Monthly Archives: November 2011
And speaking of books that need plugging
| November 28, 2011 | Posted by annathepiper under Other People's Books |
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Decent self-published books need all the help they can get to get readers, so I’d like to take the time to mention 
mmegaera
She was kind enough to give me a coupon for a review copy from Smashwords, and I’ve just finished reading the book as of this weekend. It’s a bit of a mashup of Western, SF, and time-travel romance, and I found it a good solid read. A proper review will be coming later (I’ve rated it on Goodreads but haven’t written up a review yet), but I wanted to go ahead and mention it now. Click over to her page to read an excerpt, and if you like what you see, buy it and tell her I sent you, mmkay?
Cyber Monday Faerie Blood
| November 28, 2011 | Posted by annathepiper under Faerie Blood, Short Pieces |
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Since Faerie Blood is no longer officially for sale anywhere (and what few places it’s remaining I’m not likely to see any money from), I wanted to remind y’all that if you haven’t read the book and you want to, I’ll be happy to direct-sell it to you!
And since it’s Cyber Monday, let’s make this easy!
I have three CDs left from my previous stock. These include both a PDF and an ePUB copy of Faerie Blood, and along with it, a PDF of my short story “The Disenchanting of Princess Cerridwen”. If you’d like one of these, five bucks to all comers, including the cost of shipping it to you if you’re not local to me.
ETA: All three CDs have now been spoken for. However, if you’d still like a CD copy of Faerie Blood vs. one just emailed to you, talk to me and we can work something out!
If you’d like to just buy a copy of Faerie Blood directly from me, let’s call that four bucks, and you should specify if you want a PDF or an ePUB copy.
If you’d like a copy of my short story “The Blood of the Land”, previously published in the anthology Defiance, you can have that for .99. Again, please specify your desired format.
And I’ll give you Faerie Blood and “The Blood of the Land” both for an even five bucks.
The best way to pay me would be via PayPal, addressed to my gmail address annathepiper. If you want one of the CDs, you should also email me directly at the same address with an appropriate address to send the CD to you!
I will keep these prices valid not only through today, but also through the rest of the holiday season. Please feel free to spread a link to this post around as well if you so desire!
RIP Anne McCaffrey
| November 22, 2011 | Posted by annathepiper under Other People's Books |
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Like most of the rest of the net, I’m seeing the news today that Anne McCaffrey has passed away. The initial link I was given is here, and another early report link is here. They’re saying she had a massive stroke.
This one hurts, people.
I remember the Pern books being among the very first SF/F books I read as an adolescent. In turn, they influenced other books I went in search of–notably, Sharon Shinn’s Samaria series, which always struck me as Pern-like in flavor. And as I’ve mentioned in the past, I get huge echoes back to Pern through the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, as well.
PernMUSH is one of the three MUSHes that formed the bulk of my online roleplaying history, and almost at the same time I joined PernMUSH, I also joined the offline group Telgar Weyr. Like many in Pern fandom, I had my share of issues with many details of Anne’s world, and eventually I actually enjoyed Pern fandom in many ways more than I did the original canon material. But I cannot deny that she created a world that had a massive, massive influence on me. To this day I have friendships that were forged because of Pern fandom.
PernMUSH established my ability to roleplay–and by extension, to write–from a male point of view, since F’hlan was the first significant male character I ever played. F’hlan taught me a great deal about the kinds of male characters I liked to play, and how to keep a long-running romantic relationship lively. (Melora, I am looking at you.)
I must also give mad props to the Crystal Singer books, since a significant bit of my roleplay history was on CrystalMUSH as well. Killashandra Ree, I loved you. You led me to roleplaying Kevlan Sharr, Tance Vokrim, Jerrik Rawn Deegan, and Tamber al-Acorrin (who had the distinction of being the first gay character I ever played on a MUSH).
Because of all the writing I’ve done for Pern fandom, McCaffrey’s influence on me as a writer has certainly also been profound. I have characters that still vividly live in my head, and make sad faces at me that I haven’t ever properly finished their stories, or otherwise adapted them into characters I can put into my own work. McCaffrey’s been a template for me on how to do strong female characters–and, since I always took issue with her penchant for setting up strong female characters only to have them eventually play second fiddle to their men, she contributed to my resolve to never do that with my own heroines. Similarly, as I was always unhappy that she gave queer males a presence on Pern but never queer women, that has set a goal for me to achieve in my own work.
I even met Ms. McCaffrey once, way back in the day when solarbird
John Scalzi has a post up for her here. The Fandom Lounge on JournalFen speaks for her here. And Tor.com has an announcement post here.
The sound you hear, O Internets, is every single dragon I have ever written or roleplayed for keening. Gold Timbrith. Bronze Tzornth. Bronze Valreth. Brown Trollith. Blue With. Green Yfandeth. Likewise, all of my characters at Far Cry Hold must mourn.
RIP, DragonLady, and thank you so much for your works and how you have molded my life. You will be missed.
ETA: lyonesse
Also, io9 now has a post up.
ETA #2: GeeksAreSexy.net chimes in here. Suvudu has a post up here.
More Drollerie authors re-pubbing
| November 15, 2011 | Posted by annathepiper under Other People's Books |
C.G. Bauer, who wrote the excellent little horror novel Scars on the Face of God, has reissued his book as a self-pubbed ebook to Amazon and Smashwords. I’ve actually read this one, and can attest it was quite good; my old review post for it is here.
Meanwhile, Rachael Olivier has reissued her book The Holly and the Ivan as a self-pubbed paperback via Lulu.com. You can find that over here.
I’m hearing rumblings from a few other of my fellow former Drollerie authors that they’ll be reissuing their works in self-pubbed form, too; in particular, keep an eye out for Joely Sue Burkhart’s Shanhasson trilogy. If you liked Faerie Blood or Defiance, do consider finding and supporting these other works! I will keep posting links as I find them.
Drollerie authors finding new homes
| November 14, 2011 | Posted by annathepiper under Other People's Books |
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Drollerie may have fallen out from under us, but I’m relieved to see the first wave of my fellow Drollerie authors finding homes for their work elsewhere. With that in mind, I’d like to commend to your attention my fellow ex-Drollerie author John B. Rosenman, whose book Alien Dreams has gotten a new home at Crossroad Press. The book, if you are so inclined, can be found on that site here.
Give John a look if you’re SF-inclined, and tell him I sent you, won’t you? Thank you!
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