Newsletter 2023-02-03: Woof, Cover Design, Lots of free books and a brand new old skool music tip

Newsletter 2023-02-03: Woof, Cover Design, Lots of free books and a brand new old skool music tip

Title 'Koen's Bi-montly Mailing' against backdrop of white binary digits on blue background

Icelandic sheepdog puppy with a light brown coat and black snout Woof!

I’d never have thought it possible, but this weekend we’ll be driving around Sweden’s biggest lake to have a look at this little guy and hopefully take him home with us. Had you told me two years ago I’d become a dog person, I’d have laughed. I always found dogs so dependent, preferring the autonomous nature of cats.

But recently I’ve met lots of nice dogs, and honestly, being out here in the Swedish country side, I can quite see us with a dog. It’s almost obligatory really.

It’s not a done deal though. We’ll have to convince the kennel owner that we’ll be good carers. It’s a bit scary as well. Unlike a cat, a dog really needs to be trained to be a good dog.

Are you more of a dog person, a cat person or both/neither? Let me know by sending a reply to this email!

Two books with blank covers

Cover Design

Now that the manuscript for The Ein Particle is coming along nicely I’m turning my attention towards two other very important aspects of the book: the cover and the blurb. The cover, because that is what people will see when they browse their favourite book vendor’s catalog. And the blurb, because if they clicked on the cover, that is what should convince them to get the book.

I don’t want to give away too much, but I’ve discussed some ideas about the cover with a book marketeer, and it looks like we’ll try and come up with something that shows the skyline of Xin, the capital of the biggest continent in the book’s world, with a big planet in the sky and a rocket being sent off towards that planet. These are all aspects of the story that we’d like to highlight. Curious to see what the artists come up with!

Banner with group promo title adorned by a robot, stars planets.Share the Love… Of Science Fiction

I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love sci-fi. Under that single umbrella we find a broad gamut of sub-genres, from cyberpunk to post-apocalyptic, from space opera to hard sf. In this give-away, you’ll find samples of many of those, and it’s all free. All month. So make sure to head over to the group promo page and click those covers.

Check it out!

Out of this World
Free Science Fiction & Fantasy Ebooks

Knight in armor emerging from a portal onto a jumble of ancient and modern silhouetted city scapes

And if all that sci-fi diversity wasn’t quite enough for you yet, here’s another bonanza of free ebooks. This one has a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, so that’s even more to enjoy. And again, it’s all free and available this entire month. But if you’re like me, you’re likely to forget about this as soon as you open the next mail. So to be sure you don’t miss out before this promotion ends, click through to the group promo page right away and claim your downloads.

Get the free preview!

Compact cassette in transparent case with blue banner '2xAA - Alescere'Alescere
 2xAA

I was a bit lost what album to feature in today’s newsletter when this came along on the fediverse. I’m a big fan of music produced with minimal electronic means. Nintentdo’s Game Boy or an old 80’s home computer like the Commodore 64 or Atari ST500, I’m game!
This album, just out, was produced using nothing but a Game Boy Advance. While it’s pretty advanced compared to a C64 or classic Game Boy, it’s a far cry from today’s digital audio workstations. The sound of the dance, techno and drum & bass fusion tracks is darn clean though. Well done, 2xAA!

Check it out on Bandcamp.

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