X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (15 Jun 2024)
Greetings Dear Subscribers,
If you’re here via the web site and would like to subscribe, this link takes you to the subscription box.
How are you? Any news? Send me a note. Seriously. I’m not kidding. :) Especially if there’s anything you like about anything I’m doing here — I could use the shot, so to speak, and not the Key & Peele “Tha Incredible Mack” kind. :)
* Catching up
* Reading Report
* Work in Progress
* How to Help
* The standard stuff
=== Catching up ===
My knee started regressing a couple of weeks ago, and now I’m almost back to where I was before the surgery. :( It has my physical therapist / pain & torturist stumped.
Level 10 pain zings are PTSD-inducing. I’m walking on eggshells, but it’s not enough to prevent them. Now I know why House, M.D. was such a jerk.
I have a follow-up medical appointment next week. We’ll see how it goes.
My Richard Castle-esque “WRITER” vest turned out well! I’m hoping to put it to good use at this year’s conventions.
And I’ve incorporated it into my new bizcard, along with the new branding graphic.
Thanks for the sewing help, Jennifer and Jade!
bizcard front
bizcard back, which I usually show first
=== Reading Report ===
Recently I finished reading a collection of short stories called “Inner Space and Outer Thoughts [Speculative Fiction from Caltech and JPL Authors]”.
At COSine ‘24 back in January I learned about this book from Rachael Kuintzle, PhD, who organized and edited it while completing her PhD at Caltech. Impressive. Most impressive.
Most of the book is exactly my kind of material. Here we have a group of authors who are scientists and thinkers who aren’t afraid of tackling big ideas using appropriately sophisticated language. I was elated!
Despite having some differences of opinion with super famous author David Brin (we had words on facebook before I unfollowed), his story in this collection was super cool and I enjoyed it tremendously. He was one of two or three famous authors in the collection.
There was only one story that stood out as the opposite of all the others (the author did NOT do their basic homework, mistook deeply offensive mockery for contextually placed absurdism, and chose a story basis that I explicitly avoid, namely alien invasion). That one drove me nuts. But it didn’t detract from the rest of the collection. In fact, it showed just how good is the other material.
I recommend this collection. I would love to cross-promote it with Rachael via “Space Autistic Author”, but, alas, she doesn’t appear to be interested in doing that.
Anyway, you should read Rachael’s inspiring substack post “I got bitten by a radioactive spider”:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-144207283
Now I’m continuing to read “The Three Body Problem”.
=== Work in Progress (WIP) ===
I find myself gravitating more and more toward the puzzle book for tweens idea based on my “Space Autistic Author” Innerverse. So I’m allowing myself to go that way rather than forcing the next novel, “Attendants of the Future”.
Many ideas are in my notebook about AotF, but I just can’t yet crystallize them. It’s quite possible that everything will change with that novel depending on what happens in the November-January time frame, if you know what I mean.
Here’s an example (at right) from my WIP puzzle book. The idea is quite simple — give kids story and fun fictional world contexts for their participation in the book’s puzzles/exercises. Standalone puzzles are boring by comparison!
Who wants their fictional persona to be included in this work? Brother Joe has already signed up to be “The Only Joe You Need To Know”. He will have lost his fez, and the reader will do a puzzle or two to help him find it. Let me know if you’re interested in taking the plunge. :)
=== How to Help ===
Why help? Since I subvert pop genre expectations instead of pandering to them, and because of my autism and other isolating factors, it’s extremely difficult and expensive for me to reach out into the world to find my audience. I don’t have a team helping me. Just writing newsletters like this is an exercise in self-esteem suspension of disbelief (swirly thing alert!).
I truly rely on word of mouth and grassroots support. In case anyone assumes this is some kind of gravy train side hustle, I’m still thousands of dollars in debt on this, and every convention adds more red to my ledger. I’m in this for the long haul, but I must keep reaching out and pushing. This is not “write it and they will come”, that’s the erotic fantasy romance section (which sells itself).
How to help: Reading my books, writing reviews (if you liked them :), and passing the word would be great. If not that, then one could post my one-page ads (see the “standard stuff” section) on appropriate billboards and tell people about my web site, https://XHoYenAuthor.com .
But here’s something very nice that anyone can do to help — request that “Minimum Safe Distance” be carried by your local library!
It’s usually as simple as going to your library system’s web site and searching for “suggest a purchase” or “submit a suggestion”. Usually, there’s a special page for that, and often it’s at the front of your dashboard.
They will want information like this:
Title: Minimum Safe Distance
Author: X. Ho Yen [please get the capitalization and spaces right, one after the period, another after ‘Ho’]
Publication year: 2022
Format: Book/Paperback
# of pages: 396
ISBN: 978-0-9766158-1-1
Publisher: Grand Unification Monastery
Audience: Adult
Language: English
Notes:
Good professional editorial reviews, including Kirkus:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/x-ho-yen/minimum-safe-distance/
“…Ho Yen’s descriptions of advanced technologies should please fans of hard SF, but what really makes the book work are the questions it raises about what it means to be a person and a member of a species.” Our verdict: Get It
Carried in Arapahoe County Library System:
https://arapahoelibraries.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S115C2180350
Author web site: https://XHoYenAuthor.com
This process usually takes only a few moments once you find the suggestion page. Thanks! Put a reminder in your calendar right now!
If you haven’t watched “Space Autistic Author”, Logs 1 and 2, yet, do check them out. They’re only a few minutes long, but they’re fun! Log 2 demonstrates how SAA allows cross-promotion with other creatives without requiring anyone to vouch for anyone else’s work. Pass the word!
While you’re there, check out the other videos on my channel, especially the Galacticon ‘23 video (in 2 parts). That one’s longer, but it shows why my pen name is not cultural appropriation, and gives a fun overview of Mars exploration (since the late 1800s) with details of my participation in it, mostly on the Mars Global Surveyor mission.
https://XHoYenAuthor.com/videos
Like, subscribe, and share!
============ The standard stuff ============
Here’s a printable, one-page ad for MSD if anyone has a nice bulletin board/ad column nearby
All purchase options can be found here: https://XHoYenAuthor.com/books or at GrandUnificationMonastery.com. Both sites include links showing how several of the big vendors allow you to gift eBooks.
Thanks for sticking with me! I hope it’s at least mildly entertaining to watch this author second career thing come together.
Please do share my page with fellow realism-based sci fi fans, especially anyone who enjoys Corey’s The Expanse, Older’s Infomocracy, Card’s Speaker for the Dead, Mandel’s Station Eleven, Suarez’ Delta-V, or movies like “Arrival” and “Don’t Look Up”. I'm convinced my books would appeal to the same audience, because I wrote them for me and I'm in that audience.
Thanks for your support!
XHY
https://XHoYenAuthor.com