Destiny Live for Download!

Click here to see the cover components.

Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny, is now live! Download it for free in multiple formats here, at Manybooks, and at Smashwords.

As stated on my site, these books contain mature content. Destiny ramps that up a notch. Please download and share responsibly.

In other publications news, "Butterfly Woman" is forthcoming in the Winter 2010 issue of Goblin Fruit (guest-edited by Mike Allen); "Lepidoptera in Space" will appear in the Nov./Dec. prose poem issue of Star*Line (guest-edited by Bruce Boston); and "The Unexpected Answer," originally published in Of Poets And Poetry, will be reprinted in Harp-Strings Poetry Journal. The Popcorn Press anthology Vampyr Verse (now available for pre-order) contains my poem "Neighbors." In 2010, my story "Judgment at Naioth" will appear in the Dybbuk Press anthology She Nailed A Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror.

Thanks to Windborn for this review of the Deviations series over on HubPages, in which he writes, "Rather than stuff judgments of right and wrong down the reader's throat, Malcohn asks questions, and leads the reader to find his own answers. Further, she develops the ideas of right and wrong from her characters' points of view, and the points of view of her various cultures. ... Get the whole series, and allot a large chunk of time for reading them, because once you pick them up you won't want to put them down."

When I finished drafting Destiny back in 2005, I originally thought Deviations would remain a trilogy. The first three series volumes can stand on their own as a combined work, with its own overarching story line. But the characters refused to leave me alone. The events at the end of Destiny created various consequences and uncertainties, and I wanted to see how those would play out -- not only for the adults in the saga, but for the next generation. Those children will get their turn as the six-volume series draws to a close.

Projected release of Vol. 4, Bloodlines, is mid-2010. Again, thank you all for joining me on this journey!

Elissa Malcohn's Deviations and Other Journeys

Promote Your Page Too








Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Vol. 3, Deviations: Destiny
Free downloads at the Deviations website and on Smashwords.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant, Appetite, and Destiny in even more formats!

Participant, Operation E-Book Drop. (Logo credit: K.A. M'Lady & P.M. Dittman.)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Writing the villain-hero or the likable bad guy!

Turning good guys to bad and vice versa or writing characters that are a hearty mix of both has always been a favorite pastime of mine. People were convinced Ty was the hero of TYGERS until about 4 scenes in, when I turned the tables and showed them a 4 y/o boy's best friend was a psychopath instead of his hero, which completely freaked one reviewer for a few chapters. OTOH, Mik, Jorg/Veriel, and Jurel all started out as villains, but when you got to see from their POVs...well, how about that? Not villains anymore...or at least villainous heroes, in Jorg's case. At the beginning of PROPHECY, people were convinced Joe was a stalker. Perception is a fun game to play.

So, how do you do it? How do you make a villainous character engaging and appealing to the readers?

First of all, the character has to be three-dimensional. A two-dimensional villain will automatically be disliked by readers. That's the point of a villain. To be three-dimensional, a villain has to have a backstory and reasons for what he/she does. Those reasons have to have a logic, even if that logic is skewed.

You have to make the reader empathize with the character's position...not necessarily sympathize with or agree with or even approve of the choices morally, but empathize with and understand why and how this happened. One way to do that is with sympathy. People who are seriously wronged and seek revenge is a good way to invoke the knee-jerk support or sympathy of readers, but it's the cheap seats of doing the job.

What else works?

Alien or non-human sensibilities. Write a were or animal-type paranormal creature, and you have instincts in the mix. You can also have instincts for creatures like vampires. Write someone from a culture not our own, and you have cultural mores, ethics, and laws that call for things we wouldn't engage in and might find horrific. Write a creature driven by hunger, and everything will be flavored (pardon the pun) by that driving need.

World situation. Men will commit atrocities in a war that they never would otherwise. I'm not saying war corrupts absolutely. It doesn't, but... A friend of mine (the wonderful author Teel James Glenn) once gave me an old quote that applies here: "The rules of engagement only apply until the first attack." After that, it's fight or die, and any dirty trick that lets you live is fair game, in the heat of the moment. I can't recall the movie, but there is a great scene of Russian soldiers being sent out (WWII, I believe). There were only enough firearms to supply one in ten of the men, so you'd stay close to another soldier and try to stay alive long enough for him to be shot, so you could grab his rifle. Whatever you did to stay alive was what you did. Was that ENEMY AT THE GATES? Maybe?

Likewise, people who are starving will choose the lesser of two evils, steal or die. Ethics are often situational, and the spirit of the law is not black and white. In a severe enough situation, people will rethink their ethics and are much more likely to slide toward neutral from lawful.

Politics. Closely linked to world situation. If you see something happening or coming that you feel is ethically bankrupt, what would you do to stop it? From the Declaration of Independence... "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." It is often seen as a duty to right the wrongs, and if the despot is abusing his power, violence may call for violence. THAT is your Robin Hood character, in a nutshell. No, he wasn't a murderer, but he didn't shy from killing a few soldiers, when he had to. That bow and arrow or long sword or staff weren't for show, after all.

Protection of the innocent. This is another lesser of two evils moment. If you had a choice to stand by silently and allow innocent children to be hurt...whether they were your children or not...you may be spurred to do something extreme in their protection.

Madness. Pure and simple. This takes the idea of revenge a step beyond. What if the abuse was so severe, the character went mad from it? What if, in his grief and pain, he does things that are horrible? It could happen, and I've found readers very receptive to the mounting madness in a character.

The mind of an innocent. What if the person doing wrong has a very childlike understanding of right and wrong? What if, in order to protect another, he does things that most people would consider the very WRONG choices, because he doesn't understand what the right choices are? What if the wrong is all he's seen? Or he's so sheltered, he's never faced the situation to know the right answer? Think SLING BLADE. Think DOMINICK AND EUGENE.

The horrific justice-bringer. There is a reason Hannibal Lecter is so popular with readers (including myself). "I only eat the rude." Look at who he preys on: pedophiles, serial killers, officious types, thieves, corrupt or abusive officials in positions of power... In short, all of the people many feel, deep down inside, the world is better off without. The people who are nice don't need to fear him.

However you do it, it's a rare and challenging writing feat to write the villain-hero or the likable bad guy.

Petition for authors, artists, and musicians!

Are you an author, artist, or musician who lives and/or publishes in the US? Are you concerned about piracy? If so, consider signing Copyright Alliance's letter to President Obama and VP Biden. Let them know we care about our IP rights and need their help to protect them when new legislation comes up!

Copyright Alliance is hoping for 500 signatures in the next week. We can do better than that. Can't we?

Brenna

SUBMISSION CALL- Charity Anthology- Fantasy

This call comes from Karen Woods of Sleeping Beagle Books. Over the last few years, both she and I have lost several friends to pancreatic cancer. For that reason, Karen has decided to fight back. How do authors and publishers do that? They commit to a charity anthology (or more than one, if she gets enough submissions for them) titled FORSWORN. No one (save the distribution channels) will be taking a cut of this. Authors and cover artists will be donating, and as publisher, she's donating her portion as well.

What is she looking for? Fantasy stories between 5,000 and 10,000 words in length, dealing (at least loosely) with the consequences of being dishonest. It's not as hard as it sounds, since many disagreements and internal struggles come down to people being dishonest with themselves or someone else. All manner of fantasy is welcome EXCEPT fantasy erotic romance and fantasy erotica. Reprints are welcome, as long as you have rights back.

The rights are non-exclusive. The book/s will release in e-book (anthologies AND stand-alone stories) and print, via Amazon. It is a lifetime plus copyright agreement, but with non-exclusive, you can use the story later for your own purposes. Not to mention you'll be getting exposure for your work and supporting a great cause!

Additional details can be found at Sleeping Beagle Books. You can reach Karen directly at forswornanthology@gmail.com.

Brenna

Do you know a teen writer who wants to hang out with the pros?

EPIC’s 5th annual New Voices contest opens, and plans are unveiled for this year’s youth writing track at the annual convention

It’s August, and that means big changes for your average middle or high school student: new teachers, new class schedules, sometimes new schools… It also means the opening of the 5th annual New Voices contest, e-publishing’s premiere youth writing contest.

What makes the New Voices contest different than other writing contests? Several things.

New Voices is a worldwide contest, just for middle school and high school students (or the country of origin’s variation thereof). The contest is intended for students aged 11-18 years old, writing in the English language. In previous years, students from as many as sixteen US states, four Canadian provinces, and several foreign countries have won places in the contest.

The contest is split into middle school and high school divisions, then further split into poetry, essay/non-fiction, and fiction short story categories in each division. Contestants may enter one piece of work in each of their division categories.

There’s no entry fee for the contest. At the same time, sponsors and EPIC (The Electronically Published Internet Connection) underwrite the contest to provide prizes for entrants. Prizes range from gift certificates and cash to PDAs and/or e-book readers. And all winners are included in the yearly New Voices anthology.

Entrants never need to pay a dime. Unlimited copies of the e-book anthology are provided to winners. A CD copy and a print copy are provided to each of the winners and their schools. Additional print copies may be purchased at cost, but no one is required to purchase anything.

This contest is ideal for students with an interest in writing. All entrants, win or lose, receive feedback from published authors, editors, publishers, and other industry professionals.

For those with a serious interest in publishing, EPIC provides a youth writer’s track at the yearly convention, EPICon. This year’s convention will be held at the Sheraton (New Orleans, LA) from March 4-7, 2010. The youth track is scheduled for Saturday, March 6th. The youth track costs $40 and includes lunch, where contest winners in attendance will receive their awards. Non-attendee winners will receive their awards by mail. For an additional $27, youth track attendees can have breakfast while several established independent press publishers answer questions about their businesses and submissions.

But time stands still for no young writer. Anyone with an interest in entering the contest has until midnight October 20, 2009 to get an entry in. Anyone with an interest in attending the youth writing track at EPICon has until February 5, 2010 to register.

Any questions about the contest can be addressed to the New Voices chairs at newvoices.competition(at)gmail(dot)com. Any questions about the convention can be addressed to the EPICon chair at cjparker1(at)att(dot)net For more information on them, please visit http://www.newvoicesyoungwriters.com/index.html or http://www.epic-conference.com


Feel free to pass along!

Listings, Thanks, In Memoriam

Thanks to Susan Crealock for including Covenant and Appetite on Online Novels. Listing page is here.

I'm a guest blogger today for the Florida Writers Conference. Topic: Watching Movies to Learn Our Craft. Thanks to Chris Hamilton for including the piece.

I'm now on the site for ZonaCon, slated for Orlando in late November. And the new Deep Carnivale (Tampa next month) site is finally up. I plan to have a vendor table there, though I don't yet know if I'll have a reading slot. Much of their schedule this year is devoted to special tributes. In-between those two, I'll be a guest and vendor at Necronomicon in St. Petersburg (FL) and am currently signing up for panels. Thanks to coordinators Marc Miller (ZonaCon), David Audet (Deep Carnivale), and Ann Morris (Necronomicon); to everyone involved with planning these events; and to K.L. Nappier, with whom I'm teaming up in all three.

Thanks to Julianne Draper at the Miami Examiner for doing another piece on me. (To be clear, the Hugo win is John Klima's, though I and many others were a part of that process.)

My story "Flotsam" is blurbed over at Asimov's as part of its October/November issue line-up.

And Dybbuk Press has its cover and Table of Contents up for She Nailed A Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror.

I'm saddened by recent news that SF writer and poet Gene Van Troyer has died (1950-2009). I corresponded with him by snail mail in the early 80s, when I was first discovering science fiction poetry and the SFPA. At that time Gene was assistant editor at Star*Line. In 2007 he co-edited Speculative Japan (Kurodahan Press), an awesome anthology of Japanese speculative fiction, much of it published in English for the first time. He was a kind and generous human being and visionary. RIP, Gene. (SFWA obit here.)






Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Free downloads of both volumes here.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant and Appetite in even more formats!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. [end of entry]

Story makes "recommended reading" list in Year's Best SF

While at Anticipation, the 67th World Science Fiction Convention (held in Montreal this past weekend), I learned that my story "Hermit Crabs" joined several others from Electric Velocipede on the "recommended reading" list in The Year's Best Science Fiction, 26th Annual Edition.

On Sunday night, Electric Velocipede won the Hugo for Best Fanzine. I feel extraordinarily lucky to have landed stories in three publications last year that have now received awards: an IPPY Silver Medal for Riffing on Strings, a Bram Stoker Award for Unspeakable Horror, and now a Hugo for EV.

Congratulations to all, and thanks to everyone who made Worldcon wonderful! My full convention report is here.








Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Free downloads of both volumes here.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant and Appetite in even more formats!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Spot on Paranormality, Transcript of Conversations LIVE! Interview

Phoenix Rising, from Lynda's blog.

Thanks to Lynda Hilburn for including my story in "Rising From the Ashes" (starting over in publishing) at her blog Paranormality.

And thanks to Cyrus A. Webb, for having me as his guest on Conversations LIVE! back on July 6. You can still catch the podcast here. I've posted the transcript of that interview here.




Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Free downloads of both volumes here.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant and Appetite in even more formats!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Interview Coming Up at Conversations LIVE!

On Monday, July 6, I'll be interviewed by host Cyrus A. Webb on Conversations LIVE!, Blog Talk Radio, at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. The show is sponsored by The Write Stuff Literacy Campaign.

Back on May 28, I was interviewed by Mark Eller, host of Chronicles, also on BTR. That show is now available as a podcast here and elsewhere.

As someone on dial-up, I know how it feels to wait through a download. With that in mind -- and to provide links to websites Mark and I mentioned, along with some accompanying photos -- I've transcribed the show, cleaning up some word repetitions and the like. Click here for the transcript.




Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Free downloads of both volumes here.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant and Appetite in even more formats!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Contributor's Copies

Aoife's Kiss (Sam's Dot Publishing) is the latest contributor's copy to arrive. That's my name at lower left. (Grin)

My poem "Frightening the Horses" is inside. The poem is based on Lubov's painting "Daybreak," which can be seen here. For the second year in a row, Marge Simon and I had arranged to each write a poem based on something in the Necronomicon art show. The 2007 art show yielded poems that appeared in Space and Time #104. The 2008 art show produced "Frightening the Horses" and Marge's poem "Painting Tomorrow Man" (based on Garret Dechellis's "The Convector") -- one of two poems Marge has in this issue.

I also received Of Poets And Poetry, the newsletter of the Florida State Poets Association, which contains two of my poems. (The image below is a montage of material taken from three pages.)


Large view

"The Unexpected Answer" (after this painting by Rene Magritte) won the FSPA's mini-contest at its "Spring Fling" meeting. "A door closing/a door opening" was the contest theme, with entries limited to 20 or fewer lines.

"Sijo Sequence for Larry" is a tribute to Larry Gross, who received the 2009 FSPA Guiding Light Award and who was honored at the event. Larry served as FSPA Webmaster and was in charge of our online forum. He was also the organization's Parliamentarian and founded the Big Bend Poets chapter, plus has written articles and given workshops. He is an expert in Asian poetic forms and is an all-around mensch. You can see some of Larry's poetry here.

I was the "Spring Fling" photographer and used tripod and auto-release to take the group shot. You can find me in the lower left-hand corner.





Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Free downloads of both volumes here.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant and Appetite in even more formats!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Thank Yous

Image from Rachel Baker's Old Musty Books website.

Several "thank you"s are in order:

Rachel Baker posted a lovely review of Covenant and Appetite on her site, Old Musty Books. You can read it here.

Among other things, she writes, "If you are looking for something different with a great story line, I would suggest reading these books. They are very well written and draw the reader into the story, possibly against their will."

I am also thankful to those reviewers who have been willing to consider these books. Covenant began its public life as a small-press trade paperback, but Appetite is a self-published e-book. Thank you to everyone who has agreed to step outside the box with me.

Thanks also go to Mark Eller, host of Chronicles (Blog Talk Radio). My May 28 interview with him is now available as a podcast here and on other podcast sites.

And thanks to Cyrus A. Webb, host of the Blog Talk Radio show Conversations LIVE! and founder of The Write Stuff Literacy Campaign, for inviting me to be his guest on July 6 at 1 PM Eastern Time.

I have behind-the-scenes thanks to give as well, related to my caregiver role. They include but are not limited to doctors, social workers, various staff support members, longtime "friends only" bloggers, and my own personal support network of good and caring friends. Words alone cannot adequately express how much you all mean to me.

Last but by all means not least, hearty congratulations go to editors Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder, fellow contributors, and everyone involved with Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (Dark Scribe Press), winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in an Anthology. You can see the announcement here. Click here to order the collection.




Vol. 1, Deviations: Covenant (2nd Ed.)
Vol. 2, Deviations: Appetite
Free downloads of both volumes here.

Go to Manybooks.net to access Covenant and Appetite in even more formats!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Breaking Book News ~ The Rape of Innocence to be Turned into a Film

For those who haven't familiarized themselves with my work, my bestseller The Rape of Innocence is a book about surviving both physical and sexual abuse, overcoming depression and letting hope live. It's a triumphant story! And now, it is going to be made into a film by an independent film company in California.

For me, a little country girl from Arkansas, this is unbelievable! It's a dream come true and still, I don't quite know what to say about it, or how to feel except elated.

If you hadn't checked out this book yet, go visit my book blog and order a copy in the right sidebar. You can also get it anywhere books are sold, Amazon, BN and BAM. For those who've read it, please consider giving me a review on Amazon or Goodreads. For more information about the film deal, check out my P3 blog.