Tag Archives: writing

Buy a Book, Help My Teacher’s Injured Son

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Serious business here: Tomorrow — Wednesday, April 10, 2013 — a “book bomb” is in the works to push two of Dave Wolverton’s books, both written under his pen name of David Farland, to help cover the medical costs for his critically-injured 16-year-old son.


(Ben Wolverton, on a happier day.)

The particulars:

  • I’ve known Dave Wolverton since 2004, when we sat next to one another at Orson Scott Card’s Literary Boot Camp. Dave was already a professional writer and bestselling author, and took the course to pick up teaching tips. Then in 2008, I attended Dave’s Novel Writing Workshop.
  • Last week Dave’s son Ben was in a serious long-boarding accident. I can barely fathom the extent of his injuries: “severe brain trauma, a cracked skull, broken pelvis and tail bone, burnt knees, bruised lungs, broken ear drum, road rash.”
  • As of late yesterday, Ben was still in a coma.
  • Since Dave is a self-employed writer, and medical insurance for self-employed people can be problematic, they have no insurance.

Several folks close to the family have organized a book bomb — i.e., they’re asking people to coordinate their purchases to call special attention to select works — focused on Dave’s novel Nightingale and his writing book Million Dollar Outlines. I was one of the “beta readers” for Nightingale, and it’s a terrific story.


(Dave’s young adult contemporary fantasy novel.)

So if you happen to be in the market for a contemporary fantasy novel and/or a guide to putting together top-notch stories of your own, please consider buying one (or both) on this Wednesday to support Dave and his son Ben. And if you’re on Facebook, you can join the event page here.


(Some of Dave’s writing instruction, available in book form.)

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If you already own (or don’t want) the books, but still want to donate, you can send money to their family at this link.

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UPDATE, Wednesday morning: They’ve set up a website about Ben and his status, at http://www.helpwolverton.com/.

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Coming This Summer: ‘Truths and Lies and Make-Believe’

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With the help of my friends and family, I’m putting together an album of original music which I’m calling Truths and Lies and Make-Believe.

Truths and Lies and Make-Believe

I describe it as “a compendium of musical selections, inspired or influenced by science fiction, fantasy, life, and faith … a multitude of things.” The plan right now is for it to include ten original songs: mostly “filk” (genre-related music), but with a few other odds-and-ends thrown in as well.

Like all my other projects, this is a part-time endeavor — heck, these days it seems as if I’m living a part-time life — but I intend to finish and release it this summer. Exactly when this summer I’m not sure, so I’m not being any more specific than “summer.” As we make progress, I’ll post updates here on the Ghost Writer blog.

Meanwhile, you can get a PDF version of the flyer here, if you have some strange desire to share it your friends (or even your enemies). And don’t forget, “The Monster Hunter Ballad” is available now.

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LORE to Publish ‘A Star That Moves’

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I signed the contract and submitted the final edits to my science fiction short story, “A Star That Moves,” which is set to come out in the next issue of LORE (volume 2, issue 3, available in late March).

LORE Tomb by Wayne Miller
(LORE Tomb by Wayne Miller, from the LORE “About Us” Page.)

Here’s the story opening:

A little paranoia is healthy in a soldier, and Gaius Antonius Marcellus was a good soldier.

Marcellus did not question the prickly feeling of being targeted. He reacted to it. That reflex had left him with scratches instead of gaping wounds as he rose through the Legion ranks; it saved him from many Gallic spears in his campaigns as a Centurion; and it even warned him of political dangers through this first year as Legatus Legionis, the garrison commander. It had never failed him.

For half a month he had felt it–the hairs alert on the back of his neck–but he could not find the source. And facing the unknown was worse than facing an enemy’s sword.

And, yes, it really IS a science fiction story.

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My StellarCon Schedule

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StellarCon, an always-enjoyable student-run science fiction and fantasy convention, starts tomorrow in Greensboro.

I have the good fortune to be a guest, and my panel schedule is actually quite reasonable:

  • Friday, 9 p.m.: Reader Expectations and Stories – How do authors balance reader expectations and their work, and how should fans manage their own expectations?
  • Saturday, 11 a.m.: Editors – How Do They Work? – What do editors do and why are they necessary?
  • Saturday, 1 p.m.: Baen Traveling Roadshow – Find out what’s next from Baen Books, and maybe win a prize.
  • Saturday, 6 p.m.: Naming Names, Titling Titles – Discussion of our favorite and most memorable character names and book/story titles.
  • Sunday, 12 p.m.: Sex, Religion, Politics, and Aliens – The three subjects you’re never supposed to talk about and how to deal with them in genre fiction.

In addition to the usual panels, concerts, and general revelry, this year StellarCon reprises the Symposium On Nerdy Academic Research (SONAR), an honest-to-goodness academic conference — with scholarly presentations and everything! So there’s something for everyone at StellarCon, and I’m happy to be a part of it!

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Today is My Five-Year Blog-iversary

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I started this blog five years ago today. I can’t remember why.

My first post* explained that the blog was basically “a new attempt at getting our warnings out to the world” (referencing my alter ego’s practice of warning of impending storms). I’ve done a little of that: warning about the metaphorical storms I see looming off the coastlines of our lives. Perhaps I’ve done less of that than I should, though I’m sure I’ve done more than some readers would prefer. C’est la vie.

I’ve had the most fun keeping up the space history series. I actually started that in late August 2008, so its five-year cycle is coming to a close. What should I do then?

Over the last five years, I’ve averaged a new post every 2-3 days. Sometimes it’s been burdensome, but for the most part I’ve been able to fit it into my routine. How worthwhile has it been? I’m not sure. As self-indulgent as it is, I can’t help but feel that it’s ultimately meaningless, and qualifies as what the Teacher called “chasing after the wind.”

But, a few folks have told me they enjoy it, and that’s enough. So, thanks for reading!

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*All the old posts were moved from the original platform to WordPress earlier this month.

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This is My New Blog …

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Sort of the same as my old blog: Same name, same posts (transferred from the old one), but new software.

The main reason for the switch is the demise of the Space Warfare Forum; without that, there’s no reason to keep forum software running and to use its somewhat clunky blog interface. I suppose I could keep both going, but I can’t think of a good reason. (Anybody got one?) My hope is that keeping this new blog up and working will be a little less labor-intensive than the other.

Still working some of the kinks out — cleaning up the old posts that didn’t transfer quite right, figuring out what features to include and how to get all the little things to work — but even slow progress is progress. Not sure when re-directs will be in place.

So, for now, here it is.

Your thoughts?

GR-closeup-08

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Fallow Ground

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I confess to a degree of anticipation and trepidation I hadn’t thought possible, with respect to what I will find when I do my first editing pass on MARE NUBIUM. I’m letting the book lie fallow for awhile — turning my attention to some short fiction I’ve neglected over the last few months — and I find myself both anxious to get back into it and nervous that when I do, I won’t like what I find.

I told some of my fellow Literary Boot Camp alumni that I didn’t have this reaction when I wrote my first novel. This one seems more significant to me, for some reason.

I can’t put my finger on why, except at this point in my life I think I have more riding on this novel than on the first one. That one was a shot in the dark; this one was more carefully aimed and more carefully written, and how it fares when I start sending it out will pretty clearly indicate whether I’m dreaming an impossible dream, or one I might actually achieve.

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The End — of the Year, and My Novel

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I toasted the New Year early with cold medicine, and despite some occasional fuzzy thinking throughout the evening I finished writing my novel tonight at about 10:30 p.m. EST.

MARE NUBIUM — THE SEA OF CLOUDS now goes into some light editing before I release the draft to a few trusted readers. Hopefully the review and revision process will take less time than the writing did.

So, with thankfulness that I was able to meet that goal before 2008 expired, I say: Happy New Year!

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Day New Mon

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Okay, it’s really “denouement.” Apologies to everyone who took more French than I did … or, for that matter, more English.

Why is wrapping up loose ends so bloody tough?

The novel is 125,000 words long now. I think by the time it’s done — by midnight tomorrow, if I have my way — it’ll be right around 130K. I’m writing what I think will be the last chapter, in which two characters have to decide whether to stay at the lunar colony or give up and go home.

Tomorrow night could be a big celebration indeed … or it could be a frustrating evening of working while everyone else celebrates, because I’m determined to get this thing done!

So I’m going back to work on it now.

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