I’ve signed up for several cons this year.
May 3-5 Demicon in Des Moines
May 24- 26 ConQuesT in Kansas City
June 28- 30 Soonercon in Midwest City (by OK City)
October 4-6 FenCon in Dallas…looong drive to Dallas from here but my sister Kris is going with me. Our first road trip together ever. Should be fun!

I Love Three Things About Fall.
• The gold and orange of the trees.
• Arranging my tabletop haunted Halloween village.
• Reading ghost stories by the fire.
Actually I love reading (and writing) ghost stories all year. But fall is especially fitting because the darkness gathers earlier. The cool air stills to apprehension. The fog rises to cloak the world in mystery, again.
With my collections of ghost story books from assorted states and abroad, I have plenty of ghost stories to read. Yet, I’m always looking for more—fiction or non-fiction. Today I found a wonderful fiction tome in the public library:
THE WEIRD: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and published by Tor.
Intrigued, I snatched it up and carried it home. It’s a collection of weird stories from the nineteenth, twentieth, and early twenty-first century, and it’s filled with the genre’s great authors—Bierce, du Maurier, Bradbury, Oates, and King.
In the ‘Foreweird’ Michael Moorcock explains that “There are no established rules for the weird tale, which is . . . the attraction, if the story an author wants to tell can’t readily be told in an established form.” In other words, there is no set definition for the weird genre. All the better to imagine . . . the strange and dark. . .
I’m familiar with a few of the stories in the book, but most are new to me. I’m looking forward to some good reading.
I’ll also be reading a favorite of mine this fall: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WRITING THE PARANORMAL NOVEL from publisher Dragon Moon. It’s for writers of weird fiction. I count it as a favorite not just because I contributed, but because there is useful information in it. I always learn something about the weird when I dive in to read this paranormal writing guide. I emerge inspired.
Stacking these books on the floor, I settle into my chair to savor reading about the eerie and unreal, to enjoy writing the weird and uncanny, from the safety of my fireside, and within sight of my haunted Halloween village.
So . . . Dear Readers join me in reading this fall and if you will, keep an eye open for my new weird tale: ‘The Spirited Chessboard’ soon available at Amazon and Smashwords.
Linda Madl
October 2012

The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Novels has won Gold in Foreward Magazine’s 2011 Book of the Year Award for Adult Nonfiction. Congrats! to everyone!!!

To hear Lee Killough’s podcast interview discussing her writing and her Checking On Culture chapbook,

Click HERE for Interview

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

Topeka-Shawnee County Public Library

Building Your Story

Come join Lee Killough, Linda Madl, and Sheri L. McGathy for a “how to” morning of World Building, Character Development, and a bit of Show vs Tell. Lee will give you the foundation for crafting your world while Linda will discuss the how to’s of character development. Sheri will explain the differences of showing verses telling in your work. Finally, you’ll get a chance to put it all together.

Then, Saturday afternoon, Lee, Linda, and Sheri will present readings from their various works, and discussion various writing techniques from The Complete Guide to Writing Paranormal Novels.

My e-books Blood Hunt and Bloodlinks now have new covers.

Sheri has a new interview up here. Hope you have time to surf on over!

May the magic always brighten your world
Author and Freelance Cover Artist
http://www.sherimcgathy.com

Linda Madl is teaching summer writing classes at UFM Learning Center in Manhattan, KS starting June 3rd. She will teach a session on stimulating creativity one week, developing characters the second week, and plotting your novel on the third week. Go to www.tryufm.com for information and to enroll.

Linda Madl, Barbara Baldwin, Lee Killough and Sheri L. McGathy will be presenting the program:

 All About Bumps in the Night and Other Frights

on October 24, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. at the Johnson County Library

Spring Hill Branch

109 S Webster Sttreet

Spring Hill, KS  66083

 They will be reading excerpts from Trespassing Time and Killer Karma as well as discussing theories and ideas that inspired their tales. There will be a question and answer session after the presentation where they will answer questions about their writing and talk more about ghosts.