Did you have a Steampunk release in 2010? The Prism awards, which is given out by the Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal Chapter of the Romance Writer’s of America is *desperately* short of Steampunk/Time Travel entries and will cancel the category if they don’t get enough entries. If your story has romance elements please consider entering. Details and eligibility requirements here.
We have some winners to announce…
We have five copies of David Burton’s’ Scourge to give away. And the winners are…
Paula S
Nikki
FredTownWard
Alden Ash
Beth
You are our five lucky winners. Please email me at suzannelazear (@) hotmail to claim your prize.
Today we have the amazing Lolita Deb aka Deborah Schneider who’s going to tell us about her new project.
A love for American History drew Deborah to the field of education and teaching American History right after college. She resides in a small town near the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest, where she fulfills her dream of waking up every day to look at a mountain. She’s the winner of the Molly Award for Most Unsinkable Heroine for her book, Beneath A Silver Moon. She loves writing about strong, smart women who aren’t afraid to challenge the men they love. She’s employed by one of the busiest library systems in the US, is the 2009 Romance Writers of America Librarian of the Year, and believes in the power of books to change lives.
No Ordinary Love
By Deborah Schneider
For the past three years a friend of mine has invited me to be part of short story romance anthology. The compilation isn’t for sale; all the authors offer it at no cost to their friends, families and fans. For me the best part of working on the anthology has been learning to write shorter, more focused stories. This year our theme was “love songs” because we planned to release the stories for Valentine’s Day.
I write long, and do edit a lot out of my stories. Trying to get everything in a story under 3000 words is really a challenge for me, but it’s also very rewarding to finish and be pleased with the result.
This year, I knew I wanted to write something with a Steampunk flavor. I’m working on a novel in that sub-genre, had completed a novella and now wanted to experiment with a short story. Suzanne’s announcement of selling a YA Steampunk Fairytale had intrigued me. I love fairytales and imagined how much fun it would be to play with that kind of story with Steampunk flare.
I’ve always loved the story of The Steadfast Tin Soldier, so I started with the idea of a toy shop, a soldier and a love affair. I started to do some research, and learned about automatons. Translating to “self moving machines”, these mechanical wonders were especially popular during the Victorian age.
There’s a famous automaton in the Musee d’Art et d’Historie of Neuchatel, Switzerland designed in the 18th century by Pierre Jacquet-Droz. “The Writer” is a small figure that can be programmed to write 40 characters, dips the pen into an inkwell before actually writing and his eyes that even follow the flow of words. This mechanical wonder astonished people around the world.
I was intrigued by this machine, and created a story around a shop filled with wonderful automatons, exquisite toys and amazing clocks. When a soldier stops by the shop on Christmas Eve to purchase toys for his niece and nephew, he meets a childhood friend and rekindles an old relationship.
But the girl he grew up with is very different now and she’s afraid that if he finds out the truth, he’ll reject her just like many of the villagers do.
Because we had to choose a title that is a love song, my choice was the song by Sade, No Ordinary Love.
You can download the book, “Love Songs Say So Much” for free at my website: http://www.debschneider.com
On my books page, you’ll find the other two anthologies, also free to download.
I hope you enjoy this collection.
~Deb Schneider
STEAMED! 
A shout out to Deborah, our local Library Goddess!
What a great idea for a book. I think it’s hard for writers to imagine comming up with an idea out of the blue, so this is a great example of simply crossing genres and seeing what fits. Then adding your sentimental favorites to the stew. Very cool method!
Are you doing book signings locally?
Best,
Christine