PLOTTING SCI-FI AND FANTASY: Plotting is the engine that makes a story go. You can populate your story with the most interesting characters in the world, have a gorgeous prose style, and present the most intricate world-building imaginable, but if the story has a weak or absent plot, it’ll just sit there inert, failing to engage the reader. S. Andrew Swann will present the questions you’ll need to ask in a SF/F story—and in fiction in general—in order to rev up that idling plot engine.

In other news, Heather Grove has posted three nice reviews of the Apotheosis trilogy over at Errant Dreams Reviews.

A well-balanced blend of space opera elements, especially large-scale concepts; never a dull moment; interesting characters; Swann’s straightforward writing style; rich setting; carefully crafted plot; just about every chapter had some cool idea in it.

Go over there and look at both, and if you comment on my guest post, you may win a signed set of the Apotheosis Trilogy.

Second, I have a guest blog post up at Buried Under Books, wherin I try to tell the truth about lying.

I’ve also added to the review pages for Wolfbreed; new mentions at Bookworm Blues and (you have to love this title for a werewolf-themed blog) Lupines and Lunatics.

Lastly, I have to mention that I’ve achieved some sort of milestone in terms of internet awareness.  My Wolfbreed series now has an entry on TV Tropes.

UPDATE: Seems to be an issue with the audio book, Audible seems to have not put the second half of it on-line yet.  I’ll let you know when that’s fixed.

UPDATE #2: As of  Feb 4, the book is still down at Audible.  If you have the truncated version, they assure me you’ll be able to download the complete version once it goes back on-line.  And, yes, I find it frustrating. . .

UPDATE #3: The audio is back up here.  The old link appears defunct.

Today the last book of Apotheosis, Messiah, officially comes out.  Not only have I added it to my book pages, but I’m elsewhere on the interwebs pontificating on my penchant for destroying the world.  You also have the chance to win a copy of your very own.

In other Messiah news, the audio book comes out today as well, in case you want the singularity apocalypse fed directly into the ear canal.

Not this:

Also, watch that podcast, I’ll be recording an interview for them this week. I will let everyone know when it gets scheduled.

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To the Wolf’s Cross page.

He gets a worthy send off.

It is done!  The last volume of the Apotheosis Trilogy, Messiah, has just wrapped up at 103K words. (About 3000 words over my mark, which means the final revised draft is going to be even longer.)  We have officially capped off the series I began back in 1993 with Forests of the Night.  A series that has run to ten novels now, three trilogies plus a single one off novel, that cover a time-span of half a millennium, and range from near-future noir thriller to apocalyptic transhumanist space opera.

I’ve also just written what I think may be the most over-the-top climax of anything I’ve ever done.  This in a series where I’ve already eaten a star, blown up a network of 100 wormholes, and assimilated the Earth. I was sort of running out of ways to top myself. I got everything here, the villain eating the Vatican, space battles, transhumanisim, civil war, all hell breaking loose on a space station, eschatology, and the second most transgressive sex scene in the series.

While on the topic of readings, here’s the video they shot of me reading Prophets at Norwescon (you might need to up the volume a bit):

Regardless of how things go with the award, I will be bopping around the con on panels and such till Saturday afternoon.  Hope to see you there.

Oh, and I do have planned another callback to the first trilogy, beyond Nickolai’s name.  And, no, you aren’t going to be able to guess what it is.