Browsing Tag

help an author out

Other People's Books

About Bridget Zinn and Poison

The other day I heard about an author by the name of Bridget Zinn, whose first book, a YA Fantasy novel called Poison, has just been released.

Thing is, it’s been released posthumously–because Bridget died of cancer in 2011. Now, her book’s finally seeing the light of day. And her loved ones are asking people to spread the word about it, particularly asking that authors post about their first releases, or that non-authors post about other momentous firsts in their lives.

I could post about my own cancer diagnosis and how, even with the reasonably low-impact scenario I went through, hearing about Bridget dying before she could see her own book published really hit home with me. Instead, though, I’m going to focus upon what the Help post I linked to asked for, and talk about my first book.

As y’all know, Valor of the Healer is about to drop in another couple of weeks. But it’s NOT the first book I professionally released. That of course was Faerie Blood, my urban fantasy, which was originally published by Drollerie Press in 2009 and which I resurrected via Kickstarter last year. While I am extremely proud of Valor of the Healer, and am secure in proclaiming that it’s a more complex and mature work, in many ways Faerie Blood is the book of my heart.

I wrote the bulk of it in 2003 for Nanowrimo, and kept going until I had a full novel’s worth of words. I threw everything I loved into it: music, magic, elves, Seattle, biking, computers, and all sorts of geeky references to things like Linux and Nethack and Calvin and Hobbes. My love of the music of Elvis Presley AND the folk music of Newfoundland influenced two major characters in the cast. It is, after all, no accident at all that Faerie Blood‘s hero is a bouzouki player from Newfoundland!

I wasn’t diagnosed with my breast cancer until 2007, by which point I’d gone through several query cycles with the book. And it wasn’t until 2008 that Drollerie agreed to publish me. The book finally was deployed for sale in 2009, and by then, I’d gone through radiation treatment, a mastectomy, and reconstruction surgery. I’m in good condition now, and am immensely grateful that Evergreen Medical Center has looked after me so well, and that I am in fact here to see my next book about to be released into the digital wilds.

So yeah, very much feeling for Bridget’s loved ones. And I’d like to encourage you all to consider going to check out the site that remains up in honor of her and of her novel. If you’d like to help spread the word about her and do something in her memory, check out her family is asking for folks to do over here.

And if the book sounds like fun to you, buy it! And review it! It certainly sounds like fun to me–and since it’s described as being full of “adventure and romance and fun”, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate its author than to indulge in what the book’s got to offer. Go check it out. For Bridget.

Thanks all.

Events

Random Publicity Week

Author Darcy Pattison had a lovely idea, or so I learned on the Twitternets: Random Publicity Week, encouraging all of us to take the time to do that Goodreads or Amazon or B&N review to support books by our friends and fellow authors. You know how this works: you’ve been swearing up and down you’d do that, right? Now is your chance! From today until the 10th, I encourage you all to commit random acts of publicity to support other people’s books that you love!

Today, I’m going to take the time to plug a post by J.C. Hutchins, the author of 7th Son, who in turn plugged a novel that has come to life under bittersweet circumstances. He posts very eloquently over here about his close friend Zellie Blake, a young woman who’s recently lost a fight with cancer. Her friends have pooled resources to publish her novel Lightning Strikes via Lulu, to raise money for cancer research.

As many of you know, I’ve gone a few rounds with cancer myself. So this is a random act of publicity that’s actually a little less random for me personally, and more, well, y’know, meaningful. So go check out Mr. Hutchins’ post, and if you’re moved to do so, consider buying the book. Cancer fighters like me will appreciate it very much.

Drollerie Press, Faerie Blood, Publishing

Announcements! The winner is…

Announcement the first: It has come to my attention that a shiny new release by Seattle author , Battle of the Network Zombies, is being given away on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble’s ebook sites. So if you’re a Kindle or Nook owner, you might want to scamper over to your site of choice and grab this third installment of the Amanda Feral series! Then, if you really like it, go buy the print version. Because Seattle authors are awesome that way.

Announcement the second: Drollerie is participating in an auction for diabetes, being held by romantic suspense author Brenda Novak. Lots of tasty goodies are being put up for bid, stuff that should appeal to writers and readers alike, and it’s all for a good cause. If you’re interested in supporting this worthy endeavor, you can find out more over here. And if you want to see what Drollerie editor is putting up for bid, you can look here and here.

And last but most assuredly not least, announcement the third:

The winner of the What Should Anna Name Her Nook? poll is NOOKRONOMICON!

This means JGS is the winner of the poll! And since he elected to share his prize with Stickmaker, since Stickmaker built on his idea for the winning name, that means it’s a two-way prize split! Gentlemen, you may each have one of the previous listed prizes:

  • Free electronic copies of both Faerie Blood and Defiance in the format of your choice
  • A free print copy of anything Drollerie currently has in print
  • A $25 gift certificate to the Drollerie Press bookstore

Please to contact me through appropriate channels to let me know what your choice is, and appropriate contact data to which to send your prize! Thanks all for participating!

Publishing

Signal boost for fellow authors

First up, if you like the Jane Austen mashups that’ve been coming out lately, then you’ll probably want to take a look at this! I quite liked Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, so today I finally went down to Third Place Books and ordered me a copy of Mansfield Park and Mummies, by . It’s only available via online purchase or by ordering, so if this sounds like something you’d giggle over, think about ordering your own copy. Vera Nazarian will be very grateful. You can get more details over here.

And while we’re on the topic of authors who need some love, ‘s Amanda Feral series is under threat of nixing due to its sales numbers! If you love you some zombies with a heaping helping of snark, you should get the mass market release of Happy Hour of the Damned, or the forthcoming trade paperback of Battle of the Network Zombies. Click here to Mark’s site for more details.

Faerie Blood, Publishing

Never mind Amazon vs. Macmillan, let's talk authors!

So the whole Amazon vs. Macmillan fracas has accomplished three things for me, as of last night:

One, I have bought a nook. The cost of said nook as well as a loverly cover to put it in is roughly about the same as the amount of royalties I have now received for Faerie Blood, and to a tiny degree, Defiance.

(Which of course means that this is the Nook That Faerie Blood Bought, folks. That you all helped me buy. And for this, I thank you all! Watch this space for a forthcoming new poll on what exactly I should name the Nook, and a likely giveaway for a randomly selected winner!)

Two, I’ve also bought five, count ’em, five ebooks by Macmillan authors, up on Fictionwise.

Three, and because I’m really in the mood to show some love directly to awesome authors, I have thrown ten bucks at the current efforts of to sell her commissioned novella “Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight”. It’s set in her Old Races universe and features Janx and Daisani, and she’s selling it directly off her site for ten bucks a pop this month. Hie ye over here and show her some support, y’all!

“But Anna,” I hear you cry, “ten bucks a pop for a novella? Isn’t that more than I’d be paying for a paperback?” Yes. Yes it is. But the beauty of this is, since Kit is selling it directly, she gets every last penny, and since she has an established track record of about a dozen books’ worth of awesome, I’m pretty damn sure $10 for a novella full of her words will be worth the price.

Also, she’s Kit. So go, my Internet armies! And tell her I sent you!

The Internet

Please help Peter Watts

A lot of you reading this will probably see this posted elsewhere, but just in case you haven’t, word is going around the Net today about how Canadian SF writer Peter Watts was stopped at the US/Canadian border on his way back into Canada, beaten by border guards, and released in his shirtsleeves into the middle of a snowstorm. Various pertinent links include:

I’d previously downloaded the four Creative Commons copies of Peter’s novels from his site, and have elected to send him a Paypal donation for roughly the amount I’d have paid for these books if I’d bought them in paperback in a store. If like me you are deeply appalled that this happened to him, I would encourage you to consider sending him whatever you can spare as he gets a defense fund together.

More formal efforts to get something organized for him are underway, but in the meantime, he has a Paypal donation button here. If you use it, please also send him a separate note specifying that you’re donating to his legal fund since the button was originally set up for veterinary bills for his cats.

Thanks, folks. Let’s hope this works out for the best.

ETA 12/12/09 11:47am: Peter has posted again with an update, specifically touching on how a Michigan newspaper story on the incident is telling a version of events that contradicts what he said happened. He’s clearing up a couple other points as well, and voicing his thanks to folks who have given him support.