It’s been a while since I blogged. No, it wasn’t the longest coffee break ever. To be honest, I’ve had enough medical, legal, and dentistry distractions to set me back more than a few months, but I’m bouncing back!
Anyway, I had to put my writing and publication on hold, and build up a backlog of analytical responses for my online crit groups. (Apologies, fellow critters.)
But what a time to climb back in the saddle! Continue reading
No, not another “Game of Thrones” review.
It’s snowing in Luxembourg, Halloween is here and there’s only 55 days left to Christmas at time of writing. (To keep track of how time’s running out for your gift shopping, click here.)
And it’s been another month of ups and downs in a writer’s life…
“Your Secret Library” Online Magazine – Halloween edition!
Here’s your free read of seasonal horror stories
It includes my short story “Let The Children Sleep”
Like many other authors, I’ve had to change my newsletter mailing company as they weren’t delivering on the promised delivery. There’s so much admin involved: migrating my mailing lists, setting up new signup forms and “thank you” mails, creating newsletter templates, changing the links to my signup form in all the books and everywhere else I published it.
Amazon continues to have problems retaining valid book reviews. So far (touch wood) I’ve not lost any more, but other writers are again seeing theirs erased. I’m watching and waiting…
And so to the stuff I am supposed to be doing – writing!
My classic noir is in final revision with a target publication date of January 1st. A dozen of my short stories are with various online critique groups.
The new covers for my sci-fi trilogy seem to be doing the job, as my sales are climbing. (Someday soon, I have to write the sequel.)
I’ll get back to making imaginary things happen to people who don’t exist.
Happy Halloween!
This writing game is a bit of a strange adventure.
Telling Lies
A fiction writer tells lies in a vacuum. S/he tells lies about things that didn’t happen to people who don’t exist. And there might be no one listening… Continue reading
In my previous post, I dangled some “click bait” about how I was over-committed, then offered only a cliffhanger. My bad.
Seriously, I found myself in a time bind over the last few months… Continue reading
It’s been a long month.
Apart from the usual writerly stuff (you know, the stuff a writer thinks s/he’s going to be doing like… er… writing) authors across the world have been struggling with Amazon‘s widespread and apparently random deletion and blocking of reviews and trying to navigate the European Union’s new GDPR law.
Read on… Continue reading
Turning Worlds
So much catching up to do now my I’m back home! The world just keeps on turning, even if I’m not watching it. (Quantum physicists are invited to comment below on that observation.)
Distribution Channels
My novels’ distribution network continues to grow effortlessly! I use the Mention app to notify me if my name or my book titles appear on anyone’s web pages. No, it’s not an ego issue, it’s… professional… market awareness… all that stuff.
Anyway, Mention notified me that while I was on vacation, Continue reading
Some of you might have noticed a long silence from me.
Many will be grateful.
But now I’m back!
I just spent the whole of October on a road trip covering New England in the Fall and a batch of Canadian cities. Exhausted!
If you want to visit New England in the Fall, you just have to go in the Fall. And I highly recommend it. Stunning views!
Do note, however, that half the small-town New England service industry shuts down after Columbus Day. October is “out of season”. Er… “New England in the Fall”… Fall? You know, that period just AFTER Summer? A period that usually includes October? Ah, well. It’s their cash flow.
Anyway, it’s hard to blog while driving or striding through russeting forests. (Yeah, I made that word up.) So I took a blog vacation.
On my return, I had to catch up with all my snail mail (yes, people still use that in Europe, especially governments and other people wanting money from you). Then I surveyed my “TO DO” list. It was too long, so I set it aside and took up my “REALLY URGENT TO DO” list, which was a little shorter.
First up has to be a final revision of the last volume of my Janus Paradisi Trilogy: JANUS ARRIVAL. I hope to send it out to beta readers in a couple of weeks for editing and publication towards year-end.
Yes, I know Christmas is a lousy time to publish, but part two came out in April and I owe it to my existing readers to bring the saga to a conclusion soon. It will help them sleep at night, without worrying about how my oppressed characters are faring, out there in the deep beyond.
While I was away, I found praise winging my way on the InterWebs!
First up: A full-page article from Scifibook Review
If you like science fiction, you should be reading Sheron’s blog. I was delighted to see such a respected reviewer commenting favorably on my work. Many thanks!
Next: Another couple of particularly glowing 5-star reviews on Amazon. Writers love reviews, even if they aren’t all 5-star, so do a writer a favor and post a review of the best book you read this year, no matter who wrote it. Thank you on their behalf.
Oh, and a belated Happy Halloween to you all.
Whichever way you consumed your pumpkins (in coffee, beer, cheesecake, soup, sandwiches, cupcakes…), I hope you enjoyed them!
I made it. Sixty-six years old!
Sixty-six!
And counting.
So how does it feel?I asked myself that last year. The answer’s pretty much the same as then… Continue reading
NEW MUST-HAVE PARADISI CHRONICLES RELEASES (details below)
As my regular readers know, my JANUS PARADISI series takes place in an open-source sci-fi universe. A what?
Essentially, a group of authors agreed on the backstory and main features of a time and place where all action will occur, then write their own stories within those parameters.
These stories can be from any sub genre (hard sci-fi, space opera, fantasy, romance, whatever), as long as they stick to the overall parameters, such as planet names and environments, technology, history, and so on. They can use other writers’ characters (with permission), usually giving them walk-on parts, or referring to great events in other writer’s stories. Continue reading
Beware Book Pirates!
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been running an Instafreebie promotion (where science fiction readers sign up to my newsletter and receive a free copy of my novel, “FACES OF JANUS“).
Then Google Alerts notified me that the novel was available on a few pirate sites. I checked and found that one site claimed not only to have my novels but also every anthology I ever was published in. Some charge for their copies (and keep the income). Others hand out copies for free. Forever.
I explored a few pirate sites’ extensive book lists. Some of these pirates claim to have as many ebooks as Amazon! Most likely, these were cover shots only and downloaders would get a nice virus instead of my book. (Be warned!)
As my free offer was limited in time and scope, I was at first unhappy about this. But I decided to ignore it, because… Continue reading
