X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (19 Oct 2024)
Once upon a time, an oxygen-deprived creature named X. sought to keep his potential readers informed, and perhaps, through forwarding, find new potential readers.
[that weird synthesized music from ‘The X-Files’ begins to play —
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This is his latest attempt. Will it contain anything about the paranormal? Or UFOs? Will there be a Smoking Man? Will there be a Well-Dressed Man? Will there be other well-dressed sociopathic men who see themselves as the hero of their own story? What about Steven Williams? (What was his name, anyway?) Will the government deny knowledge? Find out! Read on…
Greetings Dear Subscribers,
If you’re here via the web site and would like to subscribe, this link takes you to the subscription box.
If you’d like to UNsubscribe, hit reply and say as much. Easy peasy, no judgment, no problem.
How are you? Any news? Send me a note. Seriously. I’m not kidding. :) I could use the shot, so to speak, and not the Key & Peele “Tha Incredible Mack” kind of shot. :)
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. :)
* New book news: Space Autistic Author’s Puzzling Innerverse
* Upcoming “Meet the Author” appearances
* Other news
* Standard stuff — How to Help
=== New book news:
Space Autistic Author’s Puzzling Innerverse ===
As a reminder, “Space Autistic Author’s Puzzling Innerverse” is an immersive, educational brain tasks book for ages ~10-12+ promoting emotional health and critical thinking.
The Puzzling Innerverse was well received by its evaluators, including two primary school educators, experienced parents, and 5th grader Emma A.! This is deeply gratifying. I start with the assumption of zero value until readers weigh in with positive reviews, so for weeks I was holding my breath. The color is only beginning to return to my skin.
This neato book will be available for purchase online (multiple options) on 01 NOV 24.
You can see all the testimonials on the Puzzling Innerverse page. (The “BUY IT HERE” links go to my Books page, which will be updated when the book goes live online.)
It will make a fantastic holiday gift. Make a list of parents with kids in the 10-12 age range, and precocious 9 yr olds, and perhaps 13-14 yr olds who are delayed in their development (hey, that was me, no judgment) or haven’t had an appropriately challenging education.
I’m actively seeking outreach opportunities for this book. Any ideas? Hit reply!
Also, The Bookworm used bookstore in Boulder, Colorado, is consigning this book! (see pic!) That’s a real “reader’s bookstore”, so I’m hopeful this catchy cover will, er, catch the eyes of many parents passing through the store.
The folks running the counter at The Bookworm are wonderful. This person in the pic was wearing a shirt that said, “I tried being normal. It was the worst two minutes of my life.” Anyone who’s spent years (or decades) masking can relate!
(cover with a digital capture of Emma A.’s post-it note)
=== Upcoming “Meet the Author” appearances ===
As of right now, I’m still scheduled (30 Nov, 2-4pm) to be at the Aurora Southlands Mall Barnes & Noble store for my first ever in-store “Meet a Local Author” gig!
Next week Howard Lovy of Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) will be interviewing me for his Inspirational Authors podcast. I’ll let you know when that recording has gone live (and will perma-link it on my /Media page, of course). It’ll be a 30 minute interview/conversation, so, yeah, I’m nervous.
=== Other news ===
New Substacks: As usual, I’ve written several new substacks since the last newsletter. Check them out. The content is very different from this newsletter.
CROSS-PROMO WITHOUT VOUCHING FOR ME: I continue to seek creatives outside of the white-cis/het-male variety for cross-promo on “Space Autistic Author”. I simply can’t continue to give the impression that I’m a club member. So Log 3 won’t happen until I find them!
Here’s hoping Adeena Mignogna, J.E. Thomas, and/or Alex Kingsley come aboard!
If you’ve made it this far, you get to vote on whether or not the government should deny knowledge! But only if you send me a basic human connection note containing at least your guess as to Steven Williams’ identity!
=== 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, which is 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 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/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
If you’ve made it this far, you’ve earned ten merits! Mention this in your note! Who knows what these merits might eventually do for you? You get an extra twenty merits if you can tell me what content in the Standard Stuff section has changed! Mwuhahahahahaaaaaa!
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