Category: Real Life Stuff

The State of the (Warped) World – Field Report

I’ll keep this transmission brief as heightened Storm activity is playing hell with the comms. Progress report: Wasteland Renegades Status: Copy editing – complete We’re on the final read-through before the manuscript goes off to be formatted, typeset, and all those other fun things manuscripts have to do before becoming a real book. Our goal is to have Wasteland Renegades live by Sept. 1st. If you’ve subscribed to our newsletter, you will be the first know when it’s ready. For those of you who require proof of our effort, or who are just curious about the glamorous behind-the-scenes life of…

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Women of Character – Laura Lee Connery, The Real Girl On Fire

Today we talk to professional stunt woman Laura Lee Connery, but before I jump into our final Women of Character interview, just a few reminders! 1. Our 10-stop review tour begins July 15th. Hosted by Tribute Books, you can read the full schedule here and find out how to win $25 in an Amazon gift card or PayPal cash. 2. Check out the cover for Wasteland Renegades, (coming soon!), and you’ll have another chance at a $25 Amazon gift card. Just in time to re-stock your bookshelf for summer reading. Now, back to our incredibly awesome Woman of Character already…

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Women of Character – Amy Stevenson, Dam It!

On the docks of Ama’s world, you’re likely to see a bunch of burly, bearded, foul-mouthed men roaming around. It’s a tough place for a young woman to make her living, and yet that’s exactly what Ama does. Today’s Woman of Character, mechanical engineer Amy Stevenson, knows all about working in a “man’s world”. I met Amy when I moved to Nelson, BC, in 2006, and was surprised to learn she was one of the people behind the massive hydro power plants in our area. You see, Amy was the exact opposite of how I imagined an engineer who worked…

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Women of Character – Leslie MacKeen, Cultural Theorist With a Heart

In Warpworld, Cultural Theorists travel across the dimensions to explore new worlds and blend in with Outer civilizations. It’s a dangerous job and only a handful of People are smart enough, or tough enough, to do it. On our world, travel to some parts of the globe is still considered exotic, glamorous, and, yes, sometimes dangerous. Leslie MacKeen, has traveled to many of those places, not to steal vita but to lend a helping hand. Fittingly, I met Leslie in 2003, in Costa Rica, while she was backpacking from the tip of South America to her home in the United…

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Women of Character – Skyrider Bobbi Powers

Where do fictional strong women come from? Well, they are partly imagined, but they are also inspired by lots of real life women of character. At the end of Warpworld, readers meet Rider Pilot Shan Welkin, who is also known as a skyrider. Today, I’d like you to meet real life skyrider Bobbi Powers. I met Bobbi on my first trek to Baja California Sur, Mexico, in 1998.  She was a pilot and a flight instructor, equal parts gutsy and sweet, and I liked her immediately. Since then, I’ve had the pleasure of sailing, flying, hiking, and back-roading with Bobbi…

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Ho Hum, Just a Photo of Warpworld on Everest…

OK, so I happen to be friends with mountain gurus/legends Tim and Becky Rippel. This spring marks Tim’s cajillionth season guiding climbers to the top of the world and his and Becky’s adventures over the years definitely rival Seg and Ama’s. My apologies to the Sherpa who had to lug Warpworld all the way to base camp! You can follow Peak Freaks Expeditions up Everest (and beyond) on their blog: Here! Oh, and Tim, since you’ve now taken up scuba diving, I expect a photo of you reading Wasteland Renegades from the bottom of the world. ~Kristene

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50 Ways to Save the Ocean

  Warpworld is not a book (or series) with a message. Let me be clear about that. No message. None. Zero. Zip. Josh and I did not sit down with an agenda when we wrote the first book. Heck, we didn’t even sit down with a plot outline. The story demanded to be told and we have spent the ensuing years as its helpless caj. In his recent review of Warpworld, author Noah JD Chinn captured our vision perfectly when he said… …the authors are simply laying these cultures out there as things that exist, rather than proxies for someone’s…

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