Three Short Story Sales

I'm very pleased to announce the following sales:

'Becoming Private Block-Head' to Spectacle Magazine
'Calleva Artebatum' by Kelda Crich to Nameless Magazine
'Love in a Lonely City' in Chinese Translation to Business China

Space Opera Novel Published Today

I'm so happy to announce that my book has been officially released.

Klyve Ganthe is a Kyoti, a race of liars, tricksters and con artists. As the Corona Corporation abandons the planet Nimbas, suddenly Klyve finds himself in charge. Armed with his wits, a telepathic advisor, and a nagging mother-in-law, Klyve must struggle to bring together the disgruntled factions and keep Nimbas from being overrun by the Logorasch swarm.

A planet on the edge of chaos. Can Klyve make Nimbas As Good as Bad Can Get?

The book is available in print and as an ebook at the following places.

Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/As-Good-Bad-Can-Get/dp/1542444365/

Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/as-good-as-bad-can-get-deborah-j-walker/1125904943

Saleage of a Triple Variety

My reprint story 'The Depredators Club' will appear in Lupine Lunes which is open to kickstarter and to submissions. This is a fun project that runs every year, just in time for Halloween.

My reprint stories: 'The Unmovable Sky' and 'Pure and Without Savour' will appear in the Sky Castles anthology

Both these venues are currently open (8/10/2016) but closing soon, so you better get your skates on if you want to be my TOC buddy.

edited to add: 'Rattle the Wolf's Teeth' and 'They Call Me the Red Hood' and 'Doorstepping' and hte 'Sea is in My Blood' also accepted by Lupine Lunes

The Rebirth of Mr Scratchy Claws

I'm pleased to announced my story 'The Rebirth of Mr Scratchy Claws' has been published in Lazarus Risen. 

Dreams of immortality and eternal youth are almost as old as human culture itself. But what would the world look like if everyone could live and be young forever? What would it look like if only some of us had that privilege? Lazarus Risen presents sixteen stories from around the world that explore the economic, political, social and psychological consequences of life extension, human cloning, the hard upload and other forms of the biological singularity. 

Stories by Brent Nichols, Sean McMullen, Teri Babcock, Nancy SM Waldman, Brad C. Anderson, Fiona Moore, Felice Picano, Matthew Shean, Matt Moore, Suzanne Church, Peter Wendt, Holly Schofield, Deborah Walker, Kevin Edwin Stadt, Leigh Kimmel, and Andrew Barton

Kyu, The Unknown: A Book Birthday

I am so pleased to have Paul Magnan on my blog to talk about his debut novel, 'Kyu, The Unknown' I first met Paul when I was a wide-eyed newbie, and since then I've followed his career with great interest. And now a  novel! A storty decades in the making. Bravo, Paul!

First off, I want to thank Deborah for her invitation to post on her blog. It is appreciated. 

Anyway, on to my debut novel, "Kyu, The Unknown, Book 1: The Coming of Dis", released on the 9th of September by the wonderful people at Writers AMuse Me Publishing, who publish an eclectic variety of books, many of them award winners.

In a nutshell: Kyu is a famous and popular arena fighter in a world that has a few traditional fantasy elements, but has been allowed to evolve technologically (While I enjoy straight-up fantasy stories, I never understood how technological advances never happened in them. Sure, they have "magic", but 3000 or more years with no basic inventions even considered, like a printing press or even firearms? I could never buy that, so I made sure my book didn't have that issue).  Kyu's world is a mega-continent called the Territories, the last human land on a planet almost completely engulfed by the Disian Curtain. Behind the Curtain are creatures called Infernals, ruled by Diaboli Domini, who not only want, but need, to feed on human souls. And the Curtain is creeping ever closer to the human land.

The humans, sadly true to form, are ignoring this greater threat to plot among themselves, split between political and religious differences. Kyu discovers he has a connection to both realities, and, with a determined but novice politician named Erenia, must convince the population of the Territories to band together, militarily and spiritually, to fight off the coming invasion, or lose everything forever.

"Kyu" is not a recent idea of mine. Actually, he's been with me under one form/name or another since 1980. He didn't even start out as prose. He came into being as a comic strip character I created as part of a project for my high school art class. I drew him as wearing a heavy black cloak, with his face hidden inside the darkness of a hood. As now, he had claws for hands and was an arena fighter.

His name then was The Unknown Flurg, and he was an instant hit with my classmates, who encouraged me to create more strips. My teacher, though appreciative of my efforts, thought Flurg was a bit too violent, which was undoubtedly true. 

I had already written a few basic stories at this stage, so it wasn't exactly a giant leap of logic to start writing instead of drawing Flurg. When I graduated in 1981, I still hadn't finished this novel-in-the-making. Next to my picture in my high school yearbook is the message "To those who knew him, remember the Unknown Flurg; to those who didn't, well, perhaps you'll read his story in the future."

Thirty-five years later, with his name changed for a variety of reasons, they now have that chance.

It took three years for me to finish that first novel. It was rough and undisciplined, to be sure, but I think it had a certain charm, and many of the main characters (who also have undergone a lot of changes since then) in the present novel were introduced. 

Then I took a twenty year hiatus.

Why? It's hard to say. I just put my life on cruise-control, pushing past things I should have dealt with, but didn't. I went to work after high school in a factory, and didn't go to college until two years later, and even then it was part-time. Eventually I earned a Bachelor degree in Marketing, which collects dust to this day. Maybe it was because I was told by more than one person that pursuing a degree in English was worthless unless I wanted to become an English teacher, which I knew I didn't want to be. Maybe it was because I was told that fiction writing was a thankless, barren field, where to make a name for oneself was almost impossible. Maybe it was nascent depression, which has plagued me most of my life, making itself at home and comfortable within me, encouraging self-doubt and apathy to come in as roommates.

Then, around 2005 or so, I lost a lot of weight and my creativity came back. I started writing short fiction. I made like-minded friends on the Internet, who helped teach me how to write. And I looked back on Flurg and brainstormed. And brainstormed. And brainstormed again. I started making notes, building the world in which he lives, making changes to him and other characters, and introducing new characters, main ones of importance. A year later I had a rough, 120,000-word manuscript. I dove right back in and wrote two sequels of similar length. 

Then I took another hiatus, but this time it was to polish my craft with short stories and learn from the critiques of various established authors I had met and befriended in various writing forums. Over the next couple of years I worked at my craft, and started to sell stories to non-paying and token-paying venues, working my way up to semi-pro and pro markets.

I turned back to Flurg. I did a ton of editing, slashing away several thousand words. Once I felt it looked halfway decent I looked into independent publishers, as I had no luck in finding an agent. 

Writers AMuse Me Publishing is the brainchild of someone who runs a fantastic writing forum called The Writers Block. Her name is Mary, and she accepted my book. 

Then we went to work...and work...and work...and more work. Mary and her team were instrumental in knocking away much that was unneeded and inhibiting in the book, teaching me so much as we went along. She sent back chapters with a LOT of red to be acted upon. There were times when I wanted to run and hide. I persevered, and after a few months of slashing and learning (on my part), and name changing (Flurg to Kyu), the novel was finally ready for publication, and here it is. It is also available for purchase in both Kindle and print form though Amazon and as a NOOK book through Barnes&Noble.com. 

Once again, thank you, Deborah, for allowing me this opportunity to write on your blog! 

#

Paul, you're welcome, and I'm looking foward to the read. 

Happy Book Birthday, Breath of Fire

Happy Book Birthday to my writing friend, Beth Cato

In an alternate 1906, the United States and Japan have forged a powerful confederation—the Unified Pacific—in an attempt to dominate the world. Their first target is a vulnerable China. In San Francisco, headstrong Ingrid Carmichael is assisting a group of powerful geomancer wardens who have no idea of the depth of her power—or that she is the only woman to possess such skills.

When assassins kill the wardens, Ingrid and her mentor are protected by her incredible magic. But the pair is far from safe. Without its full force of guardian geomancers, the city is on the brink of a cataclysmic earthquake that will expose Earth’s powers to masterminds determined to control the energy for their own dark ends. The danger escalates when Chinese refugees, preparing to fight the encroaching American and Japanese, fracture the uneasy alliance between the Pacific allies, transforming the city into a veritable powder keg. And the slightest tremor will set it off. . . .

Forced on the run, Ingrid makes some shocking discoveries about herself. Her powerful magic has grown even more fearsome . . . and she may be the fulcrum on which the balance of world power rests.

---

This excerpt from chapter 1 offers an introduction to geomancy.

Whimpers and moans welcomed Ingrid to the junior classroom. Nearest to the door, a dozen boys half sprawled over their desks. A blue mist overlay their skin, and beneath that mist were the sure signs of power sickness—skin flushed by high fever, thick sweat, dull eyes. The rest of the class stared, their expressions ranging from curiosity to horror. Some of them still showed signs of very recent recovery in their bloodshot eyes. None of these boys was older than ten; the youngest was a pudgy-faced eight.

"There you are!" The teacher scowled, as if it were Ingrid’s

fault he’d been so inept with his accounting. Biting her lip, she held out the bag. He snatched it from her fingertips.

The chalkboard laid out the terminology of the lesson, one

Ingrid had seen taught dozens of times: hyperthermia, hypothermia, and the quick timeline to a geomancer’s death. These young boys experienced the hard lesson of hyperthermia. The last earthquake noticeable by the wardens had taken place

three days before. These students had been directly exposed to the current and hadn’t been allowed access to any kermanite. As a result, they spent the past few days bed-bound in misery as though gripped by influenza.

Thank God none of them were as sensitive as Ingrid. Another direct tremor would cause their temperatures to spike even more, and could even lead to death.

The teacher adept pressed a piece of kermanite to a boy’s skin. He gasped at the contact. Blue mist eddied over his body, the color evaporating as it was pulled inside the rock.

If she could see the kermanite in the adept’s hand, the clear crystal would be filling with a permanent smoky swirl. It took a trained mechanic to rig an electrical current to tap the trapped magic as a battery. When the energy within was exhausted, a crystal turned dull and dark. Once that happened, kermanite became a useless rock.

The young boy sat up straighter. "Thank you, sir," he whispered,

voice still ragged. It would take him hours to fully recover.

Ingrid looked away, that familiar anger heavy in her chest.

Wardens and boys in training carried kermanite openly from

watch fobs and cuff links, or most any other accessory where

stones could be easily switched out once they were full.

She had to be far more subtle. Her kermanite chunks clinked together in her dress pocket. She had to take care not to touch them today, or the energy she held would be siphoned away.

Ingrid loved this slight flush of power, because that’s what it was — power. It sizzled just beneath her skin, intoxicated her

with how it prickled at her nerves. Certainly, if she absorbed

any more energy, she’d use the kermanite. She didn’t want to feel sick, though she could hold much more power than these boys, or even the wardens. Mr. Sakaguchi said she took after

Papa — that she stored power like a bank vault, while most

everyone else had the capacity of a private safe.

When it came to her natural skill, Ingrid often regarded herself as a rare fantastic or yokai — not like garden ornamentals like the kappas or naiads sold to the stuffed shirts on Market Street — but like the geomantic Hidden Ones Mr. Sakaguchi so loved to research. She was a creature relegated to idle fancy and obscure mythology, and aggravating shoes.

---

Amazon  Barnes & Noble 

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Beth Cato is the author of the Clockwork Dagger series from Harper Voyager, which includes her Nebula-nominated novella WINGS OF SORROW AND BONE. Her newest novel is BREATH OF EARTH. She’s a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband, son, and requisite cat. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.

How to Sell Reprint Short Fiction

Milford is the Milford SF Writers’ Conference, a peer-to-peer workshopping week, held annually in beautiful North Wales. 

I attended a few years ago, and I was delighted to offer some reprint advice to their new and improved blog. 

This year Milford is offering two bursaries for Writers of Colour to attend in 2017. 

16 Week Marketing Strategy for Short fiction

Today, I welcome Tannara Young onto my blog to talk about marketing. 

Tannara is a fantasy author who has just started selling her short stories. Her latest one, "Autumn Road to Yessar" appears in The Great Tome of Fantastic and Wondrous Places by Bards and Sages Publishing. You can visit her at tannarayoung.com.

Hurray – you've sold a short story! Now you want to get the word out there. Sure it's just a short story, but if you're like me, you want to get better at marketing so that when you publish a novel, you already have some of the skills to jump into the big time marketing.

In my post Marketing 101, I mentioned starting out overwhelmed by all the advice in articles, books, and blogs. Despite that overwhelm, it is really nice that people are willing and eager to share their expertise and ideas. I am still developing my expertise, but I am happy to share my ideas for version 1.0 of my Marketing Strategy.

Here is the bare bones of my 16 Weeks Marketing Strategy. This strategy should be started 12 weeks before your story comes out: Week 12 is the Official Launch Week

Week 1 – Assess Where You Are

Think about what you already have going and if you want to add any other platforms:

• Are you current on your social media sites?
• Do you want to open any other social media accounts?
• Do you have a web page or blog? There are great free options such as Blogger and Google Sites if you don't want to pay for a service.
• Is all your contact information current?
• Do you have an author biography?
• How about a list of published works – with links if they are published online?

Week 2 – Build your Base

Brainstorm a few ways you can increase your reach

• Maybe a new social media account where your readers hang out?
• How about commenting on blogs with relevant topics?
• If you are in an anthology, reach out to your fellow authors and consider how you can support each other – for example, guest blogging like this post.
• Think about your audience for this particular story: maybe it's suitable for young adults as well as your regular adult readers. Maybe it would appeal to boat enthusiasts, or it's about delicious food. There might be readers out there who wouldn't normally find your story, but who might be interested if you reach out to them.

Week 3 –A Picture's Worth a Paragraph

Pictures draw people in, yet for short stories authors seldom bother to create postcards, bookmarks or online graphics to generate interest. If art and graphics are not in your skill set, maybe you can find a friend who will help out for a trade: you could polish the written part of their online gallery, or wash their car, or make them a home cooked meal…

Images to gather:

• Image of the book cover, or if it's an online publication, the logo or an images associated with the publisher.
• A photo or drawing representing your short story within the larger publication.
• Author Photo – if you don't want your head-shot out there, think of other creative images to use: an silhouette of you against the sea, your hands writing in a notebook, your favorite plush wombat.
• Any other logos, such as the publisher, or venues where the story will be available (Amazon, Smashwords, your local bookstore, etc.)

Week 4 – But Words are What We Work With

Is it enough to say "My short story 'The Bells of New York' is now available at in XYZ magazine?" I know I am more likely to read something that has a little blurb about its contents.

Text to prepare:

• A logline for your story
• A logline for the publication
• Sample posts and tweets about it for social media
• Quotes from reviews
• An excerpt from the story

Week 5 – Images and Words Together and Planning Tactics

Now put your images and words together to make interesting blog posts, a poster you can put up in your local coffee shop, or a postcard you can send online.

Make a list of tactics you are going to do for your marketing plan – such as:

• Post to social media
• Hang posters
• Go on a Blog Tour
• Ask for Reviews
• Host a Launch Party

Week 6 – How will you Celebrate?

I am a big fan of Launch Parties. They are both a tool for promoting interest in your work, and a way to celebrate a success. They are not for everybody – maybe you hate parties or are too busy. But consider doing a little something to send your work into the world.

Launch Party Planning

• Where and when: the idea is to be public – but you can also do it with just friends and family. Think of a venue or a theme that fits your story. If it's set in the roaring 20's, invite your friends to a speakeasy party. If it takes place by on a boat – hold it at the beach or a lakeside park. If you want to do it in a business, be sure to discuss it with them. Or hold it online.
• What and who: Typically book launches include a short reading by the author, a time for Q and A and some sort of refreshments. If you're in a coffee shop or pub the refreshments might take care of themselves, but otherwise think about your story again. If it's a carnival themed story, have little boxes of Caramel Corn, etc. Invite your friends and family – or make it a Facebook Event, or post a notice in your local paper's event calendar.
• If you are not up to hosting a launch party – or it seems like too much for the scope of the story you published – at least find a friend, pour a glass of something and toast the launch of a few of your words into the world!

Week 7 – Official Announcement

Now that you have some marketing materials made up and hopefully know about when your story will be out:

• Craft an official announcement to post on your blog, website, and social media sites. Make it pretty with your images, make it intriguing with your log-lines and be sure to add any links to pre-release pages.
• Update your email signature to note that the publication is coming

Week 8 – Prepping the Plan

Create a marketing calendar for all your tactics – ex:

• Are you going to put up posters? When?
• Are you going to ask for reviews? When?
• Is there a deadline for submitting an announcement to a newsletter or local paper?

Week 9 – Spend Something to Get Something

Create a marketing budget for yourself

• Will you have anything printed?
• Will you spend anything on a launch party?
• Are there any other tactic you might be spending something on?

Week 10 - And go!

Start following your list of tactics:

• Contact reviewers
• Exchange guest blogs
• Plan your party
• Print posters
• Keep up with your regular posts and social media activity

Week 11 - Gain Momentum

Follow your Marketing Calendar

• Keep up with any deadlines
• Prewrite reviews and blog posts to save yourself time later
• Invite guests to your Launch Party
• Offer advanced reading copies if appropriate

Week 12 - Publishing Week

It's out! It's there for you readers to enjoy!

• Post the news
• Host a Lunch Party
• Update your email signature, list of works published, biography, etc.
• Ask your readers for reviews
• Follow your Marketing Calendar

Week 13 – Keep it Fresh

• Post reviews you've gotten
• Post any news from the launch week
• Post pictures from your launch party
• Keep up with anything on your Marketing Calendar
• Is it in hard copy? Ask your fans to post pictures of them reading it.
• If there are other stories appearing in that issue or publication, post reviews of them.

Week 14 – Acknowledgments

Take a moment to thank those who helped you – reviewers, friends, the coffee shop that hosted your launch party.

Week 15 – Wrapping Up

Finish any last items on your marketing calendar.

Week 16 – Reflections

Think about what you did for this story.

• What worked?
• What didn't work?
• What brainstorms did you have?
• What would you have done differently?

There are many other tactics that can be used for marketing your writing: book signings, book tours, attend a convention, participate in local arts events like First Friday, or Open Studios. Most of these are more likely to be worth your time and effort when you have a novel to promote or the anthology is all your own work. However, there's nothing wrong with keeping a list of marketing ideas and adapting them to anything you publish from a short story to an epic series.

And hopefully like me, each time you do it, you will get a little better at marketing your work.

Speed of Love

I'm pleased to see 'Speed of Love' reprinted at Hero and Heroine III, with some lovely cover candy for my story.

Glass Future in QuickFic Anthology 2

Pleased to be making new TOC buddies with the publication of the QuickFic Anthology 2 which reprints my Nature's Futures story Glass Future.

Here they are (some of these names are a tad familiar):

Includes stories from: Holly Schofield, Eddie D. Moore, Ken MacGregor, Brenda Anderson, Jon Gauthier, Wendy Nikel, Jason Lairamore, Aeryn Rudel, S.C. Hayden, Preston Dennett, Deborah Walker, H.L. Fullerton, Stewart C. Baker, Doree Weller, H.A. Titus, Tara Calaby, Fred Waiss, C.M. Saunders, Karin Fuller, Kolin Gates, Lisa Finch, Pedro Iniguez, H. A. Titus, Jamie Gilman Kress, Liam Hogan, Alex Shvartsman, Nick Nafpliotis, Amy Sisson, DJ Cockburn, E.E. King, Tanya Bryan, Ian Whates, David M. Hoenig, M.J. Sydney, Chuck Rothman, Desmond Warzel, Gregg Chamberlain, Suzie Lockhart, Bruce Lockhart 2nd

Aunty Merkel Marks My Seven Hundred Fifty First Sale

Pleased to see 'Aunty Merkel' in this free to read Wattpad collection of very short stories. This is my 751st sale. Not too shabby. 

'Frozen Hive' and 'Pure and Without Savour' Sold to Estonia

'The Frozen Hive of Her Mind' first published in Nature's Futures and 'Pure and Without Savour' first published in SF Comet have been published in Esotonian transaltion in Reaktor. 

Andin spookily coincidental news, they have also sold to Supernova for Slovenian translation. 

Double Whammy Sale

I'm delighted to have sold my story 'The Three Brother Cities' to this year's Young Explorer's Adventure Guide. And pubication of my novelette 'Briefly Thyself Remembered' will be a stretch goal for the kickstarter. wheeeee!

This marks my sale to all three of the series, so far. #nojinx 2015 and 2016