Jason Córdova's Blog, page 81

The Relationship Dynamic

I think I'm recovered from the mad-dash weekend. The poor blog has languished here, wondering when I'm coming back and (no doubt) missing me.

I was thinking about relationships in writing over the weekend (thanks to Chris, who opened my eyes to this while we were talking about other novels and stories while I was visiting him and Janet) and was wondering if other authors pay attention to the detail of relationships they have their characters in. I'm not talking about the general romantic...

Today Versus Tomorrow

Got and finished 1636: The Saxon Uprising by Eric Flint yesterday. Usually Flint has cute, quaint little lines but in this book he actually laid down a few that made me laugh out loud. They reminded me why I picked up 1632… damn, almost ten years ago now. It's the longest series I've followed (excluding that abortion that the Dark Tower series turned into after King's accident) and it makes me wonder if any of today's authors will stand the test of time like Asimov and H.G. Wells did.

If...

Voices Again

I don't like audio books.

Don't get me wrong, I like the concept of them. Having someone read to you is comforting and, for you regular people, often brings back fond childhood memories. But the execution of an audio book? Having some kindly, gentle voice reading to me and suddenly saying "'Sh*t', the officer said as he looked at the corpse hanging from the telephone pole" is a bit jarring. Plus, it takes away one of the most powerful elements in my mind while I'm reading someone else's work —...

Another Appearance

News update in the appearances section. I have a book signing at my local Barnes & Noble. Somehow, I need to turn this into a book signing tour. I know I might get some people if I did a signing in Philadelphia, but I wonder where else I could get a crowd. Definitely in my old favorite bookstore in Covina (the Covina Book Store), if the original owners are still there (they liked me… I spent a lot of money there in high school). Maybe Vroman's in Old Town Pasadena (I lived a few blocks from t...

Curmudgeon!

I'm in a foul mood this morning.

Last night, a school under investigation for alleged recruitment violations won the national basketball championship. Never mind the fact, apparently, that this championship is probably going to be stripped and vacated. Never mind the school that got beat was (so far as one can tell) following the rules while the victor got caught cheating in their recruitment. It's a crappy system but unfortunately for basketball fans everywhere, it's the best one they have...

Just Your Average Weekly Boring Update

Publishers Weekly just announced that despite the doom and gloom that publishers would like us authors (and you readers) to believe, 2010 was a very profitable year. Random House sales alone last year were the largest gains since 2006, before the economic crisis set in. Penguin reported that they were in record earnings and had an operating margin of above 10%. This is excellent news.

Even better, ebook sales at Random House jumped 250% over the previous year. That's an insane increase...

It's April, Fool!

Yeah, it's April Fool's Day. I'm not participating.

Call me a spoilsport, but my inbox has been flooded with people telling me that they are moving (Piper, you can't move if you guys own the only successful business in town!), are pregnant (four dozen men and women alone… the hell are they putting in the water these days?) or are in love with me (my guy pals need to knock it off… it's a little creepy). I don't like messing with people like that, simply because I am a gullible person who...

Buy Me A Drink!

You would think that with as many hits as I get on certain pages (primarily, Corruptor's page) that I'd see an increase in sales. Or at least a few extra. But it seems that momentum is slowing down once more, which is to be expected. I've put the word out as best as I can, now it's up to the readers. The only thing I can dangle for a carrot is the sequel. Yes, sequel. You don't think I would leave it the way it ended, did you?

I'm also confident that the release of the upcoming three...

Another Round of Jack (Squat)

About fourteen months ago, a webzine called Darwin's Evolutions went on hiatus. That made me sad, mostly because I know Darwin and he's a good guy. Also because at the time, before the explosion of ebooks into the mainstream, there were very few epublishers who were accepting unsolicited works. That, of course, has changed over time due to the emergence of Amazon's Kindle and self-publishing line.

But now…

Darwin's Evolutions is back and accepting novellette and novella-length submissions...

PSA 1293

So my publisher recently sent out an email to all of us authors asking for help in promoting a few books that have been priced at $0.99 over at Amazon's Kindle section. I wandered over there to see which books had been used and saw:

Mazurka by Aaron Paul Lazar
Doggie Biscuit! by Darrell Bain

Those are a few of the books they have for sale now.

PSA #1293 is completed. Go about your day please.