Game of Thrones Rant

The human race tells a lot of stories. Everyone has a life story and some have a lot of stories…

We call them authors.

But what do these stories do? Why are they important?

I feel that they give guidelines and road maps that help us understand what it means to be human.

Joseph Campbell wrote “The Hero’s Journey” and in it tells how the protagonist faces problems, how he meets these problems and how he is transformed by the problems he faces.

From the beginning to the end, most stories show the struggle of life and how love, loyalty, “Doing the Right Thing” triumphs over wrong and evil.

It’s a template for how we should live our life. A path that points the way for human behavior.

Sure our character stumbles at times, we all do, but perseverance usually wins out to a satisfying ending. Good fights evil with courage and ultimately wins.

Usually, the bad guys go to jail, get killed or suffer. Tragedy reveals that wrong and evil carry a penalty.

And then the movie “The Thomas Crown Affair” came along.

The rich handsome bank robber got away with breaking the law. He didn’t even need the money. The story ended differently.

No one blinked.

Now George R. R. Martin has taken it a step further.

I don’t mind the soft porn sex in the HBO series. It actually got my husband’s attention. Let’s face it, we humans are attracted to sex…

It’s a good thing too…for the continuance of the race.

I don’t mind the grittiness of how the characters live. Both in the book and the series my face is rubbed in the dirt of the rough side of living. Not only does Tyrion Lannister get conscripted into fighting, tramp through the mud, he gets dysentery and we get to read about him throwing up. Can’t  wait to see what the HBO version does with that.

Martin piles it on.

What I do mind, however, what enrages me, is that I get to know a character with good qualities…and they are tossed away, usually brutally, while one such as Jaime Lannister who had incest with his sister, who crippled the Stark boy, killed thousands in battle to control the throne is now being portrayed with sympathy. Oh, poor Jaime is being mistreated. And Martin doesn’t just slap his hand for saving Brienne from rape, he cuts it off.

Because he did something noble.

Finally…and gets punished.

Ned Stark loved his family, gave up Winterfell to serve his king because he was loyal, and he is betrayed. He had more than a hand chopped off.

If he were the only example, I wouldn’t be complaining so much.

But most characters that portray any desirable traits of love, loyalty, perseverance, courage, are tossed away, killed, punished, hurt. And the innocent Starke children are punished the most. Whether it’s Sansa in the opulent royal court being verbally abused, Bran on the run for his life in the snow, or Arya in the wilds of the woods scrambling for her life against vicious criminals, innocence and goodness are deadly traits whereas cunning and deviousness ensure survival.

What message is that telling us subliminally? That striving for good is a dangerous and fruitless endeavor? One not worth following?

But like the girl who can’t give up the bad boy, after I am literarily punched, beaten and dragged through the mud, I crawl back to the book or turn on HBO for more punishment.

And get it.

Yet again, I throw the book against the wall and yell, “Enough!” Only later, to pick it back up, hoping, hoping that there’s a good ending somewhere. That there is hope for good. That the struggle to “Do the Right Thing” is worth it.

When the tale is told and the dust finally settles in the Game of Throne Series, I’ll be curious to see who triumphs…

And what it finally says about how we should live our lives.

And wonder if anyone blinks.

Award Nominated Science Fiction

The Locus Award nominees are out.

http://www.geekexchange.com/2013-locus-award-nominees-58521.html

I find that certain awards contain a goldmine of good science fiction: the Hugo Award, The Nebula Award, The John Campbell Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award and the Locus Awards.

However, be wary of just any award as sometimes they are scams and not handed out by qualified people. The other problem with even the well known and prestigious awards is that they are dominated by traditionally published authors. Self published authors often don’t have the contacts or the knowhow to get nominated that the big publishing houses do.

I certainly don’t have any of the committee members on speed dial.

I foresee that eventually the self published author will take a more prominent position in the awards programs, but right now I don’t think the big houses want that to happen. Sometimes that means the reader misses out on some good science fiction. The current self published author is still trying to figure out this marketing thing and how to get in touch with his/her readers. Hello.

One of the top names on the nomination list for the Locus Award is Ian Banks. I read Matter and currently have Use of Weapons on my reading table. His winning a nomination has encouraged me to read that and look into his Culture Series. So stay tuned there.

I recently did a blog on detective science fiction and an associate from my book club e-mailed me to suggest The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds. Reynolds has won the British Science fiction Award and been nominated three times for the Arthur Clarke Award and once put on the short list for a Hugo. He writes a hard science space opera story.

The kind I like.

He also has a PHD in Astronomy and has a day job as an astrophysicist for the European Space Agency.

So there’s hard science involved.

The Prefect takes place in the Revelation Space universe, but is a stand alone novel. Tom Dreyfus is a Prefect whose beat is the Glitter Band, a teeming swirl of habitats that orbit the planet Yellowstone. This is a multiverse of space habitats that cater to all and any quirk of human nature.

Some of them very strange.

Dreyfus’s deputies are Sparver, a hyperpig and Thalia, a human, who is daughter of a cop supposedly gone bad. Law enforcement officers carry a whiphound as a weapon of choice and deal with everything from downloaded personalities to genetically altered humans. Be prepared to encounter an evil entity that is an uploaded consciousness trying to destroy humans, a computerized and murderous being called the clockmaker, a top level lawmaker who is a mole for evil who makes him believe he is doing good, and various odd habitats including one for sadists. Thalia, his deputy, gets trapped in a habitat that has a robot uprising and has to fight her way out using her creativity.

All good science fiction stuff.

I found the novel intriguing for its fast paced action and futuristic setting and technology.

Meanwhile, I’m having fun working  in edit mode on my next scifi adventure–Touching Crystal. I plan this one to come out in November after it goes through the meat-grinder of my writers’ group.

I have already submitted it to an outstanding Beta tester and the Orycon Professional Workshop Critique. Using their comments, I am making it even better.

Whereas in Space Song Richard Steele uncovers a secret genetic human modification program, in Touching Crystal, he has to deal with the impact of the sentient crystal beings who augment certain humans, giving them extraordinary powers. Stay tuned.

Popular Military Science Fiction

Spring’s here! I’ve got the fever.

I want to sit out on the back deck, watch the birds, smell the flowers and read something really good.

What would be good to read? I asked that question at my book club, and when two members got into interrupting each other over what they liked best in a particular series, I knew it was one I had to check out. It is an older series, but that means that you don’t have to sit around and wait impatiently if you want to read the next book in the series. So, I took the plunge.

The title was On Basilisk Station by David Weber and it introduces the whole Honor Harrington series.

Yes, I know, another series…sigh.

An additional reason I wanted to read this was that one of my most popular blogs is entitled Military Science Fiction. This was an earlier blog when I was first getting started, but it has held up in the most hits category…so my readers like military science fiction…and this fit the bill.

With a bonus…a hot female protagonist.

So here’s a popular military science fiction…with a hot female as the Captain who has an alien cat riding her shoulders. The only thing missing is a dragon or two, and they wouldn’t fit well into her aging  light cruiser.

Honor Harrington graduated top in her class. She’s described as having a “strong boned face” and short cropped hair. Still, the arrogant eldest son of the Earl of North Hallow, Pavel Young, had expected compliance when he tried to rape her at the academy, but instead he got a humiliating beating.

Which he never forgot.

She’s given Fearless, an over-age light cruiser  with an armament that, as she takes command, is being gutted and replaced with top secret weapons promoted by Lady Sonja Hemphill of the Red Admiralty. Honor is then tasked with a battle “exercise” to prove the weapon. She wins the first exercise with clever tactics but tips her hand. Once the weapon is revealed, the opposition team in all subsequent battles beats her severely and embarrasses Admiral Hemphill. Honor makes her look like a fool and earns her enmity and the enmity of the Lord Admiral, her cousin. The result is Honor is exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin by a superior who hates her.

Basilisk Station is the punishment station for the Royal Manticoran Navy where the worst incompetents and those who incur  The Lord of the Admiralty’s displeasure are sent.

And now, that is Honor Harrington.

Worse, when she arrives, who greets her but Captain Lord Pavel Young with a smirk on his face as he leaves her by herself and her single  ship to patrol the entire system while he heads home for a refit, setting her up for failure and a ruined career.

Then the aborigines of the system’s only inhabitable planet are being supplied a dangerous homicidal, hallucinogenic  drug and taught how to make advanced weapons.

Large powerful cartels and merchants are using it to smuggle and reap large profits. The last thing they want is a by-the-book navy uncovering their operations and shutting them down.

And, Someone is Up to Something, and it looks like the nearby system of the Republic of Haven is eager to expand its territory west, but first it has to go through the Central Junction that is currently being held by Manticore, and Basilisk Station is in the way.

With the head of the Manticoran Admiralty dismissing Basilisk Station as unimportant and unaware of any possible problems, Honor stands alone in a crippled ship with a demoralized crew that blames her for their disgrace, and proceeds to attempt the impossible task of patrolling the entire system.

Because it’s her duty.

How she succeeds makes for a fun and interesting read. She straightens her cap, pets her treecat, Nimitz, and takes on the enemy with admirable grit and determination.

Once I got past the first several chapters about the intricate politics and detailed military facts with innumerable names to figure out, I began to enjoy the story more. After Honor gets to Basilisk Station, the whole situation becomes interesting, even though, problem after problem is thrown at her.

You have to admire her grit and determination and evaluate her response to obstacles against your own life. I found myself petting my cat, adjusting my shirt, and getting on with what was necessary and right just as she does.

A few point of view changes create confusion at times, but the story is worth it, and most likely, I’ll be reading more in this popular series.

Speaking of popular series, ah hem…

I have expanded my distribution and put a few of my books on Smashwords. As a gift for Mother’s Day or just as a treat because you took the time to read this, I have a coupon for a free copy of the second book in the series, A Dangerous Talent for Time. This is my longest book and is a fun romp around Alysia in search of the answer to a riddle while the characters fall in love, fight battles, meet exotic characters and deal with a time talent who can control events and shift the future. It’s my daughter’s favorite book in the series.

www.smashwords.com/books/view/87864. Coupon code JU87K

Thank you for the many who downloaded a number of my books during the Liebster Awards Blog and my KDP Select experiment. It was fun and I appreciate your response. If you have the time, and like the book, I would really appreciate you writing a short review on Amazon, Nothing fancy…a few words. Just go to the book page and scroll down to the reviews and you’ll see how easy it is.

And thanks to Cathy Reynolds for her great reviews. You have a generous heart and inspire me to write more exciting adventures. Thank you…hug.

Best Selling Science Fiction: A Matter of Taste

Steam-punked!

I was wading through my list of ten novels that I proposed to read this year (see Jan/Feb blog) and pulled Ganymede off the pile. Cherie Priest is a local Seattle author whose novel Boneshaker was nominated for the Hugo and Nebula award (2012). She also won the Locus award for Best Science Fiction. (2011) A local author, an interesting cover, a strong recommendation on Amazon…

I was willing to try it, and put it on my list.

Although currently living in the Northwest, I have lived a large part of my life in the South, so when the story started with a New Orleans madam, I was intrigued. Fairly quickly, I realized that this is the sequel to Boneshaker and that is when doubt began to creep in. Steampunk! It’s the hottest genre around here, but I’m old fashioned. Give me a ship, stars and an alien and I’m happy.

Still, I read on… until the zombies showed up. Zombies are not science fiction in my world, and I put the book down. Apologies to Cherie Priest who I can guarantee has sold many more books than I have, but…zombies are another matter, and not science fiction by my definition.

So I picked up In the Company of Others by Julie Czerneda. And barely put it down until I reached the end of the 564 pages in the novel.

Loved it!

Humanity has reached out and not found any intelligent alien lifeforms. So, Earth begins terraforming worlds for millions of eager explorers. One low-level fungal plantlike form  has been found, the Quill, an iridescent strand of matter that wraps around a human wrist, bringing a pleasant feeling and comfort, until for some unknown reason it mutates and turns deadly.

And spreads rapidly throughout the worlds.

Any humans landing on terraformed worlds are killed violently and mysteriously. All the new worlds are banned.

Earth closes down in quarantine, leaving eager immigrants and stationers stranded on various space stations. Frantic ships who Earth turns away are forced through desperation to impale themselves onto the outer ring of stations. Most stations are destroyed through riots and diminishing resources. Only a few survive.

Humanity chokes and stagnates.

Dr. Gail Smith, brilliant scientist, hopes to wipe out the Quill. After intensive study, she finds clues that suggest one human, Aaron Pardell, may have survived the Quill and provide the key to understanding and destroying them. Her search leads her to Thromberg Station.

Chapter one starts with a bar scene and resulting riot in Sammie’s Tavern when the “Earther” woman  enters looking for Aaron Pardell.

Aaron now lives by himself on Thromberg station, a found child, raised as an “Outsider” in his now dead father’s ship, the Merry Mate II that is welded to the station’s outer ring. Stationer, Immie (immigrant) and Outsider (ships attached to the ring) all jockey back and forth through several riots and uprisings trying to survive the intense crowding and limited resources. Aaron is accepted by a small group from Outward Five even though touching him brings on intense pain for both Aaron and whoever touches him. He is an odd young man with gloved hands and strange sensitivities. His large, muscular best friend, Hugh Malley, protects him as well as he can since they both were orphaned early and rely on each other to survive.

The book bubbles with plots of station politics, of intrigue by the University that funds Gail’s project, with the military who guards her and with her own secret plan to search for the answer that will clear out the Quill and open the stars for humanity. Within all these plots are stories of both stressed and tender relationships that show the lengths that humanity will go for each other as each dreams of a better future. And a story of a fascinating alien lifeform that functions unlike any human alive, and so is very misunderstood and difficult to figure out.

A great read. True science fiction detail and world building with complex human emotion.

Dimensional time in science fiction

 Serendipity. A copy of Keith Laumer’s Imperium came to hand just as a friend suggested him as a favorite science fiction author. I’d heard of him, but  never got around to reading him.

Now was a good time.

Many established authors, or their estate, are reviving their stories by bundling them together, adding on a bright new cover and reissuing their work. Imperium is a three story  collection.

Keith first published “Worlds of the Imperium” in the science fiction magazine, “Fantastic Stories” as a serial from February to April 1961. Many authors used short stories or serialized their fiction in magazines to build a fan base back in the day. (Some still do) In 1962, he released the novel in an Ace-Double Day edition.

The second story in this novel, “The Other Side of Time” was also serialized in “Fantastic”  in 1965, while “Assignment in Nowhere” was published by Berkley in 1968.

Interestingly, Baen books picked up his rights and put all three together and printed them in paperback in August 2012. Keith is no longer alive, but now his writing survives to a new generation of science fiction fans.

In Imperium, time travel and twisted reality deliver a fast-paced action thriller.

United States diplomat Brion Baynard gets kidnapped. But it isn’t an ordinary kidnapping. He’s taken and transported to an alternate universe with a timeline similar to Earth, but just a shade different in its history. There he confronts the current leaders of the Imperium:  Hermann Goering, Manfred Rittmeister and Friherr von Richthofen. The Imperium comprises the major portion of the civilized world: North America, West Hemisphere, Australia, etc. This iteration of history has a Maxoni-Cocini field generator transporter that allows travel across timelines.

And each timeline is a little different. Turns out there are countless parallel Earths, each different, and more uninhabitable worlds, destroyed by the misuse of cross time travel…along with some inhabited by human variations.

Not all friendly..

Baynard soon learns the reason for his kidnapping…he looks identical to the enemy’s top evil dictator, also named Brion Baynard, and the plan is to insert him into this twin’s residence where he is tasked  to assassinate him and take his place.

The plan goes awry.

The target is out of town and Brion gets caught up with a subversive underground resistance causing the plot to thicken.

This is a good old fashioned science fiction action thriller, even though the reader might be able to figure out what happens, it does provide an exciting story with some surprises.

If that’s your type of science fiction, then I recommend it. I happen to like action packed science fiction about time travel. Not so much alternate universes. However, the science and complexity of the alternate worlds is well thought out.

The second story, “The Other Side of Time,” continues Brion Baynard’s life in the alternate universe of the Imperium, where the net is a continuum of alternate world lines, a matrix of simultaneous reality.

Baynard has his dinner interrupted by an urgent call to the palace where he goes through a puzzling interrogation. As he leaves, an odd smell and activity attract him and he investigates. He finds human Neanderthal types called the Hagroon, who have discovered the time hopping technology and have infiltrated the lower levels of the Imperium Palace and are planning an attack to destroy this world.

Of course, Baynard wants to stop them, and he tries to disable the multi car contraption, only to be taken back to their world and captured.

In prison there, he meets Field Agent Dzok, captured from another timeline and of an even more alien/human appearance.  The two plot an escape and end up on Dzok’s home world. From there it’s an adventure in traversing various worlds in attempt to get home in time to stop the attack by using time travel.

I would give Imperium four stars because of the interesting time travel and fast paced action. Character development, of all but Baynard, is traded off for the complicated  plot. The point of view is first person, so everything happens through Baynard’s eyes, and you don’t even get  a good idea of what he looks like.

Still, it’s fun to discover a popular classic, once and a while, and enjoy a good time travel novel.

Celebrations and awards

After you’ve put in a lot of hard work, sometimes you just have to stop, savor the moment and celebrate.

So, I’m celebrating the publishing of my fifth book, Space Song.

Wahoo! Pass the champagne.

For those of you who think writing a book is easy…I’ve got news. It’s not.

But it is fun and rewarding, and like life, there’s many ups and downs in the writing game. Just hold on in that roller coaster knowing when you’re down, there’s usually an up and when things are great…well bask in the fleetness of the moment.

As in most things, if you stick with it, eventually you’ll see the finish line.

Many times I was ready to give up, and usually my writing was relegated to a weekend activity since I often had a day job or a family to take care of. But now, I look with pride at what I have accomplished and am glad I kept going.

So I’ll still keep going, and my next book Touching Crystal is due out in November. Meanwhile, there’s a lot of hard work ahead.

However, to celebrate I’m offering through the KDP Select program my first novel,  Caught in Time  free through Amazon Kindle, Tuesday 4/16 & Wednesday 4/17. Just right click on the book image at right, and click open in new window.

My gift to you.

Because I’m giddy with celebrations and awards, since I have been awarded the Liebster Award for this blog.

Thank you Andy McKell. I take a humble bow.

The what? You say.

Well, blush and a  hand to the side of my mouth…The Liebster Award.

You know, for the upcoming newbie bloggers that someone likes and nominates. It’s all the rage in up and coming blogs.

Liebster is German for favorite. The idea is to name eleven favorite bloggers with less than 200-300 followers. Which is hard to figure at times, so apologies if you have way more, but know that I admire your blog and want others to know about it and admire it too.

And why eleven? Beats me.

It’s like “hearing it on the grapevine”, or a complimentary chain letter where there are no threats of I’ll will…only wishes for fame and good fortune.

However, I have to abide by certain rules, which actually vary from time to time and are a bit squishy and vague at others.

Post 11 facts about yourself

Answer 11 questions your nominee sent in

Create 11 questions for your nominees

Choose 11 people to give award

Go to their site and tell them

First I have to tell you eleven things about me.

1.   I’m 5′ 11 1/4″. Tall is in my family.

2.   Married to a wonderful man…except for the odd occasion when he does something that makes me crazy.

3.   Have a beautiful daughter. Ditto above for her.

4.   Soloed in an airplane and logged many flying hours as copilot.

5.   Have raced in many races in a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay when I lived in Annapolis

6.   Worked as a stockbroker and watch Fast Money every morning.

7.   Consider myself an oil landscape painter who loves art.

8.   Visited Paris for an anniversary surprise. I wanted to hate it, but I loved it.

9.   Write science fiction, thanks to my father, who loved the genre and always wanted to write but never got around to it.

10. Had a father who went to the Naval Academy of which I’m very proud

11.  I’m half Danish, half English.

Nominate your favorite upcoming blogs.

Please drop in on my nominees and leave a comment. Share the love.

1. www.mythsofthemirror.com
2. www.veronicasicoe.com
3. www.tomkeplerswritingblog.com
4. www.ksbrooks.wordpress.com
5. www.bentopress.com
6. www.rosannedingli.blogspot.com
7. www.deboracoty.com
8. www.quickandeasygames.wordpress.com
9. www.bookfare.blogspot.com
10. www.morgenbailey.wordpress.com
11. www.yvonnehertzberger.wordpress.com

Here are the Questions that Andy asked me: my answers in bold.

1. Why did you decide to blog?

A). I love science fiction and wanted to get a dialog going about the books I  really enjoyed.

2.  What is your theme?

A). My theme is science fiction/ fantasy books and things of the future.

3.  Do you find blogging satisfying?

A). Sometimes. Some weeks I struggle to find something interesting enough, other weeks I’m leaping off the page to share my thoughts.

4.  What format do you use?

A). WordPress. I am a techno-idiot and wanted something easy.

5. What social network platforms are you on?

A). Twitter, Facebook, WordPress and am thinking of Pinterest.

6.  How do you schedule your blogging?

A). Every Monday. I read somewhere that was the best day, but I have no idea why

7.  Favorite movie?

A). No one favorite

8.  Favorite novel?

A). Oh please. Dune…there’s too many.

9.  What is your ambition?

A). To finish publishing my current books and figure out how to get more people to enjoy them.

10. Greatest success?

A). Still to come

11. If you could move anywhere, where?

A). We discussed this and every place has its strength and weakness. Right now I like Portland, OR

My questions to my nominees:

1. What excites you?

2. What do you want to accomplish with your life?

3. Why do you blog?

4. What’s your favorite science fiction/fantasy novel?

5. Best part of the day or week?

6. What is one odd thing that few people know about you?

7. How do you schedule your blogging?

8. What social platform works best for your purpose?

9. What is the theme of your blog?

10. What do you like best about where you live?

Check in…meet new people…enjoy the moment…giggle…and pass the champagne.

Paths for new Writers to Build Readership and Publish

Science fiction and fantasy authors are exploring many new and exciting paths in an attempt to get their name known to readers and find various  ways to publish their works.

Within the genre of science fiction/fantasy, the five writers in my Writers’ Group are following their own unique paths to finding readers and publishing.

One is entering writing contests and winning. Austin Briggs has a website that I have mentioned before that is Flash Fiction and the winner of the month takes home $55 for 55 words.

Allie Vaughn was their winner for her February entry. “Jump Through.” That’s a dollar a word! Not bad. Check out her winning entry.

http://austinbriggs.com/flash-fiction-contest/jump-through/

She has also submitted short stories in various contests with successful results. Her winning short story appears in “Great Tales Beyond the Mystic Door” by Professor Limn and is available on Amazon.com. Sixty-one three minute short stories by sixteen exciting authors.

She also won “Golden Curl Girl” in the Aspiring Writers Short Story competition that will also be published in an upcoming anthology.

Allie is also a winner of poetry and won third place for “Lady Winter” to be published in a poetry anthology.

Winning contests is one way to get your name out there and build a reader base.

Another writer in our group is using the short story anthology route to publishing and also self publishing science fiction/fantasy games, while he waits on acceptance through traditional publishing. Clayton Callahan has just been accepted into a science fiction/fantasy anthology edited by friend Phyllis Radford called “How Beer Saved the World.” Should be very popular. His science fiction story “Beer Today, Gone Tomorrow” is a great read.

Clayton is also a gamer and has been involved in gaming for a while now. He just recently wrote a non-fiction article, “Playing a Role in Science Fiction.” Check it out  online at Perihelion, a professional science fiction magazine. http://www.perihelionsf.com under Clayton Callahan. He also has self published several non-fiction gaming manuals, one which is Battlefields: from Broadswords to Bullets. Another is a handbook for a game called Star Run, also available on Amazon. I used his information on military and weapons in several of my scenes.

“Pointy side out.”

Another author in the group, Ted Blasche, has also published in Perihelion a delightful short story called, “To Dance with the Girls of IOS-5.” http://www.perihelionsf.com/archives/blasche001.htm

In addition to publishing in a well known online magazine, Ted is going the traditional route of submitting to major science fiction publishing houses and is currently waiting on a response to a military science fiction novel he has completed.

But Ted has also gone the script to screen route and has won a finalist spot in the Willamette Writers contest FiLMLaB. The final few will be used at the Willamette Writers’ conference and will be announced April 11.

http://willamettewriters.com/wwfilm/?p=147

We’re rooting for you, Ted!!! Screen plays from novels or short stories is another way to get your name out there.

A small subsidiary publishing house, Mockingbird Lane Press, has accepted Diana Peach’s novel Myths of the Mirror. Her website here gives a taste of her soon to be published book on dragons. http://mythsofthemirror.com.

Already, she is busily writing a sequel and has recently put Dragon Soul into the hands of the editors there. There’s nothing so great as a book with dragons in it, and Diana writes wonderfully well. Look for Myths of the Mirror coming soon.

Many valid small publishing houses are springing up to service new writers and help them with editing, book covers, formatting and other needs. Increasingly, individuals are offering classes and panels (for a price) on various aspects of publishing, including marketing. The new writer has to tread carefully and investigate those he does business with as the scam artists are finding this new area of publishing and writing fertile ground. Even the well known publishing houses are buying out publishing businesses like Authorhouse and writing contracts for eager new authors that don’t realize what they are getting into. So authors beware. Check out editors and predators: http://www.pred-ed.com.

Several established authors in my Portland luncheon group are going the traditional route, but also are exploring other venues.

These are professional writers that have been writing for a while and are “connected.” David Levine has sold over fifty of his short stories and was recently on the cover of Analog Magazine.

I did an interview with him in my February blog about his short story anthology, Space Magic. This is a collection of his own short stories that he came out with in 2008, and now in January, he has reformatted the collection and put it out digitally through Book View Café.

Many known authors with backlists are bringing them out again in digital format and reselling their story. David has teamed up with other well-known Portland authors to do readings and book signings all over the area. He recently did a successful reading and signing with other authors at Powell’s at Cedar Crossing in Beaverton. Getting out face to face is a tried and true method for known authors. Pairing up with other authors swells the attendance.

Phyllis Irene Radford, in addition to her recent forays into editing anthologies, has just published the third trilogy in her Dragon Series. The Silent Dragon: Children of the dragon Nimbus #1, which is now available on Amazon through DAW. Phyllis also has published a series on Merlin’s descendents with her Guardians of the Balance and also a series on fairies of which Chicory Up is the latest. Adding on to a popular series is also a recommended route to success.

While following the traditional publishing route, she also has a serious eighty-six-page nonfiction called Magna Bloody Carta. This was published through a writers’ online co-op called Book View Café. Writers getting together and providing exchange services for each other on a website that lists and sells digital books is becoming a popular way to build readership, become known and sell books. Self-publishing authors are banding together to help each other. Many online websites that offer digital books are providing an avenue for authors, both new and old.

She also has gone into other anthologies with her own short stories: Gears and Levers 2: a Steampunk Anthology and Breaking Waves through Sky Warrior Book Publishing, a small publishing house.

And I’m going the self-publishing route via Digital Imagination Publishing. You can check out my series on the right. All are available online at most known booksellers, Smashwords, Kindle, Amazon, ibookstore, and others. I’m following the advice of Dean Wesley Smith and using serial writing to get my name out there. I recently experimented with the KDP Select program that offers Caught in Time for free to Prime members of Amazon for ninety days…so pass it along. Hopefully, they’ll like it and buy others in the series.

I am also dabbling with social media (ex. this blog) as another way to get my name out there. In fact, I just won a Liebster Award for my blog submitted by Andy McKell. This is a new fun way smaller bloggers are spreading the word, so stay tuned next week for the details.

The paths to establishing a following of readers, eventual publication and greater sales is varied in this new world of writing, and new writers are trying many new and interesting ways to find a reader base, get published and sell their story.