Category: Publishing

Cover Reveal and Belle’s Birthday

All righty, then!

As previously reported, work is going forth on Change State:  Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 32.  As of Right Now, the compiled book is out to volunteer proofreaders.  We hope to have the book up for preorder by the end of next week, with a release date of March 15.

In the meantime, we have a cover!

Also of note:  Today is the natal day of Kelimcoons Belle of the Ball, aka “Belle,” aka “Mom.”  She is eleven years old.  The cats celebrated on the overnight in the Traditional Style, with competitive door-banging, hall races, and a yodeling contest.

Here’s a picture of Belle, napping the nap of the Thoroughly Feted.

. . .and hoping you’re the same.

Boskone, MarsCon, and a question from the mailbag

So Boskone was fun; it was good to see new and familiar faces.  I’m still not entirely comfortable with the interface, but I figure that’ll come, as I get out and about more.

Speaking of getting out and about, Steve and I will be participating in MarsCon (the one based in Minneapolis), which is being held online March 12-14.  Here’s your link.  Hope to see you there!

Work is going forth on Change State:  Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number Thirty-Two, which will include original novella “Dead Men Dream,” and reprint “Command Decision.”

In other news, I am in receipt of an electric letter from a reader, stating a need for a Liaden dictionary and language books, in order to “show” Klingon speakers.  I can’t actually tell if this is in earnest, so I’ll do my correspondent the honor of assuming that it is.

As I understand the matter, Klingon is actually a language.  One can translate one (or several) of Shakespeare’s plays into Klingon, and read it, in Klingon.  Like, say, you might translate one of Shakespeare’s plays into Spanish, or German.

I would be personally surprised is there are 50 words in the Liaden “language.”  Well, here, count them yourself.  Certainly, it has no grammar, or use-rules.  That so many people — for my recent correspondent is not the first to suggest, nay, insist on this point — are convinced that Steve and I have developed an entire language which is the equal of Klingon is a tribute to our world-building, and the strength of the characters’ convictions, but really, truly, honestly:  There is no Liaden language, except in our shared imagination.

It snowed here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory today, which Trooper and Sprite celebrated thusly:

 

 

Trader’s Leap is shipping and! Ambient Conditions Update

Don Blyly at Uncle Hugos Bookstore is working from home after his store was burnt out.  He tells us that the exclusive to the Uncles signed-via-tipped-in-sheets Trader’s Leap, the twenty-third novel of the Liaden Universe® by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, has arrived and is being shipped as he has time — he’s already packed some Canadian orders as well as a bunch of US orders.

The official publication date for Leap is December 1, but since Baen doesn’t usually embargo books (and Don’s house can only hold so many books) he’s going ahead now. He mentions that he has more than enough for the 150 or so pre-orders, and he’ll ship new orders first-come basis after the pre-orders are done.  If you haven’t yet ordered your signed edition of Trader’s Leap, now is the hour.  Here’s your link.

In other news, I have pushed the button to start the publication process of the paper edition of Ambient Conditions:  Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 31 (yes, written by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller). It can take as long as 72 hours for print editions to make it through Amazon’s system, so patience is still in order.  I will post a buy link as soon as there is one.

The ebook edition of Ambient Conditions is still set to publish on November 27.

And that’s this morning’s news.

Liaden Universe® Dance Card, November and December 2020

Confused by all the extra busyness surrounding the Liaden Universe® and Things Lee and Miller lately?

Yeah, me too.

What we need?  Is a Numbered List.  So!

1   Uncle Hugo’s is offering signed copies of the hardcover edition of Trader’s Leap, the 23rd novel set in the Liaden Universe® created and authored by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.  You may preorder by clicking this link.

1a  You may also preorder (unsigned copies of) Trader’s Leap from your favorite bookstore, but!  you may not preorder the ebook.  This is the way it always is.  The ebook edition will be available for download on publication day: December 1, 2020.

2   Offworld Designs is having a sale!  50% off Liaden shirts and t-shirts.  The prices on the catalog page are already marked down, so you know what you’re spending before you get to the checkout.  You can take advantage of the sale by clicking this link.

3   Baen books is having a sale on Liaden ebooks.  Go the ebook vendor of your choice (including Baen.com) and fill in any holes you may have in your Liaden Universe® ebook collection.  See the promo for this event by clicking this link.

4  The mass market edition of Accepting the Lance, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the 22nd Liaden Universe® novel, was published on October 27, and is available from your favorite bookstore.

5   The Wrong Lance, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, being the false start to the novel that became Accepting the Lance was also published on October 27, and is available at your favorite ebook vendor.

6   The paper copy of The Wrong Lance is available only from Amazon.  You may purchase it by clicking this link.

7   Ambient Conditions: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 31 is now available for pre-order from Amazon, Apple, and Kobo (other vendors will be along shortly, so keep checking in at your favorite ebookstore).  This chapbook will publish on November 27.  It includes reprint “A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom,” title story “Ambient Conditions,” original to this book, and an authors’ foreword.

7a  Ambient Conditions will be available from Baen on its publication date, November 27.

7b  The paper edition of Ambient Conditions will be available on or near November 27 from Amazon, only.

8   A new splinter has been posted to splinteruniverse.com:  “Cheese it, the cops!”  You may read the splinter by clicking this link.

9   Lee and Miller will be reading from Trader’s Leap and talking trash in a virtual event being held by Mysterious Galaxy on December 2 at 7 pm.  You must sign up for this event beforehand.  Instructions may be found at this link.  Do remember that Mysterious Galaxy keeps Pacific Time.  7 pm PT is 10 pm Eastern Time.  Plan accordingly.

10  “Preferred Seating,” a story in support of Trader’s Leap, will automagically appear at Baen.com in mid-November.  This story will be free for everyone to read.

Phew.  I think that’s everything.  Please feel free to point friends who may also be confused to this blog post.

 

We’re back!

There was a database catastrophe at our web hosting facility, which brought down sharonleewriter.com, splinteruniverse.com, and pinbeambooks.com for a few days.  We are back now, and in catch-up mode.

So, let’s catch up!

1  The Wrong Lance, Splinter Universe Presents, Volume 2 has been compiled into an ebook and is available for preorder from The Usual Suspects.  Here’s a so-called “universal” link.  Here’s the link for the Kindle edition.

1a  YES, the ebook will be available from Baen, but not until Release Day.  Baen does not have the ability to take pre-orders for Pinbeam Books (the Lee&Miller Publishing Arm)

1b  YES, there will be a paper book, but not until (or a little before or after).  Amazon is our source for paper books, and Amazon has not so far been able to figure out how to allow people to pre-order paper books

1c  If you want to talk about The Wrong Lance with other readers, a discussion area has been created for you, here

2  The eARC of Trader’s Leap, the 23rd novel in the Liaden Universe® created and authored by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is now available for download.  Here’s your link

2a  If you’d like to read a sample of Trader’s Leap, that starts here

3  You may preorder a signed (not personalized) copy of the Trader’s Leap hardcover from Uncle Hugo’s SF Bookstore.  Here’s your link

3a  For those who have not heard the news, Uncles Hugo and Edgar were lost to the Minneapolis riots.  The owner, Mr. Blyly (aka the Uncle), wished to make signed books available to long-time customers and Liaden Universe® readers.  The only way this could be made to work was for Baen to have the printer send Steve and me pages for us to sign.  These pages will be bound into a set of books and sent to Mr. Blyly.  This process of binding in a special page is in the industry called “tipped in,” which technical description you will see on the catalog page linked above.

3b  Trader’s Leap hardcover may also, of course, be preordered from your favorite bookstore, whatever it is.

3c  You may not preorder the ebook edition of Trader’s Leap from your favorite bookstore as yet.  This is because of how Baen markets its bundles and eARCS and that’s all I know on the subject.

3d  There is no word yet on an audio edition.

4  If you have read the Trader’s Leap eARC and Want To Talk About It, a Spoiler Discussion space has been set up here

 

Trader’s Leap eARC now available

For those who hunt the eARC, Trader’s Leap is now available.

Here’s your link.

EDITED TO ADD:  For those who read way faster than I write — there is a page set up for discussion of the eArc here.

Also!  Yes, I am accepting lists of typos, but ONLY at rolanniATgmailDOTcom.  Please use the subject Trader’s Leap TYPOS.  Please give me a search string, NOT a page number, because my pages are different from yours (a search string is:  “fierce it was, and winged”) and tell me what the problem is (fierce needs to be upcased.)  I will post more detailed instructions tomorrow, but if you’re one of those overachieving folks, these are the basics.

Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto

So, let’s do a little catch-up.

1  Amazon is currently having a $.99 sale on the Kindle edition of Shout of Honor: Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number 29, published in May 2019.  If you have an interest, or think someone you know might have an interest, here’s the link.

2  Barnburner, a cozy Maine mystery by Sharon Lee, the first of two books featuring Jen Pierce, is now available as an ebook, paper book, and audiobook.  Here’s your link.

2a  Gunshy, the second Jen Pierce novel, will be along bye-n-bye, so watch the skies.

3  The Wrong Lance, that being the start of the novel which is NOT Accepting the Lance, is being posted, a chapter a week on Mondays.  There are 11 chapters, and Chapter Six posted this morning.  If you’d like to join the fun, you can start here.

4  I will be moderating a panel at reCONvene on August 15, time to be determined.  Panelists are: Steven Barnes, Jenn Brissett, Br Guy Consolmagno SJ, Adrian Tchaikovsky. We will be taking up the topic of Earth’s place in the future; what it may mean to be “from” Earth; and what Earth itself may look like, socially, and environmentally.  More information on reCONvene may be found here.

5  Today is Princess Jasmine Sprite’s eighth birthday.  Here’s a picture of her being patient when I interrupted her morning squirrel watch:

Today’s blog brought to you by Styx:  “Mr. Roboto.”  Here’s the link.

Trader’s Leap signed copies

Asyouknowbob, Trader’s Leap, the twenty-third novel of the Liaden Universe® written by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, will be published by Baen Books in early December 2020.

Several people have written to us, to let us know that Barnes and Noble is sending to Known Liaden Readers with the news that they are taking pre-orders of Leap — which is pro-active, and I applaud them.

We have also been asked, in light of the fact that Uncle Hugo’s was burned in the recent riots, if there would be any chance of signed editions.

We have an answer to that question, to wit!

Yes, there is a chance of signed editions.

We have spoken to Don Blyly, the man behind the Uncle, and he wants to handle the signed copies of Trader’s Leap, as he has done for manymany of our previous novels.  He needs to get some ducks in a row, and to our knowledge, he is proceeding in that endeavor.

Now, here’s where you need to not let BN, or the Internet Timewarp, raise your expectations.  Leap is due out on December 1, 2020.  Today is June 30, 2020.  Even in a normal year, the preorders through Uncle Hugo’s wouldn’t open until September.  There is time enough in the interval to wrassle ducks into at least a semblance of propriety, and if the worst happens, and the Uncle cannot find a way to handle preorders for signed copies, there will be time enough and world to pre-order from another source.

So, yeah, the key is, as it so often is :  Patience.  Waiting is.

Deep breaths.

Here, have a picture of Sprite and Belle, being calm and patient.