Note to Self: Accidentally sleeping with your contacts on may result in scratchy eyes and a bit of a headache, but it doesn’t help you remember your dreams more clearly as you might have hoped.
Two Holiday Tales
If you’re in the mood for a little holiday reading, check out these two short stories, both available for only 99 cents. “A Christmas in Amber” originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Analog magazine. “The Red Scarf” was published in Cicada Magazine in February 2005. They’re available electronically at Amazon, B&N, and most other online retailers. If you don’t have a dedicated e-reader, you can also buy them at Smashwords. “A Christmas in Amber” also appears in my collection, The Dinosaur Diaries and Other Tales Across Space and Time.
A Christmas in Amber
With a meteor on a collision course with Earth, a mass evacuation is underway for a privileged few . . . but not for an elderly man who must say goodbye to those he loves. A powerful Christmas tale that originally appeared in the December 2005 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact. “A Christmas in Amber” by Scott William Carter is a touching story.” — SFRevu.com. A short story of 4700 words. Placed fifth in the Analog AnLab Reader’s Poll of the best short stories of the year. Honorable mention in The Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois.
Buy: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords.
The Red Scarf
In this touching Christmas tale, a Minnesota widower has a magical encounter with an enchanted snow man — and gets a last glimpse of the love of his life. Originally appeared in Cicada Magazine, February 2005.
Buy: Amazon | B&N | Smashwords.
Dispatches from the Frontlines of Fatherhood: Smartphone Shame
The scene: I’m sitting at the kitchen table surfing the Web with my new smart phone. My seven-year-old daughter is doing her spelling homework next to me.
K: Daddy?
Me: Yes?
K: Do you love your new phone?
Me: What?
K (suppressing a smile): Do you want to marry it? You spend all your time with it. I thought maybe you loved it. Maybe you should marry it.
Me: Very funny. (Thinking: Nothing like getting shamed by a seven-year-old.)
Lincoln and the Dragon – A Short Book
I’m pleased to announce the publication of a new book — well, a short book. Technically, a novella, but usually only writers use that cute term, so let’s just call it a really short book. It’s little work of historical fantasy called Lincoln and the Dragon. Here’s a little more information:
The fateful first of January. That’s how Abraham Lincoln described New Year’s Day in 1841, the day he temporarily broke off his engagement with Mary Todd.
Although this fact is well known among historians, what is not known is what else happened that day – when a deranged, dimension-hopping descendant of a Confederate general attempted to assassinate Lincoln long before he became the 16th President of the United States.
When the madman’s plan goes awry, Lincoln finds himself stranded in the land of Howander, a world populated by brave knights, drafty castles, and a princess terribly scarred by a one-eyed dragon who’s promised to return for her on her upcoming birthday. As he finds himself falling for the princess, Lincoln must make a choice: stay and fight the dragon, or heed the call of his dark dreams, which offer him tantalizing glimpses of his native country’s future – a country which may need a hero even more than this one.
The print edition won’t be available for another month or so, but if you’d like to buy the e-book, you can do so right now for the bargain price of only $1.99 from Amazon.com, BN.com, or from Smashwords.com (which sells PDF versions for those of you who haven’t made the leap to e-readers yet.)
One other thing: I’ve gotten a number of emails from readers who’ve written to tell me that they like my work and asking me what they can do to help. The biggest thing you can do is write a review (hopefully positive!) at one of the online retailers, especially the big ones like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Only a tiny, tiny fraction of people who purchase books do this, and it really does make a difference. There was a study a number of years ago, I forget where, that showed that books with eight or more reviews showed a bump in sales attributable directly to the reviews, so there really is a measurable effect — even a short one like “Liked this book! Buy it!” is enough. Plus you don’t even need to use your real name.
Buy Now:
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