Book (Short Story) of the Week: The Properties of Rooftop Air.

Come, I will conceal nothing from you: The Properties of Rooftop Air is too short to be anything except a short story or novella. But it’s by Tim Powers, and it draws on The Anubis Gates, and if you’ve never read the latter then do yourself a favor and go buy that first. That’s a Book of the Week all on its own.

Moe Lane

Day 20, TINSEL RAIN NaNoWriMo: 41246/60000

Went well, although I’m going to need that extra 20 grand in wordcount to make this book coherent when it’s done. Also: margaritas! I wrote before I drank, don’t worry. But the week I had more or less required a discreet amount of tequila.

Continue reading Day 20, TINSEL RAIN NaNoWriMo: 41246/60000

The last stretch for TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION!

We made it over the line for the six short story sampler stretch goal in the TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION Kickstarter, leaving us a mere $900 to hit the last stretch goal in the next :looking at clock: five hours. Easy as pie! No problem at all, I’m sure. More importantly (and realistically): I can afford Backerkit at this point, so we’ll be using it for fulfillment and whatnot.

It’s been a fun and educational trip, this Kickstarter. If you signed up for it, thank you. And we’ve still got the morning for you folks who didn’t to get onboard! Hey: Always Be Closing.

Tweet of the Day, If This Is True Then It’s Absolute Bullsh*ttery edition.

I think it’s true: but the problem is, it’s deep in Too Bad To Be True territory. The short version is, Alan Dean Foster did a press conference today with the SFWA about how he’s reportedly not getting paid royalties on books that Disney now prints (the Star Wars stuff, basically). According to them, the reason he isn’t getting paid is because Disney bought ‘the rights, but not the obligations.’ Which… makes no sense. If the contract says Foster gets paid royalties, he gets paid royalties.

Continue reading Tweet of the Day, If This Is True Then It’s Absolute Bullsh*ttery edition.

Day 18, TINSEL RAIN NaNoWriMo: 37138/60000.

Today was almost a complete bye day – my youngest had to go to the dentist to get some baby teeth taken out, and that more or less torpedoed my schedule – but I did manage to get enough of my brain together to write some fight scene. Fortunately, I have a buffer, so I’m still ahead of my target number! Unfortunately, I now need to rebuild the buffer before Thanksgiving! Ach, well.

Continue reading Day 18, TINSEL RAIN NaNoWriMo: 37138/60000.

11/17/20 Update, TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION Kickstarter.

We made it past the $1000 mark (thanks to both old and new backers)! That means we’re up to five stories in the short story sampler, and with any luck we’ll hit six before the TALES FROM THE FERMI RESOLUTION Kickstarter ends. Which is excellent. There is still one $100 pledge level left for anybody who wants a character with their name in TINSEL RAIN; but time is, as they say, running out. The Kickstarter ends Thursday, after all.

In the E-Mail: GOD CANCER.

Got it as part of Greg Stolze’s Kickstarter. So far, so good! It reminds me a bit of Charlie Stross’s “A Colder War,” but that’s to be expected: it’s a Mythos story partially set in Antarctica. The similarities are obvious. But it’s its own thing.

Moe Lane

PS: I’m also keeping an eye on Greg’s funding model, here. He’s using DriveThru Fiction to distribute the book and it looks like his Kickstarters are there to pay for publishing fees and whatnot, while I’ve been using mine to cover the gap between my existing funding and expenses. I might want to fiddle with that, at some point. Something to think about.