Heidi Ruby Miller's Blog, page 75
March 11, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with L. Jagi Lamplighter
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
L. Jagi Lamplighter
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
My favorite character is Ladyhawk Demiurgae, a.k.a. Victoria Woods, who is the heroine of my current work.
For years I refused to write a story with her as the main character because I was embarrassed. She is not only a character I made up, she is a character I played in a roleplaying game—who was based on me. This seemed extraordinarily vain to me.
Then, about a year ago, I realized that I had played many roleplaying characters. I had even played four or five based on myself (i.e. in a game where you start out playing yourself in the modern world and then strange adventures happen to you.) Most of them did not stand out to me as preferable to any other character…just this one. So, I realized that it wasn’t just because this was my character that I liked her so much…she really was interesting and delightful.
So, I caved and started writing about her, and the project, which I had been having trouble with for over ten years, suddenly came to life.
I like her because she is relentlessly cheerful, even when facing enormous odds. She is convinced that good will triumph, despite all evidence to the contrary. And she insists on putting her moral standards as high as possible…and still saving the world. This was what made the character so much fun to play…the great amount of thought necessary to figure out not only how to solve the problems but also how to do it without violating an enormous slew of moral convictions.
She is not a perfect character by a long shot. She often slips up…but that just makes her more interesting.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
Mainly, I return to my secret identity as a mom. I have four children: a fifteen year-old princess who grew up as an orphan in China and three boys. My daughter has been with us about a year and a half now. She is finally speaking enough English to make friends. She is great fun and a joy. My sons are ages 8 to 12. One does not talk. The other two talk a great deal and are very interested in games, books, roleplaying games and movies.
At the moment, the great sorrow in my life is that out of these four children, not a single one can read English well enough to read a novel. However, we’ve seen some really wonderful progress this year. I’m very hopeful. Maybe someday they will all read.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Roleplaying, prayer, and skating. A great deal of the ideas I use come from our long-running roleplaying game, or are derived from it. But I also try to remember to pray before I sit down and write. I feel this brings a kind of clarity…or I’d like to hope so.
I also try to go skating (rollerblading) once or twice a week. This is a great time to explore ideas, work out scenes, pray quietly, or do whatever I mentally need to do. (I should add: skating outside is great for praying quietly. Recently, I’ve been skating at a rink with music. Not so good for quiet but great for thinking up dramatic scenes.)
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I like a great deal of music--almost all kinds. When I am entirely alone, I sometimes secretly listen to Classical. Recently, I hear a lot of Christian Rock because that is what the boys like. I also like theme songs from anime, which I find to be cheerfuller than a lot of other modern music.
Before You Tube, I never listened to music while I wrote. Now, I can find the perfect song I’m in the mood for and play it over and over. So, my writing projects now have theme songs.
This has the interesting effect that A) playing the related song sometimes helps put me in the mood to write, and B) some songs are now so strongly associated with certain projects that I can no longer play them if I am working on something else. (This does not happen all the time, but it has happened.)
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I personally believe that there are three modes, not two. One is outlining. The second is just going with the flow. The third is listening to the muse…outlining when it comes to you to do it and not when it comes not to. I think this third is different than just winging. It takes hard work and a great deal of trust.
In general, though, I find that I cannot outline something until I’m at least halfway through. If I do it before that, I use too much human reason and not enough muse. The ideas become too rigid, and the project flounders. After a certain point, however, the whole thing seems to come together logically. After that, I find it useful to outline, to make sure that I don’t overlook a plot thread.
I love the process of writing and discovering what is going to happen. It always feels to me as if I’m remembering it or rediscovering it. As if it has been out there all along, and I’m just waiting to find it.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Indubitably! We love cartoons. My husband (sf/fantasy writer John C. Wright) and I watch them with our children, but that is just an excuse. We also watch them without the children. We love both Disney cartoons and anime. Avatar: the Last Air Bender is a favorite of the whole family. My husband and I also do an anime viewing night with a friend. Currently, we are watching One Piece.
L. Jagi Lamplighter is a fantasy author. She has published numerous articles on Japanese animation and appears in several short story anthologies, including Best of Dreams of Decadance , No Longer Dreams , Bad-Ass Faeries , and the Science Fiction Book Club’s Don't Open This Book .
She recently sold her first trilogy, PROSPERO’S DAUGHTER, to Tor.
The first two volumes: Prospero Lost and Prospero in Hell are currently in stores. The last volume, Prospero Regained comes out in September of 2011.
When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright , and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Her website is: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com
Her blog is at: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com
L. Jagi Lamplighter
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
My favorite character is Ladyhawk Demiurgae, a.k.a. Victoria Woods, who is the heroine of my current work.
For years I refused to write a story with her as the main character because I was embarrassed. She is not only a character I made up, she is a character I played in a roleplaying game—who was based on me. This seemed extraordinarily vain to me.
Then, about a year ago, I realized that I had played many roleplaying characters. I had even played four or five based on myself (i.e. in a game where you start out playing yourself in the modern world and then strange adventures happen to you.) Most of them did not stand out to me as preferable to any other character…just this one. So, I realized that it wasn’t just because this was my character that I liked her so much…she really was interesting and delightful.
So, I caved and started writing about her, and the project, which I had been having trouble with for over ten years, suddenly came to life.
I like her because she is relentlessly cheerful, even when facing enormous odds. She is convinced that good will triumph, despite all evidence to the contrary. And she insists on putting her moral standards as high as possible…and still saving the world. This was what made the character so much fun to play…the great amount of thought necessary to figure out not only how to solve the problems but also how to do it without violating an enormous slew of moral convictions.
She is not a perfect character by a long shot. She often slips up…but that just makes her more interesting.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
Mainly, I return to my secret identity as a mom. I have four children: a fifteen year-old princess who grew up as an orphan in China and three boys. My daughter has been with us about a year and a half now. She is finally speaking enough English to make friends. She is great fun and a joy. My sons are ages 8 to 12. One does not talk. The other two talk a great deal and are very interested in games, books, roleplaying games and movies.
At the moment, the great sorrow in my life is that out of these four children, not a single one can read English well enough to read a novel. However, we’ve seen some really wonderful progress this year. I’m very hopeful. Maybe someday they will all read.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Roleplaying, prayer, and skating. A great deal of the ideas I use come from our long-running roleplaying game, or are derived from it. But I also try to remember to pray before I sit down and write. I feel this brings a kind of clarity…or I’d like to hope so.
I also try to go skating (rollerblading) once or twice a week. This is a great time to explore ideas, work out scenes, pray quietly, or do whatever I mentally need to do. (I should add: skating outside is great for praying quietly. Recently, I’ve been skating at a rink with music. Not so good for quiet but great for thinking up dramatic scenes.)
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
I like a great deal of music--almost all kinds. When I am entirely alone, I sometimes secretly listen to Classical. Recently, I hear a lot of Christian Rock because that is what the boys like. I also like theme songs from anime, which I find to be cheerfuller than a lot of other modern music.
Before You Tube, I never listened to music while I wrote. Now, I can find the perfect song I’m in the mood for and play it over and over. So, my writing projects now have theme songs.
This has the interesting effect that A) playing the related song sometimes helps put me in the mood to write, and B) some songs are now so strongly associated with certain projects that I can no longer play them if I am working on something else. (This does not happen all the time, but it has happened.)
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I personally believe that there are three modes, not two. One is outlining. The second is just going with the flow. The third is listening to the muse…outlining when it comes to you to do it and not when it comes not to. I think this third is different than just winging. It takes hard work and a great deal of trust.
In general, though, I find that I cannot outline something until I’m at least halfway through. If I do it before that, I use too much human reason and not enough muse. The ideas become too rigid, and the project flounders. After a certain point, however, the whole thing seems to come together logically. After that, I find it useful to outline, to make sure that I don’t overlook a plot thread.
I love the process of writing and discovering what is going to happen. It always feels to me as if I’m remembering it or rediscovering it. As if it has been out there all along, and I’m just waiting to find it.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Indubitably! We love cartoons. My husband (sf/fantasy writer John C. Wright) and I watch them with our children, but that is just an excuse. We also watch them without the children. We love both Disney cartoons and anime. Avatar: the Last Air Bender is a favorite of the whole family. My husband and I also do an anime viewing night with a friend. Currently, we are watching One Piece.
L. Jagi Lamplighter is a fantasy author. She has published numerous articles on Japanese animation and appears in several short story anthologies, including Best of Dreams of Decadance , No Longer Dreams , Bad-Ass Faeries , and the Science Fiction Book Club’s Don't Open This Book .
She recently sold her first trilogy, PROSPERO’S DAUGHTER, to Tor.
The first two volumes: Prospero Lost and Prospero in Hell are currently in stores. The last volume, Prospero Regained comes out in September of 2011.
When not writing, she switches to her secret identity as wife and stay-home mom in Centreville, VA, where she lives with her dashing husband, author John C. Wright , and their four darling children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Her website is: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com
Her blog is at: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com
March 10, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with John C. Wright
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Works by John C. Wright
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Unfortunately, my favorite character is not really mine. I was authorized by the
estate of AE van Vogt to do a sequel to his seminal World of Null-A and Players of Null-A. The hero is an amnesiac superman with a double brain named Gilbert Gosseyn, who can bypass the illusionary restrictions of timespace, reincarnate from the dead (being an amnesiac, this comes as quite a surprise when this happens the first time) and he may well be the next step of human evolution.
But his true power is his superior moral and mental outlook, a flexible system of multivalued logic called Non-Aristotelian philosophy or Null-A. This enables him to become aware of the unspoken assumptions and biases inherent in the way we perceive the universe through the filter of language: and since nearly everything in his environment is not what it seems, and nearly every one is not who he seems (including Gilbert Gosseyn himself!) the mental discipline is not only useful, but desperately necessary.
The character appeals to me because he prevails, not because of physical greater strength as might a Robert E Howard hero, nor even greater know-how as might a Robert Heinlein hero; no, Gilbert Gosseyn prevails because of his greater integrity of mind and body, passions, emotions, and reason, his greater sobriety and maturity, and in short, because of his sanity.
Most youths as they mature have days when they feel like the amnesiac superman. When a growing boy discovers some talent or knack he did not know he possessed, of when he discovers he can beat his brothers at a sport or beat his Dad at chess, there is something of that sense of wild discovery combined with familiarity that a greater being who has forgotten his own powers must feel.
This theme of forgetfulness of one's own true glory is one that runs through all my work. As to who or what Gilbert Gosseyn truly is, I am pleased to announce that I had the last word, and so you would have to buy a copy of Null-A Continuum to find out.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
I have been a lawyer, a newspaper editor, a newspaperman, political cartoonist, non-political cartoonist, tax preparer, store clerk, picture framer, paralegal, hand in a Delly, and even, since I got paid for it, a professional philosopher.
I have done my share of amateur game designing. My current day job is tech writer. I have had more odd jobs than even Edgar Rice Burroughs, and succeeded at them only as well as he.
5. Who are you reading right now?
Dante. This is on account of my highbrow tastes. I am not a philistine. See Question #15.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I do not write by inspiration. I regard the task as work, as a carpenter wrights
a chair, or a shoemaker cobbles a shoe. One merely sits down and faces the blank sheet of paper with the same fortitude a knight faces a gathered and clamoring horde of Norsemen or Paynims. Anyone can write when so inspired; a professional writes when he is not inspired. See question #12.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I write entirely by inspiration. The scenes merely flow out of me effortlessly,
in a fashion requiring neither forethought nor agony. Then I go back and rewrite the scene, wishing to heaven that I could outline. Anyone can write without an outline as I do; a professional outlines his work and sticks to it; a genius outlines his work and abandons the outline when need be. See question #8.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
From whom do I steal my ideas, do you mean? Only amateurs are influenced; professionals steal ideas; geniuses steal ideas from the greats.
A.E. van Vogt is the biggest victim of repeated thefts from my kelptomaniacal pen, as one might guess from the fact that I wrote a book of his Null-A Continuum. I have also set stories in the Dying Earth of Jack Vance (Songs of the Dying Earth - Gardner Dozois & Geo. R.R. Martin, eds.) and in the Long Dead Earth of William Hope Hodgson (Night Lands - Andy W. Robertson, ed).
My first trilogy, The Golden Age was a shameless rip off of ideas and themes from Olaf Stapledon and Ayn Rand, not to mention the myth of Phaethon; my second Last Guardian of Everness, was a shameless rip off from Arthurian legend, Russian folklore, Norse myth, Victorian fairytales, American pulp novels, the Book of the Apocalypse, not to mention HP Lovecraft's Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and Crowley's Little, Big; my third trilogy, Orphans of Chaos was a shameless rip off of Hesiod and Roger Zelazny, with ideas nicked from Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay and the Book of the Goetia by the Great Beast.
My novella 'Twilight of the Gods' which appears in the anthology Federations (John Joseph Adams, ed) is a rip off of Heinlein's 'Universe' and Wager's Ring Cycle. (This story is also reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction—Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed).
My short story 'Guest Law' appears in The Space Opera Renaissance (Kathryn Cramer & David G. Hartwell, eds.) and is a shameless rip off of Greek myths about Zeus crossed with any number of submarine stories.
My novella 'Judgment Eve' appears in Engineering Infinity (Jonathan Strahan, ed) is a rip off of Byron's play HEAVEN AND EARTH which is in turn a rip off of the Deluge story appearing in the Book of Genesis. As I said, geniuses steal from the greats, and George Gordon, Lord Byron was a genius.
Aside from this, I wish I were influenced by Gene Wolfe, E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Keith
Laumer, Cordwainer Smith, but I cannot impersonate their ideas or approaches
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Of course. This is on account of my lowbrow tastes. So I am a philistine after
all. My viewing pleasure includes Naruto, One Piece, Kim Possible, not to mention reruns of Space Ghost and Fantastic Four (and I mean the 1968 version, not the later jokes and rip-offs.) - See question #5.
John C. Wright is a retired attorney, newspaperman and newspaper editor, who was
only once on the lam and forced to hide from the police who did not admire his
newspaper.
In 1987, he graduated from the College and William and Mary's Law School (going from the third oldest to the second oldest school in continuous use in the United States), and was admitted to the practice of law in three jurisdictions (New York, May 1989; Maryland December 1990; DC January 1994). His law practice was unsuccessful enough to drive him into bankruptcy soon thereafter. His stint as a newspaperman for the St. Mary's Today was more rewarding spiritually, but, alas, also a failure financially. He presently works (successfully) as a writer in Virginia, where he lives in fairy-tale-like happiness with his wife, the authoress L. Jagi Lamplighter (Annapolis, class of 1985), and their four children: Evelyn, Orville, Wilbur, and Just Wright.
Works by John C. Wright
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Unfortunately, my favorite character is not really mine. I was authorized by the
estate of AE van Vogt to do a sequel to his seminal World of Null-A and Players of Null-A. The hero is an amnesiac superman with a double brain named Gilbert Gosseyn, who can bypass the illusionary restrictions of timespace, reincarnate from the dead (being an amnesiac, this comes as quite a surprise when this happens the first time) and he may well be the next step of human evolution.
But his true power is his superior moral and mental outlook, a flexible system of multivalued logic called Non-Aristotelian philosophy or Null-A. This enables him to become aware of the unspoken assumptions and biases inherent in the way we perceive the universe through the filter of language: and since nearly everything in his environment is not what it seems, and nearly every one is not who he seems (including Gilbert Gosseyn himself!) the mental discipline is not only useful, but desperately necessary.
The character appeals to me because he prevails, not because of physical greater strength as might a Robert E Howard hero, nor even greater know-how as might a Robert Heinlein hero; no, Gilbert Gosseyn prevails because of his greater integrity of mind and body, passions, emotions, and reason, his greater sobriety and maturity, and in short, because of his sanity.
Most youths as they mature have days when they feel like the amnesiac superman. When a growing boy discovers some talent or knack he did not know he possessed, of when he discovers he can beat his brothers at a sport or beat his Dad at chess, there is something of that sense of wild discovery combined with familiarity that a greater being who has forgotten his own powers must feel.
This theme of forgetfulness of one's own true glory is one that runs through all my work. As to who or what Gilbert Gosseyn truly is, I am pleased to announce that I had the last word, and so you would have to buy a copy of Null-A Continuum to find out.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
I have been a lawyer, a newspaper editor, a newspaperman, political cartoonist, non-political cartoonist, tax preparer, store clerk, picture framer, paralegal, hand in a Delly, and even, since I got paid for it, a professional philosopher.
I have done my share of amateur game designing. My current day job is tech writer. I have had more odd jobs than even Edgar Rice Burroughs, and succeeded at them only as well as he.
5. Who are you reading right now?
Dante. This is on account of my highbrow tastes. I am not a philistine. See Question #15.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
I do not write by inspiration. I regard the task as work, as a carpenter wrights
a chair, or a shoemaker cobbles a shoe. One merely sits down and faces the blank sheet of paper with the same fortitude a knight faces a gathered and clamoring horde of Norsemen or Paynims. Anyone can write when so inspired; a professional writes when he is not inspired. See question #12.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I write entirely by inspiration. The scenes merely flow out of me effortlessly,
in a fashion requiring neither forethought nor agony. Then I go back and rewrite the scene, wishing to heaven that I could outline. Anyone can write without an outline as I do; a professional outlines his work and sticks to it; a genius outlines his work and abandons the outline when need be. See question #8.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
From whom do I steal my ideas, do you mean? Only amateurs are influenced; professionals steal ideas; geniuses steal ideas from the greats.
A.E. van Vogt is the biggest victim of repeated thefts from my kelptomaniacal pen, as one might guess from the fact that I wrote a book of his Null-A Continuum. I have also set stories in the Dying Earth of Jack Vance (Songs of the Dying Earth - Gardner Dozois & Geo. R.R. Martin, eds.) and in the Long Dead Earth of William Hope Hodgson (Night Lands - Andy W. Robertson, ed).
My first trilogy, The Golden Age was a shameless rip off of ideas and themes from Olaf Stapledon and Ayn Rand, not to mention the myth of Phaethon; my second Last Guardian of Everness, was a shameless rip off from Arthurian legend, Russian folklore, Norse myth, Victorian fairytales, American pulp novels, the Book of the Apocalypse, not to mention HP Lovecraft's Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath and Crowley's Little, Big; my third trilogy, Orphans of Chaos was a shameless rip off of Hesiod and Roger Zelazny, with ideas nicked from Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay and the Book of the Goetia by the Great Beast.
My novella 'Twilight of the Gods' which appears in the anthology Federations (John Joseph Adams, ed) is a rip off of Heinlein's 'Universe' and Wager's Ring Cycle. (This story is also reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction—Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection, Gardner Dozois, ed).
My short story 'Guest Law' appears in The Space Opera Renaissance (Kathryn Cramer & David G. Hartwell, eds.) and is a shameless rip off of Greek myths about Zeus crossed with any number of submarine stories.
My novella 'Judgment Eve' appears in Engineering Infinity (Jonathan Strahan, ed) is a rip off of Byron's play HEAVEN AND EARTH which is in turn a rip off of the Deluge story appearing in the Book of Genesis. As I said, geniuses steal from the greats, and George Gordon, Lord Byron was a genius.
Aside from this, I wish I were influenced by Gene Wolfe, E.E. 'Doc' Smith, Keith
Laumer, Cordwainer Smith, but I cannot impersonate their ideas or approaches
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Of course. This is on account of my lowbrow tastes. So I am a philistine after
all. My viewing pleasure includes Naruto, One Piece, Kim Possible, not to mention reruns of Space Ghost and Fantastic Four (and I mean the 1968 version, not the later jokes and rip-offs.) - See question #5.
John C. Wright is a retired attorney, newspaperman and newspaper editor, who was
only once on the lam and forced to hide from the police who did not admire his
newspaper.
In 1987, he graduated from the College and William and Mary's Law School (going from the third oldest to the second oldest school in continuous use in the United States), and was admitted to the practice of law in three jurisdictions (New York, May 1989; Maryland December 1990; DC January 1994). His law practice was unsuccessful enough to drive him into bankruptcy soon thereafter. His stint as a newspaperman for the St. Mary's Today was more rewarding spiritually, but, alas, also a failure financially. He presently works (successfully) as a writer in Virginia, where he lives in fairy-tale-like happiness with his wife, the authoress L. Jagi Lamplighter (Annapolis, class of 1985), and their four children: Evelyn, Orville, Wilbur, and Just Wright.
March 9, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with John Grant
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
John Grant
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
My biggest adventure has been, after 50 years of living in my native UK (I'm originally a Scot), to come and live for the past 12 years or so in the US -- all the fault of my beloved American wife Pam. The most exciting bit of traveling we've done since then, aside from regular trips to see family and friends back in Blighty, was a few years ago, when the World SF Convention was held in San Jose. We decided it'd be fun, rather than fly there from home in NJ, to drive both ways -- live our own road movie, as it were, complete with the kind of motels that have malfunctioning neon signs outside them. The adventure was made even more special because, on hearing we were planning this, a very good friend of ours, the Slovakian artist Martina Pilcerova, asked if she could come along for the outward journey, since it had always been her dream to go by car across the US. By the time we got to San Jose we were all sort of achy from the amount of laughter that had been going on.
The pic I've supplied of me was taken by Pam when, on the way back home, we stopped for an afternoon at the Arizona Meteor Crater -- something I'd wanted to see ever since, as a seven-year-old stuck at home from school with the flu in Aberdeen, Scotland, I'd come across a photograph of it in a book. It had been a long journey.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
I'm reading a string of British crime novels -- Rendell, James, Robinson, Bingham, McDermid, Walters, Rankin. Until about a month ago I'd spent the best part of a year reading only for research -- for my upcoming (Fall 2011, Prometheus, plug plug plug) book Denying Science and for an essay on time-travel fiction for an academic book -- so I've really been enjoying the experience of reading just for pleasure. The fact that I'm reading all these Brit crime novels is that, all the while I was reading for research, I was promising myself that the very first book of my "freedom" would be the Ian Rankin novel I bought last Spring and hadn't been able to read at the time, Exit Music. And when finally I did get to it I enjoyed it so much that . . .
I've interspersed these with a few ebooks I've been reading for review purposes (and also to see if I'm as yet interested in getting myself an e-reader): Eric Brown's A Writer's Life, Keith Brooke's collection Memesis, Kaitlin Queen's One More Unfortunate.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
Most kinds. I'm not much into opera, with a few exceptions. I quite enjoy jazz when I hear it, but I don't actively seek it out. Other than that, my taste is the usual mixture of rock/pop/folk/classical, although the rock and pop and folk aren't necessary anglophone; I especially like chanson francaise. For the past couple of years or so, though, most of the music I've been playing has been classical, not just the genuinely classical stuff but also "new music" -- a fresh development for me, because for a long time I didn't much like modern music.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I usually have a pretty clear idea of where the story's going to go, although most often I won't be certain at the start of how it's going to get there. I don't like to know in advance too many of the details, because the exercise might end up being sort of like painting by numbers; also, I think that if I'm excited and surprised when things happen in the story, maybe some of that freshness of emotion will get across to the reader.
And, yes, there are times when I just start writing with no clear idea of where the journey's going to take me. That can be fun. It can also be disastrous. I've built up quite a collection of unfinished stories that are waiting for me to work out how to write the rest of them!
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
I think the answer to that depends on whatever it is I happen to be writing at the time -- I've written everything from space opera and high fantasy to reference nonfiction. In some instances it's obvious: my 2008 fantasy novella The City in These Pages, for example, is not so much influenced by Ed McBain as a homage to him, and overall I'd say noir, in both written and screen form, has had a growing influence on my fiction. That's not to imply I write much that's actually in that genre (although I'm planning a major nonfiction book on film noir). Recently I wrote for the anthology Dragon's Lure a story that I'd say was influenced by Henry Kuttner. And so it goes. At the moment my default mode, as it were, in fiction is kind of slipstreamy, and there I'd say my influences are people like John Fowles, Christopher Priest, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
What I should really be saying, of course, is that I'm an entirely original voice -- no such thing as influences at all.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Yes, and I write about them too. I wrote three editions of Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters plus, some while later, another big book called Masters of Animation. I'm hoping soon to get the chance to do a new edition of the latter. Aside from updates and the like, in the ten years or so since I wrote it a number of good new animators have come onto the scene. Also, the original edition had a design that seemed to me to clash with the content, so I'd like any new edition to reflect better what the text is all about.
John Grant is author of some seventy books, of which about twenty-five are fiction, including novels like The World, The Hundredfold Problem , The Far-Enough Window and most recently (2008) The Dragons of Manhattan and Leaving Fortusa . His “book-length fiction” Dragonhenge , illustrated by Bob Eggleton, was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2003; its successor was The Stardragons . His first story collection, Take No Prisoners , appeared in 2004; its ebook reissue in 2011 was an Amazon.com bestseller. His anthology New Writings in the Fantastic was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award . His novella The City in These Pages appeared in early 2009 from PS Publishing; PS will publish another of his novellas, The Lonely Hunter, in 2011.
In nonfiction, he coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote in their entirety all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters ; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their fields. Among his latest nonfictions have been Discarded Science , Corrupted Science and Bogus Science . He is currently working on Denying Science (to be published by Prometheus in 2011), on a book about film noir, on the artist/illustrator entries for the massive online third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, and on “a cute illustrated rhyming book for kids about a velociraptor”.
As John Grant he has received two Hugo Awards , the World Fantasy Award , the Locus Award , and various other international literary awards. Under his real name, Paul Barnett , he has written a few books (like the space operas Strider’s Galaxy and Strider’s Universe) and for a number of years ran the world-famous fantasy-artbook imprint Paper Tiger, for this work earning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award . His website is at www.johngrantpaulbarnett.com .
John Grant
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
2. Tell me about your travels.
My biggest adventure has been, after 50 years of living in my native UK (I'm originally a Scot), to come and live for the past 12 years or so in the US -- all the fault of my beloved American wife Pam. The most exciting bit of traveling we've done since then, aside from regular trips to see family and friends back in Blighty, was a few years ago, when the World SF Convention was held in San Jose. We decided it'd be fun, rather than fly there from home in NJ, to drive both ways -- live our own road movie, as it were, complete with the kind of motels that have malfunctioning neon signs outside them. The adventure was made even more special because, on hearing we were planning this, a very good friend of ours, the Slovakian artist Martina Pilcerova, asked if she could come along for the outward journey, since it had always been her dream to go by car across the US. By the time we got to San Jose we were all sort of achy from the amount of laughter that had been going on.
The pic I've supplied of me was taken by Pam when, on the way back home, we stopped for an afternoon at the Arizona Meteor Crater -- something I'd wanted to see ever since, as a seven-year-old stuck at home from school with the flu in Aberdeen, Scotland, I'd come across a photograph of it in a book. It had been a long journey.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
I'm reading a string of British crime novels -- Rendell, James, Robinson, Bingham, McDermid, Walters, Rankin. Until about a month ago I'd spent the best part of a year reading only for research -- for my upcoming (Fall 2011, Prometheus, plug plug plug) book Denying Science and for an essay on time-travel fiction for an academic book -- so I've really been enjoying the experience of reading just for pleasure. The fact that I'm reading all these Brit crime novels is that, all the while I was reading for research, I was promising myself that the very first book of my "freedom" would be the Ian Rankin novel I bought last Spring and hadn't been able to read at the time, Exit Music. And when finally I did get to it I enjoyed it so much that . . .
I've interspersed these with a few ebooks I've been reading for review purposes (and also to see if I'm as yet interested in getting myself an e-reader): Eric Brown's A Writer's Life, Keith Brooke's collection Memesis, Kaitlin Queen's One More Unfortunate.
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
Most kinds. I'm not much into opera, with a few exceptions. I quite enjoy jazz when I hear it, but I don't actively seek it out. Other than that, my taste is the usual mixture of rock/pop/folk/classical, although the rock and pop and folk aren't necessary anglophone; I especially like chanson francaise. For the past couple of years or so, though, most of the music I've been playing has been classical, not just the genuinely classical stuff but also "new music" -- a fresh development for me, because for a long time I didn't much like modern music.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I usually have a pretty clear idea of where the story's going to go, although most often I won't be certain at the start of how it's going to get there. I don't like to know in advance too many of the details, because the exercise might end up being sort of like painting by numbers; also, I think that if I'm excited and surprised when things happen in the story, maybe some of that freshness of emotion will get across to the reader.
And, yes, there are times when I just start writing with no clear idea of where the journey's going to take me. That can be fun. It can also be disastrous. I've built up quite a collection of unfinished stories that are waiting for me to work out how to write the rest of them!
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
I think the answer to that depends on whatever it is I happen to be writing at the time -- I've written everything from space opera and high fantasy to reference nonfiction. In some instances it's obvious: my 2008 fantasy novella The City in These Pages, for example, is not so much influenced by Ed McBain as a homage to him, and overall I'd say noir, in both written and screen form, has had a growing influence on my fiction. That's not to imply I write much that's actually in that genre (although I'm planning a major nonfiction book on film noir). Recently I wrote for the anthology Dragon's Lure a story that I'd say was influenced by Henry Kuttner. And so it goes. At the moment my default mode, as it were, in fiction is kind of slipstreamy, and there I'd say my influences are people like John Fowles, Christopher Priest, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
What I should really be saying, of course, is that I'm an entirely original voice -- no such thing as influences at all.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Yes, and I write about them too. I wrote three editions of Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters plus, some while later, another big book called Masters of Animation. I'm hoping soon to get the chance to do a new edition of the latter. Aside from updates and the like, in the ten years or so since I wrote it a number of good new animators have come onto the scene. Also, the original edition had a design that seemed to me to clash with the content, so I'd like any new edition to reflect better what the text is all about.
John Grant is author of some seventy books, of which about twenty-five are fiction, including novels like The World, The Hundredfold Problem , The Far-Enough Window and most recently (2008) The Dragons of Manhattan and Leaving Fortusa . His “book-length fiction” Dragonhenge , illustrated by Bob Eggleton, was shortlisted for a Hugo Award in 2003; its successor was The Stardragons . His first story collection, Take No Prisoners , appeared in 2004; its ebook reissue in 2011 was an Amazon.com bestseller. His anthology New Writings in the Fantastic was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award . His novella The City in These Pages appeared in early 2009 from PS Publishing; PS will publish another of his novellas, The Lonely Hunter, in 2011.
In nonfiction, he coedited with John Clute The Encyclopedia of Fantasy and wrote in their entirety all three editions of The Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters ; both encyclopedias are standard reference works in their fields. Among his latest nonfictions have been Discarded Science , Corrupted Science and Bogus Science . He is currently working on Denying Science (to be published by Prometheus in 2011), on a book about film noir, on the artist/illustrator entries for the massive online third edition of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, and on “a cute illustrated rhyming book for kids about a velociraptor”.
As John Grant he has received two Hugo Awards , the World Fantasy Award , the Locus Award , and various other international literary awards. Under his real name, Paul Barnett , he has written a few books (like the space operas Strider’s Galaxy and Strider’s Universe) and for a number of years ran the world-famous fantasy-artbook imprint Paper Tiger, for this work earning a Chesley Award and a nomination for the World Fantasy Award . His website is at www.johngrantpaulbarnett.com .
March 8, 2011
MGOC Contributor News: Natalie Duvall in Romance Writers Report
Many Genres, One Craft contributor Natalie Duvall has an article titled "One Degree to Publication?" in this month's Romance Writers Report which talks about her experiences in the Seton Hill University MFA program . She interviewed several Seton Hill Writers and Many Genres contributors to see how pursuing the graduate degree has helped them and their writing. Among those interviewed were:
Sally Bosco
Penny Dawn
Venessa Giunta
Cheryl Grey
Nikki Hopeman
Dana Marton
Barbara J. Miller
Donna Munro
Irene L. Pynn
Maria V. Snyder
Albert Wendland
March 7, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with C. S. Haviland
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
C. S. Haviland
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
That is difficult to say, but one of my recent favorites is in the horror novel I am currently writing, called CANIS DIRUS. Set in Yellowstone National Park during a mid-winter blizzard, there is a mountain man of mysterious origins who had appeared so infrequently that he was little more than a myth to most of the rangers. But the veteran rangers knew he was out there, wandering the wilderness: an old Eskimo standing at a height of nearly seven feet with long tangled gray hair and a very bad attitude. What they would discover is the horrible truth about his distant past as a secret agent for the CIA, and the mission in Russia that ultimately drove him into exile. Fortunately for the group of rangers and tourists trapped by a killer storm in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, Falcon emerges from the whiteout and joins them in a struggle against a inexplicable evil that stalks and slaughters them relentlessly. A survivalist with superior combat skills, Falcon is a vital asset to their survival against this vicious supernatural foe, and yet he hates them and has no interest in their protection. He is only involved for personal reasons, to fight this unstoppable monster that he himself may have unwittingly unleashed. Antiheroes are always fun to write!
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
I’m an online operations professional. Some of my articles on that subject can be found on Ad Monsters: http://www.admonsters.com/blog/online-ad-operations-properly-defined-and-how-staff-part-1. In my free time I research the Haviland / de Havilland genealogy and its intersecting families. I have some mild computer technical background, such as VBA programming, and I can build databases with MS Access and SQL Server, and I design my own web sites. I also have videography and video editing experience.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Movies, a few TV dramas, documentaries, novels, and sometimes nonfiction books. My ideas are not based on what I see or read, but are rather side-effects triggered by assimilating a lot of mass media. I have a surplus of ideas. Actually writing them sometimes requires brute force and a highly disciplined schedule that must be wrapped around professional work and raising three young boys.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
Usually movie scores. I currently listen to a lot of Hans Zimmer, and traditionally I have listened to the most well known composers: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, and James Horner. I find that any music that has singing is too distracting. Movie scores can serve as background music that helps me weave my scenes.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
A little of both, and it depends on the project. Some projects have to be outlined first or I just can’t visualize the sequence of events correctly, especially if I’m already clear how I want it to end. Others require that I just start writing narrative, because the end is a little fuzzier and I can’t see into the “future” otherwise. The plot tends to fall into place as the narrative does. The danger with that is that you can write yourself into corners with no reasonable way out. There are different schools of thought on the subject. Terry Brooks is strong on outlining, whereas Ben Bova never outlines. There is no right or wrong, only the way that works for you. But I have found that it’s safer to outline if you have deadlines to meet. I wrote a feature screenplay in seven days only because I outlined first.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Jack London, H.G. Wells, J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank Herbert, and even George Lucas. The release of Star Wars when I was twelve years old in 1977 launched my writing career. Prior to that I never wrote stories of any kind, and had no interest in doing so.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Christopher Sirmons Haviland , usually published as
C.S. Haviland , has a Bachelor's degree in Radio / TV / Film from the University of North Texas (1988). He co-produced an award winning feature film THE FIRST OF MAY in 1997, starring Julie Harris, Dan Byrd, Charles Nelson Reilly, Mickey Rooney, and the late Joe DiMaggio, which appeared in foreign theatrical markets, then on HBO worldwide, and is now on DVD.
Mr. Haviland's young-at-heart fantasy novel FAITH & FAIRIES , based on one of his screenplays, was published in 2005 (the advance edition in 2004). The late fantasy author Andre Norton called it "a good read!" and fantasy author Eldon Thompson said it was "reminiscent of such young adult classics as THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA." The screenplay on which it was based was a QuarterFinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting (sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, of Oscar fame), a QuarterFinalist in the New Century Writer Awards, a QuarterFinalist in the 2002 Screenwriting Expo (sponsored by Creative Screenwriting Magazine), a 2-time SemiFinalist in the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project (sponsored by Amblin' Entertainment & Universal Studios), a SemiFinalist in the Maui Writers Conference National Screenwriting Competition, and a Finalist in the People's Picture Show contest.
Mr. Haviland's screenplay HARMLESS, based on the true story of the murder of an eight-year old little girl in 1969 and the capture of her predator, was a QuarterFinalist in the Zoetrope Screenwriting Contest (judged by Francis Ford Coppola), and his science fiction screenplay CODE & CHEMISTRY was a SemiFinalist in the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project.
Mr. Haviland's short story "Change" was published in PRONTO! WRITINGS FROM ROME , which includes work by New York Times bestsellers Terry Brooks, John Saul and Dorothy Allison. His short story "The Reality Division" was published in BAD-ASS FAERIES 2: JUST PLAIN BAD , which won the 2009 EPPIE award.
MidWest Book Review has said, "Haviland is in the class of L. Frank Baum, Terry Brooks, or Stephen Donaldson..."
Mr. Haviland regularly works in the internet business and was involved in the startups that eventually became About.com and Mail.com, and he's a highly sought twelve-year veteran in online advertising operations.
He lives in Massachusetts with his wife Sara and three young boys: Forest, Sky and River.
C. S. Haviland
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
That is difficult to say, but one of my recent favorites is in the horror novel I am currently writing, called CANIS DIRUS. Set in Yellowstone National Park during a mid-winter blizzard, there is a mountain man of mysterious origins who had appeared so infrequently that he was little more than a myth to most of the rangers. But the veteran rangers knew he was out there, wandering the wilderness: an old Eskimo standing at a height of nearly seven feet with long tangled gray hair and a very bad attitude. What they would discover is the horrible truth about his distant past as a secret agent for the CIA, and the mission in Russia that ultimately drove him into exile. Fortunately for the group of rangers and tourists trapped by a killer storm in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming, Falcon emerges from the whiteout and joins them in a struggle against a inexplicable evil that stalks and slaughters them relentlessly. A survivalist with superior combat skills, Falcon is a vital asset to their survival against this vicious supernatural foe, and yet he hates them and has no interest in their protection. He is only involved for personal reasons, to fight this unstoppable monster that he himself may have unwittingly unleashed. Antiheroes are always fun to write!
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
I’m an online operations professional. Some of my articles on that subject can be found on Ad Monsters: http://www.admonsters.com/blog/online-ad-operations-properly-defined-and-how-staff-part-1. In my free time I research the Haviland / de Havilland genealogy and its intersecting families. I have some mild computer technical background, such as VBA programming, and I can build databases with MS Access and SQL Server, and I design my own web sites. I also have videography and video editing experience.
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Movies, a few TV dramas, documentaries, novels, and sometimes nonfiction books. My ideas are not based on what I see or read, but are rather side-effects triggered by assimilating a lot of mass media. I have a surplus of ideas. Actually writing them sometimes requires brute force and a highly disciplined schedule that must be wrapped around professional work and raising three young boys.
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
Usually movie scores. I currently listen to a lot of Hans Zimmer, and traditionally I have listened to the most well known composers: John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Barry, John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, and James Horner. I find that any music that has singing is too distracting. Movie scores can serve as background music that helps me weave my scenes.
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
A little of both, and it depends on the project. Some projects have to be outlined first or I just can’t visualize the sequence of events correctly, especially if I’m already clear how I want it to end. Others require that I just start writing narrative, because the end is a little fuzzier and I can’t see into the “future” otherwise. The plot tends to fall into place as the narrative does. The danger with that is that you can write yourself into corners with no reasonable way out. There are different schools of thought on the subject. Terry Brooks is strong on outlining, whereas Ben Bova never outlines. There is no right or wrong, only the way that works for you. But I have found that it’s safer to outline if you have deadlines to meet. I wrote a feature screenplay in seven days only because I outlined first.
13. Celebrity crush.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Jack London, H.G. Wells, J.R.R. Tolkien, Frank Herbert, and even George Lucas. The release of Star Wars when I was twelve years old in 1977 launched my writing career. Prior to that I never wrote stories of any kind, and had no interest in doing so.
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Christopher Sirmons Haviland , usually published as
C.S. Haviland , has a Bachelor's degree in Radio / TV / Film from the University of North Texas (1988). He co-produced an award winning feature film THE FIRST OF MAY in 1997, starring Julie Harris, Dan Byrd, Charles Nelson Reilly, Mickey Rooney, and the late Joe DiMaggio, which appeared in foreign theatrical markets, then on HBO worldwide, and is now on DVD.
Mr. Haviland's young-at-heart fantasy novel FAITH & FAIRIES , based on one of his screenplays, was published in 2005 (the advance edition in 2004). The late fantasy author Andre Norton called it "a good read!" and fantasy author Eldon Thompson said it was "reminiscent of such young adult classics as THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA." The screenplay on which it was based was a QuarterFinalist in the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting (sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, of Oscar fame), a QuarterFinalist in the New Century Writer Awards, a QuarterFinalist in the 2002 Screenwriting Expo (sponsored by Creative Screenwriting Magazine), a 2-time SemiFinalist in the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project (sponsored by Amblin' Entertainment & Universal Studios), a SemiFinalist in the Maui Writers Conference National Screenwriting Competition, and a Finalist in the People's Picture Show contest.
Mr. Haviland's screenplay HARMLESS, based on the true story of the murder of an eight-year old little girl in 1969 and the capture of her predator, was a QuarterFinalist in the Zoetrope Screenwriting Contest (judged by Francis Ford Coppola), and his science fiction screenplay CODE & CHEMISTRY was a SemiFinalist in the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project.
Mr. Haviland's short story "Change" was published in PRONTO! WRITINGS FROM ROME , which includes work by New York Times bestsellers Terry Brooks, John Saul and Dorothy Allison. His short story "The Reality Division" was published in BAD-ASS FAERIES 2: JUST PLAIN BAD , which won the 2009 EPPIE award.
MidWest Book Review has said, "Haviland is in the class of L. Frank Baum, Terry Brooks, or Stephen Donaldson..."
Mr. Haviland regularly works in the internet business and was involved in the startups that eventually became About.com and Mail.com, and he's a highly sought twelve-year veteran in online advertising operations.
He lives in Massachusetts with his wife Sara and three young boys: Forest, Sky and River.
March 3, 2011
Jacquelyn Mitchard is 2011 Pennwriters Keynote
Because Jennifer Weiner got the call to Hollywood, the new Friday Keynote Speaker at the 2011 Pennwriters Conference is Jacquelyn Mitchard . Her first novel, Deep End of the Ocean , was Oprah’s first Book Club pick. She’s gone on to write eight more best selling novels and four young adult novels.
March 2, 2011
PATHS TO PUBLICATION: Danielle Ackley-McPhail
By Other Means
You know, I first got published through pure, dumb luck. I posted some of my work on a personal home page and someone saw it. They sent me an email and told me to get in touch when I was done. That focused me, gave me a direction, and woke me up to the fact that I was actually writing a novel. Though I ultimately (two years later) contacted them, and they did contract and publish my first novel, it wasn't a glowing triumph. They didn't edit, I didn't promote in advance as I should have (mostly because I had not clue). The only thing that publisher did for me--beyond actually getting my foot in the door--was two things: they sent out review copies anywhere I asked them to as long as it was a viable and active site, and they got me invited to my first convention.
From there, it was mostly a matter of learning as I went, which lead to the insanity of editing anthologies, selling books at conventions, and promoting, promoting, promoting! Being an author is more than just writing. Authors need to build on what they've started: networking, publishing more work in both short and long form if they are able to write both, finding promotional and publishing opportunities on the web and in person. I put twice the effort into promoting what I've already done than I do writing. And don't think that once a book is out and you have another publication on the way that the old one should be forgotten. Continue to promote everything you've done, and more importantly, make 'yourself as an author' the primary focus of most of your promotions so that you establish yourself as a "brand" so to speak. That way they remember you and not just your books.
One of the main ways I keep my name out there while I'm waiting for my novels to be completed and published is to participate in anthologies. Right now I'm focusing on science fiction and military science fiction, switched up with faeries and steampunk. My newest published work is the story "True Colors" in By Other Means - book four in the award-winning Defending the Future anthology series, by Dark Quest Books . (ISBN: 978-0983099352) Thanks to the caliber of authors who contribute to the series my work has receive much more attention.
Danielle Ackley-McPahil
-March 2011
Award-winning author Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for over fifteen years. Her works include the urban fantasies, Yesterday's Dreams , Tomorrow's Memories , and The Halfling’s Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale . She has edited the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, and No Longer Dreams , and has contributed to numerous other anthologies and collections, including Dark Furies , Breach the Hull , So It Begins , Space Pirates , Barbarians at the Jumpgate , and New Blood .
She is a member of The Garden State Horror Writers , the New Jersey Authors Network , and Broad Universe , a writer’s organization focusing on promoting the works of women authors in the speculative genres.
Danielle lives somewhere in New Jersey with husband and fellow writer, Mike McPhail , mother-in-law Teresa, and three extremely spoiled cats. She can be found on LiveJournal (damcphail, badassfaeries, darkquestbooks, lit_handyman), Facebook (Danielle Ackley-McPhail), and Twitter (DMcPhail). To learn more about her work, visit www.sidhenadaire.com or www.badassfaeries.com.
By Other Means edited by Mike McPhail:
It's No Longer a Stand Up! Suit up! The war is far from over in fifteen new Defending the Future stories. Fight alongside old comrades with tales of the Roosevelt, Cybermarines, DemonTech, Alliance Archives, Radiation Angels, and the 142nd Starbourne. Or explore new visions of Military Science Fiction from the leaders in the genre. Featuring the works of James Chambers, Bud Sparhawk, Jeff Young, Mike McPhail, Andy Remic, Charles E. Gannon, Peter Prellwitz, effrey Lyman, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Robert E. Waters, James Daniel Ross, Patrick Thomas, C.J. Henderson, John G. Hemry (Jack Campbell).
February 24, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with Rodney Robbins
HEIDI'S PICK SIX
Rodney Robbins
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
I really like Kiki MacConnach from my short story "Kiki--Naked in the Moonlight." Imagine Audrey Hepburn playing an elf princess in a studded leather mini-skirt, and you’ll see my Kiki. She never goes looking for trouble, but somehow it always finds her. That’s what happens when you’re the favorite plaything of the Unseelie Lord, and the court is ruled by the Unseelie Queen. I keep calling for a novel to put her in, but so far, no luck.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
I would probably enjoy teaching a college writing class. I’d have everyone go out for a drink at a burlesque club then write about what happened. My problem with academia is that I don’t want to keep score by how many esoteric papers I write. I want to keep score by how many people read my books. I don’t need to be Richard Castle (the fictional mystery writer from the "Castle" TV show), I just want an audience. I have found the Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University provides the best combination of academic and real world education. As far as I can tell, no one else is even close.
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Often a story idea comes when two completely different ideas bump into each other during the night. For example: zombies brushing their teeth; a deaf mechanic who builds high-end car audio systems; waves crashing over a brand new, migraine-blue Corvette. Who could resist stuff like that?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
I tried powerlifting twice. I won my weight and age class both times, but honestly, that’s because nobody else as old and fat as me showed up. So now, even though I have a weird muscle disorder called Periodic Paralysis, I can honestly say I’m a powerlifting champion. It’s not my fault all the bigger, stronger, healthier gym rats were too chicken to compete.
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
First you dream it up, then you write it down. That’s how I work. When I sit down to write, I want to get something done. I really like the feeling of accomplishment I get from writing one scene at a time. Kiki, in chains, gets interrogated by the Unseelie Queen. Boom. Done. Love it.
13. Celebrity crush.
My celebrity crush is '80s German figure skater Katarina Witt. She’s smart, sexy, strong and almost as good looking as my wife, Karen.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Rodney Robbins by the Numbers--50 year-old graduate student at Seton Hill University . Author of 2 stage plays: 1 musical comedy called "Big Feet, Big Love," and 1 dramatic comedy titled "House of Many Rooms." Currently working on his 1st "Nurse Brandt" paranormal mystery for middle school readers. Robbins crashed his first motorcycle at age 20. Currently rides a 650 maxi-scooter. Plans to buy an 1800cc Honda Goldwing, "--but not until they bring it out with an automatic transmission." Married for 30 years to a teacher who looks like a super-model. Rodney Robbins lives with 3 chronic illnesses (Classic Migraines with Auras, Celiac Disease and Periodic Paralysis), but he doesn’t let them stop him from living the good life in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Read about Rodney's novels here: www.RodneyRobbins.com and read about his plays here: www.MyNewPlay.com .
Rodney Robbins
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
I really like Kiki MacConnach from my short story "Kiki--Naked in the Moonlight." Imagine Audrey Hepburn playing an elf princess in a studded leather mini-skirt, and you’ll see my Kiki. She never goes looking for trouble, but somehow it always finds her. That’s what happens when you’re the favorite plaything of the Unseelie Lord, and the court is ruled by the Unseelie Queen. I keep calling for a novel to put her in, but so far, no luck.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
I would probably enjoy teaching a college writing class. I’d have everyone go out for a drink at a burlesque club then write about what happened. My problem with academia is that I don’t want to keep score by how many esoteric papers I write. I want to keep score by how many people read my books. I don’t need to be Richard Castle (the fictional mystery writer from the "Castle" TV show), I just want an audience. I have found the Writing Popular Fiction program at Seton Hill University provides the best combination of academic and real world education. As far as I can tell, no one else is even close.
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
Often a story idea comes when two completely different ideas bump into each other during the night. For example: zombies brushing their teeth; a deaf mechanic who builds high-end car audio systems; waves crashing over a brand new, migraine-blue Corvette. Who could resist stuff like that?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
I tried powerlifting twice. I won my weight and age class both times, but honestly, that’s because nobody else as old and fat as me showed up. So now, even though I have a weird muscle disorder called Periodic Paralysis, I can honestly say I’m a powerlifting champion. It’s not my fault all the bigger, stronger, healthier gym rats were too chicken to compete.
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
First you dream it up, then you write it down. That’s how I work. When I sit down to write, I want to get something done. I really like the feeling of accomplishment I get from writing one scene at a time. Kiki, in chains, gets interrogated by the Unseelie Queen. Boom. Done. Love it.
13. Celebrity crush.
My celebrity crush is '80s German figure skater Katarina Witt. She’s smart, sexy, strong and almost as good looking as my wife, Karen.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Rodney Robbins by the Numbers--50 year-old graduate student at Seton Hill University . Author of 2 stage plays: 1 musical comedy called "Big Feet, Big Love," and 1 dramatic comedy titled "House of Many Rooms." Currently working on his 1st "Nurse Brandt" paranormal mystery for middle school readers. Robbins crashed his first motorcycle at age 20. Currently rides a 650 maxi-scooter. Plans to buy an 1800cc Honda Goldwing, "--but not until they bring it out with an automatic transmission." Married for 30 years to a teacher who looks like a super-model. Rodney Robbins lives with 3 chronic illnesses (Classic Migraines with Auras, Celiac Disease and Periodic Paralysis), but he doesn’t let them stop him from living the good life in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Read about Rodney's novels here: www.RodneyRobbins.com and read about his plays here: www.MyNewPlay.com .
February 22, 2011
Heidi's Pick Six Interview with M. Stephen Lukac
HEIDI’S PICK SIX
M. Stephen Lukac
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Philip Ducalion, the ex-cop from Oogie Boogie Central & Oogie Boogie Bounce (and the hopefully soon-to-come solo adventure - Legerdemain). He's the closest thing to an I-Guy in my repertoire.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Coffee, coffee, COFFEE!!!!!!
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
The edible kind.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I'm just a hitchhiker taking notes, although I do tend to outline in my head before jumping in the shotgun seat.
13. Celebrity crush.
It used to be Teri Hatcher but now I find myself mesmerized by Kate Winslet.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Not the current stuff, but if I hear the opening bars of "Merry Go-Round Broke Down," I'm in front of the TV drooling like Pavlov's puppy.
M. Stephen Lukac is a married father of three, a professional bookseller and a still-aspiring writer. Oogie Boogie Central was released in 2003, followed by But Then Again, You'll Have This... later that year. In February 2008, Delirium Books released the long-awaited sequel Oogie Boogie Bounce . Steve's also a bit of a smart ass, which will come as no surprise to regular readers.
M. Stephen Lukac
1. Which of your characters is your favorite?
Philip Ducalion, the ex-cop from Oogie Boogie Central & Oogie Boogie Bounce (and the hopefully soon-to-come solo adventure - Legerdemain). He's the closest thing to an I-Guy in my repertoire.
2. Tell me about your travels.
3. Coffee, tea, or milk?
Coffee, coffee, COFFEE!!!!!!
4. What else can you do besides write?
5. Who are you reading right now?
6. Pop culture or academia?
7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote?
8. Where do you find your inspirations to write?
9. Food you could eat everyday.
The edible kind.
10. Are you into sports or other physical activities?
11. What kind of music speaks to you?
12. Do you outline your stories or do they just take you along for the ride?
I'm just a hitchhiker taking notes, although I do tend to outline in my head before jumping in the shotgun seat.
13. Celebrity crush.
It used to be Teri Hatcher but now I find myself mesmerized by Kate Winslet.
14. Who are the biggest influences on your work?
15. Do you still watch cartoons?
Not the current stuff, but if I hear the opening bars of "Merry Go-Round Broke Down," I'm in front of the TV drooling like Pavlov's puppy.
M. Stephen Lukac is a married father of three, a professional bookseller and a still-aspiring writer. Oogie Boogie Central was released in 2003, followed by But Then Again, You'll Have This... later that year. In February 2008, Delirium Books released the long-awaited sequel Oogie Boogie Bounce . Steve's also a bit of a smart ass, which will come as no surprise to regular readers.
February 21, 2011
Workshop: Writing with Authority - How Does It Work?
I've had some recent questions about how our Pennwriters Online course will be conducted. See if this helps to explain it a bit better:
1. When you sign up for the class, you'll receive access to a Yahoo group. Follow this link to an example of one: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Penn_Announce/
2. You won't be able to access this sample one entirely (unless you're a Pennwriter) because it is a private Pennwriters group, but it shows you the initial layout. Once you sign up and are invited (by the Pennwriters moderator) to our Yahoo group, you'll be able to see an area for MESSAGES and FILES.
3. On Friday, April 1, 2011, we'll post a welcome and introduction in the MESSAGES. This will include details on how to select your writing project (novel beginning, short story) for the course.
4. Every Sunday, you can email your revised project (revised based on information from the new lesson) to [email protected] so we know you're on the right track and to see if there's any individualized help we can offer. If you can't get your assignments to us right away, no problem. This is at your pace over the five weeks.
5. Every Monday, we'll post a little lesson in the MESSAGES section. You don't have to be online when we post it, check it at your convenience that day or any time before the next one goes up.
6. In the FILES section, we'll upload the free pdf articles from the MANY GENRES writing guide and any other pertinent information, so you can download those to your computer and keep them.
7. You can also post messages for us in the MESSAGES section any time during the course or just email me directly.
8. The last day of class is Monday, May 2, 2011.
WRITING WITH AUTHORITY
Online Course
INSTRUCTORS: Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller
DATE: April 1 – May 2, 2011
LIMITED CLASS SIZE. Enroll now.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: The easiest way to engage your reader is by using concrete nouns and action verbs. In this one-month online course, Seton Hill University creative writing faculty Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller will show you how to analyze your writing and use easy techniques that will increase the authority of your voice.
Participants will:
* Discover how to spot passive voice
* Scrutinize their writing for generic nouns and indefinite pronouns
* Learn to avoid weak verbs and overuse of “be” in all its forms
* Practice using strong synonyms to find the best action verb
* Apply word cloud research to make their plot come alive
FREE BONUS: Course participants will receive a free excerpt (.pdf) from the new writing guide, MANY GENRES, ONE CRAFT: LESSONS IN WRITING POPULAR FICTION ( Headline Books, Inc. ) edited by Heidi Ruby Miller and Michael A. Arnzen with contributions from Jason Jack Miller et al.
TUITION: $79 ($89 non-Pennwriters members) $89 ($99 non-Pennwriters members)
EARLY-BIRD PRICES END SOON!
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTORS: Heidi Ruby Miller is the co-editor of the writing guide, Many Genres, One Craft: Lessons in Writing Popular Fiction . A graduate from Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Program , she has authored dozens of publications. Before becoming a full-time writer and adjunct faculty at Seton Hill University, Heidi worked as a contract archaeologist, an educational marketing coordinator, a foreign currency exchanger, and a world language teacher. To learn more about Heidi Ruby Miller , visit http://heidirubymiller.blogspot.com or email her at [email protected].
Jason Jack Miller is a writer, photographer and musician whose work has appeared online and in print in newspapers, magazines and literary journals, and as a smart phone travel app. He has co-authored a travel guide with his wife Heidi and served as a photographer-in-residence. Jason is an Authors Guild member who received a Master’s in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University where he is adjunct creative writing faculty. To learn more about Jason Jack Miller , visit http://jasonjackmiller.blogspot.com or email him at [email protected].
* Subscribe to the Pennwriters Online Courses announcement list for email on our latest workshops:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PennwritersOnlineCourses
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