If there were a Riverside Cocktail, what would it be?
Last night, I had the great pleasure of entering yet another world (yeah, I kinda collect them), as my Swordspoint audiobook* producer, Sue Zizza, took me as her guest to the Audio Publisher's Association (APA) fall mixer.** It was upstairs in a bar on W. 54th St - a glorious schmoozefest of Voice Talent (big names like Barbara Rosenblatt & Katherine Kellgren, aspiring beginners hoping to get noticed, and solid citizens including our own Joyce Feuring, who was so terrific in our Witches of Lublin [as was Rosenblatt]) and publishers & producers - including the lovely Tim Ditlow of Brilliance Audio, fresh - and enthusiastic - from recording Holly Black (
blackholly) reading her own The Poison Eaters collection!
I'd been told to listen for possible voices for Swordspoint - but it was a big room with a loud sound system - by the end, my heart - not to mention my throat - ached for all the people who earn their livings by their voice being forced to shout at the top of their lungs just to say, "Hi, how are you?" for 2 hours.
But anyway: I also got to meet my company's executive producer - who justabout made me cry by placing her hand over her heart and saying, "I've just finished Swordspoint. You are the Edith Wharton of fantasy!"***
We then got down to the serious business of PR. "What's the drink in Swordspoint?" she asked. "Beer," my engineer (David Shinn) and I chorused. We contemplated various boutique beer labels someone could create. Then we got down to the serious question of the Swordspoint Cocktail.
Yes, I have an idea - but I want to hear yours, first!
And, yes - whatever it is, there will be a little plastic sword.
*Patience, patience . . . I should be able to announce the distributor & release date in just a few weeks! We are still recording.
** Yeah, I know - I thought that, too. But this time, the boys didn't all stay on one side of the room leaning against the wall. #cashbar
*** When I told this to Delia, she grinned: "Here's your elevator pitch, at last: 'My book is the love child of Alexandre Dumas & Edith Wharton!'"
Last night, I had the great pleasure of entering yet another world (yeah, I kinda collect them), as my Swordspoint audiobook* producer, Sue Zizza, took me as her guest to the Audio Publisher's Association (APA) fall mixer.** It was upstairs in a bar on W. 54th St - a glorious schmoozefest of Voice Talent (big names like Barbara Rosenblatt & Katherine Kellgren, aspiring beginners hoping to get noticed, and solid citizens including our own Joyce Feuring, who was so terrific in our Witches of Lublin [as was Rosenblatt]) and publishers & producers - including the lovely Tim Ditlow of Brilliance Audio, fresh - and enthusiastic - from recording Holly Black (
blackholly) reading her own The Poison Eaters collection!I'd been told to listen for possible voices for Swordspoint - but it was a big room with a loud sound system - by the end, my heart - not to mention my throat - ached for all the people who earn their livings by their voice being forced to shout at the top of their lungs just to say, "Hi, how are you?" for 2 hours.
But anyway: I also got to meet my company's executive producer - who justabout made me cry by placing her hand over her heart and saying, "I've just finished Swordspoint. You are the Edith Wharton of fantasy!"***
We then got down to the serious business of PR. "What's the drink in Swordspoint?" she asked. "Beer," my engineer (David Shinn) and I chorused. We contemplated various boutique beer labels someone could create. Then we got down to the serious question of the Swordspoint Cocktail.
Yes, I have an idea - but I want to hear yours, first!
And, yes - whatever it is, there will be a little plastic sword.
*Patience, patience . . . I should be able to announce the distributor & release date in just a few weeks! We are still recording.
** Yeah, I know - I thought that, too. But this time, the boys didn't all stay on one side of the room leaning against the wall. #cashbar
*** When I told this to Delia, she grinned: "Here's your elevator pitch, at last: 'My book is the love child of Alexandre Dumas & Edith Wharton!'"
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Comments
My first novel was called "The Samaritan" - and we were invited to a cocktail party around publication, so obviously we had to concoct it a cocktail. The brief was that it needed to be like the book: quite long, bloody and bitter-sweet. So:
Take a wine-glass. Add a measure of gin, a measure of cassis, a splash of orange juice, a dash of orange bitters and top up with dry martini.
It fulfils all its criteria, plus is lethal. And gorgeous, actually...
(Am now thinking about Swordspoint. Will return to this, if illumination comes.)
Now I really, really want one.
http://www.sff.net/people/kushnerSherma
Laphroaig makes a damn' good cocktail.
There. I've said it.
My lord Karleigh might prefer the equivalents of Calvados or Poire William, produced on his own estates. And he wouldn't mix it with anything.
Lord Horn favored pastis, in his latter days, when he wasn't drinking brandy, but as a dashing young man he preferred the version of a French 75 that's just champagne with a measure of brandy in it, possibly with a twist of lemon. Goes down so smoothly, and produces an inimitable glow of happiness. Not to mention utterly destroys anyone's inhibitions and often their good sense.
Michael Godwin drinks wine and brandy, but cherishes a secret low-born taste for hard cider, the really lethally strong kind. When his parents thought he was too young for more than a single glass of wine, he would sometimes sneak out with the stable lads at night and get plastered on the local cider.
It is considered unexceptional for ladies, even the younger ladies, to indulge in a kir or kir royale.
If they even HAVE gin, the people on the Hill disdain it, and it's only the more hardened drinkers of Riverside who'll touch it. (Drunk for a penny, dead drunk for tuppence, clean straw for nothing.)
How am I doing?
If we're talking cocktails and Alec, I can't help thinking of the Long Slow Comfortable Screw up against the Wall: 1 part vodka, 1 part sloe gin, 1 part Southern Comfort, orange juice and Galliano...
Answer: Depends on how much liquor's in it.
The idea of Alec and a wall worries me, because I remember his captivity and Lord Horn.
And if you were attending a promotional party for the novel HERE, and you found listed a cocktail that was named after the book (or one of its characters or locations), what would it be?
annelyle: Oh, you are evil.
The brandy-and-maraschino one is a general Hill cocktail, the creme-de-violette variation IS the Duchess of Tremontaine cocktail, and I can't imagine a St. Vier cocktail, because he doesn't like to be drunk!
Hmm, we'll have to invent something that *looks* very drink-y and dashing for Richard, but is in fact non-alcoholic - I'm sure plenty of other people at our imaginary party would appreciate that. Perhaps a tonic or seltzer in a fancy glass, with a dash of blood orange bitters?
Don't forget the plastic sword.
I wonder, though, how American non-alcoholic fresh-pressed cider would taste with the bitters to cut the sweetness. As it's cider season, I am TOTALLY going to test this out.
Ellen- seek inspiration in Charles Baker's The Gentleman's Companion Volume II (Drinks). I highly recommend it. Does not appear the the NYPL has it, though.
In early life Alec would definitely drink brandy of some form, but later it's either something like Armagnac or anything at hand, depending on mood/state.
I would think strong dark beers, spiced and dark rums, and variations of potcheen would be more likely with the regular folks. Maybe something like aguardiente as a variation?
And I like the idea of something with port. A Broken Spur sounds wicked! What will they think of next?
Surely absinthe is the drink of choice in Theron's Riverside, at least.
Now on the Hill I can imgaine them drinking Vodka And Stuff. You know, fruity Stuff, smokey Stuff, creamy Stuff, whatever floats their barges, but it would work before, during, and after a meal (quite probably all three without stopping) and will always look cute in those tiny little glasses I know they use.
Maybe a death in the afternoon on the hill.
Now I just need a Mixologist to figure out a way to make that into a credible & creditable cocktail.
That, and fresh lemon, and...thyme-infused vodka, maybe. I'm not quite sure how to get the other scents of Kyros into it. Bees, and sun, and lots and lots of thyme.
Edited at 2011-09-21 04:19 am (UTC)
And seconding the person who says Alec drinks cognac.
Actually, the young Alec has an alarming sweet tooth (remember the "little iced cakes"?). So I'm not sure he'd really appreciate brandy or cognac until he's older. In Swordspoint, he drinks a hell of a lot of beer without complaining. He'd probably like all those drinks with curacao or triple sec in them - you know, the candyish but not too girly ones.
I don't see sundaes on the Hill, but I can easily see a fancy, Careme-style ice cream bombe where the cherry-vanilla iced cream is improved by using dark brandied morello cherries (that's how they'd preserve them, after all) instead of the dyed-red modern things, garnished with the sauces I like, and the whipped cream would be unsweetened, for contrast.
I vaguely remember that a walnut liqueur exists, although I've never tried it. Playing with it would be fun.
I must admit, I was thinking of the older and more ducal Alec with the cognac, but I'd forgotten his sweet tooth (which is most unlike me! Though I suppose I've never actually cooked for Alec.).
Richard is a bit of a puzzle, though. I can't see him wanting to drink anything too hard which might interfere with his co-ordination etc. But drinking nothing at all might be even more dangerous. Beer?