Bitcher Beware

 

Author Drama:  Idiocy or PR Campaign?

There are very, very few good reasons to raise a stink in public. When authors (or anyone in the public space) manufacture drama in order to get attention, they are proving themselves to have the emotional maturity of a toddler. It flies in the face of the governing principle of Don't Be a Dick. 9 times out of 10, the backlash earns curiosity clicks for an immediate gain but destroys any long-term benefits. If the plan is to be a career author (ie, more than one book) then showing your ass is the absolute worst strategy. 

When is it okay to get your open-mic gripe on? When issuing a public caution and you have the receipts to back it up. If you don't have the latter, don't engage in the former. Also, take a page from the School of Comedy, in which punching up is okay when you're calling out authority or using rhetoric to dismantle power structures. Don't punch down. That makes you a bully. 

What's an example of good drama? Fighting for your rights against a corporation or abusive business (E.g.: #DisneyMustPay or #AudibleGate). Again, you must have the receipts or you open yourself to legal problems around defamation. 

If you're defaming individuals on social media purely for the clicks or because your response to a perceived slight is a scorched-earth policy, congratulations, you're a cyberbully and subject to criminal prosecution.

In our litigious society, it's Bitcher Beware. 

Author Drama

 

This week's topic at the SFF Seven is about Author Drama and whether we think it's idiocy or a PR campaign.

This post is going to be super short, because I think about author drama exactly 0%. What drama I've seen has usually been to the author's detriment, whether caused by them or inflicted upon them. I'm sure there are authors who seek drama for PR purposes, people who see ways to cash in on stirring the pot of their choice. To me, that's a pretty terrible tactic and not anything that's on my radar. I don't know how people have time for creating drama for PR purposes. I barely have time to look up from all my writer duties. 

So, I'll just be over here drama free, thank you very much ;)

~ Charissa

Gateways to SFF

 

This dreamy-eyed bookworm grew up in a small, rural town in Canada at the end of the twentieth century.

I devoured the Masters of SF on my mother's bookshelf. I read the treasured volumes in our family bookcase by C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, the Grimm brothers, and Hans Christian Andersen. It was a challenge to fit in socially, so I made friends with Anne McCaffery’s dragons, Ursula K. LeGuin’s wizards, and Madeleine L’Engle’s Murry family tessering through the universe. They accepted me for who I was, while providing an escape from an often unloving, unfeeling world. 

When I grew into adult SFF, it was the late 1980s and early 90s. There were no ebooks. There was no BookTok and no Bookstagrammers to find book recommendations. So it was my big sister who introduced me to Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry.

Cover of the first Canadian and world-wide edition! (1984)

Goodreads link

I fell hard and fast for the series. Kay wrote lush Mediterranean-inspired scenes, political intrigue that kept me turning pages, and complex characters that made me swoon. And he was Canadian, like me!

Many of us love SFF because its complexity keeps us engaged and feeds our imaginations. To find a series that appeals to our senses, emotions, and intellect—to all the sides of us—is a gift. It gives us hope. It keeps us going in a world that can seem small and dark.

Today, it’s my great privilege to teach SFF to college students. For some, it’s their first introduction to the genres and I love seeing them explore the thought experiments and new worlds in SFF. The stories that resonate best with my students now are Octavia Butler’s literary granddaughters, such as Nnedi Okorafor, Larissa Lai, Cherie Dimaline, and Nalo Hopkinson. These writers combine globally-influenced myths and legends with beautifully crafted characters to tell stories that reflect on our pasts and present.

They show hope for the future while challenging us to be better. They dare us to dream of a world that respects all of us. A world that cherishes our unique contributions to our families and communities—and all the worlds of our imaginations.

This is what I learned as I read beside my family bookshelf and as I grew into SFF as a young adult. I hope I will always remember this lesson as I try to inspire the next generation of readers.

Until next time,

Mimi B. Rose.

ROGUE'S PAWN, Rights Reversion, Hybrid Authors, Dear Hollywood and Gateway Drugs

Available at these Retailers

     

Things have been busy in my part of the world...

So much so that I missed posting for the last two weeks - and I'm posting late in the day today. Madness!

This is my brilliant (one hopes) catch-up post. 

In book news, I got the rights reverted on the ten (10!) books I did for Carina Press. I started with my first dark fantasy romance trilogy, Covenant of Thorns, which meant new covers and new back cover copy (BCC). Done and done, times three. (What about the other seven books, you ask? I'M WORKING ON IT, OKAY?) I'll be re-releasing these three books over the next several months. 

Here's for Book #1, ROGUE'S PAWN:

Be careful what you wish for…

When I walked out on my awful boyfriend, wishing to be somewhere—anywhere—else, I never expected to wake up in Faerie. And, as a scientist, I find it even harder to believe that I now seem to be a sorceress.

A pretty crappy sorceress, it turns out, because every thought that crosses my mind becomes suddenly and frighteningly real—including the black dog that has long haunted my nightmares.

Now I’m a captive, a pawn for the fae lord, Rogue, and the feral and treacherous Faerie court, all vying to control me and the vast powers I don’t understand. Worse, Rogue, the closest thing I have to a friend in this place, is intent on seducing me. He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, enthralling, tempting, and lethally dangerous. He’s as devastatingly clever as he is alluring, and he tricks me into promising him my firstborn child, which he intends to sire…

I don’t dare give into him. I may not have the willpower to resist him. He’s my only protection against those who would destroy me

Unless I can learn to use my magic.

Exciting milestone, to be re-releasing these!

As for the actual topics I'm supposed to address:

What do you see in your crystal ball for publishing? Will the Big 5 become the Big 4 and what would that trickle down cause throughout the industry?

I doubt that the merger that would make the Big 5 become the Big 4 will be approved. Even if it does, there are still other publishing houses that aren't the "big" ones. Also, traditional publishing is only one part of the market and one that's no longer at the forefront of everything. I think there's value to trad publishing still, but I also think most authors will become hybrid, since we want to be able to pay our bills.

Dear Hollywood: Which of your works would you most like to see made into a movie or miniseries What makes it stand out above the rest?

My Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series. I really want to see these books as an ongoing miniseries, primarily because I'd love to write the other POVs that are going on simultaneously with the 1st Person POV of these books.

Your gateway drug: the book that made you love SFF

DRAGONSONG by Anne McCaffrey. I found it in my school library in 5th grade and it opened up a whole new world to me. Possibly also the first time I glommed an author's backlist. 

My SFF Gateway Author: Morgan Llywelyn

 My gateway drug: the book that made me 💖SFF

As a wee ankle biter, I learned to read using the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. My dad read them to me until I got old enough to try to read to him (the fact that he napped through most of my efforts while remaining alert enough to help me sound out a word is a testament to his training as a soldier, I reckon). 

Then, I went through my Horatio Hornblower (series by C.S. Forester) phase. ~waves to the Indy~ Oh, and Poe. Can't forget the guy who wrote The Bells, which I imagine is a giant FU to his critics and debt collectors.

Then, school happened with its mandatory reading lists, which, blerg.

The books that finally brought me back into the fold of SFF were anything by Morgan Llywelyn. The Lion of Ireland, Red Branch, The Bard, Epona: The Horse Goddess, Grania, etc, etc. Sure, her Celtic works are typically classified as historical fiction, but stories dealing with magic and gods on earth are also fantasy. So, yeah, I credit her historical fantasies as my gateway, a divine door that's always unlocked and ready to welcome the world-weary to the time of legends and mythology. 

Dear Hollywood, what the hell?

 

Dear Hollywood,

What the hell?

It's been a while, and, to be honest, I'm feeling a bit disappointed. 

In the last ten years, CGI (3D Rendering) has come leaps and bounds. Compare Avatar (2009), and The Avengers: End Game (2019). For months now, I have been wondering...

Where are the dragons?!

I mean, yes, we had Game of Thrones. But I want a blockbuster movie with dragons. I want to feel the roars in my bones with that sweet surround sound, and have my heart soar to the heavens when they fly up through the clouds. I want to see the scales so up close and personal, I can see my reflection in the movie theater seats.

I'm serious. Where are the dragon riders? My dragon shifters? Dragon eggs with their golden ridges and pearlescent coating?

You can't make me sit through two hours of epic superhero battles and monsters from other dimensions and tell me that there isn't space for an epic battle involving a winged friend or foe with a penchant for fire breathing and burning down towns. 

Obviously, this is a problem that needs to be remedied sooner rather than later. So... without further ado, here is my pitch for one of my novels, Lady of the Primordial Tree.

Betrayal, vengeance, forbidden love, and dragons. 

Sofia spent the first twenty years of her life in a quiet, isolated place where she was taught to do one thing: help women and avenge them.

She attributed the death of her mother to her father, and his mysterious past. So what does she do?

Why, only what any logical maiden in a high fantasy world would do! She runs away from home, goes on an epic quest, and meets the love of her life while fighting a sand dragon that bursts forth from the depths of a desert. Later, she meets a sea dragon, and then we find a beast so large and fearsome that she has to escape before the entire mountain palace she is currently locked up in is destroyed.

Don't tell me that would take an audience's breath away. 

I mean, people liked Dune, didn't they?

I'm just saying, it might be time we pass the baton to a woman writing some highly enjoyable high fantasy romance so we can give the other blockbusters a run for their money.

Frank Herbert decided that the most exotic name he could give his bat-like messenger creatures was  "cielagos", and I hate to break it to you, but that's just short for the Spanish word for bat, "Murcielago." You want some unoriginal Spanish to make things seem more "exotic" I'm bilingual, my name is Daniela. 

We want something new, and we want something good.

Dragons are in their renaissance. Strike the iron while it's hot! Dragon Shifters are also coming in hot and heavy, so there is huge earning potential for hundreds of thousands of Fantasy Romance readers. Please don't let us leave the dragon movies in the Eragon Era. I want to see the hues of red light as light shines through the wings, and the glimmer of scales as they slither through the moonlight. Show me the razor sharp teeth with bits of their last meal. Give me a wicked drake making friends with the misfit young adult who just so happens to be the Chosen One.

There are numerous books who have taken these creatures, and curated entire plots around them. Take your pick, and make it happen.

But please, for the love of all that is holy, GIVE ME A DRAGON, NOT A WYVERN.

(Since The Hobbit could not tell the difference, that movie does not count.)

Sincerely, 

A Concerned Reader and Highly Imaginative Author

Daniela A. Mera is an educator by day and writer by night. Her life has revolved around creating new worlds since infancy, when her mother used to turn down the lights and read from fantastical books til she could hardly keep her eyes open. She lives between Nevada, USA and Hidalgo, Mexico, living out her own fantastical dreams one day at a time. 

Sign up for her newsletter to get updates and free novellas or extra book chapters at www.Danielaamera.com 

The Future Is Near

Anyone else enjoy reading the book before seeing the movie? If I know there's a print version I'll definitely look it up before seeing the flick—and yes, the books are better than the movies, but I love seeing the differences in what played out in my mind vs. the theatrical release. 

When I read, I see the story in my head. Happens when I write too. Which is why I get giddy when someone listens to my audiobook and tells me they could see it happening like a movie! That was my goal as I pried this found-family, second-chance romance, sci-fi thriller from my brain! 

So naturally, The Mars Strain would be my top pick for book-to-movie. There would be shots of Jules and her team in the lab, Zia directing the colony on Mars and trying failing to keep Gates and Hannah in line, Jake sneaking around Kennedy Space Center, under the radar, basically going wherever he wants to go because when you know everyone you can, and also heart pounding action as Jake and Jules transport the Strain to the CDC. It would be amazing! 

It's still a possibility. Never say never! 

What's your favorite book-to-movie?

If Wishes Could Make Movies of Books

 Ooo. Books made into movies. What a double-edged sword. We've all seen books turned into movies, some done badly, a bunch done marginally, and precious few done brilliantly well. So as a reader, I have such mixed emotions about books adapted into movies. As an author who'd like to have a book adapted into a movie, I STILL have mixed emotions. Part of this is because one of my SFR idols had a book optioned. The script was written and approved. Shooting started. (Somewhere in there, I hope she got paid.) She even brought the cast to conferences with her to help hype the production. 

I've never seen it. I don't know for sure what happened, but I can guess the production fell apart somewhere. From what tiny bit I know about the business of making films and TV - lots of projects die before being bought. Tons more get bought and never made. The ones that get made might make it into the can, but never again see the light of day. Who knows where that SFR movie died? What I'm trying to say is that while authors might dream of the money that might come with a movie deal, there's more investment than cash and knowing that it could crash and burn at any time is -- hard.

All of that said, if I could see a single book turned into a movie, it would be the first one, Enemy Within. It's just the book I saw most clearly. The plot feels super focused and the romance tight and to the point. It would be tough, though. The CGI would have to be on point for my bad guys. Of course the technology exists to do the job. Witness Star Wars, the MCU, etc. It's the price point that might be an issue. But yes. That book. It's a fun book and a fun story. If you don't count the dead bodies. 

I mean. Space pirates. Enemies to lovers. Everyone out to get the heroine and not even she knows why? What's not to like out here among the spaceships and bug-eyed monsters?