Martha Wells's Blog, page 127
September 20, 2013
Razor's Edge: Fan Art
The whole fan art piece by artist Magali Villeneuve for my Star Wars book Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge. You can see the bigger version here: http://fangirlblog.com/2013/09/razors-edge-art-revealed/ And there's an interview with the artist.
The other posts on the site have the larger versions of the characters, but this is my favorite:
September 19, 2013
Stuff and Links
I was on Hollywood.com yesterday, which was kind of surreal. Here's a quote from the interview they did:
"I think the key is not just seeing Leia as a stereotypical strong woman character, but as someone who is young but is a leader, who has taken on huge responsibilities, but also as someone who has an epic temper and can be sarcastic, and can make mistakes," Wells says. "She's not a perfect princess, she's a person with flaws and vulnerabilities who manages to do what she needs to do anyway, and I think those things were conveyed in Carrie Fisher's performance." and there's an excerpt from the book.
And I was also interviewed here on: Geeks with Curves
and This Blog is Full of Words
Razor's Edge Fan Art:
FanGirlBlog is posting gorgeous fan art by Magali Villeneuve of Razor's Edge every day, and my favorite is this one of Sian Tesar: http://fangirlblog.com/2013/09/let-there-be-rebels-in-razors-edge-art/ I told someone the other day that it's kind of rare that you make up a character and say she's beautiful, and then someone draws her and she's just so beautiful you just want to sit there and look at her.
Raksura Fan Art
IvieMoon posted some very cool Books of the Raksura fan art: Moon and Jade
There's more fan art linked here on the Raskura Compendium section of my web site, plus links to stories set in the same world, etc.
(And if you want the books in ebook, or want to get them for someone as a gift, there's a cheaper ebook bundle of all three on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Or you can get them individual at a discount DRM-free from Baen Webscription Site
Free Stories
Tor.com: Thief of War by Beth Bernobich
BlackGate.com: Stand at Dubun-Geb by Ryan Harvey
Links
* Literary Trysts It Gives Me Great Joy To Think About: Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman
Because mine is an evil and a petty mind, suitable more to wallowing in the sordid sexual goings-on of literary giants than in reading their work, I take every opportunity I can to inform people who may not have known that Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde almost certainly had sex in 1882.
* This is an older link but I hadn't seen it before: Killers Kill, Dead Men Die
With a star corpse, and suspects ranging from Helen Mirren to Forest Whitaker, Annie Leibovitz and Michael Roberts create a film noir masterpiece to die for.
* A Reminder That Reality TV is Staged a post from one of the cosplayers who got depicted as a "villain" on Heroes of Cosplay.
"I think the key is not just seeing Leia as a stereotypical strong woman character, but as someone who is young but is a leader, who has taken on huge responsibilities, but also as someone who has an epic temper and can be sarcastic, and can make mistakes," Wells says. "She's not a perfect princess, she's a person with flaws and vulnerabilities who manages to do what she needs to do anyway, and I think those things were conveyed in Carrie Fisher's performance." and there's an excerpt from the book.
And I was also interviewed here on: Geeks with Curves
and This Blog is Full of Words
Razor's Edge Fan Art:
FanGirlBlog is posting gorgeous fan art by Magali Villeneuve of Razor's Edge every day, and my favorite is this one of Sian Tesar: http://fangirlblog.com/2013/09/let-there-be-rebels-in-razors-edge-art/ I told someone the other day that it's kind of rare that you make up a character and say she's beautiful, and then someone draws her and she's just so beautiful you just want to sit there and look at her.
Raksura Fan Art
IvieMoon posted some very cool Books of the Raksura fan art: Moon and Jade
There's more fan art linked here on the Raskura Compendium section of my web site, plus links to stories set in the same world, etc.
(And if you want the books in ebook, or want to get them for someone as a gift, there's a cheaper ebook bundle of all three on Kindle, Nook, and Kobo. Or you can get them individual at a discount DRM-free from Baen Webscription Site
Free Stories
Tor.com: Thief of War by Beth Bernobich
BlackGate.com: Stand at Dubun-Geb by Ryan Harvey
Links
* Literary Trysts It Gives Me Great Joy To Think About: Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman
Because mine is an evil and a petty mind, suitable more to wallowing in the sordid sexual goings-on of literary giants than in reading their work, I take every opportunity I can to inform people who may not have known that Walt Whitman and Oscar Wilde almost certainly had sex in 1882.
* This is an older link but I hadn't seen it before: Killers Kill, Dead Men Die
With a star corpse, and suspects ranging from Helen Mirren to Forest Whitaker, Annie Leibovitz and Michael Roberts create a film noir masterpiece to die for.
* A Reminder That Reality TV is Staged a post from one of the cosplayers who got depicted as a "villain" on Heroes of Cosplay.
September 17, 2013
Drawing Winners
Okay, we have the winners, chosen with the help of a random number generator.
There were 9 entries on Dreamwidth and 74 on LJ with a total of 83.
From the mirror post on Dreamwidth: okrablossom
From the post on Live Journal:
ileliberte
minusforever
helplessdancer
mc23
Thanks to everybody who entered!
There were 9 entries on Dreamwidth and 74 on LJ with a total of 83.
From the mirror post on Dreamwidth: okrablossom
From the post on Live Journal:
ileliberte
minusforever
helplessdancer
mc23
Thanks to everybody who entered!
Fan art!!!!
Ooh, had to post this: Gorgeous fan art of Sian Tesar from my book Razor's Edge: http://fangirlblog.com/2013/09/let-there-be-rebels-in-razors-edge-art/
And this one is Caline Metara: http://fangirlblog.com/2013/09/let-there-be-pirates-in-razorsedgeart/
They're by Magali Villeneuve, and there's more coming! I haven't see these yet either, they're torturing me by revealing them one by one too.
And this one is Caline Metara: http://fangirlblog.com/2013/09/let-there-be-pirates-in-razorsedgeart/
They're by Magali Villeneuve, and there's more coming! I haven't see these yet either, they're torturing me by revealing them one by one too.
I'll be drawing the contest winners this afternoon,* Inte...
I'll be drawing the contest winners this afternoon,
* Interview with me on This Blog is Full of Words: Princess Leia, Fan Fiction, and Martha Wells
* Diversity in YA: Diversity in ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults
The BFYA lists are typically fairly long, including approximately 100 titles, which suggests that there's room for plenty of diversity. The question is: How much diversity is included in the BFYA lists? That is what I set out to discover.
Book recs:
* Compound Murder by Bill Crider - new book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series
* The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord - set in the same universe as The Best of All Possible Worlds
* Night Calls by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
First released fifteen years ago, it's finally back in print:
“If you can imagine Little House on the Prairie with werewolves, vampires, and magic, you’ve got an idea what this dark fantasy novel is like….the strong characters, the matter-of-fact tone, and the strong sense of place make this something special.” — Locus Magazine
* Interview with me on This Blog is Full of Words: Princess Leia, Fan Fiction, and Martha Wells
* Diversity in YA: Diversity in ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults
The BFYA lists are typically fairly long, including approximately 100 titles, which suggests that there's room for plenty of diversity. The question is: How much diversity is included in the BFYA lists? That is what I set out to discover.
Book recs:
* Compound Murder by Bill Crider - new book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series
* The Galaxy Game by Karen Lord - set in the same universe as The Best of All Possible Worlds
* Night Calls by Katharine Eliska Kimbriel
First released fifteen years ago, it's finally back in print:
“If you can imagine Little House on the Prairie with werewolves, vampires, and magic, you’ve got an idea what this dark fantasy novel is like….the strong characters, the matter-of-fact tone, and the strong sense of place make this something special.” — Locus Magazine
September 16, 2013
Weekend
I went to a great book release party yesterday for Kathi Appelt, Uma Krishnaswami and Susan Fletcher's new books. They did awesome dramatic readings of scenes from each book. And Uma Krishnaswami read the text of The Girl of the Wish Garden, which was gorgeous.
I've been working on a short story for an anthology that doesn't quite have a publisher yet. I really like how it's turning out.
Posts from this weekend:
* Free book contest! enter here.
* Cats with books! admire them here.
Signing:
I'll be doing a signing of Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge for Star Wars Reads Day in Austin on Saturday October 5, at 2:00 at the Arboretum Barnes and Noble. Aaron Allston will be there signing his books too.
Audiobook released:
The audiobook of The Element of Fire originally released in hardcover in 1993, is now available from Tantor Audio. It's narrated by Derek Perkins, and you can get it as CDs or an MP3.
I've been working on a short story for an anthology that doesn't quite have a publisher yet. I really like how it's turning out.
Posts from this weekend:
* Free book contest! enter here.
* Cats with books! admire them here.
Signing:
I'll be doing a signing of Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge for Star Wars Reads Day in Austin on Saturday October 5, at 2:00 at the Arboretum Barnes and Noble. Aaron Allston will be there signing his books too.
Audiobook released:
The audiobook of The Element of Fire originally released in hardcover in 1993, is now available from Tantor Audio. It's narrated by Derek Perkins, and you can get it as CDs or an MP3.
September 15, 2013
Book Drawing
I woke up really early this morning and have about half my writing goal for the day done, so I'm going to celebrate with a book drawing. (And if you saw this post yesterday, I have my author's copies of the new book now.)
Comment on this post and I will enter your name in a drawing and if you win, you can choose one (1) copy of:
- a signed hardcover of Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge
- or a signed trade paperback of The Serpent Sea
- or a signed trade paperback of The Siren Depths
- or a signed trade paperback of Emilie and the Hollow World
The autograph will be personalized with your name if you want (or someone else's name if it's a gift).
I'll choose at least five winners, and you'll have at least a couple of days to enter. And the winners will have to send me their mailing addresses so I can them their book.
ETA: yes, international entries are fine.
Comment on this post and I will enter your name in a drawing and if you win, you can choose one (1) copy of:
- a signed hardcover of Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge
- or a signed trade paperback of The Serpent Sea
- or a signed trade paperback of The Siren Depths
- or a signed trade paperback of Emilie and the Hollow World
The autograph will be personalized with your name if you want (or someone else's name if it's a gift).
I'll choose at least five winners, and you'll have at least a couple of days to enter. And the winners will have to send me their mailing addresses so I can them their book.
ETA: yes, international entries are fine.
September 14, 2013
Razor's Edge is here
Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge is in my house. It comes out in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook on September 24.
September 13, 2013
I'm having one of those depression/anxiety days, so it's ...
I'm having one of those depression/anxiety days, so it's hard to be enthusiastic and optimistic about anything. And I have an appointment for an eye exam today, so we'll see if I need new glasses. I have a feeling I do.
* Photo of me I really like, from a local magazine article.
* The Element of Fire audiobook is now available for preorder and will be released on September 16.
* Also, the Star Wars book Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge is coming out September 24. (50 page preview here, under "look inside")
I'm kind of nervous about it, for a number of different reasons.
And I've said this before but it bears repeating: If you like a book and want to help the author, recommend it to people, in person or online. Leave reviews on Amazon, B&N, etc, add the book to your lists on GoodReads, LibraryThing etc. Reviews on Amazon really help, because it takes at least 20 to get the book into Amazon's automatic recommendation systems.
(You see vanity presses tricking people into paying $20,000 or some other huge amount to do a TV commercial for their self-published book; that's money thrown away. The only advertising for books that does any good is word of mouth from readers.)
Also, if you want to read The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea or The Siren Depths or Emilie and the Hollow World at your library, and they don't have the books, you can usually request them. Most libraries have a form (written or online) where you can request that they order a book for their collection. If they can't order it, or can't order it right away, they may also be able to get it for you through interlibrary loan.
* Photo of me I really like, from a local magazine article.
* The Element of Fire audiobook is now available for preorder and will be released on September 16.
* Also, the Star Wars book Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge is coming out September 24. (50 page preview here, under "look inside")
I'm kind of nervous about it, for a number of different reasons.
And I've said this before but it bears repeating: If you like a book and want to help the author, recommend it to people, in person or online. Leave reviews on Amazon, B&N, etc, add the book to your lists on GoodReads, LibraryThing etc. Reviews on Amazon really help, because it takes at least 20 to get the book into Amazon's automatic recommendation systems.
(You see vanity presses tricking people into paying $20,000 or some other huge amount to do a TV commercial for their self-published book; that's money thrown away. The only advertising for books that does any good is word of mouth from readers.)
Also, if you want to read The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea or The Siren Depths or Emilie and the Hollow World at your library, and they don't have the books, you can usually request them. Most libraries have a form (written or online) where you can request that they order a book for their collection. If they can't order it, or can't order it right away, they may also be able to get it for you through interlibrary loan.
September 12, 2013
Podcast
* I'm on the new episode of Speculate SF talking about stuff. This was recorded at WorldCon, and originally we were in the hotel restaurant. It was nearly empty so it should have been a good place to record, but the music was so loud the test sounded like we were at a dance club. Which while it would have been kind of cool for people to imagine the three of us dancing while having this conversation, I think this version will be easier to hear.
