A New She Has No Head! is up, and it’s largely about boobs. Good times!
Head on over and check it out.
I wrote an essay of sorts for THE MARY SUE about my love for Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Buffy specifically and how she is (and was) a feminist touchstone for me as a writer and fan and how her existence in the world helps make my own Tessa Battle (of STORYKILLER!) possible.
If you like any of the words above, head on over to The Mary Sue and check out the piece. People seem to be vibing it. 
Also, we are ALMOST at 30k – which will mean FIRST STRETCH GOAL REACHED!
Come and help put us over the edge, will ya?
An avid collector and THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING superfan purchased everything available from THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING book and Kickstarter campaign down to the last sticker and had it all mounted together into this amazing 90″ frame that has plates identifying each print and object, as well as a plate I signed for him.
Absolutely incredible.
Check out these pictures he sent me!
Just, wow.
It’s hard to believe that because of all the artists I have on board for my next book, STORYKILLER, its frame would be even more massive – as there will be probably double the number of signed prints alone!
It’s finally here, kids!
STORYKILLER is live on Kickstarter.
Head on over and check it out!
Here’s a teaser illustration by Stephanie Hans, but you’ll find lots more over on the Kickstarter site!
You can also read a 50 page excerpt here on the blog, or download a pretty formatted pdf perfect for iPads –> STORYKILLER Excerpt
Tessa Battle and her axe The Black Dove from Storykiller. Illustration by Stephanie Hans!
Tags: kickstarter, novels, storykiller
Over on the STORYKILLER Kickstarter (just launched today 01/21/14!) I’ve got a full list of the artists currently on board producing illustrations for the illustrated edition, but I thought I’d put a compilation image here that included at least one image from each artist. I find it a bit confusing when those images are on the Kickstarter (i.e. art that isn’t actually being used for the project).
Anyway, here they are, as well as a list of all the incredible artists (and links to their respective sites) – I encourage you to check them out (if you don’t already know them) as they are all incredibly talented and worthy artists!
You can click to enlarge the image above…it should get rather huge.
KRIS ANKA – artist for X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Marvel Cover Artist
THOMAS BOATWRIGHT – artist and creator of Cemetery Blues and Zeke Deadwood: Zombie Lawman, artist on Orc Girl
BEN CALDWELL – artist for Wednesday Comics Wonder Woman, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, artist and creator of Dare Detectives!
ROSS CAMPBELL – artist for Glory and TMNT, creator of Wet Moon and Shadoweyes
RENAE DE LIZ & RAY DILLON – artist and creator of Peter Pan and Womanthology, artist for The Last Unicorn. Colorist for Peter Pan, The Last Unicorn
MING DOYLE – artist for Mara, Fantastic Four, Womanthology
CAANAN GRALL – artist and creator of Max Overacts and Celadore
STEPHANIE HANS – artist for Spider-Man, Fearless Defenders, Journey Into Mystery
REBEKAH ISAACS – artist for Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Ten, Angel & Faith, DV8: Gods & Monsters, Magus
CASSANDRA JAMES – artist for Red Sonja, Valentine, Womanthology
MEREDITH MCCLAREN – artist for Hopeless Savages, Adventure Time, artist and creator of Hinges
DUSTIN NGUYEN – artist for Detective Comics, Batman: Streets of Gotham, Batman: Li’l Gotham, American Vampire
DECLAN SHALVEY & JORDIE BELLAIRE – artist for Hero Killers, Thunderbolts, Deadpool, American Vampire. Colorist for Pretty Deadly, Mara, Journey Into Mystery, The Wake.
MATTHEW SOUTHWORTH – artist for Stumptown, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, X-Men, Spider-Girl
NOELLE STEVENSON – artist and creator of Nimona, co-writer for Lumberjanes
BRETT WELDELE – artist and co-creator of The Surrogates, artist and creator of The Light and Spontaneous, artist for Southland Tales, 28 Days Later
JAKE WYATT – artist and creator of Necropolis
Tags: Artistis, kickstarter, storykiller, Tessa Battle
Illustration by Stephanie Hans
STORYKILLER is my second novel, and one I am currently Kickstarting. Go there now to learn more about the book and check out all kinds of incredible art.
Below is an excerpt – the first seven chapters (about 50 pages) which you can read here directly, or click here –> STORYKILLER Excerpt to download a properly formatted pdf (perfect for iPads, but also fine to read on your computer).
‘There’s something wrong with me,’ boomed through Tessa’s head on repeat. She nearly shattered the flimsy stall door as she kicked it in with her combat boot and got over the toilet only seconds before she vomited what felt like everything she’d ever eaten. A pair of girls at the sinks behind her groaned and got bitchy.
“Ewww.”
“Gross. Way to go, new girl.”
Tessa stepped on the flush with her boot and staggered out of the stall, glaring at them.
“Double ewww,” the blonde said, looking Tessa up and down and making a gagging sound. Tessa thought for a moment about punching her in the throat, but the pinch of pain in her stomach made her feel strangely kittenish. Instead, she just moved to the sinks and turned the tap, which immediately snapped off in her hand as if she was The Hulk.
“Balls,” Tessa muttered, tossing the broken knob to the floor. “Piece of junk,” she said squinting her eyes shut through a wave of sharp pains while the cool water gushed from the faucet. Tessa leaned over the sink and rinsed out her mouth as the girls slid from the bathroom giggling and calling her names. She washed her face, not caring that her hair or the heavy black make-up around her eyes was getting wet.
She glanced at her watch.
2:25 pm.
She’d been 17 for three minutes.
What an awesome start to what was sure to be a banner year back in Lore, Oregon.
Tags: kickstarter, novels, storykiller
So…let’s take a look at the current review numbers for 2013!
On Amazon (US) we’ve got a staggering 150 reviews – a number I never even dreamed of getting a year ago when we put the book up on Amazon. Even better, we’ve maintained an amazing 4.5 rating!
On Amazon UK we have 8 reviews and a perfect 5.0 rating!
On Amazon CA (Canada) we have 5 reviews, but again, a perfect 5.0 rating!
On Amazon FR (France) we have only 1 review, but it’s 5 stars!
On Amazon IT (Italy) we have only 1 review, but a perfectly respectable 4 star rating.
On Amazon DE (Germany) we have only 1 review, but again, a perfectly respectable 4 star rating. (thanks to commenter and Marco on Facebook that corrected me that DE is actually Germany!
Amazon Japan, India, Estonia, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico have no reviews at this time.
Goodreads lists TGWWBK with 437 ratings and 106 reviews! Goodreads is a tough critic (generally in my opinion) but TGWWBK is holding strong at just under 4 stars (usually varying between 3.75 and 3.90).
You can also go to my SHINY NEW WEBSITE to check out some of my favorite quotes about TGWWBK from the last year and links to the full reviews.
Thank you to ALL OF YOU that made an effort to review and generally spread the word about the book. There are some really exciting things still to come for TGWWBK and the sequel, which I hope to have out in 2014.
AND…for those of you that may have missed the tweet or blog post about my new project STORYKILLER, I’ve got a new project headed your way in January 2014 – STORYKILLER. You can read a bit more about it here, and keep your eyes peeled for more information soon! If you’re not already on my general mailing list, feel free to shoot me an email at: 1979semifinalist[dot]com and I’ll make sure you’re added.
Happy New Year to you all!
So this is the first official announcement that I’ll be headed back to Kickstarter in January (a month from today in fact – 1/20/14) with a new book called STORYKILLER.
I’m really excited about this project, and I hope you guys will be too. I have some absolutely incredible artists on board to do illustrations for the project (even though like THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING, the book is prose) and I’m super excited to share all of this with you.
Stay tuned for more news and developments.
For now, HERE is a teaser. Enjoy!
Tags: storykiller
Hey, Kids!
So, in addition to 3 Chicks being on hiatus December as I’m away for the month and in a location with absolutely terrible internet service (or certainly service well below that needed for podcasting) there are going to be some more changes forthcoming.
The big change is that Sue and I are going to take 3 Chicks off of Podomatic. It’s just become too expensive and while 3 Chicks has brought me many things, most notably a chance to interview and connect with some of the best creators in the business, it has not only not made me one red cent, but has cost me more and more money ever since we began in 2010. Seriously, hundreds of dollars over the last few years thanks to hosting at Podomatic and software upgrades and the like.
When I was working a full time job this wasn’t such a hardship, but since I’m a full time freelancer these days money is tight, and the renewal fees to host on Podomatic this year, since we have such a significant back catalog, are just enormous. Excessive, really.
So, yeah. We’re looking into other options, most likely going to host with a friend and then over time, get our RSS Feed under control and get us up on iTunes. I don’t THINK we’re going to have any downtime beyond the planned December hiatus, and the cast should remain easily downloadable as an .mp3 file even if it takes a bit of time to get us up on iTunes, but I ask that you bear with us.
Any other podcasters out there that want to offer advice, I’m all ears.
Any designers out there that want to re-design the 3 Chicks logo (which we have been in need of badly since day one) hit me up. I’m planning to do it myself, but I hated the first logo I did so I don’t know why a new one will be any different!
Thanks for your patience all!
Kelly
A fan made this amazing THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING skin for his Kindle. He sent me photos of it, and it was just too cool not to share!
