Monthly Archives: December 2013

December 31, 2013 · 5:50 pm

Farewell, 2013! Happy 2014!

The sun setting on the Arizona desert...and on 2013!

The sun setting on the Arizona desert…and on 2013!

Figure I’d take care of the new year’s greetings a bit early, as I’m planning on getting up early tomorrow to do a 5k. Yes, it could be as comical as it seems at first blush, especially given the hilly, cactus-strewn terrain here in Arizona.

I wanted to give a proper fare-thee-well to 2013, as it was a pretty kick-ass year. After much trepidation and no few delays, The Daedalus Incident finally saw the light of day and was very well liked by folks, which did my heart good. I also signed a deal for The Enceladus Crisis, which will be available April 1, and The Venusian Gambit, which should be around some time next winter. The Gravity of the Affair also went from Web freebie to actual for-sale novella, too.

I also went to my first SF/F convention, met lots of cool people, did my first book reading/signing, and raised nearly $700 for charity through this whole authorial thing. The latter is reason enough to keep going. The rest really is gravy.

There were a ton of people who helped make 2013 awesome on the book front, including super-agent Sara Megibow and the Night Shade Books team — or teams, rather, both old and new. To them, and to the reviewers and bloggers, my fellow authors who were so generous with their time and wisdom, and to everyone who took the time to give my work a read…thanks.

So far, 2014 looks to be just as exciting. The Enceladus Crisis is coming out, and I’m excited about the direction the Known Worlds are taking. I’ve started in on The Venusian Gambit and, let me just say, I’m even more excited about how this series is going to wrap up. And from there…who knows? As a writer, I have options. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Of course, none of this would be any fun without a wonderful wife and daughter, great friends and family, and all the other good stuff life has to offer. No matter what happens with the writing thing, I’m a lucky guy.

Have a great New Year’s holiday, everyone. Stay safe and make smart choices tonight. And for the new year, I humbly suggest you count your blessings, tell your loved ones you love ’em, enjoy life and try new things.

OK, 2014…bring it!

#SFWApro

Leave a comment

Filed under Travel, Writing

December 28, 2013 · 10:52 pm

A few noteworthy book-related bits from the road

New Mexico was really lovely. Taos is a world away from the hustle and bustle of New York City, and it was a lovely place to spend Christmas. And yes, Santa found us just fine. Dude probably invented GPS. Tonight I’m in Flagstaff, Arizona, preparing to venture to this canyon thing they got up in these parts. They say it’s a “grand” canyon, but it’d have to be one impressive ditch to earn that name. We’ll see.

I did see a meteor crater though, and that was pretty grand in and of itself:

Meantime, while the family and I have been exploring the Southwest, I’ve seen a few cool book-related tidbits I wanted to share. So here we go:

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Books, Publishing, Travel, Writing

December 26, 2013 · 6:00 pm

NFL: Week 17 picks

As if we needed another reason to celebrate between Christmas and New Year’s (besides the final Doctor Who with Matt Smith), we have some excellent, meaningful football games to watch this Sunday. And not just meaningful as in playoffs, but also meaningful as to whether some coaches and/or players will be retained by their respective teams for next season.

Let’s start with the playoffs, first. Green Bay will visit Chicago with the NFC North on the line, while Philadelphia goes to Dallas for the NFC East title. In these two games, it’s win-and-you’re-in. Lose, and no playoffs this year. Also, you have the New Orleans Saints up against Tampa Bay at home. If the Saints win, they’re in as a wild-card, and the get the NFC South if the Panthers somehow fall to the Falcons. Meanwhile, Arizona could make it by winning against San Francisco but only if the Saints lose.

The AFC’s a bit easier to manage, with New England, Indy, Denver and Seattle winning their divisions and Kansas City taking the first wild-card. Miami, Baltimore and San Diego are all sitting at 8-7, and the permutations of how it’ll all work out are kind of tough to explain here. As reflected by my picks below, I’m calling Ravens on this one.

Then there’s the coaching hot seats. If the media reports are to be believed, Washington owner Dan Synder is already setting up Mike Shanahan’s Red Wedding. The coaches of Tennessee, the Jets, Detroit, Minnesota, Oakland, Tampa Bay and Dallas are allegedly in danger of being laid off, to varying degrees. (So is Giants coach Tom Coughlin, so they say, but with the injuries Big Blue had this year, letting a two-time Super Bowl winner go like that is just bad form.)

In addition to the usual round of picks below, complete with snarky/geeky comments, I’m making the games with a (P) for playoffs and (C) for coach-under-fire. Hope that helps you manage your NFL Sunday Ticket choices well! (Winning picks are in italics.)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Football

December 24, 2013 · 7:00 pm

Happy Holidays

I don’t really have anything super-profound to say tonight on Christmas Eve, other than to wish everyone a peaceful, happy holiday. I recognize some of the folks reading this might not celebrate Christmas, so if that’s the case I hope you just have a great day off.  After all, when the days are short and the weather’s cold, it’s a pretty good time to huddle up, spend some time with loved ones and be thankful for what you have.

And that’s what I’m gonna go do now. Peace, everyone.

Leave a comment

Filed under Uncategorized

December 23, 2013 · 11:05 am

Greetings from the Land of Enchantment

photoIf you’ve followed my Twitter feed over the past few days, you’ve seen that I’ve been out and about in the world. One of the many, many benefits of being married to my wife, Kate, is that she is a travel writer and blogger, and we tend to get out of the house more often than most folks. This year, we’re spending the holidays in the Southwest, where we really haven’t been before. Already, I’m happy we’re rectifying that.

Christmas will be spent in Taos, New Mexico, and we’ll be with friends in Phoenix, Arizona, over New Year’s. And on New Year’s Day, I’ll be participating in a 5k run/walk. I’m curious to see how the breakdown between walking and running pans out, as this will be my first. That said, if I can be a debut author at 40, I see no reason I can’t be a debut 5k-er at 41.

Speaking of authoring, it turns out that I do my best work on airplanes. I’ve been outlining the third book of the Daedalus series, now tentatively titled The Venusian Gambit, and I went on a very nifty writing jaunt while in the air between New York and here. If I could afford to spend eight hours a day, five days a week on a plane, I’d write as many books as Chuck Wendig and still keep down my full-time job. Long story short, The Venusian Gambit is taking shape faster and better than I had hoped.

I’m able to focus on the third book now because The Enceladus Crisis, the second book in the series, has been sent to the typesetters, which means that, for all intents and purposes, it’s Officially Done. Yes, there will be copyediting, but the major editorial work is finished. My editor, Cory Allyn of Night Shade/Skyhorse, did a great job making a good book great, and my beta readers Drew Montgomery and Dan Hanks were generous with both time and excellent input. We’re on schedule for an April release, which makes me quite happy, given all the fun and games we had with The Daedalus Incident and its multiple release dates!

Finally, I want to give a huge shout-out to the bidders on my Worldbuilders auction items. The naming rights to a substantial supporting character in The Venusian Gambit went for $200, and my critique of up to 25,000 words of writing went for $395. That is some serious, serious money, and there are poor families that will directly benefit from that. The generosity of the bidders is nothing short of mind-blowing. Thank you.

I’m off to explore New Mexico: Land of Enchantment. I’m told, however, that wizards are scarce, so I’m not sure how exactly the state earned this sobriquet. I’ll keep you posted.

#SFWApro

1 Comment

Filed under Books, Charity, Publishing, Travel, Writing

December 20, 2013 · 6:00 pm

My Worldbuilders auctions end Sunday at 8 p.m.! Get bidding!

So when I offered to help out Pat Rothfuss’ Worldbuilders auctions with a few volunteer items, I had no idea what kind of bidding there would be.  Turns out, the awesome folks in SF/F fandom are even more awesome than I thought — and I knew they were pretty awesome to start with.

As I write this, the top bid in the auction to include your name in the third book in the Daedalus series, tentatively titled The Venusian Gambit, is more than $110. And the top bid for my critique of up to 25,000 words of fiction is now more than $150.

That is both amazing and intensely gratifying, and speaks volumes about the generosity of the bidders.

And there’s still two more days to go! Both auctions wrap up on Sunday at 8 p.m. EST. That means you can still get in on the fun, and either see your name as a character in my book, or have me give you a detailed critique of your fiction writing.

The proceeds go to Worldbuilders, which in turn donates everything to Heifer International. Already, my two auctions have raised meaningful amounts of money — enough to change some lives for the better. I’m deeply grateful for the response. And the Worldbuilders efforts as a whole are nothing short of phenomenal. You should check it out.

Anyway, you’ve got a little over two days. Get bidding! And if you have already, thank you!

#SFWApro

Leave a comment

Filed under Charity

December 19, 2013 · 6:30 pm

NFL: Week 16 picks

It’s kind of cool that, with just two weeks to go, only four teams — Seattle, Indianapolis, Denver and Kansas City — are assured of making the playoffs. There’s a total Death Star-sized dogfight for the last wild-card slot in the AFC, and even a chance that Miami wins the AFC East. The NFC East (or Least) is up for grabs, as is the NFC North.

Even the best teams in the league — Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, New Orleans and Carolina — are still vying for division titles and home-field advantage for the playoffs. Nobody’s going to sit back and relax this week, which means we ought to have a bunch of games with serious intensity. I like it.

Without further ado, bring on the picks! (Winners in italics.)

Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Filed under Football

December 16, 2013 · 5:30 pm

First review of The Gravity of the Affair

Very excited to see the first review of The Gravity of the Affair, courtesy of Joe Frazier of Joe’s Geek Fest. And, as it turns out, he liked it, calling it “a gem of a novella” and going on to say:

…we leave The Gravity of the Affair enamored of [protagonist Horatio] Nelson, the Known Worlds and Mr. Martinez’s delightful writing. You need not read The Daedalus Incident to read this work, but if you haven’t read it, you certainly will want to after this whets your appetite.Its sequel, The Enceladus Crisis, is arriving Spring 2014. This brief dive back into the Known Worlds reminds me why that seems like such a long wait. Once again, well done Mr. Martinez.

Thanks, Joe! For the full review, click here. And for a variety of sales options, click on the novella’s page on this blog. Still waiting to hear what’s going on with the Audible version, but since they paid actual cash money for the rights, one thinks the audiobook will show up soon…!

#SFWApro

Leave a comment

Filed under Books, Gravity, Writing

December 13, 2013 · 8:00 pm

Explaining my superpowers on Skiffy and Fanty

I’ve done a fair number of guest posts on various blogs in support of The Daedalus Incident and, of late, The Gravity of the Affair. I’ve enjoyed writing them, too. But my hat’s off to Shaun and Jen over at Skiffy and Fanty for coming up with a great theme for their guest posts: My Superpower.

So today I’m talking about my very own superpower at Skiffy and Fanty — my super-powered burrowing writer-mind! What does that mean? Well, in short, I can get into “the zone” pretty quickly when it comes to writing. Great for grabbing an hour, burrowing in and getting the words out.

There’s more to it, of course, including a notable drawback to being so single-minded and focused. Want to know more? Check out the post!

#SFWApro

Leave a comment

Filed under Books, Writer-mind, Writing

December 13, 2013 · 9:26 am

Be immortalized in print or have me critique your work for the Worldbuilders charity

Pat Rothfuss, in addition to being a fantastic author, is also a good human. His Worldbuilders charity has been providing thousands of dollars to Heifer International for years now. And this year, I’m proud to be able to lend a hand for a good cause.

I have two auction items up for bid on the Worldbuilders eBay page. In the first, I’m offering to immortalize you in print by giving your name to a character in the third book of the Daedalus series, tentatively titled The Venusian Gambit. And I promise, I won’t just red-shirt you, either. We’re talking a decent supporting character here. Now, I can’t guarantee your namesake will survive — heck, I can’t guarantee your namesake will even be a nice person — but you’ll get a meaty part.

The second item I’m offering is for the writers out there: a critique of your fiction, up to 25,000 words. I’ll read it, gather my thoughts, annotate the text with comments where I can, and generally do my best to give you your money’s worth. I’ll even answer questions you might have afterward, because that’s how I roll.

I love the fact that being a published author allows me more opportunities to give back. I signed a medieval helmet — along with pretty much every other author at WorldCon — which made more than $2,000 for Worldbuilders. Last month, someone bid $100 for a critique by me, with the proceeds going to provide fresh water for people in India. Seriously…how cool is that?

Both Worldbuilders auctions expire on Dec. 22 at 8:15 p.m. EST. Get in there and get bidding!

#SFWApro

Leave a comment

Filed under Charity