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Category: writing.

invasion! der! sterne!

Posted on by Marko

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There’s a cover for the German-language edition of Terms of Enlistment! And a release date: June 15, 2015, from Heyne. Here’s the link to the German Amazon page.)

They shortened Andrew’s name to “Andy” and took some creative license with the title. (“Invasion of the Stars”, presumably to sound Star Wars-y. The German name for the Star Wars franchise is “Krieg der Sterne”.) The blurb for the book is also a little fuzzy on some of the plot details unless the translator did some major surgery on the story. But hey–German translation, from one of the major names in German publishing. This is sort of a big deal for me.

(In other news, I still really dig Marc Simonetti’s capital ship design on the cover of Terms of Enlistment. It’s not quite the way I had pictured any of the ships in my head, but it’s so cool that I find this design popping up in my head when I write about the NAC warships now.)

you should totally support this anthology.

Posted on by Marko

I’m a big fan of crowd-funded fiction anthologies. In fact, my second professional fiction sale ever was to a crowd-funded anthology, Alex Shvartsman’s “Unidentified Funny Objects”. (That was the short story “Cake Whores From Mars”, written on a dare from Chuck Wendig, and a crowd favorite at readings.) The UFO sale was a major motivation boost for me at the time, so I’ll always have a warm and fuzzy feeling when it comes to SF/F anthologies.

Allow me therefore to draw your attention to just such a crowd-funded SF/F anthology. This one is called “Athena’s Daughters: Women in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Vol.2”. My good friend and fellow Viable Paradise XII alum Tiffani Angus has a short story in there, and if the anthology has writers of Tiff’s caliber in it, I can assure you that it will be worth the money. Go check it out and see if it’s something you may want to drop some coin on, and support some great up-and-coming writing talent.

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“angles of attack” has an official cover.

Posted on by Marko

Hey, you! Yes, you!

Wanna see the cover for Frontlines #3, “Angles of Attack”? OF COURSE YOU DO.

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I am biased, of course, but I think it’s a pretty bad-ass cover, and probably my favorite Frontlines cover yet.

“Angles of Attack” will be out on April 21st in Kindle, paperback, and audio formats.

audiobook review: “terms of enlistment”.

Posted on by Marko

There’s a pretty sweet review of the audio version of Terms of Enlistment over at Audio Book Reviewer. You should go check it out.

The audio version of the third Frontlines book is currently in production, from what I hear. I am really happy with the work of Luke Daniels, who read the first two books for Audible, and I hope they managed to rope him in for the third book as well.

(I’ve also seen some of the preliminary cover images for Angles of Attack, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that they look pretty frickin’ sweet. I think this cover may turn out to be the coolest in the series yet. I’ll share as soon as I am allowed.)

I’m always happy when I turn in a finished book, but it’s also kind of a sucky phase–I’ve done all the work, and now I have to wait for everyone else to do their magic, and things are out of my hands and no longer in my control until the book is released. Luckily, I can keep myself busy by going full speed ahead on the next book.

it printed in cuneiform.

Posted on by Marko

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That monstrosity is a Brother WP-1 word processor. I recently found this picture online, and boy, did it trigger some memories.

I got one of those babies in the late 1980s, when I was just out of high school. I kept it throughout my four years of military service, and it got dragged to every duty station where I spent more than a few weeks. And “dragged” is the right word here–it was an all-in-one unit with an amber-and-black CRT, a floppy drive, and a daisy wheel printer, and it weighed probably close to forty pounds. (It did have a convenient carry handle, so it was somewhat portable, but let me tell you that this thing was no MacBook Air. It tested your commitment. You really had to want to write if you chose to take your word processor the weight of a car battery with you.)

I filled up many a 3.5″ disk with my early attempts at Fictional Noveling, let me tell you. And I only got rid of the trusty Brother when I got my first PC, a 486 DX2-50, which had Windows 3.1 and Microsoft Word on it.

Man, I’ve been at this writing thing for a while. I already had dreams of making this writing thing a profession when I was still in high school. And it only took 25 years of pounding away at the keyboard!

“lines of departure”, the goodreads choice awards, and you.

Posted on by Marko

Last year, TERMS OF ENLISTMENT made the SF shortlist in the 2013 Goodreads Choice Awards. This year, LINES OF DEPARTURE has managed the same trick in the 2014 Goodreads Choice Awards, which is nice.

If you read the book and liked it enough (if you in fact LIKED IT BETTER THAN THE OTHERS), then by all means please head over to Goodreads and vote for it. But even if you vote for someone else on the shortlist, that’s quite all right, because I am in pretty good company this year.

It’s nice to be recognized, but it’s nicer still when the recognition comes from reader-driven awards. Let’s hope I can keep the streak going with ANGLES OF ATTACK.

angles of attack release date.

Posted on by Marko

It appears that Frontlines #3, ANGLES OF ATTACK, has an official release date: April 28. Here is the Amazon product page, where you can pre-order the book if you are so inclined. There’s no cover art yet, but I’m sure 47North will update the product page as soon as there’s an official cover.

In the meantime, I can promise you a new novella in the Frontlines universe before the end of the year. I’m also officially at work on Frontlines novel #4, which doesn’t have a firm title yet. 

It’s a cruel and inconvenient fact that it takes months or years to write what takes days or weeks to read…

noo yawk city.

Posted on by Marko

I’m in New York City at the moment, attending NY Comic Con, meeting up with friends, and doing a little bit of Big City Stuff. I haven’t been back in the city since maybe 2000, so it’s interesting to see how much has changed around here.

It’s kind of trendy to talk smack about NYC, especially among my conservative and libertarian friends, but I’ll risk being uncool by admitting that I do love this city. It’s the first place I visited when I first came to the United States as a tourist, back in 1990, the days before the Internet or cell phones. I had six weeks of leave saved up and $6,000 worth of AmEx travelers checks in my pocket. For a lot of Europeans, NYC is kind of the epitome of the picture of America they have in their heads. And as far as national business cards go, NYC is a pretty cool one. It’s full of energy and history, cool Art Deco buildings, lots of stuff to do and see, and everything else that comes with being in a place that is one of the world’s cultural and financial hubs. On a global scale, only London, Paris, and Tokyo can lay claim to the same sort of impact and influence. 

Now I’m off to the Javits for some more writerly business, and a slice or two of NY pizza along the way. Because I didn’t come here to sit in a hotel room and dick around on the Internet, even if it is a nice hotel room and a fast Internet connection. In the meantime, have a few snapshots from NYC.

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october things, and paradise lost (which isn’t in october).

Posted on by Marko

It’s October, which is my birth month and also the very best of all the months, especially in New England. I vote that we rename this month to “Halloween”, which is also the very best of all holidays. I mean, how can you not like it the best? There’s costumes, hot mulled cider, candy, and ghost stories. No other holiday can compete.

I’ll be up in New York City later this week to do a thing or two at NY ComicCon. I’ll be doing a signing at the 47North booth, which is #860, at 4:00 on Friday, so please show up so I don’t look like a chump, pen in hand and a faltering smile on my face as I contemplate my UTTER LONELINESS.

Hope you’re all having a good October. Mine’s going to be busy, but fun.

Oh, I forgot to mention this on the blog: I’ll be an adjunct lecturer at the Paradise Lost V workshop down in San Antonio in April, corrupting the minds of up-and-coming writers with BLATANT MISINFORMATION alongside Chuck Wendig, Delilah S. Dawson, and Robert Jackson Bennett. Paradise Lost is open to graduates of Viable Paradise and Taos Toolbox, and members of the Codex Writers Group. Some of my old Viable Paradise XII friends will be in attendance at Paradise Lost V, so I am greatly looking forward to it. Also, I’ve never been to Texas except for a two-hour layover at DFW, which clearly doesn’t count as a visit to the state, so that will be a big bonus. I hear they have decent barbecue down there.

More news on the Fictional Novel Product front later. Now it’s back to the word mines so I can take a three-day break with a clear conscience.