Linda Nagata: the blog at Hahví.net


Archive for the 'Publishing' Category

Edges now at Kobo

Tuesday, February 26th, 2019

This is just a quick post for those who like to get their ebooks from Kobo

Edges is now available for preorder at Kobo. Find it here. Link goes to the US store, but I think Kobo redirects to the correct regional store if you’re outside of the USA.

In case anyone missed the earlier announcement, here are the links to other vendors:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon AU
Amazon DE

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

I’m expecting proof copies of the print edition to arrive in the next few days. If I don’t have to make any corrections, then print copies will soon be available for preorder too. I’ll let you know.

Publication date is April 2.

A Vignette From the Story World of The Red

Thursday, January 17th, 2019

A couple of years ago, I was one of several writers invited to contribute a short fictional vignette, meant to be included in a strategy paper on envisioning future risks and ways government might change. I was asked specifically to write a piece involving the National Security Council and set in the story world of The Red.

As it happens, that project never reached publication. Since rights recently returned to me, I decided I might as well post the piece here, for your amusement. 🙂

* * ALERT! * *
This piece contains minor spoilers for those who haven’t yet read book 1 of the Red trilogy.
 
 

National Security Council

The ethicist sits at the right hand of the President, a respected councilor who’s become a regular participant in meetings of the President’s National Security Council. She studies the faces of the officials gathered around the wide, polished table. Only a small number of participants are present today, at this, an emergency meeting. Among them are the Vice President, the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, and the general who serves as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

All listen in grim silence as the President demands answers. “I want an explanation,” she says in clipped, angry syllables. “I want to know how our security protocols were so easily corrupted, and what other facilities are vulnerable to the same kind of intrusion.”

The news reached the White House less than an hour ago: The engineer who designed and built the tactical nukes used in the Coma Day terrorist bombings was murdered—an act carried out in an interrogation room within the heart of the high-security detention facility where he was being held. His killer—an outside agent who should never have been allowed within the facility’s walls—is dead as well, an apparent suicide.

“Can our nuclear arsenals be so easily penetrated?” the President asks. “Our data storage facilities? The Pentagon? Are we vulnerable here at the White House? If a known dissident can simply walk into one of our most secure posts, gain access to a prisoner we have never publicly acknowledged having, and murder him—what is safe? This country is still reeling from the damage done on Coma Day. If we cannot meet the technological challenge of securing our military and intelligence assets, then we are facing chaos.”

The ethicist trades a long look with the Chairman. She sees doubt in his eyes, but despite it, he nods to her, and then he takes the lead. “Madam President, at this time, it’s too early to know what our vulnerabilities might be. We don’t yet know how the infiltration was carried out. But my gut feeling is that this is another anomaly.”

An anomaly. It’s a substitute term, favored by the Chairman. He is suggesting that the incursion was aided and overseen by a nearly undetectable emergent AI theorized to exist within the bio-inspired computing strata of the Cloud. Among the first to suspect the AI’s existence were elite army soldiers with neural modifications, who named it ‘the Red’ on the belief that it could eventually bleed through any level of security.

The ethicist says, “I agree with the Chairman.”

This statement earns her a scathing look from the president. “You too, my friend? You’re advising me to believe in self-aware cyber ghosts?”

(more…)

Coming in April: Edges
Inverted Frontier, book 1

Sunday, January 6th, 2019

Introducing

Edges

Inverted Frontier, book 1

Edges cover for Linda Nagata’s Inverted Frontier Book 1 by artist Sarah Anne Langton

Here’s the cover copy:

From the Edge of Apocalypse:
Deception Well is a world on the edge, home to an isolated remnant surviving at the farthest reach of human expansion. All across the frontier, other worlds have succumbed to the relentless attacks of robotic alien warships, while hundreds of light years away, the core of human civilization—those star systems closest to Earth, known as the Hallowed Vasties—have all fallen to ruins. Powerful telescopes can see only dust and debris where once there were orbital mega-structures so huge they eclipsed the light of their parent stars.

No one knows for sure what caused the Hallowed Vasties to fail, but a hardened adventurer named Urban intends to find out. He has the resources to do it. He commands a captive alien starship fully capable of facing the dangers that lie beyond Deception Well.

With a ship’s company of explorers and scientists, Urban is embarking on a voyage of re-discovery. They will be the first in centuries to confront the hazards of an inverted frontier as they venture back along the path of human migration. Their goal: to unravel the mystery of the Hallowed Vasties and to discover what monstrous life might have grown up among the ruins.

Edges is a new entry point into the classic story world of Linda Nagata’s The Nanotech Succession.

Click here to read the opening chapters on my website.

Release date: April 2, 2019.

The ebook is now available for preorder at:
Amazon USAmazon UKAmazon AUAmazon DE

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Print preorders to follow, probably sometime in midMarch.

Preorders at Kobo should be available around midMarch. Email me at linda at mythicisland dot com if you’d like me to email you when Kobo preorders are ready.

~~~

Sarah Anne Langton is the artist who created this beautiful cover. The cover was ready long before the book. The framed print of it I have on my desk served as an important source of inspiration during the long rewrite. Thank you, Sarah!

I also have to mention that Sarah has the COOLEST domain name. 🙂

The Last Good Man – On Sale

Monday, July 2nd, 2018

Just a quick notice for those of you in the USA: Amazon has put the ebook of The Last Good Man on sale for only $2.99.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ve probably already read it — but if you know anyone who hasn’t and who might enjoy, please spread the word!
Thank you!

Find it on Amazon.

Announcement: The Mythic Island Press E-bookstore is Closed

Saturday, June 2nd, 2018

Don’t worry! I am still writing and still publishing!

Did you know I had my own e-bookstore? (Probably not!)

I launched my store back in January of 2013. Here’s a post on it, if you’re interested in the software or the process. I launched it to ensure my complete independence and because, at the time, some of my readers in “non-Amazon” countries had to pay a premium to pick up my books.

The store was a fine experiment, and it had a good long run, but in the rapidly changing world of indie publishing, it ultimately became more of a burden than an asset. So I decided to close shop.

Be assured that my books are still available through major vendors.
You can find them at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iBooks — all of which are a lot more convenient to use. You can also find several of my titles at Book View Café. The only thing that’s changed is that you can no longer buy them from my personal store.

Thank you to everyone who visited my store or used it to purchase books! And please, keep reading!

Find my ebooks at these vendors:

Progress Report

Wednesday, February 7th, 2018

I’ve been focused on finishing the revision of my newest novel. Nearly there! I’ve revised from beginning to end, and am now going over notes, dumping what I don’t need anymore, and adding in the bits that I’d still like to include.

Adding in small sections — sometimes just a line or two — sounds easy. Sometimes it actually is! But other times, no way! It requires finding exactly the right spot to fit the idea/phrase/description into the flow of the story which can be challenging all on its own, and then presenting it in a way that feels natural to the story.

Some concepts and some terms need to appear throughout the story so as to give the impression that these are really and truly elements of the story world. For example, I might introduce an idea very early in a novel, and I might need it again at the climax. But if I don’t mention it again between beginning and end, readers like you are going to go “Huh? Where’d that come from?” because, you know, it’s hard to remember all the details from a hundred thousand words earlier.

So for me anyway, there is always a lot of detail work. This is why I am so perplexed when writers say they produce four, five, six, novels a year. I guess they just get all the details down the first time through.

Anyway, I’m hoping to fully finish this draft by the end of the week, and then dive into the sequel, which I would love to have drafted by summer.

More soon!

Home From A Workshop

Wednesday, November 1st, 2017

I returned home on Monday from an intense eight-day workshop on the business of writing, held on the Oregon Coast.

Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch have held the ever-evolving “Master Class” workshop for many years. It’s aimed at the needs of working writers and is updated each year to reflect changes in the publishing business. I found it extremely useful and I’ve returned full of ideas and new inspiration. I have a a lot to do.

Writing more fiction is my top priority and I’ve already adjusted my schedule to accommodate that. My plan is to ignore email, Twitter, and the news until at least noon. Instead, I’ll start my day by diving straight into writing — after my early morning play session with Xena Rose, of course.

I’ve succeeded at this new schedule for two days so far — yay me! — and I’ve already seen a significant improvement in my productivity.

Afternoons and evenings will be for everything else, as I gradually implement many of the new ideas I’ve gathered.

That’s it for now. More soon.

A Few More Discounted Nanotech Print Books

Friday, July 14th, 2017

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’m trying to clear my shelves, so I’ve been offering print copies of my books at highly discounted prices, plus postage. Full sets of the Nanotech Succession are sold out, but I still have:

2 sets 1 set of Deception Well and Vast
I can sell the pair for $12.50. Both will fit in a single padded Priority Mail envelope, which costs $7.20 in postage in the USA. So it would be a total of $19.70 for the two books — signed — if you’re in the USA. Unfortunately, postage is vastly more outside of America.

• a single copy of Vast –sold
$7 for the book + $7.20 postage in the USA, so $14.20 for a signed copy. Again, postage will be much more outside of the USA.

• a single copy of my middle-grade/YA novel Skye Object 3270a
Set at Deception Well, this is appropriate for younger but skilled readers. (Eleven, twelve, and thirteen year olds maybe?) This one is small enough that I can send it First Class instead of Priority Mail. So, $4.25 for the book, $4.29 (estimated) for postage. We can round it so the total is $8.50.

You can pay via PayPal or via a check drawn on a US bank.

If interested in any of these, email me: linda at mythicisland dot com

Also see this post if you are interested in a German-translation of The Red.

The Nanotech Succession — highly discounted!

Monday, July 10th, 2017

UPDATE 7/13/2017: The full sets are sold out. I have copies of some of the books though. I’ll post details soon.

$25 plus the cost of Priority Mail postage can get you print editions of all four books of the Nanotech Succession.

Gorgeous cover art by the amazing Bruce Jensen.

PLUS I’ll include a bonus copy of my related middle-grade novel, Skye Object 3270a. (If you have a middle-grade reader in your life, this could help hook them on science fiction!)

These are the Mythic Island Press trade paperback editions. Size is 5.5″ x 8.5″.

$25 is roughly what it cost me to print the four Nanotech books.

All five books will fit into a medium flat rate box. Postage on that is $13.60 in the USA. Sadly, it’s much more internationally.

You can pay via PayPal or via a check drawn on a US bank.

I will sign and date the books!

If interested, email me: linda at mythicisland dot com

I have at least three sets. Maybe four.

Check back for more books!
I am determined to clear off some shelves, so if you’re interested in signed copies of some of my older titles, check back here. In the coming weeks and months I’ll be offering more HIGHLY discounted print titles along with a few giveaways.

Book Giveaway: German translation of The Red

Monday, July 3rd, 2017

Do you read in German?
I have four three extra copies of the German translation of The Red that I’d like to give away to readers who can appreciate them. The translation is by Helga Parmiter and was shortlisted for Best SF translation 2016 for the German equivalent of the Nebula awards.

The catch is, I will ask you to pay Priority Mail postage (via PayPal) to wherever you want the book sent. That’s $7.20 in the USA for the padded flat-rate envelope, $6.65 for the cardboard envelope. Much higher prices outside of America, sadly.

I will sign and date the books!

If interested, email me: linda at mythicisland dot com

Check back for more books!
I am determined to clear off some shelves, so if you’re interested in signed copies of some of my older titles, check back here. In the coming weeks and months I’ll be offering some HIGHLY discounted print titles along with a few more giveaways.

English-language too! 😉