Has the time come? Are we (as opposed to my protagonists) *less* doomed?

Is anyone ready to get out of the house and resume “normal” life? And I don't mean to observe Bastille Day. (I hear a resounding chorus of "YES!")

Then please join me for my first post-COVID book signing, upcoming on Saturday, August 7th (2 to 4 PM) for Déjà Doomed. 

Unfamiliar with this, my latest novel? That's easily remedied. "DÉJÀ DOOMED is ... finalement here :-)" is what I posted on its recent release date. Naturally, I'll be happy to discuss it -- or pretty much anything -- in person.

Where? you ask. The Winchester Book Gallery, on the lovely walking mall of scenic, historic Winchester, VA. 

(How historic? The oldest English-speaking settlement west of the Blue Ridge. George Washington's headquarters during the French & Indian War. Where Washington first won public office, to the Virginia House of Burgesses. Changing hands over and over during the Civil War. All a mere 75 miles from downtown DC, and almost as close to Baltimore. You can make a day of it.)

Unable to come? Well, I'll miss you -- but your favorite local bookstore or etailer will be happy to accommodate you.

The Sherlock Chronicles / The Paradise Quartet

Subtitle: When publishing worlds collide

Alternate subtitle: The other shoe drops

On average it takes me about a year to write a book. Publishers take anywhere between a few months to two years to turn a delivered manuscript into a finished product. (Don't ask me to explain the range. I can't.) Some years that means I have no new book released, while other years I have two, or even three, books released -- no matter that (as I've said) I don't begin to write this quickly. And to publicize two books close together means short-changing both ....

Hence, today's post is actually Installment Two of my book-release news for May. (If you missed the first installment, see DÉJÀ DOOMED is ... finalement here :-)) Still, I'll argue, today's update was/is worth the wait :-)  

The Sherlock Chronicles

A mile a minute? Nonsense. Even a meat brain knows “mind going a mile a minute” is mere metaphor. For a quantum mind, a light-second per minute would be nearer to apt, if sadly sans alliteration. Ordinarily, I have my metaphorical fingers in hundreds, even thousands, of figurative pies. Any less stimulation than that is boring, and boredom is the bane of a q-mind’s existence.

That events in the “real” world often strike humans as inexplicable is hardly surprising. Meat brains have limits. And so, when an opportunity presented itself, I thought: why not lend a virtual hand? Every moment of diversion was welcome, and this “case,” surely, a harmless amusement.

Thus began my detective phase. Only I couldn’t have been more wrong about harmless ….

And if an AI PI isn’t intriguing enough, there’s also The Paradise Quartet

A triumph of ingenuity and sheer willpower has delivered a dying generation ship to the exoplanet Paradise. Too bad the ingenious biotech the colonists deployed to settle on that planet triggered an inexorable devolutionary cycle.

Thousands of years later, possible rescuers arrive—and are themselves ensnared in the manmade trap that is Paradise. Escape will require new ingenuity and more multi-generational striving ….

Two great adventures in one volume.

As this is a commercial announcement, I'll share the Amazon links for Sherlock/Paradise in print and Sherlock/Paradise for the Kindle (different retailers, of course, have other popular ebook formats).

I meet the press (sort of)

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the House of Mystery,  a program airing on NBC radio stations in several major West Coast markets. Hosts Al Warren and Dave North-Martino made me most welcome, and the conversation was delightful. We talked about some of my favorite things: science, science fiction, the writing process, and -- near and dear to my heart these days -- Déjà Doomed, my latest novel.

Our conversation is now streamable. 

Herewith, thanks to Al and Dave -- and to Mickey Mikkelson of Creative Edge Publicity for making the arrangements.

The cat in the bag being no longer like Schrödinger's

Now that the publisher has publicly announced this project, there's no reason I shouldn't, too --

I'm newly under contract with Arc Manor LLC, my frequent publisher the past several years, for a novel on colonizing Mars. We both hope and expect this novel will kick off a series. 

Happy days ahead ... while still way to earlier to offer any prediction about the publication date.

Stepping (far) outside my comfort zone

The nomination period is underway for this year's prestigious Dragon Awards. And (wouldn't you know it?) my latest novel, Déjà Doomed, released one short week ago, is eligible. 

As awkward as bringing up this info makes me feel ....

Unlike the few other major genre awards, Dragon Con's nomination and voting process has neither membership nor member *fee* requirements. Details, for anyone interested in considering the nomination of any SFnal "books, games, comics, and shows" can find details (like the nomination deadline of July 19, 2021) by just clicking this Dragon Con banner:

(Anyone but me remember the lyrics to "I'm a reluctant dragon?")

DÉJÀ DOOMED is ... finalement here :-)

I've really looked forward to making this post. Why? Because Déjà Doomed -- with or without the accent marks, search engines being entirely indifferent to them -- was officially published earlier today.

Also, there's no expectation anyone reads French ;-)

What if First Contact becomes ... Last Contact?

On the Moon's far side, shielded from Earth’s radio cacophony, Americans are building a radio-astronomy observatory. Russians sift the dust of a lunar "sea" for helium-3 to run future fusion reactors. Commercial robots, remotely operated from Earth, roam the Moon's near side in a hunt for mineral wealth. Why chase distant asteroids for precious metals? Onetime asteroids must lie close beneath the much-bombarded lunar surface.

Then a prospecting robot encounters a desiccated, spacesuited figure. An alien figure ….

Americans dispatched from the lunar observatory investigate. Near the original find, underground, they discover an alien installation. Lunar Russians, realizing that the Americans are up to something clandestine, send their own small team. Each group distrusts the other … even before the fatal "accidents" begin. By the time anyone suspects what ancient evil they have awakened, it may be too late -- 

For everyone on Earth, too.

"Impressive character work and invigorating twists … a buried lunar treasure."

— Publishers Weekly

“Holy crap, this is a great book.”

(Last updated July 10, 2021)

Okay, that may be my favorite blurb ever. It's about Déjà Doomed, a direct quote from my recent interview on podcast Sci-Fi Saturday Night. 

Surrounding the forthcoming (May 25) release of this novel, lately I've done several interviews -- not all yet posted -- with more to come. Also, formal reviews will start to roll in. So: I decided to maintain a post with links to those reviews and interviews. Here's what's been posted so far:

Interviews

Sci-Fi Saturday Night (audio)

Top Shelf Magazine (written)

Southside Broadcasting / U. of Lincoln (UK) (audio)

Chat with everything-award-winner Robert J. Sawyer (written)

Pen for Hire (video)

Book Lights (audio)

Going North (audio)

Awesome Book Promotion (written)

Writers Showcase (video)

NF Reads (written)

The Author Library (video)

NBC House of Mystery (audio)

Schmidt Talk (audio) (those intermittent whines and bangs are on the interviewer's end!)

Reviews

Publishers Weekly

H. M. Gooden (author of The Rise of the Light series)

Stay tuned :-) 

Egad! Another cover reveal

 More info in due course :-)

A small change of pace

During the pandemic, I've mainly worked on fiction at length: a novel (Deja Doomed, coming your way -- if you are so inclined -- May 25), novellas, and novelettes. January 2021, for example, saw the third novelette published in the "Shoals of Space-Time" series about desperate, marooned aliens. But sometimes things far more whimsical insist on getting out ... 

And so, published today at The Grantville Gazette / Universe Annex, I have a bit of flash fiction: "Sock It to Me." If you happen to remember Laugh In from the Sixties? The new story is that irreverent (if not as slapstick). 

And two slightly longer shorts are newly seeking their homes :-)

Always a pleasure

 I've been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, aka IEEE(*), for (cough cough) years. Among my favorite perks of membership is the monthly magazine, IEEE Spectrum. 

(*) The world's largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology

There's some bonus satisfaction when an article or entire issue channels some aspect(s) of my own writing. As happened with the current month's issue ...

"How so?" you ask. (Go ahead. Ask. Humor me.) Well, see the zine cover's stylized neural net for the control of that prosthetic arm? The hero of my 2008 technothriller Fools' Experiments had just such a prosthetic. The underlying technology played a major role in the novel's plot. (As does AI, if not always in the sense of the Spectrum articles.)

IMO, the magazine's art would've worked better for the novel than the art of any of the editions to date. The latest novel cover is nearby. (Should you be curious about the title, it's from a Charles Darwin quote: "I love fools’ experiments.  I am always making them." A quote that's entirely germane ....)

As it happens, I also covered neural interfaces in Trope-ing the Light Fantastic: The Science Behind the Fiction (2018). I really like that book's cover art.

A big step closer

 What UPS dropped off for me this afternoon :-)

Advance Reading Copy

Things are looking good (as the cover states) for May 25 ....

To a happier year

For a while now, admittedly, I've not been in a blogging sort of mood. 2020 was that kind of year. OTOH, it's now ... 2021. Here's hoping it's more upbeat for, well, everyone. 

As one small, personal bit of good cheer, I'll note that The Grantville Gazette (Universe Annex) just posted my latest novelette. "Adrift in Space-Time" is the third story in a series.

Let that be a (good) omen :-)