If you like either women's fiction or fantasy, then I have 101 choices for you. There's a giveaway on Instafreebie called Where Women Rule running through July 3rd where you can download a copy of Scattered Seasons (if you don't already have it) and a hundred other books, including Hereafter by my blogging buddy Terri Bruce. I have to check out some of the other books myself, so I hope you will too!
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?
Michio Kako interviewed both scientists and science fiction authors for his recent book The Future of Humanity. If you want to think about the long-term future of the human race, this is a book worth reading. Kako lays out in an orderly fashion how we can establish a settlement on the moon; then gradually work our way to Mars and moons in the outer solar system; and leave the solar system, the Milky Way, and possibly even our universe. Of course, there is the slight problem of overcoming the current obstacles we face first. Besides colonizing space, Kako also suggests that we may overcome death (I wonder if I'll live long enough to see that) and will adapt ourselves to new planets while still retaining our basic humanity. I guess it's up to the science fiction writers to fill in more details about that.
Speaking of speculative fiction, I'm part of another group giveaway on Instafreebie. You can check it out at this link. The giveaway runs through the end of the month and includes science fiction, fantasy, and horror. I hope you find some interesting new books there!
One of the ways I've been promoting Scattered Seasons is by giving it away on Instafreebie. Currently, it's part of the Fierce Hearts: Women of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Group Giveaway. This event runs through the end of the month and features over 130 free books. Even if you already have my book, check out all the other ones available! You just might find a new favorite book or author.
If you're named Jennifer and have a hotmail e-mail address, please check your inbox. I randomly picked the winner of my Strong Women in Fiction giveaway last night, and you've won five autographed books in my fantasy Season Avatars series! Thanks to everyone who participated and to Terri Bruce for organizing the blog hop.
Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:
I've done NaNoWriMo twice, and I "won" both times. However, I didn't finish either project (which means they're still unpublished). I'm more of a pantser than a plotter, so the pressure to write faster than I normally do leads to rambling drafts. I'm reusing some of the ideas from my first NaNoWriMo in my current WIP, and I hope someday to return to Catalyst in the Crucible, my second NaNoWriMo project. As usual, it's a case of too many projects, too little time.
Speaking of little time, I'd holding a limited-time giveaway for the Strong Women in Fiction Giveaway, running now through November 15th. The four heroines of my fantasy Season Avatars series all have different types of powerful magic and are second only to the king of their country in rank. Together, Gwen, Jenna, Ysabel, and Kay can tame Chaos Season, a magical storm that mixes up the seasons. To do this, they need strong minds and wills, as well as other talents. I'm celebrating the recent conclusion of this series by giving away signed paper copies of all five books (Seasons' Beginnings, Scattered Seasons, Chaos Season, Fifth Season, and Summon the Seasons.). You can enter below. I'll add collected e-mails to my mailing list, but you're free to unsubscribe later. U.S. residents only, please. The winner will be selected randomly and will have one week to send me a shipping address after I contact him/her. If not, then I'll choose another winner. Let me know if you have any questions.
Other authors are participating in this giveaway hop, so use the linky below to check out all the prizes.
My blogger buddy Terri Bruce is co-hosting a giveaway hop next month. It's called Strong Women in Fiction, and it's intended to show all the many ways in which women can be strong. It's open to bloggers and authors of all genders, but the prize or prizes for the giveaway should relate to the theme. For more information about how it'll work, check out this post. You can sign up until October 29 and have to have your post up November 1st. (Looks like I'll be double-posting that day for IWSG.) Contact Terri if you have further questions.
This month's Insecure Writer's Support Group post is hosted by Olga Godim, Chemist Ken,Jennifer Hawes, and Tamara Narayan. If you're not familiar with the IWSG, check them out on their website and Facebook. This month, we've been posed the following question: Have you ever slipped any of your personal information into your
characters, either by accident or on purpose?
It's hard to answer this question because there are different levels of personal information. To some extent, all of my characters, from the heroines to the villains, come out of my personal experience. Some of them, such as Joanna in Lyon's Legacy and Gwen in the Season Avatars series, draw more on my background or personal preferences. I've used other characters to vent emotions. Something deeply personal? Not telling.
How much of your characters are you? Feel feel to share in the comments.
P.S. Young Seasons: A Season Avatars Short Story Collection will be free on Amazon from now through Friday as it ends its time in Kindle Unlimited. This weekend I plan to put it in wide distribution, but if you'd like a Kindle copy, go ahead and download it now.
Thanks for having me over as part of my blog tour today, Sandra. Today, one of the young characters from my book would like to take you on a tour around his hometown.
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Hi! Mallinger here, but you can call me Mal. I’d like to show you around a bit of my hometown, Fusterbury. It’s a big place, lots of people live here, but we all get along and rub along OK. Let’s start off with my lovely home. Some great work on the mud walls there – when it comes to repairs, we all have to muck in and do our bit. I’ve got a nice pile of straw just over at the side there, really comfy. It’s a bit cramped in here, with me, my dad, and three brothers and four sisters. But it used to be four brothers and six sisters. And my mum. She died when my littlest sister was born. Yeah, we’ve got a problem with this disease we’ve got here, can’t seem to get rid of it. But it makes us appreciate the time we get together even more. Looks like the kids are playing a nice game of noughts and crosses with sticks and leaves. Let’s go and have a walk around outside.
So I’ve got all my neighbours here. They all live in pretty similar huts, but we like to think ours is the best. Just a little joke, though. We all help each other where we can. Lots of kids running around today, looks like the rain’s off for a bit. Everyone has big families here, means there’s a better chance of the family name carrying on. There’s a few kids making a big castle out of the mud. Looks great! Come on, let’s see some more of the town. Watch out for the river. I know it’s a bit brown, but it’s where we get our water. We try to boil as much of it as we can.
Just a few streets up this way, we’ve got the town square. A good few shops round here, we can get our clothes patched up and there’s a cobbler’s too. It helps if you’ve got something to trade, like a good juicy rat. There’s also a medicine man who deals in these creams, they relieve some of the physical symptoms of the disease but we all know they don’t do anything to cure it. Oh well, whatever helps. Then of course, we’ve got the centrepiece of the city – the Monument of the Dead. It’s not morbid or grim or anything, it’s our way of keeping a part of our loved ones here with us when they pass on. A bit of them gets added to the pile, sometimes just a finger bone or a whole skull. It’s a big pile, so we often have to shore it up if we get a landslip somewhere.
Apart from that, we’ve got outlying villages in the countryside, dotted all around. They might have their own monuments, but I haven’t visited. Everything I need is right here. We haven’t got much, I know, but we’ve got each other. That’s what counts.
Title: Black & White
Author: Nick Wilford
Genre: YA dystopianSeries #: 1 of 3
Release date: 18th September 2017
Publisher: Superstar Peanut Publishing
Blurb:
What is the price paid for the creation of a perfect society?
In Whitopolis, a gleamingly white city of the future where illness has been eradicated, shock waves run through the populace when a bedraggled, dirt-stricken boy materialises in the main street. Led by government propaganda, most citizens shun him as a demon, except for Wellesbury Noon – a high school student the same age as the boy.
Upon befriending the boy, Wellesbury feels a connection that he can’t explain – as well as discovering that his new friend comes from a land that is stricken by disease and only has two weeks to live. Why do he and a girl named Ezmerelda Dontible appear to be the only ones who want to help?
As they dig deeper, everything they know is turned on its head – and a race to save one boy becomes a struggle to redeem humanity.
Nick Wilford is a writer and stay-at-home dad. Once a journalist, he now makes use of those early morning times when the house is quiet to explore the realms of fiction, with a little freelance editing and formatting thrown in. When not working he can usually be found spending time with his family or cleaning something. He has four short stories published in Writer’s Muse magazine. Nick is also the editor of Overcoming Adversity: An Anthology for Andrew. Visit him at his blog or connect with him on Twitter,Goodreads, Facebook, or Amazon.
Enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of my collection A Change of Mind and Other Stories or a $10 giftcard!a Rafflecopter giveaway
Young Seasons went live on Amazon yesterday. You can download it here. (Sorry, Alex, it's currently in Select, but I plan on wide distribution to iTunes and other stores in October.) It'll be free today and tomorrow to celebrate Prime Day. Afterwards, it'll be $0.99. If you like the stories, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Thanks!
I'm slightly biased toward April 28, since it's my birthday. However, April 28 is also the day assigned to the letter X, one of the hardest letters to blog about during the A-Z Blogging Challenge. I don't have an X associated with the Season Avatars series, so I will invoke birthday privilege and use the algebraic X to stand for the unknowns in the story.
The biggest unknown at this point is how--or if--the Season Avatars will be able to end Chaos Season, particularly after the events of Fifth Season. If they are able to pull off this momentous feat, what will it mean for Challen? And how did Challen wind up with Four Gods and Goddesses anyway?
The good news is that these questions will be answered in the final book of the series, Summon the Seasons. The bad news is that although the rough draft is complete, I don't have a publication date set yet, and I haven't discussed the cover with Maria. I'm currently editing this book and plan to publish it later this year. The section I'm on has been a slog to revise, but it's almost at the end of the book, and the climax doesn't require as much extensive editing. Further updates will be posted on this blog as soon as they're available.
Since it's my birthday, I want to give away some presents. So, I'll give all five eBooks in this series (Seasons' Beginnings, Scattered Seasons, Chaos Season, Fifth Season, and Summon the Seasons when available) to one lucky random commenter on this post! Winner will be announced in Sunday's post.
This is the final week of the Reviewer Roundup Event on Facebook. Both Chaos Season and Fifth Season are part of the collection of free books being given away in exchange for honest reviews. Please make sure to read the rules pinned to the top of the event page. Happy reading!
Blurb for Chaos Season
Jenna Dorshay t’Reve isn’t your typical farmer’s daughter.
Blessed with plant magic, she’s been impatiently waiting to take her place as
Summer Avatar of Challen. All she and her sister Season Avatars have to do is
tame a Chaos Season, a magical weather storm sent to Challen by a wrathful
demigoddess. They’ve done this many times in other lives, but now dangerous
plants resistant to Jenna’s magic make Chaos Season worse. Even the assistance
of the War Avatar, father of Jenna’s child, may not be enough to stop the
plants. Before Jenna can conquer the deathbushes and tame Chaos Season, she
must fully link with the other Avatars in her quartet, but to do so means
revealing a secret that can tear them apart.
Blurb for Fifth Season
Ysabel became the Goddess of Fall’s Avatar to care for animals, but her kind heart may prove fatal to her loved ones.
When
a pair of strange animals, part bird and part lizard, invade the
country of Challen during a magical weather storm, Ysabel must learn if
they’re ordinary creatures or if they’re connected to Salth, the Season
Avatars’ sworn enemy. However, the clawfeet, as she calls them, are
resistant to her magic.
After tragedy strikes the Avatars, Ysabel
comes up with a desperate plan to allow all twelve of them to face Salth
together as required by the Four Gods and Goddesses of Challen.
Jealousy, however, tears an ally from the Avatars during their most
vulnerable time as even more beasts rise against them. If Ysabel cannot
control the strange animals and use justice as well as mercy, she will
not only lose her position as Avatar but the people she loves.
