We sit down with physics teacher by day, thriller author by night, Kayla--K.M.--Dailey this episode. K.M. is the winner of our flash short story contest with Laura VanArendonk Baugh to write a short story featuring Samwise Gamgee (LOTR) and River Song (Doctor Who.) K.M.'s story had us in stitches, and we're sure you'll see why we picked the story as our winner.
We talk about our Harry Potter houses, Kayla's inspiration for the short story, Christmas trees out of books, Liberty admits to having lower standards in her reading, the ever-present need for more bookcases, Harry Dresden, the new doctor on Doctor Who and Kayla's and Liberty's concerns about the direction, Doctor Who indoctrination (no pun intended!), Kayla's goal of 100 rejections in 2018 (!!!), Captain America...or Captain Jack Sparrow?
Find out more about Kayla on her YouTube channel.
Kayla's book recommendations:
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
The Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
The Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
For a transcript of K.M. Dailey's short story, visit our website at: LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
This week we have hopeless romantic, H.L. (Heidi) Burke on the show. She's totally obsessed with dragons, but we know a few people who also are, so we won't hold it against her.
In episode 74:
- The evolution of a pantser to a plotter
- Guess which of Heidi's offspring might be a future Bond villain!
- Lyrics in music? Yes or no?
- The adventures of being a military wife
- Why Heidi doesn't think she's a very deep person.
- Working with an editor when you've been self-published first
- How Sarah picks her release dates
- Aaron warns new authors about vanity presses
- Who is Theodore??
As always, check our website for full show notes! LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
This week we have hopeless romantic, H.L. (Heidi) Burke on the show. She's totally obsessed with dragons, but we know a few people who also are, so we won't hold it against her.
In episode 73:
- We discuss the Eros & Psyche myth again (see Laura VAB's recent episode for more E&P!) as H.L.'s book, Coiled, is based on the myth.
- Heidi's desire to go "aww" while writing.
- How we have to release our books to the world and they become a part of the world instead of ours.
- Myths are out of copyright—we can plagiarize them!
- Can snakes get sea sick?
- Star Trek rants!
- Re-reading on Goodreads
- Myers Briggs analysis of characters
For more notes and links to other shows, please visit LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
We have Andrew Winch on this week, who is the executive editor with Splickety Publishing group where he's worked with a whole host of authors including Jerry B. Jenkins, Tosca Lee, and Robert Liparulo. He's a full time physical therapist when he's not running around with Ben Wolf.
In this episode:
- Google is a wonderful thing. ;)
- Who is Ben Wolflichman?
- Wrangling flaming pigs
- Gothic horror / steampunk
- Weird stuff submitted to Splickety (hint: did you guess frog erotica?)
- Andrew's love of creepy stuff
- Don't edit your voice out of your story!!!
- Is writing flash fiction a perfectionist's game?
- What 3 tips would Andrew give to improve your writing?
- Why you should read women's fiction.
- You have to write a great story.
- Supporting characters Andrew wants to know more about!
For additional show notes, visit LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
In this episode, we sit down with E. Stephen Burnett, who, along with Ben Wolf (see episodes 10 & 11), is the co-founder of the forthcoming e-magazine, Lorehaven.
Stephen is a former print journalist who now helps run SpeculativeFaith.com and other faith-based websites that focus on fiction--including Lorehaven. He hails from Texas.
In this episode:
- What Lorehaven is--and what it won't be.
- What is a flash review?
- Stephen's favorite version of Star Trek.
- Lorehaven's goal to create book clubs.
- The broader content goals of Lorehaven.
- Who should everyone be reading?
- What is Stephen watching? Wonder Woman? Anime?
Find all our show notes, links to previous episodes, and links to books discussed on our website: LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
On this episode, we have Paul Smith, friend of previous guests, CW Briar and Jon Brhel. He's author of Jason and the Draconauts!
Paul Smith lives in upstate New York with his wife and two sons, where he works with emotionally disturbed and mentally ill children. He earned a master’s degree in social sciences from Binghamton University in 1999. A lifelong love of science fiction, fantasy, and superhero stories influences Paul’s writing. His most recent work was a popular weekly online series that generated over 20,000 views. Jason and the Draconauts is his first novel.
In Episode 69:
- Writing for your kids
- Creating dragons! Who's going to argue with a dragon?
- D&D's influence in Paul's writing
- How to NOT plagiarise
- Aaron wants to read a story about Captain America riding a dragon
- Does the TARDIS have a loading bay?
- Black Ops Helicopters
- Sean Connery
- thoughts on conventions and selling books on them.
- Whether FB ads are worth the paper they're printed on...
- Including fandom quotes in our books!
- What do your books teach you in the course of the writing?
- Get words on paper
Links!
- Paul D Smith (on Goodreads)
- Jason and the Draconauts
- The Council of Ancients
- Ready Player One (audiobook link)
- Brandon Sanderson
- Redshirts by John Scalzi (on audiobook!)
- Scrivener (again!)
- The Hobbit
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code
- Angels & Demons
This week, we have Kristen Stieffel, author of the debut novel, Alara's Call.
Kristen Stieffel is a freelance writer and editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy. She’s the associate editor of Havok, a flash fiction magazine focused on the speculative genres. Kristen provides author mentoring and a full range of editorial services in multiple genres for both the general market and the Christian submarket. Kristen is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and Christian Editor Connection and is a Word Weavers International mentor.
In Episode 68:
- Plotting! Pantsing! Who knows?! Start with the end in mind.
- He said WHAT?!
- Writing out of order.
- How do you K.O. a piece of paper?
- All hail the wonders of Scrivener!
- How MCs can change in the course of the book.
- Hurricane brain
- Write through the crap!
- Snacking! Tea!
- Bollywood!
- Classical Crossover music
- Kristen's longest trip for a writer's conference.
- Why do people complain about book prices?
- Gotta have the big parts in your novel first.
Kristen's Facebook Party (9/21/2017)
You can find all our episodes & show notes at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com.
This week, we have Kristen Stieffel, author of the debut novel, Alara's Call.
Kristen Stieffel is a freelance writer and editor specializing in science fiction and fantasy. She’s the associate editor of Havok, a flash fiction magazine focused on the speculative genres. Kristen provides author mentoring and a full range of editorial services in multiple genres for both the general market and the Christian submarket. Kristen is a member of the Editorial Freelancers Association and Christian Editor Connection and is a Word Weavers International mentor.
In Episode 67:
- Kristen's impetus for writing Alara's Call.
- How President Dwight Eisenhower factors in to Kristen's book.
- Kristen admits how long it took to write the book.
- How her setting was designed to fit the story.
- Mentor characters yelling at the main character's father!
- How long does it take to cremate a horse? (Aaron isn't telling PETA.)
- We get into an argument about Kristen's favorite spec fic quote.
- Aaron refrains from going full über-nerd! (We're all grateful.)
Kristen's Facebook Party (9/21/2017)
You can find all our show notes at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com.
We sat down with the delightful Sarah White, author of Halayda, but Josh couldn't join us. So it was up to Liberty to rein in Aaron! Or does he have to rein her in? Hmmm...
Sarah Delena White writes epic fantasy, steampunk, and reworkings of mythology with complex characters, rich world-building, and a fine balance of poetry and snark. When she’s not writing or editing, she can be found making jewelry, singing Irish ballads, drinking tea, and working a variety of odd jobs. She occasionally remembers to eat and sleep, because those things are apparently important. She can be bribed with dark chocolate. Halayda is her debut novel.
In Episode 66:
- Normally, we have rabbit trails. But this week, we have rabbit AND chicken trails! (That sounds worse than it is...)
- Plotting v pantsing ... and having a point she's working toward
- Deleted/bonus scenes!
- Sarah's use of a certain social media platform in her research
- The necessity of the right brand of Earl Grey tea.
- Twitter Hashtag Games!
- Irish folklore & ARROW
For links to discussed topics, please be sure to visit our website: LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com
We sat down with the delightful Sarah White, author of Halayda, but Josh couldn't join us. So it was up to Liberty to rein in Aaron! Or does he have to rein her in? Hmmm...
Sarah Delena White writes epic fantasy, steampunk, and reworkings of mythology with complex characters, rich world-building, and a fine balance of poetry and snark. When she’s not writing or editing, she can be found making jewelry, singing Irish ballads, drinking tea, and working a variety of odd jobs. She occasionally remembers to eat and sleep, because those things are apparently important. She can be bribed with dark chocolate. Halayda is her debut novel.
In Episode 65:
- Sarah keeps very busy!
- Halayda's unique blend of subgenres and unique beginnings
- Yes, this is a kissing book!
- Sarah's research into Scottish & Irish faeries
- More questionable search histories!
- Aaron's rabbit trail about the difference between the Russian space program and NASA
- Liberty's rabbit trail about Apollo 13
- Short word counts vs. long word counts!
For additional links and notes, be sure to visit: LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com