The Empress Sword is my first novel. I worked very hard on it, I’m quite proud of it, but I never let myself loose sight of it being a first novel. I put it out as a podcast so that people would hear it, react to it, and hopefully enjoy it. Behind the scenes I went through the process of submitting it to agents and publishers, dealing with the rejections, making new drafts based on the feedback, and still never really expecting to get more out of it than a learning experience.

So it is with some amazement and much delight that I announce the signing of a contract with Dragon Moon Press to have The Empress Sword published as a trade paperback and ebook. The current plan is to release TES on Memorial Day weekend 2011 and hold the launch party at Balticon 45. As with the publication of any book, that date may change as the editing and publication process move along.

I’ll be sure to keep you all informed about what’s coming up. I’m trying my best to get the last few episodes of the podcast and podiobook out to you as soon as possible. Please be patient, I’m sure you’re going to enjoy the finish.

Thank you all for the support and love you have shown for The Empress Sword. Trust me, it had a lot to do with making this announcement a reality.

We’re all born into a family and if we’re lucky we end up liking a few of them, but they always still matter to us. Throughout our lives we also build a second family. Made up from friends who for one reason or another come to mean more to us than mere friends. Tee Morris is such a friend to me. An accomplished author of both fiction and non-fiction, Tee practically invented the podcast novel. If it wasn’t for his encouragement and seemingly endless enthusiasm I wouldn’t be about to launch my own podcast novel.

Through gatherings I came to know Natalie and also Tee’s darling little girl affectionately known as Sonic Boom. They’re three good people, three people I like, three people I care about, three people I love and now they’re only two.

I grew up in a family rooted in southern Virginia and West Virginia. When there’s a death in that part of the country the community rallies around the family. I remember when my grandmother died there was a constant stream of people I’d never seen before bringing unimaginable amounts of food into the house. They would almost never leave without doing the dishes, making the beds or offering to do some chore or other.

These days my chosen family is scattered to the four winds. No one I feel truly close to lives physically closer than an hour’s drive away. Most live in other states or worse on other continents. It’s hard to imagine us all showing up at Tee’s door with dishes of food, but there’s something else we can do.

Philippa Ballantine, an award winning author who lives in New Zealand, has set up a Chip-In fund for Tee and his daughter. It’s amazing how quickly this fund has grown, but Tee’s a popular and respected guy. And his need right now is great. Please consider a contribution to this fund, you can do so by clicking the widget below. The money will go directly to Tee to help cover funeral expenses and help him start a new life as a single father.

Thank you, Tee, and bless you brother.

As you may have noticed the blog has been moved to my website and PauletteJaxton.com has gotten a face lift. I hope you all like the new face, please feel free to let me know what you think. There are more changes in the works, such as an uber-feed that will let you get episodes from all my podcast from one place, and I’ll be announcing those here as they become available.

In other exciting news EmpressSword.com has also undergone a face lift and is almost ready for the podcast start date on January 15th, 2010. Please go over and have a look. I’ll be primping and preening the site with all sorts of fun things between now and the launch, so come back often to see what I’ve been up to.

And speaking of The Empress Sword launch date, I’ve just arranged to do a reading from the book at Zü Coffee in Annapolis, Maryland on the night of the launch. I’ll be joined by Brand Gamblin who will read from his podiobook Tumbler. It all starts at 6:30 PM on January 15th, 2010 and I wouldn’t be surprised if a pub-crawl somehow followed.

Nina Kimberly the Merciless is a comedic fantasy novel telling the coming of age story of a most unlikely heroine, the teenage daughter of the once feared barbarian horde leader Marcus the Merciless. Like most young girls all Nina wants is to find love and adventure in the world, if she has to lop off a few heads along the way so be it.

Christiana is one of the pioneers of podcast noveling and has since gone on to do a hilarious audio drama called Space Casey and a very funny stream of consciousness daily cast called Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts that just wrapped up after a year of awesomeness.
 
The podcast version of this novel was a delight to listen to and I’ve been anxiously awaiting the print version for two years. The book is now being published by Dragon Moon Press and goes on sale May 15th, 2009. It’s available from Amazon and you can help out Christiana by purchasing your copy on that date. I can’t recommend this book too highly, it’s a hoot and you will enjoy every funny twist and turn.

• Fri. 19:00 – Podcasting 101
• Sat. 12:00 – Podcast Hosting
• Sat. 19:00 – Audio Craft Corner
• Sat. 22:00 – Social Media for Writers
• Sun. 19:00 – Podcasting 102
• Mon. 10:00 – Herding Cats

I’m actually chairing that last one, “Herding Cats; Organization and Editing of Large Voice Casts”. Where I and a couple of veteran podcasters will share what we have learned about giving voices to our writing. And what you’ll have in store for you if you choose to go that route.
 
I hope you can join me at Balticon 43. If you do, please drop in on one of my panels and say hello.