Keith Robinson's Blog, page 14

Quincy's Curse is published!

As the post title suggests, I'm happy to announce that my complex, fun, and occasionally dark and creepy fantasy tale Quincy's Curse is now published to Kindle.

As usual, it will be on Nook, Kobo, and Apple soon, and there will be a print edition in the coming weeks. But right now it's available on Kindle at Amazon US and Amazon UK and Amazon AU and so on.

QUINCY'S CURSE by Keith Robinson

Quincy Flack is cursed with terrible luck. After losing his parents and later his uncle and aunt in a series of freak accidents, it's no wonder he's reluctant to make friends.

For that reason, Megan Mugwood is a little worried about befriending him when he moves into the village of Ramshackle Bottom. But word has it that incredibly good fortune shines on him sometimes too. Indeed, it turns out that he found a bag of valuable treasure in the woods just a few months ago!

As luck would have it, Megan has chosen the worst possible time to be around him.

This has been a pet project for a long time. It tells the story from multiple perspectives in that each chapter is from the point of view of a new character -- yet everything is so seamlessly woven together, I'll bet you stop counting the characters after a while and just enjoy the way everything circles back to the central plot. In most instances, even though you're reading about a new character, the main players wander back into the frame directly where they left off from before.

I was afraid some beta readers wouldn't like the "new point of view each time a chapter starts" method, but all of them quickly got used to it. Some loved it. Personally speaking, I knew this method was so different from the norm that some readers would hate it, but I believe the multiple perspectives only enhance this particular story. If nothing else, I implore (challenge!) you to read it and tell me what you think.

What beta readers have said:

Robinson taps into his vast imagination and tells a tale from a plethora of viewpoints. Each chapter moves the story forward from a different character's POV. It is a thrill to see how each chapter overlaps and drives the plot onward to its dire conclusion. It's a great example of how an author quickly introduces a character and establishes their relationship with the rest of the cast. And Keith does this every chapter. It's a real treat starting each new chapter. The reader is supercharged to read on and see how the story unfolds. I loved seeing how he fit scenes into place like sweetly sculpted puzzle pieces. And they all fit together beautifully. Not a one appears rammed in there. Seriously. It's quite a sight to see how seamless the story is strung together.

There are plenty of exciting events to go around and, overall, the story is infused with a light yet menacing air. While I'll admit the changing perspectives threw me off a bit, I suspect this is a personal quirk as other reviewers appear to have no problem with this device whatsoever. The villainy is world-class in "Quincy" with Robinson introducing (technically "re-introducing" since this character comes from folklore) an otherworldly fiend of the sort that caused me to worry if anyone would be left standing by the end of the book.

What a charming book! It's a cross between a fairy tale, a science fantasy and a medieval thriller along the lines of one of my favorite novels: An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears. The story is seen from the differing perspectives of all the characters and is fascinating how the author weaves it all together. Devilishly humorous and sometime a little eerie, the story is breathtakingly captivating. Highly recommended.

Completely different from Robinson's 'Island of Fog', it's a rollicking good tale told from multiple points of view, with one surprising twist after another. It took me a couple of chapters to get into the story; but once I did I was hooked.

The characters are lovely and the story is interesting. What makes it best is the switching perspectives, which can be very annoying in books, when you have to re-adjust places and characters, but here it's done brilliantly, every new character and storytelling perspective clicks just into the right place. I would say this books target audience would be slightly older than the island of fog series, which is nice.

So WHAT are you sitting there waiting for? Get it now! :-)

What's going on (and not)

Some of you have asked, "Where the heck is Quincy's Curse?" I had intended to get this published in October, but time ran away from me and I decided to put it off until December. It just needs a little fine-tuning here and there and should be ready later this month.

I did, however, get Valley of Monsters published in November as planned. Hurrah!

So what else is going on? My agent, Whitt Brantley, asked me to complete the Island of Fog screenplay I had started a long time ago. I forget why I didn't finish it back then, but anyway, Whitt suggested I finish it off because a screenplay will probably "speak" to TV and movie producers more than a novel will. I should be done with that by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, I've been plotting Island of Fog Books 8 and 9 for next year's double-whammy release. It's one big story in two distinct halves, but rather than end the first half with a huge cliffhanger and keep everyone waiting, I decided to write and edit both together and release them within a month of each other.

This story will mark the end of the Island of Fog series. Ha! I've said that before, haven't I? It's become an in-joke. Anyway, I suppose I should say that this marks the end of the series for the foreseeable future. That said, there are various spin-offs I'd like to do, so the Island of Fog world will still exist no matter what. We just might be following the adventures of other characters instead of Hal.

So, what's on my To-Do list?

2013 (ie, this month):

Finish my Island of Fog screenplayPublish Quincy's Curse

Also this month, look out for Wonderstorms: A Fantasy Anthology featuring my short story "The Cosmic Ark" (among others). See below.

2014

Unearthly Tales #1: Sleep WriterIsland of Fog Books 8 and 9Possibly Unearthly Tales #2: Robot Blood

Brian Clopper and I had planned to write Fractured Part 2 as well, but while we're both interested it getting stuck in, we've decided to wait until the first one takes off a bit more first. There's no sense in pouring a lot of effort into a sequel when other books are "more important" to us right now.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice that I mentioned "The Cosmic Ark" above. This is a short story written for Brian Clopper's Wonderstorms anthology. I'm one of five contributing authors, and my story is actually a "pilot" for my upcoming Unearthly Tales series that will be starting in 2014. The 11,000-word story was neat to write and really helped me with my world building for the new series. By the time I start writing Sleep Writer, the characters will be all fleshed out and ready to go. So look out for this anthology in December.

Oh, and did I mention it will be FREE? At least it will be free on Apple and Kobo, and $0.99 on Amazon to start with until they price-match it to $0.00. As usual, it will be priced on Barnes & Noble because they don't price-match nothin' (cuz they're party poopers).

Finally, just a quick word about the Island of Fog series again. Recently I altered a few keywords, trying to place my books in a perhaps more suitable category. When you really get down to it, there are only a few to choose from:

Kindle eBooks
  > Children's eBooks
    > Science Fiction, Fantasy & Scary Stories
      > Fantasy & Magic
            Coming of Age
            Mystery & Detective
            Paranormal & Urban
            Sword & Sorcery

I was already in Swords & Sorcery though not placed very high. Why that category, though? Well, specific keywords get a book placed in specific categories. I use both "dragons" and "magic," and these keywords automatically place a book in Swords & Sorcery. That's not great since my books feature neither swords nor sorcery, but two of the alternatives are worse.

However, Coming of Age is appropriate for my books. I went ahead and added a keyword that would place me there -- "preteen" -- and lo and behold, my books showed up there right away. Because this category is not so saturated, my books are currently placing fairly high (as I write this):

You can see Island of Fog at #2, Valley of Monsters at #4, and Chamber of Ghosts at #6. Also, not seen here are Roads of Madness at #14 and Lake of Spirits at #15. Not sure where the others are! Click here if you're interested, although it will quickly be out of date.

Anyway, that's all for now. Got a brand new fantasy adventure called Quincy's Curse to edit and a couple of Fog books to plot.:-)

Valley of Monsters (Island of Fog, Book 7) is published!

This is a quick post to announce that Valley of Monsters (Island of Fog, Book 7) is now available to buy for your Kindle at Amazon US and Amazon UK and Amazon AU and so on. It's also available for the Nook at Barnes & Noble.

I've been so busy lately that this launch has turned out to be a quiet affair! Reviews are coming in already though, such as:

Robinson once again delivers a story that drives the series forward. The dual narrative shows how Hal deals with his newest hairy predicament alongside the early adventures of Chase. I especially liked the wonderful twists as they sought out the sphinxes and found my blood racing in the sequences where Hal battled with his inner demons.

Another excellent addition to the series. These are wonderful books for the 10-12 year old crowd. My son loves this series. Be sure to share these books with your children. They are good reads for adults too.

This seventh book in the series kept me hanging on until the final moment. I love the moral issues that it casually raises, having the characters examine their own motives as well as recognise others' viewpoints and perceptions without feeling the slightest bit 'preachy'.

OK -- first off, I do not hand out five star reviews easily. I'm kinda demanding of authors. Even the masters, like Dean Koontz, don't get 5 stars for every book. Just doesn't happen. This one didn't just hold my attention. I got thrilled and chilled, cared about the characters, felt like I was there, and would pay much more than the asking price for this little gem. I've read the series more than once and just don't want it to ever end. I recommend this book, and the series, to kids and adults alike.

Great series for the whole family. I purchased the first book for my daughter, but read it first. After the first book I was hooked. Each book adds more to the story that I can not put down.

Get your copy today! Currently available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble only, but soon to be Kobo and Apple. Printed editions will be available in a week or two. Stay tuned.

How to provide a reader with recaps of previous books in a series

When writing a series of books with an arcing plot, it's often necessary to add recaps to remind the reader what happened previously and why a character might be in a certain situation. But how much recap is too much?

This is especially true with my books because each follows on directly from the last. I'm up to Book 7 of the Island of Fog series and have a lot of story left to tell but even more behind me. In the opening chapters, I struggled as usual with the dreaded recaps -- reminders of what happened before so that the reader is clear what's going on now. After all, it might have been eight months or a year since he or she read the last book, and that's a long time to forget important details.

At first I wrote in lots of reminders in the first chapter, which seemed necessary before I could move the plot forward. I didn't like it. I wanted to get straight to the action, and all the small flashback narrative was slowing it down. So I had an idea, something I've employed before: include a "previously" section in the front of the book. This is commonly used in TV shows, so why not in books?

So I wrote a two-page "what happened before" introduction that could be skimmed over by readers who remember every detail, but would be really helpful to those who don't. One or two of my beta readers commented in their notes that they'd prefer to have reminders sprinkled through the first few chapters as necessary rather than two pages of it before the story starts. Another added that Harry Potter and other popular series just assume readers know the back story already.

I put an Official Question out to all beta readers this morning. Option 1 was to keep the "Previously" section. Option 2 was to delete it and instead sprinkle any necessary recaps throughout the first few chapters. The first few responders surprised me:

I prefer the "Previously" section as there's enough info there to get into the new story, and to entice one to read the previous ones if you want more detail.

Option 1. I find the inline reminders a little annoying.

I prefer option 1, really enjoyed reading that part and not the updates in the book!

I think the "previously" section is a very nice addition and helpful as it has been awhile since I've read the other books. I would definitely keep it as you have it now!

I didn't have a problem with the review in the beginning of the book. However, going into the next chapter, there was more repetition of the review. I didn't like that.

That last comment refers to the bits that I forgot to remove from Chapter One after I'd written the "Previously" section, so I'll definitely be fixing that. But otherwise the opinion so far is pretty clear!

Any others want to weigh in on this? This argument applies to ANY series, not just mine, so feel free to give me your thoughts in a more general sense.

Valley of Monsters is now out to beta readers

This is just a quick post to say that Valley of Monsters (Island of Fog, Book 7) is now out to beta readers. It's a day late, but I reserve the right to allow my genius to skew any deadlines. :-)

As usual I have my "new book jitters." Is it fabulous, average, or complete rubbish? Actually, since it's the seventh book in the series, I have the additional pressure of comparisons to previous books. In an ideal world, each book would be better than the last, but the truth is that that's hard to achieve because every reader is different. With the current six books, the "favorite" is wildly varied. While some loved Roads of Madness because it was a "zombie thriller," others didn't like it as much for that same reason. And while some loved to hate Jolie in Lake of Spirits, others hated to love her.

So I expect opinions will be divided for Book 7. The question is, does it measure up overall?

Now I need to wait a couple of weeks -- or sooner for those who read really fast -- to see what work I need to do before publication at the end of November. In the meantime, I can now move on and get Quincy's Curse launched, which again, because of my genius, has missed its deadline.

Are you interested in beta-reading Valley of Monsters?

I've been really quiet for the past month because of a ton of work and other things going on. My deadlines are slipping a little too, although not by much. Nothing a healthy dose of not sleeping won't cure!

I finished Valley of Monsters (Island of Fog, Book 7) and am now in the editing stage. About a third has been hammered into shape, and by the end of October it'll be good enough to enjoy but not quite clean enough to publish. That's where YOU come in.

I want to request super-fast beta readers this time. Normally I give three weeks for the complete read-through, but I've noticed that many betas are done much earlier. So, if I send the book out to my list of beta readers on the morning of November 1st, I'd like feedback and nitpicks back by the end of November 14th, which is 14 days.

Are you up to the challenge? Think you can manage it? Can't wait another month for the final, published edition? Comment below or email me at keith@unearthlytales.com, or post on my Facebook page under this subject.

You see, I figure I've slipped about two weeks in my schedule, but I'll gain a week during this speedy beta read, so in fact I'll only be one week behind overall. Which means I still might make my November 30th publish date. I don't have to meet that deadline, but I want to.

I enjoyed writing Book 7, and although I have my usual pangs of self-doubt, I do think it moves along nicely and has a number of elements that are sure to keep fans on edge. Something about writing this novel flowed. It all came together so well, and it's a little different to the other books because Chase has a story of his own to tell, told in first-person. His personal story of growing up with Miss Simone neatly parallels the present events, and I was almost surprised at how that happened. So I think it's turned out well -- but of course, only readers can tell me how it stacks up against the other books in the series.

Brian Clopper is having an early read even as I finish my editing. This is great, because he's already pointed out a bunch of small things that I'm fixing as we speak, so the version I send out to beta readers on November 1st will be much cleaner than it is right now. At the end of Chapter Three, he said: "I love this. Your readers will eat this up! Clever man!" Hehe. I have to admit I'm looking forward to the general reaction at this particular bit.

I have other things to report, but this post is primarily about Valley of Monsters, so I'll leave it here for now. Beta readers, block out your diaries for November 1st-14th. Look forward to hearing from you!

A series of Unearthly Tales starting in 2014

Plans for a new series of books have been solidifying in my head over the last month. I've had several mushy ideas back there for a year or so, but finally it's all coming together.

Back in August I blogged about Books I'll be publishing in the next few months. That plan is holding up. FRACTURED (BOOK 1) is now published. QUINCY'S CURSE is being beta read right now and is on schedule for publication in October. VALLEY OF MONSTERS (the 7th Island of Fog book) is coming along and still planned for publication in November. And then there's the other stuff...

My short story for Brian Clopper's WONDERSTORMS project is half written. This features three characters named Liam (12), Ant (12), and Madison (14) in a freaky tale that I'm writing as a "pilot" episode for my forthcoming series starting around springtime next year. I mentioned this in my previous post as the FREQUENCY series, but that was a working title and actually it's going to be called the UNEARTHLY TALES series as it was always intended. If you're thinking, "Wait a minute, that's the name of your blog!" then you'd be right. It's no coincidence.

Many years ago, I wrote a couple of (unpublished) short stories in which Madison and her younger brother visited local haunts and "solved" the mysterious occurrences just as Scooby-Doo and the gang might (only a little less cartoony). Those were my original "Unearthly Tales," and I'd planned to get a few together and publish them as a compilation.

More recently I've had several unconnected ideas for standalone novels. But I prefer connecting things. I like the idea of a series of books, and plus it's always nice to pick up with the same characters in new adventures. This is better from a marketing point of view as well. Hook a reader on the first book and maybe they'll buy the rest of the series. So it occurred to me that my unconnected standalone novels could in fact feature the same characters and be part of a series, though each would remain a standalone story so that a reader could jump in anywhere and buy them in any order.

This is where the UNEARTHLY TALES series comes in. Liam and Ant will meet Madison in the first book, SLEEP WRITER, and forever after will be involved in weird adventures spanning the realms of fantasy and science fiction. Just for inspiration and a way of solidifying some ideas, I put together some mock-up covers that show (roughly) how things might look four books into the series...

I'm fairly certain SLEEP WRITER and ROBOT BLOOD will venture forth just as they're planned in my head. The other two need more thought and may or may not happen, but you get the idea. How long will this series be? I have no idea. It's an open-ended idea that could wrap after a few or keep going into double figures! It depends on how well they're received and how many ideas I can come up with.

What I like is that I can take almost any idea that pops into my head and turn it into an Unearthly Tale for our intrepid trio. I won't need to worry about thinking up new protagonists; I can slip back into their lives and get on with the story.

How does this affect the ISLAND OF FOG series? It doesn't. I'll be wrapping up that series after nine books no matter what, and there will be a set of short stories (webisodes) to go alongside. In fact, I have great ideas for Book 8 and 9... but that's for another post. :-)

Quincy's Curse out for beta reading

Quincy's Curse is nearing completion and will be published in October as planned. Right now it's in the hands of beta readers. It's already been read and critiqued by two, so this is actually a second and bigger round of beta reading. They have until October 7 (three weeks from today) to send me their feedback.

After that I'll do a final round of polishing and press the magic button that puts it into stores. This book will be available in print as well as on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple.

If you want to beta read Quincy's Curse, it's not too late. Just let me know by commenting below or emailing me. Remember that beta reading is not just a free read. I expect some degree of feedback and a (hopefully favorable) review afterward once published. In other words, I want to put you to work. ;-)

I've been tinkering with the cover and am nearly there. I'm not 100% certain about it yet so won't post it here, but I will give you a teaser image that shows Quincy looking a little concerned. Madame Volga is lurking in the background. She's a piece of work, that one.

I'll post the final cover together with an official synopsis in a later post. Stay tuned! But for those wondering if they want to beta read it, it's about Quincy Flack, a new boy in the village who's cursed with good and bad luck and as a result tends to steer clear of people. Megan Mugwood, being the sociable type, decides to be his friend and the two are immediately whisked off on an adventure with an old man named Pagfire the Mountain Maker. Together they discover the truth of Quincy's curse and realize that everything is about to get very dangerous indeed...

This novel is pure fantasy set in a medieval period. While I've tried to keep it authentic, I've taken some liberties here and there because I didn't want to get too bogged down in details. I originally used a few modern phrases that I subsequently fixed, but I deliberately left in "thick sandwich" even though "sandwich" is a little early for the middle ages (they piled meat and veg onto "trenchers," which soaked up the gravy and fats and could then be thrown to the dogs -- or eaten by the less discerning type). In other words, it's 90% medieval and 10% artistic license. Besides, it has dragons and mermaids and a cyclops in it. What's the big deal with someone having a sandwich?

The tone of the story is pretty light to start out with, and there are chapters later on that are full of rib-tickling humor. But there's a dark side as well. It creeps into the story and becomes pretty tense toward the end. I really enjoyed writing the nasty villain, the fabled and somewhat disturbing Red-Legged Scissor-Man from the late 1800s. Of course, my version has nothing to do with sucking thumbs.

Anyway, more later!

FRACTURED is published and available!

Yes, the sci-fi and fantasy novel Fractured (Book 1) is now available in various formats for all those who are chomping at the bit to read something unique.

The book, written in collaboration with Brian Clopper, is for all readers 10 and up. It's available for FREE wherever possible and at the lowest price possible on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Our aim is to give it away in the hope that readers who like it might be tempted to check out our other work as individual authors. You can find the book at the following places:

FOR FREE:

Issuu (in a swish PDF form for on-screen reading) Kobo ...and on Apple in about a week (check back here for a link)

FOR $0.99:

Kindle US Kindle UK Nook

Yes, it's supposed to be free, but Amazon and Barnes & Noble require a minimum price of $0.99. However, Amazon may price-match it later. Until then, it's pretty cheap, right?

We'll add to this list of available platforms as we go along. We're also considering a paperback version, but of course that will be at cost (although really cheap, just to cover the manufacture cost).

If you like this book, PLEASE rate and review it at any of the above venues and on Goodreads. Reviews are really important but they don't have to be comprehensive, just a few sentences is all it takes. And even though the book is not free on Amazon, please do copy your review there if you get a chance as they might not bother price-matching the book until they see some "action" and interest from readers.

Thanks, all! Go to World of Apparatum for more information.

Progress on Valley of Monsters and beyond

First of all, a quick note about the new look to his website. I'm using the moonlit sky from the cover of Valley of Monsters (Island of Fog, Book 7), and I think it fits the "unearthly" quality I crave. Note the transitioning banner images, which satisfy my need to promote various projects without taking up too much space. I also ditched my ugly mug. The only reason I had my face at the top in the first place was because there are so many people named Keith Robinson and I wanted to be instantly recognizable for anyone coming to find me. It's not even funny how many artists and writers share my name, as well as an actor. It's not fair! Recently I discovered that my domain name, keithrobinson.com, is available to buy for $40,000. I decided I didn't need it that badly.

Anyway, back on topic.70,000 words done (about 77%) and five chapters to go. Book 7 of the Fog series is racing along! Yes, I'm now into the last five chapters of Valley of Monsters. Before I got started on the last leg, I took a pause and plotted how things would unfold. I'd done this at the start but have, for the most part, written this book organically with only a basic outline and a few hard markers to hit. But I didn't want to go rambling toward the end, so I wrote a quick chapter summary to get my head in gear.

For me, a chapter summary isn't so much about the words I write as the thought processes behind them. Ideas flit through my head all the time, buzzing around like will-o-wisps, always there but not quite in reach, and it's only when I write them down that they settle into tangible plot points that form a story. So when I got to thinking about it and started typing my notes, the final part of the story solidified. Now I know exactly what happens and how it unfolds, and I know which chapter deals with what.

I was mightily surprised at how things fell into place. I have several plot threads in this book that are coming together neatly without any sign of being forced. What's really exciting, though, is that the entire plot of Book 8 suddenly became clear. It's like it's been lurking there in the background all along and I couldn't quite see it. When I told my wife about this, she stopped what she was doing, gave me a funny look, and suggested there's something wrong with me.

Some readers will be pleased to know that Book 7, Valley of Monsters, will wrap up neatly without a cliffhanger. That said, it's the first of the third trilogy, and there's an arcing story that will continue in Books 8 and 9. I'm certain that shapeshifter fans will be excited by the premise of the eighth book. More on that another day, though.

I should add that I do listen to reader comments and mull them over in my head. One reader mentioned that Miss Simone's attitude toward Hal in Chamber of Ghosts was a tad unscientific. I happen to agree, and the reasoning is that Miss Simone has gotten deeper into politics than she ever wanted. As you know, she's the spokesperson for the somewhat lazy village council, so she ends up dealing with everyday minutiae instead of concentrating on science. With the events of Chamber of Ghosts, her work is cut out trying to smooth things over. Well, it's no big spoiler to reveal that she resigns from the council in Valley of Monsters; it's a small background detail that makes a lot of sense for the character and allows her to have a much more important scientific role in Book 8.

The really big question is about Hal. I can't spoil it for those who haven't read Chamber of Ghosts, but those who have know what I'm talking about. Will his "issue" be resolved? Well, it'll certainly be a major part of Book 7. :-)

Oh, and by the way, I can reveal that a certain character will be returning in Book 8 to cause mayhem.

Stay tuned for more!