A quick housekeeping post here to tell you news about books and stuff:

1. If you follow the Twitter feed, you may have noticed me retweeting a Tweet from Wil Wheaton, in which he announced that he was currently busy performing the audio book version of Agent to the Stars. What he didn’t reveal, but which I am revealing right now, is that when he’s done with Agent to the Stars, he’ll keep on going and perform the audiobook version of The Android’s Dream as well. Personally, the idea of Wil narrating Android’s first chapter fills me with unmanly squee. It will be awesome in a way few things are in fact genuinely awesome.

The best news out of all of this? That both Agent and Android are scheduled for release in audiobook form this December — yes, just in time for the holidays. So those of you yearning to hear Wil’s voice all over my words, and yes it does sound dirty when I put it that way, won’t have to wait too long.

2. But wait, there’s more! For those of you who yearn for the more familiar printed book form, I’m happy to announce that also just in time for the holidays, Tor will be releasing Agent to the Stars in mass market paperback, making it the perfect stocking stuffer and/or cheap Hanukkah gift and/general inexpensive gift for someone you love/like/are in some way obliged to. The specific release date will be November 30. Mark it on your calendar.

3. Those of you hankering for the electronic edition of The God Engines but can’t find it in whatever very specific store for your e-reader, here’s a good general solution: Buy it from Baen’s Webscriptions site, which offers the novella in various formats, for the same $4.99 price it is available elsewhere. You can download it in either ePub or Mobi formats and then upload it to your reader, whatever dedicated e-reader you prefer. So now you have absolutely no excuse for not owning it electronically. None at all.

While on the subject The God Engines, I’ll also note to you that the audiobook rights to the novella have been sold and the folks putting it together are laboring hard to get it done quickly; it’s possible that it may be available before the end of the year (Holidays! Holidays!), but I need to confirm that. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know.

There, now we’re all caught up. And now you know what to expect from me for the holidays.

UPDATE 10:05am – Giveaway is over! Thanks, everyone!

Yes, the title of the entry says it all. Or does it? Actually it doesn’t, because Subterranean Press’ Bill Schafer is here to tell you more — namely, how to get one of those fabulous new Cherie Priest novels, and how to pick up a brand new electronic version of another awesome tale in the Boneshaker universe — cheap! Take it away, Bill:

We have 25 copies of Cherie Priest’s new steamtastic — and yes, this is my attempt to coin a new word — novel, DREADNOUGHT, set in the same universe as her breakout novel, BONESHAKER. Take a cross country trip with an indomitable Civil War nurse and check out the scenery through the windows as you pass by, including steampunk war machines and hordes of zombies. Onboard, you’ll have to settle for high intrigue and even higher tensions, and don’t ask what’s being heavily guarded in the train’s rear car.

To snag one of the copies we have to give away:
1) Be a US resident.
2) Send an email to subpress@gmail.com with DREADNOUGHT GIVEAWAY as your Subject line.
3) The meat of your email should include ONLY your name and address.

We regret that we can’t send out emails to those who’ve won, or not, so the only indication you’ll receive is if a copy shows up in your mailbox in the next few weeks. The usual catch is included: By accepting DREADNOUGHT, you agree to read it within two weeks of receipt and post a reader review to Amazon.com — good, bad, or somewhere in between, it matters not to us.

In other Cherie Priest news, we’ve released the eBook version of her BONESHAKER-related short novel Clementine at the smashingly low price of only $2.99. This one includes dirigible dogfights, heavy armament, race relations, as well as a too-well-known former spy now working for the Pinkerton agency. (At the moment, it’s only available at Amazon. Other venues — and formats — are currently being uploaded.)

You’ve got everything you need to know. Enter — and good luck!

Over at Filmcritic.com, I go into detail about the five years that changed science fiction film forever — 1977 (being the one with Close Encounters, pictured above, plus some other science fiction film almost no one’s heard of) being arguably the most important of those. See what other four years made the list, and as always feel free to leave your comments and thoughts over there.