It wants to be a novella, and it can’t be one. I think. Maybe?
Continue reading 02/27/2020 Snippet, THE LAST RAYGUN IN THE WORLD.Category: Books
02/27/2020 Book Report.
I spent today actually doing two other things: writing out the next installment of AS THE GOLDEN EMPEROR LIES DYING for Patreon, and getting my eldest kid’s new Bluetooth radio to work before he gets home. Amusingly, both involved conceptualizing dark magics that would drive a man utterly mad if he were to contemplate them for too long. Less amusingly, I’m only getting paid for one of them.
02/26/2020 Snippet, THE LAST RAYGUN IN THE WORLD.
It continues to flow.
The wrinkle’s name was Jimmy Wilkinson, and he was not thrilled to be there. Wilkinson was grew up in the area before he went east to try his luck with the Hershey Consortium; he maybe still knew people, and he probably remembered the roads. That was fine, but I could tell that he visibly resented the assignment, and was annoyed that I didn’t seem to resent him back. I might have, if a smaller amount of money had been on the table. But one-point-five million bucks can pay for a Hell of a lot of equanimity. I’d have worried more if they didn’t send a long an observer, hey?
But it didn’t make it any easier that Miss Serenity made it clear right from the start that he wasn’t in charge. The Hershey Consortium apparently wasn’t a big fan of sugaring the medicine: “You are there,” Serenity told him point-blank, “to make sure Ms. Deckard accomplishes the mission, Mr. Wilkinson. We are paying her for her judgment; we are paying you for your industry. This mission is her responsibility, not yours.”
Wilkinson didn’t like that at all. I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, either. I don’t need to be reminded that what I do for a living can’t be contracted out.
02/26/2020 Book Report, FROZEN DREAMS.
Mostly, today I learned of the giant spike trap that lies in wait for unwary people who think, “Surely you can have Kindle Direct Publishing fulfill your Kickstarter tiers for you! No need to worry!” …I am a naturally unwary person; but I am married to someone who checks things out ahead of time, and thanks to the power of matrimonial osmosis I have picked up the occasional urge to schedule my worrying for when it might actually do me some good.
Continue reading 02/26/2020 Book Report, FROZEN DREAMS.02/25/2020 Snippet, THE LAST RAYGUN IN THE WORLD.
Soon I am going to need a name for the other last major character in this story. It needs to be a carefully-calculated one; you’ll eventually see why. Especially if this short story collection gets off the ground!
Continue reading 02/25/2020 Snippet, THE LAST RAYGUN IN THE WORLD.02/24/2020 Book Report.
I didn’t really do much today except write other stuff, but the artist sent over some ink sketches of the cover. They look most nifty, and I can’t wait for people to see them. Which will happen after everything’s done and I’ve paid for it, naturally.
02/24/2020 Snippet, THE LAST RAYGUN IN THE WORLD.
This is remarkably enough writing itself. Which is nice, for a change. I even have a good idea how the plot goes.
Continue reading 02/24/2020 Snippet, THE LAST RAYGUN IN THE WORLD.02/23/2020 Book Report, FROZEN DREAMS. [Goram thing’s ready for the copy-editors.]
UPDATE: As I said in comments: the beta readers were awesome. But revising SUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKS.
The [expletive deleted] thing has been gone through, revised in light of beta reader suggestions, and is [expletive deleted] done. Well, at least until it goes to my wife again for another read-through, and at some point a copy-editor will need to see it. But it’s DONE, do you hear me? If I absolutely had to, I would publish it today and only groan a little.
Now I just need the money to pay for the copy-editor and the ISBN numbers. Which means that it’s time to start finishing up the prep for the Kickstarter. Yay! …Actually, yeah, kind of ‘yay’ at that.
Book of the Week: Dead Lies Dreaming (Laundry Files Book 10).
Hey, they finally got a publication date for Charlie Stross’s latest Laundry spy/cosmic horror novel! Dead Lies Dreaming, comes out in October. As you know, I enjoy this series, although these days it’s at least partially entertaining to me because I’m not scared of quite the same things that Stross is. I do genuinely respect how he’s moving along to the end of his world, though. The temptation is strong to just keep a popular series going forever, with nothing ever really permanent happening to the main characters. Charlie Stross isn’t doing this here, to put it mildly.
02/22/2020 Snippet, SWAMP PATROL.
The revision is finally in the can! Almost doubled in size, too. I’m going to put it up on Patreon, but this one is being reserved as part of the next book (short stories, set in the same universe as FROZEN DREAMS). Snippet below.
Continue reading 02/22/2020 Snippet, SWAMP PATROL.