Monica Valentinelli's Blog: booksofm.com, page 113

My Interview with Suvudu.com

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to drop by and let you know that a new interview with yours truly went up on Suvudu.com. I'm pretty happy with the way the interview turned out.

One of the questions was about how a recent reviewer pegged me as a "fearless author." Here's part of my answer:

You know, I'm the type of author and game designer who loves to experiment with my work. In that way, I'd say that fearless is an appropriate description. I've had a lot of people look at me in shock when I tell...

[Contest Update] Do Good Things. Fight Lupus!

A few months ago, I mentioned that I had written a fan fiction story for the unicorn pegasus kitten beast of doooooooooom. (Or whatever you want to call it.) While I did not win the contest, two other fine authors did. Now you can download the collection of short stories for free and make a donation to fight Lupus.

Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and Subterranean Press are proud to announce the publication of Clash of the Geeks, a special and...

What Does Tolerance Mean?

In addition to Banned Books Week 2010 rearing its head in your local library, it's also election season. Politics often brings bold claims and idealistic messages. Right now, the media is rife with stories about things that push people's buttons so they react to these statements — including some authors, I might add. As an advocate for tolerance, I wanted to open a dialog about what this word means in today's culture. You see, I think that many words (like tolerance or racism or patriotism...

It's Nice to be First Sometimes

You'll have to excuse me, dear readers, for I'm allowing myself to be happy with something I've done. It's an unusual feeling, as I tend to shy away from self-promotion, but right now I'm basking in the originality of THE QUEEN OF CROWS.

As several of my reviewers pointed out, no one had ever seen an e-book like the one that Shari, Leanne and I had put together. It's a nice feeling to know we were one of the first enhanced e-books out there. Admittedly, I didn't really plan on being one of...

My Guest Post: Aliens, Naming and Naming Conventions

Hi,

Just wanted to drop a brief note that this month's post over at Apex Book Company continues my series on How To Create an Alien Language with names and naming conventions.

In this post, a talk about how names and naming conventions are often a reflection of culture rather than a mechanical permutation of letters. Here's a quote:

Whether you're describing our world or an alien planet, any intelligent life form will associate values with a particular place or location. Some languages employ...

My Schedule at Geek*Kon

Hi everyone,

I have invited to be a guest at Geek*Kon in Madison, Wisconsin. I've posted my schedule below for those of you who are interested in dropping by. Here's my schedule:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd

2:00pm-3:00pm – Opening Ceremonies

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4th

12:00pm-1:00pm – Game Publishing

2:00pm-3:00pm – Writing Panel

4:30pm-5:30pm – World Building

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th

12:00pm-1:00pm - Being an Effective Reviewer/Critic

Tribes and Our Role as a Writer

If you've been following my blog lately, you've probably read more about me than you have in a long time. While there's a lot of reasons why I wanted to open up more, some of which will relate to my upcoming publications, there's another one that I wanted to explain to you.

You see, even though we are all writers and we're all different, there's something interesting that happens when we write characters. By describing what a person looks like or what they're interested in, we put them into...

Love My Nintendo DS and Square Enix

Many of you probably know that I'm a game designer in addition to being a writer. I haven't designed any PC or console games yet. So far, I've worked on a lot of setting design for several games by Abstract Nova Entertainment in addition to various other assignments for the hobby games industry. As you might imagine, in order for me to design games and fulfill different assignments, I need to play them. I also like to sit down and play because I don't have fun in a bar anymore. (That was a...

My Guest Article at Innsmouth Free Press

Hi everyone,

Thought you'd be interested to find out that I wrote an article about the appeal of Cthulhu in gaming for Innsmouth Free Press, a Lovecraft-inspired webzine. Written with the casual gamer in mind, I list some horror games that I enjoy and talk about why the Cthulhu mythos is a great backdrop for a horror game.

For hobby gamers, the idea of losing your sanity while investigating the things that go bump in the world of Lovecraft has a strong appeal because it gives the characters a...

Pendants, Pentacles and Inspiration

One of the things that I like to collect are different pendants. This habit started when I was in college because I have a challenge wearing cheap jewelry due to metal allergies. So, to save money and change my look, I have a jewelry box full of pendants in different shapes, sizes and symbols. Some of these hail from the furthest corners of the world, and each one of them usually has a story behind it. Often, I will wear different pendants because they inspire me to write for different...