Slacker Kris and The Overdue Post of Doom

Okay, full disclosure here: Very little in the title of this post is true. I’m not a slacker. I got behind due to Life Events. (See this week’s Business Blog.) Then I spent a week catching up. And then I taught the Mystery Workshop here on the coast—and had a blast. Great storytellers, every one of them. Sunday, I face-planted. But I had work to do. You see, we had a Kickstarter going live this week, and while WMG’s Gwyneth Gibby has lots more video editing experience than I do (as in, an entire career in it), I had to do the video because, you see, we’ve revived Pulphouse. There was no way to explain what I wanted in that video, which was primarily voice and history. It was—I thought—easier to do it myself.

Hah! The universe has ways of reminding one (ahem, me) that I am not superhuman, despite best efforts. I spent Monday and Tuesday on the video until…well, have you ever driven while tired, and you hit that point where everything sparkles and you can’t remember how the gearshift works? Yeah, I hit that point Tuesday afternoon on the video. I had sound issues, and couldn’t solve them for the life of me. So, I turned over the soundless video to Gwyneth who inserted a hastily recorded voice-over (done before I passed out), added all the important fiddly stuff (detail work I was not capable of any more), and two hours later, handed the video to Dean. (Had I done all that fiddly stuff, I would have spent another 4 hours minimum, without the voiceover. That woman is a wizard.)

Kickstarter video finished, and fortunately, The Voice had started, and Star Trek: Discovery had premiered and my TV chair sang its little siren song. Because I couldn’t move.

So…first…here’s the video. Which is dang fun if I do say so myself. Although it does make me feel old. Watch that little moment when Dean and I age from the fresh-faced idealistic kids we were to the older but wiser folks we are now. (Why does my brain insert Robert Preston singing “The Sadder But Wiser Girl For Me” at this point?)

We’re really excited about reviving Pulphouse. We’re bringing back old stories and some great new ones. And having a lot of fun, as you can probably tell. An electronic subscription will set you back all of $15 or you can get a sample issue for $5. If you want to see what we did back in the day, you can spend $150 and get a set of the original magazine plus a two-year paper subscription. There are a ton of other rewards, including some for writers, so head on over.

Or just watch the video. Watch me age… 🙂

One of the many things that got set aside this past month was focused promotion. Which really wasn’t fair to the folks who rely on me when we do Storybundles. I’m in two Storybundles at the moment. I managed to tell you about the first bundles, which features my Kristine Grayson novel Tiffany Tumbles. Lots of great adventure fiction in that one. (Here’s the longer post explaining everything.) You have less than a week to snatch up all these great books.

The bundle I haven’t even mentioned started last week and runs until October 12. Dean and Allyson Longueira curated this one. It’s called The Aliens Among Us bundle, and is chock full of science fiction about aliens. Allyson insisted we include a short novel of mine. It’s one of her favorites. It’s called The End of the World. It’s an Oregon story with tons of aliens, based just a tiny bit on Oregon history.

You’ll find lots of great writers (and great aliens) in this bundle. New York Times bestseller, Mike Shepherd, shared one of his novels in the Kris Longknife world. This one features a side character, Rita Longknife. If you never read any of Mike’s fiction, here’s your chance to dive in. The same goes for Blaze Ward, whose sf novels have really taken off this year. One of my favorites, Marcelle Dubé, combines history and aliens (hmmm. Like me!).

You’ll find one of Dean’s Seeders Universe stories. If you haven’t read those, you’re missing something special. Kevin J. Anderson & Doug Beason included a truly scary thriller which still terrifies me, years after I read it. Eric Kent Edstrom somehow manages to get us to think about Bigfoot and aliens. Stefon Mears puts aliens in Manhattan (redundant? I don’t think so). And then there’s the amazing Robert Jeschonek. His fans call him Planet Bob, because no one else thinks like he does. You’ll see. His book includes many of his most well-known short stories.

But not one of my favorites, “The Empire of Underpants.” For that one, you’ll need to read Fiction River: No Humans Allowed…which is (luckily) included in this Storybundle as well.

If you pay as little as $15, you can get all of those books. Add a touch more and give some money to our charity, AbleGamers, which helps disabled folk get gaming equipment that allows them to join the online gaming community. So head on over and get some great reading.

Finally, one more fun thing. Remember I mentioned that Gwyneth Gibby has tons of video experience. WMG Publishing is finally setting her loose on some video ads and she did a short fun one for The Runabout. (The Runabout, for those of you don’t know, just appeared in paper, ebook, and audio.)

So, you can see something she did showcasing her experience rather than stepping in for me, the beginner. Enjoy! (I’m going back to my chair now…)