Martha Wells's Blog, page 120
January 30, 2014
Snippet Post
I hope the snow and ice situation is better in the rest of the country. We've been below freezing the past few days but we're going back up to the 60s and 70s this weekend. Though they said it'll probably freeze again next week. Blegh.
Here's a snippet from The Dead City. It's the third Raksura novella that will be in the second paperback volume that's coming out in 2015, plus it'll be released individually in ebook at some point. (That's all I know right now.) The info on the first volume is all here and it's showing up on Amazon Canada now, so I'm hoping the other online retailers will start trickling in eventually. The title already changed once and may actually change a bit more, but the ISBN is 978-1597805353 if you want to search for it.
The Dead City is a story about Moon before he met Stone, set only a few days after the destruction of Saraseil by the Fell.
snippet from The Dead City
He went back up to the main level, where Ghatli stood in the outer door watching the short armored groundlings trundle away across the caravanserai's yard. They were heading down the path toward the lake. The sky was overcast and it made the ferns and heavy foliage around the clearing look an even deeper green than they already were.
Ghatli saw Moon and said, with a sigh, "Even the Agun-teil are afraid."
"Of the Fell?" Moon said, the words out before he could stop them.
"Ah!" Ghatli shuddered, making her sparse fur shake. "No, not the Fell. Not yet. Not ever, please." She made a complicated gesture which might be a ward against bad luck, or death, or Fell, or anything in general. "No, it's the miners. They have been attacking anyone who tries to go along the hill trade route. They haven't come down to the shore yet, but they've already frightened off a great many traders."
Moon considered leaving. The conversation, the caravanserai. If it wasn't the Fell, he didn't care. But it was a habit and an ingrained survival skill to pretend to show interest in things that groundlings were interested in, so he said, "The what?"
"You haven't heard of the miners? You must not have stopped at any of the trade camps along the Lacessian Way, I thought the word had spread--" She eyed him again. "Well, I suppose you didn't. The miners appeared here three cycles ago. We call them miners because they dig into the hills."
A vague spark of real interest stirred and Moon squinted up at the rising terrain behind the caravanserai. It was all heavily cloaked in jungle. It looked more like hunting country, or a good spot for gathering fruit and roots. "What are they mining?"
"We have no idea. No one lives up there. It's good country, and the trade route is right there, but there's been no settlements, as far as the fishers can remember. Of course there are tales of ghosts, but there always are, in empty places." Ghatli moved her shoulders uneasily. "There is obviously something the miners want up there, but we don't know if it is something natural, like metal ore or gemstone, or something buried under the ground." She lowered her voice. "Perhaps something left by some ancient species."
Moon nodded absently. One thing had become obvious in his travels was that the Three Worlds had been home to many and varied peoples over uncounted turns. The hills and the jungle might conceal anything; there were a great many things the miners could be digging for.
Ghatli had apparently been hoping for a reaction of astonishment because she drooped a little. "We thought it a good theory. It's at least the most interesting theory."
Moon shrugged, noncommittal.
"Anyway, this place is a major route for the trade along the Lacessian and the Vaganian, which cross on the other side of the heights, but the miners have frightened almost everyone off, and the trader caravans are taking other routes." She scuffed at the dirt with the horny pads of one foot. "That's Ventl's problem. He and the other fishers can't get anyone to cart his reeds and the traders aren't here to buy their fish anymore, and it's made him angry, and he thinks taking over the caravanserai from me will somehow..." She sighed. "We are friends, still, I hope. But he's afraid and it's made him strange."
It took Moon a moment to remember that Ventl was the one who had tried to attack him when he had arrived. It hadn't been much of an attack. Moon's lack of interest in the trading difficulties of strange groundlings was in danger of overcoming him, but Ghatli said, "We can't even talk to them. Trader caravans don't want to mine, they want to trade. Fishers want to fish. The miners have no reason to think anyone here might impinge on...whatever it is they're doing."
"They speak a different language?" Moon asked, looking toward the jungle again. He needed to hunt, and he could hear more groundlings plodding and stamping up the path from the lake. This place was getting crowded.
"They don't speak anything, at least not to us. The fishers who went up into the hills to try to talk to them disappeared." Ghatli quivered, a mix of anger and disgust. "We think they ate them."
Moon swallowed the urge to hiss. "They usually do," he said, bitterly.
"It's a common problem?" Ghatli asked, startled, "Because-- Oh, joy, here's Ventl again."
Ventl was coming up the path from the lake. With him were a couple of his green-gray-furred cronies and a new group of groundlings. They were taller and broader than the stocky fishers and had boney square skulls. They wore light leather armor and carried heavy metal weapons, javelins, and sickle-like curved blades slung across their backs. That was always a bad sign, in Moon's experience. Ghatli's too, evidently, as she muttered, "I hope they don't want rooms. They'll go right through the floors."
The first armored one strode up to them and looked between Moon and Ghatli, as if equally dissatisfied with both Moon's tattered half-starved look and Ghatli's appearance in general. Ghatli gave a frustrated twitch and said, "What is this, Ventl? I didn't know you knew any Cedar-rin."
Ventl moved his big flat head in a way Moon interpreted as embarrassment or reluctance. He said, "They want to see the miners."
Ghatli's ears lifted. "See them in what sense?"
"That's our concern." The Cedar-rin said, his voice deep and grating. The skin of his face was oddly pale, but it caught the light as he turned his head and Moon saw it was coated with small pearly scales, and must be as tough as lizard-hide, though not quite as thick as Moon's scales in his other form. There was a distinct resemblance to the scales on the broken statue at the old lake dock.
From this angle Moon could see the big one had horns curling out from the back of his skull and the others didn't. They were all a little smaller, their heads not as large and boney. They might be female, or another gender, or even a variant of the species. The Cedar-rin said, "Why is this one here?"
He was talking about Moon. Moon didn't answer, just continued to stare unblinking at him. Normally he believed in being more circumspect, but his patience for it seemed to have stayed behind when he left Saraseil.
Ghatli said, "He's just a lodger. If you want to see the miners, just go up that road--" She turned to point toward the wide path that curved up the hill at the far end of the clearing.
The Cedar-rin reached to grab her arm and his hand bounced off Moon's chest. Moon had stepped in front of her almost before he knew he was going to do it. He had no idea why, except that the Cedar-rin was large and Ghatli was small, even if she did seem tough and wiry. He looked into the Cedar-rin's little pale eyes and said, "Tell her what you want. Don't touch her."
The Cedar-rin stared, emotion hard to read on its boney face. The others drew their sickles. Ventl came up on the balls of his big feet and Moon could hear reeds creak as the inhabitants of the caravanserai crowded out the doorway.
His voice calm and a little curious, the big Cedar-rin said, "You're brave for a soft-skin. Do you think you can best us?"
Soft-skin, Moon thought, feeling his upper lip curl. He knew he could best them. He also knew Ghatli and the others wouldn't much care for him after they saw him do it. His back fangs itched and his fingertips hurt and his pulse pounded through his body with the urge to shift.
Ghatli peered out from behind his elbow. She said, "We're all friends here, hey? My good friend Ventl brought you here, didn't he?" The look she directed Ventl's way must have been poisonous because he rocked back on his heels from the force of it. "Do as my friend here says, and tell me what you want of us."
The Cedar-rin considered it, then finally said, "Take us to the excavation."
"It's easy to find," Ghatli said. "You take the path there up through the hills to the trade route--"
The Cedar-rin grabbed Ventl by the back of his head, drew a knife curved into a half-circle, and held it to the fur at Ventl's throat. Ghatli flinched and the other groundlings in the caravanserai gasped in dismay.
If that was as fast as the Cedar-rin could move, Moon wasn't impressed. But he would have to shift to stop them and he didn't want to do that yet. He thought they would probably end up leading the Cedar-rin into the hills and it was best to get on with it.
Ghatli held up her hands. "There is no reason to get violent! Of course I'll take you."
***
There's complete info on the whole series on my web site.
Here's a snippet from The Dead City. It's the third Raksura novella that will be in the second paperback volume that's coming out in 2015, plus it'll be released individually in ebook at some point. (That's all I know right now.) The info on the first volume is all here and it's showing up on Amazon Canada now, so I'm hoping the other online retailers will start trickling in eventually. The title already changed once and may actually change a bit more, but the ISBN is 978-1597805353 if you want to search for it.
The Dead City is a story about Moon before he met Stone, set only a few days after the destruction of Saraseil by the Fell.
snippet from The Dead City
He went back up to the main level, where Ghatli stood in the outer door watching the short armored groundlings trundle away across the caravanserai's yard. They were heading down the path toward the lake. The sky was overcast and it made the ferns and heavy foliage around the clearing look an even deeper green than they already were.
Ghatli saw Moon and said, with a sigh, "Even the Agun-teil are afraid."
"Of the Fell?" Moon said, the words out before he could stop them.
"Ah!" Ghatli shuddered, making her sparse fur shake. "No, not the Fell. Not yet. Not ever, please." She made a complicated gesture which might be a ward against bad luck, or death, or Fell, or anything in general. "No, it's the miners. They have been attacking anyone who tries to go along the hill trade route. They haven't come down to the shore yet, but they've already frightened off a great many traders."
Moon considered leaving. The conversation, the caravanserai. If it wasn't the Fell, he didn't care. But it was a habit and an ingrained survival skill to pretend to show interest in things that groundlings were interested in, so he said, "The what?"
"You haven't heard of the miners? You must not have stopped at any of the trade camps along the Lacessian Way, I thought the word had spread--" She eyed him again. "Well, I suppose you didn't. The miners appeared here three cycles ago. We call them miners because they dig into the hills."
A vague spark of real interest stirred and Moon squinted up at the rising terrain behind the caravanserai. It was all heavily cloaked in jungle. It looked more like hunting country, or a good spot for gathering fruit and roots. "What are they mining?"
"We have no idea. No one lives up there. It's good country, and the trade route is right there, but there's been no settlements, as far as the fishers can remember. Of course there are tales of ghosts, but there always are, in empty places." Ghatli moved her shoulders uneasily. "There is obviously something the miners want up there, but we don't know if it is something natural, like metal ore or gemstone, or something buried under the ground." She lowered her voice. "Perhaps something left by some ancient species."
Moon nodded absently. One thing had become obvious in his travels was that the Three Worlds had been home to many and varied peoples over uncounted turns. The hills and the jungle might conceal anything; there were a great many things the miners could be digging for.
Ghatli had apparently been hoping for a reaction of astonishment because she drooped a little. "We thought it a good theory. It's at least the most interesting theory."
Moon shrugged, noncommittal.
"Anyway, this place is a major route for the trade along the Lacessian and the Vaganian, which cross on the other side of the heights, but the miners have frightened almost everyone off, and the trader caravans are taking other routes." She scuffed at the dirt with the horny pads of one foot. "That's Ventl's problem. He and the other fishers can't get anyone to cart his reeds and the traders aren't here to buy their fish anymore, and it's made him angry, and he thinks taking over the caravanserai from me will somehow..." She sighed. "We are friends, still, I hope. But he's afraid and it's made him strange."
It took Moon a moment to remember that Ventl was the one who had tried to attack him when he had arrived. It hadn't been much of an attack. Moon's lack of interest in the trading difficulties of strange groundlings was in danger of overcoming him, but Ghatli said, "We can't even talk to them. Trader caravans don't want to mine, they want to trade. Fishers want to fish. The miners have no reason to think anyone here might impinge on...whatever it is they're doing."
"They speak a different language?" Moon asked, looking toward the jungle again. He needed to hunt, and he could hear more groundlings plodding and stamping up the path from the lake. This place was getting crowded.
"They don't speak anything, at least not to us. The fishers who went up into the hills to try to talk to them disappeared." Ghatli quivered, a mix of anger and disgust. "We think they ate them."
Moon swallowed the urge to hiss. "They usually do," he said, bitterly.
"It's a common problem?" Ghatli asked, startled, "Because-- Oh, joy, here's Ventl again."
Ventl was coming up the path from the lake. With him were a couple of his green-gray-furred cronies and a new group of groundlings. They were taller and broader than the stocky fishers and had boney square skulls. They wore light leather armor and carried heavy metal weapons, javelins, and sickle-like curved blades slung across their backs. That was always a bad sign, in Moon's experience. Ghatli's too, evidently, as she muttered, "I hope they don't want rooms. They'll go right through the floors."
The first armored one strode up to them and looked between Moon and Ghatli, as if equally dissatisfied with both Moon's tattered half-starved look and Ghatli's appearance in general. Ghatli gave a frustrated twitch and said, "What is this, Ventl? I didn't know you knew any Cedar-rin."
Ventl moved his big flat head in a way Moon interpreted as embarrassment or reluctance. He said, "They want to see the miners."
Ghatli's ears lifted. "See them in what sense?"
"That's our concern." The Cedar-rin said, his voice deep and grating. The skin of his face was oddly pale, but it caught the light as he turned his head and Moon saw it was coated with small pearly scales, and must be as tough as lizard-hide, though not quite as thick as Moon's scales in his other form. There was a distinct resemblance to the scales on the broken statue at the old lake dock.
From this angle Moon could see the big one had horns curling out from the back of his skull and the others didn't. They were all a little smaller, their heads not as large and boney. They might be female, or another gender, or even a variant of the species. The Cedar-rin said, "Why is this one here?"
He was talking about Moon. Moon didn't answer, just continued to stare unblinking at him. Normally he believed in being more circumspect, but his patience for it seemed to have stayed behind when he left Saraseil.
Ghatli said, "He's just a lodger. If you want to see the miners, just go up that road--" She turned to point toward the wide path that curved up the hill at the far end of the clearing.
The Cedar-rin reached to grab her arm and his hand bounced off Moon's chest. Moon had stepped in front of her almost before he knew he was going to do it. He had no idea why, except that the Cedar-rin was large and Ghatli was small, even if she did seem tough and wiry. He looked into the Cedar-rin's little pale eyes and said, "Tell her what you want. Don't touch her."
The Cedar-rin stared, emotion hard to read on its boney face. The others drew their sickles. Ventl came up on the balls of his big feet and Moon could hear reeds creak as the inhabitants of the caravanserai crowded out the doorway.
His voice calm and a little curious, the big Cedar-rin said, "You're brave for a soft-skin. Do you think you can best us?"
Soft-skin, Moon thought, feeling his upper lip curl. He knew he could best them. He also knew Ghatli and the others wouldn't much care for him after they saw him do it. His back fangs itched and his fingertips hurt and his pulse pounded through his body with the urge to shift.
Ghatli peered out from behind his elbow. She said, "We're all friends here, hey? My good friend Ventl brought you here, didn't he?" The look she directed Ventl's way must have been poisonous because he rocked back on his heels from the force of it. "Do as my friend here says, and tell me what you want of us."
The Cedar-rin considered it, then finally said, "Take us to the excavation."
"It's easy to find," Ghatli said. "You take the path there up through the hills to the trade route--"
The Cedar-rin grabbed Ventl by the back of his head, drew a knife curved into a half-circle, and held it to the fur at Ventl's throat. Ghatli flinched and the other groundlings in the caravanserai gasped in dismay.
If that was as fast as the Cedar-rin could move, Moon wasn't impressed. But he would have to shift to stop them and he didn't want to do that yet. He thought they would probably end up leading the Cedar-rin into the hills and it was best to get on with it.
Ghatli held up her hands. "There is no reason to get violent! Of course I'll take you."
***
There's complete info on the whole series on my web site.
January 28, 2014
News and Links
* If you missed it last night, the paperback with the first two Raksura novellas is up for preorder.
* There's been a $1 or so price drop on the Kindle editions of The Wizard Hunters, The Ships of Air, and The Gate of Gods. I don't know if it's permanent or what.
* I'll also have a non-fiction article in The Kobold Guide to Magic, which is also up for preorder.
Some Links
* I have a guest post on Novelocity answering the question: what authors did you want to see more from?
* Buzzfeed: What It’s Like To Read A Great Book, As Told In GIFs
* Rich in Color: 10 Great Resources for Writing Cross-Culturally
* Raw Story: DNA test of 7,000-year-old tooth overturns popular image of light-skinned European hunter-gatherers
* Alex Bledsoe: The Secrets of Writing Action Scenes
* Cynthia Leitich Smith: Crave Diversity? It's (Partly) a Matter of Dollars & Sense
* There's been a $1 or so price drop on the Kindle editions of The Wizard Hunters, The Ships of Air, and The Gate of Gods. I don't know if it's permanent or what.
* I'll also have a non-fiction article in The Kobold Guide to Magic, which is also up for preorder.
Some Links
* I have a guest post on Novelocity answering the question: what authors did you want to see more from?
* Buzzfeed: What It’s Like To Read A Great Book, As Told In GIFs
* Rich in Color: 10 Great Resources for Writing Cross-Culturally
* Raw Story: DNA test of 7,000-year-old tooth overturns popular image of light-skinned European hunter-gatherers
* Alex Bledsoe: The Secrets of Writing Action Scenes
* Cynthia Leitich Smith: Crave Diversity? It's (Partly) a Matter of Dollars & Sense
January 27, 2014
Raksura Novellas in Paperback
* Here's the Amazon US preorder link for the paperback edition of the first two Raksura novellas: "The Falling World" and "The Tale of Indigo and Cloud." It will be shipped on September 2 of this year. The paperback with the second two will be out in 2015. And each book should have some additional material, maybe a short story or two.
(The link just showed up recently, so I don't think it's up on any other retailers yet. (The retailers get it from the distributor, so sometimes it takes a few days to propagate out, depending on how often the retailers update their systems, etc.))
* There isn't an ebook edition listed yet because the two novellas will be released individually in ebook -- I don't know yet when they'll be available or how much they'll cost or anything. I'll post as soon as I do. (Originally, the novellas were going to be ebook-only, so the paperbacks are a new development.)
Here's the descriptions for the first two novellas:
In "The Falling World," Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud Court, has traveled with Chime and Balm to another Raksuran court. When she fails to return, her consort Moon, along with Stone and a party of warriors and hunters, must track them down. Finding them turns out to be the easy part; freeing them from an ancient trap hidden in the depths of the Reaches is much more difficult.
"The Tale of Indigo and Cloud" explores the history of the Indigo Cloud Court, long before Moon was born. In the distant past, Indigo stole Cloud from Emerald Twilight. But in doing so, the reigning Queen Cerise and Indigo are now poised for a conflict that could spark war throughout all the courts of the Reaches.
I hope people like these. I really enjoyed writing them.
(The link just showed up recently, so I don't think it's up on any other retailers yet. (The retailers get it from the distributor, so sometimes it takes a few days to propagate out, depending on how often the retailers update their systems, etc.))
* There isn't an ebook edition listed yet because the two novellas will be released individually in ebook -- I don't know yet when they'll be available or how much they'll cost or anything. I'll post as soon as I do. (Originally, the novellas were going to be ebook-only, so the paperbacks are a new development.)
Here's the descriptions for the first two novellas:
In "The Falling World," Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud Court, has traveled with Chime and Balm to another Raksuran court. When she fails to return, her consort Moon, along with Stone and a party of warriors and hunters, must track them down. Finding them turns out to be the easy part; freeing them from an ancient trap hidden in the depths of the Reaches is much more difficult.
"The Tale of Indigo and Cloud" explores the history of the Indigo Cloud Court, long before Moon was born. In the distant past, Indigo stole Cloud from Emerald Twilight. But in doing so, the reigning Queen Cerise and Indigo are now poised for a conflict that could spark war throughout all the courts of the Reaches.
I hope people like these. I really enjoyed writing them.
January 24, 2014
Book Recs
We had an ice storm last night, and there's a bit of snow in our yard and the street this morning.
* Dismantling the Echo Chamber: On Africa SF A review by Andrea Hairston of Africa SF, edited by Mark Bould.
Africa SF is a marvelous meditation on African cultural production. It celebrates and troubles, analyzes and reviews, critiques and illuminates the black-to-the-future science fiction and fantasy project from the 1880’s to the present. Mark Bould gathers writers, artists, scholars, and critics so that we can talk to each other and everyone else about what’s been going down and what might be coming up! Sf scholar Grace Dillon (Anishinaabe) interviews me about my sf&f novels and plays. Essays, reviews, and interviews explore novels, comics, film, music, and visual art. This range is a treat for readers well-versed in the topic while still being largely accessible to curious readers unfamiliar with this tradition in change.
* The Big Idea: Lillian Stewart Carl Lillian has a new book out in her ghost story/mystery series, The Avalon Chanter. I really love this series. It's set in modern day Scotland, with Jean Fairbairn who is a historian/writer and Alasdair Cameron, a police detective, who can both hear and see ghosts. The first one is The Secret Portrait and is on kindle for .99.
* Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells is out.
Patrol cop Kate Prospero didn't know that the bloody werewolf that she shot was the number one snitch for the Magic Enforcement Agency task force. What she has come to realize, though, is that getting an assignment with MEA is just the first step in putting her life permanently endangered.
* I just read London Falling by Paul Cornell, and enjoyed it a lot. It's a fantasy/mystery, for people who love fantasy and British detective series like Inspector Lewis or Luther. In fact, it's a very cinematic book, and I could see Idris Elba playing Costain, and Noel Clarke playing Sefton. (Plus the guy who plays Inspector Fred Thursday in Endeavor as Quill.) I'm not sure what actress would play Ross; her looks were so distinctive. But it's about three police detectives and an analyst who get the second sight and have to solve a horrible magical serial killer case in a London they can now see is populated with ghosts and terrible things, and they have no help and no one to tell them what to do.
* Night Calls by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
Descended from powerful magic-users, but ignorant of her heritage, young Alfreda Sorensson learns magic and wisdom from her extended family in an alternate early 1800s Michigan Territory.
"Katharine Eliska Kimbriel's Allie books do Harry Potter one, or two, maybe even three better. This is superb dark fantasy. These are the kind of good books that help a reader get through a bad night."
--Alexis Glynn Latner, author of Hurricane Moon
* Dismantling the Echo Chamber: On Africa SF A review by Andrea Hairston of Africa SF, edited by Mark Bould.
Africa SF is a marvelous meditation on African cultural production. It celebrates and troubles, analyzes and reviews, critiques and illuminates the black-to-the-future science fiction and fantasy project from the 1880’s to the present. Mark Bould gathers writers, artists, scholars, and critics so that we can talk to each other and everyone else about what’s been going down and what might be coming up! Sf scholar Grace Dillon (Anishinaabe) interviews me about my sf&f novels and plays. Essays, reviews, and interviews explore novels, comics, film, music, and visual art. This range is a treat for readers well-versed in the topic while still being largely accessible to curious readers unfamiliar with this tradition in change.
* The Big Idea: Lillian Stewart Carl Lillian has a new book out in her ghost story/mystery series, The Avalon Chanter. I really love this series. It's set in modern day Scotland, with Jean Fairbairn who is a historian/writer and Alasdair Cameron, a police detective, who can both hear and see ghosts. The first one is The Secret Portrait and is on kindle for .99.
* Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells is out.
Patrol cop Kate Prospero didn't know that the bloody werewolf that she shot was the number one snitch for the Magic Enforcement Agency task force. What she has come to realize, though, is that getting an assignment with MEA is just the first step in putting her life permanently endangered.
* I just read London Falling by Paul Cornell, and enjoyed it a lot. It's a fantasy/mystery, for people who love fantasy and British detective series like Inspector Lewis or Luther. In fact, it's a very cinematic book, and I could see Idris Elba playing Costain, and Noel Clarke playing Sefton. (Plus the guy who plays Inspector Fred Thursday in Endeavor as Quill.) I'm not sure what actress would play Ross; her looks were so distinctive. But it's about three police detectives and an analyst who get the second sight and have to solve a horrible magical serial killer case in a London they can now see is populated with ghosts and terrible things, and they have no help and no one to tell them what to do.
* Night Calls by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
Descended from powerful magic-users, but ignorant of her heritage, young Alfreda Sorensson learns magic and wisdom from her extended family in an alternate early 1800s Michigan Territory.
"Katharine Eliska Kimbriel's Allie books do Harry Potter one, or two, maybe even three better. This is superb dark fantasy. These are the kind of good books that help a reader get through a bad night."
--Alexis Glynn Latner, author of Hurricane Moon
January 22, 2014
Current and Upcoming Stuff
Here's a list of my current and upcoming stuff. I think I've got it all here. If you missed the butternut squash soup recipe from yesterday, it's here.
Books that are currently available:
Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge, Emilie and the Hollow World, and all three Books of the Raksura. And you can get an ebook bundle of the Raksura books: Kindle, Nook, and Kobo or get them individually DRM-free (and for cheap) at Baen's Webscription Store.
All my backlist is available at least in ebook and most of them in audiobook: list of everything here.
If you've read something of mine and you do reviews, please consider posting a review on Amazon, B&N, GoodReads, LibraryThing, whatever. Every little bit helps, and these reviews do help.
Upcoming Books and other stuff:
Emilie and the Sky World will be out March 4.
I have a story in Tales of the Emerald Serpent: A Knight in the Silk Purse which should be out sometime later this spring. It's called "Soul of Fire." All the stories are in and they're waiting on the art now.
I have an essay in The Kobold Guide to Magic, which should be out in late March or early April. It's called "A Life Less Ordinary: The Environment, Magic Systems, and Non-Humans"
I have four Books of the Raksura novellas coming out. What I know at this moment and which may be subject to change, for all I know: Each novella will be released individually in ebook, I don't know when. They will be released in paperback, the first two novellas in one volume, and the second two in a second volume. I'm not sure when yet, but I think the first paperback will be out this Fall and the second next year sometime. The first two novellas are The Falling World (about 39,500 words long) and The Tale of Indigo and Cloud (about 24,500 words). The third one is called The Dead City and it's almost finished. I'll start the fourth one as soon as I finish it. When I know exact dates and have preorder links, I'll post them.
Conventions I am going to so far:
* February 21-23: ConDFW, in Dallas, Texas.
* Saturday March 29: I'll be Guest of Honor at LeoCon, in Commerce, Texas, at TAMU Commerce.
* May 23-26: Comicpalooza, in Houston, Texas.
* July 3-6: Convergence 2014 in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Books that are currently available:
Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge, Emilie and the Hollow World, and all three Books of the Raksura. And you can get an ebook bundle of the Raksura books: Kindle, Nook, and Kobo or get them individually DRM-free (and for cheap) at Baen's Webscription Store.
All my backlist is available at least in ebook and most of them in audiobook: list of everything here.
If you've read something of mine and you do reviews, please consider posting a review on Amazon, B&N, GoodReads, LibraryThing, whatever. Every little bit helps, and these reviews do help.
Upcoming Books and other stuff:
Emilie and the Sky World will be out March 4.
I have a story in Tales of the Emerald Serpent: A Knight in the Silk Purse which should be out sometime later this spring. It's called "Soul of Fire." All the stories are in and they're waiting on the art now.
I have an essay in The Kobold Guide to Magic, which should be out in late March or early April. It's called "A Life Less Ordinary: The Environment, Magic Systems, and Non-Humans"
I have four Books of the Raksura novellas coming out. What I know at this moment and which may be subject to change, for all I know: Each novella will be released individually in ebook, I don't know when. They will be released in paperback, the first two novellas in one volume, and the second two in a second volume. I'm not sure when yet, but I think the first paperback will be out this Fall and the second next year sometime. The first two novellas are The Falling World (about 39,500 words long) and The Tale of Indigo and Cloud (about 24,500 words). The third one is called The Dead City and it's almost finished. I'll start the fourth one as soon as I finish it. When I know exact dates and have preorder links, I'll post them.
Conventions I am going to so far:
* February 21-23: ConDFW, in Dallas, Texas.
* Saturday March 29: I'll be Guest of Honor at LeoCon, in Commerce, Texas, at TAMU Commerce.
* May 23-26: Comicpalooza, in Houston, Texas.
* July 3-6: Convergence 2014 in Bloomington, Minnesota.
January 21, 2014
Bacon-leek-butternut squash red curry soup
Posting this here, and titling and tagging it, so I can find it again when people ask me about it:
First, take a butternut squash and bake it in the oven at about 400 for at least 30 minutes. This is so you can cut it up without breaking your knife.
In a soup pot, cook two-three pieces of bacon until crispy, and remove. Add one big or two small-medium leeks, cleaned and chopped (if you haven't cleaned a leek before, you may want to look up how to do it. It's easy but not particularly intuitive. Leeks are dirty, dirty vegetables.) You can also add chopped onion and/or garlic if you want.
While the leek is cooking, peel (with a potato peeler) the squash, and cut it into pieces, avoiding the nasty seedy part in the bottom. Put the pieces in with the leek, and fill the pot with chicken broth until just below the top layer of squash pieces. Add a couple of heaping spoonfuls of red curry paste, or whatever other seasoning you want. Wait until it starts to bubble, then turn down to low, and put the lid on. Stir it occasionally and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes. Add more broth if you need to.
When the squash is soft, take it off the fire and puree the soup with a stick blender or mixer until it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to brighten the flavor. Garnish with bacon.
First, take a butternut squash and bake it in the oven at about 400 for at least 30 minutes. This is so you can cut it up without breaking your knife.
In a soup pot, cook two-three pieces of bacon until crispy, and remove. Add one big or two small-medium leeks, cleaned and chopped (if you haven't cleaned a leek before, you may want to look up how to do it. It's easy but not particularly intuitive. Leeks are dirty, dirty vegetables.) You can also add chopped onion and/or garlic if you want.
While the leek is cooking, peel (with a potato peeler) the squash, and cut it into pieces, avoiding the nasty seedy part in the bottom. Put the pieces in with the leek, and fill the pot with chicken broth until just below the top layer of squash pieces. Add a couple of heaping spoonfuls of red curry paste, or whatever other seasoning you want. Wait until it starts to bubble, then turn down to low, and put the lid on. Stir it occasionally and cook for about 30 to 40 minutes. Add more broth if you need to.
When the squash is soft, take it off the fire and puree the soup with a stick blender or mixer until it's smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste, and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to brighten the flavor. Garnish with bacon.
Not having a very good week so far, just in general. The...
Not having a very good week so far, just in general. The third Raksura novella is almost done. It'll be somewhere between 22,000-25,000 words, and is called The Dead City.
links:
* Pornokitsch: Friday Five: Stupendous Space-faring YA SF
So here are five of the novels that I read as a 1970s schoolboy, ones that inspired me to pack my bags and follow my dreams...
* Cracked: Why Shia LaBeouf Is Hollywood's New King of Jerks
Shia LaBeouf recently stole the spotlight by stealing an entire screenplay. He "plagiarized" the script for his short film HowardCantour.com from Daniel Clowes' comic Justin M. Damiano, in the same way settlers "short-changed" Native Americans for the island of Manhattan. But he paid less. He stole the entire comic, scene for scene, line for line, word for goddamn word. It is impossible to overstate how directly he ripped it off. I've used photocopiers that make less direct reproductions.
* IO9: Why Expanded Universes Are Important
I thought about this, and every answer I came up with came back the idea that they act as gateways. To their genre. To fandom. And to writing.
* The role of race in the life and literature of Alexandre Dumas: The episode that inspired the man behind the Musketeers
There's a book about Dumas' father: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
* MediaBistro: Most Authors Make Less Than $1,000 a Year:
The majority of authors make less than $1,000 a year, according to a new report from Digital Book World. Almost 80% of self-published authors and more than half of traditionally published authors earn less than $1,000 a year, according to the report. A little more than 40 percent of hybrid authors (both traditionally published and self-published) made less than $1,000 a year and not surprisingly 90 percent of the aspiring authors made nothing.
links:
* Pornokitsch: Friday Five: Stupendous Space-faring YA SF
So here are five of the novels that I read as a 1970s schoolboy, ones that inspired me to pack my bags and follow my dreams...
* Cracked: Why Shia LaBeouf Is Hollywood's New King of Jerks
Shia LaBeouf recently stole the spotlight by stealing an entire screenplay. He "plagiarized" the script for his short film HowardCantour.com from Daniel Clowes' comic Justin M. Damiano, in the same way settlers "short-changed" Native Americans for the island of Manhattan. But he paid less. He stole the entire comic, scene for scene, line for line, word for goddamn word. It is impossible to overstate how directly he ripped it off. I've used photocopiers that make less direct reproductions.
* IO9: Why Expanded Universes Are Important
I thought about this, and every answer I came up with came back the idea that they act as gateways. To their genre. To fandom. And to writing.
* The role of race in the life and literature of Alexandre Dumas: The episode that inspired the man behind the Musketeers
There's a book about Dumas' father: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss
* MediaBistro: Most Authors Make Less Than $1,000 a Year:
The majority of authors make less than $1,000 a year, according to a new report from Digital Book World. Almost 80% of self-published authors and more than half of traditionally published authors earn less than $1,000 a year, according to the report. A little more than 40 percent of hybrid authors (both traditionally published and self-published) made less than $1,000 a year and not surprisingly 90 percent of the aspiring authors made nothing.
January 17, 2014
Links
* The Hugo Eligible Art(ists) Tumblr lots of gorgeous art by Hugo-eligible artists.
* SF Signal: Catherine Lundoff on LGBT Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 1970s
* Announcing the Writing Excuses/Carl Brandon Scholarship
* The Writing Cafe's Survey of Fantasy and What People Want to See More of
Book rec: The Chocolate Temptation by Laura Florand
Romantic Times acclaims Laura Florand's work as "sensuous and sumptuous", nominating her for Best Book of the Year, and NPR says it's "explosive, sensual...and utterly sweet". Now, in her sixth book in the internationally bestselling Amour et Chocolat series, Florand takes us into a top Paris restaurant's pastry kitchen and into the hearts and irresistible temptations of its chefs in The Chocolate Temptation.
Some kickstarters:
* An original graphic novel from Gregory Wilson and Matt Slay about a being who falls from the sky to save a world from tyranny.
Gregory Wilson and I have team-taught at the WorldCon writing workshops for the past three years, and you should definitely check out his graphic novel.
* Women Destroy Science Fiction! is a special issue of the Hugo Award-nominated magazine LIGHTSPEED entirely written—and edited—by women.
This kickstarter has already doubled its goal, but it has some really cool rewards. This is the online magazine that published my novella "Holy Places" in its ebook only issue in November 2013.
* Two new urban fantasy novellas featuring half-fatae PI Danny Hendrickson: "The Work of Hunters" and "An Interrupted Cry" by Laura Anne Gilman
* SF Signal: Catherine Lundoff on LGBT Science Fiction and Fantasy in the 1970s
* Announcing the Writing Excuses/Carl Brandon Scholarship
* The Writing Cafe's Survey of Fantasy and What People Want to See More of
Book rec: The Chocolate Temptation by Laura Florand
Romantic Times acclaims Laura Florand's work as "sensuous and sumptuous", nominating her for Best Book of the Year, and NPR says it's "explosive, sensual...and utterly sweet". Now, in her sixth book in the internationally bestselling Amour et Chocolat series, Florand takes us into a top Paris restaurant's pastry kitchen and into the hearts and irresistible temptations of its chefs in The Chocolate Temptation.
Some kickstarters:
* An original graphic novel from Gregory Wilson and Matt Slay about a being who falls from the sky to save a world from tyranny.
Gregory Wilson and I have team-taught at the WorldCon writing workshops for the past three years, and you should definitely check out his graphic novel.
* Women Destroy Science Fiction! is a special issue of the Hugo Award-nominated magazine LIGHTSPEED entirely written—and edited—by women.
This kickstarter has already doubled its goal, but it has some really cool rewards. This is the online magazine that published my novella "Holy Places" in its ebook only issue in November 2013.
* Two new urban fantasy novellas featuring half-fatae PI Danny Hendrickson: "The Work of Hunters" and "An Interrupted Cry" by Laura Anne Gilman
January 14, 2014
Yesterday I found out from Joe Lansdale online that Neal ...
Yesterday I found out from Joe Lansdale online that Neal Barrett, Jr. had passed away. I didn't know him very well, but I first met him in college when I was working on AggieCon, the university SF/F con, and he was a guest. Later after I started getting published we were both guests at cons and did panels together. He was a great person and always very nice to me, and very supportive of new writers.
His best known book was the fantasy the The Hereafter Gang, and it's still available now in kindle and on audiobook.
***
a few links:
* Amazons: Warrior Women in Fact and Fiction by Catherine Lundoff
* SFF in Conversation: Women Write SFF (Andrea K Höst’s Keeper Bookshelf ) 99 women writers.
“Women don’t write science fiction." “The majority of fantasy writers are men.”
...
Many of these books never seem to pop up on any list, despite their undeniable existence, and the fact that I liked them enough to keep. And it becomes one of those self-defeating circles: many of these books were not talked about, didn’t get enough buzz or sales, and never show up on any lists.
His best known book was the fantasy the The Hereafter Gang, and it's still available now in kindle and on audiobook.
***
a few links:
* Amazons: Warrior Women in Fact and Fiction by Catherine Lundoff
* SFF in Conversation: Women Write SFF (Andrea K Höst’s Keeper Bookshelf ) 99 women writers.
“Women don’t write science fiction." “The majority of fantasy writers are men.”
...
Many of these books never seem to pop up on any list, despite their undeniable existence, and the fact that I liked them enough to keep. And it becomes one of those self-defeating circles: many of these books were not talked about, didn’t get enough buzz or sales, and never show up on any lists.
January 13, 2014
More Book Recs
I'm working on the third Raksura novella, which is a story about Moon set before The Cloud Roads, not long after Saraseil was destroyed by the Fell. It's a bit more than halfway done, and I spent yesterday re-reading and revising it, and I still like it, so that's a good sign.
If you missed it, I did a book rec post Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice yesterday (there are more book recs in the comments), and a links post on Saturday.
More book recs:
Last week I also read A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan. It's set in a Victorian-like AU, where dragons are real, but very little is known about them, from the point of view of a woman who is determined to become a dragon naturalist. I enjoyed it a lot too, and as someone said, it's even more fun if you imagine it as being narrated by Maggie Smith's character in Downton Abbey.
I also read No Man's Nightingale: An Inspector Wexford Novel by Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell writes very dark books (A Dark-Adapted Eye is one of my favorites, about a woman who is trying to piece together the truth about a family crisis that ended with her aunt being executed for murder) and one reason I like the Wexford novels is it gives you at least one viewpoint character who isn't a terrible person who you can cling to while awful things happen. (not cozies, basically. Most of them deal with racism, poverty, misogyny, etc.) This one is about a woman vicar named Sarah Hussain who is murdered, and Wexford, though he's retired, managing to butt into the case to help solve it.
In that same vein, something else I want to recommend is the Inspector Lewis series. It's the sequel to God knows how many seasons of the Inspector Morse series, and takes place several years after Morse's death, when his sergeant Lewis has been promoted. After all the years of working with Morse, Lewis is grumpy and weird and not interested in promotion, and damaged by his wife's death, and his sergeant Hathaway is an ex-priest with a collection of his own baggage. The stories are good and the relationship between them is awesome, and it's probably one of my favorite all-time mystery series. (Like all mystery series, you do have to suspend your disbelief, because so many people are murdered at Oxford colleges and this does not cause widespread panic. If there was one murder at TAMU, the whole university would lose its shit, and if there were two, and it looked like the murderer was targeting members of one college, everyone would flee the town or call the army or something.)
There are two season on Netflix right now, and the whole series is on Amazon streaming (except for the pilot episode where Lewis and Hathaway actually meet, because Amazon sucks that way). The pilot is on the DVD that has the first season, though, which is how I finally saw it. And it looks like some episodes might be on YouTube.
If you missed it, I did a book rec post Ann Leckie's Ancillary Justice yesterday (there are more book recs in the comments), and a links post on Saturday.
More book recs:
Last week I also read A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan. It's set in a Victorian-like AU, where dragons are real, but very little is known about them, from the point of view of a woman who is determined to become a dragon naturalist. I enjoyed it a lot too, and as someone said, it's even more fun if you imagine it as being narrated by Maggie Smith's character in Downton Abbey.
I also read No Man's Nightingale: An Inspector Wexford Novel by Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell writes very dark books (A Dark-Adapted Eye is one of my favorites, about a woman who is trying to piece together the truth about a family crisis that ended with her aunt being executed for murder) and one reason I like the Wexford novels is it gives you at least one viewpoint character who isn't a terrible person who you can cling to while awful things happen. (not cozies, basically. Most of them deal with racism, poverty, misogyny, etc.) This one is about a woman vicar named Sarah Hussain who is murdered, and Wexford, though he's retired, managing to butt into the case to help solve it.
In that same vein, something else I want to recommend is the Inspector Lewis series. It's the sequel to God knows how many seasons of the Inspector Morse series, and takes place several years after Morse's death, when his sergeant Lewis has been promoted. After all the years of working with Morse, Lewis is grumpy and weird and not interested in promotion, and damaged by his wife's death, and his sergeant Hathaway is an ex-priest with a collection of his own baggage. The stories are good and the relationship between them is awesome, and it's probably one of my favorite all-time mystery series. (Like all mystery series, you do have to suspend your disbelief, because so many people are murdered at Oxford colleges and this does not cause widespread panic. If there was one murder at TAMU, the whole university would lose its shit, and if there were two, and it looked like the murderer was targeting members of one college, everyone would flee the town or call the army or something.)
There are two season on Netflix right now, and the whole series is on Amazon streaming (except for the pilot episode where Lewis and Hathaway actually meet, because Amazon sucks that way). The pilot is on the DVD that has the first season, though, which is how I finally saw it. And it looks like some episodes might be on YouTube.
