Jack Campbell's Blog, page 8
October 2, 2011
Revisions, revisions, and then
A couple of weeks ago I turned in the revisions to the Invincible manuscript that my editor had requested. She seems happy with them. Last week I also turned in the revisions requested for Tarnished Knight. All of which means I can turn to the next thing. Or the next two things. One will be the sequel to Tarnished Knight (working title Rogue Queen), and the other will be the sequel to Invincible. This is one of the odd things about being a writer. Readers are still looking forward to Invincible and Tarnished Knight, but I have to already move beyond them and focus on the next books.
Ideally Tarnished Knight would come out before Invincible. You'll understand that after they've both been published, but right now I can't explain why without too many spoilers. However, it looks like they'll work fine in the order Ace will bring them out.
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September 21, 2011
At last a butterfly garden
In the first real conversation my wife and I had after we met, she mentioned among other things her wish to have a butterfly garden someday. We ended up dating, and then getting married, and then having kids, but she never got that butterfly garden. It wasn't that I had promised her one, or that she talked about it much, but that I knew she wanted one. Despite that, we lacked time, and for too long we lacked the money, and the kids took a lot of attention and a lot of work, and the years kept going by. When my little brother died earlier this year, it made me realize that putting things off might mean you never saw them. So I finally got that project on the front burner, and now my wife has her butterfly garden. It's not huge or fancy, but it is nice, and I'm glad I finally got that done for her. She has, after all, done so much for me.
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Capclave and NYC Comicon
Unlike in previous years, I won't be able to attend Capclave in Washington, DC for the entire convention. I will be there on Friday, so look me up then if you want to talk. After that, I'll be at the Comicon in New York City on 15 and 16 October. My publisher hasn't told me my exact schedule yet, so I'll post that when it's available.
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August 30, 2011
NYC Comicon
My publisher will be bringing me to NYC Comicon for at least one day. I don't know exactly which day, but I will post that as soon as I know.
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Tarnished Knight coming in October, 2012
My publisher has told me that the first of the second spin off series from the Lost Fleet will be published in October 2012, following Beyond the Frontier: Invincible in May 2012. The second spin-off series was originally called the Phoenix Stars but is now to be called the Lost Stars to make clear the tie to the Lost Fleet universe. Tarnished Knight tells what was happening in the Midway star system between the events in Dreadnaught and the end of Invincible. I'm excited about the Lost Stars series because it lets me continue to use the Lost Fleet universe (including appearances by Black Jack and his fleet) while expanding the story to include the viewpoint of Syndicate Worlds citizens and how some of the leaders of the Midway star system react to the collapse of central authority.
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An interesting year
This year has held more than the usual number of disruptive events, including most recently an unusually strong east coast earthquake and a hurricane that cost us power for a while. Plus the personal events I have already written about. I have recently discovered some old emails to me that I inexplicably missed during part of that time and I am trying to catch up on everything. If you sent me an email and never received a response, please be assured that I will either get an answer out as I slowly catch up or else I somehow missed the email entirely while way too much happened in life. Don't hesitate to resend any questions you might have had if you never heard back from me.
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August 2, 2011
Invincible turned in
Somewhat to my own surprise given recent events, I was able to finish the manuscript for the next Lost Fleet – Beyond the Frontier novel (Invincible) and have turned it in to my agent and my editor. Hopefully both agent and editor will declare Invincible to be worthy.
A number of readers asked for more action, and Invincible does offer that. There are not only two large space engagements, but also a very big boarding operation in which the Marines do what Marines do best (when on duty, anyway).
The last I heard, the publisher is planning on bringing out Invincible in May, 2012. After that, the Phoenix Stars books (which have events intertwined with Dreadnaught and Invincible) should come out.
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July 21, 2011
A sad event
I've been a little slower to answer emails than usual over the last six months because my little brother Robert has been fighting cancer. On Sunday, that fight ended, not because he gave up, but because the fight couldn't be won.
Robert was 53. He was diagnosed about a year ago. Many treatments were tried. They didn't get all the cancer, but he still toughed it out longer than the doctors thought he could. Rob was the baby of the family, so we often complained as kids that he got all the special treatment. But it didn't make him soft. He got knocked down several times by life, and each time he got back up and kept going. I decided some time ago that he was the toughest of the family. I didn't realize that he was also the bravest until I saw how he faced the end calmly and with his head up.
When we were little Rob and I were usually inseparable. That faded as we grew, until as teens we did the usual fighting and rivalry. I am grateful that we both put that aside a long time ago and remembered what we had been to each other in our youth. I have always been a geek, and Rob has always been the cool one. He served for six years in the Navy as an aviation rescue swimmer, one of the guys who jumps out of helicopters to save people in the water. His most recent work has been fixing up helos at Fort Rucker near Enterprise, Alabama. Rob died at home hospice with his wife (who herself has shown incredible courage through all of this) and his step-daughters. I'm really going to miss him.
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June 27, 2011
Two OSS and CIA Vets
An interesting article about part of history that didn't make it into many history books. As well as an example of the fact that if you meet someone who tells lots of detailed stories at the drop of a hat about their espionage exploits, you're almost certainly dealing with a fraud.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/decades-after-duty-in-the-oss-and-cia-spy-girls-find-each-other-in-retirement/2011/05/28/AG2xvZmH_story.html
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June 1, 2011
Why I don't use HP printers anymore
HP has recently settled a lawsuit accusing it of defrauding ink users. The three specific charges were that some HP printers used color ink when printing black and white pages without letting users know or letting users change that setting, that HP printers gave false "low" readings on cartridges so users would replace them more quickly, and that some HP ink cartridges stopped working after a certain period of time even if they had ink left. Those charges matched my own experiences with recent HP printers, which was why last year I junked my HP's and replaced them with Cannon printers, and why I won't be buying any HP products again for a long time.
The results of the lawsuit? HP agreed to pay $5 million to consumers…in the form of $6 coupons for more HP ink.
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