April 30 we launched Space Cowboys 5: Cattle Drive, and holy gods did it take off. It has done the best of any of our books to date.
We hit #1 Top New Release not once, but twice, and the first time at #1 it stayed there for over 30 hours — which is a new record for us.
This is the second Raconteur Press release with line art for each story, and the first to have the whimsical adverts at the end; and I’m not sure if the adverts/art were responsible for the success, or just that people have figured out we’re not going anywhere and decided we’re worth checking out. Either way I’m grateful.
Speaking of grateful, when Sarah Hoyt Instalaunched us, apparently our authors really gave some rando commenter over there a moderate case of the hips:
“Sorry, the only space going on with you guys is the empty space between your ears that you are trying to fill with silly fantasies . The space between my ears is already jammed to bursting with facts, truth and actual life experience. I couldn’t possibly fit one of your little fantasies sideways into my space even if you made up worlds and weapons to force your way inside my mind”
And:
“Little effeminate men writing about space cowboys. I spent a month every year in Wyoming hunting and drinking with real cowboys. I only spent my life exploring the actual world that actually existed in the time I was in it. Not only have none of you lived an actual life you can’t even bring yourself to fantasize about real life. Just read Zane Gray. You clowns keep reinventing the wheel. And it’s never been broken”
Pretty sure that the “month in Wyoming …” quote is the plot for the movie ‘City Slickers’, but machts nicht.
Anyhoo. Show your support for Space Western Competence Pr0n, kittens, mothers, apple pie, and Giving Rando Instapundit Commenters Not-Quite-Terminal-Enough Butt-Hurt: Buy this book!
LawDog
That guy cared so little about the book that he made sure to write multiple paragraphs about it over two comments.
A whole month, yet!
Pretty sure these are professional trollers hired by Tad publishing to try to diminish your success in the world of anthologies. Too bad that the trolls they hard project entirely too much. Should we talk about my life experience in a couple of foreign places herding cats? After listening to the little complaints, I’ve realized these two people I wouldn’t share my water with Iraq or Afghanistan. Guys keep up the good work because you’re success is measured by the quality of the trolls you receive.
“Little effeminate men?”
Heh.
He needs to get out more. As in, more than one month during the most innocuous time of year at the Big Sky Country dude ranch.
I don’t think this guy is a professional troll. I think he’s mentally ill. He goes into absurd rants on nearly every post at Instapundit and they are all about as coherent as the ones quoted above.
Do you sell through any other outlets besides Amazon? Being at the end of a long supply line I often deal with them, but even if it costs me a bit more I prefer to shop elsewhere.
Quite a few of our books are at Books a Million–
https://www.booksamillion.com/search?filter=&id=9038687887400&query=Raconteur+Press
Thanks, I’m over there shopping now.
My reply. (I tried to keep it nice.)
Hello raynman. My, what a small space exists between your ears if 1 month a year on a dude ranch has completely filled it to the brim.
You see, Sparky, I’ve written for Racontuer Press, and I can pretty much guarantee that the least of us have had more life experiences than than your tiny brain could possibly handle.
Take me, for example.
9 years in the Navy, 3 deployments, and over twenty countries visited. I’ve had an audience with the Pope, been chased out of the Sistine Chapel by angry nuns with rulers, watched lava flow from three different volcanoes, and watched a sunset from atop one of the tallest volcanoes in the world.
I’ve seen nebulae and galaxies and recorded those visions with a camera and lens, watched a total eclipse of the sun, swam with sharks, dove with dolphins, and snorkled to the sound of humpback whalesong. I’ve seen 12 foot mantas in the Pacific, and 8″ lionfish in the Red Sea.
I’ve hiked to the top of the Smokies, and to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I’ve walked miles and miles of country roads, just to see where they go. I’ve explored this country, and will continue to do so by car, truck, RV, and on foot.
I’ve worked on nuclear reactors, and in mini marts. I’ve worked in engineering, zinc mining, field tech support, programming, database development and administration, and in environmental remediation. And now I teach all of those things.
And with all of that life experience, with all I’ve seen and done, my brain isn’t even close to full. Our capacity for learning, with you as the self proclaimed exception, is nearly infinite. We learn as we do, but we teach by writing and talking and dreaming.
And that, Sparky, is the unbreachable gulf that separates folks like me, who write stories for others, and you, you silent, sad little man. We, who have seen and experienced wonders, share those things through our stories. You, on the other hand, keep them all to yourself, hoarded in the dim recesses of the dusty cavity you call a heart. When we die, our stories will live on, both on the page, and in the minds of the people who read them. Your stories will all die with you, unknown, unshared, and unmourned.
And you’re proud of this. That’s the saddest thing of all.
But it isn’t too late, Sparky. Sit down at a keyboard and find a way to share the things you’ve learned along the way. Show what it’s like to be a cowboy and on the trail. Do it for those who, whether by ability, inclination or circumstance, cannot experince them directly. Share a bit of yourself with them, and you, too, will have a shot at remembrance.
Or stay strong and silent. (Emphasis on the silent.)
Sigh.
And you just made his day. You engaged, and played the dickmeasuring game. People like that aren’t worth the effort to click, “reply”.
*applause* Heck, the authors of SC5 could put together a “no s$*%&, there I was” non-fic anthology that would blow people’s minds…and I’m sure somebody like this animate sack of hammers would gripe about it.
Well. I’m an aspiring ttrpg writer, working on two personal projects. One is, more or less, a space western rpg. I’ve done a fair amount of my own adventuring in my 57 years on the planet. I spent most of my time in the woods from the age of 8 til adulthood forced me to get a full-time job, camped, hiked, traveled, and put time into Boy Scouts and the Explorer Scouts back when that meant something. I’ve done martial arts, wrestling, rock climbing, and some cliff diving. I’ve been a bouncer in a biker bar. I can build a cabin, survive comfortably in the wilderness, grow a garden, I hunt, fish, make knives, play ttrpgs, and I moved from Wisconsin to Montana at 48 to enjoy more freedom, and more wilderness. I’m nothing special, just your average Generation-X guy enjoying life. That Wyoming dude ranch guy? He wouldn’t have made it growing up in the 70s and 80s lol. Y’all keep up the good works!
Same jackass tried to claim that we’re ruining Alaska by moving back up there, and that Fairbanks runs its sewage lines above ground because of pollution from gold mines.
Moonbat, thy name is Raynman.
He should change his handle. He makes Dustin Hoffman’s character look like Leonardo da Vinci by comparison.
Just to clarify for folks in the lower forty eight that may not know, our sewers here in and around Fairbanks are below ground.
Some remote villages here in Alaska do have above ground utilidors, with water and sewer lines therein, as such is easier to heat and maintain with -40° temperatures if not buried below permafrost.
Living in the general area of Jackson Hole, I am somewhat familiar with Wyoming “dude” ranches. I assure you 1) Dude is not a term of endearment among the locals, and 2) Any resemblance between a dude ranch visit and an actual cowboy experience is nonexistent.
“The space between my ears is already jammed to bursting with facts, truth and actual life experience. I couldn’t possibly fit one of your little fantasies sideways into my space even if you made up worlds and weapons to force your way inside my mind”
Translation: “My mind is closed and so crammed with old ideas that it cannot accept anything new, innovative, or creative. Nothing you write is powerful enough to open or expand it.”
IOW, typical modern Leftist. If I were a betting man, I’d wager real money that a plurality — if not a majority — of those “facts, truth and actual life experience” consists of long-debunked Marxist theories and socialist double-think.
What’s the old adage about minds and parachutes, again?