Monthly Archives: December 2013

December 12, 2013 · 6:00 pm

NFL: Week 15 picks

For the most part, the NFL postseason is shaping up nicely. Yes, there are the shoe-ins. Expect the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks to nab the top seeds in their divisions. The New England Patriots will limp into the playoffs with injuries, but they’ll be a tough out. Both the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers will be in there, with the only question being who’s the division champ and who’s the wild card.

Chances are, the Colts and Bengals will represent their divisions as well, and Kansas City has a lock on the top wild card in the AFC. And that leaves a lot of has-beens and would-bes vying for that last AFC seed. Baltimore has the best shot, followed by Miami, with San Diego and the maddeningly inconsistent Jets still toying with somewhat-reasonable hopes.

In the NFC, I can’t see Dallas topping the Eagles for the NFC East title, but I could see Chicago or even Green Bay making a run at Detroit for their division. The 49ers are probably the other wild card, unless they mess it up. Arizona could be the source of that mess-up, which I admit would be interesting to see.

And if you’re a fan of just about anyone else…there’s always next year.

On with the picks! (Winners in italics)

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December 12, 2013 · 9:15 am

Live from WorldCon, it’s the SFSignal Podcast (with me)

Apparently, you don’t need a TARDIS to go back in time and space — just the Hugo award-winning SFSignal Podcast.

I sat down with Patrick Hester on the first full day of WorldCon back in late August in San Antonio, Texas, and we had a great chat about books, conventions and all sorts of other stuff. I admit, I kind of forgot this podcast was in the hopper until I saw it posted this morning, so now you get to take a trip back to Texas with us. We talked about The Daedalus Incident, the upcoming The Enceladus Crisis and my experiences thus far at my very first SF/F convention.

To bring you up to date on a few things since:

The Enceladus Crisis has been scheduled for release on April 1, 2014. Get stoked.
The Gravity of the Affair wasn’t mentioned in the interview because it wasn’t really a thing yet, but it’s out now in ebook at all your favorite vendors, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBookstore, and Google Play .
The third book doesn’t have a final title yet, but I’m leaning toward The Venusian Gambit. Who doesn’t like gambits?
For 2014, I’m on the fence about attending the WorldCon in London, mostly because of the cost and time. I’m weighing a visit to DragonCon, however.

Anyway, the podcast is up and running, available wherever fine podcasts are…downloaded, I suppose. Thanks to Patrick for a great conversation. Give it a listen!

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December 9, 2013 · 9:51 am

The Daedalus Incident one of BuzzFeed’s best of 2013

It’s nearing the end of the year, and the best-of lists are coming out in full force. It’s really amazing and humbling to find The Daedalus Incident listed on some of them.

BuzzFeed’s Sean McCarrick named Daedalus one of the greatest science fiction novels of the year. He writes:

Why it made the list: 18th century airships that can fly through space, Mars mining stations and a book that can write itself. Martinez take the kitchen sink of both science fiction and fantasy and throws it ALL into his novel with great success. Genre bending often come at great peril, but Martinez pulls it off with an assurance that makes all the pieces slot together perfectly.

Read if you like: flying the Final Fantasy airship, Horatio Hornblower or Patrick O’Brian, mining Mars for all its sweet, sweet minerals.

The list includes some truly talented authors, including Ann Leckie, James S.A. Corey, Ian Tregillis, Margaret Atwood and Lois McMaster Bujold. Fun fact: I helped Lois renew her SFWA membership while I was manning the SFWA booth at WorldCon. Lovely person. Fantastic author.

Thanks, Sean, for adding me to such a fine list! Makes those final edits on The Enceladus Crisis go down a lot easier. And while you’re waiting for the Daedalus sequel this spring, don’t forget to check out The Gravity of the Affair, now out in ebook!

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December 6, 2013 · 9:22 am

The Gravity of the Affair now available!

The Gravity of the Affair is officially released today, and available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, Google Play and Kobo! (I expect links for the Audible.com audiobook to go live later today.) It also has its own Goodreads page, complete with a fresh review!

As a reminder for newcomers here, The Gravity of the Affair is a novella set in the Known Worlds of The Daedalus Incident. It follows the young post-captain Horatio Nelson, destined to become England’s greatest naval hero, during his first command sailing on the seas of Ganymede and Europa. When his first engagement with the enemy ends in defeat, he must face up to his failure — as well as a formal board of inquiry.

Will Nelson fulfill his destiny? Or will his actions in the Void ’round Jupiter snuff out his career before it begins?

The Gravity of the Affair is available in e-book for around $2.99, depending on the vendor, and will be up on Audible soon. You don’t need to have read The Daedalus Incident to enjoy the novella; if you have, though, you’ll see some nuggets of interest there. If you haven’t, it’s a great introduction to the worlds of the Daedalus series, if I do say so myself.

To celebrate the launch of this latest bit of work, I’ve written a guest post today over at the Hugo award-winning SFSignal, wherein I discuss world-building as a series evolves from a stand-alone novel. Check it out!

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December 5, 2013 · 6:00 pm

NFL: Week 14 picks

I feel for teams like Atlanta, Houston and Washington this time of year. They’re not going to the playoffs, which means their only motivation is to play for their jobs next year. And meanwhile, their general managers are secretly wishing they’d tank so they could stockpile high draft picks.

So much for the fun and romance of professional sports.

Thus, while you’re salivating over the Seattle-San Francisco and Carolina-New Orleans games, spare a moment for the guys playing out the string and hoping they’re doing enough to keep their jobs. Because that’s not a great place to be.

On the bright side, an enterprising ESPN blogger discovered that, yes, the heretofore hapless Jacksonville Jaguars could actually make the playoffs. Of course, a lot of things have to go right, and not just the Jags winning all their remaining games. More than a few teams have to pull out upsets this month, and there may be something involving the One Ring and a space-time anomaly. But it could happen. So go Jags!

And on that happy note, on with the picks. (Winners in italics.)

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December 2, 2013 · 9:51 am

Exploring the fuzzy spaces between subgenres

Today marks the unofficial start of launch week for The Gravity of the Affair, a novella set in the worlds of The Daedalus Incident which comes out on Friday in ebook and Audible audio. And to mark this auspiciousness, I have a guest post today over at The Qwillery, in which I talk about subgenres and labels and how certain books, mine included, can sometimes elude categorization.

I recognize that the Daedalus series can be difficult to describe, but there are a lot of books out there that don’t fit neatly into a subgenre. That’s a good thing, I believe, because for the adventurous reader, such books can provide entry into a wide variety of different stories.

Surf on over and check it out, and remember that Gravity is available for pre-order now on iTunes, Kobo and Google Play, and will hit Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Audible on Friday. Many thanks to The Qwillery for having me on!

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