The sorceress Narena has done many things for Leisos – advised the king, helped heal a young girl and sent a prince forward in time to save his life. Now, to protect her people, she may have to sacrifice herself, her lover, her child. Maybe even all three.
She hunts for the one who threatens the royal family and the throne of Leisos. And also seeks the daughter taken from her at birth. There’s only one problem. They might be one and the same. What she finds on her quest is love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, and a revelation that will change her life forever.
Ardis is a warrior and former captain of the king’s army. His allegiance to the throne lives in his blood – as does the secret he carries. He will protect both at all costs. Even if it means killing Narena or someone she loves
Pat is a playwright and award winning author who has had a love affair with the written word since childhood, many times immersing herself in the stories of Enid Blyton and Carolyn Keene. An active imagination gave inspiration to short stories and her first play as a teen.
Her full-length play, The Truth About Lies, was staged at a regional theatrical competition in 2006. She was selected as “One of 50 Authors You Should be Reading” in 2012. One of her novels achieved a finalist slot in the 2013 International Book Award Contest – fantasy category. She is also the winner of the 15th Annual Writer’s Digest Short Story contest for A Holy Night.
Although still in pursuit of a place truly called home, Pat shares her life with her husband and three cats, all of which claim rule over the house at one point or another. Besides dreaming up the next novel, she enjoys traveling, baking, camping, wine, and of course reading – not necessarily in that order.
After Dina Ranger loses telepathic contact with her twin brother, Duncan, she breaks into his apartment and stumbles onto a special government unit responsible for monitoring the psychic population. She’s offered a job where she can use her psionic gifts to help people.
Stranded on earth over a hundred years ago, Liam of Shria is searching for a metal needed to repair his ship when he finds Dina inside an alien escape pod and narrowly saves her after she trips the alarm.
As the mystery and their relationship deepens, Liam helps Dina learn the truth behind her abilities while uncovering a plot to rebuild an ancient weapon, exposing dangerous secrets about the alien presence on earth that may change the future forever.
Jenn Nixon’s love of writing started the year she received her first diary and Nancy Drew novel. Throughout her teenage years, she kept a diary of her personal thoughts and feelings but graduated from Nancy Drew to other mystery suspense novels.
Jenn often adds a thriller and suspense element to anything she writes be it Romance, Science Fiction, or Fantasy. When not writing, she spends her time reading, observing pop culture, playing with her two dogs, and working on various charitable projects in her home state of New Jersey.
It’s such a pleasure to welcome Danielle DeVor back! This time she brings her collection of short horror stories!
Strange Darkness
A new bastion of horror—named one of the Examiner’s 2014 Women in Horror: 93 Horror Authors You Need to Read Right Now for her novel Sorrow’s Point—the amazing Danielle DeVor brings us her first collection of stories—a showcase of wicked imagination and imagery.
In these tales, we see what happens when you use the skin of a vampire for a mundane purpose (The Case), a ghost hunting trip gone wrong (Love Me to Death), a little girl who has a furry friend with red eyes (Emmy’s Puppy), and more. This is DeVor at her best. Expect chills, gore, and stories that stay with you long after the lights go dim and the house begins to settle.
Named one of the Examiner’s 2014 Women in Horror: 93 Horror Authors You Need to Read Right Now, Danielle DeVor has been spinning the spider webs, or rather, the keyboard for more frights and oddities. She spent her early years fantasizing about vampires and watching “Salem’s Lot” way too many times. When not writing and reading about weird things, you will find her hanging out at the nearest coffee shop, enjoying a mocha frappuccino.
It’s a pleasure to reveal the new cover of Avenging Angel by Ross G. Homer! This is another awesome M. Joseph Murphy cover.
Avenging Angel
One arm in her coat, Sara Sutherlin is about to pull her condo door closed to go look for her husband Kyle, who left hours ago. The shrill ring of her intercom stops her in her tracks.
She picks up the receiver. “Yes?”
“Ma’am, we’re with the Miami police department. May we come up?”
She freezes into numbness while she listens to the elevator hum as it rises to the thirtieth floor.
Her floor.
“Mrs. Sutherlin?”
“Yes.”
Shortly after, Sara Sutherlin’s world collapses and forever changes in a way she never in her wildest dreams imagined.
Avenging Angel is coming soon!
Ross G. Homer
Ross G. Homer is a photographer and writer. He rides mountain and road bikes and loves to to free-style cross country ski, hike and, on occasion, go camping. He’s probably one of only three Alaskans who don’t hunt or fish.
It’s here! My new zombie book is now available at Amazon and will soon be released at other vendors and in paperback. I had so much fun writing this one. As always a special thank you to my editor, Jen Ryan and cover artist, M Joseph Murphy.
Apocalypta Z
First – meteors.
Now – zombies.
Ninety-nine percent of humans and animals have become zombified, leaving the rest scrambling to survive. Maddie Worthing and Nick Stanton are among the few not infected. They’re gathering survivors and doing what they can to preserve life in their isolated desert town. Joined by the remaining townspeople and a few scientists, they search for a way to make it through the apocalypse.
The key to humanity’s continued existence may lie within the mystery surrounding Maddie’s puppy. But they need to survive the roving gangs, crazy scientists and troublemakers within their own ranks in order to discover it. “Not since World War Z have zombies been presented in such a unique light. Give Wilson some props, and her little dog too.” Danielle DeVor, Author of Sorrow’s Point
One of the most rewarding parts of the publishing process is working with a professional editor. I’m very lucky to have the awesome Jen Ryan of Ellysian Press and Imagine that Editing as the editor on all my books and stories.
Rather than get into the specifics of the different kinds of edits (you can find Jen’s descriptions here), I want to focus on how to approach edits. To do that I’ll include some of the stuff I’ve gone through with my own new book, Apocalypta Z.
The most important thing to do as an author is to listen to your editor (assuming you have hired or are working with a trained editor). Be prepared to hear that your baby is not perfect. It’s difficult for writers to “let go” of the iron grip they have on their babies, but that’s exactly what you need to do. Writers want to believe that every word they wrote is golden. After all, their mom beta read and told them their book was perfect, so it must be so, right? Um…no. Reader input is important, but hopefully you had real beta readers, who had the knowledge to made constructive critiques of your work.
For Apocalypta Z, I chose three writer friends, along with a handful of other readers to help with my new book.
But first, I had to make the manuscript as good as I could. Apocalypta Z started as a short story. It was while I was working on the notes I’d gotten from one of my beta readers that I realized it was actually a book and there was a lot more to it than a lost puppy during the zombie apocalypse. That meant rewriting and revising with a critical eye. Learning when something I loved needed to be cut or modified. That takes strength and courage. After I polished, revised and tweaked many times and thought it was the best I could make it, I went to my trusted beta readers.
You can use writer critique groups, as well. Or if you have trusted friends who will be critical and tell you what is wrong, you can try that. But that may not always work, so be prepared to hear it’s perfect. Just so you know – it isn’t perfect. And you’re going to find out just how “not perfect” it is when you get into edits.
Okay, so you’re finally to the editing stage and you get your first edits – hundreds and hundreds of changes! Little things like commas and typos. And big things like rewriting dialogue or changing your characters. You may even need to make major cuts or major rewrites. It can be daunting to hear that you have so many issues. But you know what? It’s part of the process. Maybe that special scene you wrote is not as clear as you thought it was. Or perhaps your plot twist has plot holes. And that’s not easy to hear. But believe me when I say the book will be better for fixing those things!
I have such a good relationship with my editor that I trust her judgment. When she says my awesome idea is contradictory to everything else in the book and needs to be supported, clarified or cut, I believe her. I step back and take a hard look at what I did. So far, she has been right every time.
There may be times where you might not agree with a change. That’s the time you need to communicate with your editor and work those things out. A trusted editor is going to have a good reason for asking for the change, but often there is a way to fix it so you are both happy. Figure out exactly what isn’t working. I’ve had new ideas come out of discussions that were so much better than my original ideas. Communication is not only important, it is fun!
For instance in my new book, Apocalypta Z, I loved my first line which I kept from the short story version: “It wasn’t easy being a pampered poodle princess during the zombie apocalypse.” I’d gotten great response on that line. However, when I got into edits, Jen realized that what worked as a short story didn’t work as a novel. I needed to flip Chapters 1 and 2, beginning the novel with my main character, Maddie.
So I had to come up with a new first line for the book. I finally came up with “An eerie keening shattered the morning air: the apocalypse had begun.” Hmmm…not as good as my beloved “pampered poodle princess line” in my opinion. So I fixed it.
Here is my new beginning for the book:
An eerie keening shattered the morning air: the apocalypse had begun.
Of course Maddie Worthing didn’t know that. She just thought her dogs had to pee.”
There. I had the more serious tone that reflected much of the book, along with the lighter tone because the book also has humor in it. Hopefully readers will like the change as well. So far the response has been good again. (Fingers crossed.) 🙂
And the best part? I got to keep part of my original line in Chapter 2 with modifications:
Cienna didn’t like the changes that had happened to her world. She was used to being a pampered poodle princess. Lost and all alone was scary.”
I’m still in final edits as I write this so there might be some changes to these, but as always, I’ve loved the editing process. Sure it can be tough at times, but I look ahead to the end result which I know is going to be so much better than my original version.
So my advice is to get a good editor, listen to them, communicate with them and let your book become the best version it can be.
I am so excited that WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER by Rae Carson releases today and that I get to share the news, along with an awesome giveaway! If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful new series by Rae Carson, be sure to check out all the details below.
This blitz also includes a giveaway for a set of the GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS series (in paperback format). US only. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.
This is the first book in a new trilogy from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Rae Carson. A young woman with the magical ability to sense the presence of gold must flee her home, taking her on a sweeping and dangerous journey across Gold Rush–era America.
Walk on Earth a Stranger
Lee Westfall has a secret. She can sense the presence of gold in the world around her. Veins deep beneath the earth, pebbles in the river, nuggets dug up from the forest floor. The buzz of gold means warmth and life and home—until everything is ripped away by a man who wants to control her. Left with nothing, Lee disguises herself as a boy and takes to the trail across the country. Gold was discovered in California, and where else could such a magical girl find herself, find safety? Rae Carson, author of the acclaimed Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy, dazzles with this new fantasy that subverts both our own history and familiar fantasy tropes.
You can find WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER at these retailers
You can read Chapter 1 of WALK ON EARTH A STRANGER annotated by Rae Carson HERE!
Rae Carson
Rae Carson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the acclaimed Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy. Her next book, Walk On Earth A Stranger, will be available September 22, 2015. She lives in Arizona with her husband.
Pat is a playwright and award winning author who has had a love affair with the written word since childhood, many times immersing herself in the stories of Enid Blyton and Carolyn Keene. An active imagination gave inspiration to short stories and her first play as a teen.
