Remember is the first short story I ever wrote. I’d never really attempted to write anything short, but a set of circumstances inspired me to try. What you see now’s gone through a few re-drafts, but it has not strayed too far from the original. You can find it in the But Can You Let Him Go? anthology.

I was in college, and I’d been reading short stories for classes, and as an editor for the college magazine, Flipside. So I understood the format, it was in my head, waiting to be used. During the time I was a big fan of the band INXS, and a friend had sent me the Dogs in Space Soundtrack. The movie starred Michael Hutchence, and was about the punk scene in Sydney in the 70’s, I think. There were some really good songs…Iggy Pop’s Endless Sea, Marie Hoy and Friend’s Shivers…

Ooh. The songs are on Youtube. Check out Shivers…: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1h9xoSsuPQ
“My Baby is so vain that she is almost a mirror” is such a great line.

And then, of course, there’s the song that brought us here, the song that brough the story right into my head, Rooms for the Memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNqN0lslELo

I’m at work (I wrote this the week before) so I’m not really watching the video, so I am thinking there are no spoilers, but I may be wrong.

The song and the story, to be honest, have little in common. But I listened to the song over and over and over while I wrote the story. And it was on a tape player…so I would listen to the song, re-wind the tape (the song is the last song of the soundtrack…I got to the point where I knew when the stop exactly.) push down the button, and, with a loud click, I’d start back to writing again.

That’s how it was. Play. Rewind. Click. Play.

Listening to as much of the song as much as I dare, I am reminded by how much I loved
Michael’s voice. I miss him, sometimes, in a vague didn’t-know-him-but-he-was-part-of-my-life kind of way.

THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN by Joely Sue Burkhart

Worlds within worlds await through the Maya Bloodgate….

Dr. Jaid Merritt doesn’t do digs. The last time she ventured into the jungle, someone died. Now she’s content to decipher Maya glyphs from pictures sent to her by her famous archaeologist father. But when he
goes missing while trying to perform a ritual based on her translations of an ancient codex, Jaid must put aside her fears and travel to Guatemala to find him.

After misusing the Bloodgates to bring his twin brother back from the afterlife, the Maya priest known as Ruin was cursed by the gods to stand as the guardian for all time. He was unable to stop Dr. Charles
Merritt from opening the gates, and now demons roam this world. The last thing he wants to do is hurt the beautiful woman who is somehow infused with his magic, but if she uses the codex to retrieve her
father, Ruin must do his duty. And this time, he won’t fail. Even if it kills him. Again.

~ * ~

I’ve always loved the idea of blood sacrifice. From vampires to the symbology of communion, I’m fascinated by the inherent power in this essence of life. Add mythology to the mix, and I’m one happy camper,
so of course, the Maya have always been one of my favorites mythologies. Bonus: pyramids!

One of my inspirations for THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN is a demotivator poster (link http://www.despair.com/sacrifice1.html) that shows the famous El Castillo pyramid of Chich’en Itza that says “All we ask here is that you give us your heart.” While there’s no archeological evidence that the Maya sacrificed hundreds or thousands of victims until the pyramid steps ran red with blood as in Mel Gibson’s
Apocalytpo, they did practice blood sacrifice. Most of the time, they cut their ears or (men, avert your eyes and cover yourself) penis, caught blood on special paper, and then burned it with incense to
honor the gods.

And yes, occasionally people were sacrificed, especially the losers of the famous ballgame or captured kings from other villages. Sometimes people were simply tossed into the cenote—large sinkholes that form
over thousands of years in the limestone, often with an extensive network of caves. If they were still alive hours later…or possibly the next day…then they might be rescued to see if they bore any messages from the gods. Sadly, children were often the victims of this type of sacrifice, inspiring a short story that I’m offering for free on my website Well of Sky, link http://joelysueburkhart.com/wp content/uploads/2010/05/Burkhart.Well_.of_.Sky_.pdf).

Most of the time, it was the willing sacrifice—of his own blood—that imbued so much power into the priest’s prayers and rituals. Ruin, the hero in THE BLOODGATE GUARDIAN, has paid that price numerous times
himself. In fact, he’s died many times in service to the Bloodgates. He willingly pays the ultimate price over and over to protect that sacred magic.

When this man falls in love, he falls hard. How many times will he die to keep her alive?
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Fairy Tales by Cindy Lynn Speer

But Can You Let Him Go?

In this collection, Cindy Lynn Speer, author of The Chocolatier’s Wife and editor of StereoOpticon, a collection of re-told fairy tales, gives us several new stories and an interesting look at the classic ‘Cinderella’ as well. Cindy’s stories examine the roles of women, our expectations, and the aftermath of the classic happily ever after in interesting, sometimes disturbing, ways. Every Word I Speak: Most of us know the fairy tale of the girl who, because of her kindness, was given the gift of gems and flowers that fell from her mouth
with every word she spoke, but what happens afterward? Who can she trust and what will they want from her? This version of the story is a dark and troubling tale, and absolutely delicious for those of us who like our fairy tales unmarred by a Disney ending.

What Will I Do When This Dream is Over?: Matilda is a unicorn, calmly cropping the grass in Emmy’s front yard. Hank is her ex-boyfriend, who can’t see her anymore because, she’s afraid, he’s angry with her for not putting out. Emmy’s been preparing for the day Matilda would show up all her life. It’s been like a
dream, always there. She’s been called upon to do a job, to save the world, and now it’s time. Emmy’s off on an adventure. She hopes she’ll win, beat the bad guys, save the day, but if she does, what happens after?

The Fortunate Ones: Once upon a time, there lived a people who were always fortunate. And then they discovered that their fortune resided in their women, so they turned them into a commodity to be bought and sold. Annabelle is living the dream with her very successful husband, except he beats her sometimes, when he’s angry, when things don’t go right. She doesn’t like knowing she’s a commodity. She doesn’t like thinking like that. But she has to, and it’s up to her to save herself. If she can. If she can take her fortune back into her own hands.

But Can You Let Him Go?:The fairy godmother who provides Cinderella with her pretty clothes and shoes and the ride to the ball is paying penance for her mistakes. When she’s not passing judgement on foolish and avaricious humans, she’s hunting for Cinderella, the Cinderella in this tale, at this time, and the handsome prince who will give Cinderella her happily ever after. She needs to get it right. She needs to save them both. If she doesn’t, she’ll never see her people again. Her sister, however, is determined to see her fail, and she’ll do all in her power to make that come to pass.

Q: What are your hobbies?
A: I have way too many…I sew, garden, obsess over home improvement, read constantly…but my primary hobby is learning how to fence the way that they did in the time of Elizabeth I, through the Society for Creative Anachronism. I have a true passion for the blade…I love trying to push myself to become a
better fencer.

http://drolleriepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=49&products_id=107&zenid=e7f4ccd546f514e1862ed61f0a6aa744
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Deadly Lucidity by Julie Achterhoff

Caught in a tangled web of dreams and nightmares, Marie Reilly is being hunted by a psychopath in the dream world she can’t escape. Her single ally, a Ranger named Murphy, may be her only hope. He must help her reach the Great Fortress, where they’ve been told there is a way back to her reality. Together, they fight their way through the twists and turns of Marie’s mind so she can have her life back. But what of their growing passion for each other? How can Marie leave the man she has come to love behind in this nightmarish world he has called home as far back as he can remember?

What have you learned about being an author since you started writing professionally, Julie?

Gosh, I’ve learned so much! I started out reading a couple of books on how to write and taking a women’s literature class at the local community college. That was ten years ago. I started writing professionally three years ago, starting with a novella titled Native Vengeance, which was published on the Demon Minds website for their Halloween edition that year. That experience taught me that I might have what it took to write a full length novel. I started out small because I thought I’d test the waters and see if anyone thought I
could write well. I was pleased to get my first acceptance letter, as well as recognition for my writing skills. Learning that someone else enjoys what you’ve written is one of the biggest thrills I’ve ever experienced!

I had some idea because I got an “A” on my class final, which was to write something. I went way overboard and wrote an entire three-act play titled Angel in the House! I wrote that in six weeks, too! So that gave me some validation about my writing. That’s when I also found out there just wasn’t enough time to write anything and homeschool my five children at the same time So I waited until most of them were out on their own to start writing my first novel, Quantum Earth. While writing this book, I learned all about the
predictions for the year 2012 from the Mayan calendar. I also learned that I could create characters and scenes that would last through to the very end. It took me several months to write Quantum Earth. It takes up a lot of your day to day thinking to write a book. It keeps you up late at night, too.

Then I learned about writing query letters and synopsises to send out to publishers and agents. They have to really hook them from the very start. I learned that different publishers require different things from a potential author. Some want just a query at first, some want a query and a synopsis, and some want these plus some pages from your manuscript. You absolutely have to follow what they want exactly. If you don’t do this part just right, that alone will cause them to say no. I found out that some publishers are very nice,
sometimes even giving you advice, but some of them aren’t very nice, and can say some rude things to you.

I had to find sources for publishers. I used Writer’s Market and Duotrope mostly. I learned to keep track of whom I sent out to so I wouldn’t duplicate my efforts. Then I learned the pretty painful feeling of being rejected over and over again. That was very hard for me because I don’t take rejection well! Those were a tough few months of sending out my work very carefully, and getting nothing back but negative replies.

I had already learned that there were people who liked my writing, so I tried not to give up hope. I tried to see every no as one step closer to that magical word, “yes.” Finally, after sending out at least fifty queries,
synopsises, and/or pages, I got a very big yes from an e-book publisher. She said Quantum Earth was exactly what she was interested in and loved it from start to finish. But one thing I had learned was that e-books were just sent by email. They are not really a solid book you can hold in your hand. This put me
off a bit, so I contacted one of the publishers who said they wanted more about Quantum Earth and asked them if they were interested in publishing it. They said yes, too! Now I had a decision to make, and not much information about the pros and cons. But I knew I wanted to see my book in print as a real book, so I ended up having to be the one to say no to the first publisher. That was a twist. She
was very disappointed, but understood.

So it happened that All Things That Matter Press was the one to publish my first real book. A year later they published my second book, Deadly Lucidity. For this book I learned all about lucid dreaming, among other things. During the time I’ve been with ATTM Press I’ve learned so much from Deb and Phil Harris. They run this small press, and I couldn’t be happier with them. Deb has taught me everything I could possibly want to know about editing, and Phil has taught me all about promoting books and creating a name for yourself. They are experts at what they do. An author has to learn how to sell their own books by doing interviews, blogging, publicity, creating an author platform, and many other ways to get people to buy their books. It’s not an easy process. I work on this almost every day.

I’ve also learned so much from other authors, especially the ones that are also published at ATTM Press. We have a yahoo group where we keep in close touch, sharing ideas and supporting one another. Another source for my education is my friends on facebook who are also writers. I have learned a lot from these and other sources, and continue to learn what it takes to be a writer. Now I’m at the point where I am starting to do some teaching, myself. I recently got an offer to teach at a writer’s retreat next January in Georgia. I’m very excited about that, and hope that I can help others on the path to writing.

As of this writing I am finishing up my next book, Earthwalker, which will be available by Christmas.

Link to video trailer for Deadly Lucidity:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/video/687534/book_video_trailer_deadly_lucidity.html?cat=38

Link to Blog:
http://earthwalkr.wordpress.com
Link to buy Deadly Lucidity:
http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Lucidity-Julie-Achterhoff/dp/0984421904/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1
or
http://allthingsthatmatterpress.com
Link to BookBuzzr preview of Deadly Lucidity:
http://www.freado.com/book/6046/Deadly-Lucidity

They can be found by clicking here.

This is a wonderful site for getting peeks at other people’s work and finding great new things to read.

Also, if you’re here because you saw my work on this lovely blog, hello!

So, many of us have friends who are authors. And if your author is a kind, retiring soul who finds that much of the self publicity aspect of being an author gives them the hives, you may not know how to help them out…mostly because it won’t occur for them to tell you.

So, just in case you ever need to know, here’s some easy steps that you can take to nudge your literary pal to the edge of greatness.

The first thing that I should tell you…and absolutely the most important in the article is this: Don’t publicize a book if you don’t like it. I’m not saying this to cover my bottom or to make myself look better, I am completely serious. If you read your friend’s book (technically the first step) and don’t like it, feel free to lie to them in that luke-warm kind of way. Display it prominently for a few months so they know how proud you are of them. Then, quietly, let the subject drop. There are a lot of reasons…one, I would never suggest you lie about whether you liked the book to anyone but your actual friend, because the reputation of your opinion is very important. If you lie to them because you believe in your friend, and the book is a really poor piece, they will feel cheated. When you want to suggest things you are passionate about people won’t believe you. The day may come when you marry the next Ian (or Ivanna) Fleming, and they’ve written the spy thriller to end all spy thrillers, and when you go out to suggest that people buy it, they might look at you funny, think, “Isn’t that the person who suggested that book about skunks in space?” and ignore you.

Besides, if your heart isn’t in it, you’re just going to be miserable. Especially if they decide to slash your tires rather than the author’s.

So, let’s assume that you have bought the book (the best, quickest and easiest way of supporting your friend…) and you love it.

1. Visit the Library. Many public and some academic libraries build their collections based on patron request. (Which means, yes, this may have to be a library you belong to, but not always.) Make up an index card or post it with the name, title, ISBN and publisher. The ISBN is the most important part…there may be a million books called Blue Moon (and sometimes it really does feel like there are) but my book has only one ISBN number. Well, I lie. Now books often have two…and ISBN 10 and an ISBN 13. Either will work.

2. Mention it at the local bookstore. Tell the manager how much you liked it, and tell them that so and so is a local author. This generates recognition…if your friend stops in and asks about a signing, it increases the chance of them now running into someone who has actually heard of them. Or, they may even buy a copy since it’s a local author.

3. Actually, word of mouth, period, is good. Mention it when it comes up naturally…natural is the important part…and tell the people you’re talking to what you liked about it, just like you’d talk about any other book or movie.

4. Write book reviews and rate the book online. This seems like the daunting part, but it’s not. Since you’re going to post these reviews on sites like Amazon, where the book jacket copy is already available for the audience to read, just write a simple, brief review. Mention what you liked about it. Tell your reader why they might like the book. For example: “I really liked the characters…I’d fall in love with the main character in a heartbeat, because he was so sincere and truly seemed to love his girlfriend. There were also a ton of twists and turns….I couldn’t put it down. If you’re a fan of books by J.D. Robb you’ll really like this because they mix a lot of futuristic elements in with the police procedural.” And so on. It doesn’t have to be long, just honest. Tell us why you like the book and want others to read it. There are a few don’ts, however:

a. If you share a last name with the author, don’t post reviews online. Even if you tell us that you disowned the author since the night they brought home that belly dancer and her pet python, who made a meal of your cat, but you have to admit, they sure can write…it’s not going to work. Even if you’re not one of those people to just like someone because your child/cousin/etc wrote it, no one is going to trust your opinion. :-/

b. Don’t forget to click on the stars to give the book a rating. This helps more, sometimes, than the review itself.

c. Don’t go on for ages, talk about how you know the author, or bash someone else’s book.

d. Don’t post to too many places. Just a few…Fictionwise, Amazon, B&N are probably the best, though spreading the love to less known places can’t hurt.

e. Don’t forget to spell check it and use proper punctuation. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but people will take you much more seriously if the review looks professional. I.e.: this book made me lol so hard I thought my butt would fall off and my mother thought I was having a heart attack but I said no mom its this book chelsea sent me its so good and she read it and we all roflmao. That is not a review that most people will pay attention to. Don’t look at me like that, I’ve *seen* reviews like this up on Amazon.

5. If you have your own blog, why not interview your friend, or ask them to do a guest post?

6. Make sure you’re happy and comfortable with whatever you do.

“A Necklace of Rubies” is the next short story I’ll cover. It was published originally as a Drollerie Press short story download and was eventually included in the Stereopticon anthology.

This was originally called “The Chamber”, and if you are patient, then you may find the rough draft of this story in this blog’s archives. It was one of those stories that wanted to be written and knew itself immediately, and it was born because I was flipping through a pile of books to be reviewed. I stumbled across Fitcher’s Brides I don’t remember if I read the book, but the introduction, mentioning all of the different versions of the Blue Beard story, got my mind going. There is an absolute hat-tip to Neil Gaiman’s “The White Road.” I wanted to go with the Mr. Fox route, rather than the Bluebeard route, and enjoyed balancing the motif of the fox with a rather dangerous romance.

And, of course, of the idea that’s prevalent in all these types of stories…the idea of a beautiful home. Filled with treasures and wonder that the bride can wander through at her will…all except that one, tiny little room at the end of the hall, the one room they can only enter at their peril.

Here’s the old cover:

I am very fond of this cover.

“Requiem,” by Heather S. Ingemar

Hattie Locke has a gift: when she sings, the dead dig themselves from their graves to listen. As a death-siren, her life has always been this way.

Then the dead begin to show up in numbers far beyond expected. With each song she sings, they grow pushy and demanding, rushing the stage to reach her. Trapped in a place where her dreams of music become her nightmares, Hattie is left with nowhere to turn.

But then she meets a boy, who promises freedom from her curse.

Now Hattie wonders: is ridding herself of her voice worth losing the music she’s lived to create?

QUESTION: Tell us a bit about yourself and your novella, “Requiem”?

In some ways, Hattie reminds me of myself. I came from a musical family, and I delved right into all of it. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I’d mastered seven different instruments, and it was pretty much thought a guarantee that I’d pursue Julliard, or Berkeley, or some other prestigious music school. Imagine everyone’s surprise when I decided to major in English lit!

Thankfully, I had a more-or-less understanding family who allowed me the space to pursue my words (they knew I wasn’t leaving music completely, and they were right; I still play now and then) – however, I faced extreme opposition from others. It was these experiences that I drew on in creating Hattie’s unusual situation. What if my family hadn’t let me do my own thing? What if they reacted like these vehement strangers and teachers and friends who all thought they knew best for me?

Combine that with my morbid streak (zombies! death! magic!), and “Requiem” was born.

————-
H e a t h e r S . I n g e m a r
Author of Dark Fantasies for Teens & Adults
Web | Twitter | GoodReads | Myspace | Flickr

Requiem voted Top Ten Young Adult Book for 2009! Learn more!
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Deadfall by Shaun Jeffrey

A team of mercenaries race to an abandoned mining village to rescue two children held hostage by rogue ex-soldiers. But the kidnappers are a ruse, the real threat more terrifying than any of them could imagine.

Aided by a couple of unsuspecting eco-warriors, mercenary team leader Amber Redgrave must fight to survive against foes that don’t sleep and don’t feel pain.

Now as the body count rises, so do the stakes, and when the dead won’t stay dead, there’s going to be hell to pay.

What are some ways in which you promote your work? Do you find that these add to or detract from your writing time?

As a writer, promotion is one of the hardest things to do as you’re competing against thousands of other authors for a reader’s attention. To promote my work, I participate in things such as this blog tour. I post on message boards. I maintain a presence on Myspace, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Goodreads and other sites. I help by sending out review copies. I do interviews in magazines and online. But it all takes time and obviously detracts from the writing side of things. I don’t think it matters whether you’re published by a major publisher or a small press one, most authors need to help promote their work. Now readers are a major part of this, and I would ask that if anyone has read a book and enjoyed it, they show their appreciation and help by posting a short review on any of the book sites such as Amazon or Goodreads etc, as it goes a long way towards helping an author along what is a long and lonely road. It only takes a couple of minutes, but I’m sure the author concerned would be most grateful.

For more info on my work, please check out www.shaunjeffrey.com
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Aether Age Anthology: Interview with author Jaym Gates

I have to admit, when I first heard about the Aether Age project, I kind of wrote it off. Like so many other things, I’d heard about it on Twitter, when a couple of guys asked me if I would be involved. At the time, I was in California for a week, on vacation, and heading for some major deadlines.

I said I’d try. I wrote four different starts. My computer crashed, I was trying to put out a wildfire in the writing community I was administrating, I was running too tight on the deadlines as it was. On top of that, it’s been established that I don’t play well in other people’s worlds. I’m an unrepentant devotee of massive, detailed worlds, and had several failed collaborative attempts behind me.

A week before the deadline, I took my retired dinosaur of a computer and hammered out a first draft, a second draft, polished, sent it in 2 days before deadline…before the deadline was extended. The editors asked me if I’d be interested in writing another story. Ok, well, if you insist.

The world of Aether Age is difficult to write in, the first time through. Anything dealing with ancient Egypt or Greece is going to be problematic. The sheer level of detail is boggling, and the confusion. Was this ruler male, female, 1st Dynasty or 20th? Add a complex alternate history, and there are thousands of possibilities. It’s like trying to find the one special blueberry in a 5 pound box.

But, it does get a writer thinking. How would technologies change religion? How would airships change economy? How much horror would you get from mixing an unstable, unknown eternity of space with an endless pantheon of gods?

My stories explored the horror. What happens when criminals and monsters are abandoned on a rock, thousands of miles from anything they know, reliant on an atmosphere that goes away every now and then? What are those shadows in the dark? Where did the legends of Hades come from? What new gods would form in the endless depths of space, and how would they be worshiped?

Join me in the Aether, in the Age of Helios, this fall. It will be the adventure of a lifetime.

-Jaym Gates

This morning I went to the car, and there was a tiny ‘lil toad hopping around my tires. I’m an old hand at capturing toadies, frogs, whatever — as a little girl I wasn’t afraid of them, and this morning I was much more scared that I would accidentally kill the little thing than anything else, so I cupped my hand over it, carefully brought it out of the gravel and grass. So little…it rested on the first knuckle of my thumb, and I could feel it breathing. It had tried to hop away when I first captured it, but it sat for a moment, maybe so I could admire it, before letting me guide its escape-hop it off into the grass off the driveway.

These are the things that fill my heart with joy.

No headache today. With it gone, the birds have begun to sing in unison, the deer and foxes are pals, and everything is both peachy *and* keen.

I also managed to get caught up with work (as much as possible, a budget problem is causing me to sit on some things….grrr.) and I wrote about Bronwyn, a warrior lady from the Pandoth Empire, the empire that sort of comes out as a background bag guy in Chocolatier’s Wife. I also finished Unbalanced…I guess we have one more read through and everything should be good. We took out a sub-sub-story and I need to make sure that there’s no way to tell that it had ever been there.

So, I’ve been looking at Amazon, Half and all the other places I try and get my books from, and now am trying to complete my Laurie R. King and my David Duncan collections so I can catch up on Sherlock Holmes and The Kings Blades. Secretly, I’d love to take a whole pile of books to Pennsic and dedicate an hour or two a day just reading, but I have a feeling that I won’t do that…time just goes too, too quickly. That’s not to say that a half dozen books won’t be packed…

So, to celebrate the fact that my anthology is out….yay! I thought I would, every week or so, write a little about all of my short stories, both the ones in the anthology and the ones available elsewhere. It might be neat for you to see where I got my inspiration, especially in the ones that are re-told fairy tales.

Let’s start with the title story….”But Can You Let Him Go?”

I’d written a bunch of fairy-tale centered stories…in fact, the first two stories Drollerie Published were stories based off fairy tales, and since I’d just finished The Chocolatier’s Wife I wanted to write something shorter.

I’d been looking for something more obscure…I wanted to department from the common, but the thing is, the Cinderella myth and the idea that you can find versions of it in pretty much every country and culture fascinated me. Finally, I asked myself…why are there so many versions of the story? Is someone trying to get something right? Then I remembered that there is always a magic user in every story. What if it’s the fairy godmother who is trying, over and over again, to get the story right?

And so her quest for redemption began. I read and read every story I could get my hands on. If you’d like to read a few yourself, you can check out the Cinderella page at the University of Pittsburgh or go to one of my favotire places, SurlaLune.

Today I’ll be out at Monessen Public Library signing copies of The Chocolatier’s Wife. I’ll even have a couple copies of Blue Moon.

I will be there from 11:00 until 2:00.

Stop by and meet me if you get the chance! (http://www.monpldc.org/)