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Posts Tagged ‘Fiction’

Obligatory Award Eligibility Post (Delayed, But-Not-Too-Late)

No Comments » Written on December 17th, 2019 by
Categories: News
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Hey there. You’ve all seen posts like this before, from both the “cool kids” and those of us with less swag. I suspect that’s because we all suffer from imposter syndrome and award nominations give us a sense of validation, even if we have to go out of our way (with posts like this one) to remind people to love us for what we make.

And yes, I see the irony there.

The second half of 2019 is proving to quite chaotic as unanticipated health issues devour my time and energy. Life? Meh. I’m taking it day by day. Anyway, here we go.

Most of my effort this year was spent relaunching all the titles in my Amazing Conroy series. That said, I did sneak in a few new tales. Two of these, a novelette and a short story, represent the best of my original work this year. I’ve provided links to the appropriate SFWA Forums where members can download them (after first logging in).

Both works were published in obscure books that you’re probably not going to encounter in the normal course of things. Hence this post so you’d learn of their existence and have the option to look them over as your time and interest dictate.

Please note: I am not asking for your nomination or vote. That would just be wrong on so many levels, and even I’m not that crass. But I do hope you’ll choose to read one or both of them because I believe the works will speak to you more eloquently than I can. If either does so, I’d welcome an acknowledgment of it on the Nebula Reading List.

Mind Din

“Mind Din” (approx. 15,675 words)
NOVELETTE (https://www.sfwa.org/forum/topic/14101-mind-din-by-lawrence-m-schoen/)

This novelette appeared in my short story collection Buffalito Bundle in July of 2019. The rest of the pieces in the collection had been published before, but “Mind Din” was new to the collection. This tale is set in the Conroyverse and features the Amazing Conroy and his alien companion animal, Reggie, as well as a deadly virus that causes telepathy, government agents, a possible descendant of a world famous Sri Lankan cricket player, the use of pool balls as brutal projectiles, the Atlanta Zoo, and some very long medical words scattered to your unconscious mind.
Nebula Reading List link: https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/work/3945-mind-din/

“Crossing the Line” (approx. 4360 words) SHORT STORY
(https://www.sfwa.org/forum/topic/14314-crossing-the-line-by-lawrence-m-schoen/)

Crossing the Line

This story appeared in The Expanding Universe 5 anthology edited by Craig Martelle, released in September 2019. Some clever commenters have said it “puts the LIT in LitRPG.” Maybe. The story’s about a humanities professor competing as a piece in an alien civilization’s chess game. If she wins, she could gain access to a long lost piece of literature. If she loses, her memories are at risk and her life is over. Much like last year’s Nebula nominee “The Rule of Three,” there’s very much an ‘old school’ feel to this story. I hope you like it.
Nebula Reading List link: https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/work/3946-crossing-the-line/

Both works have already received a bit of love on the Nebula Suggested Reading List (indeed, “Crossing the Line” has crept up into double digits!). I hope you find them to your liking as well.

And that’s it. Thanks for reading this far.

My Official (Accept No Substitutes) Awards Eligibility Post

No Comments » Written on January 15th, 2019 by
Categories: News, Plugs
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In the back of my mind I can hear my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Golitotti, lecturing me with some variation of “and if all the other children jumped off a cliff, would you too?” which, it should be said, is not necessarily a bad thing for a teacher to be telling her six-year old pupils.

The advice may be less sound when it comes to things like Nebula and Hugo Awards, particularly in a world where authors are expected to do more of their own promotion than in past decades (and this goes quadruple for Indie authors). With that in mind, please pardon this post where I will blow my own horn. The intention here is to inform or remind you of my work from 2018, not to praise it to the moons of barsk. If you’re a member of SFWA, you’re entitled to nominate for the Nebs. If you’re a member of either the previous and/or upcoming Worldcon, you can nominate for the Hugos.

So, with that context, for those among you who nominate in the Hugos, here’s what I’m eligible for:

Best Novel: THE MOONS OF BARSK by Lawrence M. Schoen.

This is the sequel to my Nebula-nominated and Coyotl Award-winning Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard. High-concept anthropomorphic science fantasy, so, yeah, not like much else out there. Arguably the best thing I’ve ever written.

|| Hardcover || Ebook || Audio ||

Best Novella: INVASION (SEEDS OF WAR, VOL. 1) by Jonathan P. Brazee and Lawrence M. Schoen.

My big leap into the life of being a “hybrid author,” this is the first volume of a novella trilogy I co-wrote with military SF veteran and retired Marine colonel Jonathan P. Brazee. One marine battles alien vegetable daikaiju to save a world!

Best Novelette: THE RULE OF THREE by Lawrence M. Schoen.

Last June I traveled to China as part of a workshop sponsored by FAA and the Wanda Group. Along with several Canadian and Chinese authors I toured sites that were part of a poverty abatement program. “Remarkable” doesn’t begin to describe the experience. I came home and wrote this novelette. I sent it to Alex Shvartsman and he published it as the lead story in the premiere issue of Future SF in mid-December, which also means few people may even be aware of it yet. I think that’s a shame because it’s the best novelette I’ve ever written.

Best Fanzine: EATING AUTHORS by Lawrence M. Schoen.

For the past seven and a half years, I’ve spent every Monday interviewing authors and asking them to share their most memorable meals. The intention has been to give fans a glimpse at the writer behind the books they read. Whether it’s Hugo-worthy is up to you to decide.

Note: While the Eating Authors blog makes me technically eligible, please do not consider me for the Best Fan Writer category. I simply produce and edit this series, with my guests doing all the real writing. But do remember to nominate for the fan writer category, as there is plenty of good stuff out there!

Best Related Work: SUNZI’S ART OF WAR translated by Agnieszka Solska

Last summer I published the long awaited Klingon translation of Art of War. But this isn’t just a Klingon translation. It includes a new English translation from the original Chinese is loaded with pages upon pages of scholarly notes about the different versions of previous Chinese translations over the years and the difficulties of bringing them to Klingon. It’s also worth noting that none of these languages —Klingon, Chinese, or Klingon — are Professor Solska’s native language.

Best Professional Artist: VICTO NGAI

And finally, please consider the incredible Victo Ngai when you’re nominating artists. I’m incredibly grateful to have had her do the covers for both of the Barsk novels, and her work has graced so many other fine books.

The Moons of Barsk
Invasion
Future SF #1
Art of War

Now available for purchase: PANGAEA

No Comments » Written on September 29th, 2015 by
Categories: News
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Pangaea

From the mind of editor Michael Jan Friedman, made possible by the generosity of more than three hundred Kickstarter backers, and featuring the talents of fourteen experienced authors, I am beyond pleased to inform you that Pangaea is now available!

From the back cover:

At least four times in Earth’s history, the continents have come sliding together to form a single mass—a super-continent. Geologists have dubbed the most recent such formation Pangaea. Of course, Pangaea broke up a long time ago, and because it did, different portions of mankind developed in drastically different climes and circumstances. But what if we were living on one of the super-continents? What if all of humanity was confined to a single landmass… and had been so confined for all of our recorded history?

Read the rest of this entry »

Cover Reveal – BARSK: THE ELEPHANTS’ GRAVEYARD

4 comments Written on February 5th, 2015 by
Categories: News
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Barsk: The Elephants' Graveyard

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Internet, may I present for your anticipation, gradual build-up of ultimately brain-wrenching desire, and immediate viewing pleasure, the cover of my forthcoming novel, Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard.

My editor informs me that the release doesn’t happen until December, but the way I choose to spin that is it creates an opportunity for a solid ten months of buzz, and a cover reveal is an awesome beginning.

The cover art is by Victo Ngai, a Society of Illustrators NY Gold Medalist (she actually has a stack of gold and silver medals), and depicts her conception of one of the artificial “vents” that occur within the rainforests of the islands of Barsk. Specifically, a shaft visited by Pizlo, a young boy whose very existence is outside the strictures of Barsk culture.

He hung in open air, ruminating, suspended upside down in a well-tended shaft walled on all sides with living green. Seven such chimneys existed on the island of Keslo; every island on Barsk boasted at least one. Fant society created the insubstantial monuments as part memorial and part warning. Few reached all the way to the uppermost limits of the forest, or ran all the way down to its roots.

Barskg is a world of almost constant rain and breaks in the cloud cover are infrequent. Rarer still are the times when the clouds happen to part and allow a glimpse of any of the planet’s moons. In the scene Victo Ngai referenced for the cover, Pizlo has gone to a specific chimney at a specific time, following the urging of the voices in his head, to see his third of Barsk’s seven moons. Pizlo is a weird little kid, and he’s convinced the moon not only speaks to him, but tells him secrets.

So, now that you’ve seen the cover and read a snippet, it’s time to tease you a bit more. How am I going to do that, you ask? Why, by sharing with you some of the remarks from other folks, Big Name Authors all, who have already read the finished book:

“The second you encounter the arboreal uplifted elephants who speak with the dead, you know you’re reading a work of singular imaginative power.  It’s a delight from beginning to end.”

—Walter Jon Williams, Nebula Award-winning author of The Green Leopard Plague

“Weird, wise, and worldly, Barsk: The Elephant’s Graveyard is a triumph.”

—Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo Award-winning author of Red Planet Blues

“Grand in scope, yet deeply intimate. Schoen gives anthropomorphism some serious spirituality. It got inside my head in the way that only an exciting new idea can.”

—Howard Tayler, Hugo Award-winning creator of Schlock Mercenary

“Combines excellent characters and a fascinating world.  What really makes it work is how he deftly weaves together startling SFnal ideas with character-based intrigue.  You’ll really care for these characters, even as you find them believably alien.”

—Karl Schroeder, author of Lockstep

“A heartfelt and wonderfully weird book: a space opera about kindness and memory. Read it. Meet these people. Listen to their dreams, and to their moons.”

—Max Gladstone, author of the Craft Sequence

And that’s going to have to hold you for a while, but I promise, there’ll be more hooplah in the weeks and months to come.

Boskone 52 Schedule (more than a month out!)

No Comments » Written on January 11th, 2015 by
Categories: News
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Bucking the trend of recent conventions, this morning I received an email from the programming people at Boskone revealing what they referred to as my “final schedule,” and including a note that the full schedule is up on their website

I am agog!

Not just because lately it’s been much more common to get my schedule in the final week before the con (and often much less), but because of the incredible array of authors who will be showing up at the convention, folks like Elizabeth Bear, Charlie Stross, Karl Schroeder, Allen Steele, Carrie Vaugh, Walter Jon Williams, and many more. And, it certainly doesn’t hurt that Steven Brust is their GoH, as I am a long time fan and collector of his work.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s my schedule:

Friday, February 13th
3:00 p.m. – 3:50 p.m. | Burroughs | Food in Fiction
Stories that make you go, “Yum!” How do you describe food to convey mood or set the scene? Join our panelists as they dish on the culinary delights that tantalize us in fiction, from regional teas to kingly feasts. What works? What doesn’t? And what should you know about a food-centric scene?
with Carrie Cuinn (M), Steven Brust, James Cambias, Fran Wilde, and me!

4:00 p.m. – 4:50 p.m. | Galleria-Kaffeeklatsch 2 | Kaffeeklatsch
Let’s talk about psychology, linguistics, Klingon, hypnosis, small press publishing, award nominations, my forthcoming book from Tor, or whatever else you want to ask me about as we enjoy coffee, tea, or in my case a Diet Cokeâ„¢. Sign-up is required at Program Ops in the Galleria, but I’m sure we can fit you in.

Saturday, February 14th
10:00 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. | Independence | – Reading
I’ll likely read from my new novel, Barsk: The Elephants Graveyard, unless people would rather hear a bit from my recent Amazing Conroy novella, Calendrical Regression. Either way, come on by, show me some love, on this cold Valentine’s Day morning (sniffle, cuz my wife is back in Philadelphia).

2:00 p.m. – 2:50 p.m. | Galleria-Autographing | – Autographing
This is your chance to bring stuff for me to sign! I know, it’s exciting!
with M.L. Brennan, Daniel M. Kimmel, and me!

5:00 p.m. – 5:50 p.m. | Burroughs | – Rejectomancy
Is there really a blue sheet of death? Does an encouraging form letter mean less or more than a generic personalized response? These are just a few of the questions that new writers ponder as they try to read between the lines of the rejection letters they receive. Every new writer goes through this dreaded stage (better known as “rejectomancy”) as they try to glean some hidden meaning within the text. Writers who have been there share their own rejectomancy stories and give some helpful advice on ways to avoid the “rejectomancy” trap.
with Stephen P. Kelner (M), Craig Shaw Gardner, James Patrick Kelly, Margaret Ronald, and me!

And of course, Barry will be on hand to pose for photos with you. See you in Boston!

Freebie Friday – January 2, 2015 – “Cat Futures”

No Comments » Written on January 2nd, 2015 by
Categories: Freebies
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Cat Futures

I’m not sure if I’ll remember (or have the time) to do this every month, but if it happens that I do, I’ll make available a new ebook short on the first Friday of each month. It will show up on my website’s Freebies Page.

I’m starting the year with “Cat Futures,” originally published back in 2005 in the long gone online zine, The Town Drunk. As I mention in the story’s introduction, every author has to write a cat story sooner or later, and this was mine. I hope you like it.

Solstice 2014: Celebrate Short Fiction Day

No Comments » Written on December 21st, 2014 by
Categories: Freebies
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Author, Photographer, and all-around selfless person, Sally Wiener Grotta, brought this to my attention, and now I’m bringing it to yours:

Please join us in marking today, December 21st (or as it’s known in the northern hemisphere, the Winter Solstice), as Celebrate Short Fiction Day.

Nancy Christie, the founder of Celebrate Short Fiction Day, says, “The winter solstice marks both the start of winter and the shortest day of the year. So why not take advantage of the long winter night to curl up with a good short story?”

Seriously, like you needed an excuse?

All over the Internet, authors and small presses are making samples of their short fiction available to you for free today. Here’s a link to the freebies from Sally’s Pixel Hall Press, and here’s a link to an updated (i.e., better ebook code than the last version) of a short story over on my Freebie Page.

Please help spread the word, and the fiction!

International Polar Bear Day 2014

No Comments » Written on February 27th, 2014 by
Categories: News
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Mars Needs Baby Seals

As exciting as the past couple of days have been, what with all the announcement of this year’s Nebula Award Nominees, all of that has to take a backseat to today. Why?

Because today is INTERNATIONAL POLAR BEAR DAY!!!

It’s not my place to tell you how to observe such a splendid day, but I hope you find something that works for you. Maybe you’ll make a charitable donation Polar Bears International. Maybe you’ll eat a Klondike bar. As for me, I’m giving away copies of my short story, “Mars Needs Baby Seals,” because I originally wrote it as part of a contest involving less common holidays and I chose this one.

If you’d like an electronic copy of the story, simply go to my Contact page and leave me a note with 1) your name, 2) your email address, and 3) an indication of whether you’d prefer ePub or mobi format (sorry, those are the only formats available). And that’s it.

This offer is good through Sunday, March 2nd, 2014. Please allow up to 48 hours for me to email you back with the story.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go find an ice floe…