Ruth Nestvold's Blog, page 3

Two new books written with Jay Lake finally published!

Shortly before the recent theatrics with the Amazon Content Review Team (see my blog posts here and here) I finally got around to publishing two works I wrote with Jay Lake before he died. There are a number of reasons why it took me so long — Jay died in 2014, after all, shortly before what would have been his 50th birthday. Not only was I working on Second Contact at the time of his death, there were all the complications of a publication with shared revenue to take into consideration. Since h...

All’s well that ends well?

Looks like calling Amazon’s customer service atrocious and sending them a link to yesterday’s blog post did the trick. Last night I got an email — that seemed to be from an actual person! — that Oregon, Elsewise had been approved, and my documentation for my publishing rights was sufficient. I even got an apology for the “inconveniences.”

It’s interesting, though, that I had to start getting nasty before anyone with more than two peas for brains (or possibly anyone at all?) took a look at my...

Looks Like “Oregon, Elsewise” Will Soon No Longer Be Available on Amazon

For a surprisingly long time, Amazon has been surprisingly nice to me. When I request changes and / or additions to my categories, the changes are made much faster than they used to be, and when a category is turned down, the reason makes sense. When I write to price match a book to make it free in order to promote other books in a series, the response has been prompt, and on occasion I have even been wished good luck with my sales.

Now, unfortunately, I find myself in another skirmish with A...

New Historical Fantasy: In the Shadow of Helios

Happy new year, everyone! A little late, I realize, but I’ve been busy. This week, I published a new book, In the Shadow of Helios. The really good news? It’s free until Jan. 26!

Mage Kalandra believes she is leading an ideal life — until she learns her husband died trying to run away with another man’s wife. And now she’s plotting revenge on a dead man, with no thought to the consequences for her people or her home …

In a world where Rome never ruled, the Christian religion remained ...

Announcing the 3rd and final book in The Glassmakers trilogy

I’m pleased to announce that Shards of Glass, Book 3 in The Glassmakers series, is now available as both ebook and paperback.

Forced to flee Venice once again, Chiara and Pasquale hope to find a place for themselves among the witches and glassmakers of London. But when Chiara learns that Dowager Princess Zilia is throwing so-called hidden purveyors of magic into prison – including their friends and relatives – she knows she can no longer run. She and her loved ones will never be safe ...

Announcing my first Kindle Vella, Dragon Touched

You’ve probably heard about Amazon’s new serial fiction offering, Kindle Vella. “Vellas” are stories told in episodes between 600 and 5000 words long. The first three episodes of a Vella are always free to read, but if you want to read on, you have to purchase tokens. Amazon does give its customers 200 tokens to try out the service. The number of tokens needed to read an episode are based on the length — an author has no say in the price charged. Packages of tokens range in price from $1.99 for ...

A New Book (Finally!): Facets of Glass

I am pleased to announce that the second book in the Glassmakers trilogy, Facets of Glass, is now available on most ebook retailers.

When Chiara Dragoni learns that her beloved stepsister Minerva has been enchanted by a witch in the service of her enemies, she must leave the safety of Bohemia and return to Venice, where her life is in danger. Will she be able to break the spell without being caught by the Dowager Princess?

Amazon: http://www.Amazon.com/dp/B08YFJ1H9Y/?tag=ruthnest-20
B&N...

The Voice Germany Senior: My granddaughter’s art teacher

We just had a very exciting evening here in our living room in Bad Cannstatt. Since Mira’s mom wanted to watch “Tatort” (a German crime series) like she does every Sunday, the granddaughter came over to watch “The Voice Senior” with us — a new format for singers over 60. And one of the old folks who had made it into a team was her art teacher, also the guy who plays the guitar for her school band.

Here’s the link to his performance of “Smoke on the Water” (I can’t seem to embed it):

https:...

Genre Tropes and the Transmissibility of Story

By Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold

Story is not automatically story, especially when dealing with genre and its tropes. Trope can be a rather difficult concept to grasp, seeing as it includes so many different elements in literature. For the purpose of this article, we are using the term “trope” in the sense of a familiar and repeated symbol, meme, theme, motif, style, character or thing that is common in a particular type of literature. Such tropes are closely related to genre. Examples of this k...

New Blog Feature: Reprinting IROSF Columns Written with Jay Lake

Almost 15 years ago now, Jay Lake and I started writing a (mostly) monthly column in IROSF (Internet Review of Science Fiction), which we kept up for over three years. Topics varied from writing advice to observations on genre to literary criticism in the broadest sense.

Even after IROSF folded, they maintained archives so that the articles they had published could still be accessed. Just recently, however, I received an email from someone who had followed a link to one of our pieces and cou...