C. Lee McKenzie's Blog, page 78
May 10, 2012
M Pax and the Backworlds

The Backworlds is here!
The first story in the Backworlds series by M. Pax. A vision of how humanity might colonize the galaxy some day in the distant future.
The Backworlds
After the war with Earth, bioengineered humans scatter across the Backworlds. Competition is fierce and pickings are scant. Scant enough that Craze’s father decides to hoard his fortune by destroying his son. Cut off from family and friends, with little money, and even less knowledge of the worlds beyond his own, Craze heads into an uncertain future. Boarding the transport to Elstwhere, he vows to make his father regret this day.
Available from: Amazon / AmazonUK / Smashwords / Feedbooks
Other links to more outlets can be found at either Wistful Nebulae or MPax
The Backworlds is an ebook and a free read. All formats can be found at Smashwords and Feedbooks.
It’ll take a few weeks to work its way down to free on Amazon Kindle. It will also be available on B&N and iTunes. Sign up for M. Pax’s mailing list to be notified the day it does go free on Amazon, and when the book becomes available at other outlets. You’ll also receive coupons for discounts on future publications. NEWSLETTER
M. Pax’s inspiration comes from the wilds of Oregon, especially the high desert where she shares her home with two cats and a husband unit. Creative sparks also come from Pine Mountain Observatory where she spend her summers working as a star guide.

The author using the big telescope at the observatory
She writes mostly science fiction and fantasy, but confesses to an obsession with Jane Austen. She blogs at her WEBSITE, and at Wistful Nebuae. You’ll find links there to connect on Twitter, Goodread, FB and other sites.
The sequel, Stopover at the Backworlds’ Edge , will be released in July 2012. It will be available in all ebook formats and paperback.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on May 10, 2012 05:00
May 8, 2012
A to Z Reflections Post 2012

This was my first A to Z Challenge, so I made some mistakes. But that's how you learn, right? Jump in, take a few bad strokes, sink, and then go the side of the pool and get those water wings.
Here's what I would have done differently.
1) I would have had a theme. I think the blogs I visited with themes were the most interesting AND they stuck in my mind.
2) I would have written more in-depth posts. Some of mine were of the "Okay. Fine, but where's the beef?" variety. When I visited blogs that covered topics of interest and gave value I returned to those blogs the next day.
3) I would have set up a better schedule. I randomly visited blogs, but I think if I'd created a list and kept better track, I would have been able to leave comments at more sites.
Will I do this next year? I hope to. I'd like to. I met so many wonderful bloggers this year.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on May 08, 2012 05:00
May 7, 2012
Monday Moods

I guess today I'm waxing a bit NOSTALGIC. *She looks into the near distance, hand propped under chin and sighs.
I was reading a blog post several months ago about spinning yarn, not telling stories, either, but really spinning yarn. I know, "Why were you reading about knitting?" you ask. Well, this blogger said something that stuck with me. Here's what Ashling wrote in The Confessions of a Would-Be Mountain Woman:
"[The people in the shop] told me that their local spinning group (Elmendorph Spinning Guild) had 40 people show up for their monthly meeting. What does it say that so many are returning to this ancient art?"
My comment was: "As to why people are returning to ancient art . . . I think it's because we're so isolated in this techi world of internet "love" that we crave a connection of some kind to our past. Just guessing, here."

I want a connection with things that are tangible and things that give me a feeling of being connected with the people in my life. Even after they've gone from this world, they've left behind the traces of who they were and where I came from. How about you? Have a need for connections to your past?

The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on May 07, 2012 05:00
May 2, 2012
Insecure Writer's Wednesday

This is my first blog post for May, so
I went back through my posts from the first year I blogged. That was interesting because I'd forgotten all about them. It was kind of like finding little presents scattered over the years. Here's one that I did back in May of 2010.

Okay, someone go find April and bring it back. I didn't get anything done I had on my list, the list which I can't find, but know has important stuff waiting to be done.

Some poetry for May:
Clouds over
Tree-dotted hillsides
I lick dust from dry lips
And run on to escape
The whir of defeat
That must have been a day I'd bumped into some rejection and I suffered an INSECURITY attack. I still like the idea of escaping the whir of defeat. I should expand on that.

As I went through those old posts, I discovered that somehow things haven't changed. I'm still trying to keep up with my list. I'm still losing that list. I'm still forgetting what was important enough to take the time to write it down. Hmm. Seems I'm getting OLDER, but I'm not getting any better! Do I have any others out there in the same situation?
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on May 02, 2012 05:00
May 1, 2012
Danika Dinsmore
Hi readers, I hope you'll welcome Danika Dinsmore who's here to tell us about herself and give us an idea about her new book, The Ruins of Noe.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, Danika. Readers often wonder what writers do besides pull together stories.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, but now live in Vancouver, BC with my husband and our 18-pound (it’s true) feline. We call him J. Fredrick Hoover (cuz he’s a vacuum when it comes to kitty kibble). I didn’t even consider becoming a children’s novelist until my mid-30’s. Before that discovery I was building my career as a screenwriter/filmmaker and before that I was a performance poet and director of two literary non-profits. Through all of that I’ve always been a teacher. I’ve taught in public and alternative schools, as an artist-in-the-schools, for festivals and conferences, and as a contract instructor at the college-level.
Other than writing and teaching I love to travel. I’ve been to twenty different countries besides the U.S. and Canada and it feels like the tip on the iceberg. My goal is to merge these three loves.
Check out the trailer for Brigitta of White Forest, the first in the book Faerie Tales series.
Can you give us quick summary and maybe a brief excerpt of your book, The Ruins of Noe?
The Ruins of Noe picks up several months after the first book ends. Brigitta has just started her apprenticeship with the Elders when a child is born with no destiny: one of many signs that the White Forest faeries have lost touch with the Ethereals, the Ancient Ones. Without their protection, the forest will lose its balance and fall prey to the outside world.
High Priestess Ondelle is convinced by an old proverb that Brigitta is fated to travel to the former home of the Ancients to help her find the answer. But when they get there, they discover that hundreds of years ago, when the faeries were moved north to the protected realm, some faeries were left behind.
Brigitta and Ondelle are caught in a dangerous feud between two factions of feral faeries whose leaders will stop at nothing to access what little sorcery Noe has left.
What triggered the idea for this book?
I originally wrote the first book in the series as a one off, but once I had written my world book (i.e. where I keep track of the history of my imaginary world) I realized there were more stories to tell. And thank goodness, because creating a world is a lot of work. It’d be nice to keep it around for a while.
While writing all the backstory for the faeries, I discovered that there were deeper mysteries to solve, and a chaotic world to unite. That inspired me to see this as an epic quest coming-of-age story. The outline for the series came fairly easily after that.
In this story, I really wanted Ondelle as a major character. She was introduced in the first book, but we don’t know much about her. The third book will reveal how Briggy and she are connected. Her life is more entwined with Brigitta’s than I let on in the first book. But I needed readers to care more about her, so they became traveling companions in book two.
Can you share some of your experience from writing to publication with the readers? What's been the most rewarding part of this? What's been most difficult? Can you share some of your exasperated moments? I'm sure all of us will be able to relate.
Nowadays, if you want to get published, there are so many options. If you persevere, it will happen. If you do what it takes: pay attention, edit, submit, pay attention, edit, submit. It’s everything after publication that zaps your time, energy, and emotional stamina.
I think the most enlightening thing one learns as a writer is “if you build it, they won’t necessarily come.” No matter how passionate you are about your story, it doesn’t mean anyone else will be. One of my first bookstore readings had 6 people in the audience and one was my publisher and one was the dude who set it up. Ego check.
But the people who did come were attentive and asked great questions and I gave it my all. That’s when I came up with the mantra “one fan at a time” and became grateful for each new reader. (that and I like to repeat Dory’s phrase from Finding Nemo: Just keep swimming.)
The other day I was making a to-do list (I am the list queen). After I was done, I looked it over and realized every item had to do with my children’s writing career in some way, shape, or form. As impatient as I get, I realized I was living the writing life! That THIS - the writing plus everything on that check list, no matter how menial the task - is the writing life. That was an important revelation.
Any other books in the offing? Can you give us a sneak preview?
Right now I’m supposed to be finishing book three for a Fall 2013 release, but I’m actually working on a rewrite of a YA pop space opera called Intergalactic. It’s very different from my White Forest series, which is a nice break for me. It’s a humourous satire about a fading Intergalactic pop star. Sort of Douglas Adams meets Lady Gaga.
Here’s the summary from my website, faerie tales from the white forest.
When 17-year-old fading intergalactic pop star idoLL starts her 12-planet tour, her biggest worries are that rising star 16-year-old Jettison Prix has overtaken her on the T.R.E.N.D. charts and that her manager has booked her some really lame gigs.
But when Princess Tarantella of the planet Rethula stows away on her tour ship, inadvertently igniting an interplanetary war, idoLL finds herself stranded without her bandmates: Monkey, the cultural liaison and synth robot, and Debop, the enigmatic alien sextapus percussion wiz.
Lost without her crew, the high-maintenance diva must take things into her own incapable hands and partner up with her nemesis Jettison Prix in order to save the princess, stop the war, and track down her scumbag manager who has disappeared with all her tour money.
6. Here are some rapid fire questions for you. It's okay to hedge if you have to.
Chocolate or Vanilla - chocolate
Dogs or Cats - cats
Summer or Winter - summer
eBooks or Traditional Books - traditional
Coffee or Tea – coffee (unless one of my choices is spicy style chai tea)
7. Is there any advice you'd like to leave for the readers?
My four P’s: passion, presence, persistence, patience
And just keep swimming!
Thanks, Danika. I hope your blog tour is wildly successful. Appreciated your being here to brighten the Write Game.
Readers, here's where you can find Danika's book on Amazon and on Barnes & Noble. It would be great if you'd give her blog The Accidental Novelist and her fb page a visit.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12

Tell us a little bit about yourself, Danika. Readers often wonder what writers do besides pull together stories.
I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, but now live in Vancouver, BC with my husband and our 18-pound (it’s true) feline. We call him J. Fredrick Hoover (cuz he’s a vacuum when it comes to kitty kibble). I didn’t even consider becoming a children’s novelist until my mid-30’s. Before that discovery I was building my career as a screenwriter/filmmaker and before that I was a performance poet and director of two literary non-profits. Through all of that I’ve always been a teacher. I’ve taught in public and alternative schools, as an artist-in-the-schools, for festivals and conferences, and as a contract instructor at the college-level.
Other than writing and teaching I love to travel. I’ve been to twenty different countries besides the U.S. and Canada and it feels like the tip on the iceberg. My goal is to merge these three loves.
Check out the trailer for Brigitta of White Forest, the first in the book Faerie Tales series.
Can you give us quick summary and maybe a brief excerpt of your book, The Ruins of Noe?
The Ruins of Noe picks up several months after the first book ends. Brigitta has just started her apprenticeship with the Elders when a child is born with no destiny: one of many signs that the White Forest faeries have lost touch with the Ethereals, the Ancient Ones. Without their protection, the forest will lose its balance and fall prey to the outside world.
High Priestess Ondelle is convinced by an old proverb that Brigitta is fated to travel to the former home of the Ancients to help her find the answer. But when they get there, they discover that hundreds of years ago, when the faeries were moved north to the protected realm, some faeries were left behind.
Brigitta and Ondelle are caught in a dangerous feud between two factions of feral faeries whose leaders will stop at nothing to access what little sorcery Noe has left.
What triggered the idea for this book?
I originally wrote the first book in the series as a one off, but once I had written my world book (i.e. where I keep track of the history of my imaginary world) I realized there were more stories to tell. And thank goodness, because creating a world is a lot of work. It’d be nice to keep it around for a while.
While writing all the backstory for the faeries, I discovered that there were deeper mysteries to solve, and a chaotic world to unite. That inspired me to see this as an epic quest coming-of-age story. The outline for the series came fairly easily after that.
In this story, I really wanted Ondelle as a major character. She was introduced in the first book, but we don’t know much about her. The third book will reveal how Briggy and she are connected. Her life is more entwined with Brigitta’s than I let on in the first book. But I needed readers to care more about her, so they became traveling companions in book two.
Can you share some of your experience from writing to publication with the readers? What's been the most rewarding part of this? What's been most difficult? Can you share some of your exasperated moments? I'm sure all of us will be able to relate.
Nowadays, if you want to get published, there are so many options. If you persevere, it will happen. If you do what it takes: pay attention, edit, submit, pay attention, edit, submit. It’s everything after publication that zaps your time, energy, and emotional stamina.
I think the most enlightening thing one learns as a writer is “if you build it, they won’t necessarily come.” No matter how passionate you are about your story, it doesn’t mean anyone else will be. One of my first bookstore readings had 6 people in the audience and one was my publisher and one was the dude who set it up. Ego check.
But the people who did come were attentive and asked great questions and I gave it my all. That’s when I came up with the mantra “one fan at a time” and became grateful for each new reader. (that and I like to repeat Dory’s phrase from Finding Nemo: Just keep swimming.)
The other day I was making a to-do list (I am the list queen). After I was done, I looked it over and realized every item had to do with my children’s writing career in some way, shape, or form. As impatient as I get, I realized I was living the writing life! That THIS - the writing plus everything on that check list, no matter how menial the task - is the writing life. That was an important revelation.
Any other books in the offing? Can you give us a sneak preview?
Right now I’m supposed to be finishing book three for a Fall 2013 release, but I’m actually working on a rewrite of a YA pop space opera called Intergalactic. It’s very different from my White Forest series, which is a nice break for me. It’s a humourous satire about a fading Intergalactic pop star. Sort of Douglas Adams meets Lady Gaga.
Here’s the summary from my website, faerie tales from the white forest.
When 17-year-old fading intergalactic pop star idoLL starts her 12-planet tour, her biggest worries are that rising star 16-year-old Jettison Prix has overtaken her on the T.R.E.N.D. charts and that her manager has booked her some really lame gigs.
But when Princess Tarantella of the planet Rethula stows away on her tour ship, inadvertently igniting an interplanetary war, idoLL finds herself stranded without her bandmates: Monkey, the cultural liaison and synth robot, and Debop, the enigmatic alien sextapus percussion wiz.
Lost without her crew, the high-maintenance diva must take things into her own incapable hands and partner up with her nemesis Jettison Prix in order to save the princess, stop the war, and track down her scumbag manager who has disappeared with all her tour money.
6. Here are some rapid fire questions for you. It's okay to hedge if you have to.
Chocolate or Vanilla - chocolate
Dogs or Cats - cats
Summer or Winter - summer
eBooks or Traditional Books - traditional
Coffee or Tea – coffee (unless one of my choices is spicy style chai tea)
7. Is there any advice you'd like to leave for the readers?
My four P’s: passion, presence, persistence, patience
And just keep swimming!
Thanks, Danika. I hope your blog tour is wildly successful. Appreciated your being here to brighten the Write Game.
Readers, here's where you can find Danika's book on Amazon and on Barnes & Noble. It would be great if you'd give her blog The Accidental Novelist and her fb page a visit.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on May 01, 2012 05:00
April 30, 2012
A to Z Blogging Challenge-Z

Z is for . . .
Zippity Do Dah!
WE DID IT! NOW I'M OFF TO SING IN THE SUNSHINE.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on April 30, 2012 05:00
April 28, 2012
A to Z Blogging Challenge-Y

Y is for . . .
Young Adult what else? But I'm wondering if they can continue to call this category of fiction by that name much longer. It seems that a lot of Mature Adults are finding the writing and the stories captivating. In a recent AARP Magazine article their lead story began with Trends: Teen Lit You'll Love, Why the best new fiction for adults is written for kids.

Maybe I'll start telling people I write MA. What do you think?
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on April 28, 2012 05:00
April 27, 2012
A to Z Blogging Challenge-X

X is one letter that can stand on its head (X) or its feet (X) and look exactly the same. The only others I can think of are H and O. Am I desperate to cross the A to Z Blogging Challenge finish line, or what?
Still, if you think about it, standing on your head gives you a very different perspective as a writer. (I've already said that in an earlier post, but it bears repeating.) We just don't look right upside down the way H, O and X do. Okay, I'm certifiable. Come take me away.

Here are some special XXX for the other A to Z Challenge organizers (I already said thanks to Alex and Lee). Thanks for all the work, bloggers. Thanks for all the fun.
Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas)
Life is Good (Tina Downey)
Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons)
Retro-Zombie (Jeremy Hawkins)
The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence)
The QQQE (Matthew MacNish)
Author Elizabeth Mueller (Elizabeth Mueller)
Pearson Report (Jenny Pearson)
No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow)
Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) Coming Down The Mountain (Karen Jones Gowen)
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on April 27, 2012 05:00
April 26, 2012
A to Z Blogging Challenge-W

The Wow Factor
According to my urban dictionary the Wow Factor is a distinctive appeal that an object, behavior or person has on others. So I started thinking about what or who has WOWED me lately?
WMagazine kind of WOWED me this month, and I guess it's because in one issue there was an article about the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And in a current issue you can watch Nicole Kidman's screen tests. Very WOW.
If you've read my blog, you know that Andy wows me a lot, so I have to mention him in this WOW post. He doesn't have to do a screen test for me. He can be in my cast any day.

I kind of like cars with the WOW Factor, but I have a wide range when it comes to what WOWs me in this category.

This one is for the nostalgic WOW in me and . . .

this one's for the more modern WOW.
That's my husband inspecting the interior of this beauty. He kind of WOWs me, too!
Okay, share your idea of what or who has the WOW Factor.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on April 26, 2012 05:00
April 24, 2012
A- Z Blogging Challenge-V

The letter V rules today!
Today's letter is V which is kind of exciting because that means I'm near the end of this alphabet marathon. Only 4 more days, and then I slump to the desktop-OR-will I not know what to do with myself when I come to Z and there's no more A-Z Blogging Challenge?

I've be re-Vitalized by this Challenge. I've Visited a lot of new blogs and found so many Various, Vital people with strong Voices out the there who I'll Visit again after this challenge ends.
Have to thank all the organizers who put in so much time and Vitality in this Challenge to make it the success it was. Here are the first two on my thank you list:
Arlee Bird, with his Vivacious, Vivid Marketing posts.
Alex Cavanaugh with his Varied, Vigorous salutes to others.

How about you? Are you glad to see V arrive or will the end of April leave you wanting more?Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
The Princess of Las Pulgas, WestSide Books, Fall '10
The First Time, Fall '11 (Anthology story: Premeditated Cat)
Alligators Overhead, Outskirts Press, Fall '12
Published on April 24, 2012 23:09