X. Ho Yen's Author Newsletter (23 Feb 2025)
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Kilometerstones
* Life Things
* Std stuff - how you can help
Greetings Dear Subscribers,
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NOTE: Having finally and happily abandoned vampiric “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, and contain fun and thoughtful material.
=== Kilometerstones ===
More Finalist lauds for “Custodians of the Future”!
“Custodians of the Future” has two new Finalist lauds, The Wishing Shelf Book Awards 2024 and Indies Today Awards 2024. TWSA is pending the winners announcements in April (at which point a link will become available). I don’t expect CotF to win, but Finalist lauds are nothing to sneeze at!
=== Life Things ===
This January I had two surgeries and a family life event in the midst of work upsets caused by Executive Orders driven by posturing and corruption. (What affects civil servants affects me, as my company is essentially NASA employees offloaded to a contracting company to save overhead money.) So it’s all been pretty distracting. But I’m not daunted. “Attendants of the Future” will happen. I want to make it a good one, and not just more of the same. I’m allowing myself the possibility of not completing it until 2026. I never want to write more of the same.
In parallel, last year I started pursuing the professional creation of my AotF cover design, but have run into months of snags and delays. I’m cutting MiblArt slack on this — they live in a country invaded! (Ukraine!)
We attended a pro-Ukraine rally today. Defense of Ukraine against the Russian invasion and the new attempts to rape its resources by the new U.S. government is nothing less than defense of the free world and of the very idea of government of, by, and for The People. It’s that important.
S.S. United States, larger than the Titanic, to be sunk in the Gulf of Steve Martin.
(I call it the Gulf of Steve Martin, because that’s what Steve Martin calls it now, according to his SNL 50th Anniversary show opening monologue. Works for me.)
=== 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