Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 146

In the Spotlight: BRAENLICACH, Zygradon Chronicles Book 2

This Saturday, we move on to the second book in the Arthurian fantasy series from Uncial Press:

BRAENLICACH

A new enemy arises to challenge Mrillis and Ceera as they battle plagues, an unknown enemy and treachery within the Noveni and Rey'kil alliance. Has the Nameless One survived, or has someone else taken his power? Endor's sister, Triska, is Ceera's heir as Queen of Snows, but arrogant and temperamental.

During a star-shower, Ceera has a vision of the star-metal sword. She brings together the surviving makers of the Zygradon to forge the sword, Braenlicach. The children of the makers of Zygradon and Braenlicach inherit their parents' links with the magical objects.

Uneasy years of peace pass, as they mature. Plagues return, and the young guardians take Zygradon out to heal their land, but they are betrayed from within. Traitors within the Stronghold attack, wantonly killing those linked to bowl and sword. Mrillis is left to save his world, but in doing so, may lose all that he loves.

The BARROO Report

Ahh, the first, glorious rush of starting National Novel Writing Month!

I am having so much FUN with this year's project.

I hope you will too.

The working title is THE WICKED QUEEN, and it's the sequel of the sequel to BITTER SWEET, a faerie tale with a twist. My publisher, Mundania Press, originally said that evil King Fallon just didn't suffer enough at the end of BITTER SWEET. He got his comeuppance, but not enough. So, I wrote THE WOLF THAT WAS, where Fallon tried to get the best of several magical folk -- the first Werelings, who you can meet in the Emerald Necklace series, with WOLVES ON THE WEST SIDE and SHATTER SCATTER.

At the end of WOLF, Fallon's widow, Queen Sorcha, gets caught in a couple of her lies and is put under a curse, to wander the world as an old woman, until she learns the errors of her ways and starts caring about other people more than herself, essentially.

So that's what THE WICKED QUEEN is all about -- Sorcha getting some much-needed reformation. Right now, she's just finished putting together a magical book that is going to be her advisor and offer some much-needed lessons on navigating all the magic in her world.

Here's to a hopefully FUN book, hopefully published in a couple years!

Off the Bookshelf: DEVOTED IN DEATH, by JD Robb

Ah, the glories of Overdrive, the e-book library access app ...

When I realized that the newest In Death book had been released, I went to Overdrive and was able to access my local library system and immediately download the book and start reading. Yeah, I confess, I kind of pushed aside my current Work-in-Progress that I hope to get done by the end of the month, but as Eve Dallas learned near the end of the book, a little break from the pressure and time crunch really does do a lot of good.

DEVOTED IN DEATH is about the hunt for two -- quite frankly -- sick young idiots who think they're in love. They may be devoted to each other, and they may be jumping each other's bones every chance they get, but the fact that they get their "high" after torturing and killing people .... nuh uh, that ain't love, baby. Darryl and Ella are two selfish young twits who set off across the country on a crime spree, and when it turns bloody and they discover that the excitement of blood and death aids in the sex, well, that's all the justification they need.

It's up to Eve Dallas and her team to identify these two monsters, find their lair, and stop them before they can use up and murder their latest torture victims. The suspense of the ticking clock alone was enough to keep me reading, but what brings me back time and again to the series is the development of the relationships between the characters, and the growth of Dallas and Roarke in their relationship and their marriage. She's growing as a person, learning to see things through others' eyes, even though she still doesn't quite get all the friendship and marriage "rules." The people, the growing "family" that has collected around Homicide Lt. Eve Dallas, make up the best part of the series.

In the Spotlight: ZYGRADON, Zygradon Chronicles Book 1

This week, we move the spotlight to my five-book Arthurian fantasy series at Uncial Press: The Zygradon Chronicles

ZYGRADON

Child of Blood or Child of Life, both born in a fierce winter storm. Mrillis was orphaned in a battle against the Nameless One, the most evil enchanter the World had ever known. Raised by the most powerful Rey'kill enchanter of their time, Mrillis and Ceera grew up as brother and sister, and discovered their destinies and magical talents -- and knew they would always be together.

When the Nameless One targeted Mrillis, to either destroy him or turn him into the Child of Blood, all the armies of the World joined together to defeat him. He left three children, Three Drops of Blood, according to prophecy. The oldest, a boy, became Mrillis' friend. Endor, Mrillis and Ceera grew up together, exploring their talent, learning their destinies, and fighting to find a cure from the ravages of star-metal that poisoned their world.

Almost by accident, Ceera attempted to use star-metal as metal, and tame it. And from her hammer, the Zygradon was born, to harness all the magic of star-metal in the world. But the destiny of the Zygradon and its makers remains to be explored...

Off the Bookshelf: DODGER, by Terry Pratchett

Literary parody or homage or expanding on characters created in a famous author's famous stories seems to be the "in" thing nowadays. Such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

DODGER, by Terry Pratchett, revises the world and times of Charles Dickens, so that the famous author actually interacts with the Artful Dodger, known as Dodger by everyone around him. Dodger is our hero -- as indicated by the title. He makes his living by going through the sewers of London, scavenging what other people lose or throw away, and making use of them, or getting the found items to people who can make use of them. He knows the underground of London like the back of his hand.

This comes in handy when he witnesses a young lady being brutalized and intervenes. Suddenly he is a hero, and in protecting the helpless young lady who happened to marry the wrong prince and get on the wrong side of his powerful father and interfere in the wrong way with political machinations and alliances and marriages ... well, Dodge finds himself suddenly in the spotlight and interfering with a lot of other things going on above ground, and meeting famous people, such as Charlies Dickens and Disraeli.

The Pratchett wit and social commentary and tongue-in-cheek humor are still there, just *sigh* toned down from what we're used to in the Discworld books. Still a fascinating story, and further proof positive that the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett was a master of his craft. He shall be greatly missed.

In the Spotlight: ANNE'S OGRE, Quarry Hall Book 7

Today's Spotlight is on the NEW book in the Quarry Hall series:

ANNE'S OGRE

Published by Desert Breeze Publishing.


George, Quarry Hall's mechanic, is a broken man, haunted by dreams of a life he can't remember. Vincent fights to keep George from remembering the soulless killer he once was -- until a trip to distract George gets his picture in a magazine, and awakens the past.

Anne's past again haunts her and she struggles to regain her peace. The Ogre who molested her and
killed her parents is gone -- isn't he? The Black Prince who rescued her returns, but her delight in seeing her hero is crushed when she learns the Ogre escaped and is closer than she could have guessed.
As Anne re-fights the battle of forgiveness and healing, Quarry Hall and Vincent's former commando team race to find the mystery man hunting George. Will his trail lead to an enemy from decades ago? At what point can a monster be considered truly dead and gone?

The BARROO Report

This has got to be one of my favorite times of the year -- no, not the build-up to NaNoWriMo (although that's pretty high on the list!) --

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

It's time to start putting together shoeboxes of school supplies, hygiene items and toys for a child in need -- for children all around the world. Samaritan's Purse, run by Franklin Graham, has been doing this for years, and it's always great fun, not only finding things to put in the box, useful as well as fun, but seeing just how much we can cram in every year.

So far, this year's boxes hold: washcloth/towel, soap, soap box, toothpaste/brush set, comb, pencils, crayons, pencil sharpeners, a yo-yo, kazoos, teddy bear, rubber ball, squishy animal, socks, a basket for organizing supplies, a coloring book, and a cloth bag. We're getting near the top, but maybe we can fit a few more things in the boxes. Oh, yeah, and it's a plastic shoebox, so it will last a long time and be useful.

Please consider getting involved and visit Samaritan's Purse to find out more information. And if you're not sure about the shoeboxes, but you want to do something, they also have a Gift Catalog, where you can buy items to help out a family, a village, a school, an orphanage, a pastor. A dozen chicks to help a family raise chickens to feed themselves, or contribute for a water filtration system, or buy a bike for a pastor, or an emergency shelter kit for a family who lost their home in a hurricane. Lots of options, from $5 price tags to hundreds of dollars. Think about it!



I FINALLY created a new video -- kind of a "meet me, the author" video, to put on the front page of my website, but also to put on Facebook and here and other places where I can sneak up on people on the Internet .

What do you think?


The plan, for the future -- and you know how plans change -- is to celebrate new releases, or new series, anyway, by creating another small video. Just to give you a quick taste of what's involved.

Who knows? Maybe if I get my act together one of these days, I'll be prepared to video YOU when we get to meet at conferences and booksignings and other events. So beware ......

Off the Bookshelf: BLOSSOM STREET BRIDES, by Debbie Macomber

Blossom Street stories -- at least, the ones I've read so far -- always take us back to A Good Yarn, a knitting/yarn shop run by Lydia, whose story first brought Debbie Macomber's readers to Blossom Street.

I love stories set in a familiar setting, that keep taking us back to see what else is happening in the lives of old friends, and introduce us to new friends we've met along the way. While we watch Lydia and her husband deal with the emotional problems of their adopted daughter and the heartache of her mother's slowly deteriorating physical and mental health, we also get to peek into the life of another old friend, Bethanne, who remade her life when her husband walked out on her and their children.

Bethanne's life is good. She is now married to a man she met while on a road trip -- another story -- and their long-distance commuter marriage is taking a toll on them. Not to mention that her ex-husband is willing to do anything, no matter how underhanded and manipulative, to win her back. It isn't that the selfish jerk really loves her, but now that she's successful and has proven she can live without him, she has value again. She's nothing more than a prize. It doesn't matter that she's married -- if he wants her, he's going to get her back. Or so he thinks ...

Then there's Lauren, who has decided she has waited long enough for her local celebrity boyfriend to grow up and marry her. She can see that he will never put their life together ahead of his career -- and of course, as soon as she breaks up with him, he's willing to pop the question. Too late! Lauren has found someone else, and they "click" from the moment they see each other from across the jewelry store where she works. Of course, the ex-boyfriend doesn't know how to take "go away" for an answer, and then there is all the baggage both of them are carrying. But this is Debbie Macomber, and once her characters grow up and learn their lesson, they earn their happily ever after.

Always a treat to return to Blossom Street!

In the Spotlight: CHARLI, Quarry Hall Book 6

Today's Spotlight focuses on the 6th Quarry Hall book: CHARLI.

Published by Desert Breeze Publishing.

Years ago, Charli Carson and her father surprised a thief searching his laboratory. She was crippled and he died.
Nightmares plague Charli, so a reclusive life is easy. Joan Archer comes to the Carsons’ hidden forest lab, seeking to save her father’s life and prompting Charli and her mother to reevaluate choices they have made.

When they shelter the children of friends in danger, a chain of events leads to the enemy striking once more. Charli must conquer her fears and nightmares to protect the children and find answers before it is too late.

The BARROO Report

Psyched!!

I just finished the 1st revision of Wildvine Book 5, APPRENTICE SOLAR.

The Wildvine series is a fantasy series I rough drafted at least 20 years ago, maybe more .... The first 4 titles, already turned in to my publisher, Writer's Exchange, are:
JA'HANNA
ISTORICA
FELIN-RU
OLD SOLAR'S SHOPPE

What's a Solar, and what's an apprentice Solar? Well, Solars are guardians of doorways between worlds. That's about all I'm going to tell you -- look for more information as the books start being released, maybe around the beginning of 2016. What's taking so long with APPRENTICE SOLAR is that I combined 2 books about the same character (they're sequels to OLD SOLAR'S SHOPPE, if you couldn't tell by the title -- APPRENTICE SOLAR and MASTER SOLAR) into one, trimming out wordiness and changing the timeline around and cutting out a huge chunk that I will offer as a short story in the future -- and will be a FREE short read around the time that APPRENTICE SOLAR is released.

More on that later.

Right now, I gotta gripe. Vent. Snarl a little.
I'm a freelance editor, and one of my jobs is to prepare other people's books for publication -- and unfortunately, when dealing with people who are self-publishing, a lot of them don't have the faintest idea about the general rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation. They think because they have something to say -- or at least they THINK they have something worthwhile to say -- that naturally, what spills across the computer screen is gold.  Ain't necessarily so. The ones with at least a hope of publication success opt for their publisher to have the book edited. That's where I come in. Some books are surprisingly good, and sometimes I run into treasures, which makes my job a lot of fun. However .........

What's really frustrating is when I get a book back for a second round of editing, and the moronic client UNDID all the corrections I made. Put back all the bad grammar, the bad punctuation, and switched the words back to their wrong homonyms -- that's sound-alike words that don't mean the same thing, for those who don't know what homonyms are (and were ready to accuse me of saying something that has nothing to do with editing). For instance, the book I re-edited last night: the client stated that "the Earth turns on its AXLE." I know I changed AXLE to AXIS the first time through.

*sigh* What are you going to do with these people? Besides let them waste their money and time, and then wonder why no one will buy their book, other than their family and friends and whatever cult followers they scraped together .........

Now, to end on a POSITIVE NOTE:

It's almost time for NaNoWriMo!!!
(That's National Novel Writing Month, for you uninitiated.)










I'm going to work on the next book that follows BITTER SWEET and THE WOLF THAT WAS.
At the end of WOLF, evil Queen Sorcha went to the seeress for assistance in solving a big problem: how to hold onto her husband's kingdom now that he's dead and she doesn't have an heir. The seeress turned her into an old woman and put her under a curse, and she won't get her looks and her life back until ... well, that's what we're going to figure out in the story. But if all goes well, look for THE WICKED QUEEN coming out from Mundania Press in a year or two.