In which various things are scrod
Wednesday, September 5th, 2012 12:59 pmIn re: scrod, there are two things:
1. Though it tested well at home, various of my mail accounts do not work here at the Archers Beach Annex. I blame the trenvay. The situation is that I can receive mail, but I cannot answer mail. Anyone writing to me, except that they write to the more-or-less Sekrit Bidness Account, will receive silence as their reward, unless they speak upon a topic of interest to many, in which case that topic will be dealt with in a wider forum. Which leads me to...
2. Yes, there is a problem with the limited signed edition of Dragon Ship. Signed books and unsigned books got confused at the bindery and a Circus Has Been Born. This is the sum total of my knowledge of the topic, save that it's making Don Blyly's life a misery and a burden, and apparently causing Amazon and BN's heads to explode. I don't know how this problem is going to be fixed, or if indeed, there is a fix possible. See, Not the Bindery in your What Authors are Responsible For Handbook. Those seeking more enlightenment may write to infoATbaenDOTcom. Thank you.
Which I'll add later, when I update WordPress, since LJ doesn't want to play nice.
Hope everyone's having a splendid day!
Uncle shipping Dragon Ship
Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 05:48 pmAnd Don said that he had 25 (that's TWENTY FIVE...wow) boxes that were delivered. The pre orders must have been fabulous. Go DRAGON SHIP!
Anne in Virginia
In case you missed the news
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012 10:07 am1. "Landed Alien," a short story about Kara ven'Arith is this month's Free Story on the Baen website (you need to scroll down). It will be available there until September 15, and then be retired to the Free Library.
2. Dragon Ship, the fourth book of Theo Waitley, is now available from Baen in the ebook format of your choice.
3. Geek Girl Project continues their Books for Writers series with a review of Carpe Diem, by Lee and Miller.
4. Necessity's Child is not (that is NOT) the sequel to Dragon Ship. Since it is already written, turned in, and scheduled for publication -- three conditions that the sequel(s) to Dragon Ship do not at this time meet -- it is Extremely Doubtful that we will "tell our publisher" to release the sequel next. Sorry 'bout that.
4a. Necessity's Child is actually a darn good book; I like it, and a handful of other folks who read SF, including James Burton, Jaine Fenn, Dave Freer, Todd McCaffrey, Steve Miller, Elizabeth Moon, and Toni Weisskopf like it, too. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
4b. The proposals for the books following Dragon Ship are on Madame the Agent's desk. We'll tell you if/when they've been accepted by Baen. Until then, you now know as much about this as we do. Feel better?
5. AsyouknowBob, the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory experienced an Epic Flood a couple weeks ago. We, by which I mean Steve and I, have been Coping With The Mess Left Behind (the cats providing encouragement, in between naps), which means that, yes, I'm behind on my email. And just about everything else. Thank you for your understanding.
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow?
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 08:33 pmLots of excitement here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory today.
First, two boxes of this arrived:
My photography skills being what they are, you can't really see it well -- but! the view screen is actually silvered, and Theo's hand stands out almost in 3D. Very cool cover!
In other news, Truth triumphed in a small but important way today. Not, unfortunately, before I had given myself a headache over the whole thing, but triumph is good. And the filing got done, too.
I don't think I mentioned that, yesterday, Steve interviewed Kevin Collins, the narrator of the Books of Before (Crystal Soldier, Crystal Dragon, Balance of Trade) as part of a special giveaway Audible has up its sleeve. Tomorrow, I'll be interviewing Andy Caploe, the narrator of the Agent of Change Sequence, and Steve will be interviewing Eileen Stevens, who narrates the Theo Waitley books.
Carousel Sun proceeds at a stately pace. One of Kate's immediate problems, of course, is to find a replacement for the carousel horse that's gone missing. Which means she's going to have to come up with something that's different, in style and in age, from the rest of the animals on the carousel. It struck me that this is a dilemma that many of the restored carousels must have -- if all the animals from the old, say, PTC* machine haven't been recovered, or cannot be restored, they may have to fill in with Dentzel animals, or even new-made animals. So, what you'll have is mixed carousels -- all vintage, but not necessarily original to that particular machine. That's an odd thing to think about, that. . .mixing of styles and kinds. It had used to be, of course, that each company's machines were recognizable. That's not necessarily so, anymore.
Well. I suppose we're lucky that there are any old wooden carousels at all, not to mention people who are willing to keep them.
And on that note, I believe I'll go find some aspirin and a coon cat.
Everybody have a good night.
Progress on Carousel Sun
17,275/100,000 OR 17.27% complete
-----
*PTC = Philadelphia Toboggan Company
What on earth is that woman doing?
Saturday, June 16th, 2012 08:07 pm336 pages read /36 pages remaining
Fans of Silversocks are requested to light candles, cross fingers, spin a few prayer-hamsters, &c -- he's a wee bit under the weather and is resting at the Waterville Animal Hospital. We visited him this afternoon, and are able to report that he was in spirits, and very glad to see us -- as we were, to see him. We hope to bring him home on Monday.
SPOILER THREAD: Dragon Ship eArc
Sunday, April 29th, 2012 11:56 amDownload it here.
This topic is for those ambitious souls who have already read the book and who are bursting to talk about it.
There will be spoilers here! You have been warned.
I ask those who wish to discuss Dragon Ship, to, please, keep to this topic and not spill out into others. Your courtesy is appreciated.
Dragon Ship eArc Now Available
Saturday, April 28th, 2012 04:03 pmAnd we’ll have fun, fun, fun, ’til her daddy takes the Tbird away…
Monday, April 9th, 2012 07:26 pmWhen last we saw our plucky heroine, she had sworn a return to the discussion of compiling a Weird Word List, RSN.
Since swearing that awful vow, she has, with her husband-coauthor gone to the Rockland Public Library, where they talked about subjects Divers and Various to a small, but appreciative audience.
She then returned home and commenced in with her bit of Dragon Ship revisions. This entailed a good deal of picking out of stitches, setting new stitches, bringing Stuff up, deleting other stuff, rewriting a couple scenes from a different POV — in general, all possible, needful work, but fiddly and time-consuming.
The revisions were emailed back to Madame the Editor early this afternoon, just in time for the galleys for a short story which is part of an upcoming anthology to arrive, the editor citing a short turnaround. Steve’s reading those now; I’ll make my pass tomorrow morning, over — all together now! — coffee! Sadly, but in all likelihood, my third or fourth cup of coffee.
Steve and I are determined to watch a movie tonight; we have Hugo in from Netflix. Tomorrow, after my pass over the story, I must and shall begin the end of year/end of game bookkeeping for SRM Publisher.
I will also, honest, contrive to get back to the word list, ’cause that deadline’s not getting any longer. Funny how they never do.
Also on the table for blog discussion is a request to describe how I learned to write in a particular voice, and! another post about Voice, and how Science Fiction isn’t only Stories of the Far Future, and why extrapolating from our own world into the future is a mug’s game, anyway.
So! Lots to look forward to, but right now?
I am going to watch that movie.
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
Five things make a post, the discount edition
Monday, February 27th, 2012 10:20 am1. Mr. Blyly at Uncle Hugo’s reports that, of the 400 signed editions of Dragon Ship assigned to his care, 225 were placed in the first 48 hours of the pre-order period. This leaves only ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIVE (175) books left for adoption. If you were planning on pre-ordering a signed edition of Lee-and-Miller’s Dragon Ship, the exciting! follow-on to Ghost Ship — you really do need to act with alacrity.
Here’s the link to the Rules of Pre-ordering
Here’s the link to PRE-ORDER NOW
2. We have thus far collected, through February sales of The Cat’s Job, $135.93 in donations to Planned Parenthood for their breast cancer screening program. Thank you all for your generosity. For those coming in late, here’s the original post for this fund-raiser, which runs through Leap Day, Wednesday, February 29
3. Judy Tarr, writing as Judith Tarr, author of manymany fine books, as you don’t need me to tell you, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the second draft and the artwork for her novel Living in Threes. For a five-buck buy-in supporters will receive an ebook edition of the completed work. Judy was asking for a paltry $3,500 to fund this project, and she only lacks $1,290 to hit her goal, three days into the campaign. This? Is where the fun starts. I wonder how high over the goal this project will leap. Go on over and give Judy a boost, why not? Here’s the link.
4. I? Scrod the ankle yesterday and so today I’ll be writing from the couch, on The Leewit. I’ll be checking in from time to time, so tell me something cool in comments, to help take my mind off my troubles. In the meantime — fascinating stuff in the reading thread!
5. What? It’s the discount edition.
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
Excitin' doin's are doin'
Saturday, February 25th, 2012 11:26 amWhat's exciting is that our Moshi arrived today! Yes, we now have a voice-activated travel alarm. Here's one. It's cute! And it can understand my speech, as all-too-many voice recognition thingies cannot. Already I want six more of them, to keep this one company.
Mr. Byly at Uncle Hugo's writes with the following exciting news regarding Dragon Ship preorders: In less than 24 hours we've already received 151 individual orders that included 168 signed copies of Dragon Ship. . .
For those who missed the announcement yesterday, here it is.
Remember! Uncle Hugo's will only have 400 autographed copies -- 168 of those have already found homes, leaving a mere! 232 copies in need of adoption. You do not want to let procrastination takes its course in this instance. Really. You wanna make like a Type A, click THIS LINK and pre-order your very own signed copy of Dragon Ship right now!
Continuing with our theme of Excitin' doin's, Judy Tarr (aka Judith Tarr) has just, err, kicked a Kickstarter campaign into motion. Judy is looking to raise $3500, which will enable her to do the final draft of her new novel Three Lives, pay for cover art and make it available for sale. Five bucks gets you an ecopy of the final novel, which is so absurdly cheap I don't know why you're still standing there looking at me. Oh, you want a link? Here you go.
I think that's all the excitin' doin's I can talk about right now. There is, I hasten to assure you, All Manner of excitement roiling around behind the curtain, but I can't tell you about them until various eyes and tees have all been taken care of. So, yanno, Watch The Skies.
Pre-Order Autographed Dragon Ship
Friday, February 24th, 2012 11:57 amUncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore is now accepting pre-orders for signed copies of Dragon Ship by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, to be published on September 4, 2012. Here’s the link
As always, your credit card will NOT be charged until your order is fulfilled and the book is on its way to you.
Note that this year, Uncle Hugo’s has only 400 signed books to sell*, so time is very much of the essence.
Sadly, this year we will not be able to personalize (where “personalize” means “write a special note requested by you, just for you, and only in your very own book”) Dragon Ship as we did Ghost Ship, for the simple reason that we will not be in or near Minneapolis in September.
——
*As many of you know, Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis, last year offered limited edition signed copies of Ghost Ship through their website. They single-handedly placed almost 700 signed books into the hands of readers around the world.
Sadly, the publisher changed the rules for Dragon Ship, by deciding to produce a signed edition, limited to 1,000 books, with its very own ISBN, for what was originally an $8 surcharge (unsigned copy $25; signed copy $32). The publisher has since decided that the $8 surcharge was Not Cool, and is selling the signed copies for $1 over the unsigned, which is reasonable, given the expense of binding in the extra sheet.
The publisher also decided to make the limited edition signed copies available through all outlets — BN, Amazon, Wal*Mart, WhoKnows. Baker and Taylor and Amazon.com have already ordered 550 copies of that 1,000 book run, which is why there are only 400 copies available to Uncle Hugo’s.
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
Lemme tell ya, them guys ain’t dumb
Sunday, February 12th, 2012 10:53 amWell, 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.
And that’s a wrap
Monday, January 16th, 2012 10:22 pmDragon Ship
by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
A Novel of the Liaden Universe®
© 2012 by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Approximate Words: 115,400
Submitted January 16, 2012
. . .going to go splah now. No, wait. . .
Going to go pack now.
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
One of these days, these boots're gonna. . .yeah, right
Thursday, January 12th, 2012 12:39 pmThank you, thank you,
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Still trying to work out if I should call for the wheelchair-or-scooter at the con. I hate to put the concom to extra expense. On the other hand, I don't want to overdo and lengthen the six-to-eight week healing window. Yeah, so not used to thinking about this stuff.
In other news, Dragon Ship stands at 99,801 finished words, with one-and-a-half scenes left to go. Still on track for handing that in on Monday.
For those in need of eye candy, the finished cover art for Dragon Ship may be viewed here. Prints are available directly from Mr. Mattingly; contact info on the website. Warning! The cover may contain spoilers.
Also, for those who missed it on the first pass -- Steve and Sharon talk about the writing life, the Liaden Universe®, and Everything on What Are You Reading? Feel free to repost.
And? It's snowing, did I say? The weatherbeans calling for a nice, wide margin of four-to-ten inches, topped off with a delicate layer of sleet or freezing rain. Need to call the plow-guy and ask if he'll take care of the steps for this one, since neither one of us is in shape to shovel. The Leewit? Is charging.
Technology: Threat or Menace?
Sunday, December 4th, 2011 10:24 amSo, who wants to explain to me what, exactly, an IPod is and why “it’s essential” that I have one?
In other news, the deck is roofed; the crew boss is due back on Monday (or Tuesday, or “early in the week”) to measure for the back-splash and install the pesky mini-blinds that refuse to acknowledge my dominion over themselves. I think we’ll hold off on the ceiling fan; the installation sounds like too much wear-and-tear on everyone at this point.
The house is very slowly coming back into something resembling coherence. I’m trying to sort out books, music, and knick-knacks that no longer give pleasure rather than mindlessly tossing things back where they were. This? Is harder than you might think.
And, yes — we are still working on Dragon Tide, which as some astute readers have noticed, is late. Our fault entirely, for not completely grokking how much the new order of bidness would affect the old order of bidness. We have kindly received an extension from Madame the Editor. And I’m busy cutting-and-pasting, foreshadowing, and laying in the subplot(s). This? Is also harder than you might think.
So, in a few minutes, I’m off to the Word Mines.
What’re you doing today that’s fun?
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
Five Things Make a Post
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 10:01 am1. It’s snowing. I’ve just done the first round of shoveling, and regretting the lack of the deck roof. Though it is very nice to be able to shovel the snow off the deck without feeling the need to mutter, “Goddess, please let it not fall down…”
2. My cookbooks are…in a pile somewhere. So! Who has a good recipe for mincemeat tarts (I like mincemeat, even the weird mutant mincemeat that they offer up in jars nowadays. Steve won’t touch the stuff, so mincemeat pie is right out.)
3. Yesterday was mostly consumed with paying bills and recoding Master Walk for Smashthing, where it is now! available! for! sale! Go me. Today? Is all about Dragon Ship. In between shoveling, of course.
4. Lulu is having a sale! Yes! This means you can go here and purchase the new paper editions of Barnburner and Gunshy, the Jen Pierce Wimsy, Maine mysteries, for 25% off! Just use this coupon code: BUYMYBOOK305
Small print: Coupon expires December 14, 2011/$50 Max Savings
5. Speaking of books, and sales, and the upcoming gift-giving season, remember that Steve and I will be at the Portland Library on Friday, November 25, from noon to three with a lot of other super Maine writers. So, come on by! Here’s the official poster:
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
In which Rolanni schedules a meltdown for…March 2014
Sunday, November 13th, 2011 08:51 pmSo, the revisions on the first half of Dragon Ship — I have no idea what I’m doing. Move on — nothing to see; this is normal.
Also? The page proofs for the mass market of Carousel Tides arrived this morning. Due back in North Carolina on November 21. Which means they have to be in FedEx’s hands at 4 p.m. on Friday. Good thing I’ve perfected the art of reading in my sleep.
Oh, and the floor guys will be here tomorrow, directly after the stove guy, who’s due in at 7 a.m.
Gah.
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.
The day after last night’s cold wind
Saturday, November 12th, 2011 01:15 pmIt wasn’t…quite…snowing yesterday. On the other hand, that sure was some thick rain. And then last night’s wind kicked the bird feeder off the corner of the deck where it had been sitting, while we await the roof and a More Permanent Dining Solution for the winged dinosaurs. Kicked it quite a way, actually. I’m impressed.
Yesterday being Friday and Veterans Day, Steve and I went to the gym together, then headed over to Home Despot (Yes. Yes, we are living in Home Despot lately. Your point?), then to the light house in Waterville, which is not called The Light House, but Ghod, She knows what it is called. We determined there that we have different requirements for a floor lamp and went off to eat lunch and discuss the philosophy of illumination.
After lunch, and deferring the purchase of a lamp for another day, we headed to the shopping center on the other side of town, to pick up a couple things at the grocery store before going home. There, we found that Cacciatore’s Italian Steakhouse (which we knew was moving into what we had hoped was a second location in Fairfield) had Quit its prime shopping center location. And when I say Quit, I mean, they’ve completely pulled out — sign, bar, and mirrors. There’s not even a note on the door directing folks to look for an opening in a new location. I find this. . .troubling, and hope that the new location can be opened quickly, and that they can sustain the loss of business while they get everything set up.
In the meantime, the new-kid-in-town Italian restaurant, down on Waterville Main Street — which I haven’t eaten in yet, because they don’t care to serve when I care to eat — has apparently woken up enough to start offering Monday-Saturday lunch from 11-2.
So, anyhow, groceries on board, we got on the way to the Cat Farm, and suddenly realized that we might look at floor lamps at Fortin’s Furniture, which was right on the road home.
We did this thing, finding that, despite our luncheon discussion, we were still divided by a fundamental belief of what a floor lamp is, and were on the edge of leaving the place, when I saw — a floor lamp.
THE floor lamp.
A tall, curved shine of bright nickle with a single brilliant bowl dangling from it, like a hake from a hook. I went over to look, enchanted, Steve, following, and I daresay not nearly so enchanted.
My goodness, what a wonderful lamp.
But, wait; there’s more!
The little sample room in which this perfect paragon of a lamp was a player, consisted of a sable brown loveseat with an attached chaise, and oodles of brown, orange and yellow pillows. Of course I fell in love immediately, and wished to tell the hovering salesperson to pack the entire room up so we could take it home, but cooler heads prevailed.
*sigh*
I suppose it’s for the best. It would only come down to my having to arm-wrestle the cats daily for the use of the chaise…
On the writing front — I have, as advertised, received the first half of Dragon Ship from the lovely and talented Mr. Miller and have commenced in with Doing My Thing. I may be scarce in these parts for the next while, because of this circumstance. Do make yourselves at home, and remember that the cats outvote you.
For those who missed the news, “The Space at Tinsori Light” is now online. If you like the story — or any of the other several stories on-site — please consider donating. If you are one of the many folk who have already donated to our efforts at Splinter Universe, we thank you very much.
…and now?
Time to get to work.
Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.