Released: Down From Ten

I’ve been waiting for this day a long time. When I first wrote Down From Ten as a screenplay, a production company in Canada was going to be handling rights clearances for the Alan Jay Lerner music incorporated into one of the scenes. When I did the podcast, ASCAP was very helpful. But as a print book, I had to wade into a rights clearance arena I’d never worked with before.

It was worth it. And the folks at the company that manages the Lerner estate were very helpful. Because of their kind work, I can now proudly present you with the ebook version of Down From Ten, a novel uniquely close to my heart.

In early January, a group of friends gather for an annual retreat: eight artists, scientists, and authors cloistered together in a mansion in California’s high country for ten days of games, conversation, exhibition, and hedonism while isolated from the outside world.

“Down From Ten is a brilliant, sometimes creepy take on a bohemian cozy with surreal underpinnings and an irrepressibly touching ending.” –Gail Carriger, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Parasol Protectorate series

For the first time in text, read the story that View from Valhalla calls “Unique, lavish, and challenging…amazing in its scope and its detail…with THE most surprising ending I’ve EVER experienced.”
Get it now for your Kindle, Nook, or any other reader.

Or, read the first three chapters here.

Enjoy!

Playing Jazz With Words

You hear a lot of talk of “discovery writers” and “outliners” in the writing world. The “pantsers” and the “plotters,” respectively. It’s true that there are a lot of people that fall into both categories–including many of my friends–and human nature loves dichotomies, but I’ve never fit comfortably either, and I suspect I’m not alone.

Last night, I had occasion to have a long conversation with a new writer who’s vexed and confused by the options before him when it comes to writing process, and saying “you have to find your own way” only left him more despondent. I know that look–I’ve been there many times when faced with a new field of endeavor with so many options that at once feel constraining and non-specific. So, in the hope of letting those new writers who don’t comfortably fit a category know that they’re not alone, I’m going to describe my method.
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Blogging Free Will–Ebook Giveaway

So, Free Will is in prep for release right now, with the typos and other nit-picky details being worked over, layout being done, etc. It’s a big step forward in the Antithesis Progression, and there are a lot of you out there who have been waiting patiently for the series to continue.

Some of you will get a sneak peak. You see, this is a big book. It ate up more pages, and more time, than I expected by an order of magnitude, and I’m eager to see it find a good home on the shelves and in the e-readers of all of you, including those of you who have drifted away in the meantime, intending to come back when the series continued.

To let people know Antithesis is back, we’re going to need publicity. Publicity means you! Some of you out there enjoy blogging, posting opinion pieces and reviews, etc., and you are the ones I need. Starting today, the first hundred of you that email me (either the normal way through the feedback at jdsawyer.net address, or through the web form you can find here) with the subject line “Free Will Ebook” will receive a free, pre-copyedits ebook version of Free Will (and a corrected version once the proofs are done).

In return for receiving this advance review copy, you promise to blog the book when you’ve finished reading it and, once the book is released to the general public in the next week or two, to post a copy or extract of your blog review in two of the following: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Goodreads, Kobo, Sony ebook store, Kobo, iBookstore. Those of you who feel enthusiastic enough about the book to post the review in all those places will be entered into a drawing. The four prizes in that drawing will be:

Spread the word!
Also, watch this space. There will be more announcements in the coming days about casting calls, a new Death Threats contest, and other goodies.

Down From Ten–next week

Today is the day I was hoping to post the announcement for the ebook of Down From Ten. Unfortunately, I got right to the edge and realized I still had some rights clearances to do for song lyrics that are quoted in the book, so it’ll be another few days.

However, it IS coming in the next week or less!

Down From Ten cover art

So, I’ve never been quite happy with the cover art for DF10. What I saw in my head never quite came through on the screen, and I wound up with a collection of images that, while possibly intriguing, felt…confusing. It was too dark in the wrong places, you couldn’t tell what the elements were, and all in all it just didn’t quite work.

With the paper version of DF10 coming out late in May, AWP Books decided that it needed to redo the cover art from scratch. Yesterday they sent me the prelims. A few minor tweaks may happen (mostly centered around font choice), but on the whole, I think I like it–so I wanted to share it with all of you:
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Publishing Priorities: You Decide

The good folks at AWP Books and I have a decision to make: What order do we publish things in? In the process of discussions, it occurred to us that you all might have an opinion, so here’s your chance to vote:

[poll id="2"]

You may vote for two of the three options (this is to let you voice your desire for hardbacks, as well as priority). Let us know what you want!

Link Salad 11/18/10

I’m on the road, writing short stories and a little on the novels, and exploring the murky rainy depths of the Pacific Northwest. But it’s hard to get the hang of Thursdays, which is why they’re salad days. Neither fabulous restaurants, nor rain nor bad traffic nor dark of overcast day shall keep me from my appointed task of preparing your Link Salad.
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Dealing In, ep10 pt2

 
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Welcome to the second of several Down From Ten Feedback shows. This one is episode ten, part two of the Dealing In series of feedback shows, where I and several friends answer your emails and talk about whatever comes up. This time, I’m joined by Metamor City and Down From Ten cast member Chris Lester, New York Times Bestseller Gail Carriger, and producer/actor/cartoonist Kitty Nic’Iaian. What do we talk about? An incomplete list, in no particular order:

Food
Pacing
Screenplays
Chekov
Soulless
Racism and bigotry in the Victorian world
Douglas Adams
Thomas Mann
Cultural change throughout history
The Death of the Author
Focault
Deride
Shakespeare
The Royal Shakespeare Company
POV characters
George R.R. Martin
Neal Stephenson
Shakespeare
Employing Symbolism in writing
Tee Morris

Fixed: Dealing in 10 pt1

For those of you who were having trouble, this should fix it.

 
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Dealing In, ep10 pt1

 
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Welcome to the first of several Down From Ten Feedback shows. This one is episode eleven of the Dealing In series of feedback shows, where I and several friends answer your emails and talk about whatever comes up. This time, I’m joined by Metamor City and Down From Ten cast member Chris Lester, New York Times Bestseller Gail Carriger, and producer/actor/cartoonist Kitty NicIaian. What do we talk about? An incomplete list, in no particular order:

Poirot
Stargate SG-1
Sir Apropos of Nothing
The Name of the Wind
Stephen R. Donaldson
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Gap Cycle
Cozy Mysteries
Agatha Christie
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Law vs. Morality
Unconventional relationship structures
Stranger in a Strange Land
U.S. Regionalisms and prejudices
Polyamory Weekly
Free Will (announcement)

Down From Ten, ep 25

 
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And now, Episode 25, in which all is revealed.

Down From Ten, ep 24

 
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And now, Episode 24, in which Amos gets cold.
Story So Far by Gabrielle Harbowy.

Down From Ten, ep 23

 
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And now, Episode 23, in which Sarah faces her fears, Katy braves the snow, and Amos states the obvious.

This episode’s Story So far by Justin Macumber

Enjoy!

Down From Ten, ep 22

 
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And now, Episode 22, in which Sarah picks a movie, Kevin throws a pillow, and Katy finds a clue.

This episode’s Story So far by Abigail Hilton

Enjoy!

Down From Ten, ep 21

 
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And now, Episode 21, in which Amos shows his skills, Sarah sings a song, and Katy has a dream.

This episode’s Story So far by P.C. Haring.
Bumper by Brian D. Clay of Kingdom Crisis.

Enjoy!