Unwelcome Matt

I am working on my new mystery, Unwelcome Matt, right now. I'm in the final read-through, where I make up the ebook and put it in my Kindle account so that I can read it the way most readers do. The typos are usually gone by this point thanks to Tami, my copy editor, but I always find a couple little glitches this way - sometimes minor continuity errors, like making a guy two different ages in different scenes (40's vs 50's), or words that are repeated close together (I had two consecutive sentences with 'realized' in a recent section). So, it's a useful final edit. I should finish that up in the next couple of days. When I get back from WorldCon, I'll make whatever little corrections I need to, write the Author's Note, dedication, and acknowledgements, and then it will be off to Amazon. Here's the book as it looks on my aged iPad with the great cover I got from Abby Blanchard.

At WorldCon

I'm at WorldCon right now, the big sci-fi/fantasy convention which nominates the Hugo awards. It's my first time, and it's been really interesting. There are some famous people here, which is fun - I saw Matt Dinniman on a panel yesterday, and I'll see Martha Wells, Larry Niven, Terry Brooks, Stephen R. Donaldson, and Robin Hobb speak later today. I also saw John Scalzi recycle a drink bottle, so that's something. I've also gotten the chance to meet a bunch of indie authors and bloggers in real life that I've only known online, which is really neat. I'm here until Sunday, and then I'll take the red-eye home.

A new story: Trigger Creep

I've been mentioning a sci-fi short story I was working on previously, and I'm glad to be able to tell you that it's been accepted and will be part of an upcoming anthology: The Expanding Universe, Volume 11. This is the latest in a series of sci-fi short story anthologies put out by Craig Martelle, who's a big name in indie author circles and has a ton of popular military sci fi.

The book will release on September 15th in ebook and paperback. Most of the stories are military sci-fi or adjacent - we were instructed to have our story be a match for the cover. It will be available in Kindle Unlimited from September 15th to December 15th. After December 15th, it will be paperback-only (I'll be able to distribute my story on my own then). The anthology will be $4.99, with 26 stories at about 210,000 words, so you'll get a lot of bang (or pew-pew) for your buck.

Upcoming Freebies

In honor of my birthday on August 26 (Suffrage Day!), and in honor of the release of Unwelcome Matt, I'm making my other two mystery/thriller books free for five days. That's What Grows From the Dead and Got Trouble. Mark your calendar for the 26th if you'd like to grab them for free, and feel free to share these freebies with your friends.

SPSFC #4 winner

The 4th Self-Published Science Fiction Competition has ended. I've entered twice, with Daros and Kenai, with Daros earning a semifinalist spot in the inaugural competition and Kenai winning the 3rd year. This year, I was a judge, and I'm happy to report that Wick Welker's Saint Elspeth won the whole thing. Wick was a semifinalist last year with Dark Theory, and his book this year was my favorite of the finalists. It's about a doctor in a post-apocalyptic San Francisco trying to survive and also figure out what the aliens who've come to Earth are up to. My review is here.

A writing update

Sarah and I are a little more than halfway through the romance novel we're working on. It's called Best, including the comma, an homage to an overused email signoff among academics. Once I get Unwelcome Matt out, I will probably return to the sci-fi novel I was working on last summer, set in the same universe as Kenai and Daros, about an engineer on a long-range exploration mission to discover what happened to Earth and the other human worlds in the long-ago war that almost destroyed humanity. I may pause that for a new fantasy project in November, although I haven't decided. I'd love to have something to enter in next year's SPFBO, which starts in January, but that would be a very quick turnaround for me.

Some stories to try

I'm part of several author collectives, and we share each other's work to try to help all of us reach more readers. In many cases, the books we share are are free or discounted. Sometimes, they ask that you sign up for a newsletter like this one. Here are some new books I have to share this month:

First, I have Last Ember of Azrith by Rowan Ashborne, which has spooky scaly naked-torso flaming glowing eyes guy plus a dragon in silhouette. The book itself is not about a fire going out, but instead a half-dragon warrior and an elf princess betrayed by an empire and struggling to save their people. Great stuff. You can get the full 91-page book here for free.

Second, I have a sample of The Aftermath: Lunar by Bradley James. As the cover suggests, this is about a very-screwed astronaut who is on the Moon when Earth develops a bit of an asteroid problem. You can read the opening of the book for free, and the whole book is only $0.99 on Amazon.

Thank you!

Thanks for being part of my literary world! I'm excited to share my new mystery and my new sci-fi story in the coming days. Next up: more sci fi, plus romance, plus maybe some more fantasy.

May the Bloodmother watch over you - 

Dave