Michael J. Sullivan's Blog, page 68

International Authors' Day Giveaway

I was honored to receive an email from Jenn at Book Reviews and Giveaways that not only was I her "favorite author" but that she wanted to feature me for a blog hop for International Authors' Day.  Part of the hop involves free giveaways of the work the bloggers love the most, and I was more than happy to participate.

For those who aren't familiar with blog hops...it's when a bunch of bloggers get together to feature a particular event or theme.  This one is organized by Lynn Thompson and will run from July 14th - July 18th. Here are a small sampling of participating blogs:

Kristen TaberBook r3vi3w ToursButterfly on a BroomstickReader's MuseMy Devotional ThoughtsRyshia Kennie Her Ladyship's Quest Stacy Joy NetzelDaniel R. ThorneCrissi LangwellNjkinny's World of Books Book Reviews & Giveaways Penny's Tales Theresa M. Jones Amy L. PetersonThere are many more, and I wish I could list them all, but the list is just too long. But let's focus on Jenn's entry.  Here is part of what she had to say for her post:

My favorite genre is Fantasy. My first taste was playing games based on Dungeons & Dragons and I fell in love. I’ve read quite a lot in this genre, with several series or authors I really like. My favorite author has to be Michael J. Sullivan. His writing always feels like you are right there with the characters. You can feel what they are going through and you connect with them on so many levels. You find yourself caring what happens and experiencing emotions as though they were your closest friends. The descriptions are perfect. Never too much, never too little. You can visualize what he describes like it is being painted right before your eyes. I love how he can take so many plot threads along with the main plot and weave them expertly through more than just one book. You can’t help but stay up late just to read another chapter.

Jenn is running a "raffle copter" to giveaway one of my stories, but I was so thrilled to be part of this that I'm offering three of my short stories, not just to a single winner - but for anyone who signs up. Here is what I'm providing from this link.
  
WHO WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH?Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A thief, a candlemaker, an ex-mercenary, and a pig farmer walk into a trap…and what happens is no joke. When Riyria is hired to retrieve a jester’s treasure, Royce and Hadrian must match wits with a dwarf who proves to be anything but a fool. Difficult choices will need to be made, and in the end those who laugh last do so because they are the only ones to survive.

NOTE: This short story was originally published in the Unfettered Anthology edited by Shawn Speakman.  
THEY ATTACKED TWO RIDERS. THEY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE EASY. THEY WERE WRONG.A band of thieves set upon two lonely riders in the middle of the night. They had a larger party. They had the element of surprise. There was no reason to be concerned, but they didn’t realize who they were dealing with.

NOTE: This was originally published as the first chapter of Theft of Swords (Book #1 and Book #2 of The Riyria Revelations), so for those who have that book...you already have this story.   
WILL ROYCE TEACH HADRIAN OR BE SCHOOLED HIMSELF?Eleven years before they were framed for the murder of a king, Royce Melborn and Hadrian Blackwater were practically strangers. Unlikely associates, this cynical thief decides to teach his idealist swordsman partner that no good deed goes unpunished. But who is really the student and who is the master?

NOTE: This short story was the seed that became The Riyria Chronicles, it eventually found it's way in Chapter 2 of The Rose and the Thorn.I know that people on my site have probably already read these shorts, in one format or another...but I thought I should mention it in case you have friends/family that you want to introduce to Royce and Hadrian for free.

Thanks Jenn, and all the bloggers participating on the blog hop.  It's so nice to have a day (or three) devoted to authors and I'm honored to be included.

Stretch Goal Reached

Marc Simonetti's Coverama Crowd funding project hit it's next stretch goal ($30,000) so there will be five additional signed prints sent with all the books. I'm not sure if this is going to be one of them or not, but I do hope so.  At the very least, it will be included in the book.  There are still three days left to get in on this exceptional coffee table book.  You can get your copy here.



One of the cool thing about this picture, is that Marc painted it while recording through Livestream, and he has included his commentary as he worked on it, which will be a great help to other artists. It's amazing to see him go from nothing to a finished picture and you can watch along as he does.

Here is the first installment:

http://new.livestream.com/itsartmag/e...

Enjoy!

Crowd Funding Marc Simonetti's Art Book

I'm pretty public about my love for Marc Simonetti's artwork.  Not only has he done beautiful work for my Riyria French covers:


And provided an incredible illustration to bring to life Hollow World:

But he has also done amazing work for Pat Rothfuss's King Killer Chronicles, George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones, Terry Prachett's Disc World, and the list just goes on and on.

My reason for posting today is Marc an It's Art are crowd funding a coffee table book of his art. You can learn all about it here.

The project has already funded...(currently at 278% in fact), but I wanted people to know about it as there are still 5 days left and if another $2,000 plus change is raised the $30,000 stretch goal will be hit which means backers will get another 5 signed prints!  As someone who has already backed this great project - I would love for this to have this added bonus.

As with everything that Marc does, this is an incredibly professional and amazing project. Just look at some of these pictures I've taken from the funding page:





How amazing are those? Almost 400 people have backed the project and Marc has a wide range of funding options available. He's already made these stretch goals:$14,000 - Book expand to 256 pages$20,000 - Signed copies of "The Wall" 

And the best part...Marc has done a new piece of original art for my Riyria series.  If you've read Heir of Novron and wondered what the capital city of Percepliquis looked like just before it was destroyed by Esrahaddon, well you'll get to see that as well. I've been working with Marc over the last few months while he produced the piece and I'm thrilled with the results.  Marc has even hinted that he might do a companion versions showing the city after the fall.  How cool would that be?


In any case, no matter what pictures are ultimately selected for the final book, I can't see how anyone will be disappointed.  I'm very excited about this project an hope that by posting here, a few others will be excited to.

The project will close July 15th, 2014, so there are only a few more days left.  Please pledge your support and get your hands on this wonderful, limited edition work of art.  Again the link is here.

Wattpad Featured Author

I'm pleased to announce that the fine people at wattpad are featuring one of my stories.




This is the short story that planted the seed which would eventually grow into Hollow World. My intention for this particular piece, was to have a "Twilight Zone" ending.  Where the main character isn't a very nice guy and gets "just what he deserves."  While there are many similarities:
Both Dan Sturges and Ellis Rogers build a time machine and go to the future because they are dying.In both "futures" the people are genetically identical and live underground due to advance technology, leaving the "surface" in a pristine, natural state.But that's really where the similarities end. Dan was written to be unlikable, and for a full-length novel I needed someone more sympathetic.  Also he is pretty much a card-board stereotype. In this short story it's not about growth of a character (which is pretty hard in a short story as they exist for just a few reading minute), it was more about showing that an inability to adjust to one's environment could lead to disastrous results. It also demonstrates the old, be careful what you wish for theme.
Also, the people in Hollow World would never do to Dan what Dan's future versions do. I don't want to say too much, as it might spoil the story.  But let's just say the people he run into have almost 180 degree different view on how people should be treated.
For those who aren't familiar with wattpad, it's an online community were writers can post stories, poems, or just about anything else.  Most people read these stories via their smart phones and they are voracious readers.  Here are some stats (as of April 2014)85 percent of its traffic and usage comes from mobile devices25 million unique visitors per monthover 1,000 story uploads per dayI've uploaded a number of short stories (and previews) on that site including:
Greener Grass (dystopian science fiction short story)Burning Alexandria (dystopian science fiction short story)The Jester (a Riyria short story - originally published in Unfettered)The Thieves (a Riyria short story - also the first chapter of Theft of Swords)The Viscount  (a Riyria short story - also the second chapter of The Rose and the Thorn)Hollow World, Extended Preview (first 4 chapters of the full-length novel)If you want to checkout my stories, click here.

More about the anthology: Help Fund my Robot Army

As I mentioned in my recent post, John Joseph Adam's Help Fund My Robot Army Anthology is now released to the general public (formerly a Kickstarter).  It's an interesting idea, tell a story in the form of a Kickstarter.  Last post I introduced you to the amazing authors who contributed stories, today I want to share with you the Kickstarter Blurbs that we provided for each one.  Also I should note that John has made a few of the stories available for free from his website.  Here are the stories you can read for absolutely nothing:

• Help Fund My Robot Army (via Lightspeed Magazine)

• The Spirit of Mars: Fund a Sacred Journey to the Red Planet—Andrew Penn Romine

• Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One!—Harry Connolly

• For Entertainment Purposes Only—Jeremiah Tolbert

• Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead—Carmen Maria Machado (via Lightspeed Magazine)

Here are the various blurbs from the anthology:

Help Fund My Robot Army!!! By Keffy R.M. Kehrli
Help Fund My Robot Army so I can crush your hopes and dreams by making my own come true!
For Entertainment Purposes Only by Jeremiah Tolbert
A brain-altering device and app for dealing with an all-too-common problem of television and film spoilers. With our device, you can live a Spoiler Free life and enjoy the media you consume without concern.
Zero G R&J by Mary Robinette Kowal
NASA’s artist-in-residence program experiments with zero-G puppetry. David Tennant & Mary Robinette Kowal perform in space!
A Memorial to the Patriots by Jake Kerr
Help fund A Memorial to the Patriots, a marble monument in Baton Rouge to the valiant and brave defenders of Houston, who lost their lives to the terrorist insurgency forces last year.
I Want to be a Lioness by Chuck Wendig
I need to be on the outside what I feel I am on the inside: a lioness.
Liberty: Seeking Support for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for a Non-Human Being by Samuel Peralta
Seeking Support for a Writ of Habeas Corpus for a Non-Human Being
Help Summon the Most Holy Folded One! by Harry Connolly
With your help, we’ll summon the most holy, perfect, and eternal folded one: the avatar of the taco god. During this holy communion, we’ll learn the secrets of taco creation which we will then share with you!
Fulfill My Destiny—and Save the World! by Matt Forbeck
I have already conquered the world, but I need your help to build my time machine to make sure it happens. Or we all die.
Larping the Apocalypse 2: The Nano-Plague by Tim Pratt
You can be part of the most realistic post-apocalyptic live-action roleplaying game ever . . . if you live long enough.
Fund Taphognosis Industries by Tobias S. Buckell
Help us scan and upload entire minds . . . and change the future of consciousness research.
CatAssassins by Veronica Belmont
In an uncertain world, you want #CatAssassins on your side! Backers receive an early look at how our kittens are primed for global takeover.
Finder of Lost Things by Monte Cook
Lost something important to you? Support this project to help fund a device that will find it, no matter where or what it is!
Prima Nocta Detective Agency Needs You by Genevieve Valentine
Shadow City needs a hero. Prima Nocta wants to be that hero, because this place is really getting overrun with vampires.
So Juicy Transforming Strips by Matt Williamson
Tired of spoxy drainage? Together, we can “heal and reveal”!
The Spirit of Mars: Fund a Sacred Journey to the Red Planet by Andrew Penn Romine
JOIN US on an interplanetary pilgrimage to the mysterious FACE on MARS, and help found a NEW TEMPLE to the sacred SPIRIT of MARS.
Flashed Forward by Bradley Beaulieu
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to send me, and perhaps some small part of you, beyond these days and into the future.
Help Me Follow My Sister into the Land of the Dead by Carmen Maria Machado
Aid & abet a heartwarming sibling reunion—albeit under grievous circumstances—in a terrifying place where no mortal has any business treading.
Be Careful What You Wish For by Michael J. Sullivan
I can make your wishes come true. Check out my magic talismans with a wide range of prices/number of wishes available.
A Practical Mechanism for Overcoming the Directionality of Temporal Flow by David D. Levine
Time travel is one of humanity’s greatest dreams. Help me to develop my theoretical concept into a practical device!
Life-Sized Arena Tetris! by David Malki !
Bring the world’s best puzzle game to a real-life gym near you!!
ZIPPERS by Derek Van Gorder
An innovative solution to entertainment-overload.
I used to Love H.E.R. (a/k/a Help Engineer and Rebuild My Robot GirlfriendRoommate) by Maurice Broaddus
Taking the human brain and placing it in a mechanical body is the next phase in extending our lives past “death.”
Locally Grown, Organic by Kat Howard
A new restaurant, offering the epitome of truly unique cuisine.
Let’s Keep Burt Grimsby’s Head Frozen! by Heather Lindsley
When a crowd can fund your dream, no project is too extreme . . . not even a water-fueled engine to #saveburtsfrozenhead
Jerome 3.0 by Jason Gurley
Reunite a widow with her late husband, and help write the final act to a love story that transcends death itself.
Help Me Destroy Cannes! by Jonathan L. Howard
At last, a plan to remove the horrible blight of Cannes from the world. It will work, but I need your pledges!
Save the Photophobic Hemoglobivores with the Sanguine Reserve! by Mur Lafferty
Help conserve one of the oldest species on Earth with a private nature reserve.
Nosferatu, Brutus? by Scott Sigler
Pedophiliac sparkly vamps must die, and you can help kill them! Unleash the “Teenage Vamplague” and take out these young punks forever.
Updates by Vylar Kaftan and Shannon Prickert
Waiting to hear about other Kickstarters? Back Updates . . . and get your updates!
You Only Live Once by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley
This is your chance to experience the ultimate adventure. Join us on asteroid X635s and discover the future. You only live once.
Mechanical Animals by Brooke Bolander
Using state-of-the-art advances in neural uplink technology and biologically-based cybernetic vessel structure, this project will try to place a human consciousness where it has truly never gone before—into the body of an animal.
KISMET™ by Daniel H. Wilson
The KISMET™ device from LIFE! corporation will streamline your day-to-day decision making and transform you into a better version of yourself!
Bring About the Halloween Eternal!!! by Seanan McGuire
Restore Halloween to its rightful glory, and prove that ours is the most sincere holiday!

Everything is Awesome

The other night we watched the Lego Movie, and I must say that I was entertained.  The only problem is that damn song is easy to get into my head and then it won't leave for awhile.  But yesterday I was doing a search on Riyria Fan Art (I was trying to find some interpretations of Royce and Hadrian for an Artist (more on that later).  But wile searching around I came across this...and it was...well awesome!

Help Fund My Robot Army

Lately I've been writing more than a few short stories. In the past, it has been for some "good cause": Shawn Speakman's Unfettered to help raise cancer. N.E. White's The End--Visions of Apocalypse to spotlight new writes from the sffworld forum, and Triumph Over Tragedy to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims.

Help Fund My Robot Army  is the first Anthology that I've actually been paid for. I didn't do it for the money, and in fact I'm going to use the check I got for matching funds for my Ride to Cure Cancer project.  So why did I sign up for it?

Well two reasons. One it was a really interesting challenge...write a story using the format of a Kickstarter which means I have to tell a tale using FAQ's, pledge levels, comments, and updates. It's not easy constructing a tale and creating characters in such a framework and I'm always up for a good challenge.

The second reason, John Joseph Adams. I met John a few years ago at a ConFusion convention in Detroit. He's a nice guy and one of the best anthologists in the industry. He's created more than a dozen all while managing the publication of LightSpeed Magazine.

One of the really cool things about anthologies is being thrown together with a lot of authors and I for one certainly feel the pressure to ensure I don't embarrass myself when my story is sitting side by side with people who have a lot more experience with this whole "writing thing" than I do.  Just look at the talent in  Help Fund My Robot Army .

Keffy R.M. Kehrli is a science fiction and fantasy writer currently living in Seattle. Although his degrees are in physics and linguistics, he spends most of his time in a basement performing molecular biology experiments for fun and profit. In 2008, he attended Clarion UCSD where he learned that, unfortunately, rattlesnakes don’t always rattle. His short fiction has appeared in publications such as Apex Magazine, Fantasy, and Escape Pod, among others. He is also an editor and slush reader for Shimmer magazine.

Jeremiah Tolbert is a writer and web designer living in Northeast Kansas. His stories have previously appeared in publications such as Lightspeed Magazine, Way of the Wizard, and Asimov’s. He’s an avid watcher of television and films, and has completely given up on avoiding spoilers.

Mary Robinette Kowal is the author of the novels Shades of Milk and Honey, Glamour in Glass, Without a Summer, and Valour and Vanity. In 2008 she won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2011, her short story “For Want of a Nail” won the Hugo Award for Short Story. Her work has been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Stories have appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov’s, and several Year’s Best anthologies as well as in her collection Scenting the Dark and Other Stories from Subterranean Press. Mary, a professional puppeteer and voice actor, has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures, and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve. She also performs as a voice actor, recording fiction for authors such as Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. Mary lives in Chicago with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Visit maryrobinettekowal.com.

Jake Kerr began writing short fiction in 2010 after fifteen years as a music and radio industry columnist and journalist. His first published story, “The Old Equations,” appeared in Lightspeed and went on to be named a finalist for the Nebula Award and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. He has subsequently been published in Fireside Magazine, Escape Pod, and the Unidentified Funny Objects anthology of humorous SF. A graduate of Kenyon College with degrees in English and Psychology, Kerr studied under writer-in-residence Ursula K. Le Guin and Peruvian playwright Alonso Alegria. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife and three daughters.

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. He’s the author of Blackbirds, Double Dead, and Dinocalypse Now, and is co-writer of the short film Pandemic, the feature film HiM, and the Emmy-nominated digital narrative Collapsus. He lives in Pennsylvania with wife, taco terrier, and tiny human.

Samuel Peralta is a physicist and storyteller. He has produced and supported scores of crowd-sourced films, including projects based on Daniel H. Wilson’s The Nostalgist, and Stephen King’s Big Driver and Rest Stop. He has been recognized with awards from the BBC, UK Poetry Society, Digital Literature Institute, Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, and shortlists for the League of Canadian Poets, Elgin Award, ARC Poem of the Year, and Goodreads Best Small Press Books and Chapbooks. The titles in his Semaphore series—Sonata Vampirica, Sonnets from the Labrador, How More Beautiful You Are, Tango Desolado, and War and Ablution—all topped the Amazon Kindle Hot New Releases charts, and ranked at the top of the Bestseller lists, for poetry. More recently, the fiction titles set in his Labyrinth world—including Trauma Room and Hereafter—have begun to gain popular attention. Liberty is the latest addition to this universe.

Harry Connolly’s debut novel, Child of Fire, was named to Publishers Weekly’s Best 100 Books of 2009 but everything for that particular series went downhill from there. He has also published noirish adventure fantasy in the now defunct Black Gate magazine. In the fall of 2013, Harry launched a successful Kickstarter to fund the publication of an epic fantasy trilogy, along with a short fiction collection and a pacifist urban fantasy. Harry lives in Seattle with his beloved wife, beloved son, and beloved library system. He can be found online at harryjconnolly.com

Matt Forbeck has been a full-time creator of award-winning games and fiction since 1989, designing games and toys and writing stories of all sorts. He has twenty-seven novels published to date, including the award-nominated Guild Wars: Ghosts of Ascalon and the critically acclaimed Amortals and Vegas Knights. His latest work includes the Magic: The Gathering comic book, The Marvel Encyclopedia, the MMOs Marvel Heroes and Ghost Recon Online, the Leverage novel The Con Job, the Dangerous Games trilogy of thriller novels set at Gen Con, and the Monster Academy YA fantasy novels. For more about him and his work, visit Forbeck.com.

Tim Pratt’s short fiction has appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy, and other nice places. His most recent collection is Hart and Boot and Other Stories, and his work has won a Hugo Award and been nominated for World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Stoker, Mythopoeic, and Nebula Awards. He blogs intermittently at timpratt.org, where you can also find links to many of his stories. Pratt is also a senior editor at Locus, the magazine of the science fiction and fantasy field. He lives in Berkeley CA with his wife, writer Heather Shaw, and their son River.

Tobias S. Buckell is a Caribbean-born speculative fiction writer who grew up in Grenada, the British Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has written several novels, including the New York Times bestseller Halo: The Cole Protocol, the Xenowealth series, and Arctic Rising. His short fiction has appeared in magazines such as Lightspeed, Analog, Clarkesworld, and Subterranean, and in anthologies such as Armored, All-Star Zeppelin Adventure Stories, and Under the Moons of Mars. He currently lives in Ohio with a pair of dogs, a pair of cats, twin daughters, and his wife.

Veronica Belmont is the host of the Sword & Laser YouTube show and podcast, now in its seventh year. The Sword & Laser anthology, edited by Veronica and Tom Merritt, was published in 2014. As an Internet and TV presenter, you may have seen her as the host of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary live show and Gizmodo: The Gadget Testers on BBC America; or on Tekzilla, Fact or Fictional, Game On, and countless other web shows and podcasts. This is her first work of published fiction. She hopes there will be more.

An award-winning game designer with more than 25 years’ experience, Monte Cook is best known for co-designing Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition, and his work on various Planescape products, Arcana Evolved, Ptolus, Monte Cook’s World of Darkness, and the recent science fantasy game, Numenera. A writer with many varied interests, he’s also the author of two novels, more than a dozen short stories, a non-fiction book about conspiracy theories, and a comic book series from Marvel. Monte is a graduate of Clarion West. He currently runs Monte Cook Games, publisher of many fine roleplaying games.

Genevieve Valentine’s first novel, Mechanique, won the 2012 Crawford Award. Her second, The Girls at the Kingfisher Club, is out now from Atria. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and others, and the anthologies Federations, After, Teeth, and more. Her nonfiction has appeared at NPR.org, The A.V. Club, Strange Horizons, and io9, and she is a co-author of Quirk Books’ Geek Wisdom. Her appetite for bad movies is insatiable, a tragedy she tracks at genevievevalentine.com.

Matt Williamson’s stories have appeared in a variety of literary journals, magazines, and books—most recently Bat City Review, Nightmare Magazine, and the anthology Fakes from W.W. Norton. He is also the executive editor of the literary journal Unstuck.

Andrew Penn Romine is a writer and animator who lives in Los Angeles with his wife, his cats, and way too many books. His fiction has appeared in Lightspeed, Paizo, Crossed Genres, Podcastle, and Three-lobed Burning Eye as well as the anthologies Fungi, What Fates Impose, By Faerie Light, Broken Time Blues, and Rigor Amortis. His work has received honorable mentions in Best Horror of the Year (Datlow), and Tangent Online. He’s also written non-fiction for Lightspeed and blogged about cocktails at The Functional Nerds. You can find him online at andrewpennromine.com, or blogging about writing at Inkpunks.com. Follow his day-to-day adventures on Twitter @inkgorilla.

Bradley P. Beaulieu is the author of the critically acclaimed epic fantasy series, The Lays of Anuskaya, which begins with The Winds of Khalakovo, continues in The Straits of Galahesh, and concludes in The Flames of Shadam Khoreh. Brad has high interest in Kickstarter, a great platform that he used to run two successful campaigns of his own, not to mention participating in several anthology projects. Along with fellow author Gregory A. Wilson, Brad runs the highly successful science fiction and fantasy podcast, Speculate, which can be found at speculatesf.com. Brad continues to work on his next projects, including a Norse-inspired middle grade series and Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, an Arabian Nights-inspired epic fantasy that will be published by DAW Books in the US and Gollancz in the UK. For more geeky goodness about Brad and his writing, please visit quillings.com.

Carmen Maria Machado’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, AGNI, NPR, Los Angeles Review of Books, VICE, and many other publications. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, and was a fellow at the Millay Colony in 2014. She lives in Philadelphia with her partner.

Since finding a manual typewriter in a friend’s house when he was eight, Michael J. Sullivan has been fascinated with what doors the typewriter keys would unlock. He has written twenty-five novels, published nine, and has been translated into fifteen foreign languages. He was named to io9’s list of Most Successful Self-Published Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors and has spent more than a year (and counting) on Amazon’s Bestselling Fantasy Authors list. He’s sold more than a half million copies and has been named to more than 95 “Best Of” or “Most Anticipated” lists including those of Library Journal, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads.com, and Audible.com. Michael is one of the few authors who has successfully published through all three routes: small press, self, and big five, and he helps aspiring authors though his posts on publishing for Amazing Stories.

David D. Levine is the author of over fifty published science fiction and fantasy stories. His work has appeared in John Joseph Adams’s anthologies The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination and Armored as well as F&SF, Asimov’s, Analog, and many others, and he’s won or been nominated for awards including the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, and Campbell. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Kate Yule, with whom he co-edits the fanzine Bento. See his website at daviddlevine.com for more information and free fiction.

David Malki! is the author of the comic strip Wondermark, which in 2009 was nominated for the “Best Humor Publication” Eisner Award. He is also co-editor of the bestselling Machine of Death series of fiction anthologies, and creator of Machine of Death: The Game of Creative Assassination. His short fiction has appeared in Pseudopod and he also holds the distinction of having written the longest article ever published by Poets & Writers magazine.

Derek Van Gorder is a writer, cameraman, and science fiction filmmaker based in NYC. For as long as he can remember he’s had a penchant for visual art, spaceships, and old-fashioned special effects. His most recent short film C (299,792 kilometers per second) was funded completely through Kickstarter, and became a Vimeo Staff Pick. It has since been featured on a variety of popular inter-web hubs, including Wired.com, Quiet Earth, and io9. He is currently plotting his next project.

Maurice Broaddus has neither robots nor girlfriends—his wife of fourteen years and two sons prefer it that way. He whiles away his hours toiling in his own secret laboratory capturing stories for such places as Asimov’s, Weird Tales, Cemetery Dance, and Apex Magazine. Every now and then he puts on his editor’s hat for the Dark Faith series (Apex Publications) and Streets of Shadows (Alliteration Ink), the latter of which was Kickstarted. Mostly he’s known as the author of the urban fantasy trilogy, The Knights of Breton Court.

Kat Howard is the World Fantasy Award-nominated author of over twenty pieces of short fiction. Her work has been performed on NPR as part of Selected Shorts, and has appeared in Lightspeed, Subterranean, and Apex, among other venues. Her novella, The End of the Sentence, written with Maria Dahvana Headley, will be out in September from Subterranean Press. You can find her on twitter as @KatWithSword and she blogs at strangeink.blogspot.com.

Heather Lindsley’s work has appeared several times in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, as well as in the magazines Asimov’s, Strange Horizons, and Greatest Uncommon Denominator. Her fiction has also appeared in John Joseph Adams’s dystopian anthology Brave New Worlds and in The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, in Year’s Best Science Fiction 12, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and in Talking Back, edited by L. Timmel Duchamp. She has been featured on Escape Pod as a writer and on Podcastle as a reader, and her stories have appeared in Polish, Romanian, Russian, and French translations. She currently lives in Brighton and works in London, which gives her more time to write on the train.

Jason Gurley is the author of Eleanor, The Man Who Ended the World, Deep Breath Hold Tight, and the bestselling novel Greatfall, among other books. He lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest, and can be found at jasongurley.com.

Jonathan L. Howard is an author and scriptwriter, the creator of the Johannes Cabal, Russalka Chronicles, and Goon Squad series. He lives in the English West Country with his wife and daughter, and Cannes will suffer his wrath.

Mur Lafferty is a podcaster and writer from Durham, NC. She made her name with podcasting (I Should Be Writing, The Angry Robot Podcast, and Escape Pod, the premier SF podcast magazine) and has written for magazines, roleplaying games, and audio and video podcasts. She’s the author of the popular Shambling Guides series, with books 1 (Shambling Guide to New York City) and 2 (Ghost Train to New Orleans) out now.

New York Times bestselling novelist Scott Sigler is the author of the Infected trilogy (Infected, Contagious, and Pandemic), Ancestor, and Nocturnal, hardcover thrillers from Crown Publishing; and the co-founder of Empty Set Entertainment, which publishes his Galactic Football League series (The Rookie, The Starter, The All-Pro, and The MVP). Before he was published, Scott built a large online following by giving away his self-recorded audiobooks as free, serialized podcasts. His loyal fans, who named themselves “Junkies,” have downloaded over eight million individual episodes of his stories and interact daily with Scott and each other in the social media space.

Vylar Kaftan is a Nebula-nominated writer of short stories who’s appeared in magazines such as Lightspeed and Asimov’s. She founded FOGcon, a science fiction and fantasy con in the Bay Area. Her creative avatar is Pinkie Pie. Shannon Prickett is a huge fan of Kickstarter, despite having now waited 2.5 years for a promised reward for backing a particular project. He also likes cake. They both play a lot of Ingress. Viva la Resistance! You can find them on Twitter at @Vylar_Kaftan and @bindr. He’s funnier.

Sylvia Spruck Wrigley writes about aviation and science fiction (but never both at the same time). She splits her time between South Wales and the Costa del Sol, two coastal regions with almost nothing in common. She’s been nominated for a Nebula Award for her short story “Alive, Alive Oh,” which appeared in Lightspeed in 2013. You can find out more about her at intrigue.co.uk.

Brooke Bolander is a chaos-sowing trickster girl of indeterminate employment, half-tornado, half-writer. Originally from the deepest, darkest regions of the southern US, she attended the University of Leicester from 2004 to 2007 studying History and Archaeology and is a graduate of the 2011 Clarion Writers’ Workshop at UCSD. Her work has previously been featured in Lightspeed, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Reflection’s Edge, and the Prime Books anthology Aliens: Recent Encounters.

Daniel H. Wilson is a New York Times bestselling author. He has written eight books, including the bestselling Robopocalypse and its sequel Robogenesis, as well as other titles including Amped, How to Survive A Robot Uprising, and A Boy and His Bot. He is also co-editor, with John Joseph Adams, of the anthology Robot Uprisings. He earned a PhD in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, where he also received master’s degrees in robotics and artificial intelligence. He lives and writes in Portland, Oregon. Find him on Twitter @danielwilsonPDX.


Seanan McGuire is an avowed Halloween Girl, and was among the first to back this project, thus proving that she knows what side of the patch to plant her pumpkins in. She is also the author of a great many books, and a frequent guest at Disney’s Haunted Mansion, where she hopes to one day take up permanent residence. Stranger things have happened. Keep up with her at www.seananmcguire.com.

That's a pretty impressive line up: three New York Times Bestselling Authors, multiple finalists and winners of the Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy Award, and Campbell. I think I got into this esteemed group mainly because I've run a successful Kickstarter before (most of the writers have Kickstarter experience).

This post is already getting a little long, so I'll do a follow-up post on the stories themselves. But in the meantime, checkout Help Fund My Robot Army , it's available on Amazon right now for just $6.99, or if you are a Prime Member you can borrow it from the lending library for free.

Talent and Riyria

I'm always grateful for the emails and posts I see that thank me for writing Riyria...I'm often referred to as "talented" which is a huge compliment...especially since I'm just trying to write books I enjoy. But my writing also, apparently, inspires other talented people to express themselves.

Recently I received an email from Natalie (online handle "The Lucky One") who shared this really excellent depiction of Royce and Hadrian.


You can see more of Natalie's art here. I think after seeing her work she might have to change her online presences from "The Lucky One" to "The Talented One." 
Thanks Natalie, for sharing your work for me and allowing me to post about it on my web.

More Summer Deals

My editor informed me of a deal that Barnes and Noble is doing right now.  They have 63 trade paperbacks on sale at the low price of 2 for $20...including all five of my books (normally retails for $16.00 - $17.00 each). My guess is Barnes and Noble is discounting these books to entice purchasers away from Amazon who is purposefully not stocking Hachette titles as they normally would because of an ongoing contract dispute between the retailer and this publisher.  Here is a list of all the science fiction and fantasy books you can get on this sale:

Michael J. Sullivan
 • Theft of Swords (Riyria Revelations Series #1 & #2)
 • Rise of Empire (Riyria Revelations Series #3 & #4)
 • Heir of Novron (Riyria Revelations Series #5 & #6)
 • The Crown Tower (Riyria Chronicles Series #1)
 • The Rose and the Thorn (Riyria Chronicles Series #2)

Brent Weeks
 • The Black Prism (Lightbringer Series #1)
 • The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer Series #2)

Joe Abercrombie
 • Best Served Cold
 • Red Country
 • The Heroes

Daniel Abraham
 • The Dragon's Path (Dagger and Coin Series #1)
 • The King's Blood ((Dagger and Coin Series #2)
 • The Tyrant's Law (Dagger and Coin Series #3)

Brian McClellan
 • Promise of Blood (Powder Mage Trilogy #1)

David Dalglish
 • A Dance of Cloaks (Shadowdance Series #1)
 • A Dance of Blades (Shadowdance Series #2)
 • A Dance of Mirrors (Shadowdance Series #3)
 • A Dance of Shadows (Shadowdance Series #4)

Miles Cameron
 • The Red Knight (The Traitor Son Cycle Series #1)
 • The Fell Sword (The Traitor Son Cycle Series #2)

John Gwynne
 • Malice (Faithful and the Fallen Series #1)

Gail Z. Martin
 • Ice Forged (Ascendant Kingdoms Series #1)
 • Reign of Ash (Ascendant Kingdoms Series #2)  

Rachel Aaron
 • The Legend of Eli Monpress

Markus Heitz
 • The Dwarves (Dwarves Series #1)
 • The War of the Dwarves (Dwarves Series #2)
 • The Revenge of the Dwarves (Dwarves Series #3)

Stan Nicholls
 • Orcs

John R. Fultz 
 • Seven Sorcerers (Books of the Shaper Series #3)

Robert Jackson Bennett
 • The Troupe
 • American Elsewhere

Peter F. Hamilton
 • The Neutronium Alchemist (Night's Dawn Series #2)

Lauren Beukes 
 • The Shining Girls: A Novel

K. J. Parker
 • Devices and Desires

Stephenie Meyer
 • The Host
 • The Host with Bonus Chapter

Daniel O'Malley
 • The Rook

Pamela Freeman
 • The Castings Trilogy

Rachel Neumeier
 • The Griffin Mage

Gail Carriger 
 • Blameless (Parasol Protectorate Series #3)

Peter Higgins 
 • Wolfhound Century

Francis Knight
 • Fade to Black (Rojan Dizon Series #1)
 • Before the Fall (Rojan Dizon Series #2)

James S. A. Corey
 • Leviathan Wakes (Expanse Series #1)
 • Caliban's War (Expanse Series #2)
 • Abaddon's Gate (Expanse Series #3)

Iain M. Banks
 • Consider Phlebas (Culture Series #1)
 • The Player of Games (Culture Series #2)
 • Use of Weapons (Culture Series #3)
 • Matter (Culture Series #7)    
 • Surface Detail (Culture Series #8)
 • The Hydrogen Sonata (Culture Series #9)
 • Transition

Mark Leyner 
 • The Sugar Frosted Nutsack: A Novel

C. J. Cherryh
 • Cyteen

James Patterson
 • Daniel X: Alien Hunter (Graphic Novel)

Will McIntosh 
 • Defenders

Simon Morden
 • The Curve of The Earth
 • Arcanum

Christine Woodward 
  • Rogue Touch

Jacqueline Carey
 • Saints Astray

Terry DeHart
 • The Unit

Odette Beane
 • Reawakened: A Once Upon a Time Tale

These are some pretty amazing titles mostly from Orbit, but if you want to get in on this deal, don't wait to long, the sale ends July 18th.  Here is a link.  And here are the covers:

Time is running out to get in on the Humble Audiobook Bundle

18,000 people have gotten in on this incredible deal which includes:
4 audio books that you can name your own price for6 more audio books if you chose just $9.21 or above (including Hollow World)1 more bonus book if you chose to pay $10: Chuck Palantiuk's Fight ClubSince the last time I told you about the deal three new audio books have been added:John Sandford's Rules of PreyUmberto Eco's BaudolinoPiers Anthony's Bearing an HourglassThis really is an incredible deal, but it will be over in 1 day and 5 hours, so if an of the above books are of interest to you now is a great time to get these audio books at a great price.  Here is a link to order.