by Jason Fischer | Feb 12, 2013 | Pimping
No matter what I do with this writing thing, I like to have fun with it. Some of you may know that I have a new book “Quiver” available here. As a commercial artist it is of course in my best interests to promote my own product, but there’s nothing worse than spamming all and sundry with “BUY MY BOOK”.
With that in mind, I’ve taken a different tack. The protagonist of my book is a teenage girl, and as such she is by default all over the social networking. So if you’d like to chat to Tamsyn Webb, she is now on Twitter and Facebook! She is known to respond to readers with her usual sass and dry wit.
http://twitter.com/tamsynwebb
http://www.facebook.com/tamsyn.webb.9
One thing that backfired on me, er, I mean her. She is of course 17 years old, which means that Facebook won’t allow her profile to be completely public. So just friend away, friendo. You can then hear all about her adventures, and how the lack of chocolate is starting to get to her.
by Jason Fischer | Dec 14, 2012 | Pimping
I’m a massive fan of “easter eggs“, meaning when intentional hidden messages, inside jokes, motifs and homages are hidden inside other works. That, plus my love of puns and other word bastardry, means I have included several easter eggs within my new novel “Quiver”.
Here are just a few that keen-eyed readers might spot:
- Throughout the story the characters encounter several boats – these all start with the same letter.
- I’m a fan of the UK series “Shameless”, and I’ve included many riffs that pay homage to this show. Character names, several references to Manchester (a brief mention of a community of survivors, a moment where Tamsyn wears a Man-U scarf etc) and others that fans might spot.
- Going against the threads and tropes of postapocalyptic fiction, everyone in a position of legitimate civilian authority is female. The only male community leader found in “Quiver” is the Mayor of Gravesend, and his rule is FAR from legitimate. Most of the military leaders are male, and the polished war machine of today is rapidly devolving into barbarism. This is a very deliberate homage to one of my favourite postapocalyptic books, “The Gate to Women’s Country” by Sheri S. Tepper.
- Most of the villainous military officers that Tamsyn encounters have surnames starting with the same letter.
- References to other postapocalyptic or dystopian works such as “Lord of the Flies”. There’s the deliberate inclusion of a cat for Tamsyn as an antonym to the Harlan Ellison classic “A Boy and His Dog”.
- Finally, while I’ve reined in my natural instinct to pun, there are at least two whoppers that I can think of that made it to the final version.
- EDIT: Also, the titles of the original novellas attached to the After the World project were all puns riffing on place names, death, and whatever Tamsyn was doing at the time. These are (in chronological order) Gravesend, Corpus Christi, Army Corpse, and Better Red than Undead. Hint for the last one: Cuba.
I’ve gotta say, this book was a lot of fun to write. If you’d like to nab yourself a copy, head over to the official website tamsynwebb.com. You can order the book in hard-copy, or get an e-book through either Smashwords or for the Kindle. By all accounts it’s selling well – I’m one proud and excited author!
by Jason Fischer | Dec 9, 2012 | Announcement, Pimping
Hi folks,
Well, it’s all official-like. My first full-length novel “Quiver” is now officially on sale, and available both in hard-copy and as an e-book. Publisher Baden Kirgan at Black House Comics has put together a stunning new website for the book, the aptly titled:
This, for the uninitiated, is the name of my tough-as-nails protagonist. The girl with the dead-eye aim, putting arrows into zombie brains. This book has been a long time coming, and it actually took a few years to get to this point. Starting off as four connected novellas (from the “After the World” series), I’ve done my best to tie these together into one coherent novel, in the grand SF tradition of “fix-up” novels. This should be appearing in book-stores soon, and there’ll hopefully be an official launch of “Quiver” at some point in the near future.
Huge thanks to those who helped me with the behind the scenes work on this story (especially Jason Franks), and big kudos to Baden Kirgan and Julie Ditrich at Black House Comics – they’ve moved mountains to get this thing going.
If you like zombies with your YA, and if you’ve enjoyed books such as The Hunger Games and the Passage, “Quiver” might just be the book for you. Tell your friends, and I’d count it as a personal favour if you added the following nifty banner thing to your blogs and such:
http://www.tamsynwebb.com/#!promote/c14vf
Finally, I’m going to also be releasing this book as a Scott Sigler style podcast/audio-book…more details soon!
by Jason Fischer | Nov 29, 2012 | Pimping
Hi folks! Like many other writers, I’ve been tagged in the Next Big Thing meme (by three separate people on the same day, so I think the idea has hit critical mass and is about to collapse on itself like the Greek economy trying a pyramid scheme with Monopoly money). I’d like to use the opportunity to briefly plug my new book “Quiver”, which goes on sale on the 10th of December.
1) What is the working title of your next book?
My next book is called “Quiver”, and is actually a fix-up novel repurposed from four connected novellas, with plenty of new material and reworked to form one complete story. Two of these novellas have previously been published in the “After the World” magazine line – Gravesend and Corpus Christi. “Quiver” is the chance for me to wrap up the entire story in one volume, and I’m really excited to see it about to hit the shelves/ebook stores.
2) Where did the idea come from for the book?
I originally wrote these novellas as part of the Black House Comics “After the World” series, a set of pulp horror books that saw wide distribution in Australian newsagents in about 2009. When I was first pitching ideas for the project, I wanted to do some sort of gonzo Mad Max style piece set in Australia, but other authors had already written pieces set down under. I was advised by editor Baden Kirgan to look further afield, perhaps the US or England. One of my coworkers (an expat Pom) suggested the location of Gravesend, Kent, and the name was too perfect not to work. Baden gave me some story elements required for the overall plot, and over the course of the next few novellas we came up with a story that I’m proud to put my name to. I gave the world Tamsyn Webb – a broken teenager, a sass-mouth who is a dead-eye shot with her bow.
3) What genre does your book fall under?
Here’s some key words: Young adult, zombie, post-apocalypse, horror.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?
I reckon Rose Byrne would do a great job as Tamsyn Webb. Um, the bloke with the face scars from Gladiator would do a good job as Simon Dawes. I’d like to put Macauley Caulkin in there somewhere, but he doesn’t really fit with any of my characters – I just want to see him in a zombie film. And I would let all my friends cameo as zombies. Me, I’d be zombie #528 – Office corpse chewing on severed forearm.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
“Quiver” is the story of growing up in a world that wants you dead.
6) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
“Quiver” is the first prose novel to be published by Black House Comics, who are known for publishing a diverse range of Australian comics. BHC ran a great fiction series from 2009 called “After the World”, so it’s great to see them taking on prose works and giving them the same care as the comic lines. I really get the feeling that this is a labour of love for editor and publisher Baden Kirgan, who has given plenty of local storytellers a way to get heard over the past few years (and hopefully many more).
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
It actually took a couple of years to write the whole story, and some elements of it have already seen print so this included revisions, edits, bouncing ideas between colleagues and Baden at BHC. Working in between other projects, I always found myself coming back to Tamsyn Webb’s story, so I think I was always working on it, even subconsciously.
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I’d like to think it holds up to the Hunger Games books, the Passage, and hopefully classics like the Stand.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
As above, Gravesend was originally my plan B, but it’s amazing where secondary opportunities can take a story. It just grew organically, and the characters are all amalgams of people I know in real life. Maybe one day I’ll tell them who they are in my book 🙂
10) What else about the book might pique the reader’s interest?
I’ve been told by test readers that it’s fast-paced, compelling and that my characters drive the story really well. It’s the tale of a broken young girl, whose troubled adolescence is interrupted by the end of the world. Trapped in a barricaded town, she soon discovers that the people within are far more dangerous than the undead outside. She learns of a cure for the disease, but it might just doom them all…
So there you have it, the Next Big Thing as happening in the world of the Fisch. Given that every man and his dog has been in this meme, I’m actually not going to tag anyone specifically. If you want to play, by all means consider yourself my tagees, otherwise I’m happy to let the meme die a peaceful death. There are a swag of excellent posts out there for the reading, and I’d like to give a big kudos to my taggers, the brilliant writers Kirstyn McDermott, Alan Baxter and Zena Shapter.
