Thursday, November 28, 2013

Shooting the Messenger

As many people know, I'm the Head Compiler for the HWA's Awards Committee. This job means I enter information into a database. Every recommendation that is made is entered in by hand. I try and enter them every day, because several times throughout the awards season, I will get emails from people who tell me that they've just made a recommendation and why wasn't it listed yet. There are also people who recommend the same works twice and then write me to ask me why it isn't entered yet because the number hasn't gone up. I kindly inform them that they'd already made the recommendation, and I give them the exact date and time of when they made that original recommendation. (The database actually records every recommendation right down to the last second it is made.) These emails from members concerned about the "numbers" tell me that people watch the numbers of the recommendations way too closely, which is unfortunate, because it's not about having the most recommendations. There are plenty of people who will tell you that they had the most recommendations in their category in a season and didn't make the final ballot. The works that make the preliminary ballot are five  from the Rec Sheet (those with the most Recs) and five from the jury. These are then voted on by the Active and Lifetime members to produce the works that make the final ballot. (I, the Head Compiler have nothing to do with who winds up on that final ballot.)
I spend a good 2-3 hours a week altogether on the recommendations, depending on the amount. Closer to awards season, it gets busier and takes up more time. It also takes time getting the verifications entered, and adding links to works. This is all on a voluntary basis.
I can't delete any recommendations that are made, so when double recommendations do come in, I have to do a search and find, then count every single rec for that work to make sure the numbers are correct each time that work gets recommended. This also goes for people who recommend their own works, or works they've been involved with, which you're not allowed to do and it clearly states that in the rules that I did not write. If you have a link to add or change (just like it says in the rules) you write to the compiler at compiler@horror.org to have them add it. It's obvious why everybody doesn't have access to the database to change their own information, but people don't understand this, because they don't read the rules, so when they can't figure out why they can't change or add to their listing, they get frustrated and blame it on me. I just got an email asking me if I could add a link because it wasn't working for them. Guess what? If you read the rules you'll learn that it never will. (I apologize, but the more I'm thinking about this, and on Thanksgiving, the angrier I'm getting.)
Every official email that you receive from me as the Compiler, I've been told to write you, unless it is a simple reply letting you know that the spelling of your work or link has been corrected in the database. I do not, (am not permitted) to contact any of you on my own accord or question your works without the order coming from someone higher up. There isn't a single thing I can do in the database that isn't looked over by someone else.
I have two works up this year (that have been recommended,) and I've been accused of personally attacking other author's works in my same categories, because of a letter of inquiry I was told to write by the higher ups. And I just want to say I did not and would never rally against another author's work. It's such a pity I have to defend myself against something I have no control over, and that I volunteer for. There's nothing like being called really nasty names for what has to be a complete misunderstanding made by others.
Same thing goes for the HWA Newsletter. There's a rule that self-published works are not permitted in the Free Promotional Listings. I did not personally make this rule. If I had as much power as some people thought I had, I'd rule the world. But yes, believe it or not, people get upset with me, because I have to turn away their works. And now there's a big campaign going on to defame my character.
And for what?
I still haven't quite figured that out exactly, except that I know people need someone to blame. You want to blame me and call me names, because it makes you feel more like a man, woman, human being, go ahead. I've been blamed for worse and called worse names. But in the end, you're only shooting the messenger.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

The Vegas Valley Book Festival


Saturday, November 2nd, 2013 marked the last day of events that were held throughout the month of October/November associated with The Vegas Valley Book Festival. It took place at the Historic 5th Street School in downtown Las Vegas, and you couldn't have asked for a more wonderful location or better weather. They did it up right, with interesting panels, music, and food choices.

http://www.horror.org/blog/Horror Writers Association sponsored a table and Mercedes Murdock Yardley and I worked it from 10am to 3:30pm. Many people came up interested in the association, which they'd never heard of, and walked away with a pamphlet explaining the organization. They also signed up with their name and email address to receive more information

It all started several months ago when I was asked by one of the committee members if I'd be interested in writing something for the annual anthology The Vegas Valley Book Festival puts out. The theme was "Progress" and it had to incorporate the element of Las Vegas. I did warn them that since I'm a horror writer first and foremost, my idea of "progress" might be different than others' perspectives. Of course, I said yes, and wrote a short story, "Reclamation" about water reclaiming the Earth, the last stand taking place atop one of America's biggest symbols for progress--The Hoover Dam.

Then I was asked if I'd like to sit in on a committee meeting, because the committee is interested in introducing more "genre" to future festivals. After attending the meeting, I thought, Yeah, they do need some genre, so then I decided to go ahead and be the horror liaison, to set up a horror panel, and invite horror authors to Vegas for the 2014 Vegas Valley Book Festival. Fortunately, so many horror authors cross genres, which makes them available to do other panels as well. I'm always happy to promote reading and the horror genre in the community.

Mid-October, there was a meet and mingle cocktail hour with local and national authors at City Hall, I was also invited to participate in. It was fun and I met a lot of people that are in well-established book clubs in Vegas. I learned that some actually have waiting lists for people interested in joining. It makes perfect
sense to me now, but I truly didn't realize the whole hierarchy and social importance of Vegas book clubs before.

The last week of October, there was a panel for the anthology authors and editor at the beautiful Clark County Library. We were told we'd be reading an excerpt from our work in the book, and I'm not a big "read in public" kind of person, but I thought I'd be able to swing it. Well, when I arrived and saw the large auditorium set up for it, I panicked. Ha! All the other authors were there waiting on me, and I was walking around taking pictures of the place, thinking I should've taken something to relax me, but the last time I did that and read, I slurred my words and vowed never to do it again. It all worked out, and I was told my reading went well. Afterward, the authors stayed for a while and signed books for the attendees.

The overall experience was fantastic and hopeful. One point I took away from it all is that Las Vegas needs more readers. I understand that in a city where world-class entertainment is on every corner it can be difficult to sit down with a book, but there's an enrichment that comes from reading and nothing else. It stirs the imagination and takes you places that aren't filled with crowds of people, loud slot machines, and smoke-filled casinos. I have friends who tell me they wish their kids would read more, but when the parents don't read, it's more likely the kids won't, either, and that's sad for everyone.

On the last bit about my cross-promotion with Carl Alves and the Goodread Giveaways. In the end, Carl's promotion started only 3 days after mine. I had something like 967 people request the book, Carl had around 776. I put one hundred dollars toward advertising on Goodreads. Was it worth it? No. But I did enjoy doing the giveaway and will definitely do it again in the future, without any money toward advertising. This was a fun cross-promotion Carl invited me to do with him and I'm glad we did it. Thank you, Carl. Hopefully, the winners of the giveaways will give us wonderful reviews and tell all their friends to go out and immediately buy our books.
---Now, back to reality.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Why I just HAD to be in FEAR THE REAPER

Before the end of last year, Taylor Grant had posted an anthology he'd gotten another one of his awesome stories into. (One of the most talented, hard-working, and down-to-earth, nicest guys I've ever met.) Read his work if you haven't, you won't be disappointed.

The thing that caught my eye right away about his post was the cover art, and then it was the title. I took it as a challenge, and for first time ever I felt like, "I HAVE to be in this anthology."

I've never considered myself the "pushy" type and I certainly didn't want to come off as desperate, but I messaged Taylor and asked him about the anthology. He told me to write the editor, Joe Mynhardt who runs Crystal Lake Publishing, and had just put out the anthology, For the Night is Dark, which also has a great cover. Even though I didn't know Joe, I sent a brief bio and introduced myself. But besides my short story "The Eyes Have It" in Horror For Good: A Charitable Anthology, nothing else I'd written had been published yet. I wrote Joe anyway and he told me that the anthology was getting pretty full but he'd look over what I sent him.

I thanked my lucky stars when he said he'd like for me to submit a story to him. The story I wrote that's in the anthology, "Death Squared" has nothing to do with why I had to be in the anthology. That subject is still a little a bit too close to tackle, but hopefully, this very personal blog will explain why.

When my younger sister and I were growing up, we fought nonstop. I was the "nerdy" one who got good grades and awards, was a cheerleader, and for the most part, obeyed my parents. She, on the other hand, skipped school, hung out with the wrong crowd, dropped out of high school, ran away when she was sent to live elsewhere, you name it. She came back to Plattsburgh, when I was in college for nursing. My parents had transferred to Colorado, so each other was all we had, and we tried to care for one another when we could.

Eventually, my sister moved to my parents home in Folsom, California. I'd graduated with my nursing degree and moved to Denver, Colorado where I worked in the Operating Room. It had been about eight years since I'd seen my sister. I went out to Folsom to visit my family in July of 1992. My sister and I hung out pretty much the whole time. My mom even rented cabins in Lake Tahoe where the whole family had fun times. I remember watching ARMY OF DARKNESS with her, and I'm not sure we'd ever laughed so hard. But my vacation ended, and I went back to Denver.

My sister and I kept in touch, though. More so than we'd ever had. She had completed her GED, had registered for college courses, and had just gotten a new job. Things were looking up for her, so I'd send her money when I had it so she could buy books for school. She'd write me letters and tell me about what she was up to. I told her I was going to paint her a watercolor. I taped the paper to my wall and just free flowed what came to mind. The center of the scene was a massive old dead tree. Then I painted a kite stuck in its branches in crimson. In the background, I painted a faint Grim Reaper, complete with scythe. I never told her what I was painting. It was to be a surprise.

About three months later, she was missing. I asked my mom if she wanted me to go out to help look, but she said no. Ten days after that, a surveyor saw bronze rims on a car earlier in the day and went back later to take them off. When he got in the water he realized someone had died in the car. It was my sister. She was nineteen years old, and only two blocks from home. Her car went off the road and hit a tree, then flipped over in the water. The autopsy report stated that she'd had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy that probably had been painful enough for her to veer off, possibly pass out. There was water in her lungs.

My mom called me when they'd found her. I flew out to California.

The whole time was a blur. My mom remembered things that my sister had told her before the accident. She told me that a few strange things happened, and that somehow, my sister thought that she might die.

My little sister's favorite holiday was Halloween. She'd always go out. That year she didn't, and when my mom asked her why, she said it was because she'd been having nightmares about the Grim Reaper. Also, there'd been a black cat that darted out in front of her car.

I've never told anyone about the painting. Especially not my mother. She's really superstitious. When I got back to Denver, I tore it from the wall and threw it in the fireplace. I put all the paint tubes in a box, along with all my brushes, and I haven't painted a thing since. Or ever will.

Do I think that I had anything to do with anything? No. I just miss my sister.

And maybe that free flow thinking had me seeing things I never want to see again. Do I free flow think when I write? Absolutely not.

My little sister feared the reaper. I do not. And so, having a story, a piece of me, in the anthology that I had to be a part of. It was a challenge I took on and don't regret. I look forward to reading the rest of the stories in the book.

Many thanks to Joe, who did more than he ever thought by trusting that I'd do all right by his book.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Vegas Book Signings and Cross Promotion

I had two local book signings this past week. Monday, October 4th, was Books, Bubbles, and Brew, a Meet and Greet for readers and book clubs with national and local authors sponsored by the Vegas Valley Book Festival. It was at the NOW Cafe in City Hall, which is a beautiful building downtown. There was a good turnout, and I met a lot of great people. Many of them are in book clubs and mentioned they might read, The Evolutionist for one of their novel choices.

Friday, October 11th was The Atomic Book Signing at the historic Atomic Liquors on Fremont Street, downtown. It's no longer a liquor store these days and is more of a bar. It was an interesting choice of venue with the loud music, bar regulars, and dimly lit areas. I'll admit that if I didn't drive there myself and knew I'd have to drive back, I'd have had a couple of martinis. Most of the attendees were coming in from the Southern Nevada Writers Convention, so the majority of them were writers. And if there's one thing I've learned from writers conventions is that writers don't tend to buy a lot of books. The best events that seem to sell books are at fan conventions and reader events like book festivals. Aside from my book launch parties, I sold the most books at the L.A. Times Book Festival, and I'm hoping to exceed those sales at the Vegas Valley Book Festival on November 2nd.
On Thursday, October 24th at 7pm at the Clark County Library on Flamingo, I'll be discussing my short story "Reclamation" that's in the Las Vegas Writes Anthology: Progress, Getting Better All the Time. You can read a bit of my story if you click the link and then click on Reclamation. It's going to be interesting explaining how my apocalyptic story of how water reclaiming the Earth relates to progress, but hey, I'm a horror writer.
The highlight of The Atomic Book Signing was getting to see Mercedes Murdock Yardley. We had to get a picture of her with The Atomic sign because her latest novella is a "tale of atomic love." Click HERE to buy a copy. You won't be disappointed.
For the second part of my cross promotion experience with Carl Alves, I did a five question interview with him. Great stuff! Please read it. There are freebie opportunities at the end.
1.     To get an idea of your writing influences, who are three of your favorite writers from three different genres?

In the horror genre, it has to be Stephen King.  Even though I’m not as fond of his more recent work, his early stuff is pure gold.  In the seventies, eighties and nineties he was churning out mesmerizing horror that delivered every time.  He is my biggest writing influence.

 
In the fantasy genre, I would have to go with George R. R. Martin.  I only started reading him recently because I was hooked on the Game of Thrones television show.  Then I started reading the series, and damn, the novels are simply amazing.  His writing skills are off the chart.  His world building and characters are top notch. 

 
In the crime genre, I would go with Mario Puzo.  When I was writing my Mafia chapters in Blood Street, the voice of Puzo would always creep in my mind.  He got that world down so well.  He is the king of gangster writing, and I’ve always had a great admiration for his work.

 
2.     Blood Street has a lot of great Philadelphia mob and city details – did you do a lot of research, or did you use your own personal experiences in regards to the area? And well, if you’ve had any personal experiences with the Philadelphia mob, I’m sure everyone would like to know about them, too.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, so it wasn’t particularly hard to get details of the city right.  I really tried to incorporate the city into the novel to the point where it was like a character in the story.  As far as mob details, since I don’t have any personal dealings with organized crime figures, I did a lot of research into the history of the Philadelphia Mafia, and what I found was that in the fifties and sixties it was one of the most well run and well organized crime syndicates in the country.  In the eighties and nineties, the organization fell apart in a series of unprecedented violence.  Pretty much everybody who was in the Philly mob during that time period is either in jail or dead.  So what I wanted was to create a mob boss character who was highly educated and intelligent and would run the organization like a business. 
3.     In Blood Street, I was rooting for the mobsters. Do you have any tips on how you made these characters more likable than vampires that most readers seem to be so into?
Growing up in Philadelphia, I had the opportunity to get to know a good deal of Italian Americans and this was the basis for most of my Mafia characters on Blood Street.  I took the personalities of people that I had known and ratcheted them up to ten.  In the end, they are exaggerated versions of real people.  In the novel I intentionally didn’t try to make one side or the other being the heroes or the villains.  Mob guys are inherently bad since they make their way through life committing crime, but I did my best to make them likeable. 
 
4.     Wow, I see you have a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Is science fiction something you plan to explore in your writing in the future?
My next novel I have scheduled for release is entitled Reclamation Mother Earth, which is going to be published by Montag Press, and this is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller.  Based on my educational background, you might think that I would be drawn to science fiction, but what turns me off about the genre is that stories often get bogged down by technological jargon and specific details, which interfere with the telling of a good story.  For me the story comes first.  That’s why I purposely tried not to get overly technical with a lot of the science in the novel.  I want to tell a story, not teach a science class.  I get enough of that in my day job.
5.     What projects do you have in the works?

As I mentioned in the previous question, Reclamation Mother Earth should be coming out in the near future.  The premise of the novel is that aliens take over the Earth.  On the first day of the invasion, my main character who is a Navy SEAL, is there when the aliens invade and is knocked into a coma.  Five years later, he wakes up in the care of a kind alien physician to find out that most of the human race has been killed off and many of the survivors have been enslaved by the alien conquerors.  He starts to heal himself mentally and physically and in the process starts a resistance movement to take back the planet from the aliens.
 
As part of this cross promotion experiment, we're both having giveaways on Goodreads until the end of October. If you'd like to sign up to get a free copy of Carl's Blood Street, or The Evolutionist by me, clicking the book titles will take you there.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

My first ever Dark Delicacies book signing and the WeHo Book Fair in L.A.

 
Saturday, September 28th at 2pm, I had a book signing for East End Girls at the Dark Delicacies store in Burbank, California, along with Lisa Morton and Eric J. Guignard for their Double Down Series Book 2 Smog/Baggage of Eternal Night. Author Edward M. Erdelac was also there, rounding out a small part of the JournalStone author family. And it was Ed's birthday. Glad I made cookies! Christopher C. Payne, the president of JournalStone showed up to keep everybody in line.

It was a lot of fun and great to see everyone, like John Palisano who kindly stopped by to say hello and buy some books. I finally and formally met Del and Sue, which was the best part. I even got to sign some books.
John Skipp showed up and danced a little. Then his director friend, Mike Mendez, of a soon to be released movie - BIG ASS SPIDER - came and had two of my cookies! Better be a good flick, but I have no doubt spider fans everywhere will be crawling all over it.
Afterward, Lisa suggested dinner for some of us at a nearby Thai restaurant, and it was amazing. 

 
Sunday was the West Hollywood Book Fair. I slept in and took my time getting there because I was certain my table slot was at 2pm. Well, I was wrong. After stopping by The Iliad, which is one of the coolest bookstores ever, I headed to the book fair and found out I was supposed to be there at noon to sign with P.S. Gifford.

It was great to see and talk to Brad C. Hodson again.
I'd had more pictures of The Iliad that were really fantastic shots, but they got deleted when my brand new phone died. I'll have to take another trip out there soon for more great pictures and time with friends.

The HWA L.A. Chapter is all kinds of awesome. They always have something going on, are so welcome, friendly, and helpful. Makes me wish I lived just a little bit closer. But what's a four hour drive to be with great friends. It goes by in a flash when I think of the time spent with people I truly enjoy.



Saturday, September 7, 2013

Cross Promotion and Advertising with Carl Alves

This year, at the Bram Stoker Award® Weekend, Incorporating World Horror Convention in New Orleans 2013, Carl Alves and I attended an excellent workshop on how to market your work by Matt Schwartz from Random House. One of Matt's suggestions was to get together with an author friend or two and cross-promote each other's works. That's what Carl and I are doing this weekend.

I'll admit I'd never read any of Carl's work before this, but he sent me a copy of Blood Street and I've really been enjoying the story. I'm not a big vampire novel fan these days, although I loved Salem's Lot and the Anne Rice novels among other traditional vampire stories back in the day.

Click to purchase.
This is the synopsis from Amazon:  Blood Street is True Blood meets the Sopranos set in the streets of Philadelphia. When vampires tangle with the Philadelphia mafia, one thing is certain - all hell is going to break loose. 
           Alexei chose the wrong neighborhood to claim his latest victim, a member of Enzo Salerno's crime syndicate. Now Philadelphia mob boss Enzo Salerno is determined to hunt down the man who killed his associate in such gruesome fashion in his South Philly row home and serve his own brand of old fashioned Italian style vengeance. 
           Perplexed by this unnatural murder, Salerno uncovers clues that lead him to believe that this was not a mob hit, and that a vampire was responsible for this death. Magnus, the leader of Alexei's brood, must use all of his resources to save them from both the mafia and the FBI, sparking a bloody war that plays out in the streets of Philadelphia. Who will survive on Blood Street?   

I'm ten chapters in, and my favorite part of the story thus far is the mob setup. Carl gets it right, which makes me wonder a little...Ha! But I've seen all those mobster movies and read The Godfather, and you won't be disappointed with the development of these mob characters and their crime syndicate. He's done a great job of "showing" and not "telling." I'm sure it would have been easier to do an info dump to explain it all, but Carl takes the time to weave it nicely through the story.

I've recently been introduced to the vampires part of the story, and they're the typical vampires from back in the day, and I thank him for that. Nice job so far. When I'm finished with the book, I'll post reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and in my next blog, where I will also write about how the whole cross-promotion trial went.

Monday, September 2, 2013

EAST END GIRLS Book Launch Party

Saturday, August 31st was the evening of my book launch party for East End Girls, my historical horror novella for JournalStone Publishing's Double Down Series, Volume 1. Gord Rollo's, Only the Thunder Knows, about notorious grave robbers Burke and Hare is on the flipside.

This is the second book launch party I've had within a six month period, so this one went smoother as far as me knowing what I needed for setting up, and I was a lot less nervous. A dear friend of mine runs a jewelry business called Ravenous Design and I invited her to join me, along with another one of her friends, who co-created HipsSister athletic wear, so between the three of us, we got some good traffic and cross-selling. Fortunately, I also brought copies of my debut novel, The Evolutionist, and it sold nearly as well as East End Girls did, because friends have told friends that it's about the "local" area and those who have read it are spreading the word. (Thank you all for that! XOXO!) So, all in all, I sold a little over fifty books, which was pretty awesome. But I will say the only minor downside to having a joint venture was that I used what I made in sales to purchase items from my party partners. Ha!

Since I've been writing, (and maybe even a little before that,) I've become somewhat of a recluse. But as a writer, I've learned that it's important to "get out there" and be able to "sell yourself." Having these book launch parties is one way for me to see old friends and make new ones. It's amazing how well you think you know people, but then you find out something new. A friend of a friend may be a well-known agent, or Hollywood producer, or run an advertising agency. All connections that might become handy at some point in your career. Then your friends make those same connections with others for things that they're curious about, or interested in, or need, and relationships and friendships are made. It's a beautiful thing.

I had a wonderful time, and actually got up and walked around and talked to people when the initial crowd thinned out. Now I feel one of the reasons I have to continue writing is so I can have more book parties and more opportunities to mingle with friends and make new ones. I'd really like to thank everyone that came, spoke with me, and had a good time. Always love the support!

My next event is KillerCon Convention at The Stratosphere here in Vegas, September 19th thru the 22nd. It also takes place over my birthday, and a whole lot of fun happens! Click the logo below for more information. There's still time to register.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

"Reclamation"

A few months ago, I was asked by a local Las Vegas editor if I'd be interested in writing a short story for the upcoming Las Vegas Writes anthology, which coincides with  the Vegas Valley Book Festival, (October 30th - November 2nd) and a contributing authors' panel discussion/book launch scheduled for Halloween.
Hell Yeah! is what I was thinking, but I'm pretty sure I responded with a little more decorum. I was told that the theme is progress and it has to be about Las Vegas in some way.

To get an idea of what they might be looking for I read last year's anthology, Wish You Were Here, which was an homage of stories and essays to the old Vegas postcards, which I think were also used as writing prompts or at least chosen to go along with the pieces, which I thought was brilliant.

I've had a story in my head for a while, working out the nuts and bolts of it for a few months, but I knew right from the beginning it would have to do with water. I live in the dessert, so water is something precious. Then I've always thought that the whole "Primordial Soup" idea was interesting, too. Put those things together in a "horror/scientific" type of mind and I thought, what if the soup came back because water got smart and didn't like what we were doing to it? What would it do to us? How would it act? After a trip to the Hoover Dam for some background and research, my short story "Reclamation" became a more solidified idea and I began to write it out.


Taking the Hoover Dam tour wasn't just probably one of the coolest things I'd ever done, I got some good research out of it and learned quite a bit. After watching a short black and white film like the ones they showed us on projectors back in the day like old "Re-building of America" documentaries after The Great Depression, we got on an elevator and went down over 500 ft. The crowded elevator part was a bit uncomfortable, but it was very quick. I'm not even sure I felt butterflies in my stomach when we slowed/stopped. Then down below, I didn't feel like I was that far under the earth. It was very cool and open, considering it was about 110F degrees outside that day. The Nevada side turbines in the picture to the left where the American Flag hangs, hum a lot quieter than I thought they would.
Then you take the elevator back up after the tour guide is done explaining how things work. Our tour guide was very patient, as I kept him busy asking questions that made the rest of the tour group a little nervous.
Let me tell you, if you've never done it, the view from the top is a doozy. Especially if you have issues with heights and it's windy. Hundreds of people walk across the top of the damn every day. There's also another bridge that was recently built to keep cars from driving over the top of the dam anymore. To be honest, that's fine by me. I always hated that drive over. Not that the new bridge is any less scary.


 At the end of the trip we went to view some of the famous statuary done by Norwegian-born, naturalized American Oskar J.W. Hansen. One of them was the monument of dedication on the Nevada side of the dam. Rising from a black, polished base, is a 142-foot flagpole flanked by two winged figures, which Hansen calls the Winged Figures of the Republic. The winged bronzes which guard the flag, wear the look of eagles. The winged figures are 30 feet high. Their shells are 5/8-inch thick, and contain more than 4 tons of statuary bronze. The figures were formed from sand molds weighing 492 tons. The bronze that forms the shells was heated to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and poured into the molds in one continuous, molten stream. It is said that touching their feet is good luck so were sure to do this.

I suppose my whole point in writing this particular blog post was to show how important research is even when writing a short story. I wanted to know what the smells were like at the dam, what it felt like, and sounded like, so that I could "show" not "tell" when I wrote details in my story. From minor to major ones, research is an all important thing. I know that when I'm reading, and with my nursing/medical background, if I read something that just isn't possible or not right, but know could have easily been rectified with a little research, I tend to put the book down. And I'm not saying that my research is always a hundred percent. I am writing a work of fiction after all.

I turned "Reclamation" in the yesterday and reminded the editor that I'm a horror writer, so my idea of progress may differ from others.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

THE EVOLUTIONIST Las Vegas Book Launch Party

April 13th was the big day. My friends had flown in from Sacramento late Friday night on the twelfth, and after an interesting cab ride they suffered through from the airport, we all finally settled in after two in the morning. Excited for the day ahead, I woke up early and made them wake up, too. We had breakfast and then I left them at the hotel so I could make preparations and try to get a nap. (Unfortunately, the nap didn't happen.)

The Suncoast Hotel provided quite the spread, including some really cute individual desserts. If you missed out, the food was delish.

By the time the party started, I was already feeling a bit tired. And nervous. So I had a dirty martini I'd been sipping. (Because alcohol always helps to wake you up. NOT.) People started coming in around 5pm and I began signing books, and my friend Mindy was in charge of the accounting.


I enjoyed meeting lots of new people that were interested in the book, but because I was busy signing, I missed out on talking to some old friends I hadn't seen in a while, which was kind of a bummer. So, I took a few more sips of martini.

I met one lady who was writing and interested in getting advice on how to get her fan fiction of Fifty Shades of Grey published. (I didn't tell her that she was the second person locally, within a matter of two weeks, that had approached me on the same exact subject matter, which I thought was kind of interesting.) Anyway, as writers, we always like to encourage other writers to keep writing, so I gave her the advice of attending romance/erotica cons and Googling publishers/editors that would be interested and submitting. I have not read the series, so it was hard to know which publishers to recommend, and I'm at the far end of the spectrum from romance novels as far as my own stories. Ha! To be honest, one of the best ways to learn is trial and error. I learned everything the hard way myself, from the correct way of formatting a manuscript, to submitting to an agent versus indie publishers, and everything in between. It's not easy, but if you can learn the process and continue to write, then I feel you become more appreciative of it all and know that it's something you really want and not just a fly-by-night idea. Of course, at the time, I couldn't think of that last best bit of advice. Then I had more sips of martini and continued with more of the signings.

When things started to slow down, I finally got up and mingled a little bit. I was thoroughly exhausted at this point and maybe a little bit buzzed. Having something to eat definitely helped.

All in all, I thought it was a good turnout, a lot of fun, and I even sold some books! I'd like to thank my friend Mindy for her accounting skills, Stacy Scranton for her photography skills, (she will be the official photographer for The Bram Stoker Awards® Weekend Incorporating  World Horror Convention in New Orleans from June 13-16, 2013,) where I will also be in attendance, reading, signing, selling, and volunteering. I also want to thank my husband for all his help and everyone who came to support me. It's definitely something I'd consider doing again. There were many more photos that wouldn't all fit here, so I will eventually add them to the gallery on my website, www.renamasonwrites.com

Coming soon is my blog on the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and some NOLA advice from someone who has been to a writer's convention there for 6 years in a row.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Black Water Snake


The new year hasn't quite started off the way that I would've wanted, but hopefully, it improves as the weeks go by. The "black" years have never been good for me anyhow. For starters, I had been looking for (and trying out) new laptops. I wanted something really small, thin, and light, but it had to be powerful enough to run a database. I found one! The AcerS7. I absolutely love it. The only downside is the "Delete" button that is at the bottom of the keyboard, two spaces to the right of the spacebar. I'd like to shoot the engineer who came up with that idea. I haven't lost  part of an MS thus far, but I have deleted entire paragraphs of emails. I'm going to try putting some kind of textured sticker on the key to let my fingers know (teach them) that they shouldn't be on it. I've been typing for so long and up to 120wpm w/ fewer than 13 mistakes, that my fingers type sometimes, faster than my thoughts. They even make corrections on their own. (Or maybe, it just feels that way.)
 
In any case, the Acer S7 has my thumbs up. Most of the complaints about it in other reviews were for it's low amount of memory. I don't use a lot of memory, so that wasn't a big issue for me, and I purchased a mini XD card and stuck it in the slot. Wow. It's amazing to me how that tiny little thing could hold 32gigs of ram (or whatever.) I'm no techie by any means. So the laptop works great, but it's my internet that is bad, and there's nothing I can do about that right now.  
 
The next bit of good news with a sting is that my debut novel, The Evolutionist, will be out by the end of this month or early April. I was hoping that it would be out sooner, but things happen for a reason. I've scheduled a book launch party for Saturday, April 13th at The Suncoast Hotel in Summerlin. I'm hoping---fingers crossed---everything goes off without a hitch. This past Saturday, I decided to update my website for the release of the novel. Because of my "spotty" internet service and frustration, I ended up deleting the entire thing but the main page. It took me all of yesterday, but I think I have it back up and running. Nothing is coming without a price this year. That's what I'm saying about the "black" part of the water snake year. But at least I'm learning early on.

On some good news that brings me a little more added work, I was promoted to the HWA Head Compiler for the Bram Stoker Awards ®. I also took on the "Recently Born of Horrific Minds" column for the monthly HWA Newsletter. I did get some help for the compiling, though. And that is most certainly good news. The column is fun writing up, and I enjoy working with Kathy Ptacek and Erinn Kemp (the columnists for "The Classifieds" and "Fiendish Endeavors." You can find out more and how to advertise and receive the monthly newsletter here: http://www.horror.org/

I also received an acceptance letter to the International Thrillers Writers as an active member. Find out more about this organization here: http://thrillerwriters.org/

My novella, East End Girls, is now available for preorder. http://journal-store.com/fiction/only-the-thunder-knows-east-end-girls/ Thanks to Gene O'Neill and Chris Marrs, Gord Rollo teamed up with me to do a "Double Down" book for JournalStone Publishing. They're supposed to be like the old "Ace Doubles" flip books. It was a lot of fun to write. We both decided on historical horror tales while Gord was here in Las Vegas for KillerCon last year. So great to see it all fall into place.

Then there was some really sad news this month with the passing of James Herbert, David B. Silva, and Rick Hautala. Please if you can, make donations to their families or even just buy their books to keep their legacies going.