Things have been quiet here lately, but suddenly I am awash with news to share about Dragonseed and writing in general. Too much news for one update, in fact, so I'll be making posts today, tomorrow, and Monday to share it all. I've finally got a preview of the cover to share, and I've also got the galleys that I'm currently correcting, and I plan to post a chapter or two from these galleys and discuss my process for proofing them.
Today, I have three tidbits I want to focus on:
1: SheVaCon! I'll be a guest at SheVaCon in Roanoke, Virginia next weekend. Given that Larry Niven is the writer guest of honor, and Jeremy Bulloch is the media guest of honor, I expect there will be a really excellent turnout. (Bulloch, for those of you not fully immersed in geekdom, is the actor who played Bobba Fett.) Roanoke is my home town, and the local paper ran an article on me last summer, so I'm looking forward to the chance to meet some of the readers who wrote me letters last year when the article appeared.
2: My first audiobook! I've achieved another milestone in my writing career thanks to Orson Scott Card. For the first time ever, one of my works of fiction is available in an audiobook format. Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show is available now from Audible.com. Included is a recording of my rapture story, "To Know All Things That Are In The Earth." The book is also available on Kindle, another first for me.
3: Bitterwood has a theme song! A google alert pointed me to a LiveJournal posting this week by axisdragon discussing the parallels between the Eagles' song Desperado and my character of Bitterwood. I must admit, the song is a pretty good mesh with the character, especially the verse:
Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no younger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone
That's it for this morning. I have galleys to correct. Tune in again tomorrow for even more news.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Bitterwood back in stock! And a review I particularly liked...
Around Thanksgiving, I noticed that Amazon was showing Bitterwood temporarily out of stock. This changed to simply "out of stock" for all of December. When I did a signing at Barnes and Noble, I was told they had none in their warehouse. Fortunately, Solaris did order another printing, and just today Amazon has changed the status back to "in stock." So, if you've been waiting to pick up a copy, wait no longer!
I've got mixed feelings about selling out the print run. Bitterwood was already in a second printing, so I assume they've just ordered a third. I look forward to getting my hands on one of the new copies to verify this. I'm happy that the book sold out... I suspect that means the book did better than anticipated when Dragonforge came out. Outperforming your publisher's expectations is never a bad thing. On the flip side, being sold out in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is pretty much the worst possible timing imaginable. Ah well. There's always next year. Maybe people will have money again by then.
In other news, a review of Bitterwood and Dragonforge appeared today at a blog called Eveing Dearest. It's part of a list of things that Eveing likes, sandwiched between a book about Donuts and a musing on the scientific rational of a good kiss. Very entertaining.
I've got mixed feelings about selling out the print run. Bitterwood was already in a second printing, so I assume they've just ordered a third. I look forward to getting my hands on one of the new copies to verify this. I'm happy that the book sold out... I suspect that means the book did better than anticipated when Dragonforge came out. Outperforming your publisher's expectations is never a bad thing. On the flip side, being sold out in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas is pretty much the worst possible timing imaginable. Ah well. There's always next year. Maybe people will have money again by then.
In other news, a review of Bitterwood and Dragonforge appeared today at a blog called Eveing Dearest. It's part of a list of things that Eveing likes, sandwiched between a book about Donuts and a musing on the scientific rational of a good kiss. Very entertaining.
Monday, December 8, 2008
A Little Bragging
I've got three bits of bragging to do.
First, the Intergalactic Medicine Show signing was a solid success. We sold out the anthology over the course of the night. Alas, I only sold one copy of Bitterwood; that's all the store could get their hands on, apparently. I see that Amazon has switched from "in stock" to "usually ships in 2-3 weeks." I was told that Solaris was about to order another printing; I guess this print run has almost sold out. Anyway, I could write more about the signing, but fellow signers Ed Schubert and Scott Roberts have both written about it on their blogs, so click on their names if you'd like to see photos, etc.
Second: I'm finally in a Best of the Year anthology! Rich Horton has selected my story "Silent as Dust" published in January at IGMS for inclusion in the Fantasy: Best of the Year 2009 anthology. You can read the full table of contents here. Until now, I've never even got an honorable mention in any "Best of" collection. Now I wish I'd written more short stories this year.
Finally: Dragonforge is on the long-list of nominees for the David Gemmell Legend Award. After Christmas, visitors to the website can vote on books on the long-list to determine which books wind up on the short list. The short list will then be judged by a panel of pros, and the winner announced next summer. While voting hasn't started, if you go now and sign up as a member of the site, you have a shot at winning all the titles on the long list. That's about 70 books; an impressive collection by any standard. After you sign up, you can discuss books in the forum. So, if you had a favorite--say perhaps a book about a lovesick dragon, a woman who was raised as a dragon, and a world-weary dragon-hunter--you could use the forum to tell folks how swell the book is.
I have no clue if I stand a shot at this thing. There are best selling authors on the list who will probably shoot to the top of the voting fairly quickly. Still, it's an honor just to be on the list.
First, the Intergalactic Medicine Show signing was a solid success. We sold out the anthology over the course of the night. Alas, I only sold one copy of Bitterwood; that's all the store could get their hands on, apparently. I see that Amazon has switched from "in stock" to "usually ships in 2-3 weeks." I was told that Solaris was about to order another printing; I guess this print run has almost sold out. Anyway, I could write more about the signing, but fellow signers Ed Schubert and Scott Roberts have both written about it on their blogs, so click on their names if you'd like to see photos, etc.
Second: I'm finally in a Best of the Year anthology! Rich Horton has selected my story "Silent as Dust" published in January at IGMS for inclusion in the Fantasy: Best of the Year 2009 anthology. You can read the full table of contents here. Until now, I've never even got an honorable mention in any "Best of" collection. Now I wish I'd written more short stories this year.
Finally: Dragonforge is on the long-list of nominees for the David Gemmell Legend Award. After Christmas, visitors to the website can vote on books on the long-list to determine which books wind up on the short list. The short list will then be judged by a panel of pros, and the winner announced next summer. While voting hasn't started, if you go now and sign up as a member of the site, you have a shot at winning all the titles on the long list. That's about 70 books; an impressive collection by any standard. After you sign up, you can discuss books in the forum. So, if you had a favorite--say perhaps a book about a lovesick dragon, a woman who was raised as a dragon, and a world-weary dragon-hunter--you could use the forum to tell folks how swell the book is.
I have no clue if I stand a shot at this thing. There are best selling authors on the list who will probably shoot to the top of the voting fairly quickly. Still, it's an honor just to be on the list.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Signing in Greensboro, December 5
Just a reminder that I'll be in Greensboro on Friday, December 5, at the Barnes and Noble at 7pm. Orson Scott Card is the main attraction, with Ed Schubert, Scott Roberts, and yours truly participating in the signing of the Intergalactic Medicine Show anthology, as well as pimping our own books.
In other news, a podcast of part of my lecture to the Odyssey Fantasy Writer's Workshop this summer is now online. To quote from the site: James Maxey was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2008. During his visit, James shared the struggles and successes of his writing career and offered a lot of great advice to developing writers. In this podcast, James explains that editors don't judge a piece by a new writer the same way they judge a piece by a successful writer. Because a new writer has to prove his competence, a strong opening is critical. To create a strong opening, an author must engage multiple senses and provide vivid descriptions to bring the reader into the story. James reviews the many tasks that an opening must accomplish and explores some of the ways that the author can accomplish these tasks. He describes some of the traps that authors fall into when writing openings. He also reveals a simple and powerful technique to draw the reader in and reveal key information in an opening.
If you'd like to hear it for youself, click here.
In other news, a podcast of part of my lecture to the Odyssey Fantasy Writer's Workshop this summer is now online. To quote from the site: James Maxey was a guest lecturer at Odyssey 2008. During his visit, James shared the struggles and successes of his writing career and offered a lot of great advice to developing writers. In this podcast, James explains that editors don't judge a piece by a new writer the same way they judge a piece by a successful writer. Because a new writer has to prove his competence, a strong opening is critical. To create a strong opening, an author must engage multiple senses and provide vivid descriptions to bring the reader into the story. James reviews the many tasks that an opening must accomplish and explores some of the ways that the author can accomplish these tasks. He describes some of the traps that authors fall into when writing openings. He also reveals a simple and powerful technique to draw the reader in and reveal key information in an opening.
If you'd like to hear it for youself, click here.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Dragon Biology
Peggy at the science fiction in biology blog mentioned Bitterwood today in a post about biologically plausible dragons. Alas, the link she points readers to is broken. I suspect she was directing them to a post I wrote over a year ago called "Building a Better Dragon." This essay examines some of the underlying biological plausibility of my beasties, such as why I went with a four limbed dragon instead of a six limbed one, and why my dragons don't breathe fire.
Peggy's article mainly talks about an Animal Planet fake documentary about dragons that came out a few years ago. I saw it right around the time Bitterwood came out. It was interesting, but they really bent over backwards to explain the dragon fire-breathing. They are correct to point out that animals can produce methane and hydrogen in their digestive tracks, but, as Peggy's blog points out, what's going to ignite it when the dragon burps it up? Cow's burp out enough methane to be potential firebreathing menaces, but they have failed, alas, to develop teeth made from flint and steel.
However! Frat boys have for many years lit their farts with lighters. Suppose you had a vegetarian dinosaur that could belch out twenty times as much methane as a cow, and suppose that that dinosaur had evolved to tool-using intelligence. If it could learn to flick a zippo with it's tongue... hmm. Perhaps a mix of biological fuel and technological ignition could make a plausible fire-breather after all.
Damn. I might have to write another book to explore this possiblity. An alternate earth ruled by super-intelligent giant bovines who fight their former primate overlords with fiery belches. On that world, the most chilling sound any man can hear is "mooo-fwhooosh!"
Peggy's article mainly talks about an Animal Planet fake documentary about dragons that came out a few years ago. I saw it right around the time Bitterwood came out. It was interesting, but they really bent over backwards to explain the dragon fire-breathing. They are correct to point out that animals can produce methane and hydrogen in their digestive tracks, but, as Peggy's blog points out, what's going to ignite it when the dragon burps it up? Cow's burp out enough methane to be potential firebreathing menaces, but they have failed, alas, to develop teeth made from flint and steel.
However! Frat boys have for many years lit their farts with lighters. Suppose you had a vegetarian dinosaur that could belch out twenty times as much methane as a cow, and suppose that that dinosaur had evolved to tool-using intelligence. If it could learn to flick a zippo with it's tongue... hmm. Perhaps a mix of biological fuel and technological ignition could make a plausible fire-breather after all.
Damn. I might have to write another book to explore this possiblity. An alternate earth ruled by super-intelligent giant bovines who fight their former primate overlords with fiery belches. On that world, the most chilling sound any man can hear is "mooo-fwhooosh!"
Friday, November 7, 2008
My Mission Statement
I was invited by John Ottinger at "Grasping for the Wind" to write a guest blog about the themes in my writing. He's just posted the article, in which I reveal my mission statement.
The actual mission statement is this:
James Maxey is committed to delivering to readers aged fifteen and older fast-paced, adventure-driven fiction interwoven with subversive philosophies intended to overthrow the dominant social order and tear down ideas that many people consider sacred.
In the essay I break it down into its various elements. Check it out.
The actual mission statement is this:
James Maxey is committed to delivering to readers aged fifteen and older fast-paced, adventure-driven fiction interwoven with subversive philosophies intended to overthrow the dominant social order and tear down ideas that many people consider sacred.
In the essay I break it down into its various elements. Check it out.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Bonus Chapbooks!
I had to wait for Robo-Bobo to get back from the polls. He created quite a fuss when he found out that imaginary cybernetic monkeys weren't allowed to vote in North Carolina. He's currently retreated to the attic with a large bottle of rum, a blender, and a whole crate of bananas.
But, before he slinked off, he drew two names from the hat, haikuists who will receive the two Final Flight of the Blue Bee chapbooks. The winners are:
Corey Redekop and Liz Tetley!
Liz had a poem in the Young Heroes in Love anthology and Corey, being an overachiever, has had at least one haiku in each of the other anthos.
Right now, I'm going to sign off and go sample a banana rum smoothie while I watch the election results. However, keep watching this space for news in the coming days. I've some Dragonseed related news coming up soon, and some superhero news in development as well.
But, before he slinked off, he drew two names from the hat, haikuists who will receive the two Final Flight of the Blue Bee chapbooks. The winners are:
Corey Redekop and Liz Tetley!
Liz had a poem in the Young Heroes in Love anthology and Corey, being an overachiever, has had at least one haiku in each of the other anthos.
Right now, I'm going to sign off and go sample a banana rum smoothie while I watch the election results. However, keep watching this space for news in the coming days. I've some Dragonseed related news coming up soon, and some superhero news in development as well.
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