Wednesday, September 30, 2015

How Do You Know When Your Literary World Is Complete?

Posted by: CobraMisfit

Endings are inevitable. Try as you might, nothing continues forever. It sounds trite, but it’s a reality that every author faces sooner or later.

I remember when the TV show Frasier ended. For eleven seasons, viewers had followed the madcap adventures of the titular character and his rich supporting cast. You can still catch reruns, but the show has been off the air now longer than it was on. That world, so carefully created and cultivated, finally came to an end, giving us closure.

Frasier was one of the lucky ones. Far too many shows end with the nail-biter cliffhanger that is never concluded. Our heroes forever live in a state of limbo and uncertainty. Did they escape? Did they die? Were the lovers reunited? No doubt the screen writers wanted to leave the audience begging for more, hoping that another season would be granted. When they didn’t get it, there was no closure and the characters live in world of unresolved question. For those writers, their exit strategy didn’t marry up to that of external forces.

Literary authors face a similar challenge of how to put a story to bed. We spend months and years creating a world, fleshing out characters, and building a plot in the hopes that readers will fall in love with the story as much as we have. But once a series begins, the question becomes when and where to end it. Do you continue writing as long as people are willing to buy your books? Do you close the door when it’s at the peak of readership? Or do you create an arc that begins and ends no matter what happens exterior to your story?

Most times the answer is, "it depends".

Scott Westerfeld’s Succession duology (The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds) is one of the greatest space operas of modern times. Would I love for there to be more than two? Absolutely. But the life of the story only required a pair of books. J.K. Rowling, however, needed seven (possibly more from the rumors). Anyone who has read David Weber’s Honor Harrington series or Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files knows you need to reserve a couple of book shelves for each.

Whether you’re a Westerfeld or a Butcher, at some point you have to call it quits. Pack up the characters and say goodbye. Some creators, however, may be afraid to wrap up their worlds because they fear that they won’t have another one to offer or that their readers won’t follow them to new realms. But that fear could wind up being detrimental. Stay in one place too long and you run the risk of growing stagnant. Characters might lose their shine or plots could become repetitive.

So how do you know when your literary world is complete?

It’s an interesting question, one that was posed to me by my Dragon Brother while I was working on the final book of the Shifter Chronicles. Sure, I could have kept the series going, but to what point in the future? I hadn’t planned an exit strategy when I wrote Undead Chaos many moons ago. Heck, I hadn’t done more than write the opening chapter to a sequel because I never thought it would wind up in print. So when Carina Press offered me the chance to round out the trilogy, I sat down to figure out my exit strategy. How was I going to say goodbye to everyone? How would I complete my literary world?

Ultimately, the question falls to authors themselves. They know their series and their characters better than anyone and hopefully they have a vision for an ending. Maybe it’s one determined by external forces, like books sales or a contract, or maybe it’s something internal. But no matter what, at some point, they have to write “The End” once and for all. 

After all, a great work of art can live forever. It just can’t continue forever.





Bio:




Joshua Roots is a car collector, beekeeper, and storyteller. He enjoys singing with his a cappella chorus, golf, and all facets of Sci-Fi/Fantasy. He's still waiting for his acceptance letter to Hogwarts and Rogue Squadron. He and his wife will talk your ear off about their bees if you let them.

Paranormal Chaos, the final book in the Shifter Chronicles, is available for pre-order wherever digital books are sold.











Monday, September 28, 2015

Here Be News

Posted by: Unknown

New Releases

Dark Secrets, a Paranormal Noir Anthology

Six award-winning authors bring you this spellbinding collection of stories about dark desires, mysterious worlds, and danger that lurks in the shadows of the night. Where nothing is black and white; where things might not be as they seem; where magic and mayhem rule.

HEART’S BLOOD by Jeffe Kennedy, a Twelve Kingdoms novella

A dark fairytale retelling of a princess robbed of rank, husband and even her name.

Nix is nothing. The Princess Natilde—her former waiting woman—attacked her on the journey to wed Prince Cavan, stripping her of everything and taking her place. With no serving skills, Nix becomes a goose girl. Perhaps if Nix keeps her promise never to reveal who she really is, Natilde won’t carry out her vile threats. Prince Cavan entered his arranged marriage determined to have a congenial, if not loving relationship with his future queen—for the sake of both their kingdoms. But, his wife repels him more each day and he finds himself absurdly drawn to the lovely Nix. With broken vows, anguish and dark secrets between them, Cavan and Nix struggle to find the magic to restore what’s gone terribly wrong… if it ever can be.


Releasing September 29

Buy Links:
Amazon - Kobo - ARe

The Red Pencil

New short fiction by award-winning fantasy author Shawna Reppert!

 

 A young girl learns to be careful what she wishes for. . .and as an adult decides that some things are worth the cost. Contemporary fantasy by an award-winning author. 

Although this story is inspired in part by the author’s childhood in Pennsylvania and her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, it is contemporary fantasy/magical realism, not memoir. The magic in the book is entirely the author’s invention, although inspired by archetypes from several cultures. It is in no way meant to represent the Pennsylvania Dutch hex tradition.


Also includes as a special bonus the first three chapters of the award-winning novel Ravensblood. 


Only .99 on Amazon!

Member News

Veronica Scott's novel of ancient Egypt Magic of the Nile (Gods of Egypt)  received the Hearts Through History Romancing the Novel award.

The story: 
The standalone sequel to Priestess of the Nile…picks up about fifteen years later and tells the tale of Tyema, who was the younger sister in Priestess of the Nile…
After a childhood spent scorned and ignored by her family because of her crippled foot, Tyema was magically healed then installed as the High Priestess of his temple by Sobek the Crocodile God. But Tyema is still haunted by her memories, scarred by the abuse she endured. Despite Sobek’s protection, as an adult she’s become a near recluse inside the temple grounds…
 Until Captain Sahure arrives in her remote town, sent from Thebes on an urgent mission for Pharaoh, requiring High Priestess Tyema’s help. From that moment on, her quiet, safe life is upended in ways she never could have expected. Soon enough, Tyema finds herself thrown into the chaos of Pharoah’s court, neck deep in intrigue and danger. 

Sunday, September 27, 2015

New Adult Speculative Fiction…it’s a thing!

Posted by: Unknown

When New Adult started making waves in publishing a few years ago, the category was defined by contemporary romances. Okay, who am I kidding, the category is still predominantly contemporary romances. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of great speculative New Adult out there.

Jessica Gunn has been highlighting some of these great stories all month long with the hashtag #NASpecFicMonth. Want your college romance with a dash of the paranormal? Prefer your swoony young twenty something heroes to live in a new world? These books do exist. :)

Jessica’s hosting a giveaway, which includes my book, HEARTSICK, right now! There’s still a chance to enter: http://www.jessicagunn.com/new-adult-speculative-fiction-month-giveaway/

Happy reading!


Saturday, September 26, 2015

Here's Where I Work...Sometimes

Posted by: R.L. Naquin

Not a recent picture. So tidy!
Due to the magic of theme weeks, this is my third week in a row on Here Be Magic. I’m currently working on two different projects at the same time—Unamused Muse and a Super-Secret Related Thing I’ll be revealing in another week or two. As a result, my brain is a little scrambled, rendering me unable to get much done on either project. So scrambled, in fact, I spent a good chunk of today writing my HBM blog post for another theme week, which, I realized too late, isn’t for several more weeks.

On the bright side, at least my next post is already written.

But I’m not a quitter! I’ve got something else for you today. I’ve seen a lot of writers show pictures of their workspaces. I work a lot of different places. Let me show you!

We’ll start with my home office. I take my ceramic tumbler that looks like a Disneyland paper cup, my work cat Molly, and my laptop up the stairs.

Yes. I have a work cat. I have work pajamas, too. Okay, really, all my pajamas are work pajamas, but only Molly can come into my office when I’m working. She’s less likely to knock things over or park under the wheels of my chair or cry really loud because she wants attention. She’s my buddy. See? That’s her watching the cannibal house out the window.
Much more recent. I need a maid.

Sometimes, though, I need to get out of the house. When that happens, I have options. The people at Starbucks don’t care if I park myself and stay for eight hours straight. I make sure I get up and buy something every few hours, and I drop a tip in the jar so they know I appreciate them. I’ve also been known to stake out a spot in a Panera for awhile, but I don’t stay there for nearly as long. I don’t think I’ve lasted more than three or four hours at a Panera. Honestly, it’s harder to find an outlet there sometimes, so that makes a difference.

I don’t have a picture of Starbucks or Panera for you. You probably already know what they look like.

I moved way over so you could see the view.
The best days are gorgeous, sunny days when all I want to do is go for a long drive and work out the kinks in my current story or plan a brand new story. On those days, I have a special place I go, a lake that’s about thirty minutes from my house. Maybe a little more. I can pull into a spot right up to the edge of the water. And I whip out my crazy steering wheel desk.

I first heard about this silly thing when George Takei was making fun of it on Facebook. He’d written a hilarious review about driving while using the desk. Very funny, George. I bookmarked it and asked for it for my birthday. And it’s awesome. I finished my last book while using that thing. I’m a California girl residing in Kansas. I need water to look at. It makes me happy and productive.

I’ve written in hotel lobbies, a Perkins restaurant, cabins in the middle of nowhere, and once, the back office of a movie theater.

But the place I work most often when I’m not in my office is a grocery store. That’s right. Being a full-time writer is incredibly glamorous, isn’t it? It’s actually a perfect spot. The wifi—while not great—is free. There are a bazillion outlets. If I get hungry, there’s a salad bar, fresh sushi, a deli, and a cafeteria-style area that serves fried chicken and Chinese food. I can grab groceries before I leave.
I don't know who those people are. 
And best of all, they have a Starbucks inside the store. My local writers group started meeting here because it has enough room for everybody, even during NaNoWriMo when our numbers temporarily swell.

And I’m here right now with my husband, who’s also a writer, but still has to go to his day job, so needs some writing time. See? There’s his elbow. And that’s the mini-Starbucks on the left through the doorway.

Once upon a time, I thought I could only write if I was at home, in absolute quiet, with nobody else in the house. That was a long time ago. I’m not so delicate anymore.

But I sure do like that steering wheel desk.



Rachel writes stories that drop average people into magical situations filled with heart and quirky humor.

She believes in pixie dust, the power of love, good cheese, lucky socks and putting things off until the last minute. Her home is Disneyland, despite her current location in Kansas. Rachel has one husband, two grown kids and a crazy-catlady starter kit.





Sign up for her newsletter for news, extras, and exclusive stuff: Newsletter
Hang out with her here: Website Blog Facebook Twitter
Buy her books here:  Amazon B&N Carina Press

Friday, September 25, 2015

Reluctant Heroes

Posted by: Unknown
Romance is well populated by lords responsible for the welfare of their family members and tenants, by firemen, SEALs, doctors and highland warriors. And, sure, all of those character types are wonderful and brave and nobly heroic, but I very much prefer the reluctant hero.

Reluctant heroes are the Han Solos of the romantic world. They’re the devilish rogues who are happily pursuing their own, possibly shady, agendas when they’re confronted by a choice about whether to do the right thing for someone else, or to continue to do the right thing for them.

It’s usually not a linear path, which makes it more fun to see where they wobble along the road. Their pasts generally don’t let them go easy. They often have debts to pay for things that they’ve done. But all of that just makes their redemptive arc that much sweeter.

The hero in my newest book, By Hook or By Crook, starts out the Reapers series as a smuggler. Over the course of the series, he decides to turn over a new leaf. He sets himself up as a respectable businessman. He tries to make an honest woman out of his partner in crime. And he begins to fight against the greed and corruption in the Scraper cities.

He’s still something of a rogue who plays by his own rules and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty, but he also has a good heart. He fights for what he believes in…even if he sometimes does it in an underhanded way.

Flynn is my tribute to all of the reluctant heroes from my youth—Han, Starbuck, pretty much everyone on the A-Team…


Who’s your favorite reluctant hero?

***

Flynn was born in the lap of luxury—a Founder’s son and heir to the Stark fortune. Of course, Molly hadn’t known that when she fell in love with the devilishly charming smuggler. If she’d known that Flynn was a Scraper back when she first met him, she probably would have hated him just on principle.

Molly was born in an outlaw camp, the daughter of a whore and a gambler. She was a street rat who didn’t belong in the glittering sky city where Flynn wanted to take her as a spy for the forts. She wasn’t ever going to turn into a lady, no matter how many fancy gowns Flynn dressed her in.

But maybe while they were there, she’d be able to talk Flynn into giving up on his plan of becoming a respectable businessman, and things could go back to the way they should be—her and Flynn raising hell, the scourge of the western skies. Blood didn’t have to be destiny, did it? And if Flynn could choose the future he wanted, then what was to stop her from doing the same?

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Myth Week : Fictionalizing Faith

Posted by: Jax Garren
**NOTE: For this article, the definition of "myth" that I'm using is...
a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events
 Using this definition, any heroes/gods/stories/etc of any religion, from Jesus to Zeus to Buddha to Maman Brigitte (possibly to Richard Dawkins?), falls under "myth." This usage doesn't imply the story/faith is not true. I use it because all religions have traditional stories that tell how people got here and to explain why the world works the way it does. I refer to my own religion's stories as "myths." I mean no disrespect and am in no way implying something is fake or attempting to belittle or marginalize with this term.***

I love fictionalizing mythology and do it in almost every book I write. The thing that really draws me to it, I think, is that myths are all about culture, faith, and the guiding principles of a person's life. Every myth was once (and often still is) a belief. To depict a myth in fiction is to take a vital piece of someone's core being and offer it up in a new form. Thor may be a popular character in comics and movies, but for practitioners of Asatru, a recognized faith in many countries with enough following in Iceland that a temple is being erected in Reykajavik, Thor is a living deity. In the musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice offer up a vulnerable and very human version of Jesus in his last week before the crucifixion. The musical is regularly produced in churches and boycotted by churches who either love or loathe the fictionalized vision of Christ. The last time I saw Superstar, the musical was done half in Spanish with Jesus hauled off by the border patrol instead of the Roman government. The image of Judas beatboxing as coins dropped from the sky and he went crazy for betraying his best friend will always remain with me.

In most of my books, there is a faith component to the mythic characters. In How Beauty Loved the Beast, my first time to write a god into a scene, Hauk is a practitioner of Asatru who meets Odin. Hauk's warrior faith and worldview inspired by Norse religious practices are important elements of his character and affect the plot throughout the three book series.

I don't portray every aspect of every mythology in a positive light. In fact, I think it's more interesting and authentic to portray mythology as capable of both good and evil. The villain of Stripped with the Vampire is a reincarnated Aztec priest trying to control the upcoming apocalypse the best way she knows how--by offering up a sacrifice to Xipe Totec, otherwise known as "Our Lord the Flayed One." In Aztec mythology, the gods sacrificed themselves for the good of mankind, and now mankind is expected to return the offering. Of course, our heroes aren't anxious to offer up their hearts or skins for her project, hence the initial conflict.

My current work includes Vodoun (more commonly known as Voodoo), a syncretic religion that combines Catholicism with Yoruba, the native religion of the African people brought to Haiti as slaves. Vodoun is fascinating to me because race, poverty, and (of course) slavery are intimately tied to its founding and culture. The legend of the zombie originally comes from Vodoun, but instead of a mindless creature hellbent on eating brains, it started as a way of creating a mindless servant, obedient to the zombie master.  The original zombie was a plantation worker. My book is about a Mexican-American former foster child who became an ER surgeon, but has to go back home to save the city when a zombie outbreak threatens his family. The book deals with human trafficking, poverty, and race in modern America, and zombies became my metaphor for many larger issues in society.

Mythology is more than a story. It's a faith. Some aspects of  ancient myths may not make much sense to us anymore (the Norse creation story includes a primordial cow licking Odin's father out of a salty block of ice. I love that story, but serious, WTF?). But taken as a whole, they embody the thoughts and morality of a culture. Through myth, we get to explore different expressions of what it means to be human.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Here Be News

Posted by: Unknown

New Releases

Flynn was born in the lap of luxury—a Founder’s son and heir to the Stark fortune. Of course, Molly hadn’t known that when she fell in love with the devilishly charming smuggler. If she’d known that Flynn was a Scraper back when she first met him, she probably would have hated him just on principle.
Molly was born in an outlaw camp, the daughter of a whore and a gambler. She was a street rat who didn’t belong in the glittering sky city where Flynn wanted to take her as a spy for the forts. She wasn’t ever going to turn into a lady, no matter how many fancy gowns Flynn dressed her in.
But maybe while they were there, she’d be able to talk Flynn into giving up on his plan of becoming a respectable businessman, and things could go back to the way they should be—her and Flynn raising hell, the scourge of the western skies. Blood didn’t have to be destiny, did it? And if Flynn could choose the future he wanted, then what was to stop her from doing the same?

News


GRADUATION
A free short story set in the Chaos Station universe.

Zander and Felix shared their first kiss the day they graduated from Shepard Academy. They had one night together before being separated by specialist training and their first assignments with the AEF.

"Graduation" tells the story of that night.

This story is available to our newsletter subscribers to read online or download. Sign up now for occasional updates on works-in-progress and new releases as well as news of giveaways and short stories.


To learn more about the Chaos Station series, visit our website:
http://chaosstation.com



Jeffe Kennedy had a cover reveal this week! The first book in her new series, The Uncharted Realms, which picks up where The Twelve Kingdoms trilogy ends, is THE PAGES OF THE MIND

For those who've been reading the series, yes, this is Dafne's book - everyone's favorite librarian. And just look at the awesome book she's holding!

About the Book

AN ORPHAN’S THRONE

Magic has broken free over the Twelve Kingdoms. The population is beset by shapeshifters and portents, landscapes that migrate, uncanny allies who are not quite human…and enemies eager to take advantage of the chaos.

Dafne Mailloux is no adventurer—she’s a librarian. But the High Queen trusts Dafne’s ability with languages, her way of winnowing the useful facts from a dusty scroll, and even more important, the subtlety and guile that three decades under the thumb of a tyrant taught her.

Dafne never thought to need those skills again. But she accepts her duty. Until her journey drops her into the arms of a barbarian king. He speaks no tongue she knows but that of power, yet he recognizes his captive as a valuable pawn. Dafne must submit to a wedding of alliance, becoming a prisoner-queen in a court she does not understand. If she is to save herself and her country, she will have to learn to read the heart of a wild stranger. And there are more secrets written there than even Dafne could suspect…

Preorder here

 Kindle 
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...