The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful

Hi all. It’s Shelly. I’m supposed to write this post, but as I’m already proficient at self-aggrandizement, I talked DWD into taking this one for the practice. He only agreed if we can call it “public enthusiasm”. I told him to look up “denial” and “narcissism”.

Thanks, Shelly. Uncomfortably insightful as always.

In February I was a panelist at Life, the Universe, and Everything sci-fi and fantasy symposium. I attend each year to learn the fiction industry, to share with other authors what gross and geeky medical stuff I know, and to meet new people who love the speculative art and fiction scene.

This year, I met with a publication group who serialize novels online, then release them as paperbacks, ebooks, and audiobooks. Big World Network. They liked my stuff, I liked them, so I signed on. Coming in May, Houses of Common will be available in weekly episodes, both text and audio, narrated by the author, complete with foreign accents! Six months after a 12-week season, the episodes will be compiled and available for purchase. Until then, the ebook is still up on Amazon. As if that wasn’t enough good, I’m also putting up a soundtrack tab on this blog, an unofficial playlist of what’s in my head as I write. A theme song for each character, if you will.

Now for the bad. I’ll be narrating Houses of Common for Big World Network, but won’t be doing any new writing until July. I’ve been a physician assistant for six years now, and the time has come to take my re-certification exam. Pass a test, keep my job. No pressure. Short-term bad with a good outcome. But wait, there’s more bad! The Houses of Common sequel, Meaner Sort, was originally scheduled for release in April, but aligning calendars with everyone in the project means it’s now going to be late May. Bad, but not too bad, because Chris Miller’s editing skills are fantastic and well worth the wait. He works with Angela Eschler at Eschler Editing, an amazing group if any of you are authors looking for an editor. Angela also got me in contact with Steven Novak who did the cover of Houses of Common.

Which brings me to the beautiful. Steven also did the cover for Meaner Sort. Wanna see it? Here it is!

 

That’s the news. Except for a little more good. 

So far, my studying has been mostly listening to lectures while running and biking instead of sitting at a desk. Why? Because I have a grudge match with a certain Ironman triathlon in June. This time I’ll have the Link rescuing Zelda ending instead of the Anne Shirley tragedy. Or maybe the Tony Stark finish, complete with Black Sabbath playing in the background.