Posts Tagged ‘books’

Win the full Star Trek Vanguard saga

Next month, Simon & Schuster will publish Storming Heaven, the final volume in the Star Trek Vanguard saga I helped develop, and for which I’ve written four novels and a novella. I have three complete sets of the saga, with each volume autographed by its authors, and I’m about to tell you how you can become eligible to win one of them.

As part of the big send-off for this literary juggernaut I unleashed with the help of editor/author Marco Palmieri and authors Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore (with a Mirror Universe assist from James Swallow), I am planning to record an audio podcast of an authors-and-editors roundtable.

And I’m going to let you, the series’ fans, ask the questions.

All of us involved in the saga have spoken quite a bit about it over the last several years, and we’ve answered the same questions many times. This time, we’re looking for really intriguing questions. Ask us anything about the series, its characters, our creative process, the saga’s in-jokes, and anything else related to the eight-book series. We’ll answer the most compelling and interesting questions during the audio podcast.

To submit a question for our consideration:

I’ll choose one winner from among all those who send in questions that we don’t use; I’ll select another winner from among those whose questions are selected for the podcast.

As for that third complete set of autographed books … I’m still thinking about how to give those away. I’ll let you know what I come up with.

Stay tuned for that, and for more news about special Vanguard-related content and glimpses behind the scenes into the development of the saga, all coming in March 2012!

Bring on the questions, Vanguard fans! We’ll be accepting questions until 11:59PM ET  Tuesday, March 13, 2012. My hope is to record the podcast and have it posted in time for the books scheduled release date, Tuesday, March 27.

(Book giveaway is limited to residents of the United States, because I’m willing to cover domestic shipping costs for a box full of books — but not international costs. Sorry!)

Burning Books

Snurched from the LiveJournal of Keith R.A. DeCandido, who snicked it from Neil Gaiman’s blog.

Christian group sues for right to burn gay teen novel

Rather than get into a big lather over the symbolism of book-burning, I’ll simply say that while I object to the group’s decision to sue for the right to burn a book from a public library, I would whole-heartedly support their right to buy as many copies of the book as possible and burn those.

Basically, I see it as the difference between destroying public property (a library book) and applying for a fire permit to burn one’s own property.

In fact, I support their right so fervently that I’d like to invite the suit’s plaintiffs, the Christian Civil Liberties Union, to place a massive bulk order for my upcoming original novel, The Calling, which I’m sure will have something in it to offend them. Bad language and violence for certain; perhaps heresy or blasphemy will get their dander up.

To produce a really bright, tall bonfire that will make a statement, I think they should preorder 10,416 copies of my book, and then hold a press conference before they burn them in front of TV news crews and other members of the press.

C’mon, guys. I’m begging you. Please purchase and burn 10,416 copies of my novel. That kind of publicity will really teach me a lesson.

Bulk orders (which are eligible for discount prices) of The Calling can be placed by calling Simon & Schuster’s special sales division at 1-800-456-6798, or via e-mail to business@simonandschuster.com — remember to request it using its ISBN-13 Number: 978-1416579922.