MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 18
March 4, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 9 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Temmin scrambled back from the book, knocking his chair over in his drive to get away. He knotted his fingers in his hair and pulled to keep himself from screaming, but a choking sob broke through. "How--how dare you--!"
"I told you, when I chose this story I did not know what would happen to your mother," said Teacher, arms folded behind.
"Uncaring, unfeeling whoreson!" Temmin shouted. "Pagg damn you, you bastard, you block of stone! You don't even remember your own mother! Get out of my sight!" Teacher didn't move. Temmin charged, and hit the wall of air he'd unconsciously expected. He staggered back. "Coward! Drop your shield! Fight me like a man, damn you!"
March 2, 2013
Some thoughts on asking for support
This was originally part of my latest Kickstarter update, but I wanted to post it here as well. It's the fifth anniversary of this site! Yay us!Did you see Amanda Palmer's awesome TED talk? Go watch it and come back.
Done? OK. I have asked you guys to financially support my work since I started freely posting it in February, 2008. From that very first day you've stepped up (I'm looking at you, JN). I had been considering stopping the serialization of my main series, "An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom," with book two since donations have virtually stopped. I figured, well, I guess ebook sales are how I'm going to get support from now on, so maybe I should get with the scarcity paradigm. (Everyone else is. Yay, austerity.)
Seeing that talk changed my mind.
There's a reason I release everything through Creative Commons (attribution/noncommercial/no derivative--for now) with no DRM. I can't stop pirates, and I believe that if you ask people to pay, they will.That faith has been rewarded, but it's flagged recently, even with two successful Kickstarter campaigns under my belt. Why? My ebooks sales are drastically down.
Think about that for a moment. I was considering curtailing access to my work because paid ebook sales are down.
That feels backwards now.
I am not someone who "just wants to be read." I want to be supported, too. But I have always known I don't have a right to be supported. I can only ask. You have no idea how much your support has meant to me.
But I am asking you for something. I'm asking for your support in getting the word out about my work.
The thing I like about serializing is that it acts as an online book club, where people can discuss the book as they read or re-read it together. When my work was strictly a webserial, dozens of comments appeared on story segments; people had deep discussions. I would love to get back to that, to the sense of community my website once had. It dried up once I switched to the ebook paradigm, even though I really had to make that change.
If you're new to my work--and I think a lot of you are this time around--check out the rest of what I've done. Almost all of it is on my site, freely available, and when I get the subscriptions out to you for the premium area, pretty much everything will be available to you. I'm asking you to discuss what you read, and tell people you think I'm worth both reading and supporting.
It's a new world for creatives. The old ways of paying for our work no longer apply, and neither do the old ways of reaching potential viewers, listeners and readers. Advertising doesn't work, blog tours don't work, discounts don't work. Word of mouth is all that matters.
What works is you adding my books to Goodreads, fairly reviewing them at ebook retailers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo, and telling your friends about my work--yes, even giving a copy to a friend. If your friend likes it, ask him or her to send me a buck or two if so moved. These things matter as much as your (deeply appreciated) financial support, and I'm asking for them as well.
Thank you.
March 1, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 8 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
The day after he committed his father's body to the Hill, Tennoc rode down from the Keep to Tremont City for his hasty, simplified coronation, his father's reluctant lords at his back. Hanni followed behind, holding the reins of a white bull calf. They climbed the long winding switchbacks on foot up Pagg's Hill to the Temple at its top. He could have lifted himself to the top had he wished--Teacher had taught him to raise himself on a column of solid air--but he did not wish to leave his lords behind. He had lords now. What a strange thought. Would that he could depend on them.
February 26, 2013
Pikachu42 is having the baby!
Those of you who've been part of my community here know Chu. Well, she's in the hospital having her son right now. 
He may already be here! I'll keep you updated as I hear myself. EEEEE!
ETA: He's here!!
February 25, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 7 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
The discovery of the guards' bodies put Gwyrfal in an uproar. "How could Tennoc have defeated three of my best men?" fretted Dunnoc. "Three men he trusted!"
"He had to have been warned, sire," said Daevys ar Ulvyn. "There's no other explanation, though perhaps it was his plan all along. He took them by surprise like a coward." He helped Dunnoc drink from his cup. The King shook now more than ever. His legs were growing stiff; he never left his rooms but for meals at which he presided but did not eat for fear of spilling food and drink down his front in public.
"Who could have done it? Who betrayed me?"
"We shall discover the man, sire. Or woman."
February 22, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 6 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
The Keep was a short ride down a wide, well-tended way called the War Road. "Our armies ride to battle from here, six abreast," said Teacher from a perch behind Tennoc. "These are the King's Woods. Only the King hunts here--and now you, if you please."
"I wish for nothing but a roof over my head at this point."
The trees thinned, giving Tennoc his first view of Tremont Keep, a stone fortress that was new in his great-grandfathers' day built into the living rock that sheered above the confluence of two rivers. Four rounded towers stood at each corner; the side closest to them bowed out toward the forest. A fifth tower rose just behind the bowed wall, higher than the other four. It looked out over the King's Woods and the foothills, and in the other direction, the Capital. Tennoc wondered how it stayed up; he'd never seen anything so tall.
February 20, 2013
"The Amber Cross" now available as an audiobook!
Narrator MacAllister Lee has done a beautiful job interpreting my erotic paranormal Jane Austen mash-up The Amber Cross, and now you can hear it yourself! Yes, "erotic paranormal Jane Austen mash-up" makes me feel and sound ridiculous, but this thing was really fun to write. I did my best to stay true to "Mansfield Park," its source material, whilst playing very fast and very loose with it at the same time. MacAllister has brought out the humor both in the original writing and my own. You can get it free when you become an Audible member. I've been a member for nearly ten years now, and I love it.
February 18, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 5 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Teacher met that night with the nervous Duke, his fidgeting heir and the new Prince. No one in the room seemed at ease around the pale figure in dark robes; Teacher took their fear in stride. When a servant made a furtive sign of Amma--head, heart and groin--Teacher may even have smirked. "We leave tomorrow, Your Grace," said Teacher.
"The boy should rest, counselor, do you not think?" said Gonnor. "It's been a long journey for him…and I would like for Prince Temmin--Tennoc," at his grandson's lowering look, "to know his homeland and family. He's been on the road for more than two weeks already, surely a rest before such a long journey--it's the better part of a spoke to Tremont City."
"We will go back the way I came," said Teacher.
February 15, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 4 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Tennoc left the room much disturbed and ran almost headlong into Fallik. "Do you have a habit of listening at doors, cousin?" said Tennoc.
The cords stood out in the bigger man's neck. "You are a rude, dishonorable cur. I've half a mind to challenge you!"
"By all means!" answered Tennoc; his new power crackled and sang within him. "Name the time and place, if you ever find the other half."
February 11, 2013
Chapter 13 Part 3 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Whitehorse Freehold reared up from a flat plain, its ancient earthen and stone fortifications undulating around it in sinuous curves. Rising above it stood a new stone fortress, spectators lining its ramparts; a lookout must have noted the unknown additions to the outriders and spread the word. Though the fortress was huge, the hill fort itself dwarfed it--an old, old place. Across the valley, another hill rolled up from the grasslands surrounding it. Turf had been carved away from the hill to form a rearing horse, white chalk against the deep green grass.
