DEFENDING THE PEN
It’s all about murder . . . romance – writing it!
I post flash fiction, book announcements, interviews, and the things I love.
Careful . . . you may end up the victim . . .
of fun!
Light and love seem a fleeting moment in the
frozen north of Alaska. Despite his personal experiences with evil, Detective
Steven Quaid is determined to hold on to that light amidst the darkness.
Accused of murdering his fiancée, Detective Quaid flees incarceration to track
down the culprit.
He might survive the wilderness, and a savage bear attack,
but another man's insidious obsession could finally prove more powerful than
this dedicated detective.
No, this is not a Book Tour Post – it is an explanation of why Book Tours are not working and what could be the next genre of the moment.
Why aren’t Book Tours working anymore? Simple.
Over-saturation and boring repetition.
When a Book Tour comes out, the blog lists all begin to look the same – with the same post title and cover image even.
I mean how many cover reveals of THE TEMPTATION OF THE VIRGIN by C. Mai Kahunas can you see over and over again?
Though from the title and name of the author, I bet you wonder what that cover would look like right now!
We writers are like that puppy that keeps going back to his empty dish, drawn by the memory of when it was filled with food.
Book Tours worked once but no more. Amanda Hocking parlayed her Twitter presence into high sales.
Now, Twitter is filled with BUY ME!
But no one is listening anymore.
So, like me, you’re asking: “If Book Tours aren’t working, what can I do to draw attention to my new book?”
The answer is simple: give the blog visitor something they want to know.
What do all of us want to know?
We know the basics of writing, of editing, of crafting a three act story with action and suspense.
Well, for one thing: We want to know what the next hot genre will be in time to begin writing in it.
I can help there: STEAMPUNK.
You’re rolling your eyes out there. I see you. Steampunk has been declared dead almost from the moment of its inception.
Tales of Sorcerer’s Apprentices were thought old hat … until the Sorting Hat and Harry Potter.
Vampire stories were thought long in the tooth … until the sparkles came out.
When we do something old in a new way, we catch the imagination of the readers.
STEAMPUNK
1.It's the perfect mash-up genre for a culture obsessed with mixing and remixing, fanfic, and memes.
Gotham. Sleepy Hollow. Bates Motel. Guardians of the Galaxy. The Jungle Book. The Legend of Tarzan. The Flash. Lately, we really seem to be into creative takes on the old classics.
And Steampunk is like the ultimate mash-up genre –
both futuristic and retro.
Plus, it's got room for anything and everything fandom's little heart can dream up:
Aliens and AIs, zeppelins and zombies, pirates and corsets, goggles and gaslights, mad scientists and scullery maids. It's romance, horror, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure (and even occasionally a whodunit or a spaghetti western).
2.It's class conscious.
We live in an era of massive inequality and an exponentially increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Science fiction and fantasy have always provided a means for writers and artists to critique their society indirectly.
(Just look at The Hunger Games.)
Steampunk takes place in another period of massive inequality –
the Victorian Era and the Gilded Age, a time when lords and ladies dressed in absurd regalia lounged in luxury while a permanent underclass shoveled the coal that fueled their society and starving urchins begged for bread in the streets.
Many Steampunk writers are drawing on this obvious metaphor to our current age and exploring pressing social issues.
3. It's eco-conscious.
At Steampunk's core is an obsession with the environmentalist's battle cry: Reduce/Reuse/Recycle.
Steampunk is based on an appreciation for reclaiming something old and making it new again, for cherishing the long-lasting and well-made over the slick, disposable, and new.
4.Your individuality is Steampunk's strength.
Steampunk is customizable and flexible, with a "start where you are" mentality that makes it incredibly easy to join in, whatever point you're starting from.
Steampunk is a big friendly movement, and you can jump in anywhere and anytime you like.
5.Alternate History or Everything Old Is New Again.
Steampunk frequently dabbles in alternate history, placing importance on real life inventors such as Nikola Tesla or Charles Babbage as an explanation for ‘advanced’ technology like air ships and computers that run on clockwork and steam power. Needless to say, this unique – and seemingly random – combination of ingredients means “the sky is not the limit – it is just the beginning.” Which happens to be the cover blurb for my first Steampunk novel, THE NOT-SO-INNOCENTS ABROAD. Where Abraham Lincoln is the villain, my hero puts President Ulysses S Grant in a sanitarium, and he marries the bad girl (H. Rider Haggard SHE bad) -- interesting things like that. It will detail his honeymoon cruise in 1867 aboard the first Air/Steamship, Xanadu, where intrigue, death, betrayal, and murder reign supreme: and that's just in the bedroom. Outside of there it really gets deadly.
Hi Hart, tell us how you arrived at The Seventeen?
The Seventeen is a count. Pharmagna is a pharmaceutical giant who had a pool of hundreds of (mostly homeless) people on whom they tested various medications. There are seventeen of them left, all riddled with side effects of the drugs they've tested. Cecily Daiker, a researcher for Pharmagna, is responsible for their day-to-day welfare, and for managing them during trials. The title is also a nod to Justin Cronin. In The Passage there is a group of twelve death row inmates who are subject to a drug trial meant to make them immortal (and it works too well—the series is a sort of sci fi version of a vampire story) but he calls them The Twelve (that is the extent of the story similarities, but there you have it). A sound plan! Here's Hart's blurb:
Cecily Daiker is keeper of the
Seventeen--the survivors Pharmagna houses after a decade of drug trials which
were unregulated, subjects unprotected and un-cared-for.
Until Cecily.
But now a drug is being
proposed to undo the wrongs of past drugs, Within limits, of course. And Cecily
is assigned to oversee the trial. What nobody says is that the newly tested
drug may have unanticipated consequences. Not just for the Seventeen, but for
everybody. And it is Cecily's job to contain the danger.
***
Sounds frightening, especially as I'm testing a new drug. Hmm... So, tell us Hart, what other genres do you normally write?
Mostly mystery and suspense. Some adult, some YA. Some of the YA has a light dose of paranormal (ghosts or visions—stuff I believe some people really do experience). And the genre I seem to be most in love with of late is near-term dystopia... the world falling apart. I love the extremes that extreme circumstances can bring out in people. What I've published to date is a cozy mystery series under the pen name Alyse Carlson and a flu apocalypse trilogy as me.
Hart Johnson is a social
scientist by day, and plots murder and the apocalypse when the sun goes down.
She has published a flu conspiracy trilogy (A Shot in the Light) and a cozy
mystery series under the name Alyse Carlson. She has hopes to eventually
support herself writing or take over the world, whichever works out first.
If you'd like to learn anything more, I can be found at the following places:
I don't normally write about psychopaths. (And why not?--you might ask. They're so fun!) Quite frankly, it's because I don't want to be mistaken as one, but sometimes they write themselves like in THE MIRROR PEOPLE. My research for this story led me to believe:
5. Psychopaths suck. Let's face it. Turns out the business world is full of them--cut-throats who think there's nothing wrong with breaking a man's spine to climb the company ladder. (Proverbially or literally.) It's been tested and proven that they are cut out for managerial work.
4. They have a poor sense of smell. I admit, I don't have the best nose, but a study done in Sydney, Australia shows that psychopaths couldn't identify smells very well due to low activity in the orbital cortices of the brain (the part that controls impulses, long term plans and smell).
3. Empathy--what's that? Not only can't they experience/understand fear, they also find it easy to flip that inner switch and cut off all emotion. You know, everything that makes you human? (I suppose that's why they make such great antagonists.)
2. They populate prisons in abundance. You read that right. I have no desire to be in prison. Do you?
1. The FBI will find you. I admit, if the FBI came looking at my browsing history, I might be in a tight spot. But like Jak in THE MIRROR PEOPLE, once they find you, they won't bury you. No sir. They'll offer you a fat paycheck, stick a gun in your hands, and send you to work. Let's face it, who wants to rely on government benefits? No thank you.
Despite all that, psychopaths are a blast to write, even if you don't want to be one--just like it's fun to read about prehistoric times but living with Dinosaurs would be downright awful. (That's a discussion for another day.)
Every day I look into the eyes of a stone-cold killer. Sometimes he’s straightening his tux bowtie before a fancy shin-dig. Sometimes he’s grinning madly while brandishing a knife. Sometimes he’s spattered in blood.
The point is, it’s my job to look into his eyes, day after day, unable to raise the alarm or warn his victims—like the middle aged woman he’s just finished off—because I inhabit the world on the other side of the mirror.
I’m Jak Ralston’s reverse identity, also known as Jak Ralston. His prisoner.
He wipes his blade clean having already sheared off his trophy, a finger, and turns away from the mirror to the mess of a hotel room. I relax. My shoulders ache from the tension. He is always intense. Always serious. Always angry. But not the explosive kind of angry, the cool, I’m-going-to-rip-your-eyeballs-out-in-your-sleep kind of angry (while he tells you how lovely you look in gray). He’s calculating. Terrifying.
I stand on the other side of the mirror, mimicking his movements like my life depends on it, because it does. Mr. Murder is my twid (twin identity), me in another realm, and if I break from being his reflection while anyone is watching (including him), we’ll both keel over and die. No matter how much I despise him, I’m not ready to die—like Susan, the mirror woman he’s just murdered in my realm. Facing her now, it’s all I can do not to slam my fists into the mirror and scream, but destroying myself won’t bring her back...
Crystal Collier is an eclectic author who pens clean fantasy/sci-fi, historical, and romance stories with the occasional touch of humor, horror or inspiration. She practices her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. She has lived from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative husband, four littles, and “friend” (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her closet). Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless supply of cheese. You can find her on her blog,Facebook, Goodreads, or follow her on Twitter.
Thanks, Crystal!
Congratulations!
Who is your favorite psychopath in literature or TV?
Oh gosh, so many, too many to count. But I'm down with the flu. Nothing else is really registering. Thank goodness this isn't catch-able via the blogosphere. Stay healthy! *****
To help inspire you:
“Life is like
photography. You need the negatives to develop.” – Unknown
“We learn something
from everyone who passes through our lives.. Some lessons are painful, some are
painless.. but, all are priceless.” – Unknown
“Being happy doesn’t
mean that everything is perfect. it means that you’ve decided to look beyond
the imperfections.” – Unknown
I can
remember the day when the story “Felix Was Here” began to form in my mind,
though I can’t recall the exact date. I
was looking through a list of publications that were looking for submissions
and contemplating how amazing it would be if I had the courage to submit
something to one of them.
The
details are fuzzy now, but I remember an anthology was asking for stories
inspired by the 1939 World’s Fair. I
didn’t have time to write something for it, and even if I did, I didn’t have
the confidence at the time to write the story.
This all happened about a year ago, and I hadn’t yet found the
confidence to really start putting myself out there. Still, the idea began brewing in my mind
behind the scenes. In my spare time, I
started researching the 1939 World’s Fair out of curiosity. The idea of the World of Tomorrow intrigued
me. People were so excited about the
possibilities and they looked eagerly to the future to provide a better life. That hopefulness stuck with me, and I started
to wonder what might have happened if someone tried to make that future happen.
That
question followed me over the next several months. I considered writing the story, but several
things stopped me. Time, other projects,
etc. The biggest thing stopping me,
however, was my own insecurity. As much
as I loved the idea, I didn’t know how to go about writing it. I was afraid of failure.
Then the
IWSG short story contest was announced, and I knew I needed to enter. It was simply too good an opportunity to pass
up, so I started brainstorming ideas. I
soon had a list of ideas drawn up, but none of them felt quite right. My mind kept stubbornly returning to the
characters Felix and Betty and the society inspired by the World of Tomorrow. The idea still intimidated me, but I’d also
realized that this story needed to be told.
It was going to keep bugging me until I did it.
With a
bit of research and a lot of patience, I wrote the story that had been nagging
at me for months, and now here we are.
“Felix Was Here” is going to be shared with the world, and I feel pretty
good about that.
Betty’s
family lived in a small Brooklyn apartment when the 1939 World’s Fair offered
the nation a stunning vision of the future.
A charismatic man worked with the government to make that vision a
reality. Six years later, Betty has a
nice home, a good husband, and all is right in her world.
When
someone casually mentions the name Felix in conversation, everything
changes. Betty’s dreams suddenly revolve
around a boy named Felix. A boy she
doesn’t recognize. Sleep deprived and
confused, Betty begins to question the foundation upon which she’s built her
idyllic life.
L.G. Keltner has been trying to write
novels since she was six years old.
She’s wanted to be many things over the years, but the dream that
survived into adulthood was that of being a writer. She graduated from Drake University in 2008,
but she’s still learning every day. L.G.
lives in Iowa with her husband and children.
Calm down. We'll find out where they're towing it too and pay the fine.
So much for hiding our time machine in plain sight. What if someone hits the wrong button?
Quit panicking. I created the remote starter for a reason. All we have to do is lock it down, and no matter what button they hit, nothing will happen. Just hand me the beach bag and I'll make sure.
You mean that cute blue and white number I bought yesterday.
Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner is a weekly writing challenge designed for both the flash fiction newbie and the more experienced writer. It is the desire of this challenge to allow writers the opportunity to clear the cobwebs from a more tedious and involved project. Our Host Roger Shipp
There it was sticking out of the torn lining of the battered book of sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poem I'd written to Elise. The book was sitting on the corner of the desk where my wife Jane, was working.
I stepped into the den. "Hey, gorgeous. Why don't we pack a picnic lunch and enjoy this beautiful day in the park?"
She looked up. Smiled. Then sat back in her chair mulling over my idea.
"Sounds romantic. Why don't we take a bottle of champagne? That way we can discuss my million-dollar divorce settlement. And you can celebrate the fact that I won't sue Elise for alienation of affection."
I chuckled. "Sounds like a plan. We'll work this out over caviar and champagne."
After she consumes the digitalis, we'll walk to the highest point in the park to admire the view. Her black heart won't see a dime.
