Writers, come learn a lot for only a little at Context 25!

Do you want to be one of the first people to score a print edition, hot off the press, of my new book LOVE ME, KISS ME, KILL ME? Hydra Publications will release them at Context 25! This is a wonderful science fiction and fantasy con in Columbus, Ohio September 28-30 where, in additional to panels on a variety of subjects, gaming sessions and filk concerts, attendees can (for a minimal fee) take writing workshops provided by a number of multi-published writers and professors from great writing schools like Seton Hill.

This year, I’ll be teaching a workshop on Saturday morning about writing diverse characters:

(Saturday, September 29th, 10am-noon)
The world is full of different ethnicities and cultural groups; unfortunately, most  writers tend to only write about people like themselves. Others who want to include more diverse characters may be afraid of portraying people poorly.

This workshop will use exercises like those in Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward’s Writing the Other and other sources to expand your thinking about using characters of other race/class/ethnicity in your stories. We’ll look at the power of first impression—what you glean from your first sight of someone—which may or may not truly give you their essence. Participants should bring pen and paper to work through some simple but eye-opening “What If?” questions that will show you how to expand your story’s diversity. Finally, we’ll conduct an exercise designed to teach you how to convey the diverse uniqueness of your characters in subtle ways—i.e., without having Fred say, “Hi, John, this is my black friend Mike.”

The two-hour workshop costs only $20 and leaves you plenty of time the rest of the day for classes with Maria Snyder, Tim Esaias and Linnea Sinclair, as well as a multitude of panels.

The workshops are filling up, so get on over to the site and sign up!

For those who are reluctant to attend conferences because you feel overwhelmed, I thoroughly recommend this one. The people are nice, the workshops intimate, and there’s a very welcoming vibe. Definitely something for everyone here–you could attend the con to get your fill of gaming play and talk, or just take writing workshops the whole time, at an extremely reasonable cost. Tim Esaias of Seton Hill recently pointed out that his workshops are essential the same module he teaches at the University–but much less expensive. Don’t miss it!

One little, two little, three little space pirates…. SFFS 8-18

Well, if you’ve been following the TRIAD snippets, you know that space pirates are on the horizon, and at least one space battle is bound to ensue.

The snippet today is from one of those battles, one which has a costly ending for the young alliance of the Khimeyr, Solarii and Dragonfleet. But when you stand to lose it all, there’s nothing else to do but fight:

Unfortunately, the pirate weapons were heavier, causing greater damage. Both Pomeroy’s and Catava’s ships took hits which sent them out of the rotation on long ellipses, taking time to recover before rejoining the battle. Trezanna made a run herself, feeling her heart pound as she passed between the lines of fire, trading shot for shot, the roar of the weapons under her rumbling through her feet, her ship bouncing around as her shields bore the brunt of the assault.

Passing behind them to circle round, she avoided most of the fire from the rear turrets and headed back toward the front in a smooth arc. McKinley’s Amazon launched one of the prototype weapons at the pirate ship nearest, and Trezanna was thrilled to see it penetrate the shields and hit the hull with such force it seemed palpable even inside her cockpit. Winston and Hussard tag-teamed the other Arkosian ship, taking turns on the offensive, blasting, then darting quickly aside. Xiu followed them in, but as Trezanna watched, suddenly swung wide, making a large detour around the pirates. A glance at rear sensors revealed eight ships coming at great speed along the route the pirates had come.

More pirates?

Who’d fooled who here?

Read more about the book at the tab above. Several other snippets from this book have been posted in weeks and months past; please do check them out! TRIAD is available now from Dragonfly Publishing, Inc. , at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and through most other sources. Order it in paperback from your local indie bookstore. (Yay, indie bookstores!!)

For more science fiction and fantasy snippets to round out your Saturday, check the main page at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday, and find little bits of stories from SFF authors from around the globe!

And a bonus–here’s a sneak peak of 2013’s HORIZON SHIFT–first in a sci-fi series beginning next year!  Can’t wait till this series rolls out because I love these characters. 🙂   I know you will too.

BLURB: Captain Temms Rogers uses a bit of untested alien technology to escape a  space battle, nearly destroying his ship in the process. When he wakes up, he discovers his crew decimated, his ship badly damaged, and he has no idea where he is. Even once he gets his equipment working again, he finds himself in an area of space no one of his faction—maybe his whole race—has ever been before. Lost, and alone.
Not quite alone.
His former commander Jal Burko, bent on revenge, hasn’t given up the fight, determined to punish Rogers for the rebellion he led. Desperate, the clock ticking, Rogers enlists an assortment of people to help him rebuild and repair his ship, many of them misfits who deserve a second chance, each with a special talent to share: a runaway bride, a
17-year old navigation whiz sold into slavery, a cocky xenophobic engineer, a pair of genetically engineered lizard-humans. He even finds a friend aboard he never expected.  A chance meeting with an economic power called the Consortium brings Rogers powerful friends, and the key to putting the clues together. But the appearance of a strange autistic boy, abandoned in the Doubtful‘s cargo bay, becomes the catalyst that may save the ship and its crew from
Burko’s single-minded hatred when all else fails.

LM,KM, KM first review: this book is “heart stopping”!

Check this out… Five stars and a great review.  Hope it’s the first of many! 🙂

Welcome home….NOT. SFFS for August 11, 2012

I got such a great response for my little spitfire Estrella last week, I wanted to give another slice of her life again. Not only has she discovered, in last week’s snippet, that the Khimeyr are back, but this week she discovers that the commander is not who she thinks at all. Her world is in serious WTF mode, and she needs to take action. But what?

ESTRELLA returned to her base, flying blindly, jumping at every shadow. Gus reported the withdrawal of the Khimeyr from Dragonfleet space leaving the main Dragonfleet missile launcher destroyed, but that wasn’t what tore at her gut. She hadn’t anticipated them. She, who had always been one jump ahead of everyone else.

She was in a rare state of anxiety by the time she came in to land the Talon. Catava and Qiao, conspiring against her, her former comrades-in-arms, traitors, traitors…

She pulled up at the last minute, swerving into an alternate vector, flying past the boundaries of her base, punching up one land map after another onto her glowing monitor, scanning until she found it. There. She launched a barrage of laser fire at a building on the ground, utterly destroying the remains of the house where Catava’s father had raised his family. If she wanted it back now, she could have it—in molecules.

I have to hand it to her, the woman knows how to get things done. On the other hand, it’s not always great to run a government on impulse, and pretty soon it’s going to catch up with her.

Read more about the book at the tab above. Several other snippets from this book have been posted in weeks and months past; please do check them out! TRIAD is available now from Dragonfly Publishing, Inc. , at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and through most other sources. Order it in paperback from your local indie bookstore. (Yay, indie bookstores!!)

For more science fiction and fantasy snippets to round out your Saturday, check the main page at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday, and find little bits of stories from SFF authors from around the globe!

You know what they say about a woman scorned…SFFS for August 4

This week, we have another excerpt from TRIAD, introducing the third commander, Estrella Drake of Dragonfleet. She is, shall we say, volatile?  Nothing a regular dose of psychotropic meds couldn’t handle, but she doesn’t believe in such things. All she wants is to be the ruler of the universe. Is it so much to ask?

Estrella Drake tapped the tip of her carved black dagger on the wooden table, trying to comprehend the implications of the Khimeyr return. Luca Strada and his people, incapable of living under her rule, now enjoyed Solarii hospitality?

It made no sense.

The tapping grew more agitated until the dagger actually stuck into the tabletop. The petite brunette growled and leaped to her feet, hurling her cup behind the bar, where it broke with a satisfying crash.

Her early morning patrol of the borders of Solarii space had revealed the presence of  Khimeyr ships. The blaze of her anger had burned so hot that none of her people had dared venture uninvited into her private chambers.

A black leather jumpsuit held her slim body close, the familiar feel comforting her. The broad mirror on the far wall reflected the flash in her dark eyes, her hair pixie cut so she required little physical maintenance, unlike the other social butterflies of the Dragonfleet females. She looked like she meant business, all the way to the tips of her polished black boots.

Does she play well with others? I can assure you she does not.

Read more about the book at the tab above. Several other snippets from this book have been posted in weeks and months past; please do check them out!  TRIAD is available now from Dragonfly Publishing, Inc. , at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and through most other sources. Order it in paperback from your local indie bookstore. (Yay, indie bookstores!!)

For more science fiction and fantasy snippets to round out your Saturday, check the main page at Science Fiction Fantasy Saturday, and find little bits of stories from SFF authors from around the globe!