Game Plans and Other Progress

[rolanni]

kinzel and I have brainstormed a bridge that will get us handily across that ravine and connect up with the next bit of known story, happily using a character who had promised to be on their way, but who I didn't realize could have actually by now arrived. So, ist goot and I proceed toward the finish while kinzel deals with the first 94,212 words and the excitement thereto. This will hopefully net us a completed manuscript in reasonable shape on or very near to March 31, which ist also goot, as kinzel's dental adventure begins in mid-April.

On the signing-and-mailing books front, we've got 131 orders yet to fill. Or -- we've filled the pre-orders through the letter Q (pause while Scrabble jumps in my lap to perform Supervisory Head-butts and other morale building exercises) -- remembering that this year's list was delivered from Meisha Merlin in alphabetical order, rather than the order-received order of years past.

B&N brick-and-mortars remain adamant in their belief that Crystal Soldier is a graphic novel, thus most B&Ns are not stocking it (this information gained through a field study performed by members of the Friends of Liad). They will -- according to reports, grudgingly -- special-order a single copy of the book if a customer insists. The few B&Ns who have ordered in a copy or two of Crystal Soldier are stocking it in the graphic novel section.

Several indie SF/F bookstores are carrying Crystal Soldier: Uncle Hugo's; Borderlands; Mysterious Galaxy; Pandemonium Books; Dreamhaven. All of these stores do mail order.