The Steampunk Ball at Cogsbar in Birmingham, which was mentioned in previous posts, was meant to take place this coming weekend. Unfortunately it has been cancelled.
The other events in Oct are still going ahead.
Wednesday, 10 August 2016
Wednesday, 13 July 2016
Interview With Sheffield Uni Gothic Society, Post Re-imagining Event
A few months ago I went to Sheffield Uni for a Gothic-Lit event to launch The Diary of V. Frankenstein and give a presentation on it. I was interviewed via skype recently by one of the organisers. We got to have a more in depth discussion about the story and its themes. The interview has been transcribed and put on the Sheffield Gothic Blog so feel free to have a look.
Just forgive the couple of question I ramble on and don't actually answer. Nerves got the best of me.
http://sheffieldgothicreadinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/steven-guscott-in-ideal-world-it.html
Just forgive the couple of question I ramble on and don't actually answer. Nerves got the best of me.
http://sheffieldgothicreadinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/steven-guscott-in-ideal-world-it.html
A Quick General Update
This latter half of 2016 is going to be busy. As mentioned in a couple of posts ago, there are a number of events coming up.
This post is simply a quick bullet point run down of what writing things I'm working on the moment.
-The main project at the moment is The Heart of Nature. This is the second book in The Chronicles of Elementary and my own editing is going well. I have about 100 of 485 pages left to work through and then it will be sent to the publisher to see what they think.
-After the lessons of the one star for the Diary of V. Frankenstein I have moved on and focusing on the positive things ahead. I've had a number of really nice things said about DoVF said since, so that's helped restore a little bit of faith in the story.
-I've been working on some cosplay for two conventions in October and the copsplay is a character from DoVF. Its been a lot of fun so far and I can't wait to finish. Although, I must remind people to spray paint in a well ventilated area ;) lol
-There is another bit of cool DoVF news, but I don't know if I'm allowed to share it yet so will wait just now.
-The rest of my time is spent making sure I'm organised for events that I have going on. I have a small little book signing on this weekend (16th of July) in Gloucester and that's looking to be fun
And that's about it really at the moment for book news. I'm working as hard as my health will let me and will continue to update and keep a record as and when things happen.
This post is simply a quick bullet point run down of what writing things I'm working on the moment.
-The main project at the moment is The Heart of Nature. This is the second book in The Chronicles of Elementary and my own editing is going well. I have about 100 of 485 pages left to work through and then it will be sent to the publisher to see what they think.
-After the lessons of the one star for the Diary of V. Frankenstein I have moved on and focusing on the positive things ahead. I've had a number of really nice things said about DoVF said since, so that's helped restore a little bit of faith in the story.
-I've been working on some cosplay for two conventions in October and the copsplay is a character from DoVF. Its been a lot of fun so far and I can't wait to finish. Although, I must remind people to spray paint in a well ventilated area ;) lol
-There is another bit of cool DoVF news, but I don't know if I'm allowed to share it yet so will wait just now.
-The rest of my time is spent making sure I'm organised for events that I have going on. I have a small little book signing on this weekend (16th of July) in Gloucester and that's looking to be fun
And that's about it really at the moment for book news. I'm working as hard as my health will let me and will continue to update and keep a record as and when things happen.
Wednesday, 15 June 2016
1 Star Review: My Mistakes, Honesty, Candour, Naivety, Innocence and Ignorance.
Getting a harsh, but obviously trolling review is easy for me to move passed. Getting a harsh, but justified review- not so much.
Long story short, my latest novella, The Diary of V. Frankenstein has had a review that rips it to shreds and says the story does the opposite of following feminist themes and is actually condescending, patronizing and anti-feminist (the review contains a lot of spoilers but it’s on goodreads if you want to look). The reviewer didn’t know there was a gender swapped version, and has agreed to read it, but at the end of the day she may still not like it. I totally accept this, but I’ve felt it important to write about this experience and how to move forward from the review.
For a number of reasons, the harsh review hurts a lot and is a bitter pill to swallow. As mentioned in a previous post, I did swallow this pill 3-4 months ago, when I was told the story could be interpreted negatively. After re-writes, and the creation of the alternate gender swap version, I thought we had got it right; that hand in hand the two versions of the story were a fascinating duality on the themes and plot. In part this is what has happened, but mistakes have been made on the way. This is partly due to me and my weaknesses, but also due to not providing both versions equally- oh the irony!
The best way to begin this discussion is to talk about how I write a story. I don’t often think when writing a story. I usually have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and some themes to play with, and then I just write. The story tends to evolve by itself. I don’t really think about the characters, a target audience, marketability, or how it will all be interpreted etc. In hindsight this is very naïve, innocent and ignorant of me. In my defence it is a much more organic process, but I see now it can lead to problems if I don’t think enough about who will read this story and the perspective they might take on it.
The fact that The Diary of V. Frankenstein can be read as the opposite of what I tried to make it has happened for a number of reasons- mostly because of the above. The review is harsh and contains many spoilers, but the reality is that many people will agree with this negative review, yet at the same time many people won’t even think about the things she’s highlighted. And this is the difficulty of subjectivity and with right and wrong a lot of the time- it is us as individuals who define our reality/how we perceive something. Because of how subjective things like interpretation of stories can be, such a review wouldn’t usually create this level discussion from me, but as I’ve said, the review is totally valid and important for me to listen to.
Let’s go back in time for a minute. When it was brought to my attention by my editor and publisher of how certain aspects to the story can be seen as the opposite of what I was trying to do I struggled to accept it. However, that was my naïve perspective and my ignorance. For one who has a very high emotional level at times and who can be very empathic and compassionate, I seriously failed these wonderful aspects of my personality. I did not put enough weight on how readers could perceive the plot of the story.
Fortunately, great things came from my naivety and we developed the alternative version I’ve discussed in previous posts: a version that is, ultimately what I should have written in the first place. But I am human, and therefore prone to mistakes and weaknesses. Another mistake I make is that I often think people will take the positive interpretation and not the negative- once again, I am so innocent and ignorant at times, which is no excuse. I need to do better. I need to apply empathy and understanding to my readers, especially with such important themes and subject matters that mean everything to me.
In hindsight I wish we had published the Victoria Frankenstein version as the primary version. We were so close in doing so, but an attitude of, ‘it will be okay, and once we’ve had sales and sold the hardbacks special editions of the female version, we can sort out the female paperbacks and ebooks.’ It was clearly not okay. Actually, the truth is they should have all been equal.
The nature of time is that we can’t go back and can only move forward. The wonderful part of life is that we are humans and have the capacity to adapt, learn and grow. It can be painful and hard, but is so worth it. Out of negatives, positives can be created. For this specific situation, the positivity is that the two stories are going to be published together in one book. It is a wonderful combining of two fascinating versions of the same story, and both can be seen from multiple points of view, but with them together readers will know there are two halves to a whole. Hopefully, with the stories together it will be something fun to read, but I also hope it will be something that has layers and provokes thought on personal perception, and the importance of empathy and understanding of all perspectives.
Long story short, my latest novella, The Diary of V. Frankenstein has had a review that rips it to shreds and says the story does the opposite of following feminist themes and is actually condescending, patronizing and anti-feminist (the review contains a lot of spoilers but it’s on goodreads if you want to look). The reviewer didn’t know there was a gender swapped version, and has agreed to read it, but at the end of the day she may still not like it. I totally accept this, but I’ve felt it important to write about this experience and how to move forward from the review.
For a number of reasons, the harsh review hurts a lot and is a bitter pill to swallow. As mentioned in a previous post, I did swallow this pill 3-4 months ago, when I was told the story could be interpreted negatively. After re-writes, and the creation of the alternate gender swap version, I thought we had got it right; that hand in hand the two versions of the story were a fascinating duality on the themes and plot. In part this is what has happened, but mistakes have been made on the way. This is partly due to me and my weaknesses, but also due to not providing both versions equally- oh the irony!
The best way to begin this discussion is to talk about how I write a story. I don’t often think when writing a story. I usually have a beginning, a middle, and an end, and some themes to play with, and then I just write. The story tends to evolve by itself. I don’t really think about the characters, a target audience, marketability, or how it will all be interpreted etc. In hindsight this is very naïve, innocent and ignorant of me. In my defence it is a much more organic process, but I see now it can lead to problems if I don’t think enough about who will read this story and the perspective they might take on it.
The fact that The Diary of V. Frankenstein can be read as the opposite of what I tried to make it has happened for a number of reasons- mostly because of the above. The review is harsh and contains many spoilers, but the reality is that many people will agree with this negative review, yet at the same time many people won’t even think about the things she’s highlighted. And this is the difficulty of subjectivity and with right and wrong a lot of the time- it is us as individuals who define our reality/how we perceive something. Because of how subjective things like interpretation of stories can be, such a review wouldn’t usually create this level discussion from me, but as I’ve said, the review is totally valid and important for me to listen to.
Let’s go back in time for a minute. When it was brought to my attention by my editor and publisher of how certain aspects to the story can be seen as the opposite of what I was trying to do I struggled to accept it. However, that was my naïve perspective and my ignorance. For one who has a very high emotional level at times and who can be very empathic and compassionate, I seriously failed these wonderful aspects of my personality. I did not put enough weight on how readers could perceive the plot of the story.
Fortunately, great things came from my naivety and we developed the alternative version I’ve discussed in previous posts: a version that is, ultimately what I should have written in the first place. But I am human, and therefore prone to mistakes and weaknesses. Another mistake I make is that I often think people will take the positive interpretation and not the negative- once again, I am so innocent and ignorant at times, which is no excuse. I need to do better. I need to apply empathy and understanding to my readers, especially with such important themes and subject matters that mean everything to me.
In hindsight I wish we had published the Victoria Frankenstein version as the primary version. We were so close in doing so, but an attitude of, ‘it will be okay, and once we’ve had sales and sold the hardbacks special editions of the female version, we can sort out the female paperbacks and ebooks.’ It was clearly not okay. Actually, the truth is they should have all been equal.
The nature of time is that we can’t go back and can only move forward. The wonderful part of life is that we are humans and have the capacity to adapt, learn and grow. It can be painful and hard, but is so worth it. Out of negatives, positives can be created. For this specific situation, the positivity is that the two stories are going to be published together in one book. It is a wonderful combining of two fascinating versions of the same story, and both can be seen from multiple points of view, but with them together readers will know there are two halves to a whole. Hopefully, with the stories together it will be something fun to read, but I also hope it will be something that has layers and provokes thought on personal perception, and the importance of empathy and understanding of all perspectives.
Wednesday, 8 June 2016
Events and Book Signings
After the success of the 'Re-imagining the Gothic' event I'm excited to announce a number of other events coming up. Here's a list of the events I will be attending in the next few months:
Book Signing in Gloucester, UK. 16th July 2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1759082367671620/
Cogs Bar, Charity Ball Book Signing, Birmingham, UK. 13th August 2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1791419804424446/
Gloucester Comic-Con Trade Stall, UK. 8th-9th October 2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1519296758397529/
Bristol Con, Trade Stall, UK. 29th October 2016.
https://www.facebook.com/BristolCon-167568003303508/timeline
http://www.bristolcon.org/
I'm really looking forward to these events and meeting new people at them. If you're close to any of them, make sure you come say hello :)
Book Signing in Gloucester, UK. 16th July 2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1759082367671620/
Cogs Bar, Charity Ball Book Signing, Birmingham, UK. 13th August 2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1791419804424446/
Gloucester Comic-Con Trade Stall, UK. 8th-9th October 2016
https://www.facebook.com/events/1519296758397529/
Bristol Con, Trade Stall, UK. 29th October 2016.
https://www.facebook.com/BristolCon-167568003303508/timeline
http://www.bristolcon.org/
I'm really looking forward to these events and meeting new people at them. If you're close to any of them, make sure you come say hello :)
Saturday, 28 May 2016
Re-Imagining the Gothic May 2016
On May the 7th I had the joy of attending and showcasing my work at Sheffield University's event, Re-Imagining the Gothic: Monsters and Monstrosities.
At the beginning of the year I submitted my current novella, The Diary of V. Frankenstein in the hope they would be willing to have it, and me, as part of the event. They read the story and invited me to attend the event and give a presentation about the creative process of re-imaging a classic such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
I arrived at the event, held at Sheffield Universities Humanities Research Institute building, and the organisers were incredibly welcoming. I set up the stall for the showcasing and had a chance to chat to a number of those running the event and those who were interested in The Diary of V. Frankenstein. I also got a chance to look at the other showcases and there was a lot much creativity and talent on display. For full list of all showcases, presentations and information on the event click the link at the bottom to Sheffield’s Gothic Reading Group blog. The blog will also have a post about the event and all that went on shortly so keep an eye out for that.
Throughout the day there were a number of other presentations on the events theme and I enjoyed every single one. I shouldn’t pick favourites, as they were all wonderful presentations on re-imaging the gothic, but I can’t help but give praise to the reading of Greg Flynn’s, ‘Humans of New Britain.’ The piece that was read was exceptionally well written and very passionate about current political, social and economic state of Britain at this time.
At 3pm I got the chance to give a presentation on the creative process of re-imagining the gothic and how it relates to the year’s theme of Monsters and monstrosities. To begin with I focused on what the theme monsters and monstrosities meant to me personally and how such ideas have bled into the creative process of writing, The Diary of V. Frankenstein. I then discussed how such a fantastic story as Frankenstein has sparked a thousand adaptations, and that to me it is the themes of holding a mirror up to ourselves and society that make people keep coming back to Frankenstein.
With this foundation built, I went on to discuss how my re-imagining began in 2010 with a simple thought of ‘What would happen if?’ at a certain point in the Frankenstein story. A year later my publishers helped me have the confidence to explore my ideas for their short story steampunk anthology, Strange Tales from the Scriptorian Vaults. Writing something that pays tribute to such an epic story is daunting, but we managed to piece it all together.
The short story gained some interest from readers and a friend of mine said she would love to see more about one of the characters. Another year later, while thinking what to write, I decided to turn the short story into a novella and explore that character and themes of monsters, equality and feminism more.
In my presentation I talked about how the publishers read it at the end of 2015 and agreed to publish it. It was a wonderful creative process with much learning on my part. During the editing process we came up with an extra layer to The Diary of V. Frankenstein and made two versions; one with the original Victor Frankenstein and one with Victoria Frankenstein- with all the male characters swapped with female and vice versa. I concluded with this and how the publishers had published the paperbacks and ebooks, but also the limited edition hardbacks where one set was the Victor version, and one the Victoria version. Lastly, I invited everyone to come speak to me about The Diary of V. Frankenstein if they wanted to know more.
There were a few more presentations after mine and for the rest of the event I chatted to people and got to relax a little now my presentation was over. The event was wonderful and a great way of mixing academic perspectives with a public audience. I really look forward to seeing what they do next year and returning as a member of the public and not showcasing/presenter. I highly recommend everyone keeping an eye on the gothic-lit blog and attending next year’s event. It was well organised and well presented event, so many thanks to Sheffield University Goth-Lit department for organising it.
P.S.
I was interviewed for a post-event discussion by one of the event organisers a few days ago. This interview was fun as we discussed The Diary of V. Frankenstein in a bit more detail. The interview will be posted soon.
Grimbold Publishing: A wide range of Fantasy and Sci-Fi Stories
http://www.grimboldbooks.com/
Event blog:
http://sheffieldgothicreadinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/p/reimagining-gothic-showcase-and.html
At the beginning of the year I submitted my current novella, The Diary of V. Frankenstein in the hope they would be willing to have it, and me, as part of the event. They read the story and invited me to attend the event and give a presentation about the creative process of re-imaging a classic such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
I arrived at the event, held at Sheffield Universities Humanities Research Institute building, and the organisers were incredibly welcoming. I set up the stall for the showcasing and had a chance to chat to a number of those running the event and those who were interested in The Diary of V. Frankenstein. I also got a chance to look at the other showcases and there was a lot much creativity and talent on display. For full list of all showcases, presentations and information on the event click the link at the bottom to Sheffield’s Gothic Reading Group blog. The blog will also have a post about the event and all that went on shortly so keep an eye out for that.
Throughout the day there were a number of other presentations on the events theme and I enjoyed every single one. I shouldn’t pick favourites, as they were all wonderful presentations on re-imaging the gothic, but I can’t help but give praise to the reading of Greg Flynn’s, ‘Humans of New Britain.’ The piece that was read was exceptionally well written and very passionate about current political, social and economic state of Britain at this time.
At 3pm I got the chance to give a presentation on the creative process of re-imagining the gothic and how it relates to the year’s theme of Monsters and monstrosities. To begin with I focused on what the theme monsters and monstrosities meant to me personally and how such ideas have bled into the creative process of writing, The Diary of V. Frankenstein. I then discussed how such a fantastic story as Frankenstein has sparked a thousand adaptations, and that to me it is the themes of holding a mirror up to ourselves and society that make people keep coming back to Frankenstein.
With this foundation built, I went on to discuss how my re-imagining began in 2010 with a simple thought of ‘What would happen if?’ at a certain point in the Frankenstein story. A year later my publishers helped me have the confidence to explore my ideas for their short story steampunk anthology, Strange Tales from the Scriptorian Vaults. Writing something that pays tribute to such an epic story is daunting, but we managed to piece it all together.
The short story gained some interest from readers and a friend of mine said she would love to see more about one of the characters. Another year later, while thinking what to write, I decided to turn the short story into a novella and explore that character and themes of monsters, equality and feminism more.
In my presentation I talked about how the publishers read it at the end of 2015 and agreed to publish it. It was a wonderful creative process with much learning on my part. During the editing process we came up with an extra layer to The Diary of V. Frankenstein and made two versions; one with the original Victor Frankenstein and one with Victoria Frankenstein- with all the male characters swapped with female and vice versa. I concluded with this and how the publishers had published the paperbacks and ebooks, but also the limited edition hardbacks where one set was the Victor version, and one the Victoria version. Lastly, I invited everyone to come speak to me about The Diary of V. Frankenstein if they wanted to know more.
There were a few more presentations after mine and for the rest of the event I chatted to people and got to relax a little now my presentation was over. The event was wonderful and a great way of mixing academic perspectives with a public audience. I really look forward to seeing what they do next year and returning as a member of the public and not showcasing/presenter. I highly recommend everyone keeping an eye on the gothic-lit blog and attending next year’s event. It was well organised and well presented event, so many thanks to Sheffield University Goth-Lit department for organising it.
P.S.
I was interviewed for a post-event discussion by one of the event organisers a few days ago. This interview was fun as we discussed The Diary of V. Frankenstein in a bit more detail. The interview will be posted soon.
Grimbold Publishing: A wide range of Fantasy and Sci-Fi Stories
http://www.grimboldbooks.com/
Event blog:
http://sheffieldgothicreadinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/p/reimagining-gothic-showcase-and.html
Saturday, 16 April 2016
The Diary of V. Frankenstein
It is nearly time to share The Diary of V. Frankenstein with the world! The official release date is May the 7th. Words cannot describe how excited I am to have this story available for people to read. What I have written below are some updates on the last six weeks. The blurb, front-cover, links to pre-order/buy the book, can be found at www.stevenjguscott.com or at the link at the end of this blog post.
As an intro I guess I better quickly describe what type of story The Diary of V. Frankenstein is: it is an Alternate-Reality/Gothic-Horror/Steampunk/Sci-Fi novella with themes of feminism and equality. That’s the genres and themes, but for more into and the blurb follow the website link to www.stevenjguscott.com
As an intro I guess I better quickly describe what type of story The Diary of V. Frankenstein is: it is an Alternate-Reality/Gothic-Horror/Steampunk/Sci-Fi novella with themes of feminism and equality. That’s the genres and themes, but for more into and the blurb follow the website link to www.stevenjguscott.com
So, a couple of months ago the final edits began and there was lots of debate about the characters. This story has feminism and equality themes and without realising it my female characters weren’t as strong as they should have been. Once this was pointed out to me by the editors, and some other ideas discussed, my unintentional mistake was corrected. My mistake and the discussion following it birthed a really fun idea for this story. The idea was to have two versions of the story: one as it was originally written (with said character strengthening), and one with all the male characters as female, and female as male. I love the two versions and hope people love them too.
The Diary of V. Frankenstein now comes in many forms. There is the original story as a paperback and ebook, but we also have two limited edition hardback versions. Thirty hardbacks are the original version and thirty the gender swap version. The hardbacks also come with a cool bookmark, the ebook of the story, and art work by Snow Wulf (who can be found by that name via facebook and the name ChaosWinter on deviantart.com).
And there you have it! The Diary of V. Frankenstein has life and it will be shown to the world on the 7th of May. It will be a busy day as this is when I’m showcasing the story at the event ‘Re-Imagining the Gothic: Monsters and Monstrosities’ in Sheffield, England, UK. My presentation is nearly ready, I have to print out some posters for my stall and I have some little Steampunk cosplay to make. I will write a blog update with how it all goes sometime in May.
UK link
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-V-Frankenstein-Steven-Guscott-ebook/dp/B01E8AP3B8/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460817730&sr=8-1&keywords=the+diary+of+v+frankenstein
USA link
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-V-Frankenstein-Steven-Guscott-ebook/dp/B01E8AP3B8/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460817824&sr=8-1&keywords=the+diary+of+v+frankenstein
The Diary of V. Frankenstein now comes in many forms. There is the original story as a paperback and ebook, but we also have two limited edition hardback versions. Thirty hardbacks are the original version and thirty the gender swap version. The hardbacks also come with a cool bookmark, the ebook of the story, and art work by Snow Wulf (who can be found by that name via facebook and the name ChaosWinter on deviantart.com).
And there you have it! The Diary of V. Frankenstein has life and it will be shown to the world on the 7th of May. It will be a busy day as this is when I’m showcasing the story at the event ‘Re-Imagining the Gothic: Monsters and Monstrosities’ in Sheffield, England, UK. My presentation is nearly ready, I have to print out some posters for my stall and I have some little Steampunk cosplay to make. I will write a blog update with how it all goes sometime in May.
UK link
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diary-V-Frankenstein-Steven-Guscott-ebook/dp/B01E8AP3B8/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460817730&sr=8-1&keywords=the+diary+of+v+frankenstein
USA link
http://www.amazon.com/Diary-V-Frankenstein-Steven-Guscott-ebook/dp/B01E8AP3B8/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460817824&sr=8-1&keywords=the+diary+of+v+frankenstein
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