While we're on the subject...

...of the "Raygun Chronicles" anthology, I should also pass along more information received from editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt:

"Amazon put the hardcover up for preorder last week, to my surprise. At 33% off, it's cheaper than I can sell you extra copies.

"We had a very successful launch at OryCon with a few backers present and several contributors and me. We signed and sold a bunch of books and even did a signing the next day at Powell's, a huge SFF bookstore in Portland.

"Meanwhile, I am going to target a book bomb wherein we have a release week and get everyone who buys to buy that week so we can get a boost in Amazon rating and visibility that will carry over. More on that soon."

"The Silver Dollar Saucer" flies again

Meanwhile, blogger Keith West at Amazing Stories gave "Raygun Chronicles" a very good review, and said of my contribution:

"Lou Antonelli is a northerner who lives in Texas these days and mines the history and folklore of his adopted state for his fiction, fiction that’s unique and unlike anything being written by anyone else. In “The Silver Dollar Saucer” he takes a couple of two bit desperadoes on a flying saucer ride. I especially liked the ending on this one."

For his complete review of the anthology, go this-a-way:

Ready for release

Bryan Thomas Schmidt has sent along the table of contents for his upcoming anthology Raygun Chronicles, releasing December 2013. I'm proud to be on board with the reprint of my story "The Silver Dollar Saucer", originally published in Raygun Revival in 2009.

Here’s the book description:

A school teacher who moonlights as an assassin, a corporate agent kidnapped and faced with a man she never wanted to see again, galactic knights and pilots defending the spaceways, a black bear who wants to be a priest, and a time traveler who discovers he was born a prince - these and more tales await you inside RAYGUN CHRONICLES: Space Opera For a New Age, a collection of new tales in the Golden Age style. With larger than life heroes, rayguns, space ships, robots, pirates, romance and more, here come 25 new tales of great fiction from top names like Seanan McGuire, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, A.C. Crispin, Allen M. Steele, Mike Resnick, David Farland and more. Strap in, set your weapons, and get ready for a fun ride!

“RAYGUN CHRONICLES breathes supercharged life into the space opera genre with exciting and inventive new tales by a superb line-up of writers. This is why science fiction will live forever!” - Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Patient Zero.

“RAYGUN CHRONICLES is an impressive anthology with an impressive list of contributors, a real showcase of the color and scope of what science fiction can be.” - Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Saga of Seven Suns

“Good old fashioned fun awaits within!” – Glen Cook, Author of Black Company, Dread Empire, and Garrett, P.I.

“These stories bring the reader back to the days when we dreamt of blasters and flying cars. Golden age space opera fun with a strong Western feel.” -Alex Shvartsman, Editor, Unidentified Funny Objects

Check out the impressive table of contents:

Essay: Taking Back The Sky by Johne Cook
“Frontier Abcs: The Life And Times Of Charity Smith, Schoolteacher” by Seanan Mcguire
“Rick The Robber Baron” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“To The Shores Of Triple, Lee!” by A.M. Stickel
“The Silver Dollar Saucer” by Lou Antonelli
“Around The Bend” by Sarah A. Hoyt
“Sword Of Saladin” by Michael S. Roberts
“Malfunction” by Jennifer Campbell-Hicks
“Catastrophe Baker And The Ship Who Purred” by Mike Resnick
“Holly Defiant” by Brenda Cooper
“Shooting The Devil’s Eye” by Keanan Brand
“Last, Full Measure” by A. M. Roelke
“Spider On A Sidewalk” by Paula R. Stiles
“King Of The Galaxy Knights” by Robin Wayne Bailey
“The Slavers Of Ruhn” by Rob Mancebo
“Can Giraffes Change Their Spots?” by Jenny Schwartz
“Captain Quasar And The Insurmountable Barrier Of Space Junk” by Milo James Fowler
“Conversion” by Shaun Farrell
“Twilight World” by A.C. Crispin
“Catastrophe Baker In The Hall Of The Neptunian Kings” by Mike Resnick
“Ever Dark” by T.M.Hunter
“Nor To The Strong” by Michael Merriam
“Space Opera” by Peter J. Wacks
“The Heiress Of Air” by Allen M. Steele
“Saint Orick” by David Farland
“The Legend Of Rae Raygun” by Kaolin Fire

Raygun Chronicles

I want to essentially turn my blog today over to a good cause, the kickstarter campaign for the anthology Raygun Chronicles planned for publication later this year by Every Day Press. Editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt asked me if he could reprint "The Silver Dollar Saucer"; it was originally published in Ray Gun Revival in Jan. 2009.

There are eleven days left in the kickstarter campaign, and it is only at 42 percent of its goal of $8,000, so it's time to crank up the volume. Bryan send out a message via Facebook this weekend, and it bears repeating:
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Friends & Family: I need your help. Since I was a kid, I fell in love with space opera old style and that's why I wrote THE WORKER PRINCE, which got Year's Best Mention from Paul Goat Allen at B&N, and why I have remained a fan of Firefly, Star Wars, Star Trek, Farscape, Space: 1999, etc. all my life. But RAYGUN CHRONICLES, my project to bring back that kind of fun stories needs help. We have amazing talent involved. Big name pros like Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, Seanan McGuire, Robin Wayne Bailey, Brenda Cooper, Allen Steele, Mike Resnick, and Ann Crispin, and established talents like Michael Merriam, Peter Wacks and Author Lou Antonelli. But what we don't have is funding. We have $2830 in 4 weeks from 137 awesome people. We have amazing artwork, amazing t-shirts and rewards, but if we don't hit $8000 in 13 days, none of it happens. Projects like this are passion projects but also have opened doors for me as a professional to make a living and recover from my financial and life crises of the past four years, so I'm asking you to kindly take a look and think of someone you know, yourself or a friend, who would enjoy this, then back it and spread the word. For as little as $5 you can get the book. But it won't happen without you. If it doesn't fund, I won't have time to mount another for release this year either. So we need your support, and I hope you'll consider it. Thanks much, Bryan
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If you're turned off by the run-of-the-mill dystopian crap* that dominates s-f today, here is an opportunity to vote with little green ballots and strike a blow for true forward-looking fiction. The kickstarter web page can be found here.

* "The future's gonna suck and you do, too."