Will Shetterly's Blog, page 164

two experiments with free books

We made Shadow Unit #1 free at Smashwords and Amazon (and would've made it free at B&N if we could figure out a way). So far, that seems to have been the right choice. For example, in September, the month before #1 went free, we sold 16 copies of #9 at Amazon. In October, we sold 26. In November, we sold 59. It's too early to generalize, but it's promising.

To test Amazon's KDP program (which I really wish didn't call for a three month exclusive on any book in the program), I entered Dogland a...

A Christmas grab bag

via Whirled of Kelly: Christmas is Coming

Dogland--free today for Kindle!

Dogland: Will Shetterly: Amazon.com: Kindle Store
I don't know if Dogland is my best novel, but it's the one I'm proudest of. The ebook is free today at Amazon.

I put it in Amazon's KDP Select program as an experiment, so for three months, it's only available at Amazon. The rest of our books continue to be at Fine Bookstores Everywhere because I hate monopolies. But I also like making a living, so I'm testing KDP Select with this one book and rationalizing it as an experiment in short-term excl...

"Why the Dzur Stabbed the Yendi in the Back" by Will Shetterly

This is a bit of fanfic inspired by the Vlad Taltos stories of Steve Brust. Or maybe by the Paarfi stories. —WS

Why the Dzur Stabbed the Yendi in the Back
by Will Shetterly
Once, so long ago that no one remembers their names, a Yendi and a Dzur went to war. The Yendi used seventeen strategies, each more clever than the one before, to deprive the Dzur of all her allies and resources. When the Yendi heard the Dzur had nothing left but her sword and her honor, he laughed in anticipation of her surr...

Why the Dzur Stabbed the Yendi in the Back

 This is a bit of fanfic inspired by the Vlad Taltos stories of Steve Brust. Or maybe by the Paarfi stories. —WS

Why the Dzur Stabbed the Yendi in the Back
by Will Shetterly
Once, so long ago that no one remembers their names, a Yendi and a Dzur went to war. The Yendi used seventeen strategies, each more clever than the one before, to deprive the Dzur of all her allies and resources. When the Yendi heard the Dzur had nothing left but her sword and her honor, he laughed in anticipation of her surren...

"Danceland" by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly

First published in Bordertown, edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold. Signet, 1986.

Danceland
by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly
Friday night started, for me and for all of us I suppose, in the street outside Danceland. I was sitting in the sidecar, waiting for Tick-Tick. She’d parked the bike outside Danceland and made her usual arrow-like way across the street to Snappin’ Wizard’s Surplus and Salvage (“More Bang for the Buck, More Spell for the Silver”).

Snappin’ Wizard’s is the only...

"Little Red and the Big Bad" by Will Shetterly

Published in Swan Sister, edited by edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. Simon & Schuster, 2003.

Little Red and the Big Bad

by Will Shetterly
You know I’m giving the straight and deep ’cause it’s about a friend of a friend. A few weeks back, just ’cross town, a true sweet chiquita, called Red for her fave red hoodie, gets a 911 from her momma’s momma. The Grams is bed-bound with a winter bug, but she’s jonesing for Sesame Noodles, Hot and Sour Soup, and Kung Pao Tofu from the local Chi...

"Dream Catcher" by Will Shetterly

Published in The Armless Maiden, edited by Terri Windling. Tor Books, April 1995.

Dream Catcher

by Will Shetterly
Dear John Marshall,

My name is Crosses Water Safely. At school, I was called my white name, Janine Skunk. I didn’t know my real name then. You always held your nose and waved your hand in front of your face when you saw me, and everyone laughed. Grandmother says skunks are beautiful and smart. She says anyone who can trick Rabbit is smart, and Rabbit knows to leave Skunk alone.

Grandmo...

"Black Rock Blues" by Will Shetterly

First published in The Coyote Road, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, published by Viking.

Black Rock Blues

by Will Shetterly
1
He’s running above the sun-splashed ocean, leaping from cloud to rainbow and back again, grinning because no one can catch him, when someone walks up beside him, smiles in the smuggest way, and says, “Wakey-wakey.”

He says, “G’way,” and pulls the sleeping bag over his head.

The smug walker is a beautiful young woman with skin the color of the deepest sea and hair the...

Shetterlys in the Civil War / War Between the States

Shetterly - American Civil War Soldiers - Ancestry.com lists male Shetterlys who served, but there was at least one female. TNJN - Old Gray Cemetery's Lantern and Carriage Tour revives past mentions "Margaret Shetterly Pesterfield Haynes, a Civil War nurse, fought to collect her service pension and then helped black nurses do the same."

I like her.

I don't know what was up with the one Shetterly who fought for the Confederacy. Shetterlys tended to be poor farmers, so I doubt...