Multicolor! Victory! Mohawk!

AS PROMISED! The success of the What Fates Impose fundraising campaign brings:

 

WOOHOO!!!

I Have Messed Up My Neck

I spent a lot a lot I mean a LOT of time at my computer over the last two weeks. I didn't realize how incorrectly I had been sitting until about a week ago, when that neck I mentioned started to feel sore. But at that point there was still so much computery stuff left do do, with deadlines, that I rearranged the way i was sitting and just kept working. 

I'm testing the Blogger app on my phone from my bed today because that was not an effective solution! For one thing, my neck really needed more of a break, and for another, I kept catching myself back in the same old bad position every time I got absorbed in what I was working on. So today I shall rest this neck in the least painful position I can find, with occasional breaks to gently stretch it and move it around, and I'll avoid sitting at the computer. 

But hey! If this is the price of victory, I'll pay it! Because two big and awesome things are done now: the funding for What Fates Impose, AND my new alternate history story of Incan Steampunk, "The Emperor Everlasting." That required so much research, but I learned a lot of actual history and ended up with a story I love.

This means Victory Mohawk pictures will be slightly delayed (wouldn't want pained grimaces smudging the Victory of it all), but you'll definitely get them! I promise!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Amanda C. Davis

Note from Nayad: Last interview of the series! I've been posting interviews

with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination, which is all about the conflicts and problems that make people want to predict the future, followed by the new problems that come from trying to find out what's next.

It's also the last day of the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE, and although we are fully funded (yay!) you can still get in on it to pre-order the book and get awesome rewards until 8pm Central TODAY, July 14th, 2013. All extra help we get will go toward the finishing details for the book and making more books like it possible, because we want to keep on creating anthologies and paying authors the pro rates they deserve.

You can easily tell your friends about the project by using this page to give us three clicks. Time's almost up!
 

Amanda C. Davis writes short stories in the genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Her work has appeared in Shock Totem, IGMS, three Triangulation anthologies, and others. She works in the combustion industry by day and spends her nights baking, live-Tweeting horror movies, and embarking on the occasional harebrained scheme (with varying results, but at least her failures make entertaining blog posts).

Amanda's story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination, "The Scry Mirror," shows how managing one's expectations is a crucial element of happiness, and it digs into some seriously creepy depths.

Here's Amanda with her thoughts on writing and what looks like an awesome egg recipe: I'm going to have to try it! *for a solid three minutes, mirrors around the world reflect the wrong images*

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Depends. Put enough coffee in me and I'll lecture for hours. On the other hand, I'm constantly telling my crit partners that I'm always wrong about everything. I'd probably better just stick to that for now.

Which subjects and themes do you write about often, and why?

I'm definitely one of those writers who pulls the same themes over and over again. I love sacrifice and loss, dread, the realization that you've been wrong for a really long time. Following your duty to a terrible end. I like to treat magic like science and science like magic. And I've got this stable of character types who keep appearing in various shapes and sizes, to the point where I've named them, and can recognize them and their hybrids even where I didn't expect them. I couldn't speculate on why. It'd just get embarrassing.

What's your favorite story of all the stories you've written, and why?

I don't necessarily have a number-one favorite, though within genres, I'm more satisfied with some than with others. Can I pick two? People seemed to like "Drift" and "Shimmer."

What do you like and dislike about the process of writing a story for a themed anthology?

I pretty much love everything about it. I thrive on deadlines, and I approach prompts and themes as puzzles where I have to find the approach that's maximally appropriate, unique, and interesting to write. The only downside might be that stories written to theme can be harder to place elsewhere, which is why (shh, trade secret) I often incorporate a second or third element that's in regular demand. And anthologies! I adore them. Don't get me started. I'm so excited about the table of contents in What Fates Impose, so excited to read it.

Where can people find other published work of yours?

All my published work is linked from my bibliography. Earlier this year, World Weaver Press released a collection of my sister Megan Engelhardt's and my fairy-tale retellings, available in a vast bouquet of formats, and we're very proud of it: http://worldweaverpress.com/books/wolves-and-witches/

What else would you like to tell people about any subject?

One egg. Quarter teaspoon coarse-ground black pepper. Half tablespoon crumbled feta cheese. Two tablespoons chopped baby spinach. Scramble, fry on medium-high, flip when the bottom holds together on a spatula and the top is solid enough not to slide off. Fold in half. Top with ketchup or hot sauce according to taste, but you don't need it; that's a lot of black pepper.

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Last day to get involved! The WHAT FATES IMPOSE Fundraising Campaign closes TODAY, July 14, 2013, at 8pm Central. Join us and be a part of making history!

Become a Beloved Backer on Kickstarter!

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Other posts in this series:

GUEST POST: Jennifer Brozek and her Karen Wilson Chronicles
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Wendy N. Wagner
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alasdair Stuart
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ferrett Steinmetz
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Sarah Hans
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Lucy A. Snyder
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Beth Wodzinski
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Tim Waggoner
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jamie Lackey
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Remy Nakamura
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Cat Rambo
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: David Boop
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Andrew Penn Romine

AUTHORINTERVIEW: Erika Holt

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Erika Holt

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read twisty tales about struggles with destiny, this anthology is for you. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this posting we have only 30 more hours to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE, and WE ARE FULLY FUNDED. Yay! We're up to $5,185 from 217 Beloved Backers!

You can still pre-order the book and get awesome rewards until 8pm Central on Sunday, July 14th. All extra help we get will go toward the finishing details for the book and making more books like it possible, because we want to keep on creating anthologies and paying authors the pro rates they deserve.

You can easily tell your friends about the project by using this page to give us three clicks.

Erika Holt lives in Calgary, Alberta, where she writes and edits speculative fiction.  Her stories appear in Shelter of Daylight Issue 6, Evolve Two: Vampire Stories of the Future Undead, and Tesseracts Fifteen: A Case of Quite Curious Tales.  She is also co-editor of two anthologies from EDGE and Absolute XPress: Rigor Amortis and  Broken Time Blues: Fantastic Tales in the Roaring ’20s, and assistant editor of Nightmare Magazine. I can give you my personal guarantee that she's fun to drink with!

Erika's story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination is called "Murder of Crows," and it's a chilling tale about the nature of trust, belief, and terrible choices.

Now here's Erika to tell you about her methods of developing stories, some of her favorite writing themes, and her thoughts on divination. *all the crows in the world startle into flight*

Victory Mohawk Progress Report

WHAT FATES IMPOSE is fully funded! There's still time to get in on the pre-orders and rewards through 8pm on Sunday, July 14th, but right now I'm working on something I told you I would do.

As promised, I am on the path to posting Multicolor Victory Mohawk pictures of myself on the internet! To let you know that I'm serious, here's a photo of my hair at the bleached-out stage. :)

What's next, you ask? How about some blue, turquoise, and green? I have to write a big chunk of my next short story before I get to start putting on the colors, but the colors and the photos will be along within a few days at most.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Andrew Penn Romine

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read twisty tales about struggles with destiny, this anthology is for you. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this morning we have only 57 more hours to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $4,862 from 202 Beloved Backers. That's a thrilling 97%, but we still need $138 to get to $5,000. The Countdown Is Happening! We're SOOOOOO CLOSE. :)

Thanks to everyone's efforts, we have unlocked a new bonus for backers! Everyone gets two bonus art downloads for contributing any amount from $1 on up. You can easily tell your friends about the project by using this page to give us three clicks. Will you help us? Because we would love to create this book and pay our authors pro rates for their work.

Andrew Penn Romine lives in Los Angeles, where he works in the visual effects and animation industry. A graduate of the 2010 Clarion West workshop, his fiction appears online at Lightspeed Magazine and Crossed Genres as well as in the anthologies Broken Time Blues: Fantastic Tales in the Roaring 20s, and Rigor Amortis, and in Fungi from Innsmouth Free Press.

Andrew's story for WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination, "Ain't Much Different'n Rabbits," is, I believe, the most disturbing story in the whole book, AND I LOVE IT.

Here's Andrew, explaining himself. *swarms of fireflies all light up at once*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: David Boop

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read twisty tales about struggles with destiny, this anthology is for you. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this afternoon we have only three more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $4,663 from 192 Beloved Backers. That's an amazing 93%, but we still need $337 to get to $5,000. The Countdown Is Happening. We're SO CLOSE. :)

If you'd like to help out, you can easily tell friends about the book by clicking here. If you contribute any amount from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page, you will get our first bonus art download in addition to whatever rewards you choose, and we're only 8 backers away from making that TWO bonus art downloads. Will you help us? Because we would love to create this book and pay our authors pro rates for their work.

 

 

David Boop is a novelist, short story writer , and super-friendly guy. I first met him after he was on a panel at NorWesCon. I don't remember the topic of the panel, but I remember the title of his book, which was such a good title that I needed to compliment him on it: She Murdered Me with Science. He's is also in a table of contents with me in Space Grunts: Full-Throttle Space Tales #3, edited by Dayton Ward, as well as having stories in a bunch of other tables of contents! He offers flash fiction critiques for one of the reward levels in our fundraising campaign.

 

David's story for WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination is called "Dipping into the Pocket of Destiny." It shows how trying to get an edge over the competition depends on both the quality of your information and the context around it, so you need to keep an eye on cause and effect.

 

Here's David with some context for you! *as the strand of fate that brought you here is woven into place, Events of Significance begin to play out*

 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Cat Rambo

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read strange tales about predicting the future, you've found the right book. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this afternoon we have only four more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $4,356 from 183 Beloved Backers. That's 87%, but we still need $644 to get to $5,000. The Countdown Is Happening. But we're so close!

If you'd like to help out, you can easily tell friends about the book by clicking here. If you contribute any amount from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page, you will get our first bonus art download in addition to whatever rewards you choose, and we're only 17 backers away from making that TWO bonus art downloads. Will you help us? Because we would love to create this book and pay our authors pro rates for their work.

 

(Photo by On Focus Photos, http://onfocusphoto.com)

Cat Rambo lives, writes, and teaches by the shores of an eagle-haunted lake in the Pacific Northwest. Her 200+ fiction publications include stories in Asimov’s, Clarkesworld Magazine, and Tor.com. Her short story, “Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” from her story collection Near + Far (Hydra House Books), was a 2012 Nebula nominee. Her editorship of Fantasy Magazine earned her a World Fantasy Award nomination in 2012.

Cat's story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE, "To Read the Sea," is a powerful and unsettling flash fiction story about the magical objects that come from the ocean, and the dark motivations of the people who want them.

Here's Cat to tell you about divination and the many ways to do it, as well as her thoughts on writing. *tides around the world impossibly rise all at once*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Remy Nakamura

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read strange tales about predicting the future, you've found the right book. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this afternoon we have only five more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $4,267 from 178 Beloved Backers. That's almost 85%, but we still need some help to get to $5,000. The Countdown Is Happening.

If you'd like to help out, you can easily tell friends about the book by clicking here. If you contribute any amount from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page, you will get a bonus art download in addition to whatever rewards you choose! Will you help us? Because we would love to create this book and pay our authors pro rates for their work.

Remy Nakamura is a graduate of the Clarion West workshop, and one of the excellent writers contributing to Inkpunks, and I personally covet at least one of his shirts (the one he was wearing when I met him in the middle of the night at WorldCon in Reno). His story for WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination is called "Pick a Card." It features Tarot cards and a tortured man in prison who seeks a way out.

I'll let Remy take over now to tell you about his reasons for using Tarot cards, his themes, and the way he came up with the idea for his story.
*Ferris Bueller-style group dances start up on stairways across America*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jamie Lackey

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read weird stories about fortune-telling, this is the book for you. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this morning we have only five more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $4,116 from 171 Beloved Backers. That's 82%, but we still need some help to get to $5,000. The Clock of Let's Get Serious is now ticking.

If you'd like to help out, you can easily tell friends about the book by clicking here. If you contribute any amount from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page, you will get a bonus art download in addition to whatever rewards you choose! Will you help us? Because we would love to create this book and pay our authors pro rates for their work.

Jamie Lackey lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and their cat. Her fiction has been published by over a dozen different venues, including The Living Dead 2, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Daily Science Fiction, and she has appeared on the Best Horror of the Year Honorable Mention and Tangent Online Recommended Reading Lists. She reads slush for Clarkesworld Magazine, works as an assistant editor at Electric Velocipede, and helped edit the Triangulation Annual Anthology from 2008 to 2011. Her Kickstarter-funded short story collection, One Revolution, is available on Amazon.com.

Jamie's story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE, "Another Will Open," gives us a look at the difference between easy answers and hard choices, and how to pick a direction. Here she is with her thoughts on where that story came from and some advice for aspiring writers.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Tim Waggoner

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews with authors contributing to my speculative fiction anthology, WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. If you want to read weird stories about fortune-telling, this is the book for you. I hope you enjoy these author interviews!

As of this morning we have only six more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $3,879 from 160 Beloved Backers. That's almost 78%, but we still need some help to get to $5,000. The Clock of Let's Get Serious is now ticking.

If you'd like to help out, you can easily tell friends about the book by clicking here. If you contribute any amount from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page, you will get a bonus art download in addition to whatever rewards you choose! Will you help us? Because we would love to create this book and pay our authors pro rates for their work.

Tim Waggoner is a popular, award-winning horror writer who has published over thirty novels and three short story collections, and also a creative writing teacher at Sinclair Community College and in Seton Hill University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program. His story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE, "The Goggen," is a creepy modern fairy tale about the darkness lurking behind waterfalls and inside human minds.

Here's Tim with great stuff about his writing themes, writing advice for you, and how the I Ching gave him the right wisdom to get him started as a professional writer. *out of nowhere, an orchestra starts playing dramatic classical music*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Beth Wodzinski

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week I'll post interviews of the authors contributing to WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. FYI: There is some outrageously imaginative work in this book, and I can't wait for you to see what these writers have accomplished. I hope you enjoy what they have to say in their interviews!

As of this morning we have only seven more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $3,732 from 153 Beloved Backers. That's almost 75%, but we still need some help to get to $5,000. The Clock of Let's Get Serious is now ticking.

If you'd like to help out, telling your friends about this book project is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.

In addition to being an excellent writer, Beth Wodzinski is the editor of an outstanding magazine, Shimmer. Her story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE is called "One Tiny Misstep (In Bed)." It features fortune cookies, gives the reader many choices, and demonstrates exactly how deceptive choices can be.

Here's Beth, testing out various methods of online divination to find answers to my questions! *flocks of shimmery birds take to the skies in what is clearly an omen of some kind*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Lucy A. Snyder

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week and next I'll post interviews of the authors contributing to WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. RECOGNIZE: I am working with some of the most fun and interesting people in the speculative fiction field. I hope you enjoy what they have to say!

As of this morning we have only eight more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $3,550 from 144 Beloved Backers, but we still need some help to get to $5,000!

If you'd like to help out, telling your friends is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.

(Photo by Michelle Pendergrass)

 

Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, and Switchblade Goddess, and the collections Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. Her writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Hellbound Hearts, Dark Faith, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.

Here's Lucy, letting you in on her thoughts about divination and a bunch of her diverse interests! *a triumphant fanfare of trumpets*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Sarah Hans

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week and next I'll post interviews of the authors contributing to WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. FACT: I am pleased and proud to be able to work with each of the authors in this book, because they're all great people. I hope you enjoy what they have to say!

As of this morning we have only nine more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $3,448 from 140 Beloved Backers, but we still need some help to get to $5,000!

If you'd like to help out, telling your friends is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.

Sarah Hans is a writer, editor, teacher, and steampunk enthusiast. Her first anthology, SIDEKICKS!, contains one of my short stories, and has inspired at least two short films that are in development right now. Her story for WHAT FATES IMPOSE, "Charms," explores blackmail, identity, and difficult choices, using runes as a method of predicting the future.

Here's Sarah! Sharing her thoughts on Tarot, reluctance to get her fortune told, and writing from the perspective of characters different from herself. *showers of glitter confetti*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ferrett Steinmetz

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week and next I'll post interviews of the authors contributing to WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. KNOW THIS: every one of these authors has a shot at becoming your next favorite author, because they're all that good. I hope you enjoy what they have to say!

As of this morning we have only ten more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $3,398 from 137 Beloved Backers, but we still need some help to get to $5,000!

If you'd like to help out, telling your friends is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.

Ferrett Steinmetz is a Nebula Award-nominated author. He has been mentioned by Neil Gaiman in at least one public speech as an example to show that creative writing can, in fact, be taught. His story for WHAT FATES IMPOSE, "Black Swan Oracle," gives us a chilling look at how predictable people and their choices can be, and the outcome of making such predictions.

Now here's Ferrett! Who can explain to you how vacuum cleaners lead to Deep Thoughts about the divination prospects of social media, and also give you solid, get-to-work writing advice. *a thousand muppets flail at once*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alasdair Stuart

Note from Nayad: The series continues. This week and next I'll post interviews of the authors contributing to WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. ADVISORY: every one of these authors is full of talent and marvels. I hope you enjoy what they have to say!

As of this morning we have only eleven more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. We're up to $3,368 from 136 Beloved Backers, but we still need some help to get to $5,000!

If you'd like to help out, telling your friends is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.

Alasdair Stuart's introduction to WHAT FATES IMPOSE is the kind of inherently interesting piece of writing you often see as a non-fiction article but rarely get to have at the beginning of a book, because someone wrote in some Publishing Scripture somewhere that nobody actually reads introductions, but you still have to have one for Reasons. Well, you're going to want to read this one. I mean, first of all, it's called "Singing from the Book of Holy Jagger." It must come from a different sect than that Publishing Scripture I mentioned. But you don't have to just believe me about how good it is. You can listen to Alasdair reading the heck out of a portion of his intro on the project's page by clicking that great big arrow in the middle of our cover image.

And here he is! It's Alasdair! With ideas about divination, and thoroughly correct writing advice. *cheers*

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Wendy N. Wagner

Note from Nayad: This week and next, I will post interviews with as many authors as possible from WHAT FATES IMPOSE, in addition to anything else I write about. BE ASSURED that every one of these authors is an interesting person I would gladly hang out with for an evening (and I have done so, in many cases). I hope you enjoy what they have to say!

As of this morning we have only twelve more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE: Tales of Divination. We're up to $3,223 from 134 Beloved Backers, but we still need some help to get to $5,000!

If you'd like to help out, telling your friends is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.

Wendy N. Wagner's story in WHAT FATES IMPOSE features fortune cookies. It shows a struggling couple coping with an unexpected stop on their road trip, with much larger consequences than they could have expected.

Here's Wendy, sharing her thoughts on fortune-telling and writing! *applause*

GUEST POST: Jennifer Brozek and her Karen Wilson Chronicles

Jennifer Brozek is an award-winning anthology editor and a talented, prolific speculative fiction writer. Her story, "A Card Given," is part of the anthology I'm editing, WHAT FATES IMPOSE. Jennifer has also very generously offered up a donation of her series of novels, the Karen Wilson Chronicles, as a reward level for the anthology's Kickstarter fund-raising campaign. Jennifer tells the world about her series below, and at the end I'll tell you how you can get it (and my book, too)!

Here's Jennifer:

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