Science Fiction Writers Find
Appreciation on the Internet

If they hadn't connected, they might have missed their own celebrity status on the Net.

The science-fiction writing team had created their own universe in the late 1980s with three original paperbacks-"Agent of Change," "Conflict of Honors" and "Carpe Diem," based around the fictional universe centered on Liad.

Shortly after "Carpe Diem" was published in 1989, Lee fell ill, and bills mounted. Writing went on the back burner and part-time jobs were shelved in favor of full-time employment. Their writing hit a low point. Their publisher said the books weren't selling, and there was little market for their particular brand of futuristic science fiction.

The future, however, is always brighter in science fiction and that has been the case with the careers of Martin and Lee. In connection with new jobs, they needed better access to the Internet. It was connecting on line with a following they didn't know they had that created a turn around in their writing career.

Introducing themselves in one of their computer chats last year, they discovered they were not so unknown. The first question after Miller explained he was indeed the Steve Miller of Liaden-fame, was: "What happened to you?" and "When's the next book?"

The answer to the FAQs - frequently asked questions - on the Internet about Lee and Miller and their fictional universe included the misinformation they were dead and-or divorced and battling for custody of their various characters.

"It was kind of nice," said Miller.

Not the misinformation, he explained, but that there was any information at all. One of their fans had created a Web page as a gathering place for science-fiction fans.

"They were using our terms (the language of Liad) to communicate with each other," Miller said. "We obviously struck a chord with people that publishers hadn't seen.

When Lee and Miller discovered they were a hot topic on the Internet, they created their own Web page to keep their fans up to date.

"We're even finding ourselves in other people's Web pages now," said Lee. Repeatedly they are asked "When's the next book?"

While the duo was awaiting a new publisher to get back to them on future books, Miller thought their cyberspace fans might be interested in a "chapbook" of short stories from Liaden.

At 8 o'clock one night, they put together an offer on the World Wide Web to self-publish some stories in book form if anyone would order and prepay. At 5 a.m. the next morning, Lee checked her e-mail to find the orders already coming in-from California, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. The response was only outdone by Miller's e-mail, with orders from Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland and also Pennsylvania.

Originally Miller said if he could sell 60 books, he would go ahead with the printing. Orders topped 250 and they were into their first printing. Orders are still coming in and the couple is considering a second printing.

The success of their Internet connection and Web page information, however, doesn't stop at the sale of a single book. New-old fans are still finding Miller and Lee, still asking for books, net-working copies of their out-of print originals, and bombarding bookstores for new copies.

On a call to a California fantasy bookstore, Miller barely had time to introduce himself before the manager was asking him when the next book would appear.

"We're not used to considering ourselves well-known," he said.

"Being on the Internet is a widening experience, a worldwide experience," Lee said.

There is an immediacy to publishing and marketing through and on the Internet that cannot be equaled in the world of paper-publishing and printed royalty reports that can be up to a year old.

"It's a new medium for marketing (books)," Miller said. "It's niche marketing. Once you discover the right area, you're going directly to the people who are interested in your product."