Michael W. Lucas's Blog, page 24

More Stuff In My Ebook Store, and a mega-deal on Absolutely Everything

You can now get my in-print short stories and novellas (aka “chapbooks”) at https://www.tiltedwindmillpress.com/. The coupon code ZONLESS will get you $1 off each of the short stories. Yes, it works multiple times. Buy 5 shorts, get $5 off. There’s also a bundle with all of them. I’ll have a blog post in a day or two about the economics of this. The math is ugly, but putting them on my store makes it less ugly.

You can also get the Absolutely Everything bundle. It contains Absolutely Everything ...

Penguicon 2023 Schedule

Penguicon 2023 starts in ten days. As usual, I’ll be presenting talks and serving on panels. Repeatedly.

It’s a light year for me, though. Only six events. The rest of the time, I’ll either be wandering around or heckling other presenters, like you do.

Friday
5PM: AI, Writers, and Artists (panel)

Saturday
11AM: OpenBSD Filesystems
1PM: Rat Operated Vehicles
4PM: Terry Pratchett: The Man, the Myth, the Reading Order (panel)
6PM: Crowdfunding for Creatives (panel)

Sunday
12PM: One Man Publishing A...

Free Anthology, including Me

In the late twenty-teens, I sold a story “Hero of Fire Life” to Pulphouse Magazine. They put it in their anthology “Snot-Nosed Aliens.”

And now, they’re giving the anthology away. They’re not asking for an email address or anything, it’s just free.

Don’t ask me why. I have no idea. I don’t know how long this will last. Grab it while you can.

If you’re an audio person, I read this story at Penguicon 2019. We recorded the talk. The whole story is on YouTube.

Or, you know, you can just grab the an...

Release Day: “Devotion and Corrosion”

Devotion and Corrosion is now out.

I had this cunning master plan. I was going to set everything up beforehand for Devotion and Corrosion’s release, so that on release day I wouldn’t have to run around like a maniac and hit buttons. Back in March I got Ingram ready so I could fulfill the Kickstarter, and planned to set up the other stores the next day. Instead, I chose to catch covid. (Zero stars, do not recommend.) It put me far enough behind that I completely forgot about releasing the book. Y...

April Fool’s Collection

I believe that April Fools’ pranks should be benign violations of expectations, and that they are best when they have a physical reality. If they don’t have a physical reality, they should be targeted to amuse a small group of peolpe. While I had thoughts about one for this year, they fell apart under the pressure of fulfilling Kickstarters. But for my own reference and perhaps your minor amusement, here are the Internet-relevant pranks I’ve pulled in the past.

2021: I know that people read my t...

“Devotion and Corrosion” Kickstarter wrap-up

Today, I shipped the physical rewards for the Devotion and Corrosion Kickstarter.
The Post Office was kind enough to use a tote to deliver a beat-up package. Today I’m returning it.

These books arrived at my house a couple days after I opened sponsorships on the mail book. Unfortunately, in those intervening days I caught covid. (Zero stars, recommend catching distemper or cercospora leaf rot instead.) I’m recovering, but this is my first effort at working since I fell ill.

Even with that interr...

Sponsorship Open: “Run Your Own Mail Server”

The title kind of says it all.

I have also made an early draft of Chapter 0 available to help explain what the book is and is not. Before you start sending me corrections, check the disclaimer at the top.

Despite inflation, I have not raised the price of sponsorships. I have passed through the shipping charge for print sponsors, however, so I’ve totally raised the price. But it’s transparent, and relative to where you live. Note that the shipping is per-continent, not calculated live. I can’t ca...

“Run Your Own Mail Server” chapter 0

I’m about to open “Run Your Own Mail Server” for sponsorships. This book is a little different than most other books I’ve written, so I’m sharing the introductory chapter.

This is uncopyedited. Unreviewed. It exists to illustrate scope, not for folks to send me corrections. Yet. Before I complete the book, I will probably discard and redraft this chapter. Bridge Out Ahead. Slippery When Wet. No warranty of fitness for purpose. Probably causes cancer, chin hemorrhoids, and alternaria leaf blight....

When Will I Open “Run Your Own Mail Server” sponsorships?

My next tech book will be “Run Your Own Mail Server,” part of the IT Mastery series. I would like a snappier title. “Lay Down All Hope, You That Go In By Me” is accurate to the spirit, but doesn’t inform about the content. Now that the Devotion & Corrosion Kickstarter is over, I could theoretically open sponsorships for the new book. I’m not doing it yet.

I work to be honest in my books. I can’t yet express this book’s truth in a short pithy way suitable for a catalog.

Email is a huge topic. Pos...

Order Books for BSDCan Delivery

BSDCan 2023 is happening in meatspace.

Folks like getting books from me personally, so normally I bring a few copies of each old title and about ten copies of each book released since the previous con. I’ve released eighteen books since the last meatspace BSDCan, plus innumerable chapbooks and collections and anthologies and who knows what all. 18 titles, ten of each? I am fifty-six years old and am not lugging one hundred eighty books into a con knowing full well that most won’t sell and I must...