(Update: August 28, 2013 — the review is now available online.)

When I decided to indie publish The Red: First Light — the first adult science fiction novel I’d released in ten years — I knew I could handle the production, including professional editing, copyediting, cover development, ebook creation, and print book creation. I also knew that the online distribution was easily within my reach.

The remaining questions were:

• Could I get the book into bookstores?
So far as I know, the answer to this remains “no.”

• Could I do the publicity?
Among other things, this blog post talks about what I’ve managed. Has it been enough? Nope.

• Could I get the book reviewed?
Despite wonderful reader reviews posted at Amazon and other venues, to my knowledge The Red: First Light has not been reviewed at any standard book review site or publication — until today. The August issue of Locus is just out and contains a full review of The Red: First Light by long-time reviewer Russell Letson.

Locus is “The Magazine of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Field.” It’s a trade publication covering science fiction and fantasy since 1968 and available in print and digital editions.

And what did Russell Letson have to say about The Red: First Light? Here are a few pull quotes:

…the novel’s vision of the military – or at least of the soldier and his or her most immediate context of competence, loyalty, dedication, and courage – is anything but disrespectful or dismissive. The setting in which these virtues are employed, tested, and sometimes betrayed, however, is something else again.

…a series of operations, described in enough detail to satisfy any mil-SF enthusiast, and with a sour enough attitude towards official and actual power structures to keep old lefties from feeling too guilty about enjoying the action.

…the same post-Vietnam sense of discontinuity that separates The Forever War from Starship Troopers, updated for the post-9/11 world.

The August 2013 issue of Locus contains reviews of many other books, along with an interview of Kim Stanley Robinson. Find it here.

And if you’ve read and enjoyed The Red: First Light, please consider reviewing it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your own blog. Getting the word out is the most challenging part of publishing — whether indie or traditional. Thanks!

Shop for the Ebook
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Mythic Island Press LLC
Barnes & Noble (USA)

Shop for the Print Book
Amazon USA
Amazon UK
Mysterious Galaxy
Barnes & Noble (USA)

Posted on: Thursday, August 1st, 2013 at 9:09 am
Categories: Promotion.
Tags: Locus, The Red: First Light