Merry Shannon's Blog, page 6

Pirate Romance Sampler from Bold Strokes Books!

Very excited that Bold Strokes Books has released my novel, Branded Ann, as part of a three-book pirate romance sampler in e-book format, just in time for Christmas! Also included are Colette Moody's The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, and Catherine Friend's award-winning A Pirate's Heart (which, if you read carefully, dear friends, contains a wee reference to Branded Ann, because Catherine Friend is just THAT awesome.) Three swashbuckling lesbian pirate tales for a bargain — snap them up now n' get yer yarrr on!!

Writing Update

Things have been quiet on the blogging/social media front this past month or so, mostly because I've been writing frantically.

The light at the end of the tunnel is beckoning, my friends. I am currently finishing up what I think is the second-to-last chapter of Prayer of the Handmaiden. The big battle is concluded, and there's some sweet lovin' going on at the moment. ^~ Then we just have to wrap things up, and Qiturah has to get in her last word, of course, and then the complete book draft will be finished at long last.

I plan to go back through it over the course of another month or so, especially the later chapters, for some deep-cleaning, and then it will be time to send it off for *gulp* judgement.

In the mean time, it seems like every possible kind of stress has been tossing me around the past month. Work. Family. Money. Everything. Trying to hang in there and just breathe and tackle one thing at a time, but it's getting overwhelming. I'll be glad when the tide goes back out again… till then, just gotta close my eyes and hang on, right? :P

New Review of Sword of the Guardian on Queer People Doing Stuff

This morning I stumbled across another really nice review of SotG, this time on the blog Queer People Doing Stuff:

"It did everything I wanted it to. I wanted the heroes to struggle but win in the end, I wanted the ladies to get together, and I wanted an awesome girl doing boy things. If you like those things too, then you'll probably like this book. I know that for me it was one of the funnest reads I've had in a long time."

Click here for the full review!

New Review of Sword of the Guardian on Bosom Friends!

The lesbian-historical-fiction bloggers over at Bosom Friends just posted such a nice review of Sword of the Guardian!

"Romantically speaking, Sword of the Guardian is one of the most alluring love stories I've ever read. The characters of Shasta and Talon are so lively, and their romance is so captivating, it truly broke my heart to see their story end. The fact that we have access to them as individuals from a young age (especially in Shasta's case) allowed for a deeper connection to their characters that is hard to find nowadays. Seeing them grow as individuals alongside their growth as a couple was truly a treat…"

Click here to read the entire review!

Thank you so much, ladies! 

New Review of Sword of the Guardian on Bosom Friends!

The lesbian-historical-fiction bloggers over at Bosom Friends just posted such a nice review of Sword of the Guardian!

“Romantically speaking, Sword of the Guardian is one of the most alluring love stories I’ve ever read. The characters of Shasta and Talon are so lively, and their romance is so captivating, it truly broke my heart to see their story end. The fact that we have access to them as individuals from a young age (especially in Shasta’s case) allowed for a deeper connection to their characters that is hard to find nowadays. Seeing them grow as individuals alongside their growth as a couple was truly a treat…”

Click here to read the entire review!

Thank you so much, ladies! 

Indie Lesbian Paranormal / Monster Book List

I compiled this list rather hastily in preparation for the Queer Monsters round table at Sirens this year, and I shared my list of round table discussion questions in a previous post, but I thought I would share the indie monster book list itself as a separate blog so that I could spend hours getting every book title linked to a page where you could research/purchase said book, if you were so inclined. ^~

I find it such a shame that so many book lists out there completely gloss over the existence of books published by independent presses and self-published authors, especially when it comes to seeking out queer fiction. I guess everyone assumes that queer fiction is bound to be amateurish erotica, and admittedly there is a lot of that out there… but there's so much that's truly great, too.

Anyway, this is a list of paranormal / monster themed books from independent publishers that feature a lesbian protagonist. This is by no means a comprehensive list as I know there are probably far more of these out there than even I'm aware of, so please do comment if you know of one that should be added!!

Series Books

By Gill McKnight  (Bold Strokes Books): The Garoul Series

Goldenseal, Ambereye and Indigo Moon (werewolves)

By K. Simpson (Bedazzled Ink): The Devil's Workshop Series

The Average of Deviance, Several Devils and Hell for the Holidays (demons)

By Kate Sweeney (Intaglio Publications):

Away from the Dawn, Survive the Dawn, and Before the Dawn (vampires)

Residual Moon and Liar's Moon (Druids/Celtic Mythology)

By Sheri Lewis Wohl (Bold Strokes Books):

Crimson Vengeance and the forthcoming Burgandy Betrayal (vampires)

By Winter Pennington (Bold Strokes Books):

Witch Wolf, Raven Mask and the forthcoming Bloody Claws (vampires, werewolves, witches)

The Rosso Lussuria Series

Darkness Embraced and the forthcoming Summoning Shadows (vampires and some other interesting creatures)

By L.L. Raand (Bold Strokes Books): The Midnight Hunters Series

The Midnight Hunt, Blood Hunt, and the forthcoming Night Hunt (werewolves and vampires)

By Nell Stark and Trinity Tam (Bold Strokes Books): The everafter Series

everafter, nevermore, nightrise, and the forthcomingsunfall (vampires and werewolves)

Standalone Books

By Nene Adams (P.D. Publishing, Inc.) -  Barking at the Moon (werewolves)

By Cate Culpepper (Bold Strokes Books) -River Walker and the forthcoming A Question of Ghosts (ghosts)

By Meghan O'Brien (Bold Strokes Books) – Wild (shapeshifters)

By Moondancer Drake (P.D. Publishing, Inc.) – Worlds Collide (vampires)

By Jordan Falconer (Bedazzled Ink) – Knight Predator (vampires)

By Ronnie Massey (Copperhill Media Corporation) – Crimson Dawn (vampires)

By Rebekah Weatherspoon (Bold Strokes Books)  – Better Off Red (vampires)

By Sarah E. Glenn (Pill Hill Press) – All This and Family, Too (vampires)

By Jewelle Gomez (Firebrand Books) – The Gilda Stories (vampires)

 By Ali Vali (Bold Strokes Books) – Balance of Forces: Toujours Ici (vampires)

I'm sure there are many more to come, so if you know of one you'd like to add please leave it in the comments!  :)

Indie Lesbian Paranormal / Monster Book List

I compiled this list rather hastily in preparation for the Queer Monsters round table at Sirens this year, and I shared my list of round table discussion questions in a previous post, but I thought I would share the indie monster book list itself as a separate blog so that I could spend hours getting every book title linked to a page where you could research/purchase said book, if you were so inclined. ^~

I find it such a shame that so many book lists out there completely gloss over the existence of books published by independent presses and self-published authors, especially when it comes to seeking out queer fiction. I guess everyone assumes that queer fiction is bound to be amateurish erotica, and admittedly there is a lot of that out there… but there’s so much that’s truly great, too.

Anyway, this is a list of paranormal / monster themed books from independent publishers that feature a lesbian protagonist. This is by no means a comprehensive list as I know there are probably far more of these out there than even I’m aware of, so please do comment if you know of one that should be added!!

Series Books

By Gill McKnight  (Bold Strokes Books): The Garoul Series

Goldenseal, Ambereye and Indigo Moon (werewolves)

By K. Simpson (Bedazzled Ink): The Devil’s Workshop Series

The Average of Deviance, Several Devils and Hell for the Holidays (demons)

By Kate Sweeney (Intaglio Publications):

Away from the Dawn, Survive the Dawn, and Before the Dawn (vampires)

Residual Moon and Liar’s Moon (Druids/Celtic Mythology)

By Sheri Lewis Wohl (Bold Strokes Books):

Crimson Vengeance and the forthcoming Burgandy Betrayal (vampires)

By Winter Pennington (Bold Strokes Books):

Witch Wolf, Raven Mask and the forthcoming Bloody Claws (vampires, werewolves, witches)

The Rosso Lussuria Series

Darkness Embraced and the forthcoming Summoning Shadows (vampires and some other interesting creatures)

By L.L. Raand (Bold Strokes Books): The Midnight Hunters Series

The Midnight Hunt, Blood Hunt, and the forthcoming Night Hunt (werewolves and vampires)

By Nell Stark and Trinity Tam (Bold Strokes Books): The everafter Series

everafter, nevermore, nightrise, and the forthcomingsunfall (vampires and werewolves)

Standalone Books

By Nene Adams (P.D. Publishing, Inc.) -  Barking at the Moon (werewolves)

By Cate Culpepper (Bold Strokes Books) -River Walker and the forthcoming A Question of Ghosts (ghosts)

By Meghan O’Brien (Bold Strokes Books) – Wild (shapeshifters)

By Moondancer Drake (P.D. Publishing, Inc.) – Worlds Collide (vampires)

By Jordan Falconer (Bedazzled Ink) – Knight Predator (vampires)

By Ronnie Massey (Copperhill Media Corporation) – Crimson Dawn (vampires)

By Rebekah Weatherspoon (Bold Strokes Books)  – Better Off Red (vampires)

By Sarah E. Glenn (Pill Hill Press) – All This and Family, Too (vampires)

By Jewelle Gomez (Firebrand Books) – The Gilda Stories (vampires)

 By Ali Vali (Bold Strokes Books) – Balance of Forces: Toujours Ici (vampires)

I’m sure there are many more to come, so if you know of one you’d like to add please leave it in the comments!  :)

80% Done with PotH!

Well, 81%, really, if my word count estimation is correct. Which it might not be, since this story is turning out to be a lot bigger than I had originally imagined. It's hard enough to weave a gripping romance, but when you do it against the backdrop of a very complex fantasy world with its own intricate religion that plays a major part in our heroines' quest to be together, there's just so much that needs to go on in order to keep the world accessible and real and free of logic-holes. Add to that an epic villain (because of course there has to be an epic villain) and some very frustrating hopping all over the kingdom in order to get people where they need to be for the key plot points to take place (fight! run! rest! fight more! run more! EPIC MOMENT OF GLORY! Another fight! More running!! MORE EPICNESS!!) it gets exhausting, as the writer, to keep up.

You also have to ask yourself questions like… how will so and so manage to travel from this point to this point before this other so-and-so catches up to them? What if all the starting moments have to occur on the same night, but then in order for the ending to work there has to be some drag time during which no one would, logically, be sitting around dragging? What to do, writer, what to do?!!

Don't worry, friends, I *will* figure it out. :P And I drew a lot of inspiration from the conference this weekend. Though I was ashamed–utterly ashamed–to realize that in one month we are coming up on NaNoWriMo. And remember how last year I was oh-so-optimistic that I'd have this story finished during 2010′s NaNo? Yeah… Guess that didn't work out so well. *hangs head in shame* I suppose it's too much to hope that I'll have it done before this year's event?

Besides, the third Ithyria book is already insistently head-butting my imagination, wanting attention. Not to mention a couple of other novel ideas that have been simmering for a while… So come on, little priestess story, let's get you written!!

80% Done with PotH!

Well, 81%, really, if my word count estimation is correct. Which it might not be, since this story is turning out to be a lot bigger than I had originally imagined. It’s hard enough to weave a gripping romance, but when you do it against the backdrop of a very complex fantasy world with its own intricate religion that plays a major part in our heroines’ quest to be together, there’s just so much that needs to go on in order to keep the world accessible and real and free of logic-holes. Add to that an epic villain (because of course there has to be an epic villain) and some very frustrating hopping all over the kingdom in order to get people where they need to be for the key plot points to take place (fight! run! rest! fight more! run more! EPIC MOMENT OF GLORY! Another fight! More running!! MORE EPICNESS!!) it gets exhausting, as the writer, to keep up.

You also have to ask yourself questions like… how will so and so manage to travel from this point to this point before this other so-and-so catches up to them? What if all the starting moments have to occur on the same night, but then in order for the ending to work there has to be some drag time during which no one would, logically, be sitting around dragging? What to do, writer, what to do?!!

Don’t worry, friends, I *will* figure it out. :P And I drew a lot of inspiration from the conference this weekend. Though I was ashamed–utterly ashamed–to realize that in one month we are coming up on NaNoWriMo. And remember how last year I was oh-so-optimistic that I’d have this story finished during 2010′s NaNo? Yeah… Guess that didn’t work out so well. *hangs head in shame* I suppose it’s too much to hope that I’ll have it done before this year’s event?

Besides, the third Ithyria book is already insistently head-butting my imagination, wanting attention. Not to mention a couple of other novel ideas that have been simmering for a while… So come on, little priestess story, let’s get you written!!

Book Giveaway!!

In honor of National Coming Out Day, my friends, I am going to do my first EVER book giveaway. And since I've been so addicted to Twitter lately, what better place to do it?

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The winner will receive one personally autographed copy of either Sword of the Guardian or Branded Ann (your choice!) I will even throw in one of my super-cool new magnetic bookmarks, and possibly a couple of other treats as well. ^~

To enter, just tweet me @merryshannon with the answer to this question: who was the first person in your life that you ever came out to? (And if you're straight – who was the first gay person to ever come out to you?)

(Following me on Twitter is not a requisite to win the contest, but of course it's always much appreciated, too! ^~)

I will run the contest until noon tomorrow, and then draw a winner randomly from the responses – good luck!!