Tag: fiction

An alternative to Goodreads

Are you looking for something worth reading — and if so, did you fall for the headline, the featured image, perform a keyword search, scroll and stop? Whichever, this is a rare moment, even rarer if you’re here on account of having read one of my novels.

Which is unlikely. According to The 10 Awful Truths about Book Publishing, 2021 saw 3 million titles published in the United States. That’s a lot of blurbs to plow through for the sake of a quiet evening with a Kindle in your lap. If you’re reading this (you are), I’m grateful.

And I will not abuse the privilege — the payoff is right here. Click image to follow the link.

Shepherd is not a publisher’s site, nor book blog, nor book review aggregator (per se). Here you will find, among other enticements, essays by authors, sharing what’s on their reading lists, and why.

That’s a clever angle. Authors may be counted upon to have streetwise standards for literature. The potential, especially for a reader looking to change up the bookshelf, cannot be overstated.

I have an essay scheduled for January 13. Look for it.

In the meantime, try the site. Please tell us what you think in the comments.

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Spicy, but just a little

An evocative adventure/love story from the author of The Illusion of Gravity.

In 1966 Manila, an American teenager courts a CIA recruit several years his senior. It’s a mismatch, a scandal. When she ships out, it’s over. Maybe.

An uncommon spin on the coming-of-age theme, informed by the author’s upbringing in mid-century Asia. Mature content, Young Adult appropriate. Value-positive, about good character as a strategy for creating a successful life. An immersive journey to a time and place now gone forever.

All my titles are #kindleunlimited.

Featured Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

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How to buy a flying motorhome on Jivada

Another work-in-process teaser, this one from Elbert, the first book in the Anye Constituency series. Illustration by Khoi Anh

Badari

The seller was a goat farmer, living on the rocky north coast not far from the SagGha temple where Guru Orsa disembarked the day they met him. He was Mahat Limar, talkative, apparently richer than King Midas, having a leasehold spanning a huge tract of land dotted with feed stalls and animal shelters.

The travel coach was kept in a barn, a space dedicated more to veterinary science than goat hospitality, but there was community on hand. Charlotte would have taken one home if she had a place to keep it. “This female is adorable!” Continue reading “How to buy a flying motorhome on Jivada” →

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The Vigil

I’ve been watching my KENP stats this month, which reveal that someone’s been reading my books!

It seems likely that it’s one reader, but the app doesn’t reveal that information – and there’s a blip on May 16 suggesting a person (maybe the same reader, maybe not) finished Silken Thread in one sitting.

Regardless, someone is consuming 30-60 pages in the Anye Legacy series every morning. If it’s one reader, then that person must have liked the first book, because Quantum Soul picked up on the chart a day after the page count for Illusion of Gravity dropped off. I can’t wait to see if Resilient pops up next.

It’s like a lottery ticket in my pocket. Am I about to be discovered? Woo!

I don’t have a punchline for this post, except to say – if you’re intrigued, check out my books. You might be next on the chart!

Keep reading. We need you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How to build an alien death ray

Another teaser from a work-in-progress novel, demonstrating that it's hard to write hard science fiction. This bit might have flaws, as I've never actually built a laser. Comments from those who have are solicited.

Chapter 167

Titan Pass, Nevada

Lasers are uncomplicated devices, but as one scales them up, they can be challenging to build. Small gas and ruby lasers are easy to make; but if one desires a large-scale diamond laser, he’d better have on hand an assortment of supplies and tooling.

Borosilicate glass pipe, taken off the bill-of-materials of a coal dust combustion reactor (for a never-to-be-assembled abrasives processing line), makes a fine armature for a lasing rod.

Insert the pipe into the chuck of a CNC lathe/vertical milling machine, trickle in refined diamond grit, pulse into a liquid state with an Anye-tech fuser mounted to a servo-driven tool arm, manipulating crystal lattice structure with components made for a quantum assembler (which you will also never finish).

Dope the mix with semiconductor manufacturing chemicals, forming internal optical circuits. Measure with a full-spectrum LED shop light and high-resolution imager (a phone camera).

Mirror coat the borosilicate pipe. Apply a suspension containing light emitting precipitate (Anye-tech homebrew chemistry) to plastic-backed graphene mesh (Japan), and wrap that around your pipe. Tap the graphene mesh for power. Finish the assembly with parasitic cooling tape (from your nanoscale fabricator) and Plasti Dip automotive wheel paint (RockAuto).

Walla! You now have in your possession a thirty-seven-centimeter-long laser core which, when powered, is capable of instantly destroying meter-thick concrete. It’s also past midnight, you’re dead tired, and you haven’t built a flying platform yet.

 

Note – Featured image by Tom Edwards, a UK cover artist.

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Space opera!

This is a teaser from what will probably be Book 6 in the Anye Legacy series. The working title is A Habit of Providence. I’m having fun, and I thought I’d share. Enjoy!

International Space Station — Earth Orbit

The International Space Station crew crowded against a viewport, taking pictures and waving, but the mission commander was inhospitable over the radio. “We’re not supposed to talk to you.”

“I don’t know what to say to that.” Elbert tossed a token into the augmented reality workspace. “Feel free to jump in.”

Pam instantiated a virtual push-to-talk widget; it felt rubbery, rough on one side, like it was really there, a surreal artifact of the universe she’d entered. “I’m Pamela Carlson, United States Army Reserve, and we’d really like to have a conversation.”

“Miss; I have the radio. Conversation over.”

Pam nudged Elbert on the shoulder, pointing out a handwritten sign taped to the inside of the viewport, saying ‘4 bars! millietheastronaut@spacecenter.de’. “It looks like you left your cell tower emulator on.”

It took ten minutes to strike an accord with the rest of the ISS crew and get on their way.

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Thought experiment …

I wrote a 9,700 word short story, a consequence of thinking ahead to Book 6 in the Anye Legacy series. It’s now making rounds at the SciFi monthly magazines for publication.

Rendezvous at the Lazy L

In 1920s South Dakota, a small-town physician learns that a local dude ranch is a destination for offworld tourists.

Black Rock, South Dakota — 1928

Francine Suraksin dallied at the gift store’s liquor display while her husband mooned over a Winchester rifle, a rite of departure he observed each season. The concessionaire — a tough-looking ex-policeman, ethnic Anye Kopin, pelt shaved so tight you could see skin — got to the point. “Buy it. You aren’t coming next year.”

That was a fact; after seven hundred years of adventure tourism along the retracement of 84 light-years previously untraveled since the Bronze Age, a time had arrived when non-humans could no longer risk dropping into the hills for calf-roping lessons, nature hikes and steak dinners. Continue reading “Thought experiment …” →

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Naked self-promotion

My Anye Legacy eBooks are finally starting to move!

According to reviewer Josh Grant at Diabolic Shrimp, the first book is “Sci-Fi with substance” with “Great action and intrigue”. Would that Josh had read all 3 – he could have said, “Literary SF, epic plots, thoughtful storytelling for grown-ups” or something like that. Not that I would coach anybody – although if you buy the books and say nice things on Amazon, I will not be offended.

Here’s the call-to-action – I need reviews and a boost in sales ranking on Amazon, else my work will never rise in the search lists enough to be noticed.  You can help by sharing my WordPress URL. What the heck – it’s only a click, and I promise not to embarrass you. The books are written-to-inspiration, rather than written-to-market, and some people think they’re pretty good.

Thanks for reading. We need you. Keep doing it. Comments welcome.

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Blurbed.

It is said that it’s a waste of time to do much in the way of marketing until one has at least 3 books to sell. Well, I now have 4 books published, so I suppose it’s time to review the essays I’ve been hoarding on my bookmarks bar. You know the ones – “How to turn your inane ramblings into a #1 Best Seller in 5 easy steps.” 

Fortuitously, Ricardo Fayet over at Reedsy sent me an email the other day – me and probably 150,000 other people, not that I’m complaining – entitled The Ultimate Guide to KDP: How to Succeed on Kindle Direct Publishing. I’ve seen this advice elsewhere – but it’s neatly organized and, as far as I can tell, all the salient points are covered.

Number 1 – Create a polished cover.

I think I have that, even though I didn’t use Paul Trif at TwinArtDesign for Silken Thread, choosing to do that one myself. I know – that’s often a mistake. Paul made 3 great covers for my Anye Legacy books and there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t do it again. Be sure and tell me if you think I’ve goofed on this one, otherwise I’ll blissfully move forward not knowing any better. Continue reading “Blurbed.” →

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