| | | | | | BlueMusings: August 4, 2018 | | | | LJ Cohen
Science fiction, fantasy, assorted weirdness | | | | | | | Back to School Work Way back in 2004, in August of 2004 to be precise, we were on family holiday to Mt. Tremblant, Canada, when my husband finished reading a fantasy book, threw it across the room (remember paperbacks?) and challenged me to write my first novel. I think his exact words were: "You write better that this. Why don't you write a novel?" I remember thinking how hard can it be? Cue maniacal laughter. But ignorance, if not bliss, is quite protective of fools. I began to write that first manuscript during our time in Tremblant that August. (It remains safely trunked on my hard drive, along with several others that followed. You're welcome.) And every late summer since then, I've begun a new project. Well, here I am again in Canada. My husband is driving on the racetrack, leaving me with long stretches of quiet in a rental home with wifi. Time to get back to work. Now that Halcyone Space is done, I am turning my imagination to expanding an old short story about a half human, half alien woman turned diplomat to her alien fore-bearers. The story is called Diversity and it's in my collection STRANGER WORLDS THAN THESE, and you can also read it on Curious Fictions. (See the next section!) At the end of the story, Varna has a choice to make. I've always wondered what she chose. Now, I think it's time to find out. The working title of the novel-in-progress is EVERY SKY A STRANGER. Stay tuned! (top of page) | Curious Fictions A subscription service supporting writers I was recently invited to join Curious Fictions as one of their authors. I have to say at the outset, that I have mixed feelings, as I do about places like Patreon and Kickstarter. It's not the idea of subscription services or projects supported by patrons, but that as an author, I have to do the same kind of promotion to support the site and the project as I do to convince readers to give my books a try. I find that the most difficult and soul-killing part of being a writer. So why join Curious Fictions? Because it seems like their model is a little different. They allow for 2 kinds of author support: readers can directly subscribe for as little as $2/month to their favorite author, or they can subscribe to the site for a minimum of $5/month and create what looks like their own curated ezine - with the ability to favorite and read the stories they choose across all the authors there. Readers can also, at no charge, follow an author for notifications about new public posts. I'll be adding subscriber-only content there on a regular basis over the next year as an experiment. If you're interested, you can subscribe to my page here. My current story, available publicly, is Deversity. If you'd prefer to subscribe to the site, you can do that here. (top of page) | Giveaway Winner; New Giveaway My last giveaway was for a paperback version of Rick Wayne's THE MINUS FACTION, EPISODE ONE (Breakout). The winner is: mich********llms_at_yahoo.com (email partly masked for privacy!) If that is you, please reply to this email with your name and snail mail address so I can send you your book! Congrats! This edition's giveaway* is for a signed copy of THE RAMSHEAD ALGORITHM, by KJ Kabza. Full disclosure: I first met KJ years ago when we were both part of a writing workshop. After reading his first offering, I was hooked. I knew his work was something special. I am thrilled to have my own signed copy (it's mine! all mine!) of this collection and now here's your chance to own one as well. 
To enter: - reply to this email for one entry
- get an additional entry by posting this message to twitter.
- get an additional entry by posting to FB (if you are tech-comfortable, please save and add the book's cover image in your post):
Winner will be announced in the September edition of this newsletter, so don't forget to check back! (top of page) | Sales and Specials 
Please check out this list of science fiction and fantasy novels, on sale this weekend for $0.99 each. The entries are broken down by category, so go forth and browse!
I don't have anything in this month's promotion, but DERELICT's ebook continues to be on sale for $0.99, all retailers. Now that the series is complete, it's a perfect time to binge-read all 5 books! Can you please spread the word? On Twitter? Here's a handy link to RT.
(top of page) | | Note: *Unless I specifically disclose otherwise, this giveaway will feature either a new copy of a book I have purchased myself or a copy I already own. This is not open for author submissions. Giveaway open to anyone on the planet. Books not claimed will be rolled into a larger giveaway at a later date. | | | | | | | ©2017 LJ Cohen. All rights reserved. | | |
