A Symphony for the Stars by Harkalé Linaï

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Happy New Year! May 2017 be filled with happiness, health, and fun. We look forward to serving you the best in science fiction and fantasy in 2017 and beyond! We have a lot of plans for this year so stay tuned.

May barbarians stand their ground

Barbarian Chick by Maciej Kuciara.

and your SciFi be out of this world.

Hellcats by Col. Price

Love . . . Peace . . . and Good Will to All

Offworlders Publishing wishes everyone a fantastic 2016!

May you and your loved ones maintain their health, find success in all their ventures, live a stress-free life full of happiness, and above all consume as much Sci-Fi as possible!

Image titled “Transmissions in Bloom” by Canadian Artist and Software Engineer Cnids.

Looking for some unique drinks for your New Year’s Eve Party? Are you a Sci-Fi / Mass Effect Fan? Why not serve some drinks developed to match the unique personality traits of Mass Effect’s Band of Brothers? The good folks at Save Game put out a list of drinks a few year’s back that continues to fuel the Bioware faithful. Here is the drink I plan to make on New Year’s Eve:

Recipe for Eternity – Morinth

1 oz Tequila (the older the better)
1/2 oz Hpnotiq
1/3 oz Parfait Amour
Fill with Pineapple Juice

“Look into my eyes and tell me you want me. Tell me you’d kill for me. Anything I want.” ~Morinth

OK, so I am not much of a drinker these days, so I don’t imagine I will drink more than a few! The motto for this drink is “Embrace Eternity and risk never waking up again.” I do plan on waking up the next day so easy does it! Check out the complete list of Mass Effect themed drinks here: Save Game’s Mass Effect Squadmate cocktails: The best drinks this side of the Citadel.

The only complaint in the comments section was the lack of a recipe for the Krogan drink Ryncol, and no drink for the character Joker. I did not locate a Joker cocktail, but here is one I unearthed for Ryncol on The Drunken Moogle:

Recipe for Ryncol:
1 oz absinthe
1 oz grain alcohol
1 dash blue curacao

Methinks I will stay clear of this one! The Drunken Moogle links to the video below to illustrate what happened to Shepard when he slammed a shot of the booze that purportedly will “set off radiological alarms after you drink it.” Ryncol makes its appearance towards the end of the clip so you need to hang in there to witness the impact. The Moogle attaches the following warning to the drink: “Warning: DON’T take this drink lightly. It is extremely potent, just as in the game. As always, be responsible when consuming alcohol, especially this cocktail.”

Have You taken the NaNoWriMo Plunge?

For the first time, I have embarked on the National Novel Writing Month challenge where all participating writers strive to pump out 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. That’s approximately 1600 words per day. On this sixth day of this double dog dare of dares, I can tell you that this is no easy task. How did I get messed up in all this? I point the blame squarely on the shoulders of Chuck Wendig. Yup, it’s all his fault! Why you ask? I stumbled upon his blog post “Why you Should do Nanowrimo… and Why you Shouldn’t.”

The post starts with a graphic that slaps you in the face with these words:

Stop Talking About Writing
Stop Reading About Writing
Stop Dreaming About Writing

The Thing That Defines a Writer
Is that the Writer Writes.

If you are one of those peeps like me that constantly talks, reads, and dreams about writing that stings like a flint-tipped spear jabbed in the gut. Nothing one couldn’t stagger back to the cave and patch up with some moss and banana leaves, but the hole is there and blood is oozing out of it.

The reasons Chuck lists as to why you should undertake the NaNoRimo challenge are right on track. I can already feel the discipline in my writing building. I love when Chuck describes the process as “geared explicitly toward finishing your shit, and finishing your shit is about the only single piece of writing advice you can really, genuinely count on to be true.” Booyah. It’s so true. Plus, if you get really good at the craft you may get an invitation to Harlan Ellison’s love ranch. There are details on that little bitty in Mr. Wendig’s post.

Chuck points out that if you plan to make money with your writing you will be expected to produce a lot of content quickly. Believe me, produce content is exactly what you must do to make it through NaNoWriMo. Today was a good day for me. I cranked out 2019 words and had a fun time to boot. I have already noticed that if you force yourself to write it actually gets easier. How so ye say? Well, for me I have noticed that the more I write the more situations I setup that keep the writing rolling along. Last night I ended with my characters in a military ready room. The command staff was laying out their plans to stop a planetary invasion by an extraterrestrial force. That made today both fun and easy. I got to plan and implement the rescue of an entire planet full of folks. I am not often put in charge of such things.

Another aspect of the Nano experience that’s is extremely helpful is the whole becoming one with the rough draft thang. Writers in Nano are not expected to produce polished novels at the end of 30 days. What’s expected is that you will produce a rough draft of 50 thousand some odd words that will then be polished up into a beautiful thing. In other words, you will never finish that novel unless you first hack out a rough draft. Are you like me and constantly revising as you write? That’s me to a tee and I find it difficult to finish projects – especially novel-length ones.

And besides, as Chuck says:

“Time isn’t going to wait for you and you’re going to die someday so, fuck it. Write now. Not later. You might be dead in December. Maybe the world will blow up. But that story inside you? It’s ready now. So, fire up the ol’ wordithopter and fly yourself to the distant land of Bookopolis.”

Ok – I will get off my soapbox now. My ten-hour shift slaving away in my home office is complete. There is a rumor around these parts that I have a wife and children, and a tuxedo cat roaming the halls. I am going to go reconnoiter and see if there is any truth behind those statements.

Are you in Nano? Would love to hear about your experience so far!

Cheers!

PS – and Thanks, Chuck!

Offworlders First Fan Art:

Ok. I have to disclose the fact that our first fan art was produced by my daughter. I don’t usually share such stuff as it’s akin to sitting down at a neighbor’s house to watch 20+ hours of home movies, but this image was just too cool not to share! Click the picture to see full size.

In the main window of the spaceship is me and my daughter holding hands and looking out the portal. Of course, I am wearing my Mass Effect N7 spacesuit. In the upper right sits a rather large beastly alien on the “Good Guys Planet” holding a sign that says “Go Offwolders.” Mom is pictured on planet Earth yelling “Don’t get Hurt” to the crew of the spaceship “Sci-Fi Buddys Offworlders.”

Fantasy Author Dina Given:

My name is Dina Given, author of “Unhidden, The Gatekeeper Chronicles” (Book #1). “Unhidden” is my first novel – a fast-paced, high-action urban fantasy with a healthy dose of horror and romance.

I discovered Fantasy books when I was about 10 years old. My mother went to the library and brought home for me “A Spell for Chameleon” by Piers Anthony. I was immediately hooked and never looked back.

I voraciously devoured everything by authors such as Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks and Raymond E. Feist. I would draw massive maps of these fantastical worlds and hang them on my bedroom walls, alongside my sketches of mythical creatures. When I was in college, I even wrote my honors thesis on Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.”

Then I entered corporate America, got married and had two kids, and my reading fell off significantly. A few years ago my sisters discovered the world of self-publishing and started a blog supporting independent romance authors. Romance wasn’t really my thing, but I wanted to be involved in the blog, so I gravitated toward indie Paranormal Romance, and it re-sparked my love for the Fantasy genr.

It also renewed my life-long desire to try writing a novel myself. Thinking about the old adage of “write what you would want to read,” I developed an idea for a high-action urban fantasy novel influenced by Jim Butcher’s “The Dresden Files” and Larry Correia’s “Monster Hunters International.” I wanted to write a book that played like a fast-paced movie with supernatural battles, car chases, monsters and magic, not to mention a dollop of steamy romance.

I like strong, sarcastic heroines and the H-O-T men who love them. I also like stories with complicated characters who aren’t all good or all evil, but an interesting combination of both.  My passion for over-the-top action also shines through pretty clearly in my writing.

I live in rural New Jersey – home of farms, horses and the largest hot air balloon festival in North America – with my husband, two crazy kids (my son is 9 and my daughter is 7), one rescue dog and the occasional foster dog. I am an exercise enthusiast and avid lover of food and wine (hence the need to exercise). I also work full time for one of the largest healthcare companies in the world. With varying degrees of success, I manage to juggle family, work, volunteering and writing due to my obsessive, hyper-focused, Type A personality.

The novel is available here: Unhidden – The Gatekeeper Chronicles Book 1

I hope you decide to take a chance on a new author, and enjoy the wild ride.

~ Dina Given

John Bess from Indiana Wins:

From the looks of John’s Facebook timeline, he could use his experience in nuclear engineering to join the renegade crew of Serenity, a “Firefly-class” spaceship as an engineer. John’s name was chosen at random to win the Offworlders Firefly Yahtzee Giveaway. Congratulations! When perusing the winners FB timeline I was happy to see a wall post featuring a Serenity Custom LEGO kit, and a graphic image of the spacecraft Serenity. Made my little sci-fi heart go pitter-patter knowing the YAHTZEE Serenity game was going to a good home!

If you did not win never fear – we will be giving away another in March. Check back often for details or join our mail list to be notified via email when we start the giveaway.

Zoe: “First rule of battle, little one … don’t ever let them know where you are.”
Mal: “WHOO-HOO! I’M RIGHT HERE! I’M RIGHT HERE! YOU WANT SOME O’ ME?! YEAH YOU DO! COME ON! COME ON! AAAAAH! Whoo-hoo!”
Zoe: “‘Course, there’re other schools of thought.”

New Year Wishes and Offworlders Site News:

Offworlders Publishing wishes you peace, happiness, prosperity and of course a whole lot of Science Fiction in 2015. We have a lot planned for the New Year and hope you will join us as we grow and expand our offering of high-quality fiction.

We are working on adapting the site design to include the Fantasy Genre. This is something we have been working for some time now and should be online soon. We will soon open the online portal to authors of fantasy fiction. Often there is often an overlap so this move just plain makes sense. Stay tuned for further details.

Another area we are concentrating on is recruiting authors to sell their material on Offworlders. To this end we will be opening the site up to more countries to increase the pool of available authors. Recommendations are welcome! If you know an author that would be a good fit to sell their material on Offworlders send them to this link for further information: Sell Your Science Fiction on Offworlders Publishing.

Vendors can now list eBooks for sale on a pre-order basis so you can now pre-purchase books scheduled to be released within 30 days. This will give our vendors some flexibility and make sure you are first in line for new releases.

Lastly, don’t forget about our Offworlders Firefly Yahtzee Giveaway. We are conducting a random drawing on January 9th, 2015 so there is still time to enter. Full details here: Firefly Yahtzee Giveaway.

Have a great 2015!

Photo Credit: “Sail Away”
by L.E. Spry is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Image resized and cropped to fit required size.

YAHTZEE – Firefly Collectors Edition Giveaway:

The instant I stumbled across the Firefly Collectors Edition of YAHTZEE online I bought it! I am a huge fan of the Firefly tv show that lasted a mere eleven episodes. Firefly is definitely near the top of my list of the top ten tv programs that were cancelled too soon! Still mad about the cancellation of Firefly and Farscape for that matter, but let’s not go there! I purchased the game with the full intent of giving it away on the site to promote Offworlders. So without further adieu, here is how you can enter for your chance of winning this tricked out version of YAHTZEE.

No purchase is necessary to enter or win.

How to Enter:

Join our Mail list below to enter the sweepstakes and hear about future promotions and blog posts via email:

Open to individual U.S. residents aged 18 and older only; void where prohibited.

Summary of sweepstakes rules:

As mentioned above, no purchase is necessary to enter or win. One winner will be selected from a random drawing from among valid entries on January 9th, 2015. Employees or Vendors of Offworlders.Com, and their affiliated companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and the immediate family and household members of each are ineligible. There will be only 1 winner. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. You can enter the contest only once. The winner will be notified via a status update on the Offworlders FaceBook page and an announcement here on the Offworlders website. The winner must then provide Offworlders with their full legal name, age, country, street address, and phone number to verify eligibility and to allow Offworlders to ship you the giveaway. If you are the winner use our Contact Form to securely send this information: Contact Offworlders. The cash value of the prize is approximately $50.00.

For complete giveaway rules click here: Offworlders Firefly Yahtzee Giveaway Complete Rules

Want to see better pictures of the giveaway prize? The game is produced by USAopoly and their site has excellent pictures and full details on the product. Click HERE to view the Firefly Yahtzee specifications.

Good Luck!

Firefly Quote:
Zoe: “First rule of battle, little one … don’t ever let them know where you are.”
Mal: “WHOO-HOO! I’M RIGHT HERE! I’M RIGHT HERE! YOU WANT SOME O’ ME?! YEAH YOU DO! COME ON! COME ON! AAAAAH! Whoo-hoo!”
Zoe: “‘Course, there’re other schools of thought.”

Happy N7 Day from Offworlders Publishing

Mass Effect is a third person science fiction shooter developed by the Canadian company Bioware. More than just a shooter, the Mass Effect trilogy of games is a work of art that is sure to please all science fans that want to do more than just passively engage with Sci-Fi.

N-What Day? Glad you asked that! N7 Day is an annual celebration for Mass Effect’s main character Shepard whose rank in the Alliance military was N7, hence the November 7th day of celebration.

Mass Effect is great because the game is immersive and really gives the player a taste of what it’s like to actually be inside a science fiction novel. Playing as Commander Shepard in the Mass Effect Trilogy created by Bioware pulls you into the game and places you right into the middle of the action. I don’t play a lot of computer games, but when I do, I play Mass Effect and probably always will. The game is that good. The character arcs are beautifully done, so much so you genuinely care about the characters that fight and die with you in game. One night in particular I will remember up until the day I wander off into the dark lands and leave Terra. I made a bad decision that caused one of my team to commit suicide. I went to bed that night and was unable to sleep. This game will rattle your nerves and make you cry. Incredible storytelling.

Again, Happy N7 Day!

Need more? Click the image below to view the N7 Day Developer Roundtable that aired today from Edmonton and Montreal, Canada.

Oh yes – who is Venus Shepard? Venus is my current play through FemShep that’s total bad ass Renegade to the core. You don’t want to make her mad. Trust me on that.

Some Days are Just That Good:

On Monday, I was shocked and delighted when I opened a new Twitter follower notification and found that it was from none other than Virginia Hey! My head still hurts from smacking it on the ceiling when I instantly went airborne after taking in the fantabulous news. The wife had to tether me to the ground lest I float away and disappear off into the stratosphere! Now, before you think that I am implying that Virginia and I are pals, that is not the case. I am just a fan. Indeed, I read on her twitter stream that she makes it a practice to follow everyone who follows her. Still, even knowing that I feel pretty darn special. I absolutely love everything I have seen her in and her credits are extensive: Farscape of course, Home and Away TV series, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, the Bond flick The Living Daylights, and much more. Check out her full list of credits on IMDB.

If the apocalypse is forced upon us earthlings, I will hole up and hunker down in a doomsday shelter. Before I seal the blast door, I will make sure to grab the complete Farscape series. Happily spending my last days on earth watching Zhaan, Crichton, Aeryn Sun and the others until the power ran out and I plunge into darkness.

Holy sweet mother of god, did I say that Virginia Hey followed me on Twitter?

Ok, I will try to calm down now and get back to work!

Photo Credit: “Farscape, the message among others.”
by Esoman Graphics is licensed  under CC BY 2.0
Image resized and combined with image listed below.

Photo Credit: “Virginia Hey – Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan aus Farscape”
by Esoman Graphics is licensed  under CC BY 2.0
Image resized and combined with image listed above.