Eagles Over the Kennebec

Another gray day. Steve went into the city to take on supplies, notably light bulbs -- appropriate to a festival of light. I stayed at home, did the dishes, and started the laundry. The rest of the morning was spent rectifying the description of a common event from the POVs of the two characters involved, both of whom are telling the truth, though one is trying to spin for sympathy. This is not as easy as you might think, and gives me a whole new appreciation for investigative police work.

Now back at it, having broken for lunch with Steve, who is returned from the Outer Grayness.

I thought I might suggest some Sherlock Holmes action tonight at the local movie theater, but not with the forecast including: Freezing rain and sleet likely in the evening...then occasional rain and freezing rain after midnight. Sleet accumulation up to 1 inch. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s. East winds 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent. ...which translates handily into "Not a fit night out for man nor beast."

Perhaps we'll have one of the Netflix movies instead.

Everybody stay warm -- or cool, as geography dictates.

Two copies of the Ace edition of Crystal Dragon, slightly the worse for the mail carrier's pre-season warm-up.

But! It's a book!

SRM Publisher is proud to announce the title of the 2007 Yule Chapbook. That would be Dragon Tide. The chapbook will contain two original short stories, "Daughter of Dragons," contiguous with the Agent of Change sequence. The other story, which is still awaiting a title, is set within the Crystal timeline.

Pre-orders are now open! Simply go to the Dragon Tide pre-order page. While you're there, you might want to check out the other SRM offerings. It's never too early to buy Yule presents.

For those who have iron control and have not be over to the Fledgling site since Chapter 31 was posted, on October 8 -- the authors have declared a draft. Yes, we do know that there are things that need to be fixed, threads left dangling, and subplots that are unresolved. We'll deal with it. However, second drafts are not for the squeamish, so we will be performing the necessary surgery and repair in private. The current projection is for a trade paperback of the finished novel to be mailed to qualifying subscribers next autumn.

In the meantime -- yes, we do plan to finish the story out. Watch for an announcement of a new serialized novel continuing the Life and Times of Theo Waitley, early next year.

Other writing news...Sometime this week, the mailman brought us three copies of the Russian edition of Balance of Trade, which was pleasant. The accompanying note explaining how we weren't going to be getting our on-pub money wasn't so pleasant, but -- hey! Russian edition = 'way cool.

I note that Fictionwise now has available nine out of a possible ten Sharon Lee titles. Download, read, enjoy! Heck, vote, if the mood is on you.

The rest of the weekend involves finishing up the last pass through Duainfey, after which it will be zapped over to the good folks at Baen, leaving me free! to begin writing Longeye.

Speaking of Baen: candles, prayers, and good thoughts, please, for Hank Reinhardt, Toni Weisskopf's husband, who is in the hospital and doing very poorly.

It's been a busy couple of days here in the northland. First, may I just say that, between kinzel  and I, we have seen quite enough of hospitals, doctors, and health technicians? We're caught right up and really don't need to see any more for, oh, the next couple of years. 'k? Thanks.

On Thursday, thanks to the recent number of Torrential Downpours(tm) we've experienced here in Central Maine, I removed the cardboard temporary plate from my car, rewrote the (now invisible) tag number, code and dates with waterproof Sharpie (which is exactly what the woman at DMV used, but there's only so much scuba time in even the best waterproof Sharpie), covered the whole thing in plastic wrap and screwed it back in place. I told kinzel  that this would insure the speedy arrival of the metal plates, and, sure enough, they were in Friday's mail. Had I only known, we could've gotten this over with weeks ago.

In addition to the Excitement of license!plates!, Friday also brought a drive out to Belfast to meet kinzel 's brother and his wife for an early lunch and family catch up. It was good to see them looking relaxed and tanned and comfortable, and I hope the trip back down south was more of the same.

Today's mail brought even!more! contracts for German editions -- these for Plan B and I Dare. We signed and initialed and got everything into an envelope so that it can go speeding back to New York on Monday.

In between all of the above, I have made copious notes and sketched in future scenes for Duainfey. This is, let me tell you, Something of a Relief. I thought I was never going to hit critical mass on this book. With luck and a tailwind, I'll be done the first draft by the end of August and have all of September to do the second/final. I love it when a plan comes together.

Progress on Duainfey

47,480 / 100,000 (47.5%)

Today's Special:
The rock was warm and slick against his skin, the salt breeze sharp as a slap on the cheek. Below, the sea assaulted the shore, its black surface picked out in the pale reflections of stars.

Liaden Universe® novella "Misfits" (aka The Story of the Weatherman and What Became of Him) has been turned in to Jim Baen's Universe and accepted by Eric "Lightnin'" Flint for publication in the December issue.

Edited to add: Thanks to an alert reader on Baen's Bar, I learn that the first half of "Misfits" is available here. There is no charge to read this; you do not need to register. You do, however, have to wait until December to get the rest of the story. Fair warning.


Somewhat closer to hand, and if all goes well, the Liaden Universe® Big Bang will be coming to Baen Webscriptions on July 15. This collection will include the contents of every SRM Adventures in the Liaden Universe® chapbook, from Two Tales of Korval straight through Allies.

As reported elsewhere kinzel will regrettably -- and regretfully -- not be attending NASFiC. Though we've cleared some of the stuff off of an abruptly crowded deck, we're still in something of a deadline crush. Next year, in Denver!

And, having deposited SRM orders at the post office, driven to Augusta to leave work with the printer, and returned home via the grocery store -- it's time for me to get to work.

Perhaps the Grant Receiving Agency is terminally confused, after all. Certainly, it's possible.

Words-in-a-row have been committed in the service of Duainfey; and a contract arrived via email. Nice symmetry there.

12,375 / 100,000 (12.4%)

Well, I had hoped to finish Chapter Fifteen of Fledgling today, but my hands decided otherwise. This is a Very Full Chapter, and my last for a while as Lead Writer. Once Chapter Fifteen, which is officially The End of the Beginning, is in the can, the Baton (actually, it's a purple six-sided die with Emerald Casino, Surebleak Port engraved across the sixth face) passes to kinzel. While he's leading the excursion into the second third of the book, I'll lying on the couch, eating chocolates, drinking champagne, and blocking in Duainfey.

Earlier today, we were interviewed by our own robotech_master for his Biblio File show, which was fun. If you missed the interview, you can listen to it here

Mozart has been very clingy and needy today, sticking right with me, and climbing on my lap at every chance. I think he may not have slept well. Certainly, if my repeating dream about the jaguar loose on the campus where I work was shared out of Mozart dreamspace, I can understand feeling a little anxious.

It rained today, and more of the same on call for tomorrow. Me, I think I'll go rest my hands.

This is your chance to contribute to a work in progress! All you have to do is name the planet to which the jenos Beltaire relocated after its patriarch removed it from the pelinTrayle phulon. The contest is open until 4 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time today, Monday, April 23, 2007.

Knock yourselves out. The creator of the winning name will be credited in Chapter Fourteen of Fledgling

I see a bunch of new names in the f'list. Step up and introduce yourself if you like -- but in any case, welcome!

Those who have been playing along at home will note that kinzel has returned safe and sound from the Lightning Trip to Atlanta, bringing with him a large number of Lee and Miller books. While the Road Trip Special is now closed, there are still books to be had! A comprehensive list will appear pretty soon at a website near you. In the meantime, if you're in need of a Liaden Universe(R) book, drop me a note; we might just be able to help you out.

Speaking of books, kinzel, in his hat as SRM Publisher, Ltd., has acquired about 50 copies of the Meisha Merlin trade paperback edition of Hellspark. This is one of our favorite books, possibly the only book (besides ours) of which we own multiple copies, so that we don't have to fight over who gets to reread it. Linguistics, mystery, culture clash, first contact, AI -- oh, it's marvelous! If you haven't read it, you must! Really. Yes, I mean right now.

In other news, it has stopped raining, and the wind has died down to nothing more than a mellow breeze. The ocean basically chewed up and spat out Camp Ellis and Ferry Beach; other coastal towns are still assessing damages. I'm particularly sorry for the loss of Camp Ellis -- an interesting if ramshackle town situated suicidally in the very teeth of the ocean. Every time a nor'easter hit, Camp Ellis took it on the chin. This time, while the camp was still reeling from losses sustained on St. Patrick's Day, the ocean took streets, homes, cars; picked up the non-trivial boulders that made up the sea wall and bounced them around like basketballs. Sigh. You can only give the finger to the Storm Ghod for so long... I hope the Multitude of Black Cats got safely to higher ground.
------

*Once By The Ocean
Robert Frost

The shattered water made a misty din.
Great waves looked over others coming in,
And thought of doing something to the shore
That water never did to land before.
The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,
Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.
You could not tell, and yet it looked as if
The shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,
The cliff in being backed by continent;
It looked as if a night of dark intent
Was coming, and not only a night, an age.
Someone had better be prepared for rage.
There would be more than ocean-water broken
Before God's last Put out the light was spoken.

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller are pleased to announce that our agent, Jennifer Jackson, has sold DUAINFEY, a romantic fantasy, in which a young human girl is enslaved by a Fae lord in an attempt to challenge the Fae Queen, plus a sequel, to Toni Weisskopf at Baen Books.

No word on publication dates as yet.