The Weekend Before One

Spent time with Mouse and Dragon yesterday, on the couch, with the knee elevated. This, along with bracing it, seems to have helped considerably. More couch-time today, with Daav and Aelliana and a red pen for company.

Sufficient numbers of folks have written to me, asking: "Mouse and Dragon, WTF?", that I feel compelled to post the following here:

Mouse and Dragon is a Liaden Universe® novel. It is both the sequel to Scout's Progress and the bridge book between the Agent of Change line in the Liaden Universe® and the Theo Waitley line. Yes, it's complicated.

My office is still a mess, and I adore my new table/desk.

Today, we chose names, on Facebook. Since I have an antipathy to being "sharonleeANYNUMBER," I have chosen "rolanni" as my unique username. Big Surprise. You may now find me at http://www.facebook.com/rolanni.

Last night, Steve and I took a break and watched the Errol Flynn Robin Hood. My goodness, he was pretty. Olivia de Haviland was much the better actor, but I don't expect anybody much cared.

And, now -- coffee! breakfast! the couch!

Aelliana and Daav need your help

As reported elsewhere in this journal, Mouse and Dragon (forthcoming from Baen Books in September 2010) is the sequel to Scout's Progress.

Unless A Miracle Occurs(tm), Mouse and Dragon will appear without backup -- which is to say that the prequel book will be available, yes, but only as an ebook, not sitting has hardcopy on the shelf beside it.

That means that Mouse will need to make sense to Brand! New! readers who have never heard of the Liaden Universe®, and! it will have to Not Be Boring to readers who have been with us for years.

This is, believe it or don't, a tall order. And we the authors are far too close to both the universe and the text to know if we've hit or missed our various marks.

So! I'm asking for volunteers. For readers. For quick, canny readers who can tolerate romance with their SF and SF with their romance. I will this weekend have "ready" the first 100 pages of Mouse and Dragon. I propose to email them to willing readers, who will then let me know if the story so far works for them, if they're lost, or bored, or...whatever. This is not a call for proofreaders or for people to nitpick sentence structure. This is broad-base feedback, on a quick turn-around time.

In an ideal universe, I'd like to have the following:

*Someone(s) who has never read anything in the Liaden Universe®
*Someone(s) who adored Scout's Progress and Aelliana (oneminutemonkey, I'm lookin' at you)
*Someone(s) who is a Liaden Head, who has read the books multiple times and can quote significant chunks of them

Volunteers, please email me at rolanniATkorval.com (where The Usual replaces AT), with your qualifications. I plan on sending a pdf of the file, but I'm willing to talk format with those who are chosen.

Thank you for listening.

Edited to add: I've got a bunch of volunteers who are well-read Liadenphiles -- thank you! I'm really looking for that reader or two who hasn't gotten around to the Liaden Universe® yet.

Edited to add: Ladies and gentlemen, we have hit critical mass! Thanks to everyone who volunteered!