I’m finishing up right now with the third and final book in the Gunslingers Trilogy, Gunslinger to Earth. Just one more chapter to wrap everything up, then all the final revisions for the last few chapters. So far, so good.
At 40k words, this is turning out to be one of my shorter novels. I’m really happy with how it’s turned out so far, though. It wraps up a bunch of stuff from the previous books, with a surprisingly hopeful and optimistic look toward the future of the universe.
Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll post a few excerpts, being careful to avoid any spoilers for the previous books. If all goes well, it should be up for preorder sometime in February, with an April release date.
In case you’re curious, I wrote almost the whole thing while listening to the 2009 A State of Trance year mix. Such a great year for trance.
That’s right; I just finished the second draft of the beginning of Star Wanderers, the novel that came out of nowhere like a surprise baby. I’m sending it out to my alpha readers now, so I can get some feedback before submitting it to Writers of the Future. If I know you in real life and you want to give it a test read, let me know; it’s only about 15k words long, so it shouldn’t take long to read.
So what’s next? Honestly, I really want to finish Star Wanderers, just to see where it goes. But I also want to get back to Desert Stars, and after that I’ll probably want to write the untitled sequel to both Desert Stars and Bringing Stella Home…man, so much to write!
One thing I do feel I need to learn, though, is how to write fast. This might sound crazy, but I’m going to try to finish Star Wanderers in the next two weeks. The fastest I’ve ever been able to finish a novel before is 6 weeks, but with my job ending on Friday, freeing up a large chunk of time, I think I can do this.
I’d write more, but it’s late and I’ve got work at 8:00 am tomorrow, so I’ll leave you with this: it’s the song that became the unofficial theme song for Star Wanderers. If you listen to it with the premise of the story in mind, I think it’ll make sense.
So my birthday is coming up a little later this week, and my family has been asking what’s on my wish list. In order to help them out, as well as anyone who might feel inclined to give me stuff, I thought I’d post it here on my blog. Some of the stuff might be reaching a bit, but what the heck, might as well throw it out there.
Item One: Signed First Edition Hardcover Copy of Legend by David Gemmell
This is the ultimate gift of all time for me. It is my life’s goal to obtain a signed copy of Legend, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that David Gemmell passed away in 2006. He is, by far, my favorite fantasy author, and this book is my favorite of everything he’s written.
I don’t expect to fulfill this life ambition on this particular birthday, but in the unlikely chance that it lies within your power to help me obtain a copy, know that I will be your slave for life in exchange for this priceless gift. Literally. With chains and everything (or caramel topping and whipped cream, if that’s your preference).
Item Two: Göttmann Dress Cap
Specifically, the Dallas-2 design pictured here. I have no idea how or where you’d get it, but that’s what I want–specifically from Göttmann Caps and Hats, in Germany. I’ve got a similar cap right now and it’s pretty spiffy, but it’s from Ross so the quality is pretty cheap. I need an authentic writerly cap like this to give me x2 pretentiousness and +5 charisma.
Item Three: Kant Stop The Music T-Shirt
This one’s a little pricey for a T-shirt, but I absolutely love the design. What better way to combine your love of music with your love of 19th century philosophy?
Item Four: Beginnings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress
Nancy Kress is one of my favorite people to listen to at a con, and I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book. If you want to get me a book on writing, this would probably be the best one (or, alternately, either of Orson Scott Card’s books: Character and Viewpoint or How To Write Science Fiction & Fantasy).
Item Five: Anything by Hiyao Miyazaki
You simply can’t go wrong with this awesome Japanese director. I already own Princess Mononoke, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and Castle in the Sky. Even though it was done by Miyazaki’s son, I wouldn’t mind a copy of Tales of Earthsea either.
Item Six: Interstella 5555
My favorite anime ever! Now out on Blu-Ray!
Item Seven: Mirage: the Remixes by Armin Van Buuren
Recently, I’ve really gotten into trance & progressive music, and Armin Van Buuren is one of my favorite artists. I skip lunch each week just so I can listen to his radio show, A State of Trance. His latest album, Mirage, is really good, and so I’d like to pick up a copy sometime of the remixes. Alternately, you could get me the Imagine remixes album, or anything by Cerf, Mitiska, & Jaren.
So that’s pretty much my wish list. Of course, if for some reason you’re not in a position to get me any of this awesome swag, I’ll take a gift card or a sweater or a homemade whatever <grumble>. But if you do get me a gift card, please make it an Amazon gift card, so I can buy more books and music. And if it is within your power to get me a signed hardcover first edition copy of Legend…let’s just say, I’m only partially joking about the slave thing.
Today I was supposed to finish the second draft of Sholpan, but I moved apartments this weekend, so everything got thrown completely out of whack. I’m all moved into my new place now (with some awesome Quarkie roommates), but Sholpan is going to have to wait until Monday.
Fortunately, I’ve only got a couple of new scenes to write, then touch up the rest to make sure it fits the novella storyline. I got in touch with my copy editor, and he should be able to have them for me by mid-September. If all goes well, I’ll send it out to a couple of my first readers to give it a pass, make the fixes, and then send it out to Josh and have it up about a month from now.
I’ve gotten some amazing responses for “Memoirs of a Snowflake” in the past week, and it’s gotten almost 2,000 downloads on Amazon so far. Not bad! However, while rereading it, I noticed an error: in the author’s note, I said that I wrote the story in December of 2008, when really it was 2007. I must have been thinking “winter of 2008” when I wrote it the first time. In any case, I’ve made the corrections, so it should be up on Amazon in 24 hours, and all the other sites before the end of the month (since I distribute to them through Smashwords).
Also, another piece of encouraging news: the boss at the temp job I’ve been working the past few months wants to hire me! If that works out, I should have steady work at least through into 2012. I’m hoping they’ll let me work part time, since that would help me juggle the writing career a lot better, but this is their busy season so I might have to work 40+ hour weeks for a while. Still, it’s better than starving.
Which reminds me: my first royalty check from Amazon comes in next month, and to celebrate, I’m going to crack open that bottle of Martinelli’s from Charlie and throw a small party. More on that later.
Finally, I found this the other day while trawling youtube for good trance tunes. It’s a remix of “Are We Human?” by the Killers, done by Armin Van Buuren. Everything Armin touches seems to turn to gold, and this is no exception. Check it out!
Item One: Signed First Edition Hardcover Copy of Legend by David Gemmell