Meet Jennifer Brozek!

A long time ago (I don't actually remember when), in a galaxy… well, still this galaxy, I had asked the excellent Jennifer Brozek for an interview, and I received it sometime in May… and it sat in my inbox until now!  (Because I'm a dork like that.)

Now, finally, it's getting the sunlight it deserves.  Not only is Jennifer another Broad (yay!), but I especially got interested in her work because she freelances for role-playing games, particularly ones which shaped my life, including DragonLance and White Wolf worlds.  In 2010, she even won the Origins Award for Best Role Playing Game Supplement.

More recently, she's featured with several Broads and Friends of Mine in the collection of women-only written hard science-fiction stories, No Man's Land, available from DarkQuest Books.

And to give credit where credit is due, I borrowed Jennifer's photo from her webpage.  :)

Now, I'm happy to introduce: Jennifer Brozek.

1. You've got an amazing body of work to your credit. What are you working on right now? What are you most proud of working on?

Thank you. I've always got an iron in the fire. I like to keep busy. Right now, I am finishing up a new anthology for Flying Pen Press called Space Tramps: Full Throttle Space Tales #5. It's about the lost people of a space faring society. I'm also working on a novella for Dark Quest Games' Shadeside RPG. The novella is called The Lady of Seeking in the City of Waiting. I've got a couple other things also but those are the two most immediate projects.

As for what I'm most proud of, that's a tough one. I think it has to be either my finance book, The Little Finance Book That Could or my horror collection, In a Gilded Light. The first one talks about how I became debt free and have remained so for over a decade—something that is close to my heart. The second one was a personal project that I never intended to have published. Then, once it was done, a couple of publishers became interested.

2. Your most recent release is a short story in the anthology No Man's Land called "M.O.V.E." Can you tell me what it's about?

"M.O.V.E." is about what happens to two female military cadets on a Military Observation Visit Experience. They are unexpectedly on the front line of an attack on a military space station. It is by their quick thinking that they save the space station from sabotage.

3. What inspired you to write this story?

I was asked to write a story about females in the military for the anthology No Man's Land. It was natural for me to look to my past for inspiration. I took an experience I had as an Air Force cadet—a base visit—and extrapolated what that sort of thing would be like in a space faring military.

4. This story is part of your Kember Empire series. For those of my readers who have never read any of your work, tell us a little about the Kember Empire. 

The Kember Empire is the setting for a vast imperium that spans two colliding galaxies. I've written several stories and a novel in this setting. Most of the stories revolve around the Guardsmen (military), the Explorers (scientists/archeologists), the Counsel of Primes and the Counsel of Luminaries (politics). Obviously, "M.O.V.E." is based around the military and its culture.

5. What was the most exciting part of contributing to the No Man's Land anthology for you?

I've never been invited to an all female anthology before. I'm really looking forward to seeing the different points of view. Also, I am pleased to see that more and more women are taking an active role in writing military based fiction.

6. You've worked on both gaming literature and in speculative fiction. How do the two differ?

The short answer is that for gaming literature, you are playing in someone else's sandbox. In general speculative fiction, you are playing in your own sandbox. There are benefits and drawbacks to both. In gaming, you must get the continuity exact or someone will most definitely notice while in your own world, you can fudge things if you need to. In game writing, the heavy lifting of world building is already done for you while in your own writing, you need to do all that work of world building yourself. I enjoy both kinds of writing.

7. How did you break into the world of gaming?

I started out reviewing games for Black Gate magazine. Then, a friend of mine I gamed with online found out and asked if I would start reviewing games for his magazine, Campaign magazine. I did. So, when I pitched a fiction column to Campaign, that got picked up. A year later, my friend became an editor for Margaret Weis Productions and immediately hired me on as a writer for him. It was both a case of who I knew along with proving that I could work to a word count and a deadline.

8. Any future appearances you would like to mention?

I will be at GenCon and WorldCon/RenovationSF for certain this year. All other conventions are up in the air.

9. Where can we find you on the web?

I live on the web. I have a personal website at www.jenniferbrozek.com and a blog at jennifer-brozek.livejournal.com. I'm on Facebook (jennifer.brozek) and I'm on Twitter (@jenniferbrozek).

10. Anything that I've missed that you would like to mention?

I would be remiss in my editorial duties if I didn't mention the anthologies I edited. I have five of them coming out this year—two that are already out and three that are on their way.

·         Beauty Has Her Way, Dark Quest Books, Feb 2011

·         Human Tales, Dark Quest Books, Apr 2011

·         Beast Within 2, Graveside Tales, Jul 2011

·         Space Tramps, Flying Pen Press, Sep 2011

·         Human for a Day, DAW, Dec 2011

Anthologies are some of my favorite editing jobs because I get to craft the product from start to finish while working with some of the best authors in the business.