Here is your chance to get into an anthology and help a person!! Ms. Karen DeLabar is a writer and a young woman who was recently stricken with Toxic Shock Syndrome. To help offset her medical expenses, friends are putting together a short story anthology called The Orange Karen Tribute Anthology. If your piece is selected, you don’t get paid, but the karma points are precious. I have already submitted a piece for consideration:) How’s about you?
MGP
I finally got to press my sequel to my urban metaphysical novel Coffee with Thunderbolts. I wrote A Star Rose in Cerami during the 2011 NaNoWriMo. The characters from my first book are back and off to the wilds of Sicily to fix a “tiny” metaphysical problem that occurred after their experience of the Mayan Doomsday of 12/21/12. You can find all of my books on my Author Spotlight on Lulu.
I did write another novel for the 2012 NaNoWriMo. It is a young adult book, and it is a “disguised” science fiction tale. I will give updates and details as I get closer to a publication date.
Over the summer, I participated in the LitChat Salon, and I had my very short fantasy story, A Feather for the Devil, critiqued. I had so much fun doing this that I hope to take the character in that story and work up a novel at some point in time.
For those of you aspiring (and perspiring) writers out there, I recommend #litchat on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 4 pm to 5 pm EST on Twitter. On Monday nights from 9 pm to 10 pm EST there is also #writersroad. For all of us who travel the indie path, on Tuesday evenings at 9 pm EST there is #indiechat. For SF in particular, check out #scifichat on Fridays from 2 pm to 4 pm EST. You will not only have fun, but you will learn a great deal on the subject of writing and publishing.
MGP
In the spirit of Halloween, author Neil Gaiman has recorded a reading of a short story which you can download for free at audible.com. It’s called “Click-Clack the Rattle Bag”, and you can only download it until October 31st. For each download from the site, audible.com will make a donation to donorschoose.org or booktrust.
You can go to Neil Gaiman’s journal (journal.neilgaiman.com) for more information. The complete link to his post about the story is http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2012/10/something-really-cool-is-about-to-happen.html.
Neil asks that you wait to listen to it until after dark…
I just read “All About Emily”, this year’s Christmas story by Connie Willis. It is in the December 2011 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine.
It’s been a couple of years since Connie has had a Christmas story published, so I was looking forward to it, and wasn’t disappointed. It’s just what I have come to expect from her Christmas tales – light and humorous, with lots of classic movie and theatre references – and little notes about what humanity can be at its best (and worst) tucked in for good measure.
The story is told from the point of view of Claire Havilland, an aging, somewhat cynical Broadway star. Claire is, unbeknownst to her, embarking on a little voyage of self-discovery, courtesy of the media campaign surrounding some new technological gadgetry. To find out more than that, you need to read the story…
While there isn’t much science fictional heavy lifting happening in this story, it is entertaining and fun. So, if you’re in the mood for some robots, Broadway, and Holiday atmosphere, you should give “All About Emily” a try.