L. Jagi Lamplighter's Blog, page 14
July 8, 2016
Magic come to Life!
For years, I decribed the cover I would like to see for Prospero Lost: Miranda in her old-fashioned green dress and Mab in his trenchcoat and fedora with his trusty lead pipe walking down the streets of Chicago with a lightningbolt shaped like a unicorn in the background.
My amazing cover artist, Dan Lawlis, brought it to life!
Here is the cover for the new release of PROSPERO LOST!
July 6, 2016
We’re Famous!
Today's post from the merry folks over at Tempest In A Teardrop.
Rachel: "Do look, Sigrfried! We're famous."
Siggy, nonchalant: "I've always been famous. I'm Sigfried the Dragonslayer. But how nice for you."
(Note: it was asked whether Sigfried was a famous orphan to make him like another well-known famous orphan with magic. The answer is: No. The original roleplaying game that The Books of Unexpected Enlightenment are based on had stats like: Family, Familiar, Fortune, Fame… John, who was playing Sigfried Smith, designed his character in typical min/max fashion.)
July 3, 2016
On Sale Now! The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin!
In honor of the release of the revised ebook for The Raven, The Elf, and Rachel, the first Book of Unexpected Enlightenment, The Unexpected Enlightenment of Rachel Griffin is
ON SALE NOW!
Only 99 cents on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th.
July 1, 2016
A Head’s UP
The second Book of Unexpected Enlightenment, The Raven, the Elf, and Rachel, is live. In honor of this, on July 3rd, 4th, and 5th, The first book, the new and expanded The Unexpected enlightenment of Rachel Griffin, will be only .99 cents!
I will post about it again when the time comes.
Also, I added some more to the Roanoke Academy website.
June 14, 2016
Live from Amazon! It’s ebook Book One!
The e-book version of the first Book of Unexpected Enlightenment:
The new revised and expanded (improved and better edited) version of THE UNEXPECTED ENLIGHTENMENT OF RACHEL GRIFFIN (Book One) is now live on Amazon.
The cost is $2.99.
Book Two will go live in early July. Book Three should be available in October. Also coming in October, another requested item: the audio version of the first book!
(Thank you to Joel C. Salomon for making this possible!)
June 4, 2016
Signal Boost for eSpec Kickstarter — Defending the Future!
eSpec Books is kickstarting the next book in the award-winning Defending the Future science fiction anthology series. Man and Machine (http://tiny.cc/DTF7) brings you 13 stories of future fiction by science fiction greats Bud Sparhawk, Brenda Cooper, Jennifer Brozek, Ronald Garner, Aaron Rosenberg, James Chambers, Nancy Jane Moore, Patrick Thomas, Jeff Young, Eric Hardenbrook, Robert E. Waters, Anton Kukal, Judi Fleming, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail.
The project has already funded and is now working it's way through a long list of stretch goals, including a custom tee shirt, bonus ebook short stories, a challenge coin, bonus fiction bundles, a mission patch, and up to three additional collections put into production.
Best of all, though, is our 100 Backer Bonus reward…all six volumes of the current Defending the Future series on ebook for free, including stories by Jack McDevitt, Jack Campbell, Lawrence M. Schoen, Maria V. Snyder, David Sherman, Andy Remic, Jeff Lyman, Charles E. Gannon, James Chambers, Deborah Teramis Christian, Anne Wilkes (Hutchison), Lisanne Norman, Laurie Gailunas, Patrick Thomas, Edward J. McFadden III, Jennifer Brozek, John C. Wright, Phoebe Wray, S.A. Bolich, Judi Fleming, Tony Ruggiero, Bud Sparhawk, Brenda Cooper, Nancy Jane Moore, Eric V. Hardenbrook, Christopher M. Hiles, James Daniel Ross, CJ Henderson, Jeff Young, Peter Prellwitz, Robert E. Waters, Mike McPhail, Kimberley Long-Ewing, Lee C. Hillman, John L. French, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Janine K. Spendlove, Vonnie Winslow Crist, and Danielle Ackley-McPhail….only twelve slots left!
The Last Flight of Odin’s One Hundred — LIVE!!!
Hey Folks!
My short story, The Last Flight of Odin's Hundred, is now live on Sci Phi Journal.
Read here — firedrake star jets vs star serpents!
This short story takes place in the same greater background as the Books of Unexpected Enlightenment and as Ring of Sounding Brass, the short story in God, Robot. It is one of my few science fiction stories, though, like Ring of Sounding Brass, there is a mystical element to the background world.
Leif the Fortunate is charged with stopping the forces of the Dread King, including the star serpents controled by Lief's personal nemesis and his star serpents. Leif and Odin's Hundred are in the midst of a to-the-death space battle, when a universe-wide game-changing events changes everything.
The story stars two characters who are minor characters in the general background–though one is called by a different name at Roanoke.
There is also a brief mention-cameo by Lady Trilby Moth (the Elf King's character.)
Go by and take a look, check out Sci Phi Journal. You'll find lots of high quality, thoughtful science fiction.
If you enjoy what you see, please consider supporting Sci Phi Journal on Patreon.
June 2, 2016
Superversive Blog — Review of Diary of a Robot by S. Dorman
S. Dorman reviews Diary of a Robot by Lewis Jenkins
The oddest thing about Lewis Jenkins's first novel, Diary of a Robot, is the robot's prime directive. That the "Doc," its inventor, succeeds in his artificially intelligent creation is shown in Jenkins' premise — or conceit, if you will — that the AI is the one telling us its own story. But, I have not yet revealed the weird — the robot's prime directive. In the robot's diary are respectful nods to I, Robot, Isaac Asimov's work, and touches of evident love for Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner. You'll find history, science fiction, and mystery in this story.
Dr. Little's invention, the TM 2000—Robey (pronounced Row-bee)—is on its way to becoming a self-directed systems, software, and hardware testing machine. The "Doc" does not invent without the aid of his little company (TLC —The Little Company). In much of Jenkins' book Robey displays the learning process of an artificial intelligence. But the book does so much more, as regards the imaginative reading experience. What we want while reading science fiction is hardware, suspense, defined characters, situation, and the "what if" or BIG IDEA. This novel has that, and more — corporate espionage, bad news, abduction, impersonation, intimations of murder, and chess problems. But the real more is in TM 2000's process of testing, of learning, What's a human being?. Many questions are asked (by The Machine) and, as we watch it mature toward its full intellectual stature, many more possible answers are given (also by The Machine).
Have you ever heard of a computer program designed to test for truth? And why would financial backers invest in a testing machine with such a prime directive? Although to "do no harm" is an important directive suggested by Asimov, Dr. Maynard Little's team have encoded those specs and others—but secondarily.
Robey wants to determine the thoughts and intentions of the human heart. Its aim is incisive: Precision in reading the human intention in order to act toward its goal of perceiving the truth about each person. Intelligently, even heroically, Robey intends to achieve it. Being designed specifically for the task, nothing can stop it but a command to … stop?… What if the command to stop is not based on truth —?
Robey's heroism comes in when his maker, Doc Little, commands him to shut down. Not to turn itself off because Robey has disobeyed its directives, but because it has. From there on, The Doc gets his wish, and havoc results in the AI department of The Little Company.
Do you like exposition and introspection? This is the SF for you. If you read to escape, or for respite from, introspection, this book may not be for you. Yet, it's a fun and funny novel. The frequent SF take on AI, e.g. Clarke’s HAL, is often sinister, but this robot is different in being innocently tedious, or irritating, boring, obnoxious, office-disrupting; some kind of pain, depending on who is charging/spending time developing (in concert with Robey) its core directive. The reader has fun watching it "test" (read bedevil) the crew at TLC. However, we see that Robey is a servant and understands that it is a servant. Everyone is either Mr. or Ms., e.g. Mr. Guy and Ms. Marie. Robey is also, of course, the ultimate testing machine. This is, after all, how it makes money for The Little Company. There's an abundance of humor in this book, the kind I like. I won't give examples because the humor is always contextual. The kind that punctuates (or punctures) the silence of reading with small explosions of laughter.
A big theme, a BIG IDEA, in Robey's story is (metaphorically) the increasing influence of surveillance in our lives. C.S. Lewis has said about our human condition that the more we take precautions to be secure, the less secure we feel. But this Big Idea is also not present at first in Jenkins' story of Robey. Instead, as intelligent software and machines increase at TLC, themes of security and surveillance accelerate the Diary's narrative force, while underscoring C.S. Lewis's observation about our condition.
Diary of a Robot is not a review of my brother. It is a review of my brother's book.
Diary of a Robot on Lulu
May 31, 2016
The Worm of Ages — new from Tom Simon
Many people feel Tom Simon, Mr. Superversive himself, is the the best essayist living today. However, he writes fiction, too!
Hot from the presses, six short works of fantasy by Mr. Simon:
The Worm of the Ages on Amazon
Join Tom Simon for a light-hearted excursion through the fields of the imagination, from legends of ancient days to laboratories of a twisted future. This collection of six stories by the author of WRITING DOWN THE DRAGON includes:
The Worm of the Ages
Droll’s audition
Magic’s pawnshop
A case of vengeance
Kundenschmerz
And as a bonus, a new story, ‘The wrongs of the matter’, never before published in any medium. Buy yours today! Be the envy of your friends and the puzzlement of your neighbours!
Enjoy!
About the author: (This was so amusing, I felt compelled to share it.): Tom Simon has been writing fantasy for many years, but it was only in 2012, with LORD TALON'S REVENGE, that he began publishing this work. Like most writers, he has had a wide range of peculiar jobs, from sysop of a dialup chat board (before the commercial Internet) to assistant in a Member of Parliament's constituency office. One of his MP's constituents was an ardent advocate for the population of elves who lived (so he said) in a patch of wild ground in the midst of the city. Mr. Simon regrets that he was never personally involved in dealing with elf issues. However, he has met the usual assortment of witches, wizards, and one creature who styled himself Archdruid of Canada.
May 23, 2016
Bring the Lightning — New Western by Peter Grant!
Today is the day!
For all you lovers of Westerns and fans of Peter Grant.
His first Western is now live!
Successful science fiction author Peter Grant has branched out in a new diretion. In BRINGS THE LIGHTNING, he has revived the classic Western novel. A renaissance man of a wide range of experience not unlike Louis L'Amour, Grant has been a man of war and a man of God, a soldier, a pastor, and a prison chaplain. His writing reflects his experience of Man's capacity for both good and evil, but never without a sense of optimism about Man's ability to learn from his mistakes.
Excerpt:
When the Civil War ends, where can a former Confederate soldier go to escape the long memories of neighbors who supported the winning side? Where can Johnny Reb go when he can't go home?
He can go out West, where the land is hard, where there is danger on every side, and where no one cares for whom you fought – only how well you can do it.
Walt Ames, a former cavalryman with the First Virginia, is headed West with little more than a rifle, a revolver, and a pocket full of looted Yankee gold. But in his way stand bushwhackers, bluecoats, con men, and the ever-restless Indians. And perhaps most dangerous of all, even more dangerous than the cruel and unforgiving land, is the temptation of the woman whose face he can't forget.
When you can’t go home again – go West!
The ebook is now live.
Paper will be available, hopefully within a month.
