(September 12, 2024) Limited time offer from Audio books for 50% off the price of BOUND TO A SINGLE SUN! Grab it while you can! https://www.audiobooks.com/promotions/promotedBook/619309/bound-to-a-single-sun?
(August 29, 2024) Yes, it’s been awhile since I updated the NEWS section… and for good reason. Most of you who know us well, know that Denise has been dealing Parkinson’s for several years now, and if you didn’t know, now you do.
Anyway, as part of that journey, we’ve been looking into Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) surgery for her, as the best treatment pathway for her in minimizing the effects of Parkinson’s. If you don’t know about DBS, I’d tell you to look it up for more information rather than going on about it ad nauseum here.
But to make a long story MUCH shorter, DBS surgery is two parts, one to install the electrodes in the brain, and another to hook up a battery to power the electrodes. The surgeries are generally done a week apart, and Denise has just had the surgeries completed, but that only installs the equipment. Then there’s a waiting period for the patient to heal, then a complicated progamming of the equipment and testing to make sure everything’s optimal. We’re talking about a 2-3 months for all that.
DBS has pretty much consumed most of her time and mine for the last few months, and will continue to do so for a while yet. So if you’re waiting to see when I might publish the novel and/or the novella I’ve completed, I don’t know when that might be.
Be patient, and send Denise good healing thoughts in the meantime!
(July 26, 2024) More good news on the writing front. One of the agents I contacted (name withheld such a time that we’re agent and client..) with a proposal has asked for the full manuscript to read. I’ve sent it to him. Fingers, toes, and all possible appendages crossed in hopes that he likes the manuscript enough to want to represent it! We shall see…and I’ll let you know one way or the other. I’m also currently revising a fantasy novella that I’m looking forward to shopping around.
(May 14, 2024) Some good news (finally) on the writing front. I’ve signed two separate contracts with George RR Martin for a pair of novellas that will appear in the upcoming Wild Cards book HOUSE RULES: one for a long story, “Promises Redux”; the second for the interstitial thread in the book, “Longing For Those Lost”. Yay! I have actual new contracts in hand! Note that there will be two separate releases of HOUSE RULES, one from Harper Voyager (British) and one from Bantam Books (USA)— I’ll remind all of you about each release when they happen.
(May 7, 2024) I had a long chat with my former (and now retired) editor, Sheila Gilbert, the other day about my writing and the current publishing industry. Sheila wasn’t optimistic about the current state of publishing, where it was going, and what it meant for authors. As she said “Everything’s changed from the way it used to be just a few years ago.” I talked with her about where I was with my current novel, and she suggested that self-publishing was something I should look at long and hard, given my long publishing record. So that’s what I’m doing at the moment. I’ve been getting nowhere with agents and current publishers. Going the self-pub route means more work for me, and it means I have to conquer my reticence to toot my own horn and put myself out there. We’ll see if I can manage that. Stay tuned to this station for updates.
(February 19, 2024) I’ve finished the authorial revisions for the latest novel (5th draft) now entitled WORLDS NOT VISIBLE. But now I have another (and more significant) issue—how to get it out there to readers. My publisher since 2000 had been DAW Books, then part of Penguin Random House, and my editor was the excellent (and multiple Hugo Winning Sheila Gilbert), and I was extremely happy to be a DAW authot, publishing two trilogies there (THE CLOUDMAGES series and the NESSANTICO CYCLE) both under my S.L. Farrell pseudonym, as well as six other books (IMMORTAL MUSE, CROW OF CONNEMARA, A FADING SUN, A RISING MOON, AMID THE CROWD OF STARS, and BOUND TO A SINGLE SUN) all under my own name: a total of a dozen books from 2000 to 2023
But… DAW Books sold itself to Astra Publishing back in 2023 (it still exists, as one of the ‘brands’ of Astra Publishing) and Sheila retired around the same time. I was massively unhappy with how Astra/DAW published my last DAW book, BOUND TO A SINGLE SUN as an e-book only with no print edition and minimal promotion. It felt like they were doing the very least they could do to fulfill their contractual obligations, and though I let Astra/DAW know that I’d already begun to draft a new book (because my contract with DAW required me to do so), I heard nothing from them about any interest in continuing to work with me.
So now I have to figure out how to get WORLDS NOT VISIBLE into the hands of readers. I could: 1) query agents and see if I get any interest there; 2) look at small presses and see if any of them would be interested in publishing this; 3) self-publish. That last option is the ‘easiest and quickest’ in one sense but also the most onerous for me as it means I’d have to do everything, and I suck at self-promotion. *sigh* Hopefully you’ll eventually see this book, as I think it an interesting and engaging (and different for me) novel. Watch this space!
(February 3, 2024) SLEEPER STRADDLE (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/.../george-r-r-martin.../), the second Wild Cards original under our new contract with Penguin Random House, will be released in hardcover on FEBRUARY 6. As it happens, I'll have an Croyd/Oddity story in the volume—make sure to check it out!
(October 20, 2023) It’s been out a year now, so to celebrate the book birthday, here’s a (temporary) deal on the audiobook — copy and paste this link into your browser: https://www.audiobooks.com/promotions/promotedBook/619309/bound-to-a-single-sun?refId=104414
(October 18, 2023) — I’ve finished the interstitial I had to do for the WILD CARDS volume we’ve just handed in, and I’ve now finished the 4th draft of “Knowledge” (which almost certainly won’t be the actual title of the book; I want something ‘catchier’) and have handed it off to my first readers. I hope to have a final ‘submission’ copy ready by the end of the year. More details to follow on both projects later!
(October 6, 2023) — Yesterday, I finished the 3rd draft of "Knowledge" my current novel-in-progress. This will NOT be the draft that first readers get; I need to go through this one again and clean it/tighten it before I inflict it on first readers for their comments. But hey, it's progress! I can't immediately dive into writing that 4th draft, though. I have to get something to George for WILD CARDS by the end of the month first (and no, I can't tell you anything more about that...)
(July 2023) — sadly, my long-time editor and friend Sheila Gilbert has retired from DAW Books (now part of Astra Publishing.) This could mean the end of my traditional publishing career.
(Mar. 31, 23) — On Friday, March 31st at 7:30 PM, I’ll be playing music with a local folk group called the Mudlick Five. Our concert will be at Miami University’s Hamilton OH campus, at the Harry T. Wilks Conference Center, at 7:00 PM. No cover charge. We’d love to see you there!
(Nov. ’22) — I’ve been putting out much of my original music on BANDCAMP. You can find me there at https://sleighwriter.bandcamp.com/music — give the songs a listen and let me know what you think!
(Oct ’22) — My newest novel is now out from DAW Books: BOUND TO A SINGLE SUN. I’d love it if you pick it up (available at all your favorite online outlets)
(April ’22) For anyone in the Greater Cincinnati area: I’ll be playing a solo music set at the Cincinnati Hikes "Trail Fest" celebration, June 5th, 2022. Trail Fest goes from 12pm-8pm at Oak Ridge Lodge @ Mt. Airy Forest —I'll be playing from 12 - 1:30. Come and listen if you can!!
(March ’22) My ARTWORK FOR SALE is now live on this website! Here’s the link: http://www.farrellworlds.com/art-for-sale.html — feel free to share it widely!
(Jan. ’22) New Short Story Sale Acceptance — I’ve had my short story accepted for publication in the original anthology BRAVE NEW WORLDS, edited by S.C. Butler and Joshua B. Palmatier, to be published by Zombies Need Brains, LLC in August of ’22. You can still support the kickstarter by going HERE and receive the books when they’re sent out.
(Jan. ’22) MARCH 15 is the next big day on the Wild Cards calendar. Tor will be releasing two more books that day: DEUCES DOWN in trade paperback & THREE KINGS in hardcover — the first American edition. DEUCES DOWN I’ve talked about before; it contains my favorite WILD CARDS story I’ve ever written, “Promises”. THREE KINGS has a noteworthy cover, stating that the book is “edited by Melinda Snodgrass”and is “set in the Wildcards world of George RR Martin…”