Chasing New Suns
Chasing New Suns is my first book, and back in August as I geared up for its release, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had done my research and tried to educate myself on everything I needed to do, but still I was nervous. However, as the weeks leading up to the release date and then the post-release bustle passed, although there were a few minor hiccups, I can now look back and tell myself, “You can relax now—it’s out in the world, and people are reading it.” The glowing reviews that bookstagrammers, magazines like ImaginAtlas, and my local newspaper posted and published helped to silence the negative voice in my head.
Getting attention for online book sales can be frustrating, but a pleasant surprise has been the success of in-person events. In September, Thunder Bay’s ThunderCon was amazing. I connected with so many readers. Cosplay is a big part of the event, and I dove in head first, dressing up as Colonel George Taylor, Charlton Heston’s character in Planet of the Apes. The book launch event a few days later was very gratifying and was a celebration as much as a marketing event. And earlier this month, the signing event in Regina, my hometown, was also fun. In 2025, I’m hoping to plan some vacation time so as to also include a couple of book fairs.
Coming Soon
I reported on this already in the previous issue, but I’ll mention it again: I’ll have a new short story appearing soonish in Analog Science Fiction & Fact. I’ll be sure to include an update here in the newsletter when it comes out.
What I’m Working on Now
I’ve set aside the novel I’m working on for a bit and for the past few of weeks have focusing on short stories. The one I’m working on now is a near-future story set in Saskatchewan. My mood music for this piece is Joni Mitchell’s “Paprika Plains”.
Writers of the Future Volume 40
WOTF40, which includes my story “Five Days Until Sunset”, continues to do well. The latest accolade is the NYC Big Book Award in the anthologies category.
A Favor to Ask
One of the main factors determining whether Amazon, or other online bookstores like indigo.ca or barnesandnoble.com, show a book to shoppers, is reviews and ratings. If you’ve read Chasing New Suns and enjoyed it, I ask you to consider leaving an honest review on one of those sites and/or on goodreads.com. By the way, if you’re unfamiliar with Goodreads, it’s worth checking out. Whereas book reviews on Amazon skew to 5 stars or 1 star, on Goodreads the reviews tend to be a bit more thoughtful and bit less extreme. As a reader shopping for my next book to read, I find Goodreads to be a better source of information than Amazon.
But as a writer, I’m happy if you leave a review anywhere, and of course Amazon is king.
If you bought the book through an online bookstore, the best option is to post a review on that same site. You would search up the book again, click on it, and for most of the sites there will be a button to click that says something like “Leave a Customer Review”.
If you bought it in a physical bookstore or you bought it directly from me at a convention or a book fair, you could still post a review on Amazon if you’ve spent more than $50 there in the past year. Or, for the Canadians, you could post it at indigo.ca if you prefer. Or, as I said, on Goodreads.
And if you’ve already left a review, thank you very much.
This newsletter is also available as a pdf.