Hello, friends! I know it’s been a while since an update, but with the new year I’m hoping to do a little better blogging regularly. More on that later, though, because today I’m pleased to welcome Matthew W. Quinn back to the blog to talk about the Asian influences in his new novel, Battle for the Wastelands. Matthew, take it away.
Category Archives: Guest Post
Guest post: Matthew W. Quinn on Battle for the Wastelands
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Guest Post: Matthew W. Quinn on The Thing in the Woods, the Great Recession and economics
I met Matthew W. Quinn last year at DragonCon, where he attended one my panels on the various flavors of publishing: traditional, self, hybrid, wooden ink-block…you get the idea. Anyway, he has a book coming out, a nifty bit of teen horror called The Thing in the Woods, and it promises to be quite the page-turner.
James R. Tuck even has a warning on the cover: “Turn the lights on before you read this, it’s a scary one!” Have you met James? Really wonderful guy — also big and strapping and unlikely to scare easily. Ergo, that’s a heck of an endorsement.
But as it happens, The Thing in the Woods has roots in something real-world scary: the Great Recession, the craptastic economic collapse of 2008-2009. Here’s Matthew to tell us more about it: Continue reading
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Guest Post: Dr. Frederick Turner on his new, epic, apocalyptic poem
Yep, you read that correctly. Poem. Book-length, blank-verse iambic pentameter poem, now being serialized over at Baen.com. And it’s about an apocalypse brought about by global warming.
I know, right? I’ve read the first part — it’s being serialized until Sept. 15, when it then goes into e-book and print — and let me tell you. This is ballsy. This is beautiful. And it’s written by a gentleman who was first nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature when I wall still writing stock market briefs for The Associated Press.
Dr. Frederick Turner is the Founders Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Dallas. He was raised by his parents in Zambia, where they were doing anthropological research. Educated at Oxford. Multiple awards and honors for his poetry and other works. Nominated for the Nobel in 2004, and again in 2006, and again every year since.
We are totally classing up this blog, y’all.
Now, normally the guest post topic is along the lines of: “What makes your work so gosh darn special?” But I think an internationally renowned poet writing an epic climate-change apocalyptic book in blank-verse iambic pentameter answers that nicely. So I’m just going to let Dr. Turner have at it: Continue reading
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Guest Post: Tom Toner, author of Promise of the Child
I’m quite pleased to bring you a guest post from Tom Toner, author of the fantastic new space opera The Promise of the Child from Night Shade Books. I get requests to read and potentially blurb from time to time, and for the record, I do read everything when asked. I’ve turned down a few. Not so with Mr. Toner. Here’s what I thought of this book, as seen on the back cover:
“Bold and intense from start to finish, The Promise of the Child is a master-class in innovative, evocative world-building. The entire book buzzes with imagination.” — Michael J. Martinez
Yes, it’s that good and then some. And I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with Tom last night to toast the release. I couldn’t be happier for him — he’s a fine fellow indeed. Now, let’s hand it off to Tom to tell us what’s so gosh darn special about The Promise of the Child, in his own words. Continue reading
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Guest post: Amy J. Murphy on Allies and Enemies-Fallen
I had the pleasure of meeting Amy J. Murphy last weekend at the Vermont SF Writer’s Series reading, and I very much enjoyed what she read from her latest book, Allies and Enemies — Fallen. Turns out it’s part of the Kindle Scout program, and she could use some backing to get this thing going. So here’s Amy with a guest post about her work and how you — yes, you — can help her out with just a couple mouse clicks.
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What makes my book, Allies and Enemies-Fallen, so gosh darn special?
A long time ago in a galaxy called Louisiana, my brother and I would play “Star Wars” with the neighborhood kids. Generally, this involved our swimming pool and a re-imagining of the trash-compacter scene. My brother got to be Luke Skywalker; William, the uber-tall kid was always Chewbacca; and I had to be Princess Leia. Yawn.
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Guest Post: Alis Franklin on the misunderstood Loki
We all love us some Loki, amirite? Of course, we have Tom Hiddleston to thank for that, because his Loki — trickster god, son of frost giants, serious daddy issues — is the most well-known of the 21st century. Rightly so, because he absolutely nailed it on screen.
But Alis Franklin, author of Liesmith (out now!), begs to differ with our friend Hiddles and the good folks at Mighty Marvel. She argues that Loki is very much misunderstood, and she ought to know — Liesmith is all about the mythology, along with a good dose of queer urban fantasy besides.
So here’s Alis to tell us why we’re getting Loki all wrong, Hiddles notwithstanding: Continue reading
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The brilliance of mashups: A conversation with Eleri Stone
It’s always great to talk shop with another writer, so when super-agent Sara Megibow asked me to have an in-print conversation with fellow novelist Eleri Stone about genre mashups for the Nelson Agency newsletter, I couldn’t resist.
Eleri is the author of Reaper’s Touch, a Wild West-meets-zombies novel that just came out last month. We had a great conversation about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to genre mashups, just how much fun it can be to create books that aren’t neatly shelved in a single category. The conversation hit the agency newsletter today, and I’m reprinting it here as well. Enjoy!
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Guest post: J.M. McDermott on running with the herd
Today I’m swapping guest posts with the awesome J.M. McDermott, author of the Dogsland trilogy and many other excellent works. You can find my guest post in defense of genre-blending here. And if you’re interested in more of J.M.’s works, check out his Amazon affiliate store or look him up at your local independent bookstore.
Take it away, Joe. I’d be proud to be in your herd.
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So, let’s begin this post with a fact: Goats need a friend. A goat by itself is a very sad, suicidal goat that will not be well-adjusted and will not be a prancing happy goat. Goats, man: They need other goats. A chicken, by itself, will not be a good chicken. It will not know what to do. It will not know where to go. These animals that flock and herd are lost without other animals to accumulate a sense of belonging.
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Guest Post: M.L. Brennan, author of Generation V
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for vampires, as odd as that sentence sounds. I came of age when Lost Boys was all the rage, and spent more than a few evenings playing Vampire: The Masquerade with friends in college. (No, I wasn’t goth, so you can stop picturing me in velvet and makeup, thanks. You’re only hurting yourself.)
Unfortunately, vampires seem to be one of those collective myths that regularly get reinvented, then beaten into the ground. They’ve been monstrous, romantic, angst-ridden and…sparkly. Taking on something that’s as iconic and over-used as the vampire requires a great degree of intestinal fortitude as well as a very creative angle. M.L. Brennan, author of Generation V, which debuted Tuesday, thinks she’s got an answer to that and, not coincidentally, to the guest blog theme question.
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Guest Post: Veronica Scott, author of Wreck of the Nebula Dream
It’s interesting when an author starts out writing one thing, and ends up with something else, something better, in the end. Sometimes the best stuff happens in the process, when the wheels are turning and those ever-elusive ah-ha moments become, well, less elusive.
That’s what happened to Veronica Scott, author of Wreck of the Nebula Dream. The book started as a science-fiction riff on the Titanic, but ended up taking on a life of its own. Here she is to tell us more, and to answer the guest-blog question: “What makes your book so gosh-darn special, anyway?”
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Michael J. Martinez 