Publishing

SFWA calls for input re: membership for self-pubbed authors

This just in: spotted on Twitter that SFWA is putting out a call to its membership for commentary re: opening membership to self-published authors. If any SFWA members are reading me and haven’t already seen this, check out the link for deets.

I for one am glad to see that SFWA’s opening this up for discussion, since RWA has already beaten them to it. And as I’m already a dues-paying member of NIWA, I definitely feel that there’s a need here that should be addressed.

I’m still a bit of a weird duck, what with my sales being tiny in the grand scheme of things from both my self-pubbed work and my stuff with Carina. Accordingly, I suspect that were SFWA to open membership to self-pubbed authors, the criteria would probably set sales figures too high for my current reach–but it would be nice to have that option eventually available.

Certainly I’d be willing to pay in at a lower level of membership, such as affiliate, as I’ve mentioned before.

Anyway, good to be able to post about something SFWA-related that isn’t schadenfreude! Well done, SFWA. Keep it up.

June 26, 2014 by
Other People's Books

Recent fun with romance reads

As I periodically like to post, in addition to being a reader of SF/F and mystery, I am also a romance reader! A somewhat finicky one with particular tastes, but a romance reader nonetheless!

And I am pleased to report, O Internets, that the fine ladies of the Bitchery (a.k.a. Smart Bitches, Trashy Books) continues to be my premier source in romance novels I want to read. Between the Smart Bitches, Dear Authors podcast (which Sarah Wendell does jointly with Jane Litte from Dear Author), and regular review posts on the SB site, I’ve been very happy to find stuff I like to read. These channels are how I’ve found Courtney Milan and Kate Noble, and now, I’m able to add Sarah MacLean and Julie Anne Long to the list of authors who write historicals that hit me square in the More Please.

Sarah MacLean first came across my radar thanks to the aforementioned podcast, when Sarah W. and Jane interviewed her in this episode. Her Rules of Scoundrels series sounded quite entertaining, and although that podcast dropped a major spoiler for the forthcoming fourth book of that series, it’s specifically that spoiler that got me interested enough to check it out. I’ve just finished reading Book 1, A Rogue By Any Other Name, as a library checkout.

And, well, anybody who’s read Valor of the Healer and Vengeance of the Hunter should know how partial I am to rogues who go through redemption arcs. MacLean’s book does exactly that with the hero of that story, the Marquess of Bourne. Book 2 also sounds like it’s right up my alley, with a heroine who’s scientifically inclined and wears spectacles. I’ve got that on the library queue now, and I suspect all four of the books of this series are about to gain themselves a home in my ebook library.

Meanwhile, Julie Anne Long has a much longer series, the Pennyroyal Green books. Long’s name has come up a lot recently on the SB site with her books being on sale, so I went and checked out The Perils of Pleasure from the library as well–because the conceit there of a nobleman being condemned to hang and being rescued at the last minute by the heroine, a mercenary, sounded awesome. And I was delighted to see that the book held up to that conceit; it started with quite the bang of action, and proceeded to maintain that pace. It’s also one of the rare romance novels that actually made me not skim one of the inevitable love scenes, because having it happen while our hero and heroine are on the run and desperate not to give themselves away added a fun extra layer of tension that integrated it nicely into the action. I’ll be proceeding on through this series, too.

So cheers to MacLean and Long (the latter of whom has now followed me on Twitter, woo!), and an ongoing YAY to Sarah W. and Jane for being such reliable purveyors of catnip. Thanks, ladies!

June 26, 2014 by
Quebecois Music

And now, what happens when a Quebecois trad fangirl is on pain meds

She comes up with this, is what! Because I figured that if I was going to whine about my mouth hurting from the dental adventures this past week (spoiler alert: sinus infections that spread over to your teeth are not fun), I could at least whine about it in French, and set it to lyrics.

The result? Une petite chanson qui s’appelle “Ma bouche est malheureuse”!

Ma bouche est malheureuse, oh guai! Ma bouche est malheurese! (bis)
Mon dentiste a travaillé et j’ai mal aux dents
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle deedle ow day

Mon dentiste a travaillé, oh guai! Mon dentiste a travaillé! (bis)
J’ai mal aux dents et j’n’peux pas jouer de la flûte
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle deedle en calisse! day

J’ai mal aux dents, oh guai! J’ai mal aux dents! (bis)
J’n’peux pas jouer de la flûte, le flûteau, la même chose!
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle osti day

J’n’peux pas jouer de la flûte, oh guai! J’n’peux pas jouer de la flûte! (bis)
Le flûteau, la même chose, et j’n’peux pas chanter les chansons
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle tabarnak!

J’n’peux pas chanter les chansons, oh guai! J’n’peux pas chanter les chansons! (bis)
J’n’peux pas boire le vin, j’n’peux pas avoir la bouteille
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle osti en calisse!

J’n’peux pas boire le vin, oh guai! J’n’peux pas boire le vin!
J’n’peux pas avoir la bouteille si mon dentiste dois travailler
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle char de marde!

Si mon dentiste dois travailler, oh guai! Si mon dentiste dois travailler (bis)
Donnez-moi le Vicodin et me réveille quand c’est fini
De deedle deedle dum deeda deedle deedle zzzzzzzzzzzz

I shall soon be following this up with “La fille joyeuse et son mammouth”. Because Jean-Claude requires a song. REQUIRES, I tell you.

June 25, 2014 by
Main

A few things make a Sunday post

John Scalzi has a good post up addressing the question of whether self-publishing has rendered Yog’s Law obsolete. Good commentary in the comments about this, and the importance of distinguishing between oneself as “writer” and as “publisher” when one self-publishes.

I saw this come up in the last backer update that went out to all of us who supported the Long Hidden anthology: an issue of whether it’s an expression of privilege when you dismiss the use of dialect in fiction. There’s a Storify link of the Twitter discussion here, and Insatiable Book Sluts has a thoughtful post up about it here. A lot of food for thought at both of these links, for both readers and writers.

Sad to hear that Angry Robot is closing a couple of its imprints. Scalzi has cogent commentary on this here, and I know this impacts several authors whose works I’m interested in. Notably, userinfomarthawells.

***

For tumblr users, Dara’s started a couple of extra tumblr blogs in addition to her main one. One is called Oldphemera and is for pics of old oddities that she finds. The other is Seattle–July 20, 1971, where she’s posting scans of a bunch of old bits of newspaper she found being used as packing material. It’s a fun glimpse of Seattle from that year, as seen in the newspaper.

Check ’em out!

***

Next weekend I’m going to have the pleasure of attending a house concert starring Claude Méthé, Mario Loiselle, and Pascal Gemme. Pascal is of course one of the three members of Genticorum, one of the contenders in the pitched three-way fight for Anna’s Favorite Quebec Trad Band! He’s recently released an album with Mario, and meanwhile, M. Méthé is another excellent Quebecois fiddler. They’re all on the way to Fiddle Tunes, and they’re stopping in Seattle to do their house concert.

VERY excited for another chance to hear Pascal play! And also excited about hearing M. Méthé–I’ve got a couple of recordings that feature him, and this’ll be the first time I get to see him in person.

I will report on the concert in depth. Stand by for that to come!

***

And one more music-related thing, this time on filk! This is an excellent little academic study on filk, which is NOT a sequence of words I’d normally think of putting together. The study identifies the various kinds of filk, and explores how male vs. female filkers deal with using material by others, and whether there are any differences between genders. Fun reading. I was particularly interested that this story got picked up by io9!

***

Last but not least, off to go see How to Train Your Dragon 2 this afternoon. All signs indicate it’ll be stupendous great fun. Hoping I’ll stay awake during it, since I’ve been recovering from dental surgery for the whole past week and I have to take antibiotics and painkillers right now. But for Hiccup and Toothless, I’ll do my best to stay awake!

June 22, 2014 by
Carina Press

How Apple users can get my Carina books in the UK

We’re having an interesting discussion on the Carina authors’ loop, where a few of us have reported in that readers in the UK can’t get Carina titles via the iBookstore. As Carina titles are available in the US iBookstore, you can expect we find this a little frustrating!

We’ve also been discussing that Carina’s own site has issues with not accepting UK-based methods of payment, so that means directing UK readers to the main Carina site won’t necessarily be a workable solution, either. Also frustrating!

However, we have determined that there are still viable ways for UK-based readers who happen to be owners of Apple devices to get Carina books. The drawback to this is that you have to be willing to buy books from sources other than the iBookstore.

(This post is long, so the details are behind the fold.)

Continue Reading

June 21, 2014 by
Boosting the Signal

Boosting the Signal: Special Interests, by Emma Barry

Today’s Boosting the Signal entry is from another fellow Carina Press author, Emma Barry, author of the contemporary romance Special Interests. As you might guess from the title, this one’s got a romance blooming in one of the most cutthroat places imaginable—Washington, D.C.! Emma’s heroine Amelia Frank has to juggle the stress of a hostage situation and attracting the interest of Parker Bennett, who works for the Senate Majority Leader. Who’s deeply troubled that Amelia’s idealism is putting a dent in his jaded cynicism, as her piece highlights! Countdown to Amelia melting his cold heart in 3… 2…

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Special Interests

Special Interests

(The following was retrieved from a trashcan. It was presumably unsent.)

MEMO

TO: Amelia Frank, Construction Workers of America
FROM: Parker Beckett, Office of the Senate Majority Leader
SUBJECT: Budget Negotiation

In light of the meeting conducted a few minutes ago between CWA members and the Majority Leader’s staff, it is clear distrust and misinformation linger. We will not be throwing labor under the bus in any—still hypothetical—deal with the House. But the negotiation is taking place within a certain framework and political realities must be acknowledged.

And really, Ms. Frank, I think more than a little bit of this is personal. I want to apologize, officially, for rejecting your advances at Tom Tom last week. I am sorry. Further, I didn’t know you were going to be in the meeting today. I wouldn’t have risked poisoning the negotiation with personal feelings.

To be clear, it’s not that I’m not attracted to you. I’ve spent more than a little bit of time thinking about you since we met. But all the reasons that caused you to yell at me in front of the Legislative Director and Chief of Staff today are precisely why I wouldn’t go home with you. I’m a cynic. I don’t have any principles or ideals. I would sell out my grandmother to get a deal done.

Okay, probably not. I’m very fond of my grandmother.

But I’d sell out lots of other people’s grandmothers. I do it every day.

I’m not certain how this town hasn’t rotted you yet, Millie, but I won’t be responsible for doing it. It would be a crime to take the spark out of your smile, to put doubt in your soul, to dim the openness in your eyes—and I just won’t.

(See? I told you I’d been thinking about you. You even have me writing asides in memos. Gah.)

In closing, the Majority Leader’s Office wants to reaffirm its commitment to the working people of the United States and to our shared values. Those principles will guide the continuing negotiations.

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June 20, 2014 by