The reaction to the final cover of The Enceladus Crisis has been really positive; I’m psyched folks seem to like it as much as I do. That image of HMS Fortitude, guns blazing as she sails through the Rocky Main, was brought to us by artist Lauren Saint Onge, who was kind enough to answer a few questions about her work.
In addition, she agreed to let me post some of her initial sketches and drafts for the cover below so that you can see how it evolved into the final, awesome image.
Filed under Books, Publishing
Here it is, you guys. I may be biased, of course, but I think it’s incredibly awesome. Behold, The Enceladus Crisis!
The 74-gun third-rate on the cover is HMS Fortitude, captained by…well, you’ll see. The ship bits heavily damaged in the foreground belong to the French, naturally.
The artwork is by the insanely talented Lauren Saint Onge. Like me, she has a day job (doing concept art, no less), and suffers from the same affliction of wanting to do more work as a hobby. She’s awesome, and I’ll be posting an interview with her tomorrow.
And yes, that’s none other than Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names, saying very nice things about the book on the cover. Django took the time to read the book even though he’s got two books coming out this year: The Forbidden Library next month, and the Thousand Names sequel The Shadow Throne in July. You should all go buy his books now. Thank you, Django, for all the kind words!
The folks at Night Shade Books did a great job putting this all together. They also asked for, and then put up with, my input throughout the process, which was a lot of fun for me. The graphics folks put in a lot of effort to give the title and lettering and such the same look-and-feel as The Daedalus Incident, which is saying something since it’s an entirely different team now. Well done all around.
And here’s the back cover:
I was hoping we’d get one positive review blurb to put on the back. To have three, and these three in particular, was an embarrassment of riches. The PW and SFSignal reviews have already been published, while GeekDad plans to run theirs closer to the book’s May 6 launch.
Did I mention May 6? As in…what, six weeks? Crazy. Pre-orders are available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and you can go through IndieBound to pre-order through your friendly neighborhood independent bookseller too. It will be out in e-book on May 6 as well, and we do expect Audible to release the audiobook around the same time.
My thanks again to all involved in making this cover. It’s incredibly amazing. And a hat-tip to SFSignal for giving it a nice boost this morning.
#SFWApro
Filed under Books, Publishing
Yesterday, I ponied up another year’s dues and renewed my membership with The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. And I was happy to do so. I find a lot of value in the organization, and for the most part, I find my fellow members to be among the best sort of people.
That’s not to say SFWA is one big happy family. Like any organization that includes a broad array of personalities, beliefs and identities, SFWA has had its share of controversy. I’ve no desire to get into the details here, except to say that I believe that the vast majority of the stuff you may have heard about are the actions of a very few people who seem to think that being on the Internet, or even simply being a writer, absolves them from the need for basic decency and civility. (It doesn’t, by the way.)
The vast majority of folks in SFWA are good people and good writers who want to broaden the reach of the genres and protect the interests of authors. These are very worthy pursuits, and that’s why I support SFWA with my membership and involvement.
Filed under Books, Publishing, Writing
Last week, I got an e-mail from one of the editors at WordPress saying that a recent post about publishing was selected to be “Freshly Pressed.” Nice to be recognized for producing any sort of quasi-useful writing, though I had to actually look up what Freshly Pressed was, since I don’t really explore my WordPress Reader as much as I could. But hey, it seemed like a nice thing.
Then boom. Hello, several hundred visitors. And a heap of new blog followers. So that‘s what Freshly Pressed is and does. All right then.
I’m very happy that this particular post was well received, and doubly so that the comments have been respectful and encouraging, no matter where you fall on the self-publish/traditional publishing argument. Civility on the Internet…who knew?
Anyway, I thought I’d take a moment to say hi to the new followers and introduce myself. Continue reading
Filed under Books, Publishing, site business, Writing
It’s always great to talk shop with another writer, so when super-agent Sara Megibow asked me to have an in-print conversation with fellow novelist Eleri Stone about genre mashups for the Nelson Agency newsletter, I couldn’t resist.
Eleri is the author of Reaper’s Touch, a Wild West-meets-zombies novel that just came out last month. We had a great conversation about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to genre mashups, just how much fun it can be to create books that aren’t neatly shelved in a single category. The conversation hit the agency newsletter today, and I’m reprinting it here as well. Enjoy!
Filed under Books, Guest Post, Writing
A pleasant surprise: Publishers Weekly reviewed The Enceladus Crisis today, had had some great things to say about it. I didn’t expect them to chime in because they didn’t review The Daedalus Incident, likely due to the publishing mess surrounding it last year. (A mess, I should add, that’s cleared up very nicely.)
In any event, PW called Enceladus “riveting” and “a uniquely imaginative science fantasy tale,” which is perfectly awesome in my book. They also dinged me on a few things, but overall, I seriously cannot — and will not! — complain one whit. That’s their job, after all. And heck, it’s a positive review. I’ll take it!
Check out the whole review here!
#SFWApro
Filed under Books, Publishing, Writing
Just a quick note to remind everyone that the Con or Bust auction of The Enceladus Crisis and The Daedalus Incident ends Sunday, Feb. 23, at 5 p.m. EST. This is indeed the very first copy of The Enceladus Crisis available to the general public prior to its May 6, release, so your geek-bragging rights are ensured if you win.
Con or Bust helps people of color attend SF/F conventions if they can’t otherwise afford it. This is awesome because we’re helping fans get their geek on, and the rest of us get in on their perspectives and general fan-awesomeness. Everybody wins.
There’s a ton of great stuff on offer at Con or Bust besides my books. There’s a full directory here. Check it out and get bidding!
#SFWApro
The Enceladus Crisis is still more than two months away, but reviewers are already reading it — and the first review came out today from the Hugo Award-winning awesomeness that is SFSignal.
And, as you may have surmised, I’m quite happy to report it’s a good one. In his four-out-of-five-star review, Paul “PrinceJvstin” Weimer writes:
The followup to Martinez’s debut novel The Daedalus Incident builds on the strengths of the first novel and shores up its weaknesses…the sequel continues the first novel’s mix of alchemy, intrigue, mystery, science fiction and high adventure into an entertaining package. Mike Martinez’s The Enceladus Crisis avoids some of the pitfalls that many second novels face by trying some new things, and giving us some new facets of his interesting universe.
Since Paul has given both my books good reviews (his review of Daedalus is here), I may be a little biased, but I genuinely think he’s an excellent reviewer. His knowledge of the genre is impressive, and his criticism is thoughtful and on point. Many thanks, Paul, for all your hard work.
As a reminder, The Enceladus Crisis is out in print, e-book and audiobook on May 6. You can pre-order your print copies on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or go to IndieBound and order from your local bookseller. Not sure if we’re getting e-book or audiobook pre-orders or not, but I’ll keep you posted here. You can also add the book on Goodreads, too.
#SFWApro
Filed under Books, Publishing, Writing
Actually, I’m pretty much functional most days. Except when there’s no coffee, at which point I’m reduced to a mind-blanked automaton.
No, today I am a guest on the fantastic Functional Nerds podcast, ably hosted by Patrick Hester and John Anealio. We talk SF/F conventions, the Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser project, Patrick’s newfound love of iTunes smart playlists, and my own recent discovery of Untappd, the beer drinker’s social network. (Here’s my page in case you want to follow along.)
Oh, and I talk a bit about writing and stuff. I had a great time recording it, so please do give it a listen. The Functional Nerds podcast page is here, and you can download the podcast via your favorite podcast downloading…thing.
My thanks to John and Patrick for a great podcast!
#SFWApro
Just a quick note to remind you that the Con or Bust charity auctions went live this morning. This is your first chance to win a signed copy of The Enceladus Crisis, along with a signed copy of The Daedalus Incident. The starting bid is $20, and the auction goes until Sunday, February 23 at 5 p.m. EST. Click here to place your bid on the books!
Again, Con or Bust provides financial assistance for fans of color to attend SF/F conventions, which is an awesome thing all around. And this really is the first copy of The Enceladus Crisis available to the general public prior to the launch on May 6. So get bidding!
#SFWApro
, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Books-A-Million, Kobo, iTunes or Google Play!
Michael J. Martinez 