Category Archives: Books

I’ve been fortunate enough to receive some really gracious emails from fans of my work, and I’ve even received art from a fan of the series. But this is a very pleasant first indeed.

Composer J. Anthony Allen‘s latest album, Aniscorcia, includes a track called “Spacelanes,” which J. tells me was inspired by his reading of The Daedalus Incident and The Enceladus Crisis. He wrote:

It isn’t inspired by any single event in the book, but more about the world(s) depicted in the book. I really loved the old-world ships juxtaposed with the futuristic ships, and found it to be actually really in-line with the music I was writing: Modern electronic music with strings and orchestra instruments mixed in. It seemed really fitting.

It’s quite amazing and humbling knowing that my writing has inspired other art. I’m mighty grateful J. took the time to tell me about it. And we’re all fortunate in that the video to “Spacelanes” is out and ready for your viewing and listening pleasure. I loved it, and can’t wait to check out the rest of the album.

J.’s music is available on Spotify and iTunes, though if you’re interested in checking it out, I would ask that you visit J.’s Bandcamp page, as it’s a better deal for him.

Thanks for sharing, J! This totally made my day.

#SFWApro

Want one? Enter to win!

I have two extra advance-reader-copies (ARCs) of The Venusian Gambit and, frankly, I want to give them to people. So let’s do the very first Gambit giveaway right here!

You have two ways to win:

• Follow me on Twitter (if you aren’t already) and use the hashtag #VenusianGambit in a tweet. It’d be nice if you said something cool about the book with the hashtag or let folks know about the giveaway, but that’s not required. Yes, a retweet with the tag will suffice. OR:
• Subscribe to this very blog via WordPress or e-mail — there’s a widget on the lower right hand side of this page. That’s it. Just subscribe. If you opt for e-mail, I promise not to spam you.

You have until Monday, March 23 at 11:59 p.m. EDT to do either of these things. Or both. Yes, if you follow and hashtag on Twitter and subscribe to the blog — which, admittedly, is a whole lot of me in your online life — you’re entered twice, and you’ve doubled your chances of getting a free book.

Now, to be clear, the ARCs haven’t benefited from the loving ministrations of a copyeditor, which means there’s misspellings and a few grammatical snafus, plus my French leaves much to be desired. (Yes, the final version has been thoroughly scrubbed.) That said, Gambit doesn’t hit shelves until May 5, so you’ll be getting a first look early on. And you know what? If you win, I’ll sign and personalize it for you. Or someone else, if you’re so inclined. Even your cat.

On Tuesday, I’ll choose the two winners using a random number generator for each giveaway and reach out to the winners via Twitter, e-mail or WordPress.

Notes on eligibility:

• It’s one entry per Twitter follower, no matter how many times you use the #VenusianGambit tag after the first time, though I appreciate your fervor.
• Twitter followers or blog subscribers with whom I already have a professional relationship aren’t eligible. If you work for my publisher or literary agency, or if you’re a reviewer or podcaster…you’re out of luck. (But seriously, if you’re the latter, you should have already gotten the book, and ping me if you haven’t.)
• If you win but don’t reply to my outreach within a week, I’ll pick an alternate winner. I need to know where to send the book, after all.
• Yes, I will ship internationally if the winner lives outside the U.S. — I have followers in Iceland and England and a lot of cool places. That said, it’ll ship cheap and will probably take a while to get there.

There you have it. You have until Monday night. Get Tweeting and/or subscribing!

#SFWApro

Just a quick and friendly reminder that you have two days left to register to win one of ten signed copies of The Daedalus Incident over at Goodreads. Even if you have the book, signed copies are cool, right? And if you don’t, now’s the perfect chance to get a copy ahead of the release of The Venusian Gambit on May 5.

Click here to register to win — and hurry up!

#SFWApro