Monica Valentinelli's Blog: booksofm.com, page 6

New Release! SISTERHOOD: Dark Tales and Secret Mysteries

In churches and convents and other religious communities, sisterhood takes many forms, forged and tested by such mundane threats as disease and despair, but also by terrors both spiritual and cosmic-Satan`s subtle minions and the Lovecraftian nightmare of the Outer Gods.

Sisterhood: Dark Tales and Secret Histories presents sixteen horror stories by some of the genre`s leading female voices. Their settings range around the globe and across the centuries, from 14th century Spain to 17th century Virginia to England in the present day.

In this collection, find my Mythos-inspired story “From an Honest Sister to a Neglected Daughter” written as a prequel to “The Dunwich Horror”.

Now available wherever books are sold, including DriveThruFiction.com.

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Join me for SIRENS: Battle of the Bards on Kickstarter — FUNDED!

Friends, I am so pleased to announce I’m writing for SIRENS: Battle of the Bards, a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition campaign setting, featuring a stellar team of authors. I’ve been having so much fun I handed in my drafts a month ahead of schedule!

Do you love art? Satine Phoenix? Music? INTRIGUE? REBELLION? Then, the city of Salvata has something for you! I warmly invite you to check out SIRENS: Battle of the Bards on Kickstarter (which has already funded) and join Apotheosis Studios to celebrate this gorgeous game setting with fantastic art, music, prose — and so much more. Huzzah!

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Save the Date! Story Generator Workshop

Ready to write but out of ideas? Want to learn sure-fire techniques for generating story ideas when you need to? In the Story Generator Workshop, author and narrative designer Monica Valentinelli will walk you through multiple techniques for generating new ideas for stories, varying from quick shortcuts to mini games, and giving you a chance to try them.

You’ll come away with a wealth of ideas for your fiction, plus the tools for making more. This online class will include slides. Saturday, May 9th from 1 pm to 3 pm PST.

Click Here to Register for the Story Generator Workshop!

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Announcing a Global Rebrand to Introduce the Artisanal Writer

Announcing a Global Rebrand of Scribes for Every Genre and Form

Introducing the ARTISANAL WRITER

Why the change? Artisanal is a value-added term that reflects the creativity and passion required for expertly-crafted prose. Hire an artisanal writer today!

Release date | April 1 | Pants Optional

Created by Monica Valentinelli | BooksOfM.com

Would you like to participate in this rebrand happening now? Here is a hand-crafted, fancy banner that reads “artisanal” to add to your social media profile.

Join me! And welcome artisanal writers!

The post Announcing a Global Rebrand to Introduce the Artisanal Writer first appeared on Monica Valentinelli.

GAMA Expo Online: My Talk about New Players

Hiya! I wanted to let you know I am presenting at the 2021 Online GAMA Expo. This particular topic is one I’m passionate about, and I wanted to talk a little bit about why that is today.

The term “new player” is one that should be defined whenever we’re designing, presenting, or selling games. Before we can acquire new players, we need to define that audience. So, who is a new player?

Well, that’s complicated because there are a lot of nuances to consider. The term “new player” is not exclusive to the phrase: “I don’t know how to play games.” Often, new player translates to: “I don’t know how to play your game.”

If you’re curious for a longer preview, you can read more about defining new players in my newsletter.

The post GAMA Expo Online: My Talk about New Players first appeared on Monica Valentinelli.

Save the Date for a New Workshop! Tarot for Writers

On Saturday, March 13th, from 1:00-3:00 PM Pacific Time I’ll be conducting a super fun workshop. In my Tarot for Writers workshop, I’ll show you how to use tarot in your storytelling. I’ll cover mini-games, inspirational prompts, building characters, and scenarios, to help you brainstorm everything from character relationships to plot twists.

In addition to a lecture and slides/handouts, you’ll also perform short creative exercises–so get ready to be inspired! A tarot deck of your choosing is recommended but not required for this class. Don’t forget: scholarships are available, too!

Click here to register for the Tarot for Writers workshop!

The post Save the Date for a New Workshop! Tarot for Writers first appeared on Monica Valentinelli.

Announcing a Patreon Exclusive! Into Shadow Coming Feb 2021

In my newsletter recently, I described how my nightmares and anxiety caused by the violence in our nation’s capital affected my ability to write last week. I announced in that update I’m channeling these emotions to explore my fears in February. I’ll be writing a poem a day for a #28DaysofPoetry challenge.

This month-long project will be offered to my patreons through Patreon for $2. Yep, that’s right. $2 for 28 poems about my personal fears.

Why charge so little? Since launching my Patreon, I don’t feel I’ve done a very good job helping patrons feel vested in my work. Last year, my patrons helped fund a new web cam–something I desperately needed during the pandemic and am hugely grateful for. I’m hoping that the $2 price will help reassure patrons that their financial support is greatly valued.

In terms of “What am I going to do with this?” The answer is: “I don’t know.” This idea is new, raw, and will be a journey. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve written or studied poetry, and I’m not sure if any publishers would be interested in this type of collection. What’s more, now that I’ve been practicing mini-art pieces for #makedontbreak, my creative mind might shift to illustrating these too. I just don’t know.

I hope you’ll consider joining this project. If you are already a patron, please accept my enduring gratitude. I look forward to sharing my fears with you.

The post Announcing a Patreon Exclusive! Into Shadow Coming Feb 2021 first appeared on Monica Valentinelli.

Where You Can Keep Up With Me for #MakeDontBreak

Hiya,

I am participating in the #makedontbreak challenge for January 2021! Now that I’m about a week into the challenge, I wanted to give you an update where you can follow along for updates and support my art.

Ko-Fi.com – You can find all the art I make this month in my gallery on Ko-Fi.com . You can also help offset the cost of art supplies by buying me a coffee.
BooksOfM on Deviant Art – I’ve set up a separate gallery for this challenge on Deviant Art. Here, I’m also adding new and original jewelry designs.

I’m also posting a daily image on Instagram and (with any luck) those will also post to Twitter. Besides these places, I’m publishing a few updates in my newsletter and through my Patreon that’ll include a tutorial.

Hope you’re also having fun making art this month! There’s still time to join or check out the hashtag #makedontbreak on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Yay!

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My 2020 List of Publications

Hiya readers!

This year has been chaotic at the best of times and a slow burn at the worst. I’ve spent much of this year in quarantine applying for gigs, restructuring behind-the-scenes, volunteering, taking online classes, and teaching game writing when I can.

Stories

“Feasting on Twilight after Dark”, for DEATH IS NOT THE END, a Geist 2nd Edition anthology, 2020, Onyx Path Publishing/Paradox Interactive

“Scritch, Scratch”, for HAUNTING SHADOWS, a Wraith the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition anthology, 2020, Onyx Path Publishing/Paradox Interactive

Both of these stories are supposed to be coming out soon-ish. I received word that they were back on the schedule, but there have been delays due to the pandemic.

“Mythica D’Argent: Treatise Pertaining to the Mysterious of Silver”, THE DAGON COLLECTION, PS Publishing

“From an Honest Sister, to a Neglected Daughter”, SISTERHOOD: DARK TALES AND SECRET MYSTERIES, Chaosium Publishing

Games

For games, I had three interactive fiction pieces published this year in addition to my regular RPG work–two of which were for a middle grade readership!

The Case of the Multiplying Bunnies, 2020, Wonder Stories app

The Case of the Popped Balloons, 2020, Wonder Stories app

Underwater Memories (with music), 2020, Sub-Q Magazine

DARK ERAS 2, Chronicles of Darkness, 2020, Onyx Path Publishing/Paradox Interactive (Lead Developer)

CONTAGION CHRONICLE, Chronicles of Darkness, 2020, Onyx Path Publishing/Paradox Interactive

This year is also bittersweet. After many years, I’m winding down my work with Onyx Path Publishing and am looking forward to the next chapter and new opportunities for my career.

The post My 2020 List of Publications first appeared on Monica Valentinelli.

Now Available! Read about 5 Magical Creatures on Charmed at Tor.com

Hello, everyone! I’m so pleased to mention you can read Five Fascinating Magical Creatures that Debuted in the Original Charmed on Tor.com. I wanted to write this post as a follow-up to talk about my love as a fan of classic Charmed and the new show that debuted in Fall 2018.

Classic Charmed gives me a lot of fond memories. It was a show that broke a lot of ground for both female empowerment and the positive depiction of magical women. After watching the new Charmed show, I have a lot of feelings about what could still be done to bridge the gap between the two. I do feel both are strong shows—certainly, the new Charmed explores powerful interpersonal relationships, contemporary themes, and authentic practitioners—that approach story and setting very differently. Classic Charmed‘s narrative arc had more space and the stakes swelled with each season, but they were small and more personal in the beginning. The new Charmed, on the other hand, has a LOT of story in every season that significantly changes the world, the characters, and the stakes are very high.

That (ultra-high stakes) is an approach I fear will smother the show by the end of a third season.

Though I regard each show to stand on its own merits and can be critiqued separately, I want to point out that all of the actresses did a great job exploring witchiness from their characters’ perspectives. I do think there is one improvement that can be made to satisfy both older fans and new ones while giving a little oomph to the possibility of more seasons. One word: CROSSOVER! Why not lean into the parallel/alternate universes aspect they’ve already introduced? Wouldn’t that be awesome! Hell, I’d write a crossover miniseries (2-6 episodes) that bridges the best of both shows while introducing a new wrinkle going forward. Do I have ideas? Hah. YUP!

Regardless, I hope the crossover idea would be/has been considered for many, many reasons. There’s a really powerful statement that can be made by showing the true power of witchy sisterhood is not only intergenerational, it’s also intersectional.

More on Paracelsus

In my Tor.com article, I mentioned Paracelsus when talking about gnomes. Paracelsus is/was a key and controversial historical figure, both as an alchemist and physician, but he was also extremely misogynistic and racist even among his contemporaries because he drew from medieval perspectives. For example, there was a pervasive medieval view shared by physicians, such as Ambrose Pare, that women were responsible for the birth of monsters. I covered him more in depth for my newsletter subscribers at: https://booksofm.substack.com. You can join the conversation there. Yay!

Again: Thanks so much for reading and supporting my debut Tor.com article! EVEN MORE YAY!

The post Now Available! Read about 5 Magical Creatures on Charmed at Tor.com first appeared on Monica Valentinelli.