Author Archive
Your intrepid author and her even more intrepid publisher loaded up a car full of goodies and headed down to Stamford, CT, for ComiCONN on Saturday. And, despite the facts that the entire east coast was under threat from Hurricane Irene and said hurricane was due to make landfall at Stamford, hundreds of fans, artists, dealers, guests and entertainers showed up!
We had an excellent time. We got to meet some amazing people, including some fantastic cosplayers, other creators, dealers and more. There was a remote-control R2-D2, a landspeeder, and loads of guys dressed as Imperial stormtroopers. Did we mention we’re endorsed by Cobra Commander? Because we are.
We felt like we’d come home to Geekland! Best of all, we spread the word about Broken and Candlemark & Gleam in general, and even made a few sales. If you’re wondering, it’s absolutely wonderful to sign a copy of your book for someone!
I’d never done a convention from this side of the table before, and I had a blast. We’ll definitely be doing more of these. If you know of local conventions in New England or New York that would be a good fit for some nerdy booksellers, let me know!
Get Your Superhero ID Card
Posted on: August 4, 2011
One of the perks of pre-ordering BROKEN in print that we’re offering is a cool Extrahuman Union ID card (like Silverwyng’s, above). You can customize it with your own superhero name, powers, and tag information.
The best part is that it doesn’t come with a tracking device in the arm!
- In: Geek Stuff
- 6 Comments
This illuminating post by Jim Hines (as well as a Twitter conversation) got me thinking about a lot of things today.
The post is about the sadly predictable reaction of some people in American “geek” culture to the idea of a half-black, half-Hispanic Spider-Man. I personally love the idea; there are so few nonwhite heroes in the various comic book universes that any new addition feels like an opportunity for fresh and interesting storytelling. I also like the idea that superhero identities don’t have to be tied to a single person; the idea of someone new stepping into the boots and cape of an older hero is compelling. That’s why I liked “Batman Beyond” so much, and why I made Sky Ranger an inherited title instead of something associated with only one individual in the Extrahumans universe.
Some fans don’t feel that way, clearly. The amount of whining and nasty, racist jokes from the geek world is not surprising, though it continues to be disappointing. I used to feel very much at home in geekspace, but these days I feel like I have less and less of a place there. Where are the people like me? And I’m talking just women, not even LGBT folks (though that would be nice, too)!
This isn’t just a comic book problem, but something that SF/Fantasy/etc. in general is just starting to come to grips with. Fantasy was long the domain of Muscled White Guys With Swords doing important things, for example. This is changing, thankfully–I could name you many great books with women as the main characters. Bless urban fantasy with its wealth of strong and interesting female protagonists! I feel like science fiction still lags behind a bit, but there too some strides are being made towards gender equity.
I still haven’t run into a lot of truly racially diverse fantasy or science fiction universes. One notable exception was Zion in the two Matrix sequels, but other than that…? And let’s not even get started on sexuality or ability. Sadly, because we’re trained by our society to assume that characters are white, straight and able-bodied unless told otherwise, diversity can be a bit harder to find in print. I think we want to find pieces of ourselves in our heroes. That’s an awful lot harder when all of the heroes aren’t like you in some fundamental way.
This is something that I struggle with in my own writing. How do I create worlds and characters that really do reflect human diversity? And how do I do that without hitting people over the head with my big Star Trek hammer?
In any event, Marvel is to be commended for letting someone who isn’t a white guy named Peter Parker be Spider-Man. Sort of. This is all happening in the Ultimate Marvel universe, which contains “reimagined” and “updated” versions of familiar characters. Basically, it’s the place where non-canon goes to die. So, Spider-Man can be a half-black, half-Hispanic guy–in a second-class offshoot universe. Yay?
Updates and Giveaway Contest!
Posted on: July 31, 2011
First: the giveaway contest! Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile is giving away an ebook of Broken right now! RIGHT NOW. Here’s the contest; all you have to do is write a post about your favorite superhero and link it in the comments on their original contest post! And hey, you can let me know about it, too, right here.
This is tied in with a short guest piece about doing nothing in the summer that I did for them, which went up yesterday. I like the way that piece came out. Some guest posts that I do turn out really well, some kind of fall flat. This one was one of the good ones.
Plus, this weekend an ARC of the print version of Broken arrived in the mail from Candlemark & Gleam! Here I am gazing at it.
I knew I wanted to be an author when I was just a little kid. I always wanted to someday open up a package in the mail and withdraw a book with my name on it that I’d written. On Friday, that’s just what I did. I can’t describe the emotions I felt. I carried the book around with me for a few hours, reading little bits of it just so I could see my words on the page. It was amazing.
My publisher also sent along this mysterious, ominous package along with buttons, bookmarks and post cards. She loves extras. I mean, she really REALLY loves extras. Our preorder site has a ton of extras you can get with your preorder of Broken, including an exclusive short story, cool swag like what came in the mail, and more. I think the people who order the extras will love them!
Let’s see… what else? I finally did update the reviews list for Broken, which I haven’t done since March. There’s a lot more, now. Go check them out.
Also, my latest political piece for CT News Junkie is up here. It’s based on part on thoughts I started developing in a post on this blog from a month ago. Warning: politics!
Lastly, I do not know what this is (except that it involves PONIES) but I can’t stop watching it.
POLL: What to Write Next?
Posted on: July 26, 2011
- In: Broken | Fly into Fire | Other writing | The Daughter Star | The Spark
- 2 Comments
Update: Now includes ACTUAL POLL
The writing and revising frenzy of the past seven months or so has subsided, leaving me with two more-or-less complete drafts. I’ve hit the point with THE SPARK (Extrahumans: Book 3) where I’m sick to death of even looking at it, so it’s probably time to set it aside to marinate. In a few weeks I’ll pick it up again, do another editing pass, and then perhaps send it off if it feels ready.
I’m still working through editing THE DAUGHTER STAR, which is a book that I’m not exactly sure what to do with yet. I suppose I could simply glut my publisher to the point where she’s built up a massive backlog of SJB books. Why not? There’s also a few things about it that don’t sit entirely well with me, and I intend to revisit them soon.
My first two books continue to percolate. You can pre-order the print version of BROKEN, which hits shelves in November, through Kickstarter. FLY INTO FIRE, due out in January, now has a Goodreads page–please add it for all kinds of updates! You can also friend me there or become a fan if you want.
This leaves me at an impasse. For the first time in a while, I don’t have a priority fiction project! So, help me out here. What do I write next? Below, find a lovely list of ideas I’ve been kicking around. Help me find some direction already!
Pre-order BROKEN in print!
Posted on: July 21, 2011
The extras we’ve created are absolutely mind-blowing. For instance, if you spend $50 or more:
You’ll receive a signed first-edition trade paperback of Broken by Susan Jane Bigelow, along with a digital copy of the novel. You’ll also receive an exclusive short story by Susan Jane Bigelow, set in the world of Broken. To help you really get into the spirit of things, you’ll also receive a Propaganda Pack with pins and handouts about various political groups in the world of Broken, including the Extrahuman Union. You’ll also be inducted into the Extrahuman Union, and receive a custom Extrahuman Union ID badge, with your superhero name, powers, and ID listed for ConFedMil.
I was really pleased with the story, by the way. It’s a bridge between BROKEN and FLY INTO FIRE, though it stands nicely on its own. You can only get that story by pre-ordering BROKEN in print!
I’ve seen some of the Propaganda Pack stuff, too, and it’s also amazingly cool. If you’ve liked some of the extras posted here, you’ll love the Propaganda Pack. Plus, who doesn’t want their own superhero ID badge?
Go check out all the great stuff we have for you. Remember, all this cool stuff is only available until we finish pre-orders in September!
Superpowers: Hidden Benefits
Posted on: July 7, 2011
Sometimes it’s good to have awesome superpowers in mundane situations. Here’s an excerpt from the draft of The Spark I’m working on, featuring Dee. She’s a character you’ll meet in Fly Into Fire, and her abilities are luck and firestarting. She basically has a lot of heat energy, and can do some very useful things with it:
Dee ordered something relatively cheap (Will couldn’t be counted on to pay for both meals) and forced a respectable portion of it down. The potatoes, she discovered to her irritation, had arrived cold. She unobtrusively stuck a finger in them; they started steaming instantly.
This is something I wish I could do.
Editing And Me
Posted on: July 5, 2011
I’ve been busy editing the stuff I’ve spent the first half of the year writing, and while it’s satisfying to see things come together, it’s not nearly the rush that the first draft is.
Still, it’s a good opportunity to make the kinds of changes that will start turning these two very rough drafts into something I hope is worth reading. I also learn more about structure, pacing and just storytelling in general with every pass I make. I think I have the nucleus of something good with these stories, I really do.
And, of course, all this editing is giving me ideas for what I could do next. I’d wanted to stop The Extrahumans at three books, but I think there may be a fourth one in there. There’s at least enough for a short story!
Then, maybe, something completely different. I wrote an urban fantasy short story lately, I’d love to see where that might go in a longer form. We’ll see.
In the meantime, back to editing.
Maybe it’s all a huge joke
Posted on: June 30, 2011
I saw the picture above today somewhere and this popped into my head. You have to admit…
OKAY, PANIC.
The meltdown following rejection of the labor deal has been bad; very bad. The whole thing is a tragedy, and the layoffs make it worse. Cities and towns are going to get whacked. Our bond rating just got lowered, too, so now everything’s in doubt. Many Democrats seem to be edging closer to open revolt, and even people like me who like and respect Gov. Malloy are wondering what, exactly, he thinks he’s doing.
The special session is going to be rough sailing, and I have no clue what’s going to come of it.
There’s no way to take back what happened, but maybe we can learn something from all of this chaos. Maybe we can learn how to do this better next time.
The Extrahuman Union 
