Beth Cato's Blog, page 88

Sunday Quote says Happy May Day

“Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one.”

~Terry Pratchett

Clockwork Dagger Posts Galore

The release of my story Final Flight means promo, promo, promo all over the place. Here are my recent posts and interviews–and there are more to come, too!

Final Flight story

Guest blogs:

– Fantasy Cafe’s Women in SFF Month: Beth Cato with The Healer as a Fighter

– “Why I Write Steampunk” at The Spec Fiction Hub

– Final Flight: A Father and Son Story in the World of Clockwork Dagger at the Qwillery

– Beth Cato on Clockwork Daggers at SF Signal

– Writing Short and Long Fiction with Beth Cato at Dan Koboldt’s site

– Writers and their Beasts: Beth Cato at J. Kathleen Cheney’s site

Interviews:

– Introducing Beth Cato of The Clockwork Dagger Series at The Steampunk Cavaliers

– Beth Cato talks about Characters, Cooking and of course, her latest Clockwork Dagger off-shoot, The Final Flight with N.O.A. Rawle

#SFWAPro

Bready or Not: Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Truffles

Gluten-free. Basic, wholesome, raw ingredients. No added sugar. No baking involved. Tastes like a mini blueberry muffin. Oh yeah.

I have posted about breakfast energy truffles before. This is a distinct variation because of the use of dried blueberries. Mind you, those can be an expensive ingredient, but you only need 1/2 cup for the recipe. I thought the blueberry flavor might be overwhelming, but the addition of a little lemon juice does a lot to mellow it.

These are super-easy to make in a food processor or high-powered blender (though for the latter, you might need to blend this in smaller batches). It just takes a few minutes to make these truffles.

Store them in the fridge for upward of a week or two. They are perfect for a breakfast or snack!

Modified from Blueberry Muffin Energy Balls at The Healthy Maven.

Bready or Not: Blueberry Muffin Breakfast Truffles





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These healthy no-bake energy truffles use raw ingredients to make a delicious breakfast or snack! Use any combination of nuts you want to equal one cup. This recipe makes 19 teaspoon-sized truffles.

1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
(or use other combination of nuts to equal 1 cup)
1/2 cup dates, diced
1/2 cup dried blueberries
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tb lemon juice
dash of salt

Add nuts to food processor. Pulse until they are in pieces. Add the dates and dried blueberries, and process until they are in tiny pieces and starting to stick together

Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt. Blend everything until it forms a big sticky ball.

Use a teaspoon or tablespoon scoop to form balls. You might need to stir the mix as you go, as the lemon juice tends to lurk at the bottom. Use your hands to compress each ball. Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two weeks, or freeze between layers of wax paper.

OM NOM NOM!

 

Final Flight: A Clockwork Dagger Story is out now!

Final Flight is out! This is the last (for now) of my Clockwork Dagger stories.

Another breathtaking short story from the author of The Clockwork Dagger and The Clockwork Crown, set in the same world…

Captain Hue hoped he was rid of his troubles once Octavia Leander and Alonzo Garrett disembarked from his airship Argus. But he was quickly proved wrong when his ship was commandeered by Caskentian soldiers. He is ordered on a covert and deadly mission by the smarmy Julius Corrado, an elite Clockwork Dagger.

Now Captain Hue must start a mutiny to regain control of his airship, which means putting his entire crew at risk—including his teenage son Sheridan. As the weather worsens and time runs out, it’ll take incredible bravery to bring the Argus down… perhaps for good.

 

Final Flight story

An excerpt of the very beginning of the story:

I stood at the rudder wheel of my airship Argus, in command of a ship I did not truly control. We flew north, destination unknown. A soldier stood several feet behind me. His pistols remained holstered—he wasn’t daft enough or desperate enough to fire a weapon in the control cabin of an operating airship—but he had already proven adept with his fists. My co-pilot, Ramsay, was currently getting patched up, as the sarcastic commentary he had offered was not kindly received.

Throughout the cabin, tension prickled beneath the surface like an invisible rash we couldn’t scratch. Everyone stood or sat rigid at their posts, gazes flickering between their gauges, the windows, and the soldiers in our midst. These were soldiers of our own kingdom of Caskentia, in green uniforms as vibrant as the sprawling valley below. They had occupied the Argus since that morning.

This was the second time in as many weeks that my airship had been commandeered. The previous time, rebellious settlers from the Waste had claimed it by force. I rather preferred them. Wasters made for an easy enemy after fifty years of intermittent warfare. This occupation by our own government was ugly in a different way.

My fists gripped the wheel as if I could leave impressions in the slick copper. The futility of our situation infuriated me. I couldn’t stop the Wasters before. And now I couldn’t stop this, whatever this mysterious errand was.

My son, Sheridan, was on board somewhere. I needed him to be safe, not snared in any more political drama. The Wasters had used him as a hostage to force my hand; I didn’t want these soldiers to do the same.

“Captain Hue, sir.” My co-pilot saluted as he entered the control cabin. I assessed him in a glance. Bandages plugged his swollen nose. Blood still thickened his thin brown moustache.

“You are well enough to resume your duties?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. I’ve felt worse after a night of leave.”

Ramsay knew his job; if only he could control his fool lips. I stepped back to grant him control of the rudder and leaned by his ear. “Corrado said this would be over in days. Bear through.”

I saw my own frustration mirrored in his eyes, and in the other crew as I walked from station to station. I muttered what assurance I could and exited the control cabin. I needed to find my boy.

 

Like the start of the story? Read the whole thing for just 99-cents–and that includes the first chapter of Breath of Earth!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

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Sunday Quote says things never change

“Times are bad. Children don’t listen to their parents and everyone is writing a book.”

~ attributed to Cicero, 106-43 BC

New Stories, Poems, and Posts

Theme of the week: novel edits. Not big scale revisions, but the more nefarious, subtle kind. The sort that requires you to squint at a single paragraph for 30 minutes to get the nuance just right.

That’s why I decided to give my brain a break and work on my website instead. That’s called “productive procrastination.”

These works have been added to my Bibliography as well.

Stories:

– “Bear-bear Speaks” in Daily Science Fiction

– “A Dance to End Our Final Day,” an very personal old favorite of mine, reprinted in EGM Shorts

– Letter S in the brand new C is for Chimera (Alphabet Anthologies Book 1)

– in the realm of nonfiction, Chicken Soup for the Soul republished online my story “Long Distance Love,” about how I met my husband

Poetry:

– “Fried Okra” reprinted in the 2016 Rhysling Anthology (and wow, is this a great anthology)

– “Dragon, Bound in Stone” in Star*Line 39.2

Guest Blog:

– “The Importance of Slides: About Beth Cato’s Story in C is for Chimera at Rhonda Parrish’s site

Interview:

– “The Importance of Slides: Beth Cato’s Story in C is for Chimera at Rhonda Parrish’s site

Mentions in other media:

– included in 10 Arizona Sci-Fi and Fantasy – Authors You Should Know — Besides Diana Gabaldon and Stephenie Meyer in Phoenix New Times

– quoted in What They Said: The 2016 LA Times Festival of Books at Book Yurt

#SFWAPro

Bready or Not: Homemade Tortilla Chips

When you make tacos, do you ever use up all of the tortillas? I sure don’t. There always end up being half a pack wallowing in the fridge. They come in handy for quick-fix quesadillas, but here’s another quick-fix for those leftovers: homemade tortilla chips!

I think corn tortillas are the best way to go here, but feel free to try this with flour. I just think they’d get too hard. I like corn because there’s more chewiness. Also, this can totally be gluten-free, if you need that kinda thing.

Choose how you wish to equip your chips. I went with ranch mix. If you use a packet, you won’t need that much out of it. You could likewise use taco seasoning, sea salt and pepper, cayenne, whatever. Heck, make this dessert with cinnamon and sugar and dip up some ice cream!

The technique is simple. Slice up your tortillas. A pizza cutter makes this easy. Brush oil on both sides of the wedges. Season. Bake a short time.

Do keep a close eye on the oven so you don’t overbake these! That would be a tragedy.

The batch shown here, I baked for 15 minutes. The resulting chips were crisp yet still somewhat chewy and fresh. Find your sweet spot for the texture you want.

Modified from DIY Ranch Tortilla Chips at Make the Best of Everything. Originally posted at the Holy Taco Church.

Bready or Not: Homemade Tortilla Chips





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Use leftover corn tortillas to make fresh chips in under 30 minutes! Make them savory with ranch dressing mix or ground sea salt and pepper, or go for dessert chips with cinnamon and sugar.

corn tortillas
oil (olive oil, avocado oil, canola, etc)
ranch dressing mix or other seasoning (taco mix, Italian, etc)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Prep a large baking sheet with silicone mats or parchment paper. You can likely only fit 5 or 6 tortilla's worth of chips on a sheet.

Use a pizza cutter to slice your chips to desired size; they will shrink some as they bake. Brush a small amount of oil onto both sides of the wedges. Season them as much as you want; it's probably not necessary to do both sides. Use your fingers to smooth out any clumps.

Bake chips for 12 minutes then monitor them closely for desired crispness. Stay close to the oven--these are thin, remember, so they can quickly overcook!

Eat promptly or store chips in a sealed container.

OM NOM NOM!

 

Release of The World Weavers: A Desert Rising Novel by Kelley Grant

I’m happy to spread the word that one of my fellow Harper Voyager Impulse buddies is releasing her third book today! Congratulations, Kelley!

World Weavers follows the events of Desert Rising and The Obsidian Temple. Grab the whole trilogy and read’em all in a row!

It has been a year since Sulis Hasifel fled to the desert, narrowly escaping death at the hands of a vengeful god. The time of the final battle, the final confrontation with the deities of her world, is nearing. Lured by the call of their long-trapped powers, the deities will descend upon the Obsidian Temple, where the Chosen await.

But the war between gods and humans has enveloped the entire land. Sulis’s twin, Kadar, joins forces with the nomadic warrior tribes of the desert. Little by little, the desert armies draw the deities away from their stronghold in the north, towards their doom.

In the face of a battle that will reshape mankind’s destiny and the face of the earth itself, old friendships will be tested and new alliances forged. In this spellbinding denouement to Desert Rising and The Obsidian Temple, Kelley Grant brings her epic trilogy to a thunderous and powerful conclusion.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Sunday Quote is amused

“The first book is the book you have to write to get back at your parents.”

~ Shirley Jackson

Bready or Not Guest: Stacey Berg with Homemade Beer

I’m happy to welcome author Stacey Berg to Bready or Not! Her novel Dissension was released by Harper Voyager Impulse in March. She’s here today to share a beer recipe that directly connects to her book.

Fermentate for the Future

My novel Dissension is set in a world where the Church exploits genetic technology to lead the remnants of humanity as they struggle for survival in the last inhabited city. The population is beginning to recover, and although life still isn’t easy, people make do and even flourish.  And while their food remains quite simple, they’re human, so they do have beer. It’s known in the book as “fermentate.” I enjoy home-brewing, so naturally when Beth invited me to do a Bready or Not guest post, the first thing I thought of was a beer recipe. After all, beer is liquid bread!

Here’s my recipe for “Future Fermentate” (an India Pale Ale, because they keep well in the heat.)

Equipment you’ll need:

A big pot

Two 6 gallon buckets (food grade, please!) with a hole in the lids..

a rubber stopper that fits in the hole, with a hole drilled in the stopper

airlock

siphon with an attachable bottling cane

thermometer

bottle capper

sanitizer

 

You can get fancy with a hydrometer to check your specific gravity, but I never bother. Eventually you’ll need some bottles and caps too. Fortunately those are easy to come by—just drink some beer.

 

Your local home brewing store will be happy to put a kit together for you, and they’re easy to find online too. A decent one will set you back $50-$100, but it will last forever.

 

Ingredients :

If you tell your home brewing store you’re making an IPA they’ll know what to give you.

 

7 lb light malt extract

2 lbs two-row pale malt

1/2 lb cara-pils malt

1/2 lb medium crystal malt

(Get these crushed together and put in a steeping bag at the shop)

 

1-1/2 cup brown sugar

1 package Burton water salts (optional)

 

1 oz Bullion or Target hops

1 oz Northern Brewer or Wye Challenger hops

1 oz Kent Golding hops, divided in half

 

Ale yeast (I like the liquid kind best)

 

Brewing Day: the process is pretty straightforward but takes a couple of hours. It goes better if you drink some beer while you’re doing it.

Heat 1 gallon of water until steaming (about 155-170 F). Put in the bag of crushed grains and steep 20 min off heat.


While your grains are steeping, sanitize your bucket and other equipment according to the instructions on the iodophor.


Rinse the steeped grain bag with another 1 gallon of water, remove the bag from the liquid, add 1 c. brown sugar and the water salts if you’re using them, and bring the liquid to a boil.


Turn off the heat and add the malt extract. Stir until all the extract is dissolved in the water, then bring back to a boil for 10 minutes.


Add 1 oz Bullion or Target hops, and boil 40 minutes.


Add 1 oz Northern Brewer or Wye Challenger hops and boil 10 more minutes.


Turn off heat and add 1/2 oz Kent Golding hops.


Let the liquid (this is called “wort” at this stage) cool until it’s under 100 F (hotter will kill the yeast). You can set it in an icebath in your sink to make this step faster.


Pour the wort into the sanitized plastic bucket and add cold tap water to make a total volume of 5 gallons.


Add the yeast and give a good swirl to mix it in.


Attach the sanitized lid with the stopper in the hole and insert the sanitized airlock into the stopper. Fill the airlock halfway (I use vodka but water is fine).


Put the bucket somewhere it can sit out of the way for a week, ideally at not-too-warm room temp. Spare-room bathtubs work great. You should see the airlock start to bubble by 12-24 hours as the yeast goes to work and the beer starts fermenting.


The bubbling should stop in less than a week. You have a choice here: either go straight to bottling, or preferably, use a sanitized siphon to “rack” the beer into a second sanitized 5 gallon container. Leave the gunky stuff in the bottom of the first bucket. Add 1/2 oz Kent Golding hops into the second container (if you aren’t using a seconday container, throw these hops in after step 10 instead).(If you didn’t read the recipe ahead and it’s too late, don’t worry. Drink some beer). You might or might not see more bubbling in the airlock for a few days. You can leave the beer in the second container for a few weeks.

 

To bottle your beer:

Sanitize the siphon and two cases of bottles.
Dissolve 1/2 cup brown sugar into a cup of boiling water.
Siphon the beer into a sanitized 5 gallon container
Add the dissolved brown sugar and stir well.
Connect the sanitized bottling cane to the siphon and start bottling. Leave an inch or two of headspace in each bottle.
Cap the bottles.
Let the beer age for at least a week at room temp (3-4 weeks is better).
Refrigerate, and enjoy!

 

 

 

For four hundred years, the Church has led the remnants of humanity as they struggle for survival in the last inhabited city. Echo Hunter 367 is exactly what the Church created her to be: loyal, obedient, lethal. A clone who shouldn’t care about anything but her duty. Who shouldn’t be able to.

When rebellious citizens challenge the Church’s authority, it is Echo’s duty to hunt them down before civil war can tumble the city back into the dark. But Echo hides a deadly secret: doubt. And when Echo’s mission leads her to Lia, a rebel leader who has a secret of her own, Echo is forced to face that doubt. For Lia holds the key to the city’s survival, and Echo must choose between the woman she loves and the purpose she was born to fulfill.

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Harper Collins

 

About Stacey:

Stacey Berg is a medical researcher who writes speculative fiction. Her work as a physician-scientist provides the inspiration for many of her stories. She lives with her wife in Houston and is a member of the Writers’ League of Texas. When she’s not writing, she practices kung fu and runs half marathons. She is represented by Mary C. Moore of Kimberley Cameron & Associates. You can visit her at www.staceyberg.com.