Lasers Dragons And Keyboards

Today we interview Laura VanArendonk Baugh about her Japanese history/fantasy book Only the Dead Face North, and other works.

Learn more about Laura and her books at:  LauraVAB.com

I write with dogs wrapped around my feet. I get to wear sandals or bedroom slippers to work, and old, comfortable clothes. When the weather is fine I get to write on my back porch. I love summer.

I write mysteries and fantasies because life is too short to be limited to one genre.

I started getting published when I was 12, studied journalism at Northern Illinois University, then went to work as a news reporter…eventually for Scripps Howard, where I managed their Western Kentucky bureau. Getting itchy feet, I moved to Wisconsin and went to work for TSR, Inc., the then-producers of the Dungeons & Dragons game. I dipped my itchy feet into the fiction pool and wrote Dragonlance novels for several years. Now I’m back in Illinois, my land surrounded by train tracks that offer music to write by. And there are plenty of dogs in the neighborhood to provide an accompaniment.

I am a recipient of the Faust, the grand master award of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, and the Illinois Author Project’s Soon-to-be Famous Award.

I’ve been on the USA Today’s Bestseller list a few times … ah, I’ve never hit the Times.

I’ve written more than forty SF, fantasy, mystery, and adventure novels (including a couple of ghosted projects), more short stories than I care to count, and I’ve edited magazines and anthologies. 

When I’m writing I listen to classical guitar and 60s rock … depending on my subject matter. And at every good opportunity I toss tennis balls for my cadre of dogs.

- Always hire a copy editor to make sure everything is caught. - How can you not afford an editor? - Read the manuscript backwards for editing purposes. - Buy ads - compare and contrast where is going to be best per novel. - Once a month newsletter for Jean!

THIS EPISODE WAS ORIGINALLY BROADCAST ON FEBRUARY 17, 2024 ON TWITCH.TV/LDK_PODCAST

In this episode, we talked with J.J. Johnson, Jason Joyner, and Merrie Destafano about getting your Author Kickstarter going.  Quick points:

• Kickstarter for Authors FB group
• $500 is a good, solid number to shoot for
• Keep holidays in mind when planning when to run your campaign
• Backer update swaps w/other KS authors.
• Make sure you have your book and graphics complete before launching the campaign.

Find out more about the authors at their websites:

Merrie Destafano JJ Johnson Jason Joyner

THIS EPISODE ORIGINALLY AIRED ON JANUARY 27, 2024 ON TWITCH.TV/LDK_PODCAST

Pam Halter was a home-schooling mom for nine years, has been a children’s book author since 1995, a freelance children’s book editor since 2006, and was the children’s book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023 when the publishing house closed. She’s the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy novel published by Love2ReadLove2Write Publishing, and Willoughby and Friends, a picture book series about friendship featuring Willoughby, who is a dragon.

Pam lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband, Daryl, special needs adult daughter, Anna, and four cats. When she’s not writing, Pam enjoys reading, quilting, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, Bible study, and walking long country roads where she discovers fairy homes, emerging dragons, and trees eating wood gnomes.

You can find out more about Pam and Willoughby at PamHalter.com

Thomas Doscher is an author and retired Air Force journalist with a degree in history from the University of Maryland University College. During his Air Force career, Thomas wrote news and feature stories for the Air Force and joint military publications across 20 years and three deployments. Thomas retired from the Air Force in 2021 and now spends his time writing and being with his wife and two sons in Illinois. We had a delightful chat with author Thomas Doscher, primarily discussing his upcoming book in the Vixen War Bride series. Highlights included: Reading 'Blossoms in the Wind', cultural mixing, being a history nerd Having an epic troll in the book, matching tone of the book with the subplots. Upcoming projects! American Isakai Getting punched by wife for editing. 20 Books to 50K Don't sweat the marketing!

Be sure to check out Thomas's books on Amazon and Facebook.

THIS EPISODE WAS LIVESTREAMED ON TWITCH.TV/LDK_PODCAST ON AUGUST 12, 2023.

Paul Regnier is a speculative fiction author. He believes one of the closest things to magic on this earth is imagination. His favorite type of story is filled with adventure, humor, and heartfelt moments between characters. He likes to dream up worlds of fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, and the supernatural. Sometimes they end up in a book.

Paul is the writer of a new fantasy book called Bard Tidings, as well as the Luke and Bandit cozy mystery series, the Paranormia series, and the Space Drifters series.

Paul lives in Treasure Valley, Idaho, with his wife and two children.

You can learn more about Paul and his books at PaulJRegnier.com

THIS EPISODE WAS LIVESTREAMED ON TWITCH.TV/LDK_PODCAST ON JULY 22, 2023.

We had the incomparable John Otte on the show this week! 

John W. Otte is a husband, a father, a Lutheran pastor, and a big ol’ geek. He graduated from Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota, with a theatre major, and then from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. By night, he writes unusual stories of geeky grace. He lives in the Kansas City area with his wife and two boys.

On today's show, we discussed his recent forays into Kickstarter campaigns, both for his Drawn in Ash novel and forthcoming sequel, Drawn Through Blood. His influence to try the Kickstarter method? Novel Marketing Podcast (which is a great podcast for novelists! Check out this podcast about Kickstarting with Chris Fox, which we think is the episode John refers to in the episode.)

We also hear about balancing his life as full-time Lutheran pastor and writing novels, and the challenges there. 

Many shout outs today! John W. Otte  Novel Marketing Podcast John's editor, Megan Gerig One Year Adventure Novel

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For the second time, we had Cindy Koepp on, author of LitRPG novels and graphic novels, among other things! We had a blast learning about the process of turning a novel into a comic book, what it takes to do in-person events at comic-cons, and even a little bit about hooking. (Get your head out of the gutter! It's a legit thing!)  Originally from Michigan, Cindy Koepp combined a love of pedagogy and ecology into a 14-year career as an elementary science specialist. After teaching four-footers -- that's height, not leg count, she pursued a Master's in Adult Learning with a specialization in Performance Improvement. Her published works include science fiction novels, fantasy novels, a passel of short stories, and educator resources. When she isn't reading or writing, Cindy is currently working as a tech writer, hat collector, quilter, crafter, and weird joke teller. Find out where Cindy's going to be via her website and sign up for her newsletter at CKoepp.com.  Cindy's books can be purchased on Amazon too.

We got to hear quite a bit about how Heidi has jumped from many different genres to focus on Superhero Romance. It's a niche that she greatly enjoys and hasn't been able to find many clean examples of.

From there, we moved on to favorite characters, what it's like to put yourself in the mind of who started out as a side character and suddenly needing to write a tale about them specifically, and how she researches.

To the latter point: ex-marine husband! Snails were mentioned, of course.

We love having Heidi on! She's an absolute blast in person and on the show! Follow Heidi at: https://www.hlburkeauthor.com/ On Amazon: https://amzn.to/3J7cz93 

Today we had Kara Swanson, author of the Heirs of Neverland books, on the show! This SoCal native enjoys running the Authors Conservatory, the writers school she co-founded, and is hard at work at a new series focusing on the phoenix.

www.authorconservatory.com www.theyoungwriter.com  www.instagram.com/karaswansonauthor www.karaswanson.com