There will be 250 of them.

They are not available yet. I don’t know when they will be available because the printer can’t seem to deliver a galley proof that actually has MY book correctly positioned between the covers.

No, there’s no way to preorder them. I know that’s not the answer you want. It’s the only answer I got. We don’t want to take money and commit to an order until we can be sure you’re going to get the book.

They won’t sell out that fast if the Quarter Share sales are any indication.

When we get them, I’ll put up a notice here and email the group list.

The limited edition hardcover will be available in a couple weeks or so — as soon as we get through the process queue.

Somebody thought I needed to tell you that there are now 10 episodes on the feed. I’m not sure I understand why you need a blog post to tell you that. It’s all over twitter. It’s on the comment thread. Oh, and they’re in the feed.

You *do* know you can subscribe to the books and the episodes get — you know — delivered to you, right? You can also subscribe to the posts here, on the podiobooker blog, and the comment streams of both? You *do* know that, right?

I’ve lost about four days now to holidays, car failures, and snow removal (the city has started enforcing snow removal laws – budgets are tight everywhere and it’s a moneymaker for them – yikes). Yesterday I put down two full episodes but ran out of editing time. I plan on getting at least ONE of them up in tonight’s updates. I’m hoping for both but … I’ll get one to you at least.

Ok, back to editing audio … demanding fans wanna know what comes next.

Hint: big debt.

We’ve already started on Full Share in order to get back on our production target of April, 2011, and might even manage to get Ravenwood in over the summer.

A lot of people have asked for a “pre order link” or some such thing but our choice not to do that was actually deliberate, not an oversight. I don’t want my books listed until they’re actually available. If you can see them, then you can buy them. It’s probably bad business and might cost me some sales, but the books will be available for a long time. Sorry for any inconvenience that causes people, but I want to make sure we’re not publishing vapor-text.

Given how long it took me to get my act together on this one, that’s probably a good thing.

Or something.

State of the Onion:
> Half Share is still in layout. I still haven’t seen the galley. The cover art has been out for awhile and I’m watching the mail for my copy. I’ll let everybody know when I see it. Yes, unlike NY publishers, we’ll be releasing e- and paper at the same time and as soon as possible. The limited edition hardcovers may lag a bit but they’ll be along.

> Owner’s Share has had a full revision finally. I didn’t get to 150k but it’s a lot shorter than 220k and I think it’s a lot tighter. I’ve started looking for music and the production recording will begin as soon as I have a quiet house now that the Lung Crud is releasing its grip on my chest.

> I think there are still a few of the commemorative coffee mugs left and if you’re looking for some other Golden Age swag, try the Cafe Press Store. (I really need to get some new designs up there, I think.)

> The StarShipSofa episode with my first narration for them – a Tad Williams short called “The Tenth Muse” – and it even has a lil interview with me conducted by Tony C. Smith himself. There should be another story coming along soon.

> I need to get back on my feet and walking. I miss the exercise. Watch for #tommw starting again soon if you follow me on twitter. That’s “Tweeting On My Morning Walk” for those who didn’t catch it the first time around.

Safe voyage and a happy holiday season to one and all.

Status:
Half Share in text – I’m working on the edits but it’s going slowly. It’s my fault and I’m working to get that resolved ASAP because it’s holding up all the rest of my production. Sorry about that, but this one represents income and the free stuff needs to take a back seat.

Owner’s Share – on hold pending the release of Half Share in text formats. This will be released in Nov/Dec in audio because I’ve got a HUGE editing job waiting for me to get that book into shape and ready to podcast.

Cape Grace and the Ravenwood sequel – both get pushed back a bit.

In audio production work, I did a short story for Tony C. Smith and the Hugo Award winning StarShipSofa podcast which should be the lead in November’s short fiction. I’m really pleased with the way it came out and he’s sent me another to do for December. These are not interfering with the other work because they’re short, easily done, and fall into “gaah! I need a break!” territory without tying me up for days on end.

I’ve also got a paid job for narration that I need to get mixed into this stew and I’m looking at how I can make this all work. I *think* it’ll go together nicely if I can get the family back on a regular schedule and can record a bit each day. If that works, I’ll probably segue right into a more regular day with some portion of it dedicated to reading, some to writing, and some to editing.

This weekend I’ll be at MileHiCon in Denver. That’s the local sci-fi convention and I’m on several panels, doing a reading, and even have an autograph session scheduled. I’ll add it to the Out and About page. MileHi is the “local BaltiCon” and I’m hoping we can get a New Media Track established. There are now five podiobooks authors within driving distance of Denver and perhaps we can put something useful together there.

Finally, welcome to all the new subscribers to the email list. I don’t send out much stuff there so you probably won’t see that get a lot of traffic. I *will* post to it when new books get released.

Back to the salt mines for me. This is shaping up nicely and I’m very pleased with the way it’s coming out.

Now if I could just do more and faster!

Long and short is that the music I’ve used in the four novels has been licensed in various ways. For the present use, that is, as a free podcast novel, the licensing which includes Non-Commercial is fine since the Podiobooks are released under attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives licenses. The Podiobooks authors working to support the OLPC project by having our work included as source content for educational purposes. The problem, of course, is that we have to change the license to Attribution-ShareALike and my music isn’t licensed for that.

So, I’m posting the music credits here in text in hopes that the people responsible have vanity-searches and will contact me.

Quarter Share: Lucky Black Cat – James Curran
Half Share: Banks of Newfoundland – Peter James Conlan
Full Share: Foxhunters – James Curran
South Coast: Wish – Raphael Garcia Perdigon

All from the Open Audio archives at http://www.archive.org.

And any musicians out there who’d like to have me consider music for future novels, drop me an email via the Contact link on the side bar! I’m planning on six books this year and I may wind up remixing if I can’t get these licenses untangled.

My sense is that most people are grabbing the blocks of audio and really *not* listening week to week so the recaps are really a waste. I’m still fighting with the audio production of Full Share so, before I get TOO far down the road, what do you folks think? Should I bring back “Previously…” or continue without the recaps.

Comments?

A Trader’s Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper

After Ishmael Wang is promoted to the environmental section, he’s caught in a swirl of mystery, doubt, belief, lust and a really nice fitting pair of jeans. He has to come to grips with what it means to be a spacer while he’s still trying to figure out what it means to be a man. Join Ishmael, Bril, Pip, and the rest of the crew of the Lois McKendrick as they help the newest member of the crew adjust to life in the Deep Dark.

Half Share is the sequel to Quarter Share, also available at Podiobooks.com.

Note: Some scenes in Half Share involve adult themes, nudity, sex and references to religions not based on Judeo-Christian traditions. Read at your own risk.

Cover Art Photo Credit: M100 courtesty of HubbleSite