Category Archives: Books

Very excited to report that my reading from The Daedalus Incident is now live up on The Author’s Corner and has been, or soon will be, broadcast around the country on some 200-plus public radio stations.

Yeah, I know, right? That’s very cool. And because I have some modest technical prowess, I managed to embed the reading here for your listening pleasure. (Don’t worry, the whole bit clocks in at only 1:40.)

Readers of Daedalus may note that this is a pretty truncated, heavily edited excerpt. That’s because the series only allows about a minute for actual reading, which means the snippet needs some serious impact. Producer Peter Johnson worked with me extensively to get a great bit of radio together; my hat’s off to him. It ain’t easy!

It was a lot of fun to do this, and a great way to introduce Weatherby and Jain to a whole new audience ahead of the release of The Venusian Gambit on May 5. Thanks to everyone who helped make it happen! And please go check out The Author’s Corner online or on the radio and, if you’re so inclined, give ’em your support.

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With The Venusian Gambit coming out in less than three months, it’s time to get caught up on the Daedalus trilogy if you haven’t already. And what better way to do that than to get the first book for free?

Starting today and running through March 10, you can enter to win one of 10 signed copies of The Daedalus Incident via Goodreads. All you have to do is go to this page and click the “Enter to Win” button. Seriously, it could not be easier.

Of course, you have to become a Goodreads member to do that, but Goodreads is cool. If you like books, you should totally join. Keep track of what you’ve read, join any number of excellent online communities, enter to win other books, you name it. It’s worth the 30 seconds it takes to sign up.

Now, this won’t be the last time you can enter to win my books; we have a number of nifty things planned leading up to the May 5 launch of Gambit. But this ain’t a bad way to kick it off, so get clicking!

 #SFWApro

And it’s insanely gorgeous. Here’s what The Venusian Gambit will look like on shelves:

I really, really love this art. A little different from the last couple, no? No ship, for one. But a whole lot of other stuff. And yes, it’s a touch spoilery, but nothing you likely hadn’t suspected from reading the last few pages of The Enceladus Crisis. Or the actual title of this book, what with the whole Venus reference.

If you’re interested in how we ended up with this — as well as more details on what you’re seeing here — hop on over to SF Signal, which did the exclusive cover reveal earlier today. As part of that post, I talked with artist Lauren Saint Onge about her process. I also showed off some of the preliminary sketches so you can see how this cover came to be. (I did the same thing with Enceladus‘ cover last year right here on this blog.)

By the way, there will also be a blurb from another author on the cover, just like the first two books. We couldn’t get it onto the image in time for ARCs, but it’s a great quote and I’m incredibly excited, thankful and humbled by it. More to come on that soon.

Let’s give it up for Lauren, who once again hit it out of the park. If you have any say in art awards for covers, please consider her work, because man…this is awesome.

The Venusian Gambit is out May 5. You can pre-order it in trade paperback from Mysterious Galaxy, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble, Amazon or Amazon UK and Chapters in Canada — or from your local independent bookseller, which I heartily endorse. E-book and audiobook pre-orders will be available closer to release.

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I’ve seen the first of this year’s “for your consideration” blog posts, wherein an author lists his works and says, basically, “hey, if you liked it, think about it for a Hugo/Nebula/Locus/whatever.” Now, I have no problem with this; I did it last year. In fact, I should note that The Enceladus Crisis came out in 2014 and received some nice reviews.

But here, already having tooted my own horn in a very unsubtle way, I want to highlight a handful of works I’ve read over the past year that I really liked and that you should at least consider reading, if not nominating for a shiny trophy. I should point out that I don’t read nearly as much as I’d like to, and that the bulk of my reading is non-fiction. (Putting the historical in historical fantasy takes work!) But I did read some cool SF/F stuff, such as:

Shield and Crocus by MIchael R. Underwood: A book so awesome I was happy to blurb it. I like to think of it as four-color fantasy — a cross between urban fantasy and superheroes, set in a city nestled in the bones of a dead titan. There’s also hints of Torg in here, for those who came up through ’90s RPGs. Really gripping, tense and exciting, with some soulful moments, too. An excellent novel.

Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome by John Scalzi: No, I haven’t gotten around to reading Lock In, John’s latest novel, but it’s only a matter of time, because this novella was pretty damn cool. As a former journalist and long-time history buff, I really enjoyed the format used here to describe a near-future plague — and how those locked into their own bodies by this terrible illness are freed by linking up with robotic replacement bodies. Really solid worldbuilding told in a very believable way.

“Fear Itself” (One Story) by Katie Coyle: This piece was just plain crazy and fun. Basically, a girl on a high school field trip to a museum with her friends ends up getting a new boyfriend — in the form of a wax figurine of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Yes, it’s as funny as it sounds, until it becomes fantastically creepy and surreal. Lots of great insight into the teenage mindset, too, which I hope helps me as my kid gets older. Fantastic concept, excellent writing-craft. Not available for free, at least from what I could see, but worth the $2.50 to grab it.

“As Good As New” (Tor.com) by Charlie Jane Anders: If you like good short fiction, Tor.com is a good place to find it (along with a decent helping of geek news, too). In this story, a failed playwright is the apparent sole survivor of a global apocalypse, and copes by watching The Facts of Life over and over again in her panic room until she decides to brave the outside world. There she finds a bottle, home to a genie who was once a theater critic. Really, I’m probably not doing it justice. It’s a really great read. Check it out.

Bonus Daughter Recommendation: The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler: OK, this one I didn’t read, but my 10-year-old daughter did. Correction: she ravenously consumed it. In fact, she gave it to her BFF for said BFF’s birthday. So that’s a pretty strong endorsement. In summary, a talking cat sneaks a girl into a forbidden library, whereupon she gets trapped in a book and has to battle the creature imprisoned in the book along with her. Perfect for the middle-grade kid in your life, or if you’re a middle-grader at heart.

That’s my short recommended list for 2014. My to-be-read list is longer, and I’m hoping to get to it at some point. But I have a ton of nonfiction reading to do for my next project, so…we’ll see. If you like, feel free to drop your own recommendations in the comments.