My Contributor Interview Is Live!

My scifi story has been accepted for the July month! Kyanite Publishing posts its contributors' profiles and interview questions online!

You can read mine on the following link:Kyanite Press Contributors Page 3

I like that I'm not the only 'W'. Many times, I'm usually the only one or in that rare occasion that someone may have a surname with X, Y, Z, which is almost astronomical! There's several other contributors with W surnames, so I don't quite feel alone. 

Aside from that peeve of mine, I am QUITE EXCITED to be included in such a line-up! A number of these authors I either communicate and/or network with on social media, or, they are close friends and guild members! And they have a number of incredible writings and stories out!

This has been a dream come true, to finally publish a SF story. I was introduced to Science Fiction before Fantasy and have often felt the greater desire to create it, to give honor to those authors whose stories fostered me. I hope I'm doing those that have passed on homage, and to finally feel the part: a writer who can straddle multiple genres. 

So, head on over to Kyanite Publishing and check out my interview (as well as the other contributors)! You may just find other writers for your next summer or lifetime read!

Also, don't forget that Kyanite Press Issue 6 |Volume 1 will have my story The Human Network,  available for online purchase with Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com THIS JULY! 

As soon as more information is given, I'll provide it here on Pretty in Print! 
And, as always, thank you for sticking with me, Dear Readers. This is the Angry-- wait, I mean, SciFi Author Angry Goblin, signing off...

Best of 2017 - Part Four

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

Last is The Best American Comics 2013 anthology series. This was another surprise gem that wasn't even recommended by a sophisticated online system! This anthology was a happy surprise and showcases a variety of comic stories (strips, excerpts from graphic novels, series, musings, autobiographies, and spec-fic entries) from a variety of professionals in the industry. 

This a thick hardcover and yet surprisingly light so I credit the material they used. Not only is there something for everyone, I would even recommend this title to non-comic readers! Now because of this, I will be finding and acquiring the rest in the series!

THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2013 is edited by Jeff Smith, creator of the famed and critically acclaimed "Bone" comic series and series' editors Jessical Abel, comic creator of "Trish Trash" and Matt Madden, comics creator, educator, translator and so forth.

Please pick up THE BEST AMERICAN COMICS 2013 directly from Hamilton Books or where ever books are sold.

P.S. Will be posting at a later date about the wonderful online bookstore (and ISN'T Amazon!) that is Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller!!!

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

Best of 2017 - Part Two

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude tomorrow, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

Next up is Chain Mail Bikini- a comic anthology about female or femme-affirming gamers! 

Any Robert E. Howard fan would know the title is a nod to one of his most famous characters, Red Sonja, the butt-kicking shero/heroine of his Conan the Barbarian series as well as her own series.

I spoke about this anthology many posts before and I will provide that hyperlink when this post goes live. In the meantime, I feel this title deserves a second post review! 

Chain Mail Bikini is a trail mix of delightful ruminations and musings on a little-media-attention topic: girls and women who like to game (video games/board games/role-playing card games, etc) and how it sculpts one's identity, defines an individual, as well as the overall affect on that broader gaming community. 

Now, this may sound lofty and I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. All I know is that as many people as possible need to read this gem of comic "essays" about gamers and the lives they lead - whether offline or online. Whether the favored game is made of paper, in pixels, or penned by a 'circle', the emotions are nevertheless real, the social commentary biting, sexism crackles, and feminism shines. 

As I said before, the comics are a mixed bag: some of the comic art is adorable, some are quite polished, even professional, some are quite rough, while others are drawn somewhat amateurish. But, however the aesthetic might be, this anthology carries a lot of heart. There is no BS. What you see is what you get and the authors aren't here to waste their time or the readers. They are just here to tell you their stories. No Ifs, Ands, or Buts about it. And no spoilers from this reviewer. 

Chain Mail Bikini is guest edited by Hazel Newlevant  and the intriguing front cover (for which I am now a fan of!) by Hellen Jo !

Please pick up Chain Mail Bikini directly from its website (available in PDF, hardcopy) or where ever books are sold.

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

Best of 2017 - Part One

NOTE: Here, there be hyperlinks!

In honor of Banned Books Week, which will conclude in 4 days, I am posting my Best of 2017 books that have simply blown my mind (and that's not an easy thing to do, though I feel my tastes are wide-spread enough that I'm often more satisfied than disappointed) and wish to share my findings with my readers and visitors...

First up is Lightspeed Magazine's(r) ------- Destroy Science Fiction or Fantasy anthology series.

Anybody that knows me knows I love my anthologies! I'm obsessed! Between a novel and an anthology, I would have to be a fan of the author to choose the novel over the anthology. I blame my grade school days. Anthologies are perfect excuses to be introduced to new writers/authors and is a portable library of shorts: fiction, nonfiction, essays, interviews, comics, artwork, and poetry. Anthologies can be in every subject and are perfect for burgeoning and veteran science fiction/fantasy/horror readers.

Lightspeed Magazine's People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction is a meaty (sorry to vegetarians!) collection of hard-hitting stories, mind-opening interviews, and essays from authors of varying ethnic and cultural groups. Science fiction has always been consumed by 'people of color' but those that write it have not been given the media exposure they deserve. People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction means to change that.

Not only did I relate to statements and some life experiences mentioned in author essays and interviews with the anthology, but I was dismayed that authors whom I thought were White turned out to be a different ethnic group! Take for instance Daniel H. Wilson, author of the Robopocalypse series! He's Native American. How many of us know that our First Peoples in the United States are writing speculative fiction? I'm sure many of the most well-read did not know or were aware, and that's tragic, indeed.

Included in this toothsome and almost brick-heavy (it is a bit weighty but so worth it) volume, are various art pieces and illustrations, many created for the stories but also to showcase the range of talent in the spec-fic landscape.

People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction is guest edited by Nalo Hopkinson and Kristine Ong Muslim - Hopkinson is a well-known powerhouse author and Ong Muslim is a writer to watch for!

Each entry in this anthology gives a smaller-font brief bio paragraph on each author and any social media they are on.

Please pick up People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction directly from Lightspeed Magazine or where ever books are sold.

Info on Banned Books Week here: Banned and Challenged Books

9 of the Worst Habits of Book Lovers

http://www.bustle.com/articles/73315-9-of-the-worst-habits-of-book-lovers-that-leave-us-broke-in-pain-and-lonely-but

How Does Your Reader Feel?

On the telephone with a family friend, she brought up something interesting:
She not only asked about characters as if they were real. My friend believed that my rate of progress (drafts that I'd shown her) was greater than how I felt about my output. What I saw as the tip of the iceberg, she viewed as a great deal and fascinating. It not only opened my eyes to what I was attempting to accomplish, but lifted a veil of discontent I had been feeling for weeks.
There is no excuse for it, the feeling of inadequacy a creator feels for the project. Is it because we as creative types strive to outdo our last job? Does this feeling help us to create better and hopefully stronger each time?

Earlier fans of my storytelling was my oldest niece. Or rather, she being younger, became an unwilling audience once my stories became tiresome.

School friends were my next readers, except I was known as the Artist, illustrating my tales first.
One summer in 1989 (I think), stuck in summer school for math and all of us watching "Summer School" vhs tape from the library, I completed a full comic story. I used notebook paper and my favorite writing pens at the time. I used highlighters for color. I used a copier machine, and then, passed the copies around (I think they were two) during class. I'd like to feel this helped me and my classmates get through the monotony. By the time the booklets were passed around, everybody had their opinions: the story was good but the ending was rushed, or they didn't like how the hero's problem was solved so coincidentally. These comments came from friends and foes alike. And though I was annoyed by the reactions at the time (so sue me! I was 12-14 years old), I learned how much I had to delay resolutions. There had to be delayed satisfaction and a solution (if any) solved organically.

Fast forward to a secretarial position with the public education district office, and another short story was published. With many of my tales and ideas, I use my latest obsessions or readymade knowledge. Mine at the time was the history of the Middle east. Always fascinated by the cultures that gave us astronomy, algebra and the number zero, I decided it was time I wrote another story within my 'Tabber the Red' series. These are standalone yet linked stories set on a feline world. Yet, unlike what I was reading and seeing on shelves, my cats were upright, wore clothing, had different cultures, religions, were separated by ethnic groups and/or nations. So much like our world but so different.

My story took place during the ancient world of the lynx people. There was a messianic figure and the prophecy that drew him and his followers. Adventures ensued and this was one such tale. When my editor learned I could draw, he insisted I illustrate my story. I drew a caracal (a lynx cousin that inhabits the deserts) character wearing a head covering. The story was published both online and in a trade paperback edition. When I told one of my coworkers, who had showed interest in my writing, a budget analyst, about how to easily obtain the story, she told me that I must never give a story away. She told me that when it was available in print, she would purchase it.
I belatedly realized my coworker was Muslim and began to wonder if she would take offense to my story.
Later, she exclaimed excitement to me about the story and its characters. She thought that the Middle Eastern flavor of the book was thrilling. Its dark fantastic undertones she brushed off as she was used to reading horror. I was elated and told her I was glad she enjoyed it. That coworker told me she would keep up with my stories from now on.

Again and again, there is validation to this lonely life. It never fails to excite me that such seclusion from living in one's head can still lead to touching others.