Author Archives: Elaine Burnes
Endurance Excerpts for Pride Month!
I just got the craziest idea. While we all wait for Endurance to release on June 21, I’m going to post a bit of the first chapter each day (if I don’t forget…). I’ll interrupt when the pre-order link goes live. It’s Pride month, and I’m so damn proud of this book, I can’t wait […]
A Pause to Reflect, A Plea to Vote
I was going to post about my new book, with either an excerpt or a preorder link, but, now is not the time. The school shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, adds to a far too-long list. I, like, most people, feel grief and outrage that this continues to happen. That we […]
What Inspired Endurance
I didn’t set out to write a science fiction novel. I’m not opposed to SF, not by a long shot. My first paid publication was a science fiction short story (which you can read in A Perfect Life and Other Stories—it’s the title story, and still one of my favorites). I confess I hadn’t read […]
Meet Endurance
What if you were stranded. On a spaceship. Four light years from Earth. With a hundred tourists. And you are the captain. Then things start to go wrong. Welcome aboard the Endurance. It’ll be the trip of a lifetime. Publisher: Bedazzled Ink/Nuance Books Genre: Science Fiction / General / LGBTQ+ / Lesbian Age Group: Adult […]
I’m Still Here
Yes, it’s been more than a year since I posted. I’ve no idea why and realize readers might think I succumbed to Covid or something else dreadful. I was on a pretty good roll, posting my fevered writing prompts. They are a lot of fun and continue, but I haven’t felt compelled to share any […]
Writing Prompt: Dependence
The prompt was random, with 30 minutes to write this time, so here’s my take on it. Not fiction this week. Dependence I knew when I decided to move to a rural town with fewer than a thousand residents that I’d be entering a new world of dependencies. Most people think of rural folk as […]
Writing Prompt: Thunder
With only 20 minutes to write, I’ve learned from my writing group not to obsess over naming a character. I take character names seriously and they have to feel right before I can continue. That’s a problem with 20 minutes ticking down. So I’ll go with “she.” That said, I lucked out last week with […]
Writing Prompt: Yellow Jacket
Because I often write nature essays, my writing partners thought for sure I’d go with the insect for this prompt. But I want to stretch my science fiction muscles. There isn’t much to this—we only have 20 or so minutes to write, then countless minutes getting the Zoom connection up for the meeting portion of […]
Writing Prompt: Quarantine
Sometimes the prompts hit just a little too close to home. We can ignore them in our 30 minutes of writing, but I usually forget that and flail ahead. Hence… Quarantine The first definition of quarantine, the noun, is “a period of 40 days.” Who knew? Why that? Biblical? Second definition pertains to shipping—isolating in […]
Writing Prompt: A Fight
Here’s what came of my most recent writing group session… A Fight There’s a meme going around Facebook where you give yourself a point for everything on a list you haven’t done. One is “punch someone.” I suppose I have. You can’t get through toddlerhood without punching someone. The only fight I remember never made […]
