Freebies
So, the word is out on the subject of the revamped Starship Sofa. My reading of “Repeating the Past” is embedded near the end of their recent podcast; also, the press release reports that I’ll be doing a “monthly” science-“fact” podcast called Reality, ReMastered. I can confirm this, sort of, although the monthliness may be a bit iffy. I’m working on the first one now, and will repeat as time and inspiration allow.
(Oh, wait a second. I’m listening to that audio feed even now, as it trickles down the teensy one-bar pipe’s worth of bandwidth I can squeeze through the walls of my remote cabin — I love these guys’ accents, and whoever they’ve got reading “Likely Lad” just rules — but pretty much the first thing they say is that it is not a podcast any more, but is, rather, an “audio science-fiction magazine”. I stand corrected, if a wee bit confused as to the difference.)
Closer to home, Tor has asked for (and received) permission to release Starfish as a free e-book for a two-week period, as part of ongoing promotion for their new website/online community. They’ve already done this with novels from a bunch of other authors including Karl Schroeder, David Drake, and the mighty John Scalzi, but I’d go out on a limb and state that my own involvement has a much higher irony quotient. Tor did, after all, respond to my request for a Creative Commons option in the Blindsight contract by trying to insert a clause that would have forbidden me from even posting excerpts of longer than 1,500 words on my own damn website. And Starfish is such a good candidate for a promotional free e-text release, since you can’t find one of those anywhere else on the planet.
Glad they’re coming around, though.
As of 9:30MST, the StarShipSofa website seems to be pooched. I’ll check later, sounds worth listening to. Is this really going to replace Analog, as some people seem to be saying? ^^;
monday, may 6 – the sofa is still down
I think you need to put in a USA zip code to get the downloads on Tor’s website. There’s some contest that is only open to residents of the USA, but I don’t care about the thing they’re raffling off, I just want the stories.
just heard to the podcast and although i’ve already read Repeating the past it was a real treat to just close my eyes and listen to it! (also, “Repeating the past, by, eh, me” made me giggle like a little girl.)
I was wrong earlier. Tor is just really slow at sending out the emails for the links to download the PDFs, it took them a couple of days but I’m registered with them, now, and I can get the stories.
Good stuff.