tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46728810183214404032024-03-04T23:20:28.119-05:00SF and NonsenseThoughts (and occasionally fuming) about the state of science, fiction, and science fiction.
<br><br><i>by author and technologist</i><br><b>Edward M. Lerner</b>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.comBlogger732125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-49236973056513191902023-12-12T09:07:00.001-05:002023-12-12T09:07:41.545-05:00Life and Death on Mars<p>I'm (beyond) delighted to announce the release today of <i>Life and Death on Mars</i>. In terms of scope, it's one of my most ambitious novels ever.</p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As though landing people safely on Mars weren't daunting enough ...</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvBRtyFXq864R2K49qsJcFNqBa46fanJHM8b4otLKppkhZxt3BTVuZODJ5RwnuUAhRmC6diXCCjPRu3tYRWDjqvZjZpkod-tVAF8wnlJ6i8CI1AMpbdZ7RXmrFcfC1hMWhpGnigqCnAGOa5W-arHydECpixXgZh8_wrazige1M36nhVYAAljFJzh18zZ0/s2775/Front%20Cover%20Life%20and%20Death%20on%20Mars.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2775" data-original-width="1838" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZvBRtyFXq864R2K49qsJcFNqBa46fanJHM8b4otLKppkhZxt3BTVuZODJ5RwnuUAhRmC6diXCCjPRu3tYRWDjqvZjZpkod-tVAF8wnlJ6i8CI1AMpbdZ7RXmrFcfC1hMWhpGnigqCnAGOa5W-arHydECpixXgZh8_wrazige1M36nhVYAAljFJzh18zZ0/w133-h200/Front%20Cover%20Life%20and%20Death%20on%20Mars.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Space Race of the Sixties, at the height of the Cold War, had been nail-biting—until the Soviet Union forfeited.</span><p></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the thirties</span></span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;">amid a <i>second </i>Cold War</span>—<span style="font-family: inherit;">C</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">hina is not about to lose the race to Mars. Nor is the United States. Nor, quite the wildcard, is a secretive cabal drawn from among the world's multi-billionaires. All of them scrambling to launch deep-space missions on a schedule to make the Sixties contest appear lackadaisical.</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Competition that could only continue on the Red Planet.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More treacherous still? The rivalries, resentments, and distrust that simmer just beneath the surface <i>within </i>each expedition.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More difficult yet? Survival on that arid, radiation-drenched, all-but-airless planet.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">These challenges have somehow fallen into the lap of NASA engineer—and reluctant astronaut—Xander Hopkins.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But the thorniest problem of all? The existential quandary for which neither training nor experience has in any way prepared Xander? Making sense of the seemingly unstoppable plague that has already killed. The plague that seems poised to devastate all life on Mars and another world.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">Earth</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">This being a commercial announcement, I'll offer links to the <a href="https://amzn.to/3QoqJ8S" target="_blank">print edition</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/47fSbwx" target="_blank">Kindle edition</a> at Amazon. The book will also be available soon—if it isn't already by the time you read this—in other print and ebook venues. If your favorite brick-and-mortar store doesn't have it on the shelf, they'll be happy to place an order (to make it painless for the bookseller, here's the ISBN: <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>978-1647100889</b></span></span>).</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-12433967049423168432023-12-04T16:00:00.000-05:002023-12-04T16:00:18.939-05:00The Return of the Inter(stellar)Net<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The long-awaited re-release of the acclaimed </span>three-book InterstellarNet series has (finally) arrived. I like to believe it was worth the wait.</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">What </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">is</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> the InterstellarNet series? To share a few of my favorite reviews:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71oNJqPMydL._SL1196_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="535" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71oNJqPMydL._SL1196_.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>"Edward M. Lerner’s InterstellarNet is one of the most original and well-thought-out visions of an interstellar civilization I’ve ever seen." <div><span style="font-family: inherit;">— Stanley Schmidt, author of <i>Argonaut</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div>"A wonderfully thought-provoking story… Lerner's world-building and extrapolating are top notch." </div><div>— <i>SFScope</i><i><br /></i><p></p><div>"Faster-than-light travel is such a commonplace convention in SF that we seldom consider the flip side: a universe in which FTL does not exist. In this book … Edward M. Lerner uses such a universe to great effect." </div><div>— <i>Analog Science Fiction and Fact</i></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71kBPYpUcfL._SL1195_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="536" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71kBPYpUcfL._SL1195_.jpg" width="134" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">"An exceptional book in an excellent series … If you enjoy a good story on a large scale told by sympathetic characters, read </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Interstellar Net: Enigma</i><span style="font-family: inherit;">. If you enjoy space opera, space combat, and unlikely heroes saving the earth, you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy mysteries, the futuristic elements will not detract. This is one of the few novels that combine an action mystery with a sweeping science fiction and excels at being both. Get this novel. Whether you read the others or not, it stands alone. Highly recommended." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;">— </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Galaxy's Edge</i></div><div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></div>"… Space opera set in an interesting variation of the standard solar civilization. There’s a little bit of military SF, some intrigue, some wondrous revelations, and some gritty conflicts. Fun." </div><div>— <i>Critical Mass</i><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; tab-stops: .25in .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71O9yikCM+L._SL1360_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="534" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71O9yikCM+L._SL1360_.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>"When people talk about good hard SF—rigorously extrapolated but still imbued with the classic sense-of-wonder—they mean the work of Edward M. Lerner, the current master of the craft. <i>InterstellarNet: Enigma</i> is Lerner’s latest gem, and it's up to his usual excellent standards; a winner all around." </div><div>— Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of <i>Red Planet Blues</i><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 6pt; tab-stops: .25in .5in;"></p>"... A well researched hard science fiction series. Building from today's technology into a believable tale of the not-so-distant future of characters, ships and planets, I really enjoyed it." — <i>Abyss & Apex</i><br /><br />Oh, I might also mention that <i>InterstellarNet: Origins</i> (the first of the series) incorporates "Creative Destruction," the novelette that brought me my first appearance in a Year's Best anthology. <i>InterstellarNet: Enigma</i> (third and last of the series) incorporates "Championship B'tok"), the novelette that brought me a Hugo Award nomination. <i>InterstellarNet: Enigma</i> as a whole won the inaugural Canopus Award, "honoring excellence in interstellar writing."<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in .5in;"></p><span style="font-family: inherit;">This being a commercial announcement, I'll share Amazon Links. In print:</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in .5in;"><i style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/47ZIAdd" target="_blank">InterstellarNet: Origins</a></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in .5in;"><i style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3NcLAuZ" target="_blank">InterstellarNet: New Order</a></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: .25in .5in;"><i style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/484Mzp7" target="_blank">InterstellarNet: Enigma</a></i></p>For the Kindle:<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/416jMy0" target="_blank">InterstellarNet: Origins</a></i></p><i style="font-size: 12pt;"></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/4164Csu" target="_blank">InterstellarNet: New Order</a></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i style="font-size: 16px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3Nyoorl" target="_blank">InterstellarNet: Enigma</a></i></p><p class="MsoNormal">If you're a brick-and-mortar shopper and you don't happen to find the book(s) of interest on the shelf, just ask the bookseller to order it for you. (She'd much rather do that than have you go elsewhere.) To simplify ordering, here are the ISBNs:</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>InterstellarNet: Origins</i>: 978-1515458074</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>InterstellarNet: New Order</i>: 978-1515458081</p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>InterstellarNet: Enigma</i>: 978-1515458098</p></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-44487163365899480512023-11-22T10:37:00.000-05:002023-11-22T10:37:59.146-05:00Buy-a-Book Saturday returns (anyway it can, with your help)<p>Times flies. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_fruit_flies_like_a_banana" target="_blank">Like an arrow</a>, though that's an irrelevant obscurity for today's post. As is that you can time flies with a stopwatch.) Meaning <b>Buy-a-Book Saturday</b> is once more almost upon us. </p><p>Regularly since 2010, shortly before Thanksgiving, I've posted about <b>Buy-a-Book Saturday</b>. That's my personal variation on Small Business Saturday: the day (specifically, the second day after Thanksgiving, and one day after retail's infamous Black Friday) on which holiday shoppers are especially encouraged to patronize small businesses. The big-box stores and Internet giants will do fine this holiday season. But will neighborhood stores, non-chain shops, and boutiques?</p><div>What with the supply-chain problems -- and Black Friday somehow having begun days ago at many retailers/etailers -- even to wait till close to that Saturday might not be the best of strategies.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.waterville-me.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Small-Business-Saturday-2014.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="800" height="146" src="https://www.waterville-me.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Small-Business-Saturday-2014.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Rara avis! Is that a <i>book store?</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFYyhAgmGcRLo3eMjfakFMHbyjzAwVvgyEtIZpJv2b0jU93xr3rpj0NFY9pmYF9Pp4PAC3o1h8gxZlZga-WQLJEGJdChwxOcmoeBfDJUZP9H2_pPdGk3Vrfy9N-ii6_Q_YyLyDVnjjeiy/s1600/eBooks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFYyhAgmGcRLo3eMjfakFMHbyjzAwVvgyEtIZpJv2b0jU93xr3rpj0NFY9pmYF9Pp4PAC3o1h8gxZlZga-WQLJEGJdChwxOcmoeBfDJUZP9H2_pPdGk3Vrfy9N-ii6_Q_YyLyDVnjjeiy/s200/eBooks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Why do I promote the buy-a-book variant? Because what business is smaller than the author toiling away by him- or herself? Because, as I (and many others) post from time to time, the publishing business keeps getting tougher -- especially for authors. Because more than likely you're a reader, else you wouldn't have stopped by this blog.<div><br /></div><div>Because <i>this</i> year has been harder on small businesses, authors included, than most. Yet again.<br /><br />So: I'm here to suggest you give serious consideration to books -- whether print or electronic or audio -- for some of your holiday gifting. Friends, relatives, coworkers, your kids' teachers and coaches, the local library you support ... surely there's a book that's right for each of them. And at least one book for yourself, of course ;-)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Suppose you're at a brick-and-mortar bookstore and a book or author you had in mind isn't to be found on the shelf. Not a problem! Almost certainly, the store will be happy to special-order books for you. (Why? Because they'd much rather do a special order than have you go home and order online for yourself.)</div><a name='more'></a><br /><a href="https://libraries.ne.gov/york/files/2015/07/colourful-old-book-high-definition-wallpaper-download-old-book-images-free.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://libraries.ne.gov/york/files/2015/07/colourful-old-book-high-definition-wallpaper-download-old-book-images-free.jpg" width="200" /></a>Am I pushing books I myself have written? Unavoidably, if only by implication. (If you do consider any title of mine ... however you happen to decide, I appreciate it.) That said, I intend this annual appeal more broadly. This blog concerns itself mostly with science and SF, but I don't limit today's notion even to those broad topics.<br /><br />If you're in need of inspiration, not to worry. For many years I've posted about a few books -- SF and non-genre fiction, science and other nonfiction -- that I personally found noteworthy. Here are links to those posts:<br /><ul><li><a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2023/11/best-reads-of-2023.html" target="_blank">"Best Reads of 2023"</a></li><li><a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2022/11/best-reads-of-2022.html" target="_blank">"Best reads of 2022"</a></li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2021/11/best-reads-of-2021.html" target="_blank">Best reads of 2021</a>" </li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2020/11/best-reads-of-2020.html" target="_blank">Best reads of 2020</a>"</li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2019/11/2019-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2019 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2018/11/2018-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2018 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2017/11/2017-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2017 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2016/11/2016-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2016 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2015/11/2015-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2015 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2014/12/books-to-savor-2014-edition.html" target="_blank">Books to savor, 2014 edition</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2013/12/books-to-knock-your-socks-off.html" target="_blank">Books to knock your socks off ...</a>" (posted in 2013)</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2012/11/thats-entertainment-books-for-holidays.html" target="_blank">That's entertainment! / Books for the holidays</a>" (my 2012 list).</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDX1ohaEXN-bb6lc49qsIN4owZhhgT8RTHNJPYNCLvEDLAs46EQ8OVvVmc_2ZBwDaKB2z1zWH2EOUWMc86hNR6rk9XHBMdsazgo5U1fNK4yPabL8QjFC4Wtoa8czVSF23yxk5tqhCWb8g/s1600/Audio+Books.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDX1ohaEXN-bb6lc49qsIN4owZhhgT8RTHNJPYNCLvEDLAs46EQ8OVvVmc_2ZBwDaKB2z1zWH2EOUWMc86hNR6rk9XHBMdsazgo5U1fNK4yPabL8QjFC4Wtoa8czVSF23yxk5tqhCWb8g/s200/Audio+Books.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div>Anything else you can do? Sure! Check your fave authors' websites for direct-purchase options such as participation in Amazon's sales-associates program. (Full disclosure, I'm in this category. In my case, click the stack of books image, above right, just under "What to Read?") Order by clicking through from the author's link and he or she will get a (small) referral commission from the e-tailer in addition to the publisher's (small) royalty payment. At no additional cost to you. </div><div><br /></div><div>And isn't this the <i>perfect</i> time to fill out that series you started some time ago and keep meaning to continue reading?</div><div><br /></div>Seeing as how you're in a mellow holiday mood (you are, aren't you?), you might also consider extending the gift of <i>support</i>: posting reviews of, and awarding stars to, your favorite books on Amazon, Goodreads, Librarything, or other services/stores. A review won't cost you a cent, and it'll help the authors. Majorly. For more on this idea, see "<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2015/05/notes-from-far-outside-my-comfort-zone.html" target="_blank">Notes from *far* outside my comfort zone</a>."<br /><br />There you have it: <b>Buy-a-Book Saturday</b>! (Not to mention the obvious extension of the concept to Cyber Monday! Perhaps also a Writerly Wednesday or an Authorial Thursday. And throughout the holiday season. Heck, any time.) Nourish the meme! Spread the word! <i>Buy a book!</i></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-73325973296941498082023-11-21T15:24:00.000-05:002023-11-21T15:24:09.577-05:00Best Reads of 2023<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">I concede that a year's-best posting before Thanksgiving might seem, well, early. OTOH: Supply-chain woes. Labor shortages. Postal/UPS/FedEx slowdowns. Not to mention the countless stores that had up Christmas displays well before Halloween. </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">Especially </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">if you (or your reading giftees) prefer material in paper and ink, you may want to undertake your holiday shopping sooner rather than later. In any event, Black Friday and Cyber Monday </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">will </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">soon be upon us. At some stores/e-stores, they somehow already <i>are</i>.</span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"></p><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/08078/images/news2_en.jpg" style="clear: right; color: #5588aa; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="486" height="133" src="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/08078/images/news2_en.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding: 4px;" width="200" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">If you find none of that convincing? The way 2023 has been, surely </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">anything</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"> meriting the label "best" is welcome. Distraction via the books that follow certainly helped </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">me</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"> cope. Not to mention that if ever there were a year to support one's favorite authors, 2023 (again! sigh) is it. So: on to the latest installment of this annual feature. </span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">As always, I read a </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">lot</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">: as research, keeping current with the genre in which I write, and simply for enjoyment. Before the annual holiday shopping onslaught, I've taken to volunteering a few words about the most notable books from my reading (and sometimes re-reading) thus far in the current year. FWIW, this is my twelfth such compilation. </span><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">When I name a book, you can be certain I really enjoyed it and/or found it very useful. Life's too short to gripe about books I didn't find notable (much less the several I elected not to finish). Presuming that you visit <i>SF and Nonsense</i> because you appreciate my assessment of things, you might find, in what follows, books you (and like-minded friends, relatives, etc.) will also enjoy. Unless otherwise indicated, the dates shown are for original publication. Titles of recommendations are Amazon links, often to newer editions than the original publication (and to Kindle editions, where available).</div><div style="background-color: white;"><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">What's impressed me so far this year? Read on ....<span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><a name="more"></a>Science Fiction</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px;"><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3GcUmVC" target="_blank"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3GcUmVC" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8111o63j0kL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="520" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/8111o63j0kL._SL1500_.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3sCJ3TQ" target="_blank">The Starflower</a></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> (2023), K. A. Kenny. </span><span style="color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This intricately plotted debut novel is part post-apocalyptic, part grand space opera, part military SF -- and wholly original. It comes to a very satisfying conclusion while leaving the door open to the sequel hinted at in the author note. </span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-size: 13px;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81MynMTLbfL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="534" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81MynMTLbfL._SL1500_.jpg" width="134" /></a></div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/40KSop4" target="_blank">The Apollo Murders</a></i> (2021), Chris Hadley. Page-turning alternate history and murder in an Apollo mission, by an actual NASA astronaut. Reminiscent of a favorite of mine from last year, retired NASA scientist Alan Smale's <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3R9MY3O" target="_blank">Hot Moon</a>. <br /></i></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/915-wFBmqLL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="528" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/915-wFBmqLL._SL1500_.jpg" width="132" /></a></div></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><a href="https://amzn.to/49HwnLY" target="_blank">Influx</a></i> (2014), Daniel Suarez. A dystopic -- and yet, somehow, not depressing -- near-future thriller. Who knew that the discovery of antigravity could be a bad thing? (Interesting side note: Dictionary.com disbelieves <i>dystopic</i> is a word.) <br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3sGUERA" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3sGUERA" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/713MalFkPqL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="501" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/713MalFkPqL._SL1500_.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/47Gn9Oe" target="_blank">A Trace of Memory</a></i> (1963), Keith Laumer. Rollicking Earth <i>and </i>space adventure with one of my favorite antiheroes. Plus a tie-in (which I won't give away with a spoiler) to myth. I reread this every few years and <i>always</i> enjoy it.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>General Fiction</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91S56cUpKnL._SL1500_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="530" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91S56cUpKnL._SL1500_.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3sBgt5f" target="_blank">The Nightingale Affair</a></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span> (2023), Tim Mason. Clever mystery set mainly in Istanbul during the Crimean War. The detective and main character has returned from a 2020 favorite novel (</span></span><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span><a href="https://amzn.to/3SS9JKR" target="_blank">The Darwin Affair</a>)</span></span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span>, but the stories are independent. </span></span></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><b>Nonfiction</b></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3QJ4SJn" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3QJ4SJn" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91FrRRWVvGL._SL1500_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="527" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91FrRRWVvGL._SL1500_.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/47JRjjK" target="_blank">The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos</a></i> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">(2023, Jaime Green. The title/subtitle pretty much says it all. Eminently readable.</span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px;"><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3R58u9U" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3R58u9U" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kNn8L438L.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="330" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51kNn8L438L.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/46qD6Hn" target="_blank">The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America</a></i> (2006) and <i><a href="https://amzn.to/46rGuBE" target="_blank">1812: The War that Forged a Nation</a></i> (2004), both by Walter R. Borneman. Having lived on the East Coast for almost thirty years, I couldn't <i>not</i> be interested in the events that shaped the region and the country. But beyond informative, these two history books are grippingly well written. (Curiously, while Borneman has also written about the <i>start </i>of the intervening Revolutionary War, he hasn't (yet?) done a book about the entire war.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Something, IMO, for most everyone ...</div></span></span></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-18214544121724618952023-10-05T13:33:00.001-04:002023-10-05T13:33:41.889-04:00A note to book marketers<p>Speaking solely as a frequent book shopper ...</p><p>I see <i>way</i> too many promos -- Kindle Daily Deal spots, BookBub ads, back-cover copy -- boasting within the first sentence that a book is "riveting," "captivating," engrossing," or "page-turning." Worse are the boasts where someone combines the puffery (e.g., "captivatingly riveting"). Whereupon, generally, I lose interest. </p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/ProhibitionSign2.svg/640px-ProhibitionSign2.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/31/ProhibitionSign2.svg/640px-ProhibitionSign2.svg.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No. Just, no.</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Because you know what I get from such assertions? The expectation that whatever's between the covers will be as annoyingly overwritten. In the word-count-limited space available, consider telling me what the book is about. <i>That</i> might interest me.</p><p>While I'm venting, color me skeptical of assertions a book is (and I exaggerate only slightly from descriptors I've seen) "John LeCarre meets Emily Dickenson" or "Andy Weir meets the Dalai Lama." </p><p>(Has any promo for a book of mine ever committed such offenses? Once or twice, IIRC. Which isn't to say <i>I</i> was behind it ....)</p><p>Ranting ... complete.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-22595596799215762752023-09-12T11:05:00.002-04:002023-09-12T15:36:09.784-04:00On the Shoals of Space-Time<p>I'm pleased to announce the publication of my latest novel, <i>On the Shoals of Space-Time</i>. </p><p>Space opera? Check. Near-future expansion into the Solar System? Ditto. Intriguing aliens? Of course. With surprises along the way? I like to think so ;-) </p><p>Sharing a <i>bit</i> more about the book: </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><b><i>However wildly people had imagined First Contact? They never imagined </i>this<i>.</i></b></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">They weren't supposed to be there. They hadn't planned to be there. But neither had they planned for the near-catastrophic explosion that had all but destroyed their interstellar passenger vessel.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZtfo8-8wc1K17A1fUecnpHIzao0_bEy5447a2GSNKyHitXGEPYbTvZZuASdeXnYGwu10jLiK-fMyu7Y98rooyTZQIxjn9edokBTBgdB3pshIZoBDKLi0CYZa_mnm9xzy1E8BHHKbcXDo41fmhikac94YTxBUgEdhW4nDgS34FRdi4UKddd3LhDJGZKE3m/s500/Shoals%20cover%20thumbnail.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZtfo8-8wc1K17A1fUecnpHIzao0_bEy5447a2GSNKyHitXGEPYbTvZZuASdeXnYGwu10jLiK-fMyu7Y98rooyTZQIxjn9edokBTBgdB3pshIZoBDKLi0CYZa_mnm9xzy1E8BHHKbcXDo41fmhikac94YTxBUgEdhW4nDgS34FRdi4UKddd3LhDJGZKE3m/w133-h200/Shoals%20cover%20thumbnail.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><i>There </i>was somewhere on the far fringes of what the rustic locals—for all they knew alone in the universe—egotistically capitalized as <i>the </i>Solar System. But however primitive these humans, scarcely spacefaring at all, they were the last, best, and—however vanishingly small—only hope for the few surviving passengers of the starship <i>Greater Good</i> to avoid lingering deaths on some remote, icy rock.<p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">And the crew of the tiny spaceship <i>Andrew Carnegie</i>? They entertained no plans beyond keeping secret the identity of their destination asteroid, exploiting its storehouse of precious metals, and fantasizing over how to spend their anticipated wealth.</p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;">The universe, once again, didn't give a damn what anyone had planned....</p></blockquote><p>This being a commercial announcement, I'll offer links to the <a href="https://amzn.to/3ZbOEvY" target="_blank">print edition</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/3EyLARe" target="_blank">Kindle edition</a> at Amazon. The book will also be available soon—if it isn't already by the time you read this—in other print and ebook venues. If your favorite brick-and-mortar store doesn't have it on the shelf, they'll be happy to place an order (to make it painless for the bookseller, here's the ISBN: 978-1649731395). </p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">(From the Department of Nothing Is Ever Easy Anymore: for reasons not worth getting into, the publisher moved <i>Shoals</i> from one of its imprints to another. That change led to a delay in the release date. Hence, you might encounter OBE references to a May 2023 edition that's "out of stock" or "unavailable." If that happens, check for "other formats and editions." The novel's actual release, as above, was in September 2023.) </span></p><p>On a personal note, with publication of <i>this</i> book, my 24th, I can in all honesty speak of my dozens of books :-)</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-10990693509027467552023-07-31T10:06:00.001-04:002023-07-31T10:06:18.066-04:00Because (a little bit) less can be more<p>More and more (irony alert?), I've come to appreciate the novella format.</p><p>To be clear, I haven't stopped liking novels. I have, after all, written eleven and cowritten five more. I've got two new novels in the publishing pipeline for -- fingers crossed -- later this year. But not every storyline belongs in a novel.</p><p>First things first: a definition. Per dictionaries, a novella is fiction longer than a short story and shorter than a novel. Well, duh. That's not the most useful of descriptions. In the SF field, encompassing most of my work, the pro writers' organization (SFWA, aka the Science-fiction and Fantasy Writers Association), has a precise -- if arbitrary -- delineation: a novella is fiction in the range of 17,500 to 39,999 words. Novels, obviously, start at 40K words. Realistically, most book publishers require 80K or more words in a novel; most zines draw the line for novellas at 20-25K words. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/44Xj0UO" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcxuNOEcVEy8B2xrinhJbTEfER6glkhg1XjjsMvxMQwr-xiHeMZy_5hP-0ERVZr33wxN5EC6fjUccV9LYp7gMWtuc8wCvPSuXZxe_kQNBC6froOYMKEMoMD2Xx4k7bAcidkRImZgcR2DbwIEYHw4onxHoOoRcZdShK1pM6OkLhk01gIxum_SQlW1AkfHEA/w133-h200/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3OgtNm6" target="_blank">Amazon link</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Why my appreciation? Novellas are a format long enough to: tell a complex, multi-layered story. Incorporate rich world-building. Give characters significant depth. Provide room (when it advances a particular plot) for multiple point-of-view characters. Even, if/when appropriate, to include sufficient back story to connect nicely with an author's other works in a broader fictional universe -- while standing alone in the process. Within length limits that demand the discipline to exclude anything unnecessary. <div><p></p><p>All that usually doable in a few weeks to no more than a couple months. On rough average, it takes me a year to write a novel.</p><p>Why a declaration of appreciation <i>now</i>? Call it fallout from assembling last year's career-spanning <i>The Best of Edward M. Lerner</i>. I included in that collection, among many more shorter works, three of my novellas -- and kept wishing I'd had page count for more. With that thought recurring (and recurring, and recurring ...), my mind turned to one of the most unusual among my books. </p><p><i>The Sherlock Chronicles & The Paradise Quartet -- </i>as you've perhaps inferred -- contains two back-to-back novellas. (If you're old enough, this is where you might channel Ace Doubles.) The book had been available for scarcely a year when publisher (and editor, and author, and all-around Good Guy) Eric Flint passed away -- scarcely a year ago -- and the book went out of print and electrons. While it's recently republished by the fine folk at ReAnimus Press, the book's short first run still saddens me.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6LXuiGj4tOC9mKMwM36MTVO-HpT4-swbawCyDI_22oxhqWRsbvlI-s-B29l04054Suyp0TEFDswVGPzyRksa-OY7mSaKPBrnZedeEA1O2KORIi-mYhULIKJZzaL5vVaP26eyvNRBwqIHYJieYn94kjFpEoou4lPzt4Y17Ve-O3_BZtP82hxM3ZXYkwlYF/s320/Sherlock%20chronicles%20%20thumbnail.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="212" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6LXuiGj4tOC9mKMwM36MTVO-HpT4-swbawCyDI_22oxhqWRsbvlI-s-B29l04054Suyp0TEFDswVGPzyRksa-OY7mSaKPBrnZedeEA1O2KORIi-mYhULIKJZzaL5vVaP26eyvNRBwqIHYJieYn94kjFpEoou4lPzt4Y17Ve-O3_BZtP82hxM3ZXYkwlYF/w133-h200/Sherlock%20chronicles%20%20thumbnail.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/44Xj0UO" target="_blank">Amazon link</a></td></tr></tbody></table>The Sherlock novella is near-future, in which a bored AI fills its idle nanoseconds solving crimes -- and finding itself in ever more existential situations. The Paradise novella is harder to capture in a sentence. It's far-future. Post-apocalyptic. With generation ships and lost colonies. Also, with its own existential perils. I like both these novellas. A <i>lot</i>. <p></p><p>(Oh, here's another thing at which novellas excel: exploring -- in time or space or implication -- ideas previously touched upon in shorter works. Thus it happens that both novellas in Sherlock/Paradise began in shorter stories. Those two nuclei are included in -- (and so, comprise a small part of -- <i>Best of.) </i></p><p>ANYhow ... perhaps by sharing, I've exorcised the "had to leave 'em out" demon. If I've piqued your curiosity, feel free to click the links under the nearby covers.</p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-39661470920292205922023-06-29T12:31:00.000-04:002023-06-29T12:31:44.025-04:00I's dotted. T's (and fingers) crossed<p>A recurring theme of my posts for a while has been the disappearance and sometimes the reemergence of several of my (mainly older) books. Long story short: in 2021 and 2022, eight books, originally from three publishers, went out of print (and electrons). Even shorter: publishing is a hard business. </p><p>Keeping my titles in print is important to me, so placing these titles at new homes has been a priority. As I type (and for those who have not been keeping score at home), five of the eight orphaned titles <i>are</i> recently back in print and electrons:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>Creative Destruction </i>(a cyber-themed collection, first published in 2006)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDR5oejO4eTTxM9osb2x4pd_iGa3cGxR2Xj5qz3Hdj5X7YSYmAH6cqFWHKl3q0mceSzAy4sXyz1Cpsh2xDw3ygkU7IrHdKTK1EWBSIo4nDyFyCekbqLLa_6CEVV3-pI3ZHPF7jvFuVLxVh9oU0-aOhYY0drlXQAS76v8FYOkfXhl8XUDP1EAdUqYsE5mT9/s860/The%20Company%20Man%20(2023%20reissue)%20front%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="579" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDR5oejO4eTTxM9osb2x4pd_iGa3cGxR2Xj5qz3Hdj5X7YSYmAH6cqFWHKl3q0mceSzAy4sXyz1Cpsh2xDw3ygkU7IrHdKTK1EWBSIo4nDyFyCekbqLLa_6CEVV3-pI3ZHPF7jvFuVLxVh9oU0-aOhYY0drlXQAS76v8FYOkfXhl8XUDP1EAdUqYsE5mT9/w134-h200/The%20Company%20Man%20(2023%20reissue)%20front%20cover.jpg" width="134" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new cover</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></li><li><i>Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise</i> (a short time-travel novel plus five shorter SF works, first published in 2010)</li><li><i>Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought</i> (mixed fiction and nonfiction [in both cases, SFnal] collection, first published in 2012)</li><li><i>The Company Man</i> (SFnal/noir novel, first published in 2019)</li><li><i>The Sherlock Chronicles & The Paradise Quartet</i> (back-to-back unrelated SFnal novellas, first published in 2021*)</li></ul><div><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(*) I <i>did</i> mention publishing is a hard business. Best stated by Anonymous: "The best way to become a millionaire is to start as a billionaire and then start a publishing company."</span></div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZFVboa_ixsXWMuxRDV7xBG9TWc3Fvj_lRYkr5IH01CXDB21BjWFTojxOUahGrDLAB0TrRcnSssz4Qj3nTifNH3niDhcYCdUTjUrnTshbiPJFrL8QP2rKbcvdvrDjkYQdJ4BcQRixuPkFHDP3vyPWFQO1HEsJ-7vEicf7ikKx1cBJBYhN3WZ_A0c7HD0U/s395/IO%20--%20cover%20thumbnail.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="395" data-original-width="240" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZFVboa_ixsXWMuxRDV7xBG9TWc3Fvj_lRYkr5IH01CXDB21BjWFTojxOUahGrDLAB0TrRcnSssz4Qj3nTifNH3niDhcYCdUTjUrnTshbiPJFrL8QP2rKbcvdvrDjkYQdJ4BcQRixuPkFHDP3vyPWFQO1HEsJ-7vEicf7ikKx1cBJBYhN3WZ_A0c7HD0U/w121-h200/IO%20--%20cover%20thumbnail.JPG" width="121" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original cover</td></tr></tbody></table>Today's news (drumroll please) ...</div><div> <span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div> ... as of yesterday, the paperwork is finalized for the re-release of the remaining three: the acclaimed InterstellarNet trilogy. These are:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> <i>InterstellarNet: Origins</i> (first published in 2010)</li><li><i>InterstellarNet: New Order </i>(first published in 2010)</li><li><i>InterstellarNet: Enigma </i>(first published in 2015)</li></ul></div><div>I'll -- of course! -- have more to report in this space as the three InterstellarNet novels progress toward their republication, but meanwhile, here are two of my very favorite blurbs:</div><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Edward M. Lerner’s InterstellarNet is one of the most original and well-thought-out visions of an interstellar civilization I’ve ever seen.”</span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">—Stanley Schmidt</span></p></div></blockquote><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>“</b>An exceptional book in an excellent series … If you enjoy a good story on a large scale told by sympathetic characters, read <i>Interstellar Net: Enigma</i>. If you enjoy space opera, space combat, and unlikely heroes saving the earth, you will enjoy this book. If you enjoy mysteries, the futuristic elements will not detract. This is one of the few novels that combine an action mystery with a sweeping science fiction and excels at being both. Get this novel. Whether you read the others or not, it stands alone. Highly recommended.” </span></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">— <i>Galaxy’s Edge</i></span></p></div></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-53070264435057024062023-05-15T13:14:00.001-04:002023-05-26T10:44:42.953-04:00On the Shoals of IRL (aka ... sigh)<p><i>Update: May 26. 2023</i>: The book has been removed -- as is appropriate -- from online booksellers' websites. I'll post when the book is rescheduled - and imminent.</p><p>So. Way back in October, I announced in this space the release date for my novel <i>On The Shoals of Space-Time.</i> That date: May 23rd. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.dunstable-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif4361/f/resize/imce/untitled_11_x_8.5_in-400x309.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="400" height="155" src="https://www.dunstable-ma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif4361/f/resize/imce/untitled_11_x_8.5_in-400x309.png" width="200" /></a></div>Well. May 23rd approaches and ... Things Are Delayed. The delay is out of my hands and the reasons for it would be of little interest to the general reader. Alas, several venues, including Amazon, continue to show that imminent date -- and some shoppers (your interest is appreciated!) have already preordered.<p></p><p>It <i>will</i> happen, but I don't have a revised release date. News in this space as it happens.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-27046329353616872012023-04-26T13:52:00.000-04:002023-04-26T13:52:44.642-04:00Raindrops on roses and covers on books ...<p>Anyway, <i>some</i> book covers are a few of my favorite things.</p><p>I've opined before on this blog (IIRC, most recently in <a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2022/05/the-best-of-edward-m-lerner.html" target="_blank">Best of Edward M. Lerner</a>) that I don't have favorites among my own literary "children." After each book's many months -- sometimes, even, years -- of gestation, I've bonded with them all. </p><p>That said, the <i>covers</i> of my books aren't my children. I get to -- and I do -- have favorites. Which we'll come to. Soon.</p><p>Some covers are of the artistic school I'll call "SF Default": generic spacecraft juxtaposed against Earth or random space rock. There's nothing <i>wrong</i> with that. Such covers clearly identify space-based fiction, just as other generic covers (cowboy on horse; Six-Pack-Abs Guy shirtless for no obvious reason) signal other genres. But indicating an overall genre is pretty much <i>all</i> this sort of cover accomplishes.</p><p>My favorites are the covers that tantalize about the story(ies) to be found inside. That catch the eye. That signal the genre <i>without</i> being generic. I've been fortunate enough for my writing to have inspired some truly great covers. (Some of these books have been reissued; the Kindle links beneath the covers to follow in all cases point to the current editions.)</p><p>Without further ado, here are those artistic favorites. Each cover here is well worth clicking through for a larger image.</p><p></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><i></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBia3Cy89Ne4mBLRAUnjSbPQeU4w_HEW-QR8cJ0Jjf7xxLSljIMJei_Xp78pcuhtIfAFoTZ_SFv5z7ePUin7zQp6qLRxsBgl4QchuKjRqxYKlqXF6FN4q9nF_G7-FOGxoQVATPkPgglViNiGJ1eTYPUWaY9YmlHkB2CNojMSLkfLC2jfZ4AnjXMQST1w/s255/creative_destruction_front%20-%20thumbnail.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="255" data-original-width="165" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBia3Cy89Ne4mBLRAUnjSbPQeU4w_HEW-QR8cJ0Jjf7xxLSljIMJei_Xp78pcuhtIfAFoTZ_SFv5z7ePUin7zQp6qLRxsBgl4QchuKjRqxYKlqXF6FN4q9nF_G7-FOGxoQVATPkPgglViNiGJ1eTYPUWaY9YmlHkB2CNojMSLkfLC2jfZ4AnjXMQST1w/w129-h200/creative_destruction_front%20-%20thumbnail.jpg" width="129" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3At0uq2" target="_blank">Original edition art</a></td></tr></tbody></table><i>Creative Destruction</i> is a computer-oriented collection drawn from some of my early short fiction. How simply and elegantly this cover conveys a cyber theme. <div><br /></div><div>Power on :-)<p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjaVVExERHyA1W8vLVEz_mobCVzXOJRNKif3-09UfhOtt8n9O0SaIJ3lcrxeVvaKenYOAVok7Dyu6vBKVJUcW_C2MdYUwamn0CsIlEa_DBWAO85vhBEchhBJ9ADMzPP3dkDgUymq85sBqNFFKjh2KWAVT-5YcJMtwTgP4M1jj_Q7R8p_T6Dln67g_Sw/s1600/Energized%20(front%20cover).jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1053" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDjaVVExERHyA1W8vLVEz_mobCVzXOJRNKif3-09UfhOtt8n9O0SaIJ3lcrxeVvaKenYOAVok7Dyu6vBKVJUcW_C2MdYUwamn0CsIlEa_DBWAO85vhBEchhBJ9ADMzPP3dkDgUymq85sBqNFFKjh2KWAVT-5YcJMtwTgP4M1jj_Q7R8p_T6Dln67g_Sw/w132-h200/Energized%20(front%20cover).jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3NcuZrZ" target="_blank">Original edition art</a></td></tr></tbody></table><i>Energized</i> most certainly involves a manmade object in space -- that assuredly <i>isn't</i> your generic spacecraft. The solar-power satellite in the foreground is two miles square. How can anyone seeing this image <i>not </i>wish to know more?<p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTkqOqYSji7XQID0t_7DEjJMXcO9H6VR7JOTDOEqz45xWBg4_q5-bFX2bi86R1g-ISmJlSEMcCi6CTWsoY7hjyjStT3-48pOC2yNes1EtmpfgCSLDAgFFk8oBMvFX5rU-UOI8G_bJddbY2qjClsaV9YasMnsDstyRSxUJzN0fKaKgnAusm2zFUa-A34A/s280/Small%20Miracles%20PB%20cover%20thumbnail.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="174" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTkqOqYSji7XQID0t_7DEjJMXcO9H6VR7JOTDOEqz45xWBg4_q5-bFX2bi86R1g-ISmJlSEMcCi6CTWsoY7hjyjStT3-48pOC2yNes1EtmpfgCSLDAgFFk8oBMvFX5rU-UOI8G_bJddbY2qjClsaV9YasMnsDstyRSxUJzN0fKaKgnAusm2zFUa-A34A/w124-h200/Small%20Miracles%20PB%20cover%20thumbnail.JPG" width="124" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3AwhP1i" target="_blank">First edition art <br />tweaked for <br />paperback re-release<br /></a></td></tr></tbody></table>Could that blood-red background be ... blood? Why, yes. Yes, it can. And those enigmatic entities swimming in the blood? Whatever might <i>they</i> be? They seem to be small. Are those, in fact, <i>Small Miracles</i>? <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_lXYqBYC_u-wxNljyWLKvOvR4_ZLbQFHKhEOsXoh4Zo3QJvb82oXW7Dgfn-uS4jshG3pyGqgAXBOSivdnKgjHmTCsYl0Yxa73952Rt7udKcRgzmfwsvGOM9Eqlvl21qh1-opfBB_DFnocfn1oavK9u1rip9QwK2M_PNuT8z4zRibcgQ6q3OaL7B1cQ/s1368/Fleet%20of%20Worlds.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1368" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_lXYqBYC_u-wxNljyWLKvOvR4_ZLbQFHKhEOsXoh4Zo3QJvb82oXW7Dgfn-uS4jshG3pyGqgAXBOSivdnKgjHmTCsYl0Yxa73952Rt7udKcRgzmfwsvGOM9Eqlvl21qh1-opfBB_DFnocfn1oavK9u1rip9QwK2M_PNuT8z4zRibcgQ6q3OaL7B1cQ/w132-h200/Fleet%20of%20Worlds.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3n0LLjd" target="_blank">Original edition art</a></td></tr></tbody></table>The art for <i>Fleet of Worlds</i> almost defies description. Sure, there are <i>worlds</i> ... but don't they seem ... odd? Don't you just want to know more? <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><i></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9ZgwqhHq7k0XhwZXN4SSDk3uzPyydCDxd511TvMUwbmUjqeh-FmIVo2fzQnMrxdFrGpaJg_TLhqlWgg6qEwwebMbnGeSkV38RWm7MOTPod8rVboDyb6bGgqCcM44b-RleDIROMI01GeBXDzS6JT6GjDMhyMa5SLFJyKDdpbOOCWDV661GrFZd131zA/s860/The%20Company%20Man%20(2023%20reissue)%20front%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="579" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC9ZgwqhHq7k0XhwZXN4SSDk3uzPyydCDxd511TvMUwbmUjqeh-FmIVo2fzQnMrxdFrGpaJg_TLhqlWgg6qEwwebMbnGeSkV38RWm7MOTPod8rVboDyb6bGgqCcM44b-RleDIROMI01GeBXDzS6JT6GjDMhyMa5SLFJyKDdpbOOCWDV661GrFZd131zA/w134-h200/The%20Company%20Man%20(2023%20reissue)%20front%20cover.jpg" width="134" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3oJHcdv" target="_blank"><i>Second </i>edition art</a></td></tr></tbody></table><i>The Company Man </i>is, surely, SF. The space rock in the foreground and Earth in the background convey as much. But the company man <i>on</i> that rock? Is that, like Gregory Peck in an eponymous 1956 film, a gray flannel suit? The briefcase is certainly a nice touch.<p></p><p><br /></p><div><br /></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIFC_4xloUhrLzmQkOwvI0VgnuhftksV5P_Xv-3KES7UntLmhBR7dWmerzi_dWscLxqg7XQIsQCEpSPPrNZvFx-mUHfhOezL5XTaKX0R0nLc0RUaPNxALAfVigXYxIp-ngF6Fmjr75Vz85RvQvxFpPETXQ_ztdGc13hSwDpcFwn38Y_ZQmbCozbOWng/s500/Deja%20Doomed%20thumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiIFC_4xloUhrLzmQkOwvI0VgnuhftksV5P_Xv-3KES7UntLmhBR7dWmerzi_dWscLxqg7XQIsQCEpSPPrNZvFx-mUHfhOezL5XTaKX0R0nLc0RUaPNxALAfVigXYxIp-ngF6Fmjr75Vz85RvQvxFpPETXQ_ztdGc13hSwDpcFwn38Y_ZQmbCozbOWng/w133-h200/Deja%20Doomed%20thumbnail.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3n7sMU0" target="_blank">First edition art</a></td></tr></tbody></table>What exactly is the huge artifact, clearly <i>inside</i> the Moon? A spacecraft? Maybe. If we're already in trouble, what part in the disaster is played by this mysterious object? You can't <i>not</i> be curious if and how we're <i>Déjà Doomed</i>?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-15218617591549892452023-04-12T13:05:00.001-04:002023-04-12T13:05:21.675-04:00Because no good interview should go unused<p>Early this year I prepared a written Q-and-A-style interview -- for a venue that ceased operations before the interview posted. That's life in the glamorous world of publishing. Well, I operate my own venue, now, don't I? </p><p>So, here 'tis that interview. (For more about any title mentioned in the interview -- or about any title of mine, for that matter -- click its thumbnail cover on the righthand column.)</p><p><i><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8g1NoeUZsFbcHOiyu3FWfcMpMaR1C7_vsfwo4Ujn6u7aqJXWsfhZTBabWZ1dFVaoFMuJaQlps_C7LafD_XkkpgENUBYbKvY_klLqC3sVYNtgbgUiLZEPlDP8Sg4Fnup_JHuxTmXEZp7n-Z5p8_kuz_NENDn4-os9Y-MKaM_NfIaiwAfPGR3sj87zbg/s2048/Probe%20(1991%20edition)%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1150" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8g1NoeUZsFbcHOiyu3FWfcMpMaR1C7_vsfwo4Ujn6u7aqJXWsfhZTBabWZ1dFVaoFMuJaQlps_C7LafD_XkkpgENUBYbKvY_klLqC3sVYNtgbgUiLZEPlDP8Sg4Fnup_JHuxTmXEZp7n-Z5p8_kuz_NENDn4-os9Y-MKaM_NfIaiwAfPGR3sj87zbg/w113-h200/Probe%20(1991%20edition)%20cover.jpg" width="113" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My first book<br />(in its original edition)</i></td></tr></tbody></table>When did you start writing?</i> </p><p>I began writing as a (very) part-time hobby in 1982. My day job at the time, supervising a software-development department, was very demanding—but at least by that October I’d completed the master’s degree program which for years had been consuming all my evenings and weekends. For diversion beginning late that year, I started on what eventually became my first novel (the technothriller <i>Probe</i>), which I sold in 1990 and was published in 1991. Also in 1991, I began a new day job, my most demanding yet. After that, I scarcely had time to write anything new for the next several years.</p><p>In 1999, I gave myself a sabbatical to try out the full-time writing life. Fun! After about a year, though, I returned to a day job. Not until 2004, with a contract in hand for my second book (the science-fiction novel <i>Moonstruck</i>, published in 2005) did I become a full-time writer. A second sale suggested the first book wasn’t a fluke.</p><p><i>What drove you to come up with your debut book?</i></p><p>It was on a dare! I was reading something entirely forgettable—and so, its name and author forgotten—and complaining about it. My wife said something like, “I suppose you can do better.” Clearly, I had to try. It turned out I could write and that I enjoyed it. </p><p><i>Tell me about your published works. How did they happen?</i> </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipI4DzUa432KAWiQCHIqgs4ms95wdnhRYa819NKaw700t0KAgfNdkVGLifct9krXCHHqM3Xi5V2dI3Wb3XKnr4QIpywMgvlQft0Ak9FZ1DP7uaD5vc6cZoph8D0n7-CAdaaSa4zWwG9iue6HRsbs2srdBFyK4bMKu9f7LKOzuzHKsrhVMFAD5HvyZ-JA/s500/Deja%20Doomed%20thumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipI4DzUa432KAWiQCHIqgs4ms95wdnhRYa819NKaw700t0KAgfNdkVGLifct9krXCHHqM3Xi5V2dI3Wb3XKnr4QIpywMgvlQft0Ak9FZ1DP7uaD5vc6cZoph8D0n7-CAdaaSa4zWwG9iue6HRsbs2srdBFyK4bMKu9f7LKOzuzHKsrhVMFAD5HvyZ-JA/w133-h200/Deja%20Doomed%20thumbnail.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mu most recent novel</i></td></tr></tbody></table>As I type, I have 23 published books and two more in the final stages of pre-publication. Each one has (pardon the pun) its own story.</p><p>Mainly, I write science fiction and technothrillers that revolve around new—or possible future—technologies of particular interest to me. Many of the novels involve space flight. (This seems like a good time to mention that for seven years I worked as a NASA contractor. I know things about space flight.) Other books deal with artificial intelligence and computer science. (By training, I’m a physicist and computer engineer.) I won’t claim to have personal experience in First Contact with aliens or with medical science—but they are interests, and I’ve written novels exploring those topics, too.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMLYAMtK45tVAzcXZUctS6NWwWPiZrrOwHPYUMF5CCjnRY56ObTrLc9bXEQRGy5hp3q1pkZrpL4H_4baj9VEDfwvUlde-dI3-CsTXfY2GNl6SsL5mk3a07WZoPRn750ZRMtImGTJbbJuo_7Kzt5Vk6SmHmYdv3lsZDnu-oP8wuHTOZqyUIl8K7V9Aeg/s1368/Fleet%20of%20Worlds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1368" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKMLYAMtK45tVAzcXZUctS6NWwWPiZrrOwHPYUMF5CCjnRY56ObTrLc9bXEQRGy5hp3q1pkZrpL4H_4baj9VEDfwvUlde-dI3-CsTXfY2GNl6SsL5mk3a07WZoPRn750ZRMtImGTJbbJuo_7Kzt5Vk6SmHmYdv3lsZDnu-oP8wuHTOZqyUIl8K7V9Aeg/w132-h200/Fleet%20of%20Worlds.jpg" width="132" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Series starter</i></td></tr></tbody></table>All that said, sometimes there’s simply a story demanding to be told. That’s how I got involved with a far-future space opera in collaboration with science-fiction Grandmaster Larry Niven. Our first project (<i>Fleet of Worlds</i>) went so well, and was so much fun, we eventually ended up with a five-novel series.<br /></p><p><i>What is your latest book; what does it deal with?</i></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixvV5HimNqZAdzFM_nKxnLjyHBkekcj_MCNij3XE4mAlJpAwXizSLrnmxnKzB6AE4QEOR0Y_c8M_ieGxbdr90Y7yxKaZGQ9OPqYZIF64j-qDid4ZdCVSB_oXFvOQMQub3iHb0e_d7XbK-5QMe5-Yj0EbfShKe-HclVd1DCIUSt_1znAOcPT_gUzYRvPA/s900/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixvV5HimNqZAdzFM_nKxnLjyHBkekcj_MCNij3XE4mAlJpAwXizSLrnmxnKzB6AE4QEOR0Y_c8M_ieGxbdr90Y7yxKaZGQ9OPqYZIF64j-qDid4ZdCVSB_oXFvOQMQub3iHb0e_d7XbK-5QMe5-Yj0EbfShKe-HclVd1DCIUSt_1znAOcPT_gUzYRvPA/w133-h200/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>My most recent book</i></td></tr></tbody></table>My latest novel (<i>Déjà Doomed</i>, 2021) is science fiction: an archeological, alien-contact mystery—and also a geopolitical thriller—set in the near future on the Moon. Oh, and the stakes are existential. </p><p>My most recent book, however, is a career-spanning collection (<i>The Best of Edward M. Lerner</i>, 2022) with science-fiction stories at all lengths, touching upon every imaginable SF theme. Time travel, space travel, travel between universes, and so much more … they’re all represented in the collection.</p><p><i>Do you deem yourself a pantser or plotter?</i></p><p>I work both ways. At book length, I usually write from a detailed plot outline. If a novel has several point-of-view characters, I always work from an outline—it’s the only way I can keep all the details straight. When a novel is told in first person, however, I sometimes let that character run with the story; that’s the seat-of-the-pants scenario.</p><p>For anything shorter than a novelette, I’m quite likely to go the pantser route. </p><p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-53587285707934936952023-04-03T09:44:00.000-04:002023-04-03T09:44:42.119-04:00Bard (Google's newest AI/chatbot) describes me in the style of William Shakespeare<p>Because, well, why not? </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Edward M. Lerner, a man of letters,</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">A writer of science fiction,<br />A teller of tales of the future,<br />A weaver of dreams of worlds to come.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">His words are like a river,</blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Flowing with ideas and imagination,<br />Carrying the reader away on a journey,<br />To places both strange and familiar.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">His characters are like people we know,<br />With their hopes and dreams,<br />Their fears and doubts,<br />Their loves and losses.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">His stories are like puzzles,<br />Each one a challenge to the mind,<br />A test of our ability to think,<br />To imagine, to create.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">Edward M. Lerner is a master storyteller,<br />A magician of words,<br />A weaver of dreams.<br />His work is a gift to us all,<br />A treasure to be cherished.</blockquote><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">So come, let us journey with Edward M. Lerner,<br />To worlds of wonder and adventure,<br />To places where anything is possible,<br />And the future is ours to create. </blockquote><br />(However did I waste my time before I had these chatbots to play with? Maybe Bard or ChatGPT will know ...)<div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-73701729176992451922023-03-30T12:21:00.001-04:002023-03-30T12:21:38.341-04:00The Company Man (and an epiphany)<p> I'm more than pleased to announce my novel <i>The Company Man</i> is back in print and electrons.</p><p><i>TCM</i> was first published by Ring of Fire Press, which closed following the sad passing last year of writer/editor/publisher <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">—</span> and Certified Nice Guy <span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">—</span> Eric Flint. The novel has its new home with Phoenix Pick, an imprint of Arc Manor (publisher of several of my recent titles).</p><p>If you hadn't encountered this novel in its original incarnation, here's a preview:</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic !important; font-weight: 700 !important; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr9I9kHfGyZlO9P5F6sx3aN3KhVhsqr_LS1Wk9FcMUfyU8zjBj3BCVCQ2dw9EXD9X4rihV49uttB_StW10v9zu28-pmdp_09dwKru5_uOzj-tB1jsJmv8c2K6TuI_8BuuzFTMTUwjGL-kLmnc5KXiMdf50LERzJXht-KiD2m6EI5_ItFT_Ap2MlXA4mg/s860/The%20Company%20Man%20(2023%20reissue)%20front%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="579" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr9I9kHfGyZlO9P5F6sx3aN3KhVhsqr_LS1Wk9FcMUfyU8zjBj3BCVCQ2dw9EXD9X4rihV49uttB_StW10v9zu28-pmdp_09dwKru5_uOzj-tB1jsJmv8c2K6TuI_8BuuzFTMTUwjGL-kLmnc5KXiMdf50LERzJXht-KiD2m6EI5_ItFT_Ap2MlXA4mg/w214-h320/The%20Company%20Man%20(2023%20reissue)%20front%20cover.jpg" width="214" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i>Dashiell Hammett meets Andy Weir</i></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;"><b><i><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></i></b>The Company Man, lowly accountant for the filthy-richest business in the Belt, has modest aspirations. Air and water not endlessly recycled. Food that had not been freeze dried and rehydrated. A few quiet days at home. And, if he can just figure out how, ripping off the company a bit. Alas, working as he does for evil geniuses, that final ambition seems impossible </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: inherit;"> until, at the end of an interminable trek among remote company mining asteroids, a mysterious emergency preempts his return flight.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;">Someone has discovered a flaw in the company's legendary security. If people must die to exploit it? That, apparently, isn't an obstacle. Or even the least of the consequences, in the Belt, elsewhere in the Solar System, and across Earth itself. With the body count rising, even the vast fortunes at stake cease to matter </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">—</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: inherit;"> and only the Company Man has a chance of averting interplanetary disaster.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;">If </span><span class="a-text-italic" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-style: italic !important;">he </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;">survives .…</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: inherit;">This being a </span><span style="color: #0f1111;">commercial</span><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: inherit;"> announcement, here are the Amazon links for <a href="https://amzn.to/40rOpwQ" target="_blank"><i>The Company Man</i> (in paperback)</a> and <a href="https://amzn.to/3lRxuET" target="_blank"><i>The Company Man</i> (for the Kindle)</a>. It'll show up soon (if it hasn't by the time you read this) at other online outlets and other ebook formats </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">— </span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="color: #0f1111; font-family: inherit;">and be available from your favorite brick-and-mortar outlet, if you provide </span></span>the ISBN: 978-1649731296.</p><p>And the epiphany of my subject line? Read on ....</p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>I have degrees in physics and engineering -- neither all that surprising of an SF writer. I worked as a NASA contractor for seven years. But I <i>also</i> have an MBA. I managed high-tech projects as well as, in my younger years, being an individual technical contributor to them. Beyond providing a more-than-apt cover for this novel (and I hope the image has intrigued you), this new art offers a fine illustration of my career.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-52861258738946726362023-02-01T13:53:00.001-05:002023-02-01T13:53:52.398-05:00And ... we have a *title*<p>In ancient days (last October, that is), I teased, just a tad, in <a href="Of world-shaking events" target="_blank">Of world-shaking events</a>, about my then recently delivered Mars-centric novel. I still can't offer a release date -- the publishing process, alas, takes time. But here's one bit of progress. I have the final (versus, merely a working) title.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/pia24482-4-1041.jpg?itok=rIASVfr6" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/pia24482-4-1041.jpg?itok=rIASVfr6" width="200" /></a></div>So: you may want to look forward to <i>Life and Death on Mars</i>. Meanwhile, be thankful you're not my protagonist ...<p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-20507792329577880102023-01-09T16:24:00.000-05:002023-01-09T16:24:08.160-05:00SF antho with a twist<p>I'm ambivalent about theme anthologies. They can be great -- but limited to a specific topic, all too often an antho's stories, however excellent individually, begin to blur. </p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ToIquc1gL._CLa%7C1252,1024%7C811VmTW-ePL.jpg,91tjRhZTS5L.jpg%7C0,0,569,1024+683,0,569,1024+284,0,683,1024_._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="367" height="164" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61ToIquc1gL._CLa%7C1252,1024%7C811VmTW-ePL.jpg,91tjRhZTS5L.jpg%7C0,0,569,1024+683,0,569,1024+284,0,683,1024_._SY300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3Xkms80" target="_blank">Looking for a great SF antho?<br />Check these out</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Not so the Shapers of Worlds anthologies, edited by Edward Willett, of which I recently finished reading the third-and latest volume in the series. How does Ed consistently dodge the too-much-of-a-good-but-same-thing bullet? With his open-ended theme: stories by spec-fic authors who have been guests on his <a href="https://theworldshapers.com/" target="_blank">Worldshapers podcast</a>. And that selection criterion works, because Ed -- beyond his excellence as an interviewer -- has such a great sense for guests to invite. </p><p>Whether your taste runs to hard SF or soft, horror or fantasy, IMO you're apt to find much you'll enjoy in this series. I certainly have, for three anthos running.</p><p>(Obligatory disclaimer: <a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2022/01/worldshapers.html" target="_blank">I was recently a guest on the podcas</a>t. If the series continues long enough, well, I might have a story in it, too. If so, I'll be in good company.) </p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-39576171771580153052022-12-31T15:42:00.001-05:002022-12-31T15:53:51.067-05:00Ending the Year with a Big(gish) Bang<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalmall4th/images/NAMA_FourthofJuly_20100704_TA_057.JPG?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false&quality=78&format=webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="536" height="200" src="https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalmall4th/images/NAMA_FourthofJuly_20100704_TA_057.JPG?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false&quality=78&format=webp" width="134" /></a></div>Just in the nick of 2022 time, ReAnimus Press has released new editions of <i>three</i> -- count 'em, <i>three</i> -- of my books. All three are offered in hardback, trade paperback, and ebook formats. <p></p><p>(Small detail: as I type, only Amazon offerings have appeared. I'm assured the remaining ebook formats will have percolated to other sites and ebook formats within a few days.)</p><p>The three reissued books being ...</p><p></p><p><em style="font-size: large;"><strong><span></span></strong></em></p><a name='more'></a><em style="font-size: large;"><strong>The Sherlock Chronicles & </strong></em><em style="font-size: large;"><strong>The Paradise Quartet</strong></em><p></p><p><span style="font-size: inherit;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLbK5vjnAD6w39ajmbzsB_NPwzKF1dfexQwktCB5R5TM2mZUVZgsE8pfQ13K24wVlsucuURa3CU6CTQbMi2O8ViBdlrxgtH5rML0s9_rqLubUhpFDEIJu3BFKo8WhAaWC2qPphtnNjwQZKZQVC_G7TOFfOQ6rsOsgeuE7Ul0g8n5Uw-NMLLqRKzZuuQ/s320/Sherlock%20chronicles%20%20thumbnail.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="212" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLbK5vjnAD6w39ajmbzsB_NPwzKF1dfexQwktCB5R5TM2mZUVZgsE8pfQ13K24wVlsucuURa3CU6CTQbMi2O8ViBdlrxgtH5rML0s9_rqLubUhpFDEIJu3BFKo8WhAaWC2qPphtnNjwQZKZQVC_G7TOFfOQ6rsOsgeuE7Ul0g8n5Uw-NMLLqRKzZuuQ/s1600/Sherlock%20chronicles%20%20thumbnail.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3Q4YWJI" target="_blank"><i>Sherlock/Paradise</i><br />at Amazon</a></td></tr></tbody></table>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 <em>boring</em>, and boredom is the bane of a q-mind's existence.<p></p><p>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 <em>harmless</em> ....</p><p>And if an AI PI isn’t intriguing enough ...</p><p>A triumph of ingenuity and sheer willpower had 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.</p><p>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 ....</p><p>
</p><p><i> Two exciting adventures in one volume.</i></p><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;">***</span></i></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></b></div>Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise</span></i></b><div><p><i></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxVrHCxNsBm_8jH4Ih_VTSJ_C3BR_VxsvKMObHk35WA1CTPYwm-KyWTyif5kuH7FWKb-SCIbcOJYutvvKdlDKouTPq61oKRNpNY7a6XH7S6SyWrVwheOBq8eem2XFo_KOtA3ktVQ9oOTkv8uqU7vd8WJ1FC0GWOQKxrFR9jntxfXalbiHcEPsmsvWGw/s906/cover-a.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuxVrHCxNsBm_8jH4Ih_VTSJ_C3BR_VxsvKMObHk35WA1CTPYwm-KyWTyif5kuH7FWKb-SCIbcOJYutvvKdlDKouTPq61oKRNpNY7a6XH7S6SyWrVwheOBq8eem2XFo_KOtA3ktVQ9oOTkv8uqU7vd8WJ1FC0GWOQKxrFR9jntxfXalbiHcEPsmsvWGw/s320/cover-a.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3G7Wkqb" target="_blank"><i>Armageddon/Paradise</i><br />at Amazon</a></td></tr></tbody></table><i>"A romp through time and history ... an intriguing selection."</i> — Bookloons<p></p>
<p><strong>Armageddon:</strong> Hezbollah has obtained an atomic bomb and a would-be martyr eager to deliver it -- and that's the <em>good</em> news. The bad news, unknown even to Hezbollah, is that their physicist has also found a way to take his new bomb back to a turning point in European history.</p>
<p>Harry Bowen, an American physicist, and Terrence Ambling, a British agent turned historian, are determined to stop Abdul Faisel and prevent the nullification of all Western civilization. Their mission can be accomplished, if at all, only in the darkest of the Dark Ages -- and there, too, time is running out.</p>
<p><strong><em>“A top pick for anyone looking for exciting fiction ...”</em></strong>— Midwest Book Review</p>
<p><strong>Paradise:</strong> And on the (virtual) flip side we have a fiction collection headlined by "A Stranger in Paradise." (Indeed, that short story was the jumping-off point for what became <i>The Sherlock Chronicles</i>. The overlap between the two books is quite minor.) These novelettes and short stories, running the thematic gamut from nanotech to the ethics of terraforming other worlds to the conjuring of demons, first appeared in <em>Analog</em>, <em>Amazon Shorts</em>, and <em>Jim Baen's Universe</em>.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>***</i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Creative Destruction</b></span></i></p><p><i>"For its compelling vision of what could be, you will want take more than a glimpse of </i>Creative Destruction<i>.” </i>— Fast Forward: Contemporary Science Fiction</p><p>
</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq3oqvSUBDiilKAEY2Gk1QNP43qth_T2lWvj_68KOluULM90NWXIBuo5bPbOU9lwGBp1s_ThN--DRgJnRLIidlIAuYeXjHeq_YjnhnCF9gToMnWXUmyw7DM7IsNGhmRVw0gVMjhvxfV8I8OvQNPWRSLBlbKh6fBuelZ78Rg3rXAf_K-CUrIKQ81AV1PA/s906/cover-c.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="906" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq3oqvSUBDiilKAEY2Gk1QNP43qth_T2lWvj_68KOluULM90NWXIBuo5bPbOU9lwGBp1s_ThN--DRgJnRLIidlIAuYeXjHeq_YjnhnCF9gToMnWXUmyw7DM7IsNGhmRVw0gVMjhvxfV8I8OvQNPWRSLBlbKh6fBuelZ78Rg3rXAf_K-CUrIKQ81AV1PA/s320/cover-c.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3WUMjTN" target="_blank"><i>Creative Destruction</i><br />at Amazon</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Computing is mere decades young, a set of technologies we have scarcely begun to develop. It's already been quite a ride. Now: Imagine every gadget around you becoming ever faster, cheaper, tinier, more interconnected, more intelligent . . . especially more intelligent. The stories in <em>Creative Destruction</em> explore what we could face in the next half century or so: artificial intelligence, malicious software to makes us nostalgic for mere viruses, ever-more-perfect virtual reality, direct neural interfaces to computers, ubiquitous networks, and more. The internet? That was <em>nothing</em>.<p></p><p><i>Creative Destruction </i>first appeared in 2006 -- and I'm delighted with how the tech glimpsed within its pages generally <i>hasn't</i> aged.</p><p style="text-align: center;">***</p><p style="text-align: left;">There you have it ... three choices <i>surely</i> more interesting than a Rose Bowl parade. Especially with that Amazon gift card burning a hole in your pocket :-)</p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-36902919098162900232022-12-22T16:04:00.000-05:002022-12-22T16:04:46.449-05:00A gem of an anniversary<p>This month, IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, of which I am a longtime member) is observing a milestone we should <i>all</i> be honoring: the 75th -- diamond -- anniversary of the transistor. </p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/media-library/image.png?id=32158098" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="800" height="186" src="https://spectrum.ieee.org/media-library/image.png?id=32158098" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cover art, <br />December 2022 <i>IEEE Spectrum</i></td></tr></tbody></table>Because what would the world be like without this now ubiquitous device? Because what computer, phone, household appliance, entertainment gadget, vehicle, etc. in your life <i>doesn't</i> require oodles of transistors to function -- while doing <i>way</i> more than their pre-transistor precursors (if any such even existed)? </p><p></p>The rate of improvement in transistors (and so, the increasingly complex integrated circuits made from them) never ceases to amaze. The ever-plummeting cost. The ever-increasing density. The number of transistors in a single microprocessor chip. <p></p><p>The Intel 4004 microprocessor, introduced in 1971, had about 2300 transistors. Today's Intel i9 processors have more than three billion.</p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/sites/datacenterknowledge.com/files/fulton%20moores%20law%20chart%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="495" data-original-width="800" height="198" src="https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/sites/datacenterknowledge.com/files/fulton%20moores%20law%20chart%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.datacenterknowledge.com/supercomputers/after-moore-s-law-how-will-we-know-how-much-faster-computers-can-go" target="_blank">One snapshot of progress</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p>Beyond general admiration for what this industry has accomplished, and the related industries (including, certainly, anything to do with the Internet), I feel a personal affinity. </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>As a teen in the Sixties, I marveled at the first truly portable personal music device, that wonder of the age: the transistor radio. </li><li>In university classes and summer jobs, I studied and experimented with the first, primitive integrated circuits. (Oh, the terror when, on a college summer job, I accidentally fried an op-amp chip costing $50! Much inflation later, op amps cost ... a few pennies each.) </li><li>My first job out of university was at Bell Labs, where the transistor was invented. My first assignment there dealt with upgrading telephone switching equipment (specialized, ultra-reliable computers) from magnetic memory to semiconductor (i.e., transistor-based) memory. </li><li>In succeeding assignments and at succeeding employers, I moved with industry from mainframes to minis to micros, and to ever more capable microprocessor families. </li></ul><p></p><p>Now try to imagine what marvels new versions of the transistor will enable by the device's 100th anniversary. I, for one, can't wait.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-64750865131591723902022-12-12T10:05:00.002-05:002023-01-02T12:22:10.225-05:00Of soft spots ... and fleeting opportunitities<p><b><i>Updated January 2, 2023: the InterstellarNet series is temporarily out of print and electrons</i></b></p><p>Authors are frequently asked, "Which of your books is your favorite?" This is (as I've opined before) among our least favorite questions. It's about like asking a parent, "Which is your favorite child?"</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghw7kBOBEPQsv8EzzV6N4yKavAT6pH0sP7eGTfLNFrBYA74CmobX0nrt84Pz8gZrz_zTBxEmeU0k67BVDJYrza66lQq6On_C7tiUSec0lbDJkUgoxoUnt-Oo9PTClC7buMVcsE6nwSko1K8Rb3JRDLIJnkf9qTukFkPIJ7FBlw6mbFdD_-lCQIofsgAw/s661/IO%20cover%20thumbnail%20v2.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="438" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghw7kBOBEPQsv8EzzV6N4yKavAT6pH0sP7eGTfLNFrBYA74CmobX0nrt84Pz8gZrz_zTBxEmeU0k67BVDJYrza66lQq6On_C7tiUSec0lbDJkUgoxoUnt-Oo9PTClC7buMVcsE6nwSko1K8Rb3JRDLIJnkf9qTukFkPIJ7FBlw6mbFdD_-lCQIofsgAw/w133-h200/IO%20cover%20thumbnail%20v2.JPG" width="133" /></a></div>With this year's release of <i><a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2022/05/the-best-of-edward-m-lerner.html" target="_blank">The Best of Edward M. Lerner</a></i> I've at least gained an answer to the related question, "Which of your books should I try?" -- and yet, that career-spanning short-fiction collection <i>isn't</i> the authorial "soft spot" of my subject line. <div><br /></div><div>It turns out I have, if not <i>one </i>favorite from among my books, a deep connection with a <i>trio </i>of them. This came to my attention when -- with short notice -- I was told my three-book InterstellarNet series is going out of print (and electrons). At year's end. Yup, mere days from now.<p></p><p>Hence, the "fleeting opportunity" also mentioned in my subject line. Unavoidably, this is a commercial announcement. While I'm confident these books/ebooks will be reissued <i>sometime</i>, I can't speak to when. </p><p>Each InterstellarNet novel offers an entirely different take on First Contact -- and yet, all three novels interrelate. Perhaps the essential reason for my attachment to InterstellarNet is the obvious one. A story premise whose first glimmerings shaped a single novelette had such potential that I couldn't set it aside until three novels later. </p><p>Along the way, precursor stories to two of the novels collected, among their recognitions, my first appearance in a year's best anthology and a Hugo Award nomination. One precursor was serialized -- as the lone work of fiction -- in the proceedings of a conference of the UN's International Telecommunications Union. (And aptly so. The ITU was inspiration and role model for my Interstellar Commerce Union.) Oh, and <i>InterstellarNet: Enigma, </i>the third and concluding novel of the series, was a Prometheus Award nominee and winner of the inaugural Canopus Award for a novel "honoring excellence in interstellar writing."</p><p>Until year's end, when InterstellarNet begins its unanticipated hiatus, these are the novels (the titles link to Amazon):</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9m0ztPEEgDrljyYjAqAQJTK-_QbH_KOGZPtXyOk4aKyVMGDorl3FYkNAhLBE5POkOQTy7v-7IJ4r6rTiHmJkzsBrJBe75szi4vRFgVAM2RMQEaJ4VNx6W3n629kUQG6zsF1kwxtoPmJGSKTYEXfPlwkwEB4vHEMluwzgQsnlmgduc_y1K2idMzDS-g/s960/cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT9m0ztPEEgDrljyYjAqAQJTK-_QbH_KOGZPtXyOk4aKyVMGDorl3FYkNAhLBE5POkOQTy7v-7IJ4r6rTiHmJkzsBrJBe75szi4vRFgVAM2RMQEaJ4VNx6W3n629kUQG6zsF1kwxtoPmJGSKTYEXfPlwkwEB4vHEMluwzgQsnlmgduc_y1K2idMzDS-g/w125-h200/cover.jpg" width="125" /></a></div><i>InterstellarNet: Origins</i>. We are not alone. Now what? (Other than a cascade of crises, ever more daunting, to bedevil an expanding number of interstellar civilizations for generations.)<p></p><p><i>InterstellarNet: New Order. </i>Humanity is about to discover that meeting aliens face to face is very different -- and a lot more dangerous -- than long-distance chicanery.</p><p><i>InterstellarNet: Enigma.</i> Humanity once feared that we might be alone in the universe. Now we know better -- and there are far worse things than being alone.</p><p><i>InterstellarNet: Complete. </i>All three novels in a bargain ebook omnibus.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b><i>“Edward M. Lerner’s InterstellarNet is one of the most original and well-thought-out visions of an interstellar civilization I’ve ever seen.”</i></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #373737; font-size: 15px;">-- </span>Stanley Schmidt, Author of <i>Argonaut</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i style="color: #373737; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><br /></i></div><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><i><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“</span>Lerner’s world-building and extrapolating are top notch.”</i></b> --<span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-size: 15px;"> </span></span>SFScope</p><p style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><em style="background-color: #f7f7f7; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“An excellent series.”</strong></em><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #373737;"><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; font-size: 15px;"> -- </span></span>Galaxy’s Edge<br /><br /><b><i>“… A well researched hard science fiction series. Building from today’s technology into a believable tale of the not-so-distant future of characters, ships and planets, I really enjoyed it.” </i></b><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #373737; font-size: 15px;">-- </span>Abyss & Apex</p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-62876105212985487652022-11-21T09:35:00.000-05:002022-11-21T09:35:36.779-05:00Buy-A-Book Saturday ... redux<p>Times flies. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_fruit_flies_like_a_banana" target="_blank">Like an arrow</a>, though that's an irrelevant obscurity for today's post.) Meaning <b>Buy-a-Book Saturday</b> is once more almost upon us. </p><p>Regularly since 2010, shortly before Thanksgiving, I've posted about <b>Buy-a-Book Saturday</b>. That's my personal variation on Small Business Saturday: the day (specifically, the second day after Thanksgiving, and one day after retail's infamous Black Friday) on which holiday shoppers are especially encouraged to patronize small businesses. The big-box stores and Internet giants will do fine this holiday season. But will neighborhood stores, non-chain shops, and boutiques?</p><div>What with the supply-chain problems -- and Black Friday somehow having begun days ago at many retailers/etailers -- even to wait till close to that Saturday (falling quite late this year: November 26) might not be the best of strategies.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="http://www.waterville-me.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Small-Business-Saturday-2014.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="800" height="146" src="https://www.waterville-me.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Small-Business-Saturday-2014.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Rara avis! Is that a <i>book store?</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFYyhAgmGcRLo3eMjfakFMHbyjzAwVvgyEtIZpJv2b0jU93xr3rpj0NFY9pmYF9Pp4PAC3o1h8gxZlZga-WQLJEGJdChwxOcmoeBfDJUZP9H2_pPdGk3Vrfy9N-ii6_Q_YyLyDVnjjeiy/s1600/eBooks.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAFYyhAgmGcRLo3eMjfakFMHbyjzAwVvgyEtIZpJv2b0jU93xr3rpj0NFY9pmYF9Pp4PAC3o1h8gxZlZga-WQLJEGJdChwxOcmoeBfDJUZP9H2_pPdGk3Vrfy9N-ii6_Q_YyLyDVnjjeiy/s200/eBooks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Why do I promote the buy-a-book variant? Because what business is smaller than the author toiling away by him- or herself? Because, as I (and many others) post from time to time, the publishing business keeps getting tougher -- especially for authors. Because more than likely you're a reader, else you wouldn't have stopped by this blog.<div><br /></div><div>Because <i>this</i> year has been harder on small businesses, authors included, than most. Yet again.<br /><br />So: I'm here to suggest you give serious consideration to books -- whether print or electronic or audio -- for some of your holiday gifting. Friends, relatives, coworkers, your kids' teachers and coaches, the local library you support ... surely there's a book that's right for each of them. And at least one book for yourself, of course ;-)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Suppose you're at a brick-and-mortar bookstore and a book or author you had in mind isn't to be found on the shelf. Not a problem! Almost certainly, the store will be happy to special-order books for you. (Why? Because they'd much rather do a special order than have you go home and order online for yourself.)</div><a name='more'></a><br /><a href="https://libraries.ne.gov/york/files/2015/07/colourful-old-book-high-definition-wallpaper-download-old-book-images-free.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://libraries.ne.gov/york/files/2015/07/colourful-old-book-high-definition-wallpaper-download-old-book-images-free.jpg" width="200" /></a>Am I pushing books I myself have written? Unavoidably, if only by implication. (If you do consider <a href="https://amzn.to/3E7ou3z" target="_blank">any title of mine</a> ... however you happen to decide, I appreciate that.) That said, I intend this annual appeal more broadly. This blog concerns itself mostly with science and SF, but I don't limit today's notion even to those broad topics.<br /><br />If you're in need of inspiration, not to worry. For many years I've posted about a few books -- SF, non-genre fiction, science, and other nonfiction -- that I personally found noteworthy. Here are links to those posts:<br /><ul><li><a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2022/11/best-reads-of-2022.html" target="_blank">"Best reads of 2022"</a></li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2021/11/best-reads-of-2021.html" target="_blank">Best reads of 2021</a>" </li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2020/11/best-reads-of-2020.html" target="_blank">Best reads of 2020</a>"</li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2019/11/2019-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2019 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2018/11/2018-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2018 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2017/11/2017-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2017 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2016/11/2016-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2016 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2015/11/2015-best-reads.html" target="_blank">2015 best reads</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2014/12/books-to-savor-2014-edition.html" target="_blank">Books to savor, 2014 edition</a>"</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2013/12/books-to-knock-your-socks-off.html" target="_blank">Books to knock your socks off ...</a>" (posted in 2013)</li><li>"<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2012/11/thats-entertainment-books-for-holidays.html" target="_blank">That's entertainment! / Books for the holidays</a>" (my 2012 list).</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDX1ohaEXN-bb6lc49qsIN4owZhhgT8RTHNJPYNCLvEDLAs46EQ8OVvVmc_2ZBwDaKB2z1zWH2EOUWMc86hNR6rk9XHBMdsazgo5U1fNK4yPabL8QjFC4Wtoa8czVSF23yxk5tqhCWb8g/s1600/Audio+Books.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivDX1ohaEXN-bb6lc49qsIN4owZhhgT8RTHNJPYNCLvEDLAs46EQ8OVvVmc_2ZBwDaKB2z1zWH2EOUWMc86hNR6rk9XHBMdsazgo5U1fNK4yPabL8QjFC4Wtoa8czVSF23yxk5tqhCWb8g/s200/Audio+Books.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div>Anything else you can do? Sure! Check your fave authors' websites for direct-purchase options such as (full disclosure, I'm in this category) participation in Amazon's sales-associates program. Order by clicking through from the author's link and he or she will get a (small) referral commission from the e-tailer in addition to the publisher's (small) royalty payment. At no additional cost to you. </div><div><br /></div><div>And isn't this the <i>perfect</i> time to fill out that series you started some time ago and keep meaning to continue reading?</div><div><br /></div>Seeing as how you're in a mellow holiday mood (you are, aren't you?), you might also consider extending the gift of <i>support</i>: posting reviews of, and awarding stars to, your favorite books on Amazon, Goodreads, Librarything, or other services/stores. A review won't cost you a cent, and it'll help the authors. Majorly. For more on this idea, see "<a href="http://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2015/05/notes-from-far-outside-my-comfort-zone.html" target="_blank">Notes from *far* outside my comfort zone</a>."<br /><br />There you have it: <b>Buy-a-Book Saturday</b>! (Not to mention the obvious extension of the concept to Cyber Monday! Perhaps also a Writerly Wednesday or an Authorial Thursday. And throughout the holiday season. Heck, any time.) Nourish the meme! Spread the word! <i>Buy a book!</i></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-20826067354392317182022-11-09T10:24:00.001-05:002022-11-09T10:24:11.710-05:00Best Reads of 2022<p>Once again, I concede that a year's-best posting this early in November might seem, well, early. OTOH: lingering pandemic. Supply-chain woes. Labor shortages. Postal/UPS/FedEx slowdowns. Not to mention the countless stores that had up Christmas displays well before Halloween. <i>Especially </i>if you (or your reading giftees) prefer material in paper and ink, you may want to undertake your holiday shopping early rather than late. In any event, Black Friday and Cyber Monday <i>will </i>soon be upon us. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/08078/images/news2_en.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="486" height="133" src="https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/08078/images/news2_en.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>If you find none of that convincing? The way 2022 has been, surely <i>anything</i> meriting the label "best" is welcome. Distraction via the books that follow certainly helped <i>me</i> cope with this dreadful year.<br /><p></p><p> Not to mention that if <i>ever </i>there were a year to support one's favorite authors, 2022 (again! sigh) is it. So: on to the latest installment of this annual feature. </p>As always, I read a <i>lot</i>: as research, to keep current with the genre in which I write, and simply for enjoyment. Before the annual holiday shopping onslaught, I've taken to volunteering a few words about the most notable books from my reading (and sometimes re-reading) thus far in the current year. And a (very small) celebratory woohoo: this compilation is my tenth such post in the series. <div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>When I name a book, you can be certain I really enjoyed it and/or found it very useful. Life's too short to gripe about books I didn't find notable (much less the several I elected not to finish). Presuming that you visit <i>SF and Nonsense</i> because you appreciate my assessment of things, you might find, in what follows, books you (and like-minded friends, relatives, etc.) will also enjoy. Unless otherwise indicated, the dates shown are for original publication. Titles of recommendations are Amazon links, often to newer editions than the original publication (and to Kindle editions, where available).</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjzNrJQjsIWO1Ur86Tl6n-YnoErIinnD1_CzPxMkJ2IEE06tvJU4jqomEXgsw0cOIHcKE20nFJX5TJcFSDr0Ep8n5qLuLSsrGVEVui9oncBPSyKF1tAtwZshx2Ccl_YR-YwQjbgi6mO2Mok8sJ67ICnKg9o96ADXCplNUwjNJHmicrGxaHDULSzz_nQ/s900/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqjzNrJQjsIWO1Ur86Tl6n-YnoErIinnD1_CzPxMkJ2IEE06tvJU4jqomEXgsw0cOIHcKE20nFJX5TJcFSDr0Ep8n5qLuLSsrGVEVui9oncBPSyKF1tAtwZshx2Ccl_YR-YwQjbgi6mO2Mok8sJ67ICnKg9o96ADXCplNUwjNJHmicrGxaHDULSzz_nQ/w133-h200/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>This year's summary is unusual in one respect: I'm going to name <i>one</i> book of my own. Because, when calling out standout materials, I could hardly fail to at least mention the career-spanning, carefully curated, SF collection published this year that is <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3Fl7CIW" target="_blank">The Best of Edward M. Lerner</a>.</i><br /> <br />What's impressed me so far this year? Read on ....</div><div><br /></div><div><span></span><b><span><a name='more'></a></span>Science Fiction</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>I reread some old SF favorites this year. A few of them held up amazingly well. As it happens, the very best of the revisited bunch were all by the same author.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://amzn.to/3SGdqj1" target="_blank"><i></i></a><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3SGdqj1" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51UQI2AUV1L.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51UQI2AUV1L.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3zUYozc" target="_blank">Marooned in Realtime</a></i> (1986), Vernor Vinge. A murder mystery unfolding across deep time, involving humanity's few Singularity survivors, amid the puzzle of who or what led to the Singularity. <i>Marooned</i> is loosely book two in a series (the first being <i>The Peace War</i>), but the two novels take place eons apart; <i>Marooned</i> easily stands alone. (Both books in the two-book series were Hugo Award nominees; <i>Marooned</i> won its year's Prometheus Award.) </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51UCe0nJBLL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51UCe0nJBLL.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3FnTFKi" target="_blank">A Fire Upon the Deep</a></i> (1992), Vernor Vinge. Epic, galaxy-spanning, space opera that at the same time features a planet-bound adventure with truly amazing, semi-medieval (and very alien) aliens. Also, super-beings the study of whom is "applied theology." (A Hugo Award winner; also a Nebula, Locus, <i>and </i>Campbell Award nominee.)<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51JALSoL4dL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="331" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51JALSoL4dL.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3NjU9mA" target="_blank">A Deepness in the Sky</a></i> (1999), Vernor Vinge. More epic space opera, this time of a light-speed-bound nature. Picking up on the backstory of one character from <i>Fire</i>, this novel offers a far earlier interstellar civilization -- with <i>other </i>truly alien aliens. Consider it a prequel to <i>Fire</i> if you wish, but the novels are entirely independent. (Hugo, Campbell, <i>and</i> Prometheus Award winner; Nebula, Locus, <i>and </i>Clarke Award nominee.)</div><div><br /></div><div>(For completeness, I'll mention yet another Vinge novel: <i>The Children of the Sky</i>. This takes place a decade or so after <i>A Fire Upon the Deep</i>. I also reread <i>Children</i>, and enjoyed it a lot -- but not quite as much as the aforementioned.)</div><div><br /></div><div>As for new SF, I'll give a shout-out to one novel:</div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3Wlq5Lx" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3Wlq5Lx" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OUWXo-UKL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OUWXo-UKL.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3GdGFr5" target="_blank">Hot Moon</a></i> (2022), Alan Smale. Loosely in the spirit of the Apple+ TV series <i>For All Mankind</i>, this is an alternate history of the Space Race. <i>Hot Moon</i> is set in 1979, with American vs. Russian hostilities on and around the Moon. Smale is a NASA astrophysicist, and he used NASA files extensively to craft his Apollo-vintage spacecraft, Russian spacecraft, space stations, and lunar bases. Great SF <i>and</i> great alternate history.</div><div><br /></div><div>(<i>Hot Moon</i> is billed as Book 1 of a series, but there is as yet no Book 2 and the story is self-contained.)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>General Fiction</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3y0id7l" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3y0id7l" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51QdgyFTdHL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="351" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51QdgyFTdHL.jpg" width="140" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3fcGUr7" target="_blank">The Best of James Van Pelt</a></i> (2022). Should this book even be listed in the general-fiction category? Placement was a hard call. I mainly knew Van Pelt's writing from his frequent appearances in that bastion of hard SF, <i>Analog</i> -- but it turns out that his soft SF, fantasy, mysteries, and non-genre stories are every bit as good. ANYway ...</div><div><br /></div><div>There's a canard that "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." (Oh, and my personal corollary: those who can't teach, consult.) As it happens, JVP was for many years a high-school English teacher -- and man, does he disprove that canard. (Except for the consultant part. Don't get me started. But that has nothing to do with Jim.) There are tons of great stories -- almost 700 pages-worth. Take your time and savor them. I am. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51iLYfjy9KL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51iLYfjy9KL.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3DeVYfZ" target="_blank">The Woman in the Library</a></i> (2022), Sulari Gentill. A mystery writer whose main<br /> character is a mystery writer enmeshed in her own personal mystery, carrying on parallel correspondence with an obsessed fan and beta reader. A multilayered, engrossing novel. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nonfiction</b></div><div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3SKrJTL" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3SKrJTL" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/517d4+dhYbL._SY346_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="241" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/517d4+dhYbL._SY346_.jpg" width="139" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3WULPOD" target="_blank">Chicago's Great Fire: The Destruction and Resurrection of an Iconic American City</a></i> (2020), Carl Smith. I grew up in Chicago, so I wasn't <i>unfamiliar</i> with the fact of this event -- but reading this well-documented history was an eye-opener. Also, forget any doggerel you might have heard in years past about Mrs. O'Leary and her cow. From the Great Fire in 1871 to hosting the Columbian Exposition in 1893? What a comeback story!</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51UNHxIT6OL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="328" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51UNHxIT6OL.jpg" width="131" /><i></i></a><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3UfOXmc" target="_blank">Most Wanted Particle: The Inside Story of the Hunt for the Higgs, the Heart of</a></i><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3UfOXmc" target="_blank"> the Future of Physics</a></i> (2015), Jon Butterworth. Butterworth was a member of the ATLAS team at CERN. In addition to fascinating background on the hunt itself, there's a lot about quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the basic science of quarks and the strong force; the Standard Model of particle physics; and what may come next in particle physics. It's all done without math (but plenty of intuitive Feynman diagrams). </div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3gNjwRA" target="_blank"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3gNjwRA" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51TTIBezHdL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51TTIBezHdL.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><a href="https://amzn.to/3WJBchq" target="_blank">Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution</a> </i>(2017), Jonathan B. Losos. A fascinating look at modern thinking about evolution, with interesting insights into the phenomenon of <i>convergent</i> evolution. That latter item addresses how some adaptations, body plans, etc. often arise independently -- such as the streamlining exhibited by fish, cetaceans, and ichthyosaurs. Also (tantalizing hint) this book was a research source for an upcoming novel of mine. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><a href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51LtblpEzBL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="324" height="200" src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51LtblpEzBL.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-style: italic;"><a href="https://amzn.to/3swPAvk" target="_blank">1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created</a></i><i> </i>(2011)<i>, </i>Charles Mann. Last year, I extolled the virtues of Mann's <i>1491</i>, about the world Columbus and successive expeditions from Europe encountered. <i>1493 </i>is about the world that emerged from those encounters, impacting the Americas and Europe, to be sure, but also Africa and Asia. Globalization 1.0, if you will ....</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>This <i>isn't</i> your typical history book. Topics include: how vast amounts of New World silver exported by Spain drove inflation, upending economies around the globe. How unfamiliar diseases ravaged populations lacking immunities, whether Native Americans from smallpox or Europeans from malaria and yellow fever. How plants first domesticated in one area (like sugar cane, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn/maize, and rubber trees) transformed other, often distant, regions. Ditto, invasive pests that sometimes devastated such crops (think: Irish potato famine). How massive migrations took place, including the slave trade and the vast numbers of Native Americans and Africans who escaped bondage to build sometimes long-lasting mini-states (e.g., deep into Amazonia). And much, much more.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll venture there's something in this list for most any adult literary taste.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-27121846898301842322022-11-07T09:48:00.001-05:002022-11-07T09:48:56.396-05:00A most enjoyable podcast <p>Writers of the Future recently hosted a podcast aimed at aspiring science-fiction writers: a conversation with old hands Alan Smale (as it happens, a former WOTF winner), Jeffery A. Carver, Edward Willett, and (because two Eds are better than one ... I'll pause while you groan) Edward M. Lerner. John Goodwin as MC ably herded us SFnal cats. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhbO8ZqcQo_6FRgmkg-5YpayrxQ9Q_-AGyhJ0q1-kE4ndqr3TvQp3J8KRtZRaYfUi5lHWCMk8wtaMHbV5yrsrACjbg9VSGf_H6VoX5Jkaj_P3-bzCkc_jR0BPzMqpytPDyvBcDES6MR8IdZoTdI3HyyM0oNtd0IEDtDTFtBSxRTOM8q_6tvXK99oqVQ/s1200/Four%20Authors_Facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdhbO8ZqcQo_6FRgmkg-5YpayrxQ9Q_-AGyhJ0q1-kE4ndqr3TvQp3J8KRtZRaYfUi5lHWCMk8wtaMHbV5yrsrACjbg9VSGf_H6VoX5Jkaj_P3-bzCkc_jR0BPzMqpytPDyvBcDES6MR8IdZoTdI3HyyM0oNtd0IEDtDTFtBSxRTOM8q_6tvXK99oqVQ/w200-h105/Four%20Authors_Facebook.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>It was a fun conversation. <a href="https://soundcloud.com/uprn/1writers-illustrators-of-the-future-podcast-98-science-to-science-fiction-jeffrey-a-carver" target="_blank">Here 'tis</a>, if you're inclined to listen. <p></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-25753698445595813422022-10-21T14:56:00.000-04:002022-10-21T14:56:00.743-04:00Of world-shaking events<p>I'm delighted to report that <i>Mars: Life and Death </i>(officially only the working title, though no one's yet come up with a better name) has been delivered to the publisher. Trust me: events therein <i>are</i> matters of life and death.</p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/system/stellar_items/image_files/6_mars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="800" height="200" src="https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/system/stellar_items/image_files/6_mars.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The arena ...</td></tr></tbody></table>When can you read it? To be determined. These things take time. My best guess is late 2023 or early 2024. </p><p>More news as it happens ...</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-29663515693806693862022-10-03T16:36:00.001-04:002023-01-02T17:02:04.954-05:00Books (fewer than) a million<p><i><b>Updated January 2, 2023</b></i></p><p> And yet, <i>lots</i> of book news.</p><p><u>Two new novels in the works :-)</u></p><p><i>On the Shoals of Space-Time</i> (through Caezik Science Fiction and Fantasy, an imprint of Arc Manor) now has an official release date: May 23, 2023.</p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5jD6Q4FD1Sar-dGbR9Tk-IdSB37GAHzb9dZxcX5-GKwCxw4GWxLW7WqoqBxOO87XWPmYy3ZBpB0FRByDktPZD6AQGnq_ldeB5IL7ljUx6MJ_yLEfYhQvGyU5EpAf8-YoCZHdeLNDprHLZ7yIG2c3uCHb3zOZ77Tof3k75A6ZvRdmka4PPSZY09fUBA/s2400/Ceazik%20logo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="2400" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv5jD6Q4FD1Sar-dGbR9Tk-IdSB37GAHzb9dZxcX5-GKwCxw4GWxLW7WqoqBxOO87XWPmYy3ZBpB0FRByDktPZD6AQGnq_ldeB5IL7ljUx6MJ_yLEfYhQvGyU5EpAf8-YoCZHdeLNDprHLZ7yIG2c3uCHb3zOZ77Tof3k75A6ZvRdmka4PPSZY09fUBA/w200-h105/Ceazik%20logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></i></div><i>Mars: Life and Death</i> (likewise through Caezik)(here, I'm using what's nominally a working title) is in complete first draft and in the hands of beta readers. I'm guessing it'll be out in a year or so.<div><br /></div><div>I'll (of course!) have more to say about each novel as its release approaches.<br /><p></p><p><u>New editions of four older titles</u></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm1_FHrrA7KfXBhcOLXbenzTnNNvyVpafjI4Lh2TVbEjTykfL8Hy7c7xEA1iSaLS24A9LfMKNXHsw_dxofe4im9UchGr4q-ZIzrGnhrPGl4opbSQXk-G1Yquu4SCfNwr33ifES5rBag2_MHI6I30lDjYxU8f4ip2FFaviXdW5tYs8PZJk2iW_9rvChA/s240/Phoenix%20Pick%20logo.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="210" data-original-width="240" height="114" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm1_FHrrA7KfXBhcOLXbenzTnNNvyVpafjI4Lh2TVbEjTykfL8Hy7c7xEA1iSaLS24A9LfMKNXHsw_dxofe4im9UchGr4q-ZIzrGnhrPGl4opbSQXk-G1Yquu4SCfNwr33ifES5rBag2_MHI6I30lDjYxU8f4ip2FFaviXdW5tYs8PZJk2iW_9rvChA/w131-h114/Phoenix%20Pick%20logo.jpg" width="131" /></a></div><i>The Company Man</i> (a novel; through Phoenix Pick, the reprint imprint at Arc Manor) <b>As of late December 2022, release info still pending.</b><br /><p></p><p><i>Creative Destruction</i> (my earliest collection; through ReAnimus Press) <b>As of late December 2022, </b><b>back in print and electrons.</b></p><p><i>Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise</i> (a short novel plus a short collection; through ReAnimus Press) <b>As of late December 2022, </b><b>back in print and electrons.</b></p><p><i>The Sherlock Chronicles & The Paradise Quartet</i> (two novella-ized story arcs; through ReAnimus Press) <b>As of late December 2022, </b><b>back in print and electrons.</b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnanWsjLVwXS2Z8rqDRVS3QCIukEUO8GzPsEEXtEDCvm6tYOVBFrpX9veq1nPgToa_-pXd_jg0n1aDbish8oZM5pky-ctMpZyQI-L1YOvR5dtvjLAgVj5R57sc68EY7a_KAhF_8Qz_QMsASKZHeoBrSiUmZTwNFozc5eKqLqmtZa5sFjof-9z9XqohCg/s704/ReAnimus%20press%20logo.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="164" data-original-width="704" height="47" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnanWsjLVwXS2Z8rqDRVS3QCIukEUO8GzPsEEXtEDCvm6tYOVBFrpX9veq1nPgToa_-pXd_jg0n1aDbish8oZM5pky-ctMpZyQI-L1YOvR5dtvjLAgVj5R57sc68EY7a_KAhF_8Qz_QMsASKZHeoBrSiUmZTwNFozc5eKqLqmtZa5sFjof-9z9XqohCg/w200-h47/ReAnimus%20press%20logo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>I foresee see a lot of copy-edit reading, galley review, and proofreading ....<p></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-60718256771728568382022-09-10T15:50:00.002-04:002022-09-13T16:01:00.875-04:00Technical difficulties<p><i>Updated September 13, 2022</i></p><p>I'm in the process of migrating my authorial website (<a href="https://edwardmlerner.com">edwardmlerner.com</a>) to a new hosting service. Till that's complete, and all the details sorted out, my blog is reverted to its actual home (i.e., <a href="https://edward-m-lerner.blogspot.com">edward-m-lerner.blogspot.com</a>), rather than its aliased location, <a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com">blog.edwardmlerner.com</a>.</p><p>Lots of embedded links in years-worth of blog posts rely on the edwardmlerner.com domain, and (for now) won't work. Sigh.</p><p>Hopefully, I'll have all this fixed soon. Meanwhile, if you found yourself here, it's still me.</p><p><b>Update: Yay! It's fixed (anyway, it seems to be.)</b></p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4672881018321440403.post-86655739566951284472022-08-17T13:17:00.000-04:002022-08-17T13:17:06.215-04:00Speaking of the best<p>Since the May release of the career-spanning collection <i><a href="https://blog.edwardmlerner.com/2022/05/the-best-of-edward-m-lerner.html" target="_blank">The Best of Edward M. Lerner</a></i>, I've done several interviews, with others apt to happen. As I type, there's been but one published review, but I anticipate more. </p><p>So: this post is to gather links to related reviews and interviews. I'll update it as appropriate.</p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJzISGD-xTJ7Kee1-3Ry-9eBs1HiR-mHneJVlR2pRKhjs6MA8pFZApqYXWlBb7LBuRAhkdJs34dOL30IuVSzsMhsgyE1S9kYuFyjo-P4_KauZL0ieEgerK_ohVa2y1b3A7XWQHtHQWOS39QPft6v-5wOTznA-BU5DXzfUWOxxA8O--ZbfDJIDM37qP1A/s900/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJzISGD-xTJ7Kee1-3Ry-9eBs1HiR-mHneJVlR2pRKhjs6MA8pFZApqYXWlBb7LBuRAhkdJs34dOL30IuVSzsMhsgyE1S9kYuFyjo-P4_KauZL0ieEgerK_ohVa2y1b3A7XWQHtHQWOS39QPft6v-5wOTznA-BU5DXzfUWOxxA8O--ZbfDJIDM37qP1A/s320/The%20Best%20of%20Edward%20M.%20Lerner.jpg" width="213" /></a></b></div><b>Interviews</b><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2NZkiubCho" target="_blank">Douglas Coleman Show</a> (video)</p><p><a href="https://paulsemel.com/exclusive-interview-the-best-of-edward-m-lerner-author-edward-m-lerner/" target="_blank">Paul Semel Blog</a> (written)</p><p></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRntMFcDkh8" target="_blank">Between the Covers</a> (video)</p><p><b>Reviews</b></p><p><a href="https://tangentonline.com/print-other/the-best-of-edward-m-lerner/" target="_blank">Tangent Online</a></p><p>More as it happens :-)</p><div class="blogger-post-footer">======================
from Edward M. Lerner's "SF and Nonsense"</div>Edward M. Lernerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15620756142619513714noreply@blogger.com0