Hi Friends,

These are just a few teaser photos to remind you that there's a Joelle Presby newsletter. And if you want to know where I'll be and what I'm working on, you and I ought to exchange emails. Write soon!

Thanks,
Joelle Presby

P.S. My next newsletter goes out tomorrow.

The Dragon Awards are an annual event where fans vote for their favorites in a host of categories mostly focused on novels but also including tabletop games, cover art, tv shows, and movies. There is no fee to vote, but you must prove you are not a badly programmed bot by using a real email address and clicking on the confirmation link.

My novel, THE DABARE SNAKE LAUNCHER, is eligible in the science fiction category this year. It would mean a lot to me if you took a few minutes to put in a nomination for it. You can absolutely leave blanks on your ballot. But I do have suggestions for you to consider for the other nomination categories...

Best Fantasy Novel: THE SWORDMAKER by Katie Cross
Best Alternate History Novel: THE CROSSING by Kevin Ikenberry
Best Horror Novel: BLUE SAINT by Declan Finn
Best Illustrative Cover: TITAN MAGE APOCALYPSE Cover by artist Jackson Tjota 
Best Tabletop Game: CAT MAGIC THE GAME by David Sherrer

Thanks always!
Joelle Presby

P.S. Nominate here: https://application.dragoncon.net/dc_fan_awards_nominations.php

Cleveland ConCoction
https://www.clevelandconcoction.org
​March 17-19, 2023
The Bertram Inn & Conference Center
600 N Aurora Rd, Aurora, OH 44202

Multiple Alternative Realities Convention (MARCon)
https://www.marcon.org/
May 26-28, 2023
Hyatt Regency Columbus
350 N High St, Columbus, OH 43215

LibertyCon
https://www.libertycon.org/
June 23-25, 2023
Chattanooga Marriott
2 Carter St, Chattanooga, TN 37402

Interstellar Research Group: 8th Interstellar Symposium
https://irg.space/irg-2023/
July 10-13, 2023
McGill University
Montreal, Canada

Dragon Con
https://www.dragoncon.org/
Aug 31-Sep 4, 2023
Atlanta, GA

​In The Dabare Snake Launcher, I got to introduce very real and complicated characters who honor the people I’ve known with the grit and drive to fight to live well despite hostile environments. But first, let me tell you about the science: a hardbound 2013 collection of articles from the International Academy of Aeronautics got me started. I skipped to the section in the back of the book with all the reasons why a space elevator is impossible.
 
They weren’t wrong.
 
But if you give me science fiction’s traditional single cheat, in this case, a tether of carbon nano fiber in truly industrial lengths, all the other problems were solvable with money, power, and hard work. People would need to sacrifice and sweat blood. We'd need deals. We'd need peace.
 
We would need not just one hero, but a host of them.
 
I drew on my background in corporate consulting, my military engineering expertise, and my childhood in Cameroon, West Africa to build the novel’s ensemble cast. They all, especially the villains, consider themselves the true hero of the tale.
 
One of the first characters you’ll meet is Fabrice Tchami. He’s a longtime corporate vice president in charge of human resources at the very wealthy, very powerful multi-national TCG. He’s shifted to western styles of address ages ago and has not only flipped his name order to have his family name last, he introduces himself as “Chummy” using the common mispronunciation of his family name. But Chummy never forgot his roots, and before the end of the first chapter, he’s used his position to give the Sadous (his extended family back home in West Africa) a sweet no-bid contract deal. It shouldn’t have mattered that much, but Chummy isn’t magic. He may have a reputation for always picking the most perfect people for the job, but this time he might’ve made a big mistake.
 
Ethan Schmidt-Li, the corporate asshole running the elevator construction project isn’t hiring more companies to get space debris cleared out of the way of the future tether line. So the family in West Africa with that no-bid contract needs to deliver.
 
But they’ve got troubles of their own.
 
The Sadou family is from a mix of tribal linages and has a lot of new money problems. They’ve got two superstars in the youngest generation: the superior manager Sadou Maurie and the engineering genius Sadou-Tchami Pascaline. Maurie and Pascaline have been the family’s fixers since their teens and have only gotten better. But the family treats Pascaline as a black sheep and she keeps trying to break free to make her own way, and Maurie, well…
 
Maurie's going to show you a few things about what it can be like to live in West Africa. High fever illnesses are dangerously common in places without a strong winter. You can see some interesting things in fever dreams. Locally, living with long-term and debilitating but not contagious disease is something of an art form. When not everything is understood, a back brain can lean on myth to fill in the missing gaps. Or, quite possibly, maybe in chapter one that really was the sometimes benevolent and more often terrible water snake queen Mami-Wata involving herself in the affairs of the descendants.
 
Whatever is real or not real for Maurie, everyone else needs her to hold it together, and they need Pascaline to forgive the family who rejected her or this dabare of a spaceport will be the wrong sort of dabare.
 
The word dabare from Fulani in current and historic usage varies significantly depending on which part of the Fulani diaspora is providing the definition and how recently the recording entity has conquered or been conquered by that powerful tribe. Within The Dabare Snake Launcher, you will find it redefined before each section. The first definition shown is this one:
 
dabare
\ da-ba-RAY \
an engineering construction made with repurposed parts and extreme technical know-how, which either works flawlessly or not at all
origin: West African Fulani
Definition from The Cassini-Sadou Dictionary, 3rd ed.
 
Dabare can be dangerous. The Sadous, TCG, and Earth all must pray that whether it’s magic, engineering, or both, The Dabare Snake Launcher is the successful kind of dabare.
 
With full appreciation for the irony that many readers are going to us dabare to tease me in their reviews about whether I’ve presented them with good or bad dabare of a novel, I respectfully submit a few quotes which might entice you to read at least that first chapter:
 
“You guys should all be on the lookout for Joelle Presby’s solo Baen novel THE DABARE SNAKE LAUNCHER. It is… remarkable. Just truly, truly remarkable." —David Weber
 
“Joelle Presby has a knack for engaging characters and plots that skillfully walk the line between science and storytelling.” —Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki

“The Dabare Snake Launcher takes you on a journey of possibilities, an Africa foremost in groundbreaking technology and not focused on deprivation and poverty. Joelle’s writing is nuanced . . . There’s family drama . . . romance . . . and laugh-out-loud humour. Writing is vivid and the characters fascinating.”—Hannah Onoguwe

Thank you,
Joelle Presby


P.S. A significant crew of supporters helped turn my beginning manuscript into a novel you can hold in your hands. As always, any errors in this novel are my responsibility. Hannah Onoguwe, who generously provided one of the very first reviews, had her name spelled wrong on the print copy. Mea culpa. Her name is Hannah Onoguwe. You can find her work in the Time Worn Literary Journal among other places.

​What are Dragon Awards and why does Joelle think I might care?

Hi Friend,

Dragon Awards are fan voted SF and fantasy awards. The physical thingie the authors get is quite beautiful, and for those who win or are even nominated, it can lead to a significant bump in sales. Yes, it all comes back to the money. Starving artists quit their art and go do other things that let them be not starving.  Well-paid artists quit their day jobs, write faster, and give us exquisitely crafted book after book.

Nominate by genre category whatever thing you love most. Make sure to confirm your email address if you've not voted or nominated for Dragon Awards before. Doing that will make sure that your vote is counted.


HOW IT WORKS:

People (you, for example) nominate their favorite books on or before July 19. (Unlike other awards, you don’t have to pay to vote. And neither do you have to be a writer or editor yourself. These are fan awards, not industry insider awards, and not rich-fan awards.)

DragonCon officials publish a slate of the top several vote recipients in each category. These are the official Dragon Award Nominees.

People (you) vote again for your favorites among the nominees.

DragonCon officials give out the awards at DragonCon on Labor Day weekend in Atlanta.


BOOKS JOELLE THINKS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER VOTING FOR:

Best Science Fiction Novel
Saving Proxima by Travis S. Taylor & Les Johnson
The Family Business by Mike Kupari
That Was Now, This is Then by Michael Z Williamson
The Deep Man by Michael Meursault
Abbott in Darkness by D.J. Butler

Best Fantasy Novel
Monster Hunter Bloodlines by Larry Corriea
This Broken World by Charles E. Gannon
Harbinger by Wen Spencer
Valhellions by Tim Akers
Stolen Skies by Tim Powers
Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold
Aurora Borealis Bridge by Jane Lindskold

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel
Into the Real by John Ringo & Lydia Sherrer
A New Clan by David Weber & Jane Lindskold

Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel
To End in Fire by David Wever & Eric Flint
Trinity by David Bara
The Spacetime War by Les Johnson
A Call to Insurrection by David Weber, Timothy Zahn & Thomas Pope

Best Alternate History Novel
The Romanov Rescue by Tom Kratman, Kaycee Ezell & Justin Watson
1637: The Coast of Chaos by Eric Flint, Paula Goodlett & Gorg Huff
1637: Dr. Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner by Kerryn Offord & Rick Boatright

Best Horror Novel
Jekyll & Hyde, Inc. by Simon R. Green
Servants of War by Larry Corriea & Steve Diamond

Best Graphic Novel
Black Tide Rising, Volume 1 by Chuck Dixon, Brett R. Smith & John Ringo

Other categories that I don't have recommendations for include: Best Media Tie-in Novel, Best Comic Book, Best SF or Fantasy TV Series, Best SF or Fantasy Movie, Best SF or Fantasy Console Game, Best SF or Fantasy Mobile Game, Best SF or Fantasy Board Game, Best SF or Fantasy Mini/Collectible Card/RP Game. Please email me or comment below if you want to recommend any additions.

May your nominations all make the short list,
Joelle Presby

Here’s my schedule!


Friday, June 17
1:00 PM Meet and Greet the First Timers!
5:00 PM Opening Ceremonies


Saturday, June 18
6:00 AM Kaffeeklatsch
11:00 AM Establishing an Enduring Presence on Mars: Personnel
2:00 PM Baen Traveling Road Show
6:30 PM Baen Reception
9:00 PM Writers Tell Sea Stories


Sunday, June 19
11:00 AM Reading


Let me know if I’ll see you there. Comment, email, text, carrier pigeon… :) I’m looking forward to seeing some more of my people. I hope you are connecting with your people one way or another out there.


Wishing You Much Joy,
Joelle Presby