Month: July 2024

Imaginarium 2024

By Elizabeth Donald

The Imaginarium leaders say this year saw more works nominated for the awards than they have ever seen, and I was honored to be among them. My screenplay, “The Train,” was a finalist for the Imadjinn Awards in the category of unproduced screenplays, and Underlord Steven Shrewsbury was a finalist for Reckoning Day in the category of best fantasy novel. Neither of us won, but we had a good time nonetheless!

Imaginarium isn’t really a convention with a lot of cosplay, but we do get the occasional costumes, as seen above. Mostly it’s a writers workshop and film festival, with one of the most writing-intensive panel listings on the circuit.

The convention was a delightful and exhausting time, with good conversation and bad coffee throughout the weekend. I did three workshops and two panels, plus a last-minute reading on Sunday:

“The Art of Legal Prostitution: Selling your work at cons and book fairs.”

“Death, Taxes and Freelancing”

“Nevermore: Edgar Allan Poe and The Raven.”

That third was more of an academic lecture taking the MFA out for a spin, and I was surprised that the con picked it from my list of workshops to present. I was even more surprised when the small room was pretty much full, as a lecture in the life and work of a 19th century poet is not your standard con fare. But it was a lot of fun, and well-received, as were the two business workshops.

I was really dreading the panel on AI and ethics, assuming I would be surrounded by techies who think it’s the second coming, and speaking as a writer, an English professor and a journalist, I have seen little to recommend it. It turned out to be a really interesting discussion, respectful and thoughtful even among those who use AI. I presume I was on that panel because of my position on the Society of Professional Journalists ethics committee, which is funny considering that many members of the committee have a more flexible attitude toward AI than I do.

The other panel was on literary fiction, so once again I took out the MFA and my few literary credits. Any discussion of genre has to start from defining that genre, and that can be problematic because in essence you are defining what it is not, and how it differs from other genres. The official definition of literary fiction is that it focuses more on characterization, language, and subtext/meaning than entertainment. This is frequently interpreted as “literary means boring.“ But you have to start from somewhere, and my fellow panelists and I had some really interesting discussions. I think we could have easily nerded out for another hour or two if it hadn’t been Sunday afternoon.

As Underlord Jim Gillentine had forgotten to fill out his paperwork to be a guest author, he was booth babe all weekend. As you can see, he chose a subtle and dignified appearance to represent the Literary Underworld.

We ran the Traveling Bar both nights, and as usual made as much or more serving drinks and selling books in the room as we do in the dealer’s room. Conversation was pleasant and the vibe was chill, as it often is at Imaginarium.

We debuted our line of merchandise on the table, which did require giving up a little real estate from the books, but was a big hit. We started selling stickers before the dealers room even opened. Once upon a time, we could cover our cost for the booth just by selling Pocky. This got problematic when the hotels said we couldn’t sell food. But if the stickers can cover some expenses, that’s more profit for the authors.

In all, Louisville was a delight and I wholeheartedly recommend the Troll Pub downtown for the post-con dinner. It’s quite nifty.

Now we are back home, the email inbox is staggering and I have about sixty tasks to catch up on all week. I hope you all had a great weekend, and I’ll see you on the circuit next time!

 

5 Unique Ways to Show Your Favorite Authors Some Love

By Rachel A. Brune

As the summer grinds on, I’m hard at work on the third volume in the Rick Keller series—available from the Literary Underworld! My secret agent werewolf and his partners are back on another mission, and I’ve been burning through my stash of index cards trying to figure out the twists and turns of middle section of the book.

And so, because I’m supposed to be writing, I’m instead surfing my reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, refreshing my author page, and generally doing lots of things other than writing, including reading a rotating selection of books from the local library.

I picked up my phone to mark my latest book as “read” on Goodreads (gotta make that annual Goodreads challenge!) and dashed off a quick review. And it made me think—will this writer see this review? If I really like the book, should I post something on social media? Should I recommend that book? How can I let people know I really liked it?

After thinking about it—and yes, procrastinating a little more from Rick and friends, I have come up with this list of five different—and maybe somewhat unusual—ways that readers can show some love to their favorite authors.

And hey—they don’t even have to be your favorite authors – if you read their book and liked it, share the love! (I’ve gotta confess—these are all on my writer bucket list.)

  1. Place their work on your body via tattoo art. If you’re into decorating your body with art, use a favorite quote, character, or object from a book as an excuse to get more ink! Not a fan of written quotes and how they look? Take the quote to your favorite tattoo artist (I’m a big fan of James Tuck) and ask them to use it as inspiration for an original piece. (Obviously don’t do this one if you’re not allowed to get a tattoo for parental, legal, health, or religious reasons.) Literary tattoos make great conversation pieces, and you’ll be supporting not just one but two creative people!
  2. Make some fan art. As a reader, I love seeing other people’s takes on a book I’ve read and enjoyed. I especially love it when a writer will post (with permission) pictures of fan art they’ve received. These may range from basic pencil or crayon sketches all the way to professional-level drawings, but the one thing they all have in common is a shared love of the writer’s world that they are expressing authentically. Sometimes the characters depicted in the art look exactly as I’d imagined in my head—and sometimes they don’t. That’s all part of the fun of it!
  3. Pick their book for your book club. Don’t have a book club? Start one! All joking aside, this is a great way to find people with whom you can schmooze about the books you enjoy over a nice snack and beverage. Not only that, but you’re helping an author find a wider audience, and that is a magical thing. If you reach out to them, the author might even be available to attend your book club meeting and answer your questions about their work, either in person or via Zoom. At the very least, they will appreciate the gesture.
  4. Write a poem praising them. The more complicated in terms of meter and rhyme the better! There exists a long literary tradition of praising someone by writing a poem (the technical term is, coincidentally enough, “praise poem”). Channel your inner chaotic good Bard and share your love of a writer’s writing by writing them some writing about their writing!
  5. And of course, give them a review, subscribe to their newsletter, and follow their public platform! Every writer I know spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to communicate with the people who enjoy their work. Whether it’s a website blog, social media account, or newsletter, authors love to hear from the folks who have read and enjoyed their work. Let’s face it—this is a hard business to gain financial fortune; many of us really appreciate the messages from our fans that feed our souls in between royalty checks. And if you’ve followed a single writer online, you already know how much reviews mean to writers (and their publishers!)

So there you have it! Five different ways you can show authors some love. Maybe one of these will be perfect for the book you’re reading now. What’s that? You are in need of a book to read? Not to worry—check out one of the Literary Underworld’s nearly 200 titles—and if you end up getting some new ink, or hosting a book club, or want to send us some fan art, then drop us a line. We’d love to hear from you!

Rachel A. Brune graduated from the NYU Tisch School of the Arts in May 2000, and was immediately plunged into the low-stakes world of entry-level executive assistantship. Her unexpected journey out of that world and into the military is chronicled in her self-published book Echoes and Premonitions. Rachel served five years as a combat journalist, including two tours in Iraq, and a brief stint as a columnist for her hometown newspaper. After her second tour, she attended graduate school at the University at Albany in NY, where she earned her M.A. in political communication, and her commission as a second lieutenant in the military police corps.

Although her day job has taken in her in many strange, often twisted directions, Rachel continues to write and publish short fiction. She released her first novel, Soft Target, in early 2013, and other books have followed. In addition to writing, she is the founder and chief editor at Crone Girls Press and edits the Falstaff Dread line of horror fiction at Falstaff Books.