Daniel Keys Moran

Over in LiveJournal land, Kate has an open letter to Daniel Keys Moran:

As someone who very nearly cries at the idea of a completed Trent novel languishing on your hard drive, may I introduce you to Lulu or Cafe Press? Both will print books from uploaded files, as they are ordered, for the price of their cost plus whatever profit you like (meaning no money up front for the author, though I understand some services are extra); both have you retain your copyright; and both are very easy. I've seen Lulu books myself and the quality is quite good.

If you don't know Moran, he's the author of a partial series of SF books, including The Long Run, which is one of my very favorite SF novels. It's about the adventures of Trent Castanaveras, a thief who gets the nickname "the Uncatchable" after repeatedly thwarting attempts to captrue him by the oppressive world government. (He may or may not also be Vash the Stampede.) The future world setting is more than a little dated now, but Trent simply oozes panache, and the book is a blast.

Moran has at least one more complete Trent novel, but he's, um, difficult to work with, and has had trouble finding and keeping a publisher. But if there was ever a case that seemed made for Lulu, this is it. I'd happily pay for a copy (multiple copies!) of the new book, and he wouldn't even need to put up with editorial oversight...

Anyway, I fully support the call for self-publishing in Kate's open letter. And if you run across a used copy of The Long Run, do yourself a favor and buy it.