Jennifer Brozek | June 2014

My Melissa Allen series is sold!

I’ve been sitting on some big news as all the details were hammered out. While I was at Origins Game Fair, I got an offer from Permuted Press for the first three books my young adult SF-thriller series. The Melissa Allen series (Never Let Me Sleep, Never Let Me Leave, Never Let Me Die). As I told my parents… “It’s the kind of stuff I wished early Stephen King would have written for teenagers. So, yay! Only 7.5 years after I became full time freelance author!”

I’m super excited to be part of the Permuted Press family and I have to thank Tim Long and Katie Cord for making sure me and the head honchos from Permuted met.

Here’s a bit about the first book:

NEVER LET ME SLEEP
Troubled teen, Melissa Allen, wakes to find that everyone in her house, on her street, and in her town is dead. As she learns that the unexplained massacre expands well beyond her town, she discovers she is not alone and what hunts her isn’t human. With her only support the voice of DHS Agent David Hood on the phone, Melissa must survive long enough to break the signal that murdered everyone she ever knew and stop the creatures before their plans succeed.

Chicks Dig Gaming!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chicks Dig Gaming:
A Celebration of All Things Gaming by the Women Who Love It
essay collection slated for November 11th release

Mad Norwegian Press is proud to announce the forthcoming publication of Chicks Dig Gaming --- an essay collection and sister publication to the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords, the Hugo-nominated Chicks Dig Comics, and more.

The book is edited by Jennifer Brozek (Apocalypse Ink Productions), Robert Smith? (Who’s 50: The 50 Doctor Who Stories to Watch Before You Die) and Lars Pearson (editor-in-chief, the Chicks Dig series), and features essays by nearly three dozen female writers.

Contributors include Catherynne M. Valente (The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland…, Indistinguishable from Magic), Seanan McGuire (the October Daye series); G. Willow Wilson (Alif the Unseen), Rosemary Jones (Forgotten Realms), Emily Care Boss (Gaming as Women), Mary Anne Mohanraj (Bodies in Motion), Jody Lynn Nye (the MythAdventures series), E. Lily Yu (“The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees”) and more.

Also included: exclusive interviews with Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens and Dragonlance author Margaret Weis.

Chicks Dig Gaming will be published on November 11, 2014, and retail (print version) for $14.95. The book will also be available as an ebook on Kindle, Nook and iBooks on the day of release.

To request a review copy of Chicks Dig Gaming, or to schedule an interview with one of the editors or contributors, please email: MadNorwegian@gmail.com

A web-quality version of the Chicks Dig Gaming cover is attached; please email: MadNorwegian@gmail.com if you require a print-quality version.

I'm super proud of this collection. I had an idea of what I wanted to do with it. Lars and Mad Norwegian Press took it in ways I didn't expect. This is a fabulous set of essays. Really. I don't think I could be more proud than I am right now about this book.

Origins Quotes

Some really awesome things said to me at Origins. I want to remember them. It's quotes like these that make going to conventions and working my butt off worth the sweat and toil.

“I want to be you when I grow up. You are just awesome.”

“Last year, you told me that I should consider writing short stories because they do have a faster turnaround than novels. I did that and I just recently made my first sale. Thank you for that.”

“You may not remember me but last year, you told me that I needed to focus and figure what I really wanted to do… and I did. I decided that I wanted to edit comic anthologies. Here are my first two. So, thank you for that kick in the butt.”

“You are one of my favorite people at Origins. I always have to come see you.”

A conversation with a nine year old budding author that was just too cute for words. “My first story is a mystery and I don’t know if I have enough paper to print it out on but I wanted to know… how big is a chapter?” and “Do you get to draw the pictures, too?”

Origins!

I will be at Origins Game Fair this next week. I have a no shyness zone around me. Come over and say hello. I have 10 panels or I will be in the Library section (back left) of the Dealers Hall. Make sure you get one of my convention cards. It's a good one!

Thursday, Jun 12, 11am - Writer's Block and You   
Thursday, Jun 12, 12pm - Storytelling and Plot   
Thursday, Jun 12, 4pm - Women in Fiction   

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Friday, Jun 13, 12pm - History in Fiction   

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Saturday, Jun 14, 11am - Writing Tie-In Fiction   
Saturday, Jun 14, 12pm - Anthology Creation Workshop   

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Sunday, Jun 15, 10am - Writing for RPGs   
Sunday, Jun 15, 11am - Pitch Session for Small Press   
Sunday, Jun 15, 1pm - What's the Next Big Thing?   

Freelancer Summary May 2014

Ever wonder what a freelance author/editor does? Each month of 2014, I’m going to list my daily notes on what I do. As I always say, being your own boss means you choose with 70 hours of the week you work. None of this talks about the random pub IMs, time doing research, time reading books for blurbs, introductions, and reviews, or short author questions. It doesn’t cover my pays-the-bills work either. This is just publishing industry stuff. “Answered pub industry email” can be anything from a request for an interview, to contract queries, to reading anthology invites, to answering questions about dates… and the list goes on.

May

 

2014.05.01

Answered pub industry email. 750 words on Red Aegis assignment. Multiple virtual introductions to link people together. Edited 49 pages of Gaming anthology. Created the convention card for World Horror Con.

2014.05.02

Answered pub industry email. Freelancer monthly summary blog post. Wrote foreword for Gaming anthology. Turned in Gaming anthology. Final edit of Red Aegis assignment and turned it in.

2014.05.03

Answered pub industry email. VikingCon (panel and dealer table).

 

 

Sunday

2014.05.04

Wrote book foreword to Apocalypse Girl Dreaming.

2014.05.05

Answered pub industry email. Wrote 2 story forewords for Apocalypse Girl Dreaming.

2014.05.06

Answered pub industry email. Answered interview. Writing blog post. Wrote 4 story forewords for Apocalypse Girl Dreaming.

2014.05.07

Wrote 15 story forewords for Apocalypse Girl Dreaming and emailed it to the editor.

2014.05.08

Answered pub industry email. Tinkered with a collab story. Reviewer list of RPG anthology. Outlined new short story.

2014.05.09

Answered pub industry email. Wrote 4000 words on “Making Amends in the Ghost City of Fanghan.”

2014.05.10

World Horror Con. Panel.

 

 

Sunday

2014.05.11

Wrote 1400 words on, and finished rough draft of, “Making Amends in the Ghost City of Fanghan.”

2014.05.12

Answered pub industry email. Final proof of a “Kelpie Storm” for an anthology. Polished “Making Amends in the Ghost City of Fanghan” and sent it out to beta readers.

2014.05.13

Answered pub industry email. Sent in a YA novel for awards consideration. Wrote 300 words on Salton Academy 3.

2014.05.14

Answered pub industry email. Processed feedback edits for “Making Amends in the Ghost City of Fanghan” and added 300 words. Wrote 650 words on Salton Academy 3.

2014.05.15

Answered pub industry email. Wrote 2000 words on Salton Academy 3.

2014.05.16

Answered pub industry email. Processed feedback edits for “Making Amends in the Ghost City of Fanghan” and added 100 words. Wrote 2000 words on Salton Academy 3.

2014.05.17

Answered pub industry email. Wrote 250 words on Salton Academy 3.

 

 

Sunday

2014.05.18

Answered pub industry email. Meeting with photographer to discuss novel covers.

2014.05.19

Answered pub industry email. Wrote 2100 words on Salton Academy 3. Freelancer consulting Skype meeting.

2014.05.20

Answered pub industry email. Invoiced client. Wrote 600 words on Salton Academy 3.

2014.05.21

Wrote 2300 words on Salton Academy 3.

2014.05.22

Answered pub industry email. Wrote 2200 words on Salton Academy 3. Phone call with prospective publisher.

2014.05.23

Wrote 4100 words on Salton Academy 3 and finished the rough draft at 16,200.

2014.05.24

Partial polish of Salton Academy 3.

 

 

Sunday

2014.05.25

Answered pub industry email. Finished polish of Salton Academy 3 and sent to alpha reader.

2014.05.26

Answered pub industry email. Posted “Tell Me” blog post. Plans for a convention book release party. Began edits on Flotsam 1: Exile.

2014.05.27

Answered pub industry email. Posted blog post. Edits on Flotsam 1: Exile.

2014.05.28

Answered pub industry email. Approved cover art thumbnails. Edits on Flotsam 1: Exile.

2014.05.29

Answered pub industry email. Completed edits on Flotsam 1: Exile. Final polish on The Last Days of the Salton Academy and sent off to beta readers.

2014.05.30

Answered pub industry email. Quarterly taxes paid. Googlegroup posts done (on time!). Paid PA.

2014.05.31

Answered pub industry email. Edits on Famished: The Commons.

 

Remembering Jay

I do not want to read this on Tor.com. I do not want to write this about Jay. I don’t. I really don’t. But I have no choice. Jay is dead.

He wrote for me. My first anthology, Grants Pass, when I was nothing and no one. He wrote for me every single time I asked him to. For the Edge of Propinquity. For small press anthologies and large.

He was my mentor for years before I published his non-fiction book, Jay Lake’s Process of Writing. We talked by phone, by Skype, and at conventions. He was generous with his time and his advice. It was this wealth of knowledge that led me to ask him if AIP could publish a non-fiction book. It was then I learned so much more from him.

I can’t help but feel for his family, Bronwyn, Lisa, and the rest of those family members—by choice and blood—whose  names I just can’t remember though the tears.

All I can remember is how good he was to me and how much I’m going to miss him.

Radcon 2009 - Not the first time I met him in person but close to.

JayWake 2013