Stairs to the Beach from UNPREDICTABLE WORLDS

By way of a sort of podcast or vlog, just in time for Halloween, I'm sharing with you my reading of "Stairs to the Beach," the award-winning flash fiction from Unpredictable Worlds.

This is probably the most atmospheric and creepy of the flash fictions in the whole book. People with children may find it horrifying, while others may take a secret delight in it... Immerse yourself in a whole unexpected world in less than five minutes.

Enjoy! Happy Halloween!

A New Edition in Honor of the Passing of Time

I've learned a lot since I first published Tree/House. It's no longer my magnum opus—I've written two novels and participated in lots of critique groups and workshops—so I've learned a lot about writing and what it is I'm trying to say. It stands the test of time pretty well in that regard. There's not much I would change.

I've learned a lot about book formatting and merchandising. I've already made changes, the last and most important being the spiffy cover that so well captures the content for me.

I've learned a lot about editing, copyediting, and proofreading. Almost too much! When I first uploaded Tree/House, I had basic grammar and punctuation covered, but was years away from figuring out how to get an editorial job with a publishing company and even longer from purchasing my own copy of the Chicago Manual of Style. And now I'm close to having it memorized.

So I've gone back over my dear little book and excised a lot of the types of gaffes I now take out of other authors' manuscripts for a living. I've given it a new five-act structure, in a nod to Shakespeare, and I'm thrilled with how it's come out.

The new edition is available now in Kindle and in Nook, with other digital formats and a new softcover to come soon. I'll be sure to let you know.

Watch this space for an even more exciting Tree/House announcement!

A Werewolf and a Serial Killer Today at Unusual Historicals

picsfair.com 

The myth of the werewolf is found in cultures all over the world. While researching the werewolf myth in Spain, I came upon the case of Spain's first serial killer. What do these two things have in common? It's just strange enough to be true, and perfect for this scary season. Read all about it at Unusual Historicals today!

Becoming Real: A Map of Tenth-Century Spain for Seven Noble Knights

One of the first things my publisher asked for when they accepted Seven Noble Knights for publication was a map showing the locations mentioned in the novel. I had always hoped to have something like that, to orient the reader and because I love maps. I knew I wouldn't be able to cobble together anything that met my artistic standards or that was specific enough to Seven Noble Knights, so I looked for a map artist who could include everything I wanted.

Nuno Alexandre Vieira has a lot of impressive artistic credentials under his belt. He won me over when he said he was from Portugal and knew the Iberian Peninsula well.

The map is now complete. Without further ado:

It's exciting to see the places in Seven Noble Knights, to have this artifact in the real world that attests to the presence of my beloved story. It's black and white because the book won't be printed in color—that may contribute to the aged feel. The lettering was done by hand and I can't imagine anything about this map being any better. I hope the artist wins an award for it.

Now that I can imagine opening Seven Noble Knights to the first few pages and turning the book to orient this map and pore over it, the publication of the biggest project of my life is that much more real. Thanks for sharing my excitement!

Ready for Launch!

The story of Seven Noble Knights was a "bestseller" in the
Middle Ages and Renaissance. Can it capture readers' hearts today? 

Seven Noble Knights has benefitted from programs at Grub Street already. Now it looks as if Grub Street could be the deciding factor in the success of its launch! I've been accepted into a program I heard about in 2014 and immediately filed away as something I would probably never get to do because it seemed so prestigious and because it's for authors with a book coming out.

I'm now an author with a book coming out! So of course I applied to the seminar of my dreams, the Launch Lab. Twelve authors with book releases in the next year (still hard to believe that's me!) get together with industry experts to plan a book launch that makes sense for their goals, personalities, books, and resources. While I've come up with a few random ideas for getting the word out about Seven Noble Knights, the number of books published each year means that someone trying to go it alone has zero chance of getting noticed. Launch Lab gives my book a fighting chance!

So I'll start now: please notice Seven Noble Knights, the best medieval epic set in Spain you will ever come across. Brave knights, beautiful ladies, and a bloody cucumber... (Maybe I'll find some people who'll commiserate with me about my struggles with using a bloody cucumber as a marketing tactic.)

I've put everything into Seven Noble Knights: blood, sweat, tears, time, international travel, vocabulary, research, sacrifice, and oh so much love. I guess it's time to put some domestic travel and money in, too. I'll be taking the train to the first meeting this very week.

Wish me luck! I'll report on what happens.

World Rhino Day 2015

It's World Rhino Day! How are you celebrating rhinos and helping their cause?

All five species are beautiful examples of cornerstone species that mean the world to their environments. All five species are in trouble.

The smiling Javan rhino. About 60 individuals.

The uniquely harry Sumatran rhino. Fewer than 100.

The real-life unicorn, the Indian rhino. About 3000 individuals.

The beauty queen black rhino. About 4,500.

The gentle giant, the white rhino. About 19,000. 

In Africa, two or three rhinos are murdered every day for their horns, so these numbers, sadly, are only decreasing. I look forward to a World Rhino Day when we can celebrate without thinking about these insane facts, when humans will no longer harass rhinos, who never asked for anything from us.

Except maybe a little love.

A lovely surprise: Five-Star Review of Unpredictable Worlds

Well darn. I've had to modify the cover of Unpredictable Worlds. What terrible inconvenience has led to this drastic measure? A five-star review at Readers' Favorite (which, in truth, is the best thing in the world for a writer!).

Any review is a big deal for me. A five-star recommendation from this lovely institution includes a peachy-keen silvery sticker to put on the book's cover.

A wonderful alchemy of words and circumstances collided to find just the right reviewer. Amazingly, Carine Engelbrecht "got" the book. Read it in full here, and see two major highlights here:

For a collection of stories that stray delightfully off the beaten track of cookie cutter characters and plot lines without any roadside surprises, you can do a lot worse than venturing around inside Unpredictable Worlds: Stories by Jessica Knauss. While the stories are widely divergent, they are grouped around a series of themes that serve like hubs for the author's imagination to take off....

I enjoyed taking a trip through the author's imagination—that is exactly what Unpredictable Worlds: Stories by Jessica Knauss was, a journey of wonder. 

I'm impressed that the reviewer loves the rhino stories. I've started a rhino novel, but since I didn't know how I would find people who both love to read fiction and find out about rhinos, I abandoned that idea. This review gives me hope and the idea to maybe resurrect it as a shorter piece.

I get a particular frisson of authorial delight when the reviewer singles out some stories that never found a home before I published them in Unpredictable Worlds. Many of the stories in this book have been published elsewhere, and therefore had that outside validation any writer seeks. It's music to my heart that a reader I've never met is reading and enjoying stories that mean the world to me, but haven't made an obvious impression on anyone else before this point. Calling "Threads Woven" "a rich tapestry of creativity and character" when it's had no other feedback (other than form rejection letters)—I wonder if any reader knows how easy it is to give an author the ultimate gift. It goes to show: you never know who is going to respond to which story.

It's nothing short of wonderful that the reviewer points out the relationship between some of the stories. True interaction with my texts. I couldn't ask for more.

So here's that new cover, proudly displaying the shiny five-star badge. Plans to make the ebook available in venues other than Amazon have been in the works for a while now. Find your updates here!