How do you make your Internet presence something that sells books rather than just a succession of pictures of your cats? I've still got slots in this Sunday's class, Building an Online Presence for Writers." Come find out best practices for blogging, privacy, social media, SEO, and more, as well as free online resources for writers. $99 for new students, $89 for former students. Drop me a comment or e-mail to save a slot in the class.So I have a story coming out next month in Clarkesworld Magazine, “Tortoiseshell Cats are Not Refundable.” I’m very pleased to appear again in Clarkesworld (past stories are I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said, Whose Face This Is, I Do Not Know, The Mermaids Singing Each to Each, and Worm Within) and it’s a story that I like because it’s got some humor and some seriousness all blended together in a way that I think is less of a downer than some past stories have been.
I have seen the cover for the March issue of Asimov’s, which contains my novelette, “All the Pretty Little Mermaids,” and which even features an illustration drawn from the story, although I don’t know the artist yet. Hurray! That’s the second time I’ve appeared in Asimov’s, and I’m very excited about it. I also have a non-fiction piece appearing in the March Analog, an interview with Bud Webster about his new book, Past Masters and Other Bookish Natterings.
Other stories that should see print in 2014 are: Memphis Barbecue, a southern steampunk story (AIRSHIPS AND AUTOMATONS); dark fantasy story A Brooch of Bone, A Hint of Tooth (BY FAERIE LIGHT); Summer Night in Durham, which involves a tattoo artist, a vampire, and a parking lot confrontation (STAMPS, VAMPS, and TRAMPS); and Hoofsore and Weary, a fantasy story set in a new part of Tabat’s world, the Rose Kingdom (SHATTERED SHIELDS).
Want access to a lively community of writers and readers, free writing classes, co-working sessions, special speakers, weekly writing games, random pictures and MORE for as little as $2? Check out Cat’s Patreon campaign.
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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Adventures in E-Publishing: First Book is Out!
Well, the first of the mini-books is out, HALLOWEEN QUARTET. (Non-Kindlers, don’t despair. I’m working on the Smashwords version today.)
The description: A quartet of short horror stories by fabulist Cat Rambo. Follow the mystery of “Whose Face This Is, I Do Not Know,” weep with “Niobe in the Rain,” enjoy a spoof on reality TV with “So Glad We Had This Time Together,” and fear the ancient forces exposed in “Pumpkin Knight.”
If you check out the Amazon listing, feel free to click that Like button or agree with some tags…
Some thoughts and observations:
Because some of the content is available online, Amazon flagged it and made me write in to clarify that I had the right to publish it. It also meant I couldn’t enroll the book in the Select program. This is something I may want to take into consideration in future books, since that program has some advantages. If I want to be able to use the KDP Program, though, I’ll need to either only use stuff that isn’t available on the web or ask some sites to take stuff down (which I doubt I would do, that goes against the grain, somehow.)
The biggest pain in the butt? The cover. I’m going to look for someone who wants to swap cover design for story crits, because as you can tell, I’m not so hot at it. But it’s adequate.
I did the document in Word. Things like installing jumps from the ToC was pretty easy. In the future, I may indent less, since it ended up looking a little weird.
And, serendipitously, another e-book is out today. A SEED ON THE WIND is the first part of a two-part series set in the world of the Fathomless Abyss.
Recent Stuff: Book! More Book! I Like 2015 So Far!
Here I am with one of my personal heroes, Connie Willis. In Chez Rambo, we have a frequent saying: What would Connie do?I’ve announced it on social media, But I haven’t blogged about it yet, so I wanted to pass along some terrific news.
As some of you know, I have a novel that is the first volume of a fantasy quartet that I’ve been shopping around for a while. It’s a great pleasure to be able to announce that BEASTS OF TABAT will appear this year from Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta’s stellar Wordfire Press. Now that I have some confidence that the books will appear, I’m finding that words on the second book, HEARTS OF TABAT, are flowing much much MUCH more easily, and that’s been my primary focus this week.
But! I have additional great news, which is that Hydra House will be publishing a second two-sided collection from me, this time full of fantasy stories. NEITHER HERE NOR THERE will also be appearing in 2015, which makes this a great year so far and we’re only halfway through month one.
I’ve also updated my About page with the appearances that I know of so far in 2015. I think I will be in Oklahoma in early May, but am still nailing that appearance down. In any case, it looks like it will be a fun year, and one thing that I’m particularly looking forward to are the Nebula Awards, which take place in early June in Chicago.
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