Readers here know I'm a HUGE fan of Katherine Neville's best-selling novel, "The Eight," from which I've posted some interesting chess-related passages. It was "The Eight" that got me started on this path 10 years ago, and I still shake my head in wonder over how it all came about.
Alas, Katherine! I saw last night that Neville's formerly very user-friendly website that was filled with interesting tid-bits on her research and details of her life has been transformed into a corporate bloggy-type thing that I don't care for. All the really GOOD stuff has disappeared! Eek! What happened to the research on the centaurs and volvos? This has been a fairly recent development I think, because I last visited her website in June, looking for news of the much-anticipated sequel to "The Eight" - called "The Fire" and it was still the same then. How disappointing. How sad.
Now "The Fire" has been announced to much hoo-ha, which is great, but I feel the former Katherine her fans all knew and admired all these years between best sellers has been lost forever. What the hell happened?
On the other hand, I am looking forward to the release date of October 14 and I eagerly pre-ordered my hard copy of "The Fire" last night online through Barnes & Noble. It was only this morning that I realized that I had already pre-ordered the book back in June. Eek! So now I will receive two volumes of "The Fire." Not to worry - I have just the person in mind to receive an unexpected gift...
Like many of my other favorite books, I've read "The Eight" several times now and I get something new out of it every time. My Ballantine paperback edition, published in 1990, is yellowed, dog-earred, heavily underlined and filled with coffee and wine stains. LOL! And so, to be able to continue the story after all these years - twenty years! I await "The Fire" with even more anticipation than I did the release of the next Harry Potter novel, and that's saying a lot.
Last night I saw at Susan Polgar's chess blog that she will be a special guest/hostess of a very special occasion introducing "The Fire" to the reading public to be held in Washington, D.C. and Katherine Neville is the guest of honor. I'm so jealous! Of course, I couldn't afford what I'm sure would be a hefty contribution to attend. Sigh. Oh well. I'll pacify myself with reading "The Fire" by the fireplace with several bottles of fine wine and lots of candles, smooth jazz playing in the background.
The best news of all, though, is this announcement at the bottom of the invitation SP published last night: A portion of the first edition proceeds of THE FIRE are donated to SPICE, Grandmaster Susan Polgar's Institute for Chess Excellence at Texas Tech.
This is really a coup for Susan Polgar and for SPICE and Texas Tech. I believe it will result in a nice financial dividend for SPICE.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
I'm Jealous!
Readers here know I'm a HUGE fan of Katherine Neville's best-selling novel, "The Eight," from which I've posted some interesting chess-related passages. It was "The Eight" that got me started on this path 10 years ago, and I still shake my head in wonder over how it all came about.
Alas, Katherine! I saw last night that Neville's formerly very user-friendly website that was filled with interesting tid-bits on her research and details of her life has been transformed into a corporate bloggy-type thing that I don't care for. All the really GOOD stuff has disappeared! Eek! What happened to the research on the centaurs and volvos? This has been a fairly recent development I think, because I last visited her website in June, looking for news of the much-anticipated sequel to "The Eight" - called "The Fire" and it was still the same then. How disappointing. How sad.
Now "The Fire" has been announced to much hoo-ha, which is great, but I feel the former Katherine her fans all knew and admired all these years between best sellers has been lost forever. What the hell happened?
On the other hand, I am looking forward to the release date of October 14 and I eagerly pre-ordered my hard copy of "The Fire" last night online through Barnes & Noble. It was only this morning that I realized that I had already pre-ordered the book back in June. Eek! So now I will receive two volumes of "The Fire." Not to worry - I have just the person in mind to receive an unexpected gift...
Like many of my other favorite books, I've read "The Eight" several times now and I get something new out of it every time. My Ballantine paperback edition, published in 1990, is yellowed, dog-earred, heavily underlined and filled with coffee and wine stains. LOL! And so, to be able to continue the story after all these years - twenty years! I await "The Fire" with even more anticipation than I did the release of the next Harry Potter novel, and that's saying a lot.
Last night I saw at Susan Polgar's chess blog that she will be a special guest/hostess of a very special occasion introducing "The Fire" to the reading public to be held in Washington, D.C. and Katherine Neville is the guest of honor. I'm so jealous! Of course, I couldn't afford what I'm sure would be a hefty contribution to attend. Sigh. Oh well. I'll pacify myself with reading "The Fire" by the fireplace with several bottles of fine wine and lots of candles, smooth jazz playing in the background.
The best news of all, though, is this announcement at the bottom of the invitation SP published last night: A portion of the first edition proceeds of THE FIRE are donated to SPICE, Grandmaster Susan Polgar's Institute for Chess Excellence at Texas Tech.
This is really a coup for Susan Polgar and for SPICE and Texas Tech. I believe it will result in a nice financial dividend for SPICE.
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