Please Welcome Shannon Muir
As writers, we open ourselves up to a world of
possibilities. Every scene laid out, every word chosen, every aspect of a
character created, defines what we write – but until we choose each one, there
are so many paths to take. I've found life is like that, too.
I started out wanting to write for television animation
as a teenager. Unable to learn those specific skills, I came to discover that
overall script structure skills would go a long way to helping me. So I went to
college for radio and live-action television, expecting to find a writing
component as part of it. It turned out they didn't really offer courses on that
(my local university focused on production), but one of the instructors wrote
professionally at a point in his past and did direct studies with me.
While the late David K. Terwische worked with me on
writing, I made the most of my degree program l to appreciate what everyone
else did to bring a script to life; I also tried my hand at radio, something
that never crossed my mind before going there. Being on the radio opened me up
to learning about jazz, a music genre I'd never really spent much time with
before. I would come to want to learn more about the women of the genre, and
get to start my own show, Women of Jazz, which continues to be on the air on
KEWU-FM as of 2016 – many years after I left. From this radio experience I
wrote not only an award-nominated script
by a college honor society, but learned what became the inspiration for my
short story, "Ghost of the Airwaves," available from Pro Se Press as
a Single Shot.
Unable to focus much on writing in the radio and
television department, I also became a double major in English. However, I soon
learned that my love for genre fiction did not translate well into a literary
fiction environment, and ended up concentrating on poetry which I had loved
doing as a child but moved away from. I'd later draw on that sense of poetic
rhythm when partnering with my now-husband Kevin Paul Shaw Broden on the
webcomic FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY (http://www.flying-glory.com),
which turns 15 years old in June of 2016. However, as in the radio and
television department, I learned the basic building block skills of prose so
when my time came to be in anthologies like NEWSHOUNDS and THE DAME DID IT from
Pro Se Press, my love of the genre and the knowledge of story building, I was
ready to grab the opportunity. More opportunities are set to follow, and I
continue to pursue others. There will be more to come, even though it took a
while to get here.
You never know where life's experiences will take you.
That's not to say the initial spark of animation fell to
the wayside; even that provided an interesting journey. My first jobs moving to
Los Angeles were actually in television animation production, which were
opportunities I didn't even imagine existed. If I hadn't have been so
passionate on wanting to be a writer, I probably wouldn't have walked away from
such an amazing situation I didn't realize I currently had. That side of things
has been a rockier road, but not without other great adventures; besides
production work on several shows since I have written for one animated series,
and spent some time in production for virtual worlds for kids. The initial show
that inspired me, VOLTRON, has seen three relaunches in the years since I
became a professional, and I have worked on none of them in a professional
capacity. That being said, during the first relaunch, I was approached by the
company that owns VOLTRON – World Events Productions – and paid for my
suggested layout of their Denubian Galaxy to be rendered as a visual starmap
for the show's website; additionally, I know my starmap was used as reference
by the writers.
While the latest rendition of the show – VOLTRON:
LEGENDARY DEFENDER - draws a whole new take on the universe, I know I made an
impact from the treatment I receive from other fans, which I appreciate. My
efforts in those early years played a role in them maintaining their passion
for over thirty years. Most of all, even though I've not been as involved as I
dreamed of being all those years ago by actually writing a VOLTRON script, that
initial spark opened the door to every adventure you've read about. To reach
out and try to contact the production company and hearing back from their head
writer with feedback encouraging me to keep trying is one choice I will never
regret.
So whether you're a writer – or even a reader, with a
world of life choices before you – embrace your possibilities and find your
direction.
Write your story.
~ ~ ~
GHOST
OF THE AIRWAVES
A
"Single Shot" Short Story
From Pro Se Productions’
Single Shot line comes a tale of mystery and murder set against the backdrop of
the Golden Age of Radio! Through this stand alone digital single, Author
Shannon Muir introduces the world to Ghost of the Airwaves!
Ghost of the Airwaves is the suspenseful tale of radio actress Abigail Hanson, whose husband died under mysterious circumstances. Everyone believes the culprit is caught until a mysterious typed letter from "Ghost of the Airwaves" comes through her mail slot. Abigail becomes determined to find out who killed her husband and uses her own observant eye to help coax the police along. But, as she delves deeper into the mystery, Abigail may learn she should have stayed behind the microphone…to stay alive!
Ghost of the Airwaves is the suspenseful tale of radio actress Abigail Hanson, whose husband died under mysterious circumstances. Everyone believes the culprit is caught until a mysterious typed letter from "Ghost of the Airwaves" comes through her mail slot. Abigail becomes determined to find out who killed her husband and uses her own observant eye to help coax the police along. But, as she delves deeper into the mystery, Abigail may learn she should have stayed behind the microphone…to stay alive!
ABOUT
SHANNON MUIR
SHANNON MUIR's fiction is
both to entertain as well as explore issues of the the human condition and
female identity, primarily with female protagonists. The genres she focuses in
include mystery, action and adventure, fantasy, science fiction, as well as thought-provoking
stories in contemporary settings.
Her latest releases are
"Tragic Like a Torch Song" in THE DAME DID IT from Pro Se Press, and
the short story "Meeting the Monster" in the Emby Press anthology
SUPERHERO MONSTER HUNTER: THE GOOD FIGHT. She also has genre fiction work with
Pro Se Press including the Single Shot New Pulp tale"Ghost of the
Airwaves," preceded by her debut genre fiction story "Pretty as a
Picture" in the anthology NEWSHOUNDS. From her personal self-published
projects, best known titles include the rural-noir inspired THE WILLOWBROOK
SAGA and THE TRUTH REVEALED SAGA (soon to be collected and re-released as the
first book of a continuing series called THE MYANNA MOORE MYSTERIES).
Other self-published
projects include THE PHOENIX COLLECTION (combining THE PHOENIX RISES and THE
PHOENIX BURNS); THE HEART'S DUTY COLLECTION (including the previously published
THE HEART'S DUTY and TOUCH THE STARS). She's also author of FOR THE LOVE OF
AIRAGOS and A SPONTANEOUS KIND OF HOLIDAY. Anthologies of short fiction and
poetry are LIVES REFLECTED, AT THE END OF INNOCENCE'S ROAD and SEARCH FOR A
WOMAN. She's also written textbooks based on her animation experience entitled
GARDNER'S GUIDE TO WRITING AND PRODUCING ANIMATION and GARDNER'S GUIDE TO PITCHING
AND SELLING ANIMATION. Also available is a book collecting all her full lyrics
as well as the history of the FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY webcomic
over its first ten years, entitled FLYING GLORY FLASHBACK. Her first published
story was in the anthology ARIA KALSAN: MYSTERIES OF THE FUTURE. She has also
been co-writing and providing all of the in-story lyrics for the webcomic
FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY since it debuted in 2001.
She is also known as
administrator of the blogs THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF and INFINITE HOUSE OF
BOOKS, along with her DISCOVERWORDS blogs.
Shannon holds a BA in
Radio-TV and English from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington,
which she considers to be her hometown. She also holds an MA in Communications
from California State University, Fullerton, along with additional education in
screenwriting, project management, and library technician studies, while in the
process of completing a certification in General Business with Emphasis in
Marketing from UCLA Extension. Besides working in animation production, Shannon
has written television scripts for animation. She is married to FLYING GLORY
AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY collaborator and fellow New Pulp writer Kevin Paul Shaw
Broden. They live in California in the United States.
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