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Published: blurred edges

Posted by Malon Edwards on July 27, 2009 at 9:09pm
Expanded Horizons recently published my short story "blurred edges" here in their July 2009 issue. It's a reprint of a story that was originally published by the webzine Underground Voices back in 2005."blurred edges" was an easy story to write because so much of me went into it. I know writers say things like that all the time, but a few of the story's elements are based on my personal experiences. That being said, I must stress that the story is entirely a work of fiction--I did not know a girl whose father murdered her in a drunken rage because he mistook her for a cheap prostitute.Some of you who know me personally will recognize the Cherry Lane Motel and Transformers references. There is an actual Cherry Lane Motel, and my godbrother and me loved to watch Transformers (and Go Bots!) when we were growing up. Sadly, he died in a motorcycle accident last fall. I'm not sure there was a bigger ten-year-old Transformers fan than him.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY "PAPER DRAGON INK!!" INTERVIEW WITH PUBLISHER DOUGLAS LENTES TONIGHT on IN LIKE FLYNN - 9PM CST. COME JOIN THE DISCUSSION!

Posted by Penelope on July 25, 2009 at 10:53am
Listen to In Like Flynn on internet talk radio

Penelope and Otto discuss current events including the HLGates v. Cambridge Police debacle and why President Obama should have stayed out of it; Should parents be charged as criminals when their children are obese? We remember Walter Kronkite and discuss The resurgence of the U.S. Space program - Where should we go from here? SD Comic Con 2009 in Review.

Then come Celebrate the birthday of Fantasy, Art and Music mag online publlisher Paper Dragon Ink and its magazine Pandora's Gate!

We'll be interviewing Paper Dragon Ink writer/publisher Douglas Lentes. We'll also be joined later in the show by inspirational author, Errett R. Thomas, Jr. who'll be focusing on "positive self-talk." Join us in the Chat room or call in at 718/506-9683!! Don't be shy. Drop on by to ask your questions and to give us your take on these and other issues on the July 25th segment of the In Like Flynn Show!
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McKenzie Files E-Book.

Posted by Barry K. Nelson on July 22, 2009 at 10:00pm
Here's a bit of news. McKenzie Files is now available in E-book format directly from Leucrota Press. And for the low price of $3.95. Now that's a steal that would make John Dillenger proud. But don't worry, If you don't want to go the high tech route then the book is still available in the ink and paper version. $11.95 if ordered directly from the publisher.
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Call for Black Christian Fiction Authors (Not SF, alas, but some folks might be interested

Posted by Carole McDonnell on July 20, 2009 at 12:02pm
Got this from Karen Waddles. Perhaps you can use this or pass it on to writers who may be interested.We are a Christian publisher and very interested in receiving publishing proposals from Christian writers – specifically fiction proposals. Lift Every Voice Books is the imprint of Moody Publishers that targets African American readers. Please feel free to provide my contact information to any writers you know that may be interested in submitting a proposal.Blessings,Karen L. WaddlesAssistant to the PublisherMoody Publishers820 N. LaSallehttp://www.moodypublishers.com/Publishers/default.asp?SectionID=7DBC91EEDCDB487DBBD484EFB3F40D86The query should summarize the contents of your book and indicate the manuscript length. Please also send a detailed outline or plot synopsis and three sample chapters with your query. In the query you should briefly introduce yourself—including an explanation of your spiritual walk and background—and list your qualifications to write on the subject. Tell us the audience for your book, how your book stands out from others on the same subject, why it is right for Moody, and how readers may be changed for the better by reading your book.That information can be sent electronically to me at this emailing address: Karen.Waddles@moody.edu
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Quotes

Posted by Raymond Murray on July 18, 2009 at 12:10pm
The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. stone crumbles. wood rots. people, well, they die. but things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.”
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Thought Pt 1

Posted by Raymond Murray on July 18, 2009 at 12:00pm
Well I admit I'm not a big Harry Potter fan. In fact I had made a reference on how much I despised the character in my book. Something recently has made me change my mind. I dont know how the special a year in the life of J.K. Rowlings has been out, but seriously it made me a new fan. I didnt realize how similar our writing styles an life experinces were until that special. So it made me re evalute certain plot outines in my book. So neither the less something must be change in my book. Because frankly my conscience is kicking my ass.
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Novel Update

Posted by Raymond Murray on July 18, 2009 at 12:00pm
I feel like this story is really going to set the tone for me. Right now I'm working on a back story for my character..well actually more like a creation story. It's crazy I know no sane person should write as much as I do, but i felt like my rabbit hole wasn't deep enough.
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DEADLY ARTIFACT REVIEWS AND E-MAILS

Posted by Eugene Allen Wilson on July 17, 2009 at 8:21am
Mr. Wilson has created an intense SCI-FI suspense novel of such dramatic proportions that you will be very sad when you finish. Why? This is because his characters are so engaging that you will miss them when you are not reading about their exploits. Victor, Vernon, Ronald, Eunice, Sibekk, Suris, and the aliens on the planet Dabenar will become fast friends in your imagination. I now miss Victor’s temper and the teenager’s strong vernacular as they deal with each other’s personalities as they unravel the details of a mystery that changes how they deal with life.This novel is set in the 1970’s in Northern California among a group of African-American teenagers who embark on an unbelievable adventure of galactic intensity. Mr. Wilson shows us his erudition in electronics, American history, and astrophysics, black culture, and all things Motown. His novel is truly a delight to read and very enjoyable. The science portion of the novel is believable and intense.I may be one of the reviewers who will not be too objective, because I personally know Mr. Wilson. The basis of this novel is an intense family love that spans all time and culture, human or alien. A daughter’s love for the father she never knew and how a group of young African-American young men interact and attempt to love in the growing years of teenage angst makes this novel one of the best I have read. I am a fan of Star Trek and all things SCI-FI and I must admit I look forward to Mr. Wilson’s next sequel, or should I say, prequel as maybe Ra’as and Sulbrin embark of explaining just whose skeleton lays in the cave on Shumen Mountain.Thanks,Tim StinnetteYorktown VirginiaYou can read more on this Hampton Virginia project at the following web site---http://www.eugeneallenwilson.com

Hi Eugene,I'm pleased to see that there are others of African descent in North America who are committed to promoting strong values and showing our communities in a postive and progressive light. I am an African-Canadian woman born and raised in Montreal where we have even fewer opportunities to create cultural products that reflect the realities of our communities, especially when those products stray from mainstream ideas of what sells. I congratulate you on the publishing of your book and wish you all the best in your future endeavours, both personal and professional.Kindest regards,Sharon S.ssprin1@hotmail.com

Hi Eugene,Thanks so much for the kind words:) I checked out your website, looks very interesting. Good luck with your book!Tanyaauthor of ALEXANDERwww.TanyaYvonne.com

Hello Eugene,The book is very, very exciting! I am almost to the end of it and I fine myself right in the middle of the conflicts. You have done a wonderful job and I hope the book soars.Yvonne and Thomas Jowersthomas152@cox.net
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Free novel download or go to blog www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com

Posted by Lyn LeJeune on July 11, 2009 at 8:30am
RE: THE WHITE ARMYOut of New Orleans before the catastrophe that was made by a hurricane and, as Dante wrote, “of false gods who lied,” comes The Parable of the Beatitudes, part one in the New Orleans Trilogy. The Parable of the Beatitudes portrays New Orleans as Dante’s purgatory, a place where the sins of men are exposed for all to see, where redemption is close at hand but most often lost, where the mind, body, and soul are tested.This world is revealed by the lives of two social workers, Hannah Dubois (white and nicknamed Scrimp) and Earlene Washington (African-American and nicknamed Pinch), who start their own business, Social Investigations, in order to solve the murders of ten foster children in New Orleans, Louisiana. The NOPD, the Catholic Church, and politicians have sidestepped clues that point to those who hold great power. As Hannah and Earlene find more and more evidence, they also know that they are dealing with a force that crosses into the realm of the spiritual. Earlene is murdered with a sword from the famous Cabildo but returns to join her ghostly friends in the Heavenly City. A ghost can certainly help investigations and The Parables of the Beatitudes gives us the world the ghost private detective. The murderers are part of a secret organization called the White Army (le Armee Blanc), centered in New Orleans, but rooted in Medieval Europe and the Children’s Crusades. Each clue leads to a beatitude and each chapter defines the novel: The Pure of Heart, The Persecuted, The Merciful, The Sorrowful, The Peacemakers, The Meek, The Poor in Spirit, and Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Justice. The Parable of the Beatitudes is thus a study of good and evil, and that act, the murder of innocent children, which encompasses all of the seven deadly sins. Who then can better perform acts of goodness and compassion than those who have suffered? Pinch and Scrimp- a ghost and a voodoo princess?The work was critiqued by Mary Gordon and Kathryn Davis at the Skidmore Summer Writers Institute and was hailed as a work of fine writing, crossing from genre fiction to literature. Also, The Parable of the Beatitudes was a finalist in the 2001 William Faulkner Novel-in-Progress Competition (then titled The Foster Child Murders).Book II in The New Orleans Trilogy, The Book Burners (shortly after the deluge) is almost completed, and book III, Almost Paradise (years after the deluge), is in outline form.My short stories have been published in literary journals such as Big Muddy: AJournal of The Mississippi River Valley (East Missouri University), The Bishop’s HouseReview (Duke), The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Nantahala, Milestone,Identity Theory, Southern Hum, Stone Table Review and Our Stories. I have also published articles in such journals as Mystery Readers International. I am recipient of the Paris Writers’ Institute Scholarship for study in Paris, France and a Fellowship for study with the Summer Literary Seminars in St. Petersburg, Russia. I studied writing at Skidmore (where I worked with Mary Gordon and Marilynne Robinson), Duke, and the Bread Loaf Writers ConferenceI was born and raised in South Louisiana and lived the greater part of my life in New Orleans.Email me at lynlejeune@cox.net for a FREE ATTACHMENT OF WHITE ARMY AND FEEL FREE TO FORWARD IT TO YOUR FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES.Lyn
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THE DREAMNASIUM

Posted by Geoff Thorne on July 10, 2009 at 4:00am
So, last year, I think, I started this web comic called THE DREAMNASIUM. It was pretty successful even though I was doing it just for fun.I left off at the beginning of the third issue due to work in the real world (for real money) but I've got some time now and I thought I'd get back in.It's an anthology book. I switch up stories every issue or two and switch up styles on every story.Maybe you'll dig it.

Feel free to take a look HERE or HERE.PG and R rated so, be warned.
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My fairy book for Disney

Posted by Nnedi Okorafor on July 8, 2009 at 11:00am
Since I got the contract today I think I can safely share the good news:

I’ll be doing a chapter book for the line of Disney Fairies chapter books.


A friend defined a chapter book perfectly. She said: “A chapter book is intended for intermediate readers (7-10). Although these books do have many illustrations, a chapter book tells the story primarily through text, rather than pictures.”....


Even before I got involved with these chapter books, I was reading them. I picked one up at the library out of curiosity. I read it in a day and thought it was pretty good! Next thing you know I was reading another and another and another. I think I’ve read, like, eight of them. :-).


Pixie Hollow, where the stories are set, has a very floral feel that is totally akin to the world I created in Zahrah the Windseeker. And there was magic in the world of these spunky little fairies. It’s an easy fit for me.


I’ll be doing a chapter book centered on the character of Iridessa.




I’ve already written a draft of it. The tentative title is Iridessa and the Fire-Bellied Dragon Frogs.

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A contest with a quick upcoming deadline -- NPR's 3-minute fiction contest

Posted by Carole McDonnell on July 4, 2009 at 8:21am
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105685925At NPR, we love to hear, and tell, your real-life stories every day. Now, we want to hear your fiction as well.This summer, we're beginning a contest called "Three-Minute Fiction." The premise is simple: Listeners send in original short stories that can be read in three minutes or less — that's usually about 500-600 words long.James Wood, literary critic for The New Yorker and author of the book How Fiction Works, will serve as NPR's "Three-Minute Fiction" guide. Wood will appear on-air throughout the summer to read his favorite submissions, and we'll also post them here on NPR.org.
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The Museum Of UnCut Funk Gets A Shoutout From The Black Super Heroes Blog!!!

Posted by The Museum Of UnCut Funk on June 29, 2009 at 2:55pm

Just got finished visiting The Museum of UnCut Funk, a site dedicated to the celebration and preservation of the Funk. We here at the Black Superhero Blog have always had a soft spot for the Funk and this site doesn't dissapoint. With its series of Funky blogs, exhibits, and online community they seem to have it all covered. There is even have a section about Black Comic Books. It's a pretty ambitious project all in all. Check them out.www.museumofuncutfunk.comblacksuperheroes.blogspot.com/
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TOR UK contest for an unpublished novel

Posted by Carole McDonnell on June 29, 2009 at 2:27pm
“War of the Words” is the SciFiNow writing competition in association with Tor UK, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited (“the Competition”)1. The winner will receive a publishing contract with Macmillan Publishers Limited for publica tion in 2010 dependent on publishing schedules. For the purposes of this competition we will pay the winning author a 20% royalty on net receipts but there will be no advance (i.e. an advance payment against future sales). Our contract is non-negotiable and we acquire world rights, with rights revenue split 50/50. We also reserve the option to publish the author’s second novel. The final book is intended to be published in the United Kingdom. Publication will be subject to the winner’s acceptance in writing of those terms and conditions and compliance with them.2. All entrants must have a full length novel (being between 80,000 and 150,000 words long) completed and available upon request by the close of competition on 20 August 2009.3. Entrants who have had a full-length novel previously published by a trade publisher anywhere in the world will not be eligible, (so you will not be excluded by virtue of having any previously self-published work). Additionally this competition is not open to employees or their immediate families of the Promoters and any companies within the Imagine Publishing Ltd. group of companies or the Macmillan Publishers Limited group of comp anies.4. To be eligible, initial entries must comprise of a full synopsis and the first three chapters of a novel set in the fantasy or science fiction genre. There must be a novel completed and available for review by 20 August 2009 should the judging panel request to see the full novel. Entrants will not be put forward to the shortlist without a full novel. The synopsis and first three chapters should be double spaced and emailed to: warofthewords@imagine-publishing.co.uk to be received by SciFi Now Magazine at Imagine Publishing Limited on or before the closing date of 20 August 2009 17:30 GMT.5. Entries from the first round will not be returned.6. The Promoters assume no responsibility for lost, stolen, delayed, damaged, illegible or misdirected entries or for any failure of the website during the competition period.7. Entr ants confirm the following in relation both to their entry and, where applicable, all further work supplied by them where they are selected for the shortlist as described below. Namely that all such work is their own original work and has not previously been published anywhere in the world; that it does not infringe any laws whether of the UK or elsewhere or the rights of any third party; that no other person was involved in the creation of such work; that they have the right to give the Promoters and their respective licensees permission to use it for the purposes set out below.8. No purchase necessary.9. Only one entry per person. No joint entries are permitted.10. A shortlist of six candidates will be drawn up by the judging panel. The judging panel will consist of readers from SciFiNow magazine, the Tor imprint at Pan Macmillan Publishers and at least one person independent of the promoters. The identity of the judges will be made available on request. The shortlisted entrants will be notified no later than 07 September 2009. SciFiNow or Tor will notify the shortlisted candidates by telephone/email, and they will need to respond no later than 5 days from the notification otherwise another entrant will be selected from the remaining eligible entries.11. Each shortlisted entrant will be sent a copy of the Macmillan Publishers Limited contract which they must agree to sign in the form in which it is put forward by Macmillan Publishers Limited in the event that they win the competition. Entering into the final stage of the competition is conditional upon such agreement.12. Copyright in your entry and all subsequent work provided by you where you are selected for the shortlist will remain with you. The winner will be governed under the terms of the Pan Macmillan contract which they must sign as described above. By entering the competition, entrants irrevocably grant the Promoters the right to reproduce their entry or an edited form of their entry in any form or format for the purposes of advertising, marketing or point of sale as the Promoters shall determine. They also irrevocably agree to participate in such promotional activities and feature in such pr omotional and PR activities as the Promoters may reasonably require and consent to the use of their names, city of residence, photograph for publicity purposes in all media.13. The winner will be the entry which, in the decision of the judges, shows a thorough grasp of narrative, pacing and characterization and additionally who, in the opinion of the judges, will create the most appealing and commercial book for the science fiction and fantasy readership and is the most suitable author to be published under the Tor imprint at Pan Macmillan Publishers. The judges’ decision in all matters will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into.14. The winner will be announced no later than 25 November 2009. The winner will be notified by telephone/email, and will need to respond not later than 5 days from the notification as to whether they are able to accept the prize. If a selected entrant does not meet all of the terms and conditions, or does not reply by the deadline another entrant may be selected by the judges from the remaining eligible entries.15. Entrants must be 18 or over on 01 May 2009 and there is no geographical restriction.16. There is only one prize which is the opportunity to have your novel published under the Tor imprint by Macmillan Publishers Limited in 2010 dependent on publishing schedules. The prize is subject to the winning author committing to strict deadlines for publication purposes.17. The prize is non-transferable and there is no cash alternative. The Promoters reserve the right to amend the specification of the prize, and to amend the terms of, or to withdraw this competition without notice, although every effort will be made to avoid undue disappointment to entrants and to provide a prize of similar quality and value. Details of any such changes will be posted on http://www.scifinow.co.uk/18. The name/country of the winner will be published on http://www.scifinow.co.uk/ and published in SciFiNow magazine on 25 November 2009.19. The email address and phone number you provide on entering this competition will only be used by us to contact you if necessary, and will not be shared with other companies.20. The Promoters have organised this prize in good faith and do not accept liability relating to the prize.21. These competition Terms and Conditions shall be governed by and constructed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales and the courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction in relation to any disputes arising therefrom.22. Promoters: SciFi Now Magazine, part of Imagine Publishing Limited, Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ and Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited of Brunel Road, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire (”Pan Macmillan”) (together “the Promoters”). Please email warofthewords@imagine-publishing.co.uk if you have any queries that are not covered by any of the terms and conditions contained here.http://www.scifinow.co.uk/competitions/war-of-the-words-rules-and-regulations/
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