LI Cover make-over & ARC

The first Incarnate Journey design.

As my readers may know, I'm planning on moving my books from Lulu over to Amazon Createspace (although I may do eBooks just on Lulu).  As part of this process, I'll be making new book covers and re-doing old ones.

I'll admit, ever since I completed the front cover of Book I of The Legacy Incarnate: Incarnate Journey, I've never been terribly satisfied about the design.  I felt I had to cram everything into a small space.  I turned to the Mythic Scribes community for some critique on the Incarnate Journey cover, and got some excellent pointers on how to improve the design.

Consequently, I've redone the design.  I'm keeping the art, but the titles and stuff are a lot different...and a lot cleaner and easier to look at.

Sunstone Live

Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone is now available for purchase on Amazon Createspace!  In a few days it will be available on the general Amazon web store for purchase.  Soon I'll get an ebook version set up for purchase on Amazon as well!

Again, the book is $15 USD.  I am so excited to have this distributed and ready for anyone to purchase!  I hope everyone who picks it up enjoys it :)

The Morning Approaches

I want to thank everyone who participated in the giveaway contest for Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone!  I got all the packages delivered to their recipients, and I look forward to doing another book giveaway later this year!

Tomorrow is the long anticipated day, folks!  February 27, 2015 is the official release of Sunstone on Createspace, and soon after on the wonderful world of Amazon!  (And I really mean wonderful world; Amazon is an amazing online shopping site.)

The book will be $15 USD, and it will be available as a hard copy and on Kindle as an eBook.

Meanwhile, revision on Book II of The Legacy Incarnate: Incarnate Dream continues.

Strange Blessings E.II

Tobias sat outside the counselor's office, twiddling his thumbs as he stared at the opposite wall of the waiting room. He could hear Jodrick's heated tones through the thick redwood door, and more vague the soothing voice of the counselor. The prefect had waited for a few moments before leaving Tobias to mull over the fight in the hall.

At first he tried to keep his thoughts collected, to stay in the serekal, the spirit meditation. It was a practice in his tribe whenever two tribewolves squabbled. They parted ways and sought serekal before coming back to reconcile with one another.

Shortly after his eyes stared at nothing and his mind and spirit began to find peace, Tobias realized that the serekal was useless in this case. It only worked if both warriors entered serekal, and the most Jodrick knew was how to spit the largest gob over the academy fence. What would he have to do with a creature whose family had been victim to the Banishment? The serekal faded fast, and he shook his head and glared at the door.

Sunstone Giveaway Winners!

Announcing: the winners of the Sunstone giveaway!

I will email the winners with further instructions on getting the giveaway packages to them!

Last Chance for Giveaway!

Tonight is the last chance for readers to enter the giveaway for Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone!  The giveaway ends at 10 PM Mountain Time (my blog shows Pacific time and I haven't been able to change it :/).  Please review the giveaway rules on the Sunstone giveaway page to enter.

Tomorrow I will be recording a random drawing of the winners and posting it on Xenithar's Musings.  Please keep an eye out for the winning names!

Strange Blessings E.I

This entry is the first of a serial story I will be posting.  The serial entries won't be long, so keep an eye out on Xenithar's Musings to keep reading the story!

The story is set in the Chronicles of Libera world.  It's about a young Hakaan named Tobias who attends the Mal'ur Academy several years after the New Era of Banishment.  He is haunted by the enslaved past his people endured and longs to make a life of freedom for himself.  The answer to many of his problems may lie with the Dragonriders of Zanoll.  Blessings can be strange indeed.

Day 11 - What to Watch instead of 50 Ways to Gag

Most books I give a try before I judge them.  But once in awhile I run across a book whose premise, content, and reader reviews are just so terrible I won't bother to even touch it.

Fifty Shades of Gray by E.L. James is one of them.

It makes me cringe on the inside just to write the actual title of the book on my blog.  I would rather find fifty ways to make puns from the title.  Fifty Shades is a tale of dungeon sexual abuse presented by its main characters as desirable, and serves as one example among hundreds of pornography on America's bookshelves.  Today is the release of the film adaptation of this hellish story (which even the main actors are disturbed by, and one compared it to Hitler).  However, I want to present alternatives to watch this Valentine's Day instead of 50 Colors of Ick that are uplifting and have themes of love and encouragement.

Presenting: 5 Movies to Watch this Valentine's Day.

Day 8 - Writing about Brothers

I'm starting to get back into the groove of writing again, which feels very nice.  A while back, while revising Book II of The Legacy Incarnate: Incarnate Dream, I came across a scene which I decided to change.  Consequently, this particular part of the plot line demanded a whole new telling to reach the result that was already in place for the characters.

So, I'm writing a whole new chapter to explain the scene change, but this has given me an opportunity to clarify some of the plot line and introduce 3 new characters.  They're a set of Hakaan triplets called the Charrak Brothers who are adept in the magical arts and act as bodyguards for one of the lesser villains, although they're not necessarily villains themselves.  Just doing their job.

In later books, Hakaan have dealings with this villain, so hopefully it will be easy to incorporate the Brothers into those stories and give them a bit more prominent role.  It's been fun exploring their characters.  I also wrote some background info on them, learning how intertwined their lives and stories are.  I hope to write more about them in The Legacy Incarnate, and perhaps even outside of LI.

The giveaway is still open!  If you haven't already entered, please see the rules on the giveaway page for your chance to win a free copy of Sunstone, a bookmark, and original art by yours truly :)

Everyone have an awesome Valentine's Day!

My favorite genres and books

Day 2 of the giveaway,  and I'm so excited about the ones who have already entered,  and I hope to see more lovely emails talking about your favorite books and genres.   It got me to thinking,  "Why shouldn't I talk about my favorite books and genres?"

My favorite genre is high fantasy.  It's kind of hard for me to list second favorites in order after that,  but I can definitely include animal fantasy, memoirs, and some low fantasy.  I really like a few particular survival stories too.

Books I like include the Rebirth Trilogy by W.A. Johnson,  Lord of the Rings,  Beyonders, Firebringer by David Clement-Davies, Warriors by Erin Hunter, and the Dinotopia book Windchaser.  I've enjoyed all the Gary Paulsen books I've read,  including Hatchet,  Dogsong, and Woodsong.  I may be picky about my books, but I do have my favorites :)

Books I don't like?  I won't rant too much here,  and my veteran readers have read some of my more blistering reviews.  However, to put it simply,  I don't like books that compromise my standards.  I don't like books with a lot of swearing, overdone violence, innuendo, and explicit sex.  I also don't like books that are poorly written and too boring for my taste.

Anyway,  I hope you readers continue to find good books to read.   I would be much obliged if you'll spread word to friends and family about the Sunstone giveaway.

Have a good day!

Can't find the Comments for the Giveaway!

Well, my Blogger decided to do a stupid and not let the comment box show up on the giveaway page, even though it's fully enabled.  I changed the rules slightly - after subscribing/following, all you have to do is email me!  Please re-read the rules, as there's a certain way to send me an email, and send in your entry!

I apologize for any misunderstandings and the big screw up for people who can't see the comment option..  Hopefully none of that will happen again!

Sunstone Giveaway Open!

The book giveaway for Book 1 of The Legend of Draconite: Sunstone, is now open!  Go to the giveaway page and follow the rules for entry, and you will be entered in for a chance to get a copy of Sunstone!  Remember, there are additional goodies, and all entrants get a free eBook copy of Sunstone!

Have fun, and good luck!