#also those poems i mentioned got published! i might post them later today

[usermoon]

hey guys i miss you all and i miss simblr but unfortunately my brain sees the sims 4 icon and i malfunction 😭

[breaniebree]

Can you share your journey as a writer? How the idea of writing fanfics came into your mind? Do you have other own fiction too? Also how do start a particular fanfic? As in do you make notes, timeline or character sketches and stuff or do you just go ahead and write and then make notes on facts?

What an interesting question -- thank you for asking!  This is literally going to be a novel response (letting you know in advance LOL)

My journey as a writer... I guess I always wrote things down, started as a child when I wrote in a diary and then as I got older I wrote a little poetry, none of it very good (though I wrote a poem when I was twelve to describe the loss I felt when my Nana, my great-grandmother died, and my aunt read it aloud at her funeral).  I wrote a few short stories, just little things, prompts from teachers in school and such and then one day I decided I wanted to write my own story.  But funnily enough, it actually came about through fan fiction.  

I used to love this book series back when I was ten called Trash by Cherie Bennett, and I was completely in love with the characters Chelsey and Nick, and when Jazz claimed that she was pregnant and Nick was the father and it did ended on a cliffhanger and I didn’t have the next book, I remember writing my own version of what happened next -- God, looking back, it was probably terrible, I definitely don’t have it anymore.  Pretty sure the book series isn’t that great looking back at it now, but when I was ten, it was great! LOL.  I also wrote a side story for Demetrius and Karma, so even then I guess I branched off into subplots.  When I was fourteen, I started my own original series, which I am still currently working on and probably will be for the rest of my life if I’m honest -- it’s changed over the years, but the characters and my ultimate goal have stayed the same.

How did writing fanfiction come into mind?  

Well, with Harry Potter, it was because of my friend Chris.  We used to talk on the phone every single night after school for hours on end and after HBP came out and Harry and Ginny were FINALLY together only for him break up with her, I was so livid that I had to wait to find out what happened!  I remember Chris and I debated what would happen in the last book for ages and one day I must have ranted too much because he told me to go write my own story if I didn’t want to wait, so I did.  

I was seventeen and it was Harry Potter and the Prophecy Fulfilled: Which looking back at it now, I think it’s not exactly the greatest story lol and you can definitely see where I’ve improved since then.  After finishing HPPH, I ended up still having different ideas, all Hinny, and went on to write a few one-shots: Almost Too Late and Beautiful Mess.  Then I started writing A Different Beginning, which turned into my Beginning series: A Different Beginning, A New Beginning, Why Don’t We Just Dance?, Life Is Fickle Like That, Graduation Party, and The Reunion.  Those of you who have been reading my fanfiction since the beginning know that I originally posted the above stories on SIYE between 2005 and 2007 and had then completed (except for the second half of Life is Fickle onwards before Deathly Hallows was published).  I didn’t start posting on fanfiction.net until 2008 and only recently on Ao3.  Somewhere in between writing the Beginning Series, I also wrote a few other Hinny one-shots including The Greatest Gift, She Never Lets It Get To Her Heart, I Loved Her First (actually Arthur POV, which I later incorporated into the Beginning Series), The River (which is a standalone but also can be read as part of the Beginning Series), When the Sand Runs Out, and then the mini-series Padfoot’s Advice (Late Night Talks with Padfoot 1 & 2, Padfoot’s Advice, and Secrets from the Past).  Then I wrote the short Hinny/Romione story: The Trouble With Secrets and was inspired to write a Jily series, which I did with Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which could technically be a prequel to the Beginning Series as I kept some of the story similar.  I also wrote a Jily one-shot called Flowers and another Hinny one-shot called I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend.

I didn’t plan on writing any more fanfiction as university became busy, but then in 2017 I started writing these little Missing Moments for Harry and Ginny both before HBP and then during, and then after.  I just sort of compiled them on my computer for a while, wondering if it would turn into a story or not and then the idea came to me one day for A Second Chance after seeing some fan art of a five-year-old-Harry in sunshades and a leather jacket while riding a child’s motorbike next to Sirius in the same outfit and the next thing I knew, this story just pored out of me in February of 2018, I had the first twelve chapters written by March and another five by April.  I started posting the Missing Moments compilation, added a few more things including the Remus and Petunia scene from ASC and kept writing A Second Chance and in May, decided it was time to share it and uploaded the first twelve chapters.  

By the time I realized it was going to be a long one, I knew which characters I would sacrifice and how it would end, but how I was going to get there I still have no idea.  I’m not a writer who methodically plots.  I have a few general bullet points at the end of my current WIP chapter and that’s really it.  I add to it occasionally as I go, but mostly, I just write as I go along.  I can’t tell you how many chapters it will be or how long it will take me to get to the next section because frankly, it’s constantly changes.  I do not write in chronological order, which means I am often writing anywhere between 2-6 chapters at the same time depending on what scene has drawn my attention.  I might write something today that fits in the chapter I am currently working on and then by the time I finish writing other stuff, I realize that it doesn’t really fit there and stick it ahead into the next chapter or ten chapters from now.  I write where my heart takes me and where my creativity flows.  

I rarely ever work on more than one story at the same time, though I did write the short Newtina one-shot for my friend Heather as a Christmas present in 2018.  She requested it and I couldn’t write it, I found it so hard as I like them but it’s not characters I loved enough to write so I did it with a Luna spin-in, which I found helped.  I never take writing requests so this was very different for me, but I think it turned out cute: Say Love, ‘Cause We Got All the Time in the World.  I only recently uploaded it a month or so ago because I found it on my computer LOL.

Do you make notes, timeline or character sketches and stuff or do you just go ahead and write and then make notes on facts?

Once I am into the story, my notes are EXTREMELY detailed.  I do have a time line and separate documents for the following:

Character lists and family trees

General notes on: Political stuff, bills I’ve written, the sacred 28 document I wrote, tattoos mentioned, important dates, moon cycle dates of Remus’ life, classes I’ve invented (what they are about, who teaches them etc), textbook list per school year, notes on each Animagus form and information about their animals, actual time tables I wrote up Monday to Friday for Harry’s third/fourth, and fifth year, details of Zee and Tonks’ engagement rings, history and outline of Dante’s circles of hell with notes on how to incorporate into story, notes on pregnancy, character’s wands, geographic locations of characters, and any other little notes I think are important but don’t belong in the bullet points at the end of my current WIP chapter

History and ancestry of each family (from Harry Potter Lexicon, Pottermore, Harry Potter wiki, and my own personal creations).  This also includes manor information for Potter, Black, Longbottom, Nott, and Malfoy.

Hogwarts lay-out including stuff I’ve added or made up

Ministry of Magic departments and people (known and created)

List of spells (including ones I’ve made up and which chapter and which character introduced it to who)

List and pictures of Sirius’ motorbikes with information on each one

List of Pensieve memories and marauder moments (crossed out which ones I’ve shared already, some are written and waiting to be used and others just a general idea)

Terms and phrases from different languages I’ve used in the past

My playlist of songs I have mentioned in the story

An entire document dedicated to Operation FUVP including a Voldemort timeline which I have now shared in the story itself (also includes when and where each character found the Horcruxes)

A list of some of the recipes I mentioned, and 

I have a 72 page document that is literally just detailed chapter summaries to help me remember what the hell I’ve written LOL (also highlights introductions to new characters in a different font colour to help me find out when people were introduced).

Hope this answers your question -- thank you again for asking!

[buzzdixonwriter]

Writing Report March 29, 2020

This will come as a shock and surprise to many of you, I know, but the coronavirus is wreaking havoc with my writing schedule.

I’m fine (as of this writing), my wife is fine, all our family members are fine.  For that we’re truly glad and grateful.

But between social distancing and family obligations (nothing serious, just time consuming) my daily output has dropped dramatically.

I’ve also seen several markets I’d submitted to either implode or suddenly close or just va_n__i__s____h without a trace.

Which sets me to thinking about the future of (a) freelance fiction writing in general and (b) my own creative strategies as well.

I occasionally think I spend more time and effort trying to place my short stories than I do writing them.

Certainly with various market restrictions, I spend an inordinate amount of time researching the markets.

One certainly can’t make a living off of short fiction (I think Harlan Ellison was the last person to support themselves solely through freelance short fiction and that was 1955-57).  Freelance fiction writers can survive, obviously, but they range much further afield than the confines of the short fiction market.  Without longform fiction, television, comics / graphic novels, video games, and other venues, none of us could support ourselves off freelance short fiction.

So the huge hiccup we’re going through right now will visit far ranging change on us, much of which already started prior to the appearance of the coronavirus but now accelerated upon its arrival.

The old model for short fiction / essays / poems was for a publisher to arrange financing, assemble a publication (magazine or original anthology), delivery said publication to a distributor, and live off the proceeds.  (I’m leaving out a lot of steps and variables, of course, but those are the basics).

The financing could come in many forms, either an advance from a larger publisher / distributor / investor or a loan based on contracts and letters of commitment.  One of the best bits of advice I received when I was trying to decide whether to do the Serenity Christian manga project as either original graphic novels or a monthly came in the form of a question:  Do you want to spend all your time creating, or do you want to spend all your time chasing down advertisers?

I preferred the former to the later, yet even then I spent an enormous amount of time and effort into tracking down a suitable publishing partner.

So I commiserate with all those publishers and editors out there trying to make a go of it on shoestring budgets with minimum or non-existent staffs:  I feel for you.  Truly.

But I also recognize the light at the end of that particular tunnel is a train.

Already alternatives to traditional publishing let writers find a loyal audience and get paid for it.

I’m aware of sites like Wattpad and Medium and Smashwords but frankly haven’t investigated them in depth.

To my old(er) eyes, I see the danger of clouded rights issues, reliability in accounting, and frankly just seeming desperate.

Yet those same eyes can’t deny thousands of writers use them and attract tens of thousands of readers and in more instances than one would expect, money flows ///towards/// the writer.

(Siderbar:  Don’t never EVER enter a creative contest that requires an entry fee or submit to a market that charges a submission fee.  If you won’t listen to me, listen to Uncle Harlie.)

So clearly a sea change is already underway and the coronavirus is the tsunami wave that finishes the job.

Look, I’m fortunate insofar that between our Social Security and Soon-ok’s pension, we have enough to live comfortably on for the rest of our lives.  Holy shamolley, do I ever realize how fortunate and privileged we are in that aspect.

But the short fiction market already is barely cost effective.  My genre fiction goes first to the biggest / most prestigious markets.  Originally I planned to limit each submission to the top five markets, then post them online here if I couldn’t place them.

The drawbacks with that are the aforementioned market restrictions (many markets today will only accept one submission at a time from a writer) and the ever continuing ebb and flow of specialty markets where one might have a chance (indeed, I’ve sold several stories because an original market opens for stories specifically about left-handed truck drivers and by chance I happen to have a left-handed truck driver story [or the equivalent thereof] in the trunk].

Those of you visit here frequently know I’ve been writing fictoids (a.k.a. flash fiction or short-short stories).

While I’d written fictoids before, this current crop got their start from a Christmas gift I received from a grandson.

I really enjoy these, and when I can find a chance to sit down and writer them (their first draft is always by hand) I can crank out two to six an evening after my more formal writing.

These are shared freely on my blog because at 350-400 words, they’re not really cost effective for market submission.

If I could place a 400 word fictoid at the highest paying market for that sort of fiction, I’d net 40-cents a word for $160.

That’s a lot for a little, to be sure, but rates drop precipitously after that (not to mention that market publishes only three or four times a year).

$32 for a fictoid? Not great, but okay.

$4 for a fictoid?   Uhh, no…

Let them publish it for free?

Why should they benefit off my work but not me?

No, fictoids are cost effectively only as loss leaders to attract eyeballs here and possibly interest people in my longer work.

My longer short fiction (i.e., everything from 1,000 to 9,999 words; there’s a variety of opinion on what the boundaries of short story and novelette / novella lengths should be but for our purposes I’m limiting short fiction to that range) tends to be more satisfying, but those markets are drying up.

Sc-fi / fantasy / horror are much more viable markets than mystery / crime.  Other markets are so scarce I can’t find reliable information on them (this would include general and mainstream humor fiction).  The literary markets all offer their own particular shoals to navigate, and while they can pay well, again, those markets are far and few between.

So I’m thinking of steering away from conventional short fiction (i.e., 1,000 to 9,999) and focus exclusively on long form (i.e., novels and novellas I can offer via Kindle), using the fictoids on this blog to attract readers to the longer works.

(Speaking of which, I’m about a year ahead on my fictoids; they’re loaded up and set to appear one a week from now into 2021 with more to come after that.  So if I keel over in the near future, you’re still going to be seeing new fictoids into early 2021 at the least.)

None of this will preclude me from writing short stories that fall between fictoid and novella lengths, but that’s going to require perfect happenstances (good idea + time to write).

The other thing to consider is that with the old model publishing market being so badly shaken up, new opportunities in new formats will be opening up.

Which one of those will be viable in turns of adequate readership, etc.?  How many prose based venues will be open as opposed to drama and media based?

We are in, as the Chinese would say, for interesting times.

  © Buzz Dixon

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Rialto’s Market, Castle Amber, Freas, David Drake

Fiction (Goodman Games): Jack Holbrook Vance was summoned into this world just over a century ago in San Francisco on August 28, 1916. A writer of multiple genres, he is best known to fans of Dungeons and Dragons for his Dying Earth novels, one of the inspirations for the magic system, often called ‘Vancian’, in which magic-users memorize spells from their librams, and once cast, forget them for the day.

Gamergate (Walker’s Retreat): Among all the other events of the last week or so was the anniversary of Gamergate. To which I find this Tweet and its pic very much my mood.

Poetry (Kairos): Kipling’s famous–some might say infamous–poem “The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon��� has gained a great deal of traction in dissident circles. I maintain that a major reason why this poem has resonated with the current generations of young men on the right is that it highlights the masculine virtues they were never taught.

Fiction (DMR Books): Since April 9, 2018, I’ve been periodically posting blog entries devoted to what I call the “Forefathers of Sword and Sorcery”. Those would be the men—writers like Doyle and London—who influenced the First Dynasty of S&S authors such as Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and C.L. Moore. Apparently, there are some very confused people out there on the Webz. I thought it best to define some terms and parameters so further misapprehensions don’t occur.

Art (Rafeeq McGiveron): s July draweth to a close, I suddenly realize that the last month and a half has been pretty busy in terms of updates to my Heinlein cover art galleries.  In addition to new-to-me editions of books like Waldo and Magic, Inc., Orphans of the Sky, The Man Who Sold the Moon, Time for the Stars, and Podkayne of Mars, I also have come across quite a bit of things from magazines.

Terry Pratchett (The Wert Zone): Following the publication of yet another publicity image from BBC America’s The Watch, a TV series loosely “inspired by” Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books, his family and associates have once again made it clear that they do not approve of the project and have distanced themselves from it.

Pulp (Pulp Net): I recently obtained The Doc Vandal Omnibus: Vol. 1, which has the first three novels by Dave Robinson featuring Doc Vandal, a steampunk take on Doc Savage. Doc Vandal was influenced by Doc Savage, but also Captain Future and Perry Rhodan. He exists in a different world where aliens exist and other strange things. Born on the Moon and raised by alien AIs, Vandal is an improved human who uses his skills and knowledge to create inventions and stand up against evil.

Gaming (Grognardia): Naturally, we’re not playing these games face-to-face. Instead, we’re making use of VASSAL, a virtual tabletop created for wargamers (specifically Advanced Squad Leader). VASSAL has proven surprisingly easy to use, not to mention fun. Based on my friend’s recommendation, we began my education with GMT’s Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar. Partly this was done because it’s a period of history I know a bit about and partly because Falling Sky is an entry in GMT’s COIN series, which my friend thought would appeal to me.

History (Legends of Men): A while ago, I picked up an old book on pirates for cheap at a used bookstore. It’s General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. by Daniel Defoe. You may recognize the name Daniel Defoe as the author of Robinson Crusoe and other novels. He’s one of the first early English novelists, and his authorship of this book is disputed but highly probable. This book is loaded with more than 20 stories of actual pirates, their exploits, successes, failures, and deaths.

Fiction (Benespen): King David’s Spaceship [Amazon link] is the first book by Jerry Pournelle I remember reading. I picked it up from the local library in 2006, and I could not put it down. Colonel Nathan MacKinnie’s desperate quest to find a forgotten database of ancient technology on a barbaric planet, and then spirit that information home under the watchful eyes of the Imperial Navy is a classic adventure. Jerry Pournelle’s style is the place where intrigue, politics, and technology meet, often with a heavy dose of military tactics. King David’s Spaceship is all that and more.

Conan (Conan.com): We’re happy to announce the launch of the official Conan store, called Rialto’s Market, here on Conan.com! It’s headed by the merchant Rialto, someone you’ll learn more about in the near future. We’ve got T-shirts, Thulsa Doom bottle openers, phone cases, mugs, and more for you in Rialto’s Market. You can also pre-order the Conan the Cimmerian: The Tower of the Elephant board game, if you missed out on the successful Kickstarter.

RPG (Pelgrane Press): The term: table sense. It’s what developers look for when you write scenarios or source material for roleplaying games. It’s what game masters need from you when they read your material. Table sense is what it sounds like: the ability to forecast what will happen at the gaming table when the scene, magic item, background detail, monster or whatever it is comes into use. How do you get it? By playing roleplaying games of the sort you’re writing for. And more importantly: by picturing the play experience as you write, away from your table.

Vampirella (Monster Librarian): From the Stars…a Vampiress provides a great reference guide to one of the most recognizable female horror comics heroines, Vampirella. The first section, “The Vampire Who Fell to Earth”, tells her story from her initial creation by James Warren and Forrest J. Ackerman, and other writers and artists who helped her development such as Archie Goodwin, Jose Gonzalez, Trina Robbins, Frank Frazetta, Gonzalo Mayo, and many more, to her cancellation in 1982 after Warren Publishing closed its doors.

Science Fiction (Digital Bibliophilia): Rogue Ship is one the novels Vogt constructed from previously issued stories into a ‘fix-up’ and has a complicated history. From the notes in my 1975 Panther paperback edition it started life as three seperate stories that were rewritten for this single novel. Beginning in 1947, with Centaurus II, which was first published in ‘Astounding Science Fiction’ (which became the magazine ‘Analog Science Fact – Science Fiction’), we then move on to Rogue Ship published in ‘Super Science Fiction’ three years later, and lastly have a story called The Expendables published within the pages of ‘IF Worlds of Science Fiction’ in 1963.

RPG (Goodman Games): It’s time! We’re opening the doors on Original Adventures Reincarnated #5: Castle Amber, and you are all invited inside. The fifth release in our Original Adventures Reincarnated line is now up and available for pre-order from our online store. It’s your chance to get in line for the first wave of shipments of this great new release.

Cinema (Flickering Myth): When The Expendables was first announced in late 2009, my excitement levels went through the roof. Initially it was Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Jet Li on board and that was exciting enough. Then Dolph Lundgren signed on, and the rest followed. By the time a mid-shoot addition of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger was announced (in a surprise cameo where the surprise was blown long before release sadly) I was bouncing around like a toddler high on Dib Dab. The first film came out 10 years ago today.

Cinema (Made in Atlantis): During the 1899 to 1901 Boxer Rebellion, Peking is an open city with the Chinese, and several European countries vie for control. The Boxers, who oppose Christianity and the western powers, who still exercised complete sovereignty over their compounds and their citizens. The head of the U.S. garrison is Marine Major Matt Lewis (Charlton Heston), an experienced China hand who knows local conditions well. He meets exiled Russian Baroness Natalie Ivanoff (Ava Gardner), with whom he falls in love.

Science Fiction (Frank Ormond): I have previously written on my favorite science fiction series, Count to the Eschaton Sequence, before. The first book is Count to a Trillion and is an excellent adventure science fiction novel. This retrospective was a long time coming. I’ve found John C. Wright’s work fascinating, if not a bit verbose in areas, and creative. He’s held up in some circles as a master of the craft, and it’s easy to see why.

Art (DMR Books): The late, great Kelly Freas* would’ve turned ninety-eight today. As I’ve noted elsewhere, Freas started out in Weird Tales and could have had a fine career illustrating fantasy and weird fiction. However, he tied his star to the burgeoning science fiction market and became one of the all-time greats. For me, without question, Freas’ art epitomizes the look of what’s known as the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Gorgeous color, beautiful women, sleek spaceships and a universe blazing with stars.

Comic Books (Comicsradio): Everyone falls in love with Cave Girl. It apparently can’t be helped. Over the course of the first three stories included in Cave Girl #11 (her debut issue despite the numbering), two men have fallen in love with the blonde Jungle Girl already. In fact, in this issue’s final story (still written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Bob Powell), Luke and Alan haven’t given up yet. They are attempting to cross the mountains that surround Cave Girl’s home jungle, still determined to talk her into coming back to civilization and claiming her inheritance.

Anime (Karavansara): As a kid I watched a lot of movies and TV series, cartoons both western and Japanese, I read comics, I read novels and short stories and non fiction… each of these shaped the way I think about stories, and I think it might be fun to try and take a look at all these influences. And I’m starting with anime because… ah, because we need to start somewhere, right? As I probably already mentioned in the past, Italy was at the forefront of the anime invasion that started at the very tail-end of the ’70s.

D&D (Mystical Trash Heap): As a hobby for nerds, there’s a strong appetite among D&D fans to make lists and categorize things, and this extends not just to elements within the game but to meta-level discussion about the game itself. The most obvious breaking point is TSR-D&D (1974-97) and Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro D&D (1998-present), with the 1998-99 period (after Wizards took over but before D&D 3.0 was released) as a transition period.  The next most obvious is the various editions: Original (1974-77*), 1st Edition Advanced (1978-88), 2nd Edition Advanced (1989-99), 3rd (2000-2007), 4th (2008-2013), and 5th (2014-present) editions.

Science Fiction (Chapleboro): David Drake almost missed our interview. Although the incident occurred two weeks before we met, Drake was directly involved while riding one of his three motorcycles. As we discussed the crash, Drake casually stated that being rear-ended on his bike was one of the ways he thought he might die. Fortunately, he walked away with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises – not too bad, considering his motorcycle was sandwiched between two SUVs.

Sensor Sweep: Rialto’s Market, Castle Amber, Freas, David Drake published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[thegabecole]

NOTE: Hey guise! I've got Chapter One Con, a great conference for young writers, sharing an interview today from the mentors of their annual mentorship program! Hope you enjoy, and make sure you check out Chapter One Con!

Chapter One Conference just wrapped up its annual Mentorship program. At Ch1Con, they believe in helping young writers, and through this program they teach young writers about the publishing process, from start to finish. As the 2017 mentorship program wraps up, they are proud to present THIS IS THE END, an anthology of the short stories that our mentees worked on doing the program!

From familial trauma to mind games, you never know quite what will lead to the end. During the autumn of 2017, the team behind writerly nonprofit organization Chapter One Events mentored two talented young writers through the publishing process, giving them a head start on becoming the successful authors of tomorrow. Now, read the stories on which these up-and-coming writers worked, along with four by the Chapter One Events mentors themselves. Each of these stories leads to a startling conclusion. Are you ready for the end?

The celebrate the release of the anthology, Brett Jonas asked a few of the team members about their experience as mentors this year. These are their responses.

What was the most interesting part of mentoring a young writer? Had you done something like this before?

Julia: The most interesting part of mentoring a young writer always, for me, is the types of questions they ask. Mentees approach each topic from a different angle based on their personal life experience, which leads to unique and really interesting questions that force me as a mentor to look at what I'm teaching them from a new perspective. I always feel like I have a different, more well-rounded understanding of a subject after teaching it. This was my second year directing the Chapter One Events Mentorship Program and I'm really grateful for the experience. Ariel: I think the most interesting part was seeing how they responded to my advice. I've done editing work for literary agents before, but in that work, I never got to see how the writers responded to my ideas. With this work, I got to see how another person's story transformed. (I also participated in last year's mentoring program, but I worked on mechanical errors, which are a totally different approach from structural edits).

Katelyn: I have had the opportunity to mentor a young writer before and I think it's really fun, unique experience. I love being able to help young writers explore their own voice, their characters, and their story overall. I think the most interesting part definitely has to be the chance to see the world through the eyes of a writer who is still finding herself. (Or himself, but I worked with a female author this year.) Technically, we never really know ourselves as people or as writers. We are always growing, changing, and figuring out better ways to tell our stories, but I find it particularly special being able to work with someone who is just starting to find and craft her passion. It's definitely a rewarding experience for me, just like I hope it was for her! Allison: I mentored in short story submissions last year, too, and it's always fascinating what different areas of writing our participants are familiar with. Short stories or novels, genre fiction or contemporary--we always get a wide range in writing backgrounds, thus, we also get a wide range of questions about how the submission process works. Everyone has different priorities, and different points of confusion, so I enjoy seeing questions it never would have occurred to me to ask.

Did you contribute a story to the anthology, and if so, where did you get the inspiration for it?

Julia: I did contribute a story this year! It's an old one, from way back during the Dark Ages (aka 2012), when I was seventeen. Because it's been so long, I don't entirely remember the thought process that went into writing it, but I believe I wrote it based off a prompt about relationships formed through the internet. (It's much sweeter than most of my writing, but I figured the anthology could use a little boost of levity and it fit really well with Brett's ADORABLE contribution.) Katelyn: Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to submit a story this year. One of the downsides of being a writer as an adult is that you have to start scheduling into your day. Don't get me wrong, this is something you have to do as a young writer too, but when you start mixing in work and all of the responsibilities you now have as an adult, it is easy to look at writing as less of a priority than it should be. And, trust me, I know how much crap kids these days have to go through if they want to simply get by; it's honestly ridiculous. So, if that's you, if your life is busier than you know what to do with but you still want to write, then take it from someone who knows too well: make the time for it. You'll thank yourself later. Allison: I didn't contribute a story to the anthology this year (didn't have anything short enough that fit the theme), but this feels like a good place to mention that my contribution to last year's anthology has since been sold as a reprint to a YA short fiction podcast, Cast of Wonders. "What You're Missing" will appear in audio there sometime in 2018. I wrote the first draft of this dystopian short in high school and never had much confidence in it, so if it hadn't been for the story's inclusion in a Ch1Con anthology, I might never have dared to buff it up and send it out to the pro-level publication which eventually bought it. I hope all our participants (past, present, and future) will consider submitting their stories to similar markets--thinking of this anthology as not just an "end goal", but the starting point to even greater writing success. Which, really, is what the program is all about!

In your opinion, why is the Ch1Con Mentorship a successful program? Would you have told your past self to sign up for it?

Julia: I'm definitely a little biased here, as the director of the program, but I think what makes the Chapter One Events Mentorship Program so successful is the fact that it truly teaches mentees about each step of the publication process. We cover from query letters to editorial letters (and everything in between), so by the end, mentees really understand what publishing will look like when they're ready to pursue it. I would absolutely tell my past self to sign up for this program. Little Julia would have had a stroke over an opportunity like this. Learning how to read publishing contracts? Getting a behind-the-scenes look at the editorial process? I wish something like this had existed when I was first starting out. Ariel: I think it's a successful program because a lot of young people, especially high schoolers, don't necessarily have access to serious workshopping for creative writing projects. Their English teachers might have a lower standard for creative work, or might only teach them editing in regards to analytical writing. This is a place where they can work on a story in a serious way, and I think that's great. I would tell my past self to sign up for it, for her own sake, but I'm not sure I would inflict my sensitive high school self on the Ch1Con volunteers.

Katelyn: Oh my gosh, I love the Chapter One Mentorship program. My past-self would have LOVED this. I will be the first to admit that I was one of those kids with super unrealistic expectations of how the publishing industry works. To me, the idea that I would be a published author by the age of 18 (before I even graduated from high school) was completely realistic. As most people in publishing industry can attest: this is not true. So much work and effort goes into publishing a novel - even shorter works like poems and short stories - that a lot of young writers are completely unaware of. This process is invaluable because it provides young writers a step-by-step introduction to not only the publishing process in general, but also to a lot of the intricate behind the scenes work, like what an editorial letter looks like, how to write a query letter, and what the difference is between copyediting, proofreading, and editorial editing (among a bunch of other things). Instead of having to do a lot of research and crossing your fingers that you are getting the best advice, all of these tips, tricks, and lessons are in one convenient package. I would highly, highly recommend this program to anyone wanting to broaden their understanding of publishing, editing, and/or how to better themselves as a writer in general. Allison: Speaking mostly about the week I mentor for, my strategy has been to gather up all the information I would've liked to know much earlier. Standard operating procedure, as well as little tips and tricks--learned from my own experience, and from listening to writers further along than I am. When you're a young (and/or new) writer, it's easy to get frustrated by how much you have left to learn, and while this feeling never really goes away (since we will all continue learning until we die) it's nice to get a wealth of information gathered together in one place. To get direct advice from your peers, and ask all your questions somewhere besides a browser search bar. I'd have loved to experience something like this program when I was first learning, as it would have saved me a lot of confusion and anxious Googling.

[nofomoartworld]

Hyperallergic: Poems that Make you Aware of Your Skin

An illustration by Ser Serpas, part of Rindon Johnson’s new poetry publication, Shade The King. All images courtesy the artists and Capricious.

The title of artist and writer Rindon Johnson’s new book, Shade The King —published by Capricious, released in September, and illustrated by Ser Serpas —is, Johnson told me in an e-mail, “a poem all by itself. It’s also a bit of a call to action: ‘Shade him!’ We all know of those that think they might be kings, let’s make sure they cannot see the sun when they are around us, something like an anti-portrait.”

Like their e-mails, Johnson’s poetry is evocative and fluid. Shade The King is a long poem, reading like a scroll, punctuated with songlike moments of vulnerability and musings on the unraveling and unfolding of a world that’s at once tender and cruel. “What happens when I’m 50?” Johnson asks, toward the poem’s beginning. “Will I be living on a boat with a green house because the caps have totally melted and all the fish are dead? I refuse to go to Mars. I hope, at least, they find a way to make dogs live as long as humans so that I can have my dog forever — we will die together at a time of our choosing.” Here, one paragraph encapsulates dystopian fear and fierce warmth; there are few that don’t.

Scan from Shade The King, featuring excerpts of the poem by Rindon Johnson and illustrations by Ser Serpas.

Shade The King is moving, in the most physical sense of that word. Johnson works with many mediums, including sculpture and virtual reality, and is good at building spaces that have their own physicality. Consider the VR piece, “My Daughter, Aaliyah,” a mediation to the tune of a Christian mother saddened by Vince Staples — it’s a reflection on an angry white reaction to rap and a virtual dip in the sea. When you leave Johnson’s work, you’re suddenly aware of your skin, of the thoughts stirring below. The planet is unsettling and sad, and yet it is less so because you are in it. “A quotient is the result of division,” begins one stanza. “For example, when dividing a nation by its own bigotry, the quotient is dead trans women of color. Where will we go now that they have thrown us off course?/These are just the pants that we are wearing today … Rarely do we remember what happened to our previous pants, we send them to the landfill to be churned and buried. Their chemicals seep into our water supply and then we drink them. I do like the chemicals inside of me. I would like it if you were all inside of me. I digress.”

Shade The King book covers.

Johnson “digresses” often: “I’ve never been a cutter but it must be a relief to watch the blood come out as though it was always meaning to do so. Look this lover in the eye wonder what your children might have looked like – would they have had these eyes or yours. I digress.” Johnson’s train-of-thought is tender and critical, reflective — not unlike “My Daughter, Aaliyah.” Comparing the Book of Genesis to the space between bodies, Johnson writes, “Just like the beginning it’s a rib in your body. You can feel that it was missing and you can feel when it is as near as replaced. Are you the rib from my body? Am I the rib from yours?” Later, after questioning the types of formaldehyde used on farms, it says, “How many herbs do I have to take so that I can drown out the drone of white supremacy in my body? (Not to mention the formaldehyde.)”

A self-portrait by Rindon Johnson.

Serpas’s illustrations—thick curlicues, amorphous forms, and anatomical shapes—are interspersed throughout, both meditative and contained. Johnson explained in our e-mail exchange: “We got nine yards of canvas and some paint pens and I read Ser the entire book cover-to-cover and she drew the illustrations as I read.” A video of this process was screened when the book launched at the New York Art Book Fair. It’s unsurprising that Johnson allowed Serpas to foster her own world in Shade The King; if empathy is, at its root, caring enough to understand another’s feelings, then Johnson is an empathetic poet in the sense that they engender empathy in the reader.

Scan from Shade The King.

When an artist maintains a very specific thread in all their work, like a home to which we might return, it’s comforting. “I think the more I keep doing all the things I like to do the mediums in my practice fold into each other, writing included,” Johnson wrote me, adding: “I’m starting to limit my physical materials in my sculpture. I just use leather, light, Vaseline, video, photography and wood right now. It’s liberating in a sense, the same as proposing to my partner. It’s a statement of commitment, in a way. ‘This is what I’m doing, I want to know it and feel it and be inside of it all the time.’”

Shade The King, written by Rindon Johnson and illustrated by Ser Serpas, is available now through Capricious.

The post Poems that Make you Aware of Your Skin appeared first on Hyperallergic.

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[pukmarjorie70704-blog]

View It In Your Eyes Don Campbell Lyrics.

Monument from the Guardian Angel from Portugal apparition to the 3 little shepherd kids of Fatima. A kid along with autism who is actually captivated along with unlawful act on TV, is reckoned as a killer behind a collection of murders take place locally. You also might would like to keep this to yourself up until after you are actually pregnant that you were utilizing the details in Lisa Olson's Maternity Miracle to assist you to get expectant. When you cherished this short article and you wish to be given more info relating to mountains in england to visit (click through the following post) i implore you to visit the page. And they were run scared and also started checking the little child however the blood stream was actually certainly not coming from the little kid it was actually originating from the flowers. I got the magic A Training course in Miracles teaches-a real shift in belief. Wonder manufacturing is actually brand-new to a lot of my visitors, because, most of the time, they have been taught that miracles are actually few and far between and also simply a select couple of get to experience the electrical power of miracles Some are actually even under the impact that these select couple of encounter such miracles beyond the personal. It was a little surprising to find the typically therefore high-spirited kid feel so reduced when I saw my child resting grimly in his space. Given that my automobile technician powerfully gave me Pinckney Benedict's Miracle Young boy and also Other Stories after a routine oil modification, I tell you this. Know that we know this our team may start to create a better atmosphere as well as method to affect the choosing truths to whether you conceive a gal or conceive a kid. Over the weekend our team acquired the Rosary from the Kings as well as our team took it over to Give, the 9 years of age boy along with Pontine Glinoma, a very lethal tumor. She informed me that she had actually acquired her miracle and also in prayer she was actually told some one else needed it much more now as well as wished to give the rosary back. Make use of Your Ingenuity - Skin The GiantWhen David initially declared that he would get rid of Goliath, he most likely didn't know just how he was going to perform this. As our team read the account we view that he aimed to use the king's shield, but understood that it will not function (1 Samuel 17:38 -39). Miracle kid Noah was actually born at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) with spina bifida, hydrocephalus as well as simply 2% human brain mass. As the boys examine his ankles, knotty with brilliantly white colored marks, Wonder Child does certainly not claim a thing. Most individuals today give up the type of either funds or even gifts of non-perishable meals products for the local food items banking company, but that wasn't constantly thus. A number of you might have listened to stories concerning exactly how in previous years priests were actually paid for in the form of animals, fruit or even vegetables. Typically in these tales there are actually animals found, as well as usually these creatures substitute for humans which may not be worthwhile of their bipedal skin layers. Right now, years eventually, Alfred had actually come back as well as Father brown Provençal found in the boy the little bit of young boy who had offered him therefore zealously, thus faithfully; he asked him if he had actually ever thought about a job as a theological! One study had revealed that 1 in 3 couple had secretly wished to become pregnant the sex of their choice, and approximately 60% of few were desperate to know how to conceive a child. If you are actually individual which believes all wealthy people are criminals at that point you will simply see and also hear tales as well as expertise wealthy people who are criminals. Let me repeat that: After reading this post and taking action you are actually going to get your sweetheart or even child close friend back. Certainly, Magic Boy is comprised of numerous such minutes, if only to employ silence as a respite coming from a pervasive strain that infects every page. I will definitely start my excellence account through presenting myself to the entire globe as well as were actually i am coming from. Publishers Weekly Benedict's very first assortment from stories since his encouraging if jagged launching (Town Smokes, 1987) is actually an even more accomplished job, creating him one of the most effective younger southern writers - packed with passion and also fully grown sufficient to keep that in control. A lot of these names are unisex, meaning you might utilize it for either a kid or a girl. Yes, the downpour is for the little one yet this is likewise for the moms and dads to share in their delight and also aid them commemorate the miracle of birth or even fostering. An option connected with miracle maternity is actually most definitely made it possible for towards these individuals, leading to trying to acquire maternity wonder. Folks say that's a miracle when the mail shows up within a day from NY to LA, or even a garage quickly appears before your destination, or even website traffic was so poor that was actually a magic" you made that promptly. Britain created its own label on earth of vintage cars in the 1950s with labels including Victory TR2 cars launched in1952 and the Sunbeam Alpine a year later on. Milagro is the male variety from the label Milagros as well as indicates 'wonder.' This title would suit well in with the names implying 'wonder' for children. The remarkable innovation and the awesomely terrifying film along with a meaning is a great flick and also one that presents Burton's creative genius and exactly how X-mas movies typically aren't just the same. I found a lot of spell casters from Africa as well as Asia yet they were all fraudsters. However the boy which was actually illustrated through PMH staff as a fighter" has fired those forecasts clear out from the water. His account is actually exciting, yet more remarkable is actually being actually eyewitnesses to a following of countless trustworthy believers, participating in a three-times-a-year Mass and Healing Event. This in itself was a wonder but that's actually a magic within a magic given that Eve ought to possess been actually a young boy, a twin from Adam, if Adam's YDNA was copied together with each of Adam's DNA. West Midlands Ambulance company paramedics alleviated the young boy at the performance for a fracture to his arm, prior to transferring him to Birmingham Children's Hospital. The wonder included a Brazilian child called Lucas, which was actually amazingly healed with the intercession of the shepherd children. Several moms and dads contact their metaphysical side more than ever after possessing a wonder little one. A wonder associateded with his intercession took place in 1967, when a female, Angela Boudreaux, that was actually identified along with a gigantic malignancy in her liver, was healed. Although his friends acquire gross consequence for their component in the abuse, Lizard's penalty is difficult: He is actually created to invite Wonder Kid to his house to see a movie. Neil Shanahan, which just switched three recently, brokened six stories from a veranda in the Poem Fiber Accommodation last July. To take your magic regulation even more: look at the example of exactly how that changes as well as the best ways to boost it. One more wonder was actually occurring at the verge from the Horseshoe Drops on the American side from Niagara Tumbles at Terrapin Factor. In the movie, The Secret," there's a setting where, after visualizing a brand new bike, a youthful child opens the door as well as, like magic, this exists. This story matters due to the fact that even though he failed he gained from the mistakes he brought in as well as at some point built the goal he always yearned for. Milagre is actually a Portuguese baby child name, indicating 'miracle.' That is actually each upbeat as well as offbeat, as well as Milo will work best as a nickname for Milagre. Roseann informs the rest of the wonder: Physicians mentioned he won't possess a top quality from lifestyle, he would certainly certainly not stroll or even chat or manage to recognize our team, yet he proved all of them all inappropriate and also really left of the medical facility 5 full weeks eventually." What a triumph! Booklist In this very first novel, Benedict continues his expedition of non-urban West Virginia lifestyle begun in his 2 narrative assortments, The Ravaging Garden and also City Smokes. His planet is local, hard, raw, male; these 9 stories deal with the hill males, sheep farmers, and hog raisers of non-urban West Virginia. Little ones of Heaven is actually an Iranian film with subtitles concerning a child who mistakenly sheds his sister's worn shoes after being actually delivered in order to get all of them mended, as well as should share his personal worn out shoes with her in a sort of relay while each joins institution at different times throughout the day. Perhaps there was actually a magic at the temple from Medjugorje, certainly not just for apparent main reasons, however, for that Audrey lived to be 23 years old. It is actually the divine visibility operating by means of you and, kid, what a stunning magic that is! This is actually humbling even to attempt to illustrate the very innovative tales within this assortment. Publishers Weekly Benedict's initial selection of stories given that his fortunate if uneven launching (Community Smokes, 1987) is actually a much more proficient job, establishing him one of the most ideal youthful southern writers - full of enthusiasm and fully grown sufficient to maintain that under control. A number of these titles are unisex, suggesting you could utilize that for either a lady or a kid.

[christinaengela]

Hello friends and fans!

March was an exciting month for us over at the Crow Bar!

Coming up in this edition of News From The Crow Bar, s, and a couple of stunning reviews of my work received in the past month!

New Releases

“Prodigal Sun” – book 5 in The Quantum Series is finally available! Since it has only just been released, it will at first only be available on  Lulu, but  in the next few weeks it should start appearing on Amazon, Goodreads, Kobo (prices in ZAR  ), Lybrary, iTunes, Nook, eBookMall and Indigo – and in fact everywhere you can find all my books!

I hope those of you who have been eagerly awaiting the fifth title in the Quantum Series will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

In the meantime, if you want to know more about the story being told in “Prodigal Sun“, you can find more info here: What Readers Can Expect In “Prodigal Sun”, “High Steaks” & “The Last Hurrah”.

The Galaxii Series

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As some of you might know, the covers for this series were designed by the inimitable Susan Simone – and I’m happy to say that Susan will soon be creating the cover for the next upcoming title in this series as well! I’m sure it’s going to be a stunner, just like the others!

The working title for book 4 in this series was “Overkill”, but this has since changed to “Where Darkness Softly Treads” since I felt it better fits the kind of story I will tell!

The Quantum Series

After talking about it in numerous posts on Facebook and here on my website, the time is finally nigh! In anticipation of the eagerly-awaited release of “Prodigal Sun“, I thought it would help readers if I gave them an idea of what to expect in the story that will be told across three books – “Prodigal Sun“, “High Steaks” and “The Last Hurrah“. To that end, I posted an article on Feb 14 to whet your appetites! (What Readers Can Expect In “Prodigal Sun”, “High Steaks” & “The Last Hurrah”).

“High Steaks” is also complete and already waiting in the wings, and will be released after giving people time to digest the first new book in the Quantum Series in a decade! “The Last Hurrah” – the next title in the series after that, is still a work in progress and I will post updates in this regard!

Short Fiction

I finished redrafting a short story of mine from 1987 called “The Curse, which I renamed to “Mercury Rising“. Together with another from 1988 called “Code Red“, it will be appearing in “Space Really Sucks!“!

Poetry

One evening in February, when inspiration hit, I wrote a poem I called “State Capture” in 20 minutes – within 12 hours, Alex S. Johnson had snapped it up for an anthology called “Trumpocalypse” (Horrified Press)! Even if that isn’t some kind of record, it certainly is for me! I will post links to the book when it is released later in 2017!

Also under ‘poetry’ for February, on Feb 15, 2017 I entered the “Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest“, and submitted “Ode To A Nymphomaniac”, a poem I wrote in 1991. Results are to be announced Aug 15, 2017.

Non-Fiction

Over this past month I edited and reformatted a new release of “How I Built My Home UPS System – & How You Can Too” – a tech book detailing how I built a home UPS system! It should be ready for release once I have finished the section on solar panels and wind chargers – for which I needed to actually install these items first! More about that later in a future edition!

Collaborations

Nothing to report in this section this time!

Translations

Translation of my short stories into Afrikaans has taken something of a back-seat recently with all my focus having been on the final edits of “Prodigal Sun” and “High Steaks“, and new releases (“Prodigal Sun“) . So far, we’ve translated “The Thirteenth Ship” and “Wiggle Room“into Afrikaans which are available for free on the shop site’s Afrikaans page.

Editing

“Vampyre Bytes – voices from the South African Vampyre Community”, which I have edited for LightBearer Publishing, is still in final edits and formatting with the publisher.  Submissions are still open for “Embracing Justice” (Riot Pink). Please mail me your entries/submissions at christinaengela@gmail.com .

Competitions

There are no new competitions currently running.

On A Personal Note

Fan Mail & Honorable Mentions

Noticed in the past month by my long-suffering PA Wendy K. Gloss, were the following honorable mentions:

Book reviewer and author in his own right, Andy Peloquin referred to me in a post on his home page in May 2015 (yes, okay I know it’s old – I just got to see it!) in which he said: “Today’s author is a Miss Christina Engela, the writer of dark science fiction/horror novels that will blow your mind and bring out the goosebumps. She’s actually quite an interesting person!“

Quotes Daddy seems to have a lot of quotes of me on their site!

Simply Links, a free directory of South African books websites, has my Lulu shop page listed.

In January 2017, my short story ‘The Thirteenth Ship‘ appeared on a list of reading recommendations by Let’s Read Women for stories written by female authors about female pirates called ‘Kickass Women Who Are Pirates‘.

ProjectTransFriends used one of my quotes on their website in January 2017.

Hate Mail

This month I’m happy to report that I received nothing more suspect than one solitary, sad little ‘dick pic’ – which got its sender five minutes of fame on my Facebook wall!

Reviews & Interviews

New Videos

This past month I managed to create just one new video – the book trailer for “Prodigal Sun“. On the whole I’m very happy with it, and think my technique is improving. The drawings were all hand-drawn by me and then colored on my PC in Paint, and then processed via Powerpoint and a video-editing program.

New Listings

As of February, my books are now also all listed on Anobii, on Bol (Netherlands) and Fnac (France).

March was a very interesting month for us writing-wise over at the Crow Bar! Again I’d like to thank all of you out there who support me by buying and reading my books, and for your constant friendliness and positive outlook!

If you would like to know more about Christina Engela and her writing, please feel free to browse her website. If you want to know what Christina Engela’s focus group or target market is, please read here. If you would like to read more about Christina’s life and experiences, please go to her Biography and the article “Timeline of Milestones, Awards & Achievements“. To leave her a message, please use the Contact form. Visit her Shop. ‘Add’ Christina Engela on Facebook (Profile). ‘Like’ Christina Engela on Facebook (Page). All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2017.

Another Round @ The Crow Bar #4 – Apr 2017 Hello friends and fans! March was an exciting month for us over at the Crow Bar!

[enfprogress-blog]

Writing Day 1

So, I enrolled in this course because I have always had a natural inclination to creative imagining and good verbal intelligence. I have been able to put those two natural skills together to be a decent writer when I have had a need to do so, mostly involving papers and essays throughout school. I received enough praise from teachers growing up about my writing to feel more and more of an inclination towards wanting to become a writer, not to mention the fact that as I got older and experienced reading more and seeing more media, I became fascinated with hoarding ideas about stories and characters I would want to write someday. I had had experience with being able to shmooze my way through college with my writing to appear competent enough and make good grades. I could even be funny when I wrote for The Burning Book. I know I can turn it out sometimes, but, like a lot of my abilities I see in my life in the bigger picture, I notice that consistency is something that is NOT a strong point in my life and natural skills, be it on a grand scale or with smaller, individual struggles and goals.

I know that my tendencies towards writing is analogous to a lot of my other strivings in life such as getting in shape, my obedience to God, my surrender to faithfulness and consideration of others, and being able to create more of what I want in my career goals and money making. I know that I did have a really good creative spurt there for a bit with writing the 160 poems, and a lot of that had to do with putting my heartbreak over XXX into some sort of creative outlet, not to mention the fact that I was able to constantly put my mind towards it when it was as simple as jotting down words and phrases that came to me on my phone in the space of a text message box. I also had the benefit of taking my days off to spend a few hours just jotting and editing things down over several cups of coffee...but even then, I would waste a lot of time over fooling around on Facebook and other things while doing this writing process.

Right now, I’m having to face things that I see in my walk with God, what my friend and just-about-mentor Andy has been discussing and sharing with me, and what Carolina had been telling me the other day - that I’ve gotta let the ego fall aside and really sink my teeth and existence into the admittance of how little I have to be proud of. This definitely applies to writing. This definitely applies to what I was reading about that Tucker Max blog the other day, the emphasis upon hiring being an issue of showing what you can do and have done rather than degrees and ideas that look good on a paper resume. Certifications and degrees are all for naught unless you have tangible work that you have accomplished that can be pointed to. For me, at best, I have several old The Burning Book issues that aren’t even electronic and are a distant memory for most and those poems that haven’t been put into published status, much less a blog format. At least I do have those poems in which to use as creative content for when I do get things going, but it looks like I need to start today in getting things going.

I know that I want to write a lot of the stories on my heart. I want to be in good shape. I want to be a person of value to my family, friends, community, and to God. I want to pay my parents back in full and be making good enough money I don’t have to work at the Post Office with the business and writing goals I have accomplished and continue to work on. I know that, as I was talking to Carolina, that I feel an ennui about wanting to be better and knowing that I am not and that dragging my feelings down, but she was right at first even though I had to drag it out of her - that I had no right to that sort of self-lament...you have to be somebody in order to do that...but that’s the paradox right there...by “being somebody”, so to speak, you are not going to have that tendency. You’re going to have the confidence and skills under your belt to dust yourself off from a solid blow to your ego and career. The moment you trip into self-lament, you’ve become someone who doesn’t deserve to have that luxury. How novel. You can only ever be keeping your head down and grinding. If it is harder than you feel it should be, it is because you haven’t built momentum to prove to yourself. Oh well. That’s the nature of things.

So, I’m hoping I can get something out of the guidance in this course. Better, yet, I am hoping I can be able to draw things out of myself that can be focused on and shared later on with others through my unique perspective on a blog about goals and career as an ENFP. I know that, as Andy put it, that loving discipline and correction is something sorely lacking from modern-day self-help books of all sorts. Absolutely and completely missing. Well, actually not in The Art of War, but he doesn’t really pronounce it exactly like that in Proverbs. There’s room for being able to display and discourse about it that would be uniquely apart from Steven Pressfield’s technique in self-help guidance unto writing and whatever your goals are. I know that a big part of this is also gonna be about being able to think out loud in another medium like writing and coming up with new and fresh ways of thinking about things, like for instance just now with what I was describing in the previous paragraph about what all Carolina has been telling me. Noticing that line drawn between having and not having the luxury of feeling sorry for yourself and the irony being that if and when one does have such a luxury, they simply won’t use it. They have no use for it. They have learned it isn’t a luxury it’s only a trap, even if they might actually be justified by the measure of the world in using it. Nobody was going to blame certain actors and certain professionals and certain athletes falling from grace into second place when everything seemed to be going for them...or failing just short of making it to the playoffs when it seemed like all their hard work was all but laying out a trajectory towards the highest of accolades/awards/championship ring for that year. No one could blame them for having a moment of weakness and anger and sadness toward themselves in such a context...but they won’t and you can see how they do not in the history of all such high level accomplishers.

[hermanwatts]

Sensor Sweep: Kull, Star Trek, Dying Earth, Doc Vandal

Publishing (Pulp Archivist): The market is contracting, without signs of stopping, from at least the mid-2000s generational handover. Digital and its different margins have likely kept some of these magazines in business far longer than print runs can justify. It’s almost to the point where the established science fiction “fandom” does not and should not be the audience. There are 300 million people not reading science fiction short stories. The editor who can figure out how to reach even 0.0001% of that will be the king of science fiction.

Gaming (Walker’s Retreat): In other words, WOTC’s being pozzed again. Do not give money to people who hate you. Do not buy WOTC’s products new. Not for D&D. Not for Magic. Not at all. Buy used if you must, but otherwise give your money to those making their own versions of the game (legal thanks to the Open Game License making D&D open source 20 years ago). What would those be? A short list includes: Adventurer, Conqueror, King.

  Science Fiction Community (Kalimac): The news has been getting out, both within and outside the SF community, that Alan Beatts, owner of Borderland Books in San Francisco, has been credibly accused of physical and sexual assault by women close to him. I’ll leave out the details; you can read them at the above links.

  D&D (RPG Pundit): They say that Oriental Adventures is full of stereotypes and needs to be cancelled. And well, yes, it is full of stereotypes and not an authentic historical setting. Every other D&D setting is also full of stereotypes and not an authentic historical setting too!

Fantasy (Fantasy Literature): Kull, for those unfamiliar with the character, made his first appearance in the August 1929 issue of Weird Tales magazine, in the story “The Shadow Kingdom,” so no, Howard most certainly did not get his inspiration for the regal name from 1933’s King Kong. Howard would go on to write 13 more stories dealing with the character (plus one poem), but only two of those were published before his suicide death in 1936. The Lancer volume, sadly enough, is complete with the exception of two of those 14 tales.

Star Trek (Superversive SF): cannot count the number of STAR TREK novels I have read over the years. Not as many recently as I used to, in fact, no new ones in a few years. It’s the old story, when you’re young you have all the time but limited money. When you’re older, you have the money to pursue your old hobbies like a demon but limited time. In the library, I stumbled across this Next Generation novel entitled Available Light and decided to give it a whirl. I’ve not read any new ST novels in a long time, so based on the back blurb, this one seemed like a great piece to dive back in with.

Cinema (Tulsa World): Today is the day to celebrate #Harryhausen 100. While we’re at it, let’s celebrate the lives of two people: a special effects legend and an Oklahoma cowboy who are connected by one movie at the dawn of their careers. Ray Harryhausen was the genius behind a form of stop-motion animation that brought all kinds of beasties to life in movies like “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,” “20 Million Miles to Earth,” “One Million Years B.C.,” “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad,” “Clash of the Titans” and a series of Sinbad flicks.

Fiction (Grubb Street): Song of the Dying Earth: Stories in Honor of Jack Vance, by a LOT of people you’ve heard about, edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, with Art by Paul Kidd. TOR Books, 2009. Provenance: Christmas present, probably 2009 as well. I came to Jack Vance late in life, which is a bit of a surprise given that D&D is hip-deep in Vancian notions, tropes, and outright, um, borrowings. But once I struck his Dying Earth series, in the form of a massive compendium, I was delightfully hooked by his mannered approach to far-future fantasy, and of course, when a massive tome by a cluster of big-name authors came out in his honor, I had to get it and consume it.

Comic Books (Wasteland & Sky): omic books need to bring back all-ages comics as the standard. They have not been primarily aimed at children since the 1970s, and it has shown in declining sales. Comic books are an inherently juvenile format and that is their strength. Old comics and the classics could whip through plot points, action scenes, and wild settings within a single issue all while telling a complete standalone story.

D&D (Sacnoth’s Scriptorium): So, a few years back there was a campaign to build a Gary Gygax memorial statue in his home town of Lake Geneva. I think I even blogged about it at the time; I certainly tried to buy a copy of the memorial booklet intended to help fund the project, a collection of E.G.G.’s posts in a gaming forum, called CHEERS, GARY.

Sherlock Holmes (Black Gate): If you mention the term Gothic to most people, it’s likely to conjure visions of teenagers dressed in black, wearing black nail polish and Doc Marten boots. Someone a few years older may think of drugstore paperback racks filled with book covers featuring women in nightgowns running away from sinister mansions. But Gothic originally refers to a type of architecture, an overall aesthetic of the macabre, and a genre of fiction popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Gaming (Heavy Metal): Scorn is a long-awaited first-person shooter based on the art of H.R. Giger and, to a lesser extent, Zdzisław Beksiński. It’s been in development for years; developer Ebb Software dropped a drool-inducing teaser trailer in 2016 and a gameplay trailer in 2017. There have been video games — lots of them — based on the Alien movies, but this one is specifically Giger, so expect to see more of the creepy, twisted sexual side of his art than you got in the Xenomorph movies.

Pulp (The Pulp Net): While Doc Vandal is influenced by Doc Savage, he has some other influences. And a big difference is that his stories are not set in our world, but in the 1930s of an alternate world that has a steampunk element where zeppelins are everywhere, aliens exists (with hidden cities on Earth, as well as the Moon), and there are other science fictional elements. Doc Vandal is an inventor and adventurer, assisted by three people: Vic, Gus and Gilly.

Robert E. Howard (Messages from Crom): The Cthulhu Stories of Robert E. Howard. Coming in September! The Great Old Ones Return… In the early twentieth-century, in the pages of Weird Tales and other pulp magazines, H.P. Lovecraft created the Cthulhu Mythos and offered it to his friends, creating a shared mythology for much of their weird fiction. Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, was one of those good friends.

Popular Culture (Bronze Age Babies): Doug: Hi, my name is Doug, and… well, I’m addicted to the Planet of the Apes. There – I said it! Are you happy now? Welcome back to the BAB, everyone! We are pleased to be in your company today, and also excited to have been asked once again to participate in this summer’s Super Blog Team-Up. “Expanded universe” is our topic, so we are running with that across three blogs. Our premise here is that the variety of products available to kids in during the era of the Bronze Age of comics allowed our imaginations to make leaps into new territory for our favorite Apes characters.

Art (Silver Key): A big name in fantasy role-playing/Dungeons and Dragons art passed away yesterday—Jim Holloway. Jim was not my favorite D&D artist of all time—I might have to go with Bill Willingham or Erol Otus—but he was one of the 5-6 most iconic and prolific of the silver or “commercial” age of TSR, circa 1981 and on.

Tolkien (Tolkien and Fantasy): I believe that there are only two instances where J.R.R. Tolkien was interviewed on film. The first dates from 1962, and the second from 1968. The first, by John Bowen, was conducted on 10 December 1962, in black-and-white, for the BBC television program “Bookstand”. The episode was broadcast two days later, on Wednesday, 12 December, from 10.15-10.45 pm, though the Tolkien segment took up less than nine minutes.

Science Fiction (Marzaat): Scientific Romance in Britain 1890-1950. Well, I’ve known about this book for years, but it was pricey on the second hand market, but I got it for Christmas. A lot of science fiction crit books from the 1980s I’ve purchased recently seem to be deaccessioned from university libraries. This one came from the Columbus College Library in Columbus, Georgia.  It seems to have been checked out only once, in 1995. That matches Brian Stableford stating, in his essay “The Profession of Science Fiction” that he only sold “157 copies in the UK, not counting remainders”.

Fiction (Mostly Old Books): The First Quarry doesn’t dwell on an origin story but rather shows the young hitman being fully formed as a cold-blooded and intelligent killer as he accepts his first assignment after being recruited by The Broker – killing a college professor and destroying his manuscripts. The story takes place in Iowa in the early 1970s, the years that I came of age, and I was impressed and highly amused by all of the pop culture references from that era.

Pulp (Pulpfest): When Ned Pines was asked by The American News Company to start a chain of pulp magazines that it would distribute for him, he knew he needed an editor. The young publisher requested Frank A. Munsey employee, Leo Margulies, to be the managing editor of his new enterprise. With the country gripped by the Great Depression, the two men came up with a daring idea for the rough paper market: a ten-cent pulp magazine. Standard Magazines, better known as “The Thrilling Group,” launched THRILLING DETECTIVE, THRILLING ADVENTURES, and THRILLING LOVE in late 1931. Each sold for a dime.

Art (DMR Books): Matthews created a considerable amount of artwork depicting Elric and various other characters from Michael Moorcock’s stories. Moorcock said that “Rodney captured the images and invention, having a larger space to work with on the posters and calendars. He was brilliant, for instance, on the quirky End of Time stories and I love his inventiveness.”

Sensor Sweep: Kull, Star Trek, Dying Earth, Doc Vandal published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/