Selected a “Best Buzz Book” by PublishersLunch for Spring/Summer 2014, Isla Morley’s Above tells the story of a 16-year-old girl abducted and locked in an abandoned missile silo by a survivalist convinced the world is going to end. Booklist calls it, “[A] menacingly sinister tale of imprisonment… that will appeal to fans of riveting psychological suspense and cut-throat dystopian fiction.” The Boston Globe hails, “A compelling tale of survival, reinvention, and hope… Vivid and poignant.” “[An] audacious page-turner,” declares Publishers Weekly. And from Sara Gruen (Water for Elephants): “Grips your heart from the first page and doesn’t let go… A novel to savor.” Isla will join us as a Special Guest Speaker in Newport Beach to discuss her latest novel, and whatever the hell else she wants to.
Our second Special Guest Speaker to be announced is none other than Tonilyn Hornung, winner of the SCWC*LA8 Outstanding Non-Fiction Award for the manuscript that became her breakout success, released just this month, How to Raise a Husband: A Whole Bunch of Ways to Build a Strong and Happy Marriage. A prolific essayist and blogger, Tonilyn’s inventive discoverability campaign supporting the title’s release includes a series of fun trailers, which everybody should share. Welcome back, Tonilyn!
Boffo Good “Muse” Abounds for SCWCers
Since reporting so many SCWCers with titles due out in our February 26 update several more have dropped or are about to. Among them, Jeremy Lee James has released the first installment of his Nephilim Chronicles, I, Jequon, a taught thriller chronicling a half-angel, half-human’s fight to prevent a modern day “Holycaust” being waged against his noble people by an ancient religious cult… On the epic Armageddon front, Christopher P. Simmons delivers a sprawling, fresh take on the End Times prophecy, Judas Christ: Immaculate Inception. In it, following his betrayal, Jesus’ most infamous apostle prays for a second chance and is given it–some 2000 years later.
Fantasy folk can regale in Dot Caffrey’s Awakening Powers: Book One in the Trilogy of Power. Of it, multiple award-winning author and longtime SCWC workshop leader Laura Taylor lauds, “Readers will delight in the characters, both good and evil, and the world-building skills of the author… A 5-star achievement”… An equally delightful urban fantasy, Janet Tait’s Cast into Darkness is also just out. Mixing magic, megalomania and mystical intrigue to provide yet another fun foray in yet another far-spun otherworld, it marks the debut of her projected Kate Hamilton series.
And for both the young ‘uns and our elders, we got two new titles to glean: First up is from that unstoppable force of nature, Sheri Fink. The fifth of her “Whimsical World” of cherished children’s titles, The Little Seahorse also marks her 5th No. 1 best-selling debut… And from conferee Lynne Martin, whose travel memoir Home Sweet Anywhere: How We Sold Our House, Created a New Life, and Saw the World sprouted at SD27, the book is now out to wide acclaim, even landing her only this past week a guest appearance on CBS’ “The Morning Show.”
Congratulations and best of success to all our SCWC community authors!
Settle Only for Exceptional
As we now begin finalizing the itinerary for LA12 and which legitimate, genuinely knowledgeable authors, agents, editors and other pivotal publishing professionals will be joining us in September, much focus is being drawn from our new Sunriver Writers’ Summit intensives in Central Oregon. Strictly limited in size and planned to take place twice a year—one in the spring, one in the fall—the Summit grew out of what many of us behind the SCWC have come to believe: Too many writers remain too un-prepared for today’s industry reality. Because of that, they’re often bilked by publishing predators and punksters, or writer events that unapologetically ally themselves with entities whose mission is solely to profit from doing so.
Writers must break the cycle of rejection, whether it be from agents, publishers or, most importantly, book buying readers. With the ease of publication what it is today, far too many writers are giving up on the traditional path to publication altogether and simply skipping straight to self-publication. Not necessarily a bad thing, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should. The overwhelming majority of titles—especially those that are self-published—fail to find a readership for a reason: they’re not ready for public consumption.
Craft matters, today perhaps even more than ever in the past. Aspiring for mediocrity does not a good writer make. And good writing doesn’t necessarily equate to good storytelling. A good writer understands this. A good, commercial writer respects the expectations of her reader, aims for awe and settles only for exceptional in each and every step of the book production process. Unfortunately, most writers don’t discover their work is far from good enough until it’s been rejected by agents and editors. Or worse, after their book’s been self-published and too late.
We need to address that. And, as usual, we will again tailor an SCWC that uniquely guides you along the right path to publication success on your terms.
In the meantime, as requested, we’ve begun posting extended audio podcasts of some of our Special Guest Speakers’ talks from the archives. There’s a lot, but only a few are up and running at the moment. You can find them at Voqel.com/SoCalWriters.
—Michael Steven Gregory
Executive Director, SCWC
