Nobilis Reed's Blog, page 39

Merry Blissemas! Happy Holidays from the Future.

Christmas, at least in the US and UK, isthe chief of holidays, and no doubt you've seen a lot of Blissemas posts about it this year. Today I'd like to talk about Christmas's smaller sibling, New Year's Day.

People, as long as they are people, have holidays. As long as they measure time at all, then there will be a time when the meter clicks over and a new one of whatever begins. Even if they've gone all metric and instead of "years" they have "kilodays" they will still sit up and take notice when all the digits across the display are zeroes. And since it's in the nature of humanity to reminisce about the past and make plans for the future, they will likely do it on that day when the time function ticks particularly loudly.

And for that reason, "New Year's Eve" and "New Year's Day" (by whatever name your people know it) will be present in any society that measures time with numbers. They may not celebrate it in ways we would recognize, but the fundamental commonality is there. People need to pay attention to time on that day, just to remember to change the number they're putting on their business, and that naturally gets people thinking about time. New Years are always holidays, in every culture.

Creating a holiday for a fictional culture is an important way to highlight aspects of the culture. Think of how Christmas in mainstream american culture, with things like lavish light displays and expensive gifts, highlights the consumerism that's so much a part of modern America. A fictional holiday should have similarly deep roots in the culture in which it is celebrated.

In my novel trilogy the Orgone Chronicles, there's a culture known simply as "The Pirates" with a celebrity class known as "Worthies." They are the crews of the raiding ships that form the economic backbone of the culture, but they are also players in what amounts to a twenty-four hour reality show. Essentially, they get paid for having high-drama lives full of passion and betrayal. Take everything you might see on "Big Brother" or "Survivor," add in duelling, sex, and space combat, and you've got some idea of what their culture is like.

The Pirate version of the New Year's holiday is 'Election Week,' which is held at the beginning of each new year. It recognizes the accomplishments of those who have done the most to support the community over the previous year. All the raiding ships from across the galaxy come together at the mothership, "Port." The pirate crews engage in a week-long celebration of feasts, games, duels, and debauchery. It all culminates in a public vote to elect one of their number to recieve the title of "First Worthy". Since the office has some real political power, the competition gets heated. This event figures strongly in the third book of the series, "Hunters," which is planned to come out in May 2012.

Smashwords

In addition to the novels and novellas that I have linked from the "Books" page, you should also know that I have a number of short stories there, as well, for 99 cents.  This week, I added "Incursion at Gene Bunker Four," a science fiction tentacle tale.

Three women guard one of the world's most precious resources–a man. He is one of only a few that remain after the mysterious gender plague turned the vast majority of humanity female. Sasha, Andie and Lena are about to discover the purpose of the gender plague, and will feel all of the terror–and the ecstasy–that those responsible can bring.

"Incursion at Gene Bunker Four" is an erotic vignette in the style of the "naughty tentacles" genre. Don't expect a complex plot or deep characters; this is a bit of fun.

This short story is intended for adults with a firm grasp of the difference between fantasy and reality. It contains material of questionable consent, at best. If this would offend you, I recommend my short story, "Healing" as a much gentler (but no less erotic) alternative.

Coming Together: In Flux

The anthology I have been working on for months is finally complete and available for sale.  Coming Together: In Flux is a charity anthology with a theme of transformation. It benefits the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.

Wow.  This is the second anthology I have edited (the first being Tentacle Dreams) but this is the first I've carried through mostly on my own; I created the call, I managed the submissions, then picked all the stories and assembled the package for publication. (The marvelous Alessia Brio created the cover and runs Coming Together as an imprint–great thanks to her for all her help!) It has been a tremendous journey, one I hope I can revisit in the future. For now, however, I am quite glad to be done.  There is still work to do, certainly; I need to get the word out!  But for now at least, I am pleased and proud to stand here at this particular milestone on the path.

(I'm not resting, of course, in spite of the hiatus–too much else to do!)

You may not have heard of the Woodhull Sexual Freedom Alliance.  I don't recall where I first heard of them, but I've been subscribed to their email newsletter for years–I just checked my gmail account and the "welcome" email dates from February 2006!  That's about the time when I started my podcast, when I first started speaking out (in a way) about my own sexuality, in the form of fiction.  That has been my primary contact with them; daily emails with news stories collected from around the world. They are full of trials and triumphs, global, national, and personal. Reading about these events has shaped my fiction. Scouts in particular, draws on images and themes I have found in those newsletters.

Thank you, Woodhull.  I hope this anthology opens eyes to the work you do, and a few wallets too.

Riskwear vs. Ex Fumo Gaudiam

I'm running a special promotion for Ex Fumo Gaudiam and Riskwear.  The first one to sell 100 copies will be the first to get a new book in the series.

You can also find both books on Amazon Kindle and at Barnes and Noble, or if you like, you can pick up the "Make Love, Not War" bundle and get both titles for 20% off, only at Logical Lust.

Let the competition begin!

And if you really want to have an impact on the competition, here a promo for your podcast: NobilisEbookPromo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Coming Together” reviewed on Jane’s Guide

“Coming Together” (the publisher for my upcoming anthology, “Coming Together: In Flux“) has been reviewed by Jane’s Guide.  With a few minor caveats, the review is very positive!  Congrats to Alessia Brio and the whole Coming Together team.

"Coming Together" reviewed on Jane's Guide

"Coming Together" (the publisher for my upcoming anthology, "Coming Together: In Flux") has been reviewed by Jane's Guide.  With a few minor caveats, the review is very positive!  Congrats to Alessia Brio and the whole Coming Together team.

On Being “Done”

I completed two projects this past weekend. Well, to be completely factual, I completed one and completed an important stage on another. In any case, I feel a massive sense of accomplishment, but the work is always there.

The first of these projects is Alive, a full-cast audio production for my podcast. It’s a story set in Chris Lester’s Metamor City, one that I have been working on, intermittently, for a long time. The last episode has a great deal of action, and took me most of the weekend to produce. I believe it to be some of my best work, though it’s a bit early at this point to judge as there hasn’t been time for much feedback. In the end, I believe it was worth it, if only for what it taught me about audio production–and about pacing myself.

The other project is the third draft of “Artbodies.” The first draft of this story was published in my podcast, and it’s the last work I’m going to put out in such an unfinished state. The third draft is much superior, and after a final review by my beta reader, it’s going to be submitted for possible publication, which is why it isn’t truly finished yet. There will likely be another round of editing, or perhaps two, before it goes to press.

And let me tell you, it feels _good_. Hitting ‘send’ on the email to put Artbodies in front of my beta reader felt like pulling off the brake on a charged-up steam locomotive. Listening to Alive, all the way through, all four episodes, in spite of being able to hear every flaw, felt like riding that locomotive over a mountain. Whee…

The thing is…

The work is still there.  For one thing, neither of those stories is just disappearing.  ”Artbodies” is going to come back from the beta reader with edits I need to do, and if it gets accepted at my dream publisher, they are going to have edits they want, too.  ”Alive” is going to have a run over on Chris Lester’s feed, and afterwards we’re talking about having a wrap-up chat to talk about the story and the production.

And then there’s two more stories that need finishing before the end of the year.

And then there’s the promo for Ex Fumo Gaudiam and Riskwear that I need to make.

And episodes of the podcast…

Yes.  Being “Done” is great… because it means I can start working on something else.

On Being "Done"

I completed two projects this past weekend. Well, to be completely factual, I completed one and completed an important stage on another. In any case, I feel a massive sense of accomplishment, but the work is always there.

The first of these projects is Alive, a full-cast audio production for my podcast. It's a story set in Chris Lester's Metamor City, one that I have been working on, intermittently, for a long time. The last episode has a great deal of action, and took me most of the weekend to produce. I believe it to be some of my best work, though it's a bit early at this point to judge as there hasn't been time for much feedback. In the end, I believe it was worth it, if only for what it taught me about audio production–and about pacing myself.

The other project is the third draft of "Artbodies." The first draft of this story was published in my podcast, and it's the last work I'm going to put out in such an unfinished state. The third draft is much superior, and after a final review by my beta reader, it's going to be submitted for possible publication, which is why it isn't truly finished yet. There will likely be another round of editing, or perhaps two, before it goes to press.

And let me tell you, it feels _good_. Hitting 'send' on the email to put Artbodies in front of my beta reader felt like pulling off the brake on a charged-up steam locomotive. Listening to Alive, all the way through, all four episodes, in spite of being able to hear every flaw, felt like riding that locomotive over a mountain. Whee…

The thing is…

The work is still there.  For one thing, neither of those stories is just disappearing.  "Artbodies" is going to come back from the beta reader with edits I need to do, and if it gets accepted at my dream publisher, they are going to have edits they want, too.  "Alive" is going to have a run over on Chris Lester's feed, and afterwards we're talking about having a wrap-up chat to talk about the story and the production.

And then there's two more stories that need finishing before the end of the year.

And then there's the promo for Ex Fumo Gaudiam and Riskwear that I need to make.

And episodes of the podcast…

Yes.  Being "Done" is great… because it means I can start working on something else.

Ex Fumo Gaudiam and the Latin Language

When I submitted Ex Fumo Gaudiam to my publisher, one of the first things they wanted to do was change the title. Latin would be too obscure, too difficult for people to understand. It wouldn't serve the book well to have a title that didn't speak to the nature of the title.

I resisted. For one thing, a Latin title would catch the eye compared to others, and might inspire a bit of curiosity. "What does this mean?" a potential reader might think. And they might look deeper to find out. And to me, the "Romanness" of the story was of primary importance, and a Latin title expressed that powerfully. I was quite proud of the title I had picked out. It sounded like a motto for a prestigious engineering fraternity, or maybe a school of technical learning. I knew that some people would confuse "fumo" with smoke rather than steam (the word has both meanings) but in a steampunk setting that's not necessarily a bad thing.

To their credit, Jim and Zetta did not insist. we compromised, adding a subtitle, "Out of Steam, Joy", to clarify it, and we moved forward with that title.

Personally, I think that the idea of a steampunk story set in Ancient Rome is a good one, and I'm frankly quite surprised that there haven't been more of them already. The popularity of cable dramas like "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" and "Rome" attest to the continuing interest in this time period. Nothing could mar my enthusiasm.

It turned out that there are a couple of fans of the Latin language among my fans, and it also turned out that I had not been quite thorough enough in my research, and the title could be more accurately translated as "Joy made out of Steam" which wasn't exactly what I was looking for. "De Fumo Gaudium" would have been more accurate.

Unfortunately, the publishing process had moved on, and it was impractical to go back and change it. All my marketing had been based on that title, it was on the cover, it was, simply, the title. We were stuck.

They say adversity engenders creativity (or something like that), so I added a foreword to the book inviting the reader to imagine that the title was coined in a distant land, an ocean away from the scholarly communities of Mother Rome, in a place peopled mostly with soldiers, merchants, and explorers. I felt that this was appropriate given that the book itself takes place in just this sort of location. It's a bit of a dodge, but you do what you have to.

Ex Fumo Gaudiam is now available in ebook form, from www.logical-lust.com, and with ebook sellers everywhere.

"Riskwear" release date: July 29

In slightly more than a week, "Riskwear" will be available in its final form.



This will be the "first" (sort of*) in a new series called "Tales of Love and Engineering" – erotic romances set in a near future, with a focus on engineers and other creative people working on new technology. In "Riskwear" the new technology in question is a nanotech fabric that can become any garment.

The brilliant cover for Riskwear is the result of a Kickstarter campaign that allowed me to hire the services of Alex White to make a truly kick-ass cover.

You may have listened to the podcast version of this book but if so, you haven't got the whole story. This manuscript went through three grueling edits at Logical Lust, and this version is MUCH improved. If this story interests you at all, I encourage you to pick up the ebook.

PS: Riskwear is not precisely the first book in the series.  It's the first to be published under the banner of "Tales of Love and Engineering" but it's not the first I wrote.  I'm currently polishing up an old manuscript, "Our Robot" for inclusion in an omnibus edition.