Chantal Boudreau's Blog, page 13

October Submission Blitz 2015 – Success

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Day 12 of my blitz and 12 submissions complete, several of them to pro-rate venues.  The good news is that I’ve already received two responses and both of them were acceptances.  I’ll post the details when I’m free to share them.

My scary little girl of the day is a classic C – Carrie.  Stephen King’s start as the King of Horror began  with a teenage disaster who found supernatural powers to go with her adolescent angst when she reached puberty.  Throw in a crazy zealot of a mother, school bullies and a bucket of pig’s blood and say hello to a freak out of epic proportions.

And for a bonus today, a review.  Here’s one for Ren Garcia’s Stenibelle:

With this installment Ren Garcia’s Shadow Tech Goddess series, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It had all of the wonderful world crafting and characterizations typical of his writing, but with its female protagonist/PoV, I was a little wary about how I would connect with the story.

I like to see stories that give female characters plenty of agency, especially adventure stories, and that’s difficult in the Victorian-esque patriarchal social-settings common to Garcia’s League of Elders series. It allows for dashing male heroes wielding great power and charm, but the female characters before this novel ,have been either demure, villainous, or struggling to control and wield what power they have – bordering on insane, damaged by their power or seeking isolation at the expense of their relationships.

In this vein, Stenibelle is at a disadvantage compared to her male counterparts right from the start. She starts at a major low and swings out far in the other direction to the point of arrogance and aggression, and I found myself hoping there would be some balance to come. Despite my frustration with her situation and her behaviour, the story was still very enjoyable.

At first Stenibelle didn’t have her own agency – “lesser” than her male counterparts – and she had to have an extra hand up. Considering her social setting, however, there was no way of avoiding some disadvantage because of her gender. My discomfort at her struggles is a compliment to the author’s storytelling skills – I wouldn’t have felt frustrated in the face of her circumstances if I hadn’t been so invested in the characters and the storyline.

There are other examples of empowered female characters in the story. Gwen was very strong in this book, despite getting beaten in a physical fight. Stenibelle was using unfair tactics to win and Gwen took the loss graciously without being cowed by it.

Alesta is also empowered, and my favourite character in the book. She works outside the boundaries of society because of her spiritual beliefs. She does what she feels is right and sometimes that meant being assertive. She’s quite powerful even though she is humble about it and doesn’t resort to throwing that power around carelessly.

Stenibelle, or Bel, does undergo growth of character. With the help of her friends, Bel, finds her agency and owns who she is. As Bel’s confidence grows it changes her dynamic with other characters, such as the bullying, villainous Professor Shurlamp. Shurlamp then has less power over her.

I really liked the changes that happen at this point in the book. Bel had to shake free the shackles of societal expectations and the unwarranted doubt it had created within her. Then she assumes responsibility for her fate directing the outcome of her adventure. In the end, I thought that this was one of Ren Garcia’s best stories yet. I look forward to the next one in this series.

October Submission Blitz 2015 – Reprints, Reprints

While I’ve fallen behind on my blogging, I have been keeping up on my blitzing.  Seven days, seven submissions, including two reprint submissions which tend to be a rare thing for me.  It’s not that I’m not willing to submit them, but aside from the odd podcast or “for the love” venue I don’t often see calls for submissions that allow them.  I also submitted to a charity anthology that does offer a token payment.  I’ve sourced out a few more possibilities too, but I have to continue the hunt for promising opportunities.

My scary little girl for the day is a real life B belle, the notorious Mary Bell.  One of the youngest little murderers out there, she strangled two little boys, one four and one three, before being caught and put away.  Blame was attributed to being raised with constant exposure to violence and sex (her mother was a prostitute who had tried to kill Mary and then forced her to participate in her “work”.)  She was eventually released as an adult and given a new identity, but the families of the murdered boys will always consider her a monster who ruined their lives.  Multiple documentaries have been made about her scary ways.

24 submissions left to go.

October Submission Blitz 2015

So as I’m staring down Halloween and our local fandom convention, I’m embarking on my regular semi-annual submission blitz. I have several stories from prior blitzes soon to make a published appearance (one fantasy, one sci-fi and one dark fiction) and that gives me plenty of motivation to do this again. I started of my blitz yesterday with a flash fiction submission to one of my favourite literary horror venues and I’ll be scoping out possible options for today after posting this.

I’ll have a few treats and tidbits to share as I go, including a few reviews and my ABC Scary Little Girl of the day.

Today’s A lass is Alessa Gillespie from the Silent Hill games/movies.  This unfortunate one has ties to cults, witches, alternate dimensions, doppelgangers and psychic powers, suffers at the hands of bullies, a molester and ignorant townsfolk and ends up severely burned during an attempt at a “spiritual cleansing.”  She is definitely a spooky little lady.

After a Long Pause

This year involved a lengthy summer hiatus from blogging for multiple reasons. Summer is always busy for me. The kids are home from school. I work overtime at my day job. Some of my focus is on gardening. This year also included double weekly doses of jugger, a trip to France with my daughter, and new puppy. All of these things proved to be time sucks, albeit positive ones. In summer, the things at the bottom of my priority list get bumped off by the things at the top and because I want to keep writing my fiction, blogging is often one of the things that goes.

And off it went

But I’ve been wanting/meaning to set aside some time to announce some of the good things that have happened over the last few months. I received an acceptance for another pro-rate (per HWA standards but not those of the SFWA) venue, this time for my first stab at steampunk. You can find out more about it here: https://www.blackgate.com/2015/07/30/see-the-table-of-contents-for-clockwork-canada-steampunk-fiction-edited-by-dominik-parisien/

This spring/summer has also been one of multiple releases including short stories in the anthologies Strangely Funny 2 ½ (Dead to Write) and My Favourite Apocalypse (Gaia’s Gift) and some non-fiction pieces in the Horror Addicts Guide to Life. I have other acceptances brewing for release I the near future, including a YA cyberpunk/fairy tale mash up, but those announcements will come later.

 

No news on the novel front. My series remain in limbo and no new acceptances for the yet-to-be-published, but I’m still writing and still hopeful. I have a test-reader working away at some of them, so we’ll see where that goes.

Until then, I hope to get back on the blogging track when my overtime is up, likely in time for my submission blitz in October.

Until then – if you need me, you may want to hunt me out in the jungle that is my garden this year. You’ll like find me digging up something for supper, pickling or freezing.

Turnip anyone?

My Favorite Things: The Adventures of a Horror Horticulturalist

Originally posted on Emz Newz:

Name: Chantal Boudreau

Current obsession: Gardening

Writing might be one of my biggest loves. My family comes first and coffee comes second, of course. I’m rather taken with a sport called jugger too (that’s for another day’s discussion.) But I also have a seasonal love and that’s my backyard garden.

Think of a horror writer and the image comes up of someone wearing dark clothing with pale skin and too much black eye make-up, locked away in some attic or basement typing frantically away at a keyboard. Well I’m not that kind of horror writer. As much as I love late nights trying to devise means of thrilling and chilling, I also like getting down and dirty in my backyard. We’re talking the earthy kind of dirt, filled with weeds, seeds, bugs and compost. The sun at my back and a tan on my face – that’s my summer satisfaction.

It…

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Horror Addicts Guide to Life Author Spotlight: Chantal Boudreau

Originally posted on horroraddicts.net:

Chantal Boudreau writes fantasy and horror. She has several novels out and has been included in several anthologies. For Horror Addicts Guide To Life  Chantal wrote two articles.  One was “Hosting A Creepy Crawly Party” which will tell you everything you need to know about having a horror themed party. The other article is called “Bedtime…Horror Addicts Style” which will make going to bed a little scarier and more enjoyable. To read Chantal’s articles along with several other articles on living the horror lifestyle, pick up a copy of Horror Addicts Guide To Life. Recently Chantal was nice enough to tell us what she likes about horror:

What do you like about the horror genre?

I like the dark aspect to the genre. The fear is cathartic. It’s also one of the speculative genres that lends itself well to realism. Monsters don’t have to be supernatural. There…

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More News Post Blitz

This time of year my focus tends to be on gardening more than writing, but I’m happy to see submission seeds I planted during my blitzes are yielding fruit. I’ll be announcing the release of one of my zombie stories shortly from an acceptance from a prior submission blitz, and from this April one I just received a semi-pro rate acceptance for a favourite story of mine I’ve been shopping for some time. The ones I like best can take longer to find a home because I tend to be picky about venues, reserving them for semi-pro or pro rate calls for submission. I’m extra happy about this acceptance because it comes with multiple contributor copies as well as a good flat fee. It’s also a really good fit with the anthology.

I still am writing in dribs and drabs, toying with another fairy tale mash-up, one that mixes Snow White with Norse mythology. I’m also trying to dig up more info on two contracted acceptances that may or may not have been released. I couldn’t find my story listed on the table of contents for one anthology – the publisher has had issues, so if it turns out to be a no-go I won’t be terribly upset. The other anthology was released with no official notice sent my way and I haven’t been able to locate a table of contents for it anywhere. I was on the online acceptance list that used to be posted but now is gone and I do have a contract for it. I have to assume, at the moment, my story is in there, but I can’t be sure.

More updates as they come in – back to gardening.

Blitz Follow-up

I would happily take a handful of rejections over hayfever any day. Unfortunately, I’m afflicted by both right now. I haven’t received very many rejections yet, mostly from pro-rate or SF venues, and just the one acceptance as of yet, so it’s still a matter of waiting. I was a little disappointed that the “maybe” that had come back turned into a “no,” but at least they described my story as “high quality.”

As for the hayfever, that has proven to be a severe annoyance this year. I’ve only had to endure mild symptoms it the past but this year I swear these allergies are seriously out to get me. If the lack of sleep or oxygen deprivation hasn’t done me in before the end of the weekend, then I might survive gardening this year even if it means suffering to see it through.

April Blitz – The End

I finally dug deep and completed the rewrite of my lone steampunk story. It has now been resubmitted…fingers crossed.

I also wrote up, tweaked and sent out a dark humour SF flash piece. I was aiming for a Fredric Brown approach – one of my favourite writers. I’m at least hoping to squeak through to round two. I’ll just have to wait and see.

So that’s it – this year’s spring blitz is over. I’ve had limited responses so far, so now I have to brace myself for the many rejections that will eventually head my way.

On to figuring out what project to start next.

April Blitz – Day 28

Two more submissions and only two more to go. I actually sent out one under my pseudonym today and I did finally submit the SF story I was waffling on. I also had one more rejection come back, from a pro-rate venue this time. Considering I’ve had far fewer this blitz, I have higher hopes for more acceptances this time.

More at month’s end…