BLACK MAGIC WOMAN by Justin Gustainis

BLACK MAGIC WOMAN (Amazon USA, UK, Canada) by Justin Gustainis released just a couple of days ago through Solaris, but my "darker" review colleagues have been all over it like blood on a vampire's teeth. Here's the blurb:

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his “consultant”, white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself – and the very heart of darkness.

Black Magic Woman marks the start of an electrifying news series of supernatural thrillers following the exploits of occult investigators Quincey Morris and Libby Chastain, as they search out evil in the darkest corners of America.

Actually, according to the author, there aren't many vampires in it; just in the first chapter. Love Vampires confirms this in their review, where they gave it five stars, regardless. Kimberly over at Darque Reviews, who is fast becoming one of my favorite reviewers, also enjoyed it. Angela the SciFiChick, who was already one of my favorite reviewers, enjoyed it with some very slight reservations.

I also found an article about it in UK SF Book News. Gustainis has managed to garner some rather fabulous blurbs:

“…better than any of the manuscripts I’ve been asked to read and blurb on by various publishers.”
- Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files

“Justin is a first class writer; he's smart and he's fun, he moves quickly and he takes corners at speed. Every time you think you know where he's going, he makes a point of going somewhere else. His characters are sharp and vivid, his dialogue crackles with wit and tension, and when it comes to the scarier corners of the magical underworld, he knows his stuff.”
- Simon R. Green, New York Times best-selling author of the Nightside series

Pretty exciting stuff for a debut author! The author has a website, which has a teaser about the next Quincey Morris Supernatural Investigation. He also has a MySpace site, complete with eerie music.

Across the Face of the World - Opening Chapters

I've got to admit that I'm loving ACROSS THE FACE OF THE WORLD by Russell Kirkpatrick so far. The publisher, Orbit, was kind enough to provide me with an ARC copy, for which I thank them.

This novel was originally published in by Voyager in New Zealand (I have a disproportionate number of New Zealander debut novelists who have appeared on this blog -- there must be something in the water over there) and I just LOVE the Voyager cover! I do like the Orbit cover as well, but I was really wowed when I saw the Voyager cover.

I suppose I ought to say something about the novel itself. After a "Buah-hah-hah! I shall defeat the world!" prelude (not really, but almost), it goes on to tell the story of Leith and Hal, two brothers who have waited almost two years for their father to return from a mysterious mission, ordered by the king itself. This in itself raises all sorts of questions. Who is their father that the king even knows about him? And why was he the one chosen to journey across the face of the world to carry out this mission? And will he ever return?

He does return and brings all sorts of other questions back with him.

So far, the plot has been rather predictable, that doesn't bother me. The author tends to jump around in point-of-view, but that doesn't bother me, either. The plot even features a farmboy (or two), and that doesn't bother me either. Why?

Because I think I'm in love with Hal. If I were reading this last year, he would have had the potential to supplant Joby as my favorite male character. I just got to a part where he basically said, "Choose between two equally impossible tasks? We're doing both by God, and you're going to help!" All that fire and he's a cripple, too. I hope Kirkpatrick has a romance in mind for him. He deserves one.

The chapters are r e a l l y l o n g. If you try to read until the end of the chapter, you may be reading a while. The chapter breaks tend to appear at jumps in the narrative. This doesn't mean that they aren't cliffhangers -- they are, for the most part, and they're good ones. There's lots of description and the plot proceeds at an unhurried pace.

I'm finding nothing to complain about so far, and lots to admire. More to come!

Tor's Ten Recent Debuts

In Tor's most recent newsletter, they had a list of ten recent debuts. Here they are, arranged in release date order and hyperlinked:

Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, January 2007 (original release in 2004)
The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald, April, 2007
Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell, May 2007
KOP by Warren Hammond, June 2007
The Wanderer’s Tale by David Bilsborough, July 2007
The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari, August 2007
The Genesis Code by Christopher Forrest, August 2007
Radio Freefall by Matthew Jarpe, August 2007
Spaceman Blues by Brian Francis Slattery, August 2007
God’s Demon by Wayne Barlowe, October 2007

Now, because I'm an analyst by occupation and by nature, I thought I'd apply a bit of analysis to this list. We have ten debuts over the course of a year. This rate of debut publication seems highly typical for major publishing houses.

We have nine men and one woman in the list. Now, I'm no feminist, but this appeared to be a large disparity to me. They probably have perfectly good reasons for such a disparity. Maybe they simply didn't have many good submissions by female authors last year. I could analyze this in-depth, but Tor published over 200 books last year, and I have too many unknown variables, so I'll just note it and move on.

My next question to myself was, were any of these authors already established in the SF field before their debut? To answer that question, I had to look at each author in turn.

John Scalzi
Anyone who keeps a speculative fiction blog knows about John Scalzi. According to his bio, he's not a debut author anymore; Old Man's War was first published in 2004. Reading his bio is fascinating anyway, because he serialized several of his novels online before Tor picked them up. So he became published in a rather unorthodox way. Who knows? It may be the way of the future.

Sandra McDonald
I had not yet heard of Sandra McDonald. Her paperback comes out in February, and I'll be getting myself a copy. It looks to be a hoot. Anyway, she seems to have established a name for herself writing short stories before her publication of The Outback Stars.

Tobias Buckell
Prior to his publication, Tobias Buckell was no unknown. He had won the Writers of the Future contest in the fourth quarter of 2000, and he had published short stories as well.

Warren Hammond
Hammond appears to be a complete newcomer to the scene, thus proving that it is still possible.

David Bilsborough
Bilsborough appears to be another complete newcomer. Unlike Hammond however, he appears to maintain absolutely no web presence whatsoever. This is not the first time I've attempted to find him online without success. I just don't understand why any author would shun such an easy and inexpensive way to promote books. Perhaps he is a recluse.

Mark J. Ferrari
I'm pretty familiar with Mark J. Ferrari because I featured The Book of Joby a few months ago. He illustrated covers for major publishers for years. However, I don't think his connections helped him get published, at least not initially. According to his own guest post here at Fantasy Debut, a midsized publisher first picked it up to be published in 2004, but then that publisher canceled his book. However, he used that almost-publication credit to secure an agent, who secured his book deal with Tor. He also advises that you use the "back door" approach whenever possible.

Christopher Forrest
Unforgivably, I completely missed Christopher Forrest's debut in August. It seemed to have gotten buried in all the other Tor debuts of August. Maybe because it is billed as a thriller, I mis-categorized it as non-speculative. However, upon reading the book blurb, it is undoubtedly science fiction, so I'll have to do a regular announcement for it in the next few days. Anyway, Forrest also appears to be a complete newcomer.

Matthew Jarpe
Matthew Jarpe calls his writer's bio a "pathetic display of single mindedless." He has a trunked novel and a trunked movie script, but nothing else. So, he's another newcomer.

Brian Francis Slattery
Brian Francis Slatterly is an almost-newcomer. His bio includes a prestigious win of the Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction Award and one other short piece in addition to his novel, Spaceman Blues. In addition, he is an editor and an author of nonfiction.

Wayne Barlowe
Wayne Barlowe is another illustrator-turned-writer. However, he's been writing since the 70s, when his book Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, won the Hugo in 1979. He's done covers and illustrations for every major publisher, plus scads of other stuff. Really, you must read his bio for yourself. He cannot be considered an unknown to the field. I've probably seen his paintings at the Orlando Science Center with my own eyes. (Incidently, I have a guest reviewer lined up to review his novel, God's Demon, in the next week or so.)

Of the ten -- going strictly by their own bios -- I count four who had a clean bio upon their debut publication, and six who had bios ranging from a few sales to being a well-known name in the field for reasons other than fiction. If we strike Scalzi off the list because of his Established Author status, then we have 9 debuts this year. (This is making a rather broad assumption that the list includes all Tor's debuts of 2007.)

Tor had a total of 209 books published last year. I obtained this figure by using their search tool, narrowing the search to fantasy (111 books) and then science fiction (98 books). This is a 4.3 percent debut rate.

Over at SFWA, there are 29 "qualifying venues"; i.e. major publishers. Assuming Tor is average, and assuming this was an average year for major publishers, (more broad assumptions to make, I know) then there is an average of 261 debuts per year out of around 6061 novels.

(These figures does not count excellent small press markets like Juno Books, who gets books on shelves from coast to coast but does not qualify for SFWA's "professional" standards.)

And this concludes my analysis of Tor's debut list, for what it's worth.

12:53 - edited for clarity - TN

Guest Review - THE LEGEND OF THE FIREFISH

Billy Goat, one of the bloggers at Books Under the Bridge, offered to review THE LEGEND OF THE FIREFISH (USA, UK, Canada) by George Bryan Polivka, a debut fantasy that released on March 1, 2007. I must admit--he has me wanting to read it! He offered to let me repost it here in its entirety; therefore, I have done so. He has also posted it on his own website, so you might want to check out any comments that might show up at his original post.

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I first heard about this book by browsing around the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour. It's George Bryan Polivka's first fantasy publication, published in March of 2007. I have read very little of what I consider to be Christian Fantasy, and I'm always looking for new authors, so I was eager to read it. When Mister Troll told me about the Fantasy Debut blog, I decided that guest posting there would be fun if the owner would have me. It turns out that Tia is very gracious, and she told me she'd be happy to have a guest post from Books Under the Bridge, so here we are! Thank you, Tia and Fantasy Debut!

(Thanks, Billy!)

Reading more about the book on Polivka's website, as well as the introduction to his world, named Nearing Vast, I was intrigued to find out that the story has overt Christian themes. This is pretty unique in my experience, and when an author explores a religious, a-religious, or otherwise philosophical perspective in his work, he runs the risk of preaching or otherwise beating the reader over the head with his viewpoint, and thus making the story less likable to readers not already subscribing to his view. I wondered whether Polivka could pull it off, especially since he is new to the genre, and how he would manage it.

The story is about a fisherman's son, Packer Throme, who believes he knows the location of the breeding grounds of the legendary Firefish. The Firefish is a rare species of monstrous fish whose meat grants strength and healing to those who eat it, and its meat is thus very valuable.

Scatter Wilkins, pirate-turned-entrepreneur, is captain of the Trophy Chase. His new business is Firefish hunting, a very lucrative, but complex and dangerous business. The only thing keeping him from retiring rich is the rarity of the fish. If he just knew a reliable way to find them....

Packer has a plan to stow away on the Trophy Chase, and help Scat Wilkins find the breeding grounds. If he can convince the veteran pirate to believe his claims (and not kill him), he hopes that he can bring prosperity back to his little fishing village and redeem his father's reputation. From here, The Legend of the Firefish follows Packer through his gambit, and then the crew of the Trophy Chase as they track down a bounty that may be more danger than they can handle, or survive.

The summary above does not sound so religiously-themed. Where's the philosophy, the Christianity? The answer: it's in Packer's actions and motivations. And did Polivka come off preachy? To that, I'd answer a solid, "No." Instead, he wrote a ripping yarn, full of grace in style and content. The core of the story is inventive and packed with action. The religious themes are integral to the plot, and not just tacked-on window dressing or disguised sermons. To top it off, the story contains a certain purity that I have missed in many books I read nowadays. It often feels like a classic, because the writing is concise, pointed, and not frilled with excess description, dialog, or philosophizing.

The main characters are memorable and fresh. Packer is clever, likable, and complex. However, he occasionally thrashes over his beliefs, and comes across a little whiny/fatalistic when he does so. Thankfully, this is believable for his character, as he is a young man who has suffered some serious setbacks in his life, including expulsion from seminary school and a missing father largely considered crazy for rambling on about the Firefish breeding grounds.

The second main character is Panna Seline, Packer's sweetheart and daughter of the local priest. When Packer leaves town, she chases after him, as fantasy sweethearts are wont to do. I've read that Polivka intended for her to be a strong female character, and I believe he succeeded. However, she's not your typical Ass-Kicking Annie. Instead, when she sneaks out of town and encounters harsh reality, she realizes just how sheltered she has been, and rises to meet her unique challenges. And she's believable, sometimes excruciatingly so, such as when her naiveté leads her deeper into trouble.

Despite the strength of the main characters, it's the secondary characters that really make The Legend of the Firefish shine. The pirates and engineers of the Trophy Chase have been lovingly crafted, and they stand out in the fantasy genre. Characters such as the faithful Delaney, the academic John Hand, and the stoic, dynamite-wielding engineer, Stedman Due, all add a fantastic color to the story. Furthermore, the Firefish are powerfully-delivered antagonists, and they steal many of the scenes in which they appear. In some of these scenes, we get to see through the mind of the fish, and this adds a little Jaws-like atmosphere into the mix of the story. All of these great characters work to fill out Firefish and make it both engaging and memorable.

Lastly, the descriptions of the ships and the seamanship really captured me. The various stunts and maneuvers read authentically, and as a sailing enthusiast, I often found myself wishing I had a chance to ride in the rigging of the sleekly grand Trophy Chase.

I look forward to continuing Polivka's series with The Hand that Bears the Sword and The Battle for Vast Dominion, both of which have been recently published.

THUNDERER by Felix Gilman

At first I thought I had three books from the 26th to report on, but one turned out to not be a debut and another turned out to not be speculative fiction. So THUNDERER (USA, Canada, UK) by Felix Gilman is the last book on my 2007 debut calendar.

I'm rather intrigued by the cover, even though it's flashier than I'm used to in fantasy art. The airship is cool, and the guy flying outside of the airship is even more interesting, especially with the bird hovering near his left arm. Click on the picture to see a close-up; there's some sort of blur under his feet. Did he leap? Is he actually flying? Maybe the blurb will tell for sure:

. . . Arjun arrives in Ararat just as a magnificent winged creature swoops and sails over the city. For it is the day of the return of that long-awaited, unpredictable mystical creature: the great Bird. But does it come for good or ill? And in the service of what god? Whatever its purpose, for one inhabitant the Bird sparks a long-dormant idea: to map the mapless city and liberate its masses with the power of knowledge.

As the creature soars across the land, shifting topography, changing the course of the river, and redrawing the territories of the city’s avian life, crowds cheer and guns salute in a mix of science and worship. Then comes the time for the Bird’s power to be trapped—within the hull of a floating warship called Thunderer, an astounding and unprecedented weapon. The ship is now a living temple to the Bird, a gift to be used, allegedly, in the interests of all of Ararat.

Hurtled into this convulsing world is Arjun, an innocent who will unwittingly unleash a dark power beyond his imagining—and become entangled in a dangerous underground movement that will forever transform Ararat. As havoc overtakes the streets, Arjun dares to test the city’s moving boundaries. In this city of gods, he has come to search among them, not to hide. . . .

Gilman's website includes a tongue-in-cheek (I hope) bio and a blog. I also found a short book trailer on You Tube. Robert over at Fantasy Book Critic absolutely raves about Thunderer, calling it a possibility for the best debut of 2008. Already! Over at SFSite, Jeff VanderMeer has an interview with Gilman, plus an excerpt. You can also see the excerpt at the publisher's site. Jeff also had some words of praise for Gilman at his blog. The Agony Column has a podcast interview (mp3 link) with the author plus a review.

AURALIA'S COLORS - Final Post

While this is my final official post on AURALIA'S COLORS, that doesn't mean that I might pop up with another post on it in the future. Books like this tend to stay on my mind for weeks. When I wrote about David Anthony Durham's Acacia, I ended up putting up another post on it a week after my so-called "final" post. So you never know. I'm flighty that way.

I finished this book on New Year's Eve, some 2 1/2 months after I started. However, that was not the fault of the book. I had some author-sent books to read, and I wanted to get through them first.

This novel is difficult to summarize. It begins when a young female baby is discovered by a pair of outcast "gatherers". The baby has been placed carefully into the impression of a monstrous footprint. Almost like it was a cradle. The Gatherers who find her are outcasts of House Abascar, criminals who serve there time by living outside the protective walls of the house.

Paradoxly, these outcasts live outside, where there is the color of nature, while inside the house, the housefolk must earn the right to wear colors. Why? This scheme is the brainchild of Queen Jaralaine, who seeks to restore the glory of House Abascar. To do so, she declares the Proclamation of the Colors. During a period of Abascar's Winter, the housefolk must wear drab colrs and sacrifice everything beautiful to the throne. After sufficient sacrifice is made and enough beautiful things gathered, the colors will be restored in Abascar's Spring.

However, the Queen -- who has a tendency to wander -- disappears before she can declare Abascar's Spring, and King Cal-marcus never declares the Spring. Twenty colorless years go by.

Then, along comes Auralia, a weaver of fabulous things, things that bring hope to the wearer, and even, it is said, things that can heal.

The author, Jeffrey Overstreet, breaks a lot of "rules". He doesn't give us a lot of behind-the-eyeballs time with the title character, Auralia. At the same time, he puts us in a fever to read about her. The POV jumps from person to person, here the heroic/villianous Captain Arc-robin, there the nameless ale boy, here the king, Cal-marcus, there his son, Cal-raven. But somehow, I don't mind -- at least not after the opening chapters.

The author also yanks us out of the present just when it is getting interesting, and plunges us into the past to the schemings of a most unpleasant character, Queen Jaralaine through the eyes of the intriguingly complex Captain Arc-robin.

And then there is the ale boy, whom I tended to dismiss at first because he had no name. Even when he does learn his name, the reader does not. Grr. This is really the only quibble I have with the novel. People tend to get named, at least in Western cultures. Nothing in this book suggested that it was anything other than a quasi-Western culture. I am reminded of the Dog Boy in T. H. White's The Once and Future King. The poor Dog Boy didn't have a name either, but at least his designation got capitalized letters.

However, I cannot help but feel that the author kept his name from us because it might give something about him away. I cannot ignore the imagry behind some of the names in this novel. Auralia sounds very much like Aurora, which is the Latin word for dawn. This is a very apt name for her. Dawn is a burst of colors and light, just as Auralia is.

Color is the defining theme of this novel. Overstreet seeps his world in color, but only -- or so it seemed to me -- when Auralia is present. Everything is brown and drab and grey, but when Auralia comes along, she paints the world in her wake. This scene at the top of the cliff -- the subject of the cover art -- was the most unforgettable scene in the novel, even though I hardly understood what was happening.

After the cliff scene, I had a very difficult time putting the novel down. Auralia brings colors to Abascar, but she also brings a lot of trouble to herself. Mythical creatures mentioned throughout the book -- the Northchildren and the Keeper -- gradually become more real to the reader in what really is masterful storytelling. Nothing was a surprise, yet the way everything unfolded certainly could not be predicted.

Many questions are left unanswered in this, the beginning of a series. However, the book ended after a cataclysmic climax, and it had an epilogue I did not expect.

As I said in my year-end round-up, this book has a sense of wonder that I don't often see in fantasy these days. All too often these days, authors strive for gritty realism. We rarely get moments like that first glimpse of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings, or when Lancelot performed his miracle in The Once and Future King, or when Silas found his gold in Silas Marner. The wonder in this novel was in Auralia's colors. It is a well-named book, and I look forward to reading the next installment, Cyndere's Midnight. Hmm. Is it a coincidence that Auralia's name is very like Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and Cyndrele's name is very like Cinderella? Time will tell.

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Links!
All my posts on AURALIA'S COLORS
All my posts on Jeffrey Overstreet (may overlap with the above)
Jeffrey Overstreet's Website and blog
Amazon Links - USA, UK, Canada
Novel page at Waterbrook

Upcoming - an interview with Jeffrey Overstreet!

Fantasy Debut Nominated!

While looking at Pat's nomination for the Preditors and Editors annual poll, I discovered that Fantasy Debut was nominated for this award as well! I'm kind of overwhelmed at the company that this blog is in. And, I must admit that I'm thrilled!

Here is the poll for review sites. The deadline for voting (or nominating other sites) is January 15th.

Interview With Janet Lorimer!

I featured Janet Lorimer's MASTER OF SHADOWS last month. I first announced her novel in November (along with some others), and then she did a guest post. Then in December, I blogged on it several times as I read it.

I wanted to interview Janet because she has been a published author of children's books since the 80s, and I don't often get the chance to interview experienced authors. Also, I found her background as a freelance writer interesting. She truly makes her living with the written word, in areas both glamorous and distinctly not!

FD: Please tell us about your inspiration for MASTER OF SHADOWS.

JL: Without giving too much of the story away, I actually wanted to write a novel using a werewolf as the protagonist. This was back in the late ‘80s and the idea of vampires as sympathetic characters was just barely taking hold. I thought a werewolf hero would be interesting. I always do copious amounts of research – much more than I ever need – before I start writing anything, so I began reading everything I could get my hands on regarding werewolves. That led me down another path and that branched into something else and so on. The story grew from there.

FD: MASTER OF SHADOWS is very much a fairy tale for adults, inspired by both Beauty and the Beast and The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling. Do you have any plans to run with the idea and write other stories based on other fairy tales? Or did I just give you the idea?

JL: I must confess that Beauty and the Beast was always my favorite fairy tale. And if you notice, the Beast – not the handsome prince – was very, very popular when the Disney version was released. But no, I don’t have plans to write anything else inspired by fairy tales. However, having said that, I don’t rule out the likelihood of referring to other children’s classics when I write. One of my horror stories – Last Echoes – appeared in Women of Darkness II, an anthology edited by Kathryn Ptacek in 1990. Throughout the story I referenced nursery rhymes. (By the way, Kathryn edits a wonderful marketing guide – The Gila Queen’s Guide to Markets.) I love referencing favorite stories I’ve enjoyed, especially the children’s classics.

FD: MASTER OF SHADOWS is also a stand-alone novel. Can you tell us about any other adult novels that you have in the works?

JL: The novel I finished in 2007 and am currently trying to market – The Visitant -- is a romance with a paranormal element. Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit what Juno is currently looking for, so that’s why it’s being shopped around.

The book I’m working on right now –Deadly Illusions – is a mystery with an element of the paranormal.

After that I’m very tempted to delve back into a juvenile novel again. I have four children’s books coming out in 2008. James A. Rock & Co., Publishers is publishing them. They include the reprints of three children’s books that were originally published by Scholastic. Two are juvenile novels for readers ages 9 – 12; they are The Mystery of the Missing Treasure and The Mystery of the Haunted Trail. The third one is an early chapter book for readers 6-8 entitled The Trouble With Buster. The 4th book that’s being published is a new juvenile novel entitled The Ghost That Wasn’t Dead.

FD: Unlike most of the debut authors I've featured here, your bio is quite extensive. Please tell us a bit about your writing career.

JL: I decided I wanted to be a writer when I was about 5 years old, and had just learned to read. When I found out that people actually wrote the stories I was reading, I knew that was what I wanted to do. Of course I wrote and wrote as I grew up, but I didn’t actually start writing with the intent of getting published until I was in my 30s. By then I also had two small children. I began with a novel, probably the hardest thing for a beginning writer to write and yet I think many of us do begin with novels. I did finish it and believe it or not, in due course I found an agent who even found a publisher. I was beginning to think that this writing and publishing thing was going to be a slam-dunk, but Fate stepped in and the publisher went bankrupt. The manuscript – for a gothic novel – didn’t find another home. It’s still in a box! And when I read bits and pieces of it, I wince. I had a lot to learn about writing back then.

After that I decided to try writing shorter pieces – articles and short stories. Eventually I got an article published in a local magazine, and then after a period of time I sold my first children’s story to Highlights For Children. I actually sold four stories to Highlights, but they have only published two. They buy all rights, so I can’t try to market the ones that never saw the light of day. A good lesson about the rights we sell, but as a beginning writer I was so hungry for those publishing credits, I didn’t mind.

One type of writing that fascinated me was high/low writing. High/low stands for high or adult interest/low reading level materials. These are designed for reluctant readers in middle school and high school, for adults in ESL (English As A Second Language) classes, and adults in literacy classes. The stories are usually genre stories (such as science fiction or mystery), and the characters are young adults or adults. You use a lot of dialogue; there is no sex of any kind – explicit or otherwise – and no gratuitous violence. Sentences are kept either simple or compound, but almost never complex. Believe it or not, you use no more than 20 words in a sentence, and, yes, I have been known to count the words in sentences when I wasn’t sure. The vocabulary is somewhat simple; you generally stay away from three syllable words. For example, you would chose “enough” over “sufficient.” The story needs to start with a bang and you have to tell a good story. They are a fantastic challenge, and I think they are a lot of fun to write.

I finally got my first opportunity to do some high/low writing when I read in a writer’s magazine that Fearon Education was looking for high/low fiction. I wrote to Fearon for their guidelines and submitted a story entitled Tomb of Horror. I was stunned when they bought it. After that I began to write regularly for them. When Fearon sold out to Lake Publishing, I continued to write high/lows, and when one of the editors I worked with at Lake began working with Saddleback Publishing, I dutifully followed along. It’s been wonderful fun, and will always be a favorite kind of writing.

Once I learned how to write high/lows, I was able to market this skill in other ways. For example, the local community college needed someone to revise materials used to teach non-credit classes. I was able to revise materials on different jobs in the hotel industry, on golf course maintenance, and also the Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) manual. I co-wrote a state tour guide manual, and revised a report on violence against women.

In the meantime I sold a few short stories for adults, and an abundance of articles. I also began teaching writing classes in the non-credit program at the community college. Then, for a period of time, I burned out. It felt like I was always hustling for the next job. So I took a job with a regular paycheck, working for a non-profit company – an active railroad museum. I also took over the writing and editing of their newsletter since no one else wanted to do it. Today, 15 years later, I’m still writing their newsletter, although I left the company when we moved to Arizona.

FD: What made you decide to strike into adult fiction after spending years writing for children?

JL: I never did devote myself to just one or the other. But I seemed to be able to write more successfully for children. I’m not sure why except that I was reading a lot to my own children, so I really knew what was going on in the wonderful world of ‘kiddie lit’ as we used to call it.

I wrote MASTER OF SHADOWS over 15 years ago, in the early ‘90s. I wrote it when I was revising that CDL manual. By day I wrote about driving a truck, but to keep myself sane, I began writing the novel at night. I really wrote it for myself, but once I was done with it I realized I had a good story. My agent couldn’t sell it, however, because it was a cross-genre story. It had elements of mystery and romance with a little fantasy and horror thrown in. One editor wrote in her rejection letter that the story moved like the wind, but…. They really didn’t think their women readers would like the hero, Louvel, because he was not a typical handsome prince type of guy.

So into a box the story finally went. A few years ago I found another publisher online. They, too, loved the story, but guess what? Before the story could be published, the publisher went bankrupt. Hmm, shades of déjà vu!

Then I read about Juno Books in The Gila Queen’s Guide to Markets. When I read Juno’s guidelines, I remember thinking, “Do I really want to try this market? Do I really want to go through this again?” I finally decided that the worst thing that could happen would be another rejection, so why not give it a try? I did! And when Paula Guran e-mailed me to say that she liked the submission package and wanted to buy the manuscript, I almost fell off my chair! I don’t think I really, truly believed it would happen until the day I actually held a copy of MASTER OF SHADOWS in my hand!

FD: What is the most positive change you have seen in the publishing industry since you started your career?

JL: I think the most positive change is the advent of computers and the Internet. I began writing (boy, here I go dating myself) on a typewriter. That meant we used a lot of whiteout and you learned pretty quickly to be a very good typist and make few mistakes. But it was so time-consuming. Also, if you wanted to do research, you had to go to the library, which I actually adore doing, but again, it’s very time consuming. Now, thanks to the Internet, I can do research on line, I can find publishers’ guidelines on line, I can e-mail materials to publishers and they to me. That saves a lot of money in postage fees. But I will also confess that I am still very new to the wonderful world of the Internet, still learning to use this magnificent tool.

FD: How about the most negative change?

JL: I think the most negative change is that the big, big publishing companies are so impersonal. They won’t look at unagented submissions. And many agents are just not taking on new writers as clients.

Hey, I don’t have an agent now either! My wonderful agent was Laurie Harper of The Sebastian Agency who is still a dear friend and who does great work with contracts, but she finally decided not to pursue the selling of fiction. Her area of expertise is business writing and she’s had great success in marketing business books. But that left me agentless, and when I tried to find an agent, my experience didn’t count for a darned thing.

I think the sad thing about this state of affairs is that there are many exciting writers coming along who can’t get an agent because they don’t have a lot of publishing credits, and most of the big publishers won’t look at their work unless they have an agent. It’s a catch-22.

However, the good news is that there are still an impressive number of good publishers who are still looking for good writers and you don’t need an agent to submit to them.

FD: Do you write full-time or do you have a day job?

JL: I have a part-time day job that is a ton of fun! I work for a small plumbing company and my job is mainly answering phones and scheduling the plumbers. In the summer, it gets mighty quiet in this town with most people going to cooler climates, so my employers let me write at work when things get slow. Oh, yes, I do know how lucky I am. They think it’s quite amusing that they have a published author advising people about leaky toilets.

FD: You also work as a freelance writer. What sort of work do you do and how does it differ from regular nonfiction, such as magazine article sales?

JL: To me, a freelance writer is one who does not have an employer but one who is self-employed. So, as I mentioned earlier, as a freelancer, you are always hustling, always trying to sell. When you finally get some regular clients, things are a bit easier.

I have gotten regular work from Saddleback Publishing, for example. The editor would call me when they needed writers for one series or another. For example, a couple of years ago, another of their regular writers and I wrote five non-fiction books in Saddleback’s Strange-But-True series. The stories were such incredible fun to research and write. I wrote about everything from the Jersey Devil and Extraterrestrials to Cancer Sniffing Dogs and the Mutter Museum.

And, as I mentioned earlier, I also write and edit a bi-monthly newsletter for the non-profit company I used to work for, the Hawaiian Railway Society.

Every now and then I’ll find a market that sounds interesting, and I’ll either send them a manuscript that hasn’t found a home or I’ll be inspired to write something new.

FD: Are you planning any additional publicity for MASTER OF SHADOWS? Conventions? Websites? Or even a blog?

JL: Here’s where I get to confess how technically impaired I am. In fact, if it weren’t for Carole Mc Donnell, author of Wind Follower, I wouldn’t even know how to blog. But thanks to Carole’s patience and persistence, I finally figured out how to post a blog (hey, six months ago I wasn’t even sure what a blog was).

My youngest daughter, Marnie, has been helping me find ways to promote MASTER OF SHADOWS. Thanks to her efforts, I now have a quarter-page full color ad and a review of the novel scheduled to come out in either the March or April issue of Romantic Times Book Reviews. And in April, I plan to be at the RTBR convention in Pittsburgh. They are offering a lot of workshops on e-publishing and e-publicizing, and I plan to take advantage of as many of those workshops as I can.

Marnie has also decided I need a Website, so that’s in the offing, and she’s trying to find new places for the book to be reviewed. She’s promised to set up book signings in northern Virginia where she lives. Locally, I have a book-signings coming up where I live.

And then, of course, the whole thing starts again when the children’s novels are published this year. But that’s another story!

Thank you!!

Happy New Year! Plus, Some Resolutions!

Best wishes to all for a happy and prosperous New Year!

My Fantasy Debut resolutions: to at least mention all books read, whether fantasy or not, and whether debut or not. I read lots of stuff that is neither fantasy nor debut, and all good books deserve some coverage. Also, I will endeavor to showcase one debut per week.

Read on to the next post for my Favorites of 2007!

2007 Favorites

On this, the last day of the year, I thought I'd reflect on the debuts that I read since I started Fantasy Debut. Rather than attempting to rank a list of favorites, I came up with some stand-outs in several areas. Several debuts appear more than once.

Best Laugh

Let's face it: it's hard to write humor. Many authors don't even try. Therefore, special kudos to for this memorable scene.

The Condom Scene in Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep

Best Cry

Movies and books that make me cry are always my favorites. I blubber like a baby in the goodbye scene in Pollyanna every time. This particular weepy scene was even more special since it was completely unexpected. It sent me for tissues and turned a good novel into a great one.

The Stepmother Goodbye Scene in You Had Me at Halo by Amanda Ashby

Best Kiss

A good fictional kiss, in my mind, is the kind that is not immediately followed by a sex scene. A kiss needs to stand alone, in my opinion. Sex should come much later, if at all. Yes. I'm a bit of a prude. Anyway, who could forget this kiss?

Tam's Kiss in Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin

Best Sense of Wonder

A sense of wonder is important to me in fantasy, which is why I veer away from the dark and gritty stuff. However, even though I don't read a lot of gritty or dark stuff, the wonder still tends to be missing from most fantasy. Here is where I found it in this year's debuts.

The Cloak in Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet
The creatures in Thief With no Shadow by Emily Gee

Most Original Setting

Two authors in particular deserve special kudos for coming up with truly original settings for their fantasy debuts.

Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell
The Princes of the Golden Cage by Nathalie Mallet

Best Villain Group

Two villain groups stood out this year for originality and ruthlessness.

The League in Acacia: The War With the Mein by David Anthony Durham

The Pilot-Masters in The Hidden Worlds by Kristin Landon

Best Villain

We all love a villain. I particularly love villains with whom I can sympathize a bit. I really only had one favorite for the year.

Hanish Mein in Acacia: The War With the Mein by David Anthony Durham

Overall Favorite Characters

Who did I just plain like the best? Well, that was easy. Here are my female and male favorites.

Favorite Female

Raine in Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin
Favorite Male
Joby in The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari

Most Difficult To Put Down

Although these are not necessarily my favorites, I found them the most impossible to put down.

The Hidden Worlds by Kristin Landon

Thief With No Shadow by Emily Gee

Overall Favorite

If I had to pick one to name as my favorite, I simply must go with the one that made me cry. The ironic thing about this one is, for the most part, the book is pure humor.

You Had Me at Halo by Amanda Ashby