X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (28 Dec 2024)
For those who FAILED to successfully answer my quiz question from the previous two newsletters,
the answer was, of course: “Mr. X”.
:)
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Kilometerstones
* X’s Files
* Convention News
* * Standard stuff — How to Help
I’ve written a bunch of substack articles since last newsletter
Greetings Dear Subscribers,
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NOTE: Having finally and happily abandoned “social media”, I’ll be sending newsletters slightly more often. But I’ll try to keep them somewhat entertaining. :) My substack articles and youtube channel replace social media.
=== Kilometerstones ===
The Boulder Bookworm has sold those two copies of “Space Autistic Author’s Puzzling Innerverse” they put on their shelf on consignment! Those are my first consignment sales. :) I’ve restocked them with four copies, plus two each of MSD and CotF. Go Bookworm! :)
In other news, on the heels of making Finalist in AWA 2024, “Custodians of the Future” also just made Finalist in Global Book Awards 2024, in the Science Fiction - Crime & Mystery category! (For context, the other Science Fiction categories in GBA were -Action and Adventure, -Colonization, Dystopian, -Hard, -Romance, -Space Exploration, and -Time Travel, so CotF went up against “proper” Crime & Mystery SF novels.)
=== X’s Files ===
Log 3 is an homage and a protest, but mostly just for entertainment (and cross-promo, of course)
Space Autistic Author, Log 3 is now live!
Here’s the direct link, but as always you can find my youtube site on my Media page:
https://youtu.be/Cxi3XYsD4U8
It’s our first foray into “X’s Files”. I think you’ll enjoy it, especially if you’re familiar with “The X-Files”.
Featured guest stars: award-winning fantasy author Levi Jacobs and artist Elisa Wikey of Tiny Framed Things fame.
PLEASE WATCH Log 3, like/subscribe/SHARE and all that. It’s less than 7 minutes long, easy peasy. Many thanks to my voice volunteers, who did all the lines in this episode (X makes only a brief visual appearance). :)
And now I can finally return my focus to “Attendants of the Future” (and upcoming surgeries…). Yay!
(In Spring 2025, SAA Log 4 will, hopefully, feature authors Alex Kingsley and Stephanie A. Gillis! Stephanie graciously stepped in to understudy for the Engineer/Lone Groningen part in Log 3! Thanks, Stephanie!)
=== Convention News ===
I’ll be on 3 panels at the Colorado Springs Science Fiction Convention, COSine 2025, January 24th to 26th.
The panels are:
• Fri 5p, Cripple Creek: War in Space
• Fri 7p, Cripple Creek: The Guild, Dr. Horrible, & Other Straight-to-Web Shows
• Sun 10a, Cripple Creek: The Case For/Against Mars
This will be my first time on convention panels! I need to make sure my brain can still load my Public Socialization Emulator 2.1.
Hope to see you there!
=== 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
Like, subscribe, and share!
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