Phil Giunta's Blog, page 108
March 24, 2012
How About a Little Unfriendly Persuasion?
Unfriendly Persuasion was released by Firebringer Press on March 8 and is available in eBook and paperback formats and soon on audio as well. You will be able to hear it on Steve's podcast site, Prometheus Radio Theatre . So keep checking back!
You can read my review of Unfriendly Persuasion HERE.
From Amazon
On Kindle
From Barnes & Noble
From SmashWords
March 21, 2012
Author Interview: Christine Dougherty
First, tell us where we can find you online such as blogs, websites, Facebook, etc.
www.christinedoughertybooks.com is good enough. You can get to the blog and FB page from there, if you’re demented enough to want to. Jesus, isn’t that enough? I won’t even mention to look for me on Goodreads and Twitter…I feel so over-exposed!
Tell us about the first completed story you wrote, published or not. What was it about?
The first short story I wrote was “The Owners” and it was also the first thing accepted for publication (Absent Willow Review, July 2010. It is a sci-fi/horror piece about the original owners of this planet showing up to reclaim it. It is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator as she and her husband are trying to get out of the city, chased by a nephew (and niece) who are set on killing them.
I have a very special place in my heart for this story, in large part because it caused a rift in my family. My mother hated “The Owners” and cold-shouldered me for a while because of it. It was my first indication that I had the power to disturb. That’s important information for someone in the horror business. Especially because the plot for “The Devil Stood Up” was already swirling around in my head and I knew that book was going to be rough to write–it had to disturb in the right ways, not just be gruesome for gruesome’s sake.
What attracts you to the paranormal genre and which authors influenced you?
Stephen King is, of course, the first name that comes to mind. I have been reading him since I was in grade school (my reading choices were never policed and I love a good scare). But the thing I always enjoyed the most about his writing, besides the scare factor, was that his people were so real. The ‘horror’ itself was always secondary to what people did with (or about) that horror. I loved the Americana of his books. It was easy to recognize yourself and the people you knew.
My other biggest influences are not even in the horror/paranormal/thriller genres. Margaret Atwood has the prose I envy above everything else and Anne Tyler has the people I covet until it makes my teeth ache from jealous grinding.
Straying back to the genres I write in, the other influences are Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, Clive Barker…all the big guns, really.
What inspired your first novel, FAITH Creation: All Lies Revealed (Createspace, June 2011)?
I think I was inspired mostly by my own feelings of being a lost kid and not really feeling very ‘at home’ in the world. I always wondered what it would be like to have someone you could depend on completely…I always wondered how comforting it would be. And then, of course for the sake of plot, the next big question is: what if you lose your only tether to the world? It’s a frightening thought and without giving anything away, that theme is taken to an extreme in the book.
This book is listed on your website as first in a series. Do you have an estimated release date for book two?
FAITH United has been started and will be available in 2012.
Your next two novels, Messages and The Devil Stood Up , were released via Createspace in July and September 2011, respectively. You then followed up with a short story collection, Darkness Within , in October and finished the year with Born Lucky: The JD Chronicles in December.
That’s an impressive four books in six months. What is your writing schedule?
“Darkness Within” was actually written prior to the first novel, “Faith Creation”. It is a compilation of the short stories I started with; we decided to put them all together in a book, so that required little outside of editing. “Faith” had been sitting around for about six months and “Messages” for about two before we looked into self-publishing, so in reality, you can see it wasn’t actually four books in six months.
I’ve gone back and forth with many different writing schedules. I started out with a 1000 word a week word goal. That bloomed pretty quickly to 10,000 a week and there have been many times I’ve done more than that. I am sedentary and exceedingly imaginative–it’s an ideal combination. I write every chance I get and if I am not writing, I am usually thinking about the characters and/or the story line.
I can’t stress enough the importance of the ‘sedentary’ part of my nature when it comes to writing. When you keep your ass in the chair, shit gets done. Really.
Your latest release, The Boat (Createspace, January 2012), is a zombie novel about an AIDS drug that brings the dead back to life. For a few years now, zombies have been trending in comics, novels, movies, and television. What makes The Boat stand out from the rest?
The first review I got for the The Boat on Amazon started off like this: “While this is a zombie story…I found it more in the realm of a suspense or mystery book with evil - the kind that reminds you of something that Stephen King or Dean Koonz (sp) would write.” Man, was I ever flattered!
I don’t seem to write ANYTHING 100% true to genre. I don’t know why. I think that the books are all good stories and hard to pigeonhole. I guess that’s good. I HOPE that’s good. I imagine it is that quality that will set me apart as a writer in general.
What factors went into your decision to self publish?
My age was the biggest factor. I am middle aged (what a phrase, ugh) and didn’t feel like waiting the prescribed ‘7 to 10’ years it supposedly takes to get noticed. My husband had read a few articles about self-publishing and since I am a graphic artist by trade, it was pretty easy to understand the basics of it.
My husband was the other factor. He was behind it 100% and really interested and supportive. He is the one who gets me the book signing gigs and is always by my side at the events. His participation and support are immeasurably helpful.
What can readers expect next from you?
Oh man, a lot, hopefully. I have ideas stacked on ideas at this point. Luckily, my husband writes them all down (and probably comes up with about a half of them). Lots of good stuff. Lots of events this year. Very excited for it. Hope to meet a lot more of the readers.
What does Christine Dougherty do when she isn’t writing?
Jesus, not much. I’m pretty basic. I like television and movies and books. I garden when I can. I play with my cats and dog. I do the laundry. I wash the dishes. I shop for groceries with my husband and we talk about monsters, zombies, plagues, ghosts, vampires, the end of humanity…the norm, right?
March 19, 2012
About This Writing Stuff...
We end this week's list with recaps of the Write Stuff conference held this past weekend in Allentown, PA and hosted by the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group.
Scott Turow on Why We Should Fear Amazon by Laura Miller
Scott Turow: Wrong About Everything by David Gaughran
Presumed Inane by JA Konrath
Who Cares About Quality Writing Anymore? by Jami Gold
Scarcity and Abundance by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
My Favorite Writing Advice: Feeling In Over Your Head by Shelli Johnson
Who Are the Big Six In...? by Dean Wesley Smith
Key Advice for Writing Fantasy by Scott Francis
How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Book by Ron Eagar
Write Stuff Conference Recaps
Phil Giunta
Mary Ann Domanska
March 18, 2012
Write Stuff Conference Recap
After collecting my registration materials and donating a signed copy of Testing the Prisoner as one of the door prizes, I set off to the main ballroom for the complimentary continental breakfast, saw some familiar faces (members of GLVWG) and then at 8:50AM, it was time to attend the first panel on my list, Gayle Roper's "Creating and Maintaining Tension in Your Fiction." Ms. Roper touched on five types of suspense including "people, process, time (ticking clock), anticipation, and emotional". She elucidated methods for creating suspense via your characters and POV and maintaing that through the story with actual manuscript examples.
The next session was James Scott Bell's "Power Revision" wherein he discussed his ideas for writing a first draft "hot" and coming back later to revise "cool". He presented various methods such as revising the previous day's work and the "20,000 word step back" to ensure that you are still on track with your story elements. Mr. Bell explained the idea of a "Rolling Outline" wherein you outline a few chapters at a time, write them, see where they take you, and contine to outline the next few chapters and repeat until finished. He also discussed using coincidences, raising the stakes for your characters, methods of developing characters, and much more.
The final session before lunch was Katherine Ramsland's "From Research to Results: Immersion, A-ha! Moments, and Best Narratives". Dr. Ramsland's insights into the value and types of research, the proper etiquette when reaching out to experts, and how our brains process it all and make sense of it without any effort on our part, was absolutely fascinating. Such concepts as Mental Maps, Observation Quotient, Perceptual Quickening, and others were truly eye-opening.
It was also at this session that I met Sara Hodon, president of the Black Diamond Writers Network. Sara had reached out to me back in October with an invitation to speak at the Write it Right writers conference next month at the Schuylkill County Chamber of Commerce.
We broke for lunch at this point and during dessert, keynote speaker James Scott Bell gave a humrous talk called "Storytellers Save the World", a general overview of why writers do what they do. I also met Anna Getz, another member of the Black Diamond Writers Network.
It was then time for the final two sessions. I was back with Gayle Roper again for "Building to Your Story's Emotional Peak". Ms. Roper shared nine ways to deliver the emotional heart to your story and used two film clips to illustrate her points, one from The Miracle Worker, the 1962 film about Helen Keller and starring Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft. The second clip was from Mel Gibson's The Patriot.
To round out the day, I remained seated for James Scott Bell and "Keep Them Turning Pages: Suspense Secrets of the Masters". Mr. Bell covered a variety of ways to ratchet up suspense from cliffhangers, twists and turns, the ticking clock, use of dialog, raising the stakes, and others.
At 3:30 it was time for the Book Fair. Although I did not sell any books (I'm a newbie so I did not expect to), I did swap a book with new fiction writer Pamela Hegarty who also agreed to an interview for my blog. I had a lot of people stop by to say that they recognized my name from the GLVWG forum. An aspiring writer who was also in the last James Scott Bell session, stopped by to talk about her project and asked me to read the first page of her short story. It was good; I offered a suggestion or two.
It was during the book fair that I met writer and editor Kathryn Craft . Also, Kathy Ruff, again of the Black Diamond Writers Group, stopped by to introduce herself. It was very nice to finally make personal connections with so many talented people!
I ended the day with a quick photo op with James Scott Bell. Me and my crooked baseball cap... :)
March 12, 2012
Book Review: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
Our story begins with Friday returning from a secret courier mission assigned by her employer, known only to her as "Boss" (until about 3/4 into the story, but no spoilers). However, she is betrayed by one of their own, captured, tortured, and gang-raped until she is rescued by operatives.
However, Friday doesn't appear to sustain much, if any, emotional damage from the experience. She is enraged, but not distraught, nor does she seem to suffer the deep trauma and shame that most rape victims experience. I'm not sure if this was due to her training and conditioning or if Heinlein merely downplayed that to keep the story moving.
Friday is almost immediately ready to get back to work but Boss insists that she take downtime. The next several chapters of the book follow Friday as she takes a vacation and ends up signing on to join an extended family in New Zealand. However, when they learn that she is artificial, the head of the family turns on her and breaks Friday's contract.
From there, Friday tries to return to Boss back in California but is sidetracked by terrorist attacks and petty wars between nations. While traveling through Canada, she finds herself taken in by a semi-ballistic ship captain named Ian. He brings her home and introduces her to his wife, a fiercly strong-willed woman named Janet, and her other husband, Georges. Instantly, Friday bonds with Janet, with whom she nearly makes love. She also bonds with Ian and Georges, with whom she does make love.
As the acts of terrorism force states and nations to close borders, Friday finds it ever challenging to return to HQ, taking on many identities, jobs, friends, lovers, and a few near-fatal adventures along the way. When she finally reaches Boss again, in a completely new secret HQ, he takes her off courier duty and places her in academic study, which is disrupted by events outside her control.
Friday then finds herself out of work, but not out of options. She takes one last courier job off-world, one that changes her life drastically and forever.
In the mind-boggling, incredibly detailed world that Heinlein lays out for us, sex comes free and easy. I lost count of how many lovers (men or women) that Friday slept with through the course of the story. However, Heinlein's writing is never pornographic, never erotic. It is merely suggestive and, at times, comedic.
National boundaries no longer exist as we know them. Many of the states are now sovereign countries as are the provinces and territories in Canada. New Zealand and British Canada are the best nations on Earth though society at large is in decay. There may even be another pandemic plague on the horizon. Polygamy and homosexuality are common and as accepted as the green of grass and the blue of sky. Artifical persons, however, not so much.
Families are managed more like corporations, their foundations seemingly driven by finance first, love second. Heinlein is known for presenting ingenious social commentary in his stories and that is prevalent in Friday. Although the term "internet" is never used explicitly, the information and communication technologies presented in the story are prescient.
Overall, Friday is an engaging read, drawing you into a society that, to be honest, may not be too far in our own future.
March 11, 2012
About this Writing Stuff...
On lighter notes, Jami Gold discusses what makes a character unique while Jody Hedlund offers tips on crafting a perfect opening for your story. Donald Maass ponders whether readers want entertainment or truth (or stories that straddle both?). Therese Walsh provides damn good reasons why we should care about indie bookstores and Steven H. Wilson concludes his lessons learned (so far!) with self publishing.
How Cheap Should Books Be? by Jordan Weissmann
Barry, Joe, and Scott Turow by JA Konrath
Agent Loses a Suit Against Author for Commissions by Passive Guy
Paypal, Erotica, and Censorship by JA Konrath
What Makes a Character Unique? by Jami Gold
3 Ways to Find the Perfect Opening to Your Story by Jody Hedlund
Why Should Writers Care About Indie Bookstores? by Therese Walsh
Entertainment vs. Truth by Donald Maass
Lessons Learned - Self Publishing - Part Two by Steven H. Wilson
How to Submit Short Stories by Elizabeth Sims
How to Start a Book Project in 5 Easy Steps by Roseann Biederman
March 10, 2012
Monster Mania Con - Cherry Hill, NJ
I only had two celebrities on my "to meet" list this time, an unusually low number for me, but a convention with less time in lines means more time doing other things like perusing the dealer room and talking with friends.
Anthony Michael Hall, although an hour late in getting to his table, was very gracious and friendly. I was never avid watcher of the Dead Zone but he did not have any pics from Warehouse 13 or his reporter character from the last Batman flick so I just chose a nice Dead Zone pic for him to sign.
Then it was Lisa Marie (Ed Wood, Mars Attacks, etc). She was more aloof and reticent. Nice enough but seemed distracted. It is not as if this was her first con as she did Chiller last year with Martin Landau. But to further my Ed Wood autographs (I have Landau and George Steele), I picked up a black and white of Vampira.
It was a great, fast show. Once the lines started moving, you were in front of the actors in less than five minutes.
March 5, 2012
A Wonderful Artist Lost
In a week where we also lost Davy Jones, it hurts to see so many icons of my youth passing on and really makes one ponder one's own mortality.
Nevertheless, Ralph McQuarrie's artwork will remain timeless.
About this Writing Stuff...
Kristine Kathryn Rusch weighs in on recent controversies in the publishing world. Dean Wesley Smith takes an agent to task about a recent Twitter post about contract law. Somehow, I missed the boat in January when B&N entertained the notion of spinning off their NOOK division so I'm catching up on that. Kristina McMorris compares auditions to query letters while Jeanne Kisacky advises us how to think like editors. Jody Hedlund ponders whether writers improve over time and LB Gale talks about productive procrastination (say that 5 times fast!). Steven H. Wilson shares lessons learned from self publishing.
NYT bestselling author Peter David makes his novella, Bronsky's Dates with Death, a free download from Crazy 8 Press.
Agent Fun and Stupidity by Dean Wesley Smith
Lessons Learned: Self Publishing - Part One by Steven H. Wilson
Barnes and Noble May Spin Off Nook Business by Mae Anderson
Do Writers Get Better the Longer They Write? by Jody Hedlund
7 Pre-Writing Exercises to Launch the Writing Process by Rosann Biederman
Tips for Turning Online Procrastination Time into Writing Research Time by L.B. Gale
The Author's Arsenal by Kristina McMorris
How to Think Like an Editor by Jeanne Kisacky
You Asked For My Opinion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
The 12 Do's and Don't's for Writing a Blog by Brian A. Klems
Bronsky's Dates with Death by Peter David
