Here is the interview with Karina Fabian, one of the editors for Infinite Space Infinite God, followed by her virtual tour schedule - so you can check out the other interviews and reviews posted on other people's blogs - enjoy - E :)
Q: What's your new book about?
K: Infinite Space, Infinite God is thought-provoking sci-fi with a Catholic twist.
The 15 stories cover the gamut of future science, from genetic engineering to asteroid mining to interstellar travel. They span the topics of sci-fi: time travel, space opera, dystopia, psychological thrillers and sci-fi mystery. Finally, they examine the Catholic worldview in the challenges of the future, from evangelizing to aliens to determining the soul-status of artificially created humanoids, to religious orders and even saintly miracles.
It won the EPPIE award for best electronically published science fiction of 2006 and is coming out in print August 15 from Twilight Times Books. www.twilighttimesbooks.com.
Q: You've been doing a lot of interviews this month on your virtual book tour. (Readers can see the full tour schedule below and at http://isigsf.tripod.com). You've mentioned several times that you chose the stories according to three principles: engaging writing, believable use of science or "fictional science" and sound Catholic doctrine. For a change, tell us what really drew you to each the stories?
Karina: Summarizing stories -
The Harvest, Lori Z. Scott: The characters drew us to this one. Barry, the priest, had a strong faith, but also had doubts and needed a push now and then, whether from his father or from the human/animal hybrid who needed his help. We also liked how Lori treated the question of whether artificially created humanoids have souls.
Hopkins’ Well, Adrienne Ray: A lot of folks tried to do the "transporter story," but Adrienne was the only one who did it uniquely and compellingly. The horror Private Talbot felt when he realizes what happened to him, Riggen's March-it's all a little spooky and very cool.
Brother John, Colleen Drippe’: Colleen had written a Lost Rythar story for our previous anthology, Leaps of Faith, so hers was a no-brainer to include. Colleen writes great adventure stories--lots of action.
Interstellar Calling, Karina L. Fabian: This one has a funny story. We had an alien abduction story chosen but at the last minute, the author pulled it. We loved the idea, however, and Karina decided that, rather than change the introductions, she'd try her hand at a similar theme. It wrote itself fast, and has gotten a lot of compliments from reviewers.
Our Daily Bread, Karina and Robert Fabian: We wanted to do a story in the asteroid belt, and several things wove their way in--the idea of worship in a remote area, which is a little more difficult for Catholicism, Karina's dad's deaconship and the increasing responsibilities he faced, and the idea of having more than one Calling in life.
Brother Jubal and the Womb of Silence, Tim Meyers: Tim has incredible talent to produce strong images with little actual description. The flow is absolutely perfect for life on the moon and the interweaving of poetry and meditations transformed this "man on the moon" story into literature.
Mask of the Ferret, Ken Pick and Alan Loewen: This was just fun! So far out in the future that it reads more like Star Wars than Star Trek, the detail in the universe, even down to the slang, made it easy to believe.
Little Madeleine, Simon Morden: Again, this was a unique idea, but what really drew us were the characters and the plausibility of Simon's world, even if not his order of bodyguard nuns. Madeleine could be any teen seeking a way out of a desperate home situation; it was easy to get drawn into her plight.
The Hosts of the Envoy, Alex Lobdell: Alex had written a story about High Hopes for Leaps of Faith and we adored the character, so we specifically asked for more adventures of the lost test-pilot/canary astronaut. Once again, he gave us a fun and engaging story with a uniquely Catholic twist.
Understanding, J Sherer: By writing a police thriller set in the future, J impressed us by giving us a story that met all our standards but wasn’t the usual sci-fi trope.
Stabat Mater, Rose Dimond: This has been our most controversial inclusion because a woman is ordered to accept the calling as priest, but we really enjoyed this story because of the depth and complexity of the faith of the characters, the realistic treatment of the troubled girls who are visited by Mary, and the idea that there are no easy answers.
Canticle of the Wolf, Alan Loewen: Alan actually submitted this to us for Leaps of Faith, but we felt it a little too "Catholic" for that anthology. Karina loved it so much, however, that she'd kept it for years, and when we started this anthology, it was our first acceptance. Karina has always loved St. Francis, and Alan presented a new take on his story while keeping the gentle, loving aspects of his character intact.
These Three, Karina and Robert Fabian: The idea came from a song about a spacer who was severely injured in a ship accident, but must crawl several decks to get to the rescue beacon to call for help. The imagery of the song inspired us to write our version of the accident and character, and what better angle than to have the patron saint of spacers help him in his struggle?
Far Traveler, Colleen Drippe’: Colleen took two tropes that have been done to death-- time travel and witnessing the crucifixion--and made them fresh. The other cool thing about Colleen's stories is that they don't read like what most folks expect from religious fiction, yet they have a strong faith message.
Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff: We loved it and were disturbed by it at the same time. Just an incredible story--'nuff said.
Q: Obviously, you're pleased with the book, but what are you hopes for it?
K: Naturally, we hope that it sells well; but even more, we'd like sci-fi fans of all religious persuasions to enjoy the stories and think about the issues presented. After all, that's what good sci-fi's for.
AUGUST
DATE: Place to visit
1: www.doylebooks.com (summary)
www.kaleidosouls.info, Day 1 (summary)
2: www.kaleidosouls.info, Day 2 (interview)
http://writetype.blogspot.com (guest blogger)
3: www.thewritingjungle.blogspot.com (interview)
4: www.freewebs.com/mary-andrews (interview)
5: http://writeurthoughts.blogspot.com (interview)
6: www.catholicfiction.net (interview)
www.elysabethstories.blogspot.com (interview)
7: http://timewithtannia.tripod.com/ (interview)
www.writeandwhine.blogspot.com/ (interview)
8: http://www.jillelizabethnelson.com/artisticblogger.shtml
http://www.shoutlife.com/jillelizabethnelson
http://www.myspace.com/jillelizabethnelson (interview)
9: http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/ (interview)
10: http://cmwforum.blogspot.com (review)
11: www.todaythedragonwins.blogspot.com (interview)
12: www.thedarkphantom.wordpress.com (interview)
7:00-9:00 PM: www.writerschatroom.com (Live Chat)
13: www.lostgenreguild.com (review)
http://gloriaoren.blogspot.com (interview)
14: http://www.blogcatalog.com/blogs/dragons-of-the-pyramid-book-reviews.html (review)
15: http://beverlyjean.livejournal.com (interview)
www.virtualbooktourdenet.blogspot.com (trailer)
16: http://cfvici.blogspot.com/ (review)
http://catharsys.wordpress.com/ (interview)
http://cdrippe.wordpress.com (summary)
17: http://www.annmargaretlewis.com/ (interview)
18: 12 Noon: Live Chat: http://jolinsdell.tripod.com
http://blog.myspace.com/grace1979 (review)
19: karen Syed (interview and summary)
http://blog.myspace.com/grace1979 (review)
20: www.marilynmeredith.blogspot.com (interview)
21: www.snoringscholar.blogspot.com (review)
22: http://solshine7.blogspot.com (review and interview)
http://scifijournalist.blogspot.com (review and interview)
23: www.jamiesonwolf.blogspot.com (interview)
24: www.authoralley.blogspot.com (interview)
http://www.karenee.blogspot.com/ (interview)
www.disturbingreviews.blogspot.com (interview)
25: www.thebookpedler.wordpress.com (interview)
www.paulinebjones.blogspot.com (interview)
26: www.livejournal.com/~paulinebjones (interview)
27: http://penelopemarzec.blogspot.com (guest blogger)
http://aspiringauthor.blogspot.com/ (interview)
http://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/ (interview)
28: http://www.myspace.com/happywriter (guest blogger)
http://zyphe.blogspot.com (review)
http://360.yahoo.com/raeshylle (review)
29: 12 Noon: Live Chat "Infinite Space, Infinite God and the Infinite Possibilities of Book Marketing" http://www.virginiajennings.zoomshare.com/5.html
30: www.noveljourney.blogspot.com (interview)
31: http://afrankreview.blogspot.com/ (review)
I don't know when the review will be posted on my site but I will squeeze it in - probably near the end of the month - E :)
Monday, August 06, 2007
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Media Release for Infinite Space Infinite God
M E D I A R E L E A S E
CONTACT: Karina Fabian
Phone: (540) 538-3327
E-mail: karina@fabianspace.com
For Immediate Release
Elysabeth's Emerald City (http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com)
Features a Unique Look at Sci-Fi
Internet, World-Wide-- Infinite Space, Infinite God, edited by Karina and Robert Fabian makes a stop at Elysabeth's Emerald City on August 6, 2007, on its August virtual book tour.
"Virtual book tours are a terrific means for getting word out to readers," said Karina Fabian. "Bloggers like Elysabeth have audiences who are interested in books, in quality fiction, and in matters of writing, science and faith. We're visiting 43 sites over the month. We've had great fun preparing and expect to generate a lot of buzz about Infinite Space, Infinite God."
Infinite Space, Infinite God, which won the EPPIE award for best electronically-published science fiction comes out in print August 15 from Twilight Times Books. It features fifteen stories about the future Catholic Church. They tell of Catholics struggling to evangelize to aliens and lost human colonies and to determine the soul-status for genetically modified humans, genetically-designed chimeras, and clones made from the Martian sand. They feature the adventures of religious orders devoted to protecting interstellar travelers and inner-city priests. Two stories explore how technical advances allow monks to live in solitude on the Moon and to help one criminal learn the true meaning of Confession. The introductions discuss present doctrine and current trends in technology to set the framework for the stories and to encourage discussion. (Media room available at http://isigsf.tripod.com.)
Elysabeth will post an interview from Karina exploring a bit more about the book.
The Fabians’ first anthology, Leaps of Faith, featured Christian SF and was a finalist for the 2003 EPPIE and 2004 Dream Realms awards. Karina Fabian helped found the Catholic Writer’s Guild, and Robert Fabian is a former speechwriter for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and writes about space policy. Learn more at www.fabianspace.com.
Infinite Space, Infinite God is available in bookstores or online at www.twilighttimesbooks.com.
CONTACT: Karina Fabian
Phone: (540) 538-3327
E-mail: karina@fabianspace.com
For Immediate Release
Elysabeth's Emerald City (http://elysabethsstories.blogspot.com)
Features a Unique Look at Sci-Fi
Internet, World-Wide-- Infinite Space, Infinite God, edited by Karina and Robert Fabian makes a stop at Elysabeth's Emerald City on August 6, 2007, on its August virtual book tour.
"Virtual book tours are a terrific means for getting word out to readers," said Karina Fabian. "Bloggers like Elysabeth have audiences who are interested in books, in quality fiction, and in matters of writing, science and faith. We're visiting 43 sites over the month. We've had great fun preparing and expect to generate a lot of buzz about Infinite Space, Infinite God."
Infinite Space, Infinite God, which won the EPPIE award for best electronically-published science fiction comes out in print August 15 from Twilight Times Books. It features fifteen stories about the future Catholic Church. They tell of Catholics struggling to evangelize to aliens and lost human colonies and to determine the soul-status for genetically modified humans, genetically-designed chimeras, and clones made from the Martian sand. They feature the adventures of religious orders devoted to protecting interstellar travelers and inner-city priests. Two stories explore how technical advances allow monks to live in solitude on the Moon and to help one criminal learn the true meaning of Confession. The introductions discuss present doctrine and current trends in technology to set the framework for the stories and to encourage discussion. (Media room available at http://isigsf.tripod.com.)
Elysabeth will post an interview from Karina exploring a bit more about the book.
The Fabians’ first anthology, Leaps of Faith, featured Christian SF and was a finalist for the 2003 EPPIE and 2004 Dream Realms awards. Karina Fabian helped found the Catholic Writer’s Guild, and Robert Fabian is a former speechwriter for the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and writes about space policy. Learn more at www.fabianspace.com.
Infinite Space, Infinite God is available in bookstores or online at www.twilighttimesbooks.com.
Infinite Space Infinite God info
Is that religion in my science fiction or science fiction in my religion? The writers of the Catholic SF anthology Infinite Space, Infinite God (www.twilighttimesbooks.com) have so seamlessly combined the two that it's hard to tell.
Infinite Space, Infinite God is an anthology of fifteen stories about how the future Catholic Church uses--or fails to use--its faith, wisdom and imagination to grow with the changes of the future. Within its pages, you’ll see the Church struggle to evangelize to aliens and lost human colonies and to determine the soul-status of genetically modified humans, genetically-designed chimeras, and clones made from the Martian sand. You’ll read the adventures of religious orders devoted to protecting interstellar travelers and inner-city priests, and experience how technical advances allow monks to live in solitude on the Moon and help one criminal learn the true meaning of Confession.
Karina and Robert Fabian, editors the Christian SF anthology Leaps of Faith, which was finalist for several e-book awards for best anthology, have applied the same high standards of writing, doctrine and science to Infinite Space, Infinite God. Its authors span the spectrum of faith and writing experiences, from published writers like Colleen Drippe and Maya Bohnhoff to promising new talent like Alex Lobdell, former editor of Montana Catholic.
This book contains not only fantastic stories from new angles but introductions exploring the issues and the Church’s current thinking that aim to spark discussion among Catholic and non-Catholics alike.
Entertaining and thought-provoking, Infinite Space, Infinite God represents the best in SF tradition.
Click here for more info on the book. Watch for interview with Karina on Monday - E :)
Infinite Space, Infinite God is an anthology of fifteen stories about how the future Catholic Church uses--or fails to use--its faith, wisdom and imagination to grow with the changes of the future. Within its pages, you’ll see the Church struggle to evangelize to aliens and lost human colonies and to determine the soul-status of genetically modified humans, genetically-designed chimeras, and clones made from the Martian sand. You’ll read the adventures of religious orders devoted to protecting interstellar travelers and inner-city priests, and experience how technical advances allow monks to live in solitude on the Moon and help one criminal learn the true meaning of Confession.
Karina and Robert Fabian, editors the Christian SF anthology Leaps of Faith, which was finalist for several e-book awards for best anthology, have applied the same high standards of writing, doctrine and science to Infinite Space, Infinite God. Its authors span the spectrum of faith and writing experiences, from published writers like Colleen Drippe and Maya Bohnhoff to promising new talent like Alex Lobdell, former editor of Montana Catholic.
This book contains not only fantastic stories from new angles but introductions exploring the issues and the Church’s current thinking that aim to spark discussion among Catholic and non-Catholics alike.
Entertaining and thought-provoking, Infinite Space, Infinite God represents the best in SF tradition.
Click here for more info on the book. Watch for interview with Karina on Monday - E :)
VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR
I've volunteered to do a virtual book tour for Karina Fabian's book - Infinite Space, Infinite God. She and her husband co-edited this anthology of short stories focusing on a thought-provoking sci-fi theme with a Catholic twist.
Here is the information on the book - Interview will be posted on Monday. Review of the book to follow later this month.
Infinite Space, Infinite God
An Anthology of Catholic Science Fiction edited by Karina and Robert Fabian
Title: Infinite Space, Infinite God
Author: Karina and Robert Fabian, editors
Category: Science Fiction
ISBN: ISBN 1-933353-62-7
Format: Trade paperback
Publication Date: August 15, 2007
Pages: 288
Price: $18.95 US
Trim: 6 x 9
Available from: Twilight Times Books, www.twilighttimesbooks.com
First Print Run: 5000
For More Info: http://isigsf.tripod.com
2007 EPPIE Award Winner for Best Science Fiction
Come explore the worlds of “Infinite Space, Infinite God.” Meet genetically engineered chimeras and aliens who wonder what a human religion holds for them. Share the doubts, trials and triumphs of humans who find their journeys in time and space are also journeys in faith.
Experience spine-tingling adventure. Marvel at technological miracles—and miracles that transcend technology—and meet the writers who made a leap of faith and dared to incorporate familiar religion with fantastic universes.
Entertaining and thought-provoking, Infinite Space, Infinite God represents the best in SF tradition. Faith-filled fiction for readers that think.
Reviewer comments:
“...an excellent collection of science fiction short stories. These authors’ imaginations are astounding, pulling me into each and every story from the first paragraph, and then masterfully entwining their writings with Catholicism. The characters come alive in vivid detail making each story’s uniqueness stand on their own merit. Highly recommended, not only to devoted sci-fi readers, but to those who have never read the genre before.”
Reviewed by PJ for Scottieluvr’s "Chewing the Bone" reviews.
Karina Fabian is a freelance writer and catechist at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fredericksburg, VA. She has sold her fiction to Eternal Night, Samsara, Hereditas, and Asimov’s. Rob Fabian is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force who is actively involved in the use of space, whose articles have been published in Journal of Space Policy.
Infinite Space, Infinite God can be ordered directly from Baker & Taylor, Ingram, or the publisher, Twilight Times Books, PO Box 3340, Kingsport, TN 37664; or via the Internet at http://twilighttimesbooks.com.
Here is the information on the book - Interview will be posted on Monday. Review of the book to follow later this month.
Infinite Space, Infinite God
An Anthology of Catholic Science Fiction edited by Karina and Robert Fabian
Title: Infinite Space, Infinite God
Author: Karina and Robert Fabian, editors
Category: Science Fiction
ISBN: ISBN 1-933353-62-7
Format: Trade paperback
Publication Date: August 15, 2007
Pages: 288
Price: $18.95 US
Trim: 6 x 9
Available from: Twilight Times Books, www.twilighttimesbooks.com
First Print Run: 5000
For More Info: http://isigsf.tripod.com
2007 EPPIE Award Winner for Best Science Fiction
Come explore the worlds of “Infinite Space, Infinite God.” Meet genetically engineered chimeras and aliens who wonder what a human religion holds for them. Share the doubts, trials and triumphs of humans who find their journeys in time and space are also journeys in faith.
Experience spine-tingling adventure. Marvel at technological miracles—and miracles that transcend technology—and meet the writers who made a leap of faith and dared to incorporate familiar religion with fantastic universes.
Entertaining and thought-provoking, Infinite Space, Infinite God represents the best in SF tradition. Faith-filled fiction for readers that think.
Reviewer comments:
“...an excellent collection of science fiction short stories. These authors’ imaginations are astounding, pulling me into each and every story from the first paragraph, and then masterfully entwining their writings with Catholicism. The characters come alive in vivid detail making each story’s uniqueness stand on their own merit. Highly recommended, not only to devoted sci-fi readers, but to those who have never read the genre before.”
Reviewed by PJ for Scottieluvr’s "Chewing the Bone" reviews.
Karina Fabian is a freelance writer and catechist at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Fredericksburg, VA. She has sold her fiction to Eternal Night, Samsara, Hereditas, and Asimov’s. Rob Fabian is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force who is actively involved in the use of space, whose articles have been published in Journal of Space Policy.
Infinite Space, Infinite God can be ordered directly from Baker & Taylor, Ingram, or the publisher, Twilight Times Books, PO Box 3340, Kingsport, TN 37664; or via the Internet at http://twilighttimesbooks.com.
Behind on postings and reading blogs
I've been in a funk lately and have not really been keeping up with my blogs and my postings and reading other people's blogs. I apologize and if you have left a comment recently and I've not responded to you, again I apologize for not getting back to you. I'm trying to work out of this funk.
Just letting you all know I am sort of back and have some things coming up soon - see postings to follow - E :)
Just letting you all know I am sort of back and have some things coming up soon - see postings to follow - E :)
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Hailie's new toy
As you can see from the slide show just added, Hailie got a new digital camera and she's been playing with it. It was an early birthday present she talked her father into getting for her. Guess if she can't have a cell phone like all her friends, she can have the camera - cheaper really - lol - takes pretty good pictures for a not really expensive camera (only $85 at Wal-Mart).
Band camp started this week so both are going strong with that and she's been taking pics at school of some of her friends too - will post those when I get copies of them -
Work is going better - got switched back to my old account and am a happy camper - enjoy the slide show - E :)
Band camp started this week so both are going strong with that and she's been taking pics at school of some of her friends too - will post those when I get copies of them -
Work is going better - got switched back to my old account and am a happy camper - enjoy the slide show - E :)
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Nashville - we are almost back home
Last stop on their trip and this was the most tiring leg for them - but they look happy - E :)
This one is in front of the fountain at the Gaylord Opry Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee - for a week's worth of traveling and attending conference sessions and workshops, they still look pretty fresh to me. Bet Ms. Jan and Ms. Darlene aren't looking this fresh and springy (notice no pics of either of them, of course Ms. Jan was taking these pics and Ms. Darlene was probably just being shy or not wanting to be in the pics - letting the girls shine).
This is my favorite picture of Hailie. This was taken on the riverboat inside the Gaylord Opry Hotel (another deal Ms. Jan got on priceline.come or the other one - hot something or other - because from talking with my friend Ragal online she said this was a mucho pricey hotel). Can't you see how grown up Hailie looks? Right before our eyes - she looks so innocent and sweet but underneath that facade is a bit of a devil - lol - but I still love her.
I hope when Hailie's pics get developed (her daddy gave her some money to go to Wal-Mart to get them developed) probably tomorrow that there will be more pics of the girls and the adults too - it would be a shame to not have any of Ms. Jan and Ms. Darlene throughout this whole trip - Now you've ssen them sort of on their round trip area - see you all in the postings - enjoy - E :)
This one is in front of the fountain at the Gaylord Opry Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee - for a week's worth of traveling and attending conference sessions and workshops, they still look pretty fresh to me. Bet Ms. Jan and Ms. Darlene aren't looking this fresh and springy (notice no pics of either of them, of course Ms. Jan was taking these pics and Ms. Darlene was probably just being shy or not wanting to be in the pics - letting the girls shine).
This is my favorite picture of Hailie. This was taken on the riverboat inside the Gaylord Opry Hotel (another deal Ms. Jan got on priceline.come or the other one - hot something or other - because from talking with my friend Ragal online she said this was a mucho pricey hotel). Can't you see how grown up Hailie looks? Right before our eyes - she looks so innocent and sweet but underneath that facade is a bit of a devil - lol - but I still love her.I hope when Hailie's pics get developed (her daddy gave her some money to go to Wal-Mart to get them developed) probably tomorrow that there will be more pics of the girls and the adults too - it would be a shame to not have any of Ms. Jan and Ms. Darlene throughout this whole trip - Now you've ssen them sort of on their round trip area - see you all in the postings - enjoy - E :)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Kansas City (Missouri) we have arrived
I think they are having a great time or it looks like they are having a great time upon arriving at the Blume conference.
They have arrived to the conference at long last (this was Tuesday night, left church parking lot about 5 a.m. Monday morning, drove to St. Louis, spent the night at a 4-star hotel (put a bid for $49 a night for each room and got it - some fancy named hotel is what Hailie says; also right downtown close to the Arch so didn't have to go too far - Ms. Jan said the rooms normally went for $259 a night and they got them for $49 for the night from Priceline.com or the other one - can't remember). This was Tuesday evening before the conference really got started.
They had an interactive center (called the ME Interactive Center) and here they are doing a hula in a setup looking like Hawaii - makes you want to go on a trip, doesn't it?
I like this one - I've called it Girls "Bluming" because they are so growing up right before our eyes. Big difference in Hailie's mannerisms and demeanor since her band pictures in October - I can see a beautiful young lady developing.
Here is Hailie in front of a Pic representative of their "Night in the Middle East" - I believe this was to be their entertainment night where they spent time outside like being in Bagdad or somewhere in the middle east.
This is the Gold Crown Center where they picked up the Barbie Ornaments (Ms. Jan had a coupon for each of them to get a free Barbie Ornament. In the box it looks super heavy but when pulled out and held in our hands, it isn't that heavy at all. It is rack of shoes and each level turns so you can pick out what style fits best - lol - Nice freebie gift). (I think the Gold Crown Plaza is the headquarters for the Hallmark stores - but don't quote me on that, I've never been to St. Louis, Kansas City or Nashville)
Enjoy the pics
They have arrived to the conference at long last (this was Tuesday night, left church parking lot about 5 a.m. Monday morning, drove to St. Louis, spent the night at a 4-star hotel (put a bid for $49 a night for each room and got it - some fancy named hotel is what Hailie says; also right downtown close to the Arch so didn't have to go too far - Ms. Jan said the rooms normally went for $259 a night and they got them for $49 for the night from Priceline.com or the other one - can't remember). This was Tuesday evening before the conference really got started.
They had an interactive center (called the ME Interactive Center) and here they are doing a hula in a setup looking like Hawaii - makes you want to go on a trip, doesn't it?
I like this one - I've called it Girls "Bluming" because they are so growing up right before our eyes. Big difference in Hailie's mannerisms and demeanor since her band pictures in October - I can see a beautiful young lady developing.
Here is Hailie in front of a Pic representative of their "Night in the Middle East" - I believe this was to be their entertainment night where they spent time outside like being in Bagdad or somewhere in the middle east.
This is the Gold Crown Center where they picked up the Barbie Ornaments (Ms. Jan had a coupon for each of them to get a free Barbie Ornament. In the box it looks super heavy but when pulled out and held in our hands, it isn't that heavy at all. It is rack of shoes and each level turns so you can pick out what style fits best - lol - Nice freebie gift). (I think the Gold Crown Plaza is the headquarters for the Hallmark stores - but don't quote me on that, I've never been to St. Louis, Kansas City or Nashville)Enjoy the pics
Next Stop - St. Louis and the Arch
Here we have the girls in front of the Riverboat before entering the Arch - group pics are really turning out pretty good here (Ms. Jan takes an excellent picture)
Here is the St. Louis Baseball Stadium taken from inside the top of the Arch - zoomed in for a closeup - pretty awesome to be up that high and be able to see so much of the city - Love the views from the Arch
Here is the Courthouse which is behind the Arch (according to some backside postcards Hailie brought home. When they were going to enter the Arch, the courthouse was sitting behind it - this is a zoomed in picture of the courthouse
This is a shadow the Arch casts as the sun is rising - and Hailie says if you look down in the grass area and see tiny little white dots (they are almost impossible to see on the picture, let alone on the scanned version) those are actually people - that's a long way up to be looking down and folks appear to be dots on a picture.
Now if Hailie wasn't acting judge and jury before, here she is inside the courthouse in the Judge's part. Does she look like she's ready to pass a sentence to you? - I'll never tell.Hope you enjoy the trip pics (more will be coming as soon as Hailie's three cameras get developed - all of these were taken by Ms. Jan who made copies for each of the girls (at least the group ones) and also made some for the girls who didn't have their cameras when they were doing the tours or sightseeing. -- see you in the postings - hope you enjoy - E :)
First Stop - Paducah Kentucky -
The girls stopped in Paducah, Kentucky on the way out for lunch - they decided to get into the river - looks inviting - 
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Post office mystery solved
I found out via email today that my husband's father had sent Glimmer Train stories and Writers Ask newsletter as a gift, but they didn't know that my address had changed. So he used my old mailing address to send the gift to. I never got the gift card saying that because it probably went to the old address or was overlooked. Lol - now we know it didn't just show up out of the blue - E :)
PS - Thank you Opa and Cele for the gift. I will enjoy reading the stories and the info in the newsletter. E :)
PS - Thank you Opa and Cele for the gift. I will enjoy reading the stories and the info in the newsletter. E :)
Huge monster moth sited in my computer area on Sunday evening
Not kidding - that sucker looked like about the size of a small bat and even looked like one sort of but prettier and not trying to fly at everything - was trying to escape. I caught it and released it outside my door and hope it flew away where it belonged. I did a semi search while chatting with Janelle and came up with this pic that looks similar to what I had in my living/computer area Sunday night - there are no measurements on this moth so can't really tell if this is something close to what I actualy saw. I believe his wing span if he were to spread out flat was approximately the span of my hand from middle fingertip to butt of palm - probably around 6-7 inches in width - See what you all think - E :)
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Weird Post Office Box happening
I went to the post office yesterday and checked the mail. When I opened my box, there was a copy of Glimmer Train Stories (by subscription only from what I can see on the website) and Writers Ask (Glimmer Train Press's Newsletter of sorts, again by subscription only). I haven't subscribed to either of these publications; have thought of submitting a story to Glimmer Train but have not yet. Anyway - I figured someone sent me a copy of these issues to be nice or something. I would like to thank whoever sent them to me or subscribed me to both of them. The strange thing was that both items were addressed to me (with this spelling - Elysabeth) but to my old address (a house we haven't lived in for 2-1/2 years now since we moved to this house in the same town in December of 2004) and yet they were delivered to my PO box. Thank goodness for small towns and the folks at the post office knowing who I am and putting them in my box.
So naturally since there was no gift card, no indication that I subscribed to these publications, and no note to say I was to review the stories for anyone, I would just like to thank whoever sent these to me or subscribed me to the publications (although I just think these are sample copies as there is no subscription information - per the website on when subscriptions expire - on the labels that were on the cards inside the packaging (according to website expiration of subscription can be found in the line that is above your name - but there is nothing indicating something like this).
So I give whoever had these sent to me a deep felt thank you - E :)
So naturally since there was no gift card, no indication that I subscribed to these publications, and no note to say I was to review the stories for anyone, I would just like to thank whoever sent these to me or subscribed me to the publications (although I just think these are sample copies as there is no subscription information - per the website on when subscriptions expire - on the labels that were on the cards inside the packaging (according to website expiration of subscription can be found in the line that is above your name - but there is nothing indicating something like this).
So I give whoever had these sent to me a deep felt thank you - E :)
Friday, July 13, 2007
Messing with Markers
So yesterday, son and I had to go to the doctor's office (me for a checkup and him for some foot pain and his nosebleeds) and then we had to go to the home health care place to get my CPAP machine. We took the computer to the computer place to get the power supply stuff fixed (Benjamin installed the power supply but it wasn't the correct one for the computer, but he did it himself with some illustrated instructions from a search online). While waiting for the computer to be fixed, we ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I had to get a medication for my diabetes and got it for $4 at Wal-Mart (if any of you have heard about this plan, I encourage you all to check into it. It's regardless of what insurance you carry; based on which medications are on the plan. Mostly generics and things like that but for $4 for a month's supply of medicines you can't beat that. All my other meds I have to get through the mail-in pharmacy through our insurance for the best deal - if I go to the local pharmacy to have my meds filled, it will cost me mega bucks; if I mail them in and use that service, I can get a 3-month supply for $40 regardless of which med it is, unless it is supplies for diabetic checking and all that - so a way to save on your medical costs is to definitely use your mail-in medication provider if you are offered that through your insurance carrier. (I'd rather pay $40 for 3 months' supply than $56 a month any day)).
So Benjamin and I are walking through Wal-Mart and just kind of ambling waiting on my medication to be filled and I picked up a pack of 17 colors Sharpie permanent markers to use on the butterflies. I did the markers on some cardstock with the names and all but they didn't look good. So I decided to color the butterflies with each color comparing the Bic markers I have and the matching colors from Sharpie (and then adding the extra ones to show you how they look on the butterflies).
I like the Bic markers much better due to the fact that they don't smear. When I was trying to label the colors by holding the butterfly on the paper so it didn't shift much, I got Sharpie ink all over my fingertips. You can see how the colors smudged and smeared on the butterfly -
I also have the metallic colors, which I believe in all the samples on here you have seen all 6 colors there, so I won't do a sample butterfly with the six metallics.
Let me know what you think of the colors (and I'm still searching for somewhere to purchase the other two 12-packs of Bic markers - so maybe one of these days I'll have all 36 Bic colors) - see you in the postings - E :)
These are the Bic Colors and since I only have 11 colors (including the Tuxedo Black which is running out - so I didn't label it) there are white spaces between the sections of each color.
These are the Sharpie colors (there are 17 including the black with which I wrote, so no spaces really between the colors)
So Benjamin and I are walking through Wal-Mart and just kind of ambling waiting on my medication to be filled and I picked up a pack of 17 colors Sharpie permanent markers to use on the butterflies. I did the markers on some cardstock with the names and all but they didn't look good. So I decided to color the butterflies with each color comparing the Bic markers I have and the matching colors from Sharpie (and then adding the extra ones to show you how they look on the butterflies).
I like the Bic markers much better due to the fact that they don't smear. When I was trying to label the colors by holding the butterfly on the paper so it didn't shift much, I got Sharpie ink all over my fingertips. You can see how the colors smudged and smeared on the butterfly -
I also have the metallic colors, which I believe in all the samples on here you have seen all 6 colors there, so I won't do a sample butterfly with the six metallics.
Let me know what you think of the colors (and I'm still searching for somewhere to purchase the other two 12-packs of Bic markers - so maybe one of these days I'll have all 36 Bic colors) - see you in the postings - E :)
These are the Bic Colors and since I only have 11 colors (including the Tuxedo Black which is running out - so I didn't label it) there are white spaces between the sections of each color.
These are the Sharpie colors (there are 17 including the black with which I wrote, so no spaces really between the colors)
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I entered and got selected
I don't know if I told you but South Carolina Writer's Workshop, SCWW, has a conference in October (for which I'm volunteering) and they put out an anthology to go with the conference. Every year before this year, the word limit had been 1750 for short stories. Well, they revamped this year and upped the ante, so to speak, and gave us 4000 word limits. So I entered my short story, Bride-and-Seek, which I had entered in Karen's contest for February (not selected or even remembered by her, according to her when I met her in February). So today, not more than half an hour ago, I received notice from the editor of the anthology to let me know my story had been selected. I will receive $5 payment and two copies of the anthology. I'm so excited. Doesn't pay a lot but hey - I'm okay with it - it gets me out there.
So be on the look out for Bride-and-Seek in the Petigru Review anthology in October. You can still register for the conference if interested - check out the website - http://www.myscww.org/2007_conference.htm - also see my blog posting called "Best Conference of 2007" and we really are looking to be great - E :)
So be on the look out for Bride-and-Seek in the Petigru Review anthology in October. You can still register for the conference if interested - check out the website - http://www.myscww.org/2007_conference.htm - also see my blog posting called "Best Conference of 2007" and we really are looking to be great - E :)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Rating picture --- got it to work
Mingle2 - Free Online Dating
What a chore this was to get it posted - but here it is - my actual rating - just like the movies, although I can't think of too many movies that are rated G any more, even the Disney/Pixar and other films are rarely rated G - E :)
(Updated, 07/11/2007 at 12:29 p.m. - forgot to give my words that it found for this rating - hurt x1 - wow if saying hurt can get you a G rating then I'm good - lol - thanks for stopping by - E :)
Blog Rating - (seems I run a pretty clean blog here)
Thanks to LindaBudz Just Like the Nut for sharing the rating link -
I can't get it to copy and post but my blog is rated G - see Linda's blog if you would like to rate your blog - E :)
I can't get it to copy and post but my blog is rated G - see Linda's blog if you would like to rate your blog - E :)
Sunday, July 08, 2007
More metallic butterflies and weird happenings
I posted a semi-rant posting before this one and it isn't showing up (kind of what happened to Chai on her writing blog recently) - so not sure what's going on so hoping these show up - E :)
Here are a few more butterflies we colored
Blue and Silver with pink body
Hailie colored this one and did a great job so this one is hers - Pink and Purple with silver body
Blue and silver with gold body
my favorite - Green and Silver with gold body
So I'm giving butterflies to the girls for their trip tomorrow - They are heading out to Kansas City, MO with the Acteens (6 girls and 2 adults on the trip). They are stopping in St. Louis to do the Arch tour and then head to their conference and on the way back, they are supposed to be stopping in Nashville - so hopefully they will have a fun trip - and they will enjoy their butterflies.
See you all in the postings - E :)
A semi-rant on rudeness and blogging
Okay - I was in a ranty mood the other day and read a friend's blog that had a kind of ranty thing on it and thought I would post a rant of my own. I never got around to it and the rant kind of passed, but I am posting the stewed down version of my rant.
I like to think of this as just at no one in particular but then at everyone - lol - not directing to anyone in particular. Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes fame comes to mind when I thought about posting this originally.
So here is my rant, sort of - I've bookmarked tons of blogs (mostly writing related or people who write and/or are published). I try to visit blogs at least once a day, sometimes more if time permits and comment on several of them. Common courtesy says if someone visits you and speaks to you or posts a comment on your posting or in response to other commentors, then have the decency to acknowledge your commentors. I don't even care if it is a personal note or if you come to my blog and post an off the wall comment to something on my blog - just show that you are reading the comments and taking some time with your blog (this is your online presence, unless you have a website that is taking up more of your time). And those of you who just post something and never say anything back to your commentors, that is just rude.
Okay - now I'm off the little soapbox, and back to working - I shouldn't let this bother me but it does. If you aren't receiving the comments that's one thing but if you are getting them and reading them and want to keep people coming back to your blog, please post something back in the comment field to show that you are taking some of the advice or comments to heart. -
I hope I haven't been rude to anyone who comments on my blog and have at least let you know I've read your comment or appreciate the advice or something - because rudeness doesn't cut it in my life. My kids were fussed at last Sunday after returning from their trip to Baton Rouge for some rudeness towards some of the older adults who were in attendance, and when I found out, my kids assured me that they were not involved in this situation. They know better because I don't tolerate rudeness from them to me and definitely not to someone in the church, regardless if it is a peer or someone who is there to make sure they are safe and that they stay together (even if that person seems stricter than me) - I'm thankful I have raised them somewhat decently to have respect of all adults around them and to not let their peers dictate how they behave away from home -
Anyway - that is the rant - so it's passed and not anything big - just so you all know - see you all in the postings - E :)
I like to think of this as just at no one in particular but then at everyone - lol - not directing to anyone in particular. Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes fame comes to mind when I thought about posting this originally.
So here is my rant, sort of - I've bookmarked tons of blogs (mostly writing related or people who write and/or are published). I try to visit blogs at least once a day, sometimes more if time permits and comment on several of them. Common courtesy says if someone visits you and speaks to you or posts a comment on your posting or in response to other commentors, then have the decency to acknowledge your commentors. I don't even care if it is a personal note or if you come to my blog and post an off the wall comment to something on my blog - just show that you are reading the comments and taking some time with your blog (this is your online presence, unless you have a website that is taking up more of your time). And those of you who just post something and never say anything back to your commentors, that is just rude.
Okay - now I'm off the little soapbox, and back to working - I shouldn't let this bother me but it does. If you aren't receiving the comments that's one thing but if you are getting them and reading them and want to keep people coming back to your blog, please post something back in the comment field to show that you are taking some of the advice or comments to heart. -
I hope I haven't been rude to anyone who comments on my blog and have at least let you know I've read your comment or appreciate the advice or something - because rudeness doesn't cut it in my life. My kids were fussed at last Sunday after returning from their trip to Baton Rouge for some rudeness towards some of the older adults who were in attendance, and when I found out, my kids assured me that they were not involved in this situation. They know better because I don't tolerate rudeness from them to me and definitely not to someone in the church, regardless if it is a peer or someone who is there to make sure they are safe and that they stay together (even if that person seems stricter than me) - I'm thankful I have raised them somewhat decently to have respect of all adults around them and to not let their peers dictate how they behave away from home -
Anyway - that is the rant - so it's passed and not anything big - just so you all know - see you all in the postings - E :)
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Metallic colored butterflies
(Pink and Silver with gold body - Hailie has claimed this one)So I went to Wal-Mart for groceries last night and bought some metallic markers (which I was really looking for the other colors of the Bic markers for the butterflies) by Prang - 6 colors - gold, silver, blue, green, purple and pink (but when it colors on the butterflies it looks bronze or dark rose or maybe a cross between a pink and bronze - but definitely not pink like I expected). Anyway - now I've colored four butterflies using all the metallic colors - so thought I'd share with you all - Thinking of selling them, by taking orders - hahaahah - no one will buy them, I couldn't even give them away for the contest - no story orders to get the butterflies and now I'm not published so can't give them away either - so now I'll just color and share with you all - here they are -
silver and gold with pink bodypurple and silver with pink body
Blue and Green with pink body
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Musing our Children Media Release
M E D I A R E L E A S E
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lea Schizas
E-Mail: museitupeditor@yahoo.ca
Website: Musing Our Children website
The Muse Reading and Writing Appreciation Week is coming to a school near you in October.
The Muse Reading and Writing Appreciation Week is a new initiative intended to reach school-aged children and parents across the world. Our goal is to introduce parents and children to local writers and authors who are passionate about creative writing and reading.
Delve into the imagination and bring a child with you!
Scheduled for the week of October 15-19, Reading and Writing Appreciation Week will reach around the globe. Authors, writers, and volunteers will visit schools and offer free handouts and information to anyone who would like to be involved in helping children and parents understand the value of reading and writing.
If you are interested in having a volunteer come to your classroom to read or to speak about writing during the week of Oct 15-19 please contact/email Lea Schizas at museitupeditor@yahoo.ca
Teachers, parents, and writers can remain updated throughout the year with tips, ideas, and readers’ thoughts and suggestions on how we, as a community, can ban together to help children understand the benefits of reading and writing via the Musing Our Children website: Musing Our Children website
Share the love of reading with a child or student and watch their world blossom!
Anyone interested in volunteering to read to children or talk to them about writing during the week of October 15, can contact/email Lea Schizas at museitupeditor@yahoo.ca or check out Musing Our Children website for more details.
For Immediate Release
Contact: Lea Schizas
E-Mail: museitupeditor@yahoo.ca
Website: Musing Our Children website
The Muse Reading and Writing Appreciation Week is coming to a school near you in October.
The Muse Reading and Writing Appreciation Week is a new initiative intended to reach school-aged children and parents across the world. Our goal is to introduce parents and children to local writers and authors who are passionate about creative writing and reading.
Delve into the imagination and bring a child with you!
Scheduled for the week of October 15-19, Reading and Writing Appreciation Week will reach around the globe. Authors, writers, and volunteers will visit schools and offer free handouts and information to anyone who would like to be involved in helping children and parents understand the value of reading and writing.
If you are interested in having a volunteer come to your classroom to read or to speak about writing during the week of Oct 15-19 please contact/email Lea Schizas at museitupeditor@yahoo.ca
Teachers, parents, and writers can remain updated throughout the year with tips, ideas, and readers’ thoughts and suggestions on how we, as a community, can ban together to help children understand the benefits of reading and writing via the Musing Our Children website: Musing Our Children website
Share the love of reading with a child or student and watch their world blossom!
Anyone interested in volunteering to read to children or talk to them about writing during the week of October 15, can contact/email Lea Schizas at museitupeditor@yahoo.ca or check out Musing Our Children website for more details.
Muse It Up Online Conference
I'm a guest speaker for this conference to take place in October. If you have some time to drop in, come hear what different authors and editors and others involved in the publishing world have to offer. Click here to check out the schedule of events or to see who is participating. See you all in the postings. - E :)
what kind of girl is your MC
Take this quiz with your MC in mind and see what kind of girl she is. Kelly is smart - but all that history stuff paid off for her - E :)
| You are a Brainy Girl! |
 |
What'>http://www.blogthings.com/whatkindofgirlareyouquiz/">What Kind of Girl Are You?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
CONTEST REVERTED
I regret to say that the contest is no longer valid. My stories have been reverted and are no longer "published". I was hoping the contest would be a way to pick up sales numbers but alas, no story to read, no reason to hold a contest - sorry to all you wonderful followers out there. E :)
Monday, June 25, 2007
GOOD NEWS AND SEMI-GOOD NEWS
Butterfly Halves was at the #5 spot last week on http://www.fictionwise.com/, Echelon Press's page (on the left side, scan down towards the bottom, where it says browse and a list of ways to browse, go under publishers), find Echelon Press and then you can see where stories are sitting on that board), and this week with the new additions and updates, it is still at #5. This may mean no sales but the books behind me didn't sell anything either or maybe one sale, enough to keep me in that postion, even with everyone above me selling - hope it means the latter - sales are good. But since this is the last week of the accounting period, I would like to see more sales, especially since I'm running a contest - see previous post.
The Tulip Kiss had been at #18 and today, it's up to #15 - so woohooo - means maybe one copy sold, enough to bring it up six slots.
I'm trying to come up with an idea for a contest for The Tulip Kiss, something I can do as a giveaway but am not coming up with anything right off the top of my head. If anyone has any ideas of what I can do as giveaways for the contest, I'm open to suggestions - Bring it on - E :)
The Tulip Kiss had been at #18 and today, it's up to #15 - so woohooo - means maybe one copy sold, enough to bring it up six slots.
I'm trying to come up with an idea for a contest for The Tulip Kiss, something I can do as a giveaway but am not coming up with anything right off the top of my head. If anyone has any ideas of what I can do as giveaways for the contest, I'm open to suggestions - Bring it on - E :)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sample butterflies for Butterfly Halves contest
ENTER BUTTERFLY HALVES CONTEST AND WIN YOUR CHOICE
How to enter the contest:
1. Purchase your copy of "Butterfly Halves" from www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/ElysabethElderingeBooks.htm.
2. Read through (shouldn't take more than half an hour of your time to read).
3. Email me at eeldering@gmail.com and tell me the names of the two girls and what their occupational choices were at the end of the story.
4. Indicate your choice of two colors for your butterfly from the below list.
5. Include a mailing address for your butterfly to be sent to you.
How to enter the contest:
1. Purchase your copy of "Butterfly Halves" from www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/ElysabethElderingeBooks.htm.
2. Read through (shouldn't take more than half an hour of your time to read).
3. Email me at eeldering@gmail.com and tell me the names of the two girls and what their occupational choices were at the end of the story.
4. Indicate your choice of two colors for your butterfly from the below list.
5. Include a mailing address for your butterfly to be sent to you.
It's that easy. So come on girls, read a good short story and win your butterfly today.
The color choices right now are from the Fashion group and include: Sunset Orange, Forest Green, Playful Purple, Rambunctious Red, Deep Sea Blue, Yellow Blaze, Key Lime, Blue Skies Blue. (Two colors are missing but should be found soon - they are Hot Aqua and Fundango Pink)
For the next run of the contest, I will change to the Earthly Expressions colors. The colors in that group are: Prairie Berry, Desert Rose, Harvest Orange, Adobe Orange, Honey Brown, Moonstone Yellow, Meadow Green, For-Ever Green, Misty Blue, Midnight Navy, Plumtastic Purple, and Stone Grey (not necessarily a butterfly color but it might work in combination with some of the other colors).
For the next run of the contest, I will change to the Earthly Expressions colors. The colors in that group are: Prairie Berry, Desert Rose, Harvest Orange, Adobe Orange, Honey Brown, Moonstone Yellow, Meadow Green, For-Ever Green, Misty Blue, Midnight Navy, Plumtastic Purple, and Stone Grey (not necessarily a butterfly color but it might work in combination with some of the other colors).
The third run of the contest will be choice of Paradise Pastels. The colors here are: Petal Pink, Pink Flamingo, Peach Parfait (almost sounds like a dessert), Summer Melon, Lemon Bliss, Tiki Hut Tan, Margarita Green, Lime Sorbet, Tranquil Teal, Oceanview Blue, Polynesian Purple, and Cloud Nine Grey (hum, I never knew Cloud-9 had a color - the place where dreams are made of - lol)
I've colored a few butterflies and scanned them into the computer so you can see what they look like - Let me know what you think.
Enter today and win your own butterfly - hand colored for you - E :)
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Butterflies
I was sitting here thinking - I'm running this contest on http://www.myspace.com/elysabetheldering for butterfly halves and I have this metallic tempera paint, why not see if the paint sticks to the rubber butterflies and I did three of them - a gold one
, a bronze one
and a copper one
. I also had some acrylic paint from a small stencil kit I purchased this weekend, you know those little cups of paint for like paint-by-number kits or things like that? Well, I thought wonder if this metallic will work. So i did three of them. Then I did the acrylic paint on a butterfly. I think they look pretty cool here but you be the judge - tell me what you think of my butterflies. I'm probably going to color them with permanent markers as that seems to do the best or the small acrylic paint things, because they look so much better. If anyone enters the contest and wins, they will receive their choice of colors for the butterflies (which I will give to them when I give the winners their notice) or a temporary butterfly tattoo. So purchase your copy of Butterfly Halves from http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/ElysabethElderingeBooks.htm and then come over to myspace and answer my contest questions.
, a bronze one
and a copper one
. I also had some acrylic paint from a small stencil kit I purchased this weekend, you know those little cups of paint for like paint-by-number kits or things like that? Well, I thought wonder if this metallic will work. So i did three of them. Then I did the acrylic paint on a butterfly. I think they look pretty cool here but you be the judge - tell me what you think of my butterflies. I'm probably going to color them with permanent markers as that seems to do the best or the small acrylic paint things, because they look so much better. If anyone enters the contest and wins, they will receive their choice of colors for the butterflies (which I will give to them when I give the winners their notice) or a temporary butterfly tattoo. So purchase your copy of Butterfly Halves from http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/ElysabethElderingeBooks.htm and then come over to myspace and answer my contest questions.Monday, June 18, 2007
FEEL THE POWER OF THE BUTTERFLY - contest
I'm running a contest on myspace for Butterfly Halves. Please see my link to enter the contest. - E :)
http://www.myspace.com/elysabetheldering
http://www.myspace.com/elysabetheldering
Butterfly Halves hits #4 best seller on Echelon Press's list
Now if that isn't good news, I don't know what it is. Check out the fictionwise listing --- http://www.fictionwise.com/eBooks/EchelonPresseBooks.htm. This is the listing for the third week of Butterfly Halves being up. I hadn't even checked the listings today but someone informed me on the Echelon Author's forum this evening that I was #4 - so I'm doing the happy dance -
Yay - so glad you all have been by to purchase my story - thank you all my friends and readers - E :)
What movie is your love like
I agree with this to a point. There is a typo or something missing in one of the lines and I'm not really sure what it is supposed to say - but most of this rings true for me - E :)
| Your Love Life is Like Titanic |
 "Promise me you'll survive. That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless." You think that you only really have one true love in your life. And that you better to anything and everything to be with that person. You tend to be very nostalgic about past loves that didn't work out. There are many secret feelings that you keep to yourself. Your love style: Deep and emotional Your Hollywood Ending Will Be: Bittersweet |
Tagged meme
LindaBudz from Just Like the Nut (http://www.justlikethenut.blogspot.com/) has tagged me for my blog’s first ever meme!
The ground rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
I read her meme and one of them spurred something that I hadn't thought of in a long time, so here goes my meme:
1. When I was in 8th grade, living on the base at West Point, my father was a "medic" in the hospital. I would miss the school bus on purpose (even missed the late bus (the second bus) that ran) every once in a while, couldn't get away with it every day and take the public bus to the hospital and sit there and observe people coming into the emergency room (usually when my father was working and I knew when the last bus ran up the mountain to our house or my father could take a dinner break and take me home). One time, a young guy had come in; he had been in a fight and there were knives and probably other weaponry involved. Of course since he had been stabbed in the chest, they needed x-rays. There was a big commotion about the x-rays being reversed, the x-ray techs being incompetent, et cetera. After three sets of x-rays, it was determined that the man's insides were reversed, literally - his heart was on the right side and his lungs were turned around - it was like someone had flipped his innards. He was lucky this was the case because if he had been "normal", the knive would have probably punctured his heart or done more damage than it did. He walked out of the hospital, alive and patched up. (See Linda's embalming comment - don't know why her witnessing two embalmings triggered this -maybe it was Weird Occurrence in my lifetime thing).
2. The year my father was supposed to go to Vietnam, he received orders to stay in Germany (changing planes, handed new orders so a good thing - happened Thanksgiving day). When we first arrived in Germany, we had snow but that isn't the amazing thing (obviously in December there would be snow -lol). My grandmother from South Carolina came to visit us the following April (she loved to travel and would visit the families at some time during their stint at whatever base they were assigned). It snowed the night after she arrived, and the next morning we were doing the castle tour thing (must have been during spring break because I don't remember us missing school for her visit) and the temperatures had risen enough to melt most of the snow - although some places were out of the sun's reach. What we witnessed were women in bikinis on rooftops or other places that still had snow sunbathing (my grandmother wanted us to carry our heavy winter coats with us - which was yuck - 70+ degree weather and we had to tote the winter coats while women were out sunbathing).
3. I fell asleep at the wheel of my Taurus wagon once on a major highway and hit the guard rail and bounced back into traffic and pulled over to the side without much damage. I was more shaken than anything
4. I triggered an asthma attack by eating a half gallon of Mayfield's Moose Tracks ice cream - over a period of about 4-6 hours. Because I had been tested for food allergies a few years before this and had shown a positive to peanuts, the peanut butter cups triggered a similar reaction but not as severe as the allergic reaction to something I ate that prompted the testing.
5. My allergin testing for possible food triggers showed positive to almost every food I enjoyed and ate at the time. I still eat the foods I like except the nuts (almonds make my forehead and face itch - and that happened long before I got tested for allergies) and haven't had an attack quite like the first one.
6. I have worked in the same type of job for the past 20 years; and have worked at home for the past 7 of those.
7. I sprained my wrist on my first ever work study job. I worked in the cafeteria (at Montreat-Anderson College, now Montreat University I think) and my specific job was scooping ice cream. It was four days before I even knew my wrist was sprained - I had worked Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch and dinner and Monday dinner and then started classes on Tuesday. My first class didn't have to write anything but my second class, Bible, we had to take notes and when I was attempting to write, I broke down in tears because the pain was too much. I looked at my wrist and it was very swollen.
8. I've had two anaphylactic reactions to aspirin (unrelated incidents) and one milder reaction. The wrist sprain led me to the first anaphylactic reaction to aspirin. I went to the school nurse and she wrapped my wrist and gave me some aspirin (had never had because my mother didn't keep it in the house, always telling us that if she ever got any aspirin in her system she'd have to have her stomach pumped - that's how severe her reactions are) because of the anti-inflammatory properties. I walked from the nurse's office down to the post office (all downhill), then back up the hill and up a flight of stairs to my French class. By the time I finished class, I couldn't breathe; it felt like my lungs were full of water and I was probably in a panic state. (I attributed my shortness of breath to the walking down the hill, up the hill and running up a flight of stairs to get to class before being late until the end of class when I was vaguely aware of what the instructor was asking me. It was a scary thing). Went straight to the nurse and she gave me some Benadryl and I slept the whole afternoon, sleeping off the aspirin reaction. Ended up having my wrist splinted for over three weeks, with a thumb spica (only half way up my thumb) the first time and then a full spica the second time - never was said it was a fracture (had tons of x-rays to check for it but I know I couldn't make a fist and it hurt like crazy).
The second incident happened about a week after the sprain and the reaction to the aspirin when I had my monthly and took some Midol for my cramps (apparently back then aspirin was a main ingredient in Midol; but the reaction wasn't nearly as bad as the first one - but similar - took some benadryl and slept it off)
The third incident happened when I was at a friend's house and her father was tuning my car or working on it and he had said something about feeling the radiator or something and I popped my finger in the fan (yes, dumb me - sticking my fingers on anything engine related while the car is running). It was the sensation that my finger had been cut off super quick but it only blood blistered in the end. They took me to military base emergency room and I must have been in shock because when they asked me if I was allergic to any medications, I told them no at first but then remembered before leaving telling them I was allergic to aspirin and had had two reactions to them. Whatever pain killer they prescribed to me, we think, must have had some aspirin in it. By the time we got back to my friend's house, I had watery eyes, was sneezing and going through the usual "hayfever allergy" symptoms. We all thought it was because of the cat but since it was happening outside and the cat was nowhere near me, we called the pharmacy back and they looked it up and sure enough there was such a minute trace of aspirin or a derivative of aspirin, that it triggered a simple allergy reaction. I was told to stop taking the medication immediately; I did and the symptoms resolved within a few hours.
And as you all can see from most of my items - I'm prolific at times. Guess that's what being a writer means, although there are times when the words don't flow as easily as these.
Now to tag 8 people --- hmmmm - who will be my victims, um friends to tag - lol - (the rules say I am supposed to say who I am tagging and then go to their blogs and let them know they've been tagged so my taggees will be Janelle, Chai, Kimberli, Writing Angel, Heather, Susan M., (that's six - maybe that will work) -
Enjoy - see you all in the postings - E :)
The ground rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
I read her meme and one of them spurred something that I hadn't thought of in a long time, so here goes my meme:
1. When I was in 8th grade, living on the base at West Point, my father was a "medic" in the hospital. I would miss the school bus on purpose (even missed the late bus (the second bus) that ran) every once in a while, couldn't get away with it every day and take the public bus to the hospital and sit there and observe people coming into the emergency room (usually when my father was working and I knew when the last bus ran up the mountain to our house or my father could take a dinner break and take me home). One time, a young guy had come in; he had been in a fight and there were knives and probably other weaponry involved. Of course since he had been stabbed in the chest, they needed x-rays. There was a big commotion about the x-rays being reversed, the x-ray techs being incompetent, et cetera. After three sets of x-rays, it was determined that the man's insides were reversed, literally - his heart was on the right side and his lungs were turned around - it was like someone had flipped his innards. He was lucky this was the case because if he had been "normal", the knive would have probably punctured his heart or done more damage than it did. He walked out of the hospital, alive and patched up. (See Linda's embalming comment - don't know why her witnessing two embalmings triggered this -maybe it was Weird Occurrence in my lifetime thing).
2. The year my father was supposed to go to Vietnam, he received orders to stay in Germany (changing planes, handed new orders so a good thing - happened Thanksgiving day). When we first arrived in Germany, we had snow but that isn't the amazing thing (obviously in December there would be snow -lol). My grandmother from South Carolina came to visit us the following April (she loved to travel and would visit the families at some time during their stint at whatever base they were assigned). It snowed the night after she arrived, and the next morning we were doing the castle tour thing (must have been during spring break because I don't remember us missing school for her visit) and the temperatures had risen enough to melt most of the snow - although some places were out of the sun's reach. What we witnessed were women in bikinis on rooftops or other places that still had snow sunbathing (my grandmother wanted us to carry our heavy winter coats with us - which was yuck - 70+ degree weather and we had to tote the winter coats while women were out sunbathing).
3. I fell asleep at the wheel of my Taurus wagon once on a major highway and hit the guard rail and bounced back into traffic and pulled over to the side without much damage. I was more shaken than anything
4. I triggered an asthma attack by eating a half gallon of Mayfield's Moose Tracks ice cream - over a period of about 4-6 hours. Because I had been tested for food allergies a few years before this and had shown a positive to peanuts, the peanut butter cups triggered a similar reaction but not as severe as the allergic reaction to something I ate that prompted the testing.
5. My allergin testing for possible food triggers showed positive to almost every food I enjoyed and ate at the time. I still eat the foods I like except the nuts (almonds make my forehead and face itch - and that happened long before I got tested for allergies) and haven't had an attack quite like the first one.
6. I have worked in the same type of job for the past 20 years; and have worked at home for the past 7 of those.
7. I sprained my wrist on my first ever work study job. I worked in the cafeteria (at Montreat-Anderson College, now Montreat University I think) and my specific job was scooping ice cream. It was four days before I even knew my wrist was sprained - I had worked Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and dinner, Sunday lunch and dinner and Monday dinner and then started classes on Tuesday. My first class didn't have to write anything but my second class, Bible, we had to take notes and when I was attempting to write, I broke down in tears because the pain was too much. I looked at my wrist and it was very swollen.
8. I've had two anaphylactic reactions to aspirin (unrelated incidents) and one milder reaction. The wrist sprain led me to the first anaphylactic reaction to aspirin. I went to the school nurse and she wrapped my wrist and gave me some aspirin (had never had because my mother didn't keep it in the house, always telling us that if she ever got any aspirin in her system she'd have to have her stomach pumped - that's how severe her reactions are) because of the anti-inflammatory properties. I walked from the nurse's office down to the post office (all downhill), then back up the hill and up a flight of stairs to my French class. By the time I finished class, I couldn't breathe; it felt like my lungs were full of water and I was probably in a panic state. (I attributed my shortness of breath to the walking down the hill, up the hill and running up a flight of stairs to get to class before being late until the end of class when I was vaguely aware of what the instructor was asking me. It was a scary thing). Went straight to the nurse and she gave me some Benadryl and I slept the whole afternoon, sleeping off the aspirin reaction. Ended up having my wrist splinted for over three weeks, with a thumb spica (only half way up my thumb) the first time and then a full spica the second time - never was said it was a fracture (had tons of x-rays to check for it but I know I couldn't make a fist and it hurt like crazy).
The second incident happened about a week after the sprain and the reaction to the aspirin when I had my monthly and took some Midol for my cramps (apparently back then aspirin was a main ingredient in Midol; but the reaction wasn't nearly as bad as the first one - but similar - took some benadryl and slept it off)
The third incident happened when I was at a friend's house and her father was tuning my car or working on it and he had said something about feeling the radiator or something and I popped my finger in the fan (yes, dumb me - sticking my fingers on anything engine related while the car is running). It was the sensation that my finger had been cut off super quick but it only blood blistered in the end. They took me to military base emergency room and I must have been in shock because when they asked me if I was allergic to any medications, I told them no at first but then remembered before leaving telling them I was allergic to aspirin and had had two reactions to them. Whatever pain killer they prescribed to me, we think, must have had some aspirin in it. By the time we got back to my friend's house, I had watery eyes, was sneezing and going through the usual "hayfever allergy" symptoms. We all thought it was because of the cat but since it was happening outside and the cat was nowhere near me, we called the pharmacy back and they looked it up and sure enough there was such a minute trace of aspirin or a derivative of aspirin, that it triggered a simple allergy reaction. I was told to stop taking the medication immediately; I did and the symptoms resolved within a few hours.
And as you all can see from most of my items - I'm prolific at times. Guess that's what being a writer means, although there are times when the words don't flow as easily as these.
Now to tag 8 people --- hmmmm - who will be my victims, um friends to tag - lol - (the rules say I am supposed to say who I am tagging and then go to their blogs and let them know they've been tagged so my taggees will be Janelle, Chai, Kimberli, Writing Angel, Heather, Susan M., (that's six - maybe that will work) -
Enjoy - see you all in the postings - E :)
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Free workshop this weekend - Editors and authors working together
I'm one of the contributors to the workshop - so if you are interested in working with editors for different things - stop on over and see us - E :)
T.E.L.L. Open Workshop Discussion.We are pleased to invite all writers and editors to participate in theupcoming discusssion on our yahoo grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/literature-league.EDITING: EDITORS AND WRITERS WORKING TOGETHER.The discussion takes place on Sat 9th and Sun 10th June, from 10am - 10pmEST (3pm - 3am UK) each day. You can pop in and out anytime during thediscussion and take part in any of the threads/topics that have started,or pose a question to us our our guests.During the discussion we will explore:Copy Editing,Self Editing,Proofreading,Acquisitions Editing,Magazine and Newspaper Editing,Editor and Writer Etiquette,and more.We aim to provide writers with valuable information that could help themform better working relationships with the editors they work with in thefuture.To assist in this we have the pleasure of the company of the followinghighly experienced guests during the the 2 days:Brenna Lyons, who is multi-published in indie/e; at the height of her timewith one publisher, she had more than 4 dozen titles out and selling.She's the current president of EPIC, and has worked with many editorsduring her time as a writer. Brenna will be available on and offthroughout the discussion.Elizabeth Burton, who is currently Executive Editor for ZumayaPublications LLC, and has been an editor for almost 20 years. She is alsoan author of three published novels with a fourth, The Everdark Gate, dueout this fall, she has written three erotic romance novellas for eXtasyBooks and was a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest forspeculative fiction. Elizabeth will be available throughout the first dayand up till 1pm EST on Sunday.Jolie du Pre, who is a writer of lesbian erotica and lesbian eroticromance. Her stories have appeared on numerous websites, in e-book and inprint in Best Lesbian Erotica 2007 and more. Jolie is also the editor ofIridescence: Sensuous Shades of Lesbian Erotica, published by AlysonBooks. She is the founder of GLBT Promo, a promotional group for GLBTerotica and erotic romance. She is the moderator for the Erotic AuthorsAssociation's blog and she is also a weekly contributor to The BlushingLadies Journal. Jolie will be available from 1pm EST on Sunday.Elysabeth Eldering, who has an article on editing and self publishing toher credit. She is also the editor of the paranormal mystery storyline forthe Magazine of Unbelievable Stories published by Quill-Pen Press. To hercredit, she has also been asked to edit novels for the same publisher inthe upcoming year. She has edited four novels and is in the process ofstarting her own editing service. Elysabeth also does book reviews forArmchair Interviews, Curled Up With a Good Book, and New Mystery Readersezine. In 2007, Elysabeth volunteered to judge mid length storiessubmitted for the Derringers Awards. She will be available from 1pm EST onSat.Between them, our four guests are very experienced in all aspects ofediting, and also in working with editors. Why not join us this weekendand either share your own experience and hints/tips, or find out how tobetter your working relationships with a writer or editor?Our yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/literature-league will hostthis discussion. Simply go to the group and join in order to participate.If you don't currently have a yahoo ID, follow the instructions at thispoint to get one. You can follow/participate through your email inbox, orfrom the group directly via the 'Messages' link on the left column of thegroup page (this is the quickest and easiest method).Some discussion rules:1) Stay on topic at all times. Diverse if you are trying to make a validpoint, but do not stray off into non-topic discussions.2) NO SPAM, and NO SOLICITING! There will be no warnings to anyone onthis. Do it once, and you're off the discussion and banned from the group.See you all on Saturday!Jim Brown
T.E.L.L. Open Workshop Discussion.We are pleased to invite all writers and editors to participate in theupcoming discusssion on our yahoo grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/literature-league.EDITING: EDITORS AND WRITERS WORKING TOGETHER.The discussion takes place on Sat 9th and Sun 10th June, from 10am - 10pmEST (3pm - 3am UK) each day. You can pop in and out anytime during thediscussion and take part in any of the threads/topics that have started,or pose a question to us our our guests.During the discussion we will explore:Copy Editing,Self Editing,Proofreading,Acquisitions Editing,Magazine and Newspaper Editing,Editor and Writer Etiquette,and more.We aim to provide writers with valuable information that could help themform better working relationships with the editors they work with in thefuture.To assist in this we have the pleasure of the company of the followinghighly experienced guests during the the 2 days:Brenna Lyons, who is multi-published in indie/e; at the height of her timewith one publisher, she had more than 4 dozen titles out and selling.She's the current president of EPIC, and has worked with many editorsduring her time as a writer. Brenna will be available on and offthroughout the discussion.Elizabeth Burton, who is currently Executive Editor for ZumayaPublications LLC, and has been an editor for almost 20 years. She is alsoan author of three published novels with a fourth, The Everdark Gate, dueout this fall, she has written three erotic romance novellas for eXtasyBooks and was a finalist in the Writers of the Future contest forspeculative fiction. Elizabeth will be available throughout the first dayand up till 1pm EST on Sunday.Jolie du Pre, who is a writer of lesbian erotica and lesbian eroticromance. Her stories have appeared on numerous websites, in e-book and inprint in Best Lesbian Erotica 2007 and more. Jolie is also the editor ofIridescence: Sensuous Shades of Lesbian Erotica, published by AlysonBooks. She is the founder of GLBT Promo, a promotional group for GLBTerotica and erotic romance. She is the moderator for the Erotic AuthorsAssociation's blog and she is also a weekly contributor to The BlushingLadies Journal. Jolie will be available from 1pm EST on Sunday.Elysabeth Eldering, who has an article on editing and self publishing toher credit. She is also the editor of the paranormal mystery storyline forthe Magazine of Unbelievable Stories published by Quill-Pen Press. To hercredit, she has also been asked to edit novels for the same publisher inthe upcoming year. She has edited four novels and is in the process ofstarting her own editing service. Elysabeth also does book reviews forArmchair Interviews, Curled Up With a Good Book, and New Mystery Readersezine. In 2007, Elysabeth volunteered to judge mid length storiessubmitted for the Derringers Awards. She will be available from 1pm EST onSat.Between them, our four guests are very experienced in all aspects ofediting, and also in working with editors. Why not join us this weekendand either share your own experience and hints/tips, or find out how tobetter your working relationships with a writer or editor?Our yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/literature-league will hostthis discussion. Simply go to the group and join in order to participate.If you don't currently have a yahoo ID, follow the instructions at thispoint to get one. You can follow/participate through your email inbox, orfrom the group directly via the 'Messages' link on the left column of thegroup page (this is the quickest and easiest method).Some discussion rules:1) Stay on topic at all times. Diverse if you are trying to make a validpoint, but do not stray off into non-topic discussions.2) NO SPAM, and NO SOLICITING! There will be no warnings to anyone onthis. Do it once, and you're off the discussion and banned from the group.See you all on Saturday!Jim Brown
Monday, June 04, 2007
June - what a month - Birthdays galore
I told you before that there were tons of birthdays and remember dates in June so here they are -
1st - one of my cousin's b-day (we aren't in close contact so I couldn't tell you if it was Brian's, Sherrie's or Christopher's - so when I say one of the cousin's you'll know it's one of those three)
2nd - my brother's anniversary and I believe it is his 17th? - hum I guess I should call and find out what they just celebrated - again not very close so don't keep in contact
5th - MINE - A milestone for me - I'll be 45 which is probably half my life expectancy - woohoooooo -
6th - Brandon's, my nephew who my son was with during spring break and they got picked up by the cops which Benjamin thought was the coolest thing
9th - another one of the cousin's (see note above on the 1st)
15th - one of my friend's from high school
19th - the other cousin's (the only reason I remember the dates is that it was the 1st plus the 9th - to make 19 - lol)
There are more I'm sure and I'm too addled-brained to think of them all - we have a slew of them between the middle of May and the end of June - then things are quiet for a bit and pick back up in the fall - so more then when I can get everything together.
See you all in the postings - E :)
1st - one of my cousin's b-day (we aren't in close contact so I couldn't tell you if it was Brian's, Sherrie's or Christopher's - so when I say one of the cousin's you'll know it's one of those three)
2nd - my brother's anniversary and I believe it is his 17th? - hum I guess I should call and find out what they just celebrated - again not very close so don't keep in contact
5th - MINE - A milestone for me - I'll be 45 which is probably half my life expectancy - woohoooooo -
6th - Brandon's, my nephew who my son was with during spring break and they got picked up by the cops which Benjamin thought was the coolest thing
9th - another one of the cousin's (see note above on the 1st)
15th - one of my friend's from high school
19th - the other cousin's (the only reason I remember the dates is that it was the 1st plus the 9th - to make 19 - lol)
There are more I'm sure and I'm too addled-brained to think of them all - we have a slew of them between the middle of May and the end of June - then things are quiet for a bit and pick back up in the fall - so more then when I can get everything together.
See you all in the postings - E :)
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Mystery Readers/reviewers needed
Below is the information from today's posting under "Masterclass" - This is a relatively new blog and the postings have been really great so far. I would like to encourage all you mystery fans out there to post reviews on the site. Reviewers are wonderful to us authors.
you can see all the postings by going to www.criminalbrief.com - hope to see you all in the postings - E :)
Below, Doug Allyn makes a casual reference to his fifth Edgar nomination. He neglects to mention that he has actually been nominated seven times, more than any other mystery writer in any category, and once walked home with the little porcelain bust of Poe. He arrived on the mystery scene with a bang in 1986, winning the Robert L. Fish Award for Best First Short Story, which despite its name, is an Edgar equivalent. He has also won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s Readers Choice Award more times than any other writer.
THE NOT-SO-SHORT STORY
by Doug Allyn
What a fun site this is going to be. In the premier essay, Ed Hoch posed the question, ‘why do I write short stories?’ and while I agree 100% with Ed’s answers, (the precision of the plot, the intensity of the experience), my own reply would be quite different.
As Samuel L. Jackson says in “Pulp Fiction,” (just after he shoots the kid on the couch) “allow me to retort.”
Here’s a dirty little secret short story writers guard like aces in a game of Texas hold ’em. As an art form, short stories offer more creative freedom than the novel.
Whoa, aren’t there limits? Poe himself said “The short story must involve a single incident which is resolved at a single point in time.” Or words to that effect.
Horse hockey. Here’s the truth: The short story must be…short. If you can’t make your point in fifteen thousand words, you’re either writing a novel or you belong in politics. Aside from the lone limit of length, shorts offer all the splendid possibilities of the novel, plus a few perks.
For example: Jeffery Deaver sometimes employs literary slight of hand in his excellent short fiction. He’ll describe a character with complete accuracy, relying on the reader’s own preconceptions to provide the mystery. His stories supply a double kick when we realize Jeff hasn’t misled us, we’ve tricked ourselves. It’s a gutsy gambit, and while Jeff plays it to perfection, the technique won’t work at novel length, where further descriptions would necessarily destroy the illusion.
Shira Rozan’s exquisite, Edgar-nominated tale, ‘Building,’ illustrates another bonus of the short form; the hero needn’t be likeable. Her brutish narrator tells his tale in savage interior monologues. As a short, the story works brilliantly, but a novel set inside this guy’s head would read like a bad month at Buchenwald.
What about time? Unlike the novel, a short can actually play out in real time, in a single, intense moment, a la Poe. Nor are greater lengths a problem. My personal fave, and a big influence on my own work, is John O’Hara. Best known for epic, socially conscious, (i.e soapy) novels, O’Hara also wrote short stories that trashed every time limit profs tried to drum into my skull in Creative Writing 101.
Some O’Hara tales resolve in minutes, others can take decades to play out, but the payoff is always worth the wait.
In short fiction, style is like a smorgasbord, and in my own work, I’ve pretty much tasted everything on the table. The late, great, Cathleen Jordan (longtime editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine) once remarked that there was no such thing as a Doug Allyn story. When you open the envelope, you never know what you’re going to get. Which ain’t necessarily a good thing.
After my fifth Edgar nomination, (and fifth loss) my agent griped that the weirdoes who populate my tales couldn’t win. (My hero that year was an alcoholic undertaker) “Try somebody more mainstream, a cop or a private eye, even a lawyer.”
Perhaps he was right. Or not. When I did win, my hero was a medieval minstrel obsessed with a blind bear. Not exactly mainstream novel material.
I truly believe the most egregious limitations of the short form are those we impose on ourselves. Writers are human. We want people to like our stuff, (with the exception of Joyce Carol Oates, who doesn’t give a damn, and rightly so), but our eagerness to please sometimes tugs us toward safer, oft-traveled pathways.
There’s nothing wrong with using a classic form when it suits the story, but when we restrict ourselves to the familiar, in an attempt to ‘give the readers what they want,’ we risk becoming the equivalent of Golden Oldies radio.
Time and again, our readers have proved their ears are wide open. This year’s Ellery Queen Readers Award winner, was a first time writer with an off-the-wall tale of a college professor driven to outlawry in the Everglades.
Why write short fiction? Because when we trust the readers, our creative options are unlimited. Write it right, and they will come.
-->
Posted in Mystery Masterclass on June 2nd, 2007RSS 2.0 Trackback.
2 comments
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm, Tom Walsh Says:
Doug Allyn: “What a fun site this is going to be.”
Doug, it’s already fun, but it would be a lot more fun with greater reader participation!
The bloggers, published writers all, are doing their part with great enthusiasm and success. But where is the input from folks who are merely readers?Comments encouraging the bloggers are fine, they’re just not enough. So far, we have only four Instant Reviews, three by published writers and the other by an elderly gent with no authorial ambitions. Why haven’t more, non-writer fans of short form crime fiction been willing to contribute a review?
Wouldn’t it be great if mystery fans were like sports fans who can’t wait to share their strongly held views (positive and negative) about yesterday’s game? The goal of this site is to promote the short mystery story. What better way than to review a story just read? Well, all right, bloggers’ stories should be off limits (for reasons of civility). That still leaves a heck of a lot of stories to discuss. Fans, start typing!
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm, Elysabeth Eldering Says:
I agree - where are the readers? It seems the same few of us are commenting (not that it is a bad thing) but still we need to promote this blog and need to get more readers in here to do reviews - I would but since I have so many reviews going on right now, it is hard to get more going (unless I can post a review that I’ve posted on other websites here?) - I know that the more we get ourselves out there, the more readers we will attract. Like I’m part of this blog -I’ve just adopted it as one of my own - lol.
I will post on my blog - looking for readers to do book and short mystery story reviews - and I’ll get others to post too - I’ve got several places to post - hopefully that will bring in the readers - E
you can see all the postings by going to www.criminalbrief.com - hope to see you all in the postings - E :)
Below, Doug Allyn makes a casual reference to his fifth Edgar nomination. He neglects to mention that he has actually been nominated seven times, more than any other mystery writer in any category, and once walked home with the little porcelain bust of Poe. He arrived on the mystery scene with a bang in 1986, winning the Robert L. Fish Award for Best First Short Story, which despite its name, is an Edgar equivalent. He has also won the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s Readers Choice Award more times than any other writer.
THE NOT-SO-SHORT STORY
by Doug Allyn
What a fun site this is going to be. In the premier essay, Ed Hoch posed the question, ‘why do I write short stories?’ and while I agree 100% with Ed’s answers, (the precision of the plot, the intensity of the experience), my own reply would be quite different.
As Samuel L. Jackson says in “Pulp Fiction,” (just after he shoots the kid on the couch) “allow me to retort.”
Here’s a dirty little secret short story writers guard like aces in a game of Texas hold ’em. As an art form, short stories offer more creative freedom than the novel.
Whoa, aren’t there limits? Poe himself said “The short story must involve a single incident which is resolved at a single point in time.” Or words to that effect.
Horse hockey. Here’s the truth: The short story must be…short. If you can’t make your point in fifteen thousand words, you’re either writing a novel or you belong in politics. Aside from the lone limit of length, shorts offer all the splendid possibilities of the novel, plus a few perks.
For example: Jeffery Deaver sometimes employs literary slight of hand in his excellent short fiction. He’ll describe a character with complete accuracy, relying on the reader’s own preconceptions to provide the mystery. His stories supply a double kick when we realize Jeff hasn’t misled us, we’ve tricked ourselves. It’s a gutsy gambit, and while Jeff plays it to perfection, the technique won’t work at novel length, where further descriptions would necessarily destroy the illusion.
Shira Rozan’s exquisite, Edgar-nominated tale, ‘Building,’ illustrates another bonus of the short form; the hero needn’t be likeable. Her brutish narrator tells his tale in savage interior monologues. As a short, the story works brilliantly, but a novel set inside this guy’s head would read like a bad month at Buchenwald.
What about time? Unlike the novel, a short can actually play out in real time, in a single, intense moment, a la Poe. Nor are greater lengths a problem. My personal fave, and a big influence on my own work, is John O’Hara. Best known for epic, socially conscious, (i.e soapy) novels, O’Hara also wrote short stories that trashed every time limit profs tried to drum into my skull in Creative Writing 101.
Some O’Hara tales resolve in minutes, others can take decades to play out, but the payoff is always worth the wait.
In short fiction, style is like a smorgasbord, and in my own work, I’ve pretty much tasted everything on the table. The late, great, Cathleen Jordan (longtime editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine) once remarked that there was no such thing as a Doug Allyn story. When you open the envelope, you never know what you’re going to get. Which ain’t necessarily a good thing.
After my fifth Edgar nomination, (and fifth loss) my agent griped that the weirdoes who populate my tales couldn’t win. (My hero that year was an alcoholic undertaker) “Try somebody more mainstream, a cop or a private eye, even a lawyer.”
Perhaps he was right. Or not. When I did win, my hero was a medieval minstrel obsessed with a blind bear. Not exactly mainstream novel material.
I truly believe the most egregious limitations of the short form are those we impose on ourselves. Writers are human. We want people to like our stuff, (with the exception of Joyce Carol Oates, who doesn’t give a damn, and rightly so), but our eagerness to please sometimes tugs us toward safer, oft-traveled pathways.
There’s nothing wrong with using a classic form when it suits the story, but when we restrict ourselves to the familiar, in an attempt to ‘give the readers what they want,’ we risk becoming the equivalent of Golden Oldies radio.
Time and again, our readers have proved their ears are wide open. This year’s Ellery Queen Readers Award winner, was a first time writer with an off-the-wall tale of a college professor driven to outlawry in the Everglades.
Why write short fiction? Because when we trust the readers, our creative options are unlimited. Write it right, and they will come.
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Posted in Mystery Masterclass on June 2nd, 2007RSS 2.0 Trackback.
2 comments
June 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm, Tom Walsh Says:
Doug Allyn: “What a fun site this is going to be.”
Doug, it’s already fun, but it would be a lot more fun with greater reader participation!
The bloggers, published writers all, are doing their part with great enthusiasm and success. But where is the input from folks who are merely readers?Comments encouraging the bloggers are fine, they’re just not enough. So far, we have only four Instant Reviews, three by published writers and the other by an elderly gent with no authorial ambitions. Why haven’t more, non-writer fans of short form crime fiction been willing to contribute a review?
Wouldn’t it be great if mystery fans were like sports fans who can’t wait to share their strongly held views (positive and negative) about yesterday’s game? The goal of this site is to promote the short mystery story. What better way than to review a story just read? Well, all right, bloggers’ stories should be off limits (for reasons of civility). That still leaves a heck of a lot of stories to discuss. Fans, start typing!
June 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 pm, Elysabeth Eldering Says:
I agree - where are the readers? It seems the same few of us are commenting (not that it is a bad thing) but still we need to promote this blog and need to get more readers in here to do reviews - I would but since I have so many reviews going on right now, it is hard to get more going (unless I can post a review that I’ve posted on other websites here?) - I know that the more we get ourselves out there, the more readers we will attract. Like I’m part of this blog -I’ve just adopted it as one of my own - lol.
I will post on my blog - looking for readers to do book and short mystery story reviews - and I’ll get others to post too - I’ve got several places to post - hopefully that will bring in the readers - E
Thursday, May 31, 2007
More good news
It seems no matter what you do some days to try to work and keep your mind on your task at hand, there are many distractions in our lives.
Okay, I was taking a quick break from the computer (read as bathroom break) and the phone rang - when I got back I saw it was a local number (not a bill collector). We had stopped by a new insurance place in our little town a couple of weeks ago - they were giving lots of goodies away including lunch - free bbq plates and let us bring some home for the boys (son and bear) and all. Well they had a registration for a drawing and I didn't think anything about it until Hailie came down and said I should have answered the phone because it was for me and I needed to listen to the message. So I did my *98 and listened and I won a gift certificate (which I won't know exactly how much or for what merchant until tomorrow morning). -- soo woohooo more good news - E :)
Okay, I was taking a quick break from the computer (read as bathroom break) and the phone rang - when I got back I saw it was a local number (not a bill collector). We had stopped by a new insurance place in our little town a couple of weeks ago - they were giving lots of goodies away including lunch - free bbq plates and let us bring some home for the boys (son and bear) and all. Well they had a registration for a drawing and I didn't think anything about it until Hailie came down and said I should have answered the phone because it was for me and I needed to listen to the message. So I did my *98 and listened and I won a gift certificate (which I won't know exactly how much or for what merchant until tomorrow morning). -- soo woohooo more good news - E :)
Echelon's New Fast Fiction contest is out
Come on all you short story writers - Echelon has posted it's new Fast Fiction contest and we love contests. You may get published within a week of the notification time or you could write something just as awesome as the winner and receive a contract to be published - which is what happened with my Butterfly Halves story. -
So here are the details -
So here are the details -
Fast and Foreign Fiction Writing Contest
As writers we have a wonderful array of locations to set our fiction in. This month Echelon Press challenges you to step outside your comfortable neighborhood and take us to someplace foreign. We want you to send us your stories of the unique and exotic, the bold and adventurous, the mystical and romantic. Take us far away. We want to read your stories that take place anywhere outside of the United States. For some this may mean where you live, but not where live!
Every author at every level should be committed to keeping their name in front of readers. Are you looking for your first publishing credit? Are you between books? Looking for a way to revive characters from books that have been out for a while? Want to introduce new characters for upcoming books? Looking for a way to build your readership? Have we got a promotional opportunity for you!
Echelon Press would like to publish your "Fast and Foreign" June story. The fast part means you have until June 11, 2007 to submit your story of 3000-6000 words. The winner will be notified by June 12, 2007 and have 5 days to edit/revise the story. Echelon Press will publish your story in its e-book division on June 18, 2007. Simple!
Send your submissions as a Word (doc) attachment to contest@echelonpress.com. Your cover letter should be in the body of an e-mail. Cover letters that do not adhere to professional standards will disqualify the submission from further consideration.
Our only real request is that the setting, anyplace outside of the United States be the catalyst for your story! You pick the genre. Stories must adhere to the following guidelines.
Standard Manuscript format:
File saved in Word format (.doc) or (.rtf)
8 ½ x 11 page
Times New Roman 12pt font/black
1-inch margin on all sides/ 1.5 line spacing
Align text left, do not justify (aligning text both left and right)
Header containing title, author name, and page number
Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
Indent new paragraphs 0.3. Do not add blank line between paragraphs.
Show scene breaks with * * * * centered in the appropriate line.
All cover letters must include:
Name (and pseudonym if applicable)
Mailing address
Phone number
E-mail address (required)
Web address (required)
*Winners under 18 years of age must show parent's permission prior to contract.
Previous Winners:
June 2007 -- Coming Soon!
May 2007 -- No Contest
April 2007 -- No Contest
March 2007 -- Janelle Dakota -- Hear the Wind Blow (Fanciful)
February 2007 -- Yvonne Walus -- Small Price to Pay (Frisky)
January 2007 -- Elysabeth Eldering -- The Tulip Kiss (Frigid)
December 2006 -- Dan Strohschien -- The Naughty List (Festive)
November 2006 -- Jamie Summers -- A True Friend (Fatal)
October 2006 -- C.A. Verstraete -- The Witch Tree (Freaky)
On the front page of Fictionwise
When I opened Fictionwise's home page today (like just 5 seconds ago), Butterfly Halves is right there on top of the other listings of newly published stories. Thank you fictionwise for putting me there so that I will be seen.
so check out www.fictionwise.com and see my story right on the front page (this may change tonight or tomorrow - so hurry before they decide to put something else in the #1 place - lol-)
It's pretty cool to be the first thing people see on the website - E :)
so check out www.fictionwise.com and see my story right on the front page (this may change tonight or tomorrow - so hurry before they decide to put something else in the #1 place - lol-)
It's pretty cool to be the first thing people see on the website - E :)
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Second Time Around (Butterfly Halves is officially published - lol)
I've posted this blog on my Book space area - an ning networking group - I'm not sure how I signed up with ning - but I believe it started with Maverick Marketers (another of Karen's sites - but I'm glad I did - book place is for authors, editors, readers, publishers - anyone who likes books - so if you would like to sign up - make sure you add me to your friends' list - the weblink is above in the title but here it is again - http://morganmandelbooks.ning.com/profile/elysabeth42 --- I also belong to a crime space on ning and a publishers site (besides Karen) and maybe one other group - so check out the ning networking things and see where you belong - http://www.ning.com/ - there are many out there and everyone should belong somewhere - lol
I don't know about most of you but when you get your first publishing contract, it is very exciting - can't sit still, must shout it from the rooftops and do the happy dance. How about when you get the second one? or the third? or the 100th? Are you still excited when you get acceptance and receive the contract, even if the contract is basically the same as the first?
I know I am. I received my first contract in January from the Fast and Frigid contest for Echelon Press. That was very exciting. Well, I've entered two more monthly contests since then (forgot to or was too busy to enter the April contest) and didn't win either of them but my March entry (one of my friends did win that so she was published in March), a young adult fantasy story received a contract. Butterfly Halves is officially published now and all I can do is the happy dance, and the announcements and everything. Of course when I got the request to contract the story, I was doing all those things too. So the last two months have been promoting Butterfly Halves and The Tulip Kiss, but in different manners.
So I leave the question to all you published authors - is the second time around just as exciting and good as the first one or not? - E :)
I don't know about most of you but when you get your first publishing contract, it is very exciting - can't sit still, must shout it from the rooftops and do the happy dance. How about when you get the second one? or the third? or the 100th? Are you still excited when you get acceptance and receive the contract, even if the contract is basically the same as the first?
I know I am. I received my first contract in January from the Fast and Frigid contest for Echelon Press. That was very exciting. Well, I've entered two more monthly contests since then (forgot to or was too busy to enter the April contest) and didn't win either of them but my March entry (one of my friends did win that so she was published in March), a young adult fantasy story received a contract. Butterfly Halves is officially published now and all I can do is the happy dance, and the announcements and everything. Of course when I got the request to contract the story, I was doing all those things too. So the last two months have been promoting Butterfly Halves and The Tulip Kiss, but in different manners.
So I leave the question to all you published authors - is the second time around just as exciting and good as the first one or not? - E :)
Friday, May 25, 2007
I made a new friend yesterday
How cool is that? Well I went to Curves to do my thing; got there and there was one other person there - so we were like one machine difference in our points - and we were chatting as we moved around the circuit (we have 8 machines in our facility - some have all 14 machines and some have anywhere between the 8 and 14 - 8 around with rest stops (30 seconds on each and every station including the rest stops between the machines) - our circuit is once around for the full benefit of the workout - we have to go around the circuit three times. So anyway, I think we were both winding down our third time and we were chatting and I leaned over and said - My name's Elysabeth and she goes, I'm Elizabeth too. So after we left curves we had planned to meet this morning about 10 or so - me bringing Hailie with me so she could get her workout done - and workout with my new friend -
I was up until 4ish this morning working with Jane on designing our mini fliers for the Printer's Row book festival in Chicago in a couple of weeks. So I was working it and reworking it and converting to a PDF file (did you know you could convert files online for free to PDF - www.pdfonline.com - really cool thing) - the site we used to print up 1000 brochures (index card size is what we ended up going with - which is 4.25 x 5.5 size - www.printplace.com) - would only take PDF files, JPG files and a couple of other things - so we are getting double sided mini fliers with all of Jane's info on one side and all my info on the other side. We worked it and reworked it and finally I told Jane I needed to go to bed. so shortly after 4 a.m. - we said our final goodnights and headed to bed.
This morning I had set the alarm for about 9ish to get up but had gotten up to go to the bathroom before the alarm went off and just as I was going to crawl back in bed and try to catch a few more ZZZZs this morning the phone rang. Now I was thinking it was one of the kids' friends calling to see if they could come over to play, so wasn't a happy camper. I checked the caller ID and it said Mark R****** - so I didn't know who it was. I decided to answer and it was my new friend from Curves, Beth. (I had given her a business card when we left out of Curves yesterday). She informed me that we couldn't go to curves at 10ish like we had planned because their vehicle was in the shop and she wouldn't have a ride until later in the day - so no problem - we agreed to meet about 1 to do our curves thing. Well then we were chatting on the phone and it got to be 11ish and 11:15 and so on - we finally hung up the phone after 2 hours and I sat down at my computer to check emails and at least put a dent in my work - I had just opened a couple of emails and lo and behold my mind said 1 o'clock wasn't going to work due to the fact that our curves closes from 1-3 for lunch. So I called her back to let her know and we had two options - go at that time or wait until they opened up after lunch - so Hailie says she doesn't want to go later - she wanted to go now so she could get something for her leg (she scratched it up and got run over by a runaway 3-wheeler vehicle) - so Beth said that was fine - we found out that we live like 1/2 mile from each other and she's on my way into town - so I told her I could swing by there and get her -
After we did our Curves thing, we went to Fred's (spent too much there and now have to go back); went over to Family Dollar and she went to CVS (which is right next to Family Dollar) and then I realized while we were in Family Dollar I needed to go back to Fred's to get printer ink refill kit for my printer so back to Fred's. Then we needed to take Beth home and I needed to scoot over to the next town to get to the DMV (stupid me - got my registration and decal and misplaced the decal) - so I showed Beth where we lived and then dropped her off.
We chatted in the car like we had known each other a while. She's been in Honea Path 10 years and I've been here 9 years - coincidence? fate? karma? - something is working that got us together - so I've made a new friend (you have to realize I haven't had too many friends in this town especially working at home, I'm such a social isolate but not totally my fault - it's different living out in the country than it is in town or closer to town or in an area that actually has more than a handful of "neighbors" to get in with socially) -- Beth is an artist and who knows I may have to engage her services to do my cover art for my stories (if Karen approves it) - we shall see though - okay now I need to work and get some lines to make up for not being here all morning and haf the afternoon - see you all in the postings - E :)
I was up until 4ish this morning working with Jane on designing our mini fliers for the Printer's Row book festival in Chicago in a couple of weeks. So I was working it and reworking it and converting to a PDF file (did you know you could convert files online for free to PDF - www.pdfonline.com - really cool thing) - the site we used to print up 1000 brochures (index card size is what we ended up going with - which is 4.25 x 5.5 size - www.printplace.com) - would only take PDF files, JPG files and a couple of other things - so we are getting double sided mini fliers with all of Jane's info on one side and all my info on the other side. We worked it and reworked it and finally I told Jane I needed to go to bed. so shortly after 4 a.m. - we said our final goodnights and headed to bed.
This morning I had set the alarm for about 9ish to get up but had gotten up to go to the bathroom before the alarm went off and just as I was going to crawl back in bed and try to catch a few more ZZZZs this morning the phone rang. Now I was thinking it was one of the kids' friends calling to see if they could come over to play, so wasn't a happy camper. I checked the caller ID and it said Mark R****** - so I didn't know who it was. I decided to answer and it was my new friend from Curves, Beth. (I had given her a business card when we left out of Curves yesterday). She informed me that we couldn't go to curves at 10ish like we had planned because their vehicle was in the shop and she wouldn't have a ride until later in the day - so no problem - we agreed to meet about 1 to do our curves thing. Well then we were chatting on the phone and it got to be 11ish and 11:15 and so on - we finally hung up the phone after 2 hours and I sat down at my computer to check emails and at least put a dent in my work - I had just opened a couple of emails and lo and behold my mind said 1 o'clock wasn't going to work due to the fact that our curves closes from 1-3 for lunch. So I called her back to let her know and we had two options - go at that time or wait until they opened up after lunch - so Hailie says she doesn't want to go later - she wanted to go now so she could get something for her leg (she scratched it up and got run over by a runaway 3-wheeler vehicle) - so Beth said that was fine - we found out that we live like 1/2 mile from each other and she's on my way into town - so I told her I could swing by there and get her -
After we did our Curves thing, we went to Fred's (spent too much there and now have to go back); went over to Family Dollar and she went to CVS (which is right next to Family Dollar) and then I realized while we were in Family Dollar I needed to go back to Fred's to get printer ink refill kit for my printer so back to Fred's. Then we needed to take Beth home and I needed to scoot over to the next town to get to the DMV (stupid me - got my registration and decal and misplaced the decal) - so I showed Beth where we lived and then dropped her off.
We chatted in the car like we had known each other a while. She's been in Honea Path 10 years and I've been here 9 years - coincidence? fate? karma? - something is working that got us together - so I've made a new friend (you have to realize I haven't had too many friends in this town especially working at home, I'm such a social isolate but not totally my fault - it's different living out in the country than it is in town or closer to town or in an area that actually has more than a handful of "neighbors" to get in with socially) -- Beth is an artist and who knows I may have to engage her services to do my cover art for my stories (if Karen approves it) - we shall see though - okay now I need to work and get some lines to make up for not being here all morning and haf the afternoon - see you all in the postings - E :)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
BLOG MILESTONE
I'd been so busy the last couple of days I'd forgotten to check to see how many hits I've had on my blog - well when I just checked it from the last posting I put up - I have hit over 1000 hits (although there is no telling how many are my own from the counter I have there because it adds in when I post a new entry as well as when I just view my blog - and considering I've made over 60 something postings, maybe it is closer to 900 hits I've had altogether - but it is a still great to see my counter ticked off at 1004 hits - lol - so for all intents and purposes, I have just had over 1000 hits on my blog.
Thank you my readers and fans - keep on blogging and keep on checking back for updates - see you all in the postings - E :)
Thank you my readers and fans - keep on blogging and keep on checking back for updates - see you all in the postings - E :)
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