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Brief commercial interlude

Just a brief update:

Firstly, I'm very pleased to be able to announce that "The Jennifer Morgue" has gone into reprint, less than two months after the first print run escaped into the wild from a series of improbable mishaps and disasters.

Even more interestingly ... my novella, "Missile Gap" (originally published a year ago in an SFBC special, "One Million AD", edited by Gardner Dozois) is now published by Subterranean Press, in a limited edition of 1000 signed copies. But if you want one, you'll need to move fast — retailers had snapped up the entire print run as of the date of publication. (Another print run is in the works, but won't be the signed limited edition.) You won't find this in any of the Year's Best anthologies, due to contractual hang-ups (I was asked ...) so this is your only source for it.

Oh, and I handed in the final draft of my next SF novel, "Halting State", which is due out this coming October from Ace. As the [provisional] dust jacket blurb puts it:


In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com startup company that’s just floated on the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith’s expertise.

The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs, with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all their virtual "economies" are going to crash hard.

For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players—both real and pixelated—who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head’s fantasy financial security...


Which means in a day or two I'm going to be getting down to work on the next book. See you next year!

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24 Comments

1:

That's awesome. Due to some issues with the running of my families Secret Santa gift exchange I actually wound up with two copies of the Jennifer Morgue (hmm, maybe the geas compelling people to buy me stuff was too strong).

2:

And of course, Amazon suggests the ideal companion for Missile Gap would be "Untitled Space Opera" by Charles Stross.

So you know what you're aiming at, you need to write 400 pages for publication by 1 July 2008 to keep causality ticking.

3:

when will it be published in israel?
so far only your accelerando has made to bookstores

4:

Happy New Year, and enjoy your new digs and whatever money you get for me ordering Missile Gap (cheaper version). Don't spend it all in one place.

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5:

Ray: do you mean in translation, or in English? And which publisher's edition of Accelerando have you seen?

(If Accelerando has been translated into Hebrew my agent and publishers will be extremely interested to know about it, so they can politely ask for my cut: I haven't sold the Hebrew language rights yet. However, it's pretty unlikely -- the Israeli market is too small to pay for a translator and a print run unless the book's a guaranteed best-seller, which, sadly, I ain't.)

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6:

Dear Charles, I had been reading you since I last saw you in Glasgow after the Worldcon where you won the Hugo Award for your novella. I also had the great honour of being on the same table as you in the hotel on the last day of the conference where you was reading from your laptop the latest portion of your book. I just want to say to you that your letters on the website are absolutely fantastic and I enjoy reading them as much as you like writing them thus I want you to continue with your good work and please do not even think of stopping. A very happy new year to you. Asim Qureshi (B'ham)

7:

Awesome news on Halting State. Looking forward to it. Just finished Accelerando not too long ago and loved it. You rock.

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8:

Asim: and a happy new year to you,too!

(Work continues, even though I just managed to sprain an ankle. Owie.)

9:

Charlie,

Is the final version of Halting State still written in the second person? How did that go?

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10:

I'm nearly afraid to ask: amazon.co.uk claims as usual to have Missile Gap available for preorder. Is this for real (and is it the signed edition)?

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11:

FYI - There may be a problem regarding "The Jennifer Morgue" and Canadian bookstores.

I keep asking at the Toronto SF bookstore, Bakka-Phoenix, for "The Jennifer Morgue" -- so far no luck. I am told that it was ordered, but just didn't arrive from the US, possibly due to too much demand. However, if there is a second printing, then I can afford to be patient instead of going into panic mode and ordering from Amazon.

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12:

Martha: a second printing is underway (although with it being the holiday season it may take some time).

The demand for "The Jennifer Morgue" appears to have taken the publisher by surprise. And they allocated an initial print run 50% larger than the combined print run and reprints of the earlier book ...

13:

Thats good news CHarlie. I hope you have some productive writing next year.

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14:

Randy: "Halting State" is indeed written in multi-viewpoint second person present tense. (It is, after all, the natural voice for a computer game ...) The second person thing worked fine: I had a bit more trouble with the plot, as I'd never written a whodunnit before (and now have considerably more respect for those people who specialize in them).

15:

worry not charlie,
accelerando hasnt been translated to hebrew.
i saw the ace edition in stimatzky (the israeli barnes and noble). ship some more books this way please :)

16:

The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four...

Hmmm ... that wouldn't be a reference to a certain Mamoru Oshii movie, by any chance? (I saw it after you plugged it here, and liked it a lot.)

17:

Well Charlie, that makes for a whole bunch of reasons to look forward to this one.

I can't help but think that makes the gamer term "first person shooter" inaccurate.

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18:

Ray: I've got no say in where and how Ace ship their books -- indeed, they probably have sod-all say either: it'll be the responsibility of an importer. Maybe if you moan at the bookstore they can order something in ...?

Ross: it's not a direct reference, no. But it's close enough. Have a cigar.

Randy: you are lost in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike. (Or maybe it's one of those scene-setting narrative interludes in a dungeon adventure.) Get the idea?

19:

I should have thought of that. I've probably got more fright-hours inside Zork than inside Doom.

In my defense I'll say I don't recall hearing them being called "second person" games.

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20:

This recent headline looks like an outtake from HALTING STATE:

"Earthquake in Taiwan Disrupts Virtual Currency Market" ( http://www.virtualeconomies.net/earthquake.html )

21:

Indeed, Charlie was indeed asked. I highly recommend "Missile Gap."

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22:

I made more than one anthologist unhappy that I tied up MISSILE GAP with an exclusivity period that kept it out of the Year's Best volumes, but I think Charlie would agree, especially given what he stands to make off the second printing, that it was worth not reprinting in penny a word markets.

Bill

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23:

Well seeing as I pre-ordered Missile gap in May, mine had damn well better arrive first :P

24:

Question: will I satisfy myself with rereading the manuscript, or will I admit that I've been conscripted into Stross's delusions and actually buy the book?