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Sweet Success for Dan Grant

By: Darby Karchut

Congratulations to Dan Grant! His latest science/medical/conspiracy thriller, Thirteen Across, hit the Amazon best seller ranks and made #2 in medical thrillers and #3 in two other categories. The book stayed in the top #100 in two categories for two weeks. Thirteen Across also garnered a five star review from the San Francisco Book Review. Pacific Book Review said this about his debut novel, The Singularity Witness: “Devilishly clever, and good, this is Dan Grant.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dan Grant

In life, Dan has taken the road less traveled. Crossroads have been faced with a mix of apprehension and an explorer’s passion. But the paths people take help make us who we are. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail,” Ralph Waldo Emerson.

He developed storytelling aspirations as an undergraduate in college at Northern Arizona University, when writing was counter to completing a degree in electrical engineering. Yet, engineering provided the good fortune to work on intriguing medical and military projects, and those behind the scenes experiences allowed him to bookmark “what if” scenarios and ask questions to a variety of deeper storylines. His desire is to tell stories seeded with quandaries, filled with big questions, and set against a tapestry of science, medicine, or technology.

The Singularity Witness was his debut novel and Thirteen Across is his newest thriller.

Dan lives in Colorado with his family and two dogs. Visit the author at his website or follow him on Facebook.

Sweet Success is coordinated by Contributing Editor, Darby Karchut. If you have a Sweet Success to share please contact her via email.
Darby is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. Her latest book (lucky number thirteen), DEL TORO MOON, released October 2018 from Owl Hollow Press. Visit the author at her website.

Sweet Success for Chris Mandeville

By: Darby Karchut

A rousing hooray for Chris Mandeville. Her newest book, SHAKE (the second book in the IN REAL TIME series) releases October 22. BREAK, the final book in the trilogy, will be out in 2020. Congratulations, Chris!

ABOUT THE BOOK

A fractured future.
A family secret.
The ultimate double-cross

The Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 leaves Allie without her crew, her parents, or a life to return to in 2018. Refusing to accept this, Allie dives into the rapidly closing wormhole—with her newfound half sister, Bel—intending to go back in time and save everyone.

Except Mean Girl Bel has other plans.

Bel hijacks the wormhole, taking them both to 2153. Now Allie is trapped in the treacherous landscape of Bel’s “real time,” where Bel’s uber-powerful mom is in charge and has banned all time travel. Out of her element and out of her depth, Allie has to figure out how to get back to 1906 and make things right.

Desperate, Allie secures the help of time monitor Flyx and his friends. Together they make a plan to circumvent the time travel ban and send Allie back in time.

In order for the plan to succeed, Allie must avoid being “recycled” by Bel’s mom, escape the clutches of Nazis who’ve taken over the city, and finesse her biggest con yet: convincing Bel to take her side.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Mandeville writes science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories, as well as nonfiction books for writers. She’s the author of five published works.

After growing up in California and graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, Chris married a U.S. Air Force officer and moved from state to state, as well as to British Columbia, before settling in Colorado. She now lives in the woods of the Rocky Mountains with her family and her service dog, Finn. For more information, visit her at www.chrismandeville.com and be sure to follow her on Facebook and Instagram

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success for Karla M. Jay

by: Darby Karchut

Congratulations to Karla Jay!

Her debut historical fiction, WHEN WE WERE BRAVE, won a silver medal in the 2019 International Readers’ Favorite Contest in August. Congratulations to Karla!

Raised in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania, Karla Jay has worked as a speech pathologist since 1982. When she is not working or at her home in Utah gardening or writing, she is traveling, seeing as many countries as possible–in particular, those with good coffee, ancient history, and great beaches. WHEN WE WERE BRAVE is her first historical fiction novel. You can visit her website,or follow her on social media at Twitter and Facebook.

Darby Karchut

Sweet Success is coordinated by Contributing Editor, Darby Karchut. If you have a Sweet Success to share please contact her via email.

Sweet Success for David Slayton

by: Darby Karchut

David Slayton is pleased to announce that his contemporary fantasy, WHITE TRASH WARLOCK, will be published fall 2020. Here’s the official announcement from Publishers Weekly:

“#OwnVoices David Slayton’s WHITE TRASH WARLOCK, in which estranged brothers from rural Oklahoma must reconcile or fall prey to the immortal powers using their family as pawns in a game Death herself is determined to win, to Rick Bleiweiss at Blackstone Publishing, in a very nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in fall 2020, by Lesley Sabga at The Seymour Agency (world English).”

Congratulations to David!

David grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and writes the books he always wanted to read.

In addition to writing, David has taught workshops and appeared on panels at Denver Comic Con, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, the League of Utah Writers Quills Conference, and the Seymour Agency Winter Retreat.

By day he’s a software implementation consultant.

You can learn more about David on his website or follow him on social media at Twitter and Facebook.

Sweet Success is coordinated by Contributing Editor, Darby Karchut.

Sweet Success is coordinated by, Darby Karchut who is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter.

If you have a Sweet Success Story to share, please contact Darby at: SweetSuccess@pikespeakwriters.com

Margaret Mizushima is the 2019-2020 RMFW’s Writer of the Year!

With heartfelt gratitude to the membership of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Margaret Mizushima is thrilled to announce that she was elected their 2019-2020 Writer of the Year. Margaret is the author of the award winning, internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries (from Crooked Lane Books). In addition to RMFW, she’s a member of Colorado Author’s League, Sisters in Crime, Pikes Peak Writers, Northern Colorado Writers, Women Writing the West, and she serves on the board for the Rocky Mountain chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Margaret can be found on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and on her website at www.margaretmizushima.com.

Write Brain

By: Robin Laborde

A special two-part Write Brain:
The New Zebulon
Amy Armstrong, Presenter
and
250 Words That Will Make or Break You
Natalie Mae, Presenter

2020 Zebulon

The August Write Brain began with an update about the 2020 Zebulon Contest, including TWO double-sided pages of information about what has changed during the contest’s year-long hiatus. A few of the more notable changes:

Contest entries will be accepted through Submittable rather than a custom-built portal.
The short story category is back!
No more query round, but a synopsis is still required. (Darn.)
The Zebulon will offer monetary prizes only in 2020, rather than discounts on conference registration.

See the Zebulon Rules for the latest information and deadlines.

250 Words to Beef Up

After the break, YA author Natalie Mae shared tips for beefing up your first paragraph. In an unexpected but super helpful twist, she began her presentation by sharing an early version of the first paragraph of her novel Duplicitous and comparing it to the published version. The exercise clearly demonstrated the improvements she made, including that oh-so-important delicious first line. For even more insight into Natalie’s journey to publication, visit her website.

Robin Laborde is not sure exactly how long she has been a member of Pikes Peak Writers but she enjoys it very much. She worked as a technical writer for over ten years and has had nonfiction articles published in newspapers and magazines. She is currently writing a speculative fiction novel and working part-time at the East Library in Colorado Springs.

Writer’s Night

Pikes Peak Writers is known for our annual conference, but we also do tons of programming throughout the year, much of it free!

One of our free monthly events is Writer’s Night, where writers of all genres gather together to discuss writerly topics over food and drinks. Anyone is welcome to attend, whether they have a question to ask or they just want to hang back and listen.

Why Go to Writers Night?

At the last meeting, I asked the attendees for their top reasons to attend Writer’s Night, and here they are:

Hearing from other writers inspires you to keep writing.
It’s nice to be around like-minded people.
Sense of community. Writing is such an isolated experience–sometimes you need to escape it.
Helps fight impostor syndrome.
Exposes you to diverse perspectives.
Casual education. Learn from others while just hanging out!
Bragging rights. Each session, we go around the room and allow people the chance to tell us about their accomplishments.
Gets you out of the house.
You don’t have to make dinner.
Beer!

NEW Location!

We’ve got exciting news to share, too! Writer’s Night is getting a face-lift. It’s moving to Navajo Hogan in August. Plus, we’ve got a new host! Mytchel Chandler has taken over as Writer’s Night host, bringing a fresh perspective to the group.

The Next Writer’s Night is:

Monday, August 26 (every fourth Monday!)
6:30 to 8:30 PM
Navajo Hogan (private room)
2817 N. Nevada Ave.
Colorado Springs, CO 80907

We hope you’ll come check out Writer’s Night and all our other monthly programming! Look for it under “events” on our website or in the events on our Facebook page.

Mytchel Chandler, Secretary of PPW, has taken over Writer’s Night! Mytchel has written a time travel comic titled Chronic, and is finishing up his debut novel, a YA fantasy titled The Dark and Dangerous Days of Sin Shadow. In his spare time, Mytchel is an avid movie goer, comic collector, and cosplayer. Be sure to follow him @authormytchelchandler on Facebook and Instagram, and at www.mytchelchandler.com.

Sweet Success for Darby Karchut

Congratulations to PPW’s Sweet Success Coordinator, Darby Karchut, who has a Sweet Success of her own!

Darby Karchut’s middle grade Western/fantasy mashup, DEL TORO MOON (2018 from Owl Hollow Press), recently won the 2019 Colorado Book Award. The book was also a 2018 Reading the West Longlist Pick and 2018 Moonbeam Children’s Book Silver Medalist. THE RED CASKET, Book Two in the Del Toro Tales series, releases late fall 2019.

DEL TORO MOON

Twelve year old Matt Del Toro is the greenest greenhorn in his family’s centuries-old business: riding down and destroying wolf-like monsters, known as skinners. Now, with those creatures multiplying, both in number and ferocity, Matt must saddle up and match his father’s skills at monster whacking.

Luckily, Matt has twelve hundred pounds of backup in his best friend—El Cid, an Andalusian war stallion with the ability of human speech, more fighting savvy than a medieval knight, and a heart as big and steadfast as the Rocky Mountains.

Serious horse power. Those skinners don’t stand a chance.

DEL TORO MOON (Book One in the Del Toro Tales series)

978-1-945654-14-5; middle grade fantasy; 256 pages

Purchase: Barnes & Noble, Amazon, IndieBound, and independent booksellers world-wide

Darby Karchut is an author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A proud native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby is busy wrangling words. Her award-winning books include DEL TORO MOON and FINN FINNEGAN. Coolest thing ever: her YA debut novel, GRIFFIN RISING, has been optioned for film. Visit her at www.darbykarchut.com

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut. If you have a success story to share please go to the Sweet Success form.

Sweet Success for Margena Holmes

by: Darby Karchut

Congratulations to Margena Adams Holmes on the release of EVALYCER’S WAR, (July 9, On The Line Press), a novella set in The Elixir Series.

As Evalycer gets more involved with a group wanting to change a corrupt government, she struggles between wanting change and doing the right thing. Part of The Elixir Series but can be read as a stand alone book.

Margena has been writing ever since she can remember, writing her first poem in 1st grade. At her day job, when she’s not kicking young kids out of R-rated movies, she’s sweeping up spilled popcorn from the hallways and aisles (she’s not your mother, though, so please take your trash out). Her days off consist of writing science fiction, space opera, and more movie theater shenanigans. Reading is a close second to writing, and she normally has her nose buried in a book. Visit her website.

EVALYCER’S WAR: Novella in The Elixir Series.
E-book; Science Fiction; novella; 118 pages
Purchase at Amazon.com

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut. If you have a success story to share please go to the Sweet Success form.

Sweet Success for Margaret Mizushima

by: Darby Karchut

Margaret Mizushima is thrilled to announce that BURNING RIDGE, fourth in her Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries (2018 from Crooked Lane Books), has earned the following: listed in Best Books of 2018, Kings River Life; Winner, Colorado Authors League Award for Ebook Fiction; Silver Award, IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards for mystery; Winner, Next Generation Indies for Action-Adventure; Bronze Award, Foreword Indie Book of the Year Awards for mystery; and Finalist, Colorado Book Awards for mystery. Margaret’s fifth book, TRACKING GAME, will release November 12, 2019, and she is busy writing a sixth episode in the series to be released fall of 2020.

When a charred body is found on beautiful Redstone Ridge near Timber Creek, Deputy Mattie Cobb and her dog Robo are called to investigate. But Mattie discovers a close personal connection with the victim and soon finds herself the target of a killer.

BURNING RIDGE: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

978-1-68331-778-4; Mystery; Hardcover; 281 pages

Purchase: Online booksellers and bookstores near you.

Margaret Mizushima is the award-winning author of the internationally published and critically acclaimed Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries, including Burning Ridge, named a Best Book of 2018 by Kings River Life. Active within the writing community, Margaret serves on the board for the Rocky Mountain chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was nominated for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Writer of the Year award. She lives in Colorado on a small ranch with her veterinarian husband where they raised two daughters and a multitude of animals. Visit her at www.margaretmizushima.com.

Sweet Success is coordinated by Darby Karchut. If you have a success story to share please got to the Sweet Success form.

Darby Karchut is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter. A native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby is busy wrangling words. Her thirteenth book, DEL TORO MOON, a middle grade western/fantasy mashup (Owl Hollow Press) is the 2019 Colorado Book Award Winner-Juvenile Literature
Visit the author at her website: www.darbykarchut.com.

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