Sunday, February 17, 2013

Steam Punk and New Book Just Published and Bragging Rights




 
Writers! Wormhole is looking for manuscripts! Send me a synopsis of your story and your first chapter!  clv241@gmail.com
 
 
 
 
Don, it sounds like you are having an experience of a life time! I had read about the new cultural center – it appears massive and very informative! Lucky you! And the pictures make it look warm!
We went to the Colorado Home and Garden Show - saw lots of beautiful gardens and water falls, met lots of people who wanted to sell us everything from gutter guards to hydroponic towers to solar cells, bathroom fix-it kits and steam baths. We were allowed gum; however, we could not take water into the expo - we had to buy theirs for $4.00 a bottle.

Your description of being close to a busy street and not hearing anything reminded me of the forts and castles we saw in Bosnia when we were there a few years ago – massively thick walls. Even the new apartment buildings are built along those lines – those good folks know how to build something that will withstand just about anything.
And now Bragging Rights! One of our writers, Colby Elliott has received the 2012 Halo Award for best short fiction audio book from Audiobook Heaven.com.
Colby's read "The Street That Never Was" by Clifford Simak. It's great that someone finally noticed Colby's most excellent voice!

Besides research essays, Steam Punk short stories and a syfy “build your own world” book have dominated my reading this week. The essays are completed (intense edit on my part) and the research on the whole was sound; I wish I could say the same for the “build your own world” book. It has been a tough read – the language is English, but the words used are defined only in the author’s mind. The reader has been left out. Not good. Another problem is that the four main characters have at least four different unrelated names. There are times I don’t remember who is talking and what their relationship is to other characters.  The book is rich in description, good sentence structure, good paragraphing; I’m sure the interaction between the characters is good in the author’s mind, but I can’t figure it out. It is one of the few times in my life that I might very well put this book in the give-away bin without finishing it. I’ll give it another chapter, but if it doesn’t start making sense, it goes. 50 pages of poor writing is about all I can take.

The Steam Punk stories are another story, so to speak. So far they have been clear, easy to follow even though some are written with Victorian English spellings. Not all of they take place in England, which I thought was a necessity for Steam Punk. Apparently not! Which is good! Both O’Ryan Jackson and Jepf Keir, writers for Wormhole, have created their own worlds using the Steam Punk formula without using Victorian England as the setting. In some ways, the genre reminds me of the Ewoks in Star Wars – tough bad guys with technology beaten by simple everyday folk.

Riddle: okay, I think the answer to your riddle, Don, is a cursor – the flashing line that signals it is ready to put words to the screen when I am and is just as capable of removing my mistakes (which for me are vampires).

Don, I still don’t have a riddle for this week, sorry. My mind is just coming up for air after grading, meetings, and getting our latest book ready for Amazon and the web developers. Just to let you know, I’m hoping you settle in well once you get back home – looks like we’re going to be busy with some new manuscripts! The FantasyCollection goes on sale through Amazon tomorrow! The sample pages won’t be available through the website until March 1. See what you’re missing! Editing and commenting …
It's not that I'm envious or anything...
Have a great week! Travel well, travel safe.
 OH!! I just about forgot! sowrite.us.com is having another contest opening up next weekend! Check it out!
Carolyn

 
 
 
 

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