June 18, 2013 · 9:25 am

The Gravity of the Affair: Part VII

Upon the seas of icy Europa….

Welcome to another installment of The Gravity of the Affair, a novella set in the Known Worlds of The Daedalus Incident (now available in ebook). I hope you’ve been enjoying this serialization thus far; it also makes a fine introduction to what you may find in Daedalus. If you want to catch up, click here for a full list of past excerpts.

In Gravity, a young Horatio Nelson, post-captain of HMS Badger, faces a formal inquiry into his actions while in command — actions that resulted in the deaths of several men in the Void above Europa. In this short excerpt, Nelson and his friend Cuthbert Collingwood discuss an alchemical discovery made on that ill-fated voyage, one that may yet save Nelson’s reputation….

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June 16, 2013 · 10:02 am

Daedalus available for Kobo and Nook e-readers! Kindle too!

The rollout of The Daedalus Incident continues! I’m happy to report that the ebook is now available on the Nook and Kobo devices, in addition to being available on the Kindle. And, you know, it makes a fantastic way to spend those Father’s Day gift cards. Just saying.

I still haven’t seen it up in the iBooks store yet, so Apple users, hang tight. It’s coming!

Thank you to everyone who went out and bought Daedalus over the past few days. It’s really gratifying to know that people actually have it in their hands, especially after all we went through to get it out there! And if you’ve read it and liked it, I would certainly be mighty grateful for a review on whatever site you purchased it from, or on Goodreads!
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June 13, 2013 · 9:19 pm

Buy The Daedalus Incident on Kindle NOW!

Well, that was fast.

I’m really quite pleased to announce that The Daedalus Incident is now available as an ebook for Kindle users! That’s right, it’s up, it’s live, and you can spend your money on it and read it NOW.

So…what about other formats? And print? Audiobook?

The folks at Start Media tell me that Daedalus will be available via Kobo and Apple in a couple of days. The Nook takes longer, apparently, and we’re talking up to four weeks there. I don’t have links yet, because they’re still processing, but I’ll be sure to post here soon as I have something.

The print version is still on Amazon, B&N and elsewhere with a July 9 release date. I’m not sure how solid that is at the moment, so if I get that confirmed, or if it changes, I’ll let you know. I figure mid- to late July is probably more likely. Of course, you can pre-order it in print now, and when it shows up, it’ll be like your little Christmas in July.

Everyone at Start Media worked hard to get the ebook out quickly, and I’m really grateful to them for fast-tracking it. I know Skyhorse is working equally hard to get the print version out to you folks as soon as humanly possible.

As for the audiobook, Audible isn’t tied to the Skyhorse/Start folks for its release, so you can count on July 19 as a solid release for that. And of course, you can pre-order it now!

So if you have a Kindle, have at it! If you don’t, hang in there. It’s coming soon!
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June 12, 2013 · 9:33 am

Guest post: J.M. McDermott on running with the herd

Today I’m swapping guest posts with the awesome J.M. McDermott, author of the Dogsland trilogy and many other excellent works. You can find my guest post in defense of genre-blending here. And if you’re interested in more of J.M.’s works, check out his Amazon affiliate store or look him up at your local independent bookstore.

Take it away, Joe. I’d be proud to be in your herd.

***

So, let’s begin this post with a fact: Goats need a friend. A goat by itself is a very sad, suicidal goat that will not be well-adjusted and will not be a prancing happy goat. Goats, man: They need other goats. A chicken, by itself, will not be a good chicken. It will not know what to do. It will not know where to go. These animals that flock and herd are lost without other animals to accumulate a sense of belonging.

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June 11, 2013 · 9:30 am

The Gravity of the Affair: Part VI

Welcome to another installment of The Gravity of the Affair! Thus far, young Lt. Horatio Nelson has been dragged before a formal Board of Inquiry to answer for his actions as post-captain of the brig HMS Badger while in the Void around Jupiter — actions that resulted in a clash with a much larger ship that left an officer under his command dead. Click here for links to previous installments. We pick up on the second day of testimony….

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“So, Mr. Capper, you say it took the Badger the better part of three days to intercept the mystery ship upon the seas of Ganymede?” Commodore Hotham asked languidly. It was prior to lunch on the second day of the proceedings, and it was an unusually hot day, even for Port Royal within Ganymede’s tropical zone.

“Well, aye, Commodore,” Capper said, looking pale and uncomfortable in his dress uniform. Nelson did not recall Capper owning such attire and idly wondered whether Edwards had purchased it on his behalf. “We had a cracked mast to attend to, and then it was a question of whether the enemy had put in somewhere else or made straight for the pole.”

“And so Lt. Nelson stayed within sight of the coast during that southward journey,” Parker said. “Did you see any further signs of attacks?”

“No, sir, none,” Capper said. “We finally caught sight of her at the poles. The Ganny, that is.”

“And how certain were you of this?” Locker asked. “How certain was Lt. Nelson?”

Capper looked over toward Nelson, who had regained his impassive mien in time for the day’s proceedings. It had taken a fair amount of rum and many tearful toasts to his uncle’s memory—and perhaps to the memory of his career—for Nelson to find within himself the equanimity he wished to present.

Although, as Capper continued to make account of their first encounter with the privateer, Nelson felt that equanimity could very easily be misconstrued with miserable numbness, and wondered whether he was feeling the latter.

***

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June 9, 2013 · 3:04 pm

Why I like the “gatekeepers” of book publishing

So while I was going through the Great Uncertainty over the past two months — the will-they-or-won’t-they of the Skyhorse/Night Shade deal — a few folks opined that I should just grab my rights and self-publish The Daedalus Incident on my own. Some were simply being encouraging and wanted to see the book published somehow and anyhow.

But there were a few ready to raise the tricolor over the battlements and sing out in defiance of traditional publishing. Why did I even go down the traditional publishing route, bowing in subservience to the Great Capitalist Machine instead of embracing both Art and Personal Freedom by self-publishing? Surely, the Night Shade near-debacle was a warning sign of the Terror to come.

Obviously, I’m being somewhat snarky here, not to mention a bit too referential of Les Miserables. And in fact, I’m not anti-self-publishing at all. As you may see in the weeks and months ahead, I personally believe a hybrid model of traditional and self-publishing may serve myself and other authors quite well.

But I did go the traditional route for my debut, The Daedalus Incident, and I actually liked working my way through the “gatekeepers” of the publishing business. Here’s why.

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June 6, 2013 · 5:30 pm

Tor.com’s review of The Daedalus Incident

So it’s been a busy week here, what with the whole Skyhorse/Night Shade thing finally settling down. But there’s a book out there, and people are reading and reviewing it. Lost in the shuffle earlier this week was Stefan Raets’ great review of The Daedalus Incident on Tor.com. In part:

This is a fast-paced and smooth read from the very beginning, and towards the end Martinez builds up the suspense and urgency like a pro…. The Daedalus Incident is a true genre-bender. It mixes alchemy, quantum physics, and historical figures in ways you haven’t seen before. I’m not saying which historical figures, by the way, because discovering that is part of the fun, but let’s just say that some of them open the door for some potentially fascinating sequels. The Daedalus Incident isn’t perfect, but it’s adventurous, original, and a blast to read.

Perfect is a pretty high bar, so I’ll take it.

Stefan’s review is very fair, nuanced and extraordinarily well informed by his knowledge of the genre.  Yes, he liked the book, but even if he didn’t, I’d still have to respect the work he put in. (They don’t do a rating system on Tor, but Stefan gave The Daedalus Incident four out of five stars on Goodreads, for those who prefer their reviews numerically calibrated.)

To say I’ve been pleased with the reviews Daedalus has garnered is an epic understatement; I’m freakin’ thrilled. And now that the dust has settled and Skyhorse is in the driver’s seat, we should have smooth sailing toward a summer launch. I’ll provide more details on an exact date when I get them, but until then, feel free to click on the pre-order links on the right-hand side of this page, or click here and scroll to the bottom for a more exhaustive list of pre-order sites.

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