All the indie-publishing gurus say not to “waste” money on print advertising — but I go my own way and waste money as I please, LOL. This is an ad I have in the current issue of Locus, a trade magazine of the science fiction and fantasy field.
(click to see it big)
This post was originally published in my September 24th newsletter. It’s re-posted here with minor changes. If you haven’t yet signed up for my newsletter, you really, really should. It’s fun, it’s once every four weeks (with an occasional special issue), and it’s the best way to stay in touch. Sign up here.
Most readers, and writers too, have quirks when it comes to what they like, and I’m no exception. There are certain popular space opera tropes I tend not to favor:
1. Instantaneous (or at least very fast) travel between stellar systems via gates, or portals, or wormholes, or whatever. The distance between stars is vast. It’s really, really vast. It’s my personal quirk that I like to celebrate that fact, as anyone who’s read my far-future fiction will know.
2. Far-future monarchies/galactic empires. A great thing about the original Star Trek was that the writers thought we humans could do better, that we could “grow up” and not need to be ruled by queens and kings. I like to think so too, though I grant you, looking around at the world these days, it’s getting ever harder to hold on to that point of view.
3. Interstellar war between human cultures: because seriously, what are you fighting for? How many planets does anyone really need? Given that you command the energy-intensive ability to travel between the stars, surely you could employ some of that energy and ability to improving your home system instead of destroying other peoples’ lives? (I know. I’m an idealist at heart.)
All of this is background that’s necessary for you to know when I tell you that I recently finished the audiobook edition of a space opera with instantaneous travel between stellar systems, far-future monarchies, and interstellar war. Three strikes against it. Even so, I’m going to tell you, with enthusiasm, that it was BRILLIANT!
I’m talking about Kate Elliott’s newest novel, Unconquerable Sun — a gender-swapped far-future take on Alexander the Great. This novel is really well done on so many levels. Fantastic engaging characters, stellar writing, a riveting story — and the audiobook has excellent narration. I’m not going to review it for you, because this newsletter is already too long (and I’m lazy), but you’ll find an excellent write up at a blog called The Quill To Live.
Okay, the bad news: Unconquerable Sun came out this past July from Tor Books, and they’re asking $15 for the ebook and more for print. If you can bear that price, I hope you’ll give it a try. If you do, let me know what you think about it!
Hi there! Today I’m sixty years old. That feels like a significant number. Big and round, LOL. The important thing though is that I got what I wanted for my birthday: the election of Joe Biden to the presidency of the United States of America, and the election of Kamala Harris as vice-president.🇺🇸 Rational, thoughtful, caring people in government. What a fine change for the country that will be!
I’m concerned for the next two months, but hoping for the best.
I offer my sympathies to the people of Georgia who are going to be ceaselessly inundated with political messaging until the January run-off elections for that state’s US senate seats. If you’re a Georgia resident, please, please, please give us a Democratic senate. Vote for the two Democratic candidates. That’s our most direct path to a better future for our country.
As for being sixty — I’m really fortunate, and it’s quite nice. I’m definitely getting up there, but I’m not done yet. There are still a few more novels I’d like to write. 😊🇺🇸🎉🎂
A brief update while we wait for final election results…
The Stories of the Puzzle Lands Duology is now available in a print edition. The duology includes two novels, The Dread Hammer and Hepen the Watcher, along with a prequel short story.
I just received my copy and I have to say it’s quite lovely (all praise to the cover artist!).
For reasons of cost and distribution, the book is only available at Amazon (affiliate link).
Visit my website for more information on Stories of the Puzzle Lands.
(poor photo, lovely cover)
A few days ago, PBS Newshour showed brief interviews with American voters.
One Trump voter, dressed up pretty with several small children running about, proudly declaimed she was “pro-life†— never pausing to consider a quarter million Americans dead of COVID-19, children separated from their parents at the border, or all those doomed to die as fallout of global warming.
Another Trump voter, an older man, angrily declared Joe Biden would force socialism on the country. No doubt he collects social security and has Medicare.
Another claimed to be Christian, and to be upset with the way Trump speaks, but was voting for him anyway because of his great policies. What policies? Truly, I have no idea. Perhaps separating children from their parents? Demanding personal favors from foreign governments? Utterly incompetent response to the corona virus epidemic? Destroying desert ecosystems in the hope of building a wall for which Trump cronies have won extremely lucrative contracts? Striving to accelerate global warming? Opening a protected old-growth forest to logging? The ceaseless misogyny? Destroying government services to give a tax cut to the extremely wealthy? I could go on and on.
We writers are supposed to be able to adopt different outlooks, to get into the minds of different kinds of characters. But I admit it’s hard for me to understand what would move a person to support an obviously corrupt, criminal, ignorant, destructive, divisive politician who lies all the time.
It’s a good bet that if you enjoy my books, you’re not going to be voting to return this criminal to office. If you’ve already voted, THANK YOU! If you haven’t, please do, and vote blue all the way down the ballot. Joe Biden is not exaggerating when he says this election is a fight for the soul of our nation.
We are better—vastly better—than Trump.
I’m doing a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) in just half an hour! This all came together at the last minute, but if you happen to be in the neighborhood, please stop by! I’ll be answering questions between 3pm and 5pm, HST.
Find the AMA here.
The ebook edition of my newest novel Pacific Storm is out today. If you preordered, you should have it already. But if not, go get it!
Unfortunately, the print edition is suffering a pandemic delay, but if all goes well, print copies should be available to order by Monday. Fingers crossed! I’ll post here on the blog when it happens.
Belated update: The print edition is now available!
Update October 9, 6am HST:
The print edition is now available to order at Barnes & Noble.9am: Amazon now has the print edition listed too. Find it here. (paid link)
Pacific Storm is a fast-paced, near-future thriller set in Honolulu. You can read more about it here, and also read the opening chapters. See what you think…
Or go ahead and grab a copy!
I’ve been rethinking how to present a list of my books at the end of each ebook, and it seemed to me the list would be more helpful to new readers if I sort by subgenre. This is what I came up with:
More Books by Linda Nagata
Near-Future Science Fiction
Pacific Storm
The Last Good Man
Limit of Vision
Tech-Heaven
The Red Trilogy:
The Red: First Light
The Trials
Going Dark
Far-Future Science Fiction
Inverted Frontier Series
Edges
Silver
The Nanotech Succession
Tech-Heaven (prequel)
The Bohr Maker
Deception Well
Vast
Memory
Skye-Object 3270a (young adult/middle grade)
Fantasy Novels
The Wild
Stories of the Puzzle Lands Duology
The Dread Hammer
Hepen the Watcher
Short Fiction Collections
Light and Shadow
Goddesses & Other Stories
This list will appear only in recently updated ebooks. So what do you think?
After 17 novels, I ought to have a stable and successful method for the whole novel-writing process. Alas, not true! Every novel is different, and more and more, I’m interested in trying new approaches to planning, plotting, and writing more efficiently.
For Pacific Storm, I decided to experiment with the method John Truby discusses in his book The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller. For details on that, check out this post, written last March after the first draft was done.
Short version of that post: After doing a month of prep work, it took me just over two months to complete a first draft, which is remarkably fast for me.
Ironically, it then took me another 2+ months to finish a second, solid draft that I could show to beta readers and to my freelance editor. After that, I spent another 5+ weeks addressing editorial comments and suggestions. So roughly a month of prep time, and six months of writing and revision — which still isn’t bad, for me.
Will I follow the method again? I think so. I’ve also got a new app called Plottr, that I’m eager to try. It looks like it could be quite helpful in organizing ideas, and creating an outline.
Don’t forget — Pacific Storm is out next week, on October 8. The ebook is available for preorder now.
PACIFIC STORM
(click to see a large version of the cover image)
Politics, terrorism, and heavy weather collide over Honolulu in a vividly imagined near-future thriller from the author of The Last Good Man.
Ava Arnett is a Honolulu cop, captain of the night shift in the autonomous Waikiki District. Nine years ago a massive hurricane hit the island. Ava remains haunted by the mistakes she made and the lives she failed to save during that disaster. Since then, she relies on HADAFA, an AI designed to observe, analyze, and predict human behavior. HADAFA monitors her actions, and its assessments guide her decisions.
Now, another Category 5 hurricane is approaching Honolulu…
In the hectic hours before landfall, Ava stumbles into a terrorist conspiracy – and HADAFA begins to glitch. She can no longer rely on the AI. She must decide on her own whether or not to trust a mysterious federal agent named Lyric Jones — knowing the wrong choice could lead to greater devastation…and a war no one will win.
Pacific Storm is now available to preorder as an ebook. (The print edition will take a little longer.)
Pacific Storm will publish on October 8th.