The Nostalgia Gambit got its first Amazon review!

I was remiss about sending out ARCs (advance reader copies) of The Nostalgia Gambit, so it has just now gotten its first Amazon review, four stars! The reviewer zeroes in on the themes of family and identity, and  notes:

“... things get even more complicated as Tychon is forced to doubt everything about himself and his memories. The result is a story that builds very slowly and quietly, but packs a punch at the end as Ty learns many truths about himself and his history.”

One more try

I'm still trying to get The Sixth Discipline to be free on Sony. Supposedly, Sony matches whatever price I set on Smashwords, but it has been months since I made the book free on Smashwords, and as of a few weeks ago, it was still 99¢ on Sony. After several attempts at reshipping it didn't work, I decided the only thing left to try was to actually take it down from Sony and then to re-ship it. It's supposed to be shipped again soon, so we will see if that works.

Fingers crossed!

The future is (more or less) now!

The future has always been now, in the sense that time never stands still. Once someone gets an idea for a better way to do something—and starts to work on it—things starts to change. What's different now is how much the pace of change has accelerated.  When my daughter was much younger, she asked me if I fought with my siblings over what videotapes to rent at the video store (because she and her brother could never agree). I explained that we didn't have videotape or VCRs when I was a kid. Now, of course, it's either DVD's from a vending machine or downloads from Amazon or Netflix. Baring some kind of freaky time reboot, her generation will be the only one to rent videotapes as kids.

There's a science fiction blog called i09 that has a wonderful post about predictions from science fiction that came true in 2012. They're all pretty cool, but the three I found most intriguing were these:

• Dawn of the Cyborgs:  South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius is a double amputee who raced in the Olympics wearing blade-shaped prosthetic legs. His nickname is (naturally) Blade Runner. 
• Flowers for Five Unnamed Rhesus Monkeys: Scientists were able to improve the cognitive ability of monkeys by implanting a chip in their brains. And unlike poor Algernon the mouse, this effect didn't wear off.
• Warp Factor One: NASA has begun working on a design for a faster-than-light drive! It's all very theoretical, but still, it is so cool that NASA is trying to "Make it so!"

This is one reason it's so hard to write science fiction! Reality keeps catching up!

Why do we say “sick as a dog”?

I had a wonderful dog for 14 years, and he was very rarely sick. He tore both ACLs (I didn't even know dogs had knees, let alone that they had anterior crusciate ligaments, those things in knees that athletes are always tearing) when he was about eight. That affected his quality of life later, but he still lived to be 16 or 17 (he was a rescue so we're not sure of his age).

So why, when we are miserable with, say, the flu, do we say we are sick as a dog? I am pondering this because, like a sizable percentage of the US East Coast population, I have the flu. I'm quite miserable, actually. I ache all over like someone beat me, I have a headache, my throat hurts like heck, I cough all the time, and right now I can feel I'm spiking a fever.

But I did want to thank the folks who posted Amazon reviews of my books in the last couple of weeks. Almost every title got a new review, which is pretty good, considering that most of them have been out for well over a year. Of course, they weren't all glowing, but even a somewhat-negative review is better than no review.  The exceptions were the fantasy novella Where Magic Rules, and the new novel The Nostalgia Gambit, but I have hopes TNG will get a review soon.

So thank you, and I'm going back to bed now, because I'm (you guessed it) sick as a dog.

Happy New Year and a request for reviewers

Today is the first day of 2013. As a friend pointed out on Facebook, the new century is now a teenager. It can go to its room a sulk for a while if it likes, but meanwhile the rest of us have to get on with life.

For example, I plan to launch my alternate history King of Trees later this month.  I'm hoping to get a review or two lined up for this one closer to when it launches, as my regular reviewers are a little backed up.  If anyone out there would like to get a free review copy, please post a comment to let me know, or if you prefer, send an email to me directly: carmen (dot) webster (dot) buxton (at) gmail (dot) com.  Be sure to specify if you need epub or Kindle format, but I would like the review to be posted on Amazon US, as to start with, the book will only be available in the Kindle store.

Here's the blurb to see if you're interested:

“What if the world we’re on is only one thread out of millions of threads in the rope of time?” The question the Outsider woman posed to him left Bardolph as confused as ever. He knew the Outsiders had appeared as if by magic many years before, during his great-grandfather’s reign, but he had never understood where they came from. He only knew they had changed Albion forever.

Melissa York might have been grateful to her rescuer, who called himself King of Albion, but she saw no reason to let her gratitude influence her opinion of antiquated notions like monarchy and pagan religions. Let the Druids go back to their forests. She and her people were the best defense Albion had against the invaders.

Bardolph knew better. All the peoples of Albion would need to work together, or they would find themselves conquered again. Only this time instead of a Roman emperor, their tribute would be paid to one in faraway China.  He only hoped the Outsiders were as clever and as powerful as rumor said they were, because Albion needed all the help it could get.
    

My Christmas present to myself

I love my new Paperwhite Kindle! The screen is so fantastic, it's a joy to read on it in any light. When I bought it a few months ago, instead of buying the fancy leather cover, I got a simple slipcase, that was much cheaper, because I figured now that the device itself had its own light, it didn't need the fancy cover. Previous Kindle models solved the problem of the need for light by offering a cover with a light in the top, that the Kindle fit into snugly; this allowed the light to run off the Kindle's battery. It was convenient, but getting the Kindle in and out of the case was a pain, so mostly I read with the Kindle in its case even when I didn't need the built-in light.

One reason I got the slipcase cover was so I could read with just the device in my hand; that lets me take advantage of how incredibly light the Paperwhite is, compared to my old Kindle Touch in its case with the built-in light. And then Amazon sent me a coupon offering 40% off on selected Kindle accessories, and one of them was the Paperwhite magnetic case (sadly, only in black). It was such a good deal, I figured it was time to see if the case was worth the added weight,

It so is! When you open the magnetic case, the Kindle comes awake instantly! It feels more like reading an actual electronic book when the Kindle lights up as soon as you open the cover. Ditto when you finish reading, all you have to do is close the case.  The only downside is, that if you want to take the Paperwhite out of the magnetic case, it is almost as difficult as it was to get the Touch out of the lighted case.

Now if they could just make a dual screen version, it would look a lot the the readers in some of my novels.

Merry Christmas from me to you! (another free ebook!)

Assuming Amazon doesn't goof (again), as of Wednesday, December 26, The Nostalgia Gambit should be free in the US Kindle store and also in the UK Kindle store, the Canadian Kindle store, and the German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, and Brazilian Kindle stores.  This is a KDP Select promotion, which means it can be international in scale (there are now a lot of Kindle stores) but will be of limited duration. At present, I don't anticipate making this book free after Thursday, December 27.

Hope you had a good holiday, and if you got a Kindle or a tablet for Christmas, have a book on me!

King of Trees coming next year!

I'm still proofing my converted file for the Kindle version of King of Trees.  I don't expect to have it for sale in the Kindle store until some time in January.  Even writers have to take holidays!

This book is a departure for me, an alternate history where England is called Albion and Druids still hold sway.  In this world, the New World was never conquered by Europeans—although the Roman tried their best. The hero is a man named Bardolph Patrickson, a blacksmith who supports his mother and younger sister. Bardolph also happens to be King of Albion, and when his country is attacked, he has stoke his forge and answer duty's call.

The Nostalgia Gambit is live on Amazon!

My newest book The Nostalgia Gambit is now for sale (or for borrow if you have Amazon Prime and a Kindle or a Kindle Fire) in the Kindle store!

I don't have time for a long post but here's the (updated) blurb:


Tychon Damiano was minding his own business when disaster struck. Of course, since his business was buying and selling stolen goods, disaster was not entirely unexpected. What was unexpected was a wanted felon waking up in a palace full of servants and high tech gadgets, including a virtual girlfriend. It's all very pleasant except for one little problem:  Ty can't leave. 

Just about the time he discovers that a real woman is vastly superior to the virtual kind, some truly alarming nightmares start to haunt his sleep. Ty learns to play chess from a master, but one thing he's never sure of is, exactly what game is he in? 

One and a half down!

I turned in the m.s. for King of Trees to the conversion house, and I got back the finished files for The Nostalgia Gambit. With so much going on, I could say that now I'm cooking with gas, which would be especially apt because our kitchen reno is done and we are, in fact, quite literally cooking with gas!

TNG should be in the Kindle store before the week is out; KoT will take a few weeks, because there is always a correction step to check for last minute errors and conversion problems.  Meanwhile, here is the cover for King of Trees.