Today is the official start of Shard & Shield‘s preorder countdown, and I’ve got goodies to share!
Got a minute? Let me tell you about what’s available if you order your copy in advance. Bonus: You get the sadistic glee of watching me try to be all professional as cold rain intensifies. (It’s winter in New Zealand, where I recorded this just a couple weeks ago.)
Shard & Shield: Preorders & Loot & Charity
Most of my short fiction I sell for a fixed amount, which varies depending on the market (magazine, anthology, etc.). Very rarely do I sell a short story for royalties. So it’s nearly always a surprise when I get a royalty check for one of them.
Royalties & Residuals
After our backpacking trip, Jon and I traveled to Rotorua to get ready for GeyserCon, New Zealand’s 2019 national science fiction and fantasy convention.
We got into town a little early, so we stayed at a tourist cottage with Grace Bridges, con chair. Grace booked us into one of her regular favorite places, where we had hot pools and a hot beach and a steaming stream and warning signs all over the yard about the ground potentially burning your feet, be sure to wear shoes.
Rotorua is one of a very few (countable on one hand with fingers left over) communities in the world built on an active geothermal site.
Lake Rotorua, on whose shore our cottages sat, is a water-filled caldera, still active. You can walk along the beach and find little hot springs bubbling up through the sand and lake. This is a good place to wriggle your toes in — but be careful, because it’s easy to find one that’s too hot.
Remember those chilly wades we had in Abel Tasman? This was the opposite. Even though we were less than a week from the official start of winter, I waded into Lake Rotorua and, with chilly lake water biting at my legs, pushed my toes into the sand to find the heat. My ankles were cold, but my feet were warm.
GeyserCon Report & Rotorua
I’ve just completed a four-day trek through Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand, along the stunning Abel Tasman Track. I wasn’t going to go all the way to New Zealand for GeyserCon, where I was an author guest, and not fit in some tramping!
We flew into Auckland, sent our convention luggage (books, costumes, normal clothing, etc.) on to Rotorua, and immediately caught a flight for Nelson, where we stayed in a cozy studio (referral link to save $25 anywhere) hosted by the delightful Kate. It was just upon our arrival to Nelson that Jon informed me our cookstove, meant to give us hot food over our four days of late autumn hiking and chilly wading, had also gone on to Rotorua. Oops. Kate was kind enough to give us a 7 am ride to a local store to pick up a cheapo model before our trailhead pickup.
We got a ride into Marahau, a town at the southern edge of the national park, from Abel Tasman Aquataxi. We confirmed the time and location of our next pickup four days later and crossed the street to pick up a local walkway that would lead to the national park entrance.
The Abel Tasman Track: A Great Walk of New Zealand
“Magic mixes with grease and jazz in this fantastic new anthology that brims with strong heroines, diverse settings, and a heaping helping of Nazi-punching.”
—Nebula Award-nominated Beth Cato, author of Breath of Earth
That’s the early word on Grimm, Grit, & Gasoline, a dieselpunk fairy tale collection. And today we get to see the cover!
Cover Reveal: Grimm, Grit & Gasoline
I am ridiculously excited to share this with you today, both because I love this cover and because it kicks off the whole process that makes this book real.
Shard & Shield is the first in a new epic fantasy trilogy. Keep an eye on the blog and social media for details on great pre-order deals and goodies, because I have some fun stuff for you, but today we’re showing off the cover.
But first, here’s a real quick tease:
He can save her life—if he sacrifices himself and those he swore to protect.
Okay, the cover! Ready? Let’s do this!
Cover Reveal: Shard & Shield!
This morning I flew into Tokyo. Okay, it was afternoon by Tokyo standards, and night by my home standards, but I slept on the plane so it was morning. Or something.
I know just enough Japanese to make it seem like I know more. I can’t understand much of the airplane announcements, but I know enough of routine airplane announcements to fill in the gaps. I cannot have a conversation about the specifics of a hobby, but I can exchange a rail pass and get directions and be generally civil.
A Vicious Spiral of Niceness
Today I am pleased to announce a new anthology full of rich, creamy, dieselpunk goodness.
Grimm, Grit, & Gasoline TOCTwo young women defy the devil with the power of friendship. The pilot of a talking plane discovers a woman who transforms into a swan every night and is pulled into a much more personal conflict than the war he’s already fighting. A pair of twins with special powers find themselves in Eva Braun’s custody and wrapped up in a nefarious plan. A team of female special agents must destroy a secret weapon–the spindle–before it can be deployed, but when they discover one of their number has betrayed them, things get messy. The daughter of a gangster is being held hostage on the top floor of a hotel and, now unbeknownst to her, the secret that had been keeping her safe has been revealed and her time is running out. These and over a dozen other dieselpunk and decopunk fairy tales can be found in this anthology.
Retellings of The Little Mermaid, Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, The Monkey King, Swan Lake, Pinoccio and more are all showcased alongside some original fairy tale-like stories. Featuring stories by Alicia K. Anderson, Jack Bates, Patrick Bollivar, Sara Cleto, Amanda C. Davis, Jennifer R. Donohue, Juliet Harper, Blake Jessop, A.A. Medina, Lizz Donnelly, Nellie K. Neves, Wendy Nikel, Brian Trent, Alena Van Arendonk, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Sarah Van Goethem, Robert E. Vardeman and Zannier Alejandra
Thanks for being patient so far, and today we get to what you really came to the travelogue for: Penguins.
So we went next to the Falklands — the Malvinas — the Falklands.
Travelogue: Argentina & Antarctica! Penguins!
I’m so sorry — I wrote this post way back, but got distracted and didn’t realize it didn’t go live. Let’s talk about ice in Antarctica!
Today, let’s sail through the waters of Antarctica and learn a little.
We entered the Southern Ocean and reached the Antarctic peninsula, sailing through the Gerlache Stait into the Schollart Channel. We had an additional ice pilot with us, a former captain of an Argentine icebreaker ship, now retired and assisting summer vessels.
Travelogue: Argentina & Antarctica! Ice & Islands