I booked my flight to Los Angeles, and I’ll be packing up early release copies of The Seventh Pleiade to head to Bent-con 2013.
This will be my first time at a ‘con’ of any type, and I’m incredibly excited. While cons are known for comics and superhero fanaticism, this LGBT event will also feature authors and film-makers in the varied genres of fantasy, sci-fi and romance. And I’m told there’s a pool party with real, live, actual Mermen. 🙂
If you will be passing through, please stop by Bold Strokes Books’ exhibition booth. I’ll be signing copies of The Seventh Pleiade and giving away swag.
I love a good Atlantis story, and I despair a bit that Atlantis has never quite broken into modern pop culture, at least not in a way with much gravitas.
For sci-fi geeks, there was the Stargate Atlantis series and for kids there was Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Some big name authors have written about Atlantis, like Clive Cussler with his espionage thriller Atlantis Found, but generally Atlantis stories are considered genre and niche.
It’s time for a full-on Atlantis blitz, on the order of vampires, post-apocalyptic dystopias and zombies. Here’s why the time is right.
5. The Every-Thirty-Years Theory: Sociologists say our culture is cyclical.
Political, social and even artistic trends tend to fall in and out of fashion every
thirty years.
This is good news for Atlantis fans because the last decade of major Atlantis popularity was the 1980s. Here’s a look back in thirty year spans.
From the 1959 film adaptation of Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth
1950s:
Jules Vernes’ Journey to the Center of the Earth is made into a movie. Pulp author Lester Del Rey, who will become the founder of Ballantine’s sci fi/fantasy imprint Del Rey books, publishes Attack from Atlantis. Atlantis:The Lost Continent becomes the first Hollywood studio production about the legend (OK, that’s stretching decades just a touch; the movie came out in 1961).
Screen shot of Atari’s Atlantis
1980’s:
Best-selling Australian author Marion Zimmer Bradley takes on Atlantis with her epic Fall of Atlantis. The award-winning film Cocoon is based on extraterrestrial myths about Atlantis. Atari is inspired and releases an Atlantis video game.
4. Everyone loves Greek Mythology: Recent projects about Ancient Greece are a warm-up for the BIG Atlantis breakthrough.
There’s Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson book series and movie franchise, the 2010 reboot of Clash of the Titans (from the original 1981 movie — see #5 above), along with films like 300 and Immortals.
3. Young adult fantasy author T.A. Barron just released the Atlantis Rising series.
2. BBC’s Atlantis mini-series just came to the small screen for Fall 2013.
1. You know where this was leading: Andrew J. Peters’ The Seventh Pleiade, upcoming in November 2013, begins a new epic series retelling the story of Atlantis. (And is available for pre-order by the way).
*Note: This article is not meant to be taken entirely seriously 🙂
Just a quick post to say my short essay “On Writing About Atlantis” went live on the Bold Strokes Authors Blog today. This is in anticipation of my young adult fantasy The Seventh Pleiade, which is upcoming in November!
So stop by the blog, drop a comment, let me know what you think about the legend of Atlantis. 🙂
Since this blog has become an on-line diary of sorts, I had to include this happening.
I came home from work tonight to a long-awaited discovery: my first advance from a publisher for my book! This was from Bold Strokes Books for the sale of The Seventh Pleiade.
Of course, I laid it out on the kitchen counter and took a photo of it with my iPhone for virtual scrapbooking. 🙂
I wouldn’t say this was more or less rewarding than any step along the way for me as a newish author. My first offer of publication was spectacular. Seeing my work in print for the first time was a damn proud moment. Getting nice praise from reviewers and readers made me feel ten feet tall.
The advance just registers to me in a different way. I’m not ready to quit my day job for sure, but it’s awfully sweet validation that I’ve entered the world of the professional author.
Just a reminder and a re-invitation: Bold Strokes Books is hosting a reading event featuring  a panel of its authors (including me!) at the fabulously-named Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, a queer bookstore and event space.
Admission is free so come on out to hear from a range of LGBT fiction authors and maybe pick up one of our books. Address, directions to the event space can be found here.
I booked my flight to Los Angeles, and I’ll be packing up early release copies of The Seventh Pleiade to head to Bent-con 2013.
There’s Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson book series and movie franchise, the 2010 reboot of Clash of the Titans (from the original 1981 movie — see #5 above), along with films like 300 and Immortals.
