seton hill

Hard to Swallow with Aubrey Gross

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

unnamedAubrey’s been reading and writing since she was about two and a half, and has been a storyteller for as long as she can remember. Early on, she discovered a love of romance, reading her first Harlequin somewhere around age twelve (it featured an F1 race car driver, as this was long before NASCAR was cool). She wrote her first romance novel in high school. It was admittedly not very good, but she wrote another, and another. She thinks those first few might still be on a floppy disk somewhere in a storage bin.

Aubrey eventually honed her writing abilities through undergrad creative writing courses and eventually graduate school, where she earned a Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. These days she writes books she likes to describe as “stories about broken people healing, finding love, and laughing a little bit, too.”

Editor’s Note: this is part one of a three-part interview. Parts two and three will be published September 13th and September 20th, respectively. Also, this interview was originally conducted in March through August of 2016.

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Now, to get started, I ask all of my interviewees the same starting question, and that’s this: how do we know each other?

We go way back to our freshman year of college at Hollins University. We were in the same creative writing class our first semester, and a small group of us just kind of gelled and nicknamed ourselves The Merry Bandits. We’ve been brain twins ever since. 😉

Brain-Twins FTW!!!! Hollins was and is known for their creative writing program. Given you’re from Texas, why did that inspire you to travel so far?

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Calico in Conversation: Getting My Name Out There with J.L. Gribble

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

Morgantown Poets SocietyWelcome to third and final installment of Calico In Conversation with J.L. Gribble. If you missed Parts One and Two, click below to catch up:

Part One: Boosting Confidence
Part Two: Monsters Are People

Editor’s Note: this interview was originally conducted in March through June of 2016.

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One thing I’ve admired about your writing career, to date, is how well you seem to manage all the things required of you in addition to writing. You go to lots of conventions (well, more than one to me is a LOT, since I’m lucky to manage one convention per year). Can you talk about your experiences as a small press author at conventions?

Going to multiple conventions and events per year depends on a few different variables for me, such as the reasonable traveling distance (where reasonable can refer to time driving and/or cost of plane ticket) and the price I’m willing to pay for lodging and other necessities. Money is a huge factor in both of these, because I always know going in that there’s no way I will sell enough books to cover the entire cost of the trip. Most authors I know, whether small or large press, are in a similar situation, since we are long past the days of book tours paid for by large publishing houses. In my case, I’m fortunate enough to have a day job that covers these types of expenses (again, reasonably), along with a husband who shrugs it off as the cost of what could be any other expensive hobby.

So because I know I’m going to lose money at every convention I attend, I have a pretty specific criterion about whether I will go. I just have to have the chance to get my name out there. That’s it! I’d like to be on a panel, have a reading slot, have a chance to sign books at a scheduled time, and/or participate in a workshop. Pretty simple, especially since I’m not even asking for free registration, much less lodging, meals, or travel assistance. The drawbacks to this are, of course, that I don’t go to all the conventions I could. Ironically, this means I don’t even go to the two of the conventions closest to where I live, because despite my repeated attempts to volunteer, neither have expressed an interest in including me on their schedule. However, I’ve now been a multi-year guest at a few conventions, and I’m excited to add a few more to the list this year!

My schedule for 2016:

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Calico in Conversation: Boosting Confidence with J.L. Gribble

~ Shara ~ 5 Comments
gribble-photo-color
J.L. Gribble

By day, J. L. Gribble is a professional medical editor. By night, she does freelance fiction editing in all genres, along with reading, playing video games, and occasionally even writing. She is currently working on the Steel Empires series for Dog Star Books, the science-fiction/adventure imprint of Raw Dog Screaming Press. Previously, she was an editor for the Far Worlds anthology.

Gribble studied English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She received her Master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where her debut novel Steel Victory was her thesis for the program.

She lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with her husband and three vocal Siamese cats. Find her online (www.jlgribble.com), on Facebook, and on Twitter and Instagram (@hannaedits).

Editor’s Note: this is part one of a three-part interview. Parts two and three will be published July 12th and July 19th, respectively. Also, this interview was originally conducted in March through June of 2016.

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Now, to get started, I ask all of my interviewees the same starting question, and that’s this: how do we know each other?

Hi, Shara! We both attended Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction program. Our terms overlapped by a few years, and I’m so glad that gave us the opportunity to meet. My earliest memory of you is that your first residency was the year we all gave ourselves Battlestar Galactica names. I was Officer Dualla and you were D’Anna Biers. I have equated you with the badass Lucy Lawless ever since.

Badass Lucy Lawless? I’LL TAKE IT. Hell, why don’t I cosplay that more? I’ve totally got the hair and the jawline… just not the muscles.

I’m glad you brought up Seton Hill. Back then, it was a Master of Arts, which has now become a Master of FINE Arts in Writing Popular Fiction. I never went back for the “F” in my MA. Did you do that, and if you haven’t, would you consider doing that, considering this point in your career?

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Calico In Conversation: Getting Goosebumps with Maria V. Snyder

~ Shara ~ 1 Comment

Welcome to Part Two of Calico In Conversation with Maria V. Snyder. If you missed Part One: Eye Candy, feel free to click here to catch up!

Editor’s Note: this interview was originally conducted in March through April of 2016.

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Sunday LNP Photo

So I have to say, you are one of the most prolific writers that I know personally. I think you average about a book a year. Can you talk about what your schedule is like and what you have to do to meet those deadlines?

I do average a book a year and try to write short stories in between. I write every night from 10 pm to 3 am from Sunday to Thursday. I set a minimum word count goal for each evening. I can’t go to bed unless I write at least 1000 words. Most nights I exceed that count. I also do a writing retreat twice a year where I go to a cabin at a state park with an author friend and we write all day. When my deadline is looming and I’m falling behind, I’ll write on Friday and Saturday nights and even during the day if I’m desperate. Right now I’m trying to get Dawn Study finished before I jet off to Australia in April and I still have 15,000 words to go! Next week, I believe I’m gonna be desperate! [Maria’s note: Sadly, I didn’t get Dawn Study done before leaving. I’m just finishing it up now and it’s the end of May!]

Your schedule seems surprisingly doable to me. I’m assuming you no longer have to work the “dreaded” day job?

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Calico In Conversation: Eye-Candy with Maria V. Snyder

~ Shara ~ 3 Comments
Maria V. Snyder
Maria V. Snyder

Meteorologist turned novelist, Maria V. Snyder has been writing fantasy and science fiction since she was bored at work and needed something creative to do. Over a dozen novels later, Maria’s been on the New York Times bestseller list, won a half-dozen awards, and has earned her Master’s degree in Writing from Seton Hill University where she’s now part of the MFA faculty. She also enjoys creating new worlds where horses and swords rule, ’cause let’s face it, they’re cool, although she’s been known to trap her poor characters in a giant metal cube and let them figure out how to get out.

Editor’s Note: this is part one of a three-part interview. Parts two and three will be published Tuesday June 14th and June 21st, respectively. Also, this interview was originally conducted in March through May of 2016.

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Now, to get started, I ask all of my interviewees the same starting question, and that’s this: how do we know each other?

We both attended Seton Hill University’s Masters of Arts program for writing popular fiction. I graduated in 2007 (I’m not sure if we were students together? – in my defense that was 9 years ago!). Then in 2008, I returned and am now on the faculty.

1192365I remember some overlap. I got to hear you read from Magic Study as your thesis defense, and I also remember seeing the very early pages in workshop that made up the opening chapter of Inside Out. But my favorite memory is this: attending my very first SHU class when you were handing out bookmarks promoting Poison Study. I saw the cover art and flipped out, because I’d drooled over the hardcover just weeks before in a Barnes & Noble! So tell me: what made you, a published author, apply for the SHU Writing Popular Fiction Masters Degree?

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Culture Consumption: March 2016

~ Shara ~ 2 Comments

Yes, yes, I know I’m hideously late, but April is a busy month, and my brain didn’t want to compose a blog entry. So it’s well past time, once again, to look at all of the culture I’ve been consuming from the month before. Quite a fun month, I must say, so feel free to join me to look at all the books, comics, movies, and television I finally got under my belt in March!

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Sidebar: Authors I Know

~ Shara ~ 3 Comments

For a while now, I’ve been meaning to put together a Links List of made up of authors I know. Pretentious sounding, right? But knowing, while also half the battle, actually means people I know in real life: people whose work I’ve critiqued, and/or who’ve critiqued my own work. People who’ve published books and/or short fiction and who have websites I can link to.

I’ve met most of them in person. We may have met at Hollins University, where I received my Bachelor of Arts. We may have met at the Odyssey Writing Workshop, where I spent six weeks in deep study of how to write science fiction and fantasy. We may have met at Seton Hill University, where I received my Master of Arts in Writing Popular Fiction.

I have not included authors with whom I’ve developed a camaraderie with online. There’s actually quite a few, thanks to my book blogging days at Calico Reaction. But I felt that would be, if anything, a bit presumptuous, and besides: I want to promote the people I know from the places that shaped me as a writer.

And these authors represent a wide variety of fiction, not simply science fiction and fantasy. I can’t make any guarantees that their work will hit your sweet spot, but I can guarantee their websites are worth checking out, just to see if you might find something that tickles your interest. Who knows? You may discover a new favorite.

So without further adieu, I now have a sidebar to the right listing all of the authors I know. Some of the names you may recognize, because I’ve reviewed their work back at Calico Reaction, or promoted their debuts on this site. Other names you may not recognize at all, because they’re either just getting started or are self-publishing. All names are worth sampling.

Covert art by Brad Sharp

To those authors, I say congratulations and happy writing. I also ask that if you’d rather not be listed, or if the link to the website is wrong or I’m not using the correct author name, please let me know so I can make the corrections. Also, if I’ve left you out, accept my apologies for my faulty memory and provide the appropriate information in the comments below.

To my readers, please browse the names, click on links, and look for books that interest you. I know the authors would appreciate it!

 

Rhonda Mason: Happy Release Day!

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Cover Art by Dave Palumbo
Cover Art by Dave Palumbo

This year has been chock full of friends publishing books, and I am absolutely THRILLED for them. So far, Jen Brooks released her YA Debut, In a Word Just Right, and then J.L. Gribble released her debut Urban Fantasy/Alternate History novel, Steel Victory. Today brings the Science Fiction Romance debut from Rhonda Mason: The Empress Game.

Unlike Brooks and Gribble, I didn’t beta-read Mason’s novel, so when I read my Kindle copy, it’ll be for the first time. But I’m confident it’s going to rock my world, because like Brooks, Rhonda Mason is a writer from Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction Program who graduated my first term there. She was one of the very first thesis readings I attended, and to this day I still remember the AWESOME first line of that novel. No, I won’t quote it here, and no, The Empress Game is not that novel. However, it bears many similarities: a kick-ass heroine, lots of fighting, and edge-of-your-seat writing, if the small sample I gobbled up is any indication.

Believe me,  I’m looking forward to reading this book.

Happy Release Day, Rhonda!

One seat on the intergalactic Sakien Empire’s supreme ruling body, the Council of Seven, remains unfilled, that of the Empress Apparent. The seat isn’t won by votes or marriage, it’s won in a tournament of ritualized combat in the ancient tradition. Now that tournament–the Empress Game–has been called, and the females of the empire will stop at nothing to secure political domination for their homeworlds. Kayla Reinumon, a supreme fighter, is called by a mysterious stranger to battle it out in the arena.

The battle for political power isn’t contained by the tournament’s ring, however. The empire’s elite gather to forge, strengthen or betray alliances in a political dance that will shape the fate of the empire for a generation. With the empire wracked by a rising nanovirus plague and stretched thin by an ill-advised planet-wide occupation in enemy territory, everything rests on the woman who rises to the top.

Rhonda-Mason-Crop-188x300Rhonda Mason divides her time between writing, editing, bulldogs and beaching. Her writing spans the gamut of speculative fiction, from space opera to epic fantasy to urban paranormal and back again. The only thing limiting her energy for fantastical worlds is the space-time continuum.

When not creating worlds she edits for a living, and follows her marine biologist husband to the nearest beach. In between preserving sea grass and deterring invasive species, she snorkels every chance she gets. Her rescue bulldog, Grace, is her baby and faithful companion. Grace follow her everywhere, as long as she’s within distance of a couch Grace can sleep on. Rhonda is a graduate of the Writing Popular Fiction masters program at Seton Hill University, and recommends it to all genre writers interested in furthering their craft at the graduate level.

You can find Rhonda at www.RhondaMason.com.

 

J.L. Gribble: Happy Belated Release Day!

~ Shara ~ 4 Comments
Steel Victory
Cover Art by Brad Sharp

I feel like a bit of a shit. On June 26th, my good friend and fellow Seton Hill graduate J.L. Gribble published her debut novel, Steel Victory, and it completely slipped my mind. I can give you lots of excuses: the release date was on a Friday instead of the usual Tuesday; the month of June slipped by so fast I suffered whiplash, etc., etc. But let’s forget excuses and promote Gribble’s debut venture!

Steel Victory is special, because it’s not just Gribble’s debut novel — it’s also the novel she wrote for her Master’s thesis at Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction Program. She was a term ahead of me, and we became fast friends. I had the honor of beta-reading the thesis before she turned it in, and that was…. a LONG time ago. So long that I can’t wait to see just how different the published version of Steel Victory will be, and that’s a compliment, because I vividly remember many scenes from the thesis draft! Steel Victory is now waiting patiently on my Kindle, so patiently that I’m debating about putting aside the current book I’m reading just so I can dive into Gribble’s world all over again: an urban fantasy set in a world where the Roman Empire never fell, and magic bleeds off the pages.

I can’t offer enough congrats, especially since I’m so late in doing so. Fortunately, Steel Victory is doing just fine without me, thanks to an awesome launch party at Seton Hill’s In Your Write Mind Workshop!

Steel Victory is the first book in the Steel Empire series, which is currently projected to be seven books. SEVEN BOOKS, people! Even I don’t know what’s ahead, and I can’t wait! It’s gonna be an awesome road, and I wish J.L. Gribble all the best as she embarks on it.

One hundred years ago, the vampire Victory retired from a centuries-long mercenary career. She settled in Limani, the independent city-state acting as a neutral zone between the British and Roman colonies on the New Continent.

Twenty years ago, Victory adopted a human baby girl, who soon showed signs of magical ability.

Today, Victory is a city councilwoman, balancing the human and supernatural populations within Limani. Her daughter Toria is a warrior-mage, balancing life as an apprentice mercenary with college chemistry courses.

Tomorrow, the Roman Empire invades.

gribble-photo-colorBy day, J. L. Gribble is a professional medical editor. By night, she does freelance fiction editing in all genres, along with reading, playing video games, and occasionally even writing.

Previously, Gribble studied English at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She received her Master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and Steel Victory was her thesis novel for the program. This is her debut novel.

She lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with her husband and three vocal Siamese cats. You can find her online (www.jlgribble.com) and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. She is currently working on more tales set in the world of Limani.