McIntyre Quartet Debuts at BookViewCafe.com

The STARFARERS quartet debuted at Book View Cafe on 20 December 2009. The four novels -- Starfarers, Transition, Metaphase, Nautilus -- will be serialized one chapter per week, and the full ebook versions made available for $4.99 each.

The episodes will be launched on Sundays at http://www.bookviewcafe.com/ and also available daily at McIntyre's bookshelf: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Vonda-N.-McIntyre/Novels/


The Book View Cafe Blog conducted a spirited discussion of the unique genesis of Starfarers as "the best sf miniseries never made," and speculated about who might play the main characters. You can add your suggestions for the cast at "Casting Starfarers."
http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2009/10/18/casting-starfarers/

Guest blogging today at BVC. Topic: tips on strengthening your writing with the right verbs. Includes a certain amount of barfing.

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/

BookViewCafe.com conquers Europe as science fiction author and memoirist, Chris Dolley, joins the team. Originally from the UK, but now living in France, Dolley has had two SF novels (Resonance and Shift) published by Baen. Currently he is working on a true crime memoir based on his own experience of having to track down the thief who stole his identity and life savings when he moved to France. He describes it as “A Year in Provence with Miss Marple and Gerald Durrell.”

For his debut, Dolley will be offering the first episode of Resonance, serialized especially for BVC. He will also be blogging on the topic of romance -- sheep style, and posting his spam email story -- Nigerian Tuna Spam -- which begins: I'm Fluffy the favourite kitten of the late president of Nigeria...

Visit Dolley’s bookshelf at BookViewCafe.com: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/Chris-Dolley-Bookshelf/

Watch for future offerings from Dolley on Saturdays at http://www.bookviewcafe.com.

Book View Cafe is now posting chapter one of my novel NIGHTMARE. Each week a new chapter will follow. Go look. It's free!

I got to see a preview of an illustration for my story "The Soul Jar," which will appear in the upcoming anthology THE SHADOW CONSPIRACY.  The illo is pretty cool!  Mechanical spiders and a ringmaster done as . . . I don't know how to describe the style.  Art shapes?  Anyway, I like it.

I have a free story up today on Book View Cafe, just in time for Halloween: http://www.bookviewcafe.com  It's not easy being a teenager, and being a teenage necromancer is even tougher.

When I joined Book View Cafe, I had no idea I'd become the Igor.

As a fundraiser for the web site, several of its members donated stories to a science fiction anthology eventually called ROCKET BOY AND THE GEEK GIRLS. The stories are a mixture of new fiction and reprints of classic stories. It's an electronic anthology, and we have plans to release it in Kindle, MobiPocket, PDF, and Sony Reader formats on October 31.

And it contains a preview of Book View Cafe's big new steampunk project THE SHADOW CONSPIRACY.

At any rate, releasing an anthology takes a lot of work.  There's gathering the stories, editing, copyediting, creating the cover, contracts, and, of course, formatting.  On the Book View Cafe boards, a call went out: who could format the book for e-publication?  I'd already put together four of my own books for the Kindle and knew the software, and my hand slowly crept up.

Abruptly my e-mail was flooded with stories.  I busily converted them to HTML, where I dealt with a whole host of issues--headings, table of contents, hyperlinks, stray codes, divisions, unexpected stupid font changes.  I became Igor, shlepping around the mad doctor's castle, trying like crazy to shore everything up behind the scenes so it would hold together in time for the experiment.  I even changed my icon on Book View Cafe's message board to Marty Feldman in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN.   "Igor! I need more Helvetica 12-point!"  "Yeth, Marthter!"

But now it's nearly done.  Igor is awaiting final galley edits from the authors (if he doesn't hear from you by Tuesday, he assumes it's fantastic), and then he throws the switch.  Lightning will crackle, the Internet willl pulse, and the mad editor will shout, "It lives!"

And Igor will slink back into the shadows to await the next pile of manuscripts.

But if you open the anthology to just the right section and examine it in just the right light, you might find, scrawled in nearly illegible 3-point French Script, the shy words, "Formatted, with pride, by Igor."

On Friday, September 25, historical fantasy author, Katharine Kerr, joins the BookviewCafe.com team.  Let the squee-ing begin!

Kerr spent her childhood in a Great Lakes industrial city and her adolescence in Southern California, from whence she fled to the Bay Area just in time to join a number of the Revolutions then in progress.  (You'll have to ask her for gory details.)  After fleeing those in turn, she became a professional story-teller and an amateur skeptic, who regards all True Believers with a jaundiced eye.  An inveterate loafer and rock and roll fan, she begrudgingly spares some time to write novels.

Kerr will be launching at Book View Café with her story, “The Bargain,” set in the fantasy world, Annwn, of her Deverry series.

Visit Katherine Kerr’s bookshelf at BookViewCafe.com: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/The-Katherine-Kerr-Bookshelf/Katherine-Kerr-Short-Stories/

Watch for future offerings from Kerr on Fridays at http://www.bookviewcafe.com.

Welcome, Katherine!

I forgot to mention--there's a free short-short story by me on today's Book View Cafe front page.  "Chain, Link, Fence."  Go read it!  It has sex in it.

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/

To celebrate the release of Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire, BVC is holding a twitter fic contest September 15-17. BVC members Seanan McGuire, Pati Nagle, and Phyllis Irene Radford will be judging the contest. Two winners will receive autographed copies of Rosemary and Rue.

The theme of the contest is: "Fairy Tale Noir."

Rules are online at http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/BVC-Twitter-Fic-Contest-6-Celebrating-Seanan-McGuire

The contest will be held at BVC's Twitter site: http://twitter.com/bookviewcafe/

Visit Seanan McGuire’s bookshelf at BVC: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Seanan-McGuire/

There's an interview with me in today's Book View Cafe newsletter: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Newsletter0107

I have a story on the front page of Book View Cafe today!

Human grandmothers knit sweaters.  Ogre grandmothers knit . . . . something else.

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/

or

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Patterns-In-the-Chain

Book View Cafe is running another twitterfic contest. This time the theme is Spies In Space in 140 characters or less.

For rules and prizes go here: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/BVC-Twitter-Fic-Contest-5-CL-Anderson  Have fun!

I'm guest blogging today over at Book View Cafe: http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/

To celebrate the release of C.F. Bentley’s book Enigma, BookViewCafe.com (BVC) will be holding its fourth Twitterfic contest August 11 through 13. BVC members Phyllis Irene Radford, Jennifer Stevenson, and Sarah Zettel will be judging the contest. First place will win a signed hardcover copy of Enigma. Second place winner will receive a paperback copy of Harmony, the first book in the series.

The theme of the contest is: "Spiders and Space Stations."

Rules are online at http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/BVC-Twitter-Fic-Contest-4-Enigma

The contest will be held at BVC's Twitter site: http://twitter.com/bookviewcafe/

Enigma continues the story of Jake and Sissy seeking a peaceful way to bring Harmony back into galactic society.

C.F. Bentley is the pen name of BVC member Phyllis Irene Radford. Visit Radford’s bookshelf at: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Phyllis-Irene-Radford/

Today's Special from Steven Piziks--me!:  Washerwoman - read it for free at http://www.bookviewcafe.com

After Monday, read it at http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Steven-Piziks/Steven-Piziks-Short-Stories/Washerwoman

BookViewCafe.com Welcomes Seanan McGuire

On August 7, urban fantasy author, Seanan McGuire, joined the BookviewCafe.com team. McGuire's short fiction has appeared in Ravens in the Library, Grants Pass, and The Edge of Propinquity. Her first of three novels, Rosemary and Rue, will be released by DAW Books next month.

McGuire’s short story, "Anthony’s Vampire," will be her first BVC offering and will be launched on the 7th.

Visit Seanan McGuire’s bookshelf at BookViewCafe.com: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Seanan-McGuire/

Watch for future offerings from Seanan McGuire on Fridays at http://www.bookviewcafe.com.

Welcome, Seanan!

Guest blogging this week (and every Monday) at Book View Cafe! http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/

Book View Cafe is only three members away from 1,000!  When we hit the magic number, several of our authors will select at random a member who will receive a prize, so lots of people will win.  But you have to be one of the first 1,000 members to be in on the fun!  Membership is free, so now's the time to join:

http://www.bookviewcafe.com/

BookViewCafe.com Welcomes Sarah Smith

This week Book View Café embraces author Sarah Smith into the fold. Smith has written the modern standalone Chasing Shakespeares (about the Shakespeare authorship controversy), and three historical mysteries: The Vanished Child, The Knowledge of Water, and A Citizen of the Country.  The Vanished Child and The Knowledge of Water were named New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Smith's historical mysteries have been published in twelve languages and in the UK, and have reached bestseller status in the US and internationally. Chasing Shakespeares has been made into a play, and The Vanished Child has been optioned for film.

Book View Cafe is launching Smith with her science fiction short story, “Seeing the Edge.” “Seeing the Edge” the first of a group of stories published together as Future Boston. It tells the story of Boston from 1988 to 2100, during which time the city sinks and aliens eventually discover it.

Visit Sarah Smith’s bookshelf at BookViewCafe.com: http://www.bookviewcafe.com/index.php/Sarah-Smith/

Watch for Smith’s Future Boston installments on Thursdays at http://www.bookviewcafe.com