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sneak peek confusion
I just had an email from Leti:
I finally finished reading Fire Along the Sky and I just wanted to tell you how much I love this series!! I've already read Into The Wilderness, Dawn on a Distant Shore, and Lake in the Clouds twice. I can't wait for Queen of Swords to come out! I read the sneak peak at the end of Fire Along the Sky and I am so confused!!! I know you won't tell me but I'll ask anyway :-)In the prologue, is Jennet pregnant with Luke's child (if she is, then she is 9 months along - I did the math) or did she already have Luke's child? She talks about seeing her child in the water and then resting her hands on her own great belly. Was seeing her child in the water an illusion? Did I just totally read that wrong?
Leti is confused, and so am I.
Let me say first that I don't myself have a copy of the soft cover edition of FAS. I just emailed yesterday to ask about where my copies got to, but the short and long of the situation is this:
I sent a longish Queen of Swords excerpt into my editor to be included at the end of the FAS paperback. From Leti's question it seems as though they might not have used the entire bit I sent. If that's the case, then what you'll get at the end of the paperback of FAS is the same thing I posted here, and I mislead you when I posted here a few days ago that the excerpt was longer. But unintentionally.
So let me figure this all out (I'll go into town and buy a copy of the darn book) and then get back to you. If it is indeed the case that the whole excerpt wasn't included, I may post it here to make up for that misunderstanding.
This is the passage that has Leti asking questions:
The lagoon spread out before her in the dim light. She held her breath and waited. A ripple, another. The surface of the water moved and broke.Hello. She whispered the word while the bulbous body in the water rolled and rolled. Then another appeared beside it, smaller: her child. Water sliding off gray-green skin, a rounded hip, the long curved line of back.
She stepped out of her shoes and into the cool grasp of the water, thought of swimming out to them. To play among the selkies, and learn their language so that she might ask them for shelter and sanctuary. For herself and her child.
Her hands rested on the great curve of her own belly. The life inside it flexed and turned, another swimmer in a silent sea.
You'll note that this prologue takes place called The Island of the Manatees, the creatures that Jennet visits in the lagoon -- a mother and newborn. She has never seen a manatee before and thinks of them as selkies. (Click on the thumbnail to see a larger version of this beautiful photograph on Dan Neri's website.)
Beyond those observations, let me say that you're right, Jennet is about nine months pregnant. Hopefully now all is clear.
January 10, 2006 04:13 PM
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Comments
I am so interested that you use Claire Fraser, the White Witch (from Diana Gabaldon's series) in Into the Wilderness. I would love to know how you knew she was going to write The Fiery Cross, when it came out after your first novel was published. I really live in your books...am in the process of re-reading them all again. I'm looking forward to The Queen of Swords. You are a very talented writer...something I have always admired, since I am a particular reader.
Posted by: Peggy Lempke at January 15, 2006 08:51 AM
I believe Claire Fraser was first described as the White Which in Dragonfly in Amber which is the second in the Outlander Series. In that case, I believe it came out before Into the Wilderness. I am reading Voyager now and can't wait to finish. I may need to go back and read the Into the Wilderness series again before QofS comes out so I can remember everything!
Posted by: Elissa Hahn at January 18, 2006 02:20 PM
I have read all the Sara Donati books. Just finished "Fire Along the Sky" and the beginning of Queen of Swords. I am just wondering why Luke Scott Bonner and Hannah Bonner became Luke Scott and Hannah Scott. I thought this was the story of the Bonners. Why confuse the readers?
Posted by: Temmy Walker at February 12, 2006 06:53 AM