Sasha L. Miller's Blog, page 3

Giveaway and random status things

The Heart of the Kingdom is in full swing over at LT3's serials. For those following along, the real fun starts next week. :3 :3

It's been two months since Battle of Will dropped, and if ya'll haven't had a chance to pick up a copy, or if you'd like a paperback copy, I'm throwing a giveaway through GoodReads. Giveaway is open until March 31, and open to everyone everywhere. (Note: the giveaway thing is a bit buggy; there are entries, but on the book page it says there isn't. So if you enter and see that, your entry is there, GoodReads is just being weird.) Widget is below:


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Goodreads Book Giveaway Battle of Will by Sasha L. Miller Giveaway ends March 31, 2014.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win

Odds and Ends

First up, sale! LT3 is having a 20% off sale now through end of day Feb 15, so if you've been waiting for any reason to pick up any of my books, now is an excellent time to grab them. ^__^ Here is the me-specific listing of books, minus anthologies (which are on sale, but are listed under "Various" for multiple authors ATM*.


Second up, there's still two days left for giveaway entries. If you'd like an audiobook copy of Saving Liam, bop on over to this post and throw your name in that hat. If you'd like to win some serial subscription time to read The Heart of the Kingdom and a bunch of other neat serials, go to Goodreads and throw your name in this hat. (Note: you'll have to join the LT3 Goodreads group to join that giveaway, and obviously have a GR account.)


I swear there was a third thing, but I can't remember it so I'm going to run off to the next task on my to-do list. :3 Hope ya'll are having a good week.


*I am implementing a fix for this, and am super excited that it's nearly in place. ^__^ So sooon, it will have all my books, anthologies included.

Saving Liam - audiobook giveaway

Exciting news! Saving Liam is now available on audiobook. ^__^ It's available on WorldWide Audiobooks currently, and will be available on all major retailers soonish (processing can take a few weeks). You can keep an eye on where it's up here.

 To celebrate, I'm throwing a giveaway. There's a couple ways to enter, but uh, this is my first rafflecopter giveaway, so uh,  hopefully everything works, and I haven't screwed anything up. o_O

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Free Read: The Duke's Deception

Back in October (or somewhere around there), I offered up writings for a fundraiser and was taken up on that by two lovely peeps. The Duke's Deception was one of the stories I wrote, written for the ever lovely Mara Ismine, and will be up for grabs starting on Wednesday. (The other story is still half-done and being a brat. >_<)

You can grab it from LT3 or any third-party vendor (excepting Amazon, since they require a price and then price matching, so I suppose you COULD buy it from Amazon, but that seems silly when you can grab mobi format from anywhere).


All Larkin wants is to be left in peace, live a life free of lies and deceit. But agreements have been made and he must see them through if he ever hopes to achieve his goals. But between nefarious dealings, dangerous encounters, and one stubbornly determined prince, the obstacles may ultimately prove insurmountable …

Battle of Will - Release and Giveaways

Battle of Will is live! You can get your copies at LT3, Amazon, B&N, iTunes and pretty much every other retailer out there. ^__^ The book is your basic enemies-to-lovers trope, with a side of magically-bound-and-can't-leave-each-other's-side trope.

At a memorial service meant to honor the dead and mark the beginning of a truce between Skirfall and Morcia, Ackley spies a figure who does not belong—a mage interrogator whose presence will only cause harm should the Morcians realize who he is and all the people he has tortured. But the problem rapidly grows much worse than that when Ackley realizes his true purpose is assassination of the Morcian crown prince—an assassination Ackley prevents, but at great cost.

Banished from his own country, bound magically to the crown prince of his enemies, Ackley is certain of just one thing: whether he can figure out how to break the spell or not, his death is assured. If you're willing to play the odds, there are a few places you can go to enter giveaways. First up is the LT3 Goodreads Group, where there's a giveaway for each of our January releases. These giveaways are open until January 18, so you've got a few weeks to throw your name in those pots (including the one for Battle of Will). Check that out here.

The other giveaway is part of New Year's Kisses game/giveaway. Battle is part of a group giveaway (AKA, you enter to win and get a prize pack that includes it). That specific giveaway is here, but be sure to check out the other giveaways and kisses at Kay Berrisford, Tara Lain, and Angel Payne's blogs for more book and gift certificate giveaways.

Facebook page for Sasha L. Miller™

What the title basically means is that I've set up a FB author page (you LIKE it instead of FRIENDing it, I guess?). I was (mostly out of deference to family), not really using my FB profile for promo and author stuff. This way, anyone can opt in to the page updates and I won't have to worry about crossing personal/professional streams. (Not that I'm particularly worried about that, but I do so love to complicate things.)
In any case, if you are on FB and would like to follow author updates, this is the author page: https://www.facebook.com/sasha1miller
Peace out, homies, and I hope ya'll are having a good weekend.

Hello from the new website

As I mentioned the other day, I was changing up my website to something that would require less maintenance and less cost. Blogspot was the answer, much though I loathe the "I agree" button required each time I visit a blog with 'adult content.' So here it is! You can still go to sashalmiller.com to see all the web content, and this is where I'll primarily be posting for the foreseeable future. I am trying to set up crossposting to LJ, but we'll see if that works (if you see this post on LJ, hooray, it worked!)

Not everything is 100% up and running. Some of the free fics I used to have on my website aren't up here yet. Blogspot has a limit of 20 pages, and I had more pages than that for those fic. I'm going to backdate posts and then link them on the Free Reads page, but that'll take a few days (or weeks, depending on how easily I get distracted ;3). If there's anything you're clamoring to read, let me know and I'll expedite its posting.

The Published Works page is updated with my latest and greatest, though it was a sad few titles this year (three, saaaaaaaad ;_;). Hopefully next year will be more productive.

In honor of the new space (and shiny new layout!), have a snippet from The Heart of the Kingdom. (Not the start, since that's less... invigorating. ;3)

Cenric woke in the middle of the night after a fitful bit of sleep. A cold shiver ran down his spine, but Cenric didn't remember the dream he'd woken from. Shifting, he shoved his face further into his pillow, shutting his eyes tight against the dull glow emanating from the window across the bedroom.

Glow?

Cenric's eyes popped open, and he shoved himself out of bed so quickly he nearly tripped and fell. The curtains were cracked open and the sky was dark. The glow came from below, and as that registered, so did the smoke filtering up the stairs and the crackle of flames downstairs.

Fire. His house was on fire.

Terror froze him in place, and Cenric tried to remember if he'd banked the fire. He had, he distinctly remembered—

That wasn't important. Cenric grabbed for the jacket he'd draped over the bench to his mother's old dressing table. Draping it over his head, he pulled it across his mouth and headed for the stairs down. The fire was climbing the walls downstairs, burning through the chairs and furniture and Cenric's eyes stung with tears.

The stairs seemed untouched, and Cenric headed down them as quickly as he could. He didn't have much other choice—the windows in the loft weren't large enough to fit him, even if he could have handled jumping from that height.

The front door was still smoldering, a wave of flames slowly eating through it, so Cenric rushed towards the back. He could barely breathe through the heat and the smoke. He was lightheaded by the time he reached the kitchen doorway. Ducking through it, avoiding the licking flames somehow, he came to a complete stop when he realized the back door was blocked by a wall of flame as well.

It didn't look right. It cascaded strangely upwards, like a backwards waterfall of flame, and Cenric stood frozen, watching it.

There was no way out. He was going to die.

The back door crumbled, falling to the floor in a sudden explosion of ash and soot. The flames were gone from the doorway, giving him a clear path to the backyard. Cenric didn't stop to question it, stumbling forward and out. He tripped down the back stoop, barely catching his balance on the first two steps, but falling on the third.

Or, almost falling. Someone caught him up by the elbows, tugging him insistently away from his burning house. His mother's house, Cenric thought miserably, with the last of the things he had to preserve her memory. He pulled away from the man holding him up, turning back towards the house …

The flames were consuming the loft. Even if the town was roused, there would be no saving it or anything inside. Cenric dragged the jacket away from his face, numbly watching the fire climb higher.

"Do you have the necklace?"

Cenric whirled, startled out of his reverie. The strange man from the Davidsons' stoop stood there, looking much more disreputable in the dead of night. He backed away a step, the wild thought that maybe this man had set the fire and nearly killed him running through his head.

"What?" Cenric asked, his hand immediately reaching for his pocket. He wasn't wearing his jacket, he recalled belatedly, but he was holding it. What did this man want with the necklace he'd bought from Nick? Perhaps Nick had stolen it, and that was why he'd sold it to Cenric so cheaply. "Is it yours? You can have it—"

"No, it's yours," the man said, glancing past Cenric towards the burning house. "Do you have it?"

Cenric followed the man's gaze, his heart leaping into his throat when he caught sight of a shadowed figure lurking by the corner of his burning house. The flames were dying down, but despite being close to the shadowed figure, they cast no light upon it. It looked almost human, except for the way its limbs were too long and angled unnaturally.

"What is that?" Cenric asked hoarsely, the words tumbling from his mouth. It was all a nightmare. It had to be a nightmare.

"Do you have it?" The man asked urgently, closing the distance between them. "Or is it still in there?"

Cenric fumbled for his jacket pocket, unable to keep from looking back at the shadowy figure. It wasn't moving, seemed only to be watching them. His fingers closed over the cool metal of the necklace, the familiar heart-shape pressing into his fingers.

"I have it," Cenric said faintly. The shadowy figure slinked forward, towards them, and Cenric wanted to throw up. Something about the figure was inconceivably wrong; there was a sensation of depth and darkness, like the figure would swallow him whole if it got close enough.

The man muttered something, but he sounded relieved. Cenric tore his gaze away from the approaching figure, but at least he could see the stranger. That had to count for something.

"Hold on," the man said, grabbing the front of Cenric's shirt. Cenric didn't have time to react to that before the man was throwing something to the ground at their feet.

The world exploded in a blaze of light. Cenric closed his eyes tight against it, hold on echoing in his ears. He reached out and grabbed the man's arm with the hand he wasn't holding onto the necklace with, gripping tightly enough to leave a bruise as the world slipped away beneath his feet.

Drinker Class X - Giveaway!

Drinker Class X is being released next week on October 30 (just in time for Halloween!). I'm really happy with this story, and I hope ya'll will like it as well. ^__^ I wholeheartedly and completely blame it and all my other vampires on Megan, b/c when I started this writing stuff I was vehemently anti-vampire in any way, shape, or form. She has convinced me otherwise, so you can blame my bastardizations on her. :3

In any case, to celebrate, I'm throwing a giveaway because why not. Comment on the website post (not on the cross-posted LJ post*) with your favorite Halloween candy or tradition. Giveaway is open until Wednesday, October 30th around noon Eastern Time (basically if I haven't commented with the winners, you're good to enter). I will pick two winners with random.org and they'll have 24 hours to claim their prize of any e-format of Drinker Class X that they would like.

If you'd like to just buy the book (I LOVE YOU), it's on preorder until Tuesday, October 29 for 15% off at LT3. ^__^



Drinker Class X
Bitten on the job, Laurence is left to readjust to living as one of the drinkers he has always hunted. In order to be declared a stable citizen—and get back to work—he must attend a series of court-mandated sessions with a psychiatrist specializing in newly-turned drinkers.

The worst part of being a drinker, besides adjusting to life without sunlight, is that it's mostly doctors and red tape and tedium—right up until it isn't.

 

 

 

(*I'll shut comments off there, but if LJ has opened that up on me in the past after I close it, so just in case.)

DRINKER CLASS X

It is available for preorder! About two weeks until it drops, so you've got that long to snag it for 15% off. ^__^ I'm quite fond of it and it's lovely ridiculousness. It focuses on Laurence Wickes, a newly turned drinker (a.k.a., vampire, but no one calls them that anymore b/c it's soooo outdated), and his psychiatrist, Dr. Ira Ashdown. Laurence was a hunter, in charge of keeping drinkers in line, right up until he was bitten on the job. To keep that job--which he does want--he has to convince his government-mandated psych he's not a danger to society and get the right certification. He expects a stuffy old man and instead gets Ira, who's pretty much the opposite of stuffy old man. Everything seems to be going well for Laurence and Ira, until Ira's (secret, mysterious) past comes back to haunt them...

You can check it out here, complete with excerpt and Megan's (better than mine) summary. :3



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Audiobooks! LT3 has gotten the first of many audiobooks back from Red Planet Audiobooks. We opted for Megan's Prisoner first, b/c that seemed to be most in demand. ^__^ I did a quality check (a.k.a., listened to the whole thing). It's AWESOME. Seriously, I can't even with how awesome it is. Links will go up on LT3 soon to where you can buy it, but also go visit M's blog for a chance to win a free copy. ^__^

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What am I doing now? Working on my next serial (it's a Snow White rewrite that I'm already inordinately fond of) and working on my auction peeps' commissions. ^__^ Will hopefully have something to show for those soon. Also, the ongoing website update, which fell to the wayside with Proud to Be a Vampire and travel taking up ALL of my time lately. Both are about wrapped for now, so I'm hoping to really dig in and finish that up.

That's all I got for now. ^__^ Hope ya'll are having a lovely October.

Commissions for a Cause

All right peeps, here is the deal. One of LT3's authors, the fantastic Jaidon Wells (author of Dandy , which is equally fantastic and you should all check it out) is running a fundraiser to gather the money to pay for surgery to keep him walking.

It's an IndieGoGo thing, which if ya'll are unfamiliar, means you give money and pick out prizes. Prizes for the different donation tiers are stories and/or artwork by a handful of peeps, including me (hence the title).

I'll get to what I'm offering in a moment, but here are some more details:

» This post has details on what authors/artists are offering

» This tumblr will keep you apprised of how it's going

» This is the IndieGoGo page (my details are being added soon, so don't fret if you don't see them. You can still donate and claim a prize from me even if I'm unlisted). The cool thing about IndieGoGo is that any donations will be passed on, even if the goal isn't reached.

Okay, as to what I am offering (this is on the details page I linked above):

Commission nets the commissioner one story dedicated to them and based on a prompt from them. Prompts can include characters from an existing ‘verse of mine or something original, but I won’t write something that interferes with (1) sequel or WIP plans or (2) canon for existing stories. Commissioners can offer multiple prompts, in which case I'll try to incorporate as many as possible or pick from the offered prompts. I write all genres and across the LGBTQ spectrum, but do not write dub/non-con, character torture and I do not guarantee any sexually explicit content. Stories will be delivered within a year of the commission drive ending (and probably much sooner, but this is to cover my ass in case I turn out to be extremely popular).

Slots for 10K, 15K and 20K stories are limited to five so I don't go insane. Pricing is as follows:

$10 for 1,000 words
$20 for 2,500 words
$30 for 5,000 words
$45 for 10,000 words
$65 for 15,000 words
$90 for 20,000 words