Happy bookiversary to my debut! One year later and it's sold reasonably well, picked up some award noms, and garnered love from a lot of people. And I've learned a lot about writing, publishing, marketing...myself, maybe.
If you want a copy, find it here: https://books2read.com/u/49dN1p Or I have a few copies--$17 each, send me a msg or an email (ehlupton at gmail).
Freya loves the glass coral reefs that line the coast of the Enta province. They're full of nearly invisible, shiny ghost fish that are equally fascinated by her.
Cedric adores the caves in the Enta celest forest. He loves the echo of his voice in there because it sounds like his twin brother.
Sabre is very fond of the secret spot on the roof of Solitra palace, which he discovered with his cousin, especially at night.
THE ACCURSED is my first ever solidly YA fantasy novel & I am SO excited to share this adventure with you!
Teen heroine Elfled is the only "unBlessed" member of her family--never a problem until they flee political persecution. Without magical skills to see her through, Elfled has only wits & hopes in her fight to resist the forces driving her squarely into Evil's lair.
It's intricately connected and part of the work, so I create it myself. I am slowly inching closer to a unified visual style for the series.
You'd think sticking to silhouettes would make it simpler, but my stars, it's complex to get the essence of a character into just an outline! It's fun, though.
The cover for book one is new. It's Freya using plants as murder-weapons. 🖤
The maiden and her cat strode boldly into the castle.
"I'm here to court the prince."
This was met with laughter, and she was thrown into the dungeons; her cat chased away.
Her loyal companion visited every night, first bringing her pen and ink, then food, and then somehow a gown and slippers. Then more food, and some soap.
After a week, the prince rushed down, "I want to know you better, your letters have been so compelling!"
Is there any work of fiction you could have written better? Don't be shy.
What, apart from seasons 7 & 8 of Game of Thrones? 😆
I’ve read quite a few books in my time, and some of them weren’t especially well-written. Others were, but I still find a few bits here and there that could stand a bit of revision. I’ve been re-reading Eddings’ Belgariad series to my youngest lately, and while I think it was quite well written overall, I came across a few passages last night that stood out to me as a little ‘clunky’ in the prose – I definitely feel I could have done those parts better!
The Cords That Bind: A Liminal Tale in the Finding Humanity series
When Eka’s unexplained energetic connection to Rana puts his life in danger, the elders concoct a dangerous way to heal their psychic cord. Eka just needs to survive the treatment.
Powiedz lepiej, dlaczego nazywają cię „gospodarzem” — rzuciła niespodziewanie. — Bo pieniądze się ciebie nie trzymają? Bo za co się weźmiesz, to spaprasz? Czy coś innego? Głowę sobie nad tym łamię i nie wiem, naprawdę nie wiem.
— Coś innego. Zwierzyłem się kiedyś chłopakom z marzenia. Niepotrzebnie. Nieważne.
— Ależ mów, chętnie posłucham.
Zawahał się, uciekając spojrzeniem w bok. Czekała cierpliwie. Wreszcie skapitulował.
— Chciałbym… Chciałbym wrócić do Kortazeny, do Werdels, do mojego Kociegomłyna. Kupić kawał ziemi, postawić na niej dom. Zamieszkać tam z piękną żoną, zresztą, niech nawet nie będzie bardzo piękna. Chciałbym uczynić ją szczęśliwą. Chciałbym mieć gromadkę dzieci, wszystkie zdrowe. Założyć rodzinę, którą sąsiedzi by szanowali: mnie, moją żonę, moje dzieci. I żyć spokojnie, dostatnio, nikogo już nie krzywdząc, i żeby moje dzieci, i dzieci ich dzieci, także żyły w spokoju i dostatku, szanowane przez sąsiadów, kochane przez małżonków. Śmiejesz się?
— Nie. To bardzo… Bardzo niezwykłe marzenie. Jak na najemnika. Ach, a ta żona… Rozumiem, że w tej roli chciałeś obsadzić mnie?
— Tak — odrzekł spokojnie.
"Sztandary Imperium" wspólnie z Witoldem Dworakowskim już w czerwcu!
#PennedPossibilities 323 — What's a piece of advice for writers that you listened to and are glad for?
An Australian author, Lucy Sussex, told us at Clarion West 1998 to be shameless in promoting ourselves. Being a shy person, networking and promotion has been a heavy lift, but I'm working on it and I know it's going to help. Mastodon: ☑️
The witches secretly watched from the shadow of the moon.
In the marsh below, the king wheezed as he jogged past the Old Stump for the third time, wearing boots, breeches and muddy leaves. He waved a scepter in his left hand, and clutched a barely sedated badger in his right.
"Last month the Leaves foretold that his next child would be a son. Why did you tell him this was the only way--?"
"Because he was rude; I'm making him work for it!"
#PennedPossibilities 322 — What piece of advice, as an author, did you once receive but hadn’t followed? Looking back on it now, you might wish that you had.
Advice: Don't only write novels. Write lots of shorter pieces.
When I started I saw that you could only make a living if you sold novels, so I wrote novels. That completely discounted the fabulous practice you get completing lots of smaller stories. Completing a novel takes lots of time and there's a mounting anxiety that in the end the plot will fail or no publisher will be interested. Yeah, true with short fiction, but the investment is far lower (or should be if you're doing it right). There used to be lots of magazines you could sell short fiction to... for pennies a word, but it was something, and it offered a chance to build a brand name and a following. Such notoriety could help you sell novels, too.
The knight struggled out of his armor then strode toward the dragon, "I need to be crushed immediately."
The dragon shifted his massive body, waiting for the knight to lay flat in his nest of furs and fabrics. Then he gently rolled some of his mass onto the knight's, worriedly asking, "Rough day?"
"Rough week," sighed the knight.
"It's Monday!"
There was no response, the knight had already dozed off under his favorite weighted-blanket.