Blog Without A Name

The plan going, insofar as there is a plan…

So, it’s been a scrambled couple weeks, what with doctor appointments, call-back doctor appointments, visits to the emergency room, and assorted Real Life Whatnot, which would not have been nearly as annoying, except that they took up the time left over from the various health thingies, leaving Very Limited Amounts of Time to do, yanno, work.

The spaces of time we did have lent themselves well to small projects, which is why Degrees of Separation is ready to be published, absent possible cover quotes from a colleague or two — oh, and sell copy.  Because of the above time constraints, I went with a pre-made cover this time (plug here for SelfPubBookCovers.com), which looks very well, indeed.

Today, I have done various chores, including cleaning the bathroom, and looked at the Calendar That Rules Us All.  January is already starting to fill up with Good Things, like Book Day (January 2) and book signing (January 13) and Chaotic Neutral things like taking Sprite to the vet’s for her annual checkup, but also with doctor’s appointments, which. . .Honest, our doctors are perfectly nice people, but I could do with seeing them a deal less.

However — and I hesitate to say this, lest I jinx it — it looks like I don’t have One Blessed Thing on the calendar until Book Day, January 2.

So!  The Plan is, after the Generator Guy is done doing the Generator’s Annual Exam, I will read the 60,000-ish words that now exist in the file labeled Fifth of Five, and (1) determine if it really is as awful as I think it is (note: occasionally, the current project is exactly that awful, but usually not. This is only the 60,000 word slump — that unique point in the narrative where the Critic in Your Head can point out that Everything You’ve Written on the WIP so far is Crap and that there’s not enough room left to finish the story.  It’s a Special Place, indeed.), and (2) come up with a Plan for moving forward.

And so that’s what’s going on here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.  Business as usual, really

O, here’s the cover for Degrees. . .

And a snippet:

“No, no, having taken the decision to defend yourself–you did well. A man of peace, surprised at your lawful business, and, I make no doubt, exhausted from your labors this evening. Our friend, here, he had expected an easy strike, and now he will wake in the Watch House, with a headache, a fine to pay–and an account of himself to be made to his mistress that will, I expect, be very painful for him.”

The obligatory award eligible post

People ask; author answers.

Yes, Steve and I* published some work that is eligible for the various 2017 awards.  Follows a list:

Series Hugo**: The first novel in the Liaden Universe® was Agent of Change, published by Del Rey as a paperback original in 1988; Neogenesis, the twenty-first Liaden Universe® novel will be published in January 2018.  In addition to those twenty-one novels, there are more than two dozen shorter works also set in the Liaden Universe®.

Novel:
The Gathering Edge, Baen Books, May 2017

Novella:
Due Diligence, Pinbeam Books, July 2017

Novelette:
Street Cred, Pinbeam Books, March 2017
Block Party, Baen.com, December 2017

Short Story:
Cutting Corners, Baen.com, April 2017
Dawn’s Early Light, All Hail Our Robot Overlords, Zombies Need Brains, August 2017

For the purposes of this exercise, we use this word count scale:

Novel 40,000 plus
Novella 17,500 – 39,999
Novelette 7,500 – 17,499
Short Story under 7,500

*“Steve and I” = Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
**Thank you to Alert Reader Linda Shoun for pointing out that the Liaden Universe® is more than qualified for the Series Hugo.

Books read in 2017

70. Hogfather, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve) (re-read)
69. An Unkindness of Magicians, Kat Howard (e)
68. Incident at Badamyâ, Dorothy Gilman
67. Me: Stories of My Life, Katharine Hepburn
66. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman (e) re-read)
65. Making Money, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
64. Nine Coaches Waiting, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
63. The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden (e)
62. Zero Sum Game, SL Huang (e)
61. Kaleidoscope, Dorothy Gilman (e)
60. The Clairvoyant Countess, Dorothy Gilman (e)
59. A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny (read aloud w/Steve) (re-re-re-re-&c-read)
58. Thunder on the Right, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
57. Chuck Amuck, Chuck Jones
56. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Patricia McKillip (re-read)
55. Wildfire at Midnight, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
54. Madam, Will You Talk?, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
53. Princess Holy Aura, Ryk E. Spoor (e)
52.  Epitaph, Mary Doria Russell
51. Shield of Winter, Nalini Singh (e)
50. Heart of Obsidian, Nalini Singh (e)
49. The Cat Who Played Brahms, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
48. Where the Dead Lie, C.S. Harris
47. Going Postal, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
46. Just One Damned Thing After Another, Jodi Taylor (e)
45. Wildfire, Ilona Andrews (e)
44. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle (e) (re-read)
43. The Rose and the Dagger, Renée Ahdieh
42. Blaze of Memory, Nalini Singh (read aloud w/Steve)
41. The Wrath and the Dawn, Renée Ahdieh
40. Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So: A Memoir, Mark Vonnegut MD (e)
39. The Rule of Luck, Catherine Cerveny (e) (arc)
38. The Cat Who Saw Red, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
37. The Girl with Ghost Eyes, M.H. Boroson (e)
36. Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
35. White Hot, Ilona Andrews (e)
34.  The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, Tom Reiss (e)
33. Mouse and Dragon, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
32. Caszandra, Andrea K. Host (e)
31. Lab Rat One, Andrea K. Host (e)
30. Stray, Andrea K. Host (e)
29. The Cat Who Turned On and Off, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
28. Apprentice in Death, J.D. Robb (e/l)
27. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
26. The Face in the Frost, John Bellairs (e)
25. Hanged for a Sheep, Frances and Richard Lockridge (e)
24. Xamnesia, Lizzie Harwood (e)
23. Convergence, C. J. Cherryh, (read aloud with Steve)
22. Rock Addiction, Nalini Singh (e)
21. The Stranger in the Woods, Michael Finkel
20. Etched in Bone, Anne Bishop (e)
19. Rider at the Gate, CJ Cherryh (re-read)
18. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
17. Silence Fallen, Patricia Briggs (e)
16. The Cold Eye, Laura Anne Gilman
15. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
14. Memory, Linda Nagata (e)
13.  Bonita Faye, Margaret Moseley (e)
12.  Burn for Me, Ilona Andrews (e)
11. Snuff, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
10. A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (e)
9.  Some Danger Involved, Will Thomas
8.  Thud!, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
7.  White Tiger, Kylie Chan
6.  The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaronovitch
5.  Trading in Danger, Elizabeth Moon (e)
4.  The Wolf in the Attic, Paul Kearney (e)
3.  The Cat Who Saw Red, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
2.  Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse, Jayme Lynn Blaschke (e)
1. Sand of Bone, Blair MacGregor (e)

Books read in 2017

69. An Unkindness of Magicians, Kat Howard (e)
68. Incident at Badamyâ, Dorothy Gilman
67. Me: Stories of My Life, Katharine Hepburn
66. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman (e) re-read)
65. Making Money, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
64. Nine Coaches Waiting, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
63. The Bear and the Nightingale, Katherine Arden (e)
62. Zero Sum Game, SL Huang (e)
61. Kaleidoscope, Dorothy Gilman (e)
60. The Clairvoyant Countess, Dorothy Gilman (e)
59. A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny (read aloud w/Steve) (re-re-re-re-&c-read)
58. Thunder on the Right, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
57. Chuck Amuck, Chuck Jones
56. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, Patricia McKillip (re-read)
55. Wildfire at Midnight, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
54. Madam, Will You Talk?, Mary Stewart (e) (re-read)
53. Princess Holy Aura, Ryk E. Spoor (e)
52.  Epitaph, Mary Doria Russell
51. Shield of Winter, Nalini Singh (e)
50. Heart of Obsidian, Nalini Singh (e)
49. The Cat Who Played Brahms, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
48. Where the Dead Lie, C.S. Harris
47. Going Postal, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
46. Just One Damned Thing After Another, Jodi Taylor (e)
45. Wildfire, Ilona Andrews (e)
44. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle (e) (re-read)
43. The Rose and the Dagger, Renée Ahdieh
42. Blaze of Memory, Nalini Singh (read aloud w/Steve)
41. The Wrath and the Dawn, Renée Ahdieh
40. Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only More So: A Memoir, Mark Vonnegut MD (e)
39. The Rule of Luck, Catherine Cerveny (e) (arc)
38. The Cat Who Saw Red, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
37. The Girl with Ghost Eyes, M.H. Boroson (e)
36. Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
35. White Hot, Ilona Andrews (e)
34.  The Orientalist: Solving the Mystery of a Strange and Dangerous Life, Tom Reiss (e)
33. Mouse and Dragon, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
32. Caszandra, Andrea K. Host (e)
31. Lab Rat One, Andrea K. Host (e)
30. Stray, Andrea K. Host (e)
29. The Cat Who Turned On and Off, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
28. Apprentice in Death, J.D. Robb (e/l)
27. The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
26. The Face in the Frost, John Bellairs (e)
25. Hanged for a Sheep, Frances and Richard Lockridge (e)
24. Xamnesia, Lizzie Harwood (e)
23. Convergence, C. J. Cherryh, (read aloud with Steve)
22. Rock Addiction, Nalini Singh (e)
21. The Stranger in the Woods, Michael Finkel
20. Etched in Bone, Anne Bishop (e)
19. Rider at the Gate, CJ Cherryh (re-read)
18. Small Gods, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
17. Silence Fallen, Patricia Briggs (e)
16. The Cold Eye, Laura Anne Gilman
15. The Cat Who Could Read Backwards, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
14. Memory, Linda Nagata (e)
13.  Bonita Faye, Margaret Moseley (e)
12.  Burn for Me, Ilona Andrews (e)
11. Snuff, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
10. A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (e)
9.  Some Danger Involved, Will Thomas
8.  Thud!, Terry Pratchett (read aloud w/Steve)
7.  White Tiger, Kylie Chan
6.  The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaronovitch
5.  Trading in Danger, Elizabeth Moon (e)
4.  The Wolf in the Attic, Paul Kearney (e)
3.  The Cat Who Saw Red, Lillian Jackson Braun (read aloud w/Steve)
2.  Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse, Jayme Lynn Blaschke (e)
1. Sand of Bone, Blair MacGregor (e)

Liaden Universe® InfoDumpling

“BLOCK PARTY” a brand-new Liaden Universe® story, is now FREE to read at Baen.com.  (www.baen.com — scroll down past the New Releases to read “Block Party” by Lee and Miller and science essay “Nuclear Fission Power in Space” by Andy Presby.

PLEASE SHARE this story with friends, family, coworkers, strangers chance-met on the street, even if they are not already Liaden readers.  ESPECIALLY if they are not already Liaden readers.  Thanks!

A prequel to “Block Party,” “Degrees of Separation,” will be published in mid-January as a chapbook from Pinbeam Books.  We’ll let you know when.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE to order an autographed copy of NEOGENESIS, the 21st Liaden Universe(R) novel by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller from Uncle Hugo’s SF Bookstore.  Here’s your link.

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: http://www.fireopal.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/liadenuniversenews

Today’s the big day

Today, December 15, is the eighth birthday of Kelimcoons Sooper Trooper. We usually call him Trooper, but for his birthday, he gets the Whole Formal, at least once.  Festivities are planned throughout the day.  The sun has obligingly come out, and is puddling nicely in the napping spots.  We also have a Flying Mouse Competition planned for later in the day, and a grooming session.  We will also have Jazz on Pandora.  Trooper is partial to Jazz.

Today, December 15, is also the day that “Block Party” (collaborative effort number 82 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller) will be published to Baen.com, around noonish US Eastern Time.

We’ll obviously be very busy here with the Natal Day Festivities, so feel free to sing out when you see the story come up.

Here’s a picture of the Birthday Cat, wondering what all the fuss is about.

So that wasn’t in the plan

This is how today was supposed to go:

I was going to get up, clear the remnants of yesterday’s snow and last night’s “wintry mix” from the stairs and the car, eat breakfast with Steve, who would then go off to cardiogym.  My time would be spent vacuuming the house, then moving on to editing Degrees of Separation.  After Steve returned from gym, and we had supper, I would meditate, then move on to working on Monkey Business.

This is how today went:

Steve experienced an atrial fibrillation, though we didn’t know the name until later.  This meant that I drove him in to the cardiologist’s office, where an EKG was performed, his on-board defibrillator queried, and the log downloaded; followed by a meeting with the cardiologist, who needed blood work, and the whole thing took hours, naturally, and obscures the fact that we were actually very lucky that all the pieces were in place to move Steve very quickly from expert to expert with hardly any waiting in-between.

No changes in meds, though he does get a Brand New Toy to carry around with him — AliveCor, a little gizmo he can carry in his pocket, which will take an on-the-fly EKG and email the results to his doctor.

What an age we live in.

We came home for a late supper, proofread “Block Party,” per the request of our editor at Baen, and now I’m going to move on to editing Degrees of Separation, which I want to finish this evening, but probably won’t.

So, anyway.

If you are one of the small donors who would have been made to carry an out-of-proportion percentage of fees paid at Patreon, and withdrew your pledge from (a) favorite creator(s) for that reason — Patreon has announced that they will not be rolling out that fee schedule.

And now?  I’m for some editing.

In which we enter another countdown

Aren’t countdowns fun?  Let’s do another one!

Asyouknowbob, December 15 is Trooper’s birthday.  We here at the Cat Farm usually Celebrate this Occasion in the Traditional Manner with the Great Round of Sleeping in the Sun, and the Flying Mouse Competition high on the list of Festivities.

This year, in addition to All That,  we’re also throwing a Block Party.

“Block Party,” a Liaden Universe® story will be published to Baen.com on Friday, December 15, around noonish, Eastern time, in honor of Trooper’s birthday, to ramp up for the publication of Neogenesis, and to celebrate our readers, who have been with us for many years.

So!  Countdown to “Block Party” and Trooper’s eighth birthday! Four-and-a-half days — and counting.

Today’s To-Do List is a bit challenging.  I quote:

TO-DO MONDAY
1. Read “Revolutionists” and prepare comments, if any
2. Continue edits on “Degrees of Separation”
3. 1,000 (or more) on Fifth of Five
4. Train Dragon
5. Meditate
6. Clean something in this house

So, it looks like I’d better get to work — see y’all on the flip side.

In which Rolanni goes shopping

I went shopping today.  Mind you, I hadn’t meant to go shopping.

Well, actually, I had intended to go shopping — a quick trip to Goulet Pen Company to buy a bottle of ink and a journal; that was it.  I am pleased to report that I did accomplish this errand.

But, it being the Season of Potlatch, with many useful objects therefore on very attractive sales, I also purchased a traveling sleeve for Seventh Son the Chromebook, and an Oxo Anniversary Uplift teapot in brushed stainless, so that I don’t have to pour boiling water all over the stove, and me, whenever I want to make a cup of tea, and a canister of William-Sonoma drinking chocolate, which is an Utter Indulgence, but — yes, it was on sale.  And, you know, now I’ll have something to drink as a reward for shoveling the snow from the next storm, which, just by the way, is supposed to hit on Tuesday.

Well.  Maybe the storm after that one, then.

In other news, I finished one scene, and after I’m done chatting with you here, will finish setting up another before I call it a night, and that will see Fifth of Five aka Monkey Business at 55,000 words.

Slow going, yes.  Yes, it is.  But going, which is key.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.