Welcome to Liad: Clan Korval's Home on the Web

As previously advertised, Steve and I will be at Boskone (February 19-21, 2016) in Boston, MA for New England’s longest running science fiction and fantasy convention. It’s going to be a fun weekend filled with books, film, art, music, gaming, and more, and we’d love to see you there! For more information about Boskone, check out The Boskone Blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Visit the Boskone website to register.  The Full Con Schedule may be found here.

Our schedule for the weekend is below.  Also look for us in the Art Show, the Dealer’s Room, and sitting around the lobby, chatting with friends.

We also try to host a Friends of Liad breakfast each year at Boskone.  Because this requires active collaboration with the hotel restaurant staff, we will not know time or day until we are on-site...

. . .from Sharon and Steve, and from Toni Weisskopf at Baen, who agreed that this had to be done.

Here is your Very First Taste of Alliance of Equals, the 19th novel set in the Liaden Universe®, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

Chapter One
Dutiful Passage

He rushed her, a tall Terran male, overtopping and outmassing her. Padi dropped back one step, flat-footed and centered, knees flexed — and he was on her, keeping himself tight, seeking to overturn her with his speed, and flatten her under his weight. She ducked inside his reach, snatching at belt and elbow, twisting her upper body, letting him lift himself over her shoulder. Momentum, it was all his own momentum, and, in the last instant before she let him go, she straightened, adding her motion to his, throwing him with every ounce of ...

Here we have something rare and precious — a sneak peek of the comp of the cover for Alliance of Equals.  Which is to say a suggested layout.  Sort of like the cover version of a first draft.

We are cautioned that the final cover may change, but this is where the Art Department at Baen is currently tending.

Art by David Mattingly, and yes, this does illustrate an Actual Scene from the book.

The Question of the Month is apparently, “When will the next Liaden novel be published; it’s been so long since Dragon in Exile came out; I’m starving over here; feed me!”

. . .or words to that effect.

The Answer to the Question of the Month is!

Alliance of Equals is the next Liaden title; it will be published, in hardcover, by Baen, on July 5, 2016.

Also?  Dragon in Exile came out, in hardcover, on June 2, 2015, which really isn’t all that long ago.

Also, also, the eArc edition, if any, usually appears two to three months ahead of the hardcover publication.  So, you’re looking. . .April/May 2016 for the Alliance of Equals eArc.

We have been asked to write a short story in support of Alliance of Equals, which ought to be published to Baen.com on June 15, 2016.

The mass market paperback e...

Elizabeth Wichman, visiting with the family tree.

Elizabeth Wichman: I had to wait to take this photo until I was at the ancestral homestead, so I could climb the tree I spent my childhood climbing, like Daav and Er Thom. Luckily, I arrived last night, just in time for the end of the contest!
I coulda climbed higher, but I wanted the logo to not get lost among the leaves

Congratulations, Beth!  And — Thank you! to all the challengers.

All challenge winners receive a coupon for a Baen ebook of their choice.

You may view all of the entries for Week Seven by clicking this link.

You may view all of the entries for Week Six by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Five by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Four by clicking this link.

You may view all...

Another tough choice this week.  The judges finally came down on the side of Mad Science, and Elaine Walker’s important study in the field of dry ice.

Tomorrow?  Is the FINAL week of the Do It Like A Delm Challenge.  All of you who have been trembling on the brink of embracing your inner delm — this is The Hour in which to Show Them All!

Elaine Walker:
This is me between labs in my denim Liaden Universe shirt investigating the sublimation of dry ice.

Congratulations, Elaine!  And — Thank you! to all the challengers.

All challenge winners receive a coupon for a Baen ebook of their choice.

You may view all of the entries for Week Six by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Five by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Four by clicking this link.

It was a tough field, this week — see for yourself.

In fact, it was so tough that we had to call in an Extra Special Judge to help us make a decision.  Princess Jasmine Spite herself scrutinized the challengers in-between naps, and in the end, she placed her paw against this photo of Bruce Glassford, double-dragoned, and knitting a shawl for the delmae.

Bruce Glassford: Working on a shawl for the delmae

Congratulations, Bruce!  And — Thank you! to all the challengers.

All challenge winners receive a coupon for a Baen ebook of their choice.

You may view all the entries for Week Five by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Four by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Three by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Two by clicking...

. . .Catherine Taylor, taking the delm’s interests to the birthplace of Michelangelo Buonarroti, in Caprese.

Catherine Taylor: scouting art treasures for the family trading enterprise

All challenge winners receive a coupon for a Baen ebook of their choice.

You may view all the entries for Week Four by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Three by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Two by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week One by clicking this link.

Many thanks to everyone who rose to last week’s challenge to display their Inner Delm.  The next challenge period begins tomorrow, Monday, September 14, when we hope to see you Doing It Like A Delm.

Challenge rules may be found by clicking this link.

Joe Martin, taking it to the streets of Las Vegas.  Like a delm!

Joe Martin: Liad in Las Vegas!!!

All challenge winners receive a coupon for a Baen ebook of their choice.

You may view all the entries for Week Three by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week Two by clicking this link.

You may view all the entries for Week One by clicking this link.

Many thanks to everyone who rose to last week’s challenge to display their Inner Delm.  The next challenge period begins tomorrow, Monday, September 7, when we hope to see you Doing It Like A Delm.

Challenge rules may be found by clicking this link.