When Dreams Become Reality

Almost one year to the day after I started this blog, my first book was published today. This is a life long dream come to pass. I can't begin to express what it means to me to officially announce that The Ravens Crossing, Season One: The 13 is now available on Smashwords. Published by Thursday & Co., this is an anthology of the first season of our young adult, science fiction online series. I have been so proud to be a part of this project with friends and fellow authors Andi Lea and West Thornhill. This is a new kind of reading experience. For those of you who have not been following The Ravens Crossing online, here is the book description.

Wildwood may look like a normal, trendy neighborhood along the bank of the Iowa River, a place where equality is the norm, and everyone takes community seriously. But, the Crossing in front of Wildwood High School, where Wildwood Avenue meets Ravens Road, is more than just the heart of the neighborhood. Those who call Wildwood their home are protecting more secrets than anyone would ever suspect. When 13 students entering their junior year of high school at WHS begin to uncover the truth, even those who have lived in Wildwood their entire lives will be shocked.

Lucas, Riley, Morgan, Holly, Kaz, Quinn, Darci, Elliot, Sharon, Alex, Raiden, Hemp, and Tetsuya become involved in a world of danger, while trying to navigate the social scene of teenage life. The 13 uncover what is happening in the Grove, where passing the next test involves more than reading a textbook. Find out who is secretly crushing, who is bold enough to confess, who isn’t ready to commit, and what everyone will have to do to protect Wildwood. Join 13 students as they discover the importance of trust and what it truly means to have power.

The Ravens Crossing (TRC) is a LGBTQ and Straight Ally friendly project. TRC is a continuity story, told through daily short fiction segments, involving multiple authors, characters, and points of view. This is the complete anthology of Season One, compiled from TRC website. Season Two began in August 2012.

I hope you'll head on over to Smashwords to download your copy of The Ravens Crossing, Season One. Then, be sure to catch up on Season Two online weekly at www.thereavenscrossing.org.

The Ravens Crossing Season 1 Finale

Today, my final story of season 1 posted at The Ravens Crossing. When I saw that story post on the website, I felt this unexpected welling of emotions. So many, I'm not sure I can actually name or describe them. Mostly, I feel so proud of this project and all we've accomplished, because it started as a dream among friends and college alums. We wanted to do something new and different, and we wanted that something to be important, to be about making a difference for young adults. To see that we actually turned that dream into a reality, and to think about all of the love, sweat, and tears everyone who worked on the project poured into it, well I guess it completely overwhelmed me for a moment.

Anyway, if you have not read the stories, you can read The 13: Season 1 for free over at The Ravens Crossing. You should probably start with the First Time Here page. It will explain more about the project, why it's different, and what it was intended to do. Each story on the sight is intended to stand alone, but they all work together, as well. And as the weeks progressed, my stories for Morgan & Holly and Sharon & Alex became more intertwined, so that my two stories will actually become one novel. If you have only been reading one and not the other, you might want to go look at them both. Next season, I am going to continue working them as one story, because its what the story needs. But, please take my advice, if you have not been reading all the other stories in the order they are posted, you are really missing out. It's a fantastic, fun, science fiction world we've created about 13 very diverse characters. I highly recommend reading it all.

The anthology will also be available in stores soon. And, because we wanted to make a difference, a portion of the proceeds from The Ravens Crossing 13: Season 1 anthology will go to the Make It Safe Project. This is a project started by a young woman named Amelia who wanted to help youth in the LGBTQIA community feel safe. It provides books on gender identity and sexual orientation to schools that lack the resources to provide these materials to their students. Now, I'm off to continue working on season 2. And, in case you are wondering what will happen on TRC over the next three weeks, something fun will continue to post every day of the week. So, don't go far. You won't want to miss out.

Natural Niceness and The Big Bang Finish

So, it's been a little bit strange around here lately. Power outages that have lasted over a week for some, super storms with weird names, temps in the triple digits daily. But, what sticks with me isn't so much the trauma, it's the amazing things I saw people do for each other. Really lovely things. People turned their homes into shelters. I stayed at one of them for a couple of days, myself. Many thanks to Andi Lea, best friend and saver of overheated writers and village teens alike. We all pitched in and bought food, shared blankets and pillows, and helped keep each other sane and cool in a house often filled with a dozen or more people at a time.

Strangers chatted around the coffee pots at the only three gas stations open in our city. They offered help and advice. Which roads were safe, which were impassable. They bought food, fuel, and coffee for people they'd never met and would never see again. A man who lives nearby offered to make generators for folks for free if they would provide their own lawn mowers, an alternator and a couple of affordable parts from the local hardware store. Said hardware store stayed open despite lack of power and had employees lead the customers from the door to the items they needed with flash lights. It's been amazing, and though I won't say wonderful to live through, certainly something I won't soon forget. If only we could be this nice to each other without the natural disasters. Then, we'd be cooking with gas. 

Anyway, today I am thrilled to report that not only am I typing this from my fully powered home, complete with plenty of a/c and temps which are in the seventies for the first time in weeks, but my Season 1 Finale is up over at The Ravens Crossing for Morgan & Holly. Finales are posting all this week for all of our 13 characters. Don't miss out! Go read. It's definitely a Big Bang Finish to our first season. We hope it will be one of many. Thanks to all of you readers, and volunteers who have supported us. Thanks most of all to my co-collaborators, West Thornhill and Andi Lea. I'm looking forward to Season 2 with you lovely ladies and many more antics together.

Oooh, and I shouldn't forget to share a look at our 13: Book One cover for TRC. So pretty! The anthology for Season 1 will be available in stores soon. Head on over to The Ravens Crossing. You can catch up on all of Season 1 starting here. 

All My People: For Morgan & Holly

Today Morgan & Holly's week 17 story has posted at The Ravens Crossing. I can't beleive it's already been seventeen weeks. Time really does fly when you are having fun, and this project truly has been a blast. I've turned out some of my best writing to date, and helped two other authors create a whole universe, too. You would not believe the behind the scenes Wiki on this thing.

Anyway, since it's also Pride week in DC and Pride month all over he world, I thought I'd post one of my favorite Glee moments in honor of my ladies. Here are Brittany and Santana and the Glee cast performing Me Against the Music, a fantastic remake of the Britney Spears and Madonna video. It even comes complete with Spanish captions, in case you want to go bilingual.

The Ravens Crossing is a young adult, science fiction/fantasy adventure. And it's completely free. So, make the jump. If it's your first time, you can check out this page, or hit the story button to begin with the week 1 stories. It's a ton of fun.

And the Winner Is....

The Hop Against Homophobia has come to an end. Thanks again to all those who particpated and to all the organizers who made it happen. Also, many thanks to all of you who stopped by and left messages of support and encouragment. As fate - and the randomizer- would have it, I am extremely excited to announce that the winner of JCP's new book Mnevermind: Persistence of Memory is none other than...

Erica Pike! Congratulations Erica!!!

I will be in touch shortly, Erica. Hope you all have a fantastic Monday. And, if you are jonesing for a good read, there's always a new YA sci-fi fantasy story going up at The Ravens Crossing. Head on over and check it out. It's free, it's fun, and it's all about diversity!