From: Pat Combs
I don’t really do this–well maybe I do now, write to writers I like. I have followed your work since Ammonite. I read Stay AFTER Always, so I’ll probably re read Always. Your work fascinates me not only because it’s such good work and so interesting and you write about women but also because right now it made me even more homesick. You see, I’m from SC and have spent a lot of time in Atlanta and Asheville. I moved to Nashville in 1995 then to Misissippi just south of Memphis in 2005. Now I’m in CA.If it weren’t for my honey, I wouldn’t be here. I do like the Bay Area but I’m in Turlock and mostly away from trees and mountains where I can almost walk to them and walk into the woods whenever I want, The up side is that there is still a bit to explore out here, haven’t been up to your neck of these particular woods just yet. But thanks so much for taking me home for awhile, and for having the girls win!
You’re welcome. I hope Always is as much fun the second time around as the first. But why did you read it before Stay? Have you read The Blue Place, or Slow River? (I recommend reading for free online the first chapter of any book you’re thinking of buying–mine are all on my website–then you’ll know if you’ll like it or not. No sense wasting money.) The reason I ask is that I’m curious about how readers find my books, and then once they’ve read and liked something, how they, you, go about finding the rest. Do you go to the website and then read my novels in chronological order? Do you order whatever you can find in your local library database, reading on a catch-as-catch-can basis? Do you have an amazon.com wishlist and get what you’re given, or what?
Basically, I’m curious about how readers use my website.
I’ve been looking at it the last couple of days, and thinking. My friend Dave Slusher built the first Official Nicola Griffith Website in 1995 and I started getting, and answering, questions right away. Wow. Ask Nicola questions going back thirteen years… Unfortunately, most of the stuff in the AN Archives isn’t dated (much of it isn’t sorted at all, just lumped in the ‘Not Yet Archived’ folder) but you can work out what year it is by what I’m talking about. For example, Bending the Landscape: Fantasy came out in hardcover in 1996 and in one post (scroll down) I’m talking about it ‘coming out next year’. So that’s a clue.
I admire what Kelley is doing on her blog every Friday, but I quail at the thought of following suit. If I did three ANs a day, it would probably take years to get them all up and, well, life is too full even now. Besides, I don’t even know if that’s a good use of my time. What do readers hope for from a writer’s site? What would you like more/less/different of? Would you rather I did new stuff or found a way to start digging out the old?
Having said that, there really is a humongous pile o’ stuff over at the old Ask Nicola area of my website. But I have a search function. It doesn’t seem to make sense to me to sort this stuff out when Google or Yahoo or whatever can fish out what you want whenever you want it. (My website currently uses Yahoo.)
Thoughts?
Nicola Griffith 
Re: how I found your booksI read Slow River by coming across it in the library. I was just skimming and saw “Lambda Award Winner”. I didn’t know what that was but thought if I was going to take a chance on something an award winner sounded promising. I really liked it so I went back and got Ammonite. I haven’t read Stay or Blue Place because I look for scifi more than cop books. (strangely I watch cops shows and rarely watch tv scifi) If I came across them in a store or library I’d get them though.Re: what I expect from an author siteMore new stuff than old stuff. Books that you are interested in or liked. Assurances that despite forays into cop and historical stories that scifi will one day return ;)
john, thank you for your response. One day, when I’ve figured out all this career crap, I’ll publish a collection of short stories and every single one of them involves the fantastic–mostly sfnal–in some way. So that would count. And it’s possible that the book I’ll tackle after this one is an alternate history, a fantasy, basically. Though the fantasy part will be based on some science (and a bit of hand waving–kind of like <>Ammonite<>).So there you have your assurances. Anything else you’d like? Seriously.
I can’t recall how I found your books . . . I read them in order though. Ammonite, Slow River, etc . . After I finished I passed them on to friends and spread the word about you in that way. I like your Ask Nicola site because it’s simple. It’s “just” you. I’m one of those people that’s curious about knowing the person behind the name on the cover. That you are so willing to be known astounds me! If I had any request it would simply be for you to continue to have that willingness to be honest and real. Thanks!
I picked up Ammonite after reading an intriguing review, found it quite swell, and put you on my buy-every-book list.
robin, thank you. I enjoy doing this blog (though every now and again, like this past weekend, I have to take a couple of days off). I do my best to be honest–I tell the truth but not always, not nearly always, the whole truth. The whole truth is reserved for Kelley, and even then it tends to change from day to day :)dougsha, thanks for your response. It gives me a thrill when people tell me I’m one of their buy-every-book writers. Yay!
I’d read Katherine V. Forrest’s <>Daughters of a Coral Dawn<>, and through amazon’s suggestions (or listmania, I’m not quite sure) I was pointed to <>Ammonite<>. I liked it and ordered all your other books in order.I started on <>Bending the Landscape<> about a year later (2007), and actually just last week finally received a second hand copy of the Science Fiction edition :-)
A couple of years ago, I decided to start reading some science fiction again. Then it occurred to me that maybe there were women, probably even lesbians who’d written some science fiction. For some reason it had never occurred to me to actually search for lesbian-written literature. Through keyword searches at Amazon I found Ammonite, read it and immediately jumped on the rest of your books. I hesitated at the Aud books until I had read Slow River because of the reviews that described them as crime mysteries, etc. By the time I read Slow River, I knew they would be good no matter the subject. I always like to read a new (to me) author’s books in the order they were written even it they are sequels — I like to see the writers progression.I sometimes read the reader lists on Amazon and have bought stuff from that, as well as the links to ‘what other people have bought who bought this.’ When I read about a book somewhere that sounds interesting, I’ll add it to my wish list or shopping list on Amazon.After I read all of your books, I went looking to see who the amazing person was who had written this stuff that had moved me so much. Then I read about Kelley and ordered Solitaire.I read pretty much everything on your website, and a lot of (but certainly not all of the AN’s). I discovered the search feature early on and looked for a couple things that interested me.I think it’s very cool that you have all of that history online, and I think you should definitely keep it available. Like you say, people can do a search, and now and then you can link to something that seems pertinent. I doubt if many people will take the initiative to search very deeply tho.Sometimes when I read a book I like, I’ll look up the author, but I have never done as thorough a search or found any of it this interesting. For me at least, this is a rare thing. I like the idea of a separate page or sidebar with a reading list with links to Amazon. And a search box. Does blogger allow keywords or category links to posts? It would be nice if there were something like that – or a link to all of the friday audios. I know most of them are available on your website, but still.Mostly, I think people are looking to see the real you. I think random people can end up here from the web who are possibly interested in the same things you are interested in. Then they will order your books. That’s how this whole thing works, isn’t it?So I think you are doing it exactly right so far.
foxomally, let me know what you think of BtL:SF. I worked long and hard over those anthologies, and it was a delight to create them, and to work with all the authors to make their work the best it could be, but, oof, it did not pay. It did not pay at all. (We–that is, Stephen Pagel and I–funnelled much of our advance to the authors. When you figure in postage and copying expenses etc. I’m not even entirely sure that we broke even…)jennifer, thanks for the long and thoughtful answer. My vague notion (emphasis as always on ‘vague’) is to rebuild my website next year as a 3-column WordPress site, with the main column being this blog, and the other two full of links to other pages (e.g. bio, books, audio) and places (amazon) and people. With a search box, a list of categories, all the neat stuff one can do with a good content management system. But I know you know what a time suck website design is :) Right now, Hild is my main priority. I’m just slowly gathering info.
Yep, I’m very familiar with that particular time suck. It’s sucking another day right now. And I know I was repeating myself with a lot of that, but it seemed like you were asking, so I figured I’d chime in again. :)
I’ve had a hard time keeping track of anyone’s blogs (including my own)…but I’ve thoroughly delighted in your blog and your website.Bringing back an earlier mention, my sweetie found you on a list of recommended authors on Mary Anne Mohanraj’s website, found your site, and bought me your books for my birthday. I spent the next couple of weeks buried in your novels and had to remind myself to come up for air. One of my best birthdays .ever. You’re definitely one of my buy-every-book authors. You, and Terry Pratchett.I’ll definitely agree that one of the best things about the Ask Nicola site is getting to know you. I always read books and think, “God, I wish I could ask the author this,” but that option doesn’t exist. Here, I’ve learned quite a bit about a ton of subjects and my interest in writing something of my own seems more reachable somehow. Thank you for putting your time and effort into this. You.Rock.
jennifer, yes, I was asking. And thanks for answering.janine, well, very cool. Writing is mostly an act of will. If you want it enough, you’ll do it. It pleases me to think I might be helping with that. Thank you.
I’m not completely sure how I found out about <>Ammonite<>. It may have been through a book review on <>The Advocate<>, which was the only LGBT publication I could find in Mexico back then. So I just crossed the border, bought the book at a Barnes & Noble, went back to Mexico, smuggled it into my parents' house, etc. You know that part of the story.<>Slow River<>… I asked one of my teachers (most of them where gringos) to bring me a copy the next time he visited Baltimore. He’s one of the coolest teachers I ever had.<>The Blue Place<>, I saw on display at Little Sister’s in Vancouver. I had to get it as soon as I saw your name on it.The rest, I ordered them online.I don’t know why I’d never even wondered if you had a website, if you were married or anything. Most of the time I read all the work I can find by the authors I like, but don’t follow their bios. What brought me here was <>Dangerous Space<>. This spring, I was looking for Charles Baxter’s <>Harmony of the World<> short story collection over at Amazon. It was unavailable, out of print or whatever. And I saw Kelley’s <>Dangerous Space<> in one of the Listmanias with stories about music. I read one of the reviews and ordered it. I usually order every story that has music on it. When I got my copy and saw, “She lives in Seattle with her partner, novelist Nicola Griffith,” I just had to google both of you.Wishlist for website redesign coming up…
My memory has a glitch. I think I got something by Rita Mae Brown (which I didn't really like) at that Barnes & Noble and <>Ammonite<> from a cool little bookstore of which I can’t remember the name anymore. I’m sure there are other glitches. Speaking of memory, your memoir I definitely found through your website and then ordered it from the publisher. You told me about <>With Her Body<> on a comment here and I went and also got it directly from Aqueduct Press.<>Website Wishlist:<> I like your three-column idea a lot. Mainly because it maintains the simplicity of a blog, while giving us an idea of what you’re reading, what you recommend, etc. Easy access to past and present audio. But best of all, it gives you some space for monetizing. Well fed author = more books by author = happy readers. Amazon links to what the author is reading. Amazon links to recommendations. Threadless t-shirt links (I really enjoyed picturing you and Kelley attending the Batman movie with your spoiler t-shirts). Individual short stories we can download as PDFs and buy through PayPal. Or you could sell us a whole whack of credits we can later redeem… I could go on.No matter what you decide to do, remember to include an RSS subscription option. That’s how I’ve been able to follow your blogs and comments. I have the Atom thing for this blog and the RSS for Kelley’s. I’d be lost without my news feed reader.
karina, yes, the more I think about it, the more the 3-column set up has to recommend it. And monetising…possibly. I’ll have to get over my trained–don’t think it’s innate–distaste for mixing ‘art’ and ‘commerce’. But I think I *can* get over it :)
I think I read Always first. But now that I’ve read all of the Aud books a number of times, I’m not sure any more. But It is well worth it to read them all and the non-Aud books, too. I did run across Nicola’s name in the book review section of Curve. That was neat.I like the AskNicola site because (now that I’ve figured it out) it is easy. I second what others said about getting to know you and appreciate your generosity in sharing. I am still working on understanding the publishing problems and the trouble authors have in being able to make a career. I’m not sure how the publishing industry actually works, but it seems that with the internet an author could self publish and sell online. What with the Kindle and such. I’m missing the piece that tells me why a writer can’t self publish via the net. duff