Re-readers: around the buoy again!
As I travel around various events for the launch of Pasha I’ve been struck – and humbled – by the number of readers who tell me they’ve read the earlier titles in the Kydd series all over again in anticipation of the new book (sometimes more than twice). This is a large investment in terms of their time – some 1.4 million words or 150-200 straight hours!
A recent book signing for Pasha
‘Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed recently reading Command again. Brought back very clear memories of being first in command myself. I enjoyed the description of the voyage down from Sydney, including the ‘southerly buster’. Have experienced the impact of that wind myself!’
I’d love to hear which is your favourite title if you’re a ‘re-reader’. And what particular characters – or incidents – stand out for you.
And while we’re on the subject of feedback…
Did you find the maps and glossaries in the last few titles useful?
Is my author’s note something you read after finishing the book or do you dip into it before getting into the story?
Please email me at julian@julianstockwin.com with any thoughts on these – or reply to this blog if you prefer.
As a small thank you for your feedback I’ll have a draw of all respondents at the end of the month for an unabridged audiobook set of Caribbee.
Julian Stockwin 
Dear Julian,
I would have liked to say that I had read Pasha, but no such luck. I’ve orderd the book, but, in Holland there’s a delay, ten days, mostly, in delivering UK books to my local Bookseller. But it’s getting there. So, as I always do, I wait before having Pasha on my shelf en rereading Carribee. That is not your best book ever, I’m sorry to say. But I will always follow Kydd en read about his wide world advantures.
I have to disagree with CDR John Gregoire USN (ret). I am new to this genre, do follow several authors and don’t have the two dictionaries, that he mentioned. The glossary in any book is great for me and those like me, who don’t want to look up things in another book, while we are reading yours and also for new readers too.I do know several languages(five in fact), but there is always one key word, that always seems to appear throughout a work and a glossary is a must for this.After I have read an especially interesting book, I will google events and people, that appear in a novel.
I am always looking at maps to enhance the reading experience of a book.They make the story come alive and more meaningful to me, especially when I can relate incidents and places to the world nowadays.I have to admit I have a map fetish.I love all maps!
As for notes, I do leave them to the end, usually. I hate notes, that are way longer than the novel or even non-fiction book, itself. If notes have to be that long, they should have their own book.
Dear? Denise,
I think you are female, hence the “dear”, I am a map “idiot” like you. I hate notes also. I read the Philip Kerr novels, about a pre WW Berlin with a map at hand. I also read the famous “Maigret” books, a detective in Paris, with a Paris map at hand. Being an old (Dutch) Navy hand I do not usually need a Glossary! Keep on enjoying Kydd! Greets from Holland!
Philip Kerr and Maigret! Oh yes, along with Alan Furst!I just finished reading a 100 year old History of Poland, which dates from the time my grandparents arrived in Canada. Talk about confusing maps! This book started off with European tribes from the bronze ages.My grandmother’s village is no longer in Poland, thanks to WWII and my grandfather’s city, just makes it within the borders.Greetings from Canada!
and to top it off, Lucas, there are 4 villages all within a short radius, with the same name as my grandmother’s village. Half in Poland, half in the Ukraine!
The glossaries and particularly the maps are essential parts of all historical novels…especially maritime works because, once out of sight of land (both literally and figuratively, all points of reference are lost. The most useful maps are larger scale maps showing the region with inset maps showing details of ports, roadsteads and cities.
Anxious to get into Ithaca and pick up Pasha at McBooks! To answer your questions, I believe most uf us who read this type of literature and follow many authors have at least the two basic dictionaries , Adm Smyth’s tome and The Sea of Words which makes a glossary a waste of pages. Maps on the other hand are just not for the geographically challenged. They make following the story line fun and the more and more detailed the better. I prefer them up front than at chapter heads and refer to them often. I seldom read the Author’s notes but would if they were pertinent to the story. One author I read explains what parts of his fiction were based on reality and explains that in some detail. Congratulations on the new release!
John
The inclusion of maps etc are , for me, a wonderful aid to the following of the story line. I always keep a finger in place as I read and follow both the narrative and the location in tandem. Your “Notes” are always left by me to the end and read with a lot of care and a degree of backtracking through the story. Once more for me your notes are an essential part of the whole.
Great stuff Julian.
Fair winds and smooth seas mate.
George.