Category Archives: Publishing

Discussions about the business of publishing.

Power’s Shadow, Physical Edition

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Now the paperback edition of Power’s Shadow is live. It came together a little quicker than I was expecting, despite the fact that I had to reformat the entire manuscript and cover. Not that I’m complaining. In the process I found a few embarrassing errors that never should have been there to start with and one whopper of a continuity oops. Which goes to prove the old adage, “You haven’t edited your story until you’ve edited it stone cold.” I apologize for any past mistakes, but I do believe they’ve been fixed, in both the digital and paperback editions.

Now I’m thinking of doing the same to The Long Look, first in the series. Otherwise the physical edition is only available from third party sellers, since it’s long out of print. That way when I finally finish the fourth—and final—book in the series I’ll have everything available in both formats. Something to consider, anyway, though I do not want to get bogged down in my backlist when there are more books to write.

On an entirely separate note, I almost had fresh tomatoes this year. I picked up some heritage plants at the Cooperstown Farmer’s Museum and even got them planted in good time. First the deer damaged one plant, which lived but never bloomed. The second was doing great and had tomatoes almost ready, but then they disappeared. Poof. Gone. I don’t think it was deer this time, but I am noticing some very well-fed squirrels loitering about. Oh, well. Try again next year.

Power’s Shadow

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A slight pause for a bit of dusting.

Okay, I’m back. I think. I liked doing Story Time, but after a while I realized I was spending too much of my limited time on my back catalog, so to speak, and not enough working out what comes next. Yet despite that, there are a few more issues of old business I need to address. One of which is that the third book in The Laws of Power series, Power’s Shadow, did not yet have a print edition. So for the readers (both of you) asking for that very thing, it’s finally on its way.

Right now I’m in the stage of taking the original manuscript and formatting it for print. This will take a little time yet, because it’s simple enough to do but it’s not quick. I’ve been re-reading each chapter as I work, trying to catch any spelling or grammatical errors that crept into the ebook edition and stop the critters from making their way into this one. And, being a writer, I’m having a hard time leaving the text completely alone. A word choice here. An arrangement of sentences there. A word that I tended to overuse but have now learned better. That kind of thing. We’re talking a few tweaks, not a major rewrite, because, imho, it doesn’t need one. Minor stuff and probably best left alone, only I can’t help myself.

I’m about a quarter of the way through, and then there’s reformatting the cover for the print edition, running it through production, getting proof copies, checking those…you get the idea. Probably why it’s taken me so long to get this done in the first place.  I hope no more than a couple of weeks more. Regardless, I’ll post when the print book is available.

Story Time: The Last Waltz

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Today’s Story Time is “The Last Waltz,” which was the very first story I published in the late, great Realms of Fantasy magazine way back in the February, 1995 issue, and only my fifth professional (as in getting paid for) sale. I went on to sell stories to Shawna  McCarthy at Realms twenty-six more times by my count before the magazine ended, but TLW, a little dated as it may be, was a sentimental favorite of mine, even though it’s never been collected. Maybe next time.

At this point I’m also going to end Story Time as a regular weekly feature. Putting each story into display-shape for online takes time I should be spending on new material, and right now time is the one thing I don’t have much of. I’ll still do them now and again, but otherwise I hope to return to a more regular blogging schedule.

An Overdue Update

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I just got back from the Little Falls Library (Literally, like half an hour ago) where I recorded five flash fiction pieces for a local podcast series. It appears to be a very cool project with a lot of talented people and I’ll post specifics for availability and whatnot once everything is sorted. It should be available next month.

Next, a very surprising but pleasing bit of news from David Stokes at Guardbridge Books. My story from Tales of the Sunrise Lands: Anthology of Fantasy Japan, “The Cat of Five Virtues,” is a finalist for the Washington Science Fiction Association Small Press Award. It is always an honor just to be nominated, and thus I am honored. The winner will be announce at Capclave next month.  Here’s the full list of finalists:

“A Vague Inclination to Please,” by Brandon Daubs in All Hail Our Robot Conquerers, ed. by Patricia Bray & Joshua Palmatier, published by Zombies Need Brains LLC, (September 2017);

“The Cat of Five Virtues,” by Richard Parks in Tales of the Sunrise Lands: Anthology of Fantasy Japan, ed. by David Stokes, published by Guardbridge Books (July 2017);

“Floaters Can’t Float,” by Pip Coen, published in Compelling Science Fiction, ed. by Joe Stech, (April 2017);

“Oba Oyinbo,” by Jonathan Edelstein, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, ed. by Scott Roberts, (October 2017);

“The Oracle and the Warlord,” by Karina Sumner-Smith in The Sum of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound, ed. by Lucas K. Law & Susan Forest, published by Laksa Media, (September 2017);

“Probably Still the Chosen One,” by Kelly Barnhill, published in Lightspeed Magazine, ed. by John Joseph Adams, (February 2017);

“The Secret Life of Bots,” by Suzanne Palmer, published in Clarkesworld Magazine, ed. by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace, (September 2017);

“Through Milkweed and Gloom,” by Wendy Nikel in Submerged, ed. by S.C. Butler & Joshua Palmatier, published by Zombies Need Brains LLC, (September 2017).

You can read more about the award (and the organization) at  WSFA.

Story Time: Fox Tails

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This week’s Story Time is the novelette that began the Yamada Monogatari series, “Fox Tails.” It was originally published in the June 2005 issue of Realms of Fantasy.

As I’ve said before, I originally conceived of Yamada no Goji as a sort of noir style detective in Heian Japan. Unlike some cases, I did know it was a series when I first wrote it. I don’t always know that, witness the Eli Mothersbaugh stories. What I didn’t know and couldn’t have imagined at the time was how much Yamada would evolve over the series from my original concept. Yamada had his own ideas, apparently, but I didn’t mind. Ill behaved characters are usually the best.