Alan Baxter's Blog, page 39

“Upon a Distant Shore” out now and free in Dimension6

I’ve been going on a lot lately about the release of Bound, but I’m a greedy little writer and have another release out today as well. This one is a short story called “Upon a Distant Shore”, available for free in Dimension6 magazine, issue 2.

Dimension6 is a great new project from editor, Keith Stevenson. Three new stories per issue, three issues a year, of great spec fic over 4,500 words. So that’s longform short stories, novelettes and novellas, in any ebook format you prefer, for free! You can’t ask for better than that.

My story is a short one at around 5,000 words. It’s about an astronaut on the ISS who really wants something to happen that’ll carve his name in the history books. And he gets it. Be careful what you wish for.

I share this issue with Dirk Strasser and Robert Stephenson – fine company indeed. While you’re grabbing this issue, you can snag issue 1 as well. All the details here. I hope you enjoy it!

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One week left to register for the Sydney launch of Bound – please come along

Just a quick reminder that Bound is being launched by the wonderful Margo Lanagan at Kinokinuya Bookshop in Sydney at 6.30pm on Thursday July 10th.

All the details, including an RSVP email address, on the evite below. Click for a larger version. There will be free wine! And books, obviously. And me to sign them. And Margo Lanagan. I’d love to see you there.

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A timely repost of the article about authors dying (on the shelves)

I originally posted this back in September 2010, but it seems very relevant to post it again now. After all, the first book in my new (so far) trilogy has just come out. (Yes, it’s all about me. I don’t have a new book come out very often, so give me this. Come on – hug?) I wrote the original post based on my observations as a reader, and now it’s something that applies directly to me as an author. While Bound is a standalone novel, it’s also the first in a series. There’s a big story that arches over the first three books (Bound, Obsidian and Abduction) with threads left for more books in the series, even though each one is a standalone novel too. So please, don’t wait for the others to come out before you buy Bound if you think the ideas interest you. I’ll explain why by reposting my 2010 article below. It was originally, and very sensationalistically (yeah, that’s a word!), called “While you wait for book three, authors die!” So even though Bound is a standalone novel as well as the start of a new series, the principle still applies. So here it is again:

The title of this post is slightly sensationalist, but in a literary sense it’s actually very true. I mentioned recently that I’ve finally started reading A Game Of Thrones, which is the first book in George R R Martin’s A Song Of Ice & Fire series. This comment lead to a few discussions in various places that has subsequently lead to this post.

When I mentioned that I was finally getting around to reading A Game Of Thrones a lot of people assumed that also meant that I’d only just bought it. Especially when, in answer to the question, “Why has it taken you this long?” I replied, “I was waiting for the complete story before I started.”

A lot of people do this, and fair enough. When you notice a big old fantasy series that you think catches your interest, it’s reasonable to assume there’s going to be a whole story told. Often these days a writer will sell a trilogy (or bigger series) to a publisher and that publisher will set a publication schedule to release those books over a relatively short period of time, maybe even inside a year.

However, if no one buys the first book, it’s very possible that books two and three will never see the light of day. An author survives on their sales figures. If they perform poorly at the checkout, the publisher will discard them like a greasy burger wrapper and think nothing of it. That’s business. It’s fucked, but it’s business.

Going back to Martin’s series, when people started telling me how awesome it was, I started buying the books. They’ve sat on my shelf for ages. I wasn’t going to read them until there was a whole finished set, but I bought them to ensure that Martin showed solid sales figures and stayed in favour with his publisher. (I ended up starting to read recently because of the forthcoming TV series, and I wanted to have read the books first).

Obviously someone like George R R Martin doesn’t need my help, but the same thing applies across the board. For example, I was on a panel recently with Paul Cornell and he talked about one of his comic series being cancelled. There was conjecture that the series was cancelled because so many people these days wait for the trade, rather than collect the individual comic books. If no one buys the comic books, the story is considered a failure and there’ll be no trade.

The same applies to big series of novels. If no one buys the first book, the author/story will be considered a failure and there’ll be no release of the rest of the books. The people who read the first one are denied closure, the people who were waiting for a whole series have missed the opportunity and, most importantly, the author is dropped and never has the chance to expand their career. This is a very sad result of market forces and it’s actually a false result.

So if you see the first book of a series that you think you might like, buy it! You don’t have to read it right away – consider it an investment in your reading future. Buy the subsequent volumes as they come out and you’ll end up with a solid reading experience once the whole series is finished. And you’ve done your bit to ensure the success of an author and their literary vision. Hopefully you’ve had a good read too.

EDIT: And you know what’s even more powerful? Early sales figures. The more books an author sells in the first few weeks after publication, the better for that author’s career. So if you think you like the idea of Bound, please buy it sooner rather than later, even if you’re not likely to read it for ages. I’ll be forever in your debt – and I promise you  great read! Learn all about Bound and sample the first three chapters for free here.

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It’s me and Kylie Chan in Brisbane

Or, I should say, Kylie Chan and I. As part of the ongoing promotion of Bound, I’m coming to Brisbane on July 25th and I’ll be in conversation with Kylie Chan at Avid Reader Bookshop, hosted by the awesome Trent Jamieson. Honestly, I couldn’t be more honoured by that company. It’ll be from 6 to 8pm on Friday evening. Let’s all go out and get drunk afterwards, yeah? Who’s with me!?

Location: Avid Reader Bookshop , 193 Boundary St, West End, Brisbane, Queensland 4101.

Date: Friday, 25th July, 2014

Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Here’s the event on the Avid page. Put the date in your diaries – it’ll be great to see you there. And bring your friends!

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Photoshop competition for a signed copy of Bound

I saw this done by Mark Lawrence on Facebook and I’m shamelessly stealing it because it’s a very cool concept. The idea is that you photoshop my book into another image and link me to your work of art. The one I like (or perhaps the one that disturbs me) the most, gets a signed copy of Bound. Even though the book is only out in the Australia and New Zealand region this week, I’ll send the comp winner anywhere in the world, so you could score the book long before it’s available in your area.

The cover images are below. Click on them for a higher res version, then right click and save as, and let your creativity fly. You don’t have to be a dab hand at photoshop either – I don’t care about your technical skills so much as the idea. Dodgy graphic art can be hilarious. Impress, amuse or disturb me and you could score the book. Think things like King Kong reading a copy of Bound atop the Empire State Building, or Batman with a copy in the Batmobile or Bound as the Necronomicon or… or… the possibilities are endless. Get surreal, get nightmarish, get weird. When you’ve made your image, you can post a link to it in the comments here, or post it on my Facebook page here, or Tweet it to me here. I’ll start a gallery of entries on my Facebook page and pick a winner at some future point not too far from now.

EDIT: Some entries are coming in and they’re very cool. I’ve started to collect them in an album on my Facebook page here.

Here are the images – have at it!

Front cover:

Full cover:

3D book mockup:

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“Mephisto” published at Daily Science Fiction

I’m very happy to have sold another story to those wonderful people at Daily Science Fiction. If you’re not a subscriber, you should be! Fresh and awesome science fiction, fantasy and horror stories direct to your inbox every week day. The stories are also published on the website to be read for free.

My latest story there is called “Mephisto” – a little yarn about small town vaudeville. Or is it?

You can read it here – please take a moment to give it a Rocket Dragon rating when you get to the end, it’s just a single click. I recommend signing up for the subscriber emails while you’re there. If you take the time to read, you have my thanks and I hope you enjoy it.

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Booktopia SF & Fantasy Buzz

If you don’t already subscribe to this newsletter, I suggest you do. Mark Timmony edits it and it’s jam-packed full of great reviews and interviews and more. This month I’m very excited to say that Bound is the SFF Buzz Book of the Month. Excuse me while I Happy Dance. Mark reviews Bound and there’s an interview with me at the end. The review says things like:

Baxter takes us on a roller-coaster ride…

This is a page-turning dark fantasy that doesn’t shy away from sex, violence and the underbelly of society. Filled with guts, passion, and the will to survive Baxter has delivered a great romp of a novel and I’m looking forward to see where he takes Alex Caine next.

That’s a seriously great review. Mark asked me Ten Terrifying Questions, including things like, What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why? What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now? Whom do you most admire and why? What advice do you give aspiring writers?

You can find all the answers to those questions and more here.

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Devilish Dr Slatter Digs the Dirt

My good pal and extraordinarily talented writer, Dr Angela Slatter, had me over to her blog the other day where  she dug into the skinny on all things Bound. She introduced the interview thusly:

So, my mate Alan Baxter has a book out on 1 July 2014. Bound is an action-packed, kickass, pulpy urban fantasy with martial arts, evil demons (is there any other kind?), a troubled hero, a take-no-crap heroine, and a really really scary grimoire. Yeah, I’ve read, and it’s already getting some terrific reviews.

She goes on to ask me about the inspiration for Bound, my early life as a writer, my favourite writers, kickass female heroes, the lack of a title on the front cover and much more. See all my innermost thoughts* laid bear over at her blog, here.

*Note: Might not be all my innermost thoughts. No one needs to see those.

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Early reviews for Bound coming in

I’ve been in a state of angst for quite a while. As if impending publication of my first major publishing novel wasn’t daunting enough, several weeks ago the advance copies went out to reviewers. I’ve been chewing my nails, hoping the book wasn’t going to get thoroughly trashed. You expect a few poor or lukewarm reviews – you simply can’t please everyone – but as long as the poor reviews were few and there were some good reviews, I’d be happy. Thankfully, the feedback so far has been pretty positive. Here’s a few excerpts with links to the full reviews.

From Collins Booksellers (Edwardstown, SA):

The start to this series has given me faith that the Urban Fantasy scene is not just the same story with different characters.

Full review here.

From Mark Timmony of Booktopia and Postcards from the Emerald City:

This is a page turning dark fantasy that doesn’t shy away from sex and violence and the the underbelly of society. Filled with guts, passion, determination and the will to survive Baxter has delivered a great romp of a novel and I’m looking forward to see where he takes Alex Caine next.

Full review here.

From Jamie Marriage reviewing at Marianne de Pierres blog:

Bound is a fantastically gritty and modern view of dark fantasy, with twisted mythologies, sexual deviancy, and unapologetic characters. Most chapters have plenty of action, but not enough to hide the fact that there is a great story-line and dialogue going on from cover to cover. Greed, gluttony, wrath, and lust are all demonstrated in large portions throughout, and no character is without their vices and imperfections. It all comes together to create a book that’s difficult to put down and thoroughly worth re-reading. Baxter has proven he has real skill with this genre, and if this first novel is anything to go by, there are even greater things to come.

Full review here.

All these things make me so very happy. I couldn’t ask for better things to be said about this book. My angst is still there, but it’s been mollified a little bit!

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Alex Caine series covers reveal

As the ad in the Continuum X program revealed all three Alex Caine covers, I thought it was time to share them here too. Bound is out in print and ebook in three weeks, on July 1st! Ebooks of Obsidian and Abduction to follow in August and September, with print editions hopefully not far behind them.

Please do pick up Bound as soon as you can, as early sales really count in publishing. And remember, all three books are standalone novels, so you get a whole story in Bound – no need to wait for the series to be published. If your bookstore doesn’t have it in stock, please ask them to get it for you. Or even ask them now, just to be certain. You can also click on the Bound cover in the sidebar on the left to find links to all the online stockists for print and ebook editions. And if you’re in Sydney and going to Supanova this weekend, don’t forget to come and find me – we’ll have early copies of Bound for you to buy there and I’ll sign them for you too.

Here are all three covers – click for a bigger resolution file:

Alex Caine covers.

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