Sumiko Saulson's Blog, page 67

Short Story Reading (I, Stammer)

I, Stammer (Meathead)

I have a 10 minute reading of the piece “I, Stammer (In Disbelief)” on Youtube now. It’s done entirely in character, and the piece is dark comedy/horror. At first I uploaded the reading with the video, but then I decided that it would be better with just the video. Well, either way, I can’t actually post it as an embed here because the site is Rated PG, so I’m going to post the link with a warning for language and violence:

http://youtu.be/htkVermII-A – that’s audio only

I also wanted to go ahead and remind you that you can get a free copy of I, Stammer (In Disbelief) in PDF form complete with this groovy “meathead” cover art just by asking. But you can’t get the t-shirt for free. You have to buy that.

efiction Magazine Announces New Genre Specific Magazines! | PRLog

efiction Magazine Announces New Genre Specific Magazines! | PRLog

Free Short Story! Yours for the asking

Would you like a free short story from the up-and-coming short story compilation “Things That Go Bump In My Head?”  July 25 – July 31st ONLY receive your free copy of “I, Stammer (In Disbelief)” just by asking! I can’t post it here on the blog because it contains profanity (and the blog is certified as PG rated), but if you leave a comment below suggesting your interest, or message me on my Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/authorsumikosaulson

I will be happy to email you your FREE copy of this work of dark humor/horror fiction. Or maybe I should say dark humor-SLASH-horror fiction. You will receive this six-page story not in an eBook but in a cross-platform readable PDF format.

I, Stammer (In Disbelief)

Description: Harold Stammer is a bus driver in the City of Berkeley.  A highly abrasive variant of the every man, is in the habit of expressing incredulity at and rejecting all kinds of advice… especially the good kind.  Will his stubborn refusal to take heed of anyone and any warning lead to no good? Find out in “I, Stammer – In Disbelief.”

That Crazy Chihuahua

It’s been a while since I followed up on my promise to post adoptable Chi-dogs. I’ve been swamped with the various things that comprise daily life, such as school and work. But I finally remembered (and I apologize on behalf of Josette’s dog Crazy from “Solitude” for my failure to showcase these amazing creatures – who are apparently able to help certain psychotic psychic lesbians connect with the Earth Spirit in the “Solitude universe) for this failure upon my part. So without further ado:  Rosita, a chi-mix so adorable I am seriously tempted to piss off my two cats and my landlord by adopting her myself. You know what? When I was writing the little dog “Crazy” into “Solitude”, I was definitely envisioning a dog that looks like this. She could be in my dream cast for “Solitude”.  Or if you’re in Oakland, well, she could be in your dream cast as a family pet. She’s a cutie-pie, isn’t she? I bet one of you wants to adopt her.

Rosita

A Little Bit About Me

She has such a beautiful red/brown coat! Rosita is a Chihuahua mix, a Busy Bee who will follow her nose around a world that she finds new and fascinating every day. She is a nice lap size, just nine pounds, and young–only two years old. Rosita is a playful, curious, and trusting canine. Take her for a big festive walk every day; she will always make it interesting. After her jobs are done, she’ll curl up contentedly. Come and meet pretty Rosita at the East Bay SPCA. Pet number 25000.

 

Where can you find me?

I am at the East Bay SPCA – Oakland location.

You can contact me by

Email info@eastbayspca.org

Phone (510) 569-0702

Address 8323 Baldwin Street, Oakland

 

 

Spaced… the final frontier

I have finals, and if you think I’m going to say something clever… well no, I’m not. I’m brain-fried. I finished 3 five page chapter reviews and a 15 page PowerPoint presentation, a museum visit, a formal analysis, an interview and a paper on an interview this weekend, while doing 80% of the work on a client job (a CD cover) and going to one party this weekend. So you know… yea, I’m a lot older than 18, and I’m tired after doing all that… stuff. But, there is a sale at Lulu, so I’m going to tell you about that. Here is the coupon:

 

And my Lulu Author Page is here:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sumikoska

Now… I have a 3 to 5 page English assignment that involves re-writing an early assignment. I believe that is what is known in the writing profession as “rewrites” and “editing”. I’m too tired to do it, but.. you know, tomorrow. Which is today since it’s 33 minutes after midnight, but you catch my drift.

Today Only - Two Books Free for Kindle

Today is the LAST DAY you can check out my books "Warmth" and "The Moon Cried Blood" for free from the Kindle Library if you are an Amazon Prime member... if you ARE an Amazon Prime Member, you may wish to check them out today, while you can still do it for free.

In related news. starting tomorrow these books will be available for the iPad and Nook (I can't offer them for the iPad or Nook until I'm out of the KDP Select Program). When that occurs, of course, they will cost good money. But for now you can check them out for ABSOLUTELY FREE! Today only, because tomorrow they will end their period of exclusive involvement with KDP Select.

Let me give you the links, so you can easily check them out, if you want to.

Warmth - For Kindle


Book DescriptionPublication Date: March 27, 2012"I hate the dead. They have no self-control" - Sera. She is ghula - one of the extremely long-lived though not immortal flesh eaters whose lives can end in only one way - in resurrection as a hungry, ambulatory corpse who will spend the short days of its unlife rotting, eating, and infecting as many as possible. Sera compares her life to a dark comedy - trapped with an unwanted pregnancy for the past 600 years, constantly afraid that the fetus will die and go zombie in-utero, always cold and constantly running a fever like every other ghoul on the planet. Luckily, two things in life sustain her: her joy in hunting and destroying the Dead, and the constant seeking of comfort in warmth.

Warmth actually has one user review: it's for the paperback version, and it's over on Lulu, but I am going to go and paste it here for your convenience.

    By Desdemona Ekaterina Gare-FrantisekMar 15, 2012Another book I had trouble putting down, I stayed up until dawn totally blown away by all the interesting twists in the story. The characters are compelling, well thought out and unique. Not everything is what it seems and no matter how much you try to hide it, reality has a way of catching up with you in sometimes thoroughly gruesome ways. It was one hell of a ride, sad to see it end. If you have a sick sense of humor, add this to your must read list!

The Moon Cried Blood - For Kindle

Book DescriptionPublication Date: March 27, 2012It is said that the Wolf may howl at the Moon, but the Moon never howls at the Wolf. In the gritty urban streets of Los Angeles in 1975, Leticia Gordon is forced to come to terms with many things: the tragic death of her stepmother and baby sister in a car accident, fear she’ll wind up in foster care, and the sudden revelation she belongs to a long line of powerful witches known as Luna – who exhibit first power at the start of womanhood. Running from foes natural and supernatural, will her newfound powers be the turning point that elevates her position of honor, or will it destroy her like the dark forces that consumed her father? In a world turned upside down where time itself seems in flux, in whom can she trust?

I don't have any reviews for The Moon Cried Blood yet, so perhaps you can be the first to review it?




My first book, "Solitude", is NOT available for KDP Select, but I am going to include it here just in case you want to buy it:  It is available in Hardcover, Paperback, and eBook formats. And it has several great user reviews.

Solitude - for Kindle
Solitude - Large Format Paperback
Solitude - Trade Paperback
Solitude - PDF
Solitude - Hardcover

COMING SOON! Solitude for the iPad and the Nook

Book DescriptionPublication Date: March 26, 2012 To what extent does the presence of others affect our thoughts and actions? What do we believe when we are truly alone? Solitude is the riveting tale of diverse individuals isolated in a San Francisco seemingly void of all other human life. In the absence of others, each journeys into personal web of beliefs and perceptions as they try to determine what happened to them, and the world around them. Each of them view events differently. One suspects aliens have invaded, another believes it's a sign of Revelation and end times, some don't know what to think, and others find their minds unraveling as they struggle to cope with unimaginable events. Soon, threats both natural and supernatural leave them too busy fighting to survive in a world of strange and unpredictable events where all of the luxuries of civilization are being slowly eroded to even stop to wonder. And unless they can find each other, they will have to face it all alone, in the dark.
Book Reviews 



By Desdemona Ekaterina Gare-FrantisekDec 6, 2011Don't read this book before going to bed, you'll never get to sleep! The suspense and attention to character development is impeccable. You get to know and build a personal relationship with them, the story weaves and arch that binds them all together in one unexpected conclusion. READ THIS! You will love this novel.
    By Michael Lee TottenJan 15, 2012I love the mystery of the beginning of this novel and how it builds up in sinister intensity in its sheer horror!
5.0 out of 5 stars very good, epic novel, evocative of Stephen King's the Stand,April 4, 2012By neutrino78x ('Silicon Valley', California, USA) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: Solitude (Kindle Edition)This is a fascinating and epic novel, evocative of Stephen King, especially his more grandiose works such as The Stand and The Dark Tower. It involves a group of people who wake up to find that everyone in San Francisco seems to have disappeared except for themselves, and soon discover that there are great forces at work. The drama unfolds as they discover the nature of their predicament and attempt to resolve it.

Time Management in the absence of Time Travel

This is a screenshot of me writing this very blog.I currently have four tabs open in my browser.... and before this sentence is finished, I will have opened and closed Photoshop in order to save a screenshot of my four open browser tabs, because I am busily attempting to multitask. In between these episodes of either frenetic or non-frenetic lazy, slacker-like multitasking I have to go outside, and attend to the daily functionality of my life. This includes things like working, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and getting exercise. Sadly... or perhaps, fortunately, my brain is not yet able to connect to a cybernetic computer matrix directly, and casually browse the web or focus and work on projects while jogging. Even if the technology did exist, I would probably be unable to afford it. I'm still a starving artist. I bust my ass to keep my bills covered, and I can't make a living off of book sales. When I do sell a book, I'm often selling it out of my trunk haggling with someone who wants to see if they can get away with paying $12 instead of $17.95. No... the book costs that much. What? Yes, I will accept a payment plan.

Me posing with my certificatesIn the meantime I have had a Day Job, or Two Day Jobs, and/or School occurring throughout  the time I've been a writer. But not always. I've got a part-time long term job that's 16 hours a week/flex time as a care worker for a relative with a mobility impairing health issue, and I take part-time jobs as a computer repair technician - yes, IT, but not as any kind of programmer, I'm the person who replaces your broken fan, upgrades your memory, installs the latest operating system, and runs Norton on your junk. I do this as a temporary worker, which means I'm on temporary contract jobs through an agency, which means sometimes I'm on assignment, and sometimes I'm not. Sometimes I'm at home, and sometimes I'm furthering my education. I wrote the book "Solitude" during a three month period where I was at a technical school working on my A+ and Network+ certification (because my old Novell certifications are dated, expired, largely useless) and renewing my Apple Macintosh Certified Technician (AMCT) certificate. I worked with Stephen Douglas on editing it during a 9 month period where I had two different part time contract jobs as consecutive second day jobs (aside from IHSS/carer). When I have two day jobs, or am in school, I plan my time around these activities. It's the times when I have a lot of free time that are problematic.

Thanks to Kira Fisher and Google + for this toilet clock.A lot of unstructured, free time creates difficulties for me. I have a tendency to overbook myself. At the moment, I have a bunch of reading assignments connected to interviews or reviews I wanted to do for my blog. I've got a copy of Richard Cotton's short story "The Reaper" in the other window, because I want to give it a much closer read-through because he just asked me for my opinion in a bit more detail over on Facebook. I will do it...later. Right now, I need downtime. I need time to digest my own thoughts. I guess it's no different than other people - with a day job, who have times when they want to watch reruns of "Heroes" on Netflix and play Diablo (these are my recent leisure activities). The only difference is, when you have a set schedule, such as school, or work, it's a lot easier to understand that you need time at ease to regenerate your mind. It's a lot easier to compartmentalize work from leisure than it is when you are working at a flex time job and at a small business. Because I don't have a day job, I find it harder to say "no" - easier to feel like my me-time is just me flushing time down the toilet.

Me in front of Lokal Boy in Oakland, CADifferent people deal with this unstructured time differently. In my case, I make lists of things that I know that I need to do, and I keep calendars, so that I can get everything done that I feel needs doing (or that actually does need doing - like going to the doctor, paying bills, collecting money to pay bills with) on a calendar and/or a list. Because otherwise, I'd forget what I needed to do. I really would. I'm curious as to how the rest of you deal with this kind of thing: I mean, can you leave some comments? I could use any advice I could take on my weak subject of time management. In case you were wondering about the Time Travel, well, I'd never seen "Heroes" before and I'm watching every episode in a row, and thinking how if I had any of these powers, I think Hiro Nakamura's time traveling power would be pretty awesome. All those do-overs. But no, I don't have that. I have to manage the time in a linear fashion, alas. You know that saying "Necessity is the Mother of Invention?" - I think that it's also the mother of entrepreneurial effort. Now that my day-job income is cut back, I notice me and my fiance Greg are both a lot more focused on book sales. A couple of days ago, Greg got the books into a new local outlet, ironically called Lokal Boy.

Go, Team Solitude!

Voting Time! Zombie Contest

Guess what today is? June 1st, the final day of the...

Zombie-Ghoul Contest Thingie
Click on the link above for the Contest Rules. Anyway, today being the final day, I am asking that all of you go over and VOTE for your favorite entry HERE:
https://www.facebook.com/authorsumikosaulson
... at my author Facebook page. You vote on the entries by "liking" them on the page.  Each of the entrants would appreciate you taking out the time to vote for their work (and some of you probably know some of these people, so you can vote for your friends).  Winners will receive a signed copy of my novel "Warmth". Here I am talking about the novel:
<object width="400" height="300" ><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150985639..." /><embed src="http://www.facebook.com/v/10150985639..." type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>
We had a fun Zombie Video Shoot out on Shattuck and Tommy and Seames would like to enter to win an autographed copy of Warmth, too, so we will be including those entries in the contest.And now, our lovely contestants:
ZOMBIE CATEGORY: Radioactive Zombie by Katernya Fury Zombie - Julie Hoverson Zombie - Jimmy Zombie - Seames CastelblancoGHOUL CATEGORY Ghula, Scarlet Winter by Kateryna Fury Ghula - Des Hobbit

Critics... Already?

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” - Cyril ConnollyI have a lot of respect for people brave enough to post snippets of whatever it is they have to be writing at the time. I have no such intestinal fortitude: I really don't feel like opening myself up to critics before I've reached a certain point in my writing: for a novel, this is generally about a third of the way through, which is the point at which it has gained some momentum. For short stories, I won't share them until they are complete first drafts. There is a reason for this: and that is that publishing of any sort invites critics. This Critic was bought to you by Al Jean and Mike ReissPosting a blog invites critics: there is always the possibility of persons who will post criticism in the comments field. Writing on your damned Facebook page invites critics. Given that writing things for which you have no intention of gaining anything concrete (okay, maybe the thumbs up likes on your Facebook page...) attracts critics, it should come to no surprise to you that as soon as you begin to label anything you write as some category of literature, you'll invite criticism of aforementioned work. You're writing really, really serious thing now. What did you expect? Well... let me tell you something, as much as most of us hate criticism, there are certain types of criticism you should welcome and invite. There are other kinds you should ignore. Which are which?Ignore Generalized/Personal Criticism by Non-Readers "Please accept my resignation. I don’t care to belong to any club that will have me as a member." - Groucho MarxIn separating the chaff from the weed, the first step is one most of us wouldn't even imagine would be necessary: and that is to eliminate the people whose criticism is on the level of Junior High School students out to identify who the Cool Kids are. Another variant on this are people who have decided that you knowing them, in and of itself somehow lessens your capacity. For instance, shortly after I stated that I'd written a novel, an acquaintance posted a sarcastic comment about people who claimed to have a novel in them most likely being constipated. There was nothing wrong with what she said: some people thought it was funny, and she got a few likes on her page. However, you as a writer should ignore criticism that has to do with who you are as a person, and not in any way with what you actually have written. You should categorically ignore criticism by people who haven't read any of your works. The word for this sort of criticism is "irrelevant". Relevant criticism has to do with the content of your work, the effectiveness of publicity for your work, and in general: it revolves around the work itself. It is not personal. What makes personal criticism irrelevant is its basis in a logical fallacy known as a "genetic fallacy". That is where an idea is judged by its source rather than its merit. Such criticism is not relevant.Pay Attention to Specific Criticism, Especially by Readers Always pay attention to what your readers have to say.Always pay attention to specific criticism: even when it's by non-readers. For instance, the initial observation about the cover of "The Moon Cried Blood" - which was that it appeared to be the cover for a Young Adult novel - came from non-readers, specifically bookstore owners. That criticism was right-on:  as soon as I changed the cover art to something more grown-up I began to sell copies to readers of my previous work, "Solitude".  If I was trying to open a new niche as a writer of Y.A. fiction, I may have shrugged and said, "well, that's the audience it is for." But I wasn't trying to, and the inappropriate cover art only made it difficult to sell it to the audience I already have.  Criticism by actual readers of any description should be taken even more seriously. I don't care if the only thing they read was the dust cover for your book. The fact that they have read anything is showing that they've put some time and interest in you. You should pay close attention to anything that a person who shows interest has to say until you become well known enough to have a staff of assistants - then, have them pay close attention.  If your readers have an issue with spelling, typesetting, continuity, grammar... anything that can be qualified specifically so that change is possible - consider what they have to say, and consider if you need to change what you've done accordingly. I don't just mean people who paid for your work, I mean anyone who happens to have taken the time out to read it. Readers are a valuable resource. If you have any readers you are a lucky B, regardless of whether or not those readers are fans. Treasure them.

WordPress Blog

is right HERE... try it.

http://sumikosaulson.wordpress.com/

At least its not writer's block

In case you're wondering why I haven't been blogging lately - it is because I've started writing again.  I am working on two sequels to "The Moon Cried Blood" and on a book of short stories.  On average - it takes me about three months to write a book, and another two to five months to edit it/work with an edit. I won't be releasing anything new until next year. In addition to the amount of time it takes to write and edit, it makes little sense to release more than one work every year or so, because it becomes impossible to promote them if they are released that rapidly (I should say: hindsight 20/20 since I released three books in a 9 month period).
"The Moon Cried Blood" looks like it's turning into a trilogy, which makes a lot of sense, given it's race memory/time (not exactly travel) themes. If you've read it, well, you know what I mean.Speaking of promotion, I'm happy to report that I have my first newspaper advertisement for my first (and most thoroughly edited) work, "Solitude". First Newspaper Ad for Solitude