Lizz Donnelly's Blog, page 2

Fifty Book Pick Up: 2019 Edition

It’s New Year’s Eve, which means it’s time to make a list of everything I read this year and pick some favorites. I aim for five best books of the year, usually, and every year I fail to limit myself to five.

So let’s go! In no particular order: (actually that’s a lie; the list is in chronological order of when I read them)

The Eternaut- Hector German Oesterheld and Franciso Solano Lopez

I read this Argentinian comic strip turned graphic novel for a Canon Blast! post, and it was one of the...

Light a Light: Giftmas Blog Tour 2019

I’m a generally curmudgeonly person during the holiday season. There are approximately three albums of Christmas music that I can tolerate, I am not a fan of surprises, and don’t even get me started on tinsel.

I think this stems from too many years of traditions that weren’t really mine with forced family members who weren’t really mine, followed by several years of working in retail. A mall is a terrible place to be at holiday time; the smell of rampant commercialism mixed with an endless...

2019 Eligibility Post

Hello, friends!

It’s the end of the year, which means it’s time for lists of all sorts, including the compilation list of things published this year that are eligible for awards.

I have 2 and a half (half because the expected publication date is this year, but it isn’t technically out yet.) short stories eligible this year, and if I read the rules correctly, two flash fictions, because Patreon counts.

In no particular order:

“Earthquake Machine,” about sisters who save their father from a...

Contributors Announcement: Swashbuckling Cats

About a year ago(?) I saw a tweet that said something to the effect of “hey someone should put together an anthology of stories about pirate cats. Call it Swashbuckling Cats.”

Everyone said “LOL that’s a hilarious idea”

Then last summer Tyche Books put out the call for submissions.

I ended up writing a silly story loosely based on Grainne O’Malley, the actual pirate queen of Ireland,  but with cats! and set in spaaaace! and full of weed puns!

I’m not sure where it came from, or why the always lovely Rhonda Parrish accep...

COVER REVEAL: Space Opera Libretti

It’s time for another cover reveal!

This one is for Space Opera Libretti, edited by Jennifer Lee Rossman and Brian McNett, an anthology of humorous science fiction set to music. Or about music. Or featuring music. However the contributing authors interpreted the call for submissions.

I was stoked because I just happened to have the right story.

As you may have guessed, I have a story in this collection. Mine is called “Groovy” and it features many classic 70s jams, lava lamps, and magic mushrooms. It’s silly. It’s fun. It’s… wel...

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More Like Scaffolding

Let’s talk about structure.

This is the time of year when I start putting together material for my after school writing club, and I think about structuring that, and structuring lessons and structuring stories and… you get the picture.

With 6th graders, I have to start with the most basic structure. What makes a story a story? A beginning, a middle and an end. For them, pretty much always in chronological order. But should it always be in that order? Well, yes, but what if the beginning for y...

RELEASE DAY: BRAVE NEW GIRLS 4

Good news for young readers and fans of science fiction, gadgets, and girls being generally awesome!

Brave New Girls: Adventures of Gals and Gizmos is out today!

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From the editors: Venture into realms of sci-fi marvels. Come explore a world of teen makers and innovators. From interstellar escapades to near-future locales, this volume of sci-fi stories has something for everyone. Girls who use their mechanical acumen to save interstellar colonies and design super-powered armor. Young women who...

Cover Reveal: GRIMM, GRIT, AND GASOLINE

It’s cover reveal day!

My story “Evening Chorus” is in the Grimm, Grit, and Gasoline anthology coming from World Weaver Press this fall.

Check out the GORGEOUS cover!

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From World Weaver Press:

Dieselpunk and decopunk are alternative history re-imaginings of (roughly) the WWI and WWII eras: tales with the grit of roaring bombers and rumbling tanks, of ‘We Can Do It’ and old time gangsters, or with the glamour of flappers and Hollywood starlets, smoky jazz and speakeasies. The stories in this v...

Quick Update

Hello friends!

It’s been awhile, because I am terrible at updating a blog. Also, I’ve been super busy.

Just two quick things before I’m off and running again:

1) You can now pre-order the ebook version of BRAVE NEW GIRLS Vol. 4, which contains my story Earthquake Machine. The link to that is right HERE.

2) I will be at my very first BookCon this weekend! BookCon2019 here I come! I’m so incredibly excited. If you see me, say hello!

Copy edits are turned in for one of the other anthologies I’m...

Review: Mem by Bethany C. Morrow

This stunning little gem of a novel will likely end up on my best-of 2019 list at the end of the year. It’s been on my to-read list for quite awhile, because I was intrigued by the premise:

In an alternate 1920s Montreal, the wealthy can have their memories extracted from their own consciousness and placed into Mems, identical copies of their body that hold only that particular memory. Dolores Extract No. 1 is different–she isn’t locked eternally in one moment; she’s fully conscious and holds...