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:

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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 23: Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather, Christopher Ruz, A Podcast Appearance and More!

Hello, all! Remember yesterday's post when I told you I had some big news about our brother anthology, Apollo's Daughters? Well, I will officially spill the beans. You may recall that astronaut and former space shuttle commander Pamela Melroy is writing the forward for Athena's Daughters. So I'm happy to announce that we're bringing in another NASA veteran to write the introduction for our brother anthology -- astrophysicist and 2006 Nobel Laureate Dr. John Mather!

John Mather

Dr. John C. Mather is a Senior Astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, MD. He is also a Senior Project Scientist on the James Webb Space Telescope.

Dr. Mather was the Principal Investigator for the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE). He and the COBE team showed that the cosmic microwave background radiation has a blackbody spectrum within 50 parts per million (ppm), confirming the Big Bang theory to extraordinary accuracy.

As winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics, chosen by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Dr. Mather shares the prize with George F. Smoot of the University of California for their work using the COBE satellite to measure the heat radiation from the Big Bang.

They proved the Big Bang Theory. How cool is that?! We are so glad and so lucky to have Dr. Mather on board with this project. In more Apollo's Daughters news, it now has its own Goodreads thread. Feel free to drop by and give the guys a shout! Christopher Ruz just posted a teaser there about the story he's working on for the anthology:

"I'm working on a project close to my heart, a near-future detective noir centered around a returned Australian soldier who finds herself working as a peacekeeper in her own country."

My reaction while reading about Christopher's story.

Athena's Daughters was recently given another press boost through Janine Spendlove's appearance on the Veteran Empire podcast. Veteran Empire's mission is to promote veterans and give them more exposure as they focus on "creative arts, business, and unique skill sets." Also featured in this episode is graphic designer/Marine Sean Riordan. You can listen to it here.

SEVEN DAYS. That's how long you have to become part of the Athena's Daughters journey. Whether you're reading this blog for the first time or the twelfth, please consider backing us or sharing news of the project with your friends and family.

We could not have done all of this without you, but we still have so many more awesome stretch goals and goodies waiting to be unlocked. Help us grab a few more of them this week!

Athena's Daughters, Day 22: Our Facebook Group, An Audio Clip, the Rewards Rundown, and More...

Our digital cover.

Hello, all! Hope you are enjoying the last few hours of 2013. I know I am - what a year it's been! The Kickstarter is hovering steady at $29K right now, and we've still got eight days to go until the campaign ends!

Have you checked out our Facebook or our Goodreads groups? There, some of our Athena's Daughters authors have started great discussions with our backers and other bloggers about why we wrote for this anthology, and what strong women mean to us, among other things! Come see what all the fuss is about!

Also, live for all you audiophiles, here's an excerpt from a reading of Danielle Ackley-McPhail's story, "Looking Back."

I've also got an updated list of stretch goals for you all. Let's hope we can knock down a few more of these! Personally, I want an Apollo's Daughters hardback!

At the $31,000 level, we will replace the graphic design cover of the print version of Apollo's Daughters with an original art cover created by artist Joe Corroney, and colored by Brian Miller

Joe has been providing Lucasfilm with official Star Wars artwork for books, games, trading cards, comic books, posters and magazines since 1997. Other comic books he's illustrated include True Blood, GI Joe, Fallen Angel, 24: Nightfall, Doctor WHO, Angel and Spike Vs. Dracula for IDW Publishing, Farscape for BOOM! Studios, Buckaroo Banzai, Kolchak The Night Stalker and The Phantom for Moonstone Books and Crimson Dynamo for Marvel Comics. Currently, he's illustrating for IDW's new Star Trek and X-Files comic books. He's also developing his creator owned comic book series, Death Avenger and continuing to create new Star Wars artwork for Lucasfilm.

Brian Miller, founder of Hi-Fi Color Design, has provided art for Marvel, DC Comics, Disney, and many others, and has worked with Joe on all of his current and recent artwork.

At $32,000, every backer at the $5 level or more will get a free digital download of Janine K. Spendlove's War of the Seasons short stories "World Spins Madly On" and "Fire and Rain."

At $34,000, backers at the $5 level and up will get a free digital download of Vicki Johnson-Steger's short story e-book, "When Dragons Fly."

When we reach $35,000, we'll begin adding stories to the Apollo's Daughters anthology! Starting with authors Joshua Palmatier and Donald J. Bingle.

Joshua Palmatier started writing science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories in the eighth grade, when the teacher assigned a one page Twilight Zone-ish short story. He wrote a story about Atlantis. He got an A. Joshua has never stopped writing since, mainly focusing on novels, including his popular Throne of Amenkor series.

Donald J. Bingle is an oft-published author in the science fiction, fantasy, horror, thriller, romance, steampunk, and comedy genres. His novels include: Net Impact (spy thriller), GREENSWORD (darkly comedic eco-thriller), and Forced Conversion (near-future military scifi). Many of his three dozen short stories are available in hard copy and for Kindle and Nook, including his Writer on Demand short story collections: Tales of Gamers and Gaming; Tales of Humorous Horror; Tales out of Time; and Grim, Fair e- Tales.

At the $38,000 level, we will produce a limited hardcover edition of Apollo’s Daughters. The hardcover edition will be a run limited to this Kickstarter only. Backers will be able to order it as an add-on even after the Kickstarter ends, just in case we make this goal just under the wire.

Last, but not least, I have some very exciting news concerning Apollo's Daughters, our brother anthology. But I can't tell you what it is until tomorrow. Would you like a hint?

A) It concerns the subject of the show from which this GIF is taken. B) It's physics AND Nobel-laureate-related (aka, AWESOME.) I'll write more about this mysterious development - and reveal who the Apollo introductory writer is - in tomorrow's blog post!

At this point, you've got seven more days to share about or back our awesome project. So what the heck are you waiting for?

Athena's Daughters, Day 18: Guest Blogging for Silence in the Library

Hello, all! To any readers who celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a fabulous holiday. To readers who don't, I hope you were at least able to enjoy a couple extra days off work. I know I've loved spending time with friends and family this week.

To update you on Athena's Daughters, we are now over $28K, meaning all backers at the $5 level and up just got a free digital download of Janine K. Spendlove's War of the Seasons short stories "Girl" and "White Flag!" What's not to love?

I also wanted to point you in the direction of the Silence in the Library official blog. Throughout the Kickstarter campaign, several of our anthology authors have taken turns to guest blog there. They have discussed how they got started as writers, about how they balance their writing jobs with high-powered careers, family and hobbies, and have also given sneak peeks of their anthology stories. Yesterday, my guest post went up! You can read it at their website. I also have it posted below:

Don’t Be Afraid to Show People Your Work! Or: You Never Forget Your First Workshop

I’ve been thinking a lot about writer’s workshops in the past month. One of my good friends and I had a discussion this summer about whether they are helpful, and whether I should encourage her to take them.

In full fairness, I told her about the reason I love workshops and still believe in them. I’ve been attending them for years. The first one I remember was part of a summer arts programming series put on by my hometown university. It was offered for kids in the area who were interested in creative writing. My mother signed me up and told me I was going. I imagine it was in the hope that thiswould be a good opportunity for me to be encouraged and to meet new friends around town.

The story I prepared was about a Victorian-era girl named Lucy, who was twenty (glamorous!), was a college student involved in a dark mystery (even more glamorous!), and who also had a dashing fiance named John who wore three-piece suits (I die of glamour!) It was probably the result of fervent, ongoing obsessions with Anne of the Island, Daphne duMaurier, and a lot of PBS shows.  

Here are the two vivid memories I have of that workshop: I didn’t have an ending for my story. And, as the group sat around a dilapidated, square lab table, flipping through our typed printouts and our copies of handwritten stories, I was convinced everyone hated it. Granted, I was probably ten or eleven at the time, and the other kids were in middle school or high school. I might have been convinced they didn’t like me no matter what I wrote, because a lot of them wore ripped jeans, were into alt rock, and had multiple earrings. Compared to a seventy pound kid in a kitten t-shirt and LL Bean athletic shorts, they were all way cooler by default. But that anxious tugging in my chest–that awful silence as I waited for strangers to pass divine judgment on words I’d put on paper instead of keeping inside my head–is a feeling I’ve never forgotten. And it’s what prompted my feelings about workshops as a tool for writers.

A. They are terrifying.

B. If you get the chance, and feel brave enough, you should do one.

I’m not saying a single workshop session will make you a better writer. Over the years, I’ve participated in plenty of classes where the group didn’t click. Workshops where I left feeling more confused than when I went in. Workshops where I had no idea how to fix the draft I’d submitted, and didn’t get much concrete feedback other than “what you have now isn’t working.” Workshops where we weren’t allowed to write science-fiction or fantasy stories because they weren’t “real.” I’ve also been my own worst enemy in some workshops. I’ve turned in drafts of ideas I hated because I was too afraid to write about an idea I loved.

But for all of those experiences, I also have plenty of stories about positive workshops. Sessions where I sweated and angsted about a submission I couldn’t wrangle, and my fellow writers said, “Well, have you tried x? What if your main character did y? Why not start the story at point z?” Sessions where I feel I can be brutally honest with the group, and they’re brutally honest with me in return. Sessions where I was also excited (and not just terrified) to put up my work for peer review.

In the end, I still love the workshop model and believe in it. Mainly because it is so helpful, and so important, to have other people see your work. Whatever you produce – whether it’s fan writing, original fiction, an outline, or a bare thread of an idea – being able to talk with a trusted group or trusted person about something you’ve created is one of the best feelings in the world. The story I produced for Athena’s Daughters was done under deadline for my writers’ workshop.

For me, it’s a way to make sure I have legitimate writing output, as opposed to keeping multiple, hundred-page word documents on my computer and tinkering with story bits in secrecy for years. A good workshop doesn’t even have to be a formal class that you pay to take. It can be as simple as assembling a group of your people, fellow writers, who love telling stories and want to see what like-minded peers think of their drafts.

So, if you’ve ever wondered what all the fuss is about, I say try it. Maybe your workshop will be fabulous, and you’ll meet your people. Maybe you’ll just get a wince-inducing story out of the experience, which you can then trod out at parties. (“Hey, remember the workshop where that guy didn’t spell or grammar-check his submission? WTF?!”)

As always, if you like what you see, back us or share about the project here!

Athena's Daughters, Day 14: More Stretch Goals, Rewards Rundown and a Holiday GIF

Day 14: we are over $27,200 and climbing!

I want to thank all of you again for pledging money toward our campaign, sharing it with friends and family, and generally spreading the word about our project. We could not have funded without you, let alone done this well within the first two weeks. So, thank you.

Let me remind you once again as to what rewards all backers at the $5 level and up are receiving:

4 novels

3 short story bundles

2 short stories

2 audio books

1 music album

1 illustration of Athena (digital, and a physical 5×7 for people with books.)

Plus, we added 8 additional stories to the anthology, as well as a brother anthology, Apollo's Daughters, and will be producing a limited-run hardcover edition of Athena's Daughters!

Upcoming stretch goals:

When we reach $28,000, all backers pledging at or above $5 will get a free digital download of Janine K. Spendlove‘s War of the Seasons short stories “Girl” and “White Flag.”

At the $30,000 level, every backer at the $5 and up will receive a free digital download of the eBook for T.S. Rhodes‘ novel Scarlett Sails.

At the $31,000 level, the graphic design cover for the paperback of Apollo’s Daughters will be replaced with an original art cover by artist Joe Corroney. Joe has been providing Lucasfilm with official Star Wars artwork for books, games, trading cards, comic books, posters and magazines since 1997. Other comic books he’s illustrated include True Blood, GI Joe, Fallen Angel, 24: Nightfall, Doctor WHO, Angel and Spike Vs. Dracula for IDW Publishing, Farscape for BOOM! Studios, Buckaroo Banzai, Kolchak The Night Stalker and The Phantom for Moonstone Books and Crimson Dynamo for Marvel Comics. Currently, he’s illustrating for IDW’s new Star Trek and X-Files comic books. He’s also developing his creator owned comic book series, Death Avenger and continuing to create new Star Wars artwork for Lucasfilm.

For those of you who celebrate Christmas (as well as those who don't), I hope you have a fantastic holiday. I'll be back on Dec. 26th with a guest post for the official Silence in the Library blog!

I don't know who made this GIF. But every time I look at our Kickstarter page, I want to blast Wham! from an open Jeep and get orange mocha frappachinos.

Have a wonderful holiday, everyone!

Athena's Daughters, Day 11: Danielle Ackley McPhail Preview, Apollo's Daughters, and ALL the Stretch Goals

Day 11, and we are over $25K! Meaning that backers pledging at the $5 and over now get all of these things:

4 novels, 3 short story bundles, 2 short stories, 2 audio books, 1 music album, and [Ginger Breo's] illustration of Athena (digital, and a physical 5×7 for people with books.) Plus we added 7 additional stories to the anthology (with an 8th to come @ $26k) + the option for a hardcover edition...

PLUS our brother anthology, Apollo's Daughters, is a go!

Our original cover.

Are you are a fan of Star Wars novelizations like the X-Wing series; I, Jedi; or The New Jedi Order? Authors Aaron Allston and Michael A. Stackpole are contributing to this project. Prefer your space novels to involve the Prime Directive instead of Jedi councils? Trek author Aaron Rosenberg is signed on, too, as are other fantastic authors like Bryan Young, of Big Shiny Robot fame, David Alan Mack, Christopher Ruz, Elias Pate, and many more!

We are also very close to unlocking our $26,000 stretch goal, which will mean author Alma Alexander will contribute a story to Athena's Daughters! Alma is a novelist, anthologist and short story writer who currently shares her life between the Pacific Northwest of the USA (where she lives with her husband and cat) and the wonderful fantasy worlds of her own imagination.

When we reach $28,000, all backers pledging at or above $5 will get a free digital download of Janine K. Spendlove's War of the Seasons short stories "Girl" and "White Flag."

At the $30,000 level, every backer at the $5 and up will receive a free digital download of the eBook for T.S. Rhodes' novel Scarlett Sails.

2013 copyright Autumn Frederickson, for "Athena's Daughters."

Last, but not least, we have another story preview for you!

Danielle Ackley McPhail's published works include four urban fantasy novels: Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, Today’s Promise, The Halfling’s Court and The Redcaps’ Queen: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. She is also the author of the non-fiction writers guide, The Literary Handyman and the senior editor of two Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, Dragon’s Lure, and In An Iron Cage. Danielle had this to say on her blog about her work for Athena's Daughters:

...My story is a rather fun Steampunk tale about a woman determined and dedicated to finding her missing cousin, Rockford, so that he can assume the management of his inheritance, her father's estate. I like to think you will be amazed at the predicament she and American inventor Fritz Langstrom get into...!

Her story excerpt is here on her blog, as well as posted below. You can also enjoy the artwork which will accompany her story, which is the illustration in the middle of this post.

“Lady Clara! Lady Clara!” a voice called out.

The Right Honorable Claramina Evangelista Pemberton, Countess Chadsworth—the very image of propriety in her dainty hat, rose velvet walking gown, white gloves, and pearl-buttoned boots—stopped very still, took a deep, imperious breath that was warning in itself, and slowly pivoted on one heel. Her already alabaster skin paled further until it bore the aspect of shaved ice as her brown eyes darkened to the hard luster of anthracite. The gentry swarmed the park this afternoon, impeccable in their finery, quite eager to see and be seen. All around her she heard their murmurs and gasps, and not a few sly titters from those glad to witness her touched by even this slight scandal. The rumormongers were in bliss. Though she carefully schooled her expression to display nothing of the sort, within she was mortified...

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If any of these things pique your interest, or sound like the type that might interest a friend, you can find our Kickstarter campaign here.

Athena's Daughters, Day 9: Rewards Update, and a Janine K. Spendlove Preview

Day 9 of our Kickstarter campaign! We've successfully added author Diana Peterfreund to Athena's Daughters, and we're less than $1500 dollars away from producing our companion anthology, Apollo's Daughters!

And now for another anthology preview. Janine K. Spendlove is a KC-130 pilot in the United States Marine Corps. Her bestselling series War of the Seasons is a gorgeous fantasy trilogy about a teenage girl, Story, who stumbles into a parallel world only to find out she might be the key to its very survival. She has also written for anthologies such as Time Traveled Tales, A Hero By Any Other Name, and more. Janine's work for Athena's Daughters, however,hits a little closer to home. As she notes on her blog:

...My story, “Millie,” is about modern day Marine helicopter pilot Sara Colón (based on an old friend of mine from my first days in the Corps) who has a chance encounter with a very familiar time-traveling Aviatrix. (Have you ever wanted to know what really happened to Amelia Earhart?)

Spoiler alert: her story is fantastic. I was able to get a sneak peek at it last month. But an excerpt for you fine people is posted right here on Wattpad. Check it out!

As always, thank you all so much for continuing to share and pledge to the anthology. We could not have done all of this without your generous contributions. Not to mention, every additional pledge increases rewards for the group at large. Who doesn't want more books and goodies?

If you or anyone you may know would like to pledge toward or share about our campaign, you can do so right 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!