Dragon Con Schedule, 2017 Edition!

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Dragon Con returns, and I’ll be on a lot of panels, plus reading some from future Dakota Frost and Cinnamon Frost stories in my author reading on Sunday! The panels I have scheduled so far are:

  • Androids & Automatons
    Friday 1pm – Sheraton / Augusta
    This presentation will cover the history of artificial life from the ancient Greeks to modern automata artists. Techniques for creating your own automata will also be shared.
  • Practical Time Travel for the Storyteller
    Saturday 4pm – Sheraton / Athens
    This panel discusses the real science behind time travel, as well as how these scientific theories can place both challenging & rewarding demands on the stories we tell. Time dilation, the grandfather paradox, & others will be explained & these theories discussed.
  • The Magic and Technology of Building Alternate Worlds
    Saturday 5:30pm – Sheraton / Augusta
    Be it alchemical spells or industrial revolution, many alternate history and Steampunk worlds feature magic, fantastic technological marvels, or even both. But each choice shapes the worlds these authors build. This roundtable discuss worldbuilding and the balance between fantasy and science.
  • Author Reading: Anthony Francis
    Sunday 2:30pm – Hyatt / University
    SF & Urban Fantasy author of Frost Moon, Blood Rock and Liquid Fire reads from his work, including selections from Jeremiah Willstone and the Clockwork Time Machine, from future Dakota Frost novels, and maybe even some Cinnamon Frost stories!

Also, I was scheduled to do a SAM Talk, but it was inadvertently booked over my author reading, and I pretty much have to prioritize my own author reading over a SAM Talk even if there might be more people at the other room. So if you attend my author reading, you may also get to hear what was intended to be my SAM Talk, “Risk Getting Worse”, in which I talk a bit about the origins of Dakota Frost …

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Hope to see you all there – from my end of the table, it kind of looks like this:

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Here’s crossing fingers that we get the double booking all worked out!

-the Centaur

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Mining that SPIRITUAL GOLD

Well, we’re getting ahead of the curve at last on SPIRITUAL GOLD … two days ahead.

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My writing retreat this weekend has paid off. I spent some time hanging out with the Treehouse Writers at the Linde Lane Tea Room in Dixon, California, then holed up in a hotel in downtown Davis, hanging out in bookstores and coffeehouses in an attempt to make some progress on SPIRITUAL GOLD. The actual day of the drive was a wash, but after that, I managed to get more than two days worth of words done in each day, and almost that today.

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Now at last I’m ahead of the curve, and if I can stay there for a few more days, I’ll win Camp Nano. More importantly, however, I’ve marched forward in the manuscript so I’m around Chapter 37 out of roughly 50, with much of the text of the remainder partially written and merely needing some ironing out. With luck, I’ll finish SPIRITUAL GOLD at the end of the month, and shortly thereafter, and then can begin editing Dakota Frosts #4-#6 together as one big trilogy.

Onward!

-the Centaur

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Getting Momentum on SPIRITUAL GOLD

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As usual, it takes me some time to get back into a book, especially if I’ve spent the first few days of the month distracted by something like, uh, I dunno, scouting locations for the book.

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But, now, after about a week of concerted work, I’m getting my legs under me. Blood remains in the water, but it is receding.

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Should I include an excerpt? Ah, sure. Raw stuff, still needs more research, but, here you go:

“Hey, hey, hey,” I said. “Why would you want me to use the isolation tank?”

“Because Carrington got infected after a spirit journey she took here,” Heinz said. “A journey which just might have taken her into faerie, given our current theory. And since I have the magical affinity of a wet noodle, and wouldn’t know a faerie from a star on Broadway—”

“Troglodyte,” I muttered, glaring at him. “Fine, fine, fine, I’m the best suited for this … this suicide mission—”

“No!” Wilz said. “If you really think this will hurt you, no go. I don’t need the liability.”

I sighed, then stared at Heinz.

“In my professional judgment,” Heinz said, “if this was a normal infection, one of the hundreds of people who’ve used this isolation tank would already have been infected. If this was a magical infection, you would already have been infected by your prior exposure. And if there’s magic here at all … you’re the most likely one to find it.”

“Fine.” I said. “Fine—”

“I … will show you to the showers,” Wilz said.

Ten minutes later, I returned from a quick splashdown, holding tight to my body a big, warm, white fuzzy robe provided by Wilz, as Heinz looked at me with quite the smirk. I glared at him, then turned the glare on Wilz, who recoiled in a mix of surprise and curiosity.

“No commentary!” I said, peeling off the robe quickly, bare to my metal bikini. “Zipit!”

Wilz took the robe, then drew his hand across his mouth, glancing at Heinz.

“Okay,” Wilz said. “We’d rather not have to flush this water after each use, so—”

“Don’t say don’t pee in it,” I said, pointing at him. “I know that already! I’m an adult!”

“Yeah, well,” Heinz began.

“And you’re not!” I shot back.

“I didn’t personally put Doctor Orleans in the tank,” Wilz said. “I don’t know what was said, so I don’t know how to recreate the conditions that she, er, he, experienced while in there. All I can tell you is to lie down, to relax … and to keep your head above water.”

“I hope there’s a headrest,” I muttered.

“There is,” Wilz said. “Let me help you in—”

The Epsom salt laden water of the tank was warm, thick, almost tacky as I went in. The tank made soft booming noises as I moved, strangely muffled by the outer padding. Wilz helped me straighten out to level, then guided my head down to a horseshoe-shaped rest.

The door of the tank closed … and I was left in darkness.

Onward!

-the Centaur

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SPIRITUAL GOLD in Progress

So this is NOT the cover for Dakota Frost #6, SPIRITUAL GOLD …

… but it is what I’m using as a cover for my Camp Nanowrimo page for July.

For those not in the know, much of the Dakota Frost series is written during National Novel Writing Month and the related Camp Nanowrimo challenges. For each of these, I take on the challenge of writing 50,000 words in a month. This month, I’m working on Dakota Frost #6, SPIRITUAL GOLD.

Now, this may seem far away, as the latest Dakota Frost out is, #3, LIQUID FIRE, available wherever fine books are sold. But, to reduce the gap between books – and to increase the coherence between books, I’m writing the next three Dakota Frost books and the first three Cinnamon Frost books together, as one, giant, loosely-connected, six-part novel.

Dakota Frost’s next adventures have the working titles SPECTRAL IRON, PHANTOM SILVER, and SPIRITUAL GOLD. Running just behind each of these will be Cinnamon Frost’s first solo adventures, HEX CODE, BOT NET and ROOT USER. I’ve finished rough drafts of SPECTRAL IRON, PHANTOM SILVER, and HEX CODE, and hope to finish the rough draft of SPIRITUAL GOLD this month.

At that point, I’ll start trying to get the Dakota Frost trilogy beaten into shape, even though it will take me two more Nano pushes (at least) to finish up the slightly shorter Cinnamon Frost novels.

Regardless, hope to get these in your hands soon. Wish me luck!

-the Centaur

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LIQUID FIRE on Sale!

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Good news, friends of the Edgeworld! If you’ve caught up on the first two Dakota Frost books and want to try the third, you’re in luck – the Kindle edition of LIQUID FIRE is on sale for $1.99 through the end of the month! Will our lonely tattooed heroine finally find a girlfriend? Will her daughter finally get recognition for her mathematical skill? And will the ancient cadre of wizards out to rule the world let them have a free minute to enjoy a frappe at their favorite bookstore … or will they find themselves fighting fire ninjas to the death in a struggle for control of the spirit of a hatching dragon? Read LIQUID FIRE and you’ll find out!

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-the Centaur

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Dakota’s Friends

No, Dakota’s not on vacation … I’m hard at work at Dakota Frost #6 SPIRITUAL GOLD (I’m writing the next 3 together to make the plot work out right). But her good friend Jeremiah Willstone just made her novel-length debut in our universe, so I hope yall don’t mind me crossposting about THE CLOCKWORK TIME MACHINE! It’s steampunk, not urban fantasy, but also set in Atlanta!

-the Centaur

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Dakota Frost, Past and Future

Right now if you go to your favorite bookstore, the only three Dakota Frost books that you can buy are the first trilogy: FROST MOON, BLOOD ROCK, and LIQUID FIRE:

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But I’m hard at work on the next three, SPECTRAL IRON, PHANTOM SILVER, and SPIRITUAL GOLD:

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This isn’t an official cover, it’s just art by me based on other shots we had of the same model from the LIQUID FIRE and BLOOD ROCK covers:

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I know there was a long hiatus between BLOOD ROCK and LIQUID FIRE, but I’ve already written rough drafts of SPECTRAL IRON and PHANTOM SILVER and am 6,000 words into SPIRITUAL GOLD … not to mention having written a rough draft of the first Cinnamon book, HEX CODE.

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I’m hoping to get SPECTRAL out to beta readers around the end of October so I can start work on PHANTOM in earnest this November for Nanowrimo. Keep your fingers crossed! Or … if you’re not yet familiar with Dakota’s story, start here:

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-the Centaur

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It was a hacked .htaccess …

… which was an easy temporary fix. The site is safe, at least temporarily, but I’ll be working with my hosting provider and your favorite search engine to track down the open door that the hackers walked through.

Rest assured, the Magical Security Council is on the case.

-the Centaur

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A brief note on dakotafrost.com …

… apparently the site has been hacked. I’m working to restore it from backup. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, you can check out http://facebook.com/dakotafrost !

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Back to Work on SPECTRAL IRON

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Dakota Frost #4 is on the way … have no fear, it will be this year. Unless evil ghosts keep it away.

-the Centaur

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