The Morning After… WARPAINT now going out to second batch of readers

First, I apologize for the broken link. It’s the first time in more than a year that I’ve typed one in by hand, then failed to test it. So of course, it would die.

Second, in spite of the link typo, I have a couple more than nine volunteers to read WARPAINT. ๐Ÿ˜‰

So here’s what I’m going to do.

The first three readers are in on pure speed. You open the email that quickly, navigate past the broken link, and show up within a couple minutes of the post going live, you get to read.

Next two are in on speed of post plus best “Reason Why,” because the reason you want to do it matters a hell of a lot to me. So, working up the list from earliest to latest, I’m tapping the first two awesome-reason-why readers I come to.

Last four are in on speed plus something VERY specific. I need two readers who have already read HTCB, and I need two readers who have NOT read HTCB—and I’ll let these folks know especially why they were chosen, because I have the following questions I need to have answered. QUICKLY.

HTCB Readers:
1) Did WARPAINT answer questions raised but left unanswered by HTCB? If not, which questions remain?
2) Did you find any contradictions between the first and second books that were not answered in WARPAINT?

(The meaning here, wary reader, is that I built one core part of the plot on a contraction with the first book that came about when I realized I’d done something in the novel physics of HTCB that was a disaster (Novel physics, by the way, do not relate literally to physics. “Novel physics” is a shorthand for “this is the set of rules by which my story world works.”

In WARPAINT, I solve the disaster by showing and using the contradiction AND the disaster as part of the plot. So I don’t need to know about that one. But anything else, yes.)

Non-HTCB Readers:
1) At any point, did I lose you? If so, WHERE? (The book is intended to stand alone, and I need to make sure that it does.) Just one question, but I need to know every single place where I accidentally assumed knowledge from the previous book that you didn’t have so I can fix it. And I need to hear back on this VERY quickly, so if you’re not a fast reader, please let me know so someone else can step in and take your place.

Why Does SPEED MATTER So Much?

Because I need bug-hunting for the print version of WARPAINT by NEXT MONDAY, and for the ebook version of WARPAINT by next WEDNESDAY. (This is just no damn time at all, and I realize this, and I apologize.)

The folks here first demonstrated the ability to respond to urgency.

There’s a lot more time for folks who are reviewing, but for folks bug-hunting or answering questions, time is critical. I want to have live copies of the book available on all platforms for all readers starting to show up by the end of next week. And to actually be able to promo the book the first part of the week after. I want at least to have it live at LEAST a few days before Christmas.

The faster you can get a good list of bugs and some good answers to questions to me, the easier making that happen becomes.

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13 responses to “The Morning After… WARPAINT now going out to second batch of readers”

  1. Lee Avatar

    Note about word processors and smart quotes (I know word does this and it carries over during the conversion process into ebooks): The endquote on a sentence ending with an em dash always faces the wrong way. I just drop the quotes in then insert the em dash.

    ๐Ÿ™‚ caught that in Warpaint. Can I get an Emergency Cookie?

    Reading Warpaint has got me extremely paranoid. And here I thought the outlawing of cloning in my series universe was being paranoid. LOL

  2. Jackrich Avatar
    Jackrich

    Hi, found your site from ralan.com. Had to say how cool this kind of thing is that you’re doing with your reader-fanbase. Also will looking around your workshops and her on your blog cause I think your advice is neat (like, Bradbury’s revised introduction to “Dandelion Wine,” kind of neat ^-^) and I’m anxious to see what kind of mustard you’re making. (clicking that link — now)

    In advance, thanks for all the encouragement thus far and reality stilting you’ve done (that faq article on “the money”…wow…). Talk atcha

  3. Craig Avatar
    Craig

    I finished reading WARPAINT (and LOVED IT!) Sunday evening and sent you what I found.

    Then I discovered that I had a typo in my email to you. Doh!

  4. Sylvia Nickels Avatar

    Oh, I do hope you are able to make Warpaint available that quickly! Can’t wait to read it.
    Sylvia

  5. Lee Avatar
    Lee

    And I guess I missed the boat entirely because of the broken link snafu…

    Lol oh well…

  6. Maureen Avatar
    Maureen

    I stayed up waaaay too late last night reading Warpaint. My message with the typos and suchlike I found should be on the way already…
    I still can’t quite believe I managed to get a place, because I just happened to be opening my Gmail the message appeared, then started freaking out over the broken link XD I think I was exactly the third who got in, and I probably would have been first if I hadn’t taken thirty seconds to whoop with joy when I saw there were still spaces open. ๐Ÿ˜›

  7. Yog-Sothoth Avatar
    Yog-Sothoth

    Got my ARC of Warpaint earlier this morning (my time) and spent ~8 hours solid reading it. Spotted less than a dozen errors, just spelling mistakes (to instead of two, for example). Emailed Holly about those.

    Those who liked HTCB will enjoy Warpaint. It’s twistier than the kind of non-Euclidean corkscrew that H.P. Lovecraft would have had nightmares about if he had been an oenophile.

  8. Jen of Hens Avatar
    Jen of Hens

    OK – now I want an emergency cookie….

    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      Ah, the Big Cookie. It haunts me.

  9. Travis Nelson Avatar
    Travis Nelson

    Well, I gave it a shot twice yesterday. If my first comment had gone through, I would have been somewhere between 1 & 3 on the list. If the second had, I would have got in somewhere around 8. Instead, none of my comments posted and I have to sit and (try to) wait patiently with everyone else for the official release. Not sure what limbo my comments ended up in…figured I’d comment again today, just to see if this one gets through. Maybe I’m just being technically inept. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Congratulations to the lucky few who get an advance read! Very envious!

    1. Travis Nelson Avatar
      Travis Nelson

      Sure, that one works! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  10. Rebecca Anne Avatar
    Rebecca Anne

    Holly I would love to read your fiction because I love you none fiction.

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