Tag: sci-fi

Review!

On By Luther M. SilerIn ReviewsLeave a comment

Melissa Barker-Simpson does a nice write-up of SKYLIGHTS over at her place.  Tomorrow: another interview!

THE SANCTUM OF THE SPHERE is live!

On By Luther M. SilerIn Writing3 Comments

Sanctum_72dpiMy third book, The Sanctum of the Sphere: The Benevolence Archives, Vol. 2 is finally officially available!

  • Digital version: $4.95
  • Omnibus print edition (Includes The Benevolence Archives, Vol. 1): $14.99

I’m pretty damn proud of this book– particularly of the print edition, as I’ve learned a lot about how to do layout for these things and, in my opinion at least, the book looks great.  As of this exact second (I’m administering an ISTEP test right now, so I’m actually writing this a couple of days early) the book already has one review on Goodreads, and it’s a 4.5 star review, so at least one person liked it other than me!  Hopefully by the time that link exists for you to click on there will be one or two more.

The back cover copy:

“Go rob that train.” Nice, normal. An everyday heist. 

But nothing is ever normal for Brazel, Grond and Rhundi.

A simple act of motorized larceny quickly explodes into a galaxy-spanning adventure for the two thieves. Blade-wielding elves, a fast-moving global war, a secret outlaw space city, incomprehensible insectoids and one impossibly lucky human are just the start of their problems. And that’s before they learn that someone from Grond’s past has gotten the Benevolence involved…

What is happening on the ogrespace moon Khkk?

Who are the Noble Opposition?

And what is the secret of THE SANCTUM OF THE SPHERE?

In which I’ve been keeping secrets

On By Luther M. SilerIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Screen Shot 2015-01-12 at 22.14.14Periodically I do an experiment with book prices somewhere and don’t overly publicize it just to see what happens.  As it happens, Skylights has been on sale at Amazon for 40% off for close to a week now, and sometime late tonight before I go to bed I’ll roll it back to its regular $4.95 price.

But until then, if you haven’t picked it up yet, and a $2.99 price point appeals to you?  Go for it.

THE SANCTUM OF THE SPHERE comes out in a month!

On By Luther M. SilerIn Writing7 Comments

Sanctum_72dpiIt’s coming.

My new book, The Sanctum of the Sphere: The Benevolence Archives, Volume 2 releases one month from today, April 28th.  As of right now I am a tiny bit behind schedule in finalizing the manuscript and the print and ebook versions, but nothing I can’t overcome, especially since my Spring Break is the week after this one.  I’ve been (mostly passively) advertising the book around here for a bit now, and have had a couple of formal posts (like this one, the full print cover reveal) about it, but it’s time to start thinking about more “official” marketing efforts.

Specifically, I’m asking for help.

Two different kinds of help, in fact:

  • Day One Reviewers.  Or, at least, first-week reviewers, although the more reviews I can have up on Amazon on day one the better.  If you’re interested, drop a comment in the post and let me know.  I’ll send you a free ebook once the copy is finalized; it has to be done (the book, I mean, not your review) by the 17th but my current plan is to have it finalized a week earlier than that.  You read it and leave me an honest review: at least on Amazon, but a Goodreads review is also appreciated.  Folks who reviewed BA 1 or my alpha readers are automatically approved; if you don’t fit into either of those categories I’ll probably send you a book anyway if you interact with me here or on Twitter enough that I recognize your name.
  • Rebloggers, well-wishers and interviewers.  I’ve already got a couple of most excellent people who are planning on doing interview posts as promo around release date; anybody else who is interested, regardless of how much traffic your blog gets, is gratefully appreciated.  Consider it an Ask Me Anything, only without Reddit.  So long as you post sometime around release date and link to this blog and the Amazon page for Sanctum, you can literally ask me whatever you want.  Let me know you’re interested via comments here, send me an email with your questions, and I’ll answer ’em and get back to you as quickly as I can.   I’ll also link to the interview from this site once the post goes up.  Rebloggers and well-wishers can have at it as they see fit.  I have been known to return favors, too, by the way.  🙂

One note on the request for reviews: I do not, at least not officially, participate in review swaps, although there are examples out there of authors where we have mutually reviewed each other.  If you’re an indie author and your book comes to my attention, I may well review it anyway, but I won’t lock myself into reviewing something just because you review my book.  I will probably help you out with promo later if you do an interview, though.

(Does that make me a dick? I hope not.)

It should go without saying, but: I genuinely appreciate anyone who is willing to help out here, despite that last paragraph.  Thank you in advance.

The Sanctum of the Sphere is available for digital pre-order from Amazon here.  You can also add it to your Goodreads shelves here.  If you haven’t read Benevolence Archives, Vol. 1 yet, you can get it for free from Smashwords or Openbooks.com, or you can pay $1.99 to get it from Amazon.

Thank you!

Mind doing me a favor?

On By Luther M. SilerIn Reviews, Writing2 Comments

begging-dogFor various marketing-related reasons, it’s come to my attention that having 20 (preferably positive) reviews for my books over at Amazon is considered a good and helpful thing.  Neither book is there yet.  If you’ve read (and, again hopefully, enjoyed) Benevolence Archives or Skylights, but haven’t left a review, it would help me out quite a bit if you’d be willing to do so.  There might be cookies or pie involved, somehow.

Thank you!

In which astronomy is the coolest science

On By Luther M. SilerIn Photography4 Comments

This is the dwarf planet Ceres.  It’s the largest object in the asteroid belt.  We’ve got a probe headed toward it right now, that ought to be in orbit around it on March 6th.   This picture was taken on February 19th.

What in the hell are those?

PIA19185_ipFurther detail here.

 

SKYLIGHTS Kindle Countdown Deal begins NOW!

On By Luther M. SilerIn Writing11 Comments

Final Cover Mock Med(Note: this post is stuck to the top of the page during the sale.  Scroll down for new stuff.) Beginning now, and running until February 10th, my near-future Mars exploration novel SKYLIGHTS is on sale at Amazon.  The sale is what’s called a “Kindle Countdown Sale,” meaning that the discount is going to start off very high and slowly decrease as the week goes on.  Make your purchase now to save as much money as you can!  (And, please, do that.  If you’ve been on the fence about this one, get it at $.99, because the higher I can drive my sales numbers in the first 40 hours, the more Amazon’s algorithms will take over for the rest of the sale.   If you’ve even thought about buying this book, get it in the next 40 hours.  It should be on sale the moment this post pops; if it’s still at regular price, give it an hour or so.  I promise it’s happening.  🙂

Here’s the schedule for the sale:

8:00 AM Feb. 3rd- Midnight, Feb. 5th:  $0.99
12:01 AM Feb. 5th- 4:00 PM Feb. 6th: $1.99
4:01 PM Feb. 6th- 8:00 AM Feb. 8th: $2.99
8:01 AM Feb. 8th- Midnight, Feb. 10th: $3.99

And after midnight on the 10th, it returns to normal price.

The print edition, by the way, is $12.95, currently discounted to $11.50.  That’s not included in the sale, but feel free to buy it anyway!

Wanna alpha read BENEVOLENCE ARCHIVES, VOL. 2?

On By Luther M. SilerIn Uncategorized15 Comments

I am mostly using humans who I know in the real world, and one blog-reserved slot is filled, but I’m looking for a couple more.  If your reading schedule isn’t already packed full for the next month or so and you don’t mind providing me with some feedback, either drop me a comment or an email and let me know.  Thanks!

EDIT:  I think I have enough people now, so I’m no longer looking for more alphas.  Unless you know me well enough that you read this and think “Well, he doesn’t mean me,” in which case I probably do actually but drop me an email anyway.  Thanks, everyone!