Something to look forward to in 2007

I was quite pleased to see this:

July 2007
Territory by Emma Bull (new hardcover)

On PNH’s list of stuff he (and Teresa) have edited.

I’ve been patiently waiting for Emma’s next book since 1997 (or 1994, if you want to get picky about the possessive).

It was harder to be patient after I heard her read from (what must now be considered) an early draft at a BoskoneI should totally start planning to always attend Boskone–although it would have been better a few years back, since the hotel they used to use is literally across the street from the new Massachusetts office of my company… probably Boskone 39. That was four and a half years ago now.

My anticipation went up one more notch in February, 2005, when I pre-ordered a copy of the book from Emma & Will directly.

The final boost came last month when I read this:

Thank you all a very great bunch for the research help! I fired off a new copy of the manuscript of Territory last night, addressing the first batch of queries. Now I wait to hear from my editor to see if I really did address them, or just packed some new words into the holes and piled up old words into different shapes.

on Emma’s LiveJournal.

Seeing the book on a schedule has let me put my anticipation in its place.

Of course, when it does come out, I’ll probably find that reading it now, when my idea of the west has been so thoroughly coloured by Deadwood, is a very different experience than it would have been when my idea of the west was all about Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott.

UPDATE: After posting this, I got the mail, which included this month’s Locus. In the business newbites section I found the notice that Emma had delivered The Territory to PNH. Synchronicity.