Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 174

Sunday Excerpt – CVE2

From Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Left-handed Warrior, out on Smashwords and Kindle! This scene follows last week’s post.

The journey to Xendaria was uneventful. They didn’t meet any bandits, but Winged Liam’s talk kept them on edge. He was very talkative for a Sila and he wasn’t even a Singer, but a Map Maker.

Kurt didn’t know if he should ignore or slap the petulant winged being who kept calling them “a beautiful couple”. It wasn’t so much for him – he knew exactly what he wanted and wasn’t a virgin anymore – as for Blondsun who looked confused and sometimes on the verge of kissing him. The company was annoying and he started to wonder how to get rid of both without offending them.

Blondsun was torn. On one side he physically lusted for Kurt more and more – supported by Winged Liam’s words –, on the other side his brain saw the absurdity of the situation. Kurt would never have sex with him and the Sila’s talk often provoked him, stretching his patience almost to a breaking point. And Blondsun hated Kurt’s anger as it changed his adoptive brother into another, very unpleasant person.

They were one day away from their destination, resting on the side of the road, eating their travel provisions, and the young Sila was saying for the umpteenth time how great they looked together when Kurt decided that was it.

He unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the Sila’s throat. Winged Liam gasped and went silent as he stared goggle-eyed at Kurt’s frown.

“As you’re convinced we’re a couple, why don’t you leave us alone?” Kurt demanded, feeling Blondsun holding his breath. “Are you trying to intrude in our intimacy? Don’t you think it’s time you went on your way? I’m sick of your babbling. Tomorrow we’ll be in town and I couldn’t have one night with my partner! Your intrusiveness is rude, I don’t care about Sila rules, this is the ground world and Humans rule, am I clear?”

Winged Liam nodded slowly, gulping down his sudden terror for the left-handed warrior.

“Then off you go,” Kurt ordered, putting away the sword.

“I didn’t want…” Winged Liam begged.

“Not a word!” Kurt pointed a finger at him. “Begone!”

Winged Liam averted his eyes and left.

Blondsun exhaled with relief. “I thought you wanted to kill him,” he grumbled, resuming eating his flat bread.

“I’d have done it if he didn’t leave,” Kurt shrugged. “Sorry, but enough is enough.”

“I know, but he wasn’t listening to me.”

“You’re too sweet.” Kurt smiled despite himself. “Want me to teach you some Human brutality?”

“No, thank you.”

“Sometimes you only need to bluff.”

“Might work with Sila or Genn, not sure Humans or Fajrulo would fall for it.”

“Well, you’re a magic user. Hit first.”

“I can’t.”

“You will learn.”

Blondsun shook his head, depressed.

Random Friday

Oh boy, what can I ramble about today? My internet connection comes and goes, but they keep billing me for a modem that I don’t have. Grrr. I should buy one of those internet keys and take the phone out of my house. I have Skype and my cellphone anyway. Gah.

It’s spring at last, so some heat is showing up. Sigh. I already miss winter! It’s also wedding time (although usually most wedding are in May, but my friends were in a hurry, so they tied the knot on April 21) which brings ceremonies and banquets and seeing people you haven’t seen in years (like one of my first readers, he bought my very first zine back in the late 1990s). And with the catching up, there are always discussion of getting married or not. I’ll be nobody’s wife for a little longer and shut my old spinster’s mouth.

DayJob is getting crazier with these two “short weeks” (2 holidays close to each other) where people take days off – we’re not as smart as Americans who put all their holidays on Mondays! We stick to The Date (April 25, May 1st), which makes for interesting “bridges” – my hairdresser (who is closed on Mondays) took Tuesday off because Wednesday was a holiday. And on Monday both my brother and my sister will be off work, but not me, because others requested that day…

Since Easter I’ve had shorter working weeks! After Easter I worked only 2 days because then I headed for Torino. I came back on a Monday, so I had a 4-days working week. Same this week because of April 25, same next week because of May 1st. But then it’s all full 5-days weeks until my vacation break mid-June, sigh…

In spite of the holiday and because of the faulty DSL I didn’t have time to visit blogs, so I don’t know what else I could talk about… so I better go back to write and read so next week I’ll have updates of life, the universe and whatnot! Have a great weekend!

Writer Wednesday

Mighty Jo passed me the Sunshine Award, but I answered her questions on her blog, and I’m not going to pass it on, haha! OK, as usual, if you want it, go grab it, and answer her questions and I don’t want to come up with new ones. And I’m posting this on one of those dreaded holidays (Anniversary of Liberation in Italy). Meh.

Anyhow, I managed to do some catch up with blogs (not so much with reading books, sigh!) and I can recommend Who is your target audience – don’t do like me, I have no idea. Well, I know I write for myself first, then for adults like me who still like to dream of fantasy worlds and magic creatures, and are aware of being different from the rest of humanity but don’t care too much. Lots of outsiders and outcasts in my fantasy books!

Some good tips on putting more eggs in more baskets (or “forget KDP Select” – from what I’ve heard, it’s not so good after all). Which is what I do, trying to put graphic novels on the right e-stributor and spreading the prose wherever I can. And remember it’s not a get-rich-quick thing. You have to write the next book, and the next, and the next. Readers will find you, eventually. Might be 5 the first year, 25 the second, 625 the third (I’m using a calculator, because my math skills are next to 0), etc.

And SPAL gives tips to marketing and promoting, but also how NOT to market. Both are spot on. Don’t do to your readers what you don’t want for yourself, right? I’ll stick to my few venues (Facebook – although I hate their Timeline, imposed on my author page, grrr! -, Goodreads) – but on GR I stick to smaller groups, as I can’t interact in groups where there are 5000 people (even if I’m looking for 5000 fans, but as I can’t please everyone and I don’t want to market to death, thus I’d rather find them in smaller groups a few at the time! ) and the group is old enough to have dozens of threads and hundreds of posts to catch up. Sorry, can’t do it. I need time to write, draw and read BOOKS not forums!

And remember the world of publishing is changing, and changing fast. Like Kris Rusch says, publishing is a button now. Writer, publishers, get used to it! This writer here is even starting some merchandising (for her non-existant fans, LOL), so if you like any of this, let me know, and I’ll make it available on my Zazzle store!

Awe! Ain’t they beautiful? (Please note that the S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. t-shirt is from last year, but the CVE covers and the hoodie are brand new) I know the white hoodie must be for special occasions as it won’t stay white for very long if I wear it at DayJob, LOL!

OK, for my only S.K.Y.B.A.N.D. reader, the Omnibus 2 should be out on Monday on DriveThruComics – a little more expensive than the Lulu version (you can see the price on the Omnibus 1), I know, but still a deal compared to the single issues. I’m done with the pencils of Chapter 11, but I need to ink and color and letter it – not sure when I’ll be able to do it. Sigh.

Now I better go back to writing, typing and reading… and hit that “publish” button for my other pen-names! Oh and don’t forget Books of the Immortals – Prequels made it to Kobo! And to Sony! Please go and tell Amazon of the lower (FREE) price, thank you! Gee, why does it take so long for them to make it FREE?!?!?!

Have a great week!

Happiness is…

 

Sunday Excerpt – CVE2

From Chronicles of the Varian Empire – The Left-handed Warrior, out on Smashwords and Kindle!

Big wings flapping disturbed their conversation and they looked up. A Sila was gliding towards them against the sun. He touched down and folded his feathery wings as the horses stopped to snort at him.

“Good morning,” the Sila came forward. “It’s strange to see a Genn traveling with a Human.”

He stopped between the two horses, staring alternatively at both riders with a big grin. He was young, with short blond hair and slightly darker blond wings. His blue eyes were filled with curiosity and he wore the usual tight-fitting clothes of the Sila – a shirt and long pants –, with boots that wouldn’t last long on the ground.

The Sila were the second best known Magical Race, but only few actually met them. City governors might deal with them, but most commoners never got a chance for a closer look. Nothing was known of the other two Magical Races – Waiora and Fajrulo – but the Sila were considered divine because of their big feathery wings. Except the black-winged ones, who stayed away from any Human population.

Kurt had seen many Sila at the Capital, but none of them so closely. He knew they were Air’s people, much as the Genn were Ether’s and Humans, Earth’s, and that they had very good map makers among them. The winged being must be very naive and very curious to come so close to an armed Human.

“I thought Humans didn’t like the Genn anymore,” the young Sila continued.

“The Emperor doesn’t like them, and I’m not the Emperor,” Kurt replied.

“Kurt is my brother,” Blondsun added. “We grew up together.”

“Sorto!” The Sila beamed. “Are you running away because you love each other and want to be together?”

“What?” Kurt couldn’t believe his ears. “Are you crazy? We told you we’re brothers!”

“Adoptive brothers,” the Sila replied with a mischievous smile. “Won’t prevent you from carnally loving each other if you want.”

“We don’t want,” Kurt snapped. “Humans don’t do these things.”

“What things?” The winged being was puzzled.

“Same-sex love is forbidden,” Kurt answered quickly, embarrassed. Blondsun had blushed at the mention of sex.

“Oh.” The Sila looked disappointed. “But he loves you!” He stared at Blondsun’s confusion. “Don’t you? It shows in the way you look at him!”

“You’re mistaken,” Kurt replied, unsure if he was more upset by the Sila interference or Blondsun’s silence.

“I’m Winged Liam,” the Sila said, grinning again. “And you? Where are you headed?”

“Xendaria,” Kurt answered. “It’s where I was born.”

“And he follows you because he loves you,” Winged Liam teased.

“He doesn’t love me, I have this horrible scar I refuse to get rid of,” Kurt retorted, sarcastic.

Blondsun couldn’t look at anyone or anything and seemed on the verge of an emotional explosion.

“He loves you and looks forward to curling up against you to sleep,” Winged Liam smiled. “You’re so cute, both of you, the tough guy and the shy guy! I want to travel with you!”

“Winged Liam,” Blondsun managed to summon his voice, but it was shaky. “We’d be delighted if you could scout for us. Kurt is a warrior, but you can see from the sky and warn us of ambushes and other dangers.”

“Sure! See you tonight!”

Winged Liam opened his wings and soon was airborne again.

Blondsun cleared his throat and spurred his horse, staring straight ahead. He could feel Kurt’s eyes piercing him.

“We don’t need a scout, you’re a wizard!” Kurt snapped.

“Did you really want him to walk with us and keep on talking?” Blondsun blushed again and his voice shook.

Kurt smiled against his will. “He’s really convinced we’re a couple. But you’re not in love with me, are you?”

“A little,” Blondsun whispered, eyes low. “Not like Goldenleaf, but… and I don’t want to have sex with you if it’s what worries you.”

“In fact I was beginning to think you were too taken by me to look around,” Kurt said. “I mean, at your age you should start looking for a mate, right?”

“Yes, but I haven’t found the right person yet,” Blondsun answered quickly. He didn’t like lies, but he couldn’t say the whole truth or he’d lose Kurt, just like Goldenleaf. Besides, it wasn’t really his first love. Besides, it would go away eventually. Besides, he should tell Winged Liam to shut up!

***

To help you visualize the Sila, please check this old post of mine…

Random Friday

Sooo, more ramblings about Torino Comics, LOL!

Happy Fangirl Barb got to sit next to her favorite author for 3 days, fending off fans and helping with the translations… Some of them asked if Terry had done my portraits (he doesn’t do portraits) and then decided I was the inspiration for Francine (SiP main character)… pity she was conceived some 20 years ago and I had met him two days before! Besides, I might have Francine’s face and height, but definitely Katchoo’s body, LOL!

Barb & Terry Moore

During a break between drawing sessions (for Terry, not for me), I wandered through the building because I knew

I practiced my French as there were a couple of French fans and at some point I was so tired I started mixing languages, LOL.  All in all it was three most wonderful days and I was very unhappy to hop on my Intercity train and go back to DayJob.

Also because on Wednesday a colleague had a heart attack and the ambulance took 30 minutes (and 3 or 4 frantic calls to our emergency number) to arrive. Luckily they arrived on time, but he’s still at the hospital. Sigh.

Today ATAC and Telecom are on strike, it’s some kind of general strike of one of the biggest unions, but my DayJob doesn’t do it… so I have to go by car as there are no buses. Meh. We need to revise our laws on work or I must emigrate to a more civil country!

Now I better go back to work – some Happiness is… to complete and other minor stuff. I’ll try to pick a Sunday Excerpt this time! Oh and don’t forget Books of the Immortals – Prequels made it to Kobo! And to Sony – yay, I even found my Sony US page! Please go and tell Amazon of the lower (FREE) price, thank you!

Have a great weekend! I have a wedding and some work to do and I hope to dream of my Muse again, which happened Thursday morning (probably one glance too many to that latest Happiness Is… LOL!)!

Writer Wednesday

So, I missed a Sunday post, LOL! You can tell I needed a break… And great break it was! Five days without writing, and reading very little. But still mulling about ongoing projects, and discussing writing with other creators, so the break was only from the actual writing. And no, I don’t feel guilty because I didn’t write. I know I’ll catch up!

Thursday I took my fast train to Torino and spent the next three days at former FIAT factory, Lingotto, for Torino Comics. You can read of past editions on this blog (2010 and 2011) but this one was very special for me, and I’ll ramble about it for the rest of the week, so brace yourselves (and be happy I don’t blog daily anymore), LOL!

This year I spent the whole three days at the comicon because I was assisting (except during the one panel he had) the guest of honor, Mr Terry Moore. If you haven’t read Strangers in Paradise yet, go grab it now. I re-read it all on Easter Monday (and the following Tuesday) and cried over it again. It’s a graphic novel and the way it’s told (prose, comic, song lyrics, poems) inspired me for SKYBAND – heck, I wanted to write the screenplays when I was trying to conquer Hollywood!

Anyway, I finally got to meet the creator and talk to him and his wonderful wife about the joys and sorrows of creating something and publishing it. He, being mostly an artist, works with a sketchbook; me, being mostly a writer, I have my moleskin and notebooks. But the process is fairly similar. Of course drawing a graphic novel takes much longer than writing a novel!

character from graphic novel (David of SiP) carries Barb's book... swoon!

As I helped with translations on a couple of interviews I also got to know more about the genesis of my favorite graphic novel and I thought that by the end of the Comicon – sitting next to such a great artist for three days – I wouldn’t touch a pencil for a month, but on Sunday the place was so crowded (record of presences, but it was 3 very rainy days – where could people go but there? ) I just sat down and started… drawing. I should have bought SYBAND 11, LOL!

I also hope to hire Terry to do my covers in 2015 (Terry, if you’re reading this, I know I said 2016, but I checked my publishing schedule and that trilogy is actually for 2015, LOL) for a project that is still in outline/research state – so my pitch to him was vague because I myself haven’t thoroughly thought about it yet… but knowing I can have Terry Moore’s covers makes me want to go and write it right now!

Other writerly discussions were about “throwing away” my old stuff – no way, I’m “throwing it out there”, and like Dean says, if I’m not proud of it, I’ll put another pen-name (one you haven’t heard before) and just put it out there. I know that the next new thing I write will be better than the old ones, but I don’t want to throw away old ideas either.

Terry has notes of graphic novels that will never be. I also have notes and outlines of stories I’ll never write. But stories that are already written and only need a polish or a translation… why throw them away? Get ready to be flooded with my writing! Not all of them, but at least half why not. Some ideas were good, just poorly executed for lack of experience on my part. Why discard them altogether?

Of course the ones that were writing experiments/exercises or were written only for myself will stay on my bookshelves (handwritten on notebooks) or on my hard drive, but everything else goes out in the world, and even if I sell one copy every three months it will still be more than not selling any, right?

Anyway, I’m back – to writing and reading as well. I’m revising/rewriting my sci-fi title while I type CVE3 so I can send them both out to betas ASAP. Sorry I didn’t visit any blog and don’t have links to share, but it’s been a busy week! Friday you’ll have Happy Fangirl Barb rambling about the Comicon, but this writer here better cut this short and get back to work.

Oh, I found a few more happiness during those five days, so the “recycling” of old vignettes is postponed!

Now I’m off to writing… and reading a PAPER book – I brought my Kindle to Torino, but only read a couple of chapters of Kris Rusch’s Freelancer’s Guide. Have a great week!

UPDATE! I still don’t see it on Barnes&Nobles, but Books of the Immortals – Prequels made it to Kobo! Please go and tell Amazon of the lower (FREE) price, thank you!

Happiness is…

Random Friday

Because today I’m in Torino stalk… ehm, assisting Terry Moore with his Italian fans, I scheduled this post - yes, that’s how us Virgo work. My friend Fulvio calls me “control freak”, but when you get a discount on train tickets (69euro instead of 90, 39 instead of 45) because you buy them 1 month in advance, it’s not “control freak”, it’s savvy “early booker”!

Anyway, last week an elder woman (dunno her age, but definitely menopause…) wanted to give me her seat on the bus. First of all, the bus wasn’t full. Second, I had taken it only for two stops because the spring “heat” made me not feel like walking (which I normally would have if it were winter). So I politely said “no thank you” with a smile and saw she kept staring at me with a worried look. So I pushed the button to get off, and even if I was considering getting off at the third stop, I got off at the second at that point.

Why, you wonder? Well, it’s spring and more tight fitting clothes and probably the way I was carrying myself… It was after lunch, and after eating I tend to have a nice belly bump the old lady probably mistook as “baby” bump! ARGH!!! I wondered if I was carrying myself like a pregnant woman, but I was just standing on the bus, what gave her that idea?!?!?!

The past two summers customers kept asking me if I was pregnant – the way I sit at DayJob obviously confuses them. I’m slim, look 10 or 15 years younger, but being nearly 50, my body shape changed, and I get that stupid belly bump which makes everybody think I’m pregnant. Excuse me? What’s with the breeding fever?

To avoid controversy, I just smile and shrug and say “thanks but no thanks” or something. But it’s getting tiring and I really really really look forward to menopause when I’ll be able to tell them “I have menopause, so stop asking, you …”. Nosy people really get on my nerves. But then, I hate compliments, especially on appearance.

OK, I guess I’m ready to get out of this material world! I really don’t see the point of being so attached to material things or the need to continue what is obviously a flawed breed. Let’s toast to the end of the world as we know it, LOL!

Now Happy Fangirl Barb goes back to work… oh, yeah, it’s scheduled, so I’m already working! Maybe not, maybe I’m just coming out of Fulvio’s house to get to the Comicon. Anyway, I wish you a wonderful weekend, and if the Sunday Excerpts doesn’t come out… it’s because I forgot to schedule it before jumping on that train!

Writer Wednesday

First of all, please hop to Jonathan's blog to hear me rambling again. If you remember, Jonathan was interviewed last year on this blog when I read his book Fiddlerbugs. He was kind enough to let me read his longer work Magnus Opum before release, and I absolutely loved it! That mix of Lewis Carroll and Douglas Adams in a fantasy setting was just wonderful. I highly recommend it to any fantasy lover.

Now, you Americans go check the new data out on e-books. I'm sending you to Dean's post, but don't forget to check the Pew Survey and Mike Shatzkin comments (all links on Dean's post). For myself and my stupid non-reading country, I think the discoveries I did the past December are still valid (I've read on an Italian newspaper, commenting on American publishing and KDP Select, that sales of BOOKS in general are down in Italy, but as I don't have the newspaper with me, I can't tell you the exact numbers). Personally, I'm reading more on Kindle, and I've bought more for Kindle than paper books – because the physical pile is high enough already, LOL! But I've been reading e-books for research since 2006, albeit in PDF (printed) format or other docs (like pasting articles on a subject in a Word.doc and then printing them out). I started counting them only two years ago, though, so I don't have data for previous years. This year I have read more e-books on my Kindle than paper books or manuscripts – and I haven't started traveling yet!

So yeah, paper books are not going away yet, and my readers haven't all switched to e-books yet, but I know eventually they will. I've never seen anyone reading on an i-Phone in this country, but I've heard of Americans who do – but then Italians read even less than Americans, LOL! And because of the answers I get whenever I tell aspiring Italian readers that they can find my books on the internet, either in print or as ebooks, I don't think they're ready to purchase BOOKS online (I know they buy clothes on catalogs, but apparently books are better found in a bookshop, sigh).

Anyway, I'm thinking long term for my own books, so I'm not in a hurry. Please check the interesting posts by Lawrence Block, who opens a window to the past, Dean Wesley Smith, on indie publishing thinking (love those pie charts! ) – and Kris Rusch on audience:

In my opinion, Tracy Hickman gave the best advice of the week for all writers.

"It's a big world out there," he wrote, "but you don't need the whole world to succeed as a writer. You just need a very small piece of it that is wholly your own."

Which is what I'm aiming at (5000 true fans, remember?). All the above links are tied together, somehow, about the fascinating and ever-changing (or not?) world of publishing. I sure hope to be able to afford another workshop with Kris and Dean next year – this year I'm saving for… Chicon7! I'll book everything when I come back from Torino… I'm hopping on a train tomorrow and will be back on Monday.

Finally! Because posting questions on Facebook apparently leads to no answers, I'm going to ask it here. Italian speakers, please don't answer!

So, if you read something like this:

1. Roma

Daniele stopped his olive green Fiat 127 in front of his gate, his mind still on the party at Marilena's.

Would the name "Daniele" confuse you about the sex of the character? I know there are pronouns later in the sentence, but if it's too confusing at first sight, I can change it to the similar name "Davide". I originally chose Daniele because in Italian (and most specifically in Roma, where he was born) it's shortened Danie', but as there won't be much dialog in Roman (Rome dialect + Italian) at this point, I can easily change the name with not much lost. Or I can start with "He" and then tell his name later – like, having his mother saying it out loud, so the reader doesn't know he's called that until his sex is really well established in the reader's mind…

I know I left a "he" at the beginning of CVE3 because he's called Lost, and especially in English it's confusing if I start a sentence with his name (but I kept it "hidden" until he got called by another character even in the Italian version, LOL).

Any comments? Should I have a "he" until his mother calls him or can I leave "Daniele"?

Oh, and while I'm asking for comments, would you Indian readers be put off by an alien (humanoid, but still born on another planet) character called Gaurishankar? The presence of two characters from Planet Earth makes for interesting jokes (like calling him "mountain man")… I know it's a place (mountain), and not a person (well, a second search on Wikipedia brought a few people named like this as well…), and it's the fusion of a male and female name – any comments before I use it for publication purposes?