Lemme tell ya, them guys ain’t dumb

Well, now, where was I?

Right. Seem to have run right out of “rest,” with the result that my ankle has started to swell up again. Spent yesterday on the couch, redlining Necessity’s Child. Today will be more of the same, and that should see the end of that part of the project. Then, I really do need to get with the desk-top, do the changes, and the text-block moves. And, yanno, write the final third of the book.

Happily, my backbrain has forked over with An Idea regarding the future of one of the characters. Sadly, it would involve a sequel that would entangle with the sequel to Dragon Ship.

Perhaps the backbrain will kindly produce some more information on this subject some time soon. After all, it has all the time in the world, here.

* * *

We have thus far collected $89.24 for the Planned Parenthood breast cancer screening program. Our thanks to everyone who has purchased a copy of The Cat’s Job in February. For those who came in late, we are contributing the February proceeds (that means, the money that we get, after the bookstores get their piece of the action)of the eChapbook edition of The Cat’s Job to Planned Parenthood. Complete explanation, with links, here

* * *

Speaking of Amazon (note that smooth transition, baby) — If you are an author who sells Kindle editions of your work, it is worth your while to check the catalog pages of your books to ascertain whether Amazon has arbitrarily marked your book down to $0.99US

Pinbeam Books has five titles that have been marked down. On the publisher page, the list price still shows at $2.99US. It is on the catalog page (i.e. the page that people Actually Buy The Book From) that the discounted price is displayed (You! Save! $2.00!)

At least one other author has noticed this, regarding his own books, that I know of. I suspect that there are more, because the answer to my inquiry to KDP support is: We wanted to write you to confirm that we received your recent email to KDP Support and will be responding to you as soon as possible. Unfortunately, our response time is taking a bit longer than the usual 24 hours we normally reply within.

And, yes, before someone says it — Amazon does indeed have the power to do whateverthehell they want to do with any book they list. Says so in their manifesto contract. However, Amazon is trying very hard to position itself as The Author’s Friend; the guy who’ll cut authors a fair deal and give them 70% royalties.

Only?

Books that are sold at $0.99US earn 35% royalties.

* * *

We watched Source Code Friday night — it was, I thought, very well done, even riveting. Even Mozart was riveted, and his taste in film runs almost exclusively to vintage musicals.

Recommended.

* * *

And for those who have been jonseing for an eArc of Dragon Ship, we have word from a proactive reader who enquired of Baenebooks that “Assuming the book stays on schedule, we should be publishing the eARC sometime between May and June…”

. . .and that’s all the news.

How’s your weekend coming along?

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

Gonna be a cold one

The weatherbeans are calling for minus 1F (-18C) tonight, which I think is as cold as it’s been all winter. Fierce wind blowing, too.

*cue WC Fields*

So, the redlining is over. Tomorrow, I need to make the changes in the manuscript. I did take a slightly wrong turn at the very end of the pages I have written, so I’ll be fixing that, and then zooming on toward the finish line.

Uh, yeah.

In other news, The Galveston Daily News reviews Carousel Tides, and Steve is proposing a fun new project for Splinter Universe. His Facebook post is reproduced below, for those who don’t FB:

Coming attractions …

I have, these last few days, been going over a curiosity we may be sharing on Splinter Universe starting in a day or two — and possibly stretching out over a couple weeks.

To explain –

We’ve discovered some old “exercises” of mine that grew into a number of strands of a story that never quite got finished, and for good cause. If I recall the period properly I’d been working on this when my job got crazy and I’d ended up working 10 to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for some months. That ended when I had back problems so bad I spent over a week flat on my back with muscle relaxants making motion possible ….

And what I was fiddling with was Miri, and Ichliad Brunner, and Klamath. The pages we have are, alas, not exactly numbered — and there were tries and retries, and angles. At this distance I can’t recall which were first and second ….

So my idea is that I’ll scan the apparent strands in, one by one, and post the strands on Splinter Universe, and we can all take a look (perhaps you more than me since I also have Jethri on the line) and see if we can work out what might have been the proper story line … and who knows, maybe we’ll see if something more should be done with what’s there, given that, in effect, we’ve already finished some of the story through the joys of Misfits.

If you want to know what a work in progress can look like from the wrong side of the lens, this will be your chance, assuming anyone is interested.

How say ye?

Everybody stay warm.

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