Low Down and Derby Available for Order

Low Down and Derby, the second anthology from the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime, is now available for purchase from the
Independent Publishers Group.

My wife and I each have stories in the collection, due out in January.

Sarah Glenn

TGIO - NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo ended at midnight last night. I came nowhere near the 50K-word goal, but I broke several personal writing records.

I wrote more words in one month than I had during the preceding year. Certainly more than I'd ever written in a month before. Instead of ending the year with a fifth of my novel completed, I'm ending with a third.

It makes me wonder what I can accomplish in another year of writing, now that I know what I can do!

Sarah G

This quiz actually is sorta-kinda applicable

I normally don't post quiz results here, but "What Kind of Novel Should I Write?" seemed relevant during the NaNoWriMo month.

GOTHICS! - Deep, dark, mysterious and melodramatic.
You are drawn to write tales of the shadows and
what might lurk there. Could it be Love? Or
Madness? Anne Rice and Brahm Stoker are your
guides.

What Kind of Novel Should I Write?
brought to you by Quizilla

Strangely enough, I have never been able to get into Anne Rice.

Sarah G

Highs and Lows

As I begin my third week in the NaNoWriMo project, it's been hard to stay out of the doldrums. So much of novel writing is getting the characters from point A to point E via B, C, and D. In general, I write A and E first, then find myself forced to slog through the pesky details. Most of my activity for the past week has been answering mundane questions and setting things up for future point Es.

Where was the humor? Where were the brilliant lines I hoped to have my characters use? Wasn't this supposed to be a funny story?

Last night, though, I got to have some fun! Naturally, it involved the villains doing something stupid, and the consequences that ensued. Loud noises were made, guns were proven to be ineffective, and pants needed changing. I even got some good sarcasm going.

I hope it will restore my faith so I can get a few more thousand words written by the end of the month.

Sarah G

Milestone Reached

Last night, I reached my word goal for this year. Anything I write further on this novel will be gravy.

I've discovered that many people write a lot more than 15,000 words a year, but I really didn't know what to set the goalpost for when I started this year. Before that, I broke my years down into how many stories or articles I wrote, not the actual length of the pieces.

It also takes time to start a novel. Research, developing the cast characters, and at least some plotting has to take place before the writing begins. Then, there's the actual breaking-in process of sustained creation. It takes some getting used to, and requires patience.

I hope to write more in the coming year, but let's see how far I get by the end of this one.

Sarah

Update on the Novel

The first five chapters of my novel were well-received Saturday by Sisters in Crime. Several of them confided that they'd had misgivings about reading a lesbian vampire story, but they wound up enjoying the narrative greatly. This had the double-edged effect of making me feel good about continuing my work on the novel, but also nervous about whether I could make the rest of the story just as entertaining.

Gwen and I are continuing to plug away at the NaNoWriMo project. She's begun the book I've nagged her about for the past year, which is great. I've produced more text in the last few days than I normally set for myself in a month's time, although I had already exceeded my goal for this year. If I keep up the pace, I may participate every year till I get the book finished. It might help me ship it to a publisher before I reach retirement age!

(Just FYI: I am very conservative about the number of words I set for myself. I make generous allowances for the day job, politics, and critical reruns of favorite TV programs. House also just started up again, so I doubt I will be productive every night.)

Sarah G

OK, I Lied

But I didn't lie at the time!

My wife decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo as a spur to her own writing. She encouraged me to join, and just list the number of words I wrote from that time forwards. I decided to take her up on it.

I'm listed as Kyrrdis on the site. I probably won't upload samples of text to the site so the book companies won't think it's been published on the net.

Happy writing,

Sarah G

First Five Chapters Presented This Saturday

While I am not participating in National Novel Writing Month, I am presenting the first five chapters of my novel at the Sisters In Crime meeting this Saturday. I hope I will survive the experience.

The title of the novel is: All This and Family Too

It's a story about a lesbian vampire who moves into a gated community. 'Nuff said.

Sarah G

Book Sale!

You can now buy Ghostbreakers anthologies at a discounted rate from RageMachine!

To buy Ghostbreakers: New Horrors, click here.

To buy Ghostbreakers:The Vampire-Hunters, click here.

Barnes and Noble is now selling the Rhine Institute anthology, Mystery in Mind.

I also have some used books (including a few rare occult books) for sale at Half.com. These are part of the overflow from my personal library.

Happy reading!

Sarah Glenn

My Most Popular Article

My most popular article wasn't actually written under my given name. It was written under my Pagan name, Sophia X. Pharou. This was the pen name I used as the editor of Rainbow Wind Magazine, now sadly defunct.

The article? "Why Pagans Need to Come Out of the Broom-Closet".

I published this mini-manifesto in 1995 after seeing Newt Gingrich promise Ralph Reed that he would do everything he could to enact the Christian Coalition's "Contract With the American Family." I put the essay up on the web, and even made it into a flyer for free distribution at Pagan gatherings.

Years later, with the advent of Google, I tried putting that pen name in and got back three pages worth of responses. Most were citations of that essay.

Here's one citation on the Queer Pagan Punk pages.

Another link on the Pagans Knotwork pages.

Here, someone posts it on a bulletin board.

This is a page about adultery laws in Florida.

A page in Brazil has linked to it.

The most pervasive citing is in the Skeptic's Dictionary, but all press is good press, right? It's even multilingual: here is the same page in Greek. Here it is in German. Too bad they didn't translate the article into these languages as well.

The newest publication of the article is here, at the Pagan Institute.

I am really flattered, and proud to have written something that is still going around the net!

Blessed be,

Sarah G
aka Sophia X. Pharou

Update on The Ghostbreakers

It looks like The Ghostbreakers: New Horrors has finally gone to hard copy! Check it out at Lulu. The newest book in the series, The Ghostbreakers: Vampire-Hunters, is there as well.

These collections each contain one of my stories. "Spectral Evidence", featured in New Horrors, answers the question: why would a man kill his own divorce lawyer? And "Caldera of Trouble", appearing in Vampire-Hunters, explores the eerie island of Santorini and its own special species of undead.

Naturally, there are plenty of other fine tales in these anthologies, written by people like Mark Orr, H. Turnip Smith, and Orrin Grey. The series is edited by Danielle Naibert and G.W. Thomas. Don't just take my word for it: go to the Lulu pages and read the .pdf samples. I'm sure you'll find them addicting!

Sarah G

My post on the DFA blog, and an update

The Democracy For America Day of Action to save Social Security took place last Thursday. I wrote an account of our local group's effort for DFA, and it is posted on the national blog!

Check my article out at:
http://www.blogforamerica.com/archives/006208.html

Also: Gary Thomas, editor of the Ghostbreakers series, has started up his own label, RageMachine. You can check out the details at:

http://ragemachinemag.tripod.com

My stories, "Spectral Evidence" and "Caldera of Trouble" appear in the Ghostbreakers series.

Sarah Glenn

Sad News

I am sorry to announce that Futures Mystery Anthology Magazine will not be putting out a final issue. Babs Lakey contacted me yesterday to let me know that the issue, which would have carried "Murder Most Vial", would not be published. So, I have a story that needs a new home.

Lovers of the short mystery story everywhere should regret the magazine's passing; many new mystery writers got their first break through FMAM. Babs and the various editors were very good at encouraging people to submit, and, if a story was rejected, they would let you know why.

I hope that Babs, Earl Staggs, and the rest of the FMAM staff do well in their individual pursuits. They rendered a great service to the rest of us.

Sarah Glenn

Latest Update

Good news!

Silver Dagger will be publishing Derby Rotten Scoundrels, Too, the sophomore effort of the Ohio River Valley chapter of Sisters in Crime. My story, "Party to a Fall", will be appearing in this volume. Unfortunately, the date of publication has been pushed back to 2006.

I have also received my contract from Cyberpulp for "Caldera of Trouble", a story slated for Ghostbreakers: the Vampire Hunters. No publish date as of yet.

Sarah G