Her Majesty's Explorer: A Steampunk Bedtime Story

Her Majesty's Explorer: a Steampunk bedtime story It's a dirty job, but he loves it. St.John Murphy Alexander walks the world exploring for the Queen. He sees the most extraordinary landscapes, creatures and weather. He gets very, VERY dirty. Exhausted, he returns to H.Q. and gets ready for a well deserved rest and some sweet dreams. This gentle book, written by Steampunk novelist Emilie P. Bush and brilliantly illustrated by William Kevin Petty, is the perfect wind-down for your little adventurer.




Reviews from around the Steampunk world: 

 "The illustrations are adorable!" ~ Beyond Victoriana Blog

 "I did enjoy Steamduck. A wonderful whimsical story so real you might feel a little seasick. But in a good way." Jenny ~The Bloggess

 "St John Murphy Alexander marches the young reader through the excitement of exploration and duty, and lulls us with the tender familiarity of a comforting bedtime routine. The story is curious and intrepid, yet ready to be tucked in for a good night's sleep." ~ Nancy Overbury, Overbury Ink.

 "St. John Murphy Alexander, "Her Majesty's Explorer," is literature's most charming mechanical man since L. Frank Baum's Tin Man." ~ Jim Barnes Independent Publisher Magazine.

 "I just finished reading Her Majesty's explorer to Chloe (9 years old) and Isabella (just 6). They both loved it, and both wished they could have their very own Steamduck." Captain Robert of Abney Park.

 "Utterly charming" ~M.K. Hobson, Steampunk Novelist

 "This is the perfect childhood book for steampunk parents to introduce their children to the steampunk subculture. I use that term loosely. Steampunk has managed to increasingly wedge its way into popular culture and this book drives that opening wider and opens it to the youngest of readers." John Iwasz, ComicBooked.com

 "My syn­apses have always fired for a bot in uni­form..." ~ S. J. Chambers, co-author of The Steampunk Bible

 "A story that is sweet and dreamy-a perfect bedtime story and a great introduction for children to Steampunk." ~ Benito, Corral, Betwixt Book Reviews.

 "Absolutely charming. It is the Dr. Seuss of Steampunk, and... I LOVED it." ~ DJ Doctor Q, The Artifice Club and The Steampunk Chronicle.

2012 Writing Goals

After enjoying the responses to my previous post and looking through other writer's articles I tried to decide on a few realistic goals.  I wanted to set attainable goals in order to challenge myself, but not so hard as to become discouraged.  Here is what I've settled on:

• Finish writing and editing of my NaNoWriMo 2011 novel before NaNoWriMo 2012
• Write one short story a month
• Submit one short story a month
• Write one piece of flash fiction a month
• Submit one piece of flash fiction a month
• Regular posts at least three times a week on this blog
• Maintain at least 1000 words/day of fiction
• Read 26 new books this year.  Low I know, but like I said I don't want to over commit

I'll see how this goes with my crazy schedule, it may need to be adjusted.  I think these are fair goals though.  I need the push without feeling overwhelmed.  Feel free to leave a comment with your goals or post a link.  I love seeing other writers lists.

Curiosity Quills Now Open For Submissions

Curiosity Quills is now accepting submissions.  The following announcement is taken from their website:

Curiosity Quills Press is the publishing arm of Curiosity Quills, a boutique publisher of hard-hitting dark sci-fi, speculative fiction, and paranormal works aimed at adults, young adults, and new adults. We are also a purveyor of anthologies thereof. We provide our authors with a flexible array of quality premium services, marketing support, and technical know-how, while ensuring that these literary marauders are truly the cream of the crop through a highly selective acquisition process.

Curiosity Quills is now taking submissions.  The following announcement is taken from their site:

We’re Looking For
Thought-provoking, mind-twisting rollercoasters – challenge our mind, turn our world upside down, and make us question. Those are the makings of a true literary marauder.
Serialization Potential - If your work was made with serialization in mind, we want to hear from you. If not – that’s okay! We still want to hear from you.
Agented submission are not required, but will receive precedence over unagented ones.
Length Guidelines: Keep in mind, these are just guidelines – we DO make exceptions.
Novellas: 15k-45k words
Young Adult: 45k to 75k words
New Adult / Upper YA Novels: 60k-100k words
Adult Novels: 70k-120k words

Instructions
To submit a manuscript for consideration, please send an email to editor@curiosityquills.com with the following:

A one-page query letter containing your genre, title, wordcount, and a brief blurb about the book.
The first five (5) double-spaced pages
For serialized works, please include information about update frequency, update length, and projected series duration.
Established authors are welcome to query with a standard proposal package of three chapters, a synopsis, and a query.
PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PERSONAL WRITING CREDENTIALS, AWARDS, REVIEWS, OR PROMOTIONAL LINKS

Format Requirements
If your manuscript is requested, please make sure to format it according to the following:

RTF files only
12 pt Times New Roman font
double-spaced
.5″ indents
Note: Unless we request a revise and resubmit, full manuscript rejections are final.

Note: In addition to published works, we are also interested in blogger contributions to our literary portal.

Good Luck!
http://curiosityquills.com/submission-guidelines/author-submissions/

Zoe Winters Free Ebook - Kept

Greta is a werecat whose tribe plans to sacrifice her during the next full moon. Her only hope for survival is Dayne, a sorcerer who once massacred most of the tribe. What’s that thing they say about the enemy of your enemy?

If you would like to receive a coupon code for the Zoe Winters book Kept, free in the ebook format of your choice, please subscribe to her newsletter by doing the following:

Send a blank email with the subject line: “Subscribe” to: FreeKept@gmail.com IMPORTANT NOTE: Do NOT use the contact form. You must send an actual blank email to FreeKept@gmail.com in order to get Kept free.

Zoe only sends out newsletters when she has a new release or something big (like a contest) to announce. If her work is not to your taste, you will have the option to unsubscribe from the newsletter when you receive one. Please use a valid email address or she won’t be able to send Kept to you.

Self-Publishing Success Story

I may be late to the party for Amanda Hocking. Partly due to recently stumbling over her blog post from last August. While I have never been a proponent for self-publishing, her comments seem to lend some legitimacy to the trend. Her candor is refreshing as she describes how her success began and what she has learned during the process. Amanda shares her self-publishing success:

"Also on Monday, I released the fourth book in my vampire series. It peaked #25 in the entire Kindle store. If you're wondering how many sales it took the book to get that high: 150 in a two hour period. Also on Monday - in one 24-hour period - I made $1200. Working at my day job full time, the most I'd ever made in a month is $1000. I just made more in a day than I used to make in a month.

Things that should be noted: I just released a book people were excited for. That isn't my average sales. That fourth book is already about to slip out of the top #100 and it's only been in it for four days. So don't think that's usually how awesome my sales are. It's not. I know that. I don't expect days like that to happen very often. But it was still an awesome day."

While poking fun at her clichéd topics and characters, her self-publishing success is real. Yet, she tempers it with the knowledge that it isn't necessarily going to continue at the pace it has. Her use of Twitter, facebook, goodreads, Amazon and writer's blogs to spread the word of her e-books should read as book promotion 101.

Not bad when you consider she started with a love of writing, but her self-publishing success was spurred by the desire to earn a couple hundred dollars to go see the Jim Henson exhibit coming to Chicago.

Check out her article here, it is genuinely interesting and a good read.



Edit:  After reading more on Amanda, I found an informative article by Nathan Bransford (most of you should know him, if not bookmark his blog now!).  He talks about Amanda's success and the breakdown of traditional vs. agency e-book vs. self-published e-book.  You can read his appraisal here.

Steampunk Video

This is the official video for Lovett's Eye of the Storm directed by Christopher Alender, from the soon to be released debut album, Highway Collection. It embodies the heart and soul of steampunk in its brief five minutes. The video lends itself to the imagination, leaving so many questions about the character and his actions. I could see him being the main character of a book or movie. Enjoy!