Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 84

RWA 2011 in NYC - things to think about

If you've never been to New York City before, and if you're debating whether or not to attend the 2011 RWA National Conference in New York City, here are some of my thoughts.Because the city is a major destination, it might be easier to find cheap flights; if you live in an area where it's possible, it's also very easy to take the train to Penn Station, which is close to the conference hotel.

Alas, No Steampunk.

I'm sorry to announce that the steampunk Western novel for Spice has been cancelled.I'm not sure if I will continue to work on that project for another possible publisher, or work on something else entirely, since I have a number of different projects clamoring for my attention.I'll post when I've decided.

Recent Steampunk

Today, some recent steampunk novels.Caveat - I have not yet read any of these books, but I've been collecting them for my To Be Read pile. Suggestions welcome if you have them! Please refrain from spoilers in the comments.The Native Star by M.K. Hobson. "The year is 1876. In the small Sierra Nevada settlement of Lost Pine, the town witch, Emily Edwards, is being run out of business by an

Selling the Unusual Setting

This post was originally written for The Naughty Girls Next Door. Since then, I learned from author Michelle Styles in a comment to that post that Harlequin Mills & Boon has been seeking out unusual historicals, publishing one a month - so there's a market right there! You can check out her comment in more detail here.Here's the original post:And now for something completely different.A

Gilbert Frankau, "Headquarters"

HeadquartersA league and a league from the trenches--from the traversed maze of the lines, Where daylong the sniper watches and daylong the bullet whines, And the cratered earth is in travail with mines and with countermines-- Here, where haply some woman dreamed (are those her roses that bloom In the garden beyond the windows of my littered working room?)We have decked the map for our masters as

Gilbert Frankau, "How Rifleman Brown came to Valhalla"

How Rifleman Brown came to ValhallaTo the lower Hall of Valhalla, to the heroes of no renown,Relieved from his spell at the listening-post, came Rifleman Joseph Brown.With never a rent in his khaki nor smear of blood on his face,He flung his pack from his shoulders, and made for an empty place.The Killer-men of Valhalla looked up from the banquet-boardAt the unfouled breech of his rifle, at the

Pirate Promotion

A friend of mine is providing me with quite a lot of her own time and energy to help me with promotion for The Duke & The Pirate Queen. Recently, we met for lunch a couple of times and she, who once worked as a journalist, walked me through an outline she'd created, of things she saw as easy opportunities for book promotion.She has a lot more confidence in me than I do. Which is one of the

Promotional Bookmarks

Back when I first posted about promotional bookmarks and postcards for The Duke & The Pirate Queen, I promised to give an update on how it was going. So, here's how it's going...sort of.I don't actually know yet how it's going. I carried quantities of the bookmarks and postcards with me to the RWA conference and to Readercon, and left them on the freebie tables. People took them. I had taken

Genre is the Highest Form of Literature

I think genre fiction is the highest form of literature. I really do. If "highest" means most important to humanity. How's that for a sweeping claim? Romance, fantasy, mystery, and science fiction. Those are the highest literature out there.For one thing, look at history. Today, Dickens is "literature." To contemporary readers, he was cheap "escapist" entertainment. So longevity, I feel,

Top Posts from 2010 (so far)

I like playing with the tracking on my blog sometimes. Here are the most popular posts on this blog, by month, for 2010 so far. It's very interesting to see which posts seem to be of more general interest.January: Tell Not Show, a writing craft post.February: My Favorite Girls Dressed As Boys (Fantasy Edition), which continues to get visits along with its companion post from September 2009,