Matthew Hughes's Blog: barbarians of the beyond, page 27

February 14, 2013

Old Mars ToC released

George R.R. Martin has released the table of contents for Old Mars, an anthology of stories set in the Mars of Bradbury, Burroughs, and other great writers of the science fiction of my youth. The anthology will be out in October, and I will have a story -- The Ugly Duckling -- in it.

I wasn't supposed to be in Old Mars. I hadn't originally been invited, but when someone dropped out just before deadline, Gardner asked me if I could fill in. I reread The Martian Chronicles for the first time in nigh on fifty years and wrote a story I thought fitted Bradbury's elegiac mood. Gardner and George liked it and bought it.

Coincidentally, yesterday when George was putting out the ToC, I got an email from Gardner to let me know that when the text came back from the proofreader, there was a note at the bottom of "The Ugly Duckling": "Beautiful, beautiful story. Brava!"

I'll take my reviews wherever I can get them.
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Published on February 14, 2013 11:17 Tags: george-r-r-martin, martian-chronicles, matthew-hughes, old-mars, ray-bradbury

February 10, 2013

All the Henghis Hapthorn stories collected

The collection of Henghis Hapthorn short stories, Nine Tales of Henghis Hapthorn, is now available from the Archonate bookstore in mobi and ePub formats, again at the reader-friendly price of $2.99. A pdf version will follow soon.

Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice have been selling nicely.

I'll be putting up the standalone space opera novel, Template, and the complete Guth Bandar collection next month.
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Published on February 10, 2013 12:14 Tags: archonate, henghis-hapthorn, matthew-hughes

February 7, 2013

Estore open for business

At long last, and after heroic efforts by web page designer extraordinaire, Bradley W. Schenck, the Archonate ebookstore is now open for business:

At the moment, I’m, selling my first two Archonate novels, Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice, at $2.99 apiece. As soon as it’s formatted, I’ll also be offering Nine Tales of Henghis Hapthorn (collecting all of the Hapthorn stories), at the same price.

Next up will be Template, a standalone Archonate space opera, and a collection of all the Guth Bandar stories. They’ll also be priced at $2.99 apiece and should be on sale next month.

Please tell your friends.
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Published on February 07, 2013 12:22 Tags: archonate, filidor-vesh, fool-me-twice, fools-errant, henghis-hapthorn, matthew-hughes

February 5, 2013

YouTube read of Mastermindless

Here’s something of an experiment: I’ve read the text of the first Henghis Hapthorn story, (Mastermindless, (F&SF, March 2004) aloud while the videocam was running and put the result up on YouTube. The sound quality is not ideal, and the only visual is the homemade title card, plus I’m not a professional voice actor – but anybody who wants to listen is welcome to the experience.

All of the Hapthorn stories are now available as a $2.99 ebook from Amazon and Kobo. I’ll be selling the collection at the same price from my web page in the near future, so those who have a Nook or some other EPUB-format-friendly reader can get them then. And for the truly old-fashioned, there’ll be a PDF file.
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Published on February 05, 2013 11:41 Tags: dying-earth, fantasy, henghis-hapthorn, mastermindless, matthew-hughes

February 2, 2013

Selling my backlist (and short stories) as ebooks

I'm starting to sell my backlist as ebooks. The store that will open on my web page is still a few days off, but Fools Errant and Fool Me Twice, my first two Archonate novels, are now listed on the Amazon kindle store and on Kobo, at $2.99 each (I haven't figured out how to do two-for pricing yet.)

I've also collected all the Henghis Hapthorn stories in one $2.99 e-volume entitled Nine Tales of Henghis Hapthorn. It's on Amazon now, and will show up on Kobo tomorrow. The collection includes the original six stories that ran in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and which led to the three Hapthorn novels. One of the stories is "Sweet Trap", which ran in F&SF but was also the opening chapter of the second Hapthorn novel, The Spiral Labyrinth. The other two are "Fullbrim's Finding", which ran in F&SF after the novels came out, and "The Immersion," which ran in Postscripts.
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Published on February 02, 2013 19:13 Tags: filidor-vesh, fool-me-twice, fools-errant, henghis-hapthorn, matthew-hughes

January 27, 2013

Hell to Pay, first review

Hell to Pay, the third novel in the To Hell and Back series, will be out in a few weeks. It's already available for pre-order on Amazon. And now comes the first review, from the Summer Reading Project blog. Reviewer Annie Smith says, "I love it when an author reveals that there's been a bigger story behind the individual books' plots. Hughes never hid this, but each new book shows new layers and ties them all together."
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Published on January 27, 2013 18:59 Tags: hell-to-pay, matthew-hughes, to-hell-and-back

January 23, 2013

Story mechanics

Here's a talk on story mechanics that I gave to a local writers group where I'm housesitting on Vancovuer Island:
http://youtu.be/kOve1zMzY08
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Published on January 23, 2013 11:00 Tags: matthew-hughes, story-mechanics, writing-advice

January 18, 2013

Reading and talk, January 24

I'm going to be doing a reading and author talk at the Qualicum Beach library on Thursday, January 24, from 1 to 2 pm.
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Published on January 18, 2013 12:02 Tags: matthew-hughes

January 14, 2013

Another review of "And Then Some"

Another review of "And Then Some," my novelette in the current Asimov's Science Fiction. Terry Weyna says, "Hughes has been constructing a fascinating universe for years now, and each new entry gets slotted into a future history as complex as anything invented by Heinlein or Asimov."
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Published on January 14, 2013 12:55 Tags: asimov-s, erm-kaslo, matthew-hughes

January 11, 2013

Review of The Yellow Cabochon

Stephen Theaker, former administrator of the British Fantasy Awards, gives my Luff Imbry novella, The Yellow Cabochon , a warm review in his quarterly on-line magazine. He says, "The plot is clever, surprising with each twist, and the dialogue is sharp, witty, and infused with unusual ideas..."
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Published on January 11, 2013 13:19 Tags: luff-imbry, yellow-cabochon-matthew-hughes