R.B. Wood's Blog, page 21

The Word Count Podcast Episode 36

Welcome to Episode 36 of “The Word Count” podcast!

Four of our “Regular” Word Count Irregulars join me on a journey to desolate, winter theme:

“The snow drifts covered the door and the windows of the cabin…”

I think you find some good stuff within the show…by our authors.  Me?  Hell, I cracked a few ribs a few days ago and am on some good painkillers.  I have no IDEA what I said.

Anyway.

But before we introduce our writers, a bit about the show:

What is The Word Count Podcast?

It is a free broadcast by writers for writers.  Simply put, a theme for each show is announced via this site, Twitter and Facebook and writers are given a week or two to write AND RECORD their stories based on said theme.

Why?

Why not, says I.  It’s a great way to practice writing and public speaking.  It’s another way for writers to get their work “out there.”  And I love to meet fellow authors and have a blast putting the show together.  It’s just that simple.

Okay.  Where can I find it?

 You can listen to the latest podcast below, subscribe via iTunes or listen at the show’s site.

 

Direct: http://thewordcount.libsyn.com/webpage

 

iTunes (and remember, iTunes takes their sweet time in posting.  If you don't see it yet, keep trying!): http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-word-count/id392550989

Our guests this week:

 

Bill Kirton “The Lovers of Wensley Dale”

Before taking early retirement to become a full-time writer, Bill Kirton was a lecturer in French at the University of Aberdeen. He’s written stage and radio plays, short stories, novels, skits and songs for revues, and five non-fiction books aimed at helping students with their writing and study skills. His five modern crime novels, Material Evidence, Rough Justice, The Darkness, Shadow Selves and Unsafe Acts are set in north east Scotland and his historical crime/romance novel, The Figurehead, is set in Aberdeen in 1840. The Darkness won the silver award in the mystery category of the 2011 Forward National Literature Awards and his spoof mystery, The Sparrow Conundrum, was the winner in the humor category.

 

He’s had radio plays broadcast by the BBC and the Australian BC.  His short stories have appeared in many anthologies, including three of the CWA’s annual collections, and one was chosen by Maxim Jakubowski for his 2010 anthology of Best British Crime Stories.

 

Writing as Jack Rosse, he’s published a novel for children called The Loch Ewe Mystery.

He’s been a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at universities in Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews.

 

Twitter: @carver22

Website: www.bill-kirton.co.uk

Blog: www.Livingwritingandotherstuff.blogspot.com

 

Matthew Munson “Brothers” 

Matthew is British and lives in a small town you've probably never heard of, but do look up Broadstairs when you get some time. It's rather spiffing.

 

He was published through Inspired Quill, with Fall From Grace out in 2011 and Leap of Faith out in 2013, and has always thoroughly enjoyed being a part of The Word Count Podcast ... even if he did (ahem) disappear off the radar for a while.

 

He writes and vlogs about dyspraxia and disability issues in his "other life" and occasionally rants about public transport on social media. That bit's just a hobby. Go and say hello over at www.matthewmunson.co.uk or www.facebook.com/matthewmunsonauthor

 

You'll notice that the speaker for Matthew's story isn't him; it would be worryng if it was. No, the dulcet tones belong to Lisa Payne, a British actor who has saved Matthew from inflicting his own tones on you. Doesn't she sound good?

C. Thomas Smith “The Folly”

In the future, when historians look back & try to explain what it was that caused the downfall of the cats evil plans & halted the Catapocalypse, they will cite my mad ramblings. Why? Because they will have no idea what actually happened since they are talking to maybe six people and are using dried leaves as references. Later, alone in their hammocks, those same historians will dream of wool and butterflies. They will stroke their whiskers and drift off to the land of milk and catnip.

Sweet dreams my overlords.

 

Twitter = @KRSTVR

Web = krstvr.com

 

Eden Baylee “The Last Refuge”

Eden Baylee writes literary erotica and infuses erotic elements into many of her stories. Incorporating some of her favorite things such as travel, culture, and a deep curiosity for what turns people on, her brand of writing is both sensual and sexual.

Her latest release is a book of erotic flash fiction and poetry called HOT FLASH.

SPRING INTO SUMMER is her second collection of erotic novellas and the companion piece to her first book, FALL INTO WINTER.

Connect with her via her website | blog | twitter @edenbaylee | facebook

First Word Count of 2014 OPEN for Submissions!

Happy 2014 everyone!

Now that the holidays are past, it’s time to chip a bit of winter ice off our Word Count Irregulars and start the new year with a new Podcast.

Which means episode 36 of The Word Count is now OFFICIALLY open for submissions!

But what, dear sinners, will we be writing and recording this time?

Here is our winter-themed prompt:

“The snow drifts covered the door and the windows of the cabin…”

The Word Count is open to submissions to anyone.  And I want to be clear here.  I affectionately call those who contribute more than once to the show the “Word Count Irregulars.”  Submissions to the show are absolutely open to ALL artists out there.  I have had poems, songs and rants submitted that have made it onto the show.

My point is this.  If you write and want to expand your audience for free, this is a really fun way to do it.  Just follow the submission guidelines and get writing!

But first, allow me to provide a little background about the show.

I put together the podcast to feature writers (new and "old hands," famous and just starting) as a way to get YOUR writing out there.  The show is simple: based on a prompt; you create an original short story and then record yourself reading it.

That's it. No ads, no hard sell.  Just a podcast with great stories. I rely on the contributing writers and fans to promote the hell out of it and we are nearly at 20,000 downloads at this point.

Why do I do it?  It's a hobby.  And I've been meeting wonderful authors through the show.  It's all about networking and friendships.

Listen to past shows HERE or you can download/subscribe via iTunes.

Easy, fun and you'll pick up a few more fans. So...now you'll be needing the guidelines.

 

THE WORD COUNT EPISODE 36

Submission Guidelines (PLEASE READ CAREFULLY)

GENRE: Any.

DEADLINE: I must receive your submission by FRIDAY 17 January 2014 at MIDNIGHT.

THE DETAILS: The work must be an original work based on the prompt “The snow drifts covered the door and the windows of the cabin…”).

Do NOT exceed ten minutes.

As this is a podcast, I need to receive a file of YOU, a friend or multiple friends reading (singing or otherwise performing) your work. MP3 FORMAT ONLY, and please attach your MP3 file to an e-mail or contact me for a Dropbox link.

Your submission MUST also contain the following: 

Your pen name
Your latest bio
Links to your website(s) - Include your personal site, Facebook Fanpage etc.
Your Twitter handle (if you have one)
A photo of you I can use for the show notes
At the end of your recording, please add “This is <state your name> author of <state your work(s)> and you’re listening to The Word Count Podcast”
Permission to use your recording in the podcast.

Send your file to me@rbwood.com (or via the dropbox link I can provide) by 17 January 2014. You can also e-mail me with questions beforehand. I do reserve the right NOT to post your submission, but will communicate that to you should it be the case.I add the ‘Explicit’ tag to the ‘cast, so if your story uses adult themes or language that’s ok—but it should be necessary for the story.

Peace

Can I Write off 2013 Yet?

I’m writing this on the 23rd of December—what would have been the 38th birthday of a woman my wife and I miss & love so very much. Happy birthday Jeannine—you are always with us; and we with you.

The Entire Crew Who Walked in Memory of Jeannine

For some reason I feel that this marks the full circle of what I’m calling “The Year from Hell.” It began with my father going into hospital with kidney cancer this time last year. The subsequent months would see a long health struggle for dad, the waning of Jeannine, multiple family deaths & diagnoses, bad jobs, and absolutely no desire to write at all.

It has been a helluva year. I have to say, I’m going to be very glad to see the backside of 2013.

See, that negativity right there. That’s part of the problem. And that’s my New Year’s resolution. Stop being negative. Start finding and doing what makes me happy. Because the rest of what happens is just a part of life—and I can either continue to wallow in it, or put my big-boy pants on and stop with the crap.

Let’s be honest, I have a roof over my head, everyone remaining in my family are healthy, I have a good woman as my partner and I’ve never gone hungry—although my bathroom scale is politely suggesting that I could miss a few meals.

My children are thriving.

So, this 12 month malaise that has washed over me has to go. Because I’ve got a lot of goals next year and depression is exhausting.

I need to find a new gig in January. My daughter graduates from Catholic school in 2014. I want to start writing again in earnest. And I need to will continue to get healthy.

After all, 2014 is the year I turn 50. No time like the present to get my act together.

And Jeannine…well. She wouldn’t have taken any of my shit. She would have told me to walk it off and get back in the game.

Great advice.

Happy Christmas and New Year’s—may this holiday season bring you warmth and comfort and may 2014 be the year we all kick some serious ass.

Peace

RB

If you fall off a cliff, you might as well try to fly…

For those of you who have been following, I was running a Kickstarter program to try and fund an anthology project called Winter in the City.

The project, unfortunately, never got past the 40% funding mark.  I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed that this first attempt did not succeed and I still believe the concept for the anthology is sound. I also believe the project isn’t entirely dead but rather, let’s just say, it’s in a medically induced coma.

First off, I want to say thank you.  So many of you blogged, tweeted and shared information of the fundraiser.  Many even donated and I am grateful for your support.  I’d like to especially thank M. J. King and Marty Halpern for their help specifically with the fundraiser.  Also, a big thanks to Kip Ayers for his brilliant artwork and to the few folks who helped get the word out (you know who you are and I owe you all a debt).

Perhaps this is the Universe’s way of telling me to stop messing about and to get on with my own writing projects.

But we’ll see.  I have the paddles ready should I decide to bring this project back to life in a different form in the New Year.

You all have been wonderful and supportive—Thank you.

 

Kindest regards,

 

R. B. Wood

The One Week Countdown begins...

Seven days, Ten thousand dollars.  I'm not hitting the panic button yet.

But I won't lie to you. We have a daunting task ahead.  The Winter in the City team are manning the blogosphere, the twitterverse and any social media and networking medium we can to raise the awareness of our crowd fund raiser currently running on kickstarter.

The dream hasn’t changed—an indie built, professionally executed Urban Fantasy anthology by amazing authors.  Fantasy stories that take place in various cities around the world during the season of winter.

And some marvelous award winning storytellers have signed on to send us a tale for the anthology.  BUT.  

We need to hit our monetary goal and your help is very-much needed!

Find our Kickstarter HERE

The Kickstarter and #WitC website have the author list—but I wanted to post the list of 39 here as well:

Kevin J. Anderson is the author of more than 115 books, 52 of which have appeared on national or international bestseller lists; he has over 23 million copies in print in thirty languages. He has won or been nominated for the Nebula Award, Bram Stoker Award, The Faust Award, the SFX Reader's Choice Award, the Scribe Award, and New York Times Notable Book.

Read more about Kevin HERE

Bradley P. Beaulieu is the author of the epic fantasy series The Lays of Anuskaya. His new epic fantasy, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, will be released by DAW Books and Gollancz in Fall of 2014.

Read more about Brad HERE and check out his most-excellent podcast, Speculate

Richard Bowes has published five novels, two collections of short fiction and fifty short stories and articles. Recent and forthcoming stories appear in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and the Digital Domains, Best Gay Stories, Beastly Bride, Wilde Stories, Haunted Legends, Naked City, Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, Supernatural Noir and Blood and Other Cravings anthologies.

Read more about Rick HERE

Pat Cadigan is an American-born science fiction author, who broke through as a major writer as part of the cyberpunk movement. Her early novels and stories all shared a common theme, exploring the relationship between the human mind and technology.

Her first novel, Mindplayers, introduced what became a common theme to all her works. Her stories blurred the line between reality and perception by making the human mind a real and explorable place. Her second novel, Synners, expanded upon the same theme, and featured a future where direct access to the mind via technology was in fact possible.

She has won a number of awards, including the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award twice,in 1992, and 1995 for her novels Synners and Fools.

Read more about Pat HERE

Ken Liu's fiction has appeared in F&SF, Asimov’s, Analog, Strange Horizons, Lightspeed, and Clarkesworld, among other places. He has won a Nebula, two Hugos, a World Fantasy Award, and a Science Fiction & Fantasy Translation Award, and been nominated for the Sturgeon and the Locus Awards. He lives near Boston with his family.

Read more about Ken

Peter Dubé is the author of the chapbook Vortex Faction Manifesto (Vortex Editions, 2001), Hovering World (DC Books 2002), At the Bottom of the Sky, a collection of linked short stories (DC Books, 2007), Subtle Bodies: a Fantasia on Voice, History and René Crevel (Lethe Press 2010), The City’s Gates (Cormorant Books, 2012), and, most recently, the collection of prose poems Conjure: A Book of Spells (Rebel Satori Press, 2013). He is also the editor of the anthologies Madder Love: Queer Men and The Precincts of Surrealism (Rebel Satori Press, 2008) and Best Gay Stories 2011 and 2012(both on Lethe Press).

Read more about Peter HERE

Jack Dann is a multiple-award winning author who has written or edited over seventy-five books, including the international bestseller The Memory Cathedral, which was #1 on The Age Bestseller list, and The Silent, which Library Journal chose as one of their ‘Hot Picks’ and wrote: “This is narrative storytelling at its best… Most emphatically recommended.” Dann lives in Australia on a farm overlooking the sea and “commutes” back and forth to Los Angeles and New York.

Read more about Jack HERE

Alexander C. Irvine first gained attention with his Locus Award-winning 2002 novel A Scattering of Jades (which also won the Crawford Award in 2003) and the stories that would form the 2003 collection Unintended Consequences. He has also published the Grail Quest novel One King, One Soldier (2004), and the World War II-era historical fantasy The Narrows (2005). He released a collection of thirteen short stories called Pictures from an Expedition in 2006. Buyout, a novel set in 2041, was published by Random House in 2009.

Read more about Alex HERE

Paul Di Filippo is the author of hundreds of short stories, some of which have been collected in these widely-praised collections: The Steampunk Trilogy, Ribofunk, Fractal Paisleys, Lost Pages, Little Doors, Strange Trades, Babylon Sisters, and his multiple-award-nominated novella, A Year in the Linear City. Another earlier collection, Destroy All Brains, was published by Pirate Writings, but is quite rare because of the extremely short print run (if you see one, buy it!).

Read more about Paul HERE

Mike Resnick is the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short fiction, according to Locus. He has won 5 Hugos (from a record 35 nominations), a Nebula, and other major awards in the USA, France, Japan, Spain, Croatia, and Poland. He is the author of 64 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and the editor of 40 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages.

Read more about Mike HERE

Lezli Robyn is an Aussie Lass who loves writing sf, fantasy, horror, humour and even dabbles in steampunk every now and then. She has made over 25 story sales to professional markets around the world, including Asimov’s, Analog and Clarkesworld, and her first short story collection, Bittersuite, will be published by TICONDEROGA PRESS in September 2013. She was a finalist for the 2009 Australian AUREALIS AWARD for Best SF Story, the 2010 Spanish IGNOTUS AWARD for Best Foreign Short Story, and was a 2010 CAMPBELL AWARD NOMINEE for best new writer. In 2011 she won the Catalan Best Foreign Translation ICTINEUS AWARD for Soulmates, a novelette written with Mike Resnick, which was first published in Asimov's. Lezli and Mike will be collaborating again soon on an as yet untitled Stellar Guild book together, to be published in 2014.

Read more about Lezli HERE

Tim Pratt lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Heather Shaw and their son River. His fiction and poetry have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Strange Horizons, Realms of Fantasy, Asimov’s, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Subterranean, and Tor.com, among many other places.

Read more about Tim HERE

Jack Skillingstead is the Sturgeon Award nominated writer of two novels and one collection. Since 2003 he has published more than thirty short stories in various magazines, Year's Best volumes and original anthologies. His work has been translated into Polish, Russian, Spanish, French and Czech. He lives in Seattle with his wife, writer Nancy Kress.

Read more about Jack HERE

Mercedes M. Yardley is a dark fantasist who writes pretty things. She works for Shock Totem and authored book Beautiful Sorrows and her novella Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A Tale of Atomic Love.

Read more about Mercedes HERE

Nick Mamatas is the author of six and a half novels, including The Last Weekend (PS Publishing), Love is the Law (Dark Horse), The Damned Highway with Brian Keene (Dark Horse), Bullettime (CZP), Sensation (PM Press), Under My Roof (Counterpoint/Soft Skull), and Move Under Ground (Night Shade/Prime). Nick is also an anthologist and editor of short fiction: with Masumi Washington he co-edited the Locus Award-nominated The Future Is Japanese (Haikasoru), and with Ellen Datlow he co-edited the Bram Stoker Award-winning Haunted Legends (Tor Books).

Read more about Nick HERE

Gini Koch is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. She is best known for the Alien Series (informally known as the "Katherine 'Kitty' Katt" series) novels, published in the United States by DAW Books. She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She is also the Lead Editor at Raphael’s Village, an online, nonpaying ’zine, and is a featured guest columnist, reviewer, and webcaster for Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day.

Read more about Gini HERE

Harry Turtledove has been dubbed "The Master of Alternate History." Within that genre, he is known both for creating original alternate history scenarios--such as survival of the Byzantine Empire or an alien invasion in the middle of the Second World War--and for giving a fresh and original treatment to themes previously dealt with by many others, such as the victory of the South in the American Civil War and of Nazi Germany in the Second World War. His novels have been credited with bringing alternate history into the mainstream. His style of alternate history has a strong military theme with scenes of combat happening throughout many of his works.

Read more about Harry HERE

Michael Arsenault has been writing screenplays, almost exclusively, for the past six years. Two of them, Twist of the Wrist and It Won't Bring Her Back, placed quite high in Hollywood's prestigious Nicholl Fellowship screenplay competition. Since 1996 he has been writing and illustrating pieces for What the F***? 'zine (Chompers Comics). He is also one of the 'zine's co-editors. From 2007 to 2008 he wrote and drew "Untitled Conversations," a monthly comic strip for MensuHell Magazine (Francis Hervieux Productions). Most recently, Michael had a story published in Frankenstein Réassemblé, an anthology by Rotor/400 Coups.

Michael Arsenault has no website, no blog, no Facebook page. Clearly, the man has something to hide.

Teresa Frohock Raised in a small town, Teresa Frohock learned to escape to other worlds through the fiction collection of her local library. Although Teresa has been reading fantasy and science fiction since she was twelve, her fascination with the grotesque extends back into childhood. Whenever she went to a carnival, she was the first one at the tent that housed the freak-show. She wanted to see the two-headed (chicken, snake, fetus, fill-in-the-blank) and was always disappointed when it wasn't alive--it seemed like such a rip-off.

Read more about Teresa HERE

Mark W. Tiedemann is a science fiction and detective fiction author as well as a photographer. He has written novels set in Isaac Asimov's Robot universe, and within his own original universe, known as the Secantis Sequence. In spring 2005 he was named president of the Missouri Center for the Book,which is the Missouri state adjunct program to the Library of Congress Center for the Book.

Read more about Mark HERE

Adam-Troy Castro's twenty-five books include the Philip K. Dick Award winning EMISSARIES FROM THE DEAD, first of three featuring the brilliant and tormented trouble-shooter, Andrea Cort. His short fiction has been nominated for two Hugos, three Stokers, and eight Nebulas. Adam's next major project is a series of middle-grade novels featuring a very strange young boy named Gustav Gloom.

Read more about Adam-Troy HERE

Jude-Marie Green is a writer of genre (science fiction & fantasy, plus the occasional horror) fiction. She lives in Southern California (well, Los Angeles. Well, honestly, a suburb of Los Angeles nestled in Orange County. All right already, she lives in Santa Ana.) amid palm trees, orange trees, avocado trees, roses, and birds. Lots of birds.

Read more about Judy-Marie HERE

Richard Paul Russo's first story, Firebird Suite, appeared in Amazing Stories in 1981 and his first novel, Inner Eclipse, was published in 1988. His second novel, Subterranean Gallery, won the Philip K. Dick Award for 1989. He won that award again in 2001 for Ship of Fools. Subterranean Gallery was also a finalist for the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

Read more about Richard HERE

Shauna Roberts writes fantasy, science fiction, romance, and historical fiction in lengths from flash fiction to novel length. Along with her novel, Like Mayflies in a Stream, she has published numerous short stories, such as Coyote and the Gamblers, in the anthology Return to Luna (2008), Ennui, Night to Dawn (April 2009) and The Hunt for Jim Baen's Universe (February 2010).

Read more about Shauna HERE

Emmett Spain is a teller of stories, fiction obsessive, professional worker, and professional goof (not necessarily in that order). Author of Old Haunts: A London City Novel, Emmett resides in Australia with his beautiful lady and a passion for the supernatural.

Read more about Emmett HERE

Kiri Callaghan is a writer obsessed with sci-fi, fantasy, books, and gaming. She is also an actor and director with a BFA in Theater from Cornish College of the Arts and an amateur clothing designer and seamstress. But that’s just a rumor, and you really shouldn’t listen to those. In addition to her works of fiction and scripts, Kiri contributes to a few blogs including but not limited to CraveLocal (Seattle), Nerds in Babeland and Geek Vs Life.

Read more about Kiri HERE

Carrie Jones is known for her work in young-adult fiction. She has written both fantasy and non-fantasy novels, including the paranormal series Need. Jones has received multiple awards and appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Read more about Carrie HERE

Matthew Munson is currently working on his third novel (a follow on from Fall From Grace and Leap of Faith), and is one half of The Two Dyspraxics. Along with his novels, Matthew guest-writes for the European Council for Deaf Youth and blogs on deaf and dyspraxia awareness.

Read More about Matthew HERE

Ray Vukcevich lives and writes in Oregon. He spent many years as a research assistant in several university brain labs but is now writing full time. His latest book is a collection of short fiction called Boarding Instructions from Fairwood Press.

Read more about Ray HERE

Jeffrey Thomas is a prolific writer of science fiction and horror, best known for his stories set in the nightmarish future city called Punktown, such as the novel Deadstock (Solaris Books) and the collection Punktown (Ministry of Whimsy Press), from which a story was reprinted in St. Martin's The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror #14. His fiction has also been reprinted in Daw's The Year's Best Horror Stories XXII, The Year's Best Fantastic Fiction and Quick Chills II: The Best Horror Fiction from the Specialty Press. He has been a 2003 finalist for the Bram Stoker Award (Best First Novel) for Monstrocity, and a 2008 finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Deadstock.

Read more about Jeffery HERE

Don Webb is best known for weird, experimental, and offbeat fiction, as well as works inspired by H. P. Lovecraft and according to Locus Magazine, he has published many stories, essays, interviews and other writing materials. His short stories have appeared or been referenced in numerous anthologies, including The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eleventh Annual Collection, Asimov's Science Fiction and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. His story "The Great White Bed" (F&SF May 2007) was nominated for the International Horror Critics Award.

Read more about Don HERE

Richard Chwedyk is a science fiction author. In 2003, he won the 2002 Nebula Award for Best Novella for his story "Brontë's Egg." Chwedyk's first published story was "Getting Along with Larga," which was the first winner of the ISFiC Writer's contest in 1986. In 1988, he won the contest again with his story "A Man Makes a Machine," which went on the be published as Chwedyk's first professional sale in Amazing Stories in November, 1990.

Read more about Richard HERE

Michael J. Martinez spent nearly 20 years as a professional writer and journalist, including stints at The Associated Press and ABCNEWS.com. After telling other people’s stories for the bulk of his career, he is happy that he can now be telling a few of his own creation. He is also a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.

Read more about Michael HERE

Eric Brown is a British science fiction author. His career took off in the late eighties with a succession of short stories in Interzone and other publications. His story The Time-Lapsed Man won the Interzone readers' poll for the most admired story of 1988, and an Eastercon short text award in 1995. He was voted the Best New European SF writer of the Year in the early nineties and has subsequently won the British Science Fiction Award twice.

Read more about Eric HERE

Leslie Glasser (What) is a writer of fantasy and literary fiction and nonfiction. She grew up in Southern California and attended Santa Ana College, and earned a certificate in Vocational Nursing. She also attended California State University Fullerton and received her MFA in Writing from Pacific University in 2006.

She began publishing in 1992 with a story for Asimov's Science Fiction. In 1999 she won the Nebula Award for The Cost of Doing Business, published in Amazing Stories.

Read more about Leslie HERE

Shira Lipkin has managed to convince Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Stone Telling, Clockwork Phoenix 4, Interfictions 2, and other otherwise-sensible magazines and anthologies to publish her work; two of her stories have been recognized as Million Writers Award Notable Stories, and she has won the Rhysling Award for best short poem.

Read more about Shira HERE

Claude Lalumière is an author, book reviewer and has edited numerous anthologies. A resident of Montreal, he writes the Montreal Gazette's Fantastic Fiction column. He also owned and operated two independent book stores in Montreal.

Read more about Claude HERE

Elise Moser holds an Honours BA from McGill and was the president of the Quebec Writers' Federation between 2009 and 2012. Her short stories have been published and broadcast in Canada, the U.S. and across the Commonwealth. Her stories "Malke's Baby" and "Advanced Pilates Tickle Trunk" have won the CBC/QWF Short Story Competition in 2004 and 2006 respectively.

Read more about Elise HERE

Pat Murphy has used the ideas of the absurdist pseudophilosophy pataphysics in some of her writings. Along with Lisa Goldstein and Michaela Roessner, she has formed The Brazen Hussies to promote their work. Together with Karen Joy Fowler, Murphy co-founded the James Tiptree, Jr. Award in 1991.

With her second novel, The Falling Woman (1986), she won the Nebula Award, and another Nebula Award in the same year for her novelette, Rachel in Love. Her short story collection, Points of Departure (1990) won the Philip K. Dick Award, and her 1990 novella, Bones, won the World Fantasy Award in 1991.

Read more about Pat HERE

"Please, sir. I want some more..."

"What??!!  MORE????"

With ten days left to go, the Winter in the City Kickstarter has achieved the 30% funding level.

By the way, for those of you who don’t know, I’m running a Kickstarter.

What IS a kickstarter? Oh dear.  I’m remiss in my blog posts.

Kickstarter is one of a few sites out there on the interwebs where you can post a project and ask for crowd funding.  It’s a money-raising platform for projects ranging in scope from television shows to the next ‘must have’ gadget.

The kickstarter I’ve..well..kicked off..is to raise the cash needed to put together an anthology of urban Fantasy stories.

Back in July of 2013, I did what I always do in July—and that’s attend ReaderCON.  As a self-proclaimed Urban Fantasy author myself, I spent a lot of time attending panels geared toward the genre.  During my travels on the convention floor I befriended fellow author M. J. King.

We started discussing writing, favorite authors and ended up attending similar panels.

By the end of three days at ReaderCON, the idea for Winter in the City had formed.  What we wanted (and still do—thus the Kickstarter) was to build a short story anthology by professional authors spanning the speculative fiction genres with one common element: The City.

What sort of fantastical component said authors chose to play with would be up to them.  But each story would take place in a different city around the world.

Quite frankly we chose “Winter” portion later…I loved the future concept of an eventual four book collection spanning the seasons, and dozens of cities.

I really am the eternal optimist, aren’t I?

Both M. J. and I agreed that we loved the idea, but wanted the anthology to be a top notch collection.  That would require—first off—an amazing editor.

Fortunately, I know several.  One of the best is Marty Halpern, who joined the project as chief editor.

Next, with significant help of Marty’s contact list, we needed authors.  We piqued the interest of quite a few (The full list of which you can see HERE).

But here’s the thing.  If we wanted the professionals, we needed to be able to pay good wages for them.  Remember this statement—I’ll get back to it in a moment.

Heading down the traditional publishing route for me was a non-starter.  For no other reason than I don’t actually have a name in the industry that people would pick up the phone for.

And I hate leaving voice mail.  Especially voice mail that more than likely wouldn’t get returned.

So…eBook and POD was something we thought we could do at a minimum of cost.

But—going back to July and ReaderCON—there was something else we could try to get funding for our project that didn’t involve me, a brass pole and singing “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”

Both M. J. and I attended a panel on “Crowd Funding.”

It was an interesting concept—present a project, and if people like it, they will pledge money toward it.  Specifically we went through an analysis of successful  book anthologies on Kickstarter.

So from July until September, we did research.  We spoke to people and professionals.  We developed a budget that would pay professional rates.

We developed a plan.

I budgeted a bit of my own money to build an online web presence (HERE, by the way), commission artwork and other designs by the amazing Kip Ayers and fund some limited social media advertising & backend stuff (fees/taxes) to get the program off the ground.  I figured, after all, if I were about to open up the Winter in the City for public funding, I should have some skin in the game myself, right?

So now all we need is the crowd portion of our Kickstarter crowd fundraiser.

And that’s why I’m posting this today.

There are dozens of artists, writers and industry professionals waiting to create new stories just for you.

All we need now is you.

Donations, blogs, social media.  Spray paint a wall with the URL. Tattoo the cover art on your bum.

Whatever will help get the word out will be very much appreciated.

Check us out at: WINTER IN THE CITY

 

Ten days, ten grand.  Challenge accepted, Oliver.  Challenge accepted.

 

 

Submissions now open for the next TWO Podcasts!

I'm now accepting submissions for The Word Count Episodes 36 AND 37!

You read that right, dear sinners.

I’m putting out TWO prompts for the next TWO podcasts!

 Whilst our “Word Count Irregulars” mop the bead of sweat from their collective bow, let me explain why two stories this month.

 In November, I’m running a kickstarter request for funding for a proposed anthology:

 

Winter in the City: A Collection of Urban Fantasy Tales

 

(Click on the link/title above to visit the project site.  Donations, fans and words of encouragement are welcome!)

 So.  The Themes for the next two shows will tie into #WitC.

 The Word Count Episode 36 Theme:  “Winter”

 The Word Count Episode 37 Theme: “The City”

 Episode 36 stories (“Winter”) are due to me by NOVEMBER 10th. Episode 37 stories (“The City”) are due to me be NOVEMBER 17th

 

The Guidelines to submit recordings for BOTH shows are follows (Please read carefully):

 

GENRE: Any.

 DEADLINE: I must receive your submission for “Winter” by SUNDAY 10 November 2013 at MIDNIGHT. For “The City,” I must receive your submission by SUNDAY 17 November 2013 at MIDNIGHT.

 THE DETAILS: The work must be an original work based on either the prompt "Winter” or “The City.” Please indicate WHICH cast you are submitting to in the subject of your e-mail

 Do NOT exceed ten minutes for either recording.

 As this is a podcast, I need to receive a file of YOU, a friend or multiple friends reading (singing or otherwise performing) your work. MP3 FORMAT ONLY, and please attach your MP3 file to an e-mail or contact me for a Dropbox link.

 Your submission MUST also contain the following for each recording:

Your pen name
Your latest bio
Links to your website(s) - Include your personal site, Facebook Fanpage etc.
Your Twitter handle (if you have one)
A photo of you I can use for the show notes
At the end of your recording, please add “This is <state your name> author of <state your work(s)> and you’re listening to The Word Count Podcast”
Permission to use your recording in the podcast.

 

Send your file to me@rbwood.com (or via the dropbox link I can provide) by 10 November for “Winter” and 17 November for “The City”. You can also e-mail me with questions beforehand. I do reserve the right NOT to post your submission, but will communicate that to you should it be the case. I add the ‘Explicit’ tag to the ‘cast, so if your story uses adult themes or language that’s ok—but it should be necessary for the story.

 Peace

 

 

Winter in the City

I’m excited to announce the project I’ve been hinting at for a while now!

Winter in the City: A Collection of Urban Fantasy Tales will be a series of short stories that take place in various cities around the world.

The brainchild of author M. J. King (she plays “Winter” in the intro video you can check out via the link below) and myself, we have solicited and received interest from over forty authors and counting!

Announcements are being made throughout the month of November to tell the world exactly who’s interested in participating.

But in order to make this anthology a reality and turn interest into stories, we are looking at crowd funding to bring us across the finish line.

The Kickstarter project started last night and can be found:

 

#WitC Kickstarter

 

There are 28 days left to fund what I think will be a fabulous offering.

 

You can follow the team on Twitter: @CityWinter

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winterinthecityuf

Or at the website: http://www.winterinthecityuf.com

 

Peace! 

All Hallows Eve 2013

Halloween snuck up on me this year.

Normally in anticipation of this most ghoulish of holidays, I watch a horror movie a night (last year I actually posted a ‘review a day’ based on this tradition) have a “Spook-tacular” Word Count Podcast and enjoy getting dressed up for the season.

This year there are so many things going on, that the fun part of the season just escaped me.

My wife and I have had a tough year. We’ve lost people--family and friends. Health has been an issue as well. There has been a general over-all malaise this year that I just cannot explain. I mean life—the good and the bad—happens to everyone. Why does this year feel so different?

Perhaps I’m focusing on the wrong things.

There are exciting things happening, after all. Been working on a Kickstarter program that will be released shortly to fund an anthology I’m putting together with fellow writer M. J. King (you can like the page on Facebook, follow progress on Twitter or bookmark the website to stalk us).

This weekend, I’m participating in my first 5K ever—at the ripe old age of 48. Although this charity event is in memory of a dear friend whose loss is still felt very deeply, there are nearly 100 of us on the team and we more than doubled our fundraising goal.

My children are good, my father survived losing a kidney and the aftermath of infection and rehab, my wife and I are still very-much in love.

Now all I need to do is stay focused on the positive until the funk has passed.

Perhaps, with this being Halloween, it’s time to take of this mask of depression and move forward.

Have a safe one!

 

Peace

The Word Count Episode 35

Welcome to Episode 35 of “The Word Count” podcast!

Occasionally on the show, we divert from our theme based original story format to feature a writer and his/her current work—inclusive of a snippet read by the author themselves.

And thus, I am proud to say, I give you this week’s very special guest, Mercedes M. Yardley

In her own words:

“Hi. I’m Mercedes. I have two broken laptops, three kids, a husband and no time to write, although I try my very best. I like to write stories. I like to write poems. I like to write essays and sometimes they’re funny, sometimes they aren’t. I’ve written a few novels, and I’m shopping the last one around.  It’s challenging, and I like it that way. I’m a member of the SFWA, the HWA, and I’m the nonfiction editor for Shock Totem: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted.  Check us out at www.shocktotem.com.

I know how to throw a tomahawk and I wear red corduroys because they make me happy. That’s also why I write: I like being happy.”

Mercedes is a fabulous writer and person, and as you will here on the show, we gone along instantly.  We talk about her first novella, Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu: A tale of Atomic Love and she does a reading from it as well.  You can find her on the 'net:

Website: A Broken Laptop

Twitter: @mercedesmy

Sit back and enjoy this one.  Either listen via the website or download a copy later.  All links are below.

 

Peace

 

 

 

Direct: http://thewordcount.libsyn.com/webpage

 iTunes (and remember, iTunes takes their sweet time in posting.  If you don't see it yet, keep trying!): http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-word-count/id392550989

 

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