Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you pronounce that, anyway?
- I know some of your short stories fit into certain continuities. Which ones, and how?
- Is there a map of New Amsterdam?
- Is there a map of Eiledon?
- Where can I talk to or about you?
How do you pronounce that, anyway?
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- This is most frequently asked of poor Matthew from the Promethean Age. His last name, Szczegielniak, apparently stumps a lot of American tongues. But it's pretty simple. He pronounces it "sea-gull-nee-ak," but he's doing it wrong on purpose. The actual pronunciation is closer to "schte-guhl-nee-ak" or "schke-guhl-nee-ak," depending on what it's easier for your tongue to do.
- Second runner up is probaby Cathoair, of the Edda of Burdens. "cough-heer" is close enough for government work.
- Other Promethean Age characters and things with tricky names: Mebd is pronounced like "Maeve." Murchaud actually pronounces his name as if it were French, although it's a Scottish name. I blame his Dad. Fionnghuala is pronounced as if it were spelled "Finnula." "Sidhe" is pronounced "shee," "Daoine" in pronounced "theenah," and "Tuatha de Danaan" is pronounced "Too-ah-ha-day-dah-naan." More or less. I have lousy flat Yankee vowels and can't get any of them right anyway, personally.
I know some of your short stories fit into certain continuities. Which ones, and how?
- Oh, sure, ask an easy one. Okay. The short stories related to The Promethean Age are as follows, in chronological rather than publication order:
- The Cold Blacksmith (first published in Baen's Universe, issue #1, June 2006)
- The Company of Four (first published in Scheherazade, issue 20)
- Tiger! Tiger! (fisrt published in Shadows Over Baker Street (Del Rey, 2003), Reaves & Pelan ed.)
- Old Leatherwings (ffirst published in Lenox Avenue, July 2004)
- L'esprit d'escalier: Not a Play In One Act(Originally published in the collection The Chains that you Refuse)
- Botticelli (first published in a slightly different form in The Agony Column, March 2005)
- Sonny Liston Takes The Fall (forthcoming in a Del Rey anthology, 2008, Ellen Datlow ed.)
- Long Cold Day (first published in SCIFICTION, September 2005)
- The Rest of Your Life in a Day (First published in Baen's Universe, October 2007)
- Follow Me Light (first published in SCIFICTION, January 2005)
- Cryptic Coloration (first published in Baen's Universe, June 2007)
- One-eyed Jack and the Suicide King (first published in Lenox Avenue, April 2005)
- House of the Rising Sun (first published in The Third Alternative)
- The Chains That You Refuse (first published in The Chiaroscuro, April 2004)
- Sounding (first published in Strange Horizons, September 2006)
- Inelastic Collisions (originally published in Inferno, 2007, Ellen Datlow ed.)
- Black is the Color (originally published in Subterranean, Summer 2007)
Someday, there might be a Promethean Age collection, but don't hold your breath!
There are also a couple of short stories related to The Edda of Burdens. "Ice" is a first-person version of the first chapter of All the Windwracked Stars, from Muire's point of view. "The Devil You Don't" is a bit of her history, also in first-person. That fiddle shows up in All the Windwracked Stars, incidentally.
Two stories related to the Jenny Casey books have been published: "Gone to Flowers" and "War Stories." The first was published in the Australian anthology Eidolon, and the second in Jim Baen's Universe, an online magazine.
In addition, there are two short stories that are only related to each other: "This Tragic Glass" and "Ile of Dogges," which involve time-traveling historians and Elizabethan poets. The second of these was written with Sarah Monette, my talented and charming and very, very smart writing partner. Her website, Labyrinthine, is also full of cool stuff.
Is there a map of New Amsterdam?
- No.
Is there a map of Eiledon?
- Yes. And if you click there, it will take you to it. I'm working with an artist on a version that isn't ugly.
Where can I talk to or about you?
- I maintain a blog at livejournal, linked in the left-hand sidebar there: matociquala. (Actually, anywhere you see a "matociquala," it's likely to be me: it's a Google singleton. And it's Dakota for "little bear" before you ask.) Also, if you prefer a less top-down and more formal setting, I have an official dicussion forum on the Internet Book Database of Fiction site, which I check not as regularly, but am trying to make part of my daily routine, honest. In addition, if you want to talk about me behind my back, I'm a Librarything author, and there are discussion boards there that I honestly do not have time to keep up with. Also, there's a fan forum on Livejournal that I try very hard not to read.
