I first met Dianna Sanchez through the extended network of the Clarion Workshop, and was thrilled to learn her novel was coming out soon from Dreaming Robot Press, a small press located in New Mexico (where I live and where I run my small press). I had the chance to chat with both Dianna and her editor last month at Bubonicon, Albuquerque's local science fiction convention. If you're unfamiliar with the Clarion Workshop, it's a six-week intensive writing boot camp taught by some of the finest writers and editors in the field of science fiction and fantasy. It's a grueling experience of non-stop writing and critiquing, bad food, watergun fights, making lifelong friends, and questioning everything you ever thought you knew. I recommend it wholeheartedly. Dianna attended in 1995; I attended in 2014. Dianna was nice enough to talk with me today about her new novel A WITCH'S KITCHEN, her path to publication, and her Clarion workshop experience. ![]()
Sarena Ulibarri: It was great to meet you this year at Bubonicon! How was your Bubonicon experience? Had you attended it in the past?
Dianna Sanchez: Despite having grown up in Albuquerque, I had never been to Bubonicon before. I didn't find out about the existence of science fiction conventions until I'd gone off to college in Boston, and even then, I didn't attend one until after I'd graduated. It seems downright absurd that I waited this long. Bubonicon is a pleasant, small, well-run con, with some good panels. I love that the gaming room is right in the thick of things, instead of shoved into a distant corner somewhere. I could just wander in and grab a pick-up game between panels. SU: In a nutshell, what was the path from manuscript to publication for A WITCH’S KITCHEN? DS: Nov. 2013 - Started writing what I thought would be a 10-page story as a Christmas present Dec. 2013 - Three chapters later, realized it was a novel Jan. - Feb. 2014 - Took an Odyssey Online course, Powerful Dialogue in Fantastic Fiction with Jeanne Cavelos Mar. 2014 - Completed first draft Summer 2014 - Joined Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Jan. 2015 - Attended Arisia in Boston, did a pitch session with N.K. Jemison Apr. 2015 - Attended the New England SCBWI conference in Springfield, MA. Won the Pitchapalooza. May 2015 - Started up a critique group of folks I met at the conference June 2015 - Started querying the novel, exchanging manuscripts with other SCBWI authors Aug. 2015 - Dreaming Robot Press expressed serious interest. Called in my Pitchapalooza prize, an agent consult. Sept. 2015 - Began revising per DRP's developmental editor's request Fall 2015 - Took Writing MG/YA Novels with Holly Thompson, learned plot structure Nov. 2015 - Committed to completed revision by January 31st Jan. -Feb. 2016 - Took Odyssey Online course Getting the Big Picture (novel revision) with Barbara Ashford Jan. 31, 2016 - Turned in the revision Feb. 2016 - Met with Corie and Sean Weaver of Dreaming Robot Press in Albuquerque and negotiated contract. Signed a week later. Mar. 2016 - Completed final revision (v.11.5) April 2016 - DRP launched Kickstarter campaign for A Witch's Kitchen and The Demon Girl's Song by Susan Jane Bigelow. We funded the same day, in the middle of our Facebook author party. June 2016 - Got the ARCs, started pushing for reviews, readings Sept. 25, 2016 - Launch day! ![]()
SU: If you could go back in time and give young-Dianna one piece of writing advice, what would it be?
DS: Writing is not just a hobby. Writing is not less important than physics. Writing is what you love to do, and it's what you do best. Stop apologizing, to everyone else and to yourself, for spending so much time writing. Just write. SU: What’s your favorite memory from the Clarion Workshop? DS: Oh, man, that is so hard. It was such a blast from beginning to end. Was it playing Assumption (the card game from instructor Tim Powers' novel Last Call)? Watching Bruce Glassco playtest an early version of his board game Betrayal at House on the Hill? Boffer weapon battles with Lucy Snyder? Making an enchilada casserole in Chip Delany's oven? Congratulating Kelly Link on her first sale to Asimov's? Hmm... okay. I think it was shouting in the hall. We'd be up in our (totally not air conditioned) dorm rooms, pounding away on our stories, and someone would open their door and yell something like, "Hey, anyone know how long the day is on Mars?" Because it was 1995, and Google did not yet exist. AND SOMEONE WOULD KNOW. Every single time. I miss that so much, the collective gestalt of it, the marvelous feeling of being in my tribe. SU: How many stories did you write at Clarion, and what became of them? DS: I have it in my head (though my head is often wrong) that I wrote nine stories, and that this was a record at the time, promptly broken the following year. I think, though, that they were counting my submission stories, and I really only wrote seven during Clarion. And I also think that I may have actually written more and not submitted them all. I'm a quick writer; I can churn out 1000 words per hour. I learned at Clarion that some people just don't write that quickly, and we wouldn't always have three stories to critique the next day. So I took to just writing stories on the fly and then, if we didn't have enough stories, I'd pull one out. Mind you, most of them were complete and utter crap. I think that by the end of the workshop, people were ready to strangle me if I pulled out one more horrible story. Guys, I hope you've forgiven me by now. Alas, all the stories are in the Clarion archives. Only one, "A Recipe for Martian Enchiladas," eventually turned into a saleable story, "Weeds," which is appearing in the 2017 Young Explorers' Adventure Guide. SU: Do you have any readings or signings coming up? Where can readers find you? DS: I have two book launch parties coming up: Sunday, September 25, 2-3pm Remember Salem 127 Essex St., Salem MA A kid-friendly event with a costume contest, bad joke contest, and raffle! I will read from A WITCH'S KITCHEN and answer questions from the audience. THERE WILL BE COOKIES. Saturday, October 1, 7-9pm Pandemonium Books and Games 4 Pleasant St., Cambridge MA Together with my Kickstarter buddy Susan Jane Bigelow. We will read from our novels, A WITCH'S KITCHEN and her YA fantasy THE DEMON GIRL'S SONG. No word yet on whether I can bring cookies. ; ) Readers can check my web site, diannasanchez.com for more appearances, subscribe to my newsletter, and contact me on Facebook or Twitter. About the Author![]()
Dianna Sanchez is the not-so-secret identity of Jenise Aminoff, whose superpower is cooking with small children. She is an MIT alumna, graduate of the 1995 Clarion Workshop and Odyssey Online, active member of SCBWI, and former editor at New Myths magazine. Aside from 18 years as a technical and science writer, she has taught science in Boston Public Schools, developed curricula for STEM education, and taught Preschool Chef, a cooking class for children ages 3-5. A Latina geek originally from New Mexico, she now lives in the Boston area with her husband and two daughters.
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Recently, Black Mirror Press released the anthology Snowpocalpyse: Tales from the End of the World, including my story "Breath Over the Mouth of a Bottle." I asked some of the other writers in this anthology to answer a three question interview about their story, their writing, and the worst snowstorm they've ever experienced. Turns out they're all witty and well-published, and their snowstorm memories will give you the chills. My own answers are at the bottom.
S.B. McCauley, "The Snow Woman"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
Trapped in a mummified body for decades, the spirit of Yuki-onna is set free and unleashes her winter wrath upon the world. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? I live in Houston, Texas now — so snow storms don’t really happen here. However, I spent some time living in England and Virginia where I experienced some true snow. The worst snow and ice storm I can remember was when I lived in Virginia. Everything was shut down for a few days and the branches on the trees were so heavy with snow that huge branches broke and fell across our sidewalks. And the ice, which collected behind my car, was a few feet thick and couldn’t even be removed with an axe. We had to wait until it thawed to get my car out. I don’t miss the ice! 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? In addition to writing short stories, which are mostly supernatural and psychological horror, I’m working on longer works of middle grade fantasy. My current novel, entitled The Breaking, which was recently nominated for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Joan Lowry Nixon Award, is about a 12-year-old boy who has the power to break his entire world apart, but he wants nothing more than to save his non-magical family from slavery. Find S. B. McCauley Online: Website * Twitter * Facebook *Amazon * Wattpad Jennifer Loring, "The Wind Whispers, 'Witiko'"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
The disappearance of a man's unstable wife into the wilderness leads him to a legendary monster and the reason why the snow won't stop falling. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? We've had some bad ones in the nine years I've lived in Philadelphia, but one of the worst happened just after my husband returned home from a trip with his friends. He had an allergic reaction that required a hospital trip — we lived close enough to walk, but all non-essential vehicles had been banned from the streets. It was eerie to walk through the city in the middle of the day in complete silence, with everything covered in white. We had to make our own paths through knee-deep snow that seemed like it was never going to end. 3. Where can readers find you? Find Jennifer Loring Online: Website * Twitter * Facebook * Amazon Walt Socha, "Let There Be Light"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
After a technical fix to global warming fails and plunges the world into a snow-covered apocalypse, a small band of ex-NASA survivors frantically search for a solution while under the scrutiny of their dystopian overlords. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? I can’t remember any particular snowstorm, but I grew up in eastern Ohio (properly pronounced by us former natives as “Ah-hi-oh”) where several feet of snow is normal during the winter. But now-a-days, I live in the Pacific Northwest (Portland, OR) where a half-inch of snow brings civilization (and traffic) to a complete stop! 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? I’m a bit of a history buff, especially with regard to the factors that enable one civilization/culture to dominate others. In my first novel (Conflict coming out November 1st), I explore what happens when the knowledge of “guns, germs, and steel” (Yes, that is a spoiler reference to Jared Diamond’s famous non-fiction book) is introduced into 11th century North America. My elevator blurb for Conflict: While working on a dude ranch in present day Montana, Joe Kuruk saves a young girl from a club-wielding warrior. His confusion is intensified when he realizes that the girl, Alta, has crossed over from another time and place. And the only way to reunite her with her family is to cross back with her. Accompanied by a few friends, Joe crosses into Alta's world only to find her home destroyed by a savage war chief. Then the gate closes behind them. Stranded in the Eleventh Century, in the lands around the present day Susquehanna River, Joe and his band fight to create a safe home for the refugees they've gathered. And to prepare for future European contact. This is the first of a five book series. The second book, Contact, is due out February 1st, 2017. Find Walt Socha Online: Website * Twitter * Facebook * Newsletter Eddie Newton, "White"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
My short story, "White”, is about driving on an endless wintry road, tense with dread, surrounded by blizzard in every direction, when one slide of tire or slip of steering wheel can be the difference between two very different futures. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? The winter of ‘96-‘97 in Fargo, ND was like one long snowstorm, a record eight feet of fluff accumulating over the season. Every time I drove down the streets of the city, I marveled at white walls cut into caverns like alabaster trenches as tall as trees. Every time I drove anywhere, I felt like an X-wing pilot on a mission to destroy the Death Star: “Stay on target. Stay on target!” 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? If you like political thrillers check out my e-novel, American Herstory, available on Amazon. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if women ran the world? (I mean officially. I know they already REALLY run the world.) It follows a D.C. cop in 2016 as she tries to prevent the assassination of the first MAN to run for President of the United States of America. John Palisano, "All These Things We Didn't Believe"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
In "All These Things We Didn't Believe," a father must beat near impossible odds, and a nearly unbeatable trio of creatures, to find his son. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? I was very small, but in the winter of '78 my hometown of Norwalk, Connecticut had so much snow my grandfather and father and uncles made us massive tunnels through the snow drifts. I still hear echoes of their voices and our laughter. 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? Working on getting the next novel, as it always seems to be. Just released a Halloween mini-collection. Lots more coming out soon. www.johnpalisano.com DJ Tyrer, "Dead England"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
The final survivor of a nation consumed by winter is left wondering if there is anywhere to run to and, if he's alone, who's out there? 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? I remember winters as a child when the drifts were deep and the insides of the windows were covered in ice. Wonderful! 3. Where can readers find you? Find DJ Tyrer Online: Website * Facebook Matthew Shoen, "The Last Winter Buck" ![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
"The Last Winter Buck" essentially asks what if winter never ended in my hometown and what would my father do in that situation? The answer is he would stay, cut wood and make a living out of the inhospitable circumstances. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? The worst snowstorm I remember was the Ice Storm of 1998 which left my house without power for two weeks and killed 35 people. 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? Readers can find some of my published works in anthologies published by ACA Books, Sixfold Magazine, and an upcoming Cryptid anthology published by Bards and Sages Publishing. Ron Wade, Cover Designer![]()
1. Describe the SNOWPOCALYPSE cover in one sentence.
The cover is more a question than a story, what lies down that path, past the snow, beyond the trees? (The real stories of course; literally and metaphorically). 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? The worst (and best) snowstorm was the blizzard of ’78. I lived on my parent’s farm, only went to school about 5 days the entire month of February, and spent days either digging through the huge snow piles that had accumulated from clearing the LOOOONG driveway to the house or sledding the hill that fronted the house. The nights, well reading some of the stories in the book brought back memories (at least in my 14 year old imagination) of the nights. 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? I am working on a couple projects, I have another cover for Ian page set, and waiting for release, have been talking to Clint Collins [of Black Mirror Press] about a couple of projects. Aside from covers I have a line of zombie targets that just released, each zombie with their own unique backstory, and am working on motion graphic pieces that dovetail into those products. You can see what I am up to at: ourzombieapocalypse.com Sarena Ulibarri, "Breath Over the Mouth of a Bottle"![]()
1. Describe your SNOWPOCALYPSE story in one sentence.
Aliens from a snowy planet are trying to terraform Earth, and a girl trapped in a snow-buried house with her dysfunctional family is the last human holdout that might be able to stop them. 2. What's the worst snowstorm you can remember? I've spent a lot of my life in Colorado, and it used to be that they never cancelled school or shut anything down until the snowplow got stuck. (Now, well, every storm gets called a snowpocalypse.) The worst I remember was probably in the early 2000s during Spring Break, when my dad, my cousin, and I got snowed in with no power for several days. Though the characters and conflicts are different, I pulled quite directly from that experience for my Snowpocalypse story. 3. What else are you working on, and where can readers find you? You've found me! I hope you'll poke around and read some of my other blogs, and check out my other published stories and the small press I run. I'm always working on several short stories in various stages of disarray, and there's that science fiction novel I keep giving up on and coming back to. Thanks for reading these three question interviews!
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From now until September 28, 2016, you can enter to win one of three copies of STARWARD TALES, a collection of short stories, poems, and visual art retelling legends, myths, and fairy tales as science fiction. This collection, published last month, features my story "As Dust Rolls Toward the Mountain," a Cassandra retelling set in the Colorado mountains as an asteroid hits the Earth.
(What's the Cassandra myth? Read about it here.) Other contributors include Danielle Airola, Francis W. Alexander, Patrick Baker, Lana Bella, Kimberly Y. Choi, Rachel Cohen, Jennie deBie, CB Droege, Josh Gaines, Ashleigh Gauch, Bob Hilger, Andrew J Lucas, JBMulligan, John Reinhart, Nick Romeo, Monica Rose Song, Marcelle Thiébaux. Goodreads Book GiveawayStarward Talesby C.B. DroegeGiveaway ends September 28, 2016. See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
I set up this giveaway, so I'll scribble a little autograph next to my story. If you don't win (or you don't do Goodreads), the book is available on Amazon for $9.99 in paperback or only $2.99 in ebook (or free if you're on Kindle Unlimited).
Many thanks to everyone who has ever taken the time to read any of my stories. If you enjoyed any of them, leave a little note on Amazon or Goodreads so others might be able to find them, too.
Many thanks to Scott Woodward and Clint Collins of Black Mirror Press for including my story "Breath Across the Mouth of a Bottle" in their debut anthology, SNOWPOCALYPSE: TALES OF THE END OF THE WORLD. It's available now from Amazon in both ebook and paperback.
The full table of contents: "White" by Eddie Newton "The Last Winter Buck" by Matthew Shoen "The Wind Whispers, 'Witiko'" by Jennifer Loring "Dead England" by DJ Tyrer "The Snowman" by Llanwyre Laish "Snoe" by Mark Lynch "The Snow Woman" by Susan McCauley "All These Things We Didn’t Believe" by John Palisano "Thaw" by David Sakmyster "Locusts in the Snow" by Richard Barber "Breath Across the Mouth of a Bottle" by Sarena Ulibarri "Snow and Ashes" by Zoe McAuley "Let There Be Light" by Walt Socha "The Snow" by Cheryl Pearson "St. Michael’s Parish" by Nicole Shelton "A Chill Subterfuge" by Barry Rosenberg "Snow Day!" by Clint Mesle
I look forward to seeing how other writers interpreted the theme of this anthology. Here's a brief excerpt of my story, "Breath Across the Mouth of a Bottle," which is part Weird Horror, part Science Fiction.
My dad and my cousin Brooke were fighting about the thermostat just before the power went out. Rather than weather the blizzard alone, I had abandoned my apartment and come to my dad’s house, and had convinced Brooke to do the same.
And look! Black Mirror Press made this awesome creepy book trailer. Check it out:
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