Release Day: The Silent Army by James A. Moore

On shelves virtual and actual today THE SILENT ARMY, Book 4 in our very own James A. Moore's gripping Seven Forges Epic Fantasy Series.   ~pops champagne~  ~throws confetti~

The City of Wonders has been saved by nearly miraculous forces and the Silent Army is risen, ready to defend the Fellein Empire and Empress Nachia at any cost.

The power that was hidden in the Mounds is on the move, seeking a final confrontation with the very entities that kept it locked away since the Cataclysm. Andover Lashk has finally come to accept his destiny and prepares to journey back to Fellein. The Sa’ba Taalor continue their domination over each country and people they encounter, but the final conflict is coming: The Great Wave of the Sa’ba Taalor stands to destroy an empire and the Silent Army prepares to stop them in their tracks.

Caught in the middle is the Fellein Empire and the people who have gathered together on the final battlefield. The faithful and the godless, the soldiers and killers alike all stand or fall as old gods and new bring their war to a world-changing end. Some struggles are eternal. Some conflicts never cease. The Gods of War are here and they are determined to win.

BUY IT NOW

Amazon     |     B&N     |   BAM!     | IndieBound

Release Day: The Alchemy of Chaos -- A Novel of Maradaine

Happy Release Day to our Thursday Blogger, Marshall Ryan Maresca!  His follow-up to fantasy THE THORN OF DENTONHILL is out today! Spend some time in the magical world of Maradaine. Whether it's your first or third visit, hold on tightly. Things are about to get...chaotic.

THE ALCHEMY OF CHAOS

Veranix Calbert is The Thorn—the street vigilante-turned-legend—and a danger to Willem Fenmere, the drug kingpin of Dentonhill. Veranix is determined to stop Fenmere and the effitte drug trade, especially when he discovers that Fenmere is planning on using the Red Rabbits gang in his neighborhood. But Veranix is also a magic student at the University of Maradaine, and it's exam week. With his academic career riding on his performance, there's no time to go after Fenmere or the Red Rabbits. But when a series of pranks on campus grow deadly, it's clear that someone has a vendetta against the university, and Veranix may be the only one who can stop them...

BUY IT NOW

Amazon   |   B&N   |   BAM!   |    IndieBound

Go Vote & Release Day for City of Wonders!

It's November 3, which means US Citizens over the age of 18 who registered to vote need to...

GO VOTE

Yes, yes, it's not a presidential election year. Yes, yes, most of us won't be electing someone to federal Congress, but some of us are. Keep in mind, these low voter-turnout election years are when your state and local governments try to sneak shit past you. So, go to your local Board of Elections website, check the Issues and Candidates lists, then toddle down to your polling place, and do your duty as an American Citizen.

~hops off soap box~

In other news, today is release day for our Monday Word-Whore, James A. Moore and his third novel in the SEVEN FORGES epic fantasy series.

CITY OF WONDERS

Old Canhoon, the City of Wonders, is having a population explosion as refugees from Tyrne and Roathes alike try to escape the Sa’ba Taalor. All along the border between the Blasted Lands and the Fellein Empire armies clash and the most powerful empire in the world is pushed back toward the old Capital. From the far east the Pilgrim gathers an army of the faithful, heading for Old Canhoon.

In Old Canhoon itself the imperial family struggles against enemies old and new as the spies of their enemies begin removing threats to the gods of the Seven Forges and prepare the way for the invading armies of the Seven Kings. In the distant Taalor valley Andover Lashk continues his quest and must make a final decision, while at the Mounds, something inhuman is awakened and set free.

War is Here. Blood will flow and bodies will burn.

Buy it Now: 

Amazon   |   B&N   |  BAM!   |   IndieBound   

Release Day: A Murder of Mages

Fans of High Fantasy: Join our celebration as adored Thursday Word-Whore Marshall Ryan Maresca releases his second book in the intensely magical world of Maradaine.

A MURDER OF MAGES
A Novel of the Maradaine Constabulary

Satrine Rainey: Former street rat, ex-spy, mother of two, and wife to a Constabulary Inspector who lies on the edge of death, injured in the line of duty—has been forced to fake her way into the post of Constabulary Inspector to support her family.

Minox Welling: A brilliant, unorthodox Inspector and an Uncircled mage—almost a crime in itself. Nicknamed “the jinx” because of the misfortunes that seem to befall anyone around him, Minox has been partnered with Satrine because no one else will work with either of them.

Their first case together—the ritual murder of a Circled mage— sends Satrine back to the streets she grew up on and brings Minox face-to-face with mage politics he’s desperate to avoid. As the body count rises, Satrine and Minox must race to catch the killer before their own secrets are exposed and they, too, become targets.

Read An Excerpt

Buy It Now & Leave A Review

Amazon | Barnes & Noble.com | iBooks | Kobo

Book Release: Veronica Scott's Ghost of the Nile

Got gods? How about meddling Egyptian Gods? Love a tortured hero out of time (in every way imaginable)?  Our beloved Saturday Whore, Veronica Scott offers up her latest installment in the Gods of Egypt historical romance series.

GHOST OF THE NILE
Gods of Egypt Series

1550 BCE

Betrayed, murdered, and buried without proper ceremony, Egyptian warrior Periseneb is doomed to roam the gray deserts of the dead as a ghost for all eternity.

But then the goddess of truth offers him a bargain: return to the world of the living as her champion for 30 days. If he completes his mission, he’ll be guaranteed entry into Paradise. Periseneb agrees to the bargain but, when he returns to the living world, two hundred years have passed and nothing is quite as he expected.

Neithamun is a woman fighting to hang onto her family’s estate against an unscrupulous nobleman who desires the land as well as the lady. All seems lost until a mysterious yet appealing ex-soldier, Periseneb, appears out of nowhere to help her fight off the noble’s repeated attacks.

Meanwhile, Periseneb’s thirty days are rushing by, and he’s powerless against the growing attraction between himself and Neithamun. But their love can never be. For his Fate is to return to the Afterlife, and Death cannot wed with Life…

Buy It Now & Leave A Review:

Amazon  |   Barnes & Noble   |   Kobo   |   iBooks

Book Release Day: @JeffeKennedy's The Talon of the Hawk

It's a big day here in the bordello! We're celebrating Sunday Word-Whore Jeffe's latest Fantasy Romance novel:

The Talon of the Hawk
The Twelve Kingdoms, Book Three

A HEAVY CROWN

Three daughters were born to High King Uorsin, in place of the son he wanted. The youngest, lovely and sweet. The middle, pretty and subtle, with an air of magic. And the eldest, the Heir. A girl grudgingly honed to leadership, not beauty, to bear the sword and honor of the king.

Ursula’s loyalty is as ingrained as her straight warrior’s spine. She protects the peace of the Twelve Kingdoms with sweat and blood, her sisters from threats far and near. And she protects her father to prove her worth. But she never imagined her loyalty would become an open question on palace grounds. That her father would receive her with a foreign witch at one side and a hireling captain at the other—that soldiers would look on her as a woman, not as a warrior. She also never expected to decide the destiny of her sisters, of her people, of the Twelve Kingdoms and the Thirteenth. Not with her father still on the throne and war in the air. But the choice is before her. And the Heir must lead…

Buy It Now & Leave A Review On:  

Amazon   |   B&N   |   BAM!   |   iBooks   |   IndieBound

Research & Release

 Prolific Word-Whore @jeffekennedy has another book out this week. This one's a contemporary erotic romance and the second in her FALLING UNDER eBook series.

UNDER HIS TOUCH

Amber Dolors knows better than to get involved with her boss. Devastatingly handsome in his sharp suits and sexy beyond belief, he possesses an air of command that fuels her darkest fantasies. But she's worked too hard to get this job, and keeping it will lead to a brilliant future. She won't cross that line—even if his way of giving orders and demanding her best performance gives her delicious warm shivers.

Alexander Knight prides himself on his integrity and self-discipline. After all, he hasn't risen to the position he enjoys by indulging his whims over ambition. He also isn't blind. He's certainly noticed his sharp, young assistant is hot as hell. His self-imposed sexual hermitage doesn't stop him from watching her. And endlessly fantasizing.

The day Alec's cool reserve cracks and Amber catches a glimpse of something simmering beneath his apparent indifference is the day everything between them changes. Alec gives her what she's been looking for sexually—as masterful in the bedroom as he is in the boardroom. He finds himself in the grip of an affair that tests even his boundaries, while Amber's new role as willing student pushes them both past any consideration other than mutual longing.

Buy It Now:

Amazon     B&N    BAM!    CarinaPress

_________ Weekly Blog Topic_____________

I write High Fantasy. I still have to do research.  Even the most bizarre fantasy has some hooks in a common reality; otherwise, readers couldn't engage with the story and wouldn't be able to relate to the characters. In Larcout, my upcoming release, here's a short list of things I had to research:

• Armor (my editor and I went round about bevor vs gorget being the more recognizable piece).
• Gemstones
• Rocks and their formations
• Proper address for royalty and its variances across Courts 
• Whether it's "Courts" or "courts"
• Vomiting
• Dying
• Effects of Poisons
• Regional and Ethnic Names

Some of that research made it into the book. Less of the research made it past the many, many edits.  Lots and lots of that research never hit the page.

RESEARCH IS FUN...AND DISTRACTING.

The danger of research is getting lost in it, losing too much precious time to it, and exploring one too many rabbit holes. It's still necessary. I'll be bold enough to state that it is necessary regardless of genre.

I've a bookmark folder titled "references."  Here are five randomly chosen sources, should they be of use:

1. The SCA: Research and Resource Links: http://www.sca.org/links/misc.html
2. Welsh-English Dictionary: http://www.geiriadur.net/ 
3. The 26 Stages of Death: http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Death/Stages.html
4. 10 Things Writers Don't Know About The Woods: http://dankoboldt.com/things-writers-know-woods/
5. The International Colored Gemstone Association: http://gemstone.org/

Release Day: Bound by Ink

Happy Book Release Day to Friday Word-Whore Marcella Burnard!  Book 2 in her Living Ink series hits e-readers today!

 ~trumpets~

If you like tattoos, demons, and pissed-off heroines, then buy it (and the awesome Book 1: NIGHTMARE INK) NOW!

BOUND by INK
National bestselling author Marcella Burnard’s first Living Ink novel, Nightmare Ink, was an “outstanding series starter.” Now she continues her “truly mesmeric and heart-stopping”* story of magical tattoo artist Isa Romanchzyk…

After being kidnapped and forcibly Inked with a Living Tattoo named Murmur, Isa thought she’d survived the worst her enemies could throw at her. She was wrong. Murmur is walking around her world in someone else’s body, and without him, Isa is losing control of her magic.

Then, in the middle of rush hour, a Live Tattoo comes off its host, killing over a hundred people. Isa discovers that Murmur’s nemesis, Uriel—a demon she believed defeated—is responsible. He’s seeking the power to force his way back into Isa’s world. If he succeeds, everyone Isa loves will be destroyed. There may be a way to stop him, but it will mean sacrificing Murmur—or herself…

BUY IT NOW

Amazon     |   B&N    |   BAM

Going Under: @JeffeKennedy Book Release

While this week is all about series and planning for them, our prolific Sunday Word-Whore Jeffe has another book out this week...and it's the first in a SERIES. See? See how we planned that? (No? Go with it anyway).

GOING UNDER (FALLING UNDER Book 1)
Knowing all too well the damage online trolls can inflict, game designer Emily Bartwell takes privacy seriously. Living in solitude and working remotely under a male alias gives her a sense of security. The sexy writer renting the house next door ignites desires she'd forgotten she had, and when he invites her to play games of a very different sort, Em is ready and willing. Even if it means breaking all her own rules to abide by his.

Undercover tech reporter Fox Mullins is so close to the biggest scoop of his career: finding the elusive programmer Phoenix. An increasingly erotic adventure with his reserved but passionate new neighbor is the ideal way to heat up the chilly Pacific Northwest nights as he tracks the brilliant gamer.

At first Fox is happy to help Em explore her newly awakened kinky side, no holds barred, no strings attached. But as they push the limits of intimacy, both physical and emotional, Fox discovers he's not the only one keeping secrets. And revealing hers may mean betraying the one woman who embodies everything he desires.

It's an eBook out from Carina Press, but it now: 
     Amazon     B&N     Carina Press

Blasted Book Release Day for @JamesAMoore

I'm bringing the best part of Monday into Tuesday.  Today, our Monday Word-Whore @JamesAMoore releases his second book in the Seven Forges epic fantasy series:

 THE BLASTED LANDS

The Empire of Fellein is in mourning. The Emperor is dead, and the armies of the empire have grown soft. Merros Dulver, their newly-appointed – and somewhat reluctant – commander, has been tasked with preparing them to fight the most savage enemy the world has yet seen.

Meanwhile, a perpetual storm ravages the Blasted Lands, and a new threat is about to arise – the Broken are coming, and with them only Death.

Buy It Now On:     Amazon     B&N    Independent Bookseller

Need Book 1? Buy SEVEN FORGES here:
 Amazon     B&N    Independent Bookseller

____________________

As for the weekly topic of Conventions: Worst Mistakes I've Made... Here are my Top 5:

1. Holed Up In My Room: I've posted previously about why that's a terrible thing to do at a Con. Learn from my mistakes, grasshoppers.

2: Underestimated The Power of My Deodorant: Oh yeah, funky monkey was I, was I. Cons are usually shoulder-shoulder experiences. Get the clinical-strength deodorant. Better still, if you're staying in the hotel at which the Con is occurring, give yourself time for a mid-day shower too. You'll feel refreshed physically and mentally.

3: Wore the Wrong Shoes: It takes a lot to get me out of my stilettos. But once those piggies are freed from the confines of high heels, they're not going back in. Bring the cute shoes. Rock the cute shoes. Have the comfy ones on hand. There is no shame in being able to walk.

4: Sat in the Back: I've thing for quick exits; however, I also paid good money to hear the panelists and keynote speakers. It's not brown-nosing to sit in the front of the room, it's a strategic way of removing the din of a rude crowd.

5: Didn't Wear Floor Attire: Accept it, your butt is going to meet the floor. You're not going to want to stay on your feet throughout a crowded panel. (see #4, above) That impromptu gathering of totally awesome people and no vacant furniture? Butt + floor (just don't sit in the traffic pattern, please, please, please).

Asking Our Readers: Discovery & Release

HAPPY RELEASE DAY, James!!

Congrats to our Monday Whore James, for today his epic fantasy SEVEN FORGES hit the marketplace!

Captain Merros Dulver is the first in many lifetimes to find a path beyond the great mountains known as the Seven Forges and encounter, at last, the half-forgotten race who live there. And it would appear that they were expecting him. As he returns home, bringing an entourage of strangers with him, he starts to wonder whether his discovery has been such a good thing. For the gods of this lost race are the gods of war, and their memories of that far-off cataclysm have not faded.

The people of Fellein have live with legends for many centuries. To their far north, the Blasted Lands, a legacy of an ancient time of cataclysm, are vast, desolate and impassable, but that doesn't stop the occasional expedition into their fringes in search of any trace of the ancients who had once lived there... and oft-rumored riches."

Buy on:

Amazon             BN          Support Your Local Indie Bookseller

Now, dear readers, on the topic of new books and release day, my three questions for you are: 

1. How do you discover a new author? 
2. How do you like to be notified/reminded of a favorite author's latest release?
3. If you could give a debut or mid-list author a tip for reaching a reader like you, what would it be? (Go ahead, be crazy and innovative!)

Cheers!

 

Scenes From...

by Allison Pang

Okay - first off, I get to mention that the Carniepunk anthology dropped this week, so huzzah! Yours truly has a short Abby Sinclair story included ,entitled "A Duet with Darkness" - so if you've ever wanted to know how Melanie ended up with that magic violin and a soul that quite possibly belongs to the Devil, this is where you'll find out. :) Check it out here. (Note that it's also available on Audible.com if you'd prefer that version instead. I've got a copy, but I haven't quite managed to get myself to listen to it yet - I have a really hard time listening to my own words... >_<)

Anyway,  I'm afraid I probably won't be much help on this week's subject. Judging by a lot of what I've read as to what you should or shouldn't do (e.g. "never put your characters to bed at the end of the chapter because your readers will go to bed too!")  - I'm probably a complete failure.

I put my characters to bed at the end of chapters all the time. (At least in the first drafts. I can always tell when I was tired when I was writing because there's usually a sudden influx in blankets somewhere in the scene.)

But really, I am not good at dissecting paragraphs. I took a workshop several years ago dealing with "Scenes and Sequels" and it was all about using beats and that sort of thing...and I bailed out of it about three lessons in. It's not that it wasn't interesting - it was. I just couldn't wrap my head around it for my own writing - it became far too much work and sucked all the joy out of creating.

So, I guess I just do scenes by instinct these days. I mostly write in 1st, so cutting up scenes for different pov isn't as big of a deal. It's more about making sure the story moves forward at the pace it needs to be told.

That being said, because I panster my way through things, it can become fairly evident when my scenes aren't going where they need to. I know it because my characters end up becoming "fidgety." Lots of head cocking and fingers thrusting through hair or random small talk dialogue that goes no-where. Fine for a first draft, but that sort of excess can really bog a scene down, so I tend to strip most of that out when I go back for revisions.

(Funny, too - those extra bits become a slog to write as well, usually because the scene is floundering. Once I get back on the right track - presto! Everyone suddenly gets far more interested in what's supposed to be happening.)

Now, as far as resources go for this type of writing, I've heard a number of people swear by "Save the

Cat" - there are several books and workshops based off this series. It's actually more for writing screenplays, but when it comes to scenes and beats, the concept is very similar.

Yes, I own it.

No, I haven't been able to read past the first chapter. (I did try, though. Someone else is going to have to save the kitties.)

He Said. She Said. We Snorted.

Ruby releases tomorrow!

Thus I have my Pimping Party Prom dress on and am shamelessly cross-posting this at the Here Be Magic blog as well.

And, to complete the pimpage, here are a couple of reviews posted to today for it here and here. One is also in French, should you care to stretch those neurons you haven't used since high school.

So, this week's topic is "Dialogue Tags: He Said, She Asked, They Exclaimed ... when to use what."

I'm a really bad person to kick off this topic because, if there's one thing my Carina editor, Deb Nemeth, consistently hammers me for, it's dialogue tags. If she and I were married, this would be the one thing she'd say she'd change about me. She'd say it to the marriage counselor with a deep and heartfelt sigh, while I sat on the other corner of the couch, arms folded defensively.

Because I don't WANT to change. I feel like she should love me for who I am.

See, this comment comes directly from my most recent round of edits with her:

Most of the line edits are to correct punctuation surrounding dialogue. You have a habit of punctuating tags as beats and vice-versa. This technical aspect to craft is something I’d appreciate you paying closer attention to when you self-edit book three before sending it in to me, not only because it’s rather time-consuming to make these corrections, but because I’m always afraid the copyeditor and I won’t catch them all. Use the comma + lower case only for bona fide tags, a period + initial cap for beats. Note that laugh, snort, told, said it (as opposed to plain said) are beats, not tags. Let me know if this isn’t clear. 

How she hurts me.

Really, I think she'd be happy if I just used "said" a lot more. The thing about "said" as in:

"I hate when you harp on my dialogue tags," she said.

is that our readerly eyes go right over it. It's nearly invisible. Studies have actually shown this. Our brains process what the character expressed and register the "she said" part like punctuation. But you guys know me - I'm just not that sweet and obedient. My characters don't just SAY things - they snort them! They laugh out words and sometimes they hiss them!

(This is another of my editorial world pet-peeves - there's this "rule" that you can't have someone hiss what they're saying unless there are sibilants in the word. So you can have

"Sheer bliss," she hissed.

but not

"Get out," she hissed.

I don't know about you people, but I can totally hiss "get out." I may or may not walk around the house hissing words that my editor inSISTS can't be hissed.

Not that I'm bitter.

Amusingly, one of my publishers - Ellora's Cave - officially reversed their policy on the hissing thing. So my EC characters can hiss anything they damn well want to while my Carina ones can only hiss with sibilants in the words. I don't know where Kensington will weigh in yet.

The upshot for me is, even though my editor - who really does love me in every other way - calls this a craft issue, I view it as an editorial one. Some editors care passionately about dialogue tags, others do not. I had one editor who really disliked parenthetical asides. (You can just imagine how well we got along.)

For me, it's voice, which I'm going to stick to as much as I can. I'll bow to editorial decisions and house style, which is part of being a professional writer, but if I can get away with a bit of dialogue snorting, I'm going to do it every time.

After all, she knew it when she married me.

Releases & Routines

It's a very special Tuesday here at the bordello. Today our beloved Wednesday Word-Whore Linda has a new book on the shelves!  Three Woots and a Hoo for Linda!

Shattered Circle
Book 6 in the Persephone Alcmedi Series

JUST YOUR AVERAGE MEGA-WITCH. . . .
It’s tough being a modern woman, but Persephone Alcmedi has it worse than most. Being the prophesied Lustrata has kicked her career as a witch into high gear, and juggling a wærewolf boyfriend who is about to become king of his kind and a seductive vampire who bears her magical Mark isn’t easy either. 

Seph’s beloved foster daughter, Beverley, is causing more trouble than these two men put together. The young girl’s been playing with a magical artifact that’s far more dangerous than she realizes. Now Seph must summon help from a mystical being so potent that even vampires fear him . . . and the cost of his aid may be more than she’s willing to pay. Seph, Johnny, and Menessos face threats from all sides—and a few from within. Will the forces of destiny cement their tenuous supernatural union, or shatter it forever?

Buy on Amazon          Buy on B&N       Buy on Simon & Schuster

That, dear readers, is what comes at the end of a writing routine. That is also just the beginning of a marketing & promotions routine. Yep, I aspire to need the latter. I'd like to make it to the end of the former ... now that I mention it. I will wax poetic on routines of creating the story, but I'm not much use on how that routine adjusts when editorial input arrives.

Wouldn't you rather be reading Linda's book right now?

I am a creature of habit. The routine of writing is important because my brain is trained to perform certain tasks at certain times. If I deviate from the routine, then story-stuff doesn't happen. I'm not the sort of girl who can "sneak in" a "few hundred words." No, no, I'm either in the world I created or I'm tuned to the real world. My brain does not play the hokey-pokey.

Seriously, why aren't you settled in with Seph and Johnny?

While the routine of writing is fairly straight-forward: ass-in-seat, write; it is different from the routine of editing. How? When I create, I write the events in the order in which they happen. When I edit I start with the biggest change -- wherever that may occur -- then follow the ripples of changes it creates. It may mean I fiddle with Chapter Six eighteen times while Chapter Twelve loses a few sentences once. So be it. At the editing stage I'm essentially playing Cat's Cradle keeping track of the plot threads. Strangely enough, when I edit, I sit in a different place than when I create. It's part of the brain-training.

Menessos: the name is awesome and the vamp himself is... 

You should read about him, right now.

What comes after the editing? There's the WiP to WoS routine. After that ... I'll have to let you know once it happens.

How about you, dear reader-writer, do your routines change as you progress through the creative process? How? When?

Release Day: Two, Two, Two Times the Fun!

I have the big pimpin' pleasure of announcing today is release day for two of our Word Whores!

A Trace of Moonlight

Book 3 of the Abby Sinclair Series

by Thursday Word-Whore Allison Pang

During a week in which I should be discussing revenants, it is delightfully appropriate that Ms. Sinclair becomes a subject-matter expert in the third installment of the Abby Sinclair Urban Fantasy series. What will happen when a daemon meddles with the love-triangle of Abby, the elven prince Talivar, and the incubus Brystion?

 Buy A Trace of Moonlight today!

Mr. Real

Book 1 of the Code of Shadows

by Saturday Word-Whore Carolyn Crane

Technically, one has to die and then be brought back to a semblance of life to be counted as a revenant, but what if you began as pixels behind glass? What if you were conceived by an advertising agency, portrayed by a MMA Fighter, and summoned into the real world by a babe wielding magical software? When you escaped the prison of television, to what lengths would you go to remain Mr. Real?

Buy the paranormal spy thriller Mr. Real today!

Stupid Mistakes You Can Make in Your Writing Career

Rogue's Pawn releases tomorrow!
Rogue's Pawn releases tomorrow!
Rogue's Pawn releases tomorrow!

*deep, cleansing breath*

Okay, now that I have that out of my system, at least for the next five minutes, I can focus on today's topic: The Stupidest Thing I Did on the Path to Publication.

On the one hand, I feel like I have any number of mistakes, embarrassing gaffes and foolish choices to choose from. On the other.... I feel like my path has been meant. That things went the way they should have. Even my disappointments led me to a better place.

Maybe, it's like the truism that there are no stupid questions. Really, there is no such thing as a stupid mistake. Unless you keep making the SAME mistake. Then you're just being pathological.

But I am a bit embarrassed to admit that what I consider my most foolish mistake is one that is often repeated in warning: I sent my novel out too soon.

I hear this all the time now: don't shop it before it's ready. Which is absolutely what I did. I finished my novel, which I had slaved over for a long time and I started querying it. Agents jumped at it, asked to see it - and sent me rejections.

Over time, I learned it hadn't been ready.

Now, looking back I can see that, though I was a reasonably accomplished literary nonfiction writer with decent credentials, I did not know how to write genre. Though I'd had people read it, none of them were genre writers. I missed that opportunity - to be the fresh new thing for all these agents, because the book wasn't ready.

The thing is: I didn't know that.

Also? I don't think I could have known that.

Sure, maybe if I'd gotten involved in RWA earlier, had different crit from different kinds of writers, they might have guided me. But I didn't know that was something I needed to do until I got those rejections.

I know I rant sometimes about bad writing advice, stuff like "write a really good book." In truth, any time I hear a published author advice aspiring writers to "write a really good book," I want to kick him or her. Most useless, self-satisfied piece of advice on the planet. Right up there with "don't hurt yourself" and "choose wisely." And "don't send your book before it's ready."

This is all stupid advice, because if you could control these things, you would.

Oh, and that book I sent before it was ready? It's Rogue's Pawn. And it releases tomorrow!!!

Did I mention that part?

No such thing as a stupid mistake.

Pimping My Enemy

By KAK

Oh, thank the gods I'm pimping today, because my choice in funny websites is highly, uhm, alienating. There's Unfollowing Jesus and The Daily Squib for starters. What, you ask, could possibly be more important than my utterly questionable sense of humor?

Today is RELEASE DAY for Friday Word-Whore Marcella Burnard!

Enemy Mine

Berkley/Penguin

It was a priority-two alert for beautiful Commander Cashel Khaleize: a contract put out on the life of Xiao Zhong. Professionally, Xiao was the Captain she reported to. Personally, he was man she desired.  But as female Guild Assassin Mekise Tollenga closes in, Xiao wonders if even Cashel can be trusted with his safety. And with a tenuous bond between them, Cashel wonders how far she’s willing to go to earn that trust.

buy from Amazon     buy from Barnes & Noble 

buy from Penguin

No, this is not the 1985 Dennis Quaid / Lou Gossett, Jr. movie spawned from a Star Trek episode.

Marcella's Enemy Mine is an e-novella -- a hot kinky Sci-Fi tale -- that gives some lusted-after characters from her full-length Enemy Sci-Fi Romance novels the chance to show their fight for love and freedom. It's not all leather, aliens, spaceships and big guns ... well, far be it for me to deny your appreciation for the double entendre. ~brow waggle~

I know you've read Enemy Games and Enemy Within. You have. You, good readers, would never pass on award-winning novels. Marcella was nominated for the Romance Writers' of America Oscars-equivalent for this series and won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for Enemy Within. It only makes sense for you to jump on this chance to read Cashel and Xiao's story.

Right Now.

Yes, that's what I thought. Right now you are downloading Enemy Mine to your Kindle, Nook, iPad or other e-reader. Good. We do love our loyal clientele.

Bacon on My Mind

by Allison Pang

You know, this really is my week. Between the release of A Sliver of Shadow (shameless plug) and being able to talk about bacon on Word-Whores, I'm not sure it can get much better than that. 

To say I have something of a reputation for bacon is a bit of an understatement. It's a rare day on Twitter when someone doesn't send me a link to something bacon related. (Or Hello Kitty. Or unicorns. But I digress.)

However...although I would like to wax poetic about the sheer awesomeness of bacon in general, I'm a bit pressed for time this week. (Not to mention that I actually blogged about bacon for a guest post a few weeks ago...because I'm out of things to talk about, apparently. >_<)  That in mind, I did take a look through my Borrowing Heaven blog, because I've talked about bacon there quite a few times over there. So, here's a quick cull of some of the best images/videos/topics I've posted.

Bacon turkey

The rules of bacon. Apparently bacon gets you laid.

And how, y'all. And how.



 A video by the Incredible Breakfast Band. Who is actually Gideon Emery - who voices Fenris on Dragon Age 2, so pretty much every fangirl and bacon hot button gets pushed when I listen to this.

Bacon is the candy of meats.

An old ad for what was essentially bacon pop-tarts that never quite took off because the grease kept setting toasters on fire.

Alas.




Nothing better than singing about bacon...unless it's dancing. Along with a nice cherry tomato ass.

Rainbow bacon. You can actually make this.

And last, an actual award of sorts made for me by Adri (editor over at Entangled, aka @SmoulderingSea) a year ago. Sadly, he's right. Suppose I ought to go bribe myself with bacon and the rest of the posts done for my blog tour, eh?

OMG! TOMORROW! TOMORROW!

Holy crap.
Tomorrow I will be a published author.
Holy.
Crap.
Actually, I am already a published author. I have a short story in One Buck Horror's special issue (One Buck Zombies) called "He Stopped Loving Her Today." That came out in October. I also have THAT THING AT THE ZOO the e-novella prequel to the Deacon Chalk series. It's available everywhere ebooks are sold for less than a dollar and you should buy it.

But TOMORROW I will have a real, physical book on the shelves of your local bookstore!
BLOOD AND BULLETS A Deacon Chalk: Occult Bounty Hunter novel is released into the wild on 2/7.

It feels good. Real good. I have been blessed with a lot of support from my fellow writers, including my bordello-mates here at the Word Whores. Most reviewers have liked it, more than a few loved it, a couple were blind to my genius. (That last one was sarcasm)

It feels good. I love being a writer.

Here is what some kind folks had to say about my book!

BLOGCRITIC

MY BOOKISH WAYS

LOV-LIV-LIFE REVIEWS

LOVE VAMPIRES