Paksworld

Be it known to all denizens…er…citizens…er…folks who hang out around Paksworld.   The Author is delighted to thank Daniel Glover and Nadine Barter Bowlus for their excellent service in response to the Reader Help Needed request, and to present them each with a Gold Star of Meritorious Service,  specification of “Saved Author’s Bacon.”    (All rise, balloons in hand, also little party horns or you can just cheer on cue.) Read the rest of this entry »

The talented Canadian artist who’s working on a portrait of Ky tor the website needs to know what Space Defense Force insignia looks like.  I don’t recall if I ever specified, but if I did, someone will notice if it’s wrong in the picture.   I know Stella got involved at some point, but I can’t remember which book even, let alone where in it (Stella helped design Ky’s uniforms, but they already had a logo they got in…um…that place they were before the battle at Boxtop whatever-its-number-was.)     It’s probably in Command Decision or Victory Conditions, but I can’t even find a copy of Victory Conditions right now (since I’m at a critical point of the new one…which has eaten most of my processing capacity…)

If anyone has time to do some rummaging in the books, that would help immensely.    Realsoonnow would be great.   Negative data ideal (artist & I can make it up de novo.)

Thanks to anyone who can throw a crumb to us so Lana can get this done.  (I saw her work and met her at KeyCon in Winnipeg.  And she was able to get a screen capture off an TV ad that had pretty much the perfect Ky in it. )

Crown of Renewal has been out long enough now that it’s OK to discuss it–and the rest of the existing Paksworld books–without needing to use Spoiler Space.

However, a question for the group: Some of you have by now read the Paksworld story “First Blood” in Shattered Shields and others of you may not have…and yet you might want to discuss it in relation to the surrounding milieu. The same is/will be true of “Mercenary’s Honor” in the forthcoming Operation Arcana anthology, and the new (and maybe older) Paksworld short fiction in Deeds of Honor. So do we need a Spoiler Space specifically for short fiction? Does it bother you as much when a short piece is discussed before you’ve read it?

No one here has made this mistake.  However, in the greater blogosphere, I see this kind of thing coming and going, and as far as this blog is concerned, I want it to go and stay away.

“What?  What’s wrong?” I hear you say.   Read the rest of this entry »

Without knowing anything about the plot, and just on your first reaction, which of the following titles would be most attractive to you for a story?

A) “Forethought”    B) “Mercenary’s Honor”   C)  “Meeting of Minds”   D) “Old Age and Treachery”  E) “Learning Experience”   F) None of the Above and here’s my suggestion. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m back from WorldCon.  I do have an iPad now, although I never got a chance to sit around downstairs where the free wi-fi was to learn how best to use it, because I was raging busy and also my neck was giving me fits–so carrying any more weight in the tote bag was not going to happen.   I have the iPad, and a padded case with a keyboard for it.  Yay!  (Eventually, when I learn to use it, right?)

Very, very busy convention,  and tiring with the size of the convention center and the heat outside and my schedule.  However,  met a lot of neat people, plenty of people wanted me to sign their books (always an ego-boost) and all I lost on the trip was my really good Knit-Picks needle gauge, which I will have to replace pronto.

Read the rest of this entry »

Did I, or did I not, within the past two years, post a picture or two of my messy office?

If I did, and if anyone knows where it is, I’d appreciate the reference.

Thanks.

I’ve misplaced my reference copy of Oath of Fealty (there are copies around somewhere, but…it’s Lazy Day) and cannot remember the name of the functionary in the palace in Vérella who’s in charge of the treasury.    This would be when Dorrin delivers the regalia.    I think that’s the first instance of this person showing up, but I don’t have a name in the Names file, or a title.  And though I’ve tried to go through the novel’s own master file…my eyes are glazing over.    If someone’s got a reference from one of the other volumes, that’s  also great.

The first week out is the week that determines (nearly always) whether a book will reach “bestseller” status.     It’s the week that agents watch over,  checking BookScan numbers regularly, checking rankings any place they can find one and making their own calculations of raw numbers v. other books’ raw numbers.   In the first week,  LIMITS sold a few fewer hardcovers than ECHOES, and a few more e-books, to wind up with a modest increase of total hardcover/ebook sales in the US market.   So thank you, all of you who wanted to and were able to buy a copy  in the first week.    Thanks for talking about the books, and introducing others to them.   You’re the ones who keep a writer in bread & butter (and dark chocolate.  Can’t forget the dark chocolate.)    Read the rest of this entry »

Right now, I’m pouring words into the files for Book V, so I’m not keeping up with everything the Punctuation Working Group is doing….trying to check comments and email a few times a day, but not really able to concentrate on anything but stuff I can’t tell you yet.   (I should have been listening to different music…finally thought mixing Smetana’s Bartered Bride first act with Saint-Saens’ symphonies, not Beethoven.  And…it’s galloping.)   I’d forgotten the particular combination of suspense, darkness, and explosive brilliance, in that one in particular…goosebumps.  Lots and lots of goosebumps.   Just what I needed.)

Anyway, my brain’s not in pronunciation right now.   It’s in getting Book V done to “send to editor standard”.

Forgive the inattention after handing over that job, please.

Also–remember that my webmistress wants the output as a .doc, .rtf, or .txt file.  She has her own tricks for making it pretty on the website and says those are an easier starting point than others.   (Also, I can’t read docx or xcl files on my machine, so I can’t look files over before sending them on to her.)