If you love science fiction like I do, and you are a dedicated ebook fan, as I am, you should stop by the Baen Free Library. Baen is a great publisher of sci-fi, especially the 1622 series and Honor Harrington, and they have gone out of their way to present ebook versions of some of their greatest hits absolutely free. Stop by and check them out with your new nook, Kindle, or iPad, and if you haven’t tried the two titles I mentioned above–do.
For all you new users of Kindles, nooks, ipads, and any of the thousand or so Android tablets that have been hitting the market this Christmas season, I thought I would spend a few days pointing out some of my favorite ebook resources.
Munsey’s is a great place to find ebook versions of some of the great old pulp fiction books. You can pick up versions of Red-Headed Sinners of Alley Girl in the format of your choice absolutely free. Sadly I have seen some disreputable people selling these books online, but you don’t have to pay. Stop by Munsey’s and get them free. I have a lot of fun just browsing through the titles.
Coming in 2013:
Picking up where Senta and the Steel Dragon: The Two Dragons left off, The Sorceress and her Lovers begins a new epic five volume adventure Senta and the God of the Sky. Return to the land of Birmisia, filled with magic, steam power, rifles, and of course dragons.
Austin Tretower is the final member of Astrid’s group in the Astrid Maxxim series. Austin is a lovable screwup– the kid who all the bad things happen to. There just has to be one in every group and Austin is it.
I toyed with the idea of having Austin come from my own hometown here in Nevada, but in the end, he came from Washington state. This is a little fantasy of mine too. I love the rain, and growing up here in the desert I never get it. This gives me a chance to compare the two through Austin’s eyes.
In book one, Austin gets bitten by a rattlesnake. In book 2, he gets bitten by a lake monster.
For Astrid Maxxim, like any of my books, I have copious piles of notes. I thought I would share some of them with you. These are the character notes I wrote before I ever started the first book. There were a few changes as I wrote, but they’re mostly the same.
Astrid Maxxim (11-4-97)
Girl Inventor
Mom, Kate Maxxim, CEO of Maxxim Industries
Dad, Roger Maxxim, Inventor (Mad Scientist)
Toby Bundersmith
Boy Astrid Likes
Dad, Martin Bundersmith, Widower, Engineer at Maxxim
Denise Brown
Astrid’s Best Friend
Dad, Dennis Brown, Head model maker at Maxxim
Dad, Jeffrey Richards, Coffee shop owner.
Brother Dennis
Valerie Diaz
Astrid’s Other Best Friend
Dad, Sergio Diaz, Head of Security at Maxxim
Mom, Sofia Diaz, Housewife
Robot Valerie
Girl Robot with Valerie’s memories.
Christopher Harris
Toby’s Best Friend
Dad, Carl Harris, Engineer at Maxxim
Mom, Winnie Harris, Chemist at Maxxim
Austin Tretower
The New Kid
Lives with Grandmother, Pearl Tretower (retired)
Gloria Maxxim
Astrid’s Cousin (Parents: Carl and Loren Maxxim)
Think’s Astrid is a nerd.
Valerie Diaz is one of the two Valeries in Astrid Maxxim, and therefore supplies one of the running gags. Valerie is a shy, pretty girl who has strict parents. Her father is head of Maxxim Industries Security and her mother is one of the few women in the story who are housewives.
I enjoy writing Valerie’s mother, who is one of the few people in the series who doesn’t think that Astrid is perfect. Like the parents of all the other kids, I plan to flesh her out a little more with each book.
Christopher Harris is one of the six (or seven) main characters in Astrid Maxxim. Christopher, who doesn’t like to be called Chris is Astrids friend, but also competitor in most things. They rank about the same in fencing class, have many of the same academic classes and compete for the highest GPA among the freshmen at Rachel Carson High School.
I knew I wanted one of my main characters to be African American, and I didn’t want him to be stereotypically good at sports. I’ve had plenty of students with black skin who are very smart and are almost as bad at sports as I am. There are little bits of them all in Christopher and hopefully others will be able to identify with him too.
I’m really happy to say that November has set a new record for the number of visitors stopping by at WesleyAllison.com. There were 1049 distinct visitors during the month. What’s really cool is all the places that those visitors hail form– all around the world. To everyone, thanks for stopping by and thanks for your support.
The Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe Buxton is now available for the nook at Barnes and Noble for $2.99. Follow the link to take you right there.
Denise Brown is one of Astrid Maxxim’s best friends. Denise is one of the few kids in the story that isn’t an only child. I realized after I had finished Astrid Maxxim 1, that I had made many of them only children.
Denise has a brother named Dennis. My friends pointed out that with the names being so similar, the readers might get confused. On the other hand, that’s just what people tend to do– name their kids in groups or with similar names.
Denise and Dennis live with their two dads. I haven’t actually worked out their back story yet, so I haven’t decided if they had a mom at one time. Their dads have different last names, so they probably live in a state where gay marriage is not legal. I may never actually illuminate the whole issue, as it’s not truly important to the story and Dennis and his fathers barely appear.
City of Amathar 