As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Point of View: The (Scary) Art of Self Promotion

scared - deposit photos

Most of us writers are, by nature, solitary beasts. We are happiest when holed up in our writer caves, interacting only with people whom we control – our characters. Although many writers I know claim it’s the other way around! We decide what they are feeling, where they are going, and how and when that journey ends. Woe to the character who crosses an angry writer! We engage with them when we are ready, and there are no critics (outside of the inner one) to tell us we are doing it wrong. Sooner or later, though, we finish a story, … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Ef Deal

Ef Deal

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Musician, poet, editor, video editor, and author of steampunk, fantasy, and horror, Ef Deal has been writing and composing since she was nine years old. Her short fiction has been published in numerous online zines and print anthologies including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Dangerous Waters from Brigid’s Gate, Chris Ryan’s Soul Scream Antholozine, two anthologies from Speculation Publications, and four anthologies from e-Spec Books. She is currently public relation … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Mikko Rauhala

Mikko Rauhala

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Mikko Rauhala is a Finnish SF author making their foray into the English speaking world. They often write their stories in both languages, which can get frustrating when there’s no one else to blame for the occasional double entendres. Informed by their master’s degree in intelligent systems, they’re most at home in hard science fiction settings, though they’re not exclusive and like to cross genres. Whether the subject is steam powered gnomes … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Martin Lochman

Martin Lochman

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Martin Lochman (born 1989 in former Czechoslovakia) is a Czech author of science fiction and speculative fiction stories. He currently resides in Malta where he works as an academic librarian at the University of Malta. His work has appeared in a variety of venues, including New Myths, Kzine, Theme of Absence, XB-1 (Czech SFFH magazine), and others. His debut collection All Quiet in the Milky Way: Ray M. Holler’s Adventures vol. 1 … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Lori Alden Holuta

Lori Alden Holuta

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables, teas, and herbs, when she’s not playing games with a cat named Chives. She’s fond of activities from the past, including canning and preserving, crocheting, reading in the dark, and cooking from scratch. Her lifelong fascination with the Victorian era dovetailed nicely with articles written for The Primgraph, a magazine which focused on historical eras in virtual worlds, as well … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Clara Ward

Clara Ward

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Clara Ward lives in Silicon Valley on the border between reality and speculative fiction. When not using words to teach or tell stories, Clara uses wood, fiber, and glass to make practical or completely impractical objects. Their latest novel, Be the Sea, features a near-future ocean voyage, chosen family, and sea creature perspectives, while delving into our oceans, our selves, and how all futures intertwine. Their short fiction has appeared in Strange … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Siobhan Muir

Siobhan Muir

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Siobhan Muir lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband, two daughters, a kitten who thinks he’s a dog, a cat who’s not impressed with him, and the dog who just wants to go for a walk. In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Abby Goldsmith

Abby Goldsmith

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Abby Goldsmith is the author of 6 sci-fi novels, the Torth series, which starts with Majority and ends with Empire Ender, all published by Podium, with starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus. Her short works have appeared in Escape Pod, Writer’s Digest Books, and anthologies. You can find her on social media, Patreon, and at AbbyGoldsmith.com. Thanks so much, Abby, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Point of View: Writing With Someone Else (and a Cover Reveal!)

Office of the Lost - J. Scott Coatsworth & Kim Fielding

I have a new release coming out, something I wrote with one of my dearest writing friends, Kim Fielding. Office of the Lost releases on June 21st. Universal Buy Link From the foreword: I first met Kim almost a decade ago, when I launched the Queer Sacramento Authors Collective with two local author friends. Kim soon joined—and even though it was a little bit of a stretch to include her then-hometown of Turlock, about 90 miles south of Sacramento, in a Sac area writer’s group, we were thrilled to have her. We’ve since become fast friends, with her attending many … Read more

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Author Spotlight: Pat Henshaw

Pat Henshaw

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Pat Henshaw [pronouns she/her] was born and raised in Nebraska. She has lived on the U S’s three coasts, in Texas, Virginia, and now California. Before she retired, she held a number of jobs, including theatrical costumer, newspaper features reporter and movie reviewer, librarian, junior college English instructor, and publicist. She loves to travel and has visited Canada, Mexico, Europe, Egypt, Thailand, and Central America as well as almost all fifty US … Read more