Melanie Lamaga, Writer, Editor, Photographer
Fiction on the Border Between the Real and Unreal
Serving the Spirits In this near future, post-apocalyptic Toronto, the wealthy live in the suburbs. In the inner city, government and social structures have disintegrated after a series of riots. “The ones who couldn’t or wouldn’t get out,” use a system of barter, and live under the shadow of crime-lord Rudy and his posse. Ti-Jeanne, […] Read more »
2018 Update Baja Magic Lodge (and Cedros Outdoor Adventures) are still going strong (original post below). This is the business that funds my life as a writer and editor, takes me Mexico for half the year, allows me to interact happily people from a very different culture (Cedros Island, where we employ about 15-20 people during the season, which is […] Read more »
How Do You Know When It’s Go Time? Before you submit your manuscript to agents and publishers, you would be wise to make sure it is well crafted, polished and clean. This will greatly up your chances of finding what you seek. However, if you go indie, there is no gatekeeper other than yourself. The […] Read more »
Nobody writes cooler stories than Kelly Link. Link’s stories draw from fairy tales, myth, pop culture, experimental, horror, gothic, and detective fiction, the tabloids, dreams, nightmares, and half a dozen other things. But this is not merely pulp fiction—wham, bam, thrill and chill. Link uses the tools of pulp fiction to deal with literary concerns: […] Read more »
The Moon with a Knife-Sharp Edge Three unwitting college students stand between the reawakening of a dark goddess and the Benandanti, a secret society of magicians who have been running the world for thousands of years. Waking the Moon, which won a Mythopoeic Award and a James Tiptree, Jr. Award, is part horror, part coming […] Read more »
Fiction by Melanie Lamaga It was a typical day for Michael—to the office by 7:00 a.m., coffee-fueled meetings, lunch with Dave, writing reports, out by six. Driving home from work in his convertible with the top down, Michael began to sing a wordless tune that filled him with exaltation. He felt as if he was […] Read more »
Fiction by Melanie Lamaga The Watercolor people are angry with me. You may not think that sounds ominous, but believe me, they have a list of people they’d like to kill. They’ll go through with it, too, given the chance. Even the children can be vicious. Now you’re laughing. Perhaps you, like many others, have […] Read more »
In case you haven’t heard the news, writers now have a choice when it comes to publishing books. I’ve done a lot of research over the past year and here is what I’ve learned. You Might Want to Become an Indie Author Because… 1. Mo’ Money Most publishers give you an advance, and then between […] Read more »
Great Reading for You… and Yummy Cover Designs! A friend just posted an email on our community’s newsletter asking for reading recommendations, and look what the universe delivered! I’ve been doing a lot of research on design as I work on the cover for my upcoming book, and so I’m particularly attuned to the visual […] Read more »
Birthdays, The Daily Show, and Books of the Future It’s my birthday this week, and let me say this right off: I’m not one of those self-effacing, ‘aw shucks, doing nothing special’ types. That’s something else we could learn from 4-year olds. Bring on the cake! Bring on the Party! Pin the tail on the […] Read more »