Barbara G. Tarn's Blog, page 88
June 12, 2016
Sunday Surprise
Hi guys,
I’m Samantha and I come from another world – the original, old Silvery Earth, where people are immortal and never grow up. When I’m not switching bodies at will, I travel to other universes, especially books or movies. That’s how I met Rajveer the vampire , for example!
So, I’m taking over the interviews on this blog! And here I am, meeting people from other books/universes/whatever!
So, you must be the gorgeous guy on the cover of the book! Tell me a little about yourself!
Book? *stares blankly at her* My name is Rohan and I’m in my twenties, but they keep calling me Cinder Boy. I supposedly own a manor at the edge of the forest, but my stepmother will never allow me to take my late father’s place!
Oh, why do we always have evil stepmothers in fairy tales? *snorts* Let’s move on. Describe your appearance in ten words or less.
I’m tall, well built, with blue eyes.
Yes, we can see that! *chuckles* Do you have an enemy or nemesis? If so, who are they and how did they become an enemy?
I have my stepmother and my stepbrothers who are doing their best to keep me out of my father’s legacy… they treat me like a servant in my own house!
Would you kill for those you love? And would you die for them?
I don’t have anyone left. My mother died when I was a child, my father remarried that bitch and then passed away… But if I could, I’d enter the service of the king and do my best to protect the royal family.
Where do you live?
In a manor not far from Ker Noran, a small northern kingdom on the shore of the River Wated.
Are you involved in a relationship? If so, with who and what is it about them that you find appealing?
Unfortunately no. I’m not allowed to go to the castle anymore. I live a very solitary existence.
What is the biggest challenge you face in the story?
Finding my father’s weapons and armor to attend the tournament for the return of Prince Kurtis, so I can show the world my worth even though I was never officially knighted.
Please give me an interesting and unusual fact about yourself.
I have found a pond of warm water in the forest. I like to go there and bathe and relax after the day chores. It’s my secret place, so don’t tell anyone.
I won’t! Although the readers can admire you doing just that on the book cover, LOL! But let me get to the next guest… Another handsome young man, trust me! Tell me a little about yourself, my lord.
Prince Kurtis of Ker Noran. I’m twenty-nine, but since I decided I will not get married, my father will pass the throne to my younger brother Ewan.
Describe your appearance in ten words or less.
Tall, strong and dark-haired.
What is your relationship with Rohan?
Coming back from Moriana where I’d spent three years, I saw that gorgeous young man bathing in a forest pond very close to my father’s castle. Pity he’s probably just a servant and I’m very busy catching up at Ker Noran, but as soon as things calm down, I’ll claim him.
Are you involved in a relationship? If so, with who and what is it about them that you find appealing?
I wouldn’t mind a relationship with Rohan, he looks very sweet. You might have guessed by now that I don’t want to marry because I prefer men… but so far my relationships haven’t lasted!
What is the biggest challenge you face in the story?
Finding out who the Nameless Knight is, and then getting to Rohan’s heart.
Please give me an interesting and unusual fact about yourself.
I have Waiora friends. They’re members of one of the Magical Races, they’re water people. One of them was my first male lover and we’re still friends.
June 10, 2016
Random Friday
And let’s make it Art Friday! I did only half of the sheet Sunday afternoon, but here you go, Da Muse’s Greek nose (ain’t he a Greek God, after all?
June 8, 2016
Writer Wednesday
And since the first June sales was on DriveThruFiction, I thought I’d make a new banner for them… there you have it, with the new title on the side. Soon all three in a single book with printed version. I only need to order a cover for it, so stay tuned![image error]
Now, about the short story that became a novel a.k.a. current WiP. Book 1 and 2 are done and out to editor. But I have more ideas for Quests, so I might write another two books. Final titles are The Path of Water (Book 1) and The Path of Fire (Book 2) and I have ideas for The Path of Air (Book 3) and maybe The Path of Ether (Book 4) and The Path of Earth (Book 5). Some of you might recognize the Immortals of the eponymous books.
In the meantime I’m back to the Southern Kingdoms for more tales, some sprang out of Book 2, some came up as sequels of something I have already written, some were still in idea form, and some are a wrap up of the southern kingdoms with Books of the Immortals – Air.
I guess I’m busy for the rest of the summer with Silvery Earth, LOL! I’m still toying with the Quests covers, but for now I’ll keep all the illustrations under wraps, so you’ll have to make do with the first three.
And of course the third fairy tale revisited as m/m romance is out! Here’s Cinder Boy in all his glory… guess which fairy tale is retold here…
Now I’m ordering a cover for all the fairy tales revisited, so that after the summer I can make a volume that will include Beautiful, Colors and Cinder Boy.
I shall hire a new artist, so you’ll see the results then. By the way, Sir Wendigo did a great job for the cover of Male Lovers of Silvery Earth volume 2, featuring Nerian and Riander from Colors, but again, you’ll have to wait until after the summer![image error]
Sooner than that, you can admire Silvano Beltramo‘s covers for the Tales of the Northern Kingdoms, and Cristina Fabris‘s covers for the Tales of the Southern Kingdoms – at least in ebook form. All POD are to be made after the summer.
And soon I shall reveal Shafali Anand‘s cover for Kaylyn the Sister-in-Darkness as well, so stay tuned. I’ll set up the assetless pre-order button for that one, even though pre-orders haven’t done much for me in the past, but you never know. Mark Coker insists it’s a way to the best sellers lists, but whatever…
June 5, 2016
Sunday Surprise
Words of wisdom, writers on writing, call them what you want. Enjoy and have a happy Sunday.
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
– William Faulkner
Here’s what I want: for writers to keep talking. To each other.
For writers to stop shouting their wares and start walking over to admire someone else’s cart.
For writers to RT ten other peoples’ articles and buy links before they pimp their own.
For writers to stop begging for reviews and start looking for books to review, or at least read and tweet about.
For writers at a con to stop building Fort MyBooks on the panel table and start actively engaging with the audience and each other, never beginning a single sentence with, “Well, in MY book…”
For writers to get a query rejection, file it away, forget about it, send out another query, close Twitter, and start writing the next book instead of chewing on that rejection for a week and letting it connect in any way with their own talent and self-worth.
For writers to take the money they were going to pay to enter a contest or buy Likes or print expensive swag and put it toward a writing conference where they’ll connect with other writers and receive constructive feedback about how to improve their writing or pitch.
For writers to take joy in the hungry, friendly, curious community around them and start looking for ways to give back, to lift others, to give the compliment that’s going to make someone else’s week.
The thing is, we shout the most and the hardest when we feel alone and unheard.
And you are not alone and unheard.
Stop shouting and start talking.
Listen, and you’ll be heard.
– Delilah S. Dawson
We all have our time machines, don’t we. Those that take us back are memories… And those that carry us forward, are dreams.
– H.G. Wells
So I think I’m ending up with a prediction after all. 2016 will be the Year of the Writer.
Not because writers will suddenly become the darlings of the culture. (Wouldn’t that be weird?) But because the writers who have survived all the changes and have worked hard to publish in whatever way is best for them are now returning their attention to the very thing that got them started in the first place:
Telling stories.
What a great thing. Because…speaking as a reader now…that means we’ll have all kinds of marvelous, new, exciting books by 2017. Things writers have longed to write and either hadn’t had the time to write, the energy to write, or the courage to write.
It does take courage to write what you want. To follow your own creativity and see where it will lead you. To walk down a path that doesn’t exist yet.
So maybe I should modify my conclusion and call 2016 the Year of the Courageous Writer. Because we’ll be seeing a lot of courage in print this year.
And we’ll all benefit from it.
– Kris Rusch
But as with any “overnight success” story, there is a lot more to it.
I think one of the hardest things for newbies to nail down is the right mentality. It’s part of the weird dichotomy that is our lot. We have to have incredible self-belief to write something and show it to other people in the first place, but we also have to have enough overarching self-doubt to hone our craft and polish our stories until they are ready for prime time.
– Dave Gaughran
June 3, 2016
Random Friday
Welcome to random randomness. Sort of. I watched Pan, which might actually sound like a good prequel to Peter Pan, but makes me wonder. Does Hollywood really think that making sequels and prequels to classics is a good thing? No risk-takers there anymore. No original screenplays, please, just in case we can’t sell the movies. Sigh. So reminds me of traditional publishing…
I mean, the kid is great, Hugh Jackman unrecognizable, but… was it really needed? You know what it did to me? I went to finally read the actual book! I have downloaded it on K.K. ages ago, and now I finally got to reading it, LOL! And since the first two chapters reminded me of another movie, so…
I rewatched Peter Pan. Of course it’s slightly revised, but it’s so much more faithful to the book (and original play, apparently, I haven’t read that one)! This Peter Pan might be slightly older than the previous one, but it’s certainly closer to JM Barrie’s spirit, IMHO.
Now prepping for art weekend. Cristina is coming over and I hope to do at least two more illustrations for Quests, although only 3 out of 5 will be used as covers. I guess I’ll post what I won’t use on DeviantART when I’m done… Gotta wrap up book 2 and send it off to editor as well…
Have a great weekend!
June 1, 2016
Writer Wednesday
And because Facebook keeps changing stuff around, I missed this message from Pretty Hot. If only Facebook and Goodreads and WordPress stopped updating/upgrading stuff that doesn’t need to be touched. Now, things might be easier to post with the right profile on Facebook, but a bit of warning would have been nice. Sigh.
About the Hastings story! Since I’m still so deep into Quests and that will take me back to the Southern Kingdoms and I haven’t heard from betas about Kaylyn yet, I think I’m going to stick to Silvery Earth for the month of June. July would be the vampires month anyway, and I’m sure it won’t take long to write a short story before the deadline. In case you want to write something with the theme: the Battle of Hastings in 1066, check the guidelines here.
About Quests, Book 2 has already 19K of story that was already in Book 1 from another point of view or two, and it’s just the beginning. So I hope it will be as long as Book 1 (46K) which will make the POD version with both books around 90K. Hopefully. The beauty of writing without outlining means I have no idea how long the story will be.
Considering that I had only three characters in mind and no idea of what happened to them, I’d say I’m not doing badly. And adding a fourth character in search of a story allowed me to continue with Book 2. So, definitely not a short story, and hopefully the two books can be enjoyed separately.
Which, of course boosted up my wordcount this month. I have written around 65K, making up for the lack of writing in March. So no “time of great forgetting” in sight for me, and I obviously have no trouble restarting, but if you do, please check how to do it, courtesy of Dean Wesley Smith.
Much like David Farland, I can proudly say that I inspired myself into becoming a writer. I guess I was lucky I grew up in the age of the typewriter and had no distractions. No internet with everything and its opposite, no confusing rules, anything. My critical voice never really developed!
May 29, 2016
Sunday Surprise
Hi guys,
I’m Samantha and I come from another world – the original, old Silvery Earth, where people are immortal and never grow up. When I’m not switching bodies at will, I travel to other universes, especially books or movies. That’s how I met Rajveer the vampire , for example!
So, I’m taking over the interviews on this blog! And here I am, meeting people from other books/universes/whatever!
Welcome, guest! Tell me a little about yourself!
Hi, my name is Zahara Bakur. I’m fifteen years old, and I’m from New York City. I’m a Sunni Muslim, and I’m supposed to be entering my senior year of high school, but…well, things are complicated right now.
I don’t know why, but things on Earth are always complicated… *snort* Describe your appearance in ten words or less.
Average height and weight, light-brown skin, blonde hair (it used to be brown). Sorry, that’s longer than ten words, isn’t it?
It’s fine, you’re the first teen who doesn’t use twitter English! *grin* Do you have an enemy or nemesis? If so, who are they and how did they become an enemy?
Um…I don’t really have anyone I would call my enemy. I mean, there are people I don’t like, but who doesn’t have someone like that? I guess if I did have an enemy though, it would probably be ignorance and bigotry. Ever since before the war, people have this tendency to believe the worst things about my faith, that we’re all out to kill ourselves and everyone around us. That’s simply not true, but I’ve had a heck of a time convincing people of that. So I guess that’s my answer.
People can be very nasty with someone who is even slightly different! Would you kill for those you love? And would you die for them?
Kill?! Allah, no! I’m the least nonviolent person ever, and I really don’t believe in the death penalty. But if I had to die for those I love…well, I’d rather that not happen, but if it was the only way and I really cared for someone, I guesss I might.
You’re great! Where do you live(world/town/whatever)?
I used to live in New York City, but then my dad got a job in Reborn City and we moved there. We had a house in South Reborn, but these days I’m staying in West Reborn with the Hydras. I think it’s the safest place for me, truth be told. I know they’re gangsters, but they watch out for me, which is more than what I can say for anyone in South Reborn.
Interesting town name… Are you involved in a relationship? If so, with who and what is it about them that you find appealing?
Relationship? Er, not anymore. I-I had a boyfriend in New York, but we broke up before I moved. And I’ve been too busy to really think about that sort of stuff since I got to Reborn City.
A most interesting place, I’m sure! What is the biggest challenge you face in the story?
Well, because of…certain reasons, I had to join the Hydras, a gang in West Reborn. I’m not gangster material, not at all, and I really hate the lifestyle, but until I pay my debt to Rip, the leader of my Head—that’s like a gang branch—I can’t leave. So I guess it’s just surviving the lifestyle day to day and trying to fulfill my debt, though how I do that I’m not sure.
Mmm… I’m sure you can manage… Do you have a family? Tell me about them.
*cries* I’m sorry, but…I just recently lost my mother and father, and I have no other family. As much as I hate to admit it, the West Reborn Hydras are the only family I have right now, so…*shrugs* It is what it is.
Family is family whether you chose it or it chose you! Please give me an interesting and unusual fact about yourself.
*sniff*I don’t really have unusual about me. I guess I should go with the fact that I’m only fifteen (I’ll turn sixteen in September), but I’m already a senior in high school. I should be going to college next year, though with my life the way it is, who knows?
What 2 or 3 questions do you wish I’d asked and what are your answers to them?
Um…I don’t know. I really don’t talk about myself like this. I’m just kind of flattered that anyone wants to talk to me about anything. Thanks, by the way. I really appreciate it.
You are very welcome! I wish you all the best!
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Where do you find this character
Reborn City:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Reborn-City-Novel-Rami-Ungar/dp/1490446796
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/reborn-city-rami-ungar/1117406933?ean=9781490446790
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/reborn-city/id1113686134?mt=11
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/373309
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/reborn-city
Video Rage:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Video-Rage-Novel-Reborn-City-ebook/dp/B01F2Q75L8
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/video-rage-rami-ungar/1123783687?ean=2940153014784
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/video-rage-a-novel/id1113499449?mt=11
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/635604
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/video-rage-a-novel
