Martha Wells's Blog, page 166

Some links I've been meaning to post:Con or Bust for 2012...

Some links I've been meaning to post:

Con or Bust for 2012.
I am pleased to announce this year's auction to support Con or Bust, which helps fans of color/non-white fans attend SFF conventions. Bidding starts Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 12:01 a.m. EST (GMT -5) and ends Sunday, February 25, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST. You may post auction offers and make donations now.

SF Site is taking votes for Favorite Books of 2011

Anyone can vote in the Tor.com 2011 Readers' Choice Awards From now until 11:59 PM Friday, January 20th, we're encouraging Tor.com readers (and SFF fans in general) to vote for their favorites in the following four categories.

IO9: Twenty Heroic Librarians Who Save the World

Don't forget the Free Book giveaway by Benjamin Tate/Joshua Palmatier

Book Giveaway by Benjamin Tate/Joshua Palmatier

This is a book giveaway post by Benjamin Tate/Joshua Palmatier! Win a free book:

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I'd like to thank Martha Wells for inviting me to the blog to do a giveaway! That's right, a giveaway! So what am I giving away? Well, like Martha, I'm a writer and my latest book Leaves of Flame has just hit the shelves. This is the second book in what is loosely being called my Well series, started with Well of Sorrows. I'd like to get the word spread about the series, especially since I'm so excited about the new release. So why not give away a copy of the new book? All of you have to do is comment to this post to be entered. I'll select one winner at random. I'd suggest you ask a question about me, the books, writing, whatever, but that's not required. A simple comment will do as an entry. But I'm more than willing to swing back every now and then and answer whatever questions you have.

If you aren't familiar with me or my series, here's a quick introduction and the cover copy of the new book, along with the cool cover art of both the first and the second book.

My name is actually Joshua Palmatier and I have a trilogy out from DAW under that name called the Throne of Amenkor series. I also edit anthologies with Patricia Bray under that name. The first anthology is called After Hours: Tales from the Ur-bar and in March the second anthology will be out, called The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity. But the new series is being released under the pseudonym Benjamin Tate. I live in upstate New York, teaching mathematics at SUNY College at Oneonta as a day job and writing fantasy novels in my spare time. I also teach spinning classes at the local gym, and collect crackle glass and Star Wars LEGOs. I've begun delving into Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean LEGOs. You can find out more about my books at www.joshuapalmatier.com or www.benjamintate.com, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter (bentateauthor).

The new novel, Leaves of Flame picks up the story of Colin Harten and the series starts with my attempt to combine the story of "settling the west" with a fantasy setting. I have my main characters head out into the plains of the unexplored continent in covered wagons. That was the "big idea" that drove me to sit down into the chair and begin writing. Here's the cover copy for the second novel:

One hundred years have passed since Colin Harten—transformed to something more than human by the magic of the Lifeblood contained in the Well of Sorrows—used his new powers to broker a peace agreement between the humans, dwarren, and Alvritshai races of Wrath Suvane. Since then all three races have greatly expanded their empires. And Colin has continuously sought ways to defeat the dark spirits known as the sukrael—and the Wraiths they have created to act for them in the physical world. Yet Colin has not been able to prevent the dark spirits from reawakening more and more Wells, thus extending their power across the lands.

Having mastered three of the five magics of Wrath Suvane, Colin has gifted each race with a magical Tree to protect them from incursions of the dark forces. He has also realized that unless a certain number of Wells are left open, their magic can never be stabilized, and the land will be torn apart by this uncontrolled force.

But now the enemy has located the one Well that is key to controlling the entire network, and if Colin can't find a means to stop them from claiming and activating this Well, it could mean the end of all three races. . . .

It's going to be an active morning. We already had one ki...

It's going to be an active morning. We already had one kitty-violating-litterbox-protocol moment (7:00 am is always the best time for those) and I have an early doctor's appointment. When I get back, I may be able to finally finish the climax of the third Raksura book. :crossed fingers: After that, all that's left is to clean up the emotional carnage.

In the meantime, I have a guestpost on Laura Anne Gilman's blog talking about gender and society and character and sex in The Cloud Roads.


I've also posted some links to reviews for The Serpent Sea on my web site.

That's about all I've done lately except write.

Quickie Friday Post

I made a lot of writing progress yesterday. I actually made so much progress, I felt good about the progress I had made, which is pretty unusual for me. I just got back from running errands and am about to start working again, so keep your fingers crossed for me today.

Few links:

* I did a guest post over at Joshua Palmatier's LJ here in general about themes of isolation and trust and "fitting in" in The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea

* Anyone can vote in the Tor.com 2011 Readers' Choice Awards From now until 11:59 PM Friday, January 20th, we're encouraging Tor.com readers (and SFF fans in general) to vote for their favorites in the following four categories.

Best Novel
Best Short Fiction
Best Comic
Best Book Cover

* I meant to post this earlier and got slidetracked: A whole lot of shiny (video and a contest!) This is the premiere of the animated trailer for Lisa Mantchev's fantasy novel So Silver Bright!

ETA: Oh, just found this! A review of The Serpent Sea by the Booksmugglers Blog

I think I've got most of my plot and logistical issues fi...

I think I've got most of my plot and logistical issues figured out and am hoping to get more actual prose hammered out today. It's the last couple of chapters but this part of a book always feels like a big hurdle. So close but so far.

Anyway. If you have been looking for The Serpent Sea at Barnes and Noble, most of the stores will not be getting the book. You can ask them to special order it, though I've heard some people have had trouble doing that. If a Barnes and Noble store is going to get the book, it doesn't seem to be coming in until the 17th. I don't know if there will be a similar problem with finding copies of The Cloud Roads but I wouldn't be too surprised.

In light of that, some cheery things:

maryrobinette : Very Funny Muppet Outtake Reel and Outtakes from Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas

and

YouTube: Doctor Who Does the Proclaimers

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All the proceeds from Patrick Rothfuss' The Tinker's Packs online store goes to the WorldBuilders Heifer International Fundraiser. He's selling posters, calendars, and now foreign language editions of his books, plus books donated by me, Carol Berg, Anne Bishop, Peter V. Brett, Stephen Deas, Laura Anne Gilman, Katharine Kerr, Scott Lynch, and Garth Nix. There's one copy each of the Spanish, French, and German editions of The Death of the Necromancer up for sale, plus others.

More eBook News Plus Other Stuff

Had a bad night, spent some time lying awake with a bout of anxiety and depression. Hopefully I can get moving and get some good work done today. I'm currently working on the climax for third Raksura book. Lots of logistical issues to figure out.


I am in a SF Signal Mindmeld with lots of other neat people: MIND MELD: Genre Resolutions for 2012

Over at Sarah Prineas' blog, you can enter to win a copy of Jenn Reese's new SF middlegrade book Above World (You can see a description on Jenn's site here). Start your kids out right as SF/F fans. And while you're at it, check out Sarah Prineas' fantasy Winterling.

And there's a review of The Serpent Sea over at ReadtheDamnBook.

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More on The Serpent Sea availability: It's now on Nook and also on iTunes.

Yes, there is an audiobook of The Serpent Sea, narrated by the awesome Christopher Kipiniak: it's on Audible.com and Amazon.com as well as iTunes.

So I can have it all in one spot, all the other places to get ebooks are:
Baen Webscription
The other NookBooks
Lulu.com
Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon.fr, Kindle Spain, Kindle Italy.
Kobo
Sony Reader Store

Another Ebook Version for The Serpent Sea

Quickie post, as some people have been asking about this: The Serpent Sea is now available on Kobo.

It still isn't showing up on Nook yet. I don't know if it's a delay, or what's going on.

The cheapest ebook version is here on Baen Webscription ebooks in a bunch of different formats for $6.00.

It on Kindle at Kindle US, Kindle UK, Kindle Germany, Kindle France, Kindle Spain, and Kindle Italy

Links Plus Snippet

Chuck Wendig: Terrible Minds: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing 1. Stop Running Away

Malinda Lo: A Year of Thinking About Diversity I wanted to make "diversity" on this site mean something that was just plain awesome. I wanted to position these books as stories you'd want to dive into because they were about a great character, or had a fascinating premise, or were written beautifully. I wanted the books to be celebrated on their own merits. A year later, my concept of diversity in middle grade and young adult books has been challenged and reshaped in many ways.

Book rec: new fantasy Leaves of Flame by Benjamin Tate is out now. This is the sequel to Well of Sorrows

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Someone asked for another snippet from the third Books of the Raksura, so I thought, what the hell. This book is not under contract or sold, so I have no idea when/if it will be published.

This is from the first chapter, and is not very spoilery at all. (If you've already read The Serpent Sea, it's not spoilery at all.)


Moon had, at several points since they arrived at the new colony, asked various people exactly what consorts were supposed to do, besides be mated to a queen to produce royal clutches and infertile warriors for the court. The fact that no one seemed to have a straight answer wasn't encouraging.

When he asked Chime, they were out watching over the Arbora hunters, who were stalking game on the platforms of the suspended forest. The court was still unsure of all the dangers in this new place, and it was much safer to have a group of warriors keep watch while the hunters were focused on their prey. The warriors had also been exploring Indigo Cloud's new territory, helping the hunters make detailed maps of the platforms and the connecting bridges between them. They were also noting predators and all the different types of grasseaters and where they ranged, which were abundant and made good staple prey, and which were scarce and better left alone to increase over long periods. Since Aeriat, especially royal Aeriat, didn't normally hunt, Moon was technically supposed to be just along for the exercise, even though he had more experience with hunting and being stalked than all the warriors put together.

Answering his question, Chime said, "Consorts are supposed to listen to the Arbora, any concerns they have, or things they aren't happy about, and try to gently point it out to the queens."

Perched near them, Balm said, wryly, "It helps if they listen to the warriors, too."

"Of course," Chime said, as if that was self-evident. Then ruined it by adding, "But warriors' concerns are too frivolous to worry about."

Balm eyed him. "And who cares what warriors think about anything important?" Balm was Jade's clutchmate, one of the female warriors sometimes born to queen's clutches. Having been a warrior all her life, her perspective was somewhat different than Chime's.

Moon rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the platform, feeling the conversation had gone off on a tangent that would make it difficult if not impossible to return to the original subject. The afternoon was warm and the air so damp it might as well be raining, the light dim from cloud cover somewhere high above the leafy canopy. From the branch they had a view across to the platform the Arbora hunted on, which was about two hundred paces below.

It was a huge surface, spiraling halfway around the enormous bulk of a mountain-tree, heavily forested, with a stream of runoff falling down onto the smaller platforms nestled in the branches below it. Moon could catch occasional flashes of color from the Arbora's scales as they climbed and leapt among the thick greenery. Arbora might be smaller than Aeriat and lack wings, but in their shifted forms they were scaled and powerfully muscled, and their teeth and claws were just as sharp. Unfortunately, the suspended forest was just as rife with predators as it was with grasseaters.

Moon wasn't as worried about the forested hunting ground as he was the platform directly below it. It was overshadowed and overgrown with bulbous white vines with dark purple leaves, concealed by drifts of mist. What little he could see looked dangerous and Moon thought all it needed were piles of bones along its rotting edges.

Balm was saying, "If you don't listen to the warriors it just causes more problems with the young males--"

Chime snorted in a derisive way that was an invitation for Balm to hit him. "Warriors complain a lot. Much more than Arbora. If you listen to them you wouldn't have time for--"

"All you people complain more than anybody else I've ever met," Moon said, "With less reason." He had tried to keep his opinions on running the court to himself, because there was nothing he knew less about than managing a Raksuran colony. And he thought Jade did a good job of keeping an eye on the Arbora and the warriors. He had no intention of butting in and causing trouble by repeating "concerns" unless he knew a lot more about the situation.

Chime stiffened in offense, but Balm laughed. "It's probably true."

Moon nudged his shoulder against Chime's. "It was a joke."

"It was not." But Chime settled his ruffled spines anyway. "Oh, speaking of complaining, there was something I wanted to let you know. I heard some of the others talking; they're worried that Stone won't come back."

Moon frowned, startled. "Why wouldn't he come back?"

Balm said, "He's been gone a lot over the last twenty turns or so. He was gone more than he was at the old colony." She shrugged her folded wings, her expression thoughtful. "I don't know, I think that was one of the reasons things got so bad in the old colony. For example, if he was there, I don't think Pearl would have sent Dust and Burn off to other courts."

Moon didn't comment. Dust and Burn were the young consorts who had belonged to Amber, the sister queen who had died before Moon had come to the court. If they had still been there, Jade would have been able to take one of them and there would have been no need for Stone to go on the trip to Star Aster to ask for a consort, which had led him to find Moon.

"So, since we're settled here now, there's been some talk that he might leave again," Chime finished. He turned to Moon, his brow scrunched in worry. "What do you think?"

Moon rippled his spines, hoping he was conveying unconcern. One of the things he had finally figured out over the past few months was that while he could read Raksuran body language fine, his own didn't quite match theirs and didn't always mean what he thought it did. Figuring this out had explained at least some of his problems fitting into the court. "Stone didn't sound like he wasn't coming back." And Moon had had the strong impression that Stone was ready to settle down. "He's wanted to come to the Reaches for a long time; I don't think he was planning to leave any time soon."

"That's good." Chime settled his spines, then said, reluctantly, "Of course, River said--"

Balm hissed in disapproval. "Chime, no one cares what River said."

Moon could guess what this was about. "I'd rather not be blind-sided." River was Pearl's favorite warrior, and the leader of her faction. Like Balm, he was a warrior from a royal clutch; in River's case, it had given him an attitude. It had been made worse by the fact that Pearl, for some unfathomable reason, had decided to sleep with him.

After the trip back from the freshwater sea, Moon had been hoping River would be reconciled to his existence. He hadn't been. If anything, their relationship was worse, since Moon had realized that River wasn't just making trouble, he really did honestly think Moon was a terrible consort and bad for the court.

Balm's face was grim. Chime flicked his spines at her and said, "It's ridiculous, but River said Stone was going to use the trip to the Golden Isles as a way to look for another consort." Looking at Moon, Chime's expression turned guilty. "It's not true, of course. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"That's why I told you not to," Balm said.

Chime hissed at her. Moon said, "It's all right. I would have heard it sooner or later."

Chime still looked uneasy. "I just--"

A distant shriek made Moon's spines flare. He went still and scanned the platform.

"That was an Arbora," Chime whispered, shocked. "Someone's hurt."

Balm shushed him. Then she said, "There! See it?" an instant before Moon spotted the thrashing in the undergrowth, near the center of the wooded platform. He sprang off the branch, snapped his wings out and dropped toward it, hard flaps speeding his way.

Balm and Chime were right behind him. Several other warriors dropped off various branches and vantage points to converge on the spot.

Moon dove on the platform and saw the flicker of scales through the trees and undergrowth as Arbora ran toward the disturbance. From the way the trees swayed and thrashed, whatever they were fighting in there was huge.

Then Balm called to him, "Moon, stay back! Let us handle it!"

Moon swallowed a growl but broke off, letting the others go in first. But he swept around in a tight circle, cupped his wings to slow down and dropped into the branches of a spiral tree. He climbed down it until he had a view of the fight.

He saw a hole in the platform floor, surrounded by clumps of dirt and grass and torn roots. Something was inside it, visible only as long white tentacles a good twenty paces long. They had clawed tips, striking and slashing at the warriors and Arbora who dodged and struck back. The creature had one struggling Arbora in its grip, and two others lay sprawled on the ground nearby.

As the warriors attacked, two Arbora closed in, armed with the short spears they used to augment their own claws for hunting. They stabbed at the tentacle that held the captive hunter. The warriors swooped in from above to strike at it. Balm ripped one tentacle open with her foot-claws. Chime tried a similar strike, missed, and almost ran into Sage, but it still helped distract the creature.

The warriors tore at it and the creature seemed to realize it was badly outnumbered. It tossed the hunter away and pulled its tentacles back into its lair. That's a relief, Moon thought. The thing looked as if it would be nearly impossible to fight in that defensive position. Now they just needed to retrieve the wounded and get out of here.

The Arbora snatched up the unconscious hunters and retreated as the creature sunk rapidly down into its hole. Then one tentacle snapped out, snatched a warrior out of the air, and yanked him down just as the creature disappeared underground. Moon gasped in dismay.

With a chorus of shocked cries and angry growls, everyone charged the opening.

That's not going to work, Moon thought. They couldn't possibly retrieve the warrior without losing half the others. Unless... These platforms weren't thick enough for an underground nest for something that large, and they were mostly roots. If that's not a lair, it's a tunnel.

He swarmed back up the tree, sprang into the air, and headed for the edge of the platform. Someone shouted behind him but he couldn't stop to explain. If he was right, he would only have a few moments to catch the creature.

He reached the edge and dove down, past the exposed roots jutting out from the side, and swung in to land on the platform fifty paces below. The white vines stretched up over his head, filling the damp air with a scent like sweet rot; the purple leaves cut off what little light there was. He scanned the underside of the platform above and spotted the torn roots and moss bundles hanging down where the creature had tunneled up through the forest platform to attack the Arbora. Ha, I was right. And he could hear something thrashing in the vines in that direction.

Moon tore through the thick vegetation, relying on speed and surprise to protect him from whatever else lived here, and headed toward the sound.

It cut off abruptly and Moon knew the creature had heard him. He crouched and sprang up, two flaps taking him high enough to catch hold of the mass of twisted roots that formed the underside of the upper platform. The creature might be able to spot him, but the vantage point gave him a view of the vine surface.

Dirt clumps fell down the tunnel opening and warriors and Arbora yelled at each other somewhere above. But below it, and as far as he could see, the vines were completely motionless. Moon hissed in frustration. The creature had to be here somewhere; it hadn't had time to dig down through to another platform.

He sensed movement near him and looked up with a snarl. A tree frog nearly twice his size huddled in the roots barely ten paces away, staring at him with wide frightened eyes.

Moon had never tried to talk to a tree frog before, but it was worth a try. In Raksuran, he said, "Where is it?"

It might not have understood the language, but it had seen enough of the situation to get the idea. It pointed to a spot about thirty paces south of the tunnel opening.

Moon didn't hesitate, scrambling across the root mass until he was above the spot. He caught a flash of slick white skin, too iridescent to be one of the vines, and dropped for it.

He crashed through the flowers into purple-tinged darkness and landed on something hard that writhed and snarled in fury. Moon sunk his claws in and yelled for help. He thought he heard a hoarse echo that sounded like Chime, then shouts from the Arbora. Then a tentacle whipped down and wrapped around his waist and Moon stopped paying attention to anything else.

It dragged him off the creature's body and slammed him into the rotting moss, and started to squeeze. Stunned, Moon curled around it and sunk his teeth into the dense flesh. The creature must not have been expecting that much resistance because he felt its body jerk, and the tentacle under him flailed, trying to slam him down again.

Moon bit through a vein filled with some of the worst-tasting blood he had ever encountered, then felt another tentacle slap down and grab his leg. He had an instant to think oh, this is going to be bad. Then he heard a chorus of snarls and wingbeats as the rest of the warriors arrived in an angry rush.

The tentacle flung Moon aside. He hit the ground hard and rolled, staggered up to see tentacles flailing as the creature tried to flee. Warriors landed on the body, and several big Arbora leapt through the vines after it.

Moon spat out blood, decided the others could finish the creature off and started to tear through the crushed vines, looking for the warrior. He found the crumpled body a short distance away. It was Sand, a warrior of Jade's faction. He was unconscious, shifted to his groundling form, but still breathing.

Chime crashed through the vines as Moon gently felt Sand's ribs to see how bad the breaks were. His own chest hurt and his ribs ached, so he knew Sand had to be badly off.

"You're alive! He's alive!" Chime shouted, waving to the Arbora who climbed out of the tunnel in the platform above. "Moon got Sand, and they're both alive!"

"Chime, Chime, take a breath," Moon said, his voice coming out hoarse.

Sand's eyelids fluttered and he groaned, then gasped, "What happened?"

"Nothing. We'll tell you later." Moon eased down into a sitting position. "Just lie still." He asked Chime, "Were the Arbora all right?"

Chime nodded, stepping through the crushed vines to crouch next to Sand. "Three of them are hurt, but nobody's dead." He touched Sand's forehead, frowning in concentration. Watching his face, Moon saw the moment when he remembered again that he wasn't a mentor and couldn't put Sand in a healing trance. Chime winced and drew his hand back, and Moon looked away.

After a moment, Chime said, "I hate hunting."

***

Signing at Murder by the Book

Some photos from the signing at Murder by the Book in Houston, Texas.

Last Set of Questions

Evan Ramspott asked I have a question - how many people do you have review your work before you're satisfied it is ready for submission? Follow-up would be how many revisions do you usually go through? Thanks!

It depends. Usually there's at least three or four, and my agent also reads it and gives it comments. Number of revisions is a harder question, because I usually don't write a draft straight through, I revise it constantly as I'm going along. I'll probably do at least one or two revisions after it's complete but before it's submitted, depending on what comments I get, how much time I have, and so on. And there's usually at least one or two revisions after it's been bought by a publisher.


David Zampa asked You have a LOT of named characters in the Raksura books. I love how it never feels crowded, with each having his or her individual place. What goes into character creation? I'm especially curious whether you profile each one. Also whether you create all of them before you begin writing, or add more as a need for them arises.

Thank you! The main ones I come up with before I start, but all the others are generally created as the need arises. I don't do a lot of outlining in advance, so I'm not sure what characters I'm going to need/what kind of people they're going to be/how they're going to react to the protagonist until I develop the world and the plot a lot more. I have to know quite a bit about the world, their particular place in it, to decide what their personality is going to be like.

I don't do character profiles very often, I just take a few notes about each one.