Book Bomb for a Writer in Need

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David Farland, writer and teacher of writers, has had a lot of sudden, bad juju land on his family in a medical way. A number of his friends and former students organized a book bomb on Wednesday, a coordinated book buying campaign to a) earn him money, and b) raise his Amazon rankings. They have succeeded wildly with b) at any rate, and the need for a) is still ongoing. This link will take you to one of his indie works, and if you subsequently buy any other little items on your Amazon list, Dave’s Associate account gets a cut. I purchased Million Dollar Outlines and have been reading it ever since.

The book bomb may be over, but we can still keep his Amazon rank high. Spread the word!

ARC is live!

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Nice and fresh in the online store. (Points to link on the right sidebar). Epub and mobi formats.

If your budget does not permit or if you really prefer a proofed version, that should be out by the end of March, at all the usual outlets. The paper version will be available a week or two after that.

Enjoy!

A Present for my Readers

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As promised!  In the spirit of the Holiday Season, whichever present-giving holiday you prefer.  A selection from the beginning of my new book Scent of Metal –now undergoing final rewrite. A tale of science, courage, and Pluto…

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The emergency survey team moved down the rough-surfaced corridors at a jog-trot, looking for changes.  The air was dry and cold, with no scent.  Lea Santorin did her best to keep up, holding panic at bay by trying to figure out when things had gone wrong.  It couldn’t have been their ship; after all there had been at least three ships from Earth before Kepler and nothing happened.  Removing the alien…device hadn’t done it.  But she had, just briefly, put the thing back in the niche where it had been found.  The surface ablation of the ice layer had started shortly after.

“It’s my fault,” she mumbled, sure of it.

Ivars continued his careful, quick sweep of the corridor like he hadn’t heard her, weapon always pointed where he looked.  “If you know that, then you know how to fix it.”  The other soldiers behind her didn’t even pretend to pay attention to the conversation, and Dr. Adi was still slack-jawed with horror and shock.

Continue reading →

Next Big Thing — Fun with Blog Tags

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So, there is this blog thing where someone tags you and then you tag other people in turn and it either summons one of the more benign Elder Gods or your least favorite aunt.  I may not have the details down. However! It is fun and spreads the word about lots of writers’ new projects, and can that ever be a bad thing? Well, except for the whole descending into ichor-soaked madness, maybe. Sorry about that.

The Next Big Thing

1. Give credit to the person/blog that tagged you. Kate Paulk, she of Vlad the Impaler and ConSensual fame
2. Post the rules for the blog hop. Right here…
3. Answer these ten questions about your current WIP (Work In Progress). Below…
4. Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.  I suck like a shop-vac. (translation: people were asked but declined) So, go out and tell authors you like to do this!

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book? Scent of Metal
2. Where did the idea come from for the book? I’ve never been completely convinced that mind-reading belongs in science fiction, but what about connecting to an AI?
3. What genre does your book fall under? Science Fiction
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Maybe Mary-Louise Parker for Lea, and Aaron Eckhart for Ivars. Not sure about the rest. Argo could be played by Deep Blue.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? An ancient, abandoned alien ship is woken up by a visiting computer geek and runs off to the nearest port without asking first.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self-published, like all the rest.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Longer than I like to think about, since it was during my epic get-everything-epubbed frenzy. A year and a half.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Please tell me. Aliens, without the facehuggers, maybe?
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? The cruel expulsion of Pluto from the planetary club. This is totally a revenge fantasy, for PLUTO! Besides, it’s always acted a little oddly…
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? I interviewed some Special Forces soldiers for this project, for reasons that will become apparent to the reader…

Audiobook of Firehearted!

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First, let me say I know very little about the audiobook world. Knew they were out there, but had no idea how to make them, how many people bought them, etc. Still, Dean Wesley Smith‘s advice to leave no format unturned prompted me to investigate Audiobook Creation Exchange (ACX) which has an indie-friendly way for voice artists and authors to find each other and, you know, do bidness. It works! I put Firehearted up to test the system. The narrator is Tim Campbell, who by day is a mild-mannered professional actor and singer but unleashed his secret power of accents for this audiobook.

Head out to Audible.com and check out the sample (little green arrow below the cover image).

This is my learning audiobook, and I need input. I encourage my readers to spread the word to those who like audiobooks. And please leave comments! Positive, negative, room for improvement–I want to learn.

Thanks!

Books I Like: Leviathan Wakes

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One of the nifty things about reader reviews for my books is they sometimes are kind enough to mention authors with a similar style. Firstly it inflates my ego ;-). Secondly, sometimes I go “who?” and look them up and discover a wonderful new author. Such a one is James S.A. Corey, the collective name for a collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. Leviathan Wakes is a classic space opera with noir overtones, featuring lots of nesting conspiracies, alien biotech, sociopathic CEOs, planetary wars, and vomit zombies. To tell you how good it is, I usually don’t like tales of interlocking sordid multilayer conspiracies, and yet I loved this book.  Now I’m reading the second book, Caliban’s War, and anticipating yet another good story.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

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Yes, I’ve been busy. Yes, some of that busy is writing new books. Another sizable chunk of time was taken up with formatting the print versions of the three books of the Sequoyah trilogy, now available from CreateSpace!

 

CreateSpace links (Same price, but I get more money if you choose this route vs. Amazon)

The Long Way Home

Raven’s Children

Queen of Chaos

 

Amazon link (for some reason it takes a long time for the ebook and print book to get “connected up” so you have to search specifically for print books for now) Sequoyah in print

Appearances!

Okay, only one appearance. I will be attending Orycon this year, in Portland OR (Nov. 2-4). Rumor has it that someone smuggled out a few Official Umbra glow-balls from FarCom, which might be available to discerning clients fans on a limited basis. Allegedly. You didn’t hear it from me, though.

Sequoyah Trilogy compete!

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Of course my clever readers knew the ARC version was available on my store, but now everyone can get Queen of Chaos! Now with fewer typos! This version is also available on my store, and yes, I get more money that way. It is easier for non-technical people to load books directly from the main stores though, so I don’t mind. Whatever makes my readers happy…

Cover for Queen of Chaos

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

So, what’s next? Scent of Metal is complete as a first draft. I succeeded in my Writeathon goal but didn’t quite hit the donation mark — so I will be putting up one chapter sometime soon to tease you with. The preliminary audiobook tests have gone well, but recording takes a LOT of time so don’t hold your breath.