Martha Wells's Blog, page 168
December 27, 2011
If you don't already have it, the Kindle US edition of Th...
If you don't already have it, the Kindle US edition of The Cloud Roads is still currently free: here.
Quickie post:YouTube: For everyone who is back at work th...
Quickie post:
YouTube: For everyone who is back at work this week: The Guild - Game On
and Kristen of Fantasy Cafe has a book rec post on the Book Smugglers Blog here.
Okay, back to the book mines.
YouTube: For everyone who is back at work this week: The Guild - Game On
and Kristen of Fantasy Cafe has a book rec post on the Book Smugglers Blog here.
Okay, back to the book mines.
December 26, 2011
We're having a rainy post-Xmas morning. The kitchen looks...
We're having a rainy post-Xmas morning. The kitchen looks like it went on a wild grease and sugar bender and is now doing its walk of shame. I think today will be for watching movies and eating leftovers.
Christmas eve, we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (second time for me and Troyce, first time for the two friends who were with us) then went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. This is becoming a tradition, since we also did it last year. One of our friends said she's beginning to associate Christmas with the smell of fried rice. Then we went back home and watched Love, Actually, one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Yesterday I cooked turkey and stuffing and gravy and green beans, and we watched the Muppet Christmas Carol, The Guild seasons 1 and 2, and the new Doctor Who Christmas Special, which was awesome. I loved Madge!
***
The Book Smugglers Most Highly Coveted Books of 2012 part 2 The Serpent Sea is on this list with a lot of other great books.
Christmas eve, we went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie (second time for me and Troyce, first time for the two friends who were with us) then went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner. This is becoming a tradition, since we also did it last year. One of our friends said she's beginning to associate Christmas with the smell of fried rice. Then we went back home and watched Love, Actually, one of my favorite Christmas movies.
Yesterday I cooked turkey and stuffing and gravy and green beans, and we watched the Muppet Christmas Carol, The Guild seasons 1 and 2, and the new Doctor Who Christmas Special, which was awesome. I loved Madge!
***
The Book Smugglers Most Highly Coveted Books of 2012 part 2 The Serpent Sea is on this list with a lot of other great books.
December 25, 2011
Happy Holidays
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates!
And thanks very much to the anonymous person who gave me the gift on my LJ profile!
And thanks very much to the anonymous person who gave me the gift on my LJ profile!
December 22, 2011
Okay, house is clean, food is acquired, friend who is sta...
Okay, house is clean, food is acquired, friend who is staying with us will be coming tonight, books all mailed. Now back to writing! (No, I'm not done with the new book yet. It's getting there. I think I'm on the second to last chapter.)
a link:
Cynthia Leitich Smith: Guest Post: Joy Preble on Embracing Risk & Two-Book Giveaway
Writing is in fact the riskiest thing I've ever done professionally. I put a piece of myself on each page and send it out into the world: to readers, to editors, to publishers, to my agent. They see who I am through those pages – not everything, but enough. It is a scary and wonderful thing.
***
I posted last night, but in case anyone missed it, The Serpent Sea is now shipping from online retailers. If anyone sees it at an actual physical bookstore, please let me know!
You can order it from all these places: Barnes and Noble, Amazon US, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Books-a-Million, Book Depository.com, Book Depository.uk, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, or an independent book store in the US through IndieBound.
The ebook versions will probably not be available until the first week of January, closer to the book's original release date.
a link:
Cynthia Leitich Smith: Guest Post: Joy Preble on Embracing Risk & Two-Book Giveaway
Writing is in fact the riskiest thing I've ever done professionally. I put a piece of myself on each page and send it out into the world: to readers, to editors, to publishers, to my agent. They see who I am through those pages – not everything, but enough. It is a scary and wonderful thing.
***
I posted last night, but in case anyone missed it, The Serpent Sea is now shipping from online retailers. If anyone sees it at an actual physical bookstore, please let me know!
You can order it from all these places: Barnes and Noble, Amazon US, Powell's, Mysterious Galaxy, The Tattered Cover, Books-a-Million, Book Depository.com, Book Depository.uk, Amazon UK, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.de, or an independent book store in the US through IndieBound.
The ebook versions will probably not be available until the first week of January, closer to the book's original release date.
December 21, 2011
Quickie Post - The Serpent Sea available
The Serpent Sea is showing up as in stock at Barnes and Noble online and shipping in three days at Amazon. That should mean it will be arriving at physical bookstores over the next week.
The ebook versions should be available the first week of January, which is the book's original release date.
***
House is clean, presents mostly wrapped, need to go to the grocery store, and also figure out something to eat for dinner tonight. (I'm betting on canned black beans on a tortilla at this point.) Oh, and someone can get me this for Christmas: Castle Pook for Sale.
The ebook versions should be available the first week of January, which is the book's original release date.
***
House is clean, presents mostly wrapped, need to go to the grocery store, and also figure out something to eat for dinner tonight. (I'm betting on canned black beans on a tortilla at this point.) Oh, and someone can get me this for Christmas: Castle Pook for Sale.
Happy Hanukkah and happy Solstice to everybody who celebr...
Happy Hanukkah and happy Solstice to everybody who celebrates!
I have to finish cleaning the house and go to the grocery store, then I think we're go for Christmas.
Some links from Faceplace and Twitter:
Mad Hatter Review: Mad Hatter's Reading Log Vol. 11 (November) The Cloud Roads is on this list!
Victoria Hawkins: Ear Pressure Remedies for flying while congested during the holidays.
WorldCon: The WorldCon in Chicago is having a membership sale.
I posted this on Sunday, but if you didn't see it: my next to last post on The Night Bazaar: Martha Wells: My Last Year about when I decided to quit pro writing.
YouTube: The Hobbit trailer! This is made of YAY!
Black Gate: Black Gate issue 15 is now available on Kindle
My appearance schedule for the first part of next year:
January 7, 2012, 4:30 pm.
I'll be doing a book signing for The Serpent Sea at Murder by the Book, in Houston, Texas, along with authors Kimberly Frost and Jaye Wells. To order signed books online, bookmark this page.
February 17-19, 2012.
ConDFW XI, in Dallas, Texas.
I have to finish cleaning the house and go to the grocery store, then I think we're go for Christmas.
Some links from Faceplace and Twitter:
Mad Hatter Review: Mad Hatter's Reading Log Vol. 11 (November) The Cloud Roads is on this list!
Victoria Hawkins: Ear Pressure Remedies for flying while congested during the holidays.
WorldCon: The WorldCon in Chicago is having a membership sale.
I posted this on Sunday, but if you didn't see it: my next to last post on The Night Bazaar: Martha Wells: My Last Year about when I decided to quit pro writing.
YouTube: The Hobbit trailer! This is made of YAY!
Black Gate: Black Gate issue 15 is now available on Kindle
My appearance schedule for the first part of next year:
January 7, 2012, 4:30 pm.
I'll be doing a book signing for The Serpent Sea at Murder by the Book, in Houston, Texas, along with authors Kimberly Frost and Jaye Wells. To order signed books online, bookmark this page.
February 17-19, 2012.
ConDFW XI, in Dallas, Texas.
December 18, 2011
Second to Last Post at The Night Bazaar
New post at the Night Bazaar: Martha Wells: My Last Year
This year, 2011, was supposed to be my last year as a writer. In January of 2010, I was in a really bad place. It had been five years since my last new fantasy novel, three years since my last published book. This is the post where I talk about how I had planned to give up professional writing in 2010. I think I've mentioned it before but not really gone into detail.
***
Contest winners: All the Wheel of the Infinites were mailed out last week, and I know some of the US ones already arrived. Most of the copies of The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea have been mailed out, except for one US address and two international ones which I'll take to the post office tomorrow morning.
This year, 2011, was supposed to be my last year as a writer. In January of 2010, I was in a really bad place. It had been five years since my last new fantasy novel, three years since my last published book. This is the post where I talk about how I had planned to give up professional writing in 2010. I think I've mentioned it before but not really gone into detail.
***
Contest winners: All the Wheel of the Infinites were mailed out last week, and I know some of the US ones already arrived. Most of the copies of The Cloud Roads and The Serpent Sea have been mailed out, except for one US address and two international ones which I'll take to the post office tomorrow morning.
December 16, 2011
Winners!
I'm having some trouble accessing LJ today, so hopefully this will get through:
I've drawn the contest winners, and since it's Christmas and why not, I drew seven instead of three. There were 69 entries from LJ, DW, and Google+. I wrote down everyone's id on slips of paper, put them in the ceramic pot of random drawings and jumbled them around a lot, and then drew.
And the winners are:
![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1381193858i/4495645.gif)
queenoftheskies
,
shoeless_girl
, David Zampa,
copernica3
, Mad Hatter Review,
tyrannicalt
, and
cartazon
If you are a winner, please email me at msw atsign charisat dotsign com, and tell me 1) which book you want, The Cloud Roads or The Serpent Sea (sequel to The Cloud Roads, 2) if you want it personalized with your name (or someone else's name if it's a gift) or just signed 3) and the address I should ship it to. I'll try to get them in the mail by Monday.
I've drawn the contest winners, and since it's Christmas and why not, I drew seven instead of three. There were 69 entries from LJ, DW, and Google+. I wrote down everyone's id on slips of paper, put them in the ceramic pot of random drawings and jumbled them around a lot, and then drew.
And the winners are:
queenoftheskies
,
shoeless_girl
, David Zampa,
copernica3
, Mad Hatter Review,
tyrannicalt
, and
cartazon
If you are a winner, please email me at msw atsign charisat dotsign com, and tell me 1) which book you want, The Cloud Roads or The Serpent Sea (sequel to The Cloud Roads, 2) if you want it personalized with your name (or someone else's name if it's a gift) or just signed 3) and the address I should ship it to. I'll try to get them in the mail by Monday.
December 15, 2011
Links and a Writing Quote
A few people have asked, so I thought I'd address it here: No, I am not getting paid for the free kindle downloads of The Cloud Roads on Amazon US. Just like I don't get paid for sales of used copies or pirated copies. So being number one on the Kindle sales rank doesn't mean I'm rich now. It doesn't mean much of anything, except I should probably take a screen shot and save it as I'm unlikely to see my name there again. :)
The drawing for the free copies of The Cloud Roads or The Serpent Sea is still taking entries today here.
links:
The Night Bazaar: Kameron Hurley: 10 Things I Learned About the Publishing Biz The Year My First Novel Was Published
This year, after writing and submitting stories and manuscripts for 15 years, 10 years since attending Clarion, 9 years since I went to my first SF convention, 7 years after I started blogging, and 3 years after my first book acceptance... my first book was published. Followed six months later by the second.
The Writer Unboxed: The Darkness Within Ann Aguirre has a post about writers being stalked and receiving violent threats because someone didn't like what their characters did in a book or because of how the book turned out. This isn't that uncommon, unfortunately.
Nnedi Okorafor has a post on Lovecraft's racism & The World Fantasy Award statuette, with comments from China Miéville On Sunday, a friend of mine wanted to see my World Fantasy Award statuette. When he saw it, he was taken aback. He looked like he'd seen an ugly ghost.
***
I used to collect writing quotes, though I think most of them got lost several computers ago, but I found this one yesterday and had to grab it:
"...poetry isn't the outcome of personality. I mean by that that it exists independently of your mind, your habits, your feelings, and everything that goes to make up your personality. The poetic emotion's impersonal; the Greeks were quite right when they called it inspiration. Therefore, what you're like personally doesn't matter a twopenny damn; all that matters is whether you've got a good receiving set for the poetic waves. Poetry's a visitation, coming and going at its own sweet will."
"Well, then, what's it like?"
"As a matter of fact, I can't explain it properly because I don't understand it properly, and I hope I never shall. But it certainly isn't a question of oh look at the pretty roses or oh how miserable I feel today. If it were, there'd be forty million poets in England at present. It's a curious passive sensation. Some people say it's as if you noticed something for the first time, but I think it's more as if the thing in question had noticed you for the first time. You feel as if the rose or whatever it is were shining at you. Invariably after the first moment the phrase occurs to you to describe it; and when that's happened you snap out of it: all your personality comes rushing back, and you write the Canterbury Tales or Paradise Lost or King Lear according to the kind of person you happen to be. That's up to you."
"And does it happen often?"
"Every day. Every year. There's no telling if each time, whenever it is, mayn't be the last... In the meantime, of course, one gets dull and middle-aged."
Edmund Crispin, The Moving Toyshop
(Oddly, this novel was published in 1946 and contains a scene sort-of-almost-identical to the climactic carousel scene in Strangers on a Train (book 1950, movie 1951). I'm just sayin'.)
The drawing for the free copies of The Cloud Roads or The Serpent Sea is still taking entries today here.
links:
The Night Bazaar: Kameron Hurley: 10 Things I Learned About the Publishing Biz The Year My First Novel Was Published
This year, after writing and submitting stories and manuscripts for 15 years, 10 years since attending Clarion, 9 years since I went to my first SF convention, 7 years after I started blogging, and 3 years after my first book acceptance... my first book was published. Followed six months later by the second.
The Writer Unboxed: The Darkness Within Ann Aguirre has a post about writers being stalked and receiving violent threats because someone didn't like what their characters did in a book or because of how the book turned out. This isn't that uncommon, unfortunately.
Nnedi Okorafor has a post on Lovecraft's racism & The World Fantasy Award statuette, with comments from China Miéville On Sunday, a friend of mine wanted to see my World Fantasy Award statuette. When he saw it, he was taken aback. He looked like he'd seen an ugly ghost.
***
I used to collect writing quotes, though I think most of them got lost several computers ago, but I found this one yesterday and had to grab it:
"...poetry isn't the outcome of personality. I mean by that that it exists independently of your mind, your habits, your feelings, and everything that goes to make up your personality. The poetic emotion's impersonal; the Greeks were quite right when they called it inspiration. Therefore, what you're like personally doesn't matter a twopenny damn; all that matters is whether you've got a good receiving set for the poetic waves. Poetry's a visitation, coming and going at its own sweet will."
"Well, then, what's it like?"
"As a matter of fact, I can't explain it properly because I don't understand it properly, and I hope I never shall. But it certainly isn't a question of oh look at the pretty roses or oh how miserable I feel today. If it were, there'd be forty million poets in England at present. It's a curious passive sensation. Some people say it's as if you noticed something for the first time, but I think it's more as if the thing in question had noticed you for the first time. You feel as if the rose or whatever it is were shining at you. Invariably after the first moment the phrase occurs to you to describe it; and when that's happened you snap out of it: all your personality comes rushing back, and you write the Canterbury Tales or Paradise Lost or King Lear according to the kind of person you happen to be. That's up to you."
"And does it happen often?"
"Every day. Every year. There's no telling if each time, whenever it is, mayn't be the last... In the meantime, of course, one gets dull and middle-aged."
Edmund Crispin, The Moving Toyshop
(Oddly, this novel was published in 1946 and contains a scene sort-of-almost-identical to the climactic carousel scene in Strangers on a Train (book 1950, movie 1951). I'm just sayin'.)
