Friday-Sunday, September
22-24 Read Dorothy Dunnett's letter
to fans from the convention.
Monday, September 25 WASHINGTON: Shuttling between signings and broadcasts through torrential
rain and spectacular water splashes--ending in a splendid evening
at Borders Books where I talked, and 125 people asked questions,
for 90 minutes and the signing and chat continued--with wine and
apricots--until just short of midnight.
I have brought a bouquet of red roses back to my bedroom and enough
affection, it feels, to fill the Atlantic.
Tuesday, September 26
You find Campbells everywhere, and it was especially
kind of Tom, at the Regulator Bookshop, allowing me to sign books,
even though he had once been bocotted as a hitchhiker in Scotland
on the site of the Massacre of Glencoe (where the Campbells were unkind
to the Macdonalds a long time ago).
Later, at a chat and signing at McIntyre's, a Nikado T-shirt (I
have one, too) indicated that a few from the Philly weekend were
still in friendly pursuit of Lymond and Niccolò, on whose
behalf I continued to try to behave as I should, even to consider
who would win if Nicholas played Lymond at chess. My own feeling
(but how would I know?) was that the winner would have been Nicholas.
I want to stay here too.
Wednesday, September 27
New York--Sunshine! And the pleasure
of shaking the hand of Percy Sledge in broad-brimmed hat
and wonderful coloured shirt, whom I followed on the
Leonard Lopate radio show on WNYC-AM. Then came an evening
of talk, and question and answer at Barnes & Noble in Union
Square, with 160 readers establishing their interests--Did
Jordan de Ribérac deliberately send Katelina to die
in Cyprus? What are the grounds for thinking Macbeth and
Thorfinn are the same person? Is the genetic make-up of
your heroes more important than their free will? Will
there be any more Johnson Johnson mysteries? And, as
always, which child died in the chess game?
Where I couldn't answer, I referred everyone, as I always
do, to Bill Marshall on James Thin's web site. Click on
"Dorothy Dunnett" on any big search engine like Google to
find it--and you will find he collects questions and posts
my answers from time to time.
And also present tonight--a great joy--old friend, Frank
Dunlop, famous theatrical producer and former Director of
the Edinburgh International Festival of Music and Art,
whose "Camelot" transfixed Broadway not so long ago.
You meet everyone you know in New York. I love it.
Never mind Lymond and Nicholas--if you want
the best kind of home-made soups, try The Winds of Yellow Springs
before meeting Vick Mikunas in his radio show at a radio station personally
founded by Ludovico da Bologna and situated at Antioch College in
this lovely, sunny townlet. Vick's mother and I both paint portraits,
and I was sorry not to meet her.
I did meet, at the cast and glorious Books and Company in Dayton,
a lady I last spoke to 27 years ago, who had come to renew the friendship.
Sixty valiant listeners tonight, including young Keenan, for whom
I signed (with due respect) a book by my eminent fellow Edinburgher
J K Rowling, while making clear that I hadn't read it yet, but was
dying to. Questions--many and subtle and wicked as usual. And penetrating--e.g.
"Was Gemini meant to suggest the reason why Sybille married
Francis I in secret?" Answer: yes. Question--what was my interest
in almond paste? Answer (having discovered that almond paste="Marzipan
and Kisses"): the 1984 America Dunnett letterzine, still going strong,
was so called in reference to a Quotation from Queens' Play,
and referred to a description of the court of France of the day.
Find the page number yourself. I am going, exhilarated as usual,
to bed.
Saturday, September 30
After a misty start, Cincinnati was in the tropics
today (by Edinburgh standards) while 30 or 40 of us sat in armchairs
in the cool of the Joseph Beth Booksellers, and let Annette guide
us through an afternoon chat that ranged from "What was the truth
about Eloise?" to "What sequence should I read the books in??" (Answers:
1) She was an innocent trying to help her brother, and 2) Lymond /
Nicholas / Lymond). We talked about the sad deaths of girls--Christian,
Oonagh, Katelina--and, as ever, King Hereafter and the JJ Books.
And one lady announced that she was there because her admired pediatrician
(who had also come there straight from work) had made here promise
to read all the books.
After, I was able to talk on the radio with mark DeWitt, who co-ordinates
radio reading services for the blind, and we talked about Scottish
castles. Now that Game of Kings is also on tape, I was glad
to hear how useful these taped books can be and hope that W. F.
Howes will one day record all the books.
And did I mention that a passing customer in Joseph Beth's halted
by the word "Scotland" turned out to be descended from the Scottish
family Bothwell, and knew all about his ancestor the Earl of Bothwell,
and knew all about his ancestor the Earl of Bothwell who married
Mary Queen of Scots. He bought Gemini (which is set in Scotland)
and went off to check up on its history. I think he might enjoy
it, even though the Hepburns hadn't turned into Bothwells just yet.
I don't want to leave here, either.
Sunday, October 1
A hot sunny Sunday with a Big Game taking place
elsewhere, but 60 friendly people crowded into the Harry Schwartz
Bookshop in Milwaukee with their babies, children (and husbands) to
ask insidious question, such as "how does Nicholas know so much about
what his enemies are doing?" (Answer: look for the evidence. He is
watching and listening all the time. And he is cleverer than they
are.) And "did you plot out each series from the beginning?" (Yes,
yes, and yes.) And who is your own favorite historical writer? (Probably
Mary Renault.)
Then to Chicago for guess what? To guest in Wisconsin Public Radio's
production of "Hotel Milwaukee," Chicago's reply to Fawlty Towers,
with other guest spots by talented singers, guitarist and poet,
and a brilliant band with a keyboard player with 20 fingers, not
10. Which reminds me of another question--"How can I hear some Renaissance
music of the period?" Answer: none exists by Will Roger now, but
for other authentic pieces, try the Edinburgh Renaissance Band,
who have recorded a lot. Bill Marshall of the James Thin website
will put you in touch, and tell you how to tour Dunnett sites in
Scotland (another question) as well.
I missed the Milwaukee beer but you can imbibe it by smelling
it. Just like Edinburgh.
Monday, October 2
Chicago! The place where my son Mungo and his
wife lived for 2 years for his MBA at Kellogg, and their six-year
old son Hal was born (and so he has dual nationality). Also the place
where the great network of Dunnett readers first began, with the launching
here in 1984 of "Marzipan and Kisses," the first Dunnett correspondence
magazine, by Jean Clissold and Karen Brandl of Chicago. It's still
going, and has spawned many websites of which one, "Marzipan" on ONELIST
carried 2200 messages, I'm told. this September.
Jean and Karen are still around (of course), Jean as List-Mom
of the Webs, and Karen as MD of Mr. K. They joined me (of course)
for a chat about old times, and at Barbara's Bookstore at Oak Park,
where about 50 worldly-wise Dunnett readers asked penetrating questions--"Did
you mean Gelis to be destined for Nicholas from the start?" "Did
your view of history change between 1461 and 1483?" "What is your
fascination with history?" Wonderful, all of it. And I return laden
with cookies and jewelry.
Up at 4:30 tomorrow to speak at 9:45 am on radio in Minneapolis.
The Olympics are over. Not me. I'm the lucky one.
Tuesday, October 3
Running shoes day - - the flight from Chicago broke down, and despite racing from one plane to another, there was no way of getting to Minnesota Public Radio in time to share in Katherine LanpherÕs hour. But it has been fixed for tomorrow instead, and her questions will begin at 10 am. I did get here in time to chat to Joe Skelly about MinneapolisÕs new center for creative arts, and his ambition to have a center for writing. Our interview about the Dunnett books will appear on Bloomington Public TV on Tuesday, 24th October. Again, a lot of old friends among the 60 who came to Barnes and Noble, Edina, despite the attraction of the Presidential Debate. Hosts of questions, among which - - why choose to set scenes in Russia? Answer - - to give Lymond an arena worthy of his skills, and make us wonder if history would have been changed had Lymond denied his humanity and remained to advise Ivan the Terrible, or had the Empress Zoe drawn Eastern and Western Christianity together. Or thatÕs what I think I said. Rising at 4:30 am to catch a plane is not conducive to clear thought. And tomorrow the last interview - - deferred hour on Minnesota Public Radio. I shall be sorry to leave the warm air and the scarlet of the maple trees to go back to New York, but at the same time look forward to two days of self-indulgence with old friends and new shops. And then home on Saturday, with a full cargo of remembered delights. Yours,
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