About “rules” – on publishing and on creating worlds and magic systems – and how to know when to ignore what other people have to say. Also, the perils of being clever: just… don’t.
First Cup of Coffee – September 4, 2023
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Preorder Now! TWISTED MAGIC (and a Snippet)
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I’m working away on TWISTED MAGIC! The preorder links are mostly live. (I use Smashwords to distribute to Apple and Scribd. They flagged the book because I used the keyword “adult,” saying I must categorize it as erotica. Which, it isn’t. I meant adult fantasy as opposed to YA fantasy, but apparently adult means erotic now and I can’t even.) Anyway, you can preorder pretty much everywhere now.
And, because you all have been waiting so patiently, here is a snippet from the book in progress 🙂
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Jadren heaved a sigh and rolled his head back, staring at the ceiling. “If I were to hazard a guess, which I apparently am being coerced into doing, I’d say that she means she thinks I ran away only as a bargaining chip. She won’t believe that I don’t truly want, in the charred cinder of my withered heart, to be Lord El-Adrel after her. Katica can’t conceive of anyone not wanting her power. She’s used that to play her heirs against each other all these years.”
“Do you?” Selly asked.
He lifted his head and gazed at her. Blinked, long and slow. “Do I want to be Lord El-Adrel? Dark arts, no! What would possess you to even ask such a question?”
“It’s a reasonable question,” she answered, studying him.
“Not unless you think I’m enough of a monster that I want to become my mother,” he spat back.
“See, that’s not a reasonable answer. You can head your house without becoming your mother.”
“Oh, and I suppose you believe I should follow the example of the sainted Gabriel, Lord of House Phool?” he sneered. “If my choices are to become a tyrannical megalomaniac or an idealistic idiot merrily leading my house to doom, or a passive/aggressive wannabe like Chaim Refoel, then I’ll take option D: none of the above.”
“Or,” she retorted, “you could make the role your own. You’re not one of your mother’s automatons, plodding along mindlessly in the footsteps of others. If you became Lord El-Adrel, you could make the house over into what you want it to be.”
He curled a lip. “Why, Seliah—have you been harboring a secret desire to become Lady El-Adrel? Perhaps all that half-feral swamp beast behavior of yours has been a cover for a heart that quietly yearns for the power and glory of a high house.”
“Be nice,” she warned him. “You know I don’t care about heading a high house and, for the record, I don’t care if you are Lord El-Adrel or not. But I think your people deserve better. And,” she added after a moment, “the house deserves better.”
“The house is a house. She doesn’t deserve anything. She can’t, because she’s not a person.”
“Then why do you talk about her like a person instead of an ‘it’?”
“Because she’s a right bitch,” he observed without rancor. “You saw what she did to us.”
“She helped us to escape,” Selly replied remorselessly. “Besides, I think she wants you to be Lord El-Adrel.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m not letting an over-magicked dwelling make life choices for me.”
First Cup of Coffee – August 28, 2023
//My weekend at Bubonicon: great conversations with other writers and coming home ready to put a new project into motion. Also, how some members of the SFF community treat Romance like antimatter.
First Cup of Coffee – August 25, 2023
//Burnout: how to recognize it, how to define what stage you’re at, and what to do about it. I recommend aggressive refilling of the well for all. Also, vacation, Hurricane Hilary, and doing Beach.
Cover Reveal: TWISTED MAGIC!
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I’m a day late posting because yesterday was crazy. Lots going on here, all good. I hope to share with you all soon!
In the meanwhile, the news you’ve all been waiting for, I know: TWISTED MAGIC, Book #3 in Renegades of Magic, has a cover and a release date!!! It will be out October 30, 2023. The preorder links are still going live, but we’ll add them to the website as they do. As always, you can preorder directly from me via the website. That includes print (which isn’t available for preorder anywhere else). I’ll have the back-cover copy and tagline soon, as I’m well into writing the book. At last!! Hooray!!!
First Cup of Coffee – August 14, 2023
//Critique and other feedback! What makes crit useful and not, how to know what to take and what to discard (Spoiler: it doesn’t get easier), and what we can learn about giving useful critique.
First Cup of Coffee – August 11, 2023
//A story about how Romance continues to be treated like antimatter in some parts of the SFF community. Also, exciting news on ONEIRA, and a bit more about agents and being careful who you pitch to.
Best Laid Plans and Magical News!
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I had Plans for today’s blog post here at the SFF Seven. But we know what the poet said about best-laid plans…
Yes, my day has gang agley.
All in a good way, though. I got a lot done. Important stuff, just not quite the several steps required to post what I hoped to post today. So the short and dirty update is:
- TWISTED MAGIC will have a release date and preorder link soon!! (Though you can already preorder it on my website.)
- Of my new book that I’ve been writing, the one I wasn’t supposed to be writing, but that insisted on being written, which I’ve been calling ONEIRA, Agent Sarah said: “You’ve crafted your very own fairytale, Jeffe and it’s magic.”
- We strategized today, so look for more news on ONEIRA soon! And on TWISTED MAGIC!
First Cup of Coffee – August 7, 2023
//My bizarre story about mistaken identity and the revelation it gave me on how we talk to each other and – most importantly – how writers communicate with agents. Also, highly recommend the Willamette Writers Conference!
Writing What I Read
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This week at the SFF Seven, we’re asking: “Do you read in the genre you write?”
What’s funny is that my answer is absolutely yes – but that I didn’t always write in the genre I read. Does that make sense?
I have always read Fantasy and Science Fiction, since I was a little kid, and I’ve been reading Romance since I was old enough to walk to the used bookstore to buy my own books, as my mom wouldn’t let me read “that trash.” (Because she thought Romance was low-brow and anti-feminist, not because of the sex.) But when I started out as a writer, I wrote Creative Nonfiction.
Some of this was timing and coincidence. When I decided I wanted to be a writer instead of a scientist, one of the first classes I took was “Essays on Self and Place,” from a visiting writer at the university. I fell easily into writing essays and had success with them. My first book was an essay collection. And, sure, I read some essays. I read a lot of essay collections and memoir. But I was always reading them as research and reciprocity.
All that time, what I read for pure enjoyment? Anything with a paranormal/SFF element and plenty of Romance.
It was only after my first book came out that a friend – a bookseller who knew my tastes and sold me hardcover releases of JD Robb, Laurell K. Hamilton, Stephenie Meyer, and Jaqueline Carey – asked me why I wasn’t writing in the genres I so clearly loved to read.
Funny that. It simply hadn’t occurred to me. But then I started to, I wrote this Fantasy Romance* (not a genre then, but what did I know??) that was SO MUCH FREAKING FUN TO WRITE. I couldn’t believe how much more fun I had writing my crazy tale about a scientist who falls into Faerie, becomes a sorceress, and ends up in a bargain with a fae lord to bear his child. I even got a really nice rejection on the book from Stephenie Meyer’s agent! (Though it took a long time for me to sell it, which is another tale.)
The rest is history. ~ Waves at catalogue of Epic Fantasy Romances ~ I haven’t looked back. Writing what I love to read has absolutely been a great decision.
*The book that became ROGUE’S PAWN