IWSG--When to Take a Break

It's time again for the monthly Insecure Writer's Support Group post. You can learn more about the IWSG on this site, and the co-hosts this month are listed below:

 Megan Morgan
Christopher D. Votey
Viola Fury
Christine Rains
Madeline Mora-Summonte
L.G. Keltner
Patricia Lynne
Rachna Chhabria 



Sometimes there are points in a project where I feel I have to force myself to put words down. Maybe I'm not sure what to write next, or maybe there are issues with the story contributing to writer's block. There's nothing wrong with taking a break to clear your head or even switching to another project for a while. Just make sure the break doesn't go on too long. Still, there have been short stories of mine that took several drafts with long breaks in between before I got them right. In fact, I do have a couple of stories that have been simmering on the back burner. It's hard to find the time to work on them when I have so many other projects that are important too. I hope that when I finish drafting the Season Avatars series, I can finish up some short stories before tackling my next long work.

Do long breaks from your work recharge your batteries or cause you to lose momentum? Feel free to share in the comments.

Chaos Seasons in the Real World

If you were in the Chicago area on Saturday, you probably noticed the drastic weather changes. All day, the weather swung back and forth between sun and snow. At times, the snow came down quite heavily, and there were also a few occasions where it was balled up like hail. On Sunday, however, temperatures climbed into the 70s. The weather reminded me of what I call Chaos Season, a magical weather storm that mixes up the seasons in the world of my Season Avatars series. Chaos Season doesn't only affect the weather, but also plants and animals. Flowers will blossom at the wrong time of the year, and birds will start to migrate. If the Season Avatars weren't able to straighten out the seasons, Challen would soon become an inhospitable place.

As the weather proved this weekend, drastic weather changes happen in the real world too. Here's a link to an article detailing some extreme weather changes. In 1943, a town in South Dakota experienced a nearly 50-degree temperature change in two minutes. In 1972, in Loma, Montana, the temperature rose 103ºF (from -54ºF to 49ºF) in 24 hours. Oklahoma City experienced a record high and record low on the same day in 1911. You can find more weather records on Wikipedia and CNN.

The strange weather on Saturday was good for one thing: it encouraged me to stay home and finish the rough draft of Fifth Season, Book Four in the Season Avatars series. Now it's on to drafting Book Five, Summon the Seasons. I also have to incorporate comments from beta readers and check formatting/layout for Chaos Season.

What's the most extreme weather you've experienced? Feel free to share it in the comments. 

Science of the Week: 4/1/16

Best of luck to everyone participating in the A-Z Challenge this year! I'm sitting this year's challenge out. I considered using my Season Avatars series as a theme, but I think it makes sense to wait until more books are out. Hopefully by next April, the series will be finished.

As tempting as it is to make up some science news stories for you this week, the following stories are all real:

An ancient killer: ancestral malaria organisms traced to age of dinosaurs

Biological mechanism passes on long-term epigenetic "memories"

GI tract bacteria help decrease stroke

"Siberian unicorn" went extinct much later than we thought

Saving sunshine for a rainy day

Not all mind wandering is created equal
(proof that not all who wander are lost)

Study explores carb-loading's effect on the heart

one crop breeding cycle from starvation

early-stage embryos with abnormalities may still develop into healthy babies

Underrepresented Fantasy Creatures

Although I have ideas for stories in the Catalyst Chronicles series, the Season Avatar series, and even some standalone stories, I keep coming up with more ideas to work on. One idea I might pursue after I finish the Season Avatar series is an urban fantasy with a dryad as the main character. I've always had an interest in plant spirits; in fact, one of my unfinished short stories involves spirits linked to house plants. One thing that makes dryads interesting is that you don't see them often in fiction. The Belgariad contains a part-dryad character, and Jim Hine's Libromancer series also features a dryad. I can't think of any others I've read about; how about you? What little-know fantasy races do you think should be the focus of more fiction? Feel free to leave your answer below.

Websites and Marketing

Thanks to the long weekend, I was finally able to update my website, which is here. I haven't changed the theme or basic layout, but I did update the front page with the most current news, reorganize a few pages, and update buy links for my works. I might play with the theme or background during the next update.

One thing I noticed as I updated buy links is that some of my short stories are only on Amazon or one other retailer. As I discussed previously on my blog, I decided to switch my distributor from Smashwords to Draft2Digital. In fact, I just had my Smashwords account closed last week. Now I have to decide if I should enroll some of my short stories in Kindle Unlimited (KU) or distribute them widely. Although KU doesn't pay as well for short stories as it used to, it could still introduce new readers to my work, and I've always done better on Amazon than on Kobo, Apple, or any other e-book site. On the other hand, exclusivity can backfire. It's also easier to enroll in KU than pull stories down from other sites. I know at least one regular reader of this blog who prefers to buy from Apple; does anyone else here buy ebooks from other places than Amazon?

Lindsay Buroker, an indie author and blogger, once recommended puttting up samples of your stories on your website for readers to download. I tried it for a while with Lyon's Legacy and Twinned Universes, but I'm not sure it made a difference. Would you prefer to download a sample from an unknown website or from a trusted one? I get all my e-book samples from Amazon, as I learn about new books from all the e-mail newsletters I subscribe to. They link directly to Amazon, and once I finish a sample, it's easy to buy the entire book if I choose to. So it might be better to just direct customers to the appropiate store.

There's still so much I have to learn about maintaining my website and marketing with it. Someday it might be worth selling directly through my own website, but I don't want to deal with collecting taxes. If I ever do sell directly, it'll probably be in conjunction with something like Gumroad.

How often do you visit author websites? What do you expect them to have?

Science of the Week, 3/25/16

Here are some of the most interesting science news stories I read this week:

More ancient viruses lurk in our DNA than we thought

Your brain might be hard-wired for altruism

Natural resilience to major life stresses is not as common as thought

We actively forget as we learn

Scientists eliminate HIV-1 from genome of human cells

Brad Pitt's and fruit fly's cowlicks controlled by cancer protein

Have a Happy Easter (if you celebrate it), and see you on Monday!

Tea Strainers, Form, and Function

At C2E2, my husband and son both bought a couple of Star Wars "goodie boxes" with T-shirts, lanyards, mugs, Bobbleheads, and other swag. My husband also bought a collection of Star Wars vs. WWII prints (WWII pictures with Star Wars images Photoshopped into them), and my son expanded his Lego minifigure collection. What did I get? I did buy a few Star Wars T-shirts and other trinkets, but I was mostly interested in tea infusers.

I decided a couple of months ago that I wanted to get some whimsical tea strainers instead of the plain metal mesh ones I already had. It seemed like a relatively inexpensive way to put a little more fun into my daily life, and since the three of us each drink different types of tea, we needed some more strainers anyway. There was a tea vendor at C2E2, so it was a good time to pick some unusual tea strainers and a couple of tea samples. See below for the tea strainer pictures:

 I actually had the Yellow Submarine strainer (a must-have for any Beatles fan) before C2E2, since I bought it online. The rest of the tea strainers came from C2E2. There's a frog and a sloth that hang from the edge of the cup, a dagger that rests in the cup, and (my favorite) a water lily that floats and has a submerged basket for tea leaves. The water lily also comes with a stand.

I haven't tried all of these strainers yet, but I have to admit some of them don't work quite as well as I thought they would. Certain types of tea are rolled into gunpowder pellets or pearls, and these teas require a lot of space to open while steeping. The submarine, dagger, and possibly the frog are a bit narrow for those teas, but they seem OK for long, thin tea leaves. The basket for the water lily does have enough room for pearled tea, but the flower tends to drip water when I remove it. The sloth seems to work pretty well for both .

Between the fancy strainers and the ordinary ones I already had, I now have plenty of tea strainers, so I don't plan on getting any more for a while. I don't really have much else to add to this blog post, other than noting that sometimes what appears to be an interesting design doesn't always function as you might expect it to. Do you have any personal examples of form not suiting function? If so, feel free to share them in the comments.

C2E2 2016

Although my family always accompanies me to cons such as WisCon and Chicon, they never actually join the convention. C2E2 was the first one they attended. It was also the first con (at least in a long time) that I attended as a fan, not a writer. (I did leave bookmarks in the fan area, but I don't know if people took them or if they were thrown away.)

Alex had no school Friday, so I took the day off. We took the train into Chicago and taxied to McCormick Place. We tramped all over before finding the Midwest Garrison table—even though it was close to our entrance. We got into costume for a while, but Alex had problems with his mask, and we had to take a break to fix it. Eugene joined us later in the afternoon, and while he went around with Alex, I checked out the show floor. We all suited up to get one of Alex’s books signed by Jeffrey Brown. (See photo.) We were also lucky enough to get an ARC of his forthcoming book about Stone Age kids. I walked so much on Friday I set a personal Fitbit best—over 21,000 steps! Needless to say, I was sore the rest of the weekend and scaled back on walking around.

Since we didn’t have a hotel room, we drove back and forth every day. This meant we got up much earlier than normal both days, but we were lucky enough to get good parking even with the crowds. Saturday morning, we shopped first, but we took too long and wound up missing the Star Wars group shot. In the afternoon, I went on a droid hunt. The Midwest Garrison handed out special badges, and I and other hunters went around, finding the people who were wearing them and giving them raffle tickets. As you can see, I managed to collect badges despite the poor vision I have in costume. At the end of the day, Eugene and Alex helped with the raffle drawing.

Alex and I suited up briefly Sunday morning, but we didn't troop very long. Eugene got into costume so kids could blast him with Nerf darts for Blast a Trooper, a fundraising event put on by the Midwest Garrison. Alex helped with that by collecting used darts and reloading guns. I spent the time at a self-publishing panel for comic book writers. (They face many of the same issues book writers do, but they have it tougher with print costs and distribution.) We walked around the main floor again before heading downstairs to hang out with the Midwest Garrison until the end.

 There were lots of great costumes: many Reys from The Force Awakens, Disney princesses, Spiderman, a group as the characters from Inside Out, and many more I didn't recognize. Surprisingly, even with all the other wonderful costumes on display, Alex and I gained a lot of attention when we were Jawas. (I just followed stated costume requirements for the 501st Legion, but apparently I make a very good Jawa. Must be the lack of height.) Lots of people took pictures of us; in fact, whenever we stopped to let someone pose with us, we'd get other people taking pictures too. We made the highlight video of Day 1 (we're posing with R2-D2), and I was even interviewed about comics.  

It's getting late, so I won't discuss all the loot we bought or considered buying. Although it was an exhausting weekend, with little writing, it was still a lot of fun. We're already planning to attend next year--and this time we'll probably stay at a hotel to make things easier.

Science of the Week, 3/18/16

Today is the start of C2E2. This will be the first time my family and I have attended this event. I'm not sure if I'll have a report by Monday (it depends on how late we stay there on Sunday), but if not by then, then Wednesday for sure.

In the meantime, here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

57 different pesticides found in poisoned honeybees

Retirement is good for your health

"Hey Siri, I'm depressed": Can smartphones answer the call for help?

A global increase in antioxidant defenses of the body may delay ageing and its diseases

Fish and insects guide design for future contact lenses

Want to avoid a cold? Try a tattoo or twenty

Could a pure maple syrup extract be tapped for better brain health?

My Hugo Nominations

No matter how much I read, I still feel like there's so much out there I haven't touched yet.  And of course, in order to read and write as much as I do, I end up ignoring almost all TV shows and movies. Still, with the Hugo nominations due by the end of the month, it's better to put something down in a few categories than not nominate at all. So here are my picks (you can make up to five per category):

Best Novel: Dark Orbit, by Carolyn Ives Gilman; and The Duality Bridge, by Susan Kaye Quinn

Best Novella: Sappho's Agency, by Lizzie Newell

Best Short Story: "Broken-Winged Love," by Naru Dames Sundar, in Strange Horizons

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form): Star Wars: The Force Awakens


The fiction nominations are split between traditional and indie publications. I have to admit I considered nominating my own SF Women A-Z: A Reader's Guide, for Best Related Work just for fun, but it doesn't seem right.

I know most of my blog readers don't care about the Hugos, but what do you think were noteworthy books, TV shows, or movies from last year? Feel free to share them in the comments.

And Now, a Haiku

I haven't written many haikus since finishing my year-long, haiku-a-day project, but today seemed like a good day for one:

Words won't be written.
If they flee me, how much worse
For dyslexic kids?

Science of the Week, 3/11/16

(This was supposed to post on Friday. Apologies for the confusion.)

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Hostile young adults may experience thinking and memory problems in middle age
(Bad news for Billy Joel's Angry Young Man)

Big and small numbers are processed in different sides of the brain

Scientists develop very early stage human embryonic stem cell lines for the first time

The costs of inequality: for women, progress until they get near power

Study links nitrogen pollution to decline of endangered species

Astronomers break cosmic distance record (again)

Lyon's Legacy Back to Permafree!

I guess the title says it all. I lost the free price-match temporarily after shifting from Smashwords to D2D as my distributor. Amazon finally picked up the price match on Monday. The Amazon link is here, but it's also available on B&N and Apple. If you weren't reading this blog when Lyon's Legacy first came out, here's the blurb:

Sometimes being a geneticist isn’t enough to understand your family....

Joanna Lyon is the great-granddaughter of the legendary TwenCen musician Sean Lyon. She may have inherited her ancestor's musical talent, but her parents' bitter divorce and her Uncle Jack's attempts to remake her into another Sean have left her hostile toward her family and music. Her passion is for science, but since she has no access to the family funds, she struggles to earn enough credits for graduate school. Then her uncle sets up a business deal with her employer to make Joanna go on a mission for him: travel via the spaceship Sagan to an alternate TwenCen universe where Sean is still alive in Chicago, 1962. Joanna must collect a DNA sample from Sean so her uncle can create a clone of him. She refuses at first, but finally agrees to go. Secretly, however, Joanna believes her uncle will exploit the clone, and she plans to sabotage the project to stop him. But when she falls in love with one of the scientists in the Sagan's genetics lab, clashes with other time travelers who fear she'll change how history develops on the alternative TwenCen Earth, and receives devastating personal news, Joanna will find herself pushed to her limit even before she comes face-to-face with her hated ancestor. Their encounter will leave her changed forever. Will she still be able to thwart her uncle's plan, and what will she have to sacrifice to do so?

 If you like it, don't forget to check out Twinned Universes!

Beta Readers Wanted!

I could use a couple more beta readers for Chaos Season, Book Three of my fantasy Season Avatars series. This book features Jenna as she not only deals with Chaos Season, but also deathbushes, the War Avatar, and a secret she's keeping from Gwen. I'd like readers to tell me if the characters are likeable, if the plot is interesting, and if there are any confusing/boring bits. The book is about 250 pages, and I need feedback by mid-April for my June release. Beta readers get a thank you in the Acknowledgements section and copies of all the books in the series so far. Please let me know if you'd like to read Chaos Season. Thanks for your help!

Science of the Week, 3/4/16

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Man moves individual fingers on prosthetic arm using only his thoughts

Learn how to fly a plane from expert-pilot brainwave patterns

Empathy related to anticipated emotional effort

In grasslands, longer spring growing season offsets higher summer temperatures

Tarantula toxins converted to painkillers

IWSG: Walking and Plotting

I finally remembered to update the badge for the Insecure Writer's Support Group! (Miracles will never cease.) Since it's the first Wednesday of March, it's time to discuss struggles you have with your writing or offer words of encouragement to others. For more information, please follow the link above.

Many writers have different attitudes towards writer's block. For me, when I have trouble figuring out what to say next, that often means there's a problem with the story. However, it's one thing to realize that, and another to fix it, especially when you're still in first draft mode and don't have someone you can brainstorm with.

I've been having problems with Fifth Season, Book Four of the Season Avatars. I'm near the end of the book, and I have a fair idea of how the climax will play out. However, even though I had some ideas jotted down, the last few pages I'd written weren't quite gelling. I went back and added some emotional reaction after a dramatic revelation, but that still wasn't enough to link what I had with where I needed to go. In fact, I was about to make something happen, but it didn't feel right.

We were fortunate enough to have some unseasonably warm weather the last couple of weekends, so I took the opportunity to walk around the neighborhood and let my mind wander. (I'm surprised it ever comes back.) This often turns into good plotting time for me. On one of my walks, I figured out that if I changed what didn't feel right about the current action, it could set up some important plot events and character development for later on. Not only that, but it helped set up a chain of events that would lead into the climax.

I've had to spend the last couple of days revising what I had, but I should be ready to move forward during my next writing session. Sometimes breaking the routine slightly can help you get out of a mental rut.

What's your favorite way to break your writing routine? Do you do something physical, or change your setup? Feel free to share in the comments.

Leap Day, The Day of All Seasons, and Luke

Happy Leap Day! I'm glad Leap Day fell on one of my normal blogging days, since it gives me an opportunity to share with you some of my early thoughts about the Season Avatars universe.

If you're unfamiliar with the Season Avatars series, it takes place in Challen, a country that is afflicted with a magical weather that mixes up the seasons--just like typical Midwestern weather in the early spring, but more extreme. In my first draft, this weather was called "Day of All Seasons," and it typically happened (if I remember properly) every four years, like a Leap Day. Currently, I call the magical weather "Chaos Season," which is much shorter and catchier (a plus when your first draft was about 170,000 words), and it can happen randomly (making life harder for my heroines).

Each heroine in the series is born on the first day of one of the seasons. The gods and goddesses of  Challen ensure that no one else in the country is born on that day. But what about if someone is born on the Day of All Seasons? In my original draft, that was a magical day, and no births occurred on it. If they did, the unfortunate child didn't live long. That was the case until Luke (nicknamed "Luke the Fluke" was born. He turned out to be the reincarnation of a magician who could do things the Season Avatars couldn't. Luke was young and not a very strong protagonist. In the current version of the story, he's been replaced by an artificer named Kron Evenhanded. His magic doesn't stem from a magical birthday; you'll have to read Seasons' Beginnings to learn more about him.

Do you do anything unusual to mark Leap Day? If so, feel free to share it in the comments.

Science of the Week, 2/26/16

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Five-dimensional black hole could "break" general relativity

Does sexual aggression alter the female brain?

Moving electrons around loops with light: a quantum device based on geometry

Increasing drought threatens almost all U.S. forests

Counting molecules with an ordinary cell phone

Climate change takes from the poor, gives to the rich

Title for "Earth's first animal" likely goes to simple sea creature

Multibooking

Before I bought my first Kindle, I normally read one book at a time. These days, however, I typically read multiple books in multiple formats, depending on what's available. At home, I may focus on paper books (since I seldom take them anywhere to read). If I have library books checked out, they get first priority since I only have them for a few weeks. However, I may also have another paper book of my own in progress. (I admit they tend to be last in priority these days, which explains why I never make progress on my paper TBR pile.) Of course, I'll have another book in progress on my Kindle, which I'll read when my husband is driving us somewhere, at night in a darkened room, or wherever I may have a few minutes. I also have a Kindle app on my smartphone. While I can sync between the phone and my Kindle, I don't always have an Internet connection to do that. So there may be times when I have another e-book in progress on my phone. I even listen to audiobooks while I'm driving or doing chores. This means I could have four or five books in progress simultaneously! Multibooking (as I like to call it) may seem crazy, but somehow I manage to make it work.

Do you read multiple books at once? If so, do you read in different formats or all one format? Feel free to answer in the comments.

Blurb for Chaos Season

I still need to contact all of my beta reviewers from Scattered Seasons to see if they would like to read Chaos Season as well.Some other major tasks I need to do for Chaos Season are talk to Maria about the cover and format it properly, especially the Table of Contents. One thing I have done is work on the back cover text. Here's what I have so far:

Jenna Dorshay t’Reve isn’t your typical farmer’s daughter. Blessed with plant magic, she’s been impatiently waiting to take her place as Summer Avatar of Challen. All she and her sister Season Avatars have to do is tame a Chaos Season, a magical weather storm sent to Challen by a wrathful demigoddess. They’ve done this many times in other lives, but now strange plants resistant to Jenna’s magic make Chaos Season worse. Even the assistance of the War Avatar, father of Jenna’s child, may not be enough to stop the plants. Before Jenna can conquer the deathbushes and tame Chaos Season, she must fully link with the other three Avatars in her quartet, but to do so means revealing a secret that can tear them apart.

 
Does it pique your interest? Do you have any suggestions for wording changes? Please let me know in the comments.

Science of the Week, 2/19/16

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Decade of rising seas slowed by land soaking up extra water

Male biology students consistently underestimate female peers

Scientists reveal new ice with record-low density

When machines can do any job, what will humans do?

Easter Island not destroyed by war, analysis of "spear points" shows

Mystery of disappearing asteroids solved

Half the world to be short-sighted by 2050


(The original post had Wednesday's date. I apologize for any confusion.)

Have a good weekend, and see you Monday!

Who's the Real Parent of Science Fiction?

I normally don't read SF Signal, and I don't expect many of my blog readers do either. However, last week, a controversial post stirred up discussion among some of my Facebook friends and writer groups. This post, called "Staying on the Cutting Edge of Science Fiction," discussed only white male authors. (The author said later in the comments section that he didn't remember reading any women authors. I guess I should send him a free copy of SF Women A-Z.)

What especially caught my attention about this post was that the author credited Kepler with writing the first science fiction story, a piece called Somnium. (You can find it online here.) As a member of Broad Universe, I have always considered Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to be the first science fiction novel, and I do take pride in having her as an role model. (At one point, BU had buttons that had an image of Shelley with the slogan, "Who's Your Mama?") Obviously, however, Kepler predates her considerably. Does the history of science fiction matter today? Well, we can only view the past (and future) through the lens of our own present-day views. If that lens is distorted, we miss a lot of detail and voices that enrich history.

Kepler's work describes a trip to the moon (the traveler is carried by daemons) and what he imagines life on the moon to be like. The story is framed as a dream, perhaps to make it less challenging to authority.

As I read some more about the history of science fiction on Wikipedia (OK, it's a starting place, not the be-all and end-all of research), I came across another early forerunner of science fiction: The Blazing World, by Margaret Cavendish, who was not just a duchess, but a scientist and writer. Her work is from 1666, a few decades after Kepler's. Her work also describes a trip to another world (the lady traveler is taken from her home and travels by boat to the North Pole, where she crosses into a utopia and becomes its empress).

One odd thing about the history of science fiction is that the Wikipedia article lists a couple of 17th century works and several 19th century works, but only one from the 18th century, when the modern novel started to take shape. Was there less interest in scientific fiction during this period? If so, I'd like to know why.

I'm currently reading The Blazing World, despite the long, rambling sentences and changes in spelling over the centuries. I also plan to read Kepler's Sonmium so I can evaluate how well both books match what I think of as science fiction. Since I'm used to more recent works, my bias may still incline me toward favoring Shelley. Even if her work may not be the first to be based on science, the way she used contemporary scientific knowledge for a novel application is a step beyond what earlier works did. However, even if Shelley may not be the "mother of all science fiction," thanks to the article in SF Signal, I've rediscovered the grandmother of science fiction, and she seems like a very accomplished woman. Let's not forget any of the voices that helped shape this genre.

Songs of Chaos Season

I'm between fifty to sixty pages from the end of the second draft of Chaos Season. As you might expect, a Chaos Season (a magical weather storm that mixes up the seasons) will be involved in the climax. I'm not sure if anyone else has written a story with this concept, but the idea has actually (and independently) inspired a couple of songs. Here's Sting comparing his lover's moods to the seasons:



Crowded House, on the other hand, is more melancholy when it comes to changing seasons. After all, have you ever thought that "wherever there is comfort, there is pain"?



I got the original idea for Chaos Season back in the early 90s, long before I heard either of these songs. (Ideas can't be copyrighted, only the expression of an idea.) Have you ever discovered a song that reminded you of a story? If so, what was it?

Science of the Week, 2/12/16

Obviously, the most important science news this week is the discovery of gravitational waves. It's not every day you prove black holes really exist and confirm both Einstein and Darth Vader were right. Here are a couple of articles on the topic:

Gravitational waves found: how we proved the power of the dark side

Gravitational waves discovered from colliding black holes

 Watch how gravitational waves dance across the universe (video)


Here are some of the other interesting science news articles I read this week:

A new-generation exoskeleton helps the paralyzed to walk

Online shopping might not be as green as we thought

Researchers seek efficient means of splitting water

Anti-aging drug rapamycin looks safe in tests

Gross creepy-crawly inspires robot design

Engineers 3D-print a new lifelike liver tissue for drug screening

New record for fastest data transmission


Have a good weekend, and I'll see you Monday!

Hugo Recommendations

As a supporting member of last year's Worldcon, I'm eligible to nominate works for the 2016 Hugo. (That is, assuming I ever get my PIN for the process.) While many fans may not care who wins, the awards are still prestigious. Although I read a lot of books last year, I'm not sure how many of them were actually published in 2015. I also haven't read a lot of short stories, graphic novels, or related works. And of course I haven't had time to watch TV (besides what Alex has on) or seen any other movies besides The Force Awakens. So if you have any recommendations, please feel free to list them in the comments. Thanks!

Series Evolution

Last week, I read Gentleman Jole and the Red Queen, the latest book in Lois McMaster Bujold's long-running Vorkosigan Saga. The series started thirty years ago and includes not just novels, but novellas and short stories. Most of the works revolve around the Vorkosigan family, in particular, Miles Vorkosigan. I wasn't sure at first I would like this series, since I don't read much military science fiction. However, Bujold not only mixes in a lot of humor, but she also incorporates other genres such as mystery and even romance. Although many of the stories feature Miles, other relatives (and even people with no link to him) are also point-of-view characters and even protagonists.

The characters in this series are neither ageless or changeless. The series starts long before Miles is even born, and in the latest book, he is in his mid-forties. The type of story he stars in has also evolved with the series. Some of his early stories were fast-paced and madcap, but various events have forced him to slow down. While I do miss the plots of the earlier works, it does make sense for his career to have changed over time. (I suppose I could always reread the series, but it's not the same when you already know what will happen.)

The latest book in the series is an autumnal romance, featuring Miles' mother as one of the protagonists. Some fans feel that Bujold has retconned a major character in this book, while others (myself included) feel that nothing happens plot-wise. (There are setups for conflict, but they fizzle out, IMO.) I have no idea if she intends this to be the last book. I think it does make sense for the themes and even the style to evolve as the series progresses. The difficult part is exploring new directions while giving fans what they want in these books. If Bujold does write more books in this world, I'd like to see her use POV characters from the latest generation. However, thirty years is a long time to work in a world, and if she has no more she wants to say about it, we have to respect that.

Speaking of series, I'm planning on releasing Chaos Season, Book Three of the Season Avatars series, this June. I'm targeting the summer solstice, since that is my main character's birthday, but of course I first have to finish revising the story before I focus on cover art, formatting, and all the publishing details.

What's the longest series you've read? Do you think it was uniformly good from start to finish? If so, why not?

Science of the Week, 2/5/16

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Scientists decode brain signals at nearly the speed of perception

Moon was produced by a head-on collision between Earth and a forming planet

How, not if, climate change affects cold blooded animals

 Energy-friendly chip can perform powerful artificial intelligence tasks

 Study shows North Atlantic Ocean CO2 storage doubled over last decade

"Quaggas" bred in South Africa

IWSG: How Many Books?

If it's the first Wednesday of the month, it must be time for another Insecure Writers Support Group post. You can learn more about the group here.

One of the things I've been hearing lately on my self-publishing e-mail group is that it can take at least five books in one genre, subgenre, or series for an author, especially a self-published one, to become established, or at least start to see steady sales. (I looked on the Smashwords blog and Authorearnings.com for evidence to support this, but I didn't find any. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, or maybe this number is only based on anecdotes.) Of course, some authors may hit it big with their first book, while others may write lots of books and never develop an audience. But aiming for five books will definitely help develop your craft and make it easier to market your work. For example, if you have five books in a series, you can set your first book to free or a bargain price to attract readers and place ads. You can also bundle books together to make them more attractive.

No matter how many books you have out, perseverance is necessary to succeed as a writer. It can take a long time to write a book, and it can take a longer time to develop a fanbase. Keep writing and keep publishing even if nothing seems to be coming of it. Every book or story out in the world brings you closer to your goals.

How many books do you think is the right length for a series? Do you like open-ended series, or do you like them to end after a certain number of books? Will you read an unfinished series, or do you prefer to wait until all the books are out? Feel free to answer in the comments.

Report on the Elgin Literary Festival

Last year, the Elgin Literary Festival was spread out over three days and was held in several different locations throughout downtown Elgin. This year, it was held on a Friday evening and all day on Saturday. Although some Friday events took place at the local library, most panels and activities were in a single building.

This year, I had the opportunity to be part of a Speculative Fiction panel Saturday morning with mystery/fantasy author EM Kaplan. It was a small panel, with about six people in the audience and a moderator, but I think it went well. We kept it general, discussing such things as subgenres of science fiction/fantasy and character development. Some of the audience members were also writers, so we talked about cover design and publishing as well.

After the panel, I had about an hour to set up my table for the marketplace. (You can see my table above.) Book sales went about as well as I expected for a festival of this size and genre mix. The marketplace was only open for about two hours. It would have been nice to have more time for people to browse. I did get to hand out some bookmarks and tell people about Broad Universe.

Since we had plans in the evening, I wound up skipping the speakers and the closing reception. For me, the highlight of the festival was getting to see another writer friend of mine who was selling books in the marketplace and making contact with TS Rhodes, who blogs about pirates and writes a series about a young female pirate. I've invited her to contribute a guest blog here. The three of us may try to get a "Nuts and Bolts of Self-Publishing" panel together for next year's festival.

Are there any literary festivals in your area? If so, have you attended them or participated in them?