Iiiiiiiitttttt's Heeeeeereeee!

Hey folks! Wicked Initiations has landed!

Pick up your copy at:

Amazon.com

Amazon.ca

The Book Depository



"Wicked Initiations is a book that shows a craftsman's touch. The characters are wonderfully realized and develop throughout the story in a setting that is both strange and familiar at the same time. The plot twists and turns and kept me spellbound. I was sorry to see it end."

~ Michell Plested, GET PUBLISHED Podcast.


“Wicked Initiations is an original take on vampire mythology, plucked from a magical desert that will bewitch you and make you one of its own.”

~Emerian Rich, author of NIGHT'S KNIGHTS


"Jennifer Rahn is not only gifted with a wonderful imagination, but also a great talent for writing about the worlds that teem within that imagination."

~Mike Bennett, UNDERWOOD & FLINCH Podcast.


"Jennifer Rahn has created a unique fantastic word full of complex magic and environments, and has let loose interesting characters to follow through this world."

~Karl Johanson, Editor of NEO-OPSIS Science Fiction Magazine


“Smart and well-written, Wicked Initiations, is deliciously dark and totally captivating. I was hooked. A daring and vibrant new voice on the female literary frontier, Jennifer Rahn demonstrates a solid talent for conjuring up fully realized characters and detailed worlds. She’s a writer to watch.”

~Nathalie Mallet, author of THE PRINCES OF THE GOLDEN CAGE
and THE KING'S DAUGHTERS


"[Jennifer Rahn is] one sick puppy."

~Barb Galler-Smith, author of DRUIDS

Con-Version 25

My membership badge. Idn't it gonna look cool hanging from my lab coat?-------------------------------------------------------------->



One of the reasons I was happy to move to Calgary (aside from landing an awesome postdoc position) was the constant activity in the writers' community, especially for SF & F. Calgary is home to IFWA (the Imaginitive Fiction Writers' Association), EDGE Science Fiction & Fantasy, and for a time my own publisher, Dragon Moon Press (a partner of EDGE). Each August, the Calgary Science Fiction and Fantasy Society hosts Con-Version, which as you may have surmised from the title of this posting, is now in it's 25th year.

This year, the theme of the convention was SteamPunk, which as you can imagine, brought out some very intricate costumes, and was also heavily geared towards the craft of writing. The guests of honour included Tanya Huff (Blood Books), Terry Brooks (Sword of Shannara), and Robert J. Sawyer (Neanderthal Parallax).

I'm not familiar with Tanya Huff's work, but was encouraged to see that a writer as prolific as she is has a book out from EDGE, which will also be releasing one by Dave Duncan (The Alchemist's Code). One can't help but be encouraged by seeing one's own publisher going up in the ranks!

Robert J. Sawyer has always been a prolific speaker and teacher, and this year he really impressed me with what I consider to be as great a contribution to Canadian speculative writing as his own works: the way he encourages and nurtures others. In one of his Saturday morning panels, he bolstered the confidence of many budding authors by pointing out in the audience all the new/undiscovered talents sitting there; he knew them all by name and could easily recite their successes from memory. The message was that all of us could make it happen.

He also confirmed something I've been futilely insisting on for years. According to him, too much detail can detract from a story. In his words, the more you over-direct, the less interactive the reading experience is. For example, if a woman is described as beautiful, the reader will fill in his own image of that beauty. If the author gets carried away with the detail, the reader may not find those details in line with his or her own ideals and the impression is ruined. (Thank you!!!)

It was also quite the thrill to actually see Terry Brooks in person - how many of us went nuts over the Shannara series in junior high?

As for us little people, I was very happy to read for the first time in public, an excerpt from my upcoming novel (from Dragon Moon Press), Wicked Initiations. I had a small audience, but considering I'm relatively unknown, it was very encouraging that some complete strangers showed up. When I was done, I received the best compliment I've ever gotten in my life, when Barb Galler-Smith (Druids) said to me, "Jen, you are one sick puppy!" (That was exactly the reaction I was going for!)

My friend Tim Reynolds (Stand Up and Succeed) started off Sunday morning with "Your Con-Version wake-up with Bongo Boy Tim Reynolds: Performance Reading and Live Recording of The Cynglish Beat". Immediately after that, we sat on a panel with childrens' author Simon Rose (The Heretic's Tomb), where we discussed "Promoting your work in the 21st century".

I was also pleased to see several Canuck writers, including Nathalie Mallet (The King's Daughters), Hayden Trenholm (Steel Whispers), Lynda Williams (Okal Rel Universe) and up-and-coming novelist and podcaster Michell Plested.

If all goes well, next year should be even more interesting. I'm hoping to have 4 or 5 things out to promote, so keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!

D'Amour Road -- Sigrid Macdonald

D'Amour Road
Sigrid Macdonald
Lulu Enterprises, Inc. 2005
ISBN 1-4116-2872-1
$17.00 USD

This is an important book. Emotionally, it's not an easy read, as it stirs up several complicated emotions at once: fear of violence, fear of being unacceptable, fear of losing something one has yet to even grasp, fear of being alone after shedding an uncomfortable, yet familiar existence. All this, served up with a side order of harsh reality and a dash of denial.

As I read this book, the details of the everyday life of an ordinary woman had the effect of placing me firmly in the main character's shoes. Tara Richards is inherently known by every woman who has gotten up in the morning and looked in the mirror. Her unremarkable life was contrasted with the abrasive pain of having maybe lost a close friend in the worst way possible, and the confounding mental haze that comes with not actually knowing. It's a strange experience, reaching for normalcy, trying to deal with the mundane, while something so shocking has happened that it pokes holes in a person's integrity, letting so many emotions slowly bleed out, perhaps leading to actions a person might not normally have undertook, and ultimately to recoiling from the inevitable slap of reality when the consequences of those actions comes.

As I read about Tara Richards' struggle to find her missing, and possibly murdered best friend, I wondered if enough had been done. Or if Tara had hesitated for too long. Or if Tara had failed because she had tried to promote fairness at the expense of pure instinct. Or if she had been selfish, allowing herself to be distracted from her crusade by things that might have been the manifestations of denial. Yet after reading the novel, it's fully apparent that without being psychic, there was not much else she could have done.

In the epilogue, the author makes a few statements that helped my mind settle after I had finished the story:

"This book is not a mystery; it is not a whodunit. It is a story about what people experience when they go through the shock of losing someone, and the helplessness, rage, and fear that they feel knowing that they may never see that person again . . . How do we maintain the presumption of innocence without putting ourselves in danger by bonding with a killer?"

The book is dedicated to Louise Ellis, murdered April 1995.

Book Signing #2

(I just love the sign in the background.)

Well, this time it wasn't so exciting. I took the C-Train downtown to the lower level Coles store in the T.D. Square shopping complex, and spent and extended lunch hour there, watching the world go by. Once again, the store manager and staff were very nice, professional, polite people, and I thank them for having me.

While I did get to meet several interesting folks, many of them writers themselves, nobody seemed to be in a buying mood. It was still a nice session, and I swapped a few myspace addys with fellow wordsmiths.

Here are transcripts (as I remember them) of a couple interesting conversations I had:

Cute little 4 year old girl: "Hi!"
Me: "Hi. How are you?"
Cutie: "I'm fine. What are you doing?"
Me: "I'm signing books."
Cutie: "Can I have one?" (Mother calling her away.)
Me: "Well, how about I give you a bookmark?"
Cutie: "Thanks!" (She runs off, bookmark held aloft in triumph. Mother relieved.)

For the record, I gave her the Alaindra bookmark, which was the least creepy one I had.

Chinese Gentleman: "You wrote this book?"
Me: "Yes. I did."
CG: "You?"
Me: "Yes. It was me."
CG: "You are Jennifer? How do you say your last name? Ruan?"
Me: "It's Rahn."
CG: "Ah?"
Me: "My Dad is German. It's a German name."
CG: "How is that?"
Me: "My Mum is Chinese."
CG: "Ooooohhhh. Now you make sense!"

And that was my lunchtime adventure.

My First Book Signing!

I started today off with a coffee-bag-related injury. How, Jen, you may ask, does one sustain a coffee-bag-related injury? Unfortunately, I can't tell you since I was half asleep when I did it, and I don't actually know. A coffee can would make sense, but somehow I managed this with a half empty bag. The only reason this is of note, is because it happened on the index finger of my right hand, almost exactly where my finger might rest on the paper when I am writing. For a time there, I was afraid all my books would be signed in blood. Well, that was the only unpleasant thing that happened today, thank goodness.

I spent the afternoon at Chapters in Calgary's Chinook Centre. I have to say, the staff and manager there were fantastic. They are all, without exception, nice, helpful people. My thanks go out to them for being so great.

I was somewhat worried that no one would talk to me, however, within half an hour of being there a gentleman called Layton asked me to sign a book! My hand was shaking so much I made the worst signature I've ever done in my life, and misspelled "reading". (As in "happy reading!") I was surprised and encouraged that most of the people who were interested in the book were my age or more, when I was expecting more the early university crowd. I do hope they won't be disappointed. I also had a few conversations with people who were in the business and wanted to know what my publishing experience was like. On two separate occasions, a little girl came by and snatched up a copy and asked her parents to buy it. Of course one look at the cover, and their parents said "no". One of them pleaded, "but the skeletons are cool!" I signed six books in all, which is nowhere near comparable to J.K. Rowling, but amazingly good for me. The manager of the store told me that was pretty much average for a new author. The last book I signed was bought by a fellow named Doug (who's already emailed me to ask about the book!) and the session ended on a positive note.

The questions I got asked most frequently were if the book was part of a series and if it was any good. It had occurred to me that morning to print up a copy of the reviews I had from other authors, since the book was virtually unknown, so those came in handy for letting people know what some other readers thought.

And of course, I have to give a big thank you to my friends Laura and Mary who came out to give me some support.

The Longevity Thesis Video

Well, let's try this again. Here is the updated video. The old one was pulled because of some issues that needed to be resolved. I apologise to all the very nice people who so quickly left me comments, but I've gone and deleted them. Please repost! (If you are so inclined.)

So here's the final vid, and I would like to thank all the people involved in making it for their patience and kind support.

The Longevity Thesis

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