News and Notices from the Writing Trenches # 134…
[Aren’t you lucky! Double feature today…]
Holly Berry Arts and Crafts Show success. I want to thank everyone who stopped by my booth. If you also purchased a book or books, all the more thanks—I hope you enjoy the stories and come back for more. That show was a great success for the Upper Montclair Woman’s Club in general—all for a very the good cause of supporting their community actions—and for me in particular. It was a very different experience compared to a book fair. You can see a pic of me at the show on my Facebook author’s page (“Liking” the photo and/or the author page in general would be greatly appreciated).
Book clubs. While I signed all the books I sold at the Holly Berry Show (there were many!), my participation there seemed less like a book signing or book fair and more like the experience I have with book clubs—lots of discussions with people about the writing life, books and authors, genres, and so forth. In spite of being a bit of an old-fashioned, introverted, and reclusive author, I enjoy that kind of interaction. I’ve always been a people-watcher and enjoy talking with people (although I probably listen more than talk). If you belong to a book club in the Montclair, NJ area, query me to discuss details about an appearance. Depending on the size of your club, I can provide complimentary ebooks or print books (if available) for the club members.
Email newsletter. At the Holly Berry Show people signed up for an email newsletter, so I decided to offer it in general (new policy!). This will be a shortened and more sporadic version of this newsletter about newsy items in my writing life you, the reader, might be interested in—new books, freebies, other events like the Holly Berry show, and news and info about the world of publishing in general that might affect you as a reader. I will NOT bombard you with zero-content newsletters or ads. And I will never divulge your email to third parties—I don’t like spam, and I imagine you don’t either.
Amazon is annoying. I was writing an article for next week on whether short story collections are doomed to extinction (please, no comments until you’ve read the article) and happened to look up details about Fire Upon the Deep, a Vinge sci-fi novel. In their defense, Amazon’s computer algorithms have no way of knowing what I intended to do with that information, but I was immediately blitzed on Facebook with an ad for that novel.
First, why blitz me with an ad? Presumably, if I were interested in buying the book, I would have bought it when I was on Amazon! Second, there is the stupid assumption that I was interested in the book, which is not true–I hate it as an example of a case where a sci-fi writer goes against KNOWN science. Vinge postulates that the speed of light changes as one moves away from galaxy center.
You can extrapolate known science in sci-fi; negating known science is a sin. That’s why I’m not into zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, and so forth, but you could call that fantasy. Vinge received the 1991 Hugo for his book, a prize generally reserved for true sci-fi, and that’s how his book was marketed. In such cases, I can’t get beyond the pseudo-scientific crap to enjoy the story–sorry Vernor!
New PDF free for the asking. I just finished the novella “The Whistleblower” last week, a story set in the future about two presidential candidates and their backers. It’s a pessimistic portrayal about how American democracy might evolve, so we’ll say it’s post-apocalyptic considering the current election results. It’s completely bipartisan, though, because I don’t say which party each candidate belongs too, and they’re both sleazy. This has joined the list of other PDFs free for the asking—see the “Free Stuff & Contests” page. Query me via the contact page.
More info for readers. In addition to the online and email newsletters, I write book and movie reviews and author interviews. Bookpleasures.com is where I do my “official reviewing” of books, but I’ll often post reviews of books I read for R&R here. Also, any reader with comments, questions, or concerns about one of my books can use my contact page—I’ll respond as soon as possible. (Those email threads can be a lot of fun.)
Info for writers. About half my posts in recent months have been about writing and the writing business, 309 in total over the lifetime of this blog—yeah, I’ve been writing for a long time! Here are some recent titles of posts you can find in the “Writing” archive that might interest you: Crime, Mystery, and Thriller Stories; NaNoWriMo and Writing Distractions; Action Scenes; The Cart and the Horse; “Cultural Appropriation” in Writing; Dystopian and Post-Apocalyptic Fiction; Short Story, Novella, or Novel?; Books by Celebrities; and Are Traditional Crime Stories Passé? Maybe it’s time to add to my little course on fiction writing? (That’s in the archive too, but it’s also compiled into a PDF, free for the asking.)
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Action on the southern border! No, it’s not Trump beginning the construction of The Wall. It’s Chen and Castilblanco fighting terrorists, a cartel, and neo-Nazi militias. In Angels Need Not Apply, the deadly duo from the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” go undercover to fight crime as part of a national task force. This novel is available in all ebook formats.
In libris libertas!
