New Fiction -- to me anyway

I've been following any leads I get about new to me writers and having a blast with new surprises. One of my sources is Small Beer Press, the independent publishing company that helped sharpen the writerly teeth of author Jedediah Berry. Today I read an article in the Atlantic Monthly about the sliding of our beloved speculations into the works of more literary writers. First the zombies infiltrating government enterprises and now the pens of literary writers. Who knew? I have my theories about why that is happening but not for here or today. Letting that marinate a bit.

A friend (Lynn Townsend) of a friend (Richard Crawford) is a published steampunk author and she posted a link to an author I didn't know. Then it turned out that the author one I was kinda familiar with: Holly Black. She is definitely someone I need to read. And, before you ask, yeah, I read YA. It's how I find out what's really good and interesting, these days. Started with reading Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea Trilogy. Oh, yeah, about Holly Black, She's writing a vampire story based on a previous short. I'll let her tell it.

From almost the beginning of my career and especially in the last five years, people have been asking/telling me the same thing:

Will you ever write a vampire book? C'mon.

You know who you are.

And mostly I said no, because even though I love vampires (and I have loved vampires a looooong time -- I wore a vampire cape to middle school just for the heck of it; I reread INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE about a million times in high school; I did my eighth grade research paper on vampire folklore; hell, I begged my way into writing the introduction to a Puffin Classics edition of DRACULA not that long ago)* it always seemed like the wrong time. Vampires were either so hot that there seemed to be no room in the market or so over that there seemed to be no room in the market either.

But then, a couple of years ago, while I was waiting to get back my editor's edits on WHITE CAT, I wrote the short story, "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" for THE ETERNAL KISS, a vampire anthology. And it was incredibly strange, because I started it thinking I had nothing to say about vampires and I wound up having a lot to say after all.

So much that I decided I wanted to go back to that world and tell a different story. And now, it's going to be a book!

You can read the official announcement here.

Oh and here's the trailer for Steamlust.


So, you know my additions to my reading list. Mostly shorts but they are the perfect thing to fill bits of time. How are you spending your spare time? Read any good short stories lately?

Teaser Tuesday - First Grave on the Right

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~ Grab your current read
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
~BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
~ Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This is my first time doing this meme, but I have a few blogger friends who have convinced me to give it a shot. My teaser is from First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones:

You'd think, me being a grim reaper and all, I'd have connections, ways of obtaining Blurry Guy's identity. But since the only connection from the other side I'd ever made was that of Bad, aka death incarnate, inquiries proved difficult. (page 72, First Grave on the Right).

I'm only a few chapters into the book, but I'm really liking the characters and story. I have a feeling I'll be hooked on this series and author by the end. I'd love to see your teasers, or just let me know what you're reading and how you like it so far.

Cheers!

Ella

Why I Write Fantasy—After All These Years, Finding the Most Important Reason

I deliberated a while finding a topic for today’s post. Nothing I considered appealed, and then the theme came from that very indecision.

I’m struggling with practically everything lately, while I assist my 85 year-old mother through the last of her life. She suffers from severe dementia, which has numerous complications ravaging her body. Last week, her doctor placed her under hospice care. As her only immediate family, it is difficult to keep enough vitality in myself to support, comfort, and enjoy her at this stage as I truly wish. My life has been turned upside down and quickly reduced to the bare minimum of what is essential and what is healing.

Learning what activities revitalize my spirit has been a process of trial and error. It’s much like times I’ve been both tired and hungry, standing in front of an open refrigerator door, too exhausted to imagine what I want to eat, requiring direct sensory input to make the decision. In the past weeks, desperate to strengthen my crumbling spirit, I’ve sampled all my usual pastimes and activities. Most gave me an ill feeling, like considering a distasteful food. The effort to determine what worked further drained my limited strength.

Then, I attempted writing new material on my current novel. Many folks advised I wouldn’t be able to concentrate, and it was difficult to begin. But, after a short while, my characters invited me to travel along with them as they rode dragons over mysterious lands and learned ancient secrets of their fantasy world. Chapter after chapter rolled smoothly off my fingers. My mind felt clean and rested, rather than cluttered and tired. My lungs relaxed and filled more fully. Magical.

As I analyzed the release my writing gave me, I considered how I might feel if my characters faced real-life dilemmas, with pain and suffering they had no special powers to circumvent. The stark parallel to real hardships would, for me, strip away the healing nature of my creative process. I need the larger-than-life expanse of fantasy. Stretching my imagination to create new worlds is an exercise that delivers a drug-like rush to my mind. Normally, I think of that as an addictive process, but now…it is purely healing.

Out of the hardest times, you come to know yourself better. I am grateful for that much.

(This is cross-posted on my own personal blog, Illusions of Intimacy.)

~ ~ ~ Marsha A. Moore is a writer of fantasy romance. The magic of art and nature spark life into her writing. She is the author of the novel, TEARS ON A TRANQUIL LAKE, the first in a trilogy. Part two, TORTUGA TREASURE is contracted for release in January, 2012. Look for her first of an epic fantasy romance series, SEEKING ASCRIBE: ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS ONE, to be available early 2012.

Prepping for NaNo

Where am I in this task of preparing for NaNoWriMo?  Well, considering that I didn’t know what I was going to do on the 1^st of the month, I have moved along slowly but with promise. 

Last week I mentioned I’m taking a class with Susan Merier, who by the way has written over 50 published books.  I figure she has a handle on getting those words down and into a story form.  So, the first week we had to come up with a story summary in the form of a paragraph or a sentence.  Well, at first I thought that was pretty lame since I didn’t have an idea of what I was going to write.  Then the rush of the assignment and the time element moved my brain to do amazing feats.  I started with the one sentence, the elevator pitch.  My thought was that it’s easier to write one sentence about something you don’t know squat about than a paragraph.  And it was and it wasn’t.  But, from that one sentence, I came up with a story idea and then went on to the paragraph.  Bit by bit the story started to emerge.  But, there were big holes in the story and they needed filling. 

This week in the class we did an assignment called a ‘list of 20.’  It’s an exercise where you ask a question related to your story and the more specific the better.  Then you let your creativity go wild to answer the question from the logical to the wierd. There are no right or wrong answers.  The point of the exercise is that after twenty answers you will find two or three gems that will kick your story out of its stuck mode or in a completely unexpected direction.  Neat.

 I took it further, as Susan said I made the exercise my own, from the list other questions popped up in my mind and more answers came into the forefront. This continued until the list was gigantic.  The holes were filling up.  Mind you, I don’t have the exact inciting incident or the plot points or the realization yet.  That’s what I will be working on the next two weeks, as well as a list of scenes.  Tick-Tock! Tick-Tock!

What is your method of preparing for the great write in November?

Later,

Elizabeth

    

Time Crunching or Leisure Time

As I gotten older, time seems to move faster. It's hard to describe why it feels faster when it isn't going any faster. Are you in the same boat? What about your characters?

Do they feel there isn't enough time to complete everything? Or do they have all the time in the world to complete the task in hand? Depending on the answer, you can create a hair-raising experience for your characters.

Remember time is important to our everyday lives, so it need to shows up in your novel as well.

Comfort and Joy

With Canadian Thanksgiving, could American Christmas advertising be far behind? In my world, yes it can be. Still need to do Halloween. However, the title of this blog applies to neither.

I've had a bit of a surprise in my life (which accounts for why I didn't post last week) and am taking all the comforts and joys I can get for now. So, when I found this referred to by one of my Facebook friends, I had to see what it was about.

Then I found:


That's all for now. Enjoy.
m

My Big Ol’ Steampunk Post

First up, I’m verily excited about today’s release of the new steampunk anthology aptly titled Steampunk! The genre is becoming a popular choice for short fiction collections, and I can’t wait to pick this one up. For a preview, you can nab a free copy of Cory Doctorow’s story, Clockwork Fagin, for your Kindle. 

There are plenty of calls for steampunk submissions suited to almost any blend of Victorian fare. Here’s a few to check out: 

Entangled Publishing is looking for steampunk with strong romantic elements. They’re also still taking subs for a superhero antho with similar guidelines. 

KnightWatch Press is collecting steampunk horror tales for Machina Mortis: Steampunk'd Tales of Terror.

Or, consider sending your work to one of these wonderful periodicals: Steampunk Magazine and Doctor Fantastique's Show of Wonders. Both are available in print and digital versions. 

Tor's Steampunk Week was a hit, once again. If you didn’t get a chance to follow the fun, I suggest you hop on over to browse the articles. Cat Rambo’s plea for the appearance of more historic women in steampunk was refreshing, and Mike Perschon (aka the Steampunk Scholar) presents his annotated Steampunk Gilgamesh. Plus, there’s oodles of great stuff on the artwork, designs, and overall aesthetics of the subculture. 

Another bit of awesome on my radar this week is the new movie trailer for The Raven, scheduled for release next year. While there doesn’t seem to be anything specifically steampunk about it so far, but I can’t pass up a deliciously spooky Victorian story. For me, John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe is just as wonderful a casting as Johnny Depp was as Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow. Enjoy a peak: 

Finally, I’ve gotta give a shout out to a budding enterprise in my old stomping ground, Colorado Springs. Steampunk Brewing Co. isn’t up and running yet, but I’ll be keeping an eye on them to get off the ground sometime next year. They do have a website where you can show your support and follow their blog. Steampunk and beer is a great combination. OK, anything and beer is a great combination.

Any favorite posts from Steampunk Week? Feel free to let us know about more submission opportunities, too. Or, tell me about any anthologies you've read that can't be missed.