My daily squee

[sienamystic]

Got to go to a book signing by Connie Willis at the local adorable used book store (complete with a staff of two leggy kitty brothers who are always on patrol). I had my copy of Lincoln's Dreams signed because it's a book that is tiny and potent and makes me sob uncontrollably and may have the most perfect/heartbreaking/punch in the gut ending I've

Comments

[juniperus]

That's so cool! The first book I read by Willis was Domesday Book. :)

[sienamystic]

I think that was my first one too, followed by Bellwether - but I'm not certain. Either way, a pretty big jump in tone between the two!

[alphaflyer]

I adore Connie Willis. "Firewatch" is one of those short stories I've read and re-read, crying like a baby each time. Passage and Lincoln's dreams are amazing, but I have a real soft spot for the Domesday book and why hasn't it been turned into a movie already???? her emotional intelligence is inspiring.

I paid homage to "Firewatch" in a teeny little way in one of my Voyager short stories, called "Sunrise over Montmartre." In it I have Sacre Coeur surviving WW3 (or some other Star Trek war, one forgets) in a future made possible as a result of a "temporal violation" -- but the violation is corrected, and all that remains of that possible future is a picture. It's not a major part of the plot -- that is the nature of the violation itself -- but I was definitely thinking of Firewatch when I stuck that bit in...

So yes, I'd say that her writing has had an influence in both concrete and intangible ways.

[sienamystic]

Yeah, Blackout and All Clear are really one book. I made the mistake of reading the first one a while before the second, and I need to read them both in sequence to really see how I feel about them, I think. I remember being so impatient for big chunks of All Clear, and then being broken down into pieces by the end.

[sienamystic]

My shameful confession is that I've never read any of her short stories. I know I need to amend this, but I haven't gotten to them yet.

Emotional intelligence is a good way to put it. And Domesday Book would make an incredible movie, wow. Heartbreaking one, though.

[sienamystic]

Oh, how cool! She was very chatty at the book signing - it's a small, very cute little place and there was a cozy, not overwhelming crowd gathered. I could see having a good talk with her about a lot of stuff.