Author: Sharon

The Writing Life, with tea and snow removal

So, we’ve been having some crazy weather, even for Maine.  Sub-zero (Fahrenheit) temps alternating with warmer days; snow, rain, and Unidentified Stuff falling from the sky.  This has made a Certified Mess of our driveway, given the snowbanks piled on either side by the plow guy, whose mission is to make certain we can get the cars out of and into the garage.

Yesterday, water was standing ankle deep over rotten ice at the bottom of the front steps, and more looking to flow in as the snow melted from the 50F/10C temperatures.

All that said, today I thought I was going to go out with a shovel and an ice-axe and dig a trough through compacted snow to release the water, so Steve and I could safely exit the house. Then! I thought again and called the plow guy, who will come by today with The Equipment, and Adjust the Situation.  And in fact he’s here now in his little Bobcat thingy, apparently enjoying himself hugely.

After a lifetime — and I mean that literally; I started my habit at age 7 — of drinking coffee, I had to quit, and have been searching for an alternative source of life-giving caffeine.  After some poking around, I’d hit upon Twinings Irish Breakfast tea as a reasonable substitute for the morning joe.  However, Twinings green tea is — not pleasant, IMHO — and a search for a more drinkable cup sent me to Harney and Sons.  While I was there, and in addition to two green teas, I bought a box of Irish Breakfast tea.  For Science!

I had a cup of Mr. Harney’s Irish Breakfast tea for my first cup today, and it was very nice — flavorful, smooth; not bitter, but definitely black, if that makes sense.

Mr. Harney directs us to brew this tea for five minutes, and that’s what I did.

I have here at my right hand a cup of Mr. Twinings’ Irish Breakfast tea — my Usual Sort. Mr. Twinings directs us to brew this tea for four minutes, which produces a cup that is not quite as nice as Mr. Harney’s. Therefore, because I am a Slave to Science, I brewed Mr. Twinings’ leaf for five minutes.

Five minutes is too long for Mr. Twinings’ Sort; it’s bitter along the high edge — and not even I know what that means, but it seems to appropriately describe the experience.

I note that Mr. Harney’s tea was black in the cup. Mr. Twinings’ is reddish.

So, on the first taste test, I find a preference for Mr. Harney’s Sort, though Mr. Twinings’ Sort, at the directed four minutes, is perfectly drinkable.

What else?  Ah!  I may have been remiss in reporting here that at my last oncology appointment, I was graduated from every-three-month check-ins, to every six months.  And there was much rejoicing.

Today’s to-do includes washing the dishwasher, which is already happening, and I may have to wash towels, after. Mostly, though, I hope to stick pretty close to Salvage Right, which, for those coming in late, is a Liaden Universe® novel set on Tinsori Light, after the events described in Neogenesis.

Yesterday, I finally intersected with a scene I’d written a month ago, so yay!  Said scene needs expansion, naturally, so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’d like to get to the end of that whole section today, but, really, what do I know?

As of last night’s writing session, Salvage Right stands at 50,885 words, and continues to Amuse Its Author, while zooming right along.

And that catches us more or less up.  As you can see, it’s been Very Quiet hereabouts — writers writing, cats napping, nothing really to see.

To make up for all the excitement included in this post, I have appended a snippet from Salvage Right below this paragraph.  If you don’t like snippets — go no further.

SNIPPET

“What would you have done,” Theo asked, “if she hadn’t stopped?”
Jen Sin raised an eyebrow. “Jumped, of course. What would you have done if she’d veered left?”
Theo sighed. “Jumped,” she admitted.

Liaden Universe® InfoDump No. 129, the Long Edition

Liaden Universe® InfoDump No. 129
News from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden Universe® and Beyond!

It’s been a while since the last InfoDump. We hope everyone is safe, well, and happy.

In This Issue:
Fair Trade News
Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 5
The Series Hugo and the Liaden Universe®
Who’s Writing What for When?
Steve’s Boskone 59 Schedule
Watch the skies and then watch us!
Where in the World are Lee and Miller?
The Small Print

FAIR TRADE News
FAIR TRADE is the 24th novel set in the Liaden Universe® created and written by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. It is, in addition, the third book in the so-called “Jethri arc.” Previous volumes were: BALANCE OF TRADE and TRADE SECRET.

For those who indulge the eARC is available from Baen Books ONLY. Here’s the link.

For those who are waiting — patiently! — for the hardcover to be published in May, and would like to have a signed hardcover, you may preorder your book from Uncle Hugo ONLY. Here’s the link.
Please Note: Personalizations are not available this year. The Uncle is just getting his new Real World Store set up, and it’s felt that the additional craziness of trying to keep track of personalized books would only be a recipe for error. Thank you for your understanding.

LIADEN UNIVERSE® CONSTELLATION, VOLUME 5 . . .
. . .is out in trade paper, and available from your favorite bookstore.
Remember, the Constellations collect stories that have already appeared elsewhere into One! Convenient! Package!

Table of Contents: Authors’ Foreword, Fortune’s Favors, Opportunity to Seize, Shout of Honor, Command Decision, Dark Secrets, A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom, The Gate that Locks the Tree, Preferred Seating, Ambient Conditions, Dead Men Dream

The Series Hugo and the Liaden Universe®
There have been Questions, mostly around the fact that there was no Liaden Universe® novel published in 2021 (ref “fuck cancer”), and therefore how can the series possibly be eligible for the Series Hugo?

We checked with Appropriate Authority, to be certain we weren’t misleading anyone, and here is how the Series Hugo works:

First, in order to nominate works for the Hugo Ballot, you must have been a member of ChiCon8, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, on or before January 31, 2022 OR you must have been a member of DisCon III, the 79th WorldCon.

Second, if you meet the above stipulation, you have until March 15 to nominate. Only members of ChiCon8 may vote on the final ballot.

Third, specific to the Series Hugo: The Liaden Universe® is already established as eligible for this award. That is, there are already (many more than) 240,000 published words of Liaden Universe® out there in the literary world.

Since we have crossed the eligibility threshold of 240,000 published words in-series, there only needs to be one installment of any length in-series for the Nominating Year — which is 2021.

There were four installments of the Liaden Universe® published in 2021. I will list them at the end of this posting. This is important because, when you enter a series into the nomination form, it asks you for a “2021 Example from Series.” This is where you enter your choice of the four shorter Liaden works that were published in 2021. Those works are:

SHORT STORY
“Standing Orders,” Derelict, Zombies Need Brains, July 2021 (5,775 words)

NOVELETTE
“From Every Storm a Rainbow,” Baen.com (link to free story) December 2021 (7,957 words)

“Our Lady of Benevolence,” Bread Alone: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 34, Pinbeam Books, November 2021 (14,500 words)

NOVELLA
“Dead Men Dream,” Change State: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 32, Pinbeam Books, March 2021 (19,800 words)

As an aside, all of the works listed above are also eligible for Hugo nominations in their own categories.

Everybody good?

Good.

Please do consider nominating the Liaden Universe® as one of your five choices for the Series Hugo. Please mention the Liaden Universe® in whatever Hugo discussions you may be having.

Why is the series worthy of the Series Hugo? Well — it’s a good, solid piece of work, if I do say so. The Liaden Universe® currently includes 23 published novels, and dozens of short stories — closing in on 5 million words. The very first Liaden Universe® novel, Agent of Change, was published in February 1988. The twenty-fourth Liaden Universe® novel, Fair Trade, will be published in May 2022. The series is qualified — perhaps overqualified — for the Series Hugo.

Side reading, for those who are interested:

Wikipedia article here
Locus article here
Tor.com: The Little Series that Could
Portland Press Herald article here

Who’s Writing What for When?
Lee and Miller are under contract to Baen Books for three Liaden Universe® novels after FAIR TRADE, which will be published in May. Those novels are:

1 TRADE LANES, the sequel to Fair Trade — Steve Miller, Lead Writer

2 SALVAGE RIGHT — Sharon Lee, Lead Writer

3 A Liaden Novel to be Named Later — Sharon Lee, Lead Writer probably? At the moment, this is looking like a return to the Redlands and checking in with Padi, Tekelia, Aunt Astra, Eet, and the gang. This could change, as all things may change, and only reflect our thoughts at the moment.

For those who have been playing along at home for a long time, the above three novels complete the Triple Threat contract with Baen.

We do not at the moment have any short works under contract, but that, too, could change.

BOSKONE 59 Schedule
Steve Miller will be a virtual panelist at Boskone 59, February 18-20. Boskone is a Hybrid Convention this year.

Steve’s schedule is below. All times are Eastern Standard.

VIRTUAL: Unhappy Endings Format: Panel
18 Feb 2022, Friday 8pm – 8:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Jane Yolen, Steve Miller, Julie Czerneda, Paul Di Filippo (M), Ada Palmer

Tragic plays from Shakespeare, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides are still with us … hundreds, even thousands of years later. Not all stories let the protagonist triumph — sometimes they lose; sometimes they even die losing. Some science fiction and fantasy writers’ unhappily ending stories are quite popular. Why do they succeed? Why do other such stories fail — even fail so hard their authors never try to write unhappily ever after?

VIRTUAL: My Favorite Character
18 Feb 2022, Friday 9pm – 9:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Olav Rokne, Jen Gunnels, Steve Miller, David Marshall, James Moore (M)

Google once estimated that humanity had published 129,864,880 books. If about half were SF/F/H trilogies — never mind, let’s ask it this way: from all the speculative fiction stories ever published, who’s your favorite character, and why? Heroine, villain, sidekick, romantic interest, alien bystander? Would you like to meet, have dinner with, or be that person? What does your choice say about your own character?

VIRTUAL: Solo Reading
19 Feb 2022, Saturday 12:30 – 12:55, Marina IV (Westin)
Steve Miller

Watch the skies and then watch us!
Lee and Miller have a Zoom event coming up later this month — chatting with Griffin Barber about Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 5. See or listen to this podcast here.

Where in the World are Lee and Miller?
Lee and Miller are members of ChiCon8. We hope to attend, but we are keeping a weather eye out.

The Small Print
Sites of Interest:
Lee and Miller Patreon Support Page
Pinbeam Books: an online catalog, with vendor links, to all Lee-and-Miller, Miller, and Lee self-published works
Splinter Universe: features outtakes, splinters, oddities from the Lee&Miller writing career, currently changes irregularly.
Welcome to Liad: The official homepage for
Liaden Universe® news

Blogs and Other Webly Things of Note
Sharon Lee’s Blog
Steve Miller’s blog, Journeyman

Facebook Connections
Steve Miller
Sharon Lee
Clan Korval
Friends of Liad
Flaran cha’menthi

Twitter
Steve’s on Twitter
Sharon’s on Twitter, too

Disclaimer Stuff
This InfoDump is a product of the Liaden Universe®, accept no imitations. You have received this message because you asked for it. If you wish to subscribe to the Liaden Universe® email list, to unsubscribe from the Liaden Universe® email list, or to change your delivery email address, go here.

The Series Hugo and the Liaden Universe®

Because there have been Questions, mostly around the fact that there was no Liaden Universe® novel published in 2021 (ref “fuck cancer”), and therefore how can the series possibly be eligible for the Series Hugo?

We checked with Appropriate Authority, so’s to be sure we weren’t Telling you Wrong, and here’s how it works:

First, you must have been a member of ChiCon8, the 80th World Science Fiction Convention, on or before January 31, 2022 in order to nominate works for the Hugo Ballot.   OR You must have been a member of DisCon III, the 79th WorldCon.

Second, if you meet the above stipulation, you have until March 15 to nominate.  Only members of ChiCon8 may vote on the final ballot.

Third, Specific to the Series Hugo:  The Liaden Universe® is already established as eligible for this award.  That is, there are already (many more than*) 240,000 published words of Liaden Universe® out there in the literary world.

Since we have crossed the eligibility threshold of 240,000 published words in-series, there only needs to be one installment of any length in-series for the Nominating Year — which is 2021.

There were four installments of the Liaden Universe® published in 2021.  I will list them at the end of this posting.  This is important because, when you enter a series into the nomination form, it asks you for a “2021 Example from Series.”  This is where you enter your choice of the four shorter Liaden works that were published in 2021.  Those works are:

SHORT STORY
“Standing Orders,” Derelict, Zombies Need Brains, July 2021 (5,775 words)

NOVELETTE
“From Every Storm a Rainbow,” Baen.com (link to free story) December 2021 (7,957 words)

“Our Lady of Benevolence,” Bread Alone: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 34, Pinbeam Books, November 2021 (14,500 words)

NOVELLA
“Dead Men Dream,” Change State: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 32, Pinbeam Books, March 2021 (19,800 words)

As an aside, all of the works listed above are eligible for Hugo nominations in their own categories.

Everybody good?

Good.

Please do consider nominating the Liaden Universe® as one of your five choices for the Series Hugo.  Please mention the Liaden Universe® in whatever Hugo discussions you may be having.

Why is the series worthy of the Series Hugo?  Well — it’s a good, solid piece of work, if I do say so.  The Liaden Universe® currently includes 23 published novels, and dozens of short stories — closing in on 5 million words.  The very first Liaden Universe® novel, Agent of Change, was published in February 1988.  The twenty-fourth Liaden Universe® novel, Fair Trade, will be published in May 2022.  The series is qualified — perhaps overqualified — for the Series Hugo.

Side reading, for those who are interested:

Wikipedia article here
Locus article here
The Little Series that Could, tor.com
Portland Press Herald

 

 

 

 

Books read in 2022

8   Grave Reservations, Cherie Priest (e) (Booking Agents Series #1)
7   Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W.R. Gingell (e)
6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)

Book Day!

And what book are we here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory celebrating on this day?

LIADEN UNIVERSE® CONSTELLATION, VOLUME 5

Let’s just take a moment to admire that, up there in lights like it is.  Not only a compilation of Liaden Universe® short works, but the FIFTH such volume.

Sixty-three short works based in the Liaden Universe® are collected in those five volumes — short stories, novellas, novelettes.  And six more queued up for inclusion in Volume 6.

. . . It’s traditional at times like these for the artist to thank those who have helped them achieve a milestone.

So, first of all, I want to thank you — our readers, for keeping the faith, and buying the books, and supporting our work in so very many ways.

I would also like to thank editors Colleen Doran, Jason Cordova, Eric Flint, Liz Holliday, Tanya Huff, Janis Ian, Warren Lapine, Lee Martindale, Joshua Palmatier, Christopher Ruocchio, Michael A. Ventrella, and Toni Weisskopf for publishing original short works set in the Liaden Universe®.

You guys ALL rock!

For those who may have been avoiding the short Liaden works, you don’t have to have read the novels to understand — and enjoy! — the stories.  I understand that there are some people who eschew short stories because they’re, err, short — but there’s not much to be done about that, “short” being the point of the form.

If you’re still unconvinced, and would like to taste a couple for free before buying a whole book, here’s a couple links:

Block Party

Chimera

Eleutherios

From Every Storm a Rainbow

 

 

Books read in 2022

7   Gothel and the Maiden Prince, W.R. Gingell (e)
6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)

Books read in 2022

6   A Gathering of Gargoyles, Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel #2)
5   Crystal Lattice, Paul Aurelius (The Crystal Cities #1) (e) (pre-pub provided by the author)
4   The 5th Gender, G.L. Carriger (A Tinkered Stars Mystery) (e)
3   Magic Lessons, Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic #1 or #3, depending) (e)
2   Snowspelled, Stephanie Burgis (The Harwood Spellbook #1) (e)
1   Widdershins, Jordan L. Hawk (Whyborn and Griffin #1) (e)