Happy Halloween from NASA and ESA!

Halloween's origin is ancient and astronomical. Since the fifth century BC, Halloween has been celebrated as a cross-quarter day, a day halfway between an equinox (equal day / equal night) and a solstice (minimum day / maximum night in the northern hemisphere). With a modern calendar, however, the real cross-quarter day will occur next week. Another cross-quarter day is Groundhog's Day. Halloween's modern celebration retains historic roots in dressing to scare away the spirits of the dead. Perhaps a fitting tribute to this ancient holiday is this view of the Ghost Head Nebula taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Similar to the icon of a fictional ghost, NGC 2080 is actually a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way Galaxy. The Ghost Head Nebula spans about 50 light-years and is shown in representative colors.

Friday Night Cat Blogging

Seashell cats sussurates sussertively



I'z teh picture of decorum and tranquility
and not teh lest bit tippziez



Grarr!



I'z an art catz!

Vote on Tuesday it's in your Genes

Just in time for the election, scientists may have found the liberal gene.

More Coverage

Any writer will tell you that getting the cover art for your book is exciting. It is, in essence, both you and your book's face to the world; your chance to make that critical "first impression" and, hopefully, gain a new reader.

It's also pretty cool because, you know, someone is making a picture based on your words! *squee!*

Except, they aren't; or not really. The publisher is making an approximation of your words, based on what they think will help sell the book. And that, as we all know, can be very subjective, both in terms of what works and what looks good.

Truth be told, most of us don't have a lot (or in most cases, any) control over what appears above/below/behind our name on the cover. At best, we get consulted about any ideas we may have for the cover, maybe are shown a piece before it gets taken off to the approval meeting, and, on a good day, get to offer some insight or suggestions along the way. As to what happens with those suggestions in the meeting? Well, don't faint holding your breath.

As a debut novelist, you pretty much take what you get. I was lucky in that I was asked for some suggestions, but for the most part, they were along the lines of "We were thinking of this...any suggestions or comments?" and "Here's some pics of what your character looks like to me -- thoughts?" and "Can you write up a description of your main character for the artist?" To be honest, having heard plenty of cover horror stories (and seen a few as well), just being asked was a thrill. You want to hear what I think? Really? *squee II*! Of course, all the caveats I mentioned above apply, and all applied to me. I offered feedback, was politely corrected or deflected as necessary, and came out with a couple of good covers despite all that.

In other words, I got lucky. Very lucky.

I posted my U.S. cover for Among Thieves (published by Roc) here the other week. Now I have the good fortune to be able to post my U.K./Australia cover as well (published by Tor/Macmillan U.K.):

Like I said: very lucky indeed. And I didn't even have to hold my breath and faint. :)

(Release in U.S., U.K., and Australia are all slated for the beginning of April, 2011.)

Friday Cat Blogging On Monday

So, I was without internet Friday afternoon and couldn't post my cat blogging. Here 'tis, much belated with the original captions included.

What do you mean, you're going away for the weekend?




What do you mean, you're going away for the weekend?



What do you mean, you're going away for the weekend?



What do you mean...ooh sun!

Quidditch World Cup... For Real?

Okay, I love Harry Potter as much as the next guy, but how stupid is this? Quidditch World Cup to be held in Manhattan.

I'm sorry, but the slid show of the guy running with a broom between his legs makes me sad. What's the point of Quidditch if you can't fly?

Big News in Fandom

SF3 has officially disinvited Elizabeth Moon as Guest of Honor for WisCON 35. The statement doesn't explain why, but I suspect there's hardly a soul in science fiction fandom that hasn't heard a whiff of Moon Fail.

Brain Empty

So, I'm done with the first book in the Chronicles of Aral Kingslayer and it's left me completely wrung and kind of empty feeling. Not my normal pattern with a book. My head feels like there's been a fire inside that just burned the whole thing hollow.

Space LOL

Since we have some cat pic fans here, I thought I'd "re-tweet" this link I got from Tor.com = Science Fiction LOL Cats

R.I.P. Realms

According to their publisher, Realms of Fantasy Magazine and Dreams of Decadence are dead.

My very first short story sale was to Dreams of Decadence. I still have a photocopy of the check for the astounding amount of $9.23. The story, "Irish Blood" was reprinted in BEST OF DREAMS OF DECADENCE an Ace mass-market paperback (March 2003).

Damn.

Friday Cat Blogging

Bored pieta.



I'd eat you if it didn't mean moving.



Could you untie my feetz?



Zombie otter sez "brainz!"



As soon as lazer eyez finish chargz yer toast!



Guest cat Coconut iz ready fer clozeups.

October 13 NASA Photo of the Day (2 Days Late)

Will the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) end up in a museum? Probably not, as when it finally goes bust, current plans call for it to be de-orbited into an ocean. But this won't stop likenesses of the famous floating observatory from appearing in science museums around the globe, sometimes paired with amazing pictures it has taken. Pictured above, in a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the launching of Hubble, a replica of the telescope was given a picturesque setting in the Italian Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti in their beautiful and historic Palazzo Loredan. The scene there appears perhaps a bit surreal as the deep space imager appears over a terrestrial tile floor, surrounded by the busts of famous thinkers, and under arches reminiscent of Escher. If you're lucky, it may even be possible to find an exhibition of Hubble images near you. And if no HST model appears there, you could always build your own.

Commentary Courtesy of NASA.

The Thick Plottens... on Gilese 581g

Cool article today on .io9 about a second planet in the Gilese system that skirts the edges of habitability, which may be looking at the warmer Gilese 581g with diabolical intentions!

If I ever get my act together and write about this planet, the story keeps getting scientifically more interesting.

Check Me Out!

My alter ego got a new reviewing gig over at the Science Fiction and Other ODDysseys. She/I is/am particularly excited because she gets to review graphic novels, comic books and more.

WTF??

...We were JUST missed by an asteroid this morning!* Apparently, TD54 came within 28,000 miles of us.

Um, eek?

*Unnerving knowledge brought to my attention thanks to an SF Signals tweet.

Link-ity Bits

You may be able to see Hartley 2 Comet with binoculars tonight.

Tor.com has a two chapter sampler up of PASSION PLAY by Beth Bernobich.

There's a bit of a controversy that's been going on about race and cover art and the discussion continues on Bitten By Books.

(Mainstream?) debut novelist Ruiyan Xu talks about how to start a writers' group over on Galley Cat.

We Got Cover!

The final cover art for "Among Thieves" came across my e-desk over the weekend. I have to say, I'm rather pleased...

You should be able to find it on shelves at the beginning of April, 2011. (Whee! :)

More Grist for the Mill

From Wired Magazine's Danger Room comes this cool article about America's future cyborg army.

Okay, which one of us will be the first to combine all the cool stuff about the new Twilight planet and cyborg armies??

Friday Cat Blogging

Lazy Friday Afternoon Nap Cat



Lazy Friday Afternoon Nap Cat



Lazy Friday Afternoon Nap Cat



Lazy Friday Afternoon Nap Cat

We're #2!

A new Harris poll shows that of the people who read fiction, a surprising percent (surprising to me, anyway,) read science fiction. Maybe there's hope for my alter ego's comeback, after all!

Literary vs. Genre Fiction

I saw this editorial in Apex and was reminded of the conversation we had at Wyrdsmiths about literary fiction.

Also, on a similar sort of note, yesterday, SF Signals: Mind Meld had a piece on the next big genre stars, in their own words. Though clearly there's been some mistake, as no Wyrdsmith was interviewed for this piece. I did notice one local boy made good though... see if you can spot him.

More about planet Zarmina

I love that the folks over at .io9 have been geeking out almost as much as I have over the new planet Zarmina (Gliese 581g,) which is the planet that was discovered in the "Goldilock's Zone" (not too close, not too far) from its red dwarf sun to support life. Today, they have up a poster gallery of Zarmina 100 years after colonization...



For myself, I'm fascinated by the fact that Zarmina/Gloaming/Gliese 581g doesn't rotate on its axis. It's in the same kind of orbit around its sun as our moon is to us. In the article I read, scientists have speculated that the temperate zone would be right along this horizon/twilight line. How weird/cool is that? Plus, since it doesn't rotate, I spent a good portion of the day trying to imagine weather on this world. It's going to have one hot side, one cold side, and a line of moderate temperatures, but no spin... does that mean the weather will be static? Or will there be constant storms where the two halves meet?

Of course, I'm already starting to try to figure out any religion/spiritual concepts sentient life on Zarmina/Gloaming/Gliese 581g might have. So much of our own culture is based on the fact that we have day and night, sun and moon, and other groups of two that it would be interesting to try to figure out how someone might conceptualize a worldview where there was dark, light, and in-between. And time would be quite meaningless,* since it would ALWAYS be sunrise (or sunset) and that would only change if you moved closer or further from the horizon/twilight band.

Does anyone know if it has a moon? I suspect it can't attract one without spin, but I don't really know. Do Uranus's moons roll around it, since it's rolling head over heel in space?

You can see why I don't write a lot of space SF. Although I suppose I know just enough to be dangerous, which is, in point of fact, the perfect position to write from. I may just have to set a story here, just because I've spent far too much of my waking hours trying to imagine living there already.

-----
* My friend Rachel told me via my LJ: "What I found interesting about Gliese 581g is that its year is only 36.6 days. If its orbital eccentricity is high enough, that could conceivably make up for tidal locking to produce an analog to seasons. Except they'd only be a week long or so (if there were three per orbital period)." EXTRA COOL!

Morning Bits and Pieces

I followed Lucienne Diver's link on Twitter to this: Misty Massey: What They Really Mean, which is a humorous take on what reviewers are saying when they review your book. I didn't find it particularly laugh-out-loud, but I'm also extremely lucky that haven't gotten that many negative reviews... except for the one I can still quote almost verbatim, which ended with the line: "Less of Morehouse is better." :P

Also, the October issue of Apex is up.

I'd also like to point out the continuing discussion in the comments of the post about Self-Promotion, an Argument For. Perhaps ironically (tellingly?), only Wyrdsmiths have weighed in... which makes a case that none of us know anything about promotion, since we seem to be the only ones reading our blog. Or, perhaps makes my/their case that only stellar content attracts readers (depending on whether you believe this blog has is or doesn't have it.) :-)

Royalties and Backlists

Over on his blog, Jim C. Hines analyzes his royalty statement. The charts and his discussion are plenty interesting all by themselves, but he just casually says a couple of things in his blog that really resonate with my experience.

First of all, I have to say that I'm impressed that Hines has so many books that have earned out. It apparently takes me a lot longer to do that (perhaps I'm slightly better paid). However, I'm only JUST NOW getting royalties for my second book, Dead Sexy, which was originally published in 2007 (and had a Romance and Science Fiction Bookclub h/c edition.) So, of five books, two of them now earn royalties.

But, on the flip side (and knocking liberally on wood) at least all of my books are still IN print, which by five years into Lyda Morehouse's career all her books were out of print.

Which is why I agree that having in-print back list is really important. It's tough to encourage readers to pick up book #4 in a series (even if you wrote each to stand alone) when #2 is already out of print, which happened to me as Lyda.

Secondly, Hines says, "Some authors who get that bajillion-dollar advance for their first book. I’m not one of them. The slower but steady approach seems to be working for me though, at least so far."

This is something I think about a lot. I have had fits of absolute jealousy over other authors' advances, but one thing I try to keep in mind is that it's much harder to earn out a "bajillion" dollars than it is ten thousand. And, while a bajillion dollars would be nice to have in pocket, I have to imagine that unless you happen to actually be the one-in-a-million that actually earns out the bajillion, your editor/publisher will have to be disappointed in your sales figures. Whereas, if you at least break even for them, they might be more likely to keep hiring you for those midlist jobs that someone's got to fill, right?

Though I still dream of a bajillion dollar advance, I think I'd continue to trade it in for a long and glorious career.

Self Promotion, the Argument For

Since we've gone back and forth on this blog about the effectiveness of author self-promotion, I'd like to point out an interesting discussion going on. Catherynne Valente has this lovely post that makes a lot of sense to me, personally. It is apparently a reaction to something Sarah Prineas said over here.

Astronomy Photo of Day

Like brush strokes on a canvas, ridges of color seem to flow across this scene. But here, the canvas is nearly 3 light-years wide and the colors map emission from ionized gas in the Lagoon Nebula, recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. Also known as M8, the nebula is a star forming region about 5,000 light-years distant in the constellation Sagittarius. Hubble's remarkably sharp, close-up view reveals undulating shapes sculpted by the energetic light and winds from the region's new born stars. Of course, the Lagoon nebula is a popular target for earthbound skygazers, too. It features a prominent dust lane and bright hourglass shape in small telescopes with wider fields of view.

Photo and commentary courtesy of NASA.

Friday Cat Blogging

I haz a flavr and it is itchy!



Black cat expands to fill the negative space.




Why would I want a cat door when there's a perfectly
good people door for you to open for me?



The body is ready myaster!