{"id":6672,"date":"2011-12-14T23:17:48","date_gmt":"2011-12-15T06:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/?p=6672"},"modified":"2011-12-14T23:17:48","modified_gmt":"2011-12-15T06:17:48","slug":"on-the-eve-of-publication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/on-the-eve-of-publication\/","title":{"rendered":"On the eve of publication"},"content":{"rendered":"

First, some housekeeping: I recently did an interview over on Slava Heretz’s<\/a> blog, which you can find here<\/a>.\u00a0 I talk a little bit about Desert Stars,<\/strong> as well as how traveling has influenced my writing and how I overcome writer’s block.<\/p>\n

In other news, I got smacked upside the head with the flu yesterday and slept in today until 1pm.\u00a0 I feel marginally better, but I’ll probably do the same tonight.\u00a0 Productivity: shot in the face.<\/p>\n

However, I did manage to run through the copy edits for Desert Stars<\/strong> and format it for publication.\u00a0 Finished the author’s note today, so as soon as I get the cover art, it’s good to go.<\/p>\n

For the cover art, I’ve commissioned Hideyoshi<\/a> again, the same artist who did the cover for Genesis Earth.<\/strong>\u00a0 He sent me the initial sketch the other day, and it looks good!\u00a0 It comes from a scene toward the beginning, when Jalil and Mira share an intimate moment while overlooking the planetary domes on the edge of the desert:<\/p>\n

That night, Mira couldn\u2019t sleep.\u00a0 The wind roared past the window in her room, making an eerie whistling noise as it shook the windowpanes.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t all, though.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the woody, foreign smell of the room, or the perfect straightness of the walls, or the uncomfortable softness of the bed.\u00a0 Whatever it was, she tossed and turned for what felt like hours, trying to find some firmness that would let her sleep.\u00a0 Eventually, she gave up and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.<\/em><\/p>\n

The stars<\/em>, she thought to herself.\u00a0 If only I could see them, maybe I could forget how far I am from home.<\/em><\/p>\n

She quietly rose from the bed and threw her cloak over her shift.\u00a0 The sound of the wind made her shiver, and she stepped carefully in the darkness, groping her way through the room until she came to the door.\u00a0 Once out, the stairwell was only a short distance down the hall.\u00a0 The night air was cold, the breeze stiff.\u00a0 The familiar stars and satellites stared down at her from the sky, though with all the light from the streetlamps, they were noticeably muted.<\/p>\n

Wrapping her arms around herself for warmth, she made her way to the edge and stared out across the valley at the glass mountain\u2014the world in a bottle.\u00a0 White and yellow lights shone through the glass, too fuzzy to make out with any clarity.\u00a0 It was a strange sight, and Mira stared at it for some time.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t sleep either?\u201d<\/p>\n

The sound of Jalil\u2019s voice gave her a start.\u00a0 She turned quickly and saw him sitting on an old, weathered couch facing the valley.\u00a0 The upholstery was torn, and stuffing was falling out in places.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d she said softly. \u201cI\u2014I didn\u2019t see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all right; I could use some company.\u00a0 Here, have a seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

He scooted over and made some room for her.\u00a0 When she sat down, the couch gave way underneath her until she was practically sitting on the ground.\u00a0 The wind picked up, and Mira shivered.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you all right?\u201d Jalil asked. \u201cYou look cold\u2014here, take this blanket.\u201d<\/p>\n

He leaned forward and pulled off the blanket that he\u2019d brought up from his bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s okay,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, here,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need it more than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mira tried to protest, but Jalil draped the blanket over her shoulders without another word.\u00a0 She had to admit, the added warmth felt surprisingly good against the chill night air.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Man, I’m so<\/em> looking forward to getting this book out!\u00a0 It’s been a long time in coming.\u00a0\u00a0 I started the first draft back in 2008, but some elements of it have been bouncing around my head since 2005.\u00a0 More on that in the author’s note.<\/p>\n

In any case, we’re definitely on schedule to get Desert Stars<\/strong> out before the end of the year, probably before Christmas.\u00a0 So keep an eye out for it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, some housekeeping: I recently did an interview over on Slava Heretz’s blog, which you can find here.\u00a0 I talk a little bit about Desert Stars, as well as how traveling has influenced my writing and how I overcome writer’s block. In other news, I got smacked upside the head with the flu yesterday and… Continue reading On the eve of publication<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[44,32],"tags":[474,42,529,669,63],"class_list":["post-6672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ds","category-ge","tag-excerpts","tag-frustrations","tag-indie-publishing","tag-lorenz-hideyoshi-ruwwe","tag-triumphs","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7iXK-1JC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6672"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6684,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6672\/revisions\/6684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onelowerlight.com\/writing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}