publishing | Marie Marshall

October 25, 2012

A reader’s reaction to ‘Lupa’

“Lupa is the story of two fearless fighters, two She-Wolves, perhaps the avatars of the same wandering spirit, whose destinies become aligned through the mirror of time and dream. The set of the two plots, none other than the Eternal City, casts its many shadows and symbols on both stories.

I came upon this book quite by accident, while perusing the poetry section of a blogging site. The author’s compelling poetry made me very curious about what her blog announced as her first novel and, indeed, I was not disappointed.

Marie Marshall’s sharp writing has a wolfish brutality to it that masterfully shape-shifts to raw emotion in Lupa‘s fighting scenes.

Unlike Hesse’s Harry Haller, the main characters not only accept but seek out the totemic wolf within.”

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October 16, 2012

So, what’s it like to be an editor, Marie?

It’s interesting and demanding. The current task is the penultimate read-through of the first volume of The Phoenix Rising from the Ashes. The final selection process is complete, all the selected sonnets have been included, the Preface and the Introduction have been written. Now the time has arrived for us – the editorial team – to go through the final draft with a fine-toothed comb to see if we can spot any typographical errors. As we are an international panel, we have been warned not to correct British/American/Canadian English, so Associate Editor A has to do us the favor of leaving ‘neighbour’ as it stands, and Associate Editor B has to do us the favour of leaving ‘neighbor’ as it stands! Once we have completed this task (which we have to do by the middle of November) we will await the Master Copy, and we will proof-read that. We hope that the next copy we have to read after that will be the printed copy!

Being an editor or part of an editorial team does bring kudos with it, but let no one imagine it’s a sinecure

September 23, 2012

So interview me…

… and they did! A consequence of being published is that one becomes an object of interest and attention. In the past week I have given two interviews, one of which was to a magazine which has interviewed such writers as Minette Walters and Bernard Cornwell, so I’m in fine company. I’ll give you more news as it happens.

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August 2, 2012

Is it too much to say ‘fallen comrades’?

Over the past couple of days we have lost Maeve Binchy and Gore Vidal. I don’t think I can add anything to obituaries and tributes published elsewhere, except to say that the loss of literary masters and mistresses reminds us very clearly that life is a loan and payback day comes around. Vidal’s Julian is on my to-read list and I mean to get to it soon.

Meanwhile work continues. The sonnet anthology The Phoenix Rising from its Ashes is moving ahead slowly. Due to unforeseen difficulties I have been asked to take over a task from the Editor-in-Chief. I’m sorry that progress seems to be glacial, but that’s the way of publication as I know from my own projects (about which more later, hopefully). Meanwhile the printed ice-cap continues to melt in the heat of E-publishing’s global warming. I feel like a polar bear.

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The image of Gore Vidal is from a photograph by David Shankbone.

Tag: publishing