So! I finished my draft of "The Last Train to Clarkesville" under the 8,000 word upper limit (by an entire 140 words). The story has now gone back to Steve for one! more! go-through before we send it on to the editor.
For those waiting for news of the Fair Trade audiobook -- I have news! Baen reports that the contract for the Audible edition of Fair Trade has been signed and countersigned! This is progress. We don't yet have a production date, or the name of a narrator, but motion is happening in a forwarder direction. We will let you know just as soon as we have more news, and we thank you all for your patience.
In even! more! Fair Trade news, Amazon is having a sale on the hardcover edition ($14.99; save $10.01!). Here's the link.
Having finished "Last Train..." last night, I'm giving myself a half-day to, yanno, putter around with the embroidery box, clear away the debris from the last project, choose a new one, scrubble some cats, and what not. Tomorrow, I need to get with preparing Duainfey for release under the proper author name.
That's today's little bit of news.
Everybody stay well.
Oh! Blog-post title brought to you by The Monkees, of course, "The Last Train to Clarksville." Here's your link.
In six days (US), it will be May 3.
Why do you care?
Because on that day, Fair Trade by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the 24th novel set in their Liaden Universe®, will be published!
You are encouraged to take any -- or all! -- of the following actions before May 3.
1 Preorder the ebook from the vendor of your choice, and start May 3 with that little happy thrill you get when you see a new book has downloaded to your ereader.
2 Preorder a signed hardcover from Uncle Hugo's.
3 Preorder a hardcover from the bookstore of your choice.
4 Block out time to read Fair Trade, and make sure there's plenty of food in the fridge, favorite beverages and snacks on-hand, because once you start reading, you won't want to stop.
When last we heard from Yr Hmbl Narrator, she was looking forward to eight glorious, empty days, with nothing to do but play on Tinsori Light.
And that's sorta what happened. To a point.
I knew going into the week that I needed to complete my application to take part on panels at ChiCon 8, which is ohsomuch more complicated than you're envisioning, and with a deadline involved, but I figured to pursue that project during my writing breaks.
It started out well.
Steve had a dental appointment on Monday, but my services as a chauffeur were not needed, so I stayed home and -- wrote. Tuesday was also pretty good, right up to the point where we heard from the narrator for Liaden Universe® Constellation, Volume Two (coming soon from Tantor! link), who was requesting a Weird Word List and a recording of same.
This was great news! Only -- Weeding through more than a dozen stories for the Weird Words consumes Serious Time, and -- book isn't going to write itself. Happily, I hit on the notion of asking for volunteers, and giving each of them one story to read. And -- long story short -- many hands quickly returned separate lists of Weird Words, which I was able to compile into a list over the next few days.
Meanwhile, in Wednesday, we took Belle to the vet for her annual wellness check, and, later that same day, Steve and I got long overdue hair cuts. The day was further livened by the arrival of 12 cases (240 books) hardcover edition of Fair Trade, for us to sign, repack and get ready to be picked up by UPS on Monday and given a ride to Uncle Hugo's in Minneapolis.
While 240 isn't a lot of books (back in the Meisha Merlin days, we signed thousands (yes, it's true) and mailed them, too), but it's a goodly number, plus I'm not a young thing of 50 anymore. So, we took some time to sign books, and box them back up -- all done by Saturday evening, when I bore down and finished the ChiCon survey.
While Steve was signing the last two boxes of books, I recorded half of the Weird Word list for the narrator. While I was signing the last &c, Steve recorded the other half of the Weird Word list for the narrator.
Then, he boxed up the signed books, sealed the cases, attached the UPS forms, and in short got everything ready for Monday's pickup, while I?
Finally got back to work on the WIP.
And discovered that my laptop has died.
Today, I've been writing. Sixteen hundred words on the day, so far, and Salvage Right has just broken 93,000 words. Support at System 76 has gotten back to me with a suggested course of action for the laptop, which I'll pursue this evening, and tomorrow! Between 12 and 5, UPS will swing by and pick up 12 cases of Fair Trade and take them to the Uncle.
So, next week's looking pretty good for writing -- there's some phone calls and Real Life stuff to deal with, and a Zoom interview with Baen host Griffin Barber on Thursday night, but pretty clear.
*fingers crossed*
I want to say that the cats have been very supportive during these unscheduled rushes and boxings. Trooper was particularly involved in the signing part of things.
Here's a picture of Trooper, supervising Steve:
And here's a picture of Trooper being removed from the signing table by Yrs Trly. For scale, I am six foot tall, and weigh 165 lbs. Trooper weighs just a thought over 17 lbs.
So! Now we're all caught up. If you preordered a signed copy of Fair Trade from Uncle Hugo's, you may commence waiting for delivery on May 2.
Fair Trade, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the 24th novel set in the Liaden Universe®, a space opera geography of their own devising will be published on May 3.
What, you may ask, does this mean?
I will tell you.
It means that on May 3, the book will be simultaneously published as a hardcover and an ebook, and you -- yes, you! -- will able to buy it at the vendor of your choice.
Before May 3, you may:
1 Preorder the hardcover from the bookseller of your choice
1a If you want a SIGNED copy of the hardcover, you may preorder it from Uncle Hugo's only. Here's your link.
2 You may preorder the ebook edition of Fair Trade from Amazon, BN, and other ebook vendors.
None of the above precludes any of the others. They exist simultaneously in time, space, and probability.
For those who consume audiobooks: No audiobook edition of Fair Trade has been scheduled. The person responsible for these negotiations tells us he's working on it.
And that's the entire contents of my head regarding Fair Trade, except, yanno -- buy it, enjoy it, tell your friends!
So ends the Great 2022 Fair Trade Tyop Hunt! Steve and I thank everyone who participated for the gift of your sharp eyes, your time, and your energy! The corrections and the list of names have been forwarded to Baen.
1 The eARC of Liaden Universe® Volume Five is now available for purchase at Baen.com. Here's your link.
1a LUC 5 includes these stories: Fortune's Favors, Opportunity to Seize, Shout of Honor, Command Decision, Dark Secrets, A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom, The Gate that Locks the Tree, Preferred Seating, Ambient Conditions, Dead Men Dream, and an authors' foreword.
1b LUC5 will be published on February 1, 2022 in trade and ebook.
1c You may preorder the trade edition from your favorite vendor*.
2 Fair Trade, the 24th novel in the Liaden Universe®, the third book detailing the adventures of Jethri Gobelyn ven'Deelin, is now available for preorder in hardcover* from the Usual Suspects. It will be published on May 3, 2022.**
2a The previous books in the Jethri arc are: Balance of Trade and Trade Secret
3 "From Every Storm a Rainbow," featuring a Liaden Universe® "holiday" story featuring Sinit Caylon will be available for your free reading pleasure at Baen.com on-or-about November 15
4 Watch the skies for a Pinbeam chapbook collecting all the so-called "bakery" stories, including new story, "Our Lady of Benevolence."
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*Baen ebooks are never available for preorder -- this has to do with Baen's long-standing tradition of making eARCs available. The ebook edition will be published on the day the paper edition publishes and will be available for purchase at that time from Baen, Amazon, BN, Apple, Kobo, and so on.
**We have no news of an audiobook edition at this time. Be certain that we will shout this news from the rooftops, once it is in our possession.
Frantic deadline writing continues, and! We have a title for the novel, which IS a Jethri novel, and that title is!
In the midst of All That (yes, yes, but you -- at least I -- have to give my brain something to do while the backroom is slapping together the rough of the next scene besides play endless rounds of Lumeno), the thirty-third Adventures in the Liaden Universe® chapbook, BAD ACTORS, is in process. The Tyop Hunters are returning their results, and I'm looking at putting the chapbook up for pre-order next week, with an eye toward a July 31 release date.
BAD ACTORS collects three previously published Liaden short stories that fell through the cracks in our reprint process, due in equal parts to differing availability dates (one story had an 18-month exclusivity period, the others had a year), and the publication of the various Liaden Universe® Constellations. All three stories feature people who might have chosen better, and all three were commissioned. No, I don't know why three different editors wanted stories that practically begged for Protags With Questionable Morals(tm).
The stories included are! Excerpts from Two Lives, Dark Secrets, and Revolutionists. As it happens, two of them were principally written by Steve, one by me. So, you can have fun trying to decide which is which. Possibly this could be made into a drinking game. Or, yanno, not.
Watch this space, and other spaces where Things Liaden are discussed, for news. Be sure that when pre-orders open, we will shout it from the highest buildings available.
While you're waiting, here's another look at the cover art.
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