B'tok (and ka-Boom)

I'm delighted -- and more than a little surprised -- to be bringing you this update to last Wednesday's "book bomb." So as not to bury my lead: "Championship B'tok," my novelette that's in the running this year for a Hugo award, has become available online. And we'll come to that. First, some context ...

Plan A become B

In author Larry Correia's widely circulating book bombing of recommended Hugo candidates, "Championship B'tok" could only be mentioned. Apart, alas, from its magazine appearance (Analog, September 2014 issue), "Championship B'tok" simply wasn't available. For those curious about my writing, Larry's post pointed instead to my time-travel novella, A Time Foreclosed. 

Well. A lot of you went out and bought A Time Foreclosed, to which I say (a) thanks! and (b) I hope you enjoyed it.

It's not that I obsessively sat watching the Amazon rankings or anything, nope nope, but within 24 hours the Amazon/Kindle ranking for A Time Foreclosed shot from mumbledy mumble (large number) to a splendid 3470. That made A Time Foreclosed #17 among time-travel fiction and #24 among all hard SF. Yay! ATF's ranking remains greatly improved from before the bombing.

FoxAcre Press, the publisher of A Time Foreclosed, also took note of the sales spike. They asked if they might publish "Championship B'tok" for me. You can guess my response. With almost FTL speed, FoxAcre has made available Kindle and (should be appearing Real Soon Now at bn.com) Nook editions.

The new Plan A

B'tok? I know you've been wondering. B'tok is how the alien Snakes teach military strategy. B'tok is to chess as chess is to rock-paper-scissors. You do not want to tick off Snakes -- especially when aggrieved Snakes may be the least of your worries.

If you've enjoyed any of my popular InterstellarNet series -- and more so if you have yet to encounter it -- I think you'll like "Championship B'tok."

And if you happen to be a Hugo voter (meaning you attended last year's Worldcon or hold a membership for this year's), the nomination window (more Hugo info here) closes on March 10th. Just sayin' ...

(March 2nd update: the publisher just set the price of "Championship B'tok" (Kindle edition) at FREE through Friday, March 6.)