Jennifer Brozek | June 2020

BattleTech: Ghost Hour Has Been Released!

BattleTech: Ghost Hour...
Rogue Academy, Book 2
A BattleTech YA Novel.

BattleTech: Ghost Hour

CADETS UNDER FIRE…

Jasper and Nadine Roux are cadets at the Ritza MechWarrior Academy…the only thing stopping a megalomaniacal Draconis Combine general with aspirations of claiming a piece of space as his own—starting with their home planet. Emporia is at war, and cadets are now frontline soldiers as Tai-sa Takeji Yoshizawa shifts tactics in a brutal effort to subjugate their entire world.

It’s up to the siblings and their friends to stop the madman bent on conquest, but while Jasper believes Nadine is too reckless, Nadine believes Jasper is still living in the past. As both struggle to do what they think is right, the Ritza Academy comes under assault once more. It takes a shocking sacrifice to make them both see the true face of the enemy.

Reunited by the same purpose, Jasper agrees to Nadine’s audacious plan to make Emporia too much trouble for the leader of the Seventh Ghost Regiment to conquer. Unfortunately for them, Tai-sa Yoshizawa has his own secrets, and nothing left to lose. And even if Nadine’s plan works to perfection, the cunning general has one last trick up his sleeve that could bring about the end of everything Nadine and Jasper hold dear…

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Tell Me - Elizabeth Guizzetti

Elizabeth is an author friend of mine. We have a lot of interested in common. Today we hear how she accidentally created a podcast for the Paper Flower Consortium.

The Paper Flower Consortium

The Paper Flower Consortium is the universe where several of my vampire novellas are set. It is also the name of the largest vampire coven in Seattle and the title of my new Podcast. Every 1st and 3rd Friday, Loretta Fabron Onfoy, the current historian and librarian covers all topics concerning a vampire’s existence: legal and illegal transformations, vampire powers, crosses and the sleep of the dead, the importance of an Earth collection, and an eternity of taxes. She then recalls an applicable story from a vampire or enthralled human.

The podcast was not planned. It sort of developed out of a series of mistakes I made.

I created the Paper Flower Consortium Universe when writing my comedy-horror novella, Immortal House in 2018. Laurence Roch, the main character in the novel, is seeking his forever home within Seattle while trying to remain within budget. However, in the book, there are four segments when we learn about Laurence’s history and meet vampires of his acquaintance most who are members of the local coven: Paper Flower Consortium. This book was supposed to be a standalone. Something to clear my mind.

Immortal House Death Sticks a Pixie

However, by pre-release reader’s response, even before Immortal House released, I decided to write a book following the character Norma Mae Rollins. However, trying to write a book about the too-young vampire in the same vein as Immortal House, proved to be a challenge. Though I wrote funny lines, this coming of age story wasn’t funny. After all, it starts with the attack and accidental transformation of a fourteen-year-old girl. I also knew since this was an illegal transformation, the Paper Flower Consortium didn’t just take the girl in, train her in her gifts, and held her when she got overwhelmed—though from Laurence’s perspective that is what happened. I also knew Norma never stopped missing her mother, her dog, her friends. And I knew Norma would always be an outcast.

So I had a not-funny vampire comedy with plot holes someone could drive a truck through, because it made the book even less funny. I set that book aside and wrote a novellas, about Norma’s vampire “grandpa” Derrik Miller, thinking that might help me fill in the gaps of Norma’s story. Nope. It just gave me more material. So I set that aside, but I still wanted to write a book about Norma.

I started fresh during the 3-day novel writing challenge. (Be clear I did not write a novel in three days! I wrote 19,000 words of garbage.) I thought about the story I wanted to tell: who Norma is today. Not her tragic past or who characters (and readers) think she is when they see her, but the fast thinking, fast talking, Norma of Norma’s Cleaning Service the most profitable subdivision of Paper Flower Consortium who employs a shade and watches out for the other vampires of the greater Seattle area. She is especially close to her vampire grandpa, Derrik, and his wife, Pascaline, but is an outcast within her coven due to her outer appearance. What genre of book makes sense for that Norma?

I decided to do something I do not recommend authors do. I moved this series away from horror comedy that was Immortal House and wrote three cozy mysteries: Death Pulls a Stake Out followed by Death Hears a Siren and Death Sticks a Pixie (and two more coming!) While working on The Norma’s Cleaning Service Mysteries, I wrote the other back stories for the vampires of the coven who helped Derrik raise Norma.

Agata’s story is told in Honor Among Vampires 2019 and Jakub’s story is in, Chivalry Among Vampires, 2020. There will be books for Pascaline, Loretta, Charles, Derrik, Xiao, and Alice for sure. Perhaps one for Norma’s creator, William. These novellas are being released in chronical logical order from oldest vampire to youngest, not in order written. Some are tragic, others are just adventures.

Even so, I still had a ton of material that didn’t fit into any planned or unplanned book, about the younger vampires, enthralled humans, merfolk, werewolves and zombies. I even have a story about a vampire horse and another about a ghost dog which Norma brought home. Not to mention the Initiation Guidelines and other laws.

What was I going to do with all this stuff?

Using the questions fans asked when I saw them at the 2018 and 2019 conventions, I realized all these little stories could be a podcast! As I already have a heavy outline of Loretta’s book (not yet written) As she is the historian and librarian, I knew it made sense that Loretta was the narrator.

The genre is paranormal horror, though some of the stories lean towards horror comedy, paranormal fantasy, or even Gothic horror.

I have twenty-five regular episodes planned and 3 bonus episodes for Summer Solstice, Halloween and Christmas Eve. I just have finished recording Episode 7: Crosses and Coffins which will release on June 19th (June 12 for patrons! https://www.patreon.com/paperflowerconsortium ).

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Listen to the Paper Flower Consortium on Buzzsprout, Spotify, ApplePodcasts, or on your favorite podcast player. Learn more about Elizabeth Guizzetti and the Paper Flower Consortium at her website.

Happy Book Release Day to Me!

Shadowrun: A Kiss to Die For...
A Shadowrun novella.

A Kiss to Die For

LOVE VERSUS DUTY...

When Sartorial meets Kintsugi at a jabber—an illegal warehouse party—he falls hard and fast for the beautiful human girl. She is everything he didn't know he wanted—and everything his family hates. Kintsugi is drawn to the handsome elf boy like no other, but her future has already been planned. A future she intends to thwart. But now there's something worth staying around for, she's torn over what to do.

Unfortunately, they both have secrets that will not be kept, and powerful families that have their own goals. It seems like the entire world is trying to keep them apart. Can Sartorial and Kintsugi overcome all obstacles to be together—even after their secrets are revealed?

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Bubble & Squeek for 15 June 2020

Today’s Bubble & Squeek is brought to you by galley proofs, workshops, and the letter “C” for cover reveals!

Cover reveal and Release: Pre-Order/Order Shadowrun: A Kiss to Die For. Meet Sartorial and Kintsugi. This happens the night they meet. The cover is by the ever fabulous Peter Tikos.

Review: Way of the Laser: Future Crime Stories. Five star review. “I’m very glad I picked this book up to review, and I know any science fictions fans will be glad they picked it up to read.” This one has the story, "When a Patch Won't Do" by me and Katie Cord.

Cover reveal for BattleTech: Ghost Hour. Jasper and Nadine are having a very bad time of it. The blonde is Lyric, Nadine’s girlfriend and all around “Death Pixie.” This is by the wonderful BattleTech artist Marco Mazzoni. He does such a good job!

Workshop: Clarion West - The Business of Writing, June 30. NOTE: However, sign-up will take place through a lottery system and you have to register for the Write-a-thon in order to sign up. They are closing the class lottery next Wednesday, June 17, so anyone interested needs to have signed up by then!

Support: As always… if you appreciate my work and would like to support me, I love coffee. I am made of caffeine. This is the quickest way to brighten my day.

 

12 Weeks in Self-Isolation

Twelve weeks ago, I drove home from the Rainforest Writers Retreat to discover the world had changed more than expected in the five days I had almost no internet and even less motivation to look to the outside world. That’s what writing retreats are for.

When I left for RWR, there was worry about the growing pandemic, but it was still more of a threat than an actual thing. When I came home, well, that was another thing.

  • …The Husband was now required to work at home.
  • …Voluntary self-isolation had begun but wasn’t yet government mandated. Since the Husband’s work had decided to cancel all his business trips and send him home, that was enough of a sign for me.
  • …Masks were becoming common.

All of these things had a learning curve to them. At the same time, I started watching the news and the numbers of the United States versus the World in Infected, Dead, and Recovered rates.

According to my journal, my first recorded notations were on March 18. All numbers are from the COVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

As of Wednesday, March 18, 2020.
US: 10,775 infected. World: 235,701 infected; 9,786 dead.

As of Sunday morning, May 31, 2020.
US
Infected: 1,773,106
Dead: 103,906
Recovered: 416,461

Worldwide
Infected: 6,104,980
Dead: 370,078
Recovered: 2,593,237

These are not good numbers and I’m pretty sure things are only going to get worse as the summer continues on.

I’ve had my moments of pain over the last twelve weeks. Mostly grieving for my father who I last saw alive over Memorial Day weekend 2019. I do miss sitting in coffee shops, gaming in person with my friends, and having my weekly writing group at my house. Overall, I’m fine. I’m an author and an editor. I spend most of my time at home anyway. My biggest sadness is the necessary cancellation of my convention season. It’s the best thing the world can do right now, but I really do miss going to conventions. More than missing the revenue I got from them (ko-fi anyone?), I miss meeting up with my editors, publishers, and peers.

The Husband and I have worked out the new daytime working routine. We take walks. Cook a lot more at home. Occasionally order out to help support our local mom-and-pop restaurants. We are incredibly privileged and we know it. It’s why we do what we can to help out.

Twelve weeks in and we’re doing fine. I don’t see this pandemic burning itself out anytime soon. I have no idea how long this is going to last. So, we make the best of it as we can. It’s all we can do.