Tonight’s Wayward Reading
I now have a new thing for tonight’s reading at the Wayward Coffee House (8:00 PM). For geeks, the Wayward is worth going to whether you’re there to hear me read or you want to drop in another time. It’s very geekly and the coffee and atmosphere are great.
So I already promised fiction set in the world (but not from the books) for the Silver Ship series. I might read from one of the books, too.
A free copy of Wings of Creation for one attendee (and heck, I might bring along a Zombie Bunnies book, too!)
I have a new treat: I’ll read from a novel that is very close to my heart, and which I just placed with Sean Wallace at Prime Books. I’ll blog more about this later, but this month is about WINGS OF CREATION since you can buy it now. But if you want some of the first news about the new book, drop in tonight.
There’s two hours, so I can read some longer bits than usually get included with readings, and there will be some time for conversation.
Thanks Tony C. Smith
I had a great time guesting on a podcast called “Sofanauts” hosted by Tony C. Smith. The other guest was Richard Morgan, and I’m going to go off and buy his book Altered Carbon today. Richard impressed me quite a bit. I got tongue tied a few times not knowing much about the state of publishing or the publishers in England, but I was able to talk a little clearer on other topics. I love listening to Sofanauts and to Starship Sofa, both Tony’s podcasts. Partly it’s because he’s got a great accent (what can I say?) and also because he’s so natural in the podcast. I like to listen – it’s like listening to a friend even though I’ve never met him.
Funny thing is that when you listen to yourself you never sound quite as clever as you think you were.
Anyway, we talk about writing, I announce bit of news, we discuss writing for games, series, Ray Bradbury, Tim Winton, golden age authors, writing by hand, and maybe ten or twenty other topics.
P.S. – There is a donation button on the Starship Sofa site.
Shall we go skiing with robots tomorrow?
This seems to be the moment for robot research for me. At least that’s the topic I picked for this month’s version of my column over at Futurismic, Today’s Tomorrows. Since I don’t like to let my column over there get to be longer than about 1,000 words, I couldn’t include everything. So for the column I picked non-humanoid bots. That left out this one pretty cool robot I wanted to share here – the skiing robot. Here’s a Singularity Hub article on the skiing robot. I can just imagine seeing this go by me on the slopes. And then I imagine being on Candid Camera. Anybody remember that show? I mean, that’s the poleaxed look I’d have on my face if a robot flew by me down a snowy hill.
Good Science News
I’m not really surprised so many people are skeptical about science. After all, what do often hear? Food A or Food B causes cancer. The glaciers are melting faster than we thought possible. Species (your favorite) is now endangered. Drug A which was supposed to be good for you just caused organ B to fail. So sorry. Not that bad news should cause disbelief, but sometimes I understand why people would rather ignore it.
So this is a good week. Why?
- Well, there’s apparently enough water on the moon to let us base there more easily than we’d thought. I’m a geek girl, and the idea of a moon base while I’m still young enough to appreciate it (if not to go) is a great thing.
- We are finding extrasolar planets so fast my head is spinning. As of this moment, we’re up to 403. I just got my copy of National Geographic and there’s an article about that in there (I haven’t read it yet).
So, hey, let’s appreciate the small good things. Or in the case of extrasolar planets, the big good things.
Thanks so much!
I really appreciate the community out here – there were many post and retweets and the like to celebrate the Wings of Creation release yesterday. It makes a writer (at least this writer) feel surrounded by family even when she’s off at work and wearing her other, more mundane hats.
Congrats to Sara A. Mueller for winning the full set of the series-so-far in hardback . Drop by her lovely blog, Clockwork Curiosity. By the way – Sara may be a writer to watch. I haven’t seen her work or read it, but we’ve been at some of the same conventions, and I’ve heard her talk about her work in a way that makes me want to read it! Thanks to every one else who entered the contests, too, and I wish everyone could have won.
So now this writer is going to go go play in the sunshine, garden, and think about robots.
Release Day for Wings of Creation!
Pardon the happy little post in advance. It’s a gray day here is Seattle – with a touch of pink sunrise still in the window – but I’m hoping for a good one.
A lot of writing is work. By the time a book comes out, I’m two books or more past it, and living in some other world. But today, I’m going to enjoy the release of Wings of Creation. I’m sending copies to the Times and to two book winners (from Goodreads) and drawing a winner for all three books in a hardcover set (That’s The Silver Ship and the Sea, Reading the Wind, and Wings of Creation). I’m bringing a copy to one of my mentors as a thank you. I’m preparing for a reading on Friday the University Bookstore in Seattle (with Louise Marley and Jack Skillingstead).
Of all the series, I’m happiest with this one so far. The art is beautiful: Stephan Martiniere captured the feeling of the fliers, a tortured people with an outward beauty the hides their tortured souls. The other covers are also beautiful, but this one has feeling.
If you’d like a taste, drop by The Academy of New World Historians for some free fiction set in this world. The Academy was designed by the talented Jeremy Tolbert.
Reply here today by 8:00 PM (Nov 10th) if you want a chance to win the hardcover set.
Reading Recommendation: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
At World Fantasy, they give you a ton of books. I had brought one with me (Ken Scholes’ Canticle) which I finished there. I also bought a new book, Ekaterina Sedia’s “The Alchemy of Stone.” Besides an art book (and art) by John Picacio, and a collection by my friend Tobias Buckell, that’s all I bought (Oh, and some jewelry by Willow). I just finished The Alchemy of Stone.
I found it beautifully written, and slightly disturbing in the way that excellent fiction or poetry should be disturbing. The city in the book is haunting and always a bit distant, as if it is seen through the a gauze, an every city of magic caught in a time of wrenching change. Characters include alchemists, gargoyles, men of science, and most importantly, the woman Mattie, a being created of gear and wood and whalebone with a heart that must be wound.
This was not a fast read for me; it took a week. It falls in the category of books I can put down when I need to do something else, but which I look forward to returning to. The feel and the tone are pure fantasy, and I had to let go of a need to understand everything in order to enjoy the book. I did end up very happy with it, and I recommend it highly. Note that it is often referred to as steampunk, and I suppose that at its core it is steampunk. But to call it that would be to put it into a bottle, and it feels broader and bigger.
The cover, by the way, is haunting.
World Fantasy Report
This was my second World Fantasy, and it has definitely become my favorite convention. I waited a few days to let the experience sink in a bit. A few observations:
The awards are administered differently than the Hugos. It’s partly a voted choice, but mostly a long slog through almost everything “Fantasy” written all year. The result is that the awards often end up going to works based more on merit and uniqueness than on commercial success or having a wide readership. Kudos to the judges, who clearly did a lot of work.
I am loosely associated with Patrick Swenson’s Fairwood Press as the secretary of his Board of Directors (which means I take minutes once a year, not that I’m directly involved with the books). I worked the table for him a few times at this convention. That was a lesson. Over half the dealers were booksellers, and my guess is half of the booksellers are “small” presses of various sizes. They work. Behind a table is a great place to be (I saw a lot of people I would have otherwise missed and collected and traded out many hugs and greetings), but those sales come hard. They came one or two or three books an hour in that venue. The small presses are pretty agile, and they’re all doing well with the Internet and social media, which is more than I can say for some New York publishers (although, finally, almost everyone gets it). Anyway – lots of action and experimentation, but in the end, the sales are book by book by book. By the way – why is a small press a “press” and a New York outfit a “publisher?”
Jay Lake did a great job as Toastmaster. I’ve only seen him do that for small conventions before, and I must say he scaled well.
Pretty much everyone is there. This time, I ponied up for the next two on the spot. This is a good party not to miss. It has replaced Worldcon at the top of my affections for conventions. There is time to get into long conversations, the programming is great, and it’s less of a “how many panels can you get on” game. The mass signing is run very well.
New winner, and the book giveaway continues….
I’m pleased to announce that Samuel Montgomery-Blinn is the latest winner in the book giveaway. He chose The Silver Ship and the Sea.
There are two more drawings left – one this Friday and one on the 10th which is the release date for the hardcover of Wings of Creation. The release date drawing will be for all three books in a hardcover set (and the hardcovers of books one and two are getting rare, so this is an opportunity).
To enter:
Comment on this post on this website (www.brenda-cooper.com)
Go to www.thefiveworlds.com and send an email via the “contact us” form there
DM me at @brendacooper via Twitter
Shiny New Wings of Creation Hardbacks
A box of books arrived for me last night. I threw it in the back of my car, thinking it held copies of Reading the Wind (which I am also expecting, but which I’ve seen), and it turned out to be the Wings of Creation hardbacks. The book design is very beautiful; the cover and the colors and all of that even prettier than the other two books.
There’s a moment when you first hold a finished book and it feels like a just-birthed child.
It’s one of the moments when writing is worth it.
Now, don’t run out to the store yet, the release date is November 10th, but it will be pretty on the shelves. I have a reading on the 13th of November (Friday the 13th!) at the Seattle University Book Store with Jack Skillingstead and Louise Marley, and there will be copies available there. You can even pre-reserve one from the University Bookstore if you want. I also have a reading at the Wayward Coffee House the next Saturday, and I will bring one giveaway copy to that (but there will not be books for sale there). The Wayward is one of the best coffee houses in Seattle – funky, friendly, and full of science fictional references.
