June seared the sidewalks here and I suspect July will be hotter.

Where are we:

1. Quarter Share and Half Share are both out in Audible. Podium contracted Jeffrey Kafer to narrate all the Ishmael Wang stories. I’m expecting to see Full Share available mid-July.

2. Paperbacks for In Ashes Born are now available on Amazon.

What’s coming:

1. I’m finishing the first book in what I’ve been calling the Smuggler’s Tales. I’m not sure that’s going to be the final series title because the stories are less about smuggling and more about life in Toe-Hold space. I’m at 65k words. I think the book will run about the same length as Ashes (about 100k words).

2. I’ll find out about the Independent Writer Of The Year award in a couple of weeks. This is the first year that the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers organization has presented an award to self-published authors. They’ll make the grand announcement on the 13th.

That’s it for now. I’m hoping to get this manuscript finished in the next few days but I’m terrible at judging these things. It’ll be done when it’s done.

For more background on Toe-Hold space, I wrote some small pieces about some of the outposts there and posted a Travelers’ Guide to Toe-Hold Space over on SolarClipper.com.

It’s a measure of how scattered and distracted I’ve been that June started last week and I forgot to update. Sorry about that.

The current WIP is Milk Run, the first book in the Smuggler’s Tales. I’m about 30k words into it and I think I’m about 1/3rd of the way into it. It’s a bit of a struggle because it’s the first book of a new series set in the Golden Age universe that’s not featuring Ishmael Wang and company. My goal is to get it done this month and over to the editor for an August 1 release. Fingers crossed on that.

I’m also working on the galley proof for In Ashes Born. That means paperbacks will be available soonish. I need to get them ready for some events coming up this summer.

Which brings me to the next item, I’ve been short-listed for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer’s Independent Writer of the Year Award. They’ll announce the winners in a reception in July and we’ll all be together in a program at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in August. In September, I’ll be at their annual writers’ convention – Colorado Gold – and October is MileHighCon.

So, there’s a lot happening.

Grassin’ season starts today!

Actually it’s cold and wet here. We’ve had snow all weekend.

Several bits of good news.

Podium’s edition of Quarter Share is available for pre-order. Release date is May 10.

The Starbound anthology – with Exile in it – is free for a few days. Grab it while you can. It’ll be coming down soon and the story will come home. My plan is to put it in the beginning of Milk Run. That’s where it belongs.

Speaking of Milk Run, it’s finally coming together. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the completion of first draft this month so I can move it on to the editor who’s been waiting for it since November!

Once I get that off my plate I’ll be working on To Fire Called, but I’ll be lucky to get it out before Christmas at the rate I’m going. My estimating ability has proven to be horribly unreliable so I’m not going to push my luck.

I will not be attending BaltiCon this year. It’s my younger daughter’s high school graduation weekend and I’m needed here. So it goes.