As some of you may have heard, I’ve got a new project called The Speculative Craft, and the first round of content is finally up! Come check it out, and remember, you can always Get Involved!
An Interview with Tamora Pierce
This is my World Now: Calming the World Building Terrors by Elizabeth Mae Lewis
It’s alway fun when you stumble across a local author who also happens to be extremely talented. That’s what happened when my friend said, “Oh yeah, my dad’s a sci-fi writer.” So I looked up Jeffrey A. Carver
I started with his Chaos Chronicles
The three books are easy reads, I made it through them in two weeks, and it only took that long because I had to wait for delivery of the last two books. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, but I do want to say that they are fascinating stories that explore concepts ranging from what it means to be human to how to deal with the ‘other’ phenomenon. There is a LOT of alien interaction throughout. One interesting craft note: while the first book begins solidly from the human’s perspective, the point of view morphs, with more and more of the chapters from the point of view of various other aliens that join their merry band of world-savers.
I can’t wait to read more of his books, and I definitely recommend them for anybody who is a fan of space dramas with a solid dose of basic chaos theory sprinkled throughout.
Hey guys! I just wanted to let you know that To The Best of Our Knowledge, the NPR Wisconsin show that chose my story as a judge’s favorite for their competition, went ahead and dramatized my story anyway, even though it wasn’t one of the top three, they just liked it that much.
If you want to take a listen, you can tune in this weekend to their show on your local NPR affiliate (it’s going out on 221 of them), you can listen to it on their website, or on Soundcloud. I’ve also embedded it below for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!
In the vein of Mark Twain’s The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg, Give your character an incorruptible virtue. Now figure out exactly what you need to do to make them break.
This was the question that Mark Twain
I’m not going to tell you how he accomplishes this feat. Suffice it to say that he does indeed manage to corrupt the incorruptible leaders of Hadleyburg, much to everyone’s dismay and chagrin. It is a true Twain work, full of inventive language and full caricatures, and it is a delightful little discussion on just how to push humanity’s buttons and bring out the greed that is natural to our species.
If you’re looking for a quick, lighthearted, yet provocative read. I’d suggest you pick this up. You’ll work your way through it in no time, but be the richer for it.
If you had the opportunity to bring anyone’s dreams come true, who would it be, and how would you do it? Remember, most genies are tricksters…
Back in January, my ebook designer, Iris Febres, convinced me that I had to enter my novel into the Boston Book Builder’s Book Show, and I was skeptical. The entry fees were high and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand up to some of the competition, particularly my old design mentor, Rebecca Saraceno, who I is a shoe-in for whatever category she enters. But it paid off! I am officially a Committee Pick for the Trade Book Division!
Undeliverable is listed in the show catalog, will be displayed at the Book Show, and will be listed on their website, alongside some incredible book designs from all sorts of designers. If you want to see more details of the design, check it out on my Book Design page.
So, May 25th is International and National Missing Children’s Day, and in an effort to help raise funds and awareness for the National Center of Missing Children, anybody who makes any kind of donation to the Center is eligible for a free ebook of Undeliverable, and will enter you into a raffle for a free signed copy!
Here’s how it work: Go to the Center’s website, donate, mark the donation as in Honor Of the Undeliverable Novel, then copy and paste your donation confirmation number into the Rafflecopter giveaway below (along with the donation amount, if you are willing, it’d be nice to see just how much money we raise this month).
If you don’t want to, or can’t afford to make a donation (though even a dollar will net you a free ebook), you still have several ways to enter the raffle for the grand prize of a personalized copy of Undeliverable and Thea of Oz. If you already have a copy of Undeliverable, you can still enter and if you win, your copy will be donated to the organization or library of your choice.
The raffle will go on through the month of May, so share as many times as you like for additional entries!
You know that spot in your favorite book where they character doesn’t do what YOU think they should do? Fix that. Go back and rewrite it to your satisfaction.
When I heard that Kim Harrison
But besides being entirely in sync with Harrison on expressing doubt at Rachel’s understatement, The Undead Pool did not disappoint on any level. The writing was quippy and clean, the character development hits the “About time!” meter perfectly, and you’re left with the uneasy sensation that even though things in this book got bad, they’re going to get even worse in the next one. One of my favorite parts of Harrison’s writing is that she is not afraid to let her writing, her characters, and her world evolve the way some other genre writers are. The Rachel Morgan who we follow in this book is miles and away more mature, more talented, and more accepting than the Rachel we first met in book one. Her world is constantly changing on her and she’s learned to just take it in stride with minimal complaints and get her job done. Its so refreshing to find books where the author is willing to take the risk of changing for the more satisfying rewards rather than play it safe and write the same characters over and over again (*cough* Janet Evanovich *cough*).
That being said, my only complaint with this book is the cover. They’ve been steadily getting worse and now the cover looks like some trumped up romance novel, with Rachel in a teensy miniskirt and corset (which appears nowhere in the book, unlike the white leathers of another cover). Granted, there are some racy bits that correspond with that “Well, FINALLY!” I was speaking of, but this is much closer to a gritty urban fantasy novel akin to The Dresden Files than it is a supernatural romance. This is why I am so happy I can design my own novels and don’t have to rely on what a marketing team decides will sell…
Rebecca A. Demarest 