Month: July 2011

A distressful day, much of it consumed by errands, filing, and other no-focus-needed tasks, which is, yanno — OK. Filing and grocery shopping needs to happen, too.

The back-brain did helpfully kick up three details for “Kin Ties” — thank you, back-brain! — and those are now inserted where they’ll do the most good.

In a bittersweet moment, Steve and I ate the last two Blueberry Wine Truffles from the box one of my faculty members kindly brought to me. If you’re ever in Lubec, Maine, Monica’s Chocolates is the place you want.

In between things, I’m making flyers for the Friends of Liad table at WorldCon. So far, I have a flyer for Splinter Universe, Pinbeam Books and a Lee-Miller Bibliography. Also, there will be ribbons. Possibly, there might be temporary Tree-and-Dragon tatts. What else should be on the fan table? What would you pick up off the table, if you were there? Inquiring minds…

Meanwhile, Scrabble informs me that tomorrow is Wednesday, which means I’ll be at the day-job.

Only four more days of school.

Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement. I’m very pleased with “Kin Ties,” and hope you will be, too.

From the Peanut Gallery comes the question: But when do we get to read the story, now that it’s finished and all?

The answer is — soon. I need to read it one more time — the walk-through, or micro-tweak, stage — and when I can, I like to let the story rest a week after “finished” and before that last walk-through.

Currently, the plan is post “Kin Ties” to Splinter Universe on August 12.  This will give y’all something to do while we’re at WorldCon and traveling about the countryside, and also give us all time to come down from the Sugar High that was the last couple of days, what with the release of “Intelligent Design,” the Ghost Ship eBook and the Nerd Caliber interview.

In other news, I have figured out how not to drop Five Bills on a tablet computer before WorldCon while still being able to carry everything necessary to my comfort on the train.

The answer is. . .

drumroll, please

Open the kitchen coat closet and dig out the Vest of Many Pockets, said pockets easily accommodating Paladin and my camera, which I had regretfully decided I must leave behind. Why, yes, I am a financial genius, thank you.

The other thing that will, when it arrives, fit into one of the Many Pockets is my foldable sun hat. The sun hat I wear around here has a stiff brim, which makes it not so good to pack. So, new hat. My, I will be stylish, this trip.

Which leads me around to. . .can I locate that? One moment, pls…

No, I can’t find it. Just as well.

Edited to add:  Found it.

It was an article advising women that now, more than ever! it’s important in the workplace to “dress young;” that women who “look old” were in peril of losing their jobs. Said article was full of must-haves for older women workers who wanted to stay employed — trendy haircut (absolutely essential if you make the risky choice of “keeping your grey”), fashion-frame glasses, shapewear, cute shoes. I was. . .appalled. I mean, I know that We As A Culture devalue our elders — and most especially our elder women, who, face it, can teach nothing to those who come after *pause to unglue tongue from cheek*, but. . .

Where’s Ilisidi when you need her?

Today, having late last night finished a story, and thereby having Mush for Brains, is about making phone calls, and working somewhat on the New and Improved korval.com. Maybe I’ll be a total wastrel and take a nap. Mmmmmm, nap.

See you on the flip side.

Steve and I were interviewed  at PortConMaine by Crack Nerd Caliber News Team Maura and Emmanuel.  The transcript of the first part of that interview has been unveiled, here, with the second half, and a video clip, promise RSN.

Go.  Read. Enjoy.

Progress on “Kin Ties”
10,000/10,000 100% complete

…and the crowd roared.

A bunch of un- and half-related stuff to let people know about.

1. Mr. French, a promising young cat-about-house, is, through not fault of his own, in need of a new situation. French (photo below) is about 2 years old, playful, affectionate, likes people of all sizes, is smart, and quite athletic. He talks often, doesn’t meow, but chirps and hums which is rather charming. He is healthy, has claws, and has lived indoors since accepting his current position, at the tender age of about 4 months. He is up to date on all shots and exams. He comes with toys, and excellent references. If you are within a couple hours of Portland, Maine and can offer French the sort of quality establishment he so richly deserves, please write to Kali Lightfoot — lightfoot44ATgmailDOTcom

2.  Fellow Maine author and fantasy writer James A. Hetley has just today made his excellent novelette “Dragon’s Bones” available electronically through Smashwords.  I highly recommend this story, which was published in paper in 2009 by SRM, Publisher.  Also!  Jim has plans to eventually make his backlist Maine fantasy novels into ebooks, so be on the lookout!

3.  I dinked around with the Pinbeam Books front page this morning. You can now subscribe to the RSS feed and it’ll, yanno, actually feed.

4.  For those who missed all the excitement yesterday, “Intelligent Design” is now available to be read for free at the Baen website.  Also new on the site is Tony Daniel’s essay “Gravity’s Punch” and a brand! new! reading group and study guide for Ghost Ship, courtesy of Baen’s own Laura Haywood-Cory.

5.  The eBook edition of Ghost Ship was released yesterday.  Remember, Baen eBooks come in a number of DRM-free fomats, including Nook (ePub) and Kindle (mobi), so you can read them on the device(s) of your choice!

6.  Since we have a new wave of Ghost Ship Early Adopters — those who have or will soon purchase that eBook noted in #5, above — please refer to this blog entry.  All help greatly appreciated.

Progress on “Kin Ties”
8846 words out of 10,000(?)

Intelligent Design is now on the Baen website

I may have mentioned here before how we have the Best Readers in the World. This isn’t hyperbole; it’s true. For instance, folks often write to us and ask how they can help promote the Liaden Universe® and/or a favorite/the newest novel in the series.

As it happens, one of the things that helps a new book along is something called “buzz.”  That’s when people talk about the book in their blogs, to their friends, to the barista, to co-workers — you get the picture.  “Buzz” not only tells readers who may like the new book, but who have no way of knowing it exists, about the book, it also reminds readers who have been following all things Liaden that the book is due out realsoonnow.

All righty, then. If you’re one of the few, the proud, the Incredibly Lucky who scored a signed copy of Ghost Ship weeks ahead of the release date, or if you’ve read the eArc from Baen, there are a couple things that you can do to help Theo and Bechimo along the way.

1.  You can post a reader’s review (no spoilers, please) at Barnes and Noble, which is accepting reviews now, even though it’s not shipping the book yet.

2.  You can talk about the book in your own blog, if you have one.  You may of course, use David Mattingly’s gorgeous cover in your discussion — I’ll paste it into the bottom of this entry for you.

3.  You can request that your favorite review site review the book (we have some copies of the book that we might be able to send on  — write to me at rolanniATkorvalDOTcom)

4.  You can go over to Spoilerville and talk about Ghost Ship  or to the Liaden Universe Spoiler Discussion on LJ

5.  You can inquire of your local library if they intend to acquire Ghost Ship.

6.  If you’re a member of a book club or reader’s group, you might consider bringing Ghost Ship to the group.  Tomorrow!  There will be a reader’s guide posted on Baen Books’ front page to help you get started.

7.  If you have a favorite interview site, Sharon and Steve (together or  separately) are pleased to do interviews, so don’t hesitate to recommend us.  If you have a favorite local SF convention, don’t be afraid to suggest us as Guests of Honor, we have experience.  We’ll also talk to libraries, college classes, and do live online interviews.  Suggest!  The worst that can happen is that the person you’re suggesting to says “no.”

General things to remember:  Ghost Ship did not happen in a vacuum; it’s immediate predecessor, Saltation, sold out its first hardcover print run and went to a second printing, hit the Wall Street Journal bestselling science fiction list and placed in the Top Twenty Best Science Fiction Novels of 2010 in the Locus Magazine Poll.

Also — I know I don’t have to say this to you guys, but — be polite.  If someone does say “no”?  That’s cool. We’re not everybody’s cup of tea, and neither is our work — that’s life.  Similarly, if someone says they don’t do space opera, or the book doesn’t sound like Their Thing — also cool.  Insisting  never actually convinced anybody to like something, and we all have our crotchets.

Thank you very kindly for your continued goodwill and support.

 

1. If you pre-ordered the hardcover edition of Ghost Ship from Uncle Hugo’s and you want your book personalized (where “personalized” means you want something written in your book in addition to Steve and Sharon’s Official Auctorial Signatures), you must write to Don Blyly at Uncle Hugo’s by July 15 (that’s FRIDAY!) and tell him so. Don’s email address is: unclehugoATaolDOTcom Be aware (be very aware) that personalized (see definition above) books will not ship until after Sharon and Steve’s signing at Uncle Hugo’s on August 27

2. “Intelligent Design” a short Liaden Universe® story by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, will be published to Baen Books’ website on July 15 (that’s FRIDAY!), where it may be read and, we hope, enjoyed by all.

 

Quite a list of things to accomplish in town this morning — town office to pay excise tax on Binjali, drop-offs at the bank, post office, Staples, and the UPS Store; Pearle Vision to order in a pair of back-up glasses, CVS to pick up prescriptions, Hannaford to take on supplies. Maybe I’d better pack a lunch.

Gonna be a warm one today, so say the weatherbeans. Guess I’d better get on the road.

Happy Monday!

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on advice of how to get music onto the Droid. Much appreciated!

Yesterday was complicated by the unexpected necessity of having to drive to Augusta, which I did. Unfortunately, in addition to the supplies needed, I managed to also onload a Terrifically Bad Headache™, which meant that I slept most of yesterday afternoon. Not convenient, and absolutely not what I had planned to do with my Friday.

Today has been chores, and writing, and realizing after ‘way too long that putting the Droid in the docking station and hooking it up via USB to the computer is Not At All The Same as jacking the Droid directly into the computer via USB. (So, like, what is the docking station good for, exactly?)

I worked on “Kin Ties” and uploaded another Splinter of The Cards of Fortunate Destiny to Splinter Universe. I also created an LJ Community for discussion of Splinter Universe.  Anyone may read and comment, however! those without LJ accounts will experience a delay in seeing their posts, since anonymous posts will be scrutinized by a human moderator first.

The posts to the Live Journal Community will be mirrored on Facebook at Splinter Universe, so that those who don’t believe in Live Journal can still have fun.

. . .and I think that’s all the news that’s fit to print.

What’re you doing this weekend that’s fun?