Finding a Home for your Story

Our guest for the October 28th Zoom Chat is award-winning novelist Sarah Pinsker!

Sarah’s first novel, A SONG FOR A NEW DAY, won the Nebula Award this spring, and her short fiction has won the Nebula, Sturgeon, and Philip K. Dick Awards and been finalist for the Hugo and World Fantasy Award, among others. Her first collection, SOONER OR LATER EVERYTHING FALLS INTO THE SEA (Small Beer Press) was also published in 2019. She’s also a singer/songwriter with three albums and another forthcoming. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

We’ll be discussing how to find a home for your story, but Sarah is willing to answer any questions you may have.

This will be at 8 pm EST. The link to join is here.

The Case of the Unearthed Evidence

Cincinnati, October 1918 — As the Spanish influenza rages around the world, a body is buried behind a residence in an upscale neighborhood and concealed from discovery. What a perfect time to hide a crime …

Cincinnati, October 1965 — Fritz, the irrepressible six-month-old puppy belonging to Professor of Music Augusta McKee and her husband of six months, Homicide Detective Malcolm Mitchell, digs up a human bone in a neighbor’s yard where a flagstone patio is being replaced. An investigation quickly determines a body was buried there forty-seven years earlier—in 1918. Who was the victim? Who was the killer? Malcolm, with Augusta’s help, tracks down the decades-old clues to a crime of passion. Is it possible a case that old, that cold, could still be solved? Meanwhile, Malcolm is nearing the end of the investigation of a more recent crime, the murder of a young Cincinnati patrolman four years ago, in 1961. The police are convinced they know the identity of the killer, but they have a deadline to meet. Will they be able to prove it before the case goes cold? Will either of these victims receive justice?

THE CASE OF THE UNEARTHED EVIDENCE is the latest in Pocono Liar Susan Moore Jordan‘s popular Augusta McKee mystery series. You can get your copy now here!

How to overcome story implausibility

Circuses that arrive by night, meteors hollowed out for low-tech space travel—how can we make our readers believe? Our guest at the October 14th Zoom Chat will be Kathryn Craft who will discuss concrete techniques that best-selling authors use to navigate the implausible and take your questions. 

Kathryn Craft is the author of novels The Art of Falling and The Far End of Happy (Sourcebooks), and chapters in Author in Progress and The Complete Handbook of Novel Writing (Writers Digest Books). Her 13 years as a freelance developmental editor inform monthly posts at WriterUnboxed.com, her Your Novel Year program, and her work with students enrolled in Drexel University’s MFA program. Kathryn is a member of the award-winning Tall Poppy Writers, and serves as the Women’s Fiction Writers Association’s 2020 Guiding Scribe. 

Her website is http://www.kathryncraft.com/for-writers.html

Writing for Plays (and Comic Strips)

Our guest at next week’s Zoom Chat is Pab Sungenis, who will be talking about writing for plays and even comic strips!

Pab is a broadcaster who has worked for many radio stations, but is best known for his comic strip The New Adventures of Queen Victoria, which is syndicated daily by Universal Uclick. He is the author of the Sidekick series of Young Adult novels, published by Month9Books, and of the novels Go To Hell and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Columbine. He’s also written some plays which have been produced, and that’s one of the things we’ll be discussing at the chat.

The chat is free and is on Wednesday, September 30th at 8 pm EST.  Details on how to join are here.

Facing the Public

Simply writing a good story isn’t enough. You need to sell it to agents, editors, and readers. You’ll be expected to participate in discussions online and at workshops and conventions.  You’ll want an “elevator pitch” and a way to show that you know how to use words, both in your writing and in your speaking. And that’s not easy. Studies show that “public speaking” is a fear many people have.

Join us on Wednesday, September 16th at 8pm EST for a discussion about “Facing the Public” with three people who have never experienced that fear. Writer/actors Keith Strunk and Teel James Glenn will answer your questions, hosted by Pocono Liars Club founder Michael A. Ventrella.

Teel James Glenn has killed hundreds and been killed more times — on stage and screen as he has traveled the world for forty plus years as a stuntman, fight choreographer, swordmaster, jouster, illustrator, storyteller, bodyguard, actor and haunted house barker.  He appeared on all the New York Soap operas, Spenser for Hire and in more movies that show up on Showtime and Cinemax then he wants to admit. His stories have been printed in over a hundred magazines from Weird Tales, Mystery Weekly, Pulp Adventures, Spinetingler, SciFan, Mad, Black Belt, Fantasy Tales, Pulp Empire, Cirvosa, Sherlock Holmes Mystery, SciFan, Crimson Streets, AfterburnSF, and Blazing Adventures.  He is also the winner of the 2012 Pulp Ark Award for Best Author. His website is TheUrbanSwashbuckler.com

Keith Strunk is an actor, author, teacher, producer, and a co-founder of River Union Stage, a professional Equity theater based in New Jersey.  He holds an MFA in Theater and has worked in commercials, independent film, stage, and industrial/corporate.  An award-winning scriptwriter, Keith has written a variety of film and stage scripts including a stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol.  He is the author of PRALLSVILLE MILLS AND STOCKTON, and THE DELAWARE RIVER SCENIC BYWAY, both from Arcadia Publishing, and “What Lies Between” in the LIAR LIAR Short Story Anthology.  He has directed and produced Shakespeare Theater with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders for more than a dozen years, is co-host of The Liars Club Oddcast and a founding member of the Liars Club.

 

Let’s Connect

A year after his divorce, Daniel Stroman has decided that he’s too young to die —- or fuse permanently with his couch. But when he downloads the dating app “Let’s Connect” and starts dating, his success/fail ratio isn’t encouraging until he gets a connection request from Robin.

Everything about Robin’s profile is different, from the bright little bird he’s using as an avatar to the long and thoughtful answers he’s written for the standard questions. He’s witty, funny, and easy to talk to. Robin could be his perfect match. But Robin is holding something back.

Then again, so is Dan—beginning with the seven-year crush he’s carried for his best friend, Trevor. Sadly, except for one brief moment, they’ve never been single at the same time.

Or have they?

LET’S CONNECT is the latest book from Pocono Liar Kelly Jensen, and it’s available now at Amazon and through Kindle Unlimited.

Writing for Themed Anthologies

Writing for themed anthologies is a great way to get noticed and have your work read. What are editors looking for? How can you make your story stick out and be accepted? Pocono Liar (and editor/writer) Michael A. Ventrella chats with authors and editors Randee Dawn and Keith R.A. DeCandido for the next Zoom Chat on September 2nd at 8 pm. Come on in and bring your questions!

Details on how to join are here.

Crossing Genres

Our guest for next week’s Zoom Chat is Megan Erickson, and the topic will be “crossing genres.”  We’ll discuss how publishers categorize books into genres, the way you can benefit from this, and the pitfalls of mixing them. Should you use a pen name when you change genres? Is it more important to specialize? Bring your questions!

Megan Erickson is a former journalist who decided she liked writing her own endings better and switched to fiction. She’s a multi-published USA Today bestselling romance author with publishers such as Avon, Berkley, and Hachette. She also writes science fiction romance as Ella Maven. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, two kids, two cats, a hamster, and a bearded dragon named Waffles.

That’s 8 pm EST on August 19th. For more details on how to join our free Zoom Chat, click here.

Devoted Friends

Grouchy former librarian Irwin Abernathy, presently the co-owner of Abernathy & Crane, is busy preparing the bookshop for the holidays. Meanwhile, his neighbor and nemesis, Alastair Brooke, lies dying next door. It’s no secret that Irwin and most of the town dislike the irritating antique dealer, but Irwin can’t imagine what nasty deed the vile little man did to deserve being murdered!

Then again––

Within moments of their arrival, the police suspect Irwin’s friend, ex-convict Darren Crane. His arrest launches everyone and everything at Abernathy & Crane into utter chaos. While poor, innocent Darren wallows away inside a jail cell, Irwin and his incorrigible friends are busy doing whatever it takes to prove his innocence––which frankly terrifies Darren almost as much as being hauled back to prison!

DEVOTED FRIENDS, by Pocono Liars Club member Sahar Abdulaziz, is a heartwarming story about the compassion and humor required when one is confronted by life’s many unpredictable obstacles. It is also about friendships driven by courage, dignity, and the unrelenting fortitude necessary when facing grief and heartbreak in a sometimes unfair, perfectly imperfect world.

Click here to order your copy in softcover and kindle on Amazon!

Historical novels and Alternative History novels

Join us next Wednesday, July 15th, at 8 pm, when our Zoom Chat guest will be Walter Hunt to discuss the research and work that goes into writing historical novels (and alternate history novels, which can be just as demanding). Bring your questions! (Click here for details on how to join the Zoom Chat).

Walter H. Hunt is a science fiction and historical fiction writer. He has been a professional since 2001, and has had eleven novels and ten short stories published. His Dark Wing universe series (The Dark Wing, The Dark Path, The Dark Ascent, and The Dark Crusade) were released by Tor Books between 2001 and 2005, and are now part of the Baen e-library. His historical novels A Song In Stone, Elements of Mind, Harmony In Light and, most recently, City By the Bay, were a departure from the science fiction genre and were critically praised. He has two novels and two short stories in the Ring of Fire / 1632 universe, most recently 1636: The Atlantic Encounter, which has just been published.

He lives in Massachusetts with his long-time wife, who is in the dedication of each of his novels. He is the librarian at the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts, and is an active Freemason and baseball fan.