Maurice Broaddus's Blog, page 22

Mo*Con IX Recap

I’m never sure how to re-cap Mo*Con.  It’s hard enough to believe there have been nine of them (especially when for the first 4-5 I kept swearing that year would be my last one).  Part of why it’s hard to re-cap is the same reason the “con” itself confuses some folks:  it’s more about being with awesome folks and having the space and time to really get to know them.  It’s about food and conversations.  So here’s the re-cap:  we ate, we talked, it was awesome!

Here are some highlights:

Thursday

Yes, I know that Mo*Con doesn’t officially start until Friday, but as Kelli Owen and her penchant for midnight steaks can attest to, we start cooking the moment people arrive.  In this case, John Joseph Adams, Christie Yant, Monica Valentinelli, and John Hornor Jacobs came into town a day early to test this theory.  I had planned a simple spaghetti and meat sauce dinner, but I was thrown out of my own kitchen by Monica so that she could whip up an Italian feast.

Friday

We were due to partner with Second Story to have some of our guests from Mo*Con go into schools to talk about creative writing.  When we originally scheduled this, the schools were cool, but then the I-Step schedule threw everyone into testing panic.  We still had one school who wanted to host a writer.  So Wes Chu was chosen to step to the mic.  I may or may not have told Wes that he’d be speaking to a 5th grade class.  Which, I maintain, was technically true.  It as a fifth grade class … the entire fifth grade class.  And sixth.  And seventh.  And eighth.  Regardless, Wes was a pro and KILLED it.

Speaking of Second Story, they wanted to host our Friday night event.  The Friday evening of Mo*Con, we have a meal together (the “Alethea Kontis welcoming dinner”) and then some sort of entertainment event. In previous years we’ve had a Celtic rock band, poetry readings, a puppet show, and slam poets.  This year, it was Write Club.  We had four of our guests (John Hornor Jacobs, Geoffrey Girard, Lucy Snyder, and Scott Lynch) write a story on the spot which had to incorporate five items:  a broken morocco, a hammer, a plastic car, a ceramic banana, and a Hannah Montana bucket.  We then voted a story off then did another round with new items.  All the while, we bought drinks to raise money for Second Story.  Yeah, we used our powers to write and drink for a good cause.  And were treated to a battle royale which came down to Scott and Lucy with Mr. Lynch barely edging out a win.

Saturday

Mo*Con functions on the “ish” schedule.  The Friday night festivities ended up with an after party at my house which ran until about 4 am. There was a direct correlation between how late people stayed at my house on Friday and when they arrived on Saturday morning.  Thus the ish.  Plenty of ish.  We did a spotlight conversation with Melissa Gay, our artist guest of honor, followed by a buffet of Indian food.  The big conversation was our “Outsiders:  Being, living, and writing the other” panel (with me, Chesya Burke, Scott Lynch, Geoffrey Girard, Elizabeth Bear, and Lucy Snyder discussing our pasts and how we approach writing).*  Followed by break out a session which included Jason Sizemore’s book launch.  Then a panel on the business of writing with Dave Mattingly, John Joseph Adams, Elizabeth Bear, Sara Hans, and THREE TIME HUGO NOMINEE, henceforth referred to as “Lord Hugo” Jason Sizemore.  All of which was followed by a buffet of Cajun food.

Sunday

After an after party which I’m pretty sure ended only so that people could check out of the hotel, we simply hosted people at Casa de Broaddus until people left.  By host, I mean had a brunch plus Jamaican cuisine followed up by introducing folks to Jordan’s chicken wings (which are now the OFFICIAL snack food of Mo*Con).  There may or may not have been a Magic: the Gathering tournament in there somewhere, too.

Soooooooooo, to sum up:  plenty of great conversations with great people, all done against a backdrop of constantly eating and drinking.  Yeah, that’s Mo*Con.  Next year will be our TENTH one.  I can’t let that anniversary go without a lot of surprises…

 

 

*I’m going to do a separate follow-up blog on that topic because I have a lot of thoughts about that.

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Jason Sizemore gives his own recap

Launch Party: IRREDEEMABLE by Jason Sizemore

Ain’t no party like a Mo*Con party cause a Mo*Con party don’t quit…I’d say more about the author, his book and what brings him here, but Mr. Sizemore does a pretty good job of this himself.  Plus, who knew he was writer …

MoCon – A Place of Open Ideas, a Place of Business

I often think Maurice did a disservice by calling his early soiree ‘MoCon’. The ‘Mo’ part I’m cool with. We all know Maurice enjoys a bit of personal aggrandizing, and you know what, that is okay. It’s the ‘Con’ part that hangs me up.

MoCon is not a convention. It is a gathering of writers, artists, editors, publishers, readers, and friends in the spirit of intellectual discourse and fun. The majority of the ‘convention’ is usually held in the basement of a Christian church. But people of all faiths are welcomed and encouraged to attend. People of any sexual disposition are encouraged.  Being in a church doesn’t affect the conversation. Panels in the past have discussed sex in fiction, racially charged subjects, and homosexuality and the church.

MoCon is about finding ways of dropping those arbitrary boundaries that create confusion, mistrust, and misunderstanding among people. The ‘convention’ aspect of the name MoCon misrepresents the weekend that Maurice and his team puts together.

I propose a name change. Let’s change it to ‘The Maurice Broaddus Weekend of Fellowship, Trust, and Love’.

While there are panels and there are parties (this is Maurice Broaddus we’re talking about, after all), MoCon is a great place for personal business. My company, Apex Pubilcations, has seen the birth of several major projects stem from conversations at MoCon: Both Dark Faith anthologies, Plow the Bones by Douglas Warrick, To Each Their Darkness by Gary Braunbeck, commissions for Apex Magazine, and more.

I’ve any had an opportunity to advance my writing career, what there is of it. Last year, Stephen Zimmer (of Seventh Star Press), was one of the guests of honor. Between panels, Stephen and I were talking, and he asked me about a couple of my stories. Turns out he is a fan of my short fiction and encouraged me to submit a collection proposal to him. I’ve long considered myself just a publisher and editor. The writer side of me was my ‘hobby’. Because I’ve been writing for 10+ years, I had quite a library of pro and semi-pro stories available to pick from for a book.

One of the best writers I know, Geoffrey Girard, said he would write an introduction. I decided to go for it.

Thus Irredeemable was born! Eighteen stories of dark science fiction and/or horror.

The title I owe to my graphic artist friend Justin Stewart. Justin once remarked that my stories are filled with irredeemable bastards. He’s quite right—most of the 18 stories in the collection fit into the ‘irredeemable’ thread. These characters are intolerant, short-sighted, and mistrustful.

Exactly the sort of people that could use a weekend of MoCon to have their views broadened and hearts reset.

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I’ll have copies of Irredeemable at MoCon.

Buy links to Irredeemable can be found here: http://jason-sizemore.com/2014/04/24/irredeemable-almost-all-the-buy-links/

 

Launch Party: FAKE ID by Lamar Giles

Little does poor Lamar know that I’ve been watching his career with great interest ever since that fateful convention where he and I met.  It was the same convention where I met Brandon Massey (which Lamar will get to).  It was also the convention where Brian Keene and I became friends (though oddly, our bonding moment was over an argument about Superman).  So when I saw that Lamar’s book, Fake ID was due out, I *insisted* that he come here and tell us a story.  Everyone has to start somewhere …

The Freshman by Lamar Giles

A decade ago I was in a Baltimore Marriott, the host venue for Horrorfind 2004. In the hotel restaurant the biggest table was rimmed with a hearty group of people I didn’t know (though, if their faces had somehow been super-imposed with their book covers, I would’ve recognized them immediately). The one familiar face—because I’d met him like two hours before when I was checking in—was Brandon Massey, editor of the DARK DREAMS anthology, the short story collection that had just garnered me my first significant publishing credit. Brandon waved me over to the single empty chair. I sat with this group, which emitted a strong long-time-friends vibe, said my name without stuttering, and tried not to leak any introvert juice on the place mats.

I don’t recall everyone that was at the table that day, because as they began to introduce themselves, I realized I was hearing a recitation of the Who’s Who in Horror list. Introvert Panic Mode kicked in and any long-term memory power was diverted to vital life support systems so I didn’t slip into a social overload coma. 10 years later, these are the names that stand out to me (Deena Warner…I’ll explain momentarily) and Brian Keene (he offered me some of his calamari).

After introductions, the new guy interrogation starts. Where are you from? Virginia, I grew up in a town called Hopewell. How was the drive up? Long. NoVA traffic sucks. Is “The Track” your first published story? Sorta. I mean, I sold a story a couple of years ago, but it was a webzine so there were never any printed copies. Have you ever signed an autograph? (This, from Deena.) Come to think of it, no. No, I haven’t.

To which she produces her personal copy of DARK DREAMS, and says something along the lines of, “I’d be honored if I was your very first autograph.”

Sure, but, I don’t even have a pen. Rookie move. No worries, the veterans have enough ink to go around.

So, Deena passes me the book, I will my hand not to shake as I open the front cover, and sign right under the DARK DREAMS title with a bunch of genre stars watching. I look up, and everyone’s giving me the awkward eye. I’ve done something wrong.

What feels like a year passes, and I’m fighting the urge to yell, “What?” Deena, (super nice, btw) is the one who tells me…

“With anthologies the custom is to sign the page on which YOUR story begins. The front of the book is typically signed when it’s YOUR book.”

DARK DREAMS is definitely not MY book.

Oh. No.

Here’s the thing about ink. It’s permanent. My mistake is immortalized. I apologize, and Deena assures me it’s no big deal (really, it probably isn’t). But, I’ve officially gotten off on the wrong foot. At that point, I probably did take a piece of Brian Keene’s calamari just to un-knot my stomach.

The rest of the weekend went much smoother. I met a number of the other DARK DREAMS contributors, along with some of my favorite writers who were insanely nice and personable–I’m talking to you F. Paul Wilson and Douglass Clegg. Also, I met a gentleman named Maurice Broaddus. Nice guy, I think he has a blog.

All in all, no more major slip-ups on my part, though the Stranger in a Strange Land paranoia stuck with me.

At some point during the proceedings, someone (maybe Deena) asked what it felt like to be a newly published writer at my very first horror convention. I said, “I feel like a freshman sitting at the senior table.”

And I still do.

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For 10 years, I’ve hung in there. There have been slow moments years, where absolutely nothing went well in my writing world. But, with every 10 disappointments came a small success to keep me going. I branched out from horror. Still love it, still write it (and plan to publish it, again, in some form, very soon). I tried my hand in other genres, though. With great results.

Now, I write young adult mystery/thrillers. My latest, FAKE ID, was published by HarperCollins in January and has gotten some pretty good press. As it stands, I’ll write at least two more YA thrillers for HC. A lot of people ask me about the switch, and my go to answer is, “I still write about monsters, the human kind.”

Things are going well, yet…that freshman feeling is not going away. Every conference I go to, I’m sitting at tables with stars. Every time I sip water, or cut my steak, or make a paltry attempt at a joke, I’m expecting the blank stare. The “That’s Not Your Page” look. My introvert juice leaks constantly.

And, that’s okay. I realize that’s more about me—my inner awkwardness—than anybody else. Publishing is stuffed with nice, welcoming people. I often hear confessions of introversion from some of the funniest, most outspoken figures around.

Is it possible that, in some way, we all feel like freshmen?

I don’t know about that, but I do know about this: Horrorfind 2004 was my coming out party. The people I met there will always be dear to me. I’ll tell that Brian Keene calamari story until the end of time.  Plus, I have these takeaways…

I always keep a pen on me.  And I sign on the right page.

Maybe I’m closer to graduation than I thought.

 

The Awkward 3rd Person Version that most writers hate writing…

Lamar “L.R.” Giles writes stuff. He’s been doing it for a long time. Umm, I, I mean he, is was (is?) from Hopewell, Virginia. Hopewell is not like any of the strange little towns he writes about. At all. Not even a little. HarperCollins will publish my–&*#%–his Young Adult thriller FAKE ID in 2014. He has a wife and wants a dog one day. In Chesapeake, Virginia.

 

www.lamargiles.com

LRGilesWriter on Facebook

@LRGiles on Twitter

Mind Meld on SF Signal

Over on SF Signal, I’m part of a discussion answering this question:   What was the first or most memorable geeky pop-culture debate you ever had? Or what’s that one thing you can’t stop ranting about? What was the outcome? Are you still on speaking terms with your opponent? Why are you so passionate about this?

My answer:

Deep Space Nine is the best iteration of Star Trek

This is probably the geek rant 1A I have most often, only because folks don’t immediately concede my point and improve their lives accordingly. (1B being DS9 vs. Babylon 5, only because whenever I bring up the fact that DS9, besides being underrated, someone usually starts running off at the mouth about how DS9 ripped off B5 *gives Jerry Gordon the side eye* ). Let me lay this out for you…

Click on over to see my rant.

 

Not that I’ve NEVER mentioned DS9 on this site:

-Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine (Or “Ruminations on a Black Jesus”)

-Worf’s Journey of Blackness Part I and Part II

forgiveness

Streets of Shadows: Open Call!

You think you’re safe. What a joke.

You don’t think about the places you pass every day. The side streets. The alleys. Under bridges. The shadows.  All you’d have to do is take a step to the side.  Then you’d know.

From editors of Dark Faith, Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon, comes Streets of Shadows, a collection of stories at the intersection of urban fantasy and crime. These tales of the dark and magical side of the urban landscape will be published by Alliteration Ink in late summer 2014.

Currently attached authors include Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, Tim Lebbon, Seanan McGuire, Brandon Massey, Tom Piccirilli, and Lucy A. Snyder.

We’re looking for stories with depth that push the boundaries of their genres.  Stories that make you think, that comment on the human condition and the social order. Stories that are rich in their language use. Stories that entertain and thrill.  Stories between 2000 and 4000 words for which we’ll pay 6 cents per word.

Submissions will be accepted from 3/3/2014 until 4/3/2014.  Unsolicited stories received outside this time frame will be deleted unread.

Please include a cover letter with your submission and only one story at a time.  No reprints.  Simultaneous submissions will be accepted as long as you tell us up front (and immediately withdraw the story if you sell somewhere else).

All submissions must be emailed as an RTF file to Maurice Broaddus and Jerry Gordon at StreetsOfShadows@gmail.com.

Mo*Con IX: May 2nd – 4th, 2014 (REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!)

Brought to you by IHW, Evoke:  Arts + Media, and Second Story, Mo*Con is a convention focused on conversations revolving around genre literature and social justice. If you enjoy writing, conversations, and food, you’ll find plenty to enjoy at Mo*Con (basically, imagine a room party held in a con suite). REGISTRATION DETAILS HERE.

Here’s who will be there:

Guests of Honor: 

Wesley Chu was born in Taiwan and emigrated to Chicago, Illinois when he was just a pup. It was there he became a Kung Fu master and gymnast.  Wesley is an avid gamer and a contributing writer for the magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland. A former stunt man and a member of the Screen Actors Guild, he can also be seen in film and television playing roles such as “Banzai Chef” in Fred Claus and putting out Oscar worthy performances as a bank teller in Chicago Blackhawks commercials.  Besides working as an Associate Vice President at a bank, he spends his time writing and hanging out with his wife Paula Kim and their Airedale Terrier, Eva.  You can learn more about her at www.wesleychu.com or connect with him on Twitter (@wes_chu) or FaceBook (www.facebook.com/wesleychuauthor)

Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, Switchblade Goddess, and thecollections Orchid Carousals, Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. She will have two new books out in 2014: Shooting Yourself in the Head For Fun and Profit: A Writer’s Guide will be released by Post Mortem Press, and her story collection Soft Apocalypses will be released by Raw Dog Screaming Press. Her writing has been translated into French, Russian, and Japanese editions and has appeared in publications such as What Fates Impose, Once Upon A Curse, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Hellbound Hearts, Dark Faith, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 5. You can learn more about her atwww.lucysnyder.com.

Scott Lynch is an American fantasy author, best known for his Gentleman Bastard series of novels.  His first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, came out in 2006.   His second novel, Red Seas Under Red Skies, came out in the summer of 2007. The Lies of Locke Lamora was a World Fantasy Award finalist in 2007. In both 2007 and 2008 Lynch was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.  Lynch received the Sydney J. Bounds Best Newcomer Award from the British Fantasy Society in 2008.  His third novel, The Republic of Thieves, was just released.  He’s also a volunteer firefighter with the New Richmond, WI fire department.

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Elizabeth Bear was born on the same day as Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, but in a different year. When coupled with a tendency to read the dictionary for fun as a child, this led her inevitably to penury, intransigence, and the writing of speculative fiction. She is the Hugo, Sturgeon, and Campbell Award winning author of 25 novels and almost a hundred short stories. Her dog lives in Massachusetts; her partner, writer Scott Lynch, lives in Wisconsin. She spends a lot of time on planes.

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Publisher Guest of Honor:

Dave Mattingly founded BlackWyrm Publishing in 2003. The company has produced 100 novels, mostly in the speculative fiction genres. Never wanting to turn away a good book, other genres have crept in since then, including mystery, romance, historical, Christian, business, and others. As an early adopter of technology, BlackWyrm makes sure that all of the printed books are available in the various popular ebook formats.  Besides his credentials at BlackWyrm, Dave is the vice president of the Christian Gamers Guild, and organizes church services at Origins, GenCon, FandomFest, and other conventions. As a former atheist that converted to Christianity late in life, he merges his geek life with his Godly life. He regularly speaks at Toastmasters, and has earned two DTMs, the highest achievement possible in that organization.  Professionally trained as a computer programmer, database administrator, and scrum master, Dave has worked for a vast array of industries such as space travel, video games, graphic design, bio-terrorism, and fraud prevention.

Editor Guest of Honor:

John Joseph Adams (www.johnjosephadams.com)—called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble—is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such as Oz Reimagined, The Mad Scientist’s Guide to World Domination, Epic: Legends of Fantasy, Other Worlds Than These, Armored, Under the Moons of Mars, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and The Way of the Wizard. He is a six-time finalist for the Hugo Award and a five-time nominee for the World Fantasy Award. He is also the editor and publisher of the magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and is the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Find him on Twitter @johnjosephadams.

Wait, there’s more …

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Featured guests

Chesya Burke’s 2011 fiction collection, Let’s Play White, was featured in i09 and received praise from Samuel Delany and Nikki Giovanni. Her work has appeared in Dark Dreams I, II and III: Horror and Suspense by Black Writers published by Kensington Publishing Corp.; the Stoker-nominated, Dark Faith and many more. She also is recognized for her critical analysis of genre and race issues such as her articles, Race and The Walking Dead and Super Duper Sexual Spiritual Black Woman: The New and Improved Magical Negro published by Clarksworld Publication. Likewise, several of her articles appeared in the African American National Biography published by Harvard and Oxford University Press. Chesya is currently getting her MA in African American Studies at Georgia State University and is a juror for the 2013 Shirley Jackson awards.

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John Hornor Jacobs’ first novel, Southern Gods, was published by Night Shade Books and shortlisted for the Bram Stoker Award. His second novel, This Dark Earth, was published in July, 2012, by Gallery/Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. His young adult series, The Incarcerado Trilogy comprised of The Twelve Fingered Boy, The Shibboleth, and The Conformity, will be published by Carolrhoda Labs, an imprint of Lerner Publishing.  His first fantasy series, The Incorruptibles will be published in Spring 2014 by Gollancz in the UK.

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Geoffrey Girard writes thrillers, historicals, dark fantasy, young adult novels, and short speculative fiction for publications including WRITERS OF THE FUTURE and the Stoker-nominated DARK FAITH anthology. Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, Geoffrey graduated from Washington College with a literature degree and worked as an advertising copywriter before shifting to high school English teacher. Since, he’s earned an MA in Creative Writing from Miami University and is the Department Chair of English at a private boys’ school in Cincinnati. His TALES OF… series (TALES OF THE JERSEY DEVIL, TALES OF THE ATLANTIC PIRATES and TALES OF THE EASTERN INDIANS) features original stories based on American history and folklore. Simon and Schuster published two Girard novels in 2013: CAIN’S BLOOD, a techno thriller, and PROJECT CAIN, a spinoff novel for Young-Adult readers. For more information, visitwww.GeoffreyGirard.com.

Special Musical Guest:

Musical composer Wes Alexander and writer/editor Reinhardt Suarez are the two-man crew behind The Pork Chop Express, a traveling musical show that fuses story and song into a single experience. Compositions are often concepted and created remotely, as Alexander resides in Chicago, IL, and Suarez in Minneapolis, MN. The Pork Chop Express relishes opportunities to step outside its own bounds, with projects such as the album-novel The Green Ray of the Sun, and the Twitter-based story-event, Giant Avian Doomsday. Find them at www.theporkchopexpress.com

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ARTIST GUEST OF HONOR:

Melissa Gay is a critically-acclaimed artist of the Imaginative Realism style. Starting her career as a scientific illustrator doing ink drawings for botany manuals, she later used those same skills to do black and white line art for roleplaying games, her true passion. Her work has since appeared on the covers and the interiors of many games, books, magazines, academic publications, and even a tarot deck, and her original paintings are in the hands of private collectors around the world. Her roleplaying game credits include work on Freedom Flyer, an Echoes Of War adventure for the Firefly RPG, The Dresden Files RPG, the Crimeworld Fate Core supplement,  HERO 6th edition, Fantasy HERO and its supplement The Book Of Dragons, Part-Time Gods and its upcoming supplements, Mermaid Adventures, Camp Myth, Psi-Punk, and the upcoming Elves of Uteria. Her speculative fiction book covers include Sara M. Harvey’s Penemue trilogy (Apex Press), and  HebrewPunk (Apex Press) and Jesus and the Eightfold Path (Immersion Press edition) for World Fantasy Award winning author Lavie Tidhar.

MORE SURPRISES TO COME.  GO HERE FOR HOTEL DETAILS AND REGISTRATION.

A Few Upcoming Appearances

Here is a tentative list of where you can find me this year:

February 22 – Indiana Writers’ Center Workshop:  Introduction to Spec Fic/World Building

 

March 1 - Winton Woods Middle School Flash Fiction Contest (judge!)

May 2 -4 – Mo*Con

 

May 23-26 - WisCon

 

July 14-20 – NASFIC/DetCon 1

 

August 14-17 - GenCon

 

September 19-21 - Imaginarium

 

September 26-28 - Context

 

 

 

A Couple of Workshop Announcements

I was asked (read: ordered!) that the next time I teach at the Indiana Writer’s Center that I give folks sufficient advance warning.  So, here you go:

 

Introduction to Speculative Fiction + World Building Combo

Take both classes and Save!

Instructor: Maurice Broaddus

Date: Saturday, February 22

Time: 9 a.m.- 12 p.m. and 12:30-3:30 p.m.

Location: IWC

Cost: $100 Nonmembers, $70 members, $60 student/teacher/senior members

Speculative Fiction

Here’s the thing:  you know speculative fiction when you see it, even if you’re unfamiliar with all of the insider jargon used to describe its many subgenres. The big three are Horror, Fantasy (high, urban, historical), and Science Fiction (hard, cyberpunk, steampunk). So if the story takes place in a far off land or an alternate version of an existing one; whether it is extrapolating science into futuristic technologies with its impact on society or conjuring new forms of magic, speculative fiction is the genre of possibility. This class will clarify what speculative fiction is and explore explore the marketplace, discussing where and how to submit your work.

World Building

Setting is an important part of any story.  More particular to the speculative fiction writer is the world-building aspect of setting.  Our job is to out-imagine our readers.  The writer needs to make sure that their world operates within a consistent system.  We will develop a basic checklist of items to think through as you build the universe for your characters to play in.

You can take the classes together or separately (Intro or World Building).

 

For anyone heading to Context this year, I’ll be leading my Building Your Brand Workshop:

Maurice Broaddus: Building Your Brand

(Friday, September 26th, 3pm-5pm)

You’re not just selling books — you’re selling your writing persona and your platform. Learn how to share your platform by gaining online followers without selling your soul to the devil. Maurice Broaddus gives real data on what has helped him gain readers.  $20, 2 hours.

 

A Few Random Updates

The Streets of Shadows kickstarter project has about reached the halfway mark.  Thank you for all of your support.  Let’s beat the mid-way KickStarter lull!*

Speaking of the KickStarter, my awesome co-editor, Jerry Gordon, and I were on DJ Grandpa’s Crib talking about our project.  Check it out (we’re at the 32:20 mark)

Over on SF Signal, I’m discussing a few books that I don’t think have had the attention they deserve.  Futureland (Walter Mosley) and The Gift (Patrick O’Leary) have probably been the two books most instrumental in me writing a lot more science fiction and fantasy these days.

Science fiction like I Can Transform You (now with a new review) and fantasy like Steppin’ Razor (also with a new review).

 

*The trend is for KickStarter projects to start strong, then hit a lull, then finish strong.  I don’t know if my stomach can take the anxiety of too long a lull!