Year in Review
Ugh, the year in review. A lot of terrible shit happened.
It's a thing that many people tend to remember bad things more vividly than good things, which is why one bad experience can destroy an otherwise good time. And I am personally terrible at remembering good things.
So good things only. Got to go to Boskone for the first time and got to hang out and catch up with some old friends, and go to a couple of gorgeous museums. Got to go to PopCon in San Antonio and hang out with some friends. Got to be a guest on the JoCo Cruise and had the absolute time of our lives. That ended right before the first lockdown.
Got to talk to a lot of cool fun people in zoom interviews and podcasts, like Hank and John Green with Life's Library, and the Doubleclicks, and did zoom panels for a few conventions.
Network Effect came out during a pandemic and not only didn't tank, but made the New York Times Bestseller List.
The combined French edition of The Murderbot Diaries, translated by Mathilde Montier, won the Prix Bob Morane for best Foreign Novel and the Prix Julia Verlanger, and the Spanish edition of All Systems Red, translated by Carla Bataller Estruch, won the Ignotus Award (the Spanish Hugo) for Short Story.
Network Effect is on the nomination list for the r/fantasy Stabby Award.
The election happened and I was almost sick from relief that the fascist racist con man didn't win again.
A couple of other good things happened that I can't mention yet until they're officially announced.
Writing
The less said the better? I usually manage well over 100,000 words in a year. This year, I have about 38,000 words on a new fantasy novel, and felt lucky to have managed that. I wasn't able to do any writing for about the first six months of the year and it felt horrible. I've never gone that long without writing. If The Untamed hadn't come along and jolted my brain back into motion, I'd probably still be paralyzed.
Published in 2020 in order, from oldest to newest:
* I did a chapter for Machina: Chapter 7 "This Facility has Gone 0 Days Without a Gray Goo Incident." The rest of the serial is by Fran Wilde, Malka Older, and Curtis C. Chen. https://www.serialbox.com/serials/machina
* A mass market reprint of The Serpent Sea was released by Night Shade Books.
* I had a short story "Obsolescence" in Take Us to A Better Place, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It's a free anthology and you can still get a copy here: https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2019/11/take-us-to-a-better-place-stories-coming-january-2020.html
* Mass market paperback reprint of The Siren Depths, Night Shade Books.
* Network Effect A Murderbot Novel, from Tor.com, in hardcover, audio narrated by Kevin R. Free, and ebook.
* "Home: habitat, range, niche, territory," A Murderbot Diaries story. Tor.com
* "The Salt Witch" in Uncanny Magazine #37. https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-salt-witch/ (there's also an audio version)
* "Bespin Escape" From a Certain Point of View: Forty Stories Celebrating Forty Years of The Empire Strikes Back anthology fundraiser for First Book.
For award eligibility, everything is eligible except the two Raksura reprint books. The Murderbot Diaries is also eligible for the Best Series Hugo Award now.
Upcoming in 2021 so far
* February - The special illustrated edition of The Murderbot Diaries, with art by Tommy Arnold, published by Subterranean Press.
* March 30 - the trade paperback edition of Network Effect https://bookshop.org/books/network-effect-a-murderbot-novel/9781250229854
* April 27 - Fugitive Telemetry a Murderbot Diaries novella, prequel to Network Effect, set on Preservation Station. Preorder https://bookshop.org/books/fugitive-telemetry/9781250765376
comments
It's a thing that many people tend to remember bad things more vividly than good things, which is why one bad experience can destroy an otherwise good time. And I am personally terrible at remembering good things.
So good things only. Got to go to Boskone for the first time and got to hang out and catch up with some old friends, and go to a couple of gorgeous museums. Got to go to PopCon in San Antonio and hang out with some friends. Got to be a guest on the JoCo Cruise and had the absolute time of our lives. That ended right before the first lockdown.
Got to talk to a lot of cool fun people in zoom interviews and podcasts, like Hank and John Green with Life's Library, and the Doubleclicks, and did zoom panels for a few conventions.
Network Effect came out during a pandemic and not only didn't tank, but made the New York Times Bestseller List.
The combined French edition of The Murderbot Diaries, translated by Mathilde Montier, won the Prix Bob Morane for best Foreign Novel and the Prix Julia Verlanger, and the Spanish edition of All Systems Red, translated by Carla Bataller Estruch, won the Ignotus Award (the Spanish Hugo) for Short Story.
Network Effect is on the nomination list for the r/fantasy Stabby Award.
The election happened and I was almost sick from relief that the fascist racist con man didn't win again.
A couple of other good things happened that I can't mention yet until they're officially announced.
Writing
The less said the better? I usually manage well over 100,000 words in a year. This year, I have about 38,000 words on a new fantasy novel, and felt lucky to have managed that. I wasn't able to do any writing for about the first six months of the year and it felt horrible. I've never gone that long without writing. If The Untamed hadn't come along and jolted my brain back into motion, I'd probably still be paralyzed.
Published in 2020 in order, from oldest to newest:
* I did a chapter for Machina: Chapter 7 "This Facility has Gone 0 Days Without a Gray Goo Incident." The rest of the serial is by Fran Wilde, Malka Older, and Curtis C. Chen. https://www.serialbox.com/serials/machina
* A mass market reprint of The Serpent Sea was released by Night Shade Books.
* I had a short story "Obsolescence" in Take Us to A Better Place, published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It's a free anthology and you can still get a copy here: https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2019/11/take-us-to-a-better-place-stories-coming-january-2020.html
* Mass market paperback reprint of The Siren Depths, Night Shade Books.
* Network Effect A Murderbot Novel, from Tor.com, in hardcover, audio narrated by Kevin R. Free, and ebook.
* "Home: habitat, range, niche, territory," A Murderbot Diaries story. Tor.com
* "The Salt Witch" in Uncanny Magazine #37. https://uncannymagazine.com/article/the-salt-witch/ (there's also an audio version)
* "Bespin Escape" From a Certain Point of View: Forty Stories Celebrating Forty Years of The Empire Strikes Back anthology fundraiser for First Book.
For award eligibility, everything is eligible except the two Raksura reprint books. The Murderbot Diaries is also eligible for the Best Series Hugo Award now.
Upcoming in 2021 so far
* February - The special illustrated edition of The Murderbot Diaries, with art by Tommy Arnold, published by Subterranean Press.
* March 30 - the trade paperback edition of Network Effect https://bookshop.org/books/network-effect-a-murderbot-novel/9781250229854
* April 27 - Fugitive Telemetry a Murderbot Diaries novella, prequel to Network Effect, set on Preservation Station. Preorder https://bookshop.org/books/fugitive-telemetry/9781250765376
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Jesse
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Jan 04, 2021 08:01PM
I was listening to a Jennifer Crusie interview on the ShelfLove podcast and heard her give a glowing recommendation of Murderbot Diaries! You are two of my favorite authors so I was really pumped. Hope your year turns out great!
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Murderbot series is fantastic. It has been long time since I found something new, interesting, funny. Thank you Martha Wells.
I discovered the murderbot series a few months ago and loved it! Eagerly awaiting the next installment. Thank you!!
Network Effect was possibly the book that got me out of my reading funk after months of getting zilch done. Here's the a better 2021, (the bar is certainly low enough.)
