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Tuesday. Sunny and still cool. Trash and recycling are at the curb.

Today is Straighten Up The Office Day followed by an hour with the crafters at the library.

I am reading Crystal Soldier for the first time in 20 years and I am glued to the page. Good Ghod, what a great story! The characters are awesome! The world building is great and so far, at about the halfway point, I have no complaints at all.

I was thinking that I would skip the Crystal books, because so very many people have disliked them. Not nearly as many people as disliked the Fey Duology, and not approaching the level of vitriol, but still -- a lot of people really, really disliked these books, and they were not shy of saying so.

I go on record now as saying the critics are wrong.

Firefly is being keeping very close, and is taking every opportunity to climb on my lap to purr and knead and head butt. Her tail is back to normal, and I?

Need to go find breakfast.

How's everybody doing today?
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A Brief History of the Fey Duology

Back in the early 2000s, Steve and I were writing Liaden books for Meisha Merlin and having a pretty good time, except that our paychecks were getting more irregular than we liked. We talked to our agent, who shared the Industry Wisdom that most writers did not put all of their eggs into one literary basket, but branched out, starting one, or even two, other series, under a (or several) pen names. They key was not to compete with yourself, because the intention of the secondary line was to smooth out the cashflow, not to supplant the primary work.

So, we brainstormed, we three, and we came up with an idea that was Nothing At All like Liad (saving a Regency-like setting for the human settlers), a Deeply Dark SF-grounded Fantasy which would be marketed under a pseudonym.

It was a good plan, and it might even have worked.

Except Other Events Overtook Meisha Merlin, and we were not only out of a job, but we were out a $ignificant amount of Back Royalties Owed. The sequel to The Tomorrow Log was a victim of this cataclysm. Fledgling-on-the-web was a benefit. Sharon re-entered the mundane world and took up the melant'i of departmental secretary at the local Little Ivy.

For a Period of Time, we didn't know if we would retain our rights in the Liaden Universe, or if they would become part of the assets of Meisha Merlin sold to satisfy its creditors.

Our agent therefore had one thing in hand to try to sell for us, so that our cats wouldn't have to go live under a bridge -- the proposal for two dark "fantasies."

And -- all honor to her -- she sold them. To Baen. Under the condition that they be published under the Lee and Miller byline.

Money talks. We took the deal. We shouldn't have taken the deal, but we were, frankly, afraid. I don't wish to paint Baen as a villain; in fact, they threw us a much-needed lifeline, and the fact that we've been publishing with them since 2008 tells its own tale.

But the Fey books -- written against, as you might say, the Liaden books -- the reaction to those books nearly finished me as a writer. Wow, did people hate those books, and they wrote to us, and they were Betrayed, and Horrified, and one woman said she had Thrown Away all of her Liaden books and -- my ghod, what a mess.

And I was still working as a secretary at the college. Not my finest hour.

But! A happy ending. Meisha Merlin returned the copyrights to all of its authors; we resold ours to Baen, who, as I mentioned above, we've been working with ever since.

And we never tried to establish a second series again.

Liaden Universe® InfoDump #138 (because there were two 136s)

In This Issue:
Liaden Universe® Constellation Volume 6
Kin Right Update
The State of the Contract
Fey Duology Re-issue
From the Mailbag
Convention Appearances

LIADEN UNIVERSE® CONSTELLATION VOLUME 6
Collecting eleven stories and one acceptance speech, the sixth constellation includes the following previously published stories: "Standing Orders,” “Gadreel’s Folly,” “The Last Train to Clarkesville,” “Wise Child,” “Songs of the Fathers,” “From Every Storm a Rainbow,” “Our Lady of Benevolence,” “Chimera,” “Neutral Ground,” “Mother’s Love,” and “Core Values,” plus a foreword from the author, original to this volume.

Kindle and trade paper editions will be published on May 5. There's no word yet regarding an audio edition.

Cover art by Sam Kennedy

KIN RIGHT
The twenty-eighth Liaden Universe® novel has been turned in. KIN RIGHT is the direct sequel to SALVAGE RIGHT (2023) and also to DIVINER'S BOW, as Shan crosses storylines to finally arrive at Korval's spacestation as directed by his delm, um, three books ago.

Baen has tentatively scheduled publication of this title for "Spring 2027," exact date to be determined.

THE STATE OF THE CONTRACT
There are two more Liaden novels under contract with Baen Books, now that KIN RIGHT has been turned in.

THE FEY DUOLOGY
The rights to DUAINFEY and LONYEYE returned to Lee and Miller several years ago, and it was the intention of the authors to let them lie. However, there have been recent requests that these two titles be made available, which is, among other considerations, A Teaching Moment. It's now my intention to re-issue DUAINFEY and LONGEYE as an e-omnibus, available through Baen and Smashwords. The books will be released as they were always intended to be released -- under a pseudonym -- and will include a introduction from Sharon Lee.

FROM THE MAILBAG
1 Why do we have to wait a WHOLE YEAR for KIN RIGHT?
Because that's how trad publishing works. Baen has other authors and other books in queue ahead of KIN RIGHT, which will be dealt with in its turn.

2 Will there be more Liaden books after this contract is fulfilled?
It's my intention to continue writing for as long as I am able to write and there are characters who want me to tell their stories. So, that's a "Yes, Goddess willing."

CONVENTION APPEARANCES
Sharon Lee does not plan to attend any conventions in 2026.

THE SMALL PRINT
Sites of Interest:
Lee and Miller Patreon Support Page

Pinbeam Books: an online catalog, with vendor links, to all Lee-and-Miller, Miller, and Lee self-published works

Splinter Universe: features outtakes, splinters, oddities from the Lee&Miller writing career, currently hosting the Liaden Read-Along

Welcome to Liad: The official homepage for Liaden Universe® news

Blogs and Other Webly Things of Note:
Sharon Lee’s Blog

Facebook Connections:
Steve Miller Memorial Page

Sharon Lee

Clan Korval

Friends of Liad

Flaran cha'menthi

BlueSky:
Sharon

Xitter:
Sharon

DISCLAIMER
This InfoDump is a product of the Liaden Universe®, accept no imitations. You have received this message because you asked for it. If you wish to subscribe to the Liaden Universe® email list, to unsubscribe from the Liaden Universe® email list, or to change your delivery email address, go here

For those who may still be interested, the introduction to Plan B is here

And the summing-up is here