Category:

RECOMPOSE and "Triple Threat"

9/29/2016

I'm pleased to announce my flash fiction story "Triple Threat" is now available in Recompose Magazine, Issue #2.

About the story:

Tammy's the odd girl out, the fraternal triplet to identical twins. They think they're smarter and prettier than her. They call her "retard" sometimes when they think-talk. They don't know she's been able to hear them all these years, and she's a lot smarter and far less innocent than either realizes....

About the publisher:

Alliteration Ink has a reputation for publishing stories that break boundaries and push the imagination—stories that take chances. This project not only pursues two passions of the publisher—a new appreciation of poetry and a deep love of transgressive short fiction—but also provides an opportunity to pay authors and poets professional rates for their work.

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Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone

6/11/2016

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I know I've said this a few times before, but the book I'm currently writing is different from nearly everything else I've ever written, containing all sorts of elements that fit together in unexpectedly cool ways. I really had to dig deep at first, many of the elements stretching beyond my literary comfort zone. I often take on projects that are far stretches from my previous ones. I know following one particular formula over and over works for many successful writers, but I guess my writing is too untamed for that. The type of fusion I write, a mash-up of science fiction, horror, and in the case of my current WIP, dark fantasy, challenges the lines that divide the speculative fiction spectrum.

The way I see it, if it's not a challenge, why write it? I want to push myself, see how far I'm able to go while still being true to myself. I want to learn. I want to spin words in a way that will take my readers on journeys no one else could possibly take them on. I don't think I'll ever get there if I don't push the next limit every time I get a chance.

The ideas I've explored for my different books have been so random, taking on different subgenres and elements with each one, I haven't had a problem matching the right elements with the right books. My most recent challenge, cyberpunk, has proven an intense new vehicle for world building, plot, and characterization. It's also been a joy (and a total pain in the ass) to write.

I do sometimes write escapist works, although it's important to me that there's more than just entertainment value to what I write. As much as I feel driven to challenge myself, I feel that drive to challenge my readers as well. Literature is such a rich venue, so versatile, but also easy to abuse. I find myself far too often in the midst of a story, thinking, How can I add symbolism to John Doe's death and also really make it a tearjerker? What can I do with this that is meaningful to me and might be meaningful to other people? How can I haunt their thoughts long after they've finished my book?

I've really found myself fascinated with some of the subgenres I've read very little of, such as cyberpunk and bizarro, and I've been super excited to see how those subgenres have cropped up. I don't read much romance these days, and yet I'm finding strong romantic elements slipping into this book. The muses have found a way to fold all those different elements in surprising ways.

For the first time in my life, however, if someone were to ask me, "What's your book about," I would have no idea what to say. I asked my husband, who's been a first reader, if he could think of a three-sentence description for this book, and he said he could not, but that "the story just somehow works."

I have an even greater challenge ahead of me. I'm about 15,000-20,000 words from the book's climax, which I already know is going to take a lot of thought, time, and coffee. Juggling all of the story's elements in a way that will feel genuine will not be easy, but I'm excited to take on the challenge. There's something satisfying about taking on something you know will be difficult and seeing it through to a successful end. Wish me luck on this one; I'm going to need the help of the muses if my novel isn't going to build all this way just to do a belly flop at the end.

P.S.: I'll let you know when I finally figure out how to describe my book. Until next time....

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A Privatized World

4/8/2016

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Your house has caught fire. You and your family are able to escape intact, but you hadn't been able to afford fire insurance (or, perhaps, even just the deductible for the fire truck's arrival), so all you can do now is stand outside and watch the place--everything you own, everything you've built for yourself--burn to the ground. No one is coming to help you salvage what remains.

But you will be turned into an example, a selling point for all those like you who are currently uninsured or too poor to pay the extra when their times of need actually come.

Your neighbor's home was just broken into, the woman you've known for years brutally murdered. The motive is suspiciously unclear. Her police insurance--also your police insurance--carrier's rival company sends a representative to your door, letting you know how unsuccessful your current provider was in keeping this woman safe, making promises that only end up coming across as threats--will you be next? You know at this point that the break-in was staged by none other than the rival insurance company. Business has been slow, and they're looking to scare a few people into switching over to their company.

Outbreaks of deadly, antibiotic-resistance diseases have been reported in all of the less expensive elementary schools--which are ridiculously pricey in their own right. Your son will be attending kindergarten this year, and you can't afford any of the higher-priced schools. Do you take a chance on the only school you can afford, knowing you might be putting your child in mortal danger?

What choice do you have? All of these services have become fully privatized, and there are no programs to help offset the costs. Either you have the money or you don't.

And if you go into criminal debt over any of these costs, you will suffer the consequences: a debtors prison sentence to work off what you owe. You'll probably lose your job while you're away, which means you'll probably also lose your home. It's against the law to be homeless, though--against the law to be a non-contributing member of society. Against the law to be in need. So, of course, back to prison you'll probably go.

There's been a lot of buzz lately about privatization versus socialism. Both have their merits and flaws, but rhetoric has trumped the realities behind both. Privatization means increased corporate power. If you have a decent amount of capital to your name, this absolutely works in your favor. Social democracy means higher taxes but more money put into social services (such as those I described above). If you belong to the middle or lower classes, your survival depends on many of these services remaining in the public sector.

With the upcoming election drawing ever nearer, these are issues we need to have some serious dialogues about. We cannot ignore their importance. So let's bring up these issues to friends, family, and peers. Let's argue the pros and cons. Let's think about what's important to us as a nation and take a stance. Let's do it without resorting to low blows, name calling, or rhetorical memes. Let's discuss these important issues like adults, and if need be, let's talk about what changes need to be made to our system.

Then, let's work together to fight for those changes.

I wrote The Private Sector as my way of contributing to the dialogue. It's the perfect conversation starter. Read it. Share it with your friends and family. Talk about the issues and how they relate to the current state of the nation. It is our responsibility as Americans to be involved in the directions our country takes. Let's be involved together.

Let's think. Let's talk. Let's bring the American dream back within the reach of all its citizens. We can make a difference. You can make a difference.

The Private Sector is currently available on Kindle here.
Click here for Paperback.

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New Novella Series: JANE THE HIPPIE VAMPIRE

6/16/2014

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I'm happy to announce the first installment of my urban fantasy horror novella series, Jane the Hippie Vampire. Jane's a little different than much of my other writing, which tends to be more literary and sociological. She's a bit more down to earth--at least as down to earth as a burned out hippie can be. Thematically, she's a cross between the '90s Canadian cult series Forever Knight and the '70s hit television show Kung Fu. While Jane's no Nick Knight or Kwai Chank Caine, her quest is reminiscent of both.

About Jane the Hippie Vampire: Love Beads

She's broke and homeless. She's a vegetarian. She's undead.

Jane has had one hell of a time ever since she bumped into the wrong guy during the Summer of Love, but she's taken it all in stride. Wandering from town to town, she seeks out the needy and the broken in hopes of breaking the curse that's left her bloodthirsty and forever seventeen.

In Love Beads, Jane crosses paths with a middle-aged man who's encountered her kind before--but he seems happy just to have the company. Of course, appearances can be deceiving, and his secret might just prove to be the end of her.

Right now, you can get this first episode for .99 on Kindle.

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Building a Novel

12/22/2013

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I finally wrote those two magic words on the bottom line of my most recent novel: THE END. Although the 60,741-word manuscript took me less than two months to draft and I’d already gone through the blissful hell of writing thirteen previous novels, I’m basking in the relief. Finally, the entire story is out of my head and on the page!

I’m not really sure if those who’ve never written a novel can understand how important—how calming—this sense of relief is, so I’d like to share a little about the process.

What drives you to write?
If you're not a writer, have you ever felt
the desire to write a book?
What's stopping you?

Step One: The idea

Either it begins with a “What if?” or a mental image, perhaps a character or a particular theme, but no matter where that first spark comes from, the seeds have been planted. They begin to germinate. What was once a vague thought becomes a limited series of events. Scenes begin to manifest. Characters become more defined. A story slowly begins to form.

Step Two: Development

Some writers skip this step, but it’s an important one for me. This is the time when all those bits of characterization, short scenes, and general ideas first find their way onto the page. For me, it begins as 1) detailed character sketches, a different page for each main character that identifies name, age, sex, occupation, likes/dislikes, recreational activities, social status, personal quirks, and 2) an initial outline of the main plot points that have been haunting me for the past days, weeks, or months. The outline is not detailed, and sometimes it lacks a specific beginning, middle, and end.

Step Three: Page One

No matter how many times I’ve done it in the past, every time I sit down in front of that blank first page, I find myself riddled with reservation, hesitance, and excitement. How will my opening sentence define the rest of this book? Am I approaching it from the appropriate starting point? Do I have it in me to pursue this story to the end (which at this point seems so far away)? Those first words eventually come, however, and page one soon gives way to page two.

My latest novel is a sequel
to my dystopia World-Mart.

Step Four: The Next 200+ Pages

Here is where the story must unfold, beginning with a solid foundation and continuing with one layer after the next of structure that must build upon itself. Move too slowly, and the story will stagnate and die; move too quickly, and all I’ll have is a skeleton that may or may not be worth fleshing out. The task feels daunting, moving forward each day with just a little more to show for it. Think of it as tantamount to taking on a mission to build a skyscraper, one brick at a time. At the end of each day, I’ve raised the walls a little higher, and yet the top of that massive building is still so far out of reach that it feels like I’ll never get there—and yet the drive to continue is so overwhelming that I have no choice but to continue.

Step Five: Getting to the End

I’ve developed my ideas, laid the foundation, and finished building the walls. Now all that’s left is the roof. I still need to take my time to make sure what I leave behind is solid, but I’m tired. Images of the finished product have been bouncing through my head like a bucketful of super-balls from hell, and I long for nothing more than to release every last one of them so finally I can rest. So what do I do? I work on that roof nearly day and night, forgetting to eat, foregoing that much-needed shower, setting aside physical health by persevering like a little Energizer bunny until I feel like I might just die. I must finish; at all costs, I must finish.

And then comes that moment that had felt so far away for so long, those final two words: THE END. Now I can relax; I’ve thwarted the insanity once again by emptying my head of all those maddening super-balls that were assaulting my hapless brain. What sweet relief! I walk away from the computer, take a shower. I throw myself into that special circle of hell by editing the damn thing—but it’s okay because my mind once again belongs to me. I’m free.

And then, sooner than I’d like, a new idea hits me, begins to consume my every thought, and I begin the process all over again. As the great Kurt Vonnegut used to say, “So it goes.”

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5 Things I’ve Learned in the Past 5 Years

8/1/2013

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When I received my first publishing contract in 2008, I felt as though I’d found a golden ticket. I wasn’t just a writer anymore; I’d graduated to the elite club of authors. Back then, I would have signed just about anything to see my name in print, an all-too-common story among newbies. I didn’t know any better, and I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. I assembled a blog, made connections, and felt a sense of loyalty to the publisher, which prompted me to publish my next several more works exclusively through that company.

Since that first contract, I’ve learned quite few useful tidbits about wading through the ever-growing sea of publishing. Who’d have thought there was a learning curve to being an author? Most everyone learns a little more about the craft of writing with each successive work; what I hadn’t anticipated was what I’d learn about the craft of being an author. Much of the following will seem like no-brainers to those who've been at this for a while, but for the rest of you, here are some of the gems I had to learn the hard way:

Do you know what rights you're
signing away? Make sure you do.

1. Understand every clause in your contract before you sign it. If you don’t understand something, hire a lawyer or someone equally qualified to explain it to you. Know what rights you’re signing away and make sure you have a closed-ended timeframe to the publisher’s stake. Similarly, make sure there is a clause that explains in no uncertain terms how you can reclaim the rights to your work(s)—and “out of circulation” clauses don’t count; a publisher can claim your book is in circulation because a single, used copy is floating around on Amazon. If you don’t cover these two bases, the publisher can hold your work indefinitely.

2. Don’t agree to major changes you feel uncomfortable making. 9 times out of 10, the editor is going to be right. S/he likely has much more experience in the business than you and, therefore, has a better understanding of what works and what doesn’t. With that said, editors are sometimes wrong. I once agreed to a change I didn’t want to make, fearful that the publisher might drop me if I didn’t acquiesce to its every whim (stupid, stupid), and the negative reviews for that story ended up highlighting that one aspect I hadn’t wanted to add. The moral of the story: if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it—even if it means losing a contract. You’ll regret it later if you go ahead against your gut.

3. Don’t spread yourself too thin. While promo is a necessary evil, don’t join every social networking site you can find or you’ll end up accomplishing nothing. A big part of social networking is making meaningful connections. If you try to be everywhere at once, you’ll find yourself nowhere. Few of us find that perfect balance between connecting with readers and pimping our books. I’m still working on that one myself, but I’ve met some really neat people in the process.

4. The tighter and more grammatically correct your story is, the less opportunity you give editors to change your hard-crafted prose. This is one I grew to learn after that fateful change I relayed in #2. I knew my writing back then wasn’t a contender for the Great American Novel award. I also knew my grammar was good but not stellar. I went back to school and significantly improved both. I (and the editors I’ve worked with) have been much happier ever since.

Just in five years, the difference in my
writing is like night and day. This is the
first novel in my erotic horror series.

My publisher wanted to turn it into a
romance, which might not have been
the best idea. It has a good story line,
but it also has its flaws.

5. Write what you feel passionate about, not what you think will sell. I got my first break in erotic romance. I’d been following the blog of a literary agent I thought might someday be interested in me, and when she advertised a call for erotic short stories, I jumped at the chance to show her what I could do. I had no experience in romance, but I’d heard there was money in it. Seemed like a win-win situation to me. Unfortunately, I’m more of a literary/speculative/horror girl, and I found myself writing in a genre I wouldn’t normally read. I ended up with a nice list of publishing credits under my belt, even a book sold on the Home Shopping Network, but nothing I could use to sell myself in the genres I actually wanted to write.

Bottom line: don’t worry about the bottom line, at least not yet. Be true to yourself. Network with people you’d want to hang out with, if given the chance, outside the Internet. Steer clear of editors and potential peers who would see you as nothing more than a means to their own end. Write what you’d want to read. If you don’t, you’ll only end up wasting your time and energy forever chasing that golden ticket.

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Attention Nook Readers!

6/22/2013

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Cerebral Books's exclusive contract with Amazon has ended, and I'm very happy to announce Myths of Gods and World-Mart are now available on Nook, with Finding Poe set to join them soon. While they're still available on Kindle (direct links on the sidebar to the right), they are no longer available for free at Amazon's lending library. It's a tough trade-off, but one that enables broader availability among e-readers.

Get Myths of Gods on Nook here. Get World-Mart on Nook here.

I hope you enjoy them--and if you do, please make sure to leave a review!

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Pandemics, Predictive Sci-Fi, and WORLD-MART

3/6/2013

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Many times over, science fiction has predicted future issues, innovations, and inventions. The microwave, the satellite dish, robots, hand-held computers, and weapons of mass destruction all existed in science fiction before they became pieces of modern reality. Many of these predictions have been lucky guesses, while others have emerged from precise meshes of inspiration, scientific backgrounds, and creativity.

Recently, healthcare officials have begun to give increasing attention to the growing issue of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Up until this last year, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) was the big threat. MRSA causes painful boils and can causes sepsis and disease in vital organs, and it’s very difficult to treat. Now, a bacterium named Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) has created a threat that makes MRSA look rather innocuous. CRE is not only highly contagious and resistant to every antibiotic on the market—but it has the ability to trade DNA with other bacteria to make them equally antibiotic resistant. Hypothetically, they could be responsible for future drug resistance in every known species of bacteria, and the implications are terrifying.

Eli Perencevich, an infectious-disease doctor and professor working at the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine told USA Today, "We're entering the post-antibiotic era; that's a very big problem."

In my dystopia, World-Mart, antibiotic resistant disease has ravaged the population to the point where antibiotics have become outlawed and those found to carry previously treatable diseases such as Staph and Strep are euthanized to prevent further pandemics. While this is only a part of the story’s B-plot, I found myself dumbstruck at the possibility of currently treatable diseases becoming the scourge they had become in World-Mart. I must also question whether researchers will turn to germ-line therapy in an attempt to create future generations that are more disease resistant. Could the genetically engineered “deviants” of World-Mart also become a reality of the near future?

I’ll admit without any reservations that I wrote World-Mart as a warning of the possible future in store should we allow corporations to expand and render small, privately owned businesses obsolete. It is a future I hope will not come to pass, as fearful as I am that the potential is there. I also saw and wrote about the growing threat of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the possible worldwide threats various diseases, if rendered untreatable, might pose. I pray neither occurs to the extent I envisioned in my fiction, although the chances are looking increasingly likely.

What do you think about these latest bacterial outbreaks? What do you think we can do to reduce their threat? In light of current events, do you personally view World-Mart an even more terrifying look into the future, or do you think most of the novel will remain strictly science fiction?

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FINDING POE is Getting a Brand New Look!

1/28/2013

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As many of you know, I celebrated a birthday recently, and to treat myself, I decided to hire a professional cover artist to give my Gothic horror Finding Poe a great new look. I also revised the story description, which will appear both on the cover and on Amazon. So, compare the old . . .

Follow the final days before Edgar Allan Poe's mysterious death, journeying through twisted bits and pieces of his musings, both brilliant and mad, in search of the truth behind his final, unfinished work, "The Lighthouse," whole unraveling the mystery behind the elusive woman desperately seeking the author for answers behind her husband's haunted death.

"Atmospheric, lush, and lyrical, Leigh M. Lane's Finding Poe is a haunting Gothic novel which will delight anyone familiar with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, as well as anyone who enjoys an evocative and classic tale of terror." -horror/mystery author Dana Fredsti.

. . . with the new:

In the wake of her husband's haunted death, one woman must sift through the cryptic clues left behind in order to solve the mystery behind his suicide—all of which point back to the elusive author, Edgar Allan Poe. She soon finds that reality and nightmare have become fused onto one as she journeys from a haunted lighthouse in New England to Baltimore, where the only man who might know the answers to her many questions resides.

But will she find her answers before insanity rips her grip on reality for good? Might a man she's never met hold the only key to a truth more shocking than even she could have imagined?

As far as I'm concerned, there's no comparison. I would like to give special thanks to Michael Ezaky for working with me (very patiently, I must add) to get this cover just right.

You can view Michael Ezaky's art at http://ezakytheartist.deviantart.com, and you can contact him about cover art at Chaoticfantasy.com. He's also on Facebook. I can say with the utmost of confidence that Mr. Ezaky is very professional, very reasonable in price, and will not stop working until you have the perfect cover art for your work.

I'm so excited to be unveiling this new cover to the rest of the world within the next few days, but I thought I'd give you all a sneak-peek. What do you think? Share your thoughts for a chance at a signed copy of the new printing.

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I’ve Had Poe on My Mind

1/14/2013

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With the anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday coming up, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about his life and his amazing collection of short stories and poetic works. Most people think of “The Raven” or “The Tell-Tale Heart” when they think of Poe, but those who have read a decent sample of his writing know that he was as eclectic and innovative as he was prolific. Although my favorite works of his all fall under his vast umbrella of horror, he also wrote strange tales, humor, and detective mysteries (he was the inventor of the deductive sleuth).

It seems I’m not alone in seeing Poe as a creative inspiration. Last year’s The Raven came out shortly after I released Finding Poe (you can read my review of the film here) and the Poe-inspired Fox television series The Following premieres later this month. Although The Raven and The Following are vastly different from Finding Poe and each in their own way, both incorporate elements of his most well known works.

The muses hit me with the idea for Finding Poe after I had read (or re-read) a number of his short stories, and in order to do the best justice to my tribute, I read and studied literally every work of his that I could find. PoeStories.com is a great resource, as is The Literature Network, and you can find several free or low priced Poe short stories and poetry collections for your Kindle at Amazon. Not every work he wrote is brilliant, and a handful of his short stories are downright awful, but they’re worth sifting through.

In honor of Poe's upcoming birthday, I’m reducing the Kindle price for Finding Poe to $0.99 through January 19. His is a legacy that few other authors have achieved, and I’m proud to be among the writers and artists who have strove to pay him his due homage. Happy reading—you might want to leave more than one light on.

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<<Previous

RECOMPOSE and "Triple Threat"

Writing Outside Your Comfort Zone

A Privatized World

New Novella Series: JANE THE HIPPIE VAMPIRE

Building a Novel

5 Things I’ve Learned in the Past 5 Years

Attention Nook Readers!

Pandemics, Predictive Sci-Fi, and WORLD-MART

FINDING POE is Getting a Brand New Look!

I’ve Had Poe on My Mind

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