Well, the new cover for Scimitar Moon is coming together.  Nothing like a new cover to get you all jazzed up!

Let me know what you think!

Thanks to Gwen at Dragon Moon Press and her great graphic artist for this cover!

Hey everyone, heres a sneak peek of what’s up at DragonCon as far as SF/Fantasy lit panels are concerned.  I’ll be on a few of these.  Special book deals for anyone who comes up and says they read this blog post!

Small Press/Self Publishing
Keeping up with the Scientists - Candice’s suggestion
Xenoarcheologist’

s Road Show
Media Tie in panel
What Women Want in their SF
SF Classics: Laying the Foundations
Is there a Doctor in the Story?
Night of the Living Dead Authors (or have I used that one already?)
SF Jeopardy
Baen presentation
Decandido interviews Foster
Stein interviews Harris
Q&A with Gene Wolfe
My Brain Hurts! writing and reading time travel
Y’All vs. You Guys: Regional SF with an emphasis on what makes Southern
sf/fantasy different
That Can Never Happen! Things sf does that couldn’t exist or occur.
Found in Translation: Bujold Works in different languages
The Bloody Pulps
Gender Roles in SF/Fantasy
Time Traveller’s Ball in conjunction with the Alternate History track
You Say Religion, I Say Magic!
Bujold’s fantasies vs. her sf

Everyone prepare for a great DragonCon!

We are just about ready to pull out of Beaufort, North Carolina, famous for southern hospitality, and they aren’t kidding.  We pulled in a few days ago from an offshore run from Palm Beach, Florida, and all we wanted was peace and quiet.  Well, there is a fishing tourney going on here, so every morning 157 boats go roaring out the channel, and every night they come roaring back in.

We found a nice secluded spot, checked out the local nautical book store… oh, hold me back… and met some friends just in from the Bahamas.  Aside from some minor boat projects, I’ve been spending most of my time editing “Nekdukarr” the second in “The Cornerstones Trilogy”.  About half way through, now, and I might just meet my end of June deadline… Cross those fingers.

If you want to follow our sailing adventures, please check out www.sailmrmac.blogspot.com

Few things in life, after months of preparation and hard work, than to spend a few days doing nothing but the basics: reading, writing and relaxing.

We have been planning and working so long for this new beginning, that, when it finally got here, and all our preparations were finished, that first night off the dock seemed surreal.  Now, after almost a week with nothing occupying our time but thinking of our next anchorage, where to snorkel, swim or walk, and what the characters of the three books I am working on are doing.  There is something about salt water, I am convinced, that clears the mind and nurtures the soul.  Ask any sailor.

Six days, and nearly as many chapters… nice.  When I can produce one first draft chapter a day, I’m happy.  And I find that being happy, being truly content with where you are and what your are doing, is the best tonic to a writer’s soul in the world.

For those of you who are interested, Scimitar Sun, the sequel of the soon-to-be-released Scimitar Moon from Dragon Moon Press, is well underway.  Also, Nekdukarr, the second in The Cornerstones Trilogy, is in it’s second edit version, and Jundag, the culmination of the trilogy, is in it’s first edit.

So stay tuned, and check into our sailing blog every once in a while to see where we are, what we’re doing and what new projects are coming out.

And don’t forget that third R…

I gotta say, I’m loving my new PEEK Pronto.  I’m not much of a techie addict, but I do like to know when someone is trying to send me an important e-mail.

The joy of the device is that it is simple.  You get your incomming mail on a cellular network, can view attachments, and reply to e-mails with a (tiny) keyboard… my thumbs are too big, I’ve discovered…

Basically, it lets me know when I have to find an internet cafe’ and log in…  Other that that, what do I need?

Well, the time has come.  Our last day in a marina, and tied (literally) to the rest of the world by four dock lines and an electrical cord, has arrived.  After one hell of a going away party (for pictures of said debauchery, visit our sailing blog) we are doing some boat yard maintenance and hitting the high seas.

Well, hopefully the seas won’t be too high, and we won’t actually be “hitting” anything…  Yikes!

One of our major concerns for our voyages has been how to stay connected to family, friends and business (publishers and consulting clients) without busting the bank.

Through the cruising community, we’ve come across many options: An aircard for our PC’s would run about $200.00 and $70.00 per month for service on a cellular network (US only).  A Blackberry would cost anywhere from  $100.00 to a whopping $300.00, and a staggering $190.00 per month for the full service family plan (still only domestic).  An I-phone is about the same, and just about all of them require a 2 year minimum contract.
A less expensive alternative we have come across is the Peek Pronto.

Now, this is no Blackberry or I-phone, and won’t surf the web, but it will do e-mail with attachments, works on a cellular network (T-mobile), and only costs $80.00, and $20.00 per month with NO CONTRACT.  We can also put our service on hold for the months that we will be out of the country, or pay by the minute for roaming if we want to keep it open for emergencies. Couple that with the near-ubiquity of Wi-Fi cafe’s, coffee houses, bars and restaurants, and I think we’ll be connected enough…

Maybe too much.

Wasn’t the idea of this to get away from it all?

I must say that I am enjoying Facebook.  I’m meeting friends I never expected, I’m finding old friends that I thought I’d lost track of, and I meet great authors that have much to say and much to offer.

Most recently, I found a new friend in Mitchell Plested, a fellow Dragon Moon Press author.  He had the wonderful idea of putting up little bios of all the DMP writers he could find… It was a cool gesture and a nice way to read about other writers… something I never get too much of.

Also, I stumbled upon Mitchell’s blog, Irreverent Muse.  This is a great resource for new writers.  A lot of stuff I wish I knew when I started out this mad, mad journey.

So get on Facebook, make some friends and poke Mitchell for me…  He deserves a poke…

This is a good old fashioned chiller, and the hair on the back of my neck will be standing on end for days…  Keohane has obviously done his homework on the classic “Lost Ark” legend, and brings in a few new twists that pay off nicely.  He writes believable characters, vulnerable but smart and “real”.  You all know what a stickler I am for real characters…  well Keohane pulls it off.

The pace escalates smoothly from the get go, and by the middle of the book, you don’t want to put it down.  Definately a page-turner.  The only fault I can find is that the end left me wanting more… but maybe there’s more coming…  Keep an eye on Keohane, he’s got what it takes…

Read it at Dragon Moon Press, or order it on Amazon.com, but read Solomon’s Grave!

I was recently in Portland, Oregon, and one cannot go to Portland without going to Powell’s Bookstore.  Powell’s is one of the fastest growing and original bookstores you will ever walk into.  They carry an amazing variety, all in a multi-level color-coded maze of wonderfullness…  Oh, yeah, my kind of place.

I was busily spending my hard-earned cash on my favorite thing in the world (books), when I found a an even more wonderful thing.  Gail Z. Martin’s Chronicles of The Necromancer had end cap placement in the SF/Fantasy section!  Her work has been getting some great critical acclaim, and is now getting the product placement it deserves.

Her books, available on Amazon.com here:

The Summoner: Book One of the Chronicles of the Necromancer [SUMMONER] [Mass Market Paperback]

The Blood King [BLOOD KING] [Mass Market Paperback]

Dark Haven (Chronicles of the Necromancer)

feature a hero that breaks a few old genre rules, a good necromancer.  She and I did a podcast on our diametrically opposed characterizations of the necromancer, which was a lot of fun. She is also getting some awesome reviews on Amazon.com, so drop by and give her a read.  She is a rising star you don’t want to miss!

Okay, I must apologize… I’ve been remiss in my blogging duties.  It’s time to catch up.

Here’s why I’ve fallen behind:  Four books coming out this year, quitting my job and going sailing for 3-5 years!

Suffice to say, my life is changing very drastically, and all at once.

First, I have signed a book contract with Dragon Moon Press for Scimitar Moon!  That’s right, my epic pirate fantasy has finally found a home.  Much thanks to Gwen Gades.  Check out their titles at Edge (they merged with Edge publishing in 2007).

Second, Anne and I have finally decided to do a major rewrite on our first ever effort. (OMG how much I’ve learned over the years).  The Cornerstones Trilogy is being born!  Book 1, Zellohar, should be out in February, and available at Megacon! Check out the cover for Zellohar on my Facebook Page.  Thanks again to the awesome Noah Stacy!

And finally, we have decided to live our dream and go sailing.  Anne and I have been preparing for this adventure since we met over twenty years ago, and we are finally to the point where we can really do it.  We have set a departure date of mid April, and have put our notices in to resign from our jobs.  Some final projects, and we set sail.

This will allow us to write, visit friends, make new ones, and really do some promotional work for Scimitar Moon and its sequels, which I hope to devote much time to while we travel.  We will put up a separate sailing blog here on Jaxbooks, just so everyone can see where we are and what wonderful people we are meeting…

This should be fun!