Steve Umstead's Blog, page 9

The Taleist survey is out: “Half of self-pub authors earn less than $500″. I ask, so what?

I read a very interesting article this morning (OK, most of an interesting article) in regards to the recent Taleist survey of self-published authors. I was one of the 1,007 respondents and received my comp copy of the survey results yesterday, but haven’t had a chance to read through it yet. However, the Guardian has, [...]

Interview with Karen Smith, author of Dark Dealings (launches today)

In my year-plus in the writing ‘industry’, I’ve been privileged enough to have met some fantastic people, including countless authors and authors-to-be. In today’s day and age, the opportunities for an author have never been better or more accessible. But there are still, it seems, two camps – the traditionally published (or working on being [...]

And the writing begins again, in earnest – so my reading will suffer.

The title of the post says it all. After a couple months off from actively writing stories (with the exception of a short), I’m jumping back in, feet first, to a full length novel in an all new universe. I’ve got the full idea (have for a few months now, itching to get out) and [...]

Gabriel: Zero Point is now in paperback (hey, why not?)

Just a quick post about another very cool delivery from the UPS guy (I really should start tipping him). Over the weekend, the first shipment* of the prequel novella to the Gabriel trilogy arrived, and even though it’s obviously smaller (22k word count) than the others, the thrill was still as intense. * Shipment implies [...]

The wonders of a seatbelt…and the anxiety of a father of a soon-to-be-driver

So I’m sitting at my writing nook (dining room table) today. It’s overcast, a little drizzly. I hear a screech of tires – usually no big deal, there’s an intersection behind our house and someone’s always slamming on their brakes. However, this screech was longer than usual, so I look up to see a Toyota [...]

Book Review: Fighting Gravity by Leah Petersen

REVIEW: Science fiction, fantasy, romance, oh my! Fantastic read. Such a combination of genres, I’m not even sure where to start! How about science fiction? Fighting Gravity is, in my opinion, much less sci than fi. Very little of the standard tech of scifi is present, and the same with interstellar travel and other worlds, except [...]

Gabriel: Zero Point hits the iBookstore…from an unexpected angle

Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have seen some of my rants (some may call them bitch sessions…understandable) Perhaps most notably my Facebook tirades, but also from time to time, my going-off-on-Smashwords ones. I’m not a big fan of Smashwords for several reasons. I could do an entire post about them, but [...]

Been offline for a while…back soon, I hope (but not on Facebook!)

Sorry guys & gals, I’ve been neglecting my social outlets for a bit. No original blog posts for a couple of weeks (with the exception of a busy Gabriel: Zero Point contest period), very little of the Twittah in the past week or so, and maybe most disappointing, no new writing in the past month-plus. [...]

What are the dangers with Facebook’s organ donation initiative? New Short Story – OPT OUT

(CNN) – On average, 18 people in the United States die each day waiting for an organ transplant. Billionaire Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg wants to change that. He announced Tuesday that the social networking site wants to “help solve the crisis” by allowing users to volunteer as potential organ donors in the United States and the [...]

Chapter One from Gabriel: Zero Point, the prequel to the Gabriel scifi trilogy

November, 2166 North American Federation Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island “Which one is he?” Vice Admiral Eriq Cafferty looked up from his flexscreen at the sound of his attaché’s voice behind him and rubbed his eyes with one hand. The unforgiving steel bleachers he sat on played havoc with his lower back, and the squeaking [...]