Awards Season has begun

I few weeks ago, I gave my first suggestion about the Dragon Awards.  I'll be doing an update on that one shortly, because I have more thoughts on the matter, and more candidates -- and in some cases, fewer. I've gotten around to reading some of the books I hadn't gotten to when I first wrote it, and I'll be removing them from the list for suggestions.

But 2016 is over, leaving us again with new awards, from different sources. And the deadline for nominating in the Dragons are still several months off.

I may have mentioned the Planetary Awards. They're assembled by book bloggers, and I was nominated by Brian Niemeier for Murphy's Law of Vampires. You can look up the laws for how to vote for the Planetary Awards on their website, right here.

The deadline for voting is April 30th. You have plenty of time to catch up on the seven novels, assuming you haven't read any of them already. And there's also seven short stories. It shouldn't be that difficult to catch up.

So that's one.

And, much to my own surprise, I made the CLFA book awards.... twice.

Murphy's Law of Vampires, by me
Set to Kill, by me
Domino, by Kira Heavy
Souldancer (Soul Cycle Book 2), by Brian Niemeier
Brings the Lightning (The Ames Archives Book 1), by Peter Grant
Discovery, by Karina Fabian
Chasing Freedom, Marina Fontaine
Grunge, by John RingoIron Chamber of Memory, by JCW
By the Hands of Men, Book Three: The Wrath of a Righteous Man (Volume 3), by Roy Griffis

If you want more data on how this was compiled together ... it was mostly a matter of voting within the Facebook group, and coming up with finalists, and then voting on who got the most votes so we can end up with the top ten list from there. You'll be happy to know that my two novels were not even given a single vote by me.

And, as you can tell, these are all pretty solid stories. I'm told that Peter Grant is quite amazing; Domino is basically Animal Farm, just with cats; Souldancer is the Dragon Award winner; and Roy .... okay, I don't actually know anything about this one. But I can't read everything. The rest of the links in the list above have been reviewed by me, on the blog, so you can get them out.

... Okay, I haven't reviewed my own books, obviously, because that's just tacky.

This one has less time to vote on, as voting closes at the end of March. So if you're all caught up on these, click here and vote now. If you haven't ... read fast? I guess?

Rumors Bargains and Lies

Yes, I stole the title from Babylon 5. I'm due.

I'm going to start by thanking File 770 yesterday. Or at least one of its readers, who goes by the name Migly. When I put in the disclaimer yesterday, I mentioned File 770 commenters who harassed me in my email. Which happened. Migly found that strange and pointed out that no one on the File 770 website mentioned me until Mad Genius Club mentioned me first.

Which was nice. No one had told me I had appeared at MGC.  Sadly, I still don't have the time to read it. So, no, I won't be addressing it, since I want to keep this one short.

It has been interesting, though, that I've had an entire alternate biography show up in the past 12 hours that I never knew I had.

Apparently, I'm a sexual deviant who will sleep with anything....

Because, you know, looking like this means I get all the chicks.

.... All of the color blind chicks....

No, let's just stick with all of the literally blind chicks.

This was the one where I laughed my ass off for ten minutes. Really, ten minutes. It was wonderful. It was joyous. It was insane.

I've had lots of rumors on me over the years. Some of them, at least, are based on reality. Am I nuts? There's an argument that can be made for that. Am I violent? Only in my rhetoric. Or if I need to defend myself.

But this? This is such total, complete, and utter BS I can't really even begin to describe it.

And that's when I laughed off all the rest as well. Because they were just as deranged to anyone who talks to me for five minutes. This one? this was the rumor that saved me an awful lot of time. I spent most of Tuesday stressing out over what "people will think."

You know how stressed I was yesterday? I didn't even know how stressed I was until I saw this

"Reality Couldn't Have Done This to Him" ~ A review of Declan Finn's "Set To Kill"

Yup. You read that right. JD Cowan is back, and he's got another review of another one of my novels. And I'm really kinda blown away by how much better this book sounds than when I wrote it. He actually makes me think I could win an award ... any award, really.

I will only excerpt some parts. I really want you to read this one. And if I highlight every part I liked, I'd just copy and past the whole thing.

What you're in for is a story filled with action, mystery, and more than a bit of comedy....

If there is one thing Mr. Finn excels at (there are a few) then it would have to be the action scenes. I'm hard-pressed to think of an author with so many details in their action scenes. Everything flows, the events are described clearly and fit together, and they are usually quite surprising. And funny....

This is a hard book to really nail down. Would it be correct to call it something like if Dashiell Hammett wrote an episode of Murder, She Wrote thinking it was a sequel to Commando? I'm just not sure. If you enjoyed the previous book in this series, It Was Only On Stun!, then you should enjoy this one more. Whatever it is, Set To Kill accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do.

Should you read this book? Only if you like wanton destruction and humor popping up in strange places. And, really, why wouldn't you like those things?

I can't wait to read the sequel. Surely by then Sean Ryan will have enough of a handle on the con experience to run his own. I could just imagine.

You can read the rest here.

Yeah, this is a really good day.

Anyway, if you liked what you read and want to click on the book, here you go, it's below

And if you've read these, a review would be nice. Thanks.

 

Sad Puppies 5 suggestions

EDIT: FOR THE READING BEREFT -- APPARENTLY, THE USUAL CROWD AT FILE 770 CAN'T READ -- I MUST PUT IN AN EVEN BIGGER NOTE HERE. I'M NOT IN CHARGE OF SP5. THE FOLLOWING IS, IN PART, A GUIDE FOR MY RECOLLECTION, SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO WILL BE VOTING,  AND AN OPPORTUNITY FOR OTHER PEOPLE TO GUIDE MY VOTING. APPARENTLY, SOME PEOPLE ARE TOO STUPID TO HAVE FIGURED THIS OUT FROM THE BELOW. THAT IS ALL.

Happy new  year. Time to start considering what should be done for Sad Puppies 5.

Yup,  you didn't forget, did you? We only have a few scant months to start getting together nominations for The Dragon Awards.

If you care about The Hugos, yeah,  that too. Though I suspect that's more Rabid Puppies than come to my blog.

I'm not sure about the Hugos, but I think I'll take a Dragon Award, thanks.

First things first. I'm going to put this initial list in a format similar to the Hugos  ..... for now. This is for two reasons: one,  I don't know how SP5 will be laid out, so the Hugo format is easiest.

Second reason?  If there are Rabids who stop here, they still care about the Hugos. So this will serve the dual purpose of catering to them. I'll do a separate list for a Dragon Award version. But the SP5 list is up first, mostly because the potential nominees are locked, as they go by calender year. Now that the scurge of 2016 has passed, let the games begin

To start with, remember that the rules of this game say that you can nominate 5 items per category. Though to be honest, I prefer the Dragon Award version, that nominates by genre. SP5 Might as well, we'll have to see.

THIS LIST WILL BE UP FOR REVIEW LATER ON. Why? Because I still have books left over from last year that aren't read yet (there are books from THREE years ago that aren't read yet) and there are some where I didn't remember the original publication date. I'm compiling this in December, while I'm sick, so we'll see how this goes.

If you are one of the authors mentioned here and you actually DO give a flying f*** about the Hugos, comment, I'll edit and note it

Best novel

Again, I'm going to have to treat this with the same restrictions as the Hugos.

1. John C. Wright's Iron Chamber of Memory. Please read the review, then buy the novel. IN THIS CASE, then vote in the Hugos. Why this case?  1) This blew away everything else I read last year, really. And (2) it does mean something to John, so if it were in my power, I wouldn't deny him that joy for all the world. Iron Chamber should win a Hugo, if there's any justice left. But there is no justice left in the Hugos,  so I'll keep going with SP5 nominees.

2. Marina Fontaine, Chasing Freedom. Why? Because it was one of the best scifi works I'd read last year. And Marina made a dystopia I could read, enjoy, finish, and not want to slit my wrists over. That's a major accomplishment. Words can't even express how good you have to be to pull that off. Please read the review, then buy the novel.

3. Robert Kroese, The Big Sheep. I really did enjoy this book. It's another one that made a dystopia readable. The mystery, he characters, the world building, all of them were stellar. And yes, for those who really care, I know, it's published by MacMillan, which also owns Tor books. If I were you, I wouldn't hold that against Robert.  Please read the review, then buy the novel.

4. Declan Finn -- Yes, I published three eligible novels this year. Funny enough, they're within the time frame for the Dragon Award as well .... which, come to think of it, I have Vox Day to thank for that. But, yes, I have Codename: UnSub and Murphy's Law of Vampires that can be nominated for a SP5 best novel. Huh. Throwing my hat into the ring is just padding the list.

5. No Award. Yes. Really. I got nothing. I can't recall anything that I'd really submit (more on that below). I haven't read a Terry Goodkind in years (I'm saving them for when they stop ending with "To be Continued"). There are no Jim Butcher books out this year.

Notable books for consideration:
Karina Fabian's Discovery.  I read an earlier draft of this book many, many years ago (five years ago, to be precise), and I have yet to read the latest edition. But if the editing cleaned up the problems I remember, this is easily in slot #4 .... yes, slot #4, bumping me down a slot.

Brian Niemeier -- because he was up against The Martian last year, and that's hardly fair. Brian came out with two books last year, Souldancer and The Secret Kings. Read them, enjoy, and flip a coin as to which one you vote for. If Brian has a preference, I'll edit it and add his pick. It's "Notable" ONLY because I haven't read them yet. And I'd want to read Nethereal first .... which means by the time I get to them, the whole series will be out.

NOTE: Yes, I had considered John Ringo's books from last year, but I think Ringo would rather burn his books than let them be nominated for a Hugo -- though I'll have to see if he cares about Sad Puppies, he may not mind that. So ... perhaps Black Tide Rising, or Grunge, or Sinners? Larry may care about SP5 if they preclude a Hugo nomination, so expect to see Son of the Black Sword, which also came out last year, but I would rather nominate another Monster Hunter book.

Best related

Set to Kill -- I've made no secret about my ambition to make people pissed off about this one. If I were to have a serious horse in the Hugos, it would be here. I would want this just to see people's heads explode. If we're talking Hugos, yeah, shoot for best related in Rabid Puppies (Attn: Vox Day).

However, we're talking SAD Puppies, and Sarah mentioned adding genre categories, specifically mentioning mysteries.

Insert big freaking grin here. If that happens, count me in on this one.

If it doesn't happen ... well, throw this into the ring with Rabid Puppies, see who gets pissed off.

Best Novella

Marina Fontaine, The Product -- Yeah. Sorry. That's about all I can think of off hand that would really fit. I'm sure more will come to me when my brain reboots.

Best Short Story

Pick something from Black Tide Rising .... though I would recommend Kacy Ezell's story.

Now, I'm certain that there is a slew of short stories from Lou Antonelli, and Brad Torgersen, and even John C. Wright. Just don't ask me to remember them.

EDIT: Lou has been kind enough to comment what came out last year.

1. “Captain of the Clouds” – Aurora Wolf, January 2016

2“Higher Powers” – Sci-Phi Journal, February 2016


3. “The Milky Way Dance Hall” – Decision Points anthology. May 2016

4. “Lone Star, Lost Star” – Fiction on the Web, July 31, 2016

5. “The Yellow Flag” – Sci-Phi Journal, August 2016

6. “And He Threw His Hands Up in the Air” – Siren’s Call, No. 28 August 2016

7. “Time Like a Rope” – Silver Blade magazine, October 2016

8. "Three Twilight Zone Variations on a High School Reunion" - 3rd Spectral Book of Horror Stories, Oct. 31, 2016

9. “If You Were a Dinah Shore, My Love” – Gallery of Curiosities podcast, Dec. 26, 2016
My preference would be to include this,  This is golden from the get-go ... though it might be considered a short form Drama presentation. I'm not certain.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Long Form

Captain America: Civil War.

Doctor Strange:

Tom Stranger, Interdimensional Insurance Agent.  Oh yeah. This is going to be hilarious. This is only an audio book, so I think it works for a dramatic presentation. Now, in suggesting this, I know, obviously, that Larry wouldn't stand for this as a nomination for the Hugos, I'm certain about this, so if you're interested in the Hugos, DO NOT NOMINATE LARRY ... but I'm also a trouble maker, and this work was funny as hell. I would put this up for an SP 5 nomination ... and a Hugo, but not for Larry. Why? Because if Larry Correia doesn't want the Hugo for it, can we give it to Adam Baldwin? I'd consider flying over to Helsinki to see him give THAT acceptance speech.

Best Dramatic Presentation – Short Form

Daredevil, Season 2 -- One Batch, Two batch.

No, seriously, did you people see this episode? This was powerful and heartbreaking, and the best treatment of Frank Castle, The Punisher, that I have ever seen. I don't care if you never watch another episode of Daredevil, watch this episode. Jon Bernthal carries this entire episode, and even most of the series.

After that ... Sorry, I binged on iZombie, and couldn't tell you what came out when without a cheat sheet. Something for Luke Cage? I haven't finished that one, so I couldn't tell you what episode would be best offhand.

Best Editor – Long Form (Rabid Puppies)

..... Huh. Yeah. Never mind. This is here just for the Rabids. Because if SP5 turns out to be all about the books, SP5 will probably not even have this section. If that's the case, assume this will be the Rabid lineup

Toni Weisskopf – Baen
Jim Mintz – Baen
Tony Daniel – Baen
Vox Day, Castalia House, if only because he did Iron Chamber of Memory

Best Fancast

Geek Gab
The Catholic Geek
Superversive Roundtable

Yes, three ... all that I've been on ... don't judge me. I'm happy when I manage to make my own podcast, don't start asking me to start hunting down other people's podcasts. I don't have the time lately.

But yeah, this is as best as I can figure until Sarah has up the rest of the rules and regulations.


Do you have suggestions? Please, but all means, leave them here. Like with SP4, leave a title, an author, and a reason why it should be in SP5. If you think it's worth a Hugo, or a Dragon ... I'll suggest that this is a different conversation. 

 

Year in review, 2016

I cannot even begin to cover all of the strangeness that happened out in the world in 2016.

After all, think for a moment ...

Trump won.

The Cubs won.

Army won.

Brian Niemeier won.

I got nominated for a Dragon Award.

I hung out with Jagi and John C. Wright.

Who could have guessed that any of the above would have happened?

Okay, Brian Niemeier was apparently a forgone conclusion, but other than that ...

Okay, I guessed that Hillary would lose, not that Trump would win, but that's nitpicking.

And the body count this year ... yikes. Wikipedia has it here. It looks like a massacre.

And yes, I've been busy as heck.

I've actually come out with six books last year.

Yes, six.

Count with me.

Pius History .... which has now been unpublished, and we'll get there.

For All Their Wars Are Merry -- In August

Sad Puppies Bite Back  -- In September

And the following were all in November.

Codename: UnSub

Set to Kill

Murphy's Law of Vampires

And that's not even counting my rerelease of Honor at Stake last June, remember that?

So, yeah, I've been sort of busy.

Oh, and while I think about it, that's not even all of it. because there's still Silver Empire to deal with.

Don't tell me you've forgotten that one, do you? The deal with Silver Empire is to take everything Pius -- the history volume, the short story collection, the novels -- and rerelease it with ambitious ideas for expansion -- expanding the brand, and for expanding the reach of the books in and of themselves.


Ugh ... so ... yeah ... I've been busy.

By the way, this isn't even counting several other projects I've been working on that I haven't told anyone about. Why haven't I told anyone about them? Well, these are books I'm submitting to a publisher, and the backstory behind the submission I'm not even sure I should be discussing it in public, because it was a private conversation. So, that's about 200,000 words I've been fighting with over the past four months, in an effort to get things in shape for any possible situations that might come up.

What the bleep am I talking about? You'll have to wait a bit to find out.

And, again, as I said -- THIS IS JUST 2016.

Just wait until I discuss what I'm doing tomorrow in the rest of 2017.

I'll sleep when I'm dead

I really don't feel like posting anything right now, for several reasons. For one, I'm busy working myself to death over a space opera series that I want to submit to ... various and sundry people who shall remain nameless.

I'm also working on book 3 of the Love at First Bite series, Live and Let Bite, which will be my own personal preference for the Dragon Award in 2017. Seriously, if you thought Honor at Stake was that good, I will submit that this will blow book one out of the water.

Think I'm bluffing? You're obviously new here. Heh.

... Anyway, you might want to finish Murphy's Law of Vampires before then.

In other news, it briefly looked like Sarah Hoyt had a heart attack. She didn't, for the record, but she seems dead set on having one before the year's out, so we'll see what happens, shall we? Don't believe me? Go through the last six years of her blog at random. My money is that you'll come across a post with her and medical problems every six posts. At a guess. She's charge of Sad Puppies 5, so we'll see if she survives that. Granted, I suspect she will, even if her fans have to tie her down and make her relax once a week.

Yes, I know, I have a heart of gold, don't I?

... No, I don't.

I have a cap on working myself to death: March.

The schedule looks like this.

October: Codename: UnSub
November: Murphy's Law of Vampires and Set to Kill
December: It's Christmas ... time to sell books like they're going out of style.
January: Build up for Live and Let Bite. That's when the sample chapters will happen on the blog. Also, submit the damn space opera.
February: Live and Let Bite will hit stores. Hard.
March: Pass out.
April: Wake up. Start campaigning for the Dragon award. And RavenCon ... maybe
May: Finish book 4 ...Edit A Pius Man for Silver Empire.
June: Publish book 4, and maybe A Pius Man.
July: LibertyCon, if they will let me play as a guest again. Bang the drum for the Dragon award and A Pius Man.
August: Vote in the Dragon Awards. Probably edit A Pius Legacy for Silver Empire.
September: DragonCon. Rejection or acceptance of January submission. If the former, I start handing out review copies, and get to work on publishing them.
October: Start promoting the reissue of A Pius Legacy.  Probably.

....No. Not like I"m busy or anything.

This is, of course, while I'm doing daily blogs, a weekly radio show, a monthly podcast with the Superversive SF roundtable, a mailing list--

Did I mention I have a mailing list? I do. Please sign up for it, so it could make my life slightly easier. Thanks ever so much.

--and on top of that I have the gig over at The Catholic Geeks blog.

Wonder where the Hugos fit in with all of that? They don't. Yes, Set to Kill is hilarious, and should be Best Related in the Hugos. I think it's even better than Sad Puppies Bite Back, but I'm not delusional. I'm not going to waste my time with them, unless I really think I have a shot at winning. And I won't know about that one way or another for months.

Wait, what was that? You want more of Kevin Anderson after Codename: UnSub? I'm so sorry, but my coauthor has had second thoughts about even releasing that. So place the odds of there being a sequel at 100 to 1 against.

Anyway, you know at the end of this, I'm going to ask you to at least look at some of my books. So ... if you haven't already, check out some of the books below. I really do need to eat.

Month in Review: November, 2016

This has been the most successful month in the entire history of the blog, with over 18,000 hits.

Granted, I'm relatively certain that a large part of the spike came from the fact that my election day coverage consisted of 12 separate posts -- that garnered my blog a thousand hits alone. And, to no one's surprise, the one where I mentioned who would Deadpool vote for actually garnered enough hits to be in the top ten for the month.

The posts that made it, however, were....

1. #BlackFriday, 2016

Okay. Maybe Dawn had a point

Not too big of a surprise. I posted this around the universe endlessly during the week of Black Friday, as well as Cyber Monday. I even bothered to use Hashtags. They work.

2. Building Catholic Vampire Lore (Honor At Stake)
I still have no idea why this one keeps popping up so high on the blog count. I don't do anything special for it, I don't post it anywhere that often. It just ... shows up.

3. The End of the Pius Trilogy
I took out a Facebook ad for this one, which is probably why it did so well, overall.

4. The Cast of Set To Kill
Wherein I discuss what the cast of Set to Kill looks like, and how they have NO SIMILARITIES WHATSOEVER to any real people. Honest. Also, a photo of Larry Correia.

5. Set To Kill is coming sooner than expected
The announcement that the book was coming to the internet way sooner than anyone thought.

6. Set to Kill is out, and ready to be Best Related at the Hugos...
I confess, the title was clickbait. Mea culpa, mea culpa

7. Election Day: Who would Deadpool vote for?
Discussed above. The answer ... he didn't even get the year right.

8, Attack of the Silver Empire
The announcement that the Pius Trilogy was dead, and why.

9. Casting Codename UnSub
I ... don't quite understand why this went anywhere. Perhaps because I had pictures of good looking people all over the post.


10. Review: Doctor Strange
I saw the film in theater, and posted the review the weekend it came out. I'm not all that surprised that this made it into the top ten. Then again, it's also a Marvel film, and the most popular one yet.

Obviously, other factors when into the popularity. Some of these posts had Castalia House retweet them, which is good for hits -- I think #5 and #6 were retweeted by a few people, if not the publisher itself.

I'm almost certain that Silver Empire retweeted my announcement of #8 a few dozen times ... or if they didn't, someone certainly did.

All in all, it's been an amazing month.

Granted, it's not as many hits as Vox Day gets per DAY, but I'll take it.

Be well, all.

Also, if you haven't already, check out some of the books below.

REVIEWS ARE IN

So, yeah, new reviews, for a little bit of everything.

And they are incredible.

Item the first, Daniel Humphreys really liked Honor at Stake. How can I tell?

"....with Declan Finn’s “Honor at Stake” we have a vampire book that not only hearkens back to the old school, it adds some interesting new twists on the science and mythology of the vampire plague while still remaining firmly focused on the cast of characters who inhabit Mr. Finn’s world.

....Marco has a bit of Mary Sue syndrome to him at first, though Finn does an excellent job of slowly drawing out deeper aspects of his personality, and leaves us with an interesting cliffhanger at the end that will leave you wondering what lies beneath in terms of the character.

....If you’re looking for a great entry point in a new series, ‘Honor at Stake’ is highly recommended. Five stars."

So ... yeah, I think he liked it You can buy the book here.

And then there's Lori Bird. You might remember that Lori originally reviewed Honor at Stake for The Catholic Geeks last year.

This year, it got more interesting. This one goes on for a bit, but here's the most interesting part of the review on Murphy's Law of Vampires, for me.

"Actually, I decided about halfway through that if Larry Correia had been smart, he wouldn’t have asked John Ringo to write Monster Hunter: Grunge.  He’d have gotten Declan to do it, because when it comes to writing about badass, almost-bad-guy good guys with exceptional loads of snark, Declan Finn completely outran John Ringo.  No joke.

He was running so fast, it was like John Ringo was encased in cement and being dragged in the other direction by a freight train.

I would pay a small fortune to have read the Declan Finn version of Monster Hunter: Grunge.  Sorry, Ringo."

Wow. She even went out of her way to compare me to Ringo, and deemed me better.... huh.

So, yes, she liked it.

And then, there are these two reviews on Set to Kill, one by Dragon Award Nominee Marina Fontaine, and the other by the Injustice Gamer.

Marina's thoughts...

Take an Agatha Christie murder mystery. Make it THREE murder mysteries. 

Replace the middle-aged Inspector with a security expert who happens to be a martial arts guru/all-around killing machine ....

Stick it into the naturally insane environment that is the world's largest Sci-Fi/Fantasy con (fictionally renamed WyvernCon).

....Oh and also make it funny enough to qualify as satire.

OK, so maybe it's nothing like an Agatha Christie mystery after all. But it is a darn good read. The reason I was thinking of Christie is because, underneath all the fun and goofiness and inside-baseball sci-fi literary community references, there is a solid plot worthy of an old-fashioned detective novel.....

The pacing is good....The violence is not as plentiful as Declan Finn's fans might expect, but there's still sufficient to keep the adrenaline flowing. The fully fictional characters are well enough developed that you can go into the story cold and still care about what happens to them; and those inspired by real life are easily recognizable while changed up just enough to still fit into a satirical fiction environment.

And all that for only four stars. Heh.

Alfred Genesson, The Injustice Gamer, even broke character for this review.

Ah, I'll drop the facade a little. This book hooked me harder than anything he's written yet, and I really like his previous stuff. The pacing was amazing, all the slow parts had purpose, and the action didn't let up until bodies fell. I didn't feel like there wasn't a wasted word in this book .... I went and read very late when I finished, and I have to get up EARLY for work.  .... I was amazed at what Declan spun out of the cloth of Sad Puppies bite back and Sean Ryan.

So .... wow. Yeah.

These are some amazing reviews. I'm kinda surprised. As usual.

Anyway, you can buy any or all of these here

Honor at Stake
Murphy's Law of Vampires
Set to Kill

And enjoy.

Set to Kill is out, and ready to be Best Related at the Hugos

Heh, yes, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

However, SET TO KILL IS OUT NOW, NOW, NOW, NOW! Enjoy it.

Though, believe it or not, when I was finished with Set to Kill back in ... March, I think? My first thought was, "Maybe I should give it to Vox Day, and it becomes a Rabid Puppy nominee at the 2017 Hugos. Ha!"

That led me to thinking I should run it past Castalia in the first place, which led to a six month oddity ... or odyssey, depending on who's writing it.

Though I must admit, I would be amused if someone decided to nominate this for Best Related anyway. Lord knows that Sad Puppies 4 was an acid trip I didn't anticipate at all.

Heads exploding, though?

That I expected.

Let me allow you in on my plan for the next year. In fact, I'll let you in on what my plan for the publishing schedule is like.

Then he got an idea. An awful idea.
A wonderful, *awful* idea!

Codename: UnSub was published when it was because ... I wanted it off my plate. I wanted it gone. It was around for four years. It was going to happen with or without the Castalia House acceptance of my books.

I wanted Set to Kill released this year because I want it up for Sad Puppies 5 ... Read it, you'll see why.  It is awesome. It is hilarious. And it will be one of the better things I've ever written.

Yes, really. It's that good. It's that awesome. And I'm not even worried about building it up too much. I don't think this one will let down anybody. For the Puppy crowd, they'll get some laughs out of it. For the non-puppy crowd? I think they'll still be rolling in the aisles.

And the Anti-Puppies? That requires that they think of me at all. And I can't imagine that they would. Really.

And yes, I think this is one I want up for consideration. No, I won't be up for a Hugo. I'm not even entirely certain if I'm going to be up for Sad Puppies 5. But either way, I want to see heads explode. And go BOOM. Bwahahahahahaha.

However, what about Murphy's? Don't I want that up for the Hugos?  Well, sure, if someone else wants it, who am I to say no.

But, with my Dragon Award Nominated novel for Best Horror, you'd think that I'd expect another award domination. At least for the Dragon.

Remember, though: books eligible for the Dragon Award go from the start of August to the end of July.

However, while the four reviews all like Murphy's Law of Vampires ... just wait until you read Live and Let Bite (book 3). It is going to be ...

You know what? Live and Let Bite will be so flipping epic, if it doesn't get best Horror at the Dragon Awards, I'll be surprised. It will be the payoff for everything set up in Honor and Murphy's.  Think I'm kidding? Heh heh heh.

You haven't seen anything yet. You think Mister Day was a pain in the ass to kill? You thought he was a threat when he blew up REDACTED buried REDACTED alive and turned into a giant freaking man-eating REDACTED?

Just wait until you meet Nuala.

This? This is going to be AWESOME.

Live and Let Bite should be coming out in early February. The 2017 Dragon Award nominations should be out a few months later, so everyone can soak in the amazing aspects of the book, and vote it for best horror novel.

Yes, that's right. This time, I know what I'm doing. There will be horror. There will be blood.

And, yes, I blow up San Francisco. A lot.

.... Though, now that I think of it? I do have a dystopia novel out ... and there is a best dystopia category...

Well, it's something to think about.

Why not Sad Puppies Bite Back the book? Based on the original blog post from 2015. Not eligible anywhere, I think.

Anyway, as you're reading the following, just consider for the moment....

Murphy's Law of Vampires .... not really up for any awards, unless you think it should be best novel at the Hugos. Which, also, would be hilarious. Though, like with Set to Kill, I can't imagine it happening, and I wouldn't force the issue....

Though, come to think of it, I can't recall any novels this year I would put down as best SF or best Fantasy. Dang it. I know I should. Huh. It'll come to me.

Set to Kill for best related at the Hugo Awards. Just because. (I can't wait to see some read the name Charles RR Martinez. Their heads will explode, even though that's actually the name of a friend of the family ... AND his son. Heh.)

Anyway, there's Codename: UnSub, for best dystopia at the Dragon Awards. I can't think of any opposition, actually ... which would mean something if I actually, you know, READ dystopia as a matter of course.

Then there's Live and Let Bite for best horror novel at the Dragon Awards.  What's that you ask? Why not nominate both Murphy's and Bite at the Dragons? Because that would split the vote. And I can't see winning best fantasy, if only because Jim Butcher might release a novel in the next few months, and I'm just assuming that won't be a 2-ton gorilla, it'll just be King Kong. Nominate Murphy's all you like for best fantasy. It won't win up against Butcher .... but having the name out there would be awesome.

So, that's the plan for Murphy's Law of Vampires ... sort of ... and Set to Kill .... and Live and Let Bite ...  and even UnSub, I guess.

Don't say I can't plan for the future.

2017 will be the year that Declan Finn .... gets a few nominations. I can't promise anything other than that.

You know what? Once more, just for old times sake.....

UNLEASH THE PUPPIES.