Nicolas Wilson's Blog: News about the novels and writing of Nicolas Wilson, page 4
July 8, 2013
New Corpse Smell is free on Amazon, through Friday 7/12
Selected Short Stories Featuring New Corpse Smell is now temporarily free, until Friday. Get it here.
A little about New Corpse Smell:
New Corpse Smell contains fifteen of my earlier short stories. Genres include horror, mystery, and science fiction. Expect adult language, and some mature themes. Here's synopses for a few of the stories therein.
Shades of Cray: The story of the first transracial individual.
An Iraqi Christmas Carol: A small group of soldiers and an Iraqi policeman mount a rescue for a kidnapped boy.
Blood Falls: An expedition to the Antarctic goes south, after a rock wall collapses.
Mine: A doctor exacts revenge on a former-General.
Happy reading!
A little about New Corpse Smell:
New Corpse Smell contains fifteen of my earlier short stories. Genres include horror, mystery, and science fiction. Expect adult language, and some mature themes. Here's synopses for a few of the stories therein.
Shades of Cray: The story of the first transracial individual.
An Iraqi Christmas Carol: A small group of soldiers and an Iraqi policeman mount a rescue for a kidnapped boy.
Blood Falls: An expedition to the Antarctic goes south, after a rock wall collapses.
Mine: A doctor exacts revenge on a former-General.
Happy reading!
July 5, 2013
Author Interview for Dag, with VWI
For my second time interviewing with VWI, we focused on Dag, my second novel. Here's a taste.
Read the full interview here.
I tend not to be an author who thinks about themes, which is weird to admit. But I think the themes are never self-evident to me in a story until I’m a draft or two into it....
It’s basically a story at its core about how people need each other, because people who don’t allow themselves to need each other and to help each other become terrible, selfish, basically mutated imitations of human beings.
Read the full interview here.
July 1, 2013
Preview: Nexus, Part 2
I hope you guys enjoyed last week's preview of Nexus. It's time for the next section.
Same as always, this is only a preview. Some of the writing may change after its final visit with the editor.
I'll be posting chapter 1 in pieces, one section a week. Expect the full novel around August. Hopefully a bit earlier.
Previously:
Chapter 1, Part 1
Happy reading!
Nexus: Chapter 1, Part 2
I woke up late the next morning, morning being a relative thing on a star ship. I had made it into bed, after all, though my crotch felt like it had been worn for a pair of donkey tap shoes- so I don’t think I got there effortlessly.
I sniffed at myself. It wasn’t painfully obvious I’d passed out in my clothes, so I decided to hell with a shower and a change.
My cabin was in an unlikely spot midship, unlikely in that it wasn’t any grander than any other officer cabin, though it was better than the barracks. I chose it because it was near one of the biggest windows on the ship, and I liked to stargaze. This window usually had the best view of planets and systems we were passing, and it was hard to keep your breath looking out at worlds we’d only ever glimpsed through telescopes before.
It made me feel like a kid again. My dad used to tell me about the space race, back in the 1950s and '60s. Space exploration began in earnest when we started to worry about the Russians dropping nuclear weapons on us from space, back when “US” meant Americans. Eventually everybody lost interest, because space was an expensive hobby for countries with no concept of return on investment. The occasional discussion of monetizing the cosmos cropped up, mostly revolving around mining and maybe eventually trade, but it was all academic, because it was too expensive. Then we hit peak oil, and that was followed by all kinds of other peaking minerals. So we either had to start mining off-world, or accept a different standard of living.
What had once been the United Nations was now the United Government, mostly a coat of paint, really, but it pushed the ICC and other disparate sections of international law and government under the same tent. At the same time, the power of national governments had been shrinking as the world became smaller, so the UG became roughly equivalent to the old US in terms of real world influence. A lot of that disseminated power went to multinational companies, many of which had larger populations and economies than the old countries, and those companies were the only ones with enough cash on hand to explore space once it was deemed a necessity.
Sontem, the company I worked for, was one of the largest of the interstellar corporations. Their first ship was called the Argus, after somebody got their Greek mythology slightly wrong. On the tenth year of its tour, it opened up a worm-gate at its location- about five lights years out.
Our ship was to be the second in what the board hoped would grow to be a fleet of deep-space exploration vehicles. The company wanted to call the ship the “Enterprise”, but the company who owned the rights to the old Star Trek show sued. Several related names were floated, including “Commerce,” and even “Intercourse,” which had my vote, before they settled on Nexus.
It was ostensibly a five-year mission, just like the Argus, but it was written into our service contracts that they could be unilaterally extended indefinitely. And we all knew when we signed up that the ship was designed so generations could live and die on board- there was no expectation of going back home.
Check back next week for another excerpt or join my mailing list
to be the first to hear when Nexus is available for sale.
Same as always, this is only a preview. Some of the writing may change after its final visit with the editor.
I'll be posting chapter 1 in pieces, one section a week. Expect the full novel around August. Hopefully a bit earlier.
Previously:
Chapter 1, Part 1
Happy reading!
Nexus: Chapter 1, Part 2
I woke up late the next morning, morning being a relative thing on a star ship. I had made it into bed, after all, though my crotch felt like it had been worn for a pair of donkey tap shoes- so I don’t think I got there effortlessly.
I sniffed at myself. It wasn’t painfully obvious I’d passed out in my clothes, so I decided to hell with a shower and a change.
My cabin was in an unlikely spot midship, unlikely in that it wasn’t any grander than any other officer cabin, though it was better than the barracks. I chose it because it was near one of the biggest windows on the ship, and I liked to stargaze. This window usually had the best view of planets and systems we were passing, and it was hard to keep your breath looking out at worlds we’d only ever glimpsed through telescopes before.
It made me feel like a kid again. My dad used to tell me about the space race, back in the 1950s and '60s. Space exploration began in earnest when we started to worry about the Russians dropping nuclear weapons on us from space, back when “US” meant Americans. Eventually everybody lost interest, because space was an expensive hobby for countries with no concept of return on investment. The occasional discussion of monetizing the cosmos cropped up, mostly revolving around mining and maybe eventually trade, but it was all academic, because it was too expensive. Then we hit peak oil, and that was followed by all kinds of other peaking minerals. So we either had to start mining off-world, or accept a different standard of living.
What had once been the United Nations was now the United Government, mostly a coat of paint, really, but it pushed the ICC and other disparate sections of international law and government under the same tent. At the same time, the power of national governments had been shrinking as the world became smaller, so the UG became roughly equivalent to the old US in terms of real world influence. A lot of that disseminated power went to multinational companies, many of which had larger populations and economies than the old countries, and those companies were the only ones with enough cash on hand to explore space once it was deemed a necessity.
Sontem, the company I worked for, was one of the largest of the interstellar corporations. Their first ship was called the Argus, after somebody got their Greek mythology slightly wrong. On the tenth year of its tour, it opened up a worm-gate at its location- about five lights years out.
Our ship was to be the second in what the board hoped would grow to be a fleet of deep-space exploration vehicles. The company wanted to call the ship the “Enterprise”, but the company who owned the rights to the old Star Trek show sued. Several related names were floated, including “Commerce,” and even “Intercourse,” which had my vote, before they settled on Nexus.
It was ostensibly a five-year mission, just like the Argus, but it was written into our service contracts that they could be unilaterally extended indefinitely. And we all knew when we signed up that the ship was designed so generations could live and die on board- there was no expectation of going back home.
Check back next week for another excerpt or join my mailing list
to be the first to hear when Nexus is available for sale.
June 28, 2013
An interview about Dag, with Gary Vanucci
Apparently I'm very behind in linking interviews here. And I was so chatty at the beginning of the month, too! Here's a fun interview with Gary Vanucci.
Also, there's potatoes, superpowers, mentions of new projects I haven't disclosed yet, and a look at some of the entertainment that inspires me.
Read the full interview here.
Why do you write? That is an excellent question. I could be flip and say, “Because real work is hard,” but that would be disingenuous, since I've always had to have a day job. I think it's because I'm compelled. Part of it is that I'm a shy person, in person, so I don't express myself often, and even when I do, I do it inarticulately.
Also, there's potatoes, superpowers, mentions of new projects I haven't disclosed yet, and a look at some of the entertainment that inspires me.
Read the full interview here.
June 26, 2013
Some fun sites to discover new books...
Looking for something new to read? The sheer volume of books out there can be pretty overwhelming... Here's a few sites that have made it easier to find new favorites, though. I mostly skim for stuff for the wife, since I don't get to red much nowadays. These have helped make the hunt for more books a lot easier for her.
http://www.nonamesnojackets.com/
Pick a genre, hit random, or just skim through the top page for new entries. It'll display a single chapter from a book, stripped of cover, title, author, publisher info. If you like it, click the link at the bottom of the page to find where to buy it, and what it is.
http://bookdigits.com/
Feel restricted by star ratings? In addition to the usual text space for review, Bookdigits allows very targeted and flexible ratings, that help provide a format to express exactly what you liked or didn't. You can rate a book's re-readability or addictiveness, set exact percentages for elements, to classify books that fall into more than one genre, and rank it on a scale with more than five options. My biggest complaint with Bookdigits is that the text space has a character limit, and I could only fit 1/3- 1/2 of the text review I wrote on other sites there.
You can view Recommendations with these ratings, or just browse through. It'll be great for research, with more participation, though it's not as good for discovering new works.
http://www.bookmatchers.com/
Bookmatchers contains primarily indie books, as they are catalogued and submitted individually. You can search using a number of criteria, including story elements, character elements, written tone, level of romance, violence, sex, or profanity. It's pretty wild.
Do you have any other favorite book discovery sites? I'd love to check them out, too!
http://www.nonamesnojackets.com/
Pick a genre, hit random, or just skim through the top page for new entries. It'll display a single chapter from a book, stripped of cover, title, author, publisher info. If you like it, click the link at the bottom of the page to find where to buy it, and what it is.
http://bookdigits.com/
Feel restricted by star ratings? In addition to the usual text space for review, Bookdigits allows very targeted and flexible ratings, that help provide a format to express exactly what you liked or didn't. You can rate a book's re-readability or addictiveness, set exact percentages for elements, to classify books that fall into more than one genre, and rank it on a scale with more than five options. My biggest complaint with Bookdigits is that the text space has a character limit, and I could only fit 1/3- 1/2 of the text review I wrote on other sites there.
You can view Recommendations with these ratings, or just browse through. It'll be great for research, with more participation, though it's not as good for discovering new works.
http://www.bookmatchers.com/
Bookmatchers contains primarily indie books, as they are catalogued and submitted individually. You can search using a number of criteria, including story elements, character elements, written tone, level of romance, violence, sex, or profanity. It's pretty wild.
Do you have any other favorite book discovery sites? I'd love to check them out, too!
June 24, 2013
Preview: Nexus, Part 1
Good morning everybody! I've been procrastinating on this for a little bit, but as Nexus is nearing completion, it's time to start sharing excerpts. Remember, this is only a preview. Some of the writing may change after its final visit with the editor.
I'll be posting chapter 1 in pieces, one section a week. Expect the full novel around August. Hopefully a bit earlier.
Happy reading!
Nexus: Chapter 1, Part 1
My drink tasted like Martian goat piss; goats never completely acclimated to the terraformed red planet, something about not having the optimal mix of methane and ammonia. Not that I advocated drinking goat piss, generally, but focusing on that awful taste let me tell myself my mind wasn't elsewhere, even if that tasted like Martian goat piss, too.
“You're thinking of Dalaxia,” SecDiv said, shattering my conviction that she couldn't still be sitting next to me.
“Hmm?” I asked, but the muscles in my neck were too relaxed to look up from the bar, and I don’t think I succeeded in making my face look any less droll.
“When you've been drinking, when you've relaxed enough that your mind can wander, there's a look you get. It means you're thinking of Dalaxia.”
“I might be,” I said. Times like this I hated that she knew me as well as she did.
“And I've never known that to be a good thing.”
“Me, either.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Do you?” I asked, and she thought a moment and shuddered. It was hard to know which particular aspect of Dalaxia was haunting her: the way that entire world seemed to scream as that whole world burned, the choke of smoke rolling off burning flesh, or the way that planet made us hate people, and each other.
I summoned the strength to look at her; or maybe it was just that I knew she wouldn't be able to look at me, after that.
“Come on,” she said, pushing out of her chair. “I'll get you home.” She put an arm around my torso and pulled me off my stool. She steadied me on my feet, I wasn't sure if she was surprisingly strong, or if I was just that plastered and malleable.
She was definitely less in the bag than me, because she weaved her way back to my cabin. She leaned me against my doorway.
“I won't be able to sleep,” I told her, though I didn't mean anything by it; I was having difficulty feeling everything below the pounding beginning in my head, so I had no reason to think the spirit was willing. But that was Dalaxia in a nutshell, and unfortunately, my relationship with SecDiv, as well. That colony was where we stopped pretending we were only fucking each other, and it was also where I lost her.
“Me, either,” she said coldly, and walked the other direction.
I sighed, and fell into my cabin. I missed the bed by a foot, but my floor was surprisingly comfortable. I scrolled idly through my heads-up display on my eyescreen, and saw that I had a message from my cousin Brian. But they were never just messages; they were the start of interminable conversations that only ended when it got more excruciating to stay and humor him than to walk away and intentionally hurt his feelings. I loved him, and would gladly help him through his problems, but he had a depressive tendency, which meant I wasn’t so much helping as listening while he mangled a half-dozen melancholy clichés together, and I just didn’t have the will to go through that; I still wasn’t sure I had the will to make it all the way into my bed.
Check back next week for another excerpt or join my mailing list
to be the first to hear when Nexus is available for sale.
I'll be posting chapter 1 in pieces, one section a week. Expect the full novel around August. Hopefully a bit earlier.
Happy reading!
Nexus: Chapter 1, Part 1
My drink tasted like Martian goat piss; goats never completely acclimated to the terraformed red planet, something about not having the optimal mix of methane and ammonia. Not that I advocated drinking goat piss, generally, but focusing on that awful taste let me tell myself my mind wasn't elsewhere, even if that tasted like Martian goat piss, too.
“You're thinking of Dalaxia,” SecDiv said, shattering my conviction that she couldn't still be sitting next to me.
“Hmm?” I asked, but the muscles in my neck were too relaxed to look up from the bar, and I don’t think I succeeded in making my face look any less droll.
“When you've been drinking, when you've relaxed enough that your mind can wander, there's a look you get. It means you're thinking of Dalaxia.”
“I might be,” I said. Times like this I hated that she knew me as well as she did.
“And I've never known that to be a good thing.”
“Me, either.”
“You want to talk about it?”
“Do you?” I asked, and she thought a moment and shuddered. It was hard to know which particular aspect of Dalaxia was haunting her: the way that entire world seemed to scream as that whole world burned, the choke of smoke rolling off burning flesh, or the way that planet made us hate people, and each other.
I summoned the strength to look at her; or maybe it was just that I knew she wouldn't be able to look at me, after that.
“Come on,” she said, pushing out of her chair. “I'll get you home.” She put an arm around my torso and pulled me off my stool. She steadied me on my feet, I wasn't sure if she was surprisingly strong, or if I was just that plastered and malleable.
She was definitely less in the bag than me, because she weaved her way back to my cabin. She leaned me against my doorway.
“I won't be able to sleep,” I told her, though I didn't mean anything by it; I was having difficulty feeling everything below the pounding beginning in my head, so I had no reason to think the spirit was willing. But that was Dalaxia in a nutshell, and unfortunately, my relationship with SecDiv, as well. That colony was where we stopped pretending we were only fucking each other, and it was also where I lost her.
“Me, either,” she said coldly, and walked the other direction.
I sighed, and fell into my cabin. I missed the bed by a foot, but my floor was surprisingly comfortable. I scrolled idly through my heads-up display on my eyescreen, and saw that I had a message from my cousin Brian. But they were never just messages; they were the start of interminable conversations that only ended when it got more excruciating to stay and humor him than to walk away and intentionally hurt his feelings. I loved him, and would gladly help him through his problems, but he had a depressive tendency, which meant I wasn’t so much helping as listening while he mangled a half-dozen melancholy clichés together, and I just didn’t have the will to go through that; I still wasn’t sure I had the will to make it all the way into my bed.
Check back next week for another excerpt or join my mailing list
to be the first to hear when Nexus is available for sale.
June 17, 2013
Cockfight Free on Amazon, Until 6/21
Selected Short Stories Featuring Cockfight is now temporarily free, until Friday. Get it here.
A little about Cockfight:
Cockfight contains fifteen of my earlier short stories. Most of them are pretty dark, quirky, and violent. Genres include horror, mystery, and science fiction. Here's synopses for a few of the stories therein.
Jahannam: A young man pays a ransom for his kidnapped father, and waits at the morgue for news.
Four Degrees Above Freezing: A detective questions a man who found a chilled corpse.
DID Have: Four personalities in the same body reflect on the death of the fifth.
PWI: An astronaut fights with his ship's computer about his habit of getting drunk while piloting.
Cockfight: A rooster, irresistible to hens and humans alike, upsets the pecking order.
A little about Cockfight:
Cockfight contains fifteen of my earlier short stories. Most of them are pretty dark, quirky, and violent. Genres include horror, mystery, and science fiction. Here's synopses for a few of the stories therein.
Jahannam: A young man pays a ransom for his kidnapped father, and waits at the morgue for news.
Four Degrees Above Freezing: A detective questions a man who found a chilled corpse.
DID Have: Four personalities in the same body reflect on the death of the fifth.
PWI: An astronaut fights with his ship's computer about his habit of getting drunk while piloting.
Cockfight: A rooster, irresistible to hens and humans alike, upsets the pecking order.
June 14, 2013
New Release: Selected Short Stories Featuring Cockfight
Selected Short Stories Featuring Cockfight is now available on Amazon, exclusively. Get it here.
A little about Cockfight:
Cockfight contains fifteen of my earlier short stories. Most of them are pretty dark, quirky, and violent. Genres include horror, mystery, and science fiction. Here's synopses for a few of the stories therein.
Jahannam: A young man pays a ransom for his kidnapped father, and waits at the morgue for news.
Four Degrees Above Freezing: A detective questions a man who found a chilled corpse.
DID Have: Four personalities in the same body reflect on the death of the fifth.
PWI: An astronaut fights with his ship's computer about his habit of getting drunk while piloting.
Cockfight: A rooster, irresistible to hens and humans alike, upsets the pecking order.
It feels great getting the short stories off my "to do" list. Only a few more collections to go, while I work on Nexus. Stay tuned for more quick reading material!
A little about Cockfight:
Cockfight contains fifteen of my earlier short stories. Most of them are pretty dark, quirky, and violent. Genres include horror, mystery, and science fiction. Here's synopses for a few of the stories therein.
Jahannam: A young man pays a ransom for his kidnapped father, and waits at the morgue for news.
Four Degrees Above Freezing: A detective questions a man who found a chilled corpse.
DID Have: Four personalities in the same body reflect on the death of the fifth.
PWI: An astronaut fights with his ship's computer about his habit of getting drunk while piloting.
Cockfight: A rooster, irresistible to hens and humans alike, upsets the pecking order.
It feels great getting the short stories off my "to do" list. Only a few more collections to go, while I work on Nexus. Stay tuned for more quick reading material!
June 3, 2013
New Release: Selected Short Stories Featuring New Corpse Smell
New Corpse Smell is now available, exclusively from Amazon.
New Corpse Smell features fifteen short stories, including Shades of Cray, Blood Falls, Murder Your Darlings, and the titular New Corpse Smell. Most of the stories are science fiction or action/adventure.
Shades of Cray: The story of the first transracial individual.
Blood Falls: An expedition to the Antarctic goes south, after a rock wall collapses.
Murder Your Darlings: A writer finds himself convinced one of his characters is trying to kill him, after his loved ones start getting hurt.
New Corpse Smell: Observing decomposition.
Enjoy!
New Corpse Smell features fifteen short stories, including Shades of Cray, Blood Falls, Murder Your Darlings, and the titular New Corpse Smell. Most of the stories are science fiction or action/adventure.
Shades of Cray: The story of the first transracial individual.
Blood Falls: An expedition to the Antarctic goes south, after a rock wall collapses.
Murder Your Darlings: A writer finds himself convinced one of his characters is trying to kill him, after his loved ones start getting hurt.
New Corpse Smell: Observing decomposition.
Enjoy!
May 28, 2013
Ghost Dust is now free on Amazon, too!
So if you haven't gotten it from one of the other e-tailers, you can now snag Ghost Dust for free here. So glad Amazon caught up to the rest of us!
Enjoy!
Update: There seems to be an issue with the international Amazon stores' prices, and this price change. International readers, feel free to email me at nicwilson.writer at gmail.com (You know what to do with the at). I'll send you a free copy. Hopefully they'll be able to sort it out, but in the meantime, you can still get it free from other e-tailers, or contact me for a copy.
Enjoy!
Update: There seems to be an issue with the international Amazon stores' prices, and this price change. International readers, feel free to email me at nicwilson.writer at gmail.com (You know what to do with the at). I'll send you a free copy. Hopefully they'll be able to sort it out, but in the meantime, you can still get it free from other e-tailers, or contact me for a copy.
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