Second printings!

Here's a bit of publishing news that may matter only to me--but that I am nonetheless going to share with you.

The paperbacks of both One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack have gone back for second printings!

I'm quite excited, because these developments mean that my publisher needed more of the books, which in turn means booksellers needed more of them, which of course ultimately means that people bought a lot (as in, almost all) of the first printings.

OJA took 15 months to reach this stage, but SJ has been out only since May, so it hit the mark much faster.

I assume that such events are common among more established and more successful writers, but for me, this is big and welcome news.

My thanks to all who bought these books. Now, I have only one related request: Buy more, please, especially of the hardcovers. Having Overthrowing Heaven go back for a second hardcover printing, though not very likely, would definitely be a huge dish of heaping excitement.

Guest post: Slanted Jack and why the movie will be a success

MVN: This guest post comes courtesy of Ticia, who wrote it to amuse herself and me. I thought it might amuse you as well, so I persuaded her to let me put it here as a guest entry. Enjoy.

1) Your instincts to have Will Smith be Jon are dead on. I believe he would take the franchise far. He's gorgeous, he's talented, and he comes with a devoted following.

2) Every time I finish a Jon and Lobo book, I am left with the sad realization that there is no movie version of the books on DVD. Think of the joy movie-goers will experience when they realize they can rush right out and buy three (soon to be four) Jon and Lobo adventures.

3) When the movie is met with universal praise and awe, the chances of an audio book release are greater. There is a whole audience out there who listens to books while they commute. They are being dreadfully neglected right now.

4) You know you want to be a "foodie consultant" on the movie set. The restaurant scene will need a "location scout" as well. Imagine how much fun you'd have doing the research.

5) While "Overthrowing Heaven" has many visuals I'd love to see on the big screen, Wonder Island may cost too much to reproduce as a first venture. But, after "Slanted Jack" breaks all box-office records, the sky's the limit.

6) Also, in "Overthrowing Heaven", the beautiful Matahi and the fact that she's a courtesan might kick the rating level up from a PG-13 to an R; Or, if we were lucky, NC-17. We don't want that. We want to hook the families with young children. Two generations of readers is better than one.

7) I also nixed "One Jump Ahead" as the first movie because of Lobo. We need a fully functioning Lobo for marketing. Because there will be toys. Your books don't offer toys and I find that to be a serious downside. I want Jon and Lobo action figures.

8) ComicCon loves Sci Fi movies. Graphic Novel can't be far behind.

I could go on, but I don't want to bruise your writer's ego. So I won't even mention:

9) Michael Bay attached as director.

or

10) Happy Meal tie-ins.

MVN: I have to to say that if I got Will Smith for a Slanted Jack movie, I'd shut up about Michael Bay and the Happy Meal tie-ins--and cash the big checks that would come rolling in.

A little news: my upcoming book schedule--and a surprise!

Okay, yesterday I promised some fun news about Children No More, and only as I started to write this did I realize that most people may not find schedules and cover artist info to be fun. Well, I do, so if you feel I lied to you, all I can say is, I didn't mean to.

Anyway, first up is the schedule. These dates aren't cast in stone, but they did come from Publisher Toni, so I'm hopeful they'll stick.

June, 2010: the paperback of Overthrowing Heaven
July, 2010: the surprise
August, 2010: the hardback of Children No More

I'm also excited to report that my friend, Steve Hickman, will again be gracing a novel of mine with his cover, as Toni selected him to do the art for Children No More. He and I spoke at length Wednesday night about the book's story and some key scenes, and he's chosen what he wants to paint. I fully support his choice (not that it matters; he, not I, does the covers, while I write the books), and I look forward to seeing it.

And now, the surprise: As I noted above, in July of next year, Baen will be putting out an omnibus volume of my first two novels, One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack, in the affordable omnitrade format. To make the volume appealing even to those who already own those books, I'm going to be including some content exclusive to this omnibus, including

* the first U.S. reprinting of the original Jon Moore story, "My Sister, My Self," since its appearance over 25 years ago

* brand-new afterwords by me to both books

* with luck, a few more original tidbits I think you'll quite enjoy

If that's not enough to get you excited, try this: the book, which will appear under the title, Jump Gate Twist, will feature a cover by Hugo nominee and friend, John Picacio. John and I became friends in March at CoastCon, and I'm psyched that he'll be doing the cover for this one.

(Steve is not doing this book's cover because Publisher Toni, being a true friend of readers, likes to make sure that omnibus volumes use different artists from other books in a series so they don't accidentally tempt readers to think that they're the next books in a series.)

So, 2010 will bring a summer chock full of my books, a bunch of new material in one of them, including a chance to read the first Jon story, and the work of two great artists.

I'm a lucky guy.

The paperback of Slanted Jack is almost out

Last night, I received from the printer my author's box of the mass market edition of Slanted Jack. The book looks great, and it's cool to see Chapter 1 of Overthrowing Heaven in print as a teaser in this volume. With the economy continuing not to look great, more and more book buyers appear to be turning to the paperback editions, so I'm glad this book is almost on the shelves.

Of course, I'd like all those same buyers to pick up the hardback of Overthrowing Heaven, which will be available in early June.

Now, I just have that other book to write....

It. Is. Alive.

Okay, maybe not alive, but done in first draft. I just finished all the work on the first draft of Overthrowing Heaven. Last night, I typed "THE END" for the first time, but the draft wasn't complete because I had some patching to do related to the cover. I did that tonight, finished the front and back matter I'd already drafted, and assembled the whole thing in one file just because, well, that's what I do.

For those interested, a few key stats about that file:

* 129,874 words -- over 10,000 more words of awesomeness than Slanted Jack
* 63 chapters (yeah, they're short, but I think they work)
* 500 double-spaced manuscript pages

At this hour, I have no one with whom I can celebrate, not that I do that very well anyway, so I thought I'd tell you all.

Tomorrow, I start the second draft, which means I begin at the very beginning and start editing on the computer. Though I will be cutting madly, I will also be working to improve my imaginative concentration where it's weak, so if I run true to typical form the book will grow a bit.

I have a lot of work to do, a ton, really, but I also have a complete book draft, and that's kinda cool.

Sleep now.

A not so sneaky ploy

I love both mystery and SF novels. I read them in roughly equal measure, maybe slightly more mystery than SF. I'm writing an SF series now, but I have a 26K-word outline for a contemporary mystery/thriller and have written about 38K words of that book. Both of my SF novels have mystery plot lines: One Jump Ahead is a missing girl story, and Slanted Jack is a con-man tale.

Despite all that, no mystery review magazine or mystery bookstore will touch me.

As you might expect, and as I've mentioned before in this blog, I find this situation rather frustrating. I'd love to reach the mystery audience.

As part of my effort to do so, I've indulged in a not-so-sneaky ploy: I've donated signed first editions of my two novels to the charity auction at this year's Bouchercon, which I'll be attending this coming week. (Now that I'm announcing this tactic here, I suppose the veneer of sneakiness is gone entirely; oh, well.) I registered for the convention as an author, and in the attendee list they marked me as such and provided a link to my site. (Of course, in what I'm sure really was an accident, they dropped me entirely from the list; I'm hoping they'll fix that soon.) As a writer attending the con, I received the mass email from the con organizers soliciting donations to the auction. I wrote back that I wasn't sure they'd want my books, because of the SF marketing, etc. They replied that they would, and they pointed to a Baltimore-area writer who does future mysteries, the extremely well-known J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts). I sent off my books.

I plan to attend the auction and offer to personalize the books to the winner (which I'd be happy to do in any case), should anyone bid on them. I want to help the charities the auctions will benefit, and I'd do it anyway, but I figure maybe this way a few mystery readers will give my work a look.

I understand that this entire effort is almost certainly a waste, and it sure won't nudge the book-sales needle, but I'll feel like I at least tried, and that's something.

The cover for Overthrowing Heaven

Steve Hickman was kind enough to email me a JPEG of his pencil layout of the cover for Overthrowing Heaven. At the risk of tormenting readers--oh, hell, let's be honest: for the joy of tormenting readers--I have to say the sketch was pretty nifty. It's also unlike the One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack covers in a very obvious way that I won't mention. The cover is even reasonably true to a great (at least for me; you'll have to decide for yourself later) scene in the book.

I can only hope I finish the first draft of OH before he completes the painting of the cover. Right now, it's a tough race. I'm well over 100K words, but I'm far from done.

When Steve finishes the art and Baen has done the initial sales stuff with it, I'll see if I can persuade Toni to let me post the image here. I doubt I can succeed, and she should certainly withhold permission if my posting it would cost any sales, but I figure it can't hurt to ask.

Cool stuff.

End of torment.

How I work with my agent

As I mentioned in last night's entry, Maria asked me to comment on how I sold my first book and on my agent. I covered in that entry how I sold One Jump Ahead; tonight, I'll briefly discuss how I work with my agent.

First, as yesterday's entry makes clear, I did not use an agent to sell my first book. It never even crossed my mind to approach an agent for that sale, because I figured I would have to go through the slush pile and sell at least once on my own before any agent worth having would even consider taking me. I was luckier than that, as I explained, but I never contemplated getting an agent at that point.

After I sold the first book and wrote a story I owed an editor, I began plotting and then writing a mystery/thriller, Fatal Circle. I wanted--and still want--to work in multiple genres. It occurred to me that an agent might be valuable for this thriller, so I thought about getting one.

Dave's agent, Kay McCauley of the Pimlico Agency, was not accepting new clients, but a long time ago in a discussion about a nonfiction book, she had said she might consider representing me. Though I have never met Kay in person, I have exchanged multiple email messages with her and had multiple phone conversations. In all of them, she has come across as gracious, cultured, intelligent, and generally wonderful. Plus, Dave trusts her, which is big. I contacted her, she agreed to take me on as a client, and that was that. We never signed any paper; we're honorable people and didn't need it.

At that point, I was about 38K words into Fatal Circle. I did not want Kay to sell it until I had finished it. Then, Toni, based on preorders, decided she wanted three more Jon & Lobo books--and she wanted one each year. I was already behind schedule. We did a contract--again on my own, because I had done the first Jon & Lobo book deal on my own--and I had to put aside Fatal Circle to begin work on Slanted Jack.

This left Kay in the position of having nothing of mine to sell aside from foreign rights, on which she and her folks work.

I hope one day to give her the thriller to sell.

That's it. As you might expect, this whole setup is not the usual one, but that seems to be par for the course for my novelist career so far.

Not as good a story, Maria; sorry.

Connecting with joy

The Hold Steady were playing at The Cat's Cradle tonight, so of course we had to go see them. Sarah and I are both big fans of the group, and we'd seen them live once previously.

That earlier show was good. This one kicked its ass. The mix was one of the best I've experienced at a club, good enough that with or without earplugs you could understead lead singer Craig Finn's every word. With the storytelling style of their songs, that's vital. The band rocked hard for a total of about ninety minutes, with only a few minutes off between the main show and the long encore. The song selection was great, and everyone on stage and in the audience seemed to be having a great time.

Near the end of the encore, Finn said, as he did in the previous show, "There's a huge amount of joy in what we do up here, and we want to share it with you all." I know it's his standard closer, but I still believe he means it.

After the show ended, I was thinking about this concept in connection with both music and writing. The power of live music to let a group share joy is undeniable and vast; a great concert is an amazing experience.

As a writer, though, I sit alone in a room. When I nail something, when the story is alive in my mind and on the page, when I sit back and think, "Damn, that's actually what I wanted," I'm still alone. I know that thousands of people have purchased copies of One Jump Ahead (and I am grateful to each and every one of them), and I'm hoping that many more folks buy Slanted Jack and each successive book's sales grow, but the nature of the game is that I'll still be alone as I write. I think that if I could both believe I bring joy to others as they read the books and find a way to connect to that joy, I'd be a happier person.

Of course, that feels about as useful an observation as saying that if I could figure out how to grow a few more inches I'd be taller, but there you go; at least it feels like something that might one day help.

On the road again: Denvention, day 6 - winding down and a sad but expected loss

The con is winding down today, and so is my involvement in it. I took advantage of this change to sleep late, which was glorious; I slept off and on for over nine hours. If I could do this for another few months, I'd be good. No such luck, of course, but a man can dream.

After much deliberation and multiple visits to the dealers' room, I decided to pass on some expensive but lovely books. Chief among them was a $300 visual history of illustrations of Lovecraft's work. I may still order that book from the dealer who had it, but for now I'm giving it a pass.

After lunch we rode the free shuttle to The Tattered Cover, a wonderful old Denver bookstore. This store and another of their three locations were out of Slanted Jack, and only one copy remained in the third, which I think is a good thing.

I'm writing this entry early today because tonight after dinner (Rioja, for the well-deserved second visit) I will have more work to do on the book plus packing. I want to get a decent amount of rest tonight, try to exercise tomorrow morning, and then brace myself for a long day of flying. We're going through DFW, and the current forecast shows storms there, so we may have a fun time. So it goes; there's no point in sweating such stuff.

And now to the sad but expected loss I mentioned in the title of today's entry.

Earlier today, Clarence Chadbourne, a man I barely knew, died. He was almost ninety. Clarence contracted polio in his twenties and ended up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He and his wife, Marian, who survives him, had two children, both of whom died. When I met him at the funeral of Jennie's father, Clarence had the use of one hand and little else. That day, though, he sat upright in his wheelchair, a prominent figure at this gathering of his family, his cowboy hat atop his head, and he shook hands with everyone there. He was a proud, strong, stubborn Montanan who loved Jennie, his niece, fiercely, and who kept busy and working until his body failed him utterly. He was as mean at times and as tough as a snake too long in the sun, but you had to admire his will. It was a miracle he lived as long as he did, but he was a fighter, this one, a fighter with all the heart in the world. I admire that, and though as I said I hardly knew him, I couldn't help but think of him often, and now I mourn his loss. If there's a next life, you can bet your ass he's sitting tall in a saddle, thinking it's about damn time that he's out of that chair, wondering what he needs to do first to get the land into shape, and waiting for Marian and the rest of his family to join him. RIP, Clarence.

On the road again: Denvention, day 5 - con stuff and cover art

My con work began today with a panel on the business side of writing. The audience was small but very interested and very attentive, and overall I thought it went reasonably well. My particular focus was on basics, such as setting aside half of all your earnings for taxes, a practice that could have saved a lot of writers I know a great deal of pain.

After a nice Cuban sandwich lunch and some work, I joined my second panel of the day, a discussion of future inventions. Though the multi-hundred-person audience stayed and seemed engaged, I felt we jumped the rails and descended into chaos. Still, if the audience is happy, I should be happy.

I then found a quiet, private place and chatted for about half an hour with Steve Hickman, who will be doing the cover art for Overthrowing Heaven, the Jon and Lobo book I'm writing now. I haven't finished the book yet, and I don't show unfinished work to anyone, so as we did with Slanted Jack last year at this time, Steve and I went through part of the new book by phone. Steve found the scene he wants to use for the cover; I think it's going to be a great one. It'll definitely surprise folks--but it will be true to the novel and, I think, sell books, the most important function of the cover. I can't wait to see it.

After more work, we headed to the Hugos. I enjoyed the ceremony, though I always fantasize about being a nominee one day and so often find it somewhat bittersweet. I was very sorry to see Barry Malzberg's fine work, Breakfast in the Ruins, not win. In my opinion, and with no intent to disrespect the other fine nominees, I think Breakfast deserved the award.

After some time at the Baen party, both fun and compulsory attendance for all Baen authors, I headed back to work, which I'm doing now. I'd be a lot happier if I was further along in this book, but I'll get there.

Damn but this thing feels big

No, that's not me supplying my own "That's what she said" line. That's my current feeling about Overthrowing Heaven. I'm hoping I finish it someday, but the plot works and it's calling for a lot of words, so I'm writing them. Of course, I'm terrible at guessing book sizes, so for all I know this one will end up shorter than Slanted Jack.

It just doesn't feel that way right now.

Oh, well. Back to writing it.

Indulging in writerly neuroses

Saturday afternoon, Sarah, Kyle, and I, at my instigation, headed to our local Barnes & Noble. Sarah and I both wanted the new Hold Steady CD, and I wanted to see Slanted Jack in a bookstore. (I hadn't been to one in over a month, possibly a record for me due to vacation and, before that, vacation prep and back injury.) Some bookstore promotions last only a few weeks, and tomorrow will mark three weeks of offical on-sale time for Slanted Jack, so I wanted to be sure to hit the store over the weekend.

Here's how a writer, at least a neurotic one like me, goes to the bookstore when he or she has a new book out:

* Walk to center front table, knowing you won't be on it but circling it slowly just in case a miracle occurred. None did. Vow someday to be there. Realize vow is useless and you can't control sales. Wonder if animal sacrifices might help.

* Go to the new fiction arrivals table. Hurrah! Five copies of Slanted Jack stared up at me. Most books never get even that chance, so I feel blessed. Do little dance inside. Tidy up copies. Consider covering all the books on the table with them, but then regain senses.

* Go to the new SF bookshelf. Hurrah again! Three copies here, and they're faced out. Consider spreading them out to take up more space, but stop when young child looks at you as if you're crazy. Realize you are.

* Go to the V's in the SF-by-author bookshelves. Hurrah for the last time! Two more copies, also faced out. Three paperbacks of One Jump Ahead were also there, but not faced out. I quickly fixed that--and there was enough room that I didn't have to hurt anyone else's books. (Sarah has trained all her friends to do the same; bless them.)

* Hmmm, what else could one do? I know: Go to the information stand and offer to sign them all. I did, they accepted the offer (and claimed the "Autographed Copy" stickers do help sales), and I signed away.

Life in a bookstore is much simpler when you're not a writer.

Want a peek inside my head? And a contest

Too bad, because I'm going to give you one anyway.

Last night, I had one of the odder dreams in recent memory. I have no idea what it means, and Dave's always pointing out how much I hold back, so I thought I'd share this one with all of you. Blame Dave.

I'm on a two-lane blacktop in the middle of nowhere. The land on either side of the road is so shrouded in fog that it's invisible. My car, an old fifties model with a huge dash, is broken down. Two African American men, one a few years older than I and the other somewhere north of eighty, help me get moving. I'm in a hurry, excited to be heading wherever it is I'm going.

And them I'm back there again. They help me again.

And then I'm back there yet again. They start to help me, but then the old guy bends over, very slowly and with the obvious stiffness and effort of the very old, and picks up the small black leather vitamin carrier, the small black leather change purse, and the wallet I always carry. He hands them to me and says, "You dropped these."

I smile and say, "Thanks so much."

He then says, "If you don't mind me asking, where are you going in such an all-fire hurry?"

I motion him and the other guy to follow me around to the driver's side of the car, which they do. I open the door and point to a sheet of paper on the dash. We all lean in (don't ask; in the dream we have room) and stare at the sheet of paper. It's about eleven by seventeen inches, thick, printed in the old style of a carnival sheet, with large black type on a faded parchment background. It reads

You must CAPTURE the carpet cow.

The word "CAPTURE" is circled over and over in red ink, something I know I've done.

I point them to that line, they nod in understanding, I nod in happiness that they understand, and then I wake up.

Before you ask, I have no clue what a carpet cow is.

And now, a contest: If at least ten people email me (via my site) an entertaining explanation (serious or silly, I don't care) of this dream, and if they give me permission to post their explanations here, then I'll pick the winning one and mail them an autographed copy of Slanted Jack. I'll also post the others here, either with bylines or anonymously, as the submitter chooses. If we get fewer than ten entries, however, then no one gets the free book.

Fire away!

A field guide to the Jon & Lobo universe

My friend Susan, a talented costumer and dancer who blogs here and who posted a couple of comments on an entry two days ago, asked if I had a bibliography of stories in the Jon & Lobo universe. I didn't, but when I finish writing this entry, we all will.

The first story in this future history is "My Sister, My Self." It appeared in 1984 in the original anthology, Isaac Asimov's Tomorrow's Voices. Jon is 16 at the time, so it's about 135 years earlier in his life than the next story. Lobo doesn't appear, because they haven't met yet. This story is very different from the Jon & Lobo tales, but I like it quite a bit. An editor has said he'd buy reprint rights to the story, but the deal isn't done yet, so I don't have anything to announce. When I do, you'll read it here first. Until then, I'm afraid the only way to read this one is to prowl the used-book sites.

The next story chronologically is also the first to feature both Jon and Lobo. "Bring Out the Ugly" appeared in Cosmic Tales II: Adventures in Far Futures. If you've read One Jump Ahead, you'll recognize many of this story's events. When the story and the book conflict, however, take the book as the definitive version.

The third and only other story in this universe is "Broken Bits," which appeared in Future Weapons of War. Again, if you've read OJA, you'll recognize much of what happens in this story, but, as above, when the story and the book conflict, the book version rules.

I wrote both of these stories, by the way, before I wrote the book, but as you can tell I did not feel at all obligated to treat them as sacrosanct.

Looking ahead, Slanted Jack, which as I noted in an earlier post is now available on Amazon and should be in bookstores soon, is the second Jon & Lobo novel. It is a completely standalone book; you don't have to have even seen OJA to enjoy it (though if I've done my job right, it will feel richer to those who read the first book). Other than Jon & Lobo, no characters from OJA appear in this book.

Third in the series is Overthrowing Heaven, which I'm writing now. It is also a completely standalone book, though as above if you've read the others you'll find it an even richer story. Once again, no one other than Jon & Lobo reappears from the past books. This one does, however, give you some significant back story on Lobo and answers some key questions about his past. (It would take major bribes to get me to say more, but I am always open to them.)

The fourth book and the last one under current contract will be Children No More. I'll speak further about it after I finish the current book.

If the series sales figures follow the proper path (which would be upward) and the publisher thus wants more of these novels (which I hope will be the case), then I have many interesting plans. I have at least rough ideas for about a dozen books, including prequels, spin-offs (wonder what Alissa Lim's been doing?), a concordance to this rather complicated future history, and some big answers to some big questions.

I think that covers it, but if you want to know something else about the Jon & Lobo universe, just drop me a note via the site or post a comment, and I'll either answer your question or tease you with forbidden knowledge; ya never know.

Amazon has Slanted Jack!

Yes, that's right: you can now order the book on Amazon. I'm quite excited. I hope it soon hits the bookstores.

In case you were wondering, my back is still messed up, and I'm not supposed to be sitting during the day--though I am breaking that doctor rule way too often. I just had to share this news with everyone.

Now, all I need is for a group the population of Raleigh to buy the book, and I'll be a happy man. Okay, I admit it: I don't need that many buyers. I'd settle for the population of a much, much smaller town. I might as well dream big, however.

Back to flat on my back.

Slanted Jack is in the house

A box was waiting for me when I arrived home today. That's not unusual; you don't get a house as crammed with books, CDs, and DVDs as ours without having a lot of boxes show up. What made this box special was what was inside: my author's copies of Slanted Jack.

I'm biased, of course, but I think the physical book is a very strong package for an SF adventure novel. More importantly, it's a volume that should stand out nicely from other titles on the bookstore shelves.

For those who expect a little self-pimping, far be it from me to let you down: this novel is thicker than One Jump Ahead by almost a hundred pages, runs at a much faster pace than that earlier book, and would make a lovely gift for beach reading, summer reading, birthday, Father's Day, or any other event.

Okay, that's as much self-promotion as I can stand.

I am tickled to have the book, but it also reminds me that about eleven months from now I should be happy to be holding my author's copies of Overthrowing Heaven, a realization that then makes me gulp hard because I'm nowhere near done with that book. So, I'll go write a bit more of it now, as I will each day until I finish it.

The first day home after a trip

is always a rough one, because somehow no matter how hard you try to keep up while you're away, you find out you're behind once you're home. Today was no exception. I was up late last night processing mail, unpacking, getting settled, and so on, and then it felt like I started running when I woke up and never stopped. So, I'll keep this short.

John Scalzi was nice enough to mention Slanted Jack, One Jump Ahead, the Compton Crook award, and me over at his blog. If you're an SF fan, you probably already read this fun site at least now and then, but if you don't, give it a look. Scalzi's been at blogging a long time, he works at it consistently, and he does good work. His fiction also deserves your attention--and judging from the Hugo award and reprints and so on, it's getting that recognition.

In completely unrelated news that I may have mentioned before, I'm looking for a new chair for my home office, because ever since my last chair died I've been using this twenty-five-year-old POS that hurts my back. If you know of a great office chair, particularly one designed for lots of ass in chair time (a key part of writing), please let me know. This task has been living at the bottom of my enormous to-do list for a long time, but my aching back is helping it rise to the top.

The introduction of a major character awaits me in Overthrowing Heaven, so I'm off to write her first appearance.

One Jump Ahead is out in paperback

on Amazon, and I'm pleased as punch to see it there. I received my author's copies a bit ago, but because it's officially a June book I didn't expect to see it for sale anywhere for a little longer.

[Begin shameless self promotion]
Looking for a beach treat? A summer read? An inexpensive present? Consider this lovely paperback--and then pick up the hardback of Slanted Jack, the second book in the series, just a few weeks later.
[End shameless self promotion]

In related news, I have to say I'm not happy with my own speed on Overthrowing Heaven. I am enjoying the book as I write it, but I need to do more of it. I long to go away for three or four weeks and write many hours a day on it, but that's just not going to happen. Maybe someday.

For now, though, I'll get in the time I can, starting with the next little while.

One of the joys of having a nice publisher

As I write this, FedEx is carrying my edited galley pages of Slanted Jack to the typesetter. The galleys are standard letter-size paper on which the typesetter has printed the book as it will actually appear. The galleys represent the first time I get to see the book as a reader will. (The advance reading copy (ARC) has yet to receive my or the copyeditor's corrections and so may look like a final book but very much is not.) When you work on galleys, you find all sorts of little details that slipped by previous passes--or, at least, I do. I spend hours and hours poring over the book, and I make on the order of a hundred changes in the process. Other writers may well be better at handling those edits earlier, but I greatly value this pass.

Once the typesetter receives the galleys, she will turn them quickly and send the resulting final version of the book to the printer. All of this is SOP for novels.

What isn't standard is the fact that the book was due to the printer today.

I received the galleys a little over a month ago. I had the usual two weeks to turn them around and send them back. For various reasons mostly having to do with too much being on my plate, I did not meet the deadline. I hate that I failed to do so, but I did.

What made the edits possible were the efforts and flexibility of several people in the Baen production process:

* Toni Weisskopf, the Publisher, who said it was okay to try to get a day or two out of the printer

* Danielle Turner, the Managing Editor, who actually got me that time

* Joy Freeman, who agreed to incorporate my changes in a rush

I didn't even have to rush the package to FedEx; Jennie was nice enough to do that for me.

I thank all of these folks for buying me the time to make Slanted Jack a little bit better book. I greatly appreciate it.