Connor Coyne

This will be the gathering place for all timely information on Shattering Glass, my second novel.

College is a strange new world. But it might be too strange for Samo, Ezzie, Marty, and Dunya. They’re just first year undergrads at the prestigious but mysterious Arkaic University, known for its site on the grounds of an abandoned mental hospital, and its curious technology that converts time into electricity.

And then there’s the matter of the shattering glasses. Ezzie has the unfortunate bad habit of causing glass to fracture, just by looking at the. The four undergrads are stalked by student organizations with a history of espionage and homicide — dreaded groups with names like the Theatre of Gold and the Artemis Club — and the eclectic sexual appetites of the older students is something to be both sought out and feared.

Obviously, college is a time of action and exploration, of soul-searching and risk-taking, but the risks at Arkaic University seem to transcend reason. Wise students will learn to master this surreal landscape to both survive and thrive during their first year of college.

CHAPTER 1: Orientation is dangerous. Five students arrive at Arkaic University from Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and California, and settle into life at the Calliope Cradle Dormitory. One of them will never be seen again…

Read Chapters One and Two — http://tinyurl.com/shatteringglass

Read Chapters Three and Four — http://tinyurl.com/shatteringglass2

Read Chapters Five and Six — http://tinyurl.com/shatteringglass3

A MAP OF ARKAIC UNIVERSITY

SAM PERKINS-HARBIN‘S COVER COMPOSITE

Sam is a meticulous and imaginative cover designer who has taken a unique approach to Shattering Glass’ serial release. Each installment’s cover is part of a sequence that proceeds from the prior segment and leads into the next, ultimately revealing and participating in elements of the story. Below you can see the covers (to date) placed side-by-side, in their proper context.

Jane Friedman’s blog There Are No Rules is one of the best blogs on self-publishing out there, and I’d suggest any interested in self-publishing — or hell, publishing — check in regularly (after you read the Revolution, of course).  One of the cool things I’ve discovered is that Jane will post promising articles and conversations about self-publishing and compile them into neat lists like this one.  Here are three from this batch that I found particularly enlightening.

We Who Are About to Die: Is the future of book publishing the same as the future of reading and writing?

This is the million-dollar question, to be sure, relevant to publishers, writers, and self-published writers.  Particularly germaine to the latter because, after all, you get to help settle the question for good.  The question is asked just so author Daniel Nester can shout “NO!” but his logic is powerful and its implications positive for those of us not shackled to literary nostalgia.

A Newbies Guide to Publishing: Guest Post by Guido Henkel

Philosophical discussions about technology and publishing have to be big picture.  Pragmatic discussions about technology, publishing, and marketing, can be more bare-knuckled: Joe Konrath posts, analyzes, and builds upon an already-thorough/imaginative/aggressive marketing strategy by Guido Henkel.  I like this not only because you see two astute minds working to promote a self-published series, but because the give-and-take really shows how this business is governed by trial-and-error.  As a self-publisher, your strategies will evolve.  Nothing is static.  And also: How persistence is necessary, even if it isn’t enough on its own.

Problogger: Don’t Go It Alone: Relationship-building for Bloggers

Tip No. 4 should be friendly urls for copying-and-pasting.  This piece by Jane Sheeba is fairly straightforward, but the suggestions here are still things we tend to overlook.  If you’re an effective self-publisher you’re probably a blogger as well.  Take a look at this entry for some tips on how to maintain and expand you following, and to make your connections deeper and more effective.

Tomorrow, I’ll have to post something about my own efforts, but these articles were too absorbing and insightful to go unmentioned.  Props having been given, I hope you take a look at some of these writers.

“Computer, discontinue program!” — Deanna Troi

So here I was feeling a little lazy today and thinking “I really don’t feel like writing a full post,” and Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of my favorite writers at The Atlantic has written an absolutely pertinent short piece on the whole electronic/book fracas and the opportunities it presents.  I strongly recommend you read the whole thing.  It will only take a few minutes, not because it’s light reading, but because he makes the case with surgical precision.

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