Past: |
My website: JaneFancher.com
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Present: |
My blog:
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Future: |
Right here. |
 (Trust me, after the last couple of weeks…I need it!) |
That about covers it.
Well…maybe not. I’m pretty much the least known of the CC authors, so I’d probably better explain just a bit.
I’m a math/physics/astronomy/and anthropology kinda person. Those classes were admittedly a long time ago, but it did set the way my brain works…or maybe because my brain works that way, I liked the classes. Heck, I dunno, but other than my subsequent work with computers, I never used it much…until I began writing. Now…I use it all the time. All of it. Plus every other experience life has thrown at me. Nothing like writing for tapping every resource you’ve got (and some you don’t.)
My first real job “in the biz” was with WaRP Graphics (Elfquest Graphic Novel.) I was hired initially to help in the office, then, when they discovered I could wield a brush with fair efficiency, my job expanded to include doing backup inks and coloring. I discovered I liked this visual storytelling thing and that realization led to a solo project: a graphic novel adaptation of my all-time favorite author’s first novel (a certain C. J. Cherryh’s Gate of Ivrel). I worked closely with Carolyn on this project and we became fast friends. Then the graphic’s publisher, Donning, decided to retire the presses, leaving a lot of us high and dry. At Carolyn’s suggestion I tried something I’d never seriously considered: writing.
One day of putting a story together and I was hooked. I couldn’t stop writing and within a year, I had a three-book contract. Not the best thing that ever happened to me. For the gruesome history of the GroundTies series, I refer you to my website. That’s in the past and I don’t care to dwell on it here, the road to the future.
However, it was a very exciting time. Carolyn was my mentor and editor, and a better teacher I couldn’t have wished for. I found something inside me that I’d never imagined. A sometimes exciting, sometimes scary, but always exhilarating something. Carolyn helped me learn to control the myriad possibilities my brain persisted in seeing and to handle the reins of multiple intense viewpoints. I couldn’t have done it without her. More, I’d never have tried.
Shortly after Harmonies of the ‘Net came out, Carolyn and I went to a convention where we met the canny lady, Lynn Abbey. Actually, Carolyn had had a long time relationship with her, including Thieves’ World (Note: this is not an official site, but it had lots of info, so I linked), and I’d met her once before, when I talked with her about taking the Graphic to Donning, but this was the first time I really got to know her, and it was the beginning of another very special relationship, both friendship-ly and creatively, particularly after she joined us in Oklahoma City for a few years. Hers was another way of looking at storytelling, and I learned a lot. I like to think I returned the favor, to both her and Carolyn, but that’s for them to say.
A lot happened, then. Another series from DAW, the Ring Books, three moves, and a lot of the other things chronicled in the websites and Carolyn’s Journals. Most significant to the creation of this site, there’s been a serious change in the treatment of SF/F in New York publishing. The midlist is dying, and that’s where SF/F lived. It’s what kept SF/F vital in an industry dedicated to the Eternal Quest for Best Sellers. Now, well, they’ve kind of joined that Quest, to the detriment of those of us who live on the fringe. I wish them well, but I’m glad they aren’t the only option any longer.
But the midlist isn’t dead yet. Thanks to the internet and e-books, we have a chance to keep it alive and make it more vital than ever. The three of us have been through the editorial sieve of New York publishing, but frankly, they were never as hard on us as we were on each other. By the time our books made it to New York, the greatest arguments were over double vs single quotes and gray vs grey.
So…I wouldn’t be terribly worried about the quality of our books falling off.
I’m so excited about the possibilities inherent in this site, I can hardly control it. Please, poke around, sample a book or three, and if you have fun, come back, poke around some more…there’s lots to do in these sites and blogs…
As the Japanese say: Ja ne! (See you later!)
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