Blog Without A Name

Books read in 2013

My Father’s Dragon, Ruth Stiles Gannett (read aloud w/Steve)
Fair Game, Patricia Briggs (e)
Nymph, Francesca Lia Block (read aloud w/Steve)
Oh, Myyy, George Takei (e)
Hunting Ground, Patricia Briggs (e)
Cry Wolf, Patriacia Briggs (e)
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs (e)
Miss Buncle, Married, D.E. Stevenson (read aloud w/Steve)
Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Moonrise Kingdom screenplay, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola (e)

Oh! The snow, the beautiful snow, Filling the sky and the earth below

It snowed, did I say?  I have no idea how much actually fell here at the Cat Farm — this due to high winds that blew everything every-which-way.  The weatherbeans were calling 18-24 inches (46-61 centimeters).  I can’t argue with that.  It was certainly more than enough for my shoveling needs. Happily, however much it was, it was Light! and Fluffy!

Around about 1:00, the plowman cometh — actually, the plowman’s little boy, who I first saw only one or two winters ago, riding shotgun in his dad’s truck, hood pulled up ’round his face, snow matting the fur, and a Four Sol grin on his face at the magic of it all.  Today, he was driving the truck; sitting shotgun was a kid with a fur-trimmed hood spangled with snow pulled tight around a very serious face. . .

It seems — again, with the wind, it’s hard to tell — but it seems as if the snow’s over, for this storm.  I’ll have some cleanup shoveling to do tomorrow, on the steps and the deck.  Everything ought to be back to normal, in terms of transportation, mail, and stores being open for business, on Monday.

For those playing along at home, I have three — possibly four — more scenes to finish for Carousel Sun.  I had hoped to finish those today, but that was before I took a four-hour nap.  Tomorrow, then.

Looking forward to next week, there are various things I need to do in service of the Real World before we hand the house and the cats over to Mary and head down south, to Boskone.  Looking forward to seeing folks at the con, and celebrating the Liaden Universe® Silver Anniversary, and the release of Necessity’s Child!

Hope everyone is warm, and dry.

 

Wednesday Link Salad and News

1.  My colleague Robert V.S. Redick yesterday celebrated Book Day for  The Night of the Swarm, the fourth-and-last book in his epic fantasy series, The Chathrand Voyage Quartet. You can read all about it, and view a book trailer, here on Robert’s homepage.

2.  I may have failed to mention here that John Scalzi hosted a Big Idea piece about Necessity’s Child yesterday.  Here’s that link.

3.  Uncle Hugo is shipping Necessity’s Child!  Mr. Blyly lets us know that he’s shipped out about 150 copies so far, starting with the first pre-orders received, in September, and is now through those placed in October.  He believes that he will have shipped all non-problem orders by Monday-next.

4.  SFWA addresses the “orphaned works” myth, here.

5.  Games Workshop is being a nincompoop, here  and here.  Edited to add:  And here

6.  More on the slow demise of Barnes and Noble, this from The Atlantic

7.  The results of the Eustace Tilley 2013 cover are in.  View the finalists here

8.  Reviews of Necessity’s Child from Exploding Spaceship , SFRevu, and from The Examiner.  WARNING:  May contain spoilers.

9.  If you haven’t read “Eleutherios” yet, your time is running out.  Here’s the link.

9a.  And Steve reminds me that there is a new splinter at Splinter Universe, Moon’s Honor, the first 12,000 words of a novel that was never finished. Here’s THAT link.

10.  I am hopelessly behind on my email, to the point where I may never get caught up.  I love you all, but the spoons still haven’t arrived.

Everybody take care.

Necessity’s Child Bookday!

Today! is the Official Release Day* for Necessity’s Child
by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.     Necessity's Child cover

This is the book that nobly bore the working title of George, and which was pitched to Ms. Weisskopf at Baen, when was only a gleam in its authors’ eye as “a steampunk Liaden story, with space gypsies.”

Yeah, we almost hit that.

If you’re new to the Liaden Universe® — or if you’re an old-timer who’s on the fence about buying a “side book” — you may, if you like, read the first nine chapters, free, right here at the Baen webiste.

Necessity’s Child hardcover is available from your favorite bookstore, and also from these fine vendors:

Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore
BN.com
Amazon.com
And! in audiobook format from Audible.com

——-

*Yes, yes; I know some of you read it months ago.  You may dance, too!  No, really; I insist.

Books read in 2013

Fair Game, Patricia Briggs (e)
Nymph, Francesca Lia Block (read aloud w/Steve)
Oh, Myyy, George Takei (e)
Hunting Ground, Patricia Briggs (e)
Cry Wolf, Patriacia Briggs (e)
Alpha and Omega, Patricia Briggs (e)
Miss Buncle, Married, D.E. Stevenson (read aloud w/Steve)
Agatha Heterodyne and the Hammerless Bell, Phil & Kaja Foglio
Moonrise Kingdom screenplay, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola (e)

Five things make a post, Boskone edition

1.  “Eleutherios,” a short story set in a corner of the Liaden Universe® has been published to the Baen website, where it may be read for free!  It will be taken down on February 15 to make room for a new story by another Baen author, so if you haven’t read Niku’s story yet, now is the time.

2.  Moon’s Honor, a fragment of a Lute and Moonhawk novel begun in 1996 and never completed, is now on Splinter Universe, where it may be read for free! I think I’m seeing a pattern here…

3.  Tuesday, February 5 (that’s four days from now!)  will see the official! release of the hardcover edition of Necessity’s Child and the Audible edition.  Eileen Stevens voices the audio edition.

4.  SFSite has opened voting for the Reader’s Choice for Best Read of 2012.  Many fine books were published in 2012, including Dragon Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and SFSite generously allows you to vote for your ten favorite titles.  Read all about it here.

5. We have received our pre-con Boskone Schedule.  Here it is:

FRIDAY
5-5:50 p.m. Will the Real Hari Seldon Please Stand Up?  Harbor III
Steve Miller (M), Charles Stross, S.C. Butler, Mark Olson

6-6:50 p.m. My Origin Stories, Harbor I
Steve Miller (M), Joshua Bilmes, Elizabeth Bear, Jim Frenkel

SATURDAY
8:30 a.m. Friends of Liad Breakfast, Saucity
Friends of Liad join Sharon and Steve for breakfast and catch up on what’s happened since last Boskone.  Friends of Liad pay for their breakfasts; Sharon and Steve pay for their breakfasts.

12:30-12:55 p.m.  Reading, Lewis
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

2-2:50 p.m. Kaffeklatsche, Galleria-Kaffeeklatsch 1
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

5-6:20 p.m. Silver Anniversary of the Liaden Universe®, Griffin
Bob Kuhn (M), Christopher Weuve, Walter H. Hunt, Steve Miller, Tom Easton, Elizabeth Bear, Sharon Lee, Darlene Marshall

10 p.m. (After the Awards Ceremony) Combined Liaden Universe® Silver Anniversary/Necessity’s Child publication party!

SUNDAY
11-11:50 a.m. The Spirit of the Place, Harbor I
Margaret Ronald (M), Alexander Jablokov, Sharon Lee, Darlene Marshall

12-12:50 p.m. Autographing, Galleria-Autographing
Jeffrey A. Carver, Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

2-2:50 p.m.  Exit, Stage Left, Burroughs
Walter Hunt (M), Myke Cole, Sharon Lee, Leona Wisoker

A new splinter for the Silver Anniversary

Steve and I had intended to write a new story for the Liaden Universe® Silver Anniversary, but. . .

The world has been just a little too much with us. Deadlines, real-life matters, including the fact that we — or at least I — have been under quite a bit of heavy weather.

So, anyway, the brand-new story went on hold — after all, this is the twenty-fifth year of the Liaden Universe®; plenty of time to write a new story when the schedule becomes, shall we say, a little less action-packed and filled with excitement?

Still. . .we felt that the occasion of February — the month in which It All Began, back in 1988, with Agent of Change, and the month that It All Continues, with the publication of Necessity’s Child — we felt that the occasion should be marked in some way.

Which is why we’re offering a splinter; the first 12,000-ish words of the Lute and Moonhawk novel we put aside in 1996, meaning to get back to it, someday.

We hope you enjoy it.

Here’s the link.

Curious writer is curious

One of the interesting things about writing in a large-ish universe for, oh, a quarter-century, is that you’re pretty often meeting people who have read your work (or, even more interestingly, haven’t read your work), and who have formed opinions about the plot-line, the characters, the theme, the authors’ childhoods, and adult proclivities. . .

That being so, and because  people will say things either to me or within my hearing, I find myself with a question, which I will now throw out to you, the readers of the Liaden Universe®:

What is, in your opinion, the Big Story (also known as the Real Story) of the Liaden Universe® novels?

There are no right answers, or wrong answers.  Curious author is, as advertised above, curious.