MarsCon!

I spent several hours writing up a recap of MarsCon for my personal blog (http://wherelizlives.blogspot.com/2014/01/marscon-2014-report.html) so if you want the general report, that's where to go. This'll be a quick review of the panels/activities for which I was an official guest, plus a little treat at the end. ;-)

But before I dive into that, a little announcement. Last week, Lynn and I submitted the collection of flashfic that we spent most of last year working on, and only a couple of hours later, it was accepted! It looks like Whetting the Appetite is going to be out sometime in March from JMS Books, and if we sell enough copies of the ebook, then it will be scheduled for print publication! Whoohoo!

Anyway, MarsCon:

The number of erotica/romance authors was fairly small this year, so most of us wound up on the same panels over and over together, but that was okay. Sadly, neither Helen Madden nor JM Snyder made it this year, but I got to sit with Kat Lively and Michael O'Brien (Shokolada) again, and my new authorial friend this year was Nobilis Reed, who was a bit at loose ends, not knowing too many people at the Con, so we sort of scooped him up on a few occasions.

Friday night started with the "adult" version of Match Game, which was sort of like Cards Against Humanity, only without the actual cards to keep us in check. A sample: "The Blue Fairy is a dominatrix now. She told Pinocchio to stick his nose in ______ and lie."

We had some pretty raunchy fun with that, oh yes we did.

And when that was done, we had the "adult" version of Fairy Tale Rewrites. Each author chose a story, and then the audience provided some additional bits to work in. We wrote for about twenty minutes while the MC led the audience through a sexy MadLibs game (...I'm so mad at myself that I forgot to get a copy of that! but maybe Lynn kept hers?). Then we read our stories out loud to general amusement. They weren't judged, but I can tell you that I'm pretty sure Michael would've gotten first place, but I think I had a fair shot at second.

I'll post my story for you at the end of this post. (That's the treat.)

Saturday afternoon, I spent about an hour sitting in the signing room, which was mostly a wash, as the only book I sold was a pity sale to a friend, and I could've just as easily have sold that book while wandering the halls. Oh, well.

After that, I sat on a panel to discuss the Hunger Games (book and/or movie). That went very well, actually -- the other panelists were well-prepared and thoughtful and insightful, and the audience was lively and participatory (a couple of them maybe a little too participatory, as they had to be reined in to let the others get a word in edgewise once or twice).

That night was four hours of panels about erotica and romance and writing and publishing. The first couple were pretty simple -- talking about publishing and finding a home for your work; the second was a discussion of why erotic fairy tales are so popular. The third panel on the schedule was "Erotic Role-Play" and we decided that we didn't really want to get too deeply into bedroom roleplay, so instead we talked about introducing sexual situations in roleplaying games. And the last panel was supposed to be about masturbation, but from what I was told, the person who proposed that panel and offered to run it dropped out... so we just talked about whatever we felt like talking about, really, taking audience questions and moderating discussions. It was good. But boy, were we wiped by the end of it!

Sunday, I did another Fairy Tale Rewrites (this time PG); the results of that can be found on my personal blog report (link up at the top). Once again, not judged, though I think the solid winner would have been Danny Birt (and that once again, I'd have been a solid contender for second place).

I think this year went even better than last year, though, and I'm looking forward to next year already, so very much!

And in celebration, I have a coupon code that's good all the way through Friday this week -- enter "MarsCon2014" at checkout at torquerebooks.com or prizmbooks.com and get 20% off your entire purchase!

And now, for your patience... an erotic retelling of The Princess and the Frog.

I chose the fairy tale; the audience selected for me:

A person: a Frenchman
A sexy situation: accidental nudity
A location: Central Park
An object: butter

And keeping in mind that we only had 20 minutes to write (I've fixed typos here, but nothing else), the story:

Agnes sat by the pond in Central Park, weeping.

"Whah are you weeping, ma chere?" said a voice.

Agnes looked up and blinked away her tears, then rubbed at her eyes, not certain she had seen correctly. The man was wearing a ragged coat over a dirty striped shirt, and trousers rolled to his knees, soaking wet to mid-thigh. Despite his unkempt appearance, however, his face was strikingly handsome, with full lips and bright green eyes. A long pole stretched over his shoulder; at the end of it was a tightly-woven net containing a dozen or more frog carcasses.

"I... I dropped my golden ball in the pond," she responded. "I can't find it!"

The man's face lit up. "Ze ball!" he exclaimed. "I have found zis! One of mah frogs had swallowed eet!" But then he paused. "And what are joo giving moi, for your treasure?"

Agnes bit her lip. "Anything," she gasped. "Oh, anything!"

The Frenchman took Agnes' chin. "Anything?" he asked archly. Agnes trembled in his grasp as he leaned in for a kiss.

Startled by her own longing, Agnes stepped back -- and tripped over a branch, falling into the pond. As she fell, Agnes' summer dress, caught on the branch and tore, revealing what she wore underneath -- which is to say, nothing.

She wiped mud from her face and looked up at the Frenchman with wide eyes, lip trembling.

"Ah, ma chere," the Frenchman murmured. "Come, come with me, and we shall see you properly settled."

He helped her from the mud and muck and tucked her arm through his, leading her through the park to a secluded spot covered with cardboard. He lit a fire in a small grate and helped Agnes remove her soaked dress. While she warmed herself, he tossed the frogs into a pot to cook. "Will you dine with me?"

Agnes could not help but grimace. "No, thank you."

"Ah, ma chere," the Frenchman chided, "you must not turn up your nose. In France, we know that enough garlic and butter makes *anysing* delicious." Agnes did not want to be rude to her host, so she tried a bite -- and was soon devouring the delectable frog legs, melted butter running down her chin and over her breasts.

The Frenchman smiled as they finished their feast. "Will you come and lay upon my pillow?" he asked, gesturing to a nest of blankets.

Agnes hesitated again, but before she could refuse, the Frenchman took her hand and led her to the nest. The blankets were amazingly soft, and Agnes forgot all as the Frenchman dipped his head to lick the butter from her breasts. Agnes gasped softly, and forgot all her protests.

The Frenchman roused her to climax once, twice, thrice, before sinking into her to sate his own desires. She fell asleep in his arms.

She woke to the sight of the sun, a golden ball rising to reveal her Frenchman wearing a fancy suit and Gucci loafers that could never have stepped in mud. Behind him was not a cardboard hovel, but a magnificent brownstone. "Joo have freed me," he exclaimed. "I thought I would be trapped as a frog-gigger forever, but for joo! Marry me, ma chere, and joo shall never want for whatever baubles -- or butter -- you desire."

Happy New Year! Are We Ready for MarsCon?

Holy crap, have I really not blogged since mid-November?

The end of the year just destroys me, it really does.

I hope you all had a great holiday season, then, whatever that entails for you! (For me, it includes my birthday, Thanksgiving, my son's birthday, and Christmas, most of which include multiple gatherings and events. This is why I have not blogged since mid-November!)

I can't recall if I'd posted it here before, but I'm going to be a guest at MarsCon again this year.

Back in late October or early November, the organizer sent around a list of panels and things and asked people to let them know what they were interested in doing.

Last week, they sent me my schedule. Apparently, when I'd marked stuff as "I'd be willing to do this," they'd taken it all as, "I really want to do this!" because I'm booked for nine hours of panels and contests and events across all three days! Plus an optional, additional hour if I want to sit in on the book signing.

So are you coming to MarsCon? Because if you are, chances are good that you'll be seeing me! And just to make sure you can find me if you're looking for me, here's my schedule:

Friday (17 Jan):
10-11 PM - Adult Guest Match
We play TV’s old Match Game but with a MarsCon genre twist. Our guests will fill in the blanks, you try to guess what they will say. Match the most guests and take away a MarsBucks prize. This is an adults-only event, so expect raunchy fun.

11 PM - 12:30 AM - Erotic Fairy-Tale Rewrites
The host will give our writers prompts, the audience will give each some naughty element to include, and then keyboards will clatter and pens will fly as the writers race to create the best erotic fairy tales.

Saturday (18 Jan):
2-3 PM - Author Signing (maybe, if I can squeeze it in!)
Get books signed by the MarsCon Guests of Honor and other participating writing guests.

3-4 PM - Hunger Games Roundtable
Did the second movie Catch Fire or fizzle? What’s the best thing about the Hunger Games trilogy? Join other fans for a roundtable discussion of The Hunger Games books and films.(Note: This is my only event that's not adults-only!)

Genre erotica publishing block (no descriptions given, but the titles should be pretty self-explanatory):
8-9 PM - Publishing Erotica: Finding and Accessing Markets for Your Work
9-10 PM - Fairy Tail: The Popularity and Practice of Writing Fairy Tale Erotica
10-11 PM - Role Playing Games for the Bedroom
11 PM - 12AM - Hands Solo: The Erotic Possibilities of Self Pleasure

Sunday (19 Jan):
12-1:30 PM - Twice Upon a Time: Fairy Tale Re-Writes Game
The host will gather improvisational prompts from the audience and then our writers are off, building improvisational fairy tales based on your favorites but with new characters, settings, and events thrown in at every step along the way.

As you can see, I'm going to be insanely busy, but to be honest, they all sound like so much fun that I couldn't bring myself to ask the organizer to drop me from anything! (Though if you'd like to drop in to that four-hour block on Saturday night to bring me snacks or water, I'd probably be very grateful!)

The Grand Tour

Foxfur comes out in two weeks!

I'm trying, for this release, to get some promotion out, because I'm really proud of this book, and I'd like to see it do well. Primarily, since I'm on a budget and can't afford to pay for ads, I'm going on bit of a blog tour.

If I've got my notes right, there's a preliminary (and slightly steamy!) post over at A. Catherine Noon's blog today, comparing writing and editing to a sub/Dom relationship!

The rest come as a blitz during the week of release:

• Leading up to the 13th (release day!) I'll be here, of course, with some talk about worldbuilding and the cultures to be found in Foxfur.
• On the 14th, I'll be featured at V. L. Locey's blog (where I'll talk a little about character development), and hosting Torquere's Livejournal community, where I've got several topics planned, including at least one spicy excerpt.
• The 15th sees me over at Lynn's, explaining the value of a great beta reader.
• On the 16th, I'll be at Torquere's blog, once again with a variety of topics in mind.
• I'm taking the 17th off, but on the 18th, I'll be visiting Mychael Black, where I'll talk about why Foxfur's first draft was entirely unpublishable, and what survived the rewrite process!
• And on the 19th, hop over to BA Tortuga's blog for a little chat about kink...

As you can see, it's going to be lots of fun, and there will be plenty of things for you to check out, as I'm fairly certain that none of those posts repeats any others!

But all those blog posts had to be written in advance (or at least the ideas for them sketched out) -- and some pictures dredged up, and my fellow authors begged for the slots, and...

I think I've written so much about Foxfur in the last week or so, in preparation for this publicity blitz, that I'm completely out of topics! Goodness only knows what I'll find to talk about next week. Maybe I'll do another grammar lesson. ;-)

Appearance: Guest Blog!

Three days in a row that I have something to post?! Don't get used to it. ;-)

As it happens, I'm a guest blogger today on V. L. Locey's blog, Thoughts From a Yodeling Goatherder. V. L. wrote "Two Guys Walk Into An Apocalypse...", one of the stories in the He Loves Me For My Brainsss anthology, and has been featuring guest bloggers every Thursday this month to celebrate the release.

So I'm there today, talking about something even scarier than zombies:

I'm not going to talk about zombies, actually. If I could write coherently about zombies -- if I could be as eerie and elegant as Lynn was in last week's guest post, or as funny as V.L. is, in her story in He Loves Me For My Brainsss -- I'd have written a story about zombies, instead of deciding to edit an anthology about them. (I've written an erotica/horror story, but it's about succubi, not zombies. And "Dead On Her Feet" sounds like it should be a zombie story, but it's really just about a very tired soldier.)

I'm going to talk about blurbs and titles.

Check it out at:
http://thoughtsfromayodelinggoatherder.blogspot.com/2013/01/undead-thursdays-guest-blogger.html

Contact High

Wow, MarsCon was a blast.

The overall con report is on my personal blog, but let me tell you about the writing and editing stuff in particular.

There are people you admire from afar. You think, "I could never be that clever and talented and cool."

Sometimes, you're lucky enough to meet those people in person, and sometimes, you're lucky enough that they're just as clever and friendly in person as they seem to be on their Facebook page (or whatever). And then it seems they actually like you back and are genuinely amused by your anecdotes and interested in your opinion, and your mind... it is blown.

That was my whole weekend.

Every panel I was on included Helen Madden (aka Cynical Woman) and she was snarky and funny and brilliant, and she spent the whole weekend crocheting a devil-doughnut and taunting me with her adorable amigurumi books and making me want to run out to the craft store right now. (I challenged her to have a panel next year on kinky crafts. I'm not sure, but she may have accepted that challenge.)

I sat on three panels with Shokolada, trading quips and talking about the differences between self-publishing and editing for a publisher, and the differences between erotica and erotic romance. Later, his lovely ladyfriend stopped me in the hall to tell me that she'd really enjoyed them. (And apparently she also asked a friend of mine whether I was a dom or a sub, which I found incredibly flattering.)

I was in a writing contest against Kathryn Lively, and there was actually a smidge of doubt as to the winner. (I posted my story yesterday, if you missed it.)

I sat in a plotbuilding workshop with Allen Wold, who is practically a professional writing workshop instructor and who never fails to teach me a lot. In the room with me were at least two would-be writers who'd been at some of my panels the night before and who were obviously building stories that were better than mine could ever hope to be.

AR Moler stopped Lynn and I in the hallway and we made plans to all go out for coffee sometime soon.

JM Snyder and I spent a good chunk of one panel entertaining the audience with our favorite editing nightmares. I got to use the line, "My safeword is Oxford comma," and it got a fantastic reaction from the room.

I handed out business cards and postcards and bookmarks and collected many of the same. I'm absolutely positive there's someone I'm leaving out of this report that I will kick myself later for forgetting.


I came home exhausted from lack of sleep and aching from all the walking (seriously, someone with a pedometer clocked it at nearly a quarter of a mile from the Con Suite to the dealer's room)... and I already can't wait for next year's.

Conned!

Let me remind you -- I'm going to be a guest at MarsCon this weekend, in my hometown of Williamsburg, VA, so if you're at all local and like sci-fi/fantasty conventions, you should definitely drop by and say hi!

I'm going to be participating in three panels and one contest. Here's the details on those:

Friday, 8 PM – The Horror, the Horror: The Life of an Erotica Editor
Elizabeth Brooks, Kathryn Lively, Michael O'Brien, Helen Madden
Sure, it's hot and steamy once it's on the bookshelf, but did you ever wonder what goes into compiling an erotica anthology? Our authors and editors will give you a behind-the-scenes look on the process of curating an erotica anthology. From query letters that will make your hair stand on end to endless formatting nightmares, the roller coaster ride of story selections to the tragedy of writing rejection letters, they will peel away the sexy veneer and show you the dark side of editing erotica.

Friday, 10 PM – An Alien inside Me
Elizabeth Brooks, Sapphire Phelan, Michael O'Brien, Helen Madden
Discussion panel: Erotica from alien points of view and orientations other than your own.

Saturday, 9 PM – Afraid of the Dark?
Elizabeth Brooks, JM Snyder, Michael O'Brien, Helen Madden
How far is too far for erotic genre romance? Our panel of erotica writers explores the limits of what readers, and publishers, will take.

Saturday, 11 PM – Erotica a la Carte: Iron Chef
Nobilis Reed, Helen Madden, Leigh Ellwood, Elizabeth Brooks, JM Snyder
MarsCon’s erotica writers put their creativity and quickness to the test as they compete for a spot in the finals of this multi-Con writing event. Competitors are given a secret ingredient, and twenty minutes to write a piece of smutty flash fiction using their ingredient. When the time is up, stories are read aloud. Winners are judged by audience acclamation so come pick your smutty favorites in an hour of fast-paced fun.

And that's just the stuff I'll be in! There's tons of other stuff to do, from the family-friendly (magic show, no-sew costuming and crafts, face painting, pirate sing-a-long) to the no-fooling ID-checked-at-the-door adults-only (Steampunk sex toys, 50 Shades fanfic). There are geeky panels and activities for writers, readers, anime-fans, movie-fans, gamers, artists, and crafters. There are comedy, costume, and dance shows, and tons of geek-oriented music (including the awesome Jonah Knight, who let me use one of his songs for my book trailer for Brainsss). There are presentations from NASA on the future in space exploration. There are self-defense workshops from a local dojo. And there's the best damned Con Suite in the history of cons. Ever. Ever. Seriously, if you've ever even thought about going to a sci-fi con and are remotely in the area, check out the website at http://www.marscon.net/ -- look at the programming, look at the photos from years past, and come out!

And if you do come, find me and say hi! I'll have books for sale and postcards and bookmarks for free, and I'd love to chat!

I'm gonna be a busy woman.

Panelist

Hello, and I hope you all had fantastic holidays, and are planning to enjoy ringing in the New Year! (I had been planning to ring it in on GMT with my kids -- that makes for a convenient after-dinner celebration -- and then turn in early, because we author/editors know how to get down and par-tay. But my circumstances have changed, so I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing, now. Anyone with ideas, post them in the comments!)

One of the delights the last week has brought me is the first tentative schedule for MarsCon and my panel assignments -- about which, I might add, I am extremely excited!

In the past, MarsCon has more or less limited the Adults Only programming to Saturday nights, due mostly to space restrictions, but they're in a new, bigger hotel this year, so there will be adult programming both nights! (And kid-friendly programming all three days, which is why MarsCon kicks ass.)

I'm not posting times and locations here because both of those things are still in flux (check out the latest schedule updates at http://www.marscon.net/home/programming/main-programming), but the panel assignments are not likely to change significantly in the next three weeks, so here's where you'll be able to find me, if you happen to be attending MarsCon:

Friday night:

• Opening Ceremonies - Just as it says, the con's opening ceremonies. I don't think I'll be doing more there than standing up and waving when my name is called. (But I'm pretty sure the time for this is set -- it will be at 6PM.)
• The Horror, the Horror: The Life of an Erotica Editor - This will be me and four other panelists talking about the seamy underside of erotica editing. I may, in fact, print out some samples of some of the really awful stuff I've had to try to make publishable.
• An Alien inside Me: Erotica from alien points of view and orientations other than your own - Four panelists (including myself) talking about... well, just what the topic says. There's something compelling about putting yourself in someone else's brain... and having sex with someone else's body.

Saturday night:

• Afraid of the Dark?: How far is too far for erotic genre romance? - More and more published erotica is skirting closer to subjects that are taboo -- and the sci-fi/horror/fantasy market is often at the forefront when it comes to characters who are in some way outside the mainstream, for good or ill. I and three other panelists will talk about those lines in the sand and the implications of crossing them. 
• Iron Chef Erotica a la Carte - This is a pubic prompt-fic contest. Selected writers will be presented with a theme and given twenty minutes to write a story, after which they will read it aloud; the chosen judges will decide on the winner, who will go on to compete against the winners from several other small local cons at Balticon! Since I am unable to attend Balticon, I will judging rather than competing at this event.

Are any of you thinking of attending? If so, be sure to look me up, either at my panels or roaming the halls -- I might even get drunk brave enough to attend karaoke!

Cool Stuff

Today, apparently, was the day of extremely cool stuff happening to me as a writer and editor.

The first thing that happened was that I logged into Facebook and saw a post from the editor of the forthcoming Duty and Desire, which includes my short story, "Dead on Her Feet" (not to mention Lynn's "Snake Dance"), noting that freaking Publishers Weekly had a review of the anthology -- which is awesome -- and that they called it "highly recommended" -- which is beyond awesome. It might only have been awesomer (shut up, spellcheck, I'm a writer; I'm allowed to make up words) if one of the mentioned stories had been mine, but I'll be honest: my story in this anthology serves as more of an aperitif or a sorbet to cleanse the palate between meatier selections than as a featured course in its own right. Don't get me wrong, "Dead on Her Feet" is a very sweet little story and I quite like both the writing and the characters, but it doesn't contain a whole lot of punch.

Then I did some more work on editing the stories for the zombie anthology I'm editing, He Loves Me For My Brainsss. Which only served to remind me how frakking amazing and talented the authors are in this book. Seriously, I'm editing my little heart out, but mostly what I'm telling my authors is that they need to go to family therapy with commas and semicolons, which is honestly a ridiculously minimal problem to be having at the initial editing round. These stories are fun or funny or touching, the characters bicker and snipe and love each other deeply (sometimes all at the same time), the plots are witty and engaging and even surprising. And the authors themselves are remarkably responsive; I don't think I've yet written one of them and not at least gotten an acknowledging email back within a couple of hours. Tops. It's possible that this is going to spoil me for all future anthologies.

And finally, while I was working on that, I got an email inviting me to come to MarsCon in January. When the email notification popped up in the corner of my screen, I nearly ignored it. I saw "MarsCon" in the title and figured I'd gotten on the email list -- I've been going to this con for several years in a row -- and I assumed this was an email to remind me to register. But that little "new mail" icon burns at my soul and I can't leave it alone for long, so I went to open it, just to clear the notification icon... and it wasn't a mass mailing. It was an email inviting me to come to MarsCon as a guest, to participate in some of the late-night, adults-only panels. Last year, I attended a few late-night discussion panels as part of the audience, and I had a blast. The late hour (and age-restricted attendance) lent itself to some spicy, intimate, downright fun discussions. And this year, they want me to sit on the other side of the table? Holy eff, yes. I waited long enough to be sure that my kids would be safely stashed somewhere (the Almost-Ex agreed to swap custody weekends with me) before I sent back my barely-suppressed squee of agreement and made my hotel reservations.

(Funny but true: as the crow flies, it's less than a mile from my house to the convention hotel. But because of the wonky way the streets are laid out here, it's more like a five-mile drive. It's still very close by, and it seems ridiculous to get a hotel room when it's that close... but the last couple of years have taught me that if I have to get in the car to go somewhere I can change clothes or drop off my purchases, then it's not close enough. Especially if I'm going to be helping to moderate the late-night panels, I want to be able to just stagger back to my room and collapse rather than have to go out into the cold and drive home afterward.)

Add to that my continuing excitement over Seductress' release last week, and my anticipation for the release of Weird Science in two days (stay tuned for the usual Wednesday post, which will feature buy links and some celebratory excerpts!), and today was just a very, extremely fantastic day to be a writer/editor.

A Contest?! A Contest!

Last year, I went to the Roanoke Pride festival to help out with a vendor table. I had a fantastic time, and it even spawned my story, Assumption of Desire. So this year, I'm going back!

Only this time, I'm not going as a vendor -- I'll be with a friend and her aunt. (I should print out a copy of Assumption to take with me, just in case I run into the "real" Jesse who inspired the story.)

And just because I'm excited to be going back to this fun festival, let's have a contest! Leave me a comment here or on my Facebook page, and next week, when I'm back from the festival to post pictures, I'll draw a name to receive a copy of Assumption -- which is, in my opinion, probably the single hottest thing I've ever written. (Or, if you already have that, one of my other books.)

Square deal? Yeah. And if you happen to be going, keep an eye out for me. I wonder if I can get a "Fruit Fly" shirt made up before Sunday...?

Speaking Of...

Missed a week. Sorry about that -- bad writer!

The last month has been really hard on my writing; the sum-up is that my husband and I are separating. It's a relatively amicable split, but there was some drama that led up to the decision, and a lot of planning and coordination and logistics (and maybe a little more drama) afterward, none of which has left me in the mood to think about romance and sex. (And just to complicate matters, the Day Job has been completely insane, my car broke down, and then my son turned up sick.)

I'm hoping, once he starts to get settled into his new apartment (i.e., acquires a minimum of furniture) and we all start to figure out our new routines, that I'll be able to plan writing time for myself again. Soon, hopefully; I have four different Calls for Submissions in my folder waiting pathetically for me to do something with them before their deadlines pass.

***

Speaking of Calls for Submission -- I've proposed (and will be editing) a new anthology for Torquere! Check it out:

Zombie stories are hot right now... and here at Torquere Press we think they could be even hotter! Get your delicious brains churning, and give us your unique, zombie-themed love stories! Is your hero a zombie-slayer -- or is he in love with one? Maybe your hero is desperately searching for a cure to save an infected loved one. Maybe he's the one making the zombies in the first place. Maybe he's even a zombie himself!

These are the stories we want to showcase in He Loves Me for My Brainsss, a new anthology of sexy, romantic m/m stories about men finding love in the face of a zombie crisis. All settings and heat ratings are welcome, but we're looking for strong characters in fully realized, happy-ending stories with a little more zing to them than the "survivors meet and fall in love" stock standard. Note: While it is true that the undead can be sexy, and it is also true that part of the fun of zombies is their gross-out factor, we ask that you avoid combining these two elements directly, in order to appeal to the widest possible audience.

Any word count from 5000 words and up is welcome, no stories shorter than the minimum please. Stories should be sent to submission@torquerepress.com with Brainsss Anthology in the subject line. Deadline for submission is October 1, 2012 for a projected January 2013 publication. Stories will be contracted for first time print and electronic rights, and payment will be $50.00 US plus contributor copies. Please see our general submission guidelines for how to format your submission.

That call, along with Torquere's other open calls, is posted on their Special Calls page, and the general submission guidelines are here. I'm feeling pretty squee about it -- I hope it gets some good submissions! Surely you want to submit a story!

***

And speaking of anthologies, Masks Off! will be released next week! Shall we have a contest to celebrate? Post a comment here or on my Facebook page between now and next Wednesday, and I'll... think of something nice for you. Not sure exactly what, yet. Let's see how many folks enter. ;-)

I'm totally excited -- this will be my first "real" print publication! (Though the two Cleis collections coming out this fall were written and accepted before this one, but Cleis has a slower publication timeline.) I shall have to create a vanity shelf!

***

And speaking of the Cleis books, I went up to my local Books-a-Million on Saturday and finally met Kristina Wright face-to-face! She's the editor for Duty and Desire, in which I have a story and which will be coming out... either September or November, depending on whose information is correct. She's also been the editor for several of the books that Lynn has contributed to, so I was already predisposed to like her before I got there. But it turns out I'd have loved her anyway -- she was fantastic.

As were, I should add, the BaM employees who hung around chatting with us. The store manager was pushing for us to host a release party for Duty and Desire at his store, including Kristina and me and Lynn and maybe another couple of semi-local authors. It could happen; I'll let you know if it does!

Masks Off! / The Backlist Strikes Back!

Several things to report today. First, I got news over the weekend that my story, "What You Are" was accepted for inclusion in Torquere's Masks Off! anthology (coming out in August, I believe) -- it's a collection of stories about shapeshifters (e.g., werewolves) and masquerades. *obligatory acceptance squee!*

"What You Are" is about Cory, a man living in two closets, equally afraid of being outed as a gay and as a werewolf. He sees a charity masquerade ball as his chance to let at least part of himself free -- but then the leopard with the sexy voice tells him, "I know what you are," and Cory is forced to flee, yet again.

I'll be sure to let you know when I have more details!

And in other news...

The brilliant EM Lynley is hosting a tour all this week called The Backlist Strikes Back! It's a collection of LGBT romance titles that have been out for a while and, perhaps, not gotten all the love they should. My Safe Harbor is featured today, but there will be other authors for the next whole week, so definitely remember to check it out as the week progresses! I've already seen several books to add to my TBR list, and I bet you will, too.

Con Report: Writing

I was at MarsCon, and I had a blast. Got to hang out with my best friend that I don't see nearly often enough, and took my kids to some fun family programming (it's important to properly indoctrinate the young geek), and then shipped the kids off to a babysitter so I could enjoy some adult programming.

I attended a writer's workshop that I've been dying to attend for years, but has never meshed well with my schedule. This year, it still didn't mesh well, being right across lunch, but I decided the Hubs could manage the kids well enough for one meal and that I could put my own meal off for an hour or so, and Just Did It. I'm sure glad I did.

The assignment was: In ten minutes, write the first draft of the first paragraph (100 words, give or take) of a brand new short story. In that 100 words, you need to: establish your setting; introduce your character and give us some hints about who they are; present a problem (not necessarily the main plot problem, but something to create immediacy); and provide a hook so that the reader will want to keep going.

Everyone present was required to participate; there was no passive audience allowed. We all wrote our paragraphs, and then the panel -- all professional writers and editors, except the lead moderator's (adult) daughter, who he introduced as the most critical reader he knew -- listened to us read them aloud and gave us suggestions for improvement.

It sounds harsh, and it was, a bit. I'm glad I didn't attempt this before I'd gotten serious about being published. I might even be glad I didn't attempt this before I'd been published, because while they were continually reminding us that this was a first draft and first drafts always suck, they did not pull a lot of punches. On the other hand, one of them said one of the nicest and coolest things about my little paragraph ever: "There was something in every single sentence I wanted to ding you for, but somehow you made it all work."

In case you're wondering, here's my rough draft, exactly as I wrote it:

Timothy dashed down the street, cursing nonstop under his breath. How many impossible situations could a man find himself in before breakfast, anyway? An angry warlord at the gates, a missing high mage, and now, an amorous dragon! Timothy windmilled his arms and skip-jogged a few steps as he careened around the corner onto High Street, trying to decide which situation warranted top billing at his briefing with the prince... For which he was late.

Other helpful comments included the suggestion that editors aren't taking a lot of high fantasy any more, that cursing under your breath while running is not really that feasible, and that if I proceed from this action-packed opener to a boring dialogue meeting with the prince, the reader will feel let down and I'll lose them.

Unfortunately, I have no idea at all where the story goes from there. But I'll stick it into my Ideas folder and maybe something will hatch eventually.

I got almost as much out of listening to the other participants' openers and thinking about what I'd say if I was on the panel, and seeing if my comments matched up at all with the panelists'. It was a fascinating exercise, and I definitely want to do it again next year. I'm only sad that I didn't get to do the Part Two workshop the next day, where you bring in your edited draft and see how much they've all improved.

Though I think my favorite moment came when the woman next to me read her piece, and the panel moderator said that it sounded like a great concept but that he didn't write erotica so he didn't know how useful his advice would be... and the woman got a completely horrified look on her face and insisted that it was not erotica! (How horrible would I be if I threw her idea into my folder and did use it for erotica, somewhere down the line? It really did sound like a great notion; it would be a shame to let it languish unused.)

That evening, I went to a panel on GLBT in speculative fiction, moderated by JM Snyder, Michael O'Brien (aka Mikhail Borg), and Helen Madden (aka Cynical Woman). (Michael showed us his website, but I've forgotten the URL and can't seem to find it, so the link goes to his Twitter. The Twitter profile links to his seldom-used LiveJournal instead of the professional site he'd showed us.)

I'd met JM before, at the Roanoke Pride festival, and she happened to come in a little while before the panel started, so I enjoyed a few minutes chatting with her about things before it all got started. The panel itself was great -- more a moderated discussion than simple Q-and-A.

When that was over, there was another panel, "Not if you were the last person on earth: repopulating after an apocalypse." That was fun, too -- it was, essentially, a group exercise in world-building and trying to take all the factors into account when you're creating a fictional scenario, and there's very little I love about writing more than the world-building, so I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the woman in the audience who would not shut up.

And after that, there was a reading from four erotica authors. The room had cleared out completely after the Repopulating panel, though, and for a while there it looked like it was going to be four authors and me, and we were just talking about random stuff. But finally another person came in, so they read to us, and by the time the second was almost done, the room was completely packed (though some of the audience was drunk and couldn't stop giggling.) But it was still great fun, and I enjoyed chatting with the other audience member for a while -- gave her the copy of the "Sound Mind" freebie I had with me, and my card, and she promised to give it a read and pass it on to friends who might like it.

I left out several free copies of "Sound Mind" and a bunch of flyers and cards for Safe Harbor, and quite a few of them got picked up, so I'm hoping at least a few of those people will drop by and check me out!

I already can't wait for next year!

Take Pride!

As previously mentioned, I went to the Roanoke Pride festival this past Sunday, and let me say, it was great. There were easily a thousand attendees, ranging in age from babes-in-arms all the way up to a few elderly folk with walkers. They came dressed in casual jeans and flannel shirts, or they were decked out with rainbow flair, or they were in full-on drag. (Favorite t-shirt of the day was a hand-painted one that read, "I <3 men... and so do my 2 sons!")

I got to meet two fellow authors/editors, which was fantastic -- J.M. Snyder, who is both an author and a publisher, and Belea Keeney, who is an author and editor (and, in fact, was my editor for both Of One Mind and Safe Harbor). It was great to put faces with names, and we sat in our camp chairs and between talking to potential customers about the books, we talked about our "favorite" grammatical twitches, and about our assorted pets, and the way some authors don't seem to understand that the editor is on their side, and argued (jokingly) over whether JM could "poach" me from Torquere, and kept up a running commentary on the assorted clothes and costumes that went by.

One young man with a pink feathered boa kept wandering back by our tables with his pretty lesbian friend in tow; he was more than slightly over-the-top with the stereotypes (seriously, he even lisped a bit) and a little bit teenager-obnoxious, but it was all in the spirit of fun -- I found him much less annoying than the more straightlaced guy who must have taken more than a dozen of our freebie lollipops without so much as glancing at the book titles. We even recruited the boa boy and his friend to help us carry our tables and tents back to the cars, and paid them with free books, and I promised to write him into my next story.

That's a promise I should be able to keep, by the way. I had four hours to drive home on Monday with not much to do but story headwork, and I've pretty much got the whole plot worked out. When I sat down to write that night, I knocked out 1400 words without even really trying. Apparently, long drives and Pride festivals are good for my writerbrain.

I had a great time, and I hope I'll be able to go again next year.

All Mine

First and foremost, a reminder: I will be at Roanoke Pride this Sunday, all day! I'll have candy and other goodies to give away, and I might even be wearing my leather corset! Come say hi, and while you're there you can fervently thank my Torquere Press editor who made both Of One Mind and Safe Harbor fit for public consumption. I promise you don't need to actually be gay to enjoy the festivities!

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Second, another notice: Torquere's 2010 Charity Sips, benefiting Doctors Without Borders, are in their last week; the 2011 Charity Sips will go up this Saturday morning. So if you'd been meaning to pick up "Of Sound Mind" or any of the other 2010 stories, now is the time and Friday is the last possible day to get these awesome tales!

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And in actual writing (as opposed to marketing or publishing) news... Holy shit, I think I finished my (very) rough draft of Foxfur! Except for a couple of scenes that I have marked out as "maybe"s, and the fact that the whole intro needs to be rewritten. But at least I have a skeleton to work from, now. Sometimes that makes the rewrites easier. I did the same thing with Of One Mind -- y'all would not believe the horrible beginning that I had on that one to begin with. Seriously.

So I put Foxfur away for a while, and started a new project, called "Next Thursday Night." I think it's going to be a short instead of a novella, but we'll see. It's a bit of a departure for me -- a contemporary, with no supernatural elements about it at all. Just two regular guys undergoing some growing pains with their uncomplicated, no-nonsense relationship. I'm about 1200 words in already, though I think a lot of what I wrote last night is ramble-y and will need to be sternly pruned.

But it feels good to be writing regularly again. I mean, really good.

I'd had a kind of crap day Monday, and after I'd put the kids to bed and was getting into the shower I thought maybe I would not try to write. Maybe I would just take the evening off and kick back and relax. Vegetate.

But then I thought, Why? I've had a nonstop crazy, crappy day. I deserve to sit on my comfy bed and light a couple of candles and prop my iPad up on my knees and write.

That thought took me by surprise, but it felt real. It felt good. It reminded me that, even published and trying to remember to build a web presence and increase the size of my readership and all... that the whole reason I write... is for me. Just for me.

Don't get me wrong. I love being published. I love you guys. But I'm not really thinking about you, or even about the publisher or the submission call, when I'm writing. I'm writing for me, and the stories I want to know.

But just to show you how much I love you... if you leave some prompts, I'll post flash fics on Friday.

Back on the Wagon

I did not write while I was on vacation. (Well, I took notes of the things we did and such, but I didn't write anything that was related to anything I'm going to try to publish.)

I did not write while we were living the simple life when Hurricane Irene knocked out our power for five days, largely because we coped with having no power by spending as much time as possible hanging out with friends.

I started reading through the primary WIP last week after our power came back, but it was taking a long time, because I really wasn't liking it that much, so I kept finding better things to do. Like sleep. So I didn't really write last week, either, except for the "flash fic"s that Lynn and I traded (mine is here, and hers is here, if you missed them.)

But Monday was Labor Day, and the Daughter went back to school yesterday, and I declared that it was High Time for me to get back on the several wagons that I'd fallen off over the past few weeks. Time to start eating healthy again. Time to go back to the gym. Time to knuckle under and get my work schedule and to-do lists in order. Time to get back to writing.

So last night after we got the kids to bed, I settled in my chair in the bedroom and picked up where I'd left off with the WIP. And happiness! I didn't hate it. Once the action starts actioning, it's really pretty good. Which means I certainly do not need to throw the whole thing out the window, as I've been moaning I would do for the last week. What I need to do is find a way to compress the entirely-too-expositiony first half and/or add some action to break up all the talky.

So yay for that!

Oh, hey, in the meantime! One of the things on my to-do list is planning for a day-trip to Roanoke in a couple of weeks for the Pride in the Park event. I'll be meeting up with a couple of fellow authors and/or editors to man a table for Torquere and hand out promotional material. If you live anywhere near Roanoke, consider coming to the event and checking us out! (More information when/if I get it!)