Series End or Just Shifting Gears?

The Read ...

Ilona Andrews' Magic Bleeds feels like the end of the series.  I clenched my teeth as I read it.  I liked the fast pace and development of the primary and secondary characters in their books and would hate to see the Kate Daniels' world end.  [Like, I'm green with envy ... especially after reading the scene where the hyena alpha tried to manipulate Daniels.]

What clues suggest the ending of the series?  Andrews ties up so many loose ends very little is left hanging.  The only hope in the book the team will continue writing the series is the suggestion of Daniels going freelance.

Since there are three more Kate Daniels books under contract, I can look forward to Kate's continued fights with Curren because the Daniels series is shifting gears to maintain freshness.  Even if they become a couple, I can't imagine them not fighting.  Their characters are too consistently drawn -- the super-protective male and a snarly, independent female, both intelligent.

How do I know about three more titles?  I checked the Andrews website for Kate Daniels series, of course.  You might check it out if you are thinking about site building.  It's one of cleanest, easy to follow sites I've seen.

Website building is whirling around in my mind thanks to WolfSinger Pubs.  I'm in the process of setting up a Half-Elven site, and the Ilona Andrews team has given me a great model.   Just hope Go Daddy's templates have something a computer idiot can manipulate.

Ta-Da for the Web Notes ...

Amazon's crowing about their Kindle sales.  Digital Book World  has a blog putting the hype in perspective.

I have problems with having one company controlling all the books I'm able to buy.  My e-reading device must allow my to buy books from any vendor ... now just the owner of the reader.

Hey, all you distopian writers ... how about a media mogul buying a corrupt Congress to write the laws so his company is the only one that can sell books?

Progress ...

Got my freebie story, set in the world of the Half-Elven [Cavern Between Worlds], more or less revised.  The old man only has to copy-edit the thing, I hope.  It's intended as bait to build a readership/fan base for the Half-Elven world [along with two other short stories].  Hopefully, I'll be able to sell more than a 100 copies of Taking Vengeance when it's published next year.  I'm still in the midst of studying how one does it ... but I'll try the best I can.  It'd be embarrassing if I only sold 20 copies.  [I can see my fiction career whirling down the drain.]

My head's spinning from the projects on the table.  Remember the guy on the Ed Sullivan show who spinned  a bunch of plates on top of dowls?  While musing while giving the cat his lap [aka outlining the next freebie story] I discovered I could remember some of the secondary/minor characters' names.

I'm concentrating my revision efforts on There Be Demons.  I'd rather drag my feet so I'll have an excuse not to query agents.   Maybe if I have the queries out, I won't be tempted to fiddle with the manuscript and can get on with revising Voices.  

Voices may be the most salable of the manuscripts I have endings on -- since it's more conventional.  Just a girl coping with talking to ghosts and bullies.  Mariah is a grandmother and an elf -- which should be a high fantasy quest but centers on a society coping with genetic drift in a small hybrid population.  Demons features a skewed pastiche of Catholic dogma which isn't all that complementary. 

Oh, I forgot Emma.  She's fairly conventional too but is able to see fae and travel to new Faery -- while coping with bullies .

Trivia ...

The raspberries are producing $5.00 bowls over and over again.  Glad they waited until we got back from the family trek.  

Oh, a heads-up.  I'm going to be blogging twice a week -- unless something drastic happens.  I've just got too much on my plate. 

Uber Series of Many Books

The Read ...

Still on  Witch World by Andre Norton, the beginning of the many-booked Witch World series.  May seem presumptuous of me, but I sometimes wonder if any of my book manuscripts would a series make.  My middle grade stuff is written as stand-a-lones.  I really can't see them as fitting into a series though they are vaguely in the same world.  [My never-never California, as I think of it.]

Basically, Witch World lives!  Don't know how many books I've read in the Witch World series of the more than 30.   I know there's a stack of them on my bookshelves, but I do know there's an active fan base out there on the web --  Andre Norton sites -- complete with maps.

Outside of the fantasy genre, I don't know whether Norton is considered young adult or adult.  Given the short shrift the romance of Koris/Loyse  and Simon/Jaelithe got in Witch World, I'd say young adult, even though Simon and Jaelithe wake up in bed with each other in the next book in the series [Web of the Witch World].  --  Frankly, I don't think it matters.  People of all ages read the same fantasy books -- as long the world feels real.

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Care to search for a science fiction/fantasy series or explore series that are similar to ones you have enjoyed in the past?  You might try SciFan  This compiled site has loads of info, even places where you might buy titles.  Their stated goal:
"For each writer, you'll find book listings in their reading order and books that belong to a common universe.  When available you'll also find links to dedicated sites, both official and made by fans.
We carefully keep track of new series releases. We also listed the biggest and most popular series"

[I found the site on one of the AW Water Cooler forums.  Can remember where or who mentioned it.  When I searched the forum I got a thread from 2005.]

Progress ...

Finally finished the editing/revising of There Be Demons ... the second time this month ... and I've the feeling I'll be revising it yet again.  Guess I'm loopy about given my characters a chance at their place in the sun ... rather than shoving them in a "trunk".

Dare I think I'll get some new material into Voices next week?  Or, will I try to outline subsequent books featuring Britt and Cahal?  Makes me wonder what other writers think/do about their characters?

 Trivia ... 

Killed time at the Farmer's Market where I met a writer friend standing in line for real ice cream.  Old man ate most of the scoop [pistachio nut] since I was saving room for lunch -- hot sour soup and Chinese egg rolls.  Yummm, one of my favorites which I can't make because we'd eat it for a month.

Sorry, didn't get this posted yesterday.  I was finishing my Demons revision and running around.  Like the fridge was empty of "good" stuff.