Celebrating our First Anniversary

Hard to believe that Crazy 8 Press is one year old already. Technically, our first anniversary was in July, but since we debuted at Shore Leave 33, we treated this past weekend’s Shore Leave 34 as our first anniversary celebration. To mark the event, we debuted ReDeus: Divine Tales as a print exclusive at the show before making it available for sale as a print edition and the eBook version is forthcoming.

Meantime, the convention organizers gave us a nice table and all our name plates had the C8 logo on them so we were easily identified if lost.

On Saturday, at high noon, we had a nicely attended panel where the founders discussed what we have accomplished, what we have learned, and what will be coming next. The audience was a mix of people familiar with us, and others who knew us as authors but not at C8 so they came to learn, which was gratifying.

We learned a lot this past year such as how long it really takes to assemble a digital file, how to negotiate with Nook and Kindle. The values of Print on Demand printers and where we can distribute our materials. We learned the need for better marketing and promotion but the question came down to where we can do that. One thing we did was ask Chuck Rozakis, a freshly-minted MBA to help us and he composed a simple survey to find out where you readers learn about new releases and where you actually make purchases. Now we’d like your thoughts and would appreciate it if you completed the form and sent it to greenbergerbob@gmail.com. Thanks.

We also talked about our forthcoming schedule and looking into 2013. In addition to the continuation of Latchkeys every six weeks or so, you can look forward to Peter David’s Pulling up Stakes Part 1 later this month, followed by Aaron Rosenberg’s Too Tall for Small in September. Mike Friedman comes back in November with Aztlan: The Courts of Heaven, the second installment in his new alternate reality mystery series. For those who still prefer print, there will be a Latchkleys Omnibus collecting the first six stories as well as an Aztlan Omnibus with the first two installments. In time for your Thanksgiving feast should be Pulling Up Stakes Part II. There are a baker’s dozen worth of books and projects also in the works and unscheduled so our future looks pretty bright.

We talked about making more of an effort to being a collective presence at conventions including several of us appearing at ComiCONN August 18 and then all five of us on hand at New York Comic-Con in October.

We cannot have gotten this far without your interest and support. Let us know what you think, and what you might want to see.

Read an Excerpt from Peter David’s Pulling up Stakes

Sick of vampire books?  Movies?  TV shows?

Yeah.  So are we.

Sick of the entire unlife of vampires?

Yeah.  So is Vince Hammond.

Unfortunately, Vince is in it up to his (wait for it) neck.  Because Vince is a young vampire hunter who lives with his vampire hunter mother in an entire community of vampire hunters, who in turn are part of a cult of vampire hunters going back all the way to the French Revolution, which many believe to be an uprising of the poor against the rich but was actually a massive purging of vampires from the French nobility (hence the guillotine; way more efficient than shoving stakes into their hearts.)

And here’s Vince’s major problem:  he’s a vampire.  But he dare not “come out of the coffin,” as it were, and reveal his true nature, because his mother will literally kill him.  And if she doesn’t manage it, she has lots of friends and neighbors to help make sure that happens.

So instead Vince has to keep his head down and hunt his own kind while making sure not to actually kill them since, for the most part, vampires are law-abiding citizens who drink from eagerly volunteering “Wanna V’s”  hoping for their own shot at the night life.  But when some out-of-town hunters show up with a very personal connection to Vince, his two worlds are going to collide in a way that may wind up forcing Vince to run for the hills…assuming he can get far enough away before Mom hunts him down.

Pulling up Stakes is coming in August but you can try a sample right now.

Latchkeys #5, Roscoes in the Night, now on Sale

Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night is now on sale for Kindle and Nook. It’s the fifth book in the Latchkeys series and also the second part of a two-parter that my fellow scribe Kris Katzen and I informally dubbed “Speakeasy”. Working with Kris on the plot for this story, the first Latchkeys two-parter, was a lot of fun. Her passion and enthusiasm for these characters is unmatched, and she made it easy to stay excited about what we were doing. Thanks, Kris!

Veteran author and editor Paul Kupperberg also contributed to this yarn. Paul is a talented writer and a top professional who stepped in when he was needed, and I really appreciate what he brought to the story. Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, and Steven Savile (affectionately known as the Evil Overlord) guided the entire project to a successful conclusion, and I owe a great deal of thanks to the three of them as well.

Getting more than a dozen writers together to work on anything is like the proverbial herding of cats, but in this case the result is spectacular. Latchkeys is a fine series that has few rivals in the breadth and scope of the stories it can tell. As a writer, I’m happy and honored to be part of it, and as a reader I’m excited to see what everyone else in the group has come up with. If you haven’t tried Latchkeys, go back to the beginning and get caught up, for goodness’ sake! It’s a great ride.

Celebrarting our First Anniversary at Shore Leave

Crazy 8 Press will be celebrating their first anniversary at Shore Leave this coming weekend and you will find one or all of us all over the programming schedule. In addition to manning a Crazy 8 Press table, we’ll have a panel to talk about the first year and our future. Also, at the Meet the Pros party, our latest release, ReDeus: Divine Tales will be debuting.

Here’s where you can find us:

Friday

5:00-6:00 p.m. Mind the Gap:  Surviving a Long Hiatus – Aaron Rosenberg, William Leisner, T. Alan Chafin, Polly Luttrull

6:00-7:00 The Dark Knight Rises – Greg Cox, Glenn Hauman, David Mack

7:00-8:00 p.m. Star Trek:  The Complete Unauthorized History – Bob Greenberger, Scott Pearson, Howie Weinstein, Dave Galanter, Kalliope Dalto

8:00-9:00 Ray Bradbury:  Authors’ Perspective – David Mack, Michael Jan Friedman, Marco Palmieri, Steve Wilson, Scott Pearson

10:00-Midnight Meet the Pros

Saturday

10:00-11:00 Bob Greenberger

10:00-11:00  Alternate Histories:  The Art of Writing Parallel and Alternative Timelines –Peter J. Wacks, Michael Jan Friedman, William Leisner, Terri Osborne, Roberta Rogow, Aaron Rosenberg

11:00-12:00 Farewell Eureka —  Greg Cox, Aaron Rosenberg, Lorraine Anderson, Phil Giunta, T. Alan Chafin

12:00-1:00 Crazy 8 Turns One! – Bob Greenberger, Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, Glenn Hauman, Michael Jan Friedman

1:00-2:00 Superheroes on Film – Peter David, Greg Cox, Bob Greenberger, Kathleen David

2:00-3:00 Young Adult Sci-Fi and Fantasy – Greg Cox, Lorraine Anderson, Steve Wilson, Aaron Rosenberg, Kathleen David, Kieryn Nicolas

3:00-4:00 Leverage:  The Con Goes On —  Greg Cox, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Bob Greenberger

3:00-4:00 Barsoom Rising:  John Carter – Allyn Gibson, Peter David, Rigel Ailur, Steve Wilson

3:00-4:00 I Believe in Sherlock! – Allyn Gibson, T. Alan Chafin, Glenn Hauman, Keiryn Nicolas, Terri Osborne, Phil Giunta

6:00-7:00 pm Self-Publishing and Small Press Publishing: Terri Osborne, Lorraine Anderson, Susan Olesen, Kelly Meding, Steve Wilson, Aaron Rosenberg, Glenn Hauman.

SUNDAY

10:00-11:00 The Bob & Howie Show

10:00-11:00 Beyond Watchman – Allyn Gibson, Glenn Hauman

10:00-11:00 Media Tie-Ins vs. Original Fiction – David Mack, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Greg Cox, Aaron Rosenberg, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Christopher Bennett

Noon-1:00 Pro Writing:  The Business Side of Writing – Kelly Meding , Peter J. Wacks, Aaron Rosenberg

Noon-1:00 Peter David

1:00-2:00 ReDeus:  Divine Tales – Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Phil Giunta, Allyn Gibson, William Leisner, Steve Wilson, Dave Galanter

2:00-3:00 Latchkeys:  a New Ebook Series – Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Lorraine Anderson, Rigel Ailur

2:00-3:00 Michael Jan Friedman

5:30-7:00 Mystery Trekkie Theater with Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger

What goes into a Good Cover?

Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night will be available next week after a slight delay. But right now, author James Reasoner writes about a good cover.

Writing historical fiction is always a challenge. And a story like “Roscoes in the Night”, despite incorporating the fantasy elements of the Latchkeys series, is definitely historical fiction, set in a time and place that actually existed.

Because of that, there are all sorts of details that have to be gotten right, or at least close enough to right that they’re not jarringly out of place. If you’re writing a story set in the Old West, you can’t have a character pull out a smart phone and look something up on Google. (Well, you could . . . but then it would be a whole different kind of story.)

Not only do you have to worry about historical accuracy, you have to be concerned with capturing the feel of the time period as well. The reader has to think, if only for the time it takes to read the story, “That must have been what it was like in the Roaring Twenties.”

A good cover artist can be of immense help in creating this impression, and that’s where Vance Kelly comes in.  His covers for the Latchkeys series include all different sorts of scenes, but what they have in common is that you look at them and immediately get a sense of what the story is about, not only its plot but also its tone and background. The creators of Latchkeys couldn’t have asked for a finer artist to bring their vision to life.

So enjoy that beautiful cover and then check out the words as well. I think they’re pretty good.

ReDeus Brings Back the Gods and Goddesses of Yore

Imagine, if you will, the 2012 Olympics in London. The world’s best athletes have assembled to compete in the name of brotherhood. The Olympic torch is about to complete its journey to signal the beginning of the games.

Instead, the gods of myth have returned, crowding the skies as they gaze down at mankind. Zeus, leader of the Greek pantheon and the one most closely connected to the games, explains the gods have been away for a while but have come back. Every man, woman, and child will be encouraged to return to their ancestral lands from which they may worship the gods anew.

The world as we knew it ended that day as a new age began.

ReDeus: Divine Tales is an  anthology that explores what happened next. With eleven of original stories by Allyn Gibson, Dave Galanter, Phil Giunta, Robert Greenberger, Paul Kupperberg, William Leisner, Scott Pearson, Aaron Rosenberg, Lawrence Schoen, Dayton Ward, and Steven H. Wilson, spanning twenty years, you will meet the next generation of humanity. Who has renewed their ancient beliefs? Who has come to question their existing faith? What happens when a god decrees technology be banned?

You will meet believers, disbelievers, the uncertain, the confused. And the angry. Additionally, you will see the gods themselves bicker and fight for worshippers to enhance their power as the games between pantheons begins all over again.

The book features a new cover by Russian artist Anton Kokarev with nine stunning interior illustrations by Spanish artist Carmen Carnero. It will be available at Shore Leave, August 3-5, then made available for POD sale via this website. Ebook editions for Kindle and Nook will follow in mid-month.

Crazy Good Stories