Announcement and Three Things I Love About Norway

First of all, I am thrilled to announce that Turtleduck Press, the indie co-op press I’m a part of, is opening to new members as of today. We’re looking for novel submissions from science fiction and fantasy writers. I’ll be talking more about this on Monday, but in the meantime, to learn more, check out the announcement at Turtleduck Press!

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Second, a bit of trivia for you. Norway is my ancestral home — three of my grandparents were born there — and I was lucky enough to visit in 2001.

This Friday is the Seventeenth of May, the Norwegian equivalent of Independence Day or Canada Day. It originally commemorated the signing of the Norwegian constitution in 1814, although Norway didn’t achieve independence (from its union with Sweden) until nearly a century later, in 1905.

As a holiday, the Seventeenth of May, or Syttende Mai in Norwegian, has become a day to celebrate the country, mainly with flags and children’s parades and the singing of the anthem — “Ja, vi elsker dette landet”, or “Yes, We Love This Country”.

So in honour of Syttende Mai, here are three things I love about Norway:

Turtleduck Press New Release — Captain’s Boy by KD Sarge

First of all, my heart goes out to the marathon runners in Boston and all those affected by the events there. It’s horrible to contemplate — so many personal triumphs turned to tragedy in an instant. I’m sending healing thoughts southward as I type.

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Having said that, I would be remiss in my duties as editor at Turtleduck Press if I delayed this announcement any longer. This month we have a new SF novel out: Captain’s Boy by KD Sarge.

Turtleduck Press Updatery

I’m neck deep in final edits for the next Turtleduck Press novel, so I thought it was high time to announce it here. Our next book is Captain’s Boy by KD Sarge. Her hero, Donte, is a quiet engineering student on a far-future planet. When his young mentee is taken off-planet by slavers, Donte enlists his friend, the fiery Selene, to help rescue the boy. Their search across space leads Donte into his deepest fears, and a past he hoped to keep hidden.

Captain’s Boy is set in the same universe as KD Sarge’s previous books, two years before Knight Errant. It will be out in April (ebook and print formats).

To get a sneak peek, you can read a short story starring Donte and Selene at Turtleduck Press.

Oh, and yes, I’m still travelling! I’m in India right now, and can’t wait to tell you all about it. In the meantime, though, watch for a post on Wednesday (with pictures!) about my adventures in the Malaysian jungle…

 

Writing Recap: 2012

Here’s what I accomplished on the writing front last year…

As I mentioned on Wednesday, I knew the year was going to be full of good but intense Life stuff (like buying my first house), so I let myself off the hook for writing in 2012. That said, I’m pretty pleased with what I did manage.

I started the year by signing up for a class on blogging for writers by Kristen Lamb. I’d been wanting to up my game and learn how to present myself as a professional writer, especially since the founding of Turtleduck Press. The class did that, all right. It also connected me with an awesome community of writers. And I’ve now been blogging for almost a year.

That means I:

• set myself a goal and deadlines, and met them consistently all year long
• successfully avoided beating myself up (equally important!) on the few occasions when I missed my self-imposed goals
• learned how to blog – to turn out good (I hope) material in my own voice and with an appropriate length, structure, and tone for the form
• wrote 1000–2000 words on the blog just about every week this year
• continued building a platform and networking

Creating Christmas Traditions and Anthology News

Quick anthology updates before we get to the post proper:

Seasons Eternal is now available in print as well as in various ebook formats. See here for details.

I’m blogging about the sheer variety of what’s in the anthology, over at Turtleduck Press.

I’m also guest blogging about the Turtleduck Press mandate of publishing works that would otherwise fall through the cracks, and how the anthology fits into that, at Prudence MacLeod’s blog.

On Monday I talked about my anthology story here on this blog. Some of the other authors have weighed in as well. Here is KD Sarge talking about hers. And here is Kit Campbell delving into the origins of our shared-world premise.

Finally, I’m thrilled to be an interviewee on S.M. Hutchins’s fabulous Live Wonderstruck blog, talking about mindfulness and what makes me wonderstruck.

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Now back to your regularly scheduled programming…

The Christmas season is upon us, like it or not, and it’s time to prepare. The question is, how?

Writing a Short Story for Seasons Eternal

Today I’m talking a little bit more about Seasons Eternal, the second SF&F anthology from Turtleduck Press. (The first one is here.) I’m the editor there, and I also publish short stories through them. When we put together an anthology, I get to do both at the same time.

For this year’s anthology, we chose a shared premise — what might happen to a world where the seasons stopped changing? Each side of the planet is frozen in a different season. A century later, various societies have evolved to cope, but they’re still struggling under the pressures of the change.

But you can’t write a story about a society. Stories are about people.

Weekend Link: Seasons Eternal Anthology

Happy weekend!

Seasons Eternal, the anthology I mentioned earlier this week, is out today, and we’re excited…

It’s available at Amazon (Kindle format) and Smashwords (just about any other ebook format you like), and there will be a print version out soon.

You can read all about it at Turtleduck Press.

That’s all for this week. See you back here on Monday!

Anthology Announcement: Seasons Eternal

I’m excited to announce that Turtleduck Press is releasing a new anthology on December 1. Seasons Eternal is based on a shared premise: what if there were a world where the seasons stopped turning?

We opted to set very loose rules about the world to encourage variety among the stories, and variety we got in abundance. Each of the four authors has chosen a season and taken a different approach — science fiction, fantasy, or a little of both.

And the stories are…

Link: Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions

I’m under deadline at the moment, finishing up edits on the new anthology we’re putting out at Turtleduck Press (release date December 1!). So today’s post is just a quick one to point you to my blog post over there. Here’s a teaser:

Back in high school, I was a huge Star Trek: The Next Generation fan, so I would dress up in uniform (gold, like Data) and go to get autographs from Star Trek actors and buy memorabilia. I have Wil Wheaton’s autograph from back when he was (in)famous for being Wesley Crusher and not for being an internet personality. (Side note: It’s very strange to see these actors becoming famous again for something completely different. Case in point: George Takei.)

Read the rest!

(Yes, I’m talking about books and media and fandom on a Wednesday. So sue me. )

 

Friday Link: Free Short Story

Happy Friday! This week, I’m pointing you to Turtleduck Press because I have a new short story out, and you can read it for free online. It’s a Halloween-ish, steampunk-y, Gothic sort of tale called “The Dangers of Creation; or, A Machine to Rival Man”.

Here’s a teaser….

It is a sad and peculiar tale that I set to paper today, in this year of Our Lord 18–. In this modern age of science and industry, such events as I am about to relate could not have occurred. But pray cast your mind back to an earlier time, when Her Majesty was just beginning her reign and all the realms of possibility seemed open to us.

I was a young man then, a student of music at an ancient and esteemed university that you would know if I said its name, eager for knowledge and mastery of my art, and I chose as my companions those who had a similar thirst. One of them was a Mr. L—, a peculiar gentleman who was fixated on the philosophy of music with a fervour that even I could barely match. Still, he was a pleasant enough conversationalist, and when he invited me to take dinner at his home, I accepted readily with thoughts of passing the evening in stimulating discourse.

The directions he gave led me out of the university town proper and into the countryside, a charming walk. When I reached the gates he had described and passed into a dark tangled wood, I felt some hesitation. However, he had mentioned wanting to show me a most curious instrument he kept at home, and this prospect drew me onward.

Read the rest at Turtleduck Press.

That’s it for this week. Have a lovely weekend, and I’ll see you back here on Monday!