Marketing Day: Considerations of an Author

As I have embraced the use of ads to boost my book exposure, I have subscribed to various free and discounted book websites. Robin Reads, Booksends, Freebooksy, Sweetfree Books, etc. Some I have abandoned, disappointed by the offerings, while some I have continued to use, delighted at the bargains I find. With the flood of books out there, curation is desperately needed in order to find the right books that will dazzle you, and yet be affordable.

Currently, I’m scheduled on Booksends for Cosmic Entanglement November 14 and it will be offered free November 14 thru 16 on Amazon through their KDP Select program. So mark your calendar. Think Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy meets Ender’s Game.

FREE!

While this is the third in the Alysian Series, with time travel, you can start here. Book one begins close to this time and jumps into the past with time traveling clone, Rowyna Gray. Cosmic Entanglements starts at the same point, but moves forward with the birth of Richard and Braden Steele and their childhood. So either can serve as a starting book.

What I noticed in the science fiction genre is the trend toward shorter fiction for a first book to tantalize the reader into a series. This first book is offered free or at a low price. Then later, these first few shorter novels get bound together into a book set or compiled together into one larger book that is then marketed at a higher price.

Using this idea, I stirred the marketing pot even more. I have just published Call Me Time Jumper, a short novella (56 pages),  about a twelve year old boy who tumbles through time, visiting people and places in each of my books. It’s a delightful romp through the Alysian Universe complete with drama, fast-paced action, humor and love.

Here”s a sample of the beginning of chapter one:

“His mother’s name was Tempest Steele Telluria. Yes, Steele. She was the daughter of Richard Steele, Time Master, who ran the Timelab for ages until he shut it down–out of fear.

And his father was Kayse Telluria. Yes, Telluria, that infamous genetic line of temporal Talents. Kayse had proven that clones could reproduce. And when your father was the clone of the notorious Arwoyn Telluria, ex-king, genetic experimenter, time traveler, and overall fate manipulator, well, everyone watched him–especially Trace Walker, Director of I.N.Sys., protectorate for the Democratic Union. They all gazed at him from the moment he was born as if he were some bomb ready to explode.

So, he didn’t disappoint.”

Just published yesterday. Brand new. A short sweet read.

Since I’m currently writing about a generation ship desperately lost out in the Milky Way, I have been selecting spaceship stories to read to see how others write about the experience. One I selected from Freebooksy that I would recommend is Better World by Autumn Kalquist (154 pages)

The story is about Mauve who is a metal worker toiling in the blistering sub levels of a three hundred year old Ark ship named London. All over the ship parts are breaking down, resources failing. A hierarchy is well defined within the ship that invites abuse throughout the levels.

The destination planet, however, is in view and Mauve is among the first to land on the toxic planet with the expectation that all in the first landing party will die.

The story has a lot of interaction and tension within the various relationships on board. While giving the story drama, a few times, I thought the emotions excessive. However, I found the story overall enjoyable and if you’re looking for a story involving life on a starship, you might like this.

Finally, before Thanksgiving, my most recent book, Time’s Equation will be published and available on Amazon. This is a full length novel (420 pages) that involves Tempest and Kayse in a murder. The murder, however, is not your ordinary murder, but possibly time travelers from the future visiting the present to change their current timeline. A mathematical equation is discovered that can predict the future and even be used to manipulate time itself. Chock full of action and romance, don’t miss this time travel special.

Holidays are approaching. I wish you joy in your holiday experience, but don’t forget to find time to enjoy a good read among the hectic activities .

An Author’s Life

I’m coming down the home stretch.

The latest book in the Alysian Series is gathering momentum as the publication date comes in sight. Toni Boudreault, my cover designer, just sent over the cover for me to approve.

What did I consider important in the cover design?
First, I wanted to use the same font as I used on the others in the series to tie them together.

Second, I wanted a title short enough to fit comfortably on the cover, while indicating the theme of the book. I wanted the letters big enough to be able to read in a thumbnail.

A central theme in the story involves an equation that not only predicts, but can manipulate the future. It took a long time and several working titles to finally settle on Time’s Equation as the final choice.

Next I wanted the background to show interesting equations, but I didn’t want the cover to look like a math book. Several of my immediate readers don’t like people on the cover. They prefer to imagine what the characters look like. For science fiction, about half have people and half have images of ships, worlds, planets, etc. So some of mine do, but most don’t show faces on the cover.

But this story is about time travel along with the development of a romantic relationship. Consequently, we settled on hands reaching out to touch through a swirling timegate. The story contains both mathematical science and romance.

I chose the blue background because it’s cooler and contrasts against the warmer tones of the hands.

There’s also aliens, androids, clones, cyborgs, nano viruses, you know… the usual.

That’s my process for working with Toni to get a cover. I’m lucky that she listens to my ideas and then goes off to make magic. Towards the end, she is patient with my many tweaks and suggestions because we both know how important a cover is for attracting readers.

Also happening is the incoming comments from Beta readers. One of the things that I work hard on is to get the writing right. Through a writing critique group and then Beta readers, I’m able to polish the writing. It isn’t easy and takes months of hard work.

Occasionally, I hire a professional editor, but they can be very expensive and sometimes not worth the price.

I format as I go so I can estimate the length of chapters and start most chapters on the right side page. Often I add or delete sentences during writing to keep the formatting professional.

Finally, I have scheduled Cosmic Entanglement for a free run on KDP Select from November 13 through November 16 to set up some buzz on the series.

I apologize that I’m not an avid social networker. My life isn’t chock full of excitement (thank goodness) because most of my time is involved in writing or editing.

And currently, a wedding.
My daughter is getting married in February, and that’s taking up a bit of time and will accelerate as the wedding approaches.

My recommendation for this week is to read Caught in Time as a start to Cosmic Entanglement…although I’ll tell you a secret.

Cosmic Entanglement works very well as a first book. You can do that with time travel. Both Caught in Time and Cosmic Entanglement start around the same time. One just goes back in time while the other goes on to normal time events.

Here I have given you a sneak peak into an author’s life this week, and now I have to go do some more writing and editing. See you next week with a new recommendation for science fiction or fantasy.

ps. Here’s photo of Robin Hobb’s signing at Powell’s.          HAPPY HALLOWEEN

                                                                                                                    

 

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.

A Discovered Science Fiction Favorite

The hardest part of being an Indie author is the marketing. For May I tried The Fussy Librarian for $16.

And you get what you pay for.

Five hundred free orders (KDP select) so far, which is a far cry from the 4500 free orders of a year ago at this same time through Sweetfreebooks.

In addition, last year, readers immediately started buying the other books in the series, and I sold through June, also, at a record rate. Not yet so far.

There may be certain readers who comb the sites looking for bargains, and they already have my book by now. I also know The Fussy Librarian is still in the building stages, maybe the reason they were not as effective. Ah well, this marketing endeavor is an experiment for me to see what works and what doesn’t.

So, I have checked this off for me, but It may work better for you.

Look at this interesting report comparing various author earnings. It makes me feel that I’m doing the right things. http://authorearnings.com/report/the-50k-report/

In the last several blogs, I have talked about current authors, known and unknown. This week I read an old classic that I never got around to reading in my early days. I enjoyed her. Andre Norton has extensive works on the Forerunners, The Witch World and Solar Queen series to name a few better known ones. The book I read is called The Forerunner Factor. It contains two of her previous works.

 The story tells of Simsa, a Barrows orphan who scrounges underground in a Labyrinth of caves , living with an elderly eccentric woman who collects old “treasures” found in various nook and crannies of her world. Found as a babe in an old Forerunner’s ruin, Simsa’s odd appearance of ebony black skin and silver curly hair set her apart from all others on her world so that she slinks about at night with her head covered so as to escape notice.

When her mentor and protector dies, Simsa is just a young woman, and she gathers the old woman’s artifacts together, hoping to sell a few in order to survive. Through a series of incidents, she is thrown in with a star traveler named Thorn, who arrives on her world searching for any information or remnants of a long lost civilization known as the Forerunners. Needless to say, Simsa’s strange sculpture she tries to sell and her odd appearance captures his attention and the attention of the current Overlord who also is interested in old artifacts and strange tech.

Also, Thorn’s brother went missing while searching for Forerunner artifacts on Simsa’s world, and Thorn is determined to discover what happened to him. Along with Simsa, is her pet Zorsal named Zass who she can mind-link and is trained to her commands. Zass is an alien bird-like creature, utterly loyal and very useful.

Together the three scrabble ahead of the Overlord’s hunters who follow them, and eventually they stumble into a lost ruin deep in the Hard Hills that changes their lives forever.

This is a story of a scramble for survival and a hunt for treasure. At times, it goes on a little overmuch, but the premise kept me interested. There are two parts to this bundle, and the second part is similar in that Simsa tries to escape from captors and lands on a barren, but dangerous, planet, once touched by the Forerunners. Thorn comes after her, and again the two try to survive in a dangerous alien world that harbors ancient secrets.

For over a half century, Andre Norton has written a huge number of enjoyable stories, achieving the Grand Master Award for Fantasy and Science Fiction. She now resides in Murfessboro, Tennessee, still writing.

Norton has an easy to read style and intriguing story lines. I don’t know how I missed her stories, but you shouldn’t.

Science Fiction Mystery Wins 2013 Edgar Award: The Last Policeman

A looming apocalypse. An asteroid heading to Earth.

With all the kerfuffle of asteroids whipping past Earth lately, the selection of The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters seems appropriate, and poses the sticky question of what would you do with only six months to live?

A clever premise.

In the story, asteroid 2011GVI is heading like a bullet for planet Earth with 100% assurance it will impact within six months.

Against this backdrop Detective Hank Palace is called to a McDonald’s bathroom to investigate a hanging that he pronounces a murder.

Jaws drop. Heads shake.

With suicides almost every day, and hangings in particular being his small town’s specialty, no one believes the case is murder.

Yet doggedly, against a world unraveling around him, Hank is determined to prove his case and bring the person to justice. As the case develops, it becomes obvious that Detective Palace is not just searching for a killer, but trying to find meaning and purpose in a world going mad around him.

But others are fleeing their jobs to drink, paint, escape to the beach, be with family, reunite with lost friends, as suddenly priorities shift. Yet some, like Hank, continue to pursue their job, trying to hold society together.

As Hank follows various leads, the police station empties out, courts lose judges and clerks, retail stores close down, and the world prepares for collision. No one cares who the murderer is, but Hank. And what would anyone do if he or she were found?

I found the storyline interesting and Hank Palace a bit quirky. Winters won the 2013 Edgar Award for this story and the Macavity Award for best mystery novel. Also it was an Amazon best book of 2012.

Having said that, the story focused more on the mystery of whether it was a murder and if so, who did it? Winter writes using excruciating detail at times to describe a scene while the main character remains a mystery. All we know of Hank Palace’s physical description is that he is young and has a mustache. Also, he wears several suits of the same color. Psychologically, this case is his umbrella against a rain of emotion that destroys many others who commit suicide so they won’t have to face “the final days.”

For me the book was interesting enough to mention, but not one that I would put to the top of my “must read list.”

This is the first book in a trilogy, and although the mystery resolves to a certain point, the asteroid continues to plunge closer in, evidently waiting for the next two novels before it can hit. This puts an unresolved tension on the whole story. If the case had proven more interesting, maybe…but enough other readers liked it that I wanted to mention it. It is also a Powell’s book group selection and should raise a fair number of comments and discussion.

For those of you interested in the business of books and publishing, I wanted to suggest the following links:

Mark Coker puts out a forecast every year for the book business that is worth reading. Here is a link: He lists fifteen changes or developments that will happen in publishing in 2015.

http://blog.smashwords.com/2014/12/2015-book-publishing-industry.html.

And for my Indie author readers, M.L. Banner, author of Stone Age, offers a podcast with unique ideas on how to reach the bestsellers list on Amazon with your first novel.

http://blog.reedsy.com/post/110078423257/reaching-bestsellers-list-with-first-book-indie-author

Last night my writers group was awesome, so I’m up and writing more in the next installment. My next book poses the questions, “What if time travelers from the future came to your present and tried to change things? How would you react?”

I’m finding it an interesting story.

Indie and Legacy: A Reader’s Choice

Sound the trumpets, wave the banners…Someone’s Clone is now available in ebook form through Amazon. The paperback version will be out around Thanksgiving. Time travel, clones, mystery, a space station, main character with a computer in his brain, adventure, romance…it’s all there.

Writing a 350-page book has taken a year, mainly because I work with a writers group of five other authors that meet twice a month. We critique twenty pages at a go. So it takes time, but it’s well worth it. And then, I offer an advance copy to three or four Beta readers who make excellent suggestions on how to make that better. Sometimes, I employ an independent editor, particularly if a certain section is in question, or I have extra funds sloshing around in my book account

As an incentive, I am offering Touching Crystal, the previous book (6), starting November 21 to the 28th through Amazon’s Countdown Deal. So the best price (.$99) is at the earliest date and goes up a dollar every few days. This can be read as a stand alone, as can Someone’s Clone, but both are richer if the reader is familiar with the earlier books. Needless to say, this is the first time ever I have discounted Touching Crystal…and it won’t last long. So mark your calendar. There’s a deadly comet in it.

I recently attended an Author’s Seminar at Jan’s Paperback in Aloha, Oregon. If you are in the area, and like to read from the physical book, just call Debbie or Jodie at 503 649 3444 and I’ll provide a signed copy of any in the series for you. (Give a bit of lead time).

I watched the broadcasts about the Rosetta Project and saw the Philae Lander successfully hop onto a speeding comet. Science fiction becomes science reality. It was exciting. (See previous blog for more)

This week I’m reading The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter Hamilton. Hamilton’s civilization has advanced far into the future where humans regenerate, clone themselves, have embedded technology that enables telepathy, and live practically forever. Space travel has wormhole technology, but there is a barrier separating a region in the universe known as the Void where the physics is different…time is different.

Bored humans become eager to risk their lives for new discoveries and unknown adventure. So several expeditions venture forth to penetrate and explore this region.

Hamilton has established his credentials as a foremost science fiction writer with several other series and novels, which I have enjoyed. (see previous blogs) At over 600 pages, I am still reading this one, but the going is lumpy.

An action-packed start bogs down with detailed science and description. Laura Brandt is “tank yanked” when things go wrong on an expedition to the Void, which lies at the core of their galaxy.

For those scifi readers who like hard science, Hamilton’s description of physics is interesting, but I wanted to move on after a bit. The stories start with the mounting disasters faced by the shuttle scientists as they explore an alien formation of crystal “trees” circling a planet’s atmosphere in the Void. The trees carry “eggs” that soon attack the crew and attempt to absorb them. Interesting non-stop action runs for eighty-eight pages with no chapter breaks until book two.

Now, you’re in a different story, but the same universe. This story concerns a wealthy, powerful, and long-lived human, Nigel Sheldon, who clones himself and entangles his thoughts with his clone as he prepares to send his doppelgänger on an expedition. The book ends as the clone’s ship slips past the boundary and into the Void.

The next section or “book” begins in a military unit on a planet presumably inside the Void. This is full of action and an interesting alien that drops onto the planet in an egg shape, lures in humans with thoughts and emotions, manipulates, and devours them.

I plan to keep reading because Hamilton’s world building is intriguing. He challenges the reader with mind-bending concepts and offers a peek into a possible far future. He stretches the ideas of what humans may become and what they possibly could do. He throws in heavy science, but also includes some dramatic action.

Next blog, I plan to talk about Ark Royal by Christopher Nuttall. Christopher Nuttall writes an extensive military science fiction series that is getting noticed. This series was recommended to me by an avid military scifi enthusiast. So when Nuttall put the first book in the series at a nice discount, I snapped it up and slid it onto my Kindle shelf. Now, I plan to check it out for you and pass along my impressions.

I think a novel is selected because of the story, combined with other people’s recommendations, whether it be on a list or in person. I didn’t check the publisher first to see if I wanted to read either book. Peter Hamilton’s book is published by Del Ray, an imprint of Random House…one of the Big Five publishing houses and was on some list of “new books to read.”

Christopher Nuttall’s came as word of mouth and is published digitally by Amazon Digital Services and in print form by CreateSpace.

I think the readers of today select what they read from a variety of places. How nice to have both the tried and true authors from legacy publishers to choose from and, also, the new, exciting, emerging self publishing authors.

Comets and Book Clubs

We are landing on a comet tonight! This is a momentous event. After ten years of chasing, using gravity assist, the Philae Lander, a robotic spacecraft, will catch up to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, or 67P, and anchor itself there for hopefully a year long ride.

The Rosetta project, led by the European Space Agency with contributions from NASA and others, will be studying this comet in order to better understand the composition of comets, thought to bring water to primitive Earth, and possibly life itself. Eventually it will be within 180 million km of the sun and expelling water and gases because of intense heat.

Find more at: CNN.com: Rosetta Landing or www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta

This is the ESA’s official website, where you can find the latest news, images and animations on the spacecraft and its lander .

Why does this intrigue me? My sixth novel, Touching Crystal deals with the impact of a comet against Alysia’s moon, Thanos, and the resulting consequences to my world of Alysia.

Science will now explain what was once mystical, a harbinger or omen for humans. Although it took ten years to get close enough to land, the idea that we can interface with a moving comet offers hope that we may be able to divert any future threats to Earth from this type of cosmic threat.

Although, we certainly didn’t see the meteor that crashed into Russia last year and took us by surprise. We were too busy staring at a passing asteroid.

I am currently reading Snow Crash, as it is a selection of my Powell’s Book Club and we meet tonight. It is a Hugo winner classic from 1992 and is very different. Think William Gibson and his Hugo winning book, Neuromancer, which created the sub genre of Cyber-punk in the early 1990s and you have an idea of the story.

The Powell’s book club is a rowdy group of fifteen to twenty-five or so science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts who have been meeting for over ten years at the world famous bookstore of Powell’s in Beaverton. They are awesomely intelligent about science fiction and not shy about offering opinions.

Makes for lively discussions, so I need to be prepared.

I also plan on reading The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter Hamilton, and will report on that new offering in the next week or two.

But first, I have my proof for Someone’s Clone in my hot hands and expect a November 20 publication date. Until then, I’ll be working feverishly to put the final touches on it and conquer the format and download monster.

Check out Amazon for this exciting new adventure, one of my best to date. A murder, a mystery, time travel, romance, aliens…this one has it all…so stay tuned.

 

Clones in Science Fiction

I’m out and about.

Portland’s summer weather is beautiful. So come meet me for a book signing at Jan’s Paperback Saturday, August 9 from 1:00p.m. to 4:00p.m. (See left sidebar for more details)

Currently, clones are dominating my writing in my next novel entitled, Someone’s Clone, which is due out in the Fall. It starts with murder, then time travel, conflict between Terrans and Alysians and includes the enigmatic and alien Enjelise, Angel…a stew of delightful action with an explosive ending.

So I rummaged through my reading and decided to suggest some of my favorite novels that feature clones. Both have won a Hugo Award, and both are classics of the 80’s.

The first is Joan D. Vinge’s Snow Queen. I first read this a while ago, when it won a Hugo for best science fiction, but I remembered the rich description of Tiamat and the beautiful cold ruler Arienrhod. Told from the viewpoint of Moon Dawntreader of the summer people, it is a story of love and the transfer of power. With a nod to Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, this story is set in the far future on the twin sun planet Tiamat that is isolated by a stargate and suppressed by the far flung empire of the Hegemony.

Moon Dawntreader of the summer people is in love with Sparks, her cousin, but he gets caught up by the ruthless winter queen, Arienrhod, when he travels to the city of Carbuncle. To save him, Moon goes through several trials and tribulations. In an effort to prolong her reign, the Snow Queen has eight clones sprinkled throughout the summer or lower half of Tiamat. Whichever one becomes the strongest and survives will be crowned the next ruler.

Guess who that might be?

The Snow Queen is followed by The Summer Queen and is also a good read. The new queen, Moon Dawntreader, realizes that ruling isn’t as fun as she’d expected. A hidden old technology, with a enormous data base, lies buried beneath the planet’s capitol. Manifesting as the Sybil, it holds together the old Empire’s society, but is now breaking down.

With the rise of the summer solstice, a century of exploitation by the Hegemony passes. Summer Queen, Moon Dawntreader, appointed to lead her people back to the ancient traditional ways, chooses instead to prepare them to meet the return of the mighty Empire on equal terms.

Complex, with description and more character driven than action, this story contains a fascinating world and future.

 

Another Hugo winner, and one of my favorite authors, is C.J. Cherryh. Her Cyteen series also is told from the viewpoint of a clone and is filled with political intrigue, murder and betrayal.

Set in Cherryh’s Merchanters’ Universe (which you should visit extensively), Reseune is a laboratory Empire that creates genetically modified humans for a variety of tasks from farmers to soldiers. These created humans have no legal rights. They are the Azi (short for from A to Z) socially stratified and task-defined slaves.

Ariadne Emory is the chief administrator holding the power in Reseune, but one morning she is found dead in her room. To hang onto her immense power, her advisors realize they can replicate her and program her personality to take the place of the dead original. They plan to manipulate her personality to control her.

But Ari has other ideas.

Those who love psychological drama, politics, and the struggle to be an individual in a repressive society will like this. Those who prefer the nonstop action of a James Corey will prefer another novel.

Or you could be like me, and like both.

Quantum Theory Noir Thriller: hard science in science fiction

Grab your chisels ladies and gentlemen. For those of you who have been mumbling that McCartha has gone soft, this week’s review is for you.

It’s all about hard science fiction.

For what is the most challenging, the most difficult to get your head around, the least understood of all the science theories?

Quantum Theory.

You bet. It changes even as you look at it, and a cat-in-a-box can be both dead and alive until the observer decides it’s fate.

Schrodinger’s Gat attempts to explain Quantum Theory, Probability and Permutation as the main characters manipulate events at every toss of a coin.

Welcome to a hard science novel that tackles a challenging subject and gives lectures along the way. Yes, throughout the book are serious science lectures where the author warns you that if you’re after story only, you should skip the next several paragraphs of dense science theory.

Of course, when anyone says, “Don’t read this, or look away,” that’s when I dig out my glasses.

Told in the first person,using the voice and ambience of a Dashiell Hamnet novel, Schrodinger’s Gat is a simple story that  explores the quandary of fate versus free will and the puzzle of parallel dimensions.

Interested?

Yes, please.

Failed writer, teacher and divorced father, Paul Bayes succumbs to depression, tosses a coin and lets its outcome direct him to step in front of an oncoming Bart subway.

There are several depression ridden moments…be warned.

While moaning over his life in true Hamlet fashion, he is still male enough to notice out of the corner of his eye, a pretty dark-haired girl watching him and when the coin comes up tails and he begins to step forth, she yells, “No!” and runs away.

Flummoxed, he hesitates just long enough to miss his train, and instead he takes off and chases her to begin a wild ride into the realm of quantum physics. For Tali, can locate tragedies and prevent them from happening. She dices with fate at the toss of a coin and the possibility of breaking free from the grip of fate fills Paul with hope…until the future begins to punch back.

This two-hundred and eight page story is full of action, but is also a mind-bending romp into the hard science of Quantum Physics.

You wanted it.

And if you haven’t had your fill yet,  this fascinating link shows how the dreams of science fiction writers have turned into the reality of present day science. http://www.buzzfeed.com/microsoftmsn/10-science-fiction-technologies-that-are-now-real

Check it out…science fiction technology becomes real day technology.

 

A Stunning Space Opera

Thirsting for an old fashion kickass space opera with a gritty detective trying to track down a missing rich Earth girl turned Belter rebel as things get weirder and wilder?

Welcome to Leviathan Wakes: Book One in the Expansion Series.

James S. A. Corey is the pen name for Daniel Abraham who wrote the fantasy series The Long Price Quartet, starting with A Shadow in Summer.

Which I enjoyed.

So, I had expectations.

In Leviathan Wakes, two main protagonists form the structure of the story. The first is Detective Miller who works for the Earth company Star Helix Security on Ceres station built on a large astroid deep in the Astroid Belt.

Detective Miller is a Belter who is a cynic and a nihilist and doesn’t have faith in the moral judgement of others. Control of information is how you get others to do what you want and he doesn’t trust anyone else to decide what needs to be done. His current partner is an Earther who is not well received by those of Ceres and he struggles to understand why he is not accepted among them. Living in the Belt creates humans with different mind sets and tension develops between the “Inner Ring” of Mars and Earth and those whose lives have never touched ground or breathed natural air and live in the “Outer Planets.”

Jim Holden is XO on the Canterbury who watches his ship, a civilian ice hauler, blown up when he takes a team to investigate a mayday signal from a stranded ship Scopuli. It’s a setup. Furious, he believes that people should be given the truth and trusts mankind to do the right thing.

An idealist.

So, he broadcasts on full power, “My name is James Holden, and my ship the Canterbury was just destroyed by a warship using stealth technology and what appear to be parts stamped with Martian navy serial numbers. Data stream to follow.”

And starts an interplanetary war.

At first Mars is suspected of engineering a war they most likely can win. But the answer isn’t that simple as big private corporations become involved along with Earth’s daunting military. Events turn strange when Eros station becomes infected with an alien pronto virus and the stakes for humanity escalate as the virus mutates human biomass into different alien forms.

Full of action with interesting characters, I couldn’t put it down. My expectations were met, and exceeded. Along with an interesting mystery story, a bit of romance, some dramatic space fights, threatening aliens, Corey investigates how much and what kinds of information are safe to share.

Which was good since the Northwest was under siege from a massive snowstorm, and I had nothing to distract me and nowhere I could go. I curled up and just enjoyed the story.

Opposite from Scalzi, (see previous blog) Corey’s acknowledgement is a short third of a page and uses first names only when he thanks his New Mexico Critical Mass writers group. It is in an author interview provided later that you realize the George mentioned is George R. R. Martin and the Walter is Walter Jon Williams. The group is more like the science fiction writers’ mafia.

The idea of a writers group is one the fledgling author should consider. Being in a writers group has benefitted me immensely, and while we are yet to be powerhouse names, their ideas and suggestions have been invaluable. A thoughtful and supportive group is an asset to any writer and I recommend joining one.

Also in the interview, the questioner asks Corey how much research did he do on the technical side of things, and how important was it to be realistic and accurate. This is a dilemma most space opera stories have to face. The science has to be believable, but it shouldn’t get in the way of the story. Corey calls it the “working man’s science fiction.” In fact when asked how the Epstein drive works, he answers, “Very well.” And leaves it at that.

It’s a tricky rope to walk when writing about possible future technologies and science. I agree with Corey, that the story is the thing and the science and technology should be believable enough not to interrupt the story.

Because after all, science and technology constantly change. What may seem impossible today, may be probable tomorrow.