Monthly Archives: May 2013

Preorder the audiobook of The Daedalus Incident from Audible!

The folks over at Audible.com move fast!

I’m proud to say that The Daedalus Incident audiobook is now available for pre-order at Audible. And if you’re in the U.K., you can pre-order the audiobook from Audible.co.uk.

The unabridged reading is performed by Bernard Clark and Kristin Kalbli, and clocks in at an impressive 16 hours and 5 minutes. I didn’t realize I wrote that much, but then, I never thought to sit down and read it aloud from beginning to end, either.

I was talking with fellow scribe Mike Underwood at BEA yesterday about audiobooks, and he said it’s quite a surreal experience to have someone read your writing back to you. I’ve no doubt that Bernard and Kristin did a fantastic job exploring the worlds of Weatherby and Jain, but I imagine I’ll either sit completely still for 16 hours as I revel in someone reading my work…or quit after 10 minutes because, well, the voices don’t match the ones in my head.

That sounds bad. You know what I mean, right?

Either way, if you’re into audiobooks, click and pre-order. And if you’re still waiting for The Daedalus Incident to come out in print and pixels…well, between you and me, stay tuned. There may be some good news soon…! So if you want to pre-order the print version, click here and scroll down for a list of online booksellers. Or go to your local bookstore, ask them to pre-order it and support small business!

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Join me at BEA today at 2 p.m.!

The Book Expo America is once again taking over New York, and seeing as I have a book coming out and such, I figured I’d take part. I’ll be helping out at the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America booth today — yes, one day only! — and will be doing a bit of a thing at 2 p.m. The SFWA booth is #2625, which is right near the 3E entrance on the exhibit hall floor. Here’s a handy map.

That thing I’m doing at 2 p.m….well, it was supposed to be a signing, but given the delay of The Daedalus Incident into the summer, I’ll basically be handing out Special Commemorative Flyers (printed front and back) and talking up the book. Yes, I’ll be taking questions. Except regarding that incident in Bolivia which, well, I really can’t talk about. You know how it is with sanctions.

Anyway, if you’re around, stop by the SFWA booth and say hi. I’ll also be roaming about and Tweeting as well, so you can live vicariously through me if you can’t attend and really like books.

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My turn to be interviewed, plus what I’m up to at BEA!

After interviewing Peter V. Brett for a piece this past week, it seems it’s my turn under the interrogators’ lights. Fantasy Faction‘s Dan Hanks, who gave The Daedalus Incident a very nice review, is back to ask me all about how it came to be. Dan asked some great questions; you can check out the entire interview here.

Fantasy Faction is an outstanding fan site, and a popular one, too — so much so that they’ve bulled through their bandwidth allotments for two straight months. They’re asking folks to donate to help them upgrade their servers; here’s the post on why they’re asking, and the Donate button is on the right-hand side of every page. So if you like their content, it’d be good karma to help ’em out.

I’ve also been interviewed by an honest-to-goodness literary magazine, The Rathalla Review, run by the folks at Rosemont College. Grad student Feliza Casano asked me about my writing process and how my background in journalism helped me put together my first novel. Click here to read the whole thing.

Finally…I’m going to be at Book Expo America! So if you’re a bookish sort heading to New York this week, I’ll be doing a thing on Thursday, May 30, at 2 p.m. at the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) booth. That’s booth #2625 near the 3E entrance for those hoping to map things out. I’ll be at the show all day Thursday, so feel free to come say hi. There’s also a great bunch of SFWA authors doing stuff at the booth all weekend, so be sure to check it out if you’re going to the show!

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My interview with Peter V. Brett

It’s been quite a while since I put on my interviewer hat. At the behest of the Irish writing site writing.ie, I recently sat down to interview New York Times bestselling author Peter V. Brett. Peat was very gracious with his time, and very patient with my questions. The drink I bought him may have helped. (Click here for the interview.)

So how did I get this gig? It’s not like Martinez is a particularly Irish surname, after all.

It came about after writing.ie started following me on Twitter back in January. This led to some conversations, and the site’s manager letting me know that they were keen on doing more stuff about speculative fiction. Never one to let an opportunity for blatant self-promotion pass me by, I offer to help. You’ll see a guest post of mine on there later this summer, by the way.

Couple months later, writing.ie had an opportunity to interview Peat, and asked if I wanted to do it. Of course, I said yes. Couple months after that — during which Peat was on his book tour and I was traveling to Japan and such — he and I finally sat down. And it was a great chat.

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A handful of quick news items

Thought I’d give you folks a few updates on various and sundry things surrounding The Daedalus Incident. No, I don’t have an ironclad launch date yet, but things on the Skyhorse/Start deal front look good.  And that’s all I can say on that. So, moving on:

I’m writing over at SFSignal today, participating in a rather epic mind meld on the literary appeal of gods, goddesses and myths. Not only is the subject matter epic to begin with, but I’m sharing the stage with a lot of great folks, including Mike Underwood, Chuck Wendig, Chris Lites and Christopher Garcia. Lots of interesting stuff in there; you should check it out. Big shout out to Paul Weimer for including me in such august company.

While I’m here, I really want to give a hearty thanks to everyone at the Hugo Award-winning SFSignal — Paul, JP Frantz, Patrick Hester, Regan Wolfrom and especially John DeNardo — for all the support and interest. They’ve been awesome. If you’re a SF/F fan and haven’t bookmarked SFSignal…man, I can’t even contemplate that. Just go do it.

Also, I got confirmation from Steve Feldberg over at Audible that the audiobook of The Daedalus Incident is primed to go whenever the ebook hits the market, likely around early July at this point. I’ll post a link as soon as I see one. Also, the audiobook has two narrators, Kristin Kalbli and Bernard Clark, which I find quite cool. In retrospect, given the two different protagonists in two different settings, having dual narrators makes sense. It just never occurred to me that someone would actually want to do that. So, yeah…very excited. Thank you to Steve, Kristin, Bernard and the rest of the Audible crew. Can’t wait to have a listen!

Finally, just today I received my official invitation to be part of the programming at LoneStarCon3, also known as the 71st annual WorldCon. So that means I’m headed to San Antonio, Texas, over Labor Day weekend! If you’re heading to WorldCon, come on out to hear me talk about writing and Daedalus and other assorted topics. No, I don’t know which panels yet, or with whom I might converse, but I’ll be sure to announce it here when I get more details. Plus, word is that some of the Night Shade authors may do a little shindig for folks in attendance, so stay tuned.

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More from the Nebulas, plus the Daedalus audiobook!

It takes a lot for me to feel like the little guy. I’m over six feet tall and not exactly waifish. Professionally, I’ve held my own conducting interviews with politicians and CEOs for many, many years. I’ve had Steve Ballmer yelling at me a bare foot away from my face, and broke down in laughter with Jeff Bezos after a particularly fun grilling.

But here, at the Nebula Awards Weekend, I was most certainly the little guy. And it was pretty cool.

As part of my volunteer duties, I helped babysit the press room. And there was a moment yesterday where I’m sitting there while Sword & Laser interviewed the legendary (and truly wonderful) Gene Wolfe, with Nebula nominee Kim Stanley Robinson listening intently nearby, and John Scalzi and Mary Robinette Kowal hovering by the door, also eavesdropping.

And I’m just this newbie, you know? I don’t fanboy much, but it was a great moment.

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Updates from Nebula Awards Weekend

Hello from San Jose! I’m here for the Nebula Awards Weekend, and it’s already been a lot of fun. I’m continually impressed by how welcoming folks have been to the new kid on the block.

Since I’m helping out a bit with the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America’s publicity efforts this weekend, I was invited to join a small group of folks for dinner last night with SFWA Grand Masters Connie Willis and Gene Wolfe. Both are amazing writers, but perhaps more importantly, they’re just lovely people to be around. It was an honor to meet them both. They then went on to do great readings and an interesting discussion at SF in SF here.

As it turns out, The Daedalus Incident is a known quantity around here, and people seem quite interested in it, which is really gratifying to see. I mean, one person said, “Oh, you’re the guy with the book in limbo.” Yes, yes I am. But you HAVE heard of it. So that’s something, right?

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Library Journal names Daedalus SF/F debut of the month!

I admit, this floored me.

The Daedalus Incident has been named the science fiction/fantasy debut of the month by the folks at Library Journal, complete with a starred review. Their verdict:

Martinez’s debut is a triumph of genre-blending, as steampunk adventure merges with modern space opera. With a cast of superbly drawn characters, Martinez’s title is a mesmerizing tale of two universes that briefly cross paths, leaving both worlds forever changed.

I have no words for this one, other than thank you, Library Journal. Just…wow.

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The Gravity of the Affair: Part II

Prepare for battle under Jupiter’s fiery red eye….

Welcome to the next installment of The Gravity of the Affair, the novella set in the historical fantasy setting of The Daedalus Incident. In Part I, posted last week, we were introduced to a young post-captain by the name of Horatio Nelson, in command of the 12-gun brig HMS Badger. Nelson had left Europa in pursuit of another vessel, and we pick up the story with him and his ship in the Void, looking for his quarry.

***

Turning to his glass, Nelson scanned the horizon, knowing full well that the sharp-eyed lookouts would spot the other vessel first. But it gave him something to do. And now that the Badger was out within the Void, there was much more to see. Jupiter waxed gibbous in this part of the Jovian system, and treated the eye to brilliant ribbons of orange and salmon, along with its famed fiery red eye. To starboard, Io burned like a tiny cinder in the blackness, while Ganymede to starboard was a lovely blue-white spark—one that now burned with the fires of revolution. It was there that thirteen British colonies—more than three quarters of the land held by the Crown on that moon—had rebelled against the rightful authority of the Crown, and word was that the French might involve themselves in the matter, as the French often did when they were unwelcome.

Nelson hoped to see Ganymedean colors upon the vessel he pursued, for that would give him free rein in his course, allowing him to take or destroy the “Ganny” vessel. Were she French, the matter would grow complicated quickly.

Lt. Edwards seemed to have his own mental calculus with regard to their prey. “Captain, a word?” he said, his back to the crew and his voice whispered in Nelson’s ear.

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Updates, travel and musings

This is gonna be one of those blog posts made up of stuff that’s too long for Tweets, but too short to warrant their own separate posts.

First off, no official word yet on the Skyhorse/Start purchase of Night Shade Books’ assets. There’s not a heap I’m comfortable saying publicly, other than I remain encouraged by developments. While a bit of uncertainty remains, I expect it’s more a question of when than if at this point.

Folks who have pre-ordered The Daedalus Incident on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble may have noted that the release date has been changed from May 7 to June 11. This was news to me, and I’m not sure if that’s the official date or if it’s just a placeholder. Some pre-order customers at Amazon got e-mails updating them, others have not. Either way, you can still pre-order the book, and it’ll show up on or shortly after the official release date…whenever that is.

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