Anton Strout's Blog, page 152
June 7, 2011
Carnage & Consequences, pre order now!
Hey there, my beasties!
Just a heads up on a new anthology that’s coming out this summer. I’m in it and the reason you should pay attention (other than that) is that this may be the only way you’re going to see this story in print!
Last year, the authors of the Gen Con Writer’s Symposium put together a commemorative anthology for the show called Stalking the Wild Hare, a title I still don’t quite get. It featured a reprint of my Simonverse historical story ‘The Fourteenth Virtue” from The Dimension Next Door, which had been a short story sale generated from a previous Gen Con conversation. It’s the Ben Franklin, Necromancer one (written years before that Abe Lincoln fellow was slaying vampires, I assure you).
This year’s anthology is called:
It features a bit of near-future cyberpunk technomancy piece of mine called ‘tique. You haven’t read it. It hasn’t been published before, but I had a blast writing it.
How do you get a copy, you ask? Excellent question! Well, if you’re at Gen Con Indy this summer, you can buy one there, quite possibly off Author Guest of Honor me.
Since many of you probably won’t be able to make it to the middle of the country for the “best four days of gaming”, I’m offering to collect preorders here. C&C (not the music factory, mind you) is a $16.00 trade paperback and not only do you get my story, but you get this awesome line up of my fellow Writer’s Symposium authors:
I’ll even try to get them to it for you. How’s that for added incentive? I’d say the sooner you get your order into me, the better, so I can get a ballpark count of how many copies I’ll need from the publisher. Let’s say July 20th as a cut off date for getting your preorders in.
Email me at anton.strout@gmail.com with subject ‘Carnage & Consequences’ and I’ll make sure you’re able to snag a copy!
April 22, 2011
Press Release: The Spellmason Chronicles sold to Ace Books
The contracts are on their way to me, so it's safe to say that I have just sold two books in a new series to Ace Books! The first of them, due in November to my editor, is Alchemystic, Book One of the Spellmason Chronicles. The second is entitled No Title Yet. Catchy, right?
They will be based on a short story I did for the anthology Spells of the City (still available online and at some fine bookstores across this great nation of ours). My story was called "Stannis" and detailed the life a girl, a gargoyle, and the family legacy that stretched between them. These books will spell out the greater story behind that tale, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.
I know the first thing out of your mouth after "grats!" will be "What about Simon?"
Well... at the moment, I'm writing the books I'm getting paid for, and right now Simon does not qualify for that. I know there's a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of book four, Dead Waters, and I promise you I will get back to it when I can, but it's not my top priority at the moment. I've got the outline laid out. I've always known where I wanted it to go next, but the reality is I still believe in building my career through traditional publishing. Now, I could shop the idea around to other publishers, but I think it's unlikely they'll want to pick up a series that another publisher put the brakes on. In a perfect world the Spellmason Chronicles will do so well that I'll get to call the shots on what does or does not go to press, so that may be an option. Who knows? When I have the time to ACTUALLY write the full Simon book, I may even try the self publishing route if all else fails.
That said, let me remind you that the Simon series will be out on audible.com in July, for the loyalists out there. This means my mother-in-law will finally be able to enjoy them and that she can also stop asking me when they're coming out as audio books :P
Also, I hope to sell more short stories about the Simonverse as the opportunities arise, so there's that avenue to look down as well. I'll keep you posted.
Again, new series coming from yours truly. Alert the media! I literally mean that... report it where you will. I need the press :P It's scary writing in a new world where I don't know quite everybody yet, and I certainly miss the old gang- Simon, Jane, the Inspectre, and good old Godfrey... not to mention the vampire Brandon Walsh- but it's scary exciting to have all these new people showing up on my mind's doorstep demanding camera time in the new book. I really can't wait to share them with you!
All my best,
Anton
April 2, 2011
Yesterday's post
I really was touched by your enthusiasm, even though I am apparently quite a mean little April Fool's trickster...
April 1, 2011
A bit of somewhat exciting news
As some of you know, my agency ICM, has a film and television division out on the west coast. I've been working hard at refining the pitch for the Simon Canderous series with them, and, well...
It didn't go over so well... at first. Thanks to the one season wonder of The Dresden Files on SyFy (back then just SciFi) no one wanted to take a chance on another live action paranormal city type show.. THANKS, Jim!
BUT with some retooling of the pitch and script, I am proud to announce that as of January 2012, the CW is bringing back it's Saturday Morning Animation Action Pack, and leading the line up with be an animated version the Simon Canderous series!
Now to make it work with the time slot and that demographic, there have been a few small changes that deviate from the series, but I'm told this is a good thing. Here's a summary from the CW's official news:
Simon & The Bat Pack
Welcome to Spook High, a high school of a different kind where the students are special--recruits, that is. Teen heartthrob Simon Canderous and his friends have been enlisted in after school activities for paranormal ops training by the Department of Extraordinary Affairs Other Division- New York's answer to the underfunded world of paranormal investigation. It’s a school day caught up in hot lunches, study halls where the desks might try to kill you,and schoolyard politics, but its becoming par for the course for new student Simon Canderous. After a life of reform schools and sixteen years of watching his power of psychometry—the ability to divine information solely by touching an object—destroy his grades and any chance of a getting a girlfriend, he’s joined the high school forces of Good hoping to gain some control. But when the mysterious hottie ghost of ex-cheerleader Irene shows up at their after school hang out the Lovecraft Café, he and his football buddy Connor must figure out how she fits into a nefarious plot involving a cultist prom committee, learning how to dance while slaying zombies, and the forces of Darkness crushing on him.
I'm terribly thrilled and can't wait to see the show. I was talking to my fellow writer Amber Benson (of Buffy fame) and they've already approached her about doing the voice of Jane Clayton-Forrester, the 'mean girl' who heads the cultist prom committee. Can't wait for you all to see it next year! Fingers crossed it turns out as good as it sounds!
March 16, 2011
Win a critique from the League of Reluctant Adults to help the Red Cross
In light of that, The League of Reluctant Adults decided to raise money for the Red Cross in a creative way that will also benefit two lucky aspiring writers!
Get a helpful critique of your first pages and synopsis from a group of authors from the League of Reluctant Adults!
Highest bidder (100% of proceeds go to the Red Cross to help Japan) gets to submit a synopsis and first batch of pages (up to 6000 words between the two - you decide how that works) of any fiction project for "expert analysis" by either Team Fang or Team Claw, two groups of authors from the League of Reluctant Adults! (We're a group of published authors of urban fantasy, young adult, and paranormal romance; see our blog at http://reluctantadults.blogspot.com/)
What you get: We'll each commit to taking at least an hour to read your stuff and let you know what we think is working great, and what we think isn't working, and give ideas for improvement. Some members may concentrate more on the synopsis, some on the pages, but we'll all be giving our best constructive advice. Be ready to get a spectrum of opinions, and possibly disagreement between league members, either noted on the document itself or on separate documents. It'll be like we're all sitting in a room, discussing your story and early pages. You will have six months to submit your document (Microsoft Word ideal), we'll have a month to look it over and comment. (note, this is for craft/story feedback only, and not in any way a guarantee of representation or publication). At the end, we'll email your word doc back, full of all of our comments, either on the document, or on separate documents.
Team Fang members: Mario Acevedo, Dakota Cassidy, Stacia Kane, JF Lewis, Nicole Peeler, KA Stewart, Anton Strout
Go here to bid on Team Fang (of which I am a part of), or go here to bid on Team Claw. Good luck, and spread the word! Let's help out!
Team Claw: http://cgi.ebay.com/Manuscript-story-critique-League-Authors-Team-Claw-/190512755910?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5b71f4c6
March 10, 2011
One of my announcements that I CAN share right now
Over in his goblin filled weblair, ![[info]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1380449247i/1833871.gif)
jimhines announced:
Earlier this week, I got the official acceptance for my story “Corrupted,” which will be in the anthology THE MODERN FAE’S GUIDE TO SURVIVING HUMANITY, edited by Patricia Bray and Joshua Palmatier.
March 9, 2011
Quick Report: Midtown Comics Downtown
Don't we look like we should be solving crimes together? Or at least writing books together? I think so too.
The crowd is always great for these events. A lot of Whedonesque enthusiasts turn out for her, which means part of my time in spent watching people who are shaking and can barely speak to sweet, sweet Amber. I remind them to breathe. How sweet is Amber, you may wonder? So sweet that she, as a fan of my books herself, tries to turn them on to my series as well, which is awesome. I'm not quite as well known as her, despite my insistence to her fans that I was her stunt double on Buffy. Part of me secretly wants that level of adoration thrust upon me...
Speaking of which, I got a little fan love this time around. There were cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine that one awesome reader brought, and oh my crap they were delicious! Let's see... other interesting things that happened... I signed some Kindles, a Sony Reader, a faux movie poster for Dead To Me that the webmistress of undeadapproved.com brought, and I also signed packs of Life Savers, a signing first for me (although it did cause a bit of a marital spat when someones wife accidentally ate them on the way home).
And here's the biggest first, right here in picture form:
That's right. I finally had someone show up to a signing dressed as one of my characters! I can check that off my bucket list. I'm not gonna lie. It was hella-awesome! He had everything-- the long black trenchcoat, the Ramones t-shirt, gloves, Life Savers, even a retractable bat! He joke that he was maybe Simon in twenty years. I told him I thought it was cute he thought Simon would live that long working for the Department of Extraordinary Affairs.
All in all, a great signing with an amazing fellow author and stupendous readers and fans, some old and some new! I am humbled and honored that you guys dig the books enough to show your unbound enthusiasm towards me. It means a lot.
Now back to the book mines!
March 1, 2011
An Open Letter to CBS
Fru
strated by the squandering of his success, I decided I wanted to turn the powers of the Sheen towards some sort of self-indulgent good.
Please share and spread the word.
An Open Letter to CBS
Greetings Network People,
Listen, I know things are probably pretty crazy over there right now. I mean, what with this whole Charlie Sheen thing going on, screwing up your programming and all.
It seems like every other meme on the internet has his name attached to it. I suppose the world is endlessly fascinated by those who exhibit bad behavior in public. I suspect he’ll end up with a reality show out of it or something. I wish I knew what was wrong with him, I really do. Granted, I’m in no position to be doling out any kind of diagnosis. After all, I just write entertaining works of fantasy fiction. Maybe it’s the drugs. Maybe it’s the drinking. Maybe it’s having grown up with no perception of reality beyond his celebrity… I’m not quite sure. I only know that with every passing day, there are new outrageous quotes popping up out of his mouth, all the while his other cast members and crew go without work. Maybe he wants out of his contract by any means necessary? I doubt we’ll never truly know…
I suppose that’s why I’m taking the time to write. I don’t want to appear opportunistic, but when I see such reckless disregard on his behalf, I can’t help but pose a solution, and yes, that solution involves me and my own work writing the Simon Canderous series of contemporary fantasy novels for Ace Books.
I think there is some solid reasoning here as to the finer points of picking up a show based on my series to help fill the void Mr. Sheen is leaving, unless of course you are planning to soldier on and re-title your show One and a Half Men… but first a few sensible points about working with me and my book series as show content before talking about more show specific details.
I would actually be very appreciative and thankful to be on television, which some people out there do not seem too mindful of, unless you count showing up as a laughing stock on the news.
No one would have to worry about my antics under the influence. Outside of a deep love of lemon flavored PEZ, that’s about the height of my addictions. Mind you, I like a good drink, but I don’t have all that much of an addictive personality. The worst you’ll probably hear of me was that I was in a hotel room and ran around in circles until I crashed out from too much sugar. You can rest assured that I’ll keep writing the best books I can, and hopefully content for the series once picked up.
Unlike some people, I would consider it a privilege to be involved in a network show, actually taking those working around me into consideration before jeopardizing the lives and jobs of everyone involved in production.
Yes, yes, I know that every author thinks their precious darling books should be made into films and television series, but I tend to write very cinematically and I think there are some convincing arguments to be made for why this show would be a worthy pilot project:
Cop shows set in cities are beloved. Be it The Shield, Law & Order, The Wire, CSI: Wherever… you can’t swing a dead cat for fear of hitting a long running or much loved cop show out there. It’s a solid formula. Mystery, Investigation, Solved, rinse and repeat. Tune in next week! Consider the Simon Canderous series CSI: Ghostbusters Edition.
Supernatural shows are beloved… especially the show actually called Supernatural. Paranormal shows even spurn their own cult fan followings that have their own conventions and fanzines… it’s proven that viewers love the paranormal. For your consideration: Buffy, Angel, Supernatural¸ Charmed, The Walking Dead and the wildly popular True Blood on HBO (which is also based on an Ace Books series by my lovely friend, Charlaine Harris). The Simon Canderous series has many of the well-travelled creatures people come to expect of paranormal fantasy shows, from chupecabras right on down to non-sparkling vampires and ooey-gooey zombies.
As an added bonus, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s got a lot of humor to lighten the mood. Fighting the creepy crawlies and undead of Manhattan while keeping under budget… well, you kind of have to laugh your way through your workday if only to keep from going mad from all the Lovecraftian horrors out there.
Bearing all that in mind, a paranormal cop show based on my Simon Canderous novels should be a no-brainer to chance yourselves on. Most of it could be filmed on location on streets of Manhattan—my personal stomping grounds—a film and television friendly town. The rest of the pivotal locations are narrowed down to a handful of staged locations, as well as some semi-famous real world locations around the city. It’s likely that the biggest expense would be special effects, but I can’t imagine they’d run higher, say, than Charlie Sheen’s weekly salary.
Anyway, just some delicious, delicious zombie brain meats for you consideration. You can reach my agent at ICM through me at: anton.strout@gmail.com
Thanks for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Anton Strout
www.antonstrout.com
February 23, 2011
Five true things from the Simon Canderous series that don't seem true
My Simon Canderous urban fantasy series is chock full of the bizarre. Homicidal bookcases, chupacabra, zombies, vampires, statues that come to life, all set against my home for fifteen years, New York City. I thought it might interest my readers to know that much of what I write about actually does exist in Manhattan, only I’ve given those things a slight paranormal twist. I thought it would be keen to share some of those things with you today.
The Lovecraft Café
The front operation for the Department of Extraordinary Affairs is, of course, the east village coffee shop/movie theater known as the Lovecraft Café. While the name itself is a nod to good ole H.P. himself and his Cthulhu mythos, the place itself did exist. Back in the mid-90s I lived over in the East Village and used to frequent this coffee shop called Cinema Classics, located on E. 11th as it is in my books. Coffeehouse out front, and beyond a hanging velvet curtain in the back you’d find an awesome little cinema area that played lots of great stuff I had always wanted to see on the big screen. 9 times out of 10 the movies I have playing in the Lovecraft Café version of it are clues to the plot of the book. Sadly, the café closed even before Dead To Me came out, and lives on through my work.
Cleopatra’s Needle
In Deader Still, Simon comes across a strange monolith sitting in Central Park. Carved with hieroglyphics, it’s just standing there behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is a real thing, and one of the many fun discoveries I came across in my many adventures in the park. Somewhere I have a recording of me blocking out certain scenes from the book, running to and fro around it. Simon and Connor are being chased by ghost-possessed crab statues (sounds silly, I know) and I was working out the logistics of it all in the park one afternoon. Funny story about that… at first I had read about the Needle online, and it said it had these heavy bronze crab statues at it’s base, so I had envisioned like one giant human-sized statue, menacing in scale. When I first went to the Needle, however, I realized my sense of scale was off. There were four crabs, each about the size of a toaster oven. Not quite menacing in the same way, but I figure they’d be scary because it was late at night, and there were four of them low and hiding in the dark. And let’s face it… squirrels aren’t all that terrifying either, but if 80 attacked you at once, well…
The Gibson-Case Center
The Gibson- Case Center is the home to some very special residents in Dead Matter. Let’s just leave it at that, shall we? However, it’s based on the several things I love. As an old school Shadowrun RPG-er, I used to love the idea of arcologies… these building city-states that were self contained communities. The building itself is where the Time Warner Center stands in Manhattan on Columbus Circle and is pretty much a giant self contained city state of a building. I recommend visiting it if you’re in NYC. The name is a tribute to one of my favorite authors William Gibson and his character Case from Neuromancer.
Bryant Park
I’m always looking for new and interesting venues when writing about the city I love, and New York never seems to disappoint. Take, for example, I knew I wanted a big brawl and I knew a necromancer was behind much of what was going on in Deader Still, but I needed a location that would work for a scenario. The idea of staging it during Fashion Week kind of struck me funny (I write while watching America’s Next Top Model and Project Runway.. don’t judge!). And they usually used to set up at Bryant Park, so I researched that area, only to discover that Bryant Park had once been a potter’s field, a mass grave for the poor. Gee, what could a necromancer do with a big pile of corpses underneath the Fashion Week tents? Ding! We had a winner!
Hell Gate Bridge
In Dead Waters, I wanted to explore the history of some of the characters people have come to know and love in the series. One of them is Simon’s mentor and boss, Inspectre Argyle Quimbley. I wanted to explore what it meant to get old in a world of fighting supernatural horrors. Longevity doesn’t seem to fit well in the great struggle between good versus evil, if I base it on my Call of Cthulu RPG loss of Sanity Points for all the characters I played. While exploring who the Inspectre used to be as a young man, I started to thing of historical locations around the city that might have dark histories as well, and while perusing maps, there it was: the Hell Gate Bridge. I mean, c’mon people, how was I supposed to resist that, just by name alone? And upon further research, there’s been so much tragedy associated with that location over the years, well… for me, those elements of real life details really help to ground my work. I’ve always liked to have a real world feel where fantastical things happen, instead of a fantastical world with real elements. It seems to be what people come to my work for, so I must be doing something right.
I wonder what will strike my fancy next from the real world, but in a city like New York, there’s always something inspiring and waiting to be twisted around every corner. Let’s get twisted together, shall we?
February 22, 2011
Dead Waters (Simon Canderous #4) on sale this week! Spreading the word...
Hey, all! It’s that time of year again. Time for a new book in the adventure’s of New York City’s favorite psychometrist, Simon Canderous! Dead Waters goes on sale this week. Here’s the shiny cover with all the rest. If you flip through the<input ... > cover images really fast, it looks like Simon is doing the parnormal Hokey Pokey!
Before I go on further, I’d like to thank all of you who have been supporting the series. You’re my best line of getting the word out there about it, and this time around it is no different. So please, if you like the work, please take the time to steal this image or images from my Facebook and spread a little love for the Simonverse around. I’m still unknown to a vast majority of readers out there, and every little bit of help you give in sharing the series with others really does help. I am humbled by your enthusiasm and thank you in advance for any kindness you show in this pimping regard.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program…
Here are some links you may be interested in, wherein I talk with various people about various aspects of the new book and the series in general:
Awesome author Rachel Caine talks about my secret life as a superhero and is running a giveaway of not just the new book signed, but the three backlist ones as well: http://rachelcaine.livejournal.com/177682.html
Former Dork of the Roundtable Carolyn Turgeon talks to me about my lack of mermaids in my work. She’s had The Millionaire Matchmaker, Tim Gunn and now fashion icon ME! http://iamamermaid.com/2011/02/22/262/
The Quillery interviews me and runs a giveaway, and no, it is not for one of my thumbs: http://qwillery.blogspot.com/2011/02/interview-with-anton-strout-and.html
Natasha Carty, the Wickedlilpixie herself, reviews Dead Waters, where I admittedly wrote some things specifically to tweak both her love and hate of Jane Clayton-Forrester. http://wickedlilpixie.com/2011/02/22/release-day-review-dead-waters-anton-strout/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=release-day-review-dead-waters-anton-strout
Preternatural Reviews reviews away: http://networkedblogs.com/eAyFe
Professional funny writer and goblin torturer Jim C. Hines has me discuss how the Simon Canderous series first got published over at First Book Fridays: http://jimhines.livejournal.com/555335.html
Click away and enjoy!
Yours in time,
Anton
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