I’ve been back from Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for two days. The first day was easily taken up with catch up work. Memories of the workshop flittered around my head like the cottonwood blowing in Laramie. Today is the first day of “normal” work. I’ve got a BattleTech novel to finish and I find all I want to do is read space opera and hard SF. I’m not going to succumb to the urge (yet). I’m delaying things by writing this AKA procrastination work.

I learned so much and had much of what I already knew confirmed. It’s nice to know I actually set up the Kember Empire almost exactly correct and I will always thank Yonatan Zunger for helping me with my SLING space travel via branes and gravitational waves. (Helpful to have once dated a theoretical physicist from Stanford back in the day.)

Even better, I got to talk to other authors about a space combat problem I knew I’d have coming up in Rogue Academy #2. Michael Mammay (author of Planetside) not only helped me work it out, he gave me a great idea on how to do it. That was one of the best things about this workshop: the caliber of people attending and the conversations we had in and out of class.

Our professors, Mike Brotherton and Christian Ready, were excellent teachers. Dynamic, playful, smart, engaging, and challenging. We got about a semester’s worth of cosmology science thrown at us in a week. Long days, too. Start at 10am and go until about 9-10pm every day with breaks in-between. I took 40 pages of notes. A lot of it was “Look up, X. It’s about Y if you need it.”

Also, I had the dubious honor of being interviewed by campus police because I didn’t go on the WIRO telescope visit due to personal biology.

*Everyone leaves for the WIRO telescope.*

Me: “I’m alone in a dorm building on a college campus. This is the beginning of a horror movie.” I sit in the 2nd floor lobby and read.

*20 minutes later, footsteps on the stairs. Campus security, teens doing walkthroughs. We startled each other.*

Me: “There’s the first tension breaker. Now I’m going to be murdered.*

*15 minutes later, lots of footsteps on the stairs. The teens and two cops come through, but don’t stop.*

Me: WTF?

*5 minutes later, all four of them come back to the 2nd floor lobby and surround me.*

Me: WTF?!

*For the next 10 minutes, I’m interviewed by the cops on why I’m there, did I know anything about the pot smell, and where is everyone else? I explain who I am, where everyone else is (at the WIRO telescope), and that, no, I don’t smoke. They want to know what I write (“Genre fiction with a high body count”), and I end up giving all four of them my author card so they can look up my books later. Then I explain they all scared the crap out of me. The teens apologize.

After they leave, I debate about calling either of the professors, realize they aren’t even at the telescope yet, and I haven’t been arrested for existing. So, no. I’d tell them tomorrow.*

Me: “Now I’m really going to be murdered.” I go back into my dorm room, close and lock the door, then call the Husband because I’m so keyed up. We talk, then I write for a while.

That aside, Launch Pad is one of those once-in-a-lifetime workshop that really opened my eyes. The science is mind-blowing, the education is mind-opening, and the experience is the kind of thing that you’ll remember forever. If you get a chance, you should try to go. It’s hard to get into. I had to apply multiple times before I got in, but it is so worth it.

From now until I decide I want to stop doing this, I will be giving out a monthly “Jennifer Award” for the best new-to-me thing I read that month. This can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be an essay/article, a short story, a novelette, a novella, or a novel. It doesn’t matter when it came out. It only matters that this is the first time I read it and I thought it was the best thing I read all month. Yes, it is completely subjective and biased towards what I like to read.

The winner will receive a shiny digital badge and a $5 gift card.

May’s winner is “The Soul of Horses” by Beth Cato. It was first published in Clockwork Phoenix 5, edited by Mike Allen. This short story is available to read online right now from Mythic Delirium. I came across it while looking for something else. I don’t know what. However, it really stuck with me. It is a story about letting what you love go because you love it with all that you are.

2018
Jan: Godfall and Other Stories by Sandra M. Odell
Feb: “When We Fall” by Kameron Hurley
Mar: The Alastair Stone Chronicles by R.L. King
Apr: Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys
May: “The Soul of Horses” by Beth Cato

The month of May has been made up of me writing on the BattleTech novel, bookended by travel. At the beginning of the month, it was Crypticon where I got to meet up with some of my favorite people, speak on panels, and sell books. The end of the month will be taken up with the Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop.

The Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop promises to be a blast. For a week, I will be out of my routine. Two days for travel and five days of the workshop in Laramie, WY. The workshop days are full. The schedule looks really interesting. I can’t wait to go and learn. I like writing science fiction and it’s good to brush up on real world science.

I probably won’t be on social media much during the week. At least, not actively looking at social media. I might post pictures of where I’m at and some of the sites. I’ve never been to Wyoming before. This will be a new experience. My main fear is getting lost on campus. Seriously, I get turned around a lot. If I don’t actually know where I’m going, I’m the anti-ask-for-directions or go-the-opposite-way person. I suspect it won’t be too hard to get around, but it is the one thing I’m nervous about right now. (You can bet I'll post about getting lost if it does happen.)

I have to admit, I’m looking forward to pretending to be a college student for a week. I think getting away from routine and staying off the internet will be good for me. If I can manage it, I’m still going to write in the mornings before class. But I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen.

What I will miss is the Husband and the kitties. He’s promised daily kitty pictures. I can handle that. If history is any indication, the kitties will miss me and spend all their time trying to glom onto the Husband. That will make his life interesting in the short term. (He will miss me, too, and has already said such.)

This weekend, I'll be at Crypticon in Sea-Tac with Apocalypse Ink Productions and on panels. I'm going to have all of my new releases with me as well as some of the old favorites and my convention only book. If you can't come see me, I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Article: To Write the Good Fight over on Jimbo's Awesome SFF Reviews. I like to have a foot in game reality to write a ’Mech Battle. I do it with a little help from my friends.

Interview: +1 to Writing on TripleCrit. All about me as an author and an editor. This fun interview was all about me shifting between the different publishing roles.

Interview: I've got a new interview on MyLifeMyBooksMyEscape about my Arkham Horror novella, To Fight the Black Wind. I get to talk about my favorite scene in this one.

Interview with Loren Rhoads: 5 Questions for Jennifer Brozek. All about Arkham Horror: To Fight the Black Wind. This one touches on how my own dreams brought a bit of reality to the novella.

Released: Arkham Horror: To Fight the Black Wind has been released for almost a month now. Read the first chapter for free.

Review: From Jimbo’s Awesome SFF Reviews. It’s safe to say he liked BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident.

Dealers Room
If I’m at not a panel, I will be in the Dealers Room with Apocalypse Ink Productions. I will have copies of my newest books, including Arkham Horror: To Fight the Black Wind and The Nellus Academy Incident. Come by and see me.

• Friday 4pm – 8pm
• Saturday 11am -7pm
• Sunday 11am -5pm

FRI 5PM    Cascades 9        Start Writing, Stay Writing (Mod)
Have you dreamed of writing your own stories? Dying to get published? Maybe you are looking for tips to keep you moving forward? A panel of writers will share their favorite tips on getting started, staying motivated and improving your work. Panel discussion is designed for beginner or intermediate writers across a variety of forms like short story, novel and screenplay. This panel will provide a foundation for other writing panels and workshops this weekend.
James Gillen, Rebecca Brown, Jennifer Brozek (M), Julie McGilliard, Jerome St. Martin


SAT 1PM    Cascades 9        Jennifer Brozek Author Reading (Mod)
I will be reading from TO FIGHT THE BLACK WIND. Psychologist Carolyn Fern is searching for the cause of a patient’s terrible nightmares that leave her both mentally and physically scarred.


SUN 11AM    Cascades 9        Crafting Compelling Protagonists (Mod)
So often great stories also have great protagonists. A protagonist can pull audiences in or leave them out in the cold. This panel of authors will discussion what makes a compelling protagonist and how to craft one in your short story, novel, screenplay or other creative work.
Jennifer Brozek (M), Cat Rambo, John Lovett, Jerome St. Martin

From now until I decide I want to stop doing this, I will be giving out a monthly “Jennifer Award” for the best new-to-me thing I read that month. This can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be an essay/article, a short story, a novelette, a novella, or a novel. It doesn’t matter when it came out. It only matters that this is the first time I read it and I thought it was the best thing I read all month. Yes, it is completely subjective and biased towards what I like to read.

The winner will receive a shiny digital badge and a $5 gift card.

April’s winner is Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys. This book is due out on July 10, 2018. I have it pre-ordered on the kindle, but Seanan was sweet enough to loan the ARC of it to me to read because I wanted it NOW. I look forward to rereading this one again on the kindle.

Like Winter Tide, Deep Roots has the same evocative, lush language that drew me into the “Innsmouth Legacy” story. It took a long time for me to read this novel—on purpose. This was a mental meal that I enjoyed one chapter at a time, putting it down so I could savor the story and the prose. And savor it I did. While Deep Roots didn’t have the newness of Emrys’ unique take on the Lovecraft Mythos, it expanded it in all the right ways. Deep Roots is a worthy successor to Winter Tide.

2018
Jan: Godfall and Other Stories by Sandra M. Odell
Feb: “When We Fall” by Kameron Hurley
Mar: The Alastair Stone Chronicles by R.L. King
Apr: Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys

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.)

From now until I decide I want to stop doing this, I will be giving out a monthly “Jennifer Award” for the best new-to-me thing I read that month. This can be fiction or non-fiction. It can be an essay/article, a short story, a novelette, a novella, or a novel. It doesn’t matter when it came out. It only matters that this is the first time I read it and I thought it was the best thing I read all month. Yes, it is completely subjective and biased towards what I like to read.

The winner will receive a shiny digital badge and a $5 gift card.

March’s winner is actually more than one book. It is the Alastair Stone Chronicles by R.L. King. I’ve been reading the box set to blurb the series and I love it. The Husband loves it. This is the blurb I gave it: “Alastair Stone is my kind of professor... a little grumpy, a lot sexy, and all British. He's a good mage who will get the job done despite the cost.” It’s so fun. It’s as if David Tennant’s version of Doctor Who was a British mage teaching in an American college set in the Bay Area. It’s perfect. Highly fun read.

2018
Jan: Godfall and Other Stories by Sandra M. Odell
Feb: “When We Fall” by Kameron Hurley
Mar: The Alastair Stone Chronicles by R.L. King
Apr:

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

I survived my tax appointment! Yay!

The Hugo Award nomination period closes on 16 Mar 2018. Along with my own work I would like you to consider, I have a couple other recommendations.

Novel
Winter Tide by Ruthanne Emrys
Into the Drowning Deep by Seanan McGuire

Novella
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire

Novelette
A Human Stain by Kelly Robson

Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)
EXO by Fonda Lee

Fan Writer
Jason Sanford
Alasdair Stuart

If you can nominate for the Hugos, please do. Your vote does count.