Pippa's Journal - Inaugural Post

Hello! *waves* As the new girl onboard I thought I'd better introduce myself before progressing to more insane ramblings. So hi, my name is Pippa Jay - author, blogger and self-proclaimed goddess of angst. I'm extremely honoured to be joining the Spacefreighters Lounge.

What else can I tell you? I'm a UK author with a US publisher, which makes life a little interesting. I fell into writing sfr by mistake - I'd always thought of myself as a straight scifi author but my characters decided otherwise and now I don't seem able to write anything in speculative fiction without a dash of romance. I can't say I'm sorry about that in the least. For twelve years I worked as an Analytical Chemist in the Metals and Minerals industry, but I've been a stay-at-home mum for the last decade. I started writing Keir in 2009 as a way to save my sanity, although my husband views my literary endeavours as proof that I completely lost it, lol!

Action!

So, in July 2011 I signed a contract with Lyrical Press Inc for my sfr novel Keir, which now has a release date of 7th May--less than 100 days from now! To say I'm excited is an understatement of epic proportions. :) I've already got dates and places lined up for the virtual book tour which will run from the 1st May (Beltane) until the 14th, and you can find the itinerary on my blog here. There's also several guest posts scheduled by visiting authors, and a couple of blog hops including a day of sfr related posts and events over at Backward Momentum for the 14th February which will be well-worth a visit! 

In the meantime, I'm trying to get a scifi short finished and self-published on Amazon, have a scifi novella and an sfr short story out on submission, and I'm trying to hammer out the flaws in my sequel to Keir ready for submission. However, an sfr novella that grabbed my muse over Christmas - Tethered - is proving a constant distraction, especially after the blurb for it won the SFR Brigade Pitch contest last month. :) I also have a free scifi short - The Bones of the Sea - up on Smashwords.com. It was an experiment, both in terms of writing a short story, something I've had difficulty confining myself to, and as a self-publishing project. At the time I'd yet to know my first contract would be coming my way.

Bookshelf

I've just finished reading the third book that I set as part of my SFR Reading Challenge 2012 but have yet to review it. I've been posting the reviews here as I go. So far I'd heartily recommend Nebula's Music by Aubrie Dionne (a fellow Lyrical author) which is scifi with romantic elements. Also a stunning sfr read is Ambasadora by Heidi Ruby Miller. Heidi has a second book set in the same universe coming out later this month, so I'll be adding that one to my TBR pile. :)

Ping Pong

At Laurie on subject of prophecy. Considering the number of Armageddon predictions that seem to have cropped up over the last few years, I worry that at some stage mankind might seek to make them self-fulfilling. I don't believe in the ability to predict the future completely, because surely the knowledge would alter the certainty. However I do believe in the ability to foresee a vague shape of the future, whether by individuals or as a global consciousness. I believe in premonitions because I've had them myself. 'Interesting' is a word I find myself using a lot, and I agree times are interesting. A disturbing thought since "May you live in interesting times" is apparently a Chinese curse!