Category: Blog

Books read in 2017

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)

Yes, I know

Helpful people can stop writing to me to explain that Due Diligence has not yet published to the Baen website.  It will appear there eventually and it’s not really worth getting your t-shirts in a twist over.

SO!

Let’s play a new game.

Why not write to me when Due Diligence is available on the Baen website?  That way, those who like to check back often can continue to do so, and I don’t have to open a whole buncha emails telling me the same thing, of which I am already informed.  Win-Win, as they say.

Everyone on for the new rules?

Cool.

Go!

Moving right along

OK!  Due Diligence: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 24 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is available from most on-line retailers, and is publishing to the rest.  It was, for a couple days, a Number One Amazon Bestseller, and has fallen today to Number Three.  It has also garnered a surprising number of reviews —  thanks to everyone who has taken the time!

Those who are just arriving at the party — there’s room for your review, too; if you are so moved.

Because there were So Very Many requests, Due Diligence will also, soon now, be available in paper, from Amazon.  The reason it will not be available REALsoonnow, is that I made an error and have to fix it, as soon as Amazon stops doing something else that Amazon is doing with the file.  O! Brave New World, that hath such golems in it!

In other news, there’s a small army of ducks between me and the work I really need to be doing, here, and the coon cats are not really much into duck hunting.  Their advice is to curl up on the couch with a book and let the coon cats camouflage me as a Big Pile of Coon Cats.  This is, I note, often their advice.

And that?  Is all the news that’s fit to print.

. . .I do believe that I need more coffee. . .

 

Watch the Skies!

Due Diligence: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 24 has been published to the Usual Suspects (including but not limited to: Baen ebooks, Kobo, BN, Apple, Amazon) and will be available for sale as the Various Ghods of Indie Publishing will.

Novella “Due Diligence” is Lee & Miller’s 81st fiction collaboration.

Here’s the teaser:

When Clan Korval knows your name. . .

Abandoned on a strange port by a scam gone bad, his license to pilot rescinded, and his pockets very much to let, Fer Gun pen’Uldra was teetering between trouble, more trouble, and bad trouble. Cornered in a cheap bar by a too-knowledgeable stranger with an unlikely offer, Fer Gun realized having no money and no license might be the least of his troubles. Clan Korval knew his name and that proposal was hard to refuse. . .

And, just to refresh your memory, the cover:

 

Low rider don’t use no gas, now Low rider don’t drive too fast

Unrestful sleep full of the horrors of free hotel breakfasts (is it me or is there less and less food at free hotel breakfasts?  Some of them have a big crockpot of oatmeal, and that’s fine; I can get by on a bowl of oatmeal.  But others. . .Gah.  Picky eater is picky.), interleaved with a roll call of absent friends.  Not sure who elected these the topics of the evening, but the result is a head full of sticky thoughts this morning.

Well.  There’s more coffee where this cup came from.

So, today’s to-do list:

  1.  Drink more coffee
  2. Edit last night’s pages
  3. Edit Due Diligence
  4. Write teaser copy for Due Diligence
  5. Write more words for Fifth of Five
  6. Consider questions to put to the panelists of Writing the Series (How do you plan out a multi-books series?  Well, there’s one question right there — free from Programming.).
  7. Print out Characterization Rant and practice on Belle (don’t laugh; Belle’s a tough audience.  For one thing, she doesn’t care about writing or characters.).  Belle’s busy right now; she’ll get back to me when her schedule’s clear.
  8. Enpurple hair
  9. Meditate

. . .that’s enough.

Today’s blog post brought to you by War, “Low Rider.”  Here’s your link.

Oh.  Yesterday, I did build a cover for Due Diligence.  Have a look:

“That’s an extra-size lot of respectability you’re wanting,” he pointed out.  “I did say we’re a House full of scoundrels.”

“You did.  But I’ve no objection to scoundrels, being one myself.”

Sandy, that waitress I was seein’ lost her desire for me

So, it’s been an odd couple of days, with all the simple things going awry, but, thank goodness, none of the big things.

This morning, we got to Charlie’s Subaru before the crew did — 15 minutes early for a 7:30 am appointment. Skylark, which has 4,600 miles on it, got his 6,000 miles/6 month oil change, tire rotation and systems checks.  All good, which was a relief, if not particularly a surprise, and we’re on for driving to Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Binghamton, and points wherever else in a couple weeks’ time.

After Charlie’s got done with us, we went crosstown for breakfast at Lisa’s, and then, reasoning that the coast was going to be a Total Zoo, set off up-country (which would be north, to you) on the Big Road, so as to (1) get me some practice driving the Big Roads (my default is the mid-road, if there is one), and (2) not go home immediately.  We stopped at the overlook and tried to say hello to Mount Katahdin, but it was being shy today, hiding under a mantle of clouds.

We continued north and got off at Benedicta (town motto, To Work is to Pray; population 314), drove through town to Sherman, where we found the ramp to the expressway going south, and took advantage of it.

A stop for lunch and home again, to wage war on the ants, and also to dust and vacuum the inside of the car.  Car wash is on the list, and we need more bug juice for the windshield cleaner.

While we were on the road the blue striped Russian sailor shirt arrived from Peterman, and it’s gorgeous.  I’m torn between being sorry I waited so very long to buy it, and being delighted that, when I did buy it, it did prove to be splendid.

Speaking of clothes, I found my red hat, which was covered in cat fur (strange).  I have brushed it off, and it, too, is ready for a road trip.

I was going to work this evening, but that kind of got kicked sideways, so tomorrow is a no-internet, all work, all day, sorta day.

And I think that catches us up. Everybody have a terrific weekend.

Today’s blog post brought to you by Bruce Springsteen, “4th of July, Asbury Park”.  Here’s your link.

 

Lee and Miller’s Confluence Schedules Revealed!

AsyouknowBob, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller will be Writer Guests of Honor at Confluence, in Pittsburgh, August 4, 5, 6.

Here’s your link to Steve’s schedule.

Here’s your link to Sharon’s schedule.

Here’s your link to the Master Schedule.

Here’s your link to the con’s front page.

You will notice that there is a Friends of Liad breakfast scheduled for Sunday at 8:30 am in the hotel restaurant.  Despite being scheduled, this is not a convention-funded event.  It is what we called in my youth Dutch Treat, with every attendee (including Steve and me) ordering, and paying for, their own breakfast and tip.  Steve and I try to host a FoL breakfast at every con we go to, whether we GoHs, panelists, or convention members.  The Friends of Liad breakfast is. . .Well, it’s most like an extended family getting together to share a meal, and news, and memories.

The Teddy Bear Tea, now, scheduled for 4:30 pm on Saturday, is a convention event.  We try to have a Teddy Bear Tea at every convention where we’re GoHs, ever since it came to our attention that many fans (including Steve and me) travel with plush friends.  Sadly, though, the plushies often don’t get out to the larger convention.  So, the Teddy Bear Tea is event for the plushies to come out and socialize, while their human friends chat, and sip tea, and perhaps share the histories of their plushies.  The Teddy Bear Tea is open to all plushies and their friends.

Can we get a show of hands?  Who’s coming to Confluence?

*raises hand*

Eeeee!

Just made reservations for three nights at Niagara Falls.

This is Going to Happen!

Eeeee!

Moving on now to Binghamton.

Local-to-Binghamton NY folks:  Why is there no Carousel Tour?  Why is there no Carousel Package offered by any of the local hotels?  Golf packages — eh.  You can take your golf packages and pitch  ’em straight outta Broome County for all o’me.  A carousel package, now? You got my interest.

And now with all that excitement out of the way. . .

Time to go to work.

Well we laid a strip for the Jersey shore, and prepared to cross the line

So this is Rockin’ Chair Day for those of us here in the US; the “regular day” sandwiched between a Sunday and a Major Holiday.  Rockin’ Chair Day is difficult for those of us who as a rule work on most Sundays and Major Holidays, because we are Free From the Constraints of a Day-Job. (And to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have most of the things they’re calling “day-jobs” nowadays, since they mostly seem to embrace all of the working on Sundays and Major Holidays of the freelance life without the freedom to tell your boss what you think of them.  But I digress.)

So, anyway, here we are, on the one day with mail delivery out of three, and we’re waiting for two checks. Spoiler: neither one arrived.  However, we did receive, by way of a pleasant surprise, our authors’ copies of The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 3.

In other news, Liaden Universe® short “Due Diligence” is completed in, um, fourth draft and has passed from being a long novelette (at 17,400 words) to a mid-weight novella (at 22,000 words)*.  It will now sit for a week to cool before the last pass.  If all goes well, it will be published as an eChapbook before Steve and I head out to Confluence at the end of July.

The story being off my case means I can return my whole attention to Fifth of Five, and —

What’s that?  Why did I stop to write a short story (well, it was supposed to have been a short story) when I should have been writing a novel?

Short answer:  It was in the way.

Slightly longer answer: Sometimes writers forget how to write, and they need to take up a short — note that I do not say easy — project in order to relearn the skill.

The ants made a follow-up excursion into the kitchen this afternoon, but their  hearts weren’t really in it.  It was a short, victorious battle for our side.  We remain vigilant.

And I think that’s it for the day.

If you celebrate Independence Day, enjoy!

______
The progression of works, according to SFWA is this:
Novel: 40,000 words +
Novella: 17,500 – 39,999 words
Novelette: 7,500 – 17,499 words
Short Story: less than 7,500 words

Today’s blog post title brought to you by CW McCall, “Convoy.”  Here’s your link.