Science Fiction Marketing and Cyberpunk

Someone’s Clone just hit number #1 in Kindle’s free Books on Genetic Engineering and number #1 on Kindle’s free books on Time Travel. Wahoo! AANNDD…The day is not over, either. #28 in paid Kindle Science fiction. Exciting stuff.

But like my days as a stockbroker, sales change hour by hour, and today’s heady success is tomorrow’s tough struggle. Market on Indie authors.

However, today I’m thrilled. (A brief humble bow ensues)

Why the spike in downloads? I enrolled Someone’s clone in KDP Select for July 5 through July 9. It is one of my favorite books in the series and can be read as a stand alone. But since it is positioned at the end of the current series, it was languishing in sales as readers were picking up the earlier books. I figured anyone reading it for free, might become interested in the rest of the series. (which is happening) This is a limited time offer for this book, and will not often be repeated.

I’m also hoping that readers will like it and write a good review. (hint, hint)

I don’t know how other books get so many reviews. Some have big publishers behind them, and others become popular and get on lists that help sales. If a book is good, it deserves good reviews. I have no problem with that. I have not gotten involved in review swaps or traveled all over for book signings, but friends and family have often supported my books…honestly. Others in the family, not so much. “I don’t read science fiction.”

Now with Amazon’s new policy on reviews, it will be interesting to see if reviews change at all or continue along the the same path. I understand why Amazon is cracking down on reviews. Fake reviews and paid reviews have gotten out of hand so that the customer no longer trusts them. Amazon is all about protecting the customer, so they have stepped up to the plate and cracked down. I just think the process will be harder for the unknown Indie author who likes to write and is not such a strong marketer to get the reviews he or she needs.

As a friend of mine says often, “We’ll see.”

This week I am reading Cyberpunk. Normally, I like William Gibson, but I am finding his new book, The Peripheral, a struggle. So I switched over to Charles Stross’s Halting State. Both deal with virtual reality and events inside an internet game. Gibson is harder to piece together what is happening because of his constant point of view shifts. In both cases, nerd-tech language is used lavishly and often there’s an inside joke or innuendo. Also characters are not delineated clearly in Gibson’s book. I had to reread an entire chapter trying to find a name to pin to the person talking in the chapter and still couldn’t figure out who it was.

Finally, I read the summary which enlightened me to the fact that one of the main characters, Wilf Netherton, lives seventy-five years in the future. The story begins in an apocalyptic near future where jobs are scarce and money is tight. Flynne Fisher earns what she can by assembling product at a 3-d print shop. Her brother, Burton, tries to live on money from the Veterans Association since he is disabled, and often takes on online gaming jobs to augment his tight income.

Burton persuades his sister, Flynne, to take over a few observation shifts in a game for him, promising her that the game isn’t a shooter. Still, the crime she witnesses there is plenty bad.

Wilf is a high-powered publicist in a world seventy-five years in the future where reaching into the past is considered no more than a hobby. He is working online secretly as security in some on line games. Both Flynne and Wilf will soon meet and realize the impact each other’s world will have on the other.

Okay. Confusing in parts for me so far. But, I love most of Gibson’s other books, so I’m soldiering on. His Neuromancer is the book that began the whole Cyberpunk sub genre and won a Hugo.

Charles Stross is a Hugo winner also, so I picked up his book Halting State on a recommendation. Be aware that Rule of 34 is the second in this series.

Now in Stross’s Halting States, a crime also takes place inside an online game. Susan Smith of the Edinburgh police is called in on an unusual robbery where orcs and a dragon rob a bank inside the virtual reality land of Avalon Four. The company that owns the game, Hayek Associates, is a dot.com start up that just floated onto the New York Stock Exchange and whiffs of impropriety could crash the stock, affecting a number of powerful investors and worldwide financial empires.

This one was easier to follow, and not because of my stock broker background. Each chapter is titled with the name of the character in which point of view it is written. However, Stross uses second person which is a bit disconcerting, but is what the gaming world uses in their instructions. Stross also uses a lot of gaming technology and inside tech-nerd slang and information.  So far the story is edgy enough to be interesting, but I’m like investigator Smith, who wonders what is all the big fuss about? The more she investigates, the more complex and bigger the case becomes. Looks like a worldwide conspiracy is using Hayek Associates to funnel money around.

Sell your Bitcoins before it’s too late.

Adrift in the Indie Sea

More and more authors are offering quality low cost books to the public. The advent of e-books over the past few years and the increase of tablets and technology have brought a flood of new writers offering interesting and fresh stories at good prices. Also, a large number of older authors are pulling retired novels out of the closet, reclaiming rights and re-igniting interest in past work.

Now the problem becomes how the bewildered reader sorts through this mass of books to find a good read.

The public reader has become the slush pile.

Amazon has done a great job of helping authors market their books. Reviews are key and Amazon Select and Prime offer ways the reader can sample new authors without bankrupting the piggybank. They have a new program called Countdown where the author puts the book on a program that starts out with a deep discount and following a set plan, the price escalates over a period of days.

One of the goals of my blog is to suggest books that I think science fiction readers will like. Because I am also swimming in the Indie Sea, so to speak, from time to time I pluck out a book and suggest a new Indie author that I have enjoyed, and also hope you will sample my own offerings.

Today I’m suggesting Strings on a Shadow Puppet by Thomas L. Evans, a debut novel.

Strings offers my two favorite genres: military science fiction and spy thriller. The writing is clear and well written. There are very few errors of writing, which is especially welcome in a new fiction author. The characters are compelling and the action, when it comes, exciting.

Lieutenant Commander Alex Fotheringday lives with the shame of a coverup over  an attack he instigated on a civilian merchant ship. Fortunately for him, a few years in a  backwater planet on duty and now he has negotiated to command of The Hunter so he can “put things to right” and find out who is behind a network of pirates and mercenaries roving the system. He has set up a deal with his father’s opposition, Admiral Lord Li Yu Benjamin Rippavitch in the highly decorated “Ripper’s Raiders” to command a stealth military ship and search out the leader of the insurgents.

His Imperialist father is not pleased.

The crew for the Hunter is an odd assortment from Able Technician Francis Maria Harpur, a “natural” with no tech implants to a plugged in techno junkie Chief Petty Officer Sinclair, known as Sinner, who is a Wirehead and cyborg. The XO is a gorgeous woman named Samantha Smith who works naval intelligence for the Ripper and his TOMO (Tactical Ops and Marine Officer) Leftenant Rascoine Lord D’Ascoine, also known as Razza Dazza, who is also an Imperial Hierarch of Alex’s vaunted social standing.

Several more round out the crew. The first ten chapters introduce the crew and take a lot of time explaining the political set up and detailing the ship. There is a lot of time spent training in simulations even after lift off, and a lot of time digging through research and mining data for patterns and information trying to uncover the enemy…

or spy on each other.

For the hard science geek, Evans sounds very knowledgeable about military hardware and future technology. A bit too much detail for my taste, but his descriptions lend an authentic feel to the story.

It isn’t until chapter ten that The Hunter finally takes off, tracking down leads and trying to ferret out who the mastermind of the pirate’s network is. However, once the action does start, it is engrossing.

Several alternating chapters reveal the activities of the Waylang terrorists who are following orders of the Dalang, who is the enemy Alex seeks. Part of the gang is comprised of alien shapeshifters and how they go about killing and stealing is interesting.

The plot takes twists and turns as everyone appears to be spying on everyone else and no one is who they say they are.

I enjoyed the story and recommend it for any reader who likes military scifi. My main complaint is that the cover and the title really don’t reflect the military aspect of the story. And most of the action is on board a ship or asteroid. I know that the author is a fan of the Japanese shadow puppetry, and there is a shadowy “puppet master” behind the scenes that Alex is trying to ferret out, but for the most part for me, it was a military mission. Unless you read the story, you don’t realize the odd shapes on the cover are the shape shifting aliens and that could put off the avid military scifi reader.

With that said, the series has just begun and I look forward to reading the next one.

As you can see, my blog’s main purpose is to present to the scifi and fantasy reader stories that I found exceptional in the hopes that you will not have to wade through a public slush pile of books to discover that sparking gem.

However, there are many great novels that never parade past my sight, and those I do recommend are purely personal opinion. You might not like them. I tell you how I chose what I do…

The rest is up to you…

Writing, marketing and the web

Authors used to think that they could write the great novel, sit back and that was that. It’s no longer the case. Even with the big publishers, a lot of the marketing work falls on the shoulder of the author.

However with the internet, a lot of authors and businesses are using the web to get out and get to know their readers and customers. They are spreading the word with twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and others. A long time ago I was told that the computer would free us up and give us more time to do recreational activities. It seems to have worked the other way. I spend more time now at the computer than I do any other activity except sleeping.

And I admire people like Morgen Bailey who has put together an in-depth website that promotes Indie authors. She has interviewed over 400 authors and I am number 68. Recently she revisited my blog and I have linked it here:

http://morgensauthorinterviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/author-interview-no68-sheron-mccartha.html

If you want the skinny on me, then give it a read.

There is a section on her website that lists the authors numerically and gives their name, genre, a link and short one sentence synopsis of their work. There are over 400 authors of all kinds of genres, both fiction and non fiction. It is easy to scroll down and find the book you are looking for. I rolled down looking for science fiction and when I found something interesting, I just followed the link and learned more about the book and author. I either liked what I saw or moved on. Check out #68.

Me.

Everyday I have someone sign up to follow me on Twitter. I have no idea why anyone would, but there you go. There’s no accounting what people do. Recently, new Indie author Lee Carlon tweeted me to check out his book. Now, this has happened before…Lord yes, too many times. Buy my book, buy my book, buy my book. Headache.

However, this gentlemen was very polite and offered to send it free. In a generous mood ( a rare occasion) I went to Amazon and downloaded it. Paid real money…well a credit card. It looked interesting.

I am enjoying it.

The book is well written, so you can cross off the myth that an Indie writer is sloppy with his grammar or spelling. The writing is as good, if not better, than any old school traditionally published book.

At the start, the protagonist awakes to find himself twenty-five years into a nightmare future controlled by the New Technology Corporation and digital entities. The protagonist comes to realize that during a demonstration of what was supposed to be teleportation, he was killed, digitally copied, and his copy appeared in the box across the room. The new technology of teleportation and digital downloads transforms the society and dehumanizes real people. Everyone is required to wear a chip to keep track of them. An underground society of real humans are fighting back at the multinational  corporation that created this nightmare society…and of course his copy is supposed to be the one that caused it all.

You find yourself championing a digital copy. Go figure. Although the story is the humans versus the big bad corporation (maybe like the series Fringe) the idea of digital copies running a society is interesting. The other aspect of the story is the digital animal pets or companions that are becoming more frighteningly self aware. The book raises the ethical debate of how far should we take technology and who has the right to decide what technology is acceptable, or not acceptable. Is technology’s impact on society good or bad? What kind of technology do we want in our future?

The pace kept me reading and the action was both believable and interesting. So, if you like cyberpunk style stories ala William Gibson, Phillip K. Dick and the latest, Player One, then check out d.evolution by Lee Carlon.

Next Saturday I will be attending a workshop on small business and the web. So I might pick up my tweeting pace (which is sporadic at best) and learn more about the web and marketing. Be forewarned.

Also, Past the Event Horizon is coming out in late June, or July. I am excited. I have put up the cover for you to take a peek at and it promises to be a good all around space adventure. Stay tuned.

Last weekend I was a vendor at a small business fair next to Bombshell’s in Beaverton. I met a lot of really nice people and sold a good number of books. Thanks for all for your hard work, April. So you see, I am not giving up on people to people contact.

Nawww, people are just too fun to do that.

Distrust this Particular Read

I am a big fan of William Gibson. Starting with Neuromancer on through Pattern Recognition, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Spook Country, Zero History and others. So it was with excitement and ignorance that I settled in with Distrust that Particular Flavor, his newest offer ….and should have–distrusted, that is. It’s a series of bits and pieces of speeches and essays from different times in his life. For that, an occasional insight into the thoughts of a famous iconic writer, but not the edgy, cyber punk story that I was looking forward to.

I feel bad…seeing that we’re twitter buddies and all…but I was very disappointed as I wanted a cyber chunky story.

On the other hand, looking for a good read, I picked up Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Ghost Ship and was enthralled. I have mentioned their Liadan series universe before and this is the most recent Theo Waitley adventure. Read Fledgling, Mouse and Dragon, Saltation before you read this one, and then enjoy.

Miller and Lee provide rich character portrayals along with interesting science. This time they introduce Independent Artificial Intelligence in a starship. AI is a recent theme I have been reading about and unlike in The Ashes of Candesce, this AI isn’t the enemy, but is a ship that haunts space waiting for its captain to take charge.

Theo Waitley is a newly graduated starship pilot who takes her first courier job from “Uncle.” Her university scholar father, who seemed normal during most of her childhood, disappears suddenly. Finding him, Theo discovers a whole family line that is being hunted and killed by Central Administration. Theo gets put on their list. Also hunting her is an aware A1starship that has decided she is it’s captain because of a key given to her by a dying ex lover.

Great adventure and a fun read. 4 stars****

In the interesting science posts category, I found this new discovery:

http://www.astronautical.org/sites/default/files/spacetimes/spacetimes_48-6.pdf

A proposal to use the quantum vacuum as a propellant. If it can be done, there’s no lack of vacuum in space, and hence might solve the propulsion problem for star travel. Science fiction writers are always looking for valid science to enable their characters to traverse space. Otherwise, we make up something and the science is squishy. You do realize the warp drive is a fictional creation by the writers of Star Trek, and not real?

Here’s one more question:

If you believe in the big bang, where in a micro billionth of a second the universe went from nothing to filling the universe…what does that say about the speed limit of light? Maybe light didn’t exist then. I just think of the word bang and I see exploding light. So the big bang happened in the dark?

p.s. Just watched “Universe: Top ten greatest explosions.”  The comment concerning the “Big Bang” and traveling past light speed was that the universe itself can expand faster than the speed of light, but no particle traveling in the universe can go faster than the speed of light. Squish, squish, huh?

Attention Gameplayers

http://www.visual.ly/fiction-reality-timeline

Check out this amazing visual link. (above) It shows the science fiction book that introduces an idea on the left timeline and then on the right the date on a timeline that the idea became reality.

If you are a video game enthusiast…this book’s for you.

If you are over thirty-five and reminisce about the 80’s, this book’s for you.

The story is about an Earth in the near future that is falling apart. There are no jobs, no food, gas costs a fortune and humanity escapes reality through an immersive virtual world called, “Oasis”

The creator of Oasis is a Howard Hughes type recluse that has amassed an enormous fortune and no heirs. He dies and leaves this entire fortune to the person who can find a “golden egg” in Oasis. All the clues come from the era of the eighties.

If you remember Zork , Dragons and Dungeons, Bladerunner, Wargames, Pacman, Van Halen, etc. then you will enjoy wandering down memory Lane as Wade (avatar–Parzival) answers questions from that era to gain points and  inventory that will aide him win this fortune. But he’s not the only one interested in winning a fortune.

Because Wade has had no life and huddles in a discarded hulk of an automobile in a junk yard to protect himself from an abusive aunt and her boyfriend, he has had lots of time to play every game ever invented hundreds of times within the computer universe. He’s gotten really good at them. He’s a loner who even attends school online and his few friends are avatars in Oasis. It’s also an online love story fraught with the question of who any avatar really is in “real life.” Behind that awesome young looking female avatar could be a balding fifty year old called Chuck. But Wade falls in love anyway with a spitfire of an avatar who becomes his main competition.

For five years everyone has been trying to find the first clue, a key. And then, Wade finds the first key..and the real world reacts violently. He gets offers in the millions for endorsements and interviews, but his life is also threatened by IOI a large corporation that wants to take over the Oasis and monetize it. They are willing to kill anyone who stands in their way, and they do so.

At times, I felt that there was too much explanation on esoteric computers and details of the eighties, at least for me. Once again, Wade, (Parzival) has to play a game, or remember the exact dialog and action in a movie, or recall a line from a song to get to the next level. It got late, I got impatient and I skipped ahead to the end.  I rarely do that. The next morning, I rethought that strategy and went back for the complete story.

Player One is something new. Worth a look. It has a bit of a flavor of William Gibson and Phillip Dick

If you are a geek or even have geekish tendencies…then this book is for you.

Are you Ready to be a Player?

p.s. I am now reading Ashes of Candesce by Karl Schroeder.  Add in chocolate and I’m in heaven.