No Mongoose in the Mimosa

I have six books enrolled in the Kindle Digital Publishing Select Program. For those that don't know, the KDP Select Program requires that the books be offered exclusively on Amazon over a 90 day, renewable period, and that the books be available for free loan to Kindle users who belong to the Amazon Prime program. For less than $80 a year a membership in the Amazon Prime program gets you three major benefits: Free two day shipping for Prime eligible items. Free instant streaming videos from the Prime library. Ability to borrow KDP select books. What does the author get in return for allowing his book to be borrowed for free on the KDP Select program? Well, if the book is borrowed, then the author shares in a pool of money allocated for that month for the book loans. Sometimes these loan fees are as good as the royalty on a sale, sometimes not. A second advantage is a method to promote the book. The promotion method provides you with 5 days during the 90 day period where ...

I was just notified (March 14, 2013) that my 7700 word short story " Intent to Occupy "  placed second in The 2013 Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest administered by William Ledbetter. Mr. Ledbetter just posted the results on his Facebook page , so I assume the results are now official: The winners of the 2013 Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest are: GRAND PRIZE "The Lamplighter Legacy" by Patrick O'Sullivan 2nd Place "Intent to Occupy" by Ronald D. Ferguson 3rd Place "Improvising at Branson Six" by Sean Monaghan The annual contest is sponsored by Baen Books and the National Space Society in memory of the founder of Baen Books , Jim Baen. The judges consisted of Baen Books editors Hank Davis, Jim Minz, Tony Daniel and best selling Baen author David Drake. I'm very honored to have such illustrious judges select my story. My first reaction to the email from Bill Ledbetter telling me that I won second place was "Well, I...

The Campbell Award for a new writer has a wonderful aid this year. M. David Blake with the support of Bruce Bethke at Stupefying Stories has a compiled a FREE anthology of stories written by new authors eligible for the Campbell Awards. As editor of  Astounding Science Fiction   (renamed  Analog Science Fiction and Fact ) from 1937 until his death in 1971,  John W. Campbell, Jr.   helped shape the "Golden Age" of science fiction. His influence launched the careers of dozens of famous writers including Lester del Rey and A.E. van  Vogt. The  John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer  is presented annually at WorldCon to an outstanding author whose first professional work of science fiction or fantasy was published within the previous two years. In the words of M. David Blake: Now, for the first time in the award's 40-year history, the  2013 Campbellian Pre-Reading Anthology  provides a much-needed and long-overdue guide to t...

Do you like to get free ebooks for your Kindle? Those without a Kindle can read these free ebooks on a computer or android device. For your computer, you can use the free Kindle emulator from Amazon or Calibre . If you have an android device, you can download the Amazon Android App . I've reread a number of classic novels that are available free at Amazon. I've also read newer novels offered in free promotions by other authors for a limited time on Amazon. Next weekend, I'm giving away promotional copies too. Why am I doing this? Publicity. Particularly, to see whether I can drum up some traffic for my latest offering Tunnel at the End of the Dark . No, I'm not offering Tunnel at the End of the Dark for free in this promotion, but the novel is a sequel to a story I am offering for free: The Princess, the Knight & the Knave . Tunnel at the End of the Dark continues the adventures of fifteen-year-old stage illusionist Matt Collins in a medieval world of knig...

Ideas for short stories come in bursts and pieces. Some incubate for years. Some are too compelling to let go until you get them written. Sometimes the plot or characters don't do justice to the concept. Sometimes the plot is better than the idea. Sometimes nobody likes the characters. Sometimes you have to come back much later and use the concept in a completely different way. Good or bad, these short stories have one thing in common. Outside of your critique group, no one gets to read them until they are published. These days it's easy enough to publish on your own. Simply select from the stories you've churned out, make a collection, wrap them in an electronic bundle, and publish them on your web site, or blog, or Amazon, or Kobo, or B&N, or Smashwords, or ... well, you get the idea. But that's still no guarantee that anyone other than your friends--and you're not entirely sure of them--will bother to read. The best way to get a shot at an audience for a sh...

I've been putting the finishing touches on Tunnel at the End of the Dark , but I've had some distractions. Tunnel at the End of the Dark is the Book 2 sequel to The Princess, the Knight & the Knave in the Possible Magic series. Although I tried to get some early reader inputon the first draft by offering copies of Book 1, I got no takers. I don't think I'll try that again. I realized there would be difficulty, the title of Book 1 is not very exciting because I adapted from computer science problem. Also, I am terrible at publicity. So, I went ahead with my gut feeling on the plot direction. Naturally, the hero, young stage illusionist Matt Collins, gets drawn back to Kotimaa when the wicked, but not quite evil, wizard Crius swaps bodies with him again. The evil wizard Sobieslaw sends his beastman army against the Kotimaa frontier, and the outcast knave, Harold allies with Sobieslaw in the batttle. Meanwhile, King Ilbert has been given a magical poison, and hi...