Joe Monson's Blog, page 3

Michaelene Pendleton, 1946-2019

I’m sad to report that author Michaelene Pendleton passed away on January 21, 2019 in Moab. I am told by one of her close friends that she passed away quickly. She was 72.

My first memories of Michaelene were at Life, the Universe, & Everything, an annual science fiction and fantasy symposium held in Provo, Utah. I met her in the early 1990s there, and I remember her always having a smile for anyone. I found out later she was a writer and editor at the Moab Sun News in Moab, Utah. She wrote a number of science fiction short stories from the late 1980s through the early 2000s, and they were all well written and interesting. She was smart, articulate, and a great storyteller.

If you’d like to leave a tribute for her family and friends, you can do so at the Spanish Valley Mortuary.

You will be missed, Michaelene.

Picture from the Moab Sun News.

LTUE 37 is next week!

Life, the Universe, & Everything 37 is coming up next week, February 14-16, 2019. It will be held at the Provo Marriott and Conference Center in downtown Provo.

Outside of the events below, I’ll be attending a few panels that interest me, chatting with people in the hall, and hanging out at the LTUE Benefit Anthologies table near the elevators and the Board Room. Drop by and say “Hello!”, pick up a Trace the Stars bookmark (limited quantities, while they last!), and get your own copy of Trace the Stars. You can also see the amazing artist Kaitlund Zupanic at the table (we’re sharing).

I’ll be participating in the following panels and events:

Manga and Graphic Novels: What to Read First
(Thursday, 11am – 11:45am in Elm)
Antarctic Mythology and Folklore
(Thursday, 1pm – 1:45pm in Birch)
Trace the Stars Anthology Launch
(Thursday, 3pm – 3:45pm in Elm)
In addition to releasing Trace the Stars, we will be revealing the cover art and some of the authors for A Dragon and Her Girl —the second LTUE Benefit Anthology—coming out in 2020.
Book Signing
(Friday, 7pm – 9pm, Exhibit Hall C in the Utah Valley Convention Center)
This is a mass signing, and will likely have around 100 authors, artists, and editors signing. This is open to the public and free.

Hope to see you there!

Trace the Stars available for preorder

[image error]The ebook for Trace the Stars, the benefit anthology I co-edited with Jaleta Clegg, is now available for pre-order in multiple locations: Amazon (Kindle), Apple Books, Barnes & Noble (Nook), and and Kobo. Go pre-order your copy today!

If your library uses Overdrive, you can request it be ordered so you can borrow it. If you are outside the States, the ebook is available at all Amazon stores and other ebook stores that are served by Tolino (mostly in Europe, I believe). It should be available shortly through Scribd, 24Symbols, and Playster, too.

The print version will be available soon on Amazon, and shortly after that at any bookstore that can order through Ingram. I’ll post more here once I have the final details.

Call for submissions closed for A Dragon and Her Girl

You can read more about it over on the Hemelein Publications site. Now, to buckle down and read all of the submissions with Jaleta Clegg. We have to have decisions made by the end of January 2019. Wish us luck! I think it’s going to be hard based on the caliber of those who submitted stories.

LTUE 2019 schedule

[image error]LTUE’s snazzy new logo.

Looks like I’ll be moderating three panels at Life, the Universe, & Everything in February 2019 (here’s my schedule). I’ll also be at the Trace the Stars anthology launch event on Thursday (February 14) afternoon and the mass author signing on Friday (February 15) evening. At the anthology launch, we’ll be unveiling the cover for A Dragon and Her Girl and announcing who will be in the anthology (provided we get all the contracts back in time).

LTUE is my favorite convention every year. I get to see friends I only see once or twice a year, I get to meet new people, and I get to learn a lot from a wide variety of other authors, editors, artists, and others. If you haven’t ever attended, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re an author, editor, or artist. Maybe attendance will break 2000 this year? They reached over 1700 last year, so it’s a possibility.

As a bonus (and incentive to attend), anyone who buys Trace the Stars at the symposium will get one of the matching limited edition bookmarks, while supplies last. So, come by and pick up a copy! See you there!

High school nostalgia

For the first time in over twenty years, I’ve run into one of my high school teachers. Cindy Clark taught various art classes, and I took a least one (I forget if I took more than one). It was one of my favorite classes. My favorite part of it was ceramics, where I sculpted an ice cream sundae from clay, paint, and hot glue (it makes great hot fudge). It was one of the most fun experiences I ever had, and I still have it (in a box somewhere, so I can’t show it to you right now).

[image error]Cindy Clark at the “Women in Waiting” exhibit.

Cindy opened her first solo art exhibit last night at the Eccles Gallery in the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo, Utah. The title of the exhibit is “Women in Waiting”, and the thirty works display a variety of activities and situations where women currently and previously had to wait. The works are done using encaustic painting, a medium that uses beeswax, pigments, and resins to achieve a unique, somewhat translucent quality.

The exhibit goes through January 28, 2019, on the lower level. I highly recommend taking the time to visit it.

Napoleon’s Tallest Teamster published!

[image error]“All Made of Hinges” edited by James Wymore.

My first published story, “Napoleon’s Tallest Teamster“—as part of the All Made of Hinges Mormon Steampunk anthology from Immortal Works—comes out today! My story is surrounded by great stories from other authors (see the table of contents here), including Dave Butler, Jay Barnson, John M. Olsen, and Lee Allred.

Get it today! Print—Kindle

UPDATE!

We’re climbing the charts on Amazon! As of 13:41 on November 27, 2018, we are at #3 on Amazon’s Hot New Releases list for Steampunk, #22 in Kindle Science Fiction Anthologies & Short Stories, #24 in Science Fiction Steampunk (for all books), and #60 in Kindle Steampunk. Not bad!

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Happy 2018 Thanksgiving!

[image error]Yeah, not really a depiction of Thanksgiving in “Star Trek”, but it’s a big feast!This is the one time in the year where we, as a country, formally take time to focus on the things we’re thankful for. Sometimes, it might seem that you have nothing to be thankful for, but if you take the time to reflect, seriously reflect, you will be surprised at just how many blessings you have in your life.

I have much to be thankful for this year.

I finally finished up my degree. It took a while, but I’m thankful to have that done and behind me.

I have two amazing children and an even more amazing wife. My life has changed significantly since I got married (more than two decades ago!) and since our two bundles of joy finally decided it was time to make an appearance. Despite moments of frustration and helplessness that pepper life with children, I have experienced more joy since they came along than I ever thought possible.

I live in relative peace and comfort, thanks to the efforts of those who choose to serve to protect our freedoms, and those whose scientific minds are immeasurably greater than mine.

I sold my first story, and it will be published this year, too! Next week!

I work with some amazing people.

I have many friends and family who support me in my eccentricities and share my interests.

I have a loving Father in Heaven who has provided a way for me to return to live with him someday.

I live in an amazingly beautiful world, filled with more wonders than I could possibly see or experience in my lifetime.

I live in a country that affords me the freedom to make my own choices regarding my life.

I am truly blessed in innumerable ways, far more than I probably realize, and I am thankful for all of them.

I hope all of you take a few moments (or longer) to seriously consider all of the ways you are blessed. Focusing on the positive things in your life can be life-changing. It has been, for me.

May all of you have a very happy Thanksgiving, however you celebrate it, and regardless of with whom you celebrate it.

NaNoWriMo has begun!

The outline for the novel is coming along, and the writing has begun! I plan to have this novel completed by the end of the year, so I have to sort out important things that need to happen at various points, and when in the novel they need to happen. Off to a good start.

Shout out to my wife who also completed a story today and submitted it. Good luck to her!

Goals by the end of the year

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I’m working on one short story that is about 75% done (first draft), and I will be using NaNoWriMo to kickstart my first novel. I want to finish the it (again, first draft) by the end of this year. Space dragons! Wormholes! Aim for the stars, right?

I’m also getting the Trace the Stars anthology ready to send off to the interior layout editor, and the final line edits are almost done. Only about 3.5 months until it is released, so I’m getting excited! The call is still open for the A Dragon and Her Girl benefit anthology, so if you have a story you want considered, please submit it!