B.S. Roberts's Blog, page 3
February 18, 2021
Colorblind cover reveal
As I mentioned in my update yesterday, the first novella of my Allodasos series, Gnats, has been released! You can purchase it as an e-book on Amazon or read it for free on Kindle Unlimited. Here’s the blurb for it in case you’ve somehow missed me shouting it out from atop my soapbox over the last several months:
ALLODASOS 1: GNATS
There’s magic in the world; you just need to know how to find it.
In the immediate hours after her divorce, Eva drives to the one location where comfort resides—the place of her childhood home to find her old safe space. Emotionally wrecked, she stumbles into a world of magic that had always existed parallel to her own. Now, with the companionship of a dryad, she must fight monsters she believed to be myth, as well as a crazed wizard bent on exploiting the energies of Allodasos—the magical realm of the fae. Gnats is a contemporary fantasy with a F/F romance subplot.
With that said, last month I revealed the cover of Allodasos 2: Sinkhole (if you missed it, click here!) and I promised you that I would reveal the cover art for book 3: Colorblind. So, here I am keeping to my promise— drumroll please…
I hope you’re as excited as I am!
But wait, there’s more. Here’s several more updates to keep you in the loop:
Now that you’re all caught up, I’ve got some writing to do…
Stay safe and well,
~B.S.Roberts
P.S. hundreds of e-books are released every day and even the best novels are lost in the flood. If you read Gnats—please, please, please—consider rating it and/or leaving a review on Amazon and (if you have it) Goodreads. Other readers are much more likely to pass by a book without any ratings to select one that has been reviewed. The larger the number of reviews Gnats has; the more people will see it. You’ve already supported me by reading my work, take the extra step and rate it! Again, thank you so much for your support!
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February 17, 2021
Gnats has been released!
Guess what? Allodasos 1: Gnats has been officially published!
If you preordered it, you should now have access to it through your kindle account, if not, you can purchase it for $2.99 immediately or read it on Kindle Unlimited for free!
A quick request: hundreds of e-books are released every day and even the best novels are lost in the flood. If you read Gnats—please, please, please—consider rating it and/or leaving a review on Amazon and (if you have it) Goodreads. Other readers are much more likely to pass by a book without any ratings to select one that has been reviewed at least once. The larger the number of reviews Gnats has; the more people will see it.
One last thing—be sure to check out my various news feeds tomorrow, I’m going to be releasing the cover art for Allodasos 3: Colorblind!
Stay safe and well everybody,
~B.S.Roberts
There’s magic in the world; you just need to know how to find it.
In the immediate hours after her divorce, Eva drives to the one location where comfort resides—the place of her childhood home to find her old safe space. Emotionally wrecked, she stumbles into a world of magic that had always existed parallel to her own. Now, with the companionship of a dryad, she must fight monsters she believed to be myth, as well as a crazed wizard bent on exploiting the energies of Allodasos—the magical realm of the fae. Gnats is a contemporary fantasy with a F/F romance subplot.
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February 2, 2021
A Bunch of Harks! Updates Galore!
I’ve got several pieces of news for you today. Let’s start with the most immediate… My flash fiction “First Contact” is now live on 101words.org. Essentially this brief fiction (101 words in case you missed the publisher’s name) describes a botched first contact mission to another world. Click here to read it! It’s pretty good if I say so myself. And free, so even better!
Next in line was announced yesterday, but I’m posting two days in a row (a rarity!) so I don’t want the information to get lost. CritiqueMatch has uploaded a text interview with me on their resource blog as the first of their “Pro-Critiquer Interview Series.” If you’re on the fence about having your own work looked at, click here and check it out, maybe it’ll help you decide!
Hark #3: Several days ago, I released an ARC of my novelette “The Wizard’s Staff” into the wilds of Reddit. The DnD Subreddit to be exact. Because I’ve made it available to comment on in Google Docs until the 28th of this month, I’ve decided to let anybody else who reads my blog and/or newsletter have a jab at it! In case you missed my announcement several months ago, this is an 80-page novelette parodying/spoofing both cheesy 80s romance novels and Dungeon and Dragons campaigns. The blurb for the story is at the end of this update. If you do decide to act as an ARC reader, please let me know so I can credit you in the acknowledgements and, when its released at the end of March on Amazon, I can send you a link so you can leave a rating a review! Click here to read it!
Lastly (I think?), here’s several reminders. First—if you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter! When you do, you’ll receive a welcome email with a link to access an exclusive short story based in my story world of Allodasos. Which leads me to… Allodasos 1: Gnats is coming out on the 17th this month as an e-book! By clicking here, you can preorder a copy! Just like Wizard’s Staff, I’ll leave you a blurb after this update.
Thank you everybody for your support!
Stay safe and well,
~B.S.Roberts
Allodasos 1: Gnats
There’s magic in the world; you just need to know how to find it.
In the immediate hours after her divorce, Eva drives to the one location where comfort resides—the place of her childhood home to find her old safe space. Emotionally wrecked, she stumbles into a world of magic that had always existed parallel to her own. Now, with the companionship of a dryad, she must fight monsters she believed to be myth, as well as a crazed wizard bent on exploiting the energies of Allodasos—the magical realm of the fae. Gnats is a Contemporary Fantasy with a F/F Romance subplot.
The Wizard’s Staff
Na’amah is just an average, ordinary half-succubus adopted by a warren of kobolds. But when she takes a trip to a nearby town, she discovers true love in the form of a distinguished wizard adventurer—Alatar. Life becomes complicated for Na’amah as she tries to get some alone time with the renowned hero, her forbidden fruit.
This spellbinding romance of a succubus and wizard hits all the right spots!
And here are a couple responses I’ve received about it so far from other ARC readers:
“I can’t tell if this is the best thing I’ve ever read or the worst. Time has lost all meaning. Send help. Not gonna lie it’s self aware enough that this is actually really amusing and entertaining, actually, I really like it.“
—Reddit u/Cwest5538
“Actually laughed out loud. This is so sleazy it’s actually gone the whole circle and is OK to read. :)”
—Reddit u/nkrgovic
“This book was like heavily-purified metagaming, AND I LOVE IT! It features every cliche there is, is full of jokes, made me laugh out loud multiple times, and made me want to read it again, something I can’t say for most novellas. Thank you so much, and I look forward to reading the next in the series!”
—Reddit u/Flightguy07
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February 1, 2021
Newsletter and CritiqueMatch Interview
It only took me a year, but I’ve finally established a newsletter! Sign up now to receive updates of my various projects and be the first to see cover reveals and publication announcements. On average, I’ll be sending out emails once or twice a month, so don’t worry about me flooding your inbox with garbage!
Want a little more incentive to sign up? I’ll occasionally be sending out links to exclusive content such as short stories and poetry. In fact, right off the bat you’ll receive a link to download “On The Nature of Gnats.” This is a short story in the form of a translated 1600s manuscript (that had been retrieved from a university repository) describing the uses and characteristics of the magical insects prevalent in my Allodasos series. For those of you who this matters, yes, it’s canon.
To sign up for the newsletter and get the short story, just enter your email in the form on the bottom of my website — it’ll be on the bottom of every page.
On an unrelated note, CritiqueMatch has uploaded a text-interview with me on their website. I’m the first freelance critique in their “Pro-Critiquer Interview Series” that they’re starting in their resource blog. If you’re on the fence about having your own work looked at, click here and check it out, maybe it’ll help you decide!
As always, stay safe and well everybody,
~B.S.Roberts
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January 28, 2021
Sinkhole Cover Reveal
Whoops, it’s a day later than I said I’d post it, but here it is, the cover for Allodasos book 2: Sinkhole!
The first two chapters are going to be included at the end of Gnats, hopefully you won’t have to wait long for the rest of the book. I’ll be giving you updates on its editing and publishing process as I go!
Next month I’ll be giving you the cover of book 3: Colorblind, so I’ll leave you with a couple weeks of anticipation with that – you’re welcome. =D
And remember, GNATS is up for preorder and is being released on 17 February 2021!
Stay safe and healthy,
~B.S.Roberts
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January 26, 2021
Gnats preorder is up with a release date!
Hi everybody, exciting news!
The first book for my Allodasos novella series, GNATS, is up on Amazon for preorder, set to be released:
17 February 2021
!!!
You can preorder now by clicking on my spiffy ad-banner for the book. Or, if you prefer, wait for it to come out and it will be included on Kindle Unlimited to read for free if you have a subscription to the service!
One last bit of news,
Tomorrow I will be revealing the cover for Allodasos 2: Sinkhole – so stay tuned for that as well!
~B.S. Roberts
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January 18, 2021
A Release, An Announcement, and a Tease
Hi everyone,
As the title of this post states, I have for you here a release, an announcement, and a tease!
Let’s tackle them in order…
A RELEASE
Volume 6, Issue 3 of In Parentheses Magazine has been released, and it contains my 25-line poem, “My Roommate is a Spider,” on page 10 — the second poem of the journal! The issue is available to purchase digitally ($4.20) or in print ($19.99), or, if you prefer both, you can also do a combo purchase for $19.99 — that’s the digital for free! If you’re interested in reading this poem and all the other excellent poetry, prose, and multimedia images, click here!
AN ANNOUNCEMENT
My 4,000-word dark high-fantasy short story, “The Final Battle of the Third Sphere,” has just been picked up by the Common Tongue Dark Fantasy Magazine and will be released in one of its first issues before June of this year. This story is loosely based in the world of Allodasos and is completely standalone. You will not need to have read Gnats to enjoy “The Final Battle.” Be assured that I’ll give you a heads up as the process of publishing this short story moved forward!
A TEASE
Last, but not least, the tease. The covers for both Allodasos 2: Sinkhole and Allodasos 3: Colorblind have been created! Stay tuned, I’ll be releasing Sinkhole’s cover later this month, and Colorblind next month. I’m very excited to share them with you, they came out superb — I hope you’re as excited as I am!
And that concludes this blog post.
Wishing you all the best,
Stay safe and well!
~B.S.Roberts
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December 31, 2020
2020—A Year in Review
First and foremost, let’s give a collective sigh that 2020 is finally over. Now knock on wood that the worst of the decade is behind us.
With that, despite 2020 being gods-awful, I have to admit that writing wise, it’s been pretty good to me! So, here’s a post reviewing what I managed to accomplish this year:
Allodasos
My fantasy novella series, Allodasos, was picked up by DLG for publication online! I signed a contract for ten novellas, all of which I have plotted out. Of these, the first, Gnats, had gone through many stages of edits. Enough that I was on the verge of ripping my hair and/or eyeballs out. It was brutal, but enlightening. Gnats will be released in the next couple of months, I’ll let you know as soon as there is a solid release date.
The second and third books of the series (Sinkhole and Colorblind, respectively) are in various stages of edit and the fourth novella is half written. Expect more updates on these in the near future. Especially Sinkhole, that one may have a cover being revealed sooner than later!
I also released on my website a short story/monologue by Allodasos’s protagonist. You can read “Eva’s Exposition” here!
The Wizard’s Staff
Because I put aside Allodasos, book 4, to work on editing Gnats, I decided to do a quick little satire/parody novellete. The Wizard’s staff is the unfortunate lovechild of a LitRPG, cheesy romance, and DnD campaign gone wrong. I’ve been told I’m a horrible person for writing it and that the world is worse of with it than without. I’m taking this as a serious compliment. This story will be self-published on Amazon by the beginning of March 2021 under Macy Blush, the fictional author who hired me. Unsurprisingly, there’s a story there.
Short Stories
In 2020, I had four(!) short stories published. Of these were:
“A Matter of Time” in the 101 Proof Horror anthology by Haunted MTL;
“Morning Air” in 50-Word Stories;
“Blowing off the Dust” in 50-Word Stories;
And “Destroying the Evidence” in From the Depths.
Poetry
In addition to these narratives, I had six poems published in various literary magazines, both online and in print. These include:
“Light” in GRIFFEL;
“Weekends” in What Rough Beast: COVID-19 Edition;
“Old Tin Cup” in Alchemy Literary Magazine;
“The Bruising Light” in the first batch of Maya’s Micros of The Closed Eye Open;
“Finality” in AntiLang;
And “Insomnolence” in AntiLang.
Non-Fiction
This year I also completed my online Master’s dissertation, “Molly Ockett as a Folkloric Figure”. This thesis project was creating utilizing ArcGIS StoryMaps and explores how Molly Ockett is seen by the modern population and what that means for both her story and the relationship between the white mainstream culture and the Native community.
I also uploaded my tongue-in-cheek research findings “Hitting the sack: Does striking a bag effectively diminish fatigue and its effects? An idiom examined.” This experiment was conducted using proper research and the scientific method. You can find it on Research Gate filed under the DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27916.13449.
The Rejection Counter
And where would I be without my trusty rejection counter? The end of 2020 has brought this infuriating little ticker up to 193 rejected submissions which include 71 unique works encompassing poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.
2021
I’m looking forward to 2021, I already have some projects slated for release next year in various magazines on top of Gnats, and I’m still sending out those submissions. You’ll be receiving updates as soon as I do, so stay tuned!
Freeland Professional Critiquer
Oh yeah, and I also became a freelance professional critiquer on CritiqueMatch.com. If your looking at a new set of eyes to go over your own writing, check me out there—my rates are low, and critiques are highly rated!
A New’s Year Gift
Last, but not least, here’s some art that I made of Stoneface, one of the antagonists in Gnats. In case you couldn’t tell, he’s a stone troll.
With that, I bid adieu. I hope you all have a wonder New Year. Stay safe and healthy!
~B.S.Roberts
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December 18, 2020
“Destroying the Evidence”
Hi everybody!
Just letting you know that issue 18 of From the Depths was released yesterday. It features my 20-word microfiction “Destroying the Evidence” in its Penny Fiction category! You can download the magazine here—right now its free! Or, if you prefer, you can order it in print for $17.99. “Destroying the Evidence” can be found on page 48.
The Penny Fiction section of the magazine can also be purchased in poster format by clicking here—digital downloads are $2, print posters are $8.
I wish you all Happy Holidays and a new year better much better than 2020!
Stay safe and healthy,
~B.S.Roberts
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November 16, 2020
AntiLang vol. 8
The eighth volume of The Anti-Languorous Project’s journal AntiLang has just been released and it features two of my poems– “Insomnolence,” and “Finality”!
Issues seven and eight of AntiLang will be published together in print in the next couple of months – I’ll be sure to create a link to purchase it when it does.
Thanks for your support,
Stay safe and well!
~B.S.Roberts
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