WIP it good

As my cohort Jason mentioned earlier, it's been a whirlwind journey getting our 20,001: A Steampunk Odyssey anthologie done. We started it in June with a call for submissions, stopped taking new submissions July 31, and cranked out a pretty darned nice product just last week. For two authors just getting started in their careers, that's pretty fast work. Needless to say, we're very pleased.

Also needless to say, we're ready for the next Thing. Both of us put our own writing largely on hold in order to focus on the anthologie, and I think that paid off handsomely. But now it's time to return to our own writing with a focus on finishing off some existing works in progress - WIPs - and maybe kicking off a new one or two.

While Jason is doing the latter, I have a novel called Disbelief that is about 85% done that I am returning to. It's a new genre for me: Paranormal Romance. No, it's not Twilight, and not even vampire-related (well, mostly). I'm actually quite excited to be getting back to it, since I invested two writing retreats into the work this summer, and seeing the result of those wonderful experiences come to fruition is very satisfying. I'm planning to finish it up here in the next few weeks.

And after that? While I always have more ideas than time to work on them, I've been dreaming of a full-on fantasy trilogy. It's a long row to hoe, but having both a novel and an anthologie to my name, I think it's time to set my own bar that much higher. Excelsior!

The Door and the Whale: A 20,001 Teaser

Our next anthologie submission takes us far from the ocean, into the endless wastes of a forgotten desert - or does it?

The Door and the Whale, by David Church Rodriguez

Lord Saltermont's quixotic expedition into the barren Thar Desert of India was an object of scorn and derision - but when his scouts locate the mysterious Door that he has long sought signs of, he knows that he is on the brink of a discovery that will change the world. But what is the strange silvery whale-ship that lies outside the Door? What does the deranged stranger they find know? And will Saltermont's party survive to share what they've learned? Find out in this tale of the unexpected by author David Church Rodriguez!

The Atlantic Affair: A 20001 Teaser

Over the next few weeks we will be posting a series of short teasers for the upcoming Kindling Press anthologie 20001: A Steampunk Odyssey. Our latest teaser is for The Atlantic Affair, by talented young writer Simon Newby:

"What are these reports of a strange new Isle in the Atlantic? Why can only the Iron Duke, captain of the Lemurian, secure it for the English Crown? And why does Casper Bottleswick, reporter from the London Mercury, suspect there's something fishy going on? The Atlantic Affair contains the answers to all these questions and more in a short story by Simon Newby that will wash you away..."

Anticipation

The excitement grows here in Kindling Press land. Peter and I are working like madmen at getting an anthology up to snuff. We've got 10?11? contributions to the nautically Steampunk collection 20001: A Steampunk Odyssey to put through rounds of edits. I'm thinking we're doing something wrong, though. We're doing rounds and rounds of edits, and from what I can gather, that's not often the way of it. I am picking at some serious nits here. And we haven't even sent stuff to the copy editor yet. But I think the product is getting better and better and better, and that's the important thing. Well, that and getting it done on time (it's supposed to go live as an eBook on or around the 14th of September. Make a note.)

But that's not all. I'm also getting ready my next individual effort, a novella called Last Days of Atlantis. I've got a cover; I've got a document that's being looked over; I've got a plan to put it up tomorrow. Or Wednesday at the latest. So there's that.

But biggest and (to me) best of all, I've got a book with an editor, and it's going to an acquisitions meeting at a publisher this week, and if they like it, I get a contract. Which is superior, really, to What Has Gone Before. I'm very pleased, and pretty full of anticipation.

What I'm Up To (Peter A. Smalley Edition)

If anyone had ever sat me down and told me the terrible truth about how much stuff authors do that does not involve actual writing, I might have reconsidered becoming one.

Here's what I have cooking on the front burner:

• Soliciting submissions for a Pulp Fantasy anthologie
• Editing submissions for a Pulp Fantasy anthologie
• Mental drafting of contributions for a Pulp Fantasy anthologie
• Adapting a new cover for the hardcopy edition of Grimme
• Engaging new contacts and audiences via Social Media (FaceBook, Twitter, G+)
• Looking for likely reviewers, and likely things to review, for this blog

Oh yes. I'm also writing a Paranormal Romance called Disbelief. It's mostly done, but I keep having to pause for, uh, station identification. Professional hazard.

That's the short version. There's a longer version but it involves things that make it look less like I know what I'm doing - which is so far from the truth you couldn't find it on a clear night with a guidebook and a telescope - so I'll end it here.

Thanks for reading,

Peter

What I'm Up To (Jason Vanhee Edition)

I've got things I'm working on.  Book things.  Design Things.  Cover Things.  That sort of things.

Some of them are:

A cover for the print edition of my book Never, which is turning out quite lovely.
Edits for a novella called Last Days of Atlantis, which is a queer futuristic travelogue.  Of sorts.
Edits for a collection of pulp fantasy stories.
Inking a map for the Europas world of my cohort Peter Smalley's Grimme.

So that's what is going on right now.  It's not too much, but it's just the most basic of the things I'm working on, discounting long term things and vague nebulous projects.