Starting a New Series

The Read ...

My "cockles" were nicely warmed by the opening of Yasmine Galenorn's new series about the Indigo Court of vampiric fae -- Night Myst.  Frankly, I'm a little tired of her D'Artigo sisters.  [I'd still read them, but the competition for my time is too great at the moment.]  

The book set up might be considered a cliche -- a roaming family member (Cicely) being called home because of a death.  When Cicely returns home, she's discovers she's inherited the position of head witch in the town, and all hell's breaking  out.  Yeah, it gets off the blocks fast and keeps racing from one disaster to another.

That said, watching Galenorn set up the coming books in the series is a writing lesson in itself.  The end of the book leaves the reader anticipating several threads:

--Cecily inheriting responsibility for the safety of humans and witches in the town threatened by the Indigo Court, 

--The MC lover a captive of the Indigo Court queen, 

--A battle between two tribes of fae, one of which was supposedly destroyed by the Indigo Court,

--Not only can Cicely talk to a wind elemental by can turn into an owl which is the enemy of the queen of the Indigo Court,
--The Indigo Court of Vampiric fae out to destroy the Red Court of normal vampires, which are wickedly delicious and self-centered, the poster-people for unreliable allies. 
-- Cicely discovers her father is a fae from yet a different tribe, and

--There's a reincarnation thing going on.

 

Oh, there are some mild sex scenes and reserve partners in the wings to complicate future plots.

 

That's just what I remember from the top of my head.  I'll close my comments by thanking Galenorn for not sanitizing her vampires.

Media Buzz ...

Promoting Your Book:  The web has been busy catching my interest.  Maybe one of the most important posts I've read lately comes from Eric at Pimp My Novel -- an author's 12 Step Program.  Yay!  A nice step-by-step list of things you need to do to promote your books -- even if you hit the big time since publishers are publicizing less and less. 

I'm sort of stuck on #5 ... I skipped the agent bit on the list when I sold Taking Vengeance to WolfSinger Publications.  Laughed at the party suggestion.  I just went comatose when I got the email saying WolfSinger had accepted the novelette.  [Remember, this is super small time even if it's occupying enormous amounts of my time.]

Bureaucratic Sillyness:  I start out my day reading the New York Times.  [Actually, it's skimming the NYT.  The old man reads it.]  A recent gem was an article on how print books help avoid the "summer slump" affecting so many low income school kids, all of whom can't afford to forgot what they learned the previous year.  Seems their heads retain more if they have books to read.  Also seems, it works best when the kids pick out their own books.

With school districts cutting summer programs right and left because their tax base has evaporated, research has revealed a cost-effective solution -- give the kids books they pick out for themselves, even if the subject is "frivolous".  Hey, that might even get boys reading.

Progress ...

The site for the Half-Elven of the Far Isles is now up and under construction.  If you're curious, you can visit the site ... or the blog.  Did you guess I've put my other projects on the back burner to start another edit of Dark Solstice -- in spite of coming down with something with a fever?

Trivia ...

Got my desk cleaned off again ... Does that mean I'll start revising Voices??????  Maybe next week.  I'm still cleaning stuff -- both computer and print -- up.   The changes in Dark Solstice are minor -- so maybe I can do both.