A new Liaden chapbook is in the works — ought to be available at multiple venues RSN … but first the authors have to choose a title, and that’s being difficult. Watch for Lee & Miller to take part in a number of virtual conventions this year, including panels at Boskone and MarsCon and as Guests of Honor at AlbaCon.
Meanwhile, have you seen Pinbeam Books LATEST CHAPBOOKS?
Most recent: Ambient Conditions. Published in November of 2020, it contains two shorter works set in Lee and Miller’s Liaden Universe®. Short story “A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom,” which first appeared on the Baen Books website; original novelette “Ambient Conditions;” and an authors’ foreword. “Galaxy Ballroom” explores the rift that has opened in the Scouts subsequent to Korval’s removal to the planet Surebleak, and the consequences of loyalty. “Ambient Conditions” details a dark time in Liaden history, and looks at what happens when discarded people are given power, and must choose how to use it.
Before that came The Gate that Locks The Tree: A cat may look at a tree This is especially true when the winds of change blow through the universe, leaving eddies of luck, uncertainty, and necessity in the strangest places – and surely Surebleak qualifies as a strange place, as Korval’s Tree qualifies as a strange attractor.In the rough and tumble aftermath of Clan Korval’s arrival, Surebleak attracts rude mercenaries, pilots galore, Scouts, grifters, and, from time to time, those who have lived under the promise of Korval’s Tree, elsewhere. Chaotic change is in progress, daily. Bring together legitimate cabbies and fare-jumpers, a sudden Surebleak blizzard, a pregnant cat, and odd young woman with a mission; add the heat of promises made light years away, and you find the winds of change rocking the very roots of the Korval’s house, blown against the very gate that locks the tree. It may be that not even the Tree knows what happens next.This novella is set in the bestselling Liaden Universe® created by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller!
Meanwhile, also available from PinBeam Books, two items from Lee & Miller’s “Splinter Universe” website. First, out in April of 2020:
Splinter Universe Presents!
Something a little bit different
What this collection is–it’s Something A Little Bit Different. We will explain. We’ll try to be brief. And we’ll start with what it isn’t.
It isn’t a Liaden Universe® novel.
It isn’t a collection of Liaden short stories.
It isn’t an Adventure in the Liaden Universe®.
So what is it, you ask. Well, it’s this: bits of novels or stories that stalled; outtakes from published novels; character sketches; and discovery drafts. All of these bits and bobs are Liaden in nature, but they are not–not one of them is–complete. They are of possible interest to devoted fans of the Liaden Universe®; they are not guaranteed to be everyone’s cuppa.
Also? Every single one of the said bits and bobs included in this collection has been previously published on Splinter Universe, for the amusement of the authors and the interest of those same devoted fans. There is nothing new here, save the Authors’ Introduction. All of the material in this book has been removed from Splinter Universe; the only place you will find them is in this collection. Why? Because we promised those devoted readers that the material would not be Lost Forever.
Having read this, If you’ve decided to continue–we welcome you, along with those devoted fans who traveled with us down the years.
Have fun.
Then more recently there was: Splinter Universe Presents! The Wrong Lance …
In early 2018, the writing team of Lee and Miller “threw away” the first 70,000 words of a Liaden novel. They weren’t bad words; merely, they weren’t the right words. The book that rose from the ashes of this failed draft, Accepting the Lance, was published by Baen Books. Some of the 70,000 words of failed draft found their way into that novel, but about 44,000–didn’t. They were still perfectly good words; strung together, they presented an interesting story, and an amusing look at what not to do when writing a direct sequel in a long-running-series. Lee and Miller decided to make these words available to their readers.
The Wrong Lance, as the failed draft was titled, was originally posted at splinteruniverse.com and at Lee and Miller’s Patreon page patreon/leeandmiller. The chapters have now been removed, and compiled into this volume.
The Wrong Lance is a non-canon Liaden story. This means that nothing that is reported in its pages actually happened in the Liaden Universe®. For an accurate report of what did happen at Surebleak during the TerraTrade Survey, please consult Accepting the Lance, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. The Wrong Lance is exactly that, and is presented for your amusement only.