MeiLin Miranda's Blog, page 35
March 29, 2012
Launch Day Update
Son in Sorrow is off with a bang! It's in the 20k rankings at Amazon in all paid books--which sounds horrible, but is actually not bad at all! It means when it finally gets properly shelved it should be in a top 100 category. Here's hopin'! Four of you have left reviews at Amazon. Thank you! Please, if you've read the book, review it (honestly) there and "like" it on Facebook.
The book is now also at Barnes & Noble, if you prefer to buy books directly for your Nook there. And of course you can always buy direct from me and get three formats in DRM-free editions, which means you can then pop them into something like Calibre and convert them to practically anything. Oh yeah, and it's also at Smashwords for even more pre-formatted goodness.
There is now a Goodreads page for the book, where reviews and adds to your shelves (even "to be read") would also be extremely welcome and helpful, as would Facebook and Twitter mentions.
I promise to shut up about the book launch at some point soon. It's just been SO LONG in the making. I woke up this morning jangly as a housekeeper's keys, to the point that a friend whisked me off to the local sauna and calmed me down.
March 28, 2012
"Son in Sorrow" Is Here--At Last!
The ebook version of Son in Sorrow is finally here! The guys at 1889 Labs did an absolutely fantastic job on the interior, it's just gorgeous. You get PDF, mobi and epub versions, there's no DRM, it's got the map in it, it's...
...well, it's here. Go read it. 
"Son in Sorrow (An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom Book Two)" Ebook Package
This one purchase gives you the no-DRM .epub, .mobi/Kindle and .pdf versions of the ebook.
For a free excerpt, click here.
Prince Temmin incurred his father's wrath when he took Supplicancy in the Lovers' Temple; his devotion to the Gods outweighed his father's rage. Now he faces a greater challenge: his forbidden love for Allis, the human host of the goddess Neya. If he doesn't conquer his emotions, he may bring the Lovers' deadly fury down on them both--but pride and desire stand in his way. When a murder rips his greatest support from him, Temmin turns to the magic book of his ancestors to find answers to his need both for revenge and for a woman he must not love.
All the while, enemies inside and outside the kingdom are plotting against the monarchy, and the gods prove once again they are no one's friends.
Set in a Victorianesque world of magic, sexuality, political intrigue and military conquest, "Son in Sorrow" is the second book in the epic fantasy series "An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom."
390 pages in paperback.
Lovers and Beloveds (An Intimate History of the Greater Kingdom Book One) is also available.
$4.95
Quantity:
March 27, 2012
Transition--in the Labor Sense
When you're in labor--labor, like having-a-baby labor--you come to a point just before you're ready to push called transition. Transition sucks. It's the darkest night of the soul imaginable. You feel like nothing matters and what if it did. You can't do it. You just can't do it. Make it stop already. You give up. Uncle.
That's how I feel right now.
Book two is probably going to drop tomorrow.
March 26, 2012
Temmin's Journey in "Son in Sorrow," in Two Songs
I often think of songs as I work--not so much soundtracks, but inspirations. Sometimes I get story inspirations wholesale, as in the case of Iron & Wine's "Woman King"--that entire EP
spawned dozens of ideas in me, and in fact Woman King is the working title of book three. Nickel Creek's Why Should The Fire Die?
has the same effect on me, though I can't tell you exactly what songs track to what bits of book business.
And sometimes I associate songs with particular characters, or their particular story arcs. For Son in Sorrow, I kept coming back to these two songs, both favorites. I once thought one of them belonged to Tennoc, one of the main characters in the story-in-story, but on further reflection they both belong to Temmin.
Tem starts here, and ends up here just before the climax of the book.
I haven't found anything yet for Tem's state of mind at the very end.
Chapter 2 Part 1 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
Allis woke up slowly, her head pillowed on Temmin's shoulder. Just past her nose she could see long strands of her black hair laced among the curly gold ones furring Temmin's chest; she'd neglected to braid her hair the night before. She would have tangles to brush out.
She slipped from Temmin's grasp; he burbled in his sleep and turned over. She smiled at his broad, white back and frowned at his now just-as-white neck. The tan he'd always had from life spent more in the stables and hills than in fashionable drawing rooms had faded in his year at the Temple. It saddened her. The color gave him a common touch; it humanized him. While everyone respected his father King Harsin, few loved him. Temmin would be a king people both respected and loved, she was sure of it. When he ended his Supplicancy next year, she hoped the tan returned. She didn't want to think about next year.
March 24, 2012
High-Resolution Map of Tremont
This is the "state of the world" map as of Son in Sorrow, begun by the author and nicely finished up by mapmaker Robert Altbauer. Further details will be added as the years go by (more detailed maps of Inchar and Sairland, for instance, and a map of Tremont City), but most major world features are present on this map.
This file is at 300 dpi and is suitable for printing.
$4.95
Quantity:
March 23, 2012
Chapter 1 Part 8 | Son in Sorrow | IHGK Book 2
This segment is NSFW.
Temmin caught her by her slim waist. "So this is my birthday present."
She stiffened. "I am not a present."
Her abrupt change in mood startled him. She was usually so hard to read, keeping all but the most professional, compassionate parts locked away, and when she let down her guard he didn't know what to do. "No, you are a gift," he began. "That's different from a present, isn't it? Presents are things. You are not a thing, but you are still a gift, at least to me."
"I'm sorry." She held him close, resting her head on his chest with a small tremor.
He stroked her black hair. "What brought this on?"
"Perhaps I'm more tired than I thought."
He kept himself from drooping. "Shall I go back downstairs?"
March 21, 2012
Ask me questions
Hey guys, I've decided not to do a book trailer. It's all the rage and stuff, but I haven't seen much evidence that it sells books and they're expensive to produce unless you do it yourself. I HATE the one I did for Lovers and Beloveds. The one I did for "Scryer's Gulch" still cracks me up but I don't think anyone's come to read the serial from that trailer.
