STARGLIDER #6

THE NEWSLETTER FOR FRIENDS OF ROBIN WAYNE BAILEY, May 16, 2004

Hello, everyone! It's been quite a while since I sent out the last Starglider newsletter. I hope you're all doing very well and reading lots of good books and good stories and enjoying the start of summer. Personally, my shelves are bowing with all the unread books I've got stacked up, but I'm planning to make at least a small dent in the pile while the weather is warm. Right now, though, I've got a lot of exciting stuff to tell you about, and I'm just going to plunge into it!

A BRAND NEW WEBSITE -- http://home.earthlink.net/~robinwaynebailey

Finally! At long-last! A lot of you have been on my case about updating my web-page. It was so ancient the cyber-pages creaked and cracked when you turned them. To say that it was years out of date was a polite joke.

Now, with the help of artist, writer, and fan, Allison Stein, the new page is up and live. There are gorgeous images of almost all my book covers, including the new DRAGONKIN and DRAGONKIN:TALISMAN covers. There are a couple of sample chapters from the first DRAGONKIN novel. In "Robin's Corner" you'll find some poetry, some essays, the occasional rant or rave, and anything else I decide to put there. There's an archival section for my Starglider newsletters. There are some links to places of interest. At least, I hope you'll find them interesting. And there's a section labeled "Reviews," but this won't just contain professional reviews. I'm much more interested in sharing the occasional pieces of mail and the comments I get from all of you. Of course, I'll ask your permission before I ever post anything.

Drop by and visit from time to time!

http://home.earthlink.net/~robinwaynebailey

DRAGONKIN -- All the News from Wyvernwood!

Have you bought your copies of DRAGONKIN yet? The first volume in my new fantasy series has done very well. Can you say "Bestseller?" Frankly, it took me a few minutes to wrap my tongue around it. The hardback first edition, released last June, is still in print and selling well. Meanwhile, the mass market paperback edition was just released a few weeks ago. The publishers have beefed up the paperback cover, adding gold foil to brighten the title. In fact, they've altered the title slightly. The paperback is DRAGONKIN: WYVERNWOOD. And then, of course, there are those wonderful words at the top - "The New Fantasy Bestseller!" I know, I know: brag, brag, brag.

If you haven't picked up your copy yet, find it at your favorite bookstore or order it:

DRAGONKIN, iBooks/Simon & Shuster, $13.95 in hardback ISBN: 0-7434-5854-0

DRAGONKIN: WYVERNWOOD, iBooks/Simon & Shuster, $6.99 in paperback ISBN: 0-7434-7946-7

And no, that hardback price is not an error. In fact, I think it's one of the reasons the book has sold so well. You get a terrific story (if I say so myself) in a beautifully produced format for an irresistable price. What more can you ask? Okay, so I could ask to be selling like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. I'm working on it!

DRAGONKIN: TALISMAN -- More News from Wyvernwood!

Actually, this should fall under the "Good News - Bad News" category, but I'm embracing optimism these days.

The Good news is that DRAGONKIN, Book Two: TALISMAN is hitting the stores this month (shipping date of May 1, 2004). And it sports another drop-dead beautiful cover by famed artist Troy Howell. As with DRAGONKIN, the publisher is offering this second book in the series with a special, eye-catching price of only $14.95.

Here's the bad news: DRAGONKIN: TALISMAN has been inaccurately entered in the ordering system at Borders Bookstores. We're working to get this fixed. But if you shop at Borders, and a clerk tells you they're not stocking the book, don't believe him or her. Have them check their online catalog. They'll find three entries all listed as DRAGONKIN. Only by observing the shipping dates will they note three different books, the DRAGONKIN first edition hardback (June, 2003), the paperback edition, DRAGONKIN: WYVERNWOOD (April, 2004), and DRAGONKIN: TALISMAN (May, 2004).

My thanks to fan and reader, Joe Myers, for pointing out the problem to me. When I went into a Borders store myself and explained the situation to a manager, he stared dumb-founded at his screen and promised to try to do something from his end. Meanwhile, my publisher is also working from that end to get this fixed.

Meanwhile, there's always Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble, or better yet, your favorite independent or specialty bookstore. Never forget them.

And about this time next year look for DRAGONKIN, Book Three: UNDERSKY.

PSST! Little Boy! You Wanna Read Some Short Fiction?

When you visit my website, be sure to check out the complete bibliography available there. Unlike my old website, which only listed my novels, the new site contains an up-to-date listing of my science fiction and fantasy short works. And there've been quite a few new stories lately. I've fallen in love with the short story.

Perhaps the best short story I've ever written will be coming out this August in an anthology of alternate history tales called RE-VISIONS. It's from Daw Books and edited by Julie Czerneda and Isaac Szpindel. My story is called "The Terminal Solution," and features Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, his instructor and mentor, Dr. Joseph Bell, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jack the Ripper. Oh, and famed explorer, Stanley Livingston as "Patient Zero." The story deals with the emergence of AIDS from the African continent into Victorian England almost a hundred and fifty years early.

The anthology also contains stories by Geoffrey Landis, Julie Czerneda, Mike Resnick, Charles Stross, Cory Doctorow, Laura Anne Gilman, Kay Kenyon, James Allen Gardner, Kage Baker, Susan R. Mathews, Isaac Szpindel, Peter Watts, Doranna Durgin, John G. McDaid, Jihane Noskateb, and Jay Caselberg. The cover by Kenn Brown is an incredibly beautiful riff on the "Boy Blue" painting, and almost worth the $6.99 price of the book, itself! Check it out at www.dawbooks.com.

RE-VISIONS, edited by Julie E. Czerneda & Isaac Spindel, Daw Books, $6.99, available in August. ISBN: 0-7564-0240-9

A HOT FLASH FROM THOSE 'CHICKS IN CHAINMAIL!'

If your a fan of "funny fantasy," then you've probably already discovered Esther Friesner's series of CHICKS anthologies from Baen Books. They've been selling so well that the next one, TURN THE OTHER CHICK, will be published, not in paperback, but in hardback this October. Watch for it. It contains probably the silliest story I've ever written. It's one massive, metaphorical food fight when "Princess Injera Meets the Spanakopitoi of Doom." Don't blame me; don't hurt me, either. I wrote this story one-handed and tanked on pain-killers while my left arm was broken.

Come to think of it, tanked on pain-killers might be a good way to read this story...

Oh yeah, and I won the "bad pun title contest" once again. I'm two for two now, following the last volume's "The Chick is in the Mail" with this new title. I hang my head.

I don't have an ISBN or ordering information yet. But keep an eye out. This is gonzo fantasy at its very ... uh, whatever. Enjoy!

THIEVES WORLD: THE NEXT GENERATION! (Cue over-produced theme music...)

I hope you've all noticed that THIEVES WORLD is back! In the eighties, this grandfather of all shared world series (the very first, in fact) sold in the millions of copies before winding down after twelve anthology volumes and nearly as many novels. Now, after a hiatus of more than fifteen years, editor Lynn Abbey relaunched THIEVES WORLD. Only 50 years later....

Lynn kicked the new series off with her novel, SANCTUARY, which fills in the time gap. The first new anthology volume, THIEVES WORLD: TURNING POINTS, followed that with stories by Ray Feist, Dennis McKiernan, Mickey Zucker Reichart, Diana Paxson, and others. Oh yeah, and me. Both the hardback and the pspaerback editions are now available.

The second anthology, THIEVES WORLD: ENEMIES OF FORTUNE, will be coming from Tor Books this December and contains my story, "Protection," which features my new TW characters, Spyder and Ailiyah. I hope you'll read and enjoy it. I'm really very pleased to be part of THIEVES WORLD again, and I've become very fond of these new characters.

Look for it in December. Again, no ordering information yet.

SCIENCE FICTION AND MARTIAL ARTS - MY TWO GREAT PASSIONS!

I just sold a new novelette called "Shin-Gi-Tai" to Tanya Huff and Martin Greenberg for an upcoming anthology entitled WOMEN AT WAR. From Daw Books again, but I don't have a release date.

THE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY HALL OF FAME - ONE MORE TIME!

An awful lot of exciting things have been happening lately with the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. If you haven't been paying attention, I founded this organization in 1996 with the help of James Gunn, the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society, and the J.Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction. Each year, we've inducted for famous sf/f writers, two living writers and two who've passed on but left us with great books. The inductions have been held in July on the campus of the University of Kansas at Lawrence in conjunction with the annual Campbell Conference and the presentation of the John W. Campbell Award for Best Novel and the Theodore Sturgeon Award for Best Short Story.

But this is the last year the inductions will be held at Lawrence, and we're celebrating in grand style. This year's inductees will be Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison, Mary Shelley and E.E. "Doc" Smith. Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison will both be traveling from Britain and Ireland for the ceremonies. Also joining us will be a stellar cast of the best science fiction writers in the business, including Greg Bear, Greg Benford, Frederick Pohl, James Gunn, David Brin, Joan Slonsuesky, George Zebrowski, Pamela Sargent, and more. Consider joining us as we explore the interfaces between science and science fiction.

For information about the Campbell Conference and the 2004 Hall of Fame inductions, visit the website www.kcsciencefiction.org.

And after that, visit www.sciencefictionexperience for news about where the Hall of Fame is going! That's right - to Seattle!

The new Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame is one of the most exciting new developments in our genre. Backed by former Microsoft co-founder, Paul G. Allen, the museum will have its grand opening this June 18th, 2004. I'm extremely pleased to serve on its Board of Advisors along with an impressive array of such names as Arthur C. Clarke, Steven Spielberg, Greg Bear, Nichelle Nichols, Jane Yolen, George Lucas, and others. This will be the first museum anywhere dedicated exclusively to science fiction in its many forms, and the Hall of Fame will become a part of it.

Planning a vacation? The Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame stands right next door to the Experience Music Project. The Seattle monorail runs right through the roofs of both. The Space Needle is on the west side. The Pacific Science Center is on the north side. And right in the middle of it all is a permanently standing amusement park. It's all like a scene out of The Jetson's!

I'll be heading to Seattle for the Grand Opening. If any of you are in or near Seattle, consider checking it out!

TRAVEL, SIGNINGS, AND APPEARANCES

Although I've traveled to almost every major city in America, I'd never stepped outside the borders of the United States until this past April. It was only a small step, but I fell in love with Vancouver, Canada. It's a beautiful city.

My friend, Ron Davis, and I headed out to the northwest for the Nebula Awards Weekend, which took place the third weekend in April, but on a whim, we decided to begin the trip early and take in Vancouver. While there we visited bookstores, ate some great food, shopped, and saw the sites. Stanley Park was just gorgeous. The Pump Jack was one heck of a fun bar. And White Dwarf Books is possibly the best science fiction/fantasy specialty store I've ever seen. I've got a link to White Dwarf on my website. If you're planning to mail order any books, consider throwing some business their way. The proprietors are knowledgeable, friendly, and sharp. They deserve our support.

Back down in Seattle, the Nebula Awards were great fun. Astrid Bear, Greg Bear's wife, organized the event and did a superb job. Sheila Finch and I presented the SFWA Service Award to Anne Crispin and Michael Capobianco, and I watched my friend, Elizabeth Moon, win the Nebula Award for Best Novel. I saw lots of friends, made lots of friends, and came home with a suitcase full of free books, which is never a bad thing. A mass-booksigning, featuring almost all of the writers attending the Nebula Awards was held at a Barnes & Noble in the Pacific Place Mall. I sat at a table with Connie Willis which meant lots of funny conversation, and also lots of books to be signed. I was stunned and very pleased with the turn-out, and even saw a book containing one of my stories that I didn't know existed (the Science Fiction Book Club did a hardback of THE CHICK IS IN THE MAIL - anybody have a spare copy lying around?)

It was Ron's first immersion into the world of science fiction, and he loved it. Malinda McFadden -- Our Lady of Seattle -- showed us around Pike's Place, University City, and other places, and introduced us to many locals. On Friday after the signing, I had a very pleasant dinner with Joe and Gay Haldeman, and on Sunday morning, I enjoyed the most amazing never-to-be-forgotten breakfast with Richard Curtis, Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, and Ru Emerson.

I've attended many Nebula Awards Weekends. Heck, I've hosted several, myself. But this one rates as one of the best I've attended.

Next year's Nebula Awards Weekend is in Chicago. I can't wait!

I'M SO GLAD WE HAD THIS TIME TOGETHER...!

There's so much more to tell you about -- my upcoming trip to New York City at the end of June; the e-books editions of FROST, SKULL GATE, and BLOODSONGS available at E-Reads, Fiction-Wise and other places; the new Russian omnibus of the BROTHERS OF THE DRAGON books just out from Azbooka. My stance on the Irag War and George Bush.... Well, maybe we can skip that, at least. But I should save something for the next Starglider newsletter. Now that I've got a new website to save these on, I'll try not to let so much time go by between "issues."

Of course, to have an "issue" I have to have some news, which means I have to write, and which means I have to sell, which means I have to have lots of readers.... Heh. See the part you play in this?

Meanwhile, let me hear from you, too. Some of you do a great job of staying in touch; some of you I only hear from once or twice, but I hope you're still out there and thriving!

I don't have a very busy convention schedule this year, but look for me at ConQuest, May 28-30, in Kansas City;

At Kansas City Comic Convention, June 5-6 in, well, Kansas City;

At Contraception, November 5-7, in Independence, Missouri.

I may also be at Conestoga in Tulsa, at Archon in St. Louis, and hopefully at I-con in Iowa City, but haven't made up my mind yet. Other conventions, too, as I'm invited.

Be well, everyone -- and Read!

Best wishes,

Robin Wayne Bailey