Page Created: 04/20/23. Last Updated: 10/18/23.
SARENA STRAUS
ONLINE
Website: https://sarenastraus.com/
SOCIAL MEDIA
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/SarenaStraus
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/365736.Sarena_Straus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarenastraus/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarenaStraus
BOOKS
ReInception
Bronx DA
Meeting Date: September 9, 2023.
Meeting Site: Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Attendance: 18 + 3.
Meeting Program: Talk, Q & A with Science Fiction Author.
Notes:
There were 13 people at the Ice Nine Discussion. Moshe brought pastries. Chuck mentioned a story publication. Ron spoke about day-to-day uses of Artificial Intelligence. Lots of other topics were discussed.
After the meeting seven of the group continued the evening at the State Line Diner.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2023 Philip J De Parto:
The Saturday, September 9, 2023 General Meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County was held at the Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Science fiction writer Sarena Straus was our speaker.
Sarena Straus was introduced to sci-fi as a child by her older brother and grew up with THE HULK, GODZILLA, and the BIONIC WOMAN. The first book she fell in love with was THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES by Ray Bradbury.
Our guest studied law and became a Sex Crimes & Child Abuse Prosecutor at the Bronx District Attorney's Office. She burnt out after five years on the job, and wrote her first book, BRONX DA, based on her experiences. Her second book is an unpublished crime novel, but she really wanted to write science fiction.
REINCEPTION is the first book in a science fiction trilogy set in New York 100 years from now. It focuses on a behavior-modification technology used by most people for things like stopping smoking, but which also has sinister applications. The series comps are to TOTAL RECALL (aka WE CAN REMEMBER IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE) by Philip K Dick, to A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess, and to works of NOIR. It is a New Adult work with a 20-year-old college student who becomes enmeshed in a conspiracy. Small press Winding Road Publications is the publisher.
Once the ReInception Trilogy is done, Sarena plans to complete a YA series revolving around alien abductions. The books are set in the Hudson Valley, the alien abduction capital of the world. More information can be found at the club website.
Notes from Meeting:
Personal
Currently a corporate attorney.
Has two school age children.
Interested in visual arts as a child.
Her older brother subjected her to sci fi; she learned to like it.
Worried when they were moving to NYC because they saw the Hulk go on a rampage there and no one paid attention.
Parents were from Brooklyn.
Brother had her believing that there were no-farting laws in New Jersey except at noon when everyone would pass wind togehter.
This is the odor you smell on the Jersey turnpike.
Brother also told her that telling someone they looked geriatric was a complement.
Dead whale at Fresh Kills landfill - this is real.
Her cousin is the lead singer for the CheckPoints, the house band of the Society for Immunotherapy of cancer.
The band includes James Allison, a Nobel Prize Winner, on the harmonica.
Bronx DA Days:
50% of cases involved drugs
Most Bronx felonies take over a year to go to trial (because of investigations, etc).
Most cases end in a last-minute plea deal.
Has an unproduced Police series by J J Abrams.
Tom Clancy sat in the Court Audience Chamber, taking notes for a book.
Originally loved the job.
You rarely get a confession in real life.
It's hard to get a conviction in the Bronx because the people don't trust the Justice System
Her Writing:
Wrote a crime drama, but didn't like the genre. Why am I writing something I don't like?
She is not good at staying in her lane.
The story guides the telling, not the strict genre expectations.
Prosecutors are storytellers. They present a tale to the judge & jury.
Started off as a pantser. Now a mild plotter.
You must market your work, whether you are indie or trad. No one will do it for you.
Bronx DA
Went through an agent.
Published in 2006 to small press Barricade.
She took notes & based book on her experiences, but changed the names.
If you write crime, make sure you know the law in the state the work is set.
Took 18 months to write, but rewrites / edits were minor.
ReInception
Sold to Winding Road Publishing at a pitch competition.
Tried first person but switched to third person close.
New Adult novel featuring Leandra Justus, a 20-year-old woman attending Columbia University.
Lea's parents are hard core opposed to ReInception and she has not been modified.
Hard to market.
Struggled with how much info dumping was necessary to explain the technology.
It's okay to be a bit vague as long as you are consistent.
Listened to Andy Weir podcasts.
How would climate change impact NYC?
The man who invented the ReInception technology came to regret doing so.
Upper class lives in the sun.
Lower class has its own language and lives at bottom.
ReInception is about Behavior Modification Technology.
Some of this already exists,
Learned about book marketing through Bronx DA.
Don't try to do everything, Focus on one or two outlets you are comfortable with.
Sarena likes Instgram.
Has done panels at HELIOsphere, WorldCon, NorwestCon.
Book was released 10/2022.
Book Two will hopefully be out in early 2022, but scheduling is not as critical with a small publisher, making it good is the priority.
Still, you don't want people to forget about you.
Uses Scrivener. Talked about some of its functions.
Goal is to do a bad first draft in 90 days, but not always successful.
Took 3 rounds of edits before she sent it to publisher.
She and publisher had similar ideas for the cover.
Bomb goes off while heroine Lea is attending an anti-ReInception Rally.
She is separated from her boyfriend and saved by a member of the Lower Class who say the bombings was a set up.
Fills in backstory gradually, largely through chapter intro blurbs.
Began with what would NYC be like in 100 years and widened climate shifts, etc.
YA Series
Working on a YA trilogy about alien abductions.
Creepy kids start showing up at school.
Hudson Valley (where she lives) is the alien abduction capital of the world.
Communion by Whitney Streiber.
Panicked when her room was lit up by a blinding searchlight one night.
It turned out to be the headlight of a military helicopter.