Category Archives: The Fictorians

Adaptations Month at Fictorians

Gregory D. Little No Comments

Turn on the TV (or Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu Plus or whatever) or head over to the local movie theater and there’s one thing you are certain see: adaptations. People complain about it all the time. “Why don’t they release more original material?” But the answer is obvious. Not only is it less work to adapt something than to generate it from scratch, a preexisting story has a built-in audience, guaranteeing that at least some people will plunk down their dollars for (or point their eyeballs at) the movie/show/video game/novelization. No property is too small, provided the audience is believed to exist. If you need proof of that, J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is going to be a five film franchise! So studios keep looking for new properties to adapt. And the oft-dreaded reboots? They are just adaptations of existing shows or movies, some of which were adaptations themselves to start. Don’t even get me started about the Matryoshka doll of nested adaptations that is The Lego Batman Movie (not to be confused with Lego Batman: The Movie) As for original properties? They often underwhelm, discouraging creators from going down that path in the future.

Like it or not, adaptations are here to stay. But it’s not the end of the world. “There’s nothing original under the sun,” as the saying goes. As we delve into adaptations this month, we’ll see both examples of adaptations done well and discussions on how best to translate a story from one medium to another. It promises to be a very interesting month. So stop on by when you are taking a break from NaNoWriMo, and happy reading!

 

About the Author: Gregory D. LittleHeadshot

Rocket scientist by day, fantasy and science fiction author by night, Gregory D. Little began his writing career in high school when he and his friend wrote Star Wars fanfic before it was cool, passing a notebook around between (sometimes during) classes. His first novel, Unwilling Souls, is available now from ebook retailers and trade paperback through Amazon.com. His short fiction can be found in The Colored Lens, A Game of Horns: A Red Unicorn Anthology, and the upcoming Dragon Writers Anthology. He lives in Virginia with his wife and their yellow lab.

You can reach him at his website (www.gregorydlittle.com), his Twitter handle (@litgreg) or at his Author Page on Facebook.

 

Happy Halloween!

Family Guy Anthony De Marco Horror The Writing Life 1 Comment

halloweenselfiesThe dead arise
with a skeleton sheen.
Be careful when you’re out
on Halloween!

October draws to a creepy close, full of little witches, ghosts and goblins out to fill their pillowcases and plastic pumpkins with tooth-decaying treats. Remember not to take a selfie in the moonlight or you may discover you don’t look as well as you did this morning.

We hope you enjoyed our October theme of dark fiction with a twist of pulp history tossed in for good measure. There are plenty of long-deceased authors whose works survive in tattooed dead-tree format and electronic mediums. Several of our Fictorians have dark fiction works for sale, or you can even check out Gutenberg.org and search for “ghost” to find scary tales from folks like Algernon Blackwood and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  If you prefer to get a nice collection, perhaps consider Ancient Terrors Volume 1, since both authors are contained therein.

Everyone here at the Fictorians wish you and yours a delightfully scary and fun Halloween. Above all, be safe, be warm, and make sure you brush your teeth after gorging on sweets!

Adventures in Zookeeping

Book Launch Guy Anthony De Marco Marketing No Comments

Adventures in Zookeeping, an anthology that will support MileHiCon Denver with the net proceeds, was released on October 28, 2016.

Adventures in Zookeeping CoverAt MileHiCon 47, several authors, publishers, and editors headed a panel called So You Want to Be in an Anthology? The audience selected the theme for the anthology, and only the people who attended the panel were eligible to submit short stories for publication. The authors would experience having their manuscript run through the editing process and receiving a contract.

ISBN: 978-1-62225-198-8
Cover design by Sam Knight
Available on Amazon now, with other markets and eBooks to follow.

The Contributors:

Edited by Sam Knight

  • Foreword – Sam Knight
  • Zookeeper’s Dilemma – Beverly Coutts
  • Eternity’s Ark – J.L. Zenor
  • The Jeweled Black Quaver – C.S. Peterson
  • Bound by Death – Ashley Vasquez
  • Picket Line – Sheila Hartney
  • The Corpse Flower – Carolyn Kay
  • So Who Would You Tell? – Aylah Foureste & Deena Larsen
  • The Niwotlei Fund Raiser – Ian Brazee-Cannon
  • Nightmare Menagerie – Jessica Lauren Gabarron
  • Plant a Zoo & Watch It Grow – Aaron Spriggs
  • The Menace of Markenshire – N. Alan Miller
  • Love Hunters – Rod Spurgeon
  • Ari’s Song – Rick Duffy
  • All in a Day’s Work – Tonya L. De Marco
  • Sanctuary – Susan Adams
  • A Tale of an African Zoo – Sean Jones
  • The Glass Fairy – Sage Gabarron
  • The Lost Phoenix – Jodi M. Franklin
  • The Looking Glass – Patrick F. Smythe
  • The ReligioZoo – Lisa Mahoney
  • The Fourth Lemur – Sarena Ulibarri
  • Monsters of Yesterday – Alicia Cay
  • Afterword – Guy Anthony De Marco

Meet the Fictorians: Kim May

Fantasy Genres Interview Kim May Kristin Luna Making Progress as a Writer Steampunk The Fictorians The Writing Life Work-Life Balance Your Writing Career No Comments

“Come in, — come in! and know me better, man!” -Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

We’d love for you, our wonderful readers, to get to know us better. That’s why, each month, Kristin Luna will interview a member of The Fictorians. We’ll learn more about each member, such as their writing processes, their work, where they live, and what they prefer to drink on a crisp Fall day. We hope you enjoy this monthly installment of Meet the Fictorians.

Meet the Fictorians:

Kim May

Kristin Luna (KL): Hi Kim! How are you doing and what are you drinking?

Kim May (KM): Nothing exciting. Just water.

KL: If you don’t mind me sharing, you live in the beautiful state of Oregon. Do you like living there, and do you find that it influences settings in your stories?

KM: It definitely does. Oregon has very diverse terrain which makes setting research much easier. I think tundra and tropical rain forest are all we’re missing. Plus there’s fun historical sites like the Shanghai Tunnels (which I did set a story in) and places so full of enchantment that it’s not hard to imagine fairies flitting between the firs.

KL: Besides blogging for The Fictorians, you have your own successful blog Ninja Keyboard. Tell us about it!

KM: Ninja Keyboard is where I post updates what I’m up to, new release announcements, general thoughts on the industry or a movie, or anything else I feel a burning need to talk about. I try to keep it all about me and my work. You’ll never see a political rant or religious treatise on my blog.

KL: You’ve been published numerous times in Fiction River. Tell about your stories and how we can purchase Fiction River.

KM:  Fiction River is a bi-monthly short story magazine published by WMG Publishing. Each issue has a different editor and different theme that can be anything from historical mystery or thrillers to sci-fi and steampunk. There’s something for everyone! It’s a lot of fun writing so many different genres and it’s definitely expanded my capabilities as a writer. Before I got involved with Fiction River I never thought I could write anything other than sci-fi and fantasy. Now I can say that I have published stories of four different genres.

Another great thing about Fiction River is because they’re published like books, none of the back issues have gone out of print! They’re available for purchase online on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, and on the Fiction River and WMG websites. Reader’s Guide and Powell’s stores in Oregon have print copies of the issues I’m in on hand as well.

KL: Of your short stories published, which one is your favorite and why?

KM: Gosh! That’s like picking a favorite chocolate bar! I love all of them for different reasons. I love Blood Moon Carnival because that’s the story I channeled my grief for my 19 year old cat into. (She died the day I finished it.) I love Void around the Sword’s Edge because it’s my action packed “stripper saves the world” story. Moonshine is a tribute to my favorite grandmother. The Fukuda Cube was my first RPG tie-in story, and it was by far the most challenging to write. In Keep Portland Weird I got to do an ode to Pacific Rim in Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter universe. In When A Good Fox Goes To War I got to play in feudal Japan, and Schrodinger’s Bar has my coolest ending!

KL: All of those sound really fun and interesting! Are you working on any longer fiction right now?

KM: I am! I’m finishing up two novels. The first is a new adult contemporary fantasy that I’m going to indie publish sometime next year and the other is a techno-thriller I’m going to pitch around.

KL: What are some of your writing goals for 2017?

KM: I just want to survive 2017. I’ve got three short stories and a novel coming out next year…and that’s just what’s on my publishing schedule right now. I’d also like to write the sequel to the new adult book I mentioned earlier. That’s all in addition to working a full-time day job and managing my arthritis, which are exhausting by themselves.

KL: What’s some of the best writing advice you’ve received so far?

KM: This is something I’ve talked about on this blog and on my own. It’s WTFS. Write the (bleep) sentence. I used to spend so much time agonizing on what the perfect phrasing would be or if description A was better than description B. I needed to understand that a first draft is just that: the first of many drafts. It doesn’t need to be perfect right away. It’s better to put something, anything, on the page and fix it later.

KL: What writers are most influential to you and why?

KM: Anne McCaffrey, Brandon Sanderson, Jacqueline Carey, Peter S Beagle, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Patrick Rothfuss are my favorite storytellers. I easily get lost in the worlds they’ve created. Choose Your Own Adventure books were pretty influential too. As a kid I read each of them three or four times. The first time I’d find the ending I liked best and then backtrack to find the path I had to follow to get there. After reading it that way I’d re-read it to find out why the other paths ended the way they did.

KL: What is your favorite Fictorians post so far?

KM: My first post is my favorite: Stockholm Syndrome Barbie. It’s a slice of me with a cherry on top. Stockholm Syndrome Barbie – The Fictorians.

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If you have any questions for Kim, please leave a comment below. Thank you for reading!