2019 best reads

Thanksgiving 2018 fell as early in the year as possible. In 2019, Thanksgiving comes as late as possible. Nonetheless, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are, once again, almost upon us.

So: on to the latest installment of this annual feature.

As ever, I read a lot: as research, to keep current with the genre in which I write, and simply for enjoyment. Before the holiday shopping onslaught, I like to volunteer a few words about the most notable books from my reading (and sometimes re-reading) thus far in the current year. When I mention a book, you can be certain I really enjoyed it and/or found it very useful. Life's too short to gripe about anything I didn't find notable (much less the several books I elected not to finish).
 

Presuming that you visit SF and Nonsense because you appreciate my assessment of things, you might find, in the post that follows, books you (and like-minded friends, relatives, etc.) will also enjoy. Unless otherwise indicated, the dates shown are for original publication. Titles are Amazon links, often to newer editions than the original publication (and to Kindle editions, where available).

What's impressed me so far this year? Read on ....

Discover ... *me*

Many of you drop by SF and Nonsense because you're familiar with at least some of my novels and shorter stories -- but for some visitors, that isn't the case. If you're in that latter group, now's your opportunity ....

Courtesy of my friends at Wildside Press (and with the sign-on of other friends, at publishers Phoenix Pick and FoxAcre Press), I am delighted to point you toward a free sampler of my fiction.

In Discover a New Author ... Edward M. Lerner you'll find four short stories, originally published between 2006 and 2017, plus the opening chapters of:

• Countdown to Armageddon (2010 / time travel)
•  InterstellarNet: Origins (likewise 2010 / the first book in my InterstellarNet series)
• Dark Secret (2016 / epic and existential space adventure)

This sampler is available without charge from Wildside Press in Kindle (mobi), ePub, and pdf formats.

If you enjoy the sampler, well, you can always look for more ;-)

Does size matter?

At a con a few weeks past ("Back (exhausted!) from Capclave"), one of my panels, Does Size Matter?, dealt with the perennial topic of story lengths. As this is a matter of perennial interest among con-goers and aspiring writers, I decided to make it the subject of a post.

How I write: 

• When the idea comes first -- and for me, usually, it does -- I let the story evolve into whatever length it sees fit.
• Exception: targeting a market with length (or budget) constraints. Then I start by pondering a (hopefully) compatible story idea.
• Exception: fine-tuning a completed story to fit a target market’s length constraints.

Now on to a pair of war stories ....

M&M: first review

Popular genre website Tangent Online recently posted their review of Muses & Musings: A Science Fiction Collection. My favorite passage (from among many):

Sure to have something to appeal to almost every reader of science fiction

Click here for release-day post

For anyone curious, here's the full Tangent Online review of M&M.

Stray observations

From my Files of the Bizarre:

• No argument here: "It's official: English is a genuinely weird language." And that's a linguist writing.
• And weirder still? “One Trillion Times Age of the Cosmos” – Rarest Thing Ever Detected.
• How to rank this? "For decades, Garfield telephones kept washing ashore in France. Now the mystery has been solved." (Would it be wrong to call this Odie-ous?)
• Now let's toss in a decidedly odd business "plan": "Windows 10 Is Doing A Great Job Persuading People To Switch To A Different Operating System."
• But not true, IMO, of the SF genre: "E-Book Revenues Continue To Slip." Certainly, it's untrue of my personal titles.

Lower left: notice the source.

A Time for Heroes

For your listening enjoyment ...

"A Time for Heroes," one of my favorite short stories, is newly a podcast at StarShipSofa. The intro/bio starts about 2 and a half minutes in; the story itself at about five minutes. Performance is by the talented writer, gamer, and narrator, Chris C. Chen.

Back (exhausted!) from Capclave

Capclave is the DC area's annual con, held every fall. For 2019, the con was held the weekend just past, October 18-20.

This year, like most years, I took part. This year, unlike many years past, I was able to clear my schedule for the full three days. And Programming kept me hopping. I was a panelist for:

• SETI
• Does size matter? (As in, story lengths. Get your mind out of the gutter ;-)  )
• World-building
• Murderbots and Terminators
• Exoplanets

while moderating three of those panels. Also, I did a reading (two bits of flash from the newly released Muses & Musings: A Science Fiction Collection). Joined in the mass autograph session. Attended other panels. Cruised the hucksters room. Dropped by a bid party for the 2023 Worldcon. Chatted with readers -- this is a very literary con -- and editors, publishers, and other authors. Caught up with friends (too many of whom I only get to see at cons) and made new ones.

Rob Sawyer & Ed Lerner

And because every post requires at least one picture, here I am on the con's opening day at lunch with co-GoH -- and good buddy -- Robert J. Sawyer.

(And yes, the glare is astonishing.)

Kudos

"Nobel Prize in physics awarded for research on exoplanets and the structure of the universe."

'Nuff said.