Brand Gamblin's Blog, page 7

Allie and I got married!

Allie and I are perfect for each other. We’ve always known that. Recently, however, we decided to make it official.

A wedding has basically two parts. One is for the legal side, with government papers, health insurance, name changes, etc. The other is a celebration of the event, a party to introduce the new couple to friends and family as husband and wife.

Our problem is that, being heavy into social media, our friends are scattered across the nation. We decided that the best way to have a wedding that included our various friends and family was to have it around Balticon, when most of them are coming out here anyway.

So we decided to do the two parts at two different times. The first part was a small ceremony, with just a few close friends. That, we did Monday, June 4th, 2012.

We exchanged vows and rings. We made lifetime promises and kissed to seal it. I could not be happier.

Next year, sometime over Memorial Day weekend, we will have a celebration and share our news with our friends. If you can read this, you are invited.

More details will come. I hope to see you there.

Tumbler giveaway

For the next seven days (May 29 – June 5) I’ll be giving away a free copy of my e-book “Tumbler”. If you’d like to be added to the list of giveaway recipients, e-mail me at BrandG@Gmail.com

The giveaway works on a first-come, first-served basis, so get in quick!

And if you’d like to hear the free audiobook, you can find it here.

 

From Amazon:

“Libby Carter wanted to get away from it all, so she took a job mining asteroids as far out into the inky blackness as possible. However, her escape turned into a trap, leaving her stuck in indentured servitude, living on a tiny rock in space. As she tries to dig herself out, she gains friends and finds adventure. Cave-in rescues, planetary collisions, and other mishaps keep her new family fighting to stay alive.”

Tumbler

Synopsis

Libby Carter wanted to get away from it all, so she took a job mining asteroids as far out into the inky blackness as possible. However, her escape turned into a trap, leaving her stuck in indentured servitude, living on a tiny rock in space. As she tries to dig herself out, she gains friends and finds adventure. Cave-in rescues, planetary collisions, and other mishaps keep her new family fighting to stay alive.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

2010 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction story (Novella form)

Cover Art

Cheyenne Wright, a multi Nebular award-winning artist, produced this brilliant cover for Brand’s book. Cheyenne Wright is known for his online work with Girl Genius.

Product Details

Paperback: 168 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (April 27, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1449968686
ISBN-13: 978-1449968687
Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 11 ounces

Buy It On Amazon!

Discount Miracles

Synopsis

The crew of the space salvage ship JNE-0518 (the Jenny) have crashed on a planet that has lost its link to civilization. Surrounded by kindoms stuck in the dark ages, the crew decides to hire themselves out as wizards, available to make any prophecy come true.

But the latest job goes bad when they find themselves transporting a deified prince. Can the team get away from two different nations before they are caught and burned as royal kidnappers and witches? Even if they can escape the two armies, can they escape the iron grip of prophecy itself?

Editing and Cover Art

Edited by Deborah Bancroft, Discount Miracles is one of the most polished of Brand Gamblin’s new releases. Securing her assistance was one of the major goals for this particular work, and Brand is thrilled with the way this particular piece turned out.

Cheyenne Wright, a Nebular award-winning artist, has produced another spectacular cover for Brand’s books. The first of course being the acclaimed cover of Brand’s Tumbler novel (2012). The cover art for this piece was inspired by one of the major scenes from the book and was paid for through the generous donations of Brand’s KickStarter supporters.

Product Details

Paperback: 206 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace (May 18, 2012)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1477495908

ISBN-13: 978-1477495902

Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches

Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces

Get it on Amazon!

The Hidden Institute

Rising above your station can be deadly.

Cliffy is a child born on the streets of a Neo-Victorian world. Witnesses to a murder, he blackmails a nobleman, receiving a unique bribe. In exchange for his silence, the nobleman introduces him to the Malcolm Rutherford Holden Institute of Regentrification. There, Cliffy learns to walk, talk, and act like a nobleman, so that he may infiltrate high society. But that type of fraud is punishable by death, and when Cliffy uncovers a plot to assassinate a head of state, he’s hunted by more than just the aristocracy.

Royal intrigue, daring escapes, sub-dermal machines, and bear polo. A grand adventure in a not-so-distant world.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

2011 Parsec Award Finalist for Best Speculative Fiction Story (Novella Form)

Product Details


File Size: 338 KB
Print Length: 258 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Big C Productions; 1 edition (March 8, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B004R9QUQ8
Text-to-Speech: Enabled 
Lending: Enabled

The Danny

A short story collection by Brand Gamblin. The Danny is unstuck, bouncing between dimensions and viewing “cusps” of powerful moments and decisions in other’s lives. The Danny remembers being human once, and searches through other worlds, looking for the way home. Along the way, it encounters zombies, time travelers, nanites, alien invasion, mechanized infantry, and magical heroes.

The Danny is a collection of seven short stories, some previously published in Flagship magazine. Others have never been seen before. There are stories of high fantasy and low, as well as hardcore and contemporary sci-fi. The perfect book for short shots of intense storytelling.

File Size: 210 KB
Print Length: 133 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Big C Productions (April 3, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B004V4GMUI
Text-to-Speech: Enabled 
Lending: Enabled

WiP notes from a potential “Hidden Institute” sequel

“You’re surprised, my lord?” The prime minister was nearly shouting. “You’re surprised? You put a nineteen-year-old sovereign on a pitch with half naked women dancing on the sidelines, while sixteen slavering beasts run at each other, carrying men holding giant mallets. Then, when he’s mortally wounded, you’re surprised!”

The old man shook with rage, “How could I be the only person who saw this coming?”

—

BTW, did you know “The Hidden Institute” is available for free at Amazon this weekend? Click on the image to check it out.

Give the Devil his Due

I just finished the last round of edits, and I've published my Faustian short "Give the Devil his Due" on Smashwords (Amazon is still processing it).

Michael was given the best deal one could imagine. Fame, riches, and no strings attached. The contract laid it out plainly. He would get everything he wanted, along with a "Get out of Hell Free" card. What could possibly go wrong?

Along with this story are two of my most popular short stories: "Worse than the Disease" and "Snake Skin".

Click Here to get it from Smashwords!

Click Here to get it from Amazon!

Happy Birthday to me

Click here to check out the e-book.

DING It's just past midnight on my birthday, which means I've leveled up. I am now a lvl 39 Neutral Good Paladin.

In honor of my birthday, I'm using my last day of KDP select free promotion to give all of you wickedly handsome people (and you are looking particularly good today. How do you do that?) a free copy of my most successful book "Tumbler".

And what can you do for me? Tell you what. Buy a copy of "The Hidden Institute", and give it to someone you love. Or, if you didn't much like the book, give it to someone you hate. Throw it at them. Either way, I'll thank you.

I fought the Doc and the Doc won.

So, yesterday I started work in a new office. I have my own cubicle, my own whiteboard, even a view out the window! I was introduced to a bunch of new people, and then I had to say goodbye because I had to get to the hospital.

See, yesterday was also the day that I had to get an upper endoscopy. This is a procedure by which they take a camera, and shove it so far down your throat that they can see your intestines.

Part of this process involves putting the victim patient to sleep, because nobody can sit idly by while that's going on. The thing is, it raised pressure locally, specifically, in my face. I ended up with several burst capillaries in my eyeballs, and pinprick freckles in the skin around the eyes. On the whole, it looked a little weird and kinda cool.

However, overnight the pinprick freckles spread out and congregated into a real bruise. So now I'm going back to work in a new place with a shiner I didn't earn.

Allie and I think I should play it up. My favorite angle so far is, "Sure, it looks bad, but you should see the drummer for Nickelback. Oh, no wait, you can't. They only allow family in the IC ward… All I'm saying is they won't be coming back to Baltimore anytime soon."