22. Maiden of the Machine, Volume 1, Caitlin Like
21. The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman
20. The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve)
19. City of Whispering Stone, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
18. Allegiance of Honor, Nalini Singh (read aloud with Steve)
17. Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs (e)
16. Who Slays the Wicked, C.S. Harris
15. The Warlock in Spite of Himself, Christopher Stasheff (re-read)
14. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, Lilian Jackson Braun (read aloud with Steve)
13. Wild Ride, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
12. Shadow of a Broken Man, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
11. How Much for Just the Planet?, John M. Ford
10. Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
9. Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
8. Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch
7. The Luckiest Lady in London, Sherry Thomas
6. Release the Virgins, Michael A. Ventrella, editor (read aloud with Steve)
5. Becoming, Michelle Obama
4. Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
3. the unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Ryan North, Erica Henderson
2. Alliance Rising, CJ Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher (read out loud with Steve)
1. A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey (read out loud with Steve)
Category: Blog
Books read in 2019
21. The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman
20. The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve)
19. City of Whispering Stone, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
18. Allegiance of Honor, Nalini Singh (read aloud with Steve)
17. Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs (e)
16. Who Slays the Wicked, C.S. Harris
15. The Warlock in Spite of Himself, Christopher Stasheff (re-read)
14. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, Lilian Jackson Braun (read aloud with Steve)
13. Wild Ride, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
12. Shadow of a Broken Man, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
11. How Much for Just the Planet?, John M. Ford
10. Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
9. Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
8. Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch
7. The Luckiest Lady in London, Sherry Thomas
6. Release the Virgins, Michael A. Ventrella, editor (read aloud with Steve)
5. Becoming, Michelle Obama
4. Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
3. the unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Ryan North, Erica Henderson
2. Alliance Rising, CJ Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher (read out loud with Steve)
1. A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey (read out loud with Steve)
Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume 4 Amazon Links
For those who shop Amazon, know that they do, indeed, have both the paper edition and the electronic edition of Liaden Universe Constellation® Volume Four for sale. They’re just for sale on two different catalog pages, because Amazon.
Hope this helps.
Book Day and Other Stories
Y’all know what today is, right?
Right!
Today is the Official Book Day for Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four, published by Baen Books. For those who are new in the neighborhood, this is be the fourth volume of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s collected Liaden Universe® short works. All stories in this volume has been previously published. The stories included are: Street Cred, Due Diligence, Friend of a Friend, Cutting Corners, Block Party, Degrees of Separation, Excerpts from Two Lives, Revolutionists. The book also includes an Authors’ Foreward.
You may purchase Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four from your favorite bookseller. It is available in trade paper and as an ebook. There is no audiobook edition.
For those who are familiar with the game, and who may be waiting for news of the books you preordered for signature — I have news.
The news is: Four (out of a possible five) cases of Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four are on a UPS truck and out for delivery. They should arrive here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory today. The fifth case has been detained in Chelmsford, Mass., for an address check. The Theory is that it, too, will be delivered today, but I. . .am not sanguine.
In any case, as soon as we have books in-house, Steve and I will grab our signing pens and get busy. Hopefully, we can have the majority of the books back on the road to Uncle Hugo’s in Minneapolis no later than Friday morning.
So, that.
I have been somewhat remiss in updating this blog. To catch us up, quickly, we have been working — still with the proofing of Conflict of Honors — a little better than half-way done, now — words are being written on the still-titleless Next Novel, some of which are replacing words that had already been there, so the whole thing right now feels very much like I’m running the Red Queen’s Race (I say “I” because I am lead on this book). In addition to Standing By on the current WIP, Steve is writing a short story, and also the third Jethri Gobelyn book (no title there, yet, either).
We’ve also been coping with Real Life, as everyone must — health stuff, family stuff, political stuff — y’all know what I’m talking about.
Steve and I did take part in a little hometown activism last weekend, which was Pride Weekend in our town. Part of the festivities included a Drag Queen Story Hour hosted by local bookstore. Some folks became offended by this, and organized a protest — which was fine* — and some other folks organized a counter-protest — a demonstration of love for our local bookstore, support of the story hour and for Pride Weekend. Steve and I were there in support of the bookstore, and mostly, it was good. Tiring, but good. For those interested, here’s a link to the local newspaper’s coverage of the event.
And here’s a picture me getting ready to demonstrate.
. . .and I think that catches us up.
Everybody play nice.
________________________
*Forgot my footnote, to wit! WHAT WAS NOT FINE was that some of the outraged citizens took it upon themselves, pre-event, to harass and threaten the Drag Queen who was scheduled to do the reading to the point where she feared for her safety, and withdrew from the event. Happily, Miss Ophelia was pleased to step in and read to a room that was shoulder-to-shoulder, and that’s with some of the smaller folk sitting on shoulders.
Books read in 2019
20. The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve)
19. City of Whispering Stone, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
18. Allegiance of Honor, Nalini Singh (read aloud with Steve)
17. Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs (e)
16. Who Slays the Wicked, C.S. Harris
15. The Warlock in Spite of Himself, Christopher Stasheff (re-read)
14. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, Lilian Jackson Braun (read aloud with Steve)
13. Wild Ride, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
12. Shadow of a Broken Man, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
11. How Much for Just the Planet?, John M. Ford
10. Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
9. Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
8. Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch
7. The Luckiest Lady in London, Sherry Thomas
6. Release the Virgins, Michael A. Ventrella, editor (read aloud with Steve)
5. Becoming, Michelle Obama
4. Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
3. the unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Ryan North, Erica Henderson
2. Alliance Rising, CJ Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher (read out loud with Steve)
1. A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey (read out loud with Steve)
REVISED News regarding Constellation Four preorders
REVISED NEWS you can use for folks who pre-ordered signed and/or personalized copies of Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four from Uncle Hugo’s!
The books sent out by the warehouse realized that they had been conditioned to do the will of Those Other Than Themselves, and went rogue.
As of this typing, the books have been re-acquired and brought back to a sense of proper unity and purpose.
However! They had strayed quite far from their mandated path before re-acquisition, and will therefore not raise the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory here in Maine until — next Wednesday.
Steve and I apologize for the delay, though as far as I can tell, there wasn’t anything we could have done to be certain it never occurred.
Update: Signed Constellation IVs from Uncle Hugo
News for those who pre-ordered signed and/or personalized copies of Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four from Uncle Hugo’s.
UPS tells us that five cases of this title will land on our doorstep tomorrow, Wednesday, May 29, sometime before 8 pm.
Steve and I will sign and/or personalize these books as quickly as we can without breaking a leg, or a wrist.
When we have finished signing the books, we will put them on a UPS truck to Minneapolis, so the Uncle can take care of the hard part of this transaction: charging credit cards, and packing and shipping books.
We are at this point shooting for Friday as the day we will place the five cases of books on the UPS truck. We would like that; it’s our goal. But it may come about that the books will not leave us until Monday. No later than Monday, though, we promise.
Here ends your news update.
Yet Another Writers’ Day Off
So! Yesterday, Steve and I took off in the rain to see the Very First Waterville Showing of Aladdin. I had such a good time. Yes, I know there’s Controversy. Yes, I’m aware that Will Smith is not Robin Williams*. I still had a great time; I have no fault to find and, yeah, Imma order the DVD. Also, Rajah the Tiger was terrific.
After the movie, we went into Waterville proper and had our first meal at the new Greek restaurant, Opa. Steve had the crabcakes, which he pronounced very good; I had the lamb kokkinsto (pulled lamb in a red sauce seasoned with garlic and cinnamon on a bed of orzo), which was excellent.
Replete, we wandered down Main Street, stopping to talk with our friend Ellen at Children’s Book Cellar and review the plans for the Drag Queen Story Hour next Saturday, and sought her advice regarding the upcoming International Film Festival (held in Waterville annually).
Then, we wandered back up the street, got the car, hit the grocery story for weekend supplies and came home, where we hung pictures in the dining room. Yes, yes; it’s taking us awhile to hang the pictures, but we’re getting there.
Today is gloriously sunny, and the weatherbeans are calling for a high of 74F/23C. I have all the windows open in my office. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my office?
Lest you think that the only thing we’re doing around here is taking day’s off, I report today’s to-do list, which includes!
- One hour proofing Conflict of Honors mass market anniversary edition. Which is not as easy as you might think. Our experience proofing Agent of Change for it’s anniversary edition revealed, um, Some Number of Errors which had come through from the time, long ago, when We gave the electronic files from Embiid to Arnold of Fond Memory, who then stripped out the existing coding, and recoded, automagically. So! We’re proofing Conflict against the Meisha Merlin and the Del Rey editions. Which means I (1) read the chapter in the MM edition; (2) go through that chapter in the pages provided by Baen, correcting any errors, and (3) if there’s a conflict, the Del Rey edition is the tie-breaker. Yeah, it’s taking some time. But the corrections aren’t due until July, so we have time.
- Figure out where the pieces Steve has given me back actually go in the current novel WIP, and putting them there.
- Writing the next scene in said novel WIP.
- Deadhead the geranium.
- Try on corset to test The Look for next week’s story hour.
Also! For those who missed the news, you may now purchase Fortune’s Favors: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 28 AND Shout of Honor: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 29 in ebook format from your favorite online vendors including Baen, Kobo, BN, Amazon; and in paper format from Amazon only.
. . . and I think that gets us all caught up again.
Everybody have a good weekend!
___________________
*I was 40 when the animated Disney Aladdin came out, so I did not fixate on Robin Williams as the One True Genie before whom all others must be inadequate. Truth told, he was a little too too for me, but that was often my experience of Robin Williams.
Books Read in 2019
19. City of Whispering Stone, George C. Ghesbro (read aloud with Steve)
18. Allegiance of Honor, Nalini Singh (read aloud with Steve)
17. Storm Cursed, Patricia Briggs (e)
16. Who Slays the Wicked, C.S. Harris
15. The Warlock in Spite of Himself, Christopher Stasheff (re-read)
14. The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal, Lilian Jackson Braun (read aloud with Steve)
13. Wild Ride, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
12. Shadow of a Broken Man, George C. Chesbro (read aloud with Steve)
11. How Much for Just the Planet?, John M. Ford
10. Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
9. Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik
8. Lies Sleeping, Ben Aaronovitch
7. The Luckiest Lady in London, Sherry Thomas
6. Release the Virgins, Michael A. Ventrella, editor (read aloud with Steve)
5. Becoming, Michelle Obama
4. Agnes and the Hitman, Jennifer Crusie & Bob Mayer (read aloud with Steve; re-read for me; first read for him)
3. the unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Ryan North, Erica Henderson
2. Alliance Rising, CJ Cherryh & Jane S. Fancher (read out loud with Steve)
1. A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey (read out loud with Steve)
Writers’ Day Off Thursday Edition
So, yesterday, the sun was out, and was predicted to stay out all day.
We therefore packed up some drinks, threw ice and yeti freeze-blocks into the big ice chest, made sure we had our cameras in our bags, and escaped into the day.
We stopped for breakfast at IHOP in Augusta, then headed south. We hit Old Orchard Beach at the peak of high tide; walked the beach, took some pictures, and were very comfortable in our winter jackets and woolly hats.
Though the Original Plan had not been to spend the whole day away, that pretty much went out the window before we’d even finished breakfast. A whole day of sunshine ahead of us, with no emails to answer, or work to do? Far too alluring to put aside.
We therefore drove souther, to York Beach, where we stopped short of Long Sands Beach to take pictures of the two lighthouses we could see in the distance, and a pod of ducks playing in the breakers.
The ducks were hard to get a good picture of (yeah, no kidding), but they were hysterical to watch. The whole pod of them would be bobbing along, and then one would look over its head, discover a breaker, and apparently yell, in Duck, “Oh, no! We’re gonna get wet!” whereupon the entire pod would dive beneath the wave and resurface — one, two-three, four, five….six-seven-eight — and bob along happily until the next breaker started to foam, and they’d do their thing again.
So, ducks are hard — everybody knows that. What was surprising is that the lighthouses were hard to photograph. While the sun was busily beating down on us on the sidewalk by Route 1, out there in the ocean, it was seriously misty.
Eventually, after having a nice chat about the glorious day with a couple who were walking their dogs — and making friends with said dogs — we got back in the car, headed for Long Sands Beach (this being, as I’ve always thought, having been early spoilt by the beaches of Maryland and New Jersey, an Exercise in Irony), but! I saw a sign by the side of the road, and the sign said:
TO THE NUBBLE
————————->
“Quick!” I said to Steve, “turn right!”
Turn right he did and we followed a road lined on both sides by, ahem, Seaside Cottages, until the road ran out at Sohier Park, and there, in all its beautiousness, was Cape Neddick Lighthouse, which everyone calls The Nubble, to the point that people have forgotten its proper name entirely.
Here, have a picture of The Nubble.
We spent a loooong time at Sohier Park, taking pictures, sitting on the benches and soaking up the rays (warm and sunny in the park; no need for winter coats, at all).
After awhile, I said to Steve that I was going to walk to the other side of the park to see if the gift shop had lighthouse stamps. I happened to have my Lighthouse Passport with me (don’t leave home without it!), and, after a moment’s rummaging about, Steve found his in his camera bag.
So, we both got our passports stamped for The Nubble and! for Boon Island Light, which you can sorta see from York Beach. Sorta. That’s pretty good, given the Season hasn’t opened yet.
We bought souvenirs (a Nubble Light lapel pin to join my collection of lapel pins; Steve got a Nubble Light ball cap), and eventually went out again into the day, to mooch around the park a little more, and finally drive back down into town.
From York, we went to Ogunquit, and stopped at the Maine Diner in Wells for supper. Steve had the not-Maryland-style-crabcake; I had the chicken pot pie. It was all good, though I found myself kind faunching after the lunch being consumed at the table next to us, which consisted of: a rootbeer float, a bowl of split pea and ham soup, and a slice of apple pie with ice cream. I *really* want a rootbeer float now, but all we have in-house is “hard” rootbeer, which, yanno? It could work.
Anyhow, we eventually wound up at Trader Joe’s (yes, again); took on supplies, including some frozen things (see ice chest and yeti cooler-blocks, above), and came home the fast way, insofar as there is a fast way, there to unpack, and view our photos on the day, then to the evening meal, a glass of wine and bed.
Today, it is raining. I’m doing the laundry, after this blog post is finished, I’ll be opening up the WIP. We also have in house the galleys for the new mass market edition of Conflict of Honors, to be published by Baen in October and! the list of people who pre-ordered a signed copy of Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four from Uncle Hugo’s SF Bookstore. We don’t have the books yet, but as soon as they get here, we will leap — yes, leap! — into action!
For our next Writers’ Day Off, I’m thinking of viewing Aladdin next Friday at the local theater. That might be pleasant.
In the meantime, as above, it’s back to work.
Here, have another picture of The Nubble to warm you up.
