I made my first venture into the much-hyped e-book rush this past week with a new edition of the first volume in my best-known anthology series, Clockwork Phoenix. It’s fascinating to be able to see results in real-time in a way you can’t with print sales — I think I’ll need to train myself not to seek daily updates, heh.

BTW, If anyone wants to help the new Clockwork Phoenix listing with tags or “likes,” that’d be awesome.

What I’ve found is laying out an e-book is just about as much work as laying out a print book, at least this first experience seemed that way.

It hasn’t been enough to deter me from producing more. I’m hoping to have Clockwork Phoenix 2 out by January and Clockwork Phoenix 3 out the next month.

I’m also going to start releasing some of my previously published stories.

I had a little bit of inspiration doing yard work the other day. When Steam Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories was on the runway to publication, JoSelle Vanderhooft commissioned artist Avery Liell-Kok to create a promotional postcard based on my novelette “Sleepless, Burning Life.” This was a delightful surprise to me, to say the least; however, I don’t believe the postcards ended up being printed.

My inspiritation was, when reflecting on what else I could make an e-book out of, remembering that this art exists. So I contacted Avery and asked her if she’d be willing to let me use it for an e-book cover. She asked to be allowed to clean up a few things, as it was produced in a bit of a rush. (Kind of like my novelette!) That was fine by me, and now the cover art is ready.

Illustration by Avery Liell-Kok. Copyright © 2011.

SHINY.

In my mind, “Sleepless, Burning Life” is what might have happened if Michael Moorcock wrote the script to Kill Bill (and all the assassins were current or former lovers with divine powers.) It’ll be fun to have it out there making big anime-style body-bisecting sword swipes all on its own.

Posted in Clockwork Phoenix, Fiction, Short stories, Writing