Elizabeth Guizzetti's Blog, page 23

Other Systems FLASH Sale and Giveaway!

If you have been thinking about checking out Other Systems, this is the weekend to do it. FRIDAY through SUNDAY, the e-book is only .99 cents. Talk about value for your money! 460 pages for less than a dollar!

Also anyone who likes either the Other Systems FB Page or my author Page will be eligible to enter to win an OTHER SYSTEMS PRIZE PACK!

Rover, Abby, and Rockford!

8 x 10 Cover Art Print of the new cover!

8 x 10 ORIGINAL inked drawing of Abby and Rover by me!

Button pack which has 2 1-inchbuttons: Revelation Chi and Planet Kipos!

Enter here: Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck! The random drawing will take place on Monday. No cash equivalent.

Cover Reveal: Other Systems!

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who supported Other Systems. Thank you to any readers and the reviewers who have mentioned the book in the past year. As for the cover specifically, everyone who commented on Facebook and Twitter really helped with the direction/colors of the new cover. Just this idea alone had sixteen versions all with minor changes, so people’s immediate reaction about a cover idea is very useful.

A special thanks to Juanita Samborski at 48Fourteen, Cassy Vaughn and my mother, Sheila Guizzetti who looked over each draft.

Drumroll please….

Here is the new cover for Other Systems. This will be both for the e-book and the print book. Check it out!

Would you go to a planet that has never known war, hunger, or even a single murder?

Without an influx of human DNA, the utopian colony on Kipos has eleven generations before it reaches failure. Earth is over ninety light-years away. Time is short.

On the over-crowded Earth, many see opportunity in Kipos’s need. After medical, intelligence, and physiological testing, Abby and her younger siblings, Jin and Orchid, are offered transportation. Along with 750,000 other strong young immigrants, they leave the safety of their family with the expectation of good jobs and the opportunity for higher education.

While these second-generation colonists travel to the new planet in stasis, the Kiposi, terrified that Earthlings will taint their paradise, pass a series of indenture and adoption laws in order to assimilate the savages.

When Abby wakes up on Kipos, Jin cannot be found. Orchid is ripped from her arms as Abby is sold to a dull-eyed man with a sterilized wife. Indentured to breed, she is drugged and systematically coerced. To survive, Abby learns the differences in culture and language using the only thing that is truly hers on this new world: her analytical mind. Haunted by the agony of her loss, but determined to make a better life for herself, she joins a planetary survey team where she will discover yet another way of life.

There is going to be a SALE from Friday to Sunday. Over the weekend, Other Systems will only be .99 cents for the E-book! If you are considering reading it, nows the time!

Sales Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Other-Systems-ebook/dp/B007QQDU94

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/other-systems-elizabeth-guizzetti/1104526463?ean=2940014188180&isbn=2940014188180&itm=1&usri=other+systems

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Other-Systems/book-lAMz6j8ucEKWQZGgUMpZeQ/page1.html?s=b-OqFgbxpk-4FTmjKzwYAw&r=5

FB Page:
http://www.facebook.com/OtherSystems

Website with deleted scenes and other extras!
http://other-systems.com

It’s going to be an Other Systems-tastic time.

Sorry it’s been awhile since I did a blog post, but its been an Other Systems-tastic couple weeks and it looks like next week will be more of the same as we get closer to print. This is just an update, expect that next week some of this info will be repeated.

First of all some great news: I am the featured author in this month’s GETLF8D.

The first part of Chapter 7 is in there and next month the second part will be featured. You can read it for free so check it out!

http://getlf8d.liftport.com/

Also Other Systems was recommened by the three nerds! All three gave it 5 star reviews! http://threenerds.wordpress.com/2013/03/24/book-recommendation/ 

NEW COVER: The new cover is finished on my side of things. 48Fourteen is putting together print the PDF and sending it to the printer. As soon as everything is okayed I will be doing a big cover reveal next week. The website is being redone with the new cover and the trailers will be redone next week after the reveal.

FLASH SALE & PROMOTION: Also next weekend there will be a flash sale for Other Systems’s e-book. It will be .99 cents Friday through Sunday. So if you have been thinking about checking it out, you might want to check it out then.

During the Flash Sale, I will be running a BIG giveaway on my blog and FB pages. This is image of Abby and Rockford is part of that. More information to come.

Finally BLOG TOUR: there will be a blog tour (which as soon as I get the okay about the cover I will be making the banners). If you are a blogger and  interested in hosting a stop (review, guest blog, interview, promotional stop)  please contact: contactus@ebookvirtualtours.com

What I like best about being an author…

Lady Mira with pistolI have always been an avid reader of any genre of speculative fiction, but I became a lover of  non-fiction after I became became an author. Both short essays and longer books.

I have always been an avid reader of any genre of speculative fiction, but I became a lover of  non-fiction after I became became an author. Both short essays and longer books.

An author has to often be a dilettante. They must learn about something enough to write about it convincingly. I get a lot of joy from encountering the BIG Idea for a manuscript then figuring out what I need to research. As I previously wrote about in this blog post back in ’12: I do not believe in general research, I believe in specific targeted research.

I love the fact that this research builds upon itself with each story. In Other Systems, I learned about astronomy, nautical terms and what flight lessons are like and difficulties that astronauts go through in low gravity. Later, I used some of this knowledge for Unintentional Colonists and even a bit when I described the Expanse in The Martlet. And I am currently working on a short ghost story about orbital clutter that is also using some of the same research.

This is even true with the graphic novels. In Lure, I learned about a stampeder’s journey and hardships during the Yukon Goldrush and in Faminelands, I learned about archery and swordsmanship. All of that knowledge was used  again in the The Martlet‘s manuscript.

Even so my research got really focused when I was working on The Martlet. So much so that my husband said it was creepy to come in our apartment and find Cause of Death : A Writer’s Guide to Death, Murder and Forensic Medicine on the the bathroom counter and On Killing and Poisons (Howdunit Series) on the kitchen table. Now there is a shelf full of books about killing, poisons, and early medical research.

 So that’s my favorite part of being an author: freaking my husband out with strange facts that I have learned.

What is your favorite genre to read?

Here is an unrelated but adorable picture of Tycho.

People who follow my blog probably have guessed how much I enjoy Epic Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror books. I also sometimes get in the mood for a good mystery.

Today, I am asking you what you favorite genre is/are. Let me know either on the Poll or via the comments!

 

Take Our Poll

Michael Cargill’s Jake has come out. Check it out!

While I originally just reblogged his post, I got a few weird comments…so anyway here is the info: I was excited to find out that his newest novel is Jake is now available and free for his reviewers and followers. I loved Cargill’s thriller Underneath. I reviewed it here last year.

Kindlers can download it directly from Amazon US and Amazon UK, whilst owners of Nooks and the like can download the epub/PDF/Sony version from Smashwords

If you’re willing to write a short review of the book on somewhere like Amazon, Facebook, Goodreads, or your blog then you can grab yourself a free copy from Smashwords using this code - JU97J

Of course if you are lazy like me you will just buy it and review it! Damn you 1 click for being so easy plus I am glad to support another independent author.

Here is the synopsis:

Jealousy, lust, and teenage insecurities are the lifeblood of any large school.

Loneliness can strike without warning, spreading through the cramped corridors like an epidemic.

Out on the playground, rivalries are formed from the pettiest of incidents.

Some people look at Jake in awe, others look at him with hatred.

Jake is just an ordinary boy who wants to be liked.

Jake wants to know why the girls never seem to notice him.

Jake is… well, he’s Jake.

My definition of treasure is probably different from yours…

I have found treasure lost in my files! This was another Facebook Post that I realized should be on my blog after I started writing it. Mainly because it was extremely long.

Warning: This post has a ton of profanity because it is a missing scene from Other Systems. Pheobe and Harden argue then Mark and Harden argue. For readers of the book, you already understand. If you haven’t read Other Systems, Harden has a potty mouth. Mark sometimes does. He especially does when he wants his elder brother to listen.

It all started because though I have denied it, my humors are misaligned and I have too much phlegm in my chest. By will alone, I made it through ECCC. Even afterwards I kept calling it a cold, but there can be no doubt now, I have the flu. Don’t worry, I am over the hump, I will make it.

The symptoms, of course, suck, but really my biggest problem is just how bored I am when I am not sleeping. I can’t focus on my writing, I am too weak to do any real housework, and other than a quick walk for the dogs, I won’t head out into the world to infect others. I can’t even read anything longer than a few paragraphs.

So I started looking though my author notes hoping to find something interesting….and I did. I found Harden and Phoebe’s divorce which coincides with Mark’s ultimatum. Seriously, it was just a few sentences between Abby and Harden in Other Systems:

The thin atmosphere and seventy percent gravity made it difficult to keep up with Harden’s long strides until he stopped at a machine and slipped in a bill. He hit a button and a pack of three cigarettes fell behind a door. He pulled out a lighter and made an electric spark. 

He took a long drag and looked at her. “Don’t tell Mark I’ve been smoking.”

“I didn’t know you smoked.”

Harden slowed as he enjoyed his cigarette. “I quit after the Revelation was put into service.It’s easy not to smoke aboard, but on Argent… anyway I made this deal with Mark. I quit and he’ll be my–or Dad’s–doctor.”

“He wasn’t always gonna be?”

“He talked about going planetside after his GE, then again when he finished pre-med. Helen and Phoebe talked him into staying.” Harden’s eyes swam as he enjoyed the tobacco high. “After these, I’ll give it up until the next time we’re planetside. Did you want to try? It’s extremely addictive, but ultimately has its pleasures.” 

And I found the whole scene in Harden’s file about this. Crazy. I am going to post it on my deleted scenes on the website, though technically it was never in the book. I like it.  It’s like finding treasure. My favorite part is Harden thinks that his fleet shares (which are extremely valuable) would make people want to be with him. Notice he tries to give them away twice. I admit the scene is not completely edited to perfection.  It was in my author notes after all. Enjoy!

Harden knocked on Phoebe’s billet. He didn’t want to, but Helen kept pestering him until he got the nerve to actually do it. He might be captain, but he wasn’t dumb enough to think he was actually in charge. As long as he did the paperwork, Helen kept everything else running smoothly. He even had done Phoebe’s transfer paperwork to the Polaris though it hurt him to do so. Yet this morning his sister had a direct command. He tried to pleading, explaining and finally ordering her out of his way, she just laughed off his irritation. Helen reminded him that minimally they had to discuss the separation of their assets. He had been putting it off, but the possibility of warping space time was much more interesting. 

His wife said “come in” and he did.

Looking over her head, he could see her billet was unpainted and unadorned. Or maybe she wanted the walls gray. He realized he didn’t even know her favorite color. Maybe it is gray. Brian knows Helen’s favorite color is green. How does a husband not know his wife’s favorite color? he thought and realized he never asked her.

“Do you need something?” she asked looking down at her tablet. It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t even a loving statement of a wife to a husband, it was professional statement from a doctor to her patient. Perhaps that was for the best, after all he was here as the Revelation’s captain.

“I know I wasn’t a very good husband.” He tried to touch her shoulder; she slipped herself out of his reach. “But you knew how I was, when you married me.”

She did not answer him.

“But I will try to be a good captain, so what can I do to make this transition easier? I did the paperwork you requested.”

Phoebe said, “Put me is stasis until I can leave. Mark can wake me up if there is a problem, but I doubt it will come to that. He’s a good doctor.”

A lump caught in Harden’s throat. “I-I would have you available for emergencies and Helen told me Becky and Pat still go to you for advice.”

“Then why are you here, Harden?”

He looked down at her face. She was so beautiful. He wondered how his marriage had failed… he hadn’t changed. Had she? He couldn’t remember the last time they had made love, though he did remember that she asked and he declined. He remembered declining a lot. Then he remembered her asking, “don’t you still find me attractive.” He said yes, hadn’t he? Hadn’t he told her how beautiful she was, but the numbers fascinated him.

Phoebe said, “If you need forgiveness, you have it. I don’t blame you for my mistakes. Other than getting on with my life, I don’t need anything from you. The job on the Polaris sounds like it will help a lot of people in the Flotilla and I’ll still have a lab for medical research. Mark can step into my place—and it will be good for him to do so.”

 “You can have my fleet shares! You can have everything. Take it all.”

The sound that erupted from her throat was not a true laugh, more an insane cackle. “You think I want money? I did not marry you for money, and I certainly won’t divorce you for it. Just my share from our joint account, my personal things have already been removed from your quarters. Is there something you want from what I took?”

A baby. Phoebe wants a baby. “We can adopt a baby…today if you want.”

Phoebe seemed to soften for just a moment and then her eyes grew cold and hard. “That’s easy to say since we are in deep space,” she paused and chose her words carefully, “but I will no longer have you parent my child. You’re worse than a fuck on an Outpost, because you are here!  I certainly won’t allow my child to grow up with a father than does not love her!”

“I’ll give you anything.”

“You can’t give me what I want.”

He gently touched her shoulders and pulled her into his chest, but she didn’t return the embrace. He whispered, “Just tell me.”

She took a step back. “I want a husband who loves me more than his ship and puzzles” Her voice was deadly calm, but there was no malice. He remembered when his mother’s voice became like that with his father.

“I can change! If you stay, I will love you.”

“I have heard that static before.” Her voice was still calm, but hard. “How long from when I moved out of our old quarters did it take for you to notice I no longer lived there? Be honest now.”

Honestly Harden couldn’t say, because he wasn’t sure how much time had passed at all.

A few more words were spoken, but now Harden had to face it really was over. In a daze, he went down to the shuttle bay and sat in Chi. Harden did not blame Phoebe for leaving. Everything she said was true. He had been a terrible husband. He was interrupted from these thoughts when Mark entered the shuttle. He did not want his brother’s company. “What the fuck do you want?”

“I am formally giving you, mine and Pat’s resignation.”

“You can’t leave.”  Mark was his brother, not hers. “Why would you leave? Why does Pat want to go?”

“I’m the one who wants to go. Pat and I decided we want to stay together.”

“So you two are going to make the same fucking mistake I did? You’re too young to be married.”

“We aren’t kids anymore,” Mark said.

“Then why do you still fuck around so much?”

“We haven’t really fucked around for two years,” Mark said.

Had it been two years? It didn’t seem like that. It seemed like just yesterday that these two “borrowed” a shuttle and took two other boys out to a nebula. He began trying to think.

Mark was in his face again. “Listen to me, I am leaving because I want to help people, you fucking idiot, not nurse you because you smoke too much and live on coffee. Now that you are not going planet side, you’ve stopped exercising. You’ve lost 15% muscle mass. You look like shit.

“Phoebe is an excellent doctor from what I saw she seemed like a good wife, yet you refuse to listen to her in either capacity…”

Harden interrupted him. “Did you just say capacity?” That wasn’t his little brother talking, but a grown man. Looking up at Mark, he did seem bigger. More filled out in the shoulders than he had been. Maybe his brain had finished developing? “Did time dilation occur on my own ship?”

“Harden, shut the fuck up and listen. There is no reason for me to stay here.”

“But you’re my brother…”

“I’m also a medical doctor; Pat is a qualified pilot and we’re both biologists and there are better fucking jobs than this one. You still think of us as kids and we aren’t.”

“Okay, you’re not kids. I don’t want you to go. Helen doesn’t want you to go either.”

“We’ve discussed it with Helen…she understands.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

“Hel, Pat, and I been trying for a solid month, you haven’t been listening. Plus she’s really busy trying to do the job of both the XO as well as the Captain while you are doing whatever the fuck you do…”

“I don’t want anyone to go, but I fucked that up so badly Phoebe won’t even listen anymore. She sounds like Mom did when it was over with Dad,” he said. “I didn’t know I fucked it up…I never wanted it to be like that. I tried to give her my shares she wouldn’t take them. I told her I’d adopt a baby like she wanted, but she’s leaving and I can’t stop her. If you would have heard her voice…it was just like Mom’s after she gave up arguing with Dad. Like she witnessed a death.”

Mark nodded. “I don’t remember that. I don’t even remember her really. Only an old face on the COM.”

“If you go, we won’t know each other anymore. One of us will be an old face on the COM, ” he trailed off, “What do I have to do to make you stay? Do you want my fleet shares? That’s all I have, you can have them.”

Mark sighed. “I don’t want your fleet shares, you idiot. I want you to start eating meals with the crew, exercise every day. Dad’s already agreed to quit smoking and so will you.”

Harden agreed to it and Mark finished, “And you will take at least an hour of each day to talk to the crew. Maybe at dinner since you will now be there.”

“The whole crew?” Harden began pulling at his fingers. “All at once? What will we talk about?”

Mark sat down beside him and slid an arm around his shoulder. It felt odd, the last time they shared any affection his little brother was seven, maybe eight years old. Still a wave of relief rolled through his chest and a lump grew in his throat.

 “Seriously, why are you freaking out? This has probably been the most amicable divorce in human history.”

“What if I fuck it up worse?” He pressed his palm in his eye to brush away tears before they came. 

“That would pretty much be impossible,” Mark said, “Listen, Phoebe will be gone soon, then there are only six of us and three of us are your own relatives. Hel and I will help you, but it can’t be like it has been.”

 “It won’t be, but are you sure time dilation hasn’t occurred on the ship? Phoebe leaves in two weeks and you have grown-up, but I’m the same.”

 “No, you are thirty-nine, your last birthday was March 7th. You and I have never been on separate timelines.”

“What is the date?”

“December 3rd”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

“Where did the time go?”

“For you, it was just lost. Let’s accept that fact and move on.”

 

I hope you liked it. Please comment and let me know…

2013: #ECCC Confessions from Booth 1006

Okay I started this on Facebook, but then realized this was really a blog post. So some of these are repeats from this morning. These are things I actually said over the course of this weekend and thoughts going on in my head.

2013: #ECCC Confessions from Booth 1006: Exhibiting as Elizabeth Guizzetti

Maria and I in the booth!

How does it feel to be a woman in a man’s field?

In my head: huh? Man’s field? What do you think this is 1950?

Spoken answers:

When I started Faminelands six years ago, I didn’t know comics were a “male-dominated” industry. I just thought it would be fun to try to write a graphic novel. I have been doing indie comics and when I look around, I see plenty of other ladies. So I didn’t really break the “rules” as much as no one told me I could or couldn’t do what I do. More and more women write books all the time.
I have never been discriminated against as a woman–or if I have– I was simply too dense to notice. Sometimes being thick is good.
I did not know Other Systems was hard scifi when I wrote it. I did not know I was breaking into a man’s genre. I didn’t even consider my audience. I wrote a book I liked and listened to when and where Dennis groaned when he watched StarTrek.

HERE IS MORE TRUTH. Not a single thing has to do with me being a woman. I want to be considered a great author, not a great “woman author.” My reproductive organs have nothing to do with writing! Here is some stuff that matters:

I spent six months researching the gold rush to make Lure as real as possible. 
 I am a good dog-mom/alpha-dog/whatever to Rosie and Tycho so they continually feed me inspiration for Out for Souls&Cookies.
I wrote three graphic novels in the Faminelands Universe in a way that made me feel I never ruined the story.
I am damn (a stronger 4-letter word is more appropriate, but don’t want to embarrass my folks) proud that my worst reviews of Other Systems is there is too much science, exploring and not enough romance. I spent three months researching scientific theory alone, so of course there was a lot of science! Come on people! 

When is the sequel to Other Systems etc?

I am working on one now.

But when?

I don’t just push out books to get them out on the market. Sorry, you have to wait, but good sequels take time. Don’t worry, I always announce my sequels early.

A foll ow up to #5: Do you want to know how to make [Insert title] better?

In my head: Oh my god, did they see Malak’s jacket on page 41 in Mareton’s Curse? It was not rendered with as much care as every other piece of an image and if that wasn’t bad enough, the crappy looking coat makes his head looks pasted on!!! NOOOOOO!

No thank you, once a book is out, it is what it is. No one is more critical than I am, but I know better than to keep obsessing over it.

How is it to work with your bff?

I love Maria, but we do sometimes disagree. That is a fact in any friendship, but how do we stay friends? We have had a business contract since the beginning of all of this.

Why did you write Faminelands?

Because I like elves. I admit it. Now that the trilogy is complete, I am working on The Martlet for the same reason.

Hey There…

No, you can’t buy me a drink later, I am married.

Follow up to Question 8: then where is your ring?

See this tattoo? (On my ring finger on my left hand.)

Where is your husband?  (Actually this year he had the flu, but this question is asked every year and even if he wasn’t sick, it is not Dennis’ job to man the booth.)

Well it’s [insert day] so he’s probably home playing computer games, but he might have gone to a movie or something. Dennis does not have to hang out in my booth for me to know he loves me. I don’t hang out in his office. What you think that’s different? You are wrong, because this is my job. And no, you still can’t buy me that drink.

I want to do indie comics or write books or…. ?

Most days I say: Well it’s hard work but I love it. I write or draw every day and by the end of the year I have a novel. I love the work.

It’s the truth, but somedays I wish I could say to an attendee: Look, I work 40-60 hour work weeks with very little financial reward. But to me it’s not about the money. Sure I would love to have the money. I would build a big pool of gold like Scrooge McDuck and swim in it. However I think writing and drawing comics and novels are worth it even if I don’t ever have a commercial hit. I’m not even trying to have a commercial success in the way most people consider it.

Seriously if I wanted money, I would write porn–oh sorry I mean “erotica” or go back to painting baby room murals. That’s where the money is, however, that is not who I am. I write stories that my mother will not be ashamed to show her friends, I can be proud of that I paste my name all over it and hopefully makes the reader see beyond themselves. I love to do the research, I love to stretch my skills and to see myself getting better and better every year. That’s my reward. IF and ONLY IF that reward will be enough, then stop making excuses and get off your sorry butt and get to work…. 

But if I ever said that I think Maria would kill me or at least push me out of the booth and tell me to go buy us cookies.

Faminelands #3 Mareton’s Curse has been released into the big wide world

Faminelands Mareton’s Curse is available starting today! You can buy it in our store.

Sequalization of the Webcomic has started!  From today until sometime next year, each Friday by noon PST, I will be updating Faminelands.com with a single page of the story. Page 2 is up now. If anyone wants to get caught up The Carp’s Eye and Living Stone are also there, just hit double back and you can go to the beginning.

Note: I use the physical page numbers on the webcomic. Also though I know I am doing it backwards, I actually finish and release the book prior to the webcomic since I never write anything in order.

If anyone is in Seattle, Maria and I will be at Emerald City Comic Con this weekend at Booth 1006. Stop on By! We will be raffling off the original inked image of Lark to the left and continuing our Like to Win ZB Publications Facebook Page giveaway until March 3rd at the close of the Con. We hope to see you there!

Emerald City Comic Con–Here we come!

So I am heading out to pick up our badges today for Emerald City Comic Con the largest comic book and pop culture convention in the pacific northwest! I also will bring one suitcase of display items and banners so I can do the basic table set up. Maria and I will haul the inventory together tomorrow. She gets here at 10 am and the con opens at 2pm so we have plenty of time for finishing set up and lunch.

Maria and I will be at Booth 1006 this year. The con is bigger than ever before.  We will also have some help from my niece, Jessica. We wil be “elfing-out” to celebrate the release of Faminelands #3. Come by for free postcard sets, bookmarks and other goodies. We have a special prize for anyone who buys the entire set. We also will be having a raffle with a hand drawn image of Lark and you can get your photo taken with people who dress up as elves to sell you a series of books.

We will be handing out buttons, postcards and excerpts for Other Systems. We also have news on The Martlet and Out for Souls&Cookies to share.

There will be plenty of celebrities, media guests, artists and authors. If you are in Seattle, come check it out!