paulmelko

The first blurb has come in for The Walls of the Universe due out in February of 2009. Woo. But let's not forget the last book! Here's a nice review from Analog's Reference Library. Cool.

Chance and Toby both reviewed my book over the weekend. With friends like these, I could take over the world and parse out the best territories to them. Toby gets the Alps. Chance gets Tierra del Fuego.

Chance reviews it here.

Toby reviews it here.

Thanks, you two.

There's a nice review of Singularity's Ring in this month's Locus, opposite a page ad that shows it as one of four books from Tor this month. Also shown in the ad is fellow BHer Sandra McDonald's The Outback Star, sequel to her Bloom'n Onion Nebula. Gary K Wolfe sums up with "While some of these devices reveal the somewhat overplanned and schematic flaws of a first novel, Melko's skill both in story and setting is undeniable -- the Amazon sequences are particularly convincing, even if the Goldilocks business with the bears isn't (bears discover telepathy?). There's more than enough invention and imaginative courage here to suggest that Melko may be at the beginning of an auspicious career."

Not bad. Also, I got a nice spike of sales from a mention on Instapundit. That little link bumped me to #17 on Amazon's SF best sellers. Another review of interest is here at Fantasy Book Critic.

Paul

For those who still can't get enough Melko, and I think there may be two or three of you left, I'm the featured Big Idea over at Scalzi's site. In said Big Idea, I discuss the biology of the plurals that inhabit the universe of Singularity's Ring.

In case you didn't, yaknow, get enough Melko yesterday, here's a review by Paul Di Filippo at SciFi Weekly and an interview by John Joseph Adams at SciFi Wire.

It's quite all right if you don't read them, because by this point even I'm pretty sick of me.

Yes, that long-awaited day is here, the most important day in the career of a budding novelist: the release date of his or her first novel. Ah, yes, from the moment the novelist awakens, it is roses and strawberries, kudos and laud. Let's peek inside the world of a budding novelist, and share this most wonderful of days:

7:30 am - Awakened to gentle music
7:45 am - Forearm and knuckle massage
8:00 am - Write ten words on next opus - can't disappoint readers
8:05 am - Trans-Atlantic interview with British fans - bloody good time
8:30 am - Bath of scented water
9:00 am - Limo arrives for start of book tour
9:05 am - Body guards escort novelist to limo; one fan bloodied
9:30 am - Arrive first book store
9:35 am - Use mechanical book signing machine to sign ten books at a time
9:45 am - Mobbed by crowd of fans
10:00 am - Stop at the retirement home of ex-English teacher
10:05 am - Note that you can to split infinitives to Mrs. Graves, see page 124
10:30 am - Arrive second book store
10:35 am - Sign body part of adoring fan
10:36 am - Erase and sign again
10:37 am - Erase and sign again
11:00 am - Radio interview with Howard Stern
11:30 am - Lunch with Nobel Literature Prize committee
12:30 pm - Write ten more words on next opus
12:35 pm - Call agent, demanding Mongolian Rights be negotiated immediately
1:00 pm - Take Hollywood's call
...

That's right! Singularity's Ring is out today, and that is exactly how my day is going. :)

Also released today is fellow sfnovelist Stephen Leigh's new book A Magic of Twilight. I'm sure his day is going just like I described above.

Look what's the SciFi Essential Book of the Month. Go on, look.

When you have a new book coming out, you have lots and lots of spare time to obsess. So of course I wrote a script to pull and plot my Amazon sales rank as many times a day as I can click the little button. I've automated my obsession!



Look! I only pushed the button once today. I can't wait for my Bookscan data to start arriving.

The reviews are coming in for Singularity's Ring. Publisher's Weekly says, "This superior debut initially resembles a straightforward YA adventure but abruptly veers into much stranger territory" as well as "...the ingenious character development and startling images and ideas are deeply satisfying."

Kirkus was kind enough to say, "... Melko is clearly an up-and-comer, and this is a distinctive debut."

Don D'Ammassa says, "... it's remarkably good, refreshingly inventive, and the protagonist(s) provide an unusual perspective."

Harriet Klausner says, "This is for those readers who appreciate something different in their science fiction." (Is there anything she doesn't like?)

My mom says, "You coulda been a brain surgeon in the time it took this book to come out. Look at your brother! He went to law school. You? You're a sci-fi writer."

I turned in the mark-ups on the hardcover galleys last week. It was hard going through the book one more time, until I started actually reading it again. It's easy to get sick of something you've looked at and tweaked a hundred times. But I kept glancing up and saying to Stacey, "You know, this isn't so bad." She always looked at me with a "Well, duh" expression.

Also in book news, Singularity's Ring is the Sci Fi Essential book of the month for February 08. How cool is that? (Look! Toby's book is up this month!)

Paul

Alas, Singularity's Ring has been moved to the winter 08 list at Tor from its original September 07 release date. It's too bad, but entirely understandable. Schedules slip in publishing, and this will ultimately be better for the book. Still, I'm a bit down about it.

The good news is that the collection from Fairwood Press is no longer dependent on the novel's release date. It will come out this year as expected.

Paul

I just spent half-an-hour researching the common elevations of plants of the Rubus genus. Yes, indeed my characters would come across blackberries at that altitude.

In case you're wondering why, I'm in the middle of copyedits for Singularity's Ring, which are due back this week. Much fun.

An editor from Tor emailed me on Friday for a description of the Ring in my forthcoming book Singularity's Ring. Apparently the art department wanted some exposition to feed the artist. The Ring of course is an orbital toroidal space station encircling the Earth, a symbol in my book, a destination, and a character. My assumption is that they are using an image of the Ring for the cover. How retro-cool is that?

I also got a request yesterday for a word copy of the mss. So things are happening with the book. Very exciting!

I heard that Tor has set a tentative release date for Singularity's Ring. That date is September 2007!

Whoop!

In the mail to the agent is the first half of my advance from Tor for Singularity's Ring. The agent will deposit it, deduct 15%, and send me a check for the rest. Whoopie! In case you're wondering what 1/2 half of the advance looks like, you can look at Toby's survey, or if you like data of this kind, you can see it here for the romance genre. So for a normal working Joe, it's like getting an extra month or two of pay. I can't wave the check in front of my boss' face and say, "Shove it!" However, it's a nice wad of cash. The question is, what should I do with it?

Top Ten Things to Do With my Advance

10. Down-payment on fenced compound in Idaho.
9. Start a web-zine for cutting edge stories other magazines won't touch.
8. Sign check on back as "L. Ron Hubbard" and see if it still gets deposited.
7. Buy a gross of fridge magnets so I can start my marketing campaign.
6. Upgrade my livejournal account.
5. Hookers and blow.
4. Buy some positive reviews.
3. Frame, take to 20 year high school reunion, wave under noses shouting, "See? See?"
2. Buy plot for next book from guy on corner.
1. Send check back with a note saying, "I do this for the love!"

If it's in Locus it must be true. I've sold my book Singularity's Ring to Tor.

Where did this all begin? you ask. Well, let me ( tell you the story of a story )

Six month later, the contracts are signed and the deal is in Locus. And let me tell you how hard it's been to not yell about this! But now it can be told.