Michael W. Lucas's Blog, page 45

“SSH Mastery, 2nd ed” in hardcover

I’ve been publishing books for about a quarter century now. At long last, one of my books is out in hardcover. With a dust jacket and everything. Introducing the newest version of SSH Mastery.

Why produce this book in hardcover?

First, because I need to know how to do it. Self-pub hardcover books are a different beast than paperbacks. One day I’ll have a serious need for hardcovers. That’s not the time to learn how to create them. I’ll need those skills in advance.

And second, because I want...

speaking at mug.org 10 April 2018

On 10 April 2018, I’ll be giving speaking at mug.org. Each MUG meeting has two presentations, one long and one short. Somehow, they’ve given me both of them.

My first, longer talk will be on ZFS, including some newer developments.

The second talk? I’m not saying.

The MUG talks coordinator, JM, agreed to let me present on the topic of my next book, the one with the undisclosed topic, without knowing what that topic is.

This gives me a hard deadline; either I’m in a position to announce the boo...

SSH Mastery 2/e out

For the last week or so, the new edition of SSH Mastery has been leaking out.

It’s now available in print via Amazon, and in ebooks just about everywhere: iTunes, Kobo, my bookstore, and more.

The print version will soon be available through Ingram’s distribution as well, including a dust-jacketed hardcover version. That’s going to be a couple more weeks, though.

Sponsoring a Scam

I’m writing a multi-Unix technology book that doesn’t have a title yet.

Well, okay, it has a title. But I’m not saying what it is. The reasons why will be obvious once the book comes out. It’ll be out before May.

#MWLSecretBook will be fairly short, about 15,000 words–about half the size of Sudo Mastery. A tech book novella, as it were. As such, it will be less expensive than other Mastery books.

When you find out what this book is, you’ll probably groan and roll your eyes. Or send hate mail....

“SSH Mastery 2/e” copyedits back

My copyeditor returned the corrected manuscript for “SSH Mastery, 2nd Edition” to me last night. You should be able to buy the book within a few weeks.

In unrelated news, the first draft of #mwlSecretBook is coming along nicely. It’ll be the shortest Mastery book I’ve ever written, but at some horrific moment in your professional career you’ll be desperately glad to have it.

Podcast Interview with Yours Truly

Season 2 Episode 7 of Chris Sanders‘ Source Code podcast features me. It’s a tech podcast, yes, but as Chris and I are both writers, we talk writing. Plus growing up in a farm town, reading, and the assorted unspeakable horrors of the literary life.

Chris not only donates his book royalties to the Rural Technology Fund, when he interviews someone on his podcast he donates $100 to a charity of the guest’s choice. I chose the Soroptomists International of Grosse Pointe, who are doing good boots...

My ConFusion Schedule

I’m girding my loins, gritting my teeth, and leaving the house this weekend. Specifically, I’ll be attending ConFusion, one of Detroit’s major F&SF cons. If you’re attending and want to avoid me, here’s a few panels and events I’ll be participating in.

11am Saturday – Petoskey – Last Exit Before The Worst Timeline
12pm Saturday – Isle Royale – The Ancient 1980s
5pm Saturday – St Clair – Mass Book Signing

You can roam the con freely those three hours. Otherwise, keep your eyes open and be read...

MWL’s 2017 Wrap-Up

It’s that time again. Time to reflect on my myriad personal failures in 2017.

The obvious place to start is my 2016 wrap-up post, where I listed goals for 2017. As usual, these goals were wildly delusional.

The short answer is, my iron was back up to normal. My writing speed wasn’t, though. I’d lost too much general health, and needed hard exercise to recover it. Yes, writing requires physical endurance. Maintaining that level of concentration for several hours a day demands a certain level o...

“SSH Mastery” 2nd ed tech reviewers wanted

Last night, I finished a first draft of the second edition of SSH Mastery. The book covers OpenSSH as a server and a client, and PuTTY as a client. There’s small updates throughout the book, plus some new topics–most notably, SSH certificates.

I’m looking for SSH mavens who’d be willing to review the manuscript before publication.

I’d need any comments back by 2 January 2018.

I’d like comments in plain text, with enough context that I can find the spot you’re talking about.

Interested? Drop m...

The first AF3e preorders

This morning, Google alerted me to a reputable site mentioning “Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition.”

To my shock, it’s a pre-order on Kobo.

[UPDATE: AF3e now has a web page, where I’ll be collecting pre-order links.]

I guess we have a release date now? And a price? Cool.

I expect other preorders to appear on other sites. No Starch will have a page for their combined print/ebook soon, as well as their early access program.

But as a writer, I adore Kobo. You could do worse than to get it there.