Wonder City Stories

THREE YEARS OF WONDER CITY

2012-05-09T17:33:37Z

Anniversary!

*throws lots of sparkly confetti*

I have designated -- a little arbitrarily, I confess -- May 9 as the anniversary of Wonder City Stories. And, as you may have guessed from the subject header, today marks THREE YEARS of Wonder City Stories!

So much of this is because of you, my loyal readers -- everyone who has left a comment over the last three years, or spread the word to friends, or written a review has given me that little boost I needed to keep going. Your kindness during my more difficult times has been heartwarming, and your response when I've run particular promotions for donations has sometimes made me very sniffly.

Thank you, particularly, to Leah Morgan for her kind work on wrangling the Wonder City DW into prettier shape and for providing such gorgeous logos and banners for me. Now I just have to get off my duff and back at Project Wonderful to use them!

Thank you all so much for your love and responses over the past 3 years.

Volume 3!

A note about the timeframe of the various volumes:
- Volume 1 started in September 2009, and ended New Year's Eve 2009
- Volume 2 started in January 2010 and ended in June 2010
- Volume 3 starts in Spring 2012

Yes, that means we are jumping ahead almost 2 years in the lives of our favorite characters.

We will also have a brand new POV character added to the mix!

I am planning to post at least the first episode before I run off to WisCon this month. That means that I have to wrap up Zoltan's Interlude pretty quickly.

Zoltan's Interlude!

I very much hope that y'all have been enjoying this peek into our favorite vampire's life and Family. He wanted so much more than a short story, and it has been a very gratifying novella to write. I really want to thank, again, all the generous donors who contributed to the Julia Penelope fundraiser -- you helped her afford her medications and supplements for at least 3 months!

In case you're interested in another type of vampire that pretty well inspired Zoltan's Family, I encourage you to seek out Fledgling by Octavia Butler.

Thank You All For Everything!

As my tiny, not-nearly-enough thank-you, I will be posting the next episode of Zoltan's Interlude this afternoon/tonight, and I think there are, at most, 2 more episodes of Zoltan before we get on to the business of Volume 3.

Volume 3 promises to be a VERY bumpy ride. Please stick with us and continue to spread word of Wonder City. I look forward to your comments (and screams)!

Want to make me happy today? Click this banner to vote for Wonder City Stories. Even if you've never voted before. I'd love to see how many total votes we could get in a real push!

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Wonder City PSA: New pictures from Meeks!

2012-03-08T14:35:26Z

The marvelous meeks has updated her sketch of Death, her boys, Watson, and Megan in Death's shop.

She has also given us a really lovely sketch of Sophie and Nereid in the Young Cosmics parlor. Remember? From this scene?

Please go comment on the posts or tip the artist if you can! She's marvelous for doing these free initial sketches, and will revise the initial sketches if she gets enough comments!

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Wonder City PSA: LGBTQ Round Table

2012-01-05T14:38:32Z

Hi, all!

I was part of a roundtable discussion with a number of other LGBTQ writers, talking about a number of excellent topics about being a queer creator and just being queer.

Denny Upkins, author of Hollowstone, organized it and put it all together, and I was very flattered that he invited me to participate! I think it came out very well, and I also suspect that everyone else was much more eloquent than I was. :} So be sure to check it out! There's even a photo of me and everything.

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Wonder City PSA: New store! New design!

2012-01-02T22:13:07Z

Hey, all you lovely people: Happy New Year!

I stalled quite a while in creating a new store for Wonder City merch, but this vacation finally provided me with the mental wherewithal to do so. I'm still working on the design of the shop, but viola, I present Wonder City Wonders at Cafe Press.

Because several of you have mentioned that you would like it, I have added a new design: Team Simon, created with the assistance of the wonderful tool Tagxedo and the input of you readers. I hope very much that the design on shirts (and whatnot) comes out as well as the previews appear to make it. (And oh gods if you see any artifacts left on the image, please let me know so I can clean it up.)

If you like it (or the Intersection design) and would like to spread Wonder City joy to your friends, I would certainly welcome new reader traffic! I note that Cafe Press seems to make sharing pretty darn easy.

Thank you, everyone, for a marvelous 2011. I'm looking forward to 2012, wherein I hope to:
- complete volume 2
- post the last outstanding Interlude
- post a couple more Interludes that have been simmering on the back burner
- possibly post a bit from another project I've been poking at
- start volume 3!

On a final note, nominations have opened for the Rose & Bay Awards for crowdfunded projects. Last year, someone kindly nominated Wonder City Stories for this award, and I would certainly not be averse to seeing it nominated again!

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Wonder City Stories: art

2011-08-07T03:02:35Z

Remember the sketch that meeks did of Molly in Hel's office?

She has updated it, and it is BEAUTIFUL.

Please go and look, and comment, and tip if you have the means.

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Wonder City PSA

2011-06-16T00:02:34Z

Zazzle decided that my most recent t-shirt design ("Robot Fag Hag") was in violation of their guidelines, the presence of a multitude of other products containing the phrase "fag hag" and "fag". I attempted to point out the use of the phrase in the community, and also the other products, but their Content Management police were also plagued by a terminal lack of reading comprehension.

Therefore, I have closed the Wonder City Zazzle store and will be actively seeking a better (read: actually gay-friendly) venue for schwag. Suggestions are welcome.

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Wonder City PSA

2011-06-13T14:57:07Z

ETA: Zazzle decided that this design was in violation of their guidelines, despite much discussion and the presence of a multitude of other products containing the phrase "fag hag" and "fag", and their Content Management police were also plagued by a complete lack of reading comprehension. Therefore, I have closed the Wonder City Zazzle store and will be actively seeking a better (read: gay-friendly) venue for schwag.

~~New T-shirt on Zazzle! Be in solidarity with Nereid: be a robot fag hag too!~~

Also, shiny new voting banner. Let me know what you think of it!

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Wonder City PSA: ART, AGAIN!

2011-05-04T15:00:37Z

So I asked meeks for another piece of art, and she chose to illustrate the greeting of Nereid, Wire (not seen), and the Equestrian at the faerie wedding. The rough sketch is here!

I pointed her to Didodikali's version of Nereid, which I really really loved, as a visual reference for Nereid, and she took . I am in love with how very DISAPPROVING Molly is on Maelstrom's back. Also, the LOOMING quality of the puma-woman.

Please go comment on the art! Or give her a tip! At 6 comments or $30 in tips, remember, she'll do a cleaned-up sketch for our delectation.

Also, please note my new WCS icon, for use in approved situations: Simon in wolf form.

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Wonder City Stories PSA

2011-04-29T16:17:53Z

Hi, there, I suck and I'm sorry.

I totally overestimated a) my time and b) my ability to knock off these short stories this month. I thought that since I had two of them started and solid ideas for the other two, it would be PLENTY of time.

HA HA HA.

So. I'm going to promise TWO (2) short stories in May. I have one completely drafted -- it just needs serious retooling -- and the second is well along in the writing process. And then the other two will happen in June. If I manage them sooner, yay for me.

(On the up side, the latest I heard is that Julia Penelope is home from the hospital/physical rehab -- she'd been shuttling between the two for a couple of months -- and friends are helping her get settled in.)

In May, I'm going to run the commenting incentive again, because reading your comments improves the heck out of my day. So if I get 50 comments in May, I will post twice weekly through June. As before, if you all post 75 comments, I'll post twice weekly through July too. Get up to 100 comments, the twice-weekly postings continue through August.

Thank you for your patience. I am sorry.

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Wonder City PSA: ART!

2011-04-22T13:56:28Z

Hello, all you lovely people,

meeks posted a most generous offer of crowdfunded illustration for independent authors, and so I took her up on it. I pointed her to the "Experto Crede" interlude (with the Equestrian and Hel) and asked for art of the scene in which Molly is talking to Hel.

She has produced a beautiful rough sketch, of which the below is just a snip. Click through to see the whole thing!

Please give her feedback on the sketch! (I've already posted, and made a suggestion about Molly's shirt over on the LJ version.) If 6 people give feedback on the sketch (or if she gets $30 in tips), she'll post a cleaned-up version of the sketch!

If she gets $75 in tips, she'll do a full value study of the image. At $100, she will do a color study or ink drawing of it, and a full-color painting if tips for this image hit $150.

Please help support her! She's being extraordinarily generous with her skills. If you can't tip, please leave her comments! There are several other lovely pieces that she's worked on for other authors, and you can browse through and comment on them too.

Best,
Jude

PS: If she gives me the go-ahead (I don't want to hog her time), I'll post a poll sometime in the next few days so that you readers can give input on what scene I should offer as a prompt.

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Wonder City PSA: Make me write for you

2011-04-03T21:00:02Z

My mini-fundraiser for lesbian author and editor Julia Penelope ends tomorrow. As you can see from the ChipIn, between you generous readers and some wonderful folks from the debsliverlovers community, I now owe you all 2 short stories during the month of April -- the story about Hel and the story about Ivy. Just a little more, and you can have a third story about Pearl Wong, and a little beyond that, you get a fourth story about Zoltan. SURELY you want a story about ZOLTAN!

Thank you for anything you can give!

(All stories will be posted during the month of April, barring real life coming and eating my head.)

All proceeds will be sent to Julia via Woman Earth & Spirit, the organization that helped us wrangle the monies for the DebsLiverLovers fundraiser. If you prefer to donate directly to WES, remember to mark your donation "For Julia Penelope" (and let me know you've done it so your donation will count toward the fundraiser).

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Wonder City PSA: Donation Incentives

2011-03-24T13:12:26Z

As I mentioned yesterday, I am holding a mini-fundraiser for lesbian author and editor Julia Penelope. She is a writer and editor of books about and for the lesbian community. (A quick glance at Amazon shows that she has a number of titles published in the 80s and 90s.) These days, though, she has congestive heart failure that doctors are working to get under control, and she is in dire need of financial assistance.

I picked $200 for the Julia Penelope fundraiser because it seemed like a really nice round number, and one of her friends had mentioned that she'd calculated some of Julia's new out-of-pocket medical expenses at $200/month (this is in addition to whatever expenses she already had). $200 therefore seemed like a good, solid, pie-in-the-sky figure.

I know that there are much larger crises happening in the world, but if you have an extra $5 you could throw into the hat, that's part of a medication copay right there, or paying for some of her supplements (used to increase her energy and fend off some of the side effects of her many medications), or part of a payment for a cell phone so her friends can call her.

Thank you for anything you can give!

Here's the Wonder City deal for you:
- if donations hit $50 by April 4, I will post a new short story, starring Hel, everyone's favorite sentient airship, called "Woman Born Digital"
- if donations hit $100 by April 4, I will post that story AND a story starring Simon's sister Ivy, called "What I Did On My Summer Vacation"
- if donations hit $150 by April 4, I will post both those stories AND a story about Pearl Wong, called "Case Studies"
- and if donations somehow miraculously hit $200 by April 4, I will post all three stories AND a story about Zoltan, called "His Faded Idol"

(All stories will be posted during the month of April, barring real life coming and eating my head.)

Wonder City PSA

2011-03-08T22:04:36Z

Hi, all,

Posting is delayed this week due to travel, parental surgery, lack of wifi, lack of a wireless network's password, time at the hospital, and brain meltdown (on my part). I have episodes in progress, and hopefully I'll get one of them up this week, but I'm not sure when that will be. I apologize for the hiccoughs and appreciate your patience.

Meanwhile, if you love Wonder City, please go vote for it for the Rose & Bay Award. We're already making a respectable showing, but if you haven't voted yet, please do. Just to make us a little more respectable. ;)

Naptime now. *thud*

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Wonder City Stories PSA

2011-03-02T14:18:15Z

Thanks to you all, Wonder City Stories has made it to Round 2 of the Best Fiction voting for the Rose & Bay Award! Please take a moment and go vote for your preferred finalist! It would be lovely if Wonder City were to be your choice, of course!

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Wonder City Stories: question of the day

2011-02-16T17:42:35Z

Lady Gaga (Grammy Awards, 2/13/2011):

Lady GoGo (from "Wake Up, Little Sophie", posted 12/31/2010):

Nereid had lost the thread of the tirade somewhere in the middle, because she could see a shining brass and steel orb floating outside the window of Sophie's window. As she watched, long... tweezers, it looked like, extended from the orb and somehow pierced the window without breaking it. The tweezer ends opened slowly and mechanically, and the window appeared to move aside, billowing and draping like a curtain over the metal arms. By the time Wire realized Nereid wasn't paying attention and looked over her shoulder, there was a glistening crystalline hexagonal surface pressed into the aperture.

There was a ringing thud, and another, and then the crystal was kicked off, a foot visible in the opening, and the cover tumbled in a noisy bell-like clatter onto the tile floor. Music blasted out of the mouth of the orb, a dramatic pop-orchestral thing with a driving beat. The foot, shod in shining brass and crystal itself, slid out and down to the floor, dragging behind a body similarly covered, topped with brilliantly platinum-bleached hair. The face turned toward them, and the eyes of the mask were iridescently faceted, facets upon facets upon facets. The smooth brass, striped irregularly with black, encased a slim throat, painfully thin torso, gracefully awkward arms, and unimpressive bosom, all atop long, slender legs that appeared to be strangely insectile in design. The metallic legs clicked on the tile. The face turned toward them. One of the eye covers slid to the side, exposing a heavily-kohled human eye. Four small, translucent wings unfolded from the back and vibrated briefly.

Great minds think alike?

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Wonder City PSA: Loot!

2010-07-01T01:37:17Z

Just a note to let folks know that I'm experimenting with Zazzle merchandise for Wonder City Stories, and I'm starting with the t-shirt design that Simon wore in episode #50, "Of a Mingled Yarn".

Check out the Zazzle store, which currently has a t-shirt and a mug with this design. I'll probably start adding things as I have time to create the designs.

Thank you to the kind fan who sent in another tip! We're a quarter of the way to an extra episode this week!

Vote for us at Top Web Fiction!

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Wonder City PSA: tippage

2010-06-17T18:53:31Z

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who has contributed so far! Most of the contributions do not show on the ChipIn widget, but we're over the 50% mark for this week.

If we don't hit $25 this week, the kitty will carry over to next week, so if after Monday's post, you decide that you really want a second episode next week, y'all won't have so far to go!

Thanks again, folks!

Vote for us at Top Web Fiction!

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PSA: Auction for a good cause and Wonder City auction offers

2010-05-12T15:48:24Z

A friend of mine, Deb Mensinger, is losing her liver due to porphyria. But we're running an auction to raise funds for a liver transplant, because she has a potential live donor in the person of her brother, and there are a lot of incidental expenses. More details are over on LiveJournal here, including information on how to bid or offer items.

The auction is chock-a-block with fabulous, fabulous STUFF, including signed books, original art, jewelry, fabric arts, and fan items. Just a few of the SF&F big names involved include Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, Terri Windling, Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear, Tom Canty, and Charles Vess. So please DO go take a look, and boost the signal! The auction runs until Sunday, May 23rd.

My own Wonder City offers include:
1. A cameo in Wonder City Stories, and
2. An origin story for any character (except the Fat Lady) in Wonder City Stories

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Different ways to read Wonder City Stories

2010-03-11T16:10:55Z

There are several ways to read Wonder City Stories:

- you can subscribe to wonder_city
- you can subscribe to the LJ feed I set up at wonder_city
- you can use the RSS feed
- you can use the Atom feed

If you have other suggestions of ways I can make WCS more accessible, please let me know!

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