Life has been a bit rough lately. Not just for me. It is getting better. Slowly, surely, life moves on. Still working on BattleTech: Ghost Hour. The words are returning. In the meantime, here's a Bubble & Squeek for you.
• Podcast: The Dire Multiverse. I am voice talent on this urban fantasy podcast, mostly playing the character Dana Lessington…who you will find out is more than she seems. I occasionally play other NPC character parts, too.
• Podcast: ShadowBytes 06: Miyazaki – From DocWagon 19. The team rescues someone they know. Trivia: Miyazaki stars in the serialized Shadowrun story in GTM magazine, “Between a Corp and a Hard Place.”
• Podcast: ShadowBytes 07: Literal Milk Run – This is my play on a heist supposedly being so easy it’s like running out for milk. This is the penultimate episode of ShadowBytes.
• Publication: “Written in Red” by Jennifer Brozek and John Helfers. This is my first collaboration with John and it turned out be a good one. Tie-in story for Emberwind, the RPG.
• Recommendation: The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes. My blurb: “This book is messed up in all the right ways. It’s as if Pixar’s Inside Out mugged Toy Story in a surrealist Raymond Chandler novel. Weird, fun, scary, and a great mystery to boot. Hayes sticks the landing.”
• 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.
Shadowrun: Makeda Red is officially out at Origins Game Fair. This Shadowrun novel is part of the origin story for Rune Red of "Rune's Avatar Cafe" (my Casablanca homage) from the World of Shadows anthology. This cover was created by the marvelous Peter Tikos!
ON A COLLISION COURSE... It was supposed be a simple extraction from the Brussels2Rome party train. With an eclectic crowd, a willing target, and a lot of nuyen at stake, what could go wrong?
Everything—as Makeda Red discovers the hard way.
There’s more than one target on the train, and more than one shadowrunner team in play. When someone sabotages the tracks in the middle of the Swiss Alps, she’s forced to extract her client much earlier than planned.To complicate matters, other survivors are also fleeing the crash for their own reasons. One of them is trying to escape his corporate masters as well, and offers to pay Makeda to escort him to his safe haven.
A paying client is a paying client, and his corp won’t be looking for three people traveling together. Makeda knows it’s a risk, but one she’s willing to take. In the shadows, however, nothing and no one is what they seem. Before it’s over, this already complicated run may be Makeda’s last...
Amazon / Amazon ebook | Barnes & Noble
BattleTech: Iron Dawn
Book 1 of the Rogue Academy Trilogy
Now available for pre-order!
GHOSTS IN THE DARK…
Jasper and Nadine Roux are cadets at the Ritza MechWarrior Academy; a dream come true for the orphaned siblings from the war-torn planet of Hoff. For the last six years, Emporia has been their home. Sponsored to the academy by the powerful Vogel House, both cadets are expected to excel in all tasks.
Their dream becomes a nightmare when the Draconis Combine comes knocking.
It’s up to the siblings to stop the renegade Seventh Ghost Regiment warlord when he lays claim to a piece of the Inner Sphere—starting with the Federated Suns’ planet of Emporia. The border world looks like easy prey, but this warrior of the Dragon is about to learn how wrong he is. After the few MechWarriors on the planet are taken hostage, the Sponsored and Blooded cadets of the Ritza Academy fight like they have nothing left to lose.
It’s a fight that will cost them more than they know.
Click here to view the full wraparound cover.
End of the Year. Time to take stock. According to my 2018 Freelancer Summary sheet, I worked 316 days. I may not have done a lot each one of those days, but I wrote down “Nada” only 40 times in 2018. There were a lot of those days where I wrote on two different projects, edited, and had a phone call. Almost all of those work days included some form of email. Blah. Blah. Blah. Yes, freelancers work a LOT.
So, what did I accomplish in 2018? These are just facts and figures.
Published: (Incidentally, these are all eligible for 2019 awards)
A novella, an ABC book, and four short stories. Not a bad set for the finally reaching the published stage.
• Arkham Horror: To Fight the Black Wind (novella)
• A is for Apex (ABC book)
• “An Open Letter to the Family” - Disabled People Destroy SF issue, Uncanny Magazine
• “The Silence of Coventry Shrine” - Masters of Orion: To the Stars anthology
• “Home and Hope Both Sound a Little Bit Like ‘Hunger’” - co-written with Seanan McGuire, Chiral Mad 4 anthology
• “Feathers In Deed” - Choices: All-New Tales of Valdemar anthology
Wrote:
About 160,000 words of new fiction and not counting any articles, blogs, or other miscellaneous writing. It’s not as much as I wanted, but acceptable in the long run. I had a couple of bad writing months with house renovations.
• 14 new short stories
• 2 novellas
• 1 novel
Short story submission scorecard:
I wish my acceptance percentage was higher, but when you’re submitting to some of the hardest markets to get into, a lower acceptance rate is expected.
• 5 acceptances (35%)
• 9 rejections (65%)
• 3 outstanding pieces
Conventions/events attended: 12
This made it for 48 days of business travel. I really am going to cut this down in 2019. I have to. I have a heavier writing schedule in 2019. Though, I will never regret going to Launch Pad. That was an amazing week. Still highly recommended.
And, of course, there’s the Jennifer Award for 2018. Too many good things to read and not enough time. My to-read bookshelf grows larger with every passing week.
Article: From Bookwraiths Author Spotlight – Observations of an American Military Brat. “For most of America, “kids don’t act that way,” but on military bases and in military academies, they do.”
Interview: Community Outreach – Interview with Jennifer Brozek, Author Of BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident. I love Sarna.net. I really do.
Publication: “An Open Letter to the Family” is live in Uncanny Magazine’s Disabled People Destroy SF issue. I love this story, even thought it was really hard to write.
Review: To Fight the Black Wind reviewed by Uncaged Reviews. Short but sweet.
Reminder: For the North Coast Redwoods Writers Conference, I will be reading in Crescent City on Friday the 21st at 7pm and teaching two workshops (The Principles of Tie-In Fiction and How to Pitch a Story) on Saturday. There are still openings in both workshops and the reading is free.
Sometime, long ago, I had the idea for an ABC book. It was dark, creepy, and awfully cute. However, I have no skill at art. Thus, A is for Apex sat in the "hiatus" file for years. Then I met Elizabeth. I liked her art style. I liked her. I thought we might work well together. We auditioned each other on The Prince of Artemis V, a comic book version of my most popular YA short story to date. We liked it and thought, why not do another project together. Rubbing my hands together, I asked, "Have you ever wanted to do an ABC book?" The gleam in her eyes was answer enough.
May I present to you, A is for Apex!
Learn the English alphabet with this one-of-a-kind book for the little ghoul in your life. Monsters, mayhem, graveyards, and a zombie named Oscar, mixed with a little bit of science, come to life in charming rhymes and illustrations. Each letter receives its own two page fun illustration to spark the imagination of you and your little ghoul. There are many details to be explored during every read.
This book is dedicated to all the little mad scientists out there, especially those who like the creepy stuff.
I hope you all love this book.
Amazon ebook, physical | Barnes & Noble ebook, physical
Release date: 1 August 2018
Her malady—nightmares that left her bloody—seemed, at first, to be a common self-harm complex. Then I looked at the wounds. The mind is powerful, but I have never seen the mind create wounds like these. Little did I know her wounds were just the first of many mysteries I would face while caring for Josephine.
–Jennifer Brozek, To Fight the Black Wind
Not all patients can be cured—or want to be.
Psychologist Carolyn Fern’s newest patient suffers from nightmares that leave glyph-shaped wounds across her skin. The case is odd, even for an institution like Arkham Sanatorium, where the unusual becomes the everyday. Things become even more complicated after the young woman claims to have met Malachi—Carolyn’s former patient whose treatment was cut short when he was brutally murdered—in her dreams. What is the link between the two, and how can Carolyn help a patient who, it seems, does not wish to be cured?
Read the first chapter now! (PDF file.)
***
I am so pleased with this book. My editor, Katrina, helped me make a good story, excellent. Shane Pierce, the illustrator, got the cover and the interior images exactly right. I hope you all enjoy my journey into the Dreamlands.
The hardback, illustrated book is sold from the Fantasy Flight Games website. (Note, there are other Arkham Horror novellas on that site, too!) The ebook book will be available soon. (I will note that, on Amazon, the hardback versions are going for three times the price as what they are being sold for on the FFG site. Go to FFG.)
Cover reveal, book release: Arkham Horror - To Fight the Black Wind. To be released on April 5.
Guest Blog: Rising Shadows. Why do I write horror? Let me count the reasons…
Kickstarter: Broken Eye Books - good people. It's funded. Welcome to Miskatonic University! One week to go. My story “The Librarian’s Handbook is in the second anthology. The first is funded!
In Print: Look what's in print. My award winning #BattleTech YA novel, THE NELLUS ACADEMY INCIDENT! You asked for it to be in print, and Cat Labs heard you.
Interview: An interview with me on Andrea Dawn of the Dead: The Women of Horror Literature - Jennifer Brozek - The Author's Own Words. I'm the final girl who will try to keep you alive.
Norwescon: Here is my forthcoming schedule for Norwescon. If I'm not in a panel, I'm probably at my dealer's table in the dealer's room. No shyness zone around me. Come and say hello.
THURSDAY
Dealers Table, 4:00pm to 8:00pm
FRIDAY
Dealers Table, 10:00am to 7:00pm
Whipping Out That First Draft, 11:00am - 12:00pm @ Cascade 12
Reading: Jennifer Brozek, 12:00pm - 12:30pm @ Cascade 4
Social Horror, 6:00pm - 7:00pm @ Cascade 11
Anthologies Joy, 7:00pm - 8:00pm @ Cascade 11
SATURDAY
Dealers Table, 10:00am to 6:00pm
Why Agent? 11:00am - 12:00pm @ Cascade 11
YA's Role In Genre, 1:00pm - 2:00pm @ Evergreen 1 & 2
Autograph Session 1, 2:00pm - 3:00pm @ Grand 2
The Horror Of Being Twelve, 6:00pm - 7:00pm @ Cascade 10
SUNDAY
Dealers Table, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Her malady—nightmares that left her bloody—seemed, at first, to be a common self-harm complex. Then I looked at the wounds. The mind is powerful, but I have never seen the mind create wounds like these. Little did I know her wounds were just the first of many mysteries I would face while caring for Josephine.
–Jennifer Brozek, To Fight the Black Wind
Not all patients can be cured—or want to be.
Psychologist Carolyn Fern’s newest patient suffers from nightmares that leave glyph-shaped wounds across her skin. The case is odd, even for an institution like Arkham Sanatorium, where the unusual becomes the everyday. Things become even more complicated after the young woman claims to have met Malachi—Carolyn’s former patient whose treatment was cut short when he was brutally murdered—in her dreams. What is the link between the two, and how can Carolyn help a patient who, it seems, does not wish to be cured?
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This Arkham Horror novella was previously called Sekrit Project Alex. It was named after Alex Baker, one half of the duo (the other being Johanna) that introduced me to Call of Cthulhu LARPing. I’d always enjoyed Lovecraftian fiction, but it took that LARP to really understand the meaty horror of the stories. You can blame all of my Lovecraftian writing on them.
It wasn’t an easy novella to write. My editor, Katrina, was technical and exacting. She pushed me to do my best. I’m thrilled with the end result. Even more thrilled with the perfect cover by Shane Pierce.
To Fight the Black Wind is the fourth Arkham Horror novella to come out.
I’m in mighty fine company.
I think you all will enjoy Carolyn’s trip to the Dreamlands. I can’t wait to share it with you.
Like most authors, looking back at what I did during the year is a good way to convince myself that I’m not just spinning my wheels and that I really am still headed ‘towards the mountain.’ This is also why I keep track of my daily activities in my private Freelancer Summary document. It allows me to see what I’m doing and when. I think I did pretty good in 2017.
Short stories submitted
• 6 short story acceptances
• 5 short story rejections
• 1 short story outstanding
Newly produced
• 8 new short stories written
• 1 new novel written
• 26 episode podcast produced (with the Husband)
• 12 Author Etiquette blogs produced (with Sarah Craft)
• 5 mini fiction collections and 1 “stealth” fiction collection released
(Not as much as I wanted but I did have two bathrooms renovated in the middle of it all that mucked with my productivity.)
Edited for others
• 3 novellas edited
• 6 EGM Speculate! stories edited
• 9 BattleTech/Shadowrun novels proofed for ebook editions
Social
• 15 events (readings, conventions, signings) attended
• 2 writing groups joined (Wit’n’Word [social writing], TBD Writing [critique group])
Signed
• 3 novel contracts
• 1 novella contract
(Due between now and the end of 2019 = about 300,000 publishable words.)
It’s nice to look at the quantified amount produced and be pleased with what you see. Supposedly, 2018 is going to be a slower, longer set of projects with only one novel, one novella, one anthology, and one short story currently on the docket. We all know this will change. Also, I already have seven confirmed events and four not yet confirmed, but planned for, events.
Then again, I’ve gotten good at producing while traveling. It’s taken me a bit to learn the skill. Now, I think it’s just a survival reflex. If I don’t write, the words will eat me.
Note: I’m leaving out all of the personal blogs, SFWA meetings (when I was a Director), looped edits/revisions, kickstarters participated in, weekly phone calls to various publishing folk, and the myriad of other freelance details.