Devorah Fox's Blog, page 14

Feature Post – MAGIC UNVEILED: AN ANTHOLOGY | jenacidebybibliophile

Magic Unveiled: An Anthology Either the wondrous or the perilous awaits us when we play a hand at magic. A hard boiled detective chases the supernatural, unveiling a frightening world right alongsi…

Source: Feature Post – MAGIC UNVEILED: AN ANTHOLOGY | jenacidebybibliophile

A fish tale

The October issue of Fiction Silicon Valley is out and I’ve got a story in it. “The One That Got Away” is a fish tale drawn from my extensive experience as an angler. (Cue hysterical laughter here.)
You can grab a copy in various ebook formats, or in print.

I’m very pleased to be part of Fiction Silicon Valley  where you can find, in the words of the editor,

engaging stories and poetry … by emerging and established writers. You are the basis for the reading revolution where your writing takes readers away from the drudgery of everyday life and into new places and new experiences.

So, enjoy life more. Pick up a copy of Fiction Silicon Valley. I hope you have as much fun reading “The One That Got Away” as I did writing it.

Power to the pixel: Virtual FantasyCon 2016

Virtual FantasyCon is a fun and interesting online event happening in October and best of all it’s free.
The location is your computer. You can drop by any day during the event and check out the booths for that day. There will be authors, bloggers, editors, artists, and publishers to list just a few. There will be a Cosplay booth, Blog Hop Hunt booth, panel discussions, and a new booth this year an Author Cache Sale booth (This booth is new and is only for the participating authors on the day of each event. Books on sale for $1.99 or 0.99 can list these books in the comment section below for guests to find and buy.) It is put together by lovely people like Carol March, Raven Williams, Denise Garrou, and others who have worked behind the scenes to make this event happen.

It’s a place to catch up on your favorite author and discover new authors. There is epic fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, children’s fantasy, and YA fantasy to name just a few of the different types of authors that will have a booth during the event.

 To find out more about the event check out the following social media links:

 

Reader’s Corner
Virtual FantasyCon
Blog Hop Hunt

I went last year and I had so much fun. I had forgotten how revved up one can get at a convention. There were so many people to meet, so much to do: giveaways, panel discussions, costume contests. I had a booth and I’ll have one again this year, on Epic Sunday, Oct 9. Unfortunately, I’ll be away from the Internet that day, so I’m counting on you fantasy fans to keep the energy high.

Untethered

Almost everyone carries a smartphone these days. They sit in pockets and on tables. They sleep on headboards and are the first things their owners check in the morning. They’ve edged out more mundane equipment like calendars and MP3 players.
They aren’t magical, of course. Or are they?

In Untethered: A Magic iPhone Anthology, 21 authors twist reality and call into question the mundanity we hold in our hands. They ask the question, “Is that smartphone completely explainable by science?” and they decide the answer is a resounding “No!”

From award-winners and bold new voices, from experienced fantasists and professional technologists, these stories are fun, clever, and often positive about the power of technology.

Enjoy new stories from:

Rhiannon Held / Manny Frishberg / Edd Vick / H.M. Jones / Kris Millering / Raven Oak / Jon Lasser / Sarina Dorie / Jonathon Burgess / Jeremiah Reinmiller / C.S. O’Cinneide / Stevehen Warren / Aaron Giddings, Sr. / Amanda Hackwith / Dale Cameron Lowry / Dawn Vogel / Kyle Yadlosky / J.S. Rogers / Angela Dell’Isola / Stephanie Djock / A. Moritz

At the intersection of fantasy and technology, iPhones could go either way.

Magic knows your number, and it’s calling you.

Untethered: A Magic iPhone Anthology

 

Journal of a novel: Sept. 14, 2016. Creative tension

In a series of posts, I’ll share both Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel and what I learn from it, and I’ll show you what the writing life is like for me.

John Steinbeck worked on his novel every weekday and even on some weekends. I, too, have been writing. I just haven’t been blogging.
I had Labor Day off from work (that sounds like an oxymoron) so I spent it writing. I finished the first draft of Lady Blackwing, a short story, an assignment for a writing class that I’m taking.
Also, there’s several writing contests that I’m considering entering. One is Creativindie’s writing contest for a free writing retreat. A vacancy has opened in a retreat to a castle in France from Oct. 25 to Nov. 23. I plan to do my sixth National Novel Writing Month marathon in November. How better to focus on my writing than to closet myself away in a French castle? The contest entry requires that I supply a first chapter, a book summary or an outline. I don’t have that much at this writing. I don’t even have a working title. I can tell you this, though: it will be a contemporary mystery in which Kabbalah plays a big role. I have in mind a total genre mishmash with elements of Fantasy, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Religion and Spirituality, maybe even some Romance.

I have been keeping up with reading John Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel. In his April 16, entry, he asks his editor if they can refrain from talking about the work-in-progress when they meet. Steinbeck says

…it confuses me and throw me off the story.

I can relate, but for a different reason. I find that if I talk too much about what I’m working on, I don’t write it. It’s as if there’s a tension about it that I can relieve by writing. (Oddly enough, that very thing is portrayed in my Lady Blackwing short story). Talking about it can also dissipate that tension thereby reducing the need to write.

Once the project is well underway, though, I often need to brainstorm, to try out different directions the plot can take. My late husband was wonderful for this. He would listen patiently while I rattled on about people, places, and events that don’t exist. Working it out in my notebook isn’t quite the same thing.

 

Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt

Hi, I’m Devorah Fox author of The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam epic historical fantasy series, and I’m your host for this stop in the Hunt.

If you would like to find out more about the Hunt, please click here – http://vfcscavengerhunt.weebly.com/

Somewhere on this page is a hidden number. Collect all the numbers from all the authors’ posts, and then add them up. Once you’ve added all the numbers, and if I am your last author, please head to the official website and click on the ENTER HERE page to find the entry form. Only entries will the correct number will qualify to win.

The author I’m pleased to be hosting for Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt today is Christy Sloat, author of the fan fiction novel – Slumber.

Hello out there! My name is Christy Sloat and I am a dreamer. Having the ability to dream allows me to call myself, author on occasion. I have written ten books and currently writing number eleven. The books I bring you today have hit Amazon Bestseller and are some of my favorites to share with readers.

The idea to re-write the tale of Sleeping Beauty came to me while I was watching the Disney movie with my daughters. I wondered what made Maleficent so evil and villainous, and what would happen if Aurora killed her prince, instead of falling in love.

Slumber was born and shortly after, Awaken. The duology is finished now, so there will be no waiting around for another book. I hope you do enjoy it if you read it. Thank you for stopping by! Never forget to do some creating and dreaming of your own.

Slumber (The Slumber Duology book One)

What happens when a princess murders her prince?

Slumber (book one) is a fractured fairy tale that will amaze you until the very last page. “Mara Dyer Series meets Sleeping Beauty” .

Not all princesses get their happily ever after…

They tell me I killed my boyfriend Phillip in cold blood. I stabbed him twenty one times. I’m only seventeen years old, and I am serving life in Spindle Ridge Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

I don’t remember killing him, so it’s really hard to believe I’m capable of murder. In fact I don’t remember anything before I came to Spindle Ridge, not even my boyfriend.

I can only grasp onto my realistic dreams while the madness of the asylum threatens to pull me under. I dream I’m a beautiful princess and there is an evil faerie named Maleficent who is bent on my destruction. The dreams are the closest thing I have to memories of my life, except they aren’t real.

I’m crazy. I’m not a princess.

They’re the mad illusions of an irrational teenage girl, right?

They’ve assigned me a new doctor, and she says I can trust her, and that she’ll help me see the truth of who I really am.

When she arrived she brought a new patient, Sawyer, who is everything Spindle Ridge isn’t: exciting, mysterious and beautiful. He promises he’s here to rescue me. Trusting either of them frightens me.

Could it be possible that my dreams are more than just the imaginings of a delusional girl? Could they be truth?

Awaken (The Slumber Duology book Two)

“Happily ever after is hers for the taking.”

Once upon a time I found myself locked away in Spindle Ridge Asylum, punished for a murder I didn’t commit. It was all part of Maleficent’s evil plan. I didn’t remember who I was then … now I do. My name is Aurora, and I am the rightful queen of this realm. Armed with my 100 memories, I’m ready to take charge of my kingdom once more. Happily ever after evades me, yet I long to claim it with my true love, Sawyer, beside me. That fairy tale ending seems impossible with him locked in the thralls of a sleeping curse. As much as I’d love to sit by his bedside and eagerly await a cure, I must first travel into the terrifying Dark Woods to stop Raven from stripping me of all that is rightfully mine. I am not only a queen, but a warrior who will fight for her kingdom. Some may die. Blood will be shed. But when this ending comes, I will settle for nothing less than a blissful ever after.

GET THE EBOOK of Slumber FOR ONLY 1.99 (also available in paperback)

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon CA

Smashwords

iTunes

I invite you to stalk me here;

Website
Instagram
Facebook

SLUMBER WAS FEATURED ON BENJAMINOFTOMES YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Click the link below to watch;

Did you find the number? If you did, then click Christy Sloat’s link – http://www.christysloat.blogspot.com/ to continue Virtual FantasyCon’s Blog Hop Hunt.

Journal of a novel: Dept. 7, 2016. The market

In a series of posts, I’ll share both Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel and what I learn from it, and I’ll show you what the writing life is like for me.

I’ve been absent from this Dee-Scoveries blog for a few days. It’s not that I haven’t been writing. Like John Steinbeck, who worked on his novel every weekday and even on some weekends, I have been writing. I’m taking a class in Fantasy and Science Fiction Writing. We’re instructed to write a page a day and I do have a short story in progress as a result. In fact, in the last day or two, the engine finally kicked over and it’s hard to stop at a single page.

In his April 10, Journal of a Novel entry, John Steinbeck warns his editor that

this is a different kind of book.

Steinbeck reports that in a phone conversation, his editor

…said this morning that you had to sell x thousands of copies. I am sure, after all of our years together, you will not ask me to make one single change for the sake of sales …

Steinbeck goes on to write

I am not writing for money … if money comes that is fine but [if] I knew right now that his book would not sell a thousand copies, I would still write it.

Perhaps. Although I’m guessing his editor and publisher would have something to say about it. I don’t believe that I know too many authors who are willing to work a year or more on a book that wouldn’t sell. Most of us are still trying to figure out what we need to do so that we can make a living from our writing.

Journal of a novel: Aug. 31, 2016. Invention

In a series of posts, I’ll share both Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel and what I learn from it, and I’ll show you what the writing life is like for me.

In his April 4, Journal of a Novel entry, John Steinbeck writes about a problem you wouldn’t think that a novelist would have: fictionalizing.

… true things quite often do not sound true unless they are made to. … You open the morning paper and you will find a dozen stories of people who have done things which are not true to you because they are not in your experience. … you would have to use every art to make it acceptable.

He suggests that someone write an essay about this, and maybe I will.

I write a lot of fiction, but I don’t make up much stuff. Most of the time, I find myself putting normal, believable characters into extraordinary situations. Tested in these confrontations, the characters show what they’re really made of, sometimes surprising themselves. But the battles aren’t all that unusual. Well, except for the dragon fights.

I’ve got a work in progress, a short story, and I’m giving myself pep talks to go a little crazy, a little over the top. It’s a Fantasy and so quite appropriately could portray all kinds of outrageous people, places, and events. I’ve been having arguments with myself.

“Oh, that would never happen.”

“It’s a Fantasy story. Go for it!”

“But will it be believable?”

I think that’s some of what was worrying Steinbeck: how to take what seems improbable if not impossible (even if it did in fact happen), and tell the story in such a way that the reader accepts it.

Journal of a novel: Aug. 30, 2016. Intent

In a series of posts, I’ll share both Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel and what I learn from it, and I’ll show you what the writing life is like for me.

Although John Steinbeck didn’t work on his novel on March 28, he gave it a lot of thought. In his Journal of  Novel entry on that day, addition to ruminating about the character of Cathy Ames, he was a little in awe of his own ambition with regard to his work-in-progress:

My god this can be a good book if I can only write it as I can hear it in my mind.

I’ve been there. It all does seem so clear, so vivid, in my mind’s eye, but transmitting that in writing so that you can see exactly what I see is a challenge. No matter how carefully I choose my words, I may still fail, because the same word has different meanings for different people.

That’s a whole ‘nother blog post.

Something else that happens that’s delightful and at the same time scary is when readers find something in my work that I didn’t put there. And I’m not going to say the readers are wrong, that it’s not there. Often, it is there. I didn’t intend it, I didn’t see it, but by golly, they’re right. How’d that get there? How’d I do that?

It’s scary because we writers like to think that we’re in control of our writing. We try so hard to be deliberate, not to mention artful, about how we string words together. To find out that something’s going on independent of us, well, as Steinbeck said, if I can only write it as I can hear it in my mind …

Journal of a novel: Aug. 29, 2016. Villains

In a series of posts, I’ll share both Steinbeck’s Journal of a Novel and what I learn from it, and I’ll show you what the writing life is like for me.

In my last post, I blogged about John Steinbeck’s page-count discipline, how he wrote at least every weekday and sometimes on the weekend. Except on March 28. According to his Journal of a Novel entry, he planned to take the day off. No reason, just because. Actually, he planned to go really wild and get a haircut, a “real genuine” haircut.
I get it. Going to get my haircut is a big deal for me too. For some reason it seems like a major undertaking and I tend to put it off. Then when I finally go and the stylist whacks off inches, I’m astounded at how long it got since the last salon visit.

Just because he didn’t write doesn’t mean Steinbeck wasn’t thinking about his book. In his journal, he muses about the character of Cathy Ames whom he described as “a monster.”

 … don’t think they do not exist. If one can be born with a twisted and deformed face or body, one can surely also come into the world with a malformed soul.

Thanks, Mr. Steinbeck. That solves what’s been a problem for me, i.e. crafting villains. It seemed to me somewhat one dimensional to have a purely-evil character, with no redeeming virtues or even the hint of an explanation for the turpitude. Steinbeck’s reasoning makes sense, though. So the next time I find myself writing about a villain, I’ll leave off the psychoanalysis, pull out all the stops, and create a character that is unquestionably evil. Like, you know, a troll who leaves a one-star review on an author’s amazon page with no further explanation.