R.L. King's Blog, page 2

My thoughts about The Force Awakens

This post contains spoilers for Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens.

I am a proud nerd. I’ve been a proud nerd since I was a child, and I was there for the original Star Wars. Not on opening day, because back then nobody really expected Star Wars to be anywhere near as big a deal as it ended up being. It came out in May, and I don’t think I saw it until early July. But kid me was obsessed with it from the moment I first saw it at the now-defunct Fox Theater in Ventura, CA. I collected e...

Stone #5 off to editing!

Stone #5 (tentatively titled Core of Stone) wasn’t originally supposed to exist. The original book that was intended to be #5 (titled Blood and Stone) was all written and has been for a long time. It’s just sitting there waiting for its turn at editing, and I was all ready to send it off.

And then my editor got hold of The Source.

Mostly I got the standard comments–a few places to clean things up, some ideas for how to punch bits of it up and make them more exciting, that kind of thing. But...

Jessica Jones

I’ve been pretty excited about Jessica Jones for quite some time now–ever since I heard that David Tennant was going to be in it, playing the villain Kilgrave. I’m a huge Tennant fan, so that right there guaranteed I’d watch it.

Now, after binge-watching it over the course of three days, I have to say it was better than I expected it to be. The actors were fantastic in their roles, the cinematography was amazing, and Tennant was wonderful as usual (albeit immensely creepy). But one of the bes...

Magespace Press Summit 2015 (with bonus field trip!)

One thing I’m really grateful for is that I have a spouse who not only supports my writing, but who’s my best sounding board when I’m working out ideas or what needs to happen in a tough scene. That’s why all my books include him on the dedications page.

I have a birthday coming up, and since both of us have reached the point where when we want some material thing (within reason) we just buy it, that means that wrapped gifts aren’t as exciting as they used to be. Instead, I asked for time. I’...

Shooting Stone

One of the small downsides of using a cover designer instead of getting dedicated cover art created is that you’re limited by what’s available in the stock-images catalog your designer uses. Don’t get me wrong: Glendon at Streetlight Graphics is a wizard, and he transforms those stock images into things that their own mothers wouldn’t recognize (you know, if stock images had mothers. Work with me here).

For the first three books we were able to find shots that worked, but for Book 4, we kept...

THE FORGOTTEN is Awesome Indies Approved (5 stars!)

Nice bit of news this week – not only has THE FORGOTTEN received the Awesome Indies Approved seal, but the reviewer gave it five stars!

Check out the review here!

Stone Chronicles #3: THE THRESHOLD is out!

Just released Book 3 of the series, THE THRESHOLD, last Tuesday! I’ve been waiting for Amazon to get its stuff together and post the Look Inside feature before really starting to promote it, but in the meantime, here are the first two chapters to get you started!

(Warning: If you haven’t read Book 2, THE FORGOTTEN, there will be major spoilers in Chapter One of this excerpt.)

Prologue

Eleanor Pearsall needed a drink.

She glanced at the glowing clock on the top of her dresser: 10:30. A littl...

Interview with John Helfers (Stone Chronicles editor)

I feel extremely privileged that John Helfers, accomplished and experienced editor and author, finds time in his busy schedule to edit my novels. I mean, how cool is it for an indie author to get the chance to work with a Hugo-nominated editor who’s also edited or collaborated with the likes of Charlaine Harris, Mercedes Lackey, Margaret Weis, and many other science fiction and fantasy luminaries? In addition to his freelance work, John is also the novel editor for the Shadowrun game line, wh...

Short Story: The Evil Inside

So a couple of days ago I saw Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out, which I loved. Best thing they’ve put out in years. But, me being me, one of the first things I thought about when it was over was: What would go on in the Control Room of someone possessed by the Evil? And the obvious choice to explore that was poor little Madison McClain, from Chapter 1 of The Forgotten.So I wrote this.

Disclaimer: The Inside Out characters are owned by Disney/Pixar. I’m just borrowing them. Please don’t sue me.

Spoil...

Cover Reveal: THE FORGOTTEN

Here it is! The cover for Stone Chronicles Book 2, THE FORGOTTEN.

Remember, release date is next week: Monday, June 22.

Hope you like the cover and the book! Please let us know what you think.

(click for bigger version)

Thanks as always to Streetlight Graphics–they’re doing great work on all the series covers!