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POINT OF VIEW: The Publishing Industry

Stress - Deposit Photos

Joel Arellano asked me to talk a bit about “Dealing with the volatility of the publishing industry.” I’m going to go a step beyond that and talk about the industry in general. I love publishing. I have been a book fanatic since I was a little kid, and always wanted to be a published author. When I was in my teens, it was a lot harder. There weren’t nearly as many publishers, and the big ones had the gates locked down tight. Sure, most took open submissions back then, but that was basically an invitation to languish in the slush … Read more

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Amanda M. Lyons

Amanda M. Lyons

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, Amanda M. Lyons – A longtime fan of horror and fantasy, Ms. Lyons writes character-driven novels that, while influenced by the dark and gothic, can also be heavily laced with fantasy, romance, history, and magic. Amanda M. Lyons has lived her whole life in rural Ohio, where she lives with her fiance and two children. She is the author of Wendy Won’t Go: Collector’s Edition, Eyes Like Blue Fire, Water Like Crimson … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Dropnauts – Making the Perfect Cover

Dropnauts cover wrap

Designing a cover is hard. My first such effort, years ago, was limited by my skill at manipulating things in Photoshop, as well as my lack of expertise in finding good images to work with. The latter still takes me the longest – I have to really consider the story as a whole and think about what might represent it. And then I have to find it. That often takes hours and hours, paging through stock photo sites and following “More Images Like This” rabbit holes when I see something I like that’s not quite right. I’ll often have ten … Read more

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THE WEEKLY FIX: Dropnauts

Dropnauts

Dropnauts is, um, dropping in four weeks, so I thought I’d tease you a bit with an excerpt. 🙂 This one starts a century after The Stark Divide, and reveals what happened back on Earth: Chapter OneLaunch: 6.15.2282 O Earth! dost thou too sorrow for the pastLike man thy offspring? Do I hear thee mournThy childhood’s unreturning hours, thy springsGone with their genial airs and melodies,The gentle generations of thy flowers,And thy majestic groves of olden time,Perished with all their dwellers?—“Earth,” by William Cullen Bryant, from Poems From a Distant Earth, by Chen Tien We’re going home. Rai sweated inside his … Read more

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: K.L. Noone

K.L. Noone

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, K.L. Noone – K.L. employs her academic research for writing romance, almost always LGBTQ+ and often paranormal, fantasy, or historical! Her full-length romance novels include the Character Bleed trilogy (Seaworthy, Stalwart, and Steadfast), Cadence and the Pearl, and A Demon for Midwinter, available from JMS Books, and A Prophecy for Two, available from Inkshares. She’s also the author of multiple romance novellas and short stories with JMS Books, and previously with Less … Read more

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ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: Fix the World Anthology

Other Worlds Ink has a new hopeful sci-fi anthology out: Fix the World. And there’s a giveaway! We’re a world beset by crises. Climate change, income inequality, racism, pandemics, an almost unmanageable tangle of issues. Sometimes it’s hard to look ahead and see a hopeful future. We asked sci-fi writers to send us stories about ways to fix what’s wrong with the world. From the sixty-five stories we received, we chose the twelve most amazing (and hopefully prescient) tales. Dive in and find out how we might mitigate climate change, make war obsolete, switch to alternative forms of energy, and … Read more

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REVIEW: Fix The World Anthology

Fix the World Anthology

Genre: Sci-Fi, Hopepunk LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Lesbian, Genderfluid Reviewer: Cyd Get It On Amazon | Universal Buy Link About The Book We’re a world beset by crises. Climate change, income inequality, racism, pandemics, an almost unmanageable tangle of issues. Sometimes it’s hard to look ahead and see a hopeful future. We asked sci-fi writers to send us stories about ways to fix what’s wrong with the world. From the sixty-five stories we received, we chose the twelve most amazing (and hopefully prescient) tales. Dive in and find out how we might mitigate climate change, make war obsolete, switch to alternative … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writers Who Inspire Me

Inspiration - Deposit Photos

Fan Joel Arellano recently asked me what writers inspired me. Every author writes from a font of knowledge and a stew of weird ingredients created from a life’s worth of experience – where we grew up, how we were raised, and what we consumed over those (for me) long 52 years now. But one big piece of this is the other writers we have read. So here, in no particular order, is a non-comprehensive list of some of the writers who have inspired me, and why. Sherri S. Tepper: I first encountered Ms. Tepper’s work in the supermarket checkout line. … Read more

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THE WEEKLY FIX: Fix the World

I’m relaunching The Weekly Fix, with a twist. For now, instead of a serial tale or a short story, I’m sharing excerpts from the stories in the forthcoming Fix the World anthology. This is a fantastic collection of twelve hopeful stories from sci-fi writers on how to fix some of the greatest problems we face as a world. This is the last story from the book. Preorder it here. The Homestead at the Beginning of the World Jana Denardo Sam surveyed the glacial lake, blooming green under September’s sun. Some days, he couldn’t believe all of this was his. The … Read more

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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Edale Lane

Edale Lane

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, Edale Lane – the author of an award winning 2019 debut novel, Heart of Sherwood. She is the alter-ego of author Melodie Romeo, (Tribute in Blood, Terror in Time, and others) who founded Past and Prologue Press. Both identities are qualified to write historical fiction by virtue of an MA in History and 24 years spent as a teacher, along with skill and dedication in regard to research. She is a successful author … Read more