Bryce Raffle's Blog
September 18, 2018
DeadSteam Book Trailer
DeadSteam is now available for review. If you would like a copy in exchange for an honest review, there’s a sign up sheet here. There’s also a giveaway! Add to Goodreads Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Booktopia Amazon (Hardback) | Amazon (Paperback & Kindle)| Nook & Paperback I’m also giving away a digital copy of Dead Steam to one lucky winner. The giveaway will run …
August 23, 2018
DeadSteam Author Interview: Jen Ponce
Hi Jen,
Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I live in the Panhandle of NE with my boys, my cats, and my dogs. I have been creating stories since I was little but didn't start writing until 6th grade. I have an English degree and I currently work as an advocate for a sexual and domestic violence program.
Who are some writers that inspire you?
There are so many. I credit Stephen King's book On Writing with getting me to finish my first novel. All the romance writers I read in my formative years helped inspire me to write, people such as Julie Garwood, Rebecca Brandywine, Johannah Lindsey, Jennifer Cruisie, Julia Quinn and more. Sarah Lyons Flemming writes amazing zombie novels. Faith Hunter, Patricia Briggs, Lilith Saintcrow, and Kim Harrison write amazing UF, and Sarah J. Maas and other YA writers have kept me inspired.
What have you written?
Devany Miller Series (Dark Fantasy):
Book 1: The Bazaar
Book 2: Slip Song
Book 3: Demon's Cradle
Book 4: World Weaver
Book 5: Soul Hook (Coming in 2018)
Alien Apocalypse Trilogy (Campy Horror)
Book 1: Bug Queen
Blood Tetralogy (Lesbian Vampire Horror):
Book 1: Blood Curse
Stand-alone Psychological Horror:
Burning the Devil
Short Story Collections:
Things That Creep
Touch but a Web
Anthologies:
Tied in Pink (romance)
Winter Wishes (fantasy)
Sins of the Past (horror)
Sins of the Future (horror)
Sins of the Gods (horror)
The Dragon's Rocketship Presents: The Scribe's Journal (fantasy)
Hex Support (urban fantasy)
Where can we buy or see them?
You can find them all on Amazon! Just search for Jen Ponce and you'll see my author page with a listing of all my books.
Give us some insight into your story for the DeadSteam anthology. What makes your story unique? Perhaps you could share a brief excerpt from your story?
I'd been watching a lot of historical series as well as reading a bunch of historical fiction. At my day job, I do a lot of presentations about gender roles and stereotypes that keep people in abusive relationships. Plus, I'm just interested in how women navigate the systems put in place to hold them back. (Also, I just love vampires.) I had this image of a woman staring across the table at her oblivious, checked-out husband, a fork clutched in her hand and knew she was someone I wanted to write about.
What are you working on at the moment? What’s it about?
I'm doing rewrites and edits on the fifth book in my Devany Miller Series, which carries on the story of Devany as she tries to put out all the fires started the moment she stepped into Midia, an alternate world filled with magic.
I'm also working on an urban fantasy trilogy and I'm dabbling with a fantasy on Wattpad.
What genre are your books, mainly? Are you new to the dreadpunk or steampunk genre, or have you written in the genre before? What compelled you to write or submit a story to this particular anthology?
I'm new to dreadpunk, though I have a steampunk book started that's set in the world of my Devany Miller books. I love horror which is why I wanted to have a story in this anthology. I'm so excited to be part of something so cool!
Do you read much and if so who are your favourite authors? Do you enjoy reading the classics or do you tend to read more contemporary writers?
I read everything. As an English major, I've had to, but I've found myself revisiting books I had to read in school and learning to love them. (And some I will always hate--looking at you, Sir Walter Scott.) I've been gobbling up YA books lately because there are so many great fantasies out there. Right now, I'm really digging Sarah Lyons Flemming (she writes about zombies!!!) and Sarah J Maas. Faith Hunter's latest in the Jane Yellowrock series is playing on my Audible account.
Where do your ideas come from?
I get a lot of ideas from dreams I've had. The start of the Bazaar comes from a dream. Burning the Devil comes straight from a dream I had. Otherwise, I take in all sorts of interesting things, my imagination digests them and then my brain puts the disparate pieces together to make something new.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
I love the wild adventure of sitting down and letting the story take me where it wants to go. I usually plot out the bare bones and then I work from a place of creation.
If your story is part of a series, could you tell us a little about the series?
It's not.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hardback books?
I take my books any way I can get them.
What book/s are you reading at present?
Dark Queen by Faith Hunter is on my phone and I'm reading A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
How can readers discover more about you and you work?
Website: www.JenniferPonce.com
Blog: www.JenniferPonce.com/blog/
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JenPonceAuthor
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JenPonceAuthor
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jen-Ponce/e/B0...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Could you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I live in the Panhandle of NE with my boys, my cats, and my dogs. I have been creating stories since I was little but didn't start writing until 6th grade. I have an English degree and I currently work as an advocate for a sexual and domestic violence program.
Who are some writers that inspire you?
There are so many. I credit Stephen King's book On Writing with getting me to finish my first novel. All the romance writers I read in my formative years helped inspire me to write, people such as Julie Garwood, Rebecca Brandywine, Johannah Lindsey, Jennifer Cruisie, Julia Quinn and more. Sarah Lyons Flemming writes amazing zombie novels. Faith Hunter, Patricia Briggs, Lilith Saintcrow, and Kim Harrison write amazing UF, and Sarah J. Maas and other YA writers have kept me inspired.
What have you written?
Devany Miller Series (Dark Fantasy):
Book 1: The Bazaar
Book 2: Slip Song
Book 3: Demon's Cradle
Book 4: World Weaver
Book 5: Soul Hook (Coming in 2018)
Alien Apocalypse Trilogy (Campy Horror)
Book 1: Bug Queen
Blood Tetralogy (Lesbian Vampire Horror):
Book 1: Blood Curse
Stand-alone Psychological Horror:
Burning the Devil
Short Story Collections:
Things That Creep
Touch but a Web
Anthologies:
Tied in Pink (romance)
Winter Wishes (fantasy)
Sins of the Past (horror)
Sins of the Future (horror)
Sins of the Gods (horror)
The Dragon's Rocketship Presents: The Scribe's Journal (fantasy)
Hex Support (urban fantasy)
Where can we buy or see them?
You can find them all on Amazon! Just search for Jen Ponce and you'll see my author page with a listing of all my books.
Give us some insight into your story for the DeadSteam anthology. What makes your story unique? Perhaps you could share a brief excerpt from your story?
I'd been watching a lot of historical series as well as reading a bunch of historical fiction. At my day job, I do a lot of presentations about gender roles and stereotypes that keep people in abusive relationships. Plus, I'm just interested in how women navigate the systems put in place to hold them back. (Also, I just love vampires.) I had this image of a woman staring across the table at her oblivious, checked-out husband, a fork clutched in her hand and knew she was someone I wanted to write about.
For fifteen years I'd been sitting across from him, watching him chew, watching him ignore me, watching him stuff himself with food I helped prepare and all I could do was think about the interminable years of the same stretching before me. Hell wasn't filled with sinners and murderers; it was filled with men like Mr. Wold and women like me who have to suffer them.
He wiped his mouth, folded his paper, and adjusted his stout body in his seat as was his habit. Next, he would smile at me as if I were three and he'd like to pat me on the head. "Delicious as usual, Mrs. Wold."
The formality stuck in my throat and my words came out strangled. His smile didn't change.
"I shall see the children at half past seven, before they go to bed. See to it that they are quiet until then."
I had a fork in my hand, the silver heavy and cold. The tines weren't sharp but if I used enough force I could plunge it into the jelly of his eyeball and elicit a scream from him that would cut through that endless, dark monotony of my life.
"Evelyn?" His smile slipped, returned, as if he were unsure of what to do with whatever he saw on my face.
What are you working on at the moment? What’s it about?
I'm doing rewrites and edits on the fifth book in my Devany Miller Series, which carries on the story of Devany as she tries to put out all the fires started the moment she stepped into Midia, an alternate world filled with magic.
I'm also working on an urban fantasy trilogy and I'm dabbling with a fantasy on Wattpad.
What genre are your books, mainly? Are you new to the dreadpunk or steampunk genre, or have you written in the genre before? What compelled you to write or submit a story to this particular anthology?
I'm new to dreadpunk, though I have a steampunk book started that's set in the world of my Devany Miller books. I love horror which is why I wanted to have a story in this anthology. I'm so excited to be part of something so cool!
Do you read much and if so who are your favourite authors? Do you enjoy reading the classics or do you tend to read more contemporary writers?
I read everything. As an English major, I've had to, but I've found myself revisiting books I had to read in school and learning to love them. (And some I will always hate--looking at you, Sir Walter Scott.) I've been gobbling up YA books lately because there are so many great fantasies out there. Right now, I'm really digging Sarah Lyons Flemming (she writes about zombies!!!) and Sarah J Maas. Faith Hunter's latest in the Jane Yellowrock series is playing on my Audible account.
Where do your ideas come from?
I get a lot of ideas from dreams I've had. The start of the Bazaar comes from a dream. Burning the Devil comes straight from a dream I had. Otherwise, I take in all sorts of interesting things, my imagination digests them and then my brain puts the disparate pieces together to make something new.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
I love the wild adventure of sitting down and letting the story take me where it wants to go. I usually plot out the bare bones and then I work from a place of creation.
If your story is part of a series, could you tell us a little about the series?
It's not.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hardback books?
I take my books any way I can get them.
What book/s are you reading at present?
Dark Queen by Faith Hunter is on my phone and I'm reading A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas
How can readers discover more about you and you work?
Website: www.JenniferPonce.com
Blog: www.JenniferPonce.com/blog/
Facebook: www.Facebook.com/JenPonceAuthor
Twitter: www.Twitter.com/JenPonceAuthor
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Jen-Ponce/e/B0...
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
September 23, 2017
DeadSteam Announcement
Bring out your dead! Welcome to DeadSteam, an anthology that aims to showcase the dark side of steampunk, the ghoulish and the gothic, tales of gaslamp and dreadpunk that embrace the macabre. Ah, dreadpunk. Isn’t that just a new word for Victorian Gothic? Well, yes and no. Dreadpunk, according to the website, “is devoted to the …
October 2, 2016
Guest Blog: Karen J Carlisle: Rewriting Steampunk
Today, I’m pleased to welcome yet another guest blogger. I’m in good company alongside Karen J Carlisle, whose excellent new short story All That Glitters is featured in the upcoming Den of Antiquity steampunk anthology. Karen writes speculative fiction including steampunk, Victorian mystery and fantasy. She was short-listed in Australian Literature Review’s 2013 Murder/Mystery Short Story Competition and published her …
Continue reading "Guest Blog: Karen J Carlisle: Rewriting Steampunk"
September 24, 2016
Den of Antiquity
I’m very excited to announce a new anthology is on the way. This is the second Scribblers’ Den anthology. Our first anthology of flash fiction and shorts, Denizens of Steam, is available for FREE on smashwords. Get it here. Our latest anthology is called Den of Antiquity When one thinks of a den, one tends to think of comfort. …
July 16, 2016
Book Review: Beyond The Rails, by Jack Tyler
Beyond The Rails, by Jack Tyler A few years ago, I became a member of the Steampunk Empire, an online community dedicated to steampunk. It was there that I came across a post from a member who called himself Blimprider. A steampunk writer like myself, Blimprider was the alias of Jack Tyler, whose discussion (entitled …
Continue reading "Book Review: Beyond The Rails, by Jack Tyler"
June 12, 2016
Guest Blog – EC Jarvis – How to approach writing/reading your first steampunk novel – a guide for the uninitiated.
Today, I’m pleased to welcome another guest blogger. You may remember E.C. Jarvis as the writer of The Machine, a book I reviewed recently. Quick recap: loved it! So you’ll understand why I’m thrilled to have her as my guest. E.C. Jarvis is a British author working mainly in speculative and fantasy fiction genres. For the last …
May 28, 2016
Guest Blog: Steve Moore: Living Dead London
My latest guest in my guest blog series is none other than Steve Moore. Moore is a genuine Londoner and, well, a somewhat quirky individual – but I repeat myself. Like my previous guest, he is also a Denizen of the Steampunk Empire’s Scribblers Den and will be featured in our upcoming anthology (more on …
Continue reading "Guest Blog: Steve Moore: Living Dead London"
May 13, 2016
Remembering Datamancer
Recently, one of my friends sent me a link to this website. The website belongs (or belonged) to Richard “Doc” Nagy, otherwise known as datamancer, and features a number of beautiful, functional, steampunk keyboards and computer mods. My friend knew of my interest in steampunk and probably figured I hadn’t seen the keyboards before. I …
April 16, 2016
Guest Blog: David Lee Summers – Seeking Relevance through Steampunk
Today I’m starting a new series of blog posts, where each month (or so), I introduce a new guest, and step back while they take the wheel. My first guest is David Lee Summers, a fellow steampunk writer and Scribblers’ Den member. His novels include Owl Dance, a steampunk adventure set in the wild west, …
Continue reading "Guest Blog: David Lee Summers – Seeking Relevance through Steampunk"
