tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65556410448486263612024-02-06T21:49:19.459-08:00INVISIBLE THINGSSequel to THE EXPLOSIONIST (2008), INVISIBLE THINGS will be published by HarperTeen in November 2010. Check here for event details and other features.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-70714099881355437412010-11-04T07:19:00.001-07:002010-11-04T07:27:45.438-07:00Author's noteThis wasn't included in the ARC of <a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Invisible-Things-Jenny-Davidson/?isbn=9780062025128" target="_blank">Invisible Things</a>, so I thought I would post it here for those who might be curious. (It also includes some bonus paragraphs that we didn't have space for in the book itself, on the library research I did while writing the novel!)<br /><br />THE AUTHOR'S NOTE<br /><br />As I wrote in the note printed at the end of <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist</span>, which tells the earlier part of Sophie’s story, I have always been in love with the idea of north. My father is Scottish, and I spent quite a bit of time in Edinburgh and its environs as a child. Over the summers between 2000 and 2004, I was lucky enough to visit St. Petersburg in Russia, Tallinn in Estonia, Stockholm in Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark. (København is the Danish spelling, which I have retained here for the slight sense of alienation and estrangement it gives to English-language readers.)<br /><br />Like Edinburgh, these are cities of striking natural and artificial beauty, and I began to dream about what it would be like to live in an alternate universe in which these northern cities, so strongly united by culture and geography, were also politically connected. What if a new Hanseatic League (the Hanse was the name for the medieval trade alliance that spanned the Baltic and the North Sea) had come about in the wake of an event that did not happen in our world, but did take place in Sophie’s – Napoleon’s defeat of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815?<br /><br />There is a by now well-established genre of fiction called alternate history. Many alternate histories take a single event (often a famous battle) and change its outcome, considering what might have happened had history continued along another prong of the fork in the road. Novels of this sort might be set in worlds where the South won the American Civil War or Germany won World War II, to take two of the most popular examples.<br /><br />Sophie is coming of age in a 1930s that looks in many respects much like the decade we knew (more about this in a moment), but that is in other respects quite different. As in our world, the 1910s in Sophie’s world saw a Great War; in Sophie’s world, though, that war lingered well into the 1920s and ended with England falling to Europe. The countries in the Hanseatic League (chiefly Scotland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Estonia) are able to hold out against the Europeans only because they are also the world’s premier suppliers of top-quality munitions, which Europe needs. Thus the secular patron saint of the modern Hanseatic states is Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and industrialist whose invention of dynamite in 1867 changed the landscape of Sophie’s Europe even more decisively than our own.<br /><br />The world I imagined comes out of real places and real history but also out of fairy tales and counterfactual paths not taken. Of course, if we really think about how history works, a world that split off more than a hundred years prior to the events of <span style="font-style:italic;">Invisible Things</span> would have much less in common with our own world. In Sophie’s world, it is Ludwig Wittgenstein (in real history, a philosopher rather than a physicist), not Werner Heisenberg, who collaborates with Niels Bohr and comes upon the notion of the uncertainty principle; in our world, Denmark was occupied by the Germans in April 1940, whereas the world of <span style="font-style:italic;">Invisible Things</span> sees a German-dominated European Federation invading Denmark in October 1938. But Sophie’s world remains quite recognizably entwined or entangled with our own world and its history; not just Niels Bohr but Paul Dirac, Wolfgang Pauli, Otto Robert Frisch, Lise Meitner and others were real historical characters with the same names and birthdates and personal histories that they possess in <span style="font-style:italic;">Invisible Things</span>. Logically speaking, it is monumentally unlikely that if history had taken such a different turn there would even be such a person as Niels Bohr: he would have to have been the product of a particular meeting of sperm and egg contributed by parents who might never even have existed in the world of <span style="font-style:italic;">Invisible Things</span>, let alone been born and met and married and conceived exactly the same child at the same exact moment and given him the same name as they did in ours. This is a very great liberty, given the rules of alternate history, and I have taken it ruthlessly and without remorse.<br /><br />I consulted too many books while researching this novel to name them all here, but these are a few of the ones I found especially useful or enjoyable: <br /><br />On Niels Bohr and the (real) Institute for Theoretical Physics, <span style="font-style:italic;">Niels Bohr: A Centenary Volume</span>, edited by A. P. French and P. J. Kennedy; <span style="font-style:italic;">Niels Bohr: His life and work as seen by his friends and colleagues</span>, edited by S. Rozental; Ruth Moore’s biography, <span style="font-style:italic;">Niels Bohr: The Man, His Science, and the World They Changed</span>; Peter Robertson’s <span style="font-style:italic;">The Early Years: The Niels Bohr Institute, 1921-1930</span>; Hilde Levy’s <span style="font-style:italic;">George de Hevesy: Life and Work</span>; and Otto R. Frisch’s <span style="font-style:italic;">What Little I Remember</span>.<br /><br />On the idea of north and Sophie’s Lapland travels: Frank Hedges Butler’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Through Lapland with Skis & Reindeer</span>; Barbara Sjoholm’s <span style="font-style:italic;">The Palace of the Snow Queen: Winter Travels in Lapland</span>; Vendela Vida’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name</span>; Piers Vitebsky’s <span style="font-style:italic;">The Reindeer People: Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia</span>; and Peter Davidson’s <span style="font-style:italic;">The Idea of North</span>.<br /><br />On Alfred Nobel, Nicholas Halasz’s <span style="font-style:italic;">A Biography of Alfred Nobel</span> and Ragnar Sohlman and Henrik Schück’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Nobel: Dynamite and Peace</span>; and on brainwashing, Dominic Streatfield’s <span style="font-style:italic;">Brainwash: The Secret History of Mind Control</span>.<br /><br />Particular thanks are due to Felicity Pors at the Niels Bohr Archive, who told me the story of Hevesy’s cats that prompted me to get hold of Hevesy’s delightfully titled collection of scientific papers, <span style="font-style:italic;">Adventures in Radioisotope Research</span>, and to the friends who made my northern travels so pleasurable, especially Troy Selvaratnam, Vijai Maheshwari and Tarvo Varres. Brent Buckner hosted much of the writing, kept me more or less sane in times of adversity and gave useful comments on several rounds of draft. My father Ian Davidson offered scientific fact-checking at various stages. The book benefited immeasureably from editorial comments from Zareen Jaffery and Ruth Katcher. Thanks, too, to Kathleen Anderson, Liz Gately and others at Anderson Literary Management. So many friends, family members and students facilitated the writing of the book in one way or another that I really cannot begin to list them here, but I am immensely grateful for their contributions, and for the work of everyone at HarperTeen. Finally, I would like to thank the bloggers who greeted <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist</span> with such enthusiasm and clamored for the sequel. I hope <span style="font-style:italic;">Invisible Things</span> will meet or exceed their expectations.<br /><br />The original inspiration for this story was Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow-Queen,” a tale I have loved ever since I first encountered it as a small child reading Andrew Lang’s Pink Fairy Book. Go and read it if you have not already!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-12906310284176162072010-06-10T15:19:00.000-07:002010-06-10T15:22:35.314-07:00Update<a href="http://www.harperteen.com/books/Invisible-Things-Jenny-Davidson/?isbn=9780061239786" target="_blank">Invisible Things</a> (sequel to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Explosionist-Jenny-Davidson/dp/0061239755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276208448&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Explosionist</a>) will be published on November 23, 2010. Check back here closer to the time for event details, blog posts and special features - in the meantime, you can find me on a more regular basis at <a href="http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com" target="_blank">Light Reading</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-56747138088064661702009-03-30T15:33:00.000-07:002009-03-30T15:34:27.515-07:00JaneitesThere is something a bit recursive about posting this at all - but <a href="http://www.austenblog.com/2009/03/30/author-jenny-davidson-friend-of-jane/" target="_blank">this link made me laugh</a>!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-24495828389248383652009-03-25T08:52:00.000-07:002009-03-25T08:53:30.046-07:00UpdateNo new developments - I'm waiting for my editor's comments on the manuscript - but I gather that <span style="font-style:italic;">The Snow Queen</span> is slated for publication in Fall 2010. <br /><br />More thoughts to follow!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-18209858195411356322009-02-27T20:15:00.000-08:002009-02-27T20:17:12.953-08:00Sequel-writing<a href="http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=72210576&blogId=473460142" target="_blank">I had a post up yesterday at the HarperTeen Myspace page</a>...<br /><br />... and if you follow the underlying links, you will (a) read about delicious things and (b) learn that I have finished a good draft of the sequel to <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist</span> - it is <span style="font-style:italic;">The Snow Queen</span>, and it is with my editor now!<br /><br />I'll post more details here once I have a clearer sense of when the book is likely to see the light of day.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-10762243905419102182009-01-04T10:07:00.000-08:002009-01-04T10:09:34.790-08:00Plucky schoolgirl foils enemy plot!<a href="http://charlotteslibrary.blogspot.com/2009/01/why-i-love-explosionist.html" target="_blank">Charlotte has a very nice Explosionist bit</a>...<br /><br />I am also rather thrilled to have made <a href="http://tammypierce.livejournal.com/21621.html" target="_blank">Tamora Pierce's list of her favorite books of 2008</a>!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-53911215017804963812009-01-01T13:45:00.001-08:002009-01-01T13:45:58.747-08:00Lists<a href="http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2008-fantasy-science-fiction-finalists.html" target="_blank">The Explosionist makes the Cybils Fantasy and Science Fiction shortlist!</a> I am in very good company, I see...Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-76358639947824543252008-12-31T16:00:00.000-08:002008-12-31T16:03:30.615-08:00Happy New Year!New Year's Eve is a strongly Scottish holiday (Hogmanay!), so it is appropriate that I should write to wish you all a very happy new year. <br /><br />My big goal for January: finish writing the sequel to <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist, The Snow Queen</span>! <br /><br />I'm not quite sure how the publisher's schedule works, but I would think that if all goes as planned, the book would be published in winter or early spring of 2010 - I'll post more details here as things develop. <br /><br />Thanks to everyone who has written to me or blogged about liking The Explosionist and wanting to hear what happens next!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-50287219776264290492008-10-31T13:42:00.001-07:002008-10-31T13:42:50.648-07:00?<a href="http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=72210576&blogID=445308157" target="_blank">At the HarperTeen Myspace blog, I contemplate the possibility that I should NaNoWriMo</a>...Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-48685753264285714572008-10-26T19:22:00.001-07:002008-10-26T19:24:00.485-07:00Excitement...A <a href="http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2008/10/the-2008-nomina.html" target="_blank">Cybils nomination</a> <a href="http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/SFFYA.html/" target="_blank">for The Explosionist</a>!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-84990565318893978882008-10-16T11:45:00.000-07:002008-10-16T11:47:18.397-07:00Puffins!<a href="http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/travel/19explorer.html" target="_blank">North Berwick in the travel section of the New York Times</a>. This seaside town is about half-an-hour's train ride outside of Edinburgh, and it's mentioned several times in <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist</span>. My Scottish grandparents lived in North Berwick, and it is strange to me to see a picture of the Bass Rock in the newspaper, it is such a familiar sight to me!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-80440805978154303522008-09-24T16:13:00.000-07:002008-09-24T16:14:19.047-07:00Cabalistic<a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2008/09/24/great-books-by-women.html" target="_blank">Nice Explosionist mention at BoingBoing</a> by guest-blogger <a href="http://rushkoff.com/" target="_blank">Douglas Rushkoff</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-32779879167214471052008-09-23T06:29:00.001-07:002008-09-23T07:07:44.611-07:00PhiladelphiaTwo pictures from Sunday's reading at the <a href="http://www.bigbluemarblebooks.com/">Big Blue Marble Bookstore</a> (I wish that store had been there when I was a kid - it is right next door to the <a href="http://www.weaversway.coop/" target="_blank">food co-op where we always shopped</a> - it would have been a heavenly thing to my childhood self!):<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9mqiRAnqVwmZzFImFRKXI-0pSmlzYvjDuiO1W3fPytsulUn6XakF088OKRalOhx7ufV9aERIAbeNJ3rYXCRUnJ7uBWV5yw6HqQZdLHQOhM7BSAdTjoYXayQxD5bRMsuuZzML6ZUqBtA/s1600-h/Philadelphia+reading+1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid9mqiRAnqVwmZzFImFRKXI-0pSmlzYvjDuiO1W3fPytsulUn6XakF088OKRalOhx7ufV9aERIAbeNJ3rYXCRUnJ7uBWV5yw6HqQZdLHQOhM7BSAdTjoYXayQxD5bRMsuuZzML6ZUqBtA/s400/Philadelphia+reading+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249209796539726354" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUS8s52k13SbFV_WOpOy5u778FPk8y2o9fyJEjDN5gZoSsF4crAXsjGElfL9thAxrQKtnIvo5rlalX4hJpcvKlIVL_JX9pYzfJXdPOOkHf9MCdOLV9ONJr37_0Rf0SdwYpCVWR9BvPbdA/s1600-h/Philadelphia+reading+2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUS8s52k13SbFV_WOpOy5u778FPk8y2o9fyJEjDN5gZoSsF4crAXsjGElfL9thAxrQKtnIvo5rlalX4hJpcvKlIVL_JX9pYzfJXdPOOkHf9MCdOLV9ONJr37_0Rf0SdwYpCVWR9BvPbdA/s400/Philadelphia+reading+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5249209118644745586" /></a><br />In the first picture, my lovely sister-in-law; in the second, the bonus book is<br /><a href="http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/" target="_blank">Justine Larbalestier's</a> excellent <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ditch-Your-Fairy-Justine-Larbalestier/dp/1599903016/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222177620&sr=8-1" target="_blank">How to Ditch Your Fairy</a>! Justine's reading there this week also - have a nice time in Philadelphia, Justine!<br /><br />I was just there for twenty-four hours, but the main thing we did was utterly gorge ourselves on delicious food, on Saturday night at the <a href="http://www.springmill.com/" target="_blank">Spring Mill Cafe</a> in Conshohocken and on Sunday morning at <a href="http://www.jakesrestaurant.com/" target="_blank">Jake's Restaurant</a> in Manayunk. Before getting on the train to Philadelphia, I did <a href="http://triaspirational.blogspot.com/2008/09/long-run-9.html" target="_blank">a twelve-mile run on Saturday morning in Central Park</a> as part of my marathon training - I needed a lot of fuel, but it is not of course strictly speaking necessary to have home-made pate (three kinds!), filet mignon, tarte tatin and walnut french toast as fuel!<br /><br />[ED. Postscript: I forgot to say before, but one of the members of the audience was my former third-grade teacher, the one who prompted me to write <a href="http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/2005/06/essay-about-reading.html" target="_blank">this essay about reading</a>.)Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-68698379234241354752008-09-16T14:29:00.000-07:002008-09-16T14:32:34.308-07:00Philadelphia readingJust a reminder that I'll be reading from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Explosionist-Jenny-Davidson/dp/0061239755/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221600666&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Explosionist</a> at the <a href="http://www.bigbluemarblebooks.com/events.html#fair" target="_blank">Big Blue Marble Bookstore</a> this Sunday at 12:30 as part of the Mt. Airy Village Fair.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-11326723330815221142008-09-04T11:05:00.001-07:002008-09-04T11:06:17.573-07:00Spooky?<a href="http://tyrashow.warnerbros.com/2008/09/twilight_takeover.php" target="_blank">The Explosionist gets a nice mention at the Tyra Show website</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-7372421074182167592008-08-19T12:03:00.000-07:002008-08-19T12:05:55.595-07:00TwitteryAt the HarperTeen Myspace page: <a href="http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=72210576&blogID=425565090" target="_blank">the one use I might have for Twitter</a>...<br /><br />(Bonus link: this is slightly along the lines of <a href="http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/davidson_12_06/" target="_blank">a story I wrote a couple years ago</a> about what it would be like to be able to get any book you ever wanted, even if it had never been written, from Amazon...)Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-19409892444928409102008-08-12T05:30:00.000-07:002008-08-12T05:32:16.527-07:00Podcast!<a href="http://www.edrants.com/the-bat-segundo-show-jenny-davidson/" target="_blank">A long interview about The Explosionist for the Bat Segundo show</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-69989729015382487222008-08-06T20:42:00.001-07:002008-08-07T06:27:54.509-07:00Books of Wonder reading1. The store had me sign a <span style="font-style:italic;">ton</span> of books, it was good for my authorly morale...<br /><br />(2. But contrary to popular belief, I learned the other day <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200808/book-tour" target="_blank">that it is a myth that signed copies cannot be returned to the publisher</a>! <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91461568" target="_blank">Here, if you are curious, is a recent story on why 'returns' are bad for authors and publishers</a>...)<br /><br />(3. I have confidence, though, that the delightful staff members at Books of Wonder will thoroughly and wholeheartedly <span style="font-style:italic;">vend</span> these copies...)<br /><br />4. This is a nice dress that I am wearing, but it shows too much cleavage! I got it a couple years ago at J. Crew, I hate shopping but I spotted it immediately as something I would wear, and indeed I often get a nice compliment on how it looks on me & the question of whether it is vintage emerges (but in fact I do not have a small enough ribcage to wear real vintage dresses from the 1940s!); however it has a fatal design flaw, as all items from J. Crew do (it always is the sort of thing one only realizes once one has actually brought it home), the front flap situation would really have been better off with some kind of button or fastener - it is possible to use a brooch, for instance, to clip it together very high up next to the throat (this is perhaps the modest but alluring look that one might prefer on a date with a vampire!)...<br /><br clear="left" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9lk13xeLXiLq3zQrxKTIjrrutIgfFIhvfOG76bDebPYDZHfWNK-RABqaOpol1rA3RVEcxWchPlefCZhkm-KqotWIiZfa9qkIV7aDgeTs95LiuBh9jZihu0ytxUzIb0VB8b-s9OKquZI/s1600-h/Books!.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA9lk13xeLXiLq3zQrxKTIjrrutIgfFIhvfOG76bDebPYDZHfWNK-RABqaOpol1rA3RVEcxWchPlefCZhkm-KqotWIiZfa9qkIV7aDgeTs95LiuBh9jZihu0ytxUzIb0VB8b-s9OKquZI/s400/Books!.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231621341089583634" /></a><br /><br clear="left" /><br />We were egged on to pose by the camera-holder, but I think I naturally have a fairly exaggerated manner in public...<br /><br clear="left" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5TMdrjOJQ0qTdBcx0FPbjeM9NjddR0euXPH75VX0EODSvQQljuX9ehLU_CaPSwlVvTd5b9QyXW9Hw3Al5kj7674DvFLTmu9ISmnv2ujQBWDUR7F136Iocd-T3zIfBmfj0nL-bCMSxJds/s1600-h/Signing+1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5TMdrjOJQ0qTdBcx0FPbjeM9NjddR0euXPH75VX0EODSvQQljuX9ehLU_CaPSwlVvTd5b9QyXW9Hw3Al5kj7674DvFLTmu9ISmnv2ujQBWDUR7F136Iocd-T3zIfBmfj0nL-bCMSxJds/s400/Signing+1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231619096148411474" /></a><br /><br clear="left" /><br />More au naturel:<br /><br clear="left" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Kmlnx6Ne-b4SqUAfiuRzrOXpVdB_iKt4ATe8Qq1zxuyYSQL4AZV3vqmqthvgWzRyZ1Mui3PcMWOWCcE7fVWHfYoHutl4ZAujFHDJnTzCHgQQFPS_TzUFHF1vIIbkF7Kifpr2MyDeWFM/s1600-h/Signing+2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Kmlnx6Ne-b4SqUAfiuRzrOXpVdB_iKt4ATe8Qq1zxuyYSQL4AZV3vqmqthvgWzRyZ1Mui3PcMWOWCcE7fVWHfYoHutl4ZAujFHDJnTzCHgQQFPS_TzUFHF1vIIbkF7Kifpr2MyDeWFM/s400/Signing+2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231618244014996962" /></a><br /><br clear="left" /><br />The main subject of the photograph below is <a href="http://lindagerber.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Linda Gerber</a>, who is very nice indeed and whose own camera batteries had run out! Hmmm, I have been a lifelong anti-photographer, really I would always rather live in the moment, but I can see the utility - I took a few other pics for authors who had forgotten to bring their cameras...<br /><br clear="left" /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOFY75OHOOyFpJr4akduNmcbrTyqMPaPUJwzI3LDJSAoT8Y_RiRDuxMHYtB8IvSVRdNnqNyryEx_XikjkZSkOKjeaELLfQZ10CL3f7eRBfgj66auBKGyz5DVAR2e_dG5t-zfOygMBR6E/s1600-h/Incidental+further+signing.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNOFY75OHOOyFpJr4akduNmcbrTyqMPaPUJwzI3LDJSAoT8Y_RiRDuxMHYtB8IvSVRdNnqNyryEx_XikjkZSkOKjeaELLfQZ10CL3f7eRBfgj66auBKGyz5DVAR2e_dG5t-zfOygMBR6E/s400/Incidental+further+signing.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5231616784171749634" /></a>Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-91274530227217691712008-08-02T08:57:00.000-07:002008-08-02T08:59:03.440-07:00Reading on Wednesday 8/6I'm doing a group reading and signing, with a number of other young-adult authors, <a href="http://www.booksofwonder.com/events080608.asp" target="_blank">at Books of Wonder on 18th St. in Manhattan</a>: Wednesday 6-7:30. Stop by and say hello!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-8849180023858166112008-07-29T14:15:00.000-07:002008-07-29T14:16:37.550-07:00Revealed preferences<a href="http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=72210576&blogID=419204457" target="_blank">At the HarperTeen Myspace blog, I contemplate the top ten signs that a novel has been written by me</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-20122064404341563432008-07-24T13:22:00.000-07:002008-07-24T13:30:51.075-07:00Richer than the QueenNot too far into <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Explosionist-Jenny-Davidson/dp/0061239755/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216930990&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Explosionist</a>, a murder takes place in a fancy Edinburgh hotel room. When I was writing the scene, I decided to set it at the alternate-universe version of one of Edinburgh's real-world luxury hotels - and some time afterwards, I was very delighted to read the stories about J. K. Rowling checking into a hotel to write the final scenes of the Harry Potter saga, because the hotel she stayed at was the exact same one that made an appearance in my novel!<br /><br />Now the rooms she stayed in have been renamed <a href="http://www.luxist.com/2008/07/22/the-jk-rowling-suite-at-the-balmoral-hotel/" target="_blank">the J. K. Rowling Suite</a>, and you can book the suite yourself for £965/night - that's close to $2000 at current exchange rates...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thebalmoralhotel.com/" target="_blank">Here's the hotel's website</a>, and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2309627/Harry-Potter-fans-pay-andpound1,000-a-night-to-stay-in-hotel-room-where-JK-Rowling-finished-series.html" target="_blank">here's a longer story at the Telegraph</a>. Many thanks to <a href="http://off-the-deep-end.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Wendy</a> for the link!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-64504403698954886262008-07-22T04:47:00.001-07:002008-07-22T04:47:55.245-07:00Questions, questions...<a href="http://www.chasingray.com/archives/2008/07/davidson_interview.html" target="_blank">An Explosionist interview at Chasing Ray</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-75405113000008141152008-07-09T17:29:00.000-07:002008-07-09T17:55:57.402-07:00Danger areasThe big showdown at the end of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Explosionist-Jenny-Davidson/dp/0061239755/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215649982&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Explosionist</a> takes place in a dynamite factory on the Scottish coast.<br /><br />Though the novel takes place in an alternate version of history that's different from the history of our own world, lots of things are in fact quite similar, and this factory existed (for real!) in our world also. <a href="http://www.threetowners.com/Ardeer%20Factory/article1897.htm" target="_blank">Here is the 1897 magazine story about the Nobel Dynamite Factory at Ardeer</a> that I found most useful for research purposes...<br /><br />(Hmmm, once upon a time I had a link online to a facsimile of the original article, which gives a better feel for the period - I cannot find it again now - but I am grateful to the administrator of that site for having made the full text accessible!)<br /><br />This picture appeared in the original article, and if you've read my novel, it will be easy for you to see how it - along with the accompanying description of young female factory workers getting searched for any metal they might have on them before going into the nitroglycerin house, where a single spark could lead to lethal consequences - fed into the scene I envisioned: <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYXQY53LeVhlfxamgkaFZprWq1N-gpzlsheJjr4oLK6CFVFcNUEfIAzqkG6VDKKFJq-cvb74rjdiXL6tRxCjpMfGsLbww-PsN2JKHRVBlY7s1VjZl59hDtrFzXycd2nXx7CAhYGLBsU0/s1600-h/Girls+being+searched.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxYXQY53LeVhlfxamgkaFZprWq1N-gpzlsheJjr4oLK6CFVFcNUEfIAzqkG6VDKKFJq-cvb74rjdiXL6tRxCjpMfGsLbww-PsN2JKHRVBlY7s1VjZl59hDtrFzXycd2nXx7CAhYGLBsU0/s400/Girls+being+searched.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221177971304849394" /></a><br />My father was in Scotland as I was finishing the novel, and he made an expedition to the site to take some pictures. It was a working factory well into the twentieth century (<a href="http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/industrial/articles/dolan/index.html" target="_blank">here's a good article on dynamiteur Alfred Nobel's Scottish enterprises</a>), and for a brief period a few years ago, <a href="http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst3884.html" target="_blank">it seemed as though the site would serve as the location for a permanent exhibition called The Big Idea</a>, on the history of invention in general and Nobel prize-winners more specifically. But the project closed down - <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20000206/ai_n13945964" target="_blank">here's a description of it in its heyday</a> - and the pictures my father took speak of the devastating but beautiful effects of the passage of time.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChURCrtWl3qsD9tkZM3d3SrCCjplTke_xCn6txbzV0Wg8WPeOzixu6YSWySASgqRKo_Uspz41Cmz8ZSC2LeoKbMqNtS-pnRTCYNsHZvPh_Z_kc6C0VO09B3_Kn5aeQzS_5C700myzqpo/s1600-h/Ardeer.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChURCrtWl3qsD9tkZM3d3SrCCjplTke_xCn6txbzV0Wg8WPeOzixu6YSWySASgqRKo_Uspz41Cmz8ZSC2LeoKbMqNtS-pnRTCYNsHZvPh_Z_kc6C0VO09B3_Kn5aeQzS_5C700myzqpo/s400/Ardeer.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221182001796369570" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetEEEBHmzp0yCF9Ltj7tEb53XemyVv4OouDHOa1rM2ynXitOQXJe2q3DTR7GUlre0D_cqK7iQu9QFHbkmGD1p5iYFIxdFDw4m8XX4hLzmxDTrVoqTmvHBJ6dq5FP6TLTcsq_6nPYXJso/s1600-h/Nobel+house.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgetEEEBHmzp0yCF9Ltj7tEb53XemyVv4OouDHOa1rM2ynXitOQXJe2q3DTR7GUlre0D_cqK7iQu9QFHbkmGD1p5iYFIxdFDw4m8XX4hLzmxDTrVoqTmvHBJ6dq5FP6TLTcsq_6nPYXJso/s400/Nobel+house.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221181870344290034" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhNL4L3pMzB3FVFb8Q7N3jkxcc8cGlG4SPrsoMt6g7xpBoz5-gQgUNz-gvaXR-WQwdlrxDX7UpBUn9lfuEeJudR0LN9V2caWqsQ6P7GMy6x1FFqra1Vf9F44_ZwWvXbudzcQ1a1Mz_TiY/s1600-h/Old+buildings+1.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhNL4L3pMzB3FVFb8Q7N3jkxcc8cGlG4SPrsoMt6g7xpBoz5-gQgUNz-gvaXR-WQwdlrxDX7UpBUn9lfuEeJudR0LN9V2caWqsQ6P7GMy6x1FFqra1Vf9F44_ZwWvXbudzcQ1a1Mz_TiY/s400/Old+buildings+1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221181731663453586" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uSFFLyT8qgYz31YqOaUv2gjyPE0lG46lAelAU64hHy6wZ-nK63aAyXnTd7Nd2XRlNkF8yC99A0HEORHvjH5oVjDcuVMPy6PjniZxS9yqv9dQhMxQuV4qDWzrY8lblM-OntL2uK0J3ro/s1600-h/Old+buildings+2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4uSFFLyT8qgYz31YqOaUv2gjyPE0lG46lAelAU64hHy6wZ-nK63aAyXnTd7Nd2XRlNkF8yC99A0HEORHvjH5oVjDcuVMPy6PjniZxS9yqv9dQhMxQuV4qDWzrY8lblM-OntL2uK0J3ro/s400/Old+buildings+2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221181531079709362" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0UVbNcNQSuiH0Qam8NGzmsElWgXDmFUlKgNuEGbYviWirG3yzSldZxPDdIbQDIP_2fQgIMls_UZrLd9MRrIZ61H3uLhf1-cSGJoWgOQUb-v0z2kiIonXGEMyveNlg0LmO0aT2PY4rNGo/s1600-h/Signage+1.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0UVbNcNQSuiH0Qam8NGzmsElWgXDmFUlKgNuEGbYviWirG3yzSldZxPDdIbQDIP_2fQgIMls_UZrLd9MRrIZ61H3uLhf1-cSGJoWgOQUb-v0z2kiIonXGEMyveNlg0LmO0aT2PY4rNGo/s400/Signage+1.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221181350547474562" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXRQcthxepjQ6GgmrflfkzHPNvcBWMRBf_MM7zWTdmFmcxCxV1NUl-_a8bq-1XB9p7TC9IgK62Rm7dhU-MSozYqo9d2z1aEZN9lF4E1cSyj6Z7hrakSP-9Ae_YGMteVIxmvYrjFy1L0Y/s1600-h/Signage+2.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXRQcthxepjQ6GgmrflfkzHPNvcBWMRBf_MM7zWTdmFmcxCxV1NUl-_a8bq-1XB9p7TC9IgK62Rm7dhU-MSozYqo9d2z1aEZN9lF4E1cSyj6Z7hrakSP-9Ae_YGMteVIxmvYrjFy1L0Y/s400/Signage+2.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221181194019093906" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOnTiJppZ_KKKPj81qqe-Keasfjm_9WGYu6KdVSUjf8vHYMnDn3b-CfJ8hEy3Ge3Nc1POYltQRj1pIw7pehj31ERy3ClgD5raBmvRd4l6LGFtalBSUP8STwg334kzY82fVv9SLQG7jUU/s1600-h/Warning.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOnTiJppZ_KKKPj81qqe-Keasfjm_9WGYu6KdVSUjf8vHYMnDn3b-CfJ8hEy3Ge3Nc1POYltQRj1pIw7pehj31ERy3ClgD5raBmvRd4l6LGFtalBSUP8STwg334kzY82fVv9SLQG7jUU/s400/Warning.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5221180866481111826" /></a><br /><br />(All pictures courtesy of Ian H. Davidson. Thanks, dad!)Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-6469557269833677522008-07-03T08:20:00.000-07:002008-07-03T08:21:55.271-07:00Changes<a href="http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=72210576&blogID=411500459" target="_blank">Today I'm blogging at HarperTeen's Myspace page</a>. My topic: an unexpected problem I'm having with the sequel to <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist</span>!Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6555641044848626361.post-15074476036199262232008-07-01T13:48:00.000-07:002008-07-01T13:52:53.651-07:00Out in the worldToday is the official publication day for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Explosionist-Jenny-Davidson/dp/0061239755/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214945346&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Explosionist</a>. Welcome!<br /><br />My plans for this blog have not yet fully materialized--the more pressing job for the summer is to write the sequel to <span style="font-style:italic;">The Explosionist</span>!--but I'm thinking I'll post here a couple of times a week during the first months that the novel's out there in the world.<br /><br />You're also very welcome to drop me a line at theexplosionist@gmail.com, or to look in and say hello on one of my <a href="http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com" target="_blank">other</a> <a href="http://triaspirational.blogspot.com" target="_blank">blogs</a>.Jenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.com3