Kay Kenyon's Blog, page 15

Weird tales for a dollar

Here are some questions for you to answer. If you cannot absolutely answer them, you may want to dip into one of my short stories, now available for $.99. (Click on the artwork to find it on Amazon.)

NOTE: If you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll send you a short story free! (See the sidebar.)

If you had to choose a new face from a book, how would you decide?

 

Who is the Loch Ness monster Really?

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happens when garbage floating in the ocean becomes sentient?

 

What would happen if the world’s biota started to see us as its mortal enemy?

Can we survive on earth if metal and plastic transform to an alien green?

 

 

The return of RIFT.

So pleased to present the re-issue of RIFT with a lovely Matt Forsyth cover!

When terraforming comes unraveled.

Colonists have terraformed the planet Lithia, but now the green biosphere is unraveling. In its place is the old Lithia, toxic to some, preferable to others, including the alien orthong.

Reeve Calder is determined to make a home on the planet, but he is a newcomer, soon to encounter the powerful forces already embedded in the transforming ecology.

Amazon

 

Why you Really need a writing conference

The weekend of May 16th I’m helping out with my favorite local writing conference. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you really should read the end of this blog where I tell you about Write on the River. But if not:

You still really need a writing conference.

I once asked an acquaintance why her husband, an avid and sporadically published author wasn’t attending our local conference. She said, in effect, “Oh, David doesn’t think writing can be taught.”

It was such an oddball, uninformed comment, I didn’t know what to say.

I’m not going to argue about talent being nature or nurture. If you have a leaden ear for language you will not go far in this business. But to say that therefore nothing can be taught is silly. You can learn from other writers. It is a craft. And in the ancient tradition of apprenticeship, we all do well to learn from others.

To be specific, here is why you need to sign up immediately for a writing conference. Maybe even spring for the travel costs to go to one a little further than you have before. (Nothing like a longish car trip home to set your mind free to come up with a great novel idea!)

A writing conference is pretty much the only place you’ll find where everyone around you shares the same dream: to write amazing stories and get them published.

Writing may be a solitary act, but you need people, my friend. Spend too much time in front of a computer screen alone in your den and you start to develop conspiracy theories, self-loathing, and toe nail fungus. Get out in the world; meet people who actually think that writing is important instead of pretentious or weird. The writing conference is a place to draw deep renewal from the mere presence of other people who believe. Whether you talk to any of them or not.

And on that topic, please read my introversion posts. ‘Nuf said.

You will learn how different approaches to writing can hook your subconscious in undreamed of ways.

The best speakers aren’t teaching nuts and bolts, or at least not only that; they’re sharing doors to the inside. Paths to story. Because–and here’s what David didn’t get–finding your story is a deeply subconscious process that can be accessed sideways by surface lessons. You are apparently hearing about point of view choices, let’s say, but your subconscious is hearing about wearing the costume of another sentient being.

See, your subconscious is mysterious and quirky, but in the end it wants to be happy. That’s why it urges you to eat ice cream. But it also realizes that you are never going to be happy if you don’t write your stories, so it pays attention at these confabs. In its own way, to be sure. You’re making POV notes, and it’s thinking about channeling your next protagonist.

How do I know this? Because I’ve awakened in the middle of the night with a protagonist racing through my mind. Never saw her before. Don’t know anything about her. Except for the scene that just burbled up from below.

You may land an agent or sell directly to an editor.

You say you’ve tried that and didn’t get a bite? Hey, me too. I met with a very well known SFF agent at a conference many years ago and he flat out said he wasn’t interested in my story. Felt like hell. But then, a few years later, I did find an agent at a conference. And as to editors, I am not the best at networking, but I have sold several short stories directly to editors who were combing the conference for material. Every time I do this–even after 10 published novels–I experience long moments of sappy happiness.

You can’t control what will happen to you at conferences, but you can put yourself in the way of success.

You will make writing friends. You will need them.

Not at every conference, maybe, but at most of them. It’s rather easy to start conversations at conferences. Try “What are you working on?” And go from there.

The people you meet at these things can very well end up being your closest friends. They will be people to turn to with triumphs to share and slumps to weather. It’ll be their turn next, and they will listen to you now.

$149/$159, are you kidding me? Register. Pay. Go.

And where, you may ask, can you actually get all this at this price? (You got your mega-conferences–also lovely–but they will cost a good bit more.)

Jim Lynch

 

Write on the River, that’s where. Featuring:

1. Celebrated novelist Jim Lynch. The  winner of  the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for The Highest Tide and winner the Washington State Book Award for Border Songs, presents our Saturday featured  workshop on how to learn from books you love and enrich your fiction with reporting, and how to stay sane while trying to get published.

 

2. Fiction master class presenter William Kenower, Editor-in-Chief of Author to Author. Also joining us for events on Friday (Kick Start social!) and Saturday.

3. Ana Maria Spagna, an extremely popular teacher with the Whidby Writers Workshop MFA program. The nonfiction book.

4. The amazing Ron Gompertz on Navigating Amazon, how to publish and market on Amazon.

Louise Marley

5. NEW this year! Our Fundamentals Track, with Louise Marley exploring the essentials of fiction, and Trish McCallan on a review of the main publishing paths.

6. Also: workshops on writing dialogue, the middle-grad novel, memoir, making money at freelancing, fearless writing, surviving to publication, and marketing your work.

7.But wait! There’s more: An agent, and Sasquatch Books editor, Hannah Elnan. Join Hannah for an informal roundtable and share your concept or listen in.

I’m excited about this line-up. We’ve been planning it for months. It’s almost here.

Where the heck is Wenatchee? Two and a half hour drive over mountains from Seattle. The sunny side of the state. Nestled in the foothills on the banks of the Columbia River and the wine country. Spectacular.

But it’s the writing conference you really need.

Learn more about the conference and how to register here. I mean, seriously!

The Braided World is back

I’m excited to announce the re-issue of my John W. Campbell Award finalist, The Braided World. If alien contact and cultures are your cup of tea, I think you will enjoy this story of xenophobia, cultural shock, and forbidden love.

The most troubling aliens are the ones that appear to be human. Meet the young, untested captain of the expedition, Anton Prados.

And meet the Dassa . . .

Amazon

Next book in the re-issue sequence: Rift. Coming in mid-April.

 

Maximum Ice is back

In this lovely re-issue, my story of an altered earth, and a cold welcome to the return of the generation ship Star Road. Available in eBook.

Nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.

Zoya Kundara has lived on the space vessel Star Road for 250 years. As Ship Mother, she is awakened from Deep Sleep in times of crisis, providing counsel to generations of its Romany crew. Now the ship has returned home, only to discover an Earth blanketed in a pearl-white mantle called Ice–a grand and mysterious ecology of information-bearing crystals.

To find a home for her crew, Zoya must approach the denizens of this  new Earth: The Ice Nuns, who seek sole control of the physics-defying crystals; people huddled like moles in underground techno-warrens; and the snow witches, both mad and prophetic . . . and one in particular, who will defend the kingdom of Ice with power and immortal cunning.

Now at Amazon  iBooks  Kobo  Google Play Nook

Local authors first!

Join me at the “Think Local Authors First” event in Wenatchee WA on Saturday. Ten local authors showcase their books! Win  prizes donated by Pybus Market! Sponsored by A Book for All Seasons and Write On the River!

Saturday, February 28 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Pybus Market – Farmers market, shops, eateries and on Saturday, Books!

From Science Fiction and Fantasy to Regional and Children’s books, you will find a book you can take home … and a chance to visit with the author.

“Pybus Market is about local people and local products, so this event plays wonderfully into that theme,” said Steve Robinson, executive director of Pybus Market. “The authors event was the brainchild of author Kay Kenyon and will help showcase the enormous writing talent we have in our region,” added Robinson.

Participating authors and their books include your truly, Paul Roberts, Dan Gemeinhart, Trish McCallan, Robert E. Wells and more!

Tropic of Creation is back

A coming of age story, and a world like you’ve never seen before, one that undergoes a metamorphosis. This is one of my favorites among my books, now back in this lovely re-issue.

The planet Null is not what it seems. On a brief stop over, Captain Eli Dammand will find his routine mission taking a disastrous turn. The planet is about to undergo a radical seasonal change, one that will hatch monstrous, rapacious creatures. There are few refuges from the rampaging alternate season. One is in the secret ahtran habitat far underground. It’s no place for a human army officer, as Eli will learn.

The other is in the nests of the monsters themselves. Not that his passenger, 14-year old Sascha, ever had a choice. . . .

Amazon

Kobo

Google Play

Nook

iBook

Book signing Valentine’s Day afternoon

If you’re in the neighborhood, please join me in Leavenworth WA for a signing and launch of my latest book!

A Book for All Seasons 

Saturday, February 14 ~Valentine’s Day~ 1:00-3:00 PM

703 Highway 2, Leavenworth WA

GIVEAWAY

Buy a copy of my new book and take home a free copy of your next book (or the first book) in my science fiction quartet, The Entire and The Rose!

Please drop in to say hi and help me launch my new fantasy novel, Queen of the Deep! And/or meet me down the street at South cafe afterward!

The world of the Palazzo: a magical ship which is both a colossal ocean liner and a Renaissance kingdom. Ruling over its denizens–both human and otherwise–is an exotic and dangerous queen. Jane is lost in a dazzling world of court intrigue and deadly intent. To find her way home, she must discover who–or what–guides the Palazzo, and what is the urgent secret of its endless voyage.

“Fascinatingly conceived, brilliantly handled.”  –Mike Resnick

Writing in the Sun

Me and Larry Brooks at last year’s conference chatting with a writer on her project.

The Write on the River conference is now open for registration! Join us in sunny Eastern Washington wine country on the banks of the Columbia River. We’re a small, boutique conference with major presenters, a full range of topics and with time to chat.

Friday-Sunday, May 15, 16 and 17, Wenatchee WA

You’ve been to writing workshops andconferences (please say you have!) and you know how workshops with published authors and impassioned teachers can inspire and impact your writing life. If not–find one! Writing conferences abound, and there’s one near you.

William Kenower is the Editor-in-Chief of “Author” magazine, an online magazine for writers and dedicated readers.  He hosts the online radio program Author2Author, discussing the books we write and the lives we lead. He will teach Sunday’s master class on fiction.

 

 

 

Genevieve Nine, with  Andrea Hurst Literary Management is looking to represent authors who weave layered tales with well-developed characters. Fiction: middle grade, YA, new adult, adult. Nonfiction: food memoir, travel memoir.

 

 

 

Celebrated fiction writer Jim Lynch shares the insights and tips he wishes he’d been told before he began the odyssey, so long ago, to learn how to write and publish fiction. He is the author of three award-winning novels set in the Northwest.

 

 

 

Louise Marley is the award-winning author of eighteen novels of fantasy, science fiction, and historical fiction. She will present Fiction Primer: an introduction to the elements of fiction, and will join William Kenower for a special Friday evening event, critiquing first pages.

 

 

 

 

Elena Hartwell’s plays have been produced in the US, UK and Canada. She’ll present the workshop Write Dialogue like a Playwright. Watch for exciting details of free  tickets to her new play being produced at Wenatchee Valley College on conference weekend!

 

 

 

 

Andy Dappen’s articles have appeared in such venues as National Geographic, Adventure, and USA Today. He will present the do’s and don’ts of getting short nonfiction published.

 

 

 

 

Trish McCallan has been making a full-time living from her writing since January, 2012. She is published by Amazon Publishing’s Montlake Romance imprint, and also self-publishes. She will demystify the publishing world with an introductory class, and will share marketing secrets in a special panel with R.S. Gompertz and me.

 

 PLUS:

Agent and editor appointments, navigating amazon, writing the middle grade novel, poetry, memoir, the nonfiction book and a class on “fearless writing,” an extra session with William Kenower.

JOIN US FOR: A Friday Kick Start to meet the presenters and mix with fellow writers at a lovely venue overlooking the Columbia River.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Write on the River is 10 years old this May! Join us for a Birthday Bash on Saturday evening with an autographing for all conference attendees.

Write on the River Conference information and registration.

The Seeds of Time is back

My debut novel is reissued today with a gorgeous new cover! The Seeds of Time is the story of Clio Finn, paranoid, smart-assed, and maybe doomed. What’s not to love?

Clio is a space pilot on the run from a dystopian and graying Earth toward the only future she ever wanted: the stars. Far across the galaxy, she’s found a lush paradise, with plant life so vital, its seeds could give Earth a second chance, or–as her enemies believe–seal its destruction. But she’s determined to bring her payload home.  Clio Finn’s last Dive. Earth’s last chance.

This time travel story came out in 1997 and was a popular science fiction novel, probably my most popular until until The Entire and The Rose series. Some people say it has my best female protagonist. It leads the way in a roll-out of five of my science fiction books, one every three weeks until mid-April.

In order, watch for:

Tropic of Creation
Maximum Ice
The Braided World
Rift

Click to see The Seeds of Time at Amazon and soon, most e-retailers. $3.99.

Amazon