UPDATE: Sad to say I quit this project due to the unprofessionalism and lack of integrity shown by the publisher. I’ve never looked back. BTS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bram Stoker and Black Quill award nominated editor Maurice Broaddus and editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt are teaming with Steven Saus and Alliteration Ink for Streets Of Shadows, an urban fantasy crime noir anthology headliner by New York Times Bestselling authors Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, Glen Cook, Tim Lebbon and Seanan McGuire. Other contributors committed include Alex Bledsoe, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Diana Pharoah, Adrian Phoenix, and Chuck Wendig.
One of the most popular genres of speculative fiction today, urban fantasy involves stories in urban settings, usually with a dark feel much like crime noir settings, which include fantastical elements. It’s similarities make it a natural fit to combine with the long popular crime noir detective story. Streets of Shadow’s stories will include stories set in popular universes like Glen Cook’s Garrett PI, Alex Bledsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse, and Kevin J. Anderson’s Dan Shamble, P.I. along with new settings by other authors.
Maurice Broaddus
The project will be crowdfunded on Kickstarter in January and release in late Summer 2014 in trade paperback and ebook editions. Open submissions will be accepted for one month after the Kickstarter in March 2014, with stories also due in March from an invited list of top names and up and coming writers.
Maurice Broaddus has written hundreds of short stories, essays, novellas and articles and had fiction published in numerous magazines and anthologies including Asimov’s, Cemetery Dance, Apex Magazine, Black Static and Weird Tales. He coedited the Bram Stoker and Black Quill award nominated Dark Faith anthologies for Apex Books, several stories from which were honored with mentions in annual Year’s Best anthologies. He also authored the urban fantasy series Knights of Breton Court from Angry Robot Books.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s first novel, The Worker Prince, received Honorable Mention on Barnes and Noble’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases of 2011. His short fiction has appeared in Tales of The Talisman magazine and anthologies like Triumph Over Tragedy, Wandering Weeds and Of Fur and Fire. His anthologies as editor include Beyond The Sun (Fairwood Press), Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age (Every Day Publishing), and the forthcoming Shattered Shields, coedited with Jennifer Brozek (Baen, 2014) and Gaslamp Terrors coedited by Tim Marquitz (Evil Jester Press, 2014). Three of these have been funded using Kickstarter and picked up by small presses.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Alliteration Ink is a small press specializing in speculative fiction which has published anthologies like The Crimson Pact 1-3, Sidekicks, Dangers Untold, from editors like Paul Genesee, Jennifer Brozek and more.
It’s a big week for me. Amidst making final choices of stories for my first Kickstarter Anthology: Beyond The Sun, and awaiting my first book contract from a major, I am launching, with Every Day Publishing, a Kickstarter for Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age. This anthology, headlined by Mike Resnick, A.C. Crispin, Dean Wesley Smith, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Seanan McGuire, Allen Steele, Robin Wayne Bailey, Sarah A. Hoyt and Brenda Cooper, features contemporary space opera with a classic feel. 13 reprints, 10 new stories, great artwork from Paul Pedersen, an Artists Of The Future Winner, this will also be my first hardback release when it’s published in November–launched at OryCon–provided we fund.
As you can see from the artwork, and the very cool video, this story is about the dreams we all have of rayguns, heroes and heroines, space ships and more. And these stories will take you into that warm, fuzzy dreamscape again and again. All of the stories are fun and provide a nice variety. And I haven’t even seen what our awesome headliners have come up with yet. But with three Star Trek writers, a Star Wars writer, award winners, and fans of space opera, I sure can’t wait to read it. You can sponsor us and preorder everything from signed copies, ebooks, hardbacks, and tradepaperbacks, to t-shirts and a trip to OryCon for the launch. So be sure and check out the Kickstarter! Thanks for helping make dreams possible. All writers will be paid pro-rates. And I receive pro compensation as editor of my third anthology project, one of three for 2013.
Meanwhile check out the Kickstarter and the awesome video here, and thanks for your support!
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the editor of Blue Shift Magazine and an author and editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince (2011) received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. A sequel The Returning followed in 2012 and The Exoduswill appear in 2013, completing the space opera Saga Of Davi Rhii. His first children’s books, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids (ebook only) and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter- Land Of Legends from Delabarre Publishing. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. He edited the anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 (2012) and is working on Beyond The Sun for Fairwood Press (July 2013), headlined by Robert Silverberg, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Mike Resnick and Nancy Kress, and Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age for Every Day Publishing (November 2013). He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Chat) Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Twitter and is an affiliate member of the SFWA.
I’ve gotten questions about this since I started tweeting about in July when I wrote and finished my first draft at 13k for this new book. Basically, it’s a chapter book for early readers, ages 6-10, in this case probably aimed more at boys.
The idea itself was a collaboration with Jeff Rutherford for whom I blog at www.tobereadbooks.com and for whom I am primary editor. He also contracted me for four books, the first of which, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids, is out since August and in the Top 10 for its category. It’s ebook only, at the moment, but print may be in the works.
First blurb:
“ABRAHAM LINCOLN: DINOSAUR HUNTER — LAND OF LEGENDS succeeds on almost every level –readability, alternate history, adventure, and excitement.” — Mike Resnick
Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunteris intended to be a series of science fiction adventure stories. The idea came from our mutual love of history, my desire to do something more for kids with dinosaurs, and Jeff’s desire to produce books for kids like his own. The basic concept came from putting our ideas together: Abraham Lincoln as a boy winds up hunting dinosaurs with Davy Crockett, who is in his early 30s. We knew we wanted a T-Rex. We knew it would involve a time machine. After that, I went off and wrote the specifics and book 1, which I’ve titled “Land Of Legends.” It’s the story of how they meet and wind up going back in time, and their introduction to the dinosaur world.
Now, as you may have guessed from the concept, it’s science fantasy. I did research historical figures, such as the scientists who inspire the time travel theory, the dinosaurs and plants of the prehistoric age, Lincoln’s boyhood life and friends, Davy Crockett, etc. But I also put dinosaurs in as I need them without regard for which actually would have encountered each other and I use time travel, so I’m not dealing with historical fact. What I am dealing with is fun and humor and lots of action. I wanted to write the kind of tale I’d enjoy as a kid. If there’s any message in the first book, it’s about friendship and heroes and working together to get through hard times. Those things naturally flow out of the story itself. And I think in future books any such “lesson” would have to work the same. There’s no intended lesson. I think different readers might get different things and that’ s great!
I structured it like the old serials. Each chapter is like flash fiction piece around 1400-1600 words with a cliffhanger ending. So it can be read in segments but readers will keep wanting to come back. My friends who beta read it with their kids said the effect worked really well, as the kids looked forward to the next reading to find out what happens next.
Being as there are humans and dinosaurs, there’s a bit of danger, yes, but it’s usually resolved fairly quickly so as not to overpower young readers emotionally. There are great action pieces including encounters with the aforementioned T-Rex, a Stegasaurus, a sabre-toothed tiger, and a bear which Davy Crockett dispatches at a much older age than three.
In any case, I have done rough sketches of seven more books so far and am pretty sure I could do at least three a year and still keep producing my two novels a year and editing anthologies. At 13.5k, these chapter books use simpler wording and shorter sentences and can be drafted much more quickly. And as I get used to the voice, etc., I expect it will go even faster. The polishing took me a weekend after beta notes came back and I let it sit a few weeks.
It’s a fun project to work on, one of the funnest I’ve had. It’s fun to write in a precocious young Abe Lincoln’s voice. And it’s also fun to play with the Crockett legend and all its exaggerations, using that for humor. And I get to write dinosaur scenes, okay? Can somebody pinch me?
In any case, book 1, “Land Of Legends”, is off to the artist and in final edits at Delabarre. We expect to release it for the holidays, if all goes well. It’ll be in trade paperback and ebook, and I really look forward to sharing it with you.
For what it’s worth, I offer this brief excerpt:
The world around us became less hazy again. Soon we were surrounded by trees with thick trunks and heights I’d never seen before. Leaves grew up the sides of their trunks, not just on their branches, and some of the leaves themselves were bigger than my head.
“Where are we?” Jacob mumbled.
ROOOAAARRR!
Jacob and I exchanged a panicked look. Had the bear come back to life? It wasn’t aboard the machine.
Nehemiah grumbled as he fiddled with the controls.
The rest of us turned to see the giant green nostrils and gaping, sharp teeth of a mighty-jawed lizard. It stood at the edge of the trees, its small front arms flexing as it reared back on giant back feet and rambled toward us.
ROOOAAARRR!
The ground shook from its every step. The booming echoed in our ears.
Jacob shook beside me, his mouth opening in a silent scream.
Davy swung around, reaching for his rifle and shouted: “Get under the seats, boys!”
“Something went wrong,” Nehemiah muttered.
“We knew that!” Jacob called as we did our best to squeeze under the seats.
ROOOAAARRR!
The roaring sounded as loud as before. The time machine offered little shelter from those glinting, knife-like teeth. As I looked up at him, I saw the beast also had a jagged scar running down its right cheek.
“Judging from the scar on its face, it can be wounded.” Davy jumped down to the ground and took aim with his rifle.
“Shouldn’t we run?” I asked, looking toward him.
“I’ll try and distract him, lead him away,” he replied, eyes locked on the towering predator. Davy took aim and fired twice at the raging animal’s legs. I saw the bullets tear into flesh and blood start to flow. The animal snarled and screamed but didn’t even slow down. Davy prepared to fire again.
“Wait!” Nehemiah called as the time machine vibrated and hummed again. “I can take us away.”
“To somewhere worse?” Jacob whined.
“Out of here at least,” Nehemiah snapped. “Mister Crockett, get back aboard.”
Davy fired twice more at the monster then scrambled aboard. Nehemiah pushed a lever.
TOOT! TOOT! HISSSSS! RUMBLE!
The world faded and spun around us again as we felt the familiar sensation of time flight.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince (2011) received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. A sequel The Returning followed in 2012 and The Exodus will appear in 2013, completing the space opera Saga Of Davi Rhii. His first children’s books, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Books For Kids(ebook only) and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter- Lost In A Land Of Legends (forthcoming) appeared from Delabarre Publishing in 2012. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. He edited the anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 (2012) and is working on Beyond The Sun,forthcoming. He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Chat) Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Twitter and is an affiliate member of the SFWA.
You know, things don’t always go the way that we expect them to when publishing a book. This week is one of those times.
I expected the print release of my second novel in the Davi Rhii series, The Returning, to be the real highlight of my week. Those plans have now been pushed back a bit because somehow the book’s layout got messed up during the file transfer from my publisher to Lightning Source, our printer and distributor. An attempt was made to quickly correct that but there was not enough time to get it fixed by June 19th for the official release. It appears Barnes & Noble cancelled all pre-orders for print due to this error. The buy links for print copies aren’t up on either Amazon or B&N but the ebook version is up and available for your Nook or Kindle. I heartily apologize for this inconvenience.
I really have been excited to see this book released. I worked hard on my end to come up with a story that you’ll love. It has a great cover by Mitch Bentley, one of his best ever. It got blurbs from some great people like Mike Resnick, Paul Kemp, and Howard Andrew Jones. The reviews have mostly been great. The official online blog tour started May 29th and will run until mid-July. So much work and so many hands have been involved in the process of bringing this book to you and now technology seems to have gotten in the way. It hiccuped in a big, bad way.
I really want readers to have a shot at this book. But I also want it right. It’s important. It matters because you, as a reader, matter. Please know that I want to provide the best quality product possible and am as anxious as anyone to get this out into the world. The print copy should be up and running by Friday, June 29th at the absolute latest. Ebook versions are up now if you enjoy that instead. In the meantime, I have decided to extend the 33% off sale on copies purchased from me here. I appreciate your understanding and patience and your patience shall be rewarded. You will have a good looking, properly produced book. I can promise you that.
As a bonus, copies ordered from me will be signed personally either on the paper copies themselves or via Kindlegraph and can be personalized at your request. In addition, I will send signed bookplates or Kindlegraph signatures to anyone who requests them that buys the books at any other venue as well and this will be done at no charge for buyers of all formats, including Nook.
We appreciate your understanding and patience and look forward to your response to the book very soon.
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novels The Worker Prince, a Barnes & Noble Book Clubs Year’s Best SF Releases of 2011 Honorable Mention, and The Returning, the collection The North Star Serial, Part 1, and has several short stories featured in anthologies and magazines. He edited the new anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press, headlined by Mike Resnick. His children’s book 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Jokes For Kids from Delabarre Publishing. As a freelance editor, he’s edited a novels and nonfiction. He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chatevery Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A frequent contributor to Adventures In SF Publishing, Grasping For The Wind and SFSignal, he can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Bryan is an affiliate member of the SFWA.
Well, a long while ago I placed my first comedic noir Science Fiction story in an anthology edited by my friend Jaleta Clegg. The table of contents has finally been announced and publication is this Spring from Hall Brothers Entertainment. So here’s the official scoop:
Wandering Weeds: Tales of Rabid Vegetation
Edited by Jaleta Clegg & Frances Pauli
Table Of Contents Beyond the Fence, Rebecca L. Brown
Colors of Blood, Kevin J. Childs
They Call The Wind Mariah, Jaleta Clegg
Duncan Derring and the Call of the Lady Luck, Bryan Thomas Schmidt
Legends of the Tumbleweeds, Duane Ackerson
Cowchip Charlie and the Tumbleweed Gang, C. H. Lindsay
The Tumbas, M. Pax
Thistle, Terry Alexander
Of Weeds and Wizardry, Berin Stephens
Feral Tumbleweeds, Mo Castles
Earth’s New Masters, Adriane Ceallaigh
Misplaced, Voss Foster
Oh, Dark Tumbleweed, Brian D Mazur
Crispy Fried Pickles at the Mad Scientist Cafe, Katherine Sanger
I Survived the Sargasso Sea, Eric J. Guignard
The Great Tragedy of the Illustrious Empire, Audrey Schaefer
Garden of Legion, David J. West
Tumbleweed, Robert Borski
The Souls of the Wicked, Francis Pauli
Fair Weather, with a Chance of Tumbleweeds, Andrea Tantillo
The Tumbleweed Woman, V. Hynes Johnston
Guardening, Ann Willows
Weeds, James Hartley
Sleeping Beauty, Louise Maskill
Desert Oracles, Katie M John
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novelThe Worker Prince, a Barnes & Noble Best SF Releases of 2011 Honorable Mention, the collection The North Star Serial, Part 1, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. His second novel, The Returning, is forthcoming from Diminished Media Group in 2012 along with the anthology Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 which he edited for Flying Pen Press, headlined by Mike Rensick. As a freelance editor, he’s edited a novel for author Ellen C. Maze (Rabbit: Legacy), a historical book for Leon C. Metz (The Shooters, John Wesley Hardin, The Border), and is now editing Decipher Inc’s WARS tie-in books for Grail Quest Books. He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. A frequent contributor to Adventures In SF Publishing, Grasping For The Wind and SF Signal, he can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog. Bryan is an affiliate member of the SFWA.
Bram Stoker and Black Quill award nominated editor Maurice Broaddus and editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt are teaming with Steven Saus and Alliteration Ink for Streets Of Shadows, an urban fantasy crime noir anthology headliner by New York Times Bestselling authors Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Kevin J. Anderson, Glen Cook, Tim Lebbon and Seanan McGuire. Other contributors committed include Alex Bledsoe, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Diana Pharoah, Adrian Phoenix, and Chuck Wendig.
