Author: Richard Parry

What Changes Can You Make?

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While elections approach for many of you, I wonder what … personal changes people are making in the wake of the IPCC report. The rest of the world doesn’t get to go to the polls, but we can still make changes that effect our planet and our children’s children. Here: [The Adorable Optimism of the IPCC] It’s a pretty amusing read. Watts is one of the best sci-fi authors to grace our blue-green world. Reading the post, I’m able to reflect on the changes we’ve made at home (and wonder what else we can do). We’re using public transport a lot (it’s our default), and ride-sharing services when not (we still have cars, but are wrestling with whether it’s better to go electric or keep ’em, as the cost of producing vehicles has a tremendous environmental impact). We’re deleting single-use plastic Read More …

The Magic of Release Strategies

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This is one of my world-famous emails, originally sent Friday, October 26 2018. You can get on the list here. There’s been a pretty big response on the topic of release strategies, so I’m thinking of following this up with another mail on pricing and margins. In order to preserve the 10% preview rule for Amazon KU, I’ve stripped the excerpt for Chromed: Upgrade from this post. Telling fairy tales is serious business. Sometimes y’all like when I pull back the curtain and talk about “writer business stuffs.” I’ll try for a bit of that magic today. On today’s menu: Another outstanding NZ Police video; On pricing and the demise of books, and A download of the first third of my latest release, Chromed: Upgrade, on the house. Are you ready to rumble? Want to join the NZ Police? My Read More …

Want a sneak peak of Chromed: Upgrade?

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The first third of Chromed: Upgrade is available for download on the house. You’ll still need to wait until November 9 to get the whole thing, but that’s not that far away. Until then, this might just whet your appetite. [GIMME] Remastering the original Upgrade’s been a blast. My editor had my back, and dipping back into the universe was a fun ride. I don’t mind admitting I like my own story! I can’t wait to hear what you think.

Chromed: Meltdown is Out!

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I’m quite excited about this one! Mike is a sometime hero of Upgrade, but doesn’t get quite enough screen time for my liking. He’s fun to write, having more than his share of sass, and his handler Sam-don’t-fucking-call-me-Samantha has a little vinegar to share too. ARCs have given me good feedback on this one – mostly along the lines of, “Don’t you dare kill Mike Takahashi!” His future looks bright. Ish. Metatech enforcer Mike Takahashi’s vacation is off to a bad start. When Mike wakes on a slab, a bone saw a handspan from his arm, it’s all the confirmation he needs that someone is harvesting Metatech operatives for spare parts. Naked and weaponless isn’t the best way to start a break-out of a top-secret research facility, but Mike feels he has the right incentives to get the job done. Read More …

Do Not Adjust Your set

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The latest in my world-famous email campaign series, originally sent Friday 12 October 2018. If you’re not on the list, maybe you should check it out? Do not adjust your set. Back in the days of yore, you signed up for my list. You’re awesome. You’ve probably not heard from me in a while because my mail provider had a localized apocalypse. We’re starting again here, you and I. I understand if this instills an urge to [unsubscribe]. If that’s your frame of mind, you do you. If not, let’s chat about what’s going on. Today, we have: Some wallpapers for your phone or desktop; A Discord community for readers; An ancient story I dredged from the archives so we can both laugh/cry together; What I’m reading; and A cover reveal. Rock on. Eye Candy Some new wallpapers are up Read More …

LitRPG Before it was Cool

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I’ve written bad fiction for a long time. I cleaned out a closet recently, stumbling across some of my very old work. This was written for English class when I was fifteen. My teacher, Pamela Sharp, was amazing, encouraging me despite the hack prose I wrote. I don’t have any of the work in digital format (much was written on an old 8088 running WordPerfect, and all that tech is lost to time and memory). However, I do have a camera on my phone. I snapped the pages of a short LitRPG story I wrote because ain’t nobody got time for transcription. I wrote this before I’d heard of anything called LitRPG; I was a huge geek and avid roleplayer, and thought telling a story from the character’s PoV would be fun and interesting. I dunno — should I make Read More …

Changes in the Empire

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Y’all might see some changes if you’re on my mailing list. Up until today I was a customer of MailerLite. They had nifty templates, cool automation functions, and really seemed to understand that readers of newsletters didn’t like spam. Being a customer of theirs felt like being part of a neat community where we respect our fans and all’s well until morning. Turns out, darkness gnawed at the bitter fruit inside the hearts of humans. Or something. Email delivery cratered over the last few months, peaking in August when MailerLite were blacklisted by Spamhaus. My emails hadn’t been reaching fans. I picked up on this earlier in the year when a few emailed asking where I’d been. Checking the system, emails to many bounced, and had been doing so for longer than August’s hard fail. For a small window of Read More …

Sadie’s On a New Drug

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From the current WIP – presented without comment. You may remember Sadie’s recovery time from Reed’s psychotropic drug in Upgrade was … pretty quick. She leads that kind of lifestyle. Even in the life of a busy corporate bee, you needed coffee. Sadie found a once-was mom-and-pop cafe across from Human Energetic’s plaza. The syndicate bought out the owners, turning it into a company drone stall. She was surprised it was open, what with the rioting and looting, but this close to Human Energetics, there was little of either. Some half-hearted tire fires. A burned out car. Nothing much else going on. Inside the coffee shop was no different. No one here except the young man behind the counter, the hologram HumanE logo shifting on his apron. All the surfaces were spotless, gleaming whites and steels. A well-stocked cabinet held Read More …

Tyche’s Gravedigger is out!

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Released from the clutches of Pew! Pew! 5, Tyche’s Gravedigger is out. I really enjoyed writing this one — a reprobate meets a baby pirate and they save the universe. A scream for help across the hard black, then silence. That was the start of Chad Forradel’s bad day. One minute he was checking out a planet of bug corpses, the next he’s catching a ride on an old heavy lifter, bound for a system infested with pirates. When Chad reaches New Haven, he finds the space terraforming platform all but destroyed, all hands lost. The insect-like Ezeroc have returned, and this time they have subverted a Navy corvette. One guy — charming, handsome, and good with a blade, but still just one guy — against a whole warship is hard enough. But the Ezeroc are after an esper hidden Read More …