Jenn Loring, Torsos and Firebirds

Jenn Loring
Torsoless

Today at the Blog Mansion we have Jennifer Loring, a multi-genre author like myself. We share a publisher in Omnium Gatherum Media, one of my all time favorite places. There she has Those of my Kind, a dark fiction. Creepy cover, chills just reading the blurb. Good stuff. She has a new project. FIREBIRD

Johnny Worthen: And now for something completely different.

Jennifer Loring: You mean my new book FIREBIRD?

JW: Yes, you went from horror to "headless male torso fiction." How'd that happen?

JL: Not much of a stretch. I mean, the guy is headless.

JW: Don't get me wrong, headless male torso fiction is an up-and-coming genre. B&N will have a section dedicated to it this year if they don't already. Actually, I think they do. What's FIREBIRD about?

JL: It's about a very famous hockey player and the love of his life, and the terrible things that happen on their way to finding a happy ending. Because I like making terrible things happen.

JW: You know this is the kind of thing that gets made into TV movies. What are you doing to market this?

JL: I've got two release-day blitzes and two blog tours scheduled, ARCs going out to all the major romance reviewers, a Facebook takeover event in December... Why? You interested in the movie rights? *calls lawyer*

JW: Is there sex in it? Because there better be sex in it. 

JL: There is so much sex in it. 

JW: You're very open minded about relationships. I notice from your bio that your husband is a turtle.

JL: What?

JW: it's right here on your bio sheet: "Jennifer lives in Philadelphia, PA with her husband, a turtle, and two basset hounds." I assume the hounds are there to protect your husband so raccoons don't take him away and to tip him back over if he gets on his back.

JL: Thank the Elder Gods for the Oxford comma. Otherwise he'd also be two basset hounds.

JW: Who's publishing FIREBIRD?

JL: Limitless Publishing. Good people, and their covers are fantastic.

JW: I see you've self-published and gone traditionally as well with small press, namely Ominium Gatherum, Dark Fuse, Fox and Raven. You're a hybrid author. How's that working out for you?

JL: I haven't self-published in ten years and don't plan to again, unless it's a project I absolutely can't place with anyone. I don't have the kind of time it requires (I like to, you know, actually write) nor the money for a cover artist, editor, etc. I also think its less-than-stellar reputation continues to exist for a reason, so until that gets sorted out, I'm sticking to traditional.

JW: FIREBIRD seems a departure from you. Dark fiction runs in your veins. What is it about Dark Fiction that attracted you?

JL: I think it's the acceptance that life isn't always happy and wonderful, and we shouldn't pretend it is. It forces us to confront our deepest fears but in a "safe" way. Without giving anything away, FIREBIRD does get very dark, as do its two sequels. So while its main focus is on the characters' relationship rather than on external supernatural events, I wanted to push the boundaries of contemporary romance a bit and explore that darkness. Marianne Williamson said, "Until we have seen someone's darkness, we don't really know who they are. Until we have forgiven someone's darkness, we don't really know what love is."  That's pretty much FIREBIRD's theme. In horror, the most disturbing revelation is often that the true monster is the face we see in the mirror. Since FIREBIRD's main character, Alex, is both protagonist and antagonist, in that sense it's not much of a departure at all. 

JW: What is it about headless male torso fiction that attracts you?

JL: Look at those abs!

JW: Stupid question. I want you to know that I have a male torso like that.

JL: Under all that hair?

JW: No, in this room. Wanna see?

JL: The Blog Mansion has a 65% author kill rate. I'm not sure I want to see your torso room.

JW: Yes you do.

JL: Yeah, okay. Anyone I know. Wait. They're all mannikins.

JW: What did you expect?

JL: Headless, limbless human bodies.

JW: Now my standard question: how'd you get started? What was your break? How did you go from writer to author?

JL: I've had a lot of short fiction published over the past fifteen or so years. Short stories were my first love. My first pro sale was in 2000, and four years later one of my stories received an honorable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, but I feel like my "break" didn't come until I signed with DarkFuse in 2014. I wrote Conduits shortly before grad school ended in 2013, and it's still one of my best stories. Grad school, by the way, is probably what turned me into an "author." I had the privilege not only of attending a program devoted to genre fiction but also of being mentored by Tim Waggoner. And it's how THOSE OF MY KIND got written in the first place.

JW: Your turtle must be very supportive.

JL: You know how turtles are.

JW: Give us a hint about the FIREBIRD TRILOGY. What's next? Where is it going?

JL: I'm working on the second book now (no title yet), which takes place less than a year after FIREBIRD ends. The third book jumps seventeen years into the future. It's hard to reveal where it's going without giving away the first book's plot, but Alex will continue to be the focus--and believe me, he's not done suffering. *evil grin* 

JW:Where on the Internets can people find out more about you?

JL: 

WEBSITE

TWITTER

FACEBOOK:

PINTEREST

AMAZON

JW: Now just step into the delimbing room and we'll call it good.

JL: The what?

JW: Delimbing room. I'm want you to be the first in my a headless female torso room.

JL: What?

JW: I delimb you then make a fiberglass mold of your torso and then cast you in plastic.

JL De-limb?

JW: I have a machine. It's very quick.

JL: The things I do for publicity.

Reflections from RMFW 2015

The great Jeffery Deaver and me at RMFW. 

Conferences are a good place to find out how truly enthusiastic you are about a subject.

If the entire experience is one big party, a running journey of discovery, friends and fun, you’re in the right place. If you find yourself slipping into depression and hating strangers because they’re interested in dental plaque removers and cross-marketing synergies, you have a problem. If your hotel room is a retreat and a cage and you find yourself watching daytime television rather than attending the luncheon, God’s giving you a message. If however, your hotel room is practically unknown to you, a place only where you sleep as little as possible, a storage area for toys and business cards of new friends and in my case, books—precious and wonderful books, then again, God is telling you something.

After years of hating conferences — really and truly despising them, they are now the greatest events in my life. I love them. I feed on them. The difference? I’m going to writing conferences and fan conventions. I’m hanging out with my people.

I just got back from the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference (RMFW) at Westminster Colorado and I am stoked. Next week it’s Salt Lake Comic Con. Do I have a great life or what?

I contacted RMFW and begged to be part of it. I try to barter my talents as a presenter, as great or small as my skill may be, for a ticket to get in. I’m a starving artist and barter out of necessity. To my delight, they let me loose for two classes and I got a ticket to go. 

Colorado was much flatter than I thought it would be.

I have some writer friends in Colorado, but they weren’t going to RMFW. The only people I knew before I got there was the organizer, Suzie, and her by email. Making the long drive from my home in Sandy to Denver, with Hunter S. Thompson telling me about Hells’s Angels, I was visited by “the fear.” Doubts and worries, mistakes I’ve made, choices I’ve messed up. I must be crazy to want to be an author. The looming loneliness of a conference of strangers, hundreds of miles from my support group. Vulnerability, failure, pain. My imagination went wild and convinced me I was driving to defeat.

Wrong.

Armored in tie-dye, free from rational thought, I approached the writers when I got there. They were easy to find even before we got our name badges. They clustered in groups and chatted excitedly about books and writing them. The first night was touch and go, I hung out with an old friend and that put my soul at ease. The next day, fueled by coffee and confident that I had 2 fans (Thanks Dave!) I dove in and mingled.

Now I know that people are people and all that, there’s good and bad in everyone, politics and pettiness to be found in every gathering (just look at what’s happened to the UAA) but I’ll tell you what, RMFW was for me a singular friendly, enthusiastic and supportive group. I didn’t meet a single soul I didn’t like. I didn’t meet a single hater, not one person who’d rather hide in their room than be with the horde. I felt no jealousy or competition. I’m not just talking about the others here, I am prone to those low feelings and I didn’t even get them. The vibe at that conference was that good. I had my usual roller coaster of emotions, I was self-critical of my presentations, again underdressed for the big dinner and didn’t impress every agent and editor I met, but on the whole, I was like a lightbulb in Tesla’s laboratory.

Writing is a lonely, isolating endeavor. A mind and a keyboard, hours, days, months, years in a fantasyland, bleeding on paper and then sharing the bandages. I think of us like Mountainmen, wandering the forests hunting for furs alone for years with our asses (appropriate image to be sure). Conferences are like the Rendezvous where we all get together to swap tales, get drunk, and reconnect with our people. Maybe we’ll sell a fur, I mean, a manuscript. You never know.

I want to thank the RMFW first of all for having a loud, over-enthused tie-dye wearing freak like me on the presenter list. I had a great time and hopefully did my part to make it as awesome as it was. Second, I want to thank them for making it as awesome as it was.

If you’re a writer and don’t go to conferences, you’re missing out. Find one in your area. If you’re in my area, look at my events page, I go to everything. Let’s hook up. You owe it to yourself to mingle and network, get educated on the business side and hang with other people who know the struggle and can rejoice in each others’ successes and yearnings.

Go. Even it it takes you eight hours driving alone in an electric car across the hot mid-day Wyoming plains to get there, you’ll be recognized and welcomed as one of the tribe.

Junior, my writing companion

Junior is a good listener

 but she steals my chair

and she's not a fan of sibilant sentences.

I couldn't writer without her.

Another Great Night

Today at the Blog Mansion I’m celebrating.

Last year the League of Utah Writers Conference changed my life. There’s no other way to describe it. They honored my beloved ELEANOR with a Gold Quill for Best YA Novel int he State and named me a Writer of the Year. I gave the keynote address and got a standing ovation. I was humbled and excited. The whole thing was like a dream.

This year’s League Conference was also a fantastic event. I got to teach three classes, panel twice and hang with all my friends from all over the state. I sold out of books and once again I was honored with awards.

My unpublished short story LAST SUMMER received an honorable mention in genre fiction short story category - something I didn’t expect but better than that, this year, my novel THE BRAND DEMAND received a Silver Quill in the Best Novel category. I was again surprised, humbled and excited.

It was a great night and I’m still stoked about the whole thing.

THE BRAND DEMAND 

an award winning mystery 

about blackmail, politics and personal meaning. 

Available now.

And so it begins

Anyone raised with summer vacations senses the change of summer to fall with some remembered anticipation. Imprinted on us is the traditional start of school and the herald of a new year. Lazy summer days are behind us, new activity ahead. I sense it every year, even when there was nothing decidedly different between August and September, I still got all willy-winky in my tummy this time of year.

Then I became a writer—an author and coincidentally, or perhaps deliberately, my seasonal childhood schedule is reflected again. This is the beginning of what I like to think of as the Conference Season. With only a short break around Christmas, I’ll go non-stop from here through February attending and teaching at half a dozen events in several states. I’ll talk writing and breath writing and live writing and in between find time for writing.

It all kicks off this weekend in Logan with the League of Utah Writers Roundup  Conference. August 28th & 29th, where I’ll teach three classes, be part two panels and shill books while connecting with writers and authors and interesting people who love what I love.

Then I get a week off before I’m off to Denver for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Workshop, September 11-13,  where I’ll teach a class on Symbolism and another on Character Creation and Management. It’s my first trip up there and I”m not a big name to them yet so I’ll get to fly beneath the radar and get into mischief as I will.

I get back with just a few days to get ready for Salt Lake Comic Con. I love Comic Con. I’d go even if they didn’t invite me, but they did, so that makes it even cooler. I’m not sure what work I’ll have to put in yet, the panels and such haven’t been announced, but I’ll have a table with books and tie-dye at Beige 8 and I’ll party like it’s a geeky Dead Show. It’s a great event. Love me some Con.

But wait, there’s more. After Comic Con comes October and the Utah Humanities Festival, a month long state-wide event. I’ve got a thing at the Veridian on the 10th, mostly hanging out - no teaching, but later that month I’m down in St. George for the St. George Book Festival, October 23rd and 24th where I’ll again teach a class and take part in the expo. I love the desert. I’m really looking forward to that. I've also got a signing at a Barnes & Noble down there on the 23rd.

I get another chance to go to the desert when November finds me in Santa Fe at the Tony Hillerman, Wordharvest Writing Conference from the 5th to the 7th. Here I’m just attending, but I have friends there and love the trip. I take it every year.

When that’s done I get a breather except of course for the launch of my new book, THE FINGER TRAP, the first Tony Flaner mystery in mid November. I’m arranging holiday time signings where I may and plan on keeping the effort going until after LTUE when things slow down.

I’m busy. The Pavlovian anxiety I get this time of year every year is this year accurate and useful as it ramps me up for an exciting Autumn. 

Visit my EVENTS page at my website for more details on all these events and more as they come up—and they will come up. Let's hook up. I hope this season finds you busy and energized and happy and neck deep in great literature!

Gotta pack now.

Peace out,

Johnny

Mike Cluff, Fiction Vortex and Dark Portals

Mike Cluff
The handsome face of independent fiction

Today I invite Mike Cluff, managing editor and co-founder of Fiction Vortex to The Blog Mansion to visit the Dark Portals in the basement.

Johnny: I’ve had the first one for a while. I don’t remember it during the Realtor walk-through before I bought the place, but after a few weeks, after a few parties, rituals, and sacrifices there it was right there. It’s seasonal and comes and goes. Now there are the new ones.

Mike: Have you called an exterminator?

J: Yes. Several times. I send them down here and never see them again. By the way, want to buy a van?

Mike: Good shape?

J: Smell like chemicals and have a big plastic bug on the top.

M: Hmm. Sounds like my old school bus. Only nicer. I'll pass.

J: So what do you think?

M: I can’t say. Dark Portals aren’t my thing really.

J: I just thought since you were at Fiction Vortex you knew about this stuff.

M: It’s a different kind of thing.

J: What is Fiction Vortex exactly if not a whirling hole into a different and possibly hellish dimension?

Netflix married your favorite bookstore

M: Hellish is such a subjective word... And it's not dimension, it would be dimensions, plural. Fiction Vortex is a doorway to multiple universes. We call them 'serial boxes'. They're unique, collaborative, creative spaces that release fiction in multiple serials, each of which contains multiple episodes. We've found two of said shared universes or serial boxes and have more in sight. It's almost like Netflix married your favorite bookstore. There are so many stories, it will make your mind melt. So, not exactly hellish.

J: I was thinking it was another name for a slush pile.

M: That's what we tell our interns. It's sort of like a safety blanket for them.

J: How long has Fiction Vortex been around?

M: Well the original Fiction Vortex opened in 2013 as a short story magazine, but it fluctuated, and proved unable to sustain itself . Through our serial boxes approach we are creating a new approach for authors to publish their work.

J: What kind of things do you publish?

M: Basically all genres contained in the speculative fiction spectrum. Our masthead states: Serious imagination, serious fun, serial fiction for the digital age. It's all in serial/episodic format. Each serial will have at least six episodes, and the episodes range from ten to twenty thousand words, or about forty pages.

J: How often do you publish Fiction Vortex?

M: Right now there are two active serial boxes, so once things go into full speed in September, we will produce two episodes a week. Every first episode of each serial is free--readers try it out and then see if they want to pay a buck for each additional episode.

J: Where do you get your content?

M: The co-founders, David Mark Brown, Jonathon Clapier and myself, to name a few, are writing the first serials. We are seeding the first two serial boxes, and will open these shared universes to other authors through a submission process. We want to prove the business model, show that we have a solid base of paying readers. Then when new authors come along, they already have an audience in the Vortex.

J: That sounds like a much safer thing than my spiraling doorway to the abyss.

M: Probably, but we sill have problems?

J: What? You mean publishing quality original fiction isn’t super easy?

M: No it’s not.

J: I was being sarcastic.

M: It’s hard to tell with all the howling portals.

J: What can my readers do to help?

M: We need to get the word out about Fiction Vortex and its serial boxes.  Serial fiction isn't new, it's just new in this day and age. People binge on TV episodes, so why not written episodes? That is how Dickens did it. So, yeah, we need people to get sucked into the vortex and bring their friends along for the ride. If your readers could shout out on the rooftops about this new/old idea, that would be amazing.

J: You should do a kickstarter.

M: We are. Right here: FICTION VORTEX KICKSTARTER <-- go here people and support Fiction Vortex.

J: Where on the internets can peeps find out more about Fiction Vortex and the campaign?

M:

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN
WEBSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
PINTEREST

J: I think my portals like that idea. They’re really moving now.

M: Are those your exterminators climbing out?

J: Might be. I can’t remember them all. Might be the gas people, or those salesman who woke me up from my nap that time.

M: Maybe he’s from another dimension?:

J: I think they are.

M: How can you tell?

J: I recognize them. That’s Ron Townsend, Lamonte McLemore, Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr..

M: Who are they?

J: The 5th Dimension.

 

Jason King and tough politics

Jason King
(not the same king who hates universal healthcare)

Today at The Blog Mansion I welcome author Jason King, who’s celebrating the release of his new book. THE SOULLESS GRAVE.

Johnny: THE SOULLESS GRAVE is a great title. I assume it’s a collection of essays about the state of the Republican Party in America.

Jason: Eh, no. It’s a fantasy.

Johnny: Fantasy. Right. Sounds like the GOP to me.

Jason: High fantasy.

Johnny: That’s kind of a broad brush, but I don’t know about everyone’s personal habits. If you say the GOP is high, then I’ll go along.

Jason: No, the book. THE SOULLESS GRAVE. The series. It’s fiction.

Johnny: You didn’t back up your essays with factual sources? I’m disappointed.

Jason: It’s a fantasy series, like LORD OF THE RINGS, and George RR Martin’s SWORDS OF FIRE AND ICE. Mine is called THE AGE OF INFINITE series. It’s not about contemporary politics or parties.

Johnny: Really?

Jason: Really. Now do you understand?

Johnny: Oh. Well after that last debate you can see why I’d think It was about the GOP. Plus your first book is called LURE OF FOOLS. It was an honest mistake.

Jason: Do you do any research before these interviews?

Johnny: Sure I do. Look at this list of questions I prepared. Probably have to throw them all out now. 

Jason: Here’s a catalog page. It may help.

Johnny: Okay. Well, maybe I can salvage a few questions and we can still have the interview.

Jason: I’d like that.

Johnny: Okay, umh. What’s your series about specifically?

Jason: It’s about a land called Shaelar where class distinction is largely based on ownership of magical artifacts called “talises.” These talises are powered by enormous crystal monoliths called Apeira wells, and mankind has built their cities around them.

Johnny: How would you describe your first administration, I mean book, A LURE OF FOOLS?

Jason: ..…A face paced action adventure with lots of magic and excitement. In it a peasant named Jekaran gets ahold of the most powerful talis in the world; a sentient sword that turns him into a super hero.

Johnny: Getting into THE SOULLESS GRAVE, Kairah, with oracular powers, has a vision of a wasteland. How do think this vision will play with the voters?

Jason:  Well Kairah’s vision is of a wasteland that is humanity’s past and Shaelar’s future. So I think the only one who would vote for that would be a Libertarian.

Johnny: What are Ezra’s views on renewable energy?

Jason: I’m not sure that question applies….

Johnny: How would you reply to the allegations that Jekaran is just tool to further a Koch Brother funded plutocracy and The Eater’s evil plans?

Jason:  What do the Koch brothers have to do with my book?

Johnny: The Eater. Duh.

Jason: Jekaran wouldn't like being called a tool.

Johnny: What limitations do you see needing to be put in place to protect the world from the Sword of Invincible Shadow?

Jason: That still sounds like a political question.

Johnny: Another dodge I think my readers can see though your propaganda. What kind of spin can are putting on Ezra’s connections with the Rikujo crime syndicate? Don’t you think his links to organized crime automatically make him unfit to govern, er, I mean, be a lead character in your book?

Jason: Well at least you’re trying….Ezra regrets his time in the criminal syndicate, and has tried to reform his life. That’s why he became a farmer. Like all of us he has regrets, and is trying to make things right by changing himself.

Illusionary spell craft surveillance
 is un-American!
Restore the Fourth Amendment!

Johnny: Do you think there should be Fourth Amendment limits on illusionary spell craft surveillance employed by Jenoc?

Jason:  What the hell, Johnny!

Johnny: It's not like I can't find out. I'll just check your email logs for that one. So.. uhm, what bold ideas does your book put forth to guarantee peace in our time? What guarantee do we have that there will not be another talis war on Shaelar?

Jason: War is always a possibility.

Johnny: Argentus faces multiple warrants and is considered by many to be a brigand. How can you justify having him as part of your campaign—I mean, book?

Jason: *sigh* Like with any good story, internal conflict makes for interesting characters.

Johnny: What can we look forward to in Book 3? Will the King of Aiestal finally propose universal health care?

Jason: Book 3 will be the finale, but I can’t say much more than that without spoilers. As for universal health care? Let’s put it this way, the king owns slaves and isn’t much concerned with the health of his people.

Johnny: I know the type. How did you first break into being an author?

Jason: I pitched to James Wymore at LTUE, and he liked my manuscript. Before that I had lots of setbacks and rejection.

Johnny: Tell me about your relationship with your shady SuperPac, I mean publisher, Curiosity Quills?

Jason: CQ is a fast growing mid-size press that was founded by authors, so they are very author-minded in their contracts and service. They’ve been good to me.

Johnny: Where can likely readers find out more about your platform?

Jason:

WEBSITE: 

FACEBOOK 

TWITTER 

AMAZON

PUBLISHERS

Johnny: Cool. See how slick that was? I just had to switch around the questions a little bit and no one will know there was any confusion at all.

Jason: Seamless.