Five things and a picture make a post

1. Yay! My copy of “Off the Grid” by RHR and the Wasteland Wranglers has arrived! I listened to it this morning as I drove to gym, and then to various errands. Excellent!

2. Amazon.com has sold out of Ghost Ship. For those who were planning on giving a copy to that Space Opera Reader on your gift list, but haven’t actually bought the book yet? You’re playing with fire, here. At last report, Uncle Hugo’s still had some signed copies of Ghost Ship on hand (at no extra charge!). Uncle Hugo’s does do mail order.

3. We’ve added Boskone (February 17-19, 2012) to next year’s convention dance card, in addition to our GOH appearance at Chattacon (January 20-22, 2012).

4. Waiting for the new winter coats to arrive. LL Bean says tomorrow. That would be nice. Mind you, it’s Ridiculously Warm at the moment, and more of the same called for tomorrow — 56F/13C? WTF? — but I’d rather have the coats in hand than in Chelmsford. No, I don’t know why coats warehoused in Freeport Maine, and destined for the Greater Waterville Googolplex, have to go to Chelmsford Mass first. I suppose they have relatives down south.

5. Y’all have read Laura Anne Gilman’s Vineart War trilogy, right? (If you haven’t, that’s Flesh and Fire, Weight of Stone, and The Shattered Vine. You can order them now. Yes, now. Go on, I’ll wait.) Well! It turns out that there are more stories that want to be told in the Vineart universe. Laura Anne seemed surprised by this (cue maniacal laughter). In particular, a novella, “From Whence You Came,” wanted to be written, and so Laura Anne made a deal with it — “If you get funded on Kickstarter, I’ll write you.” Well, the story is Just This Close to Winning that bet — only $440 shy of making its nut (not to mention that Laura Anne has already started to write the story, because — writers. Every single one of us is Like That). You want the story to win, right? I thought so. Why not go on over and give it a hand, then?

Steve Miller and Sharon Lee at the Portland Public Library MWPA Signing Black Friday

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Scavenger Hunt!

Steve and I have been doing this for a long time, and we're name-droppers.  From time to time, we drop names of characters you haven't seen yet.  We do this (1) in print and (2) in conversation.  Sometimes, we forget what we've said.

So! For the gratitude of confused authors:  Can anybody tell us the name of Val Con and Miri's daughter?

Nebula Nominating Period Now Open

If you’re an Active or Associate member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the Nebula Nominating Period is open from now (actually, it started on November 15) until February 15, 2012. This is where titles are thrown into the hat at the rate of five per category per member, and it is from these titles that the works appearing on the final Nebula ballot are drawn.

The categories open for nomination are:

*The Nebula Awards for the best science fiction or fantasy short story, novelette, novella, and novel published during the calendar year 2010

*The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation in the calendar year 2010

*The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book in the calendar year 2010
**********
Full Disclosure: Lee and Miller, and Miller, have several works eligible for nomination:

Short Stories:
“Guaranteed Delivery,” published at Splinter Universe on September 12, 2011

“Russians in My Head,” by Steve Miller. Published at Splinter Universe on October 31, 2011

Novelettes:
“Kin Ties,” published at Splinter Universe, August 12, 2011

“The Space at Tinsori Light,” published at Splinter Universe on November 10, 2011

“Intelligent Design,” published on the Baen Website in July 2011. Compilation of all the free Baen stories here (free download).

Novella:
"Skyblaze," published by SRM Publisher, Ltd., February 2011.

Novel:
Ghost Ship, Baen Books, August 2011.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.