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Kickstarter: Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens

I have really been slacking on the blog front, haven’t I? Well, if it helps, it’s partly because I’ve been busy with other projects, like a middle grade standalone fantasy called Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens.

I’m excited about this one. It’s got humor, some fun worldbuilding, a goblin heroine and her (much) older human companions, and a talking feathered snake with an anxiety disorder. Here’s the official synopsis:

Amelia Sand is a goblin student at Ainsworth Academy, where nonhumans are taught to be more civilized. But for the rulers of Umbra — humans who crossed through a world-gate from Earth and now sit upon the thrones — that’s not enough. When Amelia discovers the king’s plans to use magic to “civilize” her and her fellow monsters into blind obedience, she sets out to stop him.

Everyone knows goblins can’t be heroes, so Amelia returns to the world-gate to summon human champions of her own. But instead of mighty young heroes, she finds herself with two middle-aged women who have no interest in magical or military shenanigans.

With her friend Boa (a talking ribbon-snake), Amelia joins former teacher Ruth and absent-minded Lily in a journey across Umbra. Can their odd little band stop the king and save the “uncivilized” peoples of Umbra?

Full of humor and hilarious goblin hijinks, Amelia Sand and the Silver Queens is a story about finding unexpected family and learning to trust in your own power.

Earlier this week, I contracted with Leanna Crossan to do a wraparound cover for the book. Leanna also did the artwork for Tamora Carter: Goblin Queen.

The Kickstarter launched this morning, with a goal of $5000 to cover initial costs. If you’d like a sample, you can read the first chapter in PDF format. (And if you’re a reviewer and would like an advance review copy, let me know and I’ll hook you up!)

Official release date is tentatively set for December 12. Supporters will get their copies sooner — hopefully in October.

In the meantime, I get to spend the next 30 days refreshing the Kickstarter page and trying not to be too much of a pest about self-promotion. Not my favorite part of the process, but hopefully the results will be worth it 🙂

Signal-boosting is very much appreciated, if you’re so inclined. Thank you!

New and/or Cheap Books, by Me

This is a shameless self-promotional post, aimed at anyone who may have come into possession of book-related gift cards and is looking for suggestions of what to buy.

Prices are in the U.S. I’m not sure if those prices are matched elsewhere.

Thank you, and we’ll return to your regularly scheduled content soon…

$2.99 for Goblin Quest or The Stepsister Scheme

The first books in my Goblin and Princess series are both available for just $2.99 in ebook form. This is a great way to try out my stuff, if you haven’t already. The goblin books are humorous fantasy/sword & sorcery, and the princess books are fantasy action and adventure about a trio of kick-ass fairy tale princesses.

$2.99 to preorder Imprinted

“Imprinted” is the next chapter in the Magic ex Libris series, and comes out on January 9. It’s a novelette, not a full-length novel, and is set about eight months after the events of Revisionary. Little Red Reviewer just posted the first public review of this one, and called it:

“…a fast paced, fun, and satisfying read. As always, Hines writes characters who leap off the page. I love how he writes character development and their relationships with each other.”

There will be a print edition as well, but for the moment, only the ebook is available for pre-order.

$.99 for “Chupacabra’s Song”

“Chupacabra’s Song” is a short story set in the Magic ex Libris universe. It’s a quick read about Nicola Pallas, set before the books when Pallas was just a teenager. The story shows how Pallas discovered her bardic magic…along with her love of Chupacabras.

Terminal Alliance

Finally, while it’s not on sale, I’d be remiss in not mentioning my latest book. Terminal Alliance is the first in the humorous “Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse” trilogy, and is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio formats.

Imprinted Cover Art Chupacabra's Song - Cover Terminal Alliance Cover Art by Dan Dos Santos

Libriomancer is On Sale Again for $1.99

LibriomancerToday only, Amazon is marking down their most popular Amazon Daily Deal books of 2015, and I’m happy to say that includes Libriomancer. Just like before, other places are matching the reduced price, which means you have another chance to get the e-book for a mere $1.99.

My thanks to everyone who picked up the book earlier in the year and got it onto Amazon’s list, and to Amazon and my publisher for setting up this second chance deal.

If you want to try before you buy, the first chapter is posted here in .pdf format.

Award Eligibility

“But Jim, isn’t it really tacky and uncomfortable to jump up and down saying ‘Look at me, look at me!’ every year around award nomination time?”

Uncomfortable, yes. Tacky? That depends. Everyone has their own sense of where the line is between acceptable self-promotion and By-Asimov’s-Mutton-Chops-Will-You-Please-Shut-The-Hell-Up-Already?

Personally, I don’t see a problem with reminding folks what you did last year that might be eligible. I did go ahead and cancel that skywriter I hired to spam the sky with my publications, though.

Anyway, welcome to award season. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Nebula – the nomination ballot is here, and is open through February 15. Active, Lifetime Active, and Associate SFWA members can nominate works for the Nebula Award.

Hugo – the nomination ballot is here, and is open through March 31. “Members of Loncon 3 who have an Attending, Young Adult Attending or Supporting membership by 31 January 2014 are eligible to nominate for the Hugo Awards … Equivalent members of LoneStarCon 3 (the 2013 Worldcon) and Sasquan (the 2015 Worldcon) at that date are also eligible to nominate.”

My eligible work from 2013:

Short Story: “Stranger vs. the Malevolent Malignancy,” from Unidentified Funny Objects 2. In many ways, this is the thing I’m most proud of. It’s a humorous story. About cancer. And superheroes. The idea came from a blog post by Jay Lake, in which he talked about humor as a coping mechanism. The story will eventually appear on PodCastle, but for the moment, my contract prohibits me from posting it online. However, I’ll happily email a copy to anyone who will be nomming for awards. Just drop me a line at jchines -at- sff.net.

Best Related Work (Hugo): The 2014 Year of the Poser calendar I did is eligible as Best Related Work. If you choose to nominate this, please list both Jim Hines and Amy Hines. My wife should be credited (or blamed, if you prefer) for all of her work to help make this happen. You can order the calendar (autographed!) from the Worldbuilders website and support a good cause, or download a .pdf of the 12 months of images here.

Best Fan Writer: I said in my 2012 acceptance speech that I was recusing myself from this category. Please don’t nominate me for this one. There are far too many people writing brilliant, insightful, important things about our genre. Go nominate them.

Other Work:

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So, what are the award-worthy things you read or saw last year?

Review Copies and Other Codex Born Updates

There are 26 days until the official release of Codex Born [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy], not to mention the mass market paperback of Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy], which means it’s time for me to start the Official Author Fidget-Dance of Anxiety!

The Cool Stuff Summary: Book-based magic, kick-ass dryad, flaming spider, wendigos, septuagenarian werewolves, a magical organization thought to have been wiped out more than five hundred years ago, and one random Spider-Man quote.

Review Copies: If you are a reviewer who hasn’t received a copy (and, you know, would like to have one), please contact my publicist at BerkleyNALpublicity -at- us.penguingroup.com. Please include your mailing address and where you do your book reviews. Unfortunately, due to the cost of books and shipping and such, reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and personal blogs without a good-sized readership don’t generally qualify.

Upcoming Events:

  • July 26 at 6 p.m. Reading and booksigning with Mary Robinette Kowal at Schuler Books, Eastwood Location. Lansing, Michigan. (This is part of the conference kickoff for the MSU Young Authors Conference, and they will have copies of Codex Born for sale.)
  • August 6 at 7 p.m. Booksigning at Schuler Books, Eastwood Location. Lansing, Michigan.
  • August 10 at 2 p.m. Booksigning at Kazoo Books, Parkview Location. Kalamazoo, Michigan.
  • August 15-18. Gencon. Indianapolis, Indiana. (I will have books for sale.)

Giveaways: I’m hoping to give away a few free books between now and August 6. I haven’t worked out the details yet, but I’ll let folks know as soon as I come up with a suitably entertaining way to do it.

Advance Reviews: Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times have both said nice things about the book. I hear rumors that Library Journal and Locus will both be reviewing it as well. But I think my favorite and most reassuring review so far comes from Kate over on Goodreads, who picked up a copy at ALA and says, “…this was an even stronger read than the first book.”

Also, Seanan McGuire read it and started sending me rude emails about having to wait for book three, so that’s a good thing, right?

Preview: The first chapter is available in both .pdf and .epub format.

State of the Author: Nervous, impatient, grateful, and excited. The Magic ex Libris series is the most ambitious story I’ve written so far. The first few reviews have helped me — somewhat — to get past the initial bout of imposter syndrome, and mostly now I’m just really looking forward to being able to finally share this one with everybody!

#SFWApro

Happy Libriomancer Day!

Today is the official release of Libriomancer. Which means it’s the day for me to both celebrate and FREAK OUT as my eighth fantasy novel–my first hardcover with DAW–makes its way into the world.

I try not to go overboard with self-promotion, but today I’ve decided it’s okay to make an exception 🙂

Purchase Links:

Amazon
B&N
Mysterious Galaxy
Schuler Books
Indiebound

Synopsis:

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg.  Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and create things from their pages. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.

With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic…

Read the First Chapter

Win Free  Books!

Bitten by Books is hosting an interview/Q&A with me this afternoon, and we’re giving away two free anthologies as well as two autographed copies of The Legend of Jig Dragonslayer.

ETA: The interview/contest is now live at http://www.bittenbybooks.com/56041/author-jim-c-hines-interview-and-book-giveaway-live-here/

Early Reviews:

“This funny and fast-paced series opener, Hines’s first hardcover for DAW, will be sure to surprise and entertain urban fantasy fans.” –Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

“Libriomancer … communicates a passion for genre fiction that I felt can only be captured with one word–Joy.” –Staffer’s Book Review

“I picked up the book meaning to read a few pages. My first thought was, ‘This is a cool concept.’ The second thing I thought was, ‘This is really, really clever.’ The third thing I thought was, ‘I should have gone to sleep three hours ago.’” –Patrick Rothfuss

“This may be Jim Hines’s best work. Libriomancer is smart, silly, and deadly serious, all at the same time.” –Seanan McGuire

“I really enjoyed Libriomancer, but the cat has been insufferable now that he’s found out he has a cameo.” -My Mom

More reviews here.

Booksignings:

August 7, 7:00 p.m. Schuler Books – Eastwood Location. Lansing, Michigan.
August 8, 7:00 p.m. Nicola’s Books. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
August 9, 7:00 p.m. Schuler Books – Alpine Location. Walker, Michigan.
August 10, 7:00 p.m. Kazoo Books – Parkview Location. Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Thank you:

This book feels like it’s been a long time coming, and I want to thank everyone who helped me to get to this point. My editor and everyone else at DAW, Team Agent at JABberwocky, all of my beta readers who offered feedback and suggestions, the experts who answered weird, random questions about fingerprint powder or the material used to build skyscraper ceilings. The reviewers and the authors who kindly offered advance praise for the book.

But I also want to thank the readers and the fans, the people who listened to me read excerpts or babble on about the book, both in person and online. The people who got excited about the ideas, who joined me in that “Ooh, wouldn’t it be cool if…?” space. Who generally just geeked out about it with me. Your enthusiasm and excitement helped me to stay motivated, and made me work harder to make this book as good as I possibly could.

Thank you so much for your support and your faith. It means more than I can say.

Goblin and Libriomancer Stuff

I’ve got two more book reviews coming, but I thought I’d break things up with a bit of self-promotion, starting with the goblin omnibus The Legend of Jig Dragonslayer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy], which came out just over a week ago. I was very excited to get my first look at the finished book at Fandom Fest. Thank you, Joseph-Beth Booksellers! It’s shiny and pretty (with a cover I like much better than the original design), and at 800+ pages, it means I’ve finally written a doorstopper book!

Sure, it takes three of my goblin novels to make one doorstop, but I’ll take what I can get 🙂

When I got back from vacation, I found two boxes of author copies waiting for me. You can see Taz inspecting both shipments for damage.

HEY REVIEWERS: The fact that both of these books have now been printed means this might be a good time to contact DAW/Penguin for review copies, if you haven’t already received one. (If you need contact info, hit me up, but please understand that they don’t generally ship out books just for Amazon or Goodreads type reviews.)

Only 26 days until Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] comes out. I’ve seen a few reviews pop up on Goodreads, almost all positive so far, thanks to the giveaway Penguin held. Even better than that, getting my author copies early means I was able to deliver my very first copy of the book to some dear family friends. I’ve known them for 34 years, and from the very beginning, they always encouraged me to read and to explore the magic of books. So I dedicated this one to them, since Libriomancer seemed like the perfect book with which to thank them.

It’s one of the amazing things about being a writer. With every book and dedication, I can give someone a gift very few people ever get. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Michigan Mini-Tour: It’s not an official book tour, but I’ve got enough signings lined up that I’m calling it one. The week of August 7 when the book comes out, I’ll be in Lansing, Ann Arbor, Walker/Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo. Details are on my website.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention … oh, right! I announced this on Twitter and Facebook, but not here. Graphic Audio will be doing audio book editions of all three goblin books. This is a company that does full-cast recordings with music and sound effects. They’ve done books by folks like Brandon Sanderson, Elizabeth Moon, Peter Brett, and many more. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with. (I don’t know when it will be released or who they’ll be getting to do the different voices. They’ve already shot down my suggestion to get Samuel L. Jackson to play Jig.)

Yeah, it’s a rather hectic summer around these parts, but I’m enjoying it!

New Collection: Sister of the Hedge

Years ago, I did a series of LOL Book covers, which some folks found amusing. They were mentioned on Facebook over the weekend, and I figured I’d share the LOL Book archives for anyone who wanted a dose of book cover silliness on their Monday morning.

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I had originally intended to launch Sister of the Hedge & Other Stories by the end of April.

I had 90% of the work done. But that final 10% kept getting postponed until this past Friday, when I ended up home sick with my son. He played Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and I went through the final file preparation and cleanup and validation.

I’m happy to say the book is now available on Amazon and B&N. It includes the following stories:

SISTER OF THE HEDGE
IN THE LINE OF DUTY
HEART OF ASH
BLOODLINES
IMAGES OF DEATH
OURS TO FIGHT FOR

These are some of my darker and more serious stories. “Sister of the Hedge” is the only thing I’ve written to ever make the preliminary Nebula ballot, which was pretty cool. “Heart of Ash” will give you a preview of some of the ideas I’m playing with for the dryad character in Libriomancer. “In the Line of Duty” … well, I’ll let you read the author’s note to find out where that one came from 🙂

I’ll be working to get it posted on other sites as well. I’m thinking about trying Smashwords this time. More updates as they happen.

Libriomancer Giveaway and Other Stuff

I think this exchange is rather telling about my writing. What it tells … well, that’s another matter entirely.

From Lynn Flewelling’s LJ: Today’s best typo – He took his position beside the table and wove a peeing spell on the air.

My response: I actually wrote about a spell like that in one of the princess books.

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Speaking of Lynn, her tenth book Casket of Souls [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] came out yesterday. Happy book week!!!

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There are 20 copies of Libriomancer [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy] up for grabs over at Goodreads. This one is limited to U.S. residents only, but I’ll run a giveaway of my own soon, and will open that one up worldwide.

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Finally, here are two more moon pics. I got a mount that attaches to the eyepiece of my telescope and — after a few frustrating nights of trying to figure out how to get everything lined up — holds the digital camera steady. I haven’t managed to get any planetary pictures this way yet, but I really like the moon shots.

You can click the pics for larger versions, or go to my Flickr page.

New Collection: Sister of the Hedge and Other Stories

I spent the weekend working on a new e-book collection titled Sister of the Hedge and Other Stories. Like Kitemaster and Goblin Tales, this one will be $2.99, and will be available on as many platforms as I can get it.

I have a little work left to do, but I’m hoping to post it for sale by the end of April. (To forestall any questions about why it’s not on Amazon yet.)

The stories are:

  • Sister of the Hedge
  • In the Line of Duty
  • Heart of Ash
  • Bloodlines
  • Images of Death
  • Ours to Fight For

“Sister of the Hedge” is one of my first stories about the Sleeping Beauty myth, and while it’s not canonical to the Princess books, readers will recognize a lot of the ideas. “Heart of Ash” is the story of a dryad, one with striking similarities to a character from Libriomancer (though again, this isn’t a canonical prequel).

Overall, these are some of my more serious stories. Each one includes an author’s note at the end. Author notes may or may not be serious.

Jenn Reese at Tiger Bright Studios helped me put the cover together. I’ve made some tweaks based on feedback I received on Facebook, but I’d love to hear what folks here think of it.

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