Tee Morris

Writer, podcaster. and streamer

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

The Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards (or How Much I Love Gravy at Thanksgiving)

Phoenix Rising, available in bookstores everywhere!This month, on Twitter, Facebook, on the podcast, and even at the official website of the Ministry, we’ve been talking up the recent accolade from the book readers’ social network, Goodreads. The first round was comprised of selections from Goodreads, based on activity and reviews. The second round included write-in nominations. Both were voted on by members of the Goodreads network.

Today, it’s official — Phoenix Rising is a Finalist for Best Science Fiction of 2011.

Goodreads and its community of readers have spoken and here is (by author, in alphabetical order) their Top Ten Best Science Fiction of 2011:

  • Ann Aguirre, Aftermath
  • Ilona Andrews, Silver Shark
  • Pip Ballantine & Tee Morris, Phoenix Rising
  • Earnest Cline, Ready Player One
  • James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes
  • Hillary Jordan, When She Woke
  • Stephen King, 11/22/63
  • China Miéville, Embassytown
  • Rob Thurman, Basilisk
  • Daniel H. Wilson, Robopocalypse

[Read more…] about The Goodreads 2011 Choice Awards (or How Much I Love Gravy at Thanksgiving)

Going for Goodreads Gold…well, okay, how about Silver?

There’s a real two-edged sword when it comes to honors and awards. I remember reading about the “importance of awards” when reading titles about getting published, grabbing an agent’s attention, and even marketing a book once it is out there. Across the board: Awards and distinctions help sell books. At least that is what the pros I was reading were telling me.

For a while, though, I’ve been giving awards a sideways glance. yeah, they’re nice and all; but did The Case of the Singing Sword go gangbusters when it won a Parsec? No, not really. Picked up a few more listeners, sure, but it didn’t really give Billi a boost in print sales. So, yeah, awards — nice, and it was very cool going home with that trophy…but I can write without them.

Then Pip and I won the Airship Award for Best Steampunk Literature of 2011. Regardless of what it did for Phoenix Rising sales, I won’t lie to you — it felt good. Really good. I mean, coming-in-from-playing-in-the-snow-and-having-Cream-of-Tomato-soup-with-a-bagutte-side good.

Then, two days before heading out west to Blogworld and ComiKaze Expo, we received word from Goodreads that Phoenix Rising had been short listed for Best Science Fiction of 2011.

At first I was just happy with the nod, but then I took a closer look at the company we were keeping: [Read more…] about Going for Goodreads Gold…well, okay, how about Silver?

A Steampunk Tweetup in Texas!

With only a few days remaining until FenCon, Pip and I are planning furiously for what is promising to be a really fun weekend of panels, podcasting, and steampunk. We owe a special thanks to Matt Bowerman for being our location scout for our own “kickoff celebration.” If you’re in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area on this Friday at 8 p.m., we are hosting a Texas tweetup — steampunk style — at Spring Creek BBQ.

For non-FenCon attendees, it a chance to hang. For FenCon attendees, the restaurant is just five blocks north of the hotel. Pip has made an event page live on Facebook (please RSVP there), but here are a few extra details…

TIME: Friday, September 23, 8:00 p.m.
ADDRESS: 14941 Midway Road, Addison TX
MENU AND INFO: www.springcreekbarbeque.com

We are also planning to wear our steampunk gear for the tweetup! Ladies, strap into your favorite corsets. Gents, wear your best bowlers (or, if you’re doing the Wild, Weird West, your sharpest ten gallon hat)! It’s time to gear up, chow down, and jump into a good time in Texas! Pip and I hope to see you there!

The Latest Guest of New York Comic Con (Seriously? Seriously.)

When Pip and I first got the email from Harper Voyager asking if we would be interested in speaking at ComicCon, I thought it was a longshot. We’re talking about ComicCon, right? The East Coast’s biggest popular culture convention. This weekend is two Dragon*Cons in one convention center. The show floor plays hosts a who’s who of comics, graphic novels, anime, manga, video games, toys, and media. The panel, autograph sessions, and screenings feature all feature A-Listers of Hollywood and Geek Culture.

And they want us to speak on a panel?

We were asked to wait to go into detail, and today we were given a green light.Turns out I was wrong.

New York Comic Con 2011 wants us to speak on two panels. And have a signing session.

Ummm….okay. [Read more…] about The Latest Guest of New York Comic Con (Seriously? Seriously.)

The New Venture: A Friday Addendum

So, this eBook thing. It’s been a trip.

We’ve not been at it for very long, but Pip and I have learned a lot. The biggest thing is that Smashwords’ “Meat Grinder” (the one-stop online application that creates a multitude of formats) can be a fussy, fickled wench. And sure, it’s great to handle all the other formats, but imagine our surprise when we were being asked by Nook users “Why are you using Smashwords? Why not use PubIt?”

And we responded with “Yeah, why not?”
Now, after a whopping half-an-hour for set-up, the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences is making their first round of short stories available for the Nook as well as the Kindle. Here is the complete list of the Ministry’s 99-Penny Dreadfuls, ready for both devices:

  • The Evil that Befell Sampson, written by Philippa Ballantine
    Amazon –Nook
  • Dust on the Davenport, written by O.M. Grey
    Amazon – Nook
  • The Astonishing Amulet of Amernatas, written by Nathan Lowell
    Amazon – Nook
  • A Ruby in Rain, written by Grant Stone
    Amazon – Nook
  • Darkest before the Darkwater, written by ME!
    Amazon – Nook

As I mentioned in my previous post, you should expect more Ministry shorts coming from both Pip and myself. Some will be podcast in the 2012 for Tales from the Archives: Volume 2, but many will be available only as eBooks.

For those of you enjoying your digital short fiction on iPad, eReader, and other devices, we will continue working with Smashwords and all its quirks. Don’t mistake — Smashwords does make it easy. Amazon and Barnes & Noble, however, are making delivery a touch faster.

Thank you, everyone, who have already invested in our 99-Penny Dreadfuls. We hope you keep coming back for more! Please, do leave us reviews on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com for our short story offerings, and tell a friend curious about steampunk to give our short stories a spin. Who knows — your 99¢ suggestion might lead them straight to an exciting steampunk adventure. Available for both the Kindle and the Nook

A New Look and a New Venture

As you may have noticed, in the midst of edits for Of Cogs & Corsets, planning the trip to FenCon in September, and launching a brand new podcast (more on that later), I have decided to finally upgrade my blog to Thesis. So please, mind the dust and ever-growing changes as I try to get this site into some kind of order.

A lot is going on with me right now, hence the lack of blogposts here. Right now, one of the biggest developments for me as a writer (and now, I guess, independent publisher?) is my jump into the digital arena.

Well more like push. Between Pip and Laurie, they both got sick of me waiting at the end of the high dive. [Read more…] about A New Look and a New Venture