Category: fiction

The Kickstarter for my new collection, Devotion and Corrosion, is live. It funded in twenty minutes and broke the first stretch goal in two hours, which means I get to use ZZ Claybourne’s fantastic foreword.

When I write something, I have no idea if it works as I intended until it bounces off another person. ZZ’s foreword says that not only does the book work, it works as I hoped it would.

If you want signed copies of this book, this is how you get them.

If you’re looking deals on other books, the Fantasy Steampunk bundle is still kicking. Ten books for as little as $20, and a slice goes to AbleGamers.

Ideally I’d be spending today working on the email book, but instead I’m heading out for an apicoectomy. Because as you age, your medical procedures grow harder to spell.

If you’re looking for a deal on my first Prohibition Orcs book, check out the Fantasy Steampunk bundle. You can get ten excellent books for as little as $20, and help out AbleGamers while you’re at it.

I regularly read all of the authors, and they reliably put out top-tier words. I’ve even read several of these books, and they were fantastic. I read Collins’ bundle-exclusive Clockwork Princess before it was published, and immediately demanded the sequel. You will too.

This bundle particularly excites me. Readers come slowly. Eventually some editor might say “Hey, I’m putting a bundle of books together on this theme, do you have anything?” That’s great–someone knows you exist! Someone important! Deal with that well, be professional, do your share of the promotion, and you’ll get asked again. And again.

But this time, I wasn’t asked if I had anything that would suit the bundle.

No, this time Kris Rusch seized the front of my shirt and said Orcs. I want orcs, dammit. Tell me you haven’t already bundled your orcs. It was over email, but Kris can grab you over email. I think this counts as “leveling up.”

On top of that, I have a free public reading this next Sunday. With Sufficient Rat. And another nine excellent authors.

Six days from now, the Devotion and Corrosion Kickstarter launches. I just got a print proof of the paperback and it’s magnificent.

I just finished fulfillment on the Prohibition Orcs Kickstarter, OpenBSD Mastery: Filesystems sponsorships and pre-orders. I guess this is what success looks like?

Anyway, there’s a lot of Lucas this month. Plus, I’m pushing on the last novel of the git commit murder trilogy and the mail server book. (When will that go up for sponsorships? When I have enough text and structure that I’m absolutely certain it will happen.)

Anyway, the bundle is a heck of a deal. Grab it. Come listen to me read. Click to be notified of the Kickstarter. I’m off to write the next books.

Sunday, February 5, 7pm-8:30pm EST, I’ll be one of ten authors doing a live online reading. Roaring Back at the Lion of Winter is free, but you need to register beforehand. Why require registration if it’s free? It helps keep the trolls out. The Door Goon will be checking names off the attendee list before admitting folks, just like any other exclusive gathering of cultural elites.

Why is it exclusive? Well, here’s the other authors.

Zig Zag Claybourne, Linda Addison, Charlie Jane Anders, Martha Wells, Patty Templeton, LaShawn Wanak, Maria Dong, Carlos Hernandez, and C. S. E. Cooney! Award winners, best-sellers, cultural icons, and me.

I mean, look at this list. These people wrote freaking Murderbot. Sal & Gabi Break the Universe. All The Birds in the Sky. Saint Death’s Daughter. There Is No Lovely End. How to Recognize a Demon has Become Your Friend. And more, and more. Plus, freaking Murderbot.

My reading will contain Sufficient Rat.

And I’m delighted beyond reason to be on this list.

Between this, the Devotion and Corrosion Kickstarter, and a third event I can’t talk about, February looks like it’s gonna be stuffed with self-promotion. At least it’s the shortest month!

Remember last year’s Prohibition Orcs Kickstarter? One of the rewards was the omnibus cased in “authentic” orc-hide leather.

Turns out one orc has enough hide for thirty-five book cases. Out of decency, I’m keeping the one with the unfortunately placed nipples. Alan at Studio 42 Designs has the prototype. He’s signed each case, and I will sign the title pages.

Each is uniquely textured, carved, and dyed, highlighting the many scars earned by a long-lived orc. I am absolutely delighted at how these came out, and will certainly do something similar again. But not with real orc leather. Negotiating with the family is fraught.

I will be packaging these for mailing on Monday, probably initiating a blood feud with the postman in the process.

The OpenBSD Mastery: Filesystems Patronizer, sponsor, and pre-order copies have shipped from the printer, and should arrive at my house this week. If you’re due both a leather-cased Orcibus and an OMF, I’ll ship yours together. But now I’m thinking I should have offered an edition of that book cased in blowfish hide…

I posted yesterday about Amazon putting the complete Montague Portal for Kindle on sale for $5.85. They still pay me $7 a sale, so each time you buy one Bezos adds his own dollar to my payment. It’s pretty clear that they’ll clear a profit if you buy this book and one other ebook. Okay, that makes sense.

But now they’ve put the hardcover on sale for $5.85, at least in the US and UK. (Reports in other countries are mixed. I have no clue what’s happening.)

At first, I thought this was to clear out unsold copies. Amazon predicts how many hardcovers of a new title they’ll need, which is fine. They buy ahead, which is also fine. Their prediction algorithm lumps my fiction and nonfiction together, which is completely inaccurate but I’m okay with it.

But no. They are ordering new hardcovers from IngramSpark, at full retail price, to fill these purchases.

Amazon loses about $15 for every hardcover you buy.

I do not understand their business model. Risking a buck, sure, I can see that. I am torn between “they are playing 4d chess” and “their algorithm is drunk.” (“Both” is a valid answer.) What I do know is that if this bright future SF exploration crime series has ever tempted you, you should grab this deal. No idea how long it will last, if it will spread to other countries, or if Jeff will send legbreakers out to collect his $15 from each of you.

Note that while Amazon only lets each account buy an ebook once, you can buy as many hardcovers as you like. Each purchase costs Amazon $15 plus fulfillment. Just saying.

Oh, and if you use my affiliate links above? They throw a few extra pennies in my pocket. The phrase “guilding the lily” comes to mind, but it turns out I’m okay with that.

Eight years? Who celebrates eight years? I missed every previous anniversary, and I will probably miss most of the others, so suck it up.

Anyway, eight years ago today my first novel came out. Immortal Clay is a critical success and a financial sinkhole. Seems that some parts of it were a bit much for people. Mind you, this book did establish my unbroken practice of never writing a normal sex scene, so there’s that. I took “Carpenter’s The Thing, but after we lose” to its logical extreme, so it shouldn’t have surprised anyone, but here we are.

I’m hoping to take another run at book 3, Bones Like Water, next year. Yes, it’s been delayed. Writing cheerful apocalypses requires a certain amount of stability, which we haven’t had since 2016.

Part of me says, “Eight years? What have you been doing, wasting your time? You should have had thirty novels and a television contract by now!” But then I look at my fiction brag shelf and realize it’s bigger than many authors build in their lifetime–I mean, I’m no Blaze Ward or Rex Stout, but it’s not a shabby showing.

If the book didn’t do as well as I hoped, what will I do about it? I will continue flensing readers out of the indifferent mass of humanity, that’s what. After all, the best promo for an old book is a new book.

Today I converted this:

into this:

If you backed the Kickstarter for a signed paperback, these are them. I booked a pickup for tomorrow, but if the postman’s feeling mighty he might take them today.

Note that the piles are not the same size. I ordered 13 of each. They sent me a box with 13 “Prohibition Orcs” and 11 “Frozen Talons,” plus another box with two more “Prohibition Orcs.” It’s like they realized they’d printed the wrong number and ran off two to make it up–but two of the wrong book. Sigh.

Patronizers, what about your books?

You’re backers. You get the exclusive limited-edition Orcibus. Which I plan to order before Monday. I was waiting for the printer to ship me a correct proof before I ordered.

Also, a note on shipping:

If you do any amount of shipping personally, such as signed books: invest in a thermal shipping label printer and learn how to feed address spreadsheets into your postage vendor. I’ve been shipping books from my house for seven years now, and adding new capacities every time.

The spreadsheets shrunk days of shipping into a single day.

But the label printer? “Oh, I can just print my labels on regular paper, trim them down, and use a tape gun to put them on the package.” I bought the label printer this summer and holy crap, I just did an afternoon’s worth of shipping in an hour.

The right tools help. Who knew?

I also discovered that shipping to Canada got more expensive, so I’ve adjusted the shipping rates on the OpenBSD Mastery: Filesystems limited-time direct order. It’ll also impact future sponsorships. The change isn’t horrid, I can eat the difference for what’s already been sold, but still.