Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Wenches of Words Wednesday: Nancy DiMauro

I’m excited to feature fellow Wench of Words, Nancy DiMauro, a wench of many talents including writing speculative fiction, on my blog today! Take it away, Nancy…

Welcome, Nancy, and thanks for coming out. Tell us about yourself.

I’m a mommy, writer, lawyer, and farmer. Wow, that’s a mouthful.

My condo-raised husband agreed to move out to the country with me 12 years ago (almost to the day) because living on a horse farm was my dream. So, we have two horses in our front yard, and two dogs, three hermit crabs and four cats in the house. My dear hubby has managed to resist the pleas for a partridge in a pear tree so far. But, he doesn’t realize I planted a pear tree this last spring. 

Anyway, I am lucky enough to have two boys (soon to be 14 and 12). I’ve been a practicing trial attorney since 1995, and in my free time, I write. Actually, I’m pretty regimented about when I write – between 9pm and 11pm 4-5 nights a week. After all, being a writer is one of my jobs.

Tell us about your book.

My newest release is Apollo Rising about Apollo’s quest to break Daphne’s curse and restore her to her true form. In seeking to enlist the aid he needs, Apollo bargains with Hades for Daphne’s soul. But the god of the underworld may demand too a high price. 

Here's the official BLURB:

Shot by a golden arrow, Apollo has only truly loved Daphne. He visits her each eclipse, and longs for reunion. He seeks the Fates’s advice and learns he may finally restore Daphne to her true water nymph form by enlisting other gods’ assistance.

If Apollo fails Daphne will be lost to him forever. To regain Daphne’s soul, Apollo must deal with the devil, King of the Underworld. Love-torn and treacherous, Hades would slay the pantheon to remain with his wife for the full year. Apollo’s quest might just give Hades the leverage he needs to do so.

Will Pheobus Apollo surrender the sun to try to reclaim love? Can he break Daphne’s curse or will his attempts destroy her forever? Will she still love him after millennia as a soulless tree? With the end of the quest see Apollo rising, or in sunset?

You can find Apollo Rising on Amazon.

Who is your favorite character from one of your books and why?

Has there ever been a question designed to cause more strife? It’s like asking which child is your favorite. I love them all. Vonna, from the Flashes of Life story in Paths Less Traveled, is probably my favorite to play with right now. While I have other characters with supernatural powers, Vonna’s ability to recover memories from the dead is pretty out there. Also, Vonna sees emotion as color so I’ve had to create a color wheel of emotion. That was really challenging. The other neat thing about Vonna is she’s living in a near future Washington, D.C. so I get to mix in politics with the vampires, psychics and weres. Oh my! Vonna’s talents also make her a target for anyone wanting to get away with murder.

What are you working on now?

I’m in different phases on three novels. I’m editing/ rewriting The King’s Falcon, which follows Falcon from Lightning Strikes in Paths Less Traveled. I’m hoping to turn that in for consideration by the end of the year. I’m almost done with the first draft an erotic romance called New Bohemia: Just One Night in which May has a favor to ask of her best friend and housemate, Pete. I’m outlining The Nocebo Effect, which follows Vonna as she tries to solve a string of murders that initially appeared to be natural deaths before the killer finds her.

Do you listen to music when you write, if so what?

I don’t listen to music, but I tend to have the TV on for background noise. I notice silence, but I can ignore the TV if I’ve seen the show before. So, my DVR gets a lot of play while I’m writing.
Which of your covers is your favorite?

Wow. That’s tough. Kelly Shorten did all the covers for my four Musa books. They are all really wonderful and tie in so well with the stories. Since I have to pick, I think the Shots at Redemption cover is my favorite. I love the ghost ship.

Check out the cover and blurb at Amazon, Musa Publishing, or Barnes and Noble.

Where do you find inspiration?

My family. My boys (all three of them) do and say the most outrageous things. My youngest son also loves telling stories so he and I will spend hours talking about worlds that only we can see.

Name 5 things that are on your desk right now?

Pictures of my boys as babies; The Describer’s Dictionary by David Grambs; The Character Naming Sourcebook by Sherrilyn Kenyon; a list of e-mails from Dave Farland’s Novel Rewriting workshop participants; and a stack of business cards I still need to scan into my contact list.

What is your biggest distraction when it comes to writing?

The need for sleep. Because I write so late in the day, there are times when I just can’t stay awake long enough to get the words on the page. I’ve learned just to give up and try again the next day.

When did you discover the need to write?

Back in high school. I’d been writing poetry for years, and wrote my first novel when I was a sophomore. Of that fan-fic novel, let’s just all be glad that the changes in technology since the 1980’s have made the story unrecoverable.

How do you handle writers’ block?

I don’t really believe in writers’ block. For me, when I hit a point I’m struggling to find the words, it generally means one of a few things. Usually, it means I haven’t taken the time I need to pre-write the scene. Because my keyboard time is limited, I spend a lot of time daydreaming scenes before they ever hit the page. The ones I struggle with are often the ones where I haven’t spent the time visualizing them first. I’ll log off for the day and imagine what I’m missing. It might take another day to get to the point where I can write the scene, but my high word count days are ones where I’ve been daydreaming a lot about the story.

Another reason I can’t write is because sometimes I need more research. In New Bohemia, I have a significant section of the story in the Swiss Alps. When it came time to write it, I realized my visualization of the area came solely from my memories of The Sound Of Music. So, not so good. I spent about two weeks researching locations, building construction, and most importantly snow rescue techniques. When I went back to the keyboard, the scenes were much easier.

The final reason I can’t get words on the page is exhaustion. My other jobs (mommy and lawyer) are demanding. Sometimes they take everything I have. When that happens I have to give into the inevitable and use my writing time for sleep.

Where can readers find you?

On my website and blog. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter.

I have to run now. Thank you for interviewing me, and thanks to everyone who took the time to read it. ~Nancy DiMauro

Friday, 23 November 2012

Let the Giveaway Begin...



Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis by Sharon Ledwith

The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis

by Sharon Ledwith

Giveaway ends December 15, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.
Enter to win

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

Wenches of Words Wednesday: Lisa Greer

I’m excited to feature fellow Wench of Words, Lisa Greer, who writes about the dark side of romance, on my blog today! Take it away, Lisa…

The Love and Terror of Our Lives by Lisa Greer

I have a new release an historical gothic romance, The Montmoors 2: The Bastard Returns—second in a set of serials that focuses on a cursed line of male heirs condemned to life inside a crumbling castle in Cornwall. The series moves through generations of Montmoors, and readers will learn whether the curse that rests upon the family—and dozens of other intrigues that pop up—will lead to happiness in the end.

I've been thinking a lot about gothic romance lately and why it's loved by fans old and new. What's so appealing about this genre, and why should you give gothic romance a try?

I think we've all experienced love—the sensation of your heart bumping faster when you see him or her, wondering if you can live without the beloved, feelings so strong for someone else that you don't need to eat or sleep, at least not much. And of course, mature love that is tested and stands strong through the years.

And if not love, then surely you've felt terror. That thumping sound you hear in the middle of the night that makes your heart stop for a minute or how you go looking behind the door after watching a scary movie. If those types of terror aren’t for you, then there’s always the icy grip of death, of impending loneliness, or any number of things perhaps that only frighten you. Terror and love are emotions, states of being, even actions that we all understand.

That is why I write what I do—gothic romance. The beloved authors of the genre like Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, and Emily Bronte understood that intersection of fear and desire.

Gothic romance in its most common, pure form, the type that makes its fans swoon, deals in scary realities—haunted houses, castles and troubled lords aside. A critic once said, in fact, that gothic romance is the choice between two men. And it is, isn't it? And isn't that choice an all too real one in life, if we broaden the scope a bit? The choice between opposites? For good or evil...one path or the other.

Gothic romance reached its zenith in the 60s and 70s with authors like Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt. They kept going strong in some circles even into the early 90s with their mix of romance, Byronic heroes, ghosts, suspense, and danger—in spite of the fact that they should have been outmoded before they ever became popular.

But that wasn't the case. The genre adapted to the modern and post modern eras and still does and harkens back to the Victorian Era in some cases. Love and terror worked then, and they work now. The characters who play out the dramas of desire and fear are ones we can identify with, too—or at least that we love reading about.

The heroines of most gothic romances are hip and intelligent, but they don't mind relying on a man to do some of the fighting for them when it comes to ghosts or being trapped in the family mausoleum. They drink sherry and beer, smoke cigarettes, and wear miniskirts—or they don't. They write masters theses, act as dutiful daughters to their ailing professorial fathers, or work as art gallery owners. They are orphans, governesses, and heiresses, alone, yet strong. They are all of us as women.

And the heroes, well, the heroes are often Byronic—dark, isolated, secretive. They are mad with old loves and losses or haunted by sordid pasts. But sometimes they're not. Sometimes, the hero is the good friend, the guy who stands beside the heroine, the one who is the picture of mental health. And that's part of the fun. In many gothic romances, you'll have your doubts about the heroine's choice, and she will for a while, too.

Of course, gothic romance has been around since well before the 20th century. The mother of the gothic, Ann Radcliffe, and others were writing Gothic and gothic romance in the 18th century. My favorite gothic romance is still Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. What novel captures the solipsism of first love and the terror of its loss as well as that book? What Byronic Hero is better drawn than the gypsy Heathcliff? The macabre, mysterious, and frightening have always attracted readers. We do understand love... and terror, or at least we want to feel we are not alone with either emotion.

Here's a little from The Montmoors 2: The Bastard Returns for your reading pleasure.

BLURB:

The mysteries of Montmoor Hall deepen with each passing day…and night. A ghost haunts governess Catherine Roth while the master, Andrew Montmoor, is away.

To make matters worse, Catherine is falling in love with the troubled master of Montmoor Hall even though she knows Andrew is lying to her…but about what? And what will happen when the bastard brother, handsome Benjamin Smitt, returns to claim what is his?

EXCERPT:

She woke up in the night, not sure what had roused her. Catherine opened her eyes, and in front of her shimmered the image of Monroe Montmoor. He appeared exactly as he had in his portrait, and glowered with what could only be fury, and his green eyes blazed at her. He stood, silent and strangely translucent.

“No.” The whisper escaped Catherine's lips before she could stop it.

A twisted grin crossed his full lips, and she wanted to scream. A smile on his face struck her as more terrible than a frown. If he was so grotesque in death, what manner of monster must he have been in life?

With his gnarled, blue veined hand, he reached out toward her, and his mouth worked soundlessly, even as Catherine's mind screamed that his hand coming toward her was impossible. She didn't want him to touch her, would go mad if she heard what such a specter had to say. He shuffled a few steps closer to the bed.

He's going to touch me, to do something...

Jolted from her paralysis, Catherine screamed, a gut wrenching sound that made her own ears ring. The figure disintegrated, disappearing by degrees.

Her door burst open within seconds, and a disheveled Montmoor appeared at her side wearing a silken nightshirt that, thankfully, covered his body down to his calves.

“What in God's name is going on?” He sat on the edge of the bed and took her in his arms, and she didn't resist. Catherine sobbed against his warm neck, aware of his arms holding her tight.

“I saw something.”

“What?”

“I think it was a spirit, a ghost, though I've never seen one before. I don't even believe in them!” She heard her voice rise to a hysterical pitch.

His arms tightened around her, and she felt his breath against her hair as his hands twined in the silky strands.

“It's the curse.”

“Why do you say that?” She remembered his words from the night before with a shudder.

“Because I believe what you saw was my great grandfather, his spirit. He’s vengeful. He never rests. He walks the halls.” His voice grew louder with each terrible word, and a wild look entered his eyes.

Catherine pulled away from him, frightened even more by his strange reaction.

“That's foolish. I couldn't have seen a spirit. It must have been a nightmare from being in a new and different place.” She almost believed it herself as long as she avoided looking at him.

“Tell me exactly what you saw.” He ground the words out, and all at once Catherine grew uncomfortable with his closeness to her on the bed. She crossed her arms over the thin chemise she wore, one of the lacy ones left by his sister, Alice. And did she really elope? There was something so strange about the story, about the way Lord Montmoor had not met her eyes when he had told it.

He leaned back, looking into her eyes.

“I saw the man in the portrait. Your great grandfather.” She forced herself to meet his gaze. The skin at the nape of his neck glowed in the light from the brass candelabra he had laid on the bedside table.

“As I assumed. He doesn't want you here.”

“Why wouldn't he want me here? And how do you know?”

Montmoor broke the intense gaze between them. “My destiny is sealed—or that is his wish—for me to be cursed and lonely.”

BUY LINK Watch the YouTube trailer HERE. Learn more about Lisa Greer on her website. Stay connected with Lisa on Facebook and Twitter.

Monday, 19 November 2012

Just Ask 'How'?

Imagine getting a chance to wave a magic wand to create your future. What would this future look like? Who would you be, what are you doing? Are you working at your dream job? Cranking out bestsellers? Starring in award-winning movies? Owning a chain of businesses? Putting criminals away? Saving lives? Teaching young minds? Raising responsible children?

Okay, now that you’ve got an image of your future self, I want you to ask one very important question.  How am I going to achieve this awesome future? That’s it. Chances are, some of us don’t even know where to begin. I’m betting an education comes into play here. You’ve got to get your hands dirty, grimy, yucky. Whether it’s how to write bestsellers, how to act, how to practice law, how to run a business, or how to teach, we all need to start somewhere. I had no idea whatsoever how to write a novel when I decided I wanted to be a bestselling author someday. None. Zero. Zip. Then I opened up a college course program to the page, How to Write a Novel, and jumped at the chance to learn this skill. That was seventeen years ago. BTW—I’m still shooting for the bestseller list, but I’m much more prepared than I was back then!
The point is, I just asked ‘How’? How do I go about writing a book worthy of getting on the bestseller list? When I asked that, it seemed that the Universe conspired with me to get me on the right path, and give me what I had asked for. Don’t get me wrong, the road to finally seeing my first book, The Last Timekeepers and the Arch of Atlantis in print has had many a pothole and detour, but I followed through, and got back on course each time. I became proactive in my quest, figured out what I needed to do, and just did it.

And you can too. Victory can become yours if you listen to your heart and embrace your purpose. All you need to do is just ask ‘how’? Then go for gold.

Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Wenches of Words Wednesday: Sara Daniel


I’m excited to feature fellow Wench of Words, Sara Daniel, a fabulous romance author, on my blog today! Take it away, Sara…
 
Early this year when Musa posted a submissions call for a series called Finally Ever After, I jumped at the opportunity. The stories were to be short, happily ever romances about lovers who have loved each other and lost. Now, they have a second chance to create the happy ending they didn’t get the first time.

I love characters with a past history, especially in a short word count. They have instant attraction and long-standing unresolved conflict—the perfect elements for a fast-paced, emotion-packed read. Zane’s Art had all these things coupled with a strong present conflict. The story flowed out of me so fast I knew it was meant to be!

Here's little from Zane's Art for your reading pleasure.
A high school art teacher must choose between her students and the artist she never stopped loving.

High school art teacher Julianne Truman's last chance to save her beloved art department from budget cuts is to sell the old sketches that her former boyfriend—and now famous artist—Zane DeMonde drew for her. But is she prepared to let go of his artwork and the last traces of him in her life?

Desperate to save his artistic reputation from the exposure of his early works, Zane returns to the home town he wanted to forget. He accuses Julianne of profiting from his success and demands she take his art off the market and cancel the auction.

Their high school attraction flares back to life, forcing Julianne to choose between the students who count on her and the man she never stopped loving.

EXCERPT:

“Cancel the auction.”

Julianne Truman’s head snapped around at the hard male voice. The stapler fell from her hand and cracked open on the floor, as she caught sight of the extraordinary face that went with the voice. Her knees shook as she climbed down the ladder. She hadn’t faced Zane DeMonde in nearly fifteen years. At one time she’d believed he’d be part of every single day of her future.

“Zane, I didn’t expect you to come.” She stepped toward him. His black hair was a little shorter than the last time she’d seen him, but at shoulder length it was still far longer than most men’s. Gone were the black hoodie and ripped jeans of his youth. Now he wore chinos and a sharply pressed blue button-down shirt, open at the neck.

The dark storms in his cobalt blue eyes were exactly the same as the day he’d walked away from her. “Cancel the auction. The sketches and painting are not for sale.”

She swallowed. “I own them. If I choose to sell them, that’s my business.” And it was breaking her heart to part with the only piece of him that she’d been able to hang onto all these years.

“When they have my name on them and you’re getting rich off me, it’s my business.”

Getting rich was so far from the truth Julianne would have laughed if her chest weren’t so tight. “It’s an honor to have you back in town.” At least her students would think so. Her brother would likely burst an artery. And she—well, she couldn’t even begin to process the mix of emotions she was feeling. “Do you have a minute to talk? I can explain what’s going on.”

“I know what’s going on.”

She hoped he couldn’t hear how hard her heart was hammering or sense how desperately she longed to wrap her arms around him and pick up where they left off fifteen years ago, as if he’d never left her. “Then you know that the arts are at the bottom of the school district’s priority list. To have supplies for the classroom, to restore the school mural, to give my students a chance to explore different mediums, the art program needs an alternate source of funding.”

“You’re the Dentonville High art teacher?”

She couldn’t help feeling defensive at his derisive tone. “Yes, and I love my job.”

“Do you? Or have you never moved beyond your high school life?”

BUY LINK

To learn more about Sara Daniel and her work, please visit her website and blog.

Stay connected on Sara's Facebook page and her Sara Shafer page.

Remember, Sara is also only a tweet away.

Monday, 12 November 2012

Please Support Your Fav Author…

There’s much talk around the virtual water cooler in my publisher’s social media groups these days. The gist is this: an author gets more money (50%) when a reader buys a book or ebook from the author’s publisher’s website. When you make a purchase through other on-line book stores such as Amazon or Smashwords or Barnes & Noble, our slice of the pie becomes smaller.

So here’s my plea, as one of the thousands of authors vying for a reader’s attention: PLEASE SUPPORT A FAVORITE AUTHOR BY DECIDING TO MAKE YOUR NEXT PURCHASE AT THEIR PUBLISHER’S ON-LINE BOOK STORE!
I know, I know, you say you’ve got a specific ereader that takes you directly to the manufacturer’s virtual warehouse so you can wander though their vast shelves and get deals galore. Let me tell you, this book business is tough enough, BUT if you find an author who you connect to, love their prose, their voice, their platform, then wouldn’t it be justified to support these storytellers so they could earn a decent living and produce more of their written wares for you to read? I’d say that would be a win-win situation!

Below is a post written by author friend, Margaret Lesh, explaining about the misconceptions of ebooks, and the various types of ereaders out there:
http://www.storyrhyme.com/jcsblog/files/a4f95205f3cc0c0593dc80eaf091f014-229.html

Every respectable publishing company has all the formats available for different ereaders. Mobi (Blackberry), PRC (Kindle), Epub (Nook, Kobo, Android), and PDF (Window-based and Mac computers) to name a few. It’s a simple process, and may add one or two more steps when you purchase a book directly from a publisher. Don’t let that scare you off. Be brave. Grit your teeth. Download that book you’ve wanted to buy for so long, but have kept putting it off because the technology is a scary and new. Free programs such as Calibre make it easy-peasy to convert your ebook to be able to read on the specific ereader you own.
So there you have it. You’ve heard my plea. The choice, as a reader, is yours. And thankfully, it always has been.

Image: 123RF Stock Photo: 3244416

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Wenches of Words Wednesday: Patricia Yager Delagrange


I’m excited to feature fellow Wench of Words, Patricia Yager Delagrange, an author of contemporary fiction, on my blog today! Take it away, Patricia…

Inspiration Behind the Book by Patricia Yager Delagrange

How many times have I seen an Amber Alert on the news which ends in the child’s death? How many times have I been driving down the freeway and read about another child kidnapping in yellow lights across a billboard? How many times have watched on the news that another child has been murdered?

Too may times. One time is too many.

And each time this occurs I wondered how in the world do the parents make it through such a tragedy? How do they go on? How can they return to work? How can they face interacting with family and friends after their child’s death? How do they go on living?
This question had burned in my mind for years and I wanted to write about it. People have asked me how I can write about something that’s never happened to me. I counter with: I write fiction. All fiction writers tell a story they’ve made up in their heads. But they imbue that story with their own feelings. Which is what makes a good book. And I have a wealth of feelings that I used when I wrote Moon Over Alcatraz. I have two children. I know what it’s like to love two human beings unconditionally, with no reservations. My kids often ask me, “Do you love me, mom?” And my answer is, “Always and forever.”

So I took a happily married couple, excited to have their first child, placed them in the delivery room, and had the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck, which produced a still birth.

And that’s pretty much what happened to that couple - their lift stood still. They didn’t know how to move on from there. Instead of looking to each other for solace and renewal, they turned away from each other. Both of them, unbeknownst to the other, dealt with their grief in a way that broke them apart, instead of pulling them together.

Losing a child is devastating. And each person deals with that emotional turmoil in their own particular way. I’d go so far as to say that no one can predict how they would act in that circumstance. Emotions can be unpredictable, surprising even to the person who’s experiencing them. This is what happens to Brandy and Weston. You have a difference in their emotional upheaval. One character is the mother who carried her baby to term, and the other is the father who didn’t have that same physical experience.

BLURB:

Following the death of their baby during a difficult birth, Brandy and Weston Chambers are grief-stricken and withdraw from each other, both seeking solace outside of their marriage; however, they vow to work through their painful disloyalty. But when the man Brandy slept with moves back to their hometown, three lives are forever changed by his return.

EXCERPT:

Three days later we were standing at the edge of a hole in the ground at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Hayward, the silence so thick, the insides of my ears buzzed like a distant swarm of angry bees. Mr. Peralta and another gentleman stood off to the side while Weston and I held hands next to a tiny casket.

Weston had chosen a simple mahogany box with gold handles, a bouquet of white lilies graced the top of the small box. I knelt down and laid a kiss on the smooth wood then wiped off the tears that had fallen on top. Weston joined me, placing a single red rose in the middle of the lilies. He helped me up and we stood side-by-side in silence, my guilt over her death like a stone in my empty belly. I missed everything I’d dreamed would be happening right now, yearned for all that could have been.

Weston nodded at the man standing next to Mr. Peralta and our baby was slowly lowered into the gaping maw. She reached the bottom, and a bird landed on the rich brown dirt piled next to the grave. It pecked around, chirping a little song then flew off - as if saying goodbye. My heart squeezed inside my chest.

I picked up a small handful of soft dirt. “Goodbye, Christine,” I whispered, throwing it on top of her casket.

Weston wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in close to his side. Why her? Why my baby? Was this supposed to make sense? And, if so, to whom?

We drove home in silence. No words existed to express my grief.

BUY LINKS
Musa Publishing Amazon Barnes & Noble

Learn more about Patricia Yager Delagrange on her website and blog. Stay connected on facebook and Twitter.

Monday, 5 November 2012

Authors in the Limelight Interview: C. W. Trisef



I want to thank and welcome author, C. W. Trisef for sharing his personal writing journey with us on my blog today. His books, Oracle: Sunken Earth and Oracle: Fire Island, can be purchased from Amazon, and other on-line bookstores.

How long have you been writing, C. W.?
I have been writing all my life, but I am a debut author.  “Oracle – Sunken Earth” (book 1 in the series) is my first novel, released June 2011.  “Oracle – Fire Island” (book 2) is my second, released March 2012.  The 7-book series is about a teenage boy named Ret Cooper who cautiously undertakes the daunting task of “healing the world” with a spherical ball of curious design called the Oracle.  The Oracle has six unique markings on it.  Ret has the same six markings on the palms of his hands, which individually lead him to our planet’s most ancient secrets.  These world mysteries guard Mother Nature’s six pure, original elements, which Ret must collect and place inside the Oracle.  Ret’s knowledge grows and his powers increase with each element collected.  The series is good, wholesome adventure, packed with humor, intrigue, science, and even a little innocent romance.

Where did you get your idea and inspiration to write the Oracle series?
I have always been fascinated by our planet’s ancient secrets, so that was certainly the genesis for the series.  The world mysteries in book 1 are the Bermuda Triangle, the Lost City of Atlantis, and the Bimini Road.  The world mysteries in book 2 are the Nazca Lines, Machu Picchu, and Easter Island.  My website (www.trisefbook.com) explains each world mystery in greater detail.  I like to think that the Oracle series is an impressive blend of fact and fiction, based on real places and substantiated theories.  I believe that a great story not only entertains but also educates, thus the unique writing style.

An author after my own heart! What sets the Oracle series apart from other books in the same genre?
The Oracle series was written to entertain and educate through wholesome literature.  I have a passion for creative literature, especially fictional adventure.  Every word is placed to educate, every theme to build social awareness, and every detail to promote creativity.  The Oracle series is clean and wholesome, but also intriguing, adventurous, and fun.  With an underlying goal to educate readers, it was necessary to put a little more effort into word placement and literary technique.  Although the writing style may be referred to as uncustomary, it might also be described as refreshingly unique (at least that's my hope).

As an author, C. W., what is your writing process?
Outline, brainstorm, research, outline some more, set aside hours to get into the writing groove, consult the outline, let go and just write, and then go back to the outline again.  It is really important to me to know the end game before I start writing, and to adjust quickly, if needed.  I think a great story weaves subtle nuance (hints) into the storyline, and the only way to do that is to know exactly where the adventure will be going.  I would also love to see the Oracle series on the big screen, so the books are written with that hope in mind.

Hey, I’d go to those movies! I know you’re planning seven books for this series. How long did it take for you to start and finish your first two adventures, Oracle: Sunken Earth and Oracle: Fire Island?
Writing book 1 was a much longer process than writing book 2, but that was mostly because (as I stated above) it is important to me to know the end game before I start writing, so I spent a great deal of time upfront lying out (outlining) the entire 7-book series before finishing book 1.  Book 2 took less than one year, and book 3 will likely have the same result.

Sounds like you have a solid foundation for future success. Do you have any advice for other writers doing a series, C. W.?
Yes, don’t get discouraged, keep going!  It is a great feeling to see hard work in book form.  Check out my website (www.trisefbook.com) and/or shoot me an email (trisefbook@gmail.com) if I can help in any way.

What’s next for C. W. Trisef the author?
Book 3 in the Oracle series is already underway.  I hope to release a book a year until all seven are done and the series is complete, so that should keep me busy until 2017 or so.  The ending of the Oracle series is epic (very exciting), so getting to book 7 and the series completion will remain my primary focus for the foreseeable future.  Beyond the Oracle series, I do have another project in mind (another series, probably shorter than 7 books), but that will have to wait.

Knowing that patience is a virtue, I’ll be waiting! Okay, here’s one for me, since I’m writing a time travel series—If you could time travel anywhere into Earth’s past, where would you go and why?
Staying true to the Oracle series, I would love to go back in time and visit the world mysteries that I write about (like the Lost City of Atlantis, Machu Picchu, Easter Island) and discover what really happened to these places.  Who knows, maybe these mysteries really are hiding Mother Nature’s six pure elements for Ret Cooper to collect and place in the Oracle … J

Oracle - Fire IslandStay Connected with C. W. Trisef:
http://www.trisefbook.com/

https://twitter.com/CWTrisef

Buy Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Sunken-Earth-C-W-Trisef/dp/1463559216/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1#_

http://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Fire-Island-ebook/dp/B007FKLVF6/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1330624404&sr=1-2#tags

Thursday, 1 November 2012

Cover Reveal for Rita Monette’s The Legend of Ghost Dog Island

I love helping out my fellow authors. Whether it’s an interview, or a share or tweet on the social media networks, I get a blast from sharing their good news. I interviewed YA author Rita Monette back in July for my ‘Authors in the Limelight’ segment. Please click here to read our interview. I had asked Rita if I could also do a cover reveal when the artwork was completed for her book. Guess what? Her book cover is ready! The following is Rita’s personal announcement about her new cover for her upcoming book with Musa Publishing’s YA imprint Euterpe, and boy, she’s seems pretty excited about it! Take it away, Rita…

It's finally here! The cover art for The Legend of Ghost Dog Island.

The talented Kelly Shorten, from Musa Publishing, has done it again. She captured the essence of Ghost Dog Island perfectly. And here it is!!! What do you think? I'd love to hear your comments...

 

About Ghost Dog Island

Moving is nothing new for ten-year-old Nikki Landry. Her fisherman father relocates their raggedy old houseboat several times a year in search of better crab fishing spots. However, their latest move has brought her to a mysterious bayou, where she feels like something is watching her from a nearby island. But when Papa tells her about a local legend that something sinister might be living nearby and stealing the souls of dogs, she fears for her beloved beagle’s life. Join Nikki as she seeks to discover the truth behind the legend…before it’s too late.

Book is due out November 16! Will post links on my blog
http://ritamonette.blogspot.com/ when available.