There are a lot of things I love about my debut novel, The Daedalus Incident. But my absolute favorite bit? That took some thought.
Today I’m honored to be a guest on Hugo Award-winning author Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, as part of her “My Favorite Bit” series. It’s really wonderful that authors like Mary pay it forward by offering their platforms to other authors like me, and I really appreciate Mary allowing me to participate.
One week from today, the print edition of The Daedalus Incidentis officially released into the wild! It’s been quite the trip with this book, so it’ll be a very gratifying thing to see.
Of course, given the meandering path to publication Daedalus has gone through, it’s not entirely surprising that Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both reporting it in stock and available for online purchase. Folks who’ve ordered it say they’ve been notified that it’s been shipped. So…yeah, if you like, go for it and order!
As far as I can tell, the audiobook will still be released on Aug 13, and I haven’t seen the print book stocked in stores, so I assume those are still on for next week. Of course, you can get the ebook version for the Kindle, Nook and Kobo right now if you prefer pixels to print.
Despite the rather staggered nature of this release, I’m still treating Aug. 13 as The Daedalus Incident‘s official release date, even if it’s kind of arbitrary at this point. There comes a time when you gotta stick a candle in the cake and say happy birthday, so that’s my day, and that’s when I’ll be cracking open my 2006 Monster Ale from Brooklyn Brewery to celebrate.
I’ll actually be celebrating in Los Angeles, since I’ll be traveling for work. I’ll also be doing an event on Saturday, Aug. 17, at 2:30 p.m. at the Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in Redondo Beach, Calif. If you’re in the area, come on out and support a great local store.
In addition, I have a series of cool, interesting things coming up over the next few weeks, both on this blog and elsewhere, so stay tuned!
And now, since it’s probably been years since this song was stuck in your head, I present…”One Week.” You’re welcome.
The giveaway of two signed copies of The Daedalus Incident wrapped up this morning, with more than 450 entries. Thanks to everyone who signed up, and congratulations to Goodreads users Jamie and Amanda! I’m hoping to get those books out to you next week, fresh off the presses.
If you didn’t win, well…Daedalus is already available in ebook for the Kindle, Kobo and Nook, and the print and audiobook editions come out Aug. 13. The book has a 4-star-plus rating on both Goodreads and Amazon (which is really very gratifying to me), so give it a look!
Just a quick note here. Matt over at Alternate History Weekly Update was kind enough to have me on for an interview, in which I talk about the enduring interest in our planetary neighbor, Mars, as well as where The Daedalus Incident falls along the spectrum of alternate history, historical fantasy and steampunk. Matt asked some very interesting questions and runs a pretty nifty site, so check it out.
As a reminder, the Shindig virtual event scheduled for tonight has been rescheduled for Aug. 27 at 9 p.m. EDT. You can RSVP now, and you’ll be sent a reminder closer to the date.
Finally, I got my first-run print copy of the book today, courtesy of the new Night Shade team at Skyhorse Publishing. It’s so very, very shiny. It’ll be in bookstores Aug. 13, so don’t forget to pre-order online, or ask your local bookseller to order it for you! (There are some handy ordering links on this page.)
Sorry to reschedule on you, folks, but a couple things came up, and I’m pushing back my virtual reading and Q&A from this Wednesday to next month, Tuesday, Aug. 27, at 9 p.m. EDT. You can still RSVP here, and you’ll get a handy e-mail reminder a day or two before the event.
I think this will work out better for everyone, since those folks waiting for the print release of The Daedalus Incident (coming Aug. 13) will have a chance to at least start in on the book. And there will be more press and stuff coming out between now and then, so more folks may get a chance to attend.
So there you go. Your Wednesday night is yours once more. I’ll see you (via computer) in August. Of course, I have lots of other stuff coming in the weeks ahead, so be sure to check out the events calendar on the right side of this page for more. #SFWApro
My wife Kate and I had the chance to take a few days off on our own in the wilds of the Adirondacks and Vermont. We were, of course, grateful for the fact that we weren’t home; the weather was, by all accounts, unbearably hot. But it was still pretty warm up north, so while our mornings were fun and active (canoeing and bike riding), our afternoons were spent writing.
And man, more than 12,000 words later, I totally get that writing retreat thing.
Not that I didn’t really get it before, but I’ve always been of a mind to write whenever and however I can. An hour here, a half-hour there. It does add up. But such stretches of unscheduled time…it’s kind of amazing what you can do. We didn’t really plan it as a writing retreat, per se; it was merely one of many pleasant outcomes of the trip. We both got a lot accomplished, and still felt wholly relaxed and rejuvenated.
I’m still going to stick to my guns when it comes to writing time. Just write — whenever, however, and for however long you can. But if you can indeed carve out time in a big way, it seriously rocks.
I know, seems like a no-brainer. Maybe I’m just slow.
Anyway, here’s a few book-related tidbits for you:
Sally over at The Qwillery was one of the very first book bloggers to reach out to me regarding The Daedalus Incident, and I remember the excitement I had that someone actually wanted to talk to me about my writing…quickly followed by a certain concern about whether I had anything noteworthy to say.
Like just about everybody in the SF/F community, Sally was incredibly patient with me as my publisher changed hands and The Daedalus Incident got a new release date. (Kindle, Nook and Kobo now! Aug. 13 in print!) So it’s a real pleasure for me today to link to my official 2013 Debut Author Challenge interview over on The Qwillery today. Sally does such a great job highlighting debut authors and deserves a hearty round of applause for helping the newbies as we get our writing careers underway. Thanks, Sally!
I also wanted to take the chance to remind folks that I’m doing a live, virtual reading and Q&A via Shindig Event on Wednesday, July 24 at 9 p.m. EDT. It’s pretty simple to check this out. Just click on the event page and then click on the RSVP button. Easy as that. The Shindig folks will then remind you of the event closer to the date. On the 24th, you can log in and see/hear me read a brand new excerpt of The Daedalus Incident(yes, it’ll be exclusive to the event), and ask me questions.
Best part? It’s free of charge to attend, so stop on by and say hi!
I had a blast doing the #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Chat) on Twitter Tuesday night. The transcript is already up at the #sffwrtcht site, and I’ve seen previous chats posted on other blogs as well, including SFSignal. (Hey, it’s SFSignal’s 10th anniversary! Well done and congrats!)
One of the questions from the chat asked whether I listened to music as I wrote. I don’t, actually. I’m quite accustomed to writing in any number of environments, from mellow to chaotic — so much so that I tune out all too easily, as my wife can attest. (“Mike. MIKE. I’m talking to you.” It’s a blessing for a writer, but a curse in many other ways.) Music is just one more thing to tune out.
That said, I draw inspiration from music, and when I’m pondering writerly things, I find music helps. In fact, there have been a number of pieces that informed The Daedalus Incident. Here’s some of them. (Note that this will probably expose my somewhat dated musical tastes to snark. So be it. I like what I like!)
As a reminder, I’m the guest on Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s #SFFWRTCHT on Twitter this Tuesday night at 9 p.m. EDT. I’ll likely talk about Daedalus, perhaps some on The Gravity of the Affair, and answer whatever questions you like. I promise not to spoil either work too badly, or at least highlight it when I might. (Of course, if you click here and scroll to the bottom, you’ll find plenty of purchase links in case you want to read up before tomorrow!) Either follow me on Twitter or follow the hashtag tomorrow night.
Finally, I wanted to point to a guest post over on A Dribble of Ink by fellow Night Shade author J.M. McDermott. In it, he talks about his experiences with Night Shade, as well as his hopes for Skyhorse. It’s really good and rather poignant. Give it a read.
If you like history, check out The Daedalus Incident by Michael J. Martinez, a gripping historical fantasy adventure which combines the late-18th-century Age of Sail with space travel. Think of it as Master & Commander…in spaaace!
The extra A’s totally make that blurb. Many thanks to Kirkus and to John DeNardo, who also runs the Hugo-winning site SFSignal.
Also today, I’m a special guest up at the Irish writing site writing.ie, talking about world-building in speculative fiction. I discuss how I used basic journalism questions — who, what, when, where and why — to flesh out the worlds of The Daedalus Incident.
Writing.ie is also doing a giveaway of The Daedalus Incident along with the guest post — click here to enter, though I suspect this giveaway would be better suited to folks in Europe than here in the U.S., given that I haven’t done an overseas giveaway yet. For folks in America, I’m currently running a Goodreads giveaway of two signed copies, so be sure to enter!
Now and then, I host other authors and creators on my blog so they can answer the age-old question: "What makes your book so gosh-darn special, anyway?" Or, you know, whatever else they like. Within reason.
The current guest is Matthew W. Quinn, author of The Thing in the Woods. The guest post archive is here.
If you're interested in guest blogging, click here to find out how to do it.
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Michael J. Martinez 