HEIDI RUBY MILLER

Fairy BrewHaHa by Ken Rand Fairy BrewHaHa originally appeared in 2005 from Five Star . It tanked, and I asked Yard Dog to reprint it. They said okay. Fairy BrewHaHa at the Lucky Nickel Saloon ain’t a novel, really—it’s a whopper. See, in the Old West, as Mark Twain told, a good storyteller got favored treatment around a campfire, on the trail, or in a saloon. Read this book (and my other Lucky Nickel novel Dadgum Martians Invade the Lucky Nickel Saloon! and my short story collection Tales of the Lucky Nickel Saloon , all from Yard Dog Press ) with tongue planted firmly in cheek. It’s supposed to be funny, so if you’re in a place where folks will look cross-eyed at you if you grin too much, go somewheres else so you can guffaw if you’ve a mind to. Fairy BrewHaHa at the Lucky Nickel Saloon is about these fairies who invade the saloon intend on getting drunk afore they rob the circus, in town for a show, of payroll gold. They dote on a legendary concoction called Fairy BrewHaHa

I seldom do memes any more, probably because I limit myself to how much time I spend on the internet per day, but Sandy Lender ( read her PICK SIX here ) emailed me to say she'd tagged me for this one, so I took the time to have a little fun. To participate in a meme, you merely answer the questions on your own blog, (and go ahead and post a comment here stating that you've done so!) and tag five to 10 blog owners that you'd like to have play along with us. The idea is to get lots of folks connected and "playing along" to increase our awareness of each other (and to have fun). When you post your answers on your blog, be sure to list the blogs that have participated so far so we increase our presence in the blogosphere. GETTING AWAY WITH IT 1) If you could live for a month in one world or time period from a novel you've read, which would you choose? In the Florida Keys with Randy Wayne White's Doc Ford Black Widow by Randy Wayne White 2) If you coul

Cynthia Owens HEIDI'S PICK SIX 1. Which of your characters is your favorite? I have two favorite characters. They’re actually secondary characters who appear in In Sunshine or in Shadow . Tom Flynn is the heroine, Siobhán Desmond’s , best friend. He knew her husband, and he’s the “big brother” character that every girl wants. He’s a good, uncomplicated man who just wants to raise his family in peace. But he’s also a man you can count on. He’s fiercely loyal and strong of spirit. My other favorite character is Grannie Meg , Siobhán’s grandmother. A wise, tender woman, she’s seen famine and death, but remains a rock of support to Siobhán when she’s needed it most. 2. Tell me about your travels. 3. Coffee, tea, or milk? Coke – the beverage, that is. Some people need the caffeine in coffee to wake them up. With my crazy writing schedule (I regularly start my day at 5:30 a.m.), I need the caffeine in a can of Coke to pry my eyes open! But only Coke Classic . Diet Coke a

Fires Rising by Michael Laimo When I started, I wrote a ton of short fiction, and sent them off to small press journals. I published a few, but had a million rejections. But, I really enjoyed doing it, so I kept at it, and soon enough, had published a bunch of short stories, all horror (I was always a horror fan, so there was no other avenue for me here). I spent a year writing my first book Atmosphere , and went to a few horror conventions to see if I could get some tips from the some more experienced writers. I’d met quite a few great people, and knew that I’d found my niche. I attended a Stokers award banquet in NY, met with the Leisure Books editor, and pitched my book to him. After 2 years, he accepted it, and two years after that, it was published. My current novel Fires Rising is also through Leisure . In Fires Rising , a church waits in darkness. It looks abandoned, forgotten. It has no congregation, but it is not empty. Under its floor, in a pit dug long ago, lies a woo

Thin Ice by Liana Laverentz I finished Thin Ice for the first time seventeen years ago. It made the rounds of the traditional publishing houses, with no luck. After a few years, and after my first novel was published in 1993, I re-wrote Thin Ice from beginning to end, and tried again. This time I got glowing rejection letters, but they were rejection letters all the same. Finally my agent said, what you need to do is win some awards, get some name recognition. Then they’ll buy it. So I put Thin Ice away, and moved on to writing several other manuscripts, one of which became Ashton’s Secret , released by Meteor/Kismet . But Thin Ice remained my favorite, and I wanted people to read it, so I started passing it around to friends in manuscript form in a three-ring binder. One friend who read it loved it so much, insisted I needed to send it out again. And I mean insisted. But it had been nearly ten years since I’d last sent it out, and it needed to be completely revised again. Th

Goblin War by Jim C. Hines My path was a rocky one, to say the least. Things started out well. One of my early stories, "Blade of the Bunny," won first place in the Writers of the Future contest. They flew me out to L.A., put on a workshop with authors like Dave Wolverton and Tim Powers, and generally spoiled me rotten. I figured I was on my way, and rejection would be a thing of the past. You may laugh now, if you want. Years later, after collecting several hundred rejections, I wrote a book called Goblin Quest . I sent it out to the major publishers and some agents. No bites. So I started the next book. Then, about 18 months later, I was talking to an editor I had worked with who was now acquiring for a small library press called Five Star . I asked him if he'd be interested, sent the book, and voila -- he wanted it. I withdrew the book from the one or two publishers who were still sitting on it after 18 months, and life was good. That was the plan, at l

I joined a great new site for romance readers and writers called Romance Book Junction . It's growing quite quickly. Check it out: Visit Romance Book Junction Romance Book Junction , Heidi Ruby Miller

#1: K. Ceres Wright's poem Doomed was nominated for the 2008 Science Fiction Poetry Association's Rhysling Award . Ceres also did a voiceover for the SF animated short Star Freighter: Dangerous Cargo . #2: Timons Esaias is the special guest this Monday in the PennWriters Presents series. #3: Glenn Garrabrant is modeling clothes for Five Tone Rock 'n Roll Boutique . #4: Landry Gaines has a new website. #5: Registration is now open for the 7th Annual In Your Write Mind Writing Popular Fiction Retreat . The conference is open to the public. Guests of honor this June are Ginjer Buchanan , Editor-in-Chief at Penguin Group , and best-selling author J. A. Konrath . Hope to see some of you there this summer! Seton Hill University , Heidi Ruby Miller , Writing Popular Fiction , K. Ceres Wright , Timons Esaias , Glenn Garrabrant , Landry Gaines , writing , In Your Write Mind Retreat , Seton Hill Writers

RESEARCH Yesterday I caught up on submitting and querying my completed projects. I am way behind for 2008 - only 21 subs thusfar. I aim for the 'Buckell 150' each year. While recording my new subs, I went back through to label the one-year non-responders . It was nice to see there were none for March; February only had two; but January had six. I noticed something else during the search back through all of these records: My ratio of email to post subs is 2 to 1 . This would be closer to 3 to 1 if I took out all of the agent queries, partials, and fulls from last year. I suppose it's because I subconsciously place markets into two categories: free, easy, and fast as opposed to paying for postage and traveling to the post office . For good or for bad, I put post-only markets at the bottom of my submissions list, sometimes never even getting to them before the project sells. Anyone else follow this same electronic submission trend? Heidi Ruby Miller , submissions

Danger on X-Y One by Vicky Burkholder A publishing story? You want a publishing story? Hmmmmm…. Where to begin. I’ve always been someone who made up stories, and even wrote some of them down. I started sending them out a long, long time ago, but didn’t get really serious about my writing until my kids were well into high school. I did win a few contests here and there, but, again, nothing serious. But I continued to write. Mostly papers for my Master’s degree and then as a technical writer for a small computer company. From there, I moved up to policy and procedures manuals for organizations and government-type places. And yes, it is as boring as it sounds. Then I got a job as a journalist for the local newspaper. I specialized in human interest stories – you know the type – “New Vice-Principal at the High School”; “Students Put On Spring Play” – more interesting than policy and procedures manuals, but not where I wanted to be. In the mean time, I continued to write my fiction s

Sheryl Nantus HEIDI'S PICK SIX 1. Which of your characters is your favorite? 2. Tell me about your travels. Well, aside from traveling to Canada once or twice a year to see my family - I've been to San Francisco, Washington D.C., Vancouver, and Las Vegas (a few times - it's a surreal place to visit!). 3. Coffee, tea, or milk? Tea, tea, TEA! I actually have Tetley tea smuggled down from Canada, since it's a different blend here. I love peppermint tea along with green tea and various herbals. 4. What else can you do besides write? 5. Who are you reading right now? Oh... I have a plethora of books going at any one time. Seems to be about one or two to a room. Steven Pressfield , Patricia Briggs , various writing magazines and books. And that's just the bathroom! 6. Pop culture or academia? 7. What is the toughest scene you ever wrote? 8. Where do you find your inspirations to write? 9. Food you could eat everyday. 10. Are you into sports or other physical

#1: Katherine Ivy was interviewed at Cerridwen Press about her first novel Dishonorable Intentions . You can find her on LJ at kat_ivy . #2: Penny Dawn has an interview at Novel Sisterhood about her latest book The Long Run . You can also find Penny at Shelfari . #3: The Philip Jose Farmer collection Venus on the Half-Shell and Others , edited by Christopher Paul Carey is listed as a New and Notable Book in Locus Magazine . #4: Tobias Buckell has an essay up at The Angry Black Woman . #5: Maria V. Snyder guest blogged at The Story Siren about her newest novel Fire Study . Seton Hill University , Heidi Ruby Miller , Katherine Ivy , Tobias Buckell , Penny Dawn , Maria V. Snyder , Christopher Paul Carey , writing , author interviews , Seton Hill Writers