SFR Brigade: TK Anthony

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Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Recap of PhilCon - Guest Post by TK Anthony

L to R: Alex Shvartsman; Berakha Lana Guggenheim; Robert C. Roman; Steve Miller; Brian Thomas; Lee Gilliland

First held in 1936, The Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention is the oldest in the nation, and arguably, the world. According to Wikipedia, our Friends Across the Pond claim that distinction, because the first UK SF convention in 1937 was less ad hoc and more organized. As an upstart colonial, I will point out that the first PhilCon had a chairman, a secretary, discussions of SF, parties, filk, and gaming--although the gaming was craps. Seventy-eight years later, many of those same elements filled this year's schedule.

It's been a while since I've been to an SF convention--not since Lois McMaster Bujold was guest of honor at Boskone sometime in the early 2000s. I'd forgotten how much fun they were. Part of the fun is going with the right people. In this case, two of my sisters, one of whom was celebrating her 29th birthday (that's her story and I'm sticking to it). All three of us managed to clear our schedules so we could arrive on Thursday night. The weather was cold (especially for this Texas transplant), so we decided that, having checked into the conference hotel, we would just eat dinner there. The waiter led us back to our table. And at the next table sat...

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. (Pause here for total fangirl moment.) I've been a fan of Lee & Miller since maybe 15 minutes after they published their first book, Agent of Change, back in 1988. I quashed my first inclination to jump up and down, screaming and pointing. And really, there was no need. My sisters knew exactly who they were.

Not wanting to scare PhilCon's principal speakers running into the frigid night, we played it cool. Yeah. Cool. Until finally I leaned forward and said something on the order of, "I don't mean to intrude...but, we're fans."

Sharon and Steve were all that is gracious, and thus ensued an hour's lively conversation. We chatted about everything from deleting scenes to improve the story's flow; our favorite childhood books; the emotional challenge of weeding one's library; to "Swifties." (For the uninitiated, "Swifties" are based on the writing style of the Tom Swift books. As in: "Look, there's a bridge!" said Tom archly. "There's a pop quiz today," said Tom testily.) I think I mostly managed not to stutter in awe. Truth said, I could've gotten up from the table and gone home, and the trip to Philly would've still been worth it.

Because of commitments on Sunday, I only had two days to spend at PhilCon. After stuffing some fliers for my books in Filthy Pierre's SF Info rack--which travels with the owner from con to con--I made the most of my time, attending several interesting panels. Some of the standouts included:

How to Set Up a Crowdsourcing Project gave attendees the benefit of the real-lfe experience of the panelists. Critical elements of success include: Backers need to be confident in your professionalism and transparency. If you just can't do a video, then do a slide-show with voice-over. Calculate your costs carefully, and show how their support matters. Use social media to promote your campaign; Twitter casts a wider net than Facebook. Think creatively about donor rewards and stretch goals--and keep it simple. (No apparel! You don't need the headache of managing sizes, shipping, and storage.) People want to feel appreciated, and involved. (Sometimes, it's as simple as listing their names on a thank you page in your next book.) Panelists: Danielle Ackley-McPhail (mod); Rob Balder; Neil Clarke; Gil Cnaan; Alex Shvartsman; Alyce Wilson.

In the session Does Science Fiction Need to Lighten Up? it took a little while for the panelists to decide what their topic really meant. Some thought it meant we needed more humor in SF. Others thought both authors and readers needed to stop bringing today's social agendas into every story; the story matters more than agenda checkboxes. Everyone seemed to agree that casting evil nastiness in a positive light is a good thing to avoid. Some elements of SF seem to be going toward a darker literary approach, while others are reviving the best traditions of SF as genre fiction. The panel discussion also touched on the role of YA in building the fandom. Steve Miller, bringing 40 years' of commercial writing to the table, asked what SF had to offer the 10-15 year-olds to bring them into the genre, building our future fandom. (Or, as my sister the librarian put it..."Where's the SF gateway drugs?") Panelists: Alex Shvartsman (mod); Brian Thomas; Berakha Lana Guggenheim; Steve Miller; Robert C. Roman; Lee Gilliland.

Side note: One of my writing buddies, Robert C. Roman, was on this panel--a nice surprise. Bob and I met online about seven years ago, critting each other's stories on Baen's Bar, and have kept in touch at least sporadically ever since. This was the first time we ever met in person. Which is exactly why people attend cons.

The panelists on Building Believable Relationships in SF offered some stellar advice. Portray emotional truth, so that your reader can find something that resonates with them. Be sure to show them emotional consequences to give them a reason to care. And an interesting insight: Your culture is actually the main character in your book, because your characters exist in a cultural context, and whether they swim with current or against it, they are an expression of their culture. Panelists: Gregory Frost (mod); Rob Balder; Meredith Schwartz; Anastasia Klimchynskaya; Gail Z. Martin; Sharon Lee.

In their principal speech, Lee and Miller outlined the choices that had led them to become first writers, then writing partners, generally eschewing opportunities to rise in the ranks of more traditional employment--no matter how many times the opportunity presented itself-- in order to do what they truly enjoyed doing: building worlds and creating the characters who populate them. Characters and worlds they love, and so their readers...in a total fangirl/fanboy fashion.

In the time since the first PhilCon, the publishing industry has endured dramatic changes. Books went from hardback to pulp to ebook. As Sharon and Steve reviewed a lifetime of decisions that had led to them to the role of principal speakers at the 78th PhilCon, I was struck by the realization that no matter how the industry changes, or the genre changes, the bond between author and reader remains essentially the same: the story that touches our minds and hearts in a shared experience.

Bio:

Warped in childhood by too much reading, T.K. Anthony made her living in the world of words, spending two years on Capitol Hill as a press secretary before moving on to Corporate America in business communications and human resources.

She grew up in Pennsylvania, has lived in Illinois, Virginia, Upstate and Central New York, and Massachusetts, and has seen much of the United States by road trip, visiting a whole raft of cousins. Travel outside the US includes Canada, Scotland, England, Italy, France, Belgium, and Spain. With her travel bag packed, she now resides in Texas with her husband, two cats (Pip and Taz are close collaborators in her writing, and keep her keyboard furry), and all the people in her head who talk to her.

She loves to talk to other people, too–so leave a comment, or send her an email at tesskanthony AT gmail DOT com.

Blurb:

Warned by a Seeing…

The high king of the Scotian Realm expects the arrival of an enemy, a race of psychic predators bent on galactic conquest. The Realm’s one hope is alliance with the neighboring star domains in defense of a shared colony, Forge.

Caught in Fate’s grim weaving…

Mindblind, amnesic, Tazhret lives out his drug-induced visions of servitude on Forge. He wants to believe the beautiful woman with the nut-brown hair who whispers reassurances to his harrowed heart: “You have a name.” But is she even real? Or just one bright thread in his dark dreams?

An unexpected hope…

Tazhret’s destiny leads him to freedom and the woman he yearns for—and to a desperate struggle against the enemy.

Tazhret can save Forge, and his beloved. But only at the cost of all he has gained: his name, his freedom, and his love.

Buy links for Forge:

Amazon - http://amzn.to/X5kE1l

Barnes & Noble - http://bit.ly/1uEXVdi

Decadent Publishing - http://bit.ly/1AeiUXv

Smashwords - http://bit.ly/1xMPoom

Twitter: @TK_Anthony_

FB: www.facebook.com/tk.anthony.90

website: www.scotianrealm.com

goodreads: http://bit.ly/15k3JKt

Monday, December 1, 2014

Meet the #Author Monday - TK Anthony

Please tell us a bit about yourself: I had very red hair when I was young. The cinnamon has gone mostly salt, but the attitude’s still there. My husband and I enjoy travel, but we love coming home. Whenever I sit down at my laptop, my two cats are there to “help.” My chief addictions are reading, crosswords, Sudoku, music (singing & guitar) and baking. I enjoy quiet, and can’t stand to have the TV on all day.

Tell us about Forge: Book I of the Thrall Web Series: Forge is epic space opera spanning worlds, and the human heart.

The shared colony planet of Forge sits at the crossroads of three peoples. The reptilian folk of the Xern Cluster and the amphibians of the Tormin Accord, both mindblind races, are wary and suspicious of the psychically talented humans of the Scotian Realm. The Scotians loathe the indentured servitude—slavery in all but name—common in the Xern and Tormin cultures. Only the Scotian high king a and trusted few know of a vision foretelling the conquest of all three peoples by an unknown race of psychic predators...unless they overcome their mutual antipathy and join in common defense of Forge.

When the story opens, the hero is a mindblind and amnesic “izzy,” the indentured servant of a drunken, abusive Tormin. He’s called “Tazhret,” the Tormin word for “nameless.” His memory and talent were stripped by the illegal hallucinogen scoot, but visions of chains and slavery haunt him. But there’s also one bright hope: a beautiful dream-woman who tells him he has a good name. He desperately wants to believe her, even though he isn’t sure she’s a memory of someone real, or just another product of his hallucinations.

Real or vision, Tazhret loves her just the same, never dreaming they share a dark future pitting them against their Scotian high king, and the predatory psychics of the Khevox Dominion...with the fate of the three peoples hanging on the thread of their love.

And when he finds his true name, and his true love...will he be willing to give it all up for something greater than himself?

What inspired you to write this particular story?: I’ve always been a writer, but not a creative one. Then I hit a very traumatic time in my life. My fragile-elderly mother broke her leg one week after I got laid off. Fortunately, I had a decent severance package. Instead of polishing my shoes and my resume and taking a much-needed vacation, I took on night-nursing duties, without benefit of any medical training. In the midst of all this, I got an image in my head of someone in a lot of trouble, and wondered how he got there, and what would happen next. I poured into the story a lot of my angst—and a lot of my beliefs regarding freedom, human dignity, and the power of sacrificial love—along with my awe of my mother’s heroism in battling through a lot of pain back onto her feet, when she could have just given up. “Endurance” shows up a lot in Forge. She’s the reason. Her Scots heritage is the reason why my heroes are Scots, too.

Please share a favourite snippet from your book: In the aftermath of his rescue from his Tormin master, Tazhret begins to heal physically, but still can’t remember his name, so he goes by “Ian Smith.” I loved writing this scene, where Ian finally discovers his dream woman isn’t a hallucination.

He was warm and comfortable. Comfortable. Ian stirred a little, nestling down into a soft mattress, under a cozy blanket. So much better than staying out in the stables with the horses. He tried to roll on his side, but something secured him on his back, a blanket snugged about him. Ian opened his eyes, looked down at the restraints over his chest, stomach, and legs. Somewhat perplexed, testing the bindings and finding them firm, he looked around the dim room. Fluid from a medbag dripped into him through a patch on his left bicep. For a disorienting second, he thought he was back in the izzies’ clinic. No. This had the strange, sterile smell of a clinic, but it was a private room. There was a visitor’s chair. The window framing the moons on a patch of starry night had no grille to mar the view. His back wasn’t on fire from the whip, or the quick-heal bandages as soothing as brine on his ravaged hide.

He reached for his talent, and it came in a sluggish trickle and a stabbing headache. With a gasp, Ian shut it down and let the pain ebb away, resting under the restraints. Floating in a soothing sea, he didn’t open his eyes until the door clicked.

A tall and slender woman strode into the room with the grace of a dancer, and Ian forgot to breathe. A tunic in Scotian healer’s gold fell past her slim hips, belted over black trousers with the four-stranded azure braid of a Water adept. She came to his bedside, a smile turning up the corners of her wide, wonderful lips, dimpling her cheeks, crinkling the corners of her eyes—her large, luminous eyes, glimmering with brighter sparks of topaz and emerald in the softer glow of dark amber. Her nut-brown hair fell to the clean line of her jaw, framing her bonny face. Her perfect nose sat slim and straight between exquisite cheekbones. Her dark, winging eyebrows arched above her beautiful eyes.

Ian’s heart pounded, and he stared, slack-jawed. She’s real. I didn’t really believe. But…oh, Trinity, she’s real.

Which comes first for you – a character's looks, personality or name?: I think their situation comes first. I see someone in a lot of trouble, and then I discover who they are by how they respond to it. I’m not good at visualizing people, so I cast actors into the roles. Sometimes I change my mind if I see someone, in a movie or on TV, who just nails an aspect of the character; but Nathan Fillion was Tazhret from start to finish.

Any tips for aspiring authors?: Don’t confuse writing with editing. Never shut down the little voices in your head when you’re in full-bore creative mode. Get it all out where you can see it. The time to challenge, cut, or flesh out happens in editing.

Questions for fun:

If you had the power of time travel, is there anything you would go back and change? I wouldn’t go back. I’d go forward.

Why/why not?: Because hindsight is 20/20, and I could see what kind of life I’d created through my choices, and maybe make better ones.

What super-power would you choose?: The power of forgiveness. To really free yourself from other people’s worst moments, ill-wishes or outright malice is liberating.

If you could have three wishes, what would they be?: As a person: That I become who I am meant to be; that I help others become who they are meant to be. As a writer: That I get out of the way of my characters and let them be who they are meant to be.

Coffee, tea or wine?: Not coffee. Other than that, I’m pretty fond of liquids from tea to tequila.

What is your favourite book? (aside from one of your own!): Impossible to answer. ONE favorite book??? I could cheat and say “The Bible,” since there’s more than one book in there, and the stories are hair-raising, the poetry profound. But have you read Deuteronomy? Eye-crossing detail. Now, favorite author...I’d have to say Lois McMaster Bujold. She’s a master.

Favourite genre and why?: Science Fiction, especially space opera. Because it’s about the possible. It’s almost like having that time machine set on “forward,” taking you to places where you can see choices played out on the personal and societal level. In character-driven SF, moral choices in the face of temptation (i.e., “character”) and the human heart matter.

Favourite colour?: When I was a kid, my two favorite colors in the crayon box were teal and magenta (which I thought was “magneta”). I still like vibrant colors: green, gold, orange, red, purple. Just throw me some beads and call me Mardi Gras.

Upcoming news and plans for the future?: Finish editing Web of Destiny, the sequel to Forge. I’ve never written a sequel before, and I learned a lot from my editor on Forge, so revising Web of Destiny got off to a slow start. And then I had to stop long enough to explain why two of the characters hated each other so much, and that became a prequel novella, Seeds of Enmity (available on Kindle), which sidetracked me from WoD for a while. But I’m back to Web of Destiny now, and happy (at last) with the direction the book is taking.

Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us!

Thank you so much for having me!