My Titles Evolve Over Time

For the fantasy romance novels set in ancient Egypt, I'm quite basic. Everything is "of the Nile." I figured that would cue people as to the time and place. It was also my homage to the 1950's movie "Princess of the Nile," which is a B movie favorite of mine. So I have Priestess, Warrior, Dancer, Magic and Ghost. Of The Nile. There' s also the novella Healer of the Nile, in a boxed set at the moment but soon to come out as a standalone. This year I plan to write the sequel to Dancer and I'm pondering the title. Return of the Dancer of the Nile is perhaps a bit unwieldy.

My subtitle for the series, chosen by Carina Press back in 2011, is Gods of  Egypt. You may be familiar with the fact that a certain movie has recently come out with the same title? Nope, not based on my books!

So, easy peasy so far.

For the science fiction romance, I tend to start out by thinking of the book in terms of the planet's name. So the early working files are entitled "Zulaire" or "Majumdar". Unless the action takes place on a ship and then it'll be known as something like "Plague Ship". I have one that started out as "Saqqarrain" and still is that on my computer. The manuscript has gone through quite a few iterations and will be released in May as Lady of the Star Wind. And no location in the book anywhere has the long and unwieldy name Saqqarrain any more.

When I began writing science fiction in junor high school, I wasn't very keyed into the title as another tool for selling the book, so I think that''s probably why my titles are utilitarian.

Let's see - Wreck of the Nebula Dream. OK, pretty descriptive and easy to pronounce. Probably ok. Escape from Zulaire. Is that clearly science fiction, set on another planet? Or does it sound like my characters are somewhere in Africa? Without spaceships? Mission to Mahjundar. Again, doesn't signal space adventure and going by the title alone, could just as easily be eastern Asia, minus the blasters and starships.  Probably not good.

I also thought of my novels as standalone stories in a connected series, set in the same universe. They are all subtitled A Sectors SF Romance, which helps a little. The Sectors is my interstellar civilization, the backdrop against which all the action occurs.

So for my next book, I went with Star Cruise: Marooned. And the direct sequel to that is going to be Star Cruise: Outbreak. Future books in this series, which will all occur on an interstellar cruise ship, with be Star Cruise: Something. Look for it at an ebook retailer near you!

Like everything else to do with the publishing business, titles have evolved too. I promise the one thing you'll never see from me is a book title with hashtag hashtag hashtag key words in the title itself!

Ghost of the Nile is on sale at Amazon, by the way, only $.99!

The story:

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…

Dialogue The Essential Ingredient

One of my favorite old films is the 1951 version of “The Thing From Another World,” which was most likely directed by the famous Howard Hawks, even though Christian Nyby is the credited director. One aspect of the film I enjoy most is the crisp, natural sounding dialogue. Here’s what the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) says regarding Hawks and dialogue:

Hawks' genius as a director also manifested itself in his direction of his actors, his molding of their line-readings going a long way toward making his films outstanding. The dialog in his films often was delivered at a staccato pace, and characters' lines frequently overlapped, a Hawks trademark. The spontaneous feeling of his films and the naturalness of the interrelationships between characters were enhanced by his habit of encouraging his actors to improvise.

Alan Sorkin (“West Wing,” “The American President,” etc) is the modern master of rapid dialogue, although Late Night with Seth Meyers once did a great skit skewering his tropes. Hey, we all have tropes, right?

Now Hawks and Sorkin dealt with performed dialogue in movies and TV, whereas I’m writing words on the page that the reader will have to ‘hear’ my characters speak. Luckily my editors taught me early to write the way we’d like to talk, without all the hesitations, ums, likes, repetitions, etc.

The dialog for my science fiction is different than the dialog for my ancient Egyptian fantasy romances. I don’t, as a rule, try to mimic the way the Egyptians actually spoke, partly because I’ve never been in 1550 BCE Egypt, so I’ve never heard the cadences. I try for dialogue that gives the impression of another time and a different set of ground rules, however.  Here’s a short snippet of dialog from Ghost of the Nile, between a warrior and the goddess Ma’at:

          “Excellent, my warrior, you’ve wasted no time. I see you understand the situation to some extent, even though the entire scroll of problems has yet to reveal itself to you. What assistance do you require from me?”

            He swallowed hard and shifted into parade rest stance, relying on his military discipline to handle the shock of a goddess coming at his request. “I remember a pond here, fed by a cold spring from deep within the ground, my lady. I would see the spring restored, enabling the people of my ancestral home to irrigate the fields and water the beasts more easily while I work to solve the issues.”

            Eyebrows raised, Ma’at gazed at her surroundings. “I’m hardly a goddess of the Nile or of water. You might need help from my sister Anuket or the Crocodile God Sobek himself perhaps.”

            Wondering what sort of help Ma’at had anticipated he’d ask for during this assignment, he said, “I wasn’t aware the Great One Sobek concerns himself with any water but the Nile. We’ve no special ties to him in this province, unfortunately. A small temple in the city, but nothing of note.”

And here’s a snippet from my latest scifi, Star Cruise: Marooned. The conversation is between the heroine, a cruise ship staffer, and the hero, an ex-Special Forces operator:

          “We’re marooned now, so there is no crew versus passenger,” she said. “All consumables are

share and share alike at my discretion.”

            “All right then, as long as no one is docking my pay.” He took the mug with a laugh. “I’ve missed the real stuff since I left the Teams. Special Forces gets their own allotment. Too pricey to drink much in my new civilian life.”

            She acknowledged the shared joke from yesterday with a raised eyebrow, and sipped her coffee, but refused to be distracted. “Talk to me. Why are you urging me to move these people somewhere else? And where would we go?”

            He leaned against the counter. “We can assume whatever reason the TDJ captain had for leaving was compelling.”

            She nodded.

            “And no sign of Drewson returning.” He sipped the hot drink. “The two facts together suggest to me our ship is gone.”

            “Gone? You mean jumped into hyperspace?”

            “Could be.” He paused. Meg thought he seemed to be struggling with some inner decision whether to share more of his concerns, so she waited. After a moment, Red said, “The Far Horizon could have been destroyed by hostiles.”

            “An enemy incursion in this Sector?” Meg blinked, trying to assimilate the concept. “Last time I heard any news, the Mawreg were at least two Sectors away, and being pushed back all along the front.”

            “I don’t have any current intel, been out of the Teams too long, but the government never tells civilians the full story about anything.” He shook his head. “The fact that the rangers were pulled out of here says a lot to me….”

Some of the most fun I’ve ever had was listening to the two talented actors who narrated the audiobook version of Escape from Zulaire, reading scenes where the two characters they were ‘playing’ had conversation. It was nearly as good as watching a movie of the book, the way they took my words off the pages and interacted.

Dialogue – the essential ingredient, appropriately tuned for the story you’re trying to tell!

OK, here's the Late Night Sorkin skit:

Loves Book Trailers Here are Three

I love book trailers! And in a nice piece of serendipity, I happen to have a new one for my latest Best Seller, Star Cruise: Marooned, just off an exclusive reveal at USA Today:




My first ever book trailer in 2012 was purely a treat to myself because it was like a mini scifi movie of my book  Wreck of the Nebula Dream. I think everyone knows my fondest dream is to have my books made into movies or TV, so this video was the next best thing at the time LOL. Some of the stock photos have since been used a zillion times for other authors' book covers and trailers so I won't include the Wreck video here. (It's at  https://youtu.be/0oA3NpmxTZI )

When I was ready to have a couple trailers done for my historical fantasy series set in ancient Egypt, I had to find a new provider, since the first person had moved on to to other career pursuits. I'm not at all tech-y so there was no question of my doing a video by myself. My new contractor wanted me to be much more involved in all the choices, but the collaborative process was fun, selecting just the right stock music and finding photos to try to fit the mood (and represent the hero and heroine). We had lively conversations and unusual challenges, such as electric lights in an otherwise great photo of an  ancient tomb! I certainly looked at a LOT of stock photos of people and places. We did several book trailers together. Here are two:




For my latest trailer, the one at the top of the post, I went with Circle of Seven Productions, in part because my individual contractor had pretty much stepped away from the trailer-making, and also because I'd seen a topnotch trailer for one of Christine Feehan's books, Viper Game, that really impressed me. I also like the idea of working with a company whose primary focus is making book teasers and trailers, not a sideline to their higher priorities. I was fortunate enough to work with the same producer at CoS who did Ms. Feehan's trailer, Michel Miller. I love the result on Star Cruise: Marooned. I'll definitely work with them again. Another advantage from CoS is that they include other distribution channels besides youtube in the fees.

I'd love to have them make a full-on live action book trailer for me but that's way above my budget at this stage.

So why do I have book trailers:
1. They make me happy. Plain and simple.
2. They're excellent promo tools, not in and of themselves but because it gives me something else to tweet relating to the books, Share on FB, add to my Amazon Author Central page, my blog...two have been recommended on USAT/Happily Ever After. (Full disclosure, I am a biweekly contributor there with my SciFi Encounters column.)
3. With several of the books, I definitely saw an upswing in sales after the trailers were revealed.
4. A video always has that potential to go REALLY BIG and viral....

I heard what fellow Word Whore Marshall said on Thursday, about book trailers "lacking any sense of the filmic language" and "trailers are not good advertising for what books really are..." I respectfully submit that different folks have different standards, I also think a good book trailer does do what a movie trailer does - it distills the essence of the story and makes you feel you really want to read that book or see that movie.

And further, in this multimedia world we have today, I think it's a good idea to use the video to promote the written word. It works for me!


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I Am Optimism Personified

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence Helen Keller


I'm pretty much a  total optimist, definitely glass half full with someone coming to top it off!

My characters are pretty much always optimists too, come to think of it...

In the old day job I was in management for 14 years before deciding to do special projects. The only time anyone requested to transfer out of my area (other than for promotions, moving and the like), the individual said I was driving them crazy with my sunny, optimistic approach to everything.

But when it comes to listing Five Reasons Why An Optimist Should Write, I'm not sure I can get beyond the first one I live by:

1. Writing is like breathing to me and if I'm alive, I will breathe and I will write.

So, having said that, where do I go next?

Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier. Colin Powell

2. Well okay, I optimistically hope that other people will enjoy reading my stories.
3. ...and that my royalties will continue to let me be a fulltime writer...
4. ...that totally unexpected good things will happen because I write and publish novels....
5.....how are they gonna make my books into movies or TV shows if I don't write????
With a #5a => How will I ever get to be an extra in the big movie scene if I don't write?!


That last is key!  My biggest dream is to have my books make the jump into film. I'd love to watch talented people bring my character to life the way my audiobook narrator Michael Riffle does with the spoken word.

But in the meantime I'll be happily over here in the corner, writing! Speaking of which, I'm happily optimistic that my new science fiction romance will continue to rock the Top Ten List in Amazon Fantasy Romance (even though the book is scifi somehow the Zon is tracking it in Fantasy - go figure.) A deal at $.99!

Here's the story for the new book:

Meg Antille works long hours on the charter cruise ship Far Horizon so she can send credits home to her family. Working hard to earn a promotion to a better post (and better pay), Meg has no time for romance.

Former Special Forces soldier Red Thomsill only took the berth on the Far Horizon in hopes of getting to know Meg better, but so far she’s kept him at a polite distance. A scheduled stopover on the idyllic beach of a nature preserve planet may be his last chance to impress the girl.

But when one of the passengers is attacked by a wild animal it becomes clear that conditions on the lushly forested Dantaralon aren’t as advertised – the ranger station is deserted, the defensive perimeter is down…and then the Far Horizon’s shuttle abruptly leaves without any of them.

Marooned on the dangerous outback world, romance is the least of their concerns, and yet Meg and Red cannot help being drawn to each other once they see how well they work together. But can they survive long enough to see their romance through? Or will the wild alien planet defeat them, ending their romance and their lives before anything can really begin?

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