“The Saga of Punk Walrus” is currently on sale by one used book seller for $20 on Amazon. Hey, if you come see me, I’ll sell you one for half that price AND sign it for you! 😀
http://www.amazon.com/Saga-Punk-Walrus-Punkie-Larson/dp/B0058P3WZM/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2
Well, the e-book thing is still volleying back and forth. Last edit had all kinds of things likelotsofrunonsentences and everythingin italics bled together. I was able to hand fix a lot of mistakes made BY the guy who we hired to format it, but I was unable to get the mobi format to work right. So back to the e-book guy it went. If anything can be gained by this, it’s my sudden intimate knowledge of the epub format. It’s actually quite decently laid out, and can be both flexible and simple.
But not for the Kindle. 😦
I have also noticed, when downloading Kindle books, how many mistakes get through from professional publishers. I am not sure if that makes me feel better, but I can now relate and understand some of the problems they might have. Still, while I am no perfect speller, I do not have a team of people I pay to check these things like a major publisher SHOULD. Here’s some things I have found.
So there it stands. In other news, I got a mail back from the people at Wolfsinger. They have a selection of covers for the new anthology I am in, and wanted comments. I was probably too honest. But the proofs of the book are promised shortly. I will let you know when “A Taste of Armageddon” comes out.
Well, I haven’t heard back from Wolfsinger since I signed the contract in January, but I just got a notice that my name is listed in the credits of the upcoming book, “A Taste of Armageddon.” I am not familiar with the insides of Wolfsinger, so I have no idea if I can claim this is taking a long time or not. But the book is now listed as “Coming Soon,” so … there you go.
Home stretch here. I am halfway done on edit number 3 of 5, where 3 was a BIG one. The last two are final cleanup and then off to the publisher, who is away this week. The 4th edit is where I read it aloud to myself. I found when I did book readings before, I *always* found mistakes. Even plot problems, like I’d be in mid-read and think, “Wait… didn’t I say that character was from Pittsburgh? Why is she from New Jersey now?” It might be a small detail, and no one else might find it, but *I* care. This should all be done in a couple of days.
I have a room at Balticon, thanks to Moria, and unless my assistant has some school issues, she’s coming as well (yay!). Scarlet is good luck; it’s always beneficial to have her around. She also works hard, and will probably help me sell more books. I was going to say “help us,” but my book is the only one being released by Soylent Publications at Balticon. There was supposed to be anthology, “Rush of Wings,” (which had my short story, “Stone Ice Raven,” in it) but various work and life issues trapped the people in charge, and we didn’t get as many submissions as we needed. It may still be released this year.
The date has not been announced yet, but I sent in my final contract stuff. My story is “Butterfly Dreams” and will be in anthology called, “A Taste of Armageddon.” The collection of short stories will be about war, “but not preachy about war,” because the publisher wanted different sci-fi and fantasy perspectives on war that weren’t the same “war is bad” that covers a lot of the literary landscape. I think it’s coming out early summer. It would be nice to come out before Balticon, but hey.
I have been confirmed as a guest again at Balticon, but this time from a staff angle as well because of the Balticon Podcast. I have done three podcasts with them so far, and will be doing some interviews, I think, at the con. Paul at Dancing Cat has been under the weather recently, so production has stopped again until he gets his life and health back in order. Family always comes first.
I am really excited about “Trolley.” I promised I wouldn’t start the final edit until I heard from the last beta-reader.
The real deal: contract, money, bio, and everything. This is the first in many, many years for a short story. As some of my longer-term fans have known, most of my stuff has been one-off projects, like some of the ghost writing I have done (almost all technical articles), some NDA stuff with a TV show, and two manuscripts that never saw the light of day BUT I was paid, which is kind of the important part, IMHO.
I think the last time anything of mine was paid for where I could claim credit (besides the Saga of Punk Walrus), were some of the works in the now defunct literary magazine, “Gateways,” and that was back about 15 years ago. This is not my first short story, I think it’s my fifth, but it’s the first since I started working in the IT field that was NOT related to “Dr. Strangesoruce: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Linux!” or something so deep into the dork forest, I was finding server clusters run on VIC 20s.
I won’t say who or what story until I get the papers signed and the green light to advertise (and believe you me, I will be advertising), but I will tell you it’s a short story collection of science fiction related to war. I am super, super pleased with this.
In other news, “Trolley” has been returned by all but one editor, and I will be making some revisions after the 15th. Then a final edit, Katsucon, then publication! I am still on target for release by Balticon 45 this year. I’d like it to be done by the end of March, but given how busy I have suddenly been with work and so on, I am glad I have that buffer.
Punkadyne Labs 