Ebook On Sale
Now $3.99

…and anyone else curious about my work.

My story “Nahiku West” just came out in Analog magazine. It’s set in the same story world as my novel The Bohr Maker, and features the early life of a minor character from that book. If you enjoyed “Nahiku West,” you might enjoy The Bohr Maker too. To encourage you to give it a try, I’ve put the ebook on sale.

Here’s the teaser:

Nanotechnology saturates the world. It makes possible glittering orbital cities. But strict laws regulate its use, and death follows for those caught in violation. The threat of death means little though, to a man already condemned to die. Nikko–post human, genetically engineered to survive in space, and desperate to escape his fate–steals a forbidden nanomachine. But the theft goes awry and the nanomachine escapes into the wild, igniting a desperate race to contain it before the definition of “human” changes for all time.

For a limited time, The Bohr Maker is just $3.99. Find it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, and worldwide at Book View Café.

* * * Sale ends August 15 * * *

Analog’s October issue is now available, and it includes my story “Nahiku West.” This one is pretty special to me, not just because I like the story, but because it’s the first short fiction that I wrote since “Goddesses,” which was published in 2000!

“Nahiku West” is set in the same story world as my Nanotech Succession novels. It takes place in the years before The Bohr Maker and features the early life of a character from that book, Zeke Choy. If you get a chance to read it, please let me know what you think.

The issue you want to look for is the one pictured at right. The illustration is for the issue’s cover story, “The Liars,” by Juliette Wade. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.

Analog has a print edition, which is presumably out in bookstores now. I don’t know for sure though, because there aren’t any bookstores around here anymore. However, you can definitely buy an ebook-version. A single issue or a subscription can be purchased from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Check this page for other ebook vendors.

I’ve heard reports that my story “Nahiku West” is now out and in the hands of subscribers to Analog Science Fiction & Fact. It’s the October issue, and I think it’s not generally available just yet — not surprising, given that it’s still July.

I’ll post more here as I learn more, but if you’ve seen the issue, please let me know.

After I started selling novels, I stopped writing short fiction, for two main reasons. First, I was better at novels. And second, the short stuff took me way too long to write. It didn’t seem like it was worth the investment of time.

But in this year of “trying new stuff” and “writing faster” I wanted to try writing short again, so I plotted a story. To make it easy on myself I set it in The Nanotech Succession story world and used a minor character from my novel The Bohr Maker as the protagonist–but the story is independent of the book and takes place some years before.

Psyching myself up, I figured “4,000 words–how hard could that be?” I knew the story would likely be much longer than that, but 4,000 words sounded so un-intimidating.

(Do other writers play these head games? I have no idea.)

And then I applied the “Write the first draft fast” approach. Four days later I had a 7,500 word story which I dumped raw onto my local writing group the day before we were due to meet. They were very good natured about it. Several more days went into revision, the story turned into a short novelette of 8,900 words, and now it’s ready to go to market.

Naturally I hope it sells, but after all these years of no short stories, simply having written it feels like a win.