I's dotted. T's (and fingers) crossed

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. 

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 are recently back in print and electrons:

• Creative Destruction (a cyber-themed collection, first published in 2006)

  

  The new cover

  
  
• Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise (a short time-travel novel plus five shorter SF works, first published in 2010)
• Frontiers of Space, Time, and Thought (mixed fiction and nonfiction [in both cases, SFnal] collection, first published in 2012)
• The Company Man (SFnal/noir novel, first published in 2019)
• The Sherlock Chronicles & The Paradise Quartet (back-to-back unrelated SFnal novellas, first published in 2021*)

(*) I did 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."

Original cover

Today's news (drumroll please) ...

 

The Company Man (and an epiphany)

 I'm more than pleased to announce my novel The Company Man is back in print and electrons.

TCM was first published by Ring of Fire Press, which closed following the sad passing last year of writer/editor/publisher — and Certified Nice Guy — Eric Flint. The novel has its new home with Phoenix Pick, an imprint of Arc Manor (publisher of several of my recent titles).

If you hadn't encountered this novel in its original incarnation, here's a preview:

Dashiell Hammett meets Andy Weir

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 — until, at the end of an interminable trek among remote company mining asteroids, a mysterious emergency preempts his return flight.

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 — and only the Company Man has a chance of averting interplanetary disaster.

If he survives .…

This being a commercial announcement, here are the Amazon links for The Company Man (in paperback) and The Company Man (for the Kindle). It'll show up soon (if it hasn't by the time you read this) at other online outlets and other ebook formats — and be available from your favorite brick-and-mortar outlet, if you provide the ISBN: 978-1649731296.

And the epiphany of my subject line? Read on ....

Books (fewer than) a million

Updated January 2, 2023

 And yet, lots of book news.

Two new novels in the works :-)

On the Shoals of Space-Time (through Caezik Science Fiction and Fantasy, an imprint of Arc Manor) now has an official release date: May 23, 2023.

Mars: Life and Death (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.

I'll (of course!) have more to say about each novel as its release approaches.

New editions of four older titles

The Company Man (a novel; through Phoenix Pick, the reprint imprint at Arc Manor) As of late December 2022, release info still pending.

Creative Destruction (my earliest collection; through ReAnimus Press) As of late December 2022, back in print and electrons.

Countdown to Armageddon / A Stranger in Paradise (a short novel plus a short collection; through ReAnimus Press) As of late December 2022, back in print and electrons.

The Sherlock Chronicles & The Paradise Quartet  (two novella-ized story arcs; through ReAnimus Press) As of late December 2022, back in print and electrons.

I foresee see a lot of copy-edit reading, galley review, and proofreading ....

The Company Man

Updated July 29, 2023

Back in print and electrons. Updated links below

I am pleased to announce publication of my latest novel, The Company Man.

(Also a bit frazzled. This is my second new-book release in less than a month, the previous one being the short-fiction collection Muses & Musings. No way do -- or could -- I write two books in a month; it's a matter of different publishers getting different books into production at different paces. But I digress.)

The Company Man, in a very few words, is a near-future, space-centric mystery. Think: Dashiell Hammett meets Andy Weir. In a few more words, borrowed from the cover:

The Company Man, lowly accountant for the filthy-richest business in the Asteroid Belt, has modest aspirations. Air and water not endlessly recycled. Food that had not been freeze-dried and re-hydrated. A few quiet days at home. And, if he can figure out how, pilfering a bit from the company.

Alas, working as he does for evil geniuses, that final ambition seems impossible -- until, at the end of an interminable trek among remote company mining asteroids, a mysterious emergency preempts his return flight. Someone has discovered a flaw in the company’s legendary security, even if people must apparently die to exploit it.

That ... isn’t necessarily 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 -- and only the Company Man has a chance of averting interplanetary disaster.

If he survives ....

For the Grantville Gazette readers among you, TCM is the novelization of a six-part story arc that ran in recent years (between May 2017 and May 2019) in the Universe Annex (non-1632) department.

This being a commercial announcement, here are the Amazon links for The Company Man for the Kindle and The Company Man in trade paperback.

*Another* cover reveal :-)

And not just any cover. That's a Bob Eggleton cover.

Coming next month ...

Now it can be told ...

Have you been following my "company man" stories? Perhaps so -- but only if you subscribe to The Grantville Gazette, in whose "Universe Annex" (which is to say, the zine's non-alternate-history) department these stories have been appearing. Today marks the official release of "The Company Bane (Part I)." Bane, in two parts (with the second half slotted for the May issue), concludes the long-running story arc.

But Bane Part I isn't my only appearance in the March 2019 issue. The editor's remarks offer the first mention of news I've been waiting to share. To wit: later this year, Ring of Fire Press will publish my novelization of the entire story line. I'm psyched!

What, you may wonder, is The Company Man about? It's a hard SF, neo-noir detective tale set in -- and across -- the colonized Solar System of a not-distant future. Think Dashiell Hammett meets Andy Weir.

You'll of course find more news and description on this blog as soon as a specific release date for The Company Man is announced, and more as release approaches.

A favorite bit of zine art from mid-series