Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf, By R.A. Salvatore

Happy Tuesday morning! Time to get back to it and get some of these reviews out of the way before I forget them. I'm getting behind!

There are a couple things I'd like to get out of the way before I jump into the review. May has been a very busy month for me, hence the lack of posts. My husband and I celebrated our 7th anniversary, my eldest son graduated high school, and my daughter now has her first car. It has been somewhat hectic! The astonishing thing was that I actually found the time to finish the Dreamland - Part One manuscript in the midst of all that! Yes, you heard me! First draft is DONE!

*does Snoopy dance*

The rewrites are already underway, but this is the area where is difficult for me to gauge a timeline. I can think I'm on track and then end up having to rewrite a full two scenes or some such. I still think I'll be able to be done before summer is over, though. Then the editing and polishing stage can begin and that doesn't take near as long. Hopefully my estimated release date of late this year is accurate! I think it might be!

Now on to the review.

Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf was more exciting than the last installment, Rise of the King. As I stated in the review for Rise, it was mostly setup, and a lot of what was set up came to fruition in Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf. DO YOU LIKE DRAGONS?? I like dragons, and we get some very satisfying and unique scenes here. The waging war is huge in scope, involving a lot of towns I've been familiar with for decades. Things don't end up well for a lot of them, and it was a very emotional read.

There was a distance in the books from some of the characters, especially the humans. Mainly because we don't know them as all the old humans we knew have been dead for centuries, and a lot of the dwarves were just names or acquaintances before. We spend just as much time in those perspectives as we do our Companions of the Hall. 

Sept 1st Release!

This stories's scope was vast and covered a world changing event. One that needed to be told and was a very satisfying to read. That being said, I do miss the single adventures of the Companions. The smaller ones, where only those directly involved matter. I hope the next book in the Drizzt saga takes us back there. I do think the artwork that's up on Amazon now is stunning.

Hopefully, some loose ends finally get tied up in this next trilogy, plus I am missing Artemis! What the heck has he been up too? I think I'm looking forward to this next set of books more than I did this last trilogy due to how much I love the underdark. I can't wait for them to get the chaos they think they want! With the way Salvatore can deliver a truly satisfying scene, I'm sure I won't be disappointed. 

Okay, one review down, two more to go. Told you I was behind! I'll try to get those up quickly before I get to caught up in the rewrites and my brain turns to mush.

Have a wonderful week!

Lost Days

Just a quick post since I was MIA last week. I intentionally skipped my normal Tuesday review because I... well.. wasn't ready to write a review yet. I figured I'd be able to get one up this Tuesday, and besides, I'm known for doing that anyway. Sounded like a good plan except I didn't expect to get hit with the mother of all stomach viruses on Sunday.

Oy... Just know these past couple days have been horrible. I will spare you the gory details.

Anyway, due to this virus rampaging through my digestive system, I lost three days of writing. Three days without a word! I was doing so well, too. It was almost certain I could finish the first draft by the end of the month, and I still think I can. We have 2 weeks left, and I only have 2 chapters to go. I think I can do it.. right? Yeah... I think I can do it. I'm getting back on that horse today.

There are a few upsides to being sick. I'm caught up on all my TV shows now (except for The Walking Dead, that one I just couldn't do.) AND I did got to watch the Game of Thrones premiere live. Oh, so excited for this season! I can't wait until Drogon finally makes his appearance.

Anyway, I'll be back later this week with my review. This one will be on R.A. Salvatore's Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf, and then next week I'll have an indie review for Mastic by Eli Constant, which I'm nearly finished with.

This post feels like it's been all over the place, but I don't have it in me to correct it right now. Sorries!

Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson

Can you actually read this?

BAM! Five Stars! That was a no brainer for me. Any book that keeps me up until 3am because I Can't. Stop. Reading, gets a top-notch review from me. Don't believe me? Check out my fitbit captured stats the night I finished Hero of Ages.

I'm crazy addicted to reading, guys. Totally obsessive compulsive, and I LOVE IT!

So, back to Mistborn. This will be a review on the first three books in the series, The Final Empire, Well of Ascension and Hero of Ages, since it's all one continuous story. I half read, half listened to the books. Michael Kramer once again narrates, but this time he also does the female POV's. Although I missed Kate Reading, Kramer does an excellent job as always. His character accents helped bring the story to life and were pretty consistent all the way through. There was also one character whose voice deepened by the third book, which I thought was an very good portrayal of growth, because... well.. that character had seen some shit by then. It was a nice touch.

The series is more of an urban fantasy, and is set in a world that was conquered by the Lord Ruler one thousand years in the past. There are Noblemen (the Lord Ruler's followers) and the Skaa (the slaves punished by the Lord Ruler for not following him.) Pretty simple set up.

The Lord Ruler is a very mysterious entity and Sanderson did a fascinating job with his slow unveiling of this particular big bad. The Lord Ruler is seen as a god, his powers in Allomancy (the worlds magic system) far greater than any of the Noblemen that follow him. The Skaa have little to no hope in achieving freedom until our antagonist, Vin, joins up with a Skaa thieving crew intent on the impossible task of overthrowing the Lord Ruler.

The three books mostly follow Vin, who is only sixteen when we first meet her, but the books span a few  years and she grows into a competent young woman by the end. Although some of the reveals were pretty heavy handed, I'll admit that Sanderson really had me wondering how he was going to wrap everything up. Not one possible ending that I thought up was even close to what happened, and that night spent reading until the wee hours of the morning was truly worth it. Tears were shed. I was so caught up in this world that I had to take a short hiatus before I started my next book.

Which is Vengeance of the Iron Dwarf. Can I get a WHAT WHAT from the Drizzt fans out there? Oh, yeah! (I'm already halfway through... Did I mention I'm behind on reviews? NEway...)

So Camp NaNoWrimo is starting tomorrow, and I've entered in the estimated 25k words I have left to write for the first draft. That should be an easy goal to hit, so a release by the end of this year is looking highly likely! Are you Phoenix fans excited yet? If you weren't aware, you can find the prologue online over here. Just a little taste of where this next installment is heading... at least for one of our loveable Phoenix, anyway.

Well, that's all I have for today! Have a great week and happy reading, as always!

The Darkness Of The Womb, By Richard B. Knight

Here we are at another wonderful Tuesday! I hope everyone is enjoying their week so far!

Yeah.... nevermind. I'm not this cheerful in the morning. Honestly, it's dangerous to talk to me before 10am. I am not fully functional. There's a good chance I could have forgotten to brush my hair before I left the house. For best results for all parties involved, contact me after noon.

We should probably just move on to the review, whadaya say?

Recently, I finished another indie book, Darkness of the Womb, by Richard B. Knight. This is the first book by a very promising new author and one to keep an eye on.

Darkness of the Womb is a good mix of fantasy and horror, and it's the good kind of horror. Psychological. The story is about an unborn child who doesn't want to be born. He is on a mission to abort himself and the story details the journey of his parents as they try to save him. Human traits are personified as antagonists and unlikely heroes, each one identified with signature colors that result in a very vivid story.

Although the structure of the story felt weak in some places, it was still an enthralling read. Knight did an excellent job with his characters and I found myself invested in the side characters as much as the main. I would call it a dark fairy-tale, and it receives a solid 4 stars from me. I enjoyed the book so much, I will probably be grabbing his second novel as well.

When I finished Darkness of the Womb, I jumped into Mistborn... Man... what a wild ride that was. That will probably be my next review.

Aside from all the maniacal reading I've been doing lately, I've put in a lot of work on the consolidation of After and I'm pleased to announce that the paperback and e-book are available now! With a brand new cover! If you've already purchased all three books, the consolidated book doesn't offer any new content, although it might be a bit cleaner as far as editing goes. It does however, have the first teaser chapter of Dreamland at the back.

Oh my!

No need to rush out(over?) and buy it just for the teaser. I have a brand new page up for Dreamland updates alone, and you can find it there. You'll also notice I've finally added a timeline for publication as well as some interesting stats. That date isn't set in stone as of yet, but I do plan to be finished with the first manuscript by the end of April. Things have been going so well with the writing lately, I don't want to say anything else or I'll jinx myself!

Read up and enjoy!

And try to survive until Friday!

The Maze Runner, By James Dashner

I am BACK! Woohoo!

Finally, the day job weekend conversions are OVER and I can get back to normal again. Well, I've already started that, actually, I just haven't made it over to the blog for a while. It seemed somewhat pointless since I didn't have anything to talk about but boring day job conversion weekends. No one wants to hear about those, my poor husband least of all. At least he was there to suffer through these trials with me...

Speaking of trials (cough) I did manage to finish The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure, books 2 and 3 in The Maze Runner series. I read The Maze Runner sometime last year, but only reviewed it on Amazon... or Audible... I can't remember which. Way to be on top of my game, eh?

Anyway, The Maze Runner as a series gets a solid four stars from me. I really enjoyed the set up of the first book, but something seemed to happen with the second. I'm not sure what exactly, the book was good and there was non-stop action, but I felt a disconnect from some of the established characters. However, some new characters are introduced in book two that quickly became my favorites. I enjoyed The Death Cure as much as I enjoyed the first book.

*** Minor Spoiler Below ***

I've read some reviews that revealed a lot of people didn't like how book three ended. Some stated there was too much information left out, but I felt we got the perfect amount. No, we never end up finding out what motivated Thomas prior to joining the Gladers, but do we really need too? That wasn't our Thomas. Our Thomas started the moment he woke up in the box and we were with him from then on. The mystery that still lingers about his past was not something that I was missing from the story. Also, the whole tie up at the end with WCKD was brilliant.

I really want to say more, especially concerning Newt's storyline, but since the movies are being made, I'll keep that to myself. Those that have read the books will probably understand where I'm going with this.

In conclusion, I found this to be a very entertaining YA novel/series. I even recommended it to my daugher, who blew through the three books at top speed. I think she finished The Death Cure in one day. Whew!

Now on to other things, like what's going on with The Phoenix Curse right now?

Well, all three parts of After are now available for digital download across Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, Apple, Scribd, Oyster and a few others.

After - Part Three's paperback proof is in the mail now... WOOWOO!! Keep you're fingers crossed on that one, because I spent two weeks fighting with the cover for that before it got accepted. Oy, why does it have to be so difficult? Let's hope the cover is perfect when I get it, so I can hit that publish button right away.

Next on the paperback/hardcover list of things that are happening, After, the complete book one, will also have a wide release soon. I'm only waiting on one thing to get started on the formatting... The teaser chapter for Dreamland that is already in the hands of my beta reader!

Can I get a HELLZ YEAH??

Not to worry, (if you're the worrying type.) You won't have to run out to buy the full book to get the teaser. That will be posted on my blog as soon as I get it back. Yes, I'm anxiously awaiting that too.

And lastly (I like that word), some juicy tidbits on Dreamland. Mmmhmm. The book is shaping up to have about 9 chapters. I'm halfway through writing chapter 4, and plan on a spring break marathon to see how much closer I can get to number 9 this month. You might be seeing Dreamland - Part One by the end of the year! That's currently my goal, but if I can get it out to you prior to that, I will.

And that's all I have for now.

Except for this... The dress is white and gold.

The Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson

Man... so what the hell just happened?

I guess I'll start at the beginning of my latest mind-boggling journey. As I've posted before, I finally decided to get over my worries of a different author taking over The Wheel of Time and finish reading the series. I'm so glad I did, because the final three books were an epic roller coaster of emotions that I'm not likely to forget anytime soon. The books were brilliant!

So, since I enjoyed the writing style so much, I started  The Way of Kings, book one of The Stormlight Archive by +Brandon Sanderson. The book started slow with a lot of juicy backstory-tidbits along the way, and I listened to it here and there. (Side note, Kate Reading and Michael Kramer narrate the books and they are AWESOME!!) The books are friggen HUGE though... like if you actually had a hardback copy, you could use it as a weapon huge.

But, anyway... Being huge and getting to know new characters in an epic adventure was a slow process for me. I refuse to lie and say that I fell in love with the books on the first page, because I didn't. The first POV's that are introduced are not the main characters, they're snippets into perspectives to add a bit of backstory and mystery. By the time I did get to one of the main characters, I wasn't sure how long I would be in their perspective... and then we jumped to another perspective... and then another... and then there were interludes.

Hrm...

Okay, so after all is said and done, I understand. I've even gone so far as to re-read these 'one-off' perspectives now that I've finished both books, because I understand, but man was I so hella confused and lost during the first half of book one that it put me off reading for a while. I'm not one to abandon a book, but if I was, I might have walked away from The Way of Kings... and it would have been a colossal mistake.

Then I hit the second half and Oh. My. God. Everything came together and shit started going DOWN.

At that point, obsessive mode got turned on, and I devoured the rest of The Way of Kings and hit Words of Radiance with a passion. Sanderson has securely made his way into the select few that I call my favorite authors. These books are amazeballs, full of brilliant imagery, solid characters and a vast world that feels real.

As soon as I finished Words of Radiance, I did what I normally do (don't judge me) and started searching message boards and reddit for discussion and theories on what I might have missed, as well as when book three is expected to release. I never imagined what I would find...

The... Cosmere? What the hell is that?

MORE BOOKS!! YES!!! So, Stormlight Archive is just one series of books set in the same universe, and there are a ton more words to read before book three comes out. So excite! My husband has already finished Mistborn, which I'll start soonish after I wrap up some other obligations.

Oh... um.. speaking of. I have some Phoenix Curse news, woot woot! It's probably not what you're looking for, but After is being released to multiple platforms this month. In fact, part one is already available at Smashwords.com and is currently FREE for the month of February. Grab it if you haven't yet!

Part two and part three will follow, and part three will finally have it's paperback debut! Keep you're eyes open for those.

One last thing, D.R.J. Publishing is also hosted Thief for free for the month of February at Smashwords, because... ya know.. romance and stuff. Hopefully Amazon will follow suite soon, but they currently still have the cost listed at $.99. Someone should probably send an email. *ahem*

So there is my very wordy, image free post, because I'm too lazy to add images today. Been sick since last Friday so please forgive me! Will be back soon with a review of The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure!

I survived!

Last week was terribly, terribly crazy! The day job is working on converting to a new program, so that meant working through last weekend... Both Saturday and Sunday... At the office... Full days... So this Saturday was my first day off in 12 days.

Doesn't that sound crazy? That's not the end of it. My husband was away on a business trip all last week, so it was just me and the toddler struggling to survive. Somehow, I managed to make it through with both of us still intact. I survived on cereal and corndogs, cuz... Well, I can't cook. The boy lives on chicken nuggets anyway, and those are easy to throw in the oven. It did get scary there for a little bit cuz I had to break into my second box of cereal by the end of the week, but luckily my husband was able to catch an earlier flight home, so imminent crisis averted.

There's another conversion weekend coming up again in February... /sigh... I just need to sell more books. Working these 12 day work weeks is a real strain, mentally and physically. It's messing with my writing time, too. It drains me and zaps all the creative energy.

Well, I'm back at it this week. Currently I'm working on a wide release of After, tentatively scheduled for next month, once I'm released from Amazon's KDP Select. Oh, and I guess I have a little bit of news for you. Katlynn Rose has published her first novella! Woot Woot!

Thief: The Dove in the Darkness

So yes, that's my new pen name, and my first shot at writing romance. I'm still not sure how I feel about romance just yet, it's definitely out of my comfort zone, but there it is in case anyone would like to give it a go! Thief is currently on sale for $.99. As always, if you read it and enjoy it, please leave a review!

Short update today, but I haven't fully recovered from last week yet. Have a wonderful week, everyone!

30 Books

And we're back from the holidays! I hope everyone had a wonderful time and are well prepared for the New Year. It's getting cold down here in Texas! (and by cold, we mean in the 30s. How you people live up North is beyond me.)

My time working on other projects is over, and my focus is now turned completely toward The Phoenix Curse. I'm working on formatting the three parts into one complete book, as well as getting some more work done on Dreamland. Many many edits lie in front of me for what's already been written, and many many words still need to be put down on paper. It's become a bigger project than I ever expected it would be, but I'm happy about that. Dreamland - Part One will be completely written before I turn to another project. I'm also expecting this book to be a bit heavier than After by the time it's all said and done.

We all do this, right?

I'm preparing a little treat for all my wonderful Phoenix fans to be released at the end of February, so there's a little something to look forward to while the book is in the works. Yay! I hope that's exciting news for everyone.

I guess it's time for a little 2014 recap. Last year, I never got down and made any resolutions. I vagued it up, and vagueness is the cause of many a failed resolution. The only solid resolution was to complete NaNoWriMo, which I was able to accomplish with a little room to spare. Not much, but a little. My second resolution was to 'lose weight." Okay. I did that. And then I promptly gained it right back. That does not count in my book, so I'm done with any type of resolution to lose weight/work out. Not to say I'm giving up on that, I'm just not going to confine it to one small time-frame of the year that's normally forgotten by the end of January.

But I did accomplish one of my vague resolutions. "Read more." Check!! Okay, so most of it was listening to Audible books, but THAT COUNTS considering I don't have time to sit down and actually read as much as I would like. Some books were read, but Audible was available to give me a link to all the wonderful stories that I would otherwise be deprived of. Thank you, Audible!

Total count: 30. Resolution for 2015: 35.

I'm not exactly reaching for the stars here, but I'm keeping it reasonable. Also, you have to consider that nearly half those books from last year were the gigantic tomes called The Wheel of Time. Geez, but Jordan was not shy on his word count. And half of those were re-reads, but they still count! Except Crossroads of Twilight. I just read Leigh Butler's re-read on that. For those of you that have actually read the series, I'm sure you understand. Crossroads of Twilight was not counted in my total.

That pretty much sums up my actual resolutions from 2014, but what I consider one of my biggest accomplishments was not even a resolution. Yes, I finished my first real book and got everything published, and figured out how to start on a completely different story that will one day be another best selling novel (right?!?), but there was something else I did that was a major lifestyle change for me. It might seem small, but for as much as I loved it, it was a huge change in my life.

I gave up caffeine.

I was never a big coffee drinker, but for years the only liquid I consumed was Diet Coke, and large volumes of it. First thing in the morning, I had to have my Diet Coke. I'd be late for work because I'd stop by McDonalds just to grab one. Not exactly a good habit to have and very unhealthy. Stimulants do not go well with someone that has hypertension, so I dropped my Diet Coke habit in October and haven't had any caffeine since. I, however, switched to caffeine free Diet Coke for a while, but that is still not healthy, so I've even cut most of that out and have switched to water.

Water is boring and gives me heartburn, but I feel a difference, people! Dem fancy doctors and health nuts might actually know what they're talking about! (no offence to fancy doctors and health nuts intended.) So my vague resolution for 2015 is 'drink more water.'

And I think that about sums up my thoughts on this topic. I'll be back to posting a little more regularly (expect at least 2 posts a month), and there's a small announcement coming later this week, so be sure to check back!

Corben's Thirst - By Johi Jenkins

I was recently gifted an ARC of Corben's Thirst from +Johi Jenkins, and it was absolutely delicious! For those of you that are into The Thirst Within series, you won't be disappointed with this one.

I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying this book is about Corben's past, and how he came to be who and what he is. I can't express enough how very, very interested I was to learn more about Charlotte, and this novella pretty much answered most of those questions, although the big ones are still hanging out there. As this mostly takes place in the past, there isn't a lot revealed about the Tori/Charlotte mystery, nor the effect it has on Corben and Thierry

There was, however, quite the twist at the end that left me ready for the next book. I'm not sure if Johi has a publication date ready yet for Corben's Thirst, but here's a link to her blog and facebook. Also, here's her author page for good measure.

And now I'm waiting as patiently as possible for the 2nd installment of Thirst. And Resurgence. I also loved that book.

The next on my list to read is The Lost Centurion, by +Monica La Porta , and my audible is glued to The Way of Kings, by +Brandon Sanderson. Gotta get some variety in there.

As for project list, I'm putting the final touches on Thief, so if anyone wants an ARC, please shoot me an email at drjpublishing@gmail.com. (Remember this is romance!) It will be ready before Christmas, and I have a few copies to spread around.

After that, Dreamland. Expect a teaser early next year!

NaNoWriMo and Black Friday

NaNoWriMo is DONE!! Woohoo!! I finished day before yesterday, and that feeling of accomplishment was just as wonderful as I remembered. I know there are some amazing writers out there that were able to actually finish their manuscript, but I was quite happy to end with my 50k words. I would say I'm only about halfway through the actual story, though.

Day 13!

I know I was quiet through-out November. I was actually really hyped about this year's NaNo and had a pre-NaNo post all worked up in my head, and then I was struck by a horrible migraine type headache on Halloween. BALLS!! It was horribad. Now, I've suffered from migraines all my life, and this was not one, but it was damn close. I've been getting these types of headaches a lot recently, but this one topped the charts on suckage. I remember the first one I got was during my first NaNo in 2012. It put me down for a few days then too. (see the chart to the left for historical accuracy.)

It did not occur to me until 2 years later, that the headaches might be caused by my blood pressure medicine. Brain child, I am not. Anyway, I dropped those meds and went to the Doc for something else. As soon as I did, I instantly felt better. The new meds aren't dragging my energy levels down either, so I feel better than I have in a long while.

Look at that beautiful, smooth climb of words,
LOOK AT IT!!

So NaNo pretty much went off without a hitch this year. I wrote consistently every day, paced myself well, and finished with an awesome push right at the end. Look at that last push right there at the end! 4000 words in one day! I had just hit one of those scenes that I couldn't wait to get to, and the story just flowed. It's funny how some days getting 1000 words down is like squeezing blood from a turnip, and others it's a flood of thoughts that my furiously typing fingers are just trying to keep up with.

I am really starting to love this story line and my awkward little seraph. I can't wait to finish it and get it out there, but that will probably be late in 2015 by the time I get to it. Don't worry. Dreamland will come first.

So, yay!! Maybe this next year I can give Camp NaNo a shot and actually succeed. For now, I'm working on a small project for December and also plan to send some ARCs out of my novella. If anyone is interested in that, just drop me an email at drjpublishing@gmail.com; subject ARC THIEF.

Meanwhile, After - Part Three is ON SALE TODAY for $.99!! This quite possibly could be the last time I'll be listing it for sale because I'm seriously thinking of pulling it from Amazon KDP Select. It's just not giving the results I want, and I'd like to open the books back up to other platforms. I guess it did okay in their Kindle Unlimited program, but it's not pulling the numbers that part two did, so I'm a bit disappointed.

Anyway, tell your friends! Grab it now! Send it as a gift! yada yada ~insert more corny sales pitches here~ (I'm not good at marketing!)

After - Part Three for $.99!

Black Friday Only!

He's such a cute wittle puppy!

And that's all I have for now. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, have a safe Black Friday, and hang on to your butts! The holiday's are in full swing!

Dead Trees - By Eli Constant

My mind is wandering down crazy paths today! I'm so close to finishing the editing for my alter ego's novella, and all I want to do is write the prologue for Dreamland. I have it all sketched out, and I'm eager to jump in! Maybe I"ll get that started today once I hit my editing goals. Sounds like a plan to me!

So, recently I was gifted the audio book Dead Tress by +Pamela Lorence. She saw my review on That Ghoul Ava, and highly recommended +Eli Constant's book. Pamela also does the narration for Dead Trees and it is superb!

Dead Trees was definitely not what I expected from an apocalyptic story. It opens six months after the disintegration of society, although we do get bits and pieces of information that fill in what happen during that time. Most of the book is told in Elise's POV, but there are a few scenes that aren't, and I'll call those guest POV's because it's not the norm. This is Elise's story.

As a mother, I related to Elise on a lot of levels. Not the kick-ass warrior part, but the mommy part. (I've already faced the fact that I would be a goner in the first 48 hours of an apocalypse if Buffy or the Winchesters don't come save me,) Elise is smart and willing to do what it takes to not only protect herself, but her two daughters. Now, as a mother, as soon as I found out she had a toddler in the car, my stress level shot through the roof. There were some very tense scenes that I ended up sitting in my car after the drive home just to listen to them. I had to know what happened!

The monsters in this book, or maybe I should say beasties, were so well done that I actually had nightmares about them. Yay for my over active imagination!

Pamela Lorence did an awesome job bringing Elise to life, and there were a few times I actually teared up while listening. I immediately bought book 2 for my kindle once I finished, which I've already started. Let me tell ya, book 2 starts out super creepy. It might take me a little while to get through this one since I have to find the time to read, but maybe I can catch some downtime this weekend. It is the calm before the NaNoWriMo storm.

So there's my Dead Trees review, and an audible review of a full five stars will accompany it. I may take the rest of the week off blogging while I wrap up the novella. Unless something else exciting comes up, I will catch you guys next week!

Next on a very special That Ghoul Ava - T.W. Brown

Got my coffee, got my music, got my dreams of going full-time author... I think I'm set.

Yesterday was an excellent, and I mean excellent editing day! I think it may have been a record because I finished up three scenes. However, this is a stand alone novella, and much different than trying to keep track of all the characters and plot lines for The Phoenix Curse. Hopefully I'm learning though. At the pace I'm going, the romance novella Thief should be sent to my editor before the end of the month, and then Katlynn Rose will be born! Dat exciting!

Also, romance with a happy ending is such a refreshing change of pace than the desolation of humanity and death.

Kinda like the difference between That Ghoul Ava and the Dead series by +Todd Brown (I totally just figured out how to do that, BTW.) Dead is a very dark, very gritty, very curl-up-in-a-fetal-position-and-cry set of books, while That Ghoul Ava is the polar opposite. Ava is fun and funny, a light read full of comedy and references. Glorious, glorious references that make me feel a part of something bigger. Man, do I love it when I get a reference.

Anyway, Next on a very special That Ghoul Ava was just as great as the preceding novels. It was a bit more serious that the others, but still managed to make me laugh out loud in parts. Ava (and the reader) gets to learn a little bit more about the history of ghouldom and just how awesome Ava could become, but everything isn't all flowers and butterflies. Ava is forced to make a life(unlife)-impacting decision with some pretty serious consequences either way. I can not wait for the next book! Hell, I was so excited for this one, I couldn't wait for the audio book to come out, so I snagged the e-book.

The mythology and lore is excellent in this series, and I really need someone out there to make a dedicated beastiary for Ava's world. Seriously, if you enjoy some light-hearted, supernatural fun, grab Ava's first adventure and give it a shot. It's reasonably priced, and well worth the time/money invested to see if you like it.

And there is my un-spoilory review. Do we like unspoilory reviews, or should I start going straight up... "OMG THIS HAPPENED AND I WAS LIKE WOW, AND THEN THIS HAPPENED AND IT WAS ALL... WOAH DUDE!!!" ?

I don't know. I'll think on. I hate getting spoiled to things, so I want to spare people that. I was a full season behind on the Walking Dead and I still haven't finished Breaking Bad, so for a while there, I was tip-toeing through reddit and Facebook like it was a minefield. Still got spoiled.

For now though, it's time to get some egg-rolls, listen to another chapter of Dead Trees, and enjoy the upcoming weekend, free from the 8 to 5 workday problems. Enjoy your word of the day, cuz that's what I'm going to be doing alllllllll weekend!

re·lax·a·tion

rēˌlakˈseiSH(ə)n/

noun

1. 1.

   the state of being free from tension and anxiety.

Rise of the King - R.A. Salvatore

So, one of my most-beloved stories just released another book on September 30th, Rise of the King by R.A. Salvatore. Highly anticipated!!

The stories of the Companions of the Hall, and pretty much every other character Salvatore has created in this world, are tots my favsies. And I'm talking of ALL my favsies. Yes, I love A Song of Ice and Fire, and Wheel of Time, but nothing has touched my heart like Drizzt Do'Urden, and the wide cast of characters that has passed through his life. If you follow my blog, you're probably well aware of that fact since I tend to gush every time there's a new release.

Well, gushing might be somewhat limited today at least.

Now, a couple months ago, I blogged about how I felt about the e-book pricing war. (If you care to read it, it's here.) And in that post, I stated there were very few e-books that I would spend over $10 on. At the time I wrote that post, Drizzt came to mind, as well as Winds of Winter. Those might have been the only ones I would have broke the bank on.

Turns out I was wrong. I was very surprised to find that on the day of release, the kindle version of Rise of the King was still set at $15.49!

Nope!

Call me cheap, whatever, but nope. The hardcover is only $2 more, and I'm much more willing to pay a higher price for a physical copy, but an e-book? And I love my Drizzt, I really do, but I'm also aware that the price has to drop eventually. So I looked at the page with disappointment, ranted with my husband a little bit (because he loves Drizzt stories as much as I do) and we both decided we would wait.

Until I remembered I had audible credits... (insert cheesy grin here)

So instead of reading an over priced e-book, I got to listen to the talented Victor Bevine narrate yet another stellar performance. He does such a wonderful job that I know which character is speaking without having to be told, and he makes the action scenes so intense! If you like fantasy/audio books, I recommend grabbing Homeland or The Crystal Shard. I don't see how anyone could be disappointed in the stories and performance.

And now the spoiler free review.

It was... okay. The book wasn't bad by any means, and there were some very stand-out action scenes that I enjoyed, but this book was pretty much all set-up. A slew of new characters get introduced, and we find out where everyone is, and what's going on, but not much beyond that. It's actually what I would expect from a mid-series book, so now I'm dying for the next release!

If you love Drizzt and Co., this is definitely a must read, but if you are riding the fandom fence (and it kills me to say this) a thorough synopsis might do just as well for you. And a diagram. Hell, I think I need a diagram of all the new names being tossed around. And a map. Anyone got a map?

Not the best review I've ever given. If I could ever get back onto Goodreads, I will leave my spoilery review there, but unfortunately, with the little time I have, Goodreads is one of the things that fell behind. I'll be back there someday, I promise.

Next review will be on the new Ava book, and then Dead Trees! See? I'm trying.

I've also got my NaNoWriMo month all planned out, and the edits for my novella are coming along nicely, for me anyway. I still struggle with that. I may have started an origin story for one of the Phoenix Curse characters and... well... first drafts come along A LOT quicker than editing.

Anyone want a little more background on Seth??

So much to do and so little time... And Dreamland is simmering on the burner.

I better get to it!

After - Part Three is Available!

It's finally here!! I'll keep this short and sweet. Dig in!

After - Part Three (The Phoenix Curse Book 3) 

That Ghoul Ava - By T.W. Brown

Do you guys want to know how many books I've read this year? 27.

Do you know how many reviews I've gotten up on my blog? One.

I'm ashamed. Some of those books have been indie novels too. I try to make it a point to always always leave reviews for indie novels, and I have failed miserably this year. I am going to strive (hards) to do better.

That being said, I have left reviews for a handful of books on Audible and Amazon, they just never made it to my blog. I still have a very long, drawn out post in my drafts for The Dark Tower series that I poke with a stick every now and then, and ideas for The Wheel of Time, which I just finished this year. I will say that Sanderson did a wonderful job finishing up Jordan's work. The Last Battle totally blew my mind, and I will always remember the night I finished it. Many tears were shed, and there are scenes that I'll remember forever.

But on to an actual review! Oh. My. Goodness!

Little over a months ago, (geez, has it been that long?) Mr. Brown graciously gave me the audible versions of the three That Ghoul Ava books in exchange for a review on Audible. As soon as I got the books downloaded, I proceeded to devour them.

Ava instantly grabbed me. The books are light-hearted and well written, and both the narrators did an excellent job. I got a kick out of all the chapter titles, as well as the buttload of references strung through all the books. I caught at least one Buffy reference, and I think there was a Dexter ref in there too? And WHAT'S WRONG WITH JOURNEY???

Anyway...

There were several scenes that actually made me laugh out loud, which is somewhat rare for the type of books I generally read, so this was a much appreciated change of pace. The plot for all three books were solid and true to the core of the story. There wasn't a lot of extra, unneeded fluff, and there was just enough mystery to keep you wondering what was going to happen next.

But what did I absolutely love about these books? Ya know, besides Ava...

The mythology! Man, am I a sucker for a twist on the standard mythology of supernatural beings. Ava's universe has something new and different for them all. Vampires (dead sexy), ghouls (OP!), zombies (delicious... what?), fairies (bitches) ... There's something new for all of them. Oh, and goblins. Yucky!

These books are good fun, and I highly recommend them if you want a hearty laugh. Like I said in my audible review, they're like a supernatural Nancy Drew for adults.

I know the fourth book is out, and I don't think I can wait for the audible release! I might have to fit that one in before Rise of the King comes out on Tuesday.

Also, the cover art is absolutely fabulous!

        

This concludes my spoiler free review for That Ghoul Ava. Yay! I finished a review! Time for a cookie.

Oh! And for those of you who may have missed it, After - Part Three is on the way. Release date is set for September 30th! Weee!

Get ready!

Are you ready for After - Part Three? If you've been following my Facebook posts, you know the release is just around the corner! The rewrites are done. The first round edit changes are done. The polishing is done, and now it's in the hands of my final copy editor. WE ARE SO CLOSE!!

To celebrate, the first two parts have new covers! The changes to part one are pretty small, I just added a little eyeliner (snicker), but I think part two got a pretty big make over.

ARE YOU EXCITED YET? I know I am!!

        

If you haven't started yet, now is the perfect time! After - Part One is available in e-book or paperback.

Alright guys. I'm off to work on the next project until the manuscript is back in my hands again. Expect some updates soon!! Here OR on Facebook, and eventually Twitter, but I suck trying to use Twitter. Me using Twitter is like having to watch my Grandpa program the clock on his VCR. Yes, I said VCR.  

Is my age showing again?

Anyway, love you guys! Have a wonderful week!

The Titans are Fighting...

www.macobserver.com

And the question is... Do I join this war? Hrm...

So, this weekend I woke up to an email from Kindle Direct Publishing, detailing their side of the war on e-book pricing, and to email the CEO of Hachette on my stance. The letter I received seemed very thought out and well written, but had the tinge of one-sidedness that you often find in these things. They have become very public on their stance, and you can find the letter here if you want to read it.

So the first time I heard of this issue was when I got a kickback from Barnes & Noble for the few e-books I purchased from them. Now, I loved my new bright and shiny e-books and was all about putting a request for a Nook in my letter to Santa, but the affair I had with B&N burned brightly and died quickly. It's a sad story, really. After a heated brush with customer service when all my books went poof (error on their side), I immediately turned to Amazon without a look back.

Don't dick around with me when I'm on the penultimate chapter of a Stackhouse novel, people.

But fair is fair, so here's another side of the story, published by the NY Times. It details the hardships that Amazon has brought some of Hachette's authors by refusing to sell Hachette's e-books until they cut their costs.

Now, I had a really hard time seeing past the media spin they put on his tale of woe and actually digging out some compassion for these 900 authors, but despite the odds, I did it. I don't think it had the desired effect, because I'm definitely not on Hachette's side, as a consumer or an author, but at least it did give me another perspective to eye Amazon with.

Annnndddd....  I think both companies are wrong.

I'm not on the fence though. I know what I agree with, and I do agree with Amazon's basis for this war, just not their methods. I think banning Hachette's sales might have been a wee bit too much. That's not to say that I agree with Hachette's stance. In fact, there isn't anything I've seen come out from Hachette that I agree with at all. Their tag line of 'lower e-book pricing devaluing the authors work' is bogus. That's not going to happen. Are we, as consumers, THAT stupid? I don't think we are, but I guess that question's still up for debate. I admit I might have a little more faith in humanity that's justly deserved, but I still say no.

So I do not agree with Hachette, and I'm having loads of trouble trying to find their justification. Also, this article doesn't help. Really, Hachette? You think lowering e-book prices is going to devalue the authors work, but their work is only valued at 25% of an e-book sales to you? Is there something I'm missing here?

And I guess there might be, because I've only ever dealt with Smashwords and Amazon, who both give their authors a much bigger slice of the pie, so I will just put a pin in that question for now, and for the love of a run on sentence, I'll just sit over here quietly with my mind boggling on that point. The one above, I mean. With the 25%. Yeah. Got it? 'Kay, moving on, then.

So where do I stand as a consumer?

That one's easy. Amazon and Smashwords, all the way. Why? Because duh... Lower e-book prices. With as much as I read, I can't afford to drop $10+ a few times a month just to snag another book. There are only a few, and I mean A FEW books that I would spend over $10 on... does that make me cheap? Don't care.

Let's go way back for a sec, before all these fancy-smancy e-books, back when all the other kids at school thought I was the 'weird' girl cuz I was always carrying around a 600 page tomb by King or Jordan... Do you know how I got those books? I got them resale. And I'm not talking about the hardbacks that resale for $14.99 still, I'm talking about the beat-up paperbacks that were coming off the spine, because that's what I could afford. And you know what else? I LIKED IT. Because I didn't have to save up my precious pennies just to wait for weeks to buy ONE story. I was able to buy multiple and be taken away to a different world each and every week.

Did that devalue any of those stories I read? No, it didn't. And that's why I keep my e-book price low. I write for my stories to be read, not to be looked at and passed over because the price was too high. But that's how I want to approach it as an author. As much as I don't agree with Hachette, I still think the authors have the right to set their own e-book price. If they want to sell their book at $19.99, by all means, set the price at $19.99!

I could be wrong on that, but with every author able to set their own price, I doubt there will be many books being sold for $19.99, because Amazon and Smashwords will still exist, giving readers the lower cost for their fix. And even (godforbid) that was taken away, I'd be back at Half Price Books, buying up all the paperbacks again.

War sucks. Whether it be fought with a pen or a sword, apparently there are casualties either way. I can't see the justice or the reasoning behind everything that's happened/happening with the e-book struggle, but I do believe the consumer will be the deciding force in the end. That's the way of the beast. It's how it's always been, and how it always will be. At least until the zombies come eat all our faces.

And I'm out. 14,000 words left to go! Have a glorious week, everyone!

Mondays

Do. Not. WANT!

Argh! I am such a fan of sleeping in, but getting jolted awake at 6am is pretty much the opposite of that. I know that happens five days out of the week, but I have a special resentment reserved for Monday mornings. My alarm blaring Everything Is Awesome might not have been the best song choice in retrospect. Oy.

Now, I have heard of these fabled morning people that thrive during the dawning of a new day, but I have yet to meet one. My question is, do you actually exist, or have you gone the way of the unicorn? Have the grumpy-grumps strangled you all? I figure that would be my first reaction to meeting a morning person, especially if it was prior to 10am. I need to hang a sign on my door that reads Come back at noon. I know there are already tons of jokes and quips out there regarding stuff like this and "morning coffee," but that's because they're true. Yet, it's late afternoon and I'm still yawning. Oh well.

But, I didn't come here just to bitch about Mondays, although I could go on and on... No? Okay, moving on then.

I actually came here to give you some cold hard stats on the creation of After - Part Three. (cheer!) A long, long time ago, when I started the editing process, I based my timeline off the previous two books. Over the months that followed, I discovered my folly since After - Part Three was not written the same way as the others. I wrote most of the back half of it using Dragon Naturally Speaking, a nifty little text to speech program that is correct at least 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time leads to a quagmire of confusion that is neither time-efficient nor productive, although amusing at times.

Ehe... Oops.

So when you're speaking off the top of your head, and just yammering and yammering, you do get a lot of words down, if that's your goal. A first draft getting created this way is not a bad thing, but pretty much the whole thing will need to be rewritten, and I mean COMPLETELY rewritten. Nothing good is going to come out of that first draft. It's only a little better than an outline as far as I'm concerned. I did not take this aspect into my equation when I calculated the time it would take to finish.

I remember opening up the draft for part three and being somewhat disappointed that it was just under 50000 words... probably about the same size at part one. Part two came in over 70000, and I really thought the final chapters of After would top out a little higher than that. Boy, was I wrong.

Or was I?

I'm not going to skimp on my book just because I could stamp it and call it a day. My manuscript will get the full attention it deserves until I'm satisfied with the story I've told. That means some chapters need shuffled, some scenes cut, some scenes added, some perspectives changed, and a lot of blood, sweat and tears shed by moi. Well, maybe not the blood part, (unless you want to count the papercuts) but still, you get it.

So I dove in and really started chewing it up. And aren't you curious as to where I stand now?

After - Part Three is roughly at 86,000 words.

Zoh. My. Gosh!!

Looking at it that way kinda boggled my mind. It wasn't my focus during the rewrites, but one day, I decided to compile everything and got quite the surprise. The whole manuscript of After is sitting just over 211,000 words right now. Um... Did I do that?

I never expected this first book to turn out to be so many words. I was thinking I'd be lucky to hit even 100k. Actually, there are a lot of things I didn't expect to happen with this first book. I guess the biggest thing that's blown me away is all the fans, followers, and supporters I've gained. I love you guys! You are all so wonderful, and I hope to be able to get through the remaining 20k words of part three, and have this book out to y'all by the end of the month!

Happy.. uh... Monday, and I hope the rest of your week just keeps getting better from here!

Stress

I do not handle it well, apparently.

So I haven't posted much lately, nor really given an explanation as to why, other than I lack time. That is true, but why do I lack the time? Home life has been extremely hectic lately, and most of the time that I get to myself has been devoted to finishing After - Part Three. (News on that later.)

But, truth is I simply don't spend a whole lot of time talking about what's been going on with Debra. Mainly because at this point, it just seems like I'm making excuses since I'm getting further and further away from the wrong side of my deadline, and I push myself to write and edit and edit and write until I collapse. And do not doubt that this has happened! It is not pretty when the meltdown occurs, because I generally end up in a fetal position crying... or laughing... or sometimes both. But mostly I just get all passive aggressive and snappy, and that scares my husband and the cats. (I love you, honey!)

ANYWAY, I'd like to put that aside for a sec, and actually take a break from all the hubbub and just blog. I'm going to talk about what's been going down in Debra town lately (sorry) and share with you a little something I learned about myself last week.

Stress is bad. Very bad. It's awful. Atrocious. Evil. It's what will cause my death during a zombie apocalypse, or any type of apocalypse, really. I realized after watching World War Z that I am *NOT* going to be one of the select few that make it through the cataclysm to later become a hero of humanity. No. Not even close. In fact, chances are pretty slim that I'm going to make it past the first 24 hours. It's just not going to happen.

So, I guess a good starting point for this story is around February, when we finished up our second move within 3 months (DO NOT RECOMMEND.) Short story, sold house, moved to rent house, bought a house, moved to a new house, husband aggravated an old injury in his hip. Ugh!

We've been dealing with his hip pain on and off for the past 3 or 4 years, and he's been to the Doc a couple times for it. Treatment was generally a steroid regimen to help the inflammation go down, and normally that worked. This time... not so much. So it was off to a specialist, who did not have good news.

After taking a look at his x-rays, the Doc was like, "LOL what happened to all your cartilage, buddy? Holy moly, looks like you need a new hip!"

Note: I wasn't actually there when he got his diagnosis, but I imagine this is how it went down.

Of course, we got a second opinion, but the consensus was the same. Severe arthritis in the left hip and no doctor liked the idea of putting a new hip into a thirty-two year old, but whatcha gonna do? He was in a tremendous amount of pain, and unable to move around freely anymore, so last Wednesday, he got his new hip.

Sorry, we do not have a cool video of him walking 24 hours after the surgery like Mark Cuban. Stop setting these crazy standards, Mark!

Anyway, day of surgery. We get to the medical center early morning, and I'm feeling okay. I'm nervous, but he seems excited. They take him to pre-op, and suddenly my stomach is like... "I don't like this so much, bub." I realize that I'm queasy, but it should get better once I finally see him again. So I wait, and do my best to ignore the growing queasiness. Then the nifty little pager they give you goes off, and we (his mom and myself) get to go back to see him before they wheel him into surgery.

It did not get better.

The string of nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists start coming in to give him the spiel of how they're going to cut him up and... stuff, and my stomach has firmly set its speed to hyper-drive on its downward spiral. I just couldn't handle it. I began to pace in the tiny little room while, trying to settle my stomach, but it only helped so much.

And this is the worst part. The nurse comes in to shave him, and all my concentration was focused on not throwing up that I couldn't even enjoy the moment!! He was getting his ass shaved, and I couldn't even quip about it! He's mother was in the room to witness it, for crying out loud, and I had nothing! Ugh! Golden opportunity missed.

Then, my wonderful husband, who is about to go into major surgery, says to me. "I'm fine, you can leave if you need too." Oh really? Okay! *Zoom* And I barely make it back to the lobby bathroom before my stomach turned inside out. There was also a major headache that went along with it, and the few hours that followed did not get any better until the nurse updated us mid-surgery that everything was going well. That was when the stress finally let go and I began a slow, steady upswing.

I'm so happy I could be a real pillar of strength for ya, babe!

*facepalm*

I'm horrible.

This has been an ordeal, but the tough part is behind us, and now he can really start to mend. Living in chronic pain is not fun, y'all! I'm glad he decided to go through with the surgery, even though he'll never be able to run again. (yet another reason we aren't going to make it through the apocalypse.)

So there's a little bit of what we Johnson's have been dealing with the past few months! Time is still being poured into After - Part Three and I think I'm still on my schedule to release next month, as long as my #1 beta reader can muddle through the pain-pill drowsiness to actually concentrate on reading. Then I ship the manuscript off to my editor. The timeline is looking good!!

And now..... ***VACATION!!!*** Well, working vacation anyway. I'll continue to write! Catch y'all soon!

Also, quick shout out to George Tate. Thank you for the copy of The Gathering of Twine! It's on my list of things to read, now!

My Writing Process - Blog Tour

Alright, everyone! It's time to hop! That's right. Let's get your blog hop on! And I'm about to hop to it!

Was that painful? I apologize. I've never participated in a blog hop before, so wasn't entirely sure how to get this started. I'm going to assume that my awkward stumbling has sufficed as a header, and just move on. *facepalm*

Today is my post for the My Writing Process Blog Tour.

First thing, I want to thank Johi Jenkins for tagging me. I have read both her Resurgence and The Thirst Within novels, and I'm eagerly waiting on the next installments. They're definitely the kind of books I still think about long after I'm done reading. Thanks again for tagging me, Johi!

Welp, I guess it's on to the questions now!

1) What are you working on? 

I am currently in the finishing stages of the last 3rd of After - Part Three. I'm getting nudged on this almost daily now to get it released, so the pressure is on! But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that the release date is just around the corner. After that, I have a couple of other projects simmering on the burners that I will unveil in August. I am incredibly excited about both of these, but my main focus still remains on The Phoenix Curse.

2) How does you work differ from others of its genre?

This is a toughie, since not only am I in the over saturated horror/supernatural nook, but in the zombie nook as well. Zombies!! Zombie novels are literally a dime a dozen now-a-days, and if someone had told me ten years ago that my first published novel would be about the mindless hordes, I would have scoffed and thought they were a moron... and then delved into what else they might know about the future, but seriously... zombies?

Yes, zombies!!! Not only because so many people out there love apocalyptic/distopia/zombie fiction, but I love apocalyptic/distopia/zombie fiction... and a strong female lead. Now, zombies have been done every which way, so I went the way of the not-dead mindless horde and ended up with infected LIVE zombies. Ones that will definitely die (and stay dead) if they suffer some massive trauma, but they're strong... and they're fast... and they're resilient, and that's what my nightmares are made of.

Also, most zombie novels start at the cusp of the desolation. I jump a few years past the apocalypse, and dropped my characters into the new and (not) improved distopia America, and let them take over from there. 

3) Why do you write what you do? 

It captured me. I fell in love with my characters and then fell into the world that I created. The Phoenix Curse started off as an exercise, but managed to bloom and come to life in my mind. Now it's just a matter of finding the time to get it all down on paper.

4) How does your writing process work? 

Slowly? *cackle* Probably not the answer you're looking for. I start with a prompt, a rough outline in my head, and I try to get a complete story down on paper as fast as I can. I've only done this a couple times, so I'm definitely no pro at it, but I'm working to get better! Once that part is done, then I bitch and moan for the next few months about how much I hate revising/rewriting/editing while I put myself through a slow kind of torture by getting my manuscript ready for the editor. Oy, editing sucks.

But as much as I grumble, it is all worth it when the scene I was struggling with finally clicks into place, and nothing compares to that feeling when I have my final manuscript in my hands. It's wonderfully awesome, and I hope to have that exact feeling here soon with After - Part Three. Never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

~~~

And there it is! We're really hopping now!!

Ugh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't torture those that made it this far down my post. Please accept my humble apologies. I'm ashamed. And sleepy, but no excuse.

Okay, NEXT week, be sure to check out the two blogs below, whom I have nominated to follow me in this blog hop.

First is Monica La Porta, whom I worked with on Off the Beaten Path. She is the author of the wonderful Priest series, which is set in a very intriguing world.

Next is Arreis Rose, who is currently working on her first series, and is just now getting her brand new blog off the ground with this blog hop. The first book in her series, Small, is tentatively set to release next Summer.