Category: Shameless Self-Promotion

Again with the award stuff

You say that you’re not eligible to vote for this year’s Hugo Awards, but want to make sure your favorite book/story/movie/fanzine of 2013 and/or your favorite editor/artist is brought to the attention of those who can/will vote?  You’re in luck!

Lady Business is collecting suggestions in a spreadsheet, here.  Note that the tabs for novel, novella, novelette, &c are at the bottom of the page.

Also, Book Smugglers has published their list of favorites, and comments are open to those who want to share their own favorites, here.

Full disclosure: Lee and Miller have five works eligible for Hugo (and Nebula) consideration. They are:

Novel: Necessity’s Child, Trade Secret
Novelette: Eleutherios, Moon’s Honor
Short Story: Out of True

The live links may be read for free.

* * *

In other news, the cold I’ve been pushing away for the last couple days has come roaring back with a vengeance.

I’ll be on the couch.

Carousel Sun ebook on sale NOW!

The title says it all.  Here’s some links to get you started:

Baen (all formats known on land and sea)

BN/Nook (epub)

Amazon/Kindle (mobi)

This also means that!  If you’ve previously read the eArc, you may now post a review on Amazon.  And of course, once you’ve read this edition, you may post a review, too.

OK, I’ll be quiet now, so y’all can read.

Today is yesterday’s tomorrow

Today! Jasmine Sprite, Princess of the Night, Warrior Princess of East Winslow, Nemesis of the Springs, Scourge of Lizards, Professor of Centrifugal Studies, and Brat, celebrates the conclusion of her second month, and the beginning of her third month of residency at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

All hail, Princess Sprite.

Coincidentally, today also sees the publication of “The Gift of Music” at Baen.com, at noon EST.  The story may be read for free, no sign-ups, no fees.  Sprite thinks this is part of her Royal Celebrations, and we’re just letting her think that, OK?

If you like the story, feel free to pass the link on to friends, and others who partake of fantasy and science fiction.

Now, here’s a picture of the Princess, to tide y’all over until noon, when the story publishes:

The Princess is IN SMALL

 

#SFWAPro

For Hugo consideration

It’s silly season in the SF/F world; the season when All the Writers remind All the Readers, and especially those who vote on the Hugo Awards, which of their works are eligible for Hugo consideration.

The 2014 Hugo Awards, for works published in 2013, will be presented at the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, LonCon 3, to be held in London, England, August 14-18, 2014

If you’re not sure if you’re eligible to nominate and/or vote in the 2014 Hugo Awards, here’s the link to the rules.

If you are eligible to nominate, I will now mention that Sharon Lee and Steve Miller published several works in 2013, which are eligible for consideration.  They are:

Novel:
Necessity’s Child, Baen, February 2013
Trade Secret, Baen, November 2013

Novelette:
“Eleutherios,” Baen.com, January 2013
“Moon’s Honor,” Splinter Universe, February 2013

Short Story:
“Out of True,” Baen.com, October 2013

When nominating, please keep our work in mind.

Thank you for listening.

 

Five Things Make a Post

Well, let’s see. . .

1.  You still have time to pre-order signed copies of Carousel Sun from Uncle Hugo’s.  Here’s the link.  Uncle Hugo’s is the only bookstore offering autographed copies of Carousel Sun.  They have autographed copies of some of our other work in stock, as well.

2.  I supported Doug Thornsjo’s Kickstarter campaign, and just before Christmas, received my Majors deck of the Tarot of the Zirkus.  These cards are amazing.  Provocative art, good hand-feel and weight, slightly larger than my favorite deck, The Halloween Tarot.  Take a look at the on-going project, and buy a deck for yourself, here.

3.  Mozart continues to make gains.  He’s eating wet cat food again, not just beef baby food, is sleeping well, and taking an interest in the various projects going on around him.  Thanks to everyone for your good wishes.

4.  There’s been some question about the release dates of upcoming publications.  This is what we know:
January 7:  Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 2, trade paper
January 15:  “The Gift of Music,” free to read on Baen.com
February 4: Carousel Sun, trade paper
March 7: Necessity’s Child, mass market
Early 2015:  Carousel Seas, trade paper

5.  I wish to report that it is not snowing!  It is, however, Pretty Darn Cold (for the purposes of this discussion, PDC is 3F/-16C).

Blustery Friday

Man it’s cold.  Also, it snowed.  Not, thank ghod, very much; somewhere over Massachusetts, the wind got tired of toting All That Weather, and let it go all at once.  I hear they expect to have Boxford dug out by August.

Up here at the Cat Farm, we have about six inches/15cm of light, broomable snow.  We have officially lost the bottom two stairs in the flight from the driveway to the deck.  If it snows any more, we’ll lose the third.  I expect that Snowplow Hill (being the hill made by the snowplow when it pushes all the snow from the driveway into one place) to come even with the decking today.

With the exceptions of sweeping whatever more snow settles on the deck and the remaining steps, and moving the cars for the plowman, when he cometh, I believe I’ll stay in.

What with the various catmergencies, I have been remiss in letting the world know that my author’s copies of Carousel Sun have arrived; and they’re beautiful! I’m guessing that means I can look for the pre-ordered books for Uncle Hugo soon — perhaps even today!

I have in hand from the Uncle a list of the people who wanted their books personalized, with personalizations, so that part of Our Clever Plan worked out Just Fine.  Thank you all!  And remember, you can still pre-order signed copies of Carousel Sun, right here.

Mozart thanks everyone for their well-wishes; he has been having some gooshy food, in-between naps, and seems generally pleased to be home.  Even if Sprite wants to sleep on his head.

 

Your Ultimate Reminder

As I type this, Central Time Zone Midnight is a bare eight hours away.  If you’ve been putting off pre-ordering your signed-and-personalized copy of Carousel Sun by Sharon Lee — procrastinate no longer.  Go here, place your order, and type your requested personalization into the “Special Instructions” box.  It’s that easy.

This has been your Final, the Ultimate, reminder on this topic.

 

Life at the Confusion Factory

When last we saw our Intrepid Heroine, she was cleaning out her fridge in the aftermath of last week’s pre-holiday ice storm.

Since then, Steve and I have. . .cautiously. . . replenished the fridge; and I have purchased a new U(ninterrupted) P(ower) S(upply), replacing the one that either (1) died of old age at a quasi-inconvenient moment (which is, after all, Time Honored) or! (2) took a hit during the fluctuating power surges which were a Feature of last week’s Weather Event, thereby saving the life of Jack the Giant Killer, aka, my desktop computer.

Steve and I also rose to the challenge of taking Mozart to the vet in the teeth of a mildish little snowstorm on Monday afternoon.  Frequent readers of this blog will recall that Mozart celebrated his 15th birthday in March.  The average lifespan for Maine Coon cats is about 12.5 years.  The vet confirmed what we already knew, that Mozart is an Old Cat, and verified what we hoped was true — that he’s in pretty good shape, all things considered.

Despite this, Mozart had stopped eating — crunchies, gooshie food; not even baby food, the Food of Last Resort, tempted him — which was the reason why we had braved the snow to visit the vet.

The vet’s theory was that, given Mozart’s kidney function numbers are “high normal,” he might be feeling a little sour in the stomach, and thereby not interested in eating.  So, after a little hydration, Mozart got a dose of appetite-increaser, and some special food to take home, in case he’ll eat it; and we got instructions to feed him whatever he’ll eat, and as much of it as he feels like eating.

Which, at the moment, is baby food.  The special vet-food is OK, but baby food is much to be preferred.  So, it looks like we’re on the right path, there.

Last night, we knocked off early to view “The Secret of Roan Inish,” a favorite in the Lee-Miller household.  That was nice, though it appears that neither Trooper nor Sprite appreciate seals as much as  they ought.

For those who are. . .concerned about the fate of the next Liaden book — yes, I am writing.  Really.  But this is a shy one — particularly so, after the exuberances of George and the Carousel books — and the only way to deal with a shy book is to pretend you aren’t really working on it. In these parts, that mostly means a dearth of snippets, but I’m sure we can all agree that having the whole book, written and turned in on time and in good order, is worth sacrificing a few snippets.

P’rhaps the next book will be more outgoing.

This morning, in between loads of laundry, I’ve been updating some of the pages at sharonleewriter.com and at korval.com.  Take a look around, if you have a chance.

As I write this, we’re looking down the barrel of another Winter Storm Warning; we’re apparently going to enjoy the arrival of 6-10 inches of snow between 4 pm today and 6 am on Monday.  That’ll give me a chance to shovel the steps and free the car and still make Sprite’s afternoon vet appointment (for annual shots).

And I think that catches us up — no, I’m wrong.

You have only until midnight Central Time on Tuesday December 31, 2013 to order a signed-and-personalized copy of Carousel Sun!  Here’s the link.

You may order signed (but not personalized) copies until Uncle Hugo’s runs out, but do you really want to run the risk of not getting your copy?  Here’s that link again.

There!  Now, we’re caught up.