Why cows are important to Servant of a Dark God
BSCreviews just published my guest blog “How to Get Ideas: Talk to Cows.” For those of you unfamiliar with the genesis of Servant of a Dark God, you’ll want to check it out.
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LDS Bookcorner
If you’re interested in fiction by LDS authors, check out ldsbookcorner.com for an easy way to preview books. Their Daily Chapter is a feature that allows readers to sign up at no cost and receive the first ten to twelve pages of a different book each week. It’s a great way to sample books by a lot of different LDS authors. Of course, this month is oh, so special because they will be featuring Whitney Award Finalist Servant of a Dark God. I think we know a little bit about that book around here 🙂
Servant of a Dark God Beads
Yes, you read that right. Valerie Moore, an Arizonan bead maker, read the book and loved it. After coming to the Poisoned Pen signing, she was inspired with a new bead design that she calls “The Grove,” after the Grove of Hismayas.She says, “I like when other people’s work speaks to me and I can release it in my form of art (which happens often enough through books or music). . . The Grove is a design, inspired by your work, made from polymer clay and 22k gold. The colors and design evoke a sense of depth, much like The Grove in Servant of A Dark God. It runs deep and true; like a network of roots. Earthy, deep and calm is what they “feel” like to me. The gold glints out like the sparkling of a soul, pure and shining and as yet untarnished. And in a way, think of the dragonfly “zinging” around. 😉 It must have gotten some funny cookies to eat.”
I say “hear, hear!” to funny cookies! I’m so stoked my story inspired her. I think the beads look great. More importantly, so do my girls, who are true bead heads (we dropped $50 on Black Friday at a bead shop, ack!). Check it out. If you want some for yourself, you can get them online.
Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game
Smart Pop publishes smart, fresh, and engaging articles on the best of pop culture TV, books, and film, with a particular focus on science fiction and fantasy television and literature.You want to hear what Scott Westerfield (Uglies, Pretties, etc.) has to say about Buffy? Go to Smart Pop.
What about Orson Card’s thoughts on Joss Whedon’s Firefly universe? Smart Pop.
What about the venerable Lawrence Block on Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series? Um, Smart Pop.
Strange. Do you see a pattern emerging?
Whether it’s Mad Men, House, Hunger Games, George Martin’s epic fantasies, Halo, True Blood, or Alias, Smart Pop gathers together New York Times bestselling authors, television writers, psychologists, philosophers, and others–folks who love of pop culture and have something worth sharing about it–and asks them to share their insights.
Recently, they’ve been putting together just such a collection on Ender’s Game. It’s called Ender’s World: Fresh Perspectives on the SF Classic Ender’s Game. It’s coming out February 2013. You can read more about it here.
I’m announcing this now because The Man was fortunate enough to be invited to contribute. I love Ender’s Game. LOVE IT. How cool is it that I get to write about it in an anthology edited by the folks at Smart Pop and Card himself? And then get to read what everyone else has to say, including military strategists Colonel Tom Ruby and Captain John Schmitt. As well as the little bits they’ll include on things like why the battle room is the shape it is and why they were recruiting kids.
But I’m also announcing this because in addition to the essays all we Ender-lovers get to write, Smart Pop is also going to include a series of Q&As with Scott Card, and they are currently soliciting the question from readers. FROM YOU. Right now.
You ever wonder about a character or part of the setting or event in Ender’s Game? Ever wanted to know what inspired Card? Ever wanted to ask any question at all about Ender’s Game? Now’s your chance. Just submit you question here: http://www.smartpopbooks.com/ask-orson-scott-card-a-question-about-enders-game/
You can see questions already submitted at Smart Pop’s Tumblr.
From a writer’s pov, I have to tell you that the folks at Smart Pop have been nothing but enjoyable and insightful to work with. I’m looking forward to this book!
Awful Intent #33 of Top 100 on Amazon
Today Awful Intent went on sale and is currently ranked #33 in the whole Kindle store. You can enlarge the screenshot below. Nice to be on a list with Harry Potter and James Patterson 🙂 To see it in it’s full glory, click on the screen shot, then click it again to zoom.
Edit 8/21/16: And it looks like its #5 in the Nook store.
SERVANT in Raley’s grocery in California
It’s official. SERVANT is in grocery stores outside of Utah. Saber2gecko saw and purchased a copy in a Raley’s grocery in the San Francisco Bay area then very thoughtfully posted that fact here. That chain has 144 stores. So not only is that great news for the book, but it also just plain rocks. I lived in that area for a few years. I love it down there. To know my book is circulating in the stores I used to shop is cool. Welcome to the Grove, California.This pass through CURSE is done!
Oh, this feels soooooooo good. Here are the stats.
- 58 chapters
- 205,000 words
- I received the green light midway through April. Finished 27 weeks later.
- Looking at my time records, it took me a total of 345 hours to finish this draft. And the lion’s share was new stuff. This took less time than it normally does for me, but it’s the freaking forth time through and I know the world and characters.
- I averaged about 13 hours per week. It still bothers me I couldn’t get that closer to 20 hours.
- This translates to a rate of about 600 words per hour, and that’s with daily edits, thinking, backtracks. I’m not going to win any speed contest, but at least I’m consistent.
Of course, it took me an additional 105 hours of work to finally get an outline we could agree on. If I add that, it brings my stats down a bit. But, overall, I’m pleased. For those who want to read an excellent article on writing productivity, look at Kevin J. Anderson’s “The Mathematics of Productivity.”
Now I need to take the next two weeks to cut about 10%. And fix the weather stripping on our French doors to keep the hordes of #@!$%! spiders from coming in. Wish me luck.
Note: it bugs me my bullets don’t show up. Some day I’m going to get someone to fix the stylesheet on this website.
