Sue Parritt on Being a Migrant & Her Writing Inspiration @OdysseyBooks #AmReading #Dystopian #Goodreads

What inspired me to write my book?

Anger, abhorrence and disbelief motivated me to write Sannah and the Pilgrim. I was and remain appalled by past and present governments’ policy on refugees and asylum seekers. News bulletins and current affairs programmes helped fuel my deep concerns about the direction our country is heading. From a country that welcomed scores of displaced people after the Second World War, we are becoming xenophobic, rejecting those that have fled what for most of us are inconceivable terrors. As a migrant myself, I tried to imagine how I would have felt, if instead of paying my ten pounds and travelling here on an ocean liner, I had been forced to flee my homeland, hand over my life’s savings to greedy people smugglers and risk my life by boarding a leaky overcrowded boat.

My thoughts then turned to a different category of refugees, those we can expect in the not so distant future. Low-lying Pacific islands are already under threat from accelerating climate change, about which wealthy first-world countries have so far failed to act. Soon there will be a flood of environmental refugees seeking a safe haven in our sparsely populated and prosperous nation. How will our government react then, when turning back the boats won’t be an option?

I felt my option as a fiction writer was to draw on contemporary government policies regarding refugees and climate change to create a portrait of a future Australia that is, to my mind, entirely possible. The idea to divide the country into zones according to race of origin came from a thinly veiled proposal made by an ultra-conservative politician some years ago. Research into climate change led me to place my characters in the most inhospitable part of twenty-fourth century Australia, the extremely hot, humid and disease-ridden north. Confined to the Brown Zone (formerly Queensland) the people, descendants of Pacific environmental refugees, are forced to cultivate the remaining fertile coastal strip to produce food for White Southerners, whose zone, although more suitable for human habitation, is too arid to support agriculture.

I was inspired to create the role of storyteller for my protagonist, Sannah, by the manner in which information is often distorted by both the media and government in order to provoke certain reactions. For instance, fears of being swamped by refugees are intensified by using terms such as ‘illegals’ and concerns over rising utility costs assuaged by promises to repeal the Carbon Tax. Sannah’s people are kept in ignorance through a steady diet of Tales (a weird blend of historical fact and fiction) delivered by government-trained storytellers. In similar fashion, we are fed only what governments and multinational companies want us to hear and it takes a great deal of effort to uncover the truth. Lies ensure compliance in both twenty-first and twenty-fourth century Australia.

About the Author:

Sue Parritt is an Australian writer, originally from England. Her poetry and short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies in Australia, Britain and the USA. After graduating BA University of Queensland 1982 (majors: English Literature, Drama and French), Sue worked in university libraries until taking early retirement in 2008 to pursue her long-held dream of becoming a professional writer.  Since then she has written Sannah and the Pilgrim, numerous short stories and poems and‘Feed Thy Enemy’, a feature film script set in Naples in 1944 and 1974 and based on a true story (Sue is currently seeking a producer). She recently completed a second novel Safety Zone and is now writing a sequel to Sannah and the Pilgrim – the working title is Pia and the Skyman.

When Sannah the Storyteller, a descendant of environmental refugees from drowned Pacific islands, finds a White stranger on her domestep, she presumes he’s a political prisoner on the run seeking safe passage to egalitarian Aotearoa. However, Kaire’s unusual appearance, bizarre behaviour, and insistence he’s a pilgrim suggest otherwise.

Appalled by apartheid Australia, Kaire uses his White privileges to procure vital information for Sannah and her group of activists regarding new desert prisons that are to be built to house all political prisoners. The group plans sabotage but needs help, and Kaire is a willing accomplice. But when Sannah turns Truthteller and threatens to reveal the country’s true history, even Kaire’s White privilege and advanced technology cannot save Sannah and her daughter from retribution.

About Sannah and the Pilgrim:

Sannah and the Pilgrim is a tale of courage, defiance and deceit that asks the reader, ‘Would you risk death by telling the truth about your country, or would you play it safe and spend your life as a storyteller?’

Are you concerned about our governments’ (both past and present) failure to act on climate change and the detention and inhumane treatment of refugees? I am, so I have drawn on contemporary conservative attitudes to present a dystopian view of a future Australia in my speculative fiction novel Sannah and the Pilgrim. Read it and discover what could happen to our‘lucky’ country.

General Information - Sannah and the Pilgrim by Sue Parritt

ISBN: 978-1-922200-14-3

Genre: Speculative Fiction / Sci-fi / Dystopian

Release Date: 26 April 2014 (Paperback and ebook)

Publisher: Odyssey Books (http://www.odysseybooks.com.au/)

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1kBKqan

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/sannah-and-the-pilgrim

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sannah-and-the-pilgrim-sue-parritt/1119209936?ean=9781922200143

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/sannah-and-the-pilgrim/id872478599?ls=1&mt=11

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21883471-sannah-and-the-pilgrim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sue.parritt

LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/sue-parritt/60/622/301

Moxie Meets Count Gamel in MOXIE'S PROBLEM by Hank Quense @hanque99 #Excerpt AmReading #SciFi

Scene Background:  

Moxie is on her way to meet her betrothed Count Gamel. Three apprentice knights, Percivale, Bore and Gareth are escorting her there. 

Bors rode to the top of a hill and examined a flat, boulder-strewn summit. Beyond the boulders, a grassy knoll butted against a tall outcrop that would shelter them from the wind. Bors rode past the boulders, dismounted on the grass and removed the saddle from his horse, Escrow. He grunted in pleasure as a cool breeze wafted over him.

Percivale, Gareth and Moxie joined him on the knoll and they decided to camp there. Soon, all the mounts were unsaddled, hobbled and grazing nearby.

After tending to his horse, Escrow, Bors studied the boulders. Something about them seemed strange, almost unnatural. The rocks were in lines almost like the beads on his abacus. He ignored Moxie's latest outburst of whining and continued to examine the rocks. Dark gray boulders — dozens of them — covered the area in three lines with exactly twenty rocks in each line. A fourth rank, separate from the other three, contained five rocks.

"How dare you!" Moxie roared.

Bors grabbed his sword hilt and whirled towards the sound of her voice. Moxie stood ten feet away glaring at a boulder in the middle rank.

"What's goin' on?" Percival, also on foot, asked her. Gareth stood near Percivale, looking quizzically at Moxie.

"I'm a princess, you impudent rock. Apologize this instant or I'll break you into rubble."

Bors gawked at her. The memory of a story an old hunter once told him and his father flooded his brain and almost overwhelmed him with the danger they faced. His skin crawled.

Moxie picked up a fist-sized rock.

Bors gasped. Moxie was about to get them all killed.

Moxie bounced the rock off the boulder.

Bors ran to her and grabbed her arm before she could do more damage.

"The stone insulted me." Moxie frowned at Bors as if she suspected his motives.

"Why did you throw the rock?" Percivale asked.

"Moxie just attacked one of the rock-folk," Bors said in a quavering voice.

"I did what?"

"She did what?" Percivale said. "I'm confused."

Bors waved an arm around the boulder collection. "This is a rock-moot. I've heard about them. The rock-folk come together to settle problems and make new laws. And the stone Moxie threw was a rock-baby."

"The big one degraded me." Moxie sniffed and pointed at the boulder. "It made lewd suggestions."

"Rocks can't talk," Gareth said. "Leastwise, not so we can hear them."

"I can hear them. I’m descendent from the Ancient Ones. Royal Ancient Ones, of course. And the Ancient Ones were descended from the fairies.”

"We have to get out of here," Bors said. "Fast."

"Why is the ground shaking?" Moxie looked alarmed. She grabbed Percival's arm to steady herself.

"It's the rock-folk," Bors said. "They're gettin' all worked up over Moxie's attack."

Their mounts whinnied in fear at the trembling ground. They jumped and stamped their hooves and strained at the hobbles until they broke free. The four horses ran down the hill and disappeared into the forest.

A worried Bors said, "We have to get out of here. Let's grab the saddle bags and put some distance between us and the rocks."

A boulder inched closer to Moxie's foot and she shrieked.

Percivale made a face at the sudden pain in his ear from Moxie's reaction, but didn't move, as if frozen in place.

"Someone has to get my horse," Moxie said.

"I ain't goin' through those rocks." Gareth pointed to a group of rocks rolling to form a line between them and the direction the horses went.

"We have to leave." Bors pushed Moxie in the back. "That way."

"Unhand me! And what about dinner? I'm hungry."

"Dinner will be very late tonight, Your Royal Feyness." Bors kept his hand on her back, nudging her away from the builders. He grabbed Moxie's saddle bag and handed it to her, then picked up his own.

"You expect me to carry that?"

Bors dropped her saddle bags. "If you don't carry it, it stays here and gets crushed by the rocks. I'm not carryin' yours, you are."

Bors looked at Percivale who stood without moving, his face drained of color. Bors grabbed an arm and yanked Percivale backward. Percivale blinked and gave Bors a strange look. "Come on, Perc," Bors yelled. "Snap out of it and let's get goin'."

Percivale picked up his saddlebags and trotted away from the boulders.

A few minutes later, they descended the hill.

"Moxie, look out!" Gareth yelled.

Bors turned and saw a boulder thundering down the hill. A bow wave of dirt sprayed out on both sides of its path.

Gareth dropped his saddle bags and pushed Moxie out of the way. Both landed in a heap a moment before the boulder sped past them.

"Get off me, you blundering lummox."

Gareth picked himself up and pointed to the boulder now at the bottom of the hill and rapidly losing speed. "Must have been sentry." He went over to his saddle bags, partially crushed by the boulder.

"Are these rocks stupid or something?" Moxie stood with her hands on her hips. "Commoners are supposed to ignore royal misunderstandings."

"I don't think rock-folk are impressed with your royal birth," Bors said. "Let's get movin'.

"When do you think the horses will come back?" Moxie asked. "I can't carry my saddle bags all the way to Count Gamel's."

"Those animals ain't comin' back," Percivale said. "Not after the way they got spooked. They're inna next county by now." The color had returned to his face.

"Can someone please carry my bags?" Moxie asked in a pleasant voice while fluttering her eyelids. "They have my wedding dress in it."

Bors slung his own bags over one shoulder and said, "It'll do you good to get some exercise." He turned his back on her and walked east.

"We gotta get a lotta miles from here before we can stop for me to cook the rabbits I caught." Gareth tied two hares to a saddle bag. "We better start pickin' nuts and berries if we see any."

Bors shook his head. He wished the adventure would go back to being boring again.

Moxie huffed, stamped her foot and picked up her saddle bags. She followed the three knights while raining insults and curses down on their collective heads.

Moxie had never thought that life outside the castle could be so difficult. Her escorts made her sleep on the ground with only two thin blankets: one under her and one on top of her. She had to sleep in her clothes. The men made her get up at dawn. She had to eat cold meals when it rained. They made her ride the horse all day long. The knights were disrespectful of her nobility. They often ignored her commands.

It was if she was a peasant not a princess. And now they didn’t have horses and had to walk and non one would carry her saddlebags.

Moxie dropped the saddlebags to wipe her tear-filled eyes. Gamel better be worth all this misery she thought.

Do you enjoy untypical coming-of-age stories? Well, you won’t find one more untypical than Moxie’s Problem. Moxie is an obnoxious, teen-age princess who has never been outsider her father’s castle. Until now. The real world is quite different and she struggles to come to grips with reality. The story takes place against a backdrop of Camelot. But it isn’t the Camelot of legends. It’s Camelot in a parallel universe. So, all bets are off!

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Fantasy, Sci-fi

Rating – G

More details about the author

Connect with Hank Quense through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://hank-quense.com/wp/

#Excerpt from SCHOOL OF DEATHS by Christopher Mannino @Ctmannino #AmReading #YA #Fantasy

“Suzie, my gawd, you look like death.”

Crystal hadn’t changed. The smiling redhead with large blue glasses and the ever-present smell of cherry bubblegum was her best friend. She was grateful Crystal had spent the summer away. “Did you have a nice summer? How was Colorado?”

“My summer was great. Colorado’s cold. Geesh, what happened to you, Suzie?”

“I’ve been sick,” said Suzie. Not a complete lie, obviously something was wrong with her, but she didn’t know what.

“Sick?” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “You look like you’re dying.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Crystaaal. Suzieee,” shouted a voice from across the parking lot.

“Oh gawd, it’s Monica,” said Crystal. “Let’s go inside quick.”

Suzie and her friend started to walk away, but the tall, lanky girl with small eyes caught up to them. Monica. She wasn’t too bad, if you ignored her whiny voice and her inane stories.

“Hiii guys,” said Monica. “I missed youuu this summer. Did you lose weight? The funniest thing happened the other day…”

Suzie realized the worst of the day was over. She got teasing looks from the kids and concerned frowns from the teachers, but like Monica, most people were too wrapped up in their own little world to pay any attention to her. Even Crystal eventually stopped asking questions.

“Tell me again, do you like the way you look?”

“I’m sorry, what?” she asked.

Suzie snapped to attention. The day had blurred by, and she was sitting in Dr. Fox’s office, wearing a hospital gown.

“Suzie, I asked if you like the way you look?”

Suzie was cold and annoyed. The office smelled of bleach, and the fluorescent light overhead hummed like a dying fly. Dr. Fox glanced up from her notes and smiled a dry, lifeless smile she probably practiced in front of a mirror.

“No, Doctor.” She repeated the same answers she had given last time, and the time before. “I despise the way I look. I’m a damned skeleton. You can see every bone. I love to eat, I don’t purge, I hardly exercise, and I actually feel fine.”

“Yes, that’s the strangest part,” interrupted Dr. Fox. “Every test seems to indicate that you’re at the peak of health. No lanugo, no joint issues, no skin problems, and your stomach and the rest of you are actually functioning fine. I’ve almost completely ruled out anorexia, but your weight is still drastically low. It’s like your calories are vanishing into some other dimension.” She laughed. “My husband wishes that would happen with me.”

“May I get dressed now?”

Thirteen-year-old Suzie Sarnio always believed the Grim Reaper was a fairy tale image of a skeleton with a scythe. Now, forced to enter the College of Deaths, she finds herself training to bring souls from the Living World to the Hereafter. The task is demanding enough, but as the only female in the all-male College, she quickly becomes a target. Attacked by both classmates and strangers, Suzie is alone in a world where even her teachers want her to fail.

Caught in the middle of a plot to overthrow the World of Deaths, Suzie must uncover the reason she’s been brought there: the first female Death in a million years.

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre - YA Fantasy

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with Christopher Mannino through Facebook & Twitter

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LICHGATES (Grimoire Saga) - Book 1 by S.M. Boyce @TheSMBoyce #AmReading #Excerpt #Fantasy

The woman’s grip tightened. “Braeden Drakonin, listen closely to me. I am not fond of your father. Had you not defied him in his own court, we would have left you. But mark me, yakona. If you betray our trust, death will become a mercy before I am done with you.”

“I get that a lot. But yes, I understand.”

She released him. Her blade disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. She grimaced at him as if she smelled something foul, but snapped her fingers. His shackles fell to the ground.

He grabbed his wrists and sank to the mossy grass in relief, too exhausted to thank her or to wonder how she’d done it. The black pools of his wounds knit themselves together, but the process was slow. They congealed and bubbled, the poison resisting his body as it mended itself. His half-healed jaw grafted, but the internal sting of broken veins persisted. Muscles wove themselves back together.

Bones popped as they finally slid back into place. The poison continued to circulate as his body tried to heal around it, and it would be hours before no scars remained. Even then, the internal tremors would continue.

He examined the shifter-woman. Her pale blond hair fell to her waist, where it rolled out in small curls. Patches of copper in her tan skin glistened in the sun. Her piercing blue eyes crinkled in an expression of annoyance.

“You two are drenowith. Muses,” he said.

“Yes.”

“I thought you were just myths.”

“As we prefer. I’m Adele, and this is Garrett.”

She gestured toward the other muse. He had rusty hair, the color of embers in a fire, but his skin was the same coppery shade as Adele’s.

Garrett released his grip on Kara’s shoulder. She ran to Braeden and knelt beside him.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fine,” he said. “Thank you.”

Kara turned to Adele. “How did you undo his shackles? I thought only the person who put them on could take them off.”

“We are above yakona laws, young Vagabond.”

“Well, thank you for saving us, then.”

“The first Vagabond was our friend, to whom we owed a debt. It’s now paid. What is your name?”

“Kara. So you’re muses, huh? All the letter said about you is that you’re shape-shifters. Can you become anything?”

“Anything we imagine,” Garret said.

Braeden tried to avoid looking at the muse he’d been ordered to kill.

Kara shook her head. “This is insane. So, you knew the Vagabond and you obviously don’t age. Are you immortal?”

“Not immortal,” Adele corrected. “While we don’t grow old, we can die. Everything is mortal, even Earth.”

“The writing is flawless. The kingdoms and surrounding landscapes breathtaking. The Grimoire is a piece of imaginative genius that bedazzles from the moment Kara falls into the land of Ourea. – Nikki Jefford, author of the Spellbound Trilogy

Spring 2013 Rankings

#6 Kindle Store | #1 Science Fiction & Fantasy | #1 Epic Fantasy | #1 Sword & Sorcery | #1 Teens

Now an international Amazon bestseller. Fans of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Eragon will enjoy this contemporary remix of the classic epic fantasy genre.

—————-

Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things: Ourea.

Kara, a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her in a sunken library. With nothing to do, she opens an ancient book of magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by Ourea’s royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old conflict – a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her undoing.

For twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.

Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.

—————-

Novels in the Grimoire Saga:

Lichgates (#1)

Treason (#2)

Heritage (#3) – Available Fall 2013

Illusion (#4) – Available Fall 2014

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Fantasy

Rating – PG13

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 Connect with SM Boyce on Facebook & Twitter & Pinterest

Writing that Relies on Perception & More with PM Pillon @PMPillon #AmWriting #SciFi #Fantasy

Our writing relies on our perceptions, leading us down a bright or dark path if that’s how we see the world but and are infinite in variety. For instance in Dostoyevsky’s case appreciating and writing about appalling privation because he himself experienced it as a starving writer and Solzhenitsyn also as a state prisoner. Who can fail to be moved by the young man’s utter destitution in Crime And Punishment, or the Gulag convict fussing over his boots without which he would be a dead man walking?

However, there are also cases of a writer’s life being a stark contrast from her or his writing, such as Guy de Maupassant who wrote beautifully and auspiciously even as he lived a life of depression and ultimately wrote as his epitaph: “I have coveted everything and taken pleasure in nothing.” 

We are a sum of our parts and at the same time we are a continuum, experiencing myriad states of life most often without even realizing it, with all aspects such as memories morphing into differing levels of appreciation. We forget most events and remember only a fraction, and we sometimes wish the two would transpose and we could forget that pedestrian remark dad made and instead remember something he said about mom when she was ill. If every single memory is still somewhere in our brain, until and unless a method for total recall is discovered we are forced to play with the cards we’re dealt; trudging through life with limited recollections that we can mine for our writing. A week ago I had a dream that I recognized as being a basis for a entire book as my previous books have been, but within seconds I forgot it and it’s clearly gone for good.

If we’re writing about a man whose girl friend has left him or vice versa, it helps to have some memories under our belt about amorous relationships. Writing blind about events with which we have no experience can still work if we have learned about them from observation or stories we heard from others, but it’s more problematic because more care must be taken to attain plausibility.

And ultimately our writing style will likely be the decider, such as the case of William Faulkner who gave up trying to mimic or emulate others and just wrote in his own consciousness stream and prose based on his experiences that eventually earned him universal praise and a Nobel Prize for Literature.

His celestial companion was waiting for him

Precariously climbing a sea-side cliff near Big Sur, ten-year-old Joey Blake was as yet unaware that near his grasp was an object, so odd, mysterious and alien to earth that it would change his life forever and the lives of countless others in the next few astonishing days. Reaching up as far as he could for a handhold it was just there; it had subconsciously lured him, occupied his mind, and made him find it. It was like he was meant to see and discover this object of unimaginable power … the power to change reality.

Time travel and more

This young adult series of sci-fi fantasy novels begins with The Reality Master and continues through four other exciting and amazing stories about time travel and mysterious alien devices. Joey and the reader will face dangerous shadowy criminal organizations, agents of the NSA, bizarre travelers from other times and even renegade California bikers and scar-faced walking dead.

- Vol 1 The Reality Master
- Vol 2 Threat To The World
- Vol 3 Travel Beyond
- Vol 4 Missions Through Time
- Vol 5 The Return Home

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Genre – Science fiction, Fantasy, Young adult

Rating – G

More details about the author

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The Soul of the World (Legends of Amun Ra) by @jg_silverman - 5 stars - #Fantasy #ReviewShare

The Soul of the World by Joshua Silverman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Overall rating based on plot, characters and writing
5 stars

Initial thoughts - First things first, the editing for this book is close to flawless. Every word is in place and you don’t have to reread to make sure you have understood correctly. Imagination, imagination, imagination. How does he do? Silverman builds a world that makes reading this book into an experience.

Pros - I preferred the introduction more than the conclusion. It was a single line that made me perk up and go, “okay, let’s do this.” The characters are clearly defined, each brings his or her own strength to the story and there is enough twists and turns to keep the reader glued to the plot. Without reading the first book, it may feel some things are undiscovered but when you read it in sequence, these are explained and as you get to the end, little clues are left behind to what the third book may bring (I hope).

Cons - I have to wait for the next book which I hope comes fast enough.

In the end, I say - I would highly recommend the book to any fantasy reader and also to book clubs or reading groups. This series has many points which are worth discussing - these include world building, writing technique and 3D characters.

Disclosure - As a Quality Reads UK Book Club member, I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation for my book review. This book review is based on my thoughts, opinion and understanding of the book. This book review does not reflect the opinion of other book club members.

View all my reviews

Researching Locations with @PatriciaLeslieA #Fantasy #WriteTip #AmWriting

Usually location comes with the story idea and I choose whichever matches up. The location of The Ouroboros Keycame about as I wanted to set part of it beside a real river. So I looked for rivers called “Snake” and came up with Little Snake in Wyoming/Colorado. Though I was hoping for one a little closer to where I live, that suited me fine as I spent time in Colorado when I was a teenager and have been back a few times. Also, I have a strong interest in native American history – this was one of my story ideas that I was able to weave into the larger work.

Prophetic dreams have haunted Dan Tenney since childhood, foretelling him of a life-changing event that is soon to take place. But before he can learn the meaning of his visions, he is attacked by a shadowy group of extremists: the Brotherhood of the Grail.

Finding sanctuary underground, an ancient relic comes into his possession and Dan begins to understand the path his visions have laid out before him. His quest will be fraught with an otherworldly people and an event that could tip the balance in favour of human existence-or disastrously against it. The mysterious Brotherhood will do everything in their power to prevent Dan from fulfilling his destiny as the Bearer of Ouroboros

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Fantasy

Rating – PG-13

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Sandy Nathan Shares Her Rules for Romance @SandyONathan #AmWriting #WriteTip #Fantasy

A while back, I wrote a romance, a first for me. In truth, all the books I write have romantic aspects, but in this one the love story was the focus. (The book is The Headman & the Assassin.) The mainstream romance genre has a whole lot of rules, which I find pretty funny. In real life, love and romance are two areas where predictable outcomes are the exception.

Actual romantic life is more like “the rules are, there are no rules” and “cut your losses before they cut you.” I prefer semi-reality. As an independent publisher, my romances don’t have to follow the conventions of the genre.

What are the rules of romance? In the romances published by the major publishers, plots are required to go like this: Boy meets girl. (Right away, you see the limitations of the form.) They fall in love, with lots of explicit sex. More than lots.

A terrible barrier comes between them: she discovers he's married and has six kids. He discovers she's got a terminal disease. They part, but struggle to overcome the Awful Barrier. (No sex in this part.) Then an elephant falls out of the sky and they’re really in trouble.

Many romance writers are really clever about getting their hero and heroine out of the pickle they're in. There's more explicit sex. They get back together, and the book ends.

We all know how realistic that is. What if they get together, get married and face the next forty years together? What’s that story like?

The industry has other rules. No one under 18 has sex, explicit or not. This bears no resemblance to real life. Drive by your local high school or walk through any shopping mall, and you will find absolute proof that kids under eighteen have sex. Often almost in public.

The romance industry says the book has to end happily, just like all romances everywhere.

Which is why we have independent presses.

My renderings of romantic feelings are outside the parameters of the traditional romance genre. That means that a happy ending is not guaranteed. (Though it could be happy.) This is like real life.

I will guarantee that an elephant will not fall out of the sky, though pretty much anything else might. You won't see what's coming and you can't second-guess the ending. The sex in my romance is steamy, though not particularly explicit. By my standards, anyway.

My work is character driven, which means you will want to marry the hero or heroine at the end. Maybe sooner than that. (I'm in love with Will Duane and Wesley Silverhorse, as well as Bud Creeman from Mogollon: A Tale of Mysticism & Mayhem.)

Good heavens, I’m in love with all of them. I fanaticize about Leroy Watches of Leroy Watches Jr. & the Badass Bull. And also Sam Baahuhd, hero of The Headman & the Assassin. 

I figure that if I’m not in love with my hero, why should anyone else care? If a character can’t make me swoon, what good is he? That’s not lust, that’s desire.

The warm fuzzy feeling I get when I write Sam or Leroy spreads all over my life, which is why people crave romance. Run a few pages past your eyeballs and bingo, a fantasy fulfilled.

These compelling characters are not so much fantasies as archetypes. An archetype is the original model for a particular type of person. These characters originate deep in the psyche and derive their strength from that. Archetypes move romance.

Many of them exist: the perfect lover, the witch, the really nice guy like you wish your brother was/had been. The seductress, warrior woman, warrior. The hunk. On and on, enough to populate all the romance in the world.

Long may they reside within us! Long may writers give them life and breath.

The Long Awaited Sequel to NUMENON: A TALE OF MYSTICISM & MONEY

WILL WE HAVE PEACE OR OUR DARKEST NIGHTMARES?

Will Duane owns the tech revolution. It's 1997; Will's been the richest man on the planet for twenty years. He can sway governments and ruin lives. Will's latest mission brings him into conflict with all that's holy.

He and his corporate hot shots reach their destination, a Native American spiritual retreat. Their luxurious motor homes enter the Mogollon Bowl, a geophysical anomaly where anything can happen. Now Will can spring his trap.

Grandfather, the powerful shaman leading the retreat, seeks a world where love is king, a world of peace and harmony. This vision has haunted him all his life. His corporate guest is the key to making his vision real. Grandfather knows exactly what Will Duane wants.

A malicious force steps into the action. Both men's hopes are dashed, as a sacred place becomes the playground of evil. A malevolent power tries to claim their lives and souls.

You won't forget this modern day fable, a high-speed, high stakes fantasy with visionary roots.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Visionary Fantasy

Rating – R

More details about the author

Connect with Sandy Nathan through Facebook & Twitter

Website http://sandynathan.com/

Getting to Know S.M. Boyce (Grimoire Saga) @TheSMBoyce #AmReading #BookMarketing

What genre of books do you adore?

Fantasy is my favorite. I like just about anything magical or out of the ordinary.

What book should everybody read at least once?

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

Location and life experiences can really influence writing, can you tell us where you grew up and where you live now?

I split my young-adulthood between Central Maryland and Tallahassee, Florida. Starkly different places. I now live just outside of Washington D.C.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Life. Earth has so many incredible places, people, and creatures that it keeps me busy. Everywhere I go, I daydream about the people I see and wonder what their lives are like. That alone gets me tons of stories, but I also love to find beautiful and crazy pictures.

Do you plan to publish more books?

Yes! I have so many more stories to tell. I’m finishing up the Grimoire Saga and then I have a spin-off series that will tell the stories of some of the Grimoire Saga characters. After that, I’ve got other fun stuff planned for readers—including urban fantasy fairytales and even paranormal horror.

What else do you do to make money, other than write?

I own an online Marketing Maven and Virtual Assistant company called Montee Marketing. It’s loads of fun, and I help both entrepreneurs and authors establish powerful online presences and websites. I love it!

What other jobs have you had in your life?

Quite a few, actually. Diamond sales, software testing, management, retail (I sold candles!). But writing, marketing, and coaching are my favorite jobs. I love what I do.

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?

I like to watch ghost shows. My current favorite is Paranormal Witness. Whenever I watch TV or a movie at home, I also like to wire wrap pendants. Some are even for sale in my store.

“The writing is flawless. The kingdoms and surrounding landscapes breathtaking. The Grimoire is a piece of imaginative genius that bedazzles from the moment Kara falls into the land of Ourea. – Nikki Jefford, author of the Spellbound Trilogy

Spring 2013 Rankings

#6 Kindle Store | #1 Science Fiction & Fantasy | #1 Epic Fantasy | #1 Sword & Sorcery | #1 Teens

Now an international Amazon bestseller. Fans of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Eragon will enjoy this contemporary remix of the classic epic fantasy genre.

—————-

Kara Magari is about to discover a beautiful world full of terrifying things: Ourea.

Kara, a college student still reeling from her mother’s recent death, has no idea the hidden world of Ourea even exists until a freak storm traps her in a sunken library. With nothing to do, she opens an ancient book of magic called the Grimoire and unwittingly becomes its master, which means Kara now wields the cursed book’s untamed power. Discovered by Ourea’s royalty, she becomes an unwilling pawn in a generations-old conflict – a war intensified by her arrival. In this world of chilling creatures and betrayal, Kara shouldn’t trust anyone… but she’s being hunted and can’t survive on her own. She drops her guard when Braeden, a native soldier with a dark secret, vows to keep her safe. And though she doesn’t know it, her growing attraction to him may just be her undoing.

For twelve years, Braeden Drakonin has lived a lie. The Grimoire is his one chance at redemption, and it lands in his lap when Kara Magari comes into his life. Though he begins to care for this human girl, there is something he wants more. He wants the Grimoire.

Welcome to Ourea, where only the cunning survive.

—————-

Novels in the Grimoire Saga:

Lichgates (#1)

Treason (#2)

Heritage (#3) – Available Fall 2013

Illusion (#4) – Available Fall 2014

Buy Now @ Amazon & Smashwords

Genre – Fantasy

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

 Connect with SM Boyce on Facebook & Twitter & Pinterest

Getting Personal with #Fantasy #Author T.D. Von Dohren @tdvondohren #AmReading

Every writer has their own idea of what a successful career in writing is, what does success in writing look like to you? 

For me, it would be having enough income from my writing to live a comfortable life in Europe. Because of my background in film and television from a young age, I’ve also always envisioned my book as a film so it’s a huge dream of mine to see a book of mine adapted for the big screen.

If you could have a dinner party and invite anyone dead or alive, who would you ask?

I love questions like this… I would love to meet the real Cleopatra. So many stories are told about this woman who is depicted as one of the first strong independent women that it would be interesting to sort the fact from fiction. For his extensive experience turning is books into films, Stephen King would be a fascinating person to talk to, and while there are many more, I’ll round it out at 3 with Henry Cavill. Yes, he’s a gorgeous man and yes he has an extremely sexy accent but there is something in his eyes that intrigues me. A depth that hints at there being more to him than we see on the surface and something inside me just loves a good mystery!

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?

For me, relaxing is often spending time on my own as by stepping away from the rest of my world, it allows me the time to clear my head and allow my instincts to guide me if I’m facing any challenges. It’s also generally when I have my best ideas. This can be as simple as taking myself out to brunch on a Saturday morning with a good book, seeing a movie or taking a day trip to the spa for a facial or massage. If I’m looking to have a good time, I’ll often head out with friends to an out of the way bar to check out a band or organise a dinner party or wine and cheese night at my place.

What’s your favorite meal?

As a food lover, this is tough. I love a good steak at The Keg, a chain of restaurants in Canada with the most mouth-watering, cooked to perfection piece of beef you will ever taste. But the best meal I have ever had was pistachio duck at this gorgeous little restaurant right next door to Shakespeare and Co bookstore in Paris. It’s to die for.

If you could do any job in the world what would you do?

Hmm, if it wasn’t so hard to get into, I’d be a film maker/ actor. I love the idea of being able to step into the shoes of someone else for a while. Taking the time to really understand and become that character. And then there is the storytelling aspect of it all which of course I love! ☺

What are you most passionate about? What gets you fired up?

Narrow minded people drive me nuts. It’s why I love travel so much because it opens your eyes to how the rest of the world lives, how they view things, their beliefs and culture and it helps you to be naturally more accepting of those who are different to you. Everyone has the right to be happy and fulfilled, and it is not up to us to judge what that looks like for anyone other than ourselves.

Are you a city slicker or a country lover?

I love cities that don’t feel like cities with lots of green space and areas of calm. But I also love the country to relax. There is nothing better than getting away from all the technology, the schedules, the stress and just focusing yourself for a little while. It’s the best way to clear your mind and refocus.

When you get free time on the internet or you go to the library – what do you want to read about?

Travel. I have an odd hobby of planning out imaginary trips when I get bored. I’ll pick where I want to go, cost out my accommodation and flights, any sightseeing I want to do, even look at local public transport costs… then I’ll close it down and start a new one. It makes me a bit of a whiz at online vacation booking but allows me to travel to those places even if it’s just in mind over my lunch break.

Do you find the time to read?

I used to read a lot. But after spending a week pumping out the last 10,000 words of my novel, reading and re-reading it to ensure it made sense, I needed a bit of a break from reading. But I can feel the urge starting to softly pull at me again already.

What is your favorite quote, by whom, and why?

“Dream as if you'll live forever.  Live as if you'll die today.”  - James Dean. So he isn’t the best example of following this advice but it’s a premise I live be each day. To be open to and ready to take advantage of opportunities that come your way. Be positive that no matter how bad things get, they can always be worse, and will work out in the long run. And take the time to enjoy life’s small moments. It’s the small joys that will make you smile on even the worst days.

What’s your favorite place in the entire world?

I’m still seeing the world! But at the moment, top of the list is the Chateau de Versaille just outside Paris. I can see why the Kings and Queens of the past spent so much time there. It’s so peaceful and calming, and even today on a clear summer weekend you will find local families enjoying picnics in the grassy fields and riding bikes around a picturesque lake filled with couples in tiny rowboats. It’s a place that truly inspires.

What do Jesus Christ, a Greek Goddess, and a thousand-year-old Vampyre have in common? This intriguing and thought provoking story will make you question everything you think you know about myth and religion. Chhaya, a vampire born over a millennium ago, discovers she is the descendant of an ancient bloodline-the blood of Christ. As the power in her awakens, Chhaya must use her new gifts as the Daughter of the Moon to fight against the corrupt coven leader Khai in order to protect the doors to heaven and hell and prevent the end of days on earth. Whether a fan of fantasy, religious theories, or mythology, you'll be inspired to ask what is good and what is evil.

Buy Now @ Amazon

Genre - Fiction Fantasy

Rating – PG

More details about the author

Connect with T. D. Von Dohren through Facebook & Twitter