February 26 is International Fairytale Day, so what better day for Craig and I to give you a pile of books and stories by a plethora of authors that cover the spectrum from horror to crime to magic realism to noir to mystery to comedy to love story, and everything else you can think of?
Click the link below to enter: the pile of books includes not only the only 3 hard copies of Serious Moonlight thus far in existence, but also The Sound of Loneliness signed by the author Craig Wallwork, Quintessence of Dust signed by the author Craig Wallwork, Radium Girls signed by the author Amanda Gowin, Gutted: Beautiful Horror signed by (one of) the author(s) Amanda Gowin, as well as the Booked. Anthology!
And, Serious Moonlight, our short story duet, will include brand new bonus flash stories from both of us in these print copies.
Escape. Make a bed of these books and roll around in other worlds, while on break from making this world a better one.
So, Radium Girls is 99cents on Kindle and $9.99 for Paperback through the rest of May, but I forgot that I didn’t already do a blog post about it… So here it is! Click that pretty green book to the right of this post and it’ll take you there.
Also, to add to the promotion that I forgot to follow-through with (this can be further explored in my previous post under the confession about my lack of ambition – once the creative act is over, it’s really hard for the Push to hold my attention span, hence not doing any of this last year), I collected a bunch of pretty words from people. Ben Whitmer gave me some which immediately began transforming themselves into a story which isn’t finished, but will eventually see the light of day. For now, the beautiful words:
Radium Girls is like a midnight visitation from the ghost of that corpse you thought you had buried out under the honeysuckle, the night your brother told you that thing about your mother. It’s a brilliant collection, word by perfect word.
– Benjamin Whitmer, author of Pike and Cry Father
Ben and I share the same hometown. Which is really odd. He (along with several other amazing writers I know) makes me better, because I have to live up to that confidence in my ability to line up words.
To share this post, I also know today that Leah Rhyne‘s self-published Jo just got picked up and is becoming Heartless, Richard Thomas just released Disintegration, Letitia Trent is coming out with a new book but I don’t know anything else about it because I found out about it on my weekly Twitter-check last night and she was mid-ramble about many things and probably doesn’t think anyone read all those tweets but I totally did, Tracie Morell‘s book of poetry Matilda’s Battle Waltz comes out in June (I always feel pretty dumb about poetry, but Tracie transcends the “getting it” idea of poetry and just goes right for your guts), Stephen Graham Jones has been granted his werewolf-book wish has come true and Mongrels is Big News for next summer, and of course Exigencies is coming up on June 19th. There’s other stuff but it would require use of search engines and maybe even pen and paper, and that’s a lot of work to put in for what is essentially a catch-up post.
And I write these little…capsules, little punchy paragraphs sometimes, where I try to distill a distinct sensation or feeling. Usually I just store them in documents and pull from them for story prose, but I sent one that seemed particularly apt to the Response column prompt in Nailed Magazine – “SKIN“ – and I’ll be damned if I didn’t sorta kinda just get a poem published. Click this – and keep in mind the magazine’s called Nailed, if that’s not your thing, then don’t click – mine’s at the bottom: Response: SKIN – Nailed Magazine Editor’s Choice
I hope anyone who reads this had a fantastic weekend, and is kicking their summer off with sunshine and sloth. I’m going to eat leftover grill-food, fold laundry, and continue to avoid shoes. Happy beginning-of-summer!
2. LOTS of people have Radium Girls marked on their “To Read” shelves.
So! The only thing to do is come up with a plan to gently shove Radium Girls over to allllll the “Currently Reading” shelves. Summer is coming. There’s no reason my glowing green baby shouldn’t be on your tablet or in your tote bag, ready and waiting when you reach for some good words.
In honor of so many well-intentioned readers, and the upcoming One Year Birthday of Radium Girls, I talked to my lovely friend and publisher Mike Gonzalez, and…
Here’s the Plan
From May 5th through June 5th we shall hand out e-books like candy. As a show of good faith and even better intentions, all you need to do is TAG ME in a photo of ANY OTHER copy of a paper publication I’ve been in that you already have in your possession. Doesn’t matter where – post in the comments here, or tag me or Thunderdome Press on Facebook, or Twitter: @mandajoon (me) or @monkeywright (Mike Gonzalez) or @ThunderDomeMag (the Press), or on Instagram:@mandajoon (me). I don’t care if it’s actually even a pic of you with RG, we’ll still collect your email address and give you an ebook to pass on to someone else!
Here’s the List
Post a pic of ANY of the following with a tag:
Exigencies
Burnt Tongues
Radium Girls
The Booked. Anthology
Cipher Sisters
LA1K
cutaway
Warmed and Bound
And! When that giveaway is over it’ll officially be my birthday and we’ll give away some paperbacks, too! And and! There will be a 4-day Free Radium Girls for Kindle weekend. I want these stories in your hands!
Last year when we were getting Radium Girls together I really didn’t want to do any…um, well, promotional work, so I didn’t blurb-hunt or really advertise or whatever, but since the release I’ve gotten a lot of cool reviews and whatnot, so I’ve collected that and shall put it here, in a “Don’t Take My Word for It” section:
Praise for Radium Girls:
“These stories glow in the dark.”
– Craig Clevenger, author of The Contortionist’s Handbook and Dermaphoria
“I loved it, that’s for damned sure. Radium Girls is a great book.”
– Benjamin Whitmer, author of Pike and Cry Father
“Her work exists in the rarified air only found at high altitudes…Gowin unfolds a series of portraits of exquisitely flawed and powerful characters.”
– Kelly Boyker, author of Zoonosis, editor of Menacing Hedge
“Gowin is the tornado, lifting the flotsam of society and spinning it around and around until it lands just south of Kansas where magic and colour are just beyond reach.”
– Craig Wallwork, author of The Sound of Loneliness and Quintessence of Dust
“Radium Girls puts beauty in places you probably shouldn’t find it and makes the reader question the norms they’ve come to accept.”
– Livius Nedin and Robb Olson, The Booked. Podcast
May your Spring and Summer be be full of sunshine and words. Thanks for letting me be a part of it!
My son is WAY more excited about the New Year than you. It’s a fact. Allow me to illustrate:
2015 is the year of hoverboards, power laces and flying cars. Or, in my kid’s mind, the year it all becomes POSSIBLE. So cross your fingers that the designers of sneakers make a knock-off cheap kid-size replica of those multi-thousand dollar power laces they HAVE promised.
There are plenty of “best of” lists of this and that, so I’m just going to skip it and do a pimp recap post of things I’m writerly happy about from 2014 and link ’em all here. Because I’m ready for 2015, too, so let’s just skip the nostalgia for 2014 (of which I’ll have none) and get one with the new! Shiny clothes and dehydrated pizza for everyone!
Offerings:
Radium Girls
My firstborn! Full of cicadas, mental institutions and beauty.
Coming April 2015, but there’s a Goodreads giveaway going on this very moment to win one of ten free Advanced Reading Copies! (This story isn’t in Radium Girls, either!)
Author interview site, sister site, home of my nosy alter ego Alice. Author interviews that have nothing to do with writing. The schedule is erratic, but recently there’ve been interviews with everyone from Karen Abbott (Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy) to Ben Whitmer (Cry Father). No money necessary, it’s merely collected anecdotes and gorgeous information.
Robb and Liv were crazy enough to have me on THREE TIMES this year – once to talk about Radium Girls, and twice for holiday specials with my fellow space cadet, Jesse Lawrence. The Radium Girls review/interview is the only episode of these three I can recommend if you’re under 18, related to me, or know me through my son. The holiday specials are full of horrifying language and subject matter, extremely fun, and rated a strong R leaning towards NC-17. Free entertainment!! Booked., I love you….
I can’t hand out fun size Snickers or Pixie Stix through the interwebs, so for Halloween I’ll hand out the best thing I’ve got to give cyber-wise, which is the Radium Girls ebook! Please, take one, and pass the link along to your friends. Think of it as sharing a Twix but the Twix magically regenerates so you still get the whole thing…
Click the picture of Sid Haig (HOLDING A COPY OF RADIUM GIRLS!!) to be magically transported to your free copy:
the video!!! took forever to get this mess uploaded. i realize it’s an hour long, but at least stick around long enough for the church fire anecdote… plus i read a story. mainly i ramble. but i think it turned out pretty well!
As in now. Today. Just have these stories, this book, little parts I cut off my body and brain, just take them! Because maybe you’ll read them and love them or maybe you’ll like one of them, take something beautiful from one sentence and it’ll stick in your brain forever, and that’s more than good enough for me ❤
There are two main reasons I like the Wellston library:
1. The Summer Reading Program – below is my kid, today, leaving the Pool Party with his sack of goodies – they gave them PRIZES. And a PARTY. Just for reading books and attending programs to see Mr. Molecule, The Turtle Lady, animals from The Columbus Zoo… Oh yeah, it was a real chore, let me tell ya. So first off, if you’ve got a kid in grades K-5, take them to the Summer Reading Program next summer. You want them to grow up thinking books and learning are cool, right? Because they ARE, right?
2. Sneaky Book Placement – I snapped the photo below while my son was watching magic tricks. DO YOU SEE THAT? That’s Victor Hugo, discreetly above Stephanie Meier (Meyer? Am I supposed to pretend to care?) in the Teen Paperback section. George Orwell was there, too. It was genius. One sneeze, and a lost tween could accidentally grab something worthwhile! These librarians impress me….
Alright, so let’s get to the point, to the scary part.
Karen Davis, whom I suspect may be the head honcho, asked if I’d like to do an event/reading at this here library. She “discovered” me AKA decided to be kind to me when I was embarassedly (I know that’s probably not a word) and rapidly emailing friends to look at their copies of Radium Girls to find the ISBN so someone could request the book be carried. I received an email from her not long after. I was both shocked and flattered. And terrified. So I was three things, not both things…
Anyway. I’ve never been in front of an audience for anything like this for longer than ten minutes. Always part of a group, part of a larger event. Always with the advantage of tossing back a couple drinks first. And I don’t even drink! It’s just, you know, exposing that little bit of your soul to people that makes a little alcohol helpful before sliding onto stage…
Karen, I promise not to drink before this event!
It’ll last about an hour. I’ll probably read a story, and talk about writers in the area, and storytelling in general -because face it, Appalachians are natural storytellers. We’ve all got stories. We’ve all got history. I just happen to write stuff down. There will be cookies, prizes for Q&A and discussion participants, three paperback copies of Radium Girls as door prizes just for showing up, and books to buy if anyone is so inclined.
I’m really excited about this, so come hang out for an hour.
Robb & Liv talked about my booooook, then had me on to talk about it. There’s a lot less discussion about writing than Billy Idol, but it works! And as far as the review part goes, they’re not title experts. No matter what they say… I wish they’d let me be on every episode.
So it’s that time, and it’s official – RELEASE DAY!
Also, turned 35. Sunned myself like a lizard, colored with my kid, ate meatloaf from my mom shaped like “35”, my husband sang the birthday song and I blew out candles on a pecan pie. It’s been a helluva day. Looking forward to the weekend, too. Going hiking with the man and kid before t-ball tomorrow.
it’s only 10pm, technically I’ve only been 35 for like an hour. But the onLy sign of age I seem to feel is that “HOO-boy! It’s LATE…” 10pm knee-jerk reaction in my head and bones.
I’ll take my booklight and slink off to bed soon. If you want a copy of the book, it’s linked below. If you don’t that’s cool, too. The response so far has been amazing, and holding the green and gold glowing baby is all i ever wanted.
Thank you to everyone who’s bought Radium Girls, and thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday.
The night is full of toads and lightning bugs, the honeysuckle is blooming. Fill your lungs before you climb between your sheets. It’s a beautiful world.
Ooohhhhh!! A month!! A month until I release my green and gold baby into the world! Twelve shorts, one novella and a letter, for good measure. I counted and no less than FIVE of those feature twins in some capacity….
So, June 5th I turn 35. June 5th, Thunderdome Press says “Lookee here.”
Sneak peeks and more things coming. The book is beautiful, inside and out. Gaze upon the pictures above while we wait ❤
Think of them like trading cards! Pretty little pictures with snippets of the stories, overlaying photos of my friends and I – just scattering these to the wind, tossing them about on Twitter and Pinterest. More teaser pics to come, more news to come. The cover is in the works and the novella (the Final Puzzle Piece) is almost where I want it…..
Miss Ohio 