Deadline Tomorrow: Personalized Copies of Dragon in Exile

[rolanni]

Procrastinators Take Note: You are at deadline.  This is not a test; this is an actual, real-world deadline.  Tomorrow, Friday, May 1, 2015.

Those of you who have been meaning to pre-order a signed and personalized copy of Dragon in Exile, the eighteenth novel in the Liaden Universe® by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the hour is upon you. Now is the time to go to Uncle Hugo's ordering page and order your book.  Use the blank box on your order form to type the personalized message you would like us to write in your book.  Be careful!  Proofread!  Because we will write exactly what you put in that box, unless:  (1) It is, in the sole judgment of the authors, too long, or (2) It offendeth us.

For those who do not desire a personalized book, but would like to have a signed edition -- carry on.  Uncle Hugo's will continue to take orders for signed copies until the signed copies are gone.  I believe that Mr. Blyly ordered in 200 copies, total.  They may go fast, or they may go slow, but when they're gone, there aren't any more.

For those who doubt that this fabled volume exists, here is proof:

Steve opens a box o'dragons

All righty, then.

In other news, Argent the Wondercar, Steve's 2002 silver Subaru Forester was retired yesterday.  We'll be a one-car family for a bit, which has certainly been done before, while Other Things sort themselves out.  And the repercussions of Uncle Sam taking more than half of our last check of last year just keep on repercussing.  Gah.

Let's see, what else is doing?

Oh!

As illustrated above, our authors' copies of Dragon in Exile arrived yesterday, and a handsome book it is.

Several people have asked, and -- yes.  I will be doing an accountability post about Patreon just as soon as the first check comes down, for the illumination of donors, and also to assist anyone who may be thinking of setting up a Patreon account, but would like to see how things play out in Real Numbers.

Speaking of Patreon -- it's not very easy to find other Patreon accounts, unless I'm doing something really wrong.  I'd've thought there'd be a cross-referencing system of some kind, so that people who like to support bands, or writers, or artists could find more of the Sort of Stuff They Like, but it does not seem to be so.

I seem to have lost my pedometer, which. . .sort of sucks.  I hope Princess Sprite didn't knock it under the stove.  OTOH, I have a whole bunch of stuff to do while sitting down, so I guess it's not that much of a loss at the moment.

And!  The Question of the Hour:  Steve and I are starting to think about how we ought to structure our "book signings," which are actually events where we do a little performance, and then sign books.  Last time, we gave a history of the universe's publishing history, took questions and signed books.  I don't think we even read from the book -- which would have been Trade Secret.

So, the Question:  What should we talk about this time?  Or -- if you were coming to one of the stops on our book tour, what would you want or expect to hear?  Do you like author readings?  Is there something regarding the Liaden Universe® or the writing life that you'd particularly like to hear about?  Now is the time to put your question(s) forward.  We want your input.

. . .and now?  Time to turn off the internets and go to work.

Here -- have some cat pictures:

Sprite holding the dragons down

Scrabble did not want to have her picture taken

Trooper, on the other paw, was ready for his glam shot

Comments

On the bright side

[aska-kettlingur.livejournal.com]

Fewer cars than drivers is MUCH better than fewer drivers than cars. My sister's husband refuses to part with a rickety RV and ditto truck, so they are paying taxes and insurance on four vehicles for two drivers. Also, when I was in high school, my dad was very sick, my mom never could drive, and I didn't have my license yet, so we had a perfectly good car sitting in the driveway and had to take taxis for grocery shopping. One lovely taxi driver noticed the car and offered to start it for us. What a sweet man!

I think you'll find that it is easier than you expect to share one car. Yes, some adjustments have to be made, but in general it works out, and since you are not in the situation where each commutes a distance to work in a different direction, it is possible.

And the savings! I'm not sure exactly how taxes work in your town, but make sure you give a copy of the bill of sale and/or receipt for return of license plates to your local tax assessor, so that the car can be removed from the Grand List as soon as they are willing to do so. That may be sooner than waiting for the state to provide the town with a revised list next year.

Also contact your auto insurance, although the savings there will be small, since you still have two drivers and one newer car. There might be a savings on liability based on the fact that you can't both be on the road at the same time, skidding into each other!

Re: On the bright side

[aska-kettlingur.livejournal.com]

Also, be sure you make and keep a copy of the bill of sale/transfer of ownership. This is something I have forgotten to do in the past. A friend of mine didn't do this, and the city continued to bill him for taxes because he couldn't prove he didn't still have the car.

Re: On the bright side

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Yes, well.

Saving money never gives me the warm glowies that it apparently gives everybody else on earth. Possibly because, in my entire life, whenever I've been able to save some money, the government -- usually the government, in one form or another -- takes it away. I give you our last royalty check of 2014.

Also, one of the things that makes this relationship work is the knowledge that either one of us can walk away at any time. And while it's perfectly true that either one of us can still walk away if we so desire, it places. . .difficulties in the way of doing so that neither one of us finds acceptable.

Re: On the bright side

[aska-kettlingur.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'm using the wrong term. When I talk about 'saving money,' I am not talking about putting extra away, but am thinking about reducing the negative cash flow that has been plaguing me lo these many years. Perhaps 'reducing expenses' would be a better term? Or 'staunching the flow?'

My small income tax refund (I give them more every year than the taxes should be and hope to get some back), was direct deposited yesterday morning. Then my plumber arrived at 9 AM and spent three hours dealing with a very blocked drain, after which I no longer had that little extra I had hoped to spend on band camp in Sidney, ME this summer.

I can't blame the drain on anyone but myself, as I've lived in this house for over 47 years, the past 4 1/2 alone. I should have recognized the symptoms and called him earlier, but I was hoping for "...and here a miracle occurs." There is very little in the way of self-healing plumbing.

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

One thing you can do with Patreon is to click on patrons who have supported something/someone you like and see what else they are a patron of.

Or you can search if you know someone has one.
I went to peek at how this works and found Cheyenne's new patreon page. I supported him and when you do that you get a 'People who supported this also supported...' and a selection of patreons that their supporters also support.

You were in that list by the way when I supported Cheyenne.

Edit: You can also get to that summary by clicking on the icon that looks like a person when looking at your profile page (or someone's profile page) which has various icons next to that patreon. What is the word for someone who has patrons?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Aha! Good to know, thank you.

What is the word for someone who has patrons?

Protege? Beneficiary?

What is the word for someone who has patrons?

[aska-kettlingur.livejournal.com]

What is the word for someone who has patrons?

deserving? loved?

Princess Sprite

[catherine ives (from livejournal.com)]

Glad to see the boxes of Dragons did not float away due to Princess Sprite's quick thinking. Hope she reveals where the pedometer is. Tell Scrabble she takes a good photo anyway. Trooper as handsome as ever.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

I was going to say tht the picture of Steve with the books looked suspicious because there was not a cat in the frame at all, and later there was a cat with a box of books, but no Steve. Alll highly suspect!

Maybe Princess thought the pedometer was a purr-o-meter and took it for herself.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Gotta ask -- is Trooper wearing booties? What does that cat have under/on his paws?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Nope; those are his feet. There's a video of him on Youtube somewhere, being brought to the judge's table at a show. As he's being presented, someone among the spectators says, loudly, "That's not a paw, that's a catcher's mitt!"

[thewol.livejournal.com]

it's not this one, is it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_JTxc6L8W4

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Hadn't seen that one. That cat does look a lot like Trooper, and he was declared Best Cat in New England before his retirement from show biz. Good find.

The Catcher's Mitt video is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcyu4kWBzg8

[sibylle]

I have never managed it to one of your book signings (mostly because it was always Too Far From Germany), so I have no feedback/ideas regarding those to share - but I do have a question ... I know and respect your stance on fanfic, and not wanting to do anything against your wishes, wanted to ask how you feel about songs written about characters/events in your universes, IE filk songs? Would you prefer for them not to be written, or do you not mind, or...? (They are kinda like fanfic, but also not, so... I wanted to ask). Thank you for your time, and for writing such wonderful books and characters!

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Now, see, in my world-view, there is a very great difference between art that has been inspired by other art -- such as songs, or paintings, or poems, or even other novels -- and . . .fanfic. In my worldview, fanfic is stealing -- or at the very least copying -- where inspiration is a priceless and necessary commodity for anyone who does art. Who hasn't been inspired by a lyric, a poem, a painting, a book?

I take here as my text Anne McCaffrey, to whom the Liaden Universe(R) clearly owes a debt, for inspiration. Anne once wrote to thank us for creating the Liaden Universe(R) because, while she admired the novels to the point that they became her "comfort books," she could never, she said, have created the Liadens herself.

I don't have any objection at all if our work inspires you to create something new and unique and distinctly your own.

There are, just by the way, some Liaden filk songs out there, and we've been lucky enough to hear. . .all but one, I think, performed live.

[sibylle]

Thank you very much for your reply and for explicating! I have not written a filk song in over four years (all my creativity seems to be going into academia and photography these days), but I came away from the last filk convention determined to start writing songs again, and so am actively looking at my favorite books and universes for inspiration... but did not want to do anything against your wishes/preferences, so... I haven't heard any of the Liaden filk songs yet, but now that I know they exist, I will keep an ear out (and as I am in the US for seven months and going to all the filk conventions in that time frame I might even luck out and get to hear one or two)!

Thank you again!!!