What's in a Week - Vol. 44
StokerCon was great! The Nebula Awards are SATURDAY! Aaaahhhhh!!
Nebula Awards Conference Update - My Schedule
In case you missed the news, I'm a Nebula Award finalist! This is for my young adult debut novel, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN (written as J. Dianne Dotson). It was also a BSFA finalist book. And...it might also be up for something else, but I can't share that yet.
THIS IS NEBULA CONFERENCE WEEK! I am flailing with excitement! Wish me luck. Here's my schedule:
Friday, June 7
9:00 AM - The Evolving Short Story Market panel - How has the short story market changed over the past ten years? How has this changed the stories, and what do we hope to see more of? Panelists: Sam Asher, J. Dianne Dotson (Jendia Gammon), Beth Dawkins, Arley Sorg.
3:00 PM - Rays of Sunshine in a Bleak Middle Grade and Young Adult Publishing Landscape panel - With softening sales, books bans, and lasting reverberations from the pandemic, the middle-grade and YA publishing landscape can look bleak. But is there anything to be optimistic about? In this panel, we don our mining helmets and prepare to dig deep in search of optimism and positive news. Panelists: Greg van Eekhout, Sarah Branson, J. Dianne Dotson (Jendia Gammon), Jonathan Brazee.
Saturday, June 8
11:30 AM to 12 PM - Meet and Greet with Jendia Gammon/J. Dianne Dotson for book signing
5:00 PM - Nebula Awards Red Carpet Ceremony
8:00 PM - Nebula Awards Ceremony
You can see the full conference schedule here.
Following the conference, I will be available for a WRITING DATE in which we write together and you can ask questions. Head here for details on that.
StokerCon Was Amazing!
StokerCon was the most fun I've had in ages, and I got to meet so many great horror writers and publishers for the first time, as well as seeing friends again! I took the Pacific Surfliner train from Los Angeles to San Diego (that is the SD train station in the second and third pics below), which is the civilized way to go between the cities (or any cities for that matter; I love trains).
Here is what I wore for my book signing at the Android Press table. Thank you to those who bought books or just stopped by to say hello!
Jendia Gammon in a black butterfly dress with a steampunk gothic necklace.
StokerCon fun! Jendia with Cynthia Pelayo, Chris Panatier, Lee Murray, KC Grifant, Gemma Amor, Vincent Cava, Dennis K. Crosby and Pedro Iniguez, and the Sley House Publishing/Sley House Presents team of Jeremy Billingsley and Trevor W.
Those are just some of the many folks I met! I couldn't get pictures with everyone. Just know this: I felt like I was truly with my people. The horror writing community is magic. And many of them also write science fiction and fantasy! In fact, you'll see some of the above folks below in our anthology!
It was also terrific to meet my ATACAMA publishers of Sley House Publishing, who traveled far to be there.
I plan to attend StokerCon in 2025, when it will be in Stamford, Connecticut. My first trip to New England! And it necessitates my first visit to NYC since I was TWO years old! Unless I travel there sooner for other reasons...
I also had a rather stunning invitation from someone at StokerCon for another event in 2025. Stay tuned for that news; I'm not sure when I can share it yet.
Anthology Update!
In case you missed the news, my husband Gareth L. Powell and I making our own publishing imprint! Our first book is a cross-genre anthology. Announced authors : Adrian Tchaikovsky, Cynthia Pelayo, Ai Jiang, T.L. Huchu, Paul Cornell, Bonnie Burton, David Quantick, Eugen Bacon, Peter McLean, Ren Hutchings, Renan Bernardo, Greg van Eekhout, Pedro Iniguez, KC Grifant, Jonathan Maberry, Dennis K. Crosby, D.K. Stone, Cavan Scott, Sarah L. Miles, J.L. Worrad, Antony Johnston, Mya Duong, Helen Glynn Jones, Alice James, Khan Wong, Kali Wallace, Stark Holborn, Laurel Hightower, Gemma Amor, and Lizbeth Myles!
....and there may be a few more! We are nearing completion of the roster.
We are crowdfunding this endeavor for our cross-genre anthology (tentatively publishing February 11, 2025). Currently, we are 35% funded! You can help us reach our fundraising goal. Read more at this link below. Rewards for your donations start from $5 on up, higher tiers offer books, and still higher tiers include classes from both me and Gareth and other perks!
Money donated goes directly to paying our authors and for expenses in the making of the book.
We've already been editing stories from some of our authors, and we've seen the drafts of the cover art. It's gorgeous! We will see the final cover this week. More news to come.
We are debuting the website, name, cover art, and all other imprint-related goodies in mid-July, deliberately a week before San Diego Comic-Con, which I will attend. I have had several consultations with the web team and I have seen an early framing of the website. It's professional, because that's what the design firm specializes in.
Do follow me at Ko-fi above to receive updates on our publishing imprint and the anthology! And thank you for spreading the word.
I'm Going to San Diego Comic-Con!
I'll be on a panel at San Diego Comic-Con, the biggest fandom convention in the U.S., in late July this year! I can share that the panel is called "It All Starts with a Word". From the moderator: "This panel will be about how to start writing the novel that's in your head, what challenges you can expect, the best advice on how to push through them, and dispelling some of the myths and misconceptions about publishers and agents, peppered with some stories and anecdotes from the trenches."
More details as I can share them. SDCC tends not to release its official schedules until closer to the event.
On the Screen
This week's Doctor Who was an incredibly powerful episode worth a revisit. Ncuti Gatwa is a phenomenal Doctor, and the season keeps getting stronger.
I also watched Mad Max: Fury Road with one of my teens. This was his first Mad Max movie. He was riveted, and thought that Furiosa was an amazing character. Now he wants to watch the other films, and then eventually we'll likely watch the new prequel, Furiosa, together. I plan to see it at the theater this week.
On the Page
I'm still enjoying an advance review copy (ARC) of Stark Holborn's latest book, NINTH LIFE. The Factus series is very much a Mad Max: Fury Road sort of setting on another planet, with some space western vibes and a few splashes of Dune and some spooky elements thrown in, but it's a totally unique book series, and I love it.
Writing Update
I have been "writing in the margins" of everything and I admit I VERY MUCH look forward to getting back to a summer writing routine next week. I'm rather behind, and it's starting to get to me.
The Week Ahead
This is a work deadline week for my science writing gig, and then my attention turns to the Nebula Conference and all its goings-on.
Hope you all have a lovely first full week of June.
Thank you, as always, for your support.
Write on!
Jendia
