2014 – My Literary Year in Review

I wrote not one but two essays for the blog this week. Didn’t like either of them when they were done. That’s the kind of mood I’m in. Perhaps I’ll rework them and share them later. Perhaps I’ll file them away as pieces of journal therapy. At any rate, lacking substantive content, I thought it might be useful to review what I produced, and what I took in, literature wise, during this past year.

In addition to 59 blog posts, I shared the short stories “Call Me Sam” on Phil Giunta’s blog, and “Don’t Go in the Barn, Johnny” in the Firebringer anthology Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity. I did also write one radio play (first draft only), five short stories (one sold, yet to be published, two rejected, one pending, one slated for my podcast), a novella (thrice-rejected), a premise for a (non-SF) novel, a premise for a comic series, and a good deal of copy for work-related websites. Kind of a disappointing showing, all things considered. Let’s hope 2015 is better. I’ve already sold two essays sight-unseen to two books from a pretty prestigious publisher, so that’s good.

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Re-Introducing Peace Lord of the Red Planet

0977385124I wrote this novel in 2010. Okay, actually I wrote it probably in 2006. I did the National Novel Writing Month challenge, but I did it in June. 50,000 word in 30 days, and I produced 75% of a usable manuscript. The last four chapters were awful. So I re-wrote them completely in 2009.

I knew it would be controversial, since it deals with religion, war, peace, monogamy, polyamory, polytheism and bisexuality. It also openly mocks a lot of our more prosaic ideas of what a “god” is. I figured the religious right would hate it. Imagine my shock when I discovered that the atheist left hated it more. Apparently, not only is it beyond the comprehension of some readers that a good person can suffer from prejudice and learn better, it’s also unacceptable to a lot of them that a protagonist declare any religious belief.

Who knew?

But people hating my book did not disappoint me. If they’re angry, they’re reading. Trouble was, not enough people were angry. “Peace Lord” just didn’t get the kind of attention that my Arbiter Chronicles stories do. I suppose some would say that means it’s not as good. I can’t comment. You don’t ask a parent to pick a favorite child.

When I discovered the wonderful artist Bob Keck in the Farpoint Art Show this year, I decided to ask him to do a book cover. My son, Ethan, said, “Why don’t you have him update ‘Peace Lord?’ It’s a little dated.” I should point out that Ethan designed the cover of “Peace Lord,” and provided the cover art. I think it’s pretty brave of him to make that assessment.

So, though I’m sentimental about Ethan’s cover art, I decided to take his suggestion. I engaged Bob to bring the characters of Shep Autrey and Xhylanna of Jentana to life, and I think he did a wonderful job. This, then, if the new cover for Peace Lord of the Red Planet. It’s the tale of a Civil War era Quaker physician who, like John Carter of Mars, dies on Earth and is transported to an alien world instead of going to Heaven or Hell. He saves the life of a warrior prince and becomes a hero. Then he commits a breech of etiquette and is sentenced to death. He faces death so bravely that his hosts declare him the bravest warrior alive… all because he refuses to fight. He goes on to unseat the staid traditions of an entire world, including its gods. Along the way he abandons some of his own faith and replaces it with a new understanding of himself and the universe.

If you haven’t read it, its repackaging is a great opportunity to give it a look. If you have read it, now is a good time to recommend it to a friend. Here’s the Amazon link. Don’t worry that it shows the old cover. The new one is now the only one being produced. If by some bizarre chance Amazon dredges up an old copy, let me know, and I’ll trade you a corrected one!

Please Re-cut This Film! An appeal for Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt? (Part Two)

AtlasShruggedNote: If you haven’t seen the film, take my word for nothing in here. PLEASE see it and draw your own conclusions. It’s still running in 65 theaters around the country.

Continuing my review of Atlas Shrugged: Who Is John Galt, I wish to pause for a disclaimer and a shout-out. First, the disclaimer: I am speaking frankly about this film because I believe in the project. I respect the passion of the creative team behind it. I understand the obstacles they had to overcome to bring an overwhelmingly popular book to film under the eye of a film industry that largely holds its audience in contempt, and believes that this book is only popular because most of the reading public is too stupid to know what’s good for them. I admire their effort, and I hope it will ultimately pay off.

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The Globe Wernike Elastic Bookcase

IMG_0518Is writing about bookshelves a little too silly even for me? Well, sorry, but that’s what I got this week. It’s been a long, baaaaadddd week, with server crashes and badly delayed project deliverables and more than a few shouting matches. At such times, the most trivial things can grab our attention, amuse us, and lighten the load.

I’ve always liked barrister bookcases. The idea of keeping books under glass, like precious delicacies, appeals to me. They’re great for collectibles, too. If you like things like plastic action figures and Lego models (in which case, you’d love my house!) then you know what a chore it is to keep dust out of all the little nooks and crannies on them. Dust, I’m told by my action-figure-expert son, is deadly to plastic collectibles. It can actually soften and damage some plastics. (If you hate dust, you’d hate my house. 144 years’ worth of dead skin cells, old carpet fibers and dog and cat hair… plus some mouse skeletons in the walls. I’ve seen them.)

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The Arbiter Logs #4: The White Lady

TheWhiteLady2Only 99 cents! 

Visiting the colony of New Rhineland, the Arbiters are lured into the centuries old German ghost story of the White Lady, a harbinger of death and spirit of vengeance. Metcalfe is confronted by the most haunting spectre of all — that of his sister, Lydia.

The White Lady is the fourth adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from the Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Buy it for:
All formats at Smashwords | Kindle | Nook  | iBooks

 

Review – Starbrat by John Morressy

StarBrat1So I believe I mentioned in my Balticon report that I bought a lot of books Memorial Day weekend. Now, by no means am I going to impose any ridiculous rules upon myself to limit book-buying. If you would suggest to me that I should only buy in a year what I can read in a year, or that I shouldn’t be allowed to buy one new book until I finish two others that I already own, well, you’re suppressing my natural joy and impinging upon my creative process! So… well… Shut up!

But I know I ought to try to be reasonable. Maybe a little. My therapist suggests it’s a good idea, anyway. I therefore have resolved that at least every other book I read should be one that’s been sitting on my shelf for a while. I suppose some would go with an organized process, LIFO or FIFO or some such. I just pick stuff at random. Sometimes I go digging for the zine I bought 30 years ago and forgot to read. Sometimes I just grab something off the library cart that’s sitting in my office… Continue reading

The Arbiter Logs #1: Mutiny Springs Eternal

MutinyA century ago, the Faraday disappeared. The great ship dropped into the mysterious region known as L-space, never to be seen again. There are only legends left, legends of mutiny, of murder, and of the discovery of forbidden secrets. Today, the young midshipmen of the patrol ship Arbiter have found Faraday, a ghost ship orbiting a remote planet. And, somehow, someone… or something… has survived.

Mutiny Springs Eternal is the first adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from the Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Buy it for: Kindle | Nook | Other formats at Smashwords

 

The Arbiter Logs #3: Man of Letters

ManofLettersOnly 99 cents! 

In all of the history of the planet Phaeton, since it was settled hundreds of years ago, only a handful of its telepathic citizens have ventured into outer space. Professor Mors, a legendary intellectual, and his young protégé Cernaq are two of those. Now that Cernaq is serving on border patrol aboard the CNV Arbiter, his mentor has tasked him with chronicling the extraordinary events he is a part of. Cernaq’s letters provide a glimpse of a very seedy corner of Naval service through very innocent, foreign eyes, as he learns that much of humanity is not governed by reason or science.

Man of Letters is the third adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from the Mark Time and Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”

Buy it for:
All formats at Smashwords | Kindle | Nook  | iBooks

Review – Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

shipbreakerShip Breaker is a dystopian novel of a future America, ravaged by the storms which climatologists suggest are worsening as a result of global warming. It focuses on Nailer, a young teen who works as “light crew” on a ship-breaking operation.

In Nailer’s world you don’t go to school, there is no guarantee of three meals a day, and “home” is, if you’re lucky, a shack assembled out of spare parts. The “health care system” is on middle-aged woman who knows some herbal cures. There’s no suggestion of anything like property ownership. Nailer and his people live on a beach on the Gulf Coast, where no one who had the money to escape would want to stay. Continue reading

The Arbiter Logs #2: A Man Walks Into a Bar

ManWalksIn“Isn’t it obvious? I’ve just killed a man.”

My second Arbiter Logs novella is now in release! Only 99 cents for the eBook for your Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad, Droid… you name it, we got it. This adventure is based on a script Prometheus Radio Theatre first performed at Balticon 35. It turned out to be one of our most popular shows, and, as noted in the jacket copy, it took the 2004 Mark Time Silver Award. We were all kinda proud of that. Here it’s committed to prose and expanded, with some extra glimpses into the private lives of Captain Atal, Doc Faulkner, Kaya and Aer’La that weren’t in the radio play. And, of course, we all know the characters better now, myself included, so we get a better look inside some of their heads this time around. I hope you’ll pick up a copy. Purchase links below. (Some retailers pick up the books faster than others. Amazon should be out in a couple more hours. The others will trail along. I’ll update as they show up. Smashwords is always the fastest!)

Buy it for:
All formats at Smashwords | Kindle | Nook  | iBooks

The Jacket Copy:

Cernaq is a telepath from the planet Phaeton, the gentlest, most unassuming of the crew of the CNV Arbiter. After he must take a man’s life in the line of duty, his behavior begins to take a turn for the worse. Another presence is slowly gaining control of his mind, and one of the most powerful telepathic intellects in the galaxy is now a threat to himself and his shipmates.

A Man Walks Into a Bar is the second adventure of the crew of the CNV Arbiter, adapted from Parsec Award-winning audio drama series, The Arbiter Chronicles. This story also received the Mark Time Silver Award for excellence in science fiction audio drama in 2004. Library Journal calls the Arbiters “a cast of compelling characters,” and Analog calls the Chronicles “a fun romp… like a cross between the funniest episodes of the original Star Trek and Monty Python.”