Legends of Windemere Fantasy Bundle #1

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The Strange Before the Storm
I’ve mentioned a few times that Merchant of Nevra Coil (COMING IN AUGUST!) has a strange storyline for our heroes. I’ve called it silly, but that’s not right. It definitely has a different feel after the heaviness of The Compass Key, Curse of the Dark Wind, and Sleeper of the Wildwood Fugue. Are there dire straits, character development, and the usual action? Yes, but there’s a lighter, odder tone to the whole thing. Primarily because it pulls Yola Biggs the Chaos Goddess into the forefront and I couldn’t do that with something ‘normal’.
This isn’t something entirely unique though, but it’s more common in anime. Before the heavy final act of a series, you may find an oddly lighthearted or bizarre one. It doesn’t always have plot significance or any lasting effect on events. That works for a visual medium like anime or a TV show (I’m looking at you, Supernatural!), but not as well for a book. That requires some type of impact. For example, Merchant of Nevra Coil does the following:
- Reveals more of Yola and makes her a stronger character.
- Sets up the events of The Mercenary Prince.
- Brings closure to a few characters in regards to a past event.
- Reveals more about gnome culture.
- Shows the technology is slipping into Windemere.
- Pushes a few more subplots.
- Demonstrates the kingdom-wide influence of the heroes.
- Gives the newest champion a time to shine.
- Something with Fizzle.
That’s a lot for what some may call a ‘silly’ book, which is rather telling about how this can be used. I’ll go into more details on Wednesday, but a book like this requires that the reader trust the author. Have faith that this is being done for a reason that will alter the main story for the better. Yes, the author might be doing something more zany to combat the residual effects of several darker storylines. That doesn’t always mean that this type of story is without merit, but you will find that it isn’t for everyone. It’s a risk and that’s why I’m talking about it this week. I’m fessing up to this being an oddball idea that solved a few issues and turned into character development nirvana for me.
So, what do you think of the lighthearted or bizarre story that can turn up right before the main run for the end? Personally, I find them interesting and they build up tension since I see it as a sign that stuff is about to go down. The more upbeat the tale, the more devastating the drop for our heroes . . . Not that I’m planning to do anything horrific to them . . . Yeah, Stephen’s existence already shows that I’m not nice to my heroes.
Posted in Thoughts
Tagged author, chaos, fantasy, fiction, Fizzle, fun, humor, Legends of Windemere, lightening the mood, Luke Callindor, magic, Nyx, Sari, series, seriousness, sword & sorcery, Windemere, writing, Yola Biggs
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In aid of Macmillan Cancer Support- “You’re Not Alone”
Have I mentioned that twenty-seven writers from around the world, including myself have entered an assortment of short stories for your pleasure, in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support? I probably did. Here are some more facts that you probably didn’t know and more reasons to buy even multiple copies. Just read the captions and look at the pictures!
[100% of the royalties earned or accrued in the purchase of this book, in all formats, will go to the Pamela Winton tribute fund, which is in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support.
The anthology is themed on relationships and includes tales from urban fantasy to stories that bring tears to the eye. You’ll find the book on your Amazon via these links: http://smarturl.it/YoureNotAloneAnthhttp://bookshow.me/B00Y5RCOOE]
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Final Call for Volunteers
Quick post.
Last call for volunteers to help promote The Merchant of Nevra Coil soon after it comes out.
Let me know in the comments and thanks
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New Book Fanfare – A Love Story for a Nation by Mark W. Sasse
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The Guardian Is Now Available For Purchase
Click on the cover to go to Amazon.com
Well, here it is folks. The Guardian is now available for purchase in paper back. You can order your copy on any Amazon site as well as on Createspace. If you are one of the minority of people who never buy anything online, (I’m acquainted with one or two of them) but would still like to purchase a copy, simply go to your local bookshop and ask them to do it for you. All you will need to provide is the following information:
The Guardian by Jack Eason
ISBN-13: 978-1515213611
ISBN-10: 1515213617
BISAC: Fiction / Science Fiction / Adventure
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If you buy directly from Createspace or your nearest Amazon outlet it will cost you US$5.38, or your country’s equivalent (£3.45 here in the UK) plus postage and packaging.
You will note that I’ve changed the cover. While I still like the…
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Tired of Making Titles. Might do gibberish from now on
By the time this goes live, I’ll be ushering my son out of the house for his birthday party. I don’t think much else is going on today. Tomorrow is a trip to prepare for another party in August and relax. Probably going to be plenty of new toys around the house, which makes me hope we have the room.
I’ll get to the real meat of the post. Next week is the Hype Week for The Merchant of Nevra Coil , which should be out in August. Will it be out on August 1st? I can’t say with any certainty. For anyone new to my blog, things always seem to go askew when I have a debut and I’ve routinely shot myself in the foot with defined release dates. This makes it hard to hype a book, but I’m hoping the Character Interviews of August can help. All of them will link to Beginning of a Hero, but it’s a focus on Windemere that hasn’t really happened much here. It might help by adding in the Tuesday Teasers and the upcoming new thing called ‘Questions 3’. So fingers are crossed that things run smoothly or at least don’t become an epic disaster.
What else is there to say here? I write, edit, outline, and fiddle with future ideas, which doesn’t make for an interesting update post. People have heard my lamentations about sales, marketing confusion, and the other stuff. Traffic is slow in nearly every arena. I don’t know why, but I always have retweets and things on Twitter. Maybe it’s because summer sees people leaving their computers and social media. At least blogging since I still see a lot of pictures going up on Facebook. Am I alone in feeling like I’m only on that site because otherwise I’d never know what my friends and family are up to?
What’s the plan for the week?
- Start editing Tribe of the Snow Tiger.
- Continue editing The Merchant of Nevra Coil and get marketing stuff ready. I’ll post again about needing volunteers tomorrow.
- Bring cupcakes to son’s school for his birthday.
- Biking. I mean it this time.
- Fiddle more with Sin, Phi Beta, Zodiac Gods, and alien bounty hunter. These ideas are weighing on my mind and I’m not really sure what to do about some of the issues.
- Think more about the exile and what can be done in 5-6 days that won’t go to waste by the time I get back to writing in September. You’ll see this goal as a theme for a while.
- Ponder the online negativity of my species.
- DO NOT lose the notes on stuff introduced in one book that I forgot to carry over into the other. Spontaneous creations can be a problem at times.
So, what goals do you have this week?
Posted in Goal Posts
Tagged author, fantasy, goals, Legends of Windemere, Windemere, writing
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Methods in the Madness?
There are some villains that are very close to being heroes or simply consider themselves heroes. A good example is Venom who used lethal methods to get to Spider-Man, who he considered a bad guy. Eventually, he went the anti-hero route and then I stopped paying attention because there were nearly a dozen symbiotes running around. Still, one could see how Venom was able to do what he did and still think himself as a hero.
This has me thinking about a few of my villains and why they’re categorized as such. The Lich, the Hellfire Elf, and Stephen are evil even though two of those guys have some redeeming qualities. None of them consider themselves heroes. Yet, Queen Trinity does because she fights for her people even if it means doing bad. There’s an interesting mentality to this because she’s aware of what she does. Not every villain that borders on hero or thinks they are one have this level of awareness. Still, this does lead me to compare Trinity to someone like Nyx who fights for her loved ones. What makes one a hero and one a villain even though they strive for similar goals? Another comparison could be looking at SHIELD and Hydra, both of which want to protect humanity.
It’s the methods that make them different. I really began thinking of this when watching ‘Once Upon a Time’ and seeing how every character wanted their happy ending. The heroes, typically, went with the purer route that didn’t hurt others. Except for the villains who always had that ‘deserved it’ thing. Never go for what you want at the expense of others unless they’re evil, I guess. On the other side of the coin, the villains will sacrifice others, lie, steal, and kill to get what they want. They might not see a problem with this because they claim a means to an end that benefits all. Most times this is to create a new world order that is really a hellish villain-scape. I guess there’s a level of blindness or blissful ignorance for a villain even if they don’t openly act like it.
This is still an idea that I’m toying with as I create villains for other series. Even darker heroes like a whimsical serial killer that travels with others after anarchy reigns. The desires are sinister, but there has to be something in the methods that keeps such a character on the side of the good guys. Not as easy as I used to think.
Looking for Beta readers and reviewers who like utopian science-fiction, and seeking book bloggers
PLEASE SHARE! Vol III, This Is/Is Not the Way I Want Things to Change of The Spanners Series by Sally Ember, Ed.D., is coming out soon.
Looking for Beta readers, and reviewers who like utopian science-fiction, and seeking book bloggers to help with its release starting in Sept. through late November. sallyember AT yahoo DOT com if you’re interested and available!

Cover art and logo by Aidana Willowraven: http://www.willowraven-illustration.blogspot.com/
This Changes Everything, Vol I, is a perma #free #scifi #romance ebook
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00HFELTG8
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/376197
Vol 2, This Changes My Family and My Life Forever, is $3.99
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/424969
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KU5Q7KC
Always love reviews for the first two volumes (free to reviewers), of course! http://www.sallyember.com/Spanners-2
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Shtuff and Tings
Random things post and I’m suddenly wondering why the font here is suddenly so large. I didn’t zoom in or hit a button . . . not sure how my haircut relates to this, but I’ll go with it since this is an odd day.
Volunteers!
Still looking for them to promote when The Merchant of Nevra Coil goes live.
THE REST OF THE POST!
With the Book 9 editing done and the stuff for the next book slowly making its way to completion, I’m just twiddling my thumbs for the rest of the week. I’ll probably go back to outlining a future series that’s been sitting on my dresser for a while. Then again, I’ve stumbled onto a few other head twitches.
First, I keep wondering about the alien bounty hunter landing on Windemere. Maybe it’s because I’ve taken a few lumps for things I did in Legends of Windemere that weren’t ‘true’ fantasy and some things that went a little wild. This would definitely force people to trust that I know what I’m doing since you’re have a sci-fi being arrive in a magical world. I keep thinking series, but it might just be one book where she gathers the escaped convicts and tries to survive a world that could easily kill her. Magic and aliens don’t really mix since they’re not part of the world’s aura structure. So some are immune, others have extra susceptibility, and a wide variety of ‘allergic’ reactions.
The other idea I’m fiddling with in my head is one called ‘The Phi Beta Files’. Not sure if ‘Files’ will be kept. Basically, I took some of the freshman year antics of my friends and I. Then I put them in originally a sci-fi military academy setting for 5 books (4 years and 1 summer break) and they got switched into Windemere during the merging. It’s a humor/action thing since a lot of stuff would be college-level silliness. The problem is that I’m not sure if it works any more. Being older has caused this idea to become harder to focus on, which brought about an alteration.
Bring in the characters at a later stage in life and the reenter the adventure scene. Maybe have one get into trouble and sign them up for a contest. I’d been considering an assassin or mercenary squad thing, so they end up going against professionals. Now this could be the Mercenary Series that I’d considered and never had anything for. I’ve had stories that focused on adventurers, monster hunters, casters, thieves, and other forces within Windemere. The mercenaries tended to always be around as supporting cast even though they have an established structure. I could still alter some of the antics to fit this. Heck, I could even have the characters training to be mercenaries or fresh out of training if I want to keep the idiot youth angle.
Finally, I’m still trying to figure out what to do with that 5-6 day exile. (I know I just won’t let this thing go.) I’ve come up with the following list of things to do, but I could only attempt one:
- Edit books if I haven’t finished by then.
- Start writing ‘Crossing Bedlam’ and pray I can get the groove back in September.
- Sleep, watch TV, and do nothing writing based.
- Flush out another series and not start anything new.
Decisions, decisions. It really makes me realize that I’m having trouble finding a silver lining here. The best one is that I get away from the chaos of the house, but I’ll be sitting alone in a hotel room with none of the home comforts. My laptop and iPhone can only do so much. One thing they can’t do is cook food, so hello Burger King dinners. Another thing that just came to my mind, I could end up hitting the release date for The Merchant of Nevra Coil during this exile and that would take a day or two of setting up. This trip is really becoming the epitome of terrible timing.
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