I am pleased to have indie author Anthony DeRouen as a guest today as part of the Magic Appreciation Tour. He’s just released Precipice, the first book in his series, A Show for the Gods, and he’ll be telling us the magic he’s used. The myriad of magic systems in the world of fantasy fascinates me; there is a color and flavor for every taste, and I want to sample them all! One bite at a time, eh? We start off with a short excerpt from Anthony’s book, where we get to see the magic in use, then I’ll turn the time […]
Guest Post Cover Reveal: Vanna Smythe
Vanna Smythe’s Anniversary of the Veil series sports one lovely cover modified for each book, and I am delighted to be able to share this one with you as she gears up to release her new book. Forever Husband is the third and final installment in the series, and brings the story of Kae and Issa to a satisfying conclusion. While the book can be considered a standalone novel it is greatly enhanced by first reading the parts one and two of the series, Protector and Decision Maker. Purdy, ain’t it? It looks so very elegant. Links to the other books in […]
It’s a Giveaway!
Matthew Keith, reviewer and author, is one of those neat people on the Indie Front who puts a lot of time into helping out other folks and spreading the word about books he’s read. He’s recently begun a spotlight series featuring books he’s reviewed, and now there’s a giveaway. Woot! Free books! The giveaway runs from 8/8/2013 until (midnight) on 8/24/2013 and is hosted by Matthew Keith Reviews. 10 chances every day.When you’re done with your entry, be sure to share the news! a Rafflecopter giveaway
Chocolate Fix: Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
In a moment of weakness (or genius), we bought a new ice cream maker. It’s one of those nifty new machines that has a double-insulated freezer bowl with a cooling liquid between the walls—No ice! No salt! “Indulge your tastebuds!” the company urged. So we have been. We’ve had, thus far, Dark Chocolate Sorbet, Chocolate-Orange, Cherry Lane (a spectacular chocolate-cherry invention from my father-in-law), Orange Cream, Raspberry, and Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. I’ve probably made more ice cream in the last couple weeks than I’ve made since we got the original ice cream maker for our wedding a loooong time ago. […]
Plotting, Plodding…
While everyone else is in a dither about J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym and whether or not her new book is doing well, I have taken an axe to the series I’ve been working on. Not THE axe, mind you. Have no fear, the Tairenth novels will proceed! If you take note of the progress bar for my current projects, you’ll see that Book One is nearly finished—and it’s pretty good, if I dare say so myself. It tells the story of Kai’s youth and carries him through some very terrible times. All very exciting, but I also feel like it handicaps […]
Exploring Tairenth: Prologue
Lately I have been working on maps for the next books, which are to be a series. I love mapping! I started out on my own, working in Photoshop, but over the years some tips and tutorials from the Cartographer’s Guild have helped me refine my skills. The folks over there are amazingly talented and supportive. The things I’ve learned make me excited to make more, more, more maps—and the graphic tablet my wonderful kids gave me a couple Christmases ago makes it even more fun. As far as maps + writing fantasy go, I have read advice that declares […]
Cover Candy #1
I’ve talked a little bit about book covers before, and how important they are as both a preview of the content and as a tool to catch the eye. A comment by a recent reviewer has me mulling over the old adage that beauty is in the eye of the beholder—which makes the task of designing or choosing a book cover even more of a challenge. We’re all drawn to different colors, styles, and concepts, and we all draw our own assumptions from the things we see, whether right or wrong. What stands out to one person means little to […]
Book Review: The Written by Ben Galley
I picked this book up because I loved the cover (nothing new there, right? Great cover), my interest was piqued by the blurb, and because I read good things about it. I really wanted to like it, but… at best I came away with mixed feelings. Galley has made use of some truly beautiful prose, but it is unfortunately buried in a hailstorm of adjectives and repetition that tangled the flow rather than moving it along. He tells an interesting story about an unusual character, but… his choice of wording put a distance between me and the characters that was only […]
Candid Moments
Reviewers are an unpredictable lot. One need only pick a book on the website of their favorite retailer to read evaluations that run from high praise (“A beautifully written page-turner […] cannot recommend this book too highly“) to outright condemnation (“full of cliches and unclear language […] desperately needs a real editor.“) It only goes to prove the old saying, “You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.” I haven’t […]
Blog Tour
Waldo is back! For those of you who missed the exciting story, we rescued a baby robin. He got tagged with the name “Waldo” when we took him outside, and then couldn’t ever see where he was. “Where’s Waldo?” The neat thing, though, was that he would chirp at us, then hop/flap out of hiding to come visit. A couple days after letting him go, he disappeared. “Typical teenager,” we complained. “Leaves home and doesn’t even call!” Now that he’s back, he’s a little wary of us. He lets us get close (but no touching!) and he let my husband […]