Monthly Archives: March 2013

March 31, 2013 · 3:30 pm

The Hobbit: An unexpected disappointment

Yes, I recognize I’m about three and a half months late to this particular game. All I can say is that I have a wife, a kid, a day job and this whole novel-writing hobby going. And the last couple movies we saw in theaters were Anna Karenina and Argo, which were both quite good.

Point is, our theater time is limited, so I didn’t get to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey until it hit iTunes. Thus, I didn’t see it on the big screen or in 3D. I’m honestly not sure whether that would have helped or hindered, frankly, because I found the movie a rather big letdown.

Comparisons to The Lord of the Rings are inevitable, of course. I believe LOTR was one of the finest movie trilogies ever made, with great acting, excellent writing and seriously good FX. The funny thing is, The Hobbit had many of the same things going for it, including great actors, proven screenwriters and the latest and greatest CGI out there. So what, exactly, made this movie so flat?

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March 27, 2013 · 8:53 am

Last day for the Daedalus giveaway

What, you haven’t entered to win a preview copy of The Daedalus Incident over on Goodreads? Get clicking! Already, 450 of your closest friends have done it. You have less than 19 hours to enter!

Meantime, I’m guest blogging over at the Night Bazaar today, talking about realism in SF/F and ensuring that such works remain accessible and believable for readers. In writing Daedalus, I found that no matter how fantastical a work gets, it needs to be well-researched, authoritative and grounded. Check it out!

Some of you have asked about whether Daedalus will be available for pre-order in ebook form. Short answer: I don’t know. I’m sure it will be available as an ebook on May 7, but otherwise…well, I’m working on it. Meantime, if you’re on Amazon or Barnes & Noble and see those links requesting the Kindle/Nook version, click on ’em. Can’t hurt!

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Filed under Books, Writing

March 21, 2013 · 8:30 am

Guest Post: Veronica Scott, author of Wreck of the Nebula Dream

It’s interesting when an author starts out writing one thing, and ends up with something else, something better, in the end. Sometimes the best stuff happens in the process, when the wheels are turning and those ever-elusive ah-ha moments become, well, less elusive.

That’s what happened to Veronica Scott, author of Wreck of the Nebula Dream. The book started as a science-fiction riff on the Titanic, but ended up taking on a life of its own. Here she is to tell us more, and to answer the guest-blog question: “What makes your book so gosh-darn special, anyway?”

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March 20, 2013 · 6:00 am

The art of (writing about) war

A couple quick items, if I may. I’m blogging at the Night Bazaar today, discussing ideas around how to write action, specifically melee and battles and other kinds of assorted mayhem. A Martian sand beast may be involved.

Also, just a reminder that The Daedalus Incident giveaway over on Goodreads is still going strong. You have until March 28 to sign up to win a signed galley copy of the book. As of last night, there were 140 people signed up for it, which warms a debut author’s heart considerably.

Finally, if you stumbled upon this blog via the SFWA Authors Twitter feed, welcome! Feel free to click around and make yourself at home. Just don’t put your feet on the furniture. If you’re not following said feed, give it a shot. There are plenty of awesome authors blogging about plenty of awesome things. It’s…awesome.

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March 16, 2013 · 2:35 pm

Member, SFWA

With all the application details ironed out and membership fee paid, I’m proud to say that I’m now a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).

Big deal, you say. Well, yeah, my excitement is probably out of proportion to the actual thing. But you know, I don’t care. Here’s why.

One, I’m qualified to join an organization that includes several New York Times bestselling authors, plenty of Hugo and Nebula award nominees and winners, and writers I’ve read since I was a lad. Know that bit about the company you keep? I’m in fine company indeed. And many folks within this group are quite generous with their time and advice, which is quite valuable to a n00b like me.

Two, I just voted for the Nebula Awards. That’s just cool, you know?

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March 15, 2013 · 6:00 pm

Want to guest blog here? This is how.

So it seems guest blogging is a popular pastime among authors. After last Thursday’s guest post by writer, raconteur and man-about-town Steve Vera, I’ve gotten interest from other authors about guest blogging here. Since Steve’s post generated some increased traffic for both him and I, let it be known that I will offer a regular series of guest posts for selected authors. Cue the fanfare.

I consider this a win-win. With my own blog subscribers and Twitter followers, along with my auto-linking elsewhere, I can potentially reach quite a large number of people with each post. So it’s good for you. And you’ll be pointing your fans and followers toward my site, where they will come face to face with my writing as well. So it’s good for me.

That means, of course, I need to figure out how to do this. You know, rules and stuff. Damn.

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March 14, 2013 · 9:03 am

The great Goodreads Daedalus giveaway

I’ve been sitting on two copies of The Daedalus Incident for a little while now, and I figured it was time to spread the wealth a bit. Thus, it’s time for a giveaway!

For folks who don’t know, Goodreads is a great social media site for folks who like books. Daedalus has a page there, and I have an author profile as well. Now, if you’re a member — and if you aren’t you can totally join up quite easily — you can enter the giveaway and possibly win a galley copy of the novel more than a month before it hits stores.

Just log in and click on this link, which will take you to the giveaway page. (You can also enter directly from the book’s page.)

The giveaway ends March 28, so you best get cracking!

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March 10, 2013 · 4:27 pm

On the business of publishing

SFWA vs. Hydra: An early image of the smackdown.

There’s been lots of good, righteous anger aimed at Random House for the contract terms offered by their e-book only imprints, namely Alibi (crime fiction) and Hydra (SF/F). Long story short, they are bad terms indeed. The author doesn’t get paid squat until the publisher recoups every last dime of cost for getting the book out. For more, I suggest reading John Scalzi’s screeds on the topic, both for the information and the entertainment value.

Why are these contracts such a problem? Because authors and publishers have a partnership in both product and the risks associated with selling it. The author has already risked a great deal of time and energy in writing the book — a book that, sadly, may not sell enough to justify said time and energy. The author must also rely on the publisher to — at the very least — ensure that the book shows up at all major retailers and in all agreed-upon formats, online and off. The author typically has little control over whether this is done adequately or not, and likewise has little say in how the publisher will spend its marketing dollars on the book.

Of course, publishers carry risk as well, in terms of the investments necessary to produce the and distribute the work, which are often substantial. That’s why most contracts leave the bulk of gross sales money to the publisher. The author typically gets an advance against royalties, and then gets a relatively small piece of each book once the advance is earned out. (In other words, the book needs to sell a certain number of copies before the author sees additional money.)

With all that said, should we be surprised that publishers like Random House are trying to shove more risk off their books and onto authors? Absolutely not. And here’s why.

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March 7, 2013 · 6:00 am

Guest post: Steve Vera, author of Drynn

We’re trying something different here on the blog. While I don’t have thousands upon thousands of minions…er, readers…yet, I want to do my part to help my fellow authors talk about their brilliant ideas and hard work. Since I’ve had others offer spots on their blogs to help promote The Daedalus Incident, I figured I could do the same here. I’d love to come up with a catchy name for the guest blog series, but all I got so far is, “What makes you so special?” Probably not awesome.

Today, I’m giving over some digital real estate to fellow scribe Steve Vera, author of the just-released novel Drynn, the first book in the soon-to-be wildly successful Last of the Shardyn series. Below, Steve talks about what makes his take on urban fantasy something to remember.

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March 6, 2013 · 6:00 pm

Advance praise for The Daedalus Incident

Not many folks have read The Daedalus Incident yet, but those that have, including a couple of extraordinarily talented authors, have liked it — so much so, they’ve even said nice things about it. To wit:

“A clever blend of genres that builds up to a fantastic, adventure filled ending.” — Jason M. Hough, author of The Darwin Elevator

And:

“The Daedalus Incident is Master & Commander by way of Spelljammer smashed into an effortlessly believable 22nd century Martian mining project. Tremendous fun.” — Michael R. Underwood, author of Geekomancy and Celebromancy

Naturally, I find this amazingly cool and quite humbling. Thank you both, gentlemen, for the kind words and encouragement!

In other news, I’m back on The Night Bazaar today, and since we didn’t get a preassigned topic, I took on an article discussing the difficulties men have writing compelling female characters. Check out the post here.

Also, my SupaFi64 interview is now up on iTunes, and I expect the podcast archive online to be updated soon.