BRAVE NEW GIRLS is getting a Volume 2!!!

Hi everyone! As you might have seen on my Facebook or Twitter, BRAVE NEW GIRLS is getting a Volume 2! 

How did this come to be? Well, basically Paige Daniels and I have been talking about doing a second anthology ever since we released the first one... We just had such a blast putting it together, and we loved that we were using fiction to encourage girls to explore STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). Finally, about a week and a half ago, we were like, "You know what? Enough talk. Let's do this thing!"

Things are a little different this time around. Instead of running another crowdfunding campaign, we're using leftover funds from the first one. We'd originally meant to use the extra dollars for marketing, but after looking into what we could afford on our budget... basically, just a handful of web ads, whose effectiveness is iffy... we decided that a second anthology would be a better use of our money. Hey, you know what they say--the best way to sell a book is to make another book. 

And because we'd love to keep making BNGs forever (without always having to beg people for cash), we're adjusting our, for lack of a better term, business model (though I wouldn't call it a business since ultimately, it's all non-profit). We'll still be donating the bulk of the money made from sales of BNG 2 to the Society of Women Engineers scholarship fund. This time, though, we'll keep a percentage of profits and stick it in the BNG pot to fund Volume 3 (coming your way in 20...something! Hopefully 2018!). And then a percentage of sales from both BNG 2 and BNG 3 can fund BNG 4... etc. etc. until we solve gender inequality forever.

Despite the "Volume 2" designation, this anthology won't be a sequel (you probably already knew that, but hey, can't hurt to clarify). It'll be a new collection of standalone shorts, and I'm hoping we get an awesome mix of different kinds of sci-fi... cyberpunk, steampunk, biopunk, whateverpunk...

Submissions are currently open on our website! So if you or anyone you know has a short sci-fi story about a teen girl who does techy things, check it out!  LINK HERE: http://bravenewgirls.weebly.com/submissions.html.

I'll be contributing as well, of course :-). This time, my story will be a space opera mystery starring fledgling biomedical engineer Chevonne Watson and a rogue science AI, Sherlock. Remember over the summer when I wrote a Sherlock Holmes retelling just for fun? Well, in true Sherlockian tradition, I'm bringing back those characters for a new adventure, and I can't wait to write it :-D. (In case you're curious, here's the story on Wattpad: The Adventure of the Silicon Beeches. I'm thinking of titling the series Chevonne & Sherlock).

We've already contacted Streetlight Graphics (who did the amazing cover of the first BRAVE NEW GIRLS) about doing the cover, and I'm so, so, so excited! Once again, we're going to have illustrations for all the stories. If all goes according to plan, BNG 2 will be coming your way in August 2017... Just in time to debut at Gen Con :-D