Clare C. Marshall's Blog, page 26
December 5, 2011
Musing Mondays #10
Time for another Musing Mondays, hosted by Should be Reading.
How many books do you read in a week? Month? Year?
Unfortunately I don't read as many books as I would like. I've often got a lot on my plate–maintaining this website, my publishing work, and my writing…well, there aren't enough hours in the day. I read every night before bed. If I'm lucky, I get through two books a month. I think on my last count I read about 26 books this year. I wish I could do more, and maybe I'll make more of an effort next year (I'll have to! I'm doing reading challenges!) but for now, I'm just trying to get through everything else first.
December 4, 2011
More Skyrim Screenshots
Pretty, pretty picture of Markarth…if only you knew what quest had brought me there for the first time. >.<
Hey all,
So when I'm not working or writing, I've been playing Skyrim. It's soooooo addicting. Here's some of the latest screenshots of what's happening.
For those non-gamers, part of Skyrim is killing dragons and absorbing their souls, which you can use to learn Shouts, or special powers. They are spread throughout the game-world and it's like a game in itself to find them all!
My character absorbing a dragon soul up north, above Winterhold. There's a quest to kill a dragon there and there's also a word of power, one of the Ice Forms.
I killed a dragon outside the Mage's College. It just swooped down out of nowhere and all the mages started attacking it. I was hoping the body would stick around, so that the courtyard could boast to the world that I had kill the dragon, but no. It disappeared after a while.
YAY! I was so happy when I came across Sheogorath's quest. He's the daedric god of madness. There was a whole expansion in Oblivion dedicated to him, and it was the best. Everything was silly. They even had the same voice actor. I was pleased.
Also: go to Winterhold and talk to this guy named Sam about a drinking contest. Best. Quest. Ever. You'll thank me later…
Speaking of silly, I found this lady in Solitude. I guess the ground ate her up and that's how she died?
And finally, a picture of my character now. Got rid of the hood: got a Mage's Circlet that gives me +50 Magicka. So pretty!
December 1, 2011
Hell Transporter Cover Reveal!
Here's the cover that Dave did for Cyndi Tefft. So pretty? So pretty.
For those of you that don't know, Hell Transporter is the sequel to Between, a otherworldly romance between a young woman and a Scottish "grim-reaper" (in quotations because he's more like Charon, the soul ferryman across the river of Styx…although of course, he's much more charming than Charon.)
Hell Transporter will be released this coming spring. Yay!
And, I'll just put this here in case you're interested in having your cover look sooooooooooooo gooooood! (Last two words=Teen Girl Squad).
November 30, 2011
100 Posts Celebration
Hurray! On this incarnation of Faery Ink Press, which is a little more than a year old, I've managed to make 100 posts!
Nothing formal to see here. Just hugs and loves. Might have a giveaway sometime in the new year for my blog tour, though, so stay tuned for that. Also, with Google Friend Connect leaving us in March, I'm going to have to find a better way for people to keep in touch with me. Email/RSS signup? Maybe. I also have that newsletter plugin that I've been dying to try out…
November 29, 2011
Indie Books for Reading Challenge 2012
I was going to post a review for The Scorpio Races today, but I haven't quite finished it yet. I am savouring it, as one savours delicious chocolate cheesecake. Mmmm…chocolate…
Anyway.
Thought I would use today's post to talk about the Reading Challenges I'm doing this year, specifically, the Self-Published Reading Challenge. I've decided on some of the books I'd like to read!
Thomas Amo has been my Twitter friend for some time now, and I've only heard good things about his book, so I'm pretty excited to read it!
I found Marie because of this reading challenge, and volunteered to be part of her blog tour. She's also a part of mine. Hurray for cross-promotion!
And finally, Hell Transporter by Cyndi Tefft. Cyndi is a client of ours and Dave designed the cover for Between and its sequel, Hell Transporter. I don't think I'm allowed to put up the cover yet, but it looks amazing!! And you should all read Between. It is fantastic.
I had another, but I just realized that it isn't self-published. Oh well!
November 28, 2011
Musing Monday #9
Musing Mondays, hosted by Should be Reading.
Will you be buying books for the holidays, this year? If so, for whom, and why?
I will definitely be getting a book for my sister. Everyone else, I'm not sure. If there is anyone else that I would get books for, I might just get them a gift card so they can go pick out their own books. Then again, there is some fun in matching a book to a person…so we'll see.
On the other hand, I do have a gift certificate myself where if I spent at least $50 at Chapters I get either $10, $20, $50 or $100 off. Excuse to buy more books maybe?
November 25, 2011
Starcraft T-Shirt
Just a quick post today.
As many of you may know, my partner Dave and I have a small freelance editing and design business, Woulds & Shoulds Editing and Design.
Well, a couple of months ago, Dave submitted a tshirt design for the game Starcraft to this company that was looking for gaming tshirt ideas…and his design was chosen by the Reddit.com community! Now, it is available for sale.
It's an inside joke in Starcraft…from my understanding, 1/1/1 is supposed to be some kind of build, like the best build, and so it's supposed to be ironic when someone says that 1/1/1 is "pretty good." Something like that anyway.
This post explains it better, I think. This is where you can get the t-shirt too.
November 24, 2011
Blog Tour Announcement
Hello everyone!
I'm excited to announce that the blog tour for Within will be held starting January 9, and go through until January 30. I've already got lots of blogs participating (see below!) but I've got some free days that I would love to be filled. To be specific, I've got 9 or 10 spots left.
So if you are a blogger, or have any blogger friends that would be interested in either reviewing my book and/or interviewing me, that would be great!
The schedule so far:
January 9: The Book Addicted Girl
January 10: Fantasy's Ink
January 11: The Awesome Magic Attic
January 12: I'm a Book Shark
January 13: Gothic Angel Reviews
January 14: Avery Olive
January 15:
January 16: A.F. Stewart's Blog
January 17: Dark Side of the Covers
January 18: Inkling's Read
January 19: Ramblings of a Daydreamer
January 20:
January 21:
January 22:
January 23:
January 24:
January 25:
January 26:
January 27:
January 28:
January 29:
January 30: The Violet Hour
If I've missed anyone, let me know.
I'm trying to only give out ebooks as review copies (I'm in Canada–is expensive to ship to the States!) but I have a variety of formats to choose from. (Epub, Mobi, PDF)
And just in case you haven't seen my book cover/book description before…
Trinity Hartell's life changed after the accident. Left with irreversible brain damage, she becomes a burden to her mother, a cause for heartbreak for her boyfriend Zack, and a flattened obstacle for her jealous best friend, Ellie.
But then she starts writing. Perhaps it's a coincidence that the psychotic, murderous protagonist of her novel bears a striking similarity to the charming Wiley Dalton, a mayoral candidate in the upcoming election.
Or, perhaps not…
So if you're interested, post a comment or shoot me an email!
November 23, 2011
WWW Wednesdays #7
Time for another WWW Wednesday post! Hosted by Should be Reading.
What are you reading?
The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater. I'm enjoying it so far! I bought it when I was at Chapters last week. Stiefvater is my new favourite author this year, so I'm really enjoying reading about the flesh-and-blood eating horses that come out of the sea.
What have you finished reading?
Lost Voices, by Sarah Porter. I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would. See my review of it here.
What will you read next?
I'm really trying to cut back on my TBR pile from the library. I'm going to be more choosy. Here's what I've decided to read next, not necessarily in this order:
November 22, 2011
Thai Restaurants in Halifax
Because my novel Within is set in Halifax, I thought I would dedicate a few posts to talking about the city. Specifically, this post will quickly detail a couple of Thai restaurants. Thai food is important in Within as it's what my protagonists Zack and Trinity eat on their first date.
This location used to be Clay Cafe years ago, before it moved up to Quinpool. I've only been to Talay Thai once, about two years ago. The food was pretty good but that night they were understaffed and it took at least 45 minutes before our food came. Location: 1261 Barrington Street.
Gingergrass Thai & Vietnamese Food
This place is relatively new. Despite the papyrus font on the front window, (which you can't see in the picture above, but trust me, it's there!) the inside is tastefully decorated. The price is reasonable and the food was delicious. The last time I was there with some friends, the rice machine wasn't working, so we got a noodle substitute and free ice cream. Location: 1284 Barrington Street.
The above two are pretty close to each other, but on opposite sides of the road.
Apparently there is a restaurant on Queen St called Cha Baa Thai…I've never heard of this one, nor have I been there. Must have popped up when I was in Toronto and Calgary? Also, there used to be Baan Thai, down on Blowers St, been that's been closed for a while now–but there's a nice Indian restaurant on the ground floor!
