Story spotlight: “Stormrider and the Lady of Soul” by Karen L. Abrahamson


 
The glamour of living on his boat wears off for Earl James soon after he gets tossed off the police force. With winter storms brewing, the engine having fits, and a broken heater, he figures not much else can go wrong. Then otherworldly Sylvana Stormrider steps aboard and offers him the one thing he truly wants: redemption.

Or maybe not.
 
 
 
 
 
“Stormrider and the Lady of Soul” is in The Faerie Summer bundle. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the bundle’s Facebook page.
 


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Karen L. Abrahamson is the author of literary, mystery, romantic and fantasy fiction including the highly regarded Cartographer fantasy series. She is a well-traveled writer who has explored cultures and countries around the world but British Columbia, Canada is her favorite place to come back to. She lives on the west coast of Canada with two Bengal cats that aren’t quite as well traveled as she is.

When she isn’t writing she can be found with a camera and backpack in fabulous locations around the world.


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Story spotlight: “To Each Her Own” by Rebecca M. Senese


Lead detective Maeve Hemlock arrives at a crime scene at the banks of the Incantation River to find the remains of a human liver containing magic residue.

What creature would kill and leave a liver behind?

To save a colleague’s career, Maeve must find a magical killer loose in Crossroad City before he can kill again.

Urban fantasy with an edge, the stories of Crossroad City weave tales where magic and the normal world collide. Where detective Maeve Hemlock and the Spells and Misdemeanours Bureau struggle to keep the law and the magic in check to save all.
 
 
“To Each Her Own” is in the Beneath the Waves collection. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the collection’s Facebook page.
 


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Based in Toronto, Canada, Rebecca M. Senese survives the frigid blasts of winter and boiling steams of summer by weaving words of horror, mystery, science fiction and contemporary fantasy.

Garnering an Honorable Mention in “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” and  nominated for numerous Aurora Awards, her work has appeared in Fiction River: Superpowers, Fiction River: Visions of the Apocalypse, Fiction River: Sparks, Fiction River: Recycled Pulp, Tesseracts 16: Parnassus Unbound, Imaginarium 2012, Tesseracts 15: A Case of Quite Curious Tales, TransVersions, Future Syndicate, and Storyteller, amongst others.


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Story spotlight: “By Dawn’s Bloody Light” by DeAnna Knippling

A small Midwestern college town. A series of murders that ape the Jack the Ripper killings. Then Laney Miller is butchered just after dawn in front of a second-hand bookstore. The one witness didn’t see anything…except Laney getting dragged out of her car and murdered by an invisible force.

One that carries a straight razor.

It’s a town that has attracted the weird and strange as far back as the eighteen hundreds. Since then disappearances, murders, suicides, and kidnappings have only grown worse. Especially targeted are a group of local girls that carry the same face…

Laney’s face.

Laney’s girlfriend Joy and her friends decide to find the seemingly-supernatural killer and take him down before he strikes again.

In as violent and bloody a manner as possible.

By dawn’s bloody light…they will have revenge.
 
“By Dawn’s Bloody Light” is in The Faerie Summer bundle. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the bundle’s Facebook page.
 


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DeAnna Knippling is always tempted to lie on her bios. Her favorite musician is Tom Waits, and her favorite author is Lewis Carroll. Her favorite monster is zombies. Her life goal is to remake her house in the image of the House on the Rock, or at least Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. You should buy her books. She promises that she’ll use the money wisely on bookshelves and secret doors. She lives in Colorado and is the author of the A Fairy’s Tale horror series which starts with By Dawn’s Bloody Light, and other books like The Clockwork Alice, A Murder of Crows: Seventeen Tales of Monsters & the Macabre, and more.


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Story spotlight: “Abby Crumb: Bad Luck, Good Fortune” by Louisa Swann


Melting noses, withering limbs—growing up the daughter of a necromancer prepares one for almost anything…except a voyage around the Horn on a vessel that feels as if it has been cobbled together expressly for this trip…

Creaking decks, smoky furnaces, torn sails, violent weather, the S.S. Raven seems to be attracting bad luck. Could it simply be fate? Or could it be…her mother?

Abby Crumb suffers misery after misery on her trip to San Francisco. The weather finally clears, only to reveal an even more sinister twist of Fate: The captain’s brought the bad luck with him.

Abby and her friends must discover the source of bad luck and turn the tide before the tide turns them in this rollicking high seas adventure.
 
 
“Abby Crumb: Bad Luck, Good Fortune” is in the Beneath the Waves collection. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the collection’s Facebook page.
 


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Growing up in the wilds of the Sierra Nevada mountains, surrounded by deer and beaver, muskrat and bear, Louisa Swann found ample fodder for her equally wild imagination. As an adult, she interweaves her experiences with that imagination, creating tales of fantasy and science fiction, mystery and thrillers, steampunk and historical fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Fiction River anthologies, including Reader’s Choice; Mercedes Lackey’s Elementary Magic and Valdemar anthologies; and Esther Friesner’s Chicks and Balances. Novels include light-hearted mysteries (It Ain’t No Bull, The Trouble with Bulldogs) and her new steampunk/weird west series, Abby Crumb and Myrtle Creek (with Brandon Swann).


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The Challenger Center for Space Science Education

The Challenger Center for Space Science Education is a non-profit education organization created by the families of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger.
Challenger Center and its global network of Challenger Learning Centers use space-themed simulated learning and role-playing strategies to help students bring their classroom studies to life and cultivate skills needed for future success, such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork.

A portion of the proceeds from the NaNoWriMo Writing Tools bundle goes directly to benefit the Challenger Center. This bundle, put together by Kevin J. Anderson, is an impressive collection of a dozen books on writing that will be inspirational, helpful, maybe even provocative. You can get all of the books for as little as $15. This bundle is only available through the end of November 2018, but you can always donate directly to the Challenger Center!

History of the Challenger Center

The crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger died tragically on the morning of Jan. 28, 1986, when a booster engine failed, causing the shuttle to break apart. The Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight, at an altitude of 48,000 feet.

Crew members:

After the accident the families of the crew joined together to carry on the spirit of their loved ones. They created the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, which provides opportunities for young people to learn and grow through space-based educational programs with an emphasis on science and engineering.

What does the Challenger Center do?

Challenger Learning Centers

Center Missions are space-themed simulation-based experiences designed for middle school students. They’re available at Challenger Learning Centers around the globe. Challenger Learning Centers are located on 3 continents, in 4 countries, and in 27 U.S. states.

Online Resources

Challenger Center provides a number of online STEM resources that can be used by teachers of elementary, middle school, and high school students.

The Challenger Center is adding a new program called Classroom Adventures. This is an online program which is accompanied by hands-on extension activities. The first Classroom Adventure is the Earth to Mars Design challenge, which can be implemented by teachers in their own classrooms.

Christa McAuliffe’s Lost Lessons

Christa McAuliffe was selected from over 11,000 applicants to be the first teacher in space. She had planned lessons for the Challenger STS 51L mission. Challenger Center, in partnership with NASA and STEM on Station, worked to complete several of Christa McAuliffe’s lessons. Working with Astronauts Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba, the demonstrations were filmed aboard the International Space Station, and corresponding lessons were developed for classrooms. Topics include chromatography, effervescence, liquids in microgravity and Newton’s Law.

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Story spotlight: “Lizards and Lying Men” by T. Thorn Coyle


 
 
Dagger was working as as stripper. Less stress than the witchcraft her grandmother kept pushing her toward.

Then a man in distress showed up at her favorite cafe.

The lizards weren’t far behind him.
 
 
 
“Lizards and Lying Men” is in the Witches’ Brew bundle. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the bundle’s Facebook page.


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A salty-tongued, tattooed mystic, Thorn is the author of the nine book Witches of Portland series, the alt-history urban fantasy series The Panther Chronicles, the novel Like Water, and two short story collections. The Witches of Portland series will be out in Spring, 2018. She has also written multiple non-fiction books including Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists & Other Creatives, Kissing the Limitless, and Crafting a Daily Practice. Thorn’s work appears in many anthologies, magazines, and collections.

She has taught magical practice in nine countries, on four continents, and in twenty-five states. Her other occupations have been numerous, and include working four years each on the Pacific Stock Options exchange (as a young Anarchist punk with a blue, flat-top Mohawk), in a woman-run peep show, and full time in the San Francisco soup kitchen she ended up volunteering at for twenty years. All of this, along with her activism, informs her fiction.

An interloper to the Pacific Northwest, Thorn joyfully stalks city streets, writes in cafes, and talks to crows, squirrels, and trees.


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Story spotlight: “Contact” by Marcelle Dubé


 
Every day, Kalupiak hunts farther and farther from the underwater ice caves of the People. Hunting has grown increasingly dangerous with the melting of the ice and the arrival of new creatures—none more dangerous than the humans. Legends tell of earlier confrontations with the humans where they tried to kill the People.
 
On the day Kalupiak finally comes face to face with his first human he must make a choice: kill or be killed.
 
 
“Contact” is in the Beneath the Waves collection. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the collection’s Facebook page.
 


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Marcelle Dubé grew up near Montreal. After trying out a number of different provinces—not to mention Belgium—she settled in the Yukon, where people outnumber the carnivores, but not by much.

She writes science fiction, fantasy and mystery stories, and has 12 novels to her name. Her upcoming novel, Epidemic: An A’lle Chronicles Mystery, will be released in late 2018. Her short fiction has appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies.


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Story spotlight: “Like at Loch Ness” by Karen L. Abrahamson

A dangerous creature. A female scientist with something to prove.

If she lives that long.

Something dangerous lurks in Cambodia’s murky waters, destroying fishermen’s villages along the flooded shore. Jean Aubry, fledgling marine biologist, tries to solve the mystery, especially after she and her colleague find a lone, beautiful survivor of the most recent destruction. Can Jean solve the mystery before more people die? Can she do it and not worsen her already tarnished professional reputation?

“Like at Loch Ness” is in the Beneath the Waves collection. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the collection’s Facebook page.
 


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Karen L. Abrahamson is the author of literary, mystery, romantic and fantasy fiction including the highly regarded Cartographer fantasy series. She is a well-traveled writer who has explored cultures and countries around the world but British Columbia, Canada is her favorite place to come back to. She lives on the west coast of Canada with two Bengal cats that aren’t quite as well traveled as she is.

When she isn’t writing she can be found with a camera and backpack in fabulous locations around the world.


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The NaNoWriMo Writing Tools bundle!

It’s that time of year: November is “NaNoWriMo” or National Novel Writing Month, when ambitious authors take the challenge to write the first draft of a novel from start to finish in a month. While gearing up for the challenge, writers are looking for advice, techniques, and resources.

Kevin J. Anderson has put together the NaNoWriMo Writing Tools bundle, an impressive collection of a dozen books on writing that will be inspirational, helpful, maybe even provocative. You can get all of the books for as little as $15. This bundle is only available through the end of November 2018, so grab it now—and write your novel!

A portion of the proceeds goes directly to benefit the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, a non-profit group created by the families of the crew of the Challenger shuttle.
Challenger Center and its global network of Challenger Learning Centers use space-themed simulated learning and role-playing strategies to help students bring their classroom studies to life and cultivate skills needed for future success, such as problem solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork.

 

Become a Successful Indie Author is a motivational guide based on Craig Martelle’s two-and-a-half-million published words. This book will help you see past the hurdles that are keeping you from climbing the mountain of success.

Once you’ve become successful, you never have to work again—or so many people believe. But becoming a success is just the start. Staying a success is the hard part. Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s book The Secrets of Success will help you both become a success and remain one.

Struggling to start your story or lost in the middle? You need a Story Pitch, which is a powerful tool meant to be used when pre-writing and writing. It can help you jumpstart your novel, screenplay, comic, or whatever type of story you are trying to tell and it can be used as a corrective measure if you get off track during the writing process. If you like honesty, no bull, a bunch of humor, and tons of examples in your writing guides, then you’ll love Scott King’s Story Pitch.

Are you an author who is struggling with finding volunteers and professionals to help polish your book? Do you wish there was a guide that offered plenty of suggestions for finding these people? Andrea Pearson’s How to Polish Your Manuscript into a Rock-Solid Book gives you advice and guidance on building your brand, publishing, and marketing your own books.

Writing is not a physically healthy job, but if you want a long-term writing career, then you need to look after your body. In The Healthy Writer, Joanna Penn shares her personal journey and insights with you; her co-author, Dr. Euan Lawson, shares his insights into how you can reduce pain, improve health and build a writing career for the long term.

Whether you’re creating a story or book collection, or are an author participating in one, Jamie Ferguson’s Bundle Up! can help you! The more aware you are of what’s involved, the more efficient and productive you—and your project—will be.

Dean Wesley Smith’s How to Write a Novel in Ten Days is a series of blog posts he wrote while chronicling his process toward ghost writing a 70,000-word novel for a traditional publisher in just ten days. This book takes readers on a journey that demonstrates that writing fast, and writing well, comes from motivation and practice.

You Must Write, by Kevin McLaughlin, explains what Robert Heinlein’s Rules are, and how they can help you bring your craft and career to the next level. This book provides a series of practical lessons, each with exercises designed to help writers build the Rules into their own work-flow. Heinlein’s Rules focus on unleashing the most creative elements of our minds, combating our deepest and most crippling fears, and driving past the greatest obstacles most writers face to reach success.

In Writing as a Team Sport, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta describe various collaboration methods with frank recollections of their own experiences. You’ll learn collaborative techniques that will suit any sort of writer, as well as the pitfalls you may encounter.

You too can create stories at the speed of the great pulp writers. Not only that, but your craft will actually get better the faster you go. It just takes time and practice. In Pulp Speed for Professional Writers, you’ll learn the things Blaze Ward discovered as he went from writing at mundane rates to Pulp Speed.

Series are fun to read, lots of authors write them, they’re great for large worlds and big stories, some publishers love them, and if you do it right, you can create a loyal fan base. Yet they are hard to stay consistent in. Why is that? And how do we do the idea of an epic story justice? The How-To Structure Workbook for Trilogies, Series, and Parallel Worlds by C. Michelle Jefferies helps you learn that series writing is not as hard as it can appear.

Simon Haynes has been writing and publishing novels and short fiction for almost twenty years. How to Write a Novel contains everything he’s learned about writing a novel, both as an indie and as a trade-published author.

 

Get all twelve writing guides in the NaNoWriMo Writing Tools bundle!

Available through the end of November 2018.

 

Story spotlight: “Of Cats and Lost Socks” by Liz Pierce


 
 
A witch. A cat. A curse.

When Emmaline McMurtree falls victim to a rival witch’s curse, it’s up to her familiar, Marley, to save the day.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

“Of Cats and Lost Socks” is in the Witches’ Brew bundle. You can learn more on BundleRabbit, Goodreads, and the bundle’s Facebook page.


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Whether it’s the exploits of the teenage offspring of the Gods walking the halls of Olympus High, or Faerie Folk moving to the Real World and trying to cope with jobs, neighbors, and everyday life, Liz Pierce writes “suburban fantasy” – stories that blur the boundaries between the real world and the fantastical, but are lighter and less edgy than their urban cousins. And, hopefully, a little more fun.


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