Don’t get excited, it’s not available in hardback. Yet.
So Week 1 of the Rising Tides release is over, and, wow. I’ve got to say I didn’t expect this. Hoped for it, you bet, but with the book over a year late, and not an Astra story, I was sort of wondering how much enthusiasm it would generate. Add to that the problem Amazon’s been having with policing its categories . . . and I was just hopeful that it would hit the Top 10 in its categories.
Well . . .
At its peak this week it hit #1 in Teen and Young-Adult Superhero Fiction (and is still there as of tonight), and #4 in both Superhero Science Fiction and Superhero Fantasy Ebooks. The only reason it didn’t his #1 in both those categories is the first three slots in Superhero Fantasy were taken by some kind of fantasy trilogy and the first three in Superhero Science Fiction by . . . more non-superhero fantasy.
I told you the categories were broken. Ah well; I can always truthfully claim that Rising Tides premiered as the Top Superhero Story in all three superhero categories.
I am also thrilled by the Amazon Rating and the reviews. At this moment, Rising Tides is the highest-rated of my stories so far, with four out of five readers giving it 5 Stars for an averaged 4.7 Amazon Rating. And, peculiarly, an even higher Goodreads rating of 4.9 stars! I say peculiarly because usually (and by usually I mean every other book) scores lower on Goodreads than on Amazon. It’s a head-scratcher; insert happy shrug here.
So that’s the news. It’s amazing. Thank you. A little more news; because of the great start all of you have given it, I’ve been contacted by an audiobook publisher to discuss doing the audio release. I’ll name names if the deal goes through. So, yay!
I will admit now that I was very nervous over how Killjoy would be received. Because he’s the result of sort of a challenge I had set myself; I had wanted to see if I could create a superhero that didn’t exactly have the sort of dramatically trope-heavy backstory typical of the type. Nobody killed his parents, he didn’t have an urge to Save Everybody, Ever. He’s not particularly brave, and just sort of slid into it with little resistance and no deeper motive than helping his friends. In other words, close to an average guy with a fairly average life and ambitions who just steps up because he can’t not help when the need’s right there in front of him and if it’s not him then it will be no-one.
So far it seems that a lot of you have liked it.
So now let’s talk about it here. You can ask anything you like, SPOILER WARNING IN THE COMMENTS, tell me what your favorite bits were, etc. I’ll try and answer all questions, even if the answer is “I can’t talk about that yet.”
BTW, there have been a few readers who poked fun at Kingston’s parents for theme-naming their children. So here’s where it came from.
A couple of years ago, when I was just pulling together the idea I had for Killjoy, I got into a conversation with a Lyft-Driver taking me from the airport to my convention-provided hotel. The guy was from Jamaica, and had been a US citizen for ten years. His wife was American, and they had four children, three girls and their new son, Kingston. My first thought was “Okay, that kid’s going to grow up with three older sisters. His dad had better lean into the sports.” My second thought, which came out of my mouth, was “That’s a strong name. Can I use it?” He said I could.
So that’s where Kingston came from, and working backwards I decided that Oliver and Bunny deciding to name their kids after cities just felt right. Thus Paris, London, Sydney, and Sophia (Fee rebelled at this, nothing I could do about that).
As for September, someone asked if her name was an homage to Seanen McGuire’s October Daye. The answer is “Wow, I wish I’d thought of that.” But no lie, Sep’s name was inspired by a different September, September Morning Bell of the Fairyland series. I highly recommend both series (and the linked song).
I eagerly await your comments.
MGH
Oh, one other piece of news, which I’m also posting directly to my Facebook pages is I’ve opened a Patreon page. I look forward to dropping lots of stuff there in the future (I’ve got a short piece of Astra fiction going up there in a couple of weeks), and I explain it more on the public post on the page. The News Tier was supposed to be free but it turns out Patreon won’t let you set a tier at less than $1. Regardless, I hope to see many of you there.
Marion G. Harmon, A Writer in Vegas. 
Joined the $5 tier.
Bought it months ago. Read it. Liked it. Talked it up on blogs I frequent.
I recently cancelled all my patreon memberships. You might get me to reverse that decision.
Only if I make it worth the $5/month. That’s a whole Starbuck’s coffee!
I’m sure that it’ll be better than a Starbuck coffee (which isn’t hard). [Crazy Grin]
I’m using a Keurig to make all my decaf coffee. Given that it’s decaf, even the Walmart store brand beats Starbucks (IMO).
Awesome to hear that it’s done very well!
Am I correct in understanding that the “Capes” series will be one-shot (at first, at least) adventures featuring different protagonists within the WtC verse?
Any chance we’ll see more of Hillwood or (IIRC) Whitlow’s Academy, or even a school-centric novel (although maybe the glut of “superhuman academy” novels might put you off that genre)?
It’s possible. The next Capes book may or may not feature Killjoy and Gunbunny. The only guarantee with Capes is it won’t be Astra-centric.
Are you planning on alternating between Capes and Astra-centric books going forward or will it be more ad-hoc as your muse takes you?
I want to write two books a year for at least the next couple of year, one Capes and one WtC.
SPOILER
How have Red and Shell not stumbled all over each other?!
My guess is that Shell might be aware of others like her and Red, but unless Red (or the others) interfere with Shell’s actions, Shell will ignore them.
What makes you think she hasn’t? The fact that Red (brown haired and hazel-eyed) made her avatar a green-eyed redhead is highly suspicious, don’t you think?
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Until Red introduced her feeble body and backstory, I sorta-kinda thought perhaps Shell was branching out. Then it took me a bit to say to myself that she wasn’t being internet goddess enough. As ubiquitous as Power Chick was –
even breaking into the European secure channels, it would be astounding if at least Shell wasn’t aware of her “competition.” I suppose I’ll have to wait for another book for proper answers.
This occurred to me! The fact that her avatar reads like a description of Shell seemed like much more than a coincidence. Red is a wizard in the machine. Shell is a literal goddess. My thoughts were either it was a bit of hero worship on Red’s part, or she may even be an agent for Shell.
Good guesses. And yes, there’s a Shell-related reason. I really made a mistake not including it in the book, so I’m likely going to need to do a reveal in a piece of flash-fiction or something.
Is there any chance Vulcan is able to create a feeble bodied gynoid? *scoff*
There are just to much parallels between those two. (Including all the hints in Quan-Yins realm.)
I’m not sure if Shell is in control of all the Avatars she created for herself anymore.
Okay, then I understood wrong, because untill right now, I was 100% sure Red was just Shell bulshitting, and wondering about all the versions of shell in the book. Have to reread it for a 4th time looking from that prism, I guess!
I’m totally lost.
Just finished my second read through tonight, and it took that long for it to click that “Red is not Shelly”, or the Shelly I thought she was.
Will (has?) the explanation happened?
Your question will be answered in the next Wearing The Cape novel which is due around July 29th.
May Vulcan be able to create a feeble bodied gynoid? *scoff*
There are just to much parallels between those two. (Including the Hintergrund in Quan-Yins realm)
I wonder if Shell lost (oder gave up) control over some of her avatars.
camera
Huh?
Thank you for the corrections, Gary! They are being looked at as part of a post-publication editing round (we’ve never been able to catch all errors pre-publication).
I’m well aware of the difficulty. Traditional publishing rarely shows interest, once the book is on shelves. Self e-publishing can make corrections right up until an on-demand printer puts it in cement.
I’ve always wondered about the breakthroughs with talents not readily monetized (on either side of the law). Most of them are probably keeping quiet as anti-breakthru sentiment rises. Any chance we’ll see some of them?
You already have, you just don’t know it. Bwa ha ha ha ha.
LOL!
Rat-Girl’s powers can’t be monetized that well or at least she won’t monetized them. [Wink]
You know damn well what I meant.
Another enjoyable story in the WtC-verse.
I admit I kept wondering about Red’s relation to Shell, especially when Kingston met Shellyann in Kannon’s realm. Red’s history doesn’t sound compatible with Littleton Shelly, but there are way too many parallels and similarities. The time between books contributed to the confusion.
Having a glossary to help connect the dots would have been helpful, especially since some of the events overlapped with other books from the setting.
The ending leaves a longing for this group’s continuing adventures. I understand them linking up, vigilante-wise and romantically, is a capstone, but there’s still a disappointment that we don’t get to see some of their happiness.
Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing them again.