2010 Young Writers Award

I just heard about the 2010 Young Writers Award from a friend of mine. I know some of you out there who should definitely enter the contest. The award is for writers 21 years old or younger. The details about the award, including how to submit are below.

About

The Young Writers Award is an award given to the best young writer for the year, whether the writer in question is a poet, short fiction writer, or novelist. The contest will be judged on merit and execution and will serve to highlight the exceptional talents of one writer. Our hope is to make the award annual.

Prize

$250 (other prizes will be announced in the future, which may include books and other items)

Judge

The award will be judged by author Jason Sanford. His work has appeared in Interzone, Analogy Science Fiction and Fact, Tales of the Unanticipated, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Pindeldyboz, The Mississippi Review, and 3:AM Magazine. He is a recent Nebula Award finalist (for “Sublimation Angels” in Interzone #224), winner of the Interzone Readers’ Poll two years in a row, and a nominee for the Pushcart Prize. He is also founder of storySouth, a magazine that focuses on literature from the New South.

Award Rules

--Writers must be: a. 21 years old or younger AND b. Active members of Young Writers Online at the time of the deadline for the award. The definition of "active" is left to the discretion of the owners of Young Writers Online and will take into account post and critique frequency. It should be assumed that posting less than once a day (in sheer numbers), whether in the discussion sections or writing sections, does not constitute "active."

--Writers may submit up to a total of 10,000 words of unpublished fiction in up to five short stories OR up to a total of 120 lines of unpublished poetry in up to 6 poems OR a combination of fiction and poetry not to exceed 5,000 words of unpublished fiction (in no more than 3 stories) and 60 lines of unpublished poetry (in no more than 4 poems). Quality over quantity is a rule of thumb.

--Fiction may be of any genre and must either be completed short stories or completed chapters of novels.

--Poetry may be in any style.

--Submissions for the award should be sent as .doc or .rtf files (no .docx, .pages, or any other file types, and do not post your submission in the body of the email) to sbsmag [at] yahoo [dot] com with the subject "Young Writers Award." Provide your real name and your YWO account name. Please follow standard manuscript format with the following alterations: a. The text of your submission should start on the second page with the name of your submission and the page number in the header. Your first page should contain your name, your YWO account name, the title of your submission, and the word count. b. Do not put your last name in the header of your submission. We intend for all entries to be judged blindly and will cut out the first page for submission to our judge.

--Submissions must be sent no later than Sept. 1st, 2010. Winners will be announced in October and the award will be distributed via Paypal (other arrangements can be made in the event that the winner cannot use Paypal).

--Questions should be sent to sbsmag [at] yahoo [dot] com or posted in the forum section for the award.

http://www.youngwritersonline.net/showthread.php?t=5233

Review of The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins


Everybody told me to read this book, and I’m glad I did. The Hunger Games is a hot YA novel that is definitely science fiction, but it's not marketed that way from what I can tell. I finally read it and and finished last week. It started pretty slow, but the main character, Katniss (named after flowering water plant), was awesome. I really enjoyed how the author portrayed her and was impressed at how much I was made to care. Katniss has a self-deprecating sincerity that makes you love her.

The book is very character driven and tells the story of a future North America that has been brought under the control of a cruel central government that imposes its will on twelve districts with starving populations kept poor and hungry by draconian policies. The government (referred to as, "the capital") forces each district to send a boy and girl to participate in the Hunger Games once a year--they draw lots to see who goes—but it’s probably rigged. Then the capital game makers lock the teenagers into an arena where they proceed to kill each other live on television—which shows how big and powerful the capital is--and keeps the districts in line.

Only one person can survive and win. Good thing Katniss is an amazing archer—she hunted illegally since she was young. She's a truly interesting character and the entire novel is from her point of view. I love it that Suzanne Collins didn’t muddy the waters with other characters points of view. She stays in tight on Katniss and this really allowed me, and I think any reader, to really become vested in the character.

The story is a little far-fetched for me, but I can mostly buy it, and the world that Collins created is fascinating. In the end, the book is well written, interesting, and has some cool characters, especially Katniss. I don't see it as a must read, but I was quite entertained. I'm now listening to the audio book of the sequel, Catching Fire, and I like it a lot so far. Book three in the series is out now and I'm glad I'll be able to read it without a long wait. In summary, Suzanne Collins has created an excellent series for young adults and adults, that entertains as well as educates the reader about the dangers of inhumanity and the consequences of having to do anything to survive.

Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com


View all my reviews >>

Dracula: The Undead

Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dracula: The Undead

By Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt


When I saw news about this book, Dracula, The Undead online, I knew I had to read it. The line on the book cover was: He returns . . .

What?! Dracula wasn't dead and he's coming back? I was into it. Great marketing on the publisher's part. This book is a direct sequel to Bram Stoker's Dracula and a member of the Stoker family was part of the writing process (more on that later).

Let me say, I'm a huge Dracula fan. I loved the novel by Bram Stoker, and have loved so many of the movies. In college I entered an MTV sponsored contest sending in 25 postcards for the chance to visit Romania and see Vlad Dracula's castle in Wallachia. I didn't win, but my interest in Dracula only grew. The historical figure was a true monster, and the fictional Vlad was another kind of monster. Sexy, cool, and so powerful. Vampires have always fascinated me, espeically the Anne Rice type of vampires, like Lestat, and the True Blood HBO series vampires.

This novel was a lot of fun. The intro features a letter from Mina Harker telling her son, Quincy, that she may have been killed by a vampire, and reveals that a lot was kept from him over the years. The letter is genius, and Dracula's fangs were in my neck right after I read the letter from Mina--I mean the literary hook was solidly set into my brain. I wanted to know more.

It's set during the early 1900's and had a very Victorian feel to it. I didn't fly through the novel, but found it quite entertaining, though predictable. The best thing about it was that the original Bram Stoker story was turned on its head. We find out that the events recounted in the novel by Bram Stoker were not represented accurately. Yes, it really happened, but not as Stoker described.

All the survivng characters from the book are back, and they are so messed up and flawed. Dark and gloomy would be an understatement. It was like a car crash you couldn't look away from. Ian Holt and Dacre Stoker did a pretty good job portraying the characters and keeping the plot moving, but by skipping into so many points of view it lessened the impact for me.

The idea of the novel was to weave historical events into the narrative, and though I found that interesting, I didn't think it was totally necessary. I can see why the authors took this tactic, but I would have rather had "the Prince" be the main focus, rather than the extremely famous murders that acutally happened in London.

I would recommend this book to any fans of Bram Stoker's original novel. It was cool to see what the greatest living Dracula fan (Ian Holt) and a descendent of Bram himself (Dacre Stoker) would do. Reading the very long Afterward about the writing of the book was possibly the best part of my reading experience.

Bram Stoker's widow went through terrible times regarding the copyright of the original novel, and now we Dracula fans have a chance to help the Stoker family get back some of what was stolen from them so long ago.

And we get to read the direct sequel to the original classic! What else can I write except: He returns . . .


Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com

View all my reviews >>

The Prince of Persia Movie

The Prince of Persia Movie


Last weekend I finally saw The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I really enjoyed the movie and thought it was well worth seeing in the theater. It let me escape from our world for a while and visit a fantasy Persia where magic does indeed exist. The main star, Jake Gyllenhaal (Jarhead, Brokeback Mountain) did a great job as Dastan, the adpoted son of the king of Persia. Dastan has something to prove, and wants to show his father and brothers that he is more than the street urchin the king plucked out of the gutter and made a prince.

The story was somewhat familiar (the movie is based on popular video game), but features one of the coolest concepts in all of fiction: time travel. It had all the action, comedy, and romance that you need in a blockbuster. Princess Tamina, played by Gemma Arterton was wonderful. Gemma and Jake on the screen are a gorgeous couple, though she pretty much hates him for most of the movie--which is awesome. She's smart, funny, competent, and brave. I'm so glad that she doesn't need to be saved all the time.

Another strong character is played by Ben Kingsly (famous for playing Gandhi). Kingsly plays Dastan's uncle, the advisor to the Persian king, and he's excellent. Luckily the writers gave him some good material to work with.

The movie had some fun surprises, and kept me entertained throughout. Alfred Molina as Sheik Amar, a tax-evading ostrich race organizing rogue made me laugh, and the ultra-bad ass assassins sent at Prince Dastan were creepy as hell.

I anticipated much of the ending--which was epic and awesome--but I was caught off guard by how it all worked out. The twist was good. Overall, Jake Gyllenhaal gave a strong performance, the story was fun, the special effects were fantastic, and I loved watching the characters. The movie has made well over $200 million dollars worldwide and I wonder if they'll make another one?

If you missed it in the theater, definitely check out the DVD.

Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com

Monster Hunter Vendetta

Monster Hunter Vendetta coming soon!

I'm so excited to read the sequel to Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. Monster Hunter International was my favorite book of 2009 and I know the sequel is going to be awesome. BAEN Books just released an advanced reader copy of it as an ebook. Check out the link to learn more:

http://www.webscription.net/p-1286-monster-hunter-vendetta-arc.aspx

Here's the description:

Sequel to Monster Hunter International. Owen Pitt never met a gun he didn’t like or a monster he couldn’t shoot. But now, the monsters are shooting back.

Accountant-turned-professional-monster-hunter, Owen Zastava Pitt managed to stop the nefarious Old One’s plans last year, but as a result managed to make an enemy out of one of the most powerful beings in the universe. Now an evil death cult wants to capture Owen, just to curry favor with the great Old Ones.

Lucky for Owen, the government is here to help him: they have assigned the enigmatic Agent Franks to be Owen’s full-time bodyguard—which is a polite way of saying Owen is monster bait.

With supernatural assassins targeting his family, a spy in their midst, and horrific beasties lurking around every corner, Owen and the staff of Monster Hunter International don’t need to go hunting, because this time the monsters are hunting them. Fortunately, this bait is armed and very dangerous…

About the Author:

Larry Correia is hopelessly addicted to two things: guns and B-horror movies. He lists his occupations: gun dealer, firearms instructor, accountant, and writer, and was until recently part owner of FBMG (Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns) a company specializing in firearms and movie props. He shoots competitively and is a certified concealed weapons instructor. Larry resides in Utah with his very patient wife and family. He has also designed a special patch for the agents of Monster Hunter International, Inc. As he puts it, “If you don’t look good while you’re killing stuff, then you’re not really a monster hunter.”

A Newbie Writer's Questions

I recently received an email from a newbie writer and took a moment to answer her questions. Her questions and my answers are below.

Thank you for your email. I did my best to (briefly) answer your questions, but these are huge questions and I have only so much time. I think you are quite new to this, and need to do a lot of research. I hope these answers will be a starting point for you.

My answers are in bold.

1. How do I know when and if my book is good enough to send to a publishing company?

You never know, but unbiased people from writing groups can help let you know, or online writers’ groups. Family and friends don’t work so well. Put some of your work out there for people to read and get some feedback.

2. How do I go about finding an agent when I am ready?

You query agents who represent your kind of book. Learn about query letters and practice writing one. It’s so hard to get an agent. Meeting them at a convention like World Fantasy is good.

3. How do I find out when and where writing conventions are being held?

Go online, google writing conferences or writing conventions.

4. How do you find out if a publishing company is right for me and my books? (yes I have a series on my hands).

Find a company that publishes books similar to your own. You never know if the people at the company will be right for you unless you meet them and learn all about them.

5. How risky is it to create your own realms and worlds? (this is a second book issue, I have completely created a realm of my own, from the realm itself to people, inhabitants, layouts and landscaping).

Risky? Do you write fantasy? I write fantasy and creating my own worlds is the best thing about writing. Fantasy is a little harder to sell than some other genres.

6. What are the pro's and con's of righting a novel vs. a novella.( I do not consider my books to Novellas but some pub. co. require so many words to be considered a novel; like 100,000 words or more.)

There’s almost no paying market for novellas. Young Adult novels can be around 60-75 thousand words though. Write short stories or novels.

7. Exactly what is considered a "word", the rule of thumb I learned in school was at least three letters with the exception of and, the & but.

Use the word counting function in your word processing program. This is an accurate count, so just use it.

8. There are some who do not like the names of my characters, should I change them? I will admit, some I am not even fond of, but the names came to me attached to that character.

Change them!


9. How do I know how to tell the difference between good advice about ideas vs. how that person would write it. I mean they did not write it, I did. Naturally there are going to be differences in writing styles.

Consider the source. Everyone likes different flavors. Some people hate chocolate, so if you wrote chocolate, they’re going to hate it no matter what.

10. Should I credit everyone who has helped out with small parts, such as reading a paragraph or just those who contribute to the whole project.

I did my best to thank a lot of people in my first two novels. You don’t have to thank everyone though. It’s your call. You can always thank people on your blog.

Best of luck with your writing!


Paul Genesse, Author and Editor

Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
(Five Star Books, May 2009)

Website: http://www.paulgenesse.com/
Blog: http://paulgenesse.blogspot.com/

Join me on Facebook, www.facebook.com
Editor of the Writer's Symposium Ezine
www.paulgenesse.com/writerssymposiumezine



From: sbuzz94@hotmail.com
To: pgenesse@msn.com
Subject: RE: Hello Amber
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:15:10 -0500

Thank you for the fast response time, i really did not expect to hear from you so quickly. so to answer your questions;
1. over 18 but not 50, no i am not trying to be sarcastic but this question threw me. In truth in my 30's
2. aprox. 60,000 words, but I am not sure if word 2007 counts and, the, but as words or not.
3. I was on the sfwa website and some how ended up on your site, i did read your article on how to get published while i was there

From: pgenesse@msn.com
To: sbuzz94@hotmail.com
Subject: Hello Amber
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 18:27:28 -0600

Hello Amber,

Thank you for your email and your questions. I'll do my best to answer them, but I'd like to know a little more about you before I do. 1. How old are you? 2. How long is your book? 3. How did you hear of me?

As soon as I hear back from you I'll get started on answering your questions.


Paul Genesse, Author and Editor

Author of The Dragon Hunters
Book Two of the Iron Dragon Series
(Five Star Books, May 2009)

Website: http://www.paulgenesse.com/
Blog: http://paulgenesse.blogspot.com/

Join me on Facebook, www.facebook.com
Editor of the Writer's Symposium Ezine
www.paulgenesse.com/writerssymposiumezine


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My Recap of ConDuit 2010

(Paul Genesse and Tom Carr)

My Recap of ConDuit 2010


I had such a great time at ConDuit this past weekend. ConDuit is a science fiction and fantasy convention held here in Salt Lake City. This was its twentieth year and the convention planners and volunteers did a wonderful job. Anyway, I got to hang out with friends and fans, which was a blast. Saturday, May 29 was also my 37th birthday, so that made it even better.

Here’s a public link to a few pictures and below I’ve written a little about the major events I was a part of.

A public link to the pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=223340&id=583339135&l=01885618d1


Friday May 28

Time Travel: Playing with the concept of time seems to be a fun and mind-bending plot device. But what about those pesky logic contradictions that pop up with alarming regularity in many time travel stories? Can there be time travel that works?

Panelists: Roger White, Julie Wright, Eric Swedin, Paul Genesse, Tom Carr.

This was a fun panel and we had an excellent discussion on the topic. None of us believed it is physically possible to actually travel in time, but we all agreed that the concept is not going away any time soon. We all love reading about it and writing about it. The concept of zeitstromen, (timestream) that I use in my Iron Dragon series is a lot of fun for me.

Exploring the Classics: Stories You May Have Missed:
There are certain books, movies, novellas and short stories that should be required knowledge for a sci-fi or fantasy fan, stories that form a base for all other stories in the genre. We all know about The Lord of the Rings and Dune, but what other classics are there that are often missed?

Panelists: Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Eric Swedin, Dan Willis, and Paul Genesse.

I’ve posted my notes on this panel here on my blog. Check out the list of authors and novels that I think are great examples of classic sci-fi and fantasy. The discussion was lively, and it’s hard to come up with a small list of books, as there are just so many out there.

Saturday May 29

Riding the Rocket: How to Handle the Career Blast-Off:
The New York Times best-seller list. Second, third and more re-printings; book tours and book signings; lighting has struck and your career went from zero to warp speed. How do you survive the pressure, expectations and distractions with your wits, not to mention future projects, intact? What should you watch out for, and what is normal (if anything) at this stage?

Panelists: L.E. Modesitt, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, James Dashner, and Paul Genesse

This was quite an interesting panel, featuring some amazing writer friends of mine. L.E. Modesitt has been writing for decades and has had such a great career. Brandon Sanderson is the biggest fantasy writer today, and his career seriously blasted off since he was selected to finish the Wheel of Time series. Dan Wells’ book, I Am Not Serial Killer is incredibly successful and it is one of the most disturbing novels I’ve read in years. I can see why he’s so popular and think he’s going to have a long career. James Dashner’s Maze Runner and Jimmy Fincher books have been big hits and I’m so happy that a nice guy has finished first.

My own career is taking off, as my first novel, The Golden Cord is the best selling novel my publisher, Five Star Books has ever had. It’s been reprinted six times, but in many ways, all of us felt that we still have a long way to go in our careers.


The Mike! Show
Do you have a question you want to ask CONduit’s guests? Come to the Mike show, a question and answer talk show hosted by Mike Oberg and featuring Barbara Hambly, Kevin Wasden, James Dashner and Paul Genesse as guests.

Mike Oberg was the host of this interesting panel that featured Kevin Wasden—the artist guest of honor, Barbara Hamby—the autor guest of honor, James Dashner and myself. We had a great time and Mike did a wonderful job with the questions.

Book Signing, 3:00-4:00 PM—My signing went pretty well and I got to meet a bunch of nice people.

Dungeon Crawlers Radio Interview: Malak, Revan and Bilf(spelling?) interviewed me on their internet radio show. We had such a fun time and getting to know them was fantastic. We’re all just gamer geeks at heart. I’ll post a link to the interview when they post it.

Barbara Hambly’s main address on Saturday was enlightening. She spoke about many things and I learned a few tidbits that I’d like to pass along. First, she is the most tattooed history professor in her department (she has a lot of tattoos! No kidding!); she plays World of Warcraft for two hours every Thursday night; she hasn’t watched TV since 1972 or so; she’s written 50 novels; she doesn’t read much fiction; she listens to heavy metal on her iPod on her way to work; she had been a full-time author for 25 years before recently joining the faculty at a community college in California; and she has performed as a belly dancer in the not too recent past. Who knew?

My birthday dinner with friends at Biaggi’s was fabulous. See the pics on Facebook. I got to hang out with some of my best friends, and we celebrated many things, especially the amazing recovery of author Eric Swedin, who almost died of a ruptured brain aneurysm less than six weeks ago. He’s doing great and is smarter than ever. How that man has recovered his intellect in such a short time is quite unbelievable. I was on several panels with him and if he hadn’t told me, I would have never known about his brain aneurysm. We’re all extremely fortunate to still have him with us.

Around 9:30 PM I was interviewed live on the Sector 5 radio show. Talk-Utah (local radio station 630 AM) had me on and we discussed my work. The show should be posted online at some point in the future. I’ll post a link when it is.


Sunday May 30

My reading went extremely well. It was standing room only as many people came to hear Tom Car and I. I read the first chapter of The Secret Empire, book three of the Iron Dragon Series—which is the first time that anyone has heard anything out of book three. I did the voices of the characters and did my best to read aloud from a work that I’ve never “performed” before. My preparation helped and it went great. Then I read the first three pages of No-Tusks, my orc story coming out in the Abyss Walker anthology at some point in the future. It was awesome and I’ve now decided that I have to read No-Tusks aloud whenever I can. The crowd loved it.

Then author and paranormal investigator, Tom Carr read from his book, Talking to Myself in the Dark. He was awesome and his book is so fascinating. See my review previously on my blog or on Amazon.com.

Then I had to run off to a panel. I was sad to have missed the next reading, as Larry Correia read from Monster Hunter International, my favorite book of 2009. I heard he did a fantastic job, and he read from Grim Noir, a book he has coming out in the future.

Different Dragons, Different Visions:
Dragons are a staple of fantasy, whether small or large, friend or foe. What do dragons represent to authors, and to their readers? Why are they given certain traits and characteristics in one story but not in another? A panel of authors discusses dragons, from their own stories, and others’.

Panelists: Barbara Hambly, Jessica Day-George, and Paul Genesse

We had a fascinating discussion regarding the different approaches that authors have taken on dragons. Both Hambly and Day-George have done some amazing things in their books. One of the stand-out authors we discussed is Naomi Novik.

ConDuit was a blast and I’m looking forward to next year, as author Tamora Pierce will be the author guest of honor.

Thanks for reading,


Paul Genesse
Author of The Dragon Hunters
www.paulgenesse.com