Todd Herzman wrote A Dark Inheritance and entered it into SPFBO6. It’s the tale of three siblings, separated when a blood mage comes to town and captures the eldest. Their parents are dead. The middle child, Ella, soon goes looking for him and finds herself entangled with a group of people with aligned interests. The […]
Zack Argyle entered Voice of War into SPFBO6. This was the first SPFBO book I read after joining the competition. It was a fantastic start. While it did have the obligatory dark opening, the story itself wasn’t all dark and had moments of wonder, especially in the forest kingdom. The magic system is unique, with […]
Brandon Lindsay wrote Shoreseeker, Book One of the Farshores Saga and entered it into SPFBO this year. This is a well-crafted world with an interesting magic system …and very well-written book! The prologue is gruesome, but the rest of the book isn’t quite as dark (keep reading). It follows the main character of Tharadis, the […]
Raymond St Elmo entered The Origin of Birds in the Footprints of Writing into SPFBO this year. I loved this book. Loved it. No reservations, no problems, I absolutely recommend this book. Warning… It’s a bit strange. Imagine being let inside the head of a man who is very smart, so smart he seems mad […]
Alexzander Christion entered By the Hand of Dragons: Alinguard in SPFBO6. The book is a standalone and a quick read. It follows the young Shefa, king of the magical land of Fuumashon on his first adventure to AlinGuard, a prison where the evil inmates have taken over. The story suffers from a lack of editing. […]
Matthew Sylvester wrote Hell Hound for SPFBO 6. It’s a unique book in the contest. It’s Urban Fantasy with a lesbian, Half-Indian-from-India, foul-mouthed witch assassin as a protagonist. I’m not being clever calling her a witch. She’s actually a witch. When I say foul-mouthed, I mean it. The book has loads of swearing. There’s an […]
D.H. Willison wrote Harpyness is only Skin Deep and entered it into SPFBO 6. I read the book the week after it was booted from the contest, and I’m glad I did. It’s a fun adventure about Darin, a guy who gets an opportunity to escape his humdrum life and live on a planet with […]
Clayton Snyder entered The Oblivion Psalm into SPFBO 6. He’s known for a lot of other work (which you can see here.) This was not the type of book I normally read, but I picked it up as soon as the contest commenced. It’s dark, very very dark. This book is “dark madness” and very […]
SPFBO Author J.A. Andrews has written Dragon’s Reach and four other books which make up the The Keeper Chronicles. This is the first book in her new series The Keeper Origins, a prequel series. I read Dragon’s Reach, after reading her other books and was delighted (as usual). This classic fantasy story introduces us to […]
I was chatting today with some writers and explaining how I rate a book. It’s different than the way I think most people do it. I can find something good in almost any story. All stories have value. I hate giving out bad reviews and honestly? I have been a coward and have not given […]
In no particular order, these are songs I have listened to for book 2. I can only use titles because titles can’t be copyrighted. But if you want to hear a playlist for book 1, you can find it here. I’m not saying these songs will be in the book. I’m just saying I have […]
I love The Princess Bride. It’s probably my favorite movie. It was magical and beautiful and wondrous and nearly perfect. I love Inigo Montoya. I love Vizzini. I love Andre the Giant’s character. I love Buttercup and Westley. We quote the movie constantly around our house. Rob Reiner directed the film and I will forever […]
So I sent my latest recordings off to my coach. Ron is a saint, honestly. And he came back with bad news. My voice was still too quiet. I adjusted the gain and sent it back to him. Better! It was better. So I’m pretty sure I could have kept going. But… I realized I […]
Lorica is a word that means “Breastplate.” I got the idea from St. Patrick. His Lorica is here. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,Through belief in the Threeness,Through confession of the Onenessof the Creator of creation. I arise todayThrough the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism,Through the strength of […]
Book Two has a heist in it. Let’s get that out of the way. There is one. Heists are fun to write. I’ve been looking at various heists throughout literature and seeing them everywhere. I love the shows “White Collar” and “Leverage.” They have gorgeous heists in them. In movies, the heists we see are […]
For those of you living under a rock for the past 5 years, there is a little war contest for self-published authors that takes place every year. It’s called the Self-Publishing Fantasy Blog-Off and it is hosted by Mark Lawrence. To enter, one must be self-published. It’s important because out of these books, the finalists […]
UPDATE TWO: OOPS. So I got an email today. They didn’t award “Tabor’s Work.” They awarded “Fell Folk.” Which I haven’t shown to anyone. I shall post it tomorrow in its entirety. I’m really freaking out that they liked it. UPDATE: They sent me a sweet badge! Check it out! I have a long relationship […]
I studied Welsh for a few years before I wrote Sorrowfish. I took some online classes and puttered around my house, muttering in it. On Halloween I was practicing while waiting for the kids to come by. I was sitting on my porch with a fog machine, dressed in a witch’s hat. My husband laughed […]
It’s Holy Week. So I’m writing today about something I know a lot about. I was the woman at the well. I was Mary Magdalene. I was the most immoral person I know. Really. And I could get into why. I could talk about my childhood and my choices. But none of that matters. The […]
Ok, so if you’ve read my book, Sorrowfish, you may have gleaned some of this already. But I wanted to have one place where I define my magic system and clarify questions about it. I get asked about it a lot. First off, where it came from. Cosmic DJ. I started to realize the music […]
So. There’s a virus spreading and people are, in general, upset about it. There’s been a run on stores for toilet paper and they’re trying to close the churches. I heard today in Illinois that restaurants have been ordered closed. Not sure if that is constitutional. I suspect it isn’t. But in general, there is […]
So. One more piece of the getting-my-indie-book-into-the-Library puzzle put together. I need a PCIP Block. I think I do anyhow. According to this guy, who seems very knowledgable, I don’t. A PCIP block is a publishers cataloguing in publication and they cost around $100 if I pay someone for it. BUT. I have already had […]
So. I’m now on my fourth DAW. A DAW for those of you who aren’t audiobook narrators, is a Digital Audio Workstation …the software you use to record yourself. And I feel foolish. And stubborn. And a lot of other things. But I’ve tried Audition and Reaper and then I just loved Audacity before it […]
I think my story is very much a milieu story. From Writers Digest: The milieu is the world—the planet, the society, the weather, the family, all the elements that come up during your world-creation phase. Every story has a milieu, but when a story is structured around one, the milieu is the thing the storyteller […]
So. I got contacted on Reddit about my book by a publisher who actually looks legit and wants to publish my book in English, in China, as a serial. I’ve checked out the company. It’s legit. And as tempted as I am? I’m pretty sure I’m gonna pass. Still have to discuss with Rod. I […]
“That’s so cliché” “Your story is full of tropes” “It’s been done.” When I see these mindless rants masquerading as serious reviews, I promptly consider the review itself to be utterly invalid and the reviewer herself to be lazy, unoriginal and vapid. Likely in need of a breath mint. Let me explain. A “trope” has […]
So yesterday, my little book had a very big day. I was Reddit’s Writer of the Day. I set my book to free for the occasion. It’s free until midnight tonight Saturday, actually. So if you haven’t read it, go download it. Reddit Fantasy, for those of you who don’t know, is huge. There’s usually […]
On my mystical writing journey, I’m doing ok. Not fantastic. I don’t have a ton of money to throw into book promo. But respectable. I’m a prawn for all you 20booksto50k’ers out there. Hopefully I will only go further from here. One really nice surprise I got today, I’m on the front page of Lorehaven. […]
I had an author interview published today. It was with Thisiswriting.com, a writing site in Australia. I won a marketing package with them and this was part of it. I think it turned out pretty well, but you guys can go here and look. Tell me what you think!
So I’ve entered Sorrowfish into the Wishing Shelf awards. I don’t really want to enter a lot of contests, but this one seems to be well run and gives feedback, which I would like to get. The contest is author-run. To me that is important. There are reading groups who evaluate the books. While I’d […]
I spent all day reading about chivalry. I do this. When I’m writing I need to explore until I find the PERFECT THING. So today I spent all day searching for Gawain and and the Green knight and chivalry and courtly love and Trystan and Iseult. I needed to find the right test of honor. […]
I’ve been writing, but not like I wanted to. Now I’m writing full force again. My marketing is in place for the first book, I’ll let it run and keep going. If I can get book 2 finished and out, I’ll be much better off. So where am I? Good question. I have an outline […]
UPDATE! It’s live! You can order Sorrowfish here! (ebook) Order the paperback here! Ok, so yesterday I logged in and uploaded my paperback MS and hit publish. I was going to do the same with my ebook. However, after I hit publish on the paperback book, I could not get to the ebook details. It […]
I’ve taken Mark Dawson’s class and I’m in the 20booksto50k® group on Facebook. There’s an ethos within these groups that says to rapidly release a series. Make the first book free (or possibly the first three books) Advertise. Hook your readers into reading the series. I don’t mean to grouse. But if I do that, […]
Dinosaurs are dragons. I don’t understand why this isn’t accepted fact, but it’s true. Look at them. I’m sure they even breathed fire. Until some scientist proves otherwise, I’m going with it. My husband thinks dinosaurs don’t have enough legs and wings. Fine. So wyvern. They’re still dragons. The word dinosaur wasn’t invented until 1841. […]
So, I spent all last week working on my book trailer and I think it turned out pretty well. It’s been well received so far. I did it with Adobe After Effects and a lot of work. You may view it here. Let me know what you think in the comments!
I just sent my manuscript off to LSE® for the final proof. It’s only been two years of editing. LOL. Woot. I’m done.
We’ve all heard that, as writers, we need to read outside of our genre. This helps us learn and expand–adopt and adapt devices that we may never have considered otherwise. Toss elements of a thriller into high fantasy, for instance. Stir scraps of mystery into a romance. Freshen up dusty old tropes with a dash […]
I’m going to St Louis this week, to Realm Makers. It’s a Christian sci-fi/fantasy writer’s conference. I’m stoked! Brent Weeks and Terry Brooks are both going to be there. Very exciting. I have no idea what to wear as a costume. They dress up for the awards banquet, apparently. Probably River Song, it’s what I […]
I was talking to Ben Lo at church this morning and he mentioned I needed to tell this story. Ok. I’ll tell it. I started thinking about writing in 1998. I was on the rocks with my husband. At that point, my life was in complete turmoil and I was trying to get it back. […]
