Genesis Earth Trilogy – Page 12 – One Thousand And One Parsecs

Part I of Star Wanderers is finished!

That’s right–I was up until about 2 am last night finishing it. Man, time goes by fast sometimes. This is probably just the first part of a much longer novel, but I hit a good stopping point so I’ll probably put it on the back burner for now while I finish Edenfall and do a final polish for Desert Stars.

What I really want to do is submit this first part to Writers of the Future, since it falls just under 15k words. I might be a little biased, but I think it’s got potential. 🙂 It’s going to need some work, though; the story literally sprung out of my head one day, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s bad, it’s probably missing a couple of scenes and needs some work with the transitions. Also, the tone completely shifts midway, from a happy go lucky space adventure to something much more serious. Not sure what to do about that.

So yeah, I’ll probably set this story aside for a little while so I can come back at it with fresh eyes. It’s not too long, so the revisions should be pretty quick; hopefully, I’ll have it ready to submit to Writers of the Future before January. If it doesn’t make the contest, I’ll shop it around the short markets for a year while I finish the novel-length version. At some point I’ll probably epublish it, but I’m not sure when.

In other news, my short story “Decision LZ1527” just went free on Amazon, so if you want to pick up a copy or tell your friends, go right ahead! It’s right around #200 in the Kindle free category now, but for some reason hasn’t hit any of the lists. Hopefully that’ll change before the ranking drops back down.

“Decision LZ1527” first appeared in the December 2009 issue of Leading Edge, and was my first traditionally published short story. Basically, it’s about a college freshman working up the courage to ask out a girl he likes, as told from the perspective of the little men inside his head. Like Star Wanderers, the story just sprung out of my head one day. It was a ton of fun to write, and I’m glad that so many others seem to enjoy it too.

In other news, I just got back the edits for Sholpan, so I’ll hopefully have that up on Amazon and other eretailers over the weekend. More on that as it happens, but it’s happening soon. I’d also like to put together a blog tour for Bringing Stella Home and Sholpan both, so if you’d like to have me on as a guest blogger, shoot me an email at joseph dot vasicek at gmail dot com. More on that later as well.

And that’s just about it for now. Take care, and I’ll see you around!

Just following my bliss

They say the way you know you’re a writer is if you can’t not write. Well, last week I had the gratification of experiencing that again firsthand.

For all of August, I was more or less betwen projects and not writing a lot of new material. I’d just epublished Bringing Stella Home and was busy getting Sholpan ready for epublication. Then Worldcon happened, and my writing dropped off precipitously. I tried to get back in a groove, but found it difficult to choose between projects, none of which seemed to fit my writing schedule.

And then the creative half of my brain said “screw it” and ran off on an idea that came from practically out of nowhere.

It all started when I was taking a power nap after a long day at work. For some reason, my mind wandered to Jeremiah Johnson, an old Western with an awesome love story.

In the movie, Robert Redford unkowingly insults an indian chief by giving him several captured scalps. The chief must return with a gift of equal or greater value, and so gives Redford his daughter, who doesn’t speak a word of English. At first, things are hilariously awkward, but over time they grow into a beautiful and touching relationship.

Well, as I lay there thinking about the movie, I wondered: what if the same basic storyline were set in space? Instead of a mountain man, the protagonist would be a space explorer / interstellar merchanter. Instead of an indian chief’s daughter, the female protagonist would be the daughter of a station master whose colony is facing severe famine and widespread starvation. When the merchanter boy unwittingly shows up at the doomed colony, the station master coerces him into taking his daughter to save her life. And so, for the next two months, the boy finds himself crammed into a tiny little ship with a girl who doesn’t speak his language. Hilarity ensues.

At first, I thought I’d keep it as a short story, but…yeah, that didn’t last long. The more I run with it, the more ideas keep coming to me–ideas that I haven’t played with in a couple of years. The story is set in the same universe as Gaia Nova and Bringing Stella Home, but about a thousand years earlier, back when things were, shall we say, more primitive. I still don’t know where this story is going to take me, but I can tell it’s going to be a lot of fun.

The best part is that even if I expand this into a full length novel, the first part stands on its own so well that I could probably submit it to Writers of the Future. That never happens! It’s been years since I submitted to the contest; I always wanted to send something, but all I could ever write was novels with long, complex beginnings that couldn’t be cut off at the 17,000 word mark.

Anyhow, the working title of the novel is Star Wanderer (I can’t believe it’s not already taken), and it’s probably going to end up around 80k words or so. I only have a vague idea at this point, but it’s much more intimate and personal than epic in scope, so I don’t expect it to go much longer. I’ll probably finish the first part sometime next week and start looking for some first readers. I’d like to finish the rough draft before I start the Desert Stars revision in October, but we’ll see whether that works out.

As for Edenfall, don’t worry, I’m still working on that project too. One of the advantages of writing longhand is that it’s much easier to pick up and just go; instead of having to stop and think about what needs to happen next, the physical act of writing is slow enough that the ideas come much more organically. I might not finish it before October, but if I can juggle it with Star Wanderer, I can probably juggle it with Desert Stars. In any case, it’ll be good to work on new material and keep my writing sharp while I’m doing the revision. We’ll see how it turns out.

So that’s what I’ve been up to in the last week. I only wish I were doing this full time, so that I could spend all day working on these stories. Soon, inshallah.

Edenfall update

So I haven’t exactly gotten into a good writing routine yet, but Edenfall is coming along pretty well. I’m just about finished with the first chapter, and the dominoes are already starting to fall.

It’s fun to revisit the world of Genesis Earth, but I’m not going to get too bogged down in recapping the events of the first book or setting things up. I hate it when sequels do that. Fortunately, since the majority of this story is going to be from a new character’s point of view (Michael and Terra’s oldest daughter), I don’t really have to do that, except to lampshade some of the worldbuilding.

One thing I need to do is get more in the mood of the first book, which was a lot more introspective and big-picture than my other science fiction. To do that, I found an excellent collection of videos called The Sagan Series. Here is my favorite:

Man, I get shivers every time I watch that. “Sailors on a becalmed sea…”

Another good video is this one from The Piano Guys:

I know it says “Southern Utah,” but you could substitute that for “Icaria” and it wouldn’t be that far off. In particular, the night clip from the bottom of the slot canyon at 2:05 looks like something straight out of Genesis Earth. Throw in some primitive natives, a few giant lizards and various avians and insectoids, and you’re pretty much there.

I’m still adjusting to writing in longhand, but so far I think it’s going to work out well. Because the writing process itself is much slower, it’s much more time intensive but surprisingly easy to jump in and get started. Once I’ve got some momentum going, I think the story will practically write itself.

I do have a confession to make, though. A couple days ago, I had an idea for another science fiction story that was just so awesome I decided to run with it. At first, I thought I could keep it down to a short story, or perhaps a novella at most, but…well, I think it’s going to be a bit longer than that.

Don’t worry: Edenfall is still my primary project, and if juggling them both becomes too difficult (which it probably will), I’ll put this new one on the back burner until Edenfall is finished. It’s kind of a guilty pleasure anyways, a sci-fi romance that draws heavily on tropes from old westerns (Jeremiah Johnson in particular). I have no idea where it’s going to go (well, nothing more than a vague idea about the twist at the end), but that just makes it all the more exciting to write.

So anyhow, that’s what I’ve been up to these last few days. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to writing. See you around!

Plans for Edenfall

I’m trying something a little different with Edenfall: I’m writing the first draft entirely in longhand.

I first got the idea a couple of years ago, when I was camping in Moab. The beautiful landscape of southern Utah made me realize that I wanted to write Edenfall while experiencing that sort of connection with nature, and pen and paper seemed to be the best format in which to do that. This year, when I decided that I’d definitely write it, I ordered the notebook on the left and fitted it out for the project.

With every novel I write, I like to challenge myself in some new way. In Genesis Earth, I tried out a first person POV with an unreliable narrator. In Bringing Stella Home, I tried to write a believable female viewpoint character. I also like to experiment with my writing process, trying out different outlining techniques and writing schedules. Sometimes, these experiments fail spectacularly, but they also teach me a lot and keep me sharp.

The goal with this experiment is to see how divorcing myself from my computer (with all its myriad distractions) and getting out in nature changes my writing. I live a short bike ride from the Provo River Trail, and weather permitting, that’s where I’ll probably spend most of my writing time in the next few days. Besides, I want to see how much of a difference the format makes.

Books existed long before word processors, so I have no doubt that writing a novel longhand is entirely possible. How much of an adjustment it will be remains to be seen. My handwriting is messy, and I can’t write as fast as I can type, but that hardly matters since rough drafts are slow going for me anyways.

In any case, it’s going to be interesting to see how it turns out. It’s been a little slow so far, but that’s mostly because I haven’t settled into a routine yet. By the end of this week, I hope to be fully immersed in the world of this story.

In other news, I sent off the manuscript for Sholpan to my editor, and he just got finished with his first pass, so I’m hoping to get the edits back in a couple weeks and have it epublished by mid-September. More on that as things develop.

Also, an old friend from Brandon’s 318 class posted a favorable review of Bringing Stella Home up on Amazon. He was one of my first readers back when the story had a lot of problems, so I’m glad he enjoyed the final version. Thanks Stephen! And yes, I’ve got a lot more novels forthcoming in the Gaia Nova universe, including a direct sequel to Bringing Stella Home. Will the McCoy family save the universe from the Hameji? Well…you’ll see. 🙂

Finally, I plan on participating in the Out of This World blog tour being organized by the SFR Brigade, which means you’ll be seeing some guest posters in the near future. That’ll probably wrap up the Genesis Earth blog tour too, since it’s been winding down for the last month or so. If I agreed to write a guest post for your blog and haven’t done so yet, let me know and I’ll do my best to get that out to you. Sorry to be a bit of a flake these past few weeks; I’ll try to organize my next tour a little better.

And that just about does it for now. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on how things go with Edenfall. Until then, take care, and thanks for reading!

Am I a jerk?

Today, a longtime writing friend told me that she wants nothing to do with me, which made me very sad. I hope she will reconsider, and if she does, I’d gladly welcome her back as my friend. However, because it’s come to my attention that some of my other friends feel that I come across as a jerk whenever I talk about indie publishing, I feel that I should take the time to clarify a few things.

First, I wish all of my writing friends success, whether they choose to epublish or whether they choose to go the traditional route. This is not a zero sub game and I have never believed that it is. Whether or not my own career tanks, if my friends find success in their endeavors, I will gladly tip my hat to them.

Second, I wish no harm on anyone who is involved in any way in the publishing or bookselling industries. I have less sympathy for multinational corporations and media conglomerates, but I recognize that they employ large numbers of people, and I don’t wish any harm on them either.

Third, I do not believe that writers who choose to forgo indie publishing are somehow inferior to or less intelligent than writers who do. I do believe that everyone should at least try it out to see if it’s right for them, but I recognize that indie publishing is not right for everyone, and that writers should carefully evaluate their skill levels, personal proclivities, and career goals before making that step.

This is my goal: to make a living telling the stories that I love. Those stories fall firmly in the realm of science fiction: grand, sprawling space operas, thrilling sf adventures, poignant and moving tales of alien worlds and cultures, etc.

In my research of the publishing industry, I’ve discovered that it’s become extremely difficult over the past couple of decades to build a career writing science fiction. For whatever reason, publishers aren’t as interested in pushing this genre or serving its readers as they have been in the past. Contract terms have gotten worse, and it’s become increasingly difficult to break in, much less make a living.

That’s why the changes in publishing and the ebook revolution have made me so excited. Writers have more options now than ever before, and I believe that I can better achieve my goal through indie publishing than through more traditional paths.

Now, a little bit you should know about myself: I believe in complete and total honesty. If I see a problem or something that seems to be wrong, I tend to be very upfront and direct about it (and appreciate it when others are the same with me).

This philosophy has its advantages, but one of its disadvantages is that I tend to be a little tactless. If I come across as arrogant, I want you to know that I’m sorry. That’s certainly not my intent, and I’ll try to do a better job of making that clear.

At the same time, I’d like to point out that what you perceive as arrogance may just be my own excitement. All writers are emotionally involved in their work, and because we’re approaching these issues from fundamentally different worldviews, it’s very easy for mutual misunderstandings to arise.

In the future, I’ll try to be more tactful, but I can’t control how others perceive me. I have no doubt that those who are emotionally invested in resisting change will continue to find fault with those who embraces it. Ultimately, I can only be answerable to myself, those who depend on me for support, and my readers.

So on that note, I’d like to finish by saying that after reviewing your comments and giving the issue some thought, I’ve decided to go ahead with Edenfall as my next major project. More on that later, but for now, I’d just like to thank you all for your feedback and support. I’m excited to get started!

Writer’s angst & post-convention ennui

In spite of the title of this post, I’ll try not to get too emo. Not sure how well I’ll succeed, but at least I’ll try.

Worldcon was great, but it put me into something of a writing slump and I’m not sure where to go next. I was planning on writing the as-yet untitled New Rigel novel, but I want to get Desert Stars published before Christmas, and that would involve doing another major draft before sending it off for edits.

The trouble is, it typically takes me at least two months to do a rough draft. I can probably finish Desert Stars in about a month, but I’d still want to start that project somewhere around the end of September. Since I don’t expect for my first readers to get back to me until then, that leaves me with a single month to fill.

To further complicate matters, the place I’ve been temping at for the last two months wants to hire me full time. In some ways, that’s awesome; work is work, after all, and even though I won’t exactly be saving the world, it’s not a bad job either. On the other hand, 40 hours of warehouse labor per week is going to make it very difficult to do everything I want with my writing career.

Now, don’t get me wrong–I’m not complaining. This seems to be the dilemma that every aspiring writer faces at one point or another, and most of my friends have understandably chosen the stable paycheck over the ever-elusive lucky break. But with where I’m at–young and single, without any debt or obligations to pay off–and my long term career goals, I worry that I’ll end up settling if I take that path. Besides, I’ve gotten used to “starving” over the last year and a half, and it’s actually not that bad.

What would REALLY be awesome is if they would hire me part time, and I think I might be able to negotiate that. In the meantime, I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to write in September. Here are my options:

Untitled (New Rigel)

This is the project I was most excited about before Worldcon, but now…well, I’m still excited, but post-convention ennui is not a pretty thing. Basically, it’s a full-length novel set within the Gaia Nova universe, and an indirect sequel to Bringing Stella Home.

I’ve already written the prologue and I like where it’s going, but I’d have to really bust my butt to get it done before October. Then again, I usually drop the first draft somewhere in the middle, so allowing for that, it might still be good to go ahead. However, it’s generally a bad idea to plan on screwing things up.

Edenfall

This is the sequel to Genesis Earth, and the second book in a planned trilogy. Since it’s YA, I could probably pull it off in a month–YA is generally shorter than adult fiction, and Genesis Earth took me about a month to pound out once I knew what I was doing. I’ve already got the story outlined and ready to go, so no problems there.

The big reason to do this project is that the first book is starting to have some success, and that’s naturally going to drive reader interest in the sequel. I’ve already gotten some scattered emails and comments about it, asking when it’s going to come out. Also, since there’s less pressure on me right now, bumping it up the queue might be a good idea. There’s a reason some people are afraid of success.

Desert Stars Companion Novella

Now here’s an interesting idea: I could spend the next month working on a companion novel to Desert Stars, much like I spent the last month working on Sholpan. The advantages to this plan are obvious: not only would I have another full-length novel ready before Christmas, but a $.99 novella to go with it–that is, if all goes well.

This is a project I haven’t given much thought to, but it wouldn’t be too hard to come up with something. It would also get me excited for the revision of Desert Stars in October. The main disadvantage is that I don’t know how well this “companion novella” concept will work out in the market–if Sholpan tanks, I might have to scrap it altogether. But as Dean told me at Worldcon, you can’t let thoughts of the commerciality of a project get in the way of the creative process.

That’s what’s on my plate right now. Preferably, I want to choose something I can finish within a month, while juggling work and the publication process for Sholpan. Oh, and I also want to throw in a blog tour for Bringing Stella Home–more on that later.

So, to open it up to my super-awesome hardcore fans (all three or four of you), what do you think? Of these projects, what do you most want to see?

Worldcon 2011: Friday

Wow, it feels like the second day of Worldcon was forever ago. Usually, Friday is the first real day of a convention, but since Thursday was the first full day of Worldcon, that wasn’t the case.

I don’t remember a whole lot from it, but there were a few really awesome panels.

In the morning, I went to a social networking panel with Tee Morris and Cory Doctorow, among others. Awesome, fast paced discussion–pure gold, every second of it. The main takeaway I got was to try out everything, but only stick with the things I actually enjoy. There are lots and lots of ways to use social networking tools, and if something is compelling but not enjoyable, it’s not much better than a life-killing addiction. Also, Facebook is the equivalent of high fructose corn syrup.

In the afternoon, I went to a panel on romantic elements in science fiction, with Louis Master Bujold on it, among others. She made perhaps the most interesting point I heard all weekend: that in romance, women typically write about love and life, whereas men typically write about love and death. SO TRUE. It happens all the time in my own work, to the point where you can set your watch by it.

After a long and tiring day, I took off a couple hours before the parties just to decompress (and also blog about Thursday, as you may have noticed). Got caught up on David Gaughran‘s blog, which as usual had some interesting analysis about the latest news in the ebook revolution. And then…well, let’s just say I got into a little bit of a discussion with a senior editor at Tor about ebooks and whether it’s a good idea now to self publish. His parting shot: “You’re not going to win this argument!” To which I wanted to respond: “I don’t care about winning it with you; I care about winning it with the readers.”

Seriously, when it came to ebooks and epublishing, almost every editor, agent, and author at the convention either had deer in the headlights syndrome or was in outright denial. It’s gotten to a point where they can’t ignore it, but literally everyone who brought up the subject on a panel either dismissed all successful indie writers as outliers, or brought up the flood-of-crap argument that so many people have already debunked. I don’t think the publishers are quite as stupid as the record labels in the late 90s…but seriously, they aren’t much better.

Not that I was purposefully trying to be antagonistic. I only brought up the subject with that particular editor because I knew I didn’t have a chance with him. For the most part, all I did at the con was listen and observe. But man–there’s a lot of willful ignorance out there. And after a while, that made me a little disillusioned with the whole convention…but more on that later.

Suffice it to say, Friday was a long and eventful day that went by so quickly I’ve forgotten almost everything else that happened.

Quick update

Just an update before I go to bed (and hopefully don’t sleep in like this morning).

My writing’s tapered off a bit this past month, partially because I’ve got a lot on my plate (Worldcon, online TEFL course, moving apartments, working full time, etc), but also because I’m between projects and not totally absorbed in any one.

I’m hoping to finish Sholpan by the end of the week, but that isn’t going to require more than 8k words total. At the same time, I’m finding it hard to keep myself engaged with that project. Today, for example, I rebelled a bit and worked on the next Gaia Nova book instead, which doesn’t yet have a title. Had a blast, but only managed about 800 words.

My writing productivity took a huge dip in the end of July as I got Bringing Stella Home ready to publish, dropping down to between 500 and 1,000 words per day. I probably won’t be able to raise that significantly until after Worldcon, and even then, I’ll have to juggle a full-time job for probably another month or two (but hey, a job’s a job; I’m not complaining).

Thing is, I really, really, REALLY want to work on this untitled project–so much that I’m treating it as procrastination when I have other stuff to write. I’m also worried that if I leave off on that project for too long, I’ll lose sight of it. That’s why I’m juggling it with Sholpan right now, but I think I can handle it, especially since Sholpan should be finished in just a week or two.

I also got an email from a fan (a fan!) asking about Edenfall. Right now, I don’t have any concrete plans, but I’m hoping to finish the first draft sometime in October/November (after polishing Desert Stars), and have it ready for publication sometime in 2012. If enough people ask about it, though, I may bump it up in the queue; it all depends.

Other than that, I had a great idea yesterday for a blog series. It came while I was thinking about my dreams for the future, and the thought came that I should blog about them But I don’t want it to be just about me; I want to share my thinking about the future and how I’ve come to develop my goals and plans, so that my many friends who are in similar circumstances can glean something useful.

I’ll probably start that in a day or two. But now…sleep.

Breaking the Top 10, and a big thank you

As I’m writing this, “Memoirs of a Snowflake” holds the #8 spot in the Kindle Store for the general short story category — #150 overall. Almost 1,000 people have downloaded it since it went free over the weekend, and it’s already garnered some fantastic reviews!

All this positive attention makes me want to thank all those who have taken the time to post reviews of my work, so I thought I’d do that here.

Specifically, I’d like to thank L. Christensen for the early 5-star review of Genesis Earth, and her very favorable reviews of my other work. Full disclosure: L. Christensen is one of my first readers; however, I did not solicit any of her reviews–she posted them on her own. Also, I’d like to thank Katie Armstrong for the other 5-star review of Genesis Earth–I have no idea who you are (well, a vague idea maybe), but thank you!

Another reviewer who’s been very kind is EA Younker over at goodreads. She’s posted some glowing 5-star reviews for “Memoirs of a Snowflake” and “Decision LZ1527” on that site, as well as a more critical but still encouraging 3-star review for “From the Ice Incarnate.” Thanks for taking the time to read my work! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

Over on Smashwords, Ernest Winchester posted a nice 5-star review of “Decision LZ1527,” only a couple hours after I uploaded it. More recently, Michelle Glorioso and Annie B posted some extremely gratifying reviews of “Memoirs of a Snowflake.” Thanks so much!

Of course, not all the reviews have been glowingly positive. “From the Ice Incarnate” has garnered some criticism from readers who feel that it was missing something, either sufficient character depth or a satisfying ending. I appreciate the feedback; short stories aren’t my forte, so I’ll be sure to keep that in mind as I work on my short form. Also, Genesis Earth has garnered a couple of critical yet well-reasoned reviews, most notably from the review site Science Fiction Addiction. Once again, thanks for taking the time to respond so thoughtfully. And thanks to all the other generally positive reviews which I haven’t mentioned specifically here.

So far, Bringing Stella Home hasn’t gotten any reviews, so if you’ve read it and enjoyed it, I would appreciate it very much if you would take the time to do that. In the meantime, thanks for all your support!

Fighting for a Homeland

For the past few weeks, I’ve been brainstorming ideas for my next big novel project. One of the ways I’ve been doing this is to by trawling tvtropes and putting together a mashup of the story tropes I’d like to play with.

By far, the one that’s struck me the most is Fighting for a Homeland. This is basically when a band of displaced warriors is wandering the Earth, trying to find their own promised land. There are a lot of examples of this on the tropes page, but the coolest one is probably this from real life:

The first Czech legion, after World War one. Their country was then merely a province of Austria-Hungary, who started the war and teamed up with the Germans. The Czechs had very little reason to fight for them, and surrendered to the opposing Russians whenever they could. Through a lot of political scheming, the Russians were convinced to raise a Czech legion of 60,000 men to fight against the Austrians.

Then the Revolution broke out, and with the peace treaty between Russia and Austria, and the vicious warfare and politicking in Russia, they would not get their goal, an independent Czechia, so they turned to the western allies. They could not leave the country through the western side, so the allies chose to rendezvous with them in the port of Vladivostok, on the other side of Russia.

They crossed the country in three years, using the railways that they hijacked, joined with the Russian White Army (anti-communists) and the allies, stole the Tsar’s gold, traded it for free passage to Vladivostok with the advancing reds when they lost, and safely sailed home, to the newly founded country of Czechoslovakia.

Isn’t that friggin awesome? What’s even cooler is that I might have ancestors who fought in the legion. My great grandfather emmigrated from Moravia right around that time, perhaps a little before. Man, if I ever write a historical novel…

But yeah, the trope almost perfectly characterizes Danica and her band of mercenaries, who feature prominently in Bringing Stella Home. Their homeworld, Tajjur V, was fighting for independence right before the Hameji conquests began, and the New Gaian Empire put down the rebellion rather forcibly. Later, when the system fell to the Hameji, their homeworld was bombarded and slagged into oblivion, leaving them with nowhere to call their own.

Long story short, the story of the Czech Legions and their epic journey across Siberia has totally inspired me for this next novel. I’m going to make Roman (Danica’s NCO) a major viewpoint character, bring back the old mercenary team, throw in a few new ones (including a character from Desert Stars)…man, it’s going to be AWESOME!

In other news, “Decision LZ1527” and “From the Ice Incarnate” are both available for free from Diesel Ebooks. Genesis Earth is also up there too, so if you feel inclined to post a review, I would certainly appreciate it!

Also, if you REALLY want to help, drop by the Amazon pages for “Decision LZ1527” and “From the Ice Incarnate” and fill out the little form where it says “tell us about a lower price.” I’m trying to get Amazon to offer my short stories for free, but the only way to do that is to make it free somewhere else and get Amazon to price match.

Hopefully, by making them free it will get me more exposure and drive more interest in the novels. Moses Siregar did a guest post on that just this morning.

Also, I think I’ve found a new template that might work well for this blog. What do you think? Obviously, I would tweak the background and header (and possibly the color scheme as well). The main thing is that it has multiple sidebars, which will make more room for my books. But if you have a better suggestion, please let me know.