ConGregate 2014: Official Athena's Daughters Launch Party & Panel

Two weeks ago, I was lucky enough to head to Winston-Salem, N.C. for a brief stopover at ConGregate, a new sci-fi and fantasy convention put on by some of the same folks who have extensive experience running RavenCon, ConCarolinas, StellarCon and Dragon*Con.

Most of the conventions I've gone to have been out-of-state (as in, I drive anywhere from 6-10 hours to attend) so it was nice to attend one that was relatively close to home! My con experience started on Saturday.

In the morning, I sat in on a fitness panel with @WriterMaggie (on which @janinekspendlove was a panelist. Meanwhile, Maggie and I functioned as the resident peanut gallery, and heckled her in a kind and loving way.)

In the afternoon, we went to a second panel about "The Myth of Strong Women," where I finally got to meet AD and Wynde author Tricia Barr for the first time! She, Janine, and several other fabulous ladies (plus our male moderator, who was an excellent sport) led the room in a discussion on what it means to write engaging female characters. (Hint: treat them as complex people, not types.)  They also talked about why representing all kinds of women is important in fiction, even if those characters aren't physically strong with typically masculine qualities. (Although we absolutely respect women who can do amazing physical feats: a reference to this video of Kacy Catanzaro completing the full American Ninja Warrior course came up more than once.)

After that, it was time for the official Athena's Daughters launch party! Authors Gail Z. Martin, Janine, Maggie, Tera Fulbright, and Tricia were all in attendance. We had a lovely spread of food ordered for the party, including a sheet cake, and had an excellent turnout considering the size of our cozy convention! I'm happy so many people were able to attend the launch. There was a free raffle with books and assorted prizes from some of the authors in attendance. We ate, drank, and signed our little hearts out.

Here are Janine and Maggie, setting up our head table:

20140725-150338-54218676.jpg

Our beautiful paperback -- complete with art cover by Tietjen Alvarez--next to another Silence anthology:

And the fabulous sheet cake, chosen by Tera:

The next day, Sunday, was our main programming panel on Athena's Daughters. Silence in the Library's CEO, Ron Garner, was our moderator. For an hour, Gail, Janine, Maggie, Tricia and I fielded questions about why we got involved with this project, why we thought an anthology "for women, by women" was important, and discussed why writing stories about female characters was individually powerful for each of us.

We also chatted about the amazing communal experience we'd had during the Kickstarter itself, being able to promote the anthology with a group of enthusiastic, talented women. We gave background on our individual works from the anthology, made callbacks to a few of the other crowdfunded campaigns, and brought up topics ranging from newly-genderflipped Star Wars characters to Jezebel to Joanna Russ. (I brought up Joanna Russ. I always bring up Joanna Russ. :)  )

Overall, it was an amazing con experience. I was so pleased to have been a part of it, and I can't wait to head back for ConGregate 2015 -- this time in High Point, NC. Next year's guests of honor will include Mike Stackpole, Timothy Zahn, Albin Johnson, and Scott Rorie. Hope to see some of you there, too!

Athena's Daughters, Day 8: A Blog Hop, Jean Marie Ward Story Preview, & the Rewards Rundown

Day 8, and we are now over 20K! In addition to all our other stretch goals, we will be releasing a limited hardcover run of the Athena's Daughters anthology!I wanted to give you another story excerpt from Athena's Daughters, this time by the fabulous Jean Marie Ward.

Jean writes fiction, nonfiction and everything in between. Her first novel, written with the late Teri Smith, finaled in two categories of the 2008 Indie Book Awards. Her short stories appear in numerous anthologies, including the award-winning Hellebore and Rue, and The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity. Her short story “Lord Bai’s Discovery” was shortlisted for the Washington Science Fiction Association’s Small Press Award. You can find her online at JeanMarieWard.com or on Twitter. A preview of her A.D. story, "The Gap In The Fence," is here:

The corners of the fairy’s eyes crinkled, like he was hiding a smile under his beard, but it didn’t last. “Nothing like that. I’m sorry. I can’t stop anybody from dying. There’re some things you just can’t fix.”

“Then what can you do? There’s got to be something.”

Gurt and all the birds seemed to gasp at once. Even the leaves seemed to hold their breath. The man’s bushy eyebrows lifted.

“What do you want of me?”

His voice sounded different somehow. It was still slow and gravelly, but there was something sharp and cold underneath the words that brought back all my fear. Me and my big mouth—Mom always said it would get me in trouble. He waited for me to say something, staring at me from under his eyebrows with eyes as hard as his voice. “What do you want of me?”

A cloud passed overhead, shadowing his face. Gurt ogled us with big saucer eyes. Her head turned from side to side to keep us both in view.

What I wanted was for him to save my best friend’s dog from dying, but he said he couldn’t. At least I thought he did. I wanted to be smarter, so I’d know what he meant and what I was supposed to say. But this might be my only chance. My head whirled with all the bad things about to happen—Willy dragged away from the people who loved him when he was sick and hurting, Shari waking up to find out her mom… I couldn’t finish the thought any more than I could face her and tell her what her mom was going to do.

“What. Do. You. Want?”

The breeze roared into a wind. My hair skinned away from my face. Branches as big as my whole body shook. The grass bowed flat. The fairy hadn’t moved, but he seemed to have grown until he was too big to see without lifting my head. I almost peed my pants, but I knew if I broke and ran, he’d be on me in a second. Then I’d be dead. There was only one thing to do...

I also wanted to link you to many of the fabulous blogs and anthology-related posts of my fellow authors! Gail Martin was kind enough to put together a comprehensive list on her own blog, Disquieting Visions, and shared it with us last night. The LinkyTools nodule at the bottom of this post is where you can find more story previews, blog posts, our Goodreads community and much, much more!

Last, but not least, an updated Rewards Rundown. Contributors at the $5 level and up are now getting:

-a digital copy of the “Athena’s Daughters” anthology, now also featuring stories by E.J. Lawrence, Tera Fulbright, Tricia Barr, and Jennifer Brozek -an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution

-a digital copy of two Danielle Ackley McPhail novels (The Halfling’s Court and Yesterday’s Dreams) -a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin’s short story bundle including “Vanities,” “Buttons,” and “Steer a Pale Course” -a digital download of Maggie Allen’s album Last Call, recorded with her band Naked Singularity -a digital copy of Cynthia Ward’s short story “Gabriella” -a digital copy of Sherwood Smith’s novel Crown Duel

-an anthology cover upgrade, created exclusively for our book by artist Tietjen Alvarez -a digital download of Jean Marie Ward‘s short story bundle “Four For More” -a digital download of the audiobook of Danielle Ackley McPhail’s collection of short stories, Flash in the Can. -a digital download of Gail Z. Martin’s Jonmarc Vahanian short story bundle, including “Raiders’ Curse”, “Caves of the Dead”, and “Storm Surge,” -a digital download of Janine K. Spendlove’s novel War of the Seasons, Book 1: The Human

-a digital download of Tera Fulbright‘s short story “Fires Within the Blank Page.” -a free digital download of Ginger Breo‘s illustration of the goddess Athena. (Backers who purchase print copies of the book will additionally receive a free 5×7 print of Ginger’s art.) -a free digital download of the audiobook for Janine K. Spendlove’s novel War of the Seasons, Book 1: The Human

-a limited hard cover run of Athena’s Daughters using the commissioned cover art by Tietjen Alvarez (this edition will be limited to a print run of 200 books! Act fast!)

In the pipeline are the following stretch goals:

At the $22,000 level, another story will be added to the anthology! Author Diana Peterfreund is the author of nine books for adults and teens about awesome young women doing awesome things: from breaking down the gender barriers of an all-male secret society to saving the world from killer unicorns. Her latest book, Across a Star-Swept Sea, is a gender-flipped take on the Scarlet Pimpernel set in a post-apocalyptic future. Her critically acclaimed short stories have appeared on the Locus Recommended Reading List and in the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol.5.

At the $24,000 mark, we will produce a companion anthology, "Apollo's Daughters." This book will also feature strong female characters, but with a slight twist. The authors will be some of the best male SF/F writers in the business, including Michael A. Stackpole, Aaron Allston, Bryan Young and Aaron Rosenberg!

Are any of these awesome things relevant to your interests? To paraphrase Liz Lemon, do you now feel like high fiving a million angels? Back us or share about the project here.

Athena's Daughters, Day 7: More Previews! More Press! And the (updated) Rewards Rundown!

2013 copyright Autumn Frederickson.

Day 7, and we are over 19K and still climbing. I'm so proud of this anthology and how well it's doing. In the conceptual stages, we were all thrilled to be invited to this project, but to see it funded so quickly and continue to be a success now that the campaign's active is really gratifying for everyone involved. Thank you all for doing what you do!

I wanted to bring you guys another preview from our anthology. Author C.A. (Christine) Verstraete writes both flash and short fiction with a touch of the macabre. Her stories have appeared in various anthologies including Darlings of Decay, Feast of the Dead - Hors D' Oeuvres, 100 Doors to Madness, as well as Timeshares and Steampunk'd from DAW Books. Her new book is GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie.

Her story for "Athena's Daughters" is going to be awesome. In fact, you can still pledge for a "Tuckerization" in it, meaning you'd be written in as a character! So far, Autumn Frederickson has created a gorgeous illustration of C.A's protagonist, Marietta (see above). An excerpt of Christine's story is posted here on her blog:

"No one could remember the last soul who came to Devil’s Gulch and made such an impression. When she stepped through the doors of the Black Fiddle Tavern that day, all conversation stopped and silence fell like a heavy winter snow.

Everyone took notice because the woman just didn’t seem to fit in either the brass-embellished tavern or the burgeoning town. Miss Marietta Parsons was as plain as could be.

Marietta knew that everyone considered her plain, homely. But she didn't care. Nor did she take insult at the look of regret that flashed across the painted face of the striking bar owner Luella, who had posted an opening for a songstress and thereby lured Marietta to the tavern...

Let's also take a look at the current Rewards Rundown, updated to reflect achieved stretch goals:

-a digital copy of the “Athena’s Daughters” anthology, now also featuring stories by E.J. Lawrence, Tera Fulbright, Tricia Barr, and Jennifer Brozek -an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution

-a digital copy of two Danielle Ackley McPhail novels (The Halfling’s Court and Yesterday’s Dreams) -a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin’s short story bundle including “Vanities,” “Buttons,” and “Steer a Pale Course” -a digital download of Maggie Allen’s album Last Call, recorded with her band Naked Singularity -a digital copy of Cynthia Ward’s short story “Gabriella” -a digital copy of Sherwood Smith’s novel Crown Duel

-an anthology cover upgrade, created exclusively for our book by artist Tietjen Alvarez -a digital download of Jean Marie Ward‘s short story bundle “Four For More” -a digital download of the audiobook of Danielle Ackley McPhail’s collection of short stories, Flash in the Can. -a digital download of Gail Z. Martin’s Jonmarc Vahanian short story bundle, including “Raiders’ Curse”, “Caves of the Dead”, and “Storm Surge,” -a digital download of Janine K. Spendlove’s novel War of the Seasons, Book 1: The Human

-a digital download of Tera Fulbright‘s short story “Fires Within the Blank Page.” -a free digital download of Ginger Breo‘s illustration of the goddess Athena. Backers who purchase print copies of the book will additionally receive a free 5×7 print of Ginger’s art. -a free digital download of the audiobook for Janine K. Spendlove’s novel War of the Seasons, Book 1: The Human

Here is a list of our upcoming stretch goals (a couple of which you are going to freak out over. because they're amazing):

At the $20,000 level, we will produce a limited hard cover run of Athena’s Daughters using the commissioned cover art by Tietjen Alvarez. This edition will be limited to a print run of 200 books.

At the $22,000 level, another story will be added to the anthology! Author Diana Peterfreund is the author of nine books for adults and teens about awesome young women doing awesome things: from breaking down the gender barriers of an all-male secret society to saving the world from killer unicorns. Her latest book, Across a Star-Swept Sea, is a gender-flipped take on the Scarlet Pimpernel set in a post-apocalyptic future. Her critically acclaimed short stories have appeared on the Locus Recommended Reading List and in the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Vol.5.

When we reach $24,000, Silence in the Library, our publisher, will produce a companion volume to Athena’s Daughters titled Apollo’s Daughters! This anthology will feature stories by some of the best male SF/F authors in the business. The stories will also feature female protagonists. Michael A. Stackpole, Aaron Allston, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, and Bryan Young have already signed on for the project.

Are you getting excited yet?! We still have 23 days to go! I can't quite spill the beans about some of the other stretch goals we've got planned, but I will say that you're bound to love them as much as we do.

Reading this blog for the first time? Or the twelfth? You can back us or share about the project here.

Athena's Daughters, Day 6: Positive Press, Another Preview, and The Rewards Rundown

Athena's Daughters, Day 6: Positive Press, Another Preview, and The Rewards Rundown

Day 6, and we are over 16K and climbing, thanks to front page press on Jezebel, The Mary Sue, and i09. Frankly, it's surreal and totally awesome to see our project sharing page space with articles about Jennifer Saunders, Paul Dini, Peter O'Toole, and the fact that someone has created Hogwarts-house themed high heels. I'm so thankful to everyone for contributing and spreading the word about our project. You guys are amazing.

I'll give you a revised version of the Rewards Rundown, now updated to reflect achieved stretch goals. In addition to any items specifically pledged for, all contributors at the $5 level and up are now getting:

-a digital copy of the “Athena’s Daughters” anthology, now also featuring stories by authors Nisi Shawl, Tanya Spackman, E.J. Lawrence, Tera Fulbright, and Tricia Barr
-an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution
-a digital copy of two Danielle Ackley McPhail novels (The Halfling's Court and Yesterday's Dreams)
-a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin’s short story bundle including “Vanities,” “Buttons,” and “Steer a Pale Course”
-a digital download of Maggie Allen’s album Last Call, recorded with her band Naked Singularity
-a digital copy of Cynthia Ward’s short story “Gabriella”
-a digital copy of Sherwood Smith’s novel Crown Duel

-an anthology cover upgrade, created exclusively for our book by artist Tietjen Alvarez

-a digital download of Jean Marie Ward's short story bundle "Four For More"

-a digital download of the audiobook of Danielle Ackley McPhail’s collection of short stories, Flash in the Can. 

-a digital download of Gail Z. Martin’s Jonmarc Vahanian short story bundle, including “Raiders’ Curse”, “Caves of the Dead”, and “Storm Surge,”

-and last but not least, a digital download of Janine K. Spendlove’s novel War of the Seasons, Book 1: The Human. 

And that's not all! Here are four more stretch goals on the horizon:

At the $17,000 level, all backers who have pledged at the $5 level and up will receive a free digital download of Tera Fulbright's short story "Fires Within the Blank Page."

At $17,500, we'll add another story to the anthology, this time by author Jennifer Brozek. Jennifer is an award winning author and editor who has been writing roleplaying games and professionally publishing fiction since 2004. She has won awards both for her game design and for editing. 

When we reach $18,000, all backers at $5 and up will additionally receive a free digital download of Ginger Breo's illustration of the goddess Athena. Additionally, backers who purchase print copies of the book will receive a free 5x7 print of Ginger’s art. 

At the $19,000 level, backers pledging $5 or more will also receive a free digital download of the audiobook for Janine K. Spendlove’s novel War of the Seasons, Book 1: The Human.

I want to leave you with another story preview, so you can get an idea of the type of work that will be featured in the anthology. Maggie Allen's "Lunar Camp" is about a thirteen year old African-American girl named Bee who spends her summer vacation at camp on the moon. As Maggie says, "her passion is botany and growing plants, so you can imagine her excitement at spending a summer learning about moon rocks. Lunar Camp ends up being more than she bargained for in so many ways..."

You can read an excerpt from Maggie's story here.

Per usual -- if you or someone you know would like to contribute to our anthology, or would like to hear about it, link them to it!

Athena's Daughters, Day 5: Even More Stretch Goals, An Introduction, and Author Commentary

Day 5, and we are close to breaking the $13K mark! I'll remind everyone what contributors at the $5 level and up are now getting:

-a digital copy of the "Athena's Daughters" anthology, now featuring stories by Nisi Shawl and Tanya Spackman,
-an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution
-a digital copy of *two* Danielle Ackley McPhail novels
-a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin's short story bundle including "Vanities," "Buttons," and "Steer a Pale Course"
-a digital download of Maggie Allen's album "Last Call," recorded with her band Naked Singularity -a digital copy of Cynthia Ward's short story "Gabriella"
-and finally, a digital copy of Sherwood Smith's novel "Crown Duel"!

At the $13,000 mark, our beautiful book will be getting a cover upgrade. Artist Tietjen Alvarez has graciously agreed to produce an original art cover exclusive to the "Athena's Daughters" anthology! 

At the $13,500 mark, all backers at $5 or greater will ALSO receive a free digital download of Jean Marie Ward’s short story bundle "Four For More."

When we reach $14,000, a story by new author E.J. Lawrence will be added to the anthology! By day, Lawrence is a forensic scientist and genetics expert who has worked with the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and the Smithsonian Institute. Trust me, you WANT to read E.J.'s story. I had a sneak peek at it last month and it's fantastic.

I also wanted to introduce you to another of our talented authors, Cleolinda Jones. You may know Cleo from her book "Movies in Fifteen Minutes," or from her Livejournal recaps of current movies and TV shows such as Harry Potter, Twilight, Hannibal, or Dracula.

She recently posted a blog entry on Tumblr about the inspiration for her anthology story, "The World to Come," set in the same universe as the novel she's currently working on:

"It's a ghost story," Rose tells her friends around the fire. "But it's also, I suppose, the story of how my father proposed to my mother."

You can read more about Cleo's story here.

As always, like what you see? Or feel like sharing? http://tinyurl.com/athenasD

Athena's Daughters Day 4: 12K, More Story Previews, And A Blogpost

2013 copyright Autumn Frederickson. Created exclusively for "Athena's Daughters."

Day four, and we're over the $12,000 mark! All I can say is THANK YOU.

If you contributed at the $5 level and up, here’s what you’re getting, in addition to any items you’ve specifically pledged for:

-a digital copy of the Athena's Daughters anthology, now including stories by Nisi Shawl and Tanya Spackman
-an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution
-a digital copy of *two* Danielle Ackley-Mcphail novels (The Halfling's Court and Yesterday's Dreams)
-a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin‘s short story bundle (including "Buttons," "Vanities," and "Steer A Pale Course.")
-a digital download of Maggie Allen‘s album Last Call, recorded with her band Naked Singularity,
-and a digital download of Cynthia Ward's short story "Gabriella"!

Cynthia also did a recent post about the inspiration for her fantastic story "Whoever Fights Monsters," which is included in Athena's Daughters:

"...Years ago, in an article for The Internet Review of Science Fiction, I wrote: "I’m just waiting for the kickass urban fantasy steampunk novel with a strong female protagonist who uses her magical talents, button-booted martial-arts skills, and steam-powered machine gun to mow down werewolves and zombies by gaslight. There’s a book that’ll go Number One with a bullet. A silver bullet.” Then I thought: ”I ought to write this myself.”"

The illustration at the beginning of this post, by Autumn Frederickson, is the artwork which will accompany Cynthia's story in the anthology.

When we reach the $12,500 mark, all backers at the $5 level will also receive a digital copy of Sherwood Smith's novel "Crown Duel." Sherwood recently did a guest post for the Silence in the Library blog, where she writes about romance, Jane Austen, and Georgette Heyer. She also discusses the inspiration for her fabulous anthology story "Commando Bats."

As always, if you would like to back our project, or give it a signal boost: http://tinyurl.com/athenasD

Athena's Daughters, Day 3: A Print, A Preview, and Even More Stretch Goals!

To everyone who has contributed to or shared about our Kickstarter project -- thank you so much for your support! We could not do this without you!

To recap: if you have pledged at the $5 level and up, here's what you're now getting, in addition to any items you've specifically pledged for:

• a digital copy of the Athena's Daughters anthology
• an email from one of our authors, personally thanking you for your contribution
• a digital copy of Danielle Ackley McPhail's novel The Halfling's Court
• a digital copy of Gail Z. Martin's short story bundle (including Buttons, Vanities, and Steer A Pale Course.)
• and a digital download of Maggie Allen's album Last Call, recorded with her band Naked Singularity!

The image at the top of this post is an original commission by artist Ginger Breo. Because we hit the $9000 mark yesterday, this beautiful piece featuring the goddess Athena will now be available for purchase as a print!

Right now, we are $300 away from unlocking our next stretch goal. In my last post, I told you about the fabulous NisiShawl, whose story will be included in our anthology once we hit the $11,000 mark. Below is an excerpt of one of her other stories, as well as a link to a second Kickstarter anthology in which she's currently featured, Steampunk World.

This is from Nisi's short story "Black Betty" :

For the first three human years of her life, Betty was black. The Fraziers took possession of Betty when she was a mere pup, freshly weaned from her mother’s satiny nipples. They raised her on kibble they kept in a garbage can locked in a shed. Low-grade stuff compared to what she was fed later, but they doctored it with pot liquor and bacon drippings and added table scraps when those were available. The Fraziers were good people.

“That dog oughta be talkin,” proclaimed Mizz Millie, their alpha. “Beagles sure is smart. Lookit how her eyes followin up our conversation!” Mizz Millie was far less mobile than the rest of the pack, but they all submitted to her anyway. How and why this happened was one of the many things Betty studied. She observed everything about the Fraziers and later integrated it all, every scent and sound and sight and sensation.

Mizz Millie spent those three years either in her bed or seated – depending on the weather – next to the warm fire or the open window. She hardly ever went outside. She had the wisest hands, and Betty loved her with all her cheek, chin, and belly.

Betty often wished she could talk; it would have been a way to prove her loyalty to Mizz Millie and thus to the Frazier pack. But at that time she had not yet been modded...

Read more here.

Nisi isn't the only author we'll be adding once we pass the $11,000 stretch goal mark. We are also adding a story by talented newcomer TanyaSpackman, an excerpt of which is below:

Amaia was relieved to finally find a bit of peace as she dressed her mother’s body at the funeral home. She’d been dreading this moment, but as she, and two women from her mother’s church, moved the body back and forth to maneuver the fabric of the clothes in place, the heavy ache crushing her chest lifted. For the first time in several days, she didn’t wish she too was dead. The only words spoken were absolutely necessary.

“Pull towards you and I’ll move it down.”

“Can you help me lift?”

Otherwise, it was quiet, and the three women moved silently to complete the task. Once her mother was dressed, the other two women gave Amaia a hug and left the room. She’d already said goodbye, but couldn’t help one more kiss on her mother’s cold cheek. The kiss felt empty and she regretted it. She said a quiet thank you to the funeral director waiting outside the door and left.

~~~~~~~~~

7 April 2015 From: Omar Gray, JPL/NASA To: Megan Keelan, JPL/NASA

Megan, check out the attached files. Hiromi was spot on with those gravity measurements. This thing is huge. Alex’s calculations say 2700 km in diameter. It has got to be a D-type. Course is a little iffy right now, but it’s going to be close fly-by. Give us a couple more days for an accurate course. Likely close enough for tidal effects, at least.

Megan, this is a scary one. Might want to pass it up the chain ASAP.

VR, Omar

Omar Gray, PhD Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex omar.gray@jpl.nasa.gov (760) 555-4774

~~~~~~~~~

Thank you guys again for supporting this project. You are the ones who funded this anthology and helped make it possible. With your help, we can continue to make it even better! Keep spreading the word!

Athena's Daughters Kickstarter, Day 2

Amazing. We are FULLY FUNDED on day TWO of this campaign! Thanks to everyone who has contributed to our project, as well as those who may not have contributed, but have faithfully shared the link on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Reddit, and other social platforms. You guys rock! We could not have done this without you!

I want to take this time to talk briefly about the inspiration for this anthology, and remind you about some awesome upcoming stretch goals we've put together for you!

The reason Silence in the Library wanted to put together this collection of stories is simple: media representation of women matters. Right now, there are many examples of strong women in books, television, and film. Through this anthology, we wanted to show that character strength comes in all forms. Female characters do not only have to be physically strong to be considered awesome. Women and girls also have mental strength, moral strength, or strength of conviction, all of which deserve due recognition alongside physical feats.

Basically, we wanted to read and write stories about compelling women of all walks of life. The authors in this anthology who have children wanted their families to be able to read about a variety of female characters, too.

Since this project IS funded, I'll remind you about the fantastic upcoming rewards we're working to bring you now:

At the $9000 level, artist Ginger Breo will create an exclusive piece of artwork for this anthology which will feature the goddess Athena. It will be made available as an 8x10 print for backers to purchase.

At the $9500 level, all backers who have pledged $5 and up will receive a free digital download of Danielle Ackley McPhail'snovel The Halfling's Court!

At the $10,000 level, all backers who've pledged $5 and up will receive a free digital download of Gail Z. Martin's short story bundle 3 Deadly Curiosities! This includes her short stories Vanities, Steer A Pale Course, and Buttons.

At the $10,500 level, all backers who have pledged at the $5 level will receive a free digital download of Maggie Allen's album Last Call, from her folk-rock band, Naked Singularity!

Finally, at the $11,000 level, we begin to add more stories to the anthology! Award-winning author Nisi Shawl and newcomer Tanya Spackman will both have their work included in Athena's Daughters if we reach this goal.  Tanya has even posted an excerpt of her story on her blog for you to preview!

I am so excited to see where we take this project from here. Thank you all for your continued support. I hope you continue to spread the word of this fantastic Kickstarter to your friends and family.

(Newcomers: like what you hear? Back us!)

Athena's Daughters Kickstarter is Live!

Our beautiful cover!

It is officially Day 1 of our Kickstarter campaign! I've partnered with Silence in the Library Publishing and a host of renowned authors including Mary Robinette Kowal, Gail Z. Martin, Jean Rabe, Sherwood Smith, Janine Spendlove, and many more in a new Kickstarter project titled Athena's Daughters. 

Athena’s Daughters is a collection of short speculative fiction from some of the best female science fiction and fantasy authors in the industry. This anthology features stories written by women about women. It showcases an engaging, diverse group of stories about female characters who exhibit strength in all forms, whether physical, mental, or moral. It also features an introduction by retired astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Col. Pam Melroy.

I am so pleased to be part of this anthology. My included work, "Oh, Sisters, Let's Go Down to the River," is an Appalachian ghost story about a young girl whose daily chore is to scrub the family well. She thought nothing could scare her more than being lowered into the well's narrow mouth. But she didn't ever count on hearing voices while she worked...

Silence in the Library, our publisher, believes strongly in bringing creative artistry back to the industry. To that end, the anthologies they produce feature illustrations for each individual story. Athena's Daughters showcases the work of two talented artists  in particular -- Autumn Frederickson and Betsy Waddell -- and, as one of our stretch goals, is also poised to feature artist Tietjen Alvarez, who will create an original art cover exclusively for this anthology.

My fellow authors and I, in addition to the staff at Silence in the Library Publishing, believe that any good project should contribute something to improving the human community. In keeping with that goal, a portion of every book sold will go to RAINN. RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in partnership with more than 1,100 local rape crisis centers across the country, and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help victims, and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

This is only a small portion of what you'll find on our Kickstarter project page. Please join us today and become a part of the Athena's Daughters journey: http://tinyurl.com/athenasD.