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Showing posts from 2015

Game of Thrones meets Dune?

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"Game of Thrones meets Dune?"   You be the judge.   Award-winning author Nicholas C. Rossis is heating up the charts in the realm of epic fantasy and sci-fi. For a strictly limited time, you can get the first novel of his best-selling series, Pearseus, for FREE.   What is it about?   It's New Year's Eve, the year of 2099, but the distinguished guests aboard the Pearseus won't get to countdown seconds; soon they'll be counting bodies and survivors after the spaceship's crash landing on another planet. The good news? The planet is seemingly hospitable both in resources and in terms of the natives' attitude towards earthlings. The bad news? They might have come on this planet bare of possessions, but what they haven't been able to shed are the shortcomings of their human nature. Will that be the sole threat to a unified future, or is the new land and its first inhabitants not as innocent as they look? Schism  is the prequel to the

Today's Typo #9

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Roselle Park councilwoman quits over 'Christmas' tree lighting "It came down to the addition of a single word..." It certainly did. In the first sentence of the article. Full article here: http://www.nj.com/union/index.ssf/2015/12/roselle_park_councilwoman_quits_over_tree_lighting.html

10 Questions with Writer Gwyneth Jones (@AnnHalam)

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This Author Spotlight features Gwyneth Jones author of Grasshopper's Child Gwyneth Jones was born in Manchester, England. She took an undergraduate degree at the University of Sussex, in History of Ideas (with Latin), specializing in seventeenth-century Europe, which gave her a taste for studying the structure of  scientific revolutions, and societies (scientific and otherwise) in phase transition; a background that still resonates in her work.  She's written many genre novels for teenagers, mostly using the pseudonym Ann Halam, and several highly regarded science fiction novels for adults, notably the Aleutian Trilogy: White Queen, North Wind, and Phoenix Café ; Life , the fictional biography of a woman scientist of genius, and the ‘near-future fantasy’ series, Bold As Love based on alternative cultures, horrific new science, revolution and rock music in a darkening world.  Collections of her critical writings and essays ‘Deconstructing

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 30 ... WINNER!

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Day 30 Yay! I wrote a lot and reached 74,802 words when it was time to validate the manuscript on the NaNoWriMo website. I actually signed up for NaNoWriMo this year on November 3rd, three days after it began. I therefore wondered if I could continue NaNoWriMo for an additional 3 days, writing until December 3rd, which would give me a chance to actually complete the novel.  My first goal was to write 50,000 words. My second goal was to reach 60,000 words. My third goal was to complete the novel. I'm very close. So those three days would've helped a lot. I therefore contacted Grant Faulkner on Twitter. Grant is the Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. I figured he would know. So I asked him if the three-day rule would apply (start from the bottom): Grant was very gracious and of course the whole thing was very tongue-in-cheek. Thanks, Grant, for being a good sport! So, the writing continues. I didn't get started writing today as

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 29

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Day 29 6000 words today. Trying to get the book complete... so trying... was up til 4:00 a.m. again. Still tomorrow... Still tomorrow... Still tomorrow.........

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 28

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Day 28 Yesterday was an interesting day of writing. I didn't get started as soon as I would have liked, but I still managed to get 4859 words, bringing the novel's total to 61,054. That means I accomplished my goal of reaching 50,000 words. I also accomplished my goal of reaching 60,000 words. My final goal is to complete the novel. I have no idea how many words the completed novel will come out to. Doesn't really matter. I'm thinking maybe  another 15,000 - 20,000. The question now is if I can complete the story between now and tomorrow. Because as stated above, the goal was to complete the novel during NaNoWriMo, to see if I could do it. I had to stay up til 4:00 a.m. to accomplish yesterday's writing session. And I've written about 2000 words so far today. But it's no longer about word count so much as it is honoring the wishes of the story and its players. So two days left in this year's NaNoWriMo. I hope yo

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Days 26 & 27

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Days 26 & 27 This will be a quick blog post. We should all be putting the majority of our time, thought, focus, strength, courage, belief, and love for what we do into our story, for we have THREE more days, including today. The past two days have been good days of writing; 5000 words both days. My word count is now 56,195, so once I've uploaded the manuscript it will qualify for "winning". Yay! But my goal was to not only write (at least) 60,000 words but to also FINISH my novel during NaNoWriMo. That remains a possibility. Hence the brevity of this post.  Three days... Less than 4000 words to reach 60,000... But the story definitely won't be complete in 4000 words. Maybe 14,000. Maybe. Probably more like 24,000, which would require 8000 words each day for the next three days.500-1000 words per hour means that would require 8 to 16 hours of writing per day. That's a lot. How many words do you have remaining? Do the math; divide it by three

NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 25

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Day 25 First, HAPPY THANKSGIVING if you're in the USA. For those outside the USA, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, HAPPY AUTUMN, HAPPY THURSDAY! Second, NaNoWriMo2015 is quickly wrapping up.Less than a week to go. I hope everyone is on track to reach 50k. I'm still aiming for 60k. We'll see what happens in the coming days. My goal is to finish this book and have it be 60,000 words. But we'll see what the story dictates, as the story is ultimately the final arbiter of word count. I don't believe in artificially-imposed word counts based on industry standards. If your YA Romance is 130,000 words and the plot and story and characterization are solid, then there's no need to edit your manuscript down to 80,000 words merely because of the perception that young adults aren't capable of reading anything longer than 80,000 words. That is stupid. Order of the Phoenix is quite long. That's only one example. But at this stage, don't worry or even think too much

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 24

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Day 24 Holy schnikeys, day 24!!! Wow. It was just day... 5 not that long ago. Writing today was good... 2119 words, which brought me to 42,523. Not as far along as I'd hoped, but still ahead of schedule. There were several days of research, a lot of listening to music and reading about music, mostly from the 80s, and trying to get the prose just so. Today I finally pushed past that chunk of research-dependent story and wrote the next scene, which at first I was thrilled and frightened by, and which I then questioned if it should even be in the story at all, but which I went ahead and wrote. Lo and behold I am amazed at what took shape. Not yet sure how it's all going to fit together, but that's not something to fret over now. Now is the time to go for it, to let the story rip, to push through the dreaded middle everyone is always whining about. I don't want to get into all that. Focus on having fun and continuing to follow your characte

Free Kindle Book Promo! Everville: The Fall of Brackenbone -- Now through 11/28/15

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I wanted to let you all know that my friend and fellow writer Roy Huff is having a Free Kindle Book promo for his fourth book, Everville: The Fall of  Brackenbone ASIN B00WWO1CC2 . He is also having a 99 cents Kindle Countdown Deal in the UK & US for Everville:  Books 1-3 Boxed set 11/22/15 - 11/28/15 to coincide with the Free  Promo of Book four. Grab your copy today, right now, while you're here thinking about it. It'll give you something good to read after eating all that turkey. If you haven't  seen the promo on Twitter @evervillefans already, check it out. Also, the last day of the promo is Roy's 39th birthday (and Thanksgiving). HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Roy!

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 20

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Day 20 Yesterday was another fun day. Mostly research. A LOT of research, as I was trying to get one passage fleshed out. As such, my word count was around 1300. Not so hot. But the fun I had doing research and the satisfaction of spending a good 6 hours getting the prose assembled offset the lower word count. I also cut the tip of my middle finger while making dinner and couldn't type with a bandaid on my finger. That was interesting trying to type without my middle finger. At any rate, just 10 days remaining in the month. Time to get it in gear and finish strong.

10 Questions with Legendary Writer Kathe Koja (@KatheKoja)

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This Author Spotlight features Kathe Koja author of Bastards' Paradise Kathe Koja’s novels span several genres - historical, YA, horror - and have won numerous awards, including the Bram Stoker Award and the Parents’ Choice Award, and have been optioned for film and performance. Her 16th novel, THE BASTARDS’ PARADISE, the final in the UNDER THE POPPY trilogy, is out this fall from Roadswell Editions. She adapts and directs performative fiction with her ensemble "nerve". I distinctly recall purchasing a paperback copy of SKIN from Waldenbooks when I was in high school. Kathe Koja is big-time. Author photo: Copyright Rick Lieder 1.How did you get into writing and why do you write? I’ve been a writer since I was a very small child: since I knew what a story was. 2.What do you like best (or least) about writing? It’s very serious, very nourishing play: the initial blossom of the idea, the research, “feather

#NaNoWriMo2015 Diary -- Day 19

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Day 19 Yesterday was a fun and interesting day. Life stuff. When I finally got my butt in the chair and began to work, I found myself spending most of my time doing research in order to better inform the scene I was working on. It was a lot of fun. But the word count came up to 996 words. <insert fart sound here> It happens sometimes. Some days, your fingers fly and you write 3500 words without even trying. Other days, you're building your foundation, planning, and preparing for one of those 3500-word days. It's all part of the ebb-and-flow. Roll with it. Don't beat yourself up. Doing so merely stifles creativity. Stay positive. Have fun. Enjoy the process. A big part of why we write is because we enjoy the process of discovery. Sometimes we discover 3500 new words. Sometimes we discover a bunch of cool stuff that we weave into the story. It's all gooooood. Continue writing. TEN DAYS TO GO. Time to throw yourself into the

#NaNoWriMo Diary -- Day 18

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Day 18 Yesterday was a good day of writing. 3576 words. I need to attain at least 2272 every day for the next 11 days if I'm going to reach 60,000 words, which was my goal when I began this experiment 16 days ago on November 3rd. In terms of craft, yesterday was interesting because I found myself writing by the seat of my pants as opposed to planning. Functioning as a Pantser and not a Planner. The reason is because I needed to bridge the story between where I was and where I wanted to go. I have some major events already outlined but it felt like it was too soon to have them happen. So I needed something in between. Lo and behold a whole bunch of cool stuff transpired. I found myself genuinely enjoying the events of the story as they unfolded, as well as being amazed at how the themes and backstory continued to weave themselves into the new plot. That's the magic of writing: when stuff like that happens. And remember that whenever you're in this situati

10 Questions with award-winning, bestselling science fiction author Walter Jon Williams

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This Author Spotlight features Walter Jon Williams author of Days of Atonement Walter Jon Williams is an award-winning author who has been listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times and the Times of London.  He is the author of twenty-seven novels and three collections of short fiction.  His first novel to attract serious public attention was Hardwired (1986), described by Roger Zelazny as "a tough, sleek juggernaut of a story, punctuated by strobe-light movements, coursing to the wail of jets and the twang of steel guitars."  In 2001 he won a Nebula Award for his novelette, “Daddy’s World,” and won again in 2005 for “The Green Leopard Plague.” Walter's subject matter has an unusually wide range, and include the glittering surfaces of Hardwired, the opulent tapestries of Aristoi, the bleak future police novel Days of Atonement, and the pensive young Mary Shelley of the novella "Wall, Stone, Craft," w

#NaNoWriMo Diary -- Day 16

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Day 16 So we've reached the proverbial halfway point. I'm at 28,000 words. I've been writing more than the required 1667 words each day, which has allowed me to stay on track on days I didn't write much or at all, and there have been a few, particularly over the weekend during which we had some family celebrations, along with other stuff aka Life. I'm on track to hit 50k words on November 29, which is all right, but I feel I need to step it up a notch and write more, as my goal for this book has always been to surpass 50k words. I'm looking for this novel to be at least 60k. That's a nice, quick read. And for this type of material I think it's an appropriate length. I've seen some fellow NaNoWriMo-ers on Instagram say that this is the point when they usually quit or give up each year. To that I say, "What?!!!" Don't give up. Don't quit. Keep going. The days are going to pass anyway. You may as well have the 50k words to s

Author Spotlight: Philip K. Dick Award Finalist Lisa Mason

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This Author Spotlight features Lisa Mason author of The Garden of Abracadabra This week's author spotlight features a returning guest, Lisa Mason .  Lisa is the author of ten novels, including Summer of Love , a Philip K. Dick Award Finalist and a San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book, The Gilded Age , a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book, a collection of previously published science fiction and fantasy,  Strange Ladies: 7 Stories , and two dozen stories and novellas in magazines and anthologies worldwide. Her Omni story, "Tomorrow's Child," sold outright to Universal Studios and is in development. Lisa also served as a judge for the 2016 Philip K. Dick Award. Lisa is herself a Philip K. Dick Award finalist, which you can read about HERE . She shared her book Summer of Love with us in December 2012. You can read that interview HERE . She visited again to share her book Strang