I've now published Instability on the Nook and Smashwords, with Amazon saying "Live" but not yet available. I'm not sure why and I'll update it when it is. It's the second of my full-length books that I waffled on for several months before finally biting the bullet and publishing the thing myself. On the other side of it, I can't imagine why I would do anything else. Publishing is fun.

Because Instability sprung out of the longest time of turmoil and confusion I've had in my life so far, it's only appropriate that I would publish it in a time of chaos and uncertainty. The publishing industry attracts screams of doubt and fury from all quarters, several independently published books (both on their first publication and later) became nominated for the Hugos this year, and digital books continue to devour the industry.

Four months ago, I planned to only publish novellas and shorter works myself, because I'd reserve some for corporate backing. After sending 2600+ job applications and counting, sending half a dozen queries to agents and editors, and seeing the Department of Fucking Justice call out half a dozen publishers, I decided to say "fuck it" and strike out on my own.

The 2600+ applications sealed it for me. I don't want to send that many shitty things out blind when I can, in an hour, or two at the most, publish my own books and get paid for them. That hasn't panned out to much, and I have little hope it will, but if I can write a lot faster and crank out lots of pulp, maybe I can make the barest amount to survive on.

See, it's kind of ironic that I published Instability as my last book of this year of living in Minneapolis, because, before three or four years ago, I had never walked around in a city, or believed I could live in one without a genuine $million in the bank. Right now, I'm living on my own, in my own apartment, in the middle of Minneapolis and publishing books. I'm living the dream, right now.

When I wrote Instability, I had spent a week at my cousin's flat, roamed around downtown and returned reeling with ideas. I channeled every single new idea I had into the book, and ended up with a tragedy with giant beastmen, a criminal mastermind with mind control, a cloning tank, bizarre symbolism, racial diversity, an assassination, and an inexperienced private detective whose temper would explode when he found out what had happened to him years ago.

Not long before that, I had read over half of the 9/11 Commission Report, a book I think more USians should read when they're ready to face that event on its own terms, and came away shaken and horrified. Those emotions channeled straight into Instability and made it the most painful and exhausting book I'd written. I think I did well in it, and I noticed a change in my writing voice around that time.

I'm angrier and focused now and can fly into rages that make me scared to look at myself in the mirror. Since writing it, I know more about myself and my capabilities, and I'm more aware of my problems around exactly who I am. I keep getting more complicated and troubled by everything, and for some strange reason, that seems to be exactly how it's supposed to be. I hope Instability shows that and that's it's a fairly decent read.

By the way, a week in Minneapolis gave me ideas, but living here for a year has given me more than I can ever hope to use. I just hope I can use them in the right way for the right reasons.

"This is a sad land full of sad, scared people." - Brian Wood, Northlanders Volume 1.

Yeah, that's the US. He gets my feelings toward it, too.

"And I long to be rid of it."

The Japanese site for Phantasy Star Online 2. YES

Characters created by fans using the character creators. WAAHOO

It's alive! O_O O_O

I have two bits of news today that overlapped in that weird interesting way that it frequently does. In this case, it's the announcement of the next installement of the Hugo Noms, which leave me feeling bizarre and complicated as is a familiar feeling since I've been able to see them develop and change with my watching.

The second is a survey and ponderating about more trends in publishing linked by Smith at his website.

Got me to thinking, they did. Like last year, I'm going to try and read the entire list of novellas, because they're becoming an ever more fascinating length, I like to write them, and I read a good eleven of them in this last year. I have the feeling I'm not the only one who finds them fascinating, because if you look at the note on that list, there's six nominees rather than five.

Of the novellas I read last year, I read them in almost every format under the sky: hardcover (The Alchemist, The Executioness, Bone and Jewel Creatures and Troika, in an anthology (The Sultan of the Clouds) and online (The Maiden Flight of Mcauley's Bellerophon) and to see the correlation between the two links just remember that a novella is simply a short book.

What were the others? I was really proud of reading almost a dozen...

Anyway, four of the six this time are easily found. Three are published online for free (probably for a short time), one is published online and in an anthology, and one is published the usual independent price at three bucks... the other one I'm not sure how to find it. Should be interesting to see how many I read this year and how I read them too.

Enemy Territory, a giant robots and demons extravaganza and the second book I have written, got sent around to three agents and two publishers. None of them took it, though one agent and both of the two editors did reply to my messages. While I had thought of it as a better (if not by a lot) book than Vortex Trigger, I pondered for months whether to send it into corporate publishing or do it myself.

The changes in the publishing industry tore off the roof in the last few months, especially with a price collusion investigation. I decided that is absolutely not the time to leap into the corporate side of things, and besides, I desperately need any trace of money I can find, right now and immediately.

So. I published it. It's currently up on Smashwords, with a cheezy cover I might change someday, and Kindle and Nook have it going through their process. Because it's a full length book at 90k and 300 pages, I charged $4.99. And lo and behold not an hour into the publishing, I already have a download of the first 25%.

I have no clue whether that person will buy it, or if anyone will, but holy crap I am really getting addicted to publishing books. I need to write a lot more, a lot faster and maniacally, so I can publish every last thing I've ever written.

EDIT:

Sheesh, am I silly enough that I forgot to give the description? This is the one line description: "Vespasian Shiraan, son of the Empress Katarina, must return to his homeworld before a mad scientist, a cultist and an ancient god can conquer it." I think it's a good description of the whole book.

The first book I ever wrote, even before Vortex Trigger, eight years ago, I published last night. It's called Oracle Dream, about a ghost hunter named Sybil Avasa who several of my friends have said has a really distinct voice and personality. The villain of the novella, a gang leader, didn't give her the oomph a strong opposition provides, and so I've always been frustrated at the quality of the book.

Nonetheless, I wasn't sure if I'd ever publish it, being a book at 40k or about 133 pages. That would never go over well in the 50-year-old industry, and it sat and languished on my drive for many years. The ebook rise made it possible, however, and I went for it.

On Smashwords, I got 20+ views on the first night and a sample download. Overnight, I'm now on 30+ views and 2 sample downloads. The effect has brought Stricken By Entropy to a new record of 8 views. Clearly, something worked well. I doubt I'll be able to replicate Oracle Dream or Sybil's voice, because I have changed in hard mean ways since then, but it's good to know she's drawing attention. Maybe even sales, someday.

Oracle Dream

Kindle edition

Nook isn't up yet. I will update when it arrives.

Smashwords edition

I've been watching Mass Effect 3 develop, sometimes intentionally. People on my Twitter throw me links about it and I explore them maybe a bit more than I should. How can I not, for the series being a huge splash in the world of space opera, and scifi in the grander scheme? I haven't read many of the tie-ins yet, but believe me, I'm eyeing them.

The latest in the rounds of marketing for the game is my personal favorite form: that of a fictional news bulletin, in this case the Tweeted tale of a news journalist who gets to see the invasion of Earth by devil machines up close and personal. People yelling, screaming, shot at, their mutated selves turned by the machines into walking nightmares...

It's intense and makes me want to try things like that. The last line of the feed is a punch, and by the end of it I found myself humming All Along The Watchtower. I suggest reading the entire thing, and if you feel like doing some exploration, click some of the links that show doctored photographs of the real world right now being invaded by Reapers.

Alliance News Net, reporting straight from the ground.

The real amazing part has to be the sensation of reading that report... and then heading straight into the game and finding it happening and getting into it yourself. I'm racking my mind for similar things I've experienced, and I know I have. In Mass Effect, you get to customize your own protagonist, and I can't say I've done quite that in this kind of a giant environment.

Was Chrono Trigger rick rolled?

Rick Roll sounds disturbingly like Robo's Theme from Chrono Trigger. Pure unarguable evidence that everything in the whole world is a remix.

Robo's Theme + Rick Roll

Congress reduces lead poisoning prevention by 94%. They really do want us enslaved or dead.

I published my first book two months ago, give or take a week, and the results of the endeavour add up to pretty close to what I expected. Namely, Dad read it, who reads the vast majority of the work I write, Kalzarius read it, my collaborator on the Deus series, and a few friends bought it, one from Amazon and another from Smashwords.

I hoped to have someone buy it on Barnes and Noble around this time, but I'll take what I've gotten. I have a novella from almost a decade ago soon to publish, and the next book in line is Tatsuro 2, so I'm doing well on the work front. Since I've come to understand how simple it is to come up with an idea, I have so many that my brain wants to go boom on me.

Because I published Stricken By Entropy in the form of an experiment, I tried something I have not seen anyone try, short of, in a way, Cory Doctorow. In the Smashwords sample, I set it to "full book", though it's priced at around $3. My sister gives me really weird looks for it, and it's probably a silly thing to do, but here's my reasoning.

Bitterness tangent:
I'm not going to make a living writing one single book, it will require at least a dozen and probably hundreds to make a living at it. I'm also not convinced that I want to write for a living. I might not have the option if I am unable to find a job. If that happens, I'm going to sink back into bitterness and depression, and my work capacity will do a nosedive.
</bitterness>

If I'm not going to be able to make a living writing, I might as well have a lot of fun with my experiment. So I did: paper books allow you to preview the whole book, so why not the digital version, too? Some people like to read the ending first, to make sure the book resolves in an okay way, too. I know I do, though it's usually in the middle half of the book before I take a glimpse of the final, paragraph or line.

I don't always do that, either.

Doctorow, of course, has a certain notoriety for publishing all of his books in a Creative Commons license on his webpage. How the Hell he managed to do that, in this locked down era, I really don't know. I certainly admire the effort, and I would love to do similar. Which is, I suppose, parts a part in why I did so with Stricken.

Taking another cue from Doctorow's book, the base case scenario for Stricken has it published and copied everywhere, from swathes of websites, to torrents, to the Pirate Bay. I want attention and views for this book, not money. That will arrive later, if my work is actually readable and entertaining. I just have to write more stuff like a maniac and either self publish it or send it to a publishing company.

I'm fairly sure I won't preview the entirety of Tatsuro 2 or 3, because they're sequels to the first book and a reader would be familiar with my voice. They would already know if I could write a story from the start to the end. And, above all else, I simply don't want to fuck with the work I have published. Writing more, and cranking up the wordcount, takes the overwhelming priority.