The Network of P.C. Haring

It’s been a long road and I’m very happy to announce that Cybrosis is now available and for sale for an E-reader of your choosing.

As I mentioned in the announcement posting last month, there are some minor edits in this version that came out of the original podcast. Some are so minor that only a word or two has changed and unless you know where to look, you might not even notice.

At this time, the book is available through both Amazon.com and should go live on Barnes and Noble.com sometime tomorrow. The novel is also available at www.pcharing.net/purchase where you will have the option to purchased an inscribed and signed copy of the book for the e-reader of your choice. All purchase options will be available for $2.99

After you pick up a copy of the book, please help me spread the word! Write a brief review on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, or even Goodreads. Tell your friends, tell your co-workers, blog about it, podcast about it. If you have an audience who you think would enjoy the book, please let me know and I’ll be happy to make promotional material available or schedule an interview and/or appearance. Even if you only tell one friend, I promise I appreciate all of your help. I will be needing all I can get!

As always you can feel free to contact me. My E-mail is still pcharing at cybrosisnovel dot com. I’m around facebook, twitter, and, of course you can leave a comment on the blog.

Thank you for your support of my writing. Im very glad to have you along for the ride.

Posted in Anouncement

So it’s the last few days before Friday’s release of Cybrosis to the electronic reader market.  Things have been busy since last month’s announcement, but I am pleased to say that things are moving along well and aside from a few minor technical issues things have been going very smoothly.

Keep it tuned here for news and announcements in the next few days as I put the final pieces in place ahead of Friday’s launch!

Posted in Anouncement

So….things have been quiet around here lately, despite my promises to the contrary.  In fairness, I had every intention of putting up weekly writing updates as well as the occasional #CyborgFriday and #StarshipSunday article.  But as the fall wore on, I found myself caught in a dilemma – Spend time writing blog posts, or spend that time working on the writing projects?  I chose the latter and I hope this announcement will help you to forgive me.

After much work over the past several months, I am very excited to announce that on Friday, December 16, 2011, Cybrosis will be available for $2.99 on the Amazon Kindle Store.

I’ve been talking about this on the blog and on twitter for quite a while now and it’s good to finally be able to announce a date certain when I will be able to share with you this story in written form.  It’s been a long road since the podcast back in 2010, quite possibly too long.  But I have no regrets and I think when you all see the finished product you’ll agree it was worth the wait.

Those who listened to the podcast, might notice some minor edits and adjustments made between the forthcoming Kindle release and the podcast you remember.  These edits were put in place to clean up and expand some of the ambiguous science.  Some of the style and phrasing was adjusted to better reflect the things I’ve learned as a writer and a couple of the bigger “um…no…” reactions from listener feedback were addressed.  In all, less than 5% of the existing words were changed, and just under 1,100 new words were added to flesh out the universe.  But the story plot and sequence of events remains unchanged.

For the time being, Cybrosis will be exclusive to Kindle.  I intend to release ePub version through the Nook store, but I have to do more research on that aspect of things.  That said, I anticipate it going live there in January 2012.  Cybrosis will not be released via Smashwords until they complete their announced 2012 upgrade of their meatgrinder when they will start accepting ePub formatted books.  It will also be available from pcharing.net and cybrosisnovel.com for direct purchase in both Kindle and ePub formats and I’m looking into options for adding inscriptions and author signatures to the files sold directly.  Yes, it is possible to sign ebooks.  All formats will be priced at $2.99.

There is much work still to be done over the next month and as such I am turning to you all for help.  Please buy copies for yourself.  Please tell your friends, family, and anyone else who might be interested in reading this book.  It’s launching just in time for the holiday season and gifting eBooks on Amazon’s site is extremely easy.  If you have blogs, please discuss, if you have podcasts that take interviews I’d love to come on your show.  If you do book reviews, let me know and I’ll send you an ARC.  I will NOT be coordinating an “Amazon Rush”, but I do want to make things as visible as possible for the book and I will need your help to do it.  In the past, I’ve tried not to be one of those “Hi!  Please buy my book” people.  I don’t plan to become on of those people, but I do need your support.

Thanks for reading, thanks for your support.  I’m back to work  and you can expect more updates soon!

Posted in #WritingWednesday, Anouncement

When I was in College, I, like most other college students, had a few hangouts both on and off campus that I’d frequent with some of my friends.  One of our favorite on campus locations was the late night sandwich & pizza shop upon which this flash animation is very VERY losely based.  As with all of our on campus eateries the shop was managed and staffed by an outside food service company and their employees and one of their regular food servers was a young man who had lost an arm.  How he lost it, I never knew nor did I feel it my place to ask.  But what always struck me was that his prosthetic, a device very similar to the one shown here, was very…clunky.  The hook/clamp device that served as a hand was manipulated (badly) by a small metal cable and the best this man was ever able to do with the attachment was to slip the hook into the next plastic bag in the pack propped upright, and pull towards him to give himself enough of a mouth of the bag that he could put our sandwiches inside.  I eventually grew used to the sight of this, but I never was truly comfortable with it even to the day I graduated and I frequently wondered why he didn’t have a better device.  We lived in the 21st century dammit!

Whether this gentleman’s case influenced the premise of Cybrosis or not is something I had not considered until this moment as I sit here and write this entry.  But, if you’ve listened to the novel, you know (and if you haven’t…this isn’t much of a spoiler), that the story is set in a world where cybernetic devices serve primarily as medical prosthesis.   Oh what I think my friendly sandwich-bagging guy would have done to have Agent Chen’s arm.  But he may not have to wait for much longer….

Continue reading ‘#CyborgFriday 01 – Bionics: The Future is closer than you may think’

Posted in #CyborgFriday, Discussion
Tags: cybrosis, research, writing

For the week of September 26 through October 2, 2011.

I write this as my train returning from Archon 35 pulls into the Springfield Illinois station and there is much to discuss over this past week of events.  I am going to be writing these on Sunday and posting them on Wednesday to see if that helps me post on a more frequent basis, hence the reason for the dates I’ve started to include in at the top of these blog posts.  I’ll get to Archon in a little bit, but first the writing update -

With the trip in and out, the read through and notes creation for Slipspace has not been as productive this week as I might have liked.  I did bring chapters with me and as of this writing  I’ve gone through between five and seven chapters, though I’ve honestly lost count with everything going on.  But I have come across the first major section of re-writes and as it turned out, I left the necessary research at home.  That said, I am very much looking forward to tackling this challenge over the next few days as I read on and make sure I know what I need to make sure the job is done right.

The last of my first readers finished reading the draft of the third book and challenged me to write an epilogue.  He’ll argue that he requested it, did not challenge.  But I took it as a bit of a challenge and spun one out during the train ride into St. Louis late last week.  I’m very proud of it and can’t wait to share it with all of you.

And that’s about where the writing news stops.  But there is more after the break.
Continue reading ‘#WritingWednesday – Weekly Roundup 8′

Posted in #WritingWednesday, Appearances, Discussion
Tags: Conventions, doing, Pip, slipspace, Tee, update, writing

For the Week of September 19 through September 25, 2011

Hmmm…I don’t even know if I can (or should) call this one a Writing Wednesday given how late this posting is..again…

Regardless, this week has been a productive one.  Another ten chapters of edit notes for Slipspace have been made and while I expect things are going to slow down now that I’m into the book’s second act I’m very happy with the momentum I’ve generated and I should be on track to complete these notes by Mid-October, which should put me on track to complete the implementation by the end of November.  That’s the plan…we’ll see what happen.

In other news, The Seven is now available for sale as a 99 Penny Dreadful for either your Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook.

And that’s really been it for me.  I’m writing this blog post from St. Louis where I’m visiting this weekend for Archon 35.  Did something different in getting here and took the train…yes the train.  I’ll have more on that in next week’s roundup as well as a recap of Archon, a couple of guest appearances and a few other more…meta discussions.

Until then!

Posted in #WritingWednesday
Tags: update, vacation

I am very excited to share in the announcement that “The Seven” the short story I produced for Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris‘ Ministry of Peculiar Occurences “Tales from the Archives” anthology is now available on Amazon.com as a 99 Penny Dreadful.  This is the text of the podcast audio I produced for them earlier this summer.  If you enjoy my writing, their writing, the podcast, or their novel “Phoenix Rising“, I HIGHLY Recommend you check this out and show your support not only for Tee and Pip, but also for me.

About the story -

Agent Brandon Hill is on assignment in South America, enjoying the local culture and women, when a mystery that could lead to El Dorado falls into his lap. Before the intrepid agent knows it, he is the jungle uncovering a plot but the devilish Illuminati. He will need all his monkey knife fighting skills to survive this one.

Tales from the Archives are short stories set in the world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. They explore events mentioned in the novels, characters seen and unseen and may include novel teasers of things to come.

“The Seven” is available now over at Amazon.com

Posted in Anouncement, Promo
Tags: MOPO

Wow…what a week it has been and I’m not sure I know where to begin.

So lasst week’s roundup, posted a day late, was written while I was on vacation in the Washington D.C. area.  Tee Morris and Philippa Ballantine were kind enough to open their home to me for a few days and give me a much needed respite, retreat, vacation…call it what you will.  The trip was very laid back and I got little more than a chapter of edits to Slipspace finished, despite the seven I’d taken with me.  Had that been my productivity over five days at home, I would have called it a failure of a writing week, but in this context of the vacation I don’t particularly care.  I had a lot of down time to just decompress and pass the time without a ton of fanfare or being overly scheduled and this trip delivered in droves.

But this is not to say I did nothing at all during the trip.  In fact there was much frivolity and fun!  Tee and Pip made good on their promise in the third episode of The Shared Desk, and invited me into Imagine That!/Koru Studios where we riffed for a little over an hour about writing in shared universes and shared some experiences.  We also discussed the balance between getting in the word count and the addictive crack that is Batman Arkham Asylum and Portal.  Hee hee Hahahah that WAS a triumph!  If my notes are correct, my appearance there will be the next episode of the Shared Desk, but I don’t know when Tee and Pip plan to release the episode.  I’ll make sure to announce it both here and on Twitter once it goes live.

On Saturday we hosted a small private gathering for local friends and again it was a blast.  I saw some people I usually only see once a year at Balticon, met others I’d only known through twitter, and even managed to connect with three of my friends from college.  The party went all day with the grill and the fire pit in full swing the entire time.  I was introduced to Monty Pyton Fluxx, some fantastic BBQ Pulled Pork, and Queso, and much more.  Sunday was rounded out with a detour on the way to the Airport.  Tee, Sonic Boom, and I made our way over to the Smithsonian Air and Space Annex   Truly an amazing experience and I’ve got more than a few photos to kick up to Facebook, not to mention a topic for an upcoming #CybrogFriday and #Starship Sunday post, but more on that later.

But that’s not to say no writing related work got done.  I’ve confirmed that the copy editor has begun work on Cybrosis and am looking at some…options that I may want to incorporate into the December release.  I was able to crank through another two chapters of Slipspace edits since I’ve been home and, as you can see (if you’re reading this off the site), I’ve made some adjustments to this blog, including a color and theme facelift, the addition of podcasting resources, and a couple of other behind the scenes tweaks.    To be clear, this is not going to be a podcast heavy blog, but I’m planning on posting a few short stories that I’ve recorded in shared universes and I think they’ll be best suited here instead of over at Cybrosisnovel.com

So, It’s been a good, low key, vacation that’s done it’s job to recharge my batteries and re-focus me on getting things done.  I can’t hardly argue with that.

Until next time!

Posted in #WritingWednesday, Discussion
Tags: cybrosis, slipspace

Just a quick test post for the new podcast feed and a bump for my good friends Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris

As you may be aware these two released their first novel in the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Series – Phoenix Rising.  In order to help promote this novel, Tee and Pip began an anthology of short fiction entitled “Tales from the Archives”.  These stories, one of which I have the honor of contributing, tell stories in, around, and about the Ministry as seen in Phoenix Rising and have been released via podcast over at the Ministry’s website.  Now, they are releasing them as 99 Penny Dreadfuls for your Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook.  I am very excited for them as they step into the world of short fiction e-Publishing, and it’s my privilege  to add this promo to the network.  I HIGHLY recommend you check out these short stories in both podcast and electronic print.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Posted in Promo
Tags: MOPO, Pip, Tee