Lois McMaster Bujold's Blog, page 2
July 11, 2025
Demonic Ox arrives today!
The newest Penric & Desdemona e-novella, "The Adventure of the Demonic Ox", is being uploaded today. The time for an upload to penetrate the system varies wildly, from an hour to a day week, but I'll post direct links here as each of our 5 vendors goes live.
Amazon Kindle is first out the gate:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHBMR3DN
Not yet up, but pending:
Kobo, Google Play Books, and Apple Books are interesting if you search by my name, because they each carry so many foreign language titles, if you scroll down. (Amazon ditto, I suppose.) These pages should populate in due course, though it may take a while for a new entry to sift to the top:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?que...
7/15 - Kobo is up! https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-...
https://play.google.com/store/info/na...
7/18 - Google Play direct link at last --
https://play.google.com/store/books/d...
https://books.apple.com/us/author/loi...
Direct Apple US link: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-a...
(Some readers are reporting problems finding my Spectrum titles on Apple outside the US, as per Bo, below. If you are one, chime in in the comments with details. Though I suppose we should give it a bit more time to propagate...)
B&N Nook, same deal:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/lois...
Direct link is up! : https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
To recap:
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox
When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.
What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching.
***
I'll make my usual spoiler discussion space post tomorrow, for the speed readers.
As always, reader mentions of the new title out and about on the internet and elsewhere are always greatly appreciated, as this blog and word of mouth are the only advertising my indie books get. Amazon always gets plenty of reviews; the other vendors are usually more in need. But no one will see any vendor pages unless they've already heard of the story someplace else, and go to look, so outside reviews and mentions are especially important.
Ta, L.
Amazon Kindle is first out the gate:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FHBMR3DN
Not yet up, but pending:
Kobo, Google Play Books, and Apple Books are interesting if you search by my name, because they each carry so many foreign language titles, if you scroll down. (Amazon ditto, I suppose.) These pages should populate in due course, though it may take a while for a new entry to sift to the top:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/search?que...
7/15 - Kobo is up! https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-...
https://play.google.com/store/info/na...
7/18 - Google Play direct link at last --
https://play.google.com/store/books/d...
https://books.apple.com/us/author/loi...
Direct Apple US link: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-a...
(Some readers are reporting problems finding my Spectrum titles on Apple outside the US, as per Bo, below. If you are one, chime in in the comments with details. Though I suppose we should give it a bit more time to propagate...)
B&N Nook, same deal:
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/lois...
Direct link is up! : https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-...
To recap:
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox
When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.
What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching.
***
I'll make my usual spoiler discussion space post tomorrow, for the speed readers.
As always, reader mentions of the new title out and about on the internet and elsewhere are always greatly appreciated, as this blog and word of mouth are the only advertising my indie books get. Amazon always gets plenty of reviews; the other vendors are usually more in need. But no one will see any vendor pages unless they've already heard of the story someplace else, and go to look, so outside reviews and mentions are especially important.
Ta, L.
July 10, 2025
Sneak cover peek, Two Tales reprint coming later this summer
So...
The Vorkosigan novella "The Flowers of Vashnoi" has not been available in a paper version since the Subterranean Press edition sold out. The novella "Winterfair Gifts" has had only scattered paper publication, not easy to find. (Both, of course, are continuously available under their own titles as my indie ebooks, or audio downloads from Blackstone.)
Neither would be economically viable for any pro publisher to handle, but it occurred to me they'd be just the thing to add to my little list of print-on-demand paper editions, including The Spirit Ring and "Knife Children". So I've put them together in a single PoD volume, to be titled Two Tales.
Experience with the long-time reader confusion over the novella "The Borders of Infinity" and the 3-novella collection it's in, Borders of Infinity, made me try to label this paper mini-collection as clearly as possible. We'll have to see how it works out. I'm not yet sure how to make it searchable under either of the novella titles, which is what I suspect most people would first be looking for.
Anyway, I asked artist Ron Miller to do us a cover in the style of my other indie VK ebooks, and here's a sneak peek:
When this paper-only edition becomes available to buy, later this summer, I'll post the ISBN number, which should helps folks trying to order it through bookstores. (Uncle Hugo's will certainly have it; they also carry the other two of my PoDs.)
Ta, L.
The Vorkosigan novella "The Flowers of Vashnoi" has not been available in a paper version since the Subterranean Press edition sold out. The novella "Winterfair Gifts" has had only scattered paper publication, not easy to find. (Both, of course, are continuously available under their own titles as my indie ebooks, or audio downloads from Blackstone.)
Neither would be economically viable for any pro publisher to handle, but it occurred to me they'd be just the thing to add to my little list of print-on-demand paper editions, including The Spirit Ring and "Knife Children". So I've put them together in a single PoD volume, to be titled Two Tales.
Experience with the long-time reader confusion over the novella "The Borders of Infinity" and the 3-novella collection it's in, Borders of Infinity, made me try to label this paper mini-collection as clearly as possible. We'll have to see how it works out. I'm not yet sure how to make it searchable under either of the novella titles, which is what I suspect most people would first be looking for.
Anyway, I asked artist Ron Miller to do us a cover in the style of my other indie VK ebooks, and here's a sneak peek:
When this paper-only edition becomes available to buy, later this summer, I'll post the ISBN number, which should helps folks trying to order it through bookstores. (Uncle Hugo's will certainly have it; they also carry the other two of my PoDs.)
Ta, L.
July 2, 2025
Murderbot TV adaptation good!
So...
I signed up for Apple TV the other day expressly so I and my weekly media-watching buddies could take a break from our usual Asian fare to see their production of Martha Well's Murderbot. (Heaven knows I don't need yet another streaming service, but...) We binge-watched the first 8 half-hour episodes last night.
I am astonished and delighted (and envious) with how well the show has managed so far to stick to the original story -- they are still in the first volume, All Systems Red. So great to see something that isn't part of the endless stream of media retreads and remakes we are plagued with. Casting is pretty great as well -- one could identify nearly all of the characters in their first appearance, before they even opened their mouths.
And they totally get the humor of the story. Granted the tales are action-heavy, but though the Tor book covers are wonderful pieces of art, nothing about them even hints that any humor will be found beyond them.
Given the dry commentary on corporate shenanigans in the stories, I was meta-amused by the fact that Apple streaming won't play on my Chromecast; happily my son the IT support found the way around (going directly from my laptop.)
It looks like the first season of these half-hour episodes will cover All Systems Red; let's hope it is successful enough to go on to another volume and season.
Recommended.
Ta, L.
I signed up for Apple TV the other day expressly so I and my weekly media-watching buddies could take a break from our usual Asian fare to see their production of Martha Well's Murderbot. (Heaven knows I don't need yet another streaming service, but...) We binge-watched the first 8 half-hour episodes last night.
I am astonished and delighted (and envious) with how well the show has managed so far to stick to the original story -- they are still in the first volume, All Systems Red. So great to see something that isn't part of the endless stream of media retreads and remakes we are plagued with. Casting is pretty great as well -- one could identify nearly all of the characters in their first appearance, before they even opened their mouths.
And they totally get the humor of the story. Granted the tales are action-heavy, but though the Tor book covers are wonderful pieces of art, nothing about them even hints that any humor will be found beyond them.
Given the dry commentary on corporate shenanigans in the stories, I was meta-amused by the fact that Apple streaming won't play on my Chromecast; happily my son the IT support found the way around (going directly from my laptop.)
It looks like the first season of these half-hour episodes will cover All Systems Red; let's hope it is successful enough to go on to another volume and season.
Recommended.
Ta, L.
June 29, 2025
Demonic Ox e-cover sneak peek
Artist Ron Miller just finished it this morning...
Vendor page copy:
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox
"When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.
What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching."
***
All parts are now in the hands of my ebook wrangler at Spectrum, and will be uploaded to the usual vendors, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and Kobo, when her work queue permits, but with luck this coming week.
This cover was tricky. We started with more figures, and spent a long time in frustrated fiddling with them before figuring out that they actually didn't belong on the cover in the first place. Less is more.
Ta, L.
Update July 3: it looks like it'll be a couple more weeks from now before the ebook goes up on the vendors, so, mid-July-ish. L.
Vendor page copy:
The Adventure of the Demonic Ox
"When sorcerer Learned Penric hears of the suspected demonic possession of an ox at his brother-in-law’s bridgebuilding worksite, he thinks it an excellent opportunity to tutor his adopted daughter and student sorceress Otta in one of their Temple duties: identifying and restraining such wild chaos elementals before harm comes to their hosts or surroundings.
What begins as an instructive family outing turns anything but routine when a mountain search becomes a much more frightening adventure for Penric and his charges. What is undergone there by both mentor and students will yield lessons both unexpected and far-reaching."
***
All parts are now in the hands of my ebook wrangler at Spectrum, and will be uploaded to the usual vendors, Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, Google Play Books, and Kobo, when her work queue permits, but with luck this coming week.
This cover was tricky. We started with more figures, and spent a long time in frustrated fiddling with them before figuring out that they actually didn't belong on the cover in the first place. Less is more.
Ta, L.
Update July 3: it looks like it'll be a couple more weeks from now before the ebook goes up on the vendors, so, mid-July-ish. L.
June 13, 2025
Komarr audio on sale today
At Downpour.com -- Blackstone's web sale site --
https://www.downpour.com/komarr?sp=12495
I believe the sale is today only...
Ta, L.
https://www.downpour.com/komarr?sp=12495
I believe the sale is today only...
Ta, L.
May 25, 2025
Penric 14 impending
I am pleased to report that the 14th Penric & Desdemona novella is complete in first draft, as of this afternoon. About 36K words at present.
There is still a ways to go till it's ready for e-publication. It lacks both final title and cover at the moment. The title, I've learned on previous outings, is really needed first to bring the cover into the right focus. Also the artist Ron Miller has not yet had a chance to read the full manuscript, which Ron generally does, bless him.
Title is still circling the field. "Penric's take your kids to work day goes wrong" is alas too long, and jokey, if accurate. "Penric's Ox" is too easy to confuse with "Penric's Fox", and besides the livestock is not really the core of the tale. Best and default candidate so far is the double-edged "Penric's Lessons", although that feels as if it would be better saved for some collection. Growf. I hope something snappier will emerge during the test-reading/editing/wait for the cover phase.
It's been pretty interesting to replace the typical lone-wolf magical protagonist living out his angsty extended adolescence with an actual mature adult embedded in a functional family, and see what that does to genre expectations. My first vision of the older Penric, back before I started all this, was more in the former mode. I'm glad I dropped back and started him at his beginning with what became "Penric's Demon" -- he's a much more engaging character now.
No, I don't know anything yet about Blackstone or SubPress. AFAIK, they've not yet been informed the story exists, though my agent will take care of that soon. But I prefer to have it in final, tidied-as-possible form before submitting it for subrights sales.
And now I'm going to go take the evening goofing off.
Ta, L.
There is still a ways to go till it's ready for e-publication. It lacks both final title and cover at the moment. The title, I've learned on previous outings, is really needed first to bring the cover into the right focus. Also the artist Ron Miller has not yet had a chance to read the full manuscript, which Ron generally does, bless him.
Title is still circling the field. "Penric's take your kids to work day goes wrong" is alas too long, and jokey, if accurate. "Penric's Ox" is too easy to confuse with "Penric's Fox", and besides the livestock is not really the core of the tale. Best and default candidate so far is the double-edged "Penric's Lessons", although that feels as if it would be better saved for some collection. Growf. I hope something snappier will emerge during the test-reading/editing/wait for the cover phase.
It's been pretty interesting to replace the typical lone-wolf magical protagonist living out his angsty extended adolescence with an actual mature adult embedded in a functional family, and see what that does to genre expectations. My first vision of the older Penric, back before I started all this, was more in the former mode. I'm glad I dropped back and started him at his beginning with what became "Penric's Demon" -- he's a much more engaging character now.
No, I don't know anything yet about Blackstone or SubPress. AFAIK, they've not yet been informed the story exists, though my agent will take care of that soon. But I prefer to have it in final, tidied-as-possible form before submitting it for subrights sales.
And now I'm going to go take the evening goofing off.
Ta, L.
May 21, 2025
Penric and the Bandit now shipping
Updating myself further, I see this morning that "Penric and the Bandit" is now in-stock and shipping from Subterranean Press.
https://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-...
Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven here in Minneapolis should get their copies pretty soon.
Ta, L.
https://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-...
Uncle Hugo's and Dreamhaven here in Minneapolis should get their copies pretty soon.
Ta, L.
May 10, 2025
Penric and the Bandit due from SubPress in July
The pre-order page has popped up on Subterranean Press's website --
https://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-...
This signed, limited edition hardcover book will also be available through Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore, and Dreamhaven Books & Comics, both in-store and by mail order.
Ta, L.
Addendum, 5/21: My author's copies arrived hot from the press yesterday, and lovely they are, so I expect this will be shipping sooner rather than later.
Ta, L.
https://subterraneanpress.com/bujold-...
This signed, limited edition hardcover book will also be available through Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore, and Dreamhaven Books & Comics, both in-store and by mail order.
Ta, L.
Addendum, 5/21: My author's copies arrived hot from the press yesterday, and lovely they are, so I expect this will be shipping sooner rather than later.
Ta, L.
May 2, 2025
audio of Memory on sale today at Downpour
Downpour.com, the e-retailer of Blackstone Audiobooks, has their audiobook of Memory on sale today for $3.95 --
https://www.downpour.com/memory?sp=12307
Not sure how long this sale will last, but I believe it is of short duration, maybe today only? Good chance to either stock up, and/or acquaint yourself with this audio vendor.
Ta, L.
https://www.downpour.com/memory?sp=12307
Not sure how long this sale will last, but I believe it is of short duration, maybe today only? Good chance to either stock up, and/or acquaint yourself with this audio vendor.
Ta, L.
April 11, 2025
Lois at Minicon April 19
Minicon 58 will be running here in Minneapolis on the weekend of April 18 - 20. More info here:
https://mnstf.org/minicon58/
I plan to be there as a programming participant on Saturday; two panels and a Q&A/signing.
Ta, L.
https://mnstf.org/minicon58/
I plan to be there as a programming participant on Saturday; two panels and a Q&A/signing.
Ta, L.
