I’m not going to tell you. Yet. But I’ve been up to a lot of things, including working with Kelley on a super cool New Thing. If all goes according to plan, we’ll be telling you all about that next Tuesday.
Another huge chunk of my time has been consumed with LLF stuff. I hope to be able to start talking about that one day, but, as we say in our house, “Today is not that day.”
So what can I tell you about? Well, I’ve been happily working on Hild. And, for your delectation and delight, here (drumroll) is your first peek: a 1,000-word chunk of what I wrote yesterday. Edwin, Hild’s uncle, has just survived an assassination attempt. He was saved by Hild’s childhood companion, Cian, who is a newly-minted gesith (warrior). Hild has made an accidental prophecy and is now under suspicion. (Everyone is under suspicion; he’s a king in dangerous times.) Paulinus is an ambitious Roman Bishop out to convert the Angles and get himself a pallium from the Pope. Eormenric is his amanuensis. Breguswith is Hild’s mother. (Some of these are actual historical figures; some are purely imaginary. Have fun figuring out which is which.)
A lot of it will be impenetrable (because there’s 95,000 words before this) but, eh, I just wanted to give you a little present, something to compensate for being so necessarily mysterious about so many things at the moment. This is absolutely brand spanking new. (Not even Kelley has seen it yet.) Enjoy.
Nicola Griffith 
I CANT WAIT to read this, Nicola!
Cool :)
ooo, I likey. I likey a lot!
Excellent!
But wait a minute. This is awesome. But. Is this full of Spoilers?? I guess you don't think so.. right?
Spoilers? Well, sure. But so is history. (Anyone who knows the period knows all the spoilery stuff in this excerpt.) I admit, I'm one of those people who is quite cavalier about spoilers–basically I just don't give a fuck when it's a novel. Your mileage may vary.
My mileage definitely varies (I hate spoilers), and I'm not sure how much of what you are writing is imaginary. Maybe I should start studying up on the period.
But I wouldn't even consider stopping myself from reading that excerpt. :)
Nicola — nicely done. Thanks for sharing!
In case anyone wasn't sure:
“seax” is a type of large hidden-tang knife.
“Aethelings” are members of the royal family, specifically the princes who might one day be king.
A “gesith” (later “thegn”) is a companion or adviser to the king.
“wealh” is a serf or slave, so “wealh woman” is probably her maid or servant.
“witter” is to speak at length about a trivial subject.
and “Blaecce” means “black thing” in Old English.
Just got done reading it. Excellent! Can't wait to have the book in my hands. Thanks for sharing Nicola.
Also, a quick thank you to DianneorDi for the translations. :)
Yes, thanks Dianne for that.
I use 'gesith' to mean household warrior–a boastful, quarrelsome, sword-ready type who has sworn utter allegiance to the king. Basically killers.
Wealh is a British slave. (It's where the name of Wales comes from.)
You'll need to include a glossary when you get it published. ;D
I'll sell it as a supplementary volume :)
Actually, it strikes me that this kind of thing is what the web is for.
Ok, read it, loved it. But now I want more! Now it's going to be even harder to wait.
I don't need a glossary, I can figure stuff out from context and your descriptions or look it up. That part didn't seem so hard given your intro to it. Just please do not put in any annoying footnotes.
HAhaha…love the threat at the end. Nice writing, indeed. If I could find a way to make myself type out even 1000 words a day, I might get somewhere!
Thanks for sharing Nicola – really enjoyed it, and will look forward to more when it's published or whenever you want to share.
Am spending a week in the Dales at the moment, and have just spent yesterday wandering around Castle Botlon and today round Skipton Castle – a later period to that which you're writing about, but those big stone structures were built by warriors of another age, descended, if not directly, from your king.
Not sure about a glossary, sometimes they can become too all-encompassing, perhaps a few choice words and as you say there's always the web.
Glad to know this is going well.
A very tasty tease. I especially like the warning at the end. Like a wolf mother with her cub. Any chance of an ETA yet?