Blog - Laurel Anne Hill

March 20, 2019 By Laurel Anne Hill

Award-Winning Author Laurel Anne Hill Headed for Clockwork Alchemy 2019

Spring’s arriving and I’m off to Clockwork Alchemy 2019, the San Francisco area’s own steampunk convention. Clockwork Alchemy celebrates music, makers, dancing, writing, crafting, fashion, and fun related to steampunk. Date and location: March 22-24, at the Hyatt Regency SFO in Burlingame, CA.

I’ve not attended Clockwork Alchemy before, so I’m truly excited. Even better, I won’t need to haul my travel trunk onto an airship to get there. An ordinary carriage will suffice.

Here’s my schedule of events:

Friday, 2 pm—Sensitivity in Steampunk (Panel)
Saturday, 10 am—Amazing Steampunk Devices (Panel)
Saturday, 2 pm—Signing at my table in Author Alley*
Saturday, 4 pm—The Weird West and Suspending Disbelief (Panel)

*Please note that I’ll be spending many other hours in Author Alley, selling and signing my books.

Feel free to drop by and chat. And for you writers, let me tell you about the Literary Stage at the San Mateo County Fair. The deadline for entering their writing contests is April 1, 2019.

With warm wishes,

Laurel Anne Hill
(Author of “The Engine Woman’s Light,” the spirits-meet-steampunk winner of 12 honors and awards.)

March 11, 2019 By Laurel Anne Hill

Happy Birthday, Spirit of David I. Hill: My “Hero” Forever!

Since medieval times, March 25^th has been known as Lady Day. The name comes from the medieval Church’s celebration of the Annunciation, which many Christians traditionally have believed was the moment the archangel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a son. My beloved David’s mom was raised Catholic. No surprise he frequently mentioned, in our early years together, that he was born on Lady Day.

I was a “late firecracker” born one day after the Fourth of July. Belated independence and mutual dependency merged when this lady in love married her “hero.” David and I made a fantastic combination in so many ways. He would have been 88 years old this month.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAVID! We shared a wild ride together. Do you remember when sons David, Jim and John threw Minute Rice at our wedding in Mariposa, California, in 1975? We’d only told them about our plans the night before. Remember when our daughter, Alicia, was born and the staff at Kaiser Hospital thought you were the grandfather? And remember when I got your wheelchair stuck on that railroad track a few years ago, and we heard the horn of an approaching diesel train? And how the hovering shadow of your death from cancer didn’t keep you from finding typos in my soon-to-be released novel, “The Engine Woman’s Light?” Sand Hill Review Press did the last-minute corrections just in time, thanks to you.

We will be together again, my love, hopefully well AFTER I get my next novel published, another story we worked on together. I feel compelled to see that one in print.

December 30, 2018 By Laurel Anne Hill

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Laurel Anne Hill

Here’s a belated holiday message from me, Laurel Anne Hill, author and former underground storage tank operator. I’ve been struggling with an end-of-year novel submission deadline. I succeeded, but not until late yesterday afternoon. Today I caught up on the writing of bills and opening of Christmas packages. I also took a walk, drove to Chapel of the Chimes to visit David, and, yes, started thinking about ideas for my next novel. Please cross your fingers for me. I need some dynamic characters to visit my head and audition. (If you have unwanted spares in YOUR head, feel free to give them my website address.)

I hope 2019 will be a good year for you.

With love,

Laurel Anne Hill

November 15, 2018 By Laurel Anne Hill

The Engine Woman’s Light: Recipient of Twelve Literary Honors & Awards

Steampunk Sorceress and Dr. Whooo. (Artistic photo created by Flight of Fancy.)

Title: The Engine Woman’s Light
Author: Laurel Anne Hill
Publisher: Sand Hill Review Press
Most Recent Award: 2018 Best Book Awards, American Book Fest, Winner in Fantasy

A spirits-meet-steampunk, coming-of-age heroic journey of a young Latina in an alternate 19^th Century California. Published by Sand Hill Review Press. A Kirkus Star Winner.

August 15, 2018 By Laurel Anne Hill

What Have I Done? Where am I Going? (Part II) by Laurel Anne Hill

Steampunk Sorceress and Dr. Whooo. (Artistic photo created by Flight of Fantasy)

And here’s my super exciting news since my previous post:

“The Engine Woman’s Light” (my spirits-meet-steampunk, coming-of-age novel set in an alternate 19th Century California) has won an ELEVENTH AWARD: The 2018 Irwin Award for Speculative Fiction. (Book Publicists of Southern California.)
“The Engine Woman’s Light” and I made the “Swimsuit Edition” of the Hollywood Weekly in July. Click on this Link to Hollywood Weekly July 2018 Then turn to the last page.
BookLife in Publishers Weekly posted a great interview with me during the last week of July. Click on this Link to 7/27/2018 BookLife
Nice press release featuring Black Chateau authors attending WorldCon 2018. Click on this Link to Black Chateau Press Release.

I’ve just returned from SpoCon in Washington State, and am packing to head for WorldCon in San Jose, CA, which starts tomorrow. I seem to be in this whirlwind, where I don’t even have time to snap a photo. I’ll be selling books (including “The Engine Woman’s Light” ) on consignment at the Silicon Valley Writers table in the WorldCon Dealers’ Room. “The Engine Woman’s Light” will also be available at the Greater Los Angeles Writers Society (GLAWS)/Black Chateau Enterprises table, and possibly at the Borderlands Books table, as well. My scheduled signing at the GLAWS table is 4-6 pm on Saturday, August 18, after a quick trip to Redwood City to give a presentation to CWC San Francisco Peninsula Writers.

Well, my time for website update is UP. Back to the whirlwind.

With warm regards,

Laurel Anne Hill (Author and Former Underground Storage Tank Operator)

June 29, 2018 By Laurel Anne Hill

What Have I Done? Where am I Going? (Part One)

WHERE I’VE BEEN: It’s been a crazy two-plus months for me since I last posted in April–a good kind of crazy. Many of you already know that my spirits-meet-steampunk novel, The Engine Woman’s Light, won additional awards and honors in May. The Engine Woman’s Light was the Steampunk winner in the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, and the Science Fiction winner in the 2018 San Francisco Book Festival. The total for my novel is now up to ten honors and awards. I’ve listed them below, at the end of this posting.

I’ve had several radio/podcast interviews: May 16 with Jennifer Devoe on “Jenny’s Real Talk on the Block” (LA Talk Radio; http://latalkradio.com/content/jenny-051618%20#audio_play). June 7 with James Lowe on KJAG Radio/the Jiggy Jaguar Show, which broadcasts to Kansas and parts of Texas, but also is online. http://jiggyjaguar.com/jigg/laurel-anne-hill/. June 21 on LA Talk Radio with Sam Hasson (Sam in the Morning). http://latalkradio.com/content/sam-062118%20#audio_play

Also, I served a program participant at the BayCon Science Fiction/Fantasy Con over the Memorial Day Weekend.

Laurel and her friend Patricia Watson at BayCon.

And the Literary Stage at the 2018 San Mateo County Fair (June 9-17) really kept me busy, particularly the “Build your own space alien” craft project on June 11, Kids’ Day.