R.M. Archer's Blog, page 48
May 31, 2018
Book Review: The Stealthmaster’s Shadow by Hope Ann
The Stealthmaster’s Shadow is finally here! Hope Ann’s latest novella will be available for Kindle tomorrow for $2.99. The links are down below. She’d love to sell 50 copies tomorrow, so let’s see if we can help her out with that. :)
It’s been ten confounded years since the war ended.
Verus, a retired soldier, determines to enforce the peace the victory ought to have brought. His wanderings bring him to the city of Nerva, a sprawling riverside chaos no other Stealthmaster will touch.
Commandeering the task of a former comrade, Verus presents himself to the governor and promises to search out hidden Subverters. The true reason for his actions he keeps to himself. After all, the tyrannical governor will hardly approve of lending aid to those pitted against him, but the Subverters need information. Maybe even weapons.
The wishes of the Subverters themselves are immaterial. They weren’t there during the war. They didn’t see the horrors Tauscher spread.
Verus has.
So has the new ambassador from Zahavia who strides through the great doors of the feasting hall, bringing Verus face to face with nightmares from his past.
As the simple mission dissolves into confusion, Verus struggles to help those he’s plunged into danger, from a serving lad to the infuriating woman he’s taken to calling “Princess.” Fleeing will only make the enemy stronger. But staying…
Staying could doom them all.
Review
The Stealthmaster’s Shadow is set in the same world as Hope Ann’s three other novellas: Rose of the Oath, Song of the Sword, and Rose of the Night. I personally have yet to read those, but if they’re anything like this one then I look forward to reading them.
For me this novella was an introduction to a deep fantasy world and engaging characters. The world is clearly well thought-out, with well-designed political tensions and an allegorical religious system.
Some of the characters were less engaging than others, as is the case with all stories, but overall I was able to really enjoy them. Verus’ skill and dark sense of humor made him fun to read.
I did think that some of the relationships were a little rushed and we didn’t get to see quite as much basis to them as I might have liked, but some of that may have been due to me not absorbing what I read as well on a computer as on a Kindle or print book. (It’s a really weird and annoying thing about me.)
Hope Ann’s descriptions were excellent, bringing out the key elements of the characters and settings so they were easy to visualize and immersing you in the action. I would have liked a bit more description of Verus, but his personality made him easy to visualize, for me.
Overall this was a lovely book and I definitely recommend it. :)
About the Author
Hope Ann uses chocolate to bribe a wide ring of spies, from the realm leapers of Aslaria to the double agents of Elkbend, for their stories. Based in Indiana, she is the self-published author of the Legends of Light series, personal writing coach, and the Communications Coordinator for Story Embers. You can find out more about her at authorhopeann.com.
May 29, 2018
Bookworm Q&A Tag
I was chosen for this tag by Hallie Jenkins back in late March and totally missed it until last Wednesday when I was poking around my Twitter notifications. Oops.
Hallie is awesome and you should definitely go follow her blog. If you need any proof of her awesomeness just read the warning on her “About” page. (I was not bribed to say this with chocolate or books or any other form of compensation. ;) )
Q1: What books do you remember reading that kick-started your bookworm habit?
The Boxcar Children and Nancy Drew, back in the very beginning. When I got into fantasy it was with Terry Brooks’ Magic Kingdom of Landover and Shannara books.
Q2: What genre, or genres, would you normally choose?
Fantasy and dystopian, mainly.
Q3: Do you eat while you read and if yes, what exactly?
Nope. Not usually. There’s too much risk of food getting on the pages. XD
Q4: Are there any scenes from your favorite novels that you remember vividly?
Um, quite a few? But they’re scattered all over the place. I guess I’m supposed to pick one, so I suppose the scene in Echoes… Gosh, there are a lot of those that a remember quite well. XD I’m torn between the one where she’s going to lunch in her fancy peach and white outfit and the one where she saves Natan’s bible. But there are so many great scenes!
Q5: Were there any least favorites?
The Maze Runner series by James Dashner (you can read all about why I thought that was poor writing in this post) and The Collective by R.S. Williams (I have a full review of this one). And also Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes (which also has a review).
Q6: So, as you’re a bookworm, what are you reading currently today? (Optional)
The Darkling Child by Terry Brooks. (I’m still reading his Shannara books after almost nine years.)
Q7: How’s it getting along for you? (Optional)
It’s taken me quite a while to get to this point (I slacked off on reading for a long while there. *collective gasp* Blasphemy!) but I’m at the beginning of chapter twenty-five of twenty-seven.
Q8: Have you then got a large bookshelf, or do you plan to?
I have a single tall bookshelf which is filled about 3/5ths of the way with books and then 2/5ths with school stuff, notebooks, and various other paper materials.
Q9: Do you have a liking to indie or traditional books?
I like supporting indie books because I’m an indie author and plan to be for a long while, but I don’t think I especially have a preference. Either can be really good or really bad or mediocre.
Q10: And lastly, do you plan to promote reading in some way, or already are?
I’m going to steal Hallie’s answer to this and say “Writing books for people to read,” but I don’t promote reading otherwise. (You can see all of Hallie’s answers here.) Unless you count pushing my youngest two siblings (of those who can read) to start the Mandie series because I thought they’d enjoy it. It felt really cool to hand-pick something for them. ^-^
And I nominate…
Hannah at Ink Blots and Coffee Stains
Ruby at {The Sky Calls us Home}
May 27, 2018
Snippet Sunday: Wonderland
After reading Heartless by Marissa Meyer, both Allegra and I wanted to write a story set in Wonderland, so we decided to collaborate one one. (I’ve mentioned this story in a post here on Scribes & Archers – “My Experience With Collaboration” – and also a couple of posts on Our Mind Palace – “Drawing Portfolio” and “Co-Writing and Collaboration.”) The idea is that the main characters of Wonderland are dying, and eight people from the real world are brought in to take their places, but they have to go on a quest to find various relics representing the characters first. Here are the first two sections of the prologue, which introduce my POV character and Allegra’s (in that order). Enjoy. :)
Chess tucked her earbuds into place and turned the volume wheel up to almost blasting. Her amber eyes, almost orange, glanced out the window at the falling rain before she headed out of the apartment, closing the door behind her without bothering to lock it. There was a strange feeling telling her she’d be gone for a while and wouldn’t have to worry about it.
Stepping to the end of the hall she gave the elevator only a passing glance before heading into the stairwell and heading down, her steps echoing through the empty shaft. The music pulsed through her as she shoved open the door at the base of the stairwell. A few more steps brought her out of the apartment building and onto the sidewalk.
She looked up at the sky and let the raindrops fall on her face, closing her eyes. The combination of music and rain calmed her like nothing else could, and she stood there reveling in it for several minutes.
When she looked back at the street, it was entirely empty. No cars, no buses, no trucks. Neon advertisements still flashed on skyscrapers up and down the street, but the only thing on the concrete was rainwater. It glistened and reflected the flashing lights, giving off a familiar, almost otherworldly atmosphere.
Chess looked up and down the street, but there wasn’t a single vehicle in view. There weren’t even people on the sidewalks, except for herself. Oddly enough, Chess wasn’t disturbed by this fact, though she knew she should be. In fact, it put her strangely at peace. She hesitated only a moment before stepping out onto the concrete and straight into the middle of the street.
Spinning around once, rather hesitantly, she extended her arms and let the warm rainwater drop onto her skin. After that she looked around and saw that she was still alone. She grinned, a big Cheshire Cat grin, and spun around several times again. When she’d completed those turns she smiled down at the concrete.
There was a large puddle at her feet, just a few inches from her black combat boots. Her reflection smiled back up at her, her soft face framed by a blue bob of hair, shiny sunglasses perched atop her head.
Feeling joyful and childlike, she stepped into the puddle, and immediately was drawn into it.
Now she was almost frightened. She tried to scramble back before she could sink further, but the puddle had a tight hold on her, and she was drawn down through the concrete. Down, down, down, down, into a drop that seemed to be never-ending. Colors swirled around her like dancing ribbons, until finally after what seemed like a century her feet landed on something firm.
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Hartley peered down over the edge of her spot on top of the lockers.
Any time now.
The school bell rang out and kids flooded the hall. Hartley set her sights on two. A short brown-haired boy, Jacob, and a tall blond one, Ethan, both wearing football team hats.
Just a bit closer.
The two passed under her and stopped at their lockers, right below her perch.
“Gotcha!”
Hartley leapt off the lockers in a somersault, grabbing their horrendous hats of their heads and landing square on her feet behind them.
“I’ve told you boys not to wear such offensive attire in my presence!” She grinned and plopped both hats on her head at odd angles. Her wild black curly hair dyed multiple colors stuck out of every crevice it could find.
“Hattie!” Jacob cried her nickname, seemingly in anguish, though his eyes twinkled with laughter, “Give us our caps back!”
He made a grab for Hartley’s head and she danced away, ducking under Ethan’s outstretched fingers.
“Nope! Maybe I’ll just toss them in the trash!”
“You’d be mad to do that!” Ethan this time, an aggravated tone in his voice.
“As a hatter.” She grinned again, as she danced around Ethan’s hand once more into the flow of traffic. “Speaking of hats, you may or may not see these again. Good bye!”
Hartley melted into the rushing mass of kids going to their respective classes, stopping only once at her locker to store her prizes and grab her sketchbook for painting class. She had discovered a picture last night and wanted to copy it into the picture she had started last week for their study on acrylics.
She hummed mindlessly as she slid down the familiar banister to the lower level. Jumping off in a flawless turn, sending her multicolored skirt twirling against her striped leggings.
Silly silly girl, why don’t you dress like normal?
Hattie could pick out the common whispers condemning her odd fashion choices from the dense group around her. She just hummed louder.
The bell rang again and she slipped into her class. Her painting rested on the easel in the very back corner of the room. “Closest to the paint,” she always thought.
On the canvas was a painting of an elaborate pond, only the outside of the pond was filled in, the pond itself was her masterpiece.
Hattie tugged the printed photo out of the front of the duct taped sketchbook she had set on the table next to her. Bright orange goldfish swam around in a dream-like landscape. Each one looked almost like they were glowing. She smiled. She was planning on painting these glowing otherworldly fish into the pond.
Picking up her paintbrush she dipped the tip into some orange paint. Turning back to her painting she took a step back, blue-green eyes wide. The pond was already painted!
Setting down the brush, Hattie reached for the center of the pond.
“ But how..?”
When her fingers should have made contact with the surface of the paint, her hand sunk into the picture itself. Hattie felt herself being pulled into the painting. She resisted with all her might, but the pull of the other side was too strong.
Before too long she was completely inside, surrounded on all sides with something that reminded her of a kaleidoscope. A few fearful moments later, she landed on her front on something hard.
May 24, 2018
My Second Newsletter
I got antsy to write a blog post and I realized I haven’t told you about my new newsletter (separate from the one you can sign up for in the sidebar). It’s a street team newsletter, which means that by signing up you get instant updates of my publishing process when there’s a big change and you’re the people I reach out to when a book comes out and I need help promoting it. You’ll have exclusive opportunities to share my books on social media, participate in blog tours, and get advance reader copies of my books for review. Sound cool? You can click this link to sign up.
I’ve also given my original newsletter a total makeover, so it includes a snippet of what I’ve been writing, a quick writing tip, and the short update on my writing that it’s always included. If that sounds interesting and you’re not signed up yet, you can do so using the form in the sidebar and you’ll get immediate access to my writing resource library and the first chapters of The Dark War Trilogy. And if you know anyone who would appreciate the resources in the library (a character profile template, a worldbuilding worksheet, a set of worksheets for ranking ideas, and a NaNoWriMo/Camp NaNoWriMo checklist) please share this post and let them know. :)
A big thank you and welcome to anyone who just signed up (or plans to sign up when this post ends), and thank you to those of you already subscribed as well. :)
May 23, 2018
Character Interview: Torin Outlander
Torin is one of three main characters in The Heart of the Baenor. He’s the least focused-on of those three, but he has a complex backstory and struggle of his own and it’s spotlighted about halfway through the book. He’s a ranger and a dwarf-friend laden with guilt over an accident that happened several years ago. Enjoy his interview. :)
Torin: *takes a seat across from the interviewer, tapping one foot*
Interviewer: Hello. *smiles* How are you?
Torin: Tired.
Interviewer: Mm. I know the feeling. Are you ready to get started?
Torin: *nods*
Interviewer: What is your name?
Torin: Torin Thaine Outlander.
Interviewer: How old are you?
Torin: Thirty-nine.
Interviewer: Do you have any siblings?
Torin: *shakes head*
Interviewer: What’s your job?
Torin: I’m a ranger in the Baenor.
Interviewer: There aren’t many rangers working in the Baenor, are there? Isn’t it the most hazardous place in Kaloris?
Torin: Not if you know it well. Egath-Baen is likely more dangerous.
Interviewer: Rangers are trained in Taur’tahl, right? What made you decide to go to the Baenor?
Torin: *swallows hard, the toe-tapping speeding up* I’d rather not talk about it.
Interviewer: *nods* What is your favorite food?
Torin: I don’t have one.
Interviewer: Do you have a favorite color?
Torin: Blue. Like the sky.
Interviewer: Do you have a favorite book?
Torin: *shakes head*
Interviewer: A favorite animal?
Torin: *shakes head*
Interviewer: Do you have any hobbies?
Torin: I spend my time tracking, hunting, trapping, sometimes mining with the dwarves. I like to keep busy with work.
Interviewer: For any particular reason?
Torin: *shrugs, but his tapping is speeding up again* Again, I’d rather not talk about it.
Interviewer: Which of these is most important to you: Kindness, intelligence, or bravery?
Torin: Kindness.
Interviewer: And honesty or selflessness?
Torin: Selflessness.
Interviewer: What’s something you can’t leave camp without?
Torin: A knife. *the tapping speeds up*
Interviewer: That was the last question. *smiles* Thank you for your time.
Torin: *gets up and leaves*
May 22, 2018
6 of My Favorite Blogs
I follow a lot of writing blogs. A lot. A few of them I end up following and then either forgetting about or just not liking, but there are quite a few that I follow rather religiously. I will snap up just about anything they write, because I’ve grown to trust them and trust the quality of their writing. And these are the blogs I’ll be sharing today. (My originally list was thirteen, but then I decided to narrow it down to just those that I follow closest.) They’re in no particular order.
1. Well-Storied
Formerly known as She’s Novel, Well-Storied is a blog I’ve followed for a very long time. Kristen is an awesome blogger, and Well-Storied has a podcast if that’s more your thing.
2. Ink Blots and Coffee Stains
I started this one and then got distracted on one of Hannah’s Pinterest boards. (She has awesome Pinterest boards.) Her blog has been super helpful to me on multiple occasions, the main posts that stand out being her worldbuilding series and her most recent post on discipline.
3. Hannah Heath
I’m sure you hear me promote her blog posts way too much in my resource roundups and whatnot, but Hannah is awesome. She’s sarcastic, she’s a huge superhero fan, and she regularly makes pop culture references in her posts. Overall her blog is just super fun to read.
4. Wanderer’s Pen
A big thing on Victoria’s blog is her “So your character is from…” series. She also writes great “Writing lessons from…” posts, and reviews.
5. Quill Pen Writer
Among other things, Melissa writes great worldbuilding posts. She has a whole series of posts that are “Questions to ask when creating…” like “Questions to ask when creating a fantasy religion” or “Questions to ask when creating fictional ethnicities.” They’re all really helpful and thought-provoking.
6. Go Teen Writers
Go Teen Writers has a wide variety of content from three different YA authors: Jill Williamson, Shannon Dittemore, and Stephanie Morrill. They also do an annual 100-for-100 challenge, in which you write 100 words daily for 100 days. This will be my first year participating.
May 20, 2018
Snippet Sunday: Silence
Since this is a short story, it’s tricky to pick out a piece that can work passably by itself, particularly when I’ve already posted two scenes of it in the past (here and here), so this is short and semi-boring. If you enjoy the snippets, though, you can get the full short story along with three others in my Short Story Collection Vol. 1. :)
The rumbling of an eighteen-wheeler vibrated through Fiona’s entire body, a feeling she’d grown accustomed to in the past week. So far there hadn’t been any incidents, and she hoped her parents would be able to figure out what happened. She imagined her room was probably ransacked. Hopefully her parents wouldn’t think she’d been kidnapped. The absence of her backpack and purse would probably tell them that.
The truck pulled to a stop in a gas station parking lot and the driver turned to her. “How much farther do you plan on going?”
She turned to him, brushing a short piece of grayish-brown hair behind her ear. “I can get off here.”
“Are you sure?”
Fiona nodded. “I’ll be fine.” She climbed out, sliding her backpack onto her shoulder. She came around the front of the truck and extended a hand to the driver. “Thank you.”
The burly man nodded, his arm tattoos shifting as he shook her hand. “You’re welcome. Take care of yourself.”
“I’ll do my best.” Fiona adjusted her backpack and headed into the gas station, looking for a bag of trail mix.
May 13, 2018
Snippet Sunday: Scarlett and the Wolf
This story started sometime in late 2015, apparently beginning with a synopsis (that’s unusual for me), and then I worked on it more in-depth as a gift for a secret Santa short story swap that my NaNoWriMo writing group does every year. (Spoiler alert: It didn’t end up short. I never finished it, which I feel bad about to this day because the person I was sending it to never got the whole thing. Although, looking back on my writing, maybe that’s something of a blessing for her? She didn’t have to read too much of that awful writing, lol.) Anyway, I haven’t done much with it since then, but since I’m picking stories randomly for Snippet Sundays now, this was what I ended up with, and I had some fun rewriting it. It’s still pretty cheesy (and somewhat info-dumpy), but the writing style is at least better than it was, and I did trim down the cheesiness, lol. Enjoy. :)
Grey trees rushed by in a blur and Scarlett’s red cloak snagged on rain-soaked branches. There was a single goal in her mind: Get to the treehouse. Don’t think about him yet, don’t think about anything, just get to the treehouse.
She stopped at a gigantic oak and climbed up the rungs into the treehouse they’d built together and, upon reaching the top, leaned against the back wall, rain drizzling down on her. From here she could see everything, a vast expanse of rain-soaked trees and grey sky. Thunder rolled and Scarlett closed her eyes. Why was she even here? He never came. Did he even remember? Eleven years she’d stood in this treehouse, waiting for him just as he’d asked. But he never kept his promise. He never came. Why did she still hold to the shred of hope that he’d show up? Did he really have a reason to come back?
The sound of hoofbeats caught Scarlett’s attention and she looked down into the forest, hoping it wasn’t Susanna – the seamstress – coming to fetch her. A black horse stopped at the oak and the rider dismounted, climbing into the treehouse. It couldn’t be…
He looked at her across the treehouse and her eyes widened. It really was him. Square face, chestnut eyes that had always seemed to be able to see what she was thinking, and cropped hair indicating nobility when he was just an orphan like her.
“Kaysar?” Her voice was quiet, as if speaking would make him vanish.
“Yes, it’s me. But we have to go. I’ve been followed.”
“I didn’t think you’d come-”
“Now.” Kaysar grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the ladder.
“Where are we going?” She followed him down the ladder and he hoisted her onto his horse before mounting himself. She looked behind them, trying to see their pursuers.
“Anywhere but here.” He flicked the reins with a yell and they galloped away.
She grabbed his waist and held on for dear life as they tore through the trees, her cloak snagging and ripping on the branches. This was not how she’d imagined their reunion going. “Who’s chasing us?”
“You know I was taken by The Pack,” he began, referring to the troops of the neighboring kingdom, Dale. “They took me straight to The Wolf’s castle. He told me I’m his son.”
“What?” She was sure the wind in her ears had warped his words.
“I’m his son. He disowned me before I knew him and now he wants me back. I worked for a long time on figuring out his plans and finding a way to get his troops out of Feanor, but they found out and arrested me. I escaped, obviously, and they’re not too happy with me.”
Scarlett realized her cloak was probably serving as a beacon for the Pack and struggled to remove it without falling off the horse, balling it up in her lap. She leaned forward, resting her chin on his shoulder, and watched the trees speed past. “How did you remember me, through all that?”
“How could I forget you?”
May 11, 2018
An Unscheduled Announcement
No, this isn’t an announcement about me. This is an announcement about my awesome friend Melody Jackson and her book, Dragon’s Hope, that’s coming out this year! It’s the third book in her dragon series, and she just revealed the cover and asked if we who follow her and who are in her writing group would share it and of course my answer was a resounding yes. This cover is absolutely GORGEOUS. Like, it got me to use the heart-eyes emoji for the first time level of gorgeous.
But of course I have to keep you in suspense, so here’s the tagline of the synopsis (the rest of the synopsis is apparently SPOILERSSSSSS), and a few short snippets. ;)
Tagline: How can you stand for something when you don’t remember who you are?
Excerpts!
“Do it, Tiel.” His voice was low. Too low. “Save your friend, and me the trouble of coming up with a charge against you. I might not have power over my sister here, but you…” His grin widened. “We both know there’s more to you than meets the eye.”
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She was made of stone, not in the same way that he was. His walls kept people out; hers kept people in. They were a fortress protecting those she most cared about, shielding them from the outside and the pain she felt in her inner being.
How different it would have been, if they had met years earlier. Would they have still recognized the same things in each other?
**************
He hadn’t meant to get attached to this group. They were as ragtag and disjointed as he’d expected them to be, and yet they hadn’t been the only ones to die that night. A piece of him felt painfully, brutally missing, like his capacity to breathe had been stolen away, twice, and he didn’t know how to go on without it.
They had crept into his heart, just partners in this impossible scheme at first. He had been skeptical, but they were all as disillusioned as he was, and yet willing to give it a chance all the same. None of them thought they would be heroes. All of them still considered this a worthwhile pursuit.
It had happened slowly and unwittingly, like tripping over a brick and taking a path you never intended to. Joking words slowly became the entrance for something more, teasing rivalries giving room for a fondness and sincerity that he hadn’t expected from them.
And now for the cover… Drumroll please!
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Isn’t it gorgeous??? :D :D :D I need to get my hands on the first two books, because if I wasn’t hooked before I am now.
*uses Jedi mind trick* You must go out and buy Melody’s books right now. (I’m totally kidding. You shouldn’t need a Jedi mind trick to convince you.) The first two are Dragon’s Bane and Dragon’s Might (and they have super cool covers too, even if Amazon tells you otherwise. Check out her Instagram account if you need proof.)
Also, go follow her everywhere.
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/melodyjauthor/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/melodyjacksonauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelodyJAuthor
And if you want a few more snippets and her own fangirling, go check out her original cover reveal post.
About Melody:
Melody Jackson is a young “crazy dragon lady” and a lover of all things geek. She resides in the rainy state of Oregon with too many books and not enough time to write (or read) them all. When she’s not spinning the tales in her head into stories, she can be found working undercover at a grocery store or gathering intel for her next stories, and food for the dragons.
Dragons need pizza too, you know?
May 10, 2018
Book Review: Iron Core by Rebekah DeVall
Everything will be okay.
Deep in Brancaleone, a prison carved from the mountainside, eighteen-year-old Lunetta plans her escape. Raised behind iron bars, all she wants is freedom – and to take her mother with her.
Iron Core is the first book in a series about Lunetta, and it’s more of a prequel if I understand correctly. It’s somewhere between a short story and a novella – only five chapters – and it does what it’s intended to do in introducing Lunetta and the key people in her life.
My first comment is that it gets a bit tell-y in places, where the author told something that would have been more effectively shown, particularly in regard to Lunetta’s history with Erec.
The dialogue also didn’t feel particularly natural to me in a lot of places, like it was too on-the-nose or didn’t quite fit the relationships between the characters in some spots.
I also felt like it was clipped in a few places, like there could have been more time spent describing places or there could have been more action amidst the dialogue sometimes, and the ending transition felt awkward to me, more like there is no transition. I feel like we needed more lead-up specifically to the transition than there was.
However, I did enjoy this book (I’m just better at pinpointing what I thought was wrong with a book than at pinpointing what was right with it. It’s annoying.) and I’m interested to see more of Lunetta and the world she lives in. I think the characters could probably gain more depth in a longer work, so I’m interested to read the longer stories in Lunetta’s series.
About the author:
Rebekah DeVall prides herself on being the girl who wrote 200,000 words in 21 days. She’s a Christian author with a penchant for killing characters and a love for writing real female protagonists described as “the example of a Christian hero that young readers need to see.”
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rebekah-DeVall-Author-217931808704713/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebekahdevall/
Blog: http://www.rebekahdevall.wordpress.com
