A couple weeks back, I did a short pair of interviews with Tim Ward (author and host of the AudioTim podcast) for Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing.

Part one is up now, focusing on my professional path toward my job at Angry Robot.

It’s been very cool to give more interviews from the POV of my work in publishing, especially as people ask about how my day job helps me and can help other authors. I’m thinking about how to help authors all the time for work, but trying to adapt my experience to make it applicable for all types of authors has been a great mental exercise. For Angry Robot, I have one set of resources and expectations. I use the work experiences to be a better-informed author, but having an interviewing prompt is great, as it provides a framework for me to push my knowledge and try to come up with even more and smarter ways of thinking and talking about succeeding in this crazy-but-awesome time in the industry.

Thanks to Tim for the cool interviews, and to the AISFP folks for hosting the chat. Keep your podcatchers tuned for part two sometime soon.

I’m participating in a fun chain story as part of “Tell A Story Day” (which will be on April 27th). This chain story was organized by M. Todd Gallowglass of Genre Underground. I met Gallowglass at WorldCon last year, when we were both participants on a riotous panel on storytelling, and I’m very pleased to be a part of this tale, which is turning out to be quite fun.

You can read the previous story sections here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

All caught up? Okay, here we go:

The lawyer sighed the sigh of the endlessly put-upon. He’d spent mountains of coin on law school, for what? To serve summons in grungy bars, weave through bar fights and catastrophic magic?

For not the first time, he was glad that he’d taken a magical theory course before becoming a solicitor…sorry, lawyer. They’d managed to stay clear of the dimensional inversion, but now the elf had a getaway route. And not one that would be easy to return from, even if they did catch him rapidly.

“The gateway is unlikely to remain stable for long. Are you waiting for an invitation, perhaps?” the android said.

“Someone needs to update your humor algorithm,” the lawyer said as he stood up. “Are you coming?”

The android joined him, and the two walked forward into the light. The lawyer remembered to hold his breath, since he had no particular interest in having his soul (yes, he still had it. He’d passed on the junior position with Stoker & Benchley) sucked out his nostrils by the aetheric pressure differential.

The lawyer closed his eyes, and the light surrounded his body. He felt a slight tug, and then vanished.

***

The android processed its surroundings not like a human, with their limited focus, but as a true intelligence, aggregating all inputs at the same time.

Towers scaling more than one hundred meters high.

Darkened clouds registering high mana saturation.

Hundreds of lifeforms, each with pH ratings of 11 or higher.

Millions more active heat signatures across the spectra of mechanical sentience.

But more than anything, gears. Hundreds of gears, valves, tubes, nuts, bolts, and more. The android was lost for a moment in repeating a memory subroutine from its earliest backup.

They’d come home. The realm of his creation – Assembly.  The android turned to see the lawyer exhale, his cheeks reddened. The human gasped, but found his breath after several moments. The android spun its head to see in all directions, applying a thermal filter to discern the most likely escape path that the meddlesome elf had taken.

“Query: Why would the elf wish to retreat to Assembly?” the android asked.

“I don’t know, but if we don’t find him soon, we never will.”

—

The next installment of the story comes from R. K MacPherson: Part 9

A couple weeks ago, my girlfriend and I ordered a treadmill desk. It arrived about a week ago, and has seen heavy use already.

In this case, we ordered this set:

My goals with getting a treadmill desk were as follows:

1) Have a treadmill so I could get exercise in the mornings. In our previous apartment, there was an excercise room in the basement, which had exercise equipment. I got in the habit of working in 30 minutes of exercise in the morning before heading off to work. It gave me more energy, made it easier to be healthy, and provided a chance to listen to podcasts and stay connected with the SF/F writing and fan-cast world.

2) Have a standing desk. There have been a number of studies and bugaboos about not spending so much time sitting down. I hated how much time I spent sitting when I was a field rep, but it couldn’t really be helped – I was driving, and it’s hard to drive without sitting down. Weird, right? Having the standing desk means that I can split my day into four modes. (Walking and working, standing & working, sitting & working, reclining & reading).

3) Be able to walk and work at the same time. Since I both work from home and am a writer, I have two jobs that involve being at a computer. In order to not spend 10 hours a day sitting at a desk, and in order to be active enough to be able to not worry too much about MUST EAT THE HEALTHIEST, I was excited to be able to walk 3-4 miles a day and not have it detract from time spent working.

So. How has it actually worked?

Pretty freaking well. The model we bought can run from .4 mph to 4mph, which is enough for a more active walk/jog in the morning, as well as a 1mph average walking speed while working.

Walking while typing/laptoping turns out to be not very distracting. I don’t tend to get motion sickness, so the motion involved with walking – where my field of vision shifts even as I’m typing, hasn’t proved to be a problem.

I feel more energized, partially because I’m more active, and partially because I’m not sitting at a desk all day.

The biggest benefit is just plain feeling better – I’m excited to log time on the treadmill desk, which makes me more likely to spend more time working on my writing. I’ve been doing some walking barefoot, some in toe shoes (Vibram 5fingers), and some with my sneakers.

It was an expensive acquisition, but so far, totally worth it.

While the NSB news has quieted down a bit since this: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/56733-skyhorse-start-offer-night-shade-authors-new-terms.html

I saw an announcement yesterday that might have slipped through the cracks as people processed the horrible events in Boston:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/industry-deals/article/56842-skyhorse-start-buy-underland-press.html

The Underland title I’m most familiar with is the magnificent Finch, the capstone novel of Jeff VanderMeer’s Ambergris series/triptych/giant squid love-fest. I’ve had the chance to chat with Victoria Blake, the publisher at Underland, several times, and pitched Shield & Crocus to her a couple years back. She didn’t have a place for it on her list, but she was very gracious and professional.

Depending on how these two deals go through, we might now see why Skyhorse/Start wanted to buy Night Shade’s assets (the books) without wanting to buy the company outright. If Underland is in better financial shape, Skyhorse can bring their SF/F/H out with the Underland brand, maintaining some brand continuity. I don’t know if this will be the case, however. Skyhorse/Start might just be gathering what resources and assets they think will put them in the best position to enter the spec fic publishing world with the best chances of success.

With combined lists, Skyhorse/Start will instantly become one of the larger non-Big-Six/Five publishers of SF/F/H, joining Angry Robot Books, Pyr Books, ChiZine Publications, Prime Books, and the other notable independent SF/F/H publishers. I’m very curious to meet the folks at Skyhorse and help welcome them into the spec fic publishing community.

Dear all,

If you haven’t done so yet, I’d invite you to check out this Kickstarter from my friend Bradley P. Beaulieu – he’s launching the concluding volume in his awesome Lays of Anuskaya epic fantasy series (think George Martin meets Ursula LeGuin, with windships and Tzarist Russian flavor), and today is the last day. There’s some very cool stretch rewards in reach.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2119763779/the-flames-of-shadam-khoreh

John Ward, founder and moderator of the Writer’s Discussion Group on Google+ invited me for a one-two combination of author interview and discussion about using tricks of the trade from working in sales/marketing as an author.

Thanks to John for the great prompts, and for sharing the videos!

WDG Author Hangout with Mike Underwood

Lessons From a Sales Rep: How To Market Your Book Like a Pro

The kind folks at Book Country asked me to do an interview, talking about life in the year-and-change since I signed my first book deal for Geekomancy, which was discovered right in their back yard.

It was a fun interview, talking about path to publication, life since the deal, and participating in Book Country.

Links to both parts below:

http://bookcountry.com/Industry/Article.aspx?articleId=139719

http://bookcountry.com/Industry/Article.aspx?articleId=139766

Here is part two (of many) in my blog series discussing novels read this year. Books marked AR, SC, and ExA are books from my day job at Angry Robot, Strange Chemistry, and Exhibit A, respectively.

Playing Tyler (SC) – by T. L. Costa

The thing that struck me right away about Playing Tyler was the voice. Tyler MacCandless has ADHD, and the narration shows it, loud and clear. The narration is more choppy in places where Tyler is stressed or un-medicated, and becomes smoother when he is in control, at peace. The plot focuses around Tyler’s work testing a new flight simulator, which he thinks will be his ticket into flight school and out of his dead-end life. But the’re a whole lot more going on than a fancy beta test. One of my favorite parts about this novel was the romance between two l337 gamers who are outcasts in their own world but connect through their shared love of gaming.

The Age Atomic (AR) – by Adam Christopher

This is Angry Robot’s third novel with Adam Christopher, and his first sequel. Following closely after the end of Empire State, The Age Atomic brings in the world of 50s Atomic SF with references so diverse that I’m sure I missed many of them – taking Christopher’s incarnation of the trope in the novel as the furniture that narrative innovations of the 50s first created. The Age Atomic is my favorite of Christopher’s works so far – especially due to the characterization throughout.

The Warded Man – by Peter V. Brett

I’d heard about Brett’s Demon Cycle for some time, but only after the turn of the year did I get to reading it. For those not familiar with the series, The Warded Man introduces a world where humanity is on the edge of annihilation. A once-great society has fallen into a dark age thanks to the corelings – powerful demons that emerge every night and can only be turned back by specific wards. Nearly all settlements are cut off from one another, with only special Messengers to foster communication and trade.

The structure of this first novel in the series follows three children whose lives were changed by demon attacks, but also sets down the groundwork for a much larger story. I thought the action was strong, and the worldbuilding fascinating. Brett has created in The Demon Cycle what D&D players would call a ‘Points of Light’ setting (http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/drdd/20070829a) where only a chosen few brave the dangers of the wild in search of a greater purpose.

I really enjoyed The Warded Man, though I haven’t yet finished book two, The Desert Spear.

The Daedalus Incident – by Michael Martinez

I had the fortune of reading The Daedalus Incident for a blurb, since both Mr. Martinez and I are represented by the fabulous Sara Megibow.

Here’s what I said for my blurb:

“The Daedalus Incident is Master & Commander by way of Spelljammer smashed into a effortlessly believable 22nd century Martian mining project. Tremendous fun.”

The novel weaves together two stories – that of a tall ship traveling through the planetary system by navigating the Aether (here’s your Master & Commander meets Spelljammer) and mysterious events that threaten a mining project on mars. I found both leads to be well-drawn and compelling, and the novel’s climax is really cool.

Due to the current uncertainty around Night Shade Books, this novel’s release is uncertain, but I hope that many more readers will get to enjoy The Daedalus Incident, and soon.

A Natural History of Dragons – by Marie Brennan

Marie and I go way back. She was one of the members of a critique group that adopted me when I was a wee baby writer in undergrad. She and others helped show me the ropes and introduced me around at parties at my first writing and academic conferences. I’ve been following her work since she published Doppelganger and Warrior & Witch with Warner Aspect, and I was all of the excited to get to read A Natural History of Dragons, which applies her Anthropology and Archaeology knowledge to a fantasy world reminiscent in some ways of 18th Century Europe. The novel combines a travelogue/memoir style with the pulp adventure of a King Solomon’s Mines or Indiana Jones, as Isabella grows up enchanted by dragon of all sorts. The bulk of the novel describes her first big adventure, investigating the dragons of Vystrana with her husband.

Probably the best part for me is the advantages Brennan gains and exploits from the POV. The novel is told in he form of a memoir written by Isbabella in the autumn of her life, looking back and describing her youthful misadventures with the wit and charm of a grande dame who has been there, done that.

Since starting my job at Angry Robot, I’ve had the delightful opportunity to read more, both for work, and for my own pleasure, since far less of my life is spent driving places. I love audiobooks, but in order for an audiobook to play at the speed I read, it has to lose all of the nuance of the performance, which I find unacceptable.

Thusfar, I’ve finished 18 novels in 2013. Some I’d started in late 2012, so my reading rate isn’t quite as impressive as that # might indicate. Some of the books I’ve read I can’t talk about yet, because they were for AR/SC/ExA acquisitions, and the contracts are still in the works. But as those clear, I’ll add them to my review/reflection queue.

Perhaps the happiest part is that even with all this reading, I’ve also written about 50K words of my own prose so far in 2013.

Here’s Part One of my 2013 reading list (Books marked AR, SC, or ExA were read for work, coming from Angry Robot, Strange Chemistry, and Exhibit A, respectively):

Embedded (AR) – This was my first Dan Abnett book. Abnett has an incredible momentum to his prose, it sweeps you up and carries you along. His fluency and density of technojargon is reminiscent of Neuromancer, if a bit less hard to penetrate. I really enjoyed the central conceit of the book -where a journalist is beamed into the mind of a private security force soldier in a ‘don’t call it a war’ conflict on a colony planet, then has to step up after a head wound that incapacitates his host’s conscious mind. We have a new book coming from Dan late this year called Monstercide, and I’m totally jazzed for that one having read Embedded.

Emilie & the Hollow World (SC) – This book by Martha Wells takes the trope of the Hollow Earth and re-approaches it through the eyes of a teenage girl trying to escape a constricting life to make her own way in the world. She stows away on a ship, not knowing that the ship was going to travel through the aether currents of the ocean to emerge inside the center of the earth! This has both a classic Jules Verne-y feel and the freshness of a YA perspective. Definitely recommended for younger teen readers and fans of less-dark Steampunk-ish things.

Changes – Book twelve of Jim Butcher’s hugely popular Dresden Files series is aptly named. Almost everything about Harry Dresden’s status quo is upset in this novel, which was, honestly, a tremendously bold narrative choice. It seems like there’s a temptation in a long-running successful series to just keep the status quo, adding new adventures but not rocking the boat. Well, in Changes, butcher blows holes in the boat, sinks it, dredges the river to get the boat back and then blows it up. I give Butcher props for taking the bold steps he did, but I really felt the hand of the author in this novel – there were several big things that I felt happened more because the author wanted them to than because they would happen due to the logic already established in the world. But a fantastic ride, and the end battle sequence was amazing.

Fortress Frontier – This is the second book in Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops series, following 2012’s Control Point. Control Point was one of my favorite 2012 reads, and I found Fortress Frontier to be even stronger, in concept and execution. Colonel Alan Bookbinder is an army logistician who’s never seen combat. Until he manifests as a latent (magic user) and gets whisked away to run logistics for an embattled fortress in the magical realm. Things start bad and then get worse for poor Alan, but with some help, he rises to the occasion. Along the way, Cole deepens the world he set up in Control Point and builds toward even cooler things yet to come.

‘Salem’s Lot – I didn’t read much Stephen King growing up. I read Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three on Semester At Sea back in 2003, but that was really it. Since my girlfriend Meg is such a huge King fan, I took her up on her offer to have my King reading curated. She gave me Carrie first, which I thought was magnificent. ‘Salem’s Lot was much harder for me to get through, partially because I picked it up and put it down so frequently (I was traveling during the time I was reading, and I was also spending a lot of time writing). The way that King develops the town so thoroughly in the novel before the Bad Shit (TM) starts to fly is truly amazing. King has what I find to be a truly enviable skill at character sketches – he can use 500 or so words and paint a clear picture of nearly anyone – giving you their passions, their weaknesses, and their perspectives on the world. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more King. I think The Stand will be next.

Zenn Scarlett (SC) – This debut novel by Christian Schoon is one of my favorite Strange Chemistry books yet. Schoon tacks away from the standard formulae of many teen novels and focuses entirely on the journey of the titular Zenn in her studies as an exovetereranian on a Mars cut off from Earth. The character is well-developed and compelling, and Schoon’s creatures are marvelous and strange. Zenn Scarlett has the Sensawunda I associate with my favorite classic Science Fiction tales, making it a real treat.

What have you read this year that stood out? Please share your reading list below.

A while back, Google announced a contest for spots in a Google Glass test program called Glass Explorers.

I entered with this message:

#ifihadglass I would use it to help refine my historical martial arts scholarship, connect with readers of my novels, and grow closer with friends from around the world.

I included these three pictures:

Today, I got this message:

“Hi Mike, thanks for applying! We’d like to invite you to join our #glassexplorers program. We’ll be sending you a private message with more details in the coming weeks — keep an eye on our stream at Project Glass.”

Woah.

Here’s some media coverage of the contest.

http://techland.time.com/2013/03/27/google-picks-8000-winners-of-glass-contest/#comments

It’d cost $1500 for the unit, and it’d probably be a goodly bit of work – since I imagine it’s basically a buy-in beta test. But there’d also be a ton of upsides, in terms of ‘Cool thing! Let me do everything with it!’, blogging/writing about the technology and the effects it has on my daily, work, and social life, and, to be honest, “Science Fiction author tests formerly Science Fictional technology as it becomes real” makes a pretty good story.

It’s not locked in until I get the details, so I may not end up doing the program, but it’s very cool to have the possibility to help bring Science Fiction into reality.