Tag: fantasy

  • Check out my next project!

    I am so excited to share this with you – my next release will be part of a set with 22 other novels by a group of uber-talented YA writers: Shattered Worlds Escape into twenty-three epic worlds that will leave you breathless.     .99 for a limited time! From dystopian nightmares to gorgeous steampunk…

  • H is for … Hard to Find

    I’ll confess, I was starting to panic, dear reader. I finished my G book, the fabulous Goldfish Boy, and I had no H book lined up. Searching Amazon got me nowhere. Then, in the space of two days, newsletters I’m subscribed to recommended TWO books that started with a H. Brilliant, I thought. Yeah…not so…

  • Free Reading Challenge: The book I bought this week

    Okay, so my free reading challenge is nearing its end. You would think the finish line being in sight would make me better able to stick to only reading free books. And I could stick to my rules if I wanted to. But this week I’ve bought a book that fits into none of my…

  • Free Reading Challenge: How much is too much?

    Finding Free I’ve spoken before about how I’ve found books to read for my free reading challenge. I’ve surfed Amazon (not a brilliant success), found books from e-mail promotion companies, and from recommendations on Facebook and Twitter and signed up to blog tours (much more successful). Just lately, I’ve also signed up to several author newsletters…

  • My free reading challenge: independent writers oozing with talent

    This week has been more reading, reading, reading to slim down my TBR pile. Most of the books I’ve read in the past couple of weeks have been independently published because it turns out independent publishers are mostly the people I know and thus their books are the ones I get to hear about. All my…

  • Queen of Rubies

    I’m manically busy at the moment. My next-next book winged its way to the RNA’s New Writer’s Scheme this week, I’ve written 21k words of the one to follow that since the start of the month, while simultaneously revising something from long ago which I hope might be the start of a series. This leaves me…

  • Superpowers

    Creating the world of Fane has made me ponder about superpowers, because everyone on Fane (and fanes when they visit other planets) demonstrates some extraordinary abilities that human beings would consider superpowers. Deena, the heroine of The Last Dreamseer, has probably drawn the short straw. Her superpower is the ability to see the future in visions.…

  • Something for Nothing

    Well, it’s blatant promo this week, so switch off now if that’s not your thing. I was at YALC (Young Adult Literature Convention – an offshoot of ComicCon) this weekend, having a wonderful time talking about books and having the occasional fan girl moment. I also learned something pretty important for my writing career, which…

  • Call in the Professionals

    The thing is, until someone who does know points it out to you, you often don’t know what it is you don’t know. Using experts – and/or the perils of not doing so – is a common theme in self-publishing discussions. Most people agree that not paying for professional help in editing and cover design…

  • Lie to me!

    Lie to me!

    I write (and read) fantasy, which is perhaps the most obviously “made-up” of fiction genres, and suspension of disbelief is key to spinning a successful fantasy tale. Suspension of disbelief can perhaps be summed up as ‘don’t allow a little reality to get in the way of a good story’, but it’s more subtle than that. From…