Set in the 1990s, Daryl Gregory’s Spoonbenders is the story of a family of psychics who live in the Chicago area. I’d heard it was really good and, wanting to try something different, I listened to a sample of the audiobook — and decided at once to pick it up. I’m so glad I did.

This is a terrific novel. It’s amazingly well plotted, the characterization is fantastic, it’s fun, it’s funny, and it’s utterly engaging. The narrator, Ari Fliakos, does a fantastic job. As is usual for me, I won’t try to describe the plot, but you can check it out at Audible.

I hope Spoonbenders proves to be a huge success for Daryl. He deserves it.

Highly recommended!

This is the first novel by Daryl Gregory I’ve read. I’m looking forward to reading more!

I haven’t posted in a while. What with hurricanes, earthquakes, politics, nuclear war, global warming, etc., posting about a new review can seem a bit trivial, and I haven’t been inspired to write about other topics.

I have been keeping busy, though. I’ve been working on a new novel in an existing story world. I’m 44,000 words into it, which is a big enough investment that I feel like I ought to finish it. I had/have an ambition to hammer out an extremely rough draft by the time I head to the mainland in October — four weeks from now. That would be some kind of a miracle for me, but hey, you never know.

I write best when I’m confident. I tend not to write at all when I’m feeling discouraged. Not a tough-survivor trait, I know, but it is what it is. Today I’m feeling discouraged. Tomorrow will probably be better. If I could look at writing as a hobby instead of a career, I think I’d be happier — but I still need to figure out where the money is coming from.

For many years I’ve done all my writing on a Toshiba laptop. A few years ago it started having issues, so I stopped allowing it online. It’s worked great ever since then. I’ve only been using it for writing and coding ebooks, and I back up my files multiple times a day.

Two days ago I finally ordered a new laptop.

Today — a discouraging day — I decided to start my writing session by typing out all the things that are bothering me. This is something like Julia Cameron’s “morning pages” but not in longhand. I was less than two hundred words into this exercise when my old laptop crashed. System dump something or other, scary stuff. Ugh. But at least I hadn’t just written some wonderful artistic passage! And the laptop rebooted.

Being of a paranoid nature, I decided to take a snapshot of everything on the laptop’s hard drive. (I’ve done this before and like I said, I back up files frequently. But extra insurance, right?) I copied almost all the folders onto a USB stick, leaving out only a couple of things I really don’t care about. Everything, all together, came out to slightly over a gigabyte of data. Years of work. One gigabyte.

Easy to tell I never kept photos, movies, or Photoshop files on this computer.

Within a few minutes after I finished copying files, the laptop crashed again. It rebooted again, but I can take a hint. I won’t be doing anymore writing on the dear old Toshiba. Maybe I’ll fire up the old Netbook and use that until the new laptop arrives. Or I’ll use this Mac desktop, though it’s getting on in computer-years too.

Sigh.

Technology.

Thank you to all those newsletter subscribers who participated in my recent giveaway contest. The prizes were three audiobook codes for The Last Good Man, and a paperback copy of the Red trilogy. Winners have been notified.

For those on Twitter, here’s one more chance to win an audiobook code. Retweet the tweet below TODAY, and be entered to win. Contest ends at midnight August 31, Hawaiian Standard Time. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow.

End of August flash giveaway! Retweet this by midnight tonight (HST) and be entered to win an Audible audiobook code of THE LAST GOOD MAN. pic.twitter.com/Svx64DmSqD

— Linda Nagata (@LindaNagata) August 31, 2017

This is just a quick post to let you know that I’ll be sending out a newsletter tomorrow. If you’re not subscribed, now is a good time to sign up, because the issue will include a chance to win an audiobook code for The Last Good Man (worldwide) and a paperback edition of the Red trilogy (USA only). Use the signup box in the righthand column to subscribe.

Links
If you were interested in the technology and ethical questions behind The Last Good Man, you might enjoy this article by Andrew Apostolou, which presents a good real-world overview of these topics: “Get Ready for the Silicon Military”.

And because mercenaries are part of The Last Good Man, I’ll also recommend David A. Graham’s piece “Are Mercenaries Really a Cheaper Way of War?” (Hint: the answer is almost certainly “no.”)

And on an entirely different subject, Alastair Reynolds fans should head on over to Audible where you can download a free interview with him, wherein he talks about his novel Revenger. And if haven’t read Revenger I highly recommend it. I loved the world building in this one.

An Update
As for me, I’ve been making progress on a novel, and am itching to work on a couple of other projects as soon as I can get myself organized enough to juggle more than one project at a time.

There’s not much new to report on The Last Good Man. I had hoped to get a couple more professional reviews, but those didn’t materialize. I’m not sure what I can do for more publicity at this point, though I’m always looking for opportunities. Honestly, I’m spending too much time worrying over publicity when I should be focused on writing. It does get frustrating though. I always feel like I should be doing more to promote the book. Sales have been better than any indie book I’ve published before, but not good enough yet to call it a success.

That said, reader reviews have generally been terrific. THANK YOU to everyone who’s posted a review at Amazon. It’s really appreciated. If you’re wondering if additional reader reviews are needed, my answer is “Yes!” and not just for The Last Good Man. If you enjoyed the books in the Red trilogy, those could use some new reviews too.

Giveaways Upcoming
If you haven’t done so already, do signup for my newsletter. I’m going to be holding giveaways for audiobook codes for The Last Good Man and paperback sets of the Red trilogy — starting very soon!

I decided I needed to read some China Mieville–or more accurately, listen to some China Mieville–so I looked over the offerings at Audible and ended up with a new NON-fiction book: OCTOBER: The Story of the Russian Revolution.

The narration was excellent and I found the history fascinating, although it did include a lot of names I couldn’t always keep track of. Despite this, OCTOBER feels like it captures a good sense of the times, and serves as a great introduction for those of us unfamiliar with the history. Find it at Audible.

Since I’m too lazy to acquire a cover image, I’ll just post this tweet: 😉

Finished #audiobook of China Mieville's OCTOBER: The Story of the Russian Revolution. Fascinating, w/excl narration. https://t.co/1LIywr4qI0

— Linda Nagata (@LindaNagata) August 10, 2017

Podcast!
Over at New Books Network, I talk to Gabrielle Mathieu about The Last Good Man.

Also, don’t miss the podcast with The Three Hoarsemen that posted a couple of weeks ago.

Review:
The Verge is a popular technology and science magazine. Last week editor Andrew Liptak reviewed The Last Good Man calling it “a fantastic, lightning-fast thriller that hits all the right notes: an engaging story set in an all-too-plausible future, advanced technology, plenty of action, and fantastic, well-rounded characters.” Read the full review here.

Goodreads Giveaway:
This is my second Goodreads Giveaway for The Last Good Man. You have until July 31 to enter.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Last Good Man

by Linda Nagata

Giveaway ends July 31, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

“The Martian Obelisk” is my first story for Tor.com and it’s just up today. Find it here online.

This was a story I originally wrote a few years ago, but I wasn’t happy with it. It struck me as just too grim for the times.

Since then, we have entered a much grimmer age.

Last fall I pulled the story out of a file folder, re-read it, and decided to spend a little more time working on it. After putting it through another revision, I asked Tor.com editor Ellen Datlow if she would like to see it. She agreed to take a look, and to my surprise and delight, she accepted it.

As grim as it is, “The Martian Obelisk” is also a sentimental story. On Twitter, Aimee Ogden described it as “starkly hopeful.” I think that’s right.

Illustration by Victor Mosquera.

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.

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.