Bury me Upside Down

Good Day, enthusiastic purchasers of War Night: Stories of the Great Nuclear War of 1975. 

How long have we been working on War Night? About a year and a half? We think. Our Grognard would know. 

War Night was delayed because the great James L. Young asked us to contribute not one, but two short stories to anthologies last year. We can't say no to that. Our ego won't let us. It just won't. In fact, here's another contribution to a James Young anthology, coincidently released yesterday. Look at us! Look at us indeed, with our name on the anthology cover.* That's four short story anthologies for us. Reminder, Palmerston's Ironclads was nominated for a Sidewise Award. And oh yes, a fifth anthology story should be out this year. 

[I thought this post was going to be about War Night: Stories of the Great Nuclear War of 1975-Ed] It is, it is. 

War Night has eleven stories taking place the night The Great Nuclear War of 1975** began. 

Our best character is in Florida, a single mom who has to pick up her teenagers after the bomb drops. Cathy just jumps off the page we think. 

Our most technical story begins at CFB Bagotville, in which Canadian CF-101 Voodoos intercept Soviet bombers. 

Or is the Arkansas story about US Air Force missileers our most technical story? What do you do after you launch a Titan II Missile?

In Australia, a family goes about its business while the ABC tells them of the nuclear destruction raining down upon the United States, 'Pass the salad, love.' 

In Belgium, General Al Haig fights a nuclear war in Europe without really knowing what's going on - or even who's in charge. 

A St. Louis newsman (a real newsman, not whatever passes for TV journalism these days) tries to cover the war and manage the newsroom as the affiliate stations gradually go off air.

We wrote a silent story about one rancher in Alberta, watching the missile contrails go north, and south. Henri has exactly one line of dialogue. We're clever that way. 

The mayor of Lexington Kentucky see's Frankfurt, Louisville, Cincinatti destroyed and tried to keep Lexington calm as they wait. 

In Washington D.C., two young White House staffers contemplate war and peace and their careers.

We wrote two stories taking place in Ireland, one about the Taoiseach (pronounced T-shu) dealing with the implications of nuclear war for Ireland. Another about a lad that just wants to meet Rory Gallagher [Jesus you and Rory Gallagher-Ed] and meets a lass instead. The Irish readership, such as it is, will pick these stories apart.  

Despite the rereading, editing, rereading, proofing, and rereading, we still have the yips, which are fun - or not. 

We wrote War Night because even after three novels, we had some ideas about nuclear war we wanted to explore. Originally this book was War Night: and Other Stories of the Great Nuclear War of 1975. But we never settled on a tent pole War Night story. Air Force-1? Looking Glass? NORAD? The Kremlin?' Na....we've touched on all that. So we went with the concept of 11 stories taking place the night of the war. 

Within a week to ten days we should know if War Night is gonna sell. If War Night does sell we'll write a fifth volume of stories, all taking place in the 80s and 90s- this year. Will War Night sell? We have every reason to believe it will. But in the end, that's up to the readership. In just a few weeks we'll know what we're doing this summer. 

Book sales are an art, not a science. Anyone claiming the latter doesn't know what they're talking about and probably has a day job at a call center or some such. This is our day job, Mister. And we're good at it. Most books sell less than a hundred copies. With a new release will do that in a couple of days. We're in the top 15, maybe as high as the top ten percent of authors in the English-speaking world.  We are among the best there is at what we do. As for the critics, well...see this post's title. 

*Holy Toledo, Cleveland, and Cincinatti we're on the cover with S.M. Stirling!). And OMG! David Webber! 

** Well look at that, 901 ratings 4 +stars.