In the shadows of Windemere, fangs are sprouting from the least likely of maws.
News is spreading that wild beasts with vampiric natures have been attacking mortals and carrying off random victims. With the Dawn Fangs still a secret from mortal society, Clyde fears that these strange creatures will reveal his peoples’ existence before they are ready. Old enemies and trusted friends begin to disappear as the investigation goes deeper into a business that has been lurking in the shadows of Windemere for decades. Those who return are beholden to a new master whose cunning is matched only by her primal desires. As his allies disappear, Clyde is left with the one he trusts the most in all of the world to help him solve this mystery. Too bad…
Today, we welcome back Charles Yallowitz to Entertaining Stories. Charles is a regular here, both as a participant and guest. He’s hosted me many times for my book releases, and I’m honored to return the favor. He’s here to tell us all about his newest publication. Make sure to use those sharing buttons, and even reblog the post to help him out. If you were ever a guest here, Charles shared your post, so make him feel welcome.
In the shadows of Windemere, fangs are sprouting from the least likely of maws.
News is spreading that wild beasts with vampiric natures have been attacking mortals and carrying off random victims. With the Dawn Fangs still a secret from mortal society, Clyde fears that these strange creatures will reveal…
A single word
That depends on tone
*
Sorry
Used in sincerity
To repair the harm
That one has caused
*
Sorry
Used like a defense
To avoid blame
And consequences
*
Sorry
Used out of fear
To dodge a rage
That hunts for a target
*
Sorry
Used without a care
Dripping with sarcasm
That seeps into a wound
*
Sorry
Used without thinking
A knee jerk reaction
When attention fades
*
Sorry
A chameleon of emotion
Now that War of Nytefall: Ravenoushas been released, it’s time to promote. That’s hard to do these days since you need word of mouth. I’ve been thinking really hard on what I can do since I already made the ‘book is live’ post. I figure now is the perfect time to do some interaction. These are questions that relate to some of the themes of the book, which might throw readers off. After all, isn’t this just a vampire action adventure in a magical world? Well, I’ve gone into some heavy topics throughout this series and this book is going the deepest.
What are your thoughts on grief?
How far do you go to survive and escape a horrible situation?
What is the scariest thing about addiction?
Yeah. This isn’t all battles and humor. I mean, I have those too, but I really dove into the concepts of grief, addiction, and desperation. Not enough that they consume everything, but one character has an emotionally brutal story arc. It was really tough to do this and maintain some of the lighter mood. That’s a plus side about having an ensemble cast. You can have some that are happy and some that are emotionally crushed. They fit together because that’s life. People, even friends and family, aren’t always in the same emotional place and it’s about perceiving how those around us are doing. Sadly, some characters aren’t very good at that. Want to know what I mean?
I’m just going to start on the first issue that struck me without warning and is going to turn into a warning/rant. I’m supposed to be publishing War of Nytefall: Ravenous this weekend and I did hit publish Thursday night. In fact, I’m writing this on Thursday because Friday is going to be a scramble. Why? Because I just stumbled onto a really big problem with Amazon. A few actually:
War of Nytefallgets changed to ‘War of Nitefall’ when you search for it. This is a series that doesn’t exist, so people who search this way don’t find my books.
Rivalryand Eradication don’t appear even if you search with the full series and book title. They’re invisible unless you go to the other books and see them listed as part of the series.
Family of the Tri-Rune, Curse of the Dark Wind, The Mercenary Prince, and The Spirit Well do not show up if I search by their names or ‘Legends of Windemere. All are seen if you search for one of the other books and look under the series page.
Allure of the Gypsies and Tribe of the Snow Tiger only show up if I search by book names and not by series.
That’s 8 books that are scattered about 2 series that DO NOT show up under searches. I’m worried that War of Nytefall: Ravenousis going to start like this. Worse is that I have no idea how long it’s been like this. Why did this happen? How did this happen? Can it get fixed? If it doesn’t then what am I going to do? This is one of the worst things that could happen to an author who just hit publish. They’re all in the middle of the series too, so it could explain why even ‘Legends of Windemere’ abruptly died a few months ago. I don’t even know where to go with this post after writing about this. Pretty sure this is what’s going to get everyone’s attention. Really hope it’s been fixed by the time this goes live, but I’m keeping it so people may considering searching their own stuff.
(Friday Update– I heard from Amazon and did some digging. The disappearing books only happen when searching on Chrome. By phone or Firefox, they show up. Thank god because it isn’t like schools supply Chromebooks and there are a ton of people who use that specific browser. Fuck. As far as ‘Nytefall vs Nitefall’, I have to keep doing the search and clicking on the tiny ‘Search instead for War of Nytefall’ link that shows up under the ‘Showing results for War of Nitefall’. Apparently, the system is supposed to get the point eventually. I’ve been doing it for 10 minutes now and it’s not learning. I doubt any potential readers are going to go through the hassle and many might not even realize the switch. I had to email Amazon again and ask if there was anything that they could do on their end. Feel free to check these things out on your own and let me know in the comments if it works better for you.)
This really makes me wonder if I should bother dropping certain books to 99 cents. What’s the point if people aren’t seeing them anyway?
I went back to work and helped get things set up. As usual, I can’t really go into details because of privacy and such. It’s going to be an interesting year. Not only for me, but my son too. Things will be getting adjusted as we go along because we have no idea what the future will bring. Gotta stay fluid, so planning is going to be rather vague. The only other thing in this arena was that I got 2 days with my son where we had some casual fun. Went to a park, played frisbee, did more drawing, played board games, and did some video games. I made sure to have some dramamine before that last one, so I didn’t end up hugging the toilet like last time. The camera in Lego Harry Potter is brutal.
I didn’t get any book writing done since I had my son and then work. I did finish the rest of the December blog posts, so I’m set for the rest of the year outside of Tuesdays and weekends starting in November. Might do a poll about Tuesdays. I’m running out of blog topics as well. Hard to think straight tonight because of the messes I’ve been having to tackle.
Oh yeah, I witnessed my first ‘Zoom Bombing’. Not going into details about what the meeting was about, but here is what I’m talking about. Somebody finds a way to bust into a Zoom call and causes a big enough disruption to end it. Guess they go running off to the rest of their buddies to gloat and get a congratulatory wank. This one used swastikas, the n-word, mention of rape, death threats, f-bombs, lots of insults, comment bombing with the n-word, and just going full on berserk. I’ve heard of this happening and it’s why I don’t really like Zoom. Seeing it in action is horrifying, especially when you see that some people in the meeting had their kids with them. Just another reason why I’m not in the best mood when writing this.
Next week is the first official week of school, so that’s where my focus is going to be. I might do some outlining at night, but writing more of War of Nytefall: Eulogy isn’t going to happen. Then again, I might have to pause that until I can figure out what to do about the Amazon issue. I’m just not feeling a lot today and probably won’t for a while because that blow is severe. We work our asses off to write and publish books. We try our best to promote within our budget. Then, we have something like this happen. How do you combat that?
In the shadows of Windemere, fangs are sprouting from the least likely of maws.
News is spreading that wild beasts with vampiric natures have been attacking mortals and carrying off random victims. With the Dawn Fangs still a secret from mortal society, Clyde fears that these strange creatures will reveal his peoples’ existence before they are ready. Old enemies and trusted friends begin to disappear as the investigation goes deeper into a business that has been lurking in the shadows of Windemere for decades. Those who return are beholden to a new master whose cunning is matched only by her primal desires. As his allies disappear, Clyde is left with the one he trusts the most in all of the world to help him solve this mystery. Too bad Mab has her own secret that can cause more damage to Nytefall than any vampiric beast.
Is this how the Dawn Fangs will be revealed to Windemere?
Still need more to wet your appetite? Then enjoy this excerpt:
Titus shrugs the girl off his shoulders and grips his blades, but refuses to draw them to avoid causing a scene. The warriors around him are on edge from overhearing Lost’s words and seeing his reaction, but they follow his example and keep their weapons sheathed. The Vengeance Hounds know that it is only a matter of time before the mortals with weaker wills lose control and drive the others into panic. They can hear the rumors of a deadly beast stalking the hunting party ripple through the crowd, each telling more gruesome and bone-chilling than the previous version. Several warriors ignore the warnings of their companions and draw their weapons, but keep them out of sight. Two of the casters begin to chant, which is revealed by the sparkle of magic on their lips. One by one, the lines of warriors stop walking and assume various defensive formations. Frustrated by the collapse of her army, the priestess turns around and tries to assure everyone that they are safe. Standing in the middle of the blossoming chaos, the Vengeance Hounds can only watch as the woman loses her temper and shouts at the archers who were supposed to maintain control.
The warriors go silent when a booming roar erupts from above and a large shadow passes over the area. With a gurgling scream, the priestess collapses in a heap and stares unblinking at the sky. The archers move away from the drooling woman, whose breathing has stopped as if she has been instantly turned off. Landing in front of the hunting party, a crimson-scaled Verenstone Dragon unfurls its muscular tails with one to each side and the other arching over its reptilian head. The thick ridge of black hair going down its back rustles and shivers in the breeze, which heats up as the monster bellows once more. Curled against its side are wings composed entirely of blue flame that licks at the trampled grass, but they are not hot enough to ignite the emerald blades. Leaning forward, the terrifying predator sniffs at the braindead priestess and chuckles before swallowing the body whole. In the brief moment that its mouth is open wide, the Vengeance Hounds notice that two of its teeth are changing as if they are stretching out of the gums. The plaque-covered ivory is curved in a way that makes it clear that they are fangs and the beast is in desperate need of a fresh meal. Its eyes scan the mortals and stop on the three Dawn Fangs for a moment, but it is enough to tell them that the cunning creature recognizes their true nature.
“A vampiric dragon,” Titus mutters under his breath.
Charles Yallowitz was born and raised on Long Island, NY, but he has spent most of his life wandering his own imagination in a blissful haze. Occasionally, he would return from this world for the necessities such as food, showers, and Saturday morning cartoons. One day he returned from his imagination and decided he would share his stories with the world. After spending many years fiddling with his thoughts and notebooks, he decided that it was time to follow his dream of being a fantasy author. So, locked within the house with only pizza and seltzer to sustain him, Charles brings you tales from the world of Windemere. He looks forward to sharing all of his stories with you and drawing you into a world of magic.
Cover Art by Alison Hunt 
Legends of Windemere 