Here's an excerpt: Two years ago during the Writing Popular Fiction MFA winter residency at Seton Hill University, a discussion broke out amongst my students in a critique workshop geared toward young adult (YA) writers. They didn't think YA novels were really written for teens anymore, or at least early teens, yet most middle grade (MG) fiction felt as though it belonged more in the chapter book and younger reader category. Much of this concern was prompted by the idea that more adults wee now reading YA than teens were. Just look at the most recent Nielsen studies, which show that at least 80% of worldwide sales for YA novels are by adults for adults.
It was understandable that many of my students are now worried that what they were writing wasn't edgy enough for this new YA trend toward mature readers and wondered if truly age-appropriate fiction, where there was a younger teen protagonist, should actually be geared toward the MG audience. They weren't the only ones concerned.
During the Burroughs panel last month at PulpFest in Pittsburgh, ERB Director of Publishing Christopher Paul Carey announced that I will be heading the second wave of the brand new Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe (ERBU) which is bringing together all of Burroughs's vast properties (including Tarzan and John Carter) like Marvel did with its characters and worlds in the MCU. Specifics about which character I will be taking over are still heavily under wraps but will be revealed when I am introduced to fans on a panel at San Diego Comic Con 2020. I couldn't be more thrilled and honored. Updates to come.
We had a busy but happy summer that has brought us lots of good news going into autumn and all the way through next year. Find out about Heidi's big book deal announcement and Jason's readings from PulpFest 2019, as well as our new publications and travels. We'll also announce the winner of our last giveaway and tell you about another one. Plus we still have some events coming up. We would love to see you there!
Here's an excerpt: It all started when Greg Shaw used the term punk in the April 1971 issue of Rolling Stone. The movement may have been already building, but now it was a word, and as all writers know, words are power.
Less than 10 years later, Bruce Bethke introduced a new version of that word to the literary scene with his 1980 short story "Cyberpunk." Said Bethke in the foreword to his story on the British website infinity plus, "In calling it that, I was actively trying to invent a new term that grokked the juxtaposition of punk attitudes and high technology. My reasons for doing so were purely selfish and market-driven: I wanted to give my story a snappy, one-word title that editors would remember."
I am so excited to share this special lettered hardcover edition of AMBASADORA: Marked By Light from Dog Star Books. There are only 26 copies available at $40 each, and they are signed by myself and interior artist Amy Gartley. The cover design is still the lovely one from Brad Sharp.
There are also 8 of those books available in a package with a beautiful and original block print signed by Amy for $50.
You can purchase the books or packages at PulpFest in Pittsburgh August 15-18, 2019, where they will also be signed by Jennifer Barnes who wrote the foreword, or by ordering through me directly at heidirubymiller AT gmail. Below is the unboxing and signing video featuring me, Amy, and two curious cats.
ABOUT AMBASADORA: MARKED BY LIGHT
If everyone told you love wasn’t real, would you still be willing to die for it?
Sara Mendoza and Sean Cryer are.
In their multi-partner, caste-ruled society, love and jealousy are considered emotional fallacies, nothing more than fleeting moods and sentiments biased by hormones. Relationships and conceptions in this world obsessed with celebrity, beauty, and power are based on DNA and lineages…or should be. But not everyone believes in the ruling traditions of the all-powerful Embassy. A quiet rebellion prowls the dark underground of this shiny world where techno-militants calling themselves fraggers grow in numbers and bravado. The Embassy intends to silence the fragger movement before the heresy of equality spreads throughout the system.
Sara Mendoza is part of the Embassy’s plan. Captured, tortured, and falsely accused of treason, she is given a chance to win back her freedom. She only needs to charm information from one of the fragger leaders, then kill him. But by the time she figures out the Embassy’s intel is flawed and that Sean Cryer is her true mark, she’s already in love with him.
Sean knows why Sara is on his ship from the start, but as a lonely, anti-social doser, he doesn’t value his life, only his ideology within the fragger organization. Against his better judgment, he becomes her protector, each day caring more about a future he was always afraid to hope for.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT AMBASADORA: MARKED BY LIGHT
“Ambasadora has a lot to say about the human spirit and it says it well.”
—Mike Resnick, Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author
“With an anthropologist’s eye for world building and an engaging fast-paced style, Heidi Ruby Miller hurtles her characters through a dystopian labyrinth in which hollow beauty is revered and love a virtual crime.”
—Christopher Paul Carey, Director of Publishing at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. and author of Swords Against the Moon Men
"Talk about an outlaw hero that is larger than life. Talk about a hero who changes worlds."
—Jenna Bennet, NYT Bestselling Author of The Fortune series
“Beautifully vibrant and intricately textured, Heidi Ruby Miller’s Ambasadora explores the value of true humanity, the limitless power of desire and the triumph of the individual soul. Amidst edge-of-the-seat action, Miller effortlessly incorporates the conflicts of the modern woman inherent in upholding feminist sensibility. Ambasadora is a banquet of sumptuous words, a truly exciting adventure that fans of science fiction are sure to enjoy.”
—Mary SanGiovanni, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Hollower series
"Complex world building, complex societal structure, complex technology."
—Jennifer Foehner Wells, author of Fluency
We were so busy this spring that we had to skip over that edition so here's everything from over the past few months all at once. Find out how Jason's keynote went at the Pennwriter's Conference, about Heidi's interview on a PBS documentary and her new contracts, as well as where our most recent travels took us. And, as always, check out what we've been reading, a giveaway, and our upcoming events. We'd love to see you at some! There is also a poem from me and a flash piece from Jason. Enjoy.
Here's an excerpt: Pulp fiction is having a moment. And I don’t mean the Tarantino movie from the ‘90s – that was having a moment since Jules gave away his wallet. I’m talking about the adventure stories of old with those provocative covers and dime-store price tags that are enjoying a renaissance thanks to the subgenre “new pulp.”
It’s clear that to understand new pulp, we need to know a little about “old” pulp. The term comes from the paper it was printed on – that cheap, thin stuff that began to disintegrate as soon as you cracked open the cover. Pulp was popular as magazines, novels, and novellas during the first half of the 20th century because it was escapist fiction with high drama, exaggerated villains and heroes, and punchy, super-vivid covers. These exploits served as a distraction during world wars, national economic hardships, and the growing pains of settling into a more industrialized world.
PulpFest is proud that over 30 popular fiction writers will be attending our 2019 convention. “Back in the day,” the authors who labored for the rough paper industry liked to call themselves scribes, word-slingers, penny-a-worders, and, perhaps the most favored term of all, fictioneers. Join PulpFest as we celebrate today’s fictioneers — the authors writing today’s pulp fiction!
On Friday, August 16, at 11 AM, join five writers from Raw Dog Screaming Press for a Rapid-Fire Read and Sweet Sixteen Celebration. It will be hosted by publisher Jennifer Barnes. Raw Dog Screaming Press has carved a niche for themselves as the specialty house for offbeat, dark, deviant, thought-provoking fiction. They were the recipient of the 2018 Horror Writers Association Specialty Press Award for outstanding horror, dark fantasy, and weird fiction. Their critically acclaimed publications are attracting mainstream attention with Ridley Scott recently optioning one of their titles as a major motion picture for Twentieth Century Fox.
Readings on Friday morning will be given by author/poet Michael A. Arnzen (four-time winner of The Bram Stoker Award); fantasy and science fiction author Carrie Gessner; author and founding editor of Raw Dog Screaming Press John Edward Lawson; novelist and journalist Jason Jack Miller; and Bram Stoker Award-winning poet and novelist Stephanie Wytovich.
On Saturday, August 17, at 11 AM, join six writers from Dog Star Books for a second Rapid-Fire Read for PulpFest. It will be hosted by publisher John Edward Lawson. Dog Star Books is the new Raw Dog Screaming Press imprint for Science Fiction Adventure titles. It is the specialty house for edgy, evocative, thought-provoking sci-fi and adventure fiction from new and established authors who shine among the best in their field today.
Readings on Saturday morning will be given by author and poet Matt Betts; editor and author J. L. Gribble; Dog Star Books founder/managing editor and science fiction and thriller author Heidi Ruby Miller; science fiction and urban fantasy author K. W. Taylor; science fiction author and poet Albert Wendland; and science fiction author, editor, and poet K. Ceres Wright.
We’ll also be showcasing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill prior to the Dog Star Celebration. Join Dog Star Books founder and author Heidi Ruby Miller and three writers from Seton Hill University’s Writing Popular Fiction Master’s Program at 10 AM Saturday morning, August 17th at PulpFest in the convention’s programming hall. Horror and fantasy author Jeremiah Dylan Cook; author and screenwriter E. C. Skowronski,; and horror author, poet, and editor Sara Tantlinger will be reading from their work.
Coffee, tea, and sweets — celebrating sixteen years of high quality Raw Dog fiction — will also be available both days, compliments of the publisher.
PulpFest 2019 will begin on Thursday, August 15, and run through Sunday, August 18. Join PulpFest at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Pittsburgh – Cranberry, just north of Pennsylvania’s “Steel City” of Pittsburgh. We’ll be celebrating “Children of the Pulps and Other Stories” at this year’s gathering.Click our Programming button below our homepage banner to get a preview of all the great presentations at this year’s event.
To join PulpFest 2019, click the Register button below our homepage banner. To book a room at the DoubleTree by Hilton — our host hotel — click the Book a Room button, also found on our homepage.
(Raw Dog Screaming Press and Dog Star Books banners and logos designed by Jennifer Barnes.)
I was honored to discuss pulp artist Gloria Stoll Karn on the documentary VISIBLE produced by Pittsburgh's PBS station WQED. Below are a few photos from the filming and video of the clip about Gloria and the entire documentary, which highlights the stories of five women artists in Pittsburgh. Thanks to Mike Chomko, Director of PulpFest and producers Anne Casper and Andrew Holman for this opportunity to contribute to such a lovely project. You'll notice my segment was filmed at Seton Hill University, of course.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
JESSICA STRAWSER AND JASON JACK MILLER
Thursday Pre-Conference Intensive Faculty
Timons Esaias - The Crafts of Fiction: The Nuts, the Bolts, and Hoisting the Girders into Place
Deborah Riley-Magnus - Author Marketing Master Class
Coroner Lyell P. Cook - Coroners: Their history, What they do, What they see
Friday Networking Luncheon Speaker
JD Dunbar - Listen for the Lyrics
Friday Published Penns Luncheon Speaker
Siobhan Vivian - Your Next Big Idea: Developing and Heightening the Plot of Your WIP
Agents, Editors, Publisher
Kaitlyn Johnson, agent, Corvisiero Literacy Agency
Amy Bishop, Agent – Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC
Bibi Lewis, Agent – Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency
Danielle Dieterich, Editor – G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a division of Penguin Random House
Rhonda Penders – The Wild Rose Press
32nd Annual Pennwriters Conference
Friday, May 17, 2019 9:00 AM - Sunday, May 19, 2019 1:00 PM (Eastern Time)
Pittsburgh Airport Marriott
777 Aten Road
Coraopolis, Pennsylvania 15108
United States
412-788-8800 EVENT DETAILS
We can't say much about those series right now, except that we're excited and busy. In the meantime, find out about Jason's big honor this May, Heidi's new vlog series, and what we've been reading when we're not writing. And check out our events. We'd love to see you some time!
If you're in the Lake Jackson area of Texas on April 1, come and visit us at the Brazosport College Library. We'll be discussing what it's like to collaborate as authors and also reading from our work.
Note: This is not an April Fool's Day joke! :D
Congratulations to my dear friend, fellow Seton Hill alum, and exceptional author, Christopher Paul Carey, on his dream position at ERB, Inc. Can't wait to see what new marvels he's going to show us!
Tarzana, CA (February 5, 2019) — Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company that manages and licenses the creative works of novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, including TARZAN OF THE APES® and JOHN CARTER OF MARS®, is pleased to announce the addition of Christopher Paul Carey to its executive staff in the role of Director of Publishing, effective February 4, 2019.
Christopher Paul Carey, as the new Director of Publishing, will work closely with Jim Sullos, President, and Cathy Wilbanks, Vice President of Operations, on all aspects of the company’s publishing division, including exciting new initiatives to be announced in the future.
I was delighted to see some of the students from my New Pulp class at Seton Hill University created their own project called New Pulp Tales. It offers weekly flash fiction in all the favorite pulp genres. Editors are Jeremiah Dylan Cook, E.C. Skowronski, and Ralph Weld.
This vlog features our climb up Gros Morne Mountain in western Newfoundland, Canada. The descent is in the next video because it turns out going up wasn't necessarily the hard part.
They were chosen to save their country. First, they'll have to save themselves.
Following a decade of nuclear war, the population has plummeted, forcing the world to find a civilian-saving alternative. They settle on the Langyan Series, where, in order to decide international disputes, twelve-person teams from each country will compete in paintball battles inside a specially designed arena.
Sarah Charlton—a depressed, destructive, and anxiety-ridden college dropout—is the last person anyone expects to lead the USA team. Cut off from the outside world, she and her eleven teammates, including an old friend and an old flame, must rely on one another for safety and support. To prove her worth as a leader, Sarah first has to learn to trust in herself.
But then the Series turns deadly, and as the team fights to stay alive, Sarah fights to hold onto her humanity.
About the Author: Poe Casavant is the author of the first book in the Langyan Series and its upcoming sequels. By day, she designs robotic props and hairpieces for the fashion world. When not working, you can find her crashing through waves in her sea kayak, jumping out of airplanes, or training for her current goal of climbing the highest peak on every continent. (Five down, three to go!) Poe’s passion is creating high-octane stories with characters who shatter traditional stereotypes.
Poe lives in sunny Silicon Valley with her husband, cat, and two parrots.
I started a new vlog series called Away with Heidi on our Small Space Big Life YouTube channel. Here's the first one. It showcases our travel day to Newfoundland, Canada.
We have lots of other travel videos from Paris, Cinque Terre, Quebec City, and Walt Disney World, just to name a few. Don't forget to like and subscribe while you're there!
I am happy to report that my AMBASADORA books have been spotted among the cats (Stan Lee and Spencer) at Carpe Librum Bookstore & Art Gallery! This online store, run by Melissa Eisenmeier, has fun pop-up shops around the country throughout the year. Follow them on Instagram for updates.
"'I wish I could take you into my office,' Holmes says, 'but it’s currently a cluttered disaster zone. I’m in the middle of preparing reader boxes that need to get mailed.' She elaborates on the reader boxes she’s assembling: 'I’ve put together a few of my favorite things, like a special reading mug, chocolates, tote bag, etc., along with a signed copy of THE FORGOTTEN ONES, for those in my awesome reader group. Thanks to the crazy mess in my office I’ve been writing up in my bedroom.'”
Steena Holmes is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of titles including Saving Abby, Stillwater Rising, and The Memory Child. Named to the “20 Best Books by Women in 2015” list by Good Housekeeping and Redbook, Steena won the National Indie Excellence Award in 2012 for Finding Emma as well as the USA Book News Award for The Word Game in 2015. Steena lives in Calgary, Alberta, and is a self-proclaimed “travelholic” who can’t resist a good cup of coffee. To find out more about her books and her love of traveling, you can visit her website or follow her journeys on Instagram @authorsteenaholmes.
"It’s early morning in Florida, that time before the heat really sets in, and Max Karpov, author of the political thriller THE CHILDREN’S GAME, is writing under the canopy of trees in his yard and listening to the canal flowing behind his house. A runner, traveler, and journalist, Karpov always finds inspiration from the outdoors, which is why he initially plans his books at the beach."
Journalist and novelist Max Karpov spent several years researching and writing THE CHILDREN’S GAME. A Washington, D.C. native, Karpov has written for The Washington Post, Baltimore Sun and elsewhere.
I am happy to be reading from my thriller novel ATOMIC ZION for the 2018 Monessen Public Library Author Series this Saturday, April 7, from 1-3 PM. This event is free and open to the public! Refreshments will be served. Thank you to Carrie Gessner for directing this promising series.
A groundbreaking work as tenacious as a hurricane and as radiant as Van Gogh’s STARRY NIGHT, this contemporary myth amplifies the conventions of genre and literary fiction to take us on a journey in a way that only a book can, and reminds us that even in
darkness there is light.
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT ALL SAINTS:
"The author of Hellbender is back with a new book that proves beyond a doubt that 'there's more than one way to chase the devil around a stump.' This genre-bending book reads like Gabriel Garcia Marquez getting in a bayonet fight on the battlefield. The plot explodes with action and fabulism. The dialogue stuns with its craftiness and then settles in with a deep afterburn. All the words zing like handmade bullets. And amidst all the fireworks of his imagination, the book just bleeds with so much heart you want to keep turning the pages. All Saints speaks to those among us whose candles are sputtering and beaten down to the wick by the winds of life, but still defiantly flaming on with the will of a wildfire, eager to dream, live and love. The novel stands on its own, but this addition to the Murder Ballads series is a gift to fans of the series, because Jason Jack Miller is an artisan crafting fiction at the top of his game." -- Michael Arnzen, five-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Play Dead
"What I love about Jason Jack Miller’s fiction is the way he pulls me deep into his characters’ milieus and doesn’t let me out again--not that I want out--until long after the final page. His Murder Ballads and Whiskey series made me see my beloved/hated Appalachian landscape with clearer vision, beyond the littered streets of dying towns and into the magic, where screaming guitar riffs and dangerous love compete with evil for dominance over everybody’s soul. His new novel, All Saints, has evil still in fevered pursuit, but this time his hero--Ben, a war vet suffering from PTSD--is assisted (i.e. restrained from destroying himself) by three native boys, a yellow dog, and a beautiful, eternally young woman while they carom through Central American jungles and villages in search of the magic that can save them all. The writing is so rich that you will smell the jungle or feel the sand between your toes as you read; the characters are authentic and believable, and the mysticism will beguile. Miller writes with authority, but don’t expect to be in safe hands. He will take you where you might not wish to go--but will be glad you did." -- Randall Silvis, Fulbright Award-winning author of The Boy Who Shoots Crows
"Action sequences and mystical elements are skillfully written." -- Publisher's Weekly
Jason Jack Miller knows it’s silly to hold onto the Bohemian ideals of literature, music, and love above all else. But he doesn’t care.
As a record store clerk at a time when record stores mattered, as a whitewater raft guide on some of Appalachia’s wildest rivers, and as a concierge in one of Florida’s finest hotels—he has always sought every opportunity to be involved with and affected by the world around him. He chases experiences and then transforms them into stories
Some of these stories can be found in his Murder Ballads and Whiskey series. The first three books are currently available: The Devil and Preston Black, Hellbender, and The Revelations of Preston Black. Hellbender was Jason's thesis novel for Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction Graduate Program. The novel won the Arthur J. Rooney Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the Appalachian Writers Association Book of the Year Award.
The next installment, All Saints, came out February 2018.
His career got its start when he co-authored an outdoor travel guide with his wife in 2006. Since then his work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, literary journals, online, as part of a travel guide app for mobile phones, and in the award-winning writing guide Many Genres, One Craft.
He is a high school science teacher, and is now an instructor and mentor in Seton Hill University’s prestigious Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. He lives just outside of Pittsburgh with his wife and Small Space Big Life co-creator, Heidi, and a cat named Francesca. Find him at www.jasonjackmiller.com, on YouTube as Jason Jason Miller or Small Space Big Life, and on Twitter and Instagram @jasonjackmiller.
"DiAnn Mills, author of the new thriller HIGH TREASON, lives up to her tag line: Expect an adventure. One look at her Instagram feed (@diannmillsauthor) gives you the big picture of not just a writer, but also a community leader, a traveler, a fashionista, and a coffee connoisseur."
