It’s been available at CreateSpace’s own online store for a week or so — but Amazon’s always been my best sales channel, so I’m hoping for a decent number of sales.
Some people still aren’t into ebooks, generally, bless ’em. And why should they be denied access to Rowan’s world? I do have plans to do the rest of the series as trade paperbacks, as well, and I’m currently aiming at December, as I have Many Things needing my attention at the moment.
I’m really pleased with the look and feel of the book.  This is fun.
In other news: back from the mighty eclipse trip, which involved two days driving there, two days driving back; two nights in motels; two nights visiting pals; four nights in Smoky Mountain National Park; days and days of driving to identify good eclipse-watching spots; and one day of sheer luck in hitting an unexpected excellent viewing spot. More on that soon.
Shadow of a tree during the eclipse, where each gap between the leaves acts as a little pinhole projector. Click to embiggen!
What have I been doing lately, while not posting on my blog?
Well… I’ve been doing this:
Yep. Now available in paperback. Real matter that you can hold in your actual hand.
I’ve been hearing that a reasonable number of people wished that there were a paperback version of The Steerswoman, so I finally knuckled down to get that going. I”ve used CreateSpace, a service which many people have spoken of highly. It seems pretty straightforward, even for people who are not tech-savvy — and for a nerdy former programmer like myself, it’s especially easy.
Conceptually, that is. Much dog-work is involved, and much careful focus on detail. But that’s what you get for being hands-on.
I actually enjoyed the process. The main downside was that I had to get it done in a compressed amount of time.
Because of what’s taking my time at the moment: The Eclipse!  I was leaving in just a couple of days…
Thus, The time-crunch. I thought I’d have plenty of time, but when I got my proof-copy, I discovered that I’d chosen a font size that was uncomfortably small — a fact not evident when previewing the layout online. Once I had it in my hand, then I could tell.  Also, I lost my right-margin justification.
And then time was getting short. So I pulled out all the stops, spent a couple of days working too many hours, guzzling too much coffee, while resizing the font, rechecking the formatting, re-proofreading everything, redoing the cover (because the spine was going to be wider).  And wrestling with the map.
And then waited for the new proof copy, so I could go through it all over again…
Never skip a chance to proof-read. Never, never. There’s always another typo. Trust me.
I had to take the new proof with me… I actually finished that part at 11:30 last night, by flashlight, at a picnic table, in the campground.
But it’s done! I gave it the official OKAY a few minutes ago in a coffee shop in Tennessee.
It should be available on Amazon.com sometime next week.  I get a slightly better royalty from CreateSpace, but if Amazon is your go-to, I say go to! Next week.
In other news: hey, eclipse!
Here’s an especially neat video from NASA/Goddard with a detailed representation of the path of the moon’s shadow, with they guy whod did the data visualization talking about how he did it:
So, having published my paperback (hooray!), I am now going to be mostly unavailable, due to camping out near where the eclipse is happening.
You should try to catch it if you can. Read all the info on it for your area.
This is my third total eclipse, and I they are wonderful beyond description.
Apparently they did the Hugo Awards ceremony last night. Who knew?  I would have watched it via the internet, if I’d realized they were doing it so early in the convention weekend.  Well, I could still look at the video… but when you know who won, it kind of takes the drama out of it…
You don’t need me to tell you who won, right? It’s posted everywhere! Like, at Tor.Com.
Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form : The Expanse: “Leviathan Wakes,â€Â written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, directed by Terry McDonough (SyFy)
Best Editor – Short Form :Ellen Datlow
Best Editor – Long Form :Liz Gorinsky
Best Professional Artist :Julie Dillon
Best Semiprozine: Uncanny Magazine, edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas, Michi Trota, Julia Rios, and podcast produced by Erika Ensign & Steven Schapansky
Best Fanzine: “Lady Business,â€Â edited by Clare, Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan
Best Fancast : Tea and Jeopardy, presented by Emma Newman with Peter Newman
Best Fan Writer : Abigail Nussbaum
Best Fan Artist : Elizabeth Leggett
Best Series : The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer : Ada Palmer
For more details, Tor.com really is my favorite site for keep up to date on SF/F biz doings.
Now, must hustle off — I’m jammed up with many tasks, some of which I’ll tell you about soon…
Ages ago, at a dim and distant Readercon, Kathei Logue (music booking agent, SF fan, Readercon volunteer) came up with the idea of the Kaffeeklatsch as a program item: sign up to hang out with an author. One author, 12 slots for fans, one hour. Coffee usually provided.
I haven’t seen or heard from Kathei in a long time, but her idea lives on, and other conventions have picked it up, too. So, thanks, Kathei.
I always have fun at the kaffeeklatsches, whether I have just a couple of attendees, or a whole tableful.  I think it’s because readers, when I meet them, turn out to be so cool, so interesting.
I’ve talked to poets, writers, artists, book designers, a guy who made swords and armor. Musicians, any number of programmers and other people in Information Technology. Librarians! (I love librarians.  Do you know that librarians are the real-life Steerswomen of our age? True fact. ) Economists. Lawyers. Scientists! (This year we had a protein crystallographer, and a real-life NCIS agent/forensic scientist who wrote a book about her time as a CSI in Kansas.)
And I seemed to have been in a particularly chatty mood this time, as well.  As ego-boosts go, it’s hard to beat a table full of really smart people paying close attention to every word you say!
At one point, we were talking about my reading, and someone asked for some idea of the locations mentioned, and I pulled a map out of my bag. Ah, they all went, and gathered in. What a lovely sound.
Of course, they were not expecting me to unfold the map and keep on unfolding it until it basically covered half the table.  Heh.
And it had color-coded shadings, and cryptic notations like “Wheat Guys,” “Woods Guys,” “Tin Guys.” Yep, here’s Lake Aizi, where Amy’s from, and here, here, there and there, that’s where Artos is going to be traveling…
Smartphones came out, and pics were taken. Alas, I didn’t take one myself…
You know, that’s very silly of me… I really wish, in retrospect, that I had taken a photo of every Kaffeeklatsch I’ve taken part in.  I’m going to do that, going forward (but I will always ask people if they mind being included, because I know that some people just don’t want to be in photos that might get shared online. Their choice).
Anyway, thanks to all who attended.   (Yes, even that one dude who I later learned had not read anything I had ever written. I think he possibly sneaked in just to get some coffee. Still, nice guy.)
Rosemary Kirstein is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com
