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November 2022

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Newsletter 2022-11-18: Meet Wifi, follow me on Mastodon, book tip and music tip
by Koen Martens 18 Nov '22

18 Nov '22

Title 'Koen's Bi-montly Mailing' against backdrop of white binary digits on blue background Close-up of Wifi, our tabby catA bit of a break! It feels weird. My manuscript is now with my developmental editor for a first round of feed back. Not only is this quite scary, as she will no doubt point out many many things I need to fix, but it's also a bit weird. The thing is, for months, my free time was devoted to writing the manuscript, and every moment I was not writing I had this feeling that I should be. Now, with the manuscript finished and off for review, I can relax a bit again, and it's a whole new experience. I can't relax too much though, as we still have a house to renovate. We're currently working on the kitchen, fitting together the IKEA kit, hoping it will all fit. Meanwhile, after one and a half week away, mice took over our house. That settled it: we needed a cat. So today we picked up Wifi, a thirteen week old tabby. She will hopefully grow up to be a fearsome sight to the mice invading our home. We also intend to get a dog soon, to scare away the burglars. It's nothing to do with cats and dogs being cute, I swear! Blue bird sitting at table with coffee amidst blazing fire, with speech bubble saying 'This is fine' Social Media Strategy If you'd told me a year ago I would have a social media strategy a year from then, I'd have laughed in your face. I've never been a big fan of social media, finding that the 'social' in 'social media' is a bit of a misnomer, and that there's a lot of anti-social going on on those platforms. I never liked twitter in particular, even less so now that some bat-shit crazy billionaire has bought it as a toy. I've been meaning to check out Mastodon for a while now, and triggered by the current mess on Twitter, a few friend of mine decided to set up a Mastodon server. So, you can now finally follow me on Mastodon <https://hsnl.social/@gmc>, my account is @gmc@hsnl.social <https://hsnl.social/@gmc>. As for my social media strategy: I'll be most active on Mastodon <https://hsnl.social/@gmc>, where I'll be posting personal stuff as well as news related to my writing, with Instagram <https://www.instagram.com/koenmartens_author/> as second. Then there's Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/Koen-Martens-104281962311958> and finally Twitter, both of which I tend to ignore mostly. Of course, you can also follow me on Goodreads <https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/596199.Koen_Martens>, if you're curious what I'm reading. Close-up of man wearing uniform with woman watching over his shoulder <https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/a57aed98-6550-11ed-b1d7-67a2f7bf0d84> Fallen Patric Abbott Intelligence Officer Brendan Sean Murphy has served his country on the Middle East and Central Asia battlefields. However, his hard-won successes overseas came at the cost of failures at home. These events have drained his soul, leaving him racked with PTSD. However, his life changes when he intervenes to stop an anti-alien terrorist attack on the subway. Now, he is thrust into interstellar politics with the government naming him an intelligence attaché to the Sabia, a race that closely guards its own secrets. Militias, corrupt politicians, and countries seeking military aid from the Sabia challenge Brendan’s mission. On top of this, a medical mystery complicates the balance. Brendan’s only chance at success involves accepting the impossible and unutterable. Only then can he learn the secrets in this Fallen world. Get free sample now! <https://storyoriginapp.com/swaps/a57aed98-6550-11ed-b1d7-67a2f7bf0d84> Abstract smears of paint against grey background <https://open.spotify.com/album/0tfDJ7IjZ2pYVB3OPFYyPJ?si=3S7CI1bWTUWmGmYtmw…> Signal Chain Gijs Levelt Spoken Quartet A signal chain is a series of effects applied on an input signal, where each effect's input is the output of the preceding effect. Trumpet player Gijs Levelt applies such a chain to his instrument. Add to it a pinch of Rhodes and a grooving bass and drums, and you get a wonderfully airy sound recorded on the eight tracks on this album, the second of which is titled 'Signal Chain'. Great music to kick up your feet, relax and space out. Check it out on Spotify. <https://open.spotify.com/album/0tfDJ7IjZ2pYVB3OPFYyPJ?si=3S7CI1bWTUWmGmYtmw…> Find my book, the Isolated Futures Omnibus, on: Amazon <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VYFJK15/>Kobo <https://www.kobo.com/ebook/isolated-futures>Barnes & Noble <https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940160945323>Google <https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=-yBlEAAAQBAJ>Apple <http://books.apple.com/us/book/id1615269317> Instagram icon <https://www.instagram.com/koenmartens_author/>Twitter icon <https://twitter.com/koenswriting>Linkedin icon <https://www.linkedin.com/in/komartens/>Facebook icon <https://www.facebook.com/Koen-Martens-104281962311958>Email icon <mailto:in+newsletter@metro.cx>Link icon <https://www.koenmartens.nl/>RSS icon <https://koenmartens.nl/feeds/all.atom.xml>

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Newsletter 2022-11-04: Vacation, Sci-Fi Giveaway, Music Tip
by Koen Martens 04 Nov '22

04 Nov '22

Title 'Koen's Bi-montly Mailing' against backdrop of white binary digits on blue background Öresondsbron from a distanceVacation! Now that the manuscript for The Ein Particle is almost done, we're planning a little vacation. I'll still need to do some dotting of i's and crossing of t's, but I will do so tomorrow while we drive all the way down from Sweden to The Netherlands. It's about 16 hours driving, and we take turns behind the wheel, switching every hour or so. During our journey, we'll cross the Öresondsbron -- the bridge over the Öresond Strait. It's a brilliant piece of engineering, part of a combination of tunnel and bridge spanning the distance of more than 15 kilometres between the Swedish city of Malmö and the Danish capital Copenhagen. It's famous from the Scandinavian crime series /The Bridge/ as well (there's a USA adaptation as well, which is interesting but not nearly as good as the original in my humble opinion). Meanwhile, on this last day before we leave, there's three crews of constructors working in and around our house while I'm trying to focus on my day job. So yeah, chaos! I don't know how I managed to send out this newsletter. Science Fiction Giveaway Battling spaceships <https://storyoriginapp.com/to/9C02smo> Get these books fast <https://storyoriginapp.com/to/9C02smo>! This promotion ends December 2nd! Pink Dolphins swimming in a psychedelic sea <https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/pink-dolphins> Pink Dolphins Anteloper I don't quite know how to classify this album (and I think that is a good thing). It's jazz? Probably? Although it's quite groovy as well. And electronic? I think it stands on its own. It's abstract, which, according to Discogs <https://www.discogs.com/style/abstract>, is also a genre, defined as: "Abstract generally describes a type of electronic music that doesn’t fit into any other category." Yeah, I'll go with that. Give this EP a listen. I think it's cool. It's got a strong atmosphere. It's addicting. I love it. And the cover art is amazing too! Check it out on Bandcamp <https://intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/pink-dolphins> or Spotify. <https://open.spotify.com/album/58rs9tGJvKpCRnuBewxs8w> Find my book, the Isolated Futures Omnibus, on: Amazon <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09VYFJK15/>Kobo <https://www.kobo.com/ebook/isolated-futures>Barnes & Noble <https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=2940160945323>Google <https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=-yBlEAAAQBAJ>Apple <http://books.apple.com/us/book/id1615269317> Instagram icon <https://www.instagram.com/koenmartens_author/>Twitter icon <https://twitter.com/koenswriting>Linkedin icon <https://www.linkedin.com/in/komartens/>Facebook icon <https://www.facebook.com/Koen-Martens-104281962311958>Email icon <mailto:in+newsletter@metro.cx>Link icon <https://www.koenmartens.nl/>RSS icon <https://koenmartens.nl/feeds/all.atom.xml>

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