WordPlay

…Wednesday

So, HEY.  What’s up with the Kindle stuff, people are asking?

You may have noticed. (It would be hard to miss it, the way I’ve been talking about them here…)  Not just one, but five of my anthology stories are now reprinted on Kindle, soon* to be in a variety of formats via Smashwords. Until then, Kindle has free apps for reading on your Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, or Android.

(*Whenever I get a breath and can learn how to do that. It was going to be last week. Talk to the puppy–!)

Happily, I’m getting some good questions about the stories. And what’s a blog for, if not to provide insight and answers?

On your mark…get set…

Are these stories available in hardcopy?

In fact, yes. All but one of the Kindle stories so far have been in hardcopy for years, ranging from about fifteen to three (depending on the story). I do, of course, refer to the anthologies in which they first appeared, each of which is listed in the individual story descriptions on Kindle and on my web site e-fiction page.

There’s one story that’s completely original–the Reckoners story–and one I’ll be putting up next that was first published in an e-zine so never had a hardcopy version.

No, I mean are they available individually in print?

Oh! That! Nope, they’re not. The logistics of creating and distributing hardcopy are beyond what I can do at this point.

How many stories will you be putting up?

How kind of you to ask! There are thirteen stories. I think. There are also a number of backlist books to which I have reverted the rights, and those will go up as I can. Obviously, sales will motivate me to juggle in the time!

Are these exact reprints of the originals?

Nope. Depending on the story, I’m taking the chance to go through, tighten them up, add clarity where necessary. They would go up a lot faster if I didn’t take that step, but y’know…I think readers deserve the best I can do.

Who does your covers?

Me! Me me me! I have a lot of fun with it. I know they might not be the best covers EVAH, but then again I’m not a marketing or art department.

Why Kindle? Isn’t Amazon the Devil?

Yes. Yes, in fact, Amazon is the Devil. But I wouldn’t want to leave Kindle readers out in the cold regardless, and I flipped a coin on where to start with this project.

And WHY are you doing this?

Well…I had some choices. Reprint rights such as these aren’t attractive to print publishers, although I could have run them through an e-publisher. (That certainly would have avoided the work of formatting, cover art, and re-proofing!) But the truth? These stories and books have already paid their dues. They were accepted by major publishing houses; they were distributed nationally and internationally in print (and in some cases, an earlier e-version). And right now? The publishing world has its tail tied in a knot over e-rights. I neither want to wait for that situation to settle out, or to compromise with some of the less than stellar terms being offered out there.

Another truth? I’m getting a kick out of it. I’m having fun with the covers, fun putting the work up on line. Fun with the idea that people are reading it, too!  Enough fun that soon I’ll be putting one or two of the stories up on my web site as freebies, too.

So, HEY.  Did I get all the questions? Miss anything important? The floor’s wide open…have at it!

…Wednesday

See me doing the little dance of Kindleization?

(No, really. That’s what that is. It’s not a seizure disorder.)

Both “The Right Bitch” and “Bitch Bewitched” are now up on Kindle! And yes, soon to be Smashwords.

I had thought to work on that this week, actually, but it turns out I’m writing first draft on something else, about which I can only do another little dance of–

Oh. Er. Right. I’ll spare you that. Anyway, I’m happy about it.

“The Right Bitch” was the second of the Bitch stories to find a spot in Esther Friesner’s Chicks in Chain Mail anthologies.

Shiba isn’t alone on the border line; she now shares the territory with a hound named Sabre, who would rather leave her in his dust. Two hounds, two handlers, and a new kind of magic rising…someone’s got to figure it all out. Who else but the right bitch?

And then, you know…there are gonna be puppies…and while Shiba happily protects the borderlands from spellrunners, she never thought she’d be protecting her puppies from their magic! Or that the puppies would have something to say about it…

(“Bitch Bewitched” was a story I waited years for the opportunity to write, and found it in the really fun anthology, Misspelled, edited by Julie Czerneda.)

In case it isn’t obvious…I am a hound-lover at heart! They’re goofy, hard-headed, persistent…and as honest and loyal as the day is long. And those eyes! Those ears–! I mean, awww…come ON!

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Sabre whooped with enthusiasm, barreling through the thick wood undergrowth, his nose full of magicsmell, his ears full of Taliya’s distant encouragement—and his brain too hot on trail to think.  So hot he almost missed the answering trail cry to the south—a slightly clearer voice than his own and closing in fast.It made no sense; he didn’t care.  Not with his quarry so close, his sweaty, unwashed humansmell strong with forbidden magic.But suddenly the trail doubled in both humansmell and magicsmell, and then Sabre understood after all.  Two spellrunners, joining forces, both being trailed.Sabre called out, wild and strong.  Confident.

…Wednesday

A BITCH IN TIME

(Yes, now on Kindle!)

Shiba isn’t your average chick in chain mail…she’s a line hound with a very special tracking skill. With her handler, she patrols her territory for illicit magic. But Shiba has just lost her lifelong partner, and isn’t getting along so well with his replacement. He doesn’t trust her and he doesn’t want to, either–for he’s just lost his own partner. With nasty illicit magic sneaking across the border, what’s a bitch to do? Of course, the real question is, will she do it in time…

First published in the anthology DID YOU SAY CHICKS?!, this story was written for the popular Chicks in Chain Mail series edited by Esther Friesner, and a delightful opportunity it was. Because, seriously…I got to play with hounds (my favorite!) and magic (my favorite!) and a slightly twisted sense of humor (my favorite!). What’s NOT to like?

Also, this story was for Strider the WonderHound, with whom I first got to use the words, “Strider! Come down from that tree!”
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Tallon dropped the satchel and looked thoughtfully at his new linehound.Shiba gave him her Noble Beauty pose. After all, she was of the best bloodlines and strikingly marked. The black of her back was glossy beneath her chain mail, and her chest, belly, and legs were white, so heavily ticked with black that from any distance they looked blue-silver. The black of her head and ears was divided by a neat ticked blaze that spread out to take over her muzzle, and her eyebrows were punctuated by deep brown. Her body was sturdy, her tail strong and graceful, and her ears fell long and soft, the perfect compliment to her hanging flews. Best of all, her legs—long, heavy-boned and angular—were up to the task of following her incomparable nose.She knew all this because Jehn, her former partner, had told her so. She believed him utterly, just as she believed everything he said.Tallon just shrugged. “We’ll get along fine,” he said. “Jehn’ll have trained her right, and beyond that, a dog’s a dog.”

…Wednesday

THE SCORIA

Nope, don’t go scrambling through your memory or your bookshelves; this isn’t a book title you should be familiar with!

The Scoria is an idea I’ve had for a very long time; I started working it up in the late ’90s, and then my writing path took me in about ten different directions at once, none of them leaving me time to write this book.  Every once in a while I huge the folder holding my notes for it, though!

And, as it happens, some years ago I had the chance to submit a story to the anthology (edited by Julie Czerneda and Jana Paniccia) UNDER THE COVER OF DARKNESS.  The antho theme targeted secret societies: “Down through the centuries there have been groups sworn to protect important artifacts and secrets, perhaps exercising their power and connections–possibly even mystical affiliations–to guide the world’s future. ”

My little idea was a very nice fit, in a sly way.  So I had the chance to write the foundation piece for the book-to-be, and I was thrilled, and am still thrilled, to have had it.

And now it’s equally fun to have the chance to put out an e-version–for now, on Kindle (currently a sweet 99 cents at that)–but as I gather momentum, on Smashwords (with its many available formats) as well.  I mean, dig it, man–the muse gets to work on a sleek cover and the prose within!  Oh, the happy!

So guess what!  Here’s a snippet!

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“Alleksa! Alleksa!“

Voices raised in joy, in a rare daring.

Galetia twisted from her sentry spot and raised her own hands high, flashing fingers open and closed in the approval of their kind. “Alleksa!” she shouted down into the bowl of the arena ruin, a midnight darkness spotted with tiny ground fires and fire spinners on the move. A spontaneous, whirling circle closed around the central dark spot that held Alleksa.

Hidden here outside the city, only the Scoria celebrated the night.

And only the Scoria celebrated surviving the coming of age that the citties took for granted. Alleksa proved more blessed yet…she would not only survive, she would thrive. Everyone saw the signs–the flashes of change without fever, without shakes, without chills. The ripples of ethereal otherness across her face, without the rash that so often came with such a strong turning.

She would be one of their strongest.

She might even live through to adulthood, protected by this secret gathering of the abandoned, the discarded…those both lost and found. Each year, more infants were plucked to the safety of loving arms. Each year, more youngsters lived through the change.

But oh, the authorities had begun to suspect.