My Other Car is a Spaceship is still climbing the charts

Still at Dragon Con in Atlanta this weekend. Still having a blast! And my sci-fi thriller, My Other Car is a Spaceship, continues to climb the Amazon charts. It's currently at #16 in the Military Sci-Fi list and #19 in the Space Opera list. Here's the link for 12 Amazon sites around the world: http://smarturl.it/MyOtherCarSpaceship.

Dragon Kaaaahhhhnnnn!!!

I'm at Dragon Con in Atlanta this weekend. Having a blast!

Meanwhile, I see that my sci-fi thriller, My Other Car is a Spaceship, is still climbing the Amazon charts. It's currently at #24 in the Military Sci-Fi list and #26 in the Space Opera list. :)  Here's the link for 12 Amazon sites around the world: http://smarturl.it/MyOtherCarSpaceship.

Here's the finished, hi-res cover for My Other Car is a Spaceship

This beautiful cover was created by a talented artist from the Czech Republic, named Adam Pizurny. Click on the image to see it in all its glory.

Here's the link to the book on 12 Amazon websites around the world: http://smarturl.it/MyOtherCarSpaceship 

You can reach Adam at https://www.facebook.com/AdamPizurny on Facebook, or http://adampizurny.com (website).

Here's the NEW COVER for My Other Car is a Spaceship

So what do you think of the new cover vs. the old one? The old one was more colorful, but the new one is more exciting:

This is the difference between a serviceable but basic cover made by the author (due to time constraints) and one made by a professional artist. :) While the old cover was vague as to what the book was about, I think the new one does a much better job of showing that it's military SF/space opera.

Here's the link to the book on 12 Amazon websites around the world: http://smarturl.it/MyOtherCarSpaceship  The Amazon page still has the old cover. It'll take a day or so for the new one to filter down to all the sales pages.

My Other Car is a Spaceship is rocketing up the charts!

*** Update! This morning the book reached #29 on the Military Sci-fi list and #32 on the Space Opera list! ***

Sorry about the bad pun, but this morning My Other Car is a Spaceship broke back into the Top 100 listing on Amazon for Military Sci-fi at #99. By noon it was up to #85, then #78 by 3 p.m., then #51 at 7 p.m., and by 10 p.m. it was up to #46. Woo-hoo! It's also at #63 on the Space Opera Top 100 list.

Here is the link to 12 Amazon sites around the world: http://smarturl.it/MyOtherCarSpaceship

Frequently Misused/Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 94

Very unique

Wrong: This is a very unique example of Etruscan pottery.
Right: This is a unique example of Etruscan pottery.

Unique means one-of-a-kind. Something either is or isn’t unique, just as a woman either is or isn’t pregnant. It can’t be slightly or moderately or very unique (or pregnant). “Very,” in this case—as in most—is redundant. It’s akin to “gilding the golden lily.”

This is an excerpt from my upcoming self-help book for writers of all types and skill levels, "Frequently Misused/Misspelled Words and Phrases (and how to use them correctly)"

First review for My Other Car is a Spaceship!

My new military sci-fi/space opera novel, My Other Car is a Spaceship, has been out for only four days, but it's selling like gangbusters. (Yesterday it hit the Top 100 for military SF.)

It just got its first review on Amazon. *****Five Stars***** The review is short but oh-so-sweet: 

"A very enjoyable, action pack[ed] military [SF] against pirates. Well worth buying. I started and could not stop reading it. I will definitely buy the next book in the series."

It’s available on Amazon in 12 countries: http://smarturl.it/MyOtherCarSpaceship 

New cover for the upcoming Sunrise Destiny paranormal/detective sci-fi novel

Here's the new cover for Sunrise Destiny. It's a paranormal/detective/alien-abduction sci-fi thriller. :)

 

The book should be out around October 1.

My Other Car is a Spaceship became available a few hours early!

It was supposed to go on sale after midnight Eastern time tonight in the U.S. but somehow it ended up going live at 4:12 p.m. instead. Even weirder is that when I discovered that fact an hour later, there were already two copies sold. I have no idea how people found it already, but I'm happy they did. LOL!

The introductory price is US$1.99 through September 20, 2014. Here's the link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MV0GMVI

In case you somehow missed all the previous postings of the cover, here it is:

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 93

From my upcoming book, Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases (and how to use them correctly).

People vs. Peoples vs. Persons

Wrong: The many people of Africa offer diverse cultures.

Right: The many peoples of Africa offer diverse cultures.

Wrong: The incredibly huge number of peoples in India leads to economic hardship and health problems.

Right: The incredibly huge number of people in India leads to economic hardship and health problems.

Wrong: We’re hunting for three specific people who escaped from jail.

Right: We’re hunting for three specific persons who escaped from jail.

The word people refers to a group of human beings in a general sense. But a people is used for a body of people sharing a similar culture. When discussing multiple such bodies of people, use peoples. Persons is a plural of person, naturally, and refers to particular individuals, even if unidentified (as in “person or persons unknown”).

The cover for Frequently Misused/Misspelled Words and Phrases (and how to use them correctly)

Here is the cover of my upcoming self-help book for all types of writers (fiction/nonfiction/business/emails, etc), Frequently Misused/Misspelled Words and Phrases (and how to use them correctly).

What do you think of it?

The official release date for My Other Car is a Spaceship is August 20, 2014!

The release date for My Other Car is a Spaceship is August 20, 2014. It will come with an introductory price of US$1.99 until September 20, 2014. 

In case you haven't seen the cover before, here it is:

ISEE-3/ICE probe is back in operation!

This is so cool! In 1978 NASA launched a probe (International Sun-Earth Explorer; ISEE-3) to investigate comets. Its mission complete, in 1997 NASA sent the probe a shutdown signal. But in 2008 NASA discovered that the probe was still operating, had plenty of fuel, and was on a course to bring it back near Earth in 2014.

NASA considered trying to regain control of the probe and retask it with a new mission, but money was short and NASA no longer had the equipment and software necessary to interface with the 30-year-old probe, nor the money to rebuild and reprogram as needed. So they dropped the idea.

Then, in April of this year, two men, Dennis Wingo and Keith Cowing, decided to see if ISEE-3 could be saved by dedicated civilians, using crowdsourcing for funds. With the assistance of NASA and the staff at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, and a lot of hard work by a lot of people, on May 29th they succeeded and took control of the newly rechristened International Comet Explorer (ICE).


They hope to be able to reprogram the probe to chase another comet. But equally interesting, to me at least, is that the probe will have a lunar flyby no more than about 30 miles above the moon. Who knows what it might observe?

I found out about this amazing achievement just today, from a "blag" written by Randall Munroe at http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/05/30/isee-3/#comments. He links to this report from the ISEE-3 Reboot Project with a lot more information (and links) about their progress: http://spacecollege.org/isee3/we-are-now-in-command-of-the-isee-3-spacecraft.html.

I hope I got all the details correct. If not, sue me. Or, better yet, follow the links I provided to see the details for yourself. Once again, enterprising individuals were able to do what government bureaucracy could not (and probably at a fraction of the money NASA would have needed to accomplish the same result.)

Last chance to get The Mars Imperative for $1.49!

The introductory price of US$1.49 for The Mars Imperative ends on August 14. This is your last chance to buy it before the price goes up. 

How about this double rainbow?

I spotted this on my way home from playing golf. I was two blocks from home and just had to stop to take some pictures. I think know exactly whose house to dig under to find that pot of gold!

The Imperative Chronicles, Books One and Two: clarification

For anyone who is more interested in the plot of The Tesserene Imperative (Book Two) than that of The Mars Imperative (Book One), or who doesn't want to get "hooked" on another never-ending book series, there is something you should know. These two books are only loosely connected. Yes, they're set in the same fictional universe, but the stories take place a decade apart, with different characters. And where The Mars Imperative is set in our solar system, The Tesserene Imperative takes place almost entirely in deep space.

For comparisons, think of Saberhagen's Berserker series (Berserker Throne, etc.) or McCaffrey's Brainship series (The Ship Who Sang, etc.), each with different characters and stories, with only slight overlap between them.

Therefore, either book could be read alone, or in either order, without affecting your enjoyment of them. I do, however, have plans for a third book to follow The Tesserene Imperative. I thought it would be fun to have an adventure involving characters from both books working together. (The working title is The Galactic Imperative.) 

There is also the possibility some day of a prequel (Book 0?) to The Mars Imperative, set two decades earlier and involving two of the secondary characters from The Mars Imperative at an earlier point in their careers, but that's speculative at best. I have no plans for any other books in the series, so you don't have to worry about The Imperative Chronicles turning into a Game of Thrones and having to wait a decade for me to finish the series. Except for Book 3 (which would benefit from reading Books One and Two first), the others could be read in any order--or skipped entirely. (You wouldn't do that, though, would you???)

Introductory prices expire soon!

The introductory US$1.49 price for my sci-fi novel, The Mars Imperative, expires on August 14. So now would be a good time to buy it, before the price increase. The same introductory price will expire for The Tesserene Imperative on August 28, so there isn't a lot of time left for that one either. :)


Here are the links for the two books:
The Mars Imperative
The Tesserene Imperative

New book cover postcard for My Other Car is a Spaceship

Here's a low-res image of how the new postcards will look when they arrive in a week or two:

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 92

Snuck vs. Sneaked

Wrong: He snuck in through the back window.

Right: He sneaked in though the back window.

Sneak is the past tense of sneak (to move surreptitiously). Snuck is simply a nonstandard variation. It is used quite often in dialog to give the speaker a certain relaxed vibe. But it shouldn’t be used in formal writing.

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 91

Udder/Udderly vs. Utter/Utterly

Wrong: That’s udder nonsense!

Right: That’s utter nonsense!

Wrong: She was udderly oblivious to the destruction behind her.

Right: She was utterly oblivious to the destruction behind her.

Don’t laugh! I’ve seen this entirely too many times. An udder is the large baglike mammary gland (teat) of female cows, sheep, goats, and other four-legged mammals. Udderly isn’t even a word.  Utter has several meanings, including (as a verb) to produce audible sounds or speak, and (as an adjective) complete, total, or unconditional. Utterly is an adverb meaning completely, totally, or absolutely. This is a case where “udder nonsense” is utterly nonsensical.

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 90

Foo-pa vs. Faux pas

Wrong: Did you hear about her foo-pa at the gala last night?

Right: Did you hear about her faux pas at the gala last night?

Faux pas (pronounced FOH-pa) is a French term (literally “false step”) for an embarrassing social blunder or slip in manners, etiquette, or conduct. In the above example, it was the speaker who committed the faux pas.

Book cover wars!

Hold the presses! We have another contender for the cover. Bear in mind that despite the whimsical title, the story is hard military/space opera. So which cover do you like better? One font probably fits the title better, while the other fits the story better. But which is more eye-catching?

New cover for My Other Car is a Spaceship

Here's a sneak peak at the cover for my upcoming military/space opera sci-fi thriller, My Other Car is a Spaceship. It should be out late this month. (Click on it for a larger picture.)

What do you think?

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 89

Literally vs. Figuratively

Wrong: I was literally buried under paperwork yesterday.

Right: I was buried under paperwork yesterday.

Wrong: Having a baby literally ended her life.

Right: Having a baby ended her life, figuratively speaking.

Literally means actually. Therefore, unless a huge pile of papers actually toppled over and trapped you beneath it, don’t say literally. If that was what happened, you might be advised to wear a medical alert bracelet so the search-and-rescue team can find you, in case it ever happens again—or change to a safer job.

If you’re not speaking literally, but using a figure of speech or metaphor, then say figuratively.

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 88

Here's another one:

Expresso vs. Espresso

Wrong: I like to start every morning with a strong shot of expresso.

Right: I like to start every morning with a strong shot of espresso.

Espresso is a delicious hot beverage with quite a caffeine kick. Expresso isn’t. In fact, it’s nothing, not even a real word. So don’t use it.

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 87

From my upcoming book by the same title.

Eldest vs. Elder

Wrong: The eldest of their two daughters is getting married next month.

Right: The elder of their two daughters is getting married next month.

Use elder when referring to one of only two; use eldest when referring to one of three or more.

Later!

Dragon Con!

My wife, daughters, and I will be attending Dragon Con in Atlanta later this month. We'll be wearing T-shirts with the covers of The Mars Imperative and The Tesserene Imperative on the front and back of the shirts. Here are thumbnails of how the shirts will look:

Walking billboards. What do you think?

We will also distribute postcards containing a cover on the front and the book blurb on the back. Here's an example:

Frequently Misused and Misspelled Words and Phrases, part 86

I've decided to resume posting bits and pieces of my upcoming book by the same name. No idea when it'll be done. It currently has over 250 entries. I'll have to decide when there are enough to publish.

Allude vs. Refer

Wrong: She kept alluding to the particulars of the annual report.

Right: She kept referring to the particulars of the annual report.

Right: Mr. Kellar frequently alluded to the neighborhood where he grew up.

We refer to something directly or allude to it indirectly. (Sports commentators, for some reason, seem to misuse allude frequently.) Rather than saying a woman has put gained a lot of weight late in her pregnancy, we might allude to this by saying she’s “very pregnant.”

More later. 

The Tesserene Imperative is now available.

The second edition of The Tesserene Imperative: Book Two of The Imperative Chronicles is now available on Amazon, for the low introductory price of USD$1.49.

It's an action/adventure Sci-Fi novel of survival, exploration. discovery and first-contact. It follows The Mars Imperative, but a decade later and in deepspace. 

The crew of Shamu find themselves in an asteroid belt, their ship riddled with holes from a micrometeoroid swarm. They have less than three days of air left, little water, a destroyed starflight drive, and no hope for rescue. They have to rely on their own creativity and determination to survive. If they can do that, there's an amazing discovery to be made that will open the stars to all of humanity--or doom it to extinction.