Cynthianna's Blog, page 17

50 More Shades of Great(ness)

Since I have two scheduled book releases within the next two months, I thought I'd share a little secret with my readers. I could really use your help. I could really use your expertise with social media and the web. I need to sell books (not have them pirated) and I need to sell them today. 

Why? Because the rent  has to be paid in cash. I can't talk my landlord into taking a book manuscript in lieu of rent payment for some reason. He likes money--don't ask me why! So does the grocery store, the gas station, and the utilities. (I gave up buying non-essentials like medicine, make-up and clothing a long while back.) If the world ever went back to bartering, it might be feasible to get some creditors off your back with trading writing services, but at this time, they just look at you funny and start thinking about things like eviction notices.

As a reader, you can help me (and many other struggling authors out there--I know I'm not alone) by buying and reading our books. After you've read one of our books, you can post a short and honest book review on Amazon, Goodreads, our publisher's web site, or even your own blog. You can tweet a buy link to your contacts and pin the cover art on your Pinterest boards. Let us know that you've done so, and we'll gladly quote you on our blogs, book jackets, web sites, Google Plus, etc., and tweet and pin in return. By sharing your thoughts with other potential readers across the web, you are giving our work some much needed publicity that we can't otherwise afford.

Most of the book review places these days are asking for money upfront (there's that cash fixation again!) to review books. Okay, if I can't afford to replace my sandals (after I accidentally ripped a strap off my ten-year-old pair), then I'm not able to pay hundreds of dollars to a book reviewer to read my book. I can't afford to pay for advertising online, either, since few sites give those away for free. So when readers freely share their book reviews and use their blogs, Twitter and Pinterest accounts to help advertise our books, they are truly helping out the little guys and gals. We appreciate it, too.

There's lots of talk about helping  "little people" survive these days, but there's little being done to actually do it or so it seems. If you want to make a difference in the life of a struggling writer, please buy--and encourage your friends to buy--his/her books and tell others how much you enjoyed them. 

We as authors don't expect that all of us will become the next J.K. Rowling or have a mega-bestseller like Fifty Shades of Grey (and why would we want to be copycats anyway?), but if we're given a fair chance, perhaps more of us will be able to support our families.

To put it simply, when writers can eat, they can live long enough to spin more tales of fun and fantasy for your enjoyment. It's a win-win situation.


My latest release, Blood Bond, a vampire erotic-romance from eXtasy Books: http://www.extasybooks.com/blood-bond
 (You can read an excerpt from it at my Celine's Dreams blog.)

Feel free to share the buy link and reviews of it wherever you're inspired to do so. Also, you can share ideas of how and where to promote our books in the comment section below. Thank you.

Quick Review of "Angel of Europa"

Angel of Europa by Allen Steele
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A murder mystery in space--it's not a bad idea, but it's not exactly original. Still, I enjoyed the reading about how future explorers might get beneath the ice surface of Europa and discover the life forms unique to that world. A good novella for a slow summer's day.

View all my reviews

Fifty Shades of Great(ness)

This is the logo for my new campaign to promote e-authors.

 Readers are talking everywhere online about it. The recent buzz over Fifty Shades of Grey has brought a lot of attention to e-books, erotica/erotic-romance e-books in particular. While I’m glad to see the general reading public discovering the wide world of electronic books it does make me wonder: Do readers realize the e-book has been with us for more than two decades? Do they realize there are many thousands of unsung authors of e-literature that can write just as tantalizing—if not more so—a story than this relative newcomer on the scene?
 Science fiction and romantic elements minus the handcuffs. 

If I were to list all the talented e-book authors I know personally, the list would be miles long. I’m not kidding! In deference to time and space, I’ll just mention that I’m associated with some terrific e-book authors via my publishers eXtasy Books/Devine Destinies Books and Mojocastle Press. (www.extasybooks.com / www.devinedestinies.com and www.mojocastle.com ) Yes, I’ll admit to being biased, but generally the quality of fiction of my publishers’ releases is many, many more than fifty shades above the average fluff that receives the majority of the new e-reading public’s attention. It does make me despair that these e-fiction creative geniuses don’t receive the consideration they so rightly deserve. And I want to do more to help sing their praises and raise awareness of their greatness.

A romantic-comedy that doesn't feature whips and chains. They do exist!
So my challenge to the e-reading public is this: Stop and check out the web sites of smaller e-presses like eXtasy Books and Mojocastle. Buy (don’t pirate) an e-book or two and give them a read. I know you’ll be pleasantly surprised. There is endless variety in e-books waiting for smart readers to discover and many are great reads. So, stop following the crowd and automatically buying whatever Amazon tells you to! Explore, browse, read and learn for yourself that your heart’s desire in fiction is available at the merest click of your mouse.

My review of "Fort Freak" (edited by George R.R. Martin)

Fort Freak by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


If you love "freaks" and superheroes, then Fort Freak is the book for you! The police precinct is well-realized in a series of short stories from George R.R. Martin's Wild Card universe that have been melded together to form a novel. The writing is excellent (as are the authors who contributed to the tome), but it is a long book to read in one setting, which isn't for those who are becoming more accustomed to novella-length works in e-literature. Still, it's worth the read if only to figure out if Ramshead solves a 30 year old cold case and if "Flipper" can get the Infamous Black Tongue off on assault, among other charges. The characters really do come alive in Fort Freak, and you'll never forget them. And who'd want to? I'd hang out in Jokertown any day of the week.


View all my reviews

I'm featured at the Dear Teen Me Blog

If you always wondered what I looked like at age sixteen, check out my blog posting at the "Dear Teen Me" Blog:

http://dearteenme.com/2012/07/25/dear-teen-me-from-author-cindy-a-matthews-aka-cynthianna-love-who/

This is a really wonderful blog where writers can address their younger selves. Great for all ages--because we all could stand to learn something new everyday right? ;)

The response to "Archon Hear a Who"

To keep the Doctor Who fans I wrote about in my last posting abreast of what's happening with our suggesting a Doctor Who media guest to attend a future Archon, here is a reply on an open St. Louis SF fandom email list from the media guest liaison:

Yes, for those of you who missed all the Facebook fun, this blog was absolutely innaccurate. Obviously the writer decided she had a great hook with the 'Horton Hears a Who' tie in, without really bothering to do any research to see if anything she wrote was actually TRUE.

No, we (Archon) have not been contacted by anyone at BBC America, these guests, or their representation. And as Van so aptly pointed out, seriously, if they were calling us saying 'can we please come' what do you think would be happening? It sure as heck wouldn't be Archon saying, 'yeah, thanks but no, we're good'.

Could we get a Dr Who guest in future? Sure, maybe we can work that out. If anyone would have come to me and said, 'Hey, we'd love a Dr. Who guest, and maybe we can even work out some fundraising to help support it' I'd have been their new best friend. I love Dr. Who. But this was handled SO badly that it honestly makes me want to not look too hard into it in the near future because I don't want to encourage this kind of attrocious behavior by anyone else.

Not saying that I WON'T look into it, just saying that this whole mess has put a bad taste in my mouth about the idea. I'll probably be over it before we go hunting for a guest next year. :)

Mary
Archon Media Guest Liaison

Here was my response on this same email list:

Thank you, Katrina, for your fair assessment of the events. My blog posting was never meant as a personal attack against any individual involved with Archon. It was a call to Doctor Who fans to make our voices heard. I believe this is an exercise of freedom of speech. If we are bullied into keeping quiet because it contradicts another person's opinion, then who benefits?

If you read the piece, you'd see I know of persons with direct contacts within  the BBC that live in the St. Louis area. I see now why they were shy about making their points known to the general Archon community--they would be accused of being "liars" as well. I did not once mention Ms. Stadter's name in the blog
article (I had no clue who or what group is in charge of media guests), and I never once insinuated that what she said was not "true". Yet I open my email digest today and see that I'm being called essentially a liar. I only wrote about what I was told on good authority. It is my personal blog and my friends are allowed to talk to me if they so desire. I write on topics when I feel like
it could be of help to my friends. Please don't malign the messenger if you don't care for the message.

I do not appreciate being told I am trying to start controversy within STL  fandom. It is beyond my comprehension why anyone would take a blog posting so seriously. I will not take such unfounded accusations as a personal attack from the Archon board members. But I will sincerely appreciate if the personal attacks cease and desist forthwith. Nobody wins in these situations.

That's all I'm going to say on the matter. In the many years I've been a SF fan,  I've never met a fan I didn't like. I think the general Archon community would say the same. I hate to painted as being a "not-so-nice Doctor Who fan" for future reference to people who don't really know me as a human being. There is enough hatred and hate speech in the world nowadays. Let's try to keep fandom a
happy and supportive place for all to share their thoughts and opinions without fear of bullying or maligning of character.

Thank you for listening.

And that's all I'm going to write on the matter. Yes, it leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. I've always been a great supporter of Archon and fandom in general, but obviously I'm not to everyone's tastes. So be it. You can't please everyone, so they will have to learn to live with me and move on. 

I have more important things on my plate. We're going out of state to visit my mother this weekend and see how she is doing in her new assisted living apartment. I had thought about writing some more about coping with a loved one with cancer, but thought I could use a break and take some time to write on lighter topics for a while. Obviously, my beloved Doctor Who is not a light enough topic. Go figure!


Your kind wishes, comments and prayers on my and my mother's behalf are always welcome. Let's try to build each other up in this life: I think we all realize just how short it is and what really matters.

Archon Hear a Who!

 In case you didn’t grow up reading Dr. Seuss like I did, Horton Hears a Who is a story about a very large elephant who hears a very, very, very tiny civilization living on a dust mote resting on top of a wildflower. Horton tries to convince his friends that these tiny beings in fact exist, but they don’t believe him because they can’t see or hear the microscopic people who inhabit Whoville. Horton doesn’t give up, and in spite of physical pressure and ridicule to give up his belief and destroy the wildflower, he perseveres until the tiny Whovillians make themselves known to all by shouting, “We are here! We are here! We are here!”
David Tennant as the 10th Doctor with the TARDIS
At a “First Friday” event I attended recently at the St. Louis Science Center’s Omnimax theater, a full-house of over five hundred fans watched a double bill of new series Doctor Who episodes featuring nanotechnology. The line to get into the theater snaked throughout the Science Center and out the door. All five hundred plus tickets were distributed—they even had to turn fans away they said because of the fire code. Many attendees came dressed in Who inspired costumes and T-shirts. Many said this was the first time they had realized there were so many fellow fans in the St. Louis area who enjoyed the same TV show they did. Many stated they had never heard of the St. Louis regional science-fiction convention Archon, but they’d attend Archon if they knew other Doctor Who fans and programming would be there.
Tom Baker as the Fourth DoctorBut what’s a classic children’s tale got to do with being a Doctor Who fan and a regional science fiction convention? Hang in there, and I’ll try to tie in the analogy the best that I can.
Archon isn’t the largest annual sci-fi convention in the US, but it has been around the block for quite a few years now—thirty-six years to be exact. It has hosted literary, artist, performing/filking and media guests. For purposes of this blog I’ll concentrate on Archon’s media guests. The fans have turned out in large numbers to see and hear these media guests give talks and presentations. The fans have waited in long lines for autographs and photographs. The fans have generally had a good time at Archon discussing and sharing their love of a particular media guest and/or the movie/TV series franchise he/she represents. In recent times Archon has hosted media guests such as multi-talented voice actor Billy West (Futurama) as well as the gang of Cinematic Titanic, featuring many of the original cast of the cult favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000.  (This year’s media guest just added to the bottom of the list: Gil Gerard. You remember him from the 1970s TV show Buck Rogers, don’t you?)
Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor with Amy Pond
With so many wonderful media guests in its past, a sci-fi buff might assume that Archon is not against inviting media guests to their convention, right? But it has come to my attention recently that Archon does not seem interested in hosting a media guest connected to the worldwide phenomenon known as Doctor Who. Why is this the case? I haven’t a clue, but perhaps you and your like-minded friends can help us find out why Archon doesn’t jump on this opportunity to cash in on the popularity of the world’s longest running science fiction TV franchise. 
Our wedding cake shaped like a TARDIS
I use the term worldwide phenomenon on purpose, for in spite of its origins at the BBC,the television series now plays on BBC America as well as on various PBS stations throughout the US. Doctor Who and its spin-off series Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures have broken the chains of being cult TV shows from Great Britain to become American sci-fi favorites with regular viewers in the many millions on a weekly basis. The DVDs, audio plays, books, graphic novels and other related products can be found in Best Buy as well as your local comic book stores. You could even say it’s given the Star Trek franchise a run for its money.
Producer and writer Steven MoffatI’m painting this picture so even if you’re not familiar with the series that you will still see how a media guest from the Doctor Who universe would appeal to many science fiction fans and not just a tiny handful living on a dust mote resting atop of a wildflower. Many Who fans would be willing to travel to the St. Louis area and pay the Archon membership fees to see these Doctor Who media guests. More memberships to the convention sold—more money for Archon to host even bigger and better conventions in the future. A win-win situation.
Here’s where the Horton Hears a Who analogy comes into play: It has come to my attention that several Doctor Who connected media guests have actually expressed an interest in attending Archon. Even better, these actors, producers and writers of the series were willing to come for free if their travel expenses were covered, and they’d be willing to travel from within the United States, since they’d already be in the US working on other projects.
Yes, that’s right. Whomedia guests expressed a desire to attend Archon and were willing to do so for the price of a domestic airline ticket. Increased sales of Archon memberships to fans who’d love to see a Doctor Whomedia guest would surely cover the price of an airline ticket, right?
The names of Doctor Whomedia guests who have voiced an interest in attending Archon? Hold onto your hats, folks: 
John Barrowman as Captain Jack
John Barrowman, Steven Moffat, and Alex Kingston. 
Are you able to peel yourself off the floor now?
Alex Kingston as RiversongYes, Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood fame, the current producer/head writer of Doctor Who, and the vivacious Riversong who played a pivotal role in last season’s story arc all wanted to travel to St. Louis and meet the fans here in the middle of the country. But, somehow, they were turned away or simply ignored by Archon representatives.

Fortunately for fans with lots of money and vacation time, Barrowman and Moffat recently attended Comic-Con in San Diego, and many of the Torchwood crew will be at Dragon Con in Atlanta later this year. These mega-sized sci-fi conventions will benefit from the crowds Who media guests will draw. Alas, those of us who can’t afford to attend far away mega-cons are out of luck.
My novel about Doctor Who fans who meet a mysterious stranger...
Here’s the call to action: If the BBC is  still willing to send a Doctor Who media guest to Archon in the future, would you be interested in attending and supporting the con with your membership? If you are, please consider joining with the local Who fan club, the St Louis CIA, in signing a petition, sending an email, or letter to the Archon committee expressing your support for Doctor Whomedia guests. This link takes you to Archon's contacts info page. Please be polite and to the point in your communications. If you have any other ideas on how to bring Whomedia guests to Archon, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
The original Star Trekfans were able to bring their beloved program back on the air back in the late 60s, so perhaps a letter writing campaign can demonstrate to the Archon powers-that-be that we aren’t invisible, dust-mote-dwelling denizens. We are many, and we have supporters like Horton who aren’t afraid of helping us to make our voices heard.
Let’s shout together as Doctor Who fans, “We are here! We are here! We are here!”

Trying to find Humor in the Heatwave

Getting ready for the parade... It's next to impossible to smile on a day when it's 95 degrees Fahrenheit at 9 o'clock in the morning. It's next to impossible to get excited about it being mid-summer when the forecast says the high today will be 109 F with a heat index of 115 F. It's hard to even think about tomorrow when the guy on the radio says tomorrow's temperatures are suppose to be worse.


I mean, my insides literally feel like they're baking themselves into haggis. How much worse can it get?


At least we still have electricity and somewhat of an air conditioner and box/ceiling fans. We're blessed compared to many who lost power in the recent storms. But still, I'm praying for rain and looking toward the skies and sighing a lot. When? When will it rain or at least cool down to say... 92 F?

 
Still, I've tried to find a little fun in all this sweltering heat. Independence Day started out in the mid-80s, so I figured I could make it through a two mile jaunt called the Webster Groves Independence Day Parade. I didn't go it alone, of course, as I accompanied the Greater St. Louis Ghostbusters along the route. We passed out candy and flyers for the upcoming unofficially first-ever Ghostbusters sci-fi con, Ecto Con.



Check it out. You know you want to... I promise, it will take your mind off the heat.


Because on a day like today, who you gonna call? I hope not the A/C repair guys but the Ghostbusters! :-)

Happy Independence Day... Here's a short video to re...

Happy Independence Day... Here's a short video to remind you of what the flag means to many Americans.(Enjoy your holiday and be careful out there in the heat and dry conditions.)

Do People Really Matter?

It's been a tough year for a lot of us. We're unemployed, underemployed, without health care, without health insurance and without hope. We're treated as if we don't exist by those in power. Corporations and the mega-rich seem to always get their way. It does make one wonder:


Do people really matter?

By "people" I mean human beings. The reason I ask this is because of an intriguing statement I heard on a radio program this evening. I stopped to listen to it since the show's host said this gentleman had the answers as to why so many of us who are constantly applying to jobs and desperately looking for work can't seem to connect with employers. It's not that employers don't have jobs--this individual assured us they most certainly do. And then the expert stated the reason why more of us don't get hired is this:


"No one qualified applies for the jobs."


Huh? There are millions looking for work. Surely some of these people have some job skills, right?

The expert then gave the example of a corporation that recently needed to hire an engineer--pretty much an entry level position. 25,000 applications were submitted for that one opening. That's the population of many small cities. And guess what? No one qualified applied for the job according to the corporation. Not a one. What are the odds of that happening?


In fact, there were probably many qualified individuals who applied for the position, since the self-same corporation had downsized  recently and had eliminated similar positions. A few  ex-workers probably re-applied to work at their old firm, right? Why were there no "qualified applicants"?






Answer: the computer that scanned the 25,000 applications told the corporate big-wigs that there were no qualified applicants.

Obviously, those that have the power to hire are more apt to believe a machine than their own senses. Because if those corporate types had kept on the human beings who staffed their human resources (as opposed to computer resources) department, the bosses would have been given a large number of qualified applicants to consider for the engineer opening.


But in the end, the big-wigs decided they didn't need human beings to help make hiring decisions. Computers could make these decisions just as well, if not faster. After all, human beings expect to be paid a wage and they might want such horrendous things as medical and dental insurance and sick leave. Can't have that, can we?

So, do people really matter? I guess not--at least not until computers start demanding days off with pay and health insurance.