About the Athena's Daughters Anthology Kickstarter

 * The Athena's Daughters Sci Fi anthology is a Kickstarter project running now through Jan. 8, 2014. See the Athena's Daughters Kickstarter page for all the details and fantastic incentives. (Funded! Now they're funding for the stretch goals... some great stuff - check it out yet!)

Athena’s Daughters is a collection of short fiction from some of the best female science fiction and fantasy authors in the industry. This anthology features stories written by women about women. I'm also incredibly excited to have an introduction to the anthology by retired astronaut and Space Shuttle Commander Pam Melroy.

The publisher, Silence in the Library, believes strongly in the concept of bringing the artistry back to publishing. To that end, every anthology they produce features illustrations for each and every story. 

This anthology features wonderful art by Autumn Frederickson. Here's the amazing full illustration for my story, "The Songbird's Search." (Cool, huh?) 

 Meet Marietta: 

In addition, a portion of every book sold will go to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in partnership with more than 1,100 local rape crisis centers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice.

Includes stories by:

Danielle Ackley- McPhail: Looking Back - If necessity is the mother of invention, then desperation is its sire. Lady Clara is left with stewardship of her lost cousin's inheritance and the uncertainty of her own fate. She employs the dubious assistance of an American inventor to find her cousin before all is lost, only neither could have anticipated the unique nature of their...success.

Maggie Allen:  Lunar Camp - Having to spend her summer break at Camp on the Moon is more (and in some ways less) than thirteen-year-old, botany-loving Bee bargained for.

Conley Lyons: Oh, Sisters, Let’s Go Down to the River - Mary Walker thought there weren't nothing scarier than cleaning out the inside of the family well. But she didn't ever count on hearing voices while she worked.

Gail Z Martin: Retribution - A vintage silver hip flask and a Roaring Twenties-era poker set spell trouble for Cassidy Kincaide when old ghosts turn murderous.  Cassidy runs Trifles and Folly, an antique and curio shop in historic, haunted Charleston, SC that has a secret mission: to get dangerous magical objects off the market. Can Cassidy discover what ties the tragic history of an abandoned hotel to the maliciously haunted objects before more people die?

Jean Rabe: Visage - When Peaches' father goes missing along the Amazon River, she hires a guide to search for him. Instead, Peaches uncovers a grisly secret that stretches back centuries.

Sherwood Smith: Commando Bats - Commando Bats: what happens when old women get powers.

Janine Spendlove: Millie - What happens when a modern day military pilot, Major Sara Colón, meets a time traveling aviatrix?  

Vicki Steger-Johnson:  Burly and Cavendish Blend - It looks as though archaeologist, Abigail Watts, obsession with ancient artifacts will lead to her demise, when she and her cousin, Dawson Willoughby, are left to die in an abandoned Egyptian tomb.

DL Stever: Vernon’s Angel - Gentle Vernon's desire to become popular with the tough high school basketball team is only in his dreams.  When help comes in a most surprising way Vernon's life changes for the better.

C. A. Verstraete: The Songbird's Search - Marietta was plain-looking, but she had a voice the men found irresistible. Now with time ticking, she hoped to find just one who would appreciate her true, inner beauty.

Jean Marie Ward: The Gap in the Fence - A ten-year-old girl will do anything to save her best friend's dog from being put down--even bargain with the fairies who live behind "The Gap in the Fence."