Done

I finished up a major rewrite of Blood Plague last night. It has a totally different ending, one that fits the story better. It was about a 40,000 word rewrite so it was quite a process. I had to reread what I had a couple of times to make sure I tied up all the loose ends of subplots, but it’s done.

Time to put it on a shelf again, and let it sit while I write something else, and then I will go back and start editing it. I finally came up with a title and can scrap the working title of Blood Plague, now it reads The Truth of Iron at the top of the manuscript. In this particular world, those who are around iron for extended periods of time gain some special abilities. I am considering a subtitle that does mention plague.

Now that I have a 92,000 word monkey off of my back its time to pick a new project. From my post a few week ago you can see that there are quite a few partially finished items on my to-do shelf, and I am not sure which one I will pick to yet. I did read some  advice from published authors via the internet that I am going to consider as I try to pick what I want to do next.

It is pretty straight forward and something I should have thought of before. Authors get pigeon holed depending on what they get published first. When you are first starting out, write want you want to known for (in my case fantasy), and then later once you have a few things published, write a YA novel or a vampire novel.

Setting aside the projects that are not fantasy and the ones that are more idea than anything concrete narrows my choices to Empire’s End, The Rising Dark, or Godswar. I am going to have to reread what I have done and then decide.

I love getting stuff off my to do list.

Shadows & Light II Final Cover/Blurb

I realized that I never posted the final blurb/ cover for Shadows & Light Volume II. I decided to go the simple route with the blurb, the one I wrote for Shadows & Light: Tales of Lost Kingdoms sounded a little pretentious, so here is the one for Volume II:

The struggle between man and evil has always been a mainstay of fantasy. Pill Hill Press pays homage to this tradition in the sequel to their critically acclaimed anthology, Shadows & Light: Tales of Lost Kingdoms.

Volume II features thirteen brand new magical tales of the epic battle between good and evil, including:

Choices in the Dark by Ray Tabler, Master Race by Gerald Costlow, The Hand of Fate by David J. West, Azieran: The Secret in the Mist by Christopher Heath, Mania's Children by Gustavo Bondoni, Champion by Marc Sorondo, Night Ambush by Scott Harper & Diane Smith, The Tithe of Hell by Edward McKeown, The King of Sorango by John M. Whalen, Zhea by Gregory L. Norris, Spread Your Wings and Die by Lydia Sharp, Sons of Odin by John Richard Albers & Aquila's Ring by Cat Rambo.

And here is the final cover:

A shameless plug

With the holidays coming up I thought I would shamelessly plug the sci-fi anthology I edited this summer. Hey it is my blog, what better place to try and get some sales. Anyone interested in buying the book can get it from amazon or from barnes and noble It also available in the Pill Hill Press Book Shoppe. Right now there is a limited edition hard cover that can only purchased from the Book Shoppe, the hardcover is available until the end of December and it is only $3 more than the soft cover!

Blurb:

This short story collection features thirteen fantastic adventures set in the cold vacuum of space. Read about rogues, scoundrels, aliens, robots, heroes, junkers and priests as you explore the rich and creative diversity of the following stories: Junker's Fancy By Rosemary Jones, Leech Run By Scott W. Baker, A Space Romance By Paul A. Freeman, Hawking's Caution By Mark Rivett, Parhelion By David Schembri, To Stand Among Kings By Kenneth Mark Hoover, The Unicorn Tree By Alethea Kontis, The Beacon of Hope By Gregory L Norris, Tangwen's Last Heist By C.B. Calsing, The Stand-Ins By Gef Fox, Glacier Castle By Will Morton, Rescue By Margaret Karmazin, At One Stride Comes the Dark By Murray Leeder.

Reviews:

Amazon/ Diane Jones- Avid Reader: Exactly what the cover says, this is a collection of fascinating stories set in deep space, most having a good balance of science and fantasy and all offering enough suspense to make them very hard to put down.

Fred Warren/Residential Aliens: If you love stories about lone-wolf pilots, sentient spaceships, interplanetary power politics, rogue computers, lost colonies, and Terrors From Beyond, Zero Gravity, a new anthology of science fiction adventures from Pill Hill Press, will light your boosters and shove you deep into your acceleration couch… Read the rest here

JM Kirk Writer of Fantasy and Science Fiction: …Zero Gravity was an entertaining anthology that had more character driven stories than technology driven plots which is something I much prefer in my science fiction. This good range of stories is bound to appeal to many readers whether they are fans of the genre or not. Read the rest here

Tales of the Talisman/ Shawn Oetzel: …Pill Hill Press’ anthology, Zero Gravity Adventures in Deep Space is an eye-catching and fun read. It is filled with thirteen science fiction stories all nicely edited by Alva J. Roberts. I think fans of genre fiction will enjoy Zero Gravity Adventures in Deep Space immensely. I know I did. Buy a copy of the issue

Science Fiction Review: I haven't read a volume of short stories since, well, since about forever. I like getting engrossed in the plot and feel of a full-length novel. However, I picked up a copy of Zero Gravity while on an extended trip, and I read it immediately following a great but lengthy novel by Carol Berg. My flight was going to land in about an hour, so the short story format seemed appropriate to read one or two before landing, going through customs and immigration, getting a ride to the hotel, etc. I am glad I made that choice… Read the rest here

The Future Fire Reviews: As a whole, Zero Gravity is full of stories that seem to understand that humanity is no longer physically evolving in the original sense. We no longer worry about those genetic markers that in the past made a mate unacceptable. Today we evolve through social interaction and technology and this will most likely still be the case as we hurl ourselves outward beyond the stars. On the perimeter of the universe it will be our technology and our ability to co-habitat with our fellows that will serve us and I feel this collection gets that right. It is just plain good reading that should easily please any fan of deep space fiction. It is light, good for afternoons on the porch or, if you’re like me, a quick story to relax a bit before bed… Read the rest here

If any book reviewers are interested please drop me a line via the contact form and we will get see about getting a review copy to you. The book is available through many other online book stores inlcuding the many versions of amazon ie amazon.ca, amazon.uk., etc. And the Pill Hill Book Shoppe has very reasonable international shipping rates.

Summer's Blood Finished

So I was home sick today, had a sore throat, fever, and stuffy head. Which was bad. But in between nyquil induced nap time, I finished up Summer's Blood and got it sent off to a publisher. Now the waiting game starts.

But having just finished a 95,000 word novel I think I am going to take a little break from writing, just a few days. I am going to read one of the books from my to read pile and then get back to writing. I have some ideas for a couple of short stories and my Godswar novel to work on. But that won't start till Saturday at the earliest. I have been spending all of my free time finishing Summer's Blood and I think I should do something else.

Summer's Blood

As you might be able to tell from the progress bar, I have stopped writing completely and focused entirely on editing Summer's Blood. I have just made it over the 60,000 word mark(only 26,000 left.) Of course this isn't the final edit, but I am getting rid of all the inconsistencies and my characters actually have thoughts and feelings.

You see my first drafts are very bare bones type of things. They pretty much just tell what is happening without any embellishment. In my first few edits I have to add in what my character is feeling and thinking. My next edit I will start on grammar and add some descriptions. For example instead of having the characters in a forest. I might have them in a grove of aspens or something like that.

The next edit will paint a clearer picture. Also I think I need to add even more characterization. For example when my characters are given the choice of going to the Isle of the Dead on a mission for the fairy queen or being tortured and banished from all contact with other humans, my character thinks about it for just a couple of sentences and then goes along. At the very least I think I need to add some resentment to that scene, if not outright anger.

But it is coming along, hopefully I'll have it ready to send out sometime in May.

Just an update

Well, I am one step closer to my goal of getting all my stories(that I have the rights too) reprinted online. The Plant which originally appeared in The Middle of Nowhere anthology, is being reprinted on Static Movement. I thought it would be a good fit because the editor of Static Movement is also going to be editing the sequel to The Middle of Nowhere.

I am still plugging away on God's War getting one chapter written a week,and I have been getting one chapter in Kingdom of the Dead, and Summer's Blood edited a week. So far I haven't had to do any major rewrites so I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Ever since the weather warmed up I haven't been feeling 100%, I am really tired for no reason, and I just can't seem to get myself motivated while at the same time I have been struggling with sinus problems. I don't know it is the flu or possibly allergies but whatever it is I hope it goes away soon.

By my count I had a good 10 hours last week that I could have and usually would be writing or editing, but instead I listened to my mp3 player and watched movies. I just couldn't motivate myself to open my laptop, how lazy is that?