New short-story collection; really strange good
Did you like David Young’s Shiver on the Sky? Well then, you’ll be glad to know that prolific S.O.B* … erm, author is already back with a short-story collection, What Happens in September…
Just $.99 on Amazon.
I read all seven of September’s tales in manuscript last week. Once again, David (now billed as David Haywood Young because every writer with a standard-sounding moniker needs a middle name) has produced something that’s both genre-bending (crime-fantasy-humor-SF fiction) and filled with life — even when its subject is bloody murder.
If you buy (and better yet, buy and review) this collection, you’ll be supporting a reader of this blog. But forget altruism; if you like weirdly creative stories quite well-written, you’ll be doing yourself a favor, too.
My favorite: “Hard Roads.” Those trucks gotta roll …
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The man who fell to earth
I didn’t think I gave a damn about Felix Baumgartner’s freefall-from-the-stratosphere stunt because to what extent I thought of it at all, I thought of it as just a stunt.
Then yesterday morning I stumbled upon the live feed about halfway through the balloon’s long ascent. Two hours later I hadn’t even gotten out of my jammies, let alone walked the poor dogs.
What an amazing thing. What astonishing creatures we humans can be. It had all the nail-biting suspense of the best real-life adventures in space — and all the dull, but magnificent methodical bits, too. And all this was done by private enterprise … this amazing project pulled together by free people and an energy-drink company. All this no-doubt valuable experimentation and exploration and data gathering all done in the name of daredeviltry and sport and promoting a product. That’s just a wonderment.
I was so wrought up in the last half hour before the fall from the capsule that I wanted to shove Baumgartner out the hatch to get the nerves over with.
Did the actual dive seem anti-climactic to any of you who watched the live feed? It did to me. Especially when Baumgartner plunged through the sound barrier. Remembering that Chuck Yeager’s plane nearly rattled itself to bits before breaking through, I thought there would be … something. But not until the shadow of the man and his parachute were gliding across the New Mexico ground did the fall seem real. Loved him landing on his feet!
It also seemed touching that he achieved this amazing thing on the 65th anniversary of Yeager’s flight, and that he was assisted by the man who has held the freefall record for 52 years. And it seemed right somehow that, while Baumgartner shattered — obliterated! — two of the three records he set out to break, that 84-year-old man beside him at the press conference afterward still holds the record for duration of freefall.
It’s even a sort of nice touch that Baumgartner is as handsome and articulate as a movie star and could probably be billed as the All-American Boy, except for that small matter of being Austrian.
Yeah, humans. We can be a pain in the butt. But “what a piece of work is man.”
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Snitch book — getting there!
The anti-snitch book came back from volunteer proofreader Smitty this weekend. Thank you, Smitty. And thank you ALL.
I just need to input these last corrections and it’s off to Anonymous Layout Guy for layout and magical Kindle formatting.
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Dogs and cats
Nothing terribly dramatic, but a nice little story about how a couple got their lost Australian cattle dog back after four months with the help of good people, Craigslist, and just the right whistle at just the right moment.
And here’s one for you cat people, courtesy of C^2. To close out with a touch of weirdness it’s about … cat cafes.
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* Nothing personal toward David Young. It’s just that we writers who agonize over every word and produce about one book a century just hate despise want to kill deeply admire and envy those rare writers who can just turn on the creativity spigots and enjoy the flow. David is clearly one of those.
On Baumgartner: One person on twitter (that I know of anyways, could have been more out there) was sad, because he was wearing a Redbull logo and not a USAF patch like Kittinger, because, that meant the government wasn’t involved. tried to explain it was great that a government and/or military wasn’t needed for this, but didn’t get through to this person. Oh, well, whatcha gonna do?
Wow. Thanks again, Claire!
Free review copies are available for this one, too, if anybody’s interested (just seems like a good idea). Also, “September” is only going to be available on Amazon for at least the next three months, so if anyone wants an ePub or other format, they can let me know & I’ll send it.
I’m told short stories don’t sell very well. Mostly I wrote these so I coul
d try to learn how to do a few new things. But I liked ’em, so they’re out for the world to see.
Again, thanks.
Also, I hate my touchpad.
What a great way to back up the slogan, “Red Bull gives you wings!”
The next great discoveries of space and science will have to come from the private sector because government is no longer interested. I wonder if the envrionmentalists, EPA etc will try to block private space exploration.
Matt, another-
I don’t remember who wrote it, but somebody or other pointed out that gummint folks and security nannies would be very unlikely to allow truly private spacecraft, partly b/c they’re just like that, but also because of rocks. As used in Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.”
I wish I could disagree. I think distributed systems are in general more robust than, well, command/control setups. But we may have to solve that problem here before we can go play.
Maybe, on second thought, that’s not such a bad idea…though my first preference is just to walk (fly?) away from those people when possible.
” I wonder if the envrionmentalists, EPA etc will try to block private space exploration.”
According to Burt Rutan the FAA is trying very hard to disrupt private space launches. I heard him speak at AirVenture in Oshkosh a couple of years ago. He minced no words when describing the bureaucratic hurdles they use to discourage private space launches. He said that he was convinced that the only reason they granted a launch permit for Spaceship One is because they were afraid if they didn’t he would launch without one. He said that he was convinced that the court of public opinion would side with him and seriously embarrass the government if it came to that.
If NASA had not existed and the government had left space exploration to people like Burt Rutan we would have a permanent colony on the moon by now and be well on our way to the stars.
“The next great discoveries of space and science will have to come from the private sector because government is no longer interested.”
I wasn’t aware the govt wasn’t interested, and I understand that NASA is still in operation, exploring Mars, sending supplies via private rocket to space stations, etc; they aren’t out of business yet. (And what’s to prevent it, in cahoots with the wrong agency – e.g. such as Stadler’s State Science Institute in “Atlas Shrugged” – from planting a rocket-guided bomb on one of those stations in the future, aimed at some foreign country, *or at the U.S. itself*, for the purpose of fedgov/military control?)
Until NASA is *COMPLETELY GONE*, with no authority and no funding, I won’t rest easy. It fully developed on the wings of the Cold War, and it’s always had potential for Hot War destruction.
There’s the private space company with the “Dragon” supply rocket/capsule. If the government can’t do it, move over and let someone who can. I’d love to go up in that capsule(with a camera and extra memory cards)-dunno about stepping out at 24 miles up though. Still, much coolness.
There’s a private company(JP Aerospace?), with plans for a manned aerostat(permanently manned high altitude balloon at around 140,000 ft))-that would make a cool hotel! The news goof stuff up. Though stepping out at 24 miles takes a lot of nerve, it’s not from space- the lower edge of space starts at 62 miles.
I think the next wave of space flight will be by private companies…
David: “I don’t remember who wrote it, but somebody or other pointed out that gummint folks and security nannies would be very unlikely to allow truly private spacecraft, partly b/c they’re just like that, but also because of rocks.”
Seems vaguely familiar.
http://www.bussjaeger.org/index.html#netassets
I am one of those cat folks. Doctor’s at the V.A. said they are good for depression [duh]. Just spent 20 minutes with my cat, pelt, playing fetch the pork chop bone. I didn’t have to teach him anything and if I put the bone up somewhere he WILL find it later and drop it at my feet. I love the fact cats don’t have to be walked, they are easily “potty trained”, and if you take the time to socielize them they are pretty loyal. One big plus is their hearing. I always know when someone is approaching my door without the barking a dog would do. Cats can hear a mouses heartbeat or respiration. No knock on dogs but for my living situation cats are a much better fit.
Bear: Cool! Stuff to read…I haven’t seen those before. I was thinking of nonfiction, possibly from an article in Analog, but I don’t remember much else about the source.
I didn’t get around to “Shiver” so I’ve just bought “September” before I forget. FWIW, I like short stories.
Laird: thank you! Hope you like ’em…or at least most of ’em.
David, I really enjoyed “Shiver” – and was only slightly annoyed because it stopped where it did… a LONG string of sequels seems obvious! But then I say that often about stories I really like. 🙂
Just downloaded the short stories and will “review” both soon. I actually love short stories myself.
MamaLiberty — I totally agree on sequels to Shiver. There is so much to be explored about those sea creatures! And several of the fully human characters seem to be naturals for a continuing series.
I told David Shiver reminded me of F. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack novels (in rough form, but with that potential) & it turned out he’d never read Wilson — which surprised the heck out of me.
David, I’ll tell you again, you’ll be missing a bet if you don’t write more books in the Shiver universe. If you’re like me, you might not want anything to do with writing “the same thing over again,” but there’s a lot more to be explored in the Shiver world!
MamaLiberty and Claire: Well…thanks! Again. 🙂
Actually I’d love to write a sequel, or many. It’s just that after nearly 3 years of submitting the book to agents & publishers, & finally getting a bite from a publisher, only to have the whole thing fall apart–well, if I couldn’t sell the first book, a sequel would be a strange choice to write next.
Anyway, my next novel should be done in a couple of months, and we’ll see how it does. Maybe I’ll get back to Shiver’s world afterward–I wanted to (ahem) dive deeper, but that just wasn’t part of Owen’s story. Yet. Though…a couple of years later, when he’s awakened by a knock on his door in the middle of the night…? Hmm.
More than a few people just totally geeked out over the Freefall thing, the science and the technical stuff just fascinated them…..Me, I just thought how amazing human beings are when they decide to push the limits of the known into the unknown ;)…we are so much more than we think we are…..
P.S. the story about the rescue dog rescuing the baby was pretty cool: http://www.mstarz.com/articles/5710/20121015/dog-saves-9-week-old-baby-rescue-pup-hero-after-alerting-owners-about-infant-daughter-not-breathing.htm
“after nearly 3 years of submitting the book to agents & publishers, & finally getting a bite”
David… David… the era of the publishing house is over. Self publishing is the new reality. Don’t let anyone reject your next efforts!
Yes, it’s a little scary to contemplate doing it yourself… but the internet has all kinds of help available. If Carl Bear reads this post, he will probably offer you the little book he wrote on the subject. It’s been a big help to me. Not sure if it is available at Amazon… need to check.
It’s called: The Newbies Guide To Publishing Book
OOPS. seems I’m mistaken. I’d have sworn that Bear was responsible for that book, but it is listed at Amazon… with a bunch of other authors!
Back to the drawing board… I know Carl Bear wrote one and I’d have sworn that was it. Hope he’ll post about it here.
MamaLiberty-
I’m on board, I’m on board! But, you know, I wasn’t until recently. I have to say doing things this way is more fun, and I don’t see a reason to offer any future work to “legacy” publishers. Except maybe an Amazon imprint, but that’s a different world.
JA Konrath wrote something with that title, which I’ve read…but his more recent blog posts were better than the book. IMHO, YMMV, yadda yadda.
naturegirl — Yeah, I thought that was pretty amazing, too. Good thing those parents realized their dogs’ odd behavior meant something!
When my dogs behave oddly, it usually just means they’re about to hurl on the rug.
I was just amazed and thankful at how fortunate we are to see things like the jump in near real time (I understand there was a slight delay in transmission). Even 50 years ago you’d have to wait to watch it on film and they didn’t have the technology to film much of what we get to see today.
I was glued during the actual drop, especially when I saw him tumbling and later when he said his visor was fogging up. I wondered it that meant something horrible was about to happen?
ML (and David): The little book on publishing that I wrote was specific to formatting content (including cover art) for Amazon’s CreateSpace and KDP, services I would no longer wish on my… well, OK; my _worst_ enemies can suffer. There’s a reason I took that freebie off my site. If anyone _does_ want it, I’ll consider putting together a package deal: the ebook, with razor blades and cigarette butts for self-mutilation. Maybe medieval whips for self-flagellation. Knock yourself out. Repeatedly.
Anyone who decides to stick with Amazon should start assembling documentation to prove they never sold their copyrights to someone else. I have no idea what sort of documentation to prove a negative to Amazon’s satisfaction because they would never tell me. (And good luck with Smashwords, too. Per their last emails to me, they never paid _Benner_ (the guy who pirated my books)…. but continued sales and kept the money. While Smashwords did — finally — agree to stop the sales, they kept the money.)
Oh yeah… that. Sorry Bear… I forgot for a moment. There’s always LuLu…
It’s a whole new world in self publishing. Maybe someone, someday will set up a deal that is honest. sigh
Bear- I read what you said about not wanting any suggestions, you’re done with SF, and all that.
So I won’t make any. But I’m enjoying _Net Assets_.
I’m done with _any_ commercial-type writing now (which is why I didn’t volunteer to proof/critique Claire’s snitch book). The only new writing I’m doing is how-to stuff related to my hobbies (paper- & inks/paints/pigments-making, these days) offered freely for the hell of it. Not much of that, and only when I feel like; deadlines be damned. (Oddly enough, people are downloading those almost as much as the old SF.)