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Interview with Author Brian Trent

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: Today I’m pleased to be interviewing Brian Trent. Brian is the award-winning author of the sci-fi thrillers REDSPACE RISING and TEN THOUSAND THUNDERS. He’s published more than a hundred short stories in the world’s top fiction markets, including in the New York Times’ bestselling Black Tide Rising series, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Nature, Daily Science Fiction, Escape Pod, Pseudopod, Galaxy’s Edge, and numerous year’s best anthologies. Trent lives in a tiny mountaintop town in Connecticut. His website and blog are at www.briantrent.com. If you’ve read my anthology RELEASE THE VIRGINS, you’ll be familiar with his work!

Brian, first tell us about your latest work!

BRIAN TRENT: REDSPACE RISING is set in a distant future where people can upload their minds at Save clinics, and download them into new bodies at a whim. Death is a passing inconvenience. Your memories, desires, dreams and fears are stored for easy retrieval.

In that future, Harris Alexander Pope is the man who ended the Partisan War on Mars. All he seeks now is solitude and a return to the life that was stolen from him. Yet when he learns that the worst war criminals are hiding in other bodies, he’s forced into an interplanetary pursuit. Teaming up with other survivors eager for their own brand of vengeance, Harris begins to suspect a darker truth:

Maybe what he remembers about the war isn’t what happened at all.

REDSPACE RISING is a futuristic thriller that explores questions of memory and identity. It’s set on a Mars that has come under control of a fanatical political regime which has dialed up the worst traits of nationalism to a planetary scale, and which uses propaganda in truly insidious ways. I was inspired to write it after hearing my grandfather’s stories of how, after World War II, British agents pursued Nazi war criminals who’d escaped the Nuremberg trials and went into hiding under new identities.

Locus Magazine was kind enough to say of my book: “Once begun, Redspace Rising will grip you by the throat–like its soldier protagonist grips his many enemies–and compel you to read it all the way to its jubilant, battered conclusion. And you’ll be very grateful.”

VENTRELLA: What kinds of readers do you think would be interested in your book?  In other words, whose work do you think your book is comparable to?

TRENT: I think anyone who likes a combination of action and thoughtful drama would enjoy REDSPACE RISING. I really love world-building—it’s one of my passion as a writer—and I think the future depicted in the book is fairly unique. It’s set a thousand years from now. There’s a lot of room to be creative, and to play around with unusual technologies, when you’re operating that far into the future.

Generally speaking, I think there’s some thematic alignment with Philip K. Dick, Neal Stephenson, and William Gibson. Some reviewers have favorably compared it to The Expanse. I should say that readers who are familiar with my short fiction in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction will recognize some of the characters, but no familiarity with those stories is required to enjoy REDSPACE RISING. It stands on its own.

Also, anyone who is a history and mythology fan might enjoy this. I’m an unabashed geek for all things ancient and mythical.

VENTRELLA: Let me say to any who have not read RELEASE THE VIRGINS that Brian’s final sentence in his story is one of my favorite final sentences ever. Where did the idea for your VIRGINS story come from?

TRENT: Thank you for the compliment! Given the anthology’s theme, I figured you’d be getting lots of stories of chaste maidens and unicorns, so I wanted an idea that would stand out from the pack. One morning, I was at my local grocery store. I overheard a guy on his cellphone telling someone—in excruciating detail—all about his daily workout routine. I swiftly imagined a velociraptor slamming into him, sending him sprawling down the pasta aisle. (I generally imagine various demises for people who talk too loud on their phones in public).

On my drive home, it occurred to me that this might be the very idea I was looking for. As to how I’d justify a dinosaur being in a grocery store… well, I decided to make it the ghost of a dinosaur. We’ve had stories of Victorian ghosts and pirate ghosts. Why not a Cretaceous-era poltergeist?

I pitched the idea, and you advised me that no one else was doing a story like that. So the store, the guy, and some 65-million-year-old virgins all went into “Old Spirits.”

VENTRELLA: You’ve been fairly prolific, with quite a few stories published every year. How do you find the right markets for your stories?

TRENT: I write a lot of stories. Just by law of averages, some are hard SF, some are fantasy, some alternate history, some lurid horror. It helps to have a body of work—the more lines you cast, the likelier it is to get a bite. At any given moment, I have a half-dozen stories or so under consideration.

I strongly encourage new writers to study the markets. It’s not an exact science, but it helps you get a read on what each editor likes. I rarely write with a specific magazine in mind; it’s only later that I sort the submission schedule according to what story I think would be best received by which venue. People will often say that nuts-and-bolts sci-fi is ideally suited for Analog, for example, and there’s certainly some truth in that. But it ultimately comes down to the story and editorial preference. Study the markets. Read lots of fiction. And never dismiss editorial feedback out of hand—you’ll know when you’re getting closer to making a sale when the feedback becomes more personal and tailored. It’s always disheartening when we receive the dreaded standardized rejection letter—even now, I automatically scan for the word “Unfortunately”. It’s always a pleasure to see the word “Congratulations” instead. The better you get to know the genre and the industry, the better your odds of success are.

But sometimes there’s no way to anticipate how a story is received. I’ve been published several time at Daily Science Fiction (one of my favorite venues, which regrettably closed its doors to submissions last year) and I never had any clue which stories of mine they would buy and which ones they’d reject.

VENTRELLA: Let’s separate writing from storytelling for a minute. Writing skills can be taught, but do you think it’s possible to teach how to tell a good story, or is that just some kind of talent that not everyone has?

TRENT: That’s a really good question. The human brain is a wonder of neuroplasticity and adaptability. We’re capable of extraordinary feats of learning, and I have to believe that if you stretch your imaginative muscles neurons, most people can learn to become better storytellers.

On the other hand, I was writing stories from the moment I could get my hands on a crayon (and I know this is the case for lots of writers), so I think a case can easily be made that some of our creative natures comes genetically preloaded.

VENTRELLA: What’s the best advice you would give to a starting writer that they probably haven’t already heard?

TRENT: Eliminate your distractions. We live in an unparalleled age of things vying for our attention. It isn’t enough to say that you should stay off your smartphone—I encourage writers to hide their phones in another room when they’re ready to sit down and write. It may gnaw at your thoughts like the One Ring, but having it literally out of reach is a big step towards being productive. I know writers who incessantly grieve how they never have time to write, while they make twenty Facebook updates daily and engage in yet another online flame war. No one will remember our hashtags a hundred years from now, but people still read Sophocles and Sappho.

The trick is to make writing a habit. You don’t have to write 11 hours a day. You don’t even need to write every day. Rome wasn’t built in a day, right? There’s a line in THE TWO TOWERS (the book) from an unusually eloquent Gimli. The dwarf catches sight of the caverns beneath Helm’s Deep, and he explains to Legolas how the children of Durin would “tend these flowering glades of stone.” As he explains: “With cautious skill, tap by tap–a small chip of work and no more, perhaps, in a whole anxious day–so we could work…”

In the same way, if you only manage to write a few hundred words, that’s okay! It’s a few hundred words closer to completion. That’s the tap of the dwarven hammer, methodically opening up new passageways. 

Need to do research? Not while you’re writing, you don’t. Research is imperative to a story’s construction but there are times to do it and times not to, and when you’re sitting at your computer facing the glacial whiteness of a blank document, that’s exactly the wrong time. “Doing research” too often becomes synonymous with procrastination. I research my stories during my off-hours, or while riding a train, or on weekends, or at libraries. When I sit down to write, I’m writing.

VENTRELLA: What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve heard people give?

TRENT: “Wait until you’re inspired.”

Waiting around for Godot or the Great Pumpkin is an incredibly self-defeating tactic. Instead, go to a museum. Hike a trail. Talk to people—especially those outside your social circle and who’ve had jobs/experiences you haven’t. Play a new game. Learn to cook a new meal. Try horseback riding or haiku. Inspiration can arrive like a thunderbolt, sure, but more often it needs to be tracked down. Even Emily Dickinson found inspiration when she interacted with the world, whether it was watching a narrow snake in the grass or watching a train lap the miles on the horizon.

I met an archaeologist at a party once. She was kind enough to indulge my questions on her profession, on what it was really like to work at a dig-site, what her average day in the field entailed. I didn’t have a story in mind at the time, but man… my imagination was crackling after talking with her. The result was my most recent story in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (“The Song of Lost Voices” in the July/August 2022 issue).New experiences, new knowledge, new places, new ideas… this is all spectacular fuel for our creative engines. If I waited around inspiration, I’d never get anything done. I’d be Jack Nicholson at the typewriter in The Shining.

VENTRELLA: What writing projects are you working on now?

TRENT: I’m working on an exciting alternate history series of books. I adore alternate history—it feels like a natural fit.

I’m also hard at work on the sequel to REDSPACE RISING, and I’ve been commissioned to write for a couple anthologies. Beyond that, I’m working on some random projects.

Readers interested in my latest news, updates and publications can check out my website and blog at www.briantrent.com.

VENTRELLA: With a time machine and a universal translator, who would you invite to your dinner party?

TRENT: Thanks for including the universal translator! I’d have an eclectic soirée. Livy, Archimedes, Herodotus, and Hypatia would be guests of honor. I also have a number of democracy-related questions for Pericles, so I’d be sure he got an invitation and came prepared to debate. And it would be outstanding to hear the life story of Xenophon from Xenophon himself (in REDSPACE RISING, I named an AI after him).

The ancient navigator Zheng He would be there, too. I’d love to hear of his maritime adventures, and to get details on his extraordinary ships.

I wouldn’t need the translator for H.G. Wells and Mary Shelley, but they’d have to attend.

Lastly, I’d have Otzi the Iceman, if only to learn who murdered him and why.

And everyone would be required to bring a book that’s been lost to history. Except Otzi. He’s been through enough.

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How to get your story rejected

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Michael A. Ventrella

I am currently editing the 5th Tales of Fortannis collection, and sadly am sending out more rejection letters than I’d like.Gaston

I say “sadly” for two reasons: First, I hate disappointing people and rejecting their stories (I’ve been on the receiving end of that as well, after all); and second, I need more stories (but am unwilling to lower my standards).

There are many reasons stories may get rejected. Here are the reasons I most commonly have rejected stories for this collection:

  • The author has clearly never read the guidelines, and has submitted a story that does not fit into the shared world of Fortannis. There are gods (even though I clearly say “no religion” in the guidelines); there is magic that cannot possibly exist (even though the magic system is also described in the guidelines); or there are plot matters that do not fit the already-established world. Please. Don’t waste both of our times. Read the guidelines.
  • The characters are boring. They all talk alike, they have no personality, and I don’t care that they are in trouble because they are so one-dimensional. They are the same at the end of the story as they are at the beginning, having learned nothing. Remember: stories aren’t about what you may think they’re about — they’re about the characters.
  • The bad guys have no reason for being bad guys. They’re just evil, they want to take over the world, blah blah blah, yet they have a hundred minions and soldiers who are fiercely loyal for no apparent reason. Give your bad guys motives that are just as strong as the motives your good guys have.
  • The story itself is boring and predictable. I receive too many stories that read like someone has just transcribed their Dungeons & Dragons session. Not every story has to be an adventure about fighting monsters (as I say very clearly in the guidelines).
  • There are scenes that add nothing to the story. Heading into the tavern and having dinner before the big adventure is only interesting if something happens. You should examine every scene to make sure it’s needed — if you can remove it and the story still works, then you don’t need it. And often the character development or other information given in that scene can be worked into another scene and be much more effective. This is especially true when there is no conflict or tension in that scene. Keep the action moving!
  • The story starts too late. We need to care about the story from the start, not ten pages in. Or grand, exciting things will happen early in the story but they don’t happen to the main character so they really don’t matter. Especially in a short story, you need to tell that person’s story.
  • It’s full of misspellings, grammatical errors, and just plain old bad writing. When I get a story like that, I rarely read past the first page or so.
  • The author hasn’t read my blog. Okay, maybe not mine in particular, but you will note that almost everything I listed above links to an article I’ve already written on this blog, and what I have said you’ll find as well in a hundred other blogs about writing.

And finally, there is one more reason a story may be rejected — I already have another story with the same theme. You could have written a great story but if I have two that are very similar, I really have to choose just one. For one of the Fortannis collections, I received three separate stories in which a princess was in love with the court jester. The underlying plot in each one was completely different, but that love was an integral part of the story. There was no way I could accept all three. (As it turned out, they were all rejected for other reasons, based on the criteria above, but what if they had all been really great stories? I would have had to pick one and rejected the other two.)

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Interview with Lucas Mangum

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: I’m pleased to be interviewing Lucas Mangum today. Lucas and I met years ago when we both took a writing course from NY Times Bestselling author Jonathan Maberry. I am very pleased to see where he is today! Lucas Mangum used to live in the Philly area but has relocated to Austin. He enjoys wrestling, cats, wrestling with cats, and drinking craft beer while crafting weird stories. Follow him on Twitter @LMangumFiction and talk books and horror movies, or visit his website here. my face

Lucas! Tell us about the plot of FLESH AND FIRE.

LUCAS MANGUM: FLESH AND FIRE is exactly the kind of book I’ve always wanted to write. It’s a little bit supernatural horror, a little bit romance, a little bit dark fantasy. The story follows Todd, who, thirty years ago, left the love of his life to die, for the life he thought he wanted. Now, in the midst of a midlife crisis, he is haunted by her memory. When Chloe escapes Hell in search of the peaceful rest that has eluded her, a demon named Samael is on her trail and she needs Todd’s help. While on the run Todd and Chloe face demons real and personal, soul-threatening danger, and their long-buried feelings for each other.

VENTRELLA: What is the Doubledown Series about?

MANGUM: I am so glad you asked that, because it’s not a series in the sense that the stories are connected at all. The Doubledown Series is inspired by the old Ace Doubles series, where two books are released together as one. The cool part about this series is that Journalstone, the publisher, will pair a veteran writer with an up and comer. FLESH AND FIRE is packaged with DARK OF NIGHT, a brand new zombie adventure by Jonathan Maberry and Rachael Lavin.

VENTRELLA: All genres have formulas in some manner – readers expect certain things when they read a mystery or a romance. What do readers expect in a horror novel?

MANGUM: That’s a tough question, because horror has a lot of subgenres. I guess the ultimate goal of a horror novel is to unsettle or stir up dread in the reader (Douglas E. Winter said, “Horror isn’t a genre, but an emotion), but depending on the subgenre, the reader will get there differently. Extreme horror tends to rely on gory descriptions to inspire that dread. Survival horror achieves dread by emphasizing isolation and images of collapsed society. Psychological horror explores the darker areas of the human mind. And so on.

VENTRELLA: What was the best lesson you learned from Jonathan Maberry?

MANGUM: You were probably there when I learned it. I think starting out, you know, the idea of writing a book can be very overwhelming. Jonathan told us, on that first day of that novel class, about focusing on how many words you can realistically do in a day and just kind of take things from there. That writing a book is like anything in life, in that it takes a daily commitment, may seem overly simplistic, but for me, it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. I did finish that novel, but I never shopped it, because it was a first novel in every sense of the term. I’m sure we all have those buried on our hard drives. I ended up writing the first draft of FLESH AND FIRE in three weeks, not long after the sixth draft of that initial piece.

VENTRELLA: What are some of your upcoming projects?

MANGUM: I’m currently working on a sequel of sorts to FLESH AND FIRE, called BLOOD AND BRIMSTONE. Front_Cover_Image_Flesh_and_FireWithout going too much into spoilers, it follows the kids of FLESH AND FIRE’s protagonist as they try to make sense of what happened in the first book. I’ve also got a balls to the wall supernatural horror novel called, WE ARE THE ACCUSED, that I’m excited about. It has some of the most intense scenes I’ve ever written, I think.

VENTRELLA: Do you think readers want to read about “believable” characters or do they really want characters that are “larger than life” in some way?

MANGUM: As a reader (and all writers better be readers too), I like characters who are down-to-earth, even average, but have moments in which they perform larger than life feats because they have something they care about, and that something is either threatened or somehow out of reach. I think that’s both interesting to read about and believable.

VENTRELLA: What is your writing process?  Do you outline heavily or just jump right in, for instance?

MANGUM: My process is finicky. If I accidentally outline too much, and end up knowing everything about the story, I get so bored, I can’t bring myself to actually write the story. If I don’t outline at all, I’m apt to write myself into a corner around the end of the first act or so. What I’ve found works best for me is knowing the big moments, and by that I mean the turning points, so that I end up with not so much an outline as a series of goals for the characters to be aiming for. Sometimes those goals change during the first draft as journeys can have detours, but I like to at least know where I want to go, and then I worry about the means of transportation later. It allows me to be spontaneous, but not directionless.

VENTRELLA: Do you think short stories are harder to write than novels?

MANGUM: Oh, definitely. While my outlines for novels tend to be vague, I am more likely to do a detailed outline of a short story, because there is just less space to work in, and you need to nail down what you want to say a lot quicker, whereas with a novel, you can afford to let the piece wander a bit (provided that where you wander is compelling).

VENTRELLA: What’s your opinion on self-publishing?

MANGUM: Nowadays, I have no problem with it. I think if you’re the kind of person who likes to have control of your book from its inception to its publication, you should go for it. It’s so much cheaper than it used to be. That said, you should still be willing to fork over some money. Make sure your cover is professional. Make sure your book is edited (and not just by your buddy from English class, but a real editor). If your goal is to sell books, you have to be prepared to spend more time marketing than writing your next piece, unless you can afford to hire someone, which, if you’re writing, you probably can’t. And just because you’re indie, you should still be going to cons and meeting people. You should still be doing events. You should still be publicizing yourself on social media and blogs. If you have the personality where you can take it all on, go for it. I know that I, personally, am not that guy. I’m always thinking two, sometimes three books ahead, and while I’m perfectly fine marketing myself, I would much rather be writing. Even when I go to cons, I’ll spend most of the day in my room reading or writing and only really come out for the parties. Everyone knows that’s where all the real networking is done anyway.

Long story short, I have the utmost respect for anyone who can self-publish and still produce a professional product, but me, I don’t know anything about book design, don’t trust myself to see everything a professional editor won’t, and would much rather be writing than marketing, so self-publishing is definitely not for me.

VENTRELLA: What sort of advice would you give an un-agented author with a manuscript?Front_Cover_Image_Dark_of_Night

MANGUM: If you don’t have an agent, and you want one, know the agent to who you are pitching your project. Visit their website, read the stuff they’ve represented, and try to meet them if you can. The same applies if you want to forgo an agent and go directly to a publisher. Know your audience. You, hopefully, wouldn’t make dick jokes in front of your mother-in-law, so you shouldn’t pitch your 140,000 word epic fantasy to someone who reps literary fiction.

Reminds me of another bit of advice I got from Jonathan: not everyone will want to read your book, and that’s okay. Your audience isn’t everybody. That’s not realistic. Find out who reads stuff that’s similar to what you do and talk to them. Yeah, I know, you’re unique and your book is unlike anything ever written. I know that feeling. Best case scenario is to let that sentiment go. If you can’t, find something about your story that helps you place it. Hell, I was worried FLESH AND FIRE, a horror novel with a strong romantic element, was unmarketable, but it sold, so I’m someone out there wants to read it.

VENTRELLA: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever got?

MANGUM: Don’t quit your day job, because writing seldom provides a steady paycheck, and never offers health insurance.

VENTRELLA: With a time machine and a universal translator, who would you invite to your ultimate dinner party?

MANGUM: Stanley Kubrick. That man’s mind never ceases to amaze me. I discover different things in his films every time I watch them.

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Interview with NY Times Bestselling author Heidi McLaughlin

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: I am pleased to be interviewing Heidi McLaughlin today.  Heidi is a bestselling author now living in Vermont with her family. A movie based on her bestseller FOREVER MY GIRL is currently in production. She’s also got a great story in my “Alternate Sherlocks” anthology coming out soon!Heidi Mc

First, tell us all about your latest book.

HEIDI McLAUGHLIN: My most recent release is called BLIND REALITY, which is Big Brother meets Married at First Sight, a fun little romantic comedy that is very reality-television based. If you’re not a reality TV fan, this book isn’t for you.

VENTRELLA: Romance continues to sell, but it goes through trends like all fiction. What is popular now?

McLAUGHLIN: Probably stuff I don’t write! Everyone loves the Alpha male, the down and dirty smut and shock factor. I like to keep everything mainstream and fun.

VENTRELLA: Do you find yourself writing what is popular or do you just write what you want and hope people will like it?

McLAUGHLIN: I write what I want to write. If I have an idea and I can make it work, I’m running with it. Life is no fun when you’re thinking like everyone else. I want to set the trend, not follow.

VENTRELLA: Do you feel there is a limitation with romance in that it pretty much has to have a happy ending? Or am I mistaken in that?

McLAUGHLIN: No, you’re very on point. In BLIND REALITY, it’s a cliffhanger, albeit it minor one, and people flipped out. Funny enough, when I’ve been asked about it and asked in return why they felt that way, the reader was able to answer their own question. Compared to some enormously huge bestselling novels, my cliffhanger is a blip and barely noticeable. Unfortunately, readers don’t see it that way and I’ve paid the price.

VENTRELLA: Perhaps more than other genres, romance has to have tremendously believable characters.  Do you agree? How do you accomplish that?

McLAUGHLIN: I absolutely agree. When people read romance the way to feel like they’re the character being wooed or falling in love. They want to live in the happily ever after and avoid reality of a dirty kitchen, loads of laundry, etc… For me, modeling my characters after people I know or have encountered makes them believable. Every character I write I want the reader to feel like they know them, that they live next door or went to high school with them.6873690_orig

VENTRELLA: What’s the difference between romance and erotica?

McLAUGHLIN: Well that’s a loaded question (excuse the pun). Erotica is heavy behind the doors taboo stuff that you don’t discuss at the dinner table with Grandma sitting across from you even though Gram has probably read a good old fashioned Harlequin in her day. Romance is the light-hearted can’t-wait-to-tell-you-about-my-day happy stuff… most of the time.

VENTRELLA: What’s your opinion of FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY?

McLAUGHLIN: E.L. James hit the market when women needed something new to sink their teeth into. Erika is a marketing genius.

VENTRELLA: Have you ever had to censor yourself where you think you may have gone too far?

McLAUGHLIN: No, I’m fairly tame and am often told I need more detail with certain scenes.

VENTRELLA: Why do you think more men aren’t reading romance?

McLAUGHLIN: I have a contingent of male readers and my husband has even read JR Ward! I think some men are just afraid of what those pages hold.

VENTRELLA: What is the biggest misconception people have about romance novels (and romance novel writers)?

McLAUGHLIN: That writing is a hobby, or we’re just writing porn.

VENTRELLA: How did you first become interested in writing?

McLAUGHLIN: When I was little I was an only child for the longest time and my playmates were my aunts and uncles who were older. I had to create worlds to entertain myself when they weren’t around and my grandma always told me to write them down.1003461

VENTRELLA: How much of writing is innate? 

McLAUGHLIN: Writing is a craft. you have to learn, process and repeat. No one is “good” out of the gate.

VENTRELLA: What is your writing process?  Do you outline heavily or just jump right in, for instance?

McLAUGHLIN: I’ve never outlined. I take notes, and write. I’m a chapter by chapter and never out of order. If I have a scene in mind I’ll write it down and save it, but chances are I never come back to it.

VENTRELLA: Do you find yourself creating a plot first, a character first, or a setting first? 

McLAUGHLIN: Lately, it’s been the plot first. I hate naming my characters so I tend to do that last. But show me an image, song, or something on the news and I can give you something to work with.

VENTRELLA: Writers are told to “write what you know.”  What does this mean to you? 

McLAUGHLIN: To me that means – don’t think outside the box. I’m glad I didn’t listen because I write a Navy SEAL series that I absolutely love, but I’m not in the Navy, nor have I even been though BUD/s. If we only wrote what we knew, we’d be boring.

VENTRELLA: What criticism of your work do you disagree with the most?

McLAUGHLIN: When people tell me how I should’ve ended a story, or assume they know my characters better than I do.

VENTRELLA: How did you get started?  What was your first story or book published?

McLAUGHL3312058IN: I wrote a manuscript (my 3rd actually) and shared it with my friend who encouraged me to publish. My first story was FOREVER MY GIRL, which is slated to start production for the big screen this year.

VENTRELLA: Do you think it is important to start by trying to sell short stories or should a beginning author jump right in with a novel?

McLAUGHLIN: Short stories are fun, like the one we’re doing, but serial novels tend to make the reader wait too long for the conclusion. I do prefer a novel though.

VENTRELLA: Do you think short stories are harder to write than novels?

McLAUGHLIN: For me, yes, especially, when you’re limited on a word count.

VENTRELLA: In this market, with the publishing industry changing daily, how important is the small press?

McLAUGHLIN: Every press is important, but you can get lost with the big ones and just become a number. As with anything small, you’re always on their mind.

VENTRELLA: What sort of advice would you give an un-agented author with a manuscript?

McLAUGHLIN: Believe in yourself and the process. It does work. My first MS I queried 45 agents all to be told no, so I published and hit USA the next week and half those agents came back to work with me.

VENTRELLA: What’s the worst piece of writing advice you ever got?

McLAUGHLIN: That social media doesn’t sell books.8811796

VENTRELLA: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever got?

McLAUGHLIN: Never give up.

VENTRELLA: What advice would you give to a starting writer that you wish someone had given to you?

McLAUGHLIN: Do not trust everyone you come in contact with, and do not share your story with you FB bestie. Keep your work close to your heart and invest in your craft.

VENTRELLA: Who do you like to read?  Who are your favorite authors?

McLAUGHLIN: I love paranormal romance, but also contemporary. However, Nelson DeMille is my favorite author.

VENTRELLA: What projects are you working on now?  What can we expect next from you?

McLAUGHLIN: Right now I’m finishing up SAVE ME, which will come out April 5th – it’s a Navy SEAL novel, and I’ll be writing my manuscripts BLOW (Virtuous Paradox 1) and LEFT FIELD (The Boys of Summer 2).

 

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Interview with Author and Editor Alex Shvartsman

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA:  Alex Shvartsman is a writer and game designer. He has sold over 60 short stories to a variety of magazines and anthologies. His fiction has appeared in such venues as the journal of Nature, Daily Science Fiction, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Galaxy’s Edge, and many others. Click here for the complete bibliography.alexbio

Alex edits UNIDENTIFIED FUNNY OBJECTS — an annual anthology series of humorous science fiction and fantasy short stories. You can get his latest novel here and read his short stories here. His web page is here!

Alex, what inspired you to create the “Unidentified Funny Objects” series?

ALEX SHVARTSMAN: There isn’t enough great humorous SF/F short fiction being published, and there is no other venue that specializes in doing such, outside of an occasional themed anthology. I knew I’d love such a series as a reader and felt there are enough fans of the lighter fare out there to make the project successful.

VENTRELLA: As anyone who has read my work knows, humor plays a part – not that I write comedy, but my characters have personalities and make wisecracks and funny things can happen even in a very serious book, just like in real life. What’s your opinion on humor in fiction?

SHVARTSMAN: I think almost any story can benefit from a bit of comic relief. There are very funny moments even in grimdark fare like Game of Thrones, and they belong well. But there is a difference between a story that’s humor and a lighthearted adventure story that uses humor as one of the many tools in the author’s toolkit. It’s difficult to define the line, and it’s something I’m always conscious of when I read submissions for UFO.

VENTRELLA: Tell us about UFO Publishing. How did that come to be?

SHVARTSMAN: I’m a tinkerer and a serial businessman at heart. It’s hard for me to ignore opportunities. I felt that I could put together a good product while doing things differently from many other publishers, and so I created an imprint for the UFO anthologies and an occasional other book.

VENTRELLA: Has it been a success?

SHVARTSMAN: I think so. I’m not rolling in dollar coins Scooge McDuck style (yet!) but I’ve been able to pay authors and other professionals involved in putting the books together competitive rates, and to release books I feel look as good as anything from a big New York publisher. I haven’t paid myself anything yet, which, I suppose, makes me a hobbyist — but I’ve made investments into the series and the sales are gradually increasing every year, so I may be turning a profit one of these days. Until then, I got a ton of experience out of it, got to work with and edit New York Times bestselling authors, and made lots of new friends in the field.

VENTRELLA: What are some of your upcoming projects?

SHVARTSMAN: This is a busy year for me. My short story collection, EXPLAINING CTHULHU TO GRANDMA AND OTHER STORIES was released in February, and my steampunk humor novella, H.G. WELLS, SECRET AGENT just came out. Up next is FUNNY SCIENCE FICTION — a reprint anthology similar to UFO that’s due out in September, and then UFO4 (featuring GRRM and Gaiman) out in November.

VENTRELLA: Editing an anthology can be a pretty frustrating job (as I well know) – what are some of the biggest mistakes you see when authors submit stories?

SHVARTSMAN: Often authors do not really understand what the editor is after. The best way to figure it out is to read the magazine/anthology series you’re submitting to — but not everyone has the time, or sometimes the budget, so I don’t get upset about it. Ultimately I would rather see the story if the author is not 100% sure whether it’s a good fit, then not see it.

VENTRELLA: What is your pet peeve about editing an anthology?

SHVARTSMAN: People blatantly disregarding the guidelines. While I want them to send stories in when it doubt, I don’t like seeing an 8000-word horror novelette when I ask for humor stories of up to 5000 words! I’m not even sure what goes on in the mind of such an author. What are they hoping to achieve? Suppose I end up reading this thing and even liking it a lot — but I don’t edit anything that could publish such a work anyhow.

VENTRELLA: How did you first become interested in writing?

SHVARTSMAN: I’ve been reading science fiction and fantasy since I was about ten years old. I’ve always wanted to write it, too, but my family immigrated to the US when I was 13 years old, and I had to learn a new language. For a long time my English wasn’t good enough to write fiction, and by the time it (arguably) became good enough, I was too busy with other endeavors. I kept promising myself that I would get to writing someday, when I had free time. Eventually I figured out that I will never, ever have free time. I’m the kind of person who finds himself projects to take up the time (see UFO Publishing!) And so I just decided to start writing, back in 2010. Five years and over 80 short story sales later, I’m still writing!

VENTRELLA: How much of writing is innate? In other words, do you believe there are just some people who are born storytellers but simply need to learn technique? Or can anyone become a good writer?

SHVARTSMAN: Being a great writer requires a combination of two things: talent and craft. You can have all the talent in the world but you will only ever be a mediocre writer without craft, and vice versa. Craft is learned: you do the 10,000 hours thing, you keep writing and getting those rejection letters, and your skill improves.

Talent, on the other hand, is something you have to be born with. Either you have it, or you don’t. You have to have at least some, to succeed as a writer.

VENTRELLA: How do you make your protagonist a believable character? And what’s the best way to make the antagonist a believable character?

SHVARTSMAN: This is really the same question: they have to be interesting, they have to want something, and they have to be at least a little inconsistent, like real people. They can’t be all-good or all-bad. That makes them predictable and boring, and real people don’t work that way. They have to have flaws, and weaknesses, and every character you write has to act and speak as though he/she is the hero of the story. Because in their own mind, they are.

VENTRELLA: Which of your characters was the hardest to write and why?

SHVARTSMAN: The protagonist of my novel-in-progress is a queen and a warlord who skirts the line between anti-hero and villain, and is forced to make many difficult choices along the way. Writing her is a balancing act: I want to keep her sympathetic to the reader but not too sympathetic, because she often does bad things or makes bad choices. So I play the balancing act, to ensure the reader always wants to keep turning pages.

VENTRELLA: Do you think readers want to read about “believable” characters or do they really want characters that are “larger than life” in some way?UFO2cover

SHVARTSMAN: They absolutely need to be larger-than-life. No one wants to read about Bob from accounting who comes home from work and watches Netflix for the rest of the evening, because that’s boring. The characters themselves need to be extraordinary, or they can be ordinary people placed in extraordinary circumstances. Either way can work well, depending on the story you want to tell.

VENTRELLA: What makes your fiction unique? In other words, what is it about your stories that makes them stand out against all the other similar stories out there?

SHVARTSMAN: Every author’s stories are unique in some way, aren’t they? We all have our own voice. In my case, I tend to write short, compact stories with very tight plots and (hopefully) clever resolutions. And, of course, a healthy dash of humor.

VENTRELLA: What is your writing process?  Do you outline heavily or just jump right in, for instance?

SHVARTSMAN: I envision the world of the story, the conflict, and then the resolution. That last one is key: if I don’t have an ending I’m satisfied with, I don’t start writing the story.

Once those elements are in place, I mostly pants the rest. Each scene drives the story toward the intended resolution in some way, which keeps things nice and compact, while I get to explore the setting and my characters along the route of this journey.

VENTRELLA: Do you find yourself creating a plot first, a character first, or a setting first?  What gets your story idea going?

SHVARTSMAN: A lot of my stories begin with a “what-if” idea. But it can really start with any prompt, or combination of prompts. Like most writers I know, I have a note file where I write down story ideas, one-liners, and other curiosities that I think I can use in my fiction.

Several of my stories, including my most famous one: “Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma,” grew out of conversations and goofing around on Twitter.

VENTRELLA: Writers are told to “write what you know.”  What does this mean to you? 

SHVARTSMAN: Not a damn thing. I write about galactic empires, magic, and alternate-history Victorians.

Seriously though, your life experience always influences your fiction. Coffee_Cover_v1r2Whether it’s personal experience or just being well-read. GRRM could not have written his epic fantasy series without studying up on the War of the Roses. Asmiov probably would not have invented his Three Laws of Robotics without his scientific background. And me? I immerse myself in pop culture and stay current on the latest cat memes!

VENTRELLA: What do you do to avoid “info dumps”?

SHVARTSMAN: Exposition gets a bum rep, especially among beginner workshop authors who don’t know any better. In truth, it’s an integral part of storytelling and one should use it when it’s the best tool for the job. The trick is to use it sparingly, just like every other tool you have. Write interesting enough exposition and you can keep the reader’s attention for pages, without them pausing to notice!

VENTRELLA: When going through second and third drafts, what do you look for? What is your main goal?

SHVARTSMAN: Clarity. A lot of the time what’s clear to the omniscient view inside of my head is not necessarily translating to the page. Likewise, there are a lot of extra words hiding in the first-second drafts that need to be cut. For example: “He nodded his head.” Well, what the hell else was he going to nod? “His head” gets cut in the third draft. (Pun intended.)

VENTRELLA: Do you think it is important to start by trying to sell short stories or should a beginning author jump right in with a novel?

SHVARTSMAN: I don’t think that’s a requirement. There is no right or wrong way to go about it. In my case, I’m confident that cutting my teeth on short stories will help me improve my odds of writing a sellable novel. But one shouldn’t force themselves to write short if that’s not their preferred form.

VENTRELLA: Do you think short stories are harder to write than novels?

SHVARTSMAN: They’re not harder to write, but they’re harder to sell. I think it’s more difficult to place a short story with a top genre magazine than to sell a novel. Because a good short story writer pumps out dozens of them a year, and so the competition is fierce. While plenty of novels get written every year as well, few of them are publishable and most of those generally find homes.

VENTRELLA: Since we are on panels together at conventions all the time, I assume you think they’re worthwhile.  Why do you find these to be a useful activity?

SHVARTSMAN: Absolutely. There are a ton of great writers out there to choose among. Meeting readers in person is a great way to convince them to sample your writing.

VENTRELLA: Many authors are using online sites to publish short stories these days.  Have you done this, and if so, has it worked for you?ufocover

SHVARTSMAN: I have my reprint stories (once the rights have reverted) available as e-books, as well as downloads on QuarterReads.com — it’s a few extra dollars a month, not a major source of income or readers, but it adds up, slowly, and there’s no good reason not to utilize every avenue available to obtaining new readers and getting paid for your work.

VENTRELLA: What’s your opinion on self-publishing?

SHVARTSMAN: It’s an awesome tool but it works best for authors with a fair amount of traditional publishing success. Tim Pratt is an excellent example of someone who does both. I don’t think it’s a great way for a new novelist to start out. Editors and publishers act as gatekeepers: they ensure that only the highest quality work sees the light of day. Very often I see authors on the verge of becoming very good give up and self-publish books/stories that are only a little sub-par. Have they stuck with the submission process, it would force them to work harder and to improve faster. As is, and with the lack of the gatekeepers, they settle into the “good enough” attitude and produce weaker work.

VENTRELLA: In this market, with the publishing industry changing daily, how important is the small press?

SHVARTSMAN: Small press is important in that boutique publishers can often undertake niche projects that a big publishing house won’t take the chance on. I think there’s room for every size publisher in the healthy industry — the important thing is that, even the smallest publishers, learn to treat authors well and fairly.

VENTRELLA: What sort of advice would you give an un-agented author with a manuscript?

SHVARTSMAN: Submit to agents. And while you wait, write the next book!

VENTRELLA: What’s the worst piece of writing advice you ever got?

SHVARTSMAN: Someone in a critique once told me never to open a story with dialog. They told me this at length. And they meant it.

VENTRELLA: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever got?

SHVARTSMAN: Keep writing. If possible, write every day. Don’t give up. So many people give up because they become discouraged with rejection or lack of sales. This is not for the thin-skinned: you take your lumps and you keep working. If you stick with it, and you have some of that talent we talked about above, you will eventually succeed.

VENTRELLA: With a time machine and a universal translator, who would you invite to your ultimate dinner party?

SHVARTSMAN: Teddy Roosevelt, Benjamin Disraeli, and Mikhail Bulgakov. I’m pretty sure I’d enjoy myself, if I didn’t die of awesome first.

VENTRELLA:  Well, I agree about Roosevelt, who is the major character in my upcoming steampunk novel!

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Interview with author and editor Cat Rambo

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: I am pleased to be interviewing Cat Rambo today. Cat lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in the Pacific Northwest. Her 150+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. Her short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” from her story collection NEAR + FAR (Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee. ramboHer editorship of Fantasy Magazine earned her a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2012. She is the current Vice President of SFWA and its upcoming President. For more about her, as well as links to her fiction, visit her web page here! 

So, Cat… What took you so long to write a novel? And why so many being released this year?

CAT RAMBO: It’s not so much that it took me so long to write a novel as it took me so long to get one published. 😉  This year I’m releasing two, the first and second books of the Tabat Quartet, and hoping to release the next two next year. Part of the speed’s due to a very nice thing about small publishers – they’ve got much faster schedules, generally, than the traditional one. I do have a slew of books coming out this year, but that’s because there’s a couple of short story collections and a cookbook out in the mix.

VENTRELLA: Tell us about the Tabat series.

RAMBO: Tabat is a fantasy city that I’ve been working in for years now with short stories. It’s a city that depends heavily on intelligent magical creatures for its existence, and BEASTS OF TABAT takes place at a time in which many of those creatures are questioning that system. 91KRunE5CwLOne of the advantages of having worked in it so much with short stories is that I know the world very well; another that’s emerged is that many of those stories have turned out to be foreshadowing of things that would take place in or affect the novel.

VENTRELLA: As an editor, how do you determine what you want? Could you tell within the first page whether it was something you wanted to read?

RAMBO: You can tell a lot from the first three paragraphs; mainly whether or not the author is capable of telling a good story. For me, I’d go through a batch of slush, maybe 40-50 stories, and perhaps pull out 5-6 that made me go hmm, maybe. Then I’d go back in a day or two and winnow out any story I couldn’t remember reading — maybe half. Even then you usually have to keep culling, and often that’s the point where you start thinking about things like the stories that will run with it (because you want a balance, or at least a feeling of coherence in an issue or anthology) or what else is in the pipeline.

VENTRELLA: What do you think SFWA should do about its admissions given the great changes in the publishing industry? Do you agree with what has been done so far?

RAMBO: I think SFWA should continue to observe the changes and try to react in ways that help it continue to serve professional writers. I absolutely agree with the recent changes in admitting independently and small press published writers – getting that in place was one of the reasons I ran for SFWA office.

At the same time we’re not abandoning the traditionally published writers, by any means. As part of the change, we also nudged up the necessary advance amount from $2k to $3k, in order to pressure publishers to give larger advances.

VENTRELLA: You’ve written books about how authors can use social media to promote themselves. What do you think is the biggest mistake made?

RAMBO: I think being negative or mean in social media is one of the biggest mistakes. You can be clever/cruel, sure, and build a following, but I keep seeing that strategy eventually biting people in the ass.41ydtaxrkLL._UY250_ I was reading someone’s post the other day, who was lamenting that a particular workshop never had invited them to teach, and I am pretty sure I know the reason why, which was a lot of very funny but rather cruel things said about not just their students but that workshop.

VENTRELLA: I’ve been advised many times to avoid talking about politics in social media, but I refuse to shut up. Should I worry? Do you think this will limit me in making connections and book sales?

RAMBO: If you’re writing good books, that’s the most important thing. But beyond that it really depends on how you’re doing it. I’ve got Facebook friends that feel obliged to come correct me whenever they think I’m wrong politically, and there’s a big difference for me between the ones who will say, hey, I think that argument is skewed and here’s the data/reason why I think that, and the ones who come screaming in strafing about dirty dirty (noun of your choice) oppressing them.

So – if you’re being reasonable about it and interested in discussion rather than scoring points – I think anyone who would refuse to make a connection because of your politics might not be worth making connections with.

VENTRELLA: There’s so much I could ask you about the whole sick puppies controversy. How do you think the Hugos should deal with them?

RAMBO: The WSF and the valiant volunteers who run Worldcon each year have my deepest sympathy and good wishes. But rarely have I been so glad to not have SFWA involved in a particular controversy – and I don’t think we should be, because we have members on several different sides – and I firmly believe there are a kerjillion “sides”, not an Us vs. Them in the way it keeps getting parsed.  I wish I had a solution that would leave everyone feeling happy and as though their various concerns had been heard – but I’m not sure that solutions exists.

VENTRELLA: How much of writing is innate? In other words, do you believe there are just some people who are born storytellers but simply need to learn technique? Or can anyone become a good writer?

RAMBO: Certainly there are some people that pick it up faster than others. I suspect that the amount of reading one does has a certain affect on that. But I’ve also seen people move from not particularly competent writers to ones whose writing I’ll seek out. The fact is, though, that if someone’s working at it – writing, and thinking about writing and how to make it better – they will, barring something physiologically wrong with them.

We learn storytelling in the same way we learn our native language, by listening and retelling, first fairy tales and legends and other children’s stories. cat bookWe know the grammar and the expectations: that something happens, that there is a beginning, middle and end, and so forth. It’s one of the things that makes interacting with kids so much fun – witnessing them learn how storytelling works. I’m on vacation right now with my godkids, aged 5 and 7, and we’ve been playing a lot of storytelling games.

VENTRELLA: What is your writing process? Do you outline heavily or just jump right in, for instance?

RAMBO: I need a good starting point, usually. With short stories, most of the time I’ve spent a good period thinking about the story and how it will progress before I start writing it down, and have a good idea of the shape.

For example, I recently was working on a story I’ve tentatively titled, “The Owlkit, the Candymaker, the Beekeeper, and the Brewer.” I knew it was the story of a lost animal looking for a home in a specific setting that I’ve written in a couple of times before, and I knew it would interact with each of the people mentioned in the title. When I knew a little bit about their circumstances and how they related to each other, I was able to sit down and write a first draft. I wasn’t entirely happy with the ending, so I put the story aside for a few days and then went back when I’d figured out how I wanted to refine the ending.

Books are entirely different, and every one so far has been its own particular flavor of chaos.

VENTRELLA: Writers are told to “write what you know.” What does this mean to you?

RAMBO: Here’s the thing. Stories are, at their hearts, about being human. About what human beings do. And that’s where “write what you know” comes in. You may not know what it’s like to be a mermaid pining away for a mortal love, but all of us know what it’s like to suffer unrequited love. That’s the heart of the story, and it’s where you do have to dig deep into your own experience and put it on the page.

It’s helpful to know wonderful, realistic details that help you create an engaging, immersive world. seedTo be able to use them as part of the story. But without some human heart to it, all those details won’t do much.

VENTRELLA: Do you think it is important to start by trying to sell short stories or should a beginning author jump right in with a novel?

RAMBO: That depends so much on the person and their circumstances. If writing short stories is hard for them, for example, then a novel might be the most logical place. For another, for whom it comes more naturally, writing short stories might be a better way to get their name known to the point where an agent will be interested – but that’s not going to help without a good book to sell.

VENTRELLA: What’s your opinion on self-publishing?

RAMBO: One of the things I’ve been doing lately is calling it independent publishing, rather than self publishing, because to me that’s one of the niftiest things about the current publishing scene: writers are not required to go through the set of traditional gateways they’ve had to in the past. Now there’s a lot of different publishing models, including crowd-funding, subscriptions, small press, etc.

Writers differ wildly. For those who don’t want to handle marketing or any of the business aspects, the traditional options are still there. But that model doesn’t make as much sense for the very prolific or the ones who are also skilled in self-marketing. That’s really pretty nifty.HH-Near-Cover1-200x300

VENTRELLA: What’s the worst piece of writing advice you ever got?

RAMBO: Someone once told me that editors don’t like stories with cats in them. This also qualifies as the most bizarre piece of writing advice I ever got.

VENTRELLA: What projects are you working on now? What can we expect next from you?

RAMBO: I’m working on the sequel to BEASTS OF TABAT right now — HEARTS OF TABAT — which will be followed by the other two books of the quartet, EXILES OF TABAT and GODS OF TABAT. I’ve also got a new story collection coming out this fall, NEITHER HERE NOR THERE, which is another double-sided collection like an earlier one, NEAR + FAR. I’ve also got a young adult novel that I’m picking away at and want to have a complete draft of by the end of the summer.

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The Mummy of Barnsley

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Michael A. Ventrella

Hey! Want to hear me read one of my stories for free?

“The Mummy of Barnsley” takes place in the world of Philippa Ballentine and Tee Morris‘ “Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences” steampunk novels. They asked me to contribute a story to their “archives” podcast and as I am big fan of those books, I could not refuse. Plus they paid me.Diamond-Conspiracy_small

Here’s the story blurb: “Agent Ernest Throckmorton is called to Barnsley to investigate reports of a mummy terrifying the town. Throckmorton soon finds himself thrown together with an all too eager assistant desperate to be part of the Ministry, as they hunt down the meaning of the mummy’s ominous threat. All shall pay for the desecration of the tomb!”

I had a lot of fun writing this and hopefully, you will have a lot of fun listening to it. Try not to laugh when I attempt British accents.

I have had requests from people to get my books into audio, so here’s the next best thing. The entire story runs about 30 minutes and you can listen to it from your computer or download it for later. And then leave a comment to let Pip and Tee know you liked it!

Here’s the link. 

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Interview with author Jim C. Hines

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: I am tremendously pleased to be interviewing Jim C. Hines today! Jim is best known as a fantasy novelist and the guy who did those gender-flipped SF/F cover poses. JCH-TARDIS-300x287His first novel was GOBLIN QUEST, the tale of a nearsighted goblin runt and his pet fire-spider. After completing the goblin trilogy, Jim went on to write the “Princess” series, four books often described as a blend of Grimm’s Fairy Tales with Charlie’s Angels. He’s currently working on the “Magic ex Libris” books, which follow the adventures of a magic-wielding librarian from northern Michigan. He’s also the author of more than forty published short stories. His web page is here.

Let’s talk about your latest news: The FABLE book, based on the best-selling game. How did that come about?

JIM C. HINES: The publisher contacted my agent to see if I’d be interested in writing the book. I’m guessing a lot had to do with my previously published work, particularly the GOBLIN QUEST series, which has some of the same fantasy and humor feel as the Fable game universe. My agent and I talked about the contract details, he went back and did a bit of negotiating, and voila – I got to write FABLE: BLOOD OF HEROES, which was a great deal of fun.

VENTRELLA: What kinds of limitations did they give you? In other words, how far away from the main narrative could you go?

HINES: I had a fair amount of freedom with the story. They wanted a book that would introduce the characters and the world, but I wasn’t novelizing the plot of the game. I had to set the story in the world of Albion, and to use the characters from FABLE LEGEND, but I was able to introduce my own villains and secondary characters, my own plotline, and even my own quirky little town.

VENTRELLA: What is it like writing a story that has already been written, with characters you didn’t develop? Did you find it liberating (“Hooray! I don’t have to spend months working all the details out!”) or confining (“Dammit, I want the character to do this but I am limited by what someone else wrote first!”) or somewhere inbetween?

HINES: I was hoping it would be a bit easier to write pre-existing characters, but as far as I can tell, nothing about writing ever ends up being easy. Libriomancer-LgLionhead came up with some interesting and entertaining characters. Sometimes it was fun to play with ideas I wouldn’t have necessarily come up with on my own. But there were also moments when I wanted to do something with a given character and couldn’t, because it didn’t fit with what Liongate had set up.

VENTRELLA: Assuming that this is like other games, your character could make different choices which could change the ending completely. How did you approach this?

HINES: I haven’t played LEGEND, but I’ve played some of the other FABLE games and read some of the previous tie-in books, so I was definitely thinking about the emphasis on choice. I tried to include some moments for the characters where they had a clear and important choice to make. Trust this character or don’t? Fight or flee? Kill or capture?

VENTRELLA: Who do you think the audience is for these kinds of books?

HINES: Well, we want it to appeal to fans of FABLE. First and foremost, I hope that all the hard-core chicken-chasers will approve. But if I’ve done my job well, you shouldn’t have to be familiar with the games to enjoy the book. If you like fantasy and quirky humor, you too can be part of the audience!

VENTRELLA: What will people who have already played the game get out of it?

HINES: Right now the game is still in beta testing. I don’t know if the book will come out before the game, or how that schedule will work. So it’s possible this could be the first real point of entry into FABLE LEGENDS world. For those who have played the previous games or participated in the beta, my hope is that they’ll get some insight into the characters, some exploration of Albion and its history, and a new adventure to enjoy.

VENTRELLA: Let’s talk about the “Goblin Quest” series. Where did the idea for that originate?

HINES: I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for the underdogs, and it’s hard to get more underdogged than the goblins. How many goblins got slaughtered in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? So I really liked the idea of taking this scrawny, nearsighted goblin runt and doing a typical fantasy adventure from his point of view, with all of his questions about fantasy logic and this so-called “heroism” stuff.

VENTRELLA: What inspired the “Princess” series?

HINES: Those books were for my daughter, who went through a princess phase when she was younger. Red-Hood-LgSome of the movies, and a lot of the merchandise, all stressed that a princess has to look pretty and be rescued and so on. I wanted stories about princesses who teamed up and kicked butt and beat the witch and saved the prince. I also wanted to play with the older fairy tales, and to do something fun with it, like turning Sleeping Beauty into a ninja, or letting Snow White run around doing mirror magic.

VENTRELLA: I’ve blogged about humor in fiction, and feel that tooLibr many authors think that if your characters crack jokes then you can’t make serious points or make them ever seem to be in danger. Since humor is a part of your work, how do you approach it? How do you find the right balance?

HINES: Humor and serious go quite well together. Just ask Joss Whedon. The contrast between humor and fear/pain/tragedy can make both more powerful. You don’t want to let the humor undermine the tension, but that’s just a matter of practice and learning how to write it. Human beings crack jokes. Even in dark times. Especially in dark times. It’s one of the ways we cope. Completely stripping that out of a story feels dishonest and hollow to me.

VENTRELLA: You haven’t avoided talking about politics on Facebook and your blog. Do you ever worry that this may alienate readers?

HINES: It’s weird. A fair amount of what I talk about are things like sexual harassment and racism and sexism, stuff I’d have assumed most people agreed were bad, regardless of politics. But it’s the internet, so everyone seems to get assigned to one “side” or the other, and that’s the end of that. It’s definitely cost me some readers. But I think these are important things to talk about, and I’ve ended up with a bit of a platform to do so. It would feel like a betrayal not to do so. I try not to be a dick about things, but it doesn’t matter how polite and “civilized” you are. There’s always someone who’ll get pissed off at you.

VENTRELLA: How much of writing is innate? In other words, do you believe there are just some people who are born storytellers but simply need to learn technique? Or can anyone become a good writer?

HINES: I think practice and skill are far more important and useful than talent. Looking back, I don’t know how much of where I started was actual talent vs. skills I’d picked up over my life, from reading and telling jokes and getting a pretty good education and so on. Goblin-Quest-LgBut wherever you start, pretty much all of us have to work to improve before we become Good Writers™.

VENTRELLA: What criticism of your work do you disagree with the most?

HINES: I try not to disagree with criticism, as a general rule. Once my book is out there, it’s up to the reader what they find in the story. Who am I to say they’re wrong?

That said, it annoys me to be told I only included a non-white or non-straight character as part of an “agenda,” or to push some mysterious “message” down people’s throats. Acknowledging the existence of people who aren’t exactly like me isn’t a message. And choosing to exclude people who aren’t like you from your stories is lazy, lousy writing.

VENTRELLA: Which of your characters was the hardest to write and why?

HINES: Lena Greenwood, the dryad character from the LIBRIOMANCER books. I’ve been working to get her character right for at least a decade. The way I wrote her and her backstory is problematic as hell. This series deals with the magic of books, and Lena was “born” as a sexual servant, one who gains in strength and independence over the course of the series. There’s a lot I’ve tried to do with her journey, but it’s so easy to mess up, and I know I’ve made mistakes along the line. For some people, she’s their absolute favorite character, but she’s been tough to write.

VENTRELLA: Writers are told to “write what you know.” What does this mean to you?

HINES: I prefer to flip it to “know what you write.” Do your research, and make sure you know what you’re talking about.

VENTRELLA: What do you do to avoid “info dumps”?

HINES: Mostly, I try to pay attention to when I’m getting bored while writing the story. There’s nothing wrong with exposition and info dumps from time to time, as long as it’s interesting. But the moment I start getting bored, that’s a clue to look more closely at the story and figure out why.

VENTRELLA: When going through second and third drafts, what do you look for? What is your main goal?

HINES: My first draft is when I get a sense of the book’s structure. I can’t hold an entire novel in my head, and outlines help, but they only work so-so. Cover2Once I’ve finished that first draft and know more or less how the book goes, I can go back and start developing the characters better, cleaning up plot problems, and generally delving deeper into the story.

VENTRELLA: Science Fiction doesn’t seem to be selling as much as fantasy these days, including urban fantasy and all the varieties. Why do you think that is?

HINES: Not a clue. I think it depends on where you look, too. Are superheroes science fiction? If so, then Marvel’s films are blowing away most of what’s out there. Video games? Paranormal romance vs. sword and sorcery? I try not to worry too much about what’s hot this year, and to just write stories I love.

VENTRELLA: Do you think it is important to start by trying to sell short stories or should a beginning author jump right in with a novel?

HINES: I was told you have to write short stories first, and I spent years doing that before really trying to write novels. That was Bad Advice. There’s no one right way to learn, and while short fiction used to be the “traditional” road for breaking into novels, these days I’d tell people to write whatever the heck they want. Enjoy short stories? Do that. Prefer books? Start writing them.

VENTRELLA: Do you think short stories are harder to write than novels?

HINES: I think they’re different. For me, short stories are much faster to write. You know, on account of being shorter. I like that. But you have some of the same challenges of characterization and worldbuilding and so on.

VENTRELLA: What’s your opinion on self-publishing?

HINES: I like anything that gives authors more options, and gives readers more ways to find stories they love. I could do without the religious crusades about the One True Way to publish, though.

Most of my books are through DAW, a commercial publisher in New York. I’ve also self-published some electronic chapbooks, as well as a mainstream novel and a fantasy novel project that … well, let’s just say RISE OF THE SPIDER GODDESS probably wouldn’t have found a home at most self-respecting publishing houses.

VENTRELLA: In this market, with the publishing industry changing daily, how important is the small press?

HINES: I think the small impress has been and continues to be important. They have more ability to take chances and to take on projects that might not sell huge numbers, but are important and powerful nonetheless.

VENTRELLA: What sort of advice would you give an un-agented author with a manuscript?

HINES: Finish the manuscript, and do some research. Learn how agented and unagented authors built their careers.Mermaid-Lg Learn the pitfalls of different paths. Read Writer Beware and other writing blogs and resources. There’s no one right way to do this, but there are definitely some wrong ways to be aware of!

VENTRELLA: What’s the worst piece of writing advice you ever got?

HINES: You have to write short stories before you can write novels.

VENTRELLA: What’s the best piece of writing advice you ever got?

HINES: I don’t know that it’s a specific piece of advice so much as a general attitude of persistence. Writing is hard, and there are times it will wear you down. Most of the successful authors I know are the ones who got stubborn and just kept writing.

VENTRELLA: What advice would you give to a starting writer that you wish someone had given to you?

HINES: Have fun. Find your own voice, and your own passion. I spent years trying to write the books and stories I thought I was “supposed” to be writing, but it wasn’t until I said the heck with it and started having fun with this goofy little goblin and his flaming pet spider that I really found myself as a writer. Coincidentally, that’s the first book I sold. Go figure.

VENTRELLA: Who do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors?

HINES: It depends on when you ask! Terry Pratchett, Janet Kagan, Nnedi Okorafor, Seanan McGuire… Heck, I’m on Goodreads. You can see my shelves here.

VENTRELLA: What projects are you working on now? What can we expect next from you?

HINES: I’m working on the fourth LIBRIOMANCER book, which is called REVISIONARY and should be out in February of 2016. I’m also finishing up the copy-edits on FABLE: BLOOD OF HEROES. Beyond that, I’m starting on INVISIBLE 2, which will be a collection of essays about representation in science fiction and fantasy. I’ve also got several anthology invites waiting for me to write short stories. So basically, I’m in no danger of getting bored any time soon!

VENTRELLA: With a time machine and a universal translator, who would you invite to your ultimate dinner party?

HINES: I’m not actually much of a party person, so I’d probably keep it small. Maybe David Tennant and my wife to start with. (So that my wife could meet David Tennant, which would make me the Best Husband Ever. And also because I’m a bit of a fanboy myself.) Janet Kagan, who was something of a mentor for me, but passed away before I could meet her in person. I’d also want to invite someone who can actually cook, you know? Oh, and maybe Gutenberg, because he’s one of the characters in my current series, and if I got him to sign one of those books, it would be a pretty awesome memento!

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Interview with Bud Webster

Posted on October 13, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

MICHAEL A. VENTRELLA: I’m pleased to be interviewing long-time friend Bud Webster today. Like previous interviewee Mark Waid, Bud was part of my old Dungeons and Dragons crew in college (Bud played a mercenary dwarf whose catchphrase was “When do we get paid?”) Bud We both worked at Peaches Records where we spent much of the day making bad jokes and entertaining the customers. We also took at least one class together that I remember — Animated Films (or something like that).

BUD WEBSTER: History of Animation, taught by the inestimable Steve Segal.

VENTRELLA: Yes indeed, thanks. Bud, as a voracious reader, you became quite the archivist? Anthologist? Expert? I’m not sure what word to use – how did that come to be?

WEBSTER: “Anthopologist” is the word I coined. It happened the same way it did when I was collecting rocks, magic tricks and records. The true geek can’t shut up about his/her geekery, we’re compelled by our passionate interests to blather on about it to anyone who’ll listen (or even pretend to). I was lucky enough to have found outlets that spanned a greater audience than just a roomful at a party; first, I did some exploration in my own fanzine, Log of the Starship Aniara (later just Aniara) back in the early to mid ‘70s, then a few pieces in other ‘zines. None of that, of course, was for money, and was mostly just about books in general. I did, for instance, a long piece for Aniara in which I detailed the holdings of a special collection at the University of Virginia that originally belonged to an alum who was seriously into HPL. It wasn’t until 2001, though, that I actually did anything I consider serious with my heavy interest in anthologies. That’s when Peter Enfantino invited me to contribute something on the subject to bare*bones, the ‘zine he co-edited/published with John Scoleri. I did a fairly lengthy examination of Fred Pohl’s Star Science Fiction series for Ballantine, and had the chance to interview Fred (via mail, since he wasn’t doing e-mail at the time). He was very cooperative, happy to answer all my questions, and he continued to read the columns as they appeared elsewhere, sending me the occasional correction when they were needed. That column was reprinted in ’02 in David Hartwell’s New York Review of Science Fiction and that was the beginning of my writing about this stuff for actual, y’know, money.

VENTRELLA: Tell us about the SFWA Estates project.

WEBSTER: Well, SFWA had been tracking estates for years when I was asked to take it over in ’07, but it was catch-as-catch-can and some of the information they had was either outdated or inaccurate. I was on the verge of leaving SFWA after several events had transpired, and then-president Russell Davis and former president Michael Capobianco offered me the position of Estates Liaison not to placate me but to give me a legitimate reason to stay on and be productive. 1256I had already been able to track down a few estates through the network of email lists I was on, so it was right up my alley. It appealed to my sense of history, and it fit in with my interest in keeping classic sf and fantasy alive.

VENTRELLA: Have you had much difficulty in locating anyone?

WEBSTER: If you only knew. I have names on the list that I haven’t been able to track down since the Project was handed to me. Some of them are almost certainly legitimately orphaned – Frank Belknap Long and his wife left behind no family so his only “heir” is the State of New York – but others … Well, how easy is it going to be to find the heirs of George H. Smith?

VENTRELLA: Which writer do you think just hasn’t received the attention her or she should have (and why)?

WEBSTER: How much space do you have? Seriously, there are dozens of authors whose work has been forgotten or unfairly ignored, not all of them old guys from the pulp days. Terry Carr, a fine writer as well as a prolific anthologist; Tom Reamy; Alfred Bester, who wrote two of the best novels sf has ever seen; Avram Davidson, Robert Sheckley and Richard Matheson, all of whom wrote brilliant short fiction; Cordwainer Smith, James Tiptree (aka Alice Sheldon) and R. A. Lafferty, whose work transcends any and all genre limitations… The list can go on for a long time. It’s the big reason I began writing the Past Masters columns.

VENTRELLA: Does one need to be an expert on classic SF to enjoy your essays?

WEBSTER: I’d like to think not. I don’t write them exclusively for fellow geeks, although they enjoy them too. I’m more concerned with piquing the interest of the average reader, with urging them to look for old paperbacks online or in used bookshops than I am in trading minutiae with my colleagues. I get as much pleasure from a note from a stranger telling me that they can’t wait to track down a copy of San Diego Lightfoot Sue as I do from a fellow historian saying, “Hey, I didn’t know that!”

VENTRELLA: Your fiction has received great reviews and awards as well, but you haven’t written that much of it. Do you plan to do more?

WEBSTER: Absolutely. I’ve recently placed stories with Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show (“Fantasiestűck in A Major – A Flight of the Imagination in Three Movements” in #40) and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (“Farewell Blues” upcoming in the January/February 2015 issue), and there are a couple more I’ve just sent out. 51LV1Irkn+L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_I have plans to do at least one more Bubba Pritchert story, too. Let’s face it – writing is hard work and for some of us, non-fiction is not only a little easier but can pay better and faster. I pitch it, the editor greenlights it, I turn it in and get paid. I still have to throw fiction in over the transom like everybody else, and there’s no real guarantee. I still get rejections.

VENTRELLA: Speaking of science fiction, you had a role in the film “Futuropolis” (I missed my chance to do a cameo in it by being sick that day and I still regret it). I expected that film to become a cult favorite, something shown regularly at SF conventions, but it isn’t. Why do you think that it never caught on?

WEBSTER: Mostly because it hasn’t been available except as a video cassette. I’ve been trying to get Steve Segal and Phil Trumbo (the creators) to do a DVD, and they do think it’s a good idea; Phil mentioned recently that he’s even done a “Making Of” segment that would really add to the interest level. Maybe if we poke them enough…?

VENTRELLA: Let’s talk about fiction in general. What kinds of characters are you sick of reading about?

WEBSTER: Badly conceived and delineated ones. As long as a character can really walk and talk to me, I don’t care if it’s a sparkly vampire.

VENTRELLA: Do you think readers want to read about “believable” characters or do they really want characters that are “larger than life” in some way?

WEBSTER: Why can’t they be both? Yeah, readers have to be able to identify with and believe in characters, but there’s no real reason why there can’t be a little exaggeration as well. Bubba, for example, is an autodidact who knows what “autodidact” means; he’s down-home but intelligent. His persona tends to be a little loud and jokey, but I’ve tried to give him depth and seriousness as well.

VENTRELLA: What is your writing process? Do you outline heavily or just jump right in, for instance?

WEBSTER: Alfred Bester, one of my idols, couldn’t begin until he’d created a detailed outline. I tried it once; the story never got written because I’d scratched the itch too thoroughly with the outline. I’ve found that I need to keep a relatively comprehensive chronology as I go along, but I don’t outline beyond that.

VENTRELLA: Do you find yourself creating a plot first, a character first, or a setting first? What gets your story idea going?

WEBSTER: Depends. Sometimes I write to, sometimes I write from. Sometimes I have a specific idea, other times it’s an overall concept. I have had stories change as I wrote them, more than once. “Christus Destitutus”, for example, was originally envisioned as a satire, the sort of wry observation that Damon Knight and others used to write for Galaxy or F&SF. It turned into a dark and angry commentary on my own religious upbringing, something I honestly did not expect. I still find the story disturbing, in fact.

As a rule, though, I rarely start the actual process of writing until most of the story is clear in my mind. A lot of the time I even have the last lines right there in front of me. The-Joy-of-Booking Other times, well, it’s very different. I was doing research online one morning for my wife when I decided, just for kicks, to Google a small town not far from Richmond called Frog Level. Turns out there are two small towns in Richmond by that name, and that was the genesis of “Frog Level ≇ Frog Level”. That story wrote itself in four days, with very little rewriting.

VENTRELLA: Since we are on panels together at conventions all the time, I assume you think they’re worthwhile. Why do you find these to be a useful activity?

WEBSTER: Good question. Part of it is that in many cases, verbalizing helps me firm up my thoughts and make them workable. The exchange of ideas between the other panelists (as well as intelligent and well thought-out questions/comments from the audience) can lead me to reconsider my own opinions in a very real and constructive way. Plus I get to show off my vocabulary.

VENTRELLA: What’s your opinion on self-publishing?

WEBSTER: I’ve never had a problem with it in general, I’ve even done it myself. And there was a time when there were honest vanity presses who offered their services to people who wanted to self-publish family genealogies, poetry collections, regimental histories and the like. They made no promises of promotion, distribution, or best-sellerdom though; all they did was deliver a case or two of printed and bound books that the author was responsible for thereafter.

Is someone with a checkbook who Kinkos their own book and shows up at a convention demanding table space and signings and their own panel(s) a colleague of mine? Not necessarily, no. Anyone with a thick enough stack of credit cards can throw something together and run through their local copy shop, it takes a lot more than that. There are plenty of those who have proven to me that they are a colleague both through their own hard work as a writer, editor and publisher and though their obvious skills at promotion and willingness to go the literal extra mile to travel on their own dimes to conventions, festivals, conferences and bookshops all over the place for the possibility of a couple of dozen more sales. Why? Because that’s what it takes to market your own books, and that’s what it takes for me to take them (as well as the current conception of self-publishing) seriously – hard work.

VENTRELLA: In this market, with the publishing industry changing daily, how important is the small press?

WEBSTER: It is absolutely vital. It’s always been important, especially back in the days of Gnome Press and Arkham House, but now with the majors being inundated with more and more crap that they have to wade through to get to the Good Stuff, the small presses make it possible for a new author to reach an audience larger than they could reach on their own. If the press has a good, solid rep, it adds a cachet to the author and makes it more likely that sales will be even better: “Hey, there’s a new book out from HomminaNomicon Press! I really liked the last two, so I’ll try this one.”

VENTRELLA: What sort of advice would you give an un-agented author with a manuscript?

WEBSTER: Don’t go the “easy” route first. Find agents and/or publishers who are willing to look at new work by new writers, put together a proposal, a solid three-hots-and-a-cot (first three chapters and a synopsis), and get ‘em in the mail. AFF JUl-AUG 2007 FINAL RG.eps Be very careful, though – there are predatory “agents” out there who are dedicated to ripping you off and will sweet-talk you into believing that the Sun sets in the East if you let them. Go to the Predators and Editors website and look through the list of agents and see what their records show. There’s nothing easy about writing, no aspect that doesn’t require careful research, attention to details (especially with contracts) and hard, hard work.

VENTRELLA: What advice would you give to a starting writer?

WEBSTER: Bust your behind to get it as right as you can, pay attention, and let your work speak for itself. If you can find a good writers’ group in your area, check them out to see if you’re a good fit. They can be enormously helpful, but again, be careful; some groups can be deliberately harsh, even cruel, and there’s no quicker way to be discouraged. Critiques should be honest and firm, but never mean. Do not look for shortcuts, because there really aren’t any.

VENTRELLA: Who do you like to read? Who are your favorite authors?

WEBSTER: Boy, you really don’t want short answers, do you? Let’s see … Bester, Ellison, Heinlein, Effinger, Doyle, Simak, Russell, Niven, Niven and Pournelle, Pournelle, Pratchett, King, Haldeman, Sanders, Silverberg, Pohl, Gaiman, Davidson, Clarke, Bradbury, any Conklin anthology, Cordwainer and Doc Smith, McKenna, Bond, Leiber; how many more do you want? Oh yeah, there’s this guy named Ventura or Ventiller or something, but he writes like a sissy.

VENTRELLA: Hmph. What projects are you working on now? What can we expect next from you?

WEBSTER: I’m putting together my first fiction collection, including stories and poetry. It’s going to have most of what I’ve done over the years except the Bubba stories; they’ll have their own book with new material tying them together. Some of the stories are pretty old – going back more than 20 years. I’m hoping it will be out by the end of 2015.

VENTRELLA: With a time machine and a universal translator, who would you invite to your ultimate dinner party?

WEBSTER: In no particular order: Nelson Bond, Einstein, Buzz Aldrin, Frank Zappa, Pierre Boulez, Steve Allen, Igor Stravinsky, John Lee Hooker, Arthur Conan Doyle, Tom Lehrer, John W. Campbell, Charlie Chaplin, J. R. R. Tolkien, August Derleth, William Gaines, Mel Blanc. And my wife, or course. Have to be a big table, though.

I doubt I’d say a word, but I would video the whole damn thing and live off the revenue from the books I’d write about it for the rest of my life.

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“Alternate Sherlocks” stories wanted

Posted on June 24, 2014 by Michael A. Ventrella

I will be editing an anthology of alternate Sherlock Holmes stories and am looking for submissions.

The idea is to take the iconic (and now public domain) character Sherlock Holmes and twist it in some way: Sherlock as an alien; Sherlock as a woman; Sherlock in the middle ages — let your imagination soar.sherlock_holmes1

I have an agent who is willing to shop this around. In order to interest a major publisher, we’ll need some big names. At this stage, we’re only asking for a story synopsis — that way, you don’t waste time writing a story only to find that we can’t get you a decent pay for it. If a publisher accepts, we will determine the pay and notify you and then you can decide whether to participate.

So I need proposals. Please submit a short synopsis (including the ending) of no more than 400 words, accompanied by your (short) bio and a link to a writing sample. Be sure to mention your previous publishing history.

Note: If we cannot interest a major publisher, my current publisher Double Dragon will accept the anthology. With Double Dragon, the only pay will be from royalties (no advances or guaranteed payments).

Please email your submissions or questions.

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