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Category: books.

Badges? Badges?

Posted on by Marko Kloos

 

The notoriously awards-shy Bundeswehr has started to issue these little badges to German veterans to give them a little something that confirms their status and lets them show their service. I got mine in the mail the other day. It’s not a military award for the uniform, just a lapel pin. The motif is the Iron Cross, the old military award of Germany and the official vehicle marker of Bundeswehr tanks and aircraft, overlaid with the Bundesadler, the Federal eagle. It’s a small gesture that didn’t cost them very much per individual, but it’s something, I suppose.

I got a little busier with my developmental edits for DESCENT than I had expected. I also took off a week to go out of town and visit a friend in Pittsburgh, so I didn’t make any progress on the novella. The edits are almost complete, so I’ve picked up the pen and got things moving again.

There’ll be news on SCORPIO soon, so stay tuned for that. I also have a box of author copies, so I guess it’s time for the traditional giveaway so some of you get signed copies for an early read (and I don’t drown in paperbacks at home.) I’ll get that underway this coming weekend.

SCORPIO release date change

Posted on by Marko Kloos

Some readers have noticed that the release date for SCORPIO has been moved out to January 1, 2024.

There’s a reason for that change, one that I can’t reveal just yet. But I can tell you that good things are happening behind the scenes that will make the new date make sense once I am allowed to disclose them.

Edited to add: if you are a reviewer, book blogger, YouTuber, editor, book club, or someone who otherwise talks up books and makes recommendations, hit me up at marko dot kloos at gmail dot com. I have a number of ARCs (advance reader copies) left over after Readercon, and I can hook you up with one while my supply lasts.

Wild Cards: Pairing Up release day

Posted on by Marko Kloos

Happy WILD CARDS day!

I have a novelette featured in the latest Wild Cards anthology, titled PAIRING UP. It’s out today and available wherever books are sold:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675676/george-r-r-martin-presents-wild-cards-pairing-up-by-george-r-r-martin/

The novelette is called “In The Forests of the Night”, and it features my Wild Cards character Khan, the joker-ace who’s half tiger. The theme of the anthology is, well, pairing up–as in romantic connections. You don’t need to have read prior Wild Cards books to enjoy this one because they’re all stand-alone stories.

Kirkus Reviews did a nice write-up of the book and said nice things about my story, including this nice little pull quote:

Featuring two memorable and downright cool fight scenes, this story has a fitting conclusion that makes it noteworthy.

Other featured writers in this anthology are Kevin Andrew Murphy, Christopher Rowe, Melinda M. Snodgrass, Bradley Denton, Walton Simons, Peter Newman, Gwenda Bond, and David Anthony Durham. It’s a fun collection of romantic superhero entanglements, which is a subject we don’t often touch in Wild Cards.

 

ARCs and progress bars and also Readercon

Posted on by Marko Kloos


The ARCs for SCORPIO are in, which officially means it’s a real, actual book now.

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that the progress bar for DESCENT hasn’t moved a whole lot in the last two weeks. That’s because the whole family came down with COVID two weeks ago, and now that we have recovered, we are hosting family from abroad for a little while. Family visits always keep me extremely busy because I have to function as tour organizer, translator, interpreter, driver, and so on. But the bar is moving again, and I predict that the draft will still be done on schedule.

Lastly, I’ll be at Readercon in mid-July for a few days, so drop by and say hello if you’re going to be there as well. I’ll also have a bunch of these ARCs with me for reviewers and bloggers and so forth, so hit me up for one if you are such a person and you bump into me at Readercon…unless I see you first, in which case I’ll try to push an ARC on you.

Bookplates are on the way

Posted on by Marko Kloos

I finally got my ducks in a row for the bookplates I promised, and they are on their way. Everyone who requested a bookplate for their misprinted copy of ODDMENTS will receive one in the mail soon.

I also changed the layout of the paperback to reduce the font size and clean up the formatting to make it less of a phone book in size. The new format saved about a hundred print pages. As an added benefit, fewer pages means lower cost, savings which I decided to pass on. The paperback version is now $12.99 instead of $14.99.

 

Work in progress status update

Posted on by Marko Kloos

The edits for SCORPIO are done, and I’ve started work on DESCENT, Palladium Wars #4. My plan is to turn in the draft by the end of July for a release in the first half of next year.

I installed a progress bar widget for WordPress, so now you can all follow along as I write the draft. The progress bar is in the sidebar to the right, on top of all the other widgets, and I’ll update it daily with the current word count.

Bookplates for the ODDMENTS paperbacks without a Table of Contents

Posted on by Marko Kloos

I submitted the change files for the corrected paperback version of ODDMENTS that includes a proper table of contents. It should be live within a day or two, and all the print copies ordered from Monday on should have a ToC in them.

As a solution for those of you who bought the print version that has no Table of Contents, I will print the ToC on a large sticker (for use as a bookplate) and send it to the people who want one for their book, free of charge. I’ll even sign the bookplates for some ADDED COLLECTOR VALUE.

If you purchased a paperback copy of ODDMENTS that doesn’t have a Table of Contents in it and you would like one, email me at marko.kloos@gmail.com with your address, and I’ll send you a signed bookplate with the ToC printed on it.

A note on the paperback version of ODDMENTS

Posted on by Marko Kloos

If you’re looking to buy the paperpack version of ODDMENTS on Amazon, please hold off on the purchase at the moment. The version that is live right now lacks a table of contents, and I am working to have that fixed.

I’ll post an update in this spot when the new version is available. (That’s the paperback only….the Kindle version has a proper ToC.)

 

Release day: ODDMENTS

Posted on by Marko Kloos

Today sees the release of my short fiction compendium, titled ODDMENTS.

A while ago, I took stock of all the short fiction I’ve ever written. It’s a sizable pile of stories, but it’s distributed across a whole lot of online ‘zines, mosaic novels, or individual Kindle editions. If someone wanted to have all my short fiction, they’d have to go to a bunch of websites, purchase several different separate Kindle copies, and buy two mosaic novels. That’s a lot of footwork even if you know where to look, and too much of a hassle if you don’t.

I decided to put them all in one book, with a new introduction and forewords for each story.

The product description on Amazon reads thusly:

ODDMENTS is a compendium of short fiction written by Marko Kloos.
It contains all the short stories and novellas previously published in other story collections, mosaic novels, or online zines, combined into a single volume, with new introductions for each story added by the author.
ODDMENTS contains the following novellas and short stories:
  • On The Use Of Shape-Shifters In Warfare
  • Cake From Mars
  • Berlin Is Never Berlin
  • Lucky Thirteen
  • Measures of Absolution
  • Ink and Blood
  • Stripes
  • Probationary
  • How to Move Spheres and Influence People
It also includes three previously unpublished all-new stories:
  • Seeds
  • Steel and Paper
  • Rottertown
ODDMENTS: 120,000 words of fantasy, alternate history, and military science fiction by Marko Kloos, available in one comprehensive collection for the first time.
ODDMENTS is available via Amazon right now, in either Kindle or paperback formats. (The paperback isn’t live yet as I write this but should show up at some point today.)
If you were looking for a handy way to put all my short fiction on your shelf and get a few new stories as a bonus, it’s now super easy and highly convenient!

SCORPIO release date and cover reveal

Posted on by Marko Kloos

 

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I updated the “The Next Book” countdown widget in the sidebar a little while ago.

Today I can announce that SCORPIO, the first novel in a new series called Frontlines: Evolution, has an official release date: November 14, 2023.

You can pre-order the Kindle version here. I don’t know when they’ll add the paperback and audio versions to the pre-order page, but the release date ought to be the same for those once they appear as pre-order options on the product page.

Frontlines: Evolution will take the series to new places and introduce new characters…but that doesn’t mean you won’t meet some of the ones you already know along the way.