8/15/2023 - “Dead of Night” Release and Workshop Survey

Hello and happy release day,

“Dead of Night” just went live—which sounds strange as I write it, but I’m going with the ironic phrasing anyway.

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Night-SciFi-Thriller-Novelette-ebook/dp/B0CF1CYX2B

If you like your interstellar settlement ship stories with a side of murder, or you like your murder mysteries set on giant spaceships, this is a great one for you.

At short story / novelette length, it’s a single-sitting read, fun to pore through in less than an hour, and (according to reviewers) worth the chills. It’s also available to check out on KU for a limited time. If you read and enjoy it, please leave a rating and review—I know authors say this a lot, but it really does make a difference, and it’s appreciated.

Thank you to all of the early readers and launch team members for boosting the signal today. If you’d like to be an early reader for next month’s novella “Murder on the Barge Inn,” please let me know, and I’ll send you the advance copy in a couple weeks.

Calling All Emerging and Growing Authors (Workshops!)

I am now hosting more of my workshops outside of the closed groups and conferences, which means that in the coming months, I will be reprising a handful of my favorite workshops and making them available to you. I'm almost definitely bringing back at least one of my novel planning sessions prior to November (and NaNoWriMo), but I also have several short story workshops along with some other craft and mindset sessions.

Check out the list:

https://forms.gle/ccHQwCkQ7QnXWHK77

I will be sending the schedule out in one upcoming newsletter along with a link to where you can register for individual workshops. But in order to keep from burdening the inboxes of subscribers who aren’t also writers, I’m going to be putting together a separate mailing list that is specifically workshop-focused.

I can’t share too much now, but I will also be leading an intensive in cooperation with another group this coming Autumn, which we’re setting up as a multi-day deep-dive into short stories. If you think that’s your kind of workshop, stay tuned, and definitely sign up for the workshop-focused list. I look forward to releasing more details in the near future.

Looking Ahead to Dragon Con

I will be at Dragon Con 2023 in Atlanta during Labor Day weekend, signing at the Writers of the Future table on Saturday and Sunday, speaking on a few panels, and otherwise hobnobbing and whatnotting. Last year was my first Dragon Con, and it felt like a much higher intensity weekend throughout than I would have wanted. This time, I’m building in more deliberate gaps, and bringing some simple card games to be able to chill out between go-go-go mode. Really looking forward to it, and hoping to meet more authors and readers along the way.

In Other New Release News

Fellow scifi author and Writers of the Future winner Desmond Astaire recently published a short standalone called “Paranorm,” which reads like a missing X-Files episode.

https://www.amazon.com/Paranorm-Desmond-Astaire-ebook/dp/B0C5WFS9XJ/

Also, my friend Mike Wyant Jr. just re-released the Anisian Convergence prequel, Last Bid for a Dying Earth. If you like futuristic clifi to set the stage for sweeping space opera, this is probably right up your alley.

https://www.amazon.com/Last-Bid-Dying-Earth-Convergence-ebook/dp/B0CCSTTHJ8/

That’s it for me today. I have a few more tasks on the docket this evening, including more prep for the upcoming Murderbugs Kickstarter and near future workshops.

As always, happy reading!

Mike Jack Stoumbos