Side Quest Con report, Aerosphere voyages, Countess Golden Scales, War of the Worlds, Rubber Tires, Ghost’s got promoted. All this week’s Secret Knowledge is below…
You can get autographed copies of all four books in Selene Reborn Series (Artemis Rising, Celestial Accord, Forging the Chain Breakers, Selene Unchained), Antarctic Honeymoon, and Mirim’s First Christmas at Richardson Farmer’s Market on Saturday.
I had my first Con experience selling books. Revenue was more than booth fee, but when you take into account cost of books, I lost money. Maybe not if several of the people who said they’d get the audio or ebook end up purchasing (or at least getting it on their membership). I also checked out the Texas Book Lovers Con Sunday. That looks like a good one to try out, I’ll be keeping a weather eye on when they have it in 2027. I also looked at Cowtown Comic Fest. I talked to most of the authors there and none of them had a super show. I think comic-centered cons might not be good for unillustrated books. Even if the genre overlaps, the difference in format may not. I’m also doing an update for all my covers and will be releasing a hardcover option when that is done.
Did a little more work on the Aerosphere setting. This might be something someone says: “We sail for the Princeps Mining Ironholm in the morning. We’ll hug the coast of the landshard to Lastpeak Point, then sail south through the Lassiter Aether Reefs for a week.”
I needed more detail on the third Countess that reports to Viscountess Peacock. This is the woman that keeps the Defiance Merchant Exchange running. https://greshamverse.fandom.com/wiki/Countess_Golden_Scales_Beneath_Morning_Light In the picture she is ringing the great bell that opens and closes trading on the floor of the Exchange. Like the whole exchange, it makes the New York Stock Exchange look rather provincial. I wonder if the Texas Stock Exchange will ever get a trading floor and, if so, will it be bigger and grander than the NYSE floor?
I think after Ghosts of Palestine I’ll do the rewrite of The War of the Worlds. I don’t plan to make much change, just enough that it makes sense for H. G. Wells to have written this version in the Greshamverse in 1894. I also plan to write a companion volume that will be the story of the Deep Martians attacking the New Martian Empire at its capital in Burnished Towers. With Walter & Eleanor in the Ozarks potentially being up to three novels, that means I’ve added 2-5 novels to the list without completing one…
Rubber tires are really old; apparently there were omnibuses and autowagons running around on solid rubber tires on a fairly regular basis in 1891. But pneumatic rubber tires were just getting popular for bicycles. When Beulah sees pneumatic rubber tires on Martian ground vehicles, it is something she wasn’t expecting…
I got to looking at the progress on Martian Phoenix and how long I have before I need to have Palestine’s Ghosts done – I may not make the deadline. That said, I’ll finish the Incoming Powers chapter and lay Martian Phoenix aside until Palestine’s Ghosts is done. We’ll see.
Martian Phoenix chapters this week:
Incoming Powers – progress
Word Count is 52,130 in 12+ chapters of an estimated 80,000-95,000 in 24+Epilogue Chapters.
Antarctic Honeymoon is #1,736 in Steampunk Fiction, #6,143 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #10,488 in Exploration Science Fiction. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, or the kindle version here. The audiobook is available here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Artemis Rising is #665 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #715 in Steampunk Fiction, and #1,975 in Alternative History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here or the kindle version here. There is also an audiobook version here. Seven reviews for Artemis Rising. More will help others find the series as well – if you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Celestial Accord is in #1,151 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,238 Steampunk Fiction, #3,131 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Forging the Chain Breakers is #1,474 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,537 in Steampunk Fiction, #3,954 in Alternative History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.
Selene Unchained is #1,002 in Steampunk Science Fiction (Kindle Store), #1,118 in Steampunk Fiction, #2,811 in Alternate History. If you don’t have yours yet, you can get the paper version here, the kindle version here, or the audiobook here. No reviews yet. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here
Mirim’s First Christmas is #11,627 in Colonization Science Fiction, #11,683 in Alternate History Science Fiction (Books), and #18,681 in Science Fiction Short Stories. You can find the paper version here or the kindle version here. One review so far. If you’ve finished the book and haven’t left a review, please do so here.