If you celebrated Christmas or any other holiday this month,
I hope it was an enjoyable and meaningful experience for you. I have some news
that I hope you will enjoy. For the final week of the year, all of my novels
that regularly sell for $2.99 are only $0.99. This includes SF novel Twinned Universes and fantasy novels Scattered Seasons, Chaos Season, Fifth Season, and
Summon the Seasons. Prices are good on all eBook platforms and through 1/1/18.
Please take advantage of this offer while you can!
Tomorrow is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. In my Season Avatars world, it's also the birthday of Kay, the Winter Avatar, and an eventful day in Summon the Seasons. It's also a pretty eventful day in our world. Here are some traditions associated with the winter solstice:
1. Sharing food
2. Burning a Yule log
3. Visiting Stonehenge
4. Staying up all night to protect your family from evil.
A local museum has a special winter solstice program where you can learn about some of the ancient legends surrounding the day while drinking cider around a fire.
Iceland has a cozy tradition of exchanging books, and reading them in bed all night while eating chocolate. Although this is a Christmas Eve tradition, it sounds like something I would do any night of the year.
Do you have any traditions for the solstice? If so, feel free to share them in the comments.
Today, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Heather M. Gardner
are hosting the Remakes Blogfest, a chance to discuss the remakes of
songs, movies, and TV shows that are equal or better than the original
versions. For the full list of participating blogs, please visit Alex's
blog using the above link.
I debated about participating in this blog fest for a while before
signing up. I'm pretty conservative in my music tastes. I stopped
following popular music when I became a devout Beatles fan in 1995, and I
tend to imprint on the first version of a song that I hear. However,
the Beatles covered quite a few songs on their early albums, so I can
discuss a couple of them.
First up is "Twist and Shout." It was originally performed by a group
called the Top Notes and was produced by Phil Spector. That version
flopped, so I'll post the more familiar Isley Brothers version instead:
It's a pleasant version, perhaps a soulful one (see the comments below
the video on YouTube). The Beatles' version, however, is much more
intense and rocking. When they recorded it for the Please Please Me album,
they saved it for the final song of a twelve-hour recording session,
since they knew how hard it would be on John's voice, especially since
he was suffering from a cold at the time. John was only able to manage
one take, but it was an immortal one. The version I posted below is from
the first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. (I didn't see the album version
on YouTube.) The sound isn't great, but you can still enjoy John, Paul,
and George harmonizing.
The Beatles didn't release the Isley Brothers' "Shout" until Anthology 1,
but thankfully they performed it on TV a couple of times. While the
original version is great (and probably the one I heard first), the
Beatles' cover is also fun. I think the energy both groups put into
their versions is comparable.
I could go on with Beatles covers, but I'd like to finish off with "A
Hazy Shade of Winter" by both Simon & Garfunkel and the Bangles. As a
teen in the 80s, I most likely heard the Bangles' cover before the
original. I love the energy the Bangles put into it; plus they also
remind me of the heroines of my Season Avatars series. I can see Gwen,
Jenna, Ysabel, and Kay performing this song (though they would be
dressed more modestly) to welcome winter in Summon the Seasons.
Which versions of these songs do you prefer? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
There's so much exciting publishing news for the fantasy Season Avatars series today that I feel I ought to do something special to celebrate. I had considered taking today off work (I still have weeks left of vacation), but since I was out Thursday afternoon and Friday with a cold, I need to catch up. As long as I get to do something with my family, that's celebration enough for me.
Anyway, time for all of the announcements:
Summon the Seasons officially went live this morning to conclude the series.
Kay might be the youngest, smallest, and least confident Season Avatar,
but her weather magic makes her the most powerful of her group. Now that
she also can contact the souls of dead Avatars, her quartet has a
chance to end Chaos Season permanently. All Kay and her sister Avatars
need are three more bones.
To obtain them, Kay’s quartet must
travel across Challen, evading the King’s Watch and Selathens who want
to protect their demigoddess, Salth, creator of Chaos Season. Kay’s
deepest beliefs about her God and her longtime rival, Dorian, will be
challenged during the trip. If she loses her faith and newfound courage,
she will fail, and the rest of the Season Avatars with her.
I don't have an extensive blog tour planned, but I have a guest post up on Catherine Lundoff's blog about making a Victorian-like setting more feminist. An additional posts is pending for Alex J. Cavanaugh, but I missed the date for Pat Dilloway's post. Sorry again, Pat! That was completely my fault.
The country of Challen depends on its Season Avatars to tame a recurring
storm that mixes up the seasons. A quartet of magic-users, each with a
different type of magic, reincarnate with skills and memories from
previous lives but face new challenges whenever they’re reborn. Now, a
child faces a healing task that would daunt someone much older. A
fourteen-year-old is pursued by enemies in her sleep. An animal lover
must protect her kitten from her disapproving family. An impatient farm
girl tries to get the attention of her true love, only to have the wrong
person respond. Before Gwen, Kay, Ysabel, and Jenna can come together
as Season Avatars, first they must survive independently as Young
Seasons.
A short story collection set between Seasons' Beginnings and Scattered Seasons. Includes an excerpt from Scattered Seasons.
Speaking of Scattered Seasons, it's on sale through next Monday for $0.99. (It's on sale at other sellers besides Amazon, though it may take a couple of days for the price change to become effective.)
Lady Gwendolyn lo Havil is an Ava Spring, born to heal others and lead
the Season Avatars of her generation. Season Avatars with divine magic
must work in groups of four to save the country of Challen from Chaos
Season, times when all of the seasons appear at once. When the current
Ava Spring dies in a riding accident, Gwen must find the other three
Season Avatars she will link with. But two of them are missing, and
with Gwen's own magic crippled by a cursed pottery shard, she will have
to use all of her skills to find the Avatars scattered across the
country of Challen. During her journey, she meets a stranger who claims
to know the shard's origin. Is he truly an ally of the Season Avatars,
or is he trying to stop them from uniting?
Part of the reason I chose today to release Summon the Seasons is that it's John Lennon's birthday. I consider John my "patron muse," and the Beatles inspired the "Fem Four" of the Season Avatars series. So there's only one way to go out, and that's with a Twist and Shout!
Back in mid-August, I pledged to donate at least $25 or my September royalties to the Stop Hate Project. Unfortunately, I was so busy getting Summon the Seasons ready for release next week that I didn't do much promotion of my pledge besides than a single announcement on Facebook and my newsletter. Although I ran a free book promotion toward the end of the month, I haven't seen any sales come through from that yet. So my sales for September are $0 on CreateSpace and ACX, less than a dollar on Amazon, and about $2 through Draft2Digitial. (It's pretty rare for me to earn more through D2D than on Amazon.) I've accordingly donated $25 as promised. (I'm not posting any screen shots to protect my account information.) Perhaps next time I decide to donate royalties to a cause, I should do better promotion.
Last Saturday, I received the proof copy of Summon the Seasons:
This is what it looked like about a week later:
The good thing about being an indie writer is that you can make changes all the way up to the deadline. The bad thing about being an indie writer is that you can make changes all the way up to the deadline. While I did find a few typos, missing words, and other issues that really need to be fixed, the majority of the changes amount to a second line edit. (The Post-It notes on the side of the book aren't things to change, but possible pull quotes to use in promotion. The note color is irrelevant.) Unfortunately, there are some formatting issues with the front matter to fix as well.
I'm confident I can make the edits by October 5th, when Amazon needs the final version for the eBook. Those preorders should be fine. (Let's hope I'm not jinxing myself here.) I'm debating if I want to order a second physical proof or review it online and try to get physical books for an event on October 14th. The risk there is that the books might not be formatted properly--after all, I went through multiple rounds of online reviews before I thought I had the front matter set up correctly. In the long run, however, it's probably better to do it right than do it fast.
What's your proofing process? Feel free to share it in the comments.
With Summon the Seasons going live in less than a month, I'd love some help in promoting it. If you're willing to host me on a blog tour next month, please fill out this Google form. Thanks, and remember I'm always willing to promote other SF/fantasy books and authors in return.
I haven't prepared the proof copy of Summon the Seasons yet, since I need to reread it to make sure I'm not going to change the page count. However, I do have the eBook cover Maria Zannini designed for me, so I'm going to reveal it to you now:
Kay looks very mysterious, doesn't she?
Once I'm ready to order the paper proof, I'll show you the full cover. Maria did a great job incorporating story elements into the back cover. In the meantime, I have pre-orders available for the eBook at $2.99 on the following sites:
There's still time to catch up with the series before the final book becomes available. You can find the previous books at your favorite eBook retailers using these universal book links:
Although I'm writing a new book, I haven't been able to leave the publisher hat hanging. In the last week, I contacted Maria Zannini about cover art for Summon the Seasons (she's already drafted a gorgeous cover), revised the blurb I posted last week, assigned ISBNs to the paper and eBook versions, and added it to Goodreads. For Goodreads, I had to pick a tentative release date. After some thought, I chose October 9th in honor of John Lennon, my "patron muse." I've released two other books (Lyon's Legacy and Seasons' Beginnings) in October, and I thought at first releasing the latest book on one of their anniversaries. October 6th felt a little early, and October 21st is getting close to Halloween. John Lennon's birthday is still a bit early, but I should be able to prepare the paper edition on Createspace and proof it in that that time. Probably the hardest part of this release is deciding what kind of promotion to do, particularly since it's the series finale. A sale on the other books in the series? A blog tour? Giveaway? Facebook party? Or do I just go out to dinner with my family? Leave your thoughts in the comments, and keep coming back for updates.
Line edits are just about done for Summon the Seasons, though I'm still adding a few details to the text here and there. In the meantime, there are other parts to the publishing process that I need to take care of, like the blurb. Here's a rough draft; feel free to leave feedback in the comments:
Kay might be the youngest, smallest, and least confident
Season Avatar, but she has the most powerful magic of all—weather magic. Only
she can draw magic from Chaos Season, the magical weather storm that mixes up
the seasons in Challen, and share it with the rest of her quartet. Now that she also has
spirit magic and can contact the souls of dead Season Avatars, her quartet
finally has a chance to unite all twelve Season Avatars and end Chaos Season
permanently.
Achieving this goal will not be easy. Kay and her sister
Avatars need three more bones from the dead Avatars. To obtain them, they must
travel from one side of Challen to the other, evading the King’s Watch and
Selathens who want to protect their patron demigoddess, Salth, creator of Chaos Season. On the journey,
Kay’s deepest beliefs about her God and her longtime enemy, Dorian, will be
challenged. If Kay loses her newfound courage, she will fall before Salth, and
the rest of the Season Avatars and her country with her.
I've gone through Summon the Seasons once for a developmental edit, though I have a feeling there may be scenes that I'll want to revise again before I'm satisfied. In the meantime, I've been formatting the manuscript. I use a template that I bought from Book Design Templates. It's simple to use and works for both eBooks and paperbacks. I still have to comb through the manuscript to make sure everything looks right, and I always order a paper proof to check formatting. Formatting gets easier with practice, though.
How do you format your books? Do you use a special program or work with Word? Do it yourself or hire it out? Feel free to share in the comments.
April was obviously an active month for blogging, but my family and I were busy with other activities too.
We dozed with the dinos again at the Field Museum. (This time, we found a better spot to sleep--though Alex didn't get to spend the night on his favorite bed in the Egyptian marketplace.)
We also got to go behind the scenes and see dinosaur fossils that aren't on display. They have so many some are still in their field jackets, waiting for preparation.
I marched for science in Chicago. Due to poor weather, lack of energy, and my plantar fasciitis, I skipped the climate march.
The March for Science was the same weekend as C2E2. I hunted droids, including this oddly shaped one that was looking for a doctor. I walked over 19,000 steps on April 22nd, my second highest distance since I started tracking my steps. No wonder my feet are so sore!
My husband and son had a blast getting blasted at...
So I awarded Alex the Dark Side Cookie Award. I'm wearing my Imperial Staff Officer costume, which was just approved by the 501st Legion.
Here's a better view of the costume. (Humm, maybe next year I'll do Star Wars Costuming A-Z.)
Oh, and I finally finished the developmental edit of Summon the Seasons. Now to format it and maybe give it a quick sentence-level edit before I send it to the beta readers.
So, what did you do this April? Feel free to share in the comments.
