Leave Your Questions for Lost the Princess General

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

Well, Lost has just debuted in War of Nytefall: Lost and people are already asking for more.  She actually tied with Chastity Sullivan for the top spot of the interview requests, but I put her in second only to give the book time to come out.  Still, it’s going to be tough to put out some information here without doing spoilers.  I’m going to try my best, so here we go.

Lost is the newest Dawn Fang to show up and she leaves chaos in her wake.  It isn’t really her fault because she has some trouble focusing and tends to listen to the decrepit bunny that follows her.  Her origin is a mystery to the other Dawn Fangs, but readers will know from the blurbs that Lost is a womb born.  This is a vampire who was born through sex instead of by fang or Clyde’s blood.  How did this happen?  Well, you need to read the book for that information.

The big quest for Lost is that she is looking for her father.  She doesn’t like talking about her mother, but she hints that she know who it is.  As far as her father, she doesn’t quite understand how to figure out who or where he is, so she’s wandering.  With no knowledge of the Dawn Fang culture of secrecy that Clyde has created, Lost is a big threat to Nytefall even though she doesn’t mean to be.  After all, she is very friendly and tries to help when she feels like it.  Sure, she’s terrified of socks and doesn’t hide that she’s a vampire that retains her powers in the sun.  There’s also at least two groups searching for her for various reasons.  Needless to say, Lost is a magnet for trouble even though she tries to behave.

So, leave questions in the comments and she’ll answer them in an October post.  You can ask about growing up as a vampire, her bunny, her thoughts on different subjects, or whatever you think she’ll talk about.  Just be ready for anything because she is known for her tangents.

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Conversations With Colleen: Meet Author, Staci Troilo

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Tortured Soul, on #LisaBurtonRadio

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Lisa Burton

Welcome all you basement alchemists out there. Take a seat you members of secret societies. Have we got a show for you today. You’ve landed on Lisa Burton Radio, the only show that brings you the characters from the books you love. I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl, and I have a doozie for you today. “Welcome to the show, Michelangelo.”

“Good day, Lisa Burton.”

“I’ve wanted to get you on the show for a while now.”

“That is my understanding, yes. Carmina Orsini—I believe she has asked you, as well as everyone she likes, to call her Nonna—has been asking me to talk with you. As I have told her repeatedly, I do not have the time. Alas, I also do not have the time to continue arguing with her. So, here I am. Against my better judgment. Because the woman is just… such a difficult woman to…

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Paprika’s Poison Provider: No Residue Guaranteed

D&D Plague Doctor

Welcome to our little hole in the wall and here is your complimentary antidote. What does it go to? Well, that’s something you have to figure out on your own. We don’t bother labeling the extras or returns, so enjoy the suspense.  Don’t complain because we aren’t in the business of curing things. We have toxins, poisons, man-made diseases, peanuts, venom, and radioactive substances.  Only one thing on that list requires a waiver for handling and disposal. Now, what are you looking for?

Well, we have packages that range from a single product to a new flavor for every day of the week.  Due to various international laws, we aren’t allowed to sell you more than seven.  The only way to get around this is through fake identities or coming back a year later for more.  I recommend the second option because we have a very serious bouncer and accountant.  They’re the same creature, which is a two-headed dragon that also provides us with our top of the line flesh-eating gas.  Okay, I’ll put that down for one of your choices.

If you’re getting a package, we recommend a good variety.  There are poisons that attack flesh, blood, specific organs, bones, nerves, and muscles.  Some are fast-acting and others take a few days to make sure you can’t be tracked.  By the way, we do request a DNA sample to add to your product.  This means any accidents that result in it being traced to source will only get you in trouble.  Really? We sell poisons and you expect us to be willing to take a hit for our clients?  Now, we can develop a toxin that imitates any disease of your choice.  The common cold isn’t a very popular one, but we can do it.  I’d recommend combining it with something lethal unless the plain is to incapacitate, which we don’t get a lot of these days.

You can pick the other types later . . . Okay, a fiery poison will be discussed later.  I want to talk about delivery system.  Some products can’t be used in all forms, so we need to narrow things down this way.  Needles and grenades are the most common, but you may be interested in the gauntlet.  This is a little on the heavy side, but it has a compartment for each of your chosen toxins.  It fires darts that come out bathed in whatever you have in the main chamber.  We provide a 24-hour customer service call center with no extra charge as well as a quarterly maintenance check.  There’s a weekend class to help you learn how to use it as well.  Okay, it was worth a shot.  Test tubes are the cheapest transport and delivery system.

It looks like you need some extra time to go over the catalog.  Please sit over here . . . Wait . . . Okay, this chair is clean.  If someone comes around asking if you want something to drink then call me over.  You never know when one of our scientists is wandering around looking for a test subject.  The muffins are safe.  Nobody here is evil enough to poison pastries.

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This Week in Indie Publishing

Unknown's avatarDon Massenzio

Nonfiction Books Are Flying Off the Shelves Thanks in Part, It Seems, to the Trump Bump

Nonfiction Books Are Flying Off the Shelves Thanks in Part, It Seems, to the Trump BumpWatergate journalist Bob Woodward’s latest book, Fear: Trump in the White House, is already No. 12 on Amazon’s “Best Sellers of 2018 (So Far)” list. But it’s not even out yet. Its release date is Tuesday, Sept. 11, but pre-orders of the book have already propelled it to that spot.

The book that tops the list is Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, while No 5. is A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey. Across America (and the world), these titles have been in high demand with bookstores of all sizes and libraries as well.

Read the rest of this story HERE.


The Big Indie Books of Fall 2018

PW - Article 4We took a long, hard look at the season’s offerings from independent and university presses, and, after consulting with…

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Teaser Tuesday: Not by the Fang?

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

This is a fun excerpt from War of Nytefall: Lost and it does contain a little bit of spoilers.  Mostly, you figure out who Lost is possibly looking for.  Nothing with her is clear cut, but I found it funny to write this scene.

Continue reading →

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All About Them Books

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Mid-last-week, I ran into some computer trouble. This still has to be sorted out, so I thought I’d start the week with an awesome video, courtesy of the For Reading Addicts Facebook Group. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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The Trick with Promises: Easy to Make and Hard to Keep

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An interesting theme that appeared out of nowhere in War of Nytefall: Lost is the concept of promises and keeping them.  While I wrote the first draft, I began to notice how often characters declared that they were promised something.  Part of this stemmed from me not having a clear idea of what certain heroes and villains wanted.  Those came about as I progressed and it seemed to always come down to a favor/promise being aggressively called in.

Since these promises became so integral to the central plot, I can’t go into specifics.  There was a trick with these and that was having some of the characters who weren’t holding their side of the deals not be malicious.  It was more that they either forgot or didn’t realize they made the promise in the first place.  On the other side of the scenarios were those who refused to bend on what they wanted even if it was against the wishes of the person they made a deal with.  This turned everything into a chaotic mess, which fed the overall tone of the book.  I didn’t want things to be totally off the wall, but I required things to fall into a mess before it resolved.  Broken promises ended up being a great source of conflict and confusion.

Many questions came about because of this focus:

  1. Is there ever a good reason to break a promise?
  2. What about people who make promises just to make people happy?
  3. Do you keep to a promise if it turns dark?
  4. What if two people make two conflicting promises about their future?

I’d love to say I figured out some answers to these questions, but I came to realize that it differs from person to person.  Not only the characters, but the author.  In some situations, I see a promise as worth breaking because it could hurt people.  Others might see it as needing to be fulfilled since it isn’t a sure thing that it will result in damage.  Part of this stems from knowing the full extent of the promise too.  Some change throughout the story because one side wants to alter the parameters, which comes off as unfair and manipulative.  There’s one promise that simply falls apart because those involved have gradually gone in different directions.  It would be unfair to someone if they had to sacrifice to go through with the promise.

What do you think about promises between characters?  Do you think they should always be upheld?

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Welcome Mae Clair

coldhandboyack's avatarEntertaining Stories

Mae is a good friend of mine. She’s one of my partners over at Story Empire, and usually serves as one of the first people to go over my own manuscripts. I’m honored to lend my blog space to her new release.

I’ve read most of Mae’s books, and will attest they are wonderful. The Hode’s Hill series is just getting started, and Cusp of Night was outstanding.

***
Book cover for End of Day, mystery/suspense novel by Mae Clair shows old dilapidated church with bell tower and a cemetery in the background overgrown with weeds

Release Date: January 15, 2019
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Supernatural Thriller
Publisher: Kensington Publishing • Lyrical Underground Imprint

BLURB:
The past is never truly buried…

Generations of Jillian Cley’s family have been tasked with a strange duty—tending the burial plot of Gabriel Vane, whose body was the first to be interred in the Hode’s Hill cemetery. Jillian faithfully continues the long-standing tradition—until one October night, Vane’s body is stolen from its resting place. Is it a Halloween prank? Or something more sinister?

As the…

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Can Authors Use Patreon Effectively?

Futurama

This is probably going to be a short post because I have no idea what I’m doing here.  It’s been suggested that I set up a Patreon, but I can’t figure out how that would work since I only do books.  Since it’s a monthly prize, I can’t do a t-shirt every month because I’d eventually run out of pictures . . . Do I have pictures because I don’t know if the covers would work?  All so confusing.

Some ideas that were suggested:

  1. A monthly poem or character sneak peak.
  2. Preview chapter from an unreleased book.  How would this not backfire?
  3. Stickers . . . Same issue as t-shirts?
  4. A monthly Ichabod Brooks story exclusive to Patreon.  The challenge here would be finding time to write it every month when I’m struggling to get to War of Nytefall.  By the way, click that link for the new book.  (I guess I could offer the published stories at first, but that feels a little lazy.)
  5. Offer a cameo in a future story.  That would be fun, but I don’t see how that could function as a monthly prize.
  6. Pictures that you can’t show at work.  Pretty sure this was suggested as a joke.  At least I hope it was.

This whole thing kind of falls into the same category as making a store with t-shirts, mugs, and other items.  I don’t know how to pull it off without losing money.  Really wish I could find a way to get Fizzle plushies, but that’s another money problem.  That problem being that I can’t afford it.

Anyway, do any authors out there use Patreon?  If so, what do you do for rewards and how do you keep that going along with your projects, job, and personal life?

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