Nancy S. Brandt's Blog, page 2

Used book store haul

I subscribe to a YouTube channel called Books Unbound and today I watched some of her first videos. One of them was a huge book haul she'd gotten from a used book store. I suddenly had the urge to visit my favorite used book store, Book Trader, in Baton Rouge. The first time I walked through the door of this store, I knew it was home! It's exactly the kind of used book store I was looking for. There was another one I visited near the LSU campus because someone my husband worked with had a credit with them and had to move away. It was nice but more geared toward academics, rare book buyers and literary types.

Book Trader is for US - readers of popular fiction. It's wonderful.

I texted Juliette and after lunch, while the boys were playing Disc Golf, we went. I had over $20 in credit, which Juliette and I split and we still spent about $35 each. This is what I got.

Changless by Gail Carriger, book two of the Parasol Protectorate. Book one, Souless, is on my Nook. It was a free or reduced price book and these have been on my Amazon.com wish list forever, so I was excited to get book one! Today even more excited to get book two.

Possession and All Soul's Night by Jennifer Armintrout. Okay, so there's a story here. I read the first one in the Blood Ties series quite a while ago, and when I found Jennifer here on Facebook, lots of things transpired which has me convinced that we would be good, good friends. I found Possession which is Book Two, but they didn't have Book Three. Juliette said, "Well, here's Book Four, and you need to get it anyway." So, I did.

Stolen by Kelley Armstrong. I loved Bitten and have been looking for Stolen. I didn't see it in the paranormal section though there was one of the later books in the series. Juliette, who turned me on to Kelley, found Stolen in the Sci-fi/Fantasy section and gave it to me.

The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith. I came to the TV show late, and I have heard that the book is better, so I'm willing to give it a shot.

Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb. Read Assassin's Apprentice and have Royal Assassin so here's the third one. Also got Ship of Magic by Robin. This looks good and Juliette is jealous because she wants to read Robin, too.

The Wife Test, The Husband Test and the Marriage test by Betina Krahn. I love Betina and her My Warrior's Heart is one of my favorite books and one of only about three books that I've read more than once (not counting Gone with the Wind). I met her once and told her that and she said My Warrior's Heart was one of her favorite to write even if it wasn't one of her better known titles.

Last, a three book series by Yasmin Galenorn - The Witchling, the Changling and the Darkling. These were on the counter and Juliette read the first two and said they were "cute." So, why not?

All this for about $35. I'm pretty happy about it!
Changeless
PossessionAll Souls' NightStolenThe Vampire DiariesAssassin's QuestThe Wife TestThe Husband TestThe Marriage TestShip of MagicWitchlingChangelingDarkling

Friday Fragments - 1 Jun 2012

---Well, Sword & Illusion was supposed to be released yesterday, but we were having some cover issues. Mainly, we didn't get the cover art form until just last week, and Steve had some problems with the cover they originally sent. I kinda did, too, but I'm not as visual as he is, so I wasn't as picky about it. I was happy to have a cover at all.

---I think we have a cover we love and I'll post a picture of it as soon as we get a final one, without watermarks and all that. I'm hoping the book will be released any minute now.

---I do have to say that the covers Astraea has are pretty fabulous, especially for an epress. Not that there's any inherent inferiority. Quite the opposite, but epubs generally don't have the budget of bigger publishers so sometimes the cover quality suffers. Not that I see here.

---Noah and I made an impromptu trip to New Orleans in the middle of the week. Steve had a business meeting in the city Tuesday and it turns out that everyone he was traveling with was spending the night. They'd all said they weren't going to and didn't bother to tell him when they changed their minds. Then he found out that because he is a big important guy with CCT, he was expected to be at the meetings Wednesday, too. He hadn't planned on this, so he called and asked if Noah and I wanted to come and spend the night. What he really needed was clothes for the next day, toiletries and pajamas. Oh, and a ride home!

---We went and actually had a good time. Noah loved the fancy hotel with the "futuristic" elevators. There was a small computer screen at the elevator bank and you pressed the floor you wanted to go to. A voice would tell you which elevator would take you there. Then there were no buttons inside the elevator. It was pretty cool.

---The rest of the week was pretty quiet. Nothing unusual. It was Noah's first week of summer vacation and we're still working out how that's going to work out.

---He took his first "let's check it out" Karate lesson. I think this is something he'll want to do, but not at the place we went. It was 30 minutes from our house in the midst of rush hour. A friend of his is going to one closer to us, so we're going to check that one out. I think this'll be good for him, if for nothing more than the "Yes, Sir!" stuff. He needs to have it reinforced outside of the house that you obey instantly, not twenty minutes later.

---Today, I'm going to work on Pigsty Princess and I think do some work on Sword & Incantation, the sequel to Sword & Illusion. I'm pretty excited about it!

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Sword & Illusion non-release day

This was the day I thought I'd see S&I released, but proof reading and cover issues have prevented that. SO... instead, here's just a little taste.

This is a scene of our villain(s) -

As Rillaur finished his dinner with Sage Duruno that evening, a man walked into his private dining room unannounced.
The visitor had been expected, but not until the next morning. He had shoulder length blond hair, a youngish looking face that made the king well aware of his own age, and amber-colored eyes that seemed to reach into Rillaur's soul and find his vulnerabilities.
His eyes alone were enough to make most men step a bit to the side as he passed, but tonight, his black trousers and matching silk shirt made him almost the human twin of the raven perched on his shoulder.
As though aware of the impression he gave, he wore a cocky grin on his face.
Rillaur had a moment of shock at the sudden appearance of the man but composed himself almost instantly. After using Vaurt on several occasions, he should have expected this kind of arrival.
"Duruno," Rillaur said, turning to the Sage, "Please give me a moment alone with our guest."
There was no response. The king repeated his request, but Duruno sat slumped over in his chair with his meal on his lap.
Rillaur stood to check on him.
"Don't bother," Vaurt said.
Startled, the king looked at Vaurt who smiled.
"I believe that Duruno's ale was too strong for him. He will remain asleep for the next two hours at least."
"You poisoned him?"
The assassin shrugged one shoulder as though to pass off a well-deserved compliment.
Dropping into his seat, Rillaur stared at his half empty mug. Duruno's ale had been on the same tray as his own.
"I wouldn't worry about your drink." Vaurt sat in a chair on the other end of the table. The raven flew off his shoulder and found a perch on top of a nearby bookcase.
"I only put the sleeping draught in the Dragonspeaker's drink."
Vaurt met the king's eyes and held them. "I didn't want to have a witness to our conversation."
Rillaur swallowed. The poison that had rendered Duruno unconscious might just as easily have killed King Rillaur himself.Nancy S. BrandtSword & Illusion

Teaser Tuesday - 29 May 2012

Sorry I didn’t get Teaser Tuesday done last week, and right after I said I wanted to make this a regular thing. I woke up last week so sick I didn’t have the energy to turn on the computer.

But I’m better today, so here is your teaser for Sword & Illusion. Oh, just to keep you updated, I spent all day yesterday doing line edits – two rounds of them. I have one more set to do today, although the email I got last night said it wasn’t much, just some clean-up things from the last two sets. Then the book goes on to proof-reading. We also got a mock-up cover, but we had some issues with it. Not big ones, but kind of important ones, so we don’t know yet what the cover will look like. I’m really eager to see it and share it with you all.

Okay, that said, let’s get on with the Teaser for today. This scene focuses on my hero, Prince Varian of Tellan. He is on his way to participate in the Choosing Rituals but is distracted by “a damsel in distress.” This scene is my response to Steve telling me my hero had to be more “heroic.”

“The free mead was nice, but you’d think they’d build a tavern, at least. After all, travelers might want a place to rest their feet and something warm to put in their stomachs to keep them going on their trip in this frozen wasteland.”
“What are you on about?” Varian said, turning to his valet. “Can’t you hear that child crying?’
“What about it? Probably hungry. I’m sure the brat’s mother will handle it. Can we please turn back? I don’t want to freeze my manhood off before we get to Cool Trails.”
“No.” Varian shook his head. “That is not the sound of a hungry child. Something’s wrong.”
He kicked his horse’s side, and the animal increased speed. They headed toward the wailing.
“Sire,” Anthelme called. “Please. Cool Trails in the other direction.”
Varian ignored the other man and rode into the scraggly forest, his horse stepping as quickly and carefully as he could over the broken branches and small, virtually invisible ice patches.
After a few moments, during which the crying never ceased, he found himself near what must be a storage shed on the edge of a small clearing cut in the forest. The sound of the child crying came from the other side of the building and now he could also hear what sounded like a woman moaning.
Anthelme and his horse came out of the forest next to him.
“What is this place?” the valet asked.
“Clearly, someone lives here,” the Prince said. “Come on.”
“Sire,” Anthelme said. “We need to get to the Exalted Warrior’s Tower before nightfall. The instructions were quite explicit. If we are late, you will be disqualified from the Rituals.”
Varian was already on the other side of the greenhouse where a well stood. The crying seemed to be coming from inside the well, but the source of the moaning was a woman, dressed in what looked like set of leather body covering, lying on the ground, a large wound in her leg and her arm at an unnatural angle beneath her.
The Prince jumped off his horse and rushed over to the woman. As he knelt beside her, he was surprised to see that she was conscious. He’d seen large men, soldiers by trade, with smaller injuries who had passed out from the pain.
“My child, my daughter,” the woman gasped, grabbing Varian’s cloak with her good hand, which was covered with blood. He assumed it had come from her leg wound.
He grabbed the scarf from his neck and wrapped it around her wound, even though the bleeding had slowed. He hoped it was a result of the cold and not that she had lost too much blood.
“My daughter,” she said, pushing his hands away from their ministrations. “She is in the well. It is deep. She fell. I tried…” The effort to speak was too much for her, and she collapsed.
“Anthelme,” Varian called, checking that the woman still lived. “Hold this here to stop the bleeding.”
The valet, sobered by what he saw, hurried to the Prince’s side. “I will find something to splint her arm.”
Varian shook his head. “Deal with the bleeding first. We don’t want to move her any more than necessary.”
As soon as he was sure Anthelme had everything with the woman under control, he stood up and went over to the well.
The inside was so dark he couldn’t see the child, but he could hear her crying. His heart lurched as he realized that the sound was fainter than before.
“How long has she been down there?” he asked, looking over his shoulder at the woman who watched him.
“Most of the day,” the woman said, her voice breaking. She stifled a sob and continued, “I was gathering wood for the fire and Moonwhisper was playing. I carried a load into the house, and just as I came out, I saw her climb up and fall over the side. I raced to try to catch her but slipped on a patch of ice.” She motioned with her head toward a glassy path in the snow.
“I lost control and slid into the stones on this side of the well. One of the sharp ones gashed my leg, and when I fell, I must have broken my arm.”
“You rest now,” Anthelme said. “We’ll take care of everything.”

Miscellany Monday - Memorial Day

I’m guessing Meet me on Monday isn’t running anymore as the blog that sponsored it seems to be “stuck” at a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll do this one. Just a bit of Miscellany to talk about.

1. This week seemed to have a Fifty Shades of Grey theme. It is NOT a book I plan to read, but my daughter did, as have several people I know, including some very devout Catholic women. Not having read it, I don’t want to try to comment on it other than to say that if you wan to read a book about a relationship, try any romance novel, not a book about a domination and bondage. That’s not love – that’s use.

2. This erotic “theme” has given me a lot to think about. If you follow this blog, or know me on Facebook or whatever, you know that I write “clean” or “wholesome” or whatever you want to call it. My daughter says I’m “innocent.” I think she means that in a good way, but actually, I’ve been wondering if my friends/other writers look at me as a naive/prudish author. I don’t think I am. I have defended erotic authors when RWA didn’t want them to include their promotional items on the goody table because they might “offend” people. I knew it was a short jump from that rule to one that said that Christian authors couldn’t include crosses or Bibles on their materials because it might “offend” someone.

Still though, I have had people I thought were my friends tell me that they “know” what kind of book I would/would not like to read. I’ve had people email me or comment on Facebook that “that’s not your kind of book.” I don’t tell anyone that. Is it because I don’t write sex scene that people think they know what I read or don’t read? Am I so “naive” that I have to have other people tell me what to read or not read? I don’t mean my daughter, who knows me well. Actually my “real” friends would never do that. The people who say those things are people who are casual friends or people who only know me from the Internet.

Is there as much a stigma in writing clean as in writing graphic?

I don’t know. Thoughts, my friends?

Thirteen Authors

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