Author: Sharon

1. Remember that “Intelligent Design” will be retired from the Baen front page on Monday, August 15, to make way for a brand! new! story! Once it is retired, “Intelligent Design” will be added to the free eBook compilation of front page stories, which can be downloaded here.

2. “Kin Ties” will be available for free reading at Splinter Universe on August 12 (that’s Friday!). To help people who may not have read its elder brother, “Changeling,” we (that’s Steve and Sharon, acting as Pinbeam Books) are offering a more-or-less half-off coupon for the eBook. This coupon is Smashwords-specific. All you need do is go here, choose your preferred format and use coupon code KB93Q (not case sensitive) at checkout. The coupon will expire on August 12 (yep, that’s still Friday).

3. A friendly bookseller lets us know that Ghost Ship has hit the Bookscan Bestselling SF List for the week of August 1. Which isn’t too bad for a book with a pub date of August 2.

4. Speaking of Ghost Ship — there’s a nice review at SFRevu

5. Also! The editors at Amazon.com (why does a bookstore have editors? No, on second thought, I don’t want to know) have chosen Ghost Ship for inclusion in their Fall Reading Preview

6. Even cooler, Uncle Hugo’s has posted its bestsellers for July, with Ghost Ship at the top of the list — but that’s not the cool part. The cool part is that of the 12 bestselling trade editions for July, Lee and Miller books hold 11 spots, cheated — cheated, I say! — of a full house by the presence of Warrior Sheep #1. (Note to self: Get a copy of Warrior Sheep #1)

7. Proving that mere planetary divides such as oceans and hemispheres mean nothing to those who call deep space home, Ghost Ship appears on the besteller list at Galaxy Bookstore in Sydney, Australia.

8. We (that’s Steve and Sharon) are going to be traveling for a few days, with a WorldCon at the end of it. This means our access to Things Internetly will be limited, first by the conditions of the train and then because we’ll be enjoying the con. So! If you should see Ghost Ship or any other Lee and Miller book or story on a bestseller list, or see a review (Amazon reviews not counting), sing out, do!

. . .To the best of my knowledge at the moment, that’s all the news that’s fit to print. Now, I’m for the couch and the workshop papers, which I will finish today.

1. Pick up Hex’s ashes in Lewiston
1a. Prepare Cat Garden to receive same
2. Finish proofing the galleys for Mouse and Dragon
3. Finish critiquing the submissions for our section of the WorldCon Writing Workshop: 1, 2, 3
4. Do prep for the panel I’m moderating
5. Get a haircut
6. Make sure The Leewit has the latest edition of George on her SDcard, and the notes for “Guaranteed Delivery”
7. Write an essay — or is Steve writing the essay? Must check. Edited to add: Essay collaborative. How strange.
8. Complete various travel-related errands at Staples, the bank, Sign of the Sun, Hannaford, CVS and other fine merchants
9. Have and recover from pre-departure panic attack
10. Pack, which includes “do laundry”
10a. Find all pertinent wires
11. Upload “Kin Ties” to Splinter Universe
12. Make sure the vet has cat sitter’s name on file as holding Mozart and Scrabble’s power of attorney while we’re gone
13. Turn over keys, house, and felines to same cat sitter

…well, some progress there, anyway. And if worse comes to, which it so very often does, I can do panel prep on the train.

And now, having used the day in running errands, it’s to the couch — me, a red pen, a yellow pad, a grey coon cat, and a workshop submission.

Heh. Heh. Heh.

Thanks to everyone who chimed in with Droid apps and ideas!  I think I’m pretty well set for connectivity and entertainment on the Great Train Ride West.

The NPR Too-100 Science Fiction, Fantasy Poll is still on-going. Go on over and vote! for your Ten Most Favorite SF/F books/series, ever. Yes, The Liaden Universe® is a contender.

At Eagles Over the Kennebec there’s a poll and essay test ongoing.  The poll is open to “everyone,” but apparently LiveJournal means something different when it says “everyone” than I do.  In any case, if you can’t see the radio buttons, do feel free to leave a comment about your favorite title and why it’s your favorite.

WorldCon prep is starting to heat up.  I need another week, but I ain’t gonna get it.  Before we leave, I need to:

1.  Pick up Hex’s ashes in Lewiston
1a. Prepare Cat Garden to receive same
2. Finish proofing the galleys for Mouse and Dragon
3. Finish critiquing the submissions for our section of the WorldCon Writing Workshop
4. Do prep for the panel I’m moderating
5. Get a haircut
6. Make sure The Leewit has the latest edition of George on her SDcard, and the notes for “Guaranteed Delivery”
7. Write an essay — or is Steve writing the essay? Must check
8. Complete various travel-related errands at Staples, the bank, Sign of the Sun, Hannaford, CVS and other fine merchants
9. Have and recover from pre-departure panic attack
10. Pack
10a. Find all pertinent wires
11. Upload “Kin Ties” to Splinter Universe
12. Make sure the vet has cat sitter’s name on file as holding Mozart and Scrabble’s power of attorney while we’re gone
13. Turn over keys, house, and felines to same cat sitter

Eep.

So! Who’s going to WorldCon?

Wow, is that a classy headline, or what?

Anyhow — remember ‘way back the beginning of the summer when NPR asked everybody within the sound of their pixels to nominate books-and-series for their Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Book List? Well! They’ve whittled the first list of 5,000+/- titles down to the top 250 and now they need your help again. Go here and choose your personal top 10 from the list provided. Full disclosure: Yes, “The Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller” is on the list.

OK, that. What’s next? Droid apps! Actually, Droid app. Those of you who use your Droid to make notes-to-self — which app do you use? I had just about settled on one that looked to be everything I wanted and more! (having narrowly talked myself out of the one that takes notes in 18th century copperplate), but upon reading the fine print, it would appear that this particular app prevents the phone from going to sleep, which means, as I understand the matter, the phone will chew through its battery faster. Yes, the Droid does have the increased capacity battery (the first thing I do for my gadgets, after they’ve taken the Oath of Fealty, is fix ’em up with the high-capacity battery and more memory, if applicable), but I’m going to be traveling by train, and power outlets are not always as plentiful as one would wish.

How’m I doing here? One more topic to cover.

Who can help me with LJ-Book? I…can’t seem to get a book out of it. It’s probably something very, very simple that I’m doing wrong, but at this point it seems pretty clear that I’m not going to find it on my own.

In other news from around the Cat Farm, yesterday was the Official! Ghost Ship Release Day. The sales numbers on Barnes and Noble have been dancing around in the 400 and 500s, which is pretty dern awesome; and in the 700 to 900 range at Amazon.com, which also Isn’t Too Bad.

It’s been difficult to work without Hexapuma keeping a watch over my keyboard, but I have been paying attention to the submissions for the writing workshop Steve and I are leading on WorldCon Thursday, and also to George. That last is going a little less quickly than I want, but I’m at one of the anchor scenes, and it has to be right — set deep and straight.

The WorldCon dance card is filling right up. Looks like I’m going to sprint out to the museum for mummies on Wednesday morning before the con starts — which, for us, will be Wednesday at 3:45, at the Sierra View Library. Still have to locate a laundromat for…Sunday sometime, that looks like. Except for those two outside excursions, it’ll be All Con, All the Time.

Today…can’t figure out if it’s going to rain or just be cloudy, cool and damp. I can go with either of those, frankly, because? I’ll be at the dining room table, staring at a blank page until the drops of blood break out on my forehead.

Wish me luck.

Progress on the Book Presently known as George
45,844 words/100,000 OR 45% complete

“You see them don’t you?” she whispered, her breath hot against his cheek and smelling faintly of mint. “You see them, inside the darkness. They’re waiting for us, eh? Aren’t they? Waiting to eat us, and spit out our souls.”

 

Yesterday was Steve’s birthday; a quiet birthday. We had lunch at Selah Tea in Beautiful Downtown Waterville, did a small ride, with milkshakes, came home for a pizza and wine and a chapter of Explorer.

This morning was about lining up the bills to be paid while we’re traveling. More bookkeeping to do tomorrow morning, thank ghod. I’d hate to run out of stuff to do. It now being after lunch — a reprise of Steve’s spicy black beans and rice from Friday — it’s time to get to the couch and with George. The idea here is to try to institute a schedule that caters to the writing brain’s preference not to work early in the day and! which allows us to go to bed before 3 a.m. Going to bed at 3 a.m. does not find All That Much favor with Certain Physicians, which is a damned shame, but there you are.

In case you haven’t seen it Elsewhere, we-as-Pinbeam-Books are offering a 50% off coupon on the electronic edition of “Changeling,” to help people prep for the August 12 publication of “Kin Ties.” All you need to do is go over to Smashwords, choose your preferred format (yes, Kindle (mobi) and Nook (ePub) are supported, DRM-free) and use coupon code KB93Q (not case sensitive) at checkout. The foregoing coupon is good until August 12.

“Kin Ties” will of course be available to read on August 12.

And now? To the couch!

See y’all later.

So, lemmesee.

Did some necessary chores today, including WorldCon planning with Steve. Wrote a new Lee and Miller bio, got a buncha bills lined up to pay. Going to have to do some more set-up over the next little while so things can get paid while we’re away. Man, bill-pay is the best!

Still hacking away at the Big Pile o’Email. This could take some time.

It’s remotely possible that I’ve actually fixed the RSS feed problem for Splinter Universe. Which would mean that anyone who subscribed should have gotten a notification that the page has been updated to warn people that the last chunk of The Cards of Fortunate Destiny splinter is available here

Remember! “Kin Ties” goes up on August 12!

Continuing the to-do theme, I added a page to the Pinbeam Books site.

What else?

Oh, did I remember to say here that there are pdfs of flyers available off of Welcome to Liad — here, in fact — so, if you’re going to a convention or a library event, or if you belong to a reader’s group — feel free to print out the flyers for the freebie table, or other distribution? Consider it said.

In other news, it’s been threatening to rain here all day, and hasn’t spat out a drop yet. Maybe tonight. At least, she said, rapping her knuckles firmly on the surface of the dining room table, the Big Heat Wave seems to be over.

Thanks to the folks who suggested LJ-Book for taking my journal entries off of LJ. I had tried to use it…some while back, and it didn’t seem to work — i.e., it took the information and spun in space, then confessed that it couldn’t actually make a book. Does anyone know what’s with that? I’m pretty sure the blog’s in UTF-8.

And now? To the couch!

For the last four-and-a-half years, this poem was taped to the day-job’s office door, right over the knob, where I could see it every day as I inserted the key into the lock.

Either you will
go through this door
or you will not go through.

If you go through
there is always the risk
of remembering your name.

Things look back at you doubly
and you must look back
and let them happen.

If you do not go through
it is possible
to live worthily

to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely

but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?

The door itself
makes no promises.
It is only a door.

–Adrienne Rich, Prospective Immigrants Please Note

I peeled the paper off the door today and brought it home, where I write to you from the dining room table, lighter by a couple keys and a whole lot of anger.

Life is good.