Look what just arrived

Yesterday's mail brought my author copies of Jump Gate Twist, which with the paperback of Overthrowing Heaven (available now from your favorite bookseller) here decorates the top of a bookshelf in our upstairs hallway. Though I am far from unbiased, I have to strongly recommend you pick up both books. After all, you don't want to loan your hardback copy of OH, do you?

I didn't think so.

Jump Gate Twist is, as I've blogged previously, chock full of goodies. Sarah, who had not read any of the original material in it or "My Sister, My Self," the first Jon Moore story, declared it a "pretty cool volume." She is my daughter, of course, so you may be inclined to see that recommendation as perhaps a tad biased, but I discourage that sort of thinking; you can trust me, and you can certainly trust her.

All shilling aside, I really am pleased to see both books, and Jump Gate Twist truly is an amazing bargain: it contains two complete novels, two short stories, a bunch of essays, a gorgeous John Picacio cover--and it can be yours for the bargain list price of twelve bucks (way less on Amazon).

Okay, that was more shilling. Drat.

I'll end with this: It's cool to see these additions to my bookshelf.

The final cover for Jump Gate Twist

Publisher Toni kindly gave me permission to show its image here. I think it looks awesome. See for yourself. Click on it for a bigger view.



Nifty, eh?

This sucker is going to be one big omnitrade paperback: almost two inches thick with 723 pages. I'm looking forward to holding one.

Naturally, I hope lots of readers are, too.

Fun facts about Jump Gate Twist

You won't be able to buy the book until July, but I've now reviewed the page proofs, seen the cover text, and am basically done with it. So, I thought a few fun facts about it might amuse you--and explain why this is a must-have volume even if you already own the first two Jon & Lobo novels.

It has an awesome John Picacio cover.

John worked long and hard on this piece of art, and all the effort shows. We're hoping this very different look helps the collection reach a different audience than the one the first two books enjoyed.

It's not just an omnibus.

Having both One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack in an over-sized paperback format at a price lower than the sum of the cost of the two paperbacks would be enough of a reason to buy this volume, but we didn't stop there. Oh, no. We went for more.

How much more?

Five new essays that link the pieces of fiction in a new narrative flow.

These essays tell how the books came to be and reveal a few Jon & Lobo secrets never before available in print.

The first Jon Moore short story, now back in print after 27 years.

Short of buying a used copy of the book that contained it, there's been no way to read "My Sister, My Self" in all that time. Now you can.

The first solo Lobo tale--and it's a Christmas story!

It's not just a Christmas story, either. It's a Christmas story that

* is from Lobo's perspective

* fits into the chronology of the Jon & Lobo future universe (you have to read it to see where it fits)

* pays homage to multiple Christmas story conventions and traditions

* is positively Dickensian in many ways

* is respectful of Christianity

* contains a serious meditation on the nature of God--by Lobo, and in an entertaining way

Let's face it: This book is a bargain!

Its list price is twelve bucks, and you can get it for a little over eight on Amazon. For that low price, you receive over 242,000 words of material!

Let's face it: This sucker would be a deal at twice the price.

I hope you enjoy it when it appears!

Remember that rule

I said I had, the one about not showing my work to anyone except Dave before the book or story is completely ready for publication? Well, I'm about to break it, and I thought it might be useful to explain why.

I've finished the first draft of the original, brand-new, never-before-seen solo Lobo story--the Lobo Christmas story--for Jump Gate Twist. I'm running it by Dave for a quick check before I do a final polish and send the entire book to Publisher Toni, who will be especially glad to have it because it's due to the printer about, oh, now.

I'm also, though, going to show it to Bill for a reason I consider sufficiently important to break my SOP: He possesses in-depth domain knowledge that I need. I'm not going to say what that domain is, at least not yet, because I don't want to affect anyone's perception of the story, but if you remind me after the book appears, I'll explain then.

My more general form of this exception goes like this: If a person really knows a specific subject that affects your work, and if that person is willing to lend you their expertise, then I think it's perfectly fine both to ask questions of that person during the writing of the work and to show the relevant sections of the not-fully-published prose to that person.

Which is what I'm doing now.

In directly related news, I can tell you that I will be the one person in the world who will be happier than Publisher Toni to see this book head into production. I am tired of being behind schedule and look forward to a return to writing normalcy.

Two tunes, two bits of Jon & Lobo trivia

When I wrote the first Jon Moore story, "My Sister, My Self," I conceived of it as the opening chapter to a novel. (You'll be able to read this story in Jump Gate Twist, due this summer at bookstores everywhere.) I wrote it to stand alone fairly well--well enough that it sold, but not so well that its real purpose wasn't clear to many.

I had planned to open each chapter with a quote from a song that had influenced my writing during that chapter, so I put a few lines at the start of this story. Those lines cost me $25, the fee Bruce Springsteen/ASCAP charged for using them. Considering I earned something like $150 for the whole story, that was quite a chunk of my earnings. Those lines won't appear with the story in Jump Gate Twist, however, because I don't have the time to secure the rights again.

The next chapter of that book I never wrote was to be called "Benny the Geek." The events of that chapter appear in Children No More, albeit in many chapters and with some changes from my original vision. I'd already outlined most of that chapter before I put aside the book, and I'd already chosen the song lines to use.

I'm not sure if it's fair use to give you the two sets of lyrics here, but I am sure it's okay to link to YouTube videos. So, here's a lovely live version of the song from which I pulled the quote for "My Sister, My Self."



For "Benny the Geek," I used lyrics from this tune. (Warning: This one plays far louder than the first at the same volume level.)



Damn, but the teen me had a thing for Grace Slick based entirely on her voice.

I'm pretty sure I can say yes or no if you guess the correct lyrics, so feel free to do so in comments. Or not; you can always just enjoy the music.

That Jump Gate Twist news

A couple of days ago, I said I'd soon tell you about a cool new thing I'm doing for Jump Gate Twist. Now that I'm working on the original material for that book, I thought it was time to come clean.

I've mentioned before that the book will contain the very first Jon Moore story, "My Sister, My Self." This piece takes place when he was 16 years old and still on Pinkelponker--about 135 years before the events of One Jump Ahead. This story has been out of print for about 27 years, so I thought it would be cool to add to the book.

Of course, the book will collect the first two Jon & Lobo novels, One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack. You knew that.

I've also written here that I would include some new non-fiction pieces, afterwords and introductions. I'm working on those now.

I like this collection of stuff. I think it will make this omnitrade volume a bargain.

I couldn't, though, quite make peace with it. It felt incomplete. I finally figured out why: its solo Jon story creates a kind of fictional imbalance, an over-weighting of Jon's end of the duo's story teeter-totter.

There was only one solution, and that's what I'm announcing here: Jump Gate Twist will contain the first solo Lobo story, an original piece that has never appeared anywhere. (I know that for a fact, because I'm going to start writing it in a day or two.)

Yes, Lobo without Jon.

Even that, though, wasn't enough for me. If I was going to wade into the strange waters of writing a story with Lobo as the protagonist, I wanted it to be something different, something no one would expect.

Then the idea hit me, and I was instantly in love with the concept: this new piece won't simply be the first solo Lobo tale. It will be a Lobo Christmas story.

Not only that, but the story will completely fit into the Jon and Lobo universe, obey all its rules, and have a natural place in the chronology of the stories.

I'm quite excited to be writing it.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

In case I forget later

please remind me, when the time is right, to give you the details on the following cool things:

* a nifty announcement about Children No More. I mentioned this one before, but it is, if I may say so myself, something genuinely good that you don't see every day.

* a cool new thing that will appear in Jump Gate Twist (and, no, I'm not just talking the introductions or the amazing John Picacio cover)

What, me tease?

Never.

In the meantime, because The Hold Steady is bringing out a new album in early May, I'm sure you'll want to join me in making sure we're current on all their music. There's no place like this song to start. Enjoy.

Today's most frequently asked questions

I've been answering these questions (or more polite versions of them) from a bunch of folks for a few days now, so I thought I'd save myself some time and share the answers with all of you.

What's up with that damn book anyway?

I'm still working on Children No More.

When will you finally finish it?

When I'm done.

What's this cool idea you mentioned last Sunday?

I'll tell you as soon as we've worked out all, or at least most, of the details. I do, though, think it's pretty cool.

What other new, original material will you include in Jump Gate Twist?

That will all depend on scheduling, but if time permits, I'm hoping to write something I think Publisher Toni would really like.

What is that thing?

I'm not ready to tell you.

Are you aware that asking you questions about your work is a pretty frustrating experience and sometimes you can be a little bitch about answering them?

Why, yes, I am.


There, don't you feel better with all these fine answers?

Preliminary book covers for Children No More and Jump Gate Twist are online

Publishing is a long-lead-time business. The books that will appear in bookstores next summer are now (and have been for a few weeks) in catalogs that publishers' sales reps use to help sell their upcoming titles. One consequence of these long lead times is that publishers often have to design preliminary covers before they have the final art in hand. Similarly, artists have to create cover illustrations before they have the final book in hand; in fact, many artists must complete assignments without ever having the chance to have read a word of the book.

All those issues exist with Children No More, the fourth Jon & Lobo book and the one that I am still writing. To some degree, Jump Gate Twist has the same problems, because though both the publisher and the artist obviously have the two books this omnibus collects, they do not have the other material I will be adding to the collection.

All of this is to explain that the covers I'm about to show you are preliminary, not final but still publicly available.

First, check out the look of the draft jacket for Children No More. It's a very different look for Baen, a bit of an experiment, and I quite like it. I find the black-and-white basic composition to be very compelling, with the two art components nicely telling readers that this is indeed SF. I think it screams "big book," which I would love CNM to be. I hope readers feel the same way and pick it up by the tens of thousands (which would be some trick, because there's no way my publisher will be printing that many, but, hey, a guy can dream).

Next, in another very different look we have the John Picacio cover for Jump Gate Twist. I've heard from a lot of women fans, readers, and friends who liked my books that they did so despite their male-oriented (in the opinion of those folks) covers. The goal with this new treatment is a simple, blatant one: To package the two books to attract a broader female readership.

Is that crass commercialism? You bet.

Do I mind? Hell, no. I think it's excellent. I pushed for it. I want my books to have the broadest possible readership.

Even though what you're seeing is still very preliminary, not even done, and even though I know my pal John will greatly improve the final product, I have to say that I also greatly like this cover.

So, what do you folks think?

Jump Gate Twist

is going to be the title of the omnibus volume that will collect my first two novels and some other material, including the first Jon Moore story, "My Sister, My Self."

You heard it here first.

Now, back to my daily ass-kicking by Children No More, which I desperately hope does not prove to be the worst book anyone has ever written.

Yes, I'm well along in it and thus living in The Dread. Lucky me.