May 4, 2013 · 12:37 pm

A new look for the site

It’s been a few years, so I figured it was well and truly time for this site to get a face lift and spring cleaning. The awesome header and background images are courtesy of Arvin Concepcion of Concepcion Design Studio. Arvin also helped me wrap my head around the new fonts you see here, as well as the new drop-down menus. Arvin’s a very talented designer and all around computer genius, and this won’t be the last you see of his work, I can promise you.

Both The Daedalus Incident and The Gravity of the Affair have their own pages under the “Writing” tab, and my media section got a little more managable after I split it up into different pages. I’m still working on better integrating The Beer Fridge into the rest of the site so that it looks like it belongs, while still providing a separate blog for all things beer. And there may be some busted links and 404 errors here and there. I’m hunting those down as well.

Anyway, click around and enjoy! And as a reminder, I start publishing excerpts of Gravity on Tuesday, so be sure to come back then for your first peek at the Known Worlds setting and the trials and tribulations of a young Horatio Nelson.

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April 30, 2013 · 6:55 pm

Announcing The Gravity of the Affair

nelson

A very young Lt. Horatio Nelson

The SF/F community of authors, bloggers and fans has been absolutely incredible and supportive while I wait for The Daedalus Incident to get a new release date. And while I’d love to announce said date…I don’t have one yet.

But this, I think, will be a decent consolation prize, as well as a little thank-you to everyone who’s voiced their enthusiasm for the book. So without further ado, I’m thrilled to introduce my next bit of fiction, entitled The Gravity of the Affair.

Gravity is a novella-length work, set in the Daedalus universe, dealing with the first command of a (very) young Royal Navy officer posted to the Jovian system. You may have heard of him: Horatio Nelson.

Continue reading →

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April 28, 2013 · 4:33 pm

The distraction of writer tricks

“Here’s just four easy steps to amazing writing!” — said by no one ever, not even Tony Robbins.

You know, I haven’t sat down to blog — really blog, to make a point about something other than newsy stuff — for a few weeks now. Between travel and jet lag and then catching up at the day job, combined with the stress of the will-they / won’t-they with regard to my publisher and my book…yeah. Hard to get stuff down on the page. I haven’t felt this kind of writing malaise in quite a while. But I’m working on it.

Of course, I have my own little tricks to get myself back on track. Every writer does. And therein lies the problem for folks who, invariably, want to know the Secret Sauce of writing. A colleague at my day job pointed out a recent piece in The New York Times on interviews writers give and how they usually turn to writing techniques, and of course, the little tricks writers use to motivate themselves to keep plugging away.The author of the Times piece said he was addicted to that advice more than anything else.

There’s enough self-help advice to writers out there to make Tony Robbins smile bright…well, brighter than usual. And there’s a huge audience for it, too. Heck, I’ve been filling out responses to interview questions already, and there have been several having to do with how I write. And I’m not sure how hugely useful that will be. What works for me may not — probably will not — work for you.

Continue reading →

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April 24, 2013 · 7:45 am

This week’s guest posts: Names and movies

Still no news on the publishing front, but rest assured, I’ll let everyone know where things stand as soon as I find out. These things take time, and all I can say right now is that I remain cautiously optimistic.

In the meantime, I’ve been invited into other folks’ digital space again. Over on Abhinav Jain’s blog, Angels of Retribution, I’m participating in his unique series of guest posts, “Names: A New Perspective.” In my post, I discuss naming conventions in The Daedalus Incident and also let rip with a few minor spoilers. Check it out!

And the good people over at SFSignal allowed me to contribute to a new mind meld on this year’s genre movie slate. Read about my boycott of apocalypses and dystopias, and my questions about Man of Steel.

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April 22, 2013 · 6:51 am

The Daedalus Incident reviewed on Fantasy Faction

I don’t think waking up to good reviews will ever get old. This one, though, is pretty special.

Dan Hanks took on The Daedalus Incident over on Fantasy Faction this morning, and really liked it: he gave it nine out of 10 stars. Here’s a snippet of what he had to say.

The HMS Daedalus sails a ballsy, brilliant and at times breathtaking universe and you get to tag along for the ride. I can’t speak highly enough of what the author has created here. Don’t hesitate in signing up.

What makes this review special is that Dan really nailed the strengths and, yes, the weaknesses of the book, to the point where I have to wonder exactly how long Mr. Hanks has been in residence inside my writer-brain. Also, Dan lives in England and yet did not see fit to dock me for mucking about in his nation’s long and glorious history.

Fantasy Faction is an excellent genre fan community, and if you’ve not checked it out…why haven’t you? Thanks to Dan and Fantasy Faction for a thoughtful, awesome review!

Now if we can just get a release date nailed down, we’d be all set!

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April 18, 2013 · 7:00 pm

Daedalus delayed due to ongoing Night Shade acquisiton deal

While not strictly official, I figured it was obvious at this point, so I’ll put it out there. It’s all but certain The Daedalus Incident will not be released on May 7 as scheduled. While not ideal, it’s also not necessarily a bad thing. If all goes well, it actually could work out nicely.

As I posted a few weeks ago, Skyhorse Publishing is in the midst of acquiring the assets of my publisher, Night Shade Books. The contract for Daedalus is one such asset. While the deal has yet to close, and may still fall through, I’m cautiously optimistic that it’ll happen…just not in time to meet our original release date.

The Daedalus Incident was slated for release last fall, before the financial troubles that have plagued Night Shade for years finally came to a head. (For a really interesting take on Night Shade’s woes, I’d point you to Justin Landon’s excellent piece over on Staffer’s Book Review.) Skyhorse and Start Media came in to buy the assets so Night Shade’s owners could avoid bankruptcy.

Naturally, this occurred a month before Daedalus was due to be released.

The deal requires Night Shade authors to agree to the transfer of assets. I can’t and won’t speak for other authors, but I agreed to it, as it seemed the most likely way for Daedalus to hit shelves in the most timely manner possible. Timely, however, isn’t the same as on time, and that’s to be expected.

Here’s what I can say about a new release date as of right now. Continue reading →

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April 15, 2013 · 9:44 pm

Me and my agent: the Writer’s Digest writeup

If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know full well that I consider my literary agent, Sara Megibow of the Nelson Literary Agency, to be truly awesome. I’m really lucky to have her in my corner, especially with all the stuff surrounding Night Shade Books of late.

The story of how she became my agent is a pretty good one, and it’s featured in the May/June issue of Writer’s Digest, in the magazine’s regular “Breaking In” feature. It’s both exciting and a little humbling be in a magazine devoted to writers and writing, especially as a newbie. And Sara deserves all the kudos she gets for her hard work and good humor.

Of course, I would suggest that you run out and get a copy of the magazine, especially if you’re an aspiring writer, because it has lots of good stuff on writing and publishing besides my little bit. But I’ve also scanned the article in here because, well, I’m pretty stoked about it, and the cover of The Daedalus Incident just looks so nice in print.

Also, if you’re interested in how literary agents do their jobs and what goes into their decision making, you should follow Sara on Twitter. She does a lot of insightful, useful things there. Because, again, she’s awesome.

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