Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Vacuum Flowers e-Book Sale TODAY ONLY!

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At the risk of making this blog look like yet another Advertisement-for-Me, I feel obliged to share the following commercial news:

Open Road Media, which has published e-books of five of my novels and one collection (listed below*) has arranged a one-day sale of Vacuum Flowers for $1.99 -- today only!

Vacuum Flowers is my half-cyberpunk, half-humanist exploration of the Solar System at a time when human personalities can be bought, sold, chopped and customized. Its protagonist is named Rebel Elizabeth Mudlark and if that doesn't pique your curiosity, then this probably isn't the book for you.

But if you're an e-book reader and have always been curious about this particular title, this is your opportunity to buy it cheap.

You can find this one-time-good-deal-only here.

There are also a few other books briefly on sale. The Sherman Alexei looks like it would be a wise buy


And, yes, I know...

... that the cover is inaccurate since everyone in the novel wears a cache-sexe and nothing else. At the time, I reasoned that when every human habitat is climate-controlled people would either wear next to nothing or else clothes of Victorian complexity. Then I flipped a coin. I didn't take into account the troubles this would cause cover-artists in years to come.

The contradiction, then, falls on me. I apologize for that. Why not buy the book anyway?


The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Bones of the Earth,  Vacuum Flowers, In the Drift, Jack Faust, and Tales of Old Earth

5 comments:

Richard Mason said...

This is a serious question and not facetious: Is it really thought that an accurate depiction of semi-nude characters would decrease sales? Does that not fly in the face of everything that is known?

Michael Swanwick said...

I believe it is thought that semi-nude characters will either a) offend a small but significant fraction of the potential readership or b) lead people to think the book is erotica.

There was a time when a significant fraction of fantasy covers featured women dressed in implausibly skimpy outfits. So much so that I toyed with writing a story in which real-life exotic dancers are transported to a fantasy world and dumbfound the men there by acting not the least bit like submissive fantasy women. Those covers have diminished to the point where they're now a signifier for gaming spin-offs. Which is another thing that editors don't want their fantasy novels to be confused with.

Anonymous said...

That is an amazing idea!! Haha!!

Pat J said...

I like the fact that it's pigeonholed under "Thrillers" rather than "SF". Buying a copy... now.

DaveL said...

"Vacuum Flowers" was the first novel of yours that I read ("In the Drift," afterwards). I am still inordinately fond of it and have re-read it many times. Glad to see it re-"printed."