Keith Robinson's Blog, page 11

Island of Fog Audiobook published!

As the title says, the Island of Fog audiobook is now published and available at Audible, Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), and also on iTunes. Watch this trailer for a very quick sample with added sound effects and music:

I think Fred Wolinsky did an amazing job with the variety of voices. The children are so distinctive that you could identify them easily without dialog tags. Hal and Abigail obviously take up many of the scenes, but some of my favorite character voices have to be Robbie, Fenton, and Emily. Did you know Emily had a lisp? Hehe.

If you've read the series (or at least the first book), I hope you'll find it interesting to listen to it played out by a talented narrator. I know of some fans who often read it to their children or class, so it could actually be useful and fun to have an audiobook AND a book so that listeners can hear and read the words at the same time. If you're not an Audible member, you can get the audiobook for free by signing up and becoming a member today.

You'll find that the reading is absolutely word perfect, which ensures that in the coming weeks it will be automatically added to Amazon's WhisperSync system, which means you'll be able to read the Kindle book, easily switch to the corresponding position in the audio, the back to the Kindle, and so on.

It's 9 hours 37 minutes in length, and there's a sample on each of the product pages that will give you a good idea of what to expect.

And it's worth mentioning here that Fred Wolinsky is about to start work on Book 2, Labyrinth of Fire. :-)

Plans to continue the Island of Fog series

At the end of Castle of Spells (Island of Fog, Book 9), I wrote an author's note and said this:

So that's it. Hal's story is finished for now. This nine-book series has chronicled his transition from an ordinary twelve-year-old boy living on a foggy island to an experienced thirteen-year-old shapeshifter in a bright new magical world.

His adventures took place over five months between October and March. That's a lot of story for a short period of time! He's pretty exhausted now, and I think it's best we leave him alone for a bit while he recuperates and plans his ongoing mission for the future -- to feed the monstrous underground brain. I feel fairly confident we'll get to check in on him sometime later.

Well, I now have firm plans for the next book in the story. You might be tempted to think of it as Island of Fog Book 10, but you should probably call it by its rightful title:

New Earth Shapeshifters (Island of Fog Legacies, Book 1)

Hal is still involved in his mission to feed the underground brain. It's become a lifelong project for him. But his son's story is only just beginning...

It's nearly thirty years later, a whole new generation. Hal and Abigail are married with a boy and girl of their own, and their transforming abilities are not hereditary; there are no dragon-faerie mixes! So as the boy reaches his twelfth birthday, Hal allows him to choose what kind of shapeshifter he wants to be. Those who have read Castle of Spells will know that becoming a shapeshifter is now a fairly simple matter, though the process itself is kept a secret. But of course Hal has friends in high places, and so starts a new set of shapeshifting adventures! Hal and Abigail have small roles as parents; all the focus is on the kids. I have a feeling the younger sister is going to cause a lot of mischief.

More on this when I've hammered out some more details. I expect to start writing this in 2016.

Meanwhile, this year will be busy with lots of free short stories and a few novellas. If you haven't read Eye of the Manticore yet, find it on Amazon and other stores. And if you want free short stories, there are two available in the archives and a new one coming up on March 15th, just a few days away. Stay tuned!

Get a free cartoon of your child or other small person as a superhero monster!

This is a fun idea. To celebrate the release of Chaos at the Door, the first book in Brian Clopper's Monsters in Boxers series, the author is running a contest.

Monsters in Boxers #1: Chaos at the Door

Time and space about to crash in on itself thanks to paradoxes galore? Check. An invasion of Earth by ghastly monsters? Most definitely. A super-baddie named Horde Lord? Absolutely. Four unsuspecting kids suddenly able to become super-powered monsters courtesy of high-tech boxers? You know it. Bullies, betrayals, and bombast? Of course we have the three B's. The Monsters in Boxers series is a rowdy mash-up of monsters, time travel, and magical undergarments that's filled with action and wit.

As a gifted cartoonist as well as a writer of outrageous science fiction, Brian will pick one person to win an original monster sketch and portrait. That's right, he will draw your child, grandchild, niece, nephew or other suitable little person as a member of the Monsters in Boxers team of superheroes.

Since this will be a portrait, Brian will need a charming photo of your loved one. He'll then draw the little bugger as a boxer-wearing monster and create a paragraph description of the special powers the monster will have. (If the monster is a girl, the boxers will probably turn into a fetching skirt or perhaps a skort.)

The sketch will be posted at www.brianclopper.com, and the winner will get the original art as well as some comic goodies from Brian's studio.

So what does one have to do to get their little person immortalized as a monster wearing magical underwear? Simple! Just subscribe to Brian's website at www.brianclopper.com anytime before March 25th and you're automatically entered.

I have a few of Brian's out-of-print books including the original illustrated edition of Graham the Gargoyle. He's a professional comic strip artist, dontcha know! These days he's a writer, but his cartoons are still going strong. Just to give you an idea, here's a black-and-white sketch Brian did of the four main characters in the new Monsters in Boxers novel:

From left to right, that's Amy, Reggie, Troy, and Jason.

Why not add your own small person to the gang? Sign up now. It's free and simple! Offer expires at midnight on March 25.

Eye of the Manticore and Wings of a Faerie are published!

Yes, a double-whammy for Island of Fog readers -- a brand new novella out now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo for only $2.99, AND a free short story right here on this website.

Eye of the Manticore (Island of Fog Chronicles)

Thomas Patten is no ordinary boy. He and his classmates grew up on a foggy island, each destined to become a shapeshifter, able to transform into a fabulous creature of myth and legend.

But Thomas's first transformation came earlier than expected. Frightened, he ran away and got himself hopelessly lost in an unfamiliar forest and an entirely different world. Now, six years later, he must choose between a continued life with manticores in the forest... or a return to human society.

EYE OF THE MANTICORE is the first in the Island of Fog Chronicles following the adventures of various characters in the series.

See the main book page for links to Amazon, Nook, Apple, Kobo, and more.

Also published today:

Wings of a Faerie (FREE short story)

Abigail Porter may not have been the first to experience signs of change, but she was the first transform and recognize what she had become -- a faerie straight from the pages of a book!

A free short story will be published every month on the 15th starting today, February 15th.

You can find the new short story section on the official Island of Fog page, or you can jump straight to it here.

Please let me know what you think, and as always, reviews on Amazon and other stores are appreciated.

Countdown to February 15th

Just a reminder that TWO things are happening on February 15th:

The release of a brand-new novella called Eye of the Manticore, all about Thomas Patten as he struggles to choose between a continued life with manticores or a return to human society. This will be available on all channels at $2.99. The novella is a third of the length of the main Island of Fog books.A new section for FREE short stories will be opening up. The recent yuletide yarn, A Very Merry Shapeshifting Christmas, will be included along with a brand-new story called Wings of a Faerie, which is all about (you guessed it!) Abigail Porter in those lonesome days just before she started hanging out with Hal.

Just a few days to go...

Unearthed (Fractured Book 2) is published!

As the title of this post says, the second part of the two-part Fractured story is now available at all the major retailers. Unearthed picks up where the first book left off and completes the tale of Kyle and Logan as they try to set the broken world of Apparatum back on the right path.

Unearthed (Fractured Book 2)

Kyle and Logan long to return to their families -- or, better still, bring both worlds into phase so they can all be together.

With Abe Torren's help, perhaps they can do just that.

Tunnels have been discovered deep below the enclaves and under the city. Within the darkness are signs of a lost civilization. But according to Abe, it isn't lost at all. In fact it's the third phase of Apparatum, very much alive today and filled with untethered spirits.

Only these spirits are flesh-and-blood creatures...

See the main book page for links to Amazon, Nook, Apple, Kobo, and more.

If you buy this book and enjoy it, please consider rating and/or reviewing it. Ratings help get books noticed, and that means more sales, and more sales means more money to buy cups of tea with which to fuel more writing. :-)

Many thanks to all those beta readers who helped us find typos and improve things.

Lots of fog planned for 2015

With the recent completion of the first novella in the Island of Fog Chronicles, Eye of the Manticore, things are falling into place for a foggy future filled with fabulous friends, fearsome foes, and fun! Here's what's planned:

ISLAND OF FOG CHRONICLES

Eye of the Manticore follows Thomas as he relives his childhood and tries to make a decision between manticores and humans. This 34,000-word novella (a third of the length of a book) will be published on February 15th, price $2.99.

Another novella will follow later in the year.

ISLAND OF FOG WEBISODES

Free webisodes! Yes, for real. These will start on February 15th with a monthly webisode series showing how the main characters underwent their first transformations into fabulous monsters. As you know, Thomas was first to change, but his story is fully detailed in Eye of the Manticore above. The rest of the characters are simpler, so Abigail's story will be the first webisode, about a chapter length. This be published for free on my website on February 15th.

A month later, on March 15th, Fenton will change. Then the next classmate on April 15th, and so on. I haven't decided whether or not to include Hal in this series, since his story is already fully told in Island of Fog (Book 1), but I might include an adaptation of his transformation chapter as a webisode for completeness. What do you think?

Once all their stories are told, I'll move on to other incidents and characters. Some stories are fairly quick and simple and can be told as short webisodes. I intend "hiding" these from public view, so you'll need to be logged in as a free subscriber to see them.

Other stories are more complex and will be written as full novellas for the Island of Fog Chronicles series (each $2.99).

ISLAND OF FOG SERIES

Announcement! I've had a lot of comments and requests suggesting that the series shouldn't end. I could argue that I'd rather end while it's "good" and avoid having it slide downhill. Plus, these books are 100,000 words each and take 4-5 months to write and edit, hence why I've not got any webisodes done. I "ended" the series because I wanted to take a break and explore some of the other characters and delve deeper into things we didn't get to witness firsthand.

I think 2015 will satisfy that itch and get me started on a routine of writing webisodes and novellas. Then, while continuing that trend, I can return to the main series with Book 10 in 2016. By then, Hal will be 13 going on 14, and he'll be traveling the land with Abigail by his side.

How does that sound? :-)

AND NOT FORGETTING THE ISLAND OF FOG AUDIOBOOK

I "signed the deal" today with Fed Wolinsky, my chosen narrator for the Island of Fog audiobook. He sent me some audio samples the other day so I could choose voices for Thomas, Miss Simone, and a few of the others. Emily will have a slight lisp! It's going to be a lot of fun. The first 15 minutes should be available in the next week or so, and I'll post it on this blog as a sampler.

2015 is set to be a very foggy year!

Eye of the Manticore is finished and in final editing stage

I started writing Eye of the Manticore, the first book of the Island of Fog Chronicles, back in November. I wrote about 3000 words while sitting in the van waiting for Lily to do her softball practice. I then resumed over Christmas. It's now finished, clocking it at 33,000 words. This is almost exactly a third of the length of a full Island of Fog book, so it's technically a novella.

Right now, it's on Google Docs being eyeballed by Brian Clopper. He's offering excellent suggestions as well as the usual nitpicks (picking up typos, etc). After that, I'll make all the necessary changes, put it on my Kindle, and read it again. I expect to note lots more typos and word changes.

As usual, I'm looking for beta readers. I don't need many though, so if you're interested, please let me know but be aware that my final selection will be limited to a very small group. Email me at keith@unearthlytales.com. Oh, and note that you'll have TWO WEEKS ONLY starting next weekend. This is a novella, the equivalent of about 7-8 chapters of a normal Island of Fog book. :-)

Publication date should be mid-February, a little later than I wanted, but it can't be helped. While you're waiting, here's some light elevator music and a tiny snippet...

      Thomas refused to move for hours. He lay low, listening to the breeze in the trees, the buzzing of oversized insects, and his own pitiful sniffling. He glimpsed that strange figure again, the one that blended in so well with the background. A screech caused him to glance up through the canopy of branches and stare in amazement as an enormous bird flew by, so impossibly huge he cowered lower and closed his eyes until it was gone.
      At one point, he held his breath when he heard a slithering, rustling sound not too far away. Absolutely still, he watched two upright shapes with straggly hair ease through the undergrowth. He could only see their heads and shoulders, but they looked like a man and woman with scaly skin. Draped in raggedy brown material that also looked scaly, they carried bows and seemed to slide rather than walk. The woman spoke, her voice low and whispery, an unintelligible language. The man grunted a reply, then brought up his bow and shot off an arrow with lightning speed.
      The arrow made a thwipp sound and thudded into something unseen that let out a shriek, some kind of large rodent. Perhaps the groundhog Thomas had chased earlier!
      With a burst of speed, the hunters dashed through the bushes and snatched up their prey—but Thomas was no longer interested in the furry creature they'd killed. He stared open-mouthed at them, at their thick, scaly, snakelike lower halves.
      "I want to go home," Thomas moaned softly, closing his eyes again. When he opened them several minutes later, the half-snake people were gone.

Island of Fog audiobook planned for release in the spring

It's on! The first book in the Island of Fog series will soon be an audiobook courtesy of Amazon's ACX audiobook program, and is due for release in the spring assuming all goes well. It will be available on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes.

The chosen narrator is the super-talented Fred Wolinsky. Check out his website and you'll see my book listed at the bottom of his home page as an upcoming project. Listen to his audio samples for a wide range of voices and accents.

Fred has supplied me with a couple of audition pieces, and we've discussed some of the character voices. Here's what I said about his first stab at a classroom scene where the classmates introduce themselves:

Hal was good, fairly ordinary and neutral, which is what he needs to be.Robbie had a perfect amount of geekiness. Love it!I liked Abigail's voice as a main girl character, not too over-the-top.Lauren was cute, just right.Darcy was just fine, no problem.Emily was lispy and nerdy, not what I imagined but still funny. Let me think on that one.Dewey was just fine, small and shy.Fenton was great!

His portrayal of Miss Simone was a little "old ma'am / school teacher-y" for me, but he didn't know much about her at the time. When he's finished reading the book, he'll see that she's quite sultry in an indifferent kind of way; her enchanting beauty is part of her magic, much to her annoyance.

In another scene, I wanted to hear what Thomas would sound like. A manticore's voice is traditionally described as "high and fluty," and I went with that in the books... but we both agree that a slightly more whispery, sinister voice would be better.

Once we get started on this, Fred will produce the first fifteen minutes and let me hear it around the beginning of February. Once I approve that, he'll continue with the rest of the book and complete in April. The entire audiobook should be about ten hours long, but it will take much longer to produce it. As Fred said in an email:

"There is quite a bit of work that goes into putting together a professional-sounding audiobook recording. I first read and prep the script, then I record (with lots of stopping, starting, and retakes until I am happy with every sentence), then edit, quality control, master the sound levels, clean up any pops, crackles, and extraneous breath noises, and convert the files for the web. On average, it takes me about 10 hours of work for each finished hour of audio. I know some narrators cut corners, and their recording quality, flow or consistency is not as professional sounding. I have great integrity in my work, and will put in whatever time it takes to do it right!"

Fred has passed Audible's stringent review process and been granted "Audible Approved" status, which only about 10% of the narrators on ACX have.

I can't wait to hear the finished book and launch it. I have no doubt Fred will do a great job, but I'm a little nervous about how clunky my writing will sound when spoken aloud, especially with Island of Fog being the first book I published. I'd be much more confident with Book 9. But anyway, all that aside, I'm hoping this will open up a whole new market for the series.

My next post on this subject will probably be sometime in February when I've heard the first 15-minute sampling.

Island of Fog as an audiobook?

I submitted Island of Fog (Book 1) to Amazon's audiobook program at ACX.com this morning. Now I'm waiting for auditions. I don't know if I should be excited or nervous!

The theory is that the 2000-word excerpt I submitted for audition will be read by various hopeful narrators/actors, and I will choose one of them to read the entire book. This assumes that a) any narrators are interested, and b) I like one of them.

Cost-wise, Amazon have a pretty good choice between PAY LOTS OF MONEY and PAY NO MONEY AT ALL to get Island of Fog turned into an audiobook. I chose the latter, knowing of course that the royalties per sale will be far less (but still probably $5-10 per sale). I figure that no outlay but possibly a little bit of profit on the first book will be a good test bed for other books.

Now I just need to wait for a flood of auditions! I'll follow up on this project in the comments below...