I’ve sent follow up emails to everyone who contacted me, but haven’t heard back from a few people. So if you haven’t heard from me and are still interested in being an advance reader for The Wild, please send me an email as soon as you can to linda at mythicisland [dot com]
Thanks!
Announcing the fifth ebook by Mythic Island Press LLC!
Skye Object 3270a is a young adult novel set in the same story world as Deception Well, but with its own set of characters and its own set of challenges.
The cover concept is mine, but the digital painting of Skye and the final polish is by Sarah Adams.
What’s the book about? Well…
In an isolated star system far from any other human outposts, a space-faring “lifeboat” was discovered by a scientist from the city of Silk. Inside the lifeboat was a two-year-old girl in frozen sleep. She had no name and no history. The people of Silk believed her to be the only survivor of a star-faring great ship attacked in the void and destroyed by the automated warships of the alien Chenzeme. They rescued and revived the child, and named her “Skye.”
But the people of Silk face dangers of their own. Their city is in space, built around the column of a space elevator that rises from the planet’s surface into high orbit. Three-hundred kilometers below is the wild, plague-ridden planet called Deception Well. Far-above, a dusty nebula shrouds the star system. The nebula is made of drifting dust, gas, and tiny nanomachines left behind by an ancient and mysterious race. The microscopic nanomachines were made to attack and destroy any Chenzeme ship that enters the system . . . but they will defend against other threats too, and they have no loyalty to human life.
Still, life in Silk is comfortable, and the dangers of their world mean little to the city’s youth. Skye has grown into an adventurous, independent teen–but more and more she wonders about her mysterious past. Where did she come from? Who were her parents? And, most importantly, was she really the only survivor? When evidence of her past begins to awaken within her own body, Skye finds herself driven to explore both the dangerous surface of Deception Well and the airless reaches of outer space.
She is not alone in her quest. Her best friend Zia Adovna, the handsome young astronomer Devi Hand, and the adventurous Buyu Mkolu join her as she seeks to prove that other survivors of the great ship might still be found.
If you know any young readers who love adventure stories and are equipped with Kindle or Nook, please encourage them to download a sample!
Skye Object 3270a is available at:
There was a total eclipse of the moon last night. I didn’t see it. Clouds, drizzly rain, that sort of thing, got in the way. I did get a glimpse of the partially eclipsed crescent a bit later, but that was through heavy clouds.
Several years ago there was another total lunar eclipse in our region, but it was the same thing for me: clouds, rain. I have never seen the red moon.
Worse yet, maybe fifteen years ago there was a total solar eclipse visible from Hawaii. This was a very strange event. The day before was brilliantly sunny. The day after was brilliantly sunny. The day of was cloudy, rainy. Where I live we even had an unseasonable fog.
So I don’t get too excited when I hear about an upcoming eclipse. Maybe I’ll see one someday, but I think the odds are better if I bet on bad weather!
But not everyone has my bad luck. Here’s a link to a photo taken by my daughter in Honolulu: This is her second red moon.
And a couple of other interesting shots:
Lahaina is a former whaling town and was once the capital of Hawaii. The name means “cruel sun.” That’s a fair description, because on most days of the year Lahaina is hot–but that’s all right, because the abundant sunlight sets the gorgeous, bright blue water to sparkling, creating one of the most beautiful vistas on the island. But not today.
Away southeast, Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island has been steadily pumping out fumes and lava for the past twenty-seven years. Usually it’s not a bother to those of us who don’t live on the Big Island–that is, until our tradewinds cease to blow. Without the wind to sweep the fumes away, the volcanic smog or “vog” drifts up the island chain, enshrouding us in vapors.
Here’s a photo taken from a restaurant overlooking Front Street in Lahaina. The island across the water is Lana`i. See that dark “cloud” on the horizon, to the left of the island? That’s murk–like the stuff that belched out of Orodruin, I imagine. As soon as the sun sank behind that dark layer, it was gone. No colors, no glow, no beams of light. It just retreated behind a dark curtain, and the show was over.
Yes, that is a wrecked sailboat beside the sun’s light path. It’s been there for years.
Yesterday I announced that I’ll be self-publishing my fantasy novel, The Wild through my own imprint, Mythic Island Press LLC. This isn’t as frightening as it might seem at first. Book publishing is changing rapidly, and it’s much easier for a small press to bring out a book than it used to be.
Also, I’m lucky enough to have a few advantages. I’ve got a track record—six novels published by either Bantam Spectra or Tor, and a couple of awards that will help with promotion. This venture would be a lot harder if I were a first-time novelist.
I’ve also got family behind me, ready to help with finance and promotion. With luck, I’ve got other people behind me too—yes, I mean you who are reading this. You’ve been very patient with me through a long, dry spell and I truly appreciate it.
For you, I’ve got an offer and a request. We’ll be printing up twenty-five to thirty pre-publication (advance reader copies or ARCs) of The Wild. With luck, they’ll be ready to go out in early January.
We’d like to send them to a diverse set of interested readers: some who read mostly fantasy, some who don’t, some who like challenging books, some who prefer simpler fare, eclectic readers, occasional readers, writers, non-writers, men, women, different ages, different geographies . . . you get the idea.
What we ask in return is that you read the ARC within two to three weeks and answer a questionnaire on it, and on you, as a reader. Our goal is to discover and address potential problems with the story, and to determine how best to market it (and if we can harvest a few marketable quotes on the side, even better).
ARCs are expensive, so this is going to be a very limited list. Please don’t be offended if we don’t have a copy for you. But if you’re interested in being on the list, don’t be shy! Step right up and email me at linda at mythicisland dot com, and tell me a little bit about yourself and your reading interests.
As always, thank you for your interest in my work, and thanks for stopping by!
I’ve been wonderfully busy lately. Most of my focus has been on getting The Nanotech Succession ebooks off to market, which involved a big learning curve. And lest all that effort should go to waste, I’ve started spending more time promoting the books.
But this doesn’t mean I’ve been neglecting my upcoming fantasy novel, The Wild.
In mid-November we made the decision to publish The Wild ourselves, through my own imprint, Mythic Island Press LLC. I’m really excited about it. I love the idea that–for better or worse–the book is in my hands. I get to pick the cover, the release date, the promotion strategy. If it all fails badly, I will have only myself to blame, but I can handle that . . . better to rule in hell perhaps? Well . . . we’ll see!
Tomorrow: an announcement and an offer . . .
I’m old enough that I feel a bit of a blush when I say that, but yeah. I now have a professional presence on facebook. These are my pages:
The Wild — a novel, coming in 2011.
So if you’ve got a facebook account, like me! Please! There’s not a lot of activity there yet, but you’re more than welcome to stop by and say hello.
If you’ve been reading my blog you know that I’ve been converting my first four novels–Tech-Heaven, The Bohr Maker, Deception Well, and Vast–into ebook format.
The books are not a series but they all share the same story world, so I’ve wrapped them in the collective name The Nanotech Succession, and ordered them according to their place on the timeline, rather than by publishing order. Here’s where to find them:
Amazon Kindle Edition
Barnes & Noble Nook Edition
If you’ve never read the books before, why not give them a try? Free samples can be downloaded at both B&N and Amazon.
If you have read them and enjoyed them, please consider writing a review, or giving them a shout out on whatever social media or real life reading groups you’re part of. I would truly appreciate it. And if you do, please let me know!
