jimhines

April 8 Solar Eclipse

2024-04-20T14:55:34Z

JournalPress doesn't want to crosspost anymore, so I'm manually adding this one to DW...

On Sunday, my younger daughter and I drove down to Bowling Green, Ohio so we could view Monday's solar eclipse. I was a bit nervous in the days leading up to this. The midwest isn't known for clear, sunny skies, and the weather forecast kept shifting from partly cloudy to more cloudy and back.

When Monday afternoon finally arrived, the skies landed on partly cloudy. Fortunately, it was thin cloud cover, so we could still see the sun. The only noticeable effect was a haziness in some of the photos.

We settled down in a church parking lot, got everything out and ready, and waited. In addition to my camera, I'd purchased a Hestia telescope and solar filter that works with smart phones.

Click on any pic to see the full-size image.

The Hestia is impressive for what it can do with a smart phone camera. But ultimately -- and not unexpectedly -- the digital camera did a better job. I'm still happy to have both, and the Hestia has some other tricks for things like deep space photography that I'll play with more in the future.

Hestia photo is on the left; digital camera shot on the right.

My daughter got a nice shot of me behind the cameras.

I stitched 24 shots into an animated gif of the eclipse, from start to totality. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The clouds created the variable hazy effect.

I'd seen partial solar eclipses a few times before, but this was my first time seeing totality. It was amazing. The sky got twilight-dark. A few stars were visible. We heard cheers from the stadium a few blocks away. My daughter kept whispering, "Oh wow...oh wow..."

This first shot shows how dark it was at 3:13 p.m.

Next we have totality with an emphasis on the ~~solar flares~~ prominences.

Here's a close-up of those prominences, each of which is larger in size than the earth.

Adjusting the exposure loses the prominences but gives you a better view of the corona.

Finally, here's a shot when the very first sliver of sun appeared at the end of totality.

The drive back was a bit of a nightmare. What was a just-under-two-hour drive down ended up taking between four and five hours on the return trip, not counting the time we stopped for dinner. We did end up behind a custom Ghostbusters car for about ten minutes though, so that was cool.

Despite traffic, the trip was totally and completely worth it. I'm so thankful that the weather mostly cooperated. Thanks also to my girlfriend, who reserved the hotel room a little while back as an early birthday present for me, and to my kid, for keeping me company. (My older daughter went with friends, but they also got to see totality.)

Five stars. Highly recommended.

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Announcement: Two New Books!

2024-04-02T18:52:39Z

If you follow me on Patreon or get my newsletter, this might be old news, you probably already know about this. But now that all the contracts have been signed, I believe I’m safe to publicly announce that I have a new book deal with DAW for a contemporary fantasy novel called Slayers of Old. (Title may change between now and publication.)

The book is due toward the end of this year, so depending on the whims of publishing, I’d expect it to be out in late 2025 or some time in 2026.

I’ve also signed the contracts to publish a different standalone fantasy novel called Kitemaster with Arc Manor Books. That book is already written, so logically, it should come out before Slayers of Old. But I’m not going to try to put money on it one way or another.

The point is TWO NEW BOOKS UNDER CONTRACT!

The last five years have been rough. My writing career felt like it hit a bit of a slump. So not only am I excited about getting new books published, I’m also feeling a fair amount of relief. I’m hoping this is only the beginning of the next upswing on the roller coaster.

Photo by samokphotography

More news as it happens. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with the first lines of each book.

Kitemaster: Once, when the wind was young, the people looked to the sky and dreamed. They watched cloud serpents dance with lightning. They watched the stars ride the wind through the night…

Slayers of Old: When I was thirteen, I began keeping a list of the annoyances that come with being a Hunter of Artemis. I was up to two hundred and four.

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2023 Writing Income

2024-01-02T19:20:42Z

With the new year comes another annual writing income post. I’ve been doing these since 2007, with the goal of giving some actual numbers about how much a working writer makes in a year. (Short version: most of us are not millionaires.) It’s also turned into a nice longer-term look at the ups and downs of one author’s career.

This year, the income post is over on Patreon. Don’t worry, it’s still free for anyone and everyone to read.

As you’ll see, Patreon has become a not-insignificant portion of my work and income. (And starting at a dollar a month, you get access to a monthly short story and all of last year’s posted fiction.)

With that subtle plug out of the way, here’s the link 🙂

2023 Writing Income

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New Book Day: Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens

2023-12-12T13:46:53Z

::Dusts off the blog::

Hello, all! Long time no posts, I know. Life has been pretty busy, and I’ve been cutting back on my online time. But today is the release day for my new middle-grade fantasy Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens, which means it’s time to do the announcement and promotion thing.

Some of you have already seen and read this one through the Kickstarter earlier this year. (Thank you!) For those who haven’t, or for anyone who needs a refresher, this is a standalone book that plays with portal fantasy tropes. Here’s the official description.

Amelia Sand is a student at Ainsworth Academy, where nonhumans are taught to be “civilized.” But for the rulers of Umbra—humans who came through a world-gate from Earth and now sit upon the thrones—that’s not enough. When Amelia discovers their plans to use magic to force her and her fellow monsters into blind obedience, she sets out to stop them.

Everyone knows goblins can’t be heroes, so Amelia visits a world-gate to find human champions of her own. But instead of mighty young heroes, she gets stuck with two old women who have no interest in magic or fighting.

With her friend Boa (a talking ribbon-snake), Amelia joins former teacher Ruth and absent-minded Lily on a quest to save the “uncivilized” peoples of Umbra.

Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens is a story about finding unexpected family and learning to trust in your own power.

You can read the first chapter if you want to get a taste for the story. It doesn’t directly tie into my goblin series or any of my other books, but Amelia is definitely a Jim Hines Goblin 🙂

It’s available just in time for the holidays as an e-book and a trade paperback.

PAPERBACK: Amazon

EBOOK: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play | Smashwords

Thank you as always for all of your enthusiasm and support. I hope you love this one as much as I do.

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Silver Queens Cover Art

2023-08-17T19:16:41Z

Yesterday I received the final files from Leanna Crossan for the Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens cover.

Short version: I love it, and I’ve been happily tweaking away at text and layout. I’m now to the point where I can’t really see it anymore, which means it’s time to share and see what you think.

Here’s the full layout, which will be used for the paperback. (And as I upload the image, I can already see that I want to move that quote from Tobias Buckell a tiny bit higher so it will be centered between the bar code and the text block.)

The price is not final. That’s going to depend on what the costs are. I’m not going for a huge royalty on the print copies, but I do need to be able to feed the cat and the dog. Oh, and the kids too, I suppose.

Here’s the front cover, give or take a few pixels on the dimensions, that will be used for the ebooks and online.

So… What do you think? Any suggestions before I finalize this sucker?

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Final Hours of the Amelia Sand Kickstarter

2023-08-13T16:06:09Z

First of all, thank you to everyone who got us past the goal line for the Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens Kickstarter. We also hit the first stretch goal, which means everyone who gets a physical book will get an autographed Amelia Sand bookmark to go with it.

The Kickstarter wraps up at 9 a.m. eastern time tomorrow, August 14. So if you’ve been thinking about supporting or you wanted to adjust your support or add the Goblin Queens add-on this is your last chance.

And if you’re not up for Kickstarter, that’s okay too. The book will be published on December 12, and is already up for pre-order at Amazon and Kobo. (Other pre-order links will be coming soon.)

Leanna Crossan is in the final round of working on the cover art, and I love it so much. This is a not final version of the artwork with me playing around with potential cover text and layout.

For supporters, the goal is to have rewards sent out by some time in October. I’ve got most of the files prepped, but I still need to do things like add in the supporter list and do a final check. And there will be at least one or two rounds of getting test copies of the physical book printed to make sure nothing gets lost in translation.

Today though, I intend to enjoy the last hours of a successful Kickstarter and the excitement of getting to put out a new book that I think (I hope!) people will really enjoy.

Thanks again!!!

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Kickstarter: Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens

2023-07-15T15:36:41Z

I have really been slacking on the blog front, haven’t I? Well, if it helps, it’s partly because I’ve been busy with other projects, like a middle grade standalone fantasy called Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens.

I’m excited about this one. It’s got humor, some fun worldbuilding, a goblin heroine and her (much) older human companions, and a talking feathered snake with an anxiety disorder. Here’s the official synopsis:

Amelia Sand is a goblin student at Ainsworth Academy, where nonhumans are taught to be more civilized. But for the rulers of Umbra — humans who crossed through a world-gate from Earth and now sit upon the thrones — that’s not enough. When Amelia discovers the king’s plans to use magic to “civilize” her and her fellow monsters into blind obedience, she sets out to stop him.

Everyone knows goblins can’t be heroes, so Amelia returns to the world-gate to summon human champions of her own. But instead of mighty young heroes, she finds herself with two middle-aged women who have no interest in magical or military shenanigans.

With her friend Boa (a talking ribbon-snake), Amelia joins former teacher Ruth and absent-minded Lily in a journey across Umbra. Can their odd little band stop the king and save the “uncivilized” peoples of Umbra?

Full of humor and hilarious goblin hijinks, Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens is a story about finding unexpected family and learning to trust in your own power.

Earlier this week, I contracted with Leanna Crossan to do a wraparound cover for the book. Leanna also did the artwork for Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen.

The Kickstarter launched this morning, with a goal of $5000 to cover initial costs. If you’d like a sample, you can read the first chapter in PDF format. (And if you’re a reviewer and would like an advance review copy, let me know and I’ll hook you up!)

Official release date is tentatively set for December 12. Supporters will get their copies sooner — hopefully in October.

In the meantime, I get to spend the next 30 days refreshing the Kickstarter page and trying not to be too much of a pest about self-promotion. Not my favorite part of the process, but hopefully the results will be worth it 🙂

Signal-boosting is very much appreciated, if you’re so inclined. Thank you!

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Happy Princess Day!

2023-04-25T15:39:24Z

Today marks the return of the princess novels! All four books should be showing up wherever you get your ebooks.

The Stepsister Scheme: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks | Smashwords

The Mermaid’s Madness: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks | Smashwords

Red Hood’s Revenge: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks | Smashwords

The Snow Queen’s Shadow: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Google Play | iBooks | Smashwords

You can also buy them directly from me at my PayHip store.

I was asked about the reversion process and how it applied to books and other media (cartoons, audio, TV shows, etc.) I can’t speak to the specifics of those other media, because so far nobody has chosen to make Goblin Quest: The Animated Series or a a Libriomancer miniseries on Netflix or anything like that.

What I can say is that the reversion of rights back to me gives me rights to the pieces I created. I can take the manuscript and republish it in print or ebook or both. I can rewrite and release an updated version (in my copious free time).

What I can’t do is use the pieces the publisher did. If I wanted to reuse the cover art, I’d have to buy those rights from the artists who did the covers. Then I’d still have to handle cover text and layout. The same goes for formatting the manuscript for ebooks or print — I have to do that myself or hire someone to do it.

How does that apply to cartoons or movies or whatever? Like everything else, it will depend on your contract. But I wouldn’t expect you to be able to republish that cancelled cartoon on your own. Corporations are going to make sure they’re keeping syndication/rerun rights, and I imagine in many cases they own the copyright as well.

But with my contracts for these particular books, reversion means I get to keep sharing Danielle, Talia, and Snow with you all 🙂

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Comic: On Trans Depression

2023-04-24T14:25:39Z

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Reversion of the Princesses

2023-04-12T21:03:55Z

It’s strange to write about reversion after doing the Janitors trilogy. It conjures up visions of Danielle, Talia, and Snow White going feral and wrecking their way through Lorindar.

In this case, what it means is that the rights for the Princess novels have reverted back to me. That’s why you can’t buy the ebooks from Amazon or elsewhere anymore. DAW won’t be printing any more of the print copies, either.

This is a normal part of the publishing circle of life. This is the first of my series to reach this milestone. It’s sad in some respects, but it also opens up some new opportunities. On April 25, I’ll be republishing all four books in electronic format. (I may eventually do print editions, but that will be a longer process.)

I’m reusing the cover art from the UK edition we put out back in 2016. I’m also bringing the prices down a bit. The Stepsister Scheme, the first book in the series, will be $2.99. The rest will be $4.99.

Wild pre-order links are already starting to appear:

The Stepsister Scheme: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks

The Mermaid’s Madness: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks

Red Hood’s Revenge: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks

The Snow Queen’s Shadow: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks

I’ll update here and on the Bookstore page of my site as more links show up.

Much love and gratitude to everyone who’s read and enjoyed these books over the past decade or so. I hope the new editions help the stories find some new readers who’ll appreciate these kick-ass princesses.

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"Cancel Culture"

2023-02-09T20:15:40Z

Louis C.K. Wins a Grammy for His Comedy Album About Cancellation

Dave Chappelle Wins Grammy for Netflix Special Condemned for Being Transphobic

Meanwhile…

“Between January and September 2021, 24 legislatures across the United States introduced 54 separate bills intended to restrict teaching and training in K-12 schools, higher education, and state agencies and institutions. The majority of these bills target discussions of race, racism, gender, and American history…” (Source)

Half of the top ten banned books for 2021 were banned in part for “LGBTQIA+ content.” (Source)

“In the last few years states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ rights, especially transgender youth.” (Source)

“An NPR analysis of this fast-changing landscape found that over the past two years, state lawmakers introduced at least 306 bills targeting trans people, more than in any previous period.” (Source)

“…in recent years, more than 400 anti-voter bills have been introduced in 48 states. These bills erect unnecessary barriers for people to register to vote, vote by mail, or vote in person.” (Source)

“…at least 19 states have so-called “anti-critical race theory” laws or regulations—despite the fact that CRT is rarely taught below the graduate university level. Even more school boards enacted policies or changed curricula in an effort to restrict how teachers talk to their students about race and diversity.” (Source)

In general, it feels like the people complaining the loudest about “cancel culture” are the ones with big platforms (Hi, J. K. Rowling!) and huge followings. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could use those platforms to speak up on behalf of the people who are actually being suppressed and silenced?

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Patreon Plans for 2023

2023-01-06T18:42:53Z

I’ve had a Patreon for a couple of years now. I’ve never really done much with it — people suggested I set something up, and a small group has chipped in each month to help support me and my writing. (And I’m very grateful to those people!)

Much as I’d love to just write and never have to think about money, this past year has convinced me to try something new. One of the deciding factors was paying my older kid’s tuition bill this morning.

So I’ve been talking to folks and studying what other authors have been doing in terms of offering rewards to supporters. Here’s my tentative plan:

Goblin Corps: For $1 a month (or more), you’ll get to read a short story each month. These will be mostly reprints, because I’m not fast or prolific enough to do a new story every month in addition to everything else. Stories will be posted on Patreon to read, and will include some sort of introduction or commentary.

Space Janitors: For $3 a month, you’ll also get your very own ebook of that month’s short story in .epub and .pdf formats.

Libriomancers: For $5 a month, you also get a monthly sneak peek and progress report about whatever I’m working on. These will mostly be snippets and commentary on books-in-progress.

Team Princess: For $10 a month and up, you get all the other rewards, and once per quarter I’ll mail you a book. It probably won’t be one of mine — it’ll be something I’ve read and enjoyed and want to share. I’ll throw in a bit of swag, too: a signed bookmark, a Smudge sticker, a goblin temporary tattoo…who knows! (Unfortunately, the economics don’t work for me to do this for non-U.S. supporters. For those people, I’ll send you a recommended e-book instead of a print copy.)

I may add additional support levels as I go. Possible rewards could be anything from short story or novel chapter critiques to video chats to Tuckerizations (your name as a character in a future book or story) to live online readings.

But I want to make sure I can fulfill what I’m promising, which means not overcommitting myself up front.

So…what do folks think? Any warnings or suggestions from more experienced (or just plain smarter) people before I jump ahead with this?

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2022 Writing Income

2023-01-04T13:45:40Z

It’s that time again – for fifteen years now I’ve been writing an annual blog post about my income as a writer. Money tends to be an uncomfortable, even taboo topic, but I think it’s important to help counter the myths that we’re all multimillionaires living in Glass Onion-style mansions. (Side note: If anyone wants to pay millions of dollars for my book, I’ll happily update this blog post from my private island mansion.)

Remember, every writer’s career is different, and I’m only one data point.

Prior Years: Here are the annual write-ups going back to 2007: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.

In 2016, instead of a personal income write-up, I did a survey of almost 400 novelists about their income.

My Background: I’m a primarily “traditionally published,” U.S.-based SF/F author with 15 books in print from major New York publishers. The first of those books came out from DAW in 2006. I have an agent, and have been with them since about 2004.

I’ve self-published a middle grade fantasy and a few short collections. I’ve also sold about 50 short stories to different magazines and anthologies.

I’ve never hit the NYT or USA Today bestseller lists.

I’m currently the sole parent of a teenager (at home) and a 22-year-old (at college). I have a day job that’s just over half-time, both for the paycheck and the benefits.

2022 in Summary: There’s no gentle way to say this. The last several years have kind of sucked. Losing my wife to cancer in 2019 completely derailed my writing. I was hoping 2022 would be a comeback year, but life had other plans…

I did write and sell two new short stories and one nonfiction piece, which was nice. I’ve got a finished middle grade book that’s been on submission for a while. I finished a standalone fantasy that’s been sitting with my publisher for a while.

Normally, my editor is pretty quick about responding, but last year wasn’t normal for DAW, either. DAW was acquired by Astra House. A lot of their time and energy went into that deal. I’m hoping for the best, but things still haven’t settled into the new “normal.”

Last year did see the release — finally — of Terminal Peace, the third book in the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse series. I’m thrilled and relieved to see that book in print, but it came out right in the middle of the Astra House acquisition, which may have impacted things like promotion and publicity.

I also finished the first draft and started revising a new standalone middle grade fantasy with series potential.

2022 Income: The biggest check was the publication payment for Terminal Peace. All total, before taxes and various expenses, the writing brought in $13,957.16. While that’s absolutely nothing to sneer at, and I’m grateful for the success, it’s also a dropoff from the past couple of years. To be blunt, if you look at the cumulative graph, things have been slumping a bit.

Expenses came out to roughly $1000. A chunk of that was renewing website hosting for the next three years. I only attended a couple of conventions, one as a Guest of Honor, and the other as Toastmaster, which kept con costs minimal. And yes, I paid my quarterly estimated taxes, though I’m expecting (hoping!) to get some or all of that back.

Income Breakdown:

Patreon has been a small but steady and helpful source of income. My thanks to everyone for that!

As usual, my U.S. novels are the biggest piece of the pie. The short fiction category is a bit higher this year, thanks to those two new stories. I didn’t self-publish anything new in 2022, but if that middle grade book doesn’t sell, I’d like to publish that one later this year.

Novels (U.S. editions): $8,542.83

Novels (Non-U.S. editions): $473.25

Self-Published: $1158.24

Short fiction: $892.86

Audio: $521.04

Patreon: $1668.94

Other: $700

Goals for 2023:

I mentioned earlier that things have been in a bit of a slump, and I need to focus on breaking out of that. Some things I can’t currently control. Tomorrow I could wake up to an offer from DAW on the book they’ve got, and maybe an email from my agent that the middle grade title he’s been shopping around went to auction and got a six-figure advance. But I can’t make these things happen.

Priority #1 is to keep writing. If I’m not doing that, other goals are pretty much moot.

Priority #2 is to figure out some alternate options. It may be time to put more time and effort into self-publishing as a complement to my traditionally published work.

The biggest thing making me anxious is that I’m pretty much out of contract. The paperback of Terminal Peace comes out this year, but for the first time in about 15 years, I don’t have the security, the luxury, or the deadlines of a signed contract. In some ways, this is freeing: I can write whatever I want. But there’s no guarantee as to when things will see print. Submitting to the traditional publishers is a long, slow process…

From talking to other writers who’ve been doing this a while, I’ve learned that pretty much every career has its ups and downs. Personal, pandemic, and publisher issues have been a bit of a perfect storm for me these past few years, but I’m not going anywhere. After 27 years as a writer, I’m excited to see what comes next.

Wrap Up:

I hope this has been helpful. As always, feel free to share the post and/or ask questions in the comments. And if you know of any other authors doing an income roundup, let me know and I’ll add those links to the post.

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Cool Stuff Friday

2022-12-02T19:09:45Z

Friday: kind of like Wednesday, but less spooky and kooky.

Nature and Wildlife Pics

I posted this elsewhere, but it’s worth sharing again. Tobias Roloff’s LEGO tribute to the movie Willow.

Dad Memes

What’s Wrong With Your Dog?

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Whatcha Been Watching?

2022-12-01T20:50:49Z

I started back up on the treadmill a week or two back, and at the same time discovered that The Warrior Nun‘s second season had come out. That was nice timing.

If you haven’t seen it, it’s based on the comic Warrior Nun Areala, and it’s basically about a secret order of fighting nuns taking on supernatural enemies. Ava is an outsider who accidentally ends up gaining the order’s secret weapon: an angel’s halo that gives her superpowers.

If that sounds a little goofy as a premise, it is. This is a show that leans into spectacle and what if ideas, and sometimes the depth and character development and worldbuilding is a little weaker. But let’s be honest. The Warrior Nun isn’t a show you watch for the deep philosophical messaging. It’s a show you watch to see kick-ass nuns taking on robed cultists and big CGI bad guys.

It’s fun and violent and I admit I didn’t see the twist at the end of season one coming. It’s been long enough I can’t really say how season two compares to the first, but I enjoyed it, and it got me through my treadmill workouts.

I’ve also gotten drawn into Wednesday, an Addams Family-based series about Wednesday that’s part murder mystery and part teen boarding school drama, but with all that macabre Addams style mixed in.

From the discussion online, I know this one isn’t for everyone, but I’m enjoying it. Wednesday has just a tiny sliver of enough humanity and vulnerability beneath all the snark and darkness, and I love it.

The proliferation of werewolves, sirens, vampires, and other creatures feels a little overdone, more like a Disney Channel idea with murder and violence thrown in. But I like it. Wednesday’s overly warm and fuzzy roomate, Enid, is particularly fun. They make a good odd couple.

I’m halfway through, and just finished the parental visit episode, which gives some depth and sympathy to some of the secondary characters.

Side note: one of the complaints I’ve seen is about the casting of Luis Guzmán as Gomez Addams. Look, I’m not super-familiar with the comic and other source material, but even I can see he’s a much better match for the original Gomez than pretty much any other portrayal I’ve seen.

And finally, we went and saw Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on Sunday. That one was hard. It shouldn’t be a spoiler to say it’s heavily focused on grief. With the loss of Chadwick Boseman and the decision not to recast his role as T’Challa, it pretty much had to be. After the past 3-4 years, that made it a bit harder to watch.

Overall, I thought it was good, but not great on the level of the first film. It felt like there was too much going on, and we lost some of the smaller, quieter moments that helped make the first one so great. I wanted more bits like Okoye getting teased about her disguise make-up, and less, “Oh look, here’s Valentina Allegra de Fontaine whose presence only kind of makes sense unless you’ve seen this and that and/or studied up on Marvel history to prep for the film.”

I thought Tenoch Huerta was great as Namor, though the flapping ankle wings were just silly. I wish we’d gotten more of Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams/Ironheart.

Overall, as Marvel sequel movies go, it wasn’t bad, and it could have been a lot worse.

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Dupuytren’s Contracture II: Dupuytren's Revenge

2022-11-10T21:29:46Z

It’s been almost ten years since my official diagnosis of Dupuytren’s Contracture. In short, this is a disease that causes hard nodules under the skin of the hand, and one or more fingers loses the ability to straighten and gets more and more curved over time.

In October 2020, I went in for surgery to free up my right pinky, which had become decidedly claw-like. I came out of that with most (not all) of my motion back, and a cool lightning bolt-shaped scar.

Well, over the past year, I’ve noticed the ring finger of my left hand getting more bent. Last time, in part because of other life stuff, I waited long enough that the only option was surgery. This time I wanted to try to fix the problem earlier. The hope was for a less invasive treatment that would be quicker to heal.

What does that treatment involve? Brace yourself. Basically, I went in on Tuesday to get a drug (that the insurance company tried to bill me $5000 for!) injected directly into the cords and nodules in my palm. That stuff weakened the tissue. I returned today, two days later, so the surgeon could numb my hand, then bend my finger back to snap the cords that were restricting the movement.

It sounds horrific, and I admit I was freaked out. I may have postponed the procedure a few months because I hated the idea of it. But honestly, it wasn’t too bad.

The most painful parts were the injections, both the initial drug and the anesthetic that were shot into my palm. The actual snapping of the cords? I barely felt that. I heard it, and I felt the popping, but there was no pain.

I’m a big fan of no pain.

I’m not putting pictures in the blog post, because I know that sort of thing can squick people out. But if you’re curious…

The Before Picture: That was as straight as my ring finger would go as of Monday.

The Shot: I’ve gotten over a lot of my needle phobia, thanks to the diabetes. This still sucked.

After the Snap: Check it out. This was a minute or two after the surgeon finished what they called the “manipulation.”

The Splint: I get to wear this at nighttime for the next six months to keep the finger from reverting to its bad habits.

It’s been five hours, and there’s still some numbness, along with the bruising and swelling. I’m told the pain will be coming later tonight and tomorrow. But in the meantime, I’m able to type well enough to do a blog post, and there’s no scarring or stitches or any of that.

One thing that did give me pause today: you see that little white thing taped to the window frame next to the door? Here’s a closer look. That’s a smelling salts packet. You know, in case the patient passes out.

I asked about that, and the surgeon said it most often comes up when they’re removing stitches. I’m happy to say I didn’t pass out or go into shock. I also didn’t look while he was manipulating the finger, and I’m okay with that.

Typing may be limited for the next couple of days, depending on pain and swelling. But so far, I’m happy with the results. And since this condition tends to keep coming back, I’ll probably be doing it again for other fingers at some point in the future.

Just don’t high five me on the left side for a few weeks, okay?

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Cool Stuff Friday

2022-10-28T18:02:39Z

More like Cool Stuff Intermittent Fridays these days, but ah well.

Wildlife Comedy Photo Contest pics (Thanks, Claire!)

Real Estate Fails

Animal pics

The James Webb Telescope Flickr page

Bats Being Cute (Happy pre-Halloween!)

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Books for Sale!

2022-10-18T22:02:50Z

As part of my ongoing mission to get the house organized, I’ve realized I have a lot of extra copies of books two through four of the Magic ex Libris series. So I’ve marked them down over on my Payhip store. I also added books two and three of the Janitors of the Post Apocalypse.

Unfortunately, because of shipping costs, this is a US-only thing.

If you’re interested, click on over and order yourself some personalized autographed books!

And if you’re not interested, that’s okay too. We’re still cool.

(I also have some of my ebooks for sale there, if you’d rather purchase those directly than through Amazon or whoever.)

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Cool Stuff Friday

2022-09-23T15:53:43Z

Friday has gone an entire month without a blog update. Things have changed a lot since LiveJournal days…

Comedy Pet Photos

Otters!

Cool Weather Pics

Cat Pics

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Terminal Peace is Out Today!

2022-08-23T12:58:53Z

Today is the day! Terminal Peace is officially available in print, ebook, and audio book formats.

This one had a rougher path than most of my books. Thank you so much to everyone for your patience, support, and understanding over these past few years. I hope the wait was worth it.

“Where can I get a copy?”

If your local independent bookstore doesn’t have a copy on the shelves, they should be able to order it for you. Or you can use this convenient little link list:

HARDCOVER: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Mysterious Galaxy | Schuler Books | Indiebound

EBOOK: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks

AUDIO: Tantor Media | Graphic Audio (Coming in late 2022/early 2023)

“What are the reviewers saying?”

Let’s start with the most important review. I gave my mother an early copy of the book for her birthday this month. Here’s what she texted me over the weekend:

If for some reason you need more than that, Booklist called it a “satisfying and hopeful conclusion to the series.”

I’ve seen a handful of reader reviews popping up as well. Several folks commented that they didn’t expect to get teary-eyed over a book about space janitors, which I take as high praise. (If you’re worried that means it’s going to be overly sad or depressing, reread the “hopeful” part of the Booklist review.”)

“What can we as readers do to help support this obviously-amazing book?”

Aw…you’re too kind, thank you!!!

Reviews are love. Twitter, TikTok, Amazon, Goodreads…it doesn’t matter where. Every bit of word-of-mouth helps tremendously.

Signal-boost the release, either by sharing this post or writing your own.

Does your library have a copy? If not, most library websites have a way for patrons to suggest books.

Are you a famous Hollywood producer who believes the time has come for a humorous-yet-heartfelt blockbuster about underdog janitors in space taking on war and politics and really tough stains? Give my agent a call.

“As long as I’m grabbing a copy of this one, does anyone else have books out today?”

I’m so glad you asked! I get to share a release day with the wonderful Tanya Huff and her book Into the Broken Lands.

“Any closing thoughts?”

Mostly just gratitude. Like I said, it’s been a rough few years, and in many ways, the path ahead is foggier than it used to be. But I’m still writing and still loving that I get to share these stories with people. Thank you all.

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Historical Accuracy

2022-08-23T02:17:57Z

The Tweet below has been making the rounds, and with it has come a lot of knee-jerk defensiveness and willful misunderstanding.

[Tweet by merman_melville: “i think it’s very funny that the house of dragon guys are like ‘we want to reflect the misogyny of the time period’ the time period is the twelfth of makebelieve. it’s the 149th year of sir gooby the dragonfoot. it’s the eighth age of targabargabor. it’s literally made up”]

Responses I’ve seen have ranged from, “Stop telling us to remove conflict from the story” to “But misogyny is part of every human society throughout history” to the more generic, “The woke police are ruining everything!”

Look, the genre police are not going to break your fingers and kick your puppies and throw you in author jail for one thousand years because you wrote about sexism and misogyny and violence against women. The fact that these stories continue to get published and made into popular television series should tell you you’re safe to keep writing your fantasies about violence against women, Mister Author Guy.

But for the love of Cheez-its, don’t try to dodge responsibility for your choice by hiding behind “historical accuracy.” Especially when you’re writing your made-up story in a made-up world. A world where you made up the history.

Even when you write historical fiction, you’re choosing which parts of that historical setting to include. You know how [Popular Grimdark Story] has graphic depictions of violence against women but not, say, graphic descriptions of menstruation? It’s because the author picks and chooses what to write about, what “historically realistic” details to include and exclude.

A lot of writers — mostly men — like to choose to write about sexism and misogyny and violence against women. A fair number do it badly and gratuitously, with little real understanding of what they’re writing about. And these days, it tends to feel pretty unoriginal. Is it any wonder some readers have grown tired of it and prefer more original writing?

Don’t worry, y’all still have plenty of freedom when it comes to choosing what to write about. But could we please GTFO with the excuses and take some damn responsibility for the choices we make as storytellers?

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The Invisible Box Set is Out Today

2022-08-16T12:03:56Z

All three volumes of Invisible are available as a single ebook as of today.

If you’re unfamiliar with the series, it’s a collection of personal essays about the power and importance of representation — and the lack of representation — in science fiction and fantasy. The third volume, co-edited with Mary Anne Mohanraj, collects poems as well.

Contributors include Mark Oshiro, Diana M. Pho, Bogi Takács, Sarah Chorn, SL Huang, LaShawn Wanak, Fran Wilde, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Brandon O’Brien, Rebecca Roanhorse, and so many more. Their essays and poetry are powerful and eye-opening.

Proceeds from the sale of this set will go to the Carl Brandon Society.

If you’d like to sample the contents, most of these essays are also available online: Invisible, Invisible 2, Invisible 3.

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Cool Stuff Friday

2022-08-12T13:22:03Z

Friday is inadequately caffeinated this morning.

Malfunctioning dogs

Animals in the wrong places

Perseid Meteor Shower pics
- (And some from 2021)

Malfunctioning cats

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Two Weeks to Book Three!

2022-08-09T13:30:10Z

Only 14 days until Terminal Peace arrives in the world!

Today, I’ve got a brief guest post on Mary Robinette Kowal’s “My Favorite Bit” feature, talking about a minor piece of the book that just made me happy to write about 🙂

Some of you will have seen that my author copies arrived a few days ago, which means the printing delays have been overcome and the book really does physically exist! Which is reassuring.

This also means you should be able to pre-order the book from your favorite local bookstore. Or if online works easier, we’ve got you covered there as well:

HARDCOVER: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Mysterious Galaxy | Schuler Books | Indiebound

EBOOK: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks

AUDIO: Audible | Graphic Audio (Coming in late 2022)

I’m hoping this book will mark a turnaround from a bit of a slump for me these past few years, writing-wise. Between my wife’s illness, the pandemic, and changes at my publisher, I’d love to get any sort of sense of security or stability on the writing front. But we’ll see what happens. I’ve got one new book sitting with my publisher, one that may become a 2023 Kickstarter project, and one that’s about 25% of the way through a very rough first draft.

In the meantime though, I’m counting down the days to this one, and really hoping you like it! I think it wraps up the trilogy pretty well, but now that it’s in print, your opinion matters a lot more than mine does 🙂

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Publishing Updates

2022-07-13T19:38:44Z

Update #1: The release date for Terminal Peace has been pushed back two weeks, from August 9 to August 23. This is because of printing delays that are affecting a number of Penguin Random House titles. (My publisher, DAW, is distributed by Penguin Random House.)

I’m 97% sure this will apply to the ebook and audio book release as well.

Update #2: Remember a while back (two paragraphs) when I mentioned DAW Books was distributed by Penguin Random House? Well, that’s changing too. A press release went out today announcing that my publisher has been acquired by Astra Publishing House.

Let’s start with a quote from the press release:

DAW co-publishers Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert said, “We are extremely pleased by Astra’s enthusiasm, and thrilled that we will be the sole SFF imprint of their company (a first for DAW!). We think this is the perfect fit for us, and it’s exciting and refreshing to be an integral part of a new and growing company. It speaks volumes about Astra’s respect for our company that they have included our entire staff. We’re very happy.”

So it sounds like current DAW staff will continue in their positions. This shouldn’t impact anything for Terminal Peace, or for other books scheduled for a 2022 release.

Links:

Author S. C. Butler sent me a link to a 2021 Publishers Weekly article about Astra Publishing House.

Tor.com has an article about the acquisition.

So what does this mean? I’m not sure. I hope it’s good news, both for DAW and for me.

Terminal Peace was my last contracted book with DAW. We submitted a new fantasy novel to them earlier this year. If they want it, it will be interesting to see if and how things change with the acquisition process.

For the moment, I’m cautiously optimistic and hoping for the best. And one way or another, the core of my job remains unchanged: sit my butt down and write the next book.

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