Space Opera Libretti

Cover reveal for Space Opera Libretti!

Front of the "Space Opera Libretti" cover   Back of the "Space Opera Libretti" cover

This anthology of space opera about space opera will contain my short story Stars from the Stars, about a siren who lives alone on a rock in space, until he’s being picked up by the Stars from the Stars ship to compete in the universally beloved talent show. Even though he’s completely confident in his abilities, he might learn a thing or two on the way…

I really look forward to reading all the other stories! If everything goes well, the release is expected mid-December.

Link to Editor Jennifer’s original cover reveal tweet: [x]

Also, allow me to remind you that the Neon Horror Crowdfunder is still going!

Musical space salutations,

Minerva

Neon Horror Zine

Neon Horror Zine

Hello!

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

Yesterday was also the start of the crowdfunder campaign of Neon Horror Zine, a magazine full of bright and colourful LBTQIA+ horror stories, comics, and art. It will contain a short story co-written by L.S. Reinholt and me. Aside from printing costs, the campaign funds will be used for paying the creators and to support the charities Mermaids in the UK and The Tie Campaign.

Take a look here for more info and a chance to support this project! There’s a list of the other creators as well—friend Ava Kelly has a story in it too!

Campaign banner

Our story, The Lost, shows the log of Siek de Void. The agender, pansexual captain of spaceship The Kenophobe is lucky to be accompanied by their more competent, non-human partner and pilot Giri. But with the logs and maps erased, will that luck be enough to keep them safe when they encounter the abandoned ship The Alfaragh?

You’ll find out in Neon Horror Zine!

P.S. It’s the first day of the month, so of course there’s also a new edition of Paranatellonta today. Enjoy!

Migration anthology, Neon Horror Zine, Sherlock Holmes

Two covers, a Kickstarter, and more good news

Last week I said I wouldn’t blog again until I was back from holiday. At that moment, of course, everything started happening at once, so here I am after all with more news!

Let’s start with the pretties. Both the Migration anthology and Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! have revealed their covers!

Migration cover   Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere cover

Migration can be preordered on Amazon Kindle, iBooks, Barnes & Noble, and Kobo. It will release on July 24 and contains my flash story Not How We Planned It.

The Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! Kickstarter is launching today. The book is expected to release in October of this year, and supporting this project means supporting the Beacon Society, a scion society of the Baker Street Irregulars which provides scholarships to schools, libraries, and Sherlock Holmes groups for educational purposes.

The anthology contains the essay Chasing Words by L.S. Reinholt and me, about how we met and started writing together thanks to Sherlock Holmes. It’s a Belanger Books publication, just like Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk, in which our story The Adventure of the Purloined Piston Valve appeared earlier this year.

The blurb for Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere!:

What makes Sherlock Holmes so special? Why is he one of the most recognizable characters in all of literature? How do people throughout the world connect to the character? Why is Sherlock Holmes embraced by the LGBTQ+ Community? Why do people collect Sherlock Holmes memorabilia? Why do people experience Sherlock Holmes in everything from Science Fiction to Martial Arts?

Find out the answers to these questions and many more in Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! a collection of essays on how people throughout the world embrace the great detective.

I’m excited about this book! I really look forward to reading the other writers’ essays, and the flag at the centre of the cover made me very happy.

Be sure to take a look at the Kickstarter and feel free to leave any questions you have.

L.S. Reinholt and I also got another acceptance this week! Our queer horror story The Lost will be published in The Haunted Bouncy Castle‘s upcoming Neon Horror Zine. More info will follow!

Migration anthology, Sherlock Holmes

Flash fiction and essay publication

Hi!

Time for some news about future publications!

My story Not How We Planned It was selected for publication in the Migration anthology by Queer Sci Fi. The book will contain 120 flash fiction stories that have 300 words or less, all with a speculative element and queer representation. As there were over 250 entries for the flash fiction contest this year, I’m honoured that my story was chosen to be part of the book! You can see the full list of published stories here. Note that my friends Ava Kelly and Ether Nepenthes are in there too! *high fives*

The Migration anthology will be out on July 24, 2019. On that day the contest winners will also be announced, so if you’re curious about that part, keep an eye on the Queer Sci Fi website. (But don’t be afraid to miss anything; I’ll blog about the book release as soon as I’m back from my holiday.)

And then, a first: the publication of a piece of non-fiction! I know, it’s shocking, but I promise it won’t be boring.

L.S. Reinholt and I will have an essay in the Sherlock Holmes is Everywhere! anthology from Belanger Books. It’s going to be a charity collection for The Beacon Society. In the essay, we talk about how we met thanks to Sherlock Holmes, and how the great detective shaped the way we work together. We had a lot of fun writing the essay, and we look forward to reading the stories about how Mr Holmes influenced other writers’ lives. As soon as there’s any news about the release date and where you’ll be able to buy the book, you’ll hear from me.

But first I’ll be counting down a little longer to a holiday in Paris! I hope you’ll all have a great summer full of wonderful stories.

Hotel Stormcove, Paranatellonta, Sherlock Holmes

Second stretch goal reached & Stormcove preorders

Hi!

I’ve got a couple of small updates.

First of all, the Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk Kickstarter reached its second stretch goal! The first stretch goal was an extra story in the anthology, and now, as we’ve reached 100 backers, every one of them will get to see their name in print in a special thank you section at the end of both volumes. If that’s something you would like for yourself, or if you’re simply interested in preordering steampunk Sherlock Holmes stories, there are 4 days left to do so here. (For my non-American friends who would like paperbacks or hardcovers, it may be of note that they will be available on Amazon later once the anthology is released, so at that point shipping costs may be lower.)

Secondly, still on the subject of preorders, the Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove anthology will be up for preorder here until the end of this month. The link will be taken down on April 1. After that, print copies won’t come with an included e-book, and the limited hardcover edition will no longer be available, so be quick if you’d like to get those!

And finally, a small treat that doesn’t require any ordering at all: the new edition of Paranatellonta is online since yesterday. For my new readers: Paranatellonta is a project where my friend Fie takes a photo which inspires a 10-sentence short story written by me. We post new editions on the 1st and 15th day of every month. I don’t always announce the posts here on my blog, but I really like this newest one, so I thought I’d remind you all of the project while I was blogging anyway. ^^ You can read it here for free. Enjoy!

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk Banner
Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Interview!

Hi!

Great news on the front of the Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk Kickstarter! We’re currently over $3000, tripling the minimum goal! Let’s keep it going!

To promote the Kickstarter, L.S. Reinholt and I did an interview which you can read here. We talk a little about our story and about our process writing together while living in Denmark and Belgium respectively. Enjoy!

Hotel Stormcove, Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes Kickstarter!

Great news: the Kickstarter for Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk has launched! This will contain The Adventure of the Purloined Piston Valve, a story by L.S. Reinholt and me.

The anthology consists of two volumes: Tales of a Retro Future and Mechanical Men and Otherworldly Endeavours. Our story will be found in the latter.

I really look forward to reading all these stories that mix the atmosphere of a classic Holmes mystery with futuristic inventions, grinding gears, puffs of steam, rebellious robots and astute automatons.

However, we’ll need your help to make it happen! Please check out the Kickstarter page here for more info and to support the project. Spreading the word is also greatly appreciated!

Sherlock Holmes: Adventures in the Realms of Steampunk Banner

I can also announce another acceptance, again for a story co-written with L.S. Reinholt! It will be part of Five Minutes at Hotel Stormcove from Atthis Arts, a collection of short stories and flash fiction. Every story shows us five minutes of the events taking place at Hotel Stormcove, at any point of time, and in any genre. You can preorder this book here, including the limited hardcover edition! Release is expected in May 2019.

love & bubbles

Cover reveal: Love & Bubbles!

Hello everyone!

It’s been a while since I made a blog post (oops), but now I’ve got awesome news: the Love & Bubbles anthology is coming out this Thursday, October 18!!! It contains my story, “Summoned”, about a water demon and a merman, and what I’ve read of the other stories so far was great too!

You can still preorder it here, but for my European friends who want a physical copy it might be wise to wait until after Thursday, so you can order via Amazon and won’t have to pay high shipping costs. I’ll post the buying links next weekend, when I’m back from London to see Hamilton (the musical) 😀

The book cover was also revealed this weekend! It was designed by Kyra J. Wolff and I think it looks awesome.

Love and Bubbles 450 px wide

The official cover reveal was done on the following blogs – check them out!

Barely a Blogger

Zigzag Timeline

Mehek Writes

Small Queer, Big Opinions

That’s all for now – see you after release day!

love & bubbles

Love & Bubbles Preorders!!!

Yes yes yesss! You can now preorder Love & Bubbles! It’s available both in paperback and ebook format. In the Gumroad shop you can also find some awesome Love & Bubbles-themed t-shirts and Jaylee James’ previous anthology, Circuits & Slippers. There’s only one of the cross-stitch artworks by Jennifer Lee Rossman left at the moment I’m typing this, so be fast if you want that!

Get ready to dive into romance with these thirteen stories of queer love under the sea!

Love & Bubbles is a short fiction anthology of love stories united by an underwater theme and featuring characters from across the LGBTQ+ spectrum.

In these pages you’ll go on a deep-sea voyage to study a brand-new species alongside a cute, distracted scientist. Discover your magic with a water witch and the help of a cute mermaid. Explore the waters of an alien ocean. Get summoned to the surface with a grumpy old merman and his non-binary water demon neighbor. Swim with a catfish goddess, rescue a dolphin… and so much more!

That line up there about the grumpy old merman and the water demon? That’s my story, Summoned!

You can add Love & Bubbles on Goodreads here. On Amazon it won’t appear before the actual release date in September 2018 – just so you know not to go looking there yet. Preorders will be exclusive on Gumroad.

To those who have backed the original Kickstarter: you should have received an update email with a code for a 10% discount to thank you for supporting us from the very beginning.

To everyone else: thank you for your interest in this anthology! I’m very excited about it!

And if you are a book blogger, instagrammer, or youtuber, and want to participate in a cover reveal, author interview, or receive an ARC, please email jaylee@jayleejames.com!

darkling's beasts and brews, the dragon of ynys

An Interview with Snap

Hello!

A new character interview was published today, this time with Snap, the dragon of Ynys himself! You can read it here: http://candidceillie.com/character-interview-snap-the-dragon-of-ynys/

I also realise I haven’t shown off my absolutely awesome phone cover yet, here on the blog. And a friend made this brilliant keychain for me! My eternal thanks to her, and of course to Kirby Crow for the design of The Dragon of Ynys‘ cover.

Phone cover 040618-1And some not-Dragon-related news:

The publication of Darkling’s Beasts and Brews: Poetry with a Drink on the Side is expected in October 2018, ready to provide some Halloween goodness. You can find its cover and table of contents here on Facebook.

I also rearranged my website a little, mainly making the Stories page a lot neater than it was. Have a look around and let me know what you think!


The Dragon of Ynys is now available at:

Less Than Three Press (Publisher; 20% off in June for Pride month!) | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Kobo | Amazon (US) | Amazon (Canada) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (De)

and you can add it on Goodreads.