When will you rise? COUNTDOWN available now.

Some of you may remember that I did a series of blog posts "counting down" to the release of Deadline, chronicling the days leading up to the Rising of 2014. Some of you may remember asking me whether there would ever be a collected edition. And, well. Some of you may remember getting my standard "I can't say anything right now" reply of "LOOK! A BUNNY!"

Well, look. A bunny. Or more specifically, look, Countdown: A Newsflesh Novella now available for your e-reading pleasure! Countdown retails for $2.99, and is an awesome opportunity to have more Kellis-Amberlee goodness for your very own.

Click here to go to the official Orbit Short Fiction page for Countdown.
Click here to go to Amazon, and the Kindle store.
Click here to go to Barnes and Noble, and the Nook store.
Click here to go to the iBook store.

Now, some people will doubtless ask why they should pay for this when they can (and possibly have) read it for free on my blog. They may not ask me directly, 'cause we're normally more civil than that around here, but I'm going to answer anyway. There are four really good reasons.

1. This is a professionally formatted file, with all thirty days in the same place. No clicking, scrolling, or getting lost in my occasionally quixotic tag system. Basically, it's three dollars for total convenience.

2. I said a few times while writing the original series of posts that errors would creep in because writing live left me no time to go back and revise. Well, the luxury of Countdown becoming something I was paid for allowed me to go back, edit, adjust, and correct a lot of things, some little, some big. It also got a pass through the Machete Squad, making it a much higher-quality work.

3. The novella I want to do next year for Blackout is much larger and more ambitious, and it's really going to need those editorial revisions to be as good as I want it to be. The sales of Countdown will encourage Orbit to buy The Rising 2014: The Last Stand and Final Fall of the California Browncoats.

4. My cats like to eat. My cats like to eat a lot. My cats will, eventually, if unfed, eat me. If the cats eat me, I stop writing. If I stop writing, everyone will be sad. Except for me, as I will have been eaten. Buying Countdown helps me shove gooshy food into the fluffy monsters, and allows me to remain uneaten.

Countdown!

(If you have links to other ebook stores, please kick them over, and I'll add them.)

Under the sea...under the sea...ARC drawing results.

The random number generator has spoken, and our latest winner is...

bzarcher!

Thanks to everyone who participated. bzarcher, please submit your mailing address via my website contact form by noon PST on Tuesday, August 2nd. If I do not receive your contact information by this time, I will select another winner.

More giveaways and goodies will be forthcoming, as we approach the official release of One Salt Sea into the world.

Whee!

A brief note on full disclosure.

So there's been a spate recently of people going "What's the status on _________?" or "Where can I buy _________?" This is usually referring to either the Lycanthropy books or the print edition of Sparrow Hill Road, although I've also had a somewhat surprising number of inquiries about print editions of "Velveteen vs." Here, then, is my across-the-board answer:

If I am able to give the status on a project (sold, in print, not yet shopping, not yet finished), I will. I am not in any way shy about going "OH MY GOD YOU GUYS GUESS WHAT?!" I will probably give you this status whether you want it or not, whether you care about it or not, and whether you ask me or not. And just to live up to this statement, my confirmed publications for the remainder of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 are...

One Salt Sea, novel, September. Toby Daye book five.
"Cinderella City," short story, in the collection Human For A Day, December.
"Flower of Arizona," short story, in the collection Westward Weird, February.
Discount Armageddon, novel, March. InCryptid book one.
"We Will Not Be Undersold," short story, in the collection The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity, March.

The third Newsflesh book, Blackout, will be published in May 2012.

I have a few other short stories slated for publication, but don't have release dates and/or permission to announce them yet. See, once something is sold, I am unable to tell people until I am given permission from the publisher—it's part of the standard contract. So if I'm not telling you where you can buy something, it's because there's a "can't" involved. Either you can't buy it, or I can't tell you. Either way, please, please believe me when I say that anything I am allowed to share, I share as quickly as I can, to keep my own head from exploding. This includes information about audio books and foreign editions.

Thank you for understanding. And stuff.