#43
November 8, 2003
From: anonymous

Kelley,

I just finished reading your book the other day, and I thought it was great. It delved into the recess of the human mind that many authors do not write on. Very rarely have I ever seen a book written such as this. The internal perspective of the protagonist was so vividly described that it almost made you feel as if you were her.

As I read the last line of the book it left me with one burning question: Will there be a sequel?

As I said before, I thought the book was great. I can't wait to see what you write next.

I'm glad you liked the book, and sorry to disappoint you about a sequel. I don't expect there will be one. The stories that are jostling for my attention now are about other people. I think I'd like to write a short series someday, something with a specific, planned arc (as Nicola is doing with her series about Aud Torvingen), but I'd be surprised right now if it turned out to be about Jackal or any of the other characters in Solitaire.

I'm glad you cared enough about Jackal and Snow and the others to want to know more about what happens to them. That's such a compliment to a writer, and it seems churlish to say nope, no sequel. But I told the part of their story that I wanted to tell. It's like driving at night past the lighted windows of houses or apartments, getting a peek at the life inside. It's an intersection of sorts.

#42
November 8, 2003
From: Ide Cyan

I found a link to this by chance, and it reminded me of Solitaire:

The article doesn't cover all that much ground, but the description of "urban tribes" as "loose networks of close friends, or tribes, [that] sustain each other emotionally and professionally for the years in between college and marriage" resonates with the connections Jackal has on Ko.

Although the people to whom the label is attributed tend to respond with "Fuck you, I'm not in a tribe."

"Web" sounds so much better.

I've read elsewhere about this book, and find the notion interesting and familiar. When I was in high school and college, and imagined an adult life in the wider world, I saw myself in what might now be called an urban tribe. I thought of them as "my people"—friends, lovers, older or younger, people who would help me move a hundred boxes on a Sunday, watch bad movies, make interesting food, understand how plumbing worked. People who would find me equally valuable. In some ways, Jackal's web does this, but it's heavily influenced by the corporate culture of Ko, where the emphasis is on the "greater goal" of business. The web is a community, but it's an artificial construct based on age, and it's in service to the good of Ko. There are people in America who think this latter quality is a good idea for us, too, so maybe it isn't science fiction after all.

If you're interested, there's a "virtual tour" planned for this book. When I checked (just before posting this), there was no news up on the site about the specifics, but if you check out the newsletter, you'll see the tour is planned to start on Monday, November 10.

The "virtual tour" is the brainchild of Kevin Smokler. I love this idea (here's an article about it), and will be interested to see how it plays out. But I don't love that he says "no genre fiction" in the guidelines. I infer he means "no crap fiction" and that he assumes "genre" and "crap" are synonymous terms. It's too bad, and too easy. See VP #41 for more ranting on this topic.