Virtual part invite – new release THE WORLD AND THE STARS

April 9, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 7 Comments

Just a quick note to say, if anyone has the time – tomorrow (today? – not sure, what with time differences), Friday 10th, anyway, I’d like to invite you to drop in to the virtual facebook party I’m hosting for the release of my latest book – an anthology of science fiction and fantasy stories by my writer’s group and friends.

And yes, I have a story in there as well as acting as publisher.

We’ve dedicated the book to our founder, Peter T Garratt, who sadly passed away at the young age of 54, and is much missed.

He would have been very proud of this book.

I’m planning entertainment, chat, and a few competitions with small prizes, so even if you only have a few minutes, you’re welcome to just drop in.

8pm – 11pm British Summer Time, BST, (you can find a time converter here) and the party is on facebook here

Hope to see a few of you there 😀

Oh, and in addition, I’m offering FREE copies to anyone who would like to review…

#Excerpt week finale – SPRITE NIGHT by Deborah Jay #UrbanFantasy #ecology #fracking

March 15, 2015March 16, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 8 Comments

Here is my last contribution to excerpt week – and a fun and informative week it has been 😀

This little offering is from a short story that has not yet been released – maybe next month if I can find the time, once I have the anthology (excerpt here) all sorted.

Back to Urban Fantasy today, and a bit more of Cassie, the Caledonian Sprite, who has a tendency to get tangled up in ecological issues, seeing as they have potentially devastating implications for her element.

This story takes place just after DESPRITE MEASURES, (excerpts here and here), and finds our sassy sprite involved in a fracking protest near Stirling, Scotland.

NOTE: there are live links scattered throughout the Caledonian Sprite stories, taking readers who choose to follow them to informative pages and photographs of all things quintessentially Scottish. My stab at a (slightly) interactive experience.

Excerpt from SPRITE NIGHT

The inn was typical of its type; old, creaky and in need of renovation, but warm with hospitality and a reputation for excellent food and choice of single malts. It’s one of the more frustrating aspects of my human body that consuming food or alcohol is a futile exercise; I can eat, but solid food needs disposing of—let’s not go there—and alcohol, whilst I can take pleasure in the taste, has no affect on me.

Companionship though—that I can, and do, enjoy.

I pushed open the swing doors to the lounge and glanced around. Most of the crowd were locals I’d come to know over the past few weeks, but a rather delectable-looking stranger sat in the snug beside the chimney. My body perked up with interest.

Right now, my DNA stores were high, and harvesting more would be an indulgence, but this guy had the makings of a pleasing dalliance, with or without extra benefits. His shaggy brown hair melded into a luxuriant beard, above which shone a pair of the brightest blue eyes I’d seen in a long while. He was dressed in a heavy woollen sweater, with a thick, quilted jacket and thermal beanie discarded beside him on the bench. Continue reading →

Excerpt 2 from THE PRINCE’S MAN, #EpicFantasy by Deborah Jay. #readers #books

March 11, 2015March 13, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 5 Comments

Yesterday I shared a snippet of dialogue from the first meeting of the two main characters in THE PRINCE’S MAN.

Today we have an action sequence. To set the scene, Rustam and Lady Risada are fleeing an enemy’s lands, burdened with an unconscious elf they have just rescued from a dungeon.

Enjoy 😀

Rustam tightened the horses’ girths while Risada filled the canteens. They had just remounted when thundering hooves pounded down the slope behind them and three riders burst into the clearing.

On the edge of his vision Rustam saw Risada drop the bay mare’s reins, draw her dagger and raise a blowpipe to her lips in one fluid set of movements, while he struggled awkwardly to free his sword from the saddle scabbard beneath his left thigh.

Nightstalker pranced eagerly, destroying the tiny moment of concentration he needed to snap his mind into high speed. The elf bounced in front of him, blocking his view. He cursed and curbed the mare sharply. She half reared in protest.

The glint of a blade sliced towards him. Rustam threw himself sideways just as Nightstalker squealed and lashed out with her hind feet. Already off balance, Rustam slithered from the saddle pulling the elf with him, and they crashed heavily to the ground. Continue reading →

Edgelanders Excerpt

March 11, 2015 / Jenny / 2 Comments

Excerpt week is such a great idea! Thank you, Marcia, for nudging me out of my winter cave to join in the fun.

Here’s a snippet from the first book in my Serpent of Time series, Edgelanders, classified within the high fantasy/romance category.

“What are you?” he whispered.

“Looks like a dead girl to me.” Rue’s shadow blocked the light of the moons, fell over the girl and darkened the bright perfection of her face.

“No.” He shook his head, a sweaty wisp of black hair falling into his face. “Not dead.” He’d almost said not a girl, but how could he possibly know that for sure? She smelled human, but there was something else in her blood, something familiar, something savage that whispered words to his soul he couldn’t understand.

Why couldn’t Rue smell it? She was a master huntress, could track a rabbit to its warren from five miles away, but she seemed completely unaffected by the power he could feel in that girl. Rue had known others like that girl, before he was even born. Surely the familiarity of her scent was not lost on his sister’s keen senses.

“Well, she will be soon enough. I can smell death on her. Leave her,” she said. “We need to secure the perimeter. Drive whoever owns that pack of hounds you just tore apart from our lands before they come looking for their dead girl and lay her murder on our doorstep. The last thing we need right now is an inquiry.”

“I won’t leave her here to die,” he refused.

And that was exactly what would happen to her if they just walked away. That beautiful little flower would breathe her last and her pale face would haunt his every moment until the day he died. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to take her home.

“I… I just can’t.”

His hand fell away from her cheek and he tucked it gently behind her neck before sliding it further in to lift her upper body from the mud. He shoved his other arm beneath the backs of her thighs and then heaved her weight against his chest as he rose.

“I’m taking her to Rhiorna. She can heal her.”

“Are you stupid? Wait, don’t answer that,” Rue smirked down at him. “Leave her, Finn. You know the laws. She is an outsider. She has no place here, and if she dies on our land, that is her own fault. Besides, what is that old witch going to do? Nothing. She hasn’t done anything useful since…” Her words faded into the low whisper of the wind, but Finn didn’t wait for her to finish.

“I don’t care about the laws!” he roared. “I’m not leaving her to die.”

“Finn, I can’t let you take her. I’m sorry.”

“I’d like to see you try to stop me.” Shifting her weight against his chest, she felt light as a feather in his arms; her body nestled perfectly against his as if she’d been made to fit in his arms, made to be carried that way by him and only him.

“Finn…”

He was already walking, northwest toward Drekne. He’d gone several paces before his sister’s frantic footsteps quickly fell in behind him. Rue may have been his elder, but she was half his size, and when her hand came down on his shoulder to try and spin him around, he jerked it off and rounded to face her with fire in his eyes.

“Don’t, Rue. Don’t make me do something I’ll regret.”

“What? You’re going to challenge me over some… some stranger? Some half-dead girl? I can’t let you take her into the village. It is forbidden. The council…”

“Damn the council.”

“Damn the council? Damn the council?” She brought her hand down again, gently this time, silent pleading in her bright silver eyes as she tried to sympathize with his plight. “I know you like to rile them up, to get under their skin and show them you’re not a pup to be pushed around anymore, but this… Finn, this is madness. They will put you in silver chains and drag you into exile. Not even Viln will be able to save you this time.”

“I don’t care.”

“You don’t care?” she shrieked. “How can you not care? About your own brother, about me? There will be consequences for this.”

“You wouldn’t understand.” No one would understand; they never did.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t understand. This girl, who is she to you? No one, Finn. A human, a stranger.”

“She’s not human,” he muttered, but Rue hadn’t heard him.

“I will not let you throw away your life here with the pack for some stranger.”

“You can’t stop me,” he shrugged her hand away again. “I’d advise you not to try.”

Edgelanders is available digitally on Amazon: Amazon, Amazon Australia, Amazon UK, Amazon Brazil, Amazon France, Amazon Germany, Amazon India, Amazon Italy, Amazon Spain, Amazon Japan, Amazon Mexico. Members of the Kindle Unlimited program can borrow this book and the sequel, Sorrow’s Peak from the Lending Library with their membership.

#Excerpt week – THE PRINCE’S MAN by Deborah Jay #EpicFantasy #readers #books

March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 4 Comments

Stepping up to the plate 😀

Thanks Marcia for this great idea – sampling authors we’ve not met before.

So here is a little teaser snippet from THE PRINCE’S MAN, a novel best summed up as ‘James Bond meets Lord of the Rings’.

Excerpt – THE PRINCE’S MAN

“Dart, meet Charmer. Charmer, meet Dart.”

Rustam looked pleadingly at Halnashead. “You’re joking, surely? You must be. She can’t be Dart; she’s—”

“What?” cut in Lady Risada. “A woman?”

“No! Well, yes. I suppose so.” Rustam shifted uncomfortably, his mind reeling as it tried to adjust to the concept of a noblewoman as a player. Female servants on occasion, yes. But a lady?

He glanced aside at the lady in question. She stared coldly back.

“Please, please!” Halnashead drew their attention. “I want you two to get on with each other. Does it surprise you so much, Rusty?”

“Rusty?” echoed Lady Risada derisively.

Taken aback by the lady’s obvious animosity, Rustam considered the prince’s question. “I suppose it shouldn’t. With her court position, the lady has access to all levels of nobility; certainly a great asset to your Highness.”

“And don’t you forget it, dancer boy,” muttered Risada.

Halnashead frowned. “Be nice, Risada. Rustam is my most skilled agent.”

“Most skilled womaniser, you mean!”

More to follow tomorrow…

Have you found Book Goodies yet?

December 12, 2014 / Deborah Jay / Debby Lush / 2 Comments

Book Goodies for authors

Yes, it’s yet another avenue for getting your work out there – you know the advice, be everywhere!

And its fun to do too. It’s taken a while, but my author interview on the site just went live, and you can do one too, or even a podcast if you feel so inclined.

http://bookgoodies.com/interview-with-author-deborah-jay/

Here’s a little snippet:

What inspires you to write?
Inspiration is the wrong word for me – I have a wildly overactive imagination that simply demands an outlet.
If I’m not writing, I’m daydreaming, and I really love to share my stories with other people.

Tell us about your writing process.
My process is evolving all the time. I began as an out-and-out pantser, starting with an idea and running with it; by far the most fun as I get to watch the story unfold for the first time, just like a reader.
Unfortunately (for me) these days, as I’m writing series and handling multiple on-going plot strands, I have to do at least an outline before I set off, otherwise it would become so tangled and mired with tangential plots and dead end ideas that editing it into some form of readable book would be too time consuming.
At this time, I outline on post-it notes stuck on a big board, just putting down major plot points and character arcs, and once I have a firm starting point, I set off. The ending is a little more fluid in terms of detail, although I do know roughly where I’m going.
Character sketches are my latest distraction; I know a fair bit about my main characters before I start, but sometimes one of my minor characters suddenly decides to transmute into a major player, and then I have to sit down and detail their back story before I can continue – essential if they are to interact with plausible motivations.

What are you waiting for? Give it a go – you never know where your next reader might find you 😀

Making indie audiobooks

October 24, 2014October 24, 2014 / Aimee Easterling / 12 Comments

When Kindle Unlimited was rolled out, I read the fine print and realized that subscribers can download audiobooks as well as ebooks for free (with the author receiving about $1.50 per borrow and possibly gaining new fans). Since there are about 700,000 ebooks enrolled in Amazon’s lending library but only about 2,300 audiobooks, I decided I wanted to swim in that much smaller pool. Was it possible for an unknown indie?

The answer is a resounding yes, but like most aspects of self-publishing you’ll need to spend some time and possibly money on the endeavor. ACX is Amazon’s audio wing, where authors hook up with narrators to make independent audiobooks happen. You can choose to pay up front for your narration (a process that will likely cost $1,000 to $5,000), or you can opt for the revenue-sharing possibility as I did. Revenue-sharing costs the author nothing up front, but you split all future audio royalties fifty/fifty with the narrator after the audiobook is produced. Although that sounds like a lot of money to give up, your revenue-sharing narrator does have a vested interest in making your audiobook soar and might help you sell more. On the downside, though, you will have to make your project look very enticing to potential narrators if you want to find a really top-notch voice actor in this scenario.

As you might guess, I used the royalty-share option to produce my first audiobook (which is now available on Amazon, Audible, and (soon) iTunes). I learned a huge amount on the process, too, namely:

Be patient while you wait for auditions. At first, narrator auditions trickled in, but after a week, Amazon chose my project to be eligible for an ACX stipend and they featured the book in their newsletter to producers. That meant that even though I chose the revenue-sharing feature, the narrator would also be paid $100 per audio hour up front. In other words, the stipend made my project look very enticing and attracted some higher-end narrators. (You are most likely to get the stipend if your ebook is already selling very well.)

Stay in touch with your narrator as they work. My narrator and I got our wires crossed and she thought the audiobook was due three weeks later than the date I’d set in the dashboard. Don’t assume your narrator read all the fine print! Send them a message every week or so and make sure you’re both on the same page. And, before you start, make a list of any strangely pronounced names or words in your story as a sort of cheat-sheet for the narrator. (I didn’t know to do this either….) Help make their job as easy as possible!

Consider the pay-up-front option. One of my recent time-sinks has been lurking on kboards, where indie authors share what has and hasn’t worked for them. A few authors there note that they’ve been making as much per title with audiobooks as with ebooks lately, but their method of success involves paying up front for top-notch narration. I’m still not sure whether I’m willing to sink such a huge sum of money into my next audiobook, but if Shiftless does well, I might go that route with book two.

Tell your fans about Audible’s free trial. Audible gives revenue-sharing authors $25 each time someone signs up for a new membership and downloads your book as their first audio adventure. This is a relatively easy sell since your fans probably want to listen to your story and will love the idea of getting a copy for free. So push those free trials!

If you’ve got any questions about audiobooks, feel free to leave them in the comments below. Although it’s taken a bit of time, I’ve vastly enjoyed the experience of turning Shiftless into an audiobook, in large part because hearing my words narrated has made them feel more real. Go listen to the free sample and see what you think! (And, while I’m mentioning free things, I’ve set the ebook version of the prequel short story free at the moment as well, so be sure to snag your copy!)

Introducing Deborah Jay

October 3, 2014 / Marcia Meara / Leave a comment

So happy to have Deborah Jay joining our group. Deborah will have some updates around November 1, but for now, hope you’ll enjoy a quick introduction, and some info on her books, one of which is on sale through tomorrow, so act fast!

Fantasy Novelist Deborah Jay

Living mostly on the UK South coast, she has already invested in her ultimate retirement plan – a farmhouse in the majestic, mystery-filled Scottish Highlands where she retreats to write when she can find the time. Her taste for the good things in life is kept in check by the expense of keeping too many horses, and her complete inability to cook.

She has a dream of a day job riding, training and judging competition dressage horses and riders, and also writes books and magazine features on the subject under her professional name of Debby Lush.

A lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy, she started writing her first novel aged eight, and has never stopped. Her debut novel, epic fantasy The Prince’s Man, first in a trilogy and winner of a UK Arts Board award, is available from most ebook retailers.

Her eco-Urban Fantasy, Desprite Measures, (first in a projected 5 book series) is the tale of a Scottish water sprite trying to live as a human, and is currently available on Amazon.

Desprite Measures is currently on sale for 99 cents.
Sale ends tomorrow, so act fast.

On the surface she’s a cute and feisty blonde, a slender pocket rocket fitness coach. But Cassiopeia Lake has a secret; she’s really a force of nature – an elemental.

Water sprite, Cassie, has lived undisturbed in her native Scottish loch for eons. Now, one encounter too many with modern plumbing has driven her to live in human guise along with her selkie boyfriend, Euan. It’s all going fine – until a nerdy magician captures Cassie to be an unwilling component in his crazy dangerous experiment.

Escape is only Cassie’s first challenge.

She’s smitten by her fellow prisoner, the scorching hot fire elemental, Gloria. But how do you love someone you can never touch?

And what do you do when your boyfriend starts to hero-worship your persecutor? Not to mention that tricky situation of being the prize in a power contest between two rival covens of witches.

So when Gloria’s temper erupts and she sets out to murder the magician, can Cassie keep her loved ones safe from the cross-fire, or will she be sucked into the maelstrom of deadly desires and sink without trace?

Buy Deborah’s Books Here:

Desprite Measures
The Prince’s Man – Amazon
The Prince’s Man – B & N
The Prince’s Man – Apple
The Prince’s Man – KOBO

Find Deborah on Social Media Here:

Blog
Twitter
Facebook
GoodReadsPinterest

Social Media Links Here:

Introducing Debra Mauldin

September 25, 2014 / Marcia Meara / 2 Comments

Debra is the second one of our new members to step up and introduce herself. Thanks so much, Debra. I’m really looking forward to getting to know you better.

Debra Mauldin

Published writer, Mother to 3 beautiful daughters and Grandmother to 6, (4 girls and 2 boys). My grandchildren are my world! I am a Certified Aromatherapist with an Associate’s Degree in Human Services. Writing has always been a part of my life. My passions are writing, reading, helping others, gardening, nature, and spending time with my grandchildren. I am currently working on a short story anthology that will be women’s fiction. I hope to publish by May 2015.

I am also working on two different novels, one fantasy, and the other one science fiction. I hope to get both of these novels published in 2015.

Read Debra’s short story, Christmas Festival, here:
Christmas Festival

Buy the complete anthology here:
Dragon Knight Chronicles