Hot Anthologies for Cold Winter Nights

Dec21

The annual Smashwords End of Year Sale is underway. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are on sale and I’ll be highlighting many of them over the course of the sale here at the Web Journal. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device or gift them to friends without worrying about what e-reader they prefer. If you are shopping for a friend, just click “Give as a Gift” when you visit the Smashwords links!

Today, I’m featuring some great anthologies for those times when you want to curl up by a fire and enjoy an author’s work in one sitting.

In Exchange Students you can study abroad! See new places! Meet new people!

In our exchange student program, you can literally study anywhere or anywhen you can imagine. We’ll send you to new planets. We’ll send you to new dimensions and realms of existence. We’ll send you through time itself!

Don’t believe me? This exciting anthology contains many tales of our thrilling and educational exchange student program. You’ll read tales of aliens coming to earth and humans traveling to alien worlds. You’ll meet a denizen of Hell who travels to Heaven. Some students will discover their super powers on their journey. Other students will have encounters with the undead. You’ll meet a law enforcement officer who travels to the realm of the fae to help solve a crime of truly interdimensional proportions.

Featuring twenty-two amazing stories by Roze Albina Ches, Jaleta Clegg, Ken Goldman, Paula Hammond, Sheila Hartney, Chisto Healy, Joachim Heijndermans, Sean Jones, Tim Kane, Alden Loveshade, Tim McDaniel, J Louis Messina, Jennifer Moore, Brian Gene Olson, David B. Riley, Katherine Quevedo, Holly Schofield, Jonathan Shipley, Lesley L. Smith, Emily Martha Sorensen, Margret A. Treiber and Sherry Yuan

Exchange Students is available for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1005851. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

A Kepler’s Dozen is an anthology of action-packed, mysterious, and humorous stories all based on real planets discovered by the NASA Kepler mission. Edited by and contributing stories are David Lee Summers, author of The Pirates of Sufiro, and Steve B. Howell, project scientist for the Kepler mission. Whether on a prison colony, in a fast escape from the authorities, or encircling a binary star, thirteen exoplanet stories written by authors such as Mike Brotherton, Laura Givens, and J Alan Erwine will amuse, frighten, and intrigue you while you share fantasy adventures among Kepler’s real-life planets.

“… the stories represent a glimpse of where science fiction might go if real exoplanets are taken as inspiration.” Melinda Baldwin, Physics Today

You can buy A Kepler’s Dozen for half off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325583. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of new planets.
Visiting, much less settling, those worlds will provide innumerable challenges.
The men and women who make the journey will be those who don’t fear the odds.
They’ll be Kepler’s Cowboys.

Saddle up and take an unforgettable journey to distant star systems. Meet new life forms—some willing to be your friend and others who will see you as the invader. Fight for justice in a lawless frontier. Go on a quest for a few dollars more. David Lee Summers, author of the popular Clockwork Legion novels, and Steve B. Howell, head of the Space Sciences and Astrobiology Division at NASA Ames Research Center, have edited this exciting, fun, and rollicking anthology of fourteen stories and five poems by such authors as Patrick Thomas, Jaleta Clegg, Anthony R. Cardno, L.J. Bonham, and many more!

“If you’re in the mood for science fiction that’s heavy on the science, pore over this enjoyable collection that takes exoplanets and the American West as its inspirations. The stories and poems in Kepler’s Cowboys imagine wild and risky futures for the first generations of exoplanet explorers as they grapple with harsh environments, tight quarters, aliens, and one another.” Melinda Baldwin, Physics Today.

Kepler’s Cowboys is available for half off the cover price at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/698694. Coupon code SEY50 should be applied automatically at checkout.

Already read these, or just want to browse for something different? Every single Hadrosaur Productions ebook at Smashwords is on sale through January 1. Find the complete listing at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/davidleesummers.

Discover Hadrosaur’s Anthologies

Jul18

The annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale is underway. It gets its name because where I live in the northern hemisphere, readers are loading up their e-readers for great beach reading and vacations. In the southern hemisphere, it’s the middle of winter and people are spending time in a warm and cozy place reading. All of Hadrosaur’s titles are available at deep discounts this month and I’ll be highlighting them all month long here at the Web Journal. If you’re looking for a specific title, you don’t have to wait for me to highlight it, just visit http://www.hadrosaur.com/bookstore.php and click on the book you’re interested in. On its page is a link to Smashwords if its available there. The coupon codes for these discounts are automatically applied at checkout. One of the things I love about Smashwords is that they provide ebooks in all popular formats and they’re DRM free, so you can download them to your favorite device.

I’ve long been a fan of short stories, which is why I published Hadrosaur Tales for ten years followed by ten years of Tales of the Talisman. Hadrosaur Productions continues the tradition of presenting fine short fiction through our anthologies. Grab one, or all three, for your e-reader during the sale!

In Exchange Students you can study abroad! See new places! Meet new people!

Exchange Students is available for 75% off the cover price at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1005851

“… the stories represent a glimpse of where science fiction might go if real exoplanets are taken as inspiration.” Melinda Baldwin, Physics Today

You can buy A Kepler’s Dozen for just $1.00 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325583

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of new planets.
Visiting, much less settling, those worlds will provide innumerable challenges.
The men and women who make the journey will be those who don’t fear the odds.
They’ll be Kepler’s Cowboys.

Kepler’s Cowboys is available for 75% off the cover price at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/698694

Hadrosaur’s Anthologies on Sale

Mar3

This week is the annual “Read an Ebook Week” promotion at Smashwords. Hadrosaur Productions is offering all of their anthologies on sale for 75% off. The coupon code EBW75 should be automatically applied at checkout. This includes Hadrosaur’s newest anthology, Exchange Students! One of the things I like about Smashwords is that you can ebooks for just about any reading app or device you might have.

Exchange Students

Study abroad! See new places! Meet new people!

Exchange Students is available for only $1.25 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1005851

Kepler’s Cowboys

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has discovered thousands of new planets.

Visiting, much less settling, those worlds will provide innumerable challenges.

The men and women who make the journey will be those who don’t fear the odds.

They’ll be Kepler’s Cowboys.

Kepler’s Cowboys is available for $1.25 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/698694

A Kepler’s Dozen

Of course, if you’re going to explore the Kepler planets, I know you’re going to want to get them all!

A Kepler’s Dozen presents thirteen action-packed, mysterious, and humorous stories all based on real planets discovered by the NASA Kepler mission. Edited by and contributing stories are David Lee Summers, editor of Tales of the Talisman Magazine, and Steve B. Howell, project scientist for the Kepler mission. Whether on a prison colony, in a fast escape from the authorities, or encircling a binary star, these exoplanet stories will amuse, frighten, and intrigue you while you share fantasy adventures among Kepler’s real-life planets.

A Kepler’s Dozen is available for $1.00 at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/325583

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys brings you two weird western adventures by authors David B. Riley and Laura Givens. Their heroes ride boldly out of the Far East to find their way in a mythic land of danger, romance, and adventure.

In “The Venerable Travels of Ling Fung” by David B. Riley, a wandering businessman encounters a Mayan god, crooked enterprises and Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, when all he really wants is to open a gun store. Ling Fung is not any ordinary Chinese entrepreneur–he’s highly skilled in Kung Fu and he can shoot good, too. While his heart is set on business, providence seems to have other plans for him.

Laura Givens brings wily acrobat Chin Song Ping to the Wild West in search of adventure and fortune. He finds little fortune, but plenty of adventure. Chin Song Ping is a scoundrel, a gambler and a trouble magnet. His heart of gold lands him in schemes to outwit would-be gods, cannibal ghosts, insane robots, Voodoo despots and the ultimate evil–bureaucrats. But he is a romantic, and the love of his life is the true treasure he seeks. The odds are always against him but if he survives he will become the Western legend he always was in his own mind.

The Wild West just got a lot wilder!

Legends of the Dragon Cowboys is available for $1.00 off this week at: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751811.

The Classics and Beyond

Aug11

Working long nights at Kitt Peak National Observatory, I often get a chance to ask my fellow astronomers about their taste in science fiction. Some of these astronomers are young, just starting their careers. Many are still in grad school. I find the first authors many will name are people like Isaac Asimov, Frank Herbert, Robert A. Heinlein, and Larry Niven—many of the same people I would have named when I was in grad school. Every now and then, someone else will pop up like James S.A. Corey of the Expanse series or Andy Weir, who wrote The Martian.

I find it interesting that so many of my peers in the astronomy world still gravitate to the classics of science fiction. When someone doesn’t mention newer works, I sometimes suggest some. Often I’m met with “I’ll have to look up that author!” It indicates to me that word about newer authors isn’t always spreading outside of writing or fandom circles.

Publishing does face a real challenge. There are many great writers and there are a lot of enthusiastic readers. However, there are limited resources to publish all the best writing and limited shelf space to display it. The internet helps the shelf-space issue, but it doesn’t always make discovering new fiction all that easy. Of course some of that shelf space should go to classics and people will gravitate to what they’ve heard good things about from peers and mentors. Perhaps it’s no surprise that people keep going back to the classics.

This is one of the reasons that I’ve always appreciated magazines and anthologies. They become a way for me to get a sample of what newer authors have done. Magazines, though, are struggling in the Internet age. Numerous magazines have ceased publication. An inherent problem for fiction magazines is that they carry a date, which as time goes by makes the fiction look increasingly dated. Of course, fiction doesn’t always age poorly as evidenced by all the classic authors who still influence young, contemporary scientists.

Good anthologies, though, do have staying power and I’m proud to have contributed to some great anthologies over the years. One of the anthologies I’m most proud of is Maximum Velocity: The Best of the Full-Throttle Space Tales. In that book, I got to work alongside talented editors Carol Hightshoe, Dayton Ward, Jennifer Brozek, and Bryan Thomas Schmidt to choose the very best stories from the Full-Throttle Space Tales originally published about ten years ago. I was especially proud that my fellow editors chose my story “Hijacking the Legacy” as one of the best stories from those books. It meant that I got to have a story alongside such authors as Phyllis Irene Radford, C.J. Henderson, Shannon Page, Mark Ferrari, Jean Johnson and Mike Resnick. I’ll note, Phyllis Irene Radford was also the editor of my novels Lightning Wolves and The Brazen Shark. Sometimes publishing is a small world.

I think Maximum Velocity: The Best of the Full-Throttle Space Tales has the potential to be a classic. I don’t say this out of ego, but out of the fact that I got to spend a lot of time with this volume as it was put together. I really got to appreciate the wide range of stoies that could be explored in a backdrop of space adventure. There’s humor, there’s adventure, there are scares, and there are cautionary tales. I lost track of how many times I read the book on the path to publication and I never got bored. There were many other stories from the original volumes that I wish we could have included, but I think this is a good sample.

I’ve often spoken of my love of classic space opera such as Star Trek, Babylon 5, and Space Battleship Yamato. I find the stories here excite me just as must as the best episodes of those series. If you’re looking to discover some authors, this is a great place to start. You can get a copy today at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074FHCJXG/

Discovering New Authors

Jan29

On March 10, I’ll be moderating a panel at the Tucson Festival of Books called “Magical History.” The festival encourages moderators to be familiar with the works of the panelists and I think that’s an excellent idea, so I’ve been reading a selection of their books. As it turns out, I’m already a fan of Gail Carriger’s work, but this gave me a chance to read more of her books. I also am familiar with Beth Cato’s writing, because I published her poetry a number of times in Tales of the Talisman, however this gave me the long-overdue excuse to read one of her novels for the first time. Mindy Tarquini and Melodie Winawer are both new writers to me and it’s been a pleasure to see their take on the idea of “Magical History.”

Reading a book by an author you’ve never read before can be a daunting prospect. Will they satisfy your taste? Will their prose style transport you to a place you want to go? Will they move at a pace you’re comfortable with? Recommendations by friends who share your taste is a great option. In this case, moderating a panel with a topic that interests me and with a couple of authors I’m already acquainted with provided me with recommendations for a couple of additional new authors.

Another great way to discover new authors is by reading anthologies with themes you care about and that maybe include an author or two you already like. An anthology is a way for an editor to present several stories they like which address the theme. In a sense, the editor is recommending a bunch of authors to you. What’s more, you get a bunch of short stories so you may sample those stories without committing to a whole novel.

That said, I’ll bet if you look at reader reviews of almost any random anthology you will find at least one and perhaps several reviews that say, in essence: “There were some terrific stories and there were some terrible stories.” To be honest, I don’t find these very helpful reviews. Speaking as an anthologist, it’s my job to find a variety of stories that address the anthology’s theme. I like to find stories from a diverse group of writers with different backgrounds. It’s not always possible to know cultural background or even gender from a name on a submission, but a person’s background and experiences are often reflected in the stories they tell. I like to mix it up and give readers stories I think are a sure bet most readers will love and a few that I think challenge the reader. Because of that variety, I know there’s a risk not every reader will love every story. For that matter, I don’t love every story from most anthologies I read, but I often love some enough that I want to seek out more stories or even a novel by some of the authors.

There are lots of great anthologies out there to sink your teeth into. You can discover a lot of great ones just by looking at older posts here at the Web Journal (and if you keep reading, I’m sure I’ll be telling you about more in the future!) If you care to explore the anthologies I’ve had a hand in curating, visit: http://www.davidleesummers.com/books.html#anthologies

Interview with Danielle Ackley-McPhail of eSpec Books

Sep26

Today, I’d like to welcome Danielle Ackley-McPhail, publisher of eSpec Books to my blog. Danielle’s work has appeared in my anthologies Space Pirates and Space Horrors plus she’s been featured in Tales of the Talisman Magazine. Her story “Last Man Standing” from Space Horrors will be appearing in the forthcoming anthology Maximum Velocity: The Best of the Full-Throttle Space Tales coming from WordFire Press. My work has also appeared in some of Danielle’s projects including Bad-Ass Faeries 3: In All Their Glory and the steampunk faerie tale collection, Gaslight and Grimm. I was really impressed by the super job Danielle and eSpec Books did with the Kickstarter for Gaslight and Grimm. They’re running a new Kickstarter and Danielle has taken time from her busy schedule to talk to me about her company and what they have going on.

DLS: What is the mission of eSpec Books? What do you think sets eSpec Books apart from other publishers?

DA-M: We created eSpec Books to form a more stable platform for speculate fiction in the niche market. So many of the independent publishers we have worked with have faded away over the years either due to burn-out or because they grew too fast and couldn’t sustain that growth. eSpec is starting from a foundation of solid industry experience. We also have the benefit of seeing in advance many of the pitfalls out there and have a plan in place to avoid them, growing slowly, but steadily, using a balance of strictly electronic publications and higher profile titles in both print and ebook. Since we as individuals have been a presence in the fan and publishing community we have the benefit of an established network of connections, a pre-existing audience, and a knowledge of what our audience is interested in. We also have a solid reputation from our previous work for other publishers as both designers and editors.

DLS: What are some of your favorite science fiction/fantasy classics? What makes those books stand out for you?

DA-M: My fandom started out when I was 13, firmly on the fantasy side of things with Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels. From there I discovered Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar series and PC Hodgell’s God Stalk. I pretty much read all over the place though. On the sci fi side, Andre Norton’s Forerunner and Joan D. Vinge’s Cat’s Paw. One of the reason all of these stood out for me is that I am a fanatic for myth and legend and strong world building. I also love character-driven fiction and mystical, magical things.

DLS: What do you look for in a book you’re considering for eSpec Books? In other words, what makes the ideal eSpec Books title?

DA-M: Because we are just starting out…our two-year anniversary is in three weeks…almost all of our projects have been in-house, with anthology projects conceived and developed by our own editors. That having been said, we know when to say yes to an interesting project when it’s brought to us. Our title The Weird Wild West is an anthology that was brought to us with Misty Massey as the packager. The concept and the names involved were worth making the exception. That brings us to the other thing that we are looking for at this stage in our growth as a publisher. Names. As a new publisher still proving ourselves to the industry names are important. Not only do they have a built-in audience that they bring to the table, but they also increase visibility of the press as a whole, helping to establish our credibility. This doesn’t mean we are only interested in names, but in our early days and with our plan for a smart, slow build, we are not yet in a position to entertain outside projects. Our anthologies, however, do all have a mix of beginning and established authors.

DLS: You publish a number of anthologies. How do you develop your anthology ideas? Do you take proposals from freelance editors, or do you develop ideas in house? Why do you take the approach you do?

DA-M: I am an idea person. I cut my teeth in this industry by creating anthologies for other publishers. Best known of these is the award-winning Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series. I have a real strength for developing themes and playing with concepts to come up with collections that capture the interest of our audience. I love taking an idea from concept to completion so for the most part our projects will continue to originate in-house. This is not to say we won’t strategically partner with seasoned editors that bring us a solid idea, provided it is one we can see an audience for. Because anthologies have a limited profit-margin this will likely remain our process even once we begin to grow as a company.

DLS: As a business owner, I like brand loyalty as much as the next guy, but as a reader, I recognize that variety is the spice of life! What are some ways small presses can work together to help each other as well as serve readers’ interests?

DA-M: One of the joys of small or independent presses is that most of them have been started by fans and industry professionals with a specific interest and focus. They are the epitome of niche, in fact, the most successful ones remain niche, focusing on what they know and doing it well. The way that we help one another is cross-promotion, by directing our fans to offerings by fellow presses that meet other interests. Sharing knowledge with fellow publishers also builds a community and helps improve the credibility of the industry as a whole.

DLS: You’ve run some exciting Kickstarter campaigns to fund your books for publication. Can you tell us about your current campaign? What is the project and what are some of the cool things supporters might get if they choose to back the project?

DA-M: Part of the eSpec Books business model is to use crowdfunding to fund our high-profile projects, the books we intend to produce in both print and electronic format. We do this for several reasons. From a business standpoint this ensures that we have the resources to produce the books in advance. This means we remain in the black from the beginning and do not need to earn back production costs before turning a profit. By using this model we can create a stable platform on which to grow as a publisher.

Our current project is an important part of that growth. It is our first campaign for novels by two bestselling authors, Jack Campbell (The Lost Fleet, The Lost Stars, The Pillars of Reality) and Brenda Cooper (Building Harlequin’s Moon (co-authored with Larry Niven), The Wings of Creation). We were fortunate enough to sign these books for two reasons. First, because they are very different than the authors’ previous titles and so their usual publishers passed on them. Second, because both authors are familiar with us and our skill in producing books.

These are two very different coming-of-age stories.

Jack Campbell’s The Sister Paradox is an urban fantasy turned epic adventure, where a teen boy crosses dimensions to fight dragons and basilisks and other manner of magical creatures beside the sword-wielding younger sister he never had.

Brenda Cooper’s POST is a post-apocalyptic journey novel, where a girl name Sage leaves the safety of the botanical garden she grew up in to discover the world outside and, with hope, help rebuild it.

We have all the basic pledge rewards you find with any publishing campaign: ebook only, print only, both together, but we also have pledge levels where you can get additional autographed books, where you can be a character in one of the books, and even pledge levels that will get the backer an ultimate fan experience at next year’s Balticon, where we cover air fare, hotel, and convention membership, plus the backer gets one-on-one time with their favorite author. From a production standpoint we have some premium pledge levels where the backer can have their work evaluated or even created by an experienced editor, designer, and crowdfunder.

In addition to the pledge rewards we have both a Pre-Funding Bonus (electronic bonus stories every backer will receive when we hit $3000 regardless of if we fund) and a We-Funded Prize Pack (a prize one backer pledging $20 or higher will win at the end of the successful campaign, details available on the campaign page).

We are 73% funded with 20 days left in the campaign. Those interested can check it out at http://tiny.cc/Novels2016

David Lee Summers’ Web Journal

Science Fiction, Fantasy, and More!

Tag Archives: anthologies