Blog Birthday Winner!

It’s time to announce the winner of my Blog Birthday Giveaway!

Happy Blog Birthday! Part 2!

My blog is two years old today! Happy Birthday to the blog!

Two years? Seriously?

Yes. Two years!

Isn’t that wild?

Substitution Cipher Winner!

Time to announce the winner of last week’s Indigenous Peoples Day Giveaway Contest! That winner is…

C. Schwab!

Check your inbox for a DRM-free digital copy of Substitution Cipher, C! And thanks to everyone for commenting.

 

Indigenous People’s Day – Plus Free Books!

So, I’ve had a problem with the celebration of Columbus Day ever since grade school when I first figured out that Columbus never set foot anywhere in North America, let alone the part that became the U.S. My disdain for the holiday only grew when I learned that Leif Ericson was actually the first European to land on the continent. Why don’t we have a Leif Ericson Day instead, I wondered. (Actually, we sort of do–October 9. Did you know this? I didn’t until now.)

 

Statue of Leif Ericson in Milwaukee, WI.  He doesn’t look as Vikingy here as he does in many other statues. Interesting. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Where was I? Oh yeah. Columbus Day. Like I said, it was the initial logicfail of the holiday that threw me off the bandwagon, but it was discovering more of what Columbus’s explorations began–colonization and genocide–that really got my goat. Like The Oatmeal asks in his latest cartoon, this guy’s worth celebrating?

 

My only problem with the cartoon is that, while I agree that Bartolomé de las Casas was the better man and deserves recognition for what he tried to accomplish once he repented of his earlier ways, by turning Columbus Day into Bartolomé Day, we’d still just be celebrating another dead white guy.

 

Bartolome de las casas–better than Columbus, but still… (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Another dead white guy who, I have to admit, I used as a source while writing my novella “So The Taino Call It.” De las Casas’ book A Short Destruction of the Indies provides a lot of information about what Columbus and the men who came after him did to the original residents they found on the islands they “discovered.” But it is those original residents I think we should really be remembering today. There’s already a name for that holiday: Indigenous People’s Day. What would their lives be like, if the Europeans had never shown up in the first place? Or showed up in peace and humility? We’ll never know, but it’s interesting to think about.

 

In honor of that holiday, how’d you like to win a digital copy (DRM-free) of the anthology Substitution Cipher, a Candlemark & Gleam book that contains several cool alternate history stories of espionage, one of which is my tale of what might have happened if Columbus’s first voyage didn’t go quite as planned? Substitution Cipher also includes G. Miki Hayden’s tale “In God We Trust,” which explores a different historic path the people of North America might have taken.  There are also tales of Berlin, Venice, World War II, and the Cold War. It’s a neat collection. Comment on this post here and I’ll pick a random winner by next Monday.

 

Happy Indigenous People’s Day!

Millie Ketcheschawno, filmmaker, organizer and activist for Native American rights; she was one of the founders of the first Indigenous People’s Day (still an annual event) in the U.S. 1937-2000

 

 

City of Devils Winner!

A week has passed since I posted my interview with City of Devils author Justin Robinson.

That means it’s time to announce the winner of a DRM-free digital copy of City of Devils! The winner is:

emuse!

Drop me an email at mfennvt [at] yahoo [dot] com with the address you’d like me to use and your book will be on its way to you! Thanks for playing.

 

An Interview with Justin Robinson PLUS Free Books!

Well, it is September 2013. It’s even September 24, 2013, and you know what that means? Only that Justin Robinson’s latest comic noir epic, City of Devils, is now available for you to buy and devour it. It’s already getting some amazing reviews. Justin was kind enough to settle in and answer some heavy-hitting questions I threw his way. I hope you’ll enjoy his answers. And read further to see how you can win a DRM-free digital copy of City of Devils.

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Hi, Justin! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me about your new book, City of Devils. I hope all’s well on the Left Coast?

It’s been hovering around 100 degrees for a little over two weeks now.  I’m about a day away from sacrificing someone to Huitzilopochtli.

Yikes! I hope it cools down soon (and I’m suddenly happy I live on the opposite coast from you).

Since I haven’t read City of Devils yet (I’m waiting for the amazing paperback to arrive), I did a little research on the book and you (totally not stalking) to prepare for this interview. I was tickled to discover that besides loving old monster movies, you’re also a big Dashiell Hammett fan. So am I! What are some of your favorite stories of his? What of his writing would you say has influenced you the most?

The Thin Man is the perfect novel, full stop.  I love everything of his I’ve read, but that one stands head and shoulders above pretty much everything.  I didn’t consciously name Nick Moss, the protagonist of City of Devils, after Nick Charles, but I can’t speak for my subconscious.

Oh sure. The one Hammett novel I haven’t read yet.
(Nick & Nora Charles from The Thin Man.
I should have asked about the dog, too.)

In City of Devils, will there be monsters other than those from the Universal canon? Will we get to see a giant Venusian cucumber, for example? Or Slime People? Personally, I’m hoping for the giant octopus from It Came From Beneath the Sea, but I’m guessing that would be a little destructive for your purposes, wouldn’t it?

Killer vegetables have a proud history on the silver screen, from The Thing from Another World all the way up to Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.  And yeah, there are a bunch of monsters not specifically from Universal.  I started there, but quickly expanded, only chopping a couple ideas out because they were blatantly anachronistic.

It’s good that you’re looking forward to giant monsters.

I always look forward to giant monsters!

The aforementioned Venusian cucumber from It Conquered the World

One of the best descriptions of City of Devils I found was a review on Goodreads suggesting that the novel was “Philip Marlowe meets HP Lovecraft channeling Abbot and Costello.” Would you agree? How would you describe your book?

That’s actually really good.  I might sub out Lovecraft for someone like Tod Browning, but Lovecraft has better name recognition.  And the gill-men have some Innsmouthian influences.

Oh, cool. Can’t wait to meet them!

In your last book, Mr Blank, you have another character who deals a lot with monsters. Is there any kind of connection? How did that book influence this book?

They’re both comic noir novels written in the first person, but that’s pretty much the only similarity.  With Blank, I had a mandate for my hero: that he would never win a fight.  With Nick, he’s a veteran of both WWII and the following Night War.  He’s also a bit of a nervous wreck, so he’s at once better able to take care of himself, but less confident in that ability.  Plus, you know, there’s like monsters everywhere.

In terms of influence, I think Blank helped give me a road map for the kind of book I wanted to write.  I could look where I went right and where I went wrong, and kind of correct for that.  I was also more confident in my worldbuilding, so I really tried to create a different version of Los Angeles, that was both internally consistent, and consistently bizarre.

Mr Blank and City of Devils are definitely the closest of my books to one another.

On another topic of mutual fandoms—at least according to the little bird I talked to—I hear you’re also a Vincent Price fan. Is there any chance that a vengeful sculptor/Shakespearean actor/concert organist might show up in City of Devils’ sequel?

Heh heh.  You’re not going to have to wait very long at all for crazy musicians…

Excellent!

Thanks again, Justin, for sharing your thoughts with me and my readers. Good luck with CIty of Devils!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for that contest, if you’re interested in winning a DRM-free digital copy of City of Devils, just comment below. It’s that simple. I’ll pick a random comment by next Tuesday (Oct. 1) as the winner. Comment away! You’re not going to want to miss this.

Winter Well Giveaway

That book I mentioned yesterday with the spiffy new cover? If you want to win a free ARC, you can! Get thee to Goodreads.

Giveaway Results

We sometimes do things the old-fashioned way here at skinnier than it is wide. No randomizer programs, not even coin-flipping. For the Substitution Cipher giveaway, commenters’ names went into a 49ers baseball cap and R picked the winner.

And that winner is…

Jennifer Krouse

Check your email soon for your digital copy of Substitution Cipher and thanks for playing. Thanks to C. Schwab for commenting, too, and for everyone else for checking out my blog. My visitor count went way up this week. You guys should have commented, too. 🙂

Well, That Turned Out Well…

The Preditors & Editors Poll results came out today. A lot of Candlemark & Gleam folks did quite well, and I was tickled to see that Substitution Cipher came in at number 11 on the list of best anthologies. Just shy of the top ten, which is quite exciting for a newb such as myself. So, thanks to everyone who voted for it! I and all the other authors really appreciate it.

Did you vote in the P&E poll? What did you think of the results? What are some of your favorite books of 2012? Let me know in the comments, and you could be the lucky winner of an electronic copy of Substitution Cipher, just cuz. Well, this is my hundredth post on this blog. Why the hell not?

I’ll pick the winner on Sunday, January 13 January 20 (c’mon, M, learn how to read a calendar). And if you already own a copy? Thank you! Please spread the word.

Why, WordPress, why? Photograph of President Truman and others with their backs turned to the camera, looking out a window near the summit… – NARA – 199297 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Substitution Cipher Review + Giveaway!

I’m tickled to link you to another super review of Substitution Cipher, thanks to the folks at Alternate History Weekly Update. I can see the tagline for my story now. “More believable than Avatar!” Woohoo!

Not only does AHWU like the book, they’re offering to give away e-copies to a couple of lucky folks. Maybe one of them (or both) can be you. Here’s the contest. Good luck to all!