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Hi, folks! I've decided to do some consolidating of blogitty blog goodness. From here on out, I'll be blogging at salamanderstales.blogspot.com.
In a couple of days, I'll be starting the Twelve Days of Nerd Christmas...I would be over the moon if you'd come join me over there for some nerdy holiday fun!
As they say on Futurama: "Good news, everyone!"
Announced on today's Publisher's Marketplace, a new sale to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Graphia line:
“Laura Bickle's THE HALLOWED ONES, pitched as "Witness" meets "28 Days Later" in which an Amish girl must protect her family from a violent contagion, even as fear and denial threaten to erode her community from within, to Julie Tibbott at Graphia, for publication in fall 2012 and a sequel in spring 2013, by Becca Stumpf at Prospect Agency (NA).”
I'm very excited to have the opportunity to work with Julie and the folks at Graphia on this project. Stay tuned for more details!
http://werevampsromance.blogspot.com/201
I'm talking today at Word Whores about one of my favorite subjects...Wonder Woman! She's been my hero since I was a little girl. And she still is.Word-Whores: The Amazon in My Office: "by Laura Bickle Wonder Woman oversees my writing. Okay, slight exaggeration. I’m sure that the *real* Wonder Woman would have much bette..."
I'm giving away a signed copy of SPARKS by Laura Bickle at Were Vamps Romance, here: http://werevampsromance.blogspot.com/201
And I'm giving away a signed set of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE by Alayna Williams at All Things Urban Fantasy, here: http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.co
Stop by and say hello!
By Roxanne RhoadsLast year I was brainstorming- a lot. I wanted to set up a new business that catered to authors, specifically authors in the paranormal and urban fantasy genres.
See while the popularity of these books has skyrocketed the services catering to them have not grown as fast.
It all started back in 2008 when I started the book review and promotion site, Fang-tastic Books.
I had started reading voraciously again and I had years of reading to catch up on. For awhile I had put fiction books aside to read only non-fiction books that related to my life, my work, my hobbies, and my family. When I started reading again I also started reviewing books, originally for other sites then decided to start my own book review site. Searching the web there were only a handful of book blogs dedicated to vampire and other paranormal books in 2008. Soon after I started Fang-tastic Books the book blogging scene exploded with dozens of new paranormal and urban fantasy book blogs.
So all through 2010 I brainstormed wondering what else I could do for paranormal and urban fantasy authors- something I would enjoy and that authors would find extremely useful.
Then it hit me- blog tours. I was already setting up author guest spots at Fang-tastic Books and I had a list of other book blogs that I frequented. I knew what was out there and what both the authors and book bloggers would want and need. I knew from my own experience that it took a lot of time to search for blogs and sites to guest at, then to contact the sites…
Authors could really use someone that already knew where to go and who to contact, someone who was organized, who could keep track of schedules, guest spots, blog posts, and everything about the tour for them.
I toyed with the idea. I researched pricing and services. I thought it all to death but didn’t move forward. I was so afraid that I would try… and fail.
Finally around Christmas 2010 I settled on the name of my new business venture, Bewitching Book Tours.
Right after Christmas I set up the site and tossed the idea out on Twitter and Facebook just to see if anyone showed interest.
And what do you know, they did.
Laura/Alayna was my first client, and I sincerely appreciate the chance she gave me. She knew me through Fang-tastic Books and I guess she just decided that what I offered sounded like what she needed. And it worked out fabulously. For both of us, I think.
I know it worked out for me. Within days I had several clients lined up for tours thanks to word of mouth promotion from authors (like Laura, Marta Acosta, and Vivi Anna) and all the book bloggers who helped spread the word about Bewitching Book Tours.
Now I have a great little business that I can do from home and work on when I’m not writing my own books and short stories.
I finally have a job that utilizes my organizational skills and puts my control freak personality to good use. LOL.
Seriously though I am happy to have found my niche’ in the publishing world helping authors promote their books with the knowledge and skills I’ve acquired over the years working on my own book promotion.
And I couldn’t do it without the amazing support of the book blogging and author community online.
Urban Fantasy is a relatively recent category in bookstores, though the roots of the genre reach far back into fantasy, hard-boiled film noir, and the Whedonverse. Laura Bickle discusses the past of UF and future directions with gratuitous references to Dashiell Hammett and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
by Alana Joli Abbott
I've done a lot of playing in other people's worlds. When I was just starting out as a writer – in my elementary school years – I wrote what we now call fan fiction. These were the days before the Internet, so any sharing was done by passing around hand-written or printed fictions to close friends and chatting about what we'd written about the characters. In my stories, I usually inserted myself and my close pals in worlds we knew pretty well. A script for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon on my father's electric typewriter was my first really long piece of writing. Shortly after that, I wrote a long chunk of a novel for the Star Wars universe. I really wanted to get some of the plot secrets worked out, so I wrote a letter to Kevin J. Anderson, who was then writing several of the extended universe books, asking him if he could tell me what happened to a particular character I wanted to use. He wrote me back a very polite post-card explaining he couldn't divulge any secrets of the future of the series! I look back and think how very patient he was to offer those words to a middle-school fan who was trying very hard to look like an adult writer.
I've done a lot of playing in other people's worlds. When I was just starting out as a writer – in my elementary school years – I wrote what we now call fan fiction. These were the days before the Internet, so any sharing was done by passing around hand-written or printed fictions to close friends and chatting about what we'd written about the characters. In my stories, I usually inserted myself and my close pals in worlds we knew pretty well. A script for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon on my father's electric typewriter was my first really long piece of writing. Shortly after that, I wrote a long chunk of a novel for the Star Wars universe. I really wanted to get some of the plot secrets worked out, so I wrote a letter to Kevin J. Anderson, who was then writing several of the extended universe books, asking him if he could tell me what happened to a particular character I wanted to use. He wrote me back a very polite post-card explaining he couldn't divulge any secrets of the future of the series! I look back and think how very patient he was to offer those words to a middle-school fan who was trying very hard to look like an adult writer.
As I got older – and read a lot of books that tied into what are usually called "shared worlds" (such as the Star Wars extended universe, or the Dungeons and Dragons settings of the Forgotten Realms or Eberron) – I realized that there's a lot more going on in writing in a shared setting than just telling a story with myself as one of the cast members. There's a lot of responsibility in sharing a setting with other writers. For one, you're not the last-word when it comes to the world. Because other writers need to play in the same sandbox, you can't take all of the shovels and pails home with you when you go. All the elements of the world have to stay consistent. This is especially true in the setting for a role playing game: your heroes can't solve all the world's problems, or there will be nothing for the player characters to do in their own games! When you're also sharing characters, it's even harder: those characters have to feel completely genuine, no matter who's writing them.
When I first started my writing career, I did a lot of work in the game industry, writing adventures and setting backgrounds for games that other people would play. One of the projects was the Chronicles of Ramlar, and the publishers liked my setting descriptions so much, they asked if I'd like to write a novel trilogy in the setting. I jumped at the chance and started on Into the Reach, the first of the Redemption Trilogy. The story is set in my favorite location in the campaign world of Eranon: the Reach, a place where people go to run away from their failures. I tried to imagine what type of people would go there, but would still come out heroes by the end of my trilogy. That's how I met Nara, Taru, Lydia, and Kennerly, four adventurers who suffered from enormous failures – or enormous losses – and had no place better to go. But, of course, adventure finds them even when they don't want to be found, and it's up to them to save their own little corner of the world.
While doing the writing, I had to keep in mind not only the story I wanted to tell, but also the feel of the game. The novel needed to echo what it might be like to be playing in the setting, so I tried to focus on making the setting a place that readers would want to visit with their own characters. I also added bits about parts of the game that were important – there's a section in Into the Reach where the characters get new armor, because armor was a really important part of the way the mechanics for the game worked. But the books also had to stand on their own as really good stories. Keeping those aspects balanced is a challenge that's very different from those faced by writers who are building their own worlds – but that's just part of the fun!
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Alana Joli Abbott is the author of two novels, Into the Reach andDeparture, and is the writer forCowboys and Aliens II. Her work has been featured in roleplaying games, includingChronicles of Ramlar,Steampunk Musha, and the award winning Serenity Adventures. Her short fiction has been featured in theCrown anthologies for DarkQuest Games, at Baeg Tobar, and in online magazines. Her love for fantasy and science fiction has led her to many diverse pursuits, including traveling to visit ancient ruins in Turkey, Greece, Ireland, the UK, and Mexico, singing madrigals, studying stage combat, and practicing kempo karate with her husband. She lives near New Haven, CT.
More info about Alana's books and RPG work:
Chronicles of Ramlar
I've contributed to several projects in the Chronicles of Ramlar line, including my two novels, Into the Reach and Departure. (A third,Regaining Home, is forthcoming.) Many people have asked me how I got the opportunity to write novels; it started at Origins 2005 when I met the WhiteSilver team. They asked me to do some work on the Chronicles of Ramlar RPG, designing a couple of cities. One hundred pages of world-description later, and the White Silver team asked if I might be interested in doing fiction as well. I jumped up and down a bit, then said yes, and that's how it happened!
Art by Lindsay Archer.
Into the Reach
In the land of Eranon, the Reach is a desolate place where people journey to forget who they are. Now, a menace rises from this wasteland, and he is hunting for someone. To keep the madman and his chaos behind the Reach, four adventurers with haunted pasts must rise to the challenge. But how can failed heroes bring hope to others when they doubt themselves?
Departure
Called to face the pasts they hoped to leave behind, Lydia, Kennerly, Nara, and Taru leave the Reach for the homes they once knew. There, new enemies have been set against them, driven by the same dark force they hoped they had defeated. Now the people they once most trusted have become pieces in a game that may lead them down the road to their deaths.
Allies and Adversaries
Art by Lindsay Archer.
This collection of NPCs features the official character sheets for Kennerly, Lydia, Nara, Taru, and Mordyss.
Chronicles of Ramlar RPG
I wrote the entire section that describes the RPG's world, including the adventure hooks.
More info on ROGUE ORACLE is here: http://juno-books.com/blog/?p=1158
And now...a nap!
I let him tear into the package, and he squealed with delight. There was a little friend inside! Sparky has named his new friend "Spot." They have been chasing the cats all week, and the winter doldrums are officially gone!
There was a lovely card in the package, which is now pinned over my desk. And also chocolate-covered gingerbread. Alas, I have no self-control, so these two pieces for the salamanders are all that remains!
