Category Archives: Process

Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son — Audible Update

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Break The Demon Gates endpapersI just got the news that Audible.com has made an offer for the third Yamada Book, The War God’s Son, so there will be an audiobook edition of this one as well. Word is they want the fourth one too, only there’s the slight technicality that it isn’t written yet.

I hope they’re able to get Brian Nishii to do the narration again, but that’s something to be determined later. In the meantime the third book actually is written, turned in, and scheduled for release in October of this year from Prime Books.

Capsule Description:

“With the Abe clan and its allies in full rebellion, the Emperor’s greatest military leader, Minamoto Yoshiie, is targeted for assassination by magic. It is up to the newly sober Lord Yamada and his exorcist associate Kenji to keep the young man alive long enough to put down the uprising before the entire country is consumed by war. Yamada knows how to deal with demons, monsters, and angry ghosts, but the greatest threat of all is one final assassin, hidden in a place where no one—especially Lord Yamada—would ever think to look.”

Oh, Oh, Oh, It’s Magic!

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Hereafter, and After2Ever since my first PC, I’ve kept my story submissions file in electronic form. It’s undergone several conversions to different formats in that time, but the basic organization hasn’t changed: new works get their opus number, they go into the last spot on the queue in the file. They don’t leave the file until they’re either moved to the sold file or the trunked file, in which case it’s cut and paste into the new file, whichever one it turns out to be.
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Annual Locus List Arrives Annually

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WRITING 02For those who don’t know, Locus Magazine does an annual Recommended Reading list of stories and books from the previous year. The list is chosen by reviewers and industry professionals and generally requires more than one vote to make the list. So permit me the minor brag of mentioning that two of my short stories made the list from 2014, The Manor of Lost Time and The Sorrow of Rain, both from Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A famous sf writer once famously noted that “The Blank of Blank” titles were the titles away from which to stay, but I dunno. They’re not terribly exciting as titles, I agree, but evocative and they did seem to fit.

You can see the full list at the link below. Lots of great reading to be found there, from Mary Rickert, Jay Lake, K.J. Parker, Robert Reed, Aliette de Bodard, and well, far too many to list here. That’s why there’s such a thing as the Locus Recommended Reading List.

And the Shiny Thing Goes to….

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeIt’s awards campaign season again. I dunno. I’ve done work that I’m very proud of, but that’s pretty much true every year. Award worthy? I don’t get to decide that, so I feel pretty justified in just staying out of it. That’s not a “morally superior” position, by the way. I don’t ding anyone for campaigning. I have friends who are good and natural at doing that sort of thing, and all I can do is watch in amazement and, yes, a little envy. If I were someone else I’d probably be doing it too, but I’ve never had the knack for being someone else. Which is a shame in a way–it’s hard enough to get noticed in the crowd as it is and if you don’t stand up for your own work, who will? I do what I can but  I recognize that, compared to many, what I can ain’t much. A failure in me, probably, but that’s how I roll.

Darling du Jour:

“War chopped Pestilence’s head off and kicked it like a soccer ball. It was a good kick. Three hundred yards across the blighted landscape, easily. By the time Pestilence’s headless body managed, scrabbling across the dust and debris, to feel its way to where the head had rolled, we were pretty sure he wouldn’t try that again. A pity, really. I hadn’t laughed so hard since the Apocalypse.”

It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

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Yamada_BTG_cover-V06b-PrimeHolidays. They’re what’s for…something, I don’t know. I was so confused that I posted the next installment of Power’s Shadow on Friday rather than today, where most people missed it. No worries, it’s still there, one post back in time from this one. Time travel—it’s what’s for breakfast.

There’s a variation on an old saying first attributed to Ian Maclaren, and it more or less goes like this—“Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about.” In that sense we all comrades in arms, without the benefit of spiffy uniforms, commissary, or a decent MASH unit. On our own, maybe, but it never hurts to remember that you’re not really alone. If security is an illusion, then so is our separation from each other. Once you realize that, maybe the war won’t be quite as tough. It’s something I like to remind myself of now and again. During and just after the holidays, I’ve found, is a good time to do it.

Early indications are that Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demom Gate, is selling at least as well and maybe a little better than YM:DH, and doing so without any buzz or substantive reviews, so that’s something to be grateful for. The third volume, Yamada Monogatari: The War God’s Son, will likely be coming out in September of this year (started to say “Next Year,” but that’s now “This Year.” (“Time’s a trip, Man.” – Captain Cloud, and kudos to anyone who gets the reference). Assuming that one does okay, there should be one more YM book, at least. Isn’t written yet, but I’m thinking about it. If/when it’s done it will complete the first story arc for Yamada. After that we’ll just have to see. In the meantime I still have a test to study for and another book already begun yet to finish. My year’s cut out for me.