The physical copies aka “real books” ;) of The Archimedean Heart arrived yesterday and they look BEAUTIFUL.
I am beyond thrilled.
I will be taking these copies to Clockwork Alchemy this weekend. Who knows? I might even sell a copy!
Chattering
Research is fun
I’m having a great time researching my next book. Part of why I love writing alt-history is that I get to find out all sorts of amazing things that really happened and turn them into a story.
This new work is set in the Bahamas in 1908 and it is a fascinating time period. I even bought a history book about it. ;)
There was a huge divide between the white Colonials and the people of color who while emancipated, really suffered from poverty and racism. They had a rich culture which I hope to bring out in an engaging fashion, while being respectful to the people.
I’m totally being a history nerd, plus, since it’s fantasy, I get to read folklore. I love folklore and fairy tales.
I just discovered that in Bahamian legend, a monster called the Lusca lurks in the blueholes (beautiful water features caused by collapsed limestone caves), ready to snag people with her octopus-like tentacles and eat them with her shark mouth. This fits in perfectly with my cultists who worship a sea monster.
COVER REVEAL: The Archimedean Heart
Here it is, the cover image for The Archimedean Heart.
I am so excited! It’s beautiful!
This book, my debut novel, is available for pre-orders on Amazon Kindle Direct now. Print copies were available at Clockwork Alchemy Memorial Day weekend and now through Amazon.
We are happy to welcome Harry Turtledove into the treehouse!
I’m very pleased to not only be an author rubbing shoulders with a famous author but also the chief editor of the anthology.
Thirty Days Later, the latest anthology including many Treehouse Writers, will be released on May 28th, at the Clockwork Alchemy convention in San Jose, California.
Joining this merry bunch is alt-history giant Harry Turtledove. Mr. Turtledove attended Clockwork Alchemy last year, selling books and giving presentations. We asked him if he’d be interested in contributing to the anthology and he agreed!
For a full listing of all the authors of Thirty Days Later, go to The Authors of Thirty Days Later
Fantastic Review! SeriousReading Magazine — A Volcanolady’s Blog
The suspense filled scenes and unique mix of history and fascinating technology used by the author give this book an upper hand in the market.
via Fantastic Review! SeriousReading Magazine — A Volcanolady’s Blog
T.E. MacArthur, a fellow author, writes thrilling steampunk-esque adventures (she likes to call it “Victorian science fiction”) starring a “lady scientist” so of course I’m going to love them. The third in the Volcano Lady series is great and we are anxiously awaiting book four, available for preorder now.
Progress! The Archimedean Heart will be ready soon
My novel The Archimedean Heart is a story about perceptions of beauty. I was initially inspired by a book about John Singer Sargent, an American expatriate painter in Paris, circa late 19th century. He caused a great scandal by portraying a famous beauty in an unexpected way. I thought it would be interesting to explore what people think of as beautiful. Another element that I wanted to consider is what happens when nature and science collide. So we have the naturalist painters fighting to restore their country to a more “real” place and the Court painters still slavishly devoted to the porcelain doll beauties of the Court. Plus a lady scientist who is probably the coolest of the bunch, because, SCIENCE. It’s set against an 1880s France that never was. In this France, the Scientists created a weather machine and the French people never go hungry. There was no French Revolution and the old monarchs are still in power, at least as figureheads. The Scientists have Augmented them to keep them going much to the dismay of our Naturalists.
I started planning this novel in the summer of 2014 and then wrote the bulk of it during NaNoWriMo 2014 . Got my 50,000+ words written in a month. Of course, that was really just the beginning. After a lot of revisions, two rounds of editing by a professional editor, and beta reads, The Archimedean Heart is ready to be published! It came in at just over 62,000 words, so it will be a quick read. I find that I’m just not a writer who wants to go on and on.
I am currently slogging through formatting. Kinda fun, kinda drudgery.
The really cool news: I hired an AMAZING cover designer to create the cover. Eloise Knapp of EK Cover Design did a superb job on Gods of Chicago and Gods of New Orleans, so I had to have her work on my cover. Reveals will be forthcoming.
The authors of Thirty Days Later
Well we’re in the final stretch before releasing the new anthology, so I thought I’d acknowledge the many talented authors who contributed. Plus a sneak preview at the table of contents.
We have thirty paired stories and I’m not sure how we managed to get the number to match the title but it happened. We also convinced Harry Turtledove to join us, again, not sure how, but we are delighted.
The authors of Thirty Days Later are:
Announcing Thirty Days Later
Thirty Days Later: Steaming Forward, 30 Adventures in Time, is a new anthology that I’ve been working on for the past seven months. The anthology features authors from the Clockwork Alchemy steampunk convention in San Jose, California. Thirty Days Later is a followup to the 2015 anthology I edited, Twelve Hours Later.
I think this year’s anthology is a great read and I’m pleased to say that I contributed two stories to it, paired tales that precede the events in my upcoming novel, The Archimedean Heart.
Both books will be released at Clockwork Alchemy 2016. That’s the end of May.
BJ Sikes, author 