Featured Musa Book: Day Dreamer by Devin Hodgins

In the spirit of learning all things awesome about my fellow Musa authors (Wut? I'm an author? Oh... right! One day it'll hit me. One day!), I'm going to be starting a monthly feature of some of the fantastic Musa books I've been reading. Yeah, just when I didn't think I had enough to read, I discovered there's actually quite a cool collection of fantasy and sci-fi goodies by Musa authors!

First up, "Day Dreamer" by Devin Hodgins!

                                                       

I was awarded "Day Dreamer" in my first-ever meandering during a Musa blog hop last month (which was pretty nifty, by the way). It's not a full novel, but rather, a novella. Perfect for a quick read, and priced at just 99 cents. The true genre of "Day Dreamer" is a bit two-fold, I thought. It definitely has a speculative fiction edge, but that edge is curved, wrapped around the mysticism that accompanies nighttime dreams, which are interestingly enough, a blend of reality and fantasy.

The dreams themselves, which in "Day Dreamer" are brought into daylight and propel the story forward, encompass the main character's entire, young life. Through his dreams, a very realistic and thought-provoking story about two characters who share a resonating and artistic bond forms. I refuse to go into spoilers! You'll just have to read it for yourself!

All this becomes quite interesting when you consider how short the book is. I definitely felt like I wanted more-- yet I was still satisfied by the scope of the story-- which to me, personally, is a trademark of great short fiction. And hey, short fiction's damn hard to write (I say as I scowl at my pile of short stories that have awarded me with quite a stack of market rejections).

The prose in this novella has a very natural, dream-esque flow to it, which heightened the themes of the story for me. The descriptions are beautiful and sensory. Devin Hodgins, the author, told me that for him, "Day Dreamer" was a different sort of tale to write, and that struck me as very interesting. As writers, when we dive off into the unknown, that's sometimes where our best ideas come from.

Enough prattling from me, though! Check out Devin's website for more information about the author and his current projects. For more information about "Day Dreamer," make sure and check out its page on Musa Publishing's site.

Oh, and hey, for other Musa authors out there that foray into science fiction, fantasy, GLBT fiction, and other regions of speculative fiction, if you'd like me to give your book a read and babble about it a bit, let me know here, on Facebook, or on Twitter. I'll buy the books, of course! I'm currently looking for new reading material. :D

(And yeah, yeah, I'm also due for an update about Captive and my other writing goodies! I'll update you guys soon, I promise!)

Big news! I uh, guess I'm an author now?

Oh, yeah, new site design, too! Finally got tired of the kinda-customized, default mountain-looking design. So now I made a slightly-more customized, weirdo star-themed design. I hope you like green.

Um, right. You're probably still wondering what I meant by the title. See the little "author" word in my banner? Yeah, that's right. Captive by the Fog, the novel I finished a couple months ago, is getting published! It tied for second place in the contest, which granted me a contract.

I actually heard the news a couple weeks ago, but was waiting to find out more details before I made a big announcement. It will be published through Musa Publishing, and will be published in e-book form. I signed the contract, and am now waiting to begin the editing process. I was told they're looking to release Captive during late October of this year, but that may change.

Exciting news! I'm still not completely sure I believe it, sometimes. I'd been throwing around short stories, thinking that if one of those hit a wall and stuck to it, that I'd maybe have a shot at one day stepping up to novels. But uh, seems the novel stuck first... the goofy LGBT alien novel based on a really silly dream about my dad, San Francisco, a hot girl, and well, aliens. This just in-- I'm going to be really bad at promoting this thing...

But yeah. That's my big news. The folks at Musa seem pretty awesome, so far, and I'm looking forward to digging my heels in the experience, and finding out about all the work that goes into publishing a book. I'm really looking forward to the editing process. Since I haven't had much exposure to professional critiques or editing, I'll finally be able to learn a few things about what I need to improve on. And well, that's important. I'm not done yet. Not by a long shot.

My next big project is already taking shape, in fact. I'm going to finally novelize the world that Quest was based on. What's Quest, you say? The fantasy world my friend, Heather, and I created back in high school. Originally, it was kinda based on a bunch of various books and sci-fi shows we loved, but as the world grew, and I realized I liked to write stuff, I started making Quest its own universe. And yeah, shaddup-- I know the name's silly. It's not staying!

It will probably take the shape of at least a four-part series of novels. I have the first two books loosely plotted out, and hope to start the first soon. Its tentative name is Wardens of Wandering, but that may change later down the road. It'll be awesome seeing the unique host of characters come to life.

I'm still planning on continuing submitting stories to WotF quarterly, but other than that, I think my focus will remain on these novels. Novels may definitely be my forte. I've always found it easier to work on longer pieces-- projects if you will. I love the idea of sinking down into the process of extensive world building, involved character subplots, and all that jazz.

Anywho, that's my update. I'm gonna be a published author! I'll keep everyone updated on Captive's progress!

Hay Look, a Novel

Been a while since I've updated. Luckily, it's been a busy March, and I feel like I've made some good writerly progress during it.

I submitted three things at the end of the month. One was my 2nd quarter WotF submission. Fun little story to write. I'm not entirely sure how it'll do as far as the contest goes, but I'm honestly not stressing it. I know it's a decent piece, and may have a home elsewhere.

I also dug out an old, old story of mine from college, reedited major parts of it, and sent it off to a small press-type anthology. I'm not entirely sure how that piece will do, either, but I'd really love to find a home for it. It was my first fiction piece I wrote after coming out as bisexual, and features an interesting mix of a raw coming out story and an edgy, kinda experimental narrative structure. The narrative structure by itself may make it a hard piece to sell, but eh, I'm gonna try a bit. I have a few other markets in mind, too, if it doesn't fly for this one.

My novel, Captive by the Fog, also finally got finished. Yes, finished. Big news, I know! After a year and a half of randomly chucking it aside, then turning back to it and furiously editing, yet leaving off the end unfinished... I finally finished the dang thing. Luckily, thanks to my half-year spent editing the first three-quarters, it didn't need much polishing after it was complete.

One of the small publishers I've had my eye on held a fiction contest for their LGBT imprint, and that, well, that was the reason I finally buckled down and decided to finish it. I think deadlines are good for me. That really isn't too surprising, though, considering the rate I used to write essays/stories during college... BREAK-NECK LAST MINUTE 3 AM WRITING, GOOOOOO. Sigh. Some things never change!

Anyways, the contest will have two rounds. First round, the public gets to cast votes on our queries. Second round, the five queries with the most votes get to submit their full manuscripts to the editors. Those are judged by the editors, and results are given. The top three get published. I figured what the hell. If anything, it'll give me a good reason to finish the dang thing. And so it did.

Voting is currently underway, and will continue until the end of this week. Feel free to check out my query, the contest, and vote for it here. Thank you so much if you decide to vote!

I have a couple projects in mind for April, too. I kinda like this whole projects with deadlines thing... It's working.

BioWare, SWTOR, and Same-Gender Content

Wanted to pop in and briefly plug my latest Star Wars: The Old Republic editorial. It's about one of those close to home subjects for me - LGBT content in video games. There isn't much of it out there unfortunately, so when BioWare announced that same-gender companion romances werre going to be featured in SWTOR, it was exciting. Then it... wasn't placed in the game for release. Instead, BioWare promised to add the content in a post-launch update.

Now it's, well, post-launch, and the community hasn't received an update. In my editorial, I go a bit into the matter, and discuss ideas in which the content can be added. I also talk discuss some of BioWare's other games that feature same-gender content.

Anywho, if you're into gaming at all, check it out!

Here's the link to it: Patiently Waiting for Same-Gender Content

What happened to trying to blog more?

It seems I'm still pretty terrible at providing normal updates. Ah well.

My non-fiction writing has been going well. I've been pretty knee-deep in Star Wars: The Old Republic and writing about it, which may explain part of my disappearance from the whole blogging thing. It's actually an interesting turn for me as far as gaming goes, because instead of focusing on just the game and one particular character, I have been spending the majority of my time researching various classes and aspects of the game in order to write from different angles. It's a much more casual style of gameplay, but at the same time, still rewarding. Fairly win-win.

Eventually, I'll update the sidebar with my latest articles, but there has been quite a lot of them. I've been trying my hand at writing class guides and other guide-type articles, as well. I don't think they're my forte, but it's been fun trying new things. I'm still experimenting with the style of my column. Some days I go for a more casual, humorous angle, other days I'm more serious. I like to think they both fit, but one day I'd like to settle on one.

Fiction! I hit a bit of a stumbling block when it came to September's WotF's entry, which also explains my disappearance. It came back as a form rejection, which I should have expected, but I was admittedly pretty stupid about my expectations. I ended up feeling the good ol' 'first rejection blues' from it, even though I had my first real rejection years and years ago. After spending years away from fiction writing, however, it was kind of like being a rejection virgin again.

Was sort of an eye-opener for me. I spent a month or so determined to try and figure out what I did wrong with the story. Threw it out at critique sites. I learned some things from the critiques, but I think the piece needs more work than I really wanted to put into it at the time, so that led to more disappointment.

I'm glad to say I'm over it now. I ended up shelving the piece for now, until I can look at it again without getting all annoyed. I think the truth of the matter is that I have farther to go in order to become published than I originally thought. I'm okay with that truth, though. It just means I need to work harder at this.

I finished a fun little short story for WotF's last quarter at the end of December. I'm more realistic with its expectations this time, thankfully, but I'm happy with the piece. It was a bit of an experiment. The few people who have read it so far have enjoyed it. If anyone reading this is interested in becoming a beta reader for it, or any of my fiction in general, please drop me a line. I could use more beta readers.

Currently, I'm working on a new short story that's based on a bit of science and a bit of mysticism. It's one of those that I really have no idea how it'll end-- so it'll be interesting to see how it does end. It's funny how little control a writer has over a story's ending sometimes. Stories often kinda scream out their own ending.

I also spent November and December doing some fine edits and working on the last few chapters of my current novel. I've yet to go back to it and finish it up, but I'm kind of waiting until I'm in the novel mode again. For the moment, I'm in more of a short story mode, which is fine by me. Within the last few days, I've had a few other random ideas for short stories. I jotted them down, and will come back to them later. Ideas are always good.

I also took some time to attempt a short list of writing goals for the year. I'm not much for new year's resolutions, nor goals really, but I thought I should at least try. Here they are:

-Submit to each quarter of WotF
-Finish my WIP novel
-Find a good beta reader or two
-Send out a few submissions, whether they be non WotF stories, rejected WotF stories, or the novel above
-Continue my non-fiction projects
-Never go weeks without writing fiction again

Fairly simple. I hope I can stick with them. So far, so good.

Dancin' Among the Angels

As per request, here's the poem I wrote and read for my mom's funeral four years ago. It does fit rather well with one of the pictures I found the other day!

I was never a serious poet, so um, yeah, beware!

                                               Dancin’ Among the Angels

We walked along the shoreline,

My hand held in yours.

I was your baby, your joy, your everything

We smiled as the sun set behind our silhouettes.

Mother, daughter, enjoying the beauty of the ocean,

My hand held in yours.

We walked into the sunny schoolroom,

My hand held in yours.

I was nervous, afraid, but you encouraged me on

        It was my first day of school; you were just as nervous as I.

        Mother, daughter, learning the world together,

My hand held in yours.

We walked along the newly-mowed lawn,

Your hand held in mine.

I once depended on you; you now depended on me too

        My graduation day—how you wanted to see me.

        Mother, daughter, guiding each other along the way

Your hand held in mine.

We sat in the shade of the trees at the hospital,

Your hand held in mine.

We made each other laugh as we talked and ate tacos

        You were in a wheelchair now, but your spirit still pranced.

        Mother, daughter, sharing lunch and sharing life

Your hand held in mine.

You walk along the shoreline, watching the sun sink behind the waves,

Your hand held in God’s.

You were my mother, my friend, my everything,

        You’re in heaven now—dancin’ among the angels

        Mother and daughter—I’ll miss you, but you haven’t left me

Your hand held in God’s.

           

                                                                                                -Laura Hardgrave 11/08/07

Happy Birthday, Mom

Today, 59 years ago, Lizette Mareanne Lonne was born, later to become Lizette Hardgrave in 1977, when she married Phillip Hardgrave. To her friends, she was Liz. She passed away four years ago.

I guess it's more common for people to remember the day of their loved ones' passing, but for my mother's story and my story, the date of her passing has little importance.

Her life is her importance--the people she touched, the lives she warmed, the beautiful memories she helped create. Her legacy is the world around us, and one that will not pass away.

She lives on in me, her daughter, and in every single friend and dear family member who knew her well and loved her for the kind and loving woman that she was.

In everything I do, and in everything I write, she's there, guiding me, like a northward star guiding a weary traveler.

Happy birthday, Mom. Your star's freakin' gorgeous tonight.