Release day!

Night Mage, Book 2 in the Academic Magic series is now live on Amazon! This one took longer than I expected. I realized a couple of weeks ago that I was procrastinating deliberately. When I finally sat down and forced myself to look at my reasons, I discovered they were a lot like the reasons Marty McFlys’ father gave for not sending his book to a publisher…what if nobody likes it? But, my beta readers liked it, and I trust them. And, I went back to my first book and realized that most people, including perfect strangers, liked it. So, people liked the first one, people I trust liked the second one…publish the damn thing!

I’m working on paperback versions of both books. I just have to get the manuscript formatted correctly and figure out the templates that Kindle publishing offers. Those templates for the covers and the manuscript are extremely helpful, btw.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sarah A. Hoyt and Cedar Sanderson, along with everybody in More Odds Than Ends, and the patrons of the Diner for pushing me to finally finish.

Next up in my plans are a short story for an upcoming anthology along with the Cursebreaker novel. This writer thing is fun!

Publishing House Baen Books Attacked by Cancel Culture

EDIT: I’ve added the responses from Toni Weisskopf and David Weber at the end. Baen Books is a sci-fi/fantasy publishing house that has been around since the early 1980s. They’ve published thousands of titles from hundreds of authors. Baen is notable in our current time period because it is one of the only traditional publishers … Continue reading Publishing House Baen Books Attacked by Cancel Culture →

Source: Publishing House Baen Books Attacked by Cancel Culture

 

Cancel culture is real.

This is total bullshit. I’ve been on Baen’s Bar only once or twice, but it’s a multi-forum site for fans of Baen writers. Some guy (who likely got a manuscript rejected by Baen) has decided to try to cancel the publisher and force them off the web. Baen publishes science-fiction/fantasy and does so without regard to the writer’s personal political views. Baen also hosts the Baen Bar a site where fans can go to find free books (yes, the publisher gives away some books), talk with other fans, and sometimes talk with authors. There is no hotbed of political violence as this douche-canoe alleges. Yes, there are some strong opinions, but if that causes butt-hurt, you should just go back to your mama’s basement and cry.

We all must fight against cancel culture wherever we find it and no matter how small or large the incident.

And now, I’m on my way back to Baen’s Bar to show my support.

 

Book Review: Knowingly Familiar

This week’s book review is Alma T.C. Boykin’s Knowingly Familiar. It is Book 16 in the Familiar Tales series. And, until this week, was the latest in that series of stories about the magical community in Riverton. I like to think that the Riverton of the familiars is the Riverton my grandparents lived in and I visited frequently as a small child. The weather and some of the town features are similar…hmmm….but, back to the book.

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Book Review: Divided We Fall

I’ve always liked anthologies because I can get a taste of multiple authors at one time. Anthologies also introduce me to authors I haven’t yet read and finding new authors is always fun. This week’s book review subject is Divided We Fall: One Possible Future edited by Tiffany Reynolds and Patty McIntosh-Mize. The authors include Sarah A. Hoyt, Brad Torgerson, Mack Henkel, Jon Del Arroz, and more. There are twelve stories in all. All twelve are good to great, but I’m only going to go into detail about a few of them here.

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Book Review: “What Does This Button Do?” by Bruce Dickinson

This week’s book review is not an urban fantasy selection. It’s Bruce Dickinson’s autobiography, What Does This Button Do? Like many people, I have an eclectic range of interests when it comes to reading. Well, let’s be honest, I’ll pick up pretty much anything if it looks interesting. On a three-week backpacking trip through Europe after college I read five or six Jason Bourne novels…in a row. I discovered how formulaic they were, but they kept me engaged until the next hostel or pension. Hostels had (or may still, I don’t know) libraries that functioned as sort of pick up/drop off points for books (this was waaaaaay before phones and tablets or e-readers. Way before). Pick up a book in London, read it, drop it off at hostel in Edinburgh or Paris or Nice or wherever, and pick up another one. I read a lot of things in terms of genre and authors that I might not have otherwise. It was definitely a way to broaden my already wide reading horizons. All that is to explain why I read and write urban fantasy but end up reviewing a book by and about the lead singer of Iron Maiden.

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Book review: Paladin’s Sword

The weekly book reviews continue! This week I’m reviewing Fiona Grey’s debut book, Paladin’s Sword, the first in the Professor Porter series. We are introduced to Dr. June Porter, newly minted PhD in folklore and military history, on her way to her first full-time position at Paladin University in New Hampshire. In addition to her new PhD, June is also in possession of magic which, unlike the PhD, she would like to put behind her. But the universe is a fickle thing, and it has other plans for her.

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Book recommendations

Based on discussions elsewhere and the ongoing shift of education toward a complete leftist/Marxist world view, I have added a page to this blog for book recommendations (Book titles, linked in main menu). The idea is to compile a list that is, yes, conservative in nature, and gives an accurate as possible look at history and politics in the US and the world (so, no 1619 Project bullshit, please). I have put in a few books off the top of my head, but I encourage everybody to add their recommendations in the comments. Also, if you have any suggestions for children’s history books, that would be wonderful.

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Book Review: The East Witch

Starting this week, I’m adding a weekly (maybe every two weeks) book review to the blog. I think I’m going to keep it on Tuesdays, but that will be determined by how other things get scheduled. The writing prompt responses for More Odds Than Ends are due (sorta) Tuesday evening, and I usually procrastinate enough that I don’t get them done until then. I expect that the majority of books I review will be in the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but giving that I am a politics and history geek, there may be some of those as well. All of my reviews are in the mode of “hey, I found this fun/interesting/enthralling and you might too.” So, if you agree or disagree, you can comment accordingly. Just keep it polite, thanks. We’ll see how this all goes.

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