This is my THIRD go at Hal Spacejock Just Desserts, the third book in the Hal Spacejock series, which means I've put more work into this thing than most authors put into an entire fantasy trilogy. Each time I've torn the plot apart and started again, and this time I believe I've got it right.
Only 3 people have one of these...
The first version was a political satire. The second had less of the politics but not enough of anything else to replace it. This one has zero politics and a load of the Hal & Clunk goodness people have come to expect. It will undergo tweaks (particularly the very last chapter) but at least my publisher now has something to print. And only 7 days past my deadline.
In September 2005 this was a 'finished' book, and I've spent most of the past nine months rewriting it. Twice. Over the past three months I've done nothing but eat, sleep and write. After all that work, I sincerely hope it meets expectations.
Technorati Tags: spacejock Writing Science Fiction Humour
Simon Haynes is the author of the Hal Spacejock and Hal Junior series (Amazon / Smashwords / other formats)
9 comments:
Good luck.
I prefer not too much political satire. ;) In case the Hal Spacejock books will ever make it to Amazon.de. Don't know why they aren't listed, I usually can get most English books directly via Amazon.de free of shipping and taxes.
It was listed on amazon.de for a while, but my publisher hasn't made the books available outside Australia/NZ. Usually all their books are available from Amazon, but with Spacejock they (and I) feel there's an excellent chance overseas publishers will be interested in publishing the books. SF has a broad world-wide appeal, and it would be a shame to jeapordise any deals by selling copies of the book in the markets you're trying to find a publisher for.
Actually, it's still listed on amazon.de (link) Someone selling the book from Australia though. (There's one on Amazon.co.uk for about US$60 - plus postage!)
Hehe, I meant standard price, not some 40 bucks. I'm a poor, starving writer. ;)
I had some problems with Sara Douglass' Crucible series as well, until a friend spotted them in a store in the UK and sent them to me. They never appeared on Amazon for the normal price. Well, maybe now; it's about 3 years ago I got them.
To name a positive example: Bernard Cornwell's Lords of the North is out as hardcover in the UK since June and will appear in the US in January 2007. But I got the trade paperback (usually out some months after the hardcover) from Amazon.de in June.
Some distribution decisions are a bit strange. :)
In most cases, no matter whether the book is published in the US or UK, I can get it the month it's out. Free of shipping.
I certainly wouldn't expect anyone to pay loopy prices. In fact, the Australian Online Bookshop offers the best deal, which is tax-exempt shopping plus postage at cost. Hal Spacejock + Economy Air to the rest of the planet is AUD$27, which is only 50c more than we pay here in Australia including tax & postage. It's still US$20, but books are more expensive in Australia than the US anyway. (Average paperback is almost US$16 from a bookstore, no postage.)
Congratulations on reaching the end, and fingers crossed that your publisher will appreciate all the work you've put into it.
So much for the end! I'm supposed to hand it in before 4pm tomorrow (Thursday), and at 6pm today (Wed) I suddenly realised what the ending SHOULD be. Now I'm madly rewriting the last two chapters, and it's 11pm going on some horrible time of the morning...
This ending makes much more sense, and it only came to me while I was rereading what I had for the fourth straight time.
Thanks for the link. I've put the books on my To Buy list.
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