Jack Campbell's Blog, page 4
June 15, 2012
June 6, 2012
Bradbury is dead, but we haven’t lost him
News of Ray Bradbury’s death saddened a great many people including myself. But I have long felt that when we write we are sort of creating a form of J.K. Rowling’s horcrux. Not an evil one (though it does take some considerable sacrifice to crank out a decent book) but rather that we are putting a bit of ourselves into everything. All we write contains pieces of us, and I think most writers hope those pieces live on long after we are gone. That’s especially true of Ray Bradbury, who came through so very strongly in all he wrote. If you read Bradbury’s stories, you know him. He’s right there, and you feel who he was and what he thought and how he felt. He lives on in what he wrote. In one way, he’s gone, but in another way he’ll be around for a long, long time for anyone who wants to meet him and get to know him. And that, I think, is a wonderful thing.
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June 5, 2012
Tarnished Knight cover
The cover for Tarnished Knight has been posted on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, so those who haven’t seen it yet can take a gander. Two stories about this cover – first of all, the guy depicted actually does wear armor and carry a gun in the book. How’s that for a twist! The other thing is that when the publisher asked me to describe that character I told them that he was Iberian, sort of a cross between Guy Williams (Zorro from the 1960s) and Antonio Banderas. Based on that description, the artist produced a cover character who resembles…Myke Cole (author of Shadow Ops – Control Point). I intend giving Myke a hard time about that.
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May 29, 2012
Supergirl gives me a Reality Check
I spent last weekend in Baltimore at Balticon, which included the chance for a lot of meetings with people I hadn’t seen in a while. It also included an autograph session. One of the things writers learn about autograph sessions is that while a very few authors attract long lines and big crowds, most of us can expect autograph sessions to involve at least some alone time. Still, if even one person comes over to get an autograph and tell you how much they like your work, it’s great for the ego. As I was sitting at the autograph table at Balticon, I saw Supergirl approaching. The costume was well done, and the woman wearing it could carry it off really well. Supergirl walked right up to me. Supergirl smiled at me. Supergirl said “is the person giving out cookies still here?” No, I said, that person had left half an hour ago. “Oh, thanks,” Supergirl said. And then Supergirl left.
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May 21, 2012
Balticon Schedule (I think)
Balticon has for some unknown reason not yet sent me my schedule even though the convention is next weekend, but they have posted online a schedule which is apparently still in flux. According to that sked, these are my events for Balticon -
Readers Ask Why - Saturday, 5:00 PM
Panel – Alternate History — Changing the Real World – Saturday, 7:00 PM
Panel – Xenoarcheology Road Show – Sunday, 2:00 pm
Panel – How to Get to Other Stars — If We Can (Roundtable) Sunday, 3:00 PM
Plus The Eternal Launch Party Sunday, 7:00 PM for the latest books from DarkQuest
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May 16, 2012
There’s a woman on my cover!
Not that I object. But prior to this (and despite all the major female characters in my books) my US publisher has had a seemingly iron-clad rule that the only time women could appear on one of my covers is if they were concealed under heavy armor (as on the cover of Dauntless). But I just saw the new cover art for the paperback reissue of Rule of Evidence, and it not only features Paul Sinclair (naturally) but also Jen Shen. I am astounded. Who knows, perhaps Tanya Desjani will appear on the cover of the next Lost Fleet book. (She’ll probably be portrayed wearing armor and carrying a big gun, but that’s another issue.)
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An Analog sale
After a bit of a dry spell with short fiction I was able to come up with a new short story that Analog is buying. “The War of the Worlds, Book One, Chapter 18. The Sergeant-Major” is a newly-discovered missing chapter to the classic H.G. Wells novel. That’s what I’m claiming, anyway.
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Nice seeing everyone
Who made it to the book signings. It was great seeing you all and being able to talk face-to-face. Also, my thanks to all the bookstore people who worked to make the signings such a fun experience.
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May 1, 2012
Book Signing Bonus
For those who can make it to my signings in the next few days, I’ll be bringing along copies of the reissue of A Just Determination and giving out one at each signing (I’ll give out two at each signing if I can fit that many in my carry-on bags).
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Invincible audiobook available
Audible has the audiobook version of Beyond the Frontier – Invincible available today at
http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_16?asin=B007WU1YE2&qid=1335875683&sr=1-16
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