March 2024 Summary
Jennifer Brozek
Hello everyone, Shadow Minion here. This is going to be the last RoundUp from me. Life has gotten very busy and after 10 years I am stepping down as Jennifer's personal assistant. I am turning the reins over to the Glitter Minion. I am sure she will do a great job. (Jenn’s note: I am very sad about this, but I do understand how life changes. I have appreciated Sarah’s work for over 10 years.)
Now that the hard part is over, Jennifer is knocking it out of the park. She's got a great Kickstarter going (if you haven't backed it yet go do it now). There are several Shadowrun novels coming out in the next year, and a pile of other surprises. And none of this would be possible without the assistance of the fans that Jennifer has. Thank you for buying her books, supporting her in her endeavors, and boosting the signal. It is always appreciated.
Always feel free to buy Jennifer a coffee, she literally runs on coffee. You can show her some support by buying her a coffee! Pick up the latest anthologies, Shadowrun books, or dig into some of her great re-releases.
What's up from Jennifer:
It’s Alive! “Dear Penpal, Belgium 1980” is alive and kicking and 63% funded. I am so pleased about this. There’s so much there for you. Beyond the cozy ghost story and zoom calls, you can get a peek into my history through playlists, family “show and tell”s and family recipes. I will be talking more about the packages later in the month.
Also, this month, there will be weekly updates due to the kickstarter. Then we will go back to our usual once a month schedule. In the meantime, if you want to catch me live…
I will be featured Catalyst Game Labs YouTube on Tuesday News Day at 1pm Pacific on April 2: https://www.youtube.com/@catalyst-game-labs
I will also be interviewed on GenConTV’s Twitch channel for Rules of Cool at 4pm Pacific on April 4: https://www.twitch.tv/gencontv
Publishing Tip of the Month:
This month’s writing tip is all about how to write faster and more effectively. Basically, it is the Pomodoro Technique. The short and long of it is that you work for 25 minutes, focused, then you take a 5 minute break.
How I’ve been doing it is with co-writing so it feels more social, more organic, and less like a chore. I spend a lot of time on Cat Rambo’s Feral Co-Working sessions. We write for 30 minutes (or work) and then we check in with each other. It doesn’t really matter what we do during that 30 minutes as long as we work. And if we find ourselves on social media, we also admit that, too. No shame. No blame. Admit it, move on, work to do better in the next cycle.
These co-working sessions were instrumental in helping me focus enough to finish my last two novels. There is something about the co-working aspect combined with the pomodoro technique that hits me in the right/write spot. Try it out on your own or co-work with a friend in person or online.
Conventions/Classes
Conventions/Events
2024
Crypticon (May) - At the HWA Seattle Chapter table
Signing at Totem Lake Barnes and Noble (May)
Origins Game Fair (June) - Authors Alcove, Panels
Gen Con (August) - Writers Symposium, Workshops
Can-Con (November) - Editor GoH
Classes
Jennifer and the Cat Rambo Academy for Wayward Writer Classes.
You can find all the information from this one link. Spots and scholarships are available.
http://www.kittywumpus.net/blog/faculty-jennifer-brozek/
Bubble & Squeek
Pre-order for Shadowrun: The Mosaic Run Auditions is live! I’m so happy with this book! Shadowrun: The Mosaic Run Auditions
“Dear Penpal, Belgium 1980” has launched
Tell Me: Xan van Rooyen
Kickstarter shout out: Legacy Born Series Special Deluxe Editions. Two USA Bestselling authors bringing you a very special deluxe edition of the first two books in their fantasy fae romance series.
Kickstarter shout out: The Tabletop Math Games Collection: 80+ Ways to Play Math. Who knew math could be so much fun?
Recent Releases
99 Fleeting Fantasies Anthology
EVEN A DREAM CAN BE CAUGHT IN PROSE…
There’s nothing better than a moment of whimsy and a dash of the fantastical to get the mind wandering. 99 Fleeting Fantasies is a flash fiction anthology readers can tiptoe through for a bit of wonder or while away an afternoon as they meander from old-time tales to far-flung fables to serious snippets of legend and lore that come from all over the world, including Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, and the United States. Featuring stories from the imaginative minds of Cat Rambo, Charles Stross, Crystal Frasier, Jody Lynn Nye, Jonathan Maberry, Premee Mohamed, Seanan McGuire, Wole Talabi, and many more!
Shadowrun: The Mosaic Run Auditions
FOUR SECRET AUDITIONS…
Fixer BlotterBabe must have exactly the right actors for a production that requires very specialized talent. The actors must not only be skilled, they need to have the right attitude and an ability to adapt to extraordinary circumstances.
A Kiss to Die For: Kintsugi and Sartorial choose love over duty, but their respective families will do everything in their considerable power to stop them from being together.
See How She Runs: Terrapin witnesses a murder and is handed a package destined for some important and lethal people. Now she is running for her life.
Unrepairable: Landon and Liana love vexing megacorps for fun and profit with their Matrix show. Unfortunately, the megacorps always play dirty, and will do whatever’s required to shut them down for good.
The Kilimanjaro Run: Charlotte, Neema, and Elijah embark on an unexpected adventure that turns into a nightmare when they discover nothing is what it seems. They are left with no choice at all when choosing between the abhorrent and the right thing to do.
FOR THE MOST DANGEROUS RUN OF ALL…
Having auditioned thousands, BlotterBabe is out of time. It’s come down to these few teenagers. Either they will save the day or lose it all…
The Reinvented Detective Anthology
The evolution of crime, punishment, and justice in the future.
What happens when time and technology change the definition of crime and punishment? Science fiction often focuses on future technology without considering the society housing it. Social norms may change as tech changes — or not. What will criminals, investigators, judges, and juries look like in a complicated future of clones, uploaded intelligences, artificial brains, or body augmentation? What stories emerge when we acknowledge the possibilities of new laws, new police methods, and the birth of sentient Artificial Intelligence, as well as all the ways they can clash or combine?
Edited by Cat Rambo and Jennifer Brozek.
The Many Deaths of Jennifer Brozek
An author can live a thousand lives through her work.
She can die a thousand deaths, too.
From 2014 to 2015, Jennifer Brozek wrote an “Author Story Card” for every convention she went to. On one side would be a piece of flash fiction: The Many Deaths of Jennifer Brozek: [Convention Name Year]. On the other side was a list of her currently available books and a QR code on where to find them. They were free for the taking and were a huge hit.
(A fact that still occasionally disturbs the author.)
With this edition, all of the convention story cards have been gathered up into a single collection, for the first time in ebook format. It debuted in the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium limited-edition ebook bundle to benefit Symposium writers and programs. Now it is available for you to enjoy.
Also included is Jennifer Brozek’s chapbook, Mastication. A chapbook created for Gen Con 2009 in an act born from desperation and a lack of experience because none of her books arrived in time to be sold at the convention.
Never Let Me Omnibus, the Melissa Allen trilogy (re-release)
Never Let Me Sleep. What would you do if you discovered that everyone, in your house, on your street and in your town was dead? Then you discovered you weren’t alone–and whatever was out there was hunting you? Melissa Allen knows. With only a voice on the phone to help her, Melissa must find out what happened, stop it from happening again, and do it before the monsters get her. And that’s just the beginning of her story. Finalist for the Bram Stoker award. This special edition features all three books in Jennifer Brozek’s Melissa Allen series: Never Let Me Sleep, Never Let Me Leave, Never Let Me Die as well as the bonus short story, “Never Let Me Feel.”
Written by the Shadow Minion.
Edited and approved by Jennifer.
Thank you for reading.