Katharina Gerlach's Blog, page 24

Freaks Fun Friday: Paralan (my next project)

I am a freak, I admit it. When I was younger, I actually enjoyed going to school (go ahead, laugh at me) — not because I wanted to meet my friends, but because I love learning new stuff. It hasn’t changed all that much. I’m still delighted if I manage to smuggle facts into my stories without anyone noticing. at this place, I’ll give you access to my twisted mind. Welcome to a Freak’s Fun Friday.

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A Brown Dwarf with a Ring of Debris
source: Wikipedia

The publication of my next project is approaching fast (announcement on Monday), and I thought I’d fill you in on some of the fascinating facts I used for the creation of this world. When I began planning, I knew that Paralan was mostly covered in ice.

After reading several books and scanning countless articles on the web about the possibility of life on other planets, an ice planet seemed out of the question. Then, I read about brown dwarfs. They sound like dull creatures of Fantasy, don’t they? Believe me, they aren’t. Brown dwarfs are planets and orbit around a sun, but they’re not like other planets, they’re glowing balls of warmth and light, just like suns. The difference is that they’re not as hot as a sun is, which means they don’t fuse hydrogen like suns do. Thus they’re not classified as suns. You could call them a sun’s little sibling.

Some brown dwarfs have rings of debris rotating around it (see picture), others have moons. A moon circling a brown dwarf would get enough light and (if it’s not too far away) enough warmth to support life. It would also be tidally locked, which means, the same area of the moon would always face the brown dwarf, leaving the dark side facing outer space where it’s dark and cold. Guess what would happen to the moon’s far side? Correct. It’d be covered in ice.

Now, if the brown dwarf and its moon would dance around a star on an elliptical trajectory, the moon’s surface would have seasons – warmer when planet and moon are close to the sun and colder when they’re far from it. Also, the moon’s far side would get some warmth, maybe just enough to allow life to adapt to its ice area as well.

When I figured all this out, I was delighted. This scenario opened so many options for my word building, my mind reeled. Can you guess what ideas crossed my mind? Leave me a comment and tell me what your imagination comes up with. Next week, we’ll compare notes, yes?

World’s Day of the Book

On the World’s Day of the Book, more than one thousand German authors and book bloggers host give-aways for books. I am participating too. I have been planning that for quite a while but nearly forgot. Luckily, you guys overseas wake up much later than we do in Germany.

Now, for my giveaway. I will give one copy of my YA Fantasy eBook “Amadi, the Phoenix, the Sphinx and the Djinn” to anyone who leaves a comment on this post AND who likes my Facebook fan page before midnight today. Amadi is a Trilogy of short adventure books set in a fairytale world resembling the Arabian Nights.

Alternatively, you can get an eBook of Scotland’s Guardians, Ann Angel’s Freedom or Victor’s Rage. Please tell me in your comment which eBook you’d like and which format you need.

I’m looking forward to your comments,

Review Monday: The Disgusting Child

I bought The Disgusting Child on a whim a few days ago. Since I finished translating “Urchin King” into German, I decided to take a two day break to read. I wasn’t disappointed. What a pity this book isn’t available in German too. My daughters would love it.

About the book

Lydia’s parents haven’t always been evil; she remembers a time before dark magic changed their personalities. Now storms are forming indoors, lizards are roaming the halls, a priceless treasure has gone missing and time is running out. Eleven-year-old Lydia thinks the key to bringing her parents back to the way they used to be may lie in the section of the library labeled “Witchcraft.” But is she fighting witchcraft or is she herself the witch?

My thoughts

I loved it from the first page. I loved to hate the nasty way the parents treated the child, and I loved the way little Lydia didn’t let than get her down. The characters in this book were very well drafted, and the heroine got through to your heart right from the start. Sure, I knew the final twist almost from the second chapter on (after all, I write books myself), but the story held enough quirky and funny twists to keep me reading longer than I had planned. Very well done. I recommend it to children of all ages and anyone who loves kidlit.

I’m looking for help

I’m thinking about redesigning my website. I’ve got the feeling that this is not working the way I want it to. With these blogposts, I can tell you lots about me, but I don’t feel comfortable advertising my books.

So, I’m looking for options. What would you be interested in seeing in my weekly postings? Should I post once, twice or three times a week? Do you want snippets of work in progress? More giveaways? More book reviews? What would draw my target readers (MG and YA fantasy lovers who enjoy twisted and fast paced stories) to my site?

Please help me to find something I will enjoy writing that you will enjoy reading and commenting on.

P.S.: Since the Authors in Bloom posts have to stay visible until the 20th of April, I’ll stop posting till then and hope for many ideas in the comments.

Authors in Bloom: Recipes

As promised, here are two recipes.

1. Spring Jam:

Collect elderflowers in a clean bucket. rinse them lightly and soak them in 3/4l apple juice over night. Stain them the next morning and make jam from the juice with 1 packet of jam sugar using the instructions on the packet. This jam tastes even better when allowed to rest for a few months.

2. German Cheesecake:

Time needed ca. 15min

Ingredients: 1kg curd cheese, 125g soft butter (I usually melt it in the microwave), 4 eggs, 375g sugar, 1 pack. Vanilla-sugar, 2 tablespoons of semolina (you can replace this with flour but then, the cake will be less spongy), 1 pack. baking powder, 1 pack. Vanilla-pudding for cooking, a little lemon juice (you can use concentrated juice).

Preheat oven to 200°C (Gas 3).

Mix all ingredients in a bowl (I usually mix the dry ingredients with a spoon first, and then add butter, eggs, lemon and butter). Oil a springform pan and rotate it with a little semolina until bottom and sides are covered with it (the leftovers can be added to the batter), fill the batter into the form and smooth the surface. Cover with backing paper or tinfoil and bake for 90min. Take off the paper/foil for the last 15min so the cake can get brown.

Let the cake cook inside the oven (too fast and it’ll sink in too much). Put on a serving plate when cold.

I hope you’ll like it. Remember to take part in my raffle to win an eBook. For the main prize (Kindle Fire), leave a comment on the previous post.

Good luck,

Authors in Bloom: Giveaway and Gardening Tip

This year, I’m participating in the “Authors in Bloom” Bloghop. In this context, you can win something again (see below). But first, I’ll share a gardening tip (The bloghop requires a tip for the garden or a recipe. I’m going to post two delicious recipes on Friday. First, the garden).

To reduce weeds in flowerbeds and to make weeding easier, cover the bare earth with shredded wood. The cover should be at least three inches thick to make it really hard for seeds to take root. When the cover grows too thin, refill. Do not use bark mulch. It’s not suitable because it’s partially composted and thus providing nutrients for weeds. I’ve been doing this for more than five years, and the soil in my flowerbeds is so fluffy, I can pull out the few weeds that manage to take root with a single grip of my hand, roots and all.

Now to my giveaway. Winners will get one of my eBooks (see Rafflecopter below). There are more prizes (recipes and gardening tips inclusive) to catch on the Authors in Bloom partner pages, so check them out too (see linky list below). The Mega-Super-Prize is a Kindle Fire (or Nook) eBook reader. You can win it on the webseite of Dianne Venetta the initiator of the Bloghop. All you need to do is leave a comment in this thread (don’t forget to give us an eMail where we can reach you in case you win). Winners will be announced on the 21st of April.

Here is the rafflecopter for my giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here you’ll find the other participating sites:

I wish everyone the best possible success. Remember to leave a comment if you want to win a Kindle Fire (and don’t forget your eMail or we can’t reach you if you win).

Review Monday: The Secret Garden

I read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the first time when I was twelve (In German of course). I loved it so much, I bought all available books by the same author.

About the book

When orphaned Mary Lennox, lonely and sad, comes to live at her uncle’s great house on the Yorkshire moors, she finds it full of secrets. At night, she hears the sound of crying down one of the long corridors. Outside, she meets Dickon, a magical boy who can charm and talk to animals. Then, one day, with the help of a friendly robin, Mary discovers the most mysterious wonder of all–a secret garden, walled and locked, which has been completely forgotten for years and years. Is everything in the garden dead, or can Mary bring it back to life?

My thoughts

I liked the love best that Mary felt for the garden and her efforts to make it come alive. It was evident in every chapter how much the author loved nature. This was a direct tie to my heart. I didn’t learn landscape gardening and studied forestry without reason. Even if the book is old-fashioned and the beginning seems slow to today’s readers, I highly recommend it to anyone who loves nature.

Release Day Plus Surprise

Here it is, the long awaited print edition of “Scotland’s Guardians“. I know there still are some readers who prefer the printed word to the digitalized ones.

I got the idea to this story during one of my numerous visits in Scotland. Beside the unbelievably beautiful nature, this country has much to offer particularly one thing: the supernatural. Every region has its own mythical creature and every Scotsman knows at least one haunted house or monster of a loch. No matter if on the mountains, at the coast or in the valleys, there are as many stories about Brownies, Boobries and Kelpies as there are grains of sand by the sea. Fascinated, I decided to put at least some of these creatures into a novel but it only took form after a woman appeared in my mind whose eyes mirrored the Scottish moors and not the garden she looked at.

Cover Blurb

Since Bryanna grows up in Scotland, she is familiar with hobgoblins, selkies and kelpies from the tales of her mother country. But she is very surprised when she starts seeing these creatures one day. Is she hallucinating? Before she can ask her father’s advice, he is kidnapped by a woman whose scent seems awfully familiar. Instead of calling the police, Bryanna follows the kidnapper and lands smack-dab in the middle of the adventure of her life. It’s just as well she knows the old legends and myths well. The world she lands in is murderously dangerous. And even if she survives the journey, she is fated to kill her father.

Now, for the surprise

Of course it will only be good for those who want to own the eBook too. From midnight tomorrow the eBook version will be available on Amazon for free for FIVE DAYS. Tell all your friends. Everyone can download a copy. The more the merrier.

Countdown…

… the day after tomorrow, my story “Scotland’s Guardians” will be available as a print book through Amazon’s createspace platform. I chose to publish it there, because I can offer the book for less then $10 without worrying about up front costs. As much as I dislike Amazon’s growing piece of the publishing pie, they make it easy for us Indie-authors to reach our readers.

Just in case you haven’t noticed my book before, here’s the trailer (it’s really short, so watch it!):

Music by Barbarian Pipe Band

And I’ve got a great surprise for everyone who’s interested. Watch out for an announcement on Friday!

Happy Easter

I will announce the winners in early April. Until then, happy Easter.

cat’s Easter greetings from a dog lover
(photo: White House Photograph Office)