So imagine my surprise when I opened the door late this afternoon to get the mail, and discovered a big box awaiting me on the porch. A big box full of big books.

This book:

A [...]]]> When Emma barked this morning, and I saw the UPS dude across the street, I reckoned the delivery wasn’t for me.

So imagine my surprise when I opened the door late this afternoon to get the mail, and discovered a big box awaiting me on the porch. A big box full of big books.

This book:

A Quarter Century of Heavy Metal Mayhem!

Presenting BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction.

So, wow! My contributors copies came! Yay! I totally spaced they were supposed to be on their way.

And … holy crap, it’s gorgeous.

Why, you wonder, did a $60 giant ass hardcover book suddenly appear at my doorstep. Contributors’ copies!

A semi-secret project I may’ve alluded to earlier in the year was picking one of a number of pictures from BattleTech products of the past and writing a story about it for an upcoming anthology. I picked this picture:

Cassie comes to call...

I found it haunting and evocative. Also the image of (what was arguably) a woman with long, black hair riding whatever the hell that is put me irresistibly in mind of everybody’s favorite borderline-sociopathic scout, Cassiopoeia Suthorn. (Or maybe she’s only my favorite.)

There were plenty of other candidates. One thing that I’ve always loved about the BattleTech products was their generally fantastic artwork. That and the giant robots. Although of course they’re not robots at all, but powered suits of armor – forty foot tall suits of armor.

But that’s the image that most fired my imagination. Naturally I called the story that arose from it “Ozymandias.”

This book does not disappoint. As the title suggests, it’s a celebration of a quarter-century of that artwork, as well as the enormous body of fiction that’s built up in the universe. And the many, many plates of artwork herein, some of which I’ve seen before, many I’ve not, are eye-popping.

Plus there’s a passel of other fine yarns in there, by the likes of Randall N. Bills, Robert Charrette, Loren Coleman, and the Southwest’s own Michael A. Stackpole, to name but a few. So, serious awesomeness.

It’s not out yet – due in November – and there’s little info and no pre-order option on the Amazon page. Still, if you’re of a mind to, fall back by in a few days and bang on the first image, the title, or the link in the preceding sentence and check it out. See how easy I make it for you?

Now, I don’t expect my faithful friends and fans to dig out sixty bucks for this one. It is, after all, just one story of mine.

But if you have any interest in Battletech, the games or the fiction, and happen to have $60 burning a hole in your pocket…

Update: And yes, the story does involve Camacho’s Caballeros. Not just Cassie.

Also: dang, the art in this book makes me long for a BattleTech movie.

Last night, thoroughly played out, I was asleep by about 12:30 AM. I intended to get up about 9:30, figuring I’d be well rested.

Then around 4:30 I got up to visit the john. When I returned to bed I couldn’t go back to sleep. Oddly, [...]]]> Strange day. Despite being uncomfortable in ways, a pretty good one.

Last night, thoroughly played out, I was asleep by about 12:30 AM. I intended to get up about 9:30, figuring I’d be well rested.

Then around 4:30 I got up to visit the john. When I returned to bed I couldn’t go back to sleep. Oddly, not for the usual reasons, being ovecome by fears (reality-based, but so far at least exaggerated); instead my mind was full of ideas for the short story I’m taking time out to write.

So after a while, I got up and wrote on it. Had the World Baseball Classic on in the background. Tiring after an hour or two, I went back to bed. Couldn’t sleep still; this time, neither good nor bad, just couldn’t.  So I got up and wrote some more, read some. Went back to bed around 9:30 and slept until 12:30.

At which point I ate, wrote more, took Emma for a walk at Los Poblanos Open Space, which I usually call by its old name, the Vineyard. It was a wonderful Spring day, with enough of a cool breeze to be bracing, and fragrant after nearly 24 hours of rain. Then I came home and got a call from Joe, who’d gotten off work today because mud closed the lab. So we went to dinner. Then home again.

The story, by the way, is for a BattleTech anthology I was invited to contribute to. Cassie Suthorn and Camacho’s Caballeros ride again! It’s a lot of fun.

Should have it out Wednesday. Then back to my Deathlands book and racing to the end of the rough draft of DinoLords. Almost there! Almost there!

PS – why not drop by my Forum and check out my rant about the latest Firefly episode I watched?