Blog Without A Name

Books read in 2024

26  War for the Oaks, Emma Bull (re-re-&c-read) (book club)
25  Earthly Delights, Kerry Greenwood (Corinda Chapman #1) (re-read) (e)
24  Wednesday’s Child, Rhea Côté Robbins
23  Hate Mail, Donna Marchetti (e)
22  Comfort is an Old Barn, Amy Calder  (book club)
21  Arabella, Georgette Heyer (e) (re-read)
20  The Foundling, Georgette Heyer (e) (possibly I read this once before)
19  Death in the Spires, KJ Charles (e)
18  What Cannot be Said, C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #19) (e)
17  The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (e) (re-read)
16  Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison  (e) (re-read)
15  The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (e) (re-re-re-read)*
14  Hen Fever, Olivia Waite (e)
13  Unmasked by the Marquis, Cat Sebastian (e) ( re-read)
12  A Duke in Disguise, Cat Sebastian (e) (reread)
11  Heart of Stone, Johannes T. Evans (e)
10  West with the Night, Beryl Markham (e)
9   A Song to Drown Rivers, Ann Liang (e) (netgalley)
8   Bookstores and Bonedust, Travis Baldree (prequel) (e) (library)
7   We Could Be So Good, Cat Sebastian (e) (library)
6   Thorn Hedge, T. Kingfisher (e) (library)
5   Wild Seed, Octavia M. Butler (e) (library)
4   In Our Stars, Jack Campbell (Doomed Earth #1) (pre-pub) (e)
3   Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree (e) (library)
2   Heart of the Sun Warrior, Sue Lynn Tan, (Celestial Kingdom #2) (e) (library)
1   This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (e) (library)

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*… I think I may have lost track.  I do know I started several books, and put them aside, because I Just Couldn’t. I stress that it wasn’t Them, it was Me.  I don’t think I actually finished anything before I finally did manage to settle into a re-re-re-&C-read of The Goblin Emperor, so that’s where we’ll pick up the tally.

PSA for those who downloaded Ribbon Dance from BN

There was a formatting error in the file, while resulted in forced tiny font that could not be changed by the reader*.

THIS ERROR HAS BEEN FIXED, and should be available by Monday, if not sooner, so you may redownload your book and read it in the font size of your desiring.

Though it was not mine, I apologize for the error and the consternation, not to say inconvenience, that it caused.

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*No, it’s no use asking me how it happened; I don’t know.

Are you prepared for Ribbon Dance?

Tomorrow, June 4, Ribbon Dance, the 26th novel set in the Liaden Universe® created by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, officially drops in hardcover and in ebook*.

For your optimum reading experience, you’ll want to lay in plenty of cake, not to mention pretty little cookies with pastel icing, tea, wine, nuts, and maybe a nice tray of cheese and crackers.

After all, nobody wants an incident.

_________________
*As previously reported, Audible has passed on the opportunity to produce a audio edition of Ribbon Dance. Those rights are being shopped elsewhere and as soon as I know more than that, be sure that I’ll share it.

 

Double Vision available to download

Double Vision, including twenty-nine early works by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, was originally published as a trade paperback in 2009 by SRM Publisher, Ltd. This is its first electronic edition.

Titles included are: Ginger and the Bully of Lowergate Court, Sharon Lee; The Cat’s Job, Steve Miller; A Matter of Ceremony, Sharon Lee; Coffee Cat, Sharon Lee; The Big Ice, Sharon Lee; Rain Day, Steve Miller; Master of The Winds, Sharon Lee; The Pretender, Sharon Lee; The Silver Pathway, Sharon Lee; The Year They Brought The Bears to Belfast, Sharon Lee; The Naming of Kinzel, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; Kinzel The Innocent, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; Kinzel The Arbiter, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; And Hawks for Heralds, Steve Miller; Charioteer, Steve Miller; Stormshelter, Sharon Lee; The Solution, Steve Miller; The Girl, the Cat, and Deviant, Sharon Lee; The Afterimage, Sharon Lee; Master Walk, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; Choices, Steve Miller; Cards, Sharon Lee; The Handsome Prince, Sharon Lee; Stolen Laughter, Sharon Lee; The Winter Consort, Sharon Lee; The Inventoried, Steve Miller; Gonna Boogie With Granny Time, Sharon Lee; Passionato, Sharon Lee; Candlelight, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Double Vision is available from your favorite online bookstores.  There will not be a paper copy.  Links below provided as a courtesy.

Baen Books link

Amazon US link

Universal link

We interrupt this writing blog for a Very Important Announcement

We here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory have taken a very serious step, and decided to fill the fourth slot left empty by Belle’s crossing of the Bridge, last August.

Steve and I had been discussing this step before he passed on, and I shelved it in favor of getting through the next five minutes.

Recently, the matter came up again at a board meeting, and the reasons identified in February still held.  Trooper and Sprite are Elders; Firefly needs somebody to share her energy with.

We have therefore contracted to receive a Maine Coon kitten, photo below.  He will be coming aboard in July, and we’re all very excited.  Or at least I’m very excited.  The other cats are of the opinion that this “kitten” I keep talking to them about is a Plot Point in the WIPnovel.

The kitten’s name is Rook, and already there’s a Story about him.

As I was considering the issue of a name, I thought how unfair it is that black cats are so often named for their color.  I decided that I didn’t want to do that; I wanted a good, strong name that reflected sophistication and style.  I mulled names for quite some time until (Steve) suggested Rook.  For those who don’t know, a rook is a powerful and flexible chess piece, and of course Steve had been a chess player all his life.

Rook.

I liked it.

More, I liked that it came with the nickname “Rookie,” which he certainly will be.

So, there I was, armed with a name of something that could be either black or white, chosen for its inherent virtue.  Very proud of myself, was I.

I remained proud of myself right up until my talk with the breeder this afternoon, where I shared with her my choice of name.

She immediately said, “Oh!  I like that!  I know what a rook is — it’s an English crow!” — and I realized that I had been foiled.

Regardless, Rook he shall remain, and I hope to add many Stories to this, his first.

Books read in 2024

24  Wednesday’s Child, Rhea Côté Robbins
23  Hate Mail, Donna Marchetti (e)
22  Comfort is an Old Barn, Amy Calder
21  Arabella, Georgette Heyer (e) (re-read)
20  The Foundling, Georgette Heyer (e) (possibly I read this once before)
19  Death in the Spires, KJ Charles (e)
18  What Cannot be Said, C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #19) (e)
17  The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (e) (re-read)
16  Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison  (e) (re-read)
15  The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (e) (re-re-re-read)*
14  Hen Fever, Olivia Waite (e)
13  Unmasked by the Marquis, Cat Sebastian (e) ( re-read)
12  A Duke in Disguise, Cat Sebastian (e) (reread)
11  Heart of Stone, Johannes T. Evans (e)
10  West with the Night, Beryl Markham (e)
9   A Song to Drown Rivers, Ann Liang (e) (netgalley)
8   Bookstores and Bonedust, Travis Baldree (prequel) (e) (library)
7   We Could Be So Good, Cat Sebastian (e) (library)
6   Thorn Hedge, T. Kingfisher (e) (library)
5   Wild Seed, Octavia M. Butler (e) (library)
4   In Our Stars, Jack Campbell (Doomed Earth #1) (pre-pub) (e)
3   Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree (e) (library)
2   Heart of the Sun Warrior, Sue Lynn Tan, (Celestial Kingdom #2) (e) (library)
1   This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (e) (library)

_____
*… I think I may have lost track.  I do know I started several books, and put them aside, because I Just Couldn’t. I stress that it wasn’t Them, it was Me.  I don’t think I actually finished anything before I finally did manage to settle into a re-re-re-&C-read of The Goblin Emperor, so that’s where we’ll pick up the tally.

First Sunday Check-In

In the US, this is Memorial Day Weekend.  For those of us who are freelancers and still hold to the Old Ways of keeping track of days by mail delivery, this is the first Sunday (no mail day) of the week, the second being tomorrow, aka Memorial Day (celebrated).

It has been a week of Parts, some of which I am not yet at liberty to share.

I can, however, talk about yesterday, which was a perfect Maine edge-of-summer day, when I went to Snow Pond Arts Center in Sidney to the Art/Makers Fair.  By myself.  It was a nice show, with a good cross-section of Maine artists — stained glass, handmade jewelry, pottery, photographs, art prints, designer clothes, cat toys (yes, I bought toys for the cats; that’s in the contract), tie-dye, live music . . . spread across three or four lodges on really beautiful camp grounds.

As I was walking from one lodge to another, having recently departed a conversation with a silversmith, it came to me, as a bolt from the blue (or indeed, as something Steve might suggest), that the silversmith might be able to resize Steve’s wedding ring, so that I could wear it.

Now, I have to pause here and explain that my relationship with Steve is rooted in magic; our first letters to each other talk about how Instant Recognition such as we experienced never happens; that as grown-ups we knew this, and so it was with eyes open that we were going forward — trusting magic.

So, I turned around and went back to the silversmith and asked her if she could resize a ring for me.  She allowed as how she could, so I went home, got the ring and went back.  The silversmith thinks she’ll have it ready for me next week.

I had a few errands to dispatch, afterward, in Augusta.  I thought I might actually eat out, but courage failed, so I came home and made myself a hot tuna and cheese sandwich in celebration (no really; hot tuna and cheese is a treat), noodled around the house some, putting things away and talking with the coon cats, and went to bed early, worn out by all the excitement.

Speaking of excitement — see what I did there?

Yes, excitement.

On June 1 — that’s Saturday! — Double Vision drops.  It is an ebook-only edition, for Reasons.  On June 1, it will be available from All of the Usual Suspects (including Baen). If you’re so minded, you may right now preorder from Most of the Usual Suspects (not including Baen).

As if that wasn’t enough excitement — The Uncle is, even as I type, shipping signed copies of Ribbon Dance to those who ordered.  If you want a signed copy, there are still some left, and you can order from the Uncle here.

The Official Release Day for Ribbon Dance is Tuesday, June 4, when hardcover and ebook will be available from All of the Usual Suspects.  You may preorder now from Most of Them.

A word regarding the Ribbon Dance audiobook.  Audible has chosen not to acquire the audio rights (no, I don’t know why; I expect because previous books haven’t made them enough money; that’s usually the reason for these things).  Baen is trying to place it with another audiobook publisher, but as of Right Now, there is NO Ribbon Dance audiobook on your horizon.  I know some people will be disappointed by this.  Trust me, I join you in your disappointment with a nice side helping of terror.

. . . and I think that catches us all up on the Important Things in Life.

Oh, no, I’m wrong.  Have a picture of Trooper, who has helping me write.

 

Books read in 2024

23  Hate Mail, Donna Marchetti (e)
22  Comfort is an Old Barn, Amy Calder
21  Arabella, Georgette Heyer (e) (re-read)
20  The Foundling, Georgette Heyer (e) (possibly I read this once before)
19  Death in the Spires, KJ Charles (e)
18  What Cannot be Said, C.S. Harris (Sebastian St. Cyr #19) (e)
17  The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (e) (re-read)
16  Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison  (e) (re-read)
15  The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (e) (re-re-re-read)*
14  Hen Fever, Olivia Waite (e)
13  Unmasked by the Marquis, Cat Sebastian (e) ( re-read)
12  A Duke in Disguise, Cat Sebastian (e) (reread)
11  Heart of Stone, Johannes T. Evans (e)
10  West with the Night, Beryl Markham (e)
9   A Song to Drown Rivers, Ann Liang (e) (netgalley)
8   Bookstores and Bonedust, Travis Baldree (prequel) (e) (library)
7   We Could Be So Good, Cat Sebastian (e) (library)
6   Thorn Hedge, T. Kingfisher (e) (library)
5   Wild Seed, Octavia M. Butler (e) (library)
4   In Our Stars, Jack Campbell (Doomed Earth #1) (pre-pub) (e)
3   Legends and Lattes, Travis Baldree (e) (library)
2   Heart of the Sun Warrior, Sue Lynn Tan, (Celestial Kingdom #2) (e) (library)
1   This is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (e) (library)

_____
*… I think I may have lost track.  I do know I started several books, and put them aside, because I Just Couldn’t. I stress that it wasn’t Them, it was Me.  I don’t think I actually finished anything before I finally did manage to settle into a re-re-re-&C-read of The Goblin Emperor, so that’s where we’ll pick up the tally.

Books dropping in June, with links!

As you may or may not know, Bob, June is quite the month for Lee and Miller.

On June 1, Double Vision — 29 short works by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee, and Sharon Lee and Steve Miller — will publish.  This is an electronic edition (with some added editorial material) of SRM Publisher, Ltd’s 2009 trade paperback.

Double Vision is available for preorder now from All of the Usual Suspects.  On June 1, it will be available for download from those Same Vendors and also from Baen.com

Here’s a Universal Link, to preorder Double Vision, provided as a courtesy.

As if that weren’t enough good news for the beginning of any month, Ribbon Dance, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the 26th novel in the Liaden Universe® (never mind what Amazon says; Amazon is Incredibly Confused about . . . something), sequel to Trader’s Leap!  publishes in hardcover and in ebook editions on June 4.

Here you have some Buying Decisions to make.  If you would like a signed copy of Ribbon Dance, you may order that from Uncle Hugo’s SF Bookstore, here and now.

If you prefer an unsigned hardcover, or an ebook, you may preorder from your favorite bookstore.  One June 4, Baen.com will join the list of vendors from which the  Ribbon Dance ebook edition may be purchased.

I’m sorry not to be able to provide audiobook enthusiasts with any news of their preferred format.  We’ve been asking — by which I mean Madame the Agent has been asking — but we haven’t received an answer.  As soon as I know anything about an audio edition, be sure that I’ll shout it from the rooftops.

Looking ahead a bit, the Plan B mass market anniversary edition with the awesome new cover by Sam Kennedy will drop on September 24.  It, too, may be preordered from your favorite bookstore.

And that ends today’s segment of Shameless Self-Promotion.  Please feel free to share this widely.