Publishing news, interviews and writing advice

My story, "Trapped Star", will be in the upcoming anthology, Beauty Has Her Way, by Jennifer Brozek, published by Dark Quest Books. See the whole table of contents on Jennifer's blog.

Any spy thriller fans out there? I just reviewed The Book of Spies by Gayle Lynds and interviewed her over at Mostly Fiction. What a ride that book was. Maybe reading it will infuse more immediacy and action into my sci-fi.

Tune in on Thursday for an interview with Fairwood Press' Patrick Swenson. Coincidentally, Locus reports that James Van Pelt's The Radio Magician and Other Stories (Fairwood Press 2009) won the 2010 Colorado Book Award. Patrick mentions Van Pelt in the interview as one of his favorite authors. Patrick is a publisher, writing retreat organizer and writer. He was also editor of Talebones.

Here's a treat: A video of David Brin giving advice to aspiring writers.


I would like to add that OWWW (Other Worlds Writers Workshop) will give you better feedback than you will find at Critters, in my opinion. And the formatting requirements aren't nearly as painful.








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TSA stole my camera...but I sold a story

As I logged in to my gmail, bleary-eyed from wasting my time on LOST the night before, I discovered that, alas, yet another story had been rejected. However, later in the day one was accepted. :) And I have a lead on a possible venue for the rejected one. All in all, a good Monday.

That's if we discount the certified letter I went to the post office for. It was from the TSA. Apparently their you're SOL policy regarding missing items in luggage that has been inspected by them is firm, in spite of their claim process. Why am I not surprised? My husband packed my digital camera into his suitcase for the trip home about a year ago and found that they had traded a your-bag-has-been-searched tag for his camera. Stupid TSA employee stole my camera! And it wasn't cheap, either. >smolder, smolder< I can see it now: The underpaid TSA inspection clerk has decided that he or she is going to quit. So why not take a few souvenirs before leaving?

I posted about this on facebook and Jeff Lemkin invited me to check out Jon Udell's solution. Jon found himself minus a camera as well. Now he includes a starter pistol in each piece of checked luggage so he can declare a weapon. The TSA agent has to lock your (required) hard case and give you the key. Then they take extra care of that piece of luggage. Of course, this was in 2007. They might be on to that scheme by now. At any rate, now I don't pack anything but clothes in my checked luggage when I check luggage at all. I gained a valuable lesson, but I still don't have a camera. :(

On a brighter note, Robert Sawyer won an Aurora Award for www.Wake. Visit the awards website for a full list of award winners.

I'm determined to finish the first draft of my new Awesome Lavratt story this week. That's long overdue. But I have a deadline. Have to fire it off to my crit group before leaving for BayCon on Friday. I'm still waiting for a review on iTunes of my shiny new Awesome Lavratt book app. (hint, hint)

Here's a peek at the new story:

A clicking noise broke him out of his reverie. Like metal on metal. Or.... He remembered when he'd heard that sound before. The seven-foot-tall Askaran's talons clicking on the station floor the last day Horace spent on his salvage station. He'd left him unconscious and confined when he left with Aranna.

Horace's gut clenched as he recognized the salmonella-rich odor of Askaran wafting in his direction from the recirculation fans. He turned in his seat, hoping he was not quite sane after all. Better that than ....

Look for a guest post by KS Augustin on Thursday. You can read it while I pack for BayCon. San Jose, here I come.



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Interview on PodioRocket of yours truly and Avatar - again

Well, now it's my turn. Due to various emails going astray, my scheduled interview for tonight is postponed. What's up with gmail anyway? Or is it on their end. Hmmmm. Anyway, Brian Rathbone interviewed me during World Fantasy and the interview just posted on PodioRacket yesterday. It's with an interview with one of my cohorts, Andrea Howe of Blue Falcon Editing.


Give it a listen.

Of course this reminds me that I have one-hour interview at a local radio station that I still need to edit down and break up. I read a complete short, short story during the interview. I was going to pull that out and edit the thing down. I can make the whole thing available, too, but that would be huge file.

But when? I have to catch up on writing, reading and reviewing.

For anyone who still hasn't seen Avatar. Are you kidding me? Go! Now! But you'll have to buy tickets in advance and get there early for a good seat. I still need to make the trip to an IMAX theater to see it. I'm so ready to see it a third time. It's setting all kinds of records. According to an article in BBC News, it may be the most successful movie - EVER!


Official Avatar Movie









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"Grey Drive" live, Darth Vader bummed and a geek going Greek

Have you ever wondered what will happen when our portable media storage gets so small that we lose it? Read my story, "Grey Drive" for one possibility. It's a flash fiction (1K words) over at Every Day Fiction.

Here an amusing look at Darth Vader in love at Fusion Filter.

Glendi was lots of fun last weekend. The foot and the back held up well enough. Teaching dance at midday in 97 degrees is really no on. Really. Must schedule them for later in the day next year. Good thing I'm the one that schedules the entertainment. The last class on Sunday I had about 45-50 people. It was great!







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Story sale, and SF and FB fun

I just heard from Every Day Fiction that they want "Grey Drive." I don't have a publication date yet, but you can bet I'll blab it around as soon as I hear. It's a SF flash piece that explores the next thing in media storage. Shout out if you know the answer. ;)

I posed a question on my Facebook wall about profile page vs. fan page. I received some great feedback. I'm not really keen on the idea of getting a fan page. But, on the other hand, my personal friends may thank me. I got the FB account because of my writing. Most of my wall posts have to do with writing. But I'm not going to turn away friends and family. I just don't like the one-way nature of the fan page.

Then imagine my surprise when my google alert for Ann Wilkes this evening takes me to an Ann Wilkes fan page, with my information, that I didn't create. Am I losing it or did FB create it when I created the July event that it lists?

Why do I have an Ann Wilkes google alert? Well, sometimes that's how I find reviews of Awesome Lavratt and other press. And once I even caught a pirate: One of my stories appeared on an ezine without my knowledge or permission. For writers, it's a must. It's not vain, it's sane. >groan<

I finished The Unincorporated Man. My first impression? Deliciously disturbing. My interview with the Kollin brothers and the review over at Mostly Fiction will be available in September.

Meantime, Dani (Kollin) sent me this link to a comic strip about it at Unshelved.

Now I'm reading Japanese SF (in English): The Lord of the Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa.

For any SF fans so inclined, Atomic Tarantula has some interesting T's that only other SF fans will "get". And they're having a two-for sale.

Tachyon is having an anniversary party at Borderlands Books in San Francisco this Sunday, August 30, 2-6 PM.

Tachyon Publications' 14th Anniversary Party!!
14 YEARS OF SAVING THE WORLD, ONE GOOD BOOK AT A TIME!
Please join us for the annual Tachyon Publications Anniversary Party!
The Emperor Norton awards, a special Tachyon giveaway, food, refreshments, and lots of special guests!



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Writing, Science and Science Fiction

Here's my literary news:

My story, "Your Smiling Face" has been reprinted over at Rose City Sisters. It was fun to rework it for that market. I had to have a Pasadena tie-in and three links.

My review of The Book from the Sky by Robert Kelly is up at Mostly Fiction.

I received another rejection today. I'm thinking that this piece is destined for the anthology I'm meant to write a story for before the first of September. I just have to tweak it a little for it to fit the parameters.

And for SF fans:

Here's some food for thought from a Future Brink. Solar storm activity in 2012 is expected to be major. Hmmmm...isn't that the end of the Mayan calendar? Speaking of which, I got another book in the mail: In the Courts of the Sun by Brian D'Amato. The author is an expert in all things Mayan. This is a speculative fiction novel, the first in a trilogy.

I found a new SF site with resources, convention lists, author lists, forums etc. It's very comprehensive, and built around award winning authors. Rob Sawyer shared the link to Worlds Without End on Facebook. Please do check it out.

And new from Ridley Scott...a prequel Alien movie. SciFiDimensions has the story.

Stay tuned for an interview with David Brin on Friday. The winner of the Attack of the Blob Flash Fiction Contest will be announced on Saturday, August 15, with the winning story appearing the following Tuesday, August 18.



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Writing, networking and author interviews sneak peek

My story, "For Chance to Dream" is now available in issue #25 of Beyond Centauri. If you find it in a bookstore, let me know. Otherwise, it's available online at from the publisher, Sam's Dot Publishing. Beyond Centauri is for ages 9+. You can get a subscription or just buy one issue. My first print magazine sale! And my first sale to this demographic! My copy hasn't arrived yet. Can't wait to see it!

The social networking blog entry is up over at Redwood Writers as promised. I also posted the link on some of the sites contained therein and received a lot of great responses, including more suggested sites.

I'm also doing a workshop on social networking on August 4th in Petaluma, CA sponsored by Redwood Writers. More details later.

Yes I know this is Friday. There should be an author interview up. Well, last weekend was spent, instead trying to whip a new story in shape. But I have some great interviews on the way. Karina Fabian, Juliette Wade, Gregory Frost, Dani and Eytan Kollin, and David Brin. As always, interviews go up on Fridays (obviously not every Friday).

I haven't decided whether or not Warehouse 13 is going to deliver. Sometimes you have to watch more than one episode because there's so much setting up of the situation and characters in the pilot.

I have decided that I'd rather watch a bad SF series than a SF, err that's SyFy now, channel movie. They continue to disappoint. Is it that they can't afford good writers? Are they hiring their nephews and nieces to write them? They sort of like paint by numbers. Like there's a workbook with blanks for (disaster), gigantic (name the animal or insect, past or present), (profession) of estranged spouses who now have to work together. Ok, ok, I'm climbing off my soap box now.

Anyone know an expert on biometrics or DNA testing? My story is languishing for lack of information. I sooo don't have time to do proper research. I'd be happy to pay in acknowledgments. :)


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Just a shout - Story sale!

I just heard from Beyond Centauri. They're publishing "For Chance to Dream" in their July issue. It's a SF/F (and ewww gross) print magazine for 9-18 year-olds. This is my first sale to a print magazine and also my first sale to a publication for this age group. Woo hoo!

I'll post a run-down on OryCon when I've recovered from same. Just had to get my victory dance in. :)

Pot pourri

Oh my goodness! I haven't posted for ten days! Shame, shame, shame.

Wednesday night I attended a NaNoWriMo write in and got 1200 words written on my sequel to Awesome Lavratt. The rest of the week, it seems, I've been dragging. I'm trying to adjust to getting up earlier. Since I walk to work, the nearing of winter and daylight savings time has thrown me. I don't want to walk home in the dark, so I have to start earlier. Of course, going to bed earlier would be the smart thing to do, but I haven't quite managed to do that yet...

I'm getting ready for OryCon. I'll be reading with 6 other Broad Universe authors Saturday morning. Friday night, I'll be interviewing Irene Radford for BU. Saturday and Sunday I'll be busy going from panel to panel. Sunday night before I return, I plan to have dinner with my Aunt, who lives in Portland.

I also attended a funeral this week. I told that family of my good friend what a great sense of humor she had. They didn't know that about her! Amazing. Perhaps they weren't close, or didn't bring out the best in her.

I've started my story about the Lake Chelan tragedy in which a school bus went off an embankment into the lake, resulting in the deaths of 16 people. It should come as no surprise to anyone who know me that I'm turning it into a fantasy story. I wanted to interview any surviving parents, and do a retrospective but when I discovered that it happened in 1945 rather than in the fifties, I realized the youngest would be 96, if any were still alive at all.

So, true to form, I'm starting with a reasonably close description of the event followed by pure fiction complete with merpeople of a sort. I'm hoping to finish in time for the anniversary of the event, which is November 26th. (63 years ago)

A friend of mine, who invited me to the NaNo write-in said she had a dream about me. Something about that I had to keep the stories coming. It was somehow imperative. Stories, not novels. Hmmmm....

So here I am wedging a story in during my big push to get the novel done. I also got a "dear Jane" on my apocalyptic tale of 7K words. It's a reprint, so harder to find a home for. >sigh< I'll have to find a new market for it tomorrow and send it out again.

I'm almost done reading the second Shadowbridge novel, Lord Tophet by Gregory Frost. Check out my complete (well, almost) list of books I've read this year at Good Reads. You can also find my TBR (to be read) list there. Most of the finished ones are reviewed at Mostly Fiction.

And if you haven't yet, come follow me. Click on the Follow This Blog link and your avatar or pic will be proudly displayed. More cyber real estate. :)

"The Heist" is hoisted, the Guy is burned

It's November 5th. Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

I'm slightly English and an Anglophile. Can a person be both? Anyway the English are quite morbid, but because this falls on my birthday, I like to celebrate. More reason to make merry. I even hosted a Guy Fawkes Party one year, complete with a Guy (Guy Fawkes effigy), fireworks and bonfire. And, of course, roasted bangers and spuds. And someone even knew the words to the old rhyme.


Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I can think of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent
To blow up the King and Parli'ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England's overthrow;
By God's providence he was catch'd
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

For those able to attend, here's my Orycon schedule:

Saturday 10AM Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading
Saturday 11AM Portraying workplaces in SF/F
Saturday 6PM Writing Workshop
Sunday 10AM Women Role models in SF
Sunday 11AM Who is Mary Sue and why does everyone hate her?
Sunday 1PM Selling your integrity to pay the bills: Are you really selling your soul as well?
Sunday 2PM Will blogs replace the conventional media?

And I'll be interviewing Irene Radford for Broad Universe. :)

And hanging out at the Open Read and Critique Saturday night.

Every Day Fiction has hoisted my story "The Heist", which they published in June, to their year's best anthology. The letters haven't gone out yet but the authors were listed on the forum and picked up by some who blogged the Table of Contents. This is where my Google alert of "Ann Wilkes" came in handy. Anyway, woo hoo!

Literary Cereal - that's right cereal, not serial

Snap, Crackle, Pop!!! Saturday, "Your Smiling Face" went up at Every Day Fiction. Yesterday, my funny, short SF story, "Jolaneering" went up at Nanobison AND (Pop!) I sold "Bullheaded" to an anthology. It was the bull riding story I've been working on throughout the summer that was due last weekend. Very exciting to have so much happen at once. Now, it's time again for those SSIAWs (Short Story in a Week challenges) over at OWWW (Other Worlds Writers Workshop). Do I or don't I? Perhaps I'll just do two, although I should really be concentrating on the sequel to Awesome Lavratt.

I made a discovery over Labor Day weekend. I've been job hunting since June. I've figured out why it's so darned depressing, aside from the rejection. We work hard to convince ourselves and sometimes actually know that what other people think doesn't matter. We learn that our worth doesn't need to be validated by others. (If you haven't even considered this concept, run, don't walk to an al-anon meeting or get yourself a book on co-dependence or self worth.) Anyhow, then we job hunt and it's ALL about what others think of you. Suddenly we have to quantify our worth and sell ourselves. Every time I see the "must have ______ degree" or "must have ________ experience with ________ systems", which I don't, I feel inadequate. A call for an interview and I'm doing mini victory dance--until I get the mail and the Dear John/Jane letter is staring me in the face, mocking me.

There's a gem of a job out there somewhere--one that is perfectly suited to my talents and abilities. I just wish I could find it sooner rather than later, so I can get off of this emotional rollercoaster of job hunting.

SpoCon - final report

So, I remembered to bring the camera. It helps if you use it. I did have my friend, Sue, take a shot of my fellow writers at our autograph session on Saturday.

L to R: Jane Fancher, Ann Wilkes, Toby Bishop (aka Louise Marley), Kij Johnson, MJ Engh.

The panel was a blast. I learned before going in that it was born from a typo. Someone misspelled parapsychology as parapiscology, and after a 12 hour programming meeting, the said, "why not?" and added it to the slate. The four of us, Mark Ferrari, Deby Fredricks, Jeff Knutson and I, had the task of creating a story during our hour-long panel involving a paranormal fish. We tried for around twenty-five minutes before things started to break down. The tangents, however still involved the creative process, which was the real point of the panel – to show the creative process in action.

In the end, if nothing else, the panelists and audience alike learned one thing: three writers and one illustrator can not a story make. We had some lovely ideas that perhaps all could work. It would be fun to continue to run with it and see what we come up with as individuals after what was essential a brainstorming session. So what do you think of a mind reading fish who can communicate with a mute boy via telepathy? And then what? What can a fish with special powers possibly accomplish? Well, for one thing, if he also happened to be your pet, you could fly him to Loch Ness and he can tell you if Nessie really exists. Why not? We were fifteen minutes in before we decided what kind of fish he/she was. It never even occurred to us to assign the fish a gender, let alone a name.

Saturday evening they showed Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog (Joss Whedon). You have heard of it right? Seeing it on the big screen with someone who had never seen it was still more fun. Will it rival Rocky Horror?

I left at the crack of dawn on Sunday and had breakfast with my daughter, son and daughter-in-law who live in the East Bay before heading back home just in time to turn around and go back out for the monthly RWC (Redwood Writers' Club) meeting.

Another story sold and SpoCon

I just got word on Wednesday that Every Day Fiction is publishing my story, "Your Smiling Face". I have been feverishly working on Denvention bios, job hunting and getting ready for SpoCon, so haven't had time to toot my horn yet. :) It will be available August 30th.

SpoCon, aside from a few problems interfacing with the University, has put together a good little con. Next time I'll stay off-site and all will be well with my world. I'll post a full repost upon my return.

I had a very long day(Friday), beginning with a 6:45 AM flight I had to get up at 3AM to catch. Since I'm tired and cranky, I'll rant. Why did high school teachers (back in the day) drill their students on always spelling the abbreviation of until as 'til, if the illiterate get there way in the end anyway? When I was in high school English, the word "till" only meant cash register. And here's another for filing in the pet peeve department: If someone asks you, the question, "Is that clear?" please, oh please, don't respond with "crystal" – at least not where I can hear you. Otherwise the next thing you'll hear is my anguished scream.

Okay, I feel better now.

Prior to my reading on Friday, I met an online buddy from Other Worlds Writing Workshop, a founder of same, in fact. We went off site for dinner. Real food does wonders. Now for real sleep. What a concept...

New Story!

What's better than sleeping in on a Saturday morning? Waking up with a complete story in your head. At least it is if you're a writer. I think I dreamed the first part. The rest followed easily. I had to get up and get it on paper --or at least on the computer-- before I forgot it. It feels great to work on new material again. Rewriting can be such a chore, sometimes.

Shall I tell you what it's about? Actually, it's not even SF--or even speculative. It's an interesting twist on a mafia-like family from the perspective of a teenage boy growing up in it. Well, that's the setting, anyhow. I can't say more or it will give too much away. I wrote out the general plot, the characters and the first couple of pages. I think this one will write itself.