I published my second book!

Okay first off, wow, I completely forgot about this blog! Sorry! Anyways, I'm still alive and still writing and working on far more projects than I will likely ever have time to finish. However, I thought I should let you all know that I published another book recently! It's not the second book in The Gemquist Chronicles, sadly that book is still being resurrected, but it is the first book in another series that I'm working on. The series is called Guilded Kingdoms and it's a series of interconnected, standalone high fantasy, fairy tale retellings. The first book came out the end of last October and I'm already working on book two!

So, fun thing about this book is that there are actually two paperback editions! Why two? Well, when I painted the maps and illustrations for the book (yes, there are maps and illustrations) I made a slight whoops while I painted the maps. It was a silly mistake, but I completely forgot to consider the greyscale value tones when I painted them and they ended up being too close together to work with the standard black-and-white interior printing that books usually us. So, I decided to go with colour interior printing and, if I was going to go with colour, I thought I might as well make the most of it and paint some illustrations as well and scatter them throughout the book. It ended up with 2 maps and 13 illustrations.........and then I found out just how much more colour interior printing was and my jaw about hit the floor. I knew it was going to cost more, but had no idea it was going to be more than double the cost to print in black-and-white. This meant that I ended up reworking all the interior artwork anyway to make sure they would work alright in black-and-white and I released two paperback editions instead of just one!

Without further ado, allow me to introduce From the Ashes, Guilded Kingdoms Book 1!

As mentioned, From the Ashes is the first book in a series of interconnected, standalone, high fantasy fairy tale retellings. The first one being a Cinderella retelling. Here's the synopsis:

A young artist desperate to be free.

For nearly seven years, Lael Verane has lived under the ever watchful eye of her stepmother. Forbidden from leaving the grounds of the estate and locked away whenever visitors come to call, Lael's only solace is in her art. There's just one problem: due to another of her stepmother's strange restrictions, art is not welcome at Avarill. 

A prince on a mission. 

Agents of the Crown have been dying and elves are disappearing from across Rynn. Prince Nathyn Trysele is determined to find out why. His only clue? A letter from the deceased spymaster, but he's convinced that the answers he seeks are buried somewhere in the Caeth night-markets.

But not everything is as it appears and, in a kingdom where art guilds and magic collide, deadly secrets lie buried that could tear the kingdom apart.

The ebook is available on Amazon for $4.99 and can also be read via Kindle Unlimited. For the paperback, the standard copy is $18.95 and the special, colour interior edition is $33.95. Be sure to click on 'see all formats and editions' to make sure you get the version that you want as Amazon defaults to only showing two. Otherwise, you can also use the links listed in 'My Books.' 

Amazon link

I'm Still Alive!!

Hi, all! Long time no post! I'm still around, but blogging just got away from me. So, here's a little update on what's new!

"Miss Gemquist and the Pearl of Peking" got a new look a couple years back. I decided I wasn't entirely happy with my original cover and so painted a new one in Corel Painter. I love it so much better!! So here's the new cover:

 

I know that it's been almost 3 years since book 1 was released, but, please don't despair! Book 2 is still in progress, it's just faced a major set-back. Last December, I was all getting ready to make the grand announcement that my second novel was finished and off to the editing/formatting stage when my computer had a catastrophic malfunction with the word processor 😭. I'd been just days away from finishing the actual writing, but the malfunction irreparably corrupted the file. I spent months taking my laptop to different PC repair places or techs that I knew, but no one could resurrect even a smidgen of the original file. So, I'm left with no other choice, but to begin the rewriting phase all over again.

So please bear with me! I don't know how long it will take me to do it, but I've no intention of just giving up. In the meantime, you can always reread the first book or recommend it to your friends and family! It's available on Amazon in either Kindle or paperback format or can be read for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription! 

You can also follow me on my new website! 

Now a published author!

 

 I have been itching to make this announcement for months! For the last several months I have been deep in writing, editing, rewriting, re-editng, cover designing, and hiring a formatter for my first novel. And now, after months of work, it's finally done!!

 

"Miss Gemquist and the Pearl of Peking" is the first book in my series "The Gemquist Chronicles." A young adult/new adult Steampunk/spy adventure with a hint of romance thrown in. Here's the synopsis:

 

Miss Loralai Gemquist, the 23-year-old daughter of famed gemologist Jacob Gemquist and granddaughter of Lord Bramwell Gemquist, The Baron of Aethleton, thought that her life couldn’t get more difficult than surviving the London Season and the schemes of her match-making aunts. But when she discovers an anonymous note, her life will never again be the same. Thrust into a world of shadows, secrets, and intrigue, she’ll be forced to use all her wits, intellect, and knowledge of gemstones as she tries to prevent a war when a priceless, Chinese pearl is stolen. Along the way, she’ll meet some unexpected allies and make some dangerous enemies as she learns who she can trust, but just one false step and it will be more than her life on the line.

 

The ebook is available on Amazon for just $2.99 and is also available on Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Online Lending Library. A paperback edition is also in the works and should be available within the next week or so if everything goes well.

Resurgence of Episodic Fiction

If you've ever looked through all the thousands of ebooks out there, chances are, you've come across one that said 'season 'blah' episode 'blah.' Episodic, or serial, fiction is a popular format among ebooks. It allows the author to write more pieces in less time by publishing shorter pieces at regular intervals (often at once a week, every other week, or once a month) so readers get new stories more frequently and don't have to wait as long as with regular novels. Episodic works are very like TV shows in how they're done. You'll have a more complicated storyline that may or may not fully resolve at the end of the season while each episode also contains their own, less complicated, plots that resolve sooner. For a story to be considered a novel it generally has to have a word count of at least 40,000 (unless it's a middle grade story, then you're looking at 20,000-55,000 depending on whether it's upper or lower middle grade) though the exact word count ranges based on genre. With episodic fiction, each episode tends to be only 10,000 - 20,000 words (give or take). For the reader, this helps if they have a short attention span or simply don't have much time available for reading. They can still read a full story, but in much less time. Also, since the author puts out a new story more frequently than they would with a regular book, the reader doesn't have to wait frustratedly for the next installment. For the author, it's easier to write and they can start selling their stories much sooner. Episodic ebooks can also be more profitable. Besides the individual episodes, once a season is complete, it is often sold as an ebook set which may also be offered in a print-on-demand paperback form.

However, episodic fiction is not new. It's actually been around for a very long time with celebrated authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, and Alexander Dumas being among the many to publish this way. For a long time, paper and printing costs were very expensive so it was much more affordable for an author to publish their works as installments in weekly/monthly magazines or newspaper. It was only when advances were made in creating paper and printing methods that it became cheaper to publish the story in it's entirety.  This form of serialized publishing was common during the 1800s and early to mid 1900s with the penny dreadfuls and half-penny periodicals (or half-penny dreadfuls). Dime novels were also often serialized. However,  serialization began to go down as both printing costs went down and various forms of broadcasting started up. Apart from comic books (another example of episodic fiction), serialized fiction mostly disappeared until the internet where it is now re-emerging as a popular format.

Goodreads Confession: Bad Reviews

I'm sure anyone that uses Goodreads has been faced with this: you finish reading a book and you didn't really like it, or you liked it but it has serious problems. The question that immediately follows is this: do you leave a bad review or just choose not to review it at all? Unless I really hated the book (and I have read ones that I just relished shredding to pieces), I hate leaving a bad review.  When I read a book, I want to like it, and the more I want to like it, the worse I feel when I don't, or when it just falls short (you know, the ones that aren't out-right awful, but aren't great either). I just feel so mean doing it, however, I do it anyway. Why? Because no matter how upset the author may be about it, and I realize that for some this may be very upsetting if it's a new author, I have to be honest about what I thought.  They published the book for everyone to read so they have to accept that not everyone is going to like it and might even hate it. However, I also write them because others may have the exact same issues with them that I do and would rather know about them before getting into the book and being disappointed.

Why am I writing all this? Well, the last two ebooks I read I had to leave less than stellar reviews for.  In fact, I really rather shredded one of them and felt pretty bad about it while writing it.  You see, the book just came out in March and I'm the first one to leave a review of it on Goodreads. To make matters worse, it's a new author. I only gave it 2 stars and a fairly detailed (and brutal) review.  Hopefully, the author will learn from reviews like mine (I'm quite sure I will not be the only one to leave such a review) and will improve their future writing.  Perhaps even do a major rewrite of the one that I reviewed and then re-release it (it really needs it!!).

(However, I must admit some perverse pleasure in shredding a book I truly hated!)

Book Review: 'The Fairest Poison' by Lauren Skidmore

Title: 'The Fairest Poison' 

Series: 'What is Hidden' Book 3 

Author: Lauren Skidmore 

Genre: Fantasy; Fairy Tale Retelling 

Age: Young Adult / Adult

I've really been enjoying the 'What is Hidden' series by Lauren Skidmore.  In the first book, 'What is Hidden', you have a mystery/fantasy retelling of Cinderella; with book two, 'What is Lost,' we were given a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.  And now, with 'The Fairest Poison' we have a Snow White retelling.  The series is all in the same world and does build off one-another so I will try and not give away too major of spoilers if you haven't read the previous two books.

The story follows Bianca whom you met (or will meet) in 'What is Lost' and picks up when she returns home to Venesia after the events of the previous book. Upon coming home, she finds her parents are dangerously (and suspiciously) ill.  Shortly afterwards, attempts are made on her life and her brother, the prince, starts going into over-protective mode. After arguing with her brother, she sets out to find the Chameleon (villain) from book one (who is also the focus of book two, and, no I will not tell you their name) to help them find out who is trying to kill her, and, of course, stop them before it's too late.

Now this is where I will stop telling you the plot-line and tell you what I thought of it. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, but I didn't like it as much as the first two. Everything about book one grabbed my attention and held it.  It had all the right elements of its fairy-tale mixed with a beautiful blend of (light) romance and mystery. Book two, was surrounded with mystery.  Up until the very end, you had more questions than you had answers and, while you might have started to guess the reveal at the end, you still keenly felt the main characters shock.  Here though, that grab-and-hold you mystery isn't there.  Yes, there is a mystery of who is behind the attempts on Bianca's life, but it's just not as engaging as the previous two books.  There is also a measure of insta-love on the side of one character, and eventual reciprocation from the other that just wasn't as well developed as it should have been. I knew going into the book that those two would end up together, but I just didn't feel their connection as well as Evie's (the Cinderella character from the first book) in book one.  I also felt it came about too fast with very little detail given as to why they liked each other.  It was simply there.

So while I enjoyed it, for me, the story was a bit blasé.  However, I do really hope she continues this serious as I'd still love to read more!  I just don't think this was her best.

Confessions of a Library Clerk: eBooks

I have a bit of a confession to make, I used to dislike ebooks. Yes, I know, it's unimaginable.  How could someone not like ebooks?! Well, at the time, (apart from when traveling) I didn't see why someone would want an ebook when they could have a real, in-the-paper book. (Sorry, all you ebook lovers, but while I have now seen the light and must acknowledge that I've now been bitten by the ebook bug,  they will never be able to replace the glorious feeling of having a real hardcover/paperback book in your hands.) However, you will be relieved to know, I have now repented of my ebook blasphemy (so please put your stones away, they will no longer be required). 

What changed my mind? Well, it started when I was given a free copy of 'The Cinder Crown' by D.R. Stokes to read and review (and if the author is reading this, I am reading it! I just ran into some technological glitches.) I thought I'd be able to read in on my laptops Kindle app. Well, turns out I was wrong. Many months later, I was able to get a tablet and was FINALLY able to start reading that ebook.  

This is when my interest in ebooks began, but it was still pretty weak. Then came my Kindle Unlimited Subscription.  In combination with my Goodreads account this further grew my interest in ebooks.  You see, I had, to my frustration, discovered that a great many of the books in my ever growing Goodreads list (it's now up to 1,026! Woohoo!) were only available as ebooks, or, if they did come as hardcover/paperback, no library in the state of Michigan had them available.  This is truly frustrating! To have so many fascinating books you wanted to read, but couldn't get a hold of them! But once I got that tablet a whole new world was opened up to me. I realized that many of them were offered on Amazon as free to-read with a Kindle Unlimited Subscription, and with a camping trip coming up and me being bereft of library books it was the perfect time! 

Ah, bliss, to at last be able to read some of the books that had been calling to me from Goodreads! It was beautiful, but, alas, with Kindle Unlimited you do not get to keep them, and as a part-time library clerk and student I could not (though tempting as it may be) afford to use my pay-check to purchase ebooks (*sob*). Thus began my quest, were there places that offered free ebooks? I had to know. And it was this quest, and desperation for more books (because who can ever have enough books?!), that led to my fully succumbing to the ebook bug. 

In the span of just a few months, my ebook collection has grown to over 200 (over 300 if you count that some of these are actually collections of multiple books). How did I do it? Where did I go to find all this ebook goodness? Turns out there are many great websites out there designed to help you find free or on sale ebooks! These are the ones I've currently found: 

1. BookBub
2. FreeBooksy
3. ManyBooks
4. BookSends
5. TheFussyLibrarian
6. eReaderIQ
7. EarlyBirdBooks
8. SweetFreeBooks
9. eBookSoda
10. SmashWords
11. DigiLibraries
12. Amazon Kindle eBook Store

This is just a few of the sites out there. There are many, many more! Now Amazon may be a surprise to some of you, but if you go to ebook bestsellers there are lists of the top selling paid and free ebooks (and it's updated hourly so don't just check once and never come back!).  Some books are up for free permanently on Amazon, while others are just free for a limited time.  You can find other free ebooks on Amazon by remembering to sort your search results as 'price: low to high.' 

Happy searching!