Get a free story when you subscribe
Article: Not written by me but worth a read: Ten Commandments of Social Media.
Article: Not written by me but worth a read: What do Editors do?
Award Nomination: My Shadowrun short story, “Locks and Keys,” from the Shadowrun Returns anthology has been nominated in the Best Short Story category for the Scribe Awards! Woo-Hoo!
Sale: I’ve sold my short story collection, Apocalypse Girl Dreaming, to Evil Girlfriend Media. I’m quite pleased with this.
Convention: I’m just back from Norwescon. As usual, I’m doing my list of ten. Seven of these are true.
1. I may or may not have met a person legally named Peter Pan.
2. I may or may not have had a panic attack at the Bless Your Mechanical Heart release party.
3. I may or may not have been randomly offered a condom.
4. I may or may not have signed so many books my arm hurt.
5. I may or may not have gotten a hangover.
6. I may or may not have plotted mayhem with Seanan McGuire.
7. I may or may not have convinced an artist to sell me a painting that was not for sale.
8. I may or may not have gone to bed by midnight each night of the convention.
9. I may or may not have been mistaken for someone else.
10. I may or may not have plotted murder at a Vorpal Games meeting.
I have a new sale I can talk about! I’ve just signed a contract for my short story, “The Price of Family,” for the second Mercedes Lackey anthology for her Elemental Masters series. It was a hard story to end. I had two perfectly appropriate endings. Had to talk it out with editor, John Helfers, on which one was better.
Convention season is upon me. Three conventions in four weeks. It’s going to get interesting. At this point, I’m scheduled only editing until after GenCon.
Cascade Writers Workshop Schedule
Fri. Jul. 26, 11-11:50 AM, Salon A – What an Editor Wants (panel)
Panelists: Patrick Swenson, Claire Eddy, Cory Skerry, Keffy RM Kehrli, Jennifer Brozek (mod)
Fri. Jul. 26, 4:30-5:20 PM, Salon D – Juggling Chainsaws (solo)
How to manage your schedule to get everything done and still write.
Fri. Jul. 26, 7-8 PM, Salon D – Mental Illness as Entertainment (solo)
The media has brought characters with mental illness to the mainstream (Touch-autism, Perception-Schizophrenia). Is this a good or bad thing. How can writers to justice to writing characters with mental illness.
###
Sat. Jul. 27, 11-11:50 AM, Salon D – Writing for RPGs (solo)
What it takes to write for RPGs and to do write tie-in fiction.
Sat. Jul. 27, 1:30-2:30 PM, Salon A – Do I Need Social Media? (panel)
Panelists: Kristen Fife (mod), Jennifer Brozek
It’s been a couple of good weeks for me, short fiction wise. Along with my novelette sale of “Dreams of a Thousand Young” to Jazz Age Cthulhu (Innsmouth Free Press), I sold two more short stories. The first is “For the Love of a Troll on a Mid-Winter’s Night” to Night Terrors III (Blood Bound Books). The second is “The Bathory Clinic Deal” to Future Embodied (Simian Publishing).
I’m very pleased by the sales and even more pleased by the different genres each story is in. “Dreams of a Thousand Young” is a Lovecraftian horror story set in 1920’s Assam, India. “For the Love of a Troll on a Mid-Winter’s Night” is a dark urban fantasy story set in modern day Seattle. “The Bathory Clinic Deal” is a dark sci-fi story set in a nameless future city.
I also want to remind everyone that I do have a Karen Wilson Chronicles short story in the kickstarter anthology What Fates Impose (Alliteration Ink) that is in its last week. I really want to see this story published as well as the anthology. Please take a look and see if you’d like it. Also, one of the $40 donation levels includes the first three Karen Wilson Chronicles books.
Just a reminder. Me, Kat Richardson and Lillian Cohen-Moore are reading at University Book Store tomorrow night! 7pm. It’s Lily’s first reading. It’s in celebration of the second Karen Wilson Chronicles book release. Kat’s got a Clockwork Fairytale Story to read.
Right now, a lot of my writing is long form writing. I’ve been working on my Shadowrun novella for a bit but I keep being interrupted by edits or proofing of short fiction. It messes with the way I write sometimes.
The Nellus Academy Incident, Book Four, my Battletech YA webseries, is now running on Battlecorps.com. I just turned in the revisions on Book Five, the final section of the series (episodes 21-25). I was happy that I was still pleased with most of the writing.
I also just proofed my story, Dust Angels, for Beyond the Sun anthology. Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s sci-fi anthology due out from Fairwood Press very soon. Again, I didn’t hate the writing. I’m slowly getting better. I feel like I’ve leveled up a bit.
Also, two Kickstarter anthologies, Time-Traveled Tales and What Fates Impose, are running right now. TTT is funded already and that makes me happy dance. I have one of my weird west Mowry stories in that anthology. WFI is half funded and I’m really hoping for a successful kickstarter on it. I have a Karen Wilson Chronicles story in it set between books 3 and 4. Also, one of the limited levels is to get the third Karen Wilson Chronicles book, Keystones, before the rest of the world does.
I’ve just sold my novelette, Dreams of a Thousand Young, to Innsmouth Free Press for their Jazz Age Cthulhu anthology. It’s got a Summer/Fall 2014 release. I’m very pleased about this one. It was a story I thought about writing for years. It’s nice to get a good Lovecraft story out there.
Right now, I’m in the process of reading stories for my Baen anthology, Shattered Shields, co-edited with Bryan Thomas Schmidt. Some of the stories we’re getting are just amazing. It pleases me to no end. The full ToC won’t be revealed for a while but, I love working with pro-authors. They always give such good story.
Finally, I do have three other anthologies I edited coming out later this year. Coins of Chaos is due out in October. Chicks Dig Gaming, edited with the marvelous Jean Rabe, is due out in November. Beast Within 4: Gears & Growls is due out in December (I think).
Sale: I just signed the contract for “A Nightmare for Anna” for a forthcoming anthology “By Faerie Light.” Sounds like it’s going to be a fabulous anthology.
Interview: Designer’s Diary: Savage Mojo – Shanghai Vampocalypse (Suzerain) – http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=35173
Publication: Happy new book to me! I’m very pleased with CHILDREN OF ANU, the second book in the Karen Wilson Chronicles. It was edited by the awesome John Helfers and the cover image is by Amber Clark of Stopped Motion Photography. The girl on the cover of the book is a representation of one of the villains in the book, 14 year old Victoria Mordecai.
Health: I started using Fitbit just over a month ago. Numerous authors talk about how a healthy mind contributes to a healthy body. I believe it. Thus, Fitbit. There’s something in the awareness of movement and steps taken that make me want to do more. To improve. It’s kind of like having a word count makes me want to write more. I’ve made a concerted effort to move more – number of steps taken and number of flights climbed. It feels good.
Freelance Gig: I’ve been working on a quiet freelance gig for a while. Now I can talk about it. Along with writing for the Shadowrun Returns kickstarter anthology with a story called “Lock and Key,” I’ve been writing and editing on the Shadowrun Returns videogame. I’m loving the work even though it’s hard and sometimes the hours are long. I really think those of you who like videogames will really enjoy it. I’m really happy to be working on it with such fabulous people at Harebrained Schemes.
Sale: Also in the Shadowrun universe, I’ve signed a contract to write a Shadowrun novella focused around a High Threat Response Team Doc Wagon team. Tentatively titled: A Day in the Life of a Lifesaver.
Convention: From June 12-16, I will be at Origins Game Fair as part of their Library. I will be appearing on panels and manning a table selling my books. Please come by and say hello. Get a book signed. There’s a no shyness zone around me. Here’s my list of panels:
I have a new interview up at Roleplayers Chronicle. Lots about Colonial Gothic and Shanghai Vampocalypse.
There is a SFWA Reading on Tuesday, the 23rd, in Kirkland.
I will be reading at Soul Food Books in Redmond on Wednesday, the 24th with Brenda Cooper, Keffy Kehrli, Cat Rambo, K.C. Ball, and Caren Gussoff. It starts at 7pm.
I sold “A Card Given” to the What Fates Impose anthology, edited by Nayad Monroe.
Here’s the cover image of CHILDREN OF ANU. The character on the cover is a version Vicki. I love it! Cover photography by Amber Clark.
Just got back from visiting Mena at the vet. They need to keep her another night to make sure her pain is managed and to make sure the surgery wound is healing as expected. Mena is on serious drugs and is feeling no pain. At the same time, she really, really wanted to be with me but also wanted her box (aka the litter box—I can see why they leave so little litter in there and clean it immediately).
She knew me as soon as I came in and was both very meowy and purring. She couldn’t get comfortable but was happy to see me. She insisted on having me hold her from time to time and kept trying to rub her wound on me. This freaked me out. I mean, I’ve been dealing with an open leg wound since February and the idea of rubbing is just… not gonna think about it.
Mena will be on a pain patch for two weeks. I’m glad. That surgery wound looks awful to me. It’s open down the side of her face. The skin is suppose to close and the hair is suppose to camouflage the surgical scar. But, everything is reacting as expected.
This morning I dropped Mena off for the first of two surgeries she needs to fix her ears. She has congenital stenosis of the ear canal in both ears and I wrote about it here. I’m pretty freaked out about it all. My kitty’s in surgery. My pet insurance won’t cover it. The cost of this first surgery with its follow-up appointments is estimated at $2000. It could be more. It could be a little less.
As soon as I found out about this, I went into crisis problem solving mode. I wrangled more hours at my pays-the-bills job and we decided to sell our marble top bar (Seattle area). Then, unexpectedly, a patron stepped forward to help us out financially. I’m so grateful. Things aren’t nearly as dire as they first were and I can focus on Mena.
The Husband and I decided that we were going to do an Apocalypse Ink Productions book sale to supplement our funds, to say thank you to our fans, and to put CALLER UNKNOWN, the first book in the Karen Wilson Chronicles on sale since CHILDREN OF ANU, book two in the series comes out in about two months.
Apocalypse Ink Productions is having a 30% off sale for everything in the AIP store. Just use the code MENA. We also added a choose-your-own-level donation product if you just want to help out. We’ll keep the Mena page updated with pictures and progress.
If nothing else, good vibes and prayers for my broken kitty are appreciated.
Event – Monday, 18 March, from 6-9pm, I (Battletech, Shadowrun) will be joining James Sutter (Pathfinder) and Jak Koke (Shadowrun) for Games & Gizmos first ever book signing in Redmond, WA. Come join us to buy books, get your books signed, and kick it with three RPG authors. We’ll be hanging out, playing boardgames, and answering all of your questions that we can. There will be mini-cupcakes and sandwiches to snack on. I suspect, since Paizo is local, there will be more Paizo people joining the fun in an unofficial capacity.
Review – Roleplayers Chronicle gave Colonial Gothic: Locations a very nice review.
Announcement – Cat Labs announced the Shadowrun Returns Anthology Reward For Kickstarter Backers and I’m one of the authors for it.
Announcement – I’ve been sitting on this for a while but now I can announce that I am co-editing an anthology with Jean Rabe for Mad Norwegian Press. It’s called Chicks Dig Gaming and it is part of the “Chicks Dig” line of non-fiction essays by women in SFF. I absolutely adore this anthology we’re creating. I’ll get ya’ll a link to stuff as soon as I have it. Chicks Dig Gaming is due out in November 2013
Cover art. While I was out at the Rainforest Village Writer Retreat, the cover for Writing Fantasy Heroes popped up. It has a fab line up of people.
Interview: MIND MELD: SF/F Reading And Buying Habits In A Digital World.
Review: Horror Novel Reviews likes DANGERS UNTOLD.
Sale: I have sold my Shadowrun story, “Locks and Keys”, to the Shadowrun Returns kickstarter anthology edited by John Helfers. This anthology is based around a number of missions in the forthcoming game.
Cover: Final cover of BEYOND THE SUN anthology forthcoming from Fairwood Press. Isn’t it awesome. I love seeing my name on book covers. It never gets old.
Jennifer Brozek is a multi-talented, award-winning author, editor, and media tie-in writer. She is the author of Never Let Me Sleep and The Last Days of Salton Academy, both of which were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award. Her YA tie-in novels, BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident and Shadowrun: Auditions, have both won Scribe Awards. Her editing work has earned her nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and multiple Hugo Awards. She won the Australian Shadows Award for the Grants Pass anthology, co-edited with Amanda Pillar. Jennifer’s short form work has appeared in Apex Publications, Uncanny Magazine, Daily Science Fiction, and in anthologies set in the worlds of Valdemar, Shadowrun, V-Wars, Masters of Orion, Well World, and Predator.
Jennifer has been a full-time freelance author and editor for over seventeen years, and she has never been happier. She keeps a tight schedule on her writing and editing projects and somehow manages to find time to teach writing classes and volunteer for several professional writing organizations such as SFWA, HWA, and IAMTW. She shares her husband, Jeff, with several cats and often uses him as a sounding board for her story ideas. Visit Jennifer’s worlds at jenniferbrozek.com or her social media accounts on LinkTree.
