This.

I have not personally verified the genuine-osity of this organization; as with any online charity site, I suggest you do so before contributing. A less-detective-work alternative would be to simply attend the auction at ComiCon.

I do know that Mr Ostrander has (by his own report) recently had eye surgery, and so I strongly suspect that this is entirely legitimate. I'm just too shy to write to the guy directly and ask.

Those of you who don't know who Jon Ostrander is, well . . . you must not love comic books, several of the best in recent memory being products of his pen (including the current Star Wars: Legacy series, and one of my all-time favorite works of serial graphic fiction, Grimjack).

Those of you who work Real Jobs are hereby officially encouraged to

1.) contribute, if possible, or at least
2.) help get the word out to other interested parties, or
3.) both.

I can speak with some authority to the devastating effect of chronic illness, and being buried in debt only makes it worse.

Full disclosure: Those of you who enjoyed Shatterpoint should be aware that my characterization of Mace Windu owes a considerable debt to Mr Ostrander's depiction of him. I don't know the guy personally, you understand; I'm just a fan.

It's Father's Day in the USA, so felicitations to all USA-ish males with living offspring.

It's also Caine's birthday everywhere (International Date Lines notwithstanding), which means that he's on the cusp of Gemini and Cancer, which tells you pretty much all you need to know about my faith in astrology.

However, those of you who are (of legal drinking age and) so inclined, raise a toast to your favorite Amoral Sociopath Who Hasn't Been Born Yet at some appropriate time of the day.

Hardcore fans will, of course, do so with Caine's spirit of choice, Laphroaig.

The 10 year old, that is. The 15's for weenies and anybody who drinks Scotch over 20 years old should just go ahead and drink cognac.

That's all.

Okay, this is worth mentioning.

This "Charlesmaverick" who wrote a note in the previous comments section may turn out to be kind of a big deal; he says two of the biggest publishers in mainland China are interested in presenting Star Wars-related books in one or more of the various Chinese languages (I actually forgot to ask if Cm translated the book into Mandarin or Cantonese or whatever -- largely because I don't really know a damn thing about Chinese dialects outside the bare fact that there are several major and a number of minor). I managed to locate the right person at LFL to steer them toward, and now I'm waiting with considerable interest to see what happens next.

It may still fizzle; I'm not privy to any inside information, and cross-cultural intellectual property negotiations can be exceedingly tricky. But the possibility alone is cause for pleasurable contemplation. Umpty-million Chinese sales of Revenge of the Sith wouldn't make me a wealthy man -- but it'd be pretty cool to be part of what could be a major cultural exchange. David Brin would likely disagree, but I think that Star Wars, the Expanded Universe, and SW Fandom in general reflect well upon Western pop culture. It'd also be really damn cool if some Chinese SFF types were to get new contracts to produce their own SW books and such.

I'd read 'em.

Well, fuck me like a virgin goat.

There's a site apparently devoted to ranking SF and fantasy novels, where some insightful soul of impeccable taste stuck Heroes Die on their list of Top 25 Fantasy Novels of All Time.

I don't know who compiled that list, but may the gods shower blessing upon them and their house unto the seventh generation.

Kweshyins Kweshyins evriboddi gots kweshyins . . .

First: I'm not going to tell you what names those future projects might be published under, because
1) I haven't decided yet, and
2) it would kinda defeat the whole purpose of using a pseud, which is to hoodwink gullible bookstore computer ordering systems -- and presumably equally gullible human genre buyers -- into ordering more copies than they otherwise would, if they knew that I (ass-end charlie in the genre mid-list) wrote them.

The chain bookstores see my name below the title, and then bring up their tally of my most recent sales figures . . . then they order ten percent fewer copies than my last book sold, on the perfectly reasonable (and in fact correct) assumption that if this particular title takes off, they can always order more. The downside is that publishers use pre-orders to judge how much push they want to put behind the book -- and so the chains order less and less, and the publisher is less and less inclined to flush advertising dollars down the toilet of a failing career.

At a certain point, a particular by-line vanishes into a downward spiral of diminishing expectations of success. The rule of thumb is that if you haven't broken out by your fourth novel, you're done. So I'm done. The only reason you keep seeing books with my name on them is that
1) I had a pre-existing contract for two Caine novels, and
2) my estimable editor had a brilliant idea for an on-the-cheap publicity campaign, and
3) the author-of-record for my SW books (for ordering purposes) is "Star Wars," which means that my shitty sales record doesn't affect them at all -- but they also don't help pump the orders for my original stuff.

This is not to say that you won't see more Stover books; I have contracts for two other tie-ins, as well as the last Caine book. If one of my new projects becomes wildly successful, I may be able to return to the genre as a "Thus&Such writing as Matthew Stover" kind of thing.

Next:

No, I don't play CoD4. I don't even own a 360.

Next:

During the events described in Heroes Die, Berne is 27 or 28, if I recall correctly -- roughly ten years younger than Caine.

Next:

For anyone wishing to reach me (and who doesn't already have my email), your best bet is to create an account at www.theforce.net or www.sffworld.com and pm me.

Next:

There are currently no plans to re-release Blade in conventional print. I had a nibble from an independent publishing house about putting out a collector's edition, but that seems to have fallen away.

Finally:

I have no idea about the sales of Lynch and Abercrombie and company, except a strong suspicion that they're considerably higher than mine.

That's all for now. I have to go kill things.

For those inquiring minds out there . . .

Caine Black Knife has sold pretty well, considering that it's the third book in a series that last saw an entry eight years ago. It has not, however, sold well enough that I can reasonably entertain even a fantasy of supporting my family by writing about Caine, if you see what I mean.

Other projects proceed in Macbeth-ish fashion: creeping in their petty pace from day to day, tales told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Hey. Been away. Now I'm back.

This is what brings me to the surface this morning, from Maureen Dowd (coiner of the immortal phrase "Darth Cheney) in the New York Times, about a conversation she had with George Lucas at the Obama Inauguration:

Lucas, the creator of “Star Wars,” had told me that I had gotten Dick Cheney completely wrong, that Cheney was no Darth Vader. I felt awful. Had I been too hard on Vice?

Lucas explained politely as I listened contritely. Anakin Skywalker is a promising young man who is turned to the dark side by an older politician and becomes Darth Vader. “George Bush is Darth Vader,” he said. “Cheney is the emperor.”


Ba-dm pshhh!

Rack one up for the Man in Flannel.

Ahoy.

Costa Rica pics 'n' video, for anyone who wants to see a middle-aged out-of-shape white guy and his smokin' hot wife run around Central American rainforests and beaches and stuff.

Also, a very long (and very spoiler-filled) interview with yrs trly, about Shadows of Mindor and other things Star Wars, at Star Wars Action News. The sound on my end is pretty crummy due to technological difficulties with my cell phone, but for those of you who can stomach a Full Hour of Me, there it is.

And, while I'm thinking about it, there's another interview out there, on Mindor and a variety of Caine-related shit, at Dragon Page.

Just goes to show: no matter where you go, once you get there, there you are.

Greetings.

Sorry I haven't been around. I went through a particularly bad patch of Whatever the Fuck is Wrong With Me from the end of December through the end of January . . . and as I started to recover, my time and attention were consumed by helping the Fabulous Robyn plan and execute arrangements for a mostly-spur-of-the-moment trip to Costa Rica, because the US economic downturn has decimated Costa Rica's tourist trade (which makes travel and lodging there considerably less expensive than, oh, mostly anywhere. Except maybe New Jersey.).

For the record: if you're ever feeling unwell enough to require a regenerating adventure, Costa Rica is your place. Lane-and-a-half mountain roads twisting between sheer rock faces and thousand-foot drops . . . temperate rain forests that can be reached only by 4X4 (I'm not kidding -- the unpredictable winds and narrow defiles means you can't even go by helicopter unless you're making a HALO insertion) . . . dinner at El Avion, which is a three-star restaurant at Manuel Antonio built around (and inside!) the very same CIA C-135 that triggered the Iran-Contra scandals after being shot down by the Sandanistas . . . zipline tours through the rain forest canopies . . . white sand beaches, catamaran tours to watch dolphins and sea-birds chase flying fish . . .

There may be photos (and video!) forthcoming, for anyone who can sufficiently steel themselves to enjoy watching other people have fun.

I think the Fabulous Robyn and I might just retire down there.

Anyway: back in the country and back to work.

Finally: does anybody around here know a reliable way to get in touch with Scott Lynch?

Hey. Blade of Tyshalle will be released in e-book form Tuesday, December 9th.

Spread the word.

Okay, people. I'm far enough out from under various deadline pressures that I feel the need to catch up with what's current in Our Beloved Genre. As most of you know, I tend more toward reading classics than reading What's Hot Right Now . . . so much so that I don't have a friggin' clue what WHRN might actually be.

I'm about to order 5-10 books from Amazon.com. One will be Scott Lynch's second Gentlemen Bastards book, because I need to catch up there with the third looming on the near horizon. At least one (possibly more) will be John Scalzi's, because I've become a Whatever addict and I'm interested in seeing how he does with fiction. Another will be Steve Donaldson's latest Covenant entry.

Who should I be looking at for the rest?

(Don't bother recommending Big Gunners like Neal Stephenson and George R.R. Martin -- they are on my back-list, and I will no doubt catch up with them later on.) I'm looking for, as John Cleese would say, something completely different.

Who gets you people all hot'n'bothered these days?

Go vote. All of you.

Well, okay . . . all of you who are United States citizens of legal age. Go vote.

Everyone else, take the day off.

There is news.

Right now, the e-books of Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle have a tentative (repeat for emphasis: tentative) release date of November 4th.

This may be shifted pending resolution of a minor contractual issue, and/or the pitched firefight in the streets between fraudulently-registered Democratic ineligible and/or imaginary voters (i.e., Mickey Mouse) and crypto-fascist Republican vote-suppressors (i.e., Alberto Gonzales).

For you handicappers out there, here are words to live by:

Never bet against the Mouse.

I'd just like to touch on the question of Caine's Adventure-related POV, since it seemed to come up quite a bit in the last thread.

It's not intended to be a literal transcription of his Soliloquy; it's basically a magic trick, not unlike the illusion a first-hander is subjected to, as an Actor's Soliloquy comes to feel like his or her own thoughts--to make him feel like he is the character.

The Studio has an exceptionally powerful piece of speculative technology (direct CNS stimulation by focused induction) to help maintain this illusion. I, on the other hand, have to pull off this trick with nothing more than a succession of black marks on a page.

So:

Some of these black marks represent Caine's Soliloquy, some reflect sense impressions and others denote visceral reactions. Some indicate other things. All of them together are intended to give you, the reader, the illusion of riding along inside Caine's head (and body). That's the whole story.

If worrying about his Soliloquy distracted you from the story, that means I (in that section, anyway, at least for you) screwed up, and let you see the Man Behind the Curtain.

Sorry.

I hate it when that happens. It's kind of like discovering I've been walking around with my zipper down.

Back to Ayn Rand for a moment, it's worth noting that the #1 cheerleader for the deregulated trading in derivatives that is the fundamental cause of the current global financial crisis, Alan Greenspan, is an avowed admirer of Ms. Rand's political philosophy, and spent roughly the last 15 of his 19 years as Fed Chairman assuring Congress that the "rational self-interest" of derivatives traders would "weed out" weak securities . . .

Also (speaking of libertarianism), has anybody been paying attention to this guy? It may be that I owe Cheryl Morgan (who once wrote that she could tell I'm a libertarian by looking at my author photo) an apology. I saw Bob Barr interviewed on CNN yesterday and realized (with considerable consternation) that "Holy crap! I do have a libertarian moustache."

For the record:

Feel free to post extravagant praise of Caine Black Knife (or of anything else I've written, for that matter). You can also post less-than-extravagant praise, or even bitch about how shitty something is.

But comments containing spoilers will be summarily deleted.

You have been warned.

Look for "The Big Idea of Caine Black Knife" on John Scalzi's Whatever this coming Tuesday, which is -- by no coincidence at all -- CBK's on-sale date.

He's pretty effing cool.

In response to Rob Locke in the previous comments thread:

My take on Objectivism can be summed up by a paraphrase of Samuel Johnson:

"I have read Ayn Rand's work, and found it to be both original and good. Unfortunately, however, the parts that were good were not original, and the parts that were original were not good."

To put it another way: what was useful in her philosophy was cribbed from Nietzsche, and what wasn't cribbed from Nietzsche wasn't useful.

Nietzsche himself points out the inescapable flaw in rational self-interest (I am again paraphrasing here):

"Man is not 'the rational animal,' he is the rationalizing animal. The primary use to which we put our reason is to justify our irrational desires and prejudices."

Hokay. Here's the rundown.

The medical test came out negative, which means that Whatever the Fuck is Wrong With Me is still wholly in the Whatever stage. So it goes.

However, in the interim, I have been introduced to a new medication regimen that has me feeling sharper than I have in years. So, downside: lots of pills. Upside: unlike all previous meds, these seem to be working.

In the midst of all this, I finally delivered Luke Skywalker & the Shadows of Mindor, and due to the heroic (no exaggeration) efforts of my long-suffering editor, Shelly Shapiro, it looks like Del Rey will manage to cram it through production in time for its scheduled Dec 30 release. Shelly has now ascended to my short list of Personal Heroes.

Thanks to all & sundry for expressions of support.

The unnamed game tie-in I'm supposedly writing is on temporary hold, as I wait for supplementary materials that the parent company has so far failed to provide. So, for now, I'm working on interviews 'n' shit in support of Caine Black Knife, including an essay for Scalzi's "The Big Idea" feature. And I'm getting back to pulling together the Revised Editions of Iron Dawn and Jericho Moon, as well as getting my shit together on the final Caine novel, His Father's Fist.

As to the similarities in the underlying philosophical stance between Cainism and Satanism, and between the Church of the Beloved Children of Ma'elKoth and Catholicism, well . . . pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Let me just say that I know a bit about how religious doctrine can be (and has been) tailored to promote secular political ends, and leave it at that.

Caine Black Knife comes out in ten days. Meanwhile, just so you know:



'nuff said.

Hey, gang. Sorry I haven't been around lately. I've been struggling through a pretty severe attack of Whatever the Fuck is Wrong With Me, and I've barely had the energy to write, let alone enough to spare for this space.

The good news is that one of the specialists I've been consulting sporadically for the last three or four years has had a sudden brainstorm. Test results should be arriving tomorrow or Monday, and with any luck at all they will finally give me a clue to WTFIWWM.

Meanwhile, thanks to all who still come here. When I'm feeling better, I'll probably have something to say about the US presidential campaign, as well as a hint or two of "The Big Idea of Caine Black Knife."

(Yeah, I checked out Scalzi's "Whatever," and now spend entirely too much of my time and attention reading Whatever he has to say. About anything. Those of you who haven't been there yet, you don't know what you're missing. Really.)

Anyway, this was just to let people know I'm still alive, and that I haven't entirely abandoned this place.

There will be updates.