I’m thrilled to announce that I have finally secured a literary agent—Paula Munier at Talcott Notch Literary Agency. Paula has over twenty years of experience in the business and has been a real pleasure to talk to as we discussed my second novel, the neo-noir, transgressive thriller Disintegration.

I can’t explain how exciting it is to talk to an agent who understands my  work—my voice, the settings, the plot—and can see a place for this novel (and other projects down the road) at major publishing houses. So not only do we want to land a big press, but we have also been talking about film rights and foreign book sales as well.

Keep your eyes and ears open, and I hope to have more great news for you all real soon. Thank you all for your support, everyone who has read and critiqued and supported this book, Disintegration, as well as all of my writer friends who have been so instrumental in helping me to get my work published. My success is contingent of a tight-knit community of writers, friends and family, and I’m happy to welcome Paula into my  literary family.

And, now my sixth column is live up at Lit Reactor. It’s about how to get an agent. Now, I don’t HAVE an agent, so keep that in mind, but I’ve gotten very close, and I’m very familiar with the process. Heck, if you have any new ideas, let me know. It’s a slow, painful process and the odds are against you, but it’s certainly possible. Let me know what you think.

Several years ago, in the middle of my MFA program, I decided to experiment with form. I’d just seen the movie Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa, and thought to myself that you could write one hell of a good story if you told four perspectives on a lost evening out in the Indiana dunes. “Dyer” is the result. Special thanks for David Cranmer and Beat to a Pulp for taking this story. I’m honored to be up on the site and in such good company, alongside authors like David James Keaton, Frank Bill, Matthew C. Funk, Cameron Ashley, Hilary Davidson, Chris F. Holm, Dave Zeltserman, and John Hornor Jacobs.

Thank you Richard, for hosting me today on my tour. We are coming down to the wire, and I would like thank EVERYONE for being a part of this tour. You all have been wonderful and amazing, and I couldn’t be happier with the tour results. That being said, welcome back to all who are returning, and hello and thank you for stopping by to the first timers. For those who don’t know me, my name is Beth Ann Masarik. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Richard through Otherworld Publications. I’ve been following and reading about your successes, Richard, and I have to say that it is an honor and true pleasure to be a guest on your blog today!

Richard asked me:

Who are the top ten authors that have influenced me the most, and why?

To be perfectly honest, this was a very difficult question for me to answer. I mean, to come up with a top ten? I could come up with a top five easy peasey, but a top ten was quite difficult. What was even more difficult was coming up with a reason WHY each of these authors have influenced me. Now, without further ado, I give you my list. I am going to start from #10 and work my way up to the author who has had the most influence on me. If you are listed on here, and are toward the “bottom” of the list, please keep in mind that it’s not so much as where you are on the list, as it’s the fact that you’ve influenced me at all that should be the focus. I put you on this list because I regard you highly in some way or another.

10) Stephenie Meyer. I know what you’re thinking, “Beth, how could you put her here? What has she ever done for you?” I’ll tell you what she’s done for me…she’s helped me realize that I wanted to write a novel BETTER than hers. She’s helped me realize that I don’t like vampires that sparkle. She’s also helped me realize that I don’t like “Mary-Sue” type characters.

9) Bilinda Ni Siodicain. Her writing is fantastic, and she is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about the writing field. We met through Twitter, and she is always one of the first people to point me in the right direction if I’m doing something wrong, or if I don’t know what I’m doing. I am very grateful for her help, support, and advice!

8) Adam Wright. He is another very influential person, for the same reasons as Bilinda. I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know Adam through Twitter, and am also grateful for his advice and support with my career as an author.

7) Cambria Hebert. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Cambria through our publisher, Otherworld Publications. She signed with them shortly after I did, and wow! She is one amazing person. She makes me want to be a better author, and her books are AMAZING!

6) Erin Danzer. Aka my “twin.” This woman and I are so much alike, it’s not even funny. She is an amazing writer, and the world’s best cheerleader. I honestly don’t know how she manages being a full-time mom, her other job, AND being a writer. I know she always says she wants to be like me, but in reality, I want to be like HER!

5) Stacia Kane. While I have not read any of her books, Stacia is one awesome person. I love following her tweets, and I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing her for one of the first few issues of Literary Lunes Magazine. I love how open and honest she is.

4) L.J. Smith. I absolutely LOVE her books, especially her Nightworld Series. I love the way she writes, and how detailed oriented she is.

3) Richelle Mead. She is just an all-around great person and very talented author. I am always amazed at how whenever she releases a new book, it always seems to make the NY Times best sellers list right away. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting her twice at two of her book signings, and she was just lovely. I actually met Erin Danzer through a thread on Richelle’s facebook wall.

2) J.K. Rowling. I know, I know. You saw this one coming didn’t you? She’s the author that made me realize that I actually wanted to get back into writing books, and gave me the drive to write the first draft of The World Among Us. I think she is very talented, and I hope someday to be as famous as she is.

And last, but certainly not least my number 1 is Lynn Calvert. Not only is she the most influential, but she is someone that I aspire to be like. She’s patient, and a self-starter. You have to be in order to be successful in this field. I seem to be following in her footsteps, sometimes not even meaning to be. I am happy to be a part of the Otherworld Publications family, even with some of the bumps we’ve had. It’s been a great experience, and am thankful to have Lynn to help guide me with opening up my own company.

Well, there you have it folks! That’s my top ten list. Please feel free to weigh in and comment on some of these authors. I am curious to what you all have to say!

Now, I am giving away some pretty epic things today. So please take a look, and I hope you will enter the contest J. A winner will be announced over the weekend.

THE GIVEAWAY & SCAVENGER HUNT:

I am offering:

An ebook of The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness
A bookmark
An autographed poster
A pin

THE SCAVENGER HUNT:

The last time I had you tell me who your favorite character was in any mythology legend. Now, I want you to FIND ME A PICTURE of your favorite character/god/creature in any mythology legend. Please send your entries to contests@bethannmasarik.com by February 29. If you do, you will be entered to win a gift pack valued at about $100 dollars. This prize pack included: an autographed copy of The World Among Us: Prince of Darkness by me and the illustrator, a never before seen picture of Selene & Damien, a totebag, a personalized mug, & a keychain, plus the stuff listed above. Pretty sweet huh? The winner of the scavenger hunt will be announced on March 4^th. GOOD LUCK!

About The World Among Us:

In The World Among Us, Hades, the god of the Underworld, plots to take over the world, and remove Gaia, the head Deity, from power. In order to do so, he plots against his own son, Damien, and cons him into killing his soul mate, the beautiful goddess of the moon, Selene. Hades does so, because Gaia is his natural enemy, and Selene is her favorite grandchild. He thinks that by killing off Gaia’s favorite grandchild, he will weaken her. With Selene out of the way, Hades then moves in on the Creatures of the Night. He wants to kill off their leader, Jason Aysel. Jason is the go-between person between worlds, and another person that Gaia highly regards. Hades manipulates and cons Jason’s best friend, Leon Greene, into murdering him, by offering him Jason’s position as his reward. Because of these actions, a war is to take place on earth between the gods and other Creatures of the Night. During this time, Selene is reincarnated, and kept hidden as a secret weapon to win the war against Hades. In order to win the war of wars, the gods and some of the demons will have to fight together, and learn to co-operate with each other. Will the Titans and Olympians be able to set aside their differences, and take back the world from Hades? Or is the world as we know it, doomed to fall under Dark Shadows, forever?

To learn more about Beth Ann Masarik and her books, please visit her website which is www.bethannmasarik.com or her blog which is www.bahbammymusings.wordpress.com for more info on Literary Lunes Magazine & Literary Lunes Publications, please go to, www.literarylunes.com and www.literarylunespublications.com

Thank you all for stopping by!

I know you all are just waiting for me to release my schedule for the exciting 2012 Chicago AWP. So, here you go. Tentative, of course.

Wednesday, 2/29
8:00 pm   Kick-Off Party @ The Empty Bottle (1035 N. Western Ave.)
Readings by xTx, Jesus Angel Garcia, Ben Tanzer , Mary Miller, Lindsay Hunter, Sam Pink, Amber Sparks. Live music from Guided by Voices vocalist Robert Pollard.

Thursday, 3/1
8:00 pm    The Wrong Kind of Reading @ The Galway Arms (2442 N. Clark St.)
Plots with Guns. Readings by Anthony Neal Smith, Kyle Minor, Seth Harwood, etc.

Friday, 3/2
7:00 pm   Beautiful, Words @ Beauty Bar (1444 W. Chicago)
Sponsored by The Nervous Breakdown, Bookslut, Dzanc Books, Curbside Splendor et. al. Live music by Rob Roberge.

Saturday, 3/3
9 am Hilton S104. Midwest Gothic: Dark Fiction of the Heartland (Dan Chaon)
10:30 am Palmer S143. Vampire by Vampire: Genre Writing and the Creative Writing Workshop (Alissa Nutting)
12-3 Lunch and bookfair
3 pm Palmer S215. Men from Venus, Women from Mars: Writing from the Perspective of the Opposite Sex (Kyle Minor)
3 pm Hilton S195. An MFA, huh? What Are You Going to Do With That?
4:30 pm Hilton S233. The Art of the Short Story Collection. (Richard Bausch, Laura van den Berg)

6:00 pm   Ear Eater #13: The Impossible, The Extraordinary @ Beef & Brandy (127 S. State St.)
Readings by Amelia Gray, Kevin Sampsell et. al.

SEE YOU THERE!

“The Paperhanger” is one of my favorite stories ever. If you haven’t read his work, do so now. We’ve lost a good one today. I’m very sad. My friend Heather Foster just went to a reading and signing he did, and he had a little stroke, but was okay. He signed a few of my books. I was hoping to meet him some day. Sigh.

When I first read the article by Travis Kurowksi at Luna Park Review, I thought to myself, well, that’s not going to change any time soon. Then I realized that I had a story nominated by Metazen (an online publication) for my story “Twenty Reasons to Stay and One to Leave,” and suddenly I was outraged. Typical, yeah? The more I sat with the information the more I wondered why the Pushcarts, an organization that I thought was at the cutting edge of publishing, founded by many edgy, ahead of their time authors, would turn away from writing that was online? Why does the means of delivery lessen the quality of the writing? (HINT: It doesn’t). I hope that the Pushcarts are paying attention and don’t limit their nominations to those that are at established print journals, even though they are small. There are plenty of small websites and online journals that have talented authors gracing their pages.

Steven Woods, for “Billy.”

Nik Korpon for “Gold Teeth.”

Alex Mattingly for “Marbles.”

Mimi Brooks for “Out Like A Lion.”

Richard Thomas for “Jimmy Five Ways.”

My story “Jimmy Five Ways” was one of the winners at Punchnel’s fiction contest. My good friend Nik Korpon was also a winner! All five of the stories and winners will have their work up live next week. So keep an eye out.

]]> http://whatdoesnotkillme.com/2012/02/04/punchnels/feed/ 0 wickerkat http://whatdoesnotkillme.com/2012/02/01/nowtrends_ktg_tnb/ http://whatdoesnotkillme.com/2012/02/01/nowtrends_ktg_tnb/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:11:40 +0000 Richard Thomas http://whatdoesnotkillme.com/?p=1411 ]]>
My review of Karl Taro Greenfeld’s NowTrends is now up at The Nervous Breakdown. Great stuff. He’s known as a non-fiction author, but he writes fiction too, very well published—The Paris Review, The Missouri Review, BASS, O. Henry, etc. And KTG is one hell of a nice guy, too. I ran across his work in a few copies of TMR and TPR and posted up something at HTMLGiant one day about something, can’t remember what, but he dropped me an email to say that he agreed with my POV and we started chatting. Loved these stories.

Also, I’m a big fan of Hobart‘s Short Flight / Long Drive books. I’ve read many of them, and they’ve all been great.

And, now my fourth column is live up at Lit Reactor. It’s all about how to navigate Duotrope.com, one of the best sites going for doing research on magazines, journals, websites and publishers, for tracking your submissions, and for staying on top of all of your literary pursuits. I could not do what I do without these guys. And if you can, when you get a few extra bucks in your Paypal account, send it on over to these guys to help them out. If you write short stories, especially, and don’t use these guys, you could really get a lot out of this column. And, heck, even if you already use Duotrope, maybe I’ll point out something new.