This One's For Joe & Gay…
…or, KMEFs Of The World, Unite!
Dipping my toes into the ebooks game, I've uploaded my novelette "The Frozen Sky" onto Kindle for all of you Kindle Mad E-Fans. If you missed "Sky" in its print editions (Writers of the Future XXIII, Apex Magazine Vol. 3, Issue 1, or Starshipsofa Stories Vol. II) or if you just need your very own electronic file, bam, it's right here for 99 cents.
"The Frozen Sky" remains my favorite of my short stories partly because it's an ambitious, high concept piece — partly because it's loaded with freaky blind alien lifeforms inside lightless ice catacombs.
Some critics and bloggers panned the story because it's too complicated in its delivery. That's what happens when you mix hard science with good ol' action-adventure. Occasionally it's necessary to juggle the narrative. Otherwise you'll have thirty pages of set-up before the excitement begins, and that's just weak storytelling. The good stuff has to come up front… but if you ask readers to keep track of two parallel storylines, you're going to lose some of 'em. Risky business.
Yet I stand by the story for several reasons. It took first place in the prestigious and lucrative WOTF contest; it's been reprinted twice now in English; been translated into Romanian and Czech (where it instigated a bidding war for the Plague novels); is set to appear in Polish; and it's modeled closely on Joe Haldeman's riveting, classic novella "Seasons."
That's right. Secrets revealed on the Internet! ;>
I grew up reading and re-reading Joe Haldeman for his superb craft, his darkly beautiful ideas, and his evocative and compact use of language. For my money, you'll never beat Joe Haldeman for sci fi storytelling and "The Frozen Sky" — like "Seasons" — is a First Contact story on a strange world with stranger aliens.
His collection Dealing In Futures is out of print now, but it also contains topnotch pieces like A !Tangled Web" and "Blood Sisters." Do yourself a favor and find a copy.
In the meantime, given the chance, I dedicated the Kindle version of "The Frozen Sky" to Joe and Gay, whom I've had the great pleasure to meet at a con or three. Giants still walk the earth, people. I've seen them! Heck, remind me sometime to tell you who was holding the first Gollancz edition of Worlds ever seen by the author himself.
Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't thank an anonymous fan for the Kindle edition cover art. Someone known to me only as Ben put together this image of Europa's frozen crust after a podcast of the story ran on Starshipsofa. Where are you, man? You're credited on the copyright page.
I do appreciate it.
