Author Blog

As you may, or may not know, I had a Kickstarter campaign to try and raise money to do a really nice professional cover, professional editing, and marketing for the fourth book in "The Casitian Universe Series." It failed, rather miserably.

I've had a love/hate relationship with book marketing ever since I started to think about bringing my novels into the world (well, honestly, it was 99% hate now that I really think about it.) I got swept up in this idea that I should spend effort and time with marketing to sell my books - something that doesn't at all come naturally to me. And, if I couldn't do it, I should hire someone else to do it (hence the need for the Kickstarter campaign, since I don't have that kind of spare cash laying about.) I read a ton of blogs and blog articles about 30 minute marketing, eBook marketing, 10 steps to a million copies, blah, blah, etc. etc. I hated to think about it, and I only managed to do a little.

In light of the failure of the Kickstarter project, I took a good hard look at the whole thing - my relationship to writing, marketing, getting my books read, etc. And in that look I realized that I'd been going about this the wrong way... for me. I was entering into a paradigm that wasn't the right paradigm that made any sense for me.

I've been a small business owner and/or an independent consultant for most of the last 14 years, and have always done only the barest of necessities around marketing myself (website, blog and business cards,) and I've done well enough. I've done well enough primarily because I spent a lot of time (and I still spend some time) paying it forward. I blogged about technology, giving folks comprehensive information and advice for free. I always gave away hours of consulting time, did free (or very low cost) websites, I always had really reasonable rates. I volunteered my time at conferences to give talks. I wrote articles for free. And it has been enough.

For some reason, I thought that it made sense for me to do something differently, more mainstream, with my books, but I know now that I was wrong about this. I knew enough about myself and my own philosophy about things to license all of my books with Creative Commons licenses, a form of paying it forward by allowing people to reuse and remix the work freely. But I didn't go far enough.

So, what's next, you might ask? Well, I have the answer, right here in this here blog entry.

First, I'm going to focus on my craft. I would like to work with an editor, primarily to make my craft better, and make it so that I can edit my work well in the future. I'm not exactly sure how that's going to happen, since editors cost money, but it is something I want to do. I will spend most of February and some of March editing my fourth novel, and publish it sometime afterward, with a very modest professional cover. I have two more complete novels that I will be editing and putting into production later in the spring and summer. I have a seventh novel that is currently in process that I hope to publish by the fall sometime.

Secondly, I have decided to give my books away. I'm changing the pricing for eBooks on Smashwords (which will propogate to other retailers) to free. On Amazon, I'm putting the first three books at $0.99 (can't make them free on Amazon) and I won't publish any more on Amazon directly. I'll be giving away all electronic formats on my website. For paperback, I'll be pricing them on Amazon at their minimum, and I also won't be publishing anymore on Amazon. In addition, if people want to request paper copies, I'll give those away as well. There will be a nice shiny donation button if people want to donate, but the books will always be free (and, of course, still licensed with a Creative Commons license.)

Thirdly, I'm going to blog about writing, science fiction, and book publishing in the 21st century. (But, you might say, you already blog about that stuff! Exactly.)

Fourth, I'm going to stop reading the marketing blogs, and focus on what I know I'm good at: writing, and paying it forward.

A lot of people ask me about the themes present in my writing. Of course there are themes relating to gender, race, and sexuality - I'm not sure it would be possible for me to write fiction without those themes.

But if I were to identify the core theme in my writing - the one theme that is consistent throughout the 6 novels I've finished, and just about every novel that I have planned (more than a few,) it would be the theme of what happens when people of sometimes subtly, and sometimes greatly different cultures (and I mean that in the broadest terms - cultures of human beings as well as cultures of aliens) are brought together by necessity.

Here are some examples:

In the first three books of The Casitian Universe series, the primary culture clash is between the Casitians - human beings gone from Earth for five thousand years, having evolved a completely different society, and Earth humans. But there are also other culture clashes - a big culture clash within humans on Earth, as well as cultures of the Galactic Community. These are big - involving many people, and public.

In the fourth novel of the series, the biggest culture clash is small and individual, and not at all public. It is between a Casitian and US society in the mid-19th century. There is, described in that novel, the big, public culture clash at the time - between southern slave society culture, and northern culture that abhored slavery.

In the novel I just finished, it's all very different, since none of the societies that I describe are familiar - but it is a clash between two cultures, both conservative and tradition-focused, but they manifest that in completely different ways.

I enjoy writing about this - it's a big question for me in life in general. How do we learn how to encounter other cultures in such a way as to be able to accept those cultures for what they are, and not in any way decrease the value of our own culture, or denigrate what others do. It's an interesting challenge, for sure.

I have just lauched my first Kickstarter Project. It is for support for the completion of the 4th novel in The Casitian Universe series. The premise of this fourth novel is:

"What if a Casitian man visited Earth in 1859, and stayed during some of the Civil War? What if he settled in Oregon, fell in love with an American widow, and traveled back with her and her children to the family home in Virginia that she had so desperately wanted to leave, and he posed as her slave during the trip? What if he met and helped a woman who was a slave along the way? What might that be like, and what might happen?"

I'm excited about this, and really hope that everyone who reads this can drop even $5 to help me hire folks to do a professional cover, some editing, and marketing. And you'll get some fun swag if you do!

I'll be posting excerpts from the novel here over the next week or so.

One of the things I like to do is interview my characters - especially those who aren't the protagonists - the ones who don't get much play. The novel I'm working on now, with a working title of "House Trageri", is new for me for a couple of reasons.

First, it is the only novel I've written from a single perspective. Everything else (5 novels now) I've written from multiple perspectives, so you get to be inside the head of several (or many) people. I chose to do this because I felt that this particular novel would benefit. I also did it somewhat as a challenge to myself - it makes developing other characters more difficult.

Second, although this novel is a science fiction novel (how it fits that is something you learn only quite slowly as you read it), it has a fantasy context (some may definitely liken it to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels, although this is quite different.) I'm not a fantasy writer - but I like the fantasy context, and it's been fun to play in that particular kind of sandbox.

Anyway, here is the interview with one of the characters. His name is Master Garliri Serel. He is the teacher and protector of the protagonist. You can get a few hints about the book in reading his answers to the questions. :-)

Here's the interview:

What is your hair color? Eye color? Skin color?

I have dark hair, like most in Trageri. I have dark eyes, and my skin is a light brown - the color of coffee with a lot of cream.

What kind of distinguishing features do you have?

I am tall, broad shouldered, and muscular. I have a scar on my cheek that I got from the war 25 years ago - one of the only injuries I suffered during that war. I came out the better, however - the one who gave me this scar got my sword in his heart.

Who are your friends and family? Who do you surround herself with? Who are the people you are closest to? Who do you wish were closest to?

I am pledged to House Trageri - primarily to teach and protect Daneli, Eldest and Queen. I was raised in House Serel, and go home often, but I am closest to those in House Trageri. I have made some friends, but my work is paramount.

Where do you go when you are angry?

Outside. I take a ride into the fields. It clears my head. Sometimes, I’ll go into the gym and do a hard session of sword practice.

What is your biggest fear? Who have you told this to? Who would you never tell this to? Why?

My biggest fear is that somehow, I will fail House Trageri, and something bad will befall Daneli. I have told no one this fear - they would not understand. But it is a fear I live with each day.

Do you have a secret?

Perhaps that fear is my only secret. Otherwise, I am an open book.

What makes you laugh out loud?

Clowns. For some reason, clowns make me laugh - the way they act and what they do.

When have you been in love? Had a broken heart?

When I was 18, I feel deeply in love with a man from a low-status family in my clan. We had talked about finding a family we both could marry into, but then an Eldest from a high-status family in a different clan proposed to him. He chose that over an offer for us both from another family in clan Serel. I chose, then, to not join a House or family, even though I had several offers. I was too broken hearted to marry after that.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Riding my horse, traveling from one place to another. Protecting Daneli, serving House Trageri.

What is your current state of mind?

I am calm and collected.

What is your most treasured possession?

My sword. It was forged in Warani - Warani has the best swordsmiths. It has a hilt wrapped in the finest suede - comfortable grip, and an edge that will cut paper.

What is it that you most dislike?

Dishonesty and duplicity.

Which living person do you most despise?

King Gasri of Warani. Dishonest, duplicitous, and manipulative.

What is your greatest regret?

That I could not save Queen Raliro’s life - that I didn’t see the assassination attempt coming.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

My fears, and the fact that I get seasick.

What do you most value in your friends?

Their honesty, their willingness to support me, and their senses of humor.

Which living person do you most admire? Why?

Master Wuron. He is strong, but sensitive. Willing to use force when necessary, but is always extremely careful, and considerate of all of the consequences of his actions.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

That I could be braver.

How would you like to die?

I would like to die a quiet death at home, alone, knowing that I did my best, and knowing that there was someone to carry on after me.

This is a follow up to my previous post about Fantasy vs. Science Fiction. One of the cool things about Fantasy is the maps, and I have one for the new novel I'm starting. I thought it would be fun to share it. It's definitely a very early draft - there is a lot missing, and I know that there will be many changes in the final version. I created it using a great program from Pro Fantasy called Campaign Cartographer. As someone who is not much of an artist or designer, it makes it relatively easy for me to create maps that work for me. I've got a lot to learn about how to use this program better, but I really like it.

Anyway, here's the beginnings of map.

I've been reading both fantasy and science fiction for years. Many, many years. I love them both, although I do tend to read much more science fiction than fantasy. And I've always considered myself strictly a science fiction writer... until now.
I have a fantasy story that has been running around in my head for years, and my muse tells me it is time to start writing it down. As I've begun to outline it, and spin the plot out before beginning to write scenes, I'm struck by the differences and similarities in my process.
I am, and probably always will be, a hard sf writer (that is, when I write scifi.) I think it's that I've been a scientist, and I like to have my stories have scientific credibility. An upcoming novel I have in draft form, tentatively titled The Right Asteroid is very definitely a hard SF novel. You could argue that the Casitian series is soft, because of it's focus on social commentary, but I tried pretty hard to make the science mostly believable. So in the process of outlining a new novel, I spend a fair bit of time figuring out the science. How fast can ships go? Is the star I'd like to pick for the location of a planet truly a good candidate to have a habitable planet? What would living on Mars be like 100 years from now?
In starting to write this new fantasy (ish - I don't want to spoil it, but it does have science fiction elements) I'm starting with what the families look like, and what does royalty look like, and what faith do people adhere to, and what is the social structure like? I'm delving into landscape and weather, and level of technology (like, uh, swords and stuff.) I'm looking at what kinds of gifts people have, etc.
Some similar elements are things like language and names - I've spent time on that a lot in writing scifi as well.
It's fun. It's different, and I'm enjoying the different muscles I'm stretching. And I think it's going to be a fun story.