Bitten by Books
Hi everyone. Welcome to the EDGE/Bitten by Books Ask Us Anything event. Joining us today are EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy authors: Suzanne Church, Randy McCharles, Dru Pagliassotti, Michael Martineck, and Adrian Cole.Welcome to the EDGE annual Ask Us Anything event. Welcome everyone! Grab a chair, and a piece of virtual cake, and some yummy virtual bubbly and join in the conversation.
What IS an Ask Us Anything Event? An opportunity to ask us just about anything. Our authors have formulated questions for both you and the other authors. When you answer our questions, you will get an extra draw into our virtual door prize draw. The more questions you ask as well, the more entries into the contest. We look forward to seeing your questions.
First, lets meet the authors. What is your name, and where are you writing from?
Suzanne: I am Suzanne Church and I am writing from Kitchener, Ontatio, Canada
Randy: I am Randy McCharles, and I am in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Dru: I am Dru Paglissotti, and am writing from Southern California.
Michael: I am Michael Martineck, and am joining you from Grand Island, New York.
Donna Glee: My name is Donna Glee Williams, and I am currently located in the mountains of western North Carolina
Adrian: And my name is Adrian Cole and I am writing you from Bideford in county of Devon in England..
What is the title of your current EDGE release?
Suzanne: Elements: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
Randy: The Necromancer Candle And Two Additional Tales of Contemporary Fantasy
Dru: The Clockwork Heart, and is Book Three in the Clockwork Steampunk Trilogy.
Michael: The Milkman. This is my second EDGE book following Cinco de Mayo.
Donna Glee: The Braided Path
Adrian: The Shadow Academy
BBB: Congratulations on the release of your titles. We look forward to learning more about your books throughout the day in the Janice’s Featured Author segments, where each of you will be in the spotlight. And now, it is time to play “The Ask Us Anything Game”
The Ask Us Anything Game
How to play. READERS, select a question from the list below, and answer it, or post a question for one (or more) of the authors to answer. Be sure to answer the questions on the Giveaway Tools Widget in order to get your points.
That’s how it works. Ask a question. Answer a question.
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Author to Author Questions: The authors have posted the following questions for the other featured authors to answer in the chat area below. Authors please use an @ symbol in front of the name, for example @Dru.
Suzanne: Imagine a prison of eternal misery. Is it hot or cold? Tell me about it.
Randy: If you were to write a time travel story, what period/location would you travel to?
Dru: What’s the most surprising thing one of your characters has done that you hadn’t originally planned to happen?
Michael: How much to you plan out what you’re going to write and how much just comes out as you’re doing the deed.
Donna Glee: I need a REALLY good story, a real knock-you-to-your knees story, right now. (And I say story to include all forms.) Can you help me out with a recommendation?
Adrian: Have you had to make any compromises in your life in order to write, for example, how has writing affected your day job, or how did it if you have become a full time writer? How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to? (especially if you are in the process of writing a book?)
Questions from the Author to the Readers:
Suzanne: Are you a member of a book club? If so, how do your members react to speculative fiction?
Randy: What kind of book would you like to see more of? Either genre or thematically?
Dru: What Fantasy/horror/sci-fi novel inspired you most as a child, and why?
Michael: What is the best question anyone has asked you?
Donna Glee: Who do you talk to about the books you read?
Adrian: How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to?
Guests to Authors:
Make up a question and post in the chat area below. If you need help with anything, please email Janice at [email protected]
CONTEST INFO: Open to readers worldwide.
Prize: A $50.00 Amazon Gift Card
Welcome everyone to our Ask Us Anything Event! Thanks Rachel for having us. We look forward to seeing your answers, and questions. If you have any questions about anything, you can reach me at [email protected]
Hi, everyone! Thank you, Rachel, for inviting us over.
I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you today!
As an aspiring author, I have been doing a fair amount of research into the publishing world, and what I see is never consistent except in that fact that it is confusing. I have been told not to self-publish, that self-publishing is the only way to get published, that editors are desperate for good authors, that they will only look at an author if he or she is already established, that getting an agent is good, that getting an agent is bad, that I should go straight to the big publishing houses, that I should focus on finding a small, local publisher. What would you recommend for young, new novelists?
I sympathize! I didn’t have an agent when I started out; I simply shopped my novel manuscripts around to small publishers until I made a couple of sales. Then my agent contacted me because she liked my work. I appreciate having an agent now — she can take care of the things I don’t have the time or financial know-how to handle, and she has contacts I don’t! — but you can certainly do it on your own, too. …As far as self-publishing goes, I think if you *can* get a commercial publisher, it’s nice — advances are always welcome, they find a cover artist for you and do all the layout and design, and they help with marketing and publicity — but I’ve also known a number of authors doing it on their own via self-publishing with success. When you self-publish you have to do a lot more work up front but don’t have to be concerned about contractual issues such as who owns what rights, etc. (Back to what agents can help with…!) I doubt there’s a “right” answer here; it just depends on your circumstances and level of enthusiasm for self-marketing and -promotion.
The amount of work going into self-publishing sounds inhibiting. Although the ownership rights aspect is appealling. How did your agent contact you? At what venue did she discover your writing? Would you self-publish?
Hi Spencer. It is confusing. Today there are more ways then ever to get published, but getting people to find your books has never been harder. My recommendation is to focus on writing the best book possible and then make connections with publishers and agents by attending literary events. The best method is to have a good agent or big publisher love your book. More likely you will find a small press who llikes your book. Self-publishing is a good option today, but it takes time away from writing and has the worst distribution channel. Which route you go depends a lot on your personal goals and skills, but all of them require a really good book.
I’d recommend writing short fiction.
Getting a short story right is tricky, and all the skills you develop learning how to tell a short story translate to writing a novel.
Agents don’t involve themselves with short fiction, so you don’t need to worry about “getting an agent” if you’re marketing short fiction.
Plus, it’s a way to help you “build your brand” while you’re getting started.
And as you sell your work, you’ll also need to promote that work, via social media, blogging, and convention appearances/readings.
After that, I’ll give you the most obvious advice… work on your craft every day and the rest will follow.
Good point! I started out by selling short stories — it’s a great way to develop your craft and build some “street cred” as a writer.
I do believe that you and my sister are friends from college. I distinctly remember how excited she was to show me Clockwork Heart. Now that I think about it, I was trying to get involved in The Harrow a while back, but when my computer died I lost track of it and it dropped off my radar. I will need to remedy this.
How would you define “short fiction?” I have been writing flash fiction for a while (but stopped after I discovered someone was stealing it, opting to focus on finishing my novel’s rewrite), but that is 1000 words or less, and I do minimal marketing for it. I had been posting them on my personal blog, but that has only collected about 60 readers. Would short fiction be something I submit to magazines, or is there some other venue for them you would recommend?
I wrote classic short stories rather than flash fic; you can find links to them over at my blog. I published them in online zines, starting with “for the love” and gradually moving up to paid markets. My favorite source for finding publishers was Ralan.Com.
I think SFWA’s definition of Short Fiction is stories up to 7,500 words in length.
The best site to research Short Fiction markets for SF/F/H is:
http://www.ralan.com
Spencer,
My mother puts vinegar in her pie crust. It’s tasty, but only when she does it. Your question cracks me up. Shows the state of the industry. Nobody has a solid answer for anything, anymore. Every recipe is different. I have published with small presses, on my own, with an agent and without. There are only two ingredients constant in that mess. A book I liked and an audience I wanted to reach. That’s it. The rest can be gluten free or with lard or even vinegar, if that’s working for you.
Yup…the vinegar pie solution. Good to see you here Michael
Michael, is your mother going to be angry that you’ve shared her secret ingredient with the world?
She is NEVER on line. I’m free to say whatever I want.
things have changed since i first started trying to to get published, back in the 1970s! I was advised, don’t start with a novel, keep it short and definitely don’t write in the first person. So I wrote a trilogy, in the first person…and sold it for my debut! So I don’t know how it works these days. I think that publishers - even small ones - receive so much stuff, tons of it, so that you have to make an immediate impact. Know your markets - so research is a good idea. When i started to write short stories, I just used to send them off (to what I knew to be appropriate outlets) and just keep them moving if they came back.
the first short story I sold came back from one publisher, saying the first half was great, but the second half didn’t work - the second publisher loved the story, especially then second half!
The wonderful thing about getting perfectly contradictory advice is that it frees you to take the information you have and follow your own intuition and good sense. I worked on short stories for years, then sold a novel, and used that novel sale to get a good agent. There’s more than one way in, and maybe the only essential (beside continuously working on improving the writing itself) is PERSISTENCE.
Who are some of your favourite authors?
I’m a huge fan of Stephen King. I’ve recently enjoyed Chadwick Ginther’s “Thunder Road” and “Tombstone Blues”.
And of course, the fine authors who’re joining us today have written some fabulous books. Look for Michael Martineck’s “Cinco de Mayo” as well as “The Milkman”
And if you love having your favourite characters die, you can always read some of George R.R. Martin’s work.
I was reading George Martin years ago - he wrote some great stuff even then - like FEVER DREAM and DYING OF THE LIGHT. I didn’t think I would ever be much of a fan of vampire fiction, but FEVER DREAM remains not only my favorite vampire book, but is one of my all time favorite horror novels. I was lucky enough to spend some time with GM here in England many years ago at a Con and he’s a lovely chap! He deserves his success.
I’m a fan of the New (and Old) Weird — HP Lovecraft, Tanith Lee, M. John Harrison, China Mieville, etc. — and of worldbuilders like Michael Moorcock, Gene Wolf, and Steven Erikson.
Hi Minna
I try to read broadly, but I do look for books by Terry Brooks and Robert J Sawyer. Otherwise I try to read authors I meet as well as authors and books recommended to me.
Ursula K. LeGuin is who I want to be when I grow up, and people who’ve read my The Braided Path tell me it shows.
1. Not a member of a book club. I read for my pleasure not others ;).
2. I love PNR and RS so I’m set with plenty of material :).
3. None. I hated reading as a child and didn’t really get into it until I was in my 20′s. It would be Valerie Sherwood and her romance books with Imogene Van Ryker that got me ;).
4. Best Q - Did I know that Grand Island was the original choice for Israel? I’m from your area. My uncle lives nearly across the street from what was channel 29 when I was a kid :).
5. I talk to my best friend and online friends about the books I read.
6. I’m not really influenced by my reads since they are for pleasure.
What is the best book you’ve read in the past six months?
Thank you!
The best book I read recently was Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell. It isn’t speculative. It is a Victorian mystery/thriller. (Did I mention I read broadly?) It was rated as one of the top 5 mystery books of last year.
Hey Viki, the old Channel 29 is not far from where I live right now. My first book - for 9 to 12 year olds - takes place in that area.
What’s the title? I’d love to share with both of my cousin’s kids since they’re growing up right there :).
The Misspellers. It’s very cute and there’s no swearing. Thank you for asking.
Recently, I read “Renegade” by Nancy Northcott, book one in the Protector Series. If you like PNR, you’ll enjoy the book.
any of the amazing Jasper Kent Danilov novels
Hi everyone. It’s great to be here and I’m looking forward to an amazing conversation.
Welcome Janice and all the fabulous EDGE authors! It is great to have you back at Bitten by Books today.
My question for the authors is what do you do to relax besides read or write?
I love water, so anything to do with water…swimming, canoeing, or simply sitting on the shore and listening to the waves crash against the rocks.
I’m also a bit of a “Rabbid” Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so watching hockey is on the list, although “relax” isn’t always the best descriptor of watching a Leafs game.
Hi Rachel
I like to sing. I perform several times a year in a singing group and host a karaoke party at my house once a month. I’m trying to make time to learn to play the guitar…
for about 7 or 8 months a year my favorite relaxation is swimming in the sea, which is about 3 miles from my home at a place called Westward Ho! (Charles Kingsley fame) - it has a fabulous open bay and pebble ridge and is a favorite surf bay in the south west. I miss the sea in the winter (swimming anyway) so I try to get out on a bicycle - we live near some woodlands and the centre of Devon is pretty isolated. Of course, I still think about writing when I’m out there in the wilds!
I practice kempo (a kind of Chinese karate) to get out of my head, and I meditate to empty my head.
I’ll relax when I’m dead. No time now - Still didn’t get that Booker prize.
(I do play the piano when needed. Really clears the mind.)
You won’t get the Booker because I’ll be winning it that year! Mwah ha ha!
Oh it’s on now. Booker throw down.
As you can imagine, a person who writes a book that oozes with fiiber arts as much as The Braided Path does spends a lot of time messing around with fiber. Right now, I’m unwinding a huge snarl of waste wool from a Norwegian carpet factory and weaving it into squares on an old-style pot-holder loom. I’ll stitch the squared together and then wash them to felt them and then hang them as a door-quilt to keep the heat in my little cabin in the winter.
I would love to see pictures of you working doing this!
Suzanne: I am a member of a critiquing group. They are generally very open to speculative fiction. In fact, it is what we read and critique on the most.
Randy: I would like to see more books that seamlessly flow between serious and light-hearted, comedy and drama.
Dru: Anything and everything by Edgar Allan Poe. His writing was never flowery, but always thought-provoking. It usually caught me by surprise, which has always been a rarity for me.
Donna: I tend to talk to my wife and other writer friends. To be honest, I do not discuss the books I read with others very often.
Adrian: Very influenced. If I read too much Terry Pratchett, I tend to start writing in his style. I also tend to glean ideas and inspirations from the things that I read. It can be troublesome when I am trying to form my own voice, which often leads to me not reading during a time I expect to be writing a lot.
I think the computer controlling this has developed a glitch - there’s some stuff here attributed to me, starting with “If I read too much Terry Pratchett…” I don’t read his stuff…it bores the living crap out of me! so there’s no way I would write in his style. I do glean ideas and inspirations from what I read (see other comments I’ve made) but I don’t think I let it influence my voice/style. I have been known to do pastiche work - done some Robert Howard and Henry Kuttner stuff, but that’s a different ball game.
What writers have helped to influence you?
biggest initial influences to kick me off writing were Tolkien, Frank Herbert, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Dennis Wheatley!! But nowadays I just absorb everything and who knows what will come out - my recent NICK NIGHTMARE stories bring in cross-overs and leaps into other dimensions, worlds where comic book heroes are real, the supernatural is the everyday, and so on. Whatever I read or watch next could be used! Oh, and same goes for music. There are a ton of references to rock music in the NICK NIGHTMARE stories, as you’d guess from some of the titles.
Terry Pratchett, Terry Brooks, James P. Blaylock.
Hemingway. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way he embeds an implied story in a mass of telling without ever saying a single explicit word of that story. I actually spent a good chunk of time studying how he does that. I love the unspoken story above all things!
Which authors have had the biggest influence on your work - both for inspiration and showing you what not to do?
Heather, that list is very LONG.
Ann C. Crispin was my teacher at the first workshop on writing I attended way back in 2000. She taught me what NOT to do as well as many “how to write” tips.
James Gunn taught a writing workshop I took in Kansas back in 2004, and his insights still linger inside me when I write.
Margo Lanagan taught me how to tell a story that is personal and poignant. I respect her opinion and love the fiction she’s produced.
Eugie Foster, who passed away recently was a mentor and a friend. She used to critique my work, back when we were both first submitting our short fiction. She taught me to be bold, and to keep trying, despite having a drawer stuffed with rejections. We even had a bit of a “rejection competition”, although she was always way ahead of me. I’ve recently passed the 400 rejection count.
I mentioned my positive influences above: Terry Pratchett, Terry Brooks, James P. Blaylock.
I can’t say that I have negative influences. If an author’s style or books aren’t to my taste, I don’t read enough to analyze what doesn’t appeal to me. As an example I’ll mention L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s Recluse series. He is a wonderful author who I have met several times and the series has a huge following. I read the first book and couldn’t continue. I didn’t spend a lot of effort figuring out why. Part of it has to do with the fact that I enjoy fast-paced booked, which Recluse isn’t. I also suspect there is something in the writing style that doesn’t appeal to me as a reader. The upside of this is that people are different and there is a market for any well-written book.
Please post any questions from this in the reply area below.
Featured Author Mini Interview
BBB: What is your name?
Dru: Dru Pagliassotti
BBB: What is the name of your current EDGE publication:
Dru: Clockwork Secrets: Heavy Fire
BBB: Where are you currently (geographically):
Dru: Southern California
BBB: Could you please tell us about your book (without spoilers:)
Dru: In Clockwork Secrets: Heavy Fire, the tensions that have been building between Ondinium, Alzana, and Demicus in the first two novels finally reach the flashpoint. After being framed for the Alzanan king’s murder, Taya and her husband find themselves trapped behind enemy lines in a crippled ship, struggling to get home as their enemies advance on Ondinium armed with a terrible new weapon that could stop the capital’s clockwork heart forever.
BBB: Please introduce us to one of your characters:
Dru: Ambassador Cristof Forlore is an Ondinium exalted who reluctantly took up the ivory mask again after years of living in self-exile as a clockwright. Tall, thin, and unsociable, Cristof is still more comfortable around machines than with people, although his rough edges have smoothed under Taya’s influence. In Clockwork Secrets: Heavy Fire, Cristof feels the pressures of command as he makes tough decisions about life, death, and diplomatic double-dealing … and is frustrated by his inability to protect a wife who doesn’t hesitate to throw herself into danger to save the lives of people he’d just as soon let die.
BBB: Do you have any specific questions for any of our authors?
Dru: Adrian & Michael, you’ve both written novels with authoritarian/totalitarian regimes, although in very different types of storyworlds; my own novels feature a paranoid and restrictive government, too. Why did you choose that kind of setting? Do you think this is part of a larger trend in speculative fiction?
BBB: Finally what is one really unique thing about you that would not be found in a promo kit?
Dru: Ten skulls of various sizes from songbird to wolverine sit on the shelves in my office.
BBB: Very cool. Thanks for joining us.
Dru,
Adrian and I have the same birthday, so I’m pretty sure the fascination with brutal social structure is astrological. That Cancer-Leo cusp. Odd mix.
I think also exacerbating a troublesome trend in government with fiction is helpful and, well, kind of fun. I’m betting there is a recent upsurge in this kind of fiction because there is a upsurge in our perceived disfunction in government.
yo! right on the money, michael - it’s great being born on the cusp because you can confound everybody by blaming one half or the other when things get hairy. And indeed, dysfunctional governments - have you see the absolute crap we have to contend with over here in Britain? The Scots tried to break free recently, but didn’t make it. Election coming up next year, but I can’t tell one bunch of self-seeking bullshitters from another.
@Dru Pagliassotti. What initially inspired you to write Clockwork Heart, and the subsequent books in the series?
Hmm, an odd combination of things. (1) I’d been participating in National Novel Writing Month for several years and decided to challenge myself by writing something I’d never tried before — a romance! I like regency romances best, so there’s a little of that flavor in CH. (2) I’d run a few sessions of a steampunk-fantasy roleplaying game in the months before NaNoWriMo, so I figured I’d throw steampunk into the “new genre challenge” mix, as well. (3) I saw some anime’s credits sequence — I can’t even remember the show anymore! — that depicted the characters standing on a giant revolving gear, and I thought, “huh, I should use a giant floating gear in my novel.”
…I’m sure the other writers here actually start out with real outlines for their novels. Me … I’m still working on that!
Are you a member of a book club? No.
What kind of book would you like to see more of? GOOD revenge books. I can count with the fingers of one hand the revenge books I actually like and still have fingers left over.
What is your current favorite “Revenge” book?
My favourite revenge books (all 3 of them) are First Wives Club by Olivia Goldsmith, Three Fates by Nora Roberts and “Sweet Poison Cooker” by Arto Paasilinna. I don’t think that last one has been translated in English yet.
I’m in the dark here, but I did once write and perform a short piece called “Revenge of the Heavy Metal Vampires” which I did at a British Fantasycon back in the 80s. I used to do a number of performances of magnum opi in progress, all spoofs on the genre. Rumours are rife that I will be launching new ones soon.
(I don’t think that this has anything to do with your question, but hey! I need the publicity, dammit!)
Oh, and that story appeared in FEAR Magazine over here - worth trying to find on ebay, etc
One of the problems I have encountered while trying to describe my work-in-progress novel to people is just what genre it fits under. I do not know if it would be a fantasy (or urban fantasy) novel, a young adult novel, a new adult novel, simply “fiction,” or some genre I am not yet familiar with. I have even been told to take it to christian publishers! How important is the genre, and what is the best way to determine exactly what my novel should be considered? Should I have the specific genre in mind when I begin my hunt for publishers?
LOL, when “Clockwork Heart” was first bought, the editor actually wrote in the newsletter that she thought we were inventing a new genre. “Steampunk romance” just didn’t exist back then; I’ve been told it was the first. Now, of course, steampunk romance is all over the place, but I’m not sure the descriptor really fits the second and third books, which are more “steampunk adventure” with a romantic throughline. Genre definitely helps with marketing, no doubt about that, but don’t get too hung up on labels. And you never know; you may end up inventing a brand new one!
Dru is absolutely right.
One of the things that the marketing department would ask any author who was working with us is what works out there are similar to yours. This is a very important thing for us to know. This tells us that you know the genre, that you have done reading other than your own works, and the information helps position the book. This is a question that our sales reps want to know…so just keep this in mind. Get as clear as you can about what your genre is…IMHO…
Sounds like I have a lot more homework ahead of me. I know that writers need to read, but how much time do writers typically dedicate to reading the works of others versus writing their own?
Authors, what do you think about this question?
I read every day, before I go to bed as a way to unwind.
And since the invention of the ebook, I always have a book if I have my phone or Kobo handy, so I usually read while on public transit, while waiting for appointments, etc.
Genre is a marketing label. To discuss your novel I suggest using a log line instead. eg. Harry Potter meets Frankenstein. It says more about what the novel is than a genre label. As for reading, everyone is different. I read at night before bed. Sometimes for 20 minutes. Others times for several hours. (Perhaps not the best plan.) As a new writer you should spend as much time reading as you can as your subconscious hangs on to stylistic things that appeal to you and works them into your own developing style. Once you have an established style (or styles), reading is less important.
that’s great advice Andy!
Reading is my primary form of escapism; I don’t own a TV or play computer games of any sort, but wave a book in front of me and I’m lost. In fact, when I really need to buckle down to my writing — fiction or professional — I put myself on a strict library/ebook embargo to avoid the distraction of an unopened novel!
Spencer,
I hate pigeon-holing books BUT it does have it’s uses early on, when you’re trying to get the work out. My stuff never fits any genre too well, but being able to say science fiction readers might like this or mystery readers - it helps cut through some of the noise. Starting with a label doesn’t mean you have to keep that label for ever.
I hope.
What made you decide to become an author? Have you been employed in other careers before writing?
I’ve been a bit of a career hopper, actually.
After university, I worked in the computer science industry.
Then I attended Teacher’s College and subsequently taught high school math and computer science.
Only after teaching for about 8 years did I decide to try this whole “writing” gig.
Getting my own fiction published has been my goal as long as I can remember; I was an avid reader as a child (still am) and wanted nothing more than to share my own stories with people. I guess it was never so much a decision as a calling. I’ve been creating and writing stories for myself and my friends all my life, but it took a long time to start writing for publication.
I worked as a copy editor for a big CPA corporation between college and grad school.
I did freelance copy-editing for an academic publisher to help make a few extra dollars during grad school.
I worked in various editorial capacities for a trade magazine company for a year between grad school and my first teaching job.
I’ve been a full-time university professor ever since. It was only after earning tenure that I felt really able to get serious about pursuing professional fiction writing, though!
I started trying to write when I was 8, then did some “novels” when I was about 13/14 (never finished, probably because I was off in the woods) and then began a bit more seriously when I was in my late teens (and this led to publication). I’ve been at it now for 40 years. Somewhere else in that time I’ve done other “jobs” and ended up as something called a “Business Manager” in a large college, but it was never my career. Now I’m retired…which isn’t quite true, because I can write full time.
I have to admit, though, that the other jobs paid good money…
I started writing when I couldn’t find a good book to read. Seriously. Of course, at the time I was running a high fever and limited to my university roommate’s lackluster small collection of books. Since then I’ve written in my near non-existent spare time until January of this year when I left my day job (software developer) to write full time.
Oh, yes. I’ve done a lot of things to earn my daily bread, and every one of them turns up in my writing. The scene in The Braided Path in which a baby is having a hard time breathing is directly from my time as neonatal intensive care nurse. The city scenes come walks in New Delhi when I was doing agricultural research in India. The ship and boat scenes come from my first job: turnabout crew on the schooner The Mystic Whaler. The craft details in the book come from the years I’ve spent leading seminars in the hills of North Carolina. Your writing is enriched by every single life experience that you live with attention and whole-heartedness.
Yes! @Donna is right! Most of our fiction contains pieces of our lives.
Thanks to everyone who is either sharing this event, or reaching out to people to bring them along! You guys ROCK!
@Michael, since you live so close to Niagara Falls, what’s your earliest memory of the Falls?
Have you ever stood and the brink and wondered, “What would it feel like to ride that long plume of water to the rocks below?
Ha. Suzanne, that is so true. You can’t look at those rapid and not wonder what it would be like . . . My earliest memories of the Falls were of disappointment for that reason. You couldn’t ride ‘em. it wasn’t until later - when I better understood the power - that I appreciated the wonder.
I remember visiting with my grandparents when I was probably about six or seven. There’s nothing quite like standing at the brink and embracing the power of all that water pouring over the abyss.
@Dru I love both of your Clockwork Heart and Clockwork Lies. I was wondering, how do you implement a complex social and political structure into a fantasy world without making it an infodump session?
Whew. That’s the ten-million-dollar question! It’s hard, it really is, and I don’t think I’ve mastered it yet. Showing people in action within the culture helps; it grounds the reader in imagery and you can introduce new terms with a short description of what they mean without stopping the action. For example, if I show Taya bowing to someone she addresses as “Exalted” with her hands in front of her face, you immediately understand that there’s a social hierarchy, that manners matter, that Taya’s not on top of the hierarchy, and that it’s not a purely European culture. You might not know exactly what “exalted” means, but you’ve got an idea, and most readers can wait for more explanation later.
Other times you *have* to info-dump a little. When two characters argue over something, I find that it often offers an opportunity to weave in a little information as they try to convince each other of their viewpoint or mentally react to their opponent’s assertion s— for example, Taya’s conversations with people from other people and cultures who are criticizing Ondinium allow me to make some points about Ondinium’s politics that she simply wouldn’t consider.
However, I’m hitting the problem big-time in my current work-in-progress, because I want it to be a futuristic, almost dying-earth type story set in a vaguely northeastern Indian/Nepalese area. Trying to explain a distant post-apocalyptic, extensively bioengineered culture is bad enough; setting in a culture that most of my readers aren’t very familiar with has just exacerbated the problem, since I want to use culturally specific terms for various items of food, clothing, symbols, etc.! So I’ve been struggling to figure out creative ways to avoid confusing the reader *and* avoid providing useful-but-ugly infodumps. It’s not easy, but I’m working on it!
Of course, you can always take the Hannu Rajaniemi (“The Quantum Thief,” “The Fractal Prince,” “The Quantum Angel”) route and just throw those terms and cultural references out there without any explanation at all! I don’t understand half of what’s going on in his novels, they’re set in such a weird posthuman future, but I enjoy them, anyway. Of course, I also loved Gene Wolfe’s novels, and his works were the only ones that ever sent me to the dictionary on a regular basis before I read Rajaniemi! (Except in Rajaniemi’s case, I need to hit the internet, because the terms he uses are too fresh out of computer science, mathematics, and physics to have made it into a dictionary yet.) It’s a pretty bold move, of course — it means you’ll lose readers who aren’t comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity, and you have to find an editor and publisher willing to take a gamble on your book making money, anyway — but Rajaniemi has managed. Maybe he’ll open up a niche for other books that assume readers *don’t* need to be spoon-fed information all the time!
(But I wouldn’t count on it.)
Our next featured author is Michael Martineck
BBB: Welcome Michael Martineck to our Ask Us Anything event.
What is the name of your current EDGE publication:
Michael: The Milkman
BBB: Where are you located (geographically):
Michael: Grand Island, NY
BBB: Could you please tell us about your book (without spoilers:)
Michael: A murder mystery in a world with no governments. Everyone works for one of three mega-corporations and the bottom line is their only concern.
BBB: Could you please introduce us to one of your characters:
Michael: Edwin McCallum is a security officer who wants to find a killer because its right. Right is not really a company concern.
BBB: What is the most outrageous question anyone has asked you (either as an author, or as a person)
Michael: One of the things I’ve been asked is if my friends end up in my books. As characters. - I’ll never tell!
BBB: Finally what is one really unique thing about you that would not be found in a promo kit?
Michael: I went to racing school and learned to race sports cars.
BBB: Thanks for joining us today.
Have a question for Michael? Post it in the reply area below.
A race car driver huh? Okay, that leads me to three questions.
1) Do you ever drive your everyday car “just a little too fast” when you’re alone in the driver’s seat and on a quiet road where no police will ever find out?
2) What’s the “dream car” you’d buy if you won an outrageously huge lottery?
3) Do any of your books feature awesome car-chase scenes?
1. I drive like Godzilla’s in my rear view mirror. No idea why. I’m a nice, calm person otherwise.
2. I like Porsches. I’m a little ashamed. The getting warmer and all.
3. I have written a couple of car chases. Love them. I’d do more if I thought I could get away with it.
What inspired you to write The Milkman. What do you love most about the book?
The authors will be dropping by throughout the day and evening to answer your questions.
I have a deep love for poetry and great respect for poets. Do any of you write poetry? And if yes, what role does the writing of poetry play in your life as a writer?
I write poetry.
I’ve attended several “Fist Full of Poems” workshops where you spend a day with other poets and leave with a fist full of poems.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had much time to pursue selling the poetry, as I tend to focus on my other works, but I do love the form.
I have nothing but admiration for poets because I can’t write poetry! It amazes me how vividly and succinctly a good poet can capture a scene or an emotion. I don’t have that talent….
Absolutely I write poetry and I know that learning to write poetry was hugely important in learning to place emotion in prose.
Unfortunately I have zero talent writing poetry. The best I can do is to try to get a little poetic rhythm and nuance in some of my prose.
A question for all the authors
What’s your views on tattoos and do you have any?
I don’t have any tattoos.
I appreciate other people’s tattoos — the artwork, the personal resonance behind them, etc — and I generally think they’re cool.
I doubt I’ll ever get one, because it’s such a FINAL decision. This is going to be on your body FOREVER. And the pressure to make the right decision, one that’s just as fitting when you’re 20 as when you’re 80 seems too difficult for me personally.
there seems to be a trend towards overkill - so many people not only have a tattoo, but it’s like, an all-over body thing! Don’t look very pretty to me.
I don’t have any. I’ve thought about it, but I’m with Suzanne re: the difficulty of finding something I wouldn’t dislike ten years down the road. If I got one, it would probably be a small lizard of some sort.
Many of the people I’ve talked to who have tattoos have very personal stories behind them. In my work-in-progress the main character got a dharmachakra tattooed over his heart as a young man, after he’d decided not to commit suicide. It was his way of reminding himself that he had a duty to people other than himself.
Oh, yes. I have one tattoo: a rose from the last page of the Louis Untermeyer A Children’s Anthology of Poetry. The rose came between the poems “No Enemies” and “Invictus.” My father gave me that book when I was about in third grade and it opened the door of poetry to me.
Using skin as canvas for vast acres of artwork doesn’t really appeal to me-I prefer the simple, powerful symbol that stands proud and alone.
The challenging thing about getting a tattoo is choosing an image, today, that will be true and meaningful to you until the day you die, a real discernment challenge. You all without tattoos-what image WOULD your tattoo be IF you had one?
I’m not a big fan of tattoos. While I appreciate art and many tattoos are gorgeous, I don’t see the human body as an appropriate canvas. The body itself is beautiful in its own way that I find inconsistent with tattoos. Needless to say I don’t have any myself.
I wrote a sonnet for my wife, Judy. It’s framed, above our bed. I think she still loves me…
A question for Suzanne Church. Will you ever write more stories set in the Couch Teleportation Universe? I love those!
@Robert…YES!
I’ve written a couple of additional stories in that universe. They’re “making the rounds” but haven’t found homes yet.
And there’s always the possibility of a novel set in that universe.
Fantastic!
Do you ever get discouraged by all the talk that readership is down and books are a thing of the past?
@Mike I think most authors have to beat back discouragement with a spiked-club each and every day.
As I said earlier, rejection is a big part of this business, and even though we all know it happens, some rejections sting more than others.
That’s what chocolate is for!
I believe people will continue to read. And if we continue to raise kids to love books and reading, then we’ll continue to build readerships.
Yes, it is discouraging. Other mediums are more prolific and available than ever. Television, film, internet entertainment. More people are writing and publishing than ever before, yet fewer people are reading. I know several authors who have become very focused on writing for television because of this trend. However, most writers write because they have stories to tell, and books are still the most accessible way to tell them.
no. I think there’s room for all the new types of media - i’m not a fan of ebooks myself, but we need them, as with audio books. I can’t see books ever becoming redundant.
Sometimes, but I’m a media prof, and it seems that very few old media ever die out; they just find a different niche. Despite all the fuss over the death of the book, it’s easier to publish a book now than it ever has been, and most of the web remains a text-based medium. Books will be around for a long time, IMO!
Our next featured author is Adrian Cole.
BBB: What is the name of your current EDGE publication?
Adrian :THE SHADOW ACADEMY
BBB: Where are you (geographically):
Adrian: Bideford in county of Devon in England
BBB: Tell us about your book (without spoilers:)
Adrian: THE SHADOW ACADEMY is a science fiction thriller set in an alternative world where civilization has succumbed to the distant Plague Wars, leaving Britain almost totally covered in forest. A young teacher discovers that the Authority in control not only enforces its rule ruthlessly, but hides a deep secret about the world’s past.
BBB: Could you please introduce us to one of your characters?
Adrian: “Deadspike” is a hardline member of the Authority’s administrators, intent on suppressing a pagan revolt without sympathy, his own ambitions paramount.
BBB: What is the most outrageous question anyone has asked you (either as an author, or as a person)
Adrian: That’s far too embarrassing to answer…
BBB: Finally what is one really unique thing about you that would not be found in a promo kit?
Adrian: I have four arms and a tail…only kidding. I guess it would be that I don’t drive. Not unique, but very rare these days.
Please post questions for Adrian in the area below.
@Adrian
I’d love to know what prompted the world of Shadow Academy? Did you start with a plague or deforestation or was there something else all together?
oddly enough I started with a plan for a very different book, set entirely in Londonborough, the central city in the novel. As I began plotting out the original book, I thought I’d do better to begin the story earlier. And I moved the action between the city and the smaller settlement out in “the sticks”. I live in a small country town, Bideford, and worked in its large college for 20 odd years - a combination of facts that gave rise to The Shadow Academy and the landscape around it. The world of the book is “no more than a heartbeat away” from our own, so the raw material was right there on my doorstep! I began to explore this and the history kind of fell into place and grew in the telling…
Suzanne: Are you a member of a book club? Not in a book club not even sure how to find one here actually.
Randy: What kind of book would you like to see more of? Either genre or thematically? On a personal level I love books that involve horses but having been in the racing industry in NZ for a while and before that showing my own horse I do get upset when the person writing hasn’t done the research. So I love books of any genre that have a background that includes horses ie set in a racing stable.
Dru: What Fantasy/horror/sci-fi novel inspired you most as a child, and why? The Dragon Riders of Pern series. Loved it and reread them a bit as a teenager. It was the sheer escapism I think, being able to bury myself in this different world that so heavily relied on animals.
Michael: What is the best question anyone has asked you? Oh boy, can think of lots of um not so good ones. Ohh I know, someone asked me my age and then asked if I was joking as thought I was younger lol.
Donna Glee: Who do you talk to about the books you read? My mother and sister, occasionally friends at work or online.
Adrian: How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to? If you mean does what I read change my actions then not at all. I read for enjoyment and escapism. Same with movies it’s for relaxation not learning.
I read a lot for pure entertainment, especially at the end of the day when, being of senior years, I get a bit tired by then. But I also read to learn - particularly when I’m researching. I didn’t need to do a lot of research for THE SHADOW ACADEMY as i was able to draw on my own experiences and environment. But I’m working on a very complex trio of books at the moment that require a ton of research - a Romano-Celtic alternative world in which Claudius is murdered at 14, Germanicus survives assassination and goes on to become Emperor and Arminius, the Germanic war chief also survives assassination and come over to Britannia to band the Brits together to ward off invasion! (Few spoilers there…) I’m a dyed in the wool Celt, so it’s a real labour of love. Bring out the woad!
When I’m reading to learn I don’t technically class as reading lol to me it’s part of the learning/research process. I guess I’ve just always looked on reading outside of learning as different.
I do a fair bit of research in my job but just never think of it as reading by itself.
Who or What inspires you to write?
Sometimes I’m inspired by an anthology call with a particular theme.
Often I’m inspired by events — in my life, on the world stage, at the microscopic level — and I want to take that event either in a different direction or to an extreme.
Most often, I’m inspired by dreams. I dream pretty much every night, and most of the time, they’re more like nightmares, so my subconscious brain gives me plenty of inspiration.
There’s also nothing quite like a deadline to inspire me to write.
with me it’s a general passion, an “inner drive” - can’t really explain it. It feeds itself, but from time to time I’ll see or read or hear something and it either starts a chain reaction or fits neatly into whatever I’m doing. The process seems to keep going all the time. I’ve always got several plots and characters and ideas bumping about inside my head…not always easy to control them, like a bunch of kids on the loose!
@Adrian, that’s a great way to describe the plot-overload…a bunch of kids pumped up on sugar and doing their best to get away with whatever they can muster. That’s pretty much how characters tend to behave in my head.
and they all want to tell their story, don’t they? even the bit players. It’s how my occult detective, Nick Nightmare, got going. He had a small part in a novel but kept on pestering me to at least do some shorts stories. Now he has his own collection, with more to follow!”
Yes, @Adrian, that’s exactly what happens.
Some characters are pushy buggars, aren’t they?
anything and everything…but the joy of it is that inspiration can strike at any time. I’ve been doing a lot of roofing work on my home for the last 9 months, so a lot of my thinking has been done up on a scaffold! Fortunately I have a fairly retentive memory, and I don’t write things down. If I had to, I’d never get any work done on the house, etc!!
Which do you prefer, science fiction or fantasy?
@Linda, it depends on the book/topic. Sometimes I’m game for the flourish and detail of fantasy, and sometimes I want to invest in the cool idea of a scientific idea.
I also enjoy horror, especially stories that are so creepy I can’t sleep after. Those are the ones that always seem the most thrilling to read, because I have to get past the creepy part to know how it all turns out or I’ll be forever wondering…
I agree, that’s a tough one, especially because there’s a considerable amount of overlap. I like writing fantasy the best, but I probably read more science fiction than I do fantasy, albeit more of the cyber-thriller or post-apocalpytic flavor than the spaceships-and-aliens flavor. When I do read fantasy, I look for unusual new worlds or systems of magic — Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet, for example, with its powerful abstract concepts spoken into spirit form by poet-sorcerers who must constantly struggle to keep them contained, was dark, political, and brilliant!
In answer to Dru’s question, I can’t really say the book “inspired” me, per se, but it was what really made me into a diehard fantasy fan. “A Wrinkle in Time” remains one of my all-time favorite books, though.
Brilliant book! I hear there’s a Disney movie in the works; I hope it does it right. I was disappointed by John Carter…
There was a TV movie made from it a while back (from one of the Disney companies). It was pretty good for a TV move. I’d love to see a full theatrical release, though, so if that’s what’s in the works, I can’t wait!
i’ve always loved horror, sf and fantasy, but other genres too, like spy fiction and crime and historical fiction, particularly Romano-Celtic and Dark Age. Swords and sorcery and fantasy dominated my interests for years, but I have less time for them now - in fact, I struggle to read fantasy now. I’ve always loved sf but these days I tend to go back and re-read favorite authors - like Ballard, Sturgeon, Keith Roberts, John Christopher, Wyndham….you get the picture. My modern favorites remain Jonathan Carroll and Dan Simmons. I read the Tad Williams “Memory etc” trilogy, but found it hard going - but I absolutely loved his “War of the Flowers.”
Also a big fan of John le carre, who also writes brilliant historical stuff as Bernard Cornwell (Arthut and Alfred series).
Jonathan Carroll is amazing. His writing impresses me the same way figure skating does. Stuff I simply can’t do.
Does your travel influence your writing & vice versa?
I don’t travel well. If it weren’t for my wife or my publisher, I’d probably never have gone anywhere I couldn’t drive between meals.
@Michael, that explains so much.
I’ve taken many photos in places I hoped would inspire my fiction.
But to be honest, I’m more often inspired by people than I am by places.
In that way, travelling helps, because I can people-watch in places like airports and restaurants.
There’s something about travelling that brings out different behaviors in people. Travel is stressful and you’re always being watched/scanned/searched/questioned. That environment tends to make us all a little paranoid.
meeting up with fellow writers, editors and people involved in writing, as well as fans, is exciting and invariably sets me off! I do more of it now, after a long period of being tied to a day job.
Yes! My newest work-in-progress is very influenced by my travels to India, Nepal, and Bhutan, both visually and culturally. In “Clockwork Secrets: Heavy Fire,” aspects of the Cabisi Thalassocracy were definitely inspired by visits to Japan and Hawaii.
(There’s a link to my travel photos on my blog, in the right sidebar!)
Answering one of the questions for readers: The fantasy/sci-fi/horror novel that most inspired me as a child was A Wrinkle in Time. I still love that book!
@Nancy, what have you read recently that stuck with you?
@suzanne
Love your world building. The creations are unique and enveloping and make me wonder when you’re going to put out a novel.
Working on it!
@Michael, you know I’m always working on a novel (or three).
Every day I write at least 100 words. For the month of October, I’m doing all the background preparation for my NaNoWriMo novel, which doesn’t even have a title, yet.
I also made it past the first round for a local arts grant. So I’ll have to put some time into finessing the beginning of that novel so I can submit a rocking “round 2″ proposal. The work in question involves hockey, so I’ll certainly be enjoying that application.
It’s easier if you’re a Sabres fan. No need to watch.
LOL!
Yeah, we Leafs fans have our moments too.
But this hockey book is about a fictional hockey team, so they can be as good (or as bad) as I need them to be.
Aww! Even though I’m a Sharks nut, I watch the Sabres when I can, mostly because I miss Torrey Mitchell and hope he has a good year with Buffalo. And the Leafs have (directly or indirectly) inspired some of my favorite books: Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel GHOST STORIES, and many of Dave Bidini’s books. (And no, I’m actually not Canadian, which makes this whole thing even weirder…)
You don’t have to be Canadian to love hockey, @Trix. The more fans the better.
@Adrian - hey guys, it’s long gone midnight over here in Britannia, so I need to go to bed! Thanks for inviting me in on this and sharing all the chat with you. Good luck to everyone with w2hatever you’re working on. Big thanks to Janice and also to the good folks at BBB! Keep reading…
Thanks Adrian.
Janice
Adrian Cole: Are you on Twitter? What’s your two cents on social media?
1- No but it sounds nice, I’d like to.
2- I like paranomal a lot.
3- I like Interview with the Vampire a lot.
4- Not sure if ever, lol.
5- Some dear friends I met a few years ago that enjoy reading.
6- 50% only, you should try everything in life.
I always have to ask this, and this is for any/all of the authors. Is it easier for you to write about places you know versus places you’ve only seen pictures of and what is your greatest source of inspiration?
I prefer to write about places I know, because the writing doesn’t get interrupted by the research. That’s why I’ve set a few of my novels where I live.
Then again, the beauty of speculative fiction, is you can MAKE UP NEW PLACES, which means all of your details will be accurate. And that’s such a relief for people like me who don’t always have the time to do as much research as we’d like.
(1) It’s easier for me to write about places I know or have at least visited — otherwise, it’s very hard to capture things like the way a place smells or how the people interact in the street. Of course, research and imagination go a long way … especially for those of us who are writing fantasy settings!
(2) I don’t think I could pinpoint one source of inspiration, to be honest! I think inspiration happens when a bunch of random bits and pieces of ideas and images suddenly fit together and I suddenly see the core of a story in front of me.
Joshua,
I’ve done both. Writing about a place you know well is mostly better. You can bring out details that may not be widely known or understood. But, that has a downside, too. If you’re not writing a travelogue, who cares, right? Get on with the story. So long as you’re not making any mistakes.
What do you guys like to do to relax? I know you’re all from different areas, but do you ever get together and have fun?
@Liz, that’s one of the main reasons I love to attend conventions-to catch up with friends.
This writing gig is a lonely business, so we writers need to get out and interact with humans who DON’T exist in our heads.
I believe it’s essential for writers to chat with other writers to
- find out what’s going on in the industry
- plot noodle our way out of corners we’ve written ourselves into
- whine about how we think all of our words are crap (which is especially true in the long slow trudge through the middle of a project)
- absorb the vibe that happens when we’re surrounded by people who love books
Hey, guys and gals. What is your personal guilty pleasure book?
@Fox, if I told you, I’d have to kill you.
But I will say, it has romance elements.
That’s all you’re going to pry out of me!
I’ll ‘fess up; I enjoy reading m/m romance novels! <3 (I have a shelf for 'em on Goodreads.) My favorites are cute historical or paranormal stories; I'm not big on drama and angst!
@Fox,
I read pretty much guilt-free. Everything’s a how to or how not to book. I do have a guilty pleasure TV show. I love Arrow. I know, I know. My wife calls it Melrose Place with martial arts. And, well, I never miss an episode.
What do you like best about writing SF or F? What do you like least about it?
@Jane Ann I like the POSSIBILITIES.
Speculative fiction allows me to explore “What if?” to the extreme, and that can make for some cool and fun antics.
I like twisting the world, seeing what it might look like were things a bit different. I like that best. Least, is the phrase “Oh, I don’t read science fiction.” As if any one form of literature was inherently better than another.
If any of you were offered the chance to travel back in time once, would you jump at the chance, or be too worried you would alter the course of history?
I’d screw something up. Seriously. You’d all be giant Nazi amoebas right now if I ever had the misfortune of falling back in time.
@Bethany time travel is so tempting.
But as @Michael said, I would probably screw something up. The butterfly effect begins with such a tiny event, what seems exceptionally trivial such as where to park your car or what to add to your coffee.
But it would be really cool to chat with some of the great minds, like Tesla or Newton or DaVinci.
See, Michael *cares* that he might turn humanity into giant Nazi amoebas.
He’s a much nicer person than I am. I’d embrace my inner mad scientist and hop into the time portal, cackling madly all the while!
LOL
Yes indeed, but Nazi Germany would not be my destination.
What draws you and inspires you to write in your chosen genre?
@Amanda the costumes. Steampunk outfits are gorgeous!
Seriously, though, I’d say it’s the sense of wonder. The foundation that anything can happen. And when everything is built on that foundation, a million possible ideas can sprout.
LOL, yes!
I like the broader range of flexibility speculative fiction gives you to deal with real life issues. You can address difficult topics while distancing them enough to make the palatable. And then there is the escapism aspect. You can travel so much further from home.
Well said, @Randy. Addressing difficult topics from a comfortable distance is one of the main strengths of SF.
The next featured author is Suzanne Church
Your name: Suzanne Church
BBB: What is the name of your current EDGE publication?
Suzanne: ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
BBB: What is your location (geographically):
Suzanne: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
BBB:Tell us about your book (without spoilers:)
Suzanne: Elements has twenty-one short stories, 14 of which are reprints and 7 are new to the collection. With some Science Fiction, some Fantasy, and some Horror, there’s plenty of fiction for every taste.
BBB: Could you please introduce us to one of your characters?
Suzanne: Elements has a managerie of characters including ghosts, a sentient travel mug, and a fuzzy green monster. I even interviewed one of the characters on my blog:
http://suzannechurch.com/wordpress/fictional-character-interview-tank-lazier/
BBB: What is the most outrageous question anyone has asked you (either as an author, or as a person)
Suzanne: Once when I was teaching high school, one of my students asked me to fake their parent’s signature so they could get a tattoo. I said, “No,” of course!
BBB: Finally what is one really unique thing about you that would not be found in a promo kit?
Suzanne: I used to have a pet rat who loved to rip-to-shreds her newspaper nest whenever we tried to watch a movie. So in that big emotional moment, we’d hear Riiiip! Riiiip!
Thanks for joining us Suzanne!
Is there anything you would never write about in your books, whether an uncomfortable subject or a topic in which you are just not interested?
Whenever anyone asks this question, I try to rack my brain to see if there is a topic I wouldn’t write about.
Probably not.
Then again, their are points of view I might have trouble writing, because I would find it difficult to live in the head of…no wait. I think I’ve done that.
Oh my gosh, I used the wrong “their” in that previous comment. I must be drinking too much coffee, otherwise there’s no excuse for that sort of grammar blunder. >-<
Bad author! No biscuit!
Never say never. I don’t think it is a question of topic, but rather how uncomfortable topics are handled. I have written scenes that include rape and torture, murder in a number of ways, and I’m sure a number of other things that many readers would find uncomfortable if delivered without a measure of good taste. I believe, however, that I have handled them in a way that is unoffensive and palatable. Readers will have to tell me where I have messed up.
Let’s see if I can remember all the things I’m supposed to say here. Nobody really questions me. I tend to give them dead eye and “Who are you” face when they do. Stranger in a Strange Land is the one book that influenced me most, of all the books I’ve read. I’ll talk to any one about the books I’ve read or am reading. The one thing in Stranger than changed my behavior most was the concept of the “professional witness”. Read the book if you don’t know what that is.
Hello all -
Great discussion so far! I have a two part question:
1) What was the best part/thing you liked most about working with a small press like Edge? (Besides seeing the book in print, I mean!)
2) What was one take-away, thing you learned, something you wish you did differently, etc. that you would highlight to someone considering publishing with a small press (and that you would/will do yourself next time you publish with a small press)?
Thanks!
- Stephen
Hey, @Stephen. Great questions!
I liked working with a small press because I felt so connected to the publisher, editor, and publicity people.
*waves to Brian, Ella, and Janice*
During the last few months of promotion before ELEMENTS was released, I learned so much about book promotion, and the many different ways that people find our books.
As for a take-away thing, it’s a big step when any author sends their book to a publisher. There’s a real possibility that this submission could lead to a multi-year relationship with that publishing house. So I would suggest, for anyone who’s shopping novels, to do your research. Try to meet the publisher at an event like a convention, because your “baby” is going to be in that other person’s hands and you’ll want to be certain that’s where you want your book to be.
As I read over my comments, they sound a bit ominous, but they are meant to be thoughtful, so I’d wrap things up by saying…think before you submit.
@Stephen
EDGE is a great size. They reach out and into the genre. They have a niche and know what they’re doing with it. It’s a niche I adore, so this has been very, very cool.
I didn’t go to my first con until my first novel came out. Never knew a thing about them. I wish I’d started earlier in my life. Making friends, sharing, learning about the unwritten rules of the craft. Wish I’d started in the womb, there’s so much to learn and see and do.
To answer your giveaway questions:
I am not part of a book club, but I’ve always thought it would be fun. I always liked doing the book groups in school.
I know there are already a lot of books in the romantic suspense genre, but it’s my favorite, so I always love to see more of those.
I think the fantasy book (or series, really) that inspired me most was the Harry Potter books. I grew up with them and will always have great memories of them.
I heard a funny question once that was: Would you rather face a hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?
I talk to the online book community about books, whether to an author, reviewer, or another reader on social media – mainly book blogs and Twitter.
I suppose I’m kind of influenced by the books I read. I read A LOT, and I love when I’m able to really connect with the characters. It’s not unheard of for me to start crying while reading because of a scene that just happened.
Wow, @Lyndsey. Crying during a book? That’s pretty awesome.
I’ve been so angry at an author for what they did to a character that I threw a book across the room. I’ve been known to cry at the sad parts, but that tends to happy WAY more if I’m reading aloud than if I’m reading to myself (which is why I’ll probably never read “The Tear Closet” all the way to the end at a reading).
On more than one occasion, while I’ve been writing or editing a particularly emotional scene, I will be emotionally distraught. I might not cry, but I’ll wish I could. Because, hey, I often write in coffee shops and I’d get some pretty strange looks for crying at my keyboard.
1. EDGE’s editors were very good about working with me to tighten my manuscripts — Ella rocks! — so I felt I was in the loop instead of just mailing off the MS and not seeing it again until it’s published.
2. Hmm, nothing leaps to mind. What I *should* do differently, most likely, is be a more active self-promoter, but it would take, among other things, a complete personality transplant.
LOL @Dru. Most writers tend to be introverts and the self-promotion does stretch our comfort zones quite a lot at times.
But then we end up having new experiences which make great fodder for the next chapter we write.
Ah @Dru
I know just how you feel. In fact, @Suzanne is one the first people I met at a con. I learned a lot from her. You can be outgoing without being obnoxious. At least, she can. I’m still working on it.
It’s time for me to *bow* and exit stage right.
This has been a fabulous afternoon and evening of conversation.
Thanks to @Dru, @Randy, @Michael, @Donna, and @Adrian for joining in the fun, and to all of the other readers and authors who dropped by.
I hope to chat with you all via Twitter, Facebook, or at the next convention!
Thanks for being here. Suzanne will be stopping by in the morning to answer any international questions that may have come in overnight.
Two-parter question:
1. What is the best thing you have ever read (book, poem, essay, etc)?
2. What is the best thing you have ever written (published or unpublished)?
Yikes! There’s no way I can answer that completely honestly; “best” is so conditional! However, one poem that I read in high school that I still remember clearly is “Brahma” by Emerson. “If the red slayer think he slays…” for some reason it really stuck with me. So I don’t know if I could call it the *best,* but it was one of the more memorable.
Best thing I’ve ever written… “The End.”
@Jessica
Crime and Punishment is still the best thing I’ve ever read. So accessible, yet so complex. It is remarkable.
The Milkman is the best thing I’ve written. I like art (all art, not just lit.) that’s balanced: a little spiritual, a little meaningful, a little funny. I like to think, if nothing else, I got that right.
I can’t answer either question because it’s all apples and oranges. Just like parents don’t have favorite children, I don’t have favorite books that I’ve read or written. I have enjoyed an enormous number of books over the years and anything I wrote that I wasn’t enjoying, I didn’t finish.
@Jessica, I’ll agree with the others — it’s hard to play favorites.
One of the reasons I keep on reading and writing is because I believe in the possibility that the best is yet to come.
Our next featured author: Donna Glee Williams
BBB: What is the name of your current EDGE publication:
Donna Glee: The Braided Path
BBB: Where are you? (geographically):
Donna Glee: The mountains of western North Carolina
BBB: Could you please tell us about your book? (without spoilers, of course)
Donna Glee: Here is the short version of it…
The Braided Path—released by EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing in March, 2014—is a fantasy with just a smidgelet of allegory thrown in. No witches, vampires, zombies, dragons. No magic of any sort, except the alchemy of love.
If you want a quick description of it.
On the slopes of a vertical land where people’s lives are bounded by how high and low they are able walk on the single path that connects their world, the young widow Len Rope-Maker watches as years go by and her son Cam never finds his limits. Long past the time when other youths in Home Village have found their boundaries, Cam keeps climbing higher and lower, pushing on with his sweetheart Fox who also shows signs of being a Far-Walker. But Cam’s drive to venture far nudges him towards the top of the world, while Fox’s sends her downward, toward the mythical sea at the bottom of all things. Both are true to their own heart’s calling.
BBB: Sounds fantastic, but I understand you have a story about how you got the inspiration for The Braided Path. Can you tell us THAT story?
Donna Glee: I was staying down at The Hambidge Center in the hills of north Georgia. Your readers who write should know about this place—one of the best creative retreats in the world. Not free, but affordable. At Hambidge, each writer, artist, or musician has their own “studio”—a little cabin off in the woods where you live in total solitude except for coming down to the main lodge for stellar vegetarian meals in the evenings. (And, lemme tell you, people start to look really good to you after the isolation of the long work days. I mean, people turn beautiful on you. Witty. Charming. No kidding.) Everyone at Hambidge sets their own work schedule: For the night-owls, our shared meal is breakfast; for the larks, it’s dinner. The place may be a little rugged for serious city-sophisticates—there are stories, possibly apocryphal, about people leaving after seeing one little mouse or hearing they need to be careful of the bears, but truly, if you want to be productive, there’s no better place I know. I understand that a lot of Wicked was drafted there. A lot of The Braided Path, too.
So back about 7 years ago, I’d been at Hambidge for about a week. I’d finished a story on a Thursday night and took a break to work on learning to tie a new knot, a 14-bight Turk’s head. It was the most complicated damn knot I’d ever tried to tie. I meant it to be just a little brain-cleanser between stories, but I couldn’t get it right and I couldn’t put it down. I mean literally: I got up in the morning, worked on the knot until lunch, then worked on until dinner, then worked on it some more until bedtime. All Friday. All Saturday. All Sunday, too, with this voice in my head yacking on and on with all kinds of variations on “You’re supposed to be writing, not playing with string.” I tried to stop, I really did, but I couldn’t. This went on for three days until I’d finally accomplished that knot late Sunday afternoon. Then I went for a walk, a long, uphill slog and a “what-if” started nibbling at my brain: What if this slope went on forever?
I’d recently been through a Wilderness First Responder Course, so I knew some of the answers to that question. Temperature would change, for one thing, by about 4 degrees per thousand feet. Atmospheric pressure would change. Humidity would change. And because these basic things would change, the plants and animals would be different. And because the plants and animals would be different, the human society basing itself on these resources would be different, too, depending how high or low you were. Hmmm… This began to interest me. What would it be like to live where you could easily walk right out of your own ecological community?
So, when I got back to the cabin, I started to write “Limits,” easily and simply. And a strange thing happened: I was just a few pages into the story when that damned knot showed up. It took the form of The Never-Ending Braid, the token of partnership in that vertical world, like an engagement ring. That knot gave me the whole story—the twining structure of The Braided Path, with two plots alternately rising up and disappearing underneath each other. The central metaphor of fiber twisted into cord. The main character, Len Rope-Maker. The emphasis on the fiber arts and the craft details that flesh out my world-building.
So the lesson for me is never ignore a what-if and, for God’s sake, never ignore a weird compulsion. It will lead you to where the treasure is buried. (That or it will ruin your life. Possibly both.)
You can catch the original short story, to read for free, at http://www.strangehorizons.com/2007/20070723/limits-f.shtml
Or to listen to, also for free, at
podcastle.org/2011/12/27/podcastle-189-limits/
BBB: Can you introduce us to one of your characters:
Donna Glee: I loved my three main characters, my strong, self-confident Len Rope-Maker and my two teens, Cam and Fox, still searching for who they are meant to be, for what their “limits” are. Len was easiest to write. She was my way into the book, I think because she is closest to being my conscious self, an adult woman who thinks she knows pretty much what her life is about. Fox may be my favorite, though she was hardest to write. I didn’t really get Fox until quite late in writing the book, after several drafts. I owe Fox to some conversations I had with an extraordinarily intuitive friend of mine, the writer, composer, and vocalist Lynn Rosser. I already knew about Fox that she’d been stymied by being born into a world where her vocation, boatbuilding, didn’t even exist. But what I didn’t understand, until I talked with Lynn, was how a lot of the load Fox carried came from becoming a mother too early, being left with a child so that she couldn’t follow her heart where it led her.
BBB: What is the most outrageous question anyone has asked you (either as an author, or as a person)
Donna Glee: I was on the phone once and the person on the line asked me, “Who am I speaking to?” Whoa… People should warn you before asking things like that.
BBB: Finally what is one really unique thing about you that would not be found in a promo kit?
Donna Glee: I’ve brain-tanned a deer-hide.
@Donna
Brain tanning! Like the Iroquois used to do?
Yup. They say every animal has enough brains to tan its own hide.
The phrase “brain-tanned” makes me feel a little weirded it. I’m tempted to google it, but it’s pretty early here, and I’m not sure I want that image seared in my brain right now. Did I say brain. Dang.
Since the Author-to-Author questions were lonely, I thought I’d add my two cents before I sign off.
Randy asked: If you were to write a time travel story, what period/location would you travel to?
The late 1800s and early 1900s, so that I could live Steampunk firsthand.
Dru asked: What’s the most surprising thing one of your characters has done that you hadn’t originally planned to happen?
The scene in “The Tear Closet” when Mabel and her mother cross the Leaside Bridge. I didn’t see that coming.
Michael asked: How much do you plan out what you’re going to write and how much just comes out as you’re doing the deed?
For short stories I rarely plan anything out. Most of my short stories have come from either a character sketch or a “What if?” idea. Novels, on the other hand, I tend to plan in much more detail (which I learned the hard way after gobs of re-writing).
Donna Glee asked: I need a REALLY good story, a real knock-you-to-your knees story, right now. (And I say story to include all forms.) Can you help me out with a recommendation?
I hate to be a shameless self promoter, but my story “Living Bargains” is still free to read on my website. I have to take it down soon, so don’t wait too long.
http://suzannechurch.com/wordpress/living-bargains-for-aurora-award-consideration/
Also, my friend Eugie Foster’s story “When It Ends He Catches Her” is brilliant and poignant and was published the day before she passed away.
http://dailysciencefiction.com/fantasy/fairy-tales/eugie-foster/when-it-ends-he-catches-her
Adrian asked: Have you had to make any compromises in your life in order to write, for example, how has writing affected your day job, or how did it if you have become a full time writer? How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to? (especially if you are in the process of writing a book?)
I struggle to make time to write, and it’s primarily my “main job” — long story there. The most difficult times are when I’m on a deadline and I really want to write but family obligations are at odds with my writing time.
As for influence, I always listen to music when I write. It helps me get in the right mood for that story/scene/chapter. Reading tends to clear my head. Watching TV/movies tends to be more of a study for me…I’m always examining “story” and trying to figure out how to use the three act structure to strengthen my plots and appeal to a wider audience.
Our final featured author is Randy McCharles
BBB: Welcome Randy McCharles to our Ask Us Anything event.
Randy: Thanks Rachel.
BBB: What is the name of your current EDGE publication:
Randy: The Necromancer Candle
BBB: Where are you currently writing from?
Randy: Calgary, Alberta
BBB: Tell us about your book (without spoilers:)
Randy: The book is a collection of 3 contemporary fantasy novellas.
The Necromancer Candle
Cassidy’s family has a secret. An ancient, ugly candle passed down through the generations until it is has been all but forgotten. But now someone is looking for it, or so Cassidy thinks. A victim of terminal brain cancer, Cassidy no longer trusts what she sees. But real or imagined, the upheaval of her life is moving quickly toward an end where Cassidy’s greatest wish is to die on her own terms. But is that long enough to solve the mystery of the necromancer candle?
Full House
When Jonas loses his job on the same day a neighbor is murdered, he finds his days at home more challenging yet rewarding than he ever imagined. Against a backdrop of healing family relationships and expounding upon life with his poker buddies, Jonas finds himself pressured to solve the murder. But the more he learns, the more Jonas sees that this is no simple murder, but a mystery that has spanned centuries.
Merlin’s Silver
Joan gets more than she bargained for when she buys an expensive tea service at auction to shake up a lackluster marriage. It seems the tea service is sought by black magicians who will stop at nothing to get it, with only a peculiar little man named Odds Bodkins standing in their way. But who can Joan trust? The mysterious voice on the phone offering to buy the tea service? Her best friend Sally who offers to take it off her hands? Or Odds Bodkins, whose designs grow more unfathomable by the hour?
BBB: Could you please introduce us to one of your characters?
We meet Cassidy at her mother’s funeral, one year after she has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and her father left town. At sixteen years of age she has made peace with dying, but has little energy to deal with her mother’s murder and other events that occur throughout the novella. Her illness leaves her questioning if what she sees is even real, but she persevers as best she can offering the reader hope when all is hopeless.
BBB: What is the most outrageous question anyone has asked you (either as an author, or as a person)
Randy: If I would considering signing on as a Jeff Bridges impersonator, walking and talking like Jeff at parties. Yes, this did happen.
BBB: Finally what is one really unique thing about you that would not be found in a promo kit?
Randy: I occasionally sing semi-professionally. Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.
BBB: Thanks for joining us today!
Sing semi-professionally? That’s cool.
Do you have a favorite genre? Country? R&B? Classic Rock? I’ll have to corner you at the next convention and ask you to hum a few bars.
I’ve been singing for decades, I even took vocal lessons in my early twenties.
Bed time for me. Very sorry. But if these bags under my eyes get any bigger, I’ll have to check them at the gate.
Thanks for joining us Michael.
To the all the authors, what are some of your favorite sci-fi movies? Plus, do you enjoy the ‘B rated” movies? I love terrible sci-fi movies with crack plots - great mind relaxing - like Sharknado.
I like sci-fi; some of my favorites are Brazil, Alien I & II, Blade Runner, The Matrix….
As far as B movies go, I probably watch more horror than sci-fi, but I’d count Event Horizon, Alien v. Predator, and Plan 9 (of course)….
Some of my favorites are Galaxy Quest, the Fifth Element, and most of the superhero flicks like X-Men, etc. I do enjoy B Movies when they don’t take themselves too seriously.
Like @Dru, most of my B-movie watching tends to be more horror than SF. But my mom’s a big fan of B-movie SF so I watched a ton of it as a kid.
My DVD collection is embarrassingly large, and I watch so much SF/F/H that it’s hard to choose.
I Am Legend, Shaun of the Dead, the Star Trek and Star Wars movies, the new Battlestar Galactica, all the superhero movies (Marvel and DC), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Galaxy Quest, most of the Stephen King movies with kudos to The Shining (the original) and Salem’s Lot.
I’m sure I’m forgetting a whole pile of good movies.
What will readers walk away with after reading “your current EDGE release”?
I guess *one* of the things I hope readers enjoy about the Clockwork Trilogy is that Taya rescues guys more often than guys rescue her! Sometimes I get tired of stereotyped gender dynamics in fantasy fiction; I tried to mess with them a bit in this trilogy. I enjoyed writing a bold, adventurous heroine and her geeky, awkward love interest!
A smile on their face. I try to blend serious, sometimes dark, problems with humor and always have an upbeat ending. I also try to write for a broad spectrum of readers of all ages.
@Lisa my biggest hope is that readers will walk away “wanting more”. That’s my goal whenever I write a short story…to peek into a world for one exciting moment, leaving the reader to ponder what happened before and after, and/or all the possibilities that world has to offer.
If you could do a crossover with any book, film, or TV series, what would it be and why?
That’s tricky as writing in someone else’s universe is more difficult than you might think. Anything by Brandon Sanderson might be fun though.
@Trix, I’d write in the new Battlestar Galactica universe. I’m a huge fan of the reboot, and there are so many story lines I could expand on within that universe.
@Suzanne: I don’t belong to a book club per se, but I have done a few similar events online. They haven’t related to speculative fiction…
@Randy: I’d like to see more m/m steampunk, sci-fi, and urban fantasy, and more humor in all the related genres.
@Dru: I spook easily, so I definitely avoided all those genres as a child! Maybe the Vonnegut short “Harrison Bergeron” in high school. It made its point, but was funny and not overly preachy.
@Michael: I can’t think of one exciting enough to mention-how depressing!
@Donna: The m/m community is pretty opinionated and close-knit, so I end up yammering with folks on blog and author pages. Most of my friends IRL like different genres or are just too busy to read, but I ask them about books, too.
@Adrian: Books mean a lot to me, but I don’t generally find them influential. I think it’s because I tend to read things that dovetail with my interests and experiences at the time, or to enhance a mood rather than change it.
@Trix my NaNoWriMo project this year is likely to be a Murder Mystery.
I’m a novice with respect to that genre, so fingers crossed the “tight-knit” community has room for me.
“What Fantasy/horror/sci-fi novel inspired you most as a child, and why?”
I’m sure I’m not the first to say that Frank Herbert’s “Dune” was one of the most influential books of my young life. I have wanted to write stories since I was quite young and that book had it all: Depth in character development, world-building and plot, amazing dialogue, grand themes that were realized and questioned at just the right moments. Even now, I remember the deep sense of satisfaction that I felt, much later, (in my mid-20s) when I finally read Chapterhouse and saw the clear path that all the books had taken.
My Question for all the authors (and I’m particularly looking in Michael’s direction) is: “Name three things in or about a book that would make you stop reading it, without finishing, and not pick it up again.”
Dune as well for me. Others are the Shannara and the Belgariad series.
Well, since Michael’s gone to bed but I’m still hanging in for a little longer, I’ll throw my hat into the ring (maybe he’ll be able to get to it tomorrow) —
1. A rape scene. I’d prefer such a traumatic event occur off-screen if it needs to occur at all; otherwise it just turns me off completely.
2. A scene in which the female protagonist gazes in a mirror admiring her body for several paragraphs, spending an inordinate amount of time evaluating her perky breasts and firm rear. (Ever notice it’s almost always a guy who writes those scenes….?!) It’s just so ridiculous and cliched!
3. Too little action/plot development in the first few chapters. I decided a few years ago that life’s too short to read badly written books; authors get a set amount of time to grab my attention, and if they can’t do that in the first 50 pages or so, I’d just as soon move on to the next novel.
Turn offs for me include overuse of swearing, a slow plot, and characters that don’t engage me as a reader.
@Jenn what makes me stop reading:
1) Point of View hopping. The more an author switches without either a scene break or a chapter break, the more frustrated I get.
2) Ridiculously purple prose. Sometimes I read books out loud to my partner as a way for the two of us to connect to a story. If there’s a ton of description or purple prose I tend to blah-blah my way through. “They had a feast of pork, plums, blah, blah, and the candlelight reflected on their silk blah, blah.”
3) Dialogue done poorly. Either too wordy or with too many “said bookisms” and “ly” words, like, “I’m considering having milk and sugar in my coffee this morning since that’s the way I like it,” he mumbled drowsily.
for any of the Authors
if you could Travel any where in the world where would you go?
I’ve been pretty fortunate to be able to cross off a lot of my wish-list travel so far. Right now a few places I’d like to see in the next few years are Kerala (India), Machu Picchu, and Morocco.
Some destinations I would still like to hit are New Zealand, the Greek Island of Corfu, and the European castles.
@Stacey I’ve always wanted to see Scotland and Ireland. I’ve only seen a couple of “hot” winter destinations, so I could be easily convinced to see St Martins, Grenada, the Bahamas, Cuba, Fiji.
I’ve been to Australia once (to Brisbane), and I’d love to go back and see Sydney, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, and Canberra.
It’s also a life-goal to spend time in each of the 50 States of the US. I’d love to see Juno, Miami, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Santa Fe, Omaha, Boulder, Salt Lake City, and Portland to name a few cities.
Answer Authors Questions
1. not a member of a book club but am in some book groups on facebook but don’t no what thay think don’t really talk to each other.
2. Paranormal Romances - Shifters
3. Don’t remember in books that young but do no in tv show’s was always watching Star Trex
4 Skipping
5. no don’t no any people that like the same books as me.
6. not influenced other them to keep a open mind about what is really out there or what really is even on earth we really don’t no it all.
Heads up to everyone. Adrian Cole (The Shadow Academy) will be featured on SF Signal tomorrow. Visit our EDGE Facebook Page tomorrow.
https://www.facebook.com/EDGEfbpage
We would like to thank everyone for joining us for our Ask Us Anything Event. For those of you who are visiting us internationally, a number of our authors will be dropping by in the morning to answer your questions.
Thanks again both to the authors, and our guests for being a part of this great conversation.
It’s been great today. I’ll check in the morning as well.
It’s been a lot of fun! I’m headed off because I need to teach tomorrow morning, but I’ll drop in again over breakfast to answer any late-night questions that may be left for us!
Good night, everyone!
Suzanne: Are you a member of a book club? If so, how do your members react to speculative fiction?
No… But I consider my blog as sort of
Randy: What kind of book would you like to see more of? Either genre or thematically?
Hmmm it is difficult question - I think …Good sci fi like the institute by Asimov or dune by frank herbert …so on
Dru: What Fantasy/horror/sci-fi novel inspired you most as a child, and why? See above - Dune was my first and introduce me to this world
Michael: What is the best question anyone has asked you? Hey…maybe your question
Donna Glee: Who do you talk to about the books you read?
Other readers…many times find them in bookstores
Adrian: How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to?
see my answer above
final word from me, if I’ve beaten the time barrier!
Thanks again everyone - really enjoyed the multiple conversations and thanks to all who “wrote in” with questions.
Woke us this morning to find a parcel at the end of the bed - not from Santa, but my wife Jude had answered the door (while I was asleep…it was not even 8.00 am) and my copies of THE SHADOW ACADEMY had arrived, complete with very neat bookmarks! Perfect way to round this all off.
Very best to you all,
Adrian
That is great news Adrian! Congratulations. Hope you will drop by this morning (our time) to answer any questions that might have come in internationally during the night. It was wonderful having you here.
@Adrian a book delivery makes for an awesome morning!
Congratulations! That’s always a delight, isn’t it?
What genre(s) would you never write?
@Dovile “Never” is a strong word. I’m not sure there’s any genre I wouldn’t write in, eventually. Though I’d have to do my research first, before I attempted a new genre.
I’ll agree with Suzanne that it’s hard to say “never.” But while I like reading historical fiction, I’m not sure I could write it; no matter how much research you do, you just *know* somebody who happens to be an expert in that period of time is going to find some error or another in your work — an anachronistic expression or garment or the like! I’m afraid I’d bog myself down in research, trying to avoid such errors, and never finish the work!
I suspect erotica is the only genre I’d never write, unless I did a satire of it.
Oh, please, write the satire!
I enjoy a good challenge. It’s on my to-do list. Any recommendations on which erotica book to use as a skeleton. The first that comes to my mind is 50 Shades of Grey.
1) No, I’m not a member of a book club.
2) I’d like to see more YA sci-fi books, that are not dystopian.
3) I didn’t read fantasy or sci-fi as a child. I started reading them as an older teen in school. The first one that had a lot of impact on me was the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It showed me that fantasy can be interesting and brought me into the whole genre.
4) Best question - What achievement are you the most proud of? It really made me consider what I can be proud of.
5) Sometimes, mostly online with people that are actually interested in books.
6) Yes, there have been some books and movies that had a lot influence on me.
Have you ever gotten stuck or frustrated with a story that you just trashed it and started over
I’ll bet we all have! And I have a folder of unfinished stories….
I haven’t started anything over again, but I’ve stopped when things weren’t gelling and moved on to something else.
Not in a reading group. Would like to see more original books I don’t care what genre I read almost everything. My teacher is an alien series got me reading what my teacher deemed appropriate reading material for a child. (I read romances since I was five or six. Didn’t understand half of it but loved to read them.) It also got me exploring different genres.
Not really sure what you want with this but the best question I’ve ever been asked is : Ready to go again? Reason is because it always follows and proceeds something I enjoy(ed). For instance riding a rollercoaster, bungee jumping, among other things.
I talk about my books to my boyfriend to his horror. I also talk about them to people I know who read and even people who don’t but probably should.
And I’m not influenced by any of it. Some can bring temporary happiness or make me mad but I’m not very trusting and tend to only see things my way.. which is probably why I read because I can take your words and create my picture with them, I tend to be disappointed with movies.
hi,
no I do not belong to book clubs
I think there are enough of book genres now
fantasy because of make believe
I’ve never had a cool ? asked to me
friends, blogs other readers
somewhat, if it attracts me.
what is your best fantasy movie or book?
How many time of day do you use for write a book ?
Are you a member of a book club?
no but I do blog about what I read
What kind of book would you like to see more of? Either genre or thematically?
never tire of the vampire genre
What Fantasy/horror/sci-fi novel inspired you most as a child, and why?
Flowers in the Attic- when I first realized that family may not always protect you
What is the best question anyone has asked you?
if I’d marry them and have their babies
Who do you talk to about the books you read?
anybody and everybody-on my blog and in person
How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to?
not a lot as I treat it as pure entertainment
Are you a member of a book club? If so, how do your members react to speculative fiction?
I occasionally take part in the Goodreads group, Literary Darkness, group reading. Outside of that, no, and we all love spec fic.
What kind of book would you like to see more of? Either genre or thematically?
Oh heck … I’m a genre mutt with diverse tastes, and I don’t pay much attention to trends, so let’s say space western.
What Fantasy/horror/sci-fi novel inspired you most as a child, and why?
Maybe Roald Dahl’s “The Witches.” Pretty much everything by Dahl was mesmerizing as a kid.
What is the best question anyone has asked you?
Do you wanna do it here in the backseat or go inside?
Who do you talk to about the books you read?
In real life, hardly anyone. People I know just don’t read a whole lot, and seldom show interest in my taste in books.
How influenced are you by what you read, or watch, or listen to?
Hard to say, although I am now convinced there are lizard people running the new world order. Does that count?
What is your favorite food?
I’m not a member of a book club.
I would like to see more fantasy books.
The Lord of the Rings inspired me most because it was so epic.
The best question anyone has asked me is if I was a sushi roll what would I be called?
I talk to my friends about the books I read.
I’m influenced to be more open minded and empathetic towards others.