As longtime readers of this blog know, I lost my three beloved cats within nine months of each other the past two years. They were all elderly, but it was still heartbreaking and brutal. I was NOT ready to love a cat again. Not yet.
But, as many cat-lovers know, you don’t choose the cat(s). They choose you. Or, in my case, they choose my husband.
In the middle of my year of goodbyes, a feral kitten (maybe three or four months old) showed up under our porch. We had no idea whether she was male or female until she became pregnant shortly after finding us. I had no capacity for kittens at that time, so even the one time we could have intervened, I couldn’t do it. I was broken.
But lo and behold, the kittens found us anyway. And my husband spent the summer socializing them. Our house literally had an open-door policy when it came to cats.
And now, the two kittens we were able to socialize are our new beloved cats.
I wasn’t ready. But they needed us. And I must admit…every home needs a cat. At least, every home I want to live in.
Cats just make everything better.
That goes for fiction, too. Just ask Kristine Kathryn Rusch. She’s the curator for the latest Cattitude StoryBundle. Here’s what she has to say about the subject:
Cozy mysteries, serious witches, not-so-serious witches, musicians, dead musicians, pirates, pirates in space, space opera, fantasy, and romance. What do these things have in common? Cats, of course. Delightful cats. Dozens of cats. More cats than most clowders usually have.
This Storybundle has all of these cats and these stories, plus maybe a dozen more. From short stories to novels, novellas to anthologies, you’ll find it all in this bundle, so long as the fiction contains a cat. For $20, you’ll get all the books, including three exclusive to this bundle, and a chance to donate to an important charity.
You know who else likes to feature cats in his fiction? That’s right: Dean Wesley Smith. A group of kittens even play a prominent role in one of his Cold Poker Gang mysteries: Ring Game.
There’s something about cold cases that really pulls at you. We humans don’t like unsolved mysteries. And the longer they remain unsolved, the more frustrating they get.
I think that’s why we so love cold-case mystery novels. The cases get solved.
And one of the best writers at cold-case mysteries is Dean Wesley Smith. Just ask the many fans of his bestselling Cold Poker Gang Mystery series.
We haven’t had a new mystery from Dean in a bit, but that’s all about to change thanks to our latest Kickstarter featuring not only a new novel but also a new collection!
And not only can you get Case Card, the new novel, and Action, the new collection, in ebook and trade paperback but we are also offering limited hardcovers signed by Dean in Las Vegas, and they can be personalized if you’d like.
Talk about feeling like you’re right there where the action takes place!
And if you’re a writer and you really want to get in on the action, we have two incredible special Kickstarter-exclusive workshops on writing mysteries.
In Murder Most Cold, writers will learn the techniques that go into creating and writing cold case mysteries. And in Murder Most Modern, writers will learn not only how to write and create mystery plots using the modern techniques of crime labs, but also how and why and when detectives use those techniques.
We’ve already hit two stretch goals and are well on our way to the third, so be sure to check out all the free reading and learning you can get in addition to whatever reward you choose.
There’s no mystery about what you need to do next.
The Easter Bunny came to our house yesterday. Well, not the actual Easter Bunny, of course. Me, as Easter Bunny. But my daughter still likes to believe in the idea of the Easter Bunny, so who am I to argue?
I think she’s reluctant to admit there is no Easter Bunny for two reasons: one, that’s one more domino to fall before she has to face the Santa issue; and two, Easter baskets are fun. Hers is filled with small gifts as well as eggs filled with candy and chocolate bunnies and Peeps (I love Peeps!), so I can see why she wouldn’t want to give it up.
Besides, I make a living promoting fiction, so why not?
And because I’m in an Easter Bunny-like giving mood, I thought you might enjoy a little Easter gift from me. It’s got a bunny on the cover—well, it’s an alien with bunny ears, but it’s the closest I could get <grin>.
When you ask a bunch of professional writers to send in stories to a Pulphouse Fiction Magazine anthology called Snot-Nosed Aliens, you get a bunch of really, really strange stories. Perfect.
Known for high-quality fiction and off-the-wall stories, Pulphouse Fiction Magazine’s first fully original anthology delivers both. Head-shaking laughter, biting themes, and more out-of-this-world aliens than should be allowed.
Thirteen professional writers. Thirteen wonderful stories. An original anthology impossible to put down.
Includes: “The Problematic Navigation of the Vessel Clayton Booker” by J. Steven York “Blue-Eyed Bombshell” by Annie Reed “Pepper Pretorious Saves the Day” by Dayle A. Dermatis “Hero of Fire Life” by Michael Warren Lucas “Bushtits Gone Wild” by Stephanie Writt “Dog People” by Robert J. McCarter “Magnitude and Insignificance” by Rob Vagle “Let the Families Be Joined” by Joe Cron “Knock Knock Power” by Johanna Rothman “Ilene’s Box” by Alexandra Brandt “The Goddess Particle” by Daemon Crowe “Two-Minute Drill” by David H. Hendrickson “Power Chords” by Brigid Collins
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.
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.
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.
Dean Wesley Smith loves to write in series. That’s obvious if you follow his writing at all.
His series run the genre gamut. Mystery, thriller, romance, science fiction, urban fantasy, Twilight Zone, a combination of them—the man does it all.
And he’s prolific. In fact, he’s considered one of the most prolific writers working in modern fiction.
So, how does one navigate this plethora of fiction?
Easy! With the Dean Wesley Smith Starter Kit. It features the first book in ten of Dean’s most popular series, all in one huge ebook bundle. And you can pick it up for a limited time (it ends Thursday) in our latest Kickstarter.
That’s a $50 value, but in this Kickstarter, you can get it for only $25. And the Starter Kit comes with every other reward we’re offering.
The list of rewards includes the ebooks of every book in each series included in the Starter Kit, two special Kickstarter-exclusive writing workshops, half-price discounts on lifetime workshop subscriptions, and even a bundle of all 133 ebooks in these ten series!
Click here to read Dean’s story and watch his video, which does a way better job than I can of telling you about his adventures writing these series.
But hurry! The Kickstarter ends Thursday, March 30!
And speaking of starter kits, our Teachable workshops are a great way to refine all the tools you need to develop in your writing career. Dean announced on his blog last night a special limited-time sale on all of our Teachable workshops. This sale is meant to help writers overcome all sorts of hurdles, from financial barriers to the Time of Great Forgetting.
Did you know that Kristine Kathryn Rusch had not one but two stories from 2022 chosen as Asimov’s Readers Choice Award finalists? (Well, actually, it was technically three, but more on that in a minute.)
“Rocket Girls,” which was published in the May/June 2022 issue of Asimov’s, is a finalist for the Best Novelette category. And we can totally see why. It’s one of our favorites, as well. (And, truth be told, one of Kris’ favorites—shhh, don’t tell her other stories.)
WMG published “Rocket Girls” as a standalone ebook in December 2022. Here’s the synopsis:
Angie achieved fame as a spacer. But when some fresh-faced interviewer asks Angie to tell the origin story of the Space Bimbos, the interviewer gets more than she bargained for.
Instead, Angie tells the tale of a group of ambitious and talented girls who, inspired by an old pulp magazine called Rocket Girls, cobbled together a rocket and tried to blast off into space—and then, made history.
With “Rocket Girls,” Kristine Kathryn Rusch puts her own genius female-empowered twist on the build-a-spaceship-in-your-backyard trope from the pulps.
You can read the story for free right now on the Asimov’s site or buy it here.
The second (and third) stories nominated are in the category of Best Novella. It’s for The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades, which was originally published in two parts as novellas: the first in the September/October 2022 issue and the second in the November/December issue. Both novellas are finalists.
You can read the separate novellas for free right now on the Asimov’s site.
WMG will be releasing the full novel, which marries the novellas together into one complete story, in June.
Here’s the synopsis:
The Renegat Renegades finally learn their fate in New York Times bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades, the gripping new novel in her award-winning Diving series and an Asimov’s Readers’ Choice Award finalist.
As the surviving crew of the Renegat face court-martial for mutiny—100 years in their future—the case makes everyone nervous. Prosecutors worry the survivors will prove too sympathetic to convict. The defense worries about the reliability of the defendants. But the survivors worry about what might happen should the truth—the whole truth—finally come to light. Set in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s expansive Diving Universe, The Court-Martial of the Renegat Renegades adds rich new background to this powerfully written series.
With shocking secrets, a deepening mystery, and a surprise witness, this spellbinding sf mystery mixes the best of legal fiction and space opera and proves Rusch’s place as a master of science fiction.
So, read them for free now or buy them for later (or both). And read some of the other finalists, as well. Five of those feature authors WMG has published stories from in the past—Jane Yolen in Fiction River, Rick Wilbur inPulphouse Fiction Magazine, and Geoffrey A. Landis in The Year of the Cat, so maybe we’re a bit biased.
What can I say? We love our authors!
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
