Hey look, it’s me again! What? I’ve been silent for a month? Nooo, shhhh, you saw nothing. (Uh…literally.)
I am just now getting around to some of the standard post-book-release info discussions that I used to do immediately. Guess I’ve been in a blogging slump. Book 5 editing continues apace, so consider this a mini-update on that, but as for the Book 4 titles…
Just a quick update here, since I’m about to head off to the Day Job:
The Book 5 Rough Draft is now complete! At 439 pages (in the text file) — comparing it to Book 4’s rough, which was 447 pages, I’m pretty well on target. I want to shrink it down shorter than Book 4 in the final draft, and I feel there’s plenty of space to trim — but I also have to add a few things, as I feel I’ve given short shrift to some story aspects that should have been more important. We’ll see.
Anyway, I’ll be taking a long weekend from the book, but then jumping back in to start editing it.
(Or: The Tale of My Hellspawn Computer.)
Now that my various computer issues seem to be over (knock on wood), it’s a good time for a project update!
I am currently still working on the rough draft of Book 5, which I started more than a year ago (sheesh) but put off in order to do the big ol’ re-edits of Books 1-3 as well as polishing up and publishing 4. I picked up Book 5 again around when Book 4 went live in November, but started having computer troubles soon after.
Like…right before an already-scheduled free promo. Son of a butt…
Hey all! It’s time again for my rundown of my favorite reads of the year. As always, these aren’t books that were necessarily published within the calendar year; a couple of them are twenty years old or more, and I only wish I’d read them while they were coming out! I missed some great stuff because of my early blind spots.
This year I found myself reading (and enjoying) a lot of sci-fi, particularly some fascinating series by female SF writers. I had only ever dabbled in sci-fi before; for most of my life I read pulp fantasy almost exclusively. I just wasn’t in the mindset for SF, I guess. But boy, was I missing a lot. Last year was the year of CJ Cherryh’s Foreigner series (which I infected my co-conspirator Erica Dakin with). This year, I read:
The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold.
I really wish I’d started reading this back when it was first being written. I would have learned a lot about writing great female protagonists. Not that the series follows female protags much, it being mainly about the exploits of Miles Naismith/Vorkosigan, but the highlight of every book she showed up in was Miles’ mother Cordelia. Just…CORDELIA, you magnificent matriarch. Everything to do with Cordelia’s story is fabulous, from the very first book (Shards of Honor) where she meets Miles’ eventual father Aral Vorkosigan (who is just my type for a tragic-hero-romance-target, hi Aral!) to her exploits in the most recently published novel. Oh Cordelia, you’re fantastic.
And I guess you’re pretty good too, Miles, all told.
My computer has been murdered by a Windows 10 update issue, so this post won’t be as spiffy as I’d like, but!
I am currently running Amazon free days and countdown deals on all four of the current War of Memory Cycle books!
This promo will run from Dec 7th to the 11th (for b1 free days) or 12th (for the Countdown Deals on the other three books).
Been interested in my work but never had a chance to check it out? Try now! The War of Memory Cycle 1-4
Want to hear about promos directly? Sign up for the newsletter!
Just a heads-up for anyone interested in more world-building content!
I’ve started making pages for the various realms of the War of Memory world (aka Halci). Right now I have a master page up that explains the divisions and concepts, and I’ve also done an extensive writeup on the Shadow Realm (though I plan to add more pictures eventually, like a Culture Composite). I did previously write up the Shadow Lord and the Shadow Folk separately, but it’s been a while, and it’s an important enough place to have a page of its own.
Also, I was bored and made a .gif of the book 1 art being colorized. Here, have it!
Hey! Just a quick update!
Book 4 print version is fully available! It’s a hefty tome, just 40 pages shorter than the colossal Book 3. Book 5 will be shorter, I swear! (I can contain myself! I really can!)
Also, I’ve finally set up a mailing list, which I should have done 2+ years ago. The link is also up there in the corner, above the column of books. I’ll probably only use it 2-3 times a year, for book releases or other vital updates — but it’s an important thing to have.
More culture, metaphysics and other content posting should be coming soon.
