Exodus

[woolleywrld]

The first one you posted on the left, that is EXACTLY how I imagined the Noos (except blank whiteness instead of dark blackness)

Those pictures are amazing!! It's incredible the activity we can see in a diagram that normally would never have been seen by a human eye! Technology... I am just waiting for them to come out with a Cyberwizz like Mara's.

By the way, isn't it tomorrow that Exodus comes out in the United States???!!! Julie, are you doing anything special? Is there anything going on? I can't wait to see Exodus on the shelves!

[Julie Bertagna]

Thanks, woolleywrld - I'm so touched that you remembered!! Rather pathetically, I had to sing a chorus of "Happy Publication Day To Me" at breakfast-time before anyone in this house remembered... but I am promised a nice celebratory meal tonight.

April 1st as Publication Day seemed a bit ominous. I just dropped in on the US Amazon to check it's not an April Fool, but Exodus is definitely on sale, as of now. The response from reviewers has been amazingly good - but it's early days and people have all sorts of views about books, so you never know. What one person loves, another will hate. I just hold my breath and cross my fingers. (Which does make it difficult to type, I confess.)

I'm just about to do a blog post on the website on what's been happening.

I do plan to visit the USA in the not too distant future - but not today. I planned something really special for today, writing-wise. I will now sit up and assume bold type for a grand announcement:

Today I am writing the end of AURORA.

It gives me a tingly feeling to be writing the end of the story on the very day the beginning of the story comes out in America. It feels good.

The bad news is that there's a big bit in the middle still to be written. Sorry. But the ending is giving me goosebumps and a very big lump in my throat. That's a good sign, (I think!)

So... here I go. Wish me luck.

[Julie Bertagna]

I thought I'd put up a celebratory pic. The spectacular one I wanted was too big to upload. But these flying penguins are pretty spectacular too.

[woolleywrld]

Originally Posted by Julie Bertagna

Today I am writing the end of AURORA.

That was the first thing I saw when I came to the page and it made me soooo happy!! That is really exciting! And only what? ...two years until we all get to read it!!!

To be honest, I have had the publication date for Exodus in the U.S. down as an alarm in my phone since you last told me. I think it's safe to say that I was looking forward to it. I am so excited that it is out here finally! I am going to Barnes and Noble this weekend to get my copy! So, do you know where in the U.S. you would be visiting? Mulitple locations?

That celebratory picture is amazing. At first glance it looked like there were drops of water on the lense of the camera! It's incredible to see that they are penguins flying through the air.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Julie Bertagna

I thought I'd put up a celebratory pic. The spectacular one I wanted was too big to upload. But these flying penguins are pretty spectacular too.

LOL! Wish I'd seen this on April 1st. Great picture, Julie.

[ducky5]

All this talk about america! when's aurora coming out in the UK? i soooo cant wait

[Julie Bertagna]

Soon as I know I'll tell you!

I'd better hurry up!

[Julie Bertagna]

At a talk I did recently, a teenage boy asked me to explain how I came up with the idea of The Weave in Exodus. I wish I'd had these photos to show him, but maybe he'll see them here. They remind me of a night-time flight over London, and the electric panorama of the city's arteries, where I first formed the glimmerings of the idea which would become The Weave.

Most pics are too big to load so click here: Google Image Result for http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/london_08_29/london9.jpg

Tuck's ocean city and various ideas in Zenith and Aurora) came from this kind of thing: Earth From Above comes to NYC - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Beautiful.

[woolleywrld]

In the seond link you posted, the one for Earth From Aboce comes to NYC, picture #26 of the little town of Koh Panyi reminds me of a certain sea city I once read about...

Which one of those pictures did you imagine the weave from?

[Julie Bertagna]

Yes, Koh Panyi is quite Pomperoy-ish with its wooden walkways; and if that big rock were an oil rig...

It was the night flight over London that first made me imagine the Weave but when I saw the first photo in that sequence of images (especially the first one: the city at night where you can just see London Bridge) I thought, yes, that's the very image that stayed with me, that I translated into my vision of the virtual world of the Weave - with the illuminated streets as the boulevards, the buildings as the Weavesites, but all of it as flickering ruins, including the broken arm of the bridge...

[Kitty Pedersen]

Koh Panyee in Thailand, I´ve been there ;-) It´s an amasing place. Like in your book ;-) Funny, just before I opend my internet I lookt att our pictures from Panyee ............. ;-)
And Julie, you dont have to feel bad ... I will read your other books again on my holiday in India ;-)
AND today I´ve start writing my book ;-) My head is full of it. It´s follows me everywhere so I must write it down ;-)
And I whish you all a very merry christmas ;-)
from Kitty in Sweden
@---)--------------

[Julie Bertagna]

Thank you, Kitty. Good luck with your book - that's the best sign of all: to walk around with your head full of the story.

Hope you had a good Christmas.

Happy New Year!