Category Archives: The Slipstream Con

May 6, 2015

Peripheral People Countdown – Ylendrian A-Z – V

By Reesa

V is for…

Vanya Serafine-Reyes – A bounty hunter and sworn agent of the Ylendrian Empire, Vanya is a former “event planner”. She is married to Tal Serafine-Reyes, also a bounty hunter.  She has a fondness for sleep, coffee, and people who make her life difficult.  Featured in: The Slipstream Con 

PrizePack

Today’s Peripheral Passphrase Letter is: H

Welcome to the countdown to Peripheral People!  Every day until our release date (May 11, 2015), we’ll be giving you a glimpse into our universe, the Ylendrian Empire.  And every post will include a new letter in our scavenger hunt/word jumble contest.  Catch the new letter each day, unscramble the words, and start submitting your contest entries on May 10, 2015 to be entered in a random drawing for the Ridiculously Cool(er) Ylendrian Prize Pack, which includes all of these prizes:

One (1) Slipstream Laboratories lunch cooler- a lovely powder blue insulated bag, proudly emblazoned with the Slipstream Laboratories corporate philosophy: Ethical Dilemmas Are Only a Problem If You Have Ethics

One (1) e-book of your choice from our backlist

One (1) $10 (US or equivalent currency) gift certificate to one of the following bookstores: Riptide Publishing, Amazon.com (or .country for non-US residents), or Barnes & Noble.com (Winner’s choice)

One (1) signed, full-wrap cover print of the cover art for Peripheral People, by the amazing Simone

Contest submissions open May 10, 2015 through May 24, 2015.  Winner to be announced May 25, 2015.  Contest open to US and non-US residents.  Shipping for physical items will be paid by the authors; any duties or taxes due upon delivery are the responsibility of the prize winner.  Winner will be notified via email, as well as announced on this blog and various social media outlets.  Eligible entries must contain the correctly descrambled phrase, contact name, and valid email address.  Winner will be chosen via random number generator.

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Contests, Peripheral People, The Slipstream Con, Ylendrian Empire

April 16, 2015

Peripheral People Countdown – Ylendrian A-Z – B

By Reesa

B is for…

Bounty hunters– What do Corwin Menivie and Westley Tavera disagree on? The usefulness of bounty hunters!  Corwin’s dislike has a more professional motivation:  they interfere with official IEC business.  West’s approval stems from more personal, rather, well, intimate reasons. But maybe that was just one particular bounty hunter…

In the law enforcement and legal structure of the Empire, bounty hunters have a bit more legitimacy than Corwin gives them credit for.  Space, we’re given to understand, is really, really big, and there simply aren’t enough imperial and local officers to track down every criminal.  When a warrant is first issued for someone’s arrest, the hunt is usually handled by law enforcement, but if they can’t be found quickly the warrant is opened to licensed bounty hunters, who have more flexibility to follow trails across the stars.

Today’s Peripheral Passphrase Letter is: T

 

Welcome to the countdown to Peripheral People!  Every day until our release date (May 11, 2015), we’ll be giving you a glimpse into our universe, the Ylendrian Empire.  And every post will include a new letter in our scavenger hunt/word jumble contest.  Catch the new letter each day, unscramble the words, and start submitting your contest entries on May 10, 2015 to be entered in a random drawing for the Ridiculously Cool(er) Ylendrian Prize Pack, which includes all of these prizes:

One (1) Slipstream Laboratories lunch cooler- a lovely powder blue insulated bag, proudly emblazoned with the Slipstream Laboratories corporate philosophy: Ethical Dilemmas Are Only a Problem If You Have Ethics

One (1) e-book of your choice from our backlist

One (1) $10 (US or equivalent currency) gift certificate to one of the following bookstores: Riptide Publishing, Amazon.com (or .country for non-US residents), or Barnes & Noble.com (Winner’s choice)

One (1) signed, full-wrap cover print of the cover art for Peripheral People, by the amazing Simone

Contest submissions open May 10, 2015 through May 24, 2015.  Winner to be announced May 25, 2015.  Contest open to US and non-US residents.  Shipping for physical items will be paid by the authors; any duties or taxes due upon delivery are the responsibility of the prize winner.  Winner will be notified via email, as well as announced on this blog and various social media outlets.  Eligible entries must contain the correctly descrambled phrase, contact name, and valid email address.  Winner will be chosen via random number generator.

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Contests, The Slipstream Con, Ylendrian Empire

November 22, 2013

Want and Need

By Reesa

Here’s what I need to write:

Inside Job the sequel to The Slipstream Con. It’s coming. Eventually.

Jessup’s Run #2 which doesn’t have a title yet. Because it took me 3 years to come up with Afterdust, the title of the first book.

Shadowsmend because it’s going to be GLORIOUS, and it’s eating my brain.

 

Here’s what my brain has been stuck on, nonstop for the past two days:

Born Losers a prequel to In Discretion that I probably couldn’t even sell. I can picture every scene, I can feel the desperation of the characters. I can hear the music playing in the club, and smell the alcohol.

 

My brain doesn’t play fair.

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in In Discretion, Jessup's Run, Reesa, Reesa Rambles About Writing, The Slipstream Con, Ylendrian Empire

December 8, 2012

Samhain Publishing – Rainbow Award Winner Sale!

By Reesa

If you enter the code RAINBOWAWARDS at checkout until Fri. 12/14, you’ll get 30% off Samhain’s Rainbow Award winners, including The Slipstream Con! (The top winning book, btw. 😉

Samhain Rainbow Award Winners
http://www.samhainpublishing.com/2012/12/2012-rainbow-award-winners/

Leave a comment | posted in Announcements, The Slipstream Con, Ylendrian Empire

December 3, 2012

Rainbow Award Winner – The Slipstream Con!

By Reesa

Imagine our surprise on Saturday evening, when we received an email out of the blue from one of our editors, telling us we’d just won a Rainbow Book Award.  Second place in the Best Bi/Trans Science Fiction and Fantasy category!

Hint: It involved us staring at each other for a few minutes in shock, then losing a large portion of the evening to jumping up and down, calling our respective Mom’s, and celebratory lattes. (Hi, Mom!)

So imagine getting home from the Starbucks run, caramel brulee latte’s held high to toast, and finding out we’d won a second category!  Queue more stunned silence, followed by noises that made our cats very, very worried.  (And another call to my Mom. Hi, Mom!)

Say hello to the 2012 Best Bi/Trans Debut Novel – The Slipstream Con!

 

After finally getting ourselves back to a pitch that could be heard by human beings, we decided to do what Good Authors should- namely, get back to work editing the next book in the series.  It was a grand plan.  A fine plan.  It would have worked, too, if it weren’t for those pesky kids- the same ones who awarded us a third Rainbow Award – the completely unexpected, and incredibly flattering Best Bi/Trans Novel of 2012!  We took second place in this category, and we couldn’t be more proud to be chosen.

Thank you to Elisa Rolle, the judges, all our fine and worthy competitors and compatriots, and of course, to our amazing readers.  Knowing what a talented pool of authors we were up against, we didn’t even expect to make the final cut.  We’re so honoured, and we look forward to getting the next book in the Ylendrian Empire series out there to be enjoyed.  (And probably pasting that lovely award banner all over our desks for a few weeks!)

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Announcements, Awards, Michelle, Reesa, The Slipstream Con, Ylendrian Empire

July 27, 2012

Random Ylendrian Facts

By Reesa

In The Slipstream Con, when Kellen is injured, he sings a song about a seal lord and a human bride.  Tal and Vanya don’t recognize the song, but if they did, they’d be able to trace it back to Kellen’s homeworld- a bit of information Kellen hasn’t shared with anyone since he left it.

If you’re wondering where the inspiration for the song came from, take a listen to Heather Dale’s “The Maiden and the Selkie”.  (And pick up her album The Green Knight, which is fabulous.)

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Chatter, Reesa, The Slipstream Con, Writing

April 19, 2012

Appearance – Balticon 46, May 25-28, 2012

By Reesa

Hey! Look at me, remembering to tell people things while there is still time to plan for them!

Michelle and I will be appearing at Balitcon 46, Memorial Day weekend (May 25-28, 2012) in Baltimore, MD.

We don’t have our full panel schedule yet, but we do know for sure that on Sunday evening, from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., you can join us in Parlor 1041 for the Cupcakes and Con Men party, to celebrate the paperback release of The Slipstream Con. We’ll be plastering wanted posters and party details all over the various nooks and crannies of the hotel, but you can firmly state that you heard it here first. Please stop by for free cupcakes, party games, and frivolity of a Ylendrian bent. We will have paperback copies of The Slipstream Con for sale at the event, and would be thrilled (giddy, perhaps, given the amount of sugar we intend to have on offer!) to personalize a copy to send home with you.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Announcements, Appearances, The Slipstream Con

April 18, 2012

What We’re Working On Wednesday

By Reesa

A project list- we have one!  It’s been tweaked and edited, and appears roughly in order of current priorities, though that could change at any moment, and the fact that solo projects appear at the bottom doesn’t indicate that they rank lower than co-written stories.

Michelle and Reesa

Novel-length:

Peripheral People (Ylendrian Empire #3) – We’re currently re-reading with fresh eyes, incorporating a lot of feedback from our awesome pre-reader group, and knocking this one back into shape.

A War for Ghosts (Ylendrian Empire #4) – Lewis Jacquard has a fast ship, a charmed life, and a missing chunk of his youth, lost to indiscretions unbecoming the heir to the largest media conglomerate in the Empire. He’s also got a lover who talks to ghosts, and a wayward wife who’d like to string him up by something he’s rather fond of.  Still, nothing he can’t handle, until his past starts unraveling, leaving him fighting in the remains of a war he doesn’t remember volunteering for.

Novella/Short-story:

Gifts Too Fine – Ylendrian Empire short story/novella – Kellen Frey is about to come up against a problem he can’t charm his way out of: a visit to the in-laws. Thank goodness Heston Gruin is willing to step in and distract him with a job, even if it’s not one he wants anything to do with.

Far From the Tree – Ylendrian Empire short story/novella – Post-Peripheral People, Inspector Corwin Menivie is called home to Kaleia, where between the family who disowned him, the “help” of Agent Westley Shears, and the restrictive society that doesn’t play by Imperial rules, he finds the murder of an anthropologist is about the least of his problems.

With Knives – Vanya Reyes never knew her father, at least until an argument with her mother sent her marching for his doorstep.  He’s not the most welcoming of long-lost parents, but he’s willing to help her find a place in the Imperial Court.  When she falls in love with the Imperial Princess, Vanya’s betting that’s not the position he had in mind.

Changing of the Guard – Sometimes, the battle keeps going long after the last shot is fired.  Tal Serafine isn’t sure he wants to be the one pulling the trigger anymore.

Michelle:

Who Remembers? – Journalists putting together a book about America’s abandoned places stumble across one with a personal connection neither of them is expecting, and their only hope might be a reclusive innkeeper.

Reesa:

Not Actually the Title Of This Story (Jessup’s Run #1) – Post-apocalyptic fringe rebels trying to save their friend from a disease must use their hidden, mutated powers to infiltrate the corporate city that offers their only hope of salvation.  Caution: Contains murderous mutant river otters, a lack of speed limits, one little girl who swears too much, and the crazy notion of a future worth fighting for.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Jessup's Run, Peripheral People, The Slipstream Con, What We're Working On Wednesday, Writing, Ylendrian Empire

March 14, 2012

WIP Wednesday – The Groove, and getting back to it.

By Reesa

Currently in the project shuffle:

The story no title will stick to, my little post-apocalyptic baby, now toddling towards its final round of disasters, weaving in ends while I knit another pattern repeat.  I have missed this book, even though our love affair has matured out of the stage where we only want to spend time with one another.

We’re plotting and pacing and poking the fourth Ylendrian Empire book, which, as it happens, was actually the first Ylendrian Empire book, once upon a time in the dimdarkpast.  The Spacers will return, better than ever- now with context, class warfare, and echoes of a past we hadn’t created yet, back when they first introduced themselves.

Peripheral People, the third Ylendrian Empire book, is in the hands of our terrific editor, who should be giving us news one way or the other in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, we’re writing a short story set after the events in the book, because that’s how we roll.

And speaking of short stories, or really, novellas, our last (current) WIP is a daring little holiday rampage featuring Tal, Kellen, and Vanya.  Sometimes finding the gift isn’t actually as hard as giving it to someone- especially when you wake up naked and alone in the middle of the black, and find they’ve gone missing.

Finally, on a more grounded, mundane note, there will be a series of website updates happening soon, none of which should cause any trouble, but you can never tell with these things.  If you have any trouble with either the blog or the Ylendrian Empire site this weekend, keep calm and carry off anything of value- we’ll be up and running again shortly.

Leave a comment | posted in Peripheral People, The Slipstream Con, What We're Working On Wednesday, Writing, Ylendrian Empire