What's in a Week - Vol. 50
This week we launch our imprint! My Comic-Con Panel info is up! Also, dragons?
This week we launch our imprint! My Comic-Con Panel info is up! Also, dragons?
Anthology Update!
In case you missed the news, my husband Gareth L. Powell and I are building 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, Dennis K. Crosby, D.K. Stone, 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, Jonathan L. Howard, and Lizbeth Myles!
As of July 14, the gorgeous book cover is complete, and we will debut all of this Friday, July 19! The cover artist pulled some elements of the book design out so I can make stickers and other swag from them. We have also made our first MSWL (manuscript wish list) for literary agents, for standalone works.
We are crowdfunding this endeavor for our cross-genre anthology (tentatively publishing February 11, 2025). Currently, we are 44% funded! You can help us reach our fundraising goal. 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!
Read more at this link below:
Money donated goes directly to paying our authors and for expenses in the making of the book.
It also ensures we can make more anthologies, because I have several themed ones in the works! We will also publish novels, novellas, novelettes, and more.
Do follow me at Ko-fi above to receive updates on our publishing imprint and the anthology! And thank you for spreading the word.
A Visit to Monrovia and the Warhammer Store and Cafe
Scenes from Monrovia: the Warhammer Store & Cafe, a pan of kimchi fried rice with a fried egg on top, and plant-based almond butter chocolate chip ice cream.
On Saturday, I drove out to Monrovia to visit the Warhammer Store and Cafe. As you can see, I made a friend! This is a great shop where you can get all sorts of miniatures and gaming implements, as well as books and other ephemera, for your Warhammer fan or for yourself. I was pleased to see books written some of my friends, such as Adrian Tchaikovsky. I'd love to write some stories in this universe one day.
After that, I stepped along the sidewalk to K-Chicken & Beer for a sizzling platter of kimchi fried rice. It was superb. I walked across the street after that to cool my flaming mouth at Moo Moo Mia, an ice cream parlor with both dairy and non-dairy frozen treats. I tried the plant-based almond butter chocolate chip ice cream, and it was so fabulous that I ordered extra to take home!
I did not, sadly, bring the giant chainsword home with me. One day!
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., on July 27 at 7:30 PM 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."
I'm joined by panel moderator and artist Vince Alvendia, Dennis K. Crosby (one of our anthology contributors!), Megan Haskell, Curtis Clow, Arthur N. Ebuen, Justin Giampaoli, and Dr. Janina Scarlet.
More about my panel:
Anthology I'm In Arrives
Meanwhile, I got my contributor copy and a few others I bought of the VERY limited edition (only 200 copies) anthology, Moving Across the Landscape in Search of an Idea, out now via Air & Nothingness Press. Each story has incredibly long titles and footnotes! Also it's a trip to share a table of contents with Scott Edelman. Buy your copy while you can!
On the Screen
Supacell on Netflix has captured my attention this week. I just finished watching the first season. This is a London-based emerging superhero (and villain?) show that I really enjoyed. I want unlimited seasons of it! Highly recommended.
On the Page
I've got some advance reader copies (ARCs) of upcoming books that I'm reading and providing blurbs for. I'm also researching some Southern Hemisphere nature facts for something I'm working on.
Writing Update
🐉I may have news about my dragon fantasy this coming week or next. Stay tuned!🐉
Meanwhile, last week, a two-book deal news was announced! The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel and The Dawn of Dusk and Twilight are already underway. The first (sequel to my four-award-nominated The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern) is due January 2025. The second is due December 2025.
Read more about this sequel and prequel news:
Atacama update: My publisher has sent early review copies of my 2025 thriller/horror/sci-fi book Atacama (out May 13, 2025 from Sley House Publishing) to select authors to get blurb quotes for the book. I'm loving the feedback it's received so far! We announced the cover artist for Atacama as well: Chris Panatier, who is also an author! You can see Chris's magnificent work here:
I believe the cover art for Doomflower (out April 8, 2025 from Encyclopocalypse Publications) and book edits start soon as well.
Currently, I'm working on the The Secret of the Sapphire Sentinel mentioned above, a weird Appalachian horror novella (which I will finish this month), and a dark romantasy that takes place in the same universe as my dragon fantasy.
This winter, I may return to a sci-fi space thriller collaborative novella...but only after both of us have finished our other contracted book duties! We have an agent's interest in sending this on submission when it's finished, so that's exciting.
The Week Ahead
This week will focus quite a bit on the imprint debut scheduled for Friday, July 19! Gareth and I are so excited to share this new venture with the world.
I've also got a science writing deadline (as well as its own web launch, which hopefully my boss will let me share soon), some art to finish and mail, and shipping some books that I donated to an auction.
Hope you all have a peaceful week ahead.
Write on!
Jendia
