Year of Reading Women Wrapup

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I finished my year of reading only women challenge at the end of April. I’ve been trying to assemble my thoughts since then. In some ways, it has helped to have a couple months of reading both men and women to get them sorted it out. What follows are some notes about my reading list and then some thoughts about “what does it all mean.”

Reading List

If this is the first time you’re reading about this here are my previous blog posts: first post second post third post fourth post. Read more…

How long does it take to write a novel?

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When I was busy launching The Iron Harvest in January, I didn’t get much writing done on Book III, the final book of the trilogy. And then February and March I was focused on finishing my play. It’s a small literary comedy drama and is the opposite of The Lattice Trilogy in almost every way, but it was important for me to have a little bit of a break from the global stakes of my sci-fi books. Now that that’s behind me, many people want to know when I’m going to publish the final book. Well, I want to know that as much as anyone. Read more…

Selling The Iron Harvest

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This was almost a very long post but instead I think it’s better to keep it short. In the six weeks since its release, I’ve sold 600 copies of The Iron Harvest. It’s dominated my sales in a way no other book I’ve written has before. I’ve sold thousands of books in a day before, but those were with discounted copies and usually expensive promotional costs. These sales have been full-priced copies and most of the marketing legwork was done months in advance. For contrast, it took me six months to sell that many copies of The Lead Cloak, and it Read more…

The year of reading women—just two months to go

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Earlier this week, Time magazine did a survey of college syllabi and listed the Top 100 women assigned in college. (The list got a lot of notice because they accidentally included Evelyn Waugh, a man.) As I was browsing through the list, I noticed that several of the books I’ve read are on the list! But that reminded me it had been a few months since updating my progress. So, once again, for those who are interested, here are the books I’ve been reading in my year of only reading women. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling “Daughter of Fortune” by Isabel Allende Read more…

The Iron Harvest is here.

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If you’ve been waiting to hear when the second book of The Lattice Trilogy is available, I have good news for you! My sales pitch is pretty short: big ideas, big action. It has chases, shoot-outs, and what I hope is the coolest/most interesting storm in science fiction. The book is available today in ebook widely. Here are links to the book in the most common online bookstores: Amazon Apple Nook Kobo Did I mention that the book is just $3.99! If you want to get a little bit of a “behind the scenes” of the writing and research I did, Brent Hartinger Read more…

Looking ahead to a new year

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Generally speaking, I try not to make a lot of dramatic resolutions at the end of the year. I’d rather set myself up for success, not failure. Sometimes I don’t even make resolutions. With that in mind, this year’s resolutions I have are pretty simple. Read more. Write more. Play more games. Spend more time outside. Read more I read 34 books this year. 38 in 2014. 47 in 2013. That’s clearly going the wrong direction (and thank you Goodreads for helping me identify the skid). I’m too easily distracted by the phone and watching too much TV. That’s probably the main Read more…

Pay what you want for The Sci-fi Spectrum Bundle!

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I’m very happy to say that The Lead Cloak is part of a 9-book bundle of books on Storybundle right now! Of the books in the bundle with me, one is a Philip K. Dick Award winner! Some explore space, some explore time—but not at the same time! 😉 If you want to fill up your To Be Read pile with a spectrum of sci-fi novels, this is a great way to do it (and you can pay what you want for these books!). StoryBundle is all about empowering YOU, the reader. Here’s how it works: Go to Storybundle.com and check out the books there. Read more…

The Iron Harvest: Coming in January 2016

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I’m very happy to say that after two full years of work, I have a publication date for my newest book. The Iron Harvest, Book II of The Lattice Trilogy, will be available on January 26, 2016. You can pre-order your copy from Amazon, Apple, and Kobo. The book picks up almost immediately from where The Lead Cloak left off, so if you’ve been dying to know what happened to Byron Shaw, you will be in luck. (Also, if you haven’t read The Lead Cloak, you really should. And, in case you needed some extra incentive, it’s $0.99 from now until January Read more…

Why I’m Reading Only Women for a Year – By the Numbers

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First an update. These are the books I’ve read since the last time I blogged: “The House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton “Justice Calling” by Annie Bellet “Fangirl” by Rainbow Rowell “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante “The Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler (underway) It’s been almost six months since I started, so I’m at the turn. Now, for some data. I was curious about my reading habits before I started this challenge. To a certain extent, I had it in my head that reading a year of only women wouldn’t be that big of a deal for me. Read more…

“Alexa, do you love Mommy?”

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For the last few months, our family has had an Amazon Echo in the house. It’s a (rather elegant looking) microphone and speaker gadget that we had set up in our living room. In it lives the voice of “Alexa.” She’s like Siri on your iPhone, except she’s always on. You don’t need to press a button, you just say, “Alexa, set a timer for ten minutes” and your timer is set. Her range is very strong so from almost any room on our main floor, we can ask her questions. Generally speaking, Alexa has fit into our routine very comfortably. The things Read more…