The concept of a story bundle is pretty cool, right?
Give a reader leeway to pay what they want for a collection of books (within certain constraints, anyway), and give that reader a collection of books from a set of fun and outstanding writers. If they pay “enough” they get more books. And, on top of that, some of the proceeds goes to a well-respected charity.
I mean, win-win-win!
I’m thinking about this today because my newest novel, Wakers is now available for a limited time, exclusively in the latest StoryBundle package—a collection of work titled “Visions of the Future.
You can get it through February 27.
After that, the bundle is gone!
I expect I’ll be announcing the full launch of Wakers through my own channels in late March. Which is pretty cool when I take a minute to think about it.
I mean. This new world is amazing, eh? I’ll admit to being stoked to have a book debut in a bundle because when I was a baby writer in the early 90s, the idea itself would have been almost science fictional. Beyond that, I’m really excited for it because it’s a book that’s been on my mind for a long time—a far-future foray into what it might be like to live in a post-capitalistic world, a world where money is no longer required, or even valuable. There’s more to it than that, of course. But that’s the starting point, anyway. That’s the world I’m trying to envision.
When I first conceived of the story structure I think everyone but the most fervent futurists thought that time might truly be three hundred years away, but when I started developing my plans for the year I realized if I didn’t get it done soon, I might be overcome by real-world events! So, when Dean Wesley Smith asked if he could put it into the Bundle. I was totally stoked.
I should note, too, that I’m also thrilled to be part of this because of the company I’m keeping.
The base bundle, with Annie Reed’s collection The Forever Soldier and other Future Tales, Steven Mohan’s Fleet Action, Michael Kingswood’s The Pericles Conspiracy, and a volume of Fiction River (Visions of the Apocalypse), is an amazing lineup already. Steven was a Writers of the Future buddy of mine back in the day, and I’ve enjoyed his work since that moment. Annie is, to put it bluntly, one of my favorite writers. She’s surprising and funny and then able to punch me in the gut, sometimes all at the same time. And Michael Kingswood is a fresh face in the world of speculative fiction (*) and doing some great things, too. He’s a versatile writer who I’ve been reading since we met at a workshop a half dozen years ago or so.
(*) That’s how this world is, right? Michael has been working his tail off for several years, but he’s a “fresh face” until … well … all right? At what point does a “new” writer become “not new?” You tell me. Regardless, Michael Kingswood is definitely doing some great things these days. Go check him out.
Then, of course, we get to the bonus section, which included Blaze Ward and Leah Cutter—a dynamic duo of the Indie publishing world if there ever is one. Blaze is doing amazing work in the weird/pulpy zones of Space Opera, and Leah is a master at jumping all over the genre map. In this case, they’re both fixed on space. Then we get to Robert Jeschonek, who is just flat-out one of the most interesting writers I’ve ever read. You might have seen my post about him earlier. I mean, I’m not exaggerating when I say that the entire bundle is worth the price of being able to simple read his short story “In the Empire of Underpants.” It’s just that good.
Finally, of course, Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith themselves—who are writers I’ve admired for as long as I’ve been aware of the SF world. Dean is blazing fast and equally good. His work here is a post-apocalyptic/survival romance, for crying out loud. How can you do that? Kris is one of the rare writers about whom I can honestly say that I’ve been reading their work for decades and can’t remember reading anything by her that I didn’t like. In this case you get an entry from her Retrieval Artist series.
So, there you are. I hope you can see why just being in the mix with these guys is kind of fun.
And why, if you’re looking for some good, visionary SF, and you’re interested in dropping a few bucks to help some folks live a more robust life, you might want to run and pick up a copy before the timer runs out!
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