Wanna come meet me? Maybe hear me read a bit, maybe ask me a question or two? Wanna buy a copy of Ancillary Mercy and have me sign it?
Subterranean Books (not the publisher, the St. Louis bookstore) will have copies for sale, and if I get my act together there will be cookies.
See you there!
So, over on Tumblr–where I mostly just do silly stuff, so you’re probably not missing much if you don’t follow me there, unless you’re into the silly stuff–over on Tumblr, as I was saying, there is this thing about cinnamon rolls. It started, I do believe, with this Onion story: Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure.
Know Your Meme tells us that it “subsequently became an exploitable catchphrase used on Tumblr to describe adorable, charismatic or otherwise sympathetic fictional characters.”
So. Also over on Tumblr, user oneesk19 posted this.
Yes, folks, that is cinnamon roll flavored vodka. And I wanted to reblog it and say something so badly. But I could not. Because nobody would get it. And maybe nobody will get it now, but I don’t care.
As it happens, cinnamon roll flavored vodka is in fact readily available in my area. So, yeah.
So. Turns out, cinnamon roll flavored vodka tastes pretty nasty. It’s really sweet, and then there’s this sudden wave of fake vanilla and you wonder why you ever thought drinking it would be a good idea. The company’s website cheerfully advises having it with orange juice. I have made the experiment, and while (somewhat mysteriously) it tastes noticeably more like an actual cinnamon roll that way, the actual cinnamon roll taste in question is still pretty horrible. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the rest of the bottle, honestly. But it was too amusing not to try it out, anyway.
So, the tour was a thing that happened. In fact, it was an awesome thing that happened!
Along with Greg Bear, I hit five cities in five days. I was really glad to be sharing the tour with Greg, since he’s done this book tour thing a few times before and knew what was what, and he was generally just great to travel and hang out with.
I met a lot of fabulous people, and signed a lot of books. I was given fabulous gifts–the artist who made this:
was at one signing, and actually gave me the amazing original. Really, amazing is an understatement.
(And now I see that when I pin stuff from a tumblr search, it links back to the tumblr search page, and not the artist, which means I need to maybe be more conscientious about adding comments or tags to credit people, hmm. Sorry about that, didn’t realize until now, though I probably should have.)
Another artist gave me this:
Yes, that would be a picture of Brother Her-Breath-Contains at his daily devotions to She-Commands-Me-And-I-Obey. Awesome, right?
And yet another has produced embroidered Emanation bookmarks:
And that’s just the art! I also got delicious pumpkin bread, tea cookies, and some tea the giver told me was Daughter of Fishes, which from the (mmm delicious) flavor is some kind of oolong.
It was an absolute delight meeting everyone who came to the various signings.
It was also completely exhausting. I was basically on an airplane every day. Most stops I wasn’t even at for a full 24 hours. I got home Monday night and collapsed in a heap, sat on the couch staring for a while and then went to bed. Spent Tuesday recovering. Today I have errands to run, and then…I’m off again! This time to ICON. Which I am looking forward to–not only will I be in the same place for more than a day or so, but I’ll be there in the company of a lot of fabulous folks.
Some folks asked me about the etsy store–I probably won’t be listing things until after October. Partly because this October is incredibly busy for me, and partly–a more recent development–because I have in fact run out of Awn Elming pins. I still have some Translator Dlique pins and some Spoiler pins for giving out at ICON, and I’ll have badge ribbons with me (unless something goes awry in my packing). But it takes a couple of weeks to get pins, even if I order them right away. So those won’t be available for a bit. But when things calm down, I’ll be listing what pins I have. So if you really want a Dlique pin or a Spoiler pin and don’t have a chance to get one in person, I do intend to make them available on etsy.
Anyway. Thanks again to everyone I met during the tour–it was a pleasure and a delight to meet you. And I’m looking forward to seeing folks in Cedar Rapids!
Regular readers will know that I used to mostly write short fiction. Which I’ve kind of missed since starting in on the novel thing, actually. But as it happens, there will be some new short fiction from me very soon!
Basically I have a story in a new anthology called Future Visions: Original Science Fiction Stories Inspired by Microsoft, coming out on all major eBook platforms for free on November 17th. Authors were given inside access to a Microsoft Research lab; the visits served as inspiration for new short fiction.
The book features eight award-winning, acclaimed writers of science fiction, and also includes a short graphic novel and an original illustration for each story.
To learn more, go to microsoft.com/futurevisions and/or follow the hashtag #FutureVisionsBook on Twitter.
And look for online news from Blue Delliquanti in the next few days about her contribution to the anthology!
It’s Book Day! Ancillary Mercy should have downloaded to your device by now, if you pre-ordered the ebook, and bookstores should have the paper version on their shelves.
This post is visible due to the magic of WordPress scheduling–I myself am not home right now. I’m in Seattle! If you are too, you could come to University Temple United Methodist Church The Sanctuary, 1415 NE 43rd Street, Seattle, WA at 7pm to meet me, and also Greg Bear, who has a book coming out today too–Killing Titan.
Actually, quite a few people have books out today. Ferrett Steinmetz’ The Flux is out, the sequel to Flex. I enjoyed Flex quite a bit, but haven’t had a chance to read The Flux yet.
Also, Kameron Hurley’s Empire Ascendant, sequel to The Mirror Empire.
And probably other books–books tend to come out on Tuesday.
Anyway! If you’ve been waiting for Mercy, you should be able to get it now! I hope you enjoy it!
Release week is upon us! Here’s where you can find me:
First of all, I’m doing a Reddit AMA on Monday, the fifth. I’ll be in the air when that link goes up, but watch Orbit’s twitter, and I’ll try to tweet the link when I can. Or Tumbl and blog, but I’m more likely to be able to tweet from my phone, and likely to only be able to Tumbl or blog when I get to the hotel, which will be very shortly before I begin answering questions. (Yes, the timing on this is dicey. We’ll make it work, one way or the other.)
Then! (Copied from my previous “where I’ll be” post):
Tuesday, October 6
7 PM: University Temple United Methodist Church The Sanctuary, 1415 NE 43rd Street, Seattle, WA
Wednesday, October 7
7 PM: Tattered Cover, Denver, CO
Thursday, October 8
7 PM: Powell’s, Beaverton, OR
Friday, October 9
7:30 PM: Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA
Saturday, October 10
3 PM: Borderlands, San Francisco, CA
I’ll have some swag to hand out, as long as supplies last. I will try to have Awn Elming and Translator Dlique pins on me, as well as these:
I’d love to show you what these Book Three pins look like, but that would be a spoiler! As long as I still have some, I will hand them out to anyone at a signing who wants one, and once you’ve read the book you can find out for yourself!
If you can, come see me! I’m looking forward to meeting you! Also, if you’re coming to an event, please consider buying your copy of Mercy from the store in question. They’re being super nice and helpful having me in, and their being able to sell some books as a consequence makes that worthwhile for them. If you can’t, or can’t afford a copy just now, no worries, it’s all good.
See you soon!
It’s getting close! We’re headed into the weekend, and on Tuesday Ancillary Mercy will be officially released! Through the magic of the internet, ebook copies will appear on your readers, if you’ve pre-ordered the ebook version! Booksellers ought to have it out on the shelves–if yours doesn’t, ask if they have it in the back, that happened to me when Justice came out and I went to a local B&N to see my book on the shelf and offer to sign copies for them. They hadn’t put them out yet, but they were happy to fetch them out from the storeroom.
In some places it’s already on shelves, and some folks are getting copies early. Good for them, I say! Enjoy!
In the meantime, have some fabulous fan-made playlists! Those are all the ones tagged “Ancillary Justice” but there’s one that isn’t, so don’t miss that one! These are pretty darn cool, and I personally have come across songs that were unfamiliar to me that I loved, listening to these, and then bought for myself. There’s lots of great listening there, so check them out!
Soon now! So very soon!
So, quite a few times, I’ve been asked what’s the best way to buy my books–in what format, from what seller? “Best” as in would benefit me the most.
Turns out, John Scalzi already answered this question:
1. Buy it in whatever format you like, whenever you like. Honestly, you’re the customer. You want it in hardcover? Get it in hardcover. Want it in ebook? Get it in ebook. Want it in audio? Get it in audio. Want to wait until the price goes down? Get it in paperback or in ebook when then paperback comes out. As long as you pay for it, I will also get paid, and in every format I get paid a fair share of the money. The variations of what I get paid in each format are small enough that on an individual level (that’s you), it’s not worth your time to fret about it. So please, buy the book in whatever format pleases you, whenever it pleases you to do so. And thank you.
(Dead broke? Ask for it at your local library, because they buy the book, and I’ll still get paid.)
Basically, read the whole thing, because his answer is my answer. Except, where you see “hardcover” mentally replace that with “trade paperback.” Because aside from Subterranean special editions, or large print editions, none of the Ancillary books are available in hardcover.
I’ve also seen some speculation about what it means for my sales when bookstores put the book out before the official release date. So, I’m told that those sales don’t go toward pre-order numbers, and they don’t count for first day/first week sales for the purposes of bestseller lists. So if I had my heart set on being able to put “Best Selling Author” in front of my name, and if I thought the margin was really narrow and a dozen or so books would make the difference, that might stress me out. Or if I were in a position where I was living or dying by pre-orders and was hanging on by my fingernails in the hope that B&N won’t decline to buy my next book, then that would really matter to me.
I have been incredibly fortunate so far, though, and I am in neither of those positions. For me, Scalzi’s point number 4 is the relevant one. Justice and Sword have both been selling consistently since they came out. I am, of course, hoping Mercy will do the same.
So, the best way to benefit me when you buy my book? Is to enjoy the heck out of reading my book! And if you can’t afford the book, then please do wait for a sale, or patronize your local library (I LOVE LIBRARIES!). It’s all good.
On a related point. Next week I go on tour! (ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED) And I’ll be appearing at several bookstores. And I’m looking forward to meeting the folks who show up, and of course will be signing books. I would say, my one tiny exception to “buy your copy wherever and however you like” is, if you’re coming to one of these events, please consider buying your copy of Mercy from the bookstore that’s hosting me. If nothing else, it makes it worth their while to have had me there, which is something I appreciate tremendously.
Someone asked me this yesterday, so I figured I’d post the link again: you all know about my pinboard of Ancillary fan art, right?
I would highlight some, but it’s really difficult to choose favorites. Well, okay, how about these adorable pics of Kalr Five by Shibaru:
I have to admit I’m really tickled by how popular Kalr Five is.
You could also, I’m told, amuse yourself with some fanfic. I have not read any of it, but I gather there is some, pretty much where you’d expect fanfic to be cause there’s a lot of other fanfic there. So if that’s your kind of thing, well, you could maybe go there and search on “Imperial Radch.”