Phil Giunta's Blog, page 112
November 15, 2011
About this Writing Stuff...
Friend and veteran author, Michael Jan Friedman is preparing to Fight the Gods at the upcoming Allentown Comic Con this weekend!
What Makes a Story Feel Unrealistic? by Jami Gold
The Old Stone Path by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Lee Goldberg’s Guest Post on Konrath’s Blog (and Konrath talks NUMBERS)
Fight the Gods by Michael Jan Friedman
The Rules for Fast Drafting by Candace Havens (via Jami Gold)
The Dean Wesley Smith Trio
Lee Goldberg and JA Konrath
Publisher Moves to POD
The New World of Publishing: 95% of All Authors Will Never Indie Publish
The Great Allentown Comic Con , November 19-20, 2011 at the Merchants Square Mall in Allentown, PA with tons of comic book and fiction writers and artists as well as actors Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager, Stargate SG-1, Innerspace and more), Tom Kane (voice actor - Yoda in the Star Wars animated series). Friends Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Steven H. Wilson, and I will all be on hand as well and Michael will be premiering his latest release, Fight the Gods, mentioned above!
November 11, 2011
Book Review: Voyagers II - The Alien Within
Awakened after eighteen years in cryonic stasis aboard an alien spacecraft, astronaut Keith Stoner has returned to Earth. Yet both Stoner and his home planet have changed. The starship, now orbiting Earth, has provided several remarkable leaps in technology for the human race and as Stoner starts life anew, he finds some startling alterations within himself--he is now sharing his mind with that of the dead alien found aboard the ship nearly two decades ago. At the time, it had been Stoner's decision to leave behind all that he knew for a chance to explore the cosmos. Now, he finds himself becoming increasingly devoid of emotion in exchange for superhuman mental abilities and a relentless drive to change his corrupt and war torn world for the better.
Stoner flees captivity from Vanguard Corporation, the company responsible for reviving him. It's president, Jo Camerata, a former flame of Stoner's, assists in his escape knowing that her sadistic CEO husband Everett Nillson would take whatever measures necessary to extract every bit of alien intelligence from the astronaut. Yet even Jo cannot control Stoner as he eventually leaves her and reunites with old friends, makes new allies, and travels the world in an attempt to bring peace to war ravaged Africa and shut down a global terrorist organization known as the World Liberation Movement.
Ben Bova crafts a fast paced story with political and corporate intrigue and a central character that reminded me very much of Klaatu from The Day The Earth Stood Still. Well, Klaatu with some burgeoning Jedi abilities. :-) The other main characters are also fairly well developed although the focus is almost completely on Stoner. The story is not without some twists as some characters reveal their true colors and loyalties. The backdrop of bloody politics and corporate backstabbing of Stoner's Earth are among the few things that have not changed in his eighteen year absence and reflect the sad state of affairs in our own reality.
November 8, 2011
About This Writing Stuff...
Among the links this week, Annie Neugebauer offers up what seems like common sense advice on becoming a more confident writer (but you know what they say about common sense). Donald Maass talks about reversals of fortune in your fiction while Jami Gold discusses the concept of the "Fast Draft". Jody Hedlund ponders a writer's worst enemy and Brian Klems of Writer's Digest puts things in perspective for us...and Shelli Johnson does, too!
Be a More Confident Writer: 5 Choices that May Be Hurting Instead of Helping by Annie Neugebauer
Reversals by Donald Maass
Can You "Fast Draft"? by Jami Gold
A Writer's Number One Enemy by Jody Hedlund
How to Gain Perspective on Your Work by Brian A. Klems
What Rejection Can Teach You by Shelli Johnson
How I Got My Agent by Kevin Sheehan
November 6, 2011
Author Interview: Shelli Johnson
Shelli captured the Hearst National Journalism Award during her time with a major newspaper and with her first novel, took the Grand Prize in the Writer’s Digest International Self Published Book Awards.
With her second novel due out in 2012 and a third two years after, I think it’s safe to say that Shelli’s career as a fiction writer is off to an exemplary start.
First, tell us where we can find you online.
www.shellijohnson.comwww.shellijohnson.com/blogwww.facebook.com/shellijohnsonauthorwww.twitter.com/Shelli_Johnsonwww.goodreads.com/shellijohnsonwww.bookblogs.ning.com/profile/ShelliJohnson
What genres or authors do you enjoy reading?
Genres: I'll read just about anything. Favorite is probably horror. I am a zombie fan (World War Z by Max Brooks = phenomenal zombie novel). But I love literary stuff and fantasy. Anything beautifully written--that would be my favorite, some gorgeous language to go along with a great plot.
Authors: I've been a Stephen King junkie since I was 12. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is a fantastic book. Any of Michael Crichton's early work, fast but engaging reads. I read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher not too long ago; that was a stunning book about suicide. That's some guys. So women: I love Geneen Roth, who actually writes non-fiction, but she's fabulous. I'll buy her stuff without even reading what it's about. Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird is probably the best book on writing that I've ever read. Okay, fiction ~ Dorothy Allison's Bastard Out of Carolina, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Alice Walker's The Color Purple.
Tell us a bit about your previous life as a journalist and how you captured the Hearst National Journalism Award.
I worked in the Sports Department of a major metropolitan newspaper for several years. I covered mainly high-school sports but every so often I would help out with some of the majors (golf, baseball). While I like sports ~ I’m a big football fan ~ being a hard-news journalist really wasn’t for me. The award was for a feature story I did for a different section of the newspaper. It was a first-person account about eating disorders ~ since I struggled with that for a long time when I was younger. It ended up being one of the most raw pieces I’ve ever written. It also ended up being the one that received the most reader feedback that section of the paper had ever gotten. Then it won the Hearst Award. The validation was nice as, quite frankly, I’d been terrified to put myself out there like that ~ the paper had a circulation of over a million.
What motivated you to write fiction? Were there any particular authors that influenced you?
I've always loved writing. The earliest memory I have of it is writing a story in the first grade & having it be selected by the teacher to be read to the Kindergarten class. I don't even remember what it was about. But I do remember thinking that writing was all I wanted to do. My favorite part of writing is when I get so caught up in the story that I lose track of time. There's nothing quite like the feeling of that for me; it keeps me coming back. Plus, I love my characters. I actually look forward to sitting down and seeing what they're going to do next.
Stephen King was the biggest influence in pushing me toward being a fiction writer. When I was a kid, my family & I went on vacation up to a cabin in Maine. There was no running water, no electricity ~ “roughing it like the settlers” my dad said. Not great, though, for a 12-year-old girl. Under one of the bunk beds, I found a box full of Stephen King books & I spent those 2 weeks reading his early work, which is absolutely fantastic. I wanted to be able to do what King did ~ make people feel scared, angry, happy, whatever ~ just by telling them a story.
What inspired your first novel, Small as a Mustard Seed (Ten Twenty Seven Books, May 2011)? How did you arrive at the decision to self publish?
I was writing about the main characters ~ sisters ~ for about 4 months, both of them as adult women. The story wasn’t really going anywhere, and then one morning (about 2 a.m.) one of them showed up as a 10-year-old in a barn, scared out of her mind, her father with a gun to his head & threatening to pull the trigger. That scene ended up being the first chapter of the book. Once I got that idea, the rest of the story just came along with it.
I chose to be an independent author early on, mostly because I got a substantial grant to do it. The Weisman Fund (the grant liaison, after reading only the first three chapters, believed in my novel so much that she fought for me to be awarded one of the grants) gave me money to start my own small press. I wanted to learn how to do it, so that’s the choice I made. Afterward, I did the whole query/agent/publisher thing for a while. I got some fantastic feedback ~ "this is a beautiful, beautiful book"; "A real page turner"; I didn't want it to end" ~ and ended up landing a top agent at a BIG New York literary agency. She tried to sell my book, and yet even with all the praise, she couldn’t. The editors ultimately passed. When it didn’t sell, she put it on the shelf & said we’d try again with my next book. Except that my agent didn’t think she could sell the book I was working on ~ the topic about World War II being the problem ~ and so she asked me to write something else. I spent 14 months working on that something else (a novel I wasn’t really passionate about) & about 600 pages of dreck later, I had nothing. The agent & I parted ways. I salvaged about 60 pages, added it to the World War II novel I had wanted to write to begin with, & kept on writing. That finished novel was good enough to get me an artist’s residency at Ragdale. I stayed indie after that because I found that it suited my personality and writing style much better.
Here's a brief description of Small as a Mustard Seed: As a child in 1960′s rural Ohio, Ann Marie Adler finds herself caught between her father, Frank, a veteran who survived the war in Korea but with devastating post-traumatic stress, and her mother, Adele, who is blindsided by the mental illness that accompanied him home. In a series of escalating dangerous episodes, Frank confuses reality with soul-searing memories, believing he’s still a soldier fighting for his life in battle-torn Korea. During the delusions, Ann Marie and her younger sister, Jolene, become the enemy, which leaves them fearing for their lives. Unable to fully protect her daughters, Adele scrambles to keep order while her husband’s threatening and unpredictable outbursts slowly tear the family apart.
And here's an excerpt: http://shellijohnson.com/excerpts/small-as-a-mustard-seed/
What can readers expect from you next?
The book I recently finished will be coming out in 2012. It’s still untitled as of yet. Here’s a brief description: When Rose Harlen struts into PJ’s Tavern in the scorching heat of an Illinois summer looking to cool herself off, she ends up discovering Danny, a charismatic man who alters the trajectory of her life forever. Instead of following her dream of acting on stage, Rose chooses the stability and comfort of marriage. But Danny has a life-changing secret. While Rose’s world careens toward catastrophe, Helena Basinski’s life in Poland radically changes when her husband’s activities in the Resistance trigger their family’s deportation by the Nazis to Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Helena is selected to serve in the camp’s brothel where one of the guards falls obsessively and dangerously in love with her. She survives the war but with memories that are bone deep and forever. Years later, after Rose’s world has been splintered and Helena’s shattered, the two women quietly but forcefully collide.
And you can read an excerpt here: http://shellijohnson.com/excerpts/unpublished-work-in-progress/
Currently, I’m writing my third novel. It’s about World War II from the point of view of a German soldier. I hope to have it out by 2014.
What does Shelli Johnson do when she isn’t writing?
I love reading, which probably goes without saying. I also enjoy cooking in my crock-pot (recipes up on my blog: http://shellijohnson.com/category/crock-pot-recipes/). I’m a runner so I do that three or four times a week. I also have two young boys, and they keep me busy. I'm married, so I hang out with my husband a lot. Plus, I work as a free-lance editor so I’m doing that around everything else.

November 2, 2011
About this Writing Stuff...
Despite the mayhem, I am happy to be prompt with another round of hopefully helpful articles. It's an abbreviated edition due to the aforementioned disaster and inherent stress that comes with it. We have a hat trick of How To's this week, including two unique tactics for developing characters and a playful method of finding success in your writing. Jane Friedman discusses the responsibility shouldered by self pubbed writers and Bob Greenberger brings us A Matter of Faith, a published short piece in the SF genre.
How to Avoid Parenting Your Characters by Sue Bradford Edwards
How to Find Your Way to Writing Success? PLAY! by Barbara O'Neal
How to Use Psychometric Testing to Create Believable Characters by Vince McLeod
Self-Published Authors Have Great Power, But Are They Taking Great Responsibility? by Jane Friedman
" A Matter of Faith" is All You Need by Bob Greenberger

October 30, 2011
Book Review: Peter David's Camelot Papers
Vivianna is certainly a rare commodity in the days of Camelot--a literate woman. More, a literate woman sold into slavery by her father. Upon her arrival at Camelot, however, her life as mere chattel begins to take some amazing, compelling, and at times disturbing twists that allow her to rise to the status of the the queen's handmaiden.
Of course, the very fact that she can read and write immediately places her under suspicion from the other slaves, making her pariah even among the lowest class in society. She is quickly isolated and left very much alone, even accused of witchcraft. Along come a young prince and a sagacious apothecary who set Vivianna on a course that will broaden her world and elevate her station in life more than she ever thought possible. All the while, Vivianna chronicles her observations and wild encounters in her journal, revealing the "true" origins of the characters of Arthurian legend from Lancelot to Galahad, from Morgan the Fey and Modred, to Arthur and Guinevere, and of course the wizard himself, Merlin.
To summarize Camelot Papers is to reveal too many spoilers. Peter David presents a truly clever and inspired twist on the legend that we merely think we know so well. Oh, won't you be surprised! Although Camelot Papers is billed as satire, there is no lack of truly dramatic, suspenseful, and moving moments in Vivianna's experiences with the denizens of Camelot, be they servant or nobility. Every rumor is born from the slightest kernel of truth, and some rumors become legend. Peter David takes holds of this concept with the absolute authority and perspicacity of a master storyteller.
Chiller Theatre autograph and collectible show
This time around, my autograph list was rather light in quantity, but certainly not quality. It was an honor to meet:
Louis Gossett, Jr. (Enemy Mine, Roots, Officer and a Gentleman)
Valerie Perrine (Superman: The Movie, Slaughterhouse Five)
Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Of course, Chiller has a lot more going on, including writers, artists, a costume contest and other horror/SF related exhibits but with the weather becoming more treacherous, we cut our time a bit short.
The drive home was...adventurous...to say the least. Car accidents and felled trees galore on both of the main highways we took (287 and 78), adding an extra hour to our drive but we made it home without incident. However, it looks like I'll need to call a tree removal service next week as one of the trees in my front yard snapped in two places and is pretty much destroyed.




October 26, 2011
Book Review: No Small Bills by Aaron Rosenberg
DuckBob Spinowitz is your average Joe--er, Bob, and compliments of the Gray aliens he had been modified with the head and plumage of--you guessed it--a duck. As it turns out, his physical modification was no mere experiment of curiosity as DuckBob learns when he is pressed into service by the Gray aliens and the NSA on a matter of galactic security. For only DuckBob can realign the quantum fluctuation matrix to prevent an alien incursion from an alternate reality!
Say what?
Aaron Rosenberg channels Douglas Adams, Monthy Python, and Henson's Creature Shop (and silly string) in a hilarious, ludicrous escapade through outer space, intraspace, and ultraspace. Teamed with an irritable NSA agent, a squat broccoli-headed alien repairman, and a gorgeous human female mission leader (who was also modified by the Grays but only intellectually, to DuckBob's delight), our feathered and billed hero sets off across the galaxy and manages to enrage flower loving dinosaurs, cause an interstellar bus accident (punishable by losing his ability to see the color mauve), and confront a six-inch tall shrimp with a death ray gun on a protected ocean planet after falling off a speeding bridge.
You had to be there.
As a result, DuckBob and his team wind up in prison and sentenced to two hundred years of hard labor including telemarketing, stuffing envelopes, and filling bags of marshmallows. But they manage a daring escape, picking up two more characters along the way and it isn't long before they're back on course to the Galactic Core where the quantum fluctuation matrix awaits realignment. Of course, the preposterous challenges don't end there!
I read No Small Bills over two evenings and two lunch hours at work. There are few slow moments, mostly limited to DuckBob's occassional comedic introspection, yet the pacing is consistent and the dialogue witty. Rosenberg demonstrates a wild imagination and clever storytelling in a book suitable for YA and adults alike.
Remember, every duck has his day.
About this Writing Stuff...
Today, though, Jody Hedlund ponders whether blog tours are really worth it. Kristine Kathryn Rusch busts out the Aretha Franklin while Shelli Johnson redefines failure. Chuck Sambuchino gives some brief advice on the all-important platform. Ollin Morales offers advice on big time guests posts and interviews, and Bob Greenberger finds himself back in the command chair as he returns to writing in the Star Trek universe.
How to Improve Your Researching Skills and Write Accurately by Timothy Perrin, Will Romano, Deborah Jeanne Sergeant & Jeffery D. Zbar
Are Blog Tours Really Worth It? by Jody Hedlund
The Business Rusch: R*E*S*P*E*C*T by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Redefining Failure by Shelli Johnson
Boldly Going by Bob Greenberger
Writing Short Stories or Articles with a Fantastical Twist by Sophie Masson
The Difference Between Your "Current Platform" and "Future Platform" by Chuck Sambuchino
October 24, 2011
Book Review: Ben Bova's Mars Life
The exploration of Mars has become a source of fervent contention between dedicated scientists and an extremist Christian order known as The New Morality (an organization present in many, if not all, installments of Bova's "Grand Tour" series).
Bova picks up the story on Mars as narcissistic anthropologist Carter Carleton, whose reputation on Earth is tarnished by charges of sexual assault on a student, uncovers a bone fragment in what is considered an ancient Martian village previously discovered by Jamie Waterman. Waterman is now the project's Science Director who had left Mars and returned to Earth years ago along with geologist-turned-business tycoon Dex Trumball.
However, now that the New Morality has infiltrated the United States government and successfully schemed to sever all federal funding for the Mars project and its "Godless scientists", further exploration is jeopardized. Years before, the US Government had decided to turn jurisdiction of Mars over to the Navajo Indians and as long as at least one Navajo resided on Mars, the planet would remain under their purview. Should the final Navajo, Billy Graycloud, leave the planet then the fate of Mars would be up for grabs. The Earth's wealthy are already lined up to turn it into a tourist attraction. A situation that Jamie Waterman will not allow as it would contaminate the dig sites where the ancient Martian village (and shortly after, cemetary had been discovered. However, it would solve the project's financial problems...
On Earth, The New Morality has blocked all media coverage of Mars and forced schools to remove any mention of it from their curricula. As a result, Jamie Waterman, a Navajo Indian and geologist returns to Mars to offer his support and expertise while Dex remains earthside in an effort to appeal to the private sector for funding. Dex finds every avenue blocked by the fact that Earth is suffering from extreme climate change to due to severe increase in greenhouse gases. Mars is no longer a concern for people struggling for their very lives. To make matter worse, a New Morality priest, also a geologist, decides to travel to Mars on a mission to bridge the gap between science and religion, only to die of a brain hemmorrhage shortly after arriving on the red planet as a result of a condition which he had concealed from the doctors during his pre-Mars physical.
As usual, Dr. Bova presents an intelligent, stimulating tale of scientific discovery while also creating engaging characters mired in conflict. The resolution is not black and white but instead, hopeful, as is often the case in life. Although the New Morality's hostile intrusion on human liberties and their infiltration of the US government are allegorical, it seems unlikely to happen in today's society where church and state are being driven apart more than ever in American history. However, from what I gathered, the greenhouse
crisis on Earth was an opportunity for the New Morality to frighten the country into believing that God's wrath was upon them.
Mars Life is definitely a recommended read.
