Update on Permission, Chapter Posting, & eReaders - and why not give "Monster" a try while you wait?

       It seems there is a problem with the publisher who holds the copyright for Evangeline Walton's "Island of the Mighty," and since I can't publish my book without that permission, I will have to beg you to continue to be patient and not to lose interest.  I found somebody to work on this problem for me, somebody with more pull certainly than I have.  So something WILL give sooner or later.

       In the meantime, I've decided to post a few more chapters here on this blog.  I'll continue at the rate of two a week, with the next one due next Monday (watch the sidebar I added this morning).  Since I posted the first chapters last Monday (today is Thursday), I've had 69 page views, so somebody's interested!  I haven't had many comments, though, and I would welcome them.  Also, if anybody spots a typo, a spelling error, an omitted or duplicated word, etc., feel free to tell me.  It's not too late to fix errors!  I have nobody to proofread my material and the author's eye often simply skips over such things. 

       An update on ebook publication:  I checked with Smashwords and they say that symbols will come out only as "?" in their "meat grinder."  However, before this is all over, I might still attempt a download with an edited text and see what happens.

       Yesterday, I did try such a download on Kindle, which is much more forgiving in what it will accept.  I put in a sample containing all the weird symbols that my conlangs require.  They give you two options as to previewing, one called "simple" and one called "Enhanced Previewer."  The symbols didn't work on the Simple Previewer, but the Enhanced sends the preview to the MobiPocket Reader and by golly!  Everything was perfect!  I was thrilled!  Then it occurred to me I'd better load the Mobi version onto my Kindle.  And woe!  A lot of the symbols came out as D, M, 9, etc.  But the musical notes showed up with no problem!  Those of you who have read the initial chapters know how pervasive and important those are!

       So I spent yesterday afternoon analyzing which symbols come through incorrectly, and I found that the only ones that won't print out are the ones I took from the Wingdings 3 list in the Symbols table (that Word drop-down feature represented by the omega icon on the toolbar).  There is also a section of Arrows earlier in the list and those come out OK, but the arrows on the Wingdings display can't be used.  So the vertical and horizontal arrows used in !Ka<tá are fine, but the slanted ones which indicate pitch don't work.  For example, <( indicates a low-pitched whistle and <& indicates a high-pitched whistle.  The symbols <↑ and <↓ indicate upward-sliding and downward-sliding pitch on the whistle and those work fine because they come from the Arrows list on the Symbols menu.

       But unfortunately the links in the Shshi language all come from the Wingdings3 list.  I'm working on finding substitutes to use in the ebooks -- either that, or omit them.  Whatever I do, I will add an explanatory note at the beginning of the e-version.

       All this is to say that I believe I will be able to publish "The Termite Queen" on Kindle, but it will take some editing.  I will also have to get one more permission, since the holder of the e-rights for Robert Graves is a different publisher from the holder of the print rights.  So don't expect to be able to purchase my book on Kindle soon, but I promise it will come.

       In the meantime, I would encourage everybody who has read my sample chapters to give "MONSTER IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER" a try.  I assure you, it's just as good a read as "TQ" and because it's shorter and more focused, it may be even more compelling!  Get it in paperback and on Kindle at Amazon, or get it on Smashwords for many different e-readers.  For anybody around the world in places where Amazon doesn't publish, go to the CreateSpace e-Store, which sells paperbacks globally.  And enjoy! 

      

Chapters 1, 2 , and 3 Have Now Been Posted!

Chapters 1 and 2 -- and now 3 -- are available on the separate pages listed on the tab above!  Comments are welcome!

Watch This Spot Starting Monday (2/13/12 American style) for a Sample of TQ!

Since everybody is having to wait while I diddle around with the copyright holder of Evangeline Walton's "Island of the Mighty," I'm going to post on this blog the first four chapters of "The Termite Queen."  On Monday I'll put up Chapters 1 & 2 (Ch. 1 is only 2 pages), then Ch. 3 on Wednesday and Chr. 4 on Friday.  I hope some of you will take a look!

The Prediction about Publishing This Weekend was Premature!

       Unfortunately, I never got an answer to he high priority email with my offer to pay the expediting fee for the permission to quote Evangeline Walton.  So I called the publisher this morning and learned ... that the Permissions person was not there!  I also was told they were really backed up.  So all I can do is wait for them to call me back.  I didn't really ask why the Permissions person wasn't there -- I assumed she hadn't come in to work yet.  However, now I think maybe she was sick or on vacation or something.  In that case, I may not hear till next week.  So I ask your pardon for jumping the gun and I ask for patience for those of you who are all ready to buy the book -- and I know there are some.

       I left a query with Smashwords as to whether there is any way to upload a sample of text and find out if their system can take the strange characters.  I haven't heard back from them, either.  They said, 72 hours, however, and that much time hasn't elapsed yet.  I think I probably can do the book on Kindle, but I'm not sure there, either.  I need to find out because I will need to get the permission on Robert Graves, where the e-rights were held by a different publisher from the print rights.  So don't expect an e-book any time soon.

       However, I think I know a way that I could edit the conlang so that "The Termite Queen" will work with those fussy e-formats.  I could simply cut out all the strange, unacceptable characters and put an explanatory note at the beginning of the book, saying that if people really want to know what the true conlang looks like, they could buy the paperback or refer to http://termitespeaker.blogspot.com.  The story itself won't change at all. 

       And as for the Bird language, a couple of the strange marks are just punctuation -- equivalent to exclamation and question marks.  Nobody would ever miss the exclamation mark and I could substitute an English question mark for the other one.  Some of the symbols, like < [whistle] and ^ [chirp] and ~ [tonal slide] are on the keyboard, so I figure any ebook would take those.  And if other symbols, like [∙], which is a cough, were left out, nobody would notice, except me.   

       But the musical notes are something else.  They have to be there.  Two notes is a warble and one note is a trill, and sometimes Prf. A'a'ma will just say "♫♪" (see, this blog will take it, if you copy and paste).  So what I could do is write out "[warble-trill]."  It's stupid, but at least then people who simply won't read the novel any other way than on an e-reader will be able to access it! 

And so ... the wait continues!

An Update to an Old Post: What is "The Termite Queen" All About, Anyway?

       I first discussed "The Termite Queen" way back on October 19 -- I think it was the third post I ever put on this blog.  I figure that since that time a few more people have become interested, so I'm going to re-post it, with some amendments and additions.

       First off, I need to say that this morning I sent off another (high priority) email to the holder orf Evangeline Walton's copyright, since it's now been eight weeks and I've heard nothing.  If I have to pay an expediting fee, I will.  So I'm hoping (keeping my fingers crossed, so if I make a lot of typos this morning, you'll know why!) to be able to publish the first volume of "TQ" by this weekend!

     The novel is really a hybrid. It can't be called anything but science fiction, since it's laid in the 30th century when interstellar travel is common and the appearance of extraterrestrials (big birds and lemus) passing through space ports and walking around university campuses excites very little comment. And there is quite a bit of science in it, but it's not hard technical science. There's a small amount of fictional physics (necessary for interstellar travel) and some fictional technology, but otherwise we're dealing with entomology and other biosciences, a bit of planetary science such as the geology and ecology of the Shshi planet, and areas of study like anthropology and linguistics that share characteristics of science, social science, and humanities.

        The novel also presents a future history of Earth. I personally don't enjoy dark, dystopian stories (although I do have one of those lurking in the back of my brain). In my version of the 30th century, Earth has outlived its dystopian period -- the Second Dark Age, which began in the 22nd century and lasted until the 25th. How Earthers managed to pull themselves out of the depths is discussed in "TQ" and you can also see the Page on "My Future History" which is an excerpt from v. 1.

       However, this novel is also a love story, which is sometimes seen as incompatible with science fiction. (Cf. the "Farscape" series, however.)  Lately I've begun to believe that (no matter whether they are male or female) thoughtful, educated readers, the kind I hope to attract, will not be put off by either the giant bugs (which have very little "yuck" factor) or the love story, which is of the sophisticated, rather "comedy of manners" variety. What I like to write is a human story -- one that deals with the same subtleties of human relationships, philosophies, and events found in mainstream fiction -- which happens to be set in an unusual environment, distant in either time or place or imagination and gaining a new perspective thereby. And when I say "human," I mean intelligent lifeforms (hereafter known as ILFs) no matter what planet they hail from and whether they happen to be bird, mammal, or insect. The !Ka<tí have a word for that: khokék, a cumulative term for all the intelligent species of their own planet (and by extension all other planets).

       So my heroine, Associate Kaitrin Oliva, falls in love with Griffen Gwidian, the entomologist leader of the expedition that has brought back a specimen of giant termite from a planetary survey mission. About two-thirds of the story deals with their relationship. Prf. Gwidian is a handsome man whom women find irresistible and he has a sizable reputation around campus as a womanizer. However, he proceeds to fall in love with Kaitrin. She is a strong-willed and stubborn young woman and she does everything she can to resist him, but in the end she succumbs. They end by getting married aboard the interstellar ship Featherlight (a Bird ship) as they are heading back to the planet 2 Giotta 17A to try to make first contact with the termite people.

       Griffen turns out to be much more complex than Kaitrin thought at first; he seems to be harboring a dark secret, as if he had done something in his youth that he needs to be forgiven for, but he seems incapable of expressing the nature of his guilt. Furthermore, Griffen finds the termites and their planet to be unnerving; he is a specialist in extraterrestrial beetles and has never been involved in a first contact situation. Kaitrin is a risk-taker and he develops an irrational terror that she is going to get herself killed.   He begins to sink into a state of psychological instability.

       Meanwhile, the Shshi story is developing. Civil discord is brewing in the the fortress. The Alate Mo'gri'ta'tu, the Keeper of the Queen's Holy Chamber, resents the power of the Alate Seer Kwi'ga'ga'tei and takes advantage of the panic induced by the arrival of the Sky Monster, which slaughtered one member of the fortress and abducted another. He conspires to assassinate the Holy Seer and recruits the aid of the fortress's aging Warrior Commander, Hi'ta'fu the Unconquered. Hi'ta'fu is irate and insulted because the Seer summoned an outland Champion -- the same Ki'shto'ba Huge-Head pictured here -- to fight the Sky Monster should it return, and so the Commander is ripe to fall prey to the Chamberlain's subtle insinuations. The evolution of this plotting (which turns into open civil war) and the inexplicable instability of Prf. Gwidian finally crash together in a disastrous climax, after which the off-world team has to return to Earth and attempt to come to terms with their experiences.

       To learn more about the nature and culture of the termite people, go back to my blog post for October 26.  I'll just add here the final paragraph of that post: 

       One further remark: In the chapters of "The Termite Queen" where Shshi are shown from their own point of view, I tried to come up with a style that would provide contrast with the human story. I settled on writing it as a dramatic script -- writing a play, as it were. It didn't seem right to put in lots of wordy description when you're dealing with blind creatures whose dwelling consists of mostly unlighted underground chambers and corridors. So we have dialogue supplemented by minimal stage directions. We also have soliloquies. It was very easy to fall into a kind of Shakespearean formality and rhythm. I used a lot of Shakespeare quotations as epigraphs for the termite chapters. The villain Mo'gri'ta'tu is quite worthy of comparison to Cassius or Iago. In fact, as I was writing these parts, I humorously referred to my big bugs as "my Shakespearean termites"!

    

"Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder" Now on Smashwords!

       While I await the permission to publish, I used the time to put "Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder" on Smashwords, the first thing I've published at that site.  Now anyone who has an e-reader other than Kindle will be able to acquire the book.  Here's a list of the formats that Smashwords supports:  Kindle.mobi (i.e., the MobiPocket Reader, which allows you to link to Kindle), Epub (which services Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, and others), Palm Doc (for Palm reading devices), as well as PDF and other formats for reading on your PC).  You can also sample the book free for online reading using the HTML or Java Script formats. 

       So now there is no excuse for any of you to not at least sample "Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder"!

       Monday is the deadline -- if I haven't received my final permission to publish by then, I'll write the publisher and see if I can find out what's going on!

A Publishing Update for "The Termite Queen"

       I'm still waiting!  The final permission to quote still hasn't arrived!  The publisher specified four to eight weeks to get a response and it will be eight weeks on Monday (I'm writing this on the preceding Wednesday).  Have they lost my request?  Who knows?  I plan to wait until Monday and if nothing has come, then I'll email them again and jack them up a little.  This publisher would have done an expedited permission for an extra $100 fee, but I really didn't expect them to be so  slow.  Now I'm thinking I may have to pay that fee after all, just to get things going.

       What is frustrating is that the first volume of the book is ready to be published.  It's all formatted and I've tinkered a little more with the cover and uploaded the front and back (I think it will look great -- I can't wait to see it printed on nice, glossy, stiff cover paper!)  But I can't upload the text because I'll have to add the permission notice after that's finalized.  Furthermore, I added three chapters from the beginning of the second volume -- it makes for a much more compelling cliff-hanger at the end of v. 1!  And one of those chapters had an epigraph for which I was also trying to get a permission.  It hasn't come either, but I found an equally good bit of public domain material that I can substitute, so I will simply do that if that one fails to arrive in time.  Then if it does arrive too late, I'll just tell them, sorry, I don't need it anymore.

       So I would also have to make that change before uploading the text.  At that point, I'll get  the width of the spine and I'll have to add a spine to the cover upload.  And then at last I can get a proof copy, approve it, and

 FINALLY GET THE LONG-AWAITED BOOK PUBLISHED! 

       By the way, "Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder" hasn't gone away!  There is a very flattering new review of it on Amazon.  The reviewer headed it "Best New Author I've Encountered in Decades."  Can you believe that?  Maybe anyone reading this should mosey over to Amazon and pick up a copy, either paperback or Kindle, and make up his or her own mind as to whether there is any truth in that!  The link is http://amzn.to/u9bYWa