The State of the World: Busted

Once again, I’ve failed to keep this blog updated in a timely fashion. I’ve been working like mad on Milkweed #2, The Coldest War, and of course my day job. And, more significantly, I bought my first house just 2 weeks ago. (Closed on the day before Thanksgiving, as a matter of fact.) So now, on top of everything else, I’m in the middle of moving/buying furniture/hauling dead refrigerators away.

But the big news today, of course, is that the newest Wild Cards novel, Busted Flush, is now available.

Busted Flush is the second novel of the Committee Triad, which began with Inside Straight. And, like its predecessor, it’s getting good reviews.

Speaking of which, a tip of the hat to Melinda Snodgrass, whose interstitial chapters have been singled out as the highlight of the novel in just about every single review. And rightly so. I had the privilege of reading Melinda’s sections via our monthly critique group meetings, and it was clear from the very start that she was doing something fantastic. Read the book and you’ll agree. (In fact, all you need to do is read a brief excerpt from the novel, and you’ll see what I mean.)

In addition to Melinda’s spectacular work, the novel contains stories by Carrie Vaughn, S. L. Farrell, Caroline Spector, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Vic Milan, and John Jos. Miller.

Busted Flush also contains “Political Science 101/201/301/401”, a four-part story that I co-wrote with Walton “Bud” Simons. Bud and I wrote two separate characters whose personal storylines are so closely intertwined that it made the most sense for us to work together and submit the final product to GRRM and Melinda as a single story. This marked the first time I participated in a co-writing endeavor. It was challenging, because the evolving plot of Busted Flush kept us on our toes throughout, but in the end I think Bud and I managed to put together a nice piece of storytelling. If I do say so myself.

I received my authors’ copies of Busted Flush this past weekend. (Oooh… shiny.) The cover image on this site’s Words page doesn’t do justice to the physical product. Once again, Michael Komarck has knocked it out of the park. Just as he did for Inside Straight. I’ve seen the concept art he devised for the Suicide Kings cover, too– WOW. I can’t say anything specific about it yet, since the finale of the Committee Triad won’t be out until December, 2009, but I will say that what Mr. Komarck considers a “rough sketch” is sickeningly good.

Thanks to our flagging economy, news out of the publishing world has been a little grim lately. So, what better way to prop up the economy and the publishing industry (and the livelihoods of your favorite authors!) than by purchasing a few books for the holidays?

Update, 11 December:

A new mass interview with the people behind  Busted Flush has gone up at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist.