Tobias S. Buckell's Blog, page 7

Plot twist: it turns out basements can be a bit chilly

One small act of miscalculation with a basement office: I did all the work to set it up during 40-50 degree temperatures.

A new wave of chilliness has swept across this area of the country. I noticed that as it fell below 30 outside, my basement fell down from 68 degrees Fahrenheit, where I could easily boost my new basement office space to 70 degrees and be comfortable typing and working, to 63 degrees where I’m just unable to get comfortable. The larger heater I have by the desk gets the te...

Updated appearances list

Just a heads up that I’ve updated my appearances a bit lately. I’ll be attending Virgin Islands Lit Fest April 19-23.

I’ll be a guest of Reader Riot later that month in Florence, AL.

Everything old is new again

As I’m taking this new jump into building out a Patreon I’m reminded of how similar this all feels. So I went back through my blog to 2006, the last time I affected a massive change.

Back then I’d been working hard for many years toward the goal of becoming a writer. I had started writing stories and submitting them regularly in 8th grade, so 1992 or thereabouts, which is why I have my first Writers of the Future rejection. I really turned the gas up on that in 1996, when I was a senior in hi...

Who did the floor slide better, Tom Cruise or Jung-a Kim in that BBC family interview?

Who has the better slide?

or?

The whole BBC clip of these kids wandering into an interview is gold.

I feel awful for the mom, particularly that moment where she’s crouching and trying to close the door at the very end. But that slide is pure awesome sauce. Cruise is just going in one direction. Jung-a Kim actually changes direction which, as someone who is a fan of wooden floor sock sliding, is really difficult to do. Respect.

But up until that point I was laughing so hard. Kid walks into t...

Check out the Cover for Halo: Envoy, Latest Halo Book Launching in April

The new cover came out not many days ago on a panel at Emerald City Comic Con for my next novel. It’s a Halo novel that I’ve been working on for over a year, and I hope any one who enjoys the video game will check it out. I’m digging the new look of the artwork.

Halo: Envoy gives us the return of Gray Team, the team of Spartans I fleshed out more fully in Halo: The Cole Protocol. It also explores the world of Carrow, which I first showcased in the long short story Oasis in Halo: Fractures.

I...

What’s a College Education For?

There’s a debate swirling around twitter about whether a writer should get an English degree.

I’m biased, I have an English degree.

But I found the conversation slightly offtrack because it contains within it a base assumption layer that I run up against. That’s the idea that a college degree’s purpose is solely to make you a better worker.

It’s an assumption that laces through the American social landscape. Work makes you a better human being. Moral and better human beings should therefore b...

Cover reveal and what the table of contents for my short story collection ‘System Reset’ will be

So I’m working on putting together my next short story collection, which I have titled System Reset.

In the past I’ve done successful Kickstarters for these. But this time I’m doing something different. System Reset will be available as a mobi, ePub and PDF to Patreon subscribers (at any level, from $1 all the way up) six months before anyone else can buy it.

What is Patreon? It’s a new of supporting a writer where you subscribe to them for varying amounts and you get fresh content in your in...

I Moved My Office Back Into My Basement: Here Are the Pictures and What I Did

I promised every one on twitter a comprehensive post about the basement office project. There are a few tweaks I want to do still, but now that I’ve spend a week working out of it, here you go:

My basement and I have a complicated relationship.

In 2007, it was mildly flooded during the great 2007 flood. Mold ended up taking off and it ended up costing us whatever was stored down there and paying a professional crew to rip out all the old wood paneling and do water damage remeditation and mold...

Patreon: end of the first day, into the second and some changes to the goal bonuses

I just launched a Patreon. I’d been hoping to hit $500 in the first forty eight hours of the big push and we’re at $290. Last night I right away saw that I should have set up the goals to begin at $500, not $1,000. I need $1,500 to replace the lost freelancing income and survive with book contracts. But for $1,000 I can take the jump. I over estimated the velocity, which is egg on my face. I had no idea how my Kickstarter campaigns would translate over to Patreon, which is a bigger ask and do...

I’m Gearing Up To Write a Story a Month on Patreon, With Your Help!

This morning on twitter I announced that I was launching a Patreon to write a short story every month for supporters.

I’ll be honest, it’s nerve wracking to do crowdfunding projects. I’ve done a Kickstarter for the 4th Xenowealth novel The Apocalypse Ocean when I changed career directions to do Arctic Rising. I also followed up with two short story collections that did really well.

But it’s a wild ride to walk out on stage to see if there are enough fans on the spot to make something happen....