Pluto was never not a planet
The first three books in the Frontlines series, which are (chronologically) TERMS OF ENLISTMENT, LINES OF DEPARTURE, and ANGLES OF ATTACK, are currently on sale in the Kindle store for a measly $1.99 a pop. If you’ve been wanting to check out the series, here’s your chance to pick up the first three books for under six bucks total. Why, that’s less than the twenty-ounce cup of foam-topped caffeine sludge you pick up on the way to work every morning!
It’s that day again, friends and neighbors–book release day!
CHAINS OF COMMAND, the fourth novel in the Frontlines series, is now available for IMMEDIATE PURCHASENINGS in Kindle, dead tree, and unabridged audio format:
CHAINS OF COMMAND takes place roughly a year after the events of ANGLES OF ATTACK. With humanity up against the ropes after the Lanky takeover of Mars, Andrew Grayson is asked to join a high-stakes, high-risk mission to help stack the deck in the NAC’s favor for the upcoming do-or-die assault on Mars.
CHAINS is the longest Frontlines book yet by a fair margin, and the beta and ARC readers all seem to think it’s the best one in the series yet. I think it came together pretty well, but it’s always nice to have confirmation that I didn’t just squirt ink onto a notebook for the better part of a year. If you’ve followed Master Grayson’s exploits so far, consider picking up CHAINS OF COMMAND in the format of your choice. (The audio version, from Audible/Brilliance Audio, is again read by the awesome Luke Daniels.)
Now I get to finish up Frontlines #5, FIELDS OF FIRE, which may see a release late this year if I don’t screw up. Until then, dig in and read up on what Andrew has been up to in the year since New Svalbard and the Second Battle of Detroit.
If you would like an early electronic review copy of CHAINS OF COMMAND, the NetGalley link for downloads is now live here. Go download it, read it, review it, and revel in the knowledge that you get to have access to the fourth Frontlines novel almost a month before release. DON’T EVER SAY I NEVER DO ANYTHING FOR YOU.
The clock is ticking for CHAINS OF COMMAND, the fourth book in the Frontlines series. It will be released in less than a month, on April 19th, and you can pre-order the paperback, Kindle, or Audible audiobook here:
Goodreads is also running a giveaway right now. You can enter to win one of 20 copies:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/178279-chains-of-command
So if you like free books in general and the Frontlines series in particular, you should put your name into the hat. As I type this, there are fewer than 100 requests for those 20 books, so you have better than 1-5 odds if you enter RIGHT NOW.
I may also do a fun contest with some of these author copies I have in the office. Those will have the added bonus that I can sign and personalize them for the recipients if desired. Stay tuned while I think about what to do for my own little giveaway…
I’ll be at ConFusion in Detroit next weekend. If you’re going to be there, here’s where you can find me:
Friday 9:00:00 PM Who Threw Away My Monster Compendium
When was the last time a zeitgeist novel had a bugbear or a cockatrice? How long is it since someone fought a giant, flesh-eating beast instead of pikeman? Where did all the monsters go? With quest plots out of fashion, deus ex machina ditched, treasure-hunting too economically dull, and stories about ethics, is the monster still relevant in today’s fiction?
Saturday 4:00:00 PM Power Armor and Rail Guns: The Science of Future Wars
Military technology in science fiction settings: Who wore the powersuit better?
Saturday 6:00:00 PM The Fallacy of Commercial Fiction
Literary culture often derides the idea of commercial work, suggesting that marketability signals a lack of refinement. What exactly is commercial fiction and why is it snubbed? Furthermore, are science fiction, fantasy, and horror equally burdened by this dichotomy?
Outside of the panels, I’ll be hanging out with old friends and making new ones, so if you see me there, feel free to come up and say hi. I’ll also be at the Autograph Session on Saturday, and my awesome publisher is sending a box of TERMS OF ENLISTMENT paperbacks to the event hotel to give away as promo freebies. I am not above using bribes to make sure people show up for the signing, so if you want to snag a free signed coy, SHOW UP. I’ll hand out the freebie copies until they’re gone. (Of course, I’ll also sign stuff you bring with you.)
If you’re going to ConFusion: see you in Detroit next week!
Here’s something extremely cool: the provisional cover for Issue #1 of the Frontlines: Requiem series of graphic novels, due out by Jet City Comics this spring. I just got the green light to be able to share this with you all.
Frontlines: Requiem will be a tie-in of sorts. It tells the story of a different character in the Frontlines universe, someone you haven’t met yet. The protagonist is Colonel Soraya Yamin, an NAC starship commander in her Forties and mother of two. The story takes place during the events in Angles of Attack, and it will provide a lot of backstory to the series. In particular, it shows what’s going on back on and around Earth while Andrew is gallivanting around in space. There will be four issues, and the artists are Ivan Brandon and Paul Erskine.
That’s all I can tell you right now, but I’ll post updates as soon as there’s a page for pre-orders via ComiXology and/or other sources.
Frontlines #4 (Chains of Command) will be out in April, and I am hard at work to see to it that Frontlines #5 (Fields of Fire) will be out in 2016 as well.
HOWEVER….there are other things in the works that may be of interest to you, and I hear that I am now free to share them.
First, Audible/Briliance Audio has purchased the audio rights to my Frontlines short story LUCKY THIRTEEN, and the novella, MEASURES OF ABSOLUTION. The audio versions should be out at some point next year as well, and I’ll let you know when we have a definite date of release.
The second order of the day is something pretty cool indeed:
Jet City Comics is going to release a series of graphic novels in the Frontlines universe. They will be called FRONTLINES: REQUIEM, and provide you with some interesting backstory about the events on and around Earth between ANGLES OF ATTACK and CHAINS OF COMMAND. There will be four issues and an omnibus graphic novel at the end that contains all four issues, and Jet City Comics is working to get the first issue out and into your hands by the time CHAINS OF COMMAND comes out in April.
There will be Frontlines graphic novels! Is this cool, or what? I’m still a little beside myself over this. It’s not just a fun way to tell more stories in the Frontlines universe, but it’s also an amazing chance to show that world and some of its characters in a different, more visual medium. I can’t wait for the first issue to come out.
Hey, look at that! ANGLES OF ATTACK made the semifinals in the science fiction category of the Goodreads Choice Awards. Thanks to all of you who voted for Space Kablooie #3. And feel free to vote for it some more!
I spent the weekend at World Fantasy Con in Saratoga Springs, NY. I didn’t bother with a con membership, and mostly spent time with old friends. I did walk the ballroom floor on Friday night when all the writers had their tables set up for signings, and got to say hello and introduce myself to Joe Haldeman, which was a thrill. (Another awesome thing was realizing just how many of the writers present were friends of mine.) The weekend was basically all drinking, eating, chatting, and watching movies. I brought my PS4 to the hotel suite to stream movies from it, and we got a little zapped and watched three movies in a row on Saturday night–and that was after I took the opportunity to see the new Bond movie at the theater in the afternoon.
Writing is a rather solitary pursuit, so it’s always fun to get out of the house and meet up with friends who do the same thing you’re doing, and who understand what it’s like. I’ve made the best of friends as a genre writer–we enjoy each others’ company, are happy for each others’ successes, and glad to commiserate over the bumpy stuff. Friendship: it truly IS magic!
Now I’m back to work on Frontlines #5 (FIELDS OF FIRE), which will keep me busy for the rest of the year and possibly a bit into the new one. If all goes well, it will be out in 2016 as well, which means you’ll get to spend your shekels on TWO Frontlines novels next year. (And you may want to keep some of your tooth fairy change back for some other Frontlines-related spending opportunities. But more of that later, when I am at liberty to…. divulge.)
It appears to my untrained eye that ANGLES OF ATTACK, the third Frontlines novel, made it into the opening round of the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015, science fiction category. That means a whole lot of readers thought it didn’t suck, which is a cool and pleasing thing.
In the wake of the ballot-related kerfuffle that happened earlier this year, I am extremely hesitant to throw out any recommendation or suggestion regarding votes, but if you have a Goodreads account and think that ANGLES is deserving of a vote, I would not oppose it in the least. And if you think one of the other fine novels in the SF category was better than ANGLES, you should totally vote for that, and I won’t mind in the least. There are some pretty good novels in that list, including stuff from John Scalzi, Ann Leckie, Neal Stephenson, and Paolo Bacigalupi, all kick-ass writers in their own right.
(Thanks to Chuck Wendig for pointing this out to me on Twitter.)
I’ll be Author Guest at HonorCon in Raleigh, NC this year. HonorCon (one of two annual conventions around David Weber’s Honor Harrington series of military SF) is taking place from October 30-November 1 at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown. I’ll be doing a few panels and do some general milling around to meet people.
ALSO: New York ComicCon! I’ll be there again this year, signing books at the 47North booth and participating in a panel or two. The signing is probably going to be Friday, October 9, at noon, but I’ll verify the exact time and place before the event and post it in this space. Come say hi, pick up a book or two, and let me deface it with my scribblings, thereby ruining what little market value it may have!
I’m also going to be at ConFusion in Detroit in January, but I won’t be doing any panels or signings there. I’m going mainly to meet up with friends and check out Detroit. Least I can do for blowing up bits of it in TERMS OF ENLISTMENT (and then again in ANGLES OF ATTACK).
So–if you are going to be at any of those events and see me there, feel free to come and say hi!