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Fantasy novel from a Connecticut 13 year old with Crohn's Disease.
Posted on 2011-10-28 at 13:35 by montsamu
http://www.sarah-story.com/sarahs-writing/
Chronicles a bit of the struggles of a young girl with Crohn’s Disease, and talks about her short fantasy novel which was self-published in Nook, Kindle, and (free) ePub form. It’s not the greatest story ever told (contemporary fantasy, Ash, Rayne, the council and its Head) but it’s probably a good step up from my efforts at that age :) (if I were foolish enough to read what I have safely boxed away in my closet, I suppose a comparison could be made, but really, nobody wants that).
(Like the recent Marine Expeditionary vs. Rome thing, “it came from reddit”.)
Update: It looks like I’m going to be sending a books/etc. “care package” from the Triangle area, so if you have some middle grade books or something you want to send, get ahold of me.
Posted in Uncategorized
Closing to poetry submissions until (at least) January.
Posted on 2011-10-27 at 17:59 by montsamu
Hey all. Still open for fiction until (planned) December 1, but we’re now closed to poetry submissions until (at least) January. I’ve updated the guidelines page to reflect this. We’ve got a full slate of poetry through issue 8 and more, along with some fun things which Dan hasn’t announced. Also, if anyone has a poetry submission pending, that they should hear from Dan within 2 weeks. So: get writing! No need to rush. We’ll be here when you’re ready. -Sam
Posted in Uncategorized
Bull Spec contributors at World Fantasy Conference 2011
Posted on 2011-10-24 at 16:24 by montsamu
The 2011 World Fantasy Conference program is out, along with day-by-day event listings. As San Diego is a bit of a walk from Durham, once again I’ll live vicariously through poking through the program and filtering for Bull Spec contributors.
THURSDAY:
9 pm: Pacific 1: Out From Under the Bed: Monster as Protagonist - Nick Mamatas (story, “Oh, Harvard Square!” in issue #4)
FRIDAY:
1 pm: Pacific 6/7: Reading - Cat Rambo (story, “The Coffeemaker’s Passion” in issue #5)
Posted in Uncategorized
Breaking event news: Quail Ridge Books to host L.E. Modesitt Jr. for SCHOLAR on Wednesday, Nov 9 at 7:30 pm
Posted on 2011-10-20 at 17:16 by montsamu
Quail Ridge Books event manager Rene Martin let me know that L.E. Modesitt Jr. will be coming to town for a reading of Scholar, the latest in his Imager Portfolio series, on Wednesday, November 9th at 7:30 PM:
- Tuesday Nov 15th, 7:30 pm: Mary Doria Russell (author of The Sparrow) for a reading of Doc (on Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp)
- Wednesday Dec 7th, 7:30 pm: John Kessel and Ruth V. Gross to discuss Franz Kafka and Kessel’s new anthology Kafkaesque: Stories Inspired by Franz Kafka
- Friday Dec 9th, 7:30 pm: Cassandra Clare with the latest in her YA series Infernal Devices, Clockwork Prince
Posted in Uncategorized
Last minute call for advertisers for issue 7.
Posted on 2011-10-18 at 21:12 by montsamu
Well, this is pretty much a cut and paste job from a few months ago, but: Still haven’t sold the back cover ($250) or both front inside cover ($150) and back inside cover ($100) for issue 7. Full color, 8.5x11. Publication date November 8, on newsstands until late January. Final art due October 31. Contact [email protected] for details. Previous back covers have included Pyr, Tor, Solaris, and ConTemporal. Also have black and white full page space at $50. Thanks! Front inside cover runs opposite the table of contents, back inside cover runs opposite editorial.
Posted in Uncategorized
Some 'new-new' updates to the newsletter and some other fun bits.
Posted on 2011-10-06 at 01:57 by montsamu
One of the first things which always happens when I send out the monthly events newsletter is: I immediately learn of several things coming up which I didn’t include in the newsletter. For the events, I did go back and add them to the October newsletter — search for “NEW-NEW”.
OCTOBER
7 (Friday), 7 pm: Hillsborough author John Claude Bemis reads from The White City, the last book in his The Clockwork Dark trilogy from Random House Books for Young Readers, at The Regulator Bookshop: http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/event/john-claude-bemis
10 (Monday), 7-8 pm: Join author Mark Van Name as he talks about “Characters and Setting” in your writing as part of the Wake County library’s “Readers to Writers Workshop” series. This one at the West Regional Library: http://www.wakegov.com/images/Library/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96406577
18 (Tuesday), 7-8 pm: Continuing the Wake County “Readers to Writers” writing workshops, Mark Van Name talks “Plot & Conflict” at the Eva Perry Regional Library: http://www.wakegov.com/images/Library/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96373397
19 (Wednesday), 6:30 pm: Clay and Susan Griffith talk “Plot & Conflict” as part of the Wake County “Readers to Writers” writing workshop series, at the Cameron Village Regional Library: http://www.wakegov.com/images/Library/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96392404
NOVEMBER
26 (Saturday), 9 pm to midnight: The Blotter Magazine is celebrating its 100th issue with a Barbecue Bash from 9 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Nov. 26, at the Pinhook, 117 W. Main St., Durham, NC. Storm Front, http://www.stormfrontlive.com, and The Gonzo Symphonic Presents,http://www.facebook.com/#!/thegonzosymphonicpresents, will perform. The public is invited. The Blotter Magazine, www.blotterrag.com, exists to nurture underground, outsider literature and art, and to provide it to a wide audience. Our mission is to encourage and support new writers and artists. We hope to see you there.
And, along with those event updates, a couple more fun bits along the way today:
1. John Claude Bemis posted the wraparound cover for his next book, The Prince Who Fell from the Sky:
2. Stephen Messer’s just-out book for young readers, The Death of Yorik Mortwell, got a nice review at Libary Journal.
Posted in events
Three bits of local author news.
Posted on 2011-10-04 at 20:37 by montsamu
Three bits of local author news, in order of when I heard about them: Dan Campbell, Michael Jasper, and Richard Dansky.
- Dan Campbell’s short story “Where Sea and Sky Kiss” was published this morning at Daily Science Fiction. Sent to e-mail subscribers, it will later be posted online, and finally be part of their monthly Kindle edition. I had a chance to read it and if you’re a fan of Dan’s, well, you won’t be disappointed at all. I don’t want to give anything away, and I don’t have time to figure out “spoiler” tags, but for me there was a melancholy, beautiful echo of a Kaolin Fire poem that Dan and I both liked in there, and I hope you guys check out DSF if you aren’t already subscribed. (It’s free, by the way — and newly SFWA approved — so what are you waiting for?)
- Michael Jasper’s webcomic In Maps & Legends reaches its conclusion with Issue 9 tomorrow: “What started with an off-the-cuff tweet over two years ago will conclude — nearly 200 pages later — with a digital bang this Wednesday.” There’s a free issue #1 preview if you want to get started.
- Richard Dansky is interviewed by Tracy S. Morris — and even gives Bull Spec a name drop. Thanks, man! Update: and one of Richard’s short stories was just announced in the table of contents for the anthology Haunted: 11 Tales of Ghostly Horror as well.
Posted in Uncategorized
Spec Poetry News: The Moment of Change
Posted on 2011-10-04 at 20:06 by Dan Campbell
Rose Lemberg has announced the Table of Contents for The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry, and it will include three poems and three poets who appeared (or soon will appear) in Bull Spec!
Posted in athena andreadis, bull spec #4, bull spec #5, bull spec #6, bull spec #7, bull spec #8, feminism, lisa bradley, news, poetry, sofia samatar
As of late last night, this is what you'll get if you submit a story:
Posted on 2011-10-02 at 17:55 by montsamu
Thanks for sending a story to Bull Spec! We are indeed open and reading submissions as of October 1, and yours has been received and tagged into the submissions process. Where it goes from here is: a first reader (right now: me) will take a look, and decide whether it looks like something that the fiction editors, Natania Barron and Eric Gregory, should consider. You may hear directly back from a first reader via a form letter in the case of a rejection, or you’ll be notified when and if the story is forwarded on for further consideration.
The plan is to operate on a cyclical reading period basis of being open for two months, give or take based on the number of stories we need, and in the third month closing for submissions to make sure we don’t hold onto stories longer than necessary.
Again, thanks for trusting Bull Spec with a story, I hope we can do a much better job of getting back to you sooner and more clearly than I have been able to manage up to now. It’s good to be open!
-Sam
Sincerely,
Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
Publisher, Bull Spec
Posted in announcements
Bull Spec local events e-mailing list: October 2011
Posted on 2011-09-30 at 12:13 by montsamu
Vol. 1, No. 5, October 1, 2011:
-Sam
SEPTEMBER
30 (Friday) 7:00 pm Durham author Stephen Messer will read from and sign copies of his new children’s novel, The Death of Yorik Mortwell, a mock-Gothic tale about Yorick, son of the Gamekeeper at Ravenby Manor, who meets an untimely demise. The ghostly Yorick haunts the manor and discovers many otherworldly creatures that inhabit the grounds, and that he has a part to play in saving not only his still-living orphan sister but also the manor and everyone in it. Messer is the author of a previous children’s novel Windblowne. More info: http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/event/stephen-messer-0
NEW: Oct 1 (Sat), 2-4 pm: Chapel Hill Comics is proud to announce a signing with CreatureBox (Dave Guertin and Greg Baldwin). We’ll have copies of Spider Island: I ♥ New York, which features an 8-page Spider-Kitty story with art by CreatureBox. It’s got fantastic art, and it’s just four bucks! We’ll also have copies of the Ratchet and Clank paperback collection, since CreatureBox illustrated the covers for the series! http://www.chapelhillcomics.com/content/?p=1428
NEW: 1: The Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest will open to entries starting on Oct. 1st: http://www.williamledbetter.com/contest.htm
NEW: 2 (Sunday), 2-4 pm: John Kessel will be on a panel discussion of “The Writing Process” with the noted writers Sharon Ewell Foster, Lewis Shiner and Anna Jean Mayhew, moderated by D.G. Martin of NC Bookwatch. The panel will be from 2-4 pm at the North Regional library of the Wake County Library system, on Harps Mill Road off Falls of the Neuse Road in Raleigh. Free and open to the public.
NEW: 4 (Tuesday), 7:30 pm: John Kessel will be giving a reading at Louisburg College in Louisburg, NC. The reading will be at 7:30 in Norris Theater on the Louisburg campus. Free and open to the public.
NEW: 5 (Wednesday), 7:00 p.m. — The Winston-Salem Writers presents Teresa Frohock, author of Miserere: An Autumn Tale, at the Forsyth County Public Library, 660 West Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC. This event is open to the public.
NEW-NEW: 7 (Friday), 7 pm: Hillsborough author John Claude Bemis reads from The White City, the last book in his The Clockwork Dark trilogy from Random House Books for Young Readers, at The Regulator Bookshop: http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/event/john-claude-bemis
NEW-NEW: 10 (Monday), 7-8 pm: Join author Mark Van Name as he talks about “Characters and Setting” in your writing as part of the Wake County library’s “Readers to Writers Workshop” series. This one at the West Regional Library: http://www.wakegov.com/images/Library/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96406577
NEW 15 Pittsboro by Gaslight https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=174427262623261
18 (Tuesday), 7 pm: Regulator Bookshop: Durham author Stephen Messer will be part of a two children’s authors in one (though I would argue he is a middle grade / young reader author to be specific!) for his September 27th published book The Death of Yorik Mortwell: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/stephen-messer-kathleen-churchyard-two-childrens-authors-one-program
NEW-NEW: 18 (Tuesday), 7-8 pm: Continuing the Wake County “Readers to Writers” writing workshops, Mark Van Name talks “Plot & Conflict” at the Eva Perry Regional Library: http://www.wakegov.com/images/Library/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96373397
NEW-NEW: 19 (Wednesday), 6:30 pm: Clay and Susan Griffith talk “Plot & Conflict” as part of the Wake County “Readers to Writers” writing workshop series, at the Cameron Village Regional Library: http://www.wakegov.com/images/Library/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D96392404
NEW: Oct 22 (Saturday), 5-7 pm: Chapel Hill Comics is proud to announce that we will host a signing party for The Zombie Hunters Book One on Saturday, October 22nd from 5pm until 7pm. Come by and pick up the first collection of this zombieriffic webcomic and get in the mood for a spooky Halloween! Have your book or poster signed by creator Jenny Romanchuk and talk to her about creating, publishing, and marketing a successful webcomic! http://www.chapelhillcomics.com/content/?p=1465
NOVEMBER
NEW-NEW: 9 (Wednesday), 7:30 pm: Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books hosts L.E. Modesitt, Jr. for a reading of his upcoming novel Scholar (Tor, Imager Portfolio series).
NEW-NEW: 26 (Saturday), 9 pm to midnight: The Blotter Magazine is celebrating its 100th issue with a Barbecue Bash from 9 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, Nov. 26, at the Pinhook, 117 W. Main St., Durham, NC. Storm Front, http://www.stormfrontlive.com, and The Gonzo Symphonic Presents,http://www.facebook.com/#!/thegonzosymphonicpresents, will perform. The public is invited. The Blotter Magazine, www.blotterrag.com, exists to nurture underground, outsider literature and art, and to provide it to a wide audience. Our mission is to encourage and support new writers and artists. We hope to see you there.
DECEMBER
NEW: 7 (Wednesday) at 7:30 pm: Quail Ridge Books: John Kessel and Ruth Gross for “An Evening with Franz Kafka and Friends”, including Kessel’s newest anthology, Kafkaesque: Stories Inspired by Franz Kafka — http://tachyonpublications.com/book/Kafkaesque.html
NEW: 9 (Friday) at 7:00 pm: Quail Ridge Books: Cassandra Clare brings us her latest, Clockwork Prince. In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting.Clockwork Prince is the sequel to Clockwork Angel, and part of theInfernal Devices trilogy. For ages 12 and up. Cassandra Clare is best known for her hugely popular Mortal Instruments series. SIGNING LINE TICKET EVENT - receive a signing line ticket with the purchase of any of Cassandra Clare’s books. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/cassandra-clare-ya-novel-clockwork-prince
UPDATED: 13: Local author new novel: Natania Barron, Pilgrim of the Sky from Candlemark & Gleam, Late 2011. “A novel that might be best described as mythpunk. With elements of fantasy, science fiction, Romantic poetry, steampunk, and multiverse theory, well, it isn’t exactly the sort of book that finds a comfortable little niche to sit in.” More info: http://pilgrimofthesky.com/
NEW-NEW: 31 (Saturday) 9 pm to 1 am: Pittsboro’s Davenport and Winkleperry hosts a New Year’s Eve Clockwork Cabaret Steampunk Masquerade: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179760945440352
JANUARY 2012
Posted in newsletter
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