Jennifer Brozek's Blog, page 41

Internet Lite

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

I need to take a break from social media so I can get my mind focused on the novel I have due soon. I’m going “internet lite.” No Facebook or Twitter until April 18th. I’m still going to be reading email, IMs, and text messages but only after I’ve made word count for the day. NEVER LET ME DIE has got to be my focus until I’m so far in the throes of it I can’t think of anything else. I’m sure the internet will survive without me. If you must get hold of me, email is your best bet.

My Hugo Nomination for Best Short Form Editor

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

This Norwescon was pretty intense and event-filled. The biggest thing that happened was the Hugo Award nomination short list announcement. I have been nominated for Best Editor, Short Form. I’m simultaneously thrilled beyond words and terrified. I know a whole lot more people will be looking at me now, trying to figure out who I am, what I do, and what I’ve done.

I once wrote about working in the publishing industry was to be an obscure celebrity. When people find out, they get very excited. The stars in some people’s eyes is really amazing to see.

To be an editor is to be a stealth troubleshooter, designer, and artist all at once—specifically to make someone else look awesome. I’ve worked hard in the last five years, putting out 14 anthologies, being an assistant editor for Apex Publications, being the editor in chief of Apocalypse Ink Productions, and doing the thousand myriad jobs one does in the publishing business. I am currently editing a charity anthology as well as an open call for flash fiction for Evil Girlfriend Media.

In 2014, I had 4 anthologies released. I am proud of all of them. The first is pure science fiction, the second is steampunk fantasy, the third is a non-fiction anthology from women about games and the gaming industry, and the last is traditional fantasy-military.

Bless Your Mechanical Heart anthology - Evil Girlfriend Media, Editor, April 2014
Beast Within 4: Gears & Growls anthology - Graveside Tales, Editor, October 2014
Chicks Dig Gaming non-fiction anthology - Mad Norwegian Press, Co-Editor (with Robert Smith? and Lars Pearson), November 2014
Shattered Shields anthology - Baen Books, Co-Editor (with Bryan Thomas Schmidt), November 2014

Below are the other 10 anthologies I edited since 2009, including my award winning anthology, Grants Pass.

Grants Pass anthology - Morrigan Books, Co-editor (with Amanda Pillar), August, 2009 (AU Shadows Award Winner 2009)
Close Encounters of the Urban Kind anthology - Apex Book Company, Editor, April 2010
Beauty Has Her Way anthology - Dark Quest Books, Editor, January 2011
Human Tales anthology - Dark Quest Books, Editor, April 2011
Beast Within 2: Predator & Prey anthology - Graveside Tales, Editor, June 2011
Space Tramps anthology - Flying Pen Press, Editor, Sep 2011
Human for a Day anthology – DAW, Editor, Dec 2011
Dangers Untold anthology - Alliteration Ink Press, Editor, 1 October 2012
Beast Within 3: Oceans Unleashed anthology - Graveside Tales, Editor, 7 December 2012
Coins of Chaos anthology - EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, Editor, October 2013

Since the announcement, several people have asked me if they can vote. The answer is “yes, but…” Yes, but you need to be at least a supporting member of Sasquan / Worldcon 2015. This is a minimum of $40. However, if you do become a member in time to vote (by the end of July 2015), you will receive the Hugo packet which will have a whole of books and stories from the nominees in other categories so you can make an informed choice. The Hugo packet will include examples of my editing work.

I want to thank everyone who has contacted me with cheers, support, and well wishes. I’m tickled pink that authors I’ve edited are happy about the nomination. Every congratulations message means the world to me. More than you can know. I do feel a little bit like the “home town girl does good” and I don’t want to let anyone down.

There you have it. I’ve been nominated and I’m thrilled. If you have any questions about my work, please let me know.

SALE!

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

Copied from Ragnarok Publications.

Ragnarok Acquires Brozek Novella

March 30, 2015
Melanie R. Meadors

Press Release
For Immediate Release

 DANGER LURKS IN THE SAFEST OF PLACES AFTER A NEW OUTBREAK IN DARK SPECULATIVE FICTION

Ragnarok Publications welcomes award-winning Jennifer Brozek to their author list with novella The Last Days of Salton Academy

 March 27, 2015—Crestview Hills, KY—Ragnarok Publications announces dark days ahead for readers with their newest acquisition, The Last Days of Salton Academy.

Penned by Jennifer Brozek, a much celebrated editor, game designer, and author, The Last Days of Salton Academy focuses on grim and mysterious happenings at one of the last safe havens after an outbreak has ravaged the world. It is a tale of high stakes and dire consequences in a world on the brink of collapse.

“This novella began with the image of a zombie dog walking down a school hallway with a heavy chain dragging behind it,” Brozek says. “The sound of the moaning dog and the chain against tile wouldn't leave my head. The more I thought about it, the more the story unfolded.”

Ragnarok Publications is no stranger to the zombie apocalypse, with books on their publication list like the Dead West Omnibus by J.M. Martin, Tim Marquitz, and Kenny Soward, Path of the Dead by Timothy Baker, and the Tuskers series by Duncan McGeary.

What keeps readers coming back for more zombie stories? Brozek has an idea: “Good zombie apocalypse stories are about the people and what happens when the foundations of civilization breakdown.” One only needs to look as far as their television to see this in action. With shows like AMC’s The Walking Dead, fans can see how horrendous happenings can bring out the best and worst in people, and sometimes good people must do bad things in order to survive. Zombie and other apocalypse stories explore sides of society and people that aren’t always apparent or accessible in other types of tales.

Readers can expect The Last Days of Salton Academy to arrive in March 2016, but anyone wanting a taste of Brozek’s work beforehand will have plenty to choose from. Winner of the Australian Shadows Award for best edited publications, Brozek has edited fifteen anthologies to date with multiple publishers. She has written more than sixty short stories and is also a freelance author for numerous RPG companies, having contributed to RPG sourcebooks including Dragonlance, Shadowrun, and Serenity. Her work has earned both the Origins and the ENnie awards.

“I couldn't be happier to be signed by Ragnarok Publications,” says Brozek, concerning her new publisher. “They have a well deserved reputation for excellent genre fiction, quality products, and a knowledgeable staff. They have their act together and I appreciate being part of that.”

Norwescon 2015 Schedule, 2-5 April

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

Here is my Norwescon 2015 schedule. If I am not in one of these places, I'm probably at my booth in Authors Avenue just outside the Dealers Room. Come say hello. I'm happy to chat as time and customers permit.

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Outlines
Thu 8:00pm-9:00pm - Evergreen 3&4
Jennifer Brozek (M), G. David Nordley, Dean Wells, Kevin Radthorne, Jude-Marie Green, Suzanne Brahm, Anne Groell

Horror Cage Match: Short Story vs. Novel
Thu 9:00pm-10:00pm - Cascade 9
Morgue Anne (M), Kate Jonez, Nathan Crowder, Jennifer Brozek

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Worldbuilding 101
Fri 12:00pm-1:00pm - Evergreen 1&2
Brenda Carre (M), Pat MacEwen, Simon R Green, Grant Riddell, Django Wexler, Jennifer Brozek

Writing About the Military
Fri 4:00pm-5:00pm - Cascade 7&8
Russell Ervin (M), Bart Kemper, S. A. Bolich, Jennifer Brozek, Joseph Malik, Elliott Kay

Are Optimistic SF Stories Gone Forever?
Fri 5:00pm-6:00pm - Cascade 10
Alex C. Renwick (M), Brenda Cooper, Nancy Kress, Jennifer Brozek, Mir Plemmons

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SFWA Meeting
Sat 10:00am-11:00am

Your Anti-Procrastination First Aid Kit
Sat 1:00pm-2:00pm - Evergreen 1&2
Nina Post (M), Jennifer Brozek, Stephanie Herman, Kevin Scott, Harold Gross, Gregory A. Wilson

Autograph Session 1
Sat 2:00pm-3:00pm - Grand 2
Dennis R. Upkins, Cat Rambo, Kate Jonez, Patrick Swenson, Brenda Cooper, Carol Berg, Cymbric Early-Smith, Bijhan Valibeigi, Dean Wells, G. David Nordley, Jennifer Brozek, John Cramer, Jude-Marie Green, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Kurt Cagle, Lee Moyer, Nancy Kress, Rob Carlos, Simon R Green, Stephen L. Gillett, Wolfgang Baur, Morgue Anne, Jack Skillingstead

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Worth the Dues?
Sun 11:00am-12:00pm - Cascade 7&8
Cat Rambo (M), Annie Bellet, Pat MacEwen, Peter Dennis Pautz, Jennifer Brozek

DocWagon 19 has been released!

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

The Life of a Lifesaver

DocWagon—saviors of the needy, rescuers of the desperate. Willing to go anywhere, rescue anyone, as long as that “anyone” has forked out enough advance cash to justify the effort.

Reporter Amelia Hart has embedded herself with a DocWagon team to see what their life is really like, and she’s in for a wild ride. From an OD’ing celebrity to an aggressive team of hackers, from pesky gangs to an extremely rich and powerful client teetering at death’s door, this night will give the team all they can handle. But will they survive long enough to remember that in the Sixth World, nothing is truly random?

Full of memorable characters and rich Sixth World flavor, DocWagon 19 is a thrilling ride with the people struggling to save lives in a sprawl with a million ways to make people dead. Strap in, hold on, crank up the siren, and get ready for a crazy ride-along through the full chaos of the Shadowrun setting.

You can buy it here: Amazon | BattleShop | DriveThruRPG

Bubble and Squeek for 18 Mar 2015

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

Article: Black Gate Magazine calls JAZZ AGE CTHULHU a new treasure. It's got my novelette, "Dreams of a Thousand Young", in it.

Cover Art: Catalyst Games Lab revealed the cover art to my Shadowrun novella, DOC WAGON 19. It's wonderful.

Release: Rogue Games has released COLONIAL GOTHIC: ROANOKE ISLAND. My take on what happened to the colony in the Colonial Gothic RPG world.

Release: CHIMERA INCARNATE has been released to the world. Cover art by Amber Clark.

Chimera Incarnate
Karen Wilson Chronicles #4
This is the final book in the series.
More Information.  Buy Now.
Amazon | B&N | DriveThruFiction

Subbing Stories and Rainforest Recap

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

In early February, I bemoaned the fact that I had had two (excellent) rejections in two days. Personalized responses with reasons for the rejections. While I was participating in the age old rite of fighting with my ego having taken a beating and pulling myself up by my bootstraps to get those rejected stories out in the world again, one of my readers on social media commented, “Oh, wow, Jennifer. It didn’t occur to me that you were still out there submitting. I thought you were always in demand.”

This struck me a little odd, as it never occurred to me to not submit my stories. Yes, I do get invitations and I adore them but that doesn’t mean I automatically get into those markets. Also, I frequently have stories I just want to write. Once they are written, I look for markets to sell them in. And I get rejections.

To be in demand is to create demand and you can only do that by getting your name and your stories out there. Many professional authors I know still write and submit work. It is an unending process. Short stories are a good way to keep connected with readers, to get background stories for novels out there, and to explore character development you might not get to do in a novel.

I suspect most professional authors not vocal about their rejections. Most of the time I’m not but this particular time, I needed a little ego boosting and the internet can be great for that.

I guess I wanted to get across to one and all, even when you are a successful writer, you still submit stories to markets. You still get rejected. Then, you get back on the horse and send that story back out. It’s just one of the facets of being an author.

***

I attended the Rainforest Writers Retreat again this year. It was very productive. I accomplished everything I set out to do and a little bit more. I wrote two short stories, two blog posts, and outlined NEVER LET ME DIE, Melissa Allen #3. More than that, I wrote a two page synopsis for NLMD, and, with the help of a medical professional attending the retreat, worked out some sticky medical problems with the series.

Then, since the Husband had joined me, we went to La Push, WA for three days of hiking and ocean watching. He needed the time off from work, and we wanted a real vacation together. So, a good time was had by all.

Just took me a week to post about it after getting home.

Tell Me - Russell Proctor

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

The Spark of Inspiration

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Heard that one before? That’s nothing. I found a picture that has so far been worth over 270,000 words.

I can’t show you the picture, unfortunately, since I don’t know who drew it or where it came from and I don’t want to breach any copyright that the artist may be entitled to. It landed on my Facebook page one day and caught my attention.

Let me describe the picture to you. It shows little Alice Liddell from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Dorothy Gale from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz sitting under a tree drinking tea. Alice is contemplating her tea cup with a rather thoughtful expression on her face. Toto the dog and Dinah the cat sit at their feet. The caption reads, ‘I’ve seen some weird shit.’

This picture got me thinking. What if Alice and Dorothy really did meet up? What would happen? I know there had been Alice and Dorothy mash-ups before, and certainly other books using the characters, but I was struck with the idea of an adult-oriented, horror story in which Alice and Dorothy join forces to combat some evil of a very deadly nature.

So I sat down to write what I thought was going to be a novella of about 40,000 words. Half-way through writing it Permuted Press became interested in the work and negotiations with them led to a series based on the idea. It took off from there and the story became what is now a trilogy of full-length novels collectively titled The Jabberwocky Book.

A single image led to an idea that led to two years of writing. You never know where inspiration is going to take you.

The work now consists of three books, the first of which, The Red King, is due out this month. The second book, An Unkindness of Ravens, and the third, The Looking-Glass House, will be published later this year and next year.

It was fun extrapolating the characters, and researching the time in which the series is set, Edwardian England. There was a real Alice Liddell, on whom the fictional character in Carroll’s books was based, and I thought about what sort of woman the fictional Alice might grow up to become, and also how her adventures might have affected her psychologically and emotionally. That was a lot of fun, too.

But none of that would have happened if that image hadn’t landed in my computer. I didn’t ask for it, it was just a picture someone (probably illegally) shared around. But it set something off in my brain that had me tapping away at a keyboard for a long time. Of course, if Permuted Press hadn’t put up their hand and indicated interest it would probably have stayed a novella and been less detailed and far less of a challenge.

Inspiration doesn’t just come from many sources – it can come from any source. Unexpectedly. That light-bulb moment where the writer asks the most magical question in the world: “What if…?”

Recognising the inspirational idea is the first thing. Hammering away at it until it resembles what you want is the hard part. That takes time and sweat and tears and not a little frustration. But if that initial spark of inspiration is there, it becomes easier, and (hopefully) a  source of joy to others.


----
Russell Proctor is an Australian writer, but has also been many other things in his working life, including a lawyer, teacher, professional actor, medical project manager and even a pizza delivery boy. At present he is semi-retired, tutoring school and university students in the evenings and writing during the day. His interests include hiking, astronomy and cats. He has travelled extensively throughout the world, preferring out of the way places to modern civilization, for example having visited Antarctica, walked the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. He does not describe himself as a thrill-seeker, but certainly prefers his travels to include adventures rather than just “tourist traps”. A skeptic and futurist, Proctor has examined the methods and ideas of science and pseudo-science in his  novel Plato’s Cave, which satirizes humanity’s endless quest for meaning in life and conflicting beliefs about the nature of reality. His professional acting days included working in film, TV and stage productions. He has also written and directed plays and musicals. Further information about him and his work can be found at his website, www.russellproctor.com.


LINK TO PRE-ORDER SITE FOR “THE RED KING”:
http://www.amazon.com/Red-King-Jabberwocky-Book-ebook/dp/B00U9VD3UE/

Bubble and Squeek for 10 Feb 2015

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

Lots of editing on my plate right now for AIP and for freelance clients. So, here's a fun little Bubble and Squeek for you.

Just Cause: Video of the inside-out grilled cheese sandwich. I've done this twice now and it really is the best darn grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had.

Interview: I was interviewed on Layers of Thoughts. This was a great interview. Good questions.

MIND MELD: The Intersection of SF/F Games and Genre Fiction. I had a good time answering this Mind Meld.

Sale: My short story collection, Apocalypse Girl Dreaming, is only $0.99 on Amazon! If you were waiting, wait no more!

Cover Reveal:  And the cover for Chimera Incarnate (which is available for pre-order) is too perfect for words. It is exactly as I imagined for the scene that Karen is in. Perfect.

Other Hugo Recommendations

(Crossposted from Jennifer Brozek)

Along with me and my stuff being eligible for the Hugo Awards, I wanted to post some other recommendations. These are works that I have really enjoyed.

Novel
The Martian, Andy Weir
Symbiont, Mira Grant

Novella
"The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell" Mira Grant
“Yesterday’s Kin” Nancy Kress

Novelette
“Rappacini's Crow” Cat Rambo
“A Necessary Being” Octavia Butler
"The Ghosts of Bourbon Street" Seanan McGuire

Short Story
“The Meeker and the All-Seeing Eye”, Matthew Kressel
“The Lambs”, Seanan McGuire
“Goodnight Stars”, Annie Bellet

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short
“And the Apple of Discord" The Librarians
“Korra Alone” Legend of Korra

Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form)
Edge of Tomorrow
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar

Best Editor (Short Form)
Christie Yant
Dawn Vogel
Ellen Datlow
Jennifer Brozek
Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Best Editor (Long Form)
Toni Weisskopf – BAEN
Jim Minz – BAEN
Sheila Gilbert – DAW

Best Related Work
Chicks Dig Gaming, Jennifer Brozek, Robert Smith?, Lars Pearson, Mad Norwegian Press
Invisible, Jim Hines

Best Artist
Chris McGrath
Aly Fell

Campbell Award
Andy Weir
Django Wexler
Beth Cato