Unfortunately 2011 was a very rocky year for me, personally… but 2012 is looking wonderful. I now live in the middle of utter gorgeousness (the Colorado Rockies—I’ve always been a mountain girl at heart!) and I’m leading the life I always wanted. It’s funny how life works.
So I’m excited to tell you I have a new release out, and at just 99 cents! But keep reading to learn why it will be available for a limited time at some stores.
“Swords and Scimitars” is a prequel to Kismet’s Kiss and The Source of Magic. It’s a historical fantasy short story that tells of the origin of the sultanate of Kad.
Immortal twin brothers. One enchanted sword. A tragedy that propels them into legend.
The lives of well-born twins Kismet and Taso are easy and carefree—endless days of bedding women and fighting battles among the gods—until sorcery drives a wedge between them that slices deeper than flesh. Kismet has striven to be the ultimate warrior, but a mistake costs him his brother, his family, and his homeland.
He carves out a new life in the desert, rising to the command of a realm and an army, yet can’t escape his past. When two women beg for his aid against tyranny, he must sacrifice his freedom and his long-scarred heart to help them.
“Swords and Scimitars” is a 7,000-word short story (approximately 25 pages) about the immortal founders of verdant Teganne and desert Kad, two rival realms divided by magic—yet bound by blood, mistrust, and love.
Note: This short story is NOT a romance… at least not in the traditional sense. Heck, this is Kad, so you know things will be a bit unusual. :-)
Why “short time only”?
Because I’m likely to enroll “Swords and Scimitars” in the Amazon Select program, which requires exclusivity for at least 90 days. (Boo! Hiss!) So I wanted to make sure my loyal readers have an opportunity to buy it first, in whatever format they want, for a week.
To get a free sample or purchase this digital story for just 99 cents, head to the following retailers:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Smashwords (multiple formats available, including PDF, .ePub for iPad and nook, and .mobi for Kindle)
MORE NEWS!
Yes, more… The Source of Magic is going to become an audiobook this year. Wheee! AudioLark, an audiobook publisher that specializes in romance, will be rolling The Source of Magic out to Audible and other distributors. The tentative release date is August 2012. Hooray for Alvarr and Jilian!
As for the future…
I’m working on a new short story (or possibly a longer novella) about Kismet’s brother, Taso, who founds Teganne. I want it to be out in the next couple of months.
Then it’s on to The Soul of Magic, the romance of Rokad and Princess Qiara. It takes place in time between The Source of Magic and Kismet’s Kiss, and in the realms of both Teganne and Kad.
After that…it’s on to Kuramos’s wives! (They’re seriously annoyed that it’s taking so long to get to them, but it’ll be worth it. :-) )
Oh, and somewhere in there will be The Ocean Between Us, another fantasy romance contest winner about a siren mermaid and her prince.
I hope you’re enjoying a beautiful winter. I am, from my wonderful hidey hole in the Rockies, and I hope to have several of the above stories available in 2012. I’m honored to share my fantasy worlds with you!
I have a new post at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood today talking about developments in my life and my writing. Let’s just say that 2011 was not at all the year I expected. Still, Kismet and Mother Fate seem to be looking out for me. ;-)
There’s a new short story on the way, too. (Or at least I hope it’s just going to be a short story. As I mentioned in the comments there, it’s being ornery and keeps trying to grow!)
I can hardly believe that a year ago tomorrow I had my release day for Kismet’s Kiss. It’s been an amazing ride.
Yesterday I was giddy—giddy, I tell you!—about the new book I’m working on, The Soul of Magic. It takes place in between The Source of Magic and Kismet’s Kiss, and it’s been a real bear—until the last few days, when I realized what I needed to do to a character to make the story soar. Now this book the first thing I think of in the morning as I plan the next scenes. That feeling of immersion, of total engagement with the creation of a story, is what makes writing fun. I hope to have Soul done, polished, and published by the end of the year. (Cross your fingers for me ’cause it’ll be tight.)
And now that it’s the end of August, I have almost a full year of sales figures to share. Kiss and Source have been able to reach a wonderful audience, and I’m over at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood today giving all the info. Stop by and feel free to comment or ask questions!
Yep, the sequel to The Source of Magic and the second prequel to Kismet’s Kiss. (I know, you want Kuramos’s wives’ stories out. Me too! But sales are brisk indeed, so getting the link between the two published books into place makes sense.)
The working title is The Soul of Magic, and it’s the story of Princess Qiara (daughter of Jilian and Alvarr) and Rokad (former mage). I initially wrote 3/4 of a draft of this story back in 2002. Let’s just say that I’m a better writer now, and that when I reread the draft, most of it was unusable. In fact, it’s a total rewrite. But I’m enjoying seeing these two spar on the page and learn their lessons. And yes, Kuramos plays a role, as you may have surmised from the opening of Kismet’s Kiss. In fact, he’s the enemy in Soul, mwa ha ha. And oh yes, he shall be redeemed. :D
By the way, you might have seen mention of Jen Rashidi in the acknowledgments of Kismet’s Kiss. She read bits of Source back in 2001 and pushed me to write a sequel–which turned into Kiss. Life had intervened and I hadn’t seen or talked to Jen in almost a decade, but she got in touch on Facebook just a couple of weeks ago. YAY for renewed friendships! Facebook: so evil and yet so beloved.
Yessssssss! The prequel to Kismet’s Kiss is available now.
Jilian and Alvarr’s love story has endured quite a few twists and turns over the years. Even its release is an unusual tale, though a good one. You can read about it today at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood, where I’m interviewed by Joan Swan. The gist is that I’ve already sold 851 copies of The Source of Magic…all before it was officially released. =-) In the interview I also discuss some of the pros and cons of indie authordom.
You can get your own e-copy of The Source of Magic at:
and keep an eye out for it at the Apple, Sony, Kobo and Diesel stores, where it will appear in the following weeks.
Here’s the blurb:
When a gorgeous man clasps Jilian Stewart to his chest and yanks her from Scotland into a magical battle, she thinks it must be another of her bizarre dreams. Plagued by unnerving visions of this man, she’s sure they’re brought on by the stress of her mother’s deadly paralysis. Instead, Jilian finds herself ensnared in a world of fantasy, treachery, and family secrets, opposing the one man who can make everything right.
Prince Alvarr, her sexy abductor, offers a cure for her dying mother, but won’t send Jilian home with it until she helps him destroy the evil mage threatening his people—with mystical powers she never knew she had.
You can grab a sample for your e-reader at most of the above stores, or check out a web excerpt. (If you’ve read Kismet’s Kiss, you’ll recognize the excerpt. :-) )
Happy reading!
The Source of Magic is progressing very well! I should have the polishes done this weekend. It will be up for sale in early May–or earlier, if Fate be kind. My surgery is scheduled for the second half of April, though, so I’m not going to make promises. Except that Source is on its way soon. :)
Psst: if you’re looking for the answer to the question at The Romance Reviews, scroll down.
First, the bad (I’ll save the good for a minute because I always think it helps to have something to look forward to):
The Source of Magic won’t be ready by the end of this month.
I know. I’m disappointed, too, and truly sorry I can’t fulfill my promise to you.
(Get out your violin right now and let’s give it a workout.) I’ve been dealing with some health issues, including a newly diagnosed tumor. It’s non-cancerous, but it’s also been around for a long time—and nearly killed me in 2007, as it turns out. Fortunately, I’ll be getting it removed by specialists in a few weeks, and that should bring about a full cure.
(Wait, don’t pause the violin—I’m still going.) I’ve been spending too much time at the computer working on Source lately, and my wrists are starting to hurt. I have an ergonomic setup, but still have wrist pain—a bad sign, especially for a writer. Carpal tunnel trouble can wreck an author, and I can’t let it get that far.
(Nope, not yet—keep fiddling.) A brilliant critique partner has been suffering for three weeks now with a migraine cluster and one of my beta readers hasn’t had a chance to read any part of Source. I’m just not going to publish something that isn’t ready, and these ladies make sure my books are. So I’m going to have to pull back for a bit until life returns to something approximating normal for all of us.
Again, I apologize.
Okay, at ease with the violin! Here’s the good news:
Kismet’s Kiss has been nominated for both Best Fantasy Romance and Best Debut of 2010 by TheRomanceReviews.com. Yes, I’m thrilled! :D I believed in this book from the beginning, and I’m so glad I followed my vision for it, despite the pit stops and detours along its wiggly path to success.
If you enjoyed Kiss, I would greatly appreciate it if you take a few moments to vote for it in its two categories. (You can vote for more than one book in each, by the way.) Thank you!
I’m about a week away from finishing up my second-to-last round of edits on The Source of Magic. Hooray! I’m like the hugely pregnant, somewhat cranky woman who cannot WAIT to get this baby born and out. Fortunately, I’m still on target for a publication in the second half of March.
I’ve been playing with a super-short blurb that can fit on a business card. Thanks to the help of my Ruby Sisters, it’s being narrowed down. Here’s one of the possibilities:
Abducted from modern Scotland into a magical realm, Jilian discovers her own mystical powers and faces a terrible choice: bind herself to the sexy Prince Alvarr to help him save thousands of people from a great Evil… or escape and cure the dying mother she left behind.
This seems a good time to unveil Source‘s new cover, too. Hope you like. :)
I’ve been lucky that Kismet’s Kiss has been blessed by excellent reviews, so I found it interesting that today two bloggers weighed in with somewhat inter-conflicting verdicts. That, plus a friend’s apparently mixed Romantic Times review for her debut, has me mulling over the amount of angst writers invest in other people’s opinions.
Many of us start by revising our novels to please our critique partners. (Fortunately, those CPs are often brilliant people who understand our strengths and weaknesses as storytellers and give us smart advice. ;) )
Then we may go on to refine things based on contests. (I was a Contest Slut, er, Queen, for a very long time. Some judges’ comments were truly insightful suggestions. Other comments, however, completely conflicted with one other. Same contest, same entry, and yet what one judge loved another hated. That was my First Major Lesson: the subjective nature of writing.)
Then comes feedback from agents and/or editors. Since these people are higher up the publishing food chain, writers tend to put more stock in that feedback. The problem is that it can be just as subjective as anyone else’s. Yes, those employed in the industry have often read a ton of books and have a good sense of what will work and what won’t in the traditional marketplace. But not always. That’s why a book can be rejected by twelve editors and yet bought and adored by the thirteenth.
Next come the reviews, whether from Romantic Times and Publisher’s Weekly, blogger sites like Dear Author and SmartBitchesTrashyBooks, or from readers themselves at Amazon, Goodreads, etc. Of course, everyone has their own likes and tastes. And just as with the contest judges, reviewers may disagree. That’s what happened with Kismet’s Kiss today.
Exhibit A, from the new Pink Owl Reviews:
“Like many of the reviewers out there who spoke of Kismet’s Kiss, we were wary once we got the whole picture. A man with six wives? Falling for a beautiful healer who believes in monogamy? Now how on (their) Earth would this work out? And would we even be rooting for it to?
Well, it does. And we did. And it was beautiful.”
Final rating: 9 out of 10.
Exhibit B, from Lovin’ Me Some Romance:
This was a nice review (3.5/5) that took issue with the basic premise of Kismet’s Kiss–the same premise the above reviewer at Pink Owl ended up loving. (The LMSR review is wonderfully detailed, though, and worth a read even if I–perhaps not surprisingly–happen to disagree with the reviewer’s inferences about the storyline. :)
Anyway, getting these two reviews on the same day underscores that it’s not possible to please everyone. What one editor or reviewer or reader loves may really bug another.
The funny thing is that as authors, we usually hope–deep down inside–that we can please everyone. We know it’s impossible, but hey, our stories are our babies. Of course we want the whole world to love them.
Don’t you find it funny that the Universe has a way of nudging us in timely ways? This morning before I knew about either of the above reviews, I read a blog post by Zoe Winters that preemptively reminded me of the First Major Lesson. Zoe’s post definitely made me think, although I should warn you that she…um…does not tend to mince words. Here it is: “Readers Aren’t Co-Authors.”
I understand where Zoe is coming from. I can’t change my vision or the multi-novel arc of my story world to suit other people. Some readers (or reviewers) may disagree with my choices, but that’s to be expected, considering the breadth of human tastes and opinions. No writer can run a poll for every decision (or the soup/novel will be spoiled because there are too many cooks in the kitchen).
But I feel just a little bit differently than Zoe does. I certainly write for myself…but I also write for my readers. If I didn’t write for them, I would never have bothered to publish my work (’cause what would be the point?). Readers’ enjoyment of my stories keeps me going.
The world of Alaia is no longer simply mine–it exists in some real way because other people have now spent time with it. I’m incredibly grateful for their investment and imagination. Those are precious things. Readers’ questions and excitement about Alaia remind me why I do what I do–even if some of them disagree with my choices.
I now realize that’s the Second Major Lesson. :)
I know, long time no hear from. I’ve had my head down and buried in revisions for The Source of Magic, which will be out in March. I passed the “I hate this freaking book” stage (a common one during revisions) and made it into “hmm, maybe I kind of like it now,” so that’s a good sign.
I may have a cover to share soon, too. W00T!
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