Alliance Rising now available for pre-order
by CJ | Apr 19, 2018 | Journal | 18 comments
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OOoooo. does happy dance
Oh! Pre-ordered that for sure, Kindle and HB.
Ooooh, the blurb (summary). Now that sounds like a great tale. Hah, wonder what that could be…. Sure will be fun to read when it gets here.
OK, I’ll even admit, I was so excited, I completely missed the expected release date, which I presume is some months away.
But still! Book! Alliance Rising! Oh, yeah!
——
Funny thing: I ordered a pair of coveralls some months back for the less-than-glamorous work like cleanup of dubious storage space items, etc. I’m fairly typical in height and weight for an American male. I ordered a large, my usual size. It felt like it was designed for someone shorter, and so it felt uncomfortable, it rode up in, oh, a key area or two. I didn’t expect that. I also had in mind, it could work it I wanted to sew on patches for cosplay as, say, a starship crewman or officer, at a convention.
So my takeaway is, the standard sizes may not fit quite as intended for the average crewman or crewwoman, or the not-so-average.
I’ve found that hunting or military style fatigues, the tunic and pants, fit and feel better.
Just for all those potential spacers out there looking to ship out. 😉
Release date says 2019-01-08; that is, January 8th, 2019.
I don’t know how my father found coveralls to fit his short self (he was 5ft3). Or overalls, either – I know he had those, there’s a photo of him in overalls and a sport shirt, when his office at work was being moved. (And one of him in a white shirt and tie, observing field tests of something or other.)
Ha! BCS, you beat me to it. By about four minutes. 🙂
Just preordered Alliance Rising – so excited, now I have to wait till January 2019 though. It’s so worth the wait!
So excited, just preordered it. Downside – I have to wait until next January to get it. It’s worth the wait!!! Oops, in fact it looks like I was so excited I posted it twice!
Fantastic! I’m so extremely looking forward to enjoying this one! Thank you so much!
Looking forward – but the price for the e-book is rather high.
Before reading Alliance Rising, I thought I should re-read some of the stories from this universe. I went looking for Finity’s End and Tripoint in particular, and discovered an interesting item: the German version of Tripoint is available on Kindle. (Tripoint: Die Company-Kriege, Band 6 – Roman (German Edition)). Unfortunately, I was looking for English. Should have taken German in university!
I am very excited about this.
Note: Tripoint is not yet in ebook / Kindle form in English. Some of the A/U books are still available used in pb or hb for reasonable or even quite cheap prices, while others now run for over $50 or $100 dollars for any copy. These are all wonderful books, well worth a reread, absolutely in need of a first read, and new fans really don’t know what they’re missing.
There are two volumes that have two or three novels or novellas each in Alliance-Union, published a few years ago in print and then in ebook format:
Alliance Space:
* Merchanter’s Luck
* 40,000 in Gehenna
— One is a key element of the A/U stories, and one heckuva tale, one of my favorites. The other tells of contact with an alien species on a colony world that went not-as-planned, and is quite interesting too.
Alternate Realities
* Wave Without a Shore
* Voyager in Night
* Port Eternity
— These were more experimental, earlier, and really enjoyable.
The Chanur books and the Faded Sun trilogy and the Morgaine books are all in ebook form. The Fortresss books and the Dreaming Tree books are available in ebooks.
The Cloud / Nighthorse books are not yet in ebook form.
The Cyteen omnibus of what was originally published in three volumes, is not available in ebook format. However, Regenesis, the later sequel, is.
That’s nowhere near an exhaustive list of the backlist titles. — I would love to see all of them in ebook form and generating income for CJ and the publishers. That’s one nice thing about ebooks, besides saving space and having text you can resize or have read by text-to-speech: An ebook never, ever has to go out of print. It can sit there and make money forever after publication. The only things it needs are occasional updates for new ebook formats or too fixes, inclusion of better graphics, like illustrations, figures, or maps, better tables, or things like audio or video added for multimedia.
In thinking of what might be more specific background for the upcoming book, I’d say Downbelow Station, Merchanter’s Luck, Finity’s End, and possibly the Chanur books on the side, are most (or maybe) relevant, but heck, there’s a little over eight months, read as many as you can fit in between now and then! 😀 Because why not?
— I have been speculating after reading the blurb on Amazon, and I think I may have some best-guesses and some wild-guesses and some well-maybe guesses, for what we might see in the book (and yay, the second volume). But I’m considering those all only speculation. Plus, there is what I think is a bit hint or else a red herring, or both, embedded in the blurb, just to boost interest and drive new and old fans alike, bonkers while guessing what exciting new something it might be.
It wasn’t until I’d gone through several possibilities that I finally realized another more likely one was in the background the whole time. I think it might be any of those, but it’s just as likely, some will get some story time, others might not, and there are likely to be things in there that are brand new, plus one or more red herrings leading to something else instead, that are all there, just to keep us hopping. Which is, you know, very cool.
But it says there’s an unidentified ship coming in, a new Earth ship that will be going out, and James Robert Neihart, the senior captain by the time of Finity’s End and Downbelow Station, is somehow there at one point. So says the blurb.
The cover art has not yet made its appearance. The preorder as yet shows a plain teal cover with silver-grey type. Of course, that might be how they’re going for it, but my guess is, it will get cover art and a type treatment, likely in a style to distinguish it from Foreigner titles.
Very excited, and speculating privately (or on the Shejidan forum) is sure fun as an armchair topic.
I used to think so too, as a reader, very happy about the permanent availability of ebooks which never go out of print.
Happy that new readers can always buy the backlist, and that those books continue to generate income for their writers; as the publishers stopped keeping backlist available in print I knew that was bad both for readers discovering an established writer or series, and for the steady long tail income of the writers.
But recently, on another writer’s blog, I read a different take on this, that I hadn’t realised before.
They had some books placed long ago with a publisher, that they’d love to write more books about. The old publisher wasn’t interested in buying any new books in that storyline or universe, nor in promoting the author, as they were no wellknown bestsellers, just ordinary “midlist”.
But because the publisher kept on selling just a trickle of ebooks each year, that counted as keeping the books in print, so the rights wouldn’t revert to the author.
They said, if the book did really go out of print they could shop around that existing series-starter book plus all the ideas for sequels they had to other new publishers, and if they sold it (or e-published it themselves) the expanded series could gain them a lot more income than the trickle from the ebook sales of the first book(s). That would be good for their readers too: more books to read in a series people like enough to generate some long-tail sales just from the first book, without any promotion.
But as long as the old publisher held the rights to the series-starter book, and thereby to the characters and fictional world created in that book, they couldn’t expand the series with another publisher (unsaleable) or on their own (possible legal trouble over the rights to that character/universe).
I do know that re-selling an old series for re-issuing plus new installments to a new publisher happens, because Lee and Miller did so twice; when their Liaden Universe books went out of print, their online fans proved willing to pay for them to write their books in installments online until a new publisher picked them up and started re-issuing the books; then when the Meisha Merlin publisher failed, the whole Liaden Universe moved to Baen. There, they finally got a good contract to write a long 5-book arc in that universe that’s going to bring closure to a lot of dangling threads for the readers, and give the writers some income security for several years.
So I can see how the ability to shop around a dormant book or series to new publishers can be a very good thing; but on the other hand, quite a lot of books that have gone out of print have never been re-issued, which is a loss to both their writers and us readers (at least, if they’re good books).
I’m not sure what would be the best way to handle this dichotomy; maybe put a minimum amount of ebooks sold per year in the contract, and below that the rights revert to the author when the author requests that reversion? That way the old publisher can continue to sell the trickle of backlist ebooks until the author manages to find a new home for them, so the readers won’t bump their noses against the not-available wall and maybe get bounced out of reading that series or author.
I’m very glad CJ did manage to create and publish a new book in the Alliance/Universe world, and didn’t get her series permanently stuck in this kind of publishing limbo!
I would surely agree. There are books by CJ and other writers, I would love to see in print again or in ebook form, preferably both. There are series or universes that I would love to see continued, if the authors ever want to do so.
I don’t know what has become usual for contracts for ebook rights, but another alternative to what Hanneke suggested might be a term limit on ebook and in-print book rights, whereby after, say, 5 years, the publisher and author would have to renegotiate the publisher retaining rights, or else the rights revert in total to the author, or perhaps to the author’s estate, so that family or friends, the heirs, could benefit from a periodic change, and living authors could benefit from getting their works reissued.
The minimum sales Hanneke suggested could have the benefit of getting publishers to market authors’ works / the publisher’s titles more aggressively, in order to generate sales and promote reader interest in all authors / titles / series from the publisher. Again, so that it benefits the publisher, the author, and the reading and buying public, and bookstores.
Hmm, what if checking an ebook out of a library could generate a credit in some form for a library or a business or bookstore, or for individual lenders, if they want to loan out a copy of an ebook? What if that were a point system or a monetary benefit. For example, what if a percentage went to a charity or a library, a bookstore, a person, say? This might be toward purchase of books with the publisher, or it might be some more general monetary or points benefit. — In the case of libraries or senior or youth centers, centers for single parents or battered women, for instance, that could sure benefit them, if it was simply a money credit, a donation periodically built up and disbursed.
(Some years ago, when Amazon offered its program whereby it gives a percentage of sales to charities, I signed up to donate this way to the Lighthouse for the Blind of Houston. Amazon does this for whatever charity one wants to donate to. So my Amazon purchases always have a small practical benefit.)
So if something like that were applied to ebooks, think of how many worthy organizations, libraries, schools, shelters, community centers, colleges, and so on, could benefit from it.
As a reader and a wannabe author, as a fan of books and authors, as someone who used to be involved in other publication production and design — I would love for authors to get a better deal toward rights to their backlist, their series, individual titles, universes, characters, you name it.
I wasn’t thinking of that, and don’t know why I missed it. Thanks, Hanneke, for a very useful and needed point.
I wish also there were some good way that ebook and in-print rights were managed better for world-wide sales of books. I think it’s a real shame that English-language and non-English readers alike cannot always get a given book (in-print or ebook) in their home country without jumping through hoops, like ordering from elsewhere to have it shipped to them, or some other way to get, say, an ebook they can read. — The whole point of publication is so the public can buy a book and the author and publisher can receive a benefit that allows them to keep publishing more books. We, the reading public certainly want the books. I’m lucky to be an American reader, but people in other countries, English speakers or not, cannot always get American books. American readers can’t always get books from elsewhere in English or other languages. And particularly if it is in your own native language, this is aggravating, as it is for UK and EU and other English-native folks who can’t get CJ’s or other American books in their own countries; and just as much so for readers in other languages who want a native-language edition, or who can read English and want the English edition. I know they are disappointed and deeply frustrated, not to be able to get CJ’s and other books, and occasionally, I have run across this if I wanted an English or other book from outside the US. There ought to be a way that agents, authors, and publishers can work this out so they all, and we buying readers and fans, can all benefit from it.
In other words, we all want the same thing, basically: more books to read, and we’re willing to pay for ’em. (And willing to check them out of the library too.) For that to benefit authors and publishers, and if it could also benefit organizations meant to help the community, then hey, again, we all want that. Surely there’s some way to accomplish it. The law and custom are supposed to help achieve the common good. … Er, oh, I think my old idealistic side and naïveté might be showing again. Oh, why not? A little idealism’s still a good thing now and then.
Hey, anybody else want to borrow the soapbox? I think I’ve said my piece and made my peace with it. 😉
I don’t know how things are organised in the US as regards library book loans, but here in the Netherlands we have BUMA/STEMRA, a sort of union for all creative people who write, sing, make music and produce books or music that can be bought or loaned or performed. This organisation guards the rights of all creative producers, that they get compensated if their work is used.
I learned how this worked in library school, but that’s decades ago. What I remember is that all public libraries (through the central library organisation?) have a licensing agreement with BUMA/STEMRA, whereby a certain percentage of a library’s earnings for each year goes to BUMA/STEMRA to disburse to the authors and publishers. As libraries also know which books, by which authors, have been loaned out, the more popular authors get more of this money. Before digital administration, it wasn’t accounted to the cent, but authors with books in libraries were categorized in a sort of 1 to 10 ranking of their popularity with library patrons (based on lending statistics), and each higher rank got a somewhat higher percentage of the BUMA/STEMRA money the libraries had paid for the use of their books. So some very unpopular authors might get a bit more than their books earned, and the very topmost few might get a bit less, in each category, but over all it was pretty fair.
It works the same for music: all shops and restaurants and other places that play music in public have to pay yearly licensing fees to BUMA/STEMRA, which disburses those to the artists and music producers. There’s been a bit of a kerfluffle about what “in public” means about a decade ago . If you play your radio in your own office, where nobody but you hears it, that’s not in public. But if you play your radio in an open-plan office where all your coworkers can walk in and hear it, then your organisation has to pay licensing fees to BUMA/STEMRA for bringing that music to the ears of the public. So we got an office rule that we weren’t allowed to bring our radios to work and play them any more, even if everybody in your room liked the same station, in case BUMA/STEMRA sent an inspector and fined the company for playing radios in public without paying licensing fees.
I guess that means the builders’ union has a licensing deal with them, similar to the libraries, as you can’t walk past any building site without hearing their radios.
I’m aggravated at myself: I had been midway through rereading Finity’s End in the midst of my move, and had picked it up again shortly after. Then I got busy and set it aside. It’s still in my headboard. — I have an idea that one event mentioned as earlier history of Finity might play a role in Alliance Rising. (Or maybe not, I’ve had fun thinking of all the possibilities from the blurb on Amazon, and think thee’s a red herring but other pointers involved in the blurb.)
So — Tonight, I’m restarting from the beginning, darn it, because I can’t recall a couple of specific pints and want them fresher in my memory. And besides, it’s a great book. — No, I don’t think it’s a must-read prerequisite before reading the new book. 😉 I just want to reread Finity’s End.
I’m likely going to reread Merchanter’s Luck again, and possibly Downbelow Station, in the eight months and a couple of weeks we have before Alliance Rising comes out.
My reading still has not caught up to my old levels, but I am going to be redoubling my efforts. I miss that, and the To Read Pile has quite a backlog. There’s, uh, a To Reread Pile as well. Heh.
In the FE reread, Fletcher was still newly on the ship but the hazing incident had not yet happened. I think he’d been helping in the kitchen by then, though. So I was roughly halfway through. But I’m restarting so I have things fresh in mind. — On that reread, I was picking up a different perspective on the younger James Robert and the group of kids than I had before, and on Fletcher and Quen as well. I’m not sure; this will mark the fourth or more times I’ve reread it. I last did a reread of Merchanter’s Luck two years ago now. Each time, I catch something new.
The last reread of Merchanter’s Luck, I wondered how the kids from Dublin Again, who’d been assigned to do cleanup to get the new ship, ship-shape, were going to react to Sandy’s brother’s AI tutoring in the ship’s computer, or other things, and how the new crewmates would do; who might be joining the new ship.
It’s going to be so good to see a new Alliance-Union book, and to know there’s a second volume and the history upcoming, hurray!
There’s, uh, a To Reread Pile as well.
Over at File770, that’s called Mt Tsundoku. Everyone has one….
Is there a local (or maybe not so local like Uncle Hugo’s) bookstore that could be willing to do a signing and would ship copies? I’ve been doing that with 3 of my favorite authors–Lee and Miller from Uncle Hugo’s and Martha Wells with Murder by the Book. Wells signs on-site. The Uncle ships the books to Maine, authors sign and books get shipped back to the shop for mailing to customers.
I know Scalzi has an arrangement with a local bookstore for signed copies.