June Links & Things

This is my monthly wrap-up of June's Links & Things. You can receive these links in real time by following me on Twitter: @martyhalpern. Note, however, that not all of my tweeted links make it into these month-end posts. Previous month-end posts are accessible via the "Links and Things" tag in the right column.

June was a very busy month, for whatever reason; one would think that the online chatter would have lessened, what with vacations and such, but that wasn't the case. So, I'll be doing a bit less editorializing in order to get through this list.

• Mark Teppo's (@markteppo) novels, Lightbreaker and Heartland -- books 1 and 2 in the Codex of Souls series -- are currently available for the Kindle for 99-cents each. I don't know how long this rate will last, but I would encourage Kindle readers to take advantage of this special. You can read more about my editorial involvement in these two books here (which also includes excerpts from reviews). Mark has informed me that he is now hard at work on book 3, Angel Tongue.

• I also wanted to share with readers the passing of anthologist Martin (Marty) H. Greenberg, whose Tekno Books was instrumental in my co-edited anthology Is Anybody Out There? being published by Daw Books last year. I first learned of Marty's death via tweets from Bill Crider (@macavityabc) and @LawrenceBlock. io9 has this obit.

• I attended Westercon 64 this weekend and on more than one occasion, and in multiple panels, Ralan's Market Report and Webstravaganza was discussed. If you are a writer -- novice or pro -- looking for available markets, and/or the current status of existing markets, then Ralan.com is where you need to go. And sign up for the e-newsletter, too; the July 5 newsletter has just dropped into my Inbox. I'm shocked with my own self that I haven't mentioned Ralan previously (or, at least, I don't recall having ever done so; shame on me).

• I've just learned of a couple new markets: 1) BayCon, the San Francisco Bay Area's regional convention, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2012. Beginning in 2012, BayCon will begin publishing one original short story and one original flash fiction piece in the program book. This market is aimed at newer writers. Guidelines (via @CandlemarkGleam and @deirdresm); 2) The Galaxy Project: a "contest to select one novella or novelette [to] be judged in the spirit of H. L. Gold and the great magazine of which he was founding editor." Guidelines (via @sfsignal).

• And with story submissions come story rejections, unfortunately. Former lit agent, now author, Nathan Bransford blogs that "Rejection Is Not Personal" even though it feels personal.

• Ken Scholes’s Facebook page pointed me to a New Yorker article entitled "Blocked" -- on writer's block throughout literary history. From the English Romantics to the French Symbolists to the U.S. after WWII. And now? It's all about brain chemistry.

• Have you heard this Stephen King quote? -- "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." Author Allison Winn Scotch blogs "If You Write, Must You Also Read?" Allison takes a two-part approach to answering this question. (via @galleycat)

• Jane Friedman (@JaneFriedman) is a regular contributor to Writer's Digest (@WritersDigest), and her blog, "There Are No Rules," has a guest post by Wolf Pascoe, a playwright, poet, and physician. In this post he introduces readers to the 4-step Lerman Method of critiquing, called Critical Response Process. If you are searching for a specific method to assist your critique group in staying on track, you just might want to check this out.

• Writers Anonymous blog has a post on "5 Ways to Edit with Fresh Eyes." This post was published in September 2009, nearly two years ago, but I've just seen it, courtesy of @inkyelbows. The contents of this post are just as relevant now (maybe even more so) as they were then.

• And don't get me started on the current, never-ending wave of self-published eBooks that obviously have never been edited; the typos and terrible grammar aside, we're talking a zippered fly on pants in the Middle Ages! The UK's Guardian (@guardian) has a blog post entitled "Every good ebook needs a good editor." (via @selfpubreview)

• You may recall my earlier blog post regarding the conversation between self-publishing (and million-selling) author J. A. Konrath and Barry Eisler. In this next link, Konrath (@jakonrath) provides some additional suggestions on ways to make your eBooks stand out among the millions of other titles in a blog entitled "Your Second Storefront." There are more than 70 Comments as well.

• Another Jane Friedman blog post at Writer's Digest: in this one she provides a link to a previous blog post entitled "5 Free E-Books Every Writer Needs," and goes on to state that there is now a sixth eBook to add to the list: Cory Doctorow's (@doctorow) the problem isn't piracy. the problem is obscurity. This is a free eBook; link provided.

• My virtual friend Bud Webster (we've not yet met in person) has pointed his Facebook friends to two detailed blog posts on estate planning for authors. If you are a published author, you need to seriously consider literary estate planning, regardless of your age, because you never know when your earthly presence may cease to be. Black Gate Magazine has a blog post by Emily Mah entitled "Estate Your Business Part II: A Writer's Guide to Organizing a Literary Estate." [Note: Bud Webster wrote part I and this post contains a link to that as well.] And the other post is courtesy of Wendy N. Wagner and Broad Universe entitled "The Girl Who Covered Her Legal Assets." Don't end up with your published work in complete obscurity because your family had no idea what to do with your estate or, worse, didn't really care to be involved, etc.

• I'll end this month's wrap-up with a pleasant entry: We've been reading for a couple or so years now about the horrendous foreclosure situation. Well, in this turn of events, a Florida homeowner has foreclosed on a North Carolina Bank of America. It's a great story, and one of the rare instances where "David" finally defeats the financial Goliath. (via Paul Witcover's Facebook page)