D.M. Raver's Blog
March 18, 2017
Meet the Characters: FOLTEZ
Foltez is a character in the fantasy novel FIRE BORN. He meets the main characters under dire circumstances. His twin brother, Arunas, has been imprisoned in the mages' tower for several moons. Foltez cannot match the mages, other than his skill with the knife and the sword, but he has vowed to free his brother.
Foltz wears a mask over his face. Even after he begins to trust Gakulisan and the unfortunate family traveling with him, he does not remove it.
There is something about a shaded / cloaked figure that is intriguing.
Interested in reading more about Foltez and his fight to save his brother?Discover him and more in FIRE BORNBook One of the Flight Moon Seriesby D. M. Raver
Available on Amazon Barnes & Noble Audible
FOLTEZ, the above character sketch is commissioned artwork.
Check out setvasai on DeviantArt
March 14, 2017
Free Fantasy Books / Free Sci-fi Books
Interested in reading and reviewing fantasy or science fiction stories? D. M. Raver is offering free ebook and audio book versions of her books. Complete the form below to enter. Please read and review within 60 days of receiving your free copy.
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December 30, 2016
Free Fantasy Book: A Great Journey
A GREAT JOURNEY is available free on Smashwords!
Three princes steal from their castle and begin a quest to explore the kingdom they will one day govern. Long from home, a shady rider approaches them. More mystery and danger lurks in the forests of Arnith that will test the bond of their brotherhood.
Book One of Brother Betrayed, best selling fantasy by D. M. Raver.
Book Two: The Wars of Arnith
Prequel to the Flight Moon Series:Fire Born (now available)Fate of Fire (2017)Converging Flamesand Wild Fire
Three princes steal from their castle and begin a quest to explore the kingdom they will one day govern. Long from home, a shady rider approaches them. More mystery and danger lurks in the forests of Arnith that will test the bond of their brotherhood.
Book One of Brother Betrayed, best selling fantasy by D. M. Raver.
Book Two: The Wars of Arnith
Prequel to the Flight Moon Series:Fire Born (now available)Fate of Fire (2017)Converging Flamesand Wild Fire
June 21, 2015
Fire Born ~ Book Release Party!
FIRE BORN is the first book of the Flight Moon Series, twenty years in the making.
BOOK RELEASE PARTY!
Join us online or in person at:June 21st, 2015 Village Coffee Troy, Alabama8am-6pm
Three books in print: FIRE BORNBROTHER BETRAYEDandDEEP DARK WATERSAnd Other Poems
Join us at Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/1615944722026026/1615950642025434/
BOOK RELEASE PARTY!
Join us online or in person at:June 21st, 2015 Village Coffee Troy, Alabama8am-6pm
Three books in print: FIRE BORNBROTHER BETRAYEDandDEEP DARK WATERSAnd Other Poems
Join us at Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/1615944722026026/1615950642025434/
June 17, 2015
Tips for Indie Authors: How to Prepare for a Book Signing
Self published authors have a daunting task trying to "get their book out there". I am no expert, but I have had some success with local book signings.
Here are some tips I have if you are wanting to have your own local book signing. Most of these come from trial and error!
1. Free food is awesome!
Here's a picture of "Tragedy Tarts" I made based on the plot of my book. The response was great! I handed out recipes at the book signing, and even had a chef in New York make their own spin on them.
Free food, especially food related to your book in some way, always works wonders getting people to your table!
2. Signs are important
Many people will "browse" and may not want to approach your table and engage with you. Have some signs that explain who you are, what your book is about, and maybe even the price, so the shy customer can read about you at a distance.
3. Advertise, but don't spend too much money on it
Free is better! You can pay to have advertisements places on newspapers and local stations, but if you can get interviews prior to your signing with local TV and radio stations, that is even better. You can get the word out about your book, and let people learn more about you as an author.
4. Bookmarks are cool, but goodie bags are better.
Paper products don't move that fast off your table, even bookmarks (and bookmarks are cool!). But if you put them into goodie bags with candy or chocolate, they will be sure to find a new home. Goodie bags work better than a basket of candy. I suppose people don't want to get caught with their hand in the candy jar!
5. Have a screen set up with a trailer of your book
I have never gotten the technicalities worked out to have this going, but I have seen other authors do it and it is perfect! Having audio or soft music with the trailer really entices people to your table.
Here are some tips I have if you are wanting to have your own local book signing. Most of these come from trial and error!
1. Free food is awesome!
Here's a picture of "Tragedy Tarts" I made based on the plot of my book. The response was great! I handed out recipes at the book signing, and even had a chef in New York make their own spin on them. Free food, especially food related to your book in some way, always works wonders getting people to your table!
2. Signs are important
Many people will "browse" and may not want to approach your table and engage with you. Have some signs that explain who you are, what your book is about, and maybe even the price, so the shy customer can read about you at a distance.3. Advertise, but don't spend too much money on it
Free is better! You can pay to have advertisements places on newspapers and local stations, but if you can get interviews prior to your signing with local TV and radio stations, that is even better. You can get the word out about your book, and let people learn more about you as an author.4. Bookmarks are cool, but goodie bags are better.
Paper products don't move that fast off your table, even bookmarks (and bookmarks are cool!). But if you put them into goodie bags with candy or chocolate, they will be sure to find a new home. Goodie bags work better than a basket of candy. I suppose people don't want to get caught with their hand in the candy jar!
5. Have a screen set up with a trailer of your book
I have never gotten the technicalities worked out to have this going, but I have seen other authors do it and it is perfect! Having audio or soft music with the trailer really entices people to your table.
June 25, 2013
Summer Project: Creating a Poem Book!
This summer one of my projects has been to combine all my old poetry into a book and publish it. I've added photographs by Sunsinger (who happens to be my wonderful mother : ).
EBOOK COVER:
PRINT COVER:
The collection includes poems about nature, life and death, comedy, humanism, and existential questions.
EBOOK COVER:
PRINT COVER:
The collection includes poems about nature, life and death, comedy, humanism, and existential questions.
April 12, 2013
Back From Hiatus
I've taken about a year off from my fantasy writing. After publishing Brother Betrayed, I found that I needed some time to sort out the next book in my head before I continued revising it.
Something has changed in the past couple years with my writing. Though I can't define it exactly, I do have an idea what it is. It's happened to me before that after a hiatus from my book, I will return with new ideas, and almost a new style of writing. Part of me has grown older, more experienced, and when I re-read what I had previously written I see it is lacking some "spark" that I can now apply to it.
Some authors are able to write an entire novel in a couple months. For me this is impossible. I mull over scenes for years, figuring out the best way to put on paper what I see and hear in my head.
For those of you waiting my next novel, Fire Born, you'll be happy to know that most of that "mulling" has been completed. Now comes the task of getting it on paper.
I appreciate your patience. My books are pieces of my soul, and they don't come out easily.
Here's the new cover to Fire Born. The main character of this book is a dragon, set in the same world as Brother Betrayed, just at a later time.
Something has changed in the past couple years with my writing. Though I can't define it exactly, I do have an idea what it is. It's happened to me before that after a hiatus from my book, I will return with new ideas, and almost a new style of writing. Part of me has grown older, more experienced, and when I re-read what I had previously written I see it is lacking some "spark" that I can now apply to it.
Some authors are able to write an entire novel in a couple months. For me this is impossible. I mull over scenes for years, figuring out the best way to put on paper what I see and hear in my head.
For those of you waiting my next novel, Fire Born, you'll be happy to know that most of that "mulling" has been completed. Now comes the task of getting it on paper.
I appreciate your patience. My books are pieces of my soul, and they don't come out easily.
Here's the new cover to Fire Born. The main character of this book is a dragon, set in the same world as Brother Betrayed, just at a later time.
July 5, 2012
Meet the Characters from City of Silver, Dystopian Fiction
City of Silver is a dystopian science fiction story. Benita, a rebellious teenager, discovers everything she has been taught was a lie. She, and everyone else in the city of Argentar, were meant for much more than the mundane lives they leave.
Meet the Characters
BENITA
Every night Benita dreams. She envisions her home is a beautiful city of clean, silver buildings. She dreams of a queen banished for not sharing the secret of her powers. And when she wakes, nothing she sees matches what she dreamed. The city she lives in is crowded with trash and debris, and the structures are covered with thick grime. She must decide what's more real: the world she has known since birth, that she can touch and see, or the world she dreams, that she feels with her heart.RAVEN
Benita first meets Raven on the streets of Argentar, but she has seen him before that moment. In her dreams, he tried to protect the queen when the people of the city rebelled.Raven earns Benita's trust, and captures her imagination with amazing demonstrations of magic. But when Benita starts to realize the truth, Raven hesitates to allow her to reach her true potential.
JOMICOLIS
Jomicolis is the banished queen of Argentar. With the help of her four companions, she helped to construct the shields that protect the city from the wastelands.For many years Jomicolis protected and ruled over the city. But the people became restless, and the governing council blamed her, and her mysterious powers. The council demanded she revealed the secrets to her magic, and when she refused, she was stripped of rulership of the city.
She still remains part of the city, hoping some day the people will possibly see the truth and start to dream again.
Read more about these characters in Danielle Raver's novella City of Silver, available now on Amazon.
Thank you for visiting!
June 26, 2012
Won't you take a ride on a flying spoon?
Yesterday to celebrate an important step in my writing career, I was in need of some dancing music. "Looking Out My Back Door" by Creedence Clearwater Revival came to mind.
I found this video on the wonderful Youtube. Before yesterday, I had never seen CCR, only listened to them on CD.
As I listened to the lyrics I realized they were very fitting to what I was celebrating: fiction writing. Here are the lyrics:
Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy! Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch. Imagination sets in, pretty soon I'm singing: Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
There's a giant doing cartwheels, A statue wearing high heels. Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn. A dinosaur Victrola listening to Buck Owens. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon? Doo, doodooWonderous apparition provided by magician. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon? Dooin, doo doo. Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy! Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn. Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Some think "take a ride on a flying spoon" and the parade of animals are references to getting high.
Personally, this reminds me of the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle":
Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the moon,
The little Dog laughed to see such sport,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon
Fantasizing and day dreaming are considered wastes of time by some, but are everyday activities for an author. I remember as a child reading "Hey Diddle Diddle" and spending a long time trying to figure out exactly what it meant. But more, I imagined what happened afterwards. The Dish and Spoon going on some grand adventure down a moon-lit stream.
I believe this easy and free thought is what John Fogerty wrote the lyrics to "Looking Out My Backdoor". So curl up with a good fantasy or science fiction book (they are as trippy as they come :), sink inside it, and "take a ride on a flying spoon."
I found this video on the wonderful Youtube. Before yesterday, I had never seen CCR, only listened to them on CD.
As I listened to the lyrics I realized they were very fitting to what I was celebrating: fiction writing. Here are the lyrics:
Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy! Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch. Imagination sets in, pretty soon I'm singing: Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
There's a giant doing cartwheels, A statue wearing high heels. Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn. A dinosaur Victrola listening to Buck Owens. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon? Doo, doodooWonderous apparition provided by magician. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band. Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon? Dooin, doo doo. Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy! Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn. Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows. Doo, doo, dooLooking out my back door.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Some think "take a ride on a flying spoon" and the parade of animals are references to getting high.
Personally, this reminds me of the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle":
Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the moon,
The little Dog laughed to see such sport,
And the Dish ran away with the Spoon
Fantasizing and day dreaming are considered wastes of time by some, but are everyday activities for an author. I remember as a child reading "Hey Diddle Diddle" and spending a long time trying to figure out exactly what it meant. But more, I imagined what happened afterwards. The Dish and Spoon going on some grand adventure down a moon-lit stream.
I believe this easy and free thought is what John Fogerty wrote the lyrics to "Looking Out My Backdoor". So curl up with a good fantasy or science fiction book (they are as trippy as they come :), sink inside it, and "take a ride on a flying spoon."
June 4, 2012
New Fiction 2012
New ebooks for Amazon Kindle: City of Silver and The Enchantress
CITY OF SILVER
[Science Fiction Novella]
Read a sample:
THE ENCHANTRESS
[Arabian-set Fantasy Short Story]
Read a sample:
CITY OF SILVER
[Science Fiction Novella]Read a sample:
THE ENCHANTRESS
[Arabian-set Fantasy Short Story]Read a sample:
