Red Hot Review

A while ago, I was asked to write a blog entry for Red Hot Books on a book I'd recommend. It was intriguing, since blogs usually ask me about my own books, not other people's. I had fun writing it though and if you want to see what book I recommended, then the link to the article is here.

What's up in writing news...? Wrote a story including the winged woman from my last post and three mighty *coughyeahrightcough* warriors. Now I think I'm going to go work on CALLED for a while. Or go to sleep, I'm still deciding.

Three sets of wings make sense, right?

I created a digital painting the other day. I really like the way it turned out. Enough that I think I need to write a story on who this woman is. I'm curious as to what she has to tell me.  :)

In writing/publishing news, I've heard a little bit more on what's going on, but not as much as I want to. I asked the Amazon team a bunch of questions, most of which they've answered. The one big one they didn't is whether someone can download ebooks on a platform other than kindle.

Here's a bit of what they sent me, trimmed off all the irrelevant/personal stuff.

We are currently collecting materials and do not have a schedule for when titles will be released in ebook for Kindle or paperback. We do not currently have plans to make changes to the interior or cover of previously published books. International distribution will be based on your contract, amended contracts will be sent out shortly.

Your books will be available for mass distribution through Ingram and Baker & Taylor.  Any bookstore or outlet that has access to ordering through these channels can stock your books.  Also, our dedicated sales force at Brilliance leverages their contacts to get titles into stores and distributes for us as well. We are always looking for ways to improve and we are always working to increase our physical distribution.

In writing news, CALLED is up to about 64,000 words. I took a bit of a break from it to write a short story about a superhero who's down on his luck. Not a lot of creativity going on, sadly. Its been crazy busy at work and I'm mostly too tired to do anything but watch episodes of Supernatural when I get home. I have the entire long weekend off, however, so hopefully that'll help recharge the old mental batteries.

Amazon has purchased Dorchester

I got this email the other day. Woohoo!

Dear (former) Dorchester Authors & Agents –

I write to you with terrific news!  We have officially closed the deal with Dorchester Publishing.  The announcement has just been released (see below), and we are gearing up for the next steps.  Next week we will send you your Welcome Packet, which will include lots of information and best ways to reach us for any of your future questions.  I wanted you to hear the exciting news from us first.  Thanks again for all of your help in making this deal so successful.  We are thrilled to bring you into the Amazon Publishing family.  Stay tuned for more information.

Thanks again,

Caroline Carr

Caroline Carr | Rights & Licensing, Amazon Publishing

Amazon Publishing Acquires Publication Contracts to Over 1000 Books from Dorchester Publishing

SEATTLE—August 30, 2012—Amazon Publishing today announced that it has acquired through an auction the publication contracts of over 1000 books from Dorchester Publishing. As part of the process, Dorchester authors were offered the opportunity to join Amazon Publishing and receive the full back royalties that Dorchester indicated were owed. 

“Working with the Dorchester author community during this auction process has been a tremendous experience for all of us,” said Philip Patrick, Business Development Director at Amazon Publishing. “We are happy to be able to pay their back royalties and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the Amazon Publishing family.”

“Amazon Publishing is breathing new life into my series, and I’m very excited to see what the future holds,” said Tracy Madison, award-winning author of the Gypsy Magic series.

“I am excited beyond words about being offered this chance to join Amazon Publishing.  I cannot thank them enough for stepping in and giving former Dorchester authors the chance to move ahead,” said Deborah MacGillivray, author and agent of the late Dawn Thompson, author of The Ravening. “Dawn literally lived for her writing. Amazon Publishing is helping me safeguard Dawn’s legacy, and to see that new readers can continue to find her books,” said Dawn’s sister, Diane Thompson.

“This new relationship will enable the works of countless talented fiction writers to serve their established readers and reach new ones across the globe,” said Gregg Loomis, author of The Bonaparte Secret.

“The transition from Dorchester to Amazon Publishing means that our authors will now be able to reach so many more readers and markets worldwide than they ever could before.  That truly is something to celebrate,” said Vicky Piekarski and Jon Tuska, co-owners of Golden West Literary Agency, in a joint statement.

Going forward, the acquired Dorchester titles will be published under the appropriate Amazon Publishing imprints: Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror titles to 47North; Romance titles to Montlake Romance; Mystery and Thriller titles to Thomas & Mercer; Westerns and other titles to AmazonEncore. Titles will be available both in print and as Kindle books. Under the terms of Amazon’s bid, any former Dorchester Publishing authors that chose not to work with Amazon Publishing will have their rights revert back to them to pursue other publishing opportunities including self-publishing via the Kindle Direct Publishing platform.

Amazon Publishing is the publishing arm of Amazon.com. Amazon Publishing’s West Coast Group includes imprints AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Montlake Romance, Thomas & Mercer, and 47North. Amazon Publishing’s East Coast Group publishes adult trade, children's and young adult titles. For more information about all imprints of Amazon Publishing, visit www.amazon.com/amazonpublishing. Amazon Publishing is a brand used by Amazon Content Services, LLC.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages, search, shop, and take notes – still with all the benefits of the most advanced electronic ink display.  Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch, with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G.  Kindle Fire is the Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core processor.  

 Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, and www.amazon.es. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

The sylphs have a new home

Well, it looks like they do.

I've signed a contract with Amazon for the sylph series. If they win the auction at the end of this month (I think they will. I don't know of anyone else bidding), then the first three sylph books will be rereleased and, from the sound of it, the fourth and fifth books will come out as well.  So woohoo!

So, more books, books that people can actually FIND in a bookstore, and hopefully many more readers. :)

New Character Art

This one took a long time. One, because I have bronchitis and can't do much of anything for very long at all, and two, because I have a horrid time painting skin tones and redid the whole colour painting about four times.

Here's Leon and Ril, pretty close to how I see them in my head. Just me trying to improve my art.

CALLED is past the 45,000 word mark, by the way. Slow but steady.

Not the kind of inspiration I wanted

Ugh.... I've been sick since last Tuesday. Took two days off, dragged myself in for half a day on Friday, relapsed, and have been in bed since I got home. As of last night, I have a cough so bad I can't even lie flat. I hate being sick.

The only good thing about it is that, apparently, at two am when I can't sleep or speak for coughing and am sitting in my recliner drinking neo-citran, I get inspired to write poetry.



The Cold

I find while lying in the dark
Wracked by violent episode,
My thoughts do turn to hope of peace
And wish that all the world were slowed.
The fires of thought do run as strong
As raging storms and fleeting steeds,
Never stopping for a breath
But crashing on in wild stampedes.
Still I sit here shadowed by
Lack of company and rest,
Unable e’en to lie me down
And find the softest dream’s sweet breast.

I can finally almost say I'm going to be published again!

I've heard from my agent. Amazon is working at getting everything ready to buy Dorchester's assets and once they do, they'll issue new contracts to us authors (I don't promise I'll sign it until I see it, but it already has me getting bigger royalties than Dorchester ever paid me, plus I'd get all the money still owed me).

The four books I have out already will be reprinted and reissued, apparently both as print and as ebooks. The biggest part of it, as far as all of you are concerned, is that once the deal is signed, they want to talk to us about issuing new works. So if I do sign on the dotted line, then HUNTER OF THE SYLPHS and WAR OF THE SYLPHS will very likely be released.

Three Sylphs on a Ledge

I was working on my art again today and figured 'what the hey' and drew three sylphs. The colouring is simple because I was losing my mind just managing this level of disaster. O.o

Who can guess who these three are and what the scene is?

Called - Chapter One

I have edited this...once. Once edited work is really not considered finished, so bear that in mind. :) Considering I want to see this published, I really hope people like it.

Chapter One

When he looked back on the day it all started, Slan decided that the best thing to happen during it was the unexpected and violent attack of bandits that outnumbered his men four to one.

“Get to the horses!” Slan shouted, drawing his sword even as the filthy, ill-garbed men poured out of the woods and across the newly sprouted field towards them. The farmers who lived in the hamlet he’d been inspecting ran in fear, leaving Slan with only four men against twelve.

“At least they’re lousy ambushers,” Targ muttered from beside him while the other two guardsmen ran for the animals they’d tied to a fence at the edge of the hamlet.

Slan didn’t bother to answer. Their attackers must have grown impatient waiting for them to approach the woods where they’d been hiding. If they’d been willing to wait another hour, Slan and his men would have ridden to the next hamlet down a path that went straight into their ambush. 

Still, even aborted and uncoordinated like this, the bandits had the advantage of numbers. There was nowhere to hide - the straw and mud houses wouldn’t stop anyone determined to get in - and they couldn’t run without leaving the farmers without any defences.

“Looks like I’ll get some of the rust off my sword,” Targ said.

“Good,” Slan replied and charged. Targ ran at his side, his boots heavy on the hard ground.

Both of them were in armour. Slan hadn’t expected a bandit attack inside the borders of Luach Lundan, but he’d been a fighting man for a very long time and he wasn’t one to take chances.

The bandits weren’t expecting their victims to attack them and Slan waited until they were close enough and bunched up enough that they wouldn’t have time to spread out before he and Targ sprinted forward. He ran in among them, bellowing a challenge of his own, and slammed his round shield in the face of one with a resounding smash while he stabbed straight forward with his sword. The bandits’ armour was haphazard and poor, and the point of his blade punched through the man’s tunic, stopping him with a shock that ran up both the blade and Slan’s arm and into his back. He pulled the sword out as the bandit started to fall, before he could take the blade with him, and swung it sideways at a second bandit who tried to block, but was too busy back-peddling and tripped over his own feet. Slan took off three fingers from his upraised hand and half his scalp.

Targ was already back to back with him, cutting at the surprised bandits with his sword and using his shield to protect his left and Slan’s right side. Slan did the same for him.

“Come on!” Targ shouted. “Cowards! Come on!”

The bandits were surprised by their attack and the deaths of two of their members - three as Targ took the leg off a man that fell screaming - but they were too close to retreat easily and too angry to consider that their inability to fight together meant their numbers weren’t a match to Slan and Targ’s skill. If they had caught them in an ambush, it would have been very different, but they hadn’t and Slan wasn’t going to forgive them their mistake.

A snarling man with both front teeth knocked out and breath like the back end of a basilisk swung a pitted sword at Slan’s head. It was easy to bring his shield up to deflect the blow and then shove it forward hard into the man’s face. The bandit reeled and Slan stabbed him in the gut before kicking him off his sword. 

It had only been seconds since the fight started. Slan had dropped three men and from the sound of events behind him, Targ had taken two. That left seven men, but they hadn’t been expecting this kind of resistance and Slan suspected that one of the first he’d killed must have been their leader.

The rest of them started to pull away, running away across the field in the direction they’d come. Even those few seconds had left Slan covered in a fresh sheen of sweat and with old pain stabbing through his back. He didn’t chase them, not on foot. There was no point and they were less than a quarter of the way back to the trees when Slan’s men reached him with the horses. He grabbed the reins of his dapple gelding and pulled his aching body into the saddle with a wince.

“After them!” he called.

Younger and less battle scarred than he, Slan’s men kicked their mounts into a gallop after the fleeing bandits. He followed them, his horse snorting as it raced to catch up, steel shod hooves digging up the tender crops below it. It was better the farmers lose some of their yield than their lives, however, for the bandits were not known for being merciful to their victims. Slan just hadn’t expected them to be so arrogant as to attack openly and in broad daylight this way. Until now, Luath Lundan’s borders hadn’t been breached so deeply and the thought of what that meant was deeply disturbing.

His men ran the bandits down, their horses trampling the screaming men under them while the guardsmen laid with their swords to either side.

“Take one alive!” Slan shouted as he came up behind them, turning his horse to cut around and to the other side, just in case one of the bandits was able to break free and make another run for the woods.

None of them did. Slan drew his horse to a halt and hid the wince of pain his back gave him as he looked down at the only survivor of the bandit group. He was a measly little man, kneeling on the ground with his hands clasped behind his head. Targ stood behind him, one hand clapped on his shoulder and his sword ready.

“Mercy!” he whimpered.

Slan frowned at him. “Mercy only if you give us the information we want,” he told the man. One of the guardsmen handed him a rag and he took his time cleaning the blood off his sword. 

“Are there any more of you?” 

“None, my Lord,” the bandit said. Targ raised his sword. “I swear it!” he yelled, frantic. “Not here! There was just the dozen of us!”

Slan doubted the man had either the courage or the native intelligence to lie. “Why are you in Luach Lundan? I was under the impression that you haunted the eastern roads.” Which was bad enough.

The man swallowed. “We... It isn’t safe over the border.”

Targ raised an eyebrow. “Not safe for bandits? I thought all of you were so dirty the monsters in Gunsail Nam wouldn’t want to eat you. What do you have to worry about? Other bandits? Have the king’s troops come through?”

The bandit shook his head. “No, the Horseman is hunting us.”

Targ and Slan looked at each other. “That’s a name we haven’t heard in a while,” Targ said. 

“No,” Slan agreed. He looked beyond them to the hills that surrounded Luach Lundan, thick with forests and wild gorges. It was a name with a lot of memories attached to it, far too many of them bad. If Daleas and Ren were in the area, it wasn’t a surprise that the bandits decided to look for new territory. 

“Bring him,” he ordered and turned his dapple to ride back to the hamlet. They’d get whatever information they could out of him about any other bandit groups and where their hideout was and then they’d hang him. Slan owed protection to the people who worked his land and he was not going to shirk that responsibility, not for any warped sense of mercy for a man who’d already proven he had none.

It was hours before they were done at the hamlet. It took time to calm the vassals, who were justifiably frightened and needed reassurances, as well as the promise that Slan would send guardsmen to them to ensure there were no retaliatory attacks. He promised as well that his men would search the woods for more bandits and that was no idle promise. Slan had no confidence in any of the truths their captive purported to tell. A den of thieves, driven by the Horseman out of their usual territory along the roads that ran along the border around the wilds of Gunsail Nam and down into the valleys of Luach Lundan. A threat to his vassals instead of his trade wasn’t an improvement in Slan’s mind.

After the hours of talk, he was even more tired than the fighting made him. His back ached with a tension that wouldn’t give way and he felt dour and moody, making it an effort to keep his temper in the face of his frightened vassals. They weren’t fighters, he reminded himself. This was why they’d sworn themselves to Lords, even one come late to the title such as himself. His duty was to protect them.

They finally mounted their horses again as dusk began to fall, the vassals content, the prisoner bound and seated in the saddle of one of the horses while his rider doubled with another. Slan kept his face impassive, but Targ eyed him knowingly as he pulled himself onto the dapple.

“Back?” he asked.

Slan looked at him. It wasn’t something he wanted to admit to, but Targ had known him a long time and even if he hadn’t, he made it a point not to lie when he couldn’t avoid a question.

“Yes. I’ll live.”

Targ smiled. “I’m sure you will. But I’ll order a hot bath drawn for you when we get back to Blathgled. That’ll help.”

Slan nodded. It would, fortunately enough. Back troubles were far too frequent a complaint for him in the last few years.

They rode home at an easy canter, their horses rested and eager to return to their stable. The men were eager to get home as well. They’d won the fight without any casualties on their side, but Slan was far from the only one to realize just how lucky they’d been. In the decade since he’d come to take rulership over Luach Lundan, there hadn’t been a bandit attack on a hamlet this far inside the borders.

He supposed it was a good thing in a way, in that it at least showed that Daleas and Ren were having an effect on the bandits of Gunsail Nam, but that didn’t leave Slan feeling particularly grateful for the Horseman’s efforts.

Blathgled lay near the northern border of Luach Lundan, the great keep built at the top of a sloping hill. It was a sprawling affair, old and grey with thick walls and worn ramparts. When Slan first arrived, it had been abandoned for years, but the work of him and his people had made a home of it and a heart for their once struggling territory. 

Slan rode at the head of his men up the sloping road to the gates of the keep, the prisoner awkwardly sitting his horse directly behind him with his hands tied to the saddle horn and Targ holding the reins. The other two men rode together on the last horse at the rear. By this point it was well past dark and the moon was up, but the gates were open and well lit by torches, men moving hurriedly around inside the first courtyard. For a moment, Slan thought they were waiting up for him, but something felt wrong. Something had happened in Blathgled while her master was absent and tension sent pain shooting down through abused muscles in his back.

Voices shouted from the ramparts, carrying the word that the Lord of Blathgled was back and the flurry of motion increased inside even more. Every man sworn to his name seemed to be there, carrying and lighting torches.

Slan reined in his dapple next to the closest group of men, just inside the gate. “What’s happened?”

“Slan!” 

Slan looked up at the sudden shout. His face was mostly in shadow, even with the intermittent light of the torches, but his dapple was distinctive and he watched his wife holding her skirts up as she hurried down the steps from the main door of the keep and ran across the courtyard towards him. Slan’s mouth went dry and he dismounted. 

“Oh, Slan!” Canara ran up and threw herself into his arms, her usual poise completely gone. Her face was splotchy from crying and Slan’s gut went cold.

“What’s happened?” he asked, frantic and tempted to shake her. 

“Sorith is missing!” she cried.

The Writing Process

I had a reader ask some interesting questions in the comments on my last post, so I thought I'd answer them here.

I'd love to read more of your writing. Bring it! Know what else? I'm curious about your writing process. Do you write on your lunch hours? After work? Weekends only? Do you write longhand, then transcribe everything? Even when you don't feel inspired, do you make yourself sit down and write? I'm an unpublished writer and it always interests me how authors bring their stories to life.

Your artistic/creative abilities are astonishing. Thanks for sharing. --Mudpiequeen

As for when I write, it depends on my mood/where I am/what's happening. I don't write on my lunch hour much because I get interrupted a lot and I'm usually trying to destress then. I'm more likely to write when I get to work (which is early due to car pooling) and afterwards when I'm waiting to get picked up. I'll also write in the evening at home and on weekends. I type my books into my little mac air which is portable as all get out, so it goes everywhere with me.

I do a combination of longhand and typing. I type books because otherwise it takes too friggin' long to finish one. I longhand write my short stories and novellas. That's because I enjoy the process of physically writing something down and because by using two separate techniques to write, I seem to get less writer's block on each.

If I don't feel inspired, I don't do a thing. >.> I'm bad that way, but I do have a full time job, so I do need my down time. Plus I find that trying to force it doesn't work very well for me. That said, if the break is going on too long, then I will sit down and try to make it work. Mostly, if I'm stuck on the book, I'll write a short story. If I'm stuck on a short story, I'll write a book.

I also tend not to write flat out. I'll write a little, then read a little, then write a little, then watch an episode of Sherlock or something, then write a little, then raid the fridge, then write a little, then web surf, then write a little, then draw something.... you get the idea.


BTW, here's the finished Daleas, in clothes and thanks to my husband's encouragement, in  colour as well.

I'll have to remember the technique of drawing the full figure and then drawing the armour overtop on a separate layer. It worked really well. I had to use some references though, sadly. Folds suck.