Eagles Over the Kennebec

PSA RE: (1) Survivialism/Survivalist (2) Cancer Survivorship Program

. . . on account of I'm tired of answering the question "What is a Survivalist?"

Those who have been with me for a little while know that back in 2020, I was diagnosed with cancer and had my left breast removed. Just about a month ago, after about 5.5 years, my surgeon declared me "cancer free," and cut me loose from her care.

This makes me a Cancer Survivor (also, apparently, "a warrior"; make of that what you will).

At the Lafayette Cancer Center in Brewer, Maine, when one has achieved 5 years cancer-free, one is given over to the Survivorship Program, which files under Oncology.

The head of the Survivorship program has been called in my hearing the "Survivalist." At the Lafayette Cancer Center, this person is a Certified Nurse Practitioner; there is also a Nurse Navigator attached to the program, and of course the backing of the entire Oncology Department.

The mission of the Survivorship Program is to provide education and support to help cancer survivors maximize their health and quality of life after having had cancer and treatment for cancer. The program is individualized, and covers such things as a yearly examination -- physical, mental, and emotional -- referrals to other specialists sometimes needed by surviving warriors, such as psychiatrists or nutritionists; connections to social services, and support groups. Advice about diet, exercise, and all those other tiresome things is available.

The Survivorship Program also keeps track of my mammograms and orders the next one for me; and is just another cord in what is, in Central and Northern Maine, at least, a Very Thin social health network.

You now know everything I know about Survivalists, Survivorship, and Survivalism.

Here ends your PSA. We now return you to your irregularly scheduled flights of fancy.
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Managed to trim +/- 2,000 words from a section of the WIP which probably needs to lose some more words. There's an "obvious" bit that I can rip out that will lose me another 500 words, but I'm ... reluctant to do that. It's more than I just like the bit (though I do, and "kill your darlings" is not Eternal Wisdom, so nobody go there, 'k?), so the bit gets to stay.

For Now.

Did a little bit of house straightening this afternoon and will shortly be heading out in the Stygian Darkness of 4:30 pm to go to needlework.

Tomorrow will be writing in the morning, some more straightening of the house, and a bit of playing with glass.

I'll say goodnight for now, and see y'all tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Here, have a picture of Rookie overseeing my shoddy impersonation of a working writer:

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.

So, it's been a while since we've chatted.  My excuse is -- page proofs arrived for the mass market edition of Accepting the Lance (to be published on October 27), and needed to be proofread.  No sooner than had we sent them back, then the copy edits for Trader's Leap (to be published on December 1) landed, and that's what I'm occupying myself with at the moment.

In-between All That, Steve and I have had several, err, creative meetings -- to dignify a process that involves a lot of hand-waving, staring out of windows, pitching random scenes and sentences, and refilling the wine glasses -- regarding the next book under contract.

Those of you who have been following along will perhaps recall that The Original Plan had Steve as lead on the next book, while I had needed surgery on my left foot, and held myself ready to consult, taking up the duties of Staff once I was fit, and also working on a side book.  I may not have said that outloud, about the side book, but that was part of The Original Plan.

It is here that we insert:  The best laid schemes o'mice an' men gang aft agley.

We started well enough.  Then, in January, there was a funky mammogram, which meant biopsies of both breasts, only one of which had been invaded by cancer; followed by a mastectomy in mid-March, and a course of radiation therapy, which ended in mid-June, when I started taking a prescribed aromatase inhibitor, which produced crippling side effects. We're now in the phase of letting that med leave my system before we try another one.

Otherwise, I'm pretty much recovered, absent the fact that I'm having some memory and cognitive issues, which I'm told will improve, in good time.

And then of course, there are the on-going shared threats to health, liberty, and life that we are all dealing with.

During all of this, Steve was Front, whose expanded duties included driving me to radiation therapy -- a 266 mile round trip -- every weekday, making sure we were fed, laundered, and up-to-date.

The book languished.  We missed one deadline, and were on track to missing the second, extended, deadline.

Thus, the creative meeting.  Which led to the realization that we needed to start again.

We spoke to Madame the Agent, who spoke to Madame the Publisher.  Between us all, we worked out a new delivery date, in 2021.  So, this is your Distant Early Warning: There will likely not be a new Liaden book published in 2021.  A Miracle may occur -- it would not be the first time that Madame the Publisher has pulled a rabbit out of her hat, but that's not the way the smart money ought to bet.

Today's blog title is brought to you by Hildegard von Blingen, covering Gotye's "Somebody that I Used to Know."  Here's your link.

So, I'm in receipt of several emails, and one crazily placed blog entry (read about it here, go over to a Whole 'Nother Website, to a page that has nothing to do with the topic, and post the question.  Why would you do that?). . .asking when the short stories Steve and I have recently placed with anthologies (not magazines), will be "available," by which they mean, as a chapbook from Pinbeam Books.  These folks don't want to buy anthologies filled with stories by strange authors, just to get our new story, but they want the new stories Pretty Dern Quick.

Now, here's the Thing.  Actually, a couple of Things.

Writers, including Steve and me, write to earn money.

Anthology gigs pay money up front.

One of the things that anthologies purchase with their up-front money is publication exclusivity, anything from 6 months to 2 years (to forever, but we turn those down; there isn't enough up-front money in the world).

The purpose of anthologies, besides making money for the publishing house, the editor, and, maybe, some more money for their contributing authors, is to (1) draw in readers of Author A with the promise of a new story, and (2) introduce the readers of Author A to other cool writers those readers may have missed.  Anthologies are not inherently evil, honest.

Now, this is how the whole anthology publication works from the author side:

Invitation comes in --> Author rejects or accepts

If Author rejects, Author does not have to write a story to theme and deadline.  Author also does not get paid.

If Author accepts, Author receives contract from publisher.  Author writes story to theme and deadline, whereupon, sometime before publication of the anthology, a check will arrive in Author's mailbox.

The contract issued by the publisher spells out things like rights purchased, desired word count, payment per word, how royalties will be computed, deadline for submission, deadline for publication, and!  exclusivity periods.

Once more, in short form, here is that process:
Invitation-->Author Acceptance-->Contract Arrives-->Author writes and submits story to Anthology Editor -->Revision letter arrives-->Author revises, resubmits-->Story accepted-->Payment received-->Anthology published

Some of these bits can be switched around, but these are the steps to publication.

When the anthology is published -- that is when the exclusivity period starts.  Exclusivity is exactly what it sounds like -- the anthology holds the exclusive right to publish Story A anywhere for:  6 months, 9 months, 1 year, 2 years (forever, but see above...)

After the exclusivity period is over, Author may sell the story to a reprint market, reprint the story Author's self, or stick the story in a drawer and forget about it.

What we here at the Confusion Factory do is -- After the exclusivity period is completed, we will cause Pinbeam Books to reprint Story A as an echapbook/paper chapbook.  Sometimes, there's a little extra time built in before we get around to that, due to other pressing business, and whether we have at least two stories available for reprint (or have spontaneously generated another, free-range, story in the interim) so that we give value to our readers.

We also collect those stories into a big pile, and lately Baen Books has been kind enough to print those collections in the Liaden Universe® Constellation series.  So far, that is three volumes, with Constellation Four coming in Summer 2019*.

What all this means for the "availability" of the following stories: "Dark Secrets," "Command Decision," and "Vestals of Midnight," is!

"Dark Secrets" will be published in Infinite Stars: Dark Frontiers, which is now scheduled to be published in September 2019.  The exclusivity period for that story is 18 months.  So, it will be "available," sometime in mid-2021.

We have not yet been informed of the exclusivity period for "Decision," and "Vestal," but assume a year from publication (November 2018), since that's an average period.

Advertent readers will see that "Revolutionists" and "Excerpts from Two Lives," will be collected in Constellation Four.  Sometime after, Pinbeam Books will collect them into a chapbook. The reason for that timing is also exclusivity, the period for "Revolutionists" doesn't go over until next July, scant weeks before we can expect to see the next Liaden collection.

I trust this answers everyone's questions -- and really!  Try an anthology, why not?  You might find some new favorite authors.

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*A Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume Four, coming from Baen in Summer 2019.  This reprints eight shorter works: 2 novellas, 4 novelettes, 2 short stories from 2016-2018.  Titles included are:  “Street Cred,” “Due Diligence,” “Friend of a Friend,” “Cutting Corners,” “Block Party,” “Degrees of Separation,” “Excerpts from Two Lives,” “Revolutionists.”

Theo Waitley has a lot of fans, and they write to us from time to time, politely pointing out that it's been, like, forever (or 2012, whichever comes first) since the latest installment of her story, and they wonder when the next Theo book will finally gladden their lives.

Sadly, because of how we write (organically, say some; chaotically, say others), we have not been able to answer this seemingly simple question.

Until now!

Now, we can say, with authority, that Theo will play a large part in The Gathering Edge, the 20th novel in the Liaden Universe®.  We've known this for a number of months, and I apologize for not saying so sooner, but, um, I'd forgotten it was an issue until, providentially, someone wrote to me, wondering when we were going to get around to continuing Theo's story, and I realized that this was a topic Of Interest to Many.

So, yes -- The Gathering Edge.  Theo.  Also the Uncle, Miri and Val Con, and -- oh, a number of folks, some of whom you won't meet until Alliance of Equals, which is kind of the bad news here.

See, Alliance of Equals is the 19th novel in the Liaden Universe®, and it's not a Theo novel.  It's a Shan novel, sort of -- possibly a Padi novel more than a Shan, but in that range.  It, too, features the Uncle, and those folks you haven't met yet, and it?

Is scheduled to be published on July 5, 2016.

We're writing The Gathering Edge now -- in fact, we just cracked 50,000 words (or passed the Theoretical Halfway Point, which sounds a little more encouraging, though its unlikely to be True) of the first-draft-and-a-half yesterday.  The final manuscript is due on Madame the Editor's desk in mid-February, 2016.

So, while there's a Theo novel on the road to publication -- yay! -- you've gotta use binoculars to see it.

I am not going to predict when Edge will be published.  Every time I produce my best guess for a date, Madame surprises me, so we'll  just say -- publication is expected after July 2016.

Here ends the PSA.

For the FB peeps, a rare photo of Scrabble, who, unfortunately, had her forcefield engaged:

This is in the nature of a catch-up post.

For those who have been following along with the numbers game at home, the latest information garnered from the latest blood test is that the 1 mg dose of thyroid medicine is a winner.  The poor pituitary has stopped with overtime manufacturing of kick-me hormones for the thyroid, and the thyroid is producing numbers in the normal range without being kicked, and -- this being the important part -- I am fully awake and at optimum crankiness and sarcasm levels for the first time in. . .years.

Come to think of it, that should serve as a Public Service Announcement.

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Also -- this repeats news shared on Facebook yesterday evening -- I have successfully concluded a project years in the making -- a ceiling fan in my office.  I'm so happy -- I can't tell you.  Here's a picture:

. . .isn't it BEAUtiful?

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I have been reminded to remind y'all that!  Registration for BaltiCon 50, held over Memorial Day Weekend, May 27-30, 2016, at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel, is now open.  Here's the direct link.

In addition to Guests of Honor George RR Martin, John Picacio, Bill and Gretchen Roper, and Martin Deutsch and Shirley Avery, BaltiCon 50 aims to welcome back as many of the con's previous Guests of Honors as are interested and able to come.  So far, 21 Alumni GoHs have agreed to return for BaltiCon's 50th anniversary, including Steve and me (Writer GoHs, BaltiCon 37, 2003).

This is a big, big project, and BaltiCon is asking for your help in funding the travel for the returning GoHs.  There's a donation page here, where you may donate to your favorite GoHs.  (Yes, I know that Steve and I are listed separately; I don't know what's up with that, but at the bottom line, I don't think it actually matters.)

BaltiCon 50 is also selling a limited edition promotional tshirt in order to raise funds.  You can view and/or purchase a tshirt here.

Finally, for all the latest news about BaltiCon 50, you can sign up for the Twitter feed:  @balticon50

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This is a Hard Writing Weekend, which means I'll be somewhat scarce on the web.  The beginning of next week includes an interview, and a visit from the generator guy, as well as Yet Another Phone Call to the health insurance company, which seems stuck in an Endless Loop of sending me a form I've now filled out and returned three times, while at the same time being unable to generate a monthly invoice.  Sigh.  Also, the Colby Art Museum is hosting an Open House on Thursday evening.  I always like to go to the Art Open House.  So, not an insanely busy week, but busy enough with mundane things -- and writing, too.

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Extra credit paragraph:  From the Department of Anthropomorphism, Cats Are Not Social Committee, we have the following Observer Report.

This morning, I was sitting at the kitchen table finishing the wonderful tuna melt Steve had made for breakfast.  I have a direct line of sight into the living room from my place at the kitchen table, and was able to see Trooper in the cat hammock, Belle stretched out on the rug close to the kitchen, near, but not on, the cat scratchers.  Sprite walked into the living room, fell on Belle, cleaned her up, cleaned herself, up, cleaned Belle up and in due time, as frequently happens, the grooming morphed into a wrasslin' match.

This morning's match was. . .vigorous.  Sprite broke twice, but came back, and Belle, seeming slightly put-upon, finally threw her Whole Being into the thing, grabbing Sprite around the waist and kicking her in the stomach.  There were no growls, but Belle, at least, was clearly intent on teaching Sprite a lesson, rather than savoring the Joy of the Wrassle.

Sprite tried to break a third time -- Belle wouldn't let her.  Sprite renewed her efforts to get free, Belle held her closer.  I was on the edge of producing a loud, "Ahem!" when. . .

Trooper jumped down from the hammock and approached the melee.

Belle let go of Sprite and twisted to her feet to face him; Sprite escaped to the hall, where she sat down and began to groom her shoulder.  Trooper walked directly up to Belle, tail slightly higher than straight behind, but not a full upward sweep, and put his nose against hers.  She allowed this -- then swatted him in the head.

Trooper went back a couple steps and walked carefully around her, as if he was going to go check on Sprite.  In fact, he paused by the television stand, where he could see her in the hall, cleaning up, stroked his cheek against the wood a couple times, turned, and went back to the cat hammock.

Belle began to bathe.

I stood up and got myself another cup of coffee.

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Everybody have a nice weekend.

Warning first, because that's fair.

Do not try me today.
I really mean this.
I have no spoons, but I have lots of knives.
Thank you for your attention.

Now, Updates!

1.  The Gift of Magic, an echapbook collecting two stories previously published on Baen.com, "The Gift of Music," and "The night don't seem so lonely," is now available in the Kindle and the Nook stores at Amazon/BN respectively.

1a.  Yes, I know the stories are individually available on the web for free.  Thank you.

1b.  I am exploring the possibility of publishing this chapbook to other ebook venues, and will make an announcement if and when exploration comes to fruition.  Yes, I know about Smashwords, thank you.  I have also recently been pointed at Draft to Digital, thank you.

1c. The Gift of Magic is dignified as Archers Beach #5.  The Archers Beach books are, in order:

Archers Beach ONE: Carousel Tides
Archers Beach TWO: Carousel Sun
Archers Beach THREE: Carousel Seas
Archers Beach FOUR: Surfside
Archers Beach FIVE: The Gift of Magic

2.  A Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume III is now available as an ebook in the Nook and Kindle stores.  It may also be available in the ebook store you prefer; it's worth checking out the possibility.

2a.  The paper edition of Constellation III is due to be in stores on August 4.

2b.  Those who preordered signed/personalized editions from Uncle Hugo, be of good heart.  The books have not yet arrived here at the Confusion Factory, but we expect them at any moment.  As soon as they do arrive, be assured that we will sign and personalized just as quickly as we're able, and will get the books back on the road to Minneapolis so that they can be mailed to you.

2c.  Yes, the book includes only reprints of short stories. No, I don't know why Baen doesn't publish the TOC in the book summary.  The stories included are:

Code of Honor (Splinter Universe, 2014)
Eleutherious (Baen.com, 2013)
Guaranteed Delivery (Splinter Universe, 2011)
Intelligent Design (Baen.com, 2011)
Kin Ties (Splinter Universe, 2011)
King of the Cats (SRM Publisher, Ltd., 2002 in The Cat's Job)
Landed Alien (Baen.com, 2012)
Moon's Honor (Splinter Universe, 2013)
Out of True (Baen.com, 2013)
Roving Gambler (Splinter Universe, 2014)
The Rifle's First Wife (Splinter Universe, 2014)
The Space at Tinsori Light (Splinter Universe, 2011)

3.  We hear through the grapevine that Offworld Designs has begun shipping Tree-and-Dragon shirts to those people who ordered.  They are now in the process of compiling a big enough pile of orders to do a second printing/embroidering.  Here's the search page for the Liaden items available.  Please note that it is a search page; you must click on the image of the shirt of  your choice in order to get detailed information.

3a.  Yes, the only shirt color at this time is black.  Yes, the thread/printing is gold.  No, I'm sorry, there are no ladies tees available at this time.

4.  The Nature Conservancy reports a successful treatment for White Nose Syndrome, which has been killing off the bat population at breathtaking rates.  Here's your link.

4a.  Yes, I am aware that some people loathe and revile bats.  I am not one of them.

5. Sprite and Belle had Second Breakfast together this morning:

Q.  Amazon cancelled my order/I cancelled my order for the signed edition of Dragon Ship.  Are there any left anywhere within the expanding confines of the existing universe?

A. Yes!  Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis still has signed copies of Dragon Ship on hand.  Here's your link to the Lee and Miller catalog page.  You'll have to scroll down.

Q.  Are signed editions of Necessity's Child going to be available?

A.  Yes!  You may preorder it now, in fact.  In light of the kerfuffle surrounding the Dragon Ship signed editions, and Amazon's total customer service Fail in the event, I would strongly suggest pre-ordering your signed edition from Uncle Hugo's.   Here's that link again.  This time you're lucky; Necessity's Child is right at the top of the page. Yes, the book "costs more" from Uncle.  On the other hand, not having to deal with the uncertainty and frustration engendered by Amazon's curious lapse has got to be worth a buck or two.

Bonus A.  First chapter of Necessity's Child, right over here.

Bonus A #2.  No, we don't know when Baen will release the eArc.  The last we heard, via a reader, was late October-ish to mid-November-ish.

Q.  I totally missed getting a hardcover of Ghost Ship before it sold out.  Are there any left anywhere within the expanding confines of the existing universe?

A.  Yes!  Uncle Hugo's reports have 40 Ghost Ship hardcovers on hand.  The link, one! more! time.  Yep, you'll need to scroll down.

 Q.  I read the splinter of The Cards of Fortunate Destiny on Splinter Universe.  Will you be completing that novel?

A.  No.

Q.  How about getting a co-author to write it with you?  It would be, like, half the work for you!

A.  No.  You will have noticed that I have a co-author, and I know that collaboration is not "half as much work" for anyone involved.

Q. What's with Trade Secrets?

A.  Steve's working on it.  It had to be gutted and re-visioned -- much like Balance of Trade, as I recall.  Teenagers!

Q.  When will the sequel to The Tomorrow Log be published?

A.  My best, conservative, guess is?  Never.

...I think that's caught up what I have in email and other places 'round the net.

If you have a question I haven't answered, please ask in comments.  I will answer, though it may take me as much as a day.

Thanks!

1.  "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.