Last year I mentioned that Michael Z. Williamson, friend to Miss D. and myself in both meatspace and cyberspace, well-known author, and all-around good guy, was preparing a volume of stories about Kendra Pacelli's sword, made famous in his breakout novel, 'Freehold'. Mike was kind enough to invite me to be one of the contributors.
I'm very glad to be able to tell you that the new volume, 'Forged in Blood', is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com. It'll be published by Baen Books in September. The initial edition will be in hardcover, with e-book and paperback to follow.
I'm still "Squeeeee!"-ing in delight at being included among the authors in this compilation. I had a lot of fun writing my story. Readers familiar with my African background will doubtless recognize several familiar touches. I'm currently enjoying reading the stories by the other contributors as I join them in the pre-publication edit, to make sure that all mistakes have been dealt with.
I think you'll like this book. History, science fiction and a touch of fantasy, all in one volume.
Peter
Squeeee!!!
ReplyDeleteThat's one monthly Baen Bundle that I am definitely buying!
May I ask a question that may be considered very impertinent to writers and readers of sci-fi romances? (Sci-fi is a sub-genre of the romance novel). I used to read a good deal of sci-fi / fantasy romance when authors had the clarity of mind and writing skills to be able to express their ideas in one book, or rarely, max 3. Now the genre has been turned into General Hospital with endless mewlings on nothing very interesting. Why?
ReplyDeleteTo answer anonymous, traditional publishing has skewed hard left and focused on message literary fiction intent on political correctness and have thus lost the ability to present a product that readers actually want.
ReplyDeleteThe good stuff is still out there, just from independents and small house publishers. You just need to seek it out.
Baen, either the largest small house or the smallest large house publisher, caters primarily to mil SF, but has a fairly broad reach. One of their policies is to offer their entire month's output through their Webscription service. All of a month's releases can be purchased in any of several e-book formats for a set price, currently $18. As an added benefit, once purchased a buyer can see portions of the draft books months earlier than the official release. In any case, the e-book for this should be available on the same day as the hardback release, first Tuesday of the release month.
Both Peter and Mad Mike in the same book, life is good.
To add to Uncle Lar's explanation, there's also a basic disconnect between scifi and fantasy that is also a romance, and romance that's set in scifi or fantasy.
ReplyDeleteIn the former, the book is aimed at SF&F fans who want good worldbuilding, and a plot with some action, and the sense of wonder or escapism that those genres provide. In the latter, the book is aimed at romance fans who want their standard girl meets boy / girl loses boy / girl gets boy back / happily ever after, only this time with set dressing of aliens or elves. They're not really interested in alien societies, technological innovations and the consequences thereof, magic systems, or complicated action or quest plots. Those just get in the way of the romance.
So the former tend to end up being "boring" to romance fans, because it has all this extra stuff that's not about the relationship between the heroine and the hero, while the latter tend to be cardboard thin and dull to the scifi and fantasy fans because they lack all the good stuff, and are chock-full of two people navelgazing about their feelings.
Some authors manage to weave the two together well enough that the romance fans get sucked into the world and action, because the characters care so much about it... and the scifi & fantasy fans get sucked into the romance because the characters are so compelling in this awesome world. Anne McCaffrey and Lois Bujold are masters in this cross-genre field.
If you want an excellent SF detective series with a good solid romantic thread that carries over several books you might try Stephanie Osborn's Displaced Detective books. Good fun, solid science, twisted mysteries, and a depth of characterization second to none.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I found the understated romance in Brings The Lightning to be quite delightfully well done. Best new western I've read in many a year.