The Clarion Write a Thon Begins!

Despite three quarters of hard work on my doctorate,  I have managed to keep a toe hold in the creative writing world with three new publications.  On the fiction side, "Dance With The Devil" was just published in Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance. All of my (four) publications in Rayne Hall's Ten  Tales series are spinoffs from my novels Unfinished Business or Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams, which are now (still) making the rounds of agents.

On the non fiction side, "Artichokes" was published in Winter 2013 in Thanksgiving to Christmas: A Quilt of Holidays. In September, "Karma, Kickbacks and Kids" will be published in Not Your Mother's Book: On Parenting, and at the same time Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Woman will be re-released by PS Publishing to a much larger market. My nonfiction runs the gamut from the sweet and sentimental to the irreverent and edgy so there is really something for everyone.

All my publications are listed on my Amazon Author's Page and anyone who makes a donation to the Write a Thon on my behalf will get a special gft from me (Hint: something or another on that page, depending upon your  taste)

I'm actively at work on "The Fairy Lamp," which will be going out to pro short story markets very soon. "The Ultimate Test," which has been cursed with acceptances that never seen to work out when anthologies run out of room or close down is in the queue with Fearful Symmetries and my fingers are crossed. I've also got "Fairyflies," which needs a nice, literary market and if anyone has a suggestion for a rather short magical realist tale, please let me know.

In order to get back into a regular creative writing routine, I've once again signed onto the Clarion Write a Thon to work through this backlog and break this writer's block. I would sincerely appreciate some contributions, no matter how small to this very worthy cause as well as to kick my butt and keep me at work with a story I've been dying to finish for years called "The Northern Lights."

And once I get done with that, I really need to get moving on the first chapters of the second book in the Boulevard of Bad Spells and Broken Dreams series, which has been researched and outlined and just needs some serious behind in the chair, fingers on the keyboard work.

So, please join me this summer as I've got a big deadline approaching on September 3, when my final year of the doctoral program begins and I once again must retreat into the scholarly world, which is nowhere near as much fun as writing fantasy or whipping up excerpts of my memoirs. Click here for my Clarion Author Page to view my progress and to the Write a Thon Home Page to make a donation.

Rayne Hall, Editor, Introduces The Contributing Authors In Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance

Last time, I was pleased to host Rayne Hall, the author, discussing her novel Storm Dancer. Today, I'm thrilled to announce the upcoming publication of the latest in her popular fantasy anthology series  Seers: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance. It is quite an honor to once again have placed my story, "Dance With The Devil," amongst an incredible lineup from authors from all over the globe. Without further ado,  here is a list of contributors and a table of contents--along with the cover. Stay tuned for release day and  I'll let you know when Rayne hits the button.

SEERS: TEN TALES OF CLAIRVOYANCE - ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

 

APRIL GREY's urban fantasy novel, Chasing The Trickster, is published by Eternal Press.Her short stories have been published in such anthologies as Demonmind's Halloween 2010, The Best of Everyday Fiction 2, Northern Haunts, Ephemera, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies and Terrible Beauty, Fearful Symmetry. Many of these stories can be found in her collection, The Fairy Cake Bake Shoppe available through Amazon.

RAYNE HALL lives in a dilapidated English seaside town of former Victorian grandeur where she writes horror and fantasy fiction. Her short stories have been published in many magazines, e-zines and anthologies. She has had more than 40 books published in several genres under several pen names, including the dark epic fantasy novel Storm Dancer. Her editing experience in the publishing industry spans three decades. She is also the editor of other books in the Ten Tales series. You can follow her on Twitter @raynehall and her website is http://sites.google.com/site/raynehallsdarkfantasyfiction/ .

JEFF HARGETT is a grandfather from North Carolina with an imagination full of magic and dragons. He stays young and fit by dining on epic fantasy whenever possible. He’s had a couple of short stories placed in competitions, but prefers his fiction in novel-length doses. He is currently writing an epic fantasy series that he hopes will be published while he can still wield a pen. He’s a firm believer that when this world doesn’t suit you, you should write a world that does. He enjoys interacting with readers and other writers and spends far too much time loitering around his blog http://StrandsOfPattern.blogspot.com/ .

FREDERICK LANGRIDGE enjoyed a varied career as an engineer, scientist, manager and teacher. Now in semi-retirement he has turned his writing skills to projects much more exciting than worksheets and textbooks. His short stories have appeared in compilations produced by the Panocticon Writing Group, of which he is a founder member, and in his own collection: Short Stories to Read on the Bus. He has previously contributed to a published science teaching course and several textbooks, and currently works part time as Associate Tutor in Science Education at Edge Hill University.

DOUGLAS KOLACKI began writing while stationed with the Navy in Naples, Italy, published numerous stories in San Diego, and recently completed a cross-country trek to his new home in Providence, Rhode Island. His short story credits include Weird Tales, Dragons Knights & Angels, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, Spells: Ten Tales of Magic and Big Pulp. His published novels are Elijah's Chariot and On the Eighth Day, God Created Trilby Richardson.

TRACIE MCBRIDE is a New Zealander who lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 80 print and electronic publications, including Horror Library Vols 4 and 5, Dead Red Heart, Phobophobia, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Undead: Ten Tales of Zombies and Horror for Good. Her debut collection Ghosts Can Bleed contains much of the work that earned her a Sir Julius Vogel Award in 2008. She helps to wrangle slush for Dark Moon Digest and is the vice president of Dark Continents Publishing. She welcomes visitors to her blog at http://traciemcbridewriter.wordpress.com /.

CAROLE ANN MOLETI lives and works as a nurse-midwife in New York City, thus explaining her fascination with all things paranormal, urban fantasy, and space opera. Her work has appeared in a variety of speculative fiction venues including Lightspeed, The Internet Review of Science Fiction, Tangent Online, The Portal, and The Fix. Other stories set in the world of her novels are featured in Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Beltane: Ten Tales of Magic, and Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires. Follow her on Twitter @Cmoleti, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carole-Ann-Moleti/105189976183638 or this blog.

JACK NICHOLLS lives in Melbourne, Australia, where on most nights he cannot see the stars at all. He is a graduate of Clarion West 2011, where this story was written. It was first published in Beneath Ceaseless Skies 101.His other fantasy fiction has appeared in Aurealis 54  and Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine 56

MOHANALAKSHMI RAJAKUMAR is a South Asian American who has lived in Qatar since 2005. Moving to the Arabian Desert was fortuitous in many ways since this is where she met her husband, had a baby, and made the transition from writing as a hobby to a full time passion. She has since published five e-books including a mom-ior for first time mothers, Mommy But Still Me, a guide for aspiring writers, So You Want to Sell a Million Copies, a short story collection, Coloured and Other Stories, and a novel about women’s friendships, Saving Peace. Most recently, From Dunes to Dior, is a collection of essays related to her experiences as a female South Asian American living in the Arabian Gulf. After she joined the e-book revolution, she dreams in plotlines. Learn more about her work on her website at www.mohanalakshmi.com or follow her latest on Twitter: @moha_doha.

DEBORAH WALKER grew up in the most English town in the country, but she soon high-tailed it down to London, where she now lives with her partner, Chris, and her two young children. Find Deborah in the British Museum trawling the past for future inspiration or on her blog. Her stories have appeared in Nature's Futures, Cosmos, Enchanted Conversation and in The Year's Best SF 18.

Out With The Old and In With the New

The last time I took a deep breath was October. Hurricane Sandy, though it did no lasting damage to my home or family, disrupted everyday life for months. Power problems, cable problems, gas lines, traffic jams, participating in relief efforts--time marched on until the Sandy Hook shootings which came close, but thankfully did not harm any of the friends and loved ones who live in Newtown-physically anyway.

Despite an absolutely miserable year health wise, which included trying to recover from a debilitating case of tendonitis in my right arm (made worse by writing and "mousing"), topped off by yet another knee injury (on the left this time), and a host of other troubles, none of which turned out to be serious but nevertheless created great anxiety, I was able to finish, proofread, format and submit two novels. The Widow's Walk, second in the Cape Cod Paranormal Romance Series and Boulevard of Bad Spell and Broken Dreams: Void of Course, the first in The Bronx Urban Fantasy Series.

Always being the type to try and make lemons out of lemonade, like a true midwife, my belief in complementary and alternative medicine and spiritual healing enabled me to experience the power of yoga and meditation, acupuncture and energy healing, as well as Santeria in a way that has both enhanced my life and my writing. Special thanks go out to Deborah Blake, Aida, and Nan who infuse everything they do with deep, abiding belief in the metaphysical and who have allowed me into their world and practice.

I was able to attract the interest of several agents, and the jury is still out as to whether any of the two who have full manuscripts in hand aren't responding because they're busy, the attachments are trapped in spam, aren't interested, or a combination of all the above.

I've semi plotted (I am a panster) the third and second books in each respective series.

In the last year, three short stories based on characters and situations in the novels have been published in the Ten Tales Series (Breakwater Beach in Haunted, The Dhampir's Kiss in Bites, and Mishmash Magick in Beltane). One additional is on submission for Seer: Ten Tales of Clairvoyance and another serial anthology.

I've taken the time to solicit additional crits for two shorts languishing in oblivion "Fairyflies" and "The Ultimate Test," both of which are making the rounds of suitable venues.

I've appeared in the Voices of Fiction series, thanks to Cher Green  and in The Next Big Thing thanks to Rayne Hall. A very busy spring and summer of submissions paid off big time with several nonfiction excerpts published or re-released this fall, including "Artichokes" in A Quilt of Holidays, "The Dance Class" and "Endless Possibilities" in This Path, and "A Catholic Schoolgirl's Primer" in Not Your Mother's Book: On Being a Woman. Several excerpts of my memoirs Someday I'm Going to Write a Book and Karma, Kickbacks, and Kids are still out on submission and I eagerly await word on their fate.

All my publications are now in one place: my very own Amazon Author's Page. 

Since September, I've been deeply immersed in doctoral studies--something I've needed and wanted to do for a long time. It's as awful and wonderful as I expected--mind numbing and opening at the same time-as is any scholarly pursuit. 

Flickers of bad memories of the mental and physical exhaustion from the intensity of graduate study while going through a divorce from my first husband and working full time have come back, even though my social situation is much different. Being a mother of three (and the teenagers/young adults are worse than the school agers) and working full time (in two separate positions) in an electronic medical record implementation induced pressure cooker has done nothing to calm my nerves.

Suffice it to say my average bedtime has gone from 10 pm to 1 am, while my average awakening remains at 5:30 am, leaving me in a sleep deprived, perpetually heart racing, how many balls can I keep in the air at the same time before I reach the marathon finish line--or drop everything.

he last repairs were made to our phone, Internet and cable system on January 4! Kudos to Con Ed and Verizon for superior customer service. Three thumbs down to Time Warner Cable for abysmal service. Shame on Slomins, a Long Island based alarm and heating oil company. My alarm system just came back online last week due to cable and other programming outages, they weren't even answering the phone for two weeks, couldn't get a techncian out to my house until after the holidays, and still have the cohones to refuse to grant any service credit. Will be looking for a new provider this year.

Goals for 2013 include completing this semester--the heaviest in terms of didactic studies both credit wise and content wise--with a statistical methods course and health informatics program. Five major assignments and counting for one, three for the other, not including the weekly statistical analysis exercise, work on my project proposal and IRB applications--ah yes, I have outdone myself this time. 

It will all be a bad memory by the end of February, when the credit load drops by half and the preparation for the clinical research (I love being with patients) begins. I look forward to a glorious summer off to write fiction--always my first love--while I continue to market my novels.

There are points of light--LunaCon in March, CTRWA events, the monthly meeting on Saturday and FictionFest shining through the darkness like beacons of hope (purple prose notwithstanding). 

As always, thanks to fellow members of the Professional Author's Group, the Anticipation Workshops and my fellow my Taos Toolbox alumni, many of whom I got to read, write, drink and otherwise hang with at Worldcon 2012.

And to Andrew Richardson, fellow member of critters.org who waits every so patiently for the manuscript swaps and is always there to lend a hand when I need it, as well as a broad virtual shoulder when the writing tasks collide with reality. I hope to finally get to meet him--and Rayne Hall, editor extraordinare, when I attend Worldon 2014 in London.

Speaking of Rayne, she nominated me and Tracie McBride for The Next Big Thing, and I've nominated Andrew. His post, and his big news about another sale, will be up on right here this  Saturday.