Sullivan's War - A Reorganization

I'm currently working on A City without Walls, the second "part" of Sullivan's War. I ran into a problem, however. There are four sections which take place some time apart. I wanted to indicate this separation of time without doing the "Two Months Later" thing so I decided that each section would be separated by its own subtitle. For example, the first section of A City without Walls will be called "Promises."

Now, the natural thing would be to call these things parts. "Part I - Promises," for example. However, I've already used the word "part" to describe each book of Sullivan's War. I couldn't have Sullivan's War: Part II - A City without Walls with a "Part I - Promises" in it. That would just be too damn confusing.

So what I am doing is changing the title of each "part" of Sullivan's War to "Book." Each book will have four parts and each part, four or five chapters. This will require me to redo the covers of all the books but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

So the new titles of the books in Sullivan's War are as follows:

Sullivan's War: Prologue - Sergeant Riley's Account
Sullivan's War: Book I - All Good Men Serve the Devil
Sullivan's War: Book II - A City without Walls
Sullivan's War: Book III - Edaline's Dawn

I apologize if this causes any confusion for my readers. I am only glad I decided on this change before Book I was released. All mentions of Sullivan's War will follow this format from now on.

Best,
Michael

January Writing Update: Sullivan's War Begins!

Sergeant Riley's Account has been out a little over two weeks now. I think sales are decent and unless they completely drop off I think it will remain on the Amazon Science Fiction Series Bestsellers List, increasing exposure. It is a Prologue to the series Sullivan's War and as such is independent of the main story line. It is a complete story in and of itself and both Sergeant Riley's Account and Sullivan's War can be read independent of one another. However, reading Sergeant Riley's Account beforehand will help flesh out the universe in which Sullivan's War takes place.

Regarding Sullivan's War, Part I of the series, All Good Men Serve the Devil, will be out on January 20. This is when I hope sales will really take off. A work called a "Prologue," after all, does not sound as engaging to a reader as a "Part I." It is currently in the hands of my wonderful beta readers and I have already received a very encouraging response from one of them. Part I ended up coming in at around 33,000 words, which translates into about 130 printed pages. Yes, this is short, but I am looking at the entire series as a novel-length endeavor. My goal for the Prologue along with Parts I-III is 80-90,000 words, or 320-360 pages. Hardly epic, I know, but this is partially intentional. I want the series to be fast-paced and exciting; I want the reader left wanting more and actively looking for the release of the next part in the series. I also want it to have a serial feel and the goal is for Parts II and III to be released in March and May. You will not have to wait too long to find out what happens next!

On January 1 I began working on Sullivan's War: Part II - A City Without Walls. This will wrap up several storylines begun in Part I and will prepare you for the exciting conclusion to the series, Edaline's Dawn.

On another topic, I have decided--after writing out my goals for 2012--to bring my novel Chrysopteron to completion this year. Look for it after Part III of Sullivan's War. There is also the possibility for a new series at the end of the year and running through the beginning of 2013. This is still unformed but I have a general idea of where I want that series to go.

In closing, I would like to refer you to my special offer. If you read Sergeant Riley's Account and leave a review on Amazon I will send you Part I of Sullivan's War for free. I hope many of you choose to take advantage of this offer.

Please go here to read about and purchase Sergeant Riley's Account. Watch this page for Sullivan's War: Part I - All Good Men Serve the Devil.

Thank you again to all my friends and fans! Together I hope we can make 2012 an exciting year for science fiction!

Best,
Michael

A New Year's Wish

A New Year's wish: may you have a year filled with miracles, and may you stop, on occasion, to appreciate that they are there. I now turn you over to Mr. Walt Whitman.

--

MIRACLES

WHY, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in the bed at night with any one I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.

To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim—the rocks—the motion of the waves—
the ships with men in them,
What stranger miracles are there?

5 Ways to Help Authors Without Spending a Dime

That's right, not one thin dime!

Let me start with a confession: this is a self-serving post. I readily admit that and hope all my readers take the following action to help me. But you can do these things for any writer whose work you like, and I encourage you to do so. Every little bit helps.

1. Tags - This refers to Amazon listings. If you view a book on Amazon you can scroll down past the reviews and find a section called "Tags Customers Associate with This Product." Books with lots of "agreement" on a tag will show up higher in search results for that term. Unless the term is "rubbish," "tripe," or "infantile," this is generally a good thing. There should already be several tags there as most authors will tag their own books. The way you can help is by agreeing with those tags. To the left of each tag is a box. Simply click inside that box and your "agreement" will be registered. But you're not done! There may be more tags hidden. On the example below, you can see the words "See all 15 tags." Click on this to reveal the rest of them (your page will refresh). You can also, if you like, add tags of your own. I would only recommend doing this if you've read the book, however, and are sure the tags are appropriate.

2. Likes - The next thing you can do while at a book's Amazon page is "like" the book. As with tagging, you do not have to have bought the book to like it. The Like button in next to the book's rating. Just click on it and you're done. It will change from a blue "Like" button to a orange "Liked" button (as seen below). This, as far as I can tell, doesn't help with search algorithms or anything like that but if a potential buyer sees that a lot of people "like" a book and it has a few good reviews, they may be more "likely" to buy it.

3. Facebook Shares - Attention-starved writers like me will post stuff about their books on Facebook. I know, weird, right? If you're a true blue friend or fan, you can share their posts to your Facebook friends. You don't even have to comment on it, just share it and it'll get more eyeballs on the book.

4. Twitter RTs - This is another easy one. Writers tend to Tweet about their books as well. I know! Just click that little Retweet button and your Followers will all get to see how weird your literary tastes really are:

5. Buy Free Books - Writers, being attention whores, will occasionally give their books away for free. Why would they do such a preposterous thing? Because it's not about the money but the art, and as long as people are reading our work, we could care less about turning a profit. No, wait... that's not it. It is about the money! And the best way to sell books is to give them away. If people read one book and like it, they'll hopefully buy more. It also gets our books on those Amazon Free charts and despite what that cop in Provo told me, exposure is a good thing. So when you see an author announce that their book is free, whether permanently or only for a day or two, go buy it. You'll help them out and, who knows, you might get something out of it, too: you might actually like the book! Part two of this is to review that book you got for free! It was free, it's the least you can do, right? Personally, I don't leave negative reviews. This game is hard enough. But whatever you do write, make sure it is honest and reflects your true feelings about the work. Review readers are notoriously harsh toward works that seem to have "fake" reviews attached to them.

So, I hope this has encouraged you to go support me...er... your favorite writer. Leave a comment with other tips that you know of for supporting writers for free!

Best,
Michael

Also read 5 MORE Ways to Help Authors without Spending a Dime.

Three Short Story Recommendations

I've been a little busy and haven't been keeping up with my usual speculative fiction magazines. This means my reviews/recommendations have been lacking as of late. However, there are three speculative fiction short stories that I've bought for my Kindle that I would like to recommend. Two of them can be had for 99 cents apiece and the third is free! I have rated them all 5 stars at Amazon.

1. Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask, Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast by Eugie Foster
My Amazon Review: Wow... Shocking, disturbing, stunning, brilliant. This is a story that cannot be described in words other than its own. You must read it to understand.

Further Thoughts: This is a story that stayed with me for several days after reading it. It is all of the things I wrote in my Amazon review and so much more. I still cannot come up with sufficient words to explain or describe it; it simply must be read. I had read a few of Eugie Foster's stories before this and felt that she could easily become one of my favorite short story authors. This work made it happen. It is no surprise that this story won the  2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette.

2. Cryoskip's Footprints by Jason G. Anderson
My Amazon Review: Action-Packed and Gritty Tale This is the second story I've read from Mr. Anderson's Atomic Wasteland Tales (the other being The Outsider). I have to say, I really enjoyed The Outsider but I was completely absorbed by Cryoskip's Footprints. It has everything one could want in a story: action, mystery, suspense, sorrow and an ending that is hopeful but uncertain (laying the groundwork for a sequel which I would read in a heartbeat).

I've downloaded his novel, Gears of Wonderland, and am interested to see how he writes in a different genre but as far as post-apocalyptic science fiction goes, Mr. Anderson is a master. I look forward to further installments in this series.

Further Thoughts: I have since read Gears of Wonderland and it is fantastic. Mr. Anderson only has a handful of works currently available but he is a writer to watch! He has a new science fiction novel in the works called On Ice which I will definitely be buying as soon as it's available.

3. Island Ghosts: A Will Castleton Adventure by David Bain
My Amazon Review: A Quick, Thrilling Read  I'd read one story by David Bain previously and enjoyed it so when I saw that this was free I grabbed it. Despite being a very short story, this quick and thrilling read manages to flesh out the characters quite nicely, something that is often lacking in shorter fiction. It's also a great introduction to Will Castleton. He's a character that intrigues me; after such a brief glimpse I want to know more about him. I'll definitely be picking up the other stories in the series. 5 Stars.

Further Thoughts: David Bain is just a fun writer, plain and simple: irreverent, unpredictable, occasionally offensive, and one who makes me laugh out loud while reading. He has a smart, casual style that makes it easy to keep the pages turning.

I hope you choose to check out some or all of these stories. If you have any short story recommendations, I'd love to hear about them. Leave a comment below!

Best,
Michael