COVER REVEAL: Starswept, by Mary Fan

It's cover reveal day for Starswept by Mary Fan! This sweeping YA sci-fi romance will be released on August 29 by Snowy Wings Publishing. The cover features photography by Roberto Falck, with graphic design by Streetlight Graphics.

Title: Starswept
Author: Mary Fan
Release Date: August 29, 2017
Publisher: Snowy Wings Publishing

Some melodies reach across the stars.

In 2157, the Adryil—an advanced race of telepathic humanoids—contacted Earth. A century later, 15-year-old violist Iris Lei considers herself lucky to attend Papilio, a prestigious performing arts school powered by their technology. Born penniless, Iris’s one shot at a better life is to attract an Adryil patron. But only the best get hired, and competition is fierce.

A sudden encounter with an Adryil boy upends her world. Iris longs to learn about him and his faraway realm, but after the authorities arrest him for trespassing, the only evidence she has of his existence is the mysterious alien device he slipped to her.

When she starts hearing his voice in her head, she wonders if her world of backstabbing artists and pressure for perfection is driving her insane. Then, she discovers that her visions of him are real—by way of telepathy—and soon finds herself lost in the kind of impossible love she depicts in her music.

But even as their bond deepens, Iris realizes that he’s hiding something from her—and it’s dangerous. Her quest for answers leads her past her sheltered world to a strange planet lightyears away, where she uncovers secrets about Earth’s alien allies that shatter everything she knows.

Preorder the hardback on Amazon

Preorder the e-book on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (Nook), Kobo, or iBooks

Add it on Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now, she tells them through books. She is the author of the Jane Colt space opera trilogy, the Firedragon YA dystopia/fantasy novellas, and the Fated Stars YA high fantasy novellas. She's also the co-editor of the Brave New Girls YA sci-fi anthologies, which are dedicated to encouraging girls to enter STEM careers and raising money for the Society of Women Engineers scholarship fund.

Find her online at www.MaryFan.com.

Facebook: facebook.com/mfanwriter

Twitter: @astralcolt

Instagram: @astralcolt

COVER REVEAL: Jaded, by K.M. Robinson

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

I'm here today to help reveal the cover for Jaded, by K.M. Robinson, a young-adult dystopian novel that releases on June 27th 2017, via Snowy Wings Publishing. 

About Jaded:

Book One of the The Jaded Duology

Her father failed in his mission to take control from the Commander, a defeat that has cost Jade her life. She will die as punishment. Now she belongs to the Commander’s son—as his wife. Knowing his intent is to quietly kill her in revenge, Jade’s every move is calculated to survive—until she learns her death ensures the safety of her father and her entire town.

Roan doesn’t want to kill Jade, but once his family isolates her from her father and community, his only choice is to go through with the plan. Jade doesn’t make it easy as she tries to sway him into falling for her. Each misstep makes him question his cause. Each moment makes every decision harder, but the Commander won’t allow him to fail.

One chooses life. One chooses death. In the midst of the chaos, only one will succeed.


Goodreads link: 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34092062-jaded?from_search=true

Author Bio:


K.M. Robinson is a storyteller who creates new worlds both in her writing and in her fine arts conceptual photography. She is a marketing, branding and social media strategy educator who is recognized at first sight by her very long hair. She is a creative who focuses on photography, videography, couture dress making, and writing to express the stories she needs to tell. She almost always has a camera within reach.

Social Media Links: 
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter


Katie will be doing a live AMA on her Facebook channel today at 4pm EST. Join her LIVE at www.facebook.com/kmrobinsonbooks with questions about The Jaded Duology, The Golden Trilogy, writing in general…or anything else! It’s is an Ask Me Anything, after all!!

Snowy Wings Publishing: 

Snowy Wings Publishing is a brand-new, independent and author-driven publisher of Young Adult and New Adult books. From speculative fiction set in fantastic new worlds to contemporary stories that will warm — or break — your heart, your imagination will take flight in bold new directions on Snowy Wings.

Social Media Links: 

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

NaNoWriMo 2016: The Lost Princess

It's been a while since I did NaNoWriMo, but as November is looking less busy for me, I decided to give it a go this year, with a YA fantasy-romance story that's been knocking around in my head for a few months.

Feel free to add me on the NaNoWriMo site if you want to be NaNo buddies!

And for those who're interested, there's more about my story, THE LOST PRINCESS, under the cut ...

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It's Been a While ...

Happy Friday everyone! 

It's been a few weeks since I posted a more personal update, rather than a blog tour post (not that I don't love those), so I thought I'd update with what's been going on in my writing world recently.

I'm still working on my new project, and doing so with a more structured plan. The idea is to get a chapter as close to perfect as possible before moving onto the next, so I'm not left with a 90k manuscript full of holes once it comes to revisions.

It's going well. I'd day I'm 90% happy with chapter one. The only problem I was having was with the opener. The age old question struck - was it strong enough? I toyed with the idea of having a later scene at the beginning - a scene in which the antagonist reveals how evil they actually are. But then that lead to the problem that it'd create a looping non-linear narrative, with my story having to go back on itself. After a couple of days debating this problem, my CP and wonderful friend Kyra Lennon, actually pointed out by revealing the antagonist's dark side so early, it cuts some of the tension of chapter one. So it was back to the drawing board.

How to make my opening more BAMF?

While contemplating this, I stumbled across a blog post by Keith Cronin over on WriterUnboxed about Being A Copycat. Keith's post suggested for writers to improve their skills they should do an exercise where they copy passages by their favorite authors, because it's only through emulating their words - rather than just reading them - that you can really see the techniques the author uses to make their writing impactful. Keith used Jonathan Tropper's latest story as an example, stating "he (Keith) felt he (Tropper) totally nailed the opening, giving us the main characters, the core conflict, the main character’s backstory, and the narrative voice, all in one page. He wanted to understand better how Tropper did it. So, he opened the book and started typing. Again, he learned a lot, and gained insights that merely reading the passage would not have provided."

Intrigued, I downloaded a free sample of Tropper's One Last thing Before I Go, and I was blown away. Keith was right. In just two pages,  Tropper had me hooked on a book that given it's genre, theme and protagonist, I probably wouldn't have read. But the voice just spoke to me so clearly, and the main conflict was laid out simply, while still leaving questions for the reader to chase after as they read the book. It was a perfect example of an opening chapter, and I will defiantly be buying to book to read the whole story.

Keith's advice about copying authors you like, and Tropper's wonderful opener, got me thinking about what opening chapters have drawn me in. What about them did I like. One that instantly sprang to mind was the prologue chapters in each of  The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott. Each book opens with a diary entry written by titular character Nicholas Flamel, summarizing what's going on, or what happened in the previous story. Scott - through Flamel - clearly lays out the threat protagonists Josh and Sophie face, and what they've achieved so far to combat the threat. Intriguing and compelling, without giving too much away, but revealing enough to draw the reader in. 

Exactly what I want to do.

I started to mix this idea with what I'm doing for the A-Z Blogging Challenge in April. As previously mentioned, my writing entry for the challenge will be the A-Z of Prenatural Entities faced by The Order of the Ancile. I've started work on my A-Z, writing about creatures like liches, kitsunes and even a piece detailing the history of the Ancile themselves. But something felt lacking. It wasn't personal enough. It read more like a Wikipedia entry than a story. That's when I thought of the idea that each entry should be accompanied by a first hand account from a member of the Ancile when they faced one of these Prenatural Entities. 

Then I related this idea to the book I'm currently writing, and thought why can't I do something similar. Why can't I have a diary type entry from the protagonist, as the prologue, detailing what she faced and how her life changed throughout the story. Doing what I'd seen Michael Scott do - offering something intriguing and compelling, without giving too much away, but revealing enough to draw the reader in. So, I'm going to study Scott's techniques a bit more, and then try it myself, hopefully creating a compelling opening for my story. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Aside from writing, I've also been reading. A LOT. I think I'm on my third book of the week. I've been completely sucked into Joseph Delaney's Wardstone Chronicles. They're a young adult dark fantasy series about a Spook (a seventh son of a seventh son, who hunts creatures of the dark) and his last apprentice. I'm on the forth book now (as well as reading the short stories anthology A Coven of Witches) and I've already seen the Spook and his apprentice Tom fight one of the most powerful witches in the County, take on powerful demon known as The Bane, and find out why the Spook is keeping a dangerous lamia witch in the cellar of his winter home. While the language of these books is simple in a way you'd expect in YA, and the stories themselves are only 400-odd pages long, they're absolutely bloody brilliant. They're chilling, creepy and full of intriguing mysteries that have me devouring them at a rapid pace. While each book has a different antagonist that's defeated in the course of the story, the questions and mysteries surrounding Tom's Mam, his friendship with witch girl Alice, the Spook's failing health and if he'll live long enough for Tom to finish his apprenticeship, and the cause of why the dark is steadily increasing, have hooked me into the entire series and I look forwards to each new installment when I'll get some more answers. 

They're also inspiring my own writing, and thoughts of witches having feral and human forms, and what materials creatures of the dark are weak to have me jotting down notes for my stories. 

So, that's what I've been writing and reading this week. How about you guys? I'd love to hear what you've been up to recently.

Buccaneer Blogfest: Week Three, Day Nine

 

I'm back again with day nine of the month long Buccaneer Blogfest hosted by Sharon Bayliss and Courtney Young.

Before I get started, first I'd like to thank everyone who commented on Wednesday's post. The continued support and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.

   

Reading: July 27 - Recommend or review a book of choice. Tell the interwebz why you love it!

 

  

I've been waiting for this, because I've so excited to talk about Kiersten White's Paranormalcy series, the third instalment of which was released on July 24th in the US and will be out on August 2nd in the UK.

Before I read the Paranormalcy series I, wrongly, assumed that all paranormal romances were like Twilight, and lacked compelling characters or substance. Kiersten White proved me wrong. The Paranormalcy series is what paranormal romances should be like.

Evie, the protagonist, is compelling. She's independent, while still vulnerable. Sassy, while still caring, and full of life. Her teen voice, which could have become annoying, is actually hilarious and one of the aspects that really drew me in to the series. I love how she says "bleep" instead of swearing.

The boys … oh the boys are something else. While there is a triangle, of sorts, it isn't contrived. Evie isn't flip-flopping between the two in an annoying manner. Her love interest, Lend, is an exceptional typical guy. I won't reveal what his deal is, but he manages to couple the paranormal with the normal. He goes to college, he has lab work to do, they talk about prom. While her ex, Reth, is the bad boy you love to hate, and you know if you just scratch the surface there's a lot of depth and mystery there.

Coupling the normal with paranormal is actually a huge part of the series, and while Evie slays vamps, she still has to go to class and do her homework. Along with the fantastical elements, there's something really releatable about a story of a girl who just wants to fit in, find her place in the world and have a normal life. I think we've all been in that position.

The "monsters" are thrilling, and it's clear Kiersten White knows her stuff. My particular favourites are the vampires, who aren't glamorous, dazzling creatures of the night, but in fact walking corpses under their Glamours. 

Each book is full of twists and turns, and the endings were never obvious, while still been successfully set up for. They left you guessing what happened next, and wanting more, while still offering a sense of completion.

All these reasons, a many more – fantastic supporting characters, a fully realized thought out world (including the concept of the International Paranormal Containment Agency) – are why the Paranormalcy series is one of my favourite young adult urban fantasy series.
 

You can buy the books here: Paranormalcy | Supernaturally | Endlessly