Posted By Ron on March 3, 2010
The top five member websites linking to pikespeakwriters.com in 2009 are:
ianthealy.blogspot.com — 6,709 visits
yatyeechong.blogspot.com — 3,935 visits
karenamandahooper.blogspot.com — 2,043 visits
edenlane.blogspot.com — 1,798 visits
suspense.net (Laura Haden) — 1,458 visits
Drop by their sites, and give them a big HOOAHH!
Posted By DeAnna on February 13, 2010
Becker, Cynthia. “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.” Colorado Country Life, March 2010, the Magazine of the Colorado Rural Electric Association. A feature article. Author website at chipeta.wordpress.com.
Cynthia Becker is the author of the biography Chipeta: Ute Peacemaker (Filter Press, 2008) and winner of the 2009 Laura Award for Short Story from Women Writing the West.
Berg, Carol. The Spirit Lens. New American Library/Roc Books (January 5, 2010; ISBN 978-0451463111). A fantasy/mystery novel for adults, in trade paperback, 480 pages. Purchase from any brick-and-mortar or online bookseller. Read an excerpt and author website at www.sff.net/people/carolberg. Author blog at textcrumbs.blogspot.com.
In a kingdom on the verge of a grand renaissance, where natural science has supplanted failing sorcery, someone aims to revive a savage rivalry. For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery’s decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life’s bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria’s last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the king of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled. As the king’s new agente confide, Portier?much to his dismay?is partnered with the popinjay Ilario de Sylvae, the laughingstock of Sabria’s court. Then the need to infiltrate a magical cabal leads Portier to Dante, a brooding, brilliant young sorcerer whose heretical ideas and penchant for violence threaten to expose the investigation before it’s begun. But in an ever-shifting landscape of murders, betrayals, old secrets, and unholy sorcery, the three agentes will be forced to test the boundaries of magic, nature, and the divine…
Former software engineer Carol Berg never expected to become an award-winning author. But her hobby of writing epic fantasy novels got out of hand. Her eleven novels have won the Geffen, the Prism, multiple Colorado Book Awards, and the 2009 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature. She’s taught writing in the US, Canada, Scotland, and Israel, and received reader mail from the slopes of Denali to beneath the Mediterranean. All amazing for one who majored in math and computer science to avoid writing papers.
Bille, Matt. “Tanith’s Choice.” All About Eve, edited by Carol Hightshoe (WolfSinger Publications, 2010). A short fantasy story for adults, 3000 words. Purchase from www.wolfsingerpubs.com/AllAboutEve.html. Author website at www.mattwriter.com.
All About Eve, edited by Carol Hightshoe, is an anthology of original fiction concerning the mother of us all. Tanith’s Choice sees the green unspoiled Earth through the just-opened eyes of the first woman. She is the creation of Zeus, a powerful angel begotten of Jehovah. She struggles with the mystery of her own existence and with the choice laid out before her. She will shape the future by choosing whether to remain Tanith, under Zeus’s rule of limited freedom but assured abundance, or to become Eve by accepting Jehovah’s risky offering of free will.
Matt Bille is a writer and researcher living in Colorado Springs. He has published three nonfiction works, including two books on the world’s rarest and least-known animals and The First Space Race, a well-reviewed history of the dawning of the space age. He is finishing his first novel, the ecothriller Apex Predator, and working on several other projects in fiction and nonfiction.
Farber, Kirk. Postcards from a Dead Girl. Harper Perennial (February 16, 2010; ISBN 978-0061834479). A mainstream novel for adults, in trade paperback, 256 pages. Purchase from any brick-and-mortar or online bookseller. Author website at www.kirkfarber.com. Author appearances at www.kirkfarber.com/events.
Sid is going crazy…
A telemarketer at a travel agency, Sid is becoming unhinged and superneurotic. Lately he’s been obsessed with car washes and mud baths. His hypochondria is driving his doctor sister mad. And it’s all because of his ex-girlfriend, Zoe, who’s sending him postcards from her European adventure, one that they were supposed to take together. It’s all quite upsetting.
A fact-finding tour of local post offices—and a new friendship with postman Gerald—followed by a solo European jaunt will do little to ease his anxiety. A long talk with his mother’s spirit in a wine bottle doesn’t help either. But what he really needs are a few more tentative dates with the chatty Candyce. Sid needs to get over Zoe and find love again—even though Zoe, apparently, has no inclination to be gotten over.
Wonderfully poignant, funny, odd, and more than a bit macabre, Postcards from a Dead Girl marks the emergence of a truly gifted and original literary voice.
Kirk lives with his wife in Colorado and works at a library with a mountain view.
Healy, Ian Thomas. “Graceful Blur.” Thousand Faces Quarterly (Late Feb./Early March 2010). A superhero short story, in print or online, 3500 words. Purchase or read at www.thousand-faces.com. Author website at www.ianthealy.com.
Mustang Sally, the fastest girl in the world, tries to break the speed of sound at Speed Week…on foot.
To quote Ian, “I rock. I will sign anybody’s copy who thrusts it aggressively at me at the PPWC. I will also sign certain body parts if asked very nicely.”
Hightshoe, Carol. Sorcerous Signals (February–April 2010). A fantasy e-zine, at www.sorceroussignals.com. Author website at www.carolhightshoe.com.
Come, follow the Sorcerous Signals into new realms: Realms of Imagination, Wonder and Magic. Places where heroes walk, wizards weave magic and mystical creatures dwell.
Leigh, Morgen. “In the Beginning.” Lorelei Signals (WolfSinger Publications, April 2010) and Mystic Signals (WolfSigner Publications, May 2010). A short story for adults, in print or online.
A feminist fairytale.
Posted By Ron on December 4, 2009
From Janet Fogg, Author of Soliloquy–out January 15, 2010 from Wild Rose Press–regarding how her attendance at the media workshop at the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers Conference helped her prepare her social media marketing plan. (The media workshop was part of the optional Thursday advanced track.)
Hi, Ron! I attended the Thursday all-day marketing panel before the PPW conference this spring and thought you might be interested to learn that I took your words to heart, filming this Author Spotlight in anticipation of my book’s release in January. Also have a short teaser trailer and will launch my last bit of video in January when I release the full trailer. See, old students really do haunt their teachers – and we listen, too!!! Best regards and thanks again for sharing your words of wisdom regarding social networking. Janet
Follow Janet on YouTube , along with the the PikesPeakWriters Channel and watch for information on the 2010 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, coming soon. Save the dates April 23-25, 2010 at the Colorado Springs Marriott.
Posted By DeAnna on November 28, 2009
Congratulations to our Pikes Peak Writers who are being published this quarter! Please let me know if you are having something published in the near future. Thanks!
Fogg, Janet. Soliloquy. The Wild Rose Press (January 15, 2009; ISBN 1-60154-588-6). A time-travel romance novel for adults, in softcover and digital formats. Purchase from the publisher’s website at www.thewildrosepress.com, Amazon, and other online sources. Author website at www.janetfogg.com and www.jfoggblog.blogspot.com.
A tale of passion. Of heroes, hope, and the consequences of creating extraordinary music amidst the dark nights of World War II. Erin Lockhart Meyer’s sudden passage backward in time to World War II France forces her to use her music to protect members of the Resistance from the attention of a German officer. A concert pianist and composer, now she’s performing for her life. But what she thought was already an impenetrable maze of confusion becomes even more mystifying when she helps a wounded British pilot evade capture. Arick. Arick Ambrose. She recognizes him; knows his name. But she knows him from her own life and time. How could he be here as well? Does he remember her? Erin’s attraction to Arick could prove deadly as the German officer demands more and more from Erin. Will she learn how to return to her own time? If she does return, will she ever find Arick again? For Erin, time is running out.
Raised in Colorado, Janet Fogg’s interest in writing flourished in the 5th grade when awarded bronze for a statewide essay contest. The essay’s first sentence? “George Washington was a great man.” Definitely a winner! Janet’s focus on novel-length fiction began while CFO for the coolest architectural firm in Boulder. Three novels and numerous awards later, writing became her vocation when Janet resigned from OZ Architecture in 2008. In addition to refining her marketing plans for Soliloquy, Janet’s currently at work on a SF manuscript and two collaborative, narrative non-fictions. In her free time she has fun with cars with husband Richard.
Groundwater, Beth. The Epsiolon Eridani Alternative. Virtual Tales (December 8, 2009; Paperback 1-935460-13-7; eBook 1-935460-19-6). A hard SF novella for adults, in paperback, eSerial, and eBook formats. Purchase from the publisher’s website at www.virtualtales.com/Science-Fiction/Epsilon-Eridani-Alternative.html. Author website at www.bethgroundwater.com and bethgroundwater.blogspot.com.
What would you do if you were confronted with a “kill or be-killed” scenario? What if that meant that you had to kill an infant of an alien species to save your own life? And what if the future of the human race depended on your decision? Space colonists from Earth crash-land on a planet orbiting the star Epsilon Eridani and immediately wrestle with an ethical dilemma. They emerge from their stasis pods 33 years older than when they started and must decide whether or not to harvest stem cells from alien infants to counteract the effects of human aging… even though the process will kill the infants. As factions develop among the astronauts, the scientists race ahead with experiments to restore their youthful vigor, and must face the unexpected consequences of their choices.
Beth Groundwater writes the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series (A Real Basket Case, nominated for the 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award, and To Hell in a Handbasket, May, 2009). Beth also writes the Mandy Tanner river ranger mystery series (the first of which, Wicked Whitewater, will be released in 2010). Her science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, was published in November, 2009, and she has published eight short stories. Beth lives in Colorado and enjoys its many outdoor activities, including skiing and whitewater rafting.
Houk, Mandy. “For Richer, for Poorer” in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Counting Your Blessings: 101 Stories of Gratitude, Fortitude, and Silver Linings. Chicken Soup for the Soul (November 3, 2009; ISBN 1935096400). A nonfiction story for adults. Purchase from Amazon. Author website at www.mandyhouk.com.
These inspirational stories remind us that each day holds something to be thankful for — whether it is having the sun shine or having food on the table. Power outages and storms, health scares and illnesses, job woes and financial insecurities, housing challenges and family worries test us all. But there is always a silver lining. The simple pleasures of family, home, health, and inexpensive good times are described. These stories of optimism, faith, and strength will make a great start to 2010.
Mandy Houk is a freelance writer and editor and creative writing teacher. She is currently working on her second novel (not expecting the first one to see the light of day).
Wisgirda, Nancy, writing as Nancy Williams. Hawkmoon. Loon in Balloon, Inc. (November 12, 2009; ISBN 978-0-9737497-7-9). A Western novel for adults. Purchase from www.looninballoon.com or Amazon. Author website at nlwbooks.com.
Set on the frontier plains, Hawkmoon is a story of love versus possession. Abandoned at a circus, orphan Sadie Hawkmoon is abducted by Ice, a brutal horse thief who has run a murderous gang up and down the plains since the end of the Civil War. He claims her for his child, but one dark night, in the most vicious act of betrayal, he makes her his lover, and, over the course of the next four years, his protégé. Sadie must find a way out or lose herself forever. Escaping Ice’s clutches, she crosses paths with fiery Seth Wilder. While driving a herd of horses to auction in Denver, they clash in their struggle to understand love, and whether they can find it in themselves and for each other. All the while Ice looms like a storm on the horizon, obsessed with getting Hawkmoon back.
Nancy Williams is a graduate of Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. Nancy grew up on a farm in Meadville, where she currently lives with two cats, two dogs, two cows and two horses. Hawkmoon is her first published novel. Nancy is a winner of the Paul Gillette Award in the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers’ competition for her novel Grace.
Posted By Ron on November 2, 2009
We are excited to announce the following VIP judges, who will be judging the final round of the 2010 Pikes Peak Writers Fiction Contest: The Paul Gillette Awards.
Children’s: Jennifer Rees, Scholastic
Historical Fiction: Rachelle Gardner, WordServe Literary Group
Mainstream: Donald Maass, Donald Maass Literary Agency
Mystery/Suspense/Intrigue: Kathleen Gilligan, Thomas Dunne (St. Martins) Books
Romance: Brenda Chin,Harlequin
Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Literary Agency
Short Story: Denise Little, Tor
Young Adult: Stefanie Von Borstel, Full Circle Literary Agency
Entry deadline November 15, 2009. Get Rules and Information Register.
Posted By Ron on October 30, 2009
Special to the Pikes Peak Writers Blog from Mandy Houk, PPW NewsMagazine Editor.
Mandy Houk
Last year, I did not plan to participate in NaNoWriMo. I’d heard about it in years past and pretty much avoided even thinking about it. It was too huge of a thing for little old me to handle.
But I’d joined Pikes Peak Writers several months earlier, and the emails from NaNo participants were hard to ignore. They were so excited—the rookies and the old-timers alike. They were sending buddy requests, counting down days, outlining their plots, planning write-in parties. The excitement, the giddiness, the buzz—they were contagious.
To put it simply: I succumbed to peer pressure.
And by November 30th I’d turned an idea that had been rattling around in my head for two years into the first 52,000 words of my second novel. My first novel (which currently resides in the proverbial drawer) took me nearly a year to write, so nobody was more astonished at my NaNo accomplishment than I was.
This year, I wasn’t planning to participate again. I’ve got the NewsMag Editor thing to think about, along with teaching a Creative Writing class and home schooling my middle school daughter. And I don’t have a new idea—nor an old one that’s waiting for attention.
But I have promised my Creative Writing students (and both of my writing-loving daughters) to keep them informed about contest and publication opportunities for youth. When I saw the Young Writers Program within NaNoWriMo, I was thrilled to share the opportunity with them.
Then a funny thing happened. A bunch of them—including both of my daughters—signed up. So I had to sign up as the esteemed “Educator.” (Technically, I don’t think the esteem is automatic. But I can dream.) Turns out that when you sign up as an Educator, you’re automatically entered into the challenge.
At first, I was annoyed. I hadn’t planned to join the insanity again. Not because I hadn’t loved it last year—I really did. But last year, I had a ripe idea just waiting to drop off the tree. Even though it was tricky to work writing into my daily schedule (and holiday cooking, baking, cleaning, and hostessing), it was also a huge thrill. And it gave me a new vision of myself as someone who actually can do huge things, not just dream about them. That’s something that will last me a lifetime.
So I spent a couple of days being annoyed. Griping. Whining. It was a fun couple of days. And then I started looking at the YWP workbooks (they really are, as the site says, “non-lame”). And I started receiving emails from my students, who are absolutely boiling over with excitement. They’re setting cool word count goals (13,013 in one case). They’re asking me how to schedule their writing. They’re asking me about my novel, and telling me it sounds really funny. (It’s not supposed to be. It’s supposed to be poignant. I might need to rethink my logline.)
All of this is beginning to feel quite familiar. The group dynamics of sharing a common goal, a common dream. The contagion of excitement. The giddiness. The buzz.
Apparently, peer pressure crosses generational boundaries. Even by twenty or thirty years.
Posted By Ron on August 25, 2009
Elmer Kelton, icon in western fiction and faculty member at the 2002 Pikes Peak Writers conference, died Saturday, August 22 at the age of 83. (Read the full article)
Below is the bio material from the 2002 PPWC program brochure:
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Elmer is the author of 38 novels and his latest, Badger Boy, came out in January 2001. Three of his novels have appeared in Reader’s Digest Condensed Books. Four have won the Western Heritage Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Oklahoma City. Six have won the Spur award from Western Writers of America. In 1987 he received the Barbara McCombs/Lon Tinkle Award for “continuing excellence in Texas letters” from the Texas Institute of Letters. In 1990 he received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Western Literature Association. The Texas Legislature proclaimed Elmer Kelton Day in April 1997. In 1998 he received the first Lone Star award for Lifetime Achievement from the Larry McMurtry Center for Arts and
Humanities at Midwestern State University in Texas. He also received honorary doctorates from Hardin-Simmons University and Texas Tech University. He was given a lifetime achievement award by the National Cowboy Symposium in Lubbock.
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Posted By Ron on July 8, 2009
The 2009 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, including an interview with Jeffery Deaver, was featured in the premier episode of Infocus with Eden Lane on KBDI public television, and aired June 28. Here is the full episode! Thanks, Eden for the coverage and the link.
Posted By Ron on June 4, 2009
Reprinted from the Pikes Peak Writers NewsMagazine
October of 2008 tossed us, and six billion other people, some challenges. As deadlines loomed for the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, our organization went after each of these challenges, only to be slapped by another one almost without delay. Rumors of budget cuts in the New York houses brought concerns that some of our faculty, agents, and editors might not be able to attend. Skyrocketing fuel prices drove concerns about transportation costs for faculty and guests. For a number of reasons, we had more changes in faculty than ever in the history of PPWC, some within days of the conference start.
Bleak economic news, layoffs, bailouts, financial collapse, all became commonplace descriptors of the world around us, each being a harbinger of a potential PPWC disaster. To paraphrase Chief Dan George in the movie The Outlaw Josie Wales, “we endeavored to persevere…”
Should we increase conference fees in a rapidly receding economy? Should we change our policies on faculty, and perhaps risk a potential drop in quality? Could we add new programs to the conference agenda? Should we? We got news that a major sponsor had dropped sponsorship for 2009. Were we on the path to catastrophe? We no longer viewed The Hero’s Journey just as a formula for storytelling, but as a function of our quest for success. With the help of valued partners, we took up the gauntlet.
April 27, the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers conference has ended-successfully. Hundreds of smiling faces graced the halls, lobbies and conference rooms. Hundreds of eager minds fed on the accumulated knowledge of esteemed, well-prepared faculty. Airplanes landed, meals disappeared to nourish the eager minds, bottles emptied. Conversations created new friendships and solidified old ones. Airplanes departed. There was no catastrophe.
We did not increase conference fees, nor did we reduce the quality of our invited faculty. We did add four new programs; a full day on Thursday, speed pitching, a large book signing and open mic readings, all of which were immensely successful. And we did overcome the loss of a major sponsor.
At conference, we awarded significant players in our success, heroes in our journey whose stories appear elsewhere in this expanded edition of the NewsMag. A web page, currently in development, will tell the tales of all the heroes who strode against operational challenges and the hordes of operational minutiae. The space on this page, and another minute of your time are for another group of heroes are not those we see every day, but are indeed the behind-the-scenes magicians who pull the levers, pulleys and strings to make everything come together. Those who enable us to beat back the demons of the 2009 economy.
Hotel Heroes: Stacy Peak and Kayla Conger of the Colorado Springs Marriott led a phenomenal staff, and worked for hours with us to provide value options and creative solutions for the hundreds of details it takes to mount a conference of this size. Glenn Hodge, also of the Marriott, worked with us to form a joint venture as an innovative answer to our audio recordings and delivery of completed CDs and DVDs.
Travel Hero: When fuel costs began to soar, and last minute faculty changes occurred, Liz Mueller at Travel Travel worked some special magic to keep our travel costs within budget all the way to the end.
Publicity Heroes: Carrie Simison-Bitz, Jill Thomas, and the Colorado Springs Independent helped us to spread the word with out-of-the-box ways to expand our advertising messages in both depth and breadth.
Fundraising Hero: Dogosaurus Ruh Mandeville, and his mom Chris of course, went paws full out to chase down replacement dollars for our lost corporate sponsorship. Ruh’s Boosters and the Pen Pal program (thanks to pens donated by Rainbow Editing and 150 gift donors) gained back those lost dollars, with a little to spare.
Faculty Heroes: Linda Rohrbough, Angel Smits, Susan Mitchell, and Deb Courtney showed up on the field of honor a full day early to do presentations in three optional tracks.
My quota of magic words is fading fast. Please think a thought of thanks for those who helped us bring this all together. With dedicated partners beside us, we picked up the gauntlet-and won.
Posted By Ron on March 17, 2009
We’re excited about the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, and are using YouTube to help get the word out. This is our first shot!
