Category Archives: Publishing

Discussions about the business of publishing.

Reprint for WCSFA

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WRITING 02Starting off the new year, I’ve just sold a reprint to the World Chinese SF Association (WCSFA). Reprints in general are a good thing. They get your stories out in venues/areas that might not normally come across them, and the WCSFA certainly applies. I’ve had stories translated into Japanese, French, and Russian, but this will be the first time for Chinese, so I’m looking forward to it.

Strictly from the business side of things, reprints are money for work already done. That is, stories you would have—and did—write anyway continue to pay off for you. Sort of an investment in the future. Even those of us who don’t earn most of our income from writing can appreciate that.

The story is “A Hint of Jasmine,” one of my Eli Mothersbaugh series. This was originally published in Asimov’s SF back in August 2004. WCSFA has also bought reprints from Ken Liu, Aliette de Bodard, and Caroline M. Yoachim, among others. I know the story will be in good company. I’ll likely mention it here when it’s published. I’ll go look at it myself. Won’t be able to read it, but that’s all right. I know where to find a really good English translation.

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.

Year End Summary

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WRITING 02There was a time when any kind of year-end summary from me would consist mostly of what short stories I’d published and where. Maybe a long list is more impressive, but this year there are only a few things to report because most of the works are longer, which makes for fewer of them. Be that as it may, here they are:

The Manor of Lost Time, BCS #150, Special Double Issue, June 2014

The Sorrow of Rain, BCS #157, Sixth Anniversary Double Issue, October 2014

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Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate, TP,  Prime Books, November 2014

 

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To Break the Demon Gate, Ltd. HC, PS Publishing, December 2014

Edited to Add: And after all that, I forgot this:

The God of Small Troubles

The God of Small Troubles and Other Stories, which includes:

The God of Small Troubles
Anchors and Sails
Olam Drexler’s School For Exceptional Children
Small Deaths
Miss Jean Takes a Walk

So that’s seven stories and two editions of the same novel. Not bad.

 

 

Yamada Monogatari: To Break the Demon Gate -Addendum

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Break The Demon Gates endpapers

 

The lovely dancer above is Ben Baldwin’s illustration of Lady Snow, from the endpapers for the PS Publishing edition of  To Break the Demon Gate. You haven’t met Lady Snow yet, but if you’re a reader of the series you’ll see a few familiar faces. In fact, some of it will be very familiar, since Part 1 of the novel is a revised version of “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge.”

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating as the book is practically published even as I speak–I didn’t know that “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” was the opening to a novel when I wrote it, at least partly because it is a self-contained story arc all to itself. It wasn’t the whole story, and I did know that at the time, but I assumed it was because later stories in the series would expand and resolve it the unresolved issues. I was wrong about that. The stories do not, for the most part, directly address the events from “Moon Viewing,” nor do they ignore it, and some of the closure, as long-time readers know, comes from “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest.” However, that still leaves one heck of a lot of story. Continue reading →