I'm so glad the Jennifer Morgue is finally going to come out in paperback for us poor folk in the states!

I'm massively ambivalent: on the one hand, I have to go on a gruel and water diet for awhile to pay for 2 new bathrooms and a wedding (and probably a new car in 2008, the old one's may have another 100,000 miles in it, but repairs are starting to be frequent enough to cast more than payments would); not having a new Stross until Fall makes that just a little easier. And on the other hand, not having a new Stross here in the US until Fall might just try my patience severely. I may have to take up Stoicism.

Happy New Year. If you carry on writing them, I'll carry on reading them.

...a very handsome trade paperback edition of "Halting State". (It's imminent; I've got my author copies to hand.)

It is very handsome. It's extra handsome when autographed. Thanks again, Charlie.

Happy New Year to you Charlie. All the best for 2008.

I agree with #3: if you keep writing them, I'll keep reading them.

Charlie, can you describe the first response of your editor at Ace to "Saturn's Children"? In an interview before it was accepted by Ace, you mentioned that the novel is very bizarre. (Which probably isn't your exact description, but it's close enough.)

On the Penguin Blog you said: "Heinlein's ghost can be very hard to argue with."

After reading your comments about the novel on that blog, I'm wondering if you also encountered the ghost of Douglas Adams!

One the one hand: "Hooray!" for new Charlie Stross next year! On the other hand, "awww!" that it's only one. We (in the US) were getting spoiled by the firehose there for a while.

You know, when the next book does get published I'm going to have to reread the Merchant Princes series. I've forgotten so much.... :)

(There won't be a new Merchant Princes novel in 2008 — I'm behind schedule nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Agreed with #7 My local store went from carrying 1 Stross book (found you via a well-read friend) to over 6.

Josh @6: the thing that startled me was that my editor at Ace really liked it! On the other hand she's been in the field long enough that she worked with Heinlein. So she had no trouble at all getting a Heinlein hommage, and "Saturn's Children" is sufficiently different from the other Heinlein hommages out there -- typically pastiches of his 1950s-era young adult novels -- to stand out.

I'm glad you mentioned e-books, Charlie, I got a PRS-505 after reading your recommendation and doing some research, and I'm loving it. The only real issue is getting the stuff I want. I like what Baen Books has but it's much more limited than my local library - and that hasn't gone electronic yet. Hopefully whatever you're hinting at works out.

Best of luck in all your 2008 endevors, C.S. Thanks for making 2007 that much better for your fans and sf in general.

Jeff

Skip, as I understand it, Tor should be joining in the webscription thing with Baen some time early next year. So there'll be a much wider range there. (Webscription don't support Sony's LRF format yet, but there are transcoding tools available, notably LibPRS500, which can do a very good job of converting RTF or HTML into something you can read on the PRS-505.) The other things ... I can't talk about. Sorry.

Halting State in Jan? Well, that nicely defines where my Hanukkah book voucher's going :)

And on the ebook front.. well, here's hoping people see sense.

Found some typos ("Halting State" & "The Merchants' War")...

BTW, Happy New Year.

Any plans for a collection featuring Missile Gap?

The Baron: provisionally. It's not definite yet, but it's possible my 2009 novel from Ace may turn out to be a fat short story collection (including "Missile Gap").

On the gripping hand ....

If every SF author has to cope with the presence of R.A.H. - then what about his even more illustrious predecessor, whose unmatched tale-telling (like Nobel Prize for literature) still towers over us all: Rudyard Kipling.

What would the writer of "With the Night Mail" and "As easy as ABC" make of today's world, never mind the (same) author of "The Secret of the Machines" ?????

Charlie, I hate to do this, but can we get a description of Saturn's Children? I know its about AI, space opera and a Heinlein tribute, but beyond that - what is it? Are we getting mythological references as well (Chronos, titans and gods) or something else?

Trey: it's a Heinlein tribute. A late period Heinlein tribute. Complete with a nipple that goes "spung". (In fact, the spung-ing nipple is where the idea for the novel came from, because human nipples don't go "spung" ... so it follows that the person the nipple belongs to is not, in fact, human.)

Oh, and it's set 200 years after the human species was declared extinct. (Human civilization shrugged, and went on spreading itself to the stars.)

... Sigh. I'm actually at a bit of a loss for words. So here's the cover.

You maybe at a loss for words Charlie, but I would not be too sure about a lot of the commentators in here! I for one have only one thing to say.

I want it and I want NOW. The book that is, not necesarily the front cover illustration I may add.

Oh one more thing (that contradicts my statement above I know but what the heck) Freya is certainly a Heinlien type name......

I have a reasonably complete but old collection of Heinlien work from my youth with the oldest being a NEL copy of The Worlds of Robert Heinlein at the porice of 5/- (25p) July 1970

Oh and a Happy New Year to All

Yeah, the front cover is ... striking. (I am not going to restart that particular argument with my editor. OK?)

Let's just say, Orbit promised me a cheescake-free space operatic cover for the UK edition, which comes out in hardcover at the same time. So if you'd be embarrassed to be seen reading it in public, there is a solution ...

Hmmm, I like the purple hair.

Jack@21, the way I remember how to spell Heinlein is that the vowels are in the same order in both halves of the name.

First, thank you. The cover copy is useful.

Second, I can't help it....

Bwahahahahahaha!! I doubt I'd be embarassed reading it in public, but the snickering on my part might make most people look at me funny. To me it seems like it might be more than a little funny.

I don't know if that's your intent, but it makes me think of The Road to Mars for some reason.

Marilee @ 23. Hahahaha You're right of course. The reason I spelt his name correctly the second time was I took the book of the shelf and the title was right in front of of me as I typed.

Trey @ 24. I'm with you on the laughing/snickering of reading in public. It happened to me with two of Charlies books Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue.

The front cover illustration of 'Saturn's Children' is tame compared the cover of my NEL edition of R A H's 'Glory Road' (Pink cover 40p this time) with a topless illustration of Star on cover.

Ahhh Them's were the Days.....

The annoying thing about late Heinlein is that the books contain great ideas, but have lousy endings. I hope you don't carry the tribute too far!

Well I like the cover - very Podkayne/Friday, although I think Jim Burns might have done it better.

To be honest, I didn't like the later Heinlein works the first time around, I thought his best days were with SIASL and TMIAHM. However, I have lately been re-reading some of his later works and getting more out of them.

I very much enjoyed Robinson's "Variable Star", although it was really one of his juveniles.

I'm sure Saturn's Children will be rollicking good fun, Heinlein with a good twist of Stross. Can't wait.

The cover is fine. I enjoy variety in cover artwork. And it sends a "get lost" message to the ultra-prude contingent in the U.S. who would never read ANY science fiction.

Hmm, maybe there is something wrong with me, but I find that cover alright, but dull. Its got some futuristic looking chick on the cover, but she looks like every other futuristic chick, so it doesn't do anything for me.

Those old NEL covers are fun. See my LJ entry here on odd and misleading book cover art: http://calcinations.livejournal.com/12859.html#cutid1

At least Saturns Children will involve pneumatic women, and purple hair is no big deal.

Blah...I guess I picked the wrong time to get into the Merchant Princes -- just finished reading them all back to back. God do I want to know more about world 4's connection to the Clan.