Samhain Publishing Ltd. Weblog

A Rose By Any Other Name

I love to name characters. It’s one of the first steps I take when deciding what direction a story will take – this is of course after the initial flash of the idea hits me. Sometimes the name will come with it, oftentimes it won’t – unless it’s a sequel or part of a series where the name is a known commodity.

The Storm Before The Calm

It’s a little less than two weeks before the Romantic Times Convention. The plane ticket is bought, the room secure (let’s hope), the giveaway items are packaged and ready to go. So, why do I feel like I’m forgetting something?

I love conferences. But I have to admit to more than my fair share of pre-con lunacy. There’s so much to prepare, not just in the way of promo materials, but prepping myself to a conference shine. There are new contacts to purchase, so I don’t miss seeing those hunky cover models, pedicures to get – so my feet look festive in my new sandals, haircut and highlights (if you could see the roots now, you’d know it’s been a long winter!), new clothes and costumes and shoes – there’s just so much. By rights I should start in about October to get myself ready, but I never do. I always wait until about three weeks out and then start the RT sprint. Madness. Simply madness.

By the 15th, I’d have whipped myself into such a frenzy I’ll arrive at the hotel looking like I have five separate nervous ticks and a bad case of Tourettes. Not pretty. But still – I love it. I wouldn’t miss going to a big conference like this. Every year it’s either this or the RWA Nationals, depending on distance needed to travel and dates I can get for my vacation. This year, unlike past ones, I’m taking the entire week off after the con. If it’s half as outragous as it promises to be, I’m going to need the recovery time.

If you happen to be attending, mosey on over and introduce yourself. I don’t bite. Much.

Hope to see you there,

-Kat

The Host: Shadows by MK Mancos

Four-hundred years ago, Tristain St. Blaise worked as an apprentice for alchemist, Benito Achilles. When an experiment went terribly wrong, it fused an entity to Tristain’s soul, turning him from an enlightened man of reason to one of dark passions. He takes on the mantle of a hired killer in order to protect innocents and rid the world of men like Achilles, and find some measure of redemption.

Stories, Goals and things left Unfinished

If there was ever a more accurate oxymoron used to describe me than prolific procrastinator, I don’t know what it could possibly be. Now this isn’t to say that my procastination has reached epic proportions—no, far from it. Instead it tells of the fact I seem able to produce unbelievable amounts of work while managing to stay true to my lazy nature. Let me explain.

New Release - Solarion Heat by Kathleen Scott

Wish you could escape from the cold weather and blizzard conditions? Do you want to put some heat into your chill winter nights.

Welcome to a world of high tech and hot sex!

For over twenty years the planet of Cimirion has experienced devastating climatic changes that have turned it from a planet of four seasons to one of perpetual winter. The Cimirion High Command has sent an advance team of Runners to the duel-sun planet of Solarion to scout for possible relocation.
Kara Zaire’s talents as a Visionary—a psychic who can hear energy patterns as musical notes— have placed her on the advance team to determine how well Cimirions will adapt to the constant summer heat of Solarion. That task would be accomplished easier if only Team Leader Jonah Cash would quit treating her like an unwanted commodity. But sometimes there is a heat behind his gaze that makes her feel as if he could burn her as sure as any sun.
Jonah Cash has led many missions for the Runners, but none as desperate as that of Solarion. He’s leery of the Visionary’s talent, especially when a strange force field blocks her from reading the planet’s energy. He’s willing to put up with her hocus-pocus talent if it means a successful relocation. He just never expected for the mystic to cause him to see visions of his own and her beauty to heat his blood to the boiling point.

Time Travel for Fun and Profit

Well….preferably profit.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, as the faster I work the more behinder I get. My goal for this year was to finish all the open files/books/novellas I’ve started. Didn’t happen. Here we are at the end of 2007 and I’ve got exactly 2 books marked off my long list of 17. And guess what? Every week sees me adding to the list of ideas and sequels I’m compiling. Ughhhhh….

My imagination is a fertile place. I never seem able to turn it off and just concentrate on one project at a time. Sometimes I have to pull out the character sheets and start writing up new ones that pop into my head just so I can purge those ideas to continue on with the one I’m supposed to be working on. It’s not easy being me. I’m thinking the only thing that would help my creative over-abundance is to acquire the ability to time travel.

Why are you looking at me like that? I’m totally serious here. If I could time travel, I would be able to work on mulitple projects at a time…much as I do now, but with the added bonus of actually working on them at precisely the same time. See, I could finish one book, then go back to the same point in time and finish the next and the next…. Kind of like a Ground Hog’s Day for writers.

Imagine the increase in productivity? You could conceive an idea, research, outline, do everything from the rough to the final draft in the same day. Awesome!

My critique partners already marvel at my prolificness. Strange how I want increase my output even more. Can you imagine what I could do with time travel?

All right. That’s it… no more talk. I’m going for it.

If you see a brilliant flash of light over the Mid-Atlantic states you’ll know it’s me breaking the light barrier.

Ooooooo…I think I’ve just come up with a new tagline…. Kat, writing at the speed of light.

-Kat

Series Thinking

I’ve never been one to think small.

Even my daydreams take on epic proportions. So, when I started my journey into writing, I didn’t just think of one story tied up in its own neat little bundle at the end…I thought in terms of multiple book sagas that span generations and continents. Whether the worlds I create are on alien soil or alternate dimensions, I still think of the stories in a global aspect.

Every action my characters make could have lasting impact on the secondary characters or political landscapes or geo-economic ramifications. Can’t anything be simple? Not for me, because I continue to worry and stew and think about my characters long after I’ve put the original story to bed. Even the stories I intend to stand alone usually end up with sequels. I’m hopeless that way. And it’s not as if I’m wanting for ideas. I’ve got so many in my TBW (to be written) pile that if I never had another new idea, I would still have enough material to fill several authors’ writing careers. And yet, I wish I could be even more prolific.

But I digress.

What about those stand alone stories that were never really intended to be part of a series and there is a request for a sequel? What to do then?

insert cheesy grin here

What I do is to go back through the story and see if there is a tiny thread or plot point in the backstory that can be called upon, expanded and exploited into another plot.

So, it is with Dragon Tamer. I was asked, “Do you plan to write a sequel?”

Well, I liked the world and I liked the characters. I have to say it was probably one of the easiest stories I’ve ever written. The plot, conflicts and intrigue all seemed to fall into place – so, sure why not? The problem is, I never conceived of this particualar story as being part of a series or even a gateway to a sequel. What to do?

Well, after letting the idea germinate for five minutes (what can I say, the idea for the sequel was kinda jumping up and down yelling “pick me”) I thought the most likely place to look for a possible sequel is in the expulsion of the Dragon Tamers from the planet. And the hero from Dragon Tamer has a brother who is an IFM agent….hmmmmm….great fodder for a second story. I can see it all so clearly now. Tavil Archer on a crusade to bring the Dragon Tamers back, but instead of them being used for the entertainment industry, let’s make them a stragetic defensive team. Now, I need is a heroine and a villian.

-Kat

Dragon Tamer by Kathleen Scott

On the tropical island of Cambry, a ghastly, flesh-eating blight is killing the dragons and threatening prime hatching grounds. It’s up to hatching ground director, Darion Archer and IFM agent, Serrah Gayle to stop the disease before it’s too late.

Read an excerpt here

Why I love Sci-fi

I’m a geek and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Nothing gets my blood pumping harder than an epic space battle or hurtling through galaxies at faster-than-light speeds. Too bad this is only possible while watching a movie/television or during submersion in my favorite sci-fi novel. I just can’t seem to get enough of it.

What makes the thought of distant worlds so appealing? Why do the socioeconomic or geopolitical crises on a space station thousands of light years from earth appear more interesting than our own tribulations here on the big blue marble? The answer for me is easy: Problems are always more attractive if viewed from a distance.

The sci-fi worlds I create are complex places with flawed governments and imperfect religions. Oftentimes the flawed governments are the imperfect religions — it just helps to keep things interesting that way. Also, I find blending other genres with sci-fi a fun exercise and a good way to get an interesting twist on what might be tired or cliched plot lines. Let’s face it, you can only be a alien-out-of-water so often before it gets old, so make the alien a lone unicorn breeder on a planet where unicorn horns are the only real cure for a deadly wasting disease and you’ve got quite the little intrigue set up. Pulling the unexpected out of a magic literary hat is fun and exciting to both write and read.

I love finding new authors (new to me anyways) who aren’t afraid to break the conventional rules of their genre in order to put a great new spin on an old theme. I love picking up a book and saying..“How did they think of that?” – And being jealous I didn’t think of it first. : )

You can check out some of my forthcoming Samhain titles, Dragon Tamer and Solarion Heat, which are both at their core examples of my love for futuristic gadgets, distant worlds and a bit of cross-genre pollenation thrown in for good measure.

-Kathleen Scott