Gay Science Fiction discussion
This topic is about
Anne Tenino
Author of the Month Discussions
>
June Author: **Anne Tenino** Turning Tricks interview questions up
Hey all!So, as promised, here's some info on the giveaway for 18% Gray. The giveaway is for members of this group only.
The giveaway will begin next week, on Monday the 14th of May. I'll give interested parties until Friday to enter, then I'll announce the winner on Saturday in this group. I *think* this will be just your standard "email me and I'll put you in the hopper" giveaway, unless I get all creative...
The prize is one ebook copy of 18% Gray in the format of your choice.
The following week, there will be a sale on the books of all authors who signed with Dreamspinner in their fourth year of business, so anyone who's interested but didn't win can buy a copy of 18% Gray there if they wish.
Then, on May 30th, the sequel to 18% will be released, Turning Tricks. I'm planning another giveaway for that, details TBD.
Mod
So, as promised, here's some info on the giveaway for 18% Gray. The giveaway is for members of this group only."
If you'd like, you can have comments to your threads constitute entries. I can run the randomizer and pick the winner like I did for Angel if you want.
Oh, Charming that would be awesome! Yeah, let's do that.Starting Monday the 14th and running through Friday at midnight, comment here and the lovely and fantastic Charming Euphemism will select a winner at random.
Anne wrote: "The prize is one ebook copy of 18% Gray in the format of your choice."I prefer the 3D format please, with full sound effects. ;)
Cleon wrote: "Anne wrote: "The prize is one ebook copy of 18% Gray in the format of your choice."I prefer the 3D format please, with full sound effects. ;)"
I'll have to work on that...
Mod
Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino is the best book I've read this year. I was looking for a book that was lighthearted, sexy and had a fun outlook with a lovable protagonist. Frat Boy and Toppy was the perfect book for all those reasons. It sets out to be humorous, uplifting and romantic and it succeeds in each aspect. The writing is top notch~!
Hey!!!! I forgot to announce the contest for the book started Monday! Crap, I'm a bad author.
Lucas wrote: "Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino is the best book I've read this year. I was looking for a book that was lighthearted, sexy and had a fun outlook with a lovable protagonist. Frat Boy and Toppy was..."Awww, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Lucas. :-)
Mod
Yeah, I am a bad moderator too. But we're on it now!
I'd love to win 18% Gray. Please count me in! :)
I love finding books by authors I haven't read. 18% Gray looks really good. Please add me to the entry but even if I don't win I think I'll be picking this one up :)
Charming wrote: "Anne wrote: "Hey!!!! I forgot to announce the contest for the book started Monday! Crap, I'm a bad author."Yeah, I am a bad moderator too. But we're on it now!"
Eh, you're a better moderator than I am an author. Wait, I didn't mean that the way it sounded...
I have a cover for Turning Tricks! Out May 30th from Dreamspinner. I'm told it will be up on their Coming Soon page by this evening.
Mod
Yay! I created a page for it, but we'll have to keep an eye out and combine it with Dreamspinner's when they put it up.
Turning Tricks
Well, I had to run in and say your book is on my own to read list. There isn't enough M/M sci-fi, as far as I'm concerned. (And yes, I'm writing one too.)
Andrea wrote: "Well, I had to run in and say your book is on my own to read list. There isn't enough M/M sci-fi, as far as I'm concerned. (And yes, I'm writing one too.)"Thanks, Andrea, and everyone!
Already have 18% Grey, but just piping up to say I am so going to read Turning Tricks!
Hey Marleen! I'm planning on having a giveaway for Turning Tricks (oh, will you look at that? It's on GR, now) the weekend after it comes out for Gay SF group members as well.
I already have 18% Fray so don't include me. Just wanted to say how much I love Whitetail Rock and am looking forward to reading Frat Boy & Toppy.
I'd like to win 18% Gray! Thank you for this opportunity :)
Bluesky39 wrote: "I already have 18% Fray so don't include me. Just wanted to say how much I love Whitetail Rock and am looking forward to reading Frat Boy & Toppy."Thanks, Bluesky!
Marleen wrote: "I'll be here for that one then!"Cool!
I finished 
last night and.... 
can NOT show up soon enough!!
Just a little over a week, I swear. Just hang on a little bit longer... (it's making me nuts, too)
I'm about ⅔rds the way through 18% gray and must admit I am enjoying it. A question: What is 18% gray in hex?
ANd... Will Turning Tricks be available as a physical book?
I'm sorry, Kernos, but no it won't. :-( It's about 10,000 words too short for that. And I have to admit I'm not sure what you mean by "hex"?
BTW, here's a link for Turning Tricks on the Dreamspinner site. http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/stor...It won't be on Amazon or ARe for a bit after release, I think a week?
Supposedly, 18% Gray is on sale this week at Dreamspinner starting today, but when I look it doesn't LOOK like it's on sale... I'll have to double check.
Yeah, the post is screwy, though. I'm trying to get it fixed. Basically the excerpt is the prologue, and introduces the villain of the story. And yeah, Turning Tricks has a new villain. Muahahahahahaha!
Hey, there's a pretty substantial excerpt on the Dreamspinner page for Turning Tricks, so I thought I'd direct everyone there. http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/stor...You have to click on "expand" on the right side of the screen to see the excerpt.
Release Day! And it's even 20% off at Dreamspinner Press today http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/stor...Oh, and duh, I have a post about it today on Chicks & Dicks: http://chicksndicks.blogspot.com
Mod
(1) Do you consider yourself a scifi geek? How about a telling (possibly embarrassing?) example? What is the first scifi book you remember reading?
(2) How do you go about world building? In 18% Gray/Turning Tricks, you don't have to create a planet or a new species, but both the politics and the technology are quite different than ours. Do you create a lot of details that don't make it into the books?
(3) Is there a writer who you especially admire? What are the mistakes in scifi that you just can't overlook? What themes do you love (or hate)?
(4) The early pulp sci fi stories of the thirties and forties seemed to have an optimistic feel regarding scientific progress. Over time themes became darker, especially as technology advanced. It seems sci fi authors often use their stories to explore societal or cultural issues. Which issues are you exploring in your Task Force Iota books?
Charming wrote: "(1) Do you consider yourself a scifi geek? How about a telling (possibly embarrassing?) example? What is the first scifi book you remember reading?"Well, as Angel did in April, I'm going to take these one at a time. For this question, I have some disappointing news: I'm not a scifi geek, at least not in comparison to many I've met. I've never been to a Star Trek convention or any other con. I do read Scientific American, but honestly I'm never sure how much I understand. I used to read it as a kid, too.
My real weakness is Star Wars. Why? Because it's got not one, but two good love stories. I can argue Star Wars trivia with my 7yo nephew for hours. I never found it embarrassing, but I think my husband does...
First book: The Martian Chronicles. It's a great book, and I think I was in about 6th grade when I read it. But I quickly realized at about the same time that I liked romance in my scifi.
Charming wrote: "(2) How do you go about world building? In 18% Gray/Turning Tricks, you don't have to create a planet or a new species, but both the politics and the technology are quite different than ours. Do you create a lot of details that don't make it into the books? "I create a TON of detail that doesn't go into the books, but I absolutely have to know those details, because if I don't it's too easy to slip up and make the world feel inauthentic. My weakness is the technology, so I spend a lot of time (and harass people) trying to research it and making sure whatever I'm creating is possible.
Also—this isn't really part of the question, but I'll go into it—I've backed off from some future tech, because the Iota world is less prosperous than our world, at least in the United States, and so they have less tech than other parts of the world. China is the economic superpower in the Iota world, and when we go there (and yes, a future book partially takes place in China) the tech will be crazier.
Charming wrote: "(3) Is there a writer who you especially admire? What are the mistakes in scifi that you just can't overlook? What themes do you love (or hate)?"Marion Zimmer Bradley is probably one of the writers I admire the most. It's interesting because I don't always love her style, but her worlds are fascinating.
I also particularly love Linnea Sinclair and Susan Grant. They're both scifi romance writers who write M/F, and their stories have this (as I see it) perfect meshing of love story and scifi. Susan Grant tends to write contemporary scifi, often with aliens (my favorite is Contact) and Linnea Sinclair tends to write in other worlds altogether, I think my favorite of hers is Games of Command. Games of Command has one of my favorite heroes of all time.
I often can't quite put my finger on specific mistakes, but the thing I hate the most is when the world feels too rushed—as if the author didn't put a lot of research or development in it. Obviously I love scifi romance if you hadn't figured that out, but I like it best when both genres are represented strongly. Love stories that happen to take place on a spaceship are often boring to me.
Charming wrote: "(4) The early pulp sci fi stories of the thirties and forties seemed to have an optimistic feel regarding scientific progress. Over time themes became darker, especially as technology advanced. It seems sci fi authors often use their stories to explore societal or cultural issues. Which issues are you exploring in your Task Force Iota books? "Yeah, I could go on and on and on about this...
I'm going to address the idea of scientific progress. I think we look at the possibilities of the future and it's overwhelming at best, and downright scary at worst. We already have more information coming at us in a day than we can handle, but we have more and more opportunities for more connectedness (I think of that as using technology to "keep up" with the world around us). Also, I think people feel that these lovely, new inventions come along at such a rate that they don't have the opportunity to even understand all the implications of using them before they're embroiled in them.
This is scary to me, but I figure what's happening in our present—if my parents or grandparents could have foreseen it—would have been terrifying to earlier generations. But since we're already acclimated to it, it's not so scary. That's the approach I take with most of the tech in the Iota world. The characters tend to just accept it, and I try not to (for the most part) imply any goodness or evil to any of it; with the exception of James's chip, obviously.
In the TFI series, I'm mostly exploring politics, economics and religion. Politics and religion are foremost, but I sneak economics in there as needed. The politics of the future isn't a lot different than now, meaning it works similarly. The religion though—that's wildly different in some ways. Readers will begin to see this more and more as the series progresses, and a lot will be introduced in Laslo & Logan's book.
Hey Anne, what's the best thing in writing sci-fi compared to other genre?
Hey Cleon! I think the thing I like the best about writing scifi is that I get to create the world. If I have a plot problem, I can sometimes mess with my world in order to solve that. Most other genres don't have that option. Creating the whole freaking world is what I hate the most, too. In sort of the same way I get sick of being a parent. The end product is totally worth it.
Funny thing, Anne, I feel the same way about world creation. Sure, it can solve problems... but on the other hand, it can be a huge problem all by itself!
It's made me stare off into space and ignore my family more than a few times, that's for sure.
Mod
Do tell!
Mod
I figured this must be the case. Readers can kind of tell when each new feature of the world is invented as the plot needs it (and then forgotten about half the time). Do you have maps of the two countries, and not just the parts we have visited?
Charming wrote: "Anne wrote: "My real weakness is Star Wars. Why? Because it's got not one, but two good love stories."Do tell!"
Well, there's Anakin and Padme, and then Leia and Han. When I was a little kid and Star Wars first came out I wanted Luke and Leia to hook up, but I got over that and wanted her with Han before I knew Luke was her twin.
As far as Anakin and Padme, I just ignore everything that happened after Episode One for my own little fantasy.
This is why I was never into Star Trek as much. Captain Kirk, well, I don't want to offend anyone, but he was a manwhore. Of course, he never tried dick, and I think that might have cured him of his slutty nature right there.
Not that there's anything wrong with sluttiness, but it has its time and place and then it doesn't.
Gay Science Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
Turning Tricks (other topics)Turning Tricks (other topics)
18% Gray (other topics)
Games of Command (other topics)
Contact (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Linnea Sinclair (other topics)Susan Grant (other topics)
Anne Tenino (other topics)
Anne Tenino will be our GSF author of the month in June. Start reading 18% Gray now and Turning Tricks in a few weeks.