For those who have been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the audio edition of Salvage Right (by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller -- I'm told we don't say this enough) -- your patience has been rewarded.
Salvage Right, the audiobook is now on sale.
Here's your link.
Writing, pretty much. With a side order of interviews/pr in support of Salvage Right, which debuted as the Bookscan Number Two new sf book -- everybody give yourselves a hand! Good work.
We are officially On Deadline for Ribbon Dance -- Steve is reading the first +/- 106,000 words, while I'm finishing up the Thrilling Conclusion. Just this morning, I made the Command Decision to remove a scene of about 6,000 words. Said scene has been rewritten three times; it still doesn't work; and it's time to stop deluding myself that it actually belongs in this book.
A bit of background on Ribbon Dance -- it's based on an unpublished short story, which, being a short story, had a far simpler trajectory than a novel will inevitably have (short stories are Roman Candles; novels are Chrysanthemums -- everybody clear now? Good.).
I rather liked the short story, and wanted to preserve the centerpiece scene, but -- the novel wanted to talk about other things, like when does protection become oppression; who gets to decide who is Civilized and who is not; ghost routes; what's love got to do with it; and so on.
Thus, the hard decision to excise 6,000 words from a book that's due Realsoonnow.
What will probably happen is that Splinter Universe will publish the origin story, and the pulled scene, after Ribbon Dance publishes. So! Something to look forward to.
For those who may have missed them, below is a list of interviews in support of Salvage Right (yes, we're still building the Big List of All Interviews Ever, but compiling it is going to have to wait until after Ribbon Dance leaves Maine for Madame's desk in the south).
Writers Drinking Coffee (audio)
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester (video)
Baen Free Radio Hour (video)
Speculative Fiction Showcase (text)
Paul Semel Interviews Lee and Miller (text)
We've got a couple more interviews upcoming; I'll post links when they go live.
In Real Life, we did take a day off last week to visit Stonington, and of course there was the gala celebration of Sprite's 11th birthday, the week before that. Oh, and I got fitted for a heart monitor -- about the size of thumb-drive, with attendant phone -- that I'll be wearing into the middle of August. Steve's birthday is coming up at the end of this month, and we hope to steal another day away from the keyboards to have a proper celebration.
Here's a picture from the Stonington adventure.
Salvage Right, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, the 25th novel in the Liaden Universe®, and! our 100th collaboration, drops on July 4 -- that's next Tuesday!
Have you ordered your copy yet? Let me tell you, there's nothing quite like the thrill of opening your ereader and seeing a new book all lined up and ready to be read.
Not convinced that you want to read Salvage Right? Sure you do; it's awesome, though we say so, who shouldn't. Don't believe us? About 1/3 of the book is available to read FREE at this link, to help you make up your mind.
Already read the eARC or the hardcover mailed from the Uncle? Consider leaving a review, or talking about the book on your blog, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or wherever else books are talked about.
Want to talk SPOILERS? There's an ongoing reader discussion right over here.
This is a Two-Part Message.
PART ONE:
The Uncle is shipping signed copies, er, now. We have received several reports of readers receiving their books. If you would like a signed copy of Salvage Right, which Amazon and other vendors will be releasing, UNsigned, on July 4, you may order it from the Uncle, while supplies last. We only signed a couple hundred of those -- not like the Meisha Merlin days, when we were scrawling our names in upwards of 1200 books.
So! If you want a signed copy of the hardcover edition of Salvage Right, go here and order it.
PART TWO:
The Uncle is shipping early. This means that Those Other Venues will not allow you to post a review on their sites yet. However! Goodreads will let you post a review and Baen, too. NOTE: Both of those require you to have an account.
However, if you have a webpage, a FB wall, a Twitter account, a TikTok thingy, or whatever else there is out there in the March of Technology, do please take a moment to talk about Salvage Right. Even something as simple as: "My book's here!" and the title is good.
And remember, if you have gotten your book, read it, and want to talk about it, there's a spoiler discussion space right here.
Thank you all for everything you do.
In case you need a graphic of the gorgeous cover art by David Mattingly to dress up your post:
Dear Friends of Liad and all the ships in space:
July 4 rolls rapidly toward us and beside being an important celebration for Americans, this July 4 is the official release day for Salvage Right, which you may recall is Lee and Miller's 25th Liaden novel and 100th collaborative work – so two landmarks with this one!
Two landmarks in one book is certainly cause for celebration, and we want as many people as possible to get the news and join us in the happy dance of accomplishment.
If you’d like to help us get the word out, we’d love to have your help. You may say that there's nothing you can do, that you're only a reader, don't have any important contacts, or any connections.
And you would be wrong.
For example, many of you are well-known to your local librarians -- some of you are local librarians! -- so one thing you can do as July 4 approaches is to request your libraries to add Salvage Right. Libraries especially are nice -- doesn't cost you, libraries need community input, and better still, if there are other Liaden titles, well, no time like the present to fill the blank spots. If your library is unfamiliar with our work you can point to some online resources we’ll post at the bottom for extra support. Are you a member of a book group at your library or local bookstore? Salvage Right could be just the thing for your summer read. Do you belong to a science fiction club? Maybe you can give a short presentation on the Liaden Universe®.
Besides face-to-face in Real Life with bookstore, literary, and library folks, you can do online face-to-facing if you tend in that direction. Here’s how:
Make posts in any relevant Facebook group about genre fiction or books - share a cover image for Salvage Right, and a few short lines about why you like the Liaden Universe® and are looking forward to Salvage Right, or share what makes Liaden Universe® books among your favorite reads. Mention the eye-catching 100th collaboration figure if you like, or the five related short story stuffed Liaden Universe® Constellations.
Do you have a favorite genre blog, podcast, or YouTuber? Suggest a post or session on the Liaden Universe® using Salvage Right as a center piece. Point out, if you like, that most Liaden Universe® novels and many of the short works are already available as audiobooks. If you have your own blog or podcast, consider Salvage Right or Liaden Universe® coverage of your own. When you read Salvage Right don’t forget to post an Amazon review; you may be able to copy that same review to your regular posts.
If you're active in their communities, don’t hesitate to suggest Liaden Universe® coverage to such places as Locus, Tor.com, or even Hugo award-oriented outlets. You’ll see below that we’ve had some coverage from such places in the past:
tor.com
Portland Press Herald
Locus
If you can help: word of mouth, word of print, or free-flowing electrons, we’d appreciate the support.
Many thanks to all of you, for your continuing support, and enthusiasm for our work!
We are aware that, for some folks in the US, this is a three-day weekend. Given that MaineDOT has told us that a sizeable percentage of those folks are heading for the Maine beaches, we here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory will be staying home.
Our festive weekend plans have expanded to include signing the 14 cases of Salvage Right that appeared in the driveway yesterday, courtesy of Melissa and her Big Brown Truck. Also on the agenda is writing, reading, embroidery, and messing with the cats. There may be a half-day in there somewhere so we can have cheese and crackers and a glass of wine in the middle of the day, just like those writers you see in movies.
After we have signed and reboxed the 300ish copies of Salvage Right, they will be put on another Big Brown Truck, bound for Minneapolis and Uncle Hugo's SF Bookstore. If you want to be sure that you will be getting one of those signed copies, you may pre-order here
Please note that Uncle Hugo's is the sole source for signed copies of Salvage Right.
Tangential aside: No, we have no news of an audiobook edition as yet. The ebook edition will be released simultaneously with the hardcover, as has been Baen's pleasant habit since the beginning.
Ribbon Dance -- that's the book due to be turned in +/-August 7 -- has cleared 95,000 words, which means that shadow on the horizon? Is The End. We're rowing as fast we can to get there.
For those playing along at home, Ribbon Dance is the direct sequel to 2020's Trader's Leap, detailing the adventures of the Tree-and-Dragon Trade Mission as it seeks to determine if Colemeno is the break they've been looking for.
On the topic of Far Future Planning, Steve and I are intending to attend Astronomicon in October. After that, we'll be at Boskone, in February 2024. We're also tentatively planning to attend the NASFIC in Buffalo, should it be chosen.
I'm not sure we can justify World Fantasy, in October 2024, but I'd sure like to go back to Niagara Falls, so -- who knows?
So, that's everything doing, I think. Here's a picture of Sprite, atop the Salvage Right mountain.
This is an April Fools Free Zone. Which is to say that the following things are true, and not thinly disguised attempts to bully or belittle you.
Yes, I have Opinions about April Fools Day.
1 A couple weeks ago, Steve and I stopped by Writers Drinking Coffee and had a great time chatting with Karen, Jeannie, and Chaz.
The interview is now up and you can listen to it here.
2 The results of the Great Salvage Right Tyop Hunt have been forwarded to Baen. Steve and I extend our thanks to all who participated.
3 Steve and I will be Writer Guests of Honor at Heliosphere, at the end of this month. Our schedule is firming up. We expect to have a lot of fun, and hope to see you there. You can learn about the con and register here
4 For those who have been following along, for several years now -- Yesterday was the six-month get-together with the oncologist. Blood was drawn and read. I am pronounced "appallingly healthy" and am under orders to remain so. Next get-together in six months.
5 April 1 is celebrated as an anniversary here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory, it being the day Steve and I moved in together. Yes, we were aware of the irony, but if you didn't move out by the first, you owed the whole month's rent, and neither one of us could afford that.
This particular April 1 marks the 45th time we have celebrated the anniversary together, and while we've laughed a lot over the years, the partnership was never a joke.
Salvage Right EARC news! Please read this slowly, there are Details.
Many of you noticed that the table of contents and the chapter headers in your copy of the eARC were ... badly formatted. In answer to many reports made to me, and transmitted to Baen Tech Support, a formatted eARC has been uploaded.
If you have a badly formatted eARC, you may go here to download the corrected file at no charge (this is always the case with Baen, but I want to be clear).
If you discover similar formatting errors in your NEW file, please report those errors to baensupportATprincipledtechnologiesDOTcom
REPEAT: ebook formatting errors should be reported to Baen Tech Support.
I will ask you to please be detailed in your report, if any. Baen Support was never able to reproduce the errors I reported on your behalf, which was all kinds of frustrating for everybody involved.
I know that I don't have to, but -- for That Guy In the Back -- if you do make an error report, be gentle. Baen Support has been through a lot with this one, and fixing errors you can't see is nerve-wracking, at best.
Thank you all.
Well . . . keeping up with the Tyop Hunt, mostly. It always amazes me, how Steve and I can find eight pages of typos, open the Hunt to eARC readers, and start receiving the pages of typos we didn't find.
What's even more astonishing is that Every. Single. Tyop. Hunter. has found at least one, and often several more, typos that got past everyone else.
So, anyhow -- keep 'em coming, folks. Your help is appreciated, and, obviously, much needed.
Instructions and links: eARC, Tyop Hunting Guidelines, &c at this location.
Aside the Tyop Hunt, I've been marveling at the Maine weather, which has gone from summery to snow in four days -- the last manifestation being snow on the overnight, with summer promised again tomorrow.
I've also been trying to get some work in edgewise on the -- yes, yes, As Yet Untitled -- WIP. I did manage to read the 300 pages that currently exist in Shared Reality -- that's about 62,000 words, or half a book (for reference, Salvage Right is just a hair over 132,000 words).
The week upcoming promises many excitements, including Trooper's annual visit to his vet -- who adores him, and yet he remains aloof -- and culminating in a visit to the oncologist stupidly early on Friday. That may warrant a Writer's Day Off. I mean, since we'll be out, and all...
So! That's what I've been doing. Thanks for asking.
Infodump No. 131
In this issue:
Salvage Right eARC on sale now
Want to be a Mighty Tyop Hunter
Salvage Right Spoiler Space
Convention Appearances
SALVAGE RIGHT eARC ON SALE NOW
Baen has released the SALVAGE RIGHT eARC, here:
RECRUITING TYOP HUNTERS
Everything you need to know about tyop hunting is at this link:
SPOILER SPACE
As has been their pleasant habit, Lee and Miller have created a spoiler
discussion space available for those speedy readers who have read the
eARC, and want to talk about Salvage Right. We do this in kindness to
those people who are waiting for the hardcover, or the audiobook, or the
mass market, and who do not want the story spoiled for them. Here's the
link to the Salvage Right spoiler space:
LEE AND MILLER HELIOSPHERE WRITER GUESTS OF HONOR!
Lee and Miller will be Writer Guests of Honor at Heliosphere, April
28-30, 2023 in Piscataway NJ. Artist Guest of Honor will be David
Mattingly. Hope to see you all there! Here's your link to register.
PREORDER YOUR SIGNED HARDCOVER
Uncle Hugo has opened preorders for signed copies of the Salvage Right hardcover. Here's your link.
The Small Print
Sites of Interest:
Lee and Miller Patreon Support Page
Pinbeam Books: an online catalog, with vendor links, to all Lee-and-Miller, Miller, and Lee self-published works
Splinter Universe: features outtakes, splinters, oddities from the Lee&Miller writing career, currently changes irregularly.
Welcome to Liad: The official homepage for Liaden Universe® news
Blogs and Other Webly Things of Note
Sharon Lee’s Blog
Steve Miller's blog, Journeyman
Facebook Connections
Steve Miller
Sharon Lee
Clan Korval
Friends of Liad
Flaran cha'menthi
Twitter
Steve’s on Twitter
Sharon’s on Twitter, too
Disclaimer Stuff
This InfoDump is a product of the Liaden Universe®, accept no imitations. You have received this message because you asked for it. If you wish to subscribe to the Liaden Universe® email list, to unsubscribe from the Liaden Universe® email list, or to change your delivery email address, go here.
For those who partake, the eARC of Salvage Right, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's 100th collaborative work, and the 25th book set in their original Liaden Universe®, is now for sale.
There will be -- repeat! There WILL BE a Tyop Hunt.
Watch the skies.
Salvage Right page proofs have landed at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory!
We hear that here is a possibility of an eARC within the next week or two.
Watch the skies.
Photo of page proofs. Dragon provided for scale.
This just in -- gorgeous Salvage Right cover art by David Mattingly.
It's just . . . I may cry. No, wait! I'll look for a place in my office to hang it, after it's framed.
So, yesterday we turned SALVAGE RIGHT, the 25th novel set in the Liaden Universe®. For those coming in late, or who are Just Wandering By "we" in the case is Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.
Since there are a lot of books, and several threads, and Someone will ask What Is This Book About, and no one is ever satisfied with "about 130,000 words," below is the authors' working synopsis:
Clan Korval has for two hundred Standards believed Jen Sin yos'Phelium dead. In Neogenesis, the delm of Korval was apprised of this error. Salvage Right is the story of what happens next.
Everybody up to speed, now? Good.
I started working on Salvage Right (I say "I" because I am lead writer on this title; Steve is lead writer on Trade Lanes, the next title, due in September) on November 15, 2021. My brain immediately took the idea and ran with it, and I do mean "ran."
"Big party at Tinsori Light!" was basically the theme of the next six months, when, in May, I declared tools down on a Good Enough Draft, sent the 106,000 words then more or less in place to beta readers, and took two weeks off, one of them to clean the house; the other to sit on the porch of an oceanfront apartment and stare at the waves, and the sky.
It was a much-needed break, and I came back to the manuscript with vision and energy renewed.
Which was a Good Thing.
We're going to talk a little bit about Process, now.
The last novel I was lead on was Trader's Leap, delivered in October 2019. 2020 was more-or-less taken up with breast cancer surgery, radiation and recovery. And recovery. Oh, and more recovery. During which time, I repeatedly tried to write -- something. Anything. Only to find that I seemed to have forgotten how.
I therefore sat myself down in an effort to relearn my craft, producing as my first post-cancer It Actually Makes Sense story, "Ambient Conditions," in October 2020. Five more short stories later, and coauthor for Fair Trade, and I felt pretty confident of my ability to take lead on another novel.
My Previous Method for writing novels was to Think Hard about the characters and what kind of trouble they were likely to get into, identify a few key scenes, and then, when I felt Ready, start writing the first scene, and proceed, in a more-or-less linear direction until "The End."
The above method has its flaws. It is sometimes necessary for me to stop for days while planning out the next scenes/interactions chronologically. The benefit is that, once a "good enough" draft is achieved, it really is Good Enough.
As mentioned above, Salvage Right was written in the heat of "Big party at Tinsori Light!" where the backbrain threw up this scene, that scene, this other scene, and so on. My job was to type as fast as I could, and when the occasional breathing space arrived, to chain the scenes in an order that made sense, given What I Knew. Problem being that I didn't know Everything.
Which meant that when I called tools down and took my two-week break, the book was Not As Finished as I believed it was, and that there was still a Large Chunk of Story still in my head that had not made it to the page.
So, long story short, I wrote +/-30,000 words in a little less than a month, rearranged the manuscript once more, and, finally, only four days late, turned it in.
Will I use the Write What You Know until you Don't Know Anything Else Method again? Probably. I really like the sense of movement and engagement with the characters. I did have Moments of Panic in the last stage, but I did not have a spell of ennui such as sometimes overtakes me when I'm writing straight-through-come-hell-or-high-water.
So! My 34th novel and I'm still learning Stuff.
I did have a blast with these characters -- as shifty a bunch as have congregated in one place in the Liaden Universe® -- and I think y'all are going to like the book.
At this point in time, recalling that These Things Can Change -- Baen plans to publish Salvage Right in Summer 2023.
My next project, after a few days of Light Duty, straightening out drawers and vacuuming and such like, is revising what I've been calling, to Steve's not-so-secret amusement, "the Hat story" (actually, "The Last Train to Clarkesville"), then start getting Duainfey and Longeye into shape for indie reissue under the proper author name. After that? Welp, I'm lead on the book due next June, so I guess I better start Thinking About That.
Here ends today's discourse.
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have just submitted their one hundredth collaborative effort, novel SALVAGE RIGHT, to Toni Weisskopf, at Baen Books.
Proof:
Yesterday -- Friday -- it was sunny and Stupid Warm for this time and place. Today -- Saturday -- we return to the script as written: cold rain out of a grumpy grey sky. This will continue through the night.
So, not a good day, really, for views. Despite which, I will be over there in the Comfy Chair in the window of my office with the third section of Salvage Right, my notebook, pens, and notes. The time has come to tidy up the plot and see which expectations bore fruit, which are trembling on the edge of revelation, and which were -- um -- not such good ideas, after all.
As I prepare to go down into the interstitials, Salvage Right weighs in at 73,000 words. This actually doesn't tell us as much as you might think, though my sense is that there isn't a lot of weeding to be done -- which is to say, I expect to be adding words, not subtracting.
For those who collect Process, I remain very pleased with the Just Write What You Know method that I adopted for this book. I'm usually pretty much a linear writer -- starting at page one and writing on through. Which is fine, except for the tendency to get bogged down in bridges and technical bits, which leads to Writer Frustration. Writing the scenes I know provides a great sense of forward motion, I haven't lost my excitement for the project, and the result is a lot less chaotic than I had feared. Apparently, my back brain knows what it's doing.
So, that. Time to go to work.
Here, have a snippet:
Jen Sin raised his hands, showing empty palms. "Yes, I heard. Forgive my lack of appropriate consternation. This is not a regular environment. Strange things happen here."
So, yesterday, it was sunny and warm, for values of warm that factor in March and Maine, and we called in one of our Rolling Days Off.
Now, what with one thing and another, I haven't been driving much for the last, eh, year? Two years. Around town stuff -- out to Unity Pond, or to Solon, but not what you'd call a Good Drive. Or not what I'd call a Good Drive. Understand, I like to drive, and it's been a Point of Faith with me since I earned my ticket to fly that I could drive anywhere, any time, no problem. You wanna go to Mars? Fine, I'll drive you to Mars; strap in.
For the first part of my treatment, I'd been driving myself to the Cancer Center -- about 130 mile round trip -- but then about half-way through the course, Radiation Fatigue set in, and Steve had to step up to be my chauffeur (cue the Beatles).
Now, the thing they don't tell you about Radiation Fatigue, aside that "some" people experience it, is that -- it hangs around after you've gotten done, received your graduation certificate from your ray-gunners, AND rung the bell. It hangs around for a long time.
Most usually, it manifests as a sudden, freewheeling Wall of Exhaustion -- and I mean this exactly; you'll be doing something -- washing the dishes, reading, writing, driving -- and BAM! you're done. Now. You can barely hold your head up. There's no predicting how, when, or why this will happen.
So, long story short, given the above, I haven't been driving much. And, all other things being more or less back to normal -- the other thing they don't necessarily tell you about cancer recovery is that it takes a lot longer than you think -- I decided to see if I couldn't get my driving mojo back.
Frequent readers of this blog will recall that I recently bought a car -- Tinsori the Honda. Tinsori is the back-up car. Our primary ride is a very nice Touring Subaru Forester with all kinds of safety features onboard, and it was the Forester that I drove out yesterday, Steve riding shotgun, all the way down to the ocean and back.
That's a 200-mile round trip -- no big deal -- and I got to take a long walk on the beach, and we ate supper at one of our favorite restaurants; took another small on-foot tour of the town, stopped for ice cream on the way home, and!
It was fine. It was better than fine. No Wall of Exhaustion, not even on the horizon. So, I'm calling this a Modest Victory, and hope to repeat it -- soon -- and eventually arrive at a point where Steve doesn't need to ride shotgun.
In Other News: I've completed my editorial pass through Section Two of Salvage Right, and Steve has it to read for continuity and general sense. In the meantime, I will be moving on to Section Three, continuing with the Write the Scenes You Know Method, with which I'm pretty well pleased. It means writing a lot of bridges, and sometimes having to frog, if the scene doesn't wind up fitting exactly where it seemed to fit, but that's all perfectly doable in the editing pass.
For those counting along at home, Salvage Right now stands at 64,656 words, or approximately half-done.
Here, have a snippet:
"One of the crew of Bechimo who may have valuable insight into my work. As you heard, we will speak in depth after the present task is completed, and I have slept."
"Oh, you remembered sleep," M Traven said, in a tone of broad enlightenment.
"If I had not, you would have reminded me," Seignur Veeoni said, rising and moving toward the antechamber.
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