Special Guest Post: “Using Canva Like an Expert,” by Marsh Ingrao

Posted on September 28, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz
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Introducing Kindle Scout Candidate – Blood Match – By Don Massenzio…

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz
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7 Tips to Necrocasting

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

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Necrocasting is basically necromancy, but Windemere used slightly different terminology with their casters.  Now, this school of magic isn’t as easy as people think.  You don’t just snap your fingers and up pop zombies.  So, here are some tips for those looking to raise the dead.

  1. Make sure there are corpses around for you to work with.  Movies and TV shows make it look like you can raise the dead from any distance.  Only masters and deities can pull this off.  Even then, why would you want to?  Your army is now several miles away and starting to wander in random directions.  I don’t care what rating that Uber driver has, you’re not getting there in time to take control of the situation.
  2. If you’re just starting out then work with basic undead first.  Skeletons are easy and more obedient than ghasts, ghouls, and other unique species.  Zombies always depend on what they were in life.  A raised human is one thing, but raising a zombified dragon during your first week means you’re reading the book backwards.  Also, don’t raise vampires without permission.  They’re a little more complicated and have self-awareness, which means show your manners.
  3. Best to raise people that you didn’t kill in the first place.  Now, there are spells to wipe the memory of an undead servant, but those can be undone.  Safer to only mess with the corpses that you didn’t make in the first place.  There is a way around this though, so stop pouting.  Hire or raise somebody to do the killing for you.  See?  Now, go out there and claim that Paladin, who I’m sure won’t turn on you as soon as he remembers he was trained to smite the unclean.
  4. Get yourself a hidden lair and DO NOT put a sign on the front.  Don’t sign into Facebook from there either.  Necrocasting is a dark and disturbing art, which will terrify most people.  In other words, don’t try to raise skeleton at the local Starbucks because your sister is having a sleepover at the house.  Seriously, show some professional pride and lurk in the shadows like you’re supposed to.
  5. Learn some anatomy because just saying the spells and having the magic doesn’t guarantee a perfect creation.  Bodies rot and not everyone died peacefully, so you might have to do some repairs.  The internals aren’t important for most species, but know how to connect the bones to give some mobility.  Kind of embarrassing when your entire zombie army is flopping around like fish out of water or can only move by doing The Worm.
  6. Stock up on sewing needles and strong thread.  Like I said before, repairs might need to be made.
  7. Whatever the shadowy creature in the corner tells you, it isn’t always necessary to make a demonic pact to create the undead.  It will make things easier, but the trade off is that you’ll eventually be forced into servitude and probably become a zombie yourself.  Freelancing as a necrocaster is lonelier and tougher, but you’re your own boss and the undead know that there’s nothing stronger behind you.  There’s also much less of a chance of the inevitable betrayal and many who take this path eventually turn into the ultimate corpse worker: A Lich.  Doesn’t that sound nice?  Let’s see that shadowy monster of evil promise you that.  Well, I guess he could, but there are still strings attached.
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Casting Horses in Fictional Worlds

Posted on September 27, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

I found this excellent post on horses on Dan Koboldt’s blog. It is part of his weekly Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasy blog series, where he tackles one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert. Be sure to join his mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted.

His post on horses was actually a guest post, written by Rachel Annelise Chaney; a woman who spent her childhood inhaling every scrap of horse information she could find and riding every equine she could climb on. Since adopting an ex-racehorse, she’s ridden, trained or cared for everything from Thoroughbreds to Quarter Horses, Drafts to Arabians, Warmblood jumpers to Paint barrel racers. A reader and writer of SFF, Rachel currently languishes in the Eternal Pit of Revision. You should follow her on Twitter

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Toby’s Tales by Vicotira Zigler: Now in Audio Book

Posted on September 26, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Written by Victoria Zigler – and now with an audio version read by Joseph A. Batzel – the “Toby’s Tales” series is a five book series designed to show children – and adults too – the struggles and challenges faced by people who are blind, or who are adjusting to sight loss, while also being useful tools to show anyone who finds themselves in Toby’s situation that they aren’t alone in facing those struggles and challenges.

***~~~***

Book 1 – Toby’s New World

Toby has just learned he’ll never see again. Now he’s learning just how frustrating it can be doing even simple things when you’re blind. And it doesn’t help when his big brother Jake, and little sister Emma laugh at him when things don’t go right. But there’s always a way to make things easier… Isn’t there?

Buy “Toby’s New World” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

***~~~***

Book 2 – Toby’s Monsters

Toby’s world is scary and full of monsters his mind has created. If he wasn’t blind he could see what the monsters really are, but he is, so he can’t. Can he find a way to battle his monsters? Or will he spend the rest of his life afraid of every unexplained noise?

Buy “Toby’s Monsters” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

***~~~***

Book 3 – Toby’s Outing

Everyone is excited about the trip to the aquarium. But not Toby. Toby’s sure he won’t have fun, after all, aquariums can’t be fun for blind people… Can they?

Buy “Toby’s Outing” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

***~~~***

Book 4 – Toby’s Games

Now that he can’t see, Toby can’t play with his big brother Jake like he used to, and every time he tries to he just gets frustrated, upset or hurt. He’s starting to feel like he can’t do anything fun any more. Is he right? Or can he find a way to still do the things he enjoys?

Buy “Toby’s Games” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

***~~~***

Book 5 – Toby’s Special School

Toby’s starting to feel like he’s the only blind boy in the world, so when his first day at his new special school comes around, he’s sure the other children will tease him because he can’t see. But when he gets there he soon learns just why they call it a “special” school, and even manages to make a new friend.

Buy “Toby’s Special School” as an audiobook, eBook, or paperback – in some cases two or more of these formats – from Audible, Smashwords, CreateSpace, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters-Indigo, iBooks, iTunes, Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada, or The Book Depository.

The book also has a page on Goodreads.

***~~~***

“Toby’s New World” book excerpt:
At dinner time his Mother told his Father, his big brother Jake, and his little sister Emma about the visit to the doctor and how there was no hope of fixing Toby’s eyes. “There’s nothing they can do,” she finished.

“It will be OK,” his Father said.

Toby still didn’t think so. In fact, Toby still thought things would never be OK again. But he didn’t say so. Instead he hugged his favourite bear tightly, said nothing, and tried to eat his dinner.

Eating his dinner wasn’t working too well for him. Things wouldn’t stay on the fork, and Toby was getting very cross about it.

“Look at Toby,” said Jake, laughing.

Emma laughed too.

Toby didn’t know what was so funny, but the fact they were laughing at him made him want to cry.

“Toby can’t help getting himself in a mess with his dinner,” said their Mother.

But Jake and Emma still laughed.

“What mess?” asked Toby, unable to see the food that had ended up all over his clothes, his bear, and just about everything else.

His Mother came with a cloth to clean him up, and Toby tried not to cry as he allowed her to clean the spaghetti off himself and his bear.

Jake and Emma were still laughing, but Toby didn’t think it was funny. He wanted to cry. He wanted to shout at them to stop. He wanted things to go back to how they were when he could see. He wanted his eyes to work again. He wanted to get out of the kitchen and be by himself where he could cry without Jake thinking he was a baby.

Toby threw down his fork, and got up off his chair without asking if he could leave the table.

“Finish your dinner,” said his Father.

But Toby didn’t listen.

He stormed out of the kitchen, banging his elbow on the doorframe as he went, and tripping over Max who was laying in the doorway.

Then he started stamping his way up the stairs, his favourite bear held tightly in one arm.

*Stamp, stamp, stamp*

***~~~***

About the author:
Victoria Zigler is a blind poet and children’s author who was born and raised in the Black Mountains of Wales, UK, and is now living on the South-East coast of England, UK. Victoria – or Tori, if you prefer – has been writing since she knew how, has a very vivid imagination, and spends a lot of time in fictional worlds; some created by her, others created by other authors. When she remembers to spend some time in the real world, it’s mostly to spend time with her hubby and pets, though sometimes to indulge in other interests that capture her attention from time to time. To date she has published 8 poetry books and more than 40 children’s books, with more planned for the near future. She’s also contributed a story to the sci-fi and fantasy anthology Wyrd Worlds II.

Author links:
website, blog, Goodreads, Facebook Author Page, Twitter, Google+.

***~~~***

About the narrator:
Joseph Batzel has a BA and an MA from Brigham Young University in Film and Theater. He is also a professional actor for stage and film for over thirty years. Joseph has over 150 voice- over credits including radio, TV, audiobooks, and animation. He has traveled extensively throughout the US teaching voice over workshops. Joseph is a dialectician and can perform most American regional dialects and most foreign accents.

Mr. Batzel has just joined Deyan audio one of the world’s largest Independent producer of Audiobooks as one of their narrators. He is married to his wife Alice of forty-four years, she is a published playwright and working on her first novel. They have two sons and five grandchildren. He presently lives in Brigham City, Utah where he currently works as an adjunct instructor at Utah State University teaching courses in Creative Arts and Public Speaking.

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A Hint of Good in the Bad

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

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A major point of Path of the Traitors is that some of the villains in Legends of Windemere are not entirely evil.  They have a chance at redemption and even some positive qualities.  While not every villain is in this story, I’m going to run down the roster and point out the spark of good that is in them.  Although, I won’t mention Trinity because she’s had several of her own posts.

General Vile

This halfling warrior didn’t get nearly as much book time as I’d hoped, but I tried to make sure he always shined in his scenes.  One way of doing this was giving him a sense of honor and manners.  He’s rarely angry and insulting even to Yola, who is known for being highly irritating.  Vile gives Kayn a fair fight when he debuted and tried to do the same with Sari until he was pushed too far.  His spark of good is this sense of honor that hints he was a much better man in his younger days.  It’s just that his desire for a challenge led him to the Baron’s services and he sacrificed his noble side for the promise of glorious fights.

Yola Biggs

The thing about Yola is that she rarely means any harm.  This doesn’t make her a good person because she still hurts people.  Even innocent evil is still evil, but it is hard to call it evil when she’s still learning the difference between right and wrong.  Remember this is a primordial being, so those things can get a little confusing for her.  Another sign that she isn’t totally evil is that she will fix her mistakes if they’re pointed out.  For example, she put everything back to normal after she caused a major upheaval in The Merchant of Nevra Coil.  Yola also has no problem apologizing, which is something you don’t see a lot of villains do.

The Hellfire Elf

Being a demon, you expect nothing good from this character.  Yet, he’s shown a sense of honor and fairness when it comes to Luke.  There are a few times when his actions even help the one he’s called his rival.  It’s because demons have a design ‘flaw’.  When they are pulled from the Chaos Void, they are truly evil and obey their masters as long as they aren’t the stronger being.  As time goes on, they will gain emotions and thoughts that are oddly mortal.  For this Hellfire Elf, it’s the sense of being thrilled with fighting a strong opponent.  It’s no longer about the orders and job, but just having fun and he doesn’t even care if he wins.  Will this remain now that he’s in the Chaos Void again?  You never know.

Nyder Fortune

What to say about this Gnomish inventor?  Well, people might not know about him because he rarely leaves Shayd.  Most of his scenes are in the prologue or when the other villains are passing through.  Because of this, Nyder became the Baron’s confidant and developed the ability to speak openly without fear of reprisals.  Instead of being the sniveling manipulator like so many other evil advisers, he shows true concern for his master.  He tries to steer him away from self-destructive actions and mentions when he thinks the risks are too high.  By the end of the series, I’ve found that Nyder really is a friend instead of a lackey for the Baron.  They’re still trying to rule the world though, but it shows there’s respect and friendship there.

The Lich

The original main villain of the series, who might look rather weak by this point.  He was never the best planner, necrocaster, or much else.  You have to wonder why he was kept around and given important missions.  It comes down to one really important aspect of the Lich that he actually shares with Luke Callindor.  Good old Tyler never gives up even if he has to make a new body.  More so than the other villains, he has an incredible amount of faith in his master.  This doesn’t stop the Baron from turning his back on him and letting him die when he failed too many times, so you have to wonder what the Lich thought at the very end.  Still, you gotta give him credit for staying the course and believing in the cause.  He’d be an interesting hero if that passion was directed to a nobler goal.

Baron Arthuru Kernaghan

It’s tough to put a positive spark in the major villain, especially when he’s supposed to be so evil that the gods and goddesses erased him from history.  I think it’s this good point that makes him even more dangerous.  The Baron has tortured, killed, and done nearly every horrible act in the back.  (For some reason, I can’t see him as a rapist, so there’s one plus.)  Even with all of the evil, he shows kindness when it strikes his fancy and this can draw people in.  He won’t strike down an agent for one failure if they tried and are willing to improve for him.  He acknowledges that not everyone is as powerful as him and his curse means not everything will go his way.  So, mortals are not seen as expendable as they once were to him.  Trinity has made him appreciate the chaos elves more and Nyder has softened his edges by caring about him.  It’s not easy to see since he has limited scenes and I needed him to be the biggest baddie in the series, but he has moments of humanity.

Perhaps the biggest examples are Melanie and Raksha.  For those that don’t know, Raksha is a kitten that Trinity gave to the Baron and he turned it into a monster.  This was done to make sure it can survive on Shayd and in the Chaos Void.  He needed someone to tend to Raksha, but the knife-tipped tails made the pet fairly dangerous.  Around this time, a girl caught his attention.  She was in a group of people that were taken to be used as food for his demons.  The Baron took Melanie out of the pack and transformed her into a being of metal to play with Raksha.  The pair can be found playing around several scenes and he shows glints of genuinely caring about them.  It could be selfish though because the Baron has been around for so long that he might be struggling to retain some of his humanity.  Still, it is an act of benevolence in some fashion.

Stephen Kernaghan

Well . . . You see . . . He . . . Okay, there’s an exception to every rule.  Stephen was and always will be the ultimate bastard in this series.

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13 Tales of Illusory Blog Tour Stop #3

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

twixie13's avatarWelcome to Hell Bent

13 long tour banner

Hey! Welcome to the next stop of the “The 13: Tales of Illusory” blog tour! Are you, by any chance, looking for a creepy read, with a classic Night Gallery sort of feel? This might just be what you’re looking for.

Tag Line: Can you survive all 13?

Back cover blurb: 13 enchanted horrors. 13 spine-chilling tales. Down, down in the depths they fell, bodies in the dark of a liquid hell. Can you survive all 13?

So to help commemorate the new book, Travis has gotten the opportunity to interview one of the many characters found within the 13 short tales… No character pic this time…but in all fairness, I think I might have forgotten to ask about that.

In all honesty, Travis can’t remember how he’d gotten underwater. Nor can he figure out why he hasn’t drowned (then come back, then drowned again, over and over) by now…

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A Perfect 10 with Michele Jones

Posted on September 25, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Don Massenzio's avatarDon Massenzio

This week, I have the pleasure of featuring Author Michele Jones for this edition of A Perfect 10.

Please enjoy this week’s installment of A Perfect 10

If you want to check out past interviews, you can find them in the following links:

A.C. Flory, Steve Boseley, Kayla Matt, Mae Clair, Jill Sammut, Deanna Kahler, Dawn Reno Langley, John Howell, Elaine Cougler, Jan Sikes, Nancy Bell, Nick Davis, Kathleen Lopez, Susan Thatcher, Charles Yallowitz, Armand Rosamilia, Tracey Pagana, Anna Dobritt, Karen Oberlaender, Deby Fredericks, Teri Polen, Darlene Foster, Robert Rayner, C.C. Naughton, Sherry Rentshler, Linda Bradley, Luna St. Clair, Joan Hall, Staci Troilo, Allan Hudson, Robert Eggleton, Paul Scott Bates, P.C. Zick, Joy Lennick, Patrick Roland

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The Future of Bedlam: After Protecting

Posted on September 24, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Joker

Last Thursday, Protecting Bedlam came to an end on this blog.  The summer into fall adventure of Cassidy and Lloyd didn’t really net much in terms of sales.  Still, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who read to the end, are still reading to the end, bought one of the previous adventures, and reblogged.  I really appreciate that since this is a project I love writing, but seem to get little back for in terms of response.

This brings up the question of what to do next.  I would normally be publishing Derailing Bedlam in February since it’s written and only needs to be edited and given a cover.  Yet, this isn’t cheap and money is getting tight.  2018 will see the start of a new series and the stand alone from Legends of Windemere.  Bedlam is in a category where people love the idea, talk about it when it’s on the blog, and then nothing happens in terms of sales to justify putting money behind it.  Maybe I can just pay for the cover and do all free publishing.  The problem there is that I such a thing would involve a lot of guest posts, but I’ll be having the first War of Nytefall book coming out in April and it might be too soon to be guest so close together.

I’m also trying to think about the pricing.  Crossing Bedlam and Chasing Bedlam are 99 cents each.  Do I keep that going or raise the sequel to $2.99?  What if I do a third one?

Anyway, I’d be happy to hear what people think.  I know I should be confident and publish my finished projects like many authors do.  Yet, this is becoming an issue of funds and the previous books getting very little traction.  So, what do people think?

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Meet Guest Author, Laurette Long…

Posted on September 23, 2017 by Charles Yallowitz

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Hello readers, I’m Laurette Long, author of The French Summer Novels and I’m writing this sitting in a garden full of rosemary and lavender, admiring the sun slipping behind the hilltop village across the valley and waiting for the nightingale to tune up. Before it gets dark I might stroll down the field to pick a handful of figs–making sure to stamp loudly to warn any sleeping snakes. Where am I? Sometimes I have to pinch myself. They say Life’s a journey. How did that journey take me from a council house in west Yorkshire to a hamlet in south-west France?

I blame it on the parents. At the tender age of thirteen, I was pushed out of the nest one summer and sent to foreign climes. France. Mum and Dad, firm believers that travel broadens the mind, scraped up enough money to send me on a school exchange programme…

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