Last Car For This Time
If you could invent a time travel machine, would you? A no-DeLoreans-required gizmo that actually worked?
Our final story podcast for 2013 introduces Bonnie and Duster Kendal who did just that–constructed a time machine–only theirs is tucked safely inside a mountain in Idaho.
Of course, complications ensue, but Duster and Bonnie’s story doesn’t end here. The creative couple appear in Thunder Mountain, a novel you can read in Smith’s Monthly #2 and which will be released on its own in January, and in Monumental Summit, a subsequent novel that will appear in the upcoming Smith’s Monthly #4 and will be released on its own in March.
We hope you have a safe and happy New Year. We’ll be back next year with a new slate of stories.
This podcast is no longer available. You can listen to the current podcast here.
You can read “Last Car for this Time,” a Duster Kendal story here.
Last chance for Never Before Seen!
These are the last few days for the very special Kickstarter called Never Before Seen: Six Original Mysteries by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. This is the first time Kris has experimented with doing a Kickstarter for her work of this length, and we’re so pleased with the success it has already achieved.
But we’re not done yet. We’ve hit XX stretch goals so far, and we have at least one more special stretch goal up our sleeves.
As a refresher, this new Kickstarter features six brand-new mysteries, ranging in length from novella to short story.
Here’s another look at the new covers.
These six mysteries come with any reward, and we’ve also put together rewards with some of Kris’ and WMG’s other mystery titles, so you have plenty of options to choose from.
Plus, there’s the special workshop— a brand-new DOWN IN THE DETAILS series of classes called HOW TO WRITE PERFECT CRIMES THROUGH THE AGES—and the special BUY EVERYTHING lifetime subscription to every ebook WMG publishes!
Click here to view the Kickstarter. It ends at 7:05 p.m. PST on Thursday, Dec. 14, so don’t delay!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Last Chance for a Great Adventure
My husband and I have been watching a lot of movies lately. Rewatching some old favorites, actually.
We both love Star Trek, so we decided to rewatch the alternate reality movies. But once we got through the second movie, Star Trek Into Darkness, we decided to go down a Khan rabbit hole. We watched The Original Series episode “Space Seed” and then Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. (Khan as a child in an alternate timeline also appeared in Strange New Worlds Season 2’s episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,” but that’s further down the rabbit hole than we were willing to go at present.)
I love it when you have storylines within series. It makes the universe richer.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch—a huge Star Trek fan herself and an author of Star Trek novels—is a master of the storyline within a series, as evidence by her massively expansive Diving Universe.
And if you haven’t yet ventured into this universe, her newest novel, Ivory Trees, is a great place to start. And our latest Kickstarter is a great way to get that new novel.
We’ve entered the last week of Ivory Trees: A Diving Universe Kickstarter, and we’ve hit 3 stretch goals so far, so let’s take a look at what you’ll get if you back this Kickstarter at the $5 level or above:
Bonus books:
“Rocket Girls”
“Once on the Blue Moon”
“Rick the Robber Baron”
Bonus workshops:
Writing About Building Cultures in Science Fiction ($150 value)
Writing About Relativity in Science Fiction ($150 value)
We’ve got more stretch goals to hit, too, so the value just keeps rising.
Click here to check out the Kickstarter and the many book, merchandise, and writing workshop rewards we have on offer.
It’s an adventure you won’t want to miss!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Last Call for Some Fun Stuff
Our 2023 Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Subscription Drive on Kickstarter ends on Thursday, so you only have a few more days to get some really cool stuff.
We’ve hit our third stretch goal, which means that every backer at the $25 reward level and up gets three bonus ebooks: Fiction River Presents: The Unexpected, Fiction River: Universe Between, and a brand-new Pulphouse book that will be created because of this Kickstarter: The Alien Who Ate My Homework and Burped.
That’s on top of six new monthly issues of Pulphouse Fiction Magazine coming your way. And that’s not all!
Now that we’ve hit that third stretch goal, we’ve unlocked that rare opportunity I mentioned last week. One we’ve never offered before in a Kickstarter.
Any writer backing this Kickstarter will now have a chance to submit a story to Pulphouse Fiction Magazine. The magazine is never open for submissions, but for only the month of August, backers of this campaign who would like to try to have a story in the pages of Pulphouse may submit one story. (We pay 6 cents per word if accepted, and guidelines will be sent in an update after the campaign closes.)
And the more stretch goals we hit, the more opportunities writers will have to submit stories. Plus, the more new Pulphouse books readers will get to enjoy.
And don’t forget to check out the new Pulphouse mugs, calendar and pillow we have available as rewards (bundled with a Pulphouse subscription, of course). Our office at WMG headquarters is now decked out with all sorts of Pulphouse merchandise. That wacky little Thumper makes a great mascot not just on the pages of Pulphouse but also on my reading chair in pillow form and on my new coffee mug!
Click here to check out the Kickstarter so you can read Pulphouse, try your hand at writing for Pulphouse, and spread Pulphouse cheer all over your own house.
Immerse yourself in this innovative magazine. You won’t regret it!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Publisher’s Note: Still Time for Learning
It feels like winter will never end this year.
First, there was the foot or so of snow that dumped on Lincoln County, Oregon, on Feb. 23, the biggest snowstorm to hit the area in decades. (It wasn’t the record, though; that was 34 years ago, on Feb 2, 1989, when the county received 15 inches of snow over 24 hours.)
Since then, we’ve had almost weekly winter storm warnings. Including last weekend.
I love snow, but it’s weird here. And we’re not built for it. Rain, yeah. We can handle inches of that in a day. But a little snow…no way.
And the trees and flowers are so confused, we are having the worst allergy season in years. I swear, they’ve all decided these are the end times, so better throw everything you’ve got out there in the hopes that something survives.
Let’s just say I’m really ready for spring.
And since I can’t get energized by spring weather yet, I’m getting energized instead by the desire to learn new things. If you feel the same, we’ve got tons of great new learning opportunities in store for April.
For starters, our master of workshops, Dean Wesley Smith, has announced the list of April regular workshops, which begin on Tuesday, April 4. Signups are available now.
Here is the list:
Class #32… April 4th … Heinlein’s Rules
Class #34… April 4th … Writing into the Dark
Class #35… April 4th … Teams in Fiction
Class #36…April 5th … Depth in Writing
Class #37…April 5th … Applied Depth
Class #39…April 5th …Advanced Depth
Class #40… April 5th …Killing Critical Voice
Heinlein’s Rules is this month’s RESURRECTED CLASSIC WORKSHOP. It will only be available as a regular workshop for this one month, don’t miss your chance to take it if you missed it. After April, it will return to Classic Workshop status.
And even better, you still have a tiny bit of time left to get all of these, and anything else on Teachable, for half off as part of that limited-time sale I mentioned last week.
Here’s how:
Just hit purchase on anything on WMG Teachable and then on the next page put SURPRISE in the code field and hit apply to get it half off.
Here are some great things to think about during this half-price sale to get the best value:
Full Year of Collections Workshops… Every year has six collection classes and they will repeat going into the future. So lots of time to take them. We are in the third year of them now.
Full Year of Bite-Sized Copyright… This is four videos every Monday morning without assignments, just lots of information about copyright, how to look at it, how to use it. First quarter is done, but three more quarters to go. Get the full year and it would be easy to catch up.
Full Year of the Decade Ahead… This is four videos every Monday morning without assignments, just lots of information about how to think about and plan for the decade ahead. First quarter is done, but three more quarters to go. Get the full year and it would be easy to catch up.
Any of the Lifetime Subscriptions… At half price, all are great values.
Virtually Attend the 2023 Licensing Expo with Dean… This is a virtual way to accompany Dean through the whole Licensing Expo process. Every week starting the first week of April, Dean will be posting videos on Teachable, from signing up and getting ready, to attending the Expo June 13-15, to debriefing afterward. Each day of the conference, Dean will take a ton of photos and videos to load up on Teachable about what he saw, ideas for licensing, people he talked to, and so much more. If you want to know why the Licensing Expo is worth attending for every indie publisher of all levels, this is the workshop for you.
As a reminder, all available workshops are listed at wmgworkshops.com for convenient searching. And you can always read the latest on Dean’s blog.
But the sale ends Wednesday, April 5, so you’d better hurry.
There’s no time to learn like the present!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Publisher’s Note: It’s October: Time for Crime-Fighting Ghosts!
I promised last week that I’d tell you about another of our free first-in-series ebooks next month. Well, next month is here! Welcome October!
October is my favorite month. I’ve already got the house decked out for Halloween. We’ve already watched Hocus Pocus. And I’ve got witches and pumpkins and ghosts on my mind!
So, it’s only appropriate that the book I’m talking about this week is from USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith’s Ghost of a Chance series. Set in the world of Dean’s fan-favorite Poker Boy universe, the premise of this series is a simple question: What happens if ghosts can fight crime and bad guys?
Here’s the synopsis to the first novel in that series, The Poker Chip:
Just fifteen minutes after Dr. Jewel Kelly meets Deputy Sheriff Tommy Ralston, they both die. They simply become ghosts, hanging around their own death scene in the mountains of Montana, waiting for something to happen. But even as ghosts they find each other really attractive.
In life, they both worked to help people. It seems that in the afterlife, their job continues.
The strangest crime-fighting ghost duo ever. And the sexiest.
Click here to get the ebook now.
I’ll highlight another free first-in-series ebook next month. And we’ll start launching into the holiday season next week. So, stay tuned!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Publisher’s Note: Time and Space
Reading the news these days makes me feel like I’m in some sort of alternate timeline. It’s like the past 40 years never happened and I’m right back to hearing about Russian invasions and nuclear war and World War III.
As a kid growing up in New Jersey, I was doing air raid drills in elementary and middle school much later than many of my peers. New Jersey was home to Bell Labs (now Nokia Bell Labs, but in the ’80s it was Bell Telephone Laboratories until 1984 and then AT&T Bell Laboratories). Bell Labs was considered a major target for a nuclear attack.
So, every few months, there we were, responding to a sound I’ve never heard associated with any other kind of emergency drill and quickly making our way into the hallways to get on our knees, facing the wall, with our heads down in the junction where wall and floor meet and our hands laced over the backs of our heads. I was told at one point that this was because the anus was the safest orifice for nuclear exposure. I suspect that was bull. In reality it was probably more a physical representation of the metaphorical: bend over and kiss your ass goodbye…
Nothing like an apocalypse drill to make an impression on your school day.
And while we did manage to escape the ’80s without triggering an apocalypse, I’ve been drawn to apocalyptic fiction ever since. And space travel. Because I’ve always figured that if we can conquer space travel—true space travel—we’d be smart enough and united enough as a planet to stop threatening each other with nuclear war. At least one can hope…
Naturally, WMG has a book series that addresses all of that. It’s Dean Wesley Smith’s Seeders Universe series and it’s the subject of our latest Kickstarter, the Rescue Two: A Seeders Universe Kickstarter.
This Kickstarter, in case you haven’t checked it out yet, has really taken off, and we couldn’t be more thrilled.
Since, as of this morning, we’ve already hit eight stretch goals, here’s what you will get with any reward you choose:
Ebooks
A Billion Earths: A Seeders Universe Collection
Life of a Dream: An Earth Protection League Novel
Ball of Confusion: An Earth Protection League Novel
The End Might Be Interesting After All (short story collection)
Time for Cool Madness: A Marble Grant Collection
A Case for Aliens (short story collection)
Playing a Hunch: A Poker Boy Collection
The Big Tom: A Pakhet Jones Short Novel
Writing workshops on Teachable (valued at $150 each)
Pop-Up #70: WORLD BUILDING INSIDE OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
Pop-Up #71: WORLD BUILDING INSIDE OUR LOCAL GALAXY SECTOR
Pop-Up #72: WORLD BUILDING INSIDE OUR FULL GALAXY
Pop-Up #73: WORLD BUILDING ON A COLONY PLANET
Pop-Up #74: WORLD BUILDING IN NEAR FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION
Pop-Up #75: WORLD BUILDING IN FAR FUTURE SCIENCE FICTION
Pop-Up #76: WORLD BUILDING IN HISTORICAL SCIENCE FICTION
That’s a galaxy of great stuff with every reward.
Click here to read more about the Kickstarter. But don’t wait. The Kickstarter ends Thursday.
And if you want another out-of-this-world deal that you can start reading right now, check out the Aliens Among Us StoryBundle, curated by Dean.
This bundle includes three WMG titles—Aliens Among Us: Stories from Pulphouse Magazine, edited by Dean; Alien Influences by Kristine Kathryn Rusch; and a short story collection by Dean called Alien Vibrations—as well as nine other awesome books.
As always with StoryBundle, you name your own price and can choose to stick with the four included books or go all in for the full 12-book bundle. Plus, you can donate to the incredible AbleGamers charity while you’re at it.
You have a little bit longer to get in on this great deal, but only an extra week, so don’t dally.
Click here for more information.
If there is alien life out there, I sure hope it proves to be smarter than we humans seem determined to be these days.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Publisher’s Note: Changing with the Times
I’m grumpier than usual about Daylight Saving Time this year. Maybe it’s just because this has been a hard year, and I’m tired, so I’m just grumpier than usual in general. But I’ve been getting increasingly annoyed by this twice-yearly time change for a while now.
It didn’t used to bother me much. Oh sure, it was really annoying when I was a kid and it got dark at like 4 p.m. (I lived in New Jersey), so if I had to take either of the late busses home from school because of after-school extracurriculars, I had to walk home from the bus stop in the dark. And I’ve always resented losing that hour of sleep every spring.
But mostly, it was a blip. Now, however, I find it increasingly annoying because the more I’ve learned about it over the years, the more I realize this is a legacy system we should have jettisoned years ago, but momentum (and lobbying) carries us ever forward.
For an interesting read on the history of Daylight Saving Time, click here.
Now, I’m not going to comment on the politics of Daylight Saving Time. I don’t care if we switch to Standard time permanently or Daylight time permanently or split the difference. The trick is permanent! Stop moving my clock around.
I know, I know, first-world problems. And I recognize the irony of wanting a change to stop the clock from changing.
See, I’m not opposed to change. Not at all. A lot of things need to change. Change can be a powerful force for good. But once a pattern is set, we as humans can have a hard time making those needed changes.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes about historical precedent and the human resistance to changing it quite often. Her latest story on that topic, “Alien Ball,” is available free this week on her website.
Here’s the synopsis:
Frank loves basketball. His long career covering basketball puts him in high demand. His purist views on the game well-known.
So, when the Ashtenga seek to form an Ashtenga/Human League for basketball, the Interglobal Sports Network wants Frank to give voice to the anti-alien point of view.
Everyone, including Frank, thinks they know what point he will argue.
But what Frank discovers might change his views…on everything.
Chosen as an Asimov’s Readers Choice Award finalist, “Alien Ball” looks at the history (and future) of basketball from a fresh new perspective.
Click here to read this story as part of Kris’ Free Fiction this week. You can also buy the story for future reading here.
One thing that will never change is the power of great fiction.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
Time for Cool Madness: Six Really, Really, Really Strange Marble Grant Stories
FantasyMarble GrantDean Wesley Smith Collections Available in:ebook, $4.99trade paperback, $6.99 Add to cart Get the book today! Get the ebook from the WMG store! Time for Cool Madness:Six Really, Really, Really Strange Marble Grant Stories Dean Wesley Smith Six...Publisher’s Note: A Time for Reminiscence
With the 20th anniversary of 9/11, I’ve been taken back in time a lot lately to what the world was like in the late ‘90s/early 2000s. So many things have changed since then.
I didn’t get a text alert or push notification that the first tower was hit, I got a phone call from my then-husband.
He couldn’t even talk, he could only tell me to turn on the TV, because that’s how we got news immediately back then. But when I turned it on, there was nothing but static. It was tuned to ABC.
I lived in northern New Jersey on Sept. 11, 2001. Our television stations (the big three: ABC, CBS, NBC) broadcast from giant antennae on the top of 1 World Trade Center, the North Tower. The first tower hit.
Life changed for many of us that day. Even more so for those of us near Ground Zero.
I can’t watch the images. I saw them in real time, and they are burned into my memory.
So, this year, I focused on podcasts. Those I can handle. They let me reflect on that time period with more clarity and less trauma.
They also let me reminisce about what life was like in the years before 9/11. Before smartphones and Covid and Zoom.
What were you doing in the ‘90s? My high school graduation, undergraduate college years and first career were all in the ‘90s.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch attended hundreds of science fiction fan conventions in the ‘90s. She loved them. And she started writing short stories starring characters Spade and Paladin honored that love of the fans and the conventions.
The stories became known as Spade/Paladin Conundrums. And both mystery readers and science fiction fans loved them. She’s written eight of those short stories over the years.
When the pandemic hit, and Kris needed a place to escape the world and have fun in her fiction, she turned once again to the ‘90s and the Spade/Paladin Conundrums. But this time, she wrote a novel. It’s called Ten Little Fen.
The novel won’t officially be released until November, but you can get a copy early through our latest Kickstarter. And since the Kickstarter has already hit several stretch goals, you’ll also get electronic editions of several of the Spade/Paladin short stories (including one that’s exclusive to the Kickstarter), special pop-up workshops for writers, and a whole lot more to come.
Check out the Kickstarter here, and be sure to watch Kris’ video about the fun that is the Spade/Paladin Conundrums.
Because couldn’t we all use a bit of fun and nostalgia these days?
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.