S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 87

Just Write

Today I'm off to write something new and post it online before midnight. Everyone inclined to do the same is invited to join me.



For more details on Just Write Thursdays, click here to go to the original post.

Image credit: Subbotina Anna/Bigstock.com

Summer Pages

The Summer 2014 issue of Pages magazine has just hit the newstands, and naturally I grabbed a copy as soon as I saw it at my local BAM. I've been waffling on a couple of journals I want to make and really needed a good shove in the right direction. Definitely got that and then some from this issue.

While this installment of Pages may not offer as much in the way of whimsical projects as some of the previous editions, I liked it probably more than all the previous issues I've read. Don't get me wrong; I love the idea of turning a paint brush into a journal-like art object, but it's not really a practical project for someone who uses all the journals she creates for actual journaling. Still, for those of you who do like the fun stuff, there's a piece on creating a niche for the little books you make, as well as a way to turn tissue boxes (as in Kleenex tissue) into journals.

As in previous issues the variety of techniques is interesting, and address every aspect of book making. This time around there are several projects that incorporate unusual/non-traditional materials, like encaustic paints, driftwood and shipping tags. The magazine's ongoing committment to featuring projects using recycled materials hasn't evaporated, either; two of the book-making projects use two kinds of old envelopes, and there's an interesting piece on an experimental project that makes art out of an old book that at one point the artist set on fire.

Two articles I found especially interesting:



Rebekah Meier has found a way to make journal covers out of quilt batting -- aka the fluffy stuff that is sandwiched between the top and bottom layers of a quilt. Batting is not made to be used as a fabric itself, but that didn't stop Ms. Meier from doing this. I'm fascinated by the project because there is a particular type of soft cotton batting I use that has a luscious feel to it, and I'd love to cover one of my journals with it.



Making a book from a single sheet of paper requires some careful planning and origami-type folding skills, but it's a simple way to make a small book. Rachelle Panagarry uses her one-sheet book making skills to produce mini-books for short stories or as little giveaway zines. This is one of those projects that virtually anyone can do without having to take a book-making class, plus it lends itself beautifully to personal customization. The editors must have really loved it, too, because they've issued a reader challenge in this issue for everyone to follow Ms. Panagarry's example and send in their own mini-zines, the best of which will be features in Pages Winter 2015 issue (and if you want to join in, the deadline is August 19th, 2014; see complete challenge rules on pages 72-73 of this issue.)

Off to Work

I'm unplugging today to get some work done. So that your stop here was not a waste of your mouse clickery, here are some details on an interesting open call from Dreaming Robot Press for their upcoming middle-school-age-reader SF antho:

"We’re looking for stories that: Have a main character a middle grade reader (ages 9-12) can identify with; Show a diverse set of real characters; Are well written, fun to read and encourage a love of reading science fiction; Tell of adventure, space, science. Give us rockets, robots and alien encounters, and we’re pretty happy. Steampunk, time travel, weird west and alternate history are all fine; Are between 3,000 and 6,000 words. We’re especially looking for stories: Where the main character is of a population that has traditionally been under-represented in science fiction, e.g. girls, people of color, differently abled people; Where the main character has agency, exercises it, and isn’t just along for the ride. We’re not interested in: Stories where the female characters primarily exist to be rescued or as a prize for the males; Stories where the primary plot or subplot is romantic in nature; Stories with graphic violence or any form of sexual activity; Stories about the first girl to do X, surprising everyone; Stories that depict any ethnicity or gender as universally bad or stupid." Payment: 6¢/word; query on reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines for more details. Deadline: August 31st, 2014.

Zero Cost Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Bullzip PDF Printer "works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/8)

Desktop Journal is a "basic and straightforward journal software, meant to store your entries safely, without all the confusing and frivilous bells and whistles. All entries are encrypted and access to the interior of your journal can only be accessed by you (front-cover passcode). Entries can be searched by date, you can simply flip through your entries by page (forward and back), or you can set the trackbar thumb to jump to a desired location within your journal pages. The interior of the journal also contains a user friendly, searchable and integrated contact book which can store names, numbers and email or street addresses of family or friends. This most recent version also contains several compact & carefully tailored games accessible from the journal's interior (open book format), and launch with a simple click. Complete and up-to-date help-files are also included" (OS: WinMe, XP, Vista and Win 7/8)

Desktop Reminder is a "task planner for Windows to manage your tasks and other to-dos’ in an easy way. It can start with Windows and list all tasks, which are urgent for the current day. For a task with time of day defined a corresponding alarm message will be shown, when the time comes" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8)

FotoSketcher is a "100% free program which can help you convert your digital photos into art, automatically. If you want to turn a portrait, the photograph of your house or a beautiful landscape into a painting, a sketch or a drawing then look no further, FotoSketcher will do the job in just a few seconds. Thanks to FotoSketcher you can create stunning images to make original gifts for your friends or relatives. Create birthday cards, season´s greetings stationary or simply print your work of art and hang it on the wall. Different styles are available: pencil sketch, pen and ink drawing, various painting renderings. You can also improve your original photo with simple tools (enhance contrast, sharpen, simplify image, increase luminosity, color saturation etc...0" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8)

Krita is a "KDE program for sketching and painting, offering an end–to–end solution for creating digital painting files from scratch by masters. Fields of painting that Krita explicitly supports are concept art, creation of comics and textures for rendering. Modelled on existing real-world painting materials and workflows, Krita supports creative working by getting out of the way and with a snappy response. Note that when we say "Krita is a KDE program", that doesn´t mean you need to run the Plasma Desktop to run Krita. It means that Krita as a project is proud to be part of the wonderful KDE community and uses the great framework technology that the KDE community develops" (OS: Designer notes "You can run Krita on Windows, Gnome, XFCE, and if you spend some effort even on OSX. There are three versions of Krita: Krita Sketch, for touch devices, Krita Desktop desktop systems and finally Krita Studio, which is like Krita Desktop but supported by KO GmbH. You can find info and the download links for the other Krita programs as well as various Linux ditros on the developer´s download page. A 64-Bit version is also available")

PDF24-creator allows you to "generate pdf-files from almost any application. For this an own printer will be installed called "pdf24". By printing with pdf24 a pdf-file from your indicated document will be created" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8)

Sumatra PDF portable is a free, simply PDF viewer application that "works fast without bothering you with features you do not want" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8)

TaskUnifier is a task management sofware based on the well known GTD (Getting Things Done) method. TaskUnifier helps you manage your tasks, folders, contexts and goals. Features: Synchronize - Synchronize your tasks with Toodledo; Folders - Use folders to organize your tasks by projects; Contexts - Use contexts to organize your tasks depending on your where you are and what you can do at your current location; Goals - Use goals to help you achieve some goals by executing specific tasks; Subtasks - You can divide some big tasks into multiple subtasks; Tags - Your tasks can have one or more tags; Themes - TaskUnifier is provided with a lot a themes; Language - TaskUnifier is translated in English and in French; Proxy - If you are being a proxy it is not a problem" (OS: Designer notes that it is "Multiplatform - TaskUnifier is a java software which means that you can use it on any operating system with a JVM [Windows, Mac OS, Linux, ...]; Requires Java Runtime Environment.)

TypeText is a handy little utility that "types text itself in any editor you use. Enter frequently used words and phrases in TypeText and use Ctrl+B in any editor" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

VisioTask allows you to "see what´s important, clearer and simpler than ever. Use the power of visualization: fast and efficient planning tool, highly visual layout simplifies the process, effective email management for the biggest inboxes. Ideal for corporate and business use. Boost your productivity" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Winner

The winner of the Another Side of Savannah giveaway is:

Terlee, who wrote Discovery of Witches, set in Oxford. I had spent some time there just before reading the book, gone to several of the colleges, knew the pubs and streets, the libraries. It made the story that much more real to picture everything so clearly. Unrelated: I've always wanted to visit Savannah...

And now you will -- by book, anyway. :) When you have a chance please e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com with which format you'd like the books (and if print, a ship-to address.) My thanks to everyone for joining in.

Another Side of Savannah

Most of us have places in the world that we love and never tire of visiting, and one of mine is the city of Savannah, Georgia. I can't go there every year, but if it were possible I would. I've photographed it, blogged about it, and even put together a little book about it. Actually, if it were up to me, and I didn't have anyone else's needs and wants to consider, I'd be living there right now.

I take family and friends to Savannah on a regular basis, but it's one of those rare places I also feel comfortable visiting by myself. Alone in the city I'm a very happy soul, and fair weather, a camera, a notebook and good walking shoes are all I need to keep me that way. Oddly enough I don't read many fiction books set in Savannah, however, because I find more often than not the author doesn't know the city very well, or in some way makes it obvious that they've never been there. That pains me to no end, because I consider it a writer's city.

My past bad luck with fiction set in Savannah was finally broken this month by Anne Frasier and her absorbing crime fiction novel Play Dead . This is the story of Savannah P.D. homicide detective Elise Sandburg, who must investigate a series of murders in which the victims come back to life. She's also coping with her new partner, former FBI agent David Gould, who has a history as haunted as her own.

Abandoned as an infant in a cemetery, and said to be the daughter of an infamous conjurer, Elise has tried everything she can to keep her past out of her policework -- but this case demands she revisit some of those dark places. As she draws closer to solving the case, the practical cop must keep her troubled partner from going off the deep end, confront some very hard truths about herself, and stop a killer who will stop at nothing to keep playing with the dead.

I thought Play Dead was, like all of Anne Frasier's work, exceptionally well-researched, masterfully plotted and beautifully written. Her characters are tangible, fully-realized people who simply can't be counted among the usual, artfully battered, puddle-shallow Mary Sues of crime fic. Like us, the characters are genuinely flawed and conflicted and not always heroic 24/7. This novel is very dark at times, and the violence graphic, but never more so than the story demands. Like chess pieces on a board, every element was placed exactly so, but it never read like a game. It read real. Add to that a city under siege by a dreadful killer, the many dark sides of the city itself, and a puzzle you have to solve along with Elise or lose one of the most stellar characters in the book, and you have it all. I could not put down the book, even when I wanted to.

The pleasure of reading Play Dead made me very happy I'd also invested in the sequel, Stay Dead , at the same time. I grabbed this book and opened it so fast I nearly ripped the cover. What's most immediately interesting (and temporarily distressing) about the story in Stay Dead is the time transition. A very significant event obviously had occurred between the timelines of the two books, and at first I thought I'd missed a novella or a short story Anne had written in between them. Yet as I read on the reason for the timeline shift became apparent, and I saw why she didn't start with the missing event. It's pretty daring to do this to your readers, especially in these days when Publishing presses authors to explain every detail upfront so no reader has to actually think about the story.

In Stay Dead we find Elise recovering from this missing event (I'd get more into details but I don't want to spoil it) and still dealing with some fallout from the case in Play Dead. Her relationsip with her partner David is likewise in transition and heading into unfamiliar territory. This book for me was as much about David and Elise as it was about the case, which is even more terrifying than their first. If Play Dead kept me on the edge of my seat, Stay Dead had me jumping off it to yell alterantely at Elise and David (and believe me. I yelled.)

If I had to pick a favorite from these two books, I'd say Stay Dead was it. There was so much packed into this story, but it never felt over-stuffed. In some ways the plotting was more convoluted than the first book, but it worked for me. I loved finding out more about Elise's tragic history, watching David learning to cope with his own, and the ways the author pulled off all of it. By book two you're invested in this crew and the city, I think. Now all I have to do is wait until next year for the third book, which the author is writing now. I wonder if Anne needs a beta reader. I should beg or something.

As always, you don't have to take my word for it. In comments to this post, name a book you've enjoyed set in a place you love (or if you can't think of any, just toss your name in the hat) by midnight EST tonight, June 7th, 2014. I'll choose one name at random from everyone who participates and send the winner a copy of Play Dead and Stay Dead by Anne Frasier in their choice of print or e-book format. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.

City Lights

Take a thrilling visual tour of the city of Vancouver in less than three minutes (contains background music, for those of you at work):

Discovering Vancouver from Ryan Emond on Vimeo.

Just Write

Today I'm off to write something new and post it online before midnight. Everyone inclined to do the same is invited to join me.



For more details on Just Write Thursdays, click here to go to the original post.

Image credit: Flynt/Bigstock.com

Character Trees

Family Echo is a free online generator that allows you to create simply family trees:



To give you a closer look, the individuals in this mock-up I made are color-coded pink for girls and blue for boys:



You can also customize your tree listings to show birth names, photos, personal details, etc.:



This is not only fun to do for your own family, but writers may find it useful when creating family trees for their characters or tracking character groups while writing series stories. According to the site FAQs you can also back-up your trees if you register with the site (also free.)

Sub Op

According to this open call over on AbsoluteWrite.com, "Short Stuff Press, publisher of the popular Angel Paws series, is launching a line of romance short stories! This multi-author series will be released as standalone shorts via Kindle, with a possible ebook anthology. Print rights will remain with the authors. What we are looking for: Quality writing. We care about story and especially about believable characters to whom readers can relate. At least one dog should be a main character and central to the storyline. Large breeds preferred (German Shepherd Dog, Golden Retriever, Bernese Mountain Dog, etc.) and actively working dogs (service dog, search and rescue, police K-9, sled dog, ranch dog, etc.) also encouraged, though all dogs and types will be considered. Any animal shelter/animal rescue/adoption connection would be welcome. As a romance series, the canine character(s) being central to bringing together or keeping together the human hero and heroine is also encouraged. These shorts are G- to PG-rated feel-good romances. Emotional discovery over physical. Low-heat index. Think sweet, cozy, inspirational. HEA or HFN endings." Length: 5-12K, Payment: $50.00. No indication on reprints (PBW notes: I'd query), electronic submission only, see post for more details. No deadline at this time.