Things and Stuff #13

Things and Stuff is a grab-bag of things that've been on my mind this week. In this edition: BOOKS, partay, wedding, blogs, witch.

Thing 1: my copies of Skulk arrived!
In fact, they failed to arrive so I had to go to the depot to pick them up and get mildly lost in Acton and wear a high-vis jacket and walk down a special customers-only path and search through a big pile of boxes looking for the right one but then I found it and it had Grantham Book Service on the side and I got it home and opened it up and omg.

It's a real book with real pages and my real name on the really shiny cover and a really minor typo that J found almost instantly and I'M REALLY HAPPY ABOUT IT (C) me

Thing 2: be there or be somewhere else
The Skulk Launch Party is officially on for October the 12th at 5pm in the Big Green Bookshop. Facebook event with RSVP function here: https://www.facebook.com/events/552926601463023/?notif_t=plan_user_joined

Thing 3: wedding!
Last weekend I went to Edinburgh for a really fabulous wedding. Geeks I love and don't see enough of were everywhere, the registrar said she'd never seen anyone impersonate a zombie during a reading before, I cried all the way through the ceremony, there was a very adorable baby at our table, a tiny Indian woman in a brightly-coloured sari danced a ceilidh with an incredibly tall Scottish man in a kilt and stompy boots, Jessie literally danced all the way through her tights, and two of the best people ever joined together in legal matrimony. It was fantastic.

Thing 4: the blog story so far
I've worried about making London seem too touristy, listed awesome fictional foxes and gone off on a tiny tangent about Nazis, revealed Meg's favourite music video and comfort movie, linked to a video of me singing on the day I got the Skulk offer, revealed my own comfort movie and admitted to a weird impulse related to romance novels, come out as a terrible procrastinator, waffled about identity and diversity and code switching, referenced Neverwhere for like the eighth time and Hellblazer for the first time, and admitted that getting spiders to emote is really tricky.

Thing 5: this picture of Meryl Streep in a tree

I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right. (C) Sondheim/Lapine/Entertainment Weekly

Awesome.

I've been all excited about the Sondheim musical Into the Woods getting made into a movie, especially when the director is the Rob Marshall who made Chicago. I've devoted a fairly goodish amount of time recently to daydreaming about just how they're going to manage the massive tone shifts and the big group numbers where everyone's in different places and the big meta twists and the fact that it's just so stagey... and yet for some reason I hadn't checked its IMDB page until today. Simon Russell Beale! Frances de la Tour! James Corden! The kid who was Gavroche in Les Mis! Christine Baranski! I'm a little worried that there's no narrator listed because the narrator is one of the best things about the show, but then, but then, thanks to The Mary Sue I just found these - unofficial set pics of a bunch of the cast in costume!

I mean really. L-R: Prince Charming, Baker's Wife, Baker. (C) Chris Pine, Emily Blunt, James Corden, plus Disney and Rob Marshall and the heroic observer who took this photo

OMG.

how. perfect. is. this. (C) as above plus Anna Kendrick and Anna Kendrick's 'oh god what did I just marry' face

Yep. Officially excited again.

Things and Stuff #12

Things and Stuff is a grab-bag of things that have been on my mind this week. In this edition: tour, ill, reviews, cake, delivery.

Thing 1: blog tour is well and truly underway.
Check out the blog tour page for info, links and some blather about transport! I'm actually really enjoying myself so far.

Thing 2: Ill
I lost my voice at the weekend. It was horrible. It's back now.

Thing 3: some reviews
There are a whole bunch of reviews of Skulk up on the blogosphere now - too many to link, but they come up when you Google. (Which I have not been doing... very much.) And there are even more at Goodreads.

This is weird. As I think Sara G pointed out to me a few months ago, it's a very strange feeling when you realise people who you don't know are reading the book. It's even stranger when they have opinions about it and put them on the internet. Strange, but lovely. Some of them are hugely flattering and amazing and gosh, and one or two of them couldn't get behind the book at all for reasons that I entirely respect (and in at least one case, kinda agree with). I feel like I'm currently dealing with this pretty well, although I've yet to see a 0-star or 1-star review so maybe I have those depths still to come...

Thing 4: Mel/Sue/baked goods OT3

   

(Sue Perkins' perfect face (C) Perkins, twee set decoration (C) BBC, gifs by http://rosalindlutece.co.vu/ as far as I can make out)

Thing 5: we got a you-weren't-in card through the door the other day and I rearranged the delivery to my work address, and they said it would come today and it hasn't turned up and I'm annoyed about it.