On December 4th, from 1:00 pm until 5:00 pm, I will be signing copies of my books inside Thornton's Flooring and Furniture (147 S. Springfield Street) in St. Paris, Ohio.
Needless to say, books make excellent gifts, for Christmas, birthdays, or even just a gift for yourself.
There will be other artists and vendors located in other businesses in on Springfield Street in St. Paris. So, if you're in the area, stop by--and at least say, "Hi!"
Hey Folks,
Here's a solid interview with award-winning Alan Baxter, Fantasy, Horror and Short Story Author.
He talks a bit about writing and short stories and building a writing career.
There was a lot of foot traffic at the mall, probably due to the advertising effort by Classic Plastics, but also just regular in general. The mall looked to have about 95% occupancy of all its store fronts. Compared to the malls around where I live, that is outstanding.
Although I have quite a number of events in Parkersburg, and Marietta, both very near Vienna, I only saw two regulars to events I've regularly appeared at. One normally stops to chat but isn't one who reads my works. That's okay. I enjoy discussing fantasy, SF, writing and more.
It made for an odd mix of book sales. While I almost always sell the first books in a series (Such as Outpost or Flank Hawk) far more than other books, at events where there are folks who've picked up my works before, I tend to sell more of the later books in a series. I guess if I do the event again, I may get the repeat folks. Although, in my experience, returning readers at events like arts festivals and the Pop Culture Vendor Show, have less consistent return as compared to "Comic-Con" style events.
I was a little rusty with the PayPal Card Reader and such, but quickly got back into the swing. And, for those curious, about 1/3 paid cash. The rest via credit or debit.
Fortunately, I keep all of my signing gear together and organized in the crates and boxes. Makes prepping for events less of a hassle and less likely to forget something. Below is everything loaded on my two carts--which I have learned to dual maneuver pretty well.
Hey Folks,
I'll be at the Classic Plastics Pop Culture Vendor Show!
Time: Sept. 25 (Saturday) 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Place: Grand Central Mall, Vienna WV
Link for more Information: HERE
I'll be there with a host of other vendors and authors, talking Fantasy and SF and signing copies of my novels.
If you're in the area, I hope to see you there!
The letter from the Board of Elections arrived today:
Hey Folks,
Monsters, Maces and Magic: Date is now available in audio. It's narrated by the awesome Jonathan Waters!
Check it out (links below):
Hey Folks,
I was interviewed on the Dueling Ogres Podcast (a return visit)!
Check it out via the links below and don't hesitate to share. We discuss a variety of topics, from my books and writing and publication to the potential disaster of self-driving cars and more.
Links:
Episode 215: A Tale of Two Terrys
YouTube: Dueling Ogres Episode 215
Audible: Dueling Ogres Episode 215
Really, it's available pretty any podcast app or distributor.
My publisher (Gryphonwood Press) notified me the other day that Date's audiobook version was uploaded for publication. Expect about another week or so before it's available.
The sunflowers got planted a little later than expected due to frosts in the spring. Originally, in this spot I planted three, but our cat decided only two were necessary. This is the first bloom of the summer.
Some purple morning glories among the stalks of glass gem corn. There are a few pink blooms about as well. Once you plant morning glories, expect to have them forever.
I recently learned of the passing of C. Dean Andersson.
I am truly saddened. Dean really helped my writing get a boost with his blurb of Flank Hawk. We communicated off and on over the years and I really enjoyed (among other things) the sharing of his interactions and anecdotal stories with some of the big name authors in the 1980s and early 1990s.
I had the opportunity to interview him twice for this blog:
Interview with Fantasy & Horror Writer C Dean Andersson (2013)
Return Interview with Fantasy & Horror Writer C Dean Andersson (2020)
Many years ago I came across his Bloodsong Series through the recommendation of a bookseller at a convention.
Monsters, Maces and Magic: Pawn is now available via audiobook, narrated by Jonathan Waters.
Below are the links and novel description. If you already haven't, this book as a good place to jump into the series.
Links:
Audiobook via Audible
Audiobook via iTunes
Ebook vendors
Print via Amazon
Description:
Higslaff the Pawnshop Owner needs a job done, but the Guild War has taken a toll. Those he’d normally call upon are engaged in some other vital assignment, or dead.
He decides to hire Gurk, Jax, Marigold, Lysine and Kalgore instead. The adventuring party has proven themselves resourceful and effective on previous jobs, not only for himself, but for the local silversmith, and the Church of Apollo. This particular assignment shouldn’t be a problem.
What Higslaff doesn’t know is that details of his job have been compromised. Agents of the Riven Rock Thieves’ Guild are on the move, ready to wrest control of the enchanted item that could tip the balance in the Guild War.
===
If you enjoy Fantasy and/or RPGs, especially tabletop, this series might be just right for you.
One of my and my wife's favorite places to eat, Myles' Pizza Pub in Bowling Green, Ohio closed back in 2016, due to the owner retiring. A places dined at pretty much every Friday night while attending BGSU, and visited regularly when I lived in Toledo, and on occasion when I moved to Piqua and then St. Paris, Ohio.
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| 16" Pizza (with Bacon Strips and Pepperoni) ready to eat |
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| Kathy and Myself at Myles' |
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| Chip Myles working the Oven |
The pizza and garlic bread tastes exactly the same--not a surprise. And as can be seen from the pics, the owner (Chip Myles) is still at it. Watching him work, he looked both serious but often smiled and joked a little with the workers there.
Hope to make another visit someday, hopefully in the not too distant future. Eight hours is a long drive for pizza, but ultimately worth it. If you live in the region, give it a try.
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| What's left of the Pizza & Small Open-Faced Garlic Bread w/ Cheese |
Some pretty Cool News!
Monsters, Maces and Magic: Outpost is in the process of being made into a comic book. There's a lot of work and more than a few hurdles to overcome, but the effort has begun.
Here's a sample of the concept art:
Hopefully it will all come together. Will keep you updated with progress along the way.
Readers of my blog probably know that I outline my novels. A rough sketch, hitting the high points in the plot, maybe with some notes on places and dialogue and people.
Also, while writing scenes, especially action scenes, I will use pen and paper to map things out. Nothing fancy. I do this so that I can keep it all straight, consistent, and help to draw a better picture with words so that readers can see it all in their mind's eye.
That's just what I am doing now, for the tenth or eleventh time in my current novel in progress, Revived. The party is about to spoil an intended ambush by a band of goblins. :)
Hey Folks,
Gryphonwood Press has placed Outpost on Sale.
Get it free for a limited time through most ebook Vendors!
Link: Outpost Ebooks
Hey Folks,
Ran a Best Cover (of all my published works) competition on my FB and Flankers Page as short while back.
As you can tell from the Bracket Results, Flank Hawk prevailed. The number of votes earned in each matchup in parenthesis.
You probably know that I am a listener of the Dueling Ogres Podcast. Plus, they've invited me on as a guest a couple of times.
Anyway, now, another easy venue (in addition to iTunes, Pandora and more) is via Audible, if you're a member. No cost for fun listening. They have years of episodes, right up to the latest.
Link: Dueling Ogres on Audible
Welcome to Up Around the Corner, Courtney. Please, tell us a little about
yourself and your writing.
Sentience is my debut novel, and it explores the ethics of AI
through a re-imagined Turing Test. It's been described as genre-bending by
readers, and I think that's a really accurate summation. It's obviously a
science fiction novel, but there's lots of thrills, romance, and some darker
elements baked in. I love anything Promethean, and it was heavily inspired by
the A24 Film Ex Machina and HBO's Westworld. The novel actually started as
a contemporary dance performance that was showcased in the 2017 Philadelphia
Fringe Festival, and from there, I took the world that I built on the stage and
transformed it into the world of Sentience.
What inspired you to
become a writer, and what is one of the things that surprised you most in the
process?
I've always told stories and created characters in my head to entertain
myself since I was a kid – during car rides, long baths, or stretches of
boredom. It took me until I was around twenty-three to realize that I had a
well-developed lineup of characters and story lines from all the years spent
thinking.
At the same time, I've also been a dancer for the majority of my life, so
I've found that there's lots of story-telling within dance, too. At twenty-three,
I choreographed the piece that inspired the novel. When I was done, I felt like
the world I created on the stage was the perfect backdrop to the characters and
storylines rattling around in my head. I put the two together and that's how my
first book, Sentience, got started.
I didn't grow up knowing I wanted to be a writer; it more so just felt like
the next step in my evolution as a creator. Now that I have my first novel
under my belt, I am itching to write another. I spent so much time working on Sentience without realizing it, so this
time around, I'm just drawing a lot of inspiration from personal experience.
This way my writing feels just as authentic, even though I didn't spend years
subconsciously creating the characters.
As far as surprises go, one thing I learned when I went back to read my book
during the process of promoting it, I realized how much physicality there is in
my writing. Since I’m a dancer, it’s natural for me to emote physically, and I
suppose I made my characters do the same.
It is often said that good writers are avid readers. Do
you agree and, if so, what are your reading habits/what do you read?
I do, and I don’t
agree. I found it hard to read while working on the first draft of my
manuscript, and then again while promoting it. In full transparency, I can
sometimes be someone who compares myself to others, and with a genre like
science fiction that has incredibly selective fans, I felt intimidated reading
in my genre.
If you could meet and
spend a lunch with any two individuals, the first a historical figure and the
second being a fictional character: Who would they be and why? Where would you select to dine, and what
might you hope to discuss?
What do you struggle with most as a writer and how do you
overcome it?
EDITING! My
goodness, I am a creative writer, but I am NOT a technical writer. I think
editing is the most challenging part because it's the total opposite of
creative flow. You need to be attentive and incisive, and reading your own work
requires this weird level of vulnerability with yourself. Emotionally, it's a
really taxing process.
As far as technical
editing goes, I advise new writers to invest in a good editor, if nothing else.
For reading your own work, I advise red wine.
I wrote it for myself. As a reader, I just felt like there
wasn’t much out there like it. I was the kind of kid that grew up reading The
Hunger Games and The Divergent Trilogy, and when summer reading was assigned
and it was Michael Crichton and Robin Cook, I tore through it.
What does the 25-year-old version of that kid read? That’s
who I wrote Sentience for.
What is one of the
most challenging or difficult lessons you’ve learned as an author?
As a first-time author, I learned a lot about timing, and at
what point in the process things need to get done. For example, like trying to
have your book converted into a MOBI file two weeks ahead of your release date
is a bad idea. There are so many nuances things that can hold you up, if not
done in the correct order. I would have gotten a lot more sleep, if I knew
these things.
There’s so much information about what to do to
self-publish, however, not very much on when things need to get done. If any
new authors out there read this and have questions about the order in which I
did things and what I would do differently, I encourage them to reach out. I
like helping other artists and creators, and I feel like artists don’t help
each other enough.
Besides reading and writing, what else occupies your
time? Do those activities influence your writing?
I like creating in
anyway I can. It feels good to take the things in my mind and turn them into
something.
I always connect
what I am making back to my writing, and in a lot of ways, creating can help me
work out a story in different mediums. For example, my next novel is set in the
town I grew up in, so I’ve been taking walks and playing around with taking
pictures of the neighborhood.
I also want to
discuss family dynamics in my novel, so I started knitting while I think about
those dynamics. Something about the interconnectedness of yarn makes me think
about the way family members impact one and other.
Otherwise, I’m
probably walking my dogs.
What might readers expect next from you?
I have a sequel to Sentience
in the works, but it’s on pause for right now. I need to step away from that
world for a bit and let myself get lost in something new. So, I started working
on a stand-alone thriller that’s got some crime and family drama worked in.
I’m also trying to
get into grad school for Media Studies + Production, so that I can have the
tools I need to write and make movies and documentaries. That’s the end game,
fingers crossed.
As we’re coming to the end of our interview, is there
anything you’d like to say or add?
You can watch the dance performance that inspired Sentience here!
https://youtu.be/8GAGF7AF3Ds
Please share where readers can find you on the internet
and where they might locate some of your works.
You can find Sentience
on Amazon. It’s available on Kindle Unlimited.
I’m on Instagram @courtneypatriciahunter, on Twitter @courtneyphunter, and on Facebook @sentiencethebook!
