I am very happy to announce that my novel The Age of Ice has made the Locus Magazine's 2013 recommended reading list in the First Novels category!
And not only that, it is also included in the ballot. If you read the novel and enjoyed it, please take a moment to go to the Poll and do some voting.
Thanks!
Icy greetings from Mr. Goutte! Seriously speaking, there was a real Mr. Edouard Goutte, formally a dragoman with the Russian embassy, acting as Count Simonich's aide and the shah's camp resident during the siege of Herat. In reality Edouard Goutte was a Pole from Vilnius named Edward Gutt, a friend and compatriot of Alexander Chodzko. It happened so that Edward Gutt was my GG-grandfather's younger brother. I realize that your Mr. Goutte has just been a fictious character, but I felt a little thrill reading your novel in the two places in which he appeared. Best regards to you. Tom Gutt.
ReplyDeleteDear Tomasz,
Deletethanks for writing to me about your GGG uncle. That is so exciting! As a matter of fact, Mr. Goutte character in the book is not quite fictional. Just about every character in the Great Game part of the novel (and to a large degree -- in the rest of it), even someone who appears or is mentioned very briefly, is based on someone named in the historical record. So indeed, I saw brief mentions of Mr. Goutte's name in documentary sources I studied, and I thought it would be appropriate to refer to him when Alexander relates his concerns about being discovered in Herat. But I do not remember finding much more information about Edouard Goutte aside from his work for Simonich. Do you know how he did? What did he go on to do after the siege?
Best regards,
J.M.