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It has begun. The Hugo Award nominations are open! I would be pleased if you would consider my works for nomination. (All about eligibility.) You must be a member of Worldcon (2024 or 2025) to nominate eligible works.
In the editing category, I am eligible for Best Editor, Short Form. I edited 3 anthologies (two co-edited with John Helfers) last year—99 Fleeting Fantasies, Shadowrun: Magic, Machines, & Mayhem, and Shadowrun: Through the Decades. Of all the award nominations, this is the one I am the most interested in and believe I’ve done excellent work.
In the writing category, I am eligible for Best Short Story for my short stories: “Eye of the Beholder” (co-written with Raven Oak), “Hella AFK,” “A Tale for Munchausen’s Merriment,” and “Dueling Minstrels” (co-written with Marie Bilodeau). I am proud of these short stories.
I am also eligible for the Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo) for my novel, Shadowrun: The Mosaic Run. This was one heck of a fun YA heist novel.
If you would like copies or samples of any of these, please contact me through my webform.
In early 2003, I lived in the SF Bay Area and worked for a little company called Placeware. In February, we discovered that Microsoft was going to buy our company for its intellectual property (which eventually became Office Live Meeting). By May, I had found out that I was one of the one hundred Placeware employees being hired by Microsoft as subject matter experts. I was a senior QA engineer. I was thrilled to be hired (at a better wage) to move up to the Pacific Northwest (like I had wanted to do since college) with the ability to buy a house… instead of being fired during the Silicon Valley Dot Bomb era.
On July 20, 2003, I officially moved to the Seattle area. I had visited once before during the “Shock and Awe” week-long orientation trip where those of us who wanted to buy a house got shepherded around Redmond to look at houses. We were known as “the hundred” in the real estate market according to my agent. I didn’t move into my condo for a couple of months because it was still being painted and such and my household goods had not yet been delivered. Fun fact: of the 50 boxes that were shipped, 35 of them contained books.
Old house, new color.
Twenty years in one place still seems surreal to this former military brat. Fifteen years living in the same house? Almost unfathomable. Before this, the longest I lived in one place was five years. I still have to fight “itchy feet” and the urge to move. I fight it with deep rounds of decluttering. It’s been a few years. Another one is on its way. I’ve gone back and forth on the want to move and why, but the pandemic gave me a new appreciation for this house and my neighborhood. I think I’m finally actually ready to settle down here for real.
This house, this place, is the home I was proposed to in, have written 90% of all my novels in, have edited 100% of my anthologies in, and has been my touchstone for all the conventions I have attended and travel I have done. During that time we have remodeled our bathrooms, upgraded our kitchen countertops, replaced our driveway and walkway, remodeled our garage, added paver stones in the backyard, cut down a number of looming trees, replaced our fireplace, and mended the found dry rot. We have also replaced the roof once and painted the house twice (from beige to grey to navy blue). Decorated the front and backyards and added gargoyles on the roof. I think it is safe to say we have put our stamp on our home and marked it well.
Twenty years in one place. Maybe I’m not yet a native Seattleite and never will be, but I think I can state with great pleasure: I am home.
Asimov and Leeloo watching from their respective perches.
As part of my birthday present to her, I hosted Marie for Norwescon. This came with a couple days before and after the con at my house. The cats, after a bit of shyness, decided that Marie was fabulous. (I agree.) She was accepted by all the clowder, even the littlest diva, Leeloo. Mena loved Marie from the start. Pharaoh accepted all proper adoration as is his due. Isis flirted hard, but really, she was just trying to convince Marie to give her treats.
It didn’t hurt that Marie got up hours before me to write because of the time zone differences. That meant there was a human up and about way earlier than normal. I know at least Mena took advantage of that. She got so much love in the mornings that after Marie went home, Mena sat in the library nook and yowled for her. It sounded like the sky was falling.
I showed Marie around to some of the places she wanted to go. We got take out from some of my favorite restaurants. Mostly, we just talked and laughed and talked some more. Between talking with Marie and talking at Norwescon, the sides of my tongue were sore from knocking against my teeth. I don’t know if I’ve ever had that experience before.
Conventions are so much more fun with a buddy. Usually, my con buddy is the Husband and we have a good time. Having Marie as my con buddy was like having an extended sleepover. She is joy incarnate. We went to bed giggling and woke up the same way. We had a great time vending at our booth in the dealer’s room. I heard that she was a smash hit on all the panels she was on. We even managed to find “sister” fabric friends to buy so that each of us had one to take home—each named after the other’s Eberron character. It was a good time.
The only minor sad bit was that the weather was rainy the entire time she was here. Still, we had lots of green and flowers to delight her and not snow. Of course, the day Marie went home, the sun came out. Ah well, next time. And there will be a next time, someday. Until then, we have Gen Con where we will both be on panels and teaching workshops.
It’s the beginning of my birthday week. My actually birth date is December 9th. Per my normal tradition, I celebrate my birthday all week long because I can. So, yay! My fifties are still doing all right—the state of the world notwithstanding.
As I am often asked what I want for my birthday, these are some things I’m interested in:
Buy yourself or someone you love one of my books. Yes, please. As an author and an anthologist, I want my creations read, shared, and enjoyed. I really do.
Review one of my books somewhere. Again, as an author and anthologist, I appreciate reviews and getting the word out—be it on a personal blog, on social media, or on a store site.
Buy me a ko-fi. I don’t have a patreon. This is the closest thing I have to it and I appreciate how it works. I’ve learned many a thing by buying authors literal coffees at events. I’ve also had my brain picked while being bought a tasty beverage. Also, I love coffee. I am made of caffeine.
Amazon wishlist. I have one of these because friends and family frequently ask for it. Occasionally, I got add things of interest to me as a writer or occasional streamer. Or ApocalypseGirl gets her dander up over something.
Enjoy a book, be kind to a friend, give me a review, wish me a happy birthday. Any, all, or none will do. I am planning to have a fabulous week come what may.
Every single year I swear I’m not going to do this to myself again…and yet…here I am. 3.5 months left to the year and I’ve got 4 decently-sized projects due before the end of the year (2 novellas, 2 anthologies). I’m also teaching a couple more classes and I’m attending Can*Con virtually. I suppose the difference is the fact that I took two months off in the middle of summer to rest. And by “rest” I mean “not writing.” I think it helped.
In the last 5-6 weeks or so, I’ve attended Gen Con in person, attended Chicon virtually, Queen Elizabeth II died (feelings are complicated on this one) and I got my omicron booster/flu shot. I’m settling in for a whole lot of butt-in-the-chair-fingers-on-the-keyboard. I have no scheduled or even planned “travel” until next year April. There is a bit of relief in that.
Of course, part of me is itching to get my signature on a new contract. As of now, I don’t know exactly what I’m doing next year. I mean, there’s Secret Project A, Secret Project B, and Secret Project C in the works. All of which would take a whole lot of time. I still have two more Shadowrun novels to write to finish out my unofficial trilogy and the YA series. Not to mention, I’m also itching to work on my own stuff—a languishing SF novella and a “men’s soap opera” series I’ve been thinking about for years now…
And yet…there is security and comfort in having signed contracts.
Thus, it feels like time is running away with me. I know it’s not. I know if I keep working at a steady pace, everything will come together and I should even have a couple weeks of “nothing” at the end of the year. But, we all know that deadlines and projects slip and slid until they bunch up against each other in the same two week period.
Until then, slow and steady wins the day.
Here’s a shelfie of densely packed dark academia fancy.
2020 AKA “The Great Pause” is almost over. Time for me to look back at what I’ve accomplished for the year. While I am a full time writer and editor…and I work mostly at home, I did suffer the ennui of being required to stay at home for most of the year. Which I have done since I got back from Rainforest 2020 in early March. I miss seeing friends, going to coffee shops, having my writing group over, gaming in person, and attending conventions.
I hope to be able to do that again sometime in 2021.
Short Story Submissions: 14
I’ll accept a 50% acceptance rate. That’s not bad.
New Words Written: 125,130
Two novellas and a novel. Again, not bad for the year.
Published Projects: 9
I’m gonna count this as a win. I was productive despite 2020 and missing my father.
Awards: 3
I’ve already lost 2 of the 3 awards, but it really is an honor to be nominated for both editing and writing. Especially the BFA. It’s the first time for that award.
Next year is going to be a lot more editing heavy. I’ve already got two anthologies in the works as well as a novel and two novellas to edit on the docket. We will see how things go.
There are some simple joys in life that you forget about until you unexpectedly experience them again. The one that I recently got to experience is the simple joy of coming home after a trip.
The Husband and I sequestered ourselves in a cabin in the woods by a lake with very little internet (those who know, know) for five days for his birthday. We took every precaution we could: not stopping on the way there, masks, sanitizer, social distancing, etc… We kept it up on our hikes. There was only one person we did not see at least carrying a mask on the hike.
The week away was needed. We spent time in the woods, listened to Old Gods of Appalachia podcast, watched pre-downloaded videos and I watched the Husband play a LOT of HADES—which is spectacular. The writing is amazing, the lore is parceled out, the story opens like an onion, not only do you never have to fight Cerberus, you can pet the puppy, and I am so here for a Thanatos/Zagreus pair up. The replay value on the game is super high, especially for what is basically a looping rogue-lite dungeon crawler.
However, five days away was enough. We both enjoyed the break but we were ready to come home. It was a good feeling after seven months in the house with brief grocery runs to break it up.
On the way home, I felt the blossoming of joy and reveled in the moment. It was me and the Husband driving up the last long leg of the trip. Homebound within the hour. I thought, “Heaven is us driving home, being together, anticipating the joy of our cats, our familiar comforts, and our own territory.”
I hadn’t felt that feeling in over a year.
I’d missed it.
Now I appreciate everything I have all the more.
Things are not fine in 2020. We know it. There are a lot of things to worry about. There is also a distinct need to be able to disconnect or distract from our problems. One of the ways I do that is having a series of YouTube channels to watch. I’ve listen nine of them below that are what I consider to be “gentle.” They are happy, have little in the way of stress, and are interesting.
Cute Animals
MilkyBokiTan – This is a channel about a Samoyed dog (Milky), a Norwegian Forest cat (Goboki), and a recent adopted orange rescue cat (Tan). It is super cute. The owners adore their pets. In fact, at this point, it appears their job is taking care of the pets and giving them interesting enrichment. This channel posts almost every day. English subtitled.
ChooChoo’s Story – This is a quiet channel about a woman who has semi-tamed a colony of chipmunks around her house by a lake. She feeds them, pets them, and keeps you up-to-date on their lives. It’s super cute. This channel posts a couple times a week. English subtitled.
Walter Santi – This channel is about a colony of cats in a guy’s backyard in Bulgaria (I believe). This is the closest I’ve ever seen to a living Court of Cats in the real world. Every cat has a name and a personality. They feed the cats, make up stories about them, and build shelters for them. The most persistent sounds are the cats and the guy laughing. He also has two indoor cats and a dog. This channel posts about about once a week or so. English subtitled.
Got Skills
LockPickingLawyer – This channel is about what it is named: a lawyer who is a champion lockpicker. I watch this dude because he’s fast, has a nice voice, and his videos are short. The writer in me loves this. So does Fantasy Jenn. You don’t see his face. And you won’t have faith in locks after this. Updates several times a week.
Gardeners Cottage Blakeney – Set in the UK, this is a new channel for me. This channel visits seaside cottages, English flower and vegetable gardens, and other such pleasant places. Updates several times a week, the host has a nice, quiet English voice, and shows the viewer just places of beauty and interest.
Renovation East – Set in Germany, this is one of those channels that blew up overnight. It is about a guy buying and renovating a house next to his by the lake. He’s not a professional renovator, but he’s pretty good. He explains what he’s doing, why, and where he makes mistakes. It’s a once-a-week channel and is weirdly interesting and soothing to watch.
Knowledge and Information
The British Museum – The official channel for the British Museum. It posts about once a week about something intriguing found in the museum. It’s random. It’s interesting. It’s informative. The video lengths vary. Bonus, British voices which I find soothing.
The B1M – This is the “definitive” channel for construction all over the world. It has a regular weekly post on some topic involving construction. This is one of those really neat channels that inspires my writer brain. Especially for near future stories. There’s so much that’s really interesting about how skylines are constructed and the technology involved.
Launch Pad Astronomy – Science for the win! This channel is run by one of the two main professors for the Launch Pad Astronomy for writers workshop. Christian puts out 2-3 videos a month about something in-depth about astronomy, telescopes, NASA, or the like. Super interesting and informative. Bonus because I know Christian personally.
These are not all the video channels I watch. There’s a lot more on PokemonGO, animal rescue, DYI channels, tiny houses, minimalism, and a variety of vloggers. These were the ones I chose because they soothed me.
As a bonus, I’m going to leave you with my Slow TV Playlist. This is a YouTube playlist of train rides (driver’s view), snowfall, the ocean shore, a campfire at night, and a birdfeeder. This is the kind of thing I like to put on in the background for ambient noise and pretty moving pictures. You don’t have to pay a lot of attention to it. It’s more to keep you company than anything else.
I hope you’ve found something gentle and soothing for you to enjoy in this list.
From now until I decide I want to stop doing this, I will be giving out a monthly “Jennifer Award” for the best new-to-me thing I read that month. This can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be an essay/article, a short story, a novelette, a novella, or a novel. It doesn’t matter when it came out. It only matters that this is the first time I read it and I thought it was the best thing I read all month. Yes, it is completely subjective and biased towards what I like to read.
The winner will receive a shiny digital badge and a $5 gift card.
Forgive the lateness of this. I was away at Gen Con. The July winner of the Jennifer Award is “By Claw, By Hand, By Silent Speech” by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry & A. Merc Rustad. It is available in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 23 AKA the Dinosaur edition. I read through a couple of the stories because they came across my Twitter feed. I was struck by the intelligence and sensitivity of the story and the prose. As an author, I learned a couple of things I’m still processing. This is a damn good story.
2018
Jan: Godfall and Other Stories by Sandra M. Odell
Feb: “When We Fall” by Kameron Hurley
Mar: The Alastair Stone Chronicles by R.L. King
Apr: Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys
May: “The Soul of Horses” by Beth Cato
Jun: “Daddy’s Girl” by Jennifer R. Donohue
Jul: “By Claw, By Hand, By Silent Speech” by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry & A. Merc Rustad
For the last two weeks, I’ve been putzing around with my writing, my freelancing, and the reorganization of my home. Not that I haven’t gotten anything done—I have. I’ve mostly been doing everything except the writing. It’s been almost a vacation. Now, the time for a loose schedule is done.
Round 4 of edits for Sekrit Project Alex have dropped.
For the next two weeks I need to have a tight rein on things. Each day I will need to work on Fever County, Anthology 1, Anthology 2, and Sekrit Project Alex. Both anthologies are spinning up. This means a LOT of email. Project Alex should be in the last major edit of the project and I have two weeks to get it done. That’s at least a chapter a day of revision, edit, polish. I need to keep a momentum on Fever County. I’m deep into book one. I’ve scheduled 500 words a day. If I hit it, yay. If I don’t, that’s OK. As long as I get some good words in.
This all means that social media is going to fall by the wayside until the evening. I have extra daily things happening this week, including trying out a new writing/social group at my house, having a chat with a local friend/game shop about an official writer-in-residence thing, and other more mundane things involving the house.
This is why I have a daily schedule written down for two weeks out so I know everything I need to do in a given day as well as where I need to go and when.
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.
