E.B. Roshan's Blog: This, That and the Other, page 5

Shards of Sevia Series Trivia #3

Many characters’ names are borrowed from people I know in real life, including relatives. However, to avoid awkward conversations, I made sure their personalities, physical appearance, etc. did not match the originals.

Preenalaya “Preen” and Kiva’s names are both invented by me. Every other name is a real-world name with either West/Central Asian or Slavic origins, depending on whether the character is ethnically Sevian or Tur.

Erkan’s name was originally spelled Arkan. Since I already had an important secondary character called Arjun, I decided to modify the spelling in later drafts to avoid confusion.

Oksana’s name was originally spelled Oxsana, because a friend spelled her name that way. However, the redundant “s” kept bugging me, so I eventually changed it.

Smashwords Holiday Sale

The Smashwords Holiday Book Sale Event begins today (December 15) and runs through the New Year. It’s a great opportunity to get hundreds of books for low prices, or even free.

I had the fun of giving away almost a hundred books during the course of their summer sale, and have high hopes of finding even more new readers during the chilly months.

You can find the main page for their sale HERE…

And my books specifically HERE.

Note: My first children’s comic book, MAZE, was not available during the summer sale, but it’s available now!

Favorites

I’m delighted to share that Nadine Keels of PRISMATIC PROSPECTS included my historical cozy mystery, Orchidelirium, as one of her Top Reads of 2023.

Check it out HERE, and maybe it will become one of your favorites for 2024…

Black Friday Sale

Once again, my books and I are taking part in the Perry Kirkpatrick Black Friday Sale! Click HERE for a whole lot (and I mean a WHOLE LOT) of great reads for only .99 cents, available Friday through Monday.

Tea

Somehow, sitting down to write with a cup of tea beside me (milk, no sugar) makes the whole process more satisfying. Maybe that’s why so many of my characters end up drinking tea, too.

Anna meets Boris when he accidentally spills hot tea on her at a cafe…

Opal begins her tentative (but on the whole, cordial) friendship with Leonidas at a tea party…

I even entitled the short memoir covering a particularly topsy-turvy period of my life “Tea Parties on the Ceiling.”

But did you know that, in all the world, there are essentially only two words for “tea?” Find out why HERE.

Your Mental Dictionary

HERE’s a fascinating look at your very own personal dictionary, the unique one that you carry everywhere you go… conveniently inside your brain.

Shards of Sevia Series Trivia #2: Themes

The Shards of Sevia series is unique, not least in the fact that it can be read in two ways—as a six-book series, or as three interlinked duologies:

Books 1 and 4 tell the story of Anna and Boris. Their theme is Trust.

Books 2 and 5 tell the story of Preen, Rama and Kiva. Their theme is Forgiveness.

Books 3 and 6 (in progress) tell the story of Dunya and Radoslav. Their theme is Hope.

Shards of Sevia Series Trivia #1

Contrary to popular rumor, the Southeast European nation of Sevia does not exist. If it did, it would be on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, a little northwest of the Crimean Peninsula in Russia.

The Tur people also do not exist. If they did, they would have originated as an alliance of nomadic tribes from Central Asia who moved west instead of south and accomplished a Mongol-like takeover of Southeast Europe and Turkey in the 1700’s. So much cooler than the Ottoman Empire! Or not.

Wordle

I love word games and puzzles. They’re always fun, and occasionally addictive…like the daily Wordle from the New York Times. Check it out HERE and start playing. Can you guess the five-letter word of the day in less than six tries?

Cover Wars

If you’re not already familiar with this fun online contest, you should go check it out HERE. Each week, the Author Shout website displays ten book covers, and you can vote on your favorite. No need to have read the book, this contest is based on cover art merit alone.

Since I design my own covers, I was especially interested to see how they compare. And the answer is…not amazingly well, but not so badly, either.