To the blog of speculative fiction author Karen Miller, who also writes as K E Mills.

First of all, thanks for dropping by. If you can remember to, please sign in or at least sign your post if you don't have a regular LJ account. I do allow anon comments but I like to know who to say hello and thanks to!

I do try to stay current and up to date here, but my workload remains off the charts el stupido and sometimes I get a bit behind. So please bear with me -- I mostly manage to catch up! And in the meantime, please don't be shy in chatting to each other.

My friending policy is simple: friend away! No need to ask if it's okay.

But here's an important note: vigorous, respectful debate is welcome. Name-calling, vilification, aggression, hostility or any kind of trollish behaviour isn't. There's  a reason they give us a delete key, you know.

And having said that ...

Guys, seriously, you are so wonderful. Thank you so much for your lovely words on the Orbit news. I wish I had time right now to thank everyone individually, but I really have to hammer this last major deadline. Especially since yesterday taught me that I can't eat curry any more! Sigh.

I'll be losing this weekend to playing catch up. Everyone please stay safe and well.

Well, the news is now officially out so I can say a little something about it myself.

I've just done a 7 book deal with Orbit Books, for world-wide English language publication. The deal is in two parts -- a 5 volume fantasy epic: The Tarnished Crown, and 2 more Rogue Agent novels. The next Rogue Agent will be out in 2011, and the first volume of The Tarnished Crown will be out in 2012.

This is by far the biggest career leap I have ever taken. It's both exhilarating and terrifying. I have the most gobsmacking amount of research to work through before I can even contemplate setting fingers to keyboard on TC#1 (as the working title goes for now). But it'll be fun, too, because I love research. This time it looks like I'll be doing a castle crawl around England -- wheeee! *g*

The Tarnished Crown quintet will be the most ambitious story I've ever attempted. It will involve a large cast of characters, a vast geographical canvas, and many, many intrigues. There'll be politics and necromancy and magic and plague and pirates and espionage and love and death and war and betrayal and lots of other good stuff. And yes, there will be the odd cliffhanger ending here and there. *g*

As for the next 2 Rogue Agent adventures, well, all I can say there is that where Gerald and Co. are concerned, the madness never stops.

I'd like to take this chance to publicly thank my agent, Ethan Ellenberg, who has worked tirelessly on my behalf, and the absolutely fabulous Orbit team in the US, the UK and Australia -- particularly Tim Holman and Bernadette Foley.

Lastly -- and never leastly -- I need to thank Voyager Australia, and most especially Stephanie Smith. If you've read and enjoyed my work anywhere in the world  it's because of Stephanie. Simple as that.  Voyager has nurtured so many successful authors since the launch of its imprint, thanks to her talents. The tough truth, however, is that sometimes in a career -- and I know a lot of you out there have faced this dilemma -- you need to step in a different direction, and taking that step means leaving something loved and precious behind.

So please wish me luck, everyone. The insane publishing schedule is about to end, a new era of sanity will shortly begin, and I'll be pouring my heart and soul into telling a brand new story that I hope is worthy of all the support you wonderful readers out there have given me since I was first published in 2005.

So I took an extra day off, due to the fact my brain was totally MIA yesterday. But now it's time to dive head first back into Blight of Mages. Of course, at the back of my recently missing brain is the knowledge that I'll have galleys of the final SW novel and Reluctant Mage to check soon, but that's okay!

In other news ... well, there isn't any, really. I caught up with the figure skating (amazing stuff, the women, especially Joannie Rochet) and read one of the last Robert B Parkers ever (waaaaah!) and the new JD Robb, and now I can safely say there'll be no new book reading for quite some time as I hammer this out.

Stay well everyone!

And so, at the end of another seriously insane long haul writing session, I can happily report that the Reluctant Mage is finito. Off to be typeset. Doubtless some eensy weensy tweaky bits as a final tidy up, but yes, turn off the lights, I have left the building.

For 2 days.

Then I rip into Blight of Mages. And though it's a mite wearing to go back to back like this, because these stories are in the same world it means my head is in the right space and I've had some interesting ideas arise.

But yeah. Right now I'm knackered.

Final word count?

175000 / 175000 words. 100% done!

Longer than Prodigal Mage, yes. On the whole I try to keep my story lengths the same but sometimes -- not so much.

Well, my copies of Star Wars Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth arrived this morning, and I think the book looks gorgeous. The cover design really is very beautiful, so my heartfelt thanks to all concerned.

Word reaches me it's out on some bookshop shelves already. If you take a punt on reading it, I do hope you enjoy.

I am feeling particularly chuffed today, because my good buddy E went gangbusters at a recent art show. E is a phenomenally talented artist, a natural-born talent. Here are her winning entries. And here's me with a plug: if you'd like a portrait done of your favourite 4-legged friend, or yourself, or a family member, or any kind of original artwork by commission, I can absolutely recommend her. She's the real deal, and as honourable and ethical as the day is long. You can reach her at http://www.mississhippi.blogspot.com/.

So here's one of those writing articles that crop up every so often.

And you know what? Stuff like this can be really, really useful. But here's what drives me totally nuts about it. It drives me nuts when writers insist on framing 'what works for me' as 'here is the only correct way to do this'.

Because that's rubbish. 

The way I write isn't the way other people I know write. And yet somehow we all manage to turn out books that work for us and our readers. There are many, many ways a writer can get from idea to published novel. There are many many styles and techniques and voices and tools that can be used in the successful telling of  a story. The trick with articles like this is to cherry pick them. Suss out the techniques that mesh with your style and borrow them ... and ignore the rest.

The only rules that matter are the rules that you can make work for you.

(and a h/t to Brenda on one of my lists for the heads up)

As I've previously mentioned, there's a round robin Oz spec fic snapshot shindig happening on LJ, and you can catch up with it at the links below. If you've got a moment, do stop by some of these blogs and see what some of the most enthusiastic and talented spec fic writers around are up to! At the risk of sounding partisan, I reckon Australia produces some of the most amazing talent. We really do punch far above our weight.

(h/t to Girliejones for the LJ compilation.)


http://random-alex.livejournal.com/
http://girliejones.livejournal.com/
http://kathrynlinge.livejournal.com/
http://www.mechanicalcat.net/rachel
http://tansyrr.com/
http://editormum.livejournal.com/

puff puff pant, still working my way through the Reluctant Mage post copy edit tidy up. Also beta reading someone else's ms, lots of fun but intense! Never a dull moment.

Will return to regular transmissions shortly.

Oh -- but in case you weren't aware, there's now a follow up edition to Russell T Davies' massive epic book about writing Doctor Who. It's called the Final Chapter and takes into account the end of Tennant's tenure, the Torchwood miniseries, and other stuff. If your'e a fan and/or a writer, it's a fascinating read. Well recommended.

So a bunch of cool people are doing a snapshot of the Oz spec fic scene ahead of this year's Worldcon in Melbourne, and I was asked to participate. You can read me nattering about me right here. And stay tuned for more great mini-interviews as the days roll by!

This from the Yahoo 7 Australia news front page:


Four men will face court after an out-of-control party resulted in a car being set on fire and police were pelted with bricks.


It seems our universities are turning out functional illiterates as journalists and all the proper editors are asleep at the wheel.

And that's another literary great we've lost. Dick Francis, who was a National Hunt jockey until he turned his hand to writing racing thrillers, has died. You can read more about it here.

I love his books. Some I think are perfect examples of elegant, tight storytelling. Hot Money is one of my all time favourites. So's Reflex. If you've never read a Francis, I can highly recommend you begin at the beginning of his career. 

And so the brakes go on with Blight of Mages, because the Reluctant Mage copy edit came in today and I'm now head down bum up working my way through the last chance I'll have to knock this one into shape. Mind you, I love this part -- I love shaping and refining and polishing. It's the first draft work that makes my eyes bleed.

Also? In some very nice news? Here's a new review of The Prodigal Mage. Apparently it's a bit late going up due to coverage of Fringe. It's hard to begrudge that, given how much I love Fringe -- especially John Noble's work as Walter. Sheer genius!

Amuse yourselves for next ten days or so as I disappear down the rewrite rabbit hole ...

Here's the article that sparked these thoughts.

And here's my take on the situation.

It seems to me something's being lost in the argument over the pricing structure of Ebooks -- and that's that at the end of the day, the Ebook is nothing more than an alternative delivery system for the story. Whether you buy a novel as a print-and-paper item, or have it downloaded to an Ebook reader,  up to a certain point the creation process for that story is the same no matter how the end result is delivered to the book-reading public.

Every novel starts as a manuscript, written by an author. It is then edited by an editor hired by the publisher to help craft the story. The author then rewrites the manuscript, as many times as it takes to get it right, with further input by the editor. That manuscript is then sent to a copy editor, who further works on it to refine and polish the story. The author gets back that copy edited manuscript and corrects it accordingly. Once the author and the editorial team are satisfied, the manuscript is sent to the production department and the production department turns it from a manuscript into a typeset document, laying it out in pages and with fonts and titles and so forth as it will appear in the finished version.

As you can see, this is highly labour-intensive work. And regardless of the end-stage delivery method for that story, that amount of work remains constant.

The bulk of a book's cover price is absorbed by accounting for the costs of all the people involved in getting a story ready for delivery to the public -- whether it's as a regular book or an Ebook.

It's only after the book has reached this point in the production process that production costs change. It's perfectly true that a digital book costs less than a print book -- but only in the home stretch. Up until the point where the delivery system of the story is implemented, the costs to produce that book are identical.

And this is why it's impractical for both publishers and authors to accept that their Ebooks should only retail for a couple of dollars. And it's why I call it a flat-out untruth to say that publishers and authors are greedy bloodsuckers for wanting the cost of an Ebook to accurately reflect the amount of work that goes into getting the story ready for publication.

Bottom line: the method of publication is irrelevant to the quality of the story.

And it's the quality of the story, and the storytelling, that you're paying for when you buy a book -- regardless of its method of delivery.

Do I think you should pay the same price for an Ebook as you would for a print-and-paper book? No. Because there are differences in the end-stage production costs. But do I think you should pay only a couple of dollars, when the bulk of the cover price is spent getting the book to a publishable standard? No. I do not. Because while I love what I do, it's also my job. And I deserve to be paid fairly for my work -- and so do all the other people on the team who help me produce the books that you love to read.

And that's my take on it!

Well, the first chapter of Blight of Mages is done and if that's not one of the toughest, slowest chapters I've ever written then I don't know what is.

Urrgghh.

Do you know what doesn't help? Knowing I have a copy edit about to land in my lap, as well as galley page proofs from another book. For me, writing is a process of surrender, of diving headfirst into the story and blocking out all other voices for the duration. That's one of the reasons why last year was tricky, because I had a lot of competing voices to contend with. And I've been really, really itchy knowing that any tick of the clock I'd have to put BoM aside and get my head back into Reluctant Mage for the last final polish. And then put that aside to contend with the pages for Siege -- which I'd just let go of, after its final post-copy edit polish.

The good news is that once I've tackled RM and Siege, I am free and clear to focus totally on BoM until I jump on a plane at the end of April. And that is a very, very good thing.

So here's the wordcount:

5505 / 150000 words. 4% done!

And this is the point where I ask you guys to wish me luck ...

 As some of you have noticed, not all of my books are available in the Ebook format, and some that are have been made available in one region ie the US but not others, like the UK.

I truly do appreciate how frustrating this is, but right at the moment my hands are totally tied. The whole Ebook thing is still madly in flux, with publishers and distributors coming to grips with how this market will operate. As is often the case, the authors have no part in this side of the business and so we, like every other reader, have no choice but to see how things are going to play out.

All I can tell you for certain is that the situation is being addressed, and when I know where my backlist titles stand with regards to Ebook editions, I will let you know. In the meantime, I hope you can bear with the uncertainty. And, you know, keep on buying the hard copies! *g*

Thanks.

 Here is a lovely tribute to the late, great Kage Baker. It's good to know there are still some books to be enjoyed. I don't know about you, but I've ordered my copies.

So in my mammoth marathon of getting the mail situation sorted (almost there, almost there) I remembered finally to drop a line to Jeff, the wonderful actor who performed the audiobook version of Wild Space. And much to my relief and delight, he's also doing Stealth and Siege. In fact, he's done Stealth and will shortly be tackling Siege. So that's me tickled pink.

But also? He mentioned that the audiobook of Wild Space came within a whisker of being shortlisted for a Grammy.

I'm all chuffed now. *g*

 JD Robb, aka Nora Roberts, has a new 'In Death' book releasing at the end of the month. This time it's 'Fantasy in Death'. 30 books in this series now, and it's maintained its high quality fantastically. Not every installment is brilliant - nobody can write brilliantly every single time -- but every single book is entertaining, consistent, true to its characters and gives us something new to think about. Hands down this is one of my favourite ever crime/thriller/romance series and if you haven't found it, I say run run run to your nearest bookshop and buy 'Naked in Death' , the first installment.