You know the feeling when you’re reading along on a book and you just know what’s going to happen. Like, yeah did I already read this?
But you know it’s a new book! Just came out.
You pop online and doublecheck. Even scramble around in the beginning pages to find that copyright page.
Yep. Brand new book.
But I swear I’ve read this before!
What just happened? OK, You either just:
Finished the book, got your noggin’ hit, selectively forgot your hours of previous new book interaction and just blissfully picked it up again (about as likely as beautiful toe fungus).
Or you have picked up a (bad) book where the author has committed one of these three heinous anti-reader crimes:
Gotcha! You’ve Just Been (Poorly) Troped
I Shall Trap You In A White Room and You Will Like It!
I Want to Be One of the Cool People, too!
I shall go into each of these is delicious depth, plus how to avoid bad books before you plunk down your money!
So come hang out with me on the MOTHERSHIP blog over the next couple weeks as I go into each of them.
In the meantime…
A Great Story Series for those who like the THE TWILIGHT ZONE…
Bryant Street Kickstarter
Do you like:
THE TWILIGHT ZONE?
TWIN PEAKS?
Dark and Strange Stories?
Then welcome to Bryant Street!
Where THE TWILIGHT ZONE and TWIN PEAKS meet…
Bryant Street, a standard subdivision street outside of any city. Well-kept lawns, paint and roofs up to HOA standards, two- or three-car garages.
Everything looks to any casual observer perfect and normal.
But inside those perfect-looking homes, the residents seem just a little off. A little twisted or confused or a half-turn out of reality.
Normal exists on other subdivision streets, but never on Bryant Street.
Arg! No color, accept for that righteously horrible green.
*sigh*
The andro-coupling must have jimmied out from underneath the Barklavian fish-tank that caused the resonating…
Oh right, hi! That’s me…sort of.
I obviously need more time to hacksaw this configuration into shape.
And I am waaaaaay out here in…well, we’ll get to that later.
While I strain all my ample abilities into shaping up some sort of coherent transmission relay, please let me send you to some truly fine places to start!!
(…and that hopefully have a color variation a little more pleasant than the awkward side of gross.)
If you like it, you can get a lot more on the Bryant Street Kickstarter, coming real soon. There will be more stories and other fun rewards. If you like THE TWILIGHT ZONE and TWIN PEAKS, then this will surely entertain you.
This is my 583rd blog. I’ve been writing these for almost 12 years. But this is my final one.
We are making some changes here at WMG. Great changes. Stephanie Writt will be taking over as the voice of WMG, and she’s brilliant and excited and offers a fresh voice. I can’t wait for you to see what she does with our reader communications!
Featuring the original story “What Remains of America” by Scott Edelman, Issue #25 also includes:
“An Infinite Number of Idiots” by Robert Jeschonek
“The Sleeping Agent” by Charlotte Munich
“Objects of Desire” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
“City of Sin Strangler” by David H. Hendrickson
“A Willing Lad” by O’Neil De Noux
“The Remarkable Way She Died” by Karen Fonville
“The Spirit House” by Lisa S. Silverthorne
“Little City Blues” by Annie Reed
“Unity Con” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Minions at Work: Inflated Expectations” by J. Steven York
You can buy the book on the Pulphouse Store, here.
But before you go do that, I want to thank you all for reading what I’ve put down on the page all these years. Maybe this is your first or maybe your 583rd, but regardless, I appreciate your readership. Always.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.
We’re back to our normal winter weather here on the Oregon Coast (cold and rainy) after the fun of ice storms from Winter Storm Heather. Thank goodness!
Our stores are stocking back up (it was grim here for a few days), and they look so festive with all the hearts for Valentine’s Day.
Every time I see them, I think about our Hearts Collide Kickstarter, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Who wouldn’t love 100 strange romance stories?
If you haven’t checked it out yet, we’ve added a very special stretch goal to that Kickstarter.
If the campaign reaches 100 backers by the time we end on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m., every backer of any reward at $30.00 and above will get a free ebook copy of The Idanha Hotel: A Thunder Mountain Novel by Dean Wesley Smith.
And for writers, the full Classic Workshop WRITING ROMANCE FICTION, with over 40 videos and assignments you can do for yourself. This is a $150 value and if you’re not a writer, you can gift it to a writer friend. Maybe even as a Valentine’s Day gift <grin>.
And speaking of writing workshops, Dean Wesley Smith just announced two new in-person craft workshops (and a reminder for the anthology workshop). Here’s what he had to say:
Because Kris is just finishing up the in-person workshop here in Las Vegas, and she had a blast doing it with 14 really great writers at Resorts World, we decided to announce another two in-person craft workshops.
FANTASY DETECTIVES… May 6th through 9th… Resorts World in Las Vegas. Taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Cost is $750 for the class. Must be paid to hold your spot. Limited to only 14 writers.
SPACE OPERA… January 13th through 16th, 2025… Resorts World in Las Vegas. Taught by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Cost is $750 for the class. Must be paid to hold your spot. Limited to only 14 writers.
If you have never been to a WMG in-person workshop, contact me directly with information about your writing and publishing.
If you have been to one, contact me at dean.wmgworkshops@gmail.com and I will get you how to pay the fee through Paypal and get your name on the list.
Again only 14 spots total and as I write this to announce this, three spots are already gone to writers who are here at the moment. So basically 11 spots left at the moment.
Both these craft workshops will fill very quickly. They are really fun.
(Study Along classes are also up for both.)
ANTHOLOGY WORKSHOP…Reminder that it will happen at Resorts World in the middle of July (dates not yet announced). The cost is $900 to hold your spot and out of the 40 spots, only 9 spots left. So don’t miss this one. Got a hunch it will fill soon. Contact me at dean.wmgworkshops@gmail.com on how to pay and to get on the list if you have been to an in-person workshop before.
So three in-person workshops in Las Vegas. Two fun craft classes taught by Kris and the Anthology Workshop returning for the first time since 2020.
Anyone who follows this blog knows we launch Kickstarters regularly. But one of our favorites every year is the Make 100 Kickstarter.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith have been writing professional short stories for four decades that have won awards and sold millions of copies, plus they have been acclaimed and enjoyed by fans over the entire world. So, we have lots of stories to pull from for these projects.
Those stories cover a lot of genres, including romance. But they write what they call “strange romances.” When they commit romance, it tends to be in just about any genre and on any topic, but always with that underlying feel of a romance.
So, for this year’s Make 100 Kickstarter we’re collecting their “strange romance” stories together into special volumes called Hearts Collide, just like we did with Fantasies Collide last year for the fantasy stories, Crimes Collide the year before for the mystery stories, and Colliding Worlds the first year for their science fiction.
These five Hearts Collide volumes contain 100 strange romance stories, half from Kris and half from Dean.
In addition to such fantastic rewards as the five Hearts Collide volumes in ebook, trade paperback, hardcover, and signed/limited hardcover, we also have lots of other romance book options, including past Make 100 volumes, as well as special workshops for writers and our Buy Everything subscription.
Click here to be notified as soon as the Kickstarter launches tomorrow.
