Martha Wells's Blog, page 106
December 4, 2014
A few things
The Six by Six Kickstarter is about halfway to the funding goal. It has stories by me, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Will McIntosh, Tina Connolly, Brenda Cooper, and Stephen Gaskell.
This includes "Night at the Opera" the new Nicholas and Reynard story set before The Death of the Necromancer
There are a bunch of signed books for backer levels, including some Raksura books. (There were some Ile-Rien books, but they all got snatched up already.)
***
As I said on Facebook: The good news is I found out where the wasps are getting into our house. The bad news is I need a masonry contractor. I don't know how much it's going to cost, if we can afford it. In the meantime, I just pretend the wasps are tiny Fell. There's a crack in the outer wall of the fireplace that's a wasp highway, basically. The fireplace inspectors took photos, to keep for themselves, because it was so awful.
* Judith Tarr said really nice things about the Raksura books, and other books, here.
* A free short story: Dragon Winter by Judith Tarr
* Novella: Hisses and Wings by Alex Bledsoe and T. Frohock
Janet Harper, a musical prodigy even by Tufa standards, concocts a scheme that she is sure will reunite the fractious Tufa into one strong clan. An old 78 record that belonged to her grandmother recounts a legend about a golden snake, which possesses the ability to enchant even the Faerie Queen. The snake is guarded by a group that calls itself Los Nefilim, creatures with their own magic and a violent past. Janet knows next to nothing about these Nefilim, but she is confident in her mastery of the one thing the Tufa shares with them: the ability to work their magic through music.
This includes "Night at the Opera" the new Nicholas and Reynard story set before The Death of the Necromancer
There are a bunch of signed books for backer levels, including some Raksura books. (There were some Ile-Rien books, but they all got snatched up already.)
***
As I said on Facebook: The good news is I found out where the wasps are getting into our house. The bad news is I need a masonry contractor. I don't know how much it's going to cost, if we can afford it. In the meantime, I just pretend the wasps are tiny Fell. There's a crack in the outer wall of the fireplace that's a wasp highway, basically. The fireplace inspectors took photos, to keep for themselves, because it was so awful.
* Judith Tarr said really nice things about the Raksura books, and other books, here.
* A free short story: Dragon Winter by Judith Tarr
* Novella: Hisses and Wings by Alex Bledsoe and T. Frohock
Janet Harper, a musical prodigy even by Tufa standards, concocts a scheme that she is sure will reunite the fractious Tufa into one strong clan. An old 78 record that belonged to her grandmother recounts a legend about a golden snake, which possesses the ability to enchant even the Faerie Queen. The snake is guarded by a group that calls itself Los Nefilim, creatures with their own magic and a violent past. Janet knows next to nothing about these Nefilim, but she is confident in her mastery of the one thing the Tufa shares with them: the ability to work their magic through music.
December 2, 2014
Quickie Post
Quickie post, because this is a hellacious busy month.
I am in this Kickstarter! Get many stories! Give writers money to pay bills for another month!
All the writers in the kickstarter are in this article on SF Signal talking about favorite short story collections.
* Black Gate: John is right, this book does sound really interesting: Jala's Mask by Mike and Rachel Grinti
For two hundred years, Jala's people have survived by raiding the mainland. By shaping the reefs around the Five-and-One Islands into magical ships, they can cross the ocean, take what they want, and disappear. Or so they have always believed. On the night after Jala becomes queen, a tide of magical fog sweeps over the islands, carrying ships from the mainland. Inside are a desperate people, driven half-mad by sorcery and looking for revenge.
* Adventures Fantastic: A Review of Stories of the Raksura
If you want to give me a holiday present, leave a review of one of my books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, GoodReads, LibraryThing. Those reviews really really do help, for real, even if you didn't think the book was perfect or even all that good. Leaving reviews is a great thing to do for any writer.
I am in this Kickstarter! Get many stories! Give writers money to pay bills for another month!
All the writers in the kickstarter are in this article on SF Signal talking about favorite short story collections.
* Black Gate: John is right, this book does sound really interesting: Jala's Mask by Mike and Rachel Grinti
For two hundred years, Jala's people have survived by raiding the mainland. By shaping the reefs around the Five-and-One Islands into magical ships, they can cross the ocean, take what they want, and disappear. Or so they have always believed. On the night after Jala becomes queen, a tide of magical fog sweeps over the islands, carrying ships from the mainland. Inside are a desperate people, driven half-mad by sorcery and looking for revenge.
* Adventures Fantastic: A Review of Stories of the Raksura
If you want to give me a holiday present, leave a review of one of my books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, GoodReads, LibraryThing. Those reviews really really do help, for real, even if you didn't think the book was perfect or even all that good. Leaving reviews is a great thing to do for any writer.
December 1, 2014
Six by Six Kickstarter
The Six by Six Kickstarter is now live! It has stories by me, Bradley P. Beaulieu, Will McIntosh, Tina Connolly, Brenda Cooper, and Stephen Gaskell: Six by Six Kickstarter
This includes "Night at the Opera" the new Nicholas and Reynard story set before The Death of the Necromancer
Kickstarter image by Julie Dillon
This includes "Night at the Opera" the new Nicholas and Reynard story set before The Death of the Necromancer
Kickstarter image by Julie Dillon
November 24, 2014
Monday
In good news, it looks like HarperCollins is actually making the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy available in paperback again. The Gate of Gods and The Ships of Air are available to order online, and The Wizard Hunters is supposed to be available by the end of the year. We're also trying to get them to fix the distribution problems with the ebooks.
The Six-by-Six Kickstarter has been moved to a December 1 start date.
I went to a big annual pre-holiday party on Saturday that includes a large potluck dinner. The house where it's held is too small for it so there's usually a tent in the front yard and they stretch tarps over the back porch in case of bad weather. We were sitting in the tent when the light rain turned into a big thunderstorm. It was fun but damp and muddy.
* Kickstarter: check out Judith Tarr's fantasy Horses of the Moon
* Wheel of the Infinite is on this list at Tor.com: Never Wait for a Sequel Again: 17 Standalone Fantasy Novels
* A.C. Wise is starting a list of links to year-end wrap-up posts. Mine is here.
* YouTube: Doctor Puppet
The Six-by-Six Kickstarter has been moved to a December 1 start date.
I went to a big annual pre-holiday party on Saturday that includes a large potluck dinner. The house where it's held is too small for it so there's usually a tent in the front yard and they stretch tarps over the back porch in case of bad weather. We were sitting in the tent when the light rain turned into a big thunderstorm. It was fun but damp and muddy.
* Kickstarter: check out Judith Tarr's fantasy Horses of the Moon
* Wheel of the Infinite is on this list at Tor.com: Never Wait for a Sequel Again: 17 Standalone Fantasy Novels
* A.C. Wise is starting a list of links to year-end wrap-up posts. Mine is here.
* YouTube: Doctor Puppet
November 21, 2014
There was a really nice non-spoilery review of Stories of...
There was a really nice non-spoilery review of Stories of the Raksura here.
***
(I use a lot of profanity in my daily life, and I have to consciously withhold it when I'm speaking in public, so as you read this, just insert it randomly throughout.)
You may have seen things online about the National Book Awards, where Ursula K. Le Guin gave this great speech (and she's talking about Amazon when she says We just saw a profiteer try to punish a publisher for disobedience and writers threatened by corporate fatwa, and I see a lot of us, the producers who write the books, and make the books, accepting this. Letting commodity profiteers sell us like deodorant, and tell us what to publish and what to write.)
and then Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) ruined the ceremony with racist comments (it's here on Gawker too). He apologized yesterday, but I can't imagine how the people receiving the awards, especially Jacqueline Woodson who won for Brown Girl Dreaming, feel. There you are winning this enormous important award, and this asshole has to destroy the whole thing with racist jokes.
and here's a link from N.K. Jemisin, on XOJane, that gives a better idea of just how bad this was.
This is why we need diverse books, especially children's and YA books, but in every genre of books. And here's the We Need Diverse Books Indiegogo.
***
(I use a lot of profanity in my daily life, and I have to consciously withhold it when I'm speaking in public, so as you read this, just insert it randomly throughout.)
You may have seen things online about the National Book Awards, where Ursula K. Le Guin gave this great speech (and she's talking about Amazon when she says We just saw a profiteer try to punish a publisher for disobedience and writers threatened by corporate fatwa, and I see a lot of us, the producers who write the books, and make the books, accepting this. Letting commodity profiteers sell us like deodorant, and tell us what to publish and what to write.)
and then Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) ruined the ceremony with racist comments (it's here on Gawker too). He apologized yesterday, but I can't imagine how the people receiving the awards, especially Jacqueline Woodson who won for Brown Girl Dreaming, feel. There you are winning this enormous important award, and this asshole has to destroy the whole thing with racist jokes.
and here's a link from N.K. Jemisin, on XOJane, that gives a better idea of just how bad this was.
This is why we need diverse books, especially children's and YA books, but in every genre of books. And here's the We Need Diverse Books Indiegogo.
November 20, 2014
Award-eligible Work This Year
It feels weird, but it's already after mid-November, and time to post a year-end wrap-up. This year has felt like it's passed both incredibly quickly and incredibly slowly. But I remember at least one year when I didn't have anything published to put in a year-end wrap-up, so this still counts as a good year publishing-wise.
So it's nice for me to see it listed out like this.
Award-eligible work
March 2014 "A Life Less Ordinary: The Environment, Magic Systems, and Non-Humans" The Kobold Guide to Magic, Kobold Press. Non-fiction essay.
April 2014 Emilie and the Sky World Strange Chemistry Books, ISBN 9781908844521. Novel, YA fantasy
July 2014 "Soul of Fire" Tales of the Emerald Serpent II: A Knight in the Silk Purse. Short story, fantasy.
October 2014 Stories of the Raksura I: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud Night Shade Books, ISBN 978-1597805353. I think this is eligible as both a collection, and the individual work is eligible. "The Falling World" and "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud" are both novellas, between 17,500 - 39,999 words.
"The Falling World" is a 39,900 word novella
"The Tale of Indigo and Cloud" is a 25,255 novella
"The Forest Boy" and "Adaptation" were previously published on my web site, so I think that means they aren't eligible for most awards. It would depend on the award, I think.
Reprints
October 2014 Star Wars: Razor's Edge. Paperback reprint ISBN 978-0345545251
So it's nice for me to see it listed out like this.
Award-eligible work
March 2014 "A Life Less Ordinary: The Environment, Magic Systems, and Non-Humans" The Kobold Guide to Magic, Kobold Press. Non-fiction essay.
April 2014 Emilie and the Sky World Strange Chemistry Books, ISBN 9781908844521. Novel, YA fantasy
July 2014 "Soul of Fire" Tales of the Emerald Serpent II: A Knight in the Silk Purse. Short story, fantasy.
October 2014 Stories of the Raksura I: The Falling World & The Tale of Indigo and Cloud Night Shade Books, ISBN 978-1597805353. I think this is eligible as both a collection, and the individual work is eligible. "The Falling World" and "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud" are both novellas, between 17,500 - 39,999 words.
"The Falling World" is a 39,900 word novella
"The Tale of Indigo and Cloud" is a 25,255 novella
"The Forest Boy" and "Adaptation" were previously published on my web site, so I think that means they aren't eligible for most awards. It would depend on the award, I think.
Reprints
October 2014 Star Wars: Razor's Edge. Paperback reprint ISBN 978-0345545251
November 18, 2014
Quick Post
Here's some more detail on the anthology I'm going to be in (with the new Reynard and Nicholas story) (if the kickstarter funds and we can do it). The kickstarter will open on November 28.
I did a guest post on Fantasy Book Cafe.
The book drive for Ballou SR High School is still open if anybody wants to send a book for Christmas.
The most complete Chart of SF Spaceships is now complete. The SGA and SG1 ones are toward the bottom.
I did a guest post on Fantasy Book Cafe.
The book drive for Ballou SR High School is still open if anybody wants to send a book for Christmas.
The most complete Chart of SF Spaceships is now complete. The SGA and SG1 ones are toward the bottom.
November 17, 2014
Cold Monday
It was a pretty good weekend. The signing in Austin went well and we had a lot of fun talking to people, and got to hang out with friends a bit. Also stopped at an Asian market next to where we had lunch and I was able to get some roasted green tea, which I love. (There's a big grocery store-sized Asian market here but it's on the other side of town and I keep forgetting to look for it there.) The weather was pretty terrible, in the 40s and raining during the day, freezing at night.
Sunday was a good work day, I got my word count done, plus did my part of the video for the upcoming kickstarter, plus some other admin type stuff. I'm trying to get the ebooks for City of Bones, The Death of the Necromancer, and Wheel of the Infinite up on iBooks in the next few days. These ebooks plus The Element of Fire are the reprints I did myself and basically pay my utility bill every month, as long as the utility bill is modest, so I've been trying to get them available on more platforms. (They're on kindle, Nook, Kobo, Inktera already.) (All the audiobooks are up on iTunes, just not all the ebooks.)
I'm about 64,000 words into this book I can't talk about yet because it hasn't officially sold, which is probably a little more than halfway through.
* Bone Flower Queen by T.L. Morganfield is up for preorder.
* The earliest known Arabic short stories in the world have just been translated into English for the first time
Sunday was a good work day, I got my word count done, plus did my part of the video for the upcoming kickstarter, plus some other admin type stuff. I'm trying to get the ebooks for City of Bones, The Death of the Necromancer, and Wheel of the Infinite up on iBooks in the next few days. These ebooks plus The Element of Fire are the reprints I did myself and basically pay my utility bill every month, as long as the utility bill is modest, so I've been trying to get them available on more platforms. (They're on kindle, Nook, Kobo, Inktera already.) (All the audiobooks are up on iTunes, just not all the ebooks.)
I'm about 64,000 words into this book I can't talk about yet because it hasn't officially sold, which is probably a little more than halfway through.
* Bone Flower Queen by T.L. Morganfield is up for preorder.
* The earliest known Arabic short stories in the world have just been translated into English for the first time
November 14, 2014
Question Answer, Book Signing in Austin
On this guest post on John Marco's blog:
Power in the World of the Raksura, there was a question, and WordPress has eaten my reply, so I'll post it here:
Michael Mock said In the books, one of the early challenges that Moon faces is being identified as a Solitary (a Raksura who's done something so unacceptable that he's been forced out of his birthcourt) instead of what he really is, which is basically an orphan who was essentially never part of a court in the first place. Later in the books, we're introduced to a Solitary who really was... I'm not sure whether "exiled" or "disowned" is more apt, here... who happens to be a Warrior - one of the Aeriat. This leads me to wonder: are solitary Raksura usually Aeriat? Always Aeriat? Or are the Arbora who are rogue solitaries as well? And, on a more relevant note, are solitaries formally exiled, or are they the ones who managed to leave their birth courts before the Queens' justice could catch up with them?
Paul Weimer said I wonder if Arbora aren't more functional as solitaries since they do handle a lot of the trade with other peoples. A rogue Arbora can break away from a Court and go to a more cosmopolitan place more easily than an Aeriat could--look how hard it was for Moon.
Solitaries would almost always be Aeriat. It would be pretty rare for one to be an Arbora. A warrior who did something that bad (like murder) would have to flee the court before being caught. Though there might be instances where they were caught, and the queen just didn't want to kill them, and exiled them instead. In The Siren Depths we saw it is possible for Arbora to commit crimes but it would be much harder for them to escape the court. If one was exiled for whatever reason, yes, it would be easier for them to fit into a groundling culture, if they could find a compatible one.
and Brannigan C said Thank you for the great post. I love reading about different governments that can be used in fantasy stories. I also get bored of the standard form of governments that are used. While reading about the Raksura government for some reason it made me think of a bee colony in a way with queens and infertile warriors.
Thank you very much!
Book signing in Austin this Saturday
* I'll be doing a signing for Blade Singer with Aaron de Orive, at the Barnes & Noble Arboretum in Austin, Texas, on Saturday November 15 at 2:00. So far it looks like they have Stories of the Raksura I and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in paperback, too.
Power in the World of the Raksura, there was a question, and WordPress has eaten my reply, so I'll post it here:
Michael Mock said In the books, one of the early challenges that Moon faces is being identified as a Solitary (a Raksura who's done something so unacceptable that he's been forced out of his birthcourt) instead of what he really is, which is basically an orphan who was essentially never part of a court in the first place. Later in the books, we're introduced to a Solitary who really was... I'm not sure whether "exiled" or "disowned" is more apt, here... who happens to be a Warrior - one of the Aeriat. This leads me to wonder: are solitary Raksura usually Aeriat? Always Aeriat? Or are the Arbora who are rogue solitaries as well? And, on a more relevant note, are solitaries formally exiled, or are they the ones who managed to leave their birth courts before the Queens' justice could catch up with them?
Paul Weimer said I wonder if Arbora aren't more functional as solitaries since they do handle a lot of the trade with other peoples. A rogue Arbora can break away from a Court and go to a more cosmopolitan place more easily than an Aeriat could--look how hard it was for Moon.
Solitaries would almost always be Aeriat. It would be pretty rare for one to be an Arbora. A warrior who did something that bad (like murder) would have to flee the court before being caught. Though there might be instances where they were caught, and the queen just didn't want to kill them, and exiled them instead. In The Siren Depths we saw it is possible for Arbora to commit crimes but it would be much harder for them to escape the court. If one was exiled for whatever reason, yes, it would be easier for them to fit into a groundling culture, if they could find a compatible one.
and Brannigan C said Thank you for the great post. I love reading about different governments that can be used in fantasy stories. I also get bored of the standard form of governments that are used. While reading about the Raksura government for some reason it made me think of a bee colony in a way with queens and infertile warriors.
Thank you very much!
Book signing in Austin this Saturday
* I'll be doing a signing for Blade Singer with Aaron de Orive, at the Barnes & Noble Arboretum in Austin, Texas, on Saturday November 15 at 2:00. So far it looks like they have Stories of the Raksura I and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in paperback, too.
November 12, 2014
Wednesday
We have a freeze warning tonight, and we haven't even had Fall yet. This is worrying.
I'm not doing much right now but being stressed out and anxious about a lot of things, and trying to hit some writing goals before Thanksgiving.
***
I have a guest post this morning on author's John Marco's blog:
Power in the World of the Raksura, talking about the structure of a Raksuran court. Thanks to John for letting me post on his blog!
It might be a help to anyone writing Raksura fanfic for Yuletide. Also, there's some handy info on my web site if you haven't already seen it.
***
Judith Tarr is having a writing mentoring sale: November NaNo Sale and Writing Classes
Also for people who are Nanoing, I have a links and information on publishing section on my web site.
***
Book signing in Austin this Saturday
* I'll be doing a signing for Blade Singer with Aaron de Orive, at the Barnes & Noble Arboretum in Austin, Texas, on Saturday November 15 at 2:00. So far it looks like they have Stories of the Raksura I and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in paperback, too.
* Murder by the Book has signed copies of Stories of the Raksura I and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in paperback if you wanted to get someone a signed book as a gift this year.
I'm not doing much right now but being stressed out and anxious about a lot of things, and trying to hit some writing goals before Thanksgiving.
***
I have a guest post this morning on author's John Marco's blog:
Power in the World of the Raksura, talking about the structure of a Raksuran court. Thanks to John for letting me post on his blog!
It might be a help to anyone writing Raksura fanfic for Yuletide. Also, there's some handy info on my web site if you haven't already seen it.
***
Judith Tarr is having a writing mentoring sale: November NaNo Sale and Writing Classes
Also for people who are Nanoing, I have a links and information on publishing section on my web site.
***
Book signing in Austin this Saturday
* I'll be doing a signing for Blade Singer with Aaron de Orive, at the Barnes & Noble Arboretum in Austin, Texas, on Saturday November 15 at 2:00. So far it looks like they have Stories of the Raksura I and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in paperback, too.
* Murder by the Book has signed copies of Stories of the Raksura I and Star Wars: Razor's Edge in paperback if you wanted to get someone a signed book as a gift this year.
