Crossing Through No Words Land

by Andrea Judy

Sometimes in life, you hit a patch where the words just won't happen. I don't just mean a writer's block or the dreaded soggy middle. I mean the times when your whole mind turns into an arctic tundra where nothing thrives. You can't think of a new idea, you can't think of writing at all. The idea of writing fills you with sickly dread. It sucks. So what can you do? Well put on your snow boots and let's figure this out.

1. Take a break.

Sometimes you just need a break from writing. Take a day or a week and just rest. Give yourself some slack and time to recharge. This is especially true if you have been really pushing yourself hard for a while.

2. Read out of your usual genre. 

If you write romance, pick up a western. If you write horror, pick up a space opera. Read something totally different than your usual fare. Sample something different and give yourself some fresh ideas and new genres to look into. You never know when you might find your next beloved book.

3. Enjoy a nap. 

Seriously, sleep is rad. Take a nap and see how you feel after some well deserved shut eye.

4. Skip that scene you hate. 

If you're avoiding writing, unable to write or just hating everything about the certain scene or chapter you're working on... just skip it. Put in a placeholder in and move on. If you hate that scene than does it have to be like that? Figure out a way to make it fun for you and the reader.

5. Get help. 

Sometimes this kind of a block is a big red flag that something is wrong. I know for me, when I found myself unable to write for months I knew something was wrong and went to find help. For me, this tundra of no words is a big ol' sign post that I am entering the depression badlands and it's a good time to talk to someone and get help. There's no shame in needing help.

So that's what helps me when I enter the tundra of no words. Is a sucky place that I don't even like to visit but sometimes you just have to cross it and get to the other side. Writing is hard mental work and it can be taxing to do. So keep on plucking on and we'll get to the other side together.

Note: Originally posted here. Reposted by permission.

Nugget #100 -- Ears > Eyes

My ears are better proofreaders than my eyes. It’s a concept

I’ve proven over and over again in my own work. When

I read a story aloud, I catch far more mistakes than

simply reading the words silently in my head.

"Cherry Hill" is the Story of the Day on Scriggler!

My story, "Cherry Hill," is the story of the day on Scriggler today! 

This was also my first published story way back when and the first story I won an award for, in a competition judged by awesome author and poet Judith Ortiz Cofer!

Looking back on it, even though this story isn't a by-the-numbers pulp, I can see the pulp influences on my style. What do you think?

https://scriggler.com/DetailPost/Story/55655

#MotivationalMonday -- Until We Know...

JEZEBEL JOHNSTON’S ADVENTURES CONTINUES

Airship 27 Productions is thrilled to present the third installment in Nancy Hansen’s epic saga of the rise of Pirate Queen Jezebel Johnston.

Having escaped the clutches of the sadistic French pirate, Julien Levesque, young Jezebel Johnston and her companions, Walter Armitage and Pakke, throw their lot in with the inexperienced captain Emile Gagnon and his crew. Fleeing in his speedy sloop rechristened Sea Witch, their audacious plan is to recruit additional sailors and raid the pearl-rich islands beyond Port Royale.  But to do so they will need to avoid the larger pirate ships relying on stealth and cunning.  If they succeed, a treasure beyond imagining awaits them. If they fail, a cold and watery grave.

“With book # 3, Sea Witch, Jezebel’s life takes a drastic detour,” says Airship 27 Productions’ Managing Editor, Ron Fortier.  “New allies are formed and plans formulated to evade old enemies. Hansen’s research is as meticulous as ever as she continues the saga of this truly memorable character. Anyone who has read the first two books will be thrilled to dig into this new chapter.”

Once again Nancy Hansen sets a course for action and adventure with pulpdom’s newest, most daring hero, Jezebel Johnston, pirate maid.  Award winning Art Director Rob Davis provides the interior illustrations and Laura Givens a stunning, action-filled cover.  “Jezebel Johnston – Sea Witch” is a seagoing pirate tale filled with colorful rogues and a lush, historical background. Soon to be an instant pulp classic.

AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!

 Available in paperback from Amazon and soon on Kindle.

[Link] The “Superhero” Trademark: how the name of a genre came to be owned by DC and Marvel, and how they enforce it

by DG Stewart

Our publication has a category devoted to “superheroes”. It is a genre to which we have paid disproportionate attention, primarily because it is in English (the language of most of our contributors) and because of the sheer volume of superhero-genre material generated primarily by American publishers.

But what does the word “superhero” actually denote? The words “super hero” was first used in 1917, when it was used to describe a “public figure of great accomplishments”

In so far as use of the word “superhero” in the course of commerce is concerned, however, there is a severe limitation. The word “superhero” is jointly owned in many parts of the world by two US publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Characters Inc, an affiliate of Marvel Comics. The road to joint ownership of the word “SUPERHERO” in the United States is well-explained in this link.

But perhaps a more concise explanation comes from both DC Comics and Marvel themselves. The following paragraphs come from a United States trade mark notice of opposition filed by DC Comics and Marvel in May 2015:

Read the full article: http://www.worldcomicbookreview.com/index.php/2017/06/01/superhero-trademark-name-genre-came-owned-dc-marvel-enforce/

PALM TREES, OCEAN BREEZES, AND MURDER! ‘CRIME DOWN ISLAND’ DEBUTS FROM PRO SE PRODUCTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Terror in the Tropics! Peril in Paradise! Betrayal on the Beach! It’s just another day of murder and corruption under the palm trees in CRIME DOWN ISLAND, now available from Pro Se Productions in digital and print formats.

Six heated tales of manipulation and mayhem set in the dream destinations most fantasize about. Sun baked days and moon kissed nights along the ocean, where love and hate walk hand in hand. And the shrill of tropical birds can be drowned out at any moment by a horrified scream and the last gasps of someone dying. Evil takes vacations in the same places we all want to, thanks to authors Shannon Muir, Gordon Lendrum, Sharae Allen, Louis A. Rodiquez Jr., Jeff Hewitt, and Shane Bowen. CRIME DOWN ISLAND from Pro Se Productions.

With an exotic cover by Larry Nadolsky and logo design and print formatting by Marzia Marina and Antonino Lo Iacono, CRIME DOWN ISLAND is available now at Amazon and Pro Se’s own store at  for 15.00.

This tropical crime anthology is also available as an Ebook, designed and formatted by Lo Iacono and Marina for only $2.99 for the Kindle and for most digital formats via Smashwords.

For more information on this title, interviews with the author, or digital copies to review this book, contact Pro Se Productions’ Director of Corporate Operations, Kristi King-Morgan at directorofcorporateoperations@prose-press.com.

To learn more about Pro Se Productions, go to www.prose-press.com. Like Pro Se on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ProSeProductions.

The Watson Report: On Barbers

Let us consider the legendary and mythic roots of barbers.

First, recall that in some early cultures hair was sacred. Some holy men and holy warriors made vows never to cut their hair (c.f. Samson). Many traditions held that hair could be used for malefic magic against the person from whose head it was taken; hence, for example, the hair and nails of the Pontifex Maximus of classical Rome could only be clipped by a free man and must be buried under an arbour felix (divine tree, preferably an oak). So some of the earliest barbers were men with holy duties.

The earliest shaving razors in the archaeological record come from Egypt c3500BC, with tweezers and tongs in a specially-made case, found amongst a cache of religious items. The first recorded barbers were priests and medics. Given that and the barber’s necessary skills with a razor it is unsurprising that barbers were also known as surgeons and dentists; it is only in the last two centuries that the professions have parted company.

By the time of the ancient Greeks, trimmed hair was a mark of civilisation, of sophistication and status. Only savages and country bumpkins – and slaves - wore their hair long and tangled. Discerning men of status went to the agora to see and be seen, to visit the cureus who would very publicly shave and hairdress them while those around shared debate and gossip. Indeed, the forum barber was the best source of gossip and a fount of information. This old function has led on to the “wise barber” trope of such stories as the Arabian Nights.

The Romans stole barbers from the Greeks, of course. By 200BC, tonsor shops were common in major cities across the Empire, part of the daily hygiene routine that included gymnasium and public baths. They were meeting places and sometimes plotting dens. A young man’s first shave was considered a major event in his life, sometimes preceding his first intercourse. Barba is Latin for beard, the origin of our name for one who shaves and cuts hair.

By the middle ages, barbers had stopped being priests or monks. The Pope had issued orders forbidding clergy from spilling blood (Council of Tours, 1163), which precluded dentistry and surgery. Hospitaller clerics therefore had lay assistants who would handle such necessaries of healing, along with applying leeches, enemas, lancings, and fire-cuppings. Those priests were clean-shaven too; another Papal decree in 1092 ordained that no clergyman should have facial hair.

By the 14th century, London was home to the Guild of Barbers; in 1308, the Court of Aldermen elected Richard de Barbour to keep order amongst his colleagues. In 1462 a royal charter upgraded the Guild to the Worshipful Company of Barbers, an organisation that continues to the present day.

A 1540 Act of Parliament merged in the Fellowship of Surgeons to form the Worshipful Company of Barbers and Surgeons, specifying that surgeons may not cut hair or shave people and that barbers could not operate on them; both groups could extract teeth. Barbers received higher fees than surgeons at that time.

It was probably this merger that led to the recognised shop sign of a barber, a long striped pole with red and white stripes (red for surgery, white for dentistry). In some modern versions blue stripes are also included, perhaps because red white and blue are patriotic colours in both the UK and US. Originally the pole also included brass bowls at top and bottom, the upper one for the leeches and the lower one for catching blood. There are a number of current US lawsuits underway regarding barbers’ objections to cosmetologists using the pole to advertise their services.

The Worshipful Company also had an educational role in the late medieval period, being a legal source of public autopsy anatomy lessons, conducted four times a year in an auditorium designed by Inigo Jones (the hall was destroyed in the Blitz). The Company’s crest features an opinicus (English gryphon) supported by chained lynxes. This is presumed to demonstrate the keenness of vision required for barber-work. The motto is De Praescientia Dei – “through God’s foreknowledge”. Root back to the ancient origins of the trade as far as you like.

Hairdressing as a term first appeared in the 17th century, along with the first women who are described as hairdressers. The first were French, of course; the most famous was Madame Martin who popularised “the tower” as a style and influenced every depiction of rich Aristos in every movie ever made. Champagne was the first famous male hairdresser of women; his Paris salon survived until his death in 1658.

By the 19th century, barbers were associated with gossip, with minor surgery and medication (including contraception, often in the form of pigskin condoms – “something for the weekend, sir?”), with fashion, with local knowledge, and with community meeting places. During that century in America, Black barbershops became a significant factor in the development of Black culture and society. In the UK barber salons served as a lower-class version of the coffee house as a meeting place to form opinion and foment political change.

In addition to shops, though, there were still the itinerant street barbers who would shave and clip a customer right then and there, maybe also shining shoes and offering manicures. There were door-to-door barbers and seafront barbers and in-club barbers. There were the first common womens’ hairdressing salons, as a more liberated distaff population with disposable income but not enough of it for personal maids with hairdressing skill began to demand services.

There was enough scandal about for Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who murdered his customers and turned their corpses into pie-meat to become a bestselling Penny Dreadful. There are still members of the general public who believe him to be non-fictional. The story goes to show the darker aspects of barbers that were in cultural currency at the time. Demon Barbers come from the same place as Killer Clowns.

So, barbers: wise gossips, social hosts, purveyors of advice and contraception to young men coming of age, hedge-surgeons, community mainstays, sacred servants, sudden butchers – rich characters rooted in old story, well deserving of being maintained in our fictional universes today.

Cut.

IW

#MotivationalMonday -- 6 Ways to Evoke Fear in Your Writing

DAVID STOKER is BROTHER BONES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DAVID STOKER is BROTHER BONES

Seattle-based, actor, David Stoker, has been cast as the lead in the new Franklin-Husser Entertainment LLC production of “Brother Bones – The Undead Avenger.” Based on the New Pulp stories by Ron Fortier, Brother Bones is the first of the New Pulp heroes to be adapted to film. Auditions were held last week for twenty speaking parts and press releases focusing on each actor and role will be forthcoming. This is company’s third and most ambitious project to date.

A Kickstarter Campaign will soon be launched to fund the project and if successful, principle shooting will begin in late August.  Brother Bones is a period tale set in the mid-1930s in the fictional Northwest metropolis of Cape Noire.

Stoker is a veteran of both stage and screen and lists his acting skills as martial arts, voice over and improvisation.

“I was blown away by the level of intensity David brought to his readings,” Fortier reported. “He has a level of energy that is crucial to playing a character such as Brother Bones and I personally cannot wait to see him don the skull mask.”

“The funny thing is,” Erik Franklin (writer, director, co-producer) said “he came in to read for another part altogether, and he would have been perfect for it. But when I saw that he could project menace as well as vulnerability, I asked him to read for Tommy/Jack on the spot. With only a few minutes of preparation, he nailed the part!”

[Link] Darkness in Fiction: 7 Tips for Writing Dark Stories

by Hannah Heath

I enjoy dark stories. I like reading about characters that struggle, worlds on the brink of destruction and in need of saving, words that go into the deep, little-seen parts of the soul. I like writing them, too.

And that's why I'm so disturbed by what darkness in fiction has turned into. It seems like each year the books get darker and darker, and each year they become more and more abused by authors who don't seem to understand (or care about) the ramifications of their words.

As a writer and lover of stories with a dark side, I'd like to point out what makes a dark story good with the hopes that we can get away from the current "Darkness without meaning" trend that's running around like a rabid dog (*cough* or a certain DC director who thought it would be a good idea to turn a certain character into a murderer *cough* *cough*). So here it is: 7 tips for writing a dark story that's not just a black hole of death and depression and strangled puppies.

Read the full article: http://hannahheath-writer.blogspot.com/2016/11/darkness-in-fiction-7-tips-for-writing.html

[Link] Do I “Tell” Too Much?

by Nicole L. Ochoea

“Show vs. Tell,” that’s a phrase we hear a lot on the writing circuit, but as a new writer it can be hard to identify those places where we need to show more.  Here are two easy steps to help you “show” your story, giving your readers a chance to step inside your pages.

Step 1:  Do a search for emotion-themed words

I recently finished an excellent book called Deep Point of View by Marcy Kennedy where she recommends doing a search for “emotion-themed” words in your manuscript.  At the end of this post you will find a list of words you can search for in your work in progress.

Step 2:  “Show” the emotion instead of “Telling” the reader about the emotion

Now that you have identified your “emotion” words, what do you do with them?  How do you turn them into something a reader can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell?  I like to use the Emotional Thesaurus.

Read the full article: https://nicolelochoa.com/2016/08/16/do-i-tell-too-much/

Nugget #99 -- New Voices

It's the new voices who prompt old voices to listen and adapt. 

It's the new voices who push the envelop and seek out either 

romantic returns to old (i.e., new again) or mash-ups of what 

has gone before to create new out of old (something borrowed, 

something blue) or listening to current and changing viewpoints 

in culture to same something about the now, not just the then.

#MotivationalMonday -- Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

[Link] Wisdom from the Fedora on the Mountain -- Egos Checked At The Door, Please...

by Tommy Hancock

I have been accused of wearing many hats.  

In theory, that may be true. In reality, I typically only wear one, although I do have a backup fedora and a ball cap or two for bad hair day rush trips out and about.  But, usually, that appellation is given to me because of the fact that within the Pulp/writing world, I do many things.  I am a writer.  I am an editor, not just for Pro Se Productions, my company, but others as well. I am also a publisher, a partner in the aforementioned Pro Se Productions.  

In each of those roles, and we’ll be lumping editor and publisher together this time around, I experience many things.  Ups and downs. Successes and failures and all manners of things in between.  There are moments of sheer happiness, sometimes bordering on a creative ecstasy of sorts. There are also periods, unfortunately lasting too long often to be considered moments, of depression, sadness, that ‘give up and walk away’ feeling.  What is funny is that although I know that both groups I’m addressing here have a collective narrow view of this, that only they feel this and the other side of the line doesn’t, the issues and feelings that writers and editors/publishers experience are often very similar, if not exactly the same.  They only differ in which side of the creative room the person happens to be standing on.

What I’m about to write is not intended to anger, incense, or push anyone away, although it might.  I made a commitment to myself when I renewed this blogging endeavor that I would use it in ways that would be useful to me, first and foremost, and hopefully to others as well.  What you’re about to read is useful to me in that it allows me to get things said that I feel need to be in a cumulative manner, all at once, and off my chest and out of the way.

It should also be noted and remembered as You proceed through this, that I am guilty of everything I am about to spout against and attack.  I am no better than those of you who may do some of what is about to be listed and in part, this is an exercise to exorcise some of those things from me.

Is this a Pet Peeves post? Yes, in a sense.  But it’s also about some of the biggest stumbling blocks that writers and editors/publishers have in building relationships that can be mutually beneficial.  But, yeah, these are things that get under my skin and scratch like a burr buried deep beneath a newly broken mustang’s saddle.  And, again, I have done and even at times still find myself as the example of every one of them.

It must be noted, creatives of any brand are a passionate, emotional lot.  That happens to be the best thing about us. We invest ourselves fully and wholeheartedly in all we do, if we are doing it right, and we give a chunk of our very being into the work we produce.  That is writer, editor/publisher, sculptor, dancer, and the list goes on.  But, that also means that oftentimes feelings are worn on their sleeves and we sometimes look for any reason to be offended, or to think someone is being thought of better than us, or whatever thing we need to justify the sudden onset of creator doldrums we all go through.  To hopefully limit that before probably inciting full on episodes of it, let me say that I am beginning this discourse by focusing on writers, only because that is where the process between these two sides of the same coin begins.  Editors/Publishers would have nothing to do if it were not for writers, so writers get to go first, only for that reason.

A few thoughts for Writers, first.  You are a big part of the reason that there is even a publishing industry to begin with.  The fact that people feel it is their job, destiny, and/or disease to string words together and get them put on paper, either the print or digital page, so they can be consumed by the ones, hundreds, or millions that might read them makes you a pretty important cog in the literature machine.  

But don’t forget, especially in the way the market has evolved today - You are a cog in a wonderfully colorful rainbow and storm producing machine.

Read the full article: https://www.bibliorati.com/single-post/2017/05/15/Wisdom-From-The-Fedora-On-The-Mountain-Egos-Checked-At-The-Door-Please

Submission: Fireside Fiction: $500 for Short Stories

Fireside is a short story magazine that has two goals in mind: Publish great stories, and pay writers well. They pay above normal rates for their category of magazine: 12.5 cents per word, up to 4,000 words.

They aim to publish 10,000 new words of fiction each month – paying writers for every word published. They do have a strong preference for stories that are 1,000 words or shorter, because of their limit of 10,000 words a month. A longer story must be quite strong in order to be accepted. They previously accepted stories up to 5,000 words in length. They have changed their policy to just 4,000 words, capping the maximum pay at $500.

They are currently accepting submissions of Flash Fiction until March 25th. On April 16th, they will accept short stories and flash fiction.

According to their submission guidelines:

“Fireside’s goal is to publish great storytelling, regardless of genre. What do we mean by great storytelling? We want stories that go somewhere, with plot and a beginning, middle, and end. We’re not looking for character studies or metafiction or hallucinatory visions. (We LIKE those things; it’s just not what we publish in Fireside.)”

To get a sense of what they publish, browse their back issues.

To learn more about submitting, read their submission guidelines.

A New Book Release from David Alastair Hayden -- Announcing Rogue Starship!

Welcome Back to the Benevolency Universe!

For over three thousand years a superintelligence called the Benevolence guided humanity through an age of unprecedented peace, prosperity, and technological advancement. Now, a century after its collapse, our enemies multiply as we struggle to maintain our starfaring civilization and recover technology we once took for granted. But the Benevolence kept many secrets to itself, secrets that could shape the future of humanity.

When renowned archeologist Gav Gendin finds an Ancient starship, and a stasis chamber with a living member of the extinct alien race inside, he knows something strange is going on. Visions and dreams aren't the normal way archaeologists uncover artifacts, but that's what guided him to the Ancient ship.

The discovery should be the greatest triumph of his career. Instead, it ends in disaster and leads to his son, Siv, being placed in cryogenic sleep.

A century later, Siv wakes to a world in decline, a world where you do what you must to survive. With the help of Silky, his father's old neural-interfacing AI companion, Siv becomes the best procurement specialist on the planet. But his services belong to the criminal Shadowslip Guild who owns him. After a job goes sideways in the worst way possible, the last thing Siv expects is to be offered his freedom. But there's a catch. His target is so hot that rival criminal guilds, foreign governments, and religious extremists will risk war to get it.

The Outworld Ranger series packs all the action and sci-fi fun of the stories that inspired it: Star Wars, The Fifth Element, and Guardians of the Galaxy. It has sentient AI’s, alien mysteries, starship battles, quirky robots, and a space messiah.

>> Read Now <<

No Writer Is an Island

Thank you, John Donne, for allowing my paraphrase. 

Every writer can look back to someone who either inspired him or her to start or to stick with it. With Mother's Day all around us, and folks still in a mood to express thanks to those someones who helped make us who we are, let's keep it going this week by honoring those folks who inspired us to write and to write better.

Who was it who helped you have the faith to begin writing? What they that person do to encourage you? 

Sean Taylor: I'm going to jump in on my own roundtable this time, if just to honor those folks who so deserve it. I have to credit three people with instilling in me the courage to write. The first is my high school English teacher, Geraldine Warren. I didn't remotely enjoy "school literature" until she made it fun and helped me to understand what it actually consisted of and how I could interpret it through my own experiences. The second is my wife, Lisa Taylor, who encouraged me to give it a try and see what happened, though she may likely regret that decision now. The third is Frank Fradella, who was there to encourage me at just the right time in my writing life and help me begin the network of writers I would need to have around me to succeed and become both better and published.

Brian K Morris: My mother, probably to spite my boring, uncreative father as much as nurture me. She initially taught me to read then encouraged me to read "real" books along with my comics as well as how to use a dictionary, an encyclopedia, and a library to supplement what I didn't know.

Bobby Nash: There were a few who helped a lot. Wilma Clark was an English teacher in high school. She caught me drawing/writing comics in class one day. Instead of scolding me for it, she asked to read it and then encouraged me to continue... so long as I continued doing well in her class. Harriette Austin was a great cheerleader and friend. I took her creative writing class at UGA's non-credit adult education center. I learned a lot about writing, but also about reading and talking to groups, a skill that still serves me well to this day. Sandra Gentry was also very helpful with that as well. She refused to let me hide behind my paper to read and forced me to look at the rest of the room. Jeff Austin also gave me some good advice that helped me move my writing in a direction that helped me a great deal.

Bill Craig: My parents and friends that I showed my stuff too were always encouraging but Mark Howell, then an editor with Gold Eagle gave me real encouragement and started buying some stories as fillers for short books.

John Morgan Neal: My homeroom teacher Mrs. Meyers at Crutchfield elementary. My high school English teacher Mr. Needham. My school buddies Chris Sakowski, Jeff Criger, Steve Walker, Kenny Maxwell, and John Bock.

Who was it who helped you keep going when you felt like stopping and just "settling" into some other plan? What did that person do to keep you going? 

Sean Taylor: Before I had a strong network or writers to help keep me going, I had my wife, as I mentioned earlier. She was my best cheerleader, and read (and edited) all my stuff up to a point. After I had built a better network of writing compatriots, I noticed that she was able to spend more time on herself, and I was able to lean on folks like Bobby Nash and Tommy Hancock to be my new "cheerleaders" and keep me from settling for something else, particularly when I was going through some dry and dark time for my writing career.

Brian K Morris: My wife, who knew writing was my dream, and when I lost my job five years ago, she encouraged me to follow my bliss.

Bobby Nash: I mentioned quitting once to my mother, just an offhand comment. She reminded me how much work I had put in and how far I had gotten and that she would hate to see me throw that away. I have friends who are also creators that I talk to when the stress of things gets to me. I won't name names here (although Sean and I have had several discussions about being a writer). Talking with someone who shares the same job and same job stresses helps.

John Morgan Neal: My Shooting Star buddies Sean Taylor, Scott McCullar, Erik Burnham, Scott Hileman and etc. Sarah Beach who has been invaluable as a sounding board. Becca Sue Upson has been a constant supporter and believer in me. Chuck Dixon has been incredibly generous and vitally important to me as a writer both in inspiration from his work and work ethic and belief in my talent and support of it.

Bill Craig: Through Mark Howell, I met Jerry Ahern and Don Pendleton, both were great mentors when it came to encouraging me to continue writing and because of that I now make a living at it.

Nebula Award Winners Announced!

The annual Nebula Awards awards were presented at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s 51st Annual Nebula Conference at the Pittsburgh Marriott Center, on May 20, 2017.

The Nebula Awards are given every year by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Along with the Hugo Awards, they are the most prestigious prizes recognizing excellence in science fiction and fantasy. The Nebula Awards for 2016 were announced last night at the 51st Annual Nebula Conference in Pittsburgh.

Here are the 2016 Nebula winners and nominees. The winners are in bold text.

Best Novel

All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders (Tor; Titan)

Borderline, Mishell Baker (Saga)

The Obelisk Gate, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee (Solaris US; Solaris UK)

Everfair, Nisi Shawl (Tor)

All the Birds in the Sky is also nominated for a Hugo Award.

Best Novella

Runtime, S.B. Divya (Tor.com Publishing)

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, Kij Johnson (Tor.com Publishing)

The Ballad of Black Tom, Victor LaValle (Tor.com Publishing)

Every Heart a Doorway, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com Publishing)

“The Liar”, John P. Murphy (F&SF 3-4/16)

A Taste of Honey, Kai Ashante Wilson (Tor.com Publishing)

Every Heart a Doorway is also nominated for a Hugo Award.

Best Novelette

‘‘The Long Fall Up’’, William Ledbetter (F&SF 5-6/16)

‘‘Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea’’, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 2/16)

“The Orangery”, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)

‘‘Blood Grains Speak Through Memories’’, Jason Sanford (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 3/17/16)

“The Jewel and Her Lapidary“, Fran Wilde (Tor.com Publishing)

‘‘You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay’’, Alyssa Wong (Uncanny 5-6/16)

Best Short Story

‘‘Our Talons Can Crush Galaxies’’, Brooke Bolander (Uncanny 11-12/16)

‘‘Seasons of Glass and Iron’’, Amal El-Mohtar (The Starlit Wood)

‘‘Sabbath Wine’’, Barbara Krasnoff (Clockwork Phoenix 5)

‘‘Things With Beards’’, Sam J. Miller (Clarkesworld 6/16)

‘‘This Is Not a Wardrobe Door’’, A. Merc Rustad (Fireside Magazine 1/16)

‘‘A Fist of Permutations in Lightning and Wildflowers’’, Alyssa Wong (Tor.com 3/2/16)

‘‘Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station│Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0’’, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 3/16)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Arrival, Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer, 21 Laps Entertainment/FilmNation Entertainment/Lava Bear Films/Xenolinguistics

Doctor Strange, Directed by Scott Derrickson, Screenplay by Scott Derrickson & C. Robert Cargill, Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures

Kubo and the Two Strings, Directed by Travis Knight, Screenplay by Mark Haimes & Chris Butler; Laika Entertainment

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Directed by Gareth Edwards, Written by Chris Weitz & Tony Gilroy; Lucusfilm/ Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures

Westworld: ‘‘The Bicameral Mind’’, Directed by Jonathan Nolan, Written by Lisa Joy & Jonathan Nolan; HBO

Zootopia, Directed by Byron Howard, Rich Moore, & Jared Bush, Screenplay by Jared Bush & Phil Johnston; Walt Disney Pictures/Walt Disney Animation Studios

Arrival is also nominated for a Hugo Award.

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill (Algonquin Young Readers)

The Star-Touched Queen, Roshani Chokshi (St. Martin’s)

The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge (Macmillan UK; Abrams)

Arabella of Mars, David D. Levine (Tor)

Railhead, Philip Reeve (Oxford University Press; Switch)

Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies, Lindsay Ribar (Kathy Dawson Books)

The Evil Wizard Smallbone, Delia Sherman (Candlewick)

Additional awards presented:

2017 DAMON KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Jane Yolen

SOLSTICE AWARD: Peggy Rae Sapienza (Posthumous), Toni Weisskopf

KEVIN O’DONNELL JR. SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Jim Fiscus

The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. Founded as the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1965 by Damon Knight, the organization began with a charter membership of 78 writers; it now has over 1,500 members, among them many of the leading writers of science fiction and fantasy.

Since 1965, the Nebula Awards have been given each year for the best novel, novella, novelette, and short story eligible for that year’s award. The Award for Best Script was added in 2000.

An anthology including the winning pieces of short fiction and several runners-up is also published every year.

http://ragemachinebooks.gwthomas.org/nebula-awards-2017/

Armand Rosamilia: The Fear of Pants Keeps Him Working

Armond Rosamilia is a force of nature -- a writing and podcasting force of nature. I met him at a literary convention a few years ago, and immediately liked him. I think you will too.

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

Keyport Cthulhu is an expanded and new edition of this horror book, originally released in 2013. Author Chuck Buda loved this release so much he lobbied for me to keep it in print but I had a better idea: I asked Chuck to write a short story for a new edition. He wrote two and they were both great so I added them as well as a new short story I'd done for it.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I'm a big fan of writing characters who are broken and don't always get to redeem themselves. Like real life. I've expanded my writing away from just horror stories over the years but there is still the redemption (or not) of characters that flows throughout most of my work.

What would be your dream project?

Co-writing a novel with either Dean Koontz or Brian Keene. Koontz is the reason I am a full-time writer today and Keene is the reason I first wrote zombie stories, which led me to write full-time.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

Tool Shed, a horror novella that was released only in eBook by a small press. It never found the right audience and it's still a great story I'd love to someday rewrite or find another press to release it. I'd expand it into a full novel since there was a lot of scenes I cut or revised to get it down to a shorter word count.

What inspires you to write?

Not having to put pants on each day and leave the house. If I stop making money doing this for a living I'll have to go back to retail management, which I hated every day of my life. So... fear drives me.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Dean Koontz was the first author I dove into and never looked back. I was never a King fan. Still not. Robert E Howard was also a big influence when I was a kid and some reviewers have pointed out they can see the influence. Later it was Keene and Masterton, Laymon and Everson. Those just scratch the surface.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Somewhere in the middle? I try not to think too hard on it. Writing is just another part of my life. Something we do when we can't help it. I consider myself a pulp fiction writer. Fun stories, even if they're horror. The story a reader hopefully won't put down or have to look up big words while reading. The books I loved reading and still do.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?  

Green River Blend 3, a supernatural thriller about coffee (yes, coffee) is now available from Devil Dog Press. It wraps the trilogy up nicely and it's easily my favorite book in the series.

For more information:

Website:
http://armandrosamilia.com

Keyport Cthulhu:
https://www.amazon.com/Keyport-Cthulhu-Armand-Rosamilia-ebook/dp/B06XJCH3P1/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7G34MRZ4NYBFKEASXMQF

Green River Blend 3:
https://www.amazon.com/Green-River-Blend-Armand-Rosamilia-ebook/dp/B06XNQ6YD6/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DMMSTPC3VYZJDXV1EEPM