By Jan S. Gephardt and Lynette M. Burrows A note from Jan to her readers: My longtime friend Lynette M. Burrows and I belong to some of the same writers’ groups, and first met through the Kansas City Science Fiction & Fantasy Society (KaCSFFS). We bonded over (among other things) our interest in writing, and we’ve been friends literally for decades. We regularly check in with each other to “talk shop” or be each others’ cheerleaders. Earlier this summer, I…
By Jan S. Gephardt I am happy to report that I’m going to Archon 44 after all. Why? Because—and only because—Archon’s doing it right. The Email That Changed Everything You may recall that a few weeks ago, I very reluctantly decided to withdraw from this year’s FenCon, a Texas science fiction convention that my son and I have come to love. I had been watching the COVID-19 trends in the St. Louis area and growing more and more convinced I’d…
By Jan S. Gephardt I feel as if I’ve been on the road to Release Day for most of this summer, but at last it’s here! We made it! A Bone to Pick should now be available in print and ebook formats through a wide variety of outlets! What’s it about? In case you’re new to this blog, here’s the book description. for A Bone to Pick: XK9 Rex is a dog who knows too much. Now his past is…
By Jan S. Gephardt It’s way too late for this to be a “reveal,” but the story of A Bone to Pick’s Cover deserves telling. Because it was not an easy—or short—journey! Late update: I unfortunately timed this post just when Jody had retired her old website and hadn’t quite gotten her new one ready. If you’re reading this in late 2021, her links may not work. The Artistry of Jody A. Lee For most of my adult life it has been…
By Jan S. Gephardt I’ve been making ARCs recently. What does that mean? It means I’ve been assembling an assortment of documents into an early version of my latest book, to create Advance Reader Copies. It’s not exactly parallel to a dress rehearsal for a stage play, but for me it’s a necessary step in the publicity rollout for my science fiction mystery novel A Bone to Pick. I’ve been blogging a lot in this space recently, about A Bone…
By Jan S. Gephardt To quote Red Leader Garven Dreis, we’re almost there! In this case, I mean we’re almost to the point where A Bone to Pick is available and ready to read. Almost. We’re close enough that I can at last announce a presale offer on Amazon, in both the US and the UK. I’m also almost to the point where Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) are ready to go out as review copies. I’ll send them to my…
By Jan S. Gephardt After I finished What’s Bred in the Bone and published it in 2019, I thought writing A Bone to Pick would be lots easier than writing the first book in the Trilogy. After all, I had an outline. I had scenes, cut from the first novel, all ready to go into the second one. It was partly written already! I should easily have it ready to go by 2020. A year, maybe 18 months, tops, because…
By Jan S. Gephardt When G. and I planned out this month’s blog posts, I eagerly volunteered to write about indie women of science fiction. That was before I realized how few of us there are. Ironically, it was not that hard to find female sf writers among the traditionally published. I highlighted several of my favorites in the “First Impressions” post at the beginning of the month. But until I actually looked beyond my two favorite indies, I hadn’t…
By Jan S. Gephardt To anyone who asks, “Can you tell me about your book?” I can only offer hints and glimpses. Of course, that’s all any of us can offer, short of a full read. But which hints and glimpses? It becomes marketing It becomes marketing, whether we authors and our might-be-readers care to think of it that way or not. We not only want to give the asker a good idea of what our story’s about—we want them…