Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "fusion"

I'm just popping in to wish all my blog followers a very happy and peaceful 2011. I hope you will all be successful at whatever endeavours you are undertaking this year.

The new year is always a time when we take stock of what we have achieved thus far and it's also a time when many people make resolutions to do or not do certain things. It's quite natural for us to use this changing of the year to set new goals for ourselves and leave behind whatever has not been working for us. I hope you will all be able to look to this new year as one which holds opportunities for you to accomplish whatever it is that you wish for.

A quick update on what I'm planning for 2011:

1. I have a new collection of short stories being published this month. The title is: 'Fusion'. You can find an excerpt from the first story in the collection 'Only Time can divide us', in the 'Maria's Writing' section of my Goodreads author page.

2. I co-wrote an online novella at BestsellerBound with author Jason McIntyre. We are planning to publish the book as a free ebook. It's called 'Cutting The Fat'. I'll post more when I have the details. I believe it is going to be published this month.

3. I'm currently revising and editing my first novel Coincidences so that I can publish it as an ebook. 'Coincidences' was first published in 2001 as a hardback. It is currently out of print, but I hope this new revision will mean that more people will be able to read it. I didn't have an electronic version of the book, so I've taken the opportunity to re-type it and edit as I go along. I've learnt a lot about editing in the past 10 years as a writer, and will be using that experience to polish the text and update the book. I will keep the story the same, but I'm sure there will be some extra scenes added as I go along. If you wish to read my first novel as a hardback, I am currently offering them for sale through the Amazon.co.uk marketplace. You can find a link on my website

4. I have finished writing my fourth novel 'The Dream', and am currently editing it. It's a fantasy/paranormal/timeslip novel, so a bit different to my usual writing, but I had fun writing it, and it does contain many of the same themes as my other books: relationships, secrets, betrayal, forgiveness, love. It's also quite humourous.

I'm pleased to announce that I had some success with sales of my kindle titles in December. I sold a staggering 102 copies. I'm hoping that the popularity of my books will continue in this vein.

Thanks to everyone who has read any of my books this year, and for all your support.

I am happy to announce that my third collection of short stories, 'Fusion', is now published!

Fusion is a collection of stories I have written over many years and have edited and updated/revised them for publication.

I am very pleased with the collection and hope you will enjoy the stories.

To celebrate the launch of the new book, I am applying a 40% discount at Lulu.com until Monday 10th January 2011!

Buy here!

For a limited time, I am offering my short story collections, Love and Loyalty, and Pieces of a Rainbow for just $0.99 or £0.70 on Amazon kindle.

Remember, you don't have to own a kindle ereader to download and read the books. Amazon offers free apps for iphone, ipad, mac, pc, blackberry, etc.

I am hoping to make my new collection Fusion available on kindle in the next couple of months.

At the moment I am also working on formatting my books as epubs so that I can offer them for sale more widely. Bear with me while I try to get to grips with the formatting!

As a free short read - because I love you all so much :) I have uploaded a story from my new collection to fReado. The story is aptly titled 'The Valentine's Card' so I thought it would be the perfect gift to you all this Valentine's Day.

Click here to read the story: The Valentine's Card Enjoy!

I will be promoting my new book, 'Fusion', on various websites this month. To coincide with that promotion, I have a special price on the print book at Lulu.com -- 40% discount!

Here's the link:
Buy Fusion at Lulu.com

Look out also for competitions where you can win a pdf copy of the book. I'll post more news about these competitions soon.

I am on Keta Diablo's blog today, 'Quackers and Tease', giving away 2 pdf copies of my new book Fusion

Click here for your chance to enter!
Fusion Competition

Good luck!

I recently did an interview with author, Darcia Helle.

You can read it here: Fusion interview

You can also leave a comment on the blog for your chance to win a pdf copy of my latest collection of short stories, 'Fusion'

Good luck!

I was recently interviewed about my books and writing, by Kipp Poe, here's a link to the blog:
interview

Also, author Darcia Helle has a new feature on her blog called 'Quirky Questions Monday'. This week I am featured there along with author Jason McIntyre

Go here to read our answers :) Quirky Question

Click the link below to visit The Secret Writer's blog, where you can read my latest interview :)


The Secret Writer

I’m fascinated by the creative process which is why I love reading and writing so much. I am often inspired by events in my own life, or by things I’ve heard, when I write my stories and novels.
I'm often asked, 'How do you come up with the ideas for your stories?'
So, I thought it would be nice if I wrote a paragraph or two about a few of the stories in my latest short story collection,Fusion. These stories were written over a period of over 10 years. Some of the descriptions below contain spoilers, so, unless you’re the type of person who always reads the last line of a book before you finish it (I actually know someone who does that!!) you might want to read ‘Fusion’ before you read this article!

Only Time Can Divide Us

I remember watching a documentary many years ago about young men who fall in love with much older women. It always seems okay when we hear about an older man dating a much younger woman, but for some reason it’s not so well regarded if it’s the other way around. I wrote this story as a love story for a competition.

Untold Crimes

This story came to me around the time that the Swine ‘Flu epidemic was taking hold in the UK. I remember a television advert at the time which seemed to be suggesting that you could be a murderer without realising it if you didn’t take precautions against spreading the virus.


Me and My Dictionary

This one was written for a short story competition where the theme was 'The Dictionary'. The story had to feature a dictionary in some way. My mind somehow came up with this funny little story. For some reason, maybe because I’ve written it in the first person, everyone who reads it always thinks it’s autobiographical. Maybe I just look like the sort of person who would learn all the words in the dictionary? I’ve never really taken the time to learn all the words in a dictionary before... or have I?

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

Again, this story was inspired by a theme for a short story competition. The theme was ‘Make Hay While The Sun Shines’. The story was to be based around that saying. It’s a story about deception, and looking for love.

Hope Springs Eternal

This story is loosely based on my own idealistic attitude towards love and romance. It takes it to the extreme; what would happen if someone fell in love at first sight and then waited around for ever for this special someone who never felt the same?

The Reunion

This is a ghost story. I was always interested in ghost stories when I was growing up, and we lived in a haunted house. I am sure this story was inspired by something I once heard about a person communicating with someone after their death.

A Virtual Affair

This story was written years ago when I was using email for the first time. It explores the idea of how people can pretend to be who they want to be when they are only communicating online.

Till death us do part

This one was inspired by a documentary I watched over ten years ago, about women who would correspond with prisoners on death row, and even have relationships with them. In more general terms, the story is about how it can affect someone’s life when their friends or family don’t agree with their choice of partner.

Seize the day

This is a fun story, dealing with subjects such as how reality TV can propel someone to super-stardom over night, and the modern type of celebrities whose lives are documented daily in newspapers and magazines, and the exploitation that can arise.

The Time Machine

A sci-fi tale. I don’t usually write sci-fi, but I was told by a sci-fi writer that it’s good.
The title says it all, really. I like the ending of this story. It’s one of my favourites.


The Valentine’s Card

There is a great story behind this one. One day, about 17 years ago, I was standing at a bus stop on the way back from work. An elderly woman asked if she could borrow a pen. When I gave her my pen, she said it was nice and asked me what I did for a living. I said I was a trainee solicitor. As she was writing something, another middle-aged woman came over and said something like “That’s a nice pen”. Then when the elderly woman said she’d borrowed it from me, the other woman looked at me and said: “You could write a lot of good things with that pen”. Then she told me a story about a friend of hers who owned a card shop. She told me that a man had gone into the shop and had bought two Valentine’s cards, one for his wife and one for his mistress. The one for his mistress was much bigger and more decorative than the one for his wife. That inspired my short story about ‘The Valentine’s Card’. The thing about those two ladies was that they told me other things, and when I look back they seem to have been some kind of fortune tellers. Anyway, they definitely foretold that I’d be a writer, because I hadn’t started writing stories or novels when I first met them, but they must have seen something in that pen.


Fusion is available as a paperback at all good online booksellers, and can be ordered from bricks & mortar stores by quoting the ISBN 978-0956410139

You can also order it from your local library.

Here are a few links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Lulu

Barnes and Noble

Giles is a character from 'Me and My Dictionary', a short story from my collection, Fusion.
Giles loves learning words, in fact, he has learnt all the words up to 'P' in the dictionary. He likes to learn a new word every day :)

Today, he's appearing on Darcia Helle's blog!

To learn more about Giles, and Darcia's new blog feature, click the link below:

Meet Giles!

Fusion is my latest short story collection, available on Amazon and B&N as well as all other good online bookshops. You can also order it from your local bricks and mortar stores, or libraries, quoting the ISBN: 978-0-9564101-3-9

There is a 40% discount if you buy from Lulu.com at the moment!