Mar 8 2013

Five Favorite Books

I was asked my friend Teresa Cypher to play in the “Five Favorite Books” meme and I’m always game for a challenge so I said yes. Of course the problem immediately becomes HOW do you pick only five books??? (When you look at her post, you’ll see she gracefully “bent the rules” a bit LOL.) I decided for today I’d just take the first five that float up into my consciousness because there must be something especially wonderful about them, for my busy brain to offer them immediately.

Mara Daughter of the Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. This YA story of a slave girl who got caught up in the intrigues at Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s court, fell in love with the dashing spy who recruited her, endured hardship, found her courage, has a Happily Ever After ending….all set in Ancient Egypt, with a faint touch of the gods looking on – WOW. I’ve said before that this book was a huge inspiration to me, both in developing a love for ancient history and as a writer.

Frederica by Georgette Heyer. This was my first ever Regency and it took me three tries to read it, because I was totally new to the language, the pacing, the humor…but once I “got it” – I was hooked. I LOVED Alverstoke. Watching him become unstuffy – if only for Frederica and her engaging family – was hilarious and wonderful. The whole Baluchistan Hound escapade made me laugh out loud…I’ve read ALL her other Regencies (wish there were MOAR of them), and many by other people as well! Cotillion, Talisman Ring, Unknown Ajax…ummm, ok, I’ll stop…but These Old Shades is actually my favorite. I WANT to marry Justin Duke of Avon. One waltz with him will NOT be enough.

The Summer I Dared by Barbara Delinsky. I can’t say I completely relate to the heroine BUT I have relatives living on an island off the coast of Maine and the setting of this book, and the characters completely drew me in and I could not put it down. I go back and reread parts of it fairly often. Her Three Wishes reduces me to tears every time (and I normally NEVER put myself in a position to be made to cry so the fact I do reread this one tells you how much I love it).

Restoree by Anne McCaffrey. Of course I love her Dragonriders of PERN series with a love brighter than the sun but this older, single title remains one of my favorites. I always wish there was more to the book, a sequel….but I’ve worn out multiple copies of this and have it on my kindle. I so enjoy the relationship between Sara and Harlan…

Wicked Ways by Cynthia Eden. This one is actually a novella and it’s on my list today because I was reading this when the light dawned for me that I was NOT a writer of technical science fiction (which trust me, I wasn’t good at but that’s what I thought I had to write, very long story, not for today)…I was a writer of paranormals and science fiction romance. OK, it’s hard to explain, even to myself, but you know how sometimes a light bulb just goes off in your head and you have some self realization you needed? Well, I had it that day. I immediately sat down and wrote the easiest 40,000 words I EVER put on paper (which means into the computer) of the WORST paranormal romance you ever read (still unpublished & probably always will remain so). It was amazing, it was FREEING and I kept working at it, improved my skills, wrote my paranormal novella Priestess of the Nile, which Carina Press bought…and went on from there. It was a happy day for me when I was able to tell Cynthia Eden what her story had done for me.

So there’s my list of Five for today (it might change tomorrow LOL) and here are five of my friends who I hope will play along and share their five:

Mar 7 2013

Character Interview: Gretchen from THE MAGIC MIRROR AND THE SEVENTH DWARF

It’s my pleasure to have Gretchen from THE MAGIC MIRROR AND THE SEVENTH DWARF as my guest today (along with her author, Tia Nevitt). Before we launch into the interview, here’s the story:

Prince Richard is cursed. Enslaved to a magic mirror, he must truthfully answer the evil queen when she uses it to call on him. To keep from betraying innocents, Richard wanders the countryside and avoids people.

All her life, Gretchen has been teased for being small. When she hears of a hidden farm populated by little people like her, she sets out to find it – and is welcomed by the mostly male inhabitants. Lars in particular woos her with his gentle kindness and quiet strength.

Danger looms when Gretchen meets a runaway princess and offers her shelter at the Little Farm. Wandering nearby, Richard instantly falls in love with the beautiful princess, and is later compelled to tell the queen that she is not the fairest of them all. Enraged, the queen vows to find them and destroy them.

If either Gretchen or Richard are to have their happy endings, they must team up to break the mirror’s spell before the queen kills them all….

So, with all that being said, Gretchen, what’s your most distinguishing characteristic?

Well, I’m a dwarf. There really aren’t many of us. Before I left home, I had never met another person like myself. Other than that, I have blonde hair that most women envy, and I keep my figure trim—harder than you might think on such a short frame. I have a difficult time with running, and I tend to fall over easily. Which, of course sometimes people like to push me over because for some reason, it strikes people as funny to see me fall.

But then I heard about the dwarf farm, and I just had to see it for myself.

What was your life like growing up?

I grew up in a rambling old farmhouse and my favorite part of every day was getting up before anyone else and heading downstairs to milk the cow. The animals are pretty noisy, but other than that, it is the most peaceful time of the day, and I think I have a way with cows. My oldest brother and his family lived there because he is to inherit the farm one day, and I loved all my nieces and nephews.

But outside my family … well … being a dwarf maiden means you do not experience what most other young maidens experience. No one wants to dance with you or court you, and sometimes children throw stones at you. Most children like me now, but when I was younger, I guess I was just too strange. One distant cousin I used to watch as a teen remained my friend—his name is Fritz. Sometimes I used to think he got nervous about our friendship, as if I expected to marry him one day.

But no. He was not right for me. He’s way too tall.

Before the action in the book, what were your plans/hopes for the future?

Well, most young ladies want to marry, and I am no different. What other option is there for me, other than to remain with my parents until they die, and then become a burden on my oldest brother? I was not raised into any other way of life, as some women are. But I had never even been seriously kissed, and no one wanted to dance with me because the sight of a man all bent over to hold my hands was just too ridiculous.

So I wanted to find another man like me. I had no idea where to look. I had not heard that dwarfs tend to congregate in royal courts, where they become a source of comedy. But I would not have liked that, anyway.

What is your major skill or talent?

Well, like I said, I’m really good at milking cows. Most other animals like me as well. And children relate well to me.

If you had to pick another career, what would it be?

Other than Farm Girl? Is Farm Wife a valid answer? No? Well, I don’t know what else I can be. My other options might be Nun at a convent, where I suppose any woman is welcome. Or a Prostitute, where I suppose I’d at least be a novelty. I hear Spinsters can make good money, or Weavers or Seamstresses, but women in such occupations tend to get accused of witchery, and I’m afraid my dwarfish status already makes me prone to such accusations.

Who are your closest friends?

Well I never expected to befriend a princess, not to mention such a beautiful one. I tended to think all beautiful women were the same—selfish and superior. Princess Angelika—or Ange—had just spent the night limping through the forest after escaping her uncle, who—too put it politely—had been overcome by her beauty. I suppose I felt sorry for her. Plus she’s just so fun—she can make me laugh like no one else.

And I must mention Frau Marta, who not only was my landlady (I paid secret rent to her since she really had no work for me to do at the farm), but my mentor and friend. She was mentor to both Ange and me, and I hope to see both again someday.

Who do you love?

Why my own dear Lars. Who I met, of course, at the … but I should leave the telling of that to the story, shouldn’t I? He is my own sweet Nibelung (another thing you’ll have to read about in the story) and I am his fairest of all. Could it be any more perfect than that?

And a little about Tia, the Author:

Not even a stint in the military as an aircraft mechanic could erase Tia Nevitt’s love of fairy tales. To this day, she loves to read (and write) books that take her to another place, or another time, or both. She also dabbles in calligraphy, violin, piano and songwriting. Tia has worked on an assembly line, as a computer programmer, a technical writer and a business analyst. She lives in the southeast with her husband and daughter.

Tia’s novella, The Sevenfold Spell, won the 2012 EPIC ebook award for Fantasy.

Buy Links for the Book:

Carina Press Amazon

Mar 4 2013

Making the Audio Book – WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM Auditions

Last week I interviewed the wonderful actor Michael Riffle on his creative process in narrating the WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM. This week I’m going to blog on some of the aspects of getting an audio book made, as the author.

Right from the start, when I self published the novel, I wanted to have an audio book version available. I knew the audio book market was booming and science fiction seems to do really well. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get the story in front of such a potentially large audience. I researched ACX, which is an “Amazon Platform”, read their easy How-To instructions, perused the standard contracts they offer, and said, “Why not?”

I also asked a million questions of fellow author Dee J. Adams, who is an actress and who I knew had narrated her own Carina Press book for Audible. Dee was kind enough to explain to me some of the behind the scenes aspects and how there are many hours of work by the narrator. You can’t just sit down in front of a microphone, read for nine hours and five minutes (which is the length of WRECK), hit the off switch and then sell the book.

I never for one moment considered narrating my own book, not being an actress – I know my limitations! ACX suggests posting a short one or two page excerpt from the book to serve as an Audition Script. The book is entirely in the male main character’s Point of View (POV) but whoever narrated was going to have to give voice to female characters, children, other men, aliens…so I not only needed someone with that perfect voice to be Nick the hero, I needed an actor who could be believable when reading the other parts, not take the listener out of the action.

I picked a section right after the Nebula Dream has crashed into something and Nick emerges from his cabin, to a scene of panicked passengers, no crew members and not enough lifeboats. I figured I’d hear Nick himself and I’d hear how the actor handled a variety of other voices, including a woman, as the scene went on. I never realized how MANY times I was going to hear that scene. I don’t want to say I grew tired of my own words, but wow, I have it memorized now too. (“Back pressed against the half opened door…”) When Michael sent me that finished chapter later, it was startling to hear the excerpt in its proper place as just part of the novel’s flow.

So I posted the Audition Script, along with the book’s blurb and a few other facts about myself as a published author, my social media platform, etc….and I waited. Hmm. Remember the part about how much work the narrator actually does? Well, on ACX you can either pay the actor up front, at a rate from $150 to $400 per finished hour or you can split the royalties. I didn’t have the budget to pay for the hours up front and curiously enough, actors didn’t flock to put in all that work and record my book for free, hoping to reap copious royalties later. I couldn’t blame them!

ACX came to the rescue after a few months. They made my book eligible for a stipend, whereby they would pay the narrator a set hourly rate up front to do the recording and producing, and he and I would also split the eventual royalties 50/50 on the back end. I have no idea why ACX picked my book for their stipend program – I’m guessing perhaps because it was science fiction. (Those famous Amazon algorithms no doubt!). I just knew I was wildly flattered that ACX had such confidence in the book.

The auditions began in earnest! First of all I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who took a chance and submitted an audition. We authors know what it’s like to face rejection and actors are in the same boat. I received an e mail every time there was new audition and I’d log into ACX to listen. To me, this was THE key element of the whole thing (well, after my deathless prose of course) – getting the right narrator. In the auditions I heard everything from complex accents to Nick’s thoughts being given VOICE OF GOD emphasis compared to the normal voice for all the other text. Some tried falsetto for the ladies’ dialog (which doesn’t work for me), other people who read the lines with a lot of funny little pauses – that seemed to be a thing – there were actors who didn’t read the entire scene (if you didn’t even get to the part where the woman’s voice comes in, how was I supposed to know if you were the one?)…and a number of people who were close but….just….not Nick. Sigh. It was undefinable but they just weren’t my Sectors Special Forces captain. Now I know why movie directors can sometimes take so long casting a part, searching for the one right person! Still, I had it narrowed down to two actors who were the closest and then I heard Michael’s audition.

And from the first word he said, I knew Nick was talking to me.

Listen to the sample at Audible.com (“Listen > Play Sample” right below the cover art)….

Next Monday I’ll finish this topic with a little more about how Michael and I worked, how ACX works and whether I’d do it again. (Short answer: YES!)

Mar 3 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors – Wreck of the Nebula Dream – More Distraught Passenger

Continuing on with the scene in the shuttle, on the way to the cruise liner Nebula Dream, here’s another excerpt as Nick continues to deal with the distraught passenger who had the premonition of disaster. So far the shuttle is continuing its ascent to the larger ship. There’s been some back and forth between the crew, Nick and the husband about whether to turn around or not; the other passengers stared and gossiped; her pet came to join them (much to Nick’s annoyance) and now…

The young wife wept, occasionally responding to Nick with broken sentences about her dreams and her unborn child being at risk, to which he told her in halfway fluent dialect she must do what was best for the baby.

She drew in a hissing breath and clutched dramatically at her abdomen, closing her eyes, biting her lip. He raised his voice, and put an edge on it, to cut through the squabble. “Gentlemen, you’d better decide something.”

The husband and the pilot glared at him, both equally annoyed at the interruption.

Nick didn’t care. Events might be about to overtake them. “I’m far from being an expert, but I think she’s going into labor here.”

So, do you think they go back?

The story:

Traveling unexpectedly aboard the luxury liner Nebula Dream on its maiden voyage across the galaxy, Sectors Special Forces Captain Nick Jameson is ready for ten relaxing days, and hoping to forget his last disastrous mission behind enemy lines. He figures he’ll gamble at the casino, take in the shows, maybe even have a shipboard fling with Mara Lyrae, the beautiful but reserved businesswoman he meets.

All his plans vaporize when the ship suffers a wreck of Titanic proportions. Captain and crew abandon ship, leaving the 8000 passengers stranded without enough lifeboats and drifting unarmed in enemy territory. Aided by Mara, Nick must find a way off the doomed ship for himself and several other innocent people before deadly enemy forces reach them or the ship’s malfunctioning engines finish ticking down to self destruction.

But can Nick conquer the demons from his past that tell him he’ll fail these innocent people just as he failed to save his Special Forces team? Will he outpace his own doubts to win this vital race against time?

A note: WRECK was loosely inspired by the events of the Titanic sinking…..

I love and appreciate your comments and feedback! Go here to find all the other Weekend Writing Warriors and read a variety of terrific excerpts…

WRECK OF THE NEBULA DREAM, a 2013 SFR Galaxy Award winner, is available for kindle, as an audio book or a paperback at Amazon. The audio sample is here.