Finally, an update!
Everyone has a COVID story, and I’m no exception. The only difference was that I found myself isolated on an island in the South Pacific for over two years in a country that chose an elimination strategy. So, we had initial periods of total lockdown, but then COVID was not in New Zealand, and we lived in this bubble for over a year and a half where we had no cases, no deaths beyond the initial 51, and no restrictions--except for one big one. We couldn’t travel anywhere, and no one could come here. Actually, that’s still kind of the case, as tourists aren’t able to arrive until later this year.
So, we all got on with our lives. I had a Zoom Christmas in 2020 with my children in the US, where we baked cookies and crumpets together and played a board game with the help of a computer. I took advantage of the lack of tourists to take a camper van around the South Island, and I was able to go on two of the ten Great Walks of New Zealand, the Milford Track and Stewart Island’s Rakiura Track. I also renovated my house, which is still a work in progress, but it will be worth it. The view above is from my deck as the moon rose over the ocean last month.
Then, Omicron struck. We could no longer contain cases at the border, and it has been rampaging through the country for the past few months. We’ve gone from 51 deaths to 582 as of today and from perhaps 20k cases to over 851k, but we’re still very lucky. The country is over 96% vaccinated and more than 70% boosted. The extra time we had due to the border closers made all the difference. Now, cases are declining again, and hopefully, the next few months will show a return to normal, including freedom to travel for everyone. But, I couldn’t wait any longer and chose to fly to the US for my eldest’s birthday just before Christmas 2021, and I stayed until late February this year. I visited my children in Denver and San Diego, my most recent hometown in Portland, Oregon and friends there, my research colleagues in Colorado, Missouri, and California, and attended an orthopaedic research conference in Tampa, Florida. It was a much-needed infusion of connection that helped me get centered and ready to tackle 2022.
I HAVE NEWS! Like every other company and publisher in the world, Inkshares had to push back their release dates for new novels, and there was quite a queue after two years, but they’re catching up. I finally made it to the top of the queue for the next round of editorial feedback, which I just received, and my manuscript is looking very good! I still have some work to do on my characters and overarching themes, but the plot is solid, and no major rewrites are needed. I will be meeting with my editor and the publisher in the next couple of weeks to go over the feedback, and then I’ll dedicate time every day to finish this book and get it out there to all of you as soon as possible. Some of you have been waiting a long, long time for your copy, and I can assure you, it will have been worth the wait. I’m excited for you to read it.
Some of you got my longer email from my newsletter. Sorry for the duplication!
Cheers, Debbie
Hello my friends. We’re overdue for an update, and there is some news. Unfortunately, this time it isn’t particularly good news, and I am not happy to have to deliver it, but I have a duty to keep you all informed about the ongoing state of things, good or bad.
I received a call from my publisher earlier last week informing me that, due to ongoing problems with the global supply chain and manpower issues, it will not be possible for our printer to print enough copies of Tantalus Depths to get our first run ready in time for our May 10th launch date. There’s nothing I or my publisher can do about that; the printer simply cannot stock their inventory with the pulp, ink, and other physical materials necessary to create books in the needed quantity by that deadline. We’ve looked into other options, and there isn’t anything else we can do that will allow us to print on time without incurring a major cost deficit. As a result of this, we had no choice but to postpone our launch date for Tantalus Depths.
I hate having to break that news to you all. You’ve waited so patiently for years, and the absolute last thing I wanted was to have to prolong that wait even further. Thankfully, it’s only by a few months. We’ve already locked in a new publication day for September 27th, so you can still be assured that you’ll get your books this year. Going from a summer release to a fall release is not the worst possible scenario, but I still hate having to ask even more patience of you. It IS coming, though.
Frustrating as it is, this does give some advantages. I have a lot more time to plan and strategize my launch plan to make the publication day even more impactful. My publisher and I will take advantage of every extra day to seek promotional opportunities and build my audience to ensure this book lands in as many hands as possible. I’m doing my best to turn this situation to our advantage.
The launch event at Kent Trumbull is being postponed as well, but I’ve been assured that we’ll still be able to do it on the new launch date. I’ll give more details on that when it comes closer.
I’ll also be sure to use this summer as productively as possible for other projects. The new short story, Empire of Salt, is still on schedule for release later this month in the FAMILY anthology, and I’ve already begun work on another short story that should come out later this year or early next year. I may even be able to use this opportunity to get a head start on my next novel, Proteus, to make sure the wait between books is nowhere near as long as the wait for Tantalus Depths had to be. So there’s a lot to look forward to.
Updates may be spotty and inconsistent for a while (as if they ever were that consistent) as I shift gears to plan for the new release window, but I won’t keep you in the dark about anything important that comes up. Everything’s a bit chaotic right now, but it won’t be for long.
Anyway. If you’re starved for new story content right now, there are two new lore articles up on the website to check out: The Algorithmists and the Aftothysian Movement.
The Algorithmists are a deadly cult of insane tech-worshipping terrorists determined to build an omnipotent AI, and the Aftothysians are an idealistic network of ecoterrorists devoted to stopping extraplanetary colonization at any cost. The two groups have only one thing in common: if either succeeds in their goals, human civilization as we know it will end.
Learn more about these two dangerous subversive factions in the Explore section of evangraham.org, and see what happens when the two come into direct conflict with each other in my short story “Reliquary” in Writing Bloc’s Passageways anthology.
Yesterday, while walking down the street, I looked up to see a friend walking towards me. He was holding an orange book. "That book looks familiar," I said. He laughed. His bookmark was near the back of "Going, Going, Gone!" I took the book and inscribed it, and handed it back. He told me he was going to write a 5-star review. We chatted and walked away. All of YOU, who participated in the crowdfunding, made that moment happen. I will never forget it. Thank you!
"Going, Going, Gone!" sales are excellent. Radio interviews up on stevehermanos.com. Twitter shoutout from YouTube superstar Zack Hample. Fantastic 5-star reviews on Amazon (more needed, please). Your baseball-loving friends will love it. Also, those who enjoy an exciting read about America and what makes it great (and don’t care much for baseball), are also raving about it. It’s all very gratifying. Please reach out to your baseball-loving friends.
Also, for those who pre-ordered, and have not yet received your copies of "Going, Going, Gone!", please email Noah@inkshares.com.
Hit a homer!
Steve
Good news, we have the final artwork for the cover the The Man from Mittelwerk designed by Tim Barber of DissectDesigns and it looks great. (See below.)
Bad news, logistical issues in the publishing industry are going to delay the book until Fall 2022. Apparently supply chain issues, trucking strikes and the demand for shipping materials is causing pretty much every book out there to be delayed several months.
Nonetheless, we are moving ahead on all fronts. We have two short stories: a prequel that Mike wrote (The Perfect Setup) set before WWII and a bonus chapter I wrote (Leaving Detroit) set in 1950. We’ll post these on the www.mzurlocker.com web site in the coming weeks. We’ll be using these and other short stories in order to generate awareness and a mailing list for marketing.
We also had a couple of additional nice quotes from other authors including James R. Benn author of the highly acclaimed Billy Boyle WWII series and from James Kestrel (who may or may not be Lee Child*) author of my favorite book of 2021 Five Decembers.
“A fast-paced, smart debut novel that blends noir and Lovecraftian elements. If you like J.J. Abram’s alternate history Overlord, this book is for you.”
—James Kestrel, author of Five Decembers“From the dark caves of a Nazi slave labor complex to sunny southern California, The Man from Mittelwerk delivers on all fronts. Snappy dialog, a fast-paced narrative, and complex moral questions all combine to make this hard-boiled thriller a winner. Think Chinatown meets The Boys from Brazil - superb!”
—James R Benn, author of the Billy Boyle WWII mysteries
If you aren’t familiar with James R. Benn’s Billy Boyle series, I encourage you to take a look. A couple of my personal favorites are The Rest is Silence and A Blind Goddess. Benn’s books are extremely well-researched and wonderfully told. He’s also a super nice guy.
Let me know what you think of the cover and how you’re doing with all the insanity in the world these days. In addition to my day job, I’m doing my best to keep up with running and learning the piano. How about you? Don’t hit reply, instead send email to ZUrlocker@hotmail.com
--Zack
(*) But probably isn’t. I think.
Howdy! Good news to share, and an opportunity for Canadian fans of Bane of All Things to put it on the awards map.
BoAT has made the Best Novel Eligibility List for the 2022 Aurora Awards. The Auroras are Canada’s annual English-language Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards. They have been presented since 1980 by the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association (CSFFA).
These are popularity awards. Anyone who is a Canadian citizen or Permanent Resident, and a CSFFA member, can vote for their picks in any of 12 award categories.
How do you become a CSFFA Member?
Easy. Take an annual membership at the modest cost of $10 (that’s in loonies). Please visit the CSFFA Membership Page to create your account and secure your membership. This helps to pay the bills so that the Awards, and their annual ceremony, can take place.
Your deadline is March 26, 11:59 pm EDT
So, don’t wait! Once you have signed up, you can find Bane of All Things on the Best Novel Eligibility List.
There are 11 other award categories as well. As a CSFFA member, you may select up to five different works in each category (if you wish).
How to make your choices
Select works from the dropdown lists, which are sorted by title. If you want to remove an item that you have chosen, select the blank line at the top of the dropdown list. You must click the Update button at the bottom of each nomination form to save your selections. Your choices will be displayed on your nomination central page.
As the award guidelines state:
“You don’t have to nominate in all categories. Nominate those works that you enjoyed, because this is your chance to have your favorite works from 2021 on this year’s Aurora Awards final ballot. The top five most-nominated works in each category will be selected to be on the final ballot."
The awards ceremony is slated for Aug. 13. Even just having BoAT make that top 5 finalist list for Best Novel would be fantastic!
Cheers
Leo
Hello, friends! We’re two months away from launch day, and I have another exciting announcement for you, so buckle up for a wild ride.
I’m not going to waste any time getting to the big news. We officially have a launch event planned, and it’s going to be big! I’ve put too much time and effort into Tantalus Depths to let its arrival come without a bang, so we’re pulling out all the stops.
I’m incredibly pleased to announce that my old alma mater, Kent State University’s Trumbull Campus, has graciously offered to host a launch event for us! There really could not be a more fitting place to do it. Those of you who have been following Tantalus Depths from the beginning might remember that the book’s humble origins began as a creative writing class assignment at that very same university. Kent Trumbull is where Tantalus Depths was conceived, born, and nurtured. The book simply would not exist if not for Kent Trumbull, and returning to the place it began eight years ago to celebrate its publication feels like destiny.
If you hadn’t already marked May 10th on your calendars, do it now, and scribble “7:00 PM” and “Kent Trumbull” underneath it. We’re going to have some snacks, do a little reading, do a lot of socializing, and just generally celebrate this amazing journey together in the place it all began. I hope to see all of you there!
In other news, there’s another lore update on the website this week, this time highlighting the two central characters from my short story Countermeasures: Jay Serpentico and Descartes. Jay Serpentico is a deadly mercenary with no moral code and a terrifying talent for killing. Descartes is an enigmatic criminal mastermind with seemingly limitless resources and no apparent weaknesses. They’re two of the most dangerous people in the galaxy, so what happens when their interests no longer align? Find out in Countermeasures, part of Writing Bloc’s DECEPTION! anthology, and learn more about these two nefarious figures in the “Explore” section of evangraham.org
I’m posting interviews. Two are up and more are on the way: https://www.stevehermanos.com/interviews
Books should arrive in the next week. If anyone wants clear labels, autographed, so you can stick one for each book on the title page, please let me know. I can mail you labels.
To those who ordered multiple copies, PLEASE do not sell copies at discounted prices. This damages sales. If you’re desperate to sell some, contact me.
Thank you so much for your participation in the publication of "Going, Going, Gone!" To those who haven’t bought it, this week is crucial in its life. I’m getting very gratifying feedback. If you have a friend who’s a baseball fan, this is a home run of a gift. I guarantee it.
Please check out the interviews, and let’s have some fun!
I’m off to see a high school baseball game later today! Cheers!
Hello, friends! It’s update time! I have yet more exciting news for you today.
First of all, I want to reveal a surprise project I’ve been working on. I have not one, but two story launches coming up in the next two months. In addition to Tantalus Depths, I’ve spent the past year working on another short story for the Writing Bloc Collective, for their upcoming FAMILY anthology: Empire of Salt. Like Tantalus Depths and my three previous short stories, Empire of Salt is set in the Calling Void universe, but in a place and time we have not yet seen explored.
Set more than thirty years before Tantalus Depths on the toxic ocean world of Hayden, Empire of Salt tells the story of Masuyo Kosawa, formerly the wealthiest and most powerful man in history. Kosawa’s ruthless ambition helped him rise to unprecedented heights as the rest of the world reeled in the aftermath of the devastating Corsica Event. For years it seemed the Ming-Kosawa corporate monarchy could never be toppled.
That is, until Exotech Industries changed everything.
Empire of Salt is a tale of greed, sorrow, ambition, and futility, and is just one of the 21 brilliant stories you’ll be able to find in this excellent new anthology book from Writing Bloc. Look for FAMILY on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and most other retailers on April 19th, 2022.
Empire of Salt delves deeper into the rich future history of the Calling Void universe, from the perspective of a man who lived through most of it. If you’re interested in learning more about the dark universe of Tantalus Depths, you don’t need to wait until April. I’m pleased to announce the first new lore file on my website: The Home System.
We’ve already learned about Earth, but what about the rest of our solar system? When Exotech developed the superluminal drive, interplanetary colonization throughout our system went from prohibitively challenging to practically easy. The past few decades have seen a lot of growth throughout the system, and each world has a story to tell.
Learn more about the vast terraforming operations on Venus and Mars, the tragic fate of the Shangxi lunar program, the perils faced by the Argos Mining Syndicate on Io, the revolutionary discovery of life on Europa, and much more in the newest edition to the Explore gallery on evangraham.org: The Home System.
Howdy! I hope this finds you well. If you are also connected with me on Facebook or LinkedIn, you may have seen my recent cancer updates. If not, here is the latest recap.
It’s been four months (early October) since my surgery to remove the cancerous tumor (metastasized melanoma) from inside my head. This was then followed by the initial treatments with targeted radiation therapy. My recovery has been gradual, now also aided by immunotherapy treatment.
But when you are dealing with something such as this, there are inevitably going to be further speedbumps.
Case in point – two weeks ago, my first MRI since the fall revealed the presence of a number of new spots in my head. These required another round of targeted radiation therapy with that good old CyberKnife machine (completed on Thursday). These new spots may in fact have already been there in October, but still been too small at that time to be detected by an MRI.
The trade-off with targeted therapy is that it targets only known cancerous tissue, as spotted on an MRI. The advantage is that it can be aggressive with the dosage, with minimal harm to surrounding healthy tissue. Before the CyberKnife, the only option was to bathe the entire brain in radiation. (It may be more complicated than this, but that’s how my radiologist explains it to this layman.)
That old method had the disadvantage that, well, you’re baking the whole brain, including all the healthy parts that don’t need treatment. This can result in unwelcome side effects related to memory and cognitive function. On the other hand, by hitting the whole brain, you may also be treating by default any cancer spots that remain too small to show up on an MRI.
For me, targeted therapy remains the ideal way to go. My next MRI in six weeks or so will hopefully reveal that we are getting the upper hand on this game of “Whac-a-Mole” with targeted therapy and the cancer will be in retreat.
Meanwhile, life goes on
There remains a certain book to tell the world about. Please post those reviews when you have had a chance to read Bane of All Things!
FYI, you don’t have to purchase from Amazon to post a review there. You just need an active Amazon account. And then there is Goodreads.com and your favourite bookseller (the more the merrier). Thank you very much if you have already done so.
Also, I took the leap and registered to attend, in person, this year’s World Fantasy Convention – taking place in November in New Orleans. And I don’t mean for it to be the last time, either. Who knows where the world will be by then – virtual attendance may still be the wisest course, regardless of my health, but still I plan to be there in some form.
Stay safe and keep reading!