More good news for The Red: First Light! The novel has been honored as a finalist for The John W. Campbell Memorial Award. This must have been a good year for science fiction, because there are fifteen finalists — more than in any other recent year.

The Campbell Memorial Award is a juried award presented for the best science-fiction novel of the year. It’s considered one of the three major annual awards for science fiction, and is generally limited to science fiction — in other words, it does not consider fantasy novels. The award is administered by Christopher McKitterick, Director of the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas.

The winner has not been announced yet, though no doubt it will be soon. Again, I have no expectation of winning, but as with the Nebulas, it truly is an honor just to be nominated.

This is actually my second Campbell nomination. My novel Memory was nominated back in 2004 — something I never knew at the time. It was only in the last year or so that I discovered it on the list of nominees — a rather ironic surprise.

The full list of finalists can be found here.

And more information on the award itself can be found here.

NO WAY OUT BUT FORWARD

Back-cover copy:
Lieutenant James Shelley and his squad of US Army soldiers were on a quest for justice when they carried out the unauthorized mission known as First Light. They returned home to America to face a court-martial, determined to expose the corruption in the chain of command that compelled their actions. But in a country still reeling from the nuclear terrorism of Coma Day, the courtroom is only one battlefield. A new cycle of violence ignites when rumors of the elusive, rogue AI known as the Red go public—and Shelley is, once again, pulled into the fray.

Challenged by his enemies, driven by ideals, Shelley feels compelled to act—but are the harrowing choices he makes really his own, or are they made for him, by the Red? With millions of lives at stake in a game of nuclear cat-and-mouse, does it even matter?

Digital painting by Dallas Nagata White
Cover design by Emily Irwin

Dallas also did the cover painting for The Red: First Light.

Emily did the cover painting and cover design for Memory.

Here’s a blog post on the Maui artists I’ve worked with.

Today, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) announced the nominees for the 2013 Nebula Awards, to be presented in 2014. I don’t mind saying that I was a bit stunned but very pleased to learn that the The Red: First Light was on the novel shortlist.

Thank you to everyone who took time out to read the novel and recommend it to others, and who helped to get the word out! This was the first science fiction novel I wrote in over ten years. Given that span of time, it was really gratifying to know that readers were still interested in my work.

I haven’t done the research, but the consensus on twitter is that this is the first self-published novel to make the Nebula shortlist, which is kind of interesting. If you’d like to know why I chose to self-publish, here’s a post from last fall.

For SFWA members who’d like to read TRFL, ebook copies are available in the forum.

Congratulations to all the other 2013 Nebula nominees. To see the complete list, visit Locus Online.

The Locus Recommended Reading List was posted yesterday, and I’m very pleased to report that The Red: First Light was included as one of only twenty science fiction novels.

If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that The Red: First Light is an indie-published novel. Many venues will not even consider reviewing a novel unless it’s from a traditional publisher. Ironically, it was only some of the bigger review venues that paid attention to TRFL — specifically, Russell Letson at Locus and Stefan Raets at Tor.com, as well as UK reviewer Paul Kincaid. At any rate, I’m very grateful to the staff at Locus for including The Red: First Light on their list.

And also…

Among the many Locus recommended short stories is my Nightmare Magazine story “Halfway Home.” If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you can find it online here.

I haven’t actually seen a copy yet, but Jonathan Strahan’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Vol. 7 is now available for purchase. It includes my novelette “Nahiku West” originally published in Analog.

This is the first time one of my stories has been selected for a best-of-the-year anthology, so it marks a milestone for me.

Visit Nightshade Books to read about the volume, and for links to vendors.

Nathan, at Fantasy Review Barn, posts a detailed and positive review of my “scoundrel-lit” novel The Dread Hammer:

Smoke is the core of the story, a wonderful flawed character. His love for Ketty is pure but it may be the only thing about him that is. A perfect killer with atrocities tied to him, he is feared by all. Alone among the Bidden he is unloved by the people, and shows them no love in return. If not for Ketty he may not have any cares in the world, yet hears the prayers of many in trouble and often answers them. Intriguing and hard to pin down is our Smoke, but a whole lot of fun to read about.

Read the entire review here.

My newest science fiction novel, The Red: First Light, is now available in a print edition. Find it at:

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble (USA)

Powell’s Books

The Red: First Light is a near-future thriller, with a boots-on-the-ground military theme. Click here to read a sample online.

Here’s the back cover copy:

“There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere”
Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive—because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him—but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger…as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear. (Hazard Notice: contains military grade profanity.)

If you read the book, if you like the book, please consider spreading the word. Recommend it on your favorite social media, consider writing a blog post, or review it at Amazon. Most books are sold through personal recommendations — word of mouth. So if you like The Red: First Light I’d really appreciate it if you could help get the word out. Thank you!

Here are links to ebook vendors — and thanks again!

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Mythic Island Press LLC (worldwide)

Book View Café (worldwide)

Kobo Books (International)

Barnes & Noble (USA)

The ebook vendors have gotten really efficient, and The Red: First Light is already available in ebook form at all the usual places. So now is the time! Go grab a sample from your favorite vendor, or buy the book!

The Red: First Light is an original, never-before-published novel, and it’s my first adult science fiction novel in ten years. It’s a near-future thriller, with a boots-on-the-ground military theme. Here’s the back cover copy:

“There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere”
Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive—because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him—but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger…as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear. (Hazard Notice: contains military grade profanity.)

🙂 Some of you have been entertained by my “Hazard Notice.” This is an attempt to ward off potential readers who give books one-star reviews because the book contains the word “fuck.” Seriously. This has happened.

ANYWAY…if you read the book, if you like the book, please consider spreading the word. Recommend it on your favorite social media, consider writing a blog post, or review it at Amazon. Most books are sold through personal recommendations — word of mouth. So if you like The Red: First Light I’d really appreciate it if you could help get the word out. Thank you!

The print book is still in process, but here are links to ebook vendors — and thanks again!

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Mythic Island Press LLC (worldwide)

Book View Café (worldwide)

Kobo Books (International)

Barnes & Noble (USA)

This is a follow-up to my post from yesterday. My newest short story, “Through Your Eyes,” is now out in the April/May double issue of Asimov’s. Find the ebook edition at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Print editions should be on the way.

When I first started writing “Through Your Eyes,” it was meant as a stand-alone short story, but by the time it was done, I felt a novel coming on. The story’s protagonist wasn’t nearly done with his time on-stage, so I took the world created in “Through Your Eyes,” combined it with an idea brewing in the back of my mind that was originally expressed in my Lightspeed Magazine story “Nightside On Callisto” and came up with the near-future novel: The Red: First Light, due out in exactly two weeks.

[Two weeks?? OMG. Copyedit and book cover are on their way, but not done yet. I’ll need to process copyedits, lay out the ebook again (did this once for the eARC, which probably should have gone out to a lot more readers, *sigh*), lay out the print book, upload to vendor sites, send to reviewers . . . ah, indie publishing. But who am I kidding? Indie publishing is fun.]

Anyway, “Through Your Eyes” is a precursor story to The Red: First Light. At first blush they may seem to be wildly different in theme, but sometimes life take us where we least expect to go.

To be notified when the novel is out, please sign up for my very occasional newsletter using the “New Book Alert” form in the right sidebar.

My first adult science fiction novel in ten years is coming in March
from Mythic Island Press LLC

THE RED: FIRST LIGHT

A near-future science fiction thriller

“There Needs To Be A War Going On Somewhere”

Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive—because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him—but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger…as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear. (Hazard Notice: contains military grade profanity.)

~~~

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Thanks!