2015 Changes at Mocha Memoirs Press

2015 brings new and exciting changes to Mocha Memoirs Press

Mocha Memoirs Press takes a new direction and expands its staff

Mocha Memoirs Press has been a proud publisher of speculative and romantic fiction for the last five years and with over twelve years of publishing experience behind them, MMP is looking forward to the year 2015. In anticipation of continuing to publish enduring stories from talented authors, Mocha Memoirs Press is expanding its core staff to better serve our readers and authors.

Nicole Kurtz, the founder and owner of Mocha Memoirs Press, remains its fearless leader and loudest cheerleader. However, some new and old champions have been added to the team:

• Editor-in-Chief: Rie Sheridan Rose
• Horror Editor: Eden Royce
• Proofreader: Novellette Whyte 
• Art Director: Nancy Schultz
• Communications and Promotions Coordinator: Laurel Cremant
• Newsletter Coordinator: Wynelda Deaver

Ms. Kurtz is excited about the new changes and happy to share the news:
"Mocha Memoirs Press is excited to announce our new Editor-in-Chief and our editorial staff. Our new direction and structure will assist in streamlining submission acquisition and provide support for our new direction in the new year."

Changes from the new team are already evident in the revitalization of the publisher's newsletter, blog and submission process. Although, there has been a slight expansion and restructuring of staff, the mission of Mocha Memoirs Press remains the same: 
"To provide an outlet for outstanding speculative and romance stories that often fall beneath the radar of traditional publishing houses, and to provide quality stories that invigorate the reader’s literary palette like a good, strong coffee. Like great coffee houses, Mocha Memoirs Press offers a variety of flavors."

New Year, New Journeys...

And, a happy new year to all.  Time for new year’s resolutions we won’t keep, but that hopefully keep us pointed in the right direction at least.  Time to assess the year before and see how far we’ve come and if last year’s leg of life’s journey has lived up to expectations.

It’s been a dark year, in many ways.  Wars that seem never to begin or end, blurring into an endless gray mist of dusty ruins and young faces flitting across our T.V. screens.  Drones fill the sky and body counts seldom even bother to reach us.  (Is this what Purgatory looks like?)  The war doesn’t seem limited to foreign shores anymore, though.  In our own cities, protests and riots explode out of senseless deaths that seem to echo the deaths of bygone eras.  Times and fears we vainly thought behind us now seem to rise anew in the dark shadow of a police force that seems to grow increasingly militarized and estranged from society.  Who is the enemy at home?  Look next door, or look in the mirror.  Maybe that’s your choice, or maybe that’s a choice that was made for you before you were born.

Fantasy, and popular belief are often based on the premise that everything happens for a reason.  That there’s some grand plan at work, though we can’t always see it, and everything will work out in the end.  Angels watch over us and the devils are always slain in the end.  That’s the rule.  Maybe that’s the real key difference between the fiction genres of fantasy and science fiction.  In fantasy, the outcome is generally assured.  Good must triumph over evil.  Science fiction however, acknowledges the randomness of the universe.  We’re not spirits clothed in fleshy raiment with roles to play in some divine tragedy, comedy or love story.  We’re apes who learned to talk and walk upright.  Who evolved from lowly vermin after a random meteor killed the dinosaurs.  I think a lot more people gravitate to fantasy, especially in troubled times like these, because it offers comfort through certainty.  Much as religion does.   Science fiction sometimes takes a darker path because it seeks the truth, and the truth, let’s face it, ‘aint  pretty.

Fantasy seems lately to be coming of age, though.  Case in point:  Stephen Sondheim’s bizarre musical “Into the Woods” a retake/mash-up of popular fairytales that replaces the happy ending with the ambiguity of open and uncertain futures.  No “happily ever after”; just hope for working it out day to day.  Like traditional fairytales, this stylish black comedic romp has morals couched in symbol and metaphor.  Dark, starkly vivid morals of sexual predation, infidelity, moral compromise and hard lessons learned at the cost of innocence.  A happy ending at one moment seems a certainty and is then snatched away by an apocalyptic catastrophe, like a fairytale 9/11.  Everybody blames everybody as answers are sought.  Chaos ensues and deaths occur without rhyme or reason; a fall here, a misstep there.  No justice or higher plan apparent; just random particles colliding.  Just as the lives and disparate missions of the characters collide throughout the play, one affecting the other quite by accident.  In the end, the only certainty is that everyone must work together against a common enemy in order to survive.  Justice?  No.  Just survival.  Happy ending?  Not really.  Cinderella finds the reality never lives up to the fantasy glimpsed at a distance.  She leaves her prince and opts for a normal life where she can discover who she is day by day, not where she can be the prince’s fantasy.  People pick up the pieces of shattered lives and begin anew, forsaking old dreams for new realities.  No certainties.  Just new beginnings.

A new take on old fairytales for our times.  Fitting, I think.  Life never hands us the guaranteed happy ending wrapped up in a shiny bow, no matter how hard or earnestly we work for it.  As Buddha put it, the enlightenment lies in the journey, not the destination.

And so, we forge ahead…

Airships Preparing For Take Off!

After months of preparation, the final boarding call has been sounded. The contacts have started, the crew is being finalized, and the Airships will soon be climbing into the skies.

We had over forty submissions (thirteen of them in the last two days!). They came from as far away as Romania, and as close as my downtown.

We had really great pirates, really bad pirates, and a few airships with no pirates.

There was a submission with cat pirates and a submission with squirrel-like aliens.

I had the pleasure of accepting a writer's first sale.

We had stories set on other worlds, and stories where the airship was almost a world unto itself.

It was difficult indeed to narrow things down. But I think you will be pleased with the results. I know I am.

It's time to bring the last provisions aboard. I'm assigning the crew to their quarters, and then we head to the skies! We will be heading your way the end of next month, so prepare a berth for us.

And chocolate..,all pirates love chocolate!

Christmas Legends and Tales

So I love Christmas fiction, but I also love those elusive Christmas legends. I have a soft spot for holiday stories that originate from medieval and European stories that infuse magic with symbolism or the religious. There are some truly spectacular tales out there, and I love reading them, hearing them, and working with them in my own fiction.

A lot of them trace back to Christian beliefs, but no matter what area your faith lies in, I find these to just be really well put together little tales. They’re quick narratives that touch the heart and capture the imagination. I have a favorite in particular: One involves a little French boy who happens to be a hunchback who is skilled at working with wood. He decides to carve a new cradle for his village’s creche, but work piles up and late on Christmas night he’s still slaving away when a boy his age comes into his workshop to help. He falls asleep and wakes up to see not only a beautiful cradle, but finds that he’s been cured of his affliction. When he takes the cradle to the creche his notices that the baby looks quite a bit like a younger version of the boy who helped him.

Whatever your traditions are, I thought I'd share some of my other favorite Christmas legends, and I'd love to hear some of yours!

 The Legend of the Christmas Spider – this one is a German story, and I’ve heard different variations so I’m providing the link. The basic theme is that spiders want to see the Christmas tree (the object of much fuss in the human household) for themselves, but being nearsighted they have to look up close and leave their webs everywhere. Through magic (or a miracle depending on the story) their webs are turned to silver and gold threads, thus giving the world the first inspiration for tinsel.

The Legend of the Poinsetta – A young Mexican girl has no gift to leave at the nativity on Christmas Eve, but gets reassured that even the most humble gift is welcome. With no other options, she gathers a handful of weeds, but when she leaves them at the nativity they’re transformed to beautiful flowers with fiery blooms. I got so much extra credit in Adv. Spanish class for being able to read the Tommy DePaola …mainly because my mother had gotten me the Spanish/English translation of the book the year before for Christmas.

Silent Night – a simple story that may or may not be true. A young priest writes a poem and wants music to go with it, so enlists the help of the church organist. According to someit, on Christmas Eve the organ was broken so it was played on guitar and a legend began. Others theorize that Franz Gruber preferred a simple melody he could play on guitar. Whatever you believe, it’s a story that many people know and love.

Santa’s Helpers…and I don’t mean the elves. Depending on the region, back in the day Santa usually had a servant/assistant/co-person who punished the naughty kids while he gave gifts to the good. This could be everything from taking back the toys, giving coal or switches (that parents would use as a reminder of what would happen if children misbehaved), or in the case of Krampus (admittedly fast becoming a personal favorite of mine), he would put you in his magic sack and drag you to hell. And GUYS DID YOU KNOW ICELAND HAS YULE TROLLS?! AND A YULE CAT!? Apparently the thirteen trolls will either play pranks on you or give you presents. But the Yule cat will eat you if you don't get new clothes by Christmas Eve. So you'd better get shopping!

Talking animals on Christmas Eve – This has to be my absolute personal favorite of the bunch. I first saw this referenced in an Irish faerie/ghost story when I was ten, and since then I love when an author can reference it in fiction. It’s been used by authors from Beatrix Potter (Tailor of Gloucester) to Anne M. Martin (On Christmas Eve), and used deftly and gracefully. The original legend goes something like because animals acknowledged or allowed Jesus into their home on Christmas Eve, at midnight every year until dawn they’re able to talk and communicate like everyone else (although in Potter’s story you have to be able to interpret their animal-speak to be able to get the full gist). I will admit that although I am an adult I may have cornered my cat after midnight every year on Christmas Eve…just in case. 

I love things like this because they stand the test of time and because they give me ideas as an author and all-around creative person. Whether I choose to use any of them or not, I like that there’s such a rich history and story-telling tradition in the winter holidays – and that’s not even counting the history of traditions like wassailing and kissing under the mistletoe or legends behind symbols like holly and ivy. There’s so much to work with, and it’s all beautiful and rich with possibility.

And speaking of symbols like holly and ivy...even though this story seems like a cozy little romantic story with a bit of magic, I can tell you that it very much stemmed from the symbolism behind the plants, as well...

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After losing her job and her boyfriend, Holly returns to her parents’ farm. Embarrassed and hopeless, she doesn’t expect to bump into a forgotten childhood friend that wasn’t supposed to exist. Ivy is not only a dryad, but she lives in the pine trees Holly’s family grows to sell at Christmas. As the old friends reconnect, Ivy not only shares her strong oninions, but gives Holly a charm that will change both their lives. As days melt into weeks and the seasons change, Holly’s life magically turns around. Christmas not only brings surprises, but a choice for the human woman. What’s more important: stability, success, and love, or keepinga promise to an old friend?

The Gift of the Editor

Dec15

I am not good at editing my own work. I’m ok at first pass, and a second. But… well. I have at least 2 Beta’s who read my work, and their comments on my grammar are awesome. Then there’s RIe, who does not only call me on my grammar but also my content / style.

I can do content editing, but not the rest. And there was one story that I wanted so badly to come out, and I just couldn’t get it there. Rie was my editor through MMP (Thank you, Nicole!), and she figured it out. Once I told her what was going on in the story (flash) piece, she knew exactly what needed to be done.

Whew!

Garden is one of my favorite stories that I’ve written. I’ve also gotten the best compliment on The Golden Apple and Other Stories because of it. My neice bought and read the book. She liked Cinder’s Ella the most, but she remembered The Golden Apple. Then she told me that she thought the story Garden might help one of her friends who had lost a child…. and that hit me in my heart. At it’s heart, Garden is a story about motherhood, and grief… and love.

I don’t know if she’s shown it to her friend. Or if she did and it helped or not… But I do know that my writing touched something deep inside a reader…. and a reader that I know and love, that I spent my childhood with.

That my friends….

That’s a great editor.