Category: writing.

shameless self-promotion. travel. writing.

what i’ll be doing with the rest of 2016.

I just returned from the Viable Paradise writing workshop’s 20-year reunion on Martha’s Vineyard. It was nice to catch up with old friends and meet VPers from other years, and the weather was ideal for some extended sightseeing drives around the Vineyard. Of course, I didn’t get too much writing done between all the socializing and panels, so this week I’m going to have to do word count penance.

There’s only one trip left for 2016, and that’s Honorcon in Raleigh. I’m not on the official program, but I’ll be doing a few panels and gaming sessions. There will also be another meeting of the Frontlines fan club (yes, I have an official fan group now, which is still kind of mind-blowing). I’ve commissioned a tailor to make a prototype NAC Fleet shipboard uniform as seen in the Frontlines: Requiem graphic novel, and that one should be ready in time for me to show it off at Honorcon.

After Honorcon, I’m taking the rest of the year to finish Frontlines #6, which will be called POINTS OF IMPACT. (Frontlines #5, called FIELDS OF FIRE, will be out on February 28th, and can be pre-ordered already in all formats.)

The dance card for 2017 is already getting kind of full. I’ll be Guest of Honor at ConStellation 8 in Lincoln, NE from April 28-30. Then I’m going to Minnesota again as author guest at Manticon 2017 from May 26-28. And I’ve already reserved a hotel room for WorldCon 75, which will be in Helsinki, Finland from August 9-13. After that, I’ll probably throttle back on cons and other engagements for the rest of 2017 a bit, but there’s no telling yet what kind of stuff will hit the inbox between now and mid-2017, so we’ll see what happens.

Traveling and going to cons is a ton of fun, but it really dings my word count because I’m already easily distracted in my natural habitat, never mind a place where there’s stuff to see and people who want to talk to you. I just need to pace myself in a manner that won’t slow the writing output down too much.

And with that, I am back to work on Frontlines #6. It’s the middle of October, which is objectively proven to be the best of all months, and the weather outside is like a parting kiss from summer. I’ll leave you with a few shots from Martha’s Vineyard, which is about twice as pretty as my cell phone photography makes it look.

img_0518 img_0520 img_0521 img_0529 img_0530 img_0533 img_0535 img_0539 img_0546 img_0552 img_0553 img_0555 img_0558 img_0560 img_6959

technology. the munchkin wrangler gear whore labs. writing.

the old ways and the new.

IMG 0373

 

This is a picture of long-handing it on an iPad Pro. It seems excessive and wasteful to use a $1,000 tablet as an electronic legal pad, but I’m very much digging the advantages it has over paper.

You don’t have to drag around multiple notebooks, you have an endless supply of paper of whatever kind you want, you have pen tips of all kinds and inks in all colors, and everything you write is automatically backed up via iCloud and shared with the MacBook Pro on my desk. When I am done with the drafting phase, I can either print out the longhand, or export it to PDF or DOCX to split-screen it next to Scrivener and transcribe everything. (My handwriting doesn’t play well with the handwriting recognition programs out there, and I enjoy the on-the-fly revision inherent in transcription anyway.)

The iPad Pro also does Scrivener now, so it has become a full-blown Swiss Army knife of productivity hardware. I can type in Scrivener or Word, longhand in Notability, make sketches in Notes or Paper, and then bring it all together in Scrivener on the laptop. 

Before I got the iPad Pro, I used the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 for the same job, and it does it almost as well. The pen is almost as good as the Apple Pencil, and the new handwriting features in Windows 10 are great. I would not be heartbroken if I had to switch back to the SP3. But the iPad Pro has a bit of an edge if all the rest of your gear is Apple stuff too because everything integrates just a little better.

I still enjoy writing on proper, actual paper with nice pens, but there is something to be said for being able to carry around as many notebooks and pens or pencils as you want in a single pound-and-a-half folio case, and have the peace of mind of instant backups and digitization. But for the final assembly of the Novel-Length Textual Product, I still go to Scrivener on the Mac, which has been my main writing software since Book 1.

awards. books. conventions. friends. writing.

the dragon awards have been dragon-awarded.

NEWSFLASH: I did not win the Dragon Award for Best Military SF Novel. David Weber did, and congratulations to him. Congratulations also to Larry Correia, whose SON OF THE BLACK SWORD won the award for Best Fantasy Novel.

(I didn’t expect to beat David on votes because he has a lot more fans and a lot more books out than I do, and I am but an egg in the genre.)

But it was fun and an honor just to be nominated, and I want to thank everyone who voted for CHAINS OF COMMAND and got it onto the shortlist. I wasn’t at DragonCon because I promised the wife I’d take September off from traveling, but my friend Melissa F. Olson graciously agreed to accept for me in the unlikely event of my win. I don’t know who’s more relieved now—Melissa because she didn’t have to walk up to the podium and make an acceptance speech…or me because Melissa didn’t have a chance to get creative with that acceptance speech.

 

books. writing.

terms in polish.

I don’t know if they used stock art or commissioned this for the book, but the cover art for the Polish edition of TERMS OF ENLISTMENT is something else. It’s probably my favorite piece of cover art of all the versions of the book so far.

Here it is without the cover text:

13615479 10154319761358874 8609920925185146412 n

And here’s the cover with the text:

505372 352x500

Not bad, Polish publisher. Not bad at all.

(The Polish edition will be out this week, by the way.)

books. family. friends. travel. writing.

WorldCon recap.

I’m on the plane back from MidAmericon II, the 74th Worldcon, in Kansas City. Some cons are great, some are so-so, some are…not that good. But Worldcon is the main event of our genre, the big Annual Nerd Prom, where most everyone gathers regardless of what other regional cons they attend.

I went with a fairly light schedule. Being a new member of GRRM’s Wild Cards consortium, I got to attend a gathering thrown for the Wild Cards writers by Tor Publishing. (And let me tell you–when you’re a junior woodchuck novelist with a little more than three years of pro experience under his belt, having GRRM introduce you to Tom Doherty can be a slightly tongue-tying experience.) I love the Wild Cards gang–they are all amazingly accomplished and talented writers, most with decades in the business, and they all make me feel welcome and appreciated.

On Friday evening, we had the big Wild Cards mass signing for the new book, called HIGH STAKES. I figured I’d be sitting and watching GRRM’s signing line for three hours, but most people wanted signatures from all the rest of us in their books as well. (The event only allowed Wild Cards books to be purchased and/or brought into the ballroom, but one of my fans smuggled in a copy of LINES OF DEPARTURE for me to sign, which I happily did.)

There was also a Wild Cards panel that was an almost Pokemon-like death match between characters. GRRM put all our names into a bucket and pulled out two names at random to fictionally fight each other, and the audience got to decide the winner. My character Khan, a 300-pound underworld bodyguard whose left body half is that of an anthropomorphised Bengal tiger, is a straight-up bruiser suited for heavyweight physical fights, but he had to go up against the Amazing Bubbles, who was quite possibly the worst possible opponent for him in the entire lineup because his strength and reflexes were of very limited utility against someone who can ensconce him in a near-breakable bubble that limits his air supply. So I got eliminated in the first round and got to watch the rest of the fights from the bench. But it was all good fun, and the auditorium was filled with people who seemed to enjoy the format.

(I also had several people waiting for me after the event to get FRONTLINES books and posters signed, which was super weird and awesome at the same time.)

Other than the panels, I met up with friends both old and new. My long-time Internet pal and new IRL friend Ellie took me to the best barbecue joint I had ever been to, and there were a number of parties and the usual bar meet-ups and long nights chatting with friends. Whenever you go to a con like this one, it’s like a big family reunion, only you don’t have to put up with your weird uncle who thinks that the stickers on the back of traffic signs are secret markers for invading UN forces. You see people you haven’t seen in a year or more, but the conversations flow as naturally again as if you had seen each other last only a few days ago.

The crowning highlight of the weekend was GRRM’s Hugo Losers Party, which was held in a spectacular Gilded Age theater just two blocks from the hotels and the convention center. The party in Spokane last year was awesome, but this one easily topped it for setting and glitz, and I have no idea how he’s going to top that next year in Helsinki. Maybe there are castles for rent, or he can get the Queen Mary for the night.

I now have so many lovely, smart, generous, and funny friends in the business that I can’t go to a con without running into dozens of people I would gladly spend a whole weekend just drinking and chatting with. Our not-so-little SF and Fantasy tribe of writers and readers is for the most part a stellar group of folks that are welcoming to newcomers and just fun to hang out with, and I greatly value the friendships I’ve made in the genre since I started out at VP and then at my first official convention (which was Boskone in early 2009.) I can’t wait for Worldcon 75 in Helsinki.

In closing, here are a few shots from the trip I’d like to share:

That’s me chatting with Jo Walton. If I have a smug look on my face, it’s because she just told me that she read all the FRONTLINES books and really liked them.


My friend and fellow 47North author Melissa Olson, who was my tag-along for the Hugo Losers party. I roped her in by mentioning the free booze.


The venue for the party. Now that’s how you throw a shindig.


The convention plaza in KC.  Infinitely superior to the one in Spokane last year.


The Wild Cards cage match panel, moderated by George R.R. Martin.


That was breakfast on Saturday.


The Midland Theatre.


The other side of the convention plaza. 

friends. travel. Uncategorized writing.

Worldconning in Kansas City.

It’s 5am in KC, which means it’s 6am in New Hampshire, which means I’m up already despite the two drinks at the hotel bar last night.

KC seems nice. I haven’t had a chance to wander much, but the area around the convention center is definitely 100% tailored for conventions. Four or five big hotels around one square, and the convention center on one side of that square, which means that my hotel is 100 yards from the front entrance of the Worldcon facility. This is much better than the arrangement in Spokane last year, where we had to drive or take a shuttle bus for a mile and a half because the con hotels were all over the place and not within easy walking distance. (Also, Missouri is not on fire, and it doesn’t smell like a badly stoked barbecue grill outside.)

Travel went super smooth yesterday. No delays, the usual short TSA line in Manchester, and a layover in Detroit that was just long enough to switch terminals in no hurry and grab a sandwich, but not so long as to be a boring pain in the ass. When I got to Kansas City, I tried an experiment and hailed my first Uber ever, and I must say that I was impressed. It took 5 minutes for the driver to get there, the fare was half of what a cab would have cost me, and I didn’t have to deal with cash or swiping cards. I think I’ll use them from now on instead of surly cabbies who drive like NASCAR hopefuls.

The only fly in the ointment yesterday was the hotel bar, which forgot my dinner order. I ended up waiting for my food for 45 minutes, but took the time to have the aforementioned two cocktails. On the plus side, the bartender was so mortified that she comped my whole dinner, drinks and all, and I tipped her $20 because it wasn’t her fault the kitchen was watching the ball game or whatever. And I ran into Ann Leckie again, who is one of the nicest people in the genre, so that was a lovely end to the evening. 

Today: more Worldconning. I’m meeting up with friends and walking the convention floor today, and then there’s a party tonight. (There are parties every night at Worldcon, which is What We Do when we get together at our annual nerd proms.) So if you’re there and see me around, stop and say hi!

And now I’ll see if I can get some fiction-wording done before breakfast…

art. books. bullets & links. NACDC. writing.

on the NACDC, a frontlines fan group.

The official fan group of the Frontlines series, the North American Commonwealth Defense Corps, was founded at Manticon this year. There’ll be a fan group meeting at this year’s Honorcon, and a member who’s a very talented graphic designer made up a recruitment poster style ad for the convention program. It’s so well done that I wanted to share it with you.

(And if you’re in Raleigh and/or at Honorcon in October, swing by and check it out! There’s also a Facebook page for the fan group and an official web page.)

Color_NoBleed [273656]

friends. travel. writing.

my worldcon schedule.

MidAmericon II, the 74th Worldcon, seems to be almost upon us. I’ll be in Kansas City next week for the event, armed with a credit card and a light convention schedule.

There are two Wild Cards-related events I’ll be attending as a panelist/signing author. One is the big Wild Cards signing at Rainy Day Books on Friday, August 19th at 5pm. It’s a public event off the convention floor, so you won’t need a WorldCon membership to attend.

The other event is the Wild Cards cage match panel on Saturday, August 20, on the Tucker Stage (3501A) from 3-5pm. GRRM will be moderating as we (as our characters) will engage in a fictional battle until my awesome charact…uh, until the best character emerges as the victor.

Other than that, my schedule is wide open, and I intend to meet up with as many old and new friends as I can. If you are going to Worldcon and see me out and about on the convention floor, come say hello!

Worldcon will mark my second-to-last con attendance this year. The other con on my schedule is Honorcon in Raleigh (October 28-30 in Raleigh, NC), where I’m not officially on the roster as a guest, but I’ll be on a few panels nonetheless.

I was going to cut down a bit on travel in 2016, but in the end, it turned out almost as busy as 2015. It seems that my calendar fills up much more quickly these days.

 

books. writing.

warming up the stove for frontlines #6.

Having turned in the edits on FIELDS OF FIRE, Frontlines #5, I spent exactly three days puttering around online and playing video games before it got old again. Seems like I get antsy when I don’t have a work in progress cooking on the stove.

Sooooo….work has commenced on Frontlines #6. I settled on a title, which is always a prerequisite because I don’t like starting a new Scrivener project without knowing what the story will be named. And Frontlines the Sixth will be called POINTS OF IMPACT.

I don’t have a release date, but if everything goes as planned and I turn in the manuscript when I intend to, you may see two Frontlines novels in 2017. (FIELDS OF FIRE will be out in February.) Let’s hope everything stays on track, and next year may be a good year for this here Space Kablooie factory.

 

shameless self-promotion. travel. wild cards. writing.

wild cards in santa fe. 

So there’s this thing at George R.R. Martin’s Cocteau Cinema next Sunday. There will be nineteen Wild Cards authors, old and new, for a fun little event with a signing session afterwards. You can read the details on GRRM’s not-a-blog here. 

I’ll be there as well to represent the Junior Woodchuck contingent of the Wild Cards consortium. Stop by and say hi if you’re in the area!