X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (6 Jun 2025)
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Status: AotF
* News: CotF
* Hyoomons, LandSat
* Std stuff - how you can help
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My substack articles & youtube channel replace social media, and contain fun and/or thoughtful material that would never fit into tiny SM posts. :)
=== Status: AotF ===
I’m in the second chapter of “Attendants of the Future”, at least as important as the first.
What one finds when writing the second chapter is that there’s enough skeleton to start adding tissues and organs, and that’s not a process I want to rush. It affects everything else. So it’s daunting.
I don’t want to do to this book what the Talosians did to Vina! I want to mull and give it organic depth, discovering where and how to do that properly as the world and characters become more real. I’m not going to rush this.
And I can assure you, AotF will be different from CotF and MSD. An improvement on both, I hope.
Vina, rebuilt incorrectly by the Talosians! lol (Star Trek, 1966)
=== News: CotF ===
Part Eins
After shipping/reshipping delays caused by the administration’s border policies, The Wishing Shelf Awards in the UK finally was able to get my Award Winner medal through to me.
See pic. This makes the win feel more real! Award-winning author!
Part Zwei
Before release in Oct 2023, a most egregious error snuck into the “Custodians of the Future” manuscript.
Right there at the top of Chapter 1, Page 1.
I noticed it some months after release, after buying a box of them for local sales, after friends and family bought some, after I gave some away. I know that some folks who bought it have read it, including reviewers. But not one person/organization has called me out on this error, including the one that gave it an award.
Until now, I’ve tried to ignore it, especially because no one has complained. That’s a good sign, of course. I’ve told myself no one cares or even noticed once they got going in the story.
But I can’t ignore it any more! It’s wrong! It’s broken! I must DESTROY the error!
So, I have just uploaded to all sites the revised book with that error fixed.
For copyright purposes, it’s just a minor correction, three letters, so a whole new cert is not required. It’s also such a minor change that the revision does not constitute a new edition. The substance of the story has not been affected.
And yet, it truly is (was!) an important thing to fix. This sounds paradoxical, but IYKYK.
Are you curious? Did you notice the error but decided not to say anything? Write me and tell me what you think it is (was!). I promise to divulge.
Those of you who already own a copy of CotF now have a “rare original release”. :)
Part Drei
In other news, and this is partly what has disturbed my calm about the error and drove me to fix it, I’ve begun the process of making an audiobook rendition of CotF!
We can’t have that error narrated into an audiobook!
MSD’s audiobook was so much work and so costly that it ionized me. But I got better. (Bonus merits to anyone who recognizes that movie paraphrase.)
Yesterday I had a WhatsApp vidchat with the UK-based narrator duo I’m hiring to build it. I should say no more about this right now, it’s too early, but after that chat I was full of hope! (mark your calendar! me, hope!) If all goes well, someday I’ll be trying to blast their names all over the place while promoting the audiobook, at which point I’ll ask for your help in doing so. :)
=== Hyoomons ===
Need more be said? Watch the vid.
Kiwi describes injuries from hospital after UK cheese race win
Every year there are multiple ambulances and a helicopter on site. They were used.
=== LandSat ===
LandSat-7 was decommissioned a couple of days ago after a 25 year mission, 20 years longer than the planned mission.
This satellite and the LandSat program have completely transformed our lives in amazingly valuable ways we totally take for granted. Enjoy this article!
https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/news/a-final-farewell-landsat-7
LandSats 8 and 9 are currently operating (since 2013 and 2021, respectively), and ‘LandSat Next’ is slated to launch in 2031.
=== Standard Stuff === 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 below, or on each book’s page on the web site) 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
and the Colorado State Library Book Club Resource (https://csl.catalog.aspencat.info/Union/Search?view=list&lookfor=minimum+safe+distance&searchIndex=Title&searchSource=local),
and Biblioboard (https://library.biblioboard.com/content/a3f3fc17-626b-428b-b6a2-5b5a9a44a494).
Author web site: https://XHoYenAuthor.com
This process usually takes only a few moments once you find the book suggestion/recommendation page. Thanks! Put a reminder in your calendar right now!
I haven’t been emphasizing “Custodians of the Future” as much as MSD, but only because MSD has more kudos (which is because I spent a lot more money on MSD, and that’s unsustainable). I’m hoping that interest in MSD will lead to interest in my other stuff.
Space Autistic Author
If you haven’t watched “Space Autistic Author”, Logs 1 to 3, yet, do check them out. They’re only a few minutes long, but they’re fun! Logs 2 and 3 demonstrate 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 4 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/media
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All purchase options can be found here: https://XHoYenAuthor.com/books. 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