Joe Monson – SF Editor & Author

Michaelene Pendleton, 1946-2019

Posted on February 11, 2019 - June 5, 2019 by Joe

Picture of Michaelene Pendleton in the sunlight, wearing sunglasses, with her hair being blown in the wind.

I’m sad to report that author Michaelene Pendleton passed away on January 21, 2019 in Moab. I am told by one of her close friends that she passed away quickly. She was 72.

My first memories of Michaelene were at Life, the Universe, & Everything, an annual science fiction and fantasy symposium held in Provo, Utah. I met her in the early 1990s there, and I remember her always having a smile for anyone. I found out later she was a writer and editor at the Moab Sun News in Moab, Utah. She wrote a number of science fiction short stories from the late 1980s through the early 2000s, and they were all well written and interesting. She was smart, articulate, and a great storyteller.

If you’d like to leave a tribute for her family and friends, you can do so at the Spanish Valley Mortuary.

You will be missed, Michaelene.

Picture from the Moab Sun News.

LTUE 37 is next week!

Posted on February 6, 2019 - February 8, 2019 by Joe

Life, the Universe, & Everything 37 is coming up next week, February 14-16, 2019. It will be held at the Provo Marriott and Conference Center in downtown Provo.

Outside of the events below, I’ll be attending a few panels that interest me, chatting with people in the hall, and hanging out at the LTUE Benefit Anthologies table near the elevators and the Board Room. Drop by and say “Hello!”, pick up a Trace the Stars bookmark (limited quantities, while they last!), and get your own copy of Trace the Stars. You can also see the amazing artist Kaitlund Zupanic at the table (we’re sharing).

I’ll be participating in the following panels and events:

Manga and Graphic Novels: What to Read First
(Thursday, 11am – 11:45am in Elm)
Antarctic Mythology and Folklore
(Thursday, 1pm – 1:45pm in Birch)
Trace the Stars Anthology Launch
(Thursday, 3pm – 3:45pm in Elm)
In addition to releasing Trace the Stars, we will be revealing the cover art and some of the authors for A Dragon and Her Girl—the second LTUE Benefit Anthology—coming out in 2020.
Book Signing
(Friday, 7pm – 9pm, Exhibit Hall B in the Utah Valley Convention Center)
This is a mass signing, and will likely have around 100 authors, artists, and editors signing. This is open to the public and free.

Hope to see you there!

Trace the Stars available for preorder

Posted on January 28, 2019 - January 30, 2019 by Joe

The ebook for Trace the Stars, the benefit anthology I co-edited with Jaleta Clegg, is now available for pre-order in multiple locations: Amazon (Kindle), Apple Books, Barnes & Noble (Nook), and and Kobo. Go pre-order your copy today!

If your library uses Overdrive, you can request it be ordered so you can borrow it. If you are outside the States, the ebook is available at all Amazon stores and other ebook stores that are served by Tolino (mostly in Europe, I believe). It should be available shortly through Scribd, 24Symbols, and Playster, too.

The print version will be available soon on Amazon, and shortly after that at any bookstore that can order through Ingram. I’ll post more here once I have the final details.

EDIT: The print version is now available for order!.

Call for submissions closed for A Dragon and Her Girl

Posted on December 19, 2018 - December 19, 2018 by Joe

You can read more about it over on the Hemelein Publications site. Now, to buckle down and read all of the submissions with Jaleta Clegg. We have to have decisions made by the end of January 2019. Wish us luck! I think it’s going to be hard based on the caliber of those who submitted stories.

LTUE 2019 schedule

Posted on December 14, 2018 - December 14, 2018 by Joe

LTUE’s snazzy new logo.

Looks like I’ll be moderating three panels at Life, the Universe, & Everything in February 2019 (here’s my schedule). I’ll also be at the Trace the Stars anthology launch event on Thursday (February 14) afternoon and the mass author signing on Friday (February 15) evening. At the anthology launch, we’ll be unveiling the cover for A Dragon and Her Girl and announcing who will be in the anthology (provided we get all the contracts back in time).

LTUE is my favorite convention every year. I get to see friends I only see once or twice a year, I get to meet new people, and I get to learn a lot from a wide variety of other authors, editors, artists, and others. If you haven’t ever attended, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re an author, editor, or artist. Maybe attendance will break 2000 this year? They reached over 1700 last year, so it’s a possibility.

As a bonus (and incentive to attend), anyone who buys Trace the Stars at the symposium will get one of the matching limited edition bookmarks, while supplies last. So, come by and pick up a copy! See you there!