[Erfael]

Jennifer,

So what IS your background? I checked out your website (a little) but didn't see too much on your background as a writer and such. Looking on the "books" page, it seems that you've done some essays (even on one of my favorites, John Crowley), some short work, and are now breaking into the longer form, but you've got some pretty well-known names in your acknowledgements page and providing blurbs on a smaller press book. So do, do tell...

I have to say I'll really keep an eye on anything else you write (though I'm not sure romantic comedy is up my alley :eek: )

[JenStevenson]

Jennifer,

So what IS your background? I checked out your website (a little) but didn't see too much on your background as a writer and such. Looking on the "books" page, it seems that you've done some essays (even on one of my favorites, John Crowley), some short work, and are now breaking into the longer form, but you've got some pretty well-known names in your acknowledgements page and providing blurbs on a smaller press book. So do, do tell... [QUOTE]

Erfael, are you asking how I got all those cool people to read my book?

Well, I've been around the SF world a long time. Was running SF cons back in the 80s and early 90s, under the mistaken impression that "it's who you know" would help me get published. Wrong! What helps you get published is writing and writing and writing and writing.... Besides, most of those contacts I made assumed I was one of those science fiction fan-girls who is a lifelong hanger-on, perfectly happy to be a handmaiden to the Real Writers.

It took almost 18 years to disabuse them of this misunderstanding. And a lot more writing. At first I would finish a book, send it out, and wait. Bad idea! I wasted =years= waiting. By the time Trash Sex Magic sold and after the all-wise eluki bes shahar had put my feet on the path to the Pink Side of the Force, I had written 10 books--six of them within three years. =That's= the kind of productivity that teaches you better craft and gets you published.

After that, I knew so many hotshots, it was no trouble to find people who would willingly read my book. Though the one I'm proudest of is Audrey Niffenegger's quote, because she didn't know me from Eve and she still read it!

[QUOTE] I have to say I'll really keep an eye on anything else you write (though I'm not sure romantic comedy is up my alley :eek: )

Not to worry. My next 2 books will be a new sexy fantasy series about a con artist, a reluctant incubus, and a woman who investigates fraud for the Chicago Dept of Consumer Services. Sort of cross between Laurell Hamilton and Janet Evanovich, but much less gore and way more sex. Del Rey, no sooner than November 2006.

Don't ask me why all my sold MSS so far are about sex. It just happened.

Pardon my emoticon impairment. I don't do this online BBS stuff much. GEnie was my spiritual home.

[JenStevenson]

Boy, I really messed up the format on that post. Sorry. Will get the hang of it.

[Erfael]

Boy, I really messed up the format on that post. Sorry. Will get the hang of it.


Boy, you sure did. What a mess..... ;) I would fix it but I don't have one of those nifty magic wands...

Help....Mods.....anyone.....???........

[intensityxx]

Jennifer,
So what IS your background? I checked out your website (a little) but didn't see too much on your background as a writer and such. Looking on the "books" page, it seems that you've done some essays (even on one of my favorites, John Crowley), some short work, and are now breaking into the longer form, but you've got some pretty well-known names in your acknowledgements page and providing blurbs on a smaller press book. So do, do tell...Erfael, are you asking how I got all those cool people to read my book?

Well, I've been around the SF world a long time. Was running SF cons back in the 80s and early 90s, under the mistaken impression that "it's who you know" would help me get published. Wrong! What helps you get published is writing and writing and writing and writing.... Besides, most of those contacts I made assumed I was one of those science fiction fan-girls who is a lifelong hanger-on, perfectly happy to be a handmaiden to the Real Writers.

It took almost 18 years to disabuse them of this misunderstanding. And a lot more writing. At first I would finish a book, send it out, and wait. Bad idea! I wasted =years= waiting. By the time Trash Sex Magic sold and after the all-wise eluki bes shahar had put my feet on the path to the Pink Side of the Force, I had written 10 books--six of them within three years. =That's= the kind of productivity that teaches you better craft and gets you published.

After that, I knew so many hotshots, it was no trouble to find people who would willingly read my book. Though the one I'm proudest of is Audrey Niffenegger's quote, because she didn't know me from Eve and she still read it!
I have to say I'll really keep an eye on anything else you write (though I'm not sure romantic comedy is up my alley :eek: )Not to worry. My next 2 books will be a new sexy fantasy series about a con artist, a reluctant incubus, and a woman who investigates fraud for the Chicago Dept of Consumer Services. Sort of cross between Laurell Hamilton and Janet Evanovich, but much less gore and way more sex. Del Rey, no sooner than November 2006.

Don't ask me why all my sold MSS so far are about sex. It just happened.

Pardon my emoticon impairment. I don't do this online BBS stuff much. GEnie was my spiritual home.
Don't worry about the formatting - we all get the gist. Thanks for sharing your own story, it's really interesting, and a shame that you feel so many years were wasted. The Pink Side of the Force....hmmm, I like that. Having been embarrassed in the past to read Pink, I've been dipping into it a bit lately and really am enjoying it. Having seen what you can do in Trash, I look forward to the lighter fare you describe, as well as the more mythic/literary work you might write in the future. Wait...sexier than Laurell Hamilton?! :eek: I think this goes beyond Pink and definitely into the Shocking Pink zone. Magenta?

[FicusFan]

So Jen, do you think that what happened to Alexander is a good thing ? and that his Grandmother had his best interests in mind sending him north or was she trying to serve another master (the magic, fate). I know we have had this duscussion before, but Alexander's fate really sticks with me.

You also mentioned at some time in the past that you thought this was a love story - I think between Alexander and Rae. They don't seem put off by the change - but to me it is shades of Kafka and the cockroach and I think they love each other, and the land, but I can't see it as a specific love story between 2 people. More like a tragedy where the king for the year has to die to restore the fertility of the land (ala Greeks).

I guess I am too literal or too limited.

[JenStevenson]

intensityxx--I should post some of the Brass Bed story on my website. Then you can get a taste of it. I'm overdue to update the sucker. I'll try to make sure the sexy bit is a "click here for the sexy bit" so that it's labelled for the Church Lady's smut filters. I don't agree with their approach to childrearing, but I agree that they have a right to have their own approach.

FicusFan, you ask,
>>So Jen, do you think that what happened to Alexander is a good thing ? and that his Grandmother had his best interests in mind sending him north or was she trying to serve another master (the magic, fate).<<

Well, I tried not to pass judgment too loudly in this book. Of course I have my own opinions.

Alexander's Granmere was fiercely ambitious for her kids, and would push them as far as they could go because she saw no point in them achieving less than was possible.

Me, I think everybody in the story got kind of a raw deal, measuring their fates strictly on a consensuality scale. But one of the things I have to say about sex is similar to what John Crowley says about love, to wit, and these are my words, You don't have nuffink to say about it. You fall in love, and love disposes. You fall in lust and it's the same thing.

Sex is so gosh darned powerful that most people can't take it straight--they have to water it down with emotions, color it with mushiness or anger. They may surrender to it but first they label it: It's holy so I surrender to it. Or, It's dangerous so I try to control it with violence.

I knew a girl in college who had an endless series of troubled relationships that always began the same way. She would date a guy, and because she was a healthy girl she'd go to bed with him and have a grand time. In the morning, however, remorse set in. 'I had sex with him and it was great! What does that mean? Am I a slut?' 'Well, I can't be a slut, I know I'm not, so I guess I must be in love with him so it's okay.' 'Wait, if I'm in love with him, he must be in love with me, so it's okay.' 'Hey, if he's in love with me, he must want to marry me, right?' And when they met again, she would demand to see the ring. Trouble.

I'm ranting a bit. But this is the kind of thing I was thinking of when I wrote about these hapless bastards and their adventures in the maelstrom of my story.

[JenStevenson]

>>You also mentioned at some time in the past that you thought this was a love story - I think between Alexander and Rae. They don't seem put off by the change - but to me it is shades of Kafka and the cockroach and I think they love each other, and the land, but I can't see it as a specific love story between 2 people. More like a tragedy where the king for the year has to die to restore the fertility of the land (ala Greeks).<<

FicusFan, they're in love in the very first stages of love, the 'I just met somebody who really attracts me, who has the best chemistry, who appeals to me, and I wish I knew him/her better' phase. They don't get to explore it any farther than that before the you-know-what hits the fan and the book ends. The rest of their love story really happens after the book ends, while she teaches him his job and he gets used to his new form and his new powers. Love in this story, I'm afraid, is just bait to get the poor things trapped in the situation so they can't escape.

We writers are mean.

[JenStevenson]

Quoting intensityxx
<<Wait...sexier than Laurell Hamilton?! I think this goes beyond Pink and definitely into the Shocking Pink zone. Magenta?>>

Certainly hot, hot, hot pink. Hamilton does it with dead guys. There are no dead guys in my books. (Well, not so far. They may have sex, but BEFORE they're dead.) Her writing grips me, compels me, and gives me nightmares. I'm shooting for a different kind of dream. ;)

The new books are about Jewel, a fraud investigator for the Chicago dept of Consumer Services. Her best friend is also her boss's wife. So when the boss tells her, "Spy on my wife, I think she's having an affair," it's a problem. She finds her friend is popping $350 a shot on "sex therapy" sessions with this con artist named Clay, who's so smooth he makes Jewel grind her teeth. And Clay offers "treatments" on an antique brass bed that happens (tho Clay doesn't know it) to be possessed by an incubus.

The incubus is what sold the story idea for me. Because he used to be an ordinary, rather boorish young Regency lord. Then he annoyed his mistress in two ways: he was lousy in bed and he told her women don't need to enjoy sex anyway, they're all after money or your title or social position or children or something, certainly not sex. The mistress was a magician, and she Got Even.

The mistress's curse was, "You have to stay in the bed until you satisfy one hundred women."

Two hundred years later, Jewel is the hundredth woman.

Long, long, long winded posts. that's me.

[FicusFan]

The new story/series sounds interesting. I will definitely pick it up when it comes out.

The sex in LKH is boring. AB has accidental sex 20 times, with total strangers, just crossing from one side of the the room to the other. What LKH doesn't quite get is that when it is with total strangers, and wall to wall the allure and the excitement goes out of it and it is like assembling cheap, mass-produced furniture (slot A and Tab B).

The first 3 chapters of the next book are up on her site, and AB is dealing with a pregnancy scare -- and trying to figure which of the six men she regularly sleeps with is the father. Only six men is a light month for her. :rolleyes: Forget any hope of a mystery or conflict with bad guys, it seems to be back to personal problem hell for book 13. :mad: