Newsletter #20 mailed out 1 February 2004

Dear People,

I mentioned in Newsletter 19 that I was going back to Tor for a new contract now that I've turned in Master of the Cauldron , the sixth Isles fantasy. Following robust negotiation (never unfriendly, but all concerned are aware that this is a business) the new three-book contract is being drawn up.

The short version is that I get less money than I asked for (but a lot more than I need), and Tor has sweetened the deal in a number of ways. Probably the biggest from my standpoint is that I retain sub-rights this time. That (particularly in the case of British rights) is significant money, but possibly more important is the greater peace of mind it provides me. Tor doesn't have its own sub-rights department: the work is done by the St Martin's department; and not very well done, as I've had a great deal of reason to know over the years.

Another item which may turn out to be the biggest change of all is that I have permission to put my complete novels up on my website and (if I can swing it with Jim Baen) also run them through Baen webscriptions. I think this will greatly increase word of mouth and on-line sales of the books. Amazon ranked my Baen space opera The Far Side of the Stars , available electronically from me and Baen both, much higher than the fantasy from Tor, Goddess of the Ice Realm , which couldn't be previewed electronically (and I'm convinced that's what it is; previews, not alternative viewing).

Keep your fingers crossed. Mine would be except that I'm doing a lot of typing.

Because the other thing that's happened since #19 is that I've drafted over 20K words on the next RCN space opera (which I think will be either The Path of Duty or The Way to Glory , from a Tennyson poem; but I don't swear either will be the final title). We got snow, a lot for the NC Piedmont (which is why I live here; I grew up in Iowa and know perfectly well what snow looks like). I stayed home and worked. (If I have a philosophy of life, it might be when nothing else works, work works.) I don't suppose my opinion at this early stage of a book counts for much, but I like what I've got.

On to other stuff. The Sidecar Preservation Society has published Codex , a short story which I wrote in 1967. (Actually, this happened at WFC over Halloween, but I forgot to mention it in #19.) It's available in two editions, a chapbook and an extremely limited hardcover. If you feel this is a must-have, I may have more information on availability in a few weeks or check with dealers and if you're at a convention where Fedogan and Bremer has a table, talk to the folks there. (They're neat people regardless.)

The Reaches is out as a Baen hc with a very striking Hickman cover. This is the omnibus of Igniting the Reaches, Through the Breach , and Fireships, hard-edged space operas which I did for Ace in the mid-'90s. (I'll say a bit more about The Reaches below.)

And the paperback of The Warmasters is out from Baen, a novella each of Dave Weber, Eric Flint, and me. My piece and Dave's are otherwise available, but Eric's is not. I think it's worth the pb price to read Eric's Islands.

I mentioned in #19 that Seas of Venus will be out in pb from Baen as a March release, which means it'll be hitting the stores realsoonnow (I think).

I've gotten the cover flats for the pb of the collection Grimmer Than Hell , a Baen release for June 2004. Some people would say these stories are my best work (and I might agree); but be aware that the title is proof that I believe in truthful presentation.

And I also got the cover flats for the pb of Goddess of the Ice Realm , which turns out to be a July 2004 release from Tor. This seems to be a very short time after the hardcover; as with so much of the business, I'm not sure what's going on.

Also due in July 2004 is the Baen hc Masters of Fantasy , which has my Isles short story The Elf House . (The story's available in PDF form on my website.) It's a fun little story, but the thing I like best about it is that it proves I can write a real short story (under 6K) in a setting which I normally visit in the form of 200K novels.

Eric Flint and I have almost finished acquiring stories for The World Turned Upside Down , a notion that the two of us and Jim Baen got: a collection of the stories that blew us away when we first started reading SF. There are some things that most SF readers will find familiar ( Black Destroyer by AE Van Vogt, for instance) but also some that are less well known than they ought to be (again for example, Code Three by Rick Raphael).

We haven't been able to get all the stories we wanted (dealing with some copyright holders or their agents has been troublesome), but it'll be about a quarter million words and very good value for the money. It's due out as a Baen hc in January, 2005.

I mentioned Baen publication of The Reaches . The Science Fiction Book Club will also be bringing out its edition in March. I don't normally mention SFBC editions--if you're a member, you know; if you're not, it doesn't matter to you--but this particular case has significance to me.

At the time the original books of the trilogy came out, the SFBC wouldn't have touched them (and indeed, had never taken anything of mine except Dagger , in that case because it was part of the Thieves' World series). Now they're featuring the reprint.

I've changed somewhat since the mid-'90s, but these very harsh novels haven't been edited at all (well, I got rid of suction cups in vacuum. Sorry 'bout that). I think the major reason The Reaches is acceptable now when it wasn't before is that the world has changed a great deal--particularly since 9/11. The world-view I gained in Viet Nam and Cambodia is suddenly intelligible to a much wider audience.

Frankly, this isn't a way I wanted to become mainstream.

There isn't much new material on the website except for my comments about Codex . I still don't have more Ovid up. Frankly, in my current state I'm more drawn to reread Juvenal.

Things are actually going extremely well in my real world; that isn't entirely true of what goes on in my head. Those of you who know something about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, either from study or in less fortunate ways, will understand what I mean when I say that sometimes it's very dark at 3 am. I'm keeping it between the ditches.

Hang in, people. That's what I'm doing. Now back to (maybe) The Way to Glory !

Dave Drake
david-drake.com

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