Authors Jacob & H.P. Holo
H.P. got stir-crazy waiting for cons to start back up, so she made her own panel.
Join her, D.J. Butler, Lydia Sherrer, and Terry Maggert this Thursday, October 8th @ 8pm EST, wherein they’ll…just talk about pets! 😄
The event will be live-streamed on our Facebook Page, but if you’d rather watch through Zoom, you can register for that here.
We hope to see you there! 😀
***
UPDATE: Here’s the archived video on YouTube! (Or, if you’d rather watch it on Facebook, click here!)
One of the benefits of having an overwhelmingly huge and ever-growing book pile is that sometimes, when you get bored, you can just dig to the bottom to see what’s been hiding there, and sometimes, you find little treasures you’d completely forgotten about.
This is one of those.
I happened upon Dave Butler’s The Kidnap Plot (The Extraordinary Journeys of Clockwork Charlie #1) several years ago after a particularly memorable LibertyCon panel which was supposed to be about The Best New YA Books…but, given that none of us had actually read any new YA books that year, ended up being about awesome YA in general (and also ended up being one of the most fun panels at that convention). This has nothing to do with the book, except that fellow panelist Butler was giving out copies at the end, and like heck am I gonna turn down any free steampunk reading, especially when the cover is as adorable as this:
Plus, in the con-less semi-apocalyptic landscape that is 2020, it’s nice to reflect on con memories, and that panel was one of my favorites.
The London of The Kidnap Plot is one soaked in steam and coated in grease, where airships dominate the sky and beneath them live overlapping cultures of humans, pixies, trolls, kobolds, shape-changers…and Charlie Pondicherry and his Bap. Charlie’s father runs Pondicherry’s Clockwork Invention and Repair, and never allows Charlie to venture far from it. But when his Bap is kidnapped by the aptly-named Sinister Man and his cronies, Charlie will have to venture further than he’s ever gone to rescue him–and in doing so, uncovers a plot that threatens Queen Victoria herself.
If you’re in the mood for a charming middle grade steampunk adventure with a whimsical storybook quality, The Kidnap Plot is it. Though some elements toward the end might seem overly familiar to anyone who consumes lots of steampunk, the characters that surround those elements are fun enough that I didn’t care (and frankly made me want to re-read/watch the stories it reminded me of, so win-win).
It’s the unfamiliar parts that make the book shine, anyway. Charlie’s is a setting where educated trolls can be lawyers, pixie duchesses-to-be can be their assistants, and kobolds help out in inventing shops. The aforementioned Grim Grumblesson, Natalie De Minimis, and Henry Clockswain join the ambitious chimney sweeps/potential aeronauts Oliver Chattelsworthy and Heaven-Bound Bob to shape the eclectic party that helps Charlie recover his dad. (Special second mention for Heaven-Bound Bob because I think his name is extra-fun to say.) It’s a large cast for such a comparatively simplistic rescue story, but the characters play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses with panache in such a way that much of the fun of the novel is not in seeing the characters succeed, but wondering what clever, audacious things they’ll have to do to get out of their absurd situations, which often have no obvious solution.
More than once, I actually started thinking of these twists and turns in terms of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, since so many of their challenges are complicated by the fact that one of them is super tiny, one is a big ol’ troll, and other such race-specific details. I doubt that was the author’s intent, but frankly now that I think of it, I’m totally down for a Clockwork Charlie RPG.
All in all, rip-roaring adventure and fun characters make The Kidnap Plot a delightful, exciting read. If you like whimsical steampunk stories, give it a try!
***
Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.
Rejoice, Gordian Division fans, for there’s another live stream in your future! 😀
On Wednesday, October 7th @ 4pm EST, David and Jacob will chat The Valkyrie Protocol on Publishers Weekly‘s author event series Books on Tap Live! If you’re up for a chill evening hanging out with authors through the magic of the Internet, check it out on Facebook, YouTube, or the official Books on Tap Live page.
You can also enter to win a signed copy of The Valkyrie Protocol – and, while you’re at it, submit questions for Publishers Weekly to ask David and Jacob!
If that’s your style, click here or on the image below for more information. We hope to hear from you! 😊
***
UPDATE: Here’s the archived video! 😀
Here’s even more from The Weberverse! This time, David and Jacob chat The Valkyrie Protocol together, from how the whole adventure started to the details of the writing process.
We’re less than a month away from the release of The Valkyrie Protocol, which means it’s almost time for interviews and live streams galore! 😀
For our first, the booksellers over at Mysterious Galaxy will be hosting David and Jacob for a discussion about all things Valkyrie on October 4th at 2pm PT (5pm EST). The event requires signup, so don’t forget to hop on over to the event page to register!
They’re also accepting preorders for signed copies of The Valkyrie Protocol, so if that sounds up your alley, be sure to order from their website! (You’ll want to scroll down to see the order option.)
We hope to see you then! 😀
***
UPDATE: Here’s the archived video!
If The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets The Office is a phrase that makes you want to fling all your money at whatever inspired it – well, grab your wallet. 😀
In Dave Schroeder’s Xenotech Rising (Xenotech Support #1), first contact has been made in the form of aliens teleporting straight into the office of JP Morgan Chase and offering Earth a space in the Galactic Free Trade Association. Now, fifteen years later, Earth is bonkers with hyper-advanced alien technology, and when that tech breaks (or, more likely, when the user does something stupid to it), someone’s gotta fix it.
Enter Jack Buckston. As the head of Xenotech Support Corporation, he’s the guy to call when alien tech goes weird. Little does he know that what starts as a simple fix-it might tangle him in a plot that threatens Earth’s new place in the universe…
Okay, there are two things you need to know about this book going in: 1) Xenotech Rising is a sci-fi comedy, and 2) a lot of that comedy hinges on puns, dad joke humor, and geek references. Jack’s very first job in the book involves fixing an issue with “rabbot” lawn mowers that are replicating like rabbits at an organization called Widget Tech & Fabrication (or, WT&F). If that alone made you groan, you can put your wallet away now and go read something about taxes or whatever it is humorless pun-haters like to read about. Meanwhile those of us who thrive on silly wordplay will find a smorgasbord of nourishment here.
Even so, there’s more to the humor than puns. Xenotech’s is a setting in which one of Earth’s biggest exports is government session broadcasts repackaged as reality TV shows, and they’re so profitable that the most…erm…entertaining congresses have added extra chambers and extended sessions to maximize their on-screen time and profits. And even though Delta American Air-Space is first introduced as “the D’Am Company,” that introduction is immediately followed by a look at how airline travel even managed to remain A Thing in a universe where teleportation is also A Thing – and it all comes down to economics. Though it’s certainly a source of humor, the galactic economy is an elaborately imagined and genuinely intelligent part of this world.
Of course, with alien tech comes alien civilization, and the aliens in this novel are equally imaginative. They range from the Murm, which are tiny intelligent beetles with even tinier wormholes in their heads that allow their hivemind to communicate across galaxies (whew!), to the Dauushans, which are six-legged elephantine centaurs with three trunks that have three more trunks, which grant them the mobility they need to be one of the most high tech civilizations in the setting, despite their clumsy bulk (whewwww!). These don’t even scratch the tip of the iceberg as Xenotech’s alien races are concerned, and the unique characteristics of these races often shape the story in such a way that they’re inseparable from it.
The cast of characters is infinitely likeable, too. Jack is a regular guy who just wants to finish his jobs without some idiot getting in the way (so, relatable for anyone who works with the public). He’s also a perfect, if awkward gentleman to Poly, his tech- and disaster-savvy maybe-hopefully-girlfriend. Most notable to me, though, is Terrhi, a young Dauushan who, despite being one of the least human-looking and potentially least relatable of the alien species, ends up being one of the single most adorable characters I’ve ever read – and plays more of a role in the story than one would initially expect.
Most criticism that I have comes down to personal taste:
Its opening is slow-paced enough that it took several chapters for me to realize where the story was even going – but once the threads began to come together, I realized that everything had actually been set up from the very first chapter, which made the eventual “Aha!” moment that much more fun. 😀 Similarly, part of the climax goes long and seems to amount to “Well, it would be a waste to have an immersive virtual reality company in this book and not have an extended virtual reality video game battle, so…here’s some of that.” Still, even though it doesn’t contribute a whole lot to the plot, it’s still fun to read (even if some of its puns are shoehorned in way too hard, even for a book defined by puns).
The closest thing I have to a real complaint is that Poly’s insistent romantic advances on Jack become a little tiring. On the one hand, it’s refreshing to read a relationship in which the woman is the initiator. On the other, there was more than one scene in which I went, “Dang girl, he said no! How much clearer can he be?” 😐 It’s played mostly for humor, though, to accentuate the gentleman that Jack is, and ultimately the positives in their relationship outweigh this one small negative.
All this to say, if you’re in the mood for self-consciously dorky humor and unexpectedly complex sci-fi comedy, you’d do well to pick up Xenotech Rising. 😄
***
Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.
There’s so much happening in my yard to distract me from writing today, y’all.
FIRST, a Nova story.
Nova gets to sit outside with me when I write because she’s generally well-behaved, doesn’t leave the porch, and doesn’t hunt. Outside cats can be a bane to songbird populations in particular, so I’ve always been glad that she’s confident enough in her food supply that she doesn’t feel the need to go for my yard critters.
Well, turns out I was wrong about that. 😐
It’s not that Nova doesn’t want to hunt. It’s just that she’s too lazy to hunt anything that presents the remotest challenge.
Which I learned when she zipped off the porch, snatched something from the ground, and sprinted to bring it in the house as it was cheeping for its dear life. 😮
Turns out she’d gotten her fangs on this little dude – a fledgling mockingbird who’d just barely left the nest in one of my trees, and hadn’t even learned to fly yet.
After lots of incoherent screeching and chasing Nova all over the yard, I finally got her to drop it. Thankfully, it was unharmed, if a little traumatized, so I left it in the shade with a bit of water and put Nova inside so it could recover without the fear of being eaten.
Then, interestingly enough, another mockingbird came to give it some attention. I’d noticed this mockingbird totally freaking out when Nova first snatched the fledgling. It wasn’t too cool about me being near the fledgling, either, so I let it be and went back to my porch to continue writing.
Over the course of the day, though, I kept an eye on the fledgling, and every now and then saw the adult mockingbird – probably its mom – hopping around with it, showing it how to spread its wings and do other essential bird stuff. Eventually mom bird finished her duties and flew off. I lost track of the fledgling in the evening, but I assume it flew off, too, and is now doing happy bird things like being in the sky and avoiding cats on the ground.
So, even though it started rather roughly (for the fledgling, at least), it was neat to see that little bit of nature’s cycle take place in my own backyard. 😊
But that wasn’t my only adventure of the day.
SECOND, when I sat back down on my porch after rescuing the fledgling, I noticed an unusual shape in my jasmine plant.
So now, in addition to a yard fledgling, I had a frickin’ yard snake to keep away from Nova. (Needless to say, she did not come back outside the rest of that day.)
This was the first time I’d seen a snake in my yard in all the years I’ve lived here, so after sharing some texts and photos with family, I learned that this lil’ dude was a rat snake, and a good snake to have around for pest control. 😊
He was a surprisingly chill snake for having witnessed all the chaos of The Fledgling Incident, and much to my surprise, stayed in my jasmine the entire day, despite being well aware of my continual presence on the porch. He was a surprisingly relaxing little presence, too, and I found myself rather pleased that, of all the local nature he could have chosen to rest in, he chose my jasmine vine.
When he was still there the next morning, though, I became extra curious. 😯 After all, why would a snake take ten hours of night and safety from humans…and still stay hidden in a plant very close to humans?
So I kept peeking out to see what he was up to.
Finally I saw him leave.
And slither into one of the vents leading under my house.
Turns out he was hanging out in the jasmine because he’d eaten himself too fat to get back into his home. He’d just needed to digest. 😂
I haven’t seen him since, but I do make sure that little vent is cracked open so he can get in and out.
And since he spent the whole day with me, I gave him a name, so now whether I see him or not, Sir Biscuit is part of my yard posse. 😊
***
Originally posted on H.P.’s Instagram.
Here’s more from The Weberverse! This time David talks the process of collaborating with Jacob, creating time travel rules, creating (and destroying) entire parallel universes, and other such fun whatnot in The Valkyrie Protocol. 😄 Check it out below or watch it on YouTube!
Hey, Gordian Division fans! If you’re on YouTube and would like a sneak peek at the upcoming sequel to The Gordian Protocol, head on over to The Weberverse for David’s reading of The Valkyrie Protocol, Chapter 1! 😄
…Or you could just watch it below. 😜 (And don’t forget, it’s coming October 6th, 2020 from Baen Books!)
Ingredients:
For Wrap:
For BLT:
Instructions:
Babble:
First, credit where credit is due here: This recipe is heavily based upon Tabitha Brown’s carrot bacon video – and if you haven’t experienced Tabitha Brown yet, you are missing a true blessing of the Internet. Her voice is so relaxing I’ve adopted her as Internet mom, and any time I’m feeling down, her food videos are a sure spirit-lifter. 😊
Plus, now that Jacob’s seen this video, he narrates all the cooking that happens in our house with “‘Cause that’s my/your business,” which is adorable. 😂
Anyway, the main differences between her recipe and mine are that 1) mine includes ingredient proportions, 2) House Holo isn’t fancy enough for microgreens, 3) it uses spices that were already hanging around my pantry, and 4) my preferred seasoning mix is a lot thicker than the one pictured in the video. This is because, back when Jacob could eat Real Bacon, he liked it crispy and just shy of burnt. After some experimentation, I found that the best way to emulate that texture was a higher seasoning-to-carrot ratio. If you don’t like crispy bacon, I recommend leaving the liquid proportions as they are and playing with the seasoning proportions until you find your desired taste and texture.
Some notes:
A little liquid smoke goes a lonnnnng way. You’ll be tempted to just dump the whole bottle in because that divine smell tricks your heart into thinking it will never be able to eat enough. Your taste buds, however, will thank you for your restraint. (My first several carrot bacon experiments were almost inedible because I was overzealous with the liquid smoke. 😳)
I use plain Greek yogurt in place of mayo on Jacob’s wraps because it’s low-cholesterol, and in most recipes that involve complex flavors, we can’t tell the difference anyway. My diet, however, allows me the decadent pleasures of Duke’s Mayonnaise, so I treat myself as the Southern mayonnaise gods intended. 😋
Also, obviously you can use whatever bread you want for BLTs, but if, like me, you’re on a limited-bread diet, I like to splurge on breads when I do eat them, and Artesano bread might be the most delicious impulse buy I’ve ever made.
Hey, readers! Last month, we turned in our final copyedits for Jacob and David Weber‘s next book, and as of today, we’re exactly three months away from the release of The Valkyrie Protocol. 😀
However, if you just can’t wait to experience the second book in the Gordian Division series, you’ll be delighted to know that the eARC is now available on Baen Books’ website!
eARCs are pre-release copies of books that haven’t undergone their final edit – They’re the copies we just finished copyediting – so they lack the refined polish of a finished book. They have the heart of it, though! 😊
First time hearing of this sequel? Well, read on to find out more!
UNTANGLE THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE. A NEW NOVEL IN THE WORLD OF THE BEST-SELLING THE GORDIAN PROTOCOL
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
Agent Raibert Kaminski and the crew of the Transtemporal Vehicle Kleio have made a shocking discovery out in the unknown reaches of the multiverse. They’ve stumbled across a temporal implosion that has claimed two whole universes, and neither Raibert nor his crew can figure out what caused this calamity other than it had something to do with reckless time travel.
The Kleio speeds back to their home universe of SysGov with this dire report, but an audacious plan is put into effect before they arrive. Old colleagues of Raibert’s from the Antiquities Rescue Trust, together with a version of Samuel Pepys transplanted from the 17th century into the 30th, have proposed an expedition into the past. Their goal? To branch the timeline by preventing the Plague of Justinian, one of the worst pandemics in human history.
Meanwhile, SysGov’s multiverse neighbor, the xenophobic Admin, is stirring. While their ambassadors put on a friendly show, the Admin is amassing a fleet of advanced, heavily armed time machines with SysGov firmly in the crosshairs.
Time is running out for Raibert and his team. But the crew of the Kleio won’t go down without a fight, no matter where—or when—the threat to their home comes from.
The hardcover is already up for preorder at multiple retailers, and if you need to catch up, The Gordian Protocol (Gordian Division #1) is out in eBook, hardcover, audio, and mass market paperback.
Otherwise, don’t forget to mark your calendars for October 6th, 2020! 😀
Hey, readers! The sequel to The Gordian Protocol now has a release date, and as you can see above, it’s coming October 6, 2020 from Baen Books! 😀 Check out this awesome cover:
The stakes for our heroes were pretty high in Gordian, and now, in The Valkyrie Protocol, they haven’t gotten any smaller:
UNTANGLE THE PAST TO SAVE THE FUTURE.
Agent Raibert Kaminski and the crew of the Transtemporal Vehicle Kleio have made a shocking discovery out in the unknown reaches of the multiverse. They’ve stumbled across a temporal implosion that has claimed two whole universes, and neither Raibert nor his crew can figure out what caused this calamity other than it had something to do with reckless time travel.
The Kleio speeds back to their home universe of SysGov with this dire report, but an audacious plan is put into effect before they arrive. Old colleagues of Raibert’s from the Antiquities Rescue Trust, together with a version of Samuel Pepys transplanted from the 17th century into the 30th, have proposed an expedition into the past. Their goal? To branch the timeline by preventing the Plague of Justinian, one of the worst pandemics in human history.
Meanwhile, SysGov’s multiverse neighbor, the xenophobic Admin, is stirring. While their ambassadors put on a friendly show, the Admin is amassing a fleet of advanced, heavily armed time machines with SysGov firmly in the crosshairs.
Time is running out for Raibert and his team. But the crew of the Kleio won’t go down without a fight, no matter where—or when—the threat to their home comes from.
If you haven’t started the Gordian series yet, now’s the perfect time to catch up. 😀
For a limited time, The Gordian Protocol is available in a discounted pack in Baen Books’ May 2020 Book Bundle, where you can snag 7 books for $18 (Scroll to the bottom of the link to find the May bundle, but go fast, because it expires the first week of May).
It’s also coming April 28th in Mass Market Paperback, and of course, is already available in eBook, Hardback, and Audiobook form.
Finally, while you wait for Valkyrie‘s book birthday, enjoy this clean art of this cover, once again illustrated by the talented Dave Seeley! 😲
Jacob and David had a blast writing this novel together, and we look forward to you reading it, too! 😁