Two Events and a Trip

I have a book signing in Monument, CO this evening, and tomorrow afternoon, I will be at the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show in Colorado Springs. For details, go to the Appearances page of my website.

Then, on Saturday, I'll be traveling to Orlando, FL with my husband for a week to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, I won't be responding to emails next week! When I return, I expect to find an edited manuscript of my The Epsilon Eridani Alternative novella waiting for me, so I'll be plunging right back into work.

An Interview on "Murder by 4"

Marta Stephens recently interviewed me and posted the result on her blog, "Murder by 4", yesterday. Here's the link: http://murderby4.blogspot.com/

She got me talking about my new book, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, that will be released in May, 2009, so stop by for a sneak preview!

A New Publishing Contract!

I'm very pleased to announce that I have signed a contract with Virtual Tales to publish my science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, in ebook, eserial, and paperback formats. This novella won an Honorable Mention in 2003 from the prestigious science fiction novella contest run by Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) in Barcelona, Spain, with prizes of up to 6,000 Euros for SF novellas written in one of three languages, English, Spanish, or Catalan. My novella was one of two written in English that made it to the top ten entries that year and the only one from the USA.

After basking in the glow of that contest placement, I began the very, very long process of trying to find a publisher for it. Novellas are a very difficult size of manuscript to get published, I soon discovered. 25,000 words was too long for most science fiction magazines, and it's too short to interest a traditional book publisher. After considerable research, though, I found a variety of print magazine, ezine, anthology, and traditional and electronic book publishers whose submittal guidelines matched the novella's genre and length. Almost all of them forbade simultaneous submissions, so that meant submitting to one publisher at a time and waiting months to hear from each one.

The rejections started piling up, then in 2006 an electronic publisher accepted the manuscript and said a contract would be on the way. I waited, and waited, and the contract never came. I sent emails and got no response. I called the editor, who said they'd get back to me, twice. Nothing. Finally I had to give up on that publisher and start submitting again. That publisher is still in business, so I don't know what happened to my manuscript. Maybe they changed their minds and decided not to publish The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, but I wish they'd come right out and told me. Anyway, after finally amassing nineteen rejections (yes, that acceptance became a rejection in my list), Virtual Tales accepted the manuscript and sent a contract, which I signed at the end of August.

After five long years, I will finally see The Epsilon Eridani Alternative published. I'm very excited and looking forward to working with the editor and other staff at Virtual Tales. Here's their website: http://virtualtales.com/

A New Review for A REAL BASKET CASE

I'm a member of the Goodreads social network, where you can keep track of books you read, discuss and review them and share recommendations. Courtney Clift just posted a nice review of A REAL BASKET CASE there, to join some other nice reviews from amateur reviewers who are just plain mystery readers like you and me. Here's the link to see all the reviews at Goodreads, including Courtney's:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/923993.A_Real_Basket_Case

A Storm and Two Interviews

First, I want to send hugs and prayers to all my friends and acquaintances who are experiencing the effects of Gustav. I hope you are all safe and, if you are not at home, that you will be back in your homes soon.

Next, I wanted to let everyone know about two interviews with me that have been posted online in the last few weeks. The first was conducted by Lorie Ham for her "No Name Cafe" over a year ago, and she finally posted it a month ago. I think Lorie had quite a backlog of interviews and was stringing out the posting of them, which was fine with me. She did post the review of A REAL BASKET CASE done by her reviewer, Cindy Chow, right away (look at the bottom of the page listing the reviews). Lorie got me talking about other genres I've tried to write besides mysteries, my favorite acceptance stories, themes in my writing, and advice to aspiring authors, among other topics. Reading over the interview, just about everything there is still timely and right on, except my children are a year older. Here's the link:

http://www.lorieham.com/groundwater.html

The second interview was posted last week on Suspense Magazine's website and was conducted by John Raab with me in July. He got me talking about my biggest inspiration, what kind of music I enjoy, and what I like to do for fun, among other topics. You'll probably be surprised by my answer to the question, "If you could solve any mystery for yourself, what would it be?" ;) Here's the link:

http://www.suspensemagazine.com/bethgroundwater.html

I hope you enjoy both interviews with me and will take a look at the other author interviews available at both websites.

Heading to the mountains--with manuscripts

Today I drove up to Breckenridge with my husband and son for an extended five-day Labor Day weekend. Unfortunately, it won't be all fun. I brought two manuscripts with me. One is a mystery short story anthology that I promised to blurb. The second is the copy edited manuscript for TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET. Finally! I'm excited to read about Claire's Breckenridge adventure again--in Breckenridge. I've almost forgotten how the story goes. :)

I will have some fun up here, though, in between reading. There's hiking, shopping, eating out, and a rubber ducky race. Can't miss that!

Living up to my Bio

I recently posted about my poem, "Ride the Wind," appearing in RUBBER SIDE DOWN, The Biker Poetry Anthology, edited by Jose Gouveia ("JoeGo"). I received my author copies of the anthology a few days ago, and apparently JoeGo thought the bio I sent him for the anthology was too tame, so he made up one of his own for me:

"Beth Groundwater is SCUBA certified, learning tai chi, and has visited Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and the Galapagos Islands. visit Beth's website at www.bethgroundwater.com."

Not a single thing in this bio is true, except for my website address. It looks like I'll have to get cracking to live up to my bio! Now where's that tai chi video my husband ordered years ago...?

Here's what I sent:

"Beth Groundwater is not currently a biker, but learning to ride a motorcycle is on her "Things to Do Before I Die" list along with getting a SCUBA certificate, learning tai chi, and visiting Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and the Galapagos Islands. She has accomplished at least two things on her list, publish a poem (this one) and publish a novel. Her debut mystery, A REAL BASKET CASE, was released in March, 2007 to good reviews and was nominated for a 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award. The large-print edition was released in January, 2008, and the sequel, TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, will be released in May, 2009. Please visit Beth's website at www.bethgroundwater.com."

After looking at the photos of some of the other poets in the anthology and reading their bios, I think Joe didn't want to admit that one of the poems was written by a non-biker! My local writing friends have been offering rides and the use of leather jackets and other accesories for any signings I do in the area. I'm thinking I'll have to straddle a cycle one day soon, too. :)