Posts Tagged ‘Eating Authors’

The previous week has been one of revelations, some of which I cannot speak of yet (because reasons), but chief among those which I can share with you is that I’m getting too old to shovel snow. It’s not my heart, it’s not blood pressure; I’ve made significant strides in my health in the past year such that I can shovel for an hour without breathing hard or feeling dizzy or even consider keeling over in a drift to be found come the thaw. No, all that’s fine. Rather, a rigorous round of shoveling leaves me depleted for the rest of the day, utterly without spoons as it were. Ugh.

Worse still, the snow is still mostly there, and though I have nice paths to get where I (or the dog) need to go, it still mocks me.

None of which really has anything to do with this week’s EATING AUTHOR guest (who I’m pretty sure hasn’t been mocking me). Prior to last week, Charlie Jane Anders has probably been best known for her work as the editor of io9.com where her insights on all things SF are an unapologetic delight (full disclosure: I’ve been on the receiving end of some glowing reviews on io9.com). It’s kind of a high-profile gig, and so it’s understandable if that’s what comes to mind when you see her name (as opposed to the many many short stories she’s published), but all of that is changing. Her debut novel, All the Birds in the Sky, was released at the end of January and promises to make you ever after think of her as Charlie Jane Anders, novelist!

That said, a part of me will also always think of her as a recipient of the Emperor Norton Award, because I think we should all aspire to “extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason.” But writing awesome books works too.

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I’m writing this the weekend before it’s going to appear, from a hotel room in Michigan. I tell you this as prelude to admitting my meteorological sin (an appropriate kind of transgression give this week’s EATING AUTHORS guest) because while it is below freezing here in Novi, MI, the skies are relatively clear and neither wet stuff nor white stuff is falling down. Which is not true back home where my wife reports she has been busily shoveling thigh-high snow just so the dog could get out into the yard to tend to business. That said, I’m sure there’ll still be plenty of snow awaiting my own shoveling tasks when I return late Sunday (you know, just in time for the airports to have reopened and blissfully return me to Pennsylvania).

Which bring us to Maria V. Snyder, a Philadelphia native whom I first met at a convention in Baltimore (another city which this weekend has been lost to the latest Snowpocalypse) shortly after she’d finished her MFA from Seton Hill. That doesn’t seem that long ago, and yet in that time she’s managed to publish two trilogies in her Chronicles of Ixia (the Study series and the Glass series), and is midway through another trilogy, as Night Study, the second book in her Soulfinders series, comes out tomorrow. These are in addition to another five books making up her Insider series and Healer series, as well a good number of short stories too.

In what is perhaps one of the best examples of “paying it forward,” Maria has returned to Seton Hill University as a teacher and mentor in their MFA program.

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On any given week, my introductions here at EATING AUTHORS can be more or less coherent. This week’s entry, I fear, is likely to lean toward the lower end of the scale. The explanation for this has something to do with my typing these words while I sit at a desk in a hotel in Boston in the middle of the Arisia convention, as well as the fact that the formal release event for Barsk happens in Philadelphia less than 48 hours after I return home, and that I’m on a plane bound for Detroit and ConFusion about 8 hours after that, where in addition to another four day convention I’m also doing two off-site signings. Or to put it more simply: “Wheeeeee!”

Fortunately, this week’s guest, Bryan Thomas Schmidt has a long history in this wacky business and will understand and (probably) not hold any of this against me. I first met Bryan some year’s back during a Worldcon when he crashed the annual breakfast that I organize for members of the Codex online writing community. I couldn’t blame him for showing up; Bryan is well known as an editor of anthologies, and there assembled in one crowded restaurant were some fifty authors, many of whom had doubtless sold him stories in the past (and plenty more eager to join those ranks). But his editorial skills aside, last autumn saw the release of his novel The Worker Prince from the fine folk at WordFire Press. Let’s hope it’s just the first of many more to come.

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I’m starting to get a feel for this new year we’re in and I’ll share my prediction that it’s going to be like that description from the film Ghostbusters: “Human sacrifice. Dogs and cats living together. Mass hysteria.” Or so it will seem while we’re in the midst of it. By 2017, I’m sure we’ll all look back on it with fondness, but until then buckle in for a wild ride.

Or maybe it’s just me. Anyway, don’t let that deter you from meeting this week’s EATING AUTHOR guest, Jason Gurley, whose novel, Eleanor comes out tomorrow. Jason actually self-published it back in 2014, and look how that turned out for John Scalzi, so fingers crossed, right?

In fact, he’s self-published four novels, including Greatfall (set in Hugh Howey’s Wool world), and he’s on record as saying some of the most intelligent and cogent things about the whole indie experience that I’ve ever heard from an author. Keep your eye on him, he’s got the real stuff, as evidenced by the following description.

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Welcome to the first installment of EATING AUTHORS here in 2016. I’m expecting great things for this new year. I’m very pleased to start off here with this week’s guest, Megan E. O’Keefe, whose first novel first novel, Steal the Sky (book one of The Scorched Continent series) will be released tomorrow. This book has been described as having witty characters, airships, and explosions, and if that doesn’t get your attention, then you’re obviously still recovering from overindulgence on New Year’s Eve.

Megan took home the first place prize in the Writers of the Future contest and when she’s not writing (or blowing things up) she can be found in northern California making soap. If you’ve not heard of her before now, then pay close attention because you’ll be seeing a lot more of her work!

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Welcome to crazy week. If you have any sense, you’ll steer clear of malls and post offices for the next several days. The internet is your friend this week, and I’m pleased to say that I finished all of my shopping over the weekend and most of it online (though I did have to stand in line Saturday morning to mail one parcel, but I survived to tell the tale).

To ease your weary brow through these trying times of mainstream celebration (both religious and commercial) and visiting relatives (both missed and avoided), I present this week’s EATING AUTHORS guest, A. M. Dellmonica, author, photographer, yoga enthusiast, and a survivor of the glories of Clarion West. And did I mention she’s Canadian?

Alyx has written a slew of short stories, including work that resulted in nominations for the Sidewise and Nebula awards. And she’s the author of four novels which can be grouped into two sets. Indigo Springs (which earned her a Sunburst award) and Blue Magic comprise her Astrid Lethewood series, and Child of a Hidden Sea and A Daughter of No Nation (the latter released just three weeks ago) represent the first two books of her Hidden Sea trilogy. Click the links if you’re in need of a last-minute holiday gift!

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The upcoming massive Blog Tour for Barsk has taken over much of my life of late, as I respond to Q&A, requests for topical essays, and my thoughts on various aspects of the writing process. Most of these don’t go public for another week or more, but one that has burst on the scene is a piece for the Powell’s newsletter that I think came out rather well and is worth directing you to.

In the midst of all this chaos, it’s been both refreshing and gratifying to prepare this week’s EATING AUTHOR post for Eric James Stone. I’ve known Eric for a very long time, since the earliest days of the online writing community known as Codex. I had the privilege of watching him craft stories for the group’s various contests, and I knew early on I was in the presence of a unique and powerful voice. Which is why I put on my small press publisher hat and in the midst of a worldcon some years back I pitched the idea of producing a collection of his short fiction. The book, Rejiggering the Thingamajig and Other Stories, came out the same weekend that Eric won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette, and seeing Eric climb the podium to accept his prize was one of the happiest moments I’ve had at an awards banquet.

Eric’s been busy having other happy moments. He and his wife just welcomed their first child into the world (I won’t be surprised if some time goes by before either of them manage to surface long enough to see this post on the internet). Almost anti-climactic by comparison — but a significant professional milestone — comes up in just over three weeks, as on January 5th, Eric makes the jump from short story writer to novelist with the release of Unforgettable. A fitting title for a book that’s going to firmly establish his presence on the SF map.

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