Sunday, January 2, 2011

Mixing the Best of 2010 with the best of 2011

Good-bye 2010

2010 is gone, kaput, vamoose. When things end, does something new always begin? Should we take a lesson from the calendar and anticipate the fragile new life after waving good-bye to what is gone?

I decided to wave to the remarkable people I have conversed with in 2010. There have been too many for me to list (or even remember--when a brain cell dies, a new one does not begin--this seems a shame). But here are a few I'd like to mention.

Ann Littlewood's book, Did Not Survive, came out in 2010. This is the second book in her Zoo Mysteries series. She has spoken at the Vancouver Writers Mixer and is always informative and amusing.

Lilith Saintcrow, a New York Times Best-Selling author, has also spoken at the Vancouver Writers Mixer. I was lucky to have taken a class from her just before her first book, Working for the Devil came out. Now she has more than one series published in several genres. Her two books published this year were:


and the third in her young adult series:


Carolyn J. Rose's book Hemlock Lake came out this year. Carolyn is the one who started the Vancouver Writers Mixer, originally as a one-time event.


In addition, Carolyn J. Rose and her husband, Mike Nettleton's next book in the Devil's Harbor series came out this year.


Bill Cameron's Day One came out in 2010. I met Bill on twitter and he has been gracious enough to give a talk at the Vancouver Writers Mixer, in which he said he was too nice to his protagonist in his first book, Lost Dog. His poor protagonists now have much more to contend with as they struggle through their books. I like that in a protagonist. :)


Speaking of twitter, I've had the good fortune to converse with many amazing writers. One book I enjoyed reading was John Locke's Saving Rachel. This book is part of the Donovan Creed series.


Another twitter friend is Jens Kuhn, who is a nautical fiction author, whose second nautical fiction book published this year.


But then new beginnings for 2011 will bring us many new books:

Tawna Fenske's first book of a three book deal, Making Waves


Bill Cameron's fourth book, County Line



Lilith Saintcrow's next book, Angel Town

Lilith Saintcrow's other new book, Defiance

Karen Azinger's first book of a five book deal, The Steel Queen


Heather Snow's first book, Sweet Enemy, will be published, but technically not until 2012. I'm hoping to pre-order in 2011, however.

11 comments:

  1. Wow, thanks for mentioning me! I have to confess, I'm a little terrified to realize 2011 is here and my book release is now just 8 months away. Yikes!

    I second your cheers for Bill Cameron. Isn't he the best? Amazing guy AND amazing writer. Doesn't get any better than that.

    Tawna

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm so looking forward to it, Tawna, after reading your blog. Keep us posted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, and you are so right about the fabulous Bill Cameron.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Melanie! Thanks for mentioning me and my book, The Steel Queen! I hope your readers gave you some good insights on your own writing. It is amazing what you can learn from your readers. All the best in 2011!
    Karen

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello Fictional Mind. Is that ship you feature the "Lady Washington?" Good for the new year. Keep writing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Karen Azinger

    I'm looking forward to reading it, Karen. I'm meeting with another Beta Reader tonight with the chapter-by-chapter checklist you created.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Walter

    Well, yes it IS the Lady Washington, and I'm very impressed you recognized her. That picture was taken last November. Type "Lady Washington" into my search box if you'd like to read about it and see more pictures. And, you made me smile. Thanks.

    Karen,

    I thought I answered you already, but I don't see my comment. I'm looking forward to reading your book. I'm meeting with a Beta Reader tonight and I have your chapter-by-chapter checklist to give her. Thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I live in Grays Harbor County so of course I am a "Lady Washington" fan. Being also a science fiction fan, I remember the Lady Washington being in the 1994 "Star Trek: Generations" movie. I forgot about "Pirates of the Caribbean," but you are right. She's quite the movie star.

    Good times.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Walter,

    I never saw the 1994 version of Star Trek, but they talked about it on board.

    If you buy the special edition version of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie (with the second DVD) they filmed the Lady Washington going to LA to be retrofitted as the HMS ship, and then the Lady goes through the Panama Canal and meets a big blow as she exits. She suffers extensive damage, including losing her bowsprit. She has to put in to a port for immediate repair before sailing to the POTC movie location. It is awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you so much for looking forward to "Sweet Enemy" and for mentioning me amongst all of these fabulous authors. I'm flattered. It's still very surreal. I just found out that my release day got moved up to Feb 2012, which I think means the last week of January...wow :) Only a year away now...

    And thanks for all of the great recommendations in your post...I LOVE discovering new things to read.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Heather,

    I'm so excited about your book. I can barely wait a whole year. Please keep me informed as to its progress on twitter @scupperlout. When you have a book cover, I'll post that also. :)

    ReplyDelete

Comments are great fun. Really. I love them. Except from the bots that have found my blog. I'm enabling the word verification to block them. Sorry.