to CARE."

For the longest time I felt like I was writing Covenant so that Covenant could teach me things that I needed to know. But by the time I got into the Last Chronicles, I was trying to teach him.

Now I am dealing with characters who once again are trying to teach me something that I need to know.

Incidentally, my agent considers this one of my best books ever. He's been reading my work for a long time, and he doesn't say that very often, so his opinion counts.

Stephen R. Donaldson
July 2018 News



I've reached what for me is a major watershed: delivery and acceptance (D&A). I have delivered my most recent (strenuous) revision of THE WAR WITHIN (Book Two of "The Great God's War"), and my editor has accepted it. So I'm done! (Well, not DONE done. I still have copyediting and proofreading ahead of me. But you get the idea.) Berkley has scheduled the book for April 2019. At this point, I have no reason to think that Gollancz in the UK will choose a different publication date. I'll get started on Book Three, THE LAST REPOSITORY, when I return home from a family wedding.

On a more personal--but still professional--note, I recently attended my 50th (!) college reunion. As part of the program, I participated in a panel discussion called "The Writers Among Us." The event was recorded (my generation would have called it "filmed") and then posted on Facebook. Since I am not on Facebook, I can't give you a link. But I imagine that if you search under "The College of Wooster" and "Alumni Reunion" and "Class of '68" and "The Writers Among Us," or some combination of those terms, you'll be able to find it. I know from other sources that it is there, and suitable for viewing/hearing.

Meanwhile, on a subject of professional outrage, I've recently learned that a web site called "Oceanofpdf.com" is making a vast quantity of copyrighted material available for free download. This is piracy, otherwise known as STEALING. Many of my books have been stolen: I stopped counting after 10. Of course, every publisher involved will bring all the legal pressure they can to bear, in an effort to shut the site down. I'm appalled by both the dishonesty and the hypocrisy of the people responsible for this crime. I hope publishers like PenguinRandomHouse and HarperCollins UK will succeed soon.

As always, if you want off this list, use the "unsubscribe" link above, or contact: NMJen11@yahoo.com. And if you know someone who wants to be added to the list, use the same contact. AND, if you've already asked to be on the list, but you don't get this newsletter <grin>, look in your spam folder. Or re-send your request.

Be well!

--Steve

I have delivered my most recent (strenuous) revision of THE WAR WITHIN (Book Two of "The Great God's War"), and my editor has accepted it. So I'm done!

kevinswatch wrote:I think I actually GOT the July 2018 newsletter for once but it went to SPAM so I accidentally DELETED IT before I READ IT. Haha.

kevinswatch wrote:I think I actually GOT the July 2018 newsletter for once but it went to SPAM so I accidentally DELETED IT before I READ IT. Haha.

-jay

I regret to say that I will not be sending out any more email newsletters.