A Big Thanks to Wendy Wagner and Bruce McAllister

Souldrifter doesn't have an acknowledgement section, but if it did, Wendy Wagner and Bruce McAllister would be two of the people right at the top of the list. Both were gracious enough to read a pre-published version of the manuscript and then grace the cover of the book with wonderful endorsements. Bruce, who is a great mentor and teacher in addition to a great writer, even took the time to provide some suggestions for improving the book before I sent the final version to my publisher. I'm thankful to both Wendy and Bruce for their time and kindness. Here's a little background on each, in case you want to check their work out (and you should!).

Wendy Wagner is highly involved in the speculative fiction world on multiple fronts. As an author, she's had short stories published in some of the best SF/F magazines, and she's also author of Skinwalkers, a Pathfinder Tales novel. On top of that, she's the Managing/Associate Editor of Lightspeed and Nightmare magazines, guest editor of the anthology Queers Destroy Horror!  and nonfiction editor of the anthologies Women Destroy Science Fiction! and Women Destroy Fantasy! Whew, that's a lot of hats to wear.

Wendy and I actually went to college together at Pacific University, and I feel quite fortunate to have friends in high places. For a flashback, here's an interview I did with Wendy back in 2013, prior to the release of Skinwalkers.

Bruce McAllister has been an acclaimed author for more years than I've been alive, which is sort of mind-boggling. He's probably most widely known for his short stories, which you can find collected in The Girl Who Loved Animals and Other Stories, but he also writes novels. His newest novel, The Village Sang to the Sea, is a fantasy based in large part on his early life growing up in Italy. He is also author of Dream Baby, one of the best books I've read in recent memory.

Before moving to the Bay Area this summer, I lived near Bruce and had the pleasure of getting to know him. He's a fascinating person and a great teacher of the craft of storytelling. You can read the in-depth interview I did with him last year over at Black Gate magazine.

Here's a heartfelt thank you to both Bruce and Wendy.

-Garrett Calcaterra

Souldrifter Available for Pre-order!

We're getting close—a little over two weeks until release date! But why wait, when you can pre-order now and help make release date a splash?

Pre-order Souldrifter on Amazon
Pre-order Souldrifter on B&N.com
Pre-order Souldrifter from Powell's

Here's a sneak peek of the full spread for the paperback. I'd like to give a big thank you to both Bruce McAllister and Wendy Wagner for their amazing endorsements. The book officially releases on September 29, 2015.

-Garrett Calcaterra

Why I Suck at Blogging So Far in 2014

Keeping a consistent posting schedule is the trademark of a good blogger, so if there was any doubt before, it’s decided—I’m definitely not a good blogger. But that’s okay. I’m a spec-fiction author first and foremost, and if I’m not spending time here at The Machine Stops, it’s because I’m busy with other aspects of my writing career, and that has been the case so far in the year 2014.

Let’s start with the biggie. Dreamwielder is now available in print! Available in trade paperback format to be precise. I’m pretty stoked, and would like to thank the great people at Diversion Books and my agent Liz Kracht for making it happen, and I’d especially like to thank everyone who purchased, reviewed, and helped spread the word about the e-book and audiobook versions of the novel over the past year—without your support, the print version never would have come to be. To help spread the word, I'm raffling off a great prize package of four signed books, a Wheel House CD, and an empty Cthulhu mint tin I stole from Tim Powers! Simply head over to my FB page and share my book link to be entered into the random drawing.

Guest Posts, Interviews, and Retreats

2014 has gotten off to a busy start for me. The new edition of The Roads to Baldairn Motte was officially released in e-book format on January 1, and co-authors Craig Comer, Ahimsa Kerp and I have been busily at work writing guest posts and doing interviews to help get the word out.

Our first guest piece to come out is an article at the very cool SF Signal, called "Mosaic Novels and Eschewing Traditional Narrative."


The second piece came out today—a fun interview at Dab of Darkness, where the three of us chat about influential fantasy books, the best movie adaptations, why tattoos are cooler than cos-play, and lusty pirates. Arrr!

And speaking of interviews, I had the great opportunity to interview spec-fiction author Bruce McAllister this week. He's a fascinating man and I highly recommend both Dream Baby and his newest novel, The Village Sang to the Sea. My interview should hopefully be coming out soon at Black Gate. (Update 1/26/14: interview is live here.)

The only other exciting new for me is that I went on a great weekend writing retreat with my writing group, the Biscuits. I built up a good head of steam on the Dreamwielder sequel, which has once again become untitled (I had a name, but was told by my writing group that it made them think of masturbation, which isn't what I'm going for, not with this book at least...).


-Garrett Calcaterra

Big Orange Book Festival 2013 Recap

Bruce McAllister, Garrett Calcaterra,
Terri Nolan, and James Scott Bell

Book festivals, conferences, and conventions are always a great time, especially when they're in your backyard, and especially-especially when you get to participate in one of the panels. That was the case for me this year at the Big Orange Book Festival. I had the honor of moderating a panel on "Making a Career in Writing" and it was a wonderful experience. The three authors I got to work with were all insightful, informative, and a pleasure to hang out with. They included:

Find Me at the Big Orange Book Festival

If you live in the southern California area, you should come check out the Big Orange Book festival this weekend, located at Chapman University in Orange, California. I will be moderating a panel on Sunday at 12:30 pm called Making a Career in Writing, and the panelists will include an amazing cast of writers:

• Bruce McAllister—acclaimed SF/F author and writing coach
• James Scott Bell—suspense/thriller author; author of the #1 bestseller for writers, Plot & Structure; former fiction columnist for Writer's Digest; and author of the Mallory Caine zombie legal thriller series, written under the pen name K. Bennett
• Terri Nolan—mystery author, who by some odd coincidence is represented by the same literary agency as me, Kimberly Cameron & Associates