What we’re about
We're a support network for Houston independent authors to socialize and gain insights into the business and marketing aspects of indie publishing. We're not focused on any one genre or way to write, and we welcome indie, trad, and hybrid authors at any stage of their career.
Though our focus is primarily social, our monthly meetup will include an education portion with professional speakers (marketers, editors, book designers, other authors with strategy insights, etc.).
Upcoming events (3)
See all- Writers Lunch: The Amalgam-Tech and Magic (Part III of III)Link visible for attendees
Creativity knows no bounds when it comes to science and magic in fiction. Science fiction and fantasy authors use magic and technology to build unbelievable worlds and superhuman characters, or even to make a point about society or human nature. Whether used as a set dressing or plot device, “hard” or soft”, the empirical and the arcane are generally considered to be separate and distinct. Science is not magic, and vice versa. But the growing sci-fantasy genre wields an amalgam of science and magic to great effect, its authors stretching their creativity further than ever before. After all, according to Arthur C. Clarke’s third law: “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Join science fiction and fantasy author A.P. Hawkins for the final installment of a three-part Writers Lunch series dedicated to celebrating the magic and technology of science fiction and fantasy. This month, we're focusing on The Amalgam - blending science and magic seamlessly to delight your readers!
About Our Host
Anna (she/her) is our world-building goddess. Her degrees in both biology and marine biology have given her an extensive understanding of niches, habitats, and circles of life. Her background in biology has given her unparalleled skill at helping writers get the details of their complex, immersive alien worlds onto the page, without excessive info dumping. Check out her blog post on “incluing” for some tips and tricks!
Anna has nearly a decade of editing experience transforming complex information into concise and engaging text for writers in multiple fields. This has allowed her to hone her line-editing skills for many types of readers. She has a keen eye for details in story elements like character arcs and pacing as well as on the line level for grammatical and spelling errors.
When she’s not editing, Anna writes stories that deal with disillusionment with institutions and characters who sometimes become the same kind of monster they rebelled against. You can find her work in Analog Science Fiction and Fact and several small press anthologies.
If your setting is just as integral to the story as your characters, Anna is uniquely qualified to assist you. - Ask the Editor Hour with Tomeworks: Stupid Grammar RulesLink visible for attendees
Should your aliens be empathetic? Should Bigfoot have a soul? How do you make superintelligent cephalopods sympathetic? Tomeworks Editing is coming to Writers Lunch to answer your big questions about how to humanize non-human characters. Speculative writing tends to have a swath of nonhuman characters from robots to anthropomorphic toasters to sentient clouds to mutant crocodiles. Questions abound. Should your non-human characters have human characteristics? Do inscrutable behaviors work better in some stories? Or should there be a comprehensible reason for "the other" to act the way it does in your tales? We'll answer these and more
Do you have a conundrum about non-human characters in your writing? Join our Discord Server here: https://discord.gg/kTJqhFe776 to ask! Questions asked in our Discord or by our Patreon members are given priority. - Writers Lunch: Whoops, That is Offensive--Problematic LanguageLink visible for attendees
Words matter. And as an author, your words matter even more. There are a litany of racist and offensive words and phrases that are so ingrained in modern English that many of us don’t realize what we’re actually saying when we use them. So, let’s talk about the difficult things, learn together, and use more inclusive, empathetic, and accurate language.
About Our Host
Daphne (she/her) is an intuitive editor who has her finger on the pulse of what gets a reader’s heart pumping. A lover of both horror and romance, Daphne has a unique command of how to pull a reader in close and play on their emotions. Her degree in psychology and years of working as a slush reader for Horror Addicts have given her an exceptional foundation on developing the human elements of storytelling and craft in her editing. She excels at molding dramatic scenes to the perfect level of spice, detail, and emotional vulnerability for your ideal reader.
In her spare time, Daphne writes horror with a focus on the lived experiences of women and scifi/romance with themes of toppling the patriarchy. You can find her work at On the Premises and in anthologies such as Bigfoot Country and Dark Divinations.
If you want to make your reader shiver with anticipation in your Erotica, Romance, Horror, Paranormal Mystery, or other visceral genres, Daphne is the editor for you.
