Eagles Over the Kennebec

What Went Before: The snow has stopped, and the town plows are out in force.

1000 new words written today. I really need to get my head back into what's happening on the station, after spending two consecutive books on Colemeno. I was also very gratified to find a place to step back to, where I could begin from a different angle, and that we had been smart enough to leave a gap I can use for some Fun Stuff that we didn't get to include in Salvage Right because then it would have been 500,000 words long and Toni would have murdered us.

I'm not going to give a running total for the current WIP, because I still have to revise, disassemble, reassemble, contract, and extend what I had already written.

I have an Itinerary for my May wanderings. Steve always used to do the trip planning, because he was good at it, and I -- am not. However, it occurred to me that I could use the trips to New Jersey and to Westminster last -- no. In 2023. -- as models to get me to Baltimore without killing myself. So! Waterville to Cooperstown. Cooperstown to Baltimore. Baltimore to Corning. Corning to Rutland. Rutland to Waterville. Easy-peasy and all (except for the trip to Corning) well-known routes. Thank you, Steve.

I did make my reservation at Corning. Tomorrow, I'll try to get Cooperstown and Rutland taken care of, and then I'll realio trulio be committed to this thing.

And, yes, I do know that New York State is the carousel capital of Planet Earth.  It's tempting to just take, yanno, four months off, have nothing but fun, See All the People and Do All the Things, but I really do have to get some writing done this year, too.

And that's all I've got. In retrospect, a busy day -- and that multigrain loaf from the (King Arthur) kit is delicious. I may get another one or two of those, to have in reserve, because I do not normally stock All the Grains, not to mention the seeds and other yummy, crunchy stuff.

All that said -- onward!

Friday. Intermittent sunshine. Not so warm today, and snow predicted on the overnight.

I have come to the conclusion that the snow is targeting me. Yesterday, it snowed out my first ASL class; tomorrow, I have an appointment to get my hair cut. Pfui on you, snow. I pick my teeth at you.

What else? Oh, breakfast!

Breakfast was a tomato and cheese sandwich on two slices of the multigrain loaf I made yesterday. Lunch will be the last of the store-bought quiche, which was ... OK. But my quiche is better.

Today, I have Chores. The first load of laundry is washing. I need to set the vacuum working, make some phone calls, finish with the reservations for the Big Trip, do the banking, catch up with a couple pieces of correspondence, perform my duty to the cats, and maybe take a walk. Eeek. Feast or famine. Fire or drought. If I don't fall asleep, Actual, yanno, Work is scheduled for after lunch.

I have been remiss in telling you all about this wonderful new timer I have put into use. As is the case with so many very simple things, I have a really hard time using kitchen timers. Lately, I've had Google to yell at to set a timer, but Google sometimes loses the plot, and sometimes I forget to yell. Mostly, I've been setting the timer on the Big Microwave, which is old enough to drink, vote, and run for president, and I'll be blunt -- I live in fear of the day that microwave dies, because I Have No Idea how the one that came with the house works.

Anyway (yes, I'm still talking about timers, but I got bored with the above paragraph and decided it would look nicer if I introduced some white space), the Big Microwave has a chicklet keypad, and I've become worried that I may wear the keys out and poof! there goes my access to the second most-used item in my kitchen. So, I bought a timer, and I want to tell you, it's so simple even I can use it, and the bell is loud, so if I -- not that this ever happens -- forget that I set a timer for my tea and go to the back of the house to do something, I can hear the bell go off (just like the microwave timer), and go rescue said tea before it climbs out of the cup and begins a pilgrimage to the Old Country.

Here's the timer.

What else? OH! BaltiCon. Yes, you -- yeah, even YOU -- can come to BaltiCon; it's not a closed club or anything. Guests of honor this year are Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Sebastien de Castell, Stephanie Law, Marc Abrahams, Joanna Fang, Blake Collins, and (my favorite, though I shouldn't say so) the Baltimore Gamer Symphony Orchestra. Plus, yanno, the Heinlein Award winner, and a cool three million writers, artists, costumers, and filkers. Really, you should come if you can; it'll be a great time. That's BaltiCon 59.

I should mention that BaltiCon is a Very Important Con in my personal life.  I met Steve Miller for the first time at BaltiCon 10, in 1976.  While we were still living in Maryland, BaltiCon was our "home con."  We were Writer Guests of Honor at BaltiCon 37 in 2003, and attended the big BaltiCon 50 Guest of Honor Get-Together in 2016.

And I really do think that's all.

How's Friday treating you?

Today's blog title isn't brought to you by Peter Gabriel, but it's a good song, anyway.  "Big Time"

Friday morning cat census:

Yes, yes, it's been forever since I've done anything but tell y'all what I'm reading.

My excuse is that I've been working on Ribbon Dance -- the sequel to Trader's Leap, due at Baen in early August, no pub date yet.  There's not much to tell except that I'm on the downward side of the mountain -- +/- 90,000 words to the good, and maybe another 20,000 to get to the end of the story.  I've been working down inbetween the sentences for the last few days, building bridges, trimming up scenes, inserting (and deleting),  and going back and forth to make sure that guy actually said that thing, or failed to do so when he had the opportunity, which makes for very boring blogging.

I can tell you that Ribbon Dance is shaping up nicely, though it has a far different vibe from Salvage Right.  As, indeed, it should.  I think you guys will like it.

Speaking of Salvage Right (see what I did there?), the eARC is still available from Baen, right here.  If you click "Sample" on that page, you'll find links to the first 45 chapters of the novel.  Yeah, they're short -- needs must -- but that's still about 150 pages -- a very generous sample.

If you've read the eARC, or the sample chapters, and would like to talk about it with other early readers, Steve and I made a spoiler discussion space available here.  Also, if you've read the eARC, please consider leaving a review at Goodreads, or on your FB wall, or your blog, or other book-friendly spaces that you may frequent. Advance chatter helps sales.

Sales!  For those who prefer to wait for the official hardcover/ebook publication --your day is fast approaching:  July 4, in fact.  We have no news as yet regarding an audiobook edition.  Recent history suggests that there will be at least a six month gap between hardcover and audiobook releases.  This is, I mention for the folks in the back, out of the control of the authors.

If you'd like a signed copy of Salvage Right, you can preorder one -- or more! -- from Uncle Hugo's.  Here's the link.

We now move to a topic of interest to those who purchase paper editions of Pinbeam Books chapbooks (Pinbeam Books being the Lee-and-Miller indie arm).  Pinbeam Books paper editions are printed on demand by Amazon.  And Amazon will, in a few days, be raising the price it charges us (and all the rest of the folks who do POD publishing through Amazon) for paper.

Steve and I have talked this situation over, and have decided that we will not -- that's NOT -- be increasing the cover price of existing Pinbeam Books paper editions.  We may possibly increase the cover price on Pinbeam Books paper editions, going forward.

We now move on to convention appearances.  The next convention Steve and I are planning to attend is Astronomicon, October 27-29, in Rochester, New York.  Here's the link.

We have a couple of podcast interviews coming up -- with Annie's Bookstop and Culture Wars.  We'll update you when those go live.  In the meantime, here's a link to Writers Drinking Coffee, where Steve and I had a grand time talking to Chaz and Karen Brenchley and Jeannie Warner.

. . . and I think that catches us all up for the time being.

Thank you all for your continued patience with the vagaries of the writing life, and for your ongoing support of our work.

For decades now, and whenever possible, Steve and I have hosted a Friends of Liad Breakfast during the conventions we attended.

This pleasant custom fell by the wayside due to cancer, plague, and, oh, plague.

Steve and I will be at Boskone in-person next week, and we will be hosting a Friends of Liad breakfast at Saucity inside the Westin, on Saturday, February 18 at 8:15 am, and we hope you'll be able to join us.

Please read the information below.

WHAT THE FOL BREAKFAST IS NOT:
1  The Friends of Liad Breakfast is not (NOT) a convention event
2  The Friends of Liad is not (NOT) a free event

WHAT THE FOL BREAKFAST IS: An informal gathering of friends and fans of the Liaden Universe®, its characters and/or its authors (or their cats).  We gather together for a meal, in order to catch up with each other, and to reaffirm ourselves as a community (which sounds a lot more formal than it actually is).

HOW IT WORKS:

1  Sharon and Steve warn the good folks at Saucity (who have done this many times before) that we will be expecting to breakfast with a dozen, possibly more, friends on Saturday starting approximately at 8:15 am, and that those friends would be looking for THE FRIENDS OF LIAD BREAKFAST.

2  We will all be seated together (caveat: there have been a couple times when the group was so large we weren't all able to be seated at one table.  Satellite tables were then arranged.  The staff at Saucity is very good at what they do).

3  Everyone will order, or otherwise gather their breakfast, and everyone will pay for their own breakfast.  This includes Sharon and Steve.

4  We eat, we talk, we laugh.  Hopefully, we have fun.

5  We disperse (this year) in time for Steve to get to his 10:00 am panel

We do hope to see you all there.  If you'd like to attend, consider letting us know ahead of time so that we can give as accurate a report as possible to the staff at Saucity.

Audio Book News
Fair Trade, by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller, the 24th novel set in their original Liaden Universe®, published as hardcover and ebook by Baen in May 2022, is now available from Audible, Eileen Stevens narrating.
Here’s your link

Convention News
BOSKONE
Boskone 60, February 17-19, 2023.  Registration is now open
Guests of Honor: Nalo Hopkinson, Victo Ngai, Tui T. Sutherland, Dave Clement.
Lee and Miller have been accepted as panelists, and will be attending.
Here's your link

HELIOSPHERE
The website has been updated and registration is now open for HelioSpehere 2023. Liaden Universe® authors Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and frequent Liaden cover artist David Mattingly are Guests of Honor; April 28 – 30, 2023 Holiday Inn Piscataway, NJ.
Here's your link

Happy holidays to all who celebrate.  Looking forward to seeing you in person in 2023!

Last night, I finished the Good Enough Draft of Salvage Right (the 25th novel in the Liaden Universe®, built and maintained by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, publishing since! 1988, with a brief hiatus because Big Publishing), which presently weighs in at +/- 106,000 words.

Am I going to leap Right Into revision? you ask.

I am not.  I have done, and doubtless with do again, but this time? The book is due to Madame in June.  Which means I have the Incredible Luxury of taking two weeks off to rest my brain and Think About Other Things before I leap into Revisionland.

Why does my brain need rest? Aren't I a writer?  Isn't Making Stuff Up(tm) What I Do?

My brain needs rest because writing is hard.  One definition of Writer is "someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people;" I am definitely a writer.  And while Making Stuff Up is cool, then you have to Keep Track of It.

Tinsori Light has been eating my brain since -- checks notes -- November 15, 2021.  Six months of riot, bedlam, and derring-do.  Jeez, no wonder I'm tired.

But most of it's on the page now, and my head feels weirdly empty, as it does when a long project is complete.

So, today, instead of choosing faces, or leaping into the fray with Jen Sin, I will be doing housework, and hope to make a good start clearing six month's worth of Chore IOUs.

In other news -- I did promise other news -- Steve is simultaneously working on a commissioned short story and the next Jethri novel -- Trade Lanes.

We will be attending the ChiCon 8, the World Science Fiction Convention to be held in Chicago September 1-5. We have purchased train tickets and reserved a hotel room. No word yet on if either of us has been chosen for panels. Be sure that we'll publish our schedule in All The Usual Places, once we have one.  Yes, we are hoping to host a Friends of Liad breakfast.  More news on that front as we have it, as well.

Fair Trade, which came out in hardcover and ebook* just last Monday, continues to do well.  If you've read the book, please consider posting a review in the venue of your choice.  Reviews not only drive the Algorithm Engines at the Big Stores, but they also help other readers make Important Buying Decisions.

And here we are, all caught up.

Now I need to clean the bathroom.

_____________
*Nope -- no word on an audiobook.  The person at Baen who is responsible for this aspect of things is reportedly "working on it."

Steve Miller will be a virtual panelist at Boskone 59, February 18-20.  Boskone 59 is a Hybrid Convention this year.

Steve's schedule is below.  All times are Eastern Standard.

VIRTUAL: Unhappy Endings Format: Panel
18 Feb 2022, Friday 8pm - 8:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Jane Yolen, Steve Miller, Julie Czerneda, Paul Di Filippo (M), Ada Palmer

Tragic plays from Shakespeare, Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides are still with us ... hundreds, even thousands of years later. Not all stories let the protagonist triumph — sometimes they lose; sometimes they even die losing. Some science fiction and fantasy writers' unhappily ending stories are quite popular. Why do they succeed? Why do other such stories fail — even fail so hard their authors never try to write unhappily ever after?

VIRTUAL: My Favorite Character
18 Feb 2022, Friday 9pm - 9:50pm, Marina IV (Westin)
Olav Rokne, Jen Gunnels, Steve Miller, David Marshall, James Moore (M)

Google once estimated that humanity had published 129,864,880 books. If about half were SF/F/H trilogies — never mind, let’s ask it this way: from all the speculative fiction stories ever published, who’s your favorite character, and why? Heroine, villain, sidekick, romantic interest, alien bystander? Would you like to meet, have dinner with, or be that person? What does your choice say about your own character?

VIRTUAL: Solo Reading
19 Feb 2022, Saturday 12:30 - 12:55, Marina IV (Westin)
Steve Miller

So Boskone was fun; it was good to see new and familiar faces.  I'm still not entirely comfortable with the interface, but I figure that'll come, as I get out and about more.

Speaking of getting out and about, Steve and I will be participating in MarsCon (the one based in Minneapolis), which is being held online March 12-14.  Here's your link.  Hope to see you there!

Work is going forth on Change State:  Adventures in the Liaden Universe® Number Thirty-Two, which will include original novella "Dead Men Dream," and reprint "Command Decision."

In other news, I am in receipt of an electric letter from a reader, stating a need for a Liaden dictionary and language books, in order to "show" Klingon speakers.  I can't actually tell if this is in earnest, so I'll do my correspondent the honor of assuming that it is.

As I understand the matter, Klingon is actually a language.  One can translate one (or several) of Shakespeare's plays into Klingon, and read it, in Klingon.  Like, say, you might translate one of Shakespeare's plays into Spanish, or German.

I would be personally surprised is there are 50 words in the Liaden "language."  Well, here, count them yourself.  Certainly, it has no grammar, or use-rules.  That so many people -- for my recent correspondent is not the first to suggest, nay, insist on this point -- are convinced that Steve and I have developed an entire language which is the equal of Klingon is a tribute to our world-building, and the strength of the characters' convictions, but really, truly, honestly:  There is no Liaden language, except in our shared imagination.

It snowed here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory today, which Trooper and Sprite celebrated thusly: