Tracy Falbe's Blog, page 25

Wolf Photographed in the Czech Republic - 1st Sighting in 100 Years

The headline First wolf in a century spotted in Czech Republic caught my eye at Treehugger today because I've always admired wolves and I like to see animals surviving in a difficult world. The wolf image was taken by a motion activated wildlife camera.

The Czech Republic and more precisely Bohemia also happens to be the setting of my most recent novel Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale. That novel is set in 1561 and has a werewolf hero. I chose Bohemia for the setting of the novel because it still has some forested regions to this day and I was able to imagine it being much wilder hundreds of years ago.

You can read the first 4 chapters of the novel right here.


4-Chapter Preview of Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale from Tracy Falbe

I Got to See The Wedding Dance by Pieter Bruegel the Elder Yesterday at the Detroit Institute of Arts

 
I spent Sunday afternoon at the Detroit Institute of Arts and it was a most enriching experience. I had not been to this museum since a school trip in junior high. It was a privilege to have access to the priceless collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts. I know that trips here with my family when I was young greatly contributed to my interest in history and especially Renaissance Art.

Just last month during the blog tour for Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale I prepared a presentation about how Renaissance artists aided my research for my historical fantasy novel. I particularly cited the works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder for his amazing depictions of common people. His art helped me envision the clothing and attitudes of peasants.

The Bruegel painting at the DIA is the Wedding Dance. This richly detailed masterpiece is packed with bawdy detail and Bacchanalian joy. While studying the painting in person yesterday I overheard the reactions of other people in the gallery. The obvious erections of the men in the foreground immediately titillated viewers who then started looking more closely to see what else they could find in the festive composition.

I highly recommend visiting the DIA website and using its magnification tool to study the Wedding Dance.

See more examples of Bruegel's art and other artists who inspired my writing of Werelord Thal in the presentation below.


Researching a Novel with Help from My Favorite Renaissance Artists from Tracy Falbe

Hitting the Top 100 Dark Fantasy Kindle Best Seller Rank Tonight

In this final day of the 99-cents sale for Rys Rising: Book I preliminary results of the promotion show that my fantasy book has popped up on the dark fantasy best seller rankings. At the moment of the screenshot Saturday night, Rys Rising was #86 in the Kindle Store for Dark Fantasy.

Get it at:Kindle USKindle UKKindle CanadaKindle GermanyKindle FranceKindle Australia
Also available in paperback and hardcover.

Bring Me Your Children...So I Can Tell Them a Story

 
I've written a children's book Bear Dog Dog Bear. 
 I have grade school age children and they wanted me to write something for them. Also last year I gave a talk about writing to all the third graders at my son's school and they wanted me to make something for them too. All my other novels are at a higher level meant for older teens and adults, but it was admittedly fun to turn my skills toward writing a children's book. I'm personally happy with the result. As a mother I've waded through a lot of chapter books with my kids that I think are just mind-numbing drivel, so I'm sure I topped that.
My son Curtis Falbe who is 10 years old provided the artwork for the cover. I guess I've reached that point in my career when I inflict the creations of my children on the public. Cool! 
In the coming weeks, I'll be publishing this story as an ebook and paperback...if I can ever get done with my kids' laundry. 
About Bear Dog Dog Bear
Daniel Wood and his family are getting a puppy. A black German Shepherd puppy to be precise. His dad already picked her out on the internet, and they are on the road to the breeder’s house at the end of a long creepy country road into the woods. It looks like a woods where bears might live, but no one is thinking about that when disaster strikes the puppy barn.
This cheerful chapter book brings the wild into suburban Cherry Park and sets a puppy loose in the countryside. Daniel has no idea what is happening until the truth is broadcast on the evening news and a video of his dad wrestling a bear cub hits YouTube.

To be notified when this children's chapter book is available, please join my Readers' List.

English Language Fantasy Ebook On Sale for 0,89 Euro in German Kindle Store

Rys Rising: Book I is on sale through April 12th in all kindle stores for $0.99. This makes it 0,89 Euro in the Kindle store in Germany.

About Rys Rising: Book I

A young warrior ruined and near death is saved by Onja a mysterious rys female. Forsaking all that he was, he will take the name Amar and serve his new magical mistress. A lord among outlaws he will become, feared by kings and called the dro-shalum or curse demon by the common folk.

Onja nurtures his growing power among the tribal kingdoms so she can strike against the tabre of Nufal. They are the ancient race of magic users that created the rys with their experimental spells, but they revile their creations. The tabre keep the rys hidden away while they rule over their beautiful realm. The key to Onja’s victory will be if she can win over the rys prodigy Dacian who is loyal to the ruling tabre order. Will he endure more dark abuses for the sake of peace or reach out to Onja and her growing army of allies?

Packed with primitive energy, the intertwining stories of this fantasy world will indulge your cravings for intrigue, bravery, desire, and freedom.

Get it on Kindle in Germany

Excerpt:

The noisy mirth drew their leader into the lantern light. Demeda recognized the man who stalked back down the trail as the one who had bound her hands. He had a young face set in hard lines, and the laughter hushed upon his appearance.
He took in the scene quickly and Demeda succeeded in finally righting her clothing. While she was at it, she loosened her gag before someone yanked on one of her straps and she dropped her hands.
The leader confronted the man who had been carrying Demeda. “You can’t carry a girl?” he asked.
The man dropped to one knee. “Forgive me, Amar,” he said.
Demeda became perfectly still as she realized that she was looking upon the dro-shalum. Amar of the Kez had taken her and Ulet. She had naturally imagined him as older. Demeda thought that it was strange that his youth should command such solemn authority over these men. Her brother was young and shown respect and obeyed, but not like this. The men around her feared this Amar not because of his station but because he was the curse demon. Kings withered in his presence, and now he possessed her.
Disgust flitted across Amar’s face. He waved dismissively at the man who knelt before him and approached Demeda. She quailed back a step. He grabbed both straps on her arms and yanked her toward him. She fell against his chest. His net-like armor of small bronze plates poked through her thin clothing. Demeda looked up into his eyes and glimpsed a wild disregard for all of society that opened a gateway to a world unimagined. 
Other English language fantasy ebooks by Tracy Falbe available in Germany's Kindle store:

Savage Storm
New Religion
Love Lost
Union of Renegades
The Goddess Queen
Judgment Rising
The Borderlands of Power
Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale


Prefer Taschenbuch?

Order this 404 page 6 x 9 inch trade paperback at Germany's Amazon store. 

New Book Explores the Ghosts, Vampires, and Mysteries of Paris

There are so many interesting book projects these days. The fundraising site Kickstarter offers many people a platform for creating media they may not otherwise have the resources to accomplish. This news I found today is about Father Sebastiaan of Paris who normally runs a ghost and vampire tour company in this ancient city that has catacombs and graves from the Reign of Terror. I'll take buttery pastries and love thank you very much! Right now he's over $3,000 toward his Kickstarter project to produce the book Mysteries of Paris.
[image error] SBWire Mysteries of Paris Unveils the City's Dark Side (via SBWire)

Father Sebastiaan’s new book examines mysteries, atrocities and tales of terror in the City of Lights. Paris, France -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/07/2014 -- The legendary Father Sebastiaan, a leading expert on the occult and vampire subculture, is transforming…

 

Kindle 99-cents Sale for Epic Fantasy Rys Rising: Book I

It's sale time if you read Kindle ebooks. 
Rys Rising: Book I is only $0.99 through April 12th. 
This is your chance for a pittance to discover a fantasy novel that readers at Amazon called "a work of art" and "One of the better epic tales I have read in a long time."
Get it at:Kindle USKindle UKKindle CanadaKindle GermanyKindle FranceKindle Australia
About the novel
A young warrior ruined and near death is saved by Onja a mysterious rys female. Forsaking all that he was, he will take the name Amar and serve his new magical mistress. A lord among outlaws he will become, feared by kings and called the dro-shalum or curse demon by the common folk.

Onja nurtures his growing power among the tribal kingdoms so she can strike against the tabre of Nufal. They are the ancient race of magic users that created the rys with their experimental spells, but they revile their creations. The tabre keep the rys hidden away while they rule over their beautiful realm. The key to Onja’s victory will be if she can win over the rys prodigy Dacian who is loyal to the ruling tabre order. Will he endure more dark abuses for the sake of peace or reach out to Onja and her growing army of allies?

Packed with primitive energy, the intertwining stories of this fantasy world will indulge your cravings for intrigue, bravery, desire, and freedom.

Visit its Kindle page and read a short excerpt that will excite you for the whole story. 

Get it at:Kindle USKindle UKKindle CanadaKindle GermanyKindle FranceKindle Australia
Also available in paperback and hardcover.

How to Get Fantasy Paperbacks by Tracy Falbe in the UK

I imagine there must be some fantasy readers in United Kingdom considering it's the homeland of J.R.R. Tolkein and J.K. Rowling.

As an independent author it's easy for me to focus my global marketing on the ebook market because my fantasy ebooks are so easily distributed as digital content. But my appearances at conventions over the past months have reminded me that many people still prefer print.

The company Createspace has proven to be a reliable and convenient service for selling my paperback fantasy novels in Amazon stores in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the United States. Why not Canada? I don't know!

For my readers in the UK who prefer print, 5 of my 9 fantasy books are available there as 6 x 9 inch trade paperbacks. These will be brand new books produced specifically to fulfill your order.

Rys Rising: Book I
Savage Storm: Rys Rising Book II
New Religion: Rys Rising Book III
Love Lost: Rys Rising Book IV

Werelord Thal: A Renaissance Werewolf Tale

Also availalbe is
My Grandma's Vintage Recipes: Old Standards for a New Age
I published this cookbook last year after salvaging 64 recipes from the handwritten notes of my Grandmother in a notebook from 1926.

Alas The Rys Chronicles are not set up at Createspace, which means they do not have affordable print-on-demand fulfillment in the UK. Maybe I'll get it set up someday, but it would be a time consuming project. When I first set up my publishing company years ago I produced The Rys Chronicles in small print runs. Therefore all the remaining stock is in the United States and shipping charges overseas are prohibitive. However, resellers do have copies of The Rys Chronicles listed for UK delivery.

Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I
The Goddess Queen: The Rys Chronicles Book II
Judgment Rising: The Rys Chronicles Book III
The Borderlands of Power: The Rys Chronicles Book IV

Kobo Sponsors Opening Up To Indie Authors Campaign With Alliance of Independent Authors

The Alliance of Independent Authors is partnering with Kobo to publish a guidebook for authors and people in the publishing industry to develop ways to broadly include self published works in the global book selling ecosystem. I am all for this, but I wish Kobo would reinstate my titles in its UK ecommerce sites after a fiasco last fall when THEY REMOVED ALL SELF PUBLISHED TITLES from their stores because of some complaints about erotica. They only pulled self published erotica mind you. My novels aren't erotica but I have yet to have Kobo allow their UK customers to buy them again. Hopefully Kobo's supposed support for self publishers will include selling them to people in the UK. Thankfully my titles remain available at other countries through Kobo.

See the complete press release about the Opening Up to Indie Authors campaign.

[image error] The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) announces the global launch of the Opening Up to Indie Authors Guidebook & Campaign with Kobo Writing Life (KWL) (via PRWeb)

With sponsorship from Kobo Writing Life and featuring author publishers across the world, the launch of Opening Up to Indie Authors promises a publishing first. "Everyone benefits when author-published work is included." - Orna Ross, ALLi London (PRWEB…

 

Smashwords $0.99 Ebook Deal This Week

This week I had an author inform me of a short term price drop to $0.99 an a Smashwords ebook. The sale ends on Apirl 6th, so take a look quick.


Coming Home Logan's Wish

A.R.M.

Erotica

$2.99 now $0.99 through April 6th

Get it at Smashwords

Logan returns home to find the woman of his dreams has caught the romantic attention of his brother Dillon.

Happy Reading!

Please subscribe to Her Ladyship’s Quest so you can come back and browse new Smashwords Deals as they are added.Authors: Send me your coupon codes with the form at the bottom of the Smashwords Deals page.