tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39568444433619570432024-03-16T14:52:07.916-04:00Frank Chadwick's Space:1889Frank Chadwick's News and Reflections on the World of Space: 1889Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-46043045742604841542014-03-30T15:02:00.001-04:002014-03-30T15:02:51.126-04:00Germany on Mars in 1889, in The Dream Forge
Anders Blixt in Stockholm Sweden writes a thoughtful and entertaining blog entitled The Dream Forge, covering a wide range of fantasy and science fiction topics, with a heavy emphasis on steampunk/dieselpunk, and frequent articles covering Space 1889 world building. The other day he did a very nice piece on the German colonial venture on Mars. The illustration shows German Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-42258341152581645882014-03-30T00:45:00.000-04:002014-03-30T00:45:07.185-04:00What I've Learned From The Less-Than-Brilliant (and Sometimes the Brilliant)
I try to read widely and sample a lot of different authors, genres, and styles. Lately I've been off on a different sort of reading jag: I've been reading bad science fiction which sells well.
Now, let me explain that. In my view it isn't really bad if it sells well, because we write these books to entertain, and if lots of people find a book entertaining, it has succeeded in its essential Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-18787633568334638272014-03-29T00:30:00.000-04:002014-03-29T00:38:20.009-04:00Another Nice Review of How Dark The World Becomes
Here is a link to a nice review of How Dark the World Becomes from Astro Guyz, the science (with a heavy emphasis on astronomy) and science fiction blog by David Dickinson. This review hit last year but for some reason I missed it until just now. I like the fact that he picks up on the book's Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-44501266938868883032014-03-20T23:00:00.000-04:002014-03-20T23:00:01.644-04:00The Contest With No Prizes -- Lucky Winners AnnouncedAlas, there are no lucky winners. No one took me up on my generous offer of no prizes for figuring out the three word plays embedded in the short story "Murder on the Hochflieger Ost." For the curious, here are the answers.
You may recall that I said there were three embedded word plays. One involved an artifact, which I though everyone would get. One involved a location, which I thought would Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-3695210681674761942014-03-16T10:38:00.000-04:002014-03-16T10:38:47.379-04:00The First Ten PagesMickey Spillane (an under-rated writer) once said that the first chapter of a book sells it and the last chapter sells the next book. There's a recognition in that as to how important the opening of a book manuscript is. It's not a secret. People have been talking about this through much of the twentieth century, with increasing urgency toward the end. Given the rapidly escalating volume of Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-13100981571701315692014-03-15T15:06:00.001-04:002014-03-15T15:06:38.357-04:00Murder on the Hochflieger Ost part 2
Part 2 of the audio version of the short story "Murder on the Hochflieger Ost" is now up and available. Here's the link. It's at the end of the Baen Free Radio Hour, so you can fast forward if you want, but there's always interesting stuff in there you might not want to miss.
The picture to the left is a detail from the cover of The Forever Engine. Gabrielle, of course, did not have her Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-71385344897707494972014-03-05T21:46:00.000-05:002014-03-05T21:46:51.673-05:00Murder on the Hochflieger Ost Audio Podcast Part 1
Baen Books has produced an audio version of "Murder on the Hochflieger Ost," the short story prequel to The Forever Engine. They are serializing it in two parts and the first part is available at this link. For those of you new to the blog, or just forgetful, "Murder . . ." is the story of the first covert assignment of the French spy Gabrielle Courbiere, the character who plays a Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-55114368934934315492014-02-17T00:01:00.000-05:002014-02-17T00:01:21.356-05:00A Contest Without Any Prizes!As I mentioned a while back, the short story "Murder on the Hockflieger Ost," which is a prequel to The Forever Engine, is available as a free download from the Baen Books site. Here's the link again in case you need it. It's a fun read.
But while I was writing it, I had a little fun of my own. There are three in jokes inserted in the story, all of them plays on words, titles, or character namesFrank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-84261649888206354082014-01-18T16:56:00.001-05:002014-01-18T17:05:32.028-05:00A Nice Review of "How Dark The World Becomes"I've been pleased with the reception of How Dark The World Becomes. It's gotten a solid 4.6 stars on Amazon, with only a single three-star review and all the rest fours and fives. It hasn't gotten a lot of published reviews, however, so I was glad to see the SFcrowsnest site in the UK post a nice review last month. Here's a link.
I'm pleased by the review not only because it's positive, Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-30761838243215031962014-01-17T23:41:00.000-05:002014-01-17T23:46:08.963-05:00Descriptive ProseI write pretty much full-time these days so expect some blogs about writing now and then. Can't help myself.
I
recently read James Lee Burke's early novel THE LOST GET-BACK BOOGIE, which was
nominated for a Pulitzer in addition to re-launching his career. I've enjoyed
his writing for many years but had never read this early novel and I'm very
glad I did.
Burke is a master of descriptive Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-43225762912515426192014-01-07T11:21:00.000-05:002014-01-07T11:21:23.720-05:00The Forever Engine is Live!Today's the first official day when The Forever Engine is live. Amazon has been shipping the advanced orders and is now posting reviews.(First one's up--four stars and a very nice write-up.) It should be in the stores as well, although I haven't yet braved "The Killer Storm of the Century" to find out if it's in my local Barnes & Noble.
Although the ratings change hourly, last time I Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-9372193786588040772014-01-03T12:55:00.000-05:002014-01-03T12:55:15.525-05:00Happy New Year!Happy New Year one and all! 2013 was a busy year for me, and a very good one. I have a number of resolutions for the new year, one of which concerns this blog. I'll leave what that resolution might be to your collective imaginations.
The immediate news is that The Forever Engine will be on the shelves in bookstores within the next week, and also available in all e-formats from Baen Books (Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-63908065086515048022013-08-27T13:33:00.000-04:002013-08-27T13:33:00.028-04:00Space 1889 Game Hits a Homer on Kickstarter!
For those of you who haven't been following it, the Space 1889 roleplaying game on Kickstarter finished its funding window two days ago. It had made its original funding goal within a week or the launch and then made steady progress toward the stretch goals after that. But there was a big surge at the end and it ended up hitting 483% of its original funding goal, with over $100,000 raised. Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-85040309088567033142013-08-12T19:28:00.000-04:002013-08-12T19:28:04.943-04:00Final Edits In on The Forever Engine
I received the final marked up copy edits of The Forever Engine a little over a week ago and just express mailed them back to the folks at Baen Books with all of my final changes. Paul Witcover at Baen did a very thorough and professional job on the copy edit and caught a couple places where I had unintentionally mangled Gabrielle Courbiere's (the heroine's) French. That would have Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-29212305623249111692013-08-02T00:47:00.001-04:002013-08-02T00:47:31.568-04:00Venus Sourcebook May Be Next!
The cover for the Venus Sourcebook.
The Space 1889 Kickstarter project is turning out to be pretty exciting. It's at about 195% funding of the original goal with only a bit over a third of the funding period gone, so it's at the point where Clockwork Productions et al are adding additional stretch goals. Since the Venus Sourcebook unlocks (becomes available) when they hit about 225% of Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-34045158434796329012013-07-23T23:36:00.001-04:002013-07-23T23:38:51.350-04:00The (New) Art of Space 1889
I've posted several pieces of art from the German (and soon to be English language) Space: 1889 basic book before, including character archetypes. Those were done by Mia Steingraeber and have been big hits with about everyone who's seem them. The above one is not from the main book, but instead is a sample archetype from the forthcoming Venus sourcebook. Here's a link to the HeroPress Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-79475747745083084682013-07-23T17:01:00.002-04:002013-07-23T17:01:50.376-04:00Two New Interviews With Your Favorite Author Okay, I suppose it's a bit presumptuous to think I am your favorite author, but hope springs eternal.
The interviews were occasioned by the publication of How Dark The World Becomes earlier this year. They were conducted by email a couple weeks ago by Keith Brooke, well-known British science fiction author, editor, and web publisher. The first interview (link) is in SF SignalFrank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-39921113607305007682013-07-22T00:25:00.000-04:002013-07-22T00:25:40.088-04:00Congratulations!Congratulations to Patric Götz of Clockwork Productions, Angus Abranson of Chronicle City, and everyone else who has worked on the new Space 1889 project. It went live on Kickstarter at 6PM on Wednesday night and by Sunday morning had met its funding goal. As I write this on Sunday evening it is at 111%. Once it gets to 120%, the first stretch goal--the 32-page adventure "The Order of the Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-69159274064616556772013-07-20T01:32:00.000-04:002013-07-20T01:32:31.941-04:00The Return of Space 1889 part 2When I posted about Clockwork Productions' kickstarter two days ago, I failed to give a link to the site. Not a big deal, really, as it's the only Space 1889 project on kickstarter, and you are all reasonably resourceful adults. That said, here's the link. Check it out.
Somkeone told me today that if the project hasn't made 20% of its goal in the first ten days it probably won't make it. Well, Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-5474057149020124302013-07-18T09:36:00.000-04:002013-07-18T09:36:07.883-04:00The Return of Space: 1889!I'm way behind on news and views, and so you'll see several posts next week, after I return from Historicon in historic Fredericksburg, VA. But there's one piece of news which could not wait, Stop The Presses kind of news. Clockwork Productions brought us the beautifully-produced German edition of Space: 1889, and everyone wanted to know, "When will there be an English edition?" Your entreaties Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-29963805445190888572013-03-26T23:48:00.000-04:002013-03-29T20:58:15.194-04:00Conspiracy of Silence Reviewed by Steampunk Traveler
The Traveler's Steampunk Blog reviewed Conspiracy of Silence (the first book in the second series of Space:1889 And Beyond ebooks from Untreed Reads, and co-authored by Andy Frankham-Allen and Yours Truely) last October, but for some reason it slipped by me. It's a very nice review, giving us ten out of ten Zeppelins and the Badge of Honor (editor's pick), which is about as good as it Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-28946365276113163752013-03-26T15:35:00.000-04:002013-03-26T15:35:19.529-04:00An Incredible Model Zeppelin
If you like Steampunk, it's hard to imagine you don't have a soft spot for zeppelins. I sure do, ever since the 1971 film Zeppelin with Michael York and Elke Sommer -- and probably long before, but that's what sealed the deal. Well, the 1986 Miyazaki film Laputa/Castle in the Sky really sealed the deal, by why quibble?
I recently was directed to an amazing link which shows dozens of pictures Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-87029450118468835722013-03-23T11:58:00.001-04:002013-03-23T11:58:34.337-04:00Forever Engine - A Map of Europe
Baen Books commissioned this map of western Europe in 1888 as a two-page spread in The Forever Engine, due out next January. I like what they did with it, particularly the gears for cities and towns. It covers the area where the action of the novel takes place and from some of the unlikely smaller locations included, you can probably figure out that some of the important Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-18507261151920068922013-03-21T22:29:00.001-04:002013-03-21T22:30:32.358-04:00How Dark The World Becomes -- now street-legal
Well, How Dark The World Becomes shipped in early February and is in Barnes & Nobles around the country as well as available through Amazon and directly from Baen Books, my publisher. I'm pretty excited. I already had a reading in Champaign, IL at the Iron Post (a great local jazz bar) and I have another one coming up on April 13 at the Jane Addams Book Store in Champaign, IL at 1Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3956844443361957043.post-62212001679416977092012-12-09T19:32:00.000-05:002012-12-15T01:05:11.030-05:00Mars Needs Steam Pictures From Celesticon
I attended Celesticon out the San Francisco area last Labor Day and ran a big Mars Needs Steam game. Rick Schutz provided the terrain and soldiers while I shipped out an assortment of special stuff -- unique units and steampunk vehicles -- to flesh out the game. You've seen lots of pictures of the game with our terrain, mostly built by Glenn Kidd. Here's a look at what you can do with Frank Chadwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07925901055702288584noreply@blogger.com5