Charles Stross's Blog, page 118

Nom nom nom

For the past six years, whenever the Hugo award shortlists have been published, I've had a book on the shortlist for "best novel".

(I'm told that's an all-time record for consecutive best novel nominations. None of them won; but who cares? A record is a record, and just being on that list is an honour.)

Well, not this year. Book #5 of a series was always unlikely to be shortlisted for an award, and my other book of 2009 was a short story collection.

However, I'm very pleased to say that my...

Aten't ded yet

Just a reminder that I'm doing vacation-like things in Tokyo this week and next, being a guest of honour at a Japanese SF convention the following weekend, and doing more vacation-y things the week after that. Hal Duncan and Elizabeth Bear have the mike and the soapbox; my presence here is going to be limited to short bulletins rather than long essays for the duration.

Meanwhile, from elsewhere on the internet: an illustrated tutorial on the subject of cooking bacon with a machine gun.

(When I ...

PSA: New Book Deal

I'm still working on "Rule 34" (due from Ace in 2011), but as some of you probably noticed I've reached a stopping place in my Merchant Princes series (published by Tor) and need a break. More importantly, I've been ploughing a stony field for the past few years; writing the same stuff time and again is draining. So it should be no surprise to you to learn that I've been discussing possible new projects with my agent for the past year.

There are other factors at work besides a lack of fresh...

I got your sensawunda right here.

Charlie's away, and foolishly he's left the keys with me and with the brilliant and unpredictable Hal Duncan while he's gone.

I've spent part of today researching Io (the moon of Jupiter, not the chick who got turned into a cow) and it's turned out to be a peculiarly nostalgic exercise. You see, my Swedish grandfather, the plumber (and talented sketch artist), was the sort of person who (if he had been born a hundred and fifty years earlier) would have been a dedicated naturalist. And he and I...

Upcoming attractions

I've fallen quiet over the past week for a number of reasons, one of which is that on Monday I'm off to HalCon in Omiya, Japan. (Which, the astute among you will note, doesn't happen for another two weeks, but if you had a reason to visit Japan wouldn't you want to stay a little longer?)

I'm going to try and blog a little while I'm there, but I'm likely to be a bit erratic. So in the meantime, I've invited Glasgow-based fantasy author Hal Duncan to borrow the soapbox for a week or so from...

CMAP #7: Miscellanea

(This is a round-up of miscellaneous useful information rather than a structured examination of a specific widespread misconception about publishing.)

How much are SF/F novelists paid?

A few years ago, Tobias Buckell got curious about this question and ran an anonymized survey. In 2005, he re-ran it, and his full results are here, with input from 108 authors. (Note that his figures refer to the US market.)

If you want a full run-down, I strongly recommend reading the whole thing, with...

Fire; Dog: Lake ... chat with Paul Krugman

Full transcript here.

PSA: The Fuller Memorandum

According to the contents of my mailbox, Amazon appear to be cancelling pre-orders of "The Fuller Memorandum".

Do not panic if you have pre-ordered this book. It's still due for publication on July 1st (in the UK, from Orbit) or July 6th (US, from Ace). Amazon are just having one of their periodic database glitches, and re-setting the title to "unavailable" rather than "due out on July 1st". It does not imply the book has been cancelled, or that Amazon won't be selling it when it's...

Politics, free trade, violence

As some of you probably know, SF author, biologist, (and friend of mine) Peter Watts was charged a couple of months ago with assaulting a US border patrol officer. The case has now come to trial and Peter has been found guilty of obstruction, for failing to get on the floor immediately when told to do so after being punched in the face a couple of times. The more serious charge — that Peter had assaulted the officer in question directly — was thrown out of court. But failure to immediately

Upcoming: Paul Krugman and Charlie Stross on firedoglake book salon

Subject says it all. I'm on the book salon over at FireDogLake this Sunday, from 5pm EST (9pm GMT), talking to Paul Krugman and taking questions from readers about "The Trade of Queens". There'll be a chat transcript afterwards (and I'll link to it), but if you're there at the time you get the opportunity to join in.

(In other news, I just did an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun. Being an author is a full time job — I could do it for 40 hours a week without writing a word!)