Oh. Hey. TWO WEEKS UNTIL GOING DARK IS RELEASED. Be sure to sign up for my New Books/Newsletter in the right column, and I’ll send you an email when it’s available.

Edit: And a couple of hours after I posted this, UPS dropped off advance copies, one each of the mass-market paperback and the hardcover. Just like the first two books of the trilogy, Going Dark will be published simultaneously by Saga Press in mass-market paperback, hardcover, and ebook, with an audio book by Audible. All are due out on November 3.

Help!

Have you ever written a customer review of a book you’ve read at Amazon or at the Barnes & Noble website? Or at Powells.com?** Would you ever consider doing so?

Those reviews really do matter because they help to determine the perceived popularity of a book in Amazon’s algorithms, and the more popular a book, the more likely it is to be recommended to readers browsing the website — which means it’s more likely to be bought by other readers, who might in turn enjoy the book and recommend it. Ideally this turns into a cascade of recommendations that lets a writer stay in business.

I assume a similar system is at work on the B&N website.

So I’m asking for your help. If you enjoyed The Red or The Trials or both, consider posting a short review. You don’t have to actually review the books. Some people do, but many just post short reader comments — for example: “Great read. Looking forward to the next book.” — and that’s fine. That’s all it takes.

Oh, and this is not just about my books. Do consider leaving a customer review for any book you enjoy! Trust me on this: The author will appreciate it.

And THANK YOU to everyone who has already posted a review. 🙂

Okay, back to writing.

I can’t resist a countdown.

The Trials is book 2 of the Red Trilogy and its publication date is only ONE WEEK away.

You can order it from your local bookstore, or preorder online. Here are links to some US retailers:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s Books
Mysterious Galaxy
Tattered Cover

The Trials will be available in multiple formats: hard cover, paperback, ebook, and audio book.

Here’s the 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 just one battlefield of many.

A new cycle of violence ignites when rumors of the elusive, rogue AI known as the Red go publicand 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? And with millions of lives at stake in a game of nuclear cat-and-mouse, does the answer even matter?

Another link round up, but these are more personal:

Over at SF Signal, I chat with Paul Weimer about the Red Trilogy, artificial intelligence, and my weird writing career:

LN: The problem with the term “artificial intelligence” is that it means different things in different contexts, and to different people. In science fiction the standard trope is a complex computer program that becomes self-aware and begins to act like a human, and thereby becomes a pain in the ass—which isn’t a very useful transformation, from a practical perspective.

If you missed it, I’ve also got another recent interview up at SFRevu. Ernest Lilley asks some insightful questions.

Linda: I tend not to use the term “soft science fiction” because the meaning seems to change depending on circumstance. In my own mind, I see science fiction as a continuum between hard science fiction and space fantasy. At the harder end of the spectrum, technology in a story is more or less plausible and attempts are made not to violate basic laws of nature. Some say hard SF is focused on the technology, but for me, that’s not the defining characteristic. My stories aren’t about the technology. They’re about the characters and how their lives are affected by that technology.

And Kristine Kathryn Rusch has a blog post just up explaining what inspired her to put together a Storybundle themed around women in science fiction.

Suffice it to say that it became apparent to me that from the young writer/reader point of view, women didn’t write science fiction, because by the year 2000, most of the sf by women had gone out of print and was almost impossible to find.

Yes, I’m excited!

The Trials is book 2 of the Red Trilogy and its publication date is only two weeks away.

You can order it from your local bookstore, or preorder online. Here are links to some US retailers:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s Books
Mysterious Galaxy
Tattered Cover

The Trials will be available in multiple formats: hard cover, paperback, ebook, and audio book.

Here’s the 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 just one battlefield of many.

A new cycle of violence ignites when rumors of the elusive, rogue AI known as the Red go publicand 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? And with millions of lives at stake in a game of nuclear cat-and-mouse, does the answer even matter?

One month until The Trials publishes!

The Trials is book 2 of The Red Trilogy and it’s due to publish on August 18. For those of you who read the self-published edition of The Red, it’s been a long wait. Thank you for sticking with me. I think you’ll find there’s a lot going on in book 2, and I hope it’s to your liking.

The Trials is available for preorder from most retailers, in simultaneous hardcover, paperback, and ebook editions, and there will also be an audiobook. So you can pick your favorite format.

I’ve seen no reviews yet. Fingers crossed and hoping for the best. Here’s the back-cover copy:

“No Way Out But Forward”

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? And with millions of lives at stake in a game of nuclear cat-and-mouse, does the answer even matter?

Order from your local bookstore, or find it online. Here are links to some US retailers:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Powell’s Books
Mysterious Galaxy
Tattered Cover

So last night, just shy of 0200, I sent the “final” manuscript of Going Dark to my editor, Joe Monti, at Saga Press. I put “final” in quotes, because I’ll get one more pass at the manuscript after the copyedit, and another chance to tweak things when the page proofs arrive. But for practical purposes, I’m done with The Red Trilogy.

It’s been a three-year project, and now that it’s winding down, I’m starting to realize how much I’m going to miss these characters and this story world. For all the frustration, and the struggle to get the story down, I’ve really loved writing these novels. For all the self-doubt, and regardless how it turns out, I’m glad I took the shot.

Going Dark. No that’s NOT my planned career path. It’s the title of the final novel in The Red Trilogy, with another amazing cover by Larry Rostant — and Going Dark is well on its way to publication.

My first drafts tend to be pretty solid, but my initial ideas for a new novel are not. I was reminded of this when I was reading an email I’d written last year, when Going Dark was just getting started. The direction I had in mind for the book at that time changed radically as I worked my way past the opening, and the story is a lot better for it.

Right now I’ve got editorial notes on Going Dark from Joe Monti, my editor at Saga Press, and for the past few days I’ve been working on final revisions. I’m happy to say, the requested changes and additions are fairly minor. But it’s always the case in this process that as I get close to the final-final updates, I’m amazed at the difference even small changes can make. The final polish of a novel is always exciting.

I haven’t yet posted a back cover description for Going Dark, because that needs work. But here’s the tagline:

“No Real Allies, No Fixed Enemies, No Certain Battlefields”

Sound exciting? I hope so!

The Red Trilogy has been a big project. Though I’d written ten prior novels, this is my first real trilogy — not that I planned it that way. It just sort of happened — and now it’s nearly done. For me, anyway! I hope not for you. As the books are published, I hope you’ll come along for the ride. All three books are due out this year. Here are the dates:

The Red — June 30

The Trials — August 18

Going Dark — November 3

Yes, you can preorder!

If you read the books, if you like them, I hope you’ll let other people know. Buzz matters.

And if you’d like to get a look at the opening scene of the first novel, find it here on my website.

Okay, back to those revisions…

After several weeks of intense revision, Book 3 of The Red Trilogy has gone off to Joe Monti, my editor at Saga Press. I am eagerly awaiting his opinion.

This was a difficult book to write, but I like the way it’s come together, and look forward to the improvements that will happen as I get more editorial feedback.

How long did it take to write? This question might be of interest only to other writers, but for me, when I’m in the midst of a first draft it can feel like the draft is taking forever, with very little progress. Then again, for me, progress is usually made in fits and starts, with seemingly useless days of incredible effort, followed by a day of fantastic word flow.

At any rate, looking back at my notes, I did some initial brainstorming on this story in early April, and then again in May. I tried writing the opening a couple of times, discarded most of this effort, and began again on May 12. That day I managed 1300 words. Then I didn’t write anything else until after I returned from the Nebula Awards. So let’s say around eight months to a really solid draft. For comparison, The Red took around five months, and The Trials took seven. You’d think these books would get easier to write, not harder…but at least it’s “done”–for the moment anyway!

And another amazing Larry Rostant cover, this one for The Trials, book 2 of The Red Trilogy, to be published by Saga Press in August.