New Megan Lindholm story... and series?

[Mervi]

So, the next story we'll be getting to read seems to be a Megan Lindholm one. It's titled "Community Service" and will appear in The Book of Magic sometime later this year, probably in October. Robin has said that it takes place in contemporary Tacoma and that the protagonist is called Celtsie. She has also mentioned that she has several story ideas for this character that she's tinkering with, so maybe we'll get another set of stories like Ki and Vandien which will include both short stories and a series of novels? 

I'm just as excited for a ML story as a Hobb one and the prospect of it being just a small glimpse into a bigger whole is really enticing! How do you all feel about this? Have you read a lot of "urban fantasy" and what do you think of it?

[Germ]

I haven't read any Ki and Vandien yet, but I was totally unaware they had short stories. Where were they published?

I'm pretty excited to read some Lindholm. Wizard of the Pigeons is one of my favorite books. As much as I love her epic fantasy, it's nice to see her go back to her roots and experiment a bit.

[Mervi]

There's two K&V short stories, and unfortunately they are somewhat rare out in the wild.

The first one, "Bones for Dulath" is the easier one to find. It was originally published in a paperback anthology titled AMAZONS! in 1979. There's usually a few copies on eBay. Search for "amazons salmonson" to weed out all the other female warrior books and beware there's also a second volume - it's the original one you want. As the anthology won the World Fantasy Award, there were reprints and even translations! (Dutch, German, Italian and Norwegian.) The story was also reprinted in an anthology titled Magical Beginnings in 2003 - this one is also usually available through 2nd hand bookstores. It helps in the searches if you put "Greenberg" after the title, because otherwise you'll just get tons of baby books. 

Getting your hands on the second story is more of a challenge (at least it was for me with no direct contact to various US 2nd hand booksellers). The Small One has only ever been published once, in a 1980 magazine called "Fantastic Science Fiction". Here's the wiki page for easier identification. I found it on eBay once and haven't seen it again... but I'm sure there a many copies in people's collections and in 2nd hand bookstores in the US.

[Germ]

I know this is moooonths later, but I finally saw your reply lol. I actually work at a used bookstore. Saw your post and was able to find both of these titles just waiting on the shelves for me! Thank you so much for the information, and sorry it took me so long to see it.

I'm going to have to dive through the wiki and see what other Lindholm goodies I can find!

[Mervi]

I am truly glad to hear that! I often wonder if it's just for my own amusement/obsession when I add more editions to the wiki, it's great to hear that it's sometimes useful for other readers too!

Since you're in such a lucky situation, see if you can locate Finding the Boundaries and the Space & Time stories. 

[Germ]

I am truly glad to hear that! I often wonder if it's just for my own amusement/obsession when I add more editions to the wiki, it's great to hear that it's sometimes useful for other readers too!

Since you're in such a lucky situation, see if you can locate Finding the Boundaries and the Space & Time stories. 

No luck at my store, although I was able to find Space & Time #65 on-line and ordered that! I'll keep my eye out for the others. Would the short in Finding the Boundaries be her first story published? Or would that be Bones for Dulath?

[Mervi]

 Would the short in Finding the Boundaries be her first story published? Or would that be Bones for Dulath?

I think Bones for Dulath if we go with strict publication order - Amazons! was published in '79 and the Alaskan anthology in '81 (at least according to my copy of it) but I'm pretty sure I've seen the latter listed with an earlier date - could be the competition was the previous year?

Those are the "official" early stories - there are also many children's stories in magazines like Humpty Dumpty's and others that were published before that. 


Soooo has anyone read Community Service yet? Any thoughts?