Author Archives: disq2332

About disq2332

I'm Gail Z. Martin and I write epic fantasy, urban fantasy and steampunk--so far! My newest series is Scourge: A Novel of Darkhurst. I'm also the author for the Chronicles of the Necromancer series, The Fallen Kings Cycle, The Ascendant Kingdoms Saga, the Deadly Curiosities urban fantasy series and co-authored with my husband, Larry N. Martin, the steampunk series Iron & Blood.
by | May 13, 2013 · 9:52 am

Q&A with Kimberly Richardson

1. What do you read for fun? – Since I write dark and creepy fantasy, my reading tends to be classic works of literature. Right now, I am reading Sophie’s Choice by William Styron.

2. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer? – Write, write, write! Everyone has a story inside of them; all it takes is just one word, one sentence.

3. What is the title of your newest book or short story?  What’s it about?  Where can readers find it? – My newest short story is Agnes Viridian and the Search for the Scales. It is part of Pro Se Press’ newest anthology entitled Black Pulp: Pulp stories with an African American hero/heroine. My character, Agnes Viridian, is a woman filled with knowledge of all kinds; she has been called by the mysterious Mr. O to search for his missing scales. . . .

4. Where can readers find you on social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Library Thing, Redd It, etc.) – Facebook (Kimberly Richardson), Twitter (ViridianGirl) and my blog, The Nocturnal Aesthetic.

5. What inspired your new book or story? – When I was younger, I wrote the Indiana Kim stories: a little girl who, like Indiana Jones, goes off in search of treasure while fighting her arch nemesis, Dr. Doom. Agnes Viridian is basically Indiana Kim grown up yet still filled with adventure!

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by | May 9, 2013 · 9:28 am

Well Begun is Half Done (Especially with Writing!)

by Gail Z. Martin

How do you know where your story begins?

Doesn’t it begin at, well, the beginning?

Not necessarily—at least, not that the reader needs to know.

My new book, Ice Forged, begins with a murder.  It’s important for readers to see the murder occur so that they understand my main character, who commits the murder and is sent into exile.  Chapter two picks up six years later.

Why?  Because nothing else relevant happens to the plot happens until then.

Couldn’t I have just begun the book with Chapter 2 and done a flashback?  Perhaps.  But by beginning the book where I did, the reader gains an understanding of the main character that I don’t think would have been as strong had it been recounted through a flashback or a dream or by having someone just tell about it.

I faced a similar challenge in another book, where the action in the first chapter occurs immediately after the end of the previous book.  My hero is pinned down in a battle.  On my first draft, I had them take cover in a barn.  When I re-read the draft, I realized that having the book open with my hero hiding in a barn didn’t seem very, well, heroic.  So I jumped the action ahead to a few moments later, when he actively engages in the fight.

What’s the right place to begin a story?  That depends.  It depends on the reaction you want your reader to have as they read the beginning.  It also depends on where the meat of your story arc takes place.

Here’s the most important thing: Your beginning absolutely MUST grab the reader so hard with the first sentence, first paragraph and first page and he or she cannot set the book aside.

Agents and editors reading over a manuscript will only go on to page two if your first page has grabbed them.  Readers flipping through your book in a store or on line are just as particular.  You don’t have time to take dozens of pages setting the scene.  You’ve got to score a knock-out punch on page one.

I’ve done a lot of manuscript analysis for a book shepherd in California, and one of the most frequent issues I find in not-yet-published books is a slow beginning.  One book took more than 30 pages for the main character just to get out of bed!  If you find yourself with a slow beginning, ask yourself where the real action begins and try starting the book there.

Yes, you the author need to know all the other details.  But you don’t have to share them with the reader.  Remember, you’ve only got one sentence, one paragraph, one page to turn a browser into a buyer.  Grab ‘em by the lapels and give them a good shake so that they can’t stop turning the pages!

Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013.  Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit Books).  For more about Gail’s books and short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for frequent discussions on Goodreads.

Read an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://a.pgtb.me/JvGzTt

 

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by | May 6, 2013 · 9:32 am

Q&A with E. Rose Sabin

Q. What is the title of your newest book?  What’s it about?  Where can readers find it? 

A. My newest book is the fantasy novel Mistress of the Wind, a novel set in the same world and country as my four YA novels: A School for Sorcery, A Perilous Power, and When the Beast Ravens (all published by Tor) and the independently published Bryte’s Ascent. However, Mistress is more “new adult” than YA. In the novel, Windspeaker Kyla Cren sings to the wind, understands its moods, gathers news from it, and treats it as her lover, yet she longs for a companionship that the capricious wind cannot provide. Her quest for friendship and love carries her to a land filled with hostility and hate, where her windspeaking ability is useless. To save herself, she must trust a magical and mysterious being whose lies have already sent her into grave danger, a young woman who has known nothing but treachery and deceit, and a man whose love can cause her death—or his own. It’s available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble as well as from my publisher’s site, https://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com

Q. What’s your favorite part of writing a new book or story?  What do you like the least?

A. My favorite part is the beginning, in which I expand on what starts as a vague ideas, develop characters, decide on the plot, and write the opening chapter or chapters.  That’s an exciting time, when ideas come so fast that I can hardly get them written on my computer. I also love reaching the end of a novel and tying it up in a satisfying way. Sometimes it turns out very differently from the way I expected and the ending works far better than the way I’d intended would have. I love it when the characters come alive and talk to me and point me in the direction the plot needs to take. The part I like least is writing the middle of the book, in which it seems that the novel can’t possibly work and what do I think I’m doing? I always have to slog through that stage, telling myself that I can fix the parts that don’t work and the novel  is doable, no matter how discouraging it may seem at that point. And generally I get through that and the novel works, although sometimes I do have to set that novel aside for a time and work on something else until I can take a fresh look at it and solve the problem that had stopped me.

Q. Where can readers find you on social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Library Thing, Redd It, etc.)

A. I am on Facebook both with a personal page and an author’s page: E. Rose Sabin’s Books. I’m also on Twitter as @erosesabin and on Goodreads and LinkedIn as Elenora Sabin. I have posted all my book covers on Pinterest.

By the way, I write as E. Rose Sabin, using my first initial and my middle name so I can use a rose as my logo and mainly because people tend to misspell Elenora in many different and inventive ways.

Q. Who are your favorite fictional characters—your own, and from other books, TV shows and movies?

A. As for my own favorite fictional characters, I’d have to say Lina from A School for Sorcery and When the Beast Ravens and China from the Terrano Trilogy. (I enjoy writing the bad girls.) From other books, I loved Corwin from Roger Zelazny’s Amber series, Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels, and Door from Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman—both the novel and the BBC TV series, and also from TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Q. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

A. Be persistent; don’t give up. But at the same time, don’t be in such a hurry to be published that you send your work out to agents and publishers before it’s ready. Be sure you’ve given it a thorough editing and have had it read and critiqued by other writers whose opinion you trust (not family members). I’ve seen too many self-published novels with amateurish errors in spelling, punctuation, and grammar and with plot holes large enough to swallow a house and garden. Have enough faith in yourself to accept criticism, decide whether it’s justified, and, if it is, make corrections that improve your work.

For a special treat, head over to the Ghost In The Machine podcast to hear E. Rose read from her latest novel by clicking here.

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by | May 2, 2013 · 9:26 am

Dreaming Up the End of the World

by Gail Z. Martin

A blank page is always daunting, no matter how much opportunity it presents.

I don’t know if it ever stops being scary when you start writing a brand new book in a new world with new characters, but if it does, I haven’t gotten to that point yet.

I had gotten very comfortable in my world of the Winter Kingdoms, the setting for my previous six books in the  Chronicles of the Necromancer series and the Fallen Kings Cycle.  I knew the characters.  I had the lay of the land clearly in mind, and I had spent a lot of time creating the culture, religion and history.

But there were stories I wanted to tell that didn’t fit in that world, so for Ice Forged, I had to dream up a whole world–and bring it to its knees.

I’m not a big fan of modern apocalyptic fiction, perhaps a side effect of having grown up during the Cold War.   But the idea of an apocalypse in a medieval setting intrigued me, especially if magic was involved.  I liked the idea of having a culture that was dependent upon magic come apart at the seams when magic goes “off the grid” (so to speak) at the same time as a devastating war.  And I liked the idea that the people whom that culture had thrown away–exiled to a far-off prison colony–might be the only ones who could put the pieces back together.

So with a germ of a plot idea, I started thinking about the characters who could bring the plot to life, and the type of culture that would create the best setting for the story.  The weather in Edgeland, where the prison colony is located, plays a big role in the story, so I needed to think through what impact the weather would have on the colony and how it contrasted with what the colonists were used to.  I thought about the technology of a medieval culture that has acquired its stability and prosperity relying on magic for essential parts of its infrastructure, and what would happen when that infrastructure failed.  I asked myself questions about how magic works in this world (quite differently from how it functioned in my prior world), and how magic factored into the history of this continent.

As I pulled the pieces together, I kept circling back to the characters asking, “How would that affect a person from that culture?”  Doing that helps me to shape the customs, beliefs, holidays, cultural norms, socio-economic divisions and texture of the world, because all those elements arise from a confluence of geography, history, and technology.

So consider this an invitation to come and visit the world of Ice Forged!  I hope you’ll have as much fun exploring as I have had creating this world.

Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013.  Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit Books).  For more about Gail’s books and short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for frequent discussions on Goodreads.

Read an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://a.pgtb.me/JvGzTt

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by | April 29, 2013 · 9:00 am

Guest Interview with Toni V Sweeney

1. What is the title of your newest book or short story? What’s it about?  Where can readers find it?

My latest novel is the 5th in the Adventures of Sinbad series, from Double Dragon Publishing  It’s called Sinbad’s War, and, just as the title indicates, the galaxy’s once more at war. This time, however, instead of being a child in a war-torn galaxy, Sinbad’s a man fighting in one.  He has more reason than most to win this war, for his home planet is attacked, his wife and infant daughter killed and his son Adam’s wife is carried off by the invaders, along with many other women on the planet.  Sin, his sons, and his grandson enlist and are soon in the middle of the battle.

 2. How did you choose to become a writer?

I don’t think anyone chooses to become a writer. It’s inborn, like being able to play the piano. You have the ability, you just need to cultivate and develop it.

3. What’s your favorite part of writing a new book or story?  What do you like the least?

There are always some scenes that seem to flow better than others.  Usually I find the most emotional ones work well. Don’t know why. Perhaps it’s because I’ve lived through so much emotion I can channel it onto paper better.

4. What inspired your new book or story?

It was a natural progress.  Unlike some series where the characters appear to stay the same age and everything occurring would theoretically have to happen in very condensed circumstances to fit in, Sin starts out as a very young, unencumbered smuggler and progresses to a much older shipping magnate and grandfather.  It was only natural that, since he lives in the galaxy governed by the United Terran Federation (and we all know how belligerent those Terrans are) sooner or later, he, and the galaxy, would be involved in a war of some kind.  So I decided to show how that war would affect him and his family.

5. How do you research your stories? 

When I’m writing one of my “medieval fantasies,” or sword and sorcery as they used to be called, I do a lot of delving into lives, history, and customs in the years 1000-1400.  Then I adjust what I’ve read accordingly to whatever locale and people I’m writing about.  Most of what I use is based on fact in one way or another.  I try to keep actual dates accurate, as well as spellings, and be as realistic as possible down to the smallest detail.

6. Where can readers find you on social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Library Thing, Redd It, etc.)

BUY LINK FOR SINBAD’S WAR: https://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/single.php?ISBN=1-77115-089-0
URL: https://www.tonivsweeney.com/
Goodreads: https://https://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=Toni+V+Sweeney
MySpace: https://https://www.myspace.com/tvsweeneyhttps://https://www.myspace.com/tvsweeney
Facebook: https://https://www.facebook.com/tvsweeneyhttps://https://www.facebook.com/tvsweeney
Amazon: https://https://www.amazon.com/Toni-V.-Sweeney/e/B002BLQBB8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1365694962&sr=1-2-enthttps://https://www.amazon.com/Toni-V.-Sweeney/e/B002BLQBB8/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1365694962&sr=1-2-ent
Twitter: @tonivsweeney
Author Database: https://https://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/2030-toni-v-sweeneyhttps://https://authorsdb.com/authors-directory/2030-toni-v-sweeney
Ask David: https://https://askdavid.com/search/Toni-V.-Sweeneyhttps://https://askdavid.com/search/Toni-V.-Sweeney
Youtube: https://https://www.youtube.com/user/tvsweeney?feature=mhee

7. Who are your favorite fictional characters—your own, and from other books, TV shows and movies?

Mine:  Sinbad (The Adventures of Sinbad) and Aric kan Ingan (The kan Ingan Archives)

Other books:  Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files); Eve Dallas and Roarke (The In Death series)

TV:  Richard Castle  (Castle)

8. What do you read for fun?

I like Regency romances, mysteries, and paranormal novels.

9. Was there a book you read in your childhood or teen years that changed your world? Tell us which book and how it made a difference for you.

I read so many books as a child I can’t select just one! I got a library card when I was seven and I’m 70 now, so that’s a lot of reading material and time.

10. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

Don’t talk about it, do it!  If you’ve been wanting to write that novel, get it out of your head and into the computer or on paper or somewhere tangible…then take it from there.

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by | April 25, 2013 · 9:25 am

Dark Fantasy vs. Horror—Where’s the Line?

by Gail Z. Martin

Several years ago, there was a commercial for a chocolate/peanut butter product where a man eating peanut butter out of a jar bumped into a man eating a chocolate bar. “You got peanut butter on my chocolate!” exclaimed one man.  “You got chocolate in my peanut butter!” said the other.

Every time I end up on a panel at a convention about the line between dark fantasy and horror, I think of that commercial.  “You got horror in my fantasy!  You got fantasy in my horror!”

I write dark epic fantasy.  At least, that’s what I’m told.  Everyone puts their lines in slightly different places.  “High” fantasy, so some say, has to have dwarves and elves, while “epic” just has to play out on a big scale with kings and queens and big, world war action.  “Dark” seems to apply to the size of the body count and how much of the mayhem occurs “on screen” vs. “off screen.”  If we read descriptions of blood flowing and heads rolling, as opposed to just being told “lots of people died,” that seems to be the threshold.

So with all that blood, what’s the difference between horror and dark fantasy?  I’m going to go out on a limb here (no pun intended) and give you where I draw my line, for what it’s worth.  I think it depends on whether the adventure is primary and the blood and horrific elements are secondary, or whether the focus is on suspense and fear, and no small amount of blood.

In other words, “You got blood on my adventure!” vs. “Your adventure is detracting from my sense of pervasive fear!”

There are definitely horrific elements in my books. There’s a fair amount of realistic battle violence with eviscerations, beheadings, impalements and severed limbs.  People get burned alive, trampled by horses, bled dry by vampires, ripped limb from limb, and get savaged by beasts.  Supernatural elements include nasty vampires and hungry shapeshifters, sadistic warlords and bloodthirsty necromancers, ghosts and barrow wights and ghouls that eat the dead, vengeful goddesses from the underworld with a taste for blood, animated corpses, menacing shadows and magicked monsters with rows of razor-sharp teeth.  Stolen souls and possession by spirits of the dead….I could go on, but you get the picture.  In Ice Forged, you get a look at what MWMD (Magical Weapons of Mass Destruction) can do, in a Doomsday weapon scenario played out on multi-continental level of cataclysm.

BUT, and for me, this is the issue, the adventure is always the focus.  All of the aforementioned horrific elements happen in service to the adventure.  Evoking fear and suspense are not the end goal.  There’s more at stake (again, pardon the pun) than seeing who gets out alive.

For example, in my new book Ice Forged, there is plenty of murder and mayhem, blood and death, and dark supernatural elements.  But for me, the adventure is always the primary focus.

Now doubtless others will have differing ideas on where the line is drawn, and I’d welcome comments.  But for me, as I think through my books, that’s how I see it.

Most importantly, I want readers to have a thrilling ride.  I want my books to be the roller coaster you get off, pale and shaky but grinning from ear to ear, the one that makes you say, “That was fun—let’s do it again!”

Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013.  Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit Books).  For more about Gail’s books and short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for frequent discussions on Goodreads.

Read an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://a.pgtb.me/JvGzTt

 

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by | April 18, 2013 · 9:24 am

The View from Outside the YA Fence

by Gail Z. Martin

At book signings, I frequently am asked, “What age reader is your book right for?”

That’s a hard one.  It depends on the reader.   So I ask, “What age is the reader you have in mind?”

Sometimes, the person is concerned that my books might be too adult for a teen or tween.  Sometimes, they’re concerned that my books might be too juvenile for an adult.

How do I answer?  It depends.

I wrote my Chronicles of the Necromancer and Fallen Kings Cycle series for adults, as I did with my new book, Ice Forged.  But frankly, although my mother lived to be 89 years old, I would never have suggested that she read them.  They’d have given her nightmares, and she would have feared for the welfare of my soul.  They were too dark for her.

On the other hand, I’ve got three teenage children.  Each of them was ready for different stuff at different ages.  My oldest daughter had a teacher who decreed, in eighth grade, that she could only read college-level books for class credit.  While that might have been great to challenge her vocabulary, the teacher seemed to have forgotten that many of those college-level books dealt with themes and world views that were over the head of even a very precocious 13 year-old.  We spent that year having a number of “teachable moments”, and still found that there is no way to fully impart understanding to someone who just hasn’t lived long enough to understand certain perspectives. (That teacher remains on my “naughty” list for sheer cluelessness.)

My middle daughter listened in on all those teachable moments, and picked different books that led to different long car discussions.  My son wasn’t interested in reading anything too edgy, although we’ve had those “teachable moment” discussions on video games.

As I head back into stores with Ice Forged, a novel where the adventure begins when the world ends, I’m sure I’ll get more people asking, “Who did you write this for?”

So here’s my personal set of questions that I ask of parents when deciding whether or not my books are right for their teen or tween:

–Has he/she read fantasy books with some detailed battles, scary elements and character deaths? (Like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter?)

–Do they like supernatural elements?

–Are they comfortable with more mature themes like death and betrayal?

–Are they OK with some cursing? (Swear words and vulgarities appropriate to the language style of particular characters.)

As I said in the beginning, I wrote my books for adults, and that’s the target market.  At the same time, I’ve picked up readers age 13 and up who had the maturity and the reading experience to enjoy the books.  I get letters from readers of all ages who loved the books and the characters. Did my youngest readers pick up on everything I put in the books?  Maybe not (but then again, there were probably some adult readers who missed things, too).  What matters is that they had a good roller coaster ride of an experience and hopefully left still hungry for more of the genre.

Likewise, well-written YA books rightfully attract large adult readers because they have depth and yet retain their sense of wonder.  I’m a big fan of Harry Potter, the Percy Jackson books and other books that I read right along with my kids and loved.   And I’ve also questioned and challenged the unrelenting darkness of some YA (and adult) books, because I don’t believe that being “real” is the same as being depressed, cynical and bitter.

So that’s my two-cents.  Personally, I think that categories like “YA” are arbitrary designations used mostly to help booksellers and libraries determine where to shelve books.  I know that when I was a teen, long before the “YA” designation, I was chomping through some books that would have turned my mom’s hair white had she but known.  At the same time, there were a few books I picked up and put back down again because I found them to be too much.  (I’ll admit that it was probably a mistake to read “Deliverance” when I was 10.)

Ultimately, we find those boundaries for ourselves.  We delight in sneaking a peek at the “forbidden” books that mom thinks are too much for us (but that we’re actually ready for), and hate some of the books our teachers think are developmental but are just plain despondent.  But that’s part of the joy of reading, as we discover uncharted territory and find what speaks to us.

So don’t get too tangled up with categories.  Read the books that speak to you, regardless of genre.  Don’t worry what other people think about what someone “your age” should be reading.  Read what you love, and don’t let people pressure you into reading books that detract from your love of reading.  At the same time, stretch yourself occasionally to read something uncomfortable, even upsetting, if the story is worthwhile.  A good book can change your life.

Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013.  Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit Books).  For more about Gail’s books and short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for frequent discussions on Goodreads.

Read an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://a.pgtb.me/JvGzTt

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by | April 15, 2013 · 9:51 am

Q&A With Toni V. Sweeney

By Toni V Sweeney

1.     What is the title of your newest book or short story? What’s it about?  Where can readers find it?
I’ve two novels coming out this month from Class ACT BOOKS….YAHOO! DOUBLE FEATURE!

One is a little fantasy called That Demon in Blue Jeans. It’s about a girl who asks the Devil to send her a “Bad Boy” and what happens when he does. It’s being re-issued by Class Act Books on April 15.  The original was a short story. This one is re-edited, re-furbished, and a much longer version.

The other is another entry in the Lovers of Leonesse series called The Seventh Mothman. It’s a bit of steampunk,  rolled up in a romance, about a group of soldiers who use flying machines to fight, a girl disguised as a boy who infiltrates their ranks, and the mix-ups that causes.

2. How did you choose to become a writer?

I didn’t “choose” to be a writer, I was born one.  I just had to recognize that fact and do something with it.

3. What’s your favorite part of writing a new book or story?  What do you like the least?

I like to get a story going with a good beginning, catch the reader with the first line, if possible…something that’s make him blink, say, “I’ve got to find out more,” and keep on reading.

There are always some parts I have trouble writing.  I really hate death scenes or scenes where someone leaves someone else.  Once I took the coward’s way out and had someone die between one chapter and the next and had the characters simply say he’d died.

4. What inspired your new book or story?

That Demon in Blue Jeans was inspired by the 1980’s country/Western song “Somebody’s knockin’ sung by Terri Gibbs…about a young woman who answers a knock at the door and finds a blue-eyed, blue jean-wearing devil there.  I took it from that point and showed just what happened to her and the blue-eyed devil.  It was a fun story to write.

The Seventh Mothman had a very odd origin, though I suppose all books have odd origins if you think about it.  I wanted to write another in the Leonesse series but was stalled as to what it would be.  I’d heard about the”Mothman” legend and was intrigued by that word but I didn’t want a paranormal story, so I got to thinking of what else a moth man could be and I came up with someone who flew a plane in a time when airplanes weren’t exactly common vehicles.

5. How do you research your stories? 

No matter era I’m writing or even if it’s a fantasy set on another world, there’s always some research to be done. I do a lot of delving into lives and history to be as accurate as possible, whether it’s a certain gemstone that’s supposed to aid memory or whether or not a man in 1812 would be smoking a cigarette he’d just lit with a match. A lot of the names and “foreign” words I use are actually the original forms of words and names we use today.

6. Where can readers find you on social media? (Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Library Thing, Redd It, etc.)

URL: https://www.tonivsweeney.com/

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/tvsweeney

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Adventures-of-Sinbad/248540951861742

 

AMAZON CENTRAL: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/profile

GOODREADS: https://www.goodreads.com/author/dashboard

MYSPACE: https://www.myspace.com/tvsweeney

TWITTER: @tonivsweeney

 

7. Who are your favorite fictional characters—your own, and from other books, TV shows and movies?

Mine:  Sinbad (The Adventures of Sinbad) and Aric kan Ingan (The kan Ingan Archives)

Other books:  Harry Dresden (The Dresden Files); Eve Dallas and Roarke (The In Death series)

TV:  Richard Castle  (Castle)

8. What do you read for fun?

I like Regency romances, mysteries, and paranormal novels.

9. Was there a book you read in your childhood or teen years that changed your world? Tell us which book and how it made a difference for you.

When I was seven, my mother got me a library card and I’ve been a first class patron ever since.  With the advent of ebooks, I’ve now read so many novels, etc., it’d be impossible for me to select just one.

10. What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?

If you’ve been wanting to write a novel…do it!  Get it out of your head and into the computer or on paper or somewhere tangible. If you don’t have a computer or a typewriter, write it in long hand, but get it written, and take it from there.

The Renaissance…Romance…and a Bit of  Steampunk…

THE SEVENTH MOTHMAN, The second offering in the LOVERS OF LEONESSE series…available soon from Class Act Books.

When Andre duCleau’s Will leaves his entire estate to his runaway son, François, daughter Antoinette is forced to make a drastic choice:  Find her brother or live in poverty.   She chooses the later and travels to Leonesse disguised as a young nobleman.  Antoinette doesn’t find François, but she does find a home with the city’s flying squadron, the Mothmen.

Once the guardians of Leonesse, these brash young men took to the air in flying machines created by King Georges’ Venitani inventor, but now, they and their brave deeds have been almost forgotten…until war again arises.

Secure in her disguise, Antoinette is ready to fight…until her feelings for Etienne, a fellow flyer, get in the way.  What will happen if Etienne and the others discover her secret?  Will they denounce her or will they accept as The Seventh Mothman?

“There is humor, suspense, love, romance, and a strong array of characters.”

–Linda Tonis, Parasnormal Romance Guild reviewer.

 

 

That Demon in Blue Jeans, available soon from Class Act Books.

Kate Carter has always considered herself a good girl, but she’s also a very lonely one because of that fact.  One night, she does something rash…she asks the Devil to send her his baddest Bad Boy, all for her own.

What Kate gets however is Zel, an underachieving incubus, who’s in line for evaluation.  Zek’s failed every review he’s had for the last ten thousand years, and Kate’s his last hope for promotion.  This assignment is one he’s desperate to pass.

What follows is a night of passion neither mortal nor demon can forget and that leads to complications…as Kate and Zel realize they’ve fallen in love…and that the Devil had plans for both of them…

“Fantasy or not, a good story is a good story and Demon in Blue Jeans is that in triplicate. If the chill of loneliness prevails and a spicy romance is desired, then Toni V. Sweeney has just what you need with Demon in Blue Jeans.”

–C.B. Smith, author of Still Life with Psychotic Squirrel and Diary of a Teenage Faërie Princess.

“…suspend your belief and get carried away with a total fantasy. And Toni V. Sweeney definitely delivers with Demon in Blue Jeans.”

 

–Margaret Marr. Nights and Weekends

 

 

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by | April 11, 2013 · 9:23 am

Facebook Fandom: Social Media, Authors and Readers

by Gail Z. Martin

Not so very long ago, if you wanted to let an author know how much you enjoyed his/her book, you had to write a letter and mail it to the author in care of his/her publisher, hoping that the author would eventually receive it.  You didn’t really expect to hear back, but if a postcard with a few scribbled lines did come your way, it was a rare treasure worthy of framing.

Back in the day, if you were lucky enough to live near a big city, authors might come to a book signing at a local store.  You’d only know about the signing if you read about it in the newspaper, saw a sign in the store window or happened to be on the store’s mailing list, but if you did find out in time, you might have a few seconds to talk to the author while he/she signed your book.  No one expected more, unless you were a regular at genre conventions, a pastime limited to a very small sub-set of die-hard fans in major cities.

How times have changed!  Today, every author who is at all serious about the craft has a web site, a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, an Amazon author page, a blog, often a podcast, and a presence on sites like Shelfari and Goodreads.  Authors also have email newsletters, video trailers on YouTube, downloadable excerpts and bonus material, even avatars in Second Life that hold virtual readings for an audience of virtual people.

As I’ve gotten ready for the launch of my new book, Ice Forged, I’ve taken nearly all of those components into consideration, making sure that I’m accessible to readers through a variety of channels, and assuring that readers can sample the book in as many places as possible.

What changed, besides technology?  The short answer is: everything.

Digital publishing, print-on-demand and ebooks made it possible the democratization of publishing.  Social media meant that anyone with a computer and an Internet connection could have a global reach greater than many cable TV networks.  Amazon and other online booksellers made books available to a world-wide audience, and ebooks eliminated the costly issues of advance printings, warehousing and distribution.

The number of new books climbed to approximately one million (counting all forms of publishing) in 2010 by one estimate.  How do readers find the next book to read amid all the titles competing for their attention?

Relationships.

Social media enables authors to create relationships with readers that last beyond a casual comment at a signing or a fan letter.  Watch a video, and you have an idea of the book that goes beyond the blurb on the back cover.  Read the reviews on Amazon or Goodreads, and you can get a sense for what a cross-section of readers think.  Participate in the forums and community of sites like Goodreads, and you build relationships with other readers while also getting to have a real, ongoing conversation with the authors who are active on those sites.  Read an author’s blog, and not only do you have continuity between book releases, but you also get some insight into the person who creates the works you enjoy, along with the way to comment.  Stay tuned to the author’s Facebook page, Twitter feed and web site, and you no longer have to depend on the book store or news media to keep you informed about new books and appearances.

Social media has transformed what were once two solitary and disconnected activities: writing and reading.  Sure, you could discuss books with your friends, or with a book club, but even the old-fashioned online bulletin boards don’t compare with the quantity of discussion opportunities available through communities like Goodreads, LibraryThing and ReddIt.  Authors who couldn’t afford to do a national tour once had few options for engaging with readers outside of their local area.  Now, authors Skype into book club meetings on the other side of the world to make a personal appearance, upload readings to iTunes and add video greetings to their web sites.

All this technology has also opened up new opportunities for writer and readers.  Some authors have experimented with crowd-sourcing books, where creative collaboration is part of the fun.  Other authors “test drive” ideas and scenes with their Facebook followers.  Certainly it’s become not only possible, but desirable for authors to post short stories, deleted scenes, bonus material and out-of-print books, as well as new books on a schedule that fits the needs of the author/reader, outside of the timetable of publishers.

Comments and forum boards mean that readers can get beyond the opinions of professional reviewers and see what other readers think, add their two-cents, and commune with like-minded others.  Authors can encourage each other, support each other’s launches, share resources, and collaborate, or just stay in touch between conventions.

Personally, I think it’s great—and I hope that you’ll find me and friend me so that we can begin a conversation that becomes a relationship!

Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013.  Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit Books).  For more about Gail’s books and short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for frequent discussions on Goodreads.

Read an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://a.pgtb.me/JvGzTt

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by | April 4, 2013 · 9:22 am

A Method to the Madness

by Gail Z. Martin

Anne asked me to write about my process for writing.

Which made me stop and think: Do I have a process?  And if I do, can I explain it?

Here’s where I wish I could launch into a detailed explanation of my very cool, very “literary” (you have to say that word with a bit of a British accent and separate the syllables so it sounds very upper crust) process of wandering through the woods, listening to classical music and reading philosophy.

Ah, yes.  Ahem.  Except that I don’t really work that way.

Well, sometimes I listen to classical music.

The reality goes more like this.  I get an idea.  I noodle on the idea while I walk the dogs and do the dishes and drive in traffic.  The idea expands.  I write an outline, which tends to make my agent and editor very happy.

I noodle on the outline and revise it. I start writing, and visualize the scene, so when I’m typing, I’m just transcribing the “movie” I see on the inside of my eyelids.  I keep on going this way, asking, “and then what?” and typing away, often with a glazed look on my face.  Family members complain that they can walk in front of me, speak to me, wave their hands and jump up and down and I don’t notice.  (This used to freak out my college roommates.)

This is especially true when I’m working on something new, like my new book Ice Forged, the first book in a brand new series.  It took a lot of noodling to get to the point where I was clear on where I was going in a whole new world!

I start out each day reading what I wrote the day before and making minor tweaks. I ignore the outline until I get stuck.  Then I dig it out and noodle on it some more.  I print out the first hundred or so pages and read over them, which usually gets me unstuck.  Every couple hundred pages, I’ll read from start to end point, which generates ideas, identifies continuity errors and reassures me that the project is actually turning out well.

Once I reach the end of the first draft, I’ll print it, read it, and mark it up.  Then I give it to my husband, who goes over it again and marks it up some more.  Next, I’ll sit down at the computer and make all the changes, then print it out again and start the reading/mark-up process.  We’ll do this seven or eight times.

Then I’ll turn it in, my editor will read it over and mark it up, and send it back.  I’ll revise.  Then the copy editor will do the same thing.  And I’ll revise.  Finished!

Every writer I talk to has a different process.  Some write in absolute silence, while others need to be in the middle of a busy coffee shop to focus.  Some never read anything they’ve written until the end, others second-guess themselves at nearly every paragraph.  Some writers share their work-in-progress with a writing group or their beta readers.  And judging by the acknowledgements in the front of many books, some writers consult a huge team of experts, researchers and supporters in the process of birthing their book.

So how do YOU write?  There’s no right or wrong—it’s whatever works for you and produces a good outcome.  Does your writing process make you happy, or increase your stress?  Does it improve your productivity or slow you down?  The good news is, if your writing process isn’t working for you, there are lots of other processes you can try on for size until you find the combination that is perfect for you.

Gail Z. Martin’s newest book, Ice Forged: Book One in the Ascendant Kingdoms Saga (Orbit Books), launched in January 2013.  Gail is also the author of the Chronicles of the Necromancer series (Solaris Books) and The Fallen Kings Cycle (Orbit Books).  For more about Gail’s books and short stories, visit www.AscendantKingdoms.com. Be sure to “like” Gail’s Winter Kingdoms Facebook page, follow her on Twitter @GailZMartin, and join her for frequent discussions on Goodreads.

Read an excerpt from Ice Forged here: https://a.pgtb.me/JvGzTt

 

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