Agents, Adepts, and Apprentices

I am excited to announce that Zumaya Thresholds has released my short story collection, Agents, Adepts, & Apprentices. This is an expanded version of the collection previously published by Amber Quill Press, with a few more stories about my interplanetary agents, as well as additional fantasy and science fiction stories (some of which appeared in anthologies by other publishers).

I am especially pleased with the new cover by the wonderful April Martinez. She really captured my wizard Salanoa.

For those new to the collection, there are fantasy stories about wizards, elves, talking horses, and dwarves as well as humans trying to deal with magic. There are also science fiction stories about psi powers, interplanetary agents, aliens attending college on Earth, and aliens attempting to figure out Terran slang. And, as indicated by the title, there are experts, and there are those trying to learn, with mixed results.

Agents, Adepts & Apprentices is currently available through Kindle, Nook, and Kobo, with other formats available soon.

The paper version is planned to appear at FenCon in Dallas. I have a cupcake party (short stories = cupcakes) scheduled to celebrate there. This works out extremely well as Zumaya Publications will be at the convention as well. So I'll be able to hang out with publisher Elizabeth Burton and fellow authors Gloria Oliver and Rie Sheridan Rose.

By that time I should also be calmed down from running around town and showing off the new cover to people (so far the librarians at the local library, the local bookstore owner, people at the post office who hand out my pens, people at my credit union - and one must not forget friends on Facebook). Or do you know authors who don't get excited about new book covers?

Changes

All good things end eventually. At the beginning of this month, Amber Quill Press announced that it would be closing down March 31, 2016. I have three books and three short stories with this publisher, and after March I will be looking to find a home for them with another publisher.

I've been with Amber Quill since 2003. They've always been a class act - great editors, beautiful cover art, regular quarterly royalty statements and payments, and creative promotional efforts. Their short story line gave me an opportunity with three of my shorts. One of those, "Search and Rescue", is currently a finalist in the EPIC Ebook Awards in the Short Works category. And its cover artist, Trace Edward Zaber, is a finalist for EPIC's Ariana Award in the Fantasy/Paranormal category.

This isn't the first time something publishing-related has ended for me. Over the years I've had a magazine close before an accepted short story of mine was published, and I've also had two other different publishers drop an anthology line, which meant three anthologies that I had short stories in went out of print. But I have short stories in anthologies with other publishers, as well as a picture book, and I'm currently working on a middle grade science fiction book.

In the meantime, though (for anyone interested), The Crystal Throne, Agents and Adepts, Talking to Trees, "Oracle of Cilens", and "Search and Rescue" will still be available through March 30, 2016 at Amber Quill Press, Amazon and B&N. The free short story, "Hiding in Plain Sight", is only available at Amber Quill Press until then. I'll have paper copies of the three books with me at conventions until I run out of stock. But the e-versions will be gone after March. (Amber Quill has the e-versions of the books on sale at their website, btw). If anyone wants a quick link to these (or a link to keep track of where these might end up), my book and short story page will always list them.

Amber Quill Press has been a wonderful publisher and I will greatly miss the creative, encouraging and supportive people who have made it such a great press.

The Day after New Year's

It's the day after New Year's Day, and writers all know that that means, right? Yes, it's time to start getting the receipts and invoices and such (like end-of-the-year odometer reading) ready for income tax filing.

When I first started writing, back in pre-computer days, I had a little ledger that I kept track of everything I spent on my writing: postage, paper, typewriter ribbons, index cards, etc. The ledger was easy to update, but since I hadn't sold anything yet, it was more practice than anything else.

After I had a few books published and began traveling to conventions not as a fan, but as a published author, I didn't have time to keep organized records. All receipts and notes on expenses throughout the year got dumped into a box, and the first week or so of January was spent separating out all those office invoices and receipts and travel expenses and re-organizing everything into something an accountant could make some sense of. I had checked with the authors at my university and went with the accountant the mystery writer in the English Department used. That accountant wisely sent out a worksheet every year listing the expenses I could deduct, and, after organizing and sorting everything (usually on the floor, which worked until my birds blew over stacks whenever they flew in to investigate what I was doing), it was a simple matter of filling in the blanks on the worksheet.

Nowadays I have a few files on my laptop (convention expenses, postage, office supplies, inventory, promotion, sales, royalties) that I update on a daily or weekly basis throughout the year. The receipts go into an accordion file into their separate categories as soon as they come in. So the January sorting is down from a week to less than half a day. And most of that is basically just adding the sums in the various files and filling in the blanks on the worksheet my accountant sends me. And then waiting until the official forms (including the 1099s from my publishers) arrive.

I'm sure other authors have spreadsheets or software programs that are much more efficient. What system do you use?

Finally, two small bits of self promotion: First, Saturday, January 3rd, is the last day of Amber Quill Press' New Year's 50% off sale. Which means the e-versions of my books, The Crystal Throne, Talking to Trees and Agents & Adepts are 50% off today through Saturday (Jan. 3, 2015).

Second, on January 4, 2015, Amber Quill Press will have a free short story by me on its website. Look for "Hiding In Plain Sight" starting January 4th.