February Update Post

Yes, I know. It’s been over a month since my last blog post, but I’ve been kinda busy.

Appearances

 

I will be a guest at TupeloCon in Mississippi in a few weeks.

At the end of March I will be at FantaSci in North Carolina. 

If you are anywhere in the area, stop on by. It should be fun.

LTUE was last week. For those of you not familiar with that, it’s a writing conference held every Valentine’s Day weekend in Provo Utah. I think this was my 11th year in a row. It’s probably the single best writing con there is (that doesn’t cost a bunch of money, LTUE is like $20 or something to attend for 3 days).

LTUE is focused more on writers trying to get better at writing, than fannish stuff, though there is that too. I was on a bunch of panels on various topics.  I did a two hour solo presentation on crunchy business stuff for writers, like contracts, taxes, incorporation, advertising, scheduling, etc. It was basically the When Can I Quit My Day Job class for writers who have figured out how to sell their work, but now what?  Then I did the Larry Show kaffeeklatsch thing, and then since Tony Daniel had to leave early to take care of a sick kid, I took over his presentation on contracts (which I’d just touched on earlier that day, and now got to spend an hour on things like advances, royalties, remainders, sub rights, foreign translations, audio, reversion of rights, and what to look out for from crappy predator contracts). So Saturday was 4 straight hours of me talking.

I did a reading on Thursday, of the first half of the story I did for Laurell K. Hamilton’s Fantastic Hope anthology coming out in April. Judging by audience reaction, it’s actually pretty funny.  Good! Because I think I’m hilarious when I’m making this crap up, but I can’t tell until you guys actually see it!

This year my friend Brad Torgersen was the writer guest of honor, which was pretty fun to watch. He’s earned it. He’s extremely talented, has supported LTUE for a decade, and he just won a Dragon Award. The very best part of Brad being GoH however was that it caused several of the Shrieking Harpies of Tolerance to throw a temper tantrum and declare that they were going to boycott the event (and they did, yet absolutely nobody missed them). Upon hearing that I asked if they could make Brad emeritus GoH every year forever, because that’s like putting a tick collar on a dog.

From what I heard on Saturday, this was the biggest LTUE there’s ever been, with a record number of attendees.

Writing Stuff 

Last year was a busy year, with Monster Hunter Guardian, Target Rich Environment, and Tom Stranger 3.  (and Dead Six was rereleased as an Omnibus!)

This year my big release is in October, because that’s when Destroyer of Worlds comes out.  Originally the Saga of the Forgotten Warrior was pitched as 3 books, but when I told Toni the story I had planned, she’d laughed and said there was no way that would fit in a trilogy. She’s right. It’ll probably be 5 or 6.

I’ve also got a bunch of shorts in various places this year, but I’ll post about each of those when they get closer and I’ll put up preorder links.

I didn’t get as much writing done in 2019 as I normally would, but that was because of the epic house building/moving project.  It turns out that developing a big chunk of mountainside in the middle of nowhere and then building a really big house on it is time consuming. Since that’s been wrapped productivity is back at normal levels. (I’ve averaged about 2 books and change a year for ten years now)

Right now I am working on a sci-fi collaboration with John D. Brown. This is the one that was originally brain stormed live on an LTUE panel years ago, based on ideas given to us by my (at the time) 11 year old son. I’m hoping to have it wrapped in March.

After that I will either be working on the next main series MHI novel (back to Owen’s perspective) OR the first book of the next Grimnoir trilogy. I’ve got them both planned, so it’ll just depend on what makes more sense to get out to the fans sooner.

 

 

I went on the PEG Show
Gunpowder & Embers out today

42 thoughts on “February Update Post”

  1. Woohoo! My biggest and most heartfelt congratulations Larry, it’s been a great year. You are by far my favorite. Don’t forget the disks!
    Needless to say, I have read and liked all your stuff, but the one series that really resonated with me was Grimnoir. The fact that you’re promising more Grimnoir makes me giddy…
    And I love looking at your mini painting updates. Keep posting!

    1. What’s the word for being happy there isn’t only one book left, and sad that means it’ll take longer for him to finish?

      Oh well, at least he isn’t GRRM, so he’ll actually finish the series…

  2. Thanks again for the support on Friday. It was good seeing you, and also good learning the industry from you, Brad, and Mrs. Correia!

  3. Oh man, I was really hoping for an earlier release date on Destroyer of Worlds. I’ve really enjoyed that series! I’ll just sit here impatiently waiting for it to release. Keep up the good work!

  4. that’s like putting a tick collar on a dog.

    Proud to have been of service, sir! 😉

    But seriously, it was a tremendous thing to represent as GOH and keynote man this year.

    Way back in 2009 — when I listened to Tracy Hickman give his keynote at BYU, when the event was still being held on the campus — I could scarcely have dreamed of one day also delivering the keynote. I hadn’t published a single story at that point. But by the end of the year I’d won Writers of the Future, and would soon sell my first story to Analog magazine (eventual readers choice award winner!) and life happened fast after that.

    As always, I am glad to be your friend, Lar. Thanks again for introducing Annie around the symposium while I was at work on Thursday morning. She had a great time. We really enjoyed ourselves, and are quite thankful to everyone who helped to make it a terrific weekend. Love seeing Bridget at the Baen dinner. The Baen cohort continues to be class!

    (cough) unlike the Shrieking Harpies of Tolerance, who have in the past been hosted by the symposium, but who used this year as an opportunity to dump on the symposium — because the Harpies didn’t get to have their way! (cough)

        1. Talking to the people at Incel Riot, the team behind the “Virtue Signal” card game that’s just hitting the streets. . .

  5. I love this conference so much! Great people, great info, great atmosphere. I always learn a LOT and come away inspired. It’s exhausting, and even moreso this year since I was presenting and not just being my husband’s AV geek. Wish it were closer, but every good thing can’t be in WA state, lol.

  6. 5 or 6 books ? Well, that settles it. Another bookshelf and a bigger SD card for my Kindle. . .

    (Insert ‘Shut up and take my Money’ meme here).

    Of course, at this rate, I expect the ILOH to buy an entire county somewhere, and then ***officially*** become the Count of Hate . . .

    ????????????????

  7. Oddly enough, since I was late to leave the hotel, one of those harpies apparently organized her own symposium that started the day after the con (And apparently cost 10x as much!)

  8. I had a much better time there than I expected, and the size of the crowds was truly a surprise. LTUE is definitely one of those conventions that if you want to be a writer, you SHOULD go to.

    I’ve seen a lot of ‘scam’ ‘conventions’, where a couple of people host all the events, do all the presentations, and charge around $700 to show up. Heck, there are ones that charge over a thousand dollars! (and that’s not including food and lodging for the two day event).

    And not a single one of them will teach you more than you could learn at LTUE. The number of skilled professionals at LTUE was amazing, some incredibly talented and famous authors (I got to be on a panel with LE Modesitt!!!!) were there, and all of them were more than willing to take the time and talk with you if you had questions.

    Definitely a place worth attending for the novice writer.

    1. Have to echo what John V. said: I went to LTUE for the first time this year after having heard Larry, Brandon Sanderson, and several others speak highly of it in the past. I’ve been to dozens of conventions and other shows in the past, but LTUE was definitely the “business of writing” conference I was looking for.
      Additional thanks to John V for being an excellent panelist, especially in regards to self-publishing and the very different numbers involved there compared to traditional publishing.
      Not sure if I’ll ever make it out to another LTUE, but it was worth the $ for me to fly out and attend from GA.

  9. I cast my vote for quicker Grimnoir stories.

    I’ve been reading Dan Willis’s Arcane Casebook series (on your generalized recommendation) and it is really filling that Alt-1930’ish urban noir mystery itch that I thought only Grimnoir could fill. But with only 1 more book to read of his stuff, I think I could hold on if I knew you were writing more Grimnoir.

      1. I’ll have full reviews up on my blog in March but just went and did “quick and dirty” on Amazon. Hope it helps.

        And keep writing them. I really am enjoying them 😀

      2. They kick ass, Dan. I’m forcing myself to finish the non-fic book I’m reading* before devouring Mind Games. The early discount was much appreciated.

        * “The Coddling of the American Mind” – it’s very good, just not as fun as your new book.

  10. I loved Grimnoir and look forward to the next installment, but two MHI novels in a row have ended with the opening of the sealed can of evil that everything seems to be leading towards.

    My vote is to get the next MHI installment, then return to see what the next phase of Grimnoir looks like. Either way, I’m glad to hear we get more Ashok this year.

  11. Excellent! Another year of Win for us fans. I loved being there almost every step of the way for the house building. Thanks for sharing it.

  12. And of course, Vile 770 couldn’t let this simple update post pass without comment:

    “To think he used to be the Sad Puppies’ lead dog. Now he’s just the collar.”

    Mike Glyer is pure crass.

      1. Brad has more skill and class in his pinky toe than China Mike has in his entire bloated stinking postulated rectum of a body.

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