Richard Roberts's Blog, page 6

The First Word

I Did Not Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence is finished.  Expect to hear more soon.

I Leave My Cave Occasionally

The book is chugging along, but since I can't show you excerpts, I have less to post about.  Instead, I have taken photos of stuff I saw when I went to see the wonderful French movie April and the Extraordinary World!

You see, next to the theater is this huge, or at least pleasantly and unexpectedly large, art shop.  It was full of every kind of art supply, and I loved just breathing that art shop air.  None of that makes good photography material.  What makes good photography material are... unicorn toys!

Since a close friend of mine is totally into unicorns, and I was shocked by the sheer numbers and weirdness of unicorn toys on display in an art store, I took photos.

#1:  Bag O' Unicorn.  Even beautiful, haunting, ephemeral magical creatures have their low budget purchasing options!


#2:  This book has to make you feel good.  It has a bunny and a unicorn on the cover.  That's PROOF.


#3:  This is just messed up.  There's really nothing else to say about it besides 'messed up.'


#4:  Sir, I find your assertion that 'cats love it' HIGHLY doubtful.


#5:  Not technically a unicorn toy, but included because it showcases the grace and majesty of horses.


#6:  This one was not photographed for my Unifriend.  It was all for me, to remind me that somewhere out there, someone is planning the same kind of unnatural horrors I am.


And now, for something completely different.  We went to this amazing burger shop where I ate a burger!  The burger was pretty good but not the amazing part.  The world just had to see the photos on the walls.  Holy smog bottlers.

(Faces have been blurred into Boschian nightmares to protect the innocent.)


SO MANY DEFUNCT BEVERAGE BRANDS.


Okay, there's your update to know I'm alive!  Honestly, I took these photos and posted them for one specific person, and I'm just hoping the rest of you get a kick, too.

News, And The Final Taste

First, some publishing news!  The audiobook of Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm A Supervillain went on sale, and hit #1 in all audiobooks on Amazon.  I mention this not to toot my own horn (although I'm pretty happy) but because the audiobook company responded by immediately buying the rights to books 2 and 3.  They'll be available... however long the turnover is on that!

Also, hardbacks were caught up in a formatting error the printer never told my publisher about.  They could be for sale already, for all I know.  Soon, definitely.

Finally, my publisher isn't thrilled about me giving sneak peaks, but I decided the first three chapters of a book can't hurt.  I have finished the third chapter of the tentatively titled I Did Not Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence.

Enjoy!

Sickness Unto Death, And...

I had an inner ear injury.  It was pretty bad.  Life-threatening, even.  It is theoretically chronic, but odds are it will be a long time between flare-ups, and I will be able to apply the treatment immediately.  That will hopefully prevent what I had this time - more than two weeks of being incapacitated by constant dizziness.

I was afraid I might never be able to write again, because I couldn't read a computer screen.  No joke.

But I did heal, so I'm back with a small treat!  My publisher doesn't like me posting big previews, but I figure I can post two or three chapters of I Did Not Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence.  On that note...

Chapter Le Two!

A Writing Test

When I have an idea for a book, I usually write up a page or so to explore it before I get to hardcore planning.  In theory, this could be the book in Penny's continuity, but not about her, published before book four.  Working title:  'I Did Not Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence.'

Here is what might or might not be the first chapter.  Think it has potential?

Do The Summer Of Lob Thing

So, the good news, Summer of Lob is out!  YAY!  It's in this anthology!


For those of you who wanted a copy and didn't get one, it was because we were days from the full thing coming out.  I'm sorry!

For those of you that did get one, I wish to ask a favor.  In exchange for my beneficence handing out free copies for you to enjoy, could you put up reviews on that Amazon page?  The ones so far are all from other authors' ARC friends, and I'm like 'None of these mention me AT ALL.  This anthology is about me!  Something had better be done about this!'

Actually, my publisher just wants a lot of early reviews and it's a really helpful to me, too.

Okay, I had both thoughts.

I continue work on A Sidekick's Tale.  It is grindingly slow.  Trying to figure out why and correct that.

A Question About The Future

Currently I'm working on A Sidekick's Tale (that will so not be the final title.)  It's going slow, and I find it's a book that is inspired by working on other things as well.  If I were to do a non-Penny book in Penny's continuity before the original series ends, it would be set pre-year 2000, and have an adult main character.  Is there anyone or anything you folks are interested in, to help direct my inspiration?

Woohoo! RELEASE DAY!

It is here!  Everybody who pre-ordered and didn't get the ARC, go get it!  Wow, sales are brisk.  I still don't see physical orders up - I'll bug my publisher.

The Not Very Long Awaited That Other Email Thread

I got the files for Summer of Lob from my publisher!  Those of you who felt like they needed to know more about Bull and Bull-adjacent people, here's your backstory.  Anyone who feels left out of ARC mailings, either the novella or the full book, this thread is for your complaints - but discussions of content are also welcome.  Whatever you want, folks.  You're the fans.  Go hog wild*.

*No hogs are present in either the novella or the Supervillain books.  Goats, yes.  Hogs, no.

The Long Awaited SPOILER Thread

I've been itching to put this up for two months now.  Some of you have copies.  Here is a thread to discuss the book!  I reeeeeeally hope you like Claudia and Marcia's arcs.

Those of you not reading the book, this thread will be full of spoilers and You Have Been Warned.