The Importance of Villainy

Looking for a little Arabian Nights to go with your Steampunk, have we got the story for you! Today's guest blogger, writer/editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail talks about the challenges she and co-writer (and fellow editor) Day Al-Mohamed faced in re-imagining Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves for the Victorian Age--and our own.  Take it away, Danielle:

Stories are about conflict. Internal, external….it does not matter, as long as there is a something for our hero to overcome. Nowhere in fiction is this more prevalent than in faerie tales. Above all else, in faerie tales, there must be a villain. Why, you ask? Because as cautionary tales, these stories are about overcoming danger—or falling victim to it. Without true risk there is no payoff in a faerie tale. No happily ever after without the chance that the prize will slip through the hero’s grasp.

In my recent novel Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, co-written with Day Al-Mohamed, villainy abounds as is only fitting for a novel based on the tale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. You remember the tale, don’t you? The humble and poor man who finds a cavern of treasure hidden by a band of thieves is one most of us have heard as children in one form or another. Our version is a steampunk envisioning steeped in the magic of the original and honest in the threat to our Ali, a faithful tinkerer’s apprentice who finds himself guardian to a shah’s treasure trove.

Inheriting a sacred charge from his father, Ali must find a way to thwart the band of thieves who have taken control of the cavern where these riches have lain protected for many years. Our challenge? How to transform a tale everyone knows? How do we achieve the risk…the tension sprung from the danger of our thieves, when virtually everyone knows how the story plays out?

The key is in the villains. With so many in this tale we needed to wake fear in the readers’ hearts by capturing the very essence of evil. A sorcerer who cannot die, who will not be freed until he completes his task: capturing the treasure and delivering it to his master. A powerful man. A ruthless man. One with no respect for anything beyond his own desires. One like Rassul Maroun…

Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn
by Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Day Al-Mohamed (Palomino Press, 2014)

Come, Best Beloved, and sit you by my feet. I shall tell you a tale such as sister Scheherazade could have scarce imagined… 

In the Nejd there is nothing at all…except secrets. A band of thieves wish such secrets to remain hidden. 

In England, far from his desert home, Ali bin-Massoud serves as apprentice to the famed Charles Babbage. One night a mysterious box is delivered by a clockwork falcon and Ali’s world is never the same again. Heartache, danger, and thieves mark his journey as Ali is summoned home at the death of his father. 

It will take faith, knowledge, and yes, love to realize his destiny, and more than a little skill with steam-driven technology. Can he unravel the mystery of the puzzle box and the clockwork djinn before it is too late? An ancient legacy and Ali's very life depend on his success. 

Hear you the tale of Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn...

Excerpt:

In silence the riders galloped across the desert, their tack silenced and their horses’ hooves covered in cloth. Moonlight limned them like specters gliding over the sands. Dread clung to their robes. Swinging down before their mounts had fully stopped, they hurried into their lair, a cavern whose stone roof rose above the desert, a deeper shadow in the darkness.

 Handing the reins to others of their band, the men strode to their leader, Rassul Maroun, who sat at a marble table ignoring them as he studied a scrap of parchment. The returning men knelt before him, heads bowed and the backs of their right hands pressed to their foreheads in tight fists. Torchlight flickered over thick silver bands engraved with identical markings visible across their inner wrists: a coiled viper poised to strike emblazoned over crossed khanjars. They knelt there on aching knees for long silent moments as their leader finally let his gaze rise from the parchment.

“Tell me of your success,” Rassul ordered, his voice rumbling low, like the threat of a pending storm. He stood slowly, aware of the impression he made as his lean, well-muscled body unfolded from the chair to tower above all present. He walked toward the prostrate men, his steps whisper soft. Stopping in front of one, Rassul traced the symbol on the man’s wrist before shoving the hand aside to grip the man’s chin tight, forcing his gaze upward until their eyes locked.

 The man trembled, blinking furiously as he swallowed hard. “The horse fled too swiftly, master,” the unfortunate man answered. “We followed but could not draw near enough before it reached the gates of Wadi Al-Nejd. The guards took the beast in and closed the gates.” He gulped again, sharp, as if swallowing a plump date. “We could follow no further.”

Rassul tightened his grip, almost pulling the man up by his jaw. “Your orders were to follow that beast and learn from where it came, that we might ensure no other knows the secret of our lair.”

“Yes, master.”

Rassul dragged the man to the table and tapped the surface. “Allah has blessed you with two eyes, that you might see the world. Do you see this?”

“Yes, master.”

“Are you certain? Because with the sanctity of our cache at risk it is important to be absolutely certain. Would you swear by Allah?” As he spoke Rassul moved his hand to the back of the man’s neck in a lighter grip. Beneath his fingers the thief trembled. “What is it you see?” Rassul asked.

“A m-ma…ma…” The man could not finish.

Rassul tsked. “I think you are not certain at all,” he said after a moment of the man’s stammering. Locking his grip hard on the man’s neck, his hand took on the glow of power as he slammed him forward into the table’s surface. Bone crunched against unyielding marble and the body went slack. Rassul let go and it slid to the floor, trailing crimson streaks from the edge of the parchment to the rim of the table.

“It is a map,” Rassul said as he spat on the corpse. “May Allah forgive you your foolishness…and your failure.”

He snapped his eyes upward and locked gazes with every one of his men, including the corpse’s partner, who still knelt, as yellow piss slowly pooled around him.

“Learn from this, in case any of you are uncertain.”

Casually, Rassul stepped over the body and once more perused the map. “Wipe out all knowledge of this map. Destroy any copies. Do this before all other things.”

#

Award-winning author and editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing industry for longer than she cares to admit. Her published works include Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court, The Redcaps’ Queen, and, Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, written with Day Al-Mohamed. She can be found on LiveJournal (damcphail), Facebook (Danielle Ackley-McPhail), and Twitter (DMcPhail). To learn more visit www.sidhenadaire.com. 

Day Al-Mohamed is author of Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, co-written with Danielle Ackley-McPhail. Day hosts the blog Unleaded: Fuel for Writers. Her work is available in Daily Science Fiction, Oomph, and GrayHaven Comics' You Are Not Alone. She is a member of the Cat Vacuuming Society of Northern Virginia Writing Group, Women in Film and Video, and a graduate of the VONA/Voices Writing Workshop. She can be found online at www.DayAlMohamed.com and @DayAlMohamed. 

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Writing What Scares You

I used to think I was a fearless writer.

Many writers worry about relatives or friends reading their sex scenes. I have no shame.

Many writers worry about finishing a story. I always get to the end.

Many writers worry about how people will judge them from their stories. I never did.

Until now.

I just completed a book that's the fourth full-length novel in the Phoenix Institute superhero romance series. It's entitled Phoenix Inheritance and it's due out next March.

I've never been so afraid of hitting send to my editor.

Why? Because it's essentially a book about motherhood and I'm terrified of being judged for how the heroine thinks, feels and react to her son, who is autistic.

That's because this heroine, Renee, is closer to me than any other heroine I've written. I'm a mother. I have an autistic son.

I'm already aware that some people judge me harshly for my choices about the best way to raise him. We're already so judgy in this country about parental choices and that judgement increases exponentially if you have a kid with special needs. But I know in real life that my son is happy and improving each year, so I can shrug off any judgements about what "they" think I should do and just follow what helps my son.

But now I've written a fictional heroine with a similar problem to send out into the world and I've never been more scared, not just for those not familiar with autistic kids but for those who deal with them every day. Did I explain it well enough? Is her fictional son realistic on the page? And does Renee seem far too occupied with her frustration and fear and thus seem bitchy? Will people hate her?

And, of course, I mean will people hate me?

Then I ask myself: if I'm so scared, why did I write this book?

Hah. Good question. Mostly, I wrote it for my son because any small understanding about autism gained by the public from reading a book makes things better for him in the future. I wrote it because I wanted people to know that "autistic" doesn't mean broken and that those with autism can have bright, happy futures. I wanted to write it to show how families can stick together and help each other.

And I wrote it because this was one of the few times I had to write a particular story.

Is Phoenix Inheritance all about autism? No, I hope it's a great lover's reunion story, mixed in with some intense action and some really sweet moments between a father, mother and their son.

They say writing a book should scare you. I've never understood that.

I do now.

Corrina Lawson is a writer, mom, geek and sometime superhero. She's the author of a new steampunk detective novel, The Curse of the Brimstone Contract, the Phoenix Institute superhero romance series and the alternate history Seneca series. In her non-fiction identity, she's the Content Director at GeekMom.com and blogs for CriminalElement.com.

2014 Will Be Epic!

Where did 2013 go? I feel like it was just January a few days ago. The new laptop I'm working on I got in January, and now it's almost a year old. My car accident was in January, so my new car is almost a year old too. Wow. Unbelievable. Thanksgiving is over, and the holiday season is upon us. Three weeks until Christmas *yikes!* and then a month until 2013 is over. 

I'm kind of sad to see 2013 go, because even though it didn't start off great -- Hubby having surgery, car accident, computer dying, the passing of so many people we loved -- it had some nice times too. Great vacation with the family. New car. New computer. Great conferences, time with friends, new friends, new conferences. It was pretty good, overall.

However, I am SUPER EXCITED for 2014 to start because there are so many BIG THINGS coming next year.

First of all, I have a story in a Steampunk anthology that comes out next year. The anthology is called Gaslight and Grimm and will be published by Dark Quest Books. It's all Steampunk fairy tales. I wrote a version of The Three Little Pigs, which contains no pigs whatsoever. There are some other authors whose Names You Might Know who will also have stories included. Not sure of the release date yet, but I will make a big announcement when it comes out.

I SHOULD also finish the final Library of Athena book next year. Should. It's coming along and I really like where it's going. It will be a fitting end to the series, with a couple of twists I didn't even know about until I wrote them down.

The other bit of news is a BIG HUGE SEKRIT. I cannot tell you. Or, I could, but then I'd have to kill you. Or give you kittens, or something. This is the Most Exciting piece of news of all the news that I have to share. Hopefully it will be able to be shared in the next two weeks. I am BURSTING.

I'd love to tell you. But I can't. Just know that 2014 Will. Be. Epic.

Thursday Thirteen: 13 Photos from Balticon '13



Technically, my next blog is June 1, the start of "Some Like it Hot" month here at Beyond the Veil. Since none of the stories I'm working on fall into that category, I figured I should cogitate on the subject a bit more.

Instead, I offer a Thursday Thirteen of photos from Balticon 47, held in Hunt Valley, Maryland last weekend.  Enjoy!



It wouldn't be Balticon Friday without some Dancing in the Gears, the annual Steampunk ball featuring 19th century dances.

 

Author Stephanie Burke shows off her Steampunk finery.

 

 

Panel moderator Becca Davis (left) and former wrestler Nate Nelson instruct attendees in the finer points of not killing each other in the Stage Combat Workshop.  If you think it looks a lot like pro wrestling...you're right!

 

 

Two pairs of attendees at the Stage Combat Workshop learn the finer points of pretending to lead a subdued opponent around the room. In fact, the person in the head lock is doing the leading.

 

 

Meanwhile, there was belly-dancing in the halls.

And splendid costumes.  My only regret is I didn't get to this year's Masquerade.

 

Steampunk was definitely the style of choice. Here Hildy Silverman, the publisher of Space and Time, gives it a ninja spin.

 

Guest of Honor Joe Haldeman and his lovely wife Gay, one of the nicest people in the SF community.

 

Dark Quest Books editor Danielle Ackley-McPhail (second from left) and some of Dark Quest's more melodious authors celebrate dames at the Dark Quest Mega-Launch Party.

 

Filker and Dark Quest author Danny Birt tries to learn the lyrics on the fly, while playing guitar. Kids, don't try this at home.

 

Of course, a little thing like mental safety wouldn't stop our own Christine Norris, Dark Quest's newest acquisition editor.  And yes, folks, she's acquiring. You can see the post here.

SF erotica icon Cecilia Tan just before our Buzzy Mag interview. I think this was the only serious second in the the whole talk, which covered everything from writing for teen magazines to baseball to David Bowie--well, you knew we had to get space aliens in there somehow.

 

And in closing, the Motorcycle Fairy. How do you top that?

 

Well I guess you could check out my Flickr page for the rest of the photos.  Enjoy!

 

Jean Marie Ward

Generating Ideas: What the Heck Does Big Valley Have to Do With Steampunk?

I watched the Big Valley growing up, mostly on lazy Saturday afternoons. I started watching again a couple of years ago when the Inspiration Channel began running it twice daily. Soon my DVR was full of Big Valley episodes. I even blogged about what you can learn from watching the show. Hint: do not mess with Barbara Stanwyck. It never ends well.

Watching it made me want to write a Western. But then I realized that while the setting attracted me, what really hooked me on the show were the characters. Three brothers, all different personalities, all with different strengths and weaknesses. Hmmm...three brothers, different templates, different types of heroes..aha...

It so happens I need to add some brothers for the hero of my steampunk romantic mystery. The hero of those stories is based on Sherlock Holmes but I twisted his origin a bit. My consulting detective is the youngest son of an English Duke by his much younger second wife. The wife also happened to be Indian, so while my hero isn't illegitimate, he's definitely considered a half-breed.

Without realizing, I'd created a youngest son, a half-brother from a lower class who resents that he was not completely accepted as a member of the family. In other words, someone very like Heath Barkley, the youngest son on Big Valley.

The next book in the series (as yet unpublished but hopefully that will change) will send my detective to his family. And now I have a good idea what his older brothers and his mother will be like.

The lesson? Ideas are all over. And they can germinate for literally years before making their way into a book, as my love of Big Valley did. They can come from completely unrelated subjects. Learning about plant biology gave me an idea of how the magic works in my steampunk story. A vacation to Maine years ago made its way into Phoenix Rising in the form of the cabin where the heroine takes the hero to get away from it all.

It's the writer's mind. It's when I've sliced my knee open and I'm about to faint and I wish I had a notebook handy so I could write down what it feels like just before a person faints.

So where do I get my ideas? As Sherlock Holmes once said, people see but they do not observe. I try to observe and absorb as much as possible. :)

Corrina Lawson is a writer, mom, geek and superhero. You can find her at www.corrina-lawson.com

The Next Big Thing

Happy Holidays!

I've been tagged by Kathy Sullivan as part of The Next Big Thing blog-a-thon. Apparently this was started by Kathryn Kuitenbrower. Each tagged author answers 10 questions about what they are currently working on. Here we go!

What is the working title of your next book?
Currently it's A Stitch in Time. But I'm not crazy about it. The previous book, which is with my agent waiting patiently for a Forever Home, is Smoke and Mirrors, and I wanted to keep it in the same vein, since the books are similar -- not sequels, more like companions. If I can come up with something else, it will change.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I had already finished Smoke & Mirrors and wanted to do another Steampunk Fairy Tale. When I was coming up with an idea for the first one, I fought like heck to NOT write Cinderella, but that was what wanted to be written. Then I thought, okay, Sleeping Beauty. Hmm...how can I do that, when the main character is SLEEPING through most of the story. And how can the prince come and wake her 100 years later? Hey, time travel! And hey two POV's for the book, just like in the last one. It's coming out rather interesting.

What genre does your book fall under?
YA Fantasy, specifically Steampunk, with Romantic elements.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I am never any good at answering this question, because I have what they look like in my head when I'm writing and it never matches any known actor. Only once did I have someone in mind when I wrote a character. In The Sword of Danu, the smith god Gobihniu is John Barrowman.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Steampunk Sleeping Beauty Time Travel with global conspiracy. And Romance. Wait, that's more than one...

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have an agent -- the awesome and cute-as-a-button Terri Wolf, of AKA Literary. She is currently shopping Smoke & Mirrors, and I am hoping she'll take this one on too. Or we'll just sell both in the same deal... ;)

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
I am still working on this one, but have about 20,000 words. First drafts take anywhere from six months to a year, depending on what else gets in the way. Now that graduate school is finished, I am hoping to work a whole lot faster.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I would compare it to other types of Steampunk and historical fantasy, things like Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare and perhaps The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. Almost like a mash-up of the two of those with a little of the Sherlock Holmes movies (with Robert Downey, Jr.) thrown in.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
I really enjoy the whole Steampunk movement, and I am a fairy tale junkie. It just seemed natural to put the two together. In Smoke & Mirrors, I used a lot of names from my own family tree from that late 19th-early 20th century time period. I sort of did the same for this book, but only for a couple of characters.

What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
Hmmm...there's adventure, love, the Secret Service, time travel. And a Capuchin monkey named Tesla. What else could you want?

To continue the blog chain I am tagging Kim Baccellia, Lisa Mantchev, Charlotte Bennardo, and Jean Marie Ward

Steampunk, gaslight,... huh?

I enjoy steampunk style stories, although I've only read a few. Honestly, I don't fully understand all the nuances involved in the genre. But I do know what I like -- gadgets and gizmos; tough heroines and sexy heroes. If I like the characters and don't get bogged down in terminology, I'll probably like it. Well, if it's well-written. ;)

I've written my own short steampunk-esque style story. It also has a bit of paranormal thrown in -- shifters, anyone? And a tough little heroine with a lot of baggage and some interesting clothing options. It's a Western...an alternate historical taking place in the late 1800s. Maybe it's not 'real' steampunk? I don't dare label it as one thing or another, to be honest, because I know someone, somewhere will object. Nothing wrong with purists. I just don't happen to be one of them. ;)

I write wherever the characters and muse lead me. I mostly write to please myself, rarely to please the latest trend. Who knows? Maybe my take on a particular subgenre will create the next new thing.

Meg Allison

Indulge your senses...
http://www.megallisonauthor.com

Edgar Rice Burroughs

Since our topic this month is From Steampunk to Time Travel, I thought I’d share some things I learned recently about one of the fathers of science fiction, steampunk, and time travel, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

You probably know that he created John Carter, since the blockbuster movie is now out.  It’s an awesome movie, but it got me thinking – just who is this Edgar Rice Burroughs, anyway?  I made an offhand comment about him to my husband and said that he wrote in the ‘50’s, and my husband corrected me:  he wrote it a hundred years ago!

Wow.

I went digging and found a wonderful site dedicated to the author, here.  He created many of the beloved characters of modern popular culture, including Tarzan and John Carter.  He also wrote Westerns and stories about all sorts of fantastical creatures and life on other planets.  He’s considered an influence on writers such as Ray Bradbury and scientists such as Carl Sagan.

As I watched John Carter the movie, I was struck by how modern it felt, how ‘now.’  That’s the mark of good literature, that it is applicable to any age and is, in effect, timeless.  The original story was written a hundred years ago and, since my husband has read it, he’s reported that the movie stayed fairly faithful to the book.  (As someone who likes to read, write, and watch series, I’m also excited to report that there are many John Carter stories so I hope they’ll continue the movies.)  You can check them out, many for free, or you can get a collection of them for the Nook at Barnes and Noble for $1.99, here.

Turns out our "modern" stories have quite a long lineage.  From Frankenstein's Monster to men from Mars, there's a lot of good classical fiction out there to read.  It's easy to forget that Steampunk isn't the next new thing, it's a reinterpretation of things that have gone before.  What fun it is to poke around in the attic and find lost treasures to enjoy.

Happy reading!

Characters First?

Hi everyone,

I'm a new blogger here at Beyond the Veil! My name is Leslie Dicken and write paranormals, fantasy and historicals (gothic and steampunk). Guess I can't settle on just one subgenre! But one thing is the same no matter what type of story I'm writing: plot comes first.

I'm supposed to write about specific characters, ones I love or hate, but I'd rather talk about how creating characters comes SECOND when I'm brainstorming a story.

I hear over and over again how authors come up with their characters...THEN they figure out the plot or storyline that works for that character. I heard that J.K. Rowling came up with Harry Potter, the character, while on a train ride. She didn't think of Hogwarts or the Sorcerer's Stone, but of the boy who was a wizard and lived with his muggle aunt and uncle.

As for me? I first have an idea of a story or theme or a plot. For example, I wanted to write about a hero who learns he is not an earl, but a bastard (A TARNISHED HEART). Or an alien who dislikes humans but must find one to help his home planet (THE PRICE OF DISCOVERY). Or a society where two cultures have lived apart from one another for so long, they've evolved differently (TABOO). An isolated manor with a hero who thinks he's committed murder (BEAUTY TEMPTS THE BEAST). I've even just wanted to combine various subgenres into one story: steampunk, historical, suspense (THE IRON HEART, Feb 2012).

None of them started with the idea of central character who needed to find a story. They all started with an idea...a plot or theme or just a challenge to myself.

Hopefully, the characters I created for these stories are just as well-developed as those authors who start with character first. :-)

If you're an author, which do you come up with first: character or plot?
As a reader, what makes you feel a connection with a character in a story?

Convention Time Again

This time, I'm heading out for the Authors After Dark convention with a few of my fellow Beyond the Veil friends. In fact, Carolan Ivey, Dana Marie Bell, JC Wilder and I are hosting a "Dark & Dangerous Wine & Cheese" during the convention where we'll be giving away a Nook eReader. If you plan to attend the AAD con, please make sure to come to our event!

If you can't come to the con, never fear, we'll catch you up on the goings on in our next blog posts, I'm sure. The convention grew out of another blog I have been part of for a number of years. I don't have much to do with the planning of the con anymore, but I still like to go and show my support. This year, I'm sponsoring the Steampunk Ball (even though I haven't been published in the Steampunk genre yet) and was forced to get a costume because I'm on the "Steam Court."

Those of you who know me may understand that I HATE costumes at this point in my life. Once upon a time, I was really into it. I worked at a Renaissance Faire and all summer I was a mercenary wench (one of the only female fighters the men let into the mercenary guild!) and dressed and talked the part while on the Faire grounds. It was a lot of fun and I loved dressing up. Now... older and fatter, I really HATE dressing up.

But because I'm on the court, I HAVE TO wear a costume. I agonized over this for months and bought and discarded a few different outfits. Finally, I think I have arrived at a solution and if it works out, I will try to post a pic. First, I'm going to be wearing a wig! I've never worn a wig in my life, but I thought if I was supposed to be Victorian, I needed ringlets and I'm just not that good a hairdresser. LOL. So I bought a wig that has ringlets and a giant hat that will sit on top that I've dressed up with ostrich plumes, netting and the requisite Steampunk goggles. (Mine are actually Harry Potter Quidich goggles, but I don't think anyone will notice. LOL)

The hat matches the costume, which is actually a commercially made lady pirate costume that I've altered with a netting bustle and an added long skirt and boots. I think it'll work. (I HOPE it'll work!) I'll let you all know how it works out after the con, which is next week. Carolan may update you sooner (since my turn to blog probably won't roll around again for a while).

In the meantime, please go out and get your copy of DEAD ALERT, my newest (and last in the series) zombie action/adventure book. Funnily enough, if you look right now, the previous book in the series, A DARKER SHADE OF DEAD, seems to have taken a place on the Kindle SF Best Seller List. Wow! I'm really happy about that and hope all of you will check out the books. The complete series is:

1. SIMON SAYS novella in the HALF PAST DEAD anthology
2. ONCE BITTEN, TWICE DEAD
3. A DARKER SHADE OF DEAD
4. SMOKE ON THE WATER novella in THE BEAST WITHIN anthology (which will be released in mass market paperback next month! It's already available in trade paperback and ebook.)
5. DEAD ALERT

Wish me luck with my costume and happy reading!

B.
Bianca D'Arc
Come over to The D'Arc Side... www.biancadarc.com

Where am I and what am I doing in this leather outfit?

A long time ago in a land far, far away… well, you might know it as Canada, I tapped out my first awfully melodramatic words in the realm of fanfiction.

No, no - don’t run!

Actually, fanfiction was only a sideline in addition to working on my own original works. But I did end up with quite a following in the fanfiction world and one sweet fan email from a young man in Pennsylvania who just adored my work.

Of course you know where that led. Yep, a few years later I left the Great White North to marry the poor fellow and settle down in the U.S. Being a Kept Woman (trademark pending) now I turned my attention full time to writing science fiction and paranormal romance, writing what I liked to read and wanted to read.

I charged into the official writing world with a few short story sales to places such as GRIT Magazine but lived for that yearly bit of insanity known as NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month. In 2008 I bashed out a superhero novel based on my love of comic books, superheroes and all those darned annoying questions I kept asking myself.

Why did the bad guy always get away? What was wrong with the court system that even when the bad guys got caught they’d escape or be freed by the next issue? Who were these people anyway?

A year later the book was contracted by Samhain Publishing and “Blaze of Glory”, the first in a series, hit the virtual and physical shelves in April, 2010. The sequel, “Heroes Without, Monsters Within” is due to be published in January 2012 with a third book in the works.

Here’s the official blurb for “Blaze of Glory”




Saving the world is easy for a superhero—unless you’re a fraud.

Jo Tanis is a superhero, fighting evil on the city streets, using her ability to feed off electromagnetic energy and fire off charges—and it’s all just a show. The Agency captures her and others like her when their powers begin to manifest, pitting them against each other in staged, gladiatorial fights. An explosive implant on the back of her neck assures she’ll keep right on smiling for the camera and beating up the bad guys.

When Earth comes under attack, suddenly the show becomes deadly real. Unable to deal with a real alien, the “supers” are falling in droves. Millions of innocent civilians
are going to die…unless Jo can cobble together a team from among the fake heroes and villains the Agency enslaved. Including Hunter, who not only promises to show
her how to deactivate the implants, but seems to know more than he should about how the mysterious Agency operates.

Forcing a rag-tag bunch of former enemies to work together is the least of Jo’s problems. The trick is determining if Hunter is friend or foe—and becoming the hero everyone
thought she was before the world is destroyed for real.


Not too long after that I ventured into the world of steampunk with “Wild Cards and Iron Horses”, delving into my long lost love of Westerns and adding a dash of the old television show “The Wild Wild West”. Published by Samhain in August of 2010 in ebook form with the print version out in June 2011, it was well received by steampunk fans.

Here’s the blurb for “Wild Cards and Iron Horses”

Their love rides on a spring and a prayer...

During the recent Civil War, a soldier risked his life to save Jonathan Handleston—and lost. With the help of an advanced metal brace on his crippled hand, Jon now travels from one poker tournament to the next, determined to earn enough money to repay the man’s debt.

Prosperity Ridge is supposed to be the last stop on his quest, but his brace is broken and he needs an engineer to repair the delicate mechanisms. The only one available is Samantha Weatherly, a beautiful anomaly in a world ruled by men.

Sam is no fool. Jon is no different from any other gambler—except for his amazing prosthetic. Despite a demanding project to win a critical contract to develop an iron horse, she succumbs to the lure of working on the delicate mechanisms. And working with the handsome Englishman.

Like a spring being coiled, Samantha and Jon are inexorably drawn together. Sam begins to realize honor wears many faces, and she becomes the light at the end of Jon’s journey to redemption. The only monkey wrench is Victor, a rival gambler who will stop at nothing to make sure Jon misses the tournament.

Even destroy Jon and Sam’s lives.

Both “Blaze of Glory” and “Wild Cards and Iron Horses” were nominated for the 2011 Prism Awards, given out by the Futuristic, Fantasy and Paranormal Special Interest Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. Both books came in Second Place in their respective categories.

I’ve also got an unnamed paranormal romance coming out in February 2012 from Carina Press about a private investigator called into a murder investigation by her family. Not *that* type of family-her Felis family who threw her out of the fold years ago because of her disability. But when the murdered victim is also a Felis her family needs the best on the job and the best happens to be Rebecca Dejardin, no matter what her status or disability.

So… that’s about it about me. Aside from my Wookie I’m also presently owned by a fat fuzzaloid named Mitchell who loves to cuddle on hot, hot days and have a Second Life as a clockwork dragon in the steampunk town of New Babbage in the virtual world of Second Life.



And as a true Canadian… *offers tea and scones*

There’s cold beer over here for the rest of you. Good Canadian whiskey if you need it and proper Guinness for those of you who like to chew on your beer.

Have a good day!

Sheryl Nantus
http://www.sherylnantus.com

Summer stretch

Writer's are similar to athletes... except that we spend the majority of our time sitting on our butts. We have to. Have you ever tried typing while walking, running or working out on a treadmill? Not easy. Actually, it's a good way to get hurt.

The way we're similar, however, comes into play when we work on our craft. An athlete has to stretch their muscles... to push themselves just a little harder and further in order to improve their game. Writers need to do the same thing -- only the muscle we stretch is more cerebral.

If you have a favorite writer, you may notice, from time to time, that their stories sound a little stale. I can't tell you how easy it is to get in a rut. I find myself leaning toward a very specific type of heroine, for example. I've also noticed that there are certain plot devices I tend to favor. That's all well and good -- as long as I don't let my stories get boring. I don't want you to think I simply change the location and character names to create a new book. Who'd want to read it? Not me.

This summer I'm shaking things up a bit. I did this once before when I turned a would-be, somewhat standard romantic suspense into a paranormal romantic suspense. That turned out very well, btw. ;) Now I'm finishing book two, and stretching those writing muscles all the way. This hero is not my typical alpha.

So far, so good, but what I can I possibly do to get a better work-out? How can I stretch my writing muscles just that much more?

I think I've found the answer: Steampunk. No, not because it's all the rage, but because I love the genre... have even before it earned such a special designation. Remember Wild Wild West? Sexy. Funny. And oh-so cool. ;)

So now this new idea is percolating. One featuring a feisty bounty hunter and her shifter prey. Steampunk style, naturally, with funky goggles, gadgets and corsets. Not to mention those steam-powered machines. Yeah, this should be fun. And a challenge, which is the best way to give the gray-matter a work-out.

I take what I know I can write... and add something new to the mix. Another level to the plot. Another element to the story. Something that makes me work for just the right mix. Sometimes it's frustrating. Sometimes I'm overcome by the urge to bang my head on the keyboard or nearest wall. I frequently have to step back; take a breath; ask my resident consultant for some plot ideas; etc. But it's the best way I've found to keep my muse from losing the spark.

Now if I could only come up with a good way to exercise my butt, as well. ;)

Where Have All the Punks Gone?

The closing of CBCG signaled the end of an era for the modern punk. In a bitter irony, the old club space has been taken over by men’s fashion designer John Varvatos. Ouch.

But the spirit of the punk lives on, and not just in music. Punk was always about people making their own way, not depending on anyone to do it for them, and a rejection of the commercial. Sometimes that freedom expressed itself in violent, self-destructively anarchic ways, but some of the art and attitudes that sprang from the movement were also mind-blowingly inventive, displaying the DIY ethic that ran deep in Punk's veins.

Two current trends in genre fiction use the ‘punk’ suffix, but they couldn’t be further away from each other in many ways.

Cyberpunk hit the books long before Steampunk, so we’ll start there.

Cyberpunk is dark. There’s no getting around it. It’s the way the Punks of the 20th century – marginalized, alienated, dismissed and rejected – viewed the future. A future often run by corporations, rather than democratically elected governments. A future where we were in the final stages of killing off the Earth, where technology was power.

There’s no beautiful utopian vision of peace and prosperity in cyberpunk, where everyone is equal and no one needs money to get what they need.

No. Cyberpunk is deeply and insidiously dystopian. A future that is grim and gray and violent, ruled by rapacious greed. The protagonists of cyberpunk stories written by Philip K. Dick or William Gibson aren’t what we usually call “heroic” in romance terms, and the endings are rarely happy.

The unfortunately short-lived Shomi line from Kensington (Edit: Jeannie Lin says it was from Dorchester) featured futuristic, cyberpunk plots and settings, but it was difficult to pull off the HEA when each story started in such a dark place. Not that it couldn’t be done, but they weren’t often traditionally feel-good romances. In fact, the HEA element wasn’t even a requirement of the line, which displayed, in my opinion, a real understanding of how cyberpunk worked.

Steampunk, on the other hand, got its name from a play on words by author K.W. Jeter, who thought the Victorian fantasies that he and a few others were writing should have a name that focused on the use of technology, much as cyberpunk focused on it. Hence, the term “Steampunk” was born.

Right off the bat, it’s easy to see that many of the Punk attitudes and philosophies that inspired Cyberpunk weren’t truly evident in its historical counterpart.

And yet… and yet… The Victorian-inspired fantasies and science fiction often make commentary on history’s politics and policies. Slavery, imperialism, the power of the haves over the have-nots, religious, cultural and sexual attitudes are all touched on in Steampunk.

Putting a heroine in a bustle doesn’t make a story Steampunk any more than dressing a hero in a long leather duster makes him a Cyberpunk Neo.

The punk in both movements is deeply embedded in the world that writers build. The Punk ethos of tinkering and DIY is inherent in the way that Victorian technology progressed.

I think where the two sets diverge is primarily in their view of what comes next. The Victorians in general looked forward to a future of great technological advancement and upward mobility of all socio-economic classes, so their “futuristic” fiction was largely optimistic, much in the way that many of our current non-Punk futuristic writers envision the time to come. Not all fluffy bunnies and cotton candy clouds, of course, but a future in which we’re making our world better. Steampunk, then, is more readily optimistic, despite some of the grim literary offerings from William Gibson and others.

Steampunk literature also often tends to branch into the fantastic more easily than Cyberpunk. Victorian science wasn’t strictly opposed to the idea of alchemy or occultism, so adding magical elements to the technology of the day is less far-fetched than might otherwise be thought. After all, Clarke’s 3rd law states “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

It’s my personal view that Steampunk is most moving, though, when it’s set in a fully realized world that has the same problems that the protagonists in Cyberpunk face. Political and commercial greed, abuse of power, marginalization of segments of society – problems that are sadly eternal, part of the human condition. When we face those issues, even in our feel-good literature, we can move people to forward progress.

The Ramones are dead, CBCG is gone, but the things that made Punk so powerful live on.

Serenity Now

Today, y’all get the confluence of a few things that have been flowing in my life that aren’t necessarily about writing, certainly aren’t paranormal, but they do influence my writing.

First, what genius thought up perimenopause? Because this betwixt and between stage is like the hell-end of purgatory and I can see the fire and brimstone from here.

*Deep breaths. Serenity now.*

I sometimes wish I was more crunchy granola with the whole maiden/mother/crone, moving through life stages, welcoming a change in fertility, yadda yadda yadda. This is a freaking nightmare. I can’t think and the mood swings should come with a warning claxon that screams, “Step away from your mother! Maintain peace at all costs! Go to your room if you value your life!”

*More deep breaths. Serenity now, please.*

Second, ADD can be kind of fun. Things that were lost become new again when found. This is not actually so when the lost thing is a bill.

*Whoo. Getting light headed. And was I not asking for serenity loudly enough?*

The mood swings are killing my writing, too. I am currently on my fifth version of this @#$*& Steampunk story. It’s not enough, apparently, that even though I started it four years ago it now looks like I’m just jumping on the bandwagon. No. Now I realize that because I have no magical or paranormal elements to it, I’m actually writing science fiction – and I swore I’d never write science fiction because the worldbuilding and the details are an absolute killer. Welcome to my fictional nightmare.

*Screw the deep breathing. Where the hell is my serenity?*

So. Wildly fluctuating hormone levels, wonky brain chemistry, and worldbuilding that is sapping my will to live. I haven’t decided whether to go Virginia Woolf or Mad Max with this little crossroads of life. But you know what I do want?

SERENITY NOW!!!!!

Steampunk Workshop

Interested in Steampunk? Then click over to the Romance Diva forums (you have to register, but it's free) and get in on the discussion with these great authors!
Zoe Archer
Gail Carriger
Katie McAllister
Meljean Brook
Sarah Hoyt
Dru Pagliassotti

Steampunk!

I'm still kvetching over the third LoA book, and working on the promo for the paperback release of THE CROWN OF ZEUS (available for pre-order now!) that I failed to think of something to write this month. So if I amble about a bit, please forgive me. :)

After Jean-Marie's post a couple of weeks ago, about her new-found love of automatons and things of that nature, I decided to do a bit of a follow up on Steampunk. It's sort-of the newest thing in fantasy - leaving behind sword-and-sorcery, elves, dragons, magic schools, vampires, and fairies. What is steampunk? It's a new sort of fantasy that's over a hundred years old. Jules Verne could technically be called the father of steampunk - but in HIS time they were called science fiction.

Lost ya? Okay, lemme 'splain (no, there is too much; lemme sum up). Steampunk is a crazy little subgenre where the stories are set in the 19th century - the Victorian era. In place of magic, there are machines. Like submarines, or flying machines. Inevitably, these are all powered by...wait for it....steam! Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Center of the Earth were written and set in his own time, but the machines were fantastic to his readers (and to us, I imagine). To HIS readers, they were futuristic, to us, they're nostalgic. Cool, huh?

There are some movies that you probably know but don't realize are actually steampunk. Wild Wild West and the corny but always entertaining League of Extraordinary Gentlemen come to mind, although WWW is set in the old west, it's still the right time period.

What's appealing? Besides the fact it's different, the costumes are awesome! Even superheroes look good in Steampunk:



What does it say about me that I want these action figures? Somewhere inside me is a comic book geek dying to get out. Back, you!

I've become really interested in this genre, because I want to write my next book (or series, haven't decided yet) as a Steampunk fairy tale. I have some neat ideas that use historically accurate things (like the influx of illusionists during that time that used mechanical devices for their illusions) and some old fairy tales. It may turn out the Brothers Grimm make an appearance.

My fingers are itching...now I just have to find the time! Sigh. When I grow up, I wanna be one of those authors that doesn't have to work at anything but writing. That and I want a condo by the sea where I can just look out the window while I write. (hey, I write fantasy, right? This is mine.)

All the Pretty Dollies

The Avoidance/Accomplishment Ratio is the name I gave to a theory proposed by a friend about fifteen years ago. Simply put: The amount you accomplish on Project B is directly proportional to how much you wish to avoid working on Project A.

This is especially true if Project A has been hanging over your head like the Sword of Damocles--or the four hundred pictures I have to sort and select for the DragonCon report I've been meaning to write for three weeks now. [Insert sickly grin here.]

Now you know what I've been avoiding. My current Project B isn't even a real project yet. Another friend and writer who specializes in Victorian science fiction mentioned she'd like to do a Steampunk anthology. She was astounded by the turn-out for the few Steampunk-related panels at this year's DragonCon. In one instance, so many people showed up for a panel in one of they larger Hyatt conference rooms, they had to split it in two panels in two big rooms--and both of them filled immediately. The energy effervescing through the discussions, and the number and quality of the Steampunk-related costumes reminded us both of the way Paranormal Romance bubbled up from the fan base in the late 1990s to become the mainstream fiction movement it is today.

And both of us want a piece of it. Which is great for her. This is what she writes--or so close to it even the experts can't tell the difference. The fact she's an expert in the Victorian era doesn't hurt either.

Me--not so much. Sure, I gleefully watched Will Smith, Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branaugh in Wild, Wild West. I've even seen reruns of the original TV series. And don't get me started on The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne. How could I not watch anything starring Michael Praed and featuring a capable, red-haired heroine (Francesca Hunt) who spent as much time in a leather cat suit as she did in her crinoline? Swoon. I still watch the tapes.

So, you'd think I'd be all set. I know what the genre's supposed to do--mix science fiction and fantasy with the clockwork mechanisms of the 18th and 19th century, and wherever possible reference key historical figures like Verne, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison and Ulysses S. Grant. I also know what it's supposed to look like--Victorian.

There's just one problem. The Victorian period is my idea of the Ninth Circle of Hell. The mere thought of the strait jacket fashions, the soup-straining facial hair on the guys, the lethal pollution of the air and water, the repeated epidemics, the pointless wars and the screaming hypocracy of the moneyed classes is enough to make me grind my teeth. The period boasts all the bad of the 21st century and none of the good--wearable clothes, good-looking shoes, mostly safe food, garbage collection and antibiotics. Compared to the 19th century, there really is no place like home.

If I were ever condemned to visit a pre-20th century historical period, I wouldn't go there. Send me instead to the Georgian period. The 18th century had its flaws--and they were legion, as the Duchess of Devonshire could attest. But the Industrial Age had not yet reached the pinnacle of its foulness. The 18th century likewise passed on the smug, narrow-minded self-righteousness that makes you want to strangle all Charles Dickens' heroines at birth. It was rowdy, bawdy and a lot more honest about its flaws as well as its virtues.

It had gorgeous clothes--for the guys as well as the girls--country estates, the Hellfire Club, hot air balloons, Mesmerism, Ben Franklin and his kite, automatons...

Automatons--I've been fascinated with them ever since the first time I saw the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol and looked in the toy shop with Tiny Tim. Oh, the wonders that were there! Gorgeous dolls and clowns that bobbed and waved.

I could do automatons.

And so I have. Over the past 24 hours, I've compiled five, single-spaced pages of references and links. I've read about the the amazing defecating duck of Jacques de Vaucanson (No, I didn't make that up. I'm not that good. Besides, it was the inspiration for one of Voltaire's--that's the French philosopher not America's philosophical rocker--best lines. Though to be fair, it does call up images of the latter's "Zombie Prostitute".) and the gorgeous androids of Pierre Jacquet-Droz. I found a tantalizing article on the remote-controlled prosthetic arm of created by Jean-Frederic Leschott, which weighed less than 17 ounces.

I skipped back in time to read about the Talos, the man of bronze created to protect ancient Crete, who was only defeated after Medea showed Jason how to drain his fuel tank. The Islamic Golden Age produced all manner of mechanical wonders, many of them created by the Banu Masu brothers--the sons of a highwayman turned astrologer! (Now there's a story waiting to be told.) Following the Internet trail back to the 18th century, I took a left turn at Albuquerque and wound up in Japan, where they created the karakuri to star in sacred dramas and serve tea. Karakuri links led to articles about Ranguku, the so-called "Dutch Learning", which helped Japan stay somewhat current with European technology during its long period of isolation. From there it was only a small step to stories of the Hitokiri, the "honorable assassins" of the Bakumatsu period.

Then there's The Turk, the world famous chess-playing machine that wasn't. The Turk was actually an elaborate stage illusion--a lifelike puppet atop a large box, which used cams and gears and sliding doors to disguise the puppet's human operator. Edgar Allen Poe's 1836 essay on "Maetzel’s Chess Player" (after The Turk's then current owner) lay part of the foundation for science fiction by postulating a mind within the machine.

Of course, contemplating The Turk, I couldn't help thinking about The Lustful Turk, not to mention the wide range medicinal vibrators so necessary to relieve female hysteria during the Victorian period. (Heaven knows, they didn't have any other outlets.)

By the time I'd finished compiling my first page of links, I was well on my way to developing a plot--a plot for a story in an anthology which may never exist. But why let that stop me?

Um, when did you want that DragonCon report? Why don't you give me a deadline--and I'll think about...

Did you know Charlotte Bronte wrote about the Crystal Palace? Have you seen the pictures. It's all glass and iron. I bet it was really hot in there. Oooh, I just found pictures!

What DragonCon report?

###

Since I've yet to figure out how to caption photos on Blogger, here's the info:

The first picture was taken at this year's DragonCon. Notice the artist to the right is drawing something other than the amazing mechanical couple right in front of him.

The second is an 18th century writing automaton in the Centre International de la Mecanique d' Art in Sainte-Croix Switzerland.

The third is a tea automat and mechanism in the Tokyo National Science Museum.

I'm responsible for the bad photography in the first shot. The much better automata shots are Creative Common items found in the Wikipedia article on automatons.