Summer Reads Blog Tour

June 6, 20142 Comments

Summer is the perfect time to catch up on all the reading you’ve been meaning to do but just haven’t made time for. After all, what could be more relaxing than kicking back in a hammock with an ice-cold glass of lemonade and a shiny new book?

But there are so many books out there – how do you choose?

That’s where we come in! My friend and fellow author, Lisa L. Wiedmeier, has put together a 13-week blog tour to recommend a bunch of great books. In her own words:

I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself!! Sam, Carrie and I wanted to provide for you, my avid readers, a way to not only meet new authors, but also books you might not have seen or heard about. A way to expand your reading list for the summer.

Over the next 13 weeks…

Chasing Azrael

June 3, 20146 Comments

Hello! Me again. I’ve finished two books quite close together, so I’m back with another review for you. Today, let’s take a look at Chasing Azrael by Hazel Butler, archaeologist, artist, and fellow member of the Alliance of Worldbuilders. From Amazon:

When Andee Tilbrook’s husband died, her preoccupation with death turned to obsession. Thanks to her unique ability to commune with the dead, her husband remains all too close, yet never close enough. Mired in grief, she clings to James’s spirit, slowly losing touch with the world, her friends, and any desire to continue living.

But when her friend Josh becomes the target of Natalya, a jealous, capricious and violent Russian beauty, Andee somehow finds the strength to free herself from her misery long enough to help him. They soon discover that Natalya is wanted by the police for her involvement in a series of grisly murders, and Andee is dragged into the inquiry by the same man who investigated her own husband’s death.

Torn between new feelings for Josh, and fear that he might be involved in the murders that seem to threaten anyone who comes close, Andee must face the realities of her life, her past, and her very nature-and do it all in time to save her own life.

I could not put this book down. I stayed up past the witching hour…

Review time!

June 2, 201410 Comments

I’ve been reading again the last few weeks, something I really should do more of. I used to always have my nose in a book, but now trying to find time to escape into another world so completely when there are so many other demands on my time is just exhausting. I really do need to make more of an effort, though, because reading more (and widely) is one of the best, easiest, and most entertaining ways to improve my own writing.

With that in mind, behold the glory that is City of the Sun by Juliana Maio. This fantastic book is set in Cairo during WWII, which is one of my favorite periods to study, the Holocaust in particular. I love reading accounts of what it was like living under Nazi rule because it’s so different from what I know, and it terrifies me to think that people can be so horrible to each other.

But this book is a work of fiction; while real people appear in it, and similar events did take place, the author used them for her own purposes. From Goodreads:

Ambitious American journalist Mickey Connolly has come to Cairo to report on the true state of the war. Facing expulsion by the British for not playing by their rules, he accepts a deal from the U.S. embassy that allows him to remain in the country. His covert mission: to infiltrate the city’s thriving Jewish community and locate a refugee nuclear scientist who could be key to America’s new weapons program. But Mickey is not the only one looking for the elusive scientist. A Nazi spy is also desperate to find him–and the race is on. Into this mix an enigmatic young woman appears, a refugee herself. Her fate becomes intertwined with Mickey’s, giving rise to a story of passion, entangled commitments, and half-truths.

Once I started this story, I couldn’t put it down. Well, okay, I could, obviously, or it wouldn’t have taken me so long to finish it, but when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about it. Mickey and Maya wouldn’t leave me alone; they demanded I finish reading to see what happened. The romance was captivating, and the tension just kept ratcheting up the further I read. I noted some parallels between what happened in the Middle East 70-odd years ago and what is happening there today, which made the story all the more intriguing.

If you like historical fiction, and you like a good love story, and you’re looking for a thrill, then check out City of the Sun. It’s got all of that and more!

Author Interview with Juliana Maio and Giveaway

The Summer Reads Blog Tour!

June 2, 2014September 10, 20147 Comments

For the next thirteen weeks, I’ll be participating in Lisa L. Wiedmeier’s Summer Reads Blog Tour. It’s going to be lots of fun! There will be book recommendations and prizes and author talk…It’s a tour made of win!

As the posts go up, I’ll be reblogging them and adding the links to this post, but be sure to head over to Lisa’s blog, too, because she’s got a Rafflecopter event of epic proportions going on. She’s got books! She’s got swag! She’s got a one-hour Skype session!

But you can’t win if you don’t read these posts. So, without further ado, the links to the posts lie below!

Week One – Lisa L. Wiedmeier
Week Two – Sam Dogra
Week Three – Carrie Fetzer
Week Four – Will Macmillan Jones
Week Five – Andrea Baker
Week Six – Tricia Drammeh
Week Seven – Sammy HK Smith
Week Eight – Kay Kauffman
Week Nine – Michel Prince
Week Ten – AFE Smith
Week Eleven – Sophie E. Tallis
Weeks Twelve and Thirteen – Lisa’s Reflections

My writing process

May 19, 201414 Comments

Last week, my friend and fellow author Tricia Drammeh tagged me in the My Writing Process blog hop, so that’s what I’ll be talking about today. I’ll try not to bore you all to tears, but no promises.

I kid. I won’t bore you. I hope. 😀

What are you currently working on?

Lipei
Artwork by Hazel Butler

I’m currently in the midst of rewriting The Lokana Chronicles. I think this is Official Rewrite No. 3, but since I’ve been working on this series for the better part of a decade, it’s hard to tell – I’ve decided that keeping track of all the revisions this thing has undergone is impossible, and I gave up trying a long time ago. Once I finish revising the first book, I’ll be heading back to the query trenches with it, and this time, I hope I’ll have better luck. I feel like the story is much stronger now than it was the first time I queried, and I hope to find someone who agrees with me.

I also have a short story in the works called The Colony, which is about…

Inquisitor is out!

May 16, 20143 Comments

That’s right, today is release day for Inquisitor, the latest offering from RJ Blain. Read on to find out more about this exciting new fantasy novel!

About Inquisitor:

When Allison is asked to play Cinderella-turned-Fiancee at a Halloween ball, the last thing she expected was to be accused of murder on the same night. She has to find the killer and quick, or she’ll be put to death for the crimes she didn’t commit. To make matters worse, the victims are all werewolves.

On the short list of potential victims, Allison has to act fast, or the killer will have one more body to add to his little black book of corpses.

There’s only one problem: One of the deaths has struck too close to home, and Allison’s desire for self-preservation may very well transform into a quest for vengeance…

Urban fantasy v. epic fantasy

May 14, 20145 Comments

Today I’m happy to have fantasy author RJ Blain here with a guest post on why she strayed from epic fantasy into the realm of urban fantasy for her newest novel, Inquisitor, and the differences between the two genres. Inquisitor goes on sale Friday – be sure to stop back for an excerpt from the book, details about the author, and more.

Urban Fantasy vs Epic Fantasy

My first two novels, Storm Without End and The Eye of God, fall under epic and traditional subgenres of fantasy, making them rather different than Inquisitor, my debut urban fantasy. This is something I get comments about fairly frequently, because most fantasy writers pick one or the other, rather than both.

I’ve even had people suggest the only reason I wrote urban fantasy was because it’s a popular genre. Sure, it’s popular—but so is Game of Thrones. That’s epic fantasy, with boobs and blood, but definitely epic fantasy.

For the record, I’m not much of a fan of Game of Thrones. So yes, I am an oddity.

So why write both? The answer is pretty simple: I like both. It’s natural for me to pursue my interests. That’s why I write; I find it engaging, interesting, fun—and best of all, other people seem to like my books.

I write epic fantasy because I have a story to tell. I write traditional fantasy because I have a story to tell. I write urban fantasy because I have a story to tell.

While my reason for writing these three subgenres is the same, how I write them is totally different.

No campfire? The horror!

May 7, 20148 Comments

Today, I’m happy to have Mark R. Hunter here to talk a little about his newest book, The No-Campfire Girls. A fellow member of the Ink Slingers League, he’s a pretty funny guy with a pretty insightful take on that most dreaded of questions posed to writers: “Where do you get your inspiration?”

Take it away, Mark!

Sometimes I’ll finish a manuscript, look back over the story, and think: “Where the heck did this come from?”

On the other hand, sometimes it’s pretty clear where I got my story idea.

Storm Chaser? “Hey, I think I’ll write a story about a storm chaser.” Of course, after the initial idea things went wildly out of control, starting with the fact that my storm chaser became, technically, a disaster photographer. But Disaster Photographer didn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Coming Attractions? My unpublished novel about effort to save a drive-in movie theater was birthed while I was sitting in a drive-in movie theater. Usually in those places it’s not birth that’s going on, but conception.

Okay, maybe I do know where most of my ideas come from. The newest book, The No-Campfire Girls, can be traced easily to its source, which was an attempt by the Girl Scouts to shut down my wife’s beloved childhood camp.

I don’t use the word beloved lightly.

And she’s not the only one: A grass roots campaign sprung up, probably from the roots, of people across the area who wanted to save their camp. My wife and I came back from a visit determined to find a way to help them.

The problem:

Blogging U. rocks my face off

April 26, 2014May 14, 201417 Comments

Over the last twelve days, I’ve been participating in WordPress’s Blogging 201 course (no, I did not grab the badge – I don’t know why). It’s been an absolute blast, and it’s also what prompted the recent design changes you may (or, if you’re like me and real observant, you may not) have noticed. Today is Day Twelve, and today’s assignment is to create a poll or survey to gather more in-depth feedback about what readers like and dislike about my blog.

I’ve been toying with the idea of adding a poll recently, anyway, so the timing of this seems like a great big hint to go ahead and do it. If you’re a regular reader here…

A wobbly review

April 2, 201415 Comments

I’m a bit late with this review. But, you see, I was waiting for my kids to finish reading the book so they could help with my review, and they’re slow. Or busy. Sometimes it’s hard to tell at our house, as 90% of the time, we’re all running around like chickens with our heads cut off.

Meanwhile, I read this in three days.

According to the author’s website, Snort and Wobbles started as a joke. I remember fondly its debut on authonomy and am quite pleased to see it finally in print. But what’s it about? Here, take a peek at the blurb:

Dragons are not real. Everyone tells you that. So what do you do when you are eight years old and meet a dragon living at the bottom of your garden? You have the adventure of your life!

When Wobbles and her family move into their new home…