Cresperian eBooks on sale!

An important message from my publisher, which includes some of my books!

ebook sale for book lovers

We appreciate our readers for making Tremolo: cry of the loon a breakout novel for Aaron Paul Lazar. Mazurka by Aaron along with several popular titles are currently available for 99 cents via Amazon Kindle.

Doggie Biscuit!, humor by Darrell Bain
Learning to Write the Easy Way for Fun, Posterity and Money, writing advice by Dorothy Ann Skarles
Mazurka, mystery by Aaron Paul Lazar
Sonora Wind, historical fiction by Florence Byham Weinberg
The Solomon Scandals, suspense by David Rothman
The Y Factor, SF by Darrell Bain and Stephanie Osborn.

Additional ebooks available at discount prices from $2.75 to $4.40 via Amazon Kindle.
http://amzn.to/eYYy6s

Lida E. Quillen, Publisher
Twilight Times Books

Past, Present, and Future

Time for an update!

Past:

Chattacon was, as usual, a delight. I had a great time there, but unfortunately managed to miss a face to face with John Ringo. Of late, I've become one of John's scientific advisors, and when I heard he'd showed I looked everywhere - except where he was. Oh well. Another shot at him come LibertyCon this summer.

Burnout and The Y Factor came out nicely in the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll. Burnout made #7 in the category of Science Fiction Novel, and #11 for Best Cover Art. The Y Factor made #3 in Best Cover Art! MANY thanks to everyone who voted!

The Y Factor is a finalist for the EPIC Award, formerly known as the EPPIE, and Burnout is a finalist for the Int'l Thriller Writers' Best First Novel! (Excitement ensues as I wait for the results...)

Present:

I'm working hard on Escape Velocity, the sequel to Burnout. It's about a quarter of the way done. It'd be farther along if the characters would follow my outline, lol. Somehow they wind up doing things I hadn't expected and didn't plan for, and then I have to adjust the outline!

The Cresperian Alliance, Book 3 of the Cresperian Saga, has been released as an ebook! For more information on the book and how to purchase, go to my website and click on the "Books" link.

Travis "Doc" Taylor and I are working on a book called Extraction Point! We hope it will be the first of a series of novels. Travis and I are both VERY pleased at how it's progressing.

Sullivan-Maxx Literary Agency is representing my Displaced Detective series, with an eye to placing it with a publisher. I'm really excited and hopeful about that; I already have 4 books done in the series, with a 5th in work!

Future:

MidSouthCon in Memphis is flying toward us! It's always a delightful convention filled with friends and colleagues, and I'm very much looking forward to it! Burnout is nominated for the Darrell Award, so there's an element of anxious anticipation as well!

The EPIC Award winners will be announced from EPICon in New Orleans NEXT WEEKEND! Cross your fingers for The Y Factor!

Stay tuned for more upcoming adventures!

I have been derelict

Dear readers, please forgive me. I have been derelict in my attentions to this blog. I can only plead that I have been up to my eyeballs in manuscripts. For a writer, this is a good thing, yes? Since the summer started I have collaborated with Darrell Bain on the third book in the Cresperia Series, called The Cresperian Alliance; it is now under contract. It is the sequel to Human By Choice and The Y Factor, which latter will be coming out in print in December, just in time for the holidays.

The Cresperian Alliance should come out in e-book in January, and in print next summer.

I have also collaborated with Travis "Doc" Taylor, my mentor, on a book called Extraction Point! which we are hoping to be the first in a series. I completed Book 6 in an as-yet-unsold series of science fiction mysteries. I edited yet another book for submission to a publisher. And now I've started on the sequel to Burnout, tentatively called Escape Velocity.

In addition to this, I have been doing booksignings and guest appearances at conventions and interviews and goodness knows what else. I hadn't a day off from Labor Day through the first weekend of October. Just over a week ago I did a day trip (!) from Huntsville, AL to Jackson, MS for a booksigning. I will be appearing this Wednesday night at 9pm EDT on the blogtalkradio show Premium Views, and I will be in Corinth, MS the first Saturday in October for another talk and booksigning.

I've been a busy little rocket scientist. I hope that helps make up for the lack of updates here. I'll try to do better in future.

Updates on The Cresperian Series

The Cresperian Series, consisting of Human By Choice (Darrell Bain and Travis S. Taylor), and The Y Factor (Darrell Bain and Stephanie Osborn) now has a third book.

The Cresperian Alliance (Stephanie Osborn and Darrell Bain) is the next in the saga of the gentle "Crispies" and their interactions with the human race. The Cresperian Alliance sees the return of Earth's first starships from Cresperia. An alliance has been formed between the advanced, but peace-loving, Cresperians, and the more volatile humans. But now there's another race involved, allied with neither. And the Snappers, while advanced, aren't so friendly or peace-loving. Will the Snappers decide to expand their interplanetary empire? If so, in what direction...? What should Cresperia do? What should Earth do? And will the Cresperian alliance hold, should the worst happen?

Contract for The Cresperian Alliance is IN HAND! Tentative ebook publication is scheduled for Jan 15, 2010. Tentative trade paperback print publication is slated for Jul 15, 2010.

Human By Choice was released in trade paper last month, and simultaneously garnered the Dream Realm Award!

And my husband, Darrell Osborn, who created the cover art for Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, has been asked by Twilight Times Books to create art concepts for the cover of The Y Factor!

Listen to My Latest Podcast!

We were considerably delayed in the live broadcast by severe thunderstorms in the host's location, but we went on with the interview when E.W. got his power back, and BTR recorded a fun interview, which can be heard in it's entirety here:

Interview With The Mortal Vampire, Part II - Stephanie Osborn RETURNS!

We had a great time, chatting not only about my latest news (The Y Factor going best-seller, syndicated reviews appearing in the New York Times, upcoming appearances), but also the slate of books I have under way. We also discussed book writing styles and techniques, how to overcome writer's block, and whether or not you want to be around me during a tornado warning!

Stop by and listen!

I'm reviewed in the New York Times!

Oh my gosh, I am so thrilled. Darrell Bain and I ran across an article referring to Human By Choice a week or so ago, by a writer who checked out electronic gadgets, e-books and the like. He loved Human By Choice, so I emailed him to tell him the sequel, The Y Factor, was out, and would he like a free review copy? He was also a big fan of my mentor, Travis "Doc" Taylor, so I told him I had a book out that Trav had mentored me through, and was currently co-authoring a book with him.

Well, that got him really interested. In the end, he BOUGHT not only The Y Factor, but Burnout, as e-books, because as a writer himself, he felt writers should get paid for their work and not give it away. And the results came out today.

The Article

The Pertinent Excerpt (by kind permission of the author):

This Week at Mobile Tech Manor
E-books of the week

This week I read "The Y Factor" by Darrell Bain and Stephanie Osborn, the second in the "Cresperian" series I told you about last week. This book was very enjoyable and I can't wait to read the next book in the series. I was thrilled to hear from both Darrell and Stephanie that they are beginning work on the next book in the series so guys, please get to work, OK? It turns out that Darrell is only about 50 miles from me so maybe we can have some coffee sometime. That would be cool.

Stephanie told me about her own novel, "Burnout: the Mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281" and I am in the middle of it right now. It is a good story abouta shuttle landing tragedy that is not quite what it seems, and it is a real page-turner. Stephanie is a good writer and she is able to draw from her experience working on the shuttle program in her past life. It is a great read and recommended. I am always excited to discover a new author and I will be following her writing career for sure.

~jkOnTheRun/ New York Times

Jean Henry Mead Interviews Stephanie Osborn on "Mysterious People"

Mystery author and interviewer Jean Henry Mead interviews Stephanie Osborn, best-selling author of The Y Factor and Burnout: The mystery of Space Shuttle STS-281, on her blog forum, "Mysterious People." Discussing Osborn's childhood, career, and the Challenger and Columbia disasters, as well as their relationships to her books Burnout and The Y Factor, a portrait of the author begins to emerge.

"A Conversation with Stephanie Osborn" can be found at:
Mysterious People

Be sure to leave a comment for discussion!

Where is she now??

Steph is busy busy right now!

1) It's the week before finals at the schools, and kids are going crazy doing last minute cramming. If they'd studied throughout the year, they wouldn't need me trying to stuff knowledge into their heads at the last minute, but oh well...

2) I'm deep into writing Extraction Point! with Travis S. Taylor. It's a fascinating science fiction story with more than a touch of mystery thrown in, and the first in a series. I'm about to finish chapter 5 and move on to chapter 6.

3) I've been editing a book of my own, again the first in a series, involving alternate universes and the ability to pop from one to another. Imagine the chagrin when a person from an alternate universe is inadvertently brought to ours and can't be sent back...

4) Darrell Bain and I are about to start talking plot on the third book in the Cresperia Series! #1 was Human By Choice, written by Bain and Taylor. #2 is The Y Factor, written by Bain and myself and currently near the top of Fictionwise's best-seller list. (It stayed at #1 on the SF list for some time, and I think it's still at #2! Last I saw it was #16 on the overall fiction list at Fictionwise!)

5) Once school is out I'm also going to start on the much-demanded sequel to Burnout! It's already outlined; hopefully I'll get a good start on the rough draft, at least, through the summer.

Writing, writing, and more writing! I'm lovin' it!

Book update

I have been so busy keeping up with things I haven't had a chance to blog here. The latest book news is as follows:

Burnout has moved up to #24 on the Fictionwise SF Best-seller list. (That's still out of nearly 5000 books!)

The Y Factor has been a Fictionwise Featured Selection.

The Y Factor is now at NUMBER ONE on the Fictionwise SF Best-seller list!

AAAANNND...

The Y Factor is at #17 on Fictionwise's OVERALL Fiction Best-seller list!

I've been about to blow a gasket. :-) I'm really happy.

In other matters, several schools have been shut down due to probable cases of H1N1, so tutoring has been a little dicey. But I've managed. Lip balm with tea tree oil, lysol, and hand sanitizers are the rule.

Update on Blown Mind

I hadn't checked book status in a couple of days, so I decided to do that this afternoon before I had to leave to meet my first tutoring student.

Imagine my shock when I discovered that Burnout was at number 30 (out of about 5000!) on Fictionwise's best-seller list!

And then I discovered that The Y Factor had climbed again -- TO NUMBER THREE!!!

I think they heard the scream in the next county. Maybe the next state.

I honestly don't know what to DO - I never EVER expected this to happen!

I'm so excited I have been shaking, and it was all I could do to keep it under the speed limit on the way to tutor, my adrenaline levels were so high. The thing to understand about me is that, inside, I'm sort of a six-year-old with about 4 decades of experience. And that 6-year-old has just been presented with the ultimate Christmas present. I'm not a braggart. I'm just dancing around the Christmas tree, screaming and singing and laughing and spinning, wanting to share my happiness with everybody around me.

I'm so happy I can't keep it inside.

My mind is blown...

...I am a best-selling author.

On Tuesday the 21st of April, The Y Factor, coauthored by Eppie Award winner Darrell Bain and myself, was released as an e-book. By Wednesday evening, it was #13 on Fictionwise's best-seller list. And it's had legs.

It was a fun book to write, the second in a series about first contact with an alien race, and the politics involved, etc. And Darrell is fun to work with, too. I had high hopes for it.

But my gosh, I never expected this.

I'm still so stunned I can't believe it's real. I don't know how to act, or what to say, or anything. I've tweaked my website a bit, but past that I'm not sure what to DO.

I'd turn cartwheels (if I could), or scream at the top of my lungs (except the neighbors would probably object), or run around in circles (but my bad knees would give out). I GOTTA find a way to vent this and make it real to me! Suggestions, anybody?

If you're interested, you can purchase The Y Factor e-book here and here. (It'll be out in trade paperback this fall.) But you might want to pick up the first book in the series by Bain and my mentor, Travis Taylor, Human By Choice. You can find the ebook here. The paperback will be released soon.

MidSouthCon is Coming!

And I am coming to MidSouthCon! This weekend in Memphis, and most (but not all) of The Write Pack will be there! It's looking like I'll have some limited edition pre-release copies of Burnout available for purchase and signing, too! (That's if UPS delivers the shipment on time!) I'll also have some handouts and posters for The Y Factor, which is still in the editing mode.

I'm busily getting together all the things I need to bring: posters, handouts, sharpies, clothes, etc. I'm looking forward to it!

For further info on my upcoming appearances, go here.

More updates

Darrell Bain is under the weather right now, so he asked me if I could go ahead and finish reviewing and acting on the editor's comments for The Y Factor. Finished that tonight and shipped it off to him.

The latest galley of Burnout arrived today. I checked it against my comments, and everything looks fixed, and the updated cover looks wonderful! I emailed my publisher and told her it looked good and to run with that puppy!

Honestly, it's like being on a roller coaster headed down a HUUUGE hill, and nearing the bottom! I'm only picking up speed!

The Y Factor & Burnout updates

The first edits came in today for The Y Factor, the sequel to Human By Choice that Darrell Bain asked me to co-author. As he's a bit under the weather, he asked me to go ahead and take a look at it.

I was really pleased; for the most part, all it consisted of was spelling and grammatical boo-boos, quick and easy to fix. There are a couple of things that I want Darrell to look at and give his yea/nay on, but the bulk of it was done in a couple of hours.

The cover flat for The Y Factor came in, too, and looks great!

A tweak to the Burnout cover flat came in, lightening the text, and if it looked great before, it looks fantastic now! I'm starting to get really REALLY excited!