Category: Nonfiction Books

General publishing announcements

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Relayd and the Next Tech Book

Relayd and Httpd Mastery is off to Reyk for his comments and abuse. Once he gets it back to me I’ll solicit further tech reviewers. I want to have it out in ebook by the end of April, for Penguicon. (I’ve missed the window for print for Penguicon, sadly.)

This means I’ll be shutting down the ebook and print sponsorships opportunities this weekend. Move now if you want your name in the book.

What’s next? The agreement is in place, and everything else is out of the way, so I can say: I’m starting on a third edition of Absolute FreeBSD with No Starch Press. If you want details on how that’s going, I’ll be posting updates on Twitter with the #af3e hashtag. There’s already a few updates on that tag, but they’re all from other people who are being hopeful.

So, to all of you folks having a blast at AsiaBSDCon this weekend: sorry, I’m stuck at home, busily working to support FreeBSD while you’re having sushi and jet lag.

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At the GP Central Library 11 March 2017

Libraries are starting to like me. Which is cool, because I like them.

Next Monday night I’ll be talking at the Troy Public Library on High Performance Nonfiction–basically, how I write books. See, I’m on the library’s calendar and everything!

Then on Saturday, 11 March 2017, I’ll be at the Central Branch of the Grosse Pointe Library, 10 AM to 2 PM, for their Write On Pointe local authors fair. I’ll be selling copies of, well, everything I have copies of, I guess?

Stop by. Say hello. Otherwise I’ll be talking to my neighbors, and I think we all know that won’t turn out well.

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My Form Letter Response

Every so often I get an email complaining something like “Why do you put women in your tech books? There really aren’t that many women in computing, and your Social Justice Warrior crap really distracts from the content.”

As a tabletop RPG fan, I think I need a handy chart. Roll 1d6, or just pick your favorite answer!

1) If an extra “s” in front of a pronoun wrecks your concentration, maybe your concentration needs help.

2) That’s weird. I’ve worked with lots of women in technology orgs. Maybe you’re not aware of women in tech because they don’t want to work with you.

3) You’re right. Changing pronouns in a book *is* confusing. I’ll write my next book without any male pronouns. Thanks for the suggestion!

4) Men suck. You in particular.

5) (((long stream of really vile obscenities, in multiple languages, carefully chosen to be offensive to multiple cultures simultaneously)))

6) Nice patriarchy you have there. Shame if something happened to it.

I hope this helps clear up any confusion.

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As a Nefarious Media Agent…

(Another “so I can refer back to it later” post)

Every so often I get an email telling me that as a member of the media I have responsibilities. I need to get rid of the clear bias in my books. I’m having trouble figuring out what those biases are, though, as I’ve been told that I’m:

  • radically pro-BSD
  • radically anti-Linux
  • radically anti-Microsoft
  • radically anti-Oracle
  • radically opposed to commercial software
  • radically opposed to free software
  • radically opposed to sharing
  • radically opposed to people making a living
  • radically opposed to True Freedom
  • lacking all understanding of copyleft, right, and center
  • obviously opposed to all that is good and decent in the world

    • The correspondent tells me that I have a duty to be unbiased.

    So, let me make it clear:

    Two of the above are true. BSD is my tribe. And I can’t stand Oracle (the company, I’ve met many decent Oracle employees).

    As far as the rest goes, my official answer is:

    meh.

    I’m a human being. I have biases. I’m not opposed to commercial software, free software, open soressource software. I like people making a living. I have no problem with copyleft, although I think the BSD license is morally superior. I’ll argue that last at a con, over a drink in the bar, but I won’t get into it with Internet randos.

    But let’s go into pure practicality here.

    I make my living writing technology books.

    Many people consider my books more readable than other tech books. One way I’ve achieved that is by using storytelling techniques for fiction. But the other reason is that I have opinions, and I give them. Opinions are part of a writer’s voice.

    Human beings are social creatures. Opinions give us something for our minds to attach to. Something that expresses opinion on the facts is far more readable than something without opinion.

    So I’m going to keep giving my opinion. If you read my books, you get my bias.

    I do try to be fair. Various Linux distributions annoy me in different ways, but most of those are the usual “unfamiliar Unix tribulations.” But I’ll vent a little about SELinux or iptables, because not getting frustrated would mean I’d never used SELinux or iptables. It’s part of how I tell the reader that I’m a real sysadmin.

    I invite you to have your own opinions. You think the GPL is better than the BSDL? Fine, use it. You think I don’t understand something? Write your own piece.

    But don’t expect me to be your mouthpiece. Or to lie about my biases.

    Yes, sometimes my opinions go too far. Nobody works in a vacuum. I’ve said offensive things, and apologized for them. Usually this is a case of “it sounded better in my head.” That’s part of being human. It’s one reason I solicit feedback on books before they’re published, to catch these things before they get out in the real world.

    This colors my view of people complaining about the media. Yes, every media channel is biased. As citizens, it’s our job to pierce our own media bubbles. I get most of my political news from an aggregator with a bias that opposes my own, specifically to counter my own bias.

    So go ahead. Disagree with me. I don’t mind. Really, I don’t even care. The world is full of opinions. I’m not going to argue with you.

    Admittedly, if you sign a contract with Oracle I’m gonna snicker.

    But I’ll try to be polite, and do it behind your back.

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    Sponsorships on “Httpd and Relayd Mastery” available

    By somewhat popular demand (“popular” means “more than one person has asked for it,” right?), I’m now offering sponsorships on the OpenBSD httpd and relayd book.

    Print sponsors get their name in the print and ebook versions of the book.

    Ebook sponsors get their name in the electronic versions.

    Sponsors can access the in-progress manuscript, updated whenever I get around to it. The version there now contains most of the httpd parts, as tech reviewed by Reyk.

    I did well enough with the FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS sponsorships to cover the emergency replacement of a water heater. The PAM book had less interest, but I did okay. As this is a very specific book with a narrow audience, I’m not expecting very many sponsors.

    Which means–if you sponsor it, your name will really stand out as an all-around awesome human being. Or corporation. Whichever.

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    Get your name in the relayd book

    (note: comments that are not bids will be deleted. The next post is for meta-comments.)

    There’s a long tradition amongst science fiction writers of selling bit parts in books in exchange for charity donations. It’s called tuckerization.

    I see no reason why science fiction writers should have all the fun.

    I need a sample user for the forthcoming book on OpenBSD’s httpd and relayd. This user gets referred to in the user authentication sections as well as on having users manage web sites. They will also get randomly called out whenever it makes sense to me.

    That sample user could be you.

    All it would cost is a donation to the OpenBSD Foundation.

    The catch is that I only need one sample user.

    That should be the user with the biggest Foundation donation. Because I’m from the US, where bigger is clearly better.

    It makes sense to auction this off. The person willing to make the highest donation will get their real name and preferred username, or reasonable substitutes, used as the book’s sample users.

    They’ll also get their name in the back of the book, in both the electronic and print versions.

    The auction will take place in the comments section on this web page. Yes, you place your bid here. (edit: a bid is a promise to donate if you win, not a statement that you have donated. You know, like an auction.)

    Some questions and answers.

  • Is this a cynical scheme to raise money for further development of assorted OpenBSD-related projects?

    Yes.

  • Any limits on our name and username?

    I reserve the right to reject names or usernames. If your birth certificate really says your name is an obscenity, I’m pretty sure you have a nickname. Similarly, even if your username on all your systems truly is henningsux, or your legitimate full name is Felicia Urban-Channing Kildare and you use your initials: nope.

    I won’t spell out exact rules for names, because you people are clever buggers and would find a way around them. Your name. Your preferred username. Or reasonable substitutes for them.

    This is intended to be fun. Dirty words and insults are not fun. In public.

  • Will you treat me with respect?

    Uh… have you read my work? I can pretty much guarantee condescension and insolence. Perhaps not a huge amount (this isn’t a book on sudo), but some.

    Then again, this book involves openssl(1) commands. You’ll probably catch some of my perfectly understandable emotional reaction to having to type a command like this:

    # openssl ocsp -no_nonce -issuer chain.pem -VAfile chain.pem -header Host ocsp.int-x3.letsencrypt.org -url http://ocsp.int-x3.letsencrypt.org/ -serial 0x0367016F53A2A5425C1E50BB17D2AE63378A -respout ocsp.der

    Not only do I have to write about that string of stupidity, I have to write about it in such a way that you’re happy to read it.

    I’m gonna have a tantrum. It might as well be about you.

  • I’d like you to use my spouse’s/mother’s/soulmate’s/hamster’s name

    First, read the previous question and answer. Once I’m through with the user, this person might no longer be your soulmate… or your mother.

    I will search on your preferred name, to make sure I’m not abusing a social activist or anything like that. But yes, within the same limits. If your hamster is named Dumbass, nope. Same for your soulmate, or your mother.

  • I’d like you to use a historical figure/deceased developer/etc

    No.

    I’m not going to make statements like “I don’t trust George Washington/MLK/creepingfur with shell on my server, so he gets locked in a chroot.” Our dead heroes deserve better than to have me sniping at them. Besides, one person’s hero is another’s monster.

    Yes, creepingfur had a really good sense of humor… but no.

    Could I be nice? I have that ability, but nobody reads my books for kindness.

  • My company name–

    No.

    This is not a way to advertise your firm.

  • Why do this here, instead of an auction site like eBay?

    Partly because authors normally do this sort of thing on their web pages. Partly because it simplifies the running of the auction. And partly because it means I have no financial connection to the results. Touching donated money causes me weird non-financial risks, thanks to how US federal and state law interacts with my family situation. (No, I won’t explain that. It’s personal. Deal.)

  • Why not have the Foundation run this, then?

    They’re busy writing code and arranging hackathons.

  • Why do this now instead of when you started writing the book?

    Because the OpenBSD Foundation exceeded their fundraising goal for 2016. I’d like to see their 2017 start with a boom.

  • When does the auction end?

    5 PM EST Monday, 16 January. Or sometime shortly after that.

  • That’s a stupid time. Where’s my countdown timer?

    It’s convenient for me. It also will discourage last-minute sniping.

    If last minute bids are coming in fast and furious, I’ll let it run until bidding stops for five minutes or so. Fight it out fair and square.

  • When does the auction start?

    When I hit “publish” on this blog post.

  • How do I bid?

    Comment here with your bid amount. Each bid must be a minimum of $5 more than the previous bid.

  • How do I track competing bids?

    Check the “Subscribe to Comments” box when you bid.

  • Where will the winner be announced?

    On a separate blog post the evening of 16 January.

  • How do I claim my prize?

    You have three days to make your donation. Send me your PayPal receipt.

  • What if the winner doesn’t pay?

    The prize falls to the #2 bidder, who I will contact.

  • What exactly will the winner get?

    Your name and username in the body of the book, in places where I need to refer to a person. Some degree of emotional reaction to your name. Probably not a very positive reaction. Your name in the back of the book, described as the “Tuckerization Charity Auction for the OpenBSD Foundation Prize Winner” unless I can come up with a less awful and mutually agreeable way to say that.

    If the auction goes over $100, I’ll ship you a signed copy of the print book when I ship out the print sponsor copies.

  • Will you be offering sponsorships on this book?

    Yes. Once the auction ends.

  • You said this was for SF writers. Don’t you write SF?

    Yes, but nobody cares. For those who want to pretend to care: here’s my latest SF novel, Hydrogen Sleets.

  • I have things to say about this other than bids!

    Comment on the next post, please. Not here. I am easily confused. Comments to this post that are not bids will be deleted.

    • Posted on

    MWL’s 2016 wrap-up

    The year-end post is an Internet tradition. Being naturally conservative, who am I to buck tradition?

    It’s a couple days early, but I’m going to go out on a limb here: the list of people 2016 killed does not include me. Yet. (Dear 2016, this is not a challenge. I would not dream of questioning your ability to slaughter folks. You are the champ, truly.) This was in doubt for a while, but I responded well to treatment. My bone marrow has started firing. I have hemoglobin again. At the end of 2016, I stop taking all the meds.

    Now that my bone marrow is firing again, the theory is that it will keep going. It might not. I need to monitor my blood for the forseeable future. Hey, if I reach 50 and that’s as bad as it gets, I’ll be doing good.

    The lesson here is: if I stop making words, don’t assume it’s only because I’m an undisciplined slacker and that I need to “try harder.” That’s a great assumption if it lasts for a week, but if it keeps going on I need to see the doctor.

    Dammit, what happened to my youthful invulnerability?

    Writing-wise, I published three tech books:

    FreeBSD Mastery: Specialty Filesystems
    FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS
    PAM Mastery

    I’d like to note that the specialty filesystems is now my worst-selling tech book of all time, lagging far behind the PGP and Tarsnap books. It’s a necessary prerequisite to the jails book, though. (No, you won’t have to read it to understand the forthcoming jails book, but I had to write it before writing the jails book.)

    The ZFS book was co-written with Allan Jude. The specialty filesystems book was mostly written in 2015. PAM was written entirely in 2016.

    I published three novels:

    Kipuka Blues (Immortal Clay 2)
    Butterfly Stomp Waltz (a crime thriller)
    Hydrogen Sleets (aka “Aidan Redding 3” or “Montague Portal 4”)

    The first two were written entirely in 2015. The last was half-finished in 2015.

    So, yeah… anemia pretty much whupped my butt in 2016. While word count is not the be-all and end-all of writing, it’s a useful metric for a working writer. I wrote 15,600 words in July, 4400 words in August, and 5000 in September, for both fiction and non-fiction. That’s not enough to make a living on.

    I started treatment in September. They said it would take effect very slowly.

    At the beginning of October, I thought I was feeling well. I set myself a three-day challenge to complete a short story. It bombed. My “feeling better” was a condition the experts call “wishful thinking.”

    October: 6900 words.

    In November, I wrote 30,700 words. December so far has only 25,800 words, but I see a drop every December because of the holidays. That’s fine. I’m shooting to break 30,000 before the end of 2016.

    As of today, total word count in 2016 is 195,700.

    I’m not back where I need to be. But I’m clearly on the way back. Apparently, if your brain doesn’t have oxygen, it stops working. Who knew?

    Many of the November words were fiction. I wanted to write something quick and short, because I really needed to complete something. 28,000 words later, I had a new Prohibition Orcs novella. Which my writer friends will tell me was a daft thing to do–short stories sell. Novels sell. Novellas don’t.

    But orcish rumrunners in 1927 Detroit amuse the crap out of me, and that’s all that’s really important, so buzz off. I’ll post the official announcement on it once it’s available on iBooks.

    Other things in 2016? Well, today I hit 60 inches on the stretching machine. That’s great for my martial arts practice. I put on weight: not good, but highly predictable when you have roughly enough brain power to handle Star Trek: Voyager. (I was still saying the plot twists before they appeared on screen, though: I was slow, not dead.)

    Where am I today?

    The novel I started on 1 February 2016, git commit murder, is flowing nicely. (Think “Agatha Christie does a Unix con.”) I haven’t spent more than a year on a novel since 2001, and I have no intention of starting now. I might stretch my fiction hours in January to keep that from happening.

    The new tech book, “Relayd and Httpd Mastery: OpenBSD Web Services” is also flowing nicely. I’ve almost finished the httpd part–all that remains is OSCP stapling.

    Best of all: once I get going, the words pretty much arrive the way they used to. Getting started is still painful, but I expect that to improve with more blood.

    My 2017 goals?

    • Write 4 complete tech books.
    • Write 4 novels.
    • Keep practicing martial arts.
    • Stand up against racism, sexism, and fascism in my daily life.
    • Be sufficiently flexible to kick Ray Percival in the head at BSDCan.
    • Drop 20 pounds.
    • Stay writing.
    • Stay married.
    • Stay alive.

    If I pull those off: I win.

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    Reddit advertising of “PAM Mastery”

    I spent $25 on a Reddit ad that ran for the last week, for PAM Mastery. The ad (Pluggable Authentication Modules: Threat or Menace?) appeared in /r/CentOS, /r/Ubuntu, /r/sysadmin, /r/unix, /r/freebsd, /r/linux, /r/BSD, and /r/debian.

    So what did I get for that?

    62,521 impressions. 215 clicks through to the ad. 89 click-throughs to the book page.

    How many of those translated to purchases? That’s pretty hard to guess, but: the links from my web site are affiliate links. When you buy the book from Amazon through my link, I get a few extra cents for referring you there. So, let’s assume that all of the affiliate purchases of PAM Mastery during that time came as a result of the Reddit ad. That’s going to overestimate the ad’s impact, but it’s the only real promo I did during that time.

    So, the total sales I can attribute to the Reddit are:

    One.

    This isn’t Reddit’s fault. Maybe the ad sucks–I’ve never claimed to be an ad man. Maybe the cover image drew them in, but then they looked at my site or the book description and said “Oh, hell no.”

    Or perhaps PAM just repulsed them.

    Why advertise?

    My book sales have been way down for the last few months–both fiction and nonfiction. PAM Mastery did not sell as well at release as some other books.

    Other writers have reported similar slumps. (When pro writers get together, what do we talk about? Money, books written by people not in the room, and business.)

    If sales continued that poorly, I would have had to make some changes.

    Weirdly, though, my sales picked up… on November 9th. The day after election day. Other writers I know have reported similar surges.

    A week does not mean that the writing is better. But the folks saying uncertainty is bad for business have a point.

    Or perhaps advertising on Reddit brought people to my site, where they bought books that were not about PAM.

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    Unlicensed Book Translations

    I’ve had books translated into nine different languages. The rotating banner at the top of my blog shows some of them.

    A reader pointed me at a translation that I wasn’t aware of: FreeBSD Mastery: ZFS in Russian. Unfortunately, the translator didn’t get rights to do so before translating it.

    This is not the first time this has happened. For future reference, I’m putting up a post about my response in this situation.

    The fact that someone thinks that Allan and I did a good enough job on the book that they spent their own time and energy to translate it is a huge compliment. It really is. It’s incredibly flattering.

    But it eliminates any hope the publisher (in this case, myself) has of selling translation rights for this book.

    This translator has also put this under a Creative Commons license. As they’re not the copyright holder of the original work, they also don’t have the right to change the license. As the book says, the license is “all rights reserved.”

    I’ve sent the site a nice note, asking them to take it down.

    Translation rights for my books are available, either from No Starch Press or myself, depending on the book. Any publisher is happy to sell translation rights.

    I sell books to support my family. Translation income is part of that. So, like any author, I have to politely insist that some of my biggest fans not translate my work.