Indie Writers Monthly!!!

It's ....do I really have to come up with some kind of crazy title for this installment of the blog tour?

FINE.

It's JUNEACALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS THERE ARE YOU HAPPY?

Nobody doesn't love a squid.

Creativity is hard. Anyway, welcome to the latest installment of the IWM Blog Tour! "IWM", if spelled out, would mean "Indie Writers Monthly," which is a blog and magazine put out by 5 great speculative fiction writers, wherein these writers give you tips on publishing, writing, selling your books, and make a lot of references to pizza.

OK, the others give you great tips. I talk about pizza a lot.

This is part six of this modestly-titled tour, which presents to you

 

ALL THE REASONS YOU SHOULD BE READING

INDIE WRITERS MONTHLY

THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY FACT-BASED

AND IN NO WAY EXAGGERATED

SO YOU CAN'T SUE US PROBABLY.

Part 1 appeared on Sizzling Hot YA Books, and told how reading IWM will teach you how to time travel.

Part 2 appeared on lit, a place for stories, and told how reading IWM will give you super powers.

Part 3 appeared on Laws Of Gravity, and showed how IWM brings your childhood friends to life.

Part 4 was on Life Is Good, and pointed out that we have The Blutonian Death Egg, and so you'd better let us be in charge.

Part 5 was on Brenda Sparks' blog. There were clones! We sent in the clones!

And now for number 6:

We can teach you how to create entire universes.

Or, at least, Andrew Leon can.

Andrew, one of our contributing writers, is the author of The House On The Corner and Shadow Spinner, two fantasy-ish speculative fiction books that stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best works of Stephen King and J.K. Rowling.

Yes, that J.K. Rowling. No, not that Stephen King. The author Stephen King.

While Andrew's writing is excellent in all facets, one area where Andrew excels is world building. And any writer knows that world building is hard. What you get when you read Andrew's books are wholly formed worlds that are somehow both magical and make complete sense. I don't know how he does it.

(PSST. SORCERY. IT'S PROBABLY SORCERY).

*Shhh*.

Take his most recent full-length work, Shadow Spinner: Andrew starts off in a what seems to be a regular kid in a suburb with a sort of weird mom and a fear of shadows, but a few Man With No Eyes and a watching stranger and a trip to the Garden of Eden later and it's apparent that (a) this isn't your regular suburb and (b) Andrew has created something wonderful that both incorporates and builds on traditional mythology. Honestly, when I read it I kept being surprised just how well-developed the world was AND how surprising each new chapter was.

Andrew also brings a lifelong love of reading, and thinking, to his posts and magazine submissions. He experiments with writing and publishing and shares the results with you - -he serialized Shadow Spinner and came up with a marketing concept based on sharing story space in his books, for example -- and breaks down expertly what works in writing and what doesn't work. He's not afraid to take on biggies, like Madeleine L'Engle, as he did in a recent post critiquing some of the failed tropes she fell into. His posts will make you think, and will make you a better writer for the process.

Andrew's also recently branched out his writing -- his latest, "The Magic Cookies," not only works in his marketing concept whereby writers get free promotion, but branches out from the fantastic worlds that he's created to the real world where he grew up. That kind of versatility is impressive.

I didn't mention it just because I also have a story in there. Honestly.

You should check out the story just for the story itself (and you can do so by clicking here) but if you are an author wanting to be serious about publishing, reading Andrew's writing and his posts on IWM are essential: you will learn more in a single post than you did in an entire semester's worth of creative writing classes. (Also, let's be honest: you cut class a lot, right? You can tell me.)

The IWM blog's latest posts include a rap battle featuring Isaac Newton, Lies Writers Tell To Other Writers, and a cover reveal for Nigel Mitchell's latest book. Click here to read that stuff.

Did I mention we also publish an e-magazine? We also publish an e-magazine. The June issue, "June Bugs" is just $0.99, and features three short stories, tips on coming up with titles, blog reviews, 65 pages of help and great reading! Click here to go buy it. (Older issues are on sale, still, as well!)