The Ink Slingers League is proud to present another anthology for your reading pleasure, and it’s just in time for Halloween! A collection of twenty-five short stories from authors such as Tricia Drammeh, Joleene Naylor, Roger Lawrence, and DM Yates, When the Lights Go Out is chock full of thrills, chills, and mysteries. And best of all, it’s free!
You can get your copy today at Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, and Amazon.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Reunited and it feels so good…
I can’t remember the last time I’ve gone this long without blogging. I’ve thought about it often over the last *checks notes* several weeks, but I’ve been busy. Between football games and family time and working and cleaning and moving my in-laws and all the other stuff I tend to put off till the last possible minute, I’ve been doing something wonderful.
I’ve been writing.
And it has been glorious.
Sure, it’s first-draft type stuff. Sure, it’s going to need a lot of work. But I’ve been writing. And it makes me happy.
Almost as happy as that can of pop over there on the right.
That’s right, my lovelies, it’s release day at long last! Starting today, you can get A World of Their Own to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part.
Oddly enough, those last two bits have had a profound impact on the making of this book. A World of Their Own is dedicated to great friend, fabulous author, and beating dragon heart of the Alliance of Worldbuilders, Lindsey J. Parsons, who died unexpectedly in January 2014. All proceeds from this book will be donated to the World Literacy Fund.
So go on, buy a copy for yourself, your friends, your family, even that baby down the street. Literacy is not just a privilege – it’s a right.
“A home without books is a body without a soul.” –Marcus Tullius Cicero
Pick up your copy today, available in paperback (Amazon and Amazon UK) and e-book (here and here), and have a great weekend! 🙂
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
Today’s review is brought to you by the fine folks at Glass House Press and the letter S.
Why the letter S? Because you can’t have serpents in the Thames without it! 😀
Hold on, I hear you saying. Serpents? In the Thames? What on Earth are you talking about?
Very well, then, I’ll tell you: behind the cut!
Today I’m excited to share with you some excerpts from Blood in the Water by Tash McAdam, a fantastic new novella from the fine folks at Glass House Press. I’ll be reviewing it as well, but for now, here’s a little taste of what it’s all about:
Purchase on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1MtINrb
Purchase on B&N: http://bit.ly/1ExFSr7
Purchase on iBooks: http://apple.co/1E0aW80
There have always been warps—tears between realities—and they’ve always been a threat to humanity. Most people are blind to them. But Hallie’s eyes are opening. Now that she’s going to school at the Protectorate, she’s learning there’s more to life than fun and games.
The truth is, she’s just become part of Earth’s only shield against the monsters of the warps. Before, she didn’t think she was anything special. Now, yanked from her relatively normal life, she realizes that she doesn’t have a choice.
When the emergency alarm sounds, calling everyone in the school to arms, even the young and inexperienced are needed. As one of the warp weavers—capable of closing the warps and stopping the monsters—Hallie must now work to save lives. And she must do it in the most complicated situation she’s ever experienced. Because there are sea serpents in the Thames, and Hallie has to close the doors that are letting them in.
The problem is, they’re underwater, and they’re hungry.
Now everyone is relying on her, and Hallie must find a way to do her job—with a brand new partner—before it’s too late. Because if she fails she’ll die, along with everyone who’s depending on her.
The team next to us glides to the edge of the wharf and drops into the water, the weight of the girls plunging the whole apparatus under.
It’s been almost a whole week since my last post! Hard to believe the week is almost over already.
Today, to make up for my absence, I’d like to share the first couple lines of my current WIP (no, not from The Lokana Chronicles), a short story I’m working on for the upcoming Ink Slingers League’s next anthology.
It’s a ghost story, but I don’t have a title for it yet. Heck, I don’t even have an ending for the story yet, or even a middle, which means I’ve got my work cut out for me to get it into shape by the submission deadline. But this idea’s been rattling around in my head all summer, and I’m really starting to get excited about it.
It’s the stuff of urban legends (and Saturday morning cartoons): a long-lost relative has died, leaving you part of her fortune. But there’s a catch.
There’s always a catch.
Very, very, VERY loosely based on something that actually happened to me, I love this story idea. I used to read all the ghost stories I could get my hands on as a kid, but I haven’t really written very many of them. This is going to be a fun challenge.
So, tell me – what do you think of my opening? And what kinds of books did you love as a kid?
Have a great weekend, folks!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
That’s right, the release of A World of Their Own is fast approaching! After years of writing and editing and planning and editing and arting and editing one more time, I’m proud to announce that the Alliance of Worldbuilders has, at long last, chosen a release date for our first anthology. Available in print and e-versions, you can get your copy on September 4.
This book is chock full of stories set in all kinds of fantastic places and featuring all kinds of creatures. It’s got angels, dragons, vampires, dwarves, and much, much more. You won’t want to miss this!
All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the World Literacy Foundation in honor of our fallen comrade, Lindsey J. Parsons. She was a fantastic author, archer, artist, and friend, and we miss her dearly.
We’re planning all sorts of fun things for the release, including a Facebook party that you can join now, so stay tuned!
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
And now, as promised, I’ve reviewed Flotsam or Jetsam, another book involving Tallis Steelyard and his compatriots:
Benor arrives in Port Naain intent on the simple task of producing a handbook for merchants. Then there is a murder, and a vengeful family who will stop at nothing to silence those who found the body. Suddenly Benor’s life is no longer simple.
I should have read this book first, I think, as it’s quite a good introduction to Tallis Steelyard. He strikes me as the kind of person who could charm the scales off a snake, or at least the kind of person who thinks he could. I found him highly entertaining, and very realistic – who among us hasn’t known someone with equal talents?
At any rate, Flotsam or Jetsam was a wonderful introduction to Port Naain and the world Tallis and his lovely wife Shena inhabit. It’s also a heck of a lot of fun to read; I’d have had it finished in an afternoon, except that my kids seemed to think I should feed them. It’s short enough to read in one sitting, but long enough to feel like a complete story, and it’s a good thing there are more stories to come from Port Naain and the colorful characters who inhabit that city because I’d love to pay the place another visit.
Check out Flotsam or Jetsam; it’s a wonderful story. You won’t want to miss it.
(c) 2015. All rights reserved.
As promised, my review of Lambent Dreams. What’s it about? Poetry. Plain and simple:
The Poetry of Tallis Steelyard. This appropriately slim volume is the fruit of a unique artistic collaboration, bringing together the writings of one of Port Naain’s most major minor poet with the personal commentary of an esteemed cartographer and traveller, and the guiding notes of an informed poet-critic. You cannot say you have not been warned.
The poetry in this book is endlessly fascinating. I read the whole volume in the course of a morning, punctuated by short bursts of doing my day job, and I can’t wait to go back and read them over more closely to see if I can find some deeper meaning. (If, of course, there is any deeper meaning. Sometimes a poem is just a poem.)
Joining Authonomy was my first step into the wider writing community. I know I’ve raved about the site before, but it really was a fantastic place at the time I was there. (Well, at the time I was active, anyway – I’m still actually there, but I haven’t logged in in ages.) Anyway, as a result of getting to know so many other authors, I’ve been introduced to some truly wonderful friends and some truly magical books.
Spindle, the first book in the Two Monarchies series, is one such book:
Suddenly they all died. The end. 