The ONLY Choice

Normally I don’t do blog-politics. But damn! This is the greatest thing that’s EVER happened in American politics.

The choice is clear: I'm voting independent this year!

Netbook

I just purchased one of these ultra light sub-notebooks people call “netbooks.” My primary reason is so I can carry it everywhere, write, check email and surf the web. My other reason: they’re just so dang cool.

I do have a perfectly good 15-inch laptop, but it weighs close to 7 pounds, and with power supply and other gear ends up feeling like 25 pound of stuff to lug around. And it’s big. And loud.

This netbook, the Dell Insprion 910 (a.k.a the Mini 9) weighs 2.2 pounds, just a tad more with its tiny power supply (which I rarely need). It has a dinky solid state hard drive 16 GB, but I’m not running any power apps or games, so that’s fine. I have an 8 GB SDHC card thrown in for movies and such.

There were plenty of other contenders, the Acer Aspire One and the Asus PC EEE 10 with bigger HDs, noisy fans, and slightly larger keyboards, but both with other issues that made the Dell the pick for me.

Speaking of fans, the Dell doesn’t have one. It has no moving parts and is utterly silent. It’s weird to work on a computer that doesn’t make any noise. I like it a lot. Zen almost.

The keyboard is 86% of normal size. Dell has made compromises like no dedicated F Keys (the function keys are in the center row as alternates). It works great for me. The other netbooks had a little flex to their keyboards, which would have driven me nuts. This Dell keyboarded is rock solid. One caveat: I have small hands, so you will definitely want to try one out if you’re going to buy.

Last, all these netbooks are fairly cheap: $300-500.

Let me know if you guys use a sub notebook or one of these newer netbooks. I’d love to compare notes.

There are more pics up on my facebook account (becuase blogger is not playing well with others today).

I’ll report back after I’ve written ten thousand words or so on it….

PNBA & Mortal Coils

Earlier this week we went to the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association convention in Portland. I wish I had more time to hang out. It was a great experience. I saw lots of old, and made plenty of new, friends.

The PNBA treats authors like royalty (I had my own fabulous handler!). I signed a ton of Mortal Coils galleys which were then given away at a huge dinner for the attending booksellers and librarians.

At this“Feast of Authors” they wined and dined us first and then had us spend about twenty minutes at each booksellers’ table talking about ourselves and our upcoming books (and what author doesn’t want to talk about themselves and their books?!).


Very cool.


Please invite me back next year PNBA!

Mortal Coils Galleys

Good News/ Bad News situation here.

BAD NEWS: I do not have a case of these.

GOOD NEWS: If and when I get a case, I’ll have a contest and give some away.

BAD NEWS: ...Which will not happened for a while yet.

GOOD NEWS: If, however, you are a bona fide reviewer at a newspaper, magazine, major website, or glamorous elite blogger in the SF/Fantasy/Gaming web-universe who wants to review Mortal Coils, then please send me your credentials and contact information and I’ll pass them along to the TOR publicist who can hook you up. (Please don’t claim you’re from the N.Y. Times and then send a P.O. Box or g-mail account as your contact info.)

TOR has warned me they may run out of galleys so send me your request and contact information ASAP.

Interview of HALO Writers

I’m a bit slow this week. “Geekscape Listener Interviews HALO writers....” has already been on most of the HALO sites. Still, in case you missed it, here’s me, Tobias Buckell, and Joe Staten talking about HALO stuff ™ after the HALO Comic Con panel.

Incidentally, we’re all frazzled having just gotten off a flight and being under the super-luminous interrogation lights in room 6A of the San Diego Convention Center for an hour.

Dry Water Review

I don’t like posting reviews; it seems a little self aggrandizing.

This one, though, made my day because I’m wondering how all the readers of my HALO novels will react to Mortal Coils—not a HALO novel, not even science fiction—fantasy even!

Then I spotted this recent review for Dry Water, one of my previous fantasy books.

"First, I am a "hard sci-fi" kind of reader, preferring space opera to most anything else. But Nyland (sic) captured me with his writing in the first two pages and never let go, with some truly great, descriptive writing and a very steady hand at situational character richness and detail. I like this author as he moves between different types of fiction. The writing is rich, the action is well-paced and engrossing and his characters are individual and engaging. I forgot I was reading a book on sorcery and black arts and got pulled right along in a strong and fast plot. Great read and a very pleasant surprise."

Thanks “J. Burke” whoever you are!

I’ll stop worrying so much and get back to writing.

E-Socializing

Because I didn’t have enough to do with finishing a novel, pitching three new projects, a full-time job, my beloved family, and dishes to do...I decided I needed to expand and do some electronic socializing.

So, heaven help me, I’m on Facebook now and Myspace.

I’m starting with Facebook. If you’re there, too, send me a friends request. Thanks.

I’ll get to MySpoace in a few weeks, but please understand if I don’t answer every MySpace query immediately.

This blog, though, will remain my anchor point. It will be where I post the best, juiciest stuff first.

Serious Chair

A decade ago I bought a decent chair for my home office...which over the years has slowly and methodically attempted to cripple me.

I tried every possible configuration to get it to be comfortable.

Understand that when I sit and write, sometimes I really sit for three or four hours straight, typing away (or not as the case may be). I know I need to get up every hour to stretch...but sometimes well, I’m writing!

Syne finally sat in the chair and proclaimed it a torture device.

It was time to get a “serious” chair.

This year my birthday came early and I got this: The Herman Miller® - Aeron® highly adjustable chair with leather armrests and wishbone lumbar support.

After fiddling with the bazillion or so adjustable features, it fits like a second skin, and I can sit for a very long time indeed.

Do you need a fancy chair to write? Absolutely not.

But considering I hope to spend a few more decades sitting and writing, and also figuring my mounting chiropractic bills—I thought the purchase justified.

*sits*

Ahhhh...

Worth every penny.

Now back to writing.

Proof Pages

In the slow march to producing advanced review galleys, the publisher sends the author proof pages. This is the copyedited manuscript that has been laid out with what is hopefully the final type and layout design (but not always).

The author painstakingly goes through looking for anomalies and errors and makes any alterations required.

And yes there are still errors.

At every stage, whenever anyone touches the manuscript, human error creeps in.

I am, however, delighted with the look and feel of these proofs.

I’ve included a few pictures so you can see too. (The crop marks indicate the final page dimensions).

In a few weeks it gets bound and sent off to reviewers. If I get a few I’ll have a contest here to give away a couple.

Mortal Coils Sighting!

I just saw that my forthcoming book, Mortal Coils, is up on Amazon.com! I haven’t spotted it on other bookseller sites yet (please drop me a note if you see it elsewhere and I’ll post the link).

I’m excited about this book. It’s epic: a storytelling arc that covers five novels and a million words. They are the best characters I’ve ever breathed life into. It’s a major leap forward for me, and I can’t wait for readers to get their hands on it. (Pub date is February 2009)

Here’s a sneak preview of the cover copy:

“Nothing interesting ever happened to fifteen year-old orphans, Eliot and Fiona while they’ve lived in the strict, oppressive household of their grandmother.

A chance visit, however, reveals that there is much more to the twins. They are the offspring of an immortal goddess...and Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness.

Now to settle the epic custody battle between these two families, the fallen angels create three diabolical temptations, and the immortals fashion three heroic trials to test Eliot and Fiona.

More than ever they need to stick together to survive and learn to use their budding supernatural abilities...for family allegiances are ever-shifting in the ancient, secret world they have entered.”

When cover art and more details become available, I’ll post them here. Stay tuned!