MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 25
September 10, 2012
Chapter 8 Part 2 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Twenna began to feel rather green a week after Neya's Day, and now, halfway through Spring's Ending, she felt worse than ever. Certain scents became unbearable. She passed an overly fragrant person on the street as she made her way to Mistress Naister's for a fitting and almost fainted. Cooking smells, particularly fish, took her appetite completely; she progressed to nausea and outright vomiting in the mornings and sometimes during the day. She even begged off meeting Harsin, which finally made her father call for a Sister.
September 7, 2012
An interview with me--correction, TWO interviews with me
Jeff Shear has interviewed me as part of his Writers Speak series! We'll be doing a Skype chat soon and he'll be adding that to the interview in a few days. Leave comments there. 
And no sooner do I send this out than I get a note that Scott Walker has put up his interview with me over at Shared Story Worlds.
An interview with me
Jeff Shear has interviewed me as part of his Writers Speak series! We'll be doing a Skype chat soon and he'll be adding that to the interview in a few days. Leave comments there.
Chapter 8 Part 1 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Twenna didn't know which of her inexpert coquetries had worked--she'd done little more than pout--but Harsin returned to her bed not two days after the unfortunate incident at Neya's Day. He showered her with gifts: shot silk for a new dress; tortoise-shell haircombs from Pau'a; and a magnificent set of matching sapphire-and-diamond earrings, collar, ring and bracelets, "the color of your eyes, my dear. You are to keep them forever."
She was back in Elbig's good graces. "Our sponsor would like you to start dropping little hints in his favor, darling."
"Hints, Papa? What hints?"
September 3, 2012
Chapter 7 Part 6 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Ma Kupar led her away. Mattie took a last look at Adrik; his eyes remained the same hard, flat brown, but he was glaring at his father and spared her not a look.
They walked her down numerous hallways to her bedchamber, a grand, whitewashed affair of tapestries, carpets, and a stove tiled in brilliant blue; the room's mullioned windows looked out at the great lake and its hundreds of islands and thousands of boats. They fed her a light meal: oatcakes, salted fish and some sort of dried berry compote with custard. Mattie offered no resistance when they undressed her down to her chemise, nor when they tucked her into bed, pulled shut the bed-curtains and darkened the room.
Her mind did resist. Would she rather die than marry Ruvin? Perhaps if she offered them compliance, they might grow complacent in time and she could make good an escape. As things stood she had no knowledge of the country nor of the language, and not a friend to help her. Adrik looked as if he wanted to come to her defense, but was it because he wanted the advantage marriage to a daughter of Harsin would confer? Or did he love her, and if he did, would he go against his father?
August 31, 2012
ACX audiobooks: They're your words
ACX is a great service. It matches up actors and writers to produce audiobooks together. Its best feature for indies like me is that it allows royalty share; the actor can agree to share 50% of the royalties for the audiobook instead of an up-front per-hour payment. ACX handles the split for you.
Here's how ACX works:
When you find the actor you want and s/he submits an audition you like, you send him/her an offer with deadlines for when you want the first 15 minutes and when you want the entire audiobook finished. The offer is accepted, and you wait for the first 15. When you get that, you're supposed to give feedback to the actor if you're not quite happy--wrong tone, character voice needs to be higher, pronunciation of a name is off (though I try to give those right off the bat), and so on--or tell the actor everything's awesome and he can get on to the rest of the audiobook. When the final audiobook is submitted, the same thing is supposed to happen. Some actors will even send you unofficial off-ACX chunks so you can give feedback as needed, or they'll at least ask questions.
The voice actor I approached for "The Mage's Toy" will go unnamed. He has a great voice and his samples showed great talent. I thought he would be perfect for it, I approached him, he submitted an audition. I gave him some feedback on it--not so serious, it's a light-hearted romp, here are the correct pronunciations--and offered him the production contract. He accepted. I was really excited.
Chapter 7 Part 5 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Ma Kupar led Mattie past guards set three and three beside a great arched door banded in iron, and left her in a high-vaulted hall; tapestries covered the stone walls, thick carpets the wooden floors. Mattie was the only woman in the room. Men in native costume filled the benches--the Gremas? She had never heard them called anything other than "northern barbarians," but Ma Kupar had used the name "Gremas." Red heads and brown heads sprinkled the crowd, but most were blond. Almost every eye turned toward her was blue.
At the hall's far end, a roaring blaze filled an enormous fireplace hooded in the same verdigris copper covering the turrets. On a dais before it sat two men in ancient, ornately carved chairs. Both wore richer versions of the common clothing--woolen trousers tucked into modern riding boots, and high-necked shirts. Their long quilted vests were silk embroidered in gold. The one on Mattie's left had hair so shot through with white that the blond strands remaining looked like sunlight streaked on snow. The other's hair was as dark as her own, though heavily threaded with silver; his beard, trimmed more neatly than those of the men around him, was almost completely gray. Something about his lean, angular face resembled the King's profile on a five-silver piece.
August 27, 2012
Chapter 7 Part 4 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
The flat grasslands of the Northern Wastes turned into forests of pine and newly-greened larches and birch, patches of snow purple in their shadows. They traveled miles through these trees until the road burst into in the open, traveling along the shoreline of a lake so large it could fairly be called an inland sea. Islands greater and smaller rose up from its surface, the small crowned with gray stone buildings, the larger with villages. Boats plied the water and clustered on the many docks; how cold it must be on their decks. At any other time, Mattie might have found the scenery charming and exotic. Now she looked only for opportunities to escape--and saw none.
August 25, 2012
Site email down
If you've tried to reach me via the contact form on my website, I haven't gotten your email. For reasons yet unknown, the site has stopped sending out email. Reach me via direct email at meilin at this domain or D me on twitter for the time being if you need something. Always happy to answer.
August 24, 2012
Chapter 7 Part 3 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
"Dunley? No," said Mattie, keeping her voice as blank and calm as she could despite her jittering insides. "My stepfather's name was Ambleson. It's the name he gave me."
Adrik laughed. "One of the things I love about you, Mattie, is that you're terrible at subterfuge. Your emotions cover you head to toe. You fell in love with me the first day, when you twisted your ankle, didn't you? My sweet girl, I would marry you no matter what your name is. I don't use my real name either."
Was Adrik in similar circumstances? Not long ago, when she lived in Reggiston and didn't have to lie about her name and didn't know whose daughter she was, she would never have considered the suit of a bastard. She couldn't very well put herself above one now, could she? She burrowed closer to him, and he hugged her tight. "If my name is not to be Mistress Adrikov, then, what is it to be?"
"I am Adrik Antremont, some day to be styled Adrin of Tremont."
