Category: Blog

In which Rolanni sums up

Oh, let’s see. . .

On Friday, Steve took his car, Argent, the 2002 silver Forester, to the shop to “get a sticker” as we say here in Maine.  Except, Argent did not get a sticker this year, and the reason is two words: Salt Rot, which has eaten through the underside of the chassis and perhaps the gas tank itself.  Steve will be taking Argent for a second opinion next week, but right now it’s looking like Argent’s days are numbered, indeed.

Yesterday, we went down south to look at houses.  Six houses, three-and-a-half hours.  I was Completely Exhausted by the end of it, and in awe of our real estate agent’s patience and fortitude.  Also, we did not find our dream house.

We did come home to find money in the mail:  royalty checks from our essay in Dragonwriter:  A Tribute to Anne McCaffrey and Pern. My half will cover the purchase of a new corn broom; Steve says he’s using his to buy a lobster dinner.

I may have been remiss in mentioning that the galleys for A Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume 3 arrived on Friday.  I proofed the first story this morning.

Tomorrow morning, Chapter Two of Shan and Priscilla Ride Again will be posted to Splinter Universe.  If you haven’t been following along, two outtake chapters, the prologue, and Chapter One, are all awaiting you.  You can start here.

If you haven’t seen this posted elsewhere:  Cheyenne Wright is the colorist for Girl Genius since Volume Five, and his work really brings the art to life.  Cheyenne and his family have also been mired in the Compleat Stupidity that has been 2015 thus far, and he is reaching out for help. If you’re so motivated, and you’re able, please do what you can.  Here’s the link.

Tomorrow, I have an appointment with the radiology department of my local hospital, so I may be somewhat scarce.

Work is still going forth on Alliance of Equals.

. . .and that catches us all up.

Except for Trooper.

Here, have a picture of Trooper.

Isn't he elegant?
Isn’t he elegant?

Yes, and back again

REMINDER!

If you want a signed and personalized copy of Dragon in Exile by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, you’re about out of time.  May 1, 2015 — that’s next Friday! — is the deadline for ordering your very own personalized copy of the first Baen hardcover printing.

Here’s your link to pre-order personalized and/or signed copies of Dragon in Exile from Uncle Hugo’s SF Bookstore

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Tomorrow, we’re heading south to inspect houses. There are six on the list, which seems like a very full day to me.  On the other hand, the Southern Prospect is two hours/115 miles from the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory, so it’s not like we can slide down there every time a house looks interesting.

At this point in the proceedings, most of the Imagination Work is falling to Steve.  I’m exhausted with Imagining, and the realities of knowing how impossible it is for a couple of indigent scifi writers to buy a house are weighing on me like rocks in my pockets, pinning me down on the road to Fairyland.

Now, you might think that Imagination has nothing at all to do with shifting houses.  It may seem to you to be a straightforward matter of budgets and cash flow and other practical things, and in general, I’m guessing, you would be right.  However, if we were ruled by budgets and cash flows and other practical matters, we would have chosen to be actuaries, or gone into sales, or stuck with writing ad copy for a living.  Everything we have ever done in our entire lives together have been Epic and Foolhardy Acts of Imagination, from marrying our libraries and our cats together, to moving to Maine, to making a career as writers, to, indeed, purchasing, and keeping, the house we now live in.

Well.

For today, what Imagination I have will be focused on Alliance of Equals, which Steve read yesterday (insofar as it exists, which is not quite, perhaps, the penultimate draft).  The backbrain has graciously forked over with four scenes and a possible wrap-up.  By such small steps do we proceed until one morning we wake up and there’s nothing left to do.

What’re y’all doing that’s fun this weekend?

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Oops. Forgot.

Today’s blog title brought to you by:

How many miles to Babylon?
Three score and ten.
Can I get there by candle-light?
Yes, and back again.
If your heels are nimble and light,
You may get there by candle-light.

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Scrabble
Scrabble

Sad Things I Read Today

In 1998 I was on a jury of three choosing a literary prize.  From 104 novels, we selected a winner and four books for the shortlist, arriving at consensus with unusual ease and unanimity.  We were three women, and the books we chose were all written by women.  The eldest and wisest of us said, Ouch!  If a jury of women picks only women finalists, people will call us a feminist cabal and dismiss our choices as prejudiced, and the winning book will suffer for it.

 I said, But if we were men and picked all books by men, nobody would say a damn thing about it.

True, said our Wise Woman, but we want our winner to have credibility, and the only way three women can have credibility as a jury is to have some men on the short list.

Against my heart and will, I agreed.  And so two women who should have been there got bumped from our shortlist, and the two men whose books we had placed sixth and seventh got on it.

— Ursula K. LeGuin, “Award and Gender,” The Wave in the Mind, Shambhala Press, 2004

* * *

That moment when you wonder what you would write, if you weren’t afraid.

— A tweet that flipped past on my feed. If its yours and you want to own it, let me know, and I’ll append your name

In which it’s Tuesday and there is no mail

. . .I hate it when the mailman gives us a miss. Even when the mail is just catalogs, at least we’ve gotten something.  Not finding any mail in the box leaves me wrong-footed on the day, somehow.

So, a rambling kind of post while the backbrain gets on the case.  I need, let’s see. . .six? seven? scenes, a climax, a denouement, and a wrap up.  Is that so hard?  Oh, and a cast of characters.  If the backbrain isn’t forking over, yet, on the Actual Writing Front, I can edit the working lexicon down to a reasonable list.  Thirty-five hundred words is probably a little long in the dramatis personae business.  Do you guys like your Players List in the front of the book or the back?

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped in the various fundraising efforts we’re presently undertaking, whether by subscribing to our Patreon account, supporting Splinter Universe, or directly supporting us, through PayPal, and by check.  You guys are amazingly kind and we are humbled by your generosity.  . . .Please note that I speak here for myself and for Steve.  The cats aren’t really on top of the whole Where Crunchies Come From thing; they leave that sort of thing to Staff.

Weather-wise, we’re into our second day of rain, here in Central Maine, and the snow is, for all useful purposes, gone.  As far as my eye can see, there is mud, and last year’s brown grasses, and bare, grey trees.  We look to have lost three buffer evergreens over the winter.  Some of the maples are pushing out buds; can’t really tell about the birches, or the ash.  Well.  A few weeks will tell.  Meanwhile, the daffodils are making a valiant effort to rise tall and get the trumpets out.  I fear me this will be one of those seasons when they give their all, but fall short of a win.  Hopefully, they’ll prove me wrong.

Given that the snow is now gone, we can see, among the dead grass, the Trash of Winter, which means that, if it ever stops raining, we’ll be able to go outside and stamp around the property, picking up soda/beer cans, shreds of blue tarp, old paper bags, the occasional whiskey bottle, and who knows what else.  The process by which trash gets under ten feet of snow is a mystery to me. A friend suggests that it’s put there by snowmen, who are pissed off by humans sticking carrots  in the middle of their faces.

Makes as much sense as anything else.

One of the results of having been stupidly ill for ‘way too long back around the winter holidays, was that I lost 10 pounds.  Now that it’s been a number of months since I regained my health, and I haven’t regained the weight, I’ve gotten ambitious.  I like being. . .less close to 200 pounds, and would like to widen the distance by another 10 pounds, if possible.  I can’t say I much care for the method by which I shed the first 10, though, and, as someone who was very thin for most of her adult life (insert Ironic Theme here), I don’t actually know how to go about dieting.  I would go to the gym and exercise and walk in order to keep flexible and strong, but as far as I’ve ever been told exercise isn’t really an effective way to lose weight.  For now, I’m just making a conscious effort to Eat Less Food (which is tough, because, having also been, ah. . .cash challenged. . .for most of my adult life, “wasting” food is a big no-no).  Now that Winter is Out and Mud is In, I’ll be able to get walking again, which will be a relief all around, and I guess if all I do is not backslide those 10 pounds, then I’m that much to the good.

And now?  Time to get back to the backbrain.

See you on the flipside.

Sprite, on Author Assist
Sprite, on Author Assist

In which Lee and Miller still do not allow fanfic of their work

We have said this many, many times in the past; and I’m kind of sick of the whole topic, but apparently we have to renew our stance on Liaden (and other Lee-and-Miller and Lee and Miller) fanfic every so often because the wiki entry where we’re supposed to listed among those authors who do not sanction fanfic of their work, I dunno, disappears from the web?  Or people think we’ll change our minds and stop being so mean?  Ot they just don’t care what stupid authors say? or. . .something.

So!  No — that’s NO, the opposite of yes — we do not sanction fanfic of our work.  Don’t do it.

Thank you.

The fine print:  Yes, I do realize that I can’t stop you from doing whatever the hell you want to do, that the pie is large, the author got it wrong and, and, and…As I’ve said, we’ve been ’round this barn more than once, I’ve heard the reasons and the justifications.  I do think, however, that, if you really, really really love an author’s work so much that you can’t stop thinking about their characters and their world, you could respect the author’s wishes with regard to that work.

And if you can’t do that, then I really think less of you.

Comments are closed.

 

Books read in 2015

13.  Chanur’s Legacy, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
12.  Chanur’s Homecoming, C.J. Cherryh  (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
11.  The Kif Strike Back, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
10.  Why Kings Confess, C.S. Harris
9.  Chanur’s Venture, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve) (Note:  the publisher’s note at the end of the book states that the next-in-series is Chanur’s Revenge. This is false. The next-in-series is The Kif Strike Back.)
8.  Angels’ Blood, Nalini Singh (read out loud with Steve)
7.  The Pride of Chanur, C.J. Cherryh (re-read, read out loud with Steve)
6.  What Darkness Brings, C.S. Harris
5. When Maidens Mourn, C.S. Harris
4.  Where Shadows Dance, C.S. Harris
3.  What Remains of Heaven, C.S. Harris
2.  Where Serpents Sleep, C.S. Harris
1.  When Gods Die, C.S. Harris

All the poor soldiers are weary

In which several points are addressed, in no particular order, and with no particular connection.

1.  Have you pre-ordered your signed/personalized copy of Dragon in Exile from Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore yet?  Time’s a-wastin’.  Here’s a link to background and instructions.

2.  Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are writers.  We are published by Baen Books. We are not horses, and we are not in “Baen’s Stable.”  You may think it means “all of the writers who are published by Baen” — and you would be wrong.  A human stable is understood to mean a group of people who have been trained, or who work for, a particular team or organization. Writers are trained by many, and they are self-employed.

3.  Pursuant to 2, above, we have nothing to say (and have therefore said nothing) on the topics of sick and unhappy canines, as they have Nothing to do With Us.  Sadly, some. . .outraged persons who are unable to make fine distinctions, have decided to make Grand Gestures, such as refusing to review all Baen Books, because they feel that Baen Books is the architect of the present silly shenanigans of a few. . . very loud authors.  If you see fewer reviews of our work, this may be the reason why.

4.  There is apparently more than enough Stupid to go around.  This does not mean you have to take a handful of Stupid out of the box when it comes to you.

5.  Eric Flint has written a cogent and sane piece about awards, and, coincidentally, the history of the SF/F genre, and the SF community.  It is the long view from someone who has been in the field for longer than five years, and who has taken the time to understand the field, and the community.  Well worth a read.  It is a lengthy essay, but take it in shifts, if you need to.  Here’s your link.

6.  Yes, Korval’s Game has been out of print for about a year.  How clever of you to notice!  The good news is that it’s being reprinted by Baen this month, and should be available soon.  Now!  It used to be that the distributors would let indie bookstores know when a backordered book was reprinted, but apparently they don’t do that, anymore.  So — if you would share this happy news with your favorite indie bookstore, the next time you’re in, you’d be doing everyone a good turn.

7.  Today’s blog title comes from “The Banks of Sicily.”  Here’s one link     AND!  Here’s another

Sooper Trooper rockin' the red basket
Sooper Trooper rockin’ the red basket

In which boxes are packed

Ten boxes of Writerly Stuff will leave the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory tomorrow bound via UPS for the Northern Illinois University Library archives.  I’m feeling slightly conflicted about this, but mostly happy that I don’t have to schlepp those ten boxes of Stuff to a new house.

The packing of boxes has allowed me to learn that Spite is not at all terrified by the tape gun, as Mozart was.  She slept through the whole packing operation.

So, that.

Thanks to everyone who found Old Liaden FAQs on the Wayback Machine.  That will be a big help.

I have been receiving Worried Emails from folks who wonder “how” Alliance of Equals “is going.”

Short answer:  It’s going.

Longer answer:  After the long illness Steve and I enjoyed after PhilCon, we returned to Alliance to find that it, too, wanted to be written in Chunks.  I am not, myself, a fan of the Chunk Method of writing novels.  However, it has certainly been done, is being done, and will doubtless be done again.

Among its many other character flaws, the Chunk Method makes it very difficult to know how much work has been done; how much remains to be done; and how to quantify any of that to people who are not me, or possibly Steve.

So, while it looks like I’ve Totally Spaced the fact that we have a book due at the end of May; the real fact is that work is going forth.  Messy, tedious work, but — work, nonetheless.

For the last couple of days, for instance, I’ve been busying myself taking one scene from Chunk A, one scene from Chunk B, and one scene from Chunk C and braiding them together.  I hope to finish the braiding of all available scenes today, and therefore achieve some idea of where we actually are, in terms of story geography.

See?  This is why I prefer to write linearly.

. . .which reminds me that I may have failed to mention here that “Chimera,” a Liaden short story (actually, a Liaden novelette) has been submitted to Baen.  If all goes according to plan, it will be published on the front page at Baen.com in mid-May.  For the curious, “Chimera” was written linearly.

Also!  PSA.

Yesterday, I had an appointment with my doctor, which has resulted in a second appointment, in a couple weeks, at the hospital lab.  I am not Terrifically Happy about this, especially given the various choices of outcome cited as probable.  This means that I will possibly be even more short-tempered and sarcastic than usual.  Consider this your Fair Warning not to poke the author.

And now…Steve has made us a lovely lunch, which I will in a moment partake of, and afterward get back to work on the braiding.

Hope everybody’s having a lovely Wednesday.