Chris Howard's Writing Blog

Skott is done!

Skott (http://textiplication.com) and I spend many lunches writing, editing, talking about writing, and he's just completed his latest novel.  Kick-ass!

http://textiplication.com/2008/07/02/done-2/

Seaborn's almost here!

We're talking middle of July.  So close.  Lindsay at Urban Fantasy Land just posted the New Releases of July, and Seaborn's there.  Want to review it?  I have a handful of early copies.  Email me at chrishoward.author@gmail.com and let me know where to send one.

Want to pre-order one?  Amazon, B&N, BookSense.

http://urbanfantasyland.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/new-releases-for-july/

Seaborn: Four stars at RT

Romantic Times Booklovers Magazine has given SEABORN 4 out of 4.5 five stars.  (4.5?  Who knew it was this complicated?  Read Lori's explanation in the comments of my LJ x-post).

...Howard’s fantasy tells the story of a woman who is seaborn and must fight to win back kingdoms as the wreathbearer. This novel is graphic in violence and leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to mutilation and death, but readers who love a good fantasy can overlook the gory descriptions to see what happens to the heroine of this fascinating read.

It's "Wreath-wearer" not wreathbearer, and it's really more of a nice oozy undead decay than mutilation, but I'm not going to be picky.

I have books!

That is one of the most beautiful book covers I have ever seen--yeah, I'm trying to be impartial.  Love the spine. They'll be in stores in a few weeks, 18th or so of July.  Click the pic for the large view.

Okay, who wants to read and review one?  I have more than a few.  Email  me at chrishoward.author@gmail.com and tell me where to send one!

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Books are here...well, there.

Right now, I'm here, not there.  Just got a call from Chloe--my daughter--who tells me there's a box of books of Seaborn on the front porch.  Seaborn won't be out on shelves for three weeks, but I have some now!  There will be pictures and a post when I get home!

Books!

I just received an email from Paula at Juno Books, the subject  was "Books!"  Yes, she has Seaborn in print, and she's going to send me a box.

Kindeliciously Seaborn

Got an email from Samir this morning with pics of his search, purchase and reading of Seaborn on his Amazon Kindle reader.  Kick-ass!  Thank you, Samir.

Pics--click to see the larger view:

Search results

Kindle store product screen, and then, after purchase, in Samir's Kindle List

Chapter 1...

 

Get your own Kindle here.

Seaborn cover--the latest

I think this is very cool

Cory Doctorow's YA SF novel Little Brother is the first Creative Commons-licensed novel to hit the New York Times Bestseller list--and even cooler that it's climbing the list. 

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/06/04/little-brother-goes.html

Readercon 19

Okay, I just registered for Readercon, which will coincide with the release of Seaborn.  Be there if you want to get one from the Prime Books space in the "Bookshop."

http://www.readercon.org

Readercon 19
July 17-20, 2008
Burlington Marriott,
Burlington, Massachusetts.

Guest of Honor:
Jonathan Lethem & James Patrick Kelly
Memorial Guest of Honor:
Stanislaw Lem

Crowdsourced Ebook Format Verification

Ah yes, the old CEFV... (pron. seph-vee).

So, here's the story:  The publisher of SEABORN (Juno Books) will be releasing a print and electronic version of the book--and the ebook in a variety of formats.  I have a reader, and I read books onscreen.  I know how different ebooks can look from reader to reader, version to version, format to format, and I want to make sure this looks right on everything.  Ebook channels like Fictionwise will convert the text into a bunch of formats, but I want to start with something that looks right in some basic formats, HTML and RTF.  I've used some conversion tools to build LIT (MSReader), PDF, and MOBI (PRC) versions.

If you have an ebook reader or read books on your Windows/Mac/Linux machine--or if you just want to read the first four chapters of Seaborn, try one of the following formats.  (If you'd like to convert it into another format, go for it!)

seabornChapt1-4F.html (Formatted HTML)
seabornChapt1-4U.html (Unformatted HTML - Kindle)
seabornChapt1-4.rtf (Rich Text Format)
seabornChapt1-4.pdf (Acrobat)
seabornChapt1-4PRC.zip (MOBI)
seabornChapt1-4.lit (MSReader)

Read, let me know what you think of the formatting, the story, anything.

Unstrange Minds

Roy Richard Grinker is Professor of Anthropology and Director, George Washington University Institute for Ethnographic Research.  He's a father with a daughter who has autism, and he set out to discover more about autism and why there has been a dramatic increase in what was once considered a "rare disorder."

Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism
by Roy Richard Grinker
http://www.amazon.com/Unstrange-Minds-Remapping-World-Autism/dp/0465027644

Alice found Unstrange Minds, read it before me.  I've just started the book and it's fascinating.

In the introduction Grinker describes what has been called an autism "epidemic"--a worldwide crisis.  The book covers a lot of ground, including discussing autism with parents, doctors, specialists all over the world, gathering their stories:

In KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, Suzanna and Golden Khumalo didn't know what to do about their six-year-old son, Big Boy.  He had stopped talking, didn't respond to his name, made strange movements with his hands, and avoided all eye contact.  Suzanna and Golden fought with Golden's parents, who insisted Big Boy go to a nyanga, or witch doctor.  But Suzanna and Golden were afraid of what the witch doctor might do.  He would most likely arrange goat sacrifices to please the ancestors, give Big Boy an emetic to make him vomit, and give him a laxative to expel the evil inside him.  Finally, Suzanna and Golden surrendered to custom and brought Big Boy to the nyanga.  After they had spent three days in the doctor's village, he finally gave Big Boy a diagnosis.  It was "autism," he said...

More about the book here:

Amazon's Digital Text Platform

Amazon's Digital Text Platform (DTP) is where you go to manage all of your ebook-selling functions for Kindle, Amazon's eBook Reader--and the "Kindle Store" the place to get all things Kindle, books, newspapers, magazines, and other downloadable content.

DTP follows a simple structure, you have a Shelf with all your ebooks, reports to see what's going on with sales, and your account information--address, identity, and bank account information--who you are, and how you're going to get paid.

I signed up yesterday to include my novel Nanowhere, really just to see how easy it is to get things going with Amazon.  And, yeah, it's very simple.  Some basic account forms to fill out--the same information you need for PayPal--and you're on your way. 

If you're doing this as an "individual" business type, then you may have to get some numbers together first, like a bank account and routing number. I mean, I don't carry this information around with me, but I do have a bank account specifically set up for online stuff--an account separate from our main account.  I recommend this if you're doing business of any sort online--and this is a business arrangement, you're selling books through Amazon.com, and they need to know where to send your money.

You will have to provide one of the following:
Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)
Social Security Number (SSN)
Employer Identification Number (EIN)

Here's a quick walk-through of the ebook setup (Click any of these images to see the larger versions).

I created a nice readable HTML version of Nanowhere (using simple tagging.  See the link at the end for all the supported tags).  The upload block also has a cool Preview feature to show you what your book's going to look like on a Kindle. 

Then I set a price, and saved the whole thing to my Shelf:

Before you can get your ebooks into the Kindle Store, you need to add your account information:

and--so you can get paid--bank info:

And you're done.  It's free to set up, and anyone with a Kindle can wirelessly download and read your books, articles, stories.

Kindle Stuff:
Supported HTML tags:
http://forums.digitaltextplatform.com/dtpforums/entry.jspa?externalID=30&categoryID=11

http://dtp.amazon.com/mn/signin

Kindle books through Fictionwise?  No problem:
http://www.fictionwise.com/help/kindleFaq.htm

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Clockwork Heart

Took this shot of Dru Pagliassotti's Clockwork Heart at the Barnes in Newington, NH--just outside of Portsmouth.  I picked it up a couple weeks ago, and started late, but I'm a good way through.  You must read!

museThis.com

Something I'm playing around with, a platform for getting your readers to promote your books.  I'm testing out the first one, which is a really basic "widget" that has a pile of links to book resources.  Here's what one looks like for SEABORN:

When I get some time, I'm going to follow this up with a very simple image version for LJ, MySpace, and then after that a Facebook app. 

Try it out: www.museThis.com

Thanks to Alice for the great name, museThis.

What are you reading?

I'm right at the end of Connie Willis' To Say Nothing of the Dog--which is fantastic and funny.  Also halfway through another reading of Tobias Buckell's Crystal Rain.  (I'm reading the ebook this time.  I have the hardcover somewhere--may have loaned it to my dad).   

So, what are you reading?

Amazon | BookSense | B & N | WorldCat | LibraryThing | Google Books | Alibris | BookFinder.com | AbeBooks

Chloe loves Little Brother

I do too.  We're talking about Cory Doctorow's latest novel, Little Brother, about Marcus (w1n5t0n), coolly subversive, hacker of high school surveillance systems, good guy, who--along with his friends--finds himself in deep sh*t with the DHS after a terrorist attack on San Francisco.

Look for a review from Chloe.

We have the print edition, but you can download it here:
http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

So does Pablo Defendini--so much so that he created a new cover for the book  (via Irene Gallo's blog)

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Think organic

Not in what you eat but what you write.  (Think Dr. Seuss).  So, I'm wondering about the world that fills the pages of what I'm writing right now, and I'm looking back at my last three Seaborn novels--and then I'm studying the Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom painting by Repin, and one of the thoughts that strikes me--rather sharply--is that many of us writers of fantasy fall into the worldbuilding groove of basing the fantastic on something very real, familiar…solid fortress walls of stone, cities made of towers.  Even when we take a few steps over the edge, and say, make our characters live in the trees, we tend to think of houses in the branches, flat level floors, rectangular windows, gabled rooflines--the familiar bolted on to the fantastic.

Is it because it's the simpler path?  Is it because we need to stick with something readers can reference--I mean we're already asking them to accept magic, faeries, things that live off human blood?  Could we lose our readers with a blind rush over the imaginative edge--into the absurd--readers scratching their heads a third of the way into your book, thinking, why can't the protag live in an ordinary house--you know, stucco, Spanish tile, etc.  Why does the author insist on dragging me through the character's "house"--some amorphous, self-propelled, windowless, floorless, jelly candy the size of a gymnasium with shifting walls the consistency of yogurt?   

Here's Repin's masterpiece, Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom (1876).  Click to view the larger version.

Back to Repin:  What I noticed right off is that here's this fantastic underwater world, and everybody's dressed like they've stepped out of a fête in Victorian England--with a few nice eastern touches to add an exotic element.  Where's the weird natural ocean feel?  Where are the spines, fins, bold coloring, bioluminescence, organic branching coralline growth of the world under the sea?

I did some doodling for this post.  Wouldn't a city under the sea look like this?

What do you think?  An author needs to hook readers with something of the familiar?  Or should an author sprint for the edge, not look back, readers be damned? Somewhere in the middle?

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Another edit pass

I printed out the latest PDF of SEABORN, and I'm going through it with an orange highlighter, slapping on little yellow stickies to mark the pages. 

All of them are minor, and all but two or three are very minor, a line that should be italicized but isn't, that sort of thing.

One step closer

I have the PDF of SEABORN, typeset, looking wonderful--still a little ways from the final, but I'm sure this is the final format, the type, very nearly the exact page count.  Can't wait to see it with a cover on it!

Win one of Stacia Kane's Personal Demons

Mark Henry--who just gave me some good advice--is running a contest to give away a copy of Personal Demons by Stacia Kane...and all he asks in return is some advice.  Go check it out:

http://mdhenry.livejournal.com/73322.html

Ends Friday, so hurry, think fast.

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Reading aloud...

Any author reading words aloud should check out Mary Robinette Kowal's eighteen--yes 18--part series on how to do it right, I mean everything from the basics, to cross-gender voices, to vocal fatigue. 

Part 1: http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/reading-aloud/

And I thought I was doing well with my reading of SEABORN chapter one

Thanks, Skott!

Seaborn reading...

Sylvia Kelso (Amberlight) asked me if I was doing a reading at WisCon, and...no…I hadn't actually signed up for anything.  My first time at the con, and Seaborn's still a little ways out--3 months and closing...awfully fast.   I really should have, but I missed the deadline back in January--back when July seemed so far off.

Nothing to prevent me from getting into practice, though.  I sat down at the mic and read the first chapter--and I'd like to hear what you think. 

I've converted it into a few formats.  If you're inclined--say you really want an ogg version--use the 30MB 128kbps MP3.  Let me know, and I'll link to it, or you can send it to me:  chrishoward.author@gmail.com

Click on one of the formats below or download it. (The m4a opens in Quicktime on my machine, the wma is Windows Media Audio format).  To download in Windows: right-click, select Save Target As... from the popup menu  |  Mac: Ctrl+click and then "Download File"

SEABORN-Chapter1-48kbps-44.mp3  (MP3)
SeabornChapter1.m4a  (MP4)
SEABORN-Chapter1-48kbps-44.wma  (WMA)

Larger, better quality version:
SEABORN-Chapter1-256kbps1.mp3  (MP3, 30MB)

Enjoy!

Character artists

How many of the characters in the stories you write are artists?  Any kind of art.  What do they do?  How deep do you get into it as part of the story?  Do you find—or think it's the case—that visual arts would be more difficult to portray in writing—or is it pretty much the same?  Unless your character's a writer or poet—in which case, you can simply include some of their work to pull it off—or you're writing a graphic novel, it's tough to get the art across to the reader. 

I have three different artsy characters in Seaborn.  One who paints and draws, one who dances, one who's a music composition major at a music college.  I'd guess these abilities or interests help define a character.  A dancer would certainly be athletic, someone who plays music, paints or draws might be thoughtful.

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Nice Vampire Phenomenon

My own opinion is that NVP isn't anywhere near full swing yet--not with Twilight hitting theaters in December, and the next in the series Breaking Dawn, out in August.  This is just the start.  Saw this today on CafePress while looking for something completely different:

If you heart Edward Cullen, too, then go buy yours here: http://www.cafepress.com/bae/3236924  (Edward's a nice enough guy, but I have a thing for Alice).

Book Publishing Timeline

Or, What happens between the acceptance of your manuscript and the launch of your book
(from someone who barely knows what he’s talking about--since he only has the experience of one book going into publication).

What does happen to your manuscript after the publisher accepts it?  I've always been curious.

What follows is my documented ordering of the events, editing, extra work, writing, pitching, and other stuff an author has to do before one precious copy of the book hits the shelves in a bookstore. 

Anyone writing for years and breaking into the published market, reading the blogs of authors, agents, editors, will have heard all the terms and processes, things like copyediting and ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies--books printed ahead of the release date specifically for book reviewers, sometimes handed out by the thousands at conventions like Book Expo America). 

But I've never understood the order of the activities clearly.  When a writer says his book's "gone into copyediting," where exactly is that in the process?  How far along the road to release is it?

What I've done--and I'd love some feedback from those who know a lot more than I do--is mark the road with all the various things I've had to do, attend to, understand, agree to, and receive in order to get to that glorious release day...July 20, 2008.  (Obviously some of the stuff in the timeline has not yet happened, so I'm guessing with the dates there).

Click the image below to view the readable version. 

Here's what the process looks like from my perspective:

Feeling romantic...about books

Thank you, Mark Henry, (Happy Hour of the Damned), for taking the shot of stacks of Seaborn samplers at the Romantic Times Convention.

And to Stacia Kane (Personal Demons) for forwarding Mark's pics.  Now, I need to know where she got those killer bracelets.  That box behind the Seaborn samplers contains Stacia's book and a pile of cool red and black bracelets.

Seaborn Samplers

Oodles of them from Sean Wallace at Wildside Press (Juno Books is an imprint of Wildside). These contain the first ten chapters of Seaborn, with a very nice introduction by Paula Guran, and an essay at the end of the book (last couple pages) by me--on underwater acoustics.

You can find these at a Juno Books or Wildside Press booth at conventions like RTC (Romantic Times), ComicCon NY (I think), WisCon (definitely--because I'll be there), ReaderCon, and others.

If you want a stack to drop off at your local bookstore, library, writers meeting, just let me know where to send them (chrishoward.author@gmail.com ).

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What is "urban fantasy" ?

Paula Guran, editor of Juno Books posted her hand-out for the Urban Fantasy panel at RTCon (Romantic Times Convention in Pittsburgh, PA this week). 

http://juno-books.com/blog/?p=410

http://www.rtconvention.com/

Worlds within words

Interesting words you can make from the word, "mermaid"

admire, rim, media, dear, die, dim, dimmer, dire, dare, dream, ear, era, idea, ire, mad, made, mime, me, mire, raid, read, ride, rimmed, rime, aim, air, amid, arm, armed, dame, am, a, are...more

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Pre-order SEABORN and get 5% off the list price, some art, and a whole new world!

You won't be billed until July, you get 5% off the list price for pre-ordering, and if you send me your address, I'll mail you a Giclée print of one of the following paintings:

Syren Tears             Poseidonis

Girl by the Sea 

Here's what you do:

Go to Amazon.com using this link:  http://www.amazon.com/Seaborn-Chris-Howard/dp/0809572818

Hit that pre-order button on the right. 

Go through the billing process, and get something in your inbox from Amazon.com:

It's your order confirmation, telling you that everything is just spiffy.  Open the email.  It'll look something like this:

It doesn't have to be the one where Amazon sends your stuff, but send a shipping address to this email chrishoward.author@gmail.com (subject line: [I PRE-ORDERED SEABORN!]) along with the title of the painting you would like, and I will mail you a print (Giclée on archival paper, sizes depend of the works, but roughly--in inches, 6x9 or 5.5 x 12).

Please pass this along to anyone who would be interested!

SEABORN Sampler!

I just got the cover for a sampler--the first eleven chapters--of SEABORN that Juno Books is putting out this spring.  And...wow!  Take a look.  Click the pic to see it larger:

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Book title contest

I'm going to send along the list of titles you have sent me in email or in comments in the contest posts, and we're (meaning me, Paula, and a few other book industry individuals) going to narrow down the list of titles next week.  You still have to time to submit a title or three.

More on the contest, prizes (winner gets to name a character in SEABORN), and what it's all about here.

Front Page at Juno Books

Hey, my book cover's on the Juno Books home page--and right up top on the cover art gallery page.  Cool!  Seaborn is out in July.

Extreme book title contest: you get to name a character

We have some great titles so far, but we're looking for more--and we're upping the prize.

Right up front:  What can you win? 

Come up with the winning title for the sequel to my novel SEABORN, and you get to name a character in SEABORN (On shelves in July!) You get to name a prominent secondary character.  He (or she) appears in several chapters.  I have written the character as male, but a little snipping, a little lifting, and that won't be a problem anymore.

There are some considerations:  my wonderful editor, Paula Guran still has to approve the name.  You can't use fictional characters from someone else's works, you can't use known real people who may be offended, cranky, litigious.  We've already ruled out Spanky, Sparky, Tiffany, and Percival.  With that, do try to be imaginative.  I'm assuming you can use your own name. 

Read on to find out more about the sequel to SEABORN.

Then leave a comment on this post, or email me: chrishoward.author@gmail.com

What if I've already suggested a title or two?

For those of you who have already submitted titles by commenting on the last couple posts on this, or by emailing me:  you are in the game, already entered.  I've taken your suggested names and put them in the list.  You can always enter more--and there's a way to win without having your title suggestion picked:

There are a few titles that I have come up with, that Paula has come up with, that others not eligible for the contest have passed along, and in the case where we select one of these titles, we will select a random name on the list to award the character naming prize.

So, that's it.  Here's the original post with some of the suggested titles:

Book title contest!  |  Title contest update for Sirens

Here's the elevator pitch for the story:

This is contemporary fantasy--the sequel to SEABORN, so most of these characters have already hit the waves so to speak.  It's a story of misplaced vengeance--meaning the badgirl has spent most of her life looking for the wrong person to kill.  This is interwoven with Kassandra's revolt, and push for replacing the king of the Seaborn. There's also a long running theme about immortality, what it does to you, how much it's worth, what some would give up for it, what others would accept in place of it.   And...singing, music, sirens, song play a role in the story--as does the notion of sirens being destructive, wrecking ships, manipulative.  The story is a bit tragic, as are many of the things I write.    Now, imagine all of this with an undersea culture, people who pretty much look like me and you--with some minor mods like webbing between fingers, toes, other things that allow them to live, breath, hear, eat under the sea. More about the story: www.saltwaterwitch.com

Good concept direction:

singing, song, dark, sea, abyss, magic, war, queen, king, cold, water, city, throne, breathing underwater, sisters, deathless, immortal, waves, currents.

A lot of great titles in the comments here and in previous posts.  Here's a list from those who have emailed me:

Sea Change
Gift from the Sea
Saltwater Gods
Wilder Sea
Wilder Tides
Blue Ocean
Blue Water Gods
An Ocean Apart
The World Ocean
A Separate Ocean
Rolling Ocean
Bitter Sea
Unknown Ocean
Cold Ocean
True Ocean

I'm still thinking something short with Tides, Ocean, Sea, Blue, Drown in the title.

Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell

Paperback: 382 pages
Publisher: Juno Books
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0809557797
ISBN-13: 978-0809557790

"It is a strange thing to live a life that is no life, a life in which one's life is comprised of waiting for one's life to begin or end, but this had become my life." 

I finished Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell tonight, and it feels like I have experienced something from another time, pulled into the clash and conquest of spiritual forces and different cultures and the unpredictability of loyalty--of family, allies, friends--when carved up by prophecy.  McDonnell tells the story of fiercely passionate Satha and tormented Loic in a rich, timeless style, shifting point of view between the two in alternating chapters as they find their way through treachery and ambition--and discover their love, suffer betrayal, separation, slavery, and in the end, restoration and radiant hope.  Wind Follower will leave you lost in wonder--a good place to be.

Amazon | B&N | BookSense | Juno Books

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Title contest update for Sirens

Suggest a title and get a print.  This has been interesting, so many great title suggestions.  It's making me look at book titles in a new way.  I have a preference for one of these:

SIREN SONG

SEA SONG

SEAFAIR, SEAFEY, SEAFAE, SEAFAER, SEAFAERIE, SEAFARER

DEEPSEA

But I also don't want to get attached to one of them before running them by my editor.  Okay, I do like DEEPSEA enough to goof with the SEABORN lettering, but that doesn't mean anything.

I had this idea that someone would throw a title down, and everyone would cheer, and that would be it.  But there are a lot good titles.  Here's what I'm thinking: anyone who commented on the the title contest posts (either of them) will get something--that includes bloggers who posted the contest on their blogs with their ideas, linked back, and those who emailed me.  All you have to do is email me a street address, and I'll send you an art print, one I can fit into an 8x10 envelope.  I have about thirty of the painting below, so if you still want to throw in a title and get a print, there's time--I figure for about ten more.

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Book Title

I've been wading through a lot of great suggestions, and a handfull have stood out.  Here are the latest two.

What do you think of...

Under the Sea

or

Seafair, Seafey, Seafae, Seafaerie...

Here's the long Book title contest post, with suggestions, comments:

http://the0phrastus.typepad.com/the0phrastus/2008/02/name-my-book-an.html

Book title contest!

Seaborn (Juno Books) will be on the shelves in July.  I just completed the sequel to Seaborn with the working title, The New Sirens--from the palinode by Matthew Arnold.   There are sentiments in Arnold's work that hit me right, but I haven't met anyone who likes The New Sirens as a title so far, and even I've never really been sold on it. 

More about Seaborn here:  www.SaltwaterWitch.com

So, I was at Boskone this weekend and brought my title problem up with a couple people, asking for advice. I like Craig Gardner's suggestion:  Since it's a sequel to Seaborn, try to put together a title with Sea-something or something-born.  I also thought that the something after Sea ought to begin with the letter B and probably should have no more than one syllable. 

Thought this was an interesting solution, and worth exploring.  Anyone want to help me?

Flipping through the dictionary for B words, I came up with a handful, most of which I'm not fond of:

Sea-balance, Sea-bane, Sea-blend, Sea-bitter, Sea-bleed, Sea-blood, Sea-blessed, Sea-blind, Sea-bold, Sea-bond, Sea-border, Sea-brave, Sea-breath, Sea-bright, and Sea-burn.

And then there's good old Sea Witch.

Do you like any of these?  Should they be hyphenated, separate words?  Should the title be something completely different?  Love to hear what you think.

Oh yeah, what's the story about...

Here's the elevator pitch on The New Sirens:  It's a story of misplaced vengeance--meaning the badgirl in this case has spent most of her life looking for the wrong person to kill.  This is interwoven with Kassandra's revolt, and push for replacing the king of the Seaborn. There's also a long running theme about immortality, what it does to you, how much it's worth, what some would give up for it, what others would accept in place of it.   And...singing, music, sirens, song play a role in the story--as does the notion of sirens being destructive, wrecking ships, manipulative.  Sirens is a bit tragic, as are many of the things I write.    Now, imagine all of this with an undersea culture, people who pretty much look like me and you--with some minor mods like webbing between fingers, toes, other things that allow them to live, breath, hear, eat under the sea.  That's a very broadly painted view of Sirens.   Happy to fill in some of the gaps, if you like.

Any suggestions?  Spread the word, tell everyone.  Help me title the sequel to Seaborn.  Win something if you do.

Oh yeah, what do you win if you're the one who titles the sequel to Seaborn?  Well, I can sign and send you a print of any of my paintings, drawings, that sort of thing.  (Pick one here or here).  I can send you an ARC (advanced reader/review copy) of Seaborn when I get them, probably some time in April.  At this point I can't guarantee acknowledgement in the book, but I'd like to do that, and I'll find out from Paula Guran, the amazing editor at Juno, if that's something I can swing.  Finally--and this is really important--the title you suggest and I pick and like may not end up being the title of the book.  My original title for Seaborn was Captive Ocean, which was one of the first things to go after selling the story to Juno.  Regardless of what goes on the cover, if you win, you get the prizes.

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UPDATE

Here are a few I like so far:

Sea Throne, Sea Fire, Seabones, Sea Thorn, Seablood, Sea Crown, Final Sea, Edge of the Sea

What do you think of

Sea God, Sea Goddess, The Tide Goddess, (or Tide's ... ) Poseidon's Daughter, The Sea's Daughter ?

New and cool:

Siren Song

Seasong

Seafaerie

Seafay, Seafey, Seafair

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Thanks Tobias Buckell for posting a link back here!

Some great ideas from Skott Klebe over at Textiplication.com

More from the wonderful Carole McDonnell, author of Wind Follower:


Sea Chase
Sea Silver
Sea Witch
Sea Dance
Sea light
Sea Magic
Sea Wind
Sea Follower
Sea House
Sea Whispers
Sea Masters
Sea Shadows
Sea Dark
Sea Maidens
Sea veil
Sea unveiled
Sea Sorceress
Sea Eternal (Eternal Sea)
Sea Rose
Sea Heart
Sea Clock (wouldn't work so make it sea time)
Sea demons
Sea tower
Sea Night
Sea Blood
Sea Brimstone
Sea Kiss
Sea touch

From The New Sirens by Matthew Arnold:

Who are they, O pensive Graces,
--For I dream'd they wore your forms--
Who on shores and sea-wash'd places
Scoop the shelves and fret the storms?
Who, when ships are that way tending,
Troop across the flushing sands.
To all reefs and narrows wending,
With blown tresses, and with beckoning hands?

.

Boskone 45 update

Skott and I drove down to the Westin along the Boston waterfront after work on Friday to catch a couple of the panels at Boskone, meet some cool publishers and writers, find out how the Naval War College plays games, the usual stuff.  The preso by Christopher Weuve on Naval Analysis Through Iterative Wargaming was very interesting.  He went through historic gaming, the war college's influence in decision making, how the games are played, won, lost, cool stuff. 

We also took in a panel with the amazing Karl Schroeder on forecasting the future, how he's been working with government and industry groups to prepare possible futures for the policy makers in these industries and government departments.  Karl talked about the scenario building processes, the elitism of typical futurism--and futurists, time frames--pretty short 10 -20 year forecasts.   One of the interesting--even more interesting than the already interesting forecasting projects he's been a part of--was a book-length work, Crisis in Zefra, he wrote for the Canadian army (Directorate of Land Strategic Concepts of National Defense Canada), basically dramatized future military operations in a fictional citystate preparing to hold its first democratic elections.   SF author's dream, right there.

We said hello, shook hands--between panels--with Tobias Buckell, and then saw him later with sort of a Stross-Buckell mashup in the hotel's lobby.  (Some issues with all of us meeting in the restaurant, apparently).  I asked Sarah Beth Durst about getting on Boskone panels for next year, and she and Paul Park and Craig Shaw Gardner gave me some great advice.  Me on a panel?  Won't that be crazy?

Had a couple chats with Kelly Link and Gavin Grant (in the same place, the Small Beer Press booth, but at different times) about the future of publishing, ebooks, phones, Creative Commons licensing, and the commercial uses of user generated content.  This last is for a product I'm working on, launching some time end of March, early April.  More on that when I can.  Skott picked up a couple books.  I picked up The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner there.

Also stopped to talk to Cynthia at Withywindle Books, talked about art, the upcoming release of Seabon (Juno Books) in July!  I actually had my picture taken. 

Some great panels this year, interesting new directions, how to write battles, painting demos from Bob Eggleton and Omar Rayyan.  The Higgins Armory is here all weekend with armored combat demonstrations--how can you not love that?   A bunch of our writing group got together in the evening for talk and dinner with Craig Shaw Gardner and Jeff Carver. 

I also chatted with Craig and a few others about a new title for The New Sirens, and I'm now running a contest here.  Check out it.  Help me find a title, and win art, ARCs, something cool.  More info here: http://the0phrastus.typepad.com/

Pics.  Just a few from my phone.  Karl Schroeder, Gavin Grant (just after he used Skott's iPhone to take our picture), Higgins Armory demo.  Click on them to see the larger versions.