The Sentient is free to download from amazon today through 2/15!
There’s so much more I have to say, but life has been extra busy lately. I’ll post again soon, promise!
http://www.amazon.com/Sentient-Prophecy-Book-ebook/dp/B00K71HIHU/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
First and foremost, I would like to share with you all that the first draft of The Prophecy is finished! Of course there’s still plenty to be done, but it’s an exciting milestone nevertheless. Things are moving along!
In other news, I just received a folder full of old stories I wrote when I was around 12 or 13 years old. A friend of mine and I would create our own little books, magazines, newspapers, etc, then send them to each other by way of our fathers, who worked together. This friend’s mother was just going through old stuff, getting their house ready to be put on the market. When she found all of the stories I had sent her daughter near on two decades ago, she saved them for me. It’s a fun little trip down memory lane, but I also have to say, having illustrated my own works, I am rather impressed with my drawing skills at that age!
Here are pictures from a few of my favorites (not the best quality photos)
My anthropologist, nerd, and bibliophile sides are all very happy tonight. The first category is the only one I have a degree in, but I think my love of books should be pretty obvious, and, well, you’ll just have to trust me on the nerd thing.
These were just delivered to me:
Monique and the Mango Rains is a memoir about the friendship between a Peace Corps volunteer and a midwife in West Africa. I obtained my bachelor’s degree in anthropology before going to nursing school with the idea of working in labor and delivery, and played with the idea of going for a master’s degree in midwifery. For now I am very happy with my role as an RN in a NICU, and trying my hand at writing novels on the side – but this book touches on many subjects I still find fascinating.
And then there’s Bill Nye the Science Guy! Creator and host of the educational television show for youngsters, and all-around kind-of-amazing dude. His book is entitled Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation. I am a firm believer in evolution, and wish very much that more people understood it better. I am an atheist myself, but support the idea that everyone has the right to believe what they choose, and practice what they will as long as doing so causes no harm to others. As Voltaire is credited with saying, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”. That being said, I do cringe at the idea of blind belief that runs contrary to proven scientific fact. When I discovered that Nye had written a book with the intent of spreading awareness of what evolution really is in response to a controversial debate about creationism, I was excited to get my hands on it.
(As a side note, I have even more respect for Mr. Nye after learning more about him from the inside flap of the book. For instance, in turns out he studied under Carl Sagan at Cornell University. Having just recently finished reading The Martian, Andy Weir’s book about an astronaut stranded on Mars, this fact of course reminds me of the fantastic humor in the impressive novel’s narration: “By my reckoning, I’m about 100 kilometers from Pathfinder. Technically it’s “Carl Sagan Memorial Station.” But with all due respect to Carl, I can call it whatever I want. I’m the King of Mars.”
We Were Liars and Red Rising were two of my absolute favorite reads of 2014. When Golden Son, sequel to Red Rising and second installment in Pierce Brown’s science fiction/fantasy trilogy, was released just earlier this month, I knew I had to get my hands on it – literally. The other two novels I only owned in eBook format, but decided that these were books I very much wanted physical copies of.
Plus, my Golden Son came with this:
Totally worth it 🙂
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go do a happy dance.
I confess I didn’t do much writing in the last couple of months. I’ve been trying to split my time, fitting in reading for pleasure, betareading another author’s work, and playing video games.
The video games shouldn’t distract me any longer – it’s just that new installments of two series that I really enjoy were released recently. But I have finished Dragon Age: Inquisition, and only the first episodic “book” of Dreamfall: Chapters (which fans having been waiting TEN YEARS for!) is available at this time. I played through that and am eagerly awaiting the next piece, which currently has an expected release date of “Soon.”
But fear not, the dry spell seems to have come to an end! These last few days I have been writing more and more. The first draft of The Prophecy is now weighing in at 67,000 words, and is probably about 85% done. I hope to have it completed within the next few weeks.
Of course then there will be revision, followed by some more revision, and maybe throw in another round of revision for good measure. I’m not sure I’ll quite make my anticipated release period of Spring 2015, but at the rate I’ve been working these last several days, I don’t think I’ll miss it by much. Maybe I’ll even surprise myself and get it out there sooner than I think.
In other words, Book II of The Sentient Prophecy has an expected publication of “Soon-ish”!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I left Anna and some friends boiling over with righteous indignation, and someone Sentient is going to have to pay…
My colleague and mentor, indie author M. R. Pritchard, will have each of her books (eBook format) on sale one at a time throughout the month of January. From now until the 11th you can download Saratoga for the low price of FREE.
Saratoga is a young adult paranormal romance that draws on Greek mythology. It has a lot of unique elements to it, and is a lot of fun! Get it while it’s hot at http://www.amazon.com/Saratoga-M-R-Pritchard-ebook/dp/B00H2P7W0W/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
I’d like to tell you about two indie authors who have consistently blown me away with their work. Not only are their books amazing fun, but their writing shares a few other admirable attributes. Let me explain.
Andrea K. Host (who has come up on this blog previously) and Intisar Khanani both write a lot of fantasy, but each manages to break the mold of what we have come to expect of the worlds inside the pages of today’s usual fantasy fare. The stories both authors write are incredibly engaging. More than that, though, they both bring a lot of originality to their work, finding fresh and new ways to spin the compelling tales they have to tell. Host and Khanani avoid many of the tropes we see in other fantasy books. They are talented writers who tell wonderful stories in an utterly REFRESHING manner!
For instance, who says all fantasy has to be set in a world mirroring Medieval Europe? Why do the creatures and villains of the land all have to be from the same standard set we see elsewhere? Does a young adult have to be an orphan or otherwise severed of all family ties before he or she can have adventures of their own? In these books, you will usually find well-defined female protagonists of various ethnicities, each with their own unique strong sense of agency. (I struggled with how to word that last sentence. Does it sound like a single character varies her ethnicity throughout a book? That’s not what I meant…although, that might be cool to read about, too…)
One of my favorite facets appearing in these books has to do with romance. I admit, I really enjoy a good romance in my books. Much of what floods the indie market these days has the unfortunate tendency to display cases of “instalove.” Two characters falls for each other as soon as they meet, for no good reason the reader can see other than that they are physically attracted to one another. It’s hard to buy it when they are professing their undying love 50 pages in.
Host and Khanani write romances (or, in some cases, just the potential for romance in future installments) that are unique, believable, and totally swoon-worthy. These are more of a slow-burn kind of thing, which ends up making them incredibly hot!
(I just had to rewrite the last few paragraphs, as this diabolical machine of mine ate the original version and refused to spit it back out. I feel like the writing was more eloquent the first time around, but now I am frustrated and grumpy and am going to just focus on wrapping up this post so that I can then go comfort myself with chocolate and coffee.)
Needless to say, I highly recommend reading the works of these two authors. I think you might just love them!
I just finished reading Sunbolt (Book One of the Sunbolt Chronicles) last night. This is actually a novella, and Khanani says there are six planned altogether. The second installment is slated to come out sometime in 2015. And I NEED IT! Keep an eye out for its release on the author’s website at http://booksbyintisar.com/
Thorn was the first book I read by this author. She plans a companion trilogy set in the same world, but featuring a different protagonist – one who is introduced in her short story, The Bone Knife, which is available to download for free through Amazon.com.
I know I’ve already sung the praises of Host’s Touchstone Trilogy before, but just know that I still love the heck out of it and think you should read it, too. Like, now. There is also the Gratuitous Epilogue, which I believe is free to download through the author’s website at http://www.andreakhost.com/
I also just recently read her Medair duology and super duper loved it. A lot. Now I have three more of Host’s novels downloaded, just waiting for me…calling to me…summoning me…
Gotta go! Happy reading!
Got this as a gift for the holidays. I kind of love it.
As this year draws to an end, let’s all agree to make sure 2015 is a spectacular one. Deal?
xoxo
I just recently joined Net Galley, and Veiled Intentions by Eileen Carr is the first title I received and read in exchange for an honest review.
DESCRIPTION:
When a young Muslim high school student is accused of a crime she didn’t commit, her school counselor gets involved to clear her record in this ripped-from-the-headlines romantic thriller from the author of Vanished in the Night.
When Lily Simon finds cops in the lobby of the high school where she’s a guidance counselor, she’s not surprised: cops and adolescents go together like sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. But when the cops take Jamila, a Muslim student, into custody for a crime she didn’t commit, Lily’s high school becomes a powder keg.
Police think Jamila is responsible for a hit and run, and since she’s not talking, they have no choice but to keep her as the main suspect. And since the victim—a young soldier recently returned from Afghanistan—is lying unconscious in the hospital, the whole town is taking sides on whether or not Jamila’s arrest is religious persecution. Determined to find the truth, Lily teams up with a reporter to uncover what really happened the night of the hit and run. But Lily didn’t expect to find such a tangled web…
MY REVIEW:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction…The chain reaction of evil-hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars-must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
This Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quote sums up the message of Eileen Carr’s novel, Veiled Intentions.
A high-achieving Muslim student gets accused of a hit-and-run accident involving a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. Jamila is stunned, and heartbroken, to see how quick all the people she has grown up with and known her entire life are to suddenly label her as “Other”, even though she denies any involvement in the accident. She, along with other Muslim families in the community, become targets for bullying and hate crimes. They are alienated in their own hometown. Jamila is no longer a seventeen year old high school student active in community projects who also practices Islam; now the view of her is limited to simply her religion. In her distress, she turns more toward the only aspect of herself that society will allow her to be defined by.
Veiled Intentions looks not only at Jamila and how she feels about and reacts to everything that ensues, but also all of the other various members of the community. We see all the different viewpoints involved in such a situation-the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is not a “feel good” book. However, it takes a necessary look at issues that are prevalent in the world today. It does an admirable job of surveying all of the different thoughts and opinions found in society today about issues of religious or cultural differences and how they should be ‘dealt with’. It does so through simple and straightforward writing.
In addition to representing all of the views that crop up about such matters in a smart fashion, this book drives home the lesson Dr. King was attempting to teach decades ago: Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that. This is a call for the world to find a way to stop the cycle of discrimination and violence.
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Veiled Intentions has an expected publication date of Dec 29th
I happened across a couple different reading challenges today that caught my fancy. I hope to focus more on writing this coming year, which may mean less time for reading-wait, who am I kidding? I’ll make time for reading, I always do. Perhaps not enough time to complete the goals outlined here, but the challenge is always fun regardless.
The Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge: http://bookriot.com/2014/12/15/book-riot-2015-read-harder-challenge/
The Official 2015 TBR Pile Challenge: http://roofbeamreader.com/2014/11/24/announcing-the-official-2015-tbr-pile-challenge/ This one even comes with the chance to win a $50 gift card to Amazon.com or The Book Depository!
If neither of those seems like your cup of tea, a search for 2015 reading challenges will turn up troves of others. So take a look, enjoy the holidays (and possibly stock up on gifted books), and then let a new year of reading begin!
In other news, I received my prize from author Andrea K. Host’s giveaway celebrating her 5,000 rating mark on Goodreads.com. I greatly enjoyed Host’s Touchstone Trilogy, and only owned it in eBook format – but no longer! There were three prize options to choose from (and a winner for each one), and I am now the proud owner of the galley copies of Touchstone, complete with personalized note from the author.
One of the other prize options through the giveaway was a copy (eBook or paperback) of every single one of Host’s books not already owned by the winner. As awesome as that would be to receive, I decided I would rather support her work by paying for it when I got around to reading more. Then when I saw the price for shipping two hefty galleys from Australia to the U.S., my timeline moved up and I wasted no time downloading her Medair duology 🙂 I look forward to reading it soon (as part of a reading challenge, perhaps?) Should you want to check out her work yourself, she currently has all of her eBooks on sale at $0.99 for the holiday season (http://www.amazon.com/Andrea-K-H%C3%B6st/e/B004F99RRY/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1418697065&sr=8-1)
Wishing you all good cheer and happy reading!
Jessica Crawford 