Jim C. Hines
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November 10, 2022 /

Dupuytren’s Contracture II: Dupuytren’s Revenge

It’s been almost ten years since my official diagnosis of Dupuytren’s Contracture. In short, this is a disease that causes hard nodules under the skin of the hand, and one or more fingers loses the ability to straighten and gets more and more curved over time.

In October 2020, I went in for surgery to free up my right pinky, which had become decidedly claw-like. I came out of that with most (not all) of my motion back, and a cool lightning bolt-shaped scar.

Well, over the past year, I’ve noticed the ring finger of my left hand getting more bent. Last time, in part because of other life stuff, I waited long enough that the only option was surgery. This time I wanted to try to fix the problem earlier. The hope was for a less invasive treatment that would be quicker to heal.

What does that treatment involve? Brace yourself. Basically, I went in on Tuesday to get a drug (that the insurance company tried to bill me $5000 for!) injected directly into the cords and nodules in my palm. That stuff weakened the tissue. I returned today, two days later, so the surgeon could numb my hand, then bend my finger back to snap the cords that were restricting the movement.

It sounds horrific, and I admit I was freaked out. I may have postponed the procedure a few months because I hated the idea of it. But honestly, it wasn’t too bad.

The most painful parts were the injections, both the initial drug and the anesthetic that were shot into my palm. The actual snapping of the cords? I barely felt that. I heard it, and I felt the popping, but there was no pain.

I’m a big fan of no pain.

I’m not putting pictures in the blog post, because I know that sort of thing can squick people out. But if you’re curious…

  • The Before Picture: That was as straight as my ring finger would go as of Monday.
  • The Shot: I’ve gotten over a lot of my needle phobia, thanks to the diabetes. This still sucked.
  • After the Snap: Check it out. This was a minute or two after the surgeon finished what they called the “manipulation.”
  • The Splint: I get to wear this at nighttime for the next six months to keep the finger from reverting to its bad habits.

It’s been five hours, and there’s still some numbness, along with the bruising and swelling. I’m told the pain will be coming later tonight and tomorrow. But in the meantime, I’m able to type well enough to do a blog post, and there’s no scarring or stitches or any of that.

One thing that did give me pause today: you see that little white thing taped to the window frame next to the door? Here’s a closer look. That’s a smelling salts packet. You know, in case the patient passes out.

I asked about that, and the surgeon said it most often comes up when they’re removing stitches. I’m happy to say I didn’t pass out or go into shock. I also didn’t look while he was manipulating the finger, and I’m okay with that.

Typing may be limited for the next couple of days, depending on pain and swelling. But so far, I’m happy with the results. And since this condition tends to keep coming back, I’ll probably be doing it again for other fingers at some point in the future.

Just don’t high five me on the left side for a few weeks, okay?

October 28, 2022 /

Cool Stuff Friday

More like Cool Stuff Intermittent Fridays these days, but ah well.

  • Wildlife Comedy Photo Contest pics (Thanks, Claire!)
  • Real Estate Fails
  • Animal pics
  • The James Webb Telescope Flickr page
  • Bats Being Cute (Happy pre-Halloween!)
October 18, 2022 /

Books for Sale!

As part of my ongoing mission to get the house organized, I’ve realized I have a lot of extra copies of books two through four of the Magic ex Libris series. So I’ve marked them down over on my Payhip store. I also added books two and three of the Janitors of the Post Apocalypse.

Revisionary - Cover Art by Gene Mollica

Terminal Alliance Cover Art by Dan Dos Santos Terminal Uprising Cover Art by Dan Dos Santos Terminal Peace Cover Art by Kieran Yanner

Unfortunately, because of shipping costs, this is a US-only thing.

If you’re interested, click on over and order yourself some personalized autographed books!

And if you’re not interested, that’s okay too. We’re still cool.

(I also have some of my ebooks for sale there, if you’d rather purchase those directly than through Amazon or whoever.)

September 23, 2022 /

Cool Stuff Friday

Friday has gone an entire month without a blog update. Things have changed a lot since LiveJournal days…

  • Comedy Pet Photos
  • Otters!
  • Cool Weather Pics
  • Cat Pics
August 23, 2022 /

Terminal Peace is Out Today!

Terminal Peace Cover Art by Kieran Yanner

Today is the day! Terminal Peace is officially available in print, ebook, and audio book formats.

This one had a rougher path than most of my books. Thank you so much to everyone for your patience, support, and understanding over these past few years. I hope the wait was worth it.

“Where can I get a copy?”

If your local independent bookstore doesn’t have a copy on the shelves, they should be able to order it for you. Or you can use this convenient little link list:

  • HARDCOVER: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Mysterious Galaxy | Schuler Books | Indiebound
  • EBOOK: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks
  • AUDIO: Tantor Media | Graphic Audio (Coming in late 2022/early 2023)

“What are the reviewers saying?”

Let’s start with the most important review. I gave my mother an early copy of the book for her birthday this month. Here’s what she texted me over the weekend:

Text Message: "Just finished the book. WOW"

If for some reason you need more than that, Booklist called it a “satisfying and hopeful conclusion to the series.”

I’ve seen a handful of reader reviews popping up as well. Several folks commented that they didn’t expect to get teary-eyed over a book about space janitors, which I take as high praise. (If you’re worried that means it’s going to be overly sad or depressing, reread the “hopeful” part of the Booklist review.”)

“What can we as readers do to help support this obviously-amazing book?”

Aw…you’re too kind, thank you!!!

  1. Reviews are love. Twitter, TikTok, Amazon, Goodreads…it doesn’t matter where. Every bit of word-of-mouth helps tremendously.
  2. Signal-boost the release, either by sharing this post or writing your own.
  3. Does your library have a copy? If not, most library websites have a way for patrons to suggest books.
  4. Are you a famous Hollywood producer who believes the time has come for a humorous-yet-heartfelt blockbuster about underdog janitors in space taking on war and politics and really tough stains? Give my agent a call.

“As long as I’m grabbing a copy of this one, does anyone else have books out today?”

I’m so glad you asked! I get to share a release day with the wonderful Tanya Huff and her book Into the Broken Lands.

“Any closing thoughts?”

Mostly just gratitude. Like I said, it’s been a rough few years, and in many ways, the path ahead is foggier than it used to be. But I’m still writing and still loving that I get to share these stories with people. Thank you all.

August 22, 2022 /

Historical Accuracy

The Tweet below has been making the rounds, and with it has come a lot of knee-jerk defensiveness and willful misunderstanding.

[Tweet by @Merman_Melville: “i think it’s very funny that the house of dragon guys are like ‘we want to reflect the misogyny of the time period’ the time period is the twelfth of makebelieve. it’s the 149th year of sir gooby the dragonfoot. it’s the eighth age of targabargabor. it’s literally made up”]

Responses I’ve seen have ranged from, “Stop telling us to remove conflict from the story” to “But misogyny is part of every human society throughout history” to the more generic, “The woke police are ruining everything!”

Look, the genre police are not going to break your fingers and kick your puppies and throw you in author jail for one thousand years because you wrote about sexism and misogyny and violence against women. The fact that these stories continue to get published and made into popular television series should tell you you’re safe to keep writing your fantasies about violence against women, Mister Author Guy.

But for the love of Cheez-its, don’t try to dodge responsibility for your choice by hiding behind “historical accuracy.” Especially when you’re writing your made-up story in a made-up world. A world where you made up the history.

Even when you write historical fiction, you’re choosing which parts of that historical setting to include. You know how [Popular Grimdark Story] has graphic depictions of violence against women but not, say, graphic descriptions of menstruation? It’s because the author picks and chooses what to write about, what “historically realistic” details to include and exclude.

A lot of writers — mostly men — like to choose to write about sexism and misogyny and violence against women. A fair number do it badly and gratuitously, with little real understanding of what they’re writing about. And these days, it tends to feel pretty unoriginal. Is it any wonder some readers have grown tired of it and prefer more original writing?

Don’t worry, y’all still have plenty of freedom when it comes to choosing what to write about. But could we please GTFO with the excuses and take some damn responsibility for the choices we make as storytellers?

August 16, 2022 /

The Invisible Box Set is Out Today

Cover Art: Invisible Box SetAll three volumes of Invisible are available as a single ebook as of today.

If you’re unfamiliar with the series, it’s a collection of personal essays about the power and importance of representation — and the lack of representation — in science fiction and fantasy. The third volume, co-edited with Mary Anne Mohanraj, collects poems as well.

Contributors include Mark Oshiro, Diana M. Pho, Bogi Takács, Sarah Chorn, SL Huang, LaShawn Wanak, Fran Wilde, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Brandon O’Brien, Rebecca Roanhorse, and so many more. Their essays and poetry are powerful and eye-opening.

Proceeds from the sale of this set will go to the Carl Brandon Society.

If you’d like to sample the contents, most of these essays are also available online: Invisible, Invisible 2, Invisible 3.

Purchase Links: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | iBooks | Smashwords | Google Play

August 12, 2022 /

Cool Stuff Friday

Friday is inadequately caffeinated this morning.

  • Malfunctioning dogs
  • Animals in the wrong places
  • Perseid Meteor Shower pics
    • (And some from 2021)
  • Malfunctioning cats
August 9, 2022 /

Two Weeks to Book Three!

Terminal Peace Cover Art by Kieran YannerOnly 14 days until Terminal Peace arrives in the world!

Today, I’ve got a brief guest post on Mary Robinette Kowal’s “My Favorite Bit” feature, talking about a minor piece of the book that just made me happy to write about 🙂

Some of you will have seen that my author copies arrived a few days ago, which means the printing delays have been overcome and the book really does physically exist! Which is reassuring.

This also means you should be able to pre-order the book from your favorite local bookstore. Or if online works easier, we’ve got you covered there as well:

  • HARDCOVER: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Mysterious Galaxy | Schuler Books | Indiebound
  • EBOOK: Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kobo | iBooks
  • AUDIO: Audible | Graphic Audio (Coming in late 2022)

I’m hoping this book will mark a turnaround from a bit of a slump for me these past few years, writing-wise. Between my wife’s illness, the pandemic, and changes at my publisher, I’d love to get any sort of sense of security or stability on the writing front. But we’ll see what happens. I’ve got one new book sitting with my publisher, one that may become a 2023 Kickstarter project, and one that’s about 25% of the way through a very rough first draft.

In the meantime though, I’m counting down the days to this one, and really hoping you like it! I think it wraps up the trilogy pretty well, but now that it’s in print, your opinion matters a lot more than mine does 🙂

July 13, 2022 /

Publishing Updates

Update #1: The release date for Terminal Peace has been pushed back two weeks, from August 9 to August 23. This is because of printing delays that are affecting a number of Penguin Random House titles. (My publisher, DAW, is distributed by Penguin Random House.)

I’m 97% sure this will apply to the ebook and audio book release as well.

Update #2: Remember a while back (two paragraphs) when I mentioned DAW Books was distributed by Penguin Random House? Well, that’s changing too. A press release went out today announcing that my publisher has been acquired by Astra Publishing House.

Let’s start with a quote from the press release:

DAW co-publishers Betsy Wollheim and Sheila Gilbert said, “We are extremely pleased by Astra’s enthusiasm, and thrilled that we will be the sole SFF imprint of their company (a first for DAW!). We think this is the perfect fit for us, and it’s exciting and refreshing to be an integral part of a new and growing company. It speaks volumes about Astra’s respect for our company that they have included our entire staff. We’re very happy.”

So it sounds like current DAW staff will continue in their positions. This shouldn’t impact anything for Terminal Peace, or for other books scheduled for a 2022 release.

Links:

  • Author S. C. Butler sent me a link to a 2021 Publishers Weekly article about Astra Publishing House.
  • Tor.com has an article about the acquisition.

So what does this mean? I’m not sure. I hope it’s good news, both for DAW and for me.

Terminal Peace was my last contracted book with DAW. We submitted a new fantasy novel to them earlier this year. If they want it, it will be interesting to see if and how things change with the acquisition process.

For the moment, I’m cautiously optimistic and hoping for the best. And one way or another, the core of my job remains unchanged: sit my butt down and write the next book.

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New Books in 2025

Kitemaster:
Amazon | B&N | Bookshop
Read the First Chapter: PDF | EPUB

Slayers of Old, Coming Oct. 21:
Amazon | B&N | Bookshop

Blog Archives

Free Fiction

  • Stranger vs. the Malevolent Malignancy, at Podcastle
  • The Creature in Your Neighborhood at Apex Magazine
  • How Isaac Met Smudge at Literary Escapism
  • Gift of the Kites at Clarkesworld
  • Original Gangster at Fantasy Magazine
  • Goblin Lullaby (audio) at PodCastle
  • Spell of the Sparrow (audio) at PodCastle

Banner artwork by Katy Shuttleworth.



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Jim C. Hines