Podcasts about fiction river

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith has published over two hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres.   At the moment he produces novels in five major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy, and the highly acclaimed puzzle mystery series The Cold Poker Gang.   His monthly magazine called Smith's Monthly, consisting of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and each month has over 60,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month.   During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.   He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown.   Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as executive editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series. He is now also the editor of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine and Writers of the Future.   https://deanwesleysmit...   Workshops on Teachable…   https://wmg-publishing...   The WMG Writer Store   https://wmgwriterstore...   The WMG Publishing Main Store   https://wmgbooks.com/

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith has published over two hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres. At the moment he produces novels in five major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy, and the highly acclaimed puzzle mystery series The Cold Poker Gang. His monthly magazine called Smith's Monthly, consisting of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and each month has over 60,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month. During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown. Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as executive editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series. He is now also the editor of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine and Writers of the Future.

Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith has published over two hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres. At the moment he produces novels in five major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy, and the highly acclaimed puzzle mystery series The Cold Poker Gang. His monthly magazine called Smith's Monthly, consisting of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and each month has over 60,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month. During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies. He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown. Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as executive editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series. He is now also the editor of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine and Writers of the Future.

Mark interviews the creative daughter/father team of Brigid Collins and Ron Collins about their collaborative writing. Prior to the interview, Mark shares a brief personal update, comments from recent episodes, and word about this episode's sponsor. You can learn more about how you can get your audiobooks distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway. In the interview, Mark, Brigid and Ron talk about: The last time they saw one another (Feb 2020, just prior to the world "shutting down" for the pandemic) Ron's entry into the world of professional speculative fiction writing in the mid 1990s Why Ron feels that non-fiction can be a lot of fun to write Ron's latest book On Creating (And Celebrating!) Characters Brigid growing up and being witness to the dedication her father Ron had for his pursuit of writing Singer, the first book Brigid wrote, which evolved into the four books of The Songbird River Chronicles in response to her father's prompting Brigid's appreciation of having good parents at all the various stages of her youth and adulthood The importance of being able to accept the other person's methods and style of writing as well as their ideas which can be totally different Learning one's own writing styles from engaging with the other person's work The incredible amount of fun that can happen with the right collaborations The logistics of how they co-author together, for both short stories as well as a newco-authored book project Finding the middle-ground between planning and discovery writing Merging the worlds of the fairie realm with the baseball world based on the idea of a baseball diamond being built on top of a fairie ring The fun of merging the tropes of these two types of worlds The way the split of writing has evolved and gotten more complicated as part of writing the next books in the series Leveraging Google doc and folders for the collaborations Using Draft2Digital's payment splitting option for publishing A collaboration that Ron is doing with his brother merging science fiction and the world of music Advice they would offer to writers interested in getting into writing collaborations And more...   After the interview Mark reflects on the "2+2 equally more than 4" awesomeness that can happen in a powerful collaboration. Links of Interest: Brigid's Website The Songbird River Chronicles (and more) Ron's Website On Creating (And Celebrating!) Characters Home Run Enchanted (Faires and Fastballs Book 1) Abridged (half-hour) Keynote on Embracing Technology for AuthorTube Writing Conference Unabridged FULL HOUR Keynote (Patreon link) Wine Country Writer's Festival EP 250 - Typewriters, Nature, and Fatherhood with E S Curry EP 314 - Defeating Writer's Block Using Penspyre EP 317 - Rambling Reflections from the Road - Part 2 EP 318 - Rambling Reflections from the Road - Part 3 Buy Mark a Coffee Patreon for Stark Reflections Best Book Ever Podcast Lovers Moon Podcast The Relaxed Author Buy eBook Direct Buy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for Authors An Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & Bookstores Wide for the Win Mark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story) A Canadian Werewolf in New York Stowe Away (Novella) Fear and Longing in Los Angeles Fright Nights, Big City Lover's Moon Hex and the City The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and Automobiles Yippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die Hard   Brigid Collins is a fantasy and science fiction writer living in Michigan with her wonderful wife and her irritating cats. (Just kidding, the cats are pretty wonderful, too.) Her fantasy series The Songbird River Chronicles and Winter's Consort, her fun middle grade hijinks series The Sugimori Sisters, and her dark fairy tale novella Thorn and Thimble are available wherever books are sold. Her short stories have appeared in Fiction River, Feyland Tales, and Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar anthologies. Ron Collins is a best-selling Science Fiction and Dark Fantasy author who writes across the spectrum of speculative fiction. With his daughter, Brigid, he edited the anthology Face the Strange. His short fiction has received a Writers of the Future prize. His short story “The White Game” was nominated for the Short Mystery Fiction Society's 2016 Derringer Award. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and has worked to develop avionics systems, electronics, and information technology before chucking it all to write full-time.   The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Ice in D Minor by Anthea Sharp. Narrated by J.S. Arquin. Featuring an afterword recorded by Anthea Sharp. Rinna Sen paced backstage, tucking her mittened hands deep into the pockets of her parka. The sound of instruments squawking to life cut through the curtains screening the front of the theater: the sharp cry of a piccolo, the heavy thump of tympani, the whisper and saw of forty violins warming up. Good luck with that. Despite the huge heaters trained on the open-air proscenium, the North Pole in February was cold. And about to get colder, provided she did her job.   Anthea Sharp is a USA Today bestselling, award-winning author of Fantasy-flavored fiction. Growing up on fairy tales and computer games, Anthea Sharp has melded the two in her award-winning, bestselling Feyland series, which has sold over 150k copies worldwide. In addition to the fae fantasy/cyberpunk mashup of Feyland, she also writes Victorian Spacepunk, and fantasy romance. Her books have won awards and topped bestseller lists, and garnered over a million reads at Wattpad. Her short fiction has appeared in Fiction River, DAW anthologies, The Future Chronicles, and Beyond The Stars: At Galaxy's edge, as well as many other publications. Find her at www.antheasharp.com and follow her on Twitter @AntheaSharp.    Please help support The Overcast. Become a Patron Today! Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher  or Spotify so you never miss an episode. While you're there, don't forget to leave a review!   J.S. Arquin's Crimson Dust Cycle trilogy is complete! Go to www.arquinworlds.com to download your free prequel story. Are you an author who loves J.S. Arquin's narrations? Ask him to narrate your audiobook at www.arquinaudiobooks.com   

Main Fiction: "An Infinite Number of Idiots" by Robert JeschonekThis story first appeared in Galaxy's Edge #39 (July 2019).Robert Jeschonek is a USA Today bestselling, envelope-pushing author whose fiction and comics have been published around the world. His stories have appeared in past episodes of StarShipSofa, as well as Galaxy's Edge, Fiction River, Pulphouse, Escape Pod, and many other publications. He has written Doctor Who and Star Trek fiction and comics for DC, AHOY, and others. His young adult slipstream novel, My Favorite Band Does Not Exist, won the Forward National Literature Award and was named one of Booklist's Top Ten First Novels for Youth. He also won an International Book Award, a Scribe Award for Best Original Novel, and the grand prize in Pocket Books' Strange New Worlds contest. Visit him online at www.robertjeschonek.com.Narrated by Rish Outfield.Rish Outfield is a writer, voice actor, and audiobook narrator. He can be heard co-hosting the Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine and That Gets My Goat podcasts, where he and Bigg Anklevich entertainingly waste much of their time. He also features his own stories on the Rish Outcast podcast. He once got a job because of his Sean Connery impersonation… but has lost two due to his Samuel L. Jackson impression.Fact: Science News by J J Campanella See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode Mark chats with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch about writing with chronic health issues, contract negotiations with publishers, mistakes that authors are making, and so much more. Prior to the interview, Mark does a little house-keeping regarding winners of Danny Bell's first novel from Episode 70, reads new comments, thanks Patrons who support the show, and talks about being in New York this week for Book Expo America. Mark also shares a recent presentation that Michael Tamblyn, CEO of Kobo, presented to the BISG (Book Industry Study Group) in late April. This episode is sponsored by Findaway Voices . . . You can learn more about how you can get your work distributed to retailers and library systems around the world at starkreflections.ca/Findaway.   In their conversation Kris and Mark talk about: Kris's recent move and the discoveries made in relation to a book she recently released called WRITING WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS How Kris's entire life has revolved around exercise and writing and that likely made a positive difference for her despite huge health challenges that she faced, and potentially is what might have kept her alive The realization that Kris made only recently that she had never learned how to rest The way she utilizes running and walking to benefit her writing How Kris's training in radio automatically activates her "critical voice" The rotating playlists Kris uses when running (often ones that have to have a really good beat) The move from 5000 square feet (with offices across the house from one another) to 1600 square feet (and a shared office) and how Kris and her husband Dean manage their own unique writing spaces The value for writers in understanding the way that different editors approach a piece of writing Breaking down the myth that there's a single book (or story) out there that everyone will love What "reader cookies" are and how they can play upon an editor's personal preferences A look at "anti-reader cookies" - element or content in a story that an editor hates or will refuse to read How Ray Bradbury practiced writing a short story a day The concept of "writing into the dark" when creating your first draft and how that plays into the fact we have been consuming stories since we were pre-verbal How, with so many tasks, deadlines and balls in the air, Kris decides what writing project to work on next The importance of growing as a writer by writing about things that stretch or challenge her How Kris's book DEALBREAKERS helped Mark negotiate a much better contract with his publisher The choice of "walking" which writers always have when being presented with a publishing contract The three big things that Kris sees that indie authors are not doing correctly: Following Trends, Burning Out and Neglecting their Personal Lives/Families/Health, Following the Scams (that promise seemingly impossible results) The free content that Kris shares (both fiction and non-fiction) on her website on a regular basis, and the origin for both The value of networking and personal connections made during in-person workshops (both the craft workshops as well as the business workshops) The "no politics" and "no religion" rules that Kris and Dean operate within for their workshops (which allows writers to bond regardless of their political or religious biases   After the interview, Mark reflects upon one of the things Kris said regarding taking a workshop when it's in town as opposed to removing yourself from your regular schedule/life, and why the travel/removal of one's self from day to day life for such a learning/bonding experience can be valuable.   Links of Interest Kristine Kathryn Rusch Business Musings Blog Posts Book: Writing with Chronic Illness WMG Publishing WMG Writing and Publishing Workshops Findaway Voices Stark Reflections Survey   Kristine Kathryn Rusch is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Kris writes in almost every genre and her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in more than twenty best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov's Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award. Kris also has an extensive history in publishing and editing, having been the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as well as co-publishing the original Puuse Magazine with her husband, Dean Wesley Smith. The two now run WMG Publishing, which publish a revised version of Pulphouse, the Fiction River anthology series and many other projects, along with running publishing workshops both online and in person.

Special Announcement! The first short story I sold professionally is now out in the Fiction River: Spies! Anthology, released by WMG Publishing. Go check it out! Buy it here: https://books2read.com/FR-spies/ If you like my podcast and stories, sign up here to become a member/patron on my site: https://www.michaelkingswood.com/membership/supporting-patronage/ Visit My Website - http://michaelkingswood.com Sign up for my newsletter - http://www.michaelkingswood.com/newsletter-signup/ Visit me on Steemit - https://steemit.com/@michaelkingswood Or just leave me a tip at https://paypal.me/SSNStorytelling Or send some crypto: BTC: 3QQ7EhBDMwdG8YypHJjErwpW6hbP4mC14W LTC: LNG2qRCJHJSybidtNw3os1tayfXjLU8b4g ZEC: t1Nmjz8P2sPcmBpKmUviaTcxekTW9m7Aj2D ETH: 0x5842c89FD421c4B92bf826bf7bA5214841B0f660 XRP: rfV3AuwQNfywJzGoQr7Gm2dQWhscx3RM7k ARK: AenZnRqaFz3kx7HenVhur6SyCtH6FFk2TN ZEN: znWrk5CV7kn8J2KRWd9qZ8UPQTfDG32d1R4

In this extremely short episode, Mark talks about Procrastination and how it has been a significant part of who he is and how he works on projects. He talks a bit about the Fiction River anthology project that he is currently in Vegas for as an editor (and how that relates to this topic), as well as Tim Urban's hilarious and yet accurate portrayal of what goes on in side the mind of a master procrastinator. Links of Interest: Tim Urban Tim Urban's TED talk on Procrastination: Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator Wait But Why (Blog) Fiction River WMG Anthology Workshop Patreon for Stark Reflections Stark Reflections Survey The music for this podcast (“Laser Groove”) was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Patreon support now standing at 405 – last week 403. Help us get to 500 Patreon Supporters. Bitcoin address: 1FcqW3GEWFX9tuoyFrn1ySKoeybyc3J4W9Ethereum address: 0xacC43A99b1eDe0e4a04B43A7A7fa3aA476B87EAAMain Fiction: "A Little Song, A Little Dance, a Little Apocalypse Down Your Pants" by Robert JeschonekOriginally published in Galaxy's EdgeRobert Jeschonek is an award-winning author whose fiction, comics, essays, and non-fiction have been published around the world. His stories have appeared in Galaxy’s Edge, Escape Pod, Fiction River. He has written Doctor Who and Star Trek fiction and Batman and Justice Society comics for DC Comics. His young adult slipstream novel, My Favorite Band Does Not Exist, won the Forward National Literature Award and was named one of Booklist’s Top Ten First Novels for Youth. He also won an International Book Award, a Scribe Award for Best Original Novel, and the grand prize in Pocket Books’ Strange New Worlds contest. Hugo and Nebula Award winner Mike Resnick has called him “a towering talent.”Narrated by: Karen BovenmyerKaren Bovenmyer earned an MFA in Creative Writing: Popular Fiction from the University of Southern Maine in 2011. She has published approximately 25 poems, short stories, and novellas and has a novel coming out next year. She teaches and mentors students at Iowa State University and serves as the Nonfiction Assistant Editor of Escape Artists’ Mothership Zeta Magazine. Karen’s narrations can be heard on the Strange Horizons, StarShip Sofa, Gallery of Curiosities, and Pseudopod podcasts. You can find her online at karenbovenmyer.com.Fact: Looking Back at Genre History by Amy H Sturgis See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Featuring an interview with Chuck Heintzelman of BundleRabbit.com. Chuck lives in Spokane, WA with his beautiful wife and three children. Each day he juggles his passion for writing with his family, a full-time job as a computer programmer, and the inevitable curve ball life seems to throw. In the introduction to the show, Mark talks about being on the Oregon Coast at the Fiction River writer workshops which leads into this week's post-interview "reflection" about rejection for writers. He also talks a little about the success he has had with Findaway Voices (the episode's sponsor) for short audio books and how he measures success. In their conversation, Mark and Chuck talk about:   The origin and inspiration for Bundlerabbit, a service inspired by Storybundle and Humble Bundle, that allow authors to combine their ebooks into bundles Chuck's “What if?” related to that which began with: “Wouldn't it be great if there was a more DIY option for authors and publishers?” The basic concept which is a single website you can go to where you can upload content, curate bundles and communicate about bundle collaborations with other authors How Bundlerabbit solves two major issues: The ability for readers to get the bundled material from a retailer they already buy from (rather than having to side-load the content to their Kindle, Kobo, etc) Revenue splitting and other accounting issues that authors might run into when trying to manage a multi-author collaboration How Joanna Penn and her desire to see a “collaboration engine” helped inspire Chuck to add a feature called “collaborative publishing” which includes: The ability for a curator/editor/publishing project manager to set unique author split percentages for a project and use this tool to publish on behalf of the publisher and take care of the monthly revenue split Using this tool for management of co-authoring a single title (rather than bundling multiple works together) The percentage that Bundlerabbit keeps (ie, the business model and how Bundlerabbit can afford to operate) Some of the forthcoming features that Bundlerabbit will be releasing that are related to the ability for authors and publishers to better communicate with one another and share information, marketing assets, etc. The potential for using Bundlerabbit for author/translator collaborations (and how that might compare to an existing platform like Babelcube) The original OOPS name for Bundlerabbit: Bundles Express Dot Com and the amusing “Bundle Sex Press” term that Chuck didn't originally see.   After the interview, Mark talks about the FICTION RIVER anthology workshops and how it works. He takes an in depth look at rejection, and the importance of a writer to understand what rejection most likely means and how that lies directly to an ideal reader or ideal editor   Links of Interest Bundlerabbit for authors Chuck's Website - http://chuckheintzelman.com/ Story Chuck dot com Story Tools Kydala Publishing (Chuck's Publishing Imprint) Chuck's Author Page on Amazon WMG Publishing Workshops Fiction River Editors Choice Feel the Fear   --------- This episode has been sponsored by Findaway Voices. Findaway Voices provides all the tools that an independent author or small publisher needs in order to get into the digital audiobook market. Check them out at www.starkreflections.ca/findaway. ---------  

Main Fiction: "In a Green Dress, Surrounded by Exploding Clowns" by Robert Jeschonek Originally published at Galaxy's Edge Robert Jeschonek is an award-winning author whose fiction, comics, essays, and non-fiction have been published around the world. His stories have appeared in Galaxy's Edge, Escape Pod, Fiction River. He has written Doctor Who and Star Trek fiction and Batman and Justice Society comics for DC Comics. His young adult slipstream novel, My Favorite Band Does Not Exist, won the Forward National Literature Award and was named one of Booklist's Top Ten First Novels for Youth. He also won an International Book Award, a Scribe Award for Best Original Novel, and the grand prize in Pocket Books' Strange New Worlds contest. Hugo and Nebula Award winner Mike Resnick has called him "a towering talent." Fact: Amy H. Sturgis Looking Back At Genre History Narrated by: Kyle Maddock  Kyle Maddock is a host of A Podcast of Ice and Fire, the Geekie Award winning and longest running podcast dedicated to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. He also hosts the Game of Thrones after show at AfterBuzzTV and is a frequent guest on other YouTube shows, podcasts, and panels. Kyle is an unabashed geek with a love for board games, comic books (especially X-Men) and Star Trek among other things. Outside of his passionate geek life, Kyle is an actor who can be seen in shows such as How I Met Your Mother and Happy Endings. You can follow him on twitter @kylemaddock. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 89 of the KWL Podcast includes on location interviews with 7 different authors conducted by Mark Lefebvre, Director of Author Relations at Kobo during the 2017 Romance Writers of America (RWA) Annual conference. Barbara Freethy Sharing the enjoyment she gets connecting with fellow writers at RWA, Barbara also shares info about a new romantic suspense series (a spin-off of her Storm trilogy) that she was releasing during the week of RWA, as well as a collaboration with 6 other authors called “Seven Brides for Seven Soldiers” that will be launching in the fall.   Chris Keniston Chris discusses the strategy she used for her Faraday Country series (currently 8 books out with books 9 and 10 up for pre-order at the time of the interview), including stock-piling the first 4 books before beginning to release the series. She also talks about how she used a permanently free Book One in the series to help propel sales of the rest of the books in this clean and wholesome romance series. The combined effect of this stock-piling and a permanently free first book in the series has helped her triple her sales numbers.   Carrie Ann Ryan Fresh on the heals of the recent releases of Inked Expressions and Hope Restored, Carrie Ann shares the “tree-trunk” manner by which she connects the various series books together in a cohesive whole and the multiple points of entry this creates for readers. She also shares the combined multi-author launch of the Bad Boy Homecoming Romance connected novels as well as the slightly different branding that she uses when switching between paranormal romance and contemporary romance.   M.L. Buchman How M.L. (Matt), who writes in 11 different series (publishing 8 books a year and at least 13 short stories, including two that appear in Fiction River #4 and Fiction River #23), doesn't engage in social media in any significant way, but uses his newsletter to create a great value for his fans. Matt provides a free short story for his newsletter fans every single month. Matt also shares a bit about his important book Estate Planning for Authors: Your Final Letter (and Why You Need to Write it Now)     Ember Casey & Renna Peak Ember and Renna talk about the collaborative contemporary royalty romance series that they've been writing for the past 3 years (3 6 part serials that are all connected) and the way they split the writing (Ember writes the guy parts, Renna writes the girl parts). They also share the aggressive “every 2 week” release schedule that they developed and the success of creating a large reader funnel by making the first 2 books in the original series free.   Mark Dawson Mark talks about some of the strategies that he has used for Facebook ads, particularly the ads placed for 8 book box sets targeting Kobo customers, particularly customers in Canada and Australia. Much of Mark's shared wisdom can be found on his website SelfPublishingFormula.com He also talks about the importance of not getting details wrong, in particular the use of weapons (which one of his most popular characters, John Milton, uses) and shares the fact that, later that same day, he was heading off to a shooting range to try various weapons first hands as the ultimate research.     At the end of the podcast, Mark Lefebvre points out a recent article that was posted on both the Kobo Writing Life website and the Kobo Writing Life Community that outlines the 5 most common reasons why a book might be rejected in the publishing process. He shares that these posts are created specifically to help authors with finding information about particular details related to publishing on Kobo and encourages authors to take advantage of that information.

Hey there Word Nerds! Thanks for joining me for this episode of DIY MFA Radio. You’re gonna love today’s guest. Today I’m speaking with one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction: Dean Wesley Smith. A USA Today bestselling author, Dean has published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds upon hundreds of short stories across many genres. In total, he has over seventeen million copies of his books in print.His monthly magazine called Smith’s Monthly, consisting of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and has not missed an issue yet. With over 60,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month, this magazine goes to show that consistency is king when it comes to modern publishing, especially indie publishing. In this episode Dean and I discuss: How to get out of your own way and get writing. Killing the sacred cows of publishing Giving your creative voice permission to play and putting the critical voice away. Running a small publishing company. Training yourself to shift gears from creative work to business work. Plus, Dean’s #1 tip for writers. More about Dean: Considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction, USA Today bestselling writer, Dean Wesley Smith published far over a hundred novels in forty years, and hundreds and hundreds of short stories across many genres. He has over seventeen million of his books in print.At the moment he produces novels in four major series, including the time travel Thunder Mountain novels set in the old west, the galaxy-spanning Seeders Universe series, the urban fantasy Ghost of a Chance series, and the superhero series starring Poker Boy. His monthly magazine called Smith’s Monthly, consisting of only his own fiction, premiered in October 2013 and has not missed an issue yet, with over 60,000 words per issue, including a new and original novel every month.During his career, Dean also wrote a couple dozen Star Trek novels, the only two original Men in Black novels, Spider-Man and X-Men novels, plus novels set in gaming and television worlds. Writing with his wife Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the name Kathryn Wesley, they wrote the novel for the NBC miniseries The Tenth Kingdom and other books for Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.He wrote novels under dozens of pen names in the worlds of comic books and movies, including novelizations of almost a dozen films, from The Final Fantasy to Steel to Rundown. Dean also worked as a fiction editor off and on, starting at Pulphouse Publishing, then at VB Tech Journal, then Pocket Books, and now at WMG Publishing where he and Kristine Kathryn Rusch serve as executive editors for the acclaimed Fiction River anthology series. To learn more about Dean’s books and ongoing projects, check out his website. For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/113

Kobo Writing Life Director Mark Lefebvre interviews 6 of the 7 writers who make up the core writers of the Uncollected Anthology project:  Phaedra Weldon, Leslie Clare Walker, Annie Reed, Leah Cutter, Dayle A. Dermatis and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. (Absent from the interview, but a core member is Michele Lang) The Uncollected Anthology of Urban Fantasy, is an ongoing project where, every three months, the authors pick a theme and write a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, they each sell their own stories. So you can buy any one of them, or all of them. No fuss, no muss. But the tales are packaged using templates that bring them together thematically, and the authors have found the anthology as helpful for new readers to discover these books. In the interview, Mark and the writers discuss: How they get together annually for a meeting and have planned the themes out until May 2018 How the idea was born out of the Fiction River anthology workshops that Kris runs with her husband Dean. Dayle looked around the room at the talented authors and knew there were enough who wrote urban fantasy to put something like this together The process which includes deadlines for when the stories, the blurbs, the covers are all due each quarter The cross-promotional aspect of marketing each “issue” or theme of this ongoing series that includes the website and links embedded within each author's books How, even though they are calling them “short stories” some of the stories go as long as 20,000 words or novella length The way Allyson Longueira of WMG Publishing designed the cover template for the group for them to have a consistent brand, look and feel (such as the consistent color that each of the themes employ) The inherent trust each writer has to have, above the existing contract which includes terms such as the fact that each author owns all the copyright on each of their respective stories The common request from readers about how they might be able to get all the stories together How every Feb the theme is urban fantasy romance How Leah doesn't enjoy writing romance and yet, facing the challenge of that theme wrote a story that she loves the most – “The Midnight Gardener” How the themes help the writers explore different concepts and stories they never knew they had in them The brilliantly organic meeting that was the genesis of this collective, and the importance of community and an in person presence at writer events. How Kris is sometimes known by the nickname “Tom Hanks” derived from the movie “Big” because of the storm of ideas that she has Emails, yearly meeting and a closed yahoo group they use to communicate and share files A discussion of some of the challenges that have faced the group Some of the guest authors which include Dean Wesley Smith, Anthea Sharp, Rebecca Senese, Ron Cillins May's “out of the woods” theme . . . . The Fiction River workshops, how they originated based upon what used to be called the Dennis Little workshops at conventions The Importance of being with other writers, the support they offer one another, the pep-talks, the understanding . . . . After the interview, Mark talks about the importance of what can happen when writers come together to share, to communicate and to network.   Links of Interest Uncollected Anthology Main Website Uncollected Anthology Books at Kobo Click here to subscribe to the Uncollected Anthology Newsletter

  Chatting With Sherri presents; Award Winning Author Peter Wacks introduce The Winners of the Writers of the Future! They will chat about winning the award, their books and their future! SHARON JOSS Although she made her first professional short story sale in 2013; Writers of the Future marks her second professional publication.   SCOTT PARKIN . A recent prizewinner in the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest, he will also be featured in the Valor issue of the Fiction River anthology series coming out this summer. STEVE PANTAZIS author of "Switch" in volume 31 of the Writers of the Future anthology has written four novels, the latest set in the same universe as his short story, "Switch".  He believes this is a stepping stone toward getting his sci-fi novel Godnet published.   MICHELLE LOCKAMY wants to make the transition from student life to work life as simple as possible, which means working now to reap the rewards later. Michelle is eternally grateful to her parents and professors, who encourage her to keep going.  MARTIN L. SHOEMAKER  His work has appeared in Analog, Galaxy's Edge, Digital Science Fiction, and select service garages worldwide. His novella "Murder on the Aldrin Express" was reprinted in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection and in Year's Top Short SF Novels 4. Chatting With Sherri is now sponsored by Atelier Leseine  http://atelierleseine.com/       Music by "Cowboy Sting" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Mark Lefebvre, Kobo Writing Life Director, in conversation with Dean Wesley Smith, a USA Today Bestselling author of books in multiple genres including Science-Fiction, Mystery, Thrillers and Westerns. Currently producing novels in four different series, Smith is also the co-publisher of WMG Publishing along with his partner Kristine Kathryn Rusch and runs a series of workshops designed to help writers become smarter not only about the craft but also about the business of publishing. During their conversation, Dean and Mark talk about: ·         The fact that Dean wasn't born into writing, actually loathed it when he was in college (He has a Masters in Architecture) ·         The various careers and roles that Smith played during his life, including his past as a Pro Golfer and hot dog skier ·         How his goal of being a Golf Course Architect led to writing via an English course that he had to take. ·         The English Professor who told Smith that his writing was too commercial ·         The writing class that forced Smith to submit a poem to a college poetry market (at which he won second place and $300) – at the time, he had to go see the professor to ask about it because he had no idea what it meant ·         After this experience, Smith tried his hand at fiction, wrote a 1000 word short story and mailed it off to a market right away. Then he wrote a second story and mailed that off right away. Both stories sold immediately. ·         How, after these first three successes, Smith started listening to people's advice (AKA myths) about writing, and re-wrote his stories to dead, and for the next 7 years never sold a single thing ·         It wasn't until 1982 that Smith ran across Robert Heinlein's Business Rules of Writing, followed the advice, started selling again and has never looked back  (http://www.deanwesleysmith.com/heinleins-business-rules/)  The RULES  o   1 – You Must Write  o   2 – You Must Finish What You Start  o   3 – You Must Refrain From Rewriting Except to Editorial Order  o   4 – You Must Put It on The Market  o   5 – You Must Keep It on The Market Until Sold ·         Dean's books:  Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Publishing and Killing the Top Ten Sacred Cows of Indie Publishing. ·         The magazine that Dean and Kristine Kathryn Rusch ran for 9 years, called Pulphouse. ·         The Starfleet Corps of Engineers Series that Dean kicked off in the Star Trek Universe – a series about the people who follow up after Captain Kirk, cleaning up his messes (which was originally meant to be an eBook back in 2000 and knocked John Grisham off the eBook bestseller list when it was released) ·         The challenge of writing within an existing restrictive universe, such as Star Trek, such as the reader having to hear Shatner's voice when writing the character Captain Kirk. ·         Smith's lesson for writers creating character voice by paying really close attention to the differences in voice you can easily see created for the Star Trek characters of Kirk, Spock and McCoy ·         Regency Romance as one of the only genres that Smith really can't write in ·         How Westerns, (the old West) and Science-Fiction are two of Smith's go-two genres for writing. ·         The FICTION RIVER anthology series that Smith edits with Kristine Kathryn Rusch and how this river of fiction brings in new talent along with some major names from the genre.  (For example, the latest FICTION RIVER property, Pulse Pounders, edited by Kevin J. Anderson, included a previously unpublished sci-fi story by Frank Herbert) ·         The Oregon Coast workshops where the FICTION RIVER anthologies are derived that include a board of 6 Editors critiquing the stories live on stage and how that helps inform writers that what one editor rejects another editor might have bought ·         How the workshops that Dean and Kris started originated as the “Denise Little” short story workshops; because of the similarity to the way that editor/agent Denise Little liked to teach these principles ·         A bit about Smith's Monthly Magazine, which has both a paper and an eBook edition ·         How Smith sees the approximate 80,000 words that he writes each month as still “not enough” ·         Smith's ongoing Blog in which he shares daily insights: Writing in Public ·         How the teaching that Smith does is part of his desire to try to give back or pay forward to the industry in the way that the industry and writers before Smith have given so much to him ·         One of the biggest myths from indie publishing, regarding indie writers not being able to get their indie published books into bookstores and the “fairy dust” that has long been spread regarding that ·         How Smith isn't anti-traditional but is 100% pro smart-writer   Other Links Dean Wesley Smith's Books at Kobo WMG Publishing Workshops WMG Publishing Lectures Fiction River Anthologies (website) Fiction River Anthologies (Kobo)