Solar Clipper Diary

That’s a big number and marks a significant milestone for me.

That’s how many times an episode of mine has been downloaded. I’ve had a day or so to contemplate this and I’m still boggled. Granted there are a lot of episodes but that’s a lot of people who’ve grabbed some or all of the stories.

To put it in perspective, Jan 7, 2010, when I signed with Ridan, I’d just broken one million downloads. Fifteen months later I’ve added a few more episodes and two million more downloads. The listener population seems to be very close to 20,000 at this point and perhaps has gone over.

You humble me with your support. Thanks.

Hey, Crew:

Over half past March and we’re tramping along to the text release of Full Share in April. I hope to have some cover art to share in the next few days, and I’m biting my fingers waiting to see what Ridan will suggest for the next round of edits.

In other news, the Half Share hardcovers are *still* not in production. Ridan was tracking down the issues but hasn’t told me what the issues are at the moment. You won’t miss them. I’ll announce them here and on the mailing list when they’re available.

My novella about Odin’s Outpost is in its second round. I know what the story needs to be, but I haven’t been able to actually get it drafted. I think I may have to give up on the idea of actually planning a plot and let it just unfold as it will.

Cape Grace has a permanent place on my desktop and I’m chipping away slowly at that as well. Eventually, I’ll get through enough of my backlog to sit up and kick it in the backside.

Speaking of backlog, I’ve just filed my audio with Tee and Pip for my contribution to their Books and Braun prequel anthology. The text will be included in a print volume and the audio will go out as part of their promotional lead up to their Harper-Collins release in May. It was fun to play in that universe and it gave me a lot more confidence to take on a shorter work.

And speaking of shorter works, those of you who tried out Debora Geary’s “Matchmaker 2.0″ and liked it, might also like her latest work – a contemporary fantasy called “A Modern Witch” that has just debuted over on Amazon and other fine purveyors of textual materials. If you like fantasy or liked her nibble, you might want to grab a sample and check it out.

She’s also started a book referral service called “Four Stars and Up” where she hunts around for titles that have at least 10 reviews and a cumulative rating of — you guessed it — four stars or higher.

Last on my list of news is that Brand Gamblin of Calls for Cthulhu and Tumbler fame has finally released his steam punk novel, The Hidden Institute. I’ve been offering critique of this as he’s been working it up over the last few months and I really like what he’s done with this world. I even designed the cover! That was a lot of fun (yes, and time I probably should have spent writing, but .. sheesh).

That’s it for now. I should have more news in a week or two, as we begin gearing up for the next text release and I find out when my story will appear on Tee and Pip’s podcast. Until then…

Safe voyage.

Hey, crew. Normally I post about the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper here, but I need to put on my writer hat for a post and acknowledge some writerly activity that’s going on.

P.J. Kaiser tagged me last week with this very cool honor.

P.J. is a flash and serial fiction writer whom I am trying to convince to start podcasting her work. She’s made a start by reading one of her flash pieces and posting it on her blog. It’s not often I post about stuff here that’s not genre related, but I do want to acknowledge the award.

The Creative Genius Blog Award was started by Deanna Schrayer at The Other Side of Deanna in January and, like other pay-it-forward efforts, it comes with the burden of finding suitable candidates for me to pass the award on to. There are a lot of people I’d like to acknowledge, but the challenge is to winnow it down to two or three. I want to use this opportunity to introduce you to some other voices out there that I’ve discovered in the last few weeks — people you may not have heard of but folks I think you’ll be hearing a lot from in the next few years.

First up is:

Lisa Kilian at What Not To Do As A Writer. Lisa writes a daily post — largely irreverent, highly charged with language you won’t want your kids to use, but stuff that resonates with me. She’s in my feed reader and I read her stuff every day. Usually I laugh.

Since I get to tag more than one:

Meet Shane Jiraiya Cummings from Perth, Australia. Shane is a horror writer/editor who’s spending February in a Grand Conversation About E-Books. I stumbled on him at the Writer’s Cafe on Kindleboards and I’ve been following (and participating) in his Grand Conversation. He’s also not a podcaster, but his books are available in ebook and if you’re a fan of horror, you might find something to scare you there.

And because I’m allowed to hit up to three:

A tip of the cap and a Creative Genius Blog Award to New Zealander Michael J. Parry and his Worlds of Michael J. Parry blog. Michael is a mild, mannered Digital Initiatives Librarian by day and an aspiring fantasy writer by night. His work, The Spiral Tattoo, has been filling my earbuds since I finished Owner’s Share and I think it’s an excellent first offering. I’m looking forward to hearing more from him.

That’s it.

A final thank you to Deanna Schrayer for starting this cool award, and to P.J. Kaiser for passing it to me.

Safe voyage.

Well, yeah, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

Mur Lafferty, host of the award winning podcast for writers, I Should Be Writing, and savvy observer of the field decided to interview me in spite of her inherent savvy and good sense.

The result is up at I Should Be Writing.

Thanks, Mur. It was fun.