Dan Moren

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Writing

  • Aleph’s well that ends well

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    What’s that, another book? Damn skippy.

    Get ready for THE ALEPH EXTRACTION, book two of the Galactic Cold War series.1 Coming in March 2020, we follow our intrepid band of covert operatives as they infiltrate the luxurious starliner of a notorious gangster, attempting to track down a mysterious artifact that could have major implications for the fate of the galaxy.

    Things certainly don’t look great for our heroes, if that spaceman below is any indication, but you can check out the lovely full cover designed by Georgina Hewitt, along with an exclusive excerpt, over at Barnes & Noble’s Sci-Fi Blog. And rest assured that there will be a lot more info to come over the next several months.2

    1. This time for real!↩

    2. Although I’m getting married this weekend, so it may have to wait a little bit.↩

  • Get around, get around, get around the Internet

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    The Bayern Agenda has, like the kraken, been released!

    It turns out book release weeks are quite the trip. Because in addition to doing the old tweetin’ and hootin’ and hollerin’, I’m also traveling around this wide Internet of ours, scribbling posts on others’ blogs, answering interview questions, and spontaneously showing up on podcasts. I know, it’s kind of a lot.

    Anyway, should you have somehow not had your fill of me yet, you can check out the following places to get your fix.

    Guest Posts

    • Five Things I Learned – Writing a book teaches you a lot, even when you’ve done it before. So I hijacked Chuck Wendig’s blog to enumerate five specific lessons I learned while writing The Bayern Agenda.
    • My Favorite Bit – Want to know which part of The Bayern Agenda was my favorite to write? Head over to Mary Robinette Kowal’s blog, and I’ll tell you what it was and why. (Don’t worry, no spoilers.)
    • Annotated First Chapter – Ever wonder what was running through my mind while I wrote something? Well, now you can take a peek. I’ve annotated the first chapter of The Bayern Agenda for Civilian Reader.

    Interviews

    • Interview with Paul Semel – Over at Paul Semel’s blog, I talked about the books, movie, and TV shows that inspired The Bayern Agenda, as well as discussing some fantasy casting.
    • Interview at My Life My Books My Escape – I’m talking about my favorite characters to write (it’s so hard to pick!), what people will be talking about after they finish The Bayern Agenda, and my feelings on “theme.”
    • Interview with Amanda Bridgeman – Fellow Angry Robot author Amanda Bridgeman interviews me about my formative writing experiences, my myriad podcasts, and my secret dream job.

    Podcasts

    • The Incomparable – My friend and colleague Jason Snell and I talk about how The Bayern Agenda came to be and answer questions from readers and listeners around the Internet.
    • Alan & Jeremy vs. Sci-Fi – I chat with the dynamic duo about sci-fi, my book, and the art of swearing; we also discuss Brooke Bolander’s excellent short story, “And You Shall Know Her By The Trail Of Dead.”
    • Narrated – I give host Scott Ullery the behind the scenes look on authors’ involvement with audiobooks, and then he turns around and quizzes me about movie mashups. Hardly seems fair.

  • My writing finances, 2018

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    Writing is big business, right?

    I’m always interested when writers like John Scalzi, Jim C. Hines, and Kameron Hurley talk about the economics of the writing business. I’m certainly not at the same place in my career as any of them, but maybe somebody out there is interested in what the finances of someone just starting out in fiction writing—but who’s also spent the last four years as a professional freelance writer and podcaster—look like. And, well, the only numbers I have at my disposal are my own.

    As a freelancer, I have to keep a close eye on my finances as it is, because nobody else is going to do it for me.1 So since I already have those numbers, I thought I’d share this chart:

    Yep, that’s my income breakdown from 2018. I’m not going to break out dollar figures here, as that’s just something I’m not comfortable with right now, but to put this overall chart in context, my gross income does not reach six figures.

    This marks the first time I’ve made more from podcasts—which includes ad revenue from Clockwise and The Rebound, as well as memberships fees for Clockwise and my various Incomparable shows—than from tech writing, which is a fascinating swing for me, even though my overall income was still split evenly between writing and podcasting.2 In large part, that change is because I took on fewer tech writing gigs this past year, but also because podcasts have been doing well recently. I certainly hope that trend continues.

    Fiction writing also made up the biggest percentage to date of my writing income, in part because last year I signed a two-book contract with Angry Robot, as well as seeing the first royalties from The Caledonian Gambit, which was published in 2017. Comparatively, fiction writing made up 2 percent of my income in both 2017 and 2016. In raw terms, I netted just slightly more from fiction writing in 2018 than I made in 2017 and 2016 put together.

    I’ll take that as a pretty good trend, and while obviously I can’t insure that it continues in that direction, my goal has always been to slowly increase the percentage of my overall income that fiction writing brings in. But fear not, I’m not about to stop writing about technology or shutter my podcasts; they’re still bringing in the lion’s share of my income and, besides the fact that it would be economically foolish of me to toss them aside, I really enjoy those parts of my work and am extremely gratified that I can make a reasonable living off them.

    As for 2019, I’ve already got a couple things lined up on the publishing front that I’m excited about, and I hope to develop more as the year continues.

    1. Without me paying them to do it, that is, which isn’t something I can afford at present.↩

    2. The miscellaneous income, if you’re curious, is mainly a tiny bit of Amazon affiliate revenue, and sales of my t-shirts and pins at the Cotton Bureau.↩

  • The Bayern Agenda gets covered, in more ways than one

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    As I write this, I’m sitting in the open air, right off the beach in Tulum, Mexico. It’s a pretty striking contrast to the opening of The Bayern Agenda, which I don’t think I’m spoiling too much by saying takes place in a somewhat colder climate, in every sense of the word.1

    But you’re not here for me to wax rhapsodic about my vacation. No, you’re here for book news, and book news I have. Over at SciFiNow, they’ve got a first look at the brilliant new cover to Bayern—a taste of which you can see right here—designed by the folks at Amazing15, who definitely live up to their name. I’m hopeful that the book will pop off the shelves just as much as the cover seems to.

    Now, Bayern is equal parts sci-fi and espionage story, and so I couldn’t resist also talking about the most famous fictional spy around, James Bond. Look, I’ve watched quite a few Bond movies and if there’s one thing that popped out at me as I was revisiting several recently, it’s that Bond is just a terrible spy. Hit up the SciFiNow link above to see five reasons why 007 is just the worst.

    As a reminder, The Bayern Agenda will be hitting shelves, physical and virtual, on March 5th, 2019. There’s still plenty of time to pre-order your copy from your favorite bookseller, whether they’re brick or mortar or online.

    1. I must be allowed my little cold war jokes.↩

  • The Bayern Agenda unfolds in March 2019

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    I hope you’re sitting down, because well, I’m sitting down for this news, which has been a long time coming: my next book, The Bayern Agenda, will be available for your reading pleasure in March of next year!

    I’m delighted to say that I’ve teamed up with the merciless killbots fine folks at Angry Robot for this new Galactic Cold War series, of which Bayern is the first installment. You can read more about my inspiration for the book and its setting in the announcement over at Unbound Worlds.

    So, I imagine you have some questions. Let me do my best to not only imagine what those questions are but perhaps even answer them:

    Q: When exactly—give me the hour and minute!—does The Bayern Agenda come out? 

    A: Okay, look, I’m not an atomic clock. But I can tell you that March 5, 2019 is the day to mark in your calendar.

    Q: Where can I find said book? How can I get it into my hot little hands? 

    A: Are your hands, like, weirdly hot? Because maybe consult a physician about that. But assuming that was just a fanciful turn of phrase, you’ll be glad to know that you can find The Bayern Agenda for pre-order at all your favorite online bookstores and I’m sure were you to walk into your local bookshop and ask them to order it for you, they would gladly oblige.

    Q: I prefer to read with my ears. Will there be an audiobook version? 

    A: I have nothing official to announce about that at present, but I can say that I have a good feeling about it and if you find yourself in Vegas in the next few months, I would not place a bet against it. Audio versions of books definitely being something bookies will take some action on.

    Q: Okay, level with me: Is this a sequel to your stunning and auspicious debut, The Caledonian Gambit?

    A: Aww, thank you. Such kind words. Here’s what I’ll say: The Bayern Agenda is set in the same universe as Gambit, and readers of that book will recognize some familiar faces. But this is officially the kickoff of a whole new adventure and a great place for new readers to jump right in. You can tell ’em I said so!

    You know in TV when they make a pilot episode and sometimes they say, hey, this part worked really well, but we really need to make a few tweaks here and there, nips and tucks, rejiggering, and so on, before we go to series. Consider The Caledonian Gambit that pilot episode. Or, if you prefer, consider it the prequel to The Bayern Agenda. (Ehh? Ehh? See what I did there?)

    Q: Sold. How can I help? 

    A: “Sold” is exactly the right word. I’ll just casually mention those pre-orders again; they’re a huge help to a writer. Spread the word: tell your family, tell your friends, tell your colleagues, associates, frenemies, friendly rivals, enemies, FedEx delivery person, and everybody in between. If you’re so inclined to ask your local bookshop to order it, you have my eternal undying gratitude.

    Q: Anything else you want to tell us?

    A: So many things, but chief among them: Thank you all so much for your support over the past year. Because of you I made the Goodreads Choice Awards semi-finals; because of you The Caledonian Gambit won the best cover art for a debut novel in 2017! It would not be overstating it to say that your enthusiasm for TCG helped The Bayern Agenda become a reality. I literally could not have done any of this without you, because, seriously, who would have read the book?

    This is getting a bit metaphysical.

    Anyway, I’m looking forward to sharing The Bayern Agenda with you next year, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Or perhaps even more, if such a thing is possible.

    Stay tuned! Much more to come.

  • Cover of the Year, shirts of January

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    Well, this year isn’t off to a bad start.

    First up, a big thanks to everybody who voted for The Caledonian Gambit’s cover over at The Qwillery’s Cover of the Year poll. There was some stiff competition from Sara O. Thompson’s Muddy Waters, complete with a lengthy teeter-tottering for first place, but I’m happy to say that we emerged from the scrum victorious, carried aloft on a ceremonial book cover. Or, well, the little bar on our results was just a little bit longer anyway. Anyway, that’s amazing and flattering, but full credit must go to cover artist Sebastien Hue and cover designer Rain Saukas, who did phenomenal jobs putting the whole thing together. The best that I can hope for is that it means you can judge my book by its cover. (And once again, I’m ever thankful that the folks at Talos didn’t opt to use my original cover design).

    Secondly, you might remember in my last post that I was going on a bit about my lateral move into apparel. Well, the response was simply fantastic: almost 90 people ordered shirts! Far more than I’d anticipated, but fortunately the good folks at Cotton Bureau were well up to the challenge. Orders are going out now, and hopefully everybody who ordered one should receive it in the next week or so.

    If you missed out on this run of shirts, you can still register your interest at Cotton Bureau, and they’ll let you know when it’s available to order again. Next time around, I’ll also probably make the Illyrican Empire option available as well, and maybe some new color options for the Commonwealth version too.

    Thanks again to those who decided that they wouldn’t mind walking around with a logo from my book emblazoned on their chest—truly, the highest honor. I look forward to seeing one in the wild at some point; then, I’ll know I’ve really made it. If you do have one and wear it some place I might see it—say, one of my upcoming appearances—who knows? Maybe I’ll have a special surprise for you.

    Finally, I’m at work on a few projects that I’m hopeful you’ll all enjoy, though most of them are early days. If you’re looking for a good book to read in the meantime, let me point you towards the excellent techno-thriller The Exphoria Code by my good friend Antony Johnston, whose name you might know from a little movie called Atomic Blonde. It’s a ripping good read, as you’d expect from him.

  • Getting shirty

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    Over the past few months, I’ve had great fun sending out free signed bookplates and handing out stickers emblazoned with the insignia of the Commonwealth of Independent Systems and the Illyrican Empire, the two major factions from The Caledonian Gambit. Between those and the stamps I had made for signings, it’s a fun way to bring a little personalization and depth to the story. But I wanted to take things a step further, so I’m pleased to announce that I’m selling my first t-shirt.

    The Commonwealth of Independent Systems shirt is now available for a limited time from Cotton Bureau, in one of three colors: a royal (canonical) blue, an indigo, and a military green. The campaign runs for two weeks, wrapping up on January 16 at 8pm EST, so make sure to place your orders before then. (And read on for how to enter to win a free shirt!)

    For you Illyrican fans out there, I haven’t forgotten about you. I’m considering doing an Illyrican shirt later on, depending on how sales of the Commonwealth shirt goes, but I opted to start with this one because in sending out bookplates, the Commonwealth versions were requested twice as much as the Illyrican. But here’s a sneak peek at what an Illyrican shirt will probably look like.

    I’m also offering a chance for one lucky person to win a free Commonwealth shirt! All you have to do to get a chance to win is subscribe to my very infrequent mailing list by entering your email address in the form below.

    I know, I know: giving away your email is a precious commodity these days. I understand completely. But I solemnly swear that the only thing you’ll get is a pretty rare email from me letting you know about announcements related to my writing and appearances. That’s it. Nobody else gets your email, and I won’t abuse the power. So you’ve got nothing to lose and a possible t-shirt to win!

    I’ll pick a winner from everybody who’s subscribed to the mailing list as of January 16, 9 a.m. EST, so if you’ve already signed up, you’re automatically entered. (That also gives me time to contact the winner and for you to still buy a shirt if you didn’t win.) Good luck!

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  • Audiobook, signed bookplates, and reviews

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    Hey friends! It’s been a couple weeks since The Caledonian Gambit officially hit shelves, and I’ve got a couple of fun pieces of news to share with you, my nearest and dearest pals.

    Audiobook

    A lot of people have asked if an audiobook version of TCG is coming. Good news: It is! Tantor Media is producing it, it’s scheduled to come out on July 20. Narrator Rob Grgach has already proved worth his weight in gold by catching a little math error in the text.1

    The CD version of the audiobook is already up for pre-order on Amazon, but I have it on good authority that a downloadable version will also be available and, as Tantor’s other titles are on Audible, I would presume it should be available there as well. More information as I get it, but if you’ve been waiting for the audiobook version, rest assured it’s on its way.

    Signed bookplates

    I got to sign a couple more books at WWDC this past week, but I’ve also had a lot of questions about where people can get signed copies. Unfortunately, right now, unless you’re in the Boston area (or someplace else that I’m visiting), you’re kind of out of luck. Currently, I don’t have any other plans for signings, but I’ll update my appearances page if they arise.

    However! If it’s simply an autograph and not my scintillating company that you crave, I’m more than happy to oblige. I’ve had some very attractive bookplates printed, and I’m more than happy to sign one and send it to you for the low low cost of absolutely nothing—I’ll even personalize it for you! Just head over to this form (the password is sabaea) and fill out your name, address, and any personalization you’d like.

    I’m offering two different styles of bookplates to choose from—Commonwealth and Imperium—and I’ll accommodate all requests as long as supplies last. The bookplates are adhesive, so you can stick ’em in your book if you want, but you certainly don’t have to—it’s yours to do with as you please!2

    A few other things are cooking on this front, so stay tuned.

    Reviews

    Finally, just close it out, a huge thanks to everybody who’s taken the time to leave a review or a rating of The Caledonian Gambit on Amazon, Goodreads, and the iBookstore. I really appreciate it. If you like the book and want to read more, this is one of the best (and, let’s be honest, easiest) ways to show your support! Other great options include telling your friends, telling your local bookstores, and telling random people on the street. But whatever you’re comfortable with, really.

    If you’ve read the book and enjoyed it, but haven’t yet had time to leave a review, no worries—there’s still time! Even a short sentence or two is all it takes. Plus it helps ensure that there may very well be more to come in the continuing adventures of these characters. On which topic, I hope to have more to say…soon…

    1. Whoops! Thanks, Rob!↩

    2. Well, I mean, don’t copy my signature and sell it. Rules and laws apply, etc, etc.↩

  • Ratings, giveaway, cover battle, and more

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    It’s less than a week before The Caledonian Gambit is out there in the wild 1, so it seemed like a good time to let you know what’s going on in the run-up to the book’s official release.

    Ratings and Reviews

    First of all, a huge thanks to everybody who has preordered the book. You folks are all champs, and I really appreciate the support. This is something I’ve been working hard on for years, and I’m about as excited as a cat chasing a laser pointer that it’s about to happen.

    If I may ask one last favor of you fine people: once you’ve read the book, if you like it, please tell the world.2 Tweet about it, tell your friends, climb up to the local rooftops and scream about it3, whatever.

    If you’re looking for a slightly easier way to share your fondness for the book, Goodreads and Amazon both make it pretty easy to rate books, and if you have time to leave a review—even a short one such as “I really enjoyed this book!”—that’s a huge help. If you’d like to write more, by all means, go nuts. But reviews might help other people decide to check it out, and that means I get to keep writing books, which, I think we’ll all agree, is the best thing for everybody right now: you, me, America.

    Goodreads Giveaway

    Speaking of Goodreads, just in case you’ve been holding off on pre-ordering the book, you have an opportunity to win your very own paperback edition from Goodreads. My publisher is giving away copies of The Caledonian Gambit to five lucky entrants! (As of this writing, amazingly, 193 people have entered. So you still have better than a 1-in-40 chance, which is way more likely than winning the lottery, and, honestly, comes with fewer long-term downsides.) The contest runs through May 25, so you’ve still got time to drop your name in the hat.

    Qwillery Poll

    Looking for other fun ways to support the book? The Caledonian Gambit is facing off in the Debut Author Challenge Cover Wars for May over at The Qwillery. We’ve got a pretty solid lead currently, but I don’t want to get cocky. If you haven’t yet taken a few seconds to register your vote, hit that link above and tell them how pretty you think the cover is.

    Reading/Q&A/signing on 6/1

    Boston-area people, if you’re looking for a chance to hear me read from the book, get your copy signed, and may even have your questions answered, good news! Thursday, June 1, at 7pm I’ll be at Newtonville Books in Newton Center, just a stone’s throw away from where I grew up. There’s a Facebook event to register your interest, if that’s your jam, but it’s not required, so feel free to drop by and say hi.

    Signed copies

    As long as we’re on the topic of signed copies, I’ve had a lot of people asking about how to have me scribble in their copy. At present, the only surefire way is to be in the Boston area, which is where I’m likely to hold most events. I’ll also be attending Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose early next month, so if you’re at the Relay FM meetup or some of the other events happening that week, just find me. (Or if you’re in the area but not at those events, shoot me a tweet and we’ll figure something out.)

    I’m working on a way to accommodate those of you who aren’t in the Boston area, but I’m not quite ready to share that yet. When I am, you can be sure that I’ll let you know. If you want to be among the first to get the details, remember you can always sign up for my super low volume mailing list from the front page.

    Thanks again for all your support. We’re in the home stretch here, so hold on tight.

    1. Excepting all those copies of the paperback that Amazon has already shipped, anyway, so thanks, Amazon!.↩

    2. If you didn’t like it, maybe just write an angry screed and post it on your refrigerator.↩

    3. My legal counsel advises me that I should not tell you to do this.↩

  • Cover story and Q&A

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    Over at the Skyhorse Publishing blog, they’ve officially revealed the cover for The Caledonian Gambit, along with a Q&A with me about the book. But there’s a bit of a funny story about the development of the cover that I wanted to share.1

    As this is my first novel, when my editor at Talos, Jason Katzman, asked if I had any thoughts about what should be on the cover, I admit that I panicked a little bit. I’d been more or less trained to expect that my input, if any, would be on the minimal side, so I think I just babbled something about spaceships and the opening scene of the book, which features a pivotal space battle.

    But of course, having written the scene, I did have some idea of what it looked like. So, later on, I pulled out my iPad and a stylus and made a quick, rough sketch. Very rough. Really, exceedingly rough. I’m kind of embarrassed to share it, but okay, here:

    You know, both my mother and my dad’s sister were pretty talented artists. I clearly did not inherit any of those genes.

    Fortunately, I managed to remember to at least name some of my favorite artists who’ve done this sort of work, including Ralph McQuarrie and John Harris, when I relayed this to my editor. Even more fortunately, he didn’t laugh at me too much when I sent the sketch over.

    Still, I wasn’t prepared for what he came back with. Illustrator Sebastien Hue had somehow managed to pluck a better version of the scene right out of my head and translate it to the page. Rain Saukas turned that illustration into a beautiful cover design that conveys exactly the kind of futuristic feeling that the book shoots for. It’s just beautiful.

    I love this cover. It’s amazing, and it’s more than I ever could have hoped for. I’m even more excited for the book to come out, so mark your calendars for May 23.

    1. Because this is a story in which I look pretty silly, which is probably the best kind.↩