Heidi Ruby Miller's Blog, page 24
May 21, 2015
EVENT: The SFR Brigade Summer Cafe
EVENTS
Space Opera 1 - JUNE 1-7
Weird Science - JUNE 8-14
Dystopia - JUNE 15-21
Androids and Aliens - JUNE 22-28
Supernova Hot - JUNE 29-JULY 5
Space Opera 2 - JULY 6-12
I'm participating in the last week of The SFR Brigade Summer Cafe , sponsored by the brigade and SFR Station . Each week will have prizes, stories, recipes, and lots of fun!
Space Opera 1 - JUNE 1-7
Weird Science - JUNE 8-14
Dystopia - JUNE 15-21
Androids and Aliens - JUNE 22-28
Supernova Hot - JUNE 29-JULY 5
Space Opera 2 - JULY 6-12
I'm participating in the last week of The SFR Brigade Summer Cafe , sponsored by the brigade and SFR Station . Each week will have prizes, stories, recipes, and lots of fun!
May 20, 2015
CAST YOUR CHARACTERS: Tor Maddox: Unleashed by Liz Coley
CAST YOUR CHARACTERS
TOR MADDOX: UNLEASHED
AUTHOR: LIZ COLEY
DESCRIPTION: TOR MADDOX, A HEROINE FOR OUR TIMES
When sixteen-year old Torrance Olivia Maddox, self-confessed news junkie, figures out that the mysterious and deadly New Flu is being spread by dogs, she has one question—if the danger is that obvious to her, why hasn’t the government revealed the truth and taken action?
Her search for the answer will take her farther than she ever imagined. But then again, she never imagined that man’s best friend could become public enemy number one, that men in black might show up in her cozy suburban neighborhood, that she’d spend her sixteenth birthday as a teenaged runaway, and that her effort to save one dog would become a mission to save them all.
CHARACTERS:
Maia Mitchell as TOR MADDOX
Tor Maddox is a heroine for our times, a girl who care about the world she’s growing into. But she’s not going to sit around and wait for permission to fix it. Favorite quote: “I’d been pretty good at extricating myself from sensible adult influences in the past. That’s when the good stuff happens, after all.”
Ansel Elgort as RODY MADDOX
Tor’s brother Rody, nine months younger, in the same grade at school, could be any big sister’s nightmare. They get on each others nerves like any siblings, but he would follow her into any battle—and does.
Dakota Fanning as SIOUX-SAN
Tor’s BFF is Sioux-san, blond bombshell and secret genius science geek, whose favorite color is pink. PS Rody has secretly liked her for years.
Colin Bates as ALEXANDER "SASHA" BROMWELL
Tor’s GBF Sasha Bromwell has been dancing ballet with Tor since they were both six years old. There’s no deeper bond.
Harry Connick, Jr. as AGENT STEVE TURNER
Steve Turner, Man in Black, mysteriously shows up at Tor’s front door flashing a government badge and demanding answers. Sure, Cocoa likes him, but can he be trusted? Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
Grant Daugherty as COLLEGE STUDENT AND AGENT-IN-TRAINING RICK TURNER
College student and agent-in-training Rick Turner is Steve’s practically clonal son. His hypnotic eyes, kind heart, and sharp mind entrance Tor. But that nagging question remains—whose side is he on? Can he be trusted?
SNEAK PEAK FOR BOOK 2!
TOR MADDOX: EMBEDDED
Josh Hutcherson as HAMILTON PARKER
Follow him? Tor’s first assignment to embed herself as the agency’s eyes and ears in her own school could turn explosive when the subject of interest is state swim champ Hamilton Parker.
~~
LIZ COLEY’S internationally best-selling psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 has been published in 12 languages on 5 continents and been recognized by the American Library Association on two select lists for 2014 including Best Fiction for Young Adults.
Liz’s other publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and numerous anthologies.
Liz invites you to follow her as LizColeyBooks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and visit her website at LizColeyBooks.blogspot.com .
TOR MADDOX: UNLEASHEDAUTHOR: LIZ COLEY
DESCRIPTION: TOR MADDOX, A HEROINE FOR OUR TIMES
When sixteen-year old Torrance Olivia Maddox, self-confessed news junkie, figures out that the mysterious and deadly New Flu is being spread by dogs, she has one question—if the danger is that obvious to her, why hasn’t the government revealed the truth and taken action?
Her search for the answer will take her farther than she ever imagined. But then again, she never imagined that man’s best friend could become public enemy number one, that men in black might show up in her cozy suburban neighborhood, that she’d spend her sixteenth birthday as a teenaged runaway, and that her effort to save one dog would become a mission to save them all.
CHARACTERS:
Maia Mitchell as TOR MADDOX
Tor Maddox is a heroine for our times, a girl who care about the world she’s growing into. But she’s not going to sit around and wait for permission to fix it. Favorite quote: “I’d been pretty good at extricating myself from sensible adult influences in the past. That’s when the good stuff happens, after all.”
Ansel Elgort as RODY MADDOX
Tor’s brother Rody, nine months younger, in the same grade at school, could be any big sister’s nightmare. They get on each others nerves like any siblings, but he would follow her into any battle—and does.
Dakota Fanning as SIOUX-SAN
Tor’s BFF is Sioux-san, blond bombshell and secret genius science geek, whose favorite color is pink. PS Rody has secretly liked her for years.
Colin Bates as ALEXANDER "SASHA" BROMWELL
Tor’s GBF Sasha Bromwell has been dancing ballet with Tor since they were both six years old. There’s no deeper bond.
Harry Connick, Jr. as AGENT STEVE TURNER
Steve Turner, Man in Black, mysteriously shows up at Tor’s front door flashing a government badge and demanding answers. Sure, Cocoa likes him, but can he be trusted? Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
Grant Daugherty as COLLEGE STUDENT AND AGENT-IN-TRAINING RICK TURNER
College student and agent-in-training Rick Turner is Steve’s practically clonal son. His hypnotic eyes, kind heart, and sharp mind entrance Tor. But that nagging question remains—whose side is he on? Can he be trusted?
SNEAK PEAK FOR BOOK 2!
TOR MADDOX: EMBEDDED
Josh Hutcherson as HAMILTON PARKERFollow him? Tor’s first assignment to embed herself as the agency’s eyes and ears in her own school could turn explosive when the subject of interest is state swim champ Hamilton Parker.
~~
LIZ COLEY’S internationally best-selling psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 has been published in 12 languages on 5 continents and been recognized by the American Library Association on two select lists for 2014 including Best Fiction for Young Adults.Liz’s other publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and numerous anthologies.
Liz invites you to follow her as LizColeyBooks on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, and visit her website at LizColeyBooks.blogspot.com .
May 18, 2015
EVENT: Seton Hill University's 14th Annual In Your Write Mind Conference
EVENTS
14th Annual Writing Popular Fiction Workshop
In Your Write Mind
June 25-28, 2015
GUEST SPEAKERS
Claire Eddy, Senior Editor, Tor/Forge Books
Stephen Saffel, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Titan Books
Eric Ruben, agent
Liz Coley, guest author
REGISTRATION
For additional information regarding the workshop, please call Jamie Swarm at 724-830-1005 or email jswarm@setonhill.edu.
Here are a few links to photos from past IYWM Conferences:
2014
2013
2012 and MANY GENRES Launch
14th Annual Writing Popular Fiction Workshop
In Your Write Mind
June 25-28, 2015
GUEST SPEAKERS
Claire Eddy, Senior Editor, Tor/Forge Books
Stephen Saffel, Senior Acquisitions Editor, Titan Books
Eric Ruben, agent
Liz Coley, guest author
REGISTRATION
For additional information regarding the workshop, please call Jamie Swarm at 724-830-1005 or email jswarm@setonhill.edu.
Here are a few links to photos from past IYWM Conferences:
2014
2013
2012 and MANY GENRES Launch
May 11, 2015
EVENT: Science Fiction in Thrillers Workshop by Heidi Ruby Miller at Pennwriters Conference 2015
EVENTS
SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2015
9:05 – 10:00 - Heidi Ruby Miller – Science Fiction in Thrillers - Robinson
DESCRIPTION:
Where would you shelve a book about scientists cloning dinosaurs for a theme park or a man turning into a chimera or how about the unleashing of a zombie plague? I asked authors and editors for insights into how the industry categorizes thrillers with expansive science fictional elements. If you write these types of stories, where do you think you fit in?
~~~The Pennwriters Conference is in Pittsburgh this year on the weekend of May 15 - 17 at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. Keynote speaker is Ridley Pearson .
SATURDAY, MAY 15, 2015
9:05 – 10:00 - Heidi Ruby Miller – Science Fiction in Thrillers - Robinson
DESCRIPTION:
Where would you shelve a book about scientists cloning dinosaurs for a theme park or a man turning into a chimera or how about the unleashing of a zombie plague? I asked authors and editors for insights into how the industry categorizes thrillers with expansive science fictional elements. If you write these types of stories, where do you think you fit in?
~~~The Pennwriters Conference is in Pittsburgh this year on the weekend of May 15 - 17 at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. Keynote speaker is Ridley Pearson .
May 8, 2015
BOOK: Flight to Opar by Philip Jose Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey
BOOKS
FLIGHT TO OPAR
Volume 2 of the Khokarsa Series
The exciting adventure-filled sequel to Hadon of Ancient Opar!
Hadon of Opar was the winner of the Great Games and the rightful claimant to the throne of Khokarsa, a mighty empire that stretched along the shores of ancient Africa’s great inland seas. But the old king has refused to surrender his power, and Hadon finds himself caught in the middle of a bloody civil war between the zealous priests of the sun god and the beneficent priestesses of the great mother goddess.
Now a divination of the oracle hurls Hadon on his most dangerous adventure yet. With a tyrant’s armies and warships hot on their heels, Hadon and his companions must set out on a journey through perilous jungles and across storm-wracked seas to reach the city of his birth—for only in far-flung golden Opar can he fulfill the oracle’s prophecy and save the land from utter doom.
Meteor House
is excited to announce the never-before-published
Restored Edition of Philip José Farmer’s classic novel Flight to Opar
, the second volume of his acclaimed Khokarsa series. This new edition—available as both an affordable trade paperback and a collectible limited edition hardcover—features nearly 4,000 words that were cut from Farmer’s original manuscript when the novel was published in 1976. Meteor House’s Restored Edition is the first and only publication of the novel ever to include the excised material, which encompasses long passages of narrative, dialogue, and rich world-building details on Ancient Opar and the civilization of Khokarsa that readers have never previously been able to enjoy—until now.
Meteor House’s Restored Edition of Flight to Opar also features cover art and a frontispiece by Hugo Award-winning artist Bob Eggleton as well as rare and previously unpublished bonus material, including:
A Preface to the Restored Edition by Christopher Paul Carey (coauthor with Philip José Farmer of The Song of Kwasin, the third novel in the Khokarsa series)*
A brand-new introduction by S. M. Stirling (New York Times bestselling author of the Change series)*
The Khokarsan Language by Philip José Farmer**
Khokarsan Glossary by Philip José Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey
A Guide to Khokarsa by Christopher Paul Carey
Early Notes on the Khokarsa Series by Philip José Farmer*
Original Outline to Flight to Opar by Philip José Farmer*
Cross-section Map of Opar by Philip José Farmer*
* Never before published.
** Only previously available in an out-of-print and extremely hard-to-find signed limited edition.
The trade paperback edition is $20 (plus shipping).
The hardcover limited edition is $30 (plus shipping).
Or you can buy them together for only $45 (and save even more on the combined shipping)!
Due out in the Summer of 2015, be sure to preorder early to ensure you get a copy of the limited edition hardcover, signed by editor Christopher Paul Carey. As always, the print run will be determined by the number of preorders received. Not many copies beyond those reserved will be printed.
While the trade paperback edition will not have a short print run, if you preorder a copy before publication, it will also be signed by editor Christopher Paul Carey.
FLIGHT TO OPARVolume 2 of the Khokarsa Series
The exciting adventure-filled sequel to Hadon of Ancient Opar!
Hadon of Opar was the winner of the Great Games and the rightful claimant to the throne of Khokarsa, a mighty empire that stretched along the shores of ancient Africa’s great inland seas. But the old king has refused to surrender his power, and Hadon finds himself caught in the middle of a bloody civil war between the zealous priests of the sun god and the beneficent priestesses of the great mother goddess.
Now a divination of the oracle hurls Hadon on his most dangerous adventure yet. With a tyrant’s armies and warships hot on their heels, Hadon and his companions must set out on a journey through perilous jungles and across storm-wracked seas to reach the city of his birth—for only in far-flung golden Opar can he fulfill the oracle’s prophecy and save the land from utter doom.
Meteor House
is excited to announce the never-before-published
Restored Edition of Philip José Farmer’s classic novel Flight to Opar
, the second volume of his acclaimed Khokarsa series. This new edition—available as both an affordable trade paperback and a collectible limited edition hardcover—features nearly 4,000 words that were cut from Farmer’s original manuscript when the novel was published in 1976. Meteor House’s Restored Edition is the first and only publication of the novel ever to include the excised material, which encompasses long passages of narrative, dialogue, and rich world-building details on Ancient Opar and the civilization of Khokarsa that readers have never previously been able to enjoy—until now.Meteor House’s Restored Edition of Flight to Opar also features cover art and a frontispiece by Hugo Award-winning artist Bob Eggleton as well as rare and previously unpublished bonus material, including:
A Preface to the Restored Edition by Christopher Paul Carey (coauthor with Philip José Farmer of The Song of Kwasin, the third novel in the Khokarsa series)*
A brand-new introduction by S. M. Stirling (New York Times bestselling author of the Change series)*
The Khokarsan Language by Philip José Farmer**
Khokarsan Glossary by Philip José Farmer and Christopher Paul Carey
A Guide to Khokarsa by Christopher Paul Carey
Early Notes on the Khokarsa Series by Philip José Farmer*
Original Outline to Flight to Opar by Philip José Farmer*
Cross-section Map of Opar by Philip José Farmer*
* Never before published.
** Only previously available in an out-of-print and extremely hard-to-find signed limited edition.
The trade paperback edition is $20 (plus shipping).
The hardcover limited edition is $30 (plus shipping).
Or you can buy them together for only $45 (and save even more on the combined shipping)!
Due out in the Summer of 2015, be sure to preorder early to ensure you get a copy of the limited edition hardcover, signed by editor Christopher Paul Carey. As always, the print run will be determined by the number of preorders received. Not many copies beyond those reserved will be printed.
While the trade paperback edition will not have a short print run, if you preorder a copy before publication, it will also be signed by editor Christopher Paul Carey.
May 7, 2015
BOOK: what if i got down on my knees by Tony Rauch
BOOKS
what if i got down on my knees?
presents romantic misadventures and entanglements of absurd, whimsical, existential longing, featuring discovery, secrets, identity, escape, strange happenings, endurance, regret, and hope. The stories are little postcards from the lonely regions of the human heart.
These tales of wonder are about people trying to find meaning and a place in an indifferent world, and their discoveries, revelations, secrets, failures, struggles, connections, and odd encounters along the way—
—two unemployed men steal dogs and run them through buildings around town.
—a man goes on what turns into the worst date in recorded history.
—you are asked to baby-sit for a neighbor, only to find a giant baby waiting for you.
—a man comes home to find his entire yard and home paved over by a long lost rival.
—a clerk at a used record store finds a man has passed away on one of the couches.
—some young adults go into the basement to get sad, in order to impress girls.
—a stranger extracts a baby from a man waiting for the bus.
With themes of longing, fragility, uncertainty, impermanence, regret, the mysteries hidden in everyday life, discovery, ennui, loneliness, irresponsible behavior, confusion, change, identity, and absurd situations, Tony Rauch is a worthy successor to the artistry and absurdism of Donald Barthelme and Steve Martin.
“For those open to having their heartstrings tangled and tugged repeatedly, this book can become a classic on their bookshelf.”
—The Hoya, Georgetown University
“Tony Rauch is reviving the bodies of love and mystery and laughter. He knows where the bodies are buried and is digging them up beautifully. And we are all the better for it.”
—Patrick Wensink, author of Broken piano for President and Black Hole Blues
"The quirky and wholeheartedly original book, what if i got down on my knees? by Tony Rauch is the epitome of what literature needs more of.
what if i got down on my knees? is easily one of the most creative books I’ve read in a while. Rauch’s style is exciting, novel and imaginative.
Rauch provides the reader with an incredibly unique and exceptional piece of literature. If you’re on the market for something new, unpredictable and oddly comical, look into what if i got down on my knees? — it won’t disappoint.
– Daily Nexus, University of California–Santa Barbara student newspaper
“This is a wonderful book of believable absurdities, inviting us to join in the fantastic madness of a truly original voice. You will celebrate how uncomfortable some of these stories will make you feel. You will know when ‘the strange’ is strangely close to the truth.”
—Jim Heynen, author of Fishing for Chickens and Ordinary Sins
“Tony Rauch’s magical, manic and lonely narrators navigate the margins of a cartoon world carefully and uncannily crafted to distort our vision. Yet these stories somehow reflect the strangeness of our lives with distressing accuracy. In what if I got down on my knees? Rauch writes with his trademark surprise, humor and joyous confusion.”
—John Colburn, author of Psychedelic Norway and Invisible Daughter
“Reading Tony Rauch’s what if I got down on my knees? is like going to a really good magic show, and the whole time you’re at the show, you’re thinking about it being over, so you can see someone you know and tell them, ‘You gotta go see this guy’s stuff.’ There are a lot of good fiction writers out there making believable magic, but Rauch’s show is different. You gotta go see it. Yeah, it’s that kind of show.”
—Jeff Vande Zande, author of the novel American Poet
what if i got down on my knees?
presents romantic misadventures and entanglements of absurd, whimsical, existential longing, featuring discovery, secrets, identity, escape, strange happenings, endurance, regret, and hope. The stories are little postcards from the lonely regions of the human heart.These tales of wonder are about people trying to find meaning and a place in an indifferent world, and their discoveries, revelations, secrets, failures, struggles, connections, and odd encounters along the way—
—two unemployed men steal dogs and run them through buildings around town.
—a man goes on what turns into the worst date in recorded history.
—you are asked to baby-sit for a neighbor, only to find a giant baby waiting for you.
—a man comes home to find his entire yard and home paved over by a long lost rival.
—a clerk at a used record store finds a man has passed away on one of the couches.
—some young adults go into the basement to get sad, in order to impress girls.
—a stranger extracts a baby from a man waiting for the bus.
With themes of longing, fragility, uncertainty, impermanence, regret, the mysteries hidden in everyday life, discovery, ennui, loneliness, irresponsible behavior, confusion, change, identity, and absurd situations, Tony Rauch is a worthy successor to the artistry and absurdism of Donald Barthelme and Steve Martin.
“For those open to having their heartstrings tangled and tugged repeatedly, this book can become a classic on their bookshelf.”
—The Hoya, Georgetown University
“Tony Rauch is reviving the bodies of love and mystery and laughter. He knows where the bodies are buried and is digging them up beautifully. And we are all the better for it.”
—Patrick Wensink, author of Broken piano for President and Black Hole Blues
"The quirky and wholeheartedly original book, what if i got down on my knees? by Tony Rauch is the epitome of what literature needs more of.
what if i got down on my knees? is easily one of the most creative books I’ve read in a while. Rauch’s style is exciting, novel and imaginative.
Rauch provides the reader with an incredibly unique and exceptional piece of literature. If you’re on the market for something new, unpredictable and oddly comical, look into what if i got down on my knees? — it won’t disappoint.
– Daily Nexus, University of California–Santa Barbara student newspaper
“This is a wonderful book of believable absurdities, inviting us to join in the fantastic madness of a truly original voice. You will celebrate how uncomfortable some of these stories will make you feel. You will know when ‘the strange’ is strangely close to the truth.”
—Jim Heynen, author of Fishing for Chickens and Ordinary Sins
“Tony Rauch’s magical, manic and lonely narrators navigate the margins of a cartoon world carefully and uncannily crafted to distort our vision. Yet these stories somehow reflect the strangeness of our lives with distressing accuracy. In what if I got down on my knees? Rauch writes with his trademark surprise, humor and joyous confusion.”
—John Colburn, author of Psychedelic Norway and Invisible Daughter
“Reading Tony Rauch’s what if I got down on my knees? is like going to a really good magic show, and the whole time you’re at the show, you’re thinking about it being over, so you can see someone you know and tell them, ‘You gotta go see this guy’s stuff.’ There are a lot of good fiction writers out there making believable magic, but Rauch’s show is different. You gotta go see it. Yeah, it’s that kind of show.”
—Jeff Vande Zande, author of the novel American Poet
May 5, 2015
COVER REVEAL: Tor Maddox 2: Embedded by Liz Coley
COVER REVEALS
INTRODUCING
Tor Maddox, a heroine for our times
“I know that one day, I’m going to have to live in the real world. I’d like it to be a decent one.” - Tor
Book 2 Tor Maddox: Embedded
Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor’s first mission may blow up in her face.
Liz Coley
has been writing long and short fiction for teens and adults for more than ten years. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and several speculative fiction anthologies: The Last Man, More Scary Kisses, Strange Worlds, Flights of Fiction and Winter's Regret.
In 2013, psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 was released by HarperCollins in the US and UK. Foreign translations have been published in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Czech, Slovakian, and Chinese (simplified and traditional).
Her independent publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series.
Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, beaten regularly by better tennis players, uplifted by her choir, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.
Liz invites you to follow her as LizColeyBooks on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook , and visit her website at LizColeyBooks.blogspot.com .
INTRODUCING
Tor Maddox, a heroine for our times
“I know that one day, I’m going to have to live in the real world. I’d like it to be a decent one.” - Tor
Book 2 Tor Maddox: Embedded
Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor’s first mission may blow up in her face.
Liz Coley
has been writing long and short fiction for teens and adults for more than ten years. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and several speculative fiction anthologies: The Last Man, More Scary Kisses, Strange Worlds, Flights of Fiction and Winter's Regret.In 2013, psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 was released by HarperCollins in the US and UK. Foreign translations have been published in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Czech, Slovakian, and Chinese (simplified and traditional).
Her independent publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series.
Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, beaten regularly by better tennis players, uplifted by her choir, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.
Liz invites you to follow her as LizColeyBooks on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook , and visit her website at LizColeyBooks.blogspot.com .
COVER REVEAL: Tor Maddox: Embedded by Liz Coley
COVER REVEALS
INTRODUCING
Tor Maddox, a heroine for our times
“I know that one day, I’m going to have to live in the real world. I’d like it to be a decent one.” - Tor
Book 2 Tor Maddox: Embedded
Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor’s first mission may blow up in her face.
Liz Coley
has been writing long and short fiction for teens and adults for more than ten years. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and several speculative fiction anthologies: The Last Man, More Scary Kisses, Strange Worlds, Flights of Fiction and Winter's Regret.
In 2013, psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 was released by HarperCollins in the US and UK. Foreign translations have been published in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Czech, Slovakian, and Chinese (simplified and traditional).
Her independent publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series.
Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, beaten regularly by better tennis players, uplifted by her choir, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.
Liz invites you to follow her as LizColeyBooks on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook , and visit her website at LizColeyBooks.blogspot.com .
INTRODUCING
Tor Maddox, a heroine for our times
“I know that one day, I’m going to have to live in the real world. I’d like it to be a decent one.” - Tor
Book 2 Tor Maddox: Embedded
Life has been way too quiet for Tor Maddox since her fifteen minutes of CNN fame. Then agent-in-training Rick Turner reappears with what sounds like a simple assignment—to embed herself as his eyes and ears in her own high school. When she agrees to keep tabs on high school state swim champ Hamilton Parker for the Feds, she is plunged into the deep end of a sinister plot. Knowing that freedom, justice, and lives are at stake again, Tor jumps in feet first, but has she gotten in over her head this time?
When observe and report becomes kiss and tell, Tor’s first mission may blow up in her face.
Liz Coley
has been writing long and short fiction for teens and adults for more than ten years. Her short fiction has appeared in Cosmos Magazine and several speculative fiction anthologies: The Last Man, More Scary Kisses, Strange Worlds, Flights of Fiction and Winter's Regret.In 2013, psychological thriller Pretty Girl-13 was released by HarperCollins in the US and UK. Foreign translations have been published in French, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Czech, Slovakian, and Chinese (simplified and traditional).
Her independent publications include alternate history/time travel/romance Out of Xibalba and teen thrillers in the new Tor Maddox series.
Liz lives in Ohio, where she is surrounded by a fantastic community of writers, beaten regularly by better tennis players, uplifted by her choir, supported by her husband, teased by her teenaged daughter, cheered from afar by her two older sons, and adorned with hair by her cats Tiger, Pippin, and Merry.
Liz invites you to follow her as LizColeyBooks on Twitter , Instagram , and Facebook , and visit her website at LizColeyBooks.blogspot.com .
April 25, 2015
EVENT: Heidi Ruby Miller on Pennwriters Presents
EVENTS
FROM PENNWRITERS:
Writer, Traveler, Educator Heidi Ruby Miller will be our Guest Star on our Pennwriters Presents program Monday, April 27, 2015 from 9 am to 9 pm. She will answer your questions on several topics, including:
BEING A HYBRID AUTHOR (I’m published with the big publishers, small presses, and have self-published.)
HOW MENTORING MAKES ME A BETTER WRITER (My ongoing learning as faculty at Seton Hill)
COLLABORATING (How my husband and I write our thriller series together and still remain married)
WRITING IN MULTIPLE GENRES (Branding is second only to good books.)
WHY TRAVELING IS ESSENTIAL TO MY WRITING (It’s more than simply inspiration for me.)
FROM PENNWRITERS:
Writer, Traveler, Educator Heidi Ruby Miller will be our Guest Star on our Pennwriters Presents program Monday, April 27, 2015 from 9 am to 9 pm. She will answer your questions on several topics, including:
BEING A HYBRID AUTHOR (I’m published with the big publishers, small presses, and have self-published.)
HOW MENTORING MAKES ME A BETTER WRITER (My ongoing learning as faculty at Seton Hill)
COLLABORATING (How my husband and I write our thriller series together and still remain married)
WRITING IN MULTIPLE GENRES (Branding is second only to good books.)
WHY TRAVELING IS ESSENTIAL TO MY WRITING (It’s more than simply inspiration for me.)
April 23, 2015
HEIDI'S PICK SIX: Samantha Holloway
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Samantha Holloway
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
When I was a baby, my dad got a job as a teacher for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools--DoDDS. We moved to Turkey before I was three (my sister was born there and my brother was born right before we left). Then Italy before I was four, Japan when I was six, Scotland at eight, and back to the States when I was eleven. I had no idea how to be American! This is a weird country! Since then, I've been to several states, Canada, and a glorious two weeks in London for a mini-study-abroad. I try to travel as much as possible, but it's not nearly enough to keep back the wanderlust! One of my favorite things is just wandering around some old part of a new city and eating things I've never eaten before!
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Tea! I drink at least one cup almost every day (though after I was keeping warm all winter with up to eight cups, I've had to cut back for a bit!), usually unsugared, though sometimes British style when I'm feeling homesick.
I love the smell of coffee, but after I worked at a cafe for two years in undergrad, and lived off the stuff, I just have very little tolerance for the acid and caffeine. Also I'm way snobby, and no one lets me clean and work the espresso machines myself!
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
This minute, I'm reading Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly for review, and it's quirky in a way I'm really liking. I've got Cassie Clare's The Bane Chronicles lined up for next, and then maybe one of the stack of travel memoirs or poetry books I picked up from the last library book sale!
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I don't usually outline. I don't like feeling hemmed in, and if I write it all out it feels like I've already written it and makes the actual writing feel like repetition. What I mostly do is break it down into arcs, then after each day's writing, list three or five things I can do the next day.
If I do make an outline, it's because I'm doing an intensive project like NaNoWriMo (which is fun but usually somewhat disastrous because it's too fast--I missed literally half the needed plot in my last one and I'm still wrestling with it!), and then I make the barest skeleton of an outline to leave space for inspiration and magic!
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Oh god, I'm like that girl on Teen Girl Squad--"I'm in love with all the boys!" Right now, my top five are David Tennant, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Aaron Stanford, and Chris Hardwick. I love a good cheekbone, an expressive face, and a goofy smile.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
Anne McCaffrey's Pern books were the first things I read that made me go "damn, I need to write a thing", and I did and it was awful, but I never stopped writing since that day!
I've read almost every book Robin McKinley and Neil Gaiman have ever written, and I'm working on getting my grubby paws on the rest. I love Cassandra Clare, Jim Butcher, and Jasper Fforde's stuff is awesomely mind bending.
When I started out, though, I think I was more influenced by Narnia and a hundred 80s fantasy movies. Now I've got two writing degrees adding literary theory and lots of classics I don't like to the mix! I mean, who decides on what's a classic? So many of them are the opposite of how I want to write!
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Samantha Holloway
is unfit for anything but writing expansive fantasy and the occasional science fiction story, so she does it full time. She's the author of the new epic fantasy novel
Married to the Wind
, and has published dozens of book reviews, TV reviews and a few short stories. In between writing and thinking about writing, she lives in North Carolina with a cat aptly-named Ninja, wears too much jewelry, runs a home made nail polish company for a lark, and subsists mostly on tea. Find her at
Herding the Dragon
.
Samantha Holloway
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
When I was a baby, my dad got a job as a teacher for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools--DoDDS. We moved to Turkey before I was three (my sister was born there and my brother was born right before we left). Then Italy before I was four, Japan when I was six, Scotland at eight, and back to the States when I was eleven. I had no idea how to be American! This is a weird country! Since then, I've been to several states, Canada, and a glorious two weeks in London for a mini-study-abroad. I try to travel as much as possible, but it's not nearly enough to keep back the wanderlust! One of my favorite things is just wandering around some old part of a new city and eating things I've never eaten before!
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Tea! I drink at least one cup almost every day (though after I was keeping warm all winter with up to eight cups, I've had to cut back for a bit!), usually unsugared, though sometimes British style when I'm feeling homesick.
I love the smell of coffee, but after I worked at a cafe for two years in undergrad, and lived off the stuff, I just have very little tolerance for the acid and caffeine. Also I'm way snobby, and no one lets me clean and work the espresso machines myself!
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
This minute, I'm reading Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly for review, and it's quirky in a way I'm really liking. I've got Cassie Clare's The Bane Chronicles lined up for next, and then maybe one of the stack of travel memoirs or poetry books I picked up from the last library book sale!
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I don't usually outline. I don't like feeling hemmed in, and if I write it all out it feels like I've already written it and makes the actual writing feel like repetition. What I mostly do is break it down into arcs, then after each day's writing, list three or five things I can do the next day.
If I do make an outline, it's because I'm doing an intensive project like NaNoWriMo (which is fun but usually somewhat disastrous because it's too fast--I missed literally half the needed plot in my last one and I'm still wrestling with it!), and then I make the barest skeleton of an outline to leave space for inspiration and magic!
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
13. Celebrity crush.
Oh god, I'm like that girl on Teen Girl Squad--"I'm in love with all the boys!" Right now, my top five are David Tennant, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Aaron Stanford, and Chris Hardwick. I love a good cheekbone, an expressive face, and a goofy smile.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
Anne McCaffrey's Pern books were the first things I read that made me go "damn, I need to write a thing", and I did and it was awful, but I never stopped writing since that day!
I've read almost every book Robin McKinley and Neil Gaiman have ever written, and I'm working on getting my grubby paws on the rest. I love Cassandra Clare, Jim Butcher, and Jasper Fforde's stuff is awesomely mind bending.
When I started out, though, I think I was more influenced by Narnia and a hundred 80s fantasy movies. Now I've got two writing degrees adding literary theory and lots of classics I don't like to the mix! I mean, who decides on what's a classic? So many of them are the opposite of how I want to write!
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Samantha Holloway
is unfit for anything but writing expansive fantasy and the occasional science fiction story, so she does it full time. She's the author of the new epic fantasy novel
Married to the Wind
, and has published dozens of book reviews, TV reviews and a few short stories. In between writing and thinking about writing, she lives in North Carolina with a cat aptly-named Ninja, wears too much jewelry, runs a home made nail polish company for a lark, and subsists mostly on tea. Find her at
Herding the Dragon
.
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