Christopher Paul Carey is the New Director of Publishing at ERB, Inc.

Congratulations to good friend and SHU WPF alum Christopher Paul Carey for becoming the new Director of Publishing at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.

Tarzana, CA (February 5, 2019) — Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., the company that manages and licenses the creative works of novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs, including TARZAN OF THE APES® and JOHN CARTER OF MARS®, is pleased to announce the addition of Christopher Paul Carey to its executive staff in the role of Director of Publishing, effective February 4, 2019.

Christopher Paul Carey, as the new Director of Publishing, will work closely with Jim Sullos, President, and Cathy Wilbanks, Vice President of Operations, on all aspects of the company’s publishing division, including exciting new initiatives to be announced in the future.

Read more here.

Charity Anthology Hazard Yet Forward

Giant multi-author anthology on sale Tuesday, August 7 to benefit cancer fighter.

My story "Almost a New Year" is part of the charity anthology, Hazard Yet Forward.  You'll see some familiar faces from the Murder Ballads and Whiskey series in this epistolary short.

Matt Duvall, Natalie Duvall, and Deanna Lepsch compiled the nearly 700 page, multi-genre eBook with stories from seventy-six writers who are connected to the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction program. 

All proceeds from this project will benefit Donna Munro, a 2004 graduate of the program.  Munro, a teacher living in St. Louis, Missouri, was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  An active member of the SHU WPF alumni committee, Munro helps organize the school’s annual writing conference, the In Your Write Mind Workshop.

To aid Munro and her family, faculty members, alumni, students and friends of the Writing Popular Fiction program quickly responded to compile this massive anthology.  The book features flash fiction, short stories and even a full-length novella.  In total, there are 75 works from various genres, which makes this anthology one that features something for everyone. Genres represented in the book range from horror to romance to mystery – and everything in between. 

Some of the notable writers in the anthology are:
World Fantasy Award winner Nalo Hopkinson
Bram Stoker winner Michael A. Arnzen
Bram Stoker winner Michael Knost
Bram Stoker nominee Lawrence C. Connolly
ALA/YALSA Best Book for Young Adults winner Jessica Warman
Rhysling nominees John Edward Lawson and K. Ceres Wright
Rita finalist Dana Marton
Spur winner Meg Mims
Asimov’s Readers’ Award winner Timons Esaias
WV Arts and Humanities literary fellowships winner Geoffrey Cameron Fuller.

Hazard Yet Forward co-compiler Matt Duvall says, "It’s an unprecedented collection of stories from every genre imaginable." 

This large volume is available for purchase on Kindle through Amazon starting August 7 for just $9.99.

More information about the anthology can be found at http://hazardyetforward.wordpress.com. 

To learn about the unique and exciting Writing Popular Fiction program, please visit http://www.setonhill.edu/academics/fiction.

Contact:  Natalie Duvall - hazardyetforwardanthology@gmail.com

G is for Genre

Originally posted at SETON HILL WRITERS, on Friday, April 8, 2011

Today, we're pleased to have a guest post by Jason Jack Miller on GENRE RESPECT.Does genre fiction receive more respect now than it ever has?

Genre fiction has certainly become more daring in the way it deals with its own tropes.  Crossovers and blurred lines between the genres allow readers to dip a toe into new reading waters without fear of having it bitten off.  Consider Max Brooks' World War Z--is it horror or SF?  Or literature, maybe?  And what about the Twilight series?  Horror or romance?  Are there readers who loved Twilight that would never in a thousand years consider picking up an Anne Rice novel?  Certainly.  Both have vampires and romance, but only one had the benefit of a rabid fan base accustomed to using social media to take their passions viral.

There have been multitudes of novels that have straddled genre throughout written history, but they have never received the type of marketing attention that books get today.  I believe our perceptions of genre are manipulated by the publisher's marketing departments and big budgets.  With the right, well-targeted fan base a genre novel can fly or flounder.  'Don't judge a book by its cover' is an old adage that may not apply to 2011 when covers are usually tied to ginormous marketing campaigns and interactive media blitzes. Just look at the evolution of the SF/Fantasy reader stereotype over the last twenty years.  From the 1990s it's the Dune/Lord of the Rings/Star Wars fan living in his mom's basement on a diet of Doritos and Cherry Coke.  The 2010s stereotype is a tween who wants to know 'Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?'
Stories evolve and styles come and go, but readers always love what they love.  Now publishers can target readers more specifically than they ever have, and book clubs are global institutions no longer confined to library and church basements.  So while I'm not certain genre fiction receives more or less respect than it ever has, I know that fans and publishers are changing, and now more than ever fans are able to find, and talk about what they love.

Jason Jack Miller on Going Live (FCTV)

I'm going to be on TV!

Jason Jack Miller and Heidi Ruby Miller are going to be on the premier of a new local talk show in Uniontown, Pennsylvania--GOING LIVE with FCTV. The show will air at 7:00 PM on Friday, April 13, 2012.

Here's a link to the page on the official site:
http://goinglivefctv.com/Going_Live_FCTV/Guests/Entries/2012/4/13_Jason_and_Heidi_Miller.html

BACK IN 2006... (a.k.a. WHY I'M A GENIUS)

I was so wise. I knew all kinds of stuff nobody else in the world did. Here is one of my brilliant predictions from a Livejournal post born on April 14, 2006: "After spending all morning in our favorite Barnes and Noble I came to the conclusion that B&N may not be the best place for a book lover to shop..."

Brilliant, right? Somebody should've been paying me just to think up crap like this all day.

A discussion about Creative Commons and free distribution sparked a debate on the Seton Hill Writing Popular Fiction message board, and that debate gave birth to my post. At the time, Cory Doctorow made some waves by giving his book away his book at http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifoks for free on his website. I tried to validate his argument by mentioning the music of the Grateful Dead, Phish, and Dave Matthews Band as examples where a widely distributed product eventually lead to commercial success. I argued that fans don’t know that they are fans yet, and by experiencing new music passed on my acquaintances they have the ability to sample many artist before finding one who really resonates. At the time MySpace had been huge in letting emerging artists bypass record companies, much like Amazon has done for writers. Arctic Monkeys were the hottest band in the UK, and their success was a direct result of repeated listens on their MySpace profile.

Fast-forward to 2011 when guys like Wiz Khalifa blow up because of Twitter and Amamda Hocking gets the deal she always wanted because of her independent success. The landscape has changed, smart artists are going to change with it.

Read a sample of HELLBENDER on Amazon.com!

Read a sample of THE DEVIL AND PRESTON BLACK on Amazon.com!

G IS FOR GENRE

Does genre fiction receive more respect now than it ever has?

See what I have to say about it over at Seton Hill Writers.

Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Perspective Creative Writing Students

I am one of several Seton Hill Writers who contributed to the Low-Residency MFA Handbook: A Guide for Perspective Creative Writing Students by Lori A. May. This guide offers prospective graduate students an in-depth preview of low-residency creative writing MFA programs, as well as interviews with program directors, faculty, alumni, and current students.


Low-Residency MFA Handbook by Lori A. May

Here is the full list of Seton Hill Writers:
Shelley Bates (Shelley Adina)
Matt Duvall
Natalie Duvall
Heidi Ruby Miller
Jason Jack Miller
Cynthia Ravinski
Nicole Taft
Albert Wendland