Chattering

1st draft of Sand and Bones is done, y’all!

BJ Sikes, authorLeave a comment

I finished the first draft of my “fantastical history with a touch of heartbreak” novel Sand and Bones today. PHEW. Just over 72K words about Elsie (the maiden), Clara (the mother), and Nne-Ala (the crone) on an almost uninhabited island in the Bahamas. There’s also a monster. And a cult.

My current elevator pitch for this book:

In a 1908 unlike ours, a young English girl and her family are summoned to join her father on an almost uninhabited island in the Bahamas because he needs his wife’s gold and his children’s blood.

Yesterday, I read an interesting article by an agent on Mythcreants and he presented lists of subgenres that were “hot” or “cold.” Guess what? Alt-history is apparently cold.

<head bangs on keyboard>

I might need to rework that elevator pitch. So, historical fantasy? LOL.

This may be a moot point. I have a long way to go before this book is ready to publish and I will more than likely self-pub again.

On to revisions. My editor awaits.

 

 

 

 

Summer 2017 releases from Treehouse Writers

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A number of the Treehouse Writers have new books available this summer. T.E. MacArthur released The DOOMSDAY RELIC, featuring Professor Lettie Gantry. This brand new adventure starring the Volcano Lady is in serial format. Kirsten Weiss has another installment of her cozy mystery series A Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery available. Get your copy of […]

via New releases from the Treehouse — Welcome to the Treehouse!

Status of Sand and Bones

BJ Sikes, author1 Comment

For anyone keeping track, I am over 63,000 words into my latest novel, Sand and Bones, with about four scenes still to write. No monster on the page yet, with the exception of the icky cult leader.

I had hoped to finish writing in May but it looks like July’s Camp NaNoWriMo will be spent finishing the manuscript REALLY, TRULY this time. Then onto revisions.

And yet there’s this side project that’s starting to yank at me, diverting attention away from Sand and Bones. I blame Sparky McTrowell and Erasmus Drake.

Some Time Later released

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The third and final volume of the Later anthology series. This is my favorite!

Edited to add that a review recently came out. Thanks Amanda for your Some Time Later review!

Treehouse Writers's avatarWelcome to the Treehouse!

Some Time Later: Fantastic Voyages Through Alternate Worlds The final volume of the Later series of anthologies, Some Time Later: Fantastic Voyages Through Alternate Worlds, is available now through Thinking Ink Press.
This charity steampunk anthology is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other online booksellers, or if you’re lucky enough to run into one of the authors at an in-person event, you can get a copy from them.

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Clockwork Alchemy

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Yes! A great event.

doverwhitecliff's avatarDover Whitecliff

I never did make it to Exo-Suits in April, but I will finish the A to Zed of Jhrin in time.

Most of April and May was spent in preparation for Clockwork Alchemy, one of the most author-friendly steampunk conventions out there. I attended in 2013, and was so inspired that I was manning a table with my own first novel on it, and teaching panels in 2014. Truly awesome stuff! We have a full author track every year with everything from how to work with an editor, write a limerick, build worlds, beat NaNoWriMo, to the Science of Airships, and writing with Hot Potatoes! We had over 30 hours of panels this year alone.

In addition to putting out new editions of my annual scandal sheet, the Blackfriars Courant (all the news that’s unfit to print, or what really happened in all the novels and short stories the Clockwork…

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Not one but TWO anthologies

BJ Sikes, author1 Comment

The folks at Thinking Ink Press are releasing two of the anthologies I helped create! They are reissuing Twelve Hours Later, the first book of the Later trilogy, and they are publishing Some Time Later, the third book of the trilogy. The Later books are charity steampunk anthologies that I edited. I also contributed stories.

Some Time Later at TIP

Some Time Later: Fantastic Voyages in Alternate Worlds will be available soon through booksellers in print and e-book editions and at Clockwork Alchemy 2017. Fifty percent of the proceeds will be donated to local literacy programs.

NaNoWriMo2016: winner!

BJ Sikes, authorLeave a comment

Winner 2016 - Square

I took part in my second NaNoWriMo this November, hoping to get a big chunk of Sand and Bones drafted and I made it to 50,464 words! That makes me a winner. See above.  <grin>

I did NaNoWriMo in 2014 to draft The Archimedean Heart and it went really smoothly. This time, it was an absolute slog. The NaNoWriMo web site tracks your daily progress on a chart and  mine was pretty telling. A week of hitting the daily word count goal then plateauing out for a couple of weeks. This meant that I had a lot of catching up to do. The last week was intense. I wrote 4,000+ words on a couple of days and boy did I feel it. My neck and shoulders are still sore!

I still have to write another 20-30K words which means I’m aiming for a busy December.

Thirty Days Later for 99 cents?

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The most recent anthology I edited, Thirty Days Later, is on sale for 99 cents right now! The publisher, Thinking Ink Press, is running the sale through September 6th.

If you’ve been holding off on getting Thirty Days Later, now’s your chance. The anthology has thirty stories featuring among other things a Sasquatch governors, cursed netsuke, and a mechanical heart.

The authors are all based in California and Washington, including alt-history great Harry Turtledove.

30DL Kindle cover thirty copy