Pippa Jay's Blog, page 60

New E-Publishing House Launches

Definition House
Today sees the soft launch of a new and innovative e-publisher - Definition House. The company describes itself as an 'offbeat, book-addicted indie publisher' and here's some information all about them.


"We are an independent publisher, utilizing a crowdfunding model. (For more information, you may visit the Kickstarter homepage  or see our FAQs .) (additional info from me - by using crowdfunding, Definition House will offer their authors royalties of 60% on ebooks!)


We are...

Medieval Fayre Entertainment and Costumes - June 2013

Medieval food preparation
The medieval fayre in Colchester covers all aspects of life for that period (aside from jousting - too many health and safety issues, sigh). Last week I covered weapons, fighting, and battle-associated sports. This week I'm moving onto more civilised ways of entertainment, clothing, and the way of life in general.

Not your usual Tupperware - medieval pots and pans
Wooden serving bowls and plattersWhile it was more common to eat with your hands in medieval times, metal a...

Tuesday Teaser - The Underlighters releases plus #giveaway

The Underlighters
Nightmares are bleeding into her waking world. Children are going missing. To save them, she must overcome her wreck of a personal life and a closet full of skeletons. She doesn’t know if the horrors in the shadows are real...or if she is going mad. 
18-year-old Janelle Cohen is an electrician in an underground city. The world above has been swal-lowed by mind-destroying Dust. Her small life changes forever when a dragon attacks her on the way home from work. 
Her f...

Medieval Fayre Weapons and Defence - June 2013

Every year Colchester holds a medieval fayre within the grounds of Castle Park. I love it! Stalls and re-enactment groups from my favourite historical era spend a weekend selling their wares and performing traditional plays, puppet shows, battle training, dances, and archery. You can buy anything from herbal remedies to leatherwear, jewellry and clothing up to full medieval battle gear.


But the last few years I've had to miss out, or pay a very fleeting visit. Towing three young children aroun...

Character Costume Design - Keir

A few months ago I started working on a military/gothic style dress coat ready for a Within Temptation concert (though to this day I still haven't finished it). I'm not a prolific dress maker - I've done a few bits and pieces, but it's a time-consuming business on top of writing, so not something I do a lot. In this case, I had a cheap pattern and a heap of spare fabric from years ago when I had money, and no budget to go clothes shopping. But as I was laying out my yards of black velvet with...

Making a Forest Folk Outfit

My youngest has just finished his first year of proper school, and he's loved it. Perhaps his favourite thing of all, though, was Forest School. Once a week his class were taken out to a corner of the school field where they have an area enclosed by trees, with sawn logs to sit on, a wild life pond, bird feeders, wild flowers, and a special tree where the Forest Folk live. The children get close up with nature, hunt for bugs, look at leaves and flowers, and in the winter they have a camp fire...

Tuesday Teaser - The Underlighters plus #giveaway

The Underlighters
Nightmares are bleeding into her waking world. Children are going missing. To save them, she must overcome her wreck of a personal life and a closet full of skeletons. She doesn’t know if the horrors in the shadows are real...or if she is going mad. 
18-year-old Janelle Cohen is an electrician in an underground city. The world above has been swallowed by mind-destroying Dust. Her small life changes forever when a dragon attacks her on the way home from work. 
Her fr...

In Rapture with Reptiles

[image error] Star Trek - ArenaReptilian races often get a bad rep in SF literature. The legendary Star Trek episode 'Arena' with the Gorn against Kirk. The Visitors in V. The Dracs in Enemy Mine. The Zorgons in Zathura. The Silurians in Doctor Who, pre new Who. Admittedly both Enemy Mine and recent Silurian episodes in Who (Vastra) have shown the other side - that there are good and bad in any race, or that a single misunderstanding has sparked an age long enmity.

In real life, lizards often get the same b...

Tuesday Teaser - Kumadai Run by Jaleta Clegg

The biggest danger of the Kumadai Run lies on a fractured world deep in its twisted space. When the Phoenix is caught in a trap five hundred years old, Dace faces the most demanding challenge of her life.
First Line: If you ever find yourself as crew on a small ship with newlyweds, don’t go.
Snippet: The cave resonated with sound. Her guard shoved Jasyn forward. She fell onto her knees in the blackness of the cave. Clark landed on the sand beside her. She tried to reach for his hand, but the b...

World Building with TC Southwell - Guest post and tour

Please welcome guest TC Southwell, scifi/fantasy author, with a post on world building.

One of the most important aspects of writing is to set a good scene in which to tell your story. Readers need to be able to envisage the environment, especially in fantasy and science fiction, since the world is alien. Building a vibrant world will make your story more profound and increase your readers’ enjoyment. However, do notuse info dumps! Never spend pages describing your world’s flora, fauna, societ...