"There is a monster in my closet. It’s standing in there behind my clothes, and it wants to come out. I don’t know where it came from, I don’t know how it got in there, but I know that it’s been there for a long time, waiting.
"Mum and dad don’t believe in monsters (and until yesterday, neither did I), but during dinner tonight, I had to tell them."
Just in time for Halloween, I wrote one of those short, scary stories that I would have enjoyed when I was in middle school. It's online at my blog, but I made ePub and Kindle versions for those of you who prefer to read on an eReader.
Enjoy!
Oh, hi there, Kindle owners!
At long last, Memories of the Future Volume One is available in the Kindle store!
From Encounter at Farpoint to Datalore, relive the first half of Star Trek: The Next Generation’s unintentionally hilarious first season through the eyes, ears and memories of cast member and fan Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) as he shares his unique perspective in the episode guide you didn’t even know you were dying to read.
ENJOY snarky episode recaps!
EXPAND your Technobabble vocabulary!
AMUSE your friends with quotable dialog!
BOLDLY go behind the scenes!
LISTEN to the Memories of the Futurecast at MemoriesoftheFuturecast.com!
Kindle readers! You can get your very own DRM-free copies of Sunken Treasure and Hunter directly from the Kindle store.
Sunken Treasure is $2.99, and Hunter is 99 cents.
You can get to Sunken Treasure and Hunter by clicking those links, or you can use these snazzy clicky-image-buying-the-book things (which you won't see if you're using AdBlock):
Neat!
Hunter is a short Sci-Fi story set in a dark and desperate world. Here’s a small preview:
Pyke chased the girl down a street still wet with the afternoon’s rainfall. A thin sliver of moon was glowing behind the thinning clouds, but it wasn’t bright enough to pierce the darkness between thefew street lamps that still worked. The girl was fast. He had to stay close, or she’d escape.
Pyke had let the girl put about 500 feet between them when she ranthrough a bright pool of light and was swallowed by darkness. When she didn’t reappear, Pyke knew he had her, for there was only one place she could have gone. He followed her through a once-ornate gateway into the old city, where the colony had been founded a century before.
Her footfalls echoed off rows of empty windows down narrow streets that seemed to turn back on themselves, an ancient trick intended to confuse invaders. When the Gan arrived, they solved this puzzle by simply bombarding most of the buildings and walls from low orbit until there weren’t many places left to hide. Hunters like Pyke—a second-generation Goa colonist who’d grown up in the old city—knew every twist, every turn, every blind alley and every hidden basement.
It wasn’t the first time Pyke had pushed a rebel into the avenues. In the six months he’d been working for the Gan, he’d let dozens of terrified patriots think they were making their escape into the old city’s maze-like streets, only to trap them in one of its countless dead ends, where he’d have a little fun before turning them over to his masters.
He heard a splash just down the block, followed by a yelp. She must have fallen in a puddle, Pyke thought. Shallow craters were everywhere in these streets; filled with water, they made quite effective traps. Pyke slowed to a jog and grinned. It was only a matter of time now.
Hunter is a short story, just about 2500 words. I figure that’s about the length of a story you’d read in a magazine, but I’m not really sure what the appropriate cost is, so I’m experimenting with the Pay What You Want model that seems to be working really well for a lot of artists I respect and admire.
If I sold it to a magazine, I’d probably get around $125 or so (assuming I could get the SFWA professional rate of five cents a word. I figure that at least 125 people will want to read this, so if all of them donated a dollar, I’d feel really good about this, and I’d be able to do it again in the future.
So here’s what you do: click this big ugly button and decide what you want to pay for this story. Then, choose your format and download it. Or, download it, read it, and then decide what you want to pay; it’s entirely up to you. I just ask that, if you like it, you tell your friends about it.
If you prefer to use Google Checkout, you can do that, but it won’t let me set up a pay-what-you-want button, so I set it at $2.00, which is right in the middle of what people seem to be paying for this story.
READ THIS BECAUSE IT’S IMPORTANT: After you’ve decided what you wish to pay (from the low, low price of FREE to one billion dollars in pure diamonds), choose the format you want by clicking on one of the links below. Your download should begin automatically. Some mobile users may have trouble. I’m trying to fix the issue, but until it’s resolved, you should be able to get a copy from any non-mobile browser. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Hunter is available in DRM-free .mobi format for Kindle, .epub for other eReaders, and .pdf format for printing.
Hunter is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
I’d love to hear your feedback. If you’d like to comment about Hunter, you can do that on the Hunter post at my blog.
tl;dr: The Day After And Other Stories is once again available for download. It's $4.99 at Lulu. Yay!
In December of last year, I released a very short collection of very short stories for a very short time – just ten days, actually – as an experiment in releasing short fiction. It sold fairly well, wildly exceeding my expectations. I got very good feedback from readers, but I'd committed to pulling it off the shelf in its print version at the end of ten days, so that's what I did. I'd always planned to keep the eBook version on sale, but I got busy after I pulled the print version offline, and didn't get around to republishing just the e-version until today.
So, for those of you who want to read a very short collection of very short stories for a very small price ($4.99! Cheap!), now you can.
If you're wondering what this is all about, here's what I wrote back in December:
Last year, I collected a few short stories I'd written and sold them as a chapbook at PAX. It was a scary thing for me to do, because while I feel confident as a narrative non-fiction writer, I am paralyzed with terror whenever I think about releasing something I invented out of nothing more than an idea to the public, and before I actually release it, I hear Carrie's mother screaming at me, "THEY'RE ALL GOING TO LAUGH AT YOU!"
A couple of things have happened recently, though, that gave me the courage to actually release this short collection of short stories to anyone who wants to buy it. First, Project Do Something Creative Every Day is making me feel less and less afraid of sucking. Like I said recently, the goal isn't to be perfect; the goal is to be creative. I don't think The Day After and Other Stories is perfect, but it is creative, and the few people I have shown it to told me they liked it.
Second, over 400 people expressed an interest in buying an autographed copy of The Happiest Days of Our Lives over the last couple of days. That really blew me away, and made me think, "Well, maybe there aren't as many people out there waiting for an excuse to laugh at you as you think. Also? It's adorable that you think you're that important to anyone, jackass."
I've had these files ready to put on LuLu for over a year, and it wasn't until this morning that I screwed up the courage to actually do it. I'm sticking to my original plan, which is to sell the paperback for a limited time (10 days) and then just offer the PDF version. I'm not quite sure why I wanted to do it that way, but it's nontraditional, and a little weird, so there you go.
Here's the introduction:
Every year, before the summer convention season gets underway, I pull a few excerpts from whatever I plan to release in the fall, take them to my local print shop, and make a deliberately lo-fi, limited edition chapbook to take with me on the obligatory summer convention circuit.
I’ve done previews of Dancing Barefoot, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Memories of the Future, and in 2008, I pulled together a sampler that eventually became Sunken Treasure.
While Memories of the Future is 2009’s “big” fall release, it didn’t make sense to me to release a Memories- based chapbook this summer, because one already exists.
It looked like there wasn’t going to be a 2009 entry in the traditional Wil Wheaton Zine-like Chapbook Extravaganza, until I realized that I have several pieces of unpublished fiction sitting in my office, just waiting to be published.
“Hey,” I said to myself, “people keep asking me to write and release fiction, and I’ve been waiting until I have an actual novel to give them. But these things totally don’t suck, and I bet readers would enjoy them.”
“That is an excellent idea, me,” I said. “And have I mentioned how smart and pretty you are?”
“Oh, stop it. You’re embarrassing me,” I said.
Together, myself and I collected some of my (mostly unpublished) fiction and put it into this chapbook, for safe keeping.
Even though this is limited to just 200 copies, it represents a significant step for me in my life as a writer, because it’s the first time I’ve collected and published stories that I made up. (You know, like a writer does.) I hope you enjoy it, and thanks for your support!
The more astute among you may have noticed that this says it's limited to 200 copies; that's because this was originally offered as a limited chapbook at PAX, and we're using the same files. Think of it as a delightful legacy issue, or something like that, if you must. I don't know how many of these books I'll actually sell, but I doubt the number will be exactly 200. When the paperback goes to the Land of Wind And Ghosts, though, I suppose I can check to see how many were sold, and you can use your very own Red Pen of Doom to put the actual number into your copy. Hey! Look! It's interactive!
I hope I can get this available in .mobi and .epub sooner than later, but I don't have conversion software at the moment (Clibre and Sigil barf on the .pdf, so I have to start over with a .rtf file when I have the free time).
Also, because it's a FAQ: If you want to print it out and make your own book from it for your personal, non-commercial use, you have my permission to do that.
I worked harder on this book than anything since Just a Geek, and it wouldn't have been possible without a bunch of people who I thank in the book, but wanted to thank here, as well: Andrew Hackard, Brent Spiner, David Gerrold, Jamais Cascio, John Rogers, Keith McDuffee, Memory Alpha, Phil Plait, Will Hindmarch, .tws, everyone who read and commented on my original posts at TV Squad, and especially to my wife and kids, who watched more TNG than they ever thought possible while I was working on this. If you've just heard about Memories of the Future for the first time, and are wondering what it is, I'd like to share the introduction with you, which I think explains the whole thing rather well: Introduction to Memories of the Future In August 2006, Brad Hill, an editor at Weblogs, Inc., hired me to write humorous reviews of Star Trek: The Next Generation from my unique point of view as an actor and a fan of the show. I started at the beginning of the first season, re-watching episodes that I hadn’t seen in a decade or longer, faithfully recording and sharing the memories they released. Along the way, I came up with some silly episode recaps, and an interesting perspective on the first season, twenty years after we brought it to life. The columns were very well-received, and tons of readers asked me if they’d be collected into a book. I didn’t plan on it originally, but AOL cut TV Squad’s budget before I’d even made it to the halfway point of the first year, and I decided that putting the entire season into a book wasn’t just a good way to finish the season, it was a moral imperative. A few months after I began working on this book in earnest, at the 2009 Nebula awards dinner, I sat at a table with David Gerrold, who is best-known for writing the original series classic The Trouble With Tribbles. (Fun fact: David wrote and sold The Trouble with Tribbles when he was 19. My wife Anne asked him how he had the courage to do that, and David told her, "Because nobody told me I couldn't." That's so awesome, and everyone who is creative should commit that to memory.) We were talking about all kinds of writerly stuff, and I mentioned to David that I was working on this book. As I started to describe it to him, I could see that he wasn't into it, but was too polite to tell me why. After a minute, he said, "You have to be careful with your tell-all book…" "Ah, that's why he wasn't into it." I thought. "It's not a tell-all book. I hate those things," I said. "It's more like you're flipping through your high school yearbook with your friends." I called on all my improv skills and held an imaginary book in my hands. "It's like, 'Hey! I remember this, and I remember that, and did you know that this funny thing happened there, and … oh God … I can't believe I thought that was cool…'" His face lit up. "That sounds like a book I'd like to read." Here it is, David. I hope you enjoy it. (Additional fun fact: David Gerrold suggested me for the role of Wesley. If he hadn't done that, I don't know that I'd have ever voluntarily worn a pumpkin-colored sweater. Despite that, though, I'm extremely grateful to David for convincing Bob Justman and Gene Roddenberry to take a chance on me.) Volume One takes you from the pilot to Datalore. Volume Two will take you from Angel One to The Neutral Zone. During our journey together, we’ll certainly be going where no one has gone before, except those times when we go 20% to the left of where the original series went and talk about stuff a whole bunch without actually doing anything … but that’s part of what makes the first season so much fun to watch, especially knowing how greatThe Next Generation eventually became. Put on your shoulder pads, set a course for 1987, emit an inverse-tacyon pulse into the heart of the anomaly, and engage! By Riker’s beard, you shall be avenged! (Um, as soon as Riker’s beard shows up, next season.) Namaste, Wil Wheaton Man, I can't believe I wrote that all the way back in June. This really has taken a long time to get across the finish line, hasn't it? For the last six weeks, I've been doing podcast previews from the book. I think they're pretty amusing, and they're also a pretty good way to figure out if this book is something you'll enjoy:I am beyond excited to announce the release of my newest book, Memories of the Future, Volume One.
Pasadena
June 2009
- Memories of the Futurecast Episode 1 Encounter at Farpoint, Part One
- Memories of the Futurecast Episode 2 Encounter at Farpoint, Part Two
- Memories of the Futurecast Episode 3 The Naked Now
- Memories of the Futurecast Episode 4 Code of Honor
- Memories of the Futurecast Episode 5 The Last Outpost
- Memories of the Futurecast Episode 6 Where No One Has Gone Before
I've also put up an extensive preview on the book's product page at Lulu, so you can take a look inside the book and read the chapters that cover Encounter at Farpoint Part 1 and Justice. If you have this thing called The Internet, you can also read the chapters in their original, unedited form at TV Squad.
There are bound to be some FAQS about this book, so let me attempt to answer a few of them now:
Q: Will there be an audiobook?
A: Maybe. I'm hopeful that this book sells well enough to justify the amount of time and energy that goes into creating an audio version.
Q: Will there be a digital version, a version for my Kindle, or [my electronic reading device]?
A: Probably.
Q: When?
A: Soon.
Q: Why not now?
A: Because I haven't decided how I want to release a digital version (how to make different formats available or just do the PDF that is easy at Lulu) and what a fair price for it will be.
New Answer: Yes! You can get a PDF from Lulu for $10. It's on the same page where you can order the print version.
Q: Can I buy a signed copy?
A: Well, you can buy a copy and bring it to a con or something, and I'll be happy to sign it for you there, but since this is printed on-demand, when you order it, there's no way for me to sign it before it makes its way into your hands, tentacles, clamps, or whatever you use to hold a book.
Q: Will there be a 300 like you did for The Happiest Days of Our Lives?
A: I hope I can do that; it's just a matter of making the economics work.
Q: Will this be in regular bookstores?
A: Probably not. I'm an indie publisher with razor-thin margins, and since the vast majority of my customers are online, it just doesn't make sense to end up with a few cents on the dollar per sale, which is what would happen if I were to get this distributed into bookstores. I've blogged extensively about how and why I publish the way that I do. If I can find the links to those posts, I'll add them here.
Q: What about Amazon? Can I get it at Amazon?
A: Sometimes Lulu sells books through Amazon. If this is one of the titles they choose, then you'll be able to get it there. If you can, I'll update this post. I think it ends up costing the same whether you get it from Amazon or Lulu, though.
Q: Why is shipping so expensive?
A: That's a Lulu question, not a me question.
Q: So why did you put it here?
A: Because it's frequently asked.
Q: I'm not in the US. Do I need to wait for a World edition?
A: No. One of the many cool things about using print on demand from Lulu is that the book will be printed in whatever country you place your order, which keeps jobs closer to home, limits delivery and shipping fees and time, and makes everyone happy. Yay!
So there you go. As always, thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy my Memories of the Future.
This is the cover for Memories of the Future, Volume One. I looked at a bunch of different designs (and at least one of them may be a variant cover at some point) but when I saw the comp that ended up leading to this cover, I knew that this was the one I'd want to use, because I just love 1950s and 1960s pulp Sci-Fi covers. For me, they evoke a unique sense of nostalgia that is strangely timeless, and that's something I hope to do with the text in these books. I asked my friend Will Hindmarch, who did the interior and cover design, to talk about the process a little bit, and here's what he had to say:
We went through a few cover designs before settling on this one. I see it as a mix between classic, pulpy Penguin covers and a bit of modern texture-driven design. The decision not to do an actual fake distressed cover, here, with ragged edges and all that, was deliberate. So it has some of that distressed texture, but it's cleaner than a beat-up, hand-me-down copy pulled out of an attic somewhere. This is some remarkably clean copy you found in a second-hand shop somewhere.
The thing also needed to intuitively evoke Star Trek memories without being too on-the-nose. I immediately latched on to that familiar uniform shape and did two or three variations on that idea. This is the one that Wil grabbed out of my various sketches. We wanted something that sort of looked back but was also sort of about the future, but we needed something that we could riff on for a series of books. So it's got a formula that we can tweak and alter as we move forward. I think, once we have two or three of these covers sitting next to each other, they'll interact in fun ways.
I'm already looking ahead to the imagery for volume two.
Memories of the Future, Volume One will be released next month. I will announce the exact date soon. A little more information about Memories of the Future, Volume One can be found here.
