L.D. Colter's Blog, page 7

2018 Pikes Peak Writers Conference

I spent last weekend at PPWC and, again this year, had a great time. Such an organized, friendly, and well-run conference, and I was very pleased to attend this year as a faculty member. Despite their original GOH cancelling only a couple of months ago, they pulled together four fabulous speakers - a hilarious speech by Mary Robinette Kowal, an emotional one by Laurell K. Hamilton, a rousing one by Bob Mayer, and an uplifting and inspiring send off by Jonathan Mayberry.

Over the three days, I taught a short story workshop and a 2-hour prose workshop, as well as co-facilitating a genre-roundtable on short story writing. I also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Jonathan one evening along with other faculty, agents, and editors over the weekend, and many staff and attendees. As usual, I neglected to take photos or post during the conference, but the 2019 PPWC is already on my calendar as an event not to be missed!

Oh - and to the last two people I offered a free copy of A Borrowed Hell and then couldn't get them to you right away, I'm so sorry. I looked for you right through lunch on Sunday. Feel free to contact me through my website and I'll send them to you!

A Borrowed Hell - Colorado Book Awards Finalist

I am delighted and honored to be able to announce that my debut novel, A Borrowed Hell, has been selected as a 2018 Colorado Book Awards Finalist in the science fiction and fantasy category.

A reading by the SFF finalists will take place at the BookBar in Denver on April 6th, from 7-9pm.

Happy Monday

If Hal-9000 Was Alexa I've seen this a couple of places recently and am not sure who gets original credit for it, but someone was spot on.

A Borrowed Hell - Free!

Interview at The Write Stuff

Many thanks to Raymond Bolton for interviewing me at his blog The Write Stuff

Remembering Ursula Le Guin

I don't remember what year I first read Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy (somewhere in the 70's), but I've re-read it many times since, and it was the gateway series to me discovering many more of Le Guin's books. There's little I can say about her writing or her ideas or her influence that others haven't said already and said better, except for the personal note that she gave me many hours of reading pleasure and was an influence on my desire to write and to write well.

One of the many retrospectives on her can be found in this New Yorker article, and Jenn Northington at BookRiot assembled a nice compilation and summary for some of my favorite Ursula Le Guin books as well as recommendations for new reading along similar lines.

Amazon Giveaway for A Borrowed Hell

Digital Fiction Pub is running an Amazon Kindle ebook giveaway for A Borrowed Hell. Sign up soon for a chance to win. https://t.co/pwqYyJ98U5
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Lost in a barren alternative world, July Davish has two options: Confront his hellish past or be trapped there forever.

Did you enjoy a book you read? Consider posting a review.

Books Read: 2017

When I teach writing, I make sure to repeat one thing I've been told often and believe wholeheartedly: If you want to write, read. My own literary heroes have expanded my horizons, unfettered my imagination, and taught me to fall in love with words as well as stories. Favorite authors and favorite books are the primary reason I write; their beautiful storytelling long ago inspired me to create and tell my own stories, in my own way. They push me constantly to not only craft and publish stories, but to strive to make them resonate with my readers, the way their books have done with me.

This year I set a goal of reading 50 books, not a huge goal, but more than I've read in a year in a long time. Goodreads says I hit 48. I actually exceeded 50 by a bit if you count friend's manuscripts and a couple of things that didn't get recorded, like my non-fiction research, but hey, I'm happy with 48. I had some favorites, but there were so many books I enjoyed for different reasons that it's not always easy to rank them. If pressed, I'd say some standouts were The Night Circus, American Gods (a perennial favorite), Slaughterhouse-Five (perennial favorite I hadn't read in decades), One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (obviously a perennial favorite as I read it for the 2nd time for pleasure AND a 3rd time to try and figure out how Neil Gaiman writes so damn well), Viriconium, On Stranger Tides (again, because Tim Powers is a master of magical realism), and The Last Days of New Paris (again, because China Mieville is a master of weird).

I keep a running list during the year in the sidebar of my blog and will post that here (in the order I read them) as I wipe the slate clean today to begin my 2018 reading goals.

Happy new book year, and I hope you find many gems that brighten your life in the coming year.

​The Night Circus
The Obelisk Gate
American Gods (again)
Deryni Rising (again)
The Road
Norse Mythology
Ravenwood
​All the Birds in the Sky
Runtime
Steal the Sky
Three Wells of the Sea
Slaughterhouse-Five (again)
Finch
​The Magicians
Greener Pastures
The Doors of Perception
Aegypt
This Census-Taker
​Binti
​Till We Have Faces
The Divinity Student
The Book of Lost Things
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Fold
Signal to Noise
Anansi Boys (again)
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
​Kindred
Bourne
​Crandolin
​The House on the  Borderland
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (again)
Ubik
No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories
All the Pretty Horses
WE
Vicious
The Refugees
Viriconium
Night's Master
City of Stairs
Ansible, Season 1
The Bear and the Nightingale
​Railsea
City of Blades
On Stranger Tides (again)
The Ocean at the End of the Lane (yet again)
The Last Days of New Paris (again)

New Year, New Beginnings

I'm tossing up the same meme this year as I did last year because it still fits my sentiments, but with one big difference: last year on January 1st I was filled with trepidation, this year I feel hope. 2017 is behind us, and a shiny new year is spread out ahead.

Last year I bobbed along with the rest of you in the swells and troughs of world and local events, uplifting ideals and harsh realities, but we are - most of us - bobbing along still. Along the way some nice things happened, both personally and professionally: We raised a new baby chick in the spring along with our first 2 ducklings. I saw old friends, made new friends, attended some cons, and continued to love my quiet, rural life. The troughs included one of our beloved dogs (my girl), one of our horses, and three of our chickens not making it to see the new year. There were people who didn't make it as well, some known to me and some who had enriched my life from afar. On the writing front there was much to be thankful for: my first book was published (not once, but twice!) and was nominated to the Nebula Recommended Reading List. Another book was accepted by a different press and is now in pre-production. And though I've spent most of the past two years with my head buried in my work-in-progress novel, one of the very few short stories I wrote during that time made it to Tangent's Recommended Reading List as a starred entry. I taught writing for the first time in a 3-part workshop, and presented at a local conference. And I continued to fill blank pages.

I don't usually make resolutions and am making none this year, just staying open to and appreciative of the unexpected joys, both big and small, that the new year may bring. I wish peace for you all - both in your hearts and in the larger sense - and a happy and healthy year ahead.

LC 1/1/18