This Saturday through Monday I’ll be in august company at Balticon 45, a long-running sci-fi/fantasy convention held in Baltimore, Maryland. (The con begins on Friday 5/27/11, but I won’t be there until Saturday.) If you’re within driving distance, please stop by and say hello! Balticon is a big event with lots of artists, entertainers, games, vendors, and cosplayers. Something for everyone, indeed.

I’m especially looking forward to reconnecting with three fantastic writers I met at SheVAcon in March: Elaine Corvidae, David Forbes, and Leona Wisoker. Bring on the con parties! I think the Science Fiction Title Chain game will be a blast, too.

Here’s my schedule, should you want to catch up with me.

Saturday 5/28/11

5:00 PM — Small Press Publishing Round Table
Back by popular demand. Small press publishers discuss how they work with artists and artists discuss how their experiences working with small press publishers have been awesome or could be improved.

6:00 PM — Grand Openings (round table discussion)
Once upon a time (in a galaxy far far away)… So, how important is a good opening? What does it need to pull the reader into the story? How can it cast light upon mood, setting, character, tone, and still work as a hook for the reader? Discuss favorite openings, and tell why they work so well. What actually is the “right” beginning for the story? How does a writer figure out if the story on paper’s starting too early, too late, or at the right time?

Sunday 5/29/11

10:00 AM — Nancy Brauer, Michelle D. Sonnier and Patrick Thomas Autographing

12:00 PM — My Favorite Planet
What fictional (or non-fictional) world would you most like to visit or inhabit? Why? Describe it. Past, future, or alternative Earths are also gratefully appreciated.

4:00 PM — Motivation — Why Ask Why?
Does it matter why characters act the way they do? How to explain them to your readers.

5:00 PM — Science Fiction Title Chain
It’s a game! The audience provides the words for a science fiction story or novel’s title, the panelists arrange them in a more or less coherent order and each panelist comes up with a descriptive synopsis. The audience votes on the synopsis they like best!

8:30 PM — Nancy Brauer — Reading
I’ll read from Strange Little Band, Strandline, and/or short stories. Audience’s choice.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43602175@N06/4070018782/

I was having trouble coming up with a catchy title for this post, so I decided to be cryptic. RaEW stands for “Read an Ebook Week”. Seeing how Smashwords crashed this morning from a deluge of hits, I’d say it’s off to an enthusiastic start!

In honor of “Read an Ebook Week”, I’ve made my dark paranormal romance Strange Little Band half off on Smashwords this week. Use coupon code CT43G to download SLB for a mere $1.50!

Here’s how the designs came out. Click the images below to see a larger version.

From Thursday March 3 through Sunday March 6 I’ll be a guest at SheVaCon 19 in the Sheraton Roanoke Hotel and Conference Center in Roanoke, VA. The guests of honor are Virginia Hey, Peter Beagle, Matt Busch, and Spat Oktan. If you’re within driving distance, please drop by and say hello!

The con starts on Thursday evening with the premier party. My S.O. and I will attend in costume. He’ll be the fearsome Dr. Horrible, armed with his freeze ray (Tell your friends!). I’ll be Penny—possibly the Penny from the third act if I have time for appropriate makeup. I’m looking forward to meeting fellow writer Elaine Corvidae, who will also be in costume. Who says we have to wait for Halloween?

Here’s my schedule of panels and readings for those interested. I’ll have copies of Strange Little Band and Other Sides with me, as well as some freebies. You can download PDFs of the SheVaCon schedule and program book.

I hope to see you at the con!

Paige, me, Kim and two copies of Strange Little Band at my first book signing at Annie Kay's in Blacksburg, VA, December 2010

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubygirlcreations/5368958106/

If you’re weary of lovey-dovey Valentine’s Day mushiness, you may want to give Addison’s and Shane’s lusty, love/hate relationship in Strange Little Band a try. Here’s a taste.

Shane stared idly at the few stars not blocked by the arboretum’s canopy. For once he didn’t wonder which his father had come from. With Addison laying on top of him he didn’t care. His hands wandered over her smooth, toned body, completely sated and fighting off sleep. They needed to leave before a guard found them.

“Come to my quarters,” he blurted.

Harris lifted her head long enough to scowl at him. “Prat,” she muttered, letting her head drop to his chest. ~You couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?~

Although part of him said to do just that, Shane’s pride spoke up. ~You seemed to be enjoying my mouth earlier.~

Harris growled, then rolled off him. Shane happily ogled her as she stood and slipped into her dress. Then her mind disappeared behind her shields. “Our ‘coitus meeting’ is over,” she informed him, “so I’m free to tell you that you’re the most insufferable, arrogant bastard I’ve ever met.”

All together now: awwww!

Download the Strange Little Band ebook for FREE today only with coupon code AR62P at Smashwords!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrs2fat/4338843244/

This was originally published on Zoe Winters’ blog as a guest post. Thanks again, Zoe!

So you’ve written a book. Your imagination has flowed out your fingers into a computer or through a pen to paper. Now it’s time to create a billboard for your story. A good cover tells potential readers volumes about your tale, whether it’s an ebook or in print.

This post is an overview of the design process for non-artists. It would take thousands of words to convey the principles I use when I create cover art. This primer will get you started in creating attractive, informative book covers without breaking the bank. I’ll use the cover of my dark paranormal romance Strange Little Band as an example.

What You’ll Need

• The interwebs
• A graphics program (Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, PaintShop Pro, etc.)
• Your book’s title
• The trim size of your book

If you’re scratching your head about trim sizes, don’t worry. Print-on-demand services like CreateSpace and Lightning Source list standard book trim sizes. Even if you plan to publish electronically only, I recommend choosing an industry-standard size and designing a print-resolution cover. A printed version of the cover could come in handy for promotion.

Example: I chose a trim size of 6 x 9 inches (15.24 x 22.86 cm) for Strange Little Band.

Ponder Design Elements

Before you rev up Photoshop, think about your book in general. What is its tone? Is there a theme? Think about the genre, and search Amazon for books similar to yours. See what kind of covers those books have. You don’t have to copy other books’ styles, but checking out the competition could spark ideas.

Imagine you’re a reader browsing a brick-and-mortar or online bookstore searching for a book like yours. What element(s) in your novel would catch your eye? It could be a face, a striking landscape, an object key to your story, or a combination. Write all of them down. You’ll revisit this list later.

Example: Strange Little Band is an unconventional sci-fi/romance with antihero protagonists. I wanted to feature the main characters and their love/hate relationship. No smoochies, roses, and hearts on this cover!

Hunt Stock Photos and Illustrations

Several stock photography and artwork sites have excellent search engines to help you find images of just about anything. If your budget is tight, try Flickr and Morgue File. Be sure to note each image’s license. If an image is copyrighted with all rights reserved, you must contact the photographer/artist to negotiate a license to use his or her work. But if the image has been released with a Creative Commons license, you can use the image for free if you meet the license’s requirements. Learn more about the different Creative Commons licenses.

Flickr’s advanced search makes it easy-peasy to find CC-licensed works. Here’s a search for CC-licensed “tiger lily” images.

If you can afford $10 to $50 for stock photos/artwork, check out iStockPhoto. iStock’s search interface is outstanding, which is a good thing considering the size of their image archive! I’ve yet to be disappointed by them.

Example: After a lot of searching, I found two photos on Strange Little Band that look like the main characters and have appropriately pissy expressions. Meet Addison and Shane.

Got Images. Now What?

Now it’s time to get creative. Start up your graphics program and create a new document a little larger than the trim size of your book (to allow for bleed) and at 300 dpi. If you’re using a single image, you’re almost done. If you’re using multiple ones, it’s up to you to position and/or edit them together.

When deciding where to place elements in your design, keep in mind “z flow.” Westerners’ eyes move in a z pattern when scanning a page: top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right. Put important object somewhere on the z.

Example: I spent longer than I care to admit tweaking the two stock photos into one image. The color tones of the photos were vastly different, so I made Addison’s image more cyan and darker. I also positioned Shane’s head in the upper right corner and Addison in the lower left corner on purpose. Viewers’ eyes move from Shane’s face to Addison’s naturally.

Fonts, Text Size, and Text Placement

The fonts you use for the text on your cover are as important as the graphic behind them. Fonts have personality. Choose one or two that match the tone of your story. I say this with two caveats.

1. Keep it simple and legible. It’s tempting to use ornate, decorative fonts. Make sure they’re easy to read!
2. I strongly advise against using Comic Sans, Papyrus, Jokerman, and Curlz. They’re overused and cliched.

If you’re looking for more fonts, try dafont.com. There are more than you’ve ever imagined.

Text size indicates the relative importance of the message. If you’re a new or not (yet!) well known author, there’s no need to make your name the largest text on the cover. Your name won’t help sell your book. Your title might. I recommend making the title the most prominent text on your design.

As for where to put your book’s title and your name, you can’t go wrong with the top and bottom of the design. Those positions fit the z pattern that viewers’ eyes follow. Elsewhere on the z works as well.

Example: I’m not entirely happy with the text on SLB’s cover. The title design is based on an offbeat sans-serif font, which I think matches the tone of the book. It and my and my co-author’s names are positioned at the top left corner, which viewers can’t possibly miss. I don’t think there’s enough contrast between the title and the background. It doesn’t pop as much as it could, in part because the background is a little busy. The end result is a compromise. I had to draw the line somewhere.

That’s book cover design in a nutshell. The process is time consuming, but worth it in my opinion. Once you have a good cover design, you can reuse it for bookmarks, postcards, posters, and other promotional material. Good luck!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jainsama/5351160288/

Tori and her fellow characters in the paranormal thriller Tori’s Row have had a long, long nap. That’s because life intervened for MCM and me, so the 18 chapters we’d written have been waiting for an ending.

At long last MCM and I are banging out the last nine chapters. We plan to have them ready in early March. For now you may want to check out the first two-thirds of Tori’s Row. It’s free! Here’s the blurb.

Tori McNulty has problems. As she’s putting her life back together, she’s attacked in Boston’s South End. She doesn’t remember much: mostly blood-drenched pavement and the crumpled body of her assailant. The good news is that she’s uninjured and not a murder suspect. The bad news is the obnoxious young man in 18th century dress shadowing her and confusing, violent flashbacks. Tori must figure out what happened that night before her stalker gets to her or she goes completely mad.

If you’d like a little more of a taste, check out this short bit of flash fiction I wrote last year. It’s a teeny bit spoilery.

Since this is just barely Tori’s Row-related, I’ll take this opportunity to pimp the most recent Strandline episode. It’s related because I’m taking a brief break from Strandline to finish up Tori’s Row. Episode 19 of Strandline will go live on February 4th.

Anyhoo, episode 18 of Strandline begins thusly.

The schooner’s patchwork sails marked it as one of the Greenmen’s ships just as much as the green man stenciled on the prow. Although Petra had no idea why Naveen was sprinting straight toward it, letting him get near a crew of witches couldn’t end well. Without breaking stride she hurled a verbal and psychic command at him: “Naveen, sleep!”

Naveen slowed, shook his head, then kept running. He was closing on the ship’s gangplank fast.

Read the rest, or start with episode 1.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fujur/157822428/

What would you do if you were hiking and the world came to an end?

The start of Wormwood by D.H. Nevins begs that question. Young outdoorswoman Kali is strolling along when the ground churns and the sun disappears behind ominous clouds. Even more disturbing is the fact that Tiamat, a striking man she’d met ten years earlier, seems to be commanding the destruction from a rocky peak. Kali survives the initial chaos to discover that the earth is toast and Tiamat is more than he seems.

Wormwood is a post-apocalyptic novel of survival interwoven with a paranormal romance. I should note that post-apoc isn’t my cup of tea. The typical amount of destruction and despair is too depressing for me. I agreed to read Nevin’s manuscript after meeting her at Readercon 2010. Her enthusiasm for her story is infectious.

Overall I enjoyed Wormwood. Nevins has created a mythology that borrows from Christianity without being preachy. Kali is a tough, resourceful protagonist, and Tiamat a half-angel tortured by his orders from on high. The sexual tension between the two is palpable. Nevins does a good job describing the landscape before and after the apocalypse, as well as drawing the primary and supporting characters. She either is a proficient outdoorswoman herself, or has done her research. Survival for the remaining humans is difficult, but not impossible. Kali’s and Tiamat’s story comes to a conclusion, but leaves room for a sequel.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic tales with a healthy dose of paranormal romance, Wormwood will not disappoint. I wish Nevins the best of luck with finding a publisher!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27229185@N05/3848744983/

The only thing the topics of this post have in common is the date they appeared on the interwebs.

First, some self-pimpage: “Braindive,” episode 17 of my free sci-fi/action serial Strandline, is up. Petra and Kristin rummage around Naveen’s head, and boy is it messy in there.

Why do I torture my characters so? (Because it’s fun.)

On a completely different note, here’s the quote of the day, brought to you by Chuck Wendig of Terrible Minds.

“This is the Year of the Sugar Glider. Next year will be the Year of the Two-Cocked Coelacanth!”

Anyone who can use “sugar glider” and “coelacanth” in the same paragraph has my undying love.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oter/3707796830/

Yesterday the infamous John Scalzi posted a wee contest on his blog. The winner’s name will be used for a minor character in his latest book. Here are the rules.

[W]rite a haiku from the point of view of some who is either about to die or has just died, from one (or more!) of the following:

1. A spider monkey or monkeys;
2. LASERS
3. Poor GPS directions
4. And, of course, Spontaneous Human Combustion.

Although it would be cool to see my name in one of Scalzi’s books, I entered primarily to write a silly haiku. I came up with this:

Spider monkey tail
Constricts, but I immolate
Die, you dirty ape!

I know that spider monkeys aren’t apes, but couldn’t resist a kinda sorta Planet of the Apes reference.