M.J. Scott's Blog, page 29

The look of Fire Kin

So only a couple more days until Fire Kin is out. I start every book by doing a collage to try and get how the story (or the spark of the idea) feels in my head into an image I can use while I’m writing to remind myself what I’m trying to do.

This is how Fire Kin started out in my head.

And this is what it will look like out in the real world on Tuesday!

This is the point where I start chewing my nails ….

 

Another snippet

The countdown continues (May 6 is getting very close). So have another Fire Kin snippet.

 

“Veil’s eyes, Father is right. You are impossible.”

“Yes, but you like me anyway.” He stepped closer. Too close. Too near in the falling dark and the soft air, with the first hints of starlight above us. This night was the stuff of lovers’ trysts. Nothing that I wanted any part of with Ash. Even if his nearness made the hairs on my arms lift and set butterflies floating idly through my stomach.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Deny it,” he challenged.

A hero who didn’t forget

And if Bryony doesn’t want to remember, Asharic has never quite forgotten. So this one is a song for him.  You can check out the full soundtrack for Fire Kin  on the website.

 

Five days to go!

A heroine determined not to remember

So Bryony and Ash have a past. One she’d rather forget. The full soundtrack for Fire Kin is up on the website but this song is one that sums up Bryony and Ash from her viewpoint.

A snippet and a reminder

Fire Kin is out in a week (May 6).

And here’s a snippet to whet the appetite:

“Liam,” I said. “It’s good to see you.”

He smiled back at me, eyes startlingly green in his dark face. “And you, Lady Bryony.”

I studied him a moment. He looked tired but, underneath the fatigue, somehow changed by his travels. He’d been bowed down with grief at the death of a girl he couldn’t protect when he was sent on his mission. Apparently that hurt had receded a little. Also, he met my gaze without a blush. Which was another welcome improvement. He was growing up, this young knight.

“How is your arm after your journey?” I let my gaze fall to the shortened left sleeve of his tunic, which bared the stump of his arm. Simon and I had been unable to save his forearm—torn to shreds by the teeth of a Beast, and it was a failing that pained me.

“It’s fine, my lady,” he said firmly, shifting his stance so his right side was nearer to me.

I accepted his explanation, for now. He had never admitted to pain, not even in the earliest days after his amputation. I made a note to send one of the healers to check him later.

“They sent me to escort you,” Liam continued.

“Are we to meet in Father Cho’s office?” I asked, respecting his change of subject.

“In the conference room. I’ll take you there.”

He led the way, though I knew the route all too well. There had been too many conferences with the Templars and the human council these last few months. I probably could have found my way to the conference room in my sleep.

A babble of noise as we approached the room told me that I wasn’t the only one who’d been summoned.

But as I stepped through the door and saw the man who stood beside Guy DuCaine, tall and sleekly muscled with night dark hair and dark gray eyes set in a face I had tried my best to forget, I only wanted to turn around and run.

But if you haven’t started the Half-Light City series, here’s a quick reminder.

Book 1 is Shadow Kin

More info (including excerpts) here.

Book 2 is Blood Kin

More info (including excerpts) here.

Book 3 is Iron Kin

More info (including excerpts) here.

So we need a hero

It takes quite the guy to take on a heroine like Bryony … but it turns out there was someone in the wings waiting for her!

This guy.

 

Mmmm, Asharic. 8 days until you get to meet him!

9 days to Fire Kin!

So it’s only nine days now until Fire Kin comes out on May 6!

Time to meet our intrepid heroine. Well, you’ve met her already as she’s been in all the books. I’m not sure there’s anyone who really looks like the Bryony sa’Eleniel in my head but this is not too bad ….

Time to eat some chocolate and win some stuff

Wishing everyone a relaxing and safe break for Easter. Eat some chocolate, do fun stuff, read a book or two. Bliss!

Speaking of bliss (not biased at all here), Fire Kin comes out in just a couple of weeks now (May 6), so there will be giveaways over the next few weeks. As usual, there will be newsletter only giveaways and some here on the blog, so for double chances at fun, sign up for the newsletter (link in the sidebar). While you’re there, sign up for my Melanie Scott newsletter if you’re into contemporary romance as I have some very pretty The Devil In Denim ARCs and I’ll be giving them away too.

I’ve just finished writing book two of that series (Angel in Armani) and am moving on to book three. Then I’ll start my new fantasy series.  But entertain you in the meantime, all of Chapter 1 and 2 of Fire Kin is now up on MJ’s site.

A taste of Fire Kin

The first Fire Kin teaser excerpt is up over on the website.  More later this month.

And if you’re catching up…excerpts for Shadow Kin, Blood Kin and Iron Kin here.

Muse food

Over the years, I have learned that keeping the words working means doing stuff that makes the muse happy. Last year I didn’t get to knit much at all due to the vertigo and hurting my wrist (skillz, I have them), so the muse has been missing her colour fix. My muse likes colours, I don’t know why. Lately, it seems, that the muse wants paper and ink and colour. I’m doing a watercolour class in March and an art journalling class and in May, some calligraphy (I can now hear all my friends who have to read my handwriting falling to the ground and laughing hysterically as my penmanship is not the most comprehensible in the world these days). I’ve been reaching for notebooks and fountain pens and discovered a new object of lust aka the Derwent pencil 120 box. When I was a kid they came in boxes of 72 which I always wanted but only managed to acquire the 36 tin and some individual ones.

But while I’m saving up for the 120 box (it WILL be mine), I discovered that Derwent also make pastel pencils now and, something called Inktense pencils which are a version of a watercolour pencil, only ink, so it’s permanent when dry. I was wandering past my local art store the other weekend and they were having a spend $40 get $40 off, so I scored a set of the Inktense for 1/2 price (yippeee) and some pastel pencils as well.

Tonight, I was thought I should probably swatch the Inktense pencils. Turns out my house is lacking in paint brushes (I would’ve sworn I had some but apparently not). I did find one very dodgy synthetic bristly odd brush, so that and diving into my stash of Moleskine’s to unearth a teeny watercolour notebook, meant I could swatch. And man, they are beeyoootiful. Lovely intense colours, that dry fast and that you can layer other things over once they’re dry (unlike watercolour which reactivates with more liquid being applied). I look forward to further experimentation.

Here are the swatches (Pencil at the top, then what happens when water is applied…which would probably be better with a decent brush).

 

 

 

 

For contrast, here are some swatches of my watercolour pencils. I do not know what brand they are, I bought them ages ago and don’t have the box anymore and the powers of Google fu do not reveal any more when I type in the info on the pencil (there’s a pic at the end in case anyone is a watercolour pencil identification guru).

 

 

 

 

Much less intense but still pretty. So writer friends, any weird demands from the muse. And non-writers, what are the hobbies that make you happy?