Category: fiction

(For my own reference later.)

One of the worrisome things about putting out your own books is the concern that it might suck. I have a long track record in nonfiction, so I’m pretty confident there. But novels are a whole different art. When I put Immortal Clay out two weeks ago, I suspected that nobody would get past page two.

Most of the initial feedback came via Twitter, with things like:

So. I told @mwlauthor to write more and it turns out he's a madman. Now reading Immortal Clay. #ImmortalClay #TentacleAlienThingMastery

— Peter Wemm (@karinjiri) November 5, 2014

So someone I know bought it. That’s cool.

Then some of my nonfiction readers picked it up, and gave it its own hashtag:

Now reading Immortal Clay by @mwlauthor #ImmortalClay #TentacleAlienThingMastery

— Lexy Volkov (@lexvkv) November 5, 2014

People began reading it, and said things like:

@mwlauthor I'm about 1/3 done with Immortal Clay. Loving it so far. It is strange and exciting and very well written. #wow

— Alex Kourvo (@AlexKourvo) November 6, 2014

Then someone finished it:

Just finished Immortal Clay by @mwlauthor, spoiler: all Absolute wanted was ethics in video games journalism #ImmortalClay

— Lexy Volkov (@lexvkv) November 7, 2014

So the real message came through? Excellent!

@mwlauthor Finished IMMORTAL CLAY last night. Wow, what a ride! My review will be up at Amazon later today. When is the next book?

— Alex Kourvo (@AlexKourvo) November 8, 2014

And then a couple comments in private mail, like:

“You bastard! That book kept me up half the night. There was just no good place to stop!

Yep. That’ll do.

If you’ve read the book, I’d appreciate a review on Amazon. There’s four right now. Amazon won’t show it in searches and “also bought” lists until there’s five.

What? Lucas linking to an audiobook? What the heck?

My aversion to audiobooks is pretty well known (I don’t object to you listening to them, just don’t ask me to). But yep, I’m going to point you at Audible today.

John Campbell’s classic novella, Who Goes There, is on sale at Audible.com today for $0.99.

Less than a week ago, I put out a novel that owes certain literary debts to this classic SF work. It’s three-quarters of a century old, and certainly bears signs of the age it was written in, but when I first read it (decades ago) it left scars that endured until… well, until I had to write a novel about those scars.

Had I known this sale was coming, I would have… I dunno. Contacted Audible and begged for co-marketing? Something. Something cool.