Nicholas S. Smith, bestselling author of Orbs, talks about his new book release, Extinction Horizon

Today my guest on the blog is bestselling author of the Orbs series, Nicholas Sansbury Smith, who's launching today his new science fiction thriller Extinction Horizon. I've read the book and I can tell you it's an edge-of-the-seat ride, really hard to put down. And the best part? There's a super cool epigenetic twist in the plot!

I'm thrilled to have Nick over to the blog today to tell us about his bestselling series Orbs and his new book release. Welcome, Nick!

EEG: You published the bestselling thriller Orbs and the sales have been so great that Simon and Schuster picked up the book. Can you tell us a bit about the process?

NSS: Orbs was initially self-published in 2013. It quickly topped the Amazon bestseller lists and attracted the attention of Simon451. I decided to go with them because of the exposure it would give the series. They have been great to work with and the experience has taught me a lot about publishing. I’ve also benefited by working with a fantastic editor. Not only have I improved as an author, but my stories have reached a larger audience.

EEG: You are publishing your latest book, Extinction Horizons on your own. This makes you an hybrid author. Do believe this is the ideal way of getting the best of both worlds?

NSS: In late 2013 I had a conversation with NYT bestselling author Bob Mayer. He’s spent decades in the trenches of traditional publishing and gave me some great advice. Part of it was to remain hybrid. And that’s exactly what I’m doing with The Extinction Cycle Series. This approach allows an author more flexibility and control over their work. Traditional publishing on the other hand gives an author the ability to reach a larger audience, as I mentioned above. I would caution authors of bad deals, however, and to do your research before signing any contract.

EEG: How did you get the idea of using epigenetics in Extinction Horizon?

NSS: I’ve always wanted to write a zombie book, but I didn’t want to write the same story that’s been told so many times before. So I decided to try and find a way to describe an outbreak using real science. Epigenetics seemed to be the answer and after talking with an author friend/scientist I decided to go that route.

EEG: What are you currently working on?

NSS: At this minute I’m working on an outline for a new novel. I just wrapped up a couple of projects including the sequel to Extinction Horizon and a standalone project I submitted to Simon451. Oh, and I can’t forget Orbs 3. I’m still working on putting some finishing touches on the third and final installment. It’s due out in March of 2015, along with Extinction Edge.

EEG: Wow, you sure are busy. And I can't wait for the final installment of Orbs. Best of luck with all your projects and congratulations for your new release today.

You can find out more about Nick and his books on his website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and Tumblr.

Nick posing with Master Chief at the Simon
and Schuster booth, New York Comicon 2014. 

Sunday Snippet: Happy New Year!

From AKAELA (the Mayake Chronicles Book 1), Prologue:

“Threeee!” I yell and dive off the cliff, wind whipping into my face.
That moment when time stops, suspended in the breeze, that brief moment when I could crush down and die and yet I know I won’t.
That moment when I’m as alive as any creature could ever be. Because I feel.
And yet I’m not human. And I’m not robot.
I’m both.

The above concludes the prologue of Akaela, my Sunday snippet submission for the Weekend writer Warriors (you can find the Snippet Sunday group on Facebook, too). Make sure you check out all Weekend writer Warriors participants, it's a fun way to find forthcoming books -- all genres welcome, there's something for everyone's tastes.

You can read the beginning of the chapter up to this point here.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy New Year to all! :-)

Apocalypse Weird: Lesley Smith talks about her fascination with Japan and how she's using the country's rich mythologies and spirituality in he AW books

It's Friday, time for a new Apocalypse Weird author interview! Today my guest is Lesley Smith, author of The Changing of the Sun and The Whispers in the Desert. Lesley is a freelance journalist turned into full time writer and she is here today to tell us about her story set in the Apocalypse Weird world, a one of a kind project started by a guild of independent authors who got together and decided to make their own brand world (more info on AW at the end of the post).

Welcome, Lesley!

EEG: What did you use to write when you were working as a freelance journalist?

LS: I had quite a varied collection of topics (diversifying is the best way to make sure you can get work) but I specialised in Japan and technology. I wrote about anime and manga, cultural stuff and video games mostly. I also had a stint proofing English language translations of manga and light novels for an American publisher and attending various events around the world for magazines and online outlets.

EEG: How did you get involved in the AW project?

LS: I wish I had a more nefarious answer involving blackmail, world domination etc, the truth of rather boring. I met Michael Bunker online while I was Kickstarting my first novel. We shared the same crowd within the indie author circuit and got talking. He became something of a mentor to me and I was invited to write for his Pennsylvania anthology (edited by Christ Pourteau, David Gatewood and Michael). After that I got wind (because Michael is incapable of keeping anything secret for more than ten seconds) of this big shared metaverse in mind and I’d already put him in touch with my editor Ellen Campbell (who serves as EiC of the project) and I told him I wanted in, that I had ideas to destroy Japan. I pitched him and Nick Cole and that was it.

EEG: Hehe, sorry, I had to smile at the candid "I had ideas to destroy Japan." So, now you have to tell us more about your AW story and its premise.

LS: I called shotgun on Japan as it’s a country I’ve had a fascination with. I made my living on it as a journalist and finally visited in 2010. I spent a month exploring the county and visited as many places off the tourist trail as possible. For me AW allowed me a chance to utilise Japan’s rich mythologies and spirituality as well as it’s neon-lite learnings toward technology. The premise is, basically, that centuries ago a demon was imprisoned under Mount Fuji. The nefarious Black Hand infiltrated the Council which advises the Imperial Household and engineered a schism which saw the Himiko, a line of empresses, continue to rule over the western land of Yamatai while the Emperor moved his capital to Tokyo and embraced modernity, denying the magic-rich history and putting his energy into modernisation. It’s a great opportunity to put kitsune and ancient magicians in the same space as Gojira, zombies and magical girls.

I have three books currently planned, the first The Fractured Mirror is set in Kyoto/Heiankyo, the second Blood, Steel and Stone runs parallel but is set in the modern skyscrapered capital of Tokyo while the third is called The Crimson Sea and involves mermaids and the island of Miyajima, known for it’s floating torii gate. I’m half way through the first book ahead of it’s release in February and it’s a lot of work but fun as well. There are a lot of stories to be told about this version of Japan and I’m really quite excited by the scope of the project.

EEG: That sounds really intriguing. What about your project City of Dragons?

LS: I wasn’t expecting that question but there we go, there’s some of the fun. I loved to Norfolk, a rather rural county in the UK when I was 14 and once you move there, it’s really hard to escape. Customs is a nightmare. Anyway I fell in love with the city of Norwich and I came up with this idea of a ten-book urban fantasy series set in the city. Now a UNESCO City of Literature, Norwich has this obsession with dragons and it seemed the perfect place to populate with magical beings like Djinn, kitsune, mages, sylphs and vampires. The first book is done and I hope to start the series in 2015, it follows a Djinn journalist named Jenna Bishop who has been living in hiding since the nineties and after a series of murders she starts to realise she’s more use as part of the supernatural community than she is hiding from it. I’ve plotted the entire series out and it’s a nice chance to bind the real-life City of Dragons (one of Norwich’s lesser-known nicknames) with a whole host of magical creatures and storylines such as selkies, non-virgin eating unicorns, djinni and an actual dragon. Dragons are cool.

EEG: They really are! :-)  What else are you currently working on, besides the above projects?

LS: I’m in the middle of my first trilogy set in my Ashteraiverse. I Kickstarted the first and second books this year and they’re taking up the rest of my time. This series is my magnum opus, covering various genres from fantasy and sci fi to urban political thrillers. The basic premise is that the universe is massive and there are various species and beings. The Ashterai fall into the ‘cosmic’ bracket and are the guardians of reality, able to manipulate time and space to their liking. The series is overarching (and there are easter eggs/cameos relating to it in much of the other stuff I write); I’m currently writing the Contact novel The Parting of the Waters, which serves as the middle book in my Changing of the Sun trilogy (all the books are set on a world called Coronis), an anthology of stories called Beyond the Stars Beneath the Sea which is designed to introduce the wider universe, and a short novel called A Star-Filled Sea which is, basically, my take on The Murder on the Orient Express in space. Josh, an aspergic Ashterai translator stuck in human form on an alien ship has less than a day to find why a monstrous creature is picking off members of the human Ambassador’s staff with only his reptilian boss and an empathic teenager to help him. I’m planning on launching a Kickstarter to fund it in January and I really hope it succeeds as it was a lot of fun to write.

EEG: Wow, you sure have a lot of projects on the burner! Best of luck with everything and thanks so much for chatting with us today.

To find out more about Lesley's books, visit her blog and her Amazon page.

Intrigued by Apocalypse Weird? Then read the first book, The Red King, by Nick Cole, which is completely free and sets the world of Apocalypse Weird. You can also sign up for our mailing list to make sure you don't miss the big launch on february 23rd. And you can join us on Facebook, too.

Michael Bunker also has a great post about Apocalypse Weird on his blog.

Author Hank Garner is also doing a series of podcasts on Apocalypse Weird: last week he interviewed Nick Cole, and this week Hank just posted a new podcast in which Michael Bunker talks about his AW book, Digger, the first in his Texocalypse world.

And if you are a writer and you would like to take part in the Apocalypse Weird project, Nick has a wonderful post where he explains how to apply.


Apocalypse Weird Authors:

Ellen Campbell (editor)
Stefan Bolz
Michael Bunker
Nick Cole
Jennifer Ellis
Hank Garner
E.E. Giorgi
Tim Grahl
Matthew Mather
Weston Ochse
Lyndon Perry
Chris Pourteau
Steven Savile
Lesley Smith
Kevin Summers
Eric Tozzi
Kim Wells
Forbes West

Focus editor and writer Marco Ferrari talks about the best science writers in the U.S. and his forthcoming book on the “evolutionary thinking of everyday life.”

"I segreti dell'equilibrio", "The secrets of balance,"
one of the many articles written by Marco Ferrari for Focus.

Today I have a very special guest: Marco Ferrari is an Italian science journalist and a science editor for Focus, one of the major popular science magazines in Italy. Marco has a degree in a biology and a deep love for the theory of evolution. Between science reports, he is working on a book about the “evolutionary thinking on everyday life.” Intrigued? Read on as Marco explains what that means.

Welcome to CHIMERAS, Marco!

EEG: How did you become a science writer?

MF: By chance, as it were. My degree is in biology (animal behaviour), and my first real job was as researcher (psychopharmacology) in a pharmaceutical firm in Italy. In 1983 I was sent to NIMH in Washington D.C. to teach the researchers there some methods in ethological pharmacology and conducting research in anxiety inducing endopeptides. At the end of the year I didn’t find anything that “pleased the boss” and grew disillusioned with the research milieu. Looking around to find a job, I discovered in a newsstand a new nature magazine, called Oasis. I called the editor in chief and asked him whether his staff needed a (kinda) zoologist with a good knowledge of scientific English. He said, “Yes, come over.” And the rest, as they say, is history. After Oasis, I worked as freelance journalist and consultant. I wrote some books and translated about ten. Finally, I landed a job in the most important pop science magazine in Italy, Focus, where I now have the position of science editor.

By the way, this path is highly unusual. Some of my friend and colleagues followed another journey to become science writers, such as going from being journalist mildly interested in science to write about physics or biology. Up to some years ago, in Italy the journalist was supposed to be able to write about almost anything, and you could jump from politics to science without even thinking about it. With somewhat appalling result, if I may say so. As a matter of fact, contrary to popular belief, I think a degree in science or engineering is a requisite for good science communication and journalism.

Fortunately, almost all the younger colleagues are scientific writers by training; we have in Italy many masters in science writing, though most of them are pretty ephemeral. To sum it up, regrettably, not all the science writers and journalists have a degree in science, though this is true for the most seasoned ones. Among the newest and better ones, we have physicists, physicians, biologists, chemists and so forth.

EEG: What do you love the most about your job and what, on the other hand, do you find most challenging?

MF: Being an ethologist and evolutionist, I enjoy very much writing pieces on animal behaviour and evolution, environmental issues (such as global warming) and the like. I love to interview at length scientists and experts around the world to clarify topics for an article, and, at the same time, to try (desperately) to deepen my knowledge on it. And the most exhilarating moment (for my ego, at least) is seeing other people reading one of my articles, on a train or a bus.

Challenging are the predicaments which I find myself in very often, trying to explain articles to the editor in chief (kidding), and especially navigating between various approaches to the science writing and communication. For example, in science there’s no such thing as the so-called “balance treatment”. By this I mean the habit of listening to two different voices on a given issue, a commonly modus operandi among journalists. I have a hard time explaining how I dislike this, especially on big topics such as evolution and global warming, because the “voice” in these topics is just one. Furthermore, trying to cut down the complexities of scientific news and pigeonhole them in a pop magazine is a time consuming job, and sometimes not at all fun.

EEG: That seems unfair. I can name so many scientific debates that would benefit from that rule, and I'm not just talking about the obvious ones like evolution and climate change. Virtually every conference I go to has some kind of disagreement among the major players in the field.

Who do you see as a role model among today's science writers and/or science communicators?

MF: Since you aren't familiar with the Italian players, I will name only the American ones ‒ at least the ones I know here at the periphery of the empire. In spite of what I said before, I think the best ones now don’t have a degree in science whatsoever: Carl Zimmer and David Quammen. They’re crystal clear, elegant in writing and curiosity driven. Quammen is the best writer, Zimmer the best journalist. Andy Revkin of the New York Times is a wonderful reporter, and Ira Flatow on the radio is very good and entertaining (at least listening to him on a podcast). If I may say so, Neil deGrasse Tyson on Cosmos wasn’t as good as I thought, and Bill Nye should have avoided debates on evolution. My rule is, don’t debate with creationists. As far as “historical” science writers are concerned, I can’t forget Stephen Gould and Jared Diamond. The baroque prose of the first one really captured me in the Eighties. But there are many others.

EEG: He, he, 'don’t debate with creationists' is a very wise rule! What's the difference between a science writer and a science journalist?

MF: Well, maybe it is an idiosyncratic position, but I think a science writer has a more narrative approach than a journalist. He/she writes, e.g., long op-eds and books. A journalist should be a watchdog at heart and should be writing real articles, using a much deeper investigative approach.

EEG: Tell us about the book you are currently working on: what is it about and what inspired you to write it?

MF: Well, it’s a book by a journalist, so I hope is at least entertaining without being full of horrible mistakes. It deals with “evolutionary thinking on everyday life,” aside from the strict natural process, that is. By this I mean the application of evolutionary ideas to agriculture, medicine, conservation biology, literature, social studies, cosmology, robotics and so forth and so on. I really had fun writing it.

As far as inspiration is concerned, I can point to my love for science fiction, truly alien worlds and weird natural act and species, the all encompassing Gould’s essays and maybe, just maybe, a typical Italian humanistic-philosophical approach to knowledge (but this is too big a word for me).

EEG: Your book sounds truly interesting and I feel honored to be one of the advanced readers because I really can't wait to start digging into it. Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Marco!

MF: Thanks a lot for the questions, you helped me clarify some of my own ideas...

Focus magazine can be found online and in bookstores/newspaper shops everywhere in Italy.

Marco Ferrari

Sunday Snippet: Happy Holidays!

From AKAELA (the Mayake Chronicles Book 1), Prologue:

I scan the horizon: Kael’s shadow draws black circles over the fields. The winds are blowing the smoke west, toward the Tower. The forest brims with tension, naked trees retracing the snaking path of the river. I raise a hand and feel the ridge lift blowing up.
“On the count of three,” I say, stepping away from the brim. “One…”
“You’re crazy,” Athel mutters, yet I know from the stomping I hear that he’s mounted his horse Maha. He’s ready, too.
“Two…”
Five more steps backwards, then I spread my arms and run.

The above is my Sunday snippet submission for the Weekend writer Warriors (you can find the Snippet Sunday group on Facebook, too). Make sure you check out all Weekend writer Warriors participants, it's a fun way to find forthcoming books -- all genres welcome, there's something for everyone's tastes.

This is from my new YA project, you can read the beginning of the chapter up to this point here.

Thanks for stopping by! I just wanted to wish everyone in the Sunday Snippet group Happy Holidays and a healthy and peaceful new year! Thanks for making me always look forward to Sundays. :-)

Apocalypse Weird: Jennifer Ellis talks about her book Reversal and how her research inspires her writing

It's Friday, time for a new Apocalypse Weird author interview! Today my guest is Jennifer Ellis, author of A Pair of Docks and A Quill Ladder. Jennifer has a PhD in Geography and has spent many years researching climate change, global food security and alternative energy. Sound like the perfect background to not only envision apocalyptic scenarios, but also how to survive them. Jennifer is here today to tell us about her story set in the Apocalypse Weird world, a one of a kind project started by a guild of independent authors who got together and decided to make their own brand world (more info on AW at the end of the post).

Welcome, Jennifer!

EEG: How did you get involved in the AW project?

JE: Michael Bunker approached me and asked me if I wanted to contribute. I met Michael and Nick Cole through the Synchronic: 13 Tales of Time Travel and Tales From Pennsylvania anthologies and have been the beneficiary of their witty repartee and ongoing publishing advice ever since. Once I heard how exciting Apocalypse Weird was going to be, of course I said yes!

EEG: Tell us a little bit about your AW story and its premise

JE: Reversal is set on Ellesmere Island in the Arctic. It is a story of mysterious polar bears, changes in magnetic north, wild polar storms and secrets—lots of secrets.

Sasha Wood arrives at the international research station on Ellesmere Island to investigate the recent resurgence of Arctic pack ice. The polar bears have grown increasingly aggressive and crafty in the past few years, but the station caretaker, Soren Anderson seems more than attractive enough to make up for the dangers. An inexplicable and temporary blindness leaves three researchers lost in a blizzard, and leads to the escape of all the sled dogs. When everyone can see again, all of the station compasses and GPS units say north is south, the station has been cut off from the outside world, and giant craters filled with methane are starting to appear all over the island.

Sasha and Soren endeavor to rescue the dogs and find the other researchers and are pursued by demons, polar bears, and rogue researchers along the way. When Vincent Robinson, the caretaker for the Antarctic research station, inexplicably arrives on their doorstep, they know the world has been turned upside down—literally and figuratively.

EEG: Your book In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation is also a dystopian -- will there be any intersection between the two worlds?

JE: In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation is very much set in the real world, so no, probably not. Mosquito is a true-life adventure of what might happen if we were faced with economic collapse, peak oil and climate change here in rural British Columbia. There are no demons or magical elements, although it is exciting in a different way. It is about how people who have set up a reasonably successful and only slightly dysfunctional communal farm survive a real apocalypse in which they are beset from all sides by raiders, refugees, and illness. They also have internal divisions with regard to how to deal with these things. The novel revolves around the fundamental question of what our moral obligations are to others in a world torn apart. There is also a love triangle thrown in for good measure.

EEG: How did you get the idea for In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation?

JE: In my day job, I do a lot of work in the area of climate change adaptation and back when I wrote In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation, I was also doing a lot of energy-related research into world oil reserves and alternative energy viability. I also had just finished reading The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler, which is about peak oil and the “converging catastrophes of the twenty-first century”—a riveting read for those of us writing in the dystopian fiction genre. If The Long Emergency doesn’t make you want to go find a bunker or remote farm somewhere, I don’t know what will. In any event, I became fascinated with the notion of how people could live, and even potentially thrive, in a post-apocalyptic world. In the Shadows of the Mosquito Constellation is a kinder dystopia if you will, in which people with our modern sensibilities are trying to rebuild community. They face a lot of serious challenges of course, which is what makes the book dramatic and hopefully exciting.

EEG: Sounds really intriguing. What are you currently working on, besides the AW project?

JE: Too much! I have a short that is part of The Complicated Weight of Air, a serial I am developing about a gold heist in a smelter town that I have to write over Christmas. I also have another conspiracy theory short to write about Elvis and the Bermuda Triangle in January, and a full-length novel about a mine development in a small town gone amok to finish in March (it is about 70 percent done). It’s a bit more of a satire and is entitled Confessions of a Failed Environmentalist. Then I have to turn my attention to a second AW novel potentially, and the third novel in my middle-grade Derivatives of Displacement series.

EEG: That's certainly a lot on your plate, but it all sounds very exciting. I personally can't wait to read your complete serial, The Complicated Weight of Air. Thanks so much for chatting with us today, Jennifer.

To find out more about Jennifer's books, visit her website and follow her on Twitter.

Intrigued by Apocalypse Weird? Then read the first book, The Red King, by Nick Cole, which is completely free and sets the world of Apocalypse Weird. You can also sign up for our mailing list to make sure you don't miss the big launch on february 23rd. And you can join us on Facebook, too.

Michael Bunker also has a great post about Apocalypse Weird on his blog.

author Hank Garner is also doing a series of podcasts on Apocalypse Weird: last week he interviewed Nick Cole, and this week Hank just posted a new podcast in which Michael Bunker talks about his AW book, Digger, the first in his Texocalypse world.

And if you are a writer and you would like to take part in the Apocalypse Weird project, Nick has a wonderful post where he explains how to apply.


Apocalypse Weird Authors:

Nick Cole
Michael Bunker
Matthew Mather
Lesley Smith
Jennifer Ellis
Chris Pourteau
Kim Wells
Forbes West
Eric Tozzi
Weston Ochse
Steven Savile
Kevin Summers
Tim Grahl
Ellen Campbell (editor)
Stefan Bolz
Hank Garner
Lyndon Perry

Sunday Snippet: the Mayake Chronicles

From AKAELA (the Mayake Chronicles Book 1), Prologue:

I reach the top of the ridge and climb over the edge.

My knees are scraped, my hands are cut and bleeding, and yet as soon as I stand over the verge—the gorge below opening into the valley ahead—I get giddy with excitement.

The mesa looms hundreds of feet above the Yatelan plane, the land our father the Kawa River has given us to inhabit. The river travels across the mesa and then drops into our land, dissipating into the majestic beauty of the Bridal Veil Waterfalls. If I rise on my toes I can see them in the distance, the mist created by the water as it plunges down refracting into a million rainbows.

I smell the waterfall, the forest, the river. I smell the freedom of the wind in my hair and the sweat of the horses, waiting at the bottom of the gorge. Taeh whinnies, her hooves thumping against dry sand. Impatiently.

The above is my Sunday snippet submission for the Weekend writer Warriors (you can find the Snippet Sunday group on Facebook, too). Make sure you check out all Weekend writer Warriors participants, it's a fun way to find forthcoming books -- all genres welcome, there's something for everyone's tastes.

This is from my new YA project, you can read the beginning of the chapter up to this point here.

Thanks for stopping by! In case you missed my holiday giveaway last Sunday: 10 winners (yes, 10!) will get 1 Chimeras audiobook and 1 audiobook of their choice! With that many winners, your odds are pretty high!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Apocalypse Weird: Michael Bunker talks about his book, Digger

Last week I interviewed Nick Cole in a new series of interviews I'm doing to introduce the Apocalypse Weird authors. Apocalypse Weird is a one of a kind project started by a guild of independent authors who got together and decided to make their own brand world. And I'm talking bestselling indie authors: Matthew Mather of Cyberstorm and The Atopia Series, Nick Cole of The Wasteland Saga and Soda Pop Soldier, Steven Savile of the Ogmios Team novels and Battlefield Three, Weston Oches of Seal Team 666, Jennifer Ellis of A Pair of Docks, Michael Bunker, of Pennsylvania and Wick, Chris Pourteau of Shadows Burned In, and many more (including me!).

This week I have a few more updates: first off, if you are a writer and you want to be part of Apocalypse Weird, Nick has a wonderful post where he explains how to apply.

Second, author Hank Garner is also doing a series of podcasts on Apocalypse Weird: last week he interviewed Nick Cole, and this week Hank just posted a new podcast in which Michael Bunker talks about his AW book, Digger, the first in his Texocalypse world.

Michael also has a great post about Apocalypse Weird on his blog.

How can readers get involved? Start by reading the first book, The Red King, by Nick Cole, which is completely free and sets the world of Apocalypse Weird. You can also sign up for our mailing list to make sure you don't miss the big launch on february 23rd. And you can join us on Facebook, too.

Apocalypse Weird Authors:

Nick Cole
Michael Bunker
MatthewMather
Lesley Smith
Jennifer Ellis
Chris Pourteau
Kim Wells
Forbes West
Eric Tozzi
Weston Ochse
Steven Savile
Kevin Summers
Tim Grahl
Ellen Campbell
Stefan Bolz

An Ocean Between: stories from a first generation Ukranian immigrant

Last Saturday we had a little book signing event here at the local library. My assigned table was sort of in a corner and not very visible, but I had the best treat ever: the lady signing books right next to me was a real gem to meet. The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, Stephanie Sydoriak has been living in our historic town for over 60 years, and was awarded the title of Los Alamos Living Treasure in 2011. Stephanie is a poet, an author, a certified piano teacher, a mother of six, and a Life Member of the New Mexico Music Teacher Association. But her true treasure are her stories, and in fact, she published in 2012 her memoir, An Ocean Between: 100% American - 100% Ukrainian.

I had such a great time getting to know Stephanie, that I knew I had to invite her over to the blog. Welcome to Chimeras, Stephanie!

EEG: Quoting from your bio: "Throughout her life in Los Alamos, Stephanie followed her father's exhortation to remember her Ukrainian background." I imagine that was both an enrichment and a burden. When did you decide to put it all in a book?

SS: I ruminated about my family's stories from very early on. I got involved with teaching Ukrainian Easter Eggs around Los Alamos: schools, clubs, in my home. My husband and I did some demonstration dances in the schools, where I was also invited a few times to give talks on Ukraine. I found myself telling bits and pieces of their stories during these times, which led to writing a few poems about them. In the seventies, I began a novel in a local writing class, then took it to a six week class at UNM taught by Rudolfo Anaya. He took me aside at the end of the class and told me my writing was very interesting and I should keep writing, but he thought my story would be best put in the form of a biography or memoir, rather than fiction. This I eventually did.

EEG: What did you find most challenging about writing the story of your parents? And what did you find challenging about writing your own story?

SS: The stories about them, my sister and myself, poured out easily in great volume. The challenge was to ruthlessly carve out the less interesting material and put in meaningful connective tissue so it was a book, rather than a collection of unrelated stories.

EEG: Your first published book, Inside Passage, is actually a collection of poems. Did you always write poetry or was there something in particular that inspired you at some point in your life?

SS: I started writing poetry, fiction and non-fiction in high school, just for the fun of it. As my complicated, adult life took over, I found less time for extensive prose writing and turned to writing a few lines of poetry at a time. If I happened on these lines later, I'd work on them, then still later go at them again. Gradually, they solidified into poetry. Those I'd save in a file drawer, where I could easily find them. I wrote a poem about this process. (Bones: I store poems/the way dogs/ store bones in loam or mold...)

EEG: You moved to Los Alamos in 1948: what was it like to live in Los Alamos in the '40s and '50s?

SS: Heavenly, except for the super-security at every exit point, roads and trails alike. Downtown was a welter of wooden lab buildings, quadriplexes, log cabins, army huts, and an emerging complex of stores around a grassy center behind the post office and lodge. We found all the trails that were not closed off,though, and were thrilled to begin hiking with our little kids five minutes from our back door, either up the mountainside, or deep in Los Alamos Canyon. We skated on the barely developed skating rink down there and worked on the emerging Pajarito ski area. Until that was finished, we skied at Sawyer's Hill. Unlike in Boston and New Haven, we now looked at mountain ranges, incredible, never-before-seen mesas, fluourescent blue skies and ever-changing cloud shapes in the monsoon seasons.

EEG: What are you currently working on?

SS: I am currently writing down random stories that I may or may not later use. I don't think I could even give them a category designation. I've written a couple of poems that will probably never see the light of day, so I think that all might be better left to one side. My project at the moment is to live happily.

EEG: And having met you in person I can say that you are surely fulfilling your project! Thanks so much for chatting with us today Stephanie!

To find out more about Stephanie and her book, please visit her website. Her memoir, An Ocean Between: 100% American - 100% Ukrainian is also available on Amazon. 

Synthetic gene circuits with a memory!

Imagine having a USB port in the body that we could use to insert a "flash drive" and transfer genetic data, therapies, or monitoring devices. The flash drive would have to be some kind of removable biological entity that has no problem getting in and out of the body. If you think about it, bacteria are the perfect candidates to be such devices. So, what if bacteria could be used as storage for genetic memory?

This is not so far-fetched if you think that recent studies have shown for example that genes expressed by bacteria in our guts can affect our propensity to be lean or fat. Bacteria have genes that "record" and "affect" what's going on in our body. The question is: can we control them?

Bacteria have a way of turning "on" or "off" their genes based on stimuli from the environment. Synthetic biology studies ways of using these "switches" to make "gene circuits". Genetic regulatory circuits are the biological analog of electric circuits, where genes, instead of light bulbs, are being turned on or off (by activating other genes).

Genetic circuits have numerous applications in medicine. For example, Auslaender et al. [1] used synthetic biology to create a pH sensor for cells. The researchers then implanted these cells into mice and used it as a device to detect diabetes. Lack of insulin causes an excess of acidity in the blood, and the pH drops below 7.35. Changes in pH induced by diabetes were quickly detected by the pH-sensor cells in the implanted mice. The pH information was processed and triggered a transgene expression response that resulted in the secretion of alkaline phosphatase to counteract the acidity. Basically, what the cells were able to do in the mice is: (1) detect the drop in pH; (2) trigger a response to restore the pH to normal levels.

In an electrical circuit you assemble elements like resistance and capacity. In a genetic circuit you assemble genes and "operators" able to edit the DNA in order to activate or deactivate the genes. One of such "editors" is a class of enzymes called recombinases. Apparently, there aren't many of these enzymes available, which limits the number of gene circuits one can make.

A recent study published in Science [2], however, presented a new class of such enzymes, derived from the bacteriophage Lambda, which is a virus that infects Escherichia coli. The novelty of the method doesn't stop here. You see, the goal is not just to have a working circuit, but to also make it autonomous. In other words, ideally, one wants a system able to detect responses and readjust the output based on the input it receives. The researchers devised genetic regulatory circuits able to "write", "input" and "read" genetic information.

Farzadfard and Lu [2] "converted genomic DNA into a 'tape recorder' for memorizing information in living cell populations." Their circuit, named SCRIBE (Synthetic Cellular Recorders Integrating Biological Events), responds to gene regulatory signals by generating single-stranded (ssDNA). The ssDNA is then coexpressed with a recombinase and introduces specific mutations in targeted positions of the cell DNA. The fraction of cells in the bacterial culture that carry the introduced mutations represents the biological memory at the population level.

For example, when the researchers exposed the cultures to an exposure input for 12 days (the equivalent of 120 generations in the bacterial population), they found that the

"frequency of mutants in these populations was linearly related to the total exposure time. Furthermore, we demonstrate that SCRIBE-induced mutations can be written and erased and can be used to record multiple inputs across the distributed genomic DNA of bacterial populations [2]."

It's a 'collective memory' embedded in the observed frequency of the mutation in the bacterial population. And the applications are almost infinite. I truly can't wait to see where this kind of research will take us in the future.

[1] Ausländer D, Ausländer S, Charpin-El Hamri G, Sedlmayer F, Müller M, Frey O, Hierlemann A, Stelling J, & Fussenegger M (2014). A synthetic multifunctional mammalian pH sensor and CO2 transgene-control device. Molecular cell, 55 (3), 397-408 PMID: 25018017

[2] Farzadfard, F., & Lu, T. (2014). Genomically encoded analog memory with precise in vivo DNA writing in living cell populations Science, 346 (6211), 1256272-1256272 DOI: 10.1126/science.1256272

Sunday Snippet: the Mayake Chronicles

From AKAELA (the Mayake Chronicles Book 1), Prologue:

“It's a stupid idea, Akaela,” Athel says, and even though he’s not yelling, his voice booms across the gorge.
“You wait and see,” I reply.
You wait and see.

Today’s the day, I feel it. The wind is right, the air currents are perfect. They blow against the cliff side of the mesa, producing a lift upward at the ridge. I raise my eyes and spot our trained falcon, Kael, circling the sky, showing me the thermals, columns of hot air I need to ride in order to make my flight last longer.

Today’s the day I will rise so high I’ll see the other side of the mesa.

The above is my Sunday snippet submission for the Weekend writer Warriors (you can find the Snippet Sunday group on Facebook, too). Make sure you check out all Weekend writer Warriors participants, it's a fun way to find forthcoming books -- all genres welcome, there's something for everyone's tastes.

This is from my new YA project, you can read the beginning of the chapter up to this point here.

Thanks for stopping by! Before you leave, enter my holiday giveaway: 10 winners (yes, 10!) will get 1 Chimeras audiobook and 1 audiobook of their choice! With that many winners, your odds are pretty high!!

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Nick Cole introduces Apocalypse Weird and the Red King

Today's interview is the first in a new series of interviews I'm doing to introduce the Apocalypse Weird authors. Apocalypse Weird is a one of a kind project started by a guild of independent authors who got together and decided to make their own brand world. And I'm talking bestselling indie authors: to put it in Michael Bunker's own words, "Matthew Mather of Cyberstorm and The Atopia Series, Nick Cole of The Wasteland Saga and Soda Pop Soldier, E.E Giorgi of Chimeras, Steven Savile of the Ogmios Team novels and Battlefield Three, Weston Oches of Seal Team 666, Jennifer Ellis of A Pair of Docks, and even me. . . Michael Bunker, of Pennsylvania and Wick, (and a bunch of other top flight authors) are teaming up to create an earth spanning, time bending, apocalyptic smorgasbord of epic proportions." (Read Michael's full post here.)

Yes, my name's up there too, I'm so proud to be part of this. :-)

Author Hank Garner is also doing a series of podcasts on Apocalypse Weird: you can listen to Nick Cole talk about the project here.

How can readers get involved? Start by reading the first book, The Red King, by Nick Cole, which is completely free and sets the world of Apocalypse Weird. You can also sign up for our mailing list to make sure you don't miss the big launch on february 23rd. And you can join us on Facebook, too.

The Red King launched on Black Friday and it's already got 50 reviews with a 4.5 average rating! Nick is a superb writer and he's in in fact my first guest of the Apocalypse Weird authors, so he can tell you in his own words what this is all about.

Welcome, Nick!

EEG: How did you get the idea for the Apocalypse Project?

NC: The Apocalypse Weird idea is two things at once. First off it's a Brand World (Star Wars, Star Trek, Conan) developed for Wonderment Media. Basically we want to tell a bunch of stories inside the same world and get some big arcs and great drama going forward. We want to do some literary events like nothing the publishing industry has ever seen. Meaning: we've got a five year plan for how the world develops from initial Apocalypse to Endgame and there will be some pretty gripping arcs that bring a lot of writers, their characters and the sandbox they've developed, together. Secondly the Apocalypse Weird is an idea that a series of Post Apocalyptic events might happen all at once. I think the world we're developing will end up very much like Stephen King's EndWorld of The Dark Tower series. So what we're seeing with Apocalypse Weird is the inception of just such a fractured place and the heroes that will becomes its legends and the villains its bogey men, conversely.

EEG: Can you tell us about the "easter eggs" that will be "hidden" in the various books?

NC: We want to give the readers more than they get with the average book. Because we're doing this digitally that allows us to drop in secret websites and clues that readers can access to get extra content. We feel this adds value to our product and we want to show readers that they mean a lot to us. So, some of the Easter a Eggs I can talk about are things like comic panels that show referred events, or things the characters might have talked about but weren't actually in the novel. In The Red King we have a few chapters dealing with a Special Operator and his harrowing adventure in a zombie-overrun downtown LA. One of his previous missions is a failed rescue attempt. We decided to hide a website inside the Digital Version of Red King and we hired a comic book artist to show what happens on that mission in comic panels on that secret website. We've got things like that and also hidden clues that lead to interactive websites which reveal more of what's going on in the Apocalypse Weird world.

EEG: What are the long-term plans for this project?

NC: The long term plans start of Feb 23rd with a five book launch starting multiple story arcs within the Apocalypse Weird. Then we'll be dropping two books a month. We're asking our writers to settle down and take their time telling the big epic they've always wanted to tell. But we've put it out there that they can tell that twisted little tale that ends badly. The twilight zone jaw dropper. We have three phases for our world and right now we're in The Sandbox phase. The Endgame is the final phase and there's a secret one in between. We're also opening the door for what we call our TIER THREE writers. This is basically fanfic we're partnering with ThirdScribe to publish. There will be a voting system and the top stories will be offered a contract to publish a TIER ONE Apocalypse Weird canon novel. We're really excited about this as we are already getting writers who want in on this project.

EEG: How can readers get involved?

NC: I think the neat thing about Apocalypse Weird is that there are multiple levels to interact with. You can enjoy it (a completely ground floor-underground thing that's going to drop a game changer nuclear weapon on the publishing world) as much as you want to. You can pick a favorite arc and enjoy just that. Other story arcs might inform and develop the picture but you don't have to read everything to follow along. We're looking at a podcast and we've got all these hidden Easter eggs. So there's that. But then we're inviting everyone to build and play in this world if they so choose by writing novels, pitching ideas, voting on arcs and characters and a few other interactive story development participation elements that are quite well hidden. I'd definitely like to get a cool card game developed and we have a very easy to use platform for people to share their stories with the community. The best of those are going to get a contract and some special projects we'd like to sneak in.

That said, it's just a Post Apocalyptic Drama that's simple in its good versus evil conflict and rich in the tapestry of characters participating on an adventure that's far more lethal than Game of Thrones and as epic as Star Wars. If people want to check it out, we're offering the entire APOCALYPSE WEIRD: The Red King for free.

Thank you and I hope to see you around the Apocalypse Weird!

EEG: Thanks so much, Nick!

And writers can get involved too. Read this post by Nick where he explains how you can pitch your story to Apocalypse Weird.

To find out more about Nick's books, visit his webpage. And don't forget to sign up for the Apocalypse Weird newsletter!

Apocalypse Weird Authors:

Nick Cole
Michael Bunker
MatthewMather
Lesley Smith
Jennifer Ellis
Chris Pourteau
Kim Wells
Forbes West
Eric Tozzi
Weston Ochse
Steven Savile
Kevin Summers
Tim Grahl
Ellen Campbell
Stefan Bolz

Canned heroes and heroines: is it insane to portray unpopular characters?

This is a monthly event started by the awesome Alex J. Cavanaugh and organized by the Insecure Writer's Support Group. Click here to find out more about the group and sign up for the next event.

First a couple of announcements:

1) Before you leave, don't forget to enter the giveaway at the bottom of the post, I'm offering 20 AUDIOBOOKS, so your odds to win are really high!!!

2) The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Guide to Publishing and Beyond is finally here and it's free! <- click

"Tapping into the expertise of over a hundred talented authors from around the globe, The IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond contains something for every writer. Whether you are starting out and need tips on the craft of writing, looking for encouragement as an already established author, taking the plunge into self-publishing, or seeking innovative ways to market and promote your work, this guide is a useful tool."

And now back to our regular programs.

This past month marked a nice achievement for me: my debut novel, Chimeras, passed the 2,000 sale mark. That's not stellar, but it's not too shabby either for a previously unpublished indie author. So I wrote to my agent and asked her if, between those sales and the awards I won, she could pitch the novel to the Amazon's mystery/thriller imprint. She did, and the answer came back very fast: turns out, they had already considered my book, given that it was going reasonably well and receiving positive reviews, but, alas, my main character doesn't fit what they are currently looking for. The editor added that, among the things they are currently interested in, are female sleuths and serial killers.

My first thought: How many books with female sleuths and serial killers can you think of in the next three minutes? I can think of one for every fingers and toes I have.

Sassy girls seem to be the hot thing right now. Could it be because this country has an issue with feminism? Hmm, let's see... you can't be a sassy woman at work, in fact, you'll always be paid less than men, but let's make it up with lots of fake, sassy heroines who, by the way, only exist in fiction. Mind you, I love strong female characters. I just happen to believe that we need to promote and support more strong women in REAL life rather than resort to having them in fiction only. But that's another story.

Detective Track Presius (the main character in Chimeras) is a lovable asshole who makes mistakes, like we all do, and then regrets making those mistakes. He's flawed and, personally, I like flawed characters who grow throughout books. And Chimeras readers -- mostly women, I must say -- love Track.

On the other hand, I did write a book where the main character is a woman, and she, instead, turned out to be a bit more difficult to like. In fact, my friend Mike, who's read every single book I've written so far, wrote to me the other day and said, "I'm not sure I like Skyler." I felt a pang. What is it with me and my characters? I don't know. I like complex, multi-dimensional characters. Not everybody's likable in real life. If we want to read about flawless women because today's society doesn't give them enough room in real life, then this society has some issues.

Anyways, I wrote back to Mike and asked him, "How can I fix it?"

His response (he gave me permission to quote him): "Hey, liking is one thing, finding them really interesting is another. Not liking the main character is kind of refreshing. [...] I prefer an interesting character to the expected hero or heroine. No, I was thinking last night that I'm not so much reading this book as savoring it."

And that made me happy.

But boy, if you've ever gotten a review or some feedback on your main character, then you know how hard it is to accept that kind of criticism. And not only that, to make it a choice rather than just a "mistake"...  And so here I am, on this IWSG Weds, telling you guys about my woes on my main characters. Because as much as I love them, not everybody does.

Thoughts?

Don't forget to enter the giveaway below: 10 lucky winners will get 1 copy of the Chimeras audiobook and a second audiobook of their choice. 

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Love audiobooks? Here's how you can win your favorite one!

As many of you know, the audio edition of Chimeras just launched two weeks ago. Produced by Nick and Gabriel Grant at Rook Productions, and narrated by D. Joseph Fenaughty, the book is free for Audible members, and it's only $3.47 if you buy the Kindle edition, too.

But wait, you can now win a copy AND a copy of an audiobook of your choice!

How? Just enter the giveaway below, and the more you share, the better chances you have to win!

TEN WINNERS will get one copy of the Chimeras audiobook AND one audiobook of your choice! Just pick one and I will send it to you as a gift.

So enter the giveaway and please tell your friends to increase your chances of winning and support my work at the same time. :-)


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