June's fun and excitement continues

Jun. 20th, 2024 08:41 pm
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Some of it quite good, some less so, as is the norm. My hip pain seems to have calmed down for a bit and I'm going to see a bodyworker after Pride and see what is to be done longer term. I got extended on my work contract just in time for work to get wildly stressful. Sigh. I have successfully purchased and assembled a new and more stable coat rack, which is less likely to fall over and land on people when they hang up coats on it. I have organized 2 boxes of hazardous waste to be taken to the dropoff on Saturday. I have finished my editing pass on Fairs' Point (Astreiant #4) and sent it to Melissa for review. I completed and turned in an application for the Independent Book Publisher Association's Innovative Voices program (send good thoughts on this one, please!).

And I went to 4th Street Fantasy last weekend, where I got to hang out with delightful friends I haven't seen in far too long. Our panel went reasonably well and there was some interesting discussion. A friend and I swooped in and whisked Lois McMaster Bujold off to lunch after her interview, which was very pleasant. Making a sidebar note, however, to suggest that if 4th Street is going to have invited guests, a guest liaison would be a good idea. Lois was quite left alone after her interview, once she finished signing books, except for my friend and I, and someone a bit more official should have been keeping an eye on things, in my humble. But lovely to hear her and see her work celebrated, so there's that.

Apart from that, I'm trying to do one new to me thing a month and one thing that I haven't done since before lockdown. This month, that's Drag Brunch at LUSH, which was delightful, and a trip to the Walker for the Keith Haring show this weekend.

This weekend features multiple events!
I'm getting interviewed by the delightful Madame Askew for her "Sip the Tea" Show on Saturday at noon - it will be streamed on FB.
Death by Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold is a finalist for the Midwest Book Awards on Saturday night. I'll be there to cheer and hope!
Sunday, it's breakfast with friends and off to the Keith Haring show, then the wonderful Temporal Textural Virtual Book club discussion of Death by Silver on Sunday night. Melissa and I should both be there so we hope you'll join us.

There are also book sales!
Smashwords presale on Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett (Astreiant #1) is up! The book will be out from Queen of Swords Press on 6/27.
There are 4 Queen of Swords Press titles on sale at Amazon this weekend for the latest I Heart Sapphic Sale - look for Silver Moon, The Language of Roses by Heather Rose Jones, Murder on the Titania by Alex Acks and Desire by Emily Byrne for the "Beach Reading Sale."
The Pride StoryBundle is running until 7/1 - 13 great books and a chance to support Rainbow Rainroad! Also, not coincidentally, a big chunk of Queen of Swords Press's annual operating budget so please consider picking a bundle up.
And finally, Audiobooks.com is offering a great deal on the Silver Moon audiobook to celebrate it's one year anniversary!

And next weekend, please look for us at Pride in Loring Park in Minneapolis. Queen of Swords Press will be in the Queer Writes tent with a whole lot of books. :-)


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Pride StoryBundle and more!

Jun. 4th, 2024 06:33 am
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This month is very full!

Here’s the Queen of Swords Press take on it:
We have SO much going on this month!

Check out the Pride StoryBundle, curated by Melissa Scott and Catherine Lundoff, for 13 terrific queer specfic titles, including LITTLE NOTHING by Dee Holloway and A DEATH AT THE DIONYSUS CLUB by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold! Get it at the $25 level and help support Rainbow Railroad’s essential work with LGBTQ refugees. Runs through 7/1/24. This is a really good bundle!

Log on to The Story Hour on 6/5 at 7PM PST to hear Dee Holloway read from her latest!

Look for Catherine Lundoff on programming at 4th Street Fantasy 6/14-6/16 and on Madam Askew’s “Sip the Tea” Show (Patreon) on 6/22!

Join us at the Midwest Book Awards on 6/22 to see if DEATH BY SILVER wins in the SF & F category! Then join the Temporal Textual Virtual Book Club on 6/23 to talk about the book! 

On 6/27, we’ll be releasing POINT OF HOPES (Astreiant #1) by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett!

Finally, look for us at Twin Cities Pride on 6/28-6/29! We’ll be in the Pink Zone in the Queer Writes section, next to the bridge to the Sculpture Garden from Loring Park in Minneapolis.

Happy Pride! 
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Current state of things

Oct. 15th, 2023 02:05 pm
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Just the Me things, not the world things. Because that would be way too much.
It's been a lively couple of weeks. On the cultural side, I went to:
  • The Minnesota Orchestra to see them play background for "Werewolf by Night." My friend Matt wore his new bespoke suit from Heimie's Haberdashery in St. Paul and looked amazingly dapper. Principal Conductor Sarah Hicks showed up dressed as a werewolf and a fun time was had by all!
  • Went to Theater Pro Rata's production of "Bernhardt/Hamlet" about Sarah Bernhardt's ground-breaking performance as Hamlet in 1899. really good performances and fine production.
  • Went to hear Boiled in Lead at the Hook & Ladder and it was, as usual, a fine show.
  • Went to a Prime Productions reading of "The Oldest Profession" at the Jungle. Prime is a local theater company dedicated to theater by and about women over 50. It was, as are all of their productions I've seen so far, very good. looking forward to the next two in the series, coming up at the Capri and the Gremlin, respectively.
  • Off to Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society at Bryant Lake Bowl tonight.
Teaching:
  • I taught my intro to genre fiction publishing class at Springboard for the Arts last Tuesday and it went pretty well. Lot of no shows though, so that was disappointing.
  • Both my class with Jennie and my Gothic horror class got canceled, which was disappointing and anxiety-producing. My day job just went Magic 8 Ball this week (I'll likely be looking for a new job at the start of the year, unless there is a minor miracle) and the microwave is going to be quite expensive to replace. Granted, I needed the rest too. But mixed bag.
  • Teaching again with Jennie at the Loft next month so please send your friends!
Everything else:
  • A Death at the Dionysus Club by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold is up for preorder in ebook and print! Coming out 12/7 - more gay, Edwardian murder mysteries!
  • Twin Cities Book Festival was delight, if pretty exhausting. Saw many people and sold books.
  • Big announcement about next year's books coming soon!
  • State of the Spouse - I've been trying to get on the CADI Waver for 8 months now. It keeps feeling longer. Still trying to get overnight respite care so I can leave town in February for Capricon, but no luck so far. Got an interview coming up this week though so fingers crossed.
  • Doing some writing again, finally.
Now to go prep dinner for spouse and deal with sundry hygenic things before I can leave the house. Sigh.
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So much more September...

Sep. 26th, 2023 10:01 pm
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Last week was a delight, by which we mean the other thing. The microwave (which Jana could reliably still use) died, I came down with norovirus and while I was sick, Jana got lost for 6 hours and had to be retrieved by the police because the battery on her tracker died. Still recovering, in all senses of the term.
In the meanwhile, October will be full! And I have 3 classes coming up that could use more signups because life is expensive right now. Tell your friends!


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Flights of Foundry and other upcoming fun

Apr. 9th, 2023 03:14 pm
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I am once again on programming at Flights of Foundry, a spiffy online convention coming up this next weekend. Flights is unusual in that it was designed to be an online con at the beginning of the pandemic, not one forced to adapt to being online after the fact, and as a result, it runs really well from a technical standpoint. It also runs for 24 hours a day so there's a lot of great international author rep. It's free to attend, but they do run on donations so if you can throw a coin their way, it helps to ensure that next year will be a new lineup.

Here's my schedule with the times in CST:
Marketing Makes the Book   Steven Radecki, Catherine Lundoff, Dawn Vogel Steven Radecki Panel   💲 Industry Biz 7   4/14/2023 6:00-7:00 PM
Budgeting and Business Planning For Beginners   Misha Handman, Steven Radecki, Vanessa MacLaren-Wray Catherine Lundoff Panel   🗂 Managing 27   4/15/2023 2:00 -3:00PM
Reading Catherine Lundoff     Reading   🎉 Squee 47   4/16/2023 11:00-12:00PM
Queries That Pop with Catherine Lundoff Catherine Lundoff Workshop   💲 Industry Biz     50.0, 51.0 Full 4/16/2023 2:00PM - 4PM

Queen of Swords Press will also be in the virtual Dealer's Room - stay tuned for a coupon code!
We also got confirmed for a table in the WisCon Dealer's room (late May), asked to participate in Hamline Unviersity's Fem Fair (late April) and the Mother's Day Sunday Market at Dancing Bear Chocolate so lots of fun to look forward to!

In other news, had a pleasant day at Minicon yesterday. It was lovely to hang out with Martha Wells for a bit, as well as seeing some friends. My panels went pretty well and it was a livelier con than it has been for a while. Today has been a cooking and organizational day and I have miles to go before I sleep so back at it again.


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November catchup

Nov. 22nd, 2022 07:41 pm
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It's been a lively couple of weeks and a whole lot going. I/we made it to the end of the 9 or so events in a row, with only one weekend off and it was a LOT. Twin Cities Con alone was 3 12 hour days at the Convention Center, which would not have been possible without help from our authors Michael Merriam and Jennie Goloboy, my assistant Alexa and my intern, Annie. The cosplay was great, the event had definite moments and we did some fine networking...but we did not make our table costs back, let alone the costs for paying people, stocking the table, etc. and it was a pretty spendy event. So no Twin Cities Con for us next year unless we win the lottery or something.

My DreamHaven reading, on the other hand, was pleasant and went well. It was nice to see folks. And my Springboard for the Arts class was hopping. So a good month on the event front, if a very tiring one. And the steroid shot does seem to be helping my hip, albeit very slowly.

And there's more coming, of course. I am grieving the loss of my Twitter community and platform and information, but scrambling to keep things in motion for the press. I did join Mastodon, along with other platforms. More on this and other topics soon, as it is now bedtime.
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Catching my breath, kind of...

Jun. 28th, 2022 08:59 pm
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Well, June has been quite the month. On a personal level, I co-taught a workshop at Clarion West (online) and was on a small press panel at the Library of Congress. I did my first Twitch event for GeekGirlCon and wrote a new article on what goes into publishing small press books forDream Foundry. I kicked off a new TikTok channel for Queen of Swords Press. And finally, the Pride StoryBundle ends on Friday 7/1 and right about now, I'm hoping for a big final lift as the result of the anthology We're Here edited by C.L. Clark and Charles Payseur (Neon Hemlock, 2021) winning the Locus Award for Best Anthology last weekend; it's been a struggle this year, what with everything, and I would so prefer not to add financial stress to everything else. Sigh.

A bit of good news today: I finally, after months of trying, got a copy of Jana's birth certificate, which means that this weekend I can apply for Social Security for her! And then, wait. I also got in touch with a local company that assists families with elders in negotiating everything from getting PCAs to assisted living. They helped me build a plan for my mother when we were moving her around so I'm going to throw more money at them and have them help me with some of that as well as setting up an emergency support for J so I can actually be away occasionally to teach, etc.

Other than that, it's been about work and releasing Mike's new book and being very tired and very angry. How do I feel about the loss of Roe? Well, I was active in a lot of prochoice reproductive rights stuff for a very long time and for most of that time, I think a whole bunch of prochoicers did a lot of screaming into a vacuum. So here we are and the terrorists have won and we've lost and people are angrily demanding magic fixes and ignoring all the work that has been done to date and kind of being idiots, sometimes well-intentioned, sometimes less so. Ironically, after years of "Listen to Black women and women of color," etc., we've got right back to ignoring them in favor of babbling about a whole bunch of things that not only will not get any rights back, they will make things much, much worse. I need to spend less time on Twitter, for sure.

And also, get more sleep.

Jana's good friend Sue Bjerke died this month too. She was a very talented box maker and woodcarver, two things she took up while working in IT. By all acocunts, she was an excellent teacher and she was also a good friend and colleague to Jana. She was quite sick for the last couple of years, unfortunately, so her passing was not unexpected, but I think we'll still miss her quite a bit. :-(((

Ooops, I almost forgot! I was invited to a friend's birthday party last week and actually went. I don't know him and his housemates very well, but I thought it was time to go bond with some new folks. As it turned out, I had a lovely time and knew several of the other guests, either from other circles or from online. It made for a lovely Pride weekend kickoff. Pride itself was fun, if hot and crowded and we wrapped up the weekend with a Sunday matinee Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society show.

Another bright spot for this week: Give Out Day is Thursday, June 30th. It's the largest day of giving for LGBTQ nonprofits around the country and they're doing to need it, especially in places that are hardhit. If you can toss a coin or two to your Witcher, now would be good.

Onward!

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There is, as usual, lots going on

Jun. 8th, 2022 10:07 pm
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All my tests were negative, so apparently last week's sore throat, etc. were the usual con crud. Which was good, because I recovered in time to teach online for Clarion West on Sunday. Jennie and I had a fun time - the students were engaged and asked good questions and I hope we get to do it again! And we launched the Pride StoryBundle in the midst of things last week and being sick always makes things like that more of a challenge. This year's StoryBundle is very cool: we have an epic fantasy novel by Melissa Scott, 3 anthologies from Neon Hemlock and Speculatively Queer, a couple of novellas from Cynthia Ward's vampire series, a new ghost story by Andi C. Buchanan, Queen of Swords Press titles Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore and The Language of Roses by Heather Rose Jones, a new spin on gay vampires by Jerry Wheeler, a climate fiction novella by Sim Kern, fantasy novellas by Ginn Hale and Nicole Kimberling and queer robot stories by Merc Fenn Wolfmoor and Vincent Scott. Our charity is once again Rainbow Railroad, an international nonprofit that assists LGBTQ+ people at risk and refugees to get to safer areas, something that is even more critically important now. The Bundle runs through 7/1 and I hope you'll give it a look.

Also coming up next week, I get to do my first Twitch event with Geek Girl Con. I'll be on a panel about world-building in art and fiction on 6/14. Then it's off to St. Louis Park for 4th Street Fantasy and a couple of panels on immortality and modern sensibility and progressive narratives, plus other interesting discussions. Then we do our panel at the Library of Congress the week after that! It is an action-packed month!

Speaking of which, our next title, a new edition of Last Car to Annwn Station by Michael Merriam is up for preorder! I am gleefully describing it as "Last Car is the most Minneapolis fantasy novel since War for the Oaks!" And it is - phantom streetcars, visits to Uptown, evil rich people living on Lake Minnetonka, a race through Lakewood Cemetary - good stuff! We'll be doing a DreamHaven event in July to kick it off.

The home situation: I've been trying to get a copy of J's birth certificate so I can file for Social Security for a month and a half now and finally broke down and spent the money for a service that expedites gov docs. Then to hope that we can get her application through in a reasonably timely manner. I also just set up an emergency contact failsafe with some neighbors (I wanted to get to know them better, anyway). I had to push our doctor's appointments out to August due to the crud, since I wasn't sure what it was, but now I get to follow up on some new issues she's having. I, meanwhile, could really use a checkup myself. Sigh. Still have to figure out how to handle my Novel in Progress teaching weekend in early August as I think the thing I was hoping for will not work out. She did have a good run at the WisCon Art Show, so big thank you to the Art Show staff and everyone who bought her work!

Onward!

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So I see that the whole...

Mar. 2nd, 2022 09:15 pm
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posting a couple of times a month thing is going well. Sigh. Like everyone else, I've been watching events elsewhere and like most people not collecting a side gig paid in rubles, I'm rooting for Ukraine and the Ukrainians. In case that needed saying.

What else has been going on? It's been very lively. I sold our second car, my solid, sturdy Corolla which we've been driving around since 2005 because we are down to one driver in the house. it is off to go live with the college-age daughter of friends of friends and I think it will serve her well. I've started some attempts to deal  with some the various issues that have come up around me being the only driver in the house.

I wrote and submitted a new Weird West story on Monday. This is significant because I haven't sat down and blitzed through 600 words of new fiction in a week in far too long. Is it any good? Well, I like it, so there's that. I got to go to the "Supernatural" show at the Minneapolis Institute of Art with a friend and really enjoyed it. I introduced another friend to "Black Sails," so that's all good. Apart from getting sick yesterday, we've been relatively healthy. I'm making keffir in the yogurt-maker I got for Xmas and dehydrating herbs and fruit in the dehydrator. Taxes are in progress to go to the account. We have enough to eat and people who care about us and no one is doing anything really terrible in our vicinity, so that's all good.

Other things:
  • I have a story in Vol. 4 of Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives edited by John Linwood Grant and the Kickstarter is doing pretty well. 20 days left to get your mitts on some fine Sherlockiana and bonus Carnacki stories.
  • I'm looking forward to 13 Gears Steampunk this weekend. First in person event of the year! I'll be tabling with Michael Merriam and Patrick Marsh and there'll be deals on Alex Acks's steampunk books and our tea! Also, crafts, music, tea dueling and other fun.
  • Next Wednesday (the 9th), I'll be on Querying Tips, a Q&A hosted by Dot & Dash with author Jenna Miller, literary agent (and Queen of Swords Press author!) Jennie Goloboy and a publisher (me). Register if you want to join us.
  • After that, I'm Author GOH at Marscon here in Minneapolis. It is in person and promises to be fun! Come join us if you can!
  • Then, on the 15th, Jennie Goloboy, Michael Merriam and I will be guests on Write On! Radio on KFAI Radio talking about ta-da, Queen of Swords Press, and our work as authors. It will be streamed on the web too!
  • Then, we wrap the month with SMOLFair, an online small press book and zine fair. We'll have an FB Live event and do a book giveaway and a virtual table and all that other fun stuff.
  • Finally, Queen of Swords Press author, Rem Wigmore, has had a couple of stellar interviews this week. Here they are on  Hannah's Bookshelf on North Manchester 1066 FM (U.K.) - streaming link is at the bottom of the page. And on the Queer Words Podcast, also out this week. Listening to people excited about writing and books and their work is a balm.
More news coming when I have it. I just sent an acceptance to an author and when we finalize things, will be making a cool Queen of Swords Press announcement!
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A press birthday, upcoming events and sundries

Jan. 30th, 2022 01:56 pm
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It's been quite the month. Lot of stress, lining up new events (teaching at Clarion West Online! Author Guest of Honor at MarsCon! Etc.), lots of projects in various stages of completion!  Here's the big stuff:
  • I started the next menopausal werewolf novel! If you've heard me talk about this, you may recall that I always planned on 3 books, for a generous interpretation of "planning." Well, Blue Moon has some words on the page now. Onward!
  • I have a Capricon 42 schedule with a virtual panel on queer science fiction and a reading for next Saturday!
  • I have an r/Fantasy StabbyCon schedule for 2/8 too! I'll be talking about Gothic Fantasy and Queen of Swords Press author Rem Wigmore will be on the panel about gender in speculative fiction.
  • Queen of Swords Press is officially 5 years old. I have piloted this little ship for 5 whole years now! Huge shoutout of thanks to my authors, my staff, our interns, our cover artists, our webmasters, our editors, our reader, reviewers, Patreon supporters and everyone else who helps us spread the word! Come check out the Birthday Sale, which ends tomorrow!
  • Uncle Hugo's Bookstore is coming back to Minneapolis! Losing Hugo and Edgar's was a huge, crushing blow to the owner, the staff and the community as a whole, geeky and otherwise, and I think we've all had a rough time with it. Planned reopening spot is the current Glass Endeavors building, next to the field where the Post Office, MIGIZI and Gandhi Mahal used to be on 31st just off Lake Street, across from Moon Palace Books, Arbeiter Brewing and the Hook & Ladder (and the burned out shell of the 3rd Precinct). Big Longfellow shoutout for a neighborhood that suffered so many loses and is still trying to come back. The Glass Endeavors owners, who managed to keep going despite the lockdown and losing all their immediate small business neighbors to fire during the riots and everything else have decided to retire so selling the building is a happy thing for everyone. :-D
  • I'm going to have a story in the next set of Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives edited by John Linwood Grant! More news coming soon!

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Catching up, sort of...

Oct. 19th, 2021 08:30 pm
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It has been an absolutely wild couple of weeks. New job is in Week 4 and it's okay? The people are reasonably nice and I'm learning a different part of the forest, kind of. Still stuck in QA Land, just the biz side of it this time, which does not fill me with delight and honestly, I'd rather be writing and publishing so it's been hard to switch gears. But it is what is and I've had worse gigs. Still wrangling insurance (new contracting co. will partially insure me, but not Jana, so I have to do stopgap again until I can get her on the ACA. Good times!).

So what else is going on, Catherine? I won a writing grant from Ladies of Horror Fiction! After I finish digging my way out from a few more contracted obligations, I'm planning on doing an expended version of my queer horror historical survey which originally ran in Nightmare Magazine's Queer Destroy Horror. :-D And my short story, "A Cry in the Night" is now a game scenario in the brand shiny new RPG World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters, which just came out from Onyx Path Publishing last week! And my novel Blood Moon got an Honorable Mention (finalist, essentially) in the Rainbow Awards yesterday!

I've also had a swell month as a publisher. Foxhunt by Rem Wigmore has been getting some great write-ups, including this one from Tor.com that includes it in a list of 5 essential solarpunk novels. And Obviously, Aliens by Jennie Goloboy is up for preorder now and will be out on 11/1. It's already getting some nice buzz too. The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater also got a Rainbow Award Honorable Mention. :-D
 
And I did most of these events, except for my upcoming Gothic horror class and my next book club appearance. Still room for signups for both!
  • WROTE Podcast - October 9th. I'll be a guest and talking about small press publishing and Queen of Swords Press.
  • Columbia Heights Pride - October 9th, 11-5PM CST. Columbia Heights, MN. Queen of Swords Press will have a table and I and my staff will be around.
  • Writers Drinking Coffee Podcast - midOctober air date. Interview about my writing, Queen of Swords Press and more.
  • North Country Gaylaxians Book Club - October 11th, 7:30PM CST. Quatrefoil Library/online, Minneapolis. They talked about my novel, Blood Moon.
  • Twin Cities Book Festival - October 16th, 10-5PM. St. Paul, MN. Queen of Swords Press will be there! I'll also be on the Local Author Showcase, talking about Blood Moon.
  • Lambda Sci-Fi Book Club - Thursday, October 28th, 7:30PM EST. The Book Club is discussing Silver Moon and I'll be joining to chat with them online in the second half of the discussion.
  • Crimson Peaks and Menacing Mansions: Writing Gothic Horror - Saturday, October 30th, 9:30-11:30 PST. Online class at the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. Writing Gothic horror! Tips, tricks and techniques.
Plus a few more things. I am...exhausted, but have miles to go before I sleep and all that. Stay tuned!

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Accountability Post, Once More with Feeling

Sep. 19th, 2021 05:30 pm
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Okay, first the big news for those who may not have seen my last post: I got a job offer! I'm scheduled to start a week from Monday once all my paperwork and drug test (happening tomorrow) clear. It's a contract gig, not clear on how long it will run, but estimated at several months, moving into next year. I'll have to juggle insurance plans because my new contracting company doesn't do family insurance, so that'll be a thing in the next week or so. At the moment, mostly just relieved. I also got a writer's grant from the Ladies of Horror Fiction (see last post), so very pleased about that.
In addition to that, this week I:
  • Had a lively and successful book table at St. Cloud Pride, despite our table banner breaking and my Square card readers no longer working with my phone.
  • Got Jana's art event at Dancing Bear Chocolate rescheduled to 10/10.
  • Got asked to be a judge for a local arts grant (the funder turned me down last cycle, but I guess my application was impressive? Anyway, accepted).
  • Had a lovely time at the Parkway Theatre with friends watching "Big Trouble in Little China" for the umpteenth time.
  • Went to an outdoor Minnesota Book Publishers Roundtable/Professional Editor's Network networking event and had a nice time.
  • Posted the cover reveal for Obviously, Aliens by Jenny Goloboy to the Queen of Swords Patreon. Working on having ARCs available this week. Let me know if you like humorous science fiction.
  • Got invited to be on the Writers Drinking Coffee Podcast this week - will post air date when available.
  • Threw my hat in the ring for vending at Columbia Heights Pride.
  • Did some edits, reading of submissions and writing. Almost done with an article draft due soonish.
  • Filled out paperwork for new job and wrangled unemployment.
  • Got interviewed for and quoted in a piece in Modern Retail about book publishing and supply chain constraints.
  • Met with Julia from Bingley's Teas and made progress on the Queen of Swords Press tea blend. More info coming soon!
  • Did the sporadic Costco run and stocked up on some needful things.
  • Did a lot of administrative tasks.
  • Became a small business endorser of Yes 4 Minneapolis, which is the amendment that supports  creating a new Department of Public Safety in lieu of the current arrangement in which the police department tells the City how high to jump on a regular basis. No, for the two hundredth time, it does not "defund the police" or "fire Chief Arradando," despite what you may have heard on Next Door. At present, one reason that it's impossible to reform the police department is that many things, including head count, are controlled by the Minneapolis Charter Commission, an unelected and non-transparent body that has no obligation to the people actually living here, and the Mayor's office. Every other department is managed the Mayor's office working with the City Council, and the MPD is the only exception. Spoiler alert: that's not going so well.
And that's it for the moment!
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Weekly Accountability Post, the Return (Again)

Jul. 14th, 2021 08:10 pm
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It has been a full week. I'm finally starting to come out of my mental fog of recent weeks enough to recognize that I was very, very run down. I'm by no means caught up with much of anything, but I'm making progress and am giving myself regular breaks, which helps. I'm still fretting about being unemployed and not getting everything done, but so it goes.
Since last Wednesday or so, I:
  • Went to Rush River Produce for the annual picking of the blueberries. We got 5 pounds of really tasty ones, which are now in the freezer and will get used over the coming months.
  • Had 2 job interviews on Friday. One may result in a job offer if the manager can get funding (I'd be replacing a friend who got moved to another position) soon, the other one I thought was okay, but had some issues. So, naturally, I got a call back for that one and have interview 2 tomorrow. No word on the one I was hoping to get called back for so I suppose I need to let it go.
  • Went to the Midtown Farmer's Market on Saturday and ran into friends I haven't seen in months and months. Had a lengthy chat and got pesto fixings, which is what I did when I went home.
  • Grabbed lunch at a taco truck on Lake Street and went to the Twin Cities Antiquarian Book Fair. It was odd, as I expected, but I ran into some people and Greg from DreamHaven gave me a book. And Patrick Coleman to drop off my latest titles for the Catherine Lundoff collection at the MN Historical Society this week before he retires so that's another thing on the list. Really nice to see him and hope retirement treats him well.
  • Had dinner at the Riverview Wine Bar during an unexpected Machinery Hill concert and barely got to eat before going to "Black Widow" at the Riv. Enjoyed all of it! Except for that end credits scene which just reminded me of how badly the MCU failed her character. So maybe skip that part if you share my sentiments.
  • Worked on my Teachable class, recorded a short reading for the Queen of Swords Press Patreon, pulled together some bonus material for Scarlet Ferret Books (small indie U.K. ebook store that carries CInrak and is adding Silver Moon), worked on my next Sherlock Holmes story and my next novel in progress chapter, worked on edits and promo and so forth.
  • Went to Lark Toys in Kellogg, Fair Trade Books in Red Wing and other fun spots on Sunday with Matt. Made a veggie stirfry when we got back and we all watched "Cast a Deadly Spell," an early HBO Lovecraftian noir flick. Found the premise interesting, but some things really do not hold up well.
  • Doing a reading at Strong Women, Strange Worlds tomorrow night (see pinned post for links) and supporting Alex at Madame Askew's Virtual Steampunk Book Club this Sunday (link above).
  • Yard work and sundries! This included selling off the expandable ladder that we don't use and giving away an ancient craft tent that I found in the back of the garage.
Off to go finish a few things before calling it a night.

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Back to the weekly accountability posts for a bit...

Jun. 12th, 2021 03:54 pm
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It's been a really wild month since my day job ended midMay. My contracting company hasn't been able to place me and their HR is engaged in some shenanigans about health insurance so I am currently between jobs and we are currently "between insurances" since my stop gap ran out last week. I'm currently trying to get us back on the stopgap policy again until I get another option figured out. Added to some other things going on that I am not currently at liberty to discuss and it's a LOT.
 
I'm going to go back to the weekly accountability posts, seeing as I am once more between jobs and all, but I also wanted to do a quick reminder about the Pride StoryBundle, which is still in full swing:

  • Pride Month StoryBundle - June 2 - July 1st. Our annual event, this year featuring books by Melissa Scott, Matt Bright, A.J. Fitzwater, Andi C. Buchanan, R.B. Lemberg, Eboni Dunbar, Cecilia Tan, dave ring, Leigh Harlen, Anya DeNiro, Langley Hyde, Heather Rose Jones, J. Scott Coatsworth and Catherine Lundoff and benefiting Rainbow Railroad.
  • r/Fantasy Queen of Swords Press Reddit AMA - June 4th online, 24 hour Q&A featuring A.J. Fitzwater, Alex Acks, Rem Wigmore, Jennie Goloboy and me, plus visits from a couple of Scourge of the Seas authors. You can read our comments and posts at the link.
  • Had a good time at the SFWA Nebula Weekend and enjoyed the programming.
  • Edelweiss BookFest. Check out the Editor's Pick video for Queen of Swords Press title The Voyages of Cinrak the Dapper by A.J. Fitzwater. This was a pretty good conference and I'll definitely attend again, if possible.I was pretty disappointed in Publisher's Weekly's U.S. Bookfest genre offerings and will skip this one next year.
  • Onyx Path Virtual Gaming Convention 2021. This was a good panel discussion and an evening well-spent!
  • Coming up this week! Twin Cities Lesbian Fiction Book Club - June 16th, 7PM. Discussing Blood Moon with me. This is an invite-only online event, so please let me know if you'd like to attend.
  • I'm also doing a queer steampunk discussion on Friday.
I've been doing some odds and ends to bring in some $ while I've been tackling the Month of All the Things, and one of these has included doing a spot of freelancing for Library Journal. I got to interview a bunch of folks at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill about this terrific project they're working on. On the Books is a searchable database of a century of Jim Crow laws, as well as full text of laws that impacted the lives of African American people in North Carolina and a bunch of interesting looking teaching aides. Definitely worth checking out!

I've also been working on a new class and will be starting on building an on demand class this week, submitting more things and wrapping up developmental edits on a book. And job hunting. The summer begins...

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Full week in these parts and Flights of Foundry schedule

Apr. 13th, 2021 08:07 pm
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First the good stuff, because there needs to be good stuff.
  • My novel, Silver Moon, is going to be translated and released in a new German language edition by Ylva Publishing in 2022! Very excited about this since it's out first foreign rights sale.
  • Blood Moon got a lovely review on Hannah's Bookshelf, a great book-oriented radio show on North Manchester FM.
  • Queen of Swords Press has been invited to do a Small Press AMA (Ask Me Anything) at r/Fantasy on 6/4. Alex Acks, A.J. Fitzwater, Rem Wigmore, Jennie Goloboy and I will all be there, with some special guests, if we're lucky. Please join us!
  • The Tucson Steampunk Society's CommuniTea was delightful and my anthology class went well last weekend.
  • I have a new "6 Books with Catherine Lundoff" at Nerds of a Feather (big congrats to them for their Hugo Finalist nod!)
  • I got sick and migrainey a lot, a state that lasted until yesterday.
  • I'm teaching for Springboard for the Arts tomorrow night! Publishing Basics for Genre Writers – April 14th, 6:00-8:00 PM CST. Zoom, Springboard for the Arts.
  • I'm doing a couple of panels and a Dealer's Room table at Flights of Foundry next week. I'm also getting my second shot on Saturday afternoon (Jana is too), so we'll see how that goes. Flights looks like a great con again this year so you should definitely check it out.
The other things going on:
On Sunday afternoon, police in Brooklyn Center (a bedroom community about 10 miles away) shot and killed a young Black man named Duante Wright. For context, we are in Week 3 of Derek Chauvin's trial for the murder of George Floyd. Brooklyn Center is very diverse, majority POC city with a big immigrant population. The National Guard is out, the police presence and militarization is completely insane and the protests are substantial. The entire metro area is under curfew at present, which is every bit as useful as it was last time. It's enraging and horrible and frustrating and painful we need some big changes to do this better; if you live in Minneapolis and haven't signed the Yes 4 Minneapolis petition, please do it. This will enable us to vote to replace the current police department with a Department of Public Safety if it passes and let us vote for what we want to see (the Charter Commission crushed this last year and is putting forth another ballot to give the Mayor more control over the MPD, conveniently ignoring that he had full control last year and that didn't go so well). And here's a list of ways to help Brooklyn Center, which was already hurting quite a bit from last year. And please consider voting for Kate Knuth for Mayor.
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Where I'll be in 2020

Dec. 31st, 2020 07:50 pm
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Updated as things come up, as per the norm.

January:

  • Queen of Swords Press 3rd Birthday Celebration - Minneapolis, MN. Saturday, January 25th, 2-5PM. Join us at the Irreverent Bookworm, Minneapolis' newest bookstore, for an afternoon of fun, munchies, book sales and giveaways to celebrate our 3rd birthday!
  • "Book Promotion on a Budget" - Sunday, January 26th, 9:30-11:30 PST. Online class at the Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers. I'll be helping you to set up a promotional plan for your books and figuring out how to get the most from your available resources.

February:

  • "Breaking Out of the Slush Pile" - Saturday, February 9th, 1-2:30 PM CST. I'll be teaching an online class for Hidden Timber Books on ways to make your manuscript stand out in a good way.
  • 13 Gears: An Eclectic Steampunk Event - Minneapolis, MN. Saturday and Sunday, February 15-16th. Queen of Swords Press be back at 13 Gears with books and and fun again this year! We'll also be sharing a table with local horror/dark fantasy author, Patrick W. Marsh.
  • Not So Silent Planet Gets Sexy - Minneapolis, MN. Tuesday, February 18th from 8-10PM at Strike Theater. I'll be sharing some Emily L. Byrne hotness at this local speculative fiction story telling series.

March:

April:

May:

June:
  • "Book Promo on a Budget" - Rambo Academy for Wayward Writers, online. Coming back, by popular demand! With some updated thoughts on how to handle having a limited number of/no in person events. June 14th, 9:30-11:30 AM PST.
  • The Return of Running a Small Press: It's an Adventure - Minneapolis, MN. DreamHaven Books, June 17th. 6:30-8:00PM. Join publisher Catherine Lundoff for her annual talk on what it's like to start a small press and keep it going, the high points of 2019 and what's next. This will be a Facebook live event (with the possibility of in person attendance).
  • Rainbow Space Magic Virtual Con 2020 - June 20-21st. Online LGBTQ+ specfic convention. I'll be on programming, not sure of platform yet.
  • Twin Cities Pride Virtual Marketplace - June 27 -28th. Queen of Swords Press will have a "booth" and we'll be peddling books all weekend.
July:
  • "Book Promo on a Budget (Pandemic Version)" - July 12. Broad Universe members-only online workshop. Sign up for this and other workshops!
  • Columbia Heights Pride - July 18th, 1-4PM. Columbia Heights, MN. Online local Pride celebration. Queen of Swords will have a virtual table.
  • "So You Want to Put Together an Anthology?" - July 26th, 1-3PM PMT, 3-5 PM CST. Online class that I'm teaching at the Rambo Academy.
  • OutWrite DC- July 31st-August 2nd. Living life on the edge here - we also have a vendor table at this convention, concurrent with CONZealand. Waiting to hear about programming.
  • CONZealand – July 29th-August 2nd. Wellington, New Zealand. Online. I'll be on programming and Queen of Swords Press will have a virtual table.

August:

  • PrideFest 2020 - August 15-16th. Pueblo, Colorado. Virtual Pride festival. Queen of Swords Press is a vendor.
  • Hannah's Book Shelf - August 22nd. I was interviewed by Hannah Kate on North Manchester FM (U.K.).
  • Book Promo on a Budget - August 23rd, 9:30-11:30 PMT, 11:30-1:30 CST. Online class that I'm teaching at the Rambo Academy.

September:

October:

November:

  • VerbWellington - November 5-8th. Wellington, New Zealand. A.J. Fitzwater and A.C. Buchanan (who is also the Queen of Swords Press webmaster) are appearing at this fab writer's festival in New Zealand.
  • Midwest Spec-Fic Book Box - November 8th-22nd. 4 small presses, 5 books + surprises = the perfect holiday gift for the sf/f fan in your life! Queen of Swords Press, Atthis Arts, Apex Book Publishing and Aurelia Leo are collaborating on a gift box full of amazing reads. Official ordering link coming soon.
  • WomenVenture Women Mean Business - November 13th, 4-6PM CST. Online. Annual fundraiser and reception for WomenVenture, a local nonprofit that supports women starting and owning their own businesses in Minnesota. Queen of Swords Press will be in the Marketplace from 11/7-11/21; Nov. 13th is the actual event.
  • In Flagrante Delicto: Writing Effective Sex Scenes - November 22, 11:30-1:30 CST. Teaching at the Rambo Academy.
December:
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Updatey things

May. 3rd, 2020 07:56 pm
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In big Queen of Swords Press news, Wireless and More Steam-Powered Adventures by Alex Acks, is a MIPA Midwest Book Awards Finalist for speculative fiction! We're all pretty excited about it. :-D

Adding some online events this month, complete with virtual tables and Zoom panels and what not.

On the home front, the house is awash in contractors for another week. Yesterday, was a surprise visit from the roofers to put in a new vent. And identify chimney problems. The bathroom is done for the time being and the attic is looking promising, at least. So it goes.

Otherwise, we're holding up as well as can be expected: working at home, doing puzzles, online events, Zoom calls, regular calls and what not. I've got at least another two weeks working from home, probably more. So lots of baking, online events, watching things and so forth. I hope you are all healthy and happy in the meantime!

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And more of a proverbial mixed bag of a week...

Mar. 24th, 2020 07:13 pm
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Good parts first!
  • Paul Weimer has relaunched the Mind Meld, a group interview in which a bunch of authors is asked the same question and makes book recommendations based on it at Nerds of a Feather. I got to be one of the first group of participants! Please check it out for our recommendations on where to start reading in genre.
  • My story, "Hunger," got a nice shoutout in this new review at Runalong the Shelves of American Monsters Part 2 edited by Margrét Helgadóttir.
  • I've got a couple of upcoming online classes at Cat Rambo's writing academy (please tell your friends! I'd really like to see these carry!)
  • The Kickstarter for Sherlock Holmes and the Occult Detectives edited by John Linwood Grant has blitzed past its original goal and only has 10 hours left. My new story, "The Raini's Dream," appears in Vol. 2. Sherlock crosses paths with a woman who's an Anglo-Indian inquiry agent who specializes in the supernatural and she is putting up with none of his guff. :-)
  • Smashwords Authors Give Back Sale. Lots of fun stuff out here for free or half off this week, including my own Silver Moon and Scourge of the Seas of Time (and Space) and Alex Acks's two steampunk collections.
Now the crappy bits:
  • WisCon 44 is officially cancelled. They're exploring doing some online programming and there will be an up date on Monday the 30th. Kinda gutted about this one, but I'm sure that there were financial and staff considerations as well as concerns about the ongoing pandemic health and other impacts. Sigh. More bulletins when I have them, and in the meantime, please consider buying some books if you can.
  • Pretty much everything is on fire. If you're local to Minnesota and in a position to do so, please consider donating to funds like Springboard for the Art's Artist Emergency Fund, the Seward Cafe fundraiser, the May Day Cafe fundraiser or any of the other various fundraisers for our beloved cultural institutions. If you're not local to me and you can, please contribute where you live.
In other news, it's my birthday on Monday and I normally throw a wandering birthday party that moves through my favorite restaurants, bookstores and other fun places and people join in as they want. Clearly, that ain't happening this year, so I'm prepping by buying things from various small businesses: chocolate, tea, books, a couple of DVDs and planning on ordering in. We also got a mason bee house and a pollinator station and are going to cover the yard in clover seed and wipe out the lawn. So it's not all terrible. At any rate, love to you all and hopes for great improvements soon.

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Weekly update

Dec. 12th, 2019 10:03 am
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I still haven't tackled my Decade in Review (there was a LOT) or my year in review posts (a LOT there too), but I can at at least manage the week. I think. So the SENA Market Crawl was a nice opportunity to sell Jana's work and talk to a few people about Queen of Swords, the 2nd Queer Author Holiday event was mostly an opportunity for the authors to chat amongst themselves (which can be good), the GPS Holiday Emporium was slow, pleasant and included some book sales and some time with friends (and some awesome earrings acquired in an auction for a good cause) and the Quorum Holiday Party was interesting and involved some good discussions and a few sales. Which brings us to this, my final event for the year, which happens tomorrow in Minneapolis:
Minnesota Women's Art Festival. This is a really great holiday sale, with lots of cool things, including art, music, crafts and food. Jana and I will have Booth 16 so please stop by and say hi if you're there.

In other news, I've made some progress on various projects, sold an Emily L. Byrne reprint to a podcast and have heard through the grapevine that some good job news is headed my way. I also just took on a big writing-related project for 2020 so we'll see how all this goes.
Now to go to rest up for a big day tomorrow.

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Upcoming events and updatey things

Dec. 4th, 2019 03:50 pm
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"So other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?" Okay, it's been better than that. My Monday interview for the job I actually want went reasonably well, but it's the guvmint and they're not really clear on when they'll know if they can hire me (or anyone else interviewing for their open slots). My Monday/Tuesday discussions with the contracting company that just knew that they had a "match" for my skills demonstrated that not only did they not have a match, they didn't know what those skills were. So that was fun. After wrangling with them for a few hours, I went to go see "Knives Out," which I thoroughly enjoyed, and had a fruitful conversation with a friend. The short version is that I'm still not in the job hunting mindset yet, i have two events this weekend, one next weekend and then a couple of big online sales and such at the end of the year, plus a whole bunch of outstanding writing, class planning, etc. that I'm still working my way through. So I'm going to gamble and put job hunting on hold until January (which is probably when the job I want would start anyway, if I get it and they can hire me). It's going to be exciting to figure out what to do re: health insurance so that's on tomorrow's plate.

In the meantime, hey, buy some books! I hear they make great gifts! And if you're in the Twin Cities area this weekend, stop by one or both of the following and say hi!


Now back to the grindstone.
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