AUGUST 29 - KATE ATKINSON

Well don't say LBC doesn't keep its word - however late.  Kate Atkinson will, indeed, be dropping by here next Monday, August 29th to discuss Case Histories.  If you've got any questions you'd like forwarded to her in advance, please drop us a line and we'll make sure she gets them all. 

Comments

[Janet]

So, are you running out of steam, or are you discouraged by the lack of positive response, or are you just generally rethinking this undertaking, given the criticism you've received? Because it sure looks like there's not much going on.

[TEV]

I assume your question is for us, and not for Ms. Atkinson.

It's not a question of "running out of steam" - we're a quarterly selection, and there will be peaks and valleys of activity here. We all have daily sites to maintain.

Once we announce the Fall pick, there will be posts galore as we look at the other four titles, run the minority report, talk to the author and do a few other things. Then it will go more or less dark again until the Winter pick.

We are not at all discouraged, and the response was overall quite positive. The fact that some people took issue with the choice and fostered a real discussion only excited us further about the possibilities. We hope you'll stay tuned.

[ed]

I promised Mark about three liters of steam to give to the LBC. And I've given the man at least nine. If the LBC can be accused of anything, it's suspect accounting of time and energy.

[Sam]

I was out of steam for a while until I could collect more firewood. Firewood consumption is a bit tricky to assess because of the variation in the characteristics of different timbers. I prefer eucalyptus (gum tree) timber, which is a tough dense hard wood, and in particular red gum, which burns long, hot, strong and very clean.

With a fuel like red gum timber, my system will consume around 2 barrow loads of wood over a 6 to 8 hour period.

[Jozef Imrich]

'There are two kinds of fires. the Bad Fire and the Good Fire. And the paradox is that the Good Fire is made of bad things, of things that we do not want; but the Bad Fire is made of good things, of things that we do want.'
-G. K. Chesterton

I enjoyed Kate Atkinson's feel of the bizarre. Where is that strong sense of the bad fire and strangeness, the unexpected shifts out of reality, the sudden journeys into the magical and mythical coming from?