Category Archives: Writing

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.

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.”

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.

 

 

To Break the Demon Gate – 2nd Incarnation

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This arrived yesterday in a big bag labelled “Royal Mail.” Author copies of To Break the Demon Gate, from PS Publishing. This is the limited edition. It’s a little unusual to have both the trade and limited edition of a new novel out at the same time, but that’s how it worked out. So we have a lovely hardcopy edition, a lovely signed and numbered hardcopy edition, and a colorful trade edition, in both print and ebook, and available in the usual places and B&N.

I have to say it’s a good time to be a reader. Options galore.