Category Archives: Books

A is for Apocalypse, A Month of Letters, A to Z Challenge, Books, Editing, Fae, Goals, Hollow, Metastasis, Niteblade, Poetry

Goals for 2014

Leave a comment

Each year, like so many other people, I see the changing of the calendar as the perfect time to look back over the past twelve months and set goals for the next ones. It’s super helpful to me and I look back at my goals over and over during the year, whenever I feel myself going off course… They help keep me focused on the things I want to do, motivated when depression decides to rear its ugly head, and give me things to celebrate when I achieve them. Also? Posting them publicly helps make me feel accountable to someone (that would be you lol) and serves as motivation for the thing that is my motivation. Whee!

Because these goals are so integral to my life, I set them in a lot of categories, not just writing. It seems like a lot, but it works for me.

Health

  • No drinking pop. Period.
  • Lose 20 lbs
  • Lower blood pressure (bonus points if I get to reduce my medication)
  • Run 5k

School

  • This degree is taking a ridonkulously long time. I need to finish another course toward completing it this year. Bonus points if I manage two, but it’s important not to lose sight of the fact that this is honestly more of a hobby than anything and it must not negatively effect my work.

Editing / Publishing

  • Complete Fae and promote the hell out of it.
  • Pursue other anthology ideas
    • I am really, really, really enjoying editing anthologies right now and I’d like to have at least one more under contract with a publisher by the end of 2014.
  • Increase promotion efforts for Metastasis
    • I need to come up with a way to set actual concrete goals for promotion. Not only for Fae and Metastasis, but everything I edit and/or publish. Oh hey!
  • Figure out a way to set concrete goals for promotion. Set concrete goals for promotion.
  • Hold a successful fundraiser for Niteblade
  • Produce a NaNoLJers anthology if interest exists
  • Publish and promote A is for Apocalypse
  • Solicit writers for B is for (haha not telling yet!) and begin that process
  • Continue to edit and publish Niteblade, keeping it something I can be very proud of.
  • Complete the edits on Grammy’s book

Writing

2014 is the year of the novel. It is because I say it is, damn it!

  • Complete the novel currently known as ‘Hollow’
    • By ‘complete’ I mean have that sucker ready to start querying agents about
  • Complete the first draft of at least two other novels
    • One of these may be one of my pen name projects
  • Self-publish the zombie poetry book and complete my other plans for it
  • Write 350 words a day, five days a week. So 1,750 words a week.
    • Yes. A week. It’s not huge, but I’ve got a lot of other stuff on this list, damn it! :-p
  • Bundle up and self-publish more of my reprints
  • Complete sekkrit collaborative project
  • Participate in NovPAD and/or April PAD
  • Anything with the word ‘NaNo’ in the title is optional
    • …except NaNoLJers. Set up prompts for odd-numbered Mondays

Reading

  • Read at least 50 books.
    • Have 25% be non-fiction

Misc

  • Create a publishing website (company name, etc. but only to publish my own projects.)
  • Participate in A Month of Letters
  • Do the Blogging from A to Z Challenge
  • Blog at least once a week
  • Shoot at least one roll of analog film per month
  • Finish the ship cross stitch I started *mumble* years ago
  • Complete the top of the quilt I’m doing in memory of my mother and post it on JoFigure
  • Attend at least two writing conventions

Looking forward, with these goals to help me define the trail, I am really looking forward to 2014. I hope it builds on the momentum that developed in 2013 and just keeps getting better.

ETA: Some goals under Misc.

A is for Apocalypse, A Month of Letters, A to Z Challenge, Aphanasian Stories, April PAD, Books, Fae, Goals, Hollow, Metastasis, NaNoWriMo, Niteblade, NovPad, Personal, W1S1

Looking Back at 2013

4 Comments

Rearview -- Photo by Rhonda ParrishWhat a year. To say it’s been exponentially better than last year would be a huge understatement, but at the same time, it’s been far from perfect. It’s that time again when I look over my goals, see how well I did, celebrate the good things and figure out how to fail better at the others next year.

I’ll list my goals for 2013 below, bolding the ones I figure I accomplished and addressing each briefly. I don’t want to turn this into a novel-length blog post 😉

Health

  • Lose 25lbs
  • Successfully complete the P90x program (I’m giving myself permission to swap Cardio X workouts in for Plyometric ones because I worry about my ankle and also, I’m a bit of a wussy)
  • No energy drinks
  • Significantly cut the amount of sugar in my diet. I have a complicated set of rules for this for myself, but I don’t want to bore everyone with sharing them.

Right. So I totally fell down on pretty much all my health goals (though I mostly managed to avoid Red Bull).  I’m not even sure what happened to tell the truth, I just never managed to get back into the habit of working out and watching what I ate. This needs to be my primary focus for next year though because if I’m unhealthy everything else falls apart too. I may need help remembering that over the coming months though, so I’ll have to figure out a way to address that when I set my goals for 2014.

School

  • Begin another course (or two) toward my degree no later than April 1st and complete it/them successfully.

I took Psychology 304 – Research Methods in Psychology (which is required for my degree) and passed it with a B+. A very irritating B+. I was point five percent away from an A. >_<

Editing/Publishing

  • Sell my cancer anthology idea to a publisher.*
  • Edit the cancer anthology, making sure the end result is something I am proud of.
  • Promote the hell out of the anthology, ensuring that there actually are royalties to donate to charity.
  • Continue to pursue my sekkrit projeckt with CJD
  • Increase Niteblade’s readership and distribution
  • Begin offering Niteblade in more file formats
  • Hold a successful fundraiser for Niteblade
  • Produce a NaNoLJers anthology if sufficient interest exists

Metastasis Cover FinalI sold the Metastasis anthology idea to Wolfsinger Publications and edited the hell out of that thing. I am *SO* freaking proud of this book. So proud, and my mother (who I dedicated my efforts to) would be as well. We’re still in the process of ‘promoting the hell out of it’ and our first statements haven’t come out so I’m not sure how sales are going yet. Fingers crossed though… and if they aren’t where we want them to be, well, I guess I’ll just have to put some more time in.

This year I did increase Niteblade’s readership, distribution and the number of file formats it is available in. We also held a super successful fundraiser (raising $604!) and even adopted a chimpanzee.

While I did check to see if there was interest in a NaNoLJers anthology, there didn’t seem to be. Maybe next year… And my sekkrit projekt kind of got left behind a bit this year, but maybe that’s something I can look to a little closer in 2014 as well because I sure wasn’t slacking when it came to editing projects this year.

In addition to Metastasis and Niteblade, I’m also working on an anthology with World Weaver Press. You may have heard of it, it’s this little thing I like to call Fae. And I also broke ground on the first of what is going to be a huge series of anthologies, A is for Apocalypse.

Writing

  • Participate in The Whittaker Prize
  • Successfully complete the weekly version of Write 1 Sub 1. For the ‘Write’ portion of this challenge I will count completed short stories or poems as well as individual scenes from longer works. By allowing myself to count individual scenes I will be able to work on longer works and still participate in W1S1
  • Participate in Writo De Mayo
  • NaNoWriMo and both camp NaNoWriMos are all optional
  • Finish writing poems for all the 2012 NovPad prompts
  • Actually successfully complete the AprilPad or NovPad properly, without having to make up prompts after the month has passed
  • Self-publish “Aphanasian Stories”
  • Look into the practicality of bundling and re-releasing some of my previously published short stories as ebooks
  • Follow through on my 2012 plans for my zombie poetry

Tesseracts 17Well, you win some you lose some, right?

For example, I participated in The Whittaker Prize (well, this year’s incarnation was the Not-Whittaker Prize) but when it carried over into November, when I was trying to do All.The.Things including NaNoWriMo I decided to drop out for my own sanity. I was successful with NaNoWriMo however… but then I totally haven’t written another word on my novel (which needs about 30,000 more of them) since then. >_<

I did participate in Writo De Mayo where my primary goal was to transcribe a family history my grandmother had written and format it as a book to give to her. I did, and she loved it very much making the month’s worth of work well, well, worth the effort. (Alas, now she has edited the proof copy so guess what I’m doing in May 2014? LOL).

I also self-published Aphanasian Stories. Sales have been pretty lame (read: nearly non-existent) but I’m glad those stories are out there and available to an audience who might want them, if not today, perhaps tomorrow. Plus, the reviewers seem to like them, so that’s good for my ego 🙂

I’m looking at bundling some of my other previously published short stories to re-sell as ebooks but right now I don’t have enough which aren’t under contract that have common themes, so that’s something I’ll have to look at again next year.

As for the zombie poetry collection? It’s a work in progress. Hopefully I’ll have something to show for it before the end of the year, but I don’t want to rush through and create an inferior product. Because.

Under the writing umbrella for 2013 I’ve had a fantastic year. I’ve produced some stories I’m really, super proud of, and many of them have found homes with dream publishers. Highlights definitely include being published by Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast, work forthcoming in Kzine, Mythic Delirium and the Trafficking in Magick anthology, poetry publications with Every Day Poets and especially the story I co-wrote with Jo for Masked Mosaic: Canadian Super Stories.

Reading

  • Read at least 30 books

As of today I’ve read 47 published books. I’ve also been privileged enough to read one soon-to-be published book as a critiquer and a couple anthologies I may have mentioned above. I also read a crapload of short stories as submissions to Niteblade and those anthologies, so overall I think I crushed this goal 😉

A Month of LettersMisc

  • Participate in A Month of Letters
  • Do the Blogging from A to Z Challenge (bonus points if I come up with a theme this year)
  • Blog at least once a week
  • Take a social media retreat for one week a month all year
  • Attend WorldCon 2012 in Texas
  • Post writing prompts/exercises in NaNoLJers on odd numbered Mondays
  • Run and participate in the writing bingo in NaNoLJers
  • Don’t forget that life is for living, not leveling

I did well on these ones 🙂 Sadly I didn’t make it to WorldCon, we had some unexpected expenses that needed to be dealt with (stoopid money) and I kinda sucked at putting prompts up for NaNoLJers but other than that I rocked the goals in this area. My month of letters was a lot of fun and I still write to several of the people I met that month (in addition to the friends I’ve always written to — I’ve fallen behind on that, but working on catching up. Let’s blame a crazy autumn, okay?), I did the Blogging from A to Z Challenge with a theme (Niteblade), ran the writing bingo at NaNoLJers and significantly cut back on the amount of time I spend playing World of Warcraft.

My social media retreats have gone very well, except for during the times when I’m in the midst of a promotion or such and need to pop on at least once a day because of that. I think next year I’m going to set a daily time limit for social media stuff rather than trying to avoid it completely for one week of the month. I think it will be better for consistency and also my sanity. Taking a break has definitely been good for my productivity though, and my state of mind. It’s really easy to get caught in a loop when every time something happens you think ‘I need to tweet this!’ Stepping away regularly definitely helped me shift my perspective and live a more balanced life. And that’s what it’s all about, right?

In the next little while I’ll look at my goals for 2014 and share those here, but in the meantime I think I’m going to bask a little bit in the glow of a year which, while it wasn’t perfect, was pretty damn good.

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastais Contributor Interview: T. Fox Dunham

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeFox and I have been engaged in a pretty serious poke war for the past couple weeks, but before that he was a contributor to Metastasis. I’d never heard of Fox before he submitted to Metastasis, but his ghost story engaged me and once I accept it I found him to be extremely easy to work with. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me while I was putting together such an emotion-laden project like this one. Fox is also contributor I’m interviewing on my blog today:

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

I lost someone when I went through radiation treatment for Lymphoma, and I’m haunted—not just by her but all of them. Penn dealt with extreme cases. The Lady in the Doorway is a catharsis, one of my several attempts to try to heal.

How has cancer touched your life?

It’s touched all of our lives. I’ve suffered rare cell type of lymphoma. They didn’t think I’d survive it, and it shattered me when I did. I think about less in myself and more in others now. I worry for them. Cancer survivors have a connection, especially when you had it young. We’re esoteric, maybe even a bit pretentious about it, and we help each other survive each day. You never think yourself cured. You’re always waiting for it even several years later.

When it comes to cancer, what gives you hope?

Beauty gives me hope. I reel in largemouth bass at Peace, and I rejoiced when I release the fish back into the water. I adore the lights at Yule, the smell of pine. When I sell another story, I feel like my life means something. And then I’ll fall in love, and I know it’s going to rip me apart; yet I run into the storm and give it my whole self to rip and shred only to do it anon.

(POKE)

I am honored to be included in this anthology with such a fine and talented group of authors and artists.

 T. Fox Dunham resides outside of Philadelphia PA—author and historian. He’s published in nearly 200 international journals and anthologies. His first novel, The Street Martyr will be published by Out of the Gutter Books this October, followed up by Searching for Andy Kaufman from PMMP in 2014. He’s a cancer survivor. His friends call him fox, being his totem animal, and his motto is: Wrecking civilization one story at a time. Site: www.tfoxdunham.com. Blog: http://tfoxdunham.blogspot.com/. http://www.facebook.com/tfoxdunham & Twitter: @TFoxDunham

(Note from Rhonda: *poke*)

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Sandi Leibowitz

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeSandi Leibowitz is one of the contributor’s toward Metastasis. Her story, “Alchemical Warfare” is one of friendship and magic (not the My Little Pony kind).

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

My inspiration for “Alchemical Warfare” was my friend Karen Spencer, who had leukemia. At the time Rhonda put out the call for submissions, I was spending a lot of time visiting Karen at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, during the third of her several-month-long hospitalizations for chemo treatments. This was the third and last, because she’d developed a fungal pneumonia. I couldn’t come up any ideas for the book, so I put the idea completely aside. Karen knew I was working on reviving a children’s book about dragons that I’d dropped a long time ago. In despair one day she said, “Make me a dragon to fight the leukemia.” I wish I could have. Instead, I was able to make her a story. Karen died on September 1st, just before Metastasis became available. But she did read and enjoy my story, making sure to correct my mistake of placing Recreation on the wrong floor.

How has cancer touched your life?

I’ve known a lot of people with cancer, mostly stories with good endings. Two childhood friends, and one college friend, had breast cancer but early detection has kept them healthy. Another childhood friend has a sister with lung cancer, currently undergoing treatment. Yet another childhood friend has been treated for colon cancer and is in remission.

When it comes to cancer, what gives you hope?

I am hopeful that scientists are coming up with new treatments and technology for early detection every day. I’d like to see cancer wiped out utterly in my lifetime.

SandiSandi Leibowitz has been the Sands Point hag, a medieval psaltery-player, a fundraiser ghostwriting for a Monsignor, a secretary at the Museum of Natural History working behind the caribou diorama and a school librarian. She is a native New Yorker whose speculative fiction and poetry appears in Mythic Delirium, Goblin Fruit, Strange Horizons, Niteblade and other far-out places. She has been known to consort with dragons.

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace
Paperback – $14.95

 

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Joely Black

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeJoely and I first met, interestingly enough, when our stories followed one another in the 3 hundred and 65 project which benefited a children’s cancer charity. It was no surprise to me then when she submitted a story to Metastasis. Let’s here what she has to say about it:

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

When I was nine, my uncle died of a brain tumour. He was 37. We used to go and see him at the hospice in London. I became very curious about how a brain tumour changes the very nature of who we are, after watching how the tumour changed him. We get our very selves, all our creativity and thought, from the brain, and cancer changes that radically. I wanted to explore how that might change a person, but not in a uniformly bleak way.

How has cancer touched your life?

I’ve never had cancer myself, but I’ve lost three close relatives to it. My uncle’s death stayed with me a long time, as he died very young and made me conscious of how early cancer can claim a person. My grandfather died of prostate cancer when I was a teenager, which felt like a battle of the wills between him and the disease. I understand he never properly sought treatment for it, which is why he died so quickly. And of course, my other uncle died last year. That was a hard one; the cancer was concealed by his Alzheimer’s, and it’s awful to think that many of his unusual behaviours were caused by a tumour rather than the degenerative dementia.

When it comes to cancer, what gives you hope?

Many of my friends are scientists, constantly working on tiny pieces that fit together to produce cures. The speed with which we’re learning about new treatments, new techniques and new medicines is astounding. I think we’re making progress, especially when it’s caught early.

Joely Black is a writer and author living in Manchester, England. She has published a fantasy trilogy and is currently writing a new fantasy serial called Five Empires. She has also written for the Manchester Literature Festival and appeared in One in Four magazine. You can find more info at joelyblack.com.

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords — Use coupon code LM63L in order to receive 25% off your order
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace — Use coupon code TGERED9J in order to receive 25% off your order
Paperback – $14.95

All coupons codes expire on October 31, 2013.

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Sara Cleto

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeSara Cleto is today’s participant in the series of Metastasis contributor interviews I’ve been hosting here on my blog. Sara’s poem, “A Hunter Reflects Upon the Properties of Sunlight, and Also of Ashes“, is just one of several pieces from this anthology which touched on sunlight (Cat Jenkin‘s story “Like Sunlit Honey” being the most obvious other example). It was a theme I wasn’t expecting to find as I read submissions, but at the same time, it wasn’t surprising either. Which is not to say that Sara’s poem or Cat’s story are without surprises, because that would be a lie. I’m going to stop rambling now so we can hear what Sara has to say:

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

Despite my lifelong fascination with vampires–my favorite novel is Robin McKinley’s Sunshine, and my first academic article discusses Gothic vampires– I’d never written anything creative about them because vampiric literature can veer very quickly towards the cliche. The prompt for Metastasis offered an opportunity to invoke vampires in a really unconventional way, and once I made a connection between sunlight, cancer, and vampires, I knew exactly how my poem would unfold.
How has cancer touched your life?
Both my mother and my maternal grandmother have survived cancer. They faced illness with incredible bravery and grace, and my poem is dedicated to their strength. My partner’s extraordinary grandfather passed earlier this month after his own battle with cancer, and I don’t yet have the words to talk about it.
Not counting your own, which story or poem in Metastasis is your favourite?
Beth Cato’s poem “Hunter” just about broke my heart with its magic, sweetness, and sadness.
Sara CletoSara Cleto is a PhD Student at the Ohio State University, where she explores folklore, literature, and the places where they intersect. She spends most of her time reading, writing, and teaching her students about fairy tales and the supernatural. Her creative work can be found in Cabinet des Fees: Scheherazade’s Bequest, Ideomancer, Nightblade, and others.

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords — Use coupon code LM63L in order to receive 25% off your order
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace — Use coupon code TGERED9J in order to receive 25% off your order
Paperback – $14.95

All coupons codes expire on October 31, 2013.

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Scott Lee Williams

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeScott Lee Williams is the next participant in our series of contributor interviews. Scott’s story, “The Cure” has a fantastic voice and real three-dimensional characters who I really liked.

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

When I wrote “The Cure” I was playing the game that all authors play – what if – asking, “If cancer had a story, what would it be?” In many ways, my story is two stories: the story of a man who has a disease, and how that affects him and his relationships, and the story of the disease – if the disease were actually a sentient lifeform with its own agenda. Each of those stories has its own emotional resonance. The danger, of course, is in possibly appearing too glib about the very real suffering that cancer causes. Sympathy for the devil, after all, is easy enough, until you realize what the devil’s really after. I tried to counter this by making my human characters as real as possible.

How has cancer touched your life?
I’ve been very blessed that cancer has not directly affected my life in the way that it has many of the contributors to Metastasis. That being said, cancer affects everyone. It’s part of our culture, in that it’s the ur-horror story. Not everyone believes in the boogeyman, but everyone believes in cancer – the body as betrayer. We all walk around with it in our head everyday. We hear about it on the news, or a friend of a friend has it. We look at the unexplained bruise or sore and think, “Is it cancer?”  We all live with a greater or lesser portion of this fear in our lives, and I certainly look forward to the day when it will be something we don’t have to worry about.
When it comes to cancer, what gives you hope?
Technology gives me hope in the fight against cancer. I tend to vacillate wildly in my belief in the power of science to improve our lives. I’ll say, however, that right now, the research that’s being done finds new treatments everyday, and screening methods catch cancer at earlier and more treatable stages. We’re also learning to address the environmental and genetic causes of cancer.  We may never entirely eliminate cancer from the human experience, but we are learning to fight better, and smarter, and that is certainly a reason to hope.
Scott Lee Williams writes in Brooklyn, NY, where he lives and thinks thoughts with his wife and cat. He also maintains a blog called Four Each Day, in which he writes four lines, every day, about something that happened that day. Most of the stories are even true. You can find that at http://foureachday.blogspot.com.  Scott Lee Williams

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords — Use coupon code LM63L in order to receive 25% off your order
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace — Use coupon code TGERED9J in order to receive 25% off your order
Paperback – $14.95

All coupons codes expire on October 31, 2013.

Aphanasian Stories, Books, Niteblade

Fall Into Fantasy

Leave a comment
Fall Into Fantasy 2013

We’re going to take a short break from Metastasis interviews today to talk about Fall Into Fantasy giveaway. Hosted by Ash Krafton, Fall Into Fantasy is a huge book (and swag) giveaway. More than 50 writers participated this year, which makes for a HUGE selection of goodies that you can win.

There are so many prizes being offered that the Rafflecopter can look a little intimidating (at least to me) but there are a lot of really easy entries to get. You get three entries every day you tweet about this giveaway, for example, and if doing giveaway shout outs aren’t your thing you can also earn entries by leaving a blog comment, following me (or Niteblade) on Twitter, checking out Niteblade Magazine or hooking up with me on Goodreads. Also? There are 50+ other authors who you can earn entries by friending/following/whatevering. And who knows, maybe you’re friends with some of them already. So try not to get overwhelmed by the Rafflecopter and enter. You can’t win if you don’t enter, and here are just some of the books that are being given away:

BookBox: embed book widget, share book list

That’s just a FEW of them. Personally I donated a bunch of stuff to the swag bundles plus copies of Aphanasian Stories and Niteblade. So take a look at the Rafflecopter below and earn yourself a few entries because, free books. 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Michael S. Pack

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeMichael S. Pack’s short story, Unchanged, takes place in a future where there is a cure for cancer but as we all know, nothing is without consequences…

How has cancer touched your life?
In 2007, a routine x-ray for back pain found bone mets in my mother’s spine. The oncologists never identified a primary tumour, but the biopsy indicated breast cancer. With advanced metastasis, the doctors could offer little in the way of treatment. They gave her two years, but it spread faster than they had predicted. No radiation, no chemo, no surgery. She accepted nothing but palliative care. She passed away just after New Year’s of 2008.
When it comes to cancer, what gives you hope?
I don’t think we find meaning in our circumstances, but in our response to circumstance. It gives me hope to see the ways in which people choose to respond to cancer. You can’t stay neutral, even denial is a response. Every cancer survivor who finds the strength to persevere, every patient in treatment who perseveres even without strength, every family member that offers support, every community that holds a rally, runs a relay, spreads awareness — those offer me hope. When someone chooses to live their life in spite of the odds, whether from stubbornness or determination or force of will, that gives me hope. Every time someone finds the serenity to accept, that gives me hope. Cancer itself, it brings too much pain, too much suffering for me to find its value. The human reaction though, there’s value there. In the ways in which those responses are framed — by everyone who fights to live one more day, by everyone who comes to terms with mortality, by everyone who grieves for the time lost — those very human responses have meaning. They have value.
Not counting your own, which story or poem in Metastasis is your favourite?
That’s a tough question. I’ve read the anthology, and I’m impressed with all of the contributions. You’ve done a fantastic job putting together some really powerful pieces for Metastasis. If I had to choose just one though, I’d have to say Beth Cato’s poem, “Hunter”. It caught me a little off guard, and it spoke to me on an emotional level. It was beautiful, but also painful to read.
Michael S. Pack is a writer who grew up in the Deep South, but he now lives in northern British Columbia with his wife and three cats. He writes fantasy, science fiction, and other stories. Michael sometimes rambles on twitter @Michael_Pack and on https://www.facebook.com/M.Pack.Author where he posts updates about his stories. He is currently at work on a fantasy novel.

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords — Use coupon code LM63L in order to receive 25% off your order
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace — Use coupon code TGERED9J in order to receive 25% off your order
Paperback – $14.95

All coupons codes expire on October 31, 2013.

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Steve Lickman

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeSteve’s story in Metastasis sucked me in from the first paragraph and held my attention up to the very end. He’s here today to answer a few questions in another of our super short Metastasis interviews 🙂

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

It was really more of a what. Of late there’s been a lot of noise online regarding the role of women and minorities in the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy and also nerd culture in general. The story came about as my brain tried to deal with the ugly, ugly things I was reading online. My thoughts regarding sexism and institutionalized misogyny dovetailed with the idea of metastasis. Most cancer treatments are not kind to the human body. We cut, burn, and bombard it with chemicals. A person’s sexual identity risks damage as a result. Comedienne Tig Notaro when talking about her fight with cancer jokingly referred to a double mastectomy as a “forced transition”.  That’s sort of the idea I was chasing.

How has cancer touched your life?

My family is certainly no stranger to the disease. My grandmother beat both breast and lung cancer during her lifetime. My dad has beaten skin cancer. Unfortunately, my Aunt Michael wasn’t as fortunate. Lung cancer claimed her life. Right now one of our dogs is sick, and our vet says that cancer is the most likely culprit. I pray she is wrong.

However the most striking way cancer has touched my life involves a friend with whom I had a falling out with a number of years ago. Our friendship disintegrated over a bunch of stupid bullshit and we ceased all communication with each other. About a year ago I learned he died of lung cancer.  A mutual acquaintance showed me a picture of him that had been taken shortly before he died. When I knew him, he was a chain-smoking Falstaff, a larger than life character who was always quick with a joke. The person in the photograph looked to be less than 120 pounds with sagging yellow skin and the suggestion of a smile on their lips. It’s my understanding that the disease hit him hard and fast. Whenever I catch myself acting petty, I think of him. It’s cliché, but life can turn shockingly short for stupid bullshit.

Not counting your own, which story or poem in Metastasis is your favourite?

That’s a difficult question, because I had that in mind as I read the anthology, and it starts off with Jay Lake’s powerful “The Cancer Catechism”. And as I continued to read, there was just one fantastic idea after another. The Phillip K Dick fan in me loved the central idea behind David Sklar’s “Quantum Therapy”. However, at one point during Gabrielle Harbowy’s story, “Arpeggio”, I audibly gasped. So if I had to pick just one, I’d pick her’s.

When not being mean to his characters, Steve Lickman is mean to software in his role as a quality control analyst. His story, “Fangirl”, recently appeared in Sidekicks! published by Alliteration Ink. You can follow him on Twitter @SteveLickman or at his website, BeerAndMonsters.com, where he writes about pop culture, home brewing, and, occasionally, writing.

 

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords — Use coupon code LM63L in order to receive 25% off your order
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace — Use coupon code TGERED9J in order to receive 25% off your order
Paperback – $14.95

All coupons codes expire on October 31, 2013.

 

Books, Guest Blogger, Metastasis

Metastasis Contributor Interview: Michael Kellar

Leave a comment

Metastasis Cover - artwork by Jonathan Parrish, Cover design by Carol HightshoeAs part of my efforts to both increase awareness of Metastasis and also allow you a little insight into the people behind the stories, I’m presenting a series of super short interviews with some of the contributors of the anthology. Michael Kellar is one of those contributors. Michael’s story, Oil and Water, is the superhero(ish) story from this collection and is one of my favourites.

Who or what was the inspiration for your story in Metastasis?

Rather than a single source of inspiration, I think that my story evolved from a sense of collective empathy. I was working on the idea of having a young boy possess an unusual ability that was rather nondescript.  I knew I wanted it to be both a little bit tragic and a little bit hopeful at the same time – kind of bittersweet. But it wasn’t until I started to get to know my characters that I realized the exact direct direction it would go. I drew upon my memory of a number of families I had known personally who had been affected by this disease, and I suddenly knew that this would be the core issue. The final line just seemed to leap into my head, and I found that I was then excited to go back and rework everything up to that point.

When it comes to cancer, what gives you hope?

Our track record. We have been highly successful at dealing with smallpox, polio, measles, diphtheria, rubella, mumps, tetanus – and any number of other diseases which have afflicted us. Currently, cancer may be more tenacious, but we will get on top of it.

What do you believe is our greatest obstacle to finding a cure?

Misguided or misplaced efforts.

Not long ago there was an article in the “Washington Post” with the title “You give religions  more than $82.5 billion a year”. It provided the interesting perspective that even if one religion  happens to be true, “it’s undeniable that the majority of church-spending is going to support false doctrines” since no single belief system receives the majority of the funding.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I cannot help but wonder what could be accomplished in the area of searching for a cure for cancer if that annual $82.5 billion were instead devoted to medical research.

There are a lot of good people out there who want to accomplish great things. I just wish more of them would go about it in a different manner.

 

Michael Kellar is a writer, poet, and occasional online bookseller living in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Other than his story in “Metastasis”, his most recent print publication was a horror story appearing in the anthology “Side Show 2: Tales of the Big Top and the Bizarre”. He has also recently had a story accepted for “The Ghoul Saloon” and a poem accepted for “Gothic Blue Book III”.

 

Metastasis is available at:

Amazon.com
Paperback – $14.95
Kindle – $6.95

Kobo
ePub – $6.95

Smashwords — Use coupon code LM63L in order to receive 25% off your order
ePub – $6.95
Kindle – $6.95
PDF – $6.95

Createspace — Use coupon code TGERED9J in order to receive 25% off your order
Paperback – $14.95

All coupons codes expire on October 31, 2013.