K.M. Alexander's Blog, page 14

Behold the GLEAM UPON THE WAVES Sticker Set

While the news on the pandemic front has been positive. We’re still a ways away from in-person conventions and meetups. That doesn’t mean I’m slacking when it comes to swag. Like the titles before it, Gleam Upon the Waves will have its own swag pack, which I’ll eventually give away at conventions and over on my store. I’m excited to share it with you. First up: the new stickers.

These will be 1.5″ vinyl like the others. I’m really pleased with how well they turned out. And those Clark Ashton Smith fans out there will appreciate my not-so-subtle reference. Bookmarks are still in production (trying something new), but I should be able to share the new button real soon.

15 days, roaders!

Gleam Upon the Waves Sticker Set

While the news on the pandemic front has been positive. We’re still a ways away from in-person conventions and meetups. That doesn’t mean I’m slacking when it comes to swag. Like the titles before it, Gleam Upon the Waves will have its own swag pack, which I’ll eventually give away at conventions and over on my store. I’m excited to share it with you. First up: the new stickers.

These will be 1.5″ vinyl like the others. I’m really pleased with how well they turned out. And those Clark Ashton Smith fans out there will appreciate my not-so-subtle reference. Bookmarks are still in production (trying something new), but I should be able to share the new button real soon.

15 days, roaders!

What if THE STARS WERE RIGHT was a comic book?

My pal, Mal Jones, surprised me today with this incredible comic-book approach to the cover of The Stars Were Right. It’s phenomenal. I had to share it here (well… everywhere, really) as I knew y’all would be as impressed as me. I love Mal’s style. The half-tone shading he’s using here works really well. His take on Wal, Zilla, and Peter Black is fantastic. Honored to have such an amazing depiction. Makes me want to do a comic book.

If you like this, Be sure to check out Mal’s other work, and follow him over on Twitter and Instagram. He makes cool stuff. I particularly like his Potboiler project and have a copy of Nomencreatures sitting on my shelf. He’s also got prints for sale, and you should buy one.

What if The Stars Were Right was a comic book?

My pal, Mal Jones, surprised me today with this incredible comic-book approach to the cover of The Stars Were Right. It’s phenomenal. I had to share it here (well… everywhere, really) as I knew y’all would be as impressed as me. I love Mal’s style. The half-tone shading he’s using here works really well. His take on Wal, Zilla, and Peter Black is fantastic. Honored to have such an amazing depiction. Makes me want to do a comic book.

If you like this, Be sure to check out Mal’s other work, and follow him over on Twitter and Instagram. He makes cool stuff. I particularly like his Potboiler project and have a copy of Nomencreatures sitting on my shelf. He’s also got prints for sale, and you should buy one.

Book Reviewers, I Have ARCs for You!

Gleam Upon the Waves is a little under three weeks away. There’s a sample chapter ready for you to read right now. You can even go and preorder it! (And you should.) But I’m also sitting here looking at a handful of Advanced Review Copies eager for a few bold and ambitious reviewers to claim. So, if you run or write for a review site and are interested in acquiring an ARC of Gleam Upon the Waves for a future review, then let’s connect. Just shoot me an email, let me know your name, your site’s address, and your preferred shipping address. (If you prefer a digital copy—let’s talk.) Act now! Supplies are limited, and ARCs will be distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis. (I’m going to keep this US only for now, but if you live elsewhere, reach out. Maybe we can figure something out.)

Remember, Gleam Upon the Waves is the fourth book in The Bell Forging Cycle. While the first few books can be read out of order, I’d say by this point, book four is dependant on the previous three. If you’re interested in reviewing the series from the very beginning, don’t be afraid to reach out. I still have a few ARCs from earlier books, and I’m always happy to work with any reviewer or review site. Just follow the same instructions as above.

If you’re not a critic and don’t run a review site, you can help out by leaving an honest review after Gleam Upon the Waves arrives. Where? I’d suggest two places: 1. where you purchased the book (if possible) and 2. over on Goodreads (or any social media platform of your choosing). Positive or critical, remember reviews are first and foremost for other readers. They help out us authors by making sure the right readers find novels they’ll enjoy.

Nineteen days, roaders!

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Join Me at the Indie Pub on March 17th

My good friend, fellow writer, and occasional travel buddy, J. Rushing, has started a new bi-monthly podcast called The Indie Pub. As he pitches it: “it’s drinks and discussions about the world of self and indie publishing.” It launches one week from today on Wednesday, March 17th, and somehow I finagled my way into being his first guest!

Each episode will vary as Jim interviews writers and creators from all aspects of the indie world. In the inaugural episode, we discuss all sorts of things. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to know that cosmic horror comes up, as does writing within a mythos, the differences between adaptive fiction vs. fan fiction, broad talk on cities and texture, and much more. Together we also explore the complexities of The Pallid Mask, the cocktail Jim and I developed for the Barely Tolerable Tales reading from last November. (It’s delicious, but take caution, adventurer. It packs a wallop—recipe below.)

The Pallid Mask2 oz. young Mezcal1 oz. Dry Vermouth1 oz. Green Chartreuse

Mix all ingredients in a shaker. Stir with ice—strain into a cocktail glass. Squeeze a sprig of rosemary over the top and throw it in as a garnish. (If you like your drinks a little sweeter, consider adding a 1/4–⁠1/2 oz. of simple syrup.)

There are many ways to subscribe, all of which are linked from The Indie Pub Homepage. Be sure to follow the pub on Twitter as well. Jim’s told me about some of the future guests he has planned, and there’s a lot of incredible people and amazing interviews to come.

So, grab a seat and join us on March 17th at the opening of the Indie Pub. It’s going to be a good time.

Raunch Review: Star Trek

Raunch Reviews is a series about profanity. Not real profanity, but speculative swearing. Authors often try to incorporate original, innovative forms of profanity into our own fantastical works as a way to expand the worlds we build. Sometimes we’re successful. Often we’re not. In this series, I examine the faux-profanity from various works of sci-fi and fantasy, judge their effectiveness, and rate them on an unscientific and purely subjective scale. This is Raunch Reviews, welcome.

The Author: Gene Roddenberry & Ronald D. Moore Work in Question: Star Trek (Specifically, TNG and beyond)The Profanity: “petaQ”

Universal Translators are a finicky class of technology. It seems like they’re incredibly accurate until the speaker uses faux-profanity. Suddenly, the translator ceases to work and interjects the untranslated word in the selected dialect. It’s handy from a writing perspective as a particular malfunction like this allows a writer to interject a little alien cultural spice without much effort. It’s convenient in a plot-holey sort of way. 

Generally, Star Trek has done a decent job managing to avoid this awkwardness. Most cursing in the series is mild, and easy enough to slip or shift that it doesn’t jump out. With one exception that first appears in season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That word? The Klingon curse of “petaQ.” The word’s spelling is as varied as is its use ranging from “Pahtak,” “Pathak,” “p’tahk,” “p’takh,” “patahk,” “pahtk,” “p’tak,” or “p’taq” allow you to choose your desired amount of vowels and apostrophes. (Though I will be using the official Klingon Dictionary spelling going forward.) So what exactly is a “petaQ,” well, according to the aforementioned Klingon Dictionary, it’s translated to something akin to “weirdo,” stemming from the verb “taQ,” which translates as “to be weird.”

It’s easy to dismiss this. “Weirdo,” even as an insult, is relatively mild in English. However, often translations lack nuance. Translations tend to be very direct, and they can ignore the significance placed on the word. They can lack the weight of cultural history. This isn’t uncommon in translation and is why a good translator doesn’t do a one-to-one translation, but instead works to carry the significance and meaning from the original work into the translated text.

As we’ve seen in real life, words can pick up extra meaning. What one generation thought of as mild could become strikingly offensive to the next. The same applies to cultures. There’s nothing unsurprising in this—language never stops evolving. It’s malleable. You can see this with “petaQ,” where the word serves as a severe cultural insult among Klingons, the sort that drives a warrior to violence. A substantial bit of faux-profanity with well-constructed history, and as a result, it scores well.

Final Score: 4.0 Previous Raunch Reviews “Felgercarb” from Glen A. Larson’s Battlestar Galactica (1978) “Hood’s [Body Part]” from Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen Series “Andreste’s Flaming Knickers” from David Gaider & BioWare’s Dragon Age Series “Fangbanger” from Alan Ball’s True Blood “Mit’ka” from Brad Wright & Jonathan Glassner’s Stargate SG-1 “Merlin’s Beard” from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series “Drokk” from John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra’s Judge Dredd “Skin Job” from Hampton Fancher & David Peoples’ Blade Runner “Frag” from J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 “Gorram” from Joss Whedon’s Firefly “Prawn” from Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell’s District 9 “By the Firsts” from K. M. Alexander’s Bell Forging Cycle “Smurf” from Raja Gosnell & Jordan Kerner’s The Smurfs (2011) “Dren” from Rockne S. O’Bannon’s Farscape “Quiznak” from J. Dos Santos & L. Montgomery’s Voltron: Legendary Defender “Smeg” from Rob Grant and Doug Naylor’s Red Dwarf “Burn Me” from Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time “Slitch” from Robert A. Heinlein’s Friday “Yarbles” from Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange “Cuss” from Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox “Feth” from Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts from Warhammer 40k “Shazbot” from Garry Marshall’s Mork & Mindy and Dynamix’s Starsiege: Tribes “Seven Hells” from George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice & Fire/Game of Thrones “Mudblood” from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series “Frak” from Glen A. Larson’s, Ronald D. Moore’s, & David Eick’s Battlestar Galactica “Jabber” from China Miéville’s Bas-Lag series “Storm it”/”Storms”/”Storming” from Brandon Sanderson’s The Stormlight Archives

Have a suggestion for Raunch Reviews? It can be any made-up slang word from a book, television show, or movie. You can email me directly with your recommendation or leave a comment below. I’ll need to spend time with the property before I’ll feel confident reviewing it, so give me a little time. I have a lot of books to read.

Read a Free Gleam Upon the Waves Sample Chapter Today

As I promised yesterday, the sample of Gleam Upon the Waves is now live! If you’ve been hankering to know what’s next for our intrepid caravan master and the crew of Bell Caravans, you go read it right now and dive into the story a little early. Just click the link, and you’ll be whisked back to the streets of Lovat. I think you’ll find it’s as crowded as ever—apologies in advance about the smell.

But that’s not all! There’s much more on the way. I’ll be live-streaming a reading of another chapter from the book later this month, and if there is enough interest, we can do a small Q&A session as well. Details on all that is coming soon, so stick around. I’ll be announcing it here. (I’ll give plenty of notice.)

In the meantime, eBook preorders are live! Use any of the links below, preorder, and your eBook will magically appear on your e-reader on launch day.

Kindle – Kobo – Nook – Apple Books – GooglePlay

Enjoy the chapter. I’ll be seeing you soon.

Gleam Upon the Waves is coming March 30th

Based on emails I’ve gotten over the last few years, I suppose this is the moment many of you had been anticipating. I’m very proud to announce that Gleam Upon the Waves is done and will be arriving on March 30th, 2021. Nope, that’s not one long typo. It’s actually happening, and I can’t stop smiling about it. In twenty-seven days, you’ll be able to return to Lovat and the world of the Territories and join Waldo Bell and the crew of the Bell Caravans on their next adventure.

eBook Preorders are live!

You can already preorder the digital edition of Gleam Upon the Waves should it strike your fancy. (And it should.) Use any of the links below, and your eBook will magically appear on your e-reader on launch day.

Kindle – Kobo – Nook – Apple Books – GooglePlay Paperbacks are coming!

Paperback editions will land on launch day and they’re looking really good. Currently, the book is sitting at the 450-page mark, making Gleam Upon the Waves the longest book of the series (so far). I think all you paperback readers will be pleased.

The first print proof arrived last week – feels so solid in-handRead a Sample Chapter Tomorrow!

Tomorrow I’ll be releasing a sample from Gleam Upon the Waves. So for those interested, you’ll be able to dive in a little early and discover what’s happening in the city of Lovat. As before, this will be the Prologue. It’s a little different from the previous Prologues—I think you’ll dig it.

But wait, there’s more!

I can’t tell you how great it feels to finally announce this. I hope you’re as excited as I am.

There’s lots more coming over the next few weeks, as well. I have all sorts of stuff planned between now and the 30th. New swag and bookmarks are on their way. I’ve assembled a themed playlist to tantalize your ears, and I’ll be sharing that soon. There will be new Old Haunts to visit. Plus, I’m planning on doing a live reading from the book—just need to figure out when to do it and where I want to host it. Pull up a chair and stick around. Gleam Upon the Waves is nearly here.

The Time Draws Near

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The King Tide rises. I hope you all are ready for what is to come.
See you soon, roaders.