pretensesoup

kimlockhartga, 8 days ago to bookstodon

Since we are coming up on June, it seems like a good time to check in with everyone here on @bookstodon regarding favorite reads of 2024 so far. Whatcha got?

My top five reads of 2024 so far:

The Criminal series of graphic novels by Ed Brubaker (ten primary works)

James, Percival Everett

The Book of Love, Kelly Link

Poor Deer, Claire Oshetsky

Prequel, Rachel Maddow

pretensesoup, 12 days ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 5/27: What's the ideal story length?

Long enough to develop the characters and ideas without it becoming repetitive or tedious. So it varies by genre, but for my patience level something in the range of 70-100k words is good. Too short and one begins to feel that too much has been omitted; too long and who has time for that. (Someone tell Neal Stephenson.)

pretensesoup, 13 days ago to books

Happy bookiversary to my debut! One year later and it's sold reasonably well, picked up some award noms, and garnered love from a lot of people. And I've learned a lot about writing, publishing, marketing...myself, maybe.

If you want a copy, find it here: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p Or I have a few copies--$17 each, send me a msg or an email (ehlupton at gmail).

@bookstodon #books #bookiversary #bookstodon #romancelandia #historicalRomance #fantasy #madisonWI

pretensesoup, 19 days ago to books

Dionysus in Wisconsin won third place at the New England Romance Writers Readers' Choice awards in the fantasy/paranormal category. I am definitely going to be cool about this and not use it as an excuse to call myself an AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR at every turn because that would be obnoxious.

Check out the AWARD-WINNING NOVEL here: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

@romancelandia @bookstodon #romance #books #indieAuthor #fantasy #lgbtqBooks @lgbtqbookstodon

pretensesoup, 29 days ago to random

#writersCoffeeClub 5/10: Do you know any good sources for publishing information?

Submission Grinder or Chill Subs are good to find journals and many small presses. Duotrope too, although it's subscription-based now.

Manuscript Wish List is the big place for agents, also Predators and Editors and Writers Beware.

The blog PublishedToDeath can be pretty good too.

Of FB groups, I've found 20BooksTo50K has good advice, although they can be a little culty.

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to books

Dionysus in Wisconsin has also been shortlisted for the New England Romance Writers Readers' Choice Award in the paranormal/fantasy/scifi/time travel category! I didn't get a chance to make a graphic specifically for this one, but I'm excited--being shortlisted means it went up against more traditional M/F romances and won!

https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

#books #awards #romancelandia #fantasy #gayRomance #indieAuthor @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon @romancelandia

cstross, 1 month ago to random

#writersCoffeeClub 5/2: Have you had an idea halfway or more through a project that required extensive rewriting of what you've already done?

This is NORMAL for novel-sized projects! I'm 85% of the way into a manuscript right now. The original plan was a Frederick Forsyth style tribute to "Day of the Jackal", but halfway through it was carjacked and taken for a joy ride by The Abominable Doctor Phibes.

Bonus extra: it's set in an AU 2015 and concerns the assassination of Queen Elizabeth II ...

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to books

This is what happens when I don't get sick before an awards announcement: I watch a bunch of videos about graphic design, then forget them all and make this!

Dionysus in Wisconsin is a finalist in the fantasy/scifi category! So if you were putting it off because you don't read romance novels, never fear: it's also a fantasy.

https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

@bookstodon #urbanFantasyBooks #books #indieAuthor #awards #gayRomance #tooMidwestTooFurious @romancelandia

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to books

This is what happens when I don't get sick before an awards announcement: I watch a bunch of videos about graphic design, then forget them all and make this!

Dionysus in Wisconsin is a finalist in the fantasy/scifi category! So if you were putting it off because you don't read romance novels, never fear: it's also a fantasy.

https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

@bookstodon #urbanFantasyBooks #books #indieAuthor #awards #gayRomance #tooMidwestTooFurious @romancelandia

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to Parenting

A few weeks ago the 6yo heard "Solidarity Forever" (we were listening to Pete Seeger songs on shuffle) and I had to explain unions. IDK if he got it, but when we reread "Click, Clack, Moo" at his little bro's request, I said, "So this is how a union works," and he said "OH!"

Then b/c of a Tom Lehrer song intro, I had to try to explain who Malcolm X was.

At this point, Black Sabbath is the least troublesome band he listens to. Someone tell Tipper. Folk music has radicalized my kid.

#parenting

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to running

Ran 3:25:xx for 27k at the Tour du Dodge. There was a little graupel. It's the end of April and it's barely 40 degrees. Course was nice, rolling hills (2k feet of climb) and wide grassy trails. I'm gonna be sore AF tomorrow.

#running

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to random

#wordWeavers 4/20: Do you plan out your themes or allow them to develop as you write?

I don't know what the themes are until someone points them out to me, generally speaking. I'm just telling a story.

herhandsmyhands, 1 month ago to bookstodon

@romancelandia @bookstodon

A day late, here's my April's #TBRChallenge review of Sarah Morgan's First Time in Forever.

#RomBkBlog

https://herhandsmyhands.wordpress.com/2024/04/18/first-time-in-forever-by-sarah-morgan/

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to books

Haven't mentioned this for a bit, but if you like urban fantasy novels with gay romance in them that are set in 1969, a/ you have very specific taste, and b/ I have a book for you. Now with the added cred of being shortlisted for a Lammy in gay romance.

Book 2 in the series is also out, with book 3 coming in October.

Book 1: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p

Book 2: https://books2read.com/u/4jB8jl

@romancelandia @bookstodon @lgbtqbookstodon #books #urbanFantasy #historicalRomance

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to random

#writersCoffeeClub 4/17: What genre(s) would you be terrible at writing?

I actually think most genres can be learned, and I like how romance can be blended up with most fiction genres.

On the other hand, I'm not interested in: nonfiction, Christian anything, hard scifi, Agatha Christie-style mysteries, books where people have no redeeming characteristics and just yell at each other, lots of racism/sexism, and serial killers.

Essentially I need a happy ending to make it worthwhile for me.

pretensesoup, 1 month ago to random

#WritersCoffeeClub 4/13 Which "unfilmable" novel has worked best on screen?

I'm not a good person to ask about movies, but the film of Tristram Shandy (apparently released in some places as A Cock and Bull Story) was very good.

Schnuckster, 1 month ago to books

I was in the Gower Street Waterstones today, asking about where to find books on neurodiversity. Got told they could be in any of three or four places depending on the type of book it is. Made me wonder, when a bookshop is that big, wouldn't using Dewey decimal be a better option? #books #bookstodon @bookstodon 📚

pretensesoup, 2 months ago to random

#writersCoffeeClub 4/8: Do you think of your books as having a particular length?

Yes. I curl up around 80k words like a possessive dragon.

But: all books are different. Write the book you're writing and not some weird mental ideal of it.

pretensesoup, 2 months ago to random

#writersCoffeeClub 4/5: What's the best thing about being a writer?

At least sometimes, it's the writing.

"I learned three things in Zurich during the war. I wrote them down. Firstly, you’re either a revolutionary or you’re not, and if you’re not you might as well be an artist as anything else. Secondly, if you can’t be an artist, you might as well be a revolutionary... I forget the third thing." (From Travesties, by Tom Stoppard)

pretensesoup, 2 months ago to random

#wordWeavers 4/4: Is there writing advice you used to follow but changed your mind?

Stephen King contended in On Writing that one shouldn't use adverbs--instead, choose a more precise verb. I've seen this expand, somewhat inexplicably, into "don't use adjectives" as well, and endless lists of alternatives to "said," and "filter words." All of this prescriptivism creates a very particular type of prose that isn't me. I've decided to revel in the poetic. Sometimes that means adverbs.

joyce, 2 months ago to random

I know that today's #WritersCoffeeClub question intends "grammar" as a catch-all word, but as writers we do know that grammar, syntax, punctuation, and spelling are different things, don't we? Don't we?

kimlockhartga, 2 months ago to books

@bookstodon Hey, I love me some Penguin Random House as much as the next reader, but I'm also interested in the indies, which are usually more daring than the Big Five.

Favorite indie publishers? Please add to my list:

Two Dollar Radio
Bluemoose
Unnamed Press
Coffeehouse
Small Beer
Graywolf
Catapult
Driftwood
Black Spot
Future Tense
Copper Canyon
Tin House
Dzanc
Melville House
Quirk
Blackwater
Red Hen
City Lights
Algonquin
Black Rose
Hellbound
Wakefield
Fledgling

#bookstodon #books #indie #publishers