Virtual Launch Party/Reading coming soon!
This Tuesday at 8PM Eastern Time I will host a virtual launch party/reading for Godswar: The Mask of Ares, on Zoom! Here's the info:
2020-06-13 03:18:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Ryk E. Spoor activity
I can has headphones!
... with microphone, that is, so I can record my Read Me Something Rewards this month!
2020-06-07 18:24:04 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Things I MIGHT Write 1
Back in the early days of this Patreon, I did a series of posts on "Things I Won't Write", discussing story ideas that I thought were kinda cool when I came up with them, but for one reason or another I had come to accept simply wouldn't ever be written and published -- at least not in recognizab...
2020-06-07 17:54:39 +0000 UTC View PostTwo update thingies....
1) Based on law changes, Patreon has to charge tax on some things. It's unclear as to whether any of mine will be subject to tax, as in all but one case -- the 'Read Me Something" tier -- I am just showing you stuff that is, in the vast majority of cases, being produced for other purposes (cover ...
2020-05-22 00:01:09 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Less-Obvious References 7
Time to kick off this month's rewards with some more refs that few readers would (or, in some cases, COULD) catch!
1) In Phoenix in Shadow, the Wanderer gives Poplock a crystal -- specifically a doubly-terminated quartz crystal -- in this way:
He reached inside his...
Once more a reminder to patrons new and old...
... let me know if you have any suggestions for rewards that you have not yet seen. :)
2020-04-29 13:19:50 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Not-So Obvious References 6
These seem to be holding interest, so why not continue?
1) In Princess Holy Aura, Holly/Holy Aura sacrifices herself to save the world. Afterward, it turns out that her sacrifice wasn't entirely irreversible, although she certainly thought it was at the time. If I had had ...
2020-04-10 00:26:48 +0000 UTC View PostHere's a question for Patrons...
... primarily those at the Sketchy! level and above, but responses from others are still of interest:
What kind of art do you want to see? Are there characters you specifically want pictures of? Locations? Objects? Obviously I'm already having art made, usually for specific purpo...
2020-04-05 19:36:15 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Less-Obvious References 5
We continue this series of glimpses into in-jokes, hidden Tuckerizations, and references in my various works!
1) In Legend, there are quite a few references and nods. One of ones that was probably more subtle is the character who calls herself "Natural Selector", who is referenced ...
2020-03-08 17:10:58 +0000 UTC View PostQuick Update...
... I have now actually begun Shadows of Hyperion, and am a few chapters into my next Eric Flint collaboration, Fenrir!
2020-03-03 12:17:12 +0000 UTC View PostFinally...
... got all the rewards up! Just in time for the next month!
A flu went through the house and basically took out an entire week of my writing-related time, so I didn't get to do the extra chapters or anything that I expected. Sorry about that. Hopefully no disasters this coming m...
2020-02-28 11:14:08 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Less-Obvious References 4
People seem to enjoy these little peeks behind the curtain, so let's keep going!
1) In Paradigms Lost, Jason Wood goes by the handle of "Mentor of Arisia" when online. This is of course a reference to the Lensman series by Doc Smith, which everyone knows is one of my biggest ...
2020-02-12 02:34:02 +0000 UTC View PostHoly crap!
Hard to believe it's been another YEAR. This month we'll be starting the fourth year of my Patreon.
While things are really busy here, I'll have to see what kind of special thank-you I can give you all for sticking with me for all this time!
2020-02-07 01:06:06 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Less-Obvious References 3
I'm still getting positive feedback on these posts, so let's do a few more of these references!
1) In Challenges of the Deeps, we meet with the mysterious and sometimes frightening Vindatri. He is described as a tall, pale-gray skinned,, silver-haired, red-eyed, pointed ...
2020-01-08 02:39:55 +0000 UTC View PostHappy New Year!
We're into January of 2020! Time to start the rewards for this year!
Since Polychrome is finally done, that means I'll focus on finishing the first Demons book from now on (unless there are other requests from the Read Me Something patrons)!
As always, if any of you have any suggesti...
All-Patron Reward: Less Obvious References 2
Last month's post of some of the possibly-harder-to-catch references in my work seemed to be received well, so let's do a few more!
1) Exaggerated Aussie Bruce Irwin from the Boundary books has his last name from Steve Irwin, the Crocodile hunter; his first name...
2019-12-08 18:08:20 +0000 UTC View PostAlmost all rewards are up...
... and the Read Me Something Rewards will be special this month and next. Instead of two chapters each of Polychrome and Demons of the Past, I will be posting six chapters of Polychrome in both months. By doing this, we will reach the END of Polychrome this year; ...
2019-11-10 17:36:25 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Some Less-Obvious References
In a lot of my work, there are nods to the works of other authors, movies, games, and shows that have inspired me in one way or another. Many of these are pretty obvious, the most blatant being of course the character of Marc C. DuQuesne (from E. E. "Doc" Smith's Skylark series), and oth...
2019-11-09 03:39:58 +0000 UTC View PostThoughts on My Books: Phoenix Rising
PHOENIX RISING
Sixth on the list of my published books is Phoenix Rising. This is the start of my only published epic fantasy, called The Balanced Sword.
Phoenix Rising follows Kyri Vantage, a late-teens young woman whose family appears to be being...
2019-10-29 11:23:53 +0000 UTC View PostThoughts on My Books 5: Threshold
My fifth published book was Threshold, sequel to Boundary. The gap between the publication of Boundary and Threshold was quite large -- several years. This was due to the fact that while I had completed the first draft of the novel, but for v...
2019-10-22 10:53:45 +0000 UTC View PostThoughts on My Books 4: Grand Central Arena
My fourth published novel was actually the sixth for which I was contracted; following Boundary, Eric and I got a contract for two sequels, later published as Threshold and Portal. But for various reasons (detailed in the relevant book discussion), Th...
2019-10-21 10:23:13 +0000 UTC View PostThoughts On My Books 3: Boundary
Third in my list of published novels is Boundary, my first hard SF novel, and one written as a collaboration with Eric Flint.
Eric had tried to write the story that became Boundary twice before, from two different perspectives, but felt that he did...
2019-10-19 01:40:40 +0000 UTC View PostThoughts on My Books 2: Diamonds Are Forever
My second published novel (barely a novel, at 43,000 words) was Diamonds Are Forever, published as 1/3 of the Baen anthology Mountain Magic, alongside Kuttner's Hogben stories and David Drake's Old Nathan stories (in ebook form, they had to replace the Hogben ...
2019-10-18 10:24:24 +0000 UTC View PostThoughts on My Books 1: Digital Knight
I posted this series of posts on my FB a bit ago, but it occurred to me that they would be perfect as a series of public posts on my Patreon as well, especially knowing how Facebook DOESN'T show my posts to everyone anyway. They are thoughts on my books, in order of publication. I hope you find t...
2019-10-18 00:38:36 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Demons of the Past, Old Draft: Baptism of Fire, Chapters 9 and 10
With these two short chapters, we finish the piece of this old draft that I had to post. There were older drafts, but they were either lost in computer transfer (written on an ATARI ST or even an ATARI 800) or destroyed in one of my two basement floods.
I think this series of po...
2019-10-09 01:41:29 +0000 UTC View PostMost of the rewards for this month...
... are now up!
Didn't get a chance to read chapters this weekend, but I should be able to on Thursday, so hopefully I can get the Read Me Something rewards out at a reasonable time and maybe get a few ahead.
This past weekend was Salt Lake FanX ComicCon, which went p...
2019-09-11 02:21:23 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Demons of the Past, Old Draft: Baptism of Fire, Chapter 8
Varan had discovered he was a psi, but what did that MEAN?
In this old chapter, things work out rather differently in detail than the final version, but the basic elements are still there. And I noticed this time through that I had a symmetry in these last two chapters in their en...
2019-09-11 01:21:47 +0000 UTC View PostFinally got them all up...
... one day late, but I should be back on schedule this month. I was hammered by a pretty nasty URI that went into my asthmatic lungs, so basically a whole week was killed off. I may be able to record the Read Me Something soundtracks while I'm at my hotel in Utah for the FanX ComicCon in Salt La...
2019-09-01 18:21:10 +0000 UTC View PostAlmost done...
... having a major convention (Detroit ComicCon) and then getting sick (I'm just starting to recover now) really took a bite out of time.
Just finished recording the audio for this months' Read Me Something; this Thursday, hopefully, I'll have converted them all to the postable v...
2019-08-28 02:13:35 +0000 UTC View PostAll-Patron Reward: Demons of the Past Old Draft: Baptism of Fire, Chapter 7
This short chapter again shows the similarities, and drastic differences, between the old and final drafts. Varan recovers and the same nurse is present, but his experiences that make him realize the treatment worked are very different.
The main reason for the change is that I felt it was b...
2019-08-09 00:31:43 +0000 UTC View Post