Devorah Fox's Blog, page 19
April 1, 2016
Adam’s other wife?
Author Y. Correa
Y. Correa, author of MarcoAntonio & Amaryllis, among other titles, has a new work out, an intriguing novelette called Lilith’s Dominion.
About Lilith’s Dominion
When Lilith fails to comply with the plans of Man and The Creator, she is punished to an existence that costs her the fruits of humanity. Every moment becomes a never ending spin cycle of memories mirroring profound loss, recalcitrant rage, and immeasurable suffering.
During a Halloween party at the Arcadia Chateau, the blue-green eyed brunette Jet leaves an impression which shatters the equilibrium of Lilith’s cloud of darkness. Is this a temporary aggravation or the start of a much needed resurrection—the fire of love in a heart iced with hurt?
Excerpt from Lilith’s Dominion
It is believed that before the Genesis of the human age, Adam had a wife … a first wife; Lilith.
Created from the same ground from which Adam was molded, Lilith proved to be a bit more than his subordinate.
She was his equal.
Legend has it that Lilith was strong willed, independent and unyielding. All of the things that Adam did not want in a wife.
Red hair, sensual curves and red-brown eyes, Lilith was voluptuousness in the form of a woman. Passion, ardent and burning vitality. Lilith considered herself Adam’s compeer in every way—second to none and nothing.
What Adam hated to admit was that Lilith was his weakness, his burning desire, and his fierce, iniquitous poison. As much as he wanted her, he also hated her. It was her authority that continually dominated him, and her lasciviousness that seduced him. He was less of a man when he was around her, yet he also could not feel more empowered.
Adam realized that his obsession with Lilith was a lecherous enthrallment and nothing more, for he could not love her. Neither could he be her master. This was the problem. Adam’s job was to be in control, to be the head. The leader of Lilith and all of their descendants. For this, the Creator had made him.
Yet, around her—Lilith—he was nothing more than a groveling, dribbling, insecure excuse for a man. She had him wrapped around her little finger, and this suited her just fine.
Adam, not so much.
This was not what the Creator had mandated. Not what he intended when making them both. He needed Adam—level headed and trustworthy—to be in charge. However, with the ever present seduction of Lilith, this wouldn’t be possible.
Something must be done.
About Y Correa:
Y. Correa is a literary seductress, luring one in with her talent of Romancing the Words, keeping one hypnotized with dynamic characters, and stimulating one with engaging narrative voices, strong plots, and epic conflicts. Her writes are as complex and as distinct as her person; a delightful combination of eclectic and antiquated. Therefore, the mere mention of fitting into one set genre is laughable. The multi-genre decadence is where she showcases her magnificence.
Some of Y. Correa’s works include Historical Fiction “MarcoAntonio & Amaryllis”, Sci-Fi Mashup “Earth 8-8-2: The Genesis Project”, Sci-Fi Fiction series “A.L.O.M” and short stories such as “Ryan”, “Loving … them!” and “The G. Particle”.
Ms. Correa has also been in several short story anthologies and is the Founder/Creator of All Authors Publications and Promotions whose subsidiaries are:
All Authors Magazine
All Authors Graphic Design
All Authors Publishing House
and
All Authors Certificate of Excellence
Keep up with Y. Correa here
“Lilith’s Dominion” on Goodreads
Author Website
YouTube
Vimeo
March 22, 2016
Cover wars
Basketball has its March Madness. PEEPS joust in the microwave.
But make way for Cover Wars beginning today, March 22, hosted by www.ultimatefantasybooks.com. The first round runs until March 29. The ten book covers that receive the most votes move to Round Two from March 31 to April 7. The two finalists go on to duke it out with the winner being announced on April 14.
Check out all these fabulous fantasy book covers and be sure to scroll down. The Redoubt is #81. Vote only once from any particular IP address. (If you have one than one device you can vote once from each different device.)The Redoubt is also in a cover contest for the online Brains to Books Cyber Convention which runs from April 8-10 on Facebook and Goodreads. I hope you’ll visit my “booth” there but meanwhile you can vote for The Redoubt in the Cover Wars. There are several matches; The Redoubt is in Match #4.
I’m just so pleased that The Redoubt is in the ring with all these wonderful book covers but winning would be nice too. So vote for The Redoubt!
UltimateFantasyBooks Cover War
B2BCYCON Cover War
King Bewilliam thanks you for your support and so do I.
March 21, 2016
Crowning achievement
I read an excerpt from
The Redoubt.
If you weren’t able to make Author Night you can hear the same excerpt, this time read by Angela B. Chrysler, herself a popular author.
Now, about that tee-shirt with FOX in huge letters surmounted by a crown. It’s so perfect you would think that I had it custom-made but no. That shirt is about 20 years old, made by Fox BMX Racing. I’m not and never was a motocross racer. The only finish line I ever race for is during National Novel Writing Month marathons. I did however decades ago receive a catalog of Fox gear in the mail. I suspect that a genius in their Marketing department said, “Let’s mail a catalog to everyone with the name Fox. I’ll bet a few of them will buy something just for grins.” And sure enough, my late husband Mike Byrnes bought one of everything. To this day I still have a drawer full of color tee-shirts emblazoned with my name. How cool is that?
March 11, 2016
Where do you get your ideas?—Part Three
Inspiration often comes when we authors least expect it. People we know and places we’ve been get reflected in our work. Join me and authors Michelle Cornwell-Jordan and Denice Garrou as we chat about what happens when our pets creep into our stories.
“Pet Muses” is just one episode of Michelle and Denice’s popular series, Between The Lines Book Talk Video Chat.
February 29, 2016
Who won? Who lost?
My guest today is a friend and former colleague, the inimitable Donna Schillinger, creator of a new, free app for Election 2016. DEBATEBALL uses a fun, baseball format to help voters determine how well (or poorly) presidential candidates perform during the debates. The app is available now on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for free.Donna, you’re up at bat.
DS: Thanks, Devorah, for this opportunity.
Oddly enough, in this week after Super Tuesday, there are four presidential debates scheduled: March 3, 6, 9 and 10. If you haven’t caught a debate yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. In years past they may have been pretty boring, but with candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, there’s never a dull moment on the debate stage this election!
But the problem with debates is that we watch them and when they’re over, we have nothing more than a gut feeling about who we think won. I developed DEBATEBALL to elevate voters’ level of debate analysis.
With DEBATEBALL, you’re using a fun format to track your analysis all the way through the debate. The app user is the umpire and candidates are the batters. Each candidate’s response to a moderated question is scored as follows:
STRIKE: Really bad answer that didn’t address the question. BATTER does not advance.
FOUL: Poor answer that didn’t answer the question. BATTER does not advance.
WALK: Good answer but still didn’t answer the question. BATTER advances 1 base.
BASE HIT: Actually answered the question. BATTER advances 2 bases.
HOME RUN: Actually answered the question with a good, even great, answer. BATTER advances 4 bases and scores one run.
The voter continues to select batters and make calls, keeping pace with the debate moderator. At the end of the debate, it’s simply a matter of checking the app’s Scoreboard to easily see who won, in the voter’s opinion as the umpire. Scoreboards can be shared via Facebook or Twitter to collaborate on decision-making.
My goal with DEBATEBALL is help swing voters, undecided voters and even people who think they know which candidate they like to better engage with presidential debates. Instead of drinking games or mouthing off on Facebook or Twitter, DEBATEBALL users are thinking critically to come to a more logical conclusion about the candidates.
This is something we have traditionally relied on commentators to do. But we don’t need a news network to tell us who won the debate. That’s a call American voters can and will make for ourselves, thank you very much. So please, if you love our country, gear up, download Debateball, and engage in democracy.
iTunes App Store link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/debateball-free/id1052509768?mt=8
Google Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bytesbee.debateball.free.activities&hl=en
About Debateball video: https://youtu.be/w_IEUca0_FA
Check it out. Watching the debates will never be the same.
February 26, 2016
Preview “The Redoubt”
Want to read more? Visit my amazon.com or smashwords.com author page.
Where do you get your ideas?—Part Two
A popular question put to authors by members of the audience is “Where do you get your ideas?”
For me as an author, inspiration often comes when I least expect it. Take, for example, a scene from The Redoubt. I had a first draft and I was fairly well pleased with it. It gives readers some insight into the character of King Bewilliam and sets up a plot device that comes into play later in the story. I submitted the scene for read-and-critique by members of the South Texas Scribes. I got some well-considered comments about how it could be improved so I revised it and liked it even better.
Months later, as I worked on the book’s final chapters, I happened to join a fitness class and met a trainer who is the embodiment of a great leader. With equal parts dares, encouragement, and scolding, Karen Decker gets us to give our best effort—and then go beyond even that. And I realized just what that scene in my novel lacked. Back to the book for one more revision.
Here’s an excerpt:
The second skin of chain mail and the metal suit of armor added about fifty pounds to Robin’s weight and made it that much harder to maintain his balance. He could have worn lighter clothes to this training session but Robin felt it was important to stay in battle-ready condition. As king he was the supreme legal authority, jury, and judge; the chief executive; the kingdom’s principal comptroller but he was also the commander of the armed forces. It was the king who led his men in battle and he needed to be capable of doing that at a moment’s notice.
“Again,” came Jarin’s command. “Four diagonal strokes. Jump to a thirty-degree stance. Two vertical thrusts. Switch up those feet. Two horizontal strokes. One straight stab. Stay light on your feet. Maintain your balance.”
Huffing, his mouth dry, Robin tackled the series of moves. He had to hop to avoid a slick wet spot on the floor.
“Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. Blow it out.”
Robin puffed out what little breath he had managed to pull into his lungs.
“Excellent, Sire,” Jarin said, not the least bit winded. The combat master was not weighed down by a full suit of armor but wore only a cuirass over his tunic. “And I’m not just saying that because Your Majesty could behead me if I didn’t.”
Robin chuckled and lowered his sword.
Spunky and spry, what the spiky-haired compact fellow lacked for in stature he made up for with muscle. Jarin no longer served on the field although facial scars, missing teeth, and a foreshortened left arm attested to the years of battle experience that equipped him to train the kingdom’s soldiers, even its king. No one in the kingdom could order His Majesty nor touch his person. No one, save Jarin. And Robin worked hard to please him. Though he had bested men and beasts in fights to the death, Robin found praise from Jarin nearly as satisfying.
I had no idea when I set out that morning to push myself through sets of Jumping Jacks, sit-ups, and push-ups that my writing was going to get pumped up as well. As I said, inspiration often comes when I least expect it.
February 22, 2016
Hunting for books
Have you been enjoying the Blog Hop Hunt? Want to go on another one?
Good news. There will be a blog hop hunt as part of the B2BCYCON coming in April.At the B2BCYCON you can participate in discussions, enter a giveaway, or meet an author. Find prizes, games, blog tours, excerpts, special features, and deleted scenes.
No plane tickets, no entry fees, no passes, no travel, or lodging expenses make this the most affordable and easiest Convention to attend anywhere! And it’s all online!
Dee-Scoveries will be a stop on the blog hop and the convention fairgrounds will be alive with hundreds of authors. We’ll be on Goodreads, Facebook and our blogs presenting book readings and interviews. Here’s one interview that I hope you’ll enjoy.
I’ll have a “booth” on Goodreads and on Facebook. So if you’re not already on those social media platforms, get set up now so you can have all the fun there is to have.
See you at the B2BCYCON if not before!
February 19, 2016
Blog Hop Hunt
Welcome to The Blog Hop Hunt.Hi, I’m Devorah Fox, author of The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam epic fantasy series and I’m your host for this stop in the Scavenger Hunt Blog Hop tour.
I am pleased to be hosting RACHAEL SLATE. In her post below you will find a number, not in written text, but as a numerical number. Write it down and collect them all as you visit every post along the way. Good Luck!
What if the year of your birth dictated your fate? Your personality, your job, even your spouse? In Chinese culture, the animal year of the Chinese Zodiac you were born in reflects all of that, and more.
But what if these twelve Zodiac animals weren’t just symbols? What if the myths were true (and scorching hot!)? This is the premise for Rachael Slate’s Chinese Zodiac Romance Series.
☯THE LEGEND OF THE CHINESE ZODIAC ☯
A very long time ago, the Jade Emperor (a.k.a. Supreme Ruler of the Universe) immortal being that he was, decided he needed a way to keep count of the years. So he held a race. Why not, right? He invited the fastest and fiercest animals to compete in this race, known as the Great Race. The order in which the animals arrived (twelve in total) determined the cycle of the years. They were: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, and Boar. The particular attributes of each of these animals governs the humans born in their year and determines their fortunes. Or misfortunes.
The Jade Emperor was so pleased with their performances that he decided to reward these fine animals. He granted each of the twelve animals immortality, but with a hook. Their bodies faded and their spirits became linked to twelve great human warriors. Together, these spirit spirits and their Chosen human hosts formed the Chinese Zodiac. For centuries, they have battled the eternal struggle of yin and yang. Darkness and light. Cold and hot. Death and life. Etc. But yin and yang are not opposing forces. They are complementary. One cannot exist without the other. When they’re working in harmony, the Earth is in a state of balance. When they fall out of sync, that’s when the warriors awaken…
Find out more about these sexy, kick*ss warriors in the Chinese Zodiac Romance Series by Rachael Slate. Meet Sheng (Tiger) and Lucy (Rabbit) for a steamy fantasy romance in Book One (Trancing the Tiger). Continue the story with Li (Immortal) and Wen (Cat) in Rematch (Book 1 and a half). Hang on tight for a wild ride with Kassian (Ox) and Nat (Snake) in By the Horns (Book Two). And get scorched in the sizzling novella (Book Two and a half) featuring Ryden and Naya (fox spirit), Match Me Later. Things take a fiery turn in Matching Dragons (Book Three and a half) with Lok (dragon) and Kadence. Look out for Reining Him In (Book Three), coming spring Two thousand and sixteen.
☯ Be sure to check out the giveaway on her website! ☯
Rachael would love to connect with you! Find her here and say hello!
Website:http://www.rachaelslate.com
Newsletter: http://rachaelslate.com/Register/Maillist
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RachaelSlateAuthor
Street Team: https://www.facebook.com/groups/RachaelsRushHour/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachaelSlate
Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/1FfEpXH
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/RachaelSlate
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqvq8pmpYFjQtSXO2OMTlyQ
Scavenger Hunt Hint:
The number for your clue will not be written in text, but it will be a numeral. Tally all the numbers you find during the hunt and tally them together. This final number will be an entry in the Rafflecopter on the ENTER HERE page on the official website-http://acoascavengerhunt.weebly.com/enter-here.html
If you get stuck along the way because of a broken link,please visit the
AUTHORS LINK page http://acoascavengerhunt.weebly.com/authors-links.html
Did you find the number? If you did, then click this link to visit Rachael Slate’s page and continue the Scavenger Hunt.
February 17, 2016
How do you define success?
I was flattered to hear such high praise from my cherished, accomplished sibling, but I was also surprised. “Define success,” I said.
“You got your books published,” was her answer.
I didn’t reply that as difficult as publication is to achieve, it’s easy compared to the actual writing not to mention promotion and sales of the published work.
It’s the rare writer who doesn’t aspire to best-seller status. We want to see our books sell. Believe it or not, we need the money. Writing is what we do and we’d like to make a living doing it, instead of having to hold down a “day job” to pay our bills and squeeze writing into our spare time.
Beyond the practical considerations of receiving a paycheck, sales are important for other reasons. Commercial value is a measure of worth in many cultures. Every sale tells me that someone was interested enough in my work to spend money on it. Purchases, especially those of my second, third, and subsequent books are especially meaningful and encourage me to continue writing. Making The Redoubt, the fourth book in The Bewildering Adventures of King Bewilliam epic fantasy series, available for pre-publication purchase was rewarding. I was thrilled to readers were so eager to get my book that they bought it even before it was published.
Yes, I do track my sales figures and put a lot of time, energy, and creativity into publicizing my work and promoting sales. What tells me that I’ve been successful, however, is the feedback that I’ve received from readers who related that not only did my stories entertain them, they changed their lives. One reader of The Lost King felt validated that someone understood what he had experienced. Another reported being inspired to do some writing of his own and reader of nonfiction books related that my novels sparked a love of fiction.
Most recently a reader wrote to tell me that The Redoubt kept him “quiet company” during a stressful hospital stay and thanked me for a story that he could enjoy “with serenity.” What better endorsement could a writer receive?
My sister’s right: I am successful.
