Inspiration, or, What’s in a name?

July 22, 20141 Comment

spongebob One of the new blogging buddies I met during April’s Blogging U. course is hosting a Guest Blogger Week over at her place, and today it’s my turn to share! If you’re not familiar with the Avid Reader blog, you should definitely check it out. Lots of neat stuff there. And there will be guest posts all week!

My post is on the inspiration behind my humble blog’s title and tagline. To read more about my inspirations, head on over and check out my post. Then have a look at yesterday’s guest spot and some of the other booky news!

I’m a guest again!

June 11, 2014Leave a comment

Today I’m guest posting over at Don’t Delete Me about writing in general. Stop over and check it out and, while you’re there, have a look at some of J’s other posts. They’re all pretty great. 🙂

Writer’s hardship, a guest post by Alisa Sibrova

June 3, 20143 Comments

Today I’m happy to have Alisa Sibrova here with a post on the hardships faced by writers. She was kind enough to host me at her blog on Sunday, and I’m happy to return the favor. So, without further ado, here’s Alisa!

I am a very bad writer. An honest confession, and I know that. The moment I sit down and pick up the pen (yes, most of my writing I put down in ink on paper) nothing seems right enough to create stories worth reading. Benjamin Franklin once said: “If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do things worth writing”. That’s what I believe moves most of us: endless memory, historical footprints, eternity pressed into the hardcover book. Partly, it is my motive as well, of course, we are social beings and we do things in order to receive feedback and society’s approval. But, that is far from being the main trigger, at least for me.

Imperfection moves me. Understanding that there is always some room for development, realizing that you can always strive for better, creative, smoother writing. But it is also utterly agonizing: no one becomes a great writer in one day, it is a long way filled with troubles and missteps. I have my own writing troubles…

I’m a guest!

June 1, 2014June 1, 2014Leave a comment

Today I’m happy to say that I’m guest posting at my new friend Alisa’s blog! We met during the Blogging 201 challenge WordPress ran in April and became blogging buddies. I love making new friends! 🙂

We thought it would be fun to do a couple of posts about inspiration, and mine is up on her blog today. Alisa blogs about all sorts of fun and crafty things, and I’m excited to be there.

To check out my post and learn what’s inspiring me at the moment, just click here. And stay tuned – coming soon, Alisa will be taking over here for a day!

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:

Children of Shadows

March 31, 2014March 31, 201420 Comments

Today I’m proud to host my friend and fellow author, Joleene Naylor, as she tours the blogosphere promoting her latest Amaranthine novel, Children of Shadows. She was kind enough to tell me why she writes about vampires, and some of the challenges she faces in doing so. And stay tuned afterward – there’s a giveaway going on with some pretty awesome prizes.

Holy crap – I didn’t realize I just copied her words almost exactly till I glanced down just now. *sigh* Oh, well – to the guest post! 🙂

Hello! My name is Joleene Naylor, and I’m the author of the Amaranthine vampire series. I’d like thank Kay for hosting me today as I tour the blogosphere promoting my latest release, Children of Shadows.

A question most people ask me is why I write vampires. The truth is, it’s not the only thing I like to write. I’d actually like to do a fantasy series one day. But, right now I don’t have anything interesting to say in that genre. I don’t see any wrongs that need righted, or gaps that need filled, like I did with vampires.

When I started the Amaranthine series in 2005…

How to keep things straight (or maybe not-so-straight)

March 1, 2014March 6, 201511 Comments

Today I’m excited to have Jim Webster here with a guest post. His book, Justice 4.1, releases today from Safkhet Publishing, and it sounds like a fantastic read. But don’t take my word for it – here’s the blurb:

When a journalist is shot down in a backward area of Tsarina, Haldar Drom of the Governor’s Investigation Office is sent to investigate. He uncovers a hidden medical facility dedicated to the production of Abate, a drug used for population control, as well as evidence of the implantation of pre-created embryos in women brought to Tsarina for the purpose. He also discovers a deeper plot with far-reaching political ramifications. A senior member of the Governor’s family, Doran Stilan, is running a personal feud with the major pirate/Starmancer Wayland Strang. Indeed, he begins to suspect that Stilan may even be angling to take Strang’s place.

The medical facility is destroyed after it is attacked by mercenaries hired by Strang, and Drom has to travel off world to untangle the threads of the conspiracy.

Arriving back on Tsarina, he has to deal with a failed Starmancer attack, punish the guilty, and arrange for Doran Stilan to get what’s coming without undermining the position of the Governor. To do this, he’ll need skill, know-how, and a whole lot of luck to ensure that the guilty face justice.

Talk about an action-packed book! That’s a lot of things to keep track of. With that in mind, here’s Jim to tell us a bit about how he keeps everything straight (or not-so-straight) while writing:

Why time travel intrigues us

December 4, 2013December 4, 201326 Comments

I had the great pleasure of reading the following post by James Wymore over on Will Macmillan Jones’s blog yesterday, shared as part of a book tour celebrating the release of Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. The link there will take you to Amazon, where you can read more about the book. It sounds fascinating, and at $.99 (for a limited time only), is a real bargain.

Anyway, I liked James’s post so much that I emailed him for permission to repost it here. He was kind enough to grant my request, so without further ado, here ’tis:

Few fiction tropes have been delved into so deeply and so frequently as time travel. Even if only as a thought experiment, I’ve never met somebody who didn’t speculate on how drastically one small difference in the past could change the present. To be human is to enjoy 20/20 hindsight. We seldom know the full consequences of the choices we make now, but we can always point to the critical moments in the past. Just a nudge. One small word, whispered in an ear at the right moment, and the entire future unfolds differently.

On the other end of the spectrum…

Paperback Writer

April 14, 2013April 5, 20132 Comments

To close out a great week of fun, Will has kindly written up a little something about music and fantasy. As it really needs no introduction other than that, I’ll step out of the way and let him have at it. Take it away, Will!

“And I want to be a paperback writer!”

Hands up if you remember that Beatles song? Thought you might. Those of you reading Kay’s blog (as I do, being one of her subscribers) have possibly looked at some of the fantasy work I put out. If you have, you will know that music runs through the books as a solid theme. As the books are loosely based on the adventures of a dwarf rhythm and blues band, that’s inevitable, really. But stop for a moment and think about the link between music and fantasy.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the two genres enjoy such close links. . .