Bodacious & Sundry #3: First Creedverse Steampunk Story & Virtual FantasyCon

The First Creedverse Short Story

I’ve just about finished the first short story related to Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western! It’s a prequel to the upcoming novel. I plan to write and share several more during the lead-up to the novel’s release in December, 2016. Now, here’s the important thing to keep in mind:

These extras are going to be free, as soon as they’re ready, only for my newsletter subscribers! If you want to read them before I eventually publish them in an anthology, which is a ways off, I highly recommend you subscribe.

Several friends are reading over the story now and making suggestions. Once I’ve gone over those and made a final round of revisions, I’ll just about have the story ready to share. I’m also going to create a cover for it. A small version of this cat image will be for the scene breaks.

This story features two of my favorite Creedverse characters, young brothel madam Anna Lynn Boyd, and local tinker Jonathan Johns. Like the novel, it takes place in a highly fictionalized version of my home town, Santa Cruz, California. It actually resembles modern Santa Cruz more in its layout than it does the actual 1876 town, and I've created it that way on purpose. The Creedverse is, after all, an very alternate world.

Oh yeah! The title of the story is The Obstructed Engine.

Virtual FantasyCon

The first (to my knowledge) Facebook-based virtual sci-fi/fantasy convention takes place this year from November 1 to 8, and I’m a part of it! Virtual FantasyCon is gaining a lot of momentum and I think it will have a lot of virtual attendees.

I will have a virtual booth on the Steampunk Saturday page. That’s Saturday, November 7. Basically, that will be a thread where attendees can say hello or ask me questions, and where I can respond and post updates throughout the day.

I am also on two panels that day, Cogs & Wheels and The Future of Publishing. We panelist are actually pre-recording the videos this coming Saturday, October 24. Last Saturday, we had a practice recording that went well, so I don’t anticipate any problems. While the panels will be pre-recorded this year, they may be live in the future. This is the first VFC, so the contention runners and participants are working out the kinks.

In any case, if you have any questions for me after the panels, feel free to post them in my booth!

As part of the lead-up to the first VFC, we participants received interview questions. Here’s my interview, for your enjoyment.

A FantasyCon Mini-Interview with Jonathan Fesmire, Author

Virtual FantasyCon: Are you an author, reader, or artist?

Jonathan Fesmire: I'm all four! I identify myself most as a writer. I currently have two adult fantasy novels and a young adult fantasy novel published, but in the last five years I've gotten heavily into steampunk, both in my art and writing. My upcoming novel is "Bodacious Creed: a Steampunk Zombie Western." My blog is called "The Mostly Steampunk Blog" where I do just that: write mostly about steampunk with some of my other interests thrown in. I've interviewed makers and cosplayers like Ave Rose, James Neathery, and Steamy Leia, and will continue to interview more people in the steampunk community. I also have an MFA in Animation and Visual Effects from Academy of Art University, so I do 3D art on the side.

VFC: What is your earliest fantasy story memory, book or movie? JF: I honestly don't remember. I've been into fantasy and speculative fiction since forever. Probably the original Star Trek, or maybe A Wrinkle in Time. I was seven when Star Wars came out, which must have cemented my love for science fiction. In the 90s I got into Cyberpunk, and in the 2000s, steampunk. VFC: If you could shift into any creature you wanted, what would you choose, and why? JF: I will take it by "creature" that you mean any alien as well. I would shift into a Time Lord with a Tardis. Nothing would be more amazing than traveling all of time and space with my son. VFC: Have you written any stories? If so, please share them with us. JF: I've written lots of stories! In the 1990s quite a few made it to paying zines, and I even sold one to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine. I had an anthology, "Seed of Vision" published for years, but recently retired it. However, subscribers to my newsletter get what I think are the eight best stories from that anthology for free when they sign up for my newsletter via my website. I'm also working on the first short story in the steampunk world of "Bodacious Creed" right now and should have it done by convention time. It's also going to be a freebie to my newsletter subscribers, and I think it's quite good.

Coming Soon

In the next few weeks, I'll post more about VFC, announce when The Obstructed Engine is available to subscribers, and post another interview or two. Meanwhile, you can subscribe below!