Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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Vicious dogs and other joys

The main reason I haven’t been blogging (or answering email) much on this trip is that even when we have internet access there’s been no time. We has been busy with appointments and meetings and research. Almost all of which has been most excellent fun, but away-from-computer fun.1 This has been the best trip ever. I don’t see why we ever have to go home.2

One of the most excellent things we did in Bologna3 (other than meeting with many of our publishers and agents at the Book Fair) was grabbing a cab up to San Luca, the gorgeous church that looks down on the town.

The view is indeed stunning but my crappy phone camera was not up to it. Instead it managed to capture this encounter between Scott and a vicious dog. First the dog tried to tear apart Scott’s trouser legs with its teeth. Scott valiantly resisted. Sadly that part of the battle was not captured, but I did catch the maneater pretending like it had never even seen a trouser leg:

Next Scott set about slowly disarming his enemy:

Until it was putty in his arms.

Or is that a puppy? Once again man conquers nature. Or something . . .

After we’d recovered from that searing encounter, we headed down the hill into town. Conveniently there is a very very very long set of porticoes that run all the way from the church back into town. The porticoes mean it is impossible to get lost as you walk back. Even those of us who are directionally impaired.4

Once back in Bologna we returned to work at the Book Fair. Where en route to our next appointments we checked out the wall of amateur art, all vying to capture the attention of publishers. Some of it’s amazing:

We also had a squizz at the official exhibition of Argentinian illustrators, which was stunning. This is my favourite though stupidly I didn’t note down the artist’s name:

I also got one of the roaming book model robots to pose for a photo. Not really a coup given that that’s their job, but still I’d never seen such life-like robots before:

Doesn’t she look nice? I’m all for robots. Well, unless they start writing books, that is. Only humans can write books!

More next time we get a window of time + internet access. Maybe I will share our Friedrichshafen zeppelin adventure. Or possibly the world’s largest Tyrolean bathroom.

Who knows? Bye till then.

  1. Who knew such fun even existed? [↩]
  2. Why, Scott? [↩]
  3. Wow, that seems a long time ago now. We are now in Friedrichshafen (Germany) and have also been in Bolzano (Italy) and a gorgeous Tyrolean spa just outside Innsbruck (Austria). [↩]
  4. I’m not, but a certain person I spend a lot of time with is. Not naming names or anything. [↩]

Posted by Justine at 14:18, 11 April 2008 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Publishing business, Travelling | 14 Comments »

Comments

  1. Electric Landlady Says:

    OMG adorable puppy vicious ravening beast. *melts into puddle of goo*

    These photos are absolutely gorgeous! Sounds like you’ve been having a wonderful time!

    April 11th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

  2. Liset Says:

    did you just leave the puppy?

    April 11th, 2008 at 5:33 pm

  3. 3. Justine Says:

    Liset: The puppy had an owner. I do not think he would have been happy had we stolen his dog.

    April 11th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  4. marrije Says:

    oh come on justine, that is not a robot it is j.k. rowling, stop kidding us, please. and may i just say that j.k. looks stunning?

    April 11th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

  5. hillary! Says:

    She does look stunning. And Innocent. Should a person with such a shady backround look that nice in such an expensy looking white coat thing?

    And I’m sure Scott could have charmed that ravening beasts owner just as much as he did the beast.

    April 11th, 2008 at 8:18 pm

  6. Danica Says:

    Oh, my goodness, Justine! Do you not see how much that robot resembles Maureen Johnson? The similarities are uncanny! And I really like her coat!

    Also,

    PUPPY!!
    <3

    April 11th, 2008 at 8:22 pm

  7. Little Willow Says:

    If you find out the name of the Argentian Alice illustrator, please, please let me know.

    Intense dog – in a cuddly way.

    What a well-dressed robot! I wonder if she knows about her googleganger…

    April 12th, 2008 at 12:57 am

  8. Little Willow Says:

    I found the name of the illustrator: Fernando Falcone.

    http://www.fernandofalcone.com.ar/

    Oh, I need that version now. Wow.

    April 12th, 2008 at 1:07 am

  9. dragonfly Says:

    looks lovely! especially the vicious beast. ;)

    April 12th, 2008 at 2:03 am

  10. tracie zimmer Says:

    Beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing! Someday I hope to go….

    April 12th, 2008 at 3:55 pm

  11. Dess/Bethany Says:

    OMG! Scott and that puppy are sooo cute together! You, Justine, and Scott have great books. You two are my favorite authors. Nice pictures though.

    April 13th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

  12. Jane Says:

    It looks like you are having a wonderful time! I’ve just been pointed to your website, and think it’s great. And I fell in love with the vicious beast..!

    April 14th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

  13. limeywesty Says:

    gorgeous puppy.
    gorgeous paintings.
    lovely lady type robot person.
    sounds like the best trip!!
    .

    April 15th, 2008 at 3:58 am

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  1. [...] footnotes the correct way to do it? Justine Larbalestier seems to think so. Just look at her recent blog ...

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