For his impeccable work on the cover of my latest book Outer Diverse (the first book of the Splintered Universe Trilogy), Costi Gurgu is eligible for a Prix Aurora Award and a Hugo Award. I recently interviewed Costi on my private ship:

When I first met Costi and Vali Gurgu at the World Fantasy Convention in Montreal several years ago, I had no idea that Costi would end up creating the stunning book covers for my latest trilogy Splintered Universe or that his gorgeous wife, Vali, would serve as the model for the hero of my story, the relentless and steely detective, RHEA HAWKE.  You can find his cover art and other artworks on Costi’s illustration site.

I recently had a chance to invite Costi aboard my intelligent ship, Benny, orbiting the Earth. After settling in the aft lounge with some pockta juice, we began the interview:

Nina:     Hi, Costi. Thanks so much for agreeing to do this interview.

Costi:     Hi, Nina. The pleasure is mine.

Nina:     You came up with a “Triptych” design for the Splintered Universe Trilogy. What inspired you to come up with it and what do you like about it?

Costi:     There is the danger of spoilers in this answer. The fact is that your main character, Rhea, undergoes a certain evolution from a regular human being to… let’s just say something else. And that evolution has three parts, one for each book of the trilogy and it also has a touch of divine. So, the triptych design, so often used for religious paintings, fits like a glove on the entire concept.

Nina:     Ooh! Neat! Where can I get a copy? … (grin) … Your design for Outer Diverse (and designs for the other two covers) carries a powerful image that conjures a portal or gateway into another world (which is what the trilogy is about). The reader is drawn into an infinite landscape, looking in, and Rhea is looking out. Can you tell us a little about how you conceived this compelling design. Is there a meaning behind the symbols and colours you used?

Costi:     To be honest, the initial idea was for the red ring to be a sort of mapping device and a radar combined into one, since Rhea travels great distances in her quest. Then I realized it might as well be a portal device on top of everything else and serve all her travelling needs.

There were two options —either we would look with her outside, to whatever target she had, or look towards her. I thought that it would be more powerful if we could look towards her and see her determined face, see the unflinching resolution in her eyes, while she’s pondering her next move and readying herself to use the device once again. But to look towards her and see her in a confining room of a space ship, or such, would have defeated the purpose. So I needed to have her against the infinite landscape as the backdrop. She is in a continuous journey to discover herself and this journey takes her literally through the infinite spaces of not just one universe.

Nina:     Yes, I love the metaphoric elements you’ve woven into the design. The image speaks to us on many levels. Do you use music or other devices in your work to evoke your creativity? What other tools did you use to create the stunning cover of Outer Diverse (e.g., animation software, etc.)?

Costi:     I’m always listening to music while working. The kind of music varies depending on what I’m working on. If I’m writing for instance, I need instrumental music, without words to influence my own ones. Also, it depends on the kind of feeling and mood I try to generate through my writing or my illustration. Music helps me channel those feelings into the right words or imagery.

Technically speaking, I always start with sketches on paper, which I later scan. I mainly use Adobe Photoshop, but for this illustration I had to use Adobe Illustrator as well. Obviously, the layout and the typography were done in Adobe InDesign.

Nina:     Your wife, Vali, was the model for Rhea Hawke. I understand you had a great time doing the photo-shoot (p.s., some of the additional shoots can be seen in the Youtube book trailer).  I’ve attended several launches and events  lately (e.g., Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Bucharest) and both cover and model have been extolled. One reader compared Vali to actress Catherine Zeta Jones.  How does Vali feel about being somewhat of a celebrity?

Costi:     I’m so happy to hear that. You know, I had to decide how to treat her image. I could have gone towards a more glamorous, shiny look, like in a fashion image, or I could just simply keep it more realistic. Despite Vali’s protests, I chose to keep it that way, because I wanted to offer a realistic image of an ex-police officer: a woman who was used to fighting and chasing criminals, rather than taking care of her appearances. Now, to hear that her rougher and tougher image created that kind of reaction gives me a sort of peace and satisfaction.

As for the celebrity thing, so far we only heard that from you. Not that we don’t believe you! We’ll see when it really happens in her presence. It’s always a good feeling to taste a little bit of celebrity now and then. It certainly gives one purpose and perspective. Not to mention hope.

Nina:     You and Vali have had rich and varied careers in commercial art, law and writing. You’ve served, for instance, as art director for several high-end magazines including Playboy, and you taught graphic design at the college level. Can you tell me a little about your journey from Romania to England and finally to Toronto, Canada. Did the law degree help you in your entrepreneurial pursuits?

Costi:     Well, yes, ironically the law degree took us places. We both loved studying law. It had a unique way of opening our eyes to culture, civilization and the importance of continuously learning. Yet, while we loved studying law, we hated practicing it. After our first year of articling in Bucharest’ Law Bar Association, we didn’t like what we were doing, but more importantly, we didn’t like the people we were turning into.

Therefore, we decided to change tracks and try something a bit different. We left for England, hoping we’d get into some Master degree in Maritime Law. So, here we are, at “Open Day” at Westminster College in London. We’d enrolled for some English classes and saw a crowd at one of the Graphic Design Program tables. Some Photoshop wizard was doing a demonstration. For our untrained eye it was absolutely wonderful! We started asking questions and the “wizard” encouraged us to take his class. I don’t remember what it was called, “Digital Manipulation” or something. We replied that we’re there for Law studies, so he said—well, why don’t you take my class just for fun? So, we did and by the end of the semester we enrolled for the Graphic Design Certificate and forgot everything about Maritime Law or any other kind of Law. We’d just discovered the wonderful world of design, illustration, art direction and photography!

Nina:     That’s COOL! Did you pursue illustration and design in England?

Costi:     Well, three years later saw us going back to Romania; our families expected us to go back to the Bar Association and behave responsibly. But after showing my portfolio around I got a designer job at Playboy Magazine! The Art Director and I launched its first Romanian edition issue a few months later. Three years later I became the Creative Director of MediaPro Group, the largest publishing company in Romania and Vali took on the position of Art Director of Playboy Magazine.

Two years later we came to Canada to pursue a dream. So, yes, I could say that my law degree created the perfect opportunity for me to discover my passions for visual arts. It took me to England and eventually to Canada. Life is funny that way.

Nina:     Does Vali help you with your work and do you help her with hers?

Costi:     We help each other a lot in our work. Because we worked together in our first legal job and after that in our first design job, we have become a team. We have different approaches to the art process and we have different styles. I went deeper into illustration to complement my design skills, while she chose photography to do that.

Even now, for the most important projects we have for our different employers we involve each other not only for need of feedback, but also for need of different ideas and fresh approaches. We basically complement each other.

Not to mention that she’s always my first reader for any piece of fiction I write. She’s the toughest reader I have but in the same time I know she’s also the most sincere one.

Nina:     Name some artists and their cover designs that you like and why. How would you describe your own artwork (e.g., magazine and book covers)? Who are your influences?

Costi:     Where should I begin? I always loved the paintings of Rene Magritte and Giorgio de Chirico. I also have to mention Dali and H.R. Giger. They’re just incredibly good and inspirational.

I can’t miss Neville Brody, one of the most famous and brilliant designers of all time. Not too many book covers, but you have to look for his music album covers and typography compositions, and magazine covers. He’s done a lot of covers for the legendary The Face Magazine. You have to see the book The Graphic Language of Neville Brody. Absolutely beautiful.

Special mention goes to Edward Gorey. His art is amazing.

From the usual suspects of SF&F artists, I like Michael Whelan, especially his horror covers. See for instance Lovecraft’s Nightmare, both parts, or some of his personal studies. I like Frank Frazetta and Rodney Matthews. And there are others, many others, the list would be just too long for the purpose of this interview.

Nina:     Costi, your artwork on Outer Diverse is eligible in the Art Category for an Aurora Prix and the Hugo, the Canadian and American prizes for work in the science fiction and fantasy fields, respectively.  How does that make you feel?

Costi:     I try not to get my hopes too high. It’s a long way from eligibility to winning. But just to be in the game really feels good. From another perspective, it’s part of my dream coming true. It’s part of my journey and the reason I’m here. It’s so good to be noticed and to exist outside your family’s and friends’ awareness.

Nina:     Speaking of…when I was in Bucharest recently to launch my fiction writing textbook at the Gaudeamus Book Fair, I heard a lot about this guy Costi Gurgu, a rather well known and accomplished writer in Romania. You’ve sold five books and over forty short stories in Romania and won over twenty awards. Tell me about this guy, Costi the writer. What have you written and where can we find it?

Costi:     In truth, half of my reason for coming to Canada is related to my writing.

I made my debut in Romania, in 1993 and since then I published constantly in magazines and anthologies. I edited three anthologies. I won each and every award there was in Romania, several times. Among those, I won the prestigious Vladimir Colin Award twice (for my first story collection and for my first novel), and the Writers Union Award (a literary award) for the debut for my first book, a story collection entitled The Glass Plague.

My stories have been published in Romania, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, England, Canada and USA.

My latest sales have been to the Danish anthology Creatures of Glass and Light, the Daw Books anthology Ages of Wonder, Wildside Press anthology The Science Fiction Megapack, Millennium Books steampunk anthology The Second Revolution, and the anthology Voices—New Writers from Toronto, published by Co-op Writers and Toronto Public Library.

Nina:     What are you working on now—besides more covers for my Splintered Universe Trilogy, that is?

Costi:     A few months ago I just launched my latest book in Romania, another story collection, entitled Chronicles from the End of the Earth. I’m working on the English version of some of the stories in that collection.

Right now I’m writing a horror story for an anthology from Romania. I’m also in the middle of my new novel, for which I don’t even have a working title. All I know for now is that it has magic and it has science and some bits of dark happenings, so it will probably be a cross-genre. It is also supposed to be the first book of my first trilogy.

I’m thinking of a comedy movie script for next year. I’ve never tried a movie script, but I’d really like to write one.

Nina:     Sounds like fun, Costi! With your sense of humor, it should be a great success. Thanks so much for joining us here on Benny. I wish you the best of luck in the Auroras and the Hugos and in all your writing and illustration projects. It’s been an honor to work with you.

Costi:     Again, my pleasure, Nina.  And thanks for the Plockta nectar. It was … eh … interesting.

…See? He’s so polite!

If you love art and agree with me that Costi’s stunning artwork on Outer Diverse merits recognition, please share this post with your friends on Facebook, Twitter,  Linked-In and elsewhere.

Better yet, NOMINATE Costi for the PRIX AURORA in the “Best Artist” category (if you’re a Canadian). You have until March 31^st to nominate.

Just as good, RECOMMEND his exemplary cover art for a HUGO AWARD in the category of “Best Professional Artist”. Third Party Sites where you can recommend Costi’s cover art include:  Live Journal Community; NESFA, and SF Awards Watch.

If you’re already a member of the World Science Fiction Convention, you can NOMINATE Costi for a HUGO. You have until March 11 to nominate.

Outer Diverse is for sale at Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Barnes & Noble as well as other quality bookstores near you. It is also eligible for an Aurora. The Splintered Universe Trilogy follows the turbulent career of galactic guardian Rhea Hawke, whose unswerving passion for justice — though faulty vision of the world – collide as she searches for answers to a spiritual massacre. Visit the Alien Next Door for more details about the story.

Rhea Hawke discovers there is far more to the massacre of a spiritual sect, mysteriously linked to Dust, the contraband drug “of the gods” and a devastating prophesy of a catastrophic End of Age, triggered by the joining of twin souls. She unravels secrets of fractal geometry, deja vu, dreams and clairvoyance, multiple universes and space-time … and ultimately the greatest secret: herself …

“… a master of metaphor, Munteanu turns an adventure story into a wonderland of alien rabbit holes … a fascinating and enthralling read.”–Craig H. Bowlsby, author of Commander’s Log

You can pick up Outer Diverse at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, Borders and other quality bookstores near you. For those of you in Toronto, Bakka Phoenix Books is carrying Outer Diverse as well as Nina’s “Darwin’s Paradox” duology (set in Toronto) and her guidebook “The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now!”

The 3-wk course runs for 1-hour each Tuesday for three weeks (August 2, 9, and 16). Cost is $50.oo payable via Paypal to nina.sfgirl@gmail.com. Once you pay, you will receive instructions on how to access the teleseminar and live-stream lecture/workshop. Class is limited so join now.

Writing the Memoir: from Idea to Research to Storytelling.  

Have you been writing your memoir for years, waiting to finish it and hoping to publish? You may be looking for direction on how and where to start and proceed and where to finish. Memoirs, like all good creative non-fiction, tell a story. Internationally published novelist and writing coach Nina Munteanu shares details of how you can outline, storyboard and complete your memoir and make it marketable to your target audience. 

The 3-weeks of 1-hour Lecture & Workshop, will cover the following:

• Writing for your intended audience
• Formulating the core idea into theme
• Why and how to outline
• Why, how, where and when to do research
• Courage and privacy issues: what and how to reveal
• General discussion of how to incorporate plot with theme in storytelling.
• How to create a good story from truth
• Mechanics of good storytelling (show don’t tell, language, POV, setting, etc.)

Contact nina.sfgirl@gmail.com [subject: Memoir Writing] for information and to register for the course.

Nina Munteanu, Prospect Point

As a result of continued pressure by new students, Nina has opened a second Master Writing Class.

It runs every Wednesday at 5 pm EST. Join this Exclusive Club of writing enthusiasts for $49/month.

Sign up for Nina’s ongoing Master Writing Class on the Master Class Page.

For $49/month, this is what you get:

• four weekly one-hour interactive teleseminars accompanied by live webinar (computer streaming: NEW!) Nina lectures on popular writing and publishing topics, based on your submitted works, common issues, and questions from previous sessions. Topics covered and discussed are directly applicable to your personal writing challenges and interests.
• teleseminar sessions include a twenty minute telephone lecture, followed by interactive computer streaming discussion of specific topics and works directly applicable to your ongoing work. Nina “shows” and “tells”.
• facilitated discussions on the 10 most common issues faced by novice and professional writers: getting started; dealing with time management & writer’s block; getting those ideas down and making a story out of them; focusing and maintaining the staying power to finish; incorporating all the elements of good storytelling like plot, character, theme and setting into a seamless, page-turning story; making your writing compelling, clear and exciting; doing research and editing; marketing, synopses & outlines, query letters; handling rejection and fear of rejection; and overcoming fear (of failure, of success, of everything).

Eligibility Criteria & Requirements:

The Master Class is tailored for writers serious about getting published and with works in progress (e.g., first draft finished, mostly completed, firm premise and storyboard with portion written). If you do not fit these criteria, you may find that one of Nina’s other online courses or her manuscript evaluation and personal coaching is more suited to your needs.

To be eligible for the Master Class, you must submit an example of your work and agree that you are willing to persist with efforts toward publication, including the willingness to be critiqued, pursue ongoing revisions, and discussions.

The course requires that you have a computer with internet, a secure phone line, have submitted some of your work, have subscribed below, and have acquired the codes to access both conference call and live computer streaming. 

Unless you have been specifically INVITED, contact Nina BEFORE you subscribe:

BEFORE you sign up, contact Nina for eligability and availability at nina.sfgirl@gmail.com [subject: Master Class]. In order to address each of you personally, Nina limits her class sizes. Our first class is still running at maximum. This is why Nina has opened up a new class.

The Master Class that is currently open, runs every Wednesday at 5 pm EST. There are limited spaces for Master Classes so availability will be on a first come basis. Once you successfully register and subscribe for a place in this exclusive club, you will get an email with information on how to get in on the next call. See you there!

Almost every aspiring (and successful!) writer has a few volumes of writing advice that he or she feels are indispensable–books we return to, re-read, and use as guideposts on our writing journey. Munteanu’s wonderful book might find that kind of home on your own bookshelf.

Beginning writers especially will find The Fiction Writer a resource for every step on the road to writing–from defining genre to writing a great beginning; from outlining and plotting to preparing the perfect submission package. It really is an A-to-Z of fiction writing, starting with the chapter “Alien Architecture: Building from Scenes to Worlds” and hitting every letter of the alphabet right through to “The Zen of Passionate Writing.” Munteanu includes examples and lessons from her own writing career, which serve to emphasize the practical value of her advice.

Although the book covers a lot of ground, there’s no “scattershot” feel to the advice. It’s practical and grounded, and liberally seasoned with constructive exercises and helpful lists and tables, such as “The Hero’s Journey Map” (complete with an explanation of three-act structure), “Ten Ways To Revise Your Story,” common sentence structure and grammar errors.

Despite the fact that readers may know Nina Munteanu as a speculative fiction writer (Darwin’s Paradox, Angel of Chaos), the vast majority of the advice and information in The Fiction Writer applies equally to writers in any fiction genres. Good writing is good writing, and Munteanu has worked hard to provide a guidebook that shows exactly how to achieve that result. Highly recommended!

reviewed by Sherry

Sherry Ramsey is the editor & publisher of The Scriptorium Webzine for Writers, a great resource for writers. Ramsey has also published a writing guide, The New Writer’s Guide to Just About Everything.

In 2095 Darwin’s Evolution Kills…

“Angel of Chaos is … a gripping blend of big scientific ideas, cutthroat politics and complex yet sympathetic characters that will engage readers from its thrilling opening to its surprising and satisfying conclusion” —Hayden Trenholm, Aurora-winning author of The Steele Chronicles 

Angel of Chaos is the first of a duology on humanity’s co-evolution with intelligent technology and intelligent nature. The second book is Darwin’s Paradox and both are available on Amazon, Chapters, and Barnes & Noble.

Finalists in the SF category include:

• 2012 The Awakening by Bill Douglas
• A Dangerous Weapon by Charlton Clayes
• Angel of Chaos by Nina Munteanu
• Curse of the Legion by Marshall S. Thomas
• Destiny’s Blood by Marie Bilodeau
• Guardians of the Crystal Skulls by Lina Arena
• Our Jewish Robot Future by Leonard Borman
• Quick Fall of Light by Sherrida Woodley
• The Presence by Paul Black

Finalists were selected from 1400 entries in 56 categories. Finalists were determined by a jury of judges consisting of editors and reviewers of ForeWord Reviews, booksellers, librarians, and other industry professionals.

First, second, and third place winners will be awarded in each category. A $1,500 cash prize will also be awarded to Best Fiction and Best Nonfiction as determined by the editors of ForeWord Reviews. Finalists were announced in their weekly email newsletter, ForeWord This Week, in March 2010.

Winners in each category and overall fiction and nonfiction prize winners will be announced at Book Expo America and on the Foreword website.

Nina, the Fiction Writer

What’s Stopping You From Publishing Your Book?

Yes, I’m a successfully published author with acclaimed novels, short stories and essays published all over the world.  But I almost didn’t get there. What if I told you that I never read as a kid, I was the worst speller in my school and I used bad grammar? I didn’t excel in typing class and practically failed English 101. Based on my Career Aptitude Test score, the school counselor recommended that I go into some trade like car mechanic. Believe me, I started from behind.

• I’ve experienced your disappointment and your fear—and prevailed.
• I’ve battled the gridlock of time and schedule conflicts, priority problems and lack of support from family and friends—and forged a way.
• I’ve felt lonely and depressed because no one understood my dream or took it seriously—and found a community.
• I’ve been lost in a sea of unfocused ideas, undirected plot, excessive—even boring—characters—and created a masterpiece of tense page-turning excitement.
• I understand your pain, your moments of hesitation and lack of confidence, your yearning. I’ve been rejected and rejected and rejected—and then published!

Are you a storyteller? Because that’s where it all starts. With a story. The rest is window dressing. Every author is on a journey, a hero’s journey, really. Because that’s what most writers are: heroes. We journey into the dark frightening abyss and return with the prize for the world: truth. The writer’s life is not really romantic, like many believe. It is rife with doubt, rejection, betrayal and disappointment. But it is also graced with the richness of joy, satisfaction, energy and fulfillment. When a writer writes what he or she is passionate about, there is nothing better. Absolutely nothing. So, let me tell you a story now, about how I almost didn’t become a writer but did because it was what I had to do.  Like most stories, this one has a beginning, middle and an end…

The Beginning: The Sweet Promise

When I was ten years old, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up: I was going to be a paperback writer. It was 1964 and I’d taken my favorite rock group’s song to heart, the Beatles’ “I Want to be a Paperback Writer”. It was an incredible moment of clarity for me and despite being challenged by my stern and unimaginative primary school teacher, who kept trying to corral me into being “normal”, I wasn’t going to let anyone stem my creativity and eccentric—if not wayward—approach to literature, language and writing. I was a confident, but lovable, little brat and I knew it. She and I didn’t exactly get along, as a result. But I did okay anyway, and, despite her acidic commentary (I didn’t cross my “t”s the way she wanted me to), Miss House begrudgingly awarded me my due A’s and B’s.

Nina pretending to read

I wrote some fan fiction but quickly found my own creations far more interesting and less limiting. As a teenager, I wrote, directed and recorded “radio plays” with my sister. When we weren’t bursting into riotous laughter, it was actually pretty good. She and I shared a bedroom in the back of the house and at bedtime we opened our doors of imagination to a cast of thousands. We fed each other wild stories of space travel, adventure and intrigue, murmuring and giggling well into the dark night long after our parents were snoring in their beds. Those days scintillated with liberating originality, excitement and joy. I also enjoyed animation and drew several cartoon strips, peopled with crazy characters as I dreamt of writing graphic novels like Green Lantern, Magnus, Robot Fighter and Spiderman. My hero was science fiction author and futurist, Ray Bradbury; I vowed to write profoundly stirring tales like he did. Stories that mattered. Stories that lingered with you long after you finished them. Stories that made you think and dream and changed you imperceptibly.

I had found what excites me—my passion for telling stories—and I’d inadvertently stumbled upon an important piece of the secret formula for success: 1) having discovered my passion, I decided on a goal; 2) I found and wished to emulate a “hero” who’d achieved that goal and therefore had a “case study”; 3) I applied myself to the pursuit of my goal. Oops… the third one, well…

…It went downhill from there…

Life got in the way.

I grew up.

The Middle: The Struggles & Confusion of “Reality”

Well, that, and the environment intervened. In several ways. It started with my parents. Recognizing my talent and interest in the fine arts (I was pretty good in visual arts), they pushed me to get a fine arts degree in university and go into teaching or advertizing. They made it obvious that fiction writing was not a viable career or a forté of mine (I was lousy at spelling and, despite my ability to tell stories and my love for graphic novels, I didn’t read books!). I can still remember my father’s lecture about how perfect the teaching or nursing profession was for me. I wasn’t enamored by either. The second blow to my author-ego came in the form of a school “interest-ability” test, meant to prepare us for our career decisions. I remember the test consisting of an IQ portion (spatial, English and math), and a psychology portion (including problem-solving and scenarios meant to tease out our affinity for a particular career). Secretly harboring my paperback novelist dream, I filled out my forms with great excitement. I still remember the deflating results, which suggested that I was best suited to be a sergeant in the army! LOL! Remember what I said about my spelling and grammar. “Writing” as a career barely made it on the graph, and scored well below “computer programmer” and “mechanic”; none of which interested me.   

Forest road near home

Dante’s Forest

I began to see a career in advertizing as a viable option; my love and abilities in cartooning seemed to naturally tie in with this pursuit. I also had an affinity for graphic design. So, I deferred to the “wisdom” of others and let myself be diverted and distracted by clever reasoning and an appeal to logic. I did what I thought I should do, not what truly excited me.

I still quietly held my dream of being a paperback novelist close to my heart, even if it was closeted in my subconscious. But self-expression had dwindled to a trickle; the creative flow of stories dried up and in its empty wake I discovered a cause worth investing a fervent energy: the well-being of our planet. With the cause came my relentless pursuit of a science degree. I left home and surprised and disappointed my parents by electing on registration day at the university to go into science rather than pursue a fine arts degree in advertizing. Although I wasn’t “expressing”, I was nevertheless inspired. I obtained several degrees in science, including one in Limnology (the study of freshwater), which were all to prove worthwhile in my ultimate “calling” and self-expression: that of making science accessible to the lay-public and eventually writing hard-science fiction stories and novels of substance about the environment. The latter didn’t happen for several years after I acquired my Masters of Science degree and did a long stint of teaching at university (yes, I DID teach after all!) while successfully publishing articles for magazines.

The End: Fulfillment

Nina outside Bakka Books in Toronto where her novel is for sale

My non-fiction pieces became my entrance into the world of fiction (much harder to break into) and I used this venue to polish my writing skills in fiction (don’t let anyone tell you that non-fiction can’t be exciting, bending to many of the same rules as in fiction writing). Once I began publishing fiction stories, I never looked back. And as far as I’m concerned, the sky’s the limit now.

Not too long ago, I quit my day job and moved across the country to an artistic community on the east coast. I am currently travelling the world and pursuing my dream as a full-time author and writing coach. It’s not an easy life. And it can be lonely at times. But it is so incredibly fulfilling and blessed with meaning.

Come, walk with me and pursue your dream. It’s for the taking.

Hi there!

Nina Munteanu - The Writing Life

You’ve landed on the website of Nina Munteanu, internationally published Canadian SF author and ecologist.  Nina is living her dream of the writing life!  She is currently putting the finishing touches on her next science fiction novel.  And if you’re lucky, you might catch her at one of her writing workshops where she coaches great fiction writing!

The Mentor: Nina is frequently sought after for one-on-one mentoring as well as personal coaching and group workshops on all aspects of writing and publishing.  Because she has published frequently in both fiction and non-fiction, she knows exactly how to help her clients succeed in getting their works published.

The Ecologist: Nina currently does research and gives talks in science and limnology (No! That isn’t the study of limbs! She studies freshwater) and is driven by a passion to help keep our planet’s environment healthy.  In April 2010 she participated in talks with the Dalai Lama as part of the Mind and Life XX Conference on Altruism and Compassion in Economics in Zurich, Switzerland, where she participated in discussions on the use of ecological relationships in economic policy. Nina is a passionate traveler, and has tasted her way around the world from Bangkok to Paris.

The Author: Nina has published award-nominated short stories all over the planet (with translations into Greek, Romanian, Polish, and Hebrew). Two of her several novels, “Angel of Chaos” and “Darwin’s Paradox” (science fiction ecological thrillers by Dragon Moon Press), explores humanity’s co-evolution with machine intelligence and Nature’s intelligence. She also writes critical essays and reviews, several of which have appeared in Strange Horizons, IROSF, and The New York Review of Science Fiction. Her personal heroes include Dr. Lynn Margulis and author Ray Bradbury. Nina’s guidebook on writing, The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now! is currently used in schools and universities across North America.

The Blogger: Nina is also  The Alien Next Door, author of the award-wining blog which hosts lively discussions on pop culture, travel, science, writing and philosophy. Nina co-authors an environmental blog on climate change, Climate of Our Future. She frequently guest-blogs on Toulouse LeTrek, her feline friend’s travel blog.

Bozeman itself is a colorful and attractive city with cultural diversity and a level of “coolness” that comes from being a university town set amidst lofty mountains with a western flavor. Bozeman is located in the Gallatin Valley, surrounded by magnificent mountain ranges. North of the city, the Bridger Mountains attract thousands of skiers each winter. The Gallatin Range and the Madison Range, south of Bozeman, rise more than 10,000 feet and have peaks covered with snow much of the year. Montana State University is located in Bozeman, with a very attractive campus and programs that range from agricultural sciences, engineering to the fine arts. I spent some time there, particularly in the student union building, where the bookstore and the pub were. I would so enjoy teaching here; I just might…My son wouldn’t mind it too much either. According to PubClub.com: “this is place to go if you love to be outdoors and ski…ski bums are all over the campus and so are the hippies…its a true party college.” The Museum of the Rockies, located on campus, features many wonderful paleontology exhibits. Jack Horner, the world’s top dinosaur hunter and an adviser to the movie “Jurassic Park,” works at the Museum. Occasionally, Museum visitors see Professor Horner inspecting the Museum’s latest exhibits.

The visitor’s guide describes Bozeman as “a charming town. In a John Wayne—Norman Rockwell—Bob Marley sort of way.” The town’s history goes back to the time when Gallatin Valley (where Bozeman lies) was used by Indian tribes, including the Flathead, Sioux, Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Blackfeet, who all hunted for game and edible plants. According to tribal lore, Indians agreed not to fight in the Gallatin Valley, instead conceding to share the area’s beauty and resources with one another. European fur traders came in the 1700s, with Lewis and Clark leading a historic expedition to the Three Forks of the Missouri in 1805. Mountain men roamed through the area trapping beaver and acting as guides.

The town is named after John Bozeman, a Georgian who’d left his family to find fortune in the West. The town was named in his honor in 1864, shortly before he was killed near Yellowstone under mysterious circumstances.

Yellowstone National Park, just south of Bozeman, was created in 1872 and is the first and oldest national park in the world. Bozeman is often referred to as the “Yellowstone Connection”. After an unsuccessful bid to become the state capital, Bozeman was chosen as the site for the new agricultural college, which became Montana State University, home of the fighting Bobcats.

Bozeman currently supports a population of 30,000 interesting “urban cowboys” from young to old and funky to intellectual. From appearance, dress, comportment and speech I was treated to an attractive and exciting commingling of southern wild west and northern yuppy vogue. Travel & Leisure Online wrote: “The look on the street is Carrie Bradshaw in cowboy boots. No need to pack a blow-dryer; the Keep it Wild philosophy extends from nature to hair, which is also left untamed.” I felt at home.

• Show, don’t tell: a common error of beginning writers is to use dialogue to explain something that both participants should already know but the reader doesn’t. It is both awkward and unrealistic and immediately exposes you as a novice. For instance, avoid the use of “As you know…” It’s better to keep the reader in the dark for a while than to use dialogue to explain something. Which brings us to the next point.
• Have your characters talk to each other, not to the reader: for instance, “Hello, John, you loser drunk and wayward son of the most feared gangster in town!” could be improved to, “You stink like a distillery, John! Wait ‘til papa’s thugs find you!”
• Avoid adverbs: e.g., he said dramatically, she said pleadingly; instead look for better ways to express the way they said it with actual dialogue. That’s not to say you can’t use adverbs (I believe J.K. Rowling is notorious for this), just use them sparingly and judiciously.
• Avoid tag lines that repeat what the dialogue already tells the reader: e.g., “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “Do you have a dog?” she asked.
• He said, she said: reduce tag lines where possible and keep them simple by using “said”; another sign of a novice is the overuse of words other than said (e.g., snarled, hissed, purred, etc.). While these can add spice, keep them for special places as they are noticed by the reader and will distract otherwise.
• Pay consistent attention to a character’s “voice”: each character has a way of speaking that identifies them as a certain type of person. This can be used to identify class, education, culture, ethnicity, proclivities, etc. For instance one character might use Oxford English and another might swear every third word.
• Use speech signatures: pick out particular word phrases for characters that can be their own and can be identified with them. If they have additional metaphoric meaning to the story, even better. For instance, I know a person who always adds “Don’t you think?” to almost everything they say. This says something about how that person… well, thinks… I knew another person who always added “Do you see?” at the end of their phrase. Again rather revealing.
• Intersperse dialogue with good descriptive narrative: don’t forget to keep the reader plugged into the setting. Many beginning writers forget to “ground” the reader with sufficient cues as to where the characters are and what they’re doing while they are having this great conversation. This phenomenon is so common, it even has a name. It’s called “talking heads.”
• Contradict dialogue with narrative: when dialogue contradicts body language or other narrative cues about the speaker, this adds an element of compelling tension and heightens reader excitement while telling them something important. Here are a few examples:

  “How’d it go?”
  “Great,” he lied.

  “I feel so much better now,” she said, jaw clenched.
  “It’s okay; I believe you.” His heart slammed.

  Well, you get the picture, anyway. Hope this helps. Keep writing!

1. Voice: This is the feel and tone that applies to the overall book (narrative voice) and to each character. The overall voice is dictated by your audience, who you’re writing for: youth, adults, etc. It’s important to give each character a distinctive “voice” (including use of distinct vernacular, use of specific expressions or phrases, etc.). This is one way a reader can identify a character and find them likeable—or not. In a manuscript I recently reviewed, I noticed that the characters spoke in a mixture of formal and casual speech. This confuses the reader and bumps them out of the “fictive dream”. Consistency is very important for readers. They will abandon a story whose writing is not consistent. So, my advice to this writer was to pick one style for each character and stick to it. Voice includes what a character says. It incorporates language (both speech and body movements), philosophy, humor. How a character looks, walks, talks, laughs, is all part of this. Let’s take laughter for instance: does your character tend to giggle, titter, chortle, gafaw, belly-laugh? Do any of your characters have conflicts with one another? Either through differences in opinions, agendas, fears, ambitions… etc. One learns so much from the kind of interaction a character has with his/her surroundings (whether it’s another character or a scene).

2. Point of View (POV): Many beginner’s novels are often told through no particular POV. Many first manuscripts often start in the omniscient POV (that of the narrator) and ever so often may lapse into one of the character’s POV briefly. This makes for very “telling vs showing” type of writing (not to mention being inconsistent again). 90% of writers do not write this way because it tends to be off-putting, it distances the reader from the characters, and is very difficult to achieve and be consistent with. Most writers prefer to use limited third person POV (told from one or a few key characters; that is, you get into the head and thoughts of only a few people: all the observations are told through their observations, what they see, feel and think). This bonds the reader to your characters and makes for much more compelling reading. I would highly suggest you adopt this style. That’s not to say that you can’t use several POVs… just not at the same time; it is the norm to use chapter or section breaks to change a POV.

3. Passive vs. Active Verbs: beginners often use a lot of passive verbs (e.g., were, was, being, etc.). Some use too may modifiers. Try to find more active verbs. Many writers fall into the pattern of using verbs that are weak and passive (and then adding a modifier to strengthen it…it doesn’t). Actively look for strong, vivid verbs. This is a key to good writing. I can’t emphasize this enough. For instance, which version is more compelling: ‘she walked quickly into the room’ or ‘she stormed into the room’?

4. Show, don’t tell: this is partly a function of POV and use of active verbs. Once you change to 3rd person, much of this will naturally resolve itself. An example of telling vs. showing is this: [He was in a rage and felt betrayed. “You lied, Clara,” he said angrily, grabbing her hand.] instead, you could show it: [His face smoldered. “You lied, Clara,” he roared, lunging for her.] Telling also includes large sections of exposition, either in dialogue or in narrative. This happens a lot in beginning writer’s stories. It takes courage and confidence to say less and let the reader figure it out. Exposition needs to be broken up and appear in the right place as part of the story. Story is paramount. “Telling” is one of the things beginning writers do most and editors will know you for one right away. Think of the story as a journey for both writer and reader. The writer makes a promise to the reader that s/he will provide a rip-roaring story and the reader comes on side, all excited. This is done through a confident tease in the beginning and slow revelation throughout the story to keep it compelling. Exposition needs to be very sparingly used, dealt out in small portions.

5. Unclutter your writing: There is a Mennonite adage that applies to writing: “less is more”. Sentences in early works tend to be full of extra words (e.g., using “ing” verbs, add-ons like “he started to think” instead of simply “he thought”). Cut down the words in your paragraphs (often in the intro chapters) by at least 20%. Be merciless; you won’t miss them, believe me, and you will add others later in your second round of edits.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond
them into the impossible—Arthur C. Clarke

When I was in my early twenties (some time ago) I read Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. He’d written it a year before I was born. I remember being moved by the story’s grandness and scope about the transformation of humanity. On the slightly garish cover of the Ballantine science fiction classic book jacket Gilbert Highet’s endorsement said, “…a real staggerer by a man who is both a poetic dreamer and a competent scientist.” This remains an apt assessment of this self-professed “mildly cheerful” British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, perhaps best known for the novel 2001: a Space Odyssey (also about the transformation of humankind).

On March 19 of this year, Arthur C. Clarke died at age ninety in Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he’d made his home since 1956. He left behind a legacy of incredibly imaginative works, valuable scientific inventions and concepts and profoundly thoughtful discussions of the future.

During the time Clarke served in the Royal Air Force as a radar instructor and technician (from 1941 to 1946) he proposed satellite communication systems, which won him the Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Gold Medal (in 1963) and a nomination in 1994 for a Nobel Prize. What you might not have known about him is that he was an avid scuba diver and helped fight for the preservation of lowland gorillas, which won him the UNESCO-Kalinga Prize in 1962. Clarke was also fascinated with the paranormal and admitted that it was part of the inspiration for his novel Childhood’s End. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1986. And in 2000, he was knighted. Yes, he is Sir Arthur Charles Clarke. He served as the first Chancellor of the International Space University from 1989 to 2004, has an asteroid named in his honour and a species of ceratopsian dinosaur (Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei), discovered in Inverloch in Australia.

Born in Minehead, Somerset, England, Clarke enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction pulp magazines when he was a boy. His first professional sales (e.g., Loophole and Rescue Party)appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946 at age 29. In 1948, Clarke wrote The Sentinel for a BBC competition; although it was rejected it represented a turning point in Clarke’s writing, which introduced a more mystical and cosmic element to his work (the Sentinel was the basis for his best known work, 2001: A Space Odyssey). Many of his subsequent works (including Childhood’s End) features the theme of a technologically advanced but prejudiced humankind being confronted by a superior alien intelligence—the encounter of which produces a conceptual breakthrough that accelerates humanity into the next stage of its evolution.

Among Clarke’s visionary science (fiction) and inventions, some of his most notable include the following:

• Geostationary satellites as telecommunications relays (described in a paper in Wireless World, October 1945 entitled, Extra-Terrestrial Relays—Can Rocket Stations Give Worldwide Radio Coverage?) The geostationary orbit 36,000 km above the equator is officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union as a “Clarke Orbit”;
• Space elevators (first described in The Fountains of Paradise, 1979); and,
• A “global library” (in Profiles of the Future, 1962).

We get a good sense of Clarke’s beliefs and philosophy in his works. In his introduction of Mysterious World: Strange Skies, Clarke said, “I sometimes think that the universe is a machine designed for the perpetual astonishment of astronomers.” At the end of the episode, of the Star of Bethlehem (of which his favorite theory was that it was a pulsar) he added, “How romantic, if even now we can hear the dying voice of a star which heralded the Christian Era.”

In the 1973 revision of his 1962 book, Profiles of the Future, Clarke added two laws to create his famous three laws of prediction, aptly termed Clarke’s Three Laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Fiction is more than non-fiction in some ways…you can stretch people’s minds, alerting them to the possibilities of the future, which is very important in an age where things are changing rapidly—Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke’s most notable works include 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rendezvous with Rama, Childhood’s End, The Fountains of Paradise.

http://www.darwinsparadox.com/

• Barnes & Noble
• Chapters-Indigo
• White Dwarf Books (Vancouver)
• The Sentry Box (Calgary)
• various online bookstores (as an ebook)

You can also buy or order the book at Target (www.target.com), one of the major department stores in the U.S. as well as India and Malaysia, Wallmart, or purchase it online at Buy.com, another major retail store.

And those are only the ones I know about (the writer tends to know paltry little when it comes to publishery stuff). If you’ve enjoyed my blog articles and short stories and enjoy thoughtful and provative science fiction (with a kicking plot) and are inclined to purchase Darwin’s Paradox, then here are a few things that I unabashedly, shamelessly exhort you, dear reader, to do:

• If purchasing through Amazon, purchase my book on the day of release (November 15, 2007) to drive sales that day into such significant figures to make my book noticeable on the Amazon radar (which will place the book so that more people will see it)
• go to your local bookstore and ask them to order Darwin’s Paradox

And if you’re interested in an audiobook (with voice artist Heather Dugan) we’ll be arranging that too, hopefully.

So, today’s Friday Feature, is run by the incredibly talented and energetic Karen Mason and dedicated to my book, “Darwin’s Paradox”. And through no major stretch of the imagination, it’s also called “Darwin’s Paradox“.

What wonderful items can you find there? Well, here are a few juicy bits:

• Chapters One through Thirteen of the book (available in eight different languages: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese)
• podcasts of chapters One to Thirteen (so far) done by voice artist Heather Dugan
• schedule of my appearances (including conventions and booktours)
• select interviews
• writing tips
• media kit (including press release, media material, etc.)

I am so indebted to Karen for tirelessly running this site and for her astute advice on blogging, internet navigation, media design, logic, human behaviour (remember, I’m an alien) and good wine.