Paulette Jaxton's Blog, page 2
April 19, 2011
Tromping Tropes at the Galley Table
Last week I sat in for an awesome hour at the Galley Table podcast discussing fantasy tropes and how to tromp them. At the table with me that night were Zach Ricks, Jeff Hite, Scott Roche, and Doc Coleman. The Galley Table is a production of Flying Island Press.
April 11, 2011
Interviewed by Geek Out with Mainframe
I gave a long, rambling and thoroughly enjoyable interview last week to Geek Out with Mainframe and the first part of that interview is now available on his podcast. We discussed the book, the TES podcast, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff. Please check it out. Part one is up and part two should be out later in the week.
GOWM 23 – Interview with Paulette Jaxton – Part 1
GOWM 24 – Interview with Paulette Jaxton – Part 2
April 4, 2011
Guest blog at AllisonDDuncan.com
Today I have a guest blog post over at AllisonDDuncan.com. It's about finding artwork for your book or podcast and goes through the steps I took to have custom art created for the Empress Sword podcast website.
Allison's blog is currently running a series of guest blogs on the topic of self publication. So if you're thinking about publishing your own book, or you just want to know what other authors are up to, you should really check it out. She has another series entitled So You Want to be a Blogger, does spot-on media reviews, and comments on geek life in general.
Allison just started an associated podcast called Blogs Aloud and the first episode is out now featuring published author and Associate Editor of Zenith Press, Scott Pearson.
March 24, 2011
The Empress Sword is now in print!
It's nearly two months early, but The Empress Sword is now available in both print and ebook formats. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are now offering the trade paperback edition for sale and Amazon has the Kindle version up already as well. Other eBook formats will be coming along soon.
Here's what some very nice people have been saying about The Empress Sword:
"The Empress Sword is a wonderfully vivid tale with a most intriguing twist. Just the right mix of light humor and quirky characters that kept the pages turning and left me wanting more… What a delightful tale!"
– Chris A. Jackson, author of Scimitar Moon,
2009 ForeWord Book of the Year Gold Medal Winner
"The Empress Sword carries the reader on an unexpected journey full of excitement, mystery, and new perspectives."
– Christiana Ellis, award winning writer and podcaster
"The Empress Sword is a charming tale of dragons and magic, of trust and betrayal, of bravery and vulnerability. Paulette Jaxton's crisp vision and poignant story telling conspire to take the reader along as a young prince learns that all is not exactly what it seems. Highly recommended."
– Nathan Lowell, creator of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper
"With The Empress Sword, Paulette Jaxton follows in the footsteps of great story-tellers by delivering a fabulous tale in a fantasy world we all remember from out childhood. A giant dragon, a thirteen-year-old prince and a quest for a magical item – classic fantasy so far. But there is more: strong girls and independent women as well as characters that do not fit into standard black and white categories of this genre and force the listeners to re-consider their first impressions or completely change perspectives in the course of the book. All in all it is a fast paced ride for younger and older listeners."
– Alexander HTN, iTunes reviewer
"Paulette Jaxton has written an intriguing story with a classic fantasy background. I'm not normally a fan of the swords and sorcery type stories, but the turns this story takes are unexpected, and certainly drive the character development. Seeing the changes that Prince Aster goes through with his search for the sword, it causes a reader to think about his or her own identity."
– sjg1978, iTunes reviewer
"Far from the usual fare in fantasy fiction, The Empress Sword shakes things up and invites us to re-examine standard archetypes from a new perspective. Ms. Jaxton not only spins a fine yarn, she does so with both authority and accessibility, using the fantasy genre to express complex ideas in clear, engaging language. Throughout the novel, the author resists the temptation to resort to clichés, except as a precursor to breaking them. Instead, she focuses on the internal challenges of a lead character faced with extraordinary circumstances. The fantasy… [provide] a vehicle in which the author explores a variety of human issues, sometimes with surprising clarity. Insightful, intelligent, and playful, Ms. Jaxton takes us on a pleasant, if unorthodox, journey through the world of The Empress Sword."
– Heather Hibbs, iTunes reviewer
"Jaxton leads you easily into a story of magic, growing up and consequences. The Empress Sword takes the well-known young prince slays dragon story and tips it upside down and inside out in the most delightful ways."
– Philippa Ballantine, author of Geist and Spectyr
July 7, 2010
My Dad Would Be Proud
Today is my father's birthday. He would be ninety four today, however he passed on back in 1978. He's been gone a long time, but I still miss him dearly. Today I miss him all the more because I think he would be very proud of what I'm about to tell you.
The Empress Sword is my first novel. I worked very hard on it, I'm quite proud of it, but I never let myself loose sight of it being a first novel. I put it out as a podcast so that people would hear it, react to it, and hopefully enjoy it. Behind the scenes I went through the process of submitting it to agents and publishers, dealing with the rejections, making new drafts based on the feedback, and still never really expecting to get more out of it than a learning experience.
So it is with some amazement and much delight that I announce the signing of a contract with Dragon Moon Press to have The Empress Sword published as a trade paperback and ebook. The current plan is to release TES on Memorial Day weekend 2011 and hold the launch party at Balticon 45. As with the publication of any book, that date may change as the editing and publication process move along.
I'll be sure to keep you all informed about what's coming up. I'm trying my best to get the last few episodes of the podcast and podiobook out to you as soon as possible. Please be patient, I'm sure you're going to enjoy the finish.
Thank you all for the support and love you have shown for The Empress Sword. Trust me, it had a lot to do with making this announcement a reality.
January 24, 2010
TES Featured in The Sunday Capital
Today's Sunday Capital features an article by staff writer Theresa Winslow about podcast novels. The article stems from an interview Ms. Winslow conducted with Brand Gamblin and I last weekend about our podcast novels, Tumbler and The Empress Sword. The print version contains a couple of different pictures, but if you want to read the full text of the article you can find at HometownAnnapolis.com.
