REBECCA HAMILTON, Author - Interview

This week, after a brief hiatus, I welcome author and fellow Twitter-er Rebecca Hamilton to ramble on with me for a while about her paranormal fantasy series THE FOREVER GIRL, the first volume of which is out in print and e-book formats. There’s also a novella, “Her Sweetest Downfall,” available on the Kindle.

Rebecca Hamilton

Rebecca Hamilton writes Paranormal Fantasy, Horror, and Literary Fiction. She lives in Florida with her husband and three kids, along with multiple writing personalities that range from morbid to literary. She enjoys dancing with her kids to television show theme songs and would love the beach if it weren’t for the sand. Having a child diagnosed with autism has inspired her to illuminate the world through the eyes of characters who see things differently.

Sophia’s family has skeletons, but they aren’t in their graves. THE FOREVER GIRL is the story of  twenty-two year old, practicing Wiccan Sophia Parsons, scratching out a living waiting tables in her Rocky Mountain hometown. Sophia can imagine lots of ways to improve her life, but she’d settle for just getting rid of the buzzing noise in her head. When the spell she casts goes wrong, the static turns into voices. Her personal demons get company, and the newcomers are dangerous. One of them is a man named Charles, who Sophia falls for despite her better judgment. He has connections that might help her unveil the mystery surrounding her ancestor’s hanging, but she gets more than she bargains for when she finally decides to trust him.Survival in his world, she learns, means not asking questions and staying out of the immortal council’s way. It’s a line she crossed long ago. If Sophia wants to survive the council and save the people she loves, she must accept who she is, perform dark magic, and fight to the death for her freedom.

ANTHONY: Hi, Rebecca. Thanks for joining me!

REBECCA: Thank you for having me on your blog! Great interview questions 

ANTHONY: You know, flattery will get you everywhere.  The Forever Girl moves fast: lots of time-jumps past mundane stuff to propel the story forward. Were there any “day in the life” sort of sequences that you cut to keep the narrative flowing?

REBECCA: Absolutely. My mentor always told me to skip the parts people will skim. While some people may wish they had gotten “more”, I felt the trade off was worth it: the average reader just wants to know what’s relevant to the plot and learn about the characters as the story moves forward. I do, to an extent, write for myself. But I also write for my readers.

ANTHONY: I said in my review that the book is detailed but not overflowing with details. How did you decide what details to include and what to skim out or gloss over?

REBECCA: This was difficult. I did tighten and tighten and tighten, and some people think I’ve tightened too much and some think too little, and more yet think it was a perfect balance. You can’t make everyone happy. As for how I decided, though? I tried to give just enough to bring the story to life and reveal (sometimes obliquely) details that were relevant to the story and character. The rest I left off, as much as it pained me to do 

ANTHONY: Everyone in the book not related to Sophia seems to know she’s special except Sophia herself. Will you explore this more in book two, Sophia’s sense of self-worth versus what everyone else thinks of her (including the reader)?

REBECCA: You’re full of excellent and original questions! Sophia’s journey will be revealed in three stages: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Her confidence will grow over time, and as it does she will heal from past hurts and become a stronger person for all she has gone through. In time, she will mature out of her insecurities.

The Forever Girl

ANTHONY: What was your process like writing this book? Are you an “outliner” or a “pantser?”

REBECCA: A little of both? Usually when I start writing I have a general idea for the story, and once I start writing, I get ideas (that I write down) on where the story seems to be heading. However, sometime characters like to pop up with ideas better than mine, and all my ideas get shoved aside. The story and characters take on a life of their own. I don’t mind at all 

ANTHONY: Presenting an honest and non-stereotypical Wiccan main character was important to you, wasn’t it? Can you talk about why, and what response you’ve received to Sophia?

REBECCA: I’ve always been one for “truth”. Wiccans I feel are often misrepresented my the media as well as other religions. In a novel dealing with the themes of acceptance and perceptions, a Wiccan character was an excellent extended metaphor. I wanted to show what Wicca is really about, from the viewpoint of a practitioner (Sophia, not me, since I’m asked that a lot!). Also, I know a lot of Wiccans, and I can’t imagine how any of the stereotypes can be based on real Wiccans. They’re all so different and unique. The only “stereotype” I can think of (meaning thing I see in common among most Wiccans) is that they generally don’t condemn others for their beliefs or try to “convert” people. They are just being themselves. Most really do live to Harm None.

ANTHONY: Knowing this was going to be a series, how detailed was your world-building before beginning work on the series, and how much did you end up adding/improvising as you went along?

REBECCA: The actual world building was completely improvised and then built on during revisions. My characters probably still have a lot more to teach me about their world that I haven’t learned yet.

ANTHONY: You write short stories as well as novels — is there any difference to your approach or style from one form to the other?

REBECCA: My short stories are usually lighter. Less depth, more story-led than character-led. They are meant as fast reads to pass the time. My novels on the other hand explore characters in more depth and are more thematic, with a more of a “message” to share.

ANTHONY: When is the next Forever Girl book due out, and can you tease us with a bit of what’s in store for Sophia, Charles, Adrian and the rest?

REBECCA: The next book in the series visits new characters. We won’t be seeing Sophia again until book 4! When we see them again, however, there will be a lot of sacrifice, betrayal, and overcoming of inner darkness. Sophia’s friends will be put in danger (sometimes by Sophia herself) and alliances will be tested.

ANTHONY: Readers who feel a connection to Sophia will wonder: why jump to a new set of characters for book two and leave Sophia’s return for book four? What can you tell us about the new characters to whet our appetites for their stories? 

REBECCA: The next book comes out in 2013! Not sure on the exact release just yet. Here’s a little blurb about the book.

Rose was just a teenage girl carrying her father’s baby. A teenage girl who desperately wanted to escape. Womanhood in Salem, Massachusetts 1692 wasn’t what she had in mind.

All she’d wanted to do was save her baby, to run away and start a new life. But her father packed that baby away and drove off in his pickup truck, and the spirits that had been following Rose all her life transported her to a new world. A world centuries away from her newborn daughter, where townsfolk call her Abigail and the forest calls her Cordovae.

Rose’s memories of her old life slip away. Only one memory remains: Anna.

Rose is devoted to finding a way back to the life she can’t remember . . . but going back isn’t an option. Not until she faces certain death to stabilize Salem’s community of spirits.

William’s there to help, but soon Rose finds herself falling in love with him. If that happens, she will have to choose between the only man who’s never betrayed her and a daughter she can’t remember but will never forget.

ANTHONY: I’m looking forward to it! Now, my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

REBECCA: The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard. Nancy is a BRILLIANT author. Her writing is simple yet poignant. Her characters are relatable and real. But where she excels in a way that EVERYONE needs to experience for themselves is her ability to build mystery and suspense. I’ve learned a lot about writing through reading her books.

You can find Rebecca musing about writing on her website. You can also follow her on Twitter as @inkmuse and join her Facebook fan page.

THE DALLIANCE, Band - Interview

This week’s interview is with my old friends Darrell Long, Gregry Gilroy and Barry Mangione, collectively known as The Dalliance. These guys have played on and off in bands together since we (well, Darrell, Greg and I) were in high school together. The band recently released their first full studio album, BIRTH LOVE DEATH. I’m happy to finally be able to interview them officially.

The Dalliance

ANTHONY:  Hello, gentlemen! Glad we’re finally getting a chance to talk. Let’s cover a little bit of history first. You’ve performed together in various combinations and with other musicians over the years. What makes now the right time for this combination of personalities to come together as The Dalliance?

DARRELL:  I’ll say that whether big or small, successful, or not, I think we’re all very proud of the music we’ve made with other projects. When we started playing music together in Brady Bastards, our previous collaboration – a pop-punk quartet – it was some of the most fun we all had playing music in years – things came together quickly and it didn’t feel like work – something that can easily take away from the reason people join bands in the first place. This is not to say that we don’t work hard at our craft, but I think we had, at that point, hit on the right chemistry of personalities – everyone brought incredible talent and musicianship, varied influences and similar goals. With Brady Bastards, we always felt a little pigeonholed by the genre. This is not to say there aren’t plenty of amazing punk bands who we revere and who define the genre – we just felt more and more that we were all writing new music that we could do better if we weren’t shoe horning it into one idiom. If we tore down the definitions and just started writing organically without any specific genre in mind, we could more easily expand our palette and define our aesthetic with a fresh start. Because we didn’t know if this new project would necessarily be THE band, or a side project, I always thought The Dalliance was a good name for it. It went from apt description to somewhat ironic, but not in an overt way – The name holds a bit of mystery – I feel a prospective listener or fan should be able to bring their own interpretation to what we are when they decide to listen to us or come to a show, etc.

ANTHONY: The new album is called Birth Love Death and has a Tarot theme. Did the theme come together after the songs were chosen, or were songs chosen from your catalog to fit the theme?

DARRELL: The album theme and artwork came last. When we decided to put together a full length recording, the first thing we wanted to do was put out the best versions of the songs we felt were the best written to that point. Once we had what felt like an album, we started playing around with the order of the tracks. There’s a white board in our studio that, despite all our tech savvy and forward thinking, gets a tremendous amount of use in situations like this. When we finally had what we felt was the order of tracks, we basically walked away for a week or two to listen to the demo mixes of everything on our own and figure out what each mix needed, how the track order felt and what we were going to call this thing. As we are a trio, we like the rhyme scheme associated with visually representing things in threes for flyers for shows and this seemed to feel a natural next step. Greg suggested Birth Love Death as the three words that could describe every song on the record. Originally, we were going to have a tarot card for each word as the cover. We struggled over not using just Major Arcana cards for this (you may or may not be surprised to know that we all have a fair amount of tarot knowledge). At one point, we thought we had hit on a perfect combination of cards and for a few weeks, that’s the layout I was working on graphically. The more I tried to make it work, the more I realized it wasn’t an authentic tarot spread, nothing was photographing right and it just felt disingenuous and maybe a little too literal. In the past we have had success finding and licensing stock images as a starting point for graphic design, so I went that route. While this task was a time consuming quest, I think we finally hit on images that expressed the theme with a little more mystery (there’s that theme again) as well as a little more authenticity. And, there’s still the undercurrent of ‘threes’ throughout. OK, I guess the three of swords as the cd image isn’t much of an undercurrent – but the card also represents the band well in its interpretation.

ANTHONY: Several songs on Birth Love Death also appeared on your 2009 EP and as single releases, but the BLD versions range from almost the same (“Leave It All Behind”) to subtly different (Greg’s singing in a slightly higher key on the BLD version of “I Need A Relgion”) to very different (a new take on “Minor Disturbance”). Why go back into the studio and continue to tweak songs that have already had some limited release instead of crafting an album of all new material?

DARRELL: The EP was the first formal recording session we ever had as The Dalliance. We all have tons of experience working in other people’s studios, but we made a decision to do everything ourselves with this band and that included complete DIY recording – not something I recommend to every band. I had some experience with engineering, but to this point it was still a trial and error kind of thing. The EP was made in a weekend, in Greg’s basement, before we had a space to call our own, and with a limited budget. We were literally unboxing gear and throwing up blankets for sound dampening while recording. Next, we endeavored to put out a new song every month for a year. In lieu of having tons of promotion money, we felt if we gave the fan base that we were building something new every month, we would keep their interest in this digital music ADD world that we live in. During that time we started renting space in Meriden, CT and building a proper project studio. The space was in an historic building and it was nice to have a place where all we did was make music. Since this was really designed as practice space and not recording space by its current owner, the downside was the 30 other bands also making their home there, the resulting noise and the sometimes one hour drive to get there. Given the opportunity to move much closer to our homes into a new, slightly larger space, we jumped and built Disgraceland, our current studio. Over time, we added pro gear from Cascade, Oktava, Focusrite, KRK and more. As we started talking about a full length release, we went back to our existing recordings and realized we had not always made the best versions of those songs, especially given the resources that we now had at our disposal. Add to that the inevitable way our music changed as we played it more and more in live situations. We felt that, before we did all new songs, we owed it to ourselves and to the music to put out the very best versions of everything we had. Many songs needed a complete re-recording, while others had salvageable parts. Everything needed to be remixed in the interest of continuity. In that regard, making an album is a lot like making a movie. Once we did all that, we had the whole of the new mixes remastered. Mastering is an art that we believe is so specialized, we’re not going to take that on. It also puts fresh ears on your music when you send it out for mastering. We have been very fortunate to find Memphis-based Channel Fuse Media. They’re thorough, fairly priced, easy to work with and the masters come back sounding incredible almost always on the first try. If I can give one bit of advice to DIY artists, it’s to never master your own music. We could never do the job that someone who specializes in this art can. Believe me, I’ve tried.

ANTHONY: What is your songwriting process like, both as a group and individually?

Darrell Long

DARRELL: Both as a group and individually, when we write music that might work for the band, we’ve established a strong, honest peer review process, for lack of a better term.  What this means is that, whether one of us comes in with a finished song, or just a skeleton, we encourage and expect that the other members of the band will be brutally honest with what we’ve brought in, help tear it apart and put it back together as a song we all buy into as something that is, The Dalliance. Not every band has a democratic process like this – many work differently, but this is our process and it’s definitely what’s best for us.

BARRY: I like to try different methods to keep the creative process fresh. Sometimes I’ll start with lyrics and then write the chords & melody to match the meaning of the lyrics. Sometimes I’ll have music in my head first and then write the lyrics to match the music. I also try to follow Steven Pressfield’s advice of sitting down & writing regularly to strengthen that creative writing “muscle.” I often will wind up throwing away a lot of the ideas I come up with this way, but sometimes I get a gem, and in those moments when inspiration hits out of nowhere and I have to pick up a guitar or notepad & write it down, I’m much better at translating the idea into words & music.

When it comes to writing as a group, when I bring a song or song idea to the table, I try to bring just guitar and vocals and let Greg & Darrell do their magic with the rest. The beautiful thing about writing with these guys is that we’re able to tell each other if something doesn’t fit. I think that because we’ve created a catalog of songs that we’re proud of, we now have trust in each other that we’re going to respect each other’s visions and elevate each other’s ideas. When I brought “A Quiet Cam” to them as a demo, for example, it was just my vocals and a ukelele. I never heard anything else in that song, but when they added the bass line, the drums, the piano and the vocal harmonies, it elevated the song to a whole new level.

GREGRY: I tend to come up with subject matter or a song title first and it sometimes sits in my brain for a lonnng time before it becomes a song. I will usually wait until the music either presents itself either from myself or from the other band members before I write all of the lyrics. Perfect examples are the two songs I sing on the album. “I Need A Religion” I have been playing that progression on guitar forever, but in all of the other projects I’ve been in prior to The Dalliance It was just never a good fit. When I came up with the title and theme for the song and we were all writing for the new album I thought “I wonder if I can use this music finally for this idea?” then I came up with the melody and wrote the lyrics around that piece of music. “Ghost..” all I had was the subject matter, the song title and the first line as an idea “There’s a ghost in the bedroom where your body used to be” and that was it. Barry had given me a CD full of music ideas that he didn’t have lyrics for and one of the songs he had on there when I sang back that first line, it fit perfectly so I wrote the lyrics around that music. It’s funny, when I write lyrics it literally takes minutes since most of the time I’ve had the idea in my head for ages and it tends to just spill out on the page very stream of conscience. I often get picked on for not knowing my own lyrics when we play live since when I write I seem to spit it out and it’s gone.

As far as the group, what’s been interesting about this band is since we have our own rehearsal space and studio I’d say like 95% of the songs were written in the studio. In the past the way I’ve always written is you sit in the room, throw out riffs or ideas and you bang it out in the room live until you have something. With this band we demo a lot and each of us come in with ideas recorded already. So if Barry comes in with a song like “Ghost..” or “Pain Has Gills” we can listen and if we like, we can sit down and write our parts and add our individual personalities to the song whether it’s a harmony, bass line, whatever. You almost put on a producer hat where you listen and say “I think that should be a C” or “I think this should be faster”. Another cool thing is because Barry writes in a lot of alternative tunings, it has forced me to listen and write my part by ear instead of jamming in a room, watching his hand and following what he is playing. It’s helped me become a better musician and come up with some of the best bass lines I think I’ve ever played in any band prior.

DARRELL: When I write, sometimes I’ll bring in either just a quick idea or a chord progression for us to all work on together.  Or, I’ll bring in a more complete composition often, to everyone else’s confusion, complete with sheet music.

When we work on a new song together, I think we often try to take each other out of our comfort zone. I once suggested that Barry play guitar in an alternate tuning for a song or two and have since created a monster – but in a good way. Since nothing is truly created in a vacuum, a result of that has been Greg organically writing amazing bass guitar parts by ear, since alternate turnings mean not being able to follow what Barry is playing by following his hands.

Barry often records ideas with a drum loop. What this does for me is often polarizing – I will often run toward the beat I hear in the loop or I’ll consciously play the opposite.

ANTHONY: What are your favorite tools to write and record with?

Barry Mangione

BARRY: My most frequent method is probably writing the music first. I use GarageBand to record my demos. I find it’s quick & easy. I record my guitars into GarageBand through a USB amp interface. From there, I’ll upload it to my iPhone and listen to it in the car while I’m driving. I’ll play it over & over again, writing the lyrics in my head as I’m driving. With the iPhone 4S, I can talk-to-text lyrics onto the notepad app as I go, so I don’t lose any ideas. When it comes time to record my vocals onto a demo, I use a Blue Snowball USB microphone. It’s got surprising sound quality.

GREGRY: Like I said earlier, I’ve always been old school in the past where I would just bang out song ideas in a practice space so I would never demo anything or record ahead of time. It was only within the past year where I got an IPad and started using GarageBand and now I love it. It’s amazing  it used to cost hundreds of dollars to purchase a 4 track recorder, drum machines, etc. and now for a $5 app download for GarageBand and like $40 for an IRig (which is an adapter where you can plug your guitar right into the IPad and software) you have an easy little home studio with drum loops, samples, everything that sounds amazing. Once you record something, it’s as easy as hitting “send to dropbox” and it goes right into our band account where the guys can open it up and listen on their end.

Actually I shouldn’t say that I have never tried recording in the past on my own, I just dug up an old Fostex 4 Track and Alesis Drum Machine which I will never throw out since it holds so much nostalgia for me. Some of the first songs I ever wrote on my own and even some of the early Brady Bastards tunes I came up with are on that cassette sitting in the deck.

DARRELL:  Most often, I write with a keyboard, though sometimes I write music on guitar. Often, I use composition software, like Finale, to get things into sheet music –  I visualize and hear and understand things best when I can see them in standard music notation. This is what music school does to you and it’s good to have a universal language, but it then often takes collaboration to put emotion and drama, style and substance into what’s on the page.

In terms of recording, we record on a Mac using Logic Studio. Because it’s not as strict on hardware requirements as ProTools, we could build the studio that we could afford with the elements we wanted and always feel confident that Logic can work within those parameters. A great result is the live performance part of Logic – Main Stage can easily use all the sounds we used to record in Logic so that we can duplicate what we did in the studio quickly and easily for the stage.  We can’t duplicate everything live, of course, but our sound is bigger thanks to what Logic can do.

ANTHONY: Who brings what talents to the table, not just in terms of songwriting but band organization, booking, etc?

DARRELL: I think we all play enough of each other’s main instrument to be dangerous. That’s great, because we never spend 20 minutes trying to articulate something we hear in our head – it’s articulated clearly and then we can ‘try it that way.’ I definitely bring the most engineering and recording knowledge. It’s a discipline that I’m self taught in, but they say anyone can be an expert in something when they put in more than 10,000 hours. I’m getting there. I’m also the Band Den Mother. By that I mean that I’m the guy printing the set lists, organizing the merchandise, bringing extra cables, figuring out logistics with how to pull something off live and the like. Usually if someone needs duct tape, or a flashlight, chewing gum or a quarter inch cable – I’m there with it.

BARRY: Darrell is definitely the Den Mother of the band. I feel like my job is to bring inspiration & ideas to the band, because the other guys have WAY more knowledge of music theory than I do. Often when I bring a song or idea to the band, it’s Darrell & Greg who have to figure out what chords I’m using & what key it’s in so they can make sense of whatever they’re going to add to it. I’m probably the last guy out of the three of us to book gigs. Darrell & Greg are much better at that and have more connections. If I do book a gig, it’s usually an “outside the box” kind of gig, like our recent album release event where we rented a private space. I’m usually the one booking acoustic shows or coffeehouse-type gigs. I also create a lot of the band’s videos for YouTube, and I try to help out as much with online promotion via social media.

GREGRY:Darrell is really the “evil mastermind Band Mother” to this whole band where not only is he an amazing musician and songwriter in his own right, he is responsible for all of the recording of the album, artwork, basically all of the technical aspects of the group. I walk on the stage or in the rehearsal space and the microphone is set-up, working great with a printed set list on the floor and a cold beer in the fridge. To watch him play is quite remarkable not only is he playing the drums he’s singing harmonies, hitting samples (that he recorded of course) and playing keys in some parts! Plus it’s awesome no matter what hair brained ideas I come up with he knows exactly how to do it and executes it to a T. Barry and I honestly would be completely lost with him.

Greg Gilroy

Barry I think to me is definitely the “singer/songwriter” of the band where he comes up with the most of the song ideas. I tend to write very slow, sometimes only 2-3 songs a year where Barry will come up with sometimes 10-12 and dammit, they are all good ideas (laughs). Plus all of the funny You Tube clips and video you see about us online, that all comes from Barry. He is like the “documentarian” of the band where he always has a video camera running capturing all of the comedy that goes on during the recording process.

Myself? I think where Darrell is the high-tech aspect to the band I bring in that low-fi, almost punk rock swagger to the music and attitude. This is in no way a jab at my band brothers, but where they are tweeting pics of their fancy meals they are making or eating and talking about Apple programs or software, I am in the corner eating 7-11 nachos, drinking cheap beer, cutting my hair in a Mohawk and trying to fix my bass with duct-tape and spit (laughs). I cut my teeth playing in hardcore, punk and metal bands for decades and although I love this type of music and like a lot of the same artists as Barry and Darrell, I still inflict that percussive, heavy thumping attitude to my playing and persona on stage. Plus I love coming up with concepts and ideas for the band whether it’s an album title, artwork, stage look and promotion/booking shows. Also, I love to make those two laugh. I’m always cracking jokes and being a goofball.

ANTHONY: Have you ever just roundly rejected a song because it “wasn’t Dalliance enough?”

DARRELL: Yes. I think when we were first writing the EP and the subsequent singles this happened more. There are no hard feelings – One day, we’ll probably all release solo music like KISS did in 1978 and that’s not entirely tongue in cheek… But, yes, there’s plenty of music we’ve either tried and rejected or rejected outright. It rarely means we don’t like those songs – just that we feel we have a pretty good handle on our aesthetic and what works. As we grow more as a band, future releases will not all sound like Birth Love Death, but there will still be that glue that makes them a part of this band.

ANTHONY:  A lot of the songs on BLD are very dark subject matter. Will we ever get to hear a “shiny happy” Dalliance song?

DARRELL:  Don’t rule it out. The songs come from real places and real experiences. Dark is not our shtick – its where some of us were when we wrote a lot of the material and lives and experiences tend to evolve. I think that if one of us writes music about a positive life experience, you’ll get that shiny happy song. We wouldn’t write dark for the sake of darkness and we won’t write happy and shiny without a tangible experience that matches those emotions.

ANTHONY: What’s the most unusual instrument that’s made its way into a Dalliance song?

DARRELL:  I think this depends on your musical experiences before listening to us. To me, nothing is out of bounds, so I don’t find too much unusual. Some people might listen and pick out the ukulele, but so many bands have used it and artists like Amanda Palmer brought it to the fore long before we wrote anything on uke. I picked up my ukulele on EBay because I wanted a portable instrument and it was shaped like a Gibson Explorer guitar. Barry added a pick-up and guitar strings and the ‘rock-ele’ was born. It shaped the sound of some recordings, but in the end, we actually recorded with a more traditional uke to get back to a more organic sound. We use glockenspiel in Broken Ballerina – That’s also something being used and sometimes overused by a lot of bands, although, Los Campesinos are a great example of a band using that sound to perfection. I think that we sometimes have more unusual ways of recording than unusual instruments. I’ve made a tent with moving blankets and had Barry sit on the floor, inside the tent, in the dark, to record vocals. We used the smallest guitar amp we own to track those big guitars you hear on Leave it All Behind. We tracked Drown With Me almost completely live and in one take, just to see if we could do it and, in my opinion, it’s a much better version than the studio version we did with Brady Bastards that took more than a day to complete. Yes: that song is the bridge between the two bands – Its our Beethoven’s 9th, but with only 3 chords  I think we like to experiment when we can’t get something to work the way the book says that it should, but we’re not going out of our way to bring in unusual instruments.

ANTHONY: Where will you be performing in the near future?

DARRELL: We’ll be at Red Star in Brooklyn on September 8th and there will be some more show announcements in the next few weeks. We’re trying to play out about one or two times per month, so that we can continue to write new music AND we’re very excited about starting a regular podcast where we will talk with anyone who is an independent artist about anything as long as its got more depth than promotion only. We are actually looking for guests – With the magic of Skype, this doesn’t mean they need to come to our studio, so, dear readers, if you want to join us as we get this thing off the ground, contact us and we’ll make it happen. Please be interesting and articulate.

ANTHONY: Possibly the most important question of the interview: When will the video for “Minor Disturbance” get made?

DARRELL: We had hoped to start getting this going this Summer, but there may be a few obstacles to making that happen right now. That said, we really WANT to do it and we will. We may use the podcast, as well as this interview, to reach more people who have the expertise we need. We could do this ourselves, but if someone has access to better cameras, can edit better than we can, can direct, etc. we’d love to talk to you. Of course the issue is always money, but nothing rules out the possibility of crowd funding it. To this point, we’re proud of the fact that we have made everything with our own hands and our own money, but there’s no reason to explore all avenues to get the video made, as well as future recordings, promotion, etc if there’s a good fit.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What are your favorite books, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read them to convince them that they should?

BARRY: I have a lot of books that I love. I don’t often read fiction, but when I do… I read Chuck Palahniuk. Fight Club is amazing, and Haunted is a great read if you want your guts wrenched. I enjoy reading anything by Russell Simmons. He has a unique mix of spirituality, social responsiblity and business savvy. I read a lot, I mean a LOT of Deepak Chopra. My most recent favorite is The Shadow Effect, which he wrote with Marianne Williamson and Debbie Ford. I think everyone should read it, but especially anyone who struggles with their “dark side” like I did for many years (those Dalliance lyrics had to come from somewhere, folks). It’s about accepting yourself as a whole, shadow and all, and learning to live as a complete, loving human being. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Super Heroes was also a great read. If I knew anyone who was into super heroes, I would highly recommend it. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Against the Stream by Noah Levine was also an important book for me. Noah Levine is a former skate punk/addict who got himself clean & sober through Buddhism, and he presents the principles of Buddhism in a language and style that’s accessible to people who’ve lived hard or self-abusive lifestyles. The book I’m currently reading is The Laws of the Ring, by Urijah Faber. He’s a former world champion MMA fighter who also has a degree in human development. It’s an inspirational/motivational book made up of many short chapters that are easy, quick reads. I try to read one every day as a tool to motivate and inspire me.

DARRELL: Favorite Books as in, of all time, is far too daunting a question for me to take up. In terms of recent reads, I would recommend just about anything from Malcolm Gladwell. No one makes sociology, psychology and social psychology an incredible journey like this guy. Examining unexpected outcomes in experiments, understanding why people born in a certain year or month are more successful than their peers, and exploring the adaptive unconscious was never this much fun. I’ve read every book, every New Yorker Article, repeatedly watched his two TED Talks and seen him speak live at the 92nd Street Y. I am that into him.

GREGRY: I really don’t read as much as I like or used to, but when I do I love to read autobiographies especially on musicians because it really gives you a detailed look into how they got to where they are and how it is to be a famous working musician. Boy George’s Take it Like A Man was an amazing account of what he dealt with from being not only a famous musician out of nothing, but his descent into heroin addiction, his relationship with the drummer and how he dealt with his image and sexuality in the 80’s. I read that from a recommendation from a friend and literally bought every Culture Club and Boy George solo album during and after reading so I had a soundtrack while I was reading.

On the other spectrum was David Lee Roth’s Crazy From The Heat. When you are reading it the chapters are all over the place (meaning in real no chronological order) and the way it’s written you can literally hear him in your head because it’s written exactly how he talks in almost that scatting type of rhythm. People take him for a nut-job, which he kind of is but he was sooo important in making that band as big as they became because he was the flashy front man and was responsible for a lot of the image and attitude of Van Halen.

Last big one for me was Henry Rollins’ Get In The Van. I read this while on tour with one of my former bands in the 90’s and it was an awesome account on the early days of his band Black Flag and the touring they used to do. These guys were a major influence on myself and punk rock/hardcore in general and these guys never had a massive tour bus, groupies or stadium arena tours it was all DIY and hard living. It was a very good read and the fact that I was reading about Rollins toughing it out, sleeping in a Ryder truck with the equipment going to the next dive bar while I was doing the exact same thing while reading was amazing.

I can go on and on with others, but those three along were the biggest. Plus I’ve always loved the overall works by Hunter S Thompson, William S. Burroughs, Nic Cave and I hear that guy who wrote The Firflake is quite the humdinger J

ANTHONY: Well, if Gregry doesn’t know how to end an interview on a good note (sucking up to the interviewer), no one does! Thanks again, guys, for taking time out to give such detailed answers.  Now, let’s get going on that “Minor Disturbance” video, shall we? The guy who wrote the script isn’t expecting to be paid, but he’d like to be able to show it to people….

You can find The Dalliance on their own website and on Facebook. You can stream or purchase their music on Bandcamp. You can follow them on Twitter collectively (@thedalliance) or individually (Darrell – @floopjack; Gregry –  @Gregry13; Barry – @BarryMangione). For general inquiries, email Info@thedalliance.org and for booking email Booking@thedalliance.com.

 And of course they have a Youtube channel, where you can find concert videos as well as the official video for LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND: 

CHRISTOPHER PAUL CAREY, Author - Interview

This week, I’m happy to be rambling on with fellow Wold-Newton afficianado Christopher Paul Carey.

Christopher Paul Carey

Christopher Paul Carey is the coauthor with Philip José Farmer of Gods of Opar: Tales of Lost Khokarsa. He is an editor with Paizo Publishing and the award-winning Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, and the editor of three collections of Philip José Farmer’s work: Up from the Bottomless Pit and Other Stories, Venus on the Half-Shell and Others, and The Other in the Mirror. His short fiction may be found in such anthologies as The Worlds of Philip José Farmer, Tales of the Shadowmen, and The Avenger: The Justice, Inc. Files. Visit him online at www.cpcarey.com.

ANTHONY: I know you’ve told this story elsewhere, but let’s start out with the basics: How did you get involved with Philip José Farmer and come to collaborate on THE SONG OF KWASIN, the conclusion of Farmer’s Opar/Khorkasa Trilogy?

CHRIS: Back in 2005, I was serving as editor of Farmerphile: The Magazine of Philip José Farmer, a quarterly digest dedicated to printing rare and previously unpublished material by Farmer, as well as articles on his life and work. Michael Croteau—Farmerphile’s publisher and Phil’s webmaster—and author and Wold Newton expert Win Scott Eckert were in Peoria searching through Phil’s archives looking for material to print in the magazine when the outline and partial manuscript to the third Khokarsa novel turned up. I was contacted because I was editing the magazine, and I pitched the idea of completing the novel to Phil. I’d known Phil since 1998, and we’d corresponded before that. He was familiar with my writing about his work, and he told me he was confident I’d do a good job with the story. I think that, because of my writings on his work as well as our similar backgrounds in Haggard, Burroughs, and other adventure writers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he felt I’d be faithful to his vision. We also shared a love of anthropology, which figures heavily into the world building for the Khokarsa series.

ANTHONY: What was working with one of your heroes like? And how heavily was he involved in the process?

CHRIS:  Wondrously terrifying! Phil gave me some specific input on how he wanted the third book and the trilogy to wrap up, but largely left how I would handle things up to me. That said, I followed his original outline as closely as I possibly could and kept him up to date on everything I was doing as the book progressed. He approved the expanded chapter-by-chapter outline that I wrote based on his own outline, and I mailed chapters of the novel as I wrote them to Phil so he and his wife Bette were apprised of what I was doing.

ANTHONY:  I asked Win Eckert this question too, in relationship to THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE: How hard was it merging your own distinct voice with Phil’s, especially considering you were wrapping up a trilogy?

CHRIS: I’ve been immersed in Phil’s writings for many, many years, so I think a lot of his phraseology has rubbed off on me, and some of that probably comes through in The Song of Kwasin. Phil had a unique style, brilliant really, in that it’s very simple and clear and yet conveys sophisticated nuances. I’m not sure anyone can completely replicate another writer’s style. One can come close, but style is always translated by the particular spirit of the writer.

I did, however, very consciously write the novel imagining that I was in 1976, when the last installment of the series was published. So I tried to limit myself to the modes of mid-1970s heroic fiction precisely because I didn’t want the reader to sense a hiccough between the second and third books. But it’s not up to me to say whether I succeeded.

Gods of Opar

ANTHONY:  Subterranean Press has published an omnibus edition, GODS OF OPAR, that includes THE SONG OF KWASIN. The limited edition of the book has some extra special features, correct? Can you tell me about them?

CHRIS: The signed limited edition sold out in preorders before publication, so I hope what I’m about to say won’t be too frustrating to someone who reads this now and wants a copy! In any case, the limited edition includes an entire signature of background material about the Khokarsa series written by Philip José Farmer. These include Phil’s original typed outline to the third novel, a detailed article on the Khokarsan language, a Khokarsan glossary, the Khokarsan calendar, and an article called “The Plants of Khokarsa.” None of these items have ever been published before, and they go a long way to sampling the meticulous world building Phil worked out for the series.

ANTHONY: There’s another Khorkasa tale coming out, written completely by you. Where can readers find it?

CHRIS: Exiles of Kho is a signed limited edition being published by Meteor House. The story is set several hundred years before the main trilogy and tells the story of the heroine-priestess Lupoeth as she explores the southern inland sea in the hinterlands beyond the empire of Khokarsa.

ANTHONY: Okay, let’s back up a bit. You are a huge “Farmerphile.” What was your first exposure to Phil’s work?

CHRIS: The first books of his that I read were The Maker of Universes, Tarzan Alive, and, fittingly, Hadon of Ancient Opar. I was twelve at the time, and I never viewed literature the same way again.

ANTHONY:  How heavily has Phil’s work influenced your own writing? And who else do you consider your biggest influences / heroes?

CHRIS:  Well, I’ve now written a novel, two novellas, and a short story, all set in his world of Khokarsa, if that answers your question!

As far as other influences and writers whose work I admire, there’s Frank Herbert, Hermann Hesse, H. Rider Haggard—hey, that’s a lot of the letter H! Another one: David Herter, who I think is one of the most brilliant voices out there today, and who heavily influence my short story “Caesar’s Children,” which I one day hope to expand into a novel.

ANTHONY: What is your own writing process like? Are you an “outliner” or a “pantser” when working on your own projects?

CHRIS:  I’m an outliner. Then I invariably diverge from the outline as needed and become a “pantser.” I also usually immerse myself in months of research before I start writing. For instance, the story I just mentioned, “Caesar’s Children,” was the result of about a year of surveying nineteenth-century utopian fiction. And that’s just a short story. It’s easy to get lost in the research because that’s the fun part of the process for me.

ANTHONY: You’ve written short stories and novels … does your process change at all from form to form?

CHRIS: It’s generally the same for me, except occasionally I can crank out a short story with the outline only in my head.

ANTHONY: You’re also a leading “Wold-Newton” scholar. What is it about Farmer’s Wold Newton concept that continues to fascinate new readers?

CHRIS: The Wold Newton family is a genealogy of literary characters proposed by Farmer in his biography Tarzan Alive, in which he attributed the extraordinary heroic and sometimes villainous characteristics of the family members to a 1795 meteor strike at Wold Newton in the East Riding of Yorkshire. I think the concept still resonates forty years after Farmer created it because the heroes, heroines, and villains from literature compose a sort of modern-day mythology. We want to believe in these characters, and seeing them as part of a family tree makes them more real to us. There’s also the ingenious way Farmer executed the genealogy—not merely as a series of dry literary crossovers, but rather through his intimate understanding and genuine love for the characters, and often with great humor.

ANTHONY: What projects are you working on now?

CHRIS: Right now I’m putting the finishing touches on Exiles of Kho. Then it’s back to my historical dark fantasy novel set in 1888, which I’ve spent the past few years researching.

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who has never read it to convince them that they should?

CHRIS: I can’t answer that—too many! But one I’ve returned to many times in recent years is David Herter’s Vernean fantasy Evening’s Empire. A composer dealing with the ghosts of his past and slipping into irreality as he’s working on an opera of Twenty-Thousand Leagues under the Sea—what could be more tantalizing than that?

ANTHONY: Thanks, Chris!

MIRA GRANT, Author - Interview

Mira Grant is the author of the NEWSFLESH trilogy (comprised of FEED, DEADLINE and the recently-released BLACKOUT). Per the bio from her website:

Mira Grant

Mira Grant was born and raised in Northern California, where she has made a lifelong study of horror movies, horrible viruses, and the inevitable threat of the living dead. In college, she was voted Most Likely to Summon Something Horrible in the Cornfield, and was a founding member of the Horror Movie Sleep-Away Survival Camp, where her record for time survived in the “Swamp Cannibals” scenario remains unchallenged. Currently, Mira lives in a crumbling farmhouse with an assortment of cats, horror movies, comics, and books about horrible diseases. When not writing, she splits her time between travel, auditing college virology courses, and watching more horror movies than is strictly good for you. Favorite vacation spots include Seattle, London, and a large haunted corn maze just outside of Huntsville, Alabama.

In her guise as mild-mannered urban fantasy authorSeanan McGuire, Mira was the recipient of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. You can find her works as both Mira and Seanan at her main bibliography page. Seanan’s website is the best place to find information on where both she and Mira will be appearing.

Both Feed and Deadline have been nominated for Hugo Awards, as has “Countdown,” the first novella in the Newsflesh universe.

ANTHONY: So, Mira, how does it feel to have the final book in the Newsflesh Trilogy finally in the hands of readers?

MIRA: It’s a huge relief.  It’s also terrifying, because the series is closed now: it’s over.  If everyone hated BLACKOUT, there would be nothing I could do.  Luckily, the book has been pretty well received so far, but it’s been a really nerve-wracking experience.

ANTHONY: In reviews, I’ve described FEED as “a political thriller set against the zombie apocalypse” and DEADLINE as “a medical thriller set against the zombie apocalypse.” I think BLACKOUT is going to get tagged as an “end of the world thriller set against the zombie apocalypse.” Did you intend each book to have a different genre feel, or am I imagining things?

MIRA: They were all very different stories–in fact, that’s why DEADLINE ended when it did.  It ended at the moment that the genre transitioned from medical thriller to fringe science/conspiracy thriller.  The fact that this came in the midst of a lot of stuff exploding was sort of secondary to pursuing the themes I wanted to pursue.

ANTHONY: Newsflesh was always intended as a tightly-written trilogy, correct?  Now that all is said and done, do you wish it was an open-ended series, or are you truly done with Shaun and Georgia Mason and their friends and foes?

MIRA: No, I don’t: I’m glad to have written a closed world, because now the survivors get to go off and lead their lives without me.  I’ll still do things in that universe, but unless something changes dramatically, I’m genuinely done with those people.  They’ve earned it.

Blackout

ANTHONY: You’ve written several short stories linked to the trilogy. “Countdown” details the events leading up to the advent of the Kellis-Amberlee virus. I found that reading this story while already being aware of what the world is like post-KA only increased my sense of horror. Do you think that’s a prime part of effective horror, letting the reader know things the characters themselves don’t know?

MIRA: Yes, often.

ANTHONY: Even though the book trilogy is completed, you have plans to release further Newsflesh-related short stories, correct? When can we look forward to seeing those? And where can readers find the stories that have already been published?

MIRA: Well, “Everglades” was published in THE LIVING DEAD 2, and is available from Night Shade Books.  “Countdown” is available as an e-book from the Orbit Short Fiction Program, and will be available as a gorgeous limited edition hardcover from Subterranean Press this October.  “San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats” will be published electronically by the Orbit Short Fiction Program on July 11th, 2012.

ANTHONY: Outside of the world of Newsflesh, what else are you working on, and when can we look forward to seeing it?

MIRA: I’m working on two books under my real name, Seanan McGuire–CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, in the October Daye series, and HALF-OFF RAGNAROK, in the InCryptid series–and one book as Mira Grant, PARASITE, which kicks off the Forced Evolutions duology.  All three will be released over the course of the next two years.

ANTHONY: Some authors hate this question, but it seems appropriate in this context: if the Newflesh Trilogy were optioned for film (or better yet, for HBO), who do you picture filling the roles of Shaun, Georgia, Mahir, Buffy, and the rest?

MIRA: They have been optioned for film, and I can’t wait to see who gets cast!

ANTHONY: And my usual closing question: What is your favorite book, and what would you say to someone who hasn’t read it to convince them that they should?

MIRA: My favorite book in all the world is IT, by Stephen King.  I think it may be the best book about childhood, and adulthood, and growing up, that’s ever been written.  Also, much of what I say will make more sense if you read this book.  Seriously.

CURA TE IPSUM, Author - Interview

It’s no secret that I absolutely love the time-traveling, multiversal twists-and-turns of the webcomic CURA TE IPSUM, written by Neal Bailey and drawn by Dexter Wee. When the guys released the first print volume of CTI, I interviewed Neal. When they released the second print volume, I interviewed Neal and Dexter together. Book Three is about to be released, as well as a YEAR ONE compendium with a ton of extras, and so I thought this time instead of interviewing the guys, I’d give them the opportunity to just take over the blog for a day and speak in their own words.

For those who don’t know: CTI is the story of Charlie Everett – or, rather, a multiverse of Charlie Everetts. Charlie Prime, as we’ve come to call him, is prevented from committing suicide by a visit from another version of himself. Charlie Prime discovers that he’s got a bit more natural ability for time\space travel than his other selves, and together with Leo (who saved him), The Nerd, Billy, Charlene and Squirt (all divergent versions of Charlie), they seek to stop The Dark Everett and his partners from killing every Charlie in existence.

Neal, of course, one-upped my thought. I’m proud to be able to post here a small sneak peek at INRICTI, the prose short story that is one of the special features of the YEAR ONE Compendium.  I’ll let Neal introduce the story segment, and then I’ll be back with the links you can click on to order the books!

* * * * *

Hello, folks! First off, thank you, Anthony, for the place to debut a preview for Cura’s first short story.

INRICTI (a play on words for INRI and CTI, for Cura Te Ipsum) tells the story of what might happen if a bad man, namely the Dark Everett, decided to show a preacher what REALLY happened on Golgotha. It’s a long story, and it’ll be featured in YEAR ONE, the collected edition of our first year of stories, which you can find at http://www.curateipsum.com/, along with our third volume. Both are available for pre-order now.

It’s a dark story, and a fairly bleak one, but I had really good time writing it and I hope you all enjoy it.

Here’s the preview!

Neal Bailey

INRICTI
For Michael Moorcock

“Death.”

The preacher takes a long pause to examine the faces of his congregation.

“It has power over us, with good reason. There is such terror in the concept of a person we know and love, a person, become a body that rots in the ground. Your grandmother. Your father. A son or daughter.”

Pacing, always pacing when he speaks.

“I often imagine the fear an atheist must have examining death. Consider, even with knowledge of an afterlife, the concept of yourself no longer existing.”

Awkward silence. It drags.

“There’s no sense of continuity without God when flesh goes to dust.” He grabs his arm and pinches through the cloth. “For a non-believer, all we have is a life that can be hard, unfair, and very cruel in the face of the infinite. For us, for me, anyway, I take great solace from the thought of a loving creator. There’s nothing quite like it to quell the horrors of our short lives.”

The pacing stops.

“There is a plan for our lives. Things may spin around and fall apart, but somewhere out there, out between our potential dimensions, the spirit and the flesh come back together. There’s a pattern that flows through all real and imagined worlds born of our minds. Succumbing to the hunger for things you might otherwise have ignored but for cold, hard, logic, that, my friends, is faith.”

The preacher smiles. It is a sincere smile. The congregation smiles with him.

“Let us pray.”

* * *

Now the preacher sits in the front pew looking up at the statue of Jesus to consider. The congregation has been gone for some time. He does this a lot now, like he did on the bed with the pistol. This leaves him more comforted.

Footsteps echo in the empty church. A man sits down next to him. The preacher keeps his head bowed. He doesn’t turn. He keeps his eyes closed. He does smile.

“I presume you wish to speak about something.”

“What gave you that impression, padre?”

“You came across the entire empty church and sat down right next to me. Unless you’re looking for a date, that’s often followed by questions, or solicitations of advice.”

“I may have a few things to confess.”

“We don’t do confessions. You’re thinking of the Catholics.”

“I’ve got more sins than you could listen to in a lifetime.” Something in the man’s voice. Odd. A nasal plastic echo.

The preacher looks. The preacher clears his throat, looking for words. “Are – are we by chance related?”

Sitting next to him is a mirror image. A man very much like himself, so close in manner and proportion they could be twins, but for a few key differences. The other man is ropey with muscles. Older, certainly. Harder. The nose. There’s something strange and artificial about his nose.

“In a sense we’re related, but not really. Do I call you preacher? Or Reverend? Or Father? What?”

Gooseflesh breaks out across the preacher’s arms. “I realize something.”

“Do tell.”

“The front door isn’t open. It’s locked.”

“Let’s just say that I snuck into the bathroom and waited for you to lock the front door. That makes more sense than the supernatural, that I just opened a portal and dropped in here from nowhere, right? I mean, that would require you to believe in something certifiably crazy without any evidence to do so, right?” A derisive snort.

“I checked the bathrooms. Bums like to sleep in there.”

“Perhaps Jesus let me in.” The voice is sarcastic. Mocking. Slow. Deliberate. A nursery rhyme cadence.

“I don’t find that funny.”

“I liked your sermon. You have a way with words.”

“Thank you.”

“I am the wrong person to thank. I appreciate beauty, but in this equation, you’re the cross—” Click. “—and I’m the switchblade.” The blade is dull by the candle light. Well-used. Chipped from too many impacts with bone. Blade side up in a fist that shakes with anger.

“You’d kill a man of God?”

“I’d never kill a man of God.”

“What’s the blade for?”

“For you.”

“I’m a man of God.”

“No!” The fist slams into the top of the pew in front of them hard enough to rock them both. The other hand reaches for his face, gripping the nose. The nose comes off. A scarred cavity. A skull face. The face of death. “There is no God, and I’m your proof.”

The gooseflesh returns, up and down the preacher’s arms. “Are you a demon?”

“Always looking for the supernatural where there is none.” The man stabs the knife down into the pew and begins carving a long C next to his right leg. “I’m not a fucking demon. I’m you. Another you.”

“Your nose.”

“I cut it off to prove a point. Seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s not all fun and games, but it’s great for appearances. As you well know, people like a little smoke and mirrors.”

“Appearances?”

“They call me the Dark Everett, though my Christian name is Charles, like yours. That’s what they do to people who tell the truth. They call them demons, give them sinister sounding nicknames. I’m guessing, given that you’re above ground, you’ve already met with another version of yourself. That’s almost always how it happens. That’s how it’s been happening for quite a long time.”

“I have, at times, been visited by an angel.”

A waved hand. “Oh, go on. Keep trying to explain reality with a superstition. Makes me think of, what’s the expression? That one about suitably advanced technology and magic?” The Dark Everett carves a circle in the middle of his C. “Tell me more about this angel of yours.”

“He is me. Us. Only with a beard. Long flowing hair. He dresses in robes. He comes to my apartment once a week and makes sure I stay alive. For the longest time, I thought it was Jesus.”

“That’s a new one.”

“I thought – it occurred to me that perhaps when we see Jesus, we see an embodiment of whoever we are.”

“Arrogant. Did he tell you that he was Jesus?”

“He doesn’t say much.”

“I’ve heard of about this evangelist before. He’s visited many of us. He’s a slippery little missionary, the fuck.”

“He claimed knowledge of the future.”

“Did he give any specific examples?”

“A few. A baseball score. He told me that God wanted me to be a preacher, and that if I didn’t kill myself, all would be well.”
The Dark Everett scowls. “The Evangelist likes to prey on people in weak states of mind. That’s how he gets his kicks. I get mine solving that kind of problem.” The Dark Everett flips the knife in the air and catches it. Flip. Catch. Flip. Catch. There’s now a rough approximation of the world in the seat next to him, inside the C.

“You sit in judgment of others while you threaten another man with a knife?”

“I’m no prize myself.” That dry rasp in the nose again. It’s chilling. “But I am honest in what I do. If anything, sir, I am honest.”

“Most devils claim they are.”

“In fiction. There are no devils. Or angels. I’m a man, Chuck. Flesh and blood. I always have been. If you cut me, I’ll bleed. There’s nothing special about me beyond a commitment to be better than I am. Even if I were a demon, there’s nothing special enough about your pathetic life that would inspire one to visit you. You got tricked by religion. That’s how it works. It plays off our self-importance. If there were a God, and trust me, there’s not, he wants us both dead.” The Dark Everett makes a pistol with his finger and blows his fake brains out.

“Why?”

“Because every time a Charlie survives, bad things happen.”

“Every time?”

The knife stabs into the makeshift Earth. “There isn’t a one of us across the entire multiverse that’s at peace. Not a one. When we gain the ability to jump between worlds, we end up fucking them up, fucking ourselves up, stealing, fighting, corrupting. It’s in our blood.”

“Our souls?”

“Don’t get cute, Preach.”

“What’s my crime? I help the poor. I give my services for free. I like to think I live an honest life.”

“I just watched you bear false witness. And anyway, you’d change if you got a stone. We all do.”

“And you, casting the first stone?”

“I’m not immune. I deserve to die more than almost any other Charlie, and I will. There’s just some work to do before I go.”
The preacher looks up at the cross. “Did you ever consider that the relentless pursuit of perfection is a defect of humanity, not of our selves? I mean, provided you really are another me. We all make a mess of our lives. That doesn’t mean they need to end. If we learn to forgive ourselves, there can be peace. Does anyone live a life that isn’t, in some way, flawed?”

“Don’t pollute the issue. This isn’t a debate. You’re already dead. I like nuance, and that’s why I’m engaging you, but we’re not talking about spitting out kids we can’t take care of, all whoopsie-daisy. That’s a debatable character flaw. We’re talking about changing the entire course of otherwise normal societies. Genocide and annihilation. I came here today from a place where there’s a man handing out night vision to the highest bidding country in nineteen sixty.”

“Nineteen sixty?”

“Cheap gas is nice and all, but this long hair doesn’t go over very well.”

“I don’t imagine it would.”

“To the point, the man handing out the night vision is me. You. Speak to me of the lightness of our flaws when it doesn’t start wars to the tune of millions of lives.” The Dark Everett wiggles the knife free and draws an X over the world. “That planet is going to spiral into chaos in less than ten years because of one greedy, cheating capitalist who will end the conflict in Vietnam with drones. He’s done it one one world already, and he doesn’t care. And here’s the real trick – he’s one of the good ones. A Charlie Everett is a higher devil. A pox on the surface of infinite earths. Every time he kills a Hitler for a lark, he condemns millions of people to suffering over time, times that he will never have to live through because he can just step away. And we do. I have.”

The preacher stares down at the Dark Everett’s blade. “You can kill me in malice, and I won’t be able to stop you, but you won’t do it without knowing that I believe I’ve made this world a better place. I’m an exception to your rule.”

“You take the stupid and make them believe in magical men who prognosticate and punish. I can’t think of a much greater crime for a man’s soul beyond reality television.” A long, slow sigh.

A fist. An unmade fist. A hand to his mouth. “Can I possibly be so cynical? Can any of me be in you?”

The Dark Everett puts a finger up to where his nose would otherwise be. Flip. Catch. Flip. Catch. “I caught a little anger there, preacher. We can’t skip right to acceptance, can we?”

“I’m past acceptance. You forget.”

“Ah, good. Shall we get on with it, then?” Catch. Brandish.

The preacher looks toward the door. “May I choose where I die?”

“Bargaining. See? You’re on step three. Acceptance is a long way off. No. I don’t allow people to choose the methodology of death. There’s too much room for malarkey and escape. Appreciate the leeway I’m granting engaging in this conversation. It’s more than most get.”

“What made you talk to me, then?”

“I’m trying to decide if your silver tongue is worth a god damn, pun intended, or if you’re just wet meat to add to the pile. Needs must when the devil drives. So far it isn’t looking good for you. You’re not very convincing. You don’t fight with much salt.”

“That’s because I’m trying to listen to you and understand, not fight. It’s my job.”

“Now I’m just bored.” The knife into the pew again. A pistol from the back waistband, held casually in his palm. “But I’ll be kind. Bullet in the head, or slit throat?”

The preacher pales. “I know that weapon.”

“I fucking well know you know that weapon. You were supposed to use it.” Up comes the hand with the pistol, and then the hand with the knife. Pistol. Knife. Pistol. Knife. “Time to choose. Make it quick.” Toying.

“And if I have a better idea?”

“There is no better idea.” The Dark Everett lifts the pistol to the preacher’s temple. The steel is cold. “But look at the bright side. At least you’ll know for sure if you’re full of sh—”

“Crucify me.”

The pistol lowers. Laughter. “Say that again.”

“Why don’t you crucify me?”

More laughter. “Shit. You know, I like that. You mean it?”

“I do.”

The pistol retreats to the small of the back. “You might not be a total loss after all, depending on one crucial piece of information.”

“What’s that?”

“How often does this son of a bitch with the beard and the long flowing hair visit you?”

“I won’t give him up.”

“I know where you live. I’m going to go there and wait for him anyway. The man is already dead, like you. Tell me when your appointment is, I’ll give you your crucifixion, and maybe something more. If not, you make a mess here that some poor janitor is gonna have to pick up. He’ll tell the congregation what your brains look like, because he believes he’s forgiven for it in advance.”

“There’s no way I can persuade you not to kill my visitor?”

“None at all. Philosophically speaking, you’ve already killed him.”

A long silence. “He is supposed to visit this afternoon. What’s the something more?”

“Total, real resolution for your faith. Such as it is.”

* * *

And there you have it, folks. Intrigued? I hope so.

You can follow CURA TE IPSUM as it regularly updates right HERE.

VOLUME THREE collects the first half of the second year of the comic, and makes a nice companion to VOLUMES ONE and TWO if you already have them. The YEAR ONE book collects material previously available in VOLUMES ONE and TWO, with bonus stuff like the complete text of the story you just sneak-peeked. There are a good number of difference combo packages you  can purchase as well, including the chance to get original sketches done by Mr. Wee himself.  So click on this link, check it out. Tell them Anthony sent you!

Hollywood Endings EP - Musicians

This is the latest in a series of posts related to various Kickstarter projects I’ve backed and hope you will too. None of them are my own (currently, I’ve got nothing I think I should be doing a Kickstarter for), but all of these are important to me for one reason or another. Some of them are projects of friends. Some of them are just projects I think are cool. Most of them are both.

Hollywood Endings

It’s no secret I’m fond of the HOLLYWOOD ENDING boys. I promote them enough, here and on Facebook and Twitter. It helps that I’ve become friends with some of the parents of the band, and I can see that the band’s current and future success is not just 5 teenage boys pushing themselves, but a real family (or families) effort. So when the guys decided to do a Kickstarter to finance their first EP, I knew I had to contribute and help get the word out.

Unsurprisingly, with their large number of teenage female fans, they hit their modest $5,000 goal within two days of launching the project. Slightly past the halfway point time-wise, they have raised over $7,000. Honestly, I’d like to see them get to $10,000 before their month is up. The more money they have to put towards finishing the EP, promoting it, and touring to support it, the better. The HWE boys are not rich kids out on a lark — they rely heavily on family support to tour, and it would be nice to see them have a bit of bank to utilize.

They’ve already laid money out to film the video for the first single off of the EP. The filming happened over the weekend, surrounding their first headlining show out in California. Some of the extra dollars raised will go towards finishing the video.

You can learn all about the rewards for supporting the Kickstarter (including autographed clothing, lyrics sheets, limited edition memorabilia and physical cds, instruments and more) HERE.

You can also hear more about how things are going for the band by Liking their Facebook page, and following @hwoodending@hollywoodCamB @hollywoodTyler @hollywoodDanny and @hollywooodChrisB on Twitter.

And check out videos on their Youtube channel.

FIRESIDE - Interview

This is a week of posts related to various Kickstarter projects I’ve backed and hope you will too. None of them are my own (currently, I’ve got nothing I think I should be doing a Kickstarter for), but all of these are important to me for one reason or another. Some of them are projects of friends. Some of them are just projects I think are cool. Most of them are both.

Today’s focus is on the recently-successfully-concluded Kickstarter for issue # 2 of FIRESIDE magazine. I backed the first issue, and ended up as a main character in Christie Yant’s story “Temperance,” which opens with my character concluding the worst bender of his life by puking into an open grave … during a funeral.  For issue #2 I chose the reward to be a main character in Damien W. Grintalis’ story, still unnamed, and I can’t wait to see what horrible things she’s going to do to “me.”

Here’s Fireside editor/publisher Brian White, talking about plans for #2 and beyond:

ANTHONY: What is the main concept for Fireside?

 BRIAN: Fireside has two goals: to publish great storytelling regardless of genre and to pay our writers and artists well.

The idea for Fireside grew out of a stew of information and ideas that had been simmering in the back of my brain for about a year, mostly coming out of conversations and ideas I’d been seeing on Twitter and blogs that I follow: about pay for writers, about new business models for publishing, and about the health of short fiction. I’d been starting to see a lot of talk about crowdfunding, especially Kickstarter, and one day I realized: I can publish a magazine. Funding even the first issue of Fireside wasn’t something I could have done out of my own pocket. But crowdfunding allowed me to do two things: eliminate a financial risk for myself, and gauge if there was genuine interest in what I wanted to do. I didn’t have the money, but I could invest my time, sweat, and enthusiasm in the magazine.

So once I realized I could do this, I quickly decided I wanted to do something like what Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio did with the anthology “Stories”: find good story-driven fiction, but not focused on a particular genre. I also knew I wanted to try publishing a comic in each issue along with short stories, because I’ve just started reading comics in the past few years, and I love them and wanted to experiment with that.

In the introduction to “Stories,” Gaiman writes of his response to a question about what quote he would want inscribed on the wall of the kids’ section in a public library. He captured the reason why we love good stories in his response:

“I’m not sure I’d put a quote up, if it was me, and I had a library wall to deface. I think I’d just remind people of the power of stories, of why they exist in the first place. I’d put up the four words that anyone telling a story wants to hear. The ones that show it’s working, and that pages will be turned:

“… and then what happened?” “

ANTHONY: What can readers expect in your first issue and beyond?
BRIAN: Each issue will have four short stories of between 2,000 and 4,000 words and one comic. I’m hoping that each issue will be very different in terms of the mix of genres, and therefore each will be a little surprising.

ANTHONY: What is Fireside’s policy on open submissions from authors?
BRIAN: Because of the nature of Kickstarter and because I was starting from scratch, the first two issues of Fireside were invitation-only. By having writers and artists lined up, I was able to offer a lot of rewards tied to each contributor.

However, we do want to start taking submissions. Starting with Issue Three, at least one slot will be held for submitted short stories. I’m not sure what form this will take, but it will probably be a limited window of some kind, both because I am totally new at dealing with submissions, and because we are quarterly and will have only the one slot per issue for now, I don’t think rolling submissions make a lot of sense.

ANTHONY: What made you choose Kickstarter for your fundraising efforts, as opposed to IndieGoGo or any of the other tools out there?
BRIAN: Mainly it was because Kickstarter is the most recognizable of the options, and because more people have heard of it, I thought they’d be more comfortable giving it their credit card information.

ANTHONY: Looking back, is there anything you’d change about your campaign?
BRIAN: The only thing that is apparent right away is that I think we overpriced a couple rewards that didn’t really have any takers, but other than that, I think things went really well. For Issue Two we experimented with a three-week campaign instead of the traditional 30 days, and it worked out great, and cut out one of the slow middle weeks, which are kind of nerve-racking anyway because it seems like interest has died out.

ANTHONY: How can people who missed out on the Kickstarter subscribe/become supporters of Fireside?
BRIAN: Fireside is for sale in several places, and we have subscriptions through Weightless Books. Links to all of those options are available athttp://firesidemag.com/getfireside.

CROSSED GENRES, Author - Interview

This is a week of posts related to various Kickstarter projects I’ve backed and hope you will too. None of them are my own (currently, I’ve got nothing I think I should be doing a Kickstarter for), but all of these are important to me for one reason or another. Some of them are projects of friends. Some of them are just projects I think are cool. Most of them are both.

Today’s spotlight is on CROSSED GENRES. CG started as an online magazine, then became a publisher. They recently hit a financial setback and turned to Kickstarter to rejuvenate. And so far the campaign has not only exceeded expectations, it’s exceeded one stretch goal and, with a few days to go, looks to meet a second stretch goal as well. If they can raise a few more bucks, they can follow through on their intention to pay authors pro rates. I’d love to see this happen, and not only because I plan to eventually submit work to them!

I conducted a new, short interview with publisher Bart Leib about the campaign and their goals:

Crossed Genres

ANTHONY: What is the main concept for Crossed Genres?

 BART: Our small press started with our magazine. Each month we choose a genre or theme, and all submissions for that issue have to combine the theme with some aspect of science fiction and/or fantasy. We’ll continue this when we resurrect the magazine in 2013. And if we succeed in reaching our 2nd stretch goal, we’ll achieve a long-time dream of ours: to pay writers professional rates for their stories!

ANTHONY: What can readers expect in your first issue and beyond?

 BART: Our “first” issue will actually be our 37th! We haven’t actually decided what the first new genres will be, but we have plenty to choose from – we have a list of over eight years worth of themes that we didn’t get to during the first three years. If we reach our stretch goal to pay professional rates, it may influence the themes, but no matter what, the themes will be diverse and progressive.

ANTHONY: What is Crossed Genres Magazine’ policy on open submissions from authors?

 BART: CG Magazine has always had open submissions. That will continue when we re-launch in 2013.

ANTHONY: What made you choose Kickstarter for your fundraising efforts, as opposed to IndieGoGo or any of the other tools out there?

BART: We had already run two successful Kickstarter campaigns. Actually we were fairly early adapters, running our first campaign in early 2010. We were already familiar with the process of going through Kickstarter, which makes everything very streamlined and simple. It also has a great existing ecosystem, and that helps more people find the campaign.

ANTHONY: Looking back, is there anything you’d change about your campaign?

 BART: Well it’s still going on, but we do wish we’d known ahead of time that it was going to be such a success! Most things have gone very well, and we only wish we could offer even more to our amazing backers! But the rewards we are offering have been very well received. Really the only “regret” is that we haven’t reached even more people!

ANTHONY: How can people who missed out on the Kickstarter subscribe/become supporters of Crossed Genres?

 BART: Our Kickstarter is still going on! It runs until 5PM EST on Friday, June 22! There’s still time to get some great rewards and help us become a pro-rate market!

THE GARLICKS, Comic Book Creators - Interview

This is the start of a week of posts related to various Kickstarter projects I’ve backed and hope you will too. None of them are my own (currently, I’ve got nothing I think I should be doing a Kickstarter for), but all of these are important to me for one reason or another. Some of them are projects of friends. Some of them are just projects I think are cool. Most of them are both.

Today, I’m spotlighting Lea Hernandez’ soon-to-conclude project to fund her next graphic novel, THE GARLICKS. Lea is a 25-year veteran of the comics field, has worked for DC and Marvel and has produced five graphic novels before now.

I’m going past tapping 4 people who haven’t pledged (as Lea requests below). I’m reaching out to everyone who reads my Facebook, Twitter and this here little blog. If each of you donated $25, you’d get a really cool set of stuff, and you’d help a single mother of two teenagers have a year’s worth of security to pay the bills and finish a fantastic project. So please consider helping out.

In Lea’s Own Words, from her latest project update:

As THE GARLICKS: Pandora Garlicks, Fail Vampire heads into its final days,  I need your help to make the last big push to get it fully funded, and it CAN BE DONE. (I will also eat a bug*. Really.)

Here’s how:

Everyone who’s pledged, PLEASE tap FOUR people who haven’t backed THE GARLICKS and encourage them to pledge at least $25. (That gets them a signed and sketched in book, a PDF, a sticker, and their name in the book.) That will generate $29,600** in funding, which puts us past goal.

Tell your friends who like Twilight, My Little Pony, want their kids to read more, like vampires, like genre fiction, like manga, parents you know who wonder where the good genre comics for kids are, or people who want to feel good about supporting a single parent entrepreneur.

Please post about THE GARLICKS to Facebook, Twitter, email lists, your blog(s), Tumblr, etc.Tell people THE GARLICKS needs their help to reach its funding goal.

If you’ve got a Big Name pal you can nudge to support THE GARLICKS with a Tweet, Facebook or blog entry, please do. If you’ve got an in at a site like The Mary Sue (who already covered TG, THANK YOU, GALS) or BoingBoing.net, please tell them about THE GARLICKS.

I’ll still be doing my P.T. Barnum thing, too.

Know what else? It’d be COOL to get THE GARLICKS Kickstarter across the finish line in four days. You can say, “I WAS THERE!” You will all be badass Fishbats.

LET’S DO IT! I want to start drawing THE GARLICKS, already!

*I’m not kidding. I will eat a bug. I get to choose the bug, and I will not CHEW the bug, but I will eat one.

**The math: Backers so far: 296. If each of you gets four friends to pledge, we have 1,184 more backers. Get each of them to pledge $25., that’s $29,600.

* * * * *

And of course, you can find all the details of Lea’s THE GARLICKS Kickstarter right here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/divalea/the-garlicks-pandora-orange-fail-vampire

HOW TO RUN A BLOG TOUR FOR A SEQUEL

This week’s guest post is by author Bryan Thomas Schmidt, a frequent guest on this site. Bryan is on a blog tour to promote THE RETURNING, the second in his Saga of Davi Rhii science fiction series. We considered doing another interview, but as we’ve now interviewed each other at least four times between our two blogs, I thought a guest post by Bryan would be a nice change of pace, and what better topic to discuss than how to do a blog tour for a sequel without spoiling the first book in the series?  So here he is, ladies and gentlemen, Bryan Thomas Schmidt:

How To Run a Blog Tour For A Sequel Without Spoiling Book 1

Okay, first of all, the fact that Anthony asked for this topic proves he’s not really my friend, let’s just get that out of the way first.  I mean, I suppose it’s a compliment that he thinks I actually have the answers to this. After all, The Returning is only my second novel ever published. And having been a beta reader for me on it, he of all people should know how tightly the storylines interlap as well as how much the success of this particular sequel depends on suspense and surprise.  To be fair, though, I did it to myself. I’m the one who wrote the novel this way, after all. The fact that he’s an opportunist taking advantage of my self-made quandary is just an unfortunate side effect really.

So let’s get on with it then. How do you run a blog tour for book 2 of a trilogy? Very carefully. Just as craft goes into the writing, so must it be applied to your marketing.

First, choose some excerpts and plot/character details which can be shared to tease the book without ruining the rest of the plot. Not easy, but doable. They should involve the old familiar characters, particularly the protagonist and also the antagonist when possible. And they should be fast-paced and tension filled. You can share the romantic subplots sometimes but usually those emotional highs are best saved and it’s the drama of the obstacles which draws most readers in.

For example, the reading excerpt from this book I have been using is a subplot scene involving my protagonist, Davi Rhii, fighting with his girlfriend/fiancée, Tela, witnessed by his archrival Bordox. It’s told through Bordox’s POV and so we get not only character and plot development for Davi and Tela but also for Bordox. Their relationships were all established in book 1, The Worker Prince. We knew Bordox would want revenge because he always blames Davi for his troubles and Davi really put him in his place in Book 1. Davi and Tela’s romance developed in book 1, but most couples go through phases where they have fights, so no surprise there. Thus, that scene is not a spoiler but it does have enough juice to intrigue fans of the series and new readers as to the kinds of issues book 2, The Returning, holds in store.

Second, choose story descriptions which don’t give too much away about the prior book or the latest. You can tell them the basic plot without ruining the ending. You don’t have to ruin the first book’s ending. Instead of saying “they fought and so-and-so won, but now they’re at it again,” you can say: “In book 2, the characters find themselves in conflict over x, y and z and the repercussions of book 1 are impacting their personal relationships and lives.” See how that avoids mention of the ending yet sets up the conflict in the second book as well as characters? It tells you there’s going to be obstacles to overcome and that the events of the first book do play a role in shaping things but also leaves you room for new things as well. (Dang, even when I’m describing generic sentences I’m writing generic sentences. This could ruin my craft.)

What intriguing tidbits can you offer to tease without giving it away? With The Returning, for example, I can say: “Davi and Tela find their future together threatened by difficulties with their relationship.”  Generic? Yes, but promising because our favorite couple, the antagonist and his love interest, aren’t so perfect after all. In The Worker Prince, we rooted for them to get together so now that’s threatened? Readers will want to know why. There’s complication and complications make for interesting drama. Here’s another example: “Xalivar is back with a vengeance seeking revenge on Davi and all those who defied him.” We don’t know if Xalivar won or lost in the last book, but he wants revenge and that’s well within his character so we’re not spoiling anything. People who enjoyed the larger-than-life villain will enjoy seeing him up to his old antics and how the heroes overcome it.

Here’s a third: “Davi, Farien and Yao reunite for a mission to investigate the murders of Vertullians throughout the system by those opposed to their obtaining citizenship, finding their lives and friendships threatened by what they discover.” Our three buddies with great rapport are back and they are hunting killers and in danger? Who doesn’t want to know what happens?

Here’s the full description I’ve used for the back of the book, Goodreads, etc.:

The Vertullians are free and have full citizenship but that doesn’t mean they’re accepted. Now someone is sending assassins to kill and terrorize them and it’s riling up old enmity all over again. On top of that, Xalivar is back with a vengeance seeking revenge on Davi and all those who defied him. So Davi, Farien and Yao reunite for a mission to investigate the murders of Vertullians throughout the system by those opposed to their obtaining citizenship, finding their lives and friendships threatened by what they discover. Meanwhile, the new High Lord Councilor, Tarkanius, Lord Aron, and Davi find themselves fighting all over again to preserve the unity of the Borali Alliance, while Xalivar’s allies and even Lords on the Borali Council work against them in an attempt to tear it apart. Davi and Tela find their future together threatened by difficulties with their relationship, and Miri’s adjusting to her new status as a non-royal. The action packed, emotional, exciting Davi Rhii story continues.

I tease familiar character names and remind readers new and old that there will be more political backstabbing, family drama, romantic entanglements and life-on-the-line action. All things people loved about The Worker Prince.

Second, choose the types of post you’d most like to feature: interviews, excerpts, reviews, video blog entries, character interviews, humorous dialogues, guest posts, etc. It’s best to have a variety and spread them out so you don’t run a whole week of reviews or excerpts, etc. Then contact the bloggers you’d like to see participate and ask if they’d be interested, offering post options. When guest blogging, it’s usually best to find a topic or way of discussing one that relates to the blog’s theme and offer that. I also use anchor blogs, big blogs with lots of traffic, on Mondays to start my week and Wednesdays for a boost when I can and scatter the others between. When possible, I have each link to the next day’s post.

It’s important to pick a variety of blogs, too. You don’t want all blogs that reach the same audience. You are trying to let as many people as possible know about your book. Now if your book’s family friendly, an erotica blog probably isn’t the best fit (i.e. use common sense) but I’ve had mystery writers invite me to write about craft on their blogs and so on. Small blogs can reach people, too, especially as they grow and the posts sit there over time. Obviously, the more built-in the audience, the better, but still, you can benefit from the variety of sizes just the same.

Third, start writing. It’s best to start a month or more in advance. You’ll have a lot of content to develop and the more time you have to prepare it, the better quality it can be. You’ll also have time to adopt any changes the host sites might request, etc. Remember to capture the excitement you had in writing the book. There’s plenty of elements from craft of dialogue to plotting to genre choices to character arcs and more you can guest post on. By being creative, you can still tease your book and work in aspects of it without a sales pitch, like I’m doing with this post. Readers love to dig in more in depth to the workings of a novelists mind and they find the behind-the-scenes insight helpful and interesting. And, if you want them to buy your book, you need to convince them you’re interesting. Why else should they agree to dedicate hours to hanging with your mind and creative output? Use humor, provide links and examples, and provide pictures and a bio on every post, including links to not just your book page and site but also to other helpful tools and books you might mention in the post.

Fourth, visit the posts and answer comments. Dialogue with the blogger and readers. Don’t just let it post and disappear. A key part of what makes blogs and blog tours successful is the chance to interact with bloggers/authors. Be personable and have fun. If you get a troll, either ignore them or make a joke. Don’t engage in a flame war. Instead, have fun and answer with as much personality, intelligence and interesting data as you can. That will build relationships with whole new readers. I’ve had people buy my book and even become friends doing that. And those people will then help spread the word with no effort from you.

Blog tours are a lot of work. So is book promotion. But in the present climate of publishing, more and more of that onus falls on the authors. The beauty of blogs is that they’re free and you can reach out beyond your own circles to a wider band, helping draw traffic and attention for others doing solid work and writing while, at the same time, promoting yourself. So there you have it, a few tips to doing a blog tour for a second book without ruining the first. Hit me back in a month or two and I’ll tell you if they work or not. Meanwhile, thanks to Anthony for inviting me to Rambling On.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novels The Worker Prince, a Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Year’s Best SF Releases of 2011 Honorable Mention, and The Returning, the collection The North Star Serial, Part 1, and has several short stories featured  in anthologies and magazines.  He edited the new anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, headlined by Mike Resnick. His children’s book 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids from Delabarre Publishing. As  a freelance editor, he’s edited a novels and nonfiction.  He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A frequent contributor to Adventures In SF Publishing, Grasping For The Wind and SFSignal, he can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Bryan is an affiliate member of the SFWA.