Six months to go, and the to-do list grows

There’s a lot of stuff sneaking up on me these days. Like giant shark jaws.

Writing a novel was a great personal accomplishment. Getting an agent, and an awesome one at that, was even better. Landing an offer from a well-respected publisher — on my 40th birthday, no less — was freakin’ incredible.

Now, with less than six months to go before The Daedalus Incident is released into the wild, I have to say…there’s a lot more to do.

Of course, you’ve seen the blog updated regularly with details on the cover and pre-orders. (There’s more sites up and running with pre-order pages, including those in Canada and the U.K., so find your favorite here.) But there’s also a lot going on behind the scenes. The machine is gearing up, and I’m going to be a big part of that.

Naturally, the good folks at Night Shade Books are busy with editing the book, as well as getting their promotional efforts running. Likewise, the Nelson Literary Agency has a lot of experience with marketing as well. In addition, I have a bit of familiarity with media, marketing and communications — two decades’ worth thanks to my day jobs — so I’ve got my own ideas and efforts going on. There are guest blogs to write, interviews to do, media outlets to pitch. You all may be quite sick of me by the time all is said and done.

That said, I do hope you come out and say hi when I visit your neck of the woods. If you follow my wife’s blog, you’ll know that we do a fair amount of travel, and we’ll be going to a few more places in 2013. I’ll be trying to set up signings or events whenever and wherever I can. You’ll also be able to find me at a few conventions next year — WorldCon in San Antonio, for sure, and others to be determined.

I’m also working on a few smaller pieces of writing that will, ideally, compliment the book or, at least, get my name out there a bit more. And finally…I didn’t write The Daedalus Incident thinking that it would be one-and-done. If all goes well, it’ll be the first of a series of adventures with sailing ships in space and strange aliens using alchemy.

So. That’s where I’m at. It’s a crazy, fun trip, and I hope you enjoy reading about it here. More than that, though, I really hope you enjoy the book!