The Making of a SFR Anthology

How does a Science Fiction Romance community end up publishing its own anthology of stories?

It all started with a conversation in the fall of 2012 about the visibility of the SFR Brigade Fan Page on the Facebook discussion group and a suggestion that came from JC Cassels:

"People are fans when things are either tangible (products) or they are emotionally invested. That's why I think an anthology to "brand" us and raise brand awareness is key to exciting people about the Fan Page."

This was met with enthusiasm from the membership. A poll was conducted that showed there was enough support from the group to give the project a green light.

Damn the ion cannons, we were going for it!

Assembly: How it all Worked

An editorial team volunteered for the project, including author JC Cassels (who first suggested the idea) as Chief Editor, author Paula Diane Dooley as Developmental Editor, and SFR Brigade founder Laurie A. Green (that would be me) as Editor-At-Large.

A call for submissions went out. During this time, it was my job to track the submissions by title, author, word count and status as they were received. For the sake of fairness, we made a decision to judge each story on its own merits without knowing who the author was, so I would strip out all author ID information and submit the manuscript to the editorial team anonymously under an assigned submission number. As we worked through the process, I also tracked the status of each story.

As the submission deadline approached, we realized we needed to move the date back. The 2012 holidays were creating havoc for those trying to get their submissions in, so with one Mayan end-of-the-world doomsday averted, we extended the deadline another month and received several more submissions (at least two of which were included in the finished product).

Choosing which stories would be accepted was a difficult task. Each and every story had merits and pluses.

Stat-wise, we had:
20 submissions
 7 initial acceptances -- including a story by co-blogger Pippa Jay :)
 5 Rejections (generally due to lack of romantic elements)
 3 Revise and Resubmit requests for this anthology
 5 Rejections with invitations to revise and submit to a future anthology

Of the three Revise and Resubmit requests for this anthology, one chose not to resubmit. That left us with nine stories to go into the editing phase.

Original Cover

Next came a truly fun part -- the author reveal! It was like a little mini-party as stories were matched to writers, with quite a few happy surprises in the process. Only one story had been recognized immediately as the work of a particular author because of the characters; Linnea Sinclair's "Mission: Nam Selan" is a continuation of her much-loved GAMES OF COMMAND novel featuring Captain "Sass" Sebastian and Admiral Branden Kel-Paten. (BIG WOOT! Ya'll know GoC is one of my all-time favorite SFR stories and getting to read the continuing adventure was a real treat. If you're a fan too, you definitely need to grab a copy of the anthology.)

Then came a head-scratching step--developing a contract. Using templates from a variety of sources, we put together the best possible contract for a free anthology to be published by an online writers' community. We sought out some professional help on the initial draft. I have to say a big thank-you to my agent, Amanda Luedeke, for offering her insights and suggestions that we incorporated into the final version.

With contracts signed, we moved to the next stage as Paula Diane Dooley began working with authors on the editing process and a seven-member cover art selection team was organized, managed by JC Cassels and including authors Ella Drake, Jody Wallace, Cathy Pegau, Heather Massey, Melisse Aires and Jean Walker (aka author Veronica Scott). The team worked on selecting two final covers from among the eight cover submissions that went to the general membership for a vote.

And ~ voila! ~ we had cover art!

During this time, I communicated with and updated all the authors on the process through the SFRpreview email, requested Author Page information, blurbs, loglines, and drafted the About the SFR Brigade piece, and also corresponded with the chosen cover artist--Melody Simmons of Ebook Indie Covers.

Our next task was to wrangle the story order, taking into consideration the voice, setting, length and premise of each story. Each had it's own strengths and we tried to place them accordingly. We did a lot of moving and shuffling until we were all happy with the line up. It was quite a shell game!

Then...a wrench in the works. One of the authors chose to withdraw her work part-way through the editing process. That left us deciding the final line-up of the now eight stories and gave us a bit more work to do. I went back to the cover artist, Melody Simmons, asking if she'd be willing to change the cover art. Not only did she graciously agree, she had the tweaked design back to us within 24 hours and it looked awesome. She was fantastic to work with.

So now we had the final line-up of stories and authors:

• "Imprint" by Pippa Jay 
• "Allure" by Amy Laurens 
• "Nobody's Present" by Marcella Burnard 
• "The Stranger" by Kyndra Hatch 
• "Mission: Nam Selan" by Linnea Sinclair 
• "Prime Sensations" by Liana Brooks 
• "Envy's Revenge" by Berinn Rae 
• "Whiskey and Starshine" by Erica Hayes

As we moved into the final phase, we had a talented team pitch in--Brigade members and non-members alike--for the copy editing duties, including Laurel C. Kriegler who served as chief copy editor, Cary Caffrey, Patty Hammond and Danielle Cassels. You can read more about our copy editors here.

Final Phase Begins!

Chief Editor JC Cassels compiled and formatted the edited stories as they were completed, and added the About the Author, About the Editors, About the Copy Editors, and About the SFR Brigade information to complete the final project. Meanwhile, Paula Diane Dooley wrote a spot-on cover blurb:

Experience love and adventure among the stars in TALES FROM THE SFR BRIGADE, a free digital anthology of eight Science Fiction Romance stories. 

* A space captain discovers the cyborg she loves just might be her greatest enemy.

* A mind-wiped prostitute risks all when she recruits a dangerous stranger to help her escape a terrible fate.

* A prisoner-of-war confronts the comrade who loved her, then left her for dead.

* A space-obsessed physics teacher is kidnapped by a far-too-charming alien.

* An apocalypse survivor battles the biomech-enhanced hunter who seeks to capture her.

* A young artist must choose between her comfortable life on Earth or a war-torn space colony with her beloved.

* A daring thief is on the run from the alien law man who is determined to bring her to justice.

* A widowed rebel leader tries to save the last remnants of humanity, one stranger at a time.

From Earth to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, explore the worlds of Science Fiction Romance with stories from Linnea Sinclair, Marcella Burnard, Erica Hayes, Liana Brooks, Pippa Jay, Berinn Rae, Amy Laurens, and Kyndra Hatch.

Ready for Launch

With all engines a go, we looked at a release date of July 14th, but JC managed an early limited release through Smashwords as a shakedown run. A few glitches have been cleaned up and the anthology has now been submitted to these additional sites for pending release:

• Apple
• Barnes and Noble
• Diesel
• Kindle
• Kobo
• Page Foundry
• Sony

IMHO, the end result was well worth all the effort . Each and every story in this anthology is an outstanding piece of work, and there's such a wonderful variety that it's sure to offer something for every reader's taste. The shortest work is under 2,000 words and the longest is about 12,500.

Achieving Orbit

The first reviews on Tales from the SFR Brigade are starting to trickle in, and to date they're all four and five stars. Two include a book review by C. E. Kilgore and a Goodreads review from Jo of Mixed Book Bag Reviews.

The anthology has already made it into the top five of several Goodreads Listopia lists, including:

• Sci-fi Romance Anthologies
• Fantasy/UF/PNR/Sci-Fi Shorts
• Anthologies

And is climbing steadily upward on some of the big lists, like:

• Best Short Story Collections  (currently 19th out of 380 books)
• 2013 Releases  (currently 96th out of 469 books)
• Indie Authors to Watch  (currently 161st out of 1,173 books)

You can see all Goodreads Listopias containing Tales from the SFR Brigade at a glance here.

Ready to Grab Your Copy?

Please do. It's on the house! You can find it on Smashwords right now in most available formats:

Tales from the SFR Brigade

(Note: If the link doesn't work, try turning off your adult filter on Smashwords. The anthology contains adult content which is not suitable to readers under 17 and may be offensive to some adults.)

Mission Accomplished

It takes a village, or in this case, a Brigade task force. The anthology wouldn't have happened without a dedicated team determined to put out a product the Brigade--and the Science Fiction Romance community in general--could be proud of. My hat's off to Paula Diane Dooley, JC Cassels, our fabulous authors, and the entire Can-Do team who worked on this project.

Job well done, crew.

To learn more about Tales from the SFR Brigade, the authors and their other works, editors, copy editors and the SFR Brigade, please visit the Anthology Website.

You can also read JC Cassels blog about the making of Tales from the SFR Brigade here.

~~~ * ~~~

Admiral Kel-Paten Stands for Questions

Linnea Sinclair has convinced her reluctant male protagonist of GAMES OF COMMAND to submit to questions from his readership (after much arm-twisting and bribery).

The brilliant human/cyborg Triad admiral captured the imagination of many a reader, according to Linnea's favorite character survey on her Intergalactic Bar and Grille website. Is there anything you'd like to ask him about his relationship with Captain Tasha "Sass" Sebastian? About his career as a Triad officer? About his state-of-the-art ship, the much-feared Vaxxar? Or his telepathetic conversations with Tank the Furzel?

Linnea will be accepting questions for Admiral Branden Kel-Paten this week, which he will begin answering next week.

Check out Linnea's post on the Alien Romances blog for more information.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2007/09/questioning-kel-paten.html

Review: GAMES OF COMMAND

GAMES OF COMMAND
By Linnea Sinclair
Science Fiction Romance
Bantam Books

OPENING NOTES FROM REVIEWER: I try to avoid spoilers in my reviews for all potential readers. Knowing major chunks of the plot takes the fun out of the read.

So, looking at the elements…

COVER ART: I can only dream one of mine gets such a great cover. The artist is Stephen Youll. It’s got "pick me off the shelf now!" factor. Dark, other-worldly landscape. Spacecraft in blast-off mode. Competent-looking, uniformed female captain, front and center. And who is that hunk behind the female MC? ::: flips through a few pages :::: Oooh, that’s got to be Admiral Kel-Paten.

INITIAL IMPRESSION: Dialogue is used effectively as an opening hook. “You might want to sit down.” You bet I did…book in hand. I was drawn into the MCs world, feelings and situation. I understood her past, her current dilemma--and her concern about her possible futures. Or lack of one.

MAIN CHARACTERS: Captain Tasha “Lady Sass” Sebastian is intelligent, strong-willed, self-assured, and always up for a party or at least a pitcher of iced gin. I like her immediately. She’s coffee-fueled. She makes me root for her and she makes me laugh. Admiral Branden Kel-Paten is cold, calculating, angry, aloof, and impossible to read. But that’s how he’s wired, quite literally. Like, Tasha, I start out with a healthy dose of skepticism and suspicion. As I learn more about him, his past, and his present, I am thrown off balance and then won over, like she is. It takes time. He’s a difficult individual to get to know but the discoveries are more rewarding because of his complex layers. In the end, I cheer for these two. I am upset when their world—make that universe--falls apart. I need them to have a happy ending.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS: Doctor Eden Flynn is a strong enough character to be an MC in her own right, and Jace Serafino, pirate and outlaw, is equal parts worthy hero and enigmatic scoundrel. The two main female characters are close friends and conspirators. The two main male characters are often at violent odds, and I found myself on Kel-Patent’s side every time.

VILLAIN: There is no stand-out villain. It could be Kel-Paten. It could be Serafino. Or an important Triad politician. Or the Faction. Or any of a number of questionable characters. Not knowing who the real enemy is half the fun.

OTHER CHARACTERS: There is a cast of effective and memorable personas, not the least of which are two who share the adventure with, and the affection of, the MCs. They aren’t human. They’re Tank and Reilly, a fidget and a furzel. These are not silly alien sidekicks. They are very recognizable and entertaining entities who play an important role in the outcome of the story. The other various crew members, friends, and past acquaintances are also well drawn, even in brief appearances.

WORLD BUILDING: An appropriately complex array of shifting alliances and enemies, influential organizations, ancient religions, legends and a certain unknown menace called The Faction. Good descriptions of setting throughout, from the spit-and-polish corridors of Kel-Paten’s flagship, Vaxxar to the refuge of a lush forest or an orbiting “raft.”

CONFLICT: Conflict exists on almost every level, but central plot themes focus on issues of trust versus perception. The animosity between the two male leads is sometimes intense. The romantic conflict is realistic. The characters have a deep chasm separating them and no talents for bridge-building. Or do they?

ROMANCE: The sexual tension begins as a faint flicker and allows the reader to develop an emotional investment before it becomes an ion flare. It’s through the MCs sexual encounters that their paradoxes are revealed.

READABILITY: Major Snarf Factor. Shall I explain? Last summer, I started reading a best seller but couldn’t get past Chapter Six. Not because it isn’t well-plotted, intriguing or effective writing, but because I simply didn’t have the time to finish it, and no motivational Snarf cracking their proverbial whip and chanting, “Must read more!” In contrast, I picked up GAMES OF COMMAND on Tuesday night and finished it Saturday afternoon, despite three fourteen-hour days at work. I made the time to finish it. I couldn’t put it down. It was a white-knuckle “what happens next?” adventure. I was Snarf-driven. This book should have a warning label: Addicting Substance. Determined by the Surgeon General to Result in Severe Sleep Deprivation.


EVIL AUTHORS GUILD STAMP OF APPROVAL: The Evil Authors Guild exists to encourage writers to inflict appropriate amounts of terror, angst and emotional torture into their characters’ lives, and to leave them twisting in the wind at every opportunity. Enthusiastic approval.

NEAT, CATCHY LINGO:
McClellan’s Void. Just the tag elicits mystery and foreboding.
Neverwhen. Suggests a place that can’t be described in physical terms, like Anne McCaffrey’s “between” or Never Never Land.
Psy-Serv. *suppresses shudder*

SECOND READ: What fun! All the subtle hints and nuances suddenly jump off the page. Kel-Paten’s personality quirks have deeper meaning. Tasha’s offhand comments crackle with irony. Little things that seem like visual details become major icons. This one is written for a second read. Maybe a third, a fourth…and beyond.

OVERALL RATING: I don’t rate novels on a number scale. Each novel is unique and, just like sightseeing in a strange city, you learn about the literary ‘points of interest’ as you get to know the territory. This one has adventure, excitement, shiny technology, a gritty underbelly and a variety of surprises. GAMES OF COMMAND is a Las Vegas. Definitely, a Las Vegas. And just like Vegas, if you haven’t ever been there, my advice is that you should make the trip. Soon.