Martha Wells's Blog, page 150
August 30, 2012
I am in Chicago for WorldCon! I'm also on an iPad so plea...
I am in Chicago for WorldCon! I'm also on an iPad so please forgive any typing issues. My plane was supposed to take off at 7:15 in the morning yesterday and I ended up waking up at 3:30 am to get to the Houston airport, just because of worry about traffic, etc. Got there fine, then found out the flight had been delayed until 11:00. Standby was a nightmare of people freaking out, so I just waited for the flight. (The pilot said first we would arrive at 4:00, then 3:00. It's a two and a half hour flight, so we arrived at 1:30.) But I got here okay and then fell asleep at 7:30.
There will be a Night Shade Books and Night Bazaar party tomorrow at 7:00 in suite 2576, and I have a box of copies of The Serpent Sea to give away. Going to post thisnbefore the iPad loses it.
There will be a Night Shade Books and Night Bazaar party tomorrow at 7:00 in suite 2576, and I have a box of copies of The Serpent Sea to give away. Going to post thisnbefore the iPad loses it.
August 27, 2012
Weekend
I didn't do much this weekend except write and eat. Saturday was a joint birthday dinner for me and my husband (his was last week, mine is next Saturday) but unfortunately something in the food gave me an allergic reaction. (I get this occasionally, and I have no idea what causes it. I suspect it's something like too much MSG.) It's not a dangerous reaction, I just have a migraine and then get sick at my stomach. This time I realized what it was in time to head it off with two Benedryls. But I did get my presents, which was season 1 of Luther with Idris Elba and the whole set of Pie in the Sky.
Today will be laundry, packing for WorldCon, dyeing my hair, going to grocery store and post office etc. I still need to decide which part of The Siren Depths I'm going to do for my reading.
At the moment, the Kindle US edition of The Cloud Roads is still on discount sale for $3.99: Amazon US I don't know how long it will be at that price.
If you missed my good news late on Friday, I'm writing a Star Wars novel! I talk about it here and it's mentioned on the official Star Wars blog here.
The Book Fair for a middle school/high school with no library is here. If you have new or gently used MG or YA to send, they can use it.
Today will be laundry, packing for WorldCon, dyeing my hair, going to grocery store and post office etc. I still need to decide which part of The Siren Depths I'm going to do for my reading.
At the moment, the Kindle US edition of The Cloud Roads is still on discount sale for $3.99: Amazon US I don't know how long it will be at that price.
If you missed my good news late on Friday, I'm writing a Star Wars novel! I talk about it here and it's mentioned on the official Star Wars blog here.
The Book Fair for a middle school/high school with no library is here. If you have new or gently used MG or YA to send, they can use it.
August 25, 2012
Several Things
Just noticed the Kindle US edition of The Cloud Roads is on discount sale for $3.99: Amazon US I don't know how long it will be at that price.
If you want to check out the first two chapters, they're on my web site here. Also, free short stories, fan art, extras, etc for the Books of the Raksura series here.
If you missed my good news, it is here!
The Book Fair for a middle school/high school with no library is here. If you have new or gently used MG or YA to send, they can use it.
Today I am eating chocolate cake, because my birthday is next Saturday when I'll be at WorldCon. Oh, and my final WorldCon schedule is here.
If you want to check out the first two chapters, they're on my web site here. Also, free short stories, fan art, extras, etc for the Books of the Raksura series here.
If you missed my good news, it is here!
The Book Fair for a middle school/high school with no library is here. If you have new or gently used MG or YA to send, they can use it.
Today I am eating chocolate cake, because my birthday is next Saturday when I'll be at WorldCon. Oh, and my final WorldCon schedule is here.
August 24, 2012
Good News!
I was waiting to make sure it was okay to announce this, but Jennifer Heddle from Lucasfilm/LucasBooks mentioned it on Twitter: @jenheddle Super excited that @marthawells1 will be writing a Leia-focused novel for us, and @KevinHearne a Luke-focused one. Great authors. Can't wait
I'm writing a Star Wars novel! This happened very fast. I got the first call from my agent about it on July 26, the Thursday right before ArmadilloCon, when I was sitting in a hotel room in Austin waiting to go meet friends to go to dinner. I couldn't tell anybody, which was easier than you'd think, because part of me still doesn't believe it's actually happening.
Star Wars was my first fandom love.
When Star Wars came out in 1977, I was 13 years old. I was already a big SF/F reader, but I didn't know anyone else who was. This was long before the internet, and I'd never met any other SF/F fans, and had been told, despite all the books in the library and bookstore, that I was the only one. When you're a kid, it has an effect on you when authority figures tell you things like that, even if intellectually you know it's not true. So I felt very isolated.
There was no cable TV in those days, so my only access to shows like Star Trek was the fuzzy reruns on a station we could barely get, and I had a lot of trouble trying to convince my parents to take me to movies. I read a lot of movie novelizations, and I read the one for Star Wars some time before I was actually able to see the movie.
Star Wars was a huge revelation. I wasn't alone, I wasn't a freak, there were tons of people who liked SF/F and this movie, and here was the proof. I ended up seeing it nine times while it was still in the theater. That doesn't sound like a lot compared to the numbers that some people managed, but for where I was in my life at that time, it was an achievement. I bought as many of the toys and books as I could. I loved the Brian Daley Han Solo novels. I found Starlog Magazine which back then did a lot of articles on fandom, and I discovered fanzines and fanfiction, which led me to finding other fans, SF conventions, and made me a lifelong fan. I chose the university I went to because it was listed in Starlog in a guide to local SF/F cons and fan groups. I joined the university SF/F group, worked the annual convention, and was eventually chairman of it. Over the years, other movies and TV shows took Star Wars' place to a certain extent, but you never forget your first fandom love.
But yes, I'm still freaking out, and I can't believe this was happening.
I'm writing a Star Wars novel! This happened very fast. I got the first call from my agent about it on July 26, the Thursday right before ArmadilloCon, when I was sitting in a hotel room in Austin waiting to go meet friends to go to dinner. I couldn't tell anybody, which was easier than you'd think, because part of me still doesn't believe it's actually happening.
Star Wars was my first fandom love.
When Star Wars came out in 1977, I was 13 years old. I was already a big SF/F reader, but I didn't know anyone else who was. This was long before the internet, and I'd never met any other SF/F fans, and had been told, despite all the books in the library and bookstore, that I was the only one. When you're a kid, it has an effect on you when authority figures tell you things like that, even if intellectually you know it's not true. So I felt very isolated.
There was no cable TV in those days, so my only access to shows like Star Trek was the fuzzy reruns on a station we could barely get, and I had a lot of trouble trying to convince my parents to take me to movies. I read a lot of movie novelizations, and I read the one for Star Wars some time before I was actually able to see the movie.
Star Wars was a huge revelation. I wasn't alone, I wasn't a freak, there were tons of people who liked SF/F and this movie, and here was the proof. I ended up seeing it nine times while it was still in the theater. That doesn't sound like a lot compared to the numbers that some people managed, but for where I was in my life at that time, it was an achievement. I bought as many of the toys and books as I could. I loved the Brian Daley Han Solo novels. I found Starlog Magazine which back then did a lot of articles on fandom, and I discovered fanzines and fanfiction, which led me to finding other fans, SF conventions, and made me a lifelong fan. I chose the university I went to because it was listed in Starlog in a guide to local SF/F cons and fan groups. I joined the university SF/F group, worked the annual convention, and was eventually chairman of it. Over the years, other movies and TV shows took Star Wars' place to a certain extent, but you never forget your first fandom love.
But yes, I'm still freaking out, and I can't believe this was happening.
August 23, 2012
Book Fair!
From
rachelmanija
: Book Drive: Help a Compton School Create a Library From Scratch!
I am holding an online book drive to benefit a middle school/high school in Compton. If you have any young adult or middle grade (children's) books in good condition, you can help create a school library by mailing them to the address at the bottom of this post.
I sent The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas, Above World by Jenn Reese, The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout, Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, and Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez in English and Spanish.
rachelmanija
: Book Drive: Help a Compton School Create a Library From Scratch!I am holding an online book drive to benefit a middle school/high school in Compton. If you have any young adult or middle grade (children's) books in good condition, you can help create a school library by mailing them to the address at the bottom of this post.
I sent The Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas, Above World by Jenn Reese, The Boy at the End of the World by Greg van Eekhout, Ghetto Cowboy by Greg Neri, and Before We Were Free by Julia Alvarez in English and Spanish.
On Twitter and Faceplace I mentioned I made what I call a...
On Twitter and Faceplace I mentioned I made what I call a reverse fried shepherd's pie for dinner, and some people had asked about it. It's basically something I came up with when I was in the middle of making sloppy joes and then found out I needed to feed more people than I'd planned on. I take chili meat and brown it (I get it from a local ranch, and it doesn't produce as much grease as ground meat from the grocery store) add onions, tomato paste, some chicken broth, some garlic, salt, pepper, a masala spice mix, green onions, and a little apple cider vinegar. Then I make hashbrowns (grated potatoes with a little onion, and salt and pepper, cooked in butter or butter substitute (I use Smart Balance)) cooked until crispy on top and bottom. Then you put the beef and sauce mixture on top of the hashbrowns and eat it. I always have a vegetable on the side, and you can always add peas to the sauce.
Book rec:
The Apex Book of World SF 2 available in paperback and ebook.
An expedition to an alien planet; Lenin rising from the dead; a superhero so secret he does not exist. In The Apex Book of World SF 2, World Fantasy Award nominated editor Lavie Tidhar brings together a unique collection of stories from around the world. Quiet horror from Cuba and Australia; surrealist fantasy from Russia and epic fantasy from Poland; near-future tales from Mexico and Finland, as well as cyberpunk from South Africa. In this anthology one gets a glimpse of the complex and fascinating world of genre fiction—from all over our world.
Featuring work from noted international authors such as Will Elliot, Hannu Rajaniemi, Shweta Narayan, Lauren Beukes, Ekaterina Sedia, Nnedi Okorafor, and Andrzej Sapkowski.
Book rec:
The Apex Book of World SF 2 available in paperback and ebook.
An expedition to an alien planet; Lenin rising from the dead; a superhero so secret he does not exist. In The Apex Book of World SF 2, World Fantasy Award nominated editor Lavie Tidhar brings together a unique collection of stories from around the world. Quiet horror from Cuba and Australia; surrealist fantasy from Russia and epic fantasy from Poland; near-future tales from Mexico and Finland, as well as cyberpunk from South Africa. In this anthology one gets a glimpse of the complex and fascinating world of genre fiction—from all over our world.
Featuring work from noted international authors such as Will Elliot, Hannu Rajaniemi, Shweta Narayan, Lauren Beukes, Ekaterina Sedia, Nnedi Okorafor, and Andrzej Sapkowski.
August 21, 2012
It looks like the Avengers gag reel has already been remo...
It looks like the Avengers gag reel has already been removed from YouTube. Fortunately, I got up early enough to see it. "Careful, actor on the set!"
This is not shaping up to be a great week, but at least it's Kay Francis day on TCM. She was the highest paid US film actress between 1930 and 1936. Also see my post on Erasing Women on Frances Marion and the other women writers, directors, and producers of the 30s, who were disappeared from Hollywood history.
links:
Bowing to the Future: Lou Anders did a great review of Tales of the Emerald Serpent, the shared world fantasy anthology I have a story in. (It's available in ebook and in paperback here.)
And this was a fun Flog: Felicia Day and Morgan Webb Master the Art of Archery while wearing elf ears.
This is not shaping up to be a great week, but at least it's Kay Francis day on TCM. She was the highest paid US film actress between 1930 and 1936. Also see my post on Erasing Women on Frances Marion and the other women writers, directors, and producers of the 30s, who were disappeared from Hollywood history.
links:
Bowing to the Future: Lou Anders did a great review of Tales of the Emerald Serpent, the shared world fantasy anthology I have a story in. (It's available in ebook and in paperback here.)
And this was a fun Flog: Felicia Day and Morgan Webb Master the Art of Archery while wearing elf ears.
August 20, 2012
Weekend
Had a very good weekend. A friend came in from out of town, we went to the Antique Rose Emporium, had barbeque, then watched the first three seasons of The Guild, which she had never seen before. It also rained Friday evening, and threatened rain all day Saturday, so the Rose Emporium was deserted and there were no weddings in progress, so we could wander around the gardens with no people in the way.
And she had never seen The Guild before and loved it. It's free online and you should watch it too:
Watch the Guild
***
Also, artist Stephanie Pui-Mun Law has redone her web site and added new stuff.
***
My big news last week was that my YA fantasy, Emilie and the Hollow World, that is coming out in April 2013, is now up for preorder: Barnes and Noble, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Chapters, Book Depository.com, Book Depository UK, Books-a-Million, Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr.
And she had never seen The Guild before and loved it. It's free online and you should watch it too:
Watch the Guild
***
Also, artist Stephanie Pui-Mun Law has redone her web site and added new stuff.
***
My big news last week was that my YA fantasy, Emilie and the Hollow World, that is coming out in April 2013, is now up for preorder: Barnes and Noble, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Chapters, Book Depository.com, Book Depository UK, Books-a-Million, Amazon.com, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr.
August 16, 2012
Good News - Short Story Sale
I got final word today that I sold a short story to an SF anthology! The anthology is called The Other Half of the Sky, edited by Athena Andreadis and Kay Holt (of Crossed Genres Magazine). Here's a bit about it on the editor's blog. It will be out in Spring 2013. And it's a Raksura story, from Jade's viewpoint.
***
Bad news: our air conditioner started to act up last night. We were able to get an appointment this morning with our regular air/heat company and got it fixed, but it was expensive, argh. However, I'm really glad we could get it fixed. It's in the 99-100 range today and the heat index is worse.
Other good news: I think I'm finished with the revision for The Siren Depths. I'm going to sit on it a bit to make sure I didn't forget anything I wanted to do, then get it sent back to the editor. Then I only have one thing left that needs to be done before WorldCon, yay!
***
Bad news: our air conditioner started to act up last night. We were able to get an appointment this morning with our regular air/heat company and got it fixed, but it was expensive, argh. However, I'm really glad we could get it fixed. It's in the 99-100 range today and the heat index is worse.
Other good news: I think I'm finished with the revision for The Siren Depths. I'm going to sit on it a bit to make sure I didn't forget anything I wanted to do, then get it sent back to the editor. Then I only have one thing left that needs to be done before WorldCon, yay!
August 15, 2012
Emilie and the Hollow World
Emilie and the Hollow World, my new YA fantasy coming out in April 2013 from Strange Chemistry Books, is starting to show up for preorder in a few places:
Barnes and Noble, Amazon.con, Amazon.ca
I'll post when I see it show up in more places.
The description is: While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie's plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure. Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende's missing father. With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange races of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.
***
Other than that, kind of tired and busy today. One of my cousins has a recurring role on True Blood this season, which I think is kind of awesome, and I'm getting ready for WorldCon in Chicago in a couple of weeks.
Barnes and Noble, Amazon.con, Amazon.ca
I'll post when I see it show up in more places.
The description is: While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie's plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure. Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende's missing father. With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange races of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.
***
Other than that, kind of tired and busy today. One of my cousins has a recurring role on True Blood this season, which I think is kind of awesome, and I'm getting ready for WorldCon in Chicago in a couple of weeks.
