What's New at Urania

What's New at Urania

Urania is Musa's speculative fiction imprint and in a way Penumbra's parental imprint. There are many great stories of all shapes and sizes coming out with Urania over the next few weeks, and today I'd like to tell you about a couple that have just been released. Last week, on December ninth, we had two new releases, Sunset and The New West 2: Deacon's Ark. Today Urania releases Coffee for the Body, Flames for the Soul.

Sunset, written by Jay Caselberg, is a short story of about 4, 000 words. 'In a far flung colony world, sometimes you have to survive any way you can. ' You can buy it for the lovely price of  $0.99 here.

Deacon's Ark is a 25, 000 word science fiction novella written by A. E. Stanton.

'The Green Goddess may be carrying the only normal people and animals left in the world -- good thing Josie and her Hero are on board.

Josie and Deacon have left Horsetown and are back in search of The City. Joined by Josie’s youngest sister, Sadie, they decide to travel on the riverboat The Green Goddess to save travel time.

But a plague from the Northern Wastes has been loosed on the river’s port towns. Instead of a relaxing cruise, Josie and Deacon have to protect all the people and animals on board -- because if they can’t stop the spread of the plague, they’ll be the only normal ones left in the world.'

You can buy Deacon's Ark for $2.99 here.

And finally, Coffee for the Body, Flames for the Soul is a short, 2, 500 word story written by Michael Merriam.

'It came to the diner looking for a soul to devour.

At a late-night diner, the manager finds himself faced with a nightmare from his past: The Nalusachita, a mythical-creature of his Choctaw ancestors.

Determined to protect his customers from the shape-changing soul-stealer but unsure how, the manager sets out to clear the restaurant at closing time.

What neither manager or monster counted on was the eccentric patrons of the diner, and how they would react to the mythical creature…'

You can buy Coffee for the Body, Flames for the Soul for $0.99 here.

Go ahead and treat yourself to some holiday reading this winter season. I know I will be.

On Writing, Whether You Like It Or Not by Sandra M. Odell

On Writing, Whether You Like It Or Not

Beginning, middle, and end, "Good-bye Hello" was the first story written after the death of my mother.  I don't know how it happened.  In a haze of confusion and doubts, I found myself stalked by Evanescence's "Hello" on the radio no matter where I went.  So, late one night, I cranked the song up as loud as my mother's old stereo could go, louder than I should have considering the children were asleep, and began to write about a young girl waiting for someone on the other side of death.  The story isn't based on the song, but the lyrics inspired images that insisted on making their way to paper.  Between protracted writing sessions, I met with the lawyer, slept, and cried.  A lot.  I finished the story three days later, let it sit for nearly two months before I could read it objectively, and gave it the blessing of wings to make the submission rounds.

I'm a writer.  What does that mean?  Well, Harlan Ellison said it best:  "The trick is not becoming a writer.  The trick is staying a writer."  I began writing when I was eight years old, long, albeit boring, stories that no one had time to listen to so they gave me a pad and pencil and suggested I write them out.  In the thirty-plus years since, I've learned, tightened, revised, tightened, and learned some more.  I've peeked under rocks, collected laughter at the circus, and held tears in my hands until I could get them home and pour them onto the page.  I write, that's what I do, even when I'd rather curl up in a dark corner until the sun burns out.  I can't not write.  I've struggled with it now and again, but in the end the words win out and I find myself in front of a keyboard, or with pencil and paper in hand, chasing the last word..

When someone tells me "I could write something like that" I say "Go for it!" and wish them the best of luck because, y'see, Harlan Ellison is right.  You may have what it takes to start writing, but do you have what it takes to keep writing?  Really?  Are you sure?  Being a writer is as much a job as being a carpenter, hairdresser, firefighter, or waitstaff.  A real writer doesn't sit around waiting for ideas to come along; he or she plants but in chair and writes even when life gets in the way.  Writes when everyone else goes to the beach, has a family picnic instead of a deadline, would rather watch TV, rakes the yard.  Dies.  That's it, the big secret of what it takes to be a writer.  Write, edit, rinse, repeat.  And maybe, just maybe if you're lucky, someone will like the piece enough to take a chance on sharing it with the public.

Are you positive?

Since my mother's death I've written sixty stories, and chaperoned over twenty of those into print.  In the end, what matters most isn't the words yet to come, but the words on the page.  Writers write.  That's all there is to it.

So, take your time, but not forever.  I'm working on a new story.

Sandra M. Odell

December 2011

Word-Need and the Power of Frustration by Catherine Warren

Word-Need and the Power of Frustration

Catherine Warren (aka Blue Stocking-Reads)

Writing comes from frustration, need, and desire. And if you feel a passionate urge to compose a comment arguing with my statement -- well, you just proved my point.

How many times have you retold a story the way it should have gone in real life? Or given a character in a story the power you wish you'd had yourself? Put the perfect words into someone's mouth to compensate for that time you were left without a word to say, or just written because something inside told you that you needed to?

Writing is the craft of eliciting emotion in others, using nothing greater, and nothing less, than our words. It is a burden and a challenge, and because it can be so difficult, it is a challenge we would not take up unless we were compelled to do so by some great need.

I've written because it was needed to pass a class, or because I wanted to imagine that I was understood, if only by someone imaginary.

I've written from frustrated love. If I can't have that person, at least I can write about what might have been, or write words passionate enough to melt through that icy wall of indifference. (Does it work? Sometimes.)

I've written from frustrated anger. The world is filled with injustice, cruelty, and caprice that is screamingly obvious to anyone paying any attention.

I've written from frustrated sadness, in an effort to make sense out of a senseless thing. After my grandfather fell while picking blackberries and lay undiscovered and alive for days before dying of pneumonia, I wrote of a Valkyrie that came to him and carried his spirit to the place where good Norwegian-American cattle ranchers go after they die. How I wished that were true.

The common thread for me has been frustration -- the sense that the world is not as it should be, that something is wrong. And my inner juno (as a woman, I have a "juno" instead of an inner "genius") tells me that writing something down isn't a luxury -- it's a need.

The word "frustration" comes from the Latin "frustratio," whose first definition is "a deception or trick." Naturally when we have been tricked -- when things are not the way they ought to be -- we feel frustrated and disappointed (the second definition).

Frustrated by the universe's tricks and deceptions, we perform a trick of our own: a sleight of hand, a deception practiced upon our willing readers. We take up the pen, or open a program, and we weave words into a spell to mend the cosmos.

The Old English "nēod" means "desire." A writer's fundamental need is for her stories to be heard, even if only by an imaginary reader. Even if your story doesn't have a happy ending, the act of putting it down can be the fulfillment of your need.

The next time you feel frustrated and uncomfortable with how-things-are, thank your inner genius (or juno!) that you are impelled to use words to create how-things-should-be. Thank your juno that you still have plenty of fuel for that internal bonfire that takes sadness, anger and fear and transforms them into something unimaginable.

Catherine is one of the authors who will be featured in our January issue of Penumbra.

The Dessert Tray by S.G. Rogers

The Dessert Tray

Whenever I concoct a short story, I approach it like an improvisation class.  That is to say, a couple of actors get on the stage with opposing goals in mind and then they duke it out.  Since the time on stage is limited, it’s best to get the goals established as soon as possible and have the conflict begin right away. 

Okay, improv class is over.  You watched maybe ten different scenes, and some of them were pretty good.  Perhaps one or two were really great.  Which ones stuck out in your mind…and why?  I’m guessing the standout actors had the ability to make you care about them and how they resolved their conflicts. 

That’s the secret to a great short story, the kind where your eyes are glued to the page as you read, and you sit back afterwards with a little gasp.  You think about the characters before you drift off to sleep, and into the next day, and you can’t wait to tell your buddies about the totally awesome golden nugget you discovered.  Your tail wags as you ponder how the story could be made into a movie…and you start casting actors in your mind.

Personally, I’m a proud graduate of Reject U.  You can learn a lot about yourself and writing from

rejection.  Even the form rejects tell you something important.  Assuming you submitted your literary genius to the correct forum and they reject you without comment…guess what?  The editors read at least enough of your story to know they didn’t care enough to publish it. 

So what makes readers care?  Flawed characters are inherently more interesting than the ones coated with Teflon.  Unexpected vulnerability is more memorable than clichéd weakness.  Cool settings are fabulous, but it’s the players who matter.  I wrote a story once about a guy so perfect my writing group wanted to kick him into a ditch and give him Murder on The Orient Express treatment.  Although I was shocked at the time, that blunt feedback was a gift that taught me a valuable lesson.

I want to read stories in which the author brings in the characters and then sets the stage.  I want to hear that line of dialogue that causes my eyes to widen.  I don’t want to witness the ambush; I want to see the blood pouring from the wound—and discover what the character is going to do about it. 

A speculative fiction short story should be like a small sliver of fantastic cheesecake.  From the first bite, you know you’ve got a special dessert.  It’s rich and satisfying the whole way through and goes well with a cup of coffee.  Afterwards, you crave more.  As an added bonus, it ends up in your imagination, not on your thighs.  ~S.G. Rogers

Being dedicated to the diabolical doesn’t seem to satisfy Jem anymore.  When the gorgeous demon poses for elderly artist Greer Richmond, the two form a connection.  Greer senses good in her, but Jem rebels against the idea by going on a Vegas bender.  After Jem gets word Greer is about to die, she inexplicably wants to make sure he gets to heaven—but her boss has other plans.  As penance for her interference, Jem is assigned to take one of Greer’s descendants instead.  Unfortunately handsome Dare Richmond awakens feelings in Jem a demon isn’t supposed to have.  Will Jem be able to complete her task, or has fate dealt the demon an impossible hand?

Download S.G. Rogers’ short story Apocrypha HERE, free as part of Musa Publishing’s Twelve Days of Christmas celebration.  Look for S.G. Rogers’ Asgard Adventure series (April 2012), beginning with The Druid.  Nordic mythology gets a modern twist in The Druid, in which an adventuresome woman meets an Immortal hero from the pages of a book—bigger than life and twice as Elvish.  To learn more about S.G. Rogers, visit her blog at www.childofyden.com.

December Art Contest

December Art: Vote for your favorite

Entry 1 ~ Rebecca Treadway

Entry 2 ~ Lisa Dovichi

Entry 3 ~ Deb Victoroff

Entry 4 ~ Steve Cartwright

Vote for your favorite, winner will be announced January 1, 2012

Closure in Short Stories By Stephanie Campbell

Closure in Short Stories

By Stephanie Campbell

            We've got the perfect short story. The words are flowing, our blood is pumping, and everything is coming out oh-so-perfectly. Until we reach the very end. Suddenly, it's blank. The story itself is fantastic: there are twists and turns and back-story. The main character is wonderful and desirable. Yet, how do we top such a fantastic story with an ending? How do we leave the readers feeling appeased by what they read instead of cheated? That is why I think that short story endings are one of the hardest things in the world to write. I'd take a 75,000 word novel any day.

            But there are ways to give a short story a good ending, one that leaves the reader feeling excited instead of cheated. We can even do this without killing the protagonist, which seems to be a common approach to running away from the “short story” slump. One good way to do this is to have a set objective before the story starts. Do you want the main character to get the girl? Okay, you make sure that it happens. Do you want your person to walk away from a bad situation? Well, that's really great.

            Some general rules of short story endings that I follow:
            A) Have an ending prepared. Sometimes I'll even write the ending first and then write the rest. This is my method, so it may not work with everyone, but I call it “setting the marker.”

            B) Drama, drama, drama! For some reason, dramatic endings work really well in short stories, as far as I've seen. I always feel more appeased when the main character walks away from a bad situation than at any other time.

            C)Remember you audience. Just because you know what's going to happen to your characters after the ending doesn't mean that they do. Remember to remember your reader, and they will remember your story.

            D) Practice. Write the endings for a few short stories that you have no intention to write. The more you write them, the better you get.

            Examples are a good thing too. Read as many short stories as possible to help you further navigate the story. Think of a good short story ending as an ending to a relationship. If you leave a relationship feeling cheated, then you will be bitter and hateful toward the person. If you leave a relationship with good closure and understanding of the situation, then you leave the relationship feeling appeased. Give your readers something to feel good about.

            While I don't think that writing the ending to a short story will ever be a pain-free ordeal, I hope that I have given you some ways to at make your life easier. Short story endings can be fun with the right weapons at your disposal. Don't forget, that's what short stories are for the reader and writer: fun.

Stephanie Campbell is the author of Dragon Night, published by Musa's Urania Imprint. You can buy her book here