Category: writing.

books. writing.

GRRM read “angles” and didn’t hate it. 

In the wake of my Hugo withdrawal, George R.R. Martin picked up “Lines of Departure” a while ago and had some pretty nice things to say about it. It must have entertained him enough to move on to “Angles of Attack”, which he considers to be better than “Lines”, an assessment shared by quite a few reviewers:

http://grrm.livejournal.com/434047.html
He also said some nice things about me, calling me a “writer to watch”, and I’d have to lie if I said that this verdict didn’t please me. 

As far as his concerns about the Frontlines series go: it will not balloon up to 20 books, there will be a definite resolution,  and we will learn more about the Lankies. 

books. travel. writing.

convention schedule for (the rest of) 2015.

I just got back from Readercon, which was perfectly lovely and fun. Being in New England, Readercon is sort of my home convention, and I go every year to reconnect with friends and keep up the annual traditions we have developed over the years.

When I was there, I realized that I had not mentioned my Readercon trip in advance to give folks a heads-up in case they wanted to say hi or meet up or have stuff signed or what-have-you. So here’s the short calendar of public business for the rest of the year:

 

August 20-23, 2015: Worldcon (Spokane, WA)

I’ll be at Worldcon for the weekend with the 47North crew, to have a good time, meet new people, and see how the whole Hugo thing turns out this year.

September 19-20, 2015: Vermont Comic Con (South Burlington, VT)

No publisher business or panels or anything, just a weekend visit for fun.

October 8-11, 2015: NY ComicCon (New York City, NY)

I’ll be signing at the 47North booth (exact date and time TBA), and possibly do a panel or two. Other than that, I’ll be enjoying the hustle and bustle (and the pizza) of New York City in October, which was a lot of fun last year.

There’s a chance I may be able to go to Saratoga Springs in November for the World Fantasy Convention, but those plans are still very tentative, and I’ll announce if I manage to get firm arrangements in place.

 

So—those are the cons where you can maybe, possibly spot me and come say hi. If you do, please do. Or something.

travel. writing.

i went to europe, and it’s still there.

You may not have seen me around on the blog or social media these last few weeks. That’s because I went on a two-week trip to Europe, from which I just returned a few days ago.

I had some novel research to do in various places, and the German edition of TERMS OF ENLISTMENT was released on June 15, so I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and combine both occasions for a business trip. Heyne (my German publisher) hosted me at their office in Munich, and they organized a reading/signing for me at Otherland, a great SF/F indie bookstore in Berlin. In between, I visited my mother, who spends the summers at her vacation home in Croatia’s Istria region, and I squeezed in two days to see a good friend in London. It was a fantastic trip, albeit a very tiring one involving criss-crossing northern and central Europe a few times.

The reading/signing at Otherland was awesome. Made a bunch of new friends and read my work in German for the very first time, which was a novel experience (no pun intended.) They treated me like a rockstar and made me feel very welcome, and their store kicks some serious ass. If you’re ever in Berlin, you should go check them out (and tell them I said hi).

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Currywurst, the most popular blue-collar fast food in Germany. You can get it just about everywhere. Even McDonald’s Germany offered it once upon a time as McCurrywurst, but they couldn’t compete with the traditional wurst stands.

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My book! On the shelf! In a Berlin bookstore! (My awesome tour guide Charleen and I stopped at every book store we passed to check inventory, of course.)

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There it is again, next to some genre heavyweights.

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Marko Kloos im Otherland! I know that guy. 

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Seeing my name on those covers never gets old.

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There were people there! And I didn’t even have to bribe most of them to come!

 

So yeah—lovely trip, met lots of readers, made new friends and reconnected with old ones, saw lots of sights, and had a blast. But after two weeks of GOGOGOGOGO, I’m also happy to be back home and get back to work.

friends. travel. writing.

paradise lost.

I just spent a long weekend down in San Antonio, Texas, for the Paradise Lost 5 writing workshop. I was invited to be a guest lecturer at the event, and I took the opportunity to participate in the retreat track. 

San Antonio is a lovely city, and the company was fantastic. I met up with my old friends Claire, Katrina, and Jeff, reconnected with fellow Viable Paradise XII grads Steve and Tim, and made a whole bunch of new friends from other Viable Paradise years and different workshops.

I also got to meet these two goobers for the first time in real life:

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Chuck Wendig and Delilah S. Dawson, both Internet friends I’ve talked to for YEARS. You know how you have this picture of people in your head from talking to them online, and then you fear the possibility that they’re completely different in real life? Well, Chuck and Delilah are precisely like I pictured them from our online talks. They are smart, funny, goofy nerds, and hanging out with them was a lot of fun because I am also most of those things.

My lecture went over very well (I talked about self-publishing and various ancillary things), and people did not fall asleep or throw rotten fruit at me, which I will call a success. I find that the more talking I do in front of larger groups, the more I enjoy it. 

We had fruitful work sessions, and then we all goofed off and socialized. There were group meals on the riverwalk and at various local eateries, Cards Against Humanities sessions, liquor store safaris, rooftop writing sessions, and the consumption of ALL THE BOOZES. And I got to fly First Class for the first time ever, which was a REVELATION. This is how reasonably comfortable and relaxing flying commercial can be? Well, sign me right the hell up.

Paradise Lost: AAAA+++++, 10/10, would goof around with old and new nerd writer friends again.

In closing, have some pictures from lovely San Antonio what I took mostly with my pocket point & shoot Sony. Some of them turned out all right, I think.

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books. writing.

gladness.

I am relieved beyond measure to see that “The Three-Body Problem” by Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu) has been added to the Best Novel Hugo shortlist in place of “Lines of Departure”. 

I honestly can’t think of a novel I would have rather seen on the ballot this year than this one. It’s precisely the kind of science fiction the genre needs—hard and entertaining SF with great depth and scope. It’s truly deserving of an award, and I urge you to read it and consider voting for it if you haven’t already.

(Mind you that I am not trying to debase myself by saying that “Lines of Departure” wasn’t worthy of a Hugo. I just think that “The Three-Body Problem” is equally worthy of one, and in my own opinion far more so.)

The inclusion of  “The Three-Body Problem” on the Hugo shortlist reaffirms to me without any remaining doubt that withdrawing “Lines of Departure” from the shortlist was 1000% the right call to make. 

books. writing.

a statement on my hugo nomination.

Dear friends and readers:

I have officially withdrawn my acceptance of the Best Novel nomination for “Lines of Departure” at this year’s Hugo Awards. 

It has come to my attention that “Lines of Departure” was one of the nomination suggestions in Vox Day’s “Rabid Puppies” campaign. Therefore—and regardless of who else has recommended the novel for award consideration—the presence of “Lines of Departure” on the shortlist is almost certainly due to my inclusion on the “Rabid Puppies” slate. For that reason, I had no choice but to withdraw my acceptance of the nomination. I cannot in good conscience accept an award nomination that I feel I may not have earned solely with the quality of the nominated work.

I also wish to disassociate myself from the originator of the “Rabid Puppies” campaign. To put it bluntly: if this nomination gives even the appearance that Vox Day or anyone else had a hand in giving it to me because of my perceived political leanings, I don’t want it. I want to be nominated for awards because of the work, not because of the “right” or “wrong” politics.

Thank you to everyone who voted for “Lines of Departure” because you read the novel and genuinely thought it worthy of award recognition. Please be assured that I did not reach this decision lightly, and that I don’t want to nullify or minimize your opinion. But keeping the nomination is not a moral option at this point, and I hope you will understand.

This is my choice alone, and I am making it without pressure from any side in the current Hugo debate. Please respect it as such. 

Marko Kloos

April 15, 2015

books. capitalism. shameless self-promotion. writing.

frontlines the fourth.

Great news, people of Earth!

Contracts are signed, so I am free to share the news.

1.) There will officially be a fourth Frontlines novel.
2.) It will be called “Chains of Command”.
3.) If all goes well, it will be out THIS YEAR, which means you’ll get two new Frontlines novels in 2015. (Angles of Attack will be released on April 15th, and Chains of Command has a tentative release date of November if all goes according to plan and I don’t overshoot my deadline WHICH I WON’T, HONEST.)

So there you have it. 47North has bought Frontlines #4, “Chains of Command”, and I am doing my best to get it to you before this holiday season so you can all put it on your Christmas Kindles. 

aminals. art. capitalism. writing.

how to story, in sixty seconds.

Yeah, it’s a commercial for a beer, but it’s also a perfect master class in storytelling. Setting, characterization, conflict/motivation, peril, emotional climax, satisfying resolution, denouement. Themes: friendship, loyalty, love. All squeezed into one minute. Not a second is wasted on anything that doesn’t drive the narrative.This is how you do Story.

books. worthy causes. writing.

the “be a space marine” charity tally.

You crazy kids wasted no time claiming the naming rights to the Formerly Anonymous Squad in the Bad-Ass Platoon of Badassitude. We ran over the count a wee bit, but I’ll make some space on the platoon roster because you shouldn’t be penalized for my lack of orderly system when it comes to tallying contest entries.

Together, you have donated a total of $630 to the Semper Fi Fund today. I will match the donated total, so this little naming rights sales bonanza raised $1,260 for a worthy charity in the space of just two hours. Not bad, ya misfits…not bad at all.

I’ll send out individual emails to confirm name choices tomorrow FOR SURE. Until then, pat yourselves on the back, and imagine the wonderful ways in which you will earn glory, get blown to stardust, or possibly both, once I get to writing you into CHAINS OF COMMAND. DISMISSED, you knuckledraggers.

 

books. writing.

want to be a space marine in a frontlines novel?

I am currently writing what will become the fourth Frontlines novel , titled “Chains of Command”.

Without giving away any plot details, I can tell you that Chains of Command will feature a group of folks I’m calling “the Bad-Ass Platoon of Bad-Assitude”. I’ve filled the command slots with some recurring characters that you may remember from the first or second novel, and some you will meet in the third novel. But a platoon has a lot of members (the NAC Spaceborne Infantry platoons have three squads, and each squad has three fireteams of four enlisted grunts), and that’s a lot of names to make up.

So I thought I should have some fun and do something worthy at the same time. To that end, I will fill the roster of enlisted members with names supplied by you. Here’s how it’s going to work:

–Claim a slot in the Comments below. First come, first serve. I have 9 enlisted slots to fill, and 1 squad leader position.

–Make a donation to the Semper Fi fund. (The Semper Fi fund is a top-rated non-profit organization helping injured, wounded, and ill members of our Armed Forces.) $25 will give you the right to name one of the enlisted grunts in one of the squads of the Bad-Ass Platoon of Bad-Assitude. I also have a squad leader slot to fill, but if you want that slot, it’ll cost you $50 at least.

–Forward me the donation receipt via email to marko.kloos@gmail.com.

–First come, first serve. I have 9 enlisted slots to fill, and 1 squad leader position.

For your donation, I will a.) name the character as desired by you, and b.) mention the character in the story at least once. You may live through the story, or you may die a glorious death for the NAC, but your name will be in the book. (Caveat: the character name can’t be out of place in the story–no celebrities etc.)

I will also match all donations dollar for dollar.

So here is your chance to be a Spaceborne Infantry grunt and see your name in print, all for a good cause. Nine squad slots for $25 a piece in donations, or be a squad leader for $50! SUCH A DEAL.

Now get to it, trooper!

UPDATE: All the slots have been claimed. That was quick, folks. Thank you, and I will send out verification emails later today!

UPDATE THE SECOND: Haven’t sent out emails yet, but everyone who donated and sent me the receipt via email today is going to get a named character. We ran over the count a little, but that’s OK. I’ll make some room in the platoon roster.