Anyta Sunday's Blog, page 5

Bubs Has Arrived!

I am SO thrilled to announce that my beautiful son was born on Friday 29th of April at 23:05.

:D

Here's a wee pic for you all. Thank you all very much for your warm well-wishes and kindness!

“Locked” companion website - now live!

locked.anytasunday.com

The Telluric people live in the four hidden kingdoms: Summer, Winter, Spring and Autumn, tasked with keeping Earth’s seasons in balance.
Forced into hiding during the crusades, their lore burned to ashes alongside many loved ones, the Tellurics work their magic unremembered by our world.
Through generations of secrecy, knowledge of their world has withered, with few warriors venturing outside the kingdoms to procure elements needed for their survival.

This website is a companion to the Telluric Realm trilogy, delving more into the history, society, and magic of the Telluric peoples.

Locked Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/Locked-Telluric-Realm-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01DX3EAZQ/

With an interactive map, you can get an idea where scenes are set. The map has markers that lead you to more details about places referenced in the book.

Character pages summarize the main cast of Locked. And a timeline keeps important events in chronological perspective.

Locked (Telluric Realm, #1)

Updated 7/12/16 to add group illustration of Cerdic, Rye, Prince Drake, Princess Alyssa, Kaitlyn and Milo:




Character art designed by Maria Gandolfo.
*** ~~~*** ~~~***


[Cerdic] “I thought we were past this. I’m real.”
“Yeah, yeah. You and the dragons.”
“That’s right.”
Rye very slowly raised his head. “You’ve seen dragons?”
Cerdic stared at him. “I am one.”

*** ~~~*** ~~~***






The Telluric people live in the four hidden kingdoms: Summer, Winter, Spring and Autumn, tasked with keeping Earth’s seasons in balance.
Forced into hiding during the crusades, their lore burned to ashes alongside many loved ones, the Tellurics work their magic unremembered by our world.
Through generations of secrecy, knowledge of their world has withered, with few warriors venturing outside the kingdoms to procure elements needed for their survival.


So excited to announce that the first book of my Telluric Realm trilogy has been released!

A companion website to the Telluric Realm trilogy-- delving more into the history, society, and magic of the Telluric peoples--comes out May 2nd.

This book is rich on the fantasy (and boy did I have fun with that!), and there are three very slow-burn love stories that will/are developing over the course of the trilogy (two gay and one lesbian) with friends-to-lovers and enemies-to-lovers tropes. <3

Big Thank Yous to all those who helped make this book possible! :) You're awesome!

And cheers again to Natasha Snow for the lovely cover art!

Oh, and in case you're wondering: Baby is doing well! :D

Wish Come True

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to tell you about a holiday anthology that came out at the beginning of the month.

Wish Come True
Wish Come True is a collection of stories to warm your heart over the Christmas period!
Stories from Keira Andrews, Joanna Chambers, Amy Jo Cousins,Suki Fleet, Kaje Harper, and I have a wee story in there too called Bottle Boys.



<3 <3 <3

A little bit about Bottle Boys . . .

Choked up on hormones, in preparation for trying to get knocked up (successfully, yay), I got teary a lot. Got angry a lot. Got impressed a lot. There was a lot of everything--it was quite the ride!

One morning my husband read a short article out of the newspaper about this clever guy who bought festival tickets and went, not for the music, but to collect bottles. In a weekend this guy made thousands of euros.

I was immediately inspired. How original, I thought. How smart. And then started the "what ifs". What if he had competition at the festivals? What if he had an arch-bottle-collecting-enemy? What if he slowly started respecting this other person? What if, ha, what if they fell in love?

I HAD to write a story based on bottle collecting, but I was also kind of hesitant, because, well, it's sort of weird too, right? And it does seem far out to earn so much money collecting bottles at a festival--but this article guy had done it, so it was possible . . .

Then Susan from Boys In Our Books contacted me to ask if I'd be willing to participate in an anthology for charity. Thrilled to be invited alongside these amazing other authors that had agreed (seriously, they are wonderful! I love their stories, both in this anthology and out of it), and happy that the proceeds would be going to such a great cause, I accepted.

I knew Bottle Boys was going to come to life then. Only, things got a bit tricky. The original word limit was between 10-15K. I imagined the story longer, but then, I could see it as a short-ish one too. Thankfully the lovely Susan allowed us to run over the limit, and 20-so-K later, Bottle Boys was born.

Then I got pregnant. And I thought before I had mood swing issues! During all rewrites and editing of this book I was in wildly varying states of happiness, depression, and a f-load of morning sickness.

Everything made me sick. I couldn't read more than three pages at a time. Couldn't watch anything on Netflix. Couldn't do anything but curse nausea, hate the boredom, and sleep.

Don't ask me how I got through each edit. It was grueling and one of the hardest writing I've done yet. Thankfully the editor Lenore was SUPER helpful. I can't say enough how much I appreciated her! (Big cheers also to all my beta readers!)

Despite the hormonal ups and downs, I'm happy about the story, and it was important for me--especially as it's a holiday story--that it was low on the angst, and slightly fairytale-like. Some of the plot elements are a little stretched (lets just say I did my best with the Math side, but it's not my forte, lol), but what's a Christmas tale without a bit of magic?

Ohh, and if any of you are curious about Marco in Bottle Boys, I'm happy to say I'm halfway through his novella, and I hope to have that out around Feb next year. ;)

*

Another big thank you to all those who wished me well on this pregnancy! I'm happy to say my belly is growing and at week 16 I finally recovered my appetite and lust of life! :D

(Un)masked Retro Read Interview

Hey Guys . . . Andrew Q. Gordon and I did a wee interview on the lovely Prism Book Alliance. Just thought I'd post a bit here if you're interested . . .

:)

* * *

In Honor of Anyta Sunday and Andrew Q Gordon appearing on our Retro Reads Spotlight, (Un)Masked is on sale for $3.99 for a limited time! (that is more than 40% off, just saying)


1. We are here today to talk about (Un)Masked. What can you tell us about it?

Anyta: This was our first published, co-writing endeavor! I remember chatting with Andrew online and emailing the manuscript back and forth. I have this vivid memory of traveling around England and Scotland while we were fine-tuning scenes.

Andrew: My most vivid memory with this was sitting in the hotel doing edits. Anyta and her family were visiting us and we were going over the edits. That and learning the meaning of scroggin (trail mix) and Jandles (flip flops).

Regarding the book itself, it’s set in Wellington, New Zealand where Anyta is from and I felt like I’d been there after all the work we did on the book. It’s Jay’s story, primarily, but Lethe and Graham figure prominently. Lethe’s family was cursed and he is forced to hide his face to avoid trouble. Only Jay isn’t affected by the curse, at least so they thought.

2. Tell us more about our main character?

Anyta: Jay has a really big heart. He loves his best friend Gristle and would do anything for him. They loved writing and producing plays together and it was their dream to perform on Wellington’s Tory Street Theater.

Here’s a wee fact . . . the scene with losing a shoe in the giraffe enclosure? Yeah, that was based on something that happened with a friend of mine at the zoo!

Andrew: What she said. :)

3. What about (Un)Masked makes you the proudest?

Anyta: It was my first publication through a publishing house! That was a big achievement for me.

Andrew: This was my first published book as well, but I’m most proud of how much closer Anyta and I got during the process. That and how much I learned from her – she’s quite fabulous.

4. If you could change one thing in (Un)Masked what would it be and why?


. . . Read more here . . .

Writing Workshops for LGBT fiction

So . . . I'm involved in a really exciting new project. Europe-based Writing Workshops for LGBT fiction!!! :D



It all began last year at the Bristol LGBT Fiction Meet, where I met the amazing Aleksandr Voinov and got to chatting with him. I was super impressed with how charismatic and knowledgable he was and I asked if he ran any writing workshops--because, baby, I'd so be there. He said he wasn't running anything but that he'd love to get involved in coaching more on the craft.

I took that interest and ran with it. Why wait for the writing workshop(s) I wanted to attend? I was going to make it happen.

So we really got talking, discussing what it was we wanted to offer beginning and intermediate authors to help develop their writing and confidence being an author. First and foremost, we wanted to offer LGBT writers a stimulating, safe environment to exchange ideas and work on their stories.

And then we went further into the craft-bits and worked out a wonderful workshop outline. We want authors to leave the workshop not only with methods for reworking a draft to make it more dynamic and engaging, but also with the motivation and confidence to get those rewrites done!

In an interview with Marc over Rainbow Gold Reviews, Aleks really hit the nail on the head with his comment on the value of writing workshops.


[. . .] I find a lot of value actually comes from leaving behind your normal environment and spending time with fellow writers—the creativity and mutual understanding can take things to a new level and be one of the most affirming things you can do as a writer. Writers can get stuck in negativity or other unhelpful environments, so sometimes feedback from other writers or an experienced coach can make all the difference in terms of motivation and faith in the idea and your abilities.

Anyway, to say I'm excited is an understatement! I think we've come up with something that will be both helpful to writers and FUN!
Yes! Berlin is a great city and our workshop is located right in the heart of it.

During the course of the workshop, the famous Karneval der Kultur is taking place. So there's the option of popping out of the accommodation and into the thick of the festival.


Our inaugural workshop will be from May 21st-25th. Four days packed with presentations, Skype sessions (including a call from agent Laura Zats of Red Sofa Literary), critiques and one-on-one intensives to get your story to the next level.

So, have you got your further education classes sorted for this year? If not, maybe this is what you're looking for!

For more details check out the CritShop website.

And to download a PDF of the workshop schedule click here.



Woohoo! Bring on May! It's going to be a blast. I LOVE fiction. Love learning more about the craft. Love helping other authors navigate the waters of publishing. Love that there will be this new opportunity in Europe.

And if you can't make it this year, then we intend to be hosting workshops on a yearly basis! We'll be looking into hosting smaller day/weekend workshops too.
:D

My rating policy 2015

My rating policy (as of Jan 2015):

I'm only rating books with 4 stars this year. At the end of every month, I'll go through my 4 stars and see which books I feel still touch me and bump it to 5. All books less than 3.5 stars (in my personal opinion) will not be rated, but will appear as read on my bookshelf.

It doesn't mean these unrated books are bad--in fact, many will be very pleasant romps--but I want an easy, by sight record of those books that worked more emotion out of me than expected. Books I wouldn't hesitate to recommend/gift to my best-friend.

Thank you for understanding!

(Also, out of principle, I won't be rating any books that I am any way involved with producing; i.e. writing/beta-reading/editing, etc.)

Book Surprises 2014

I have far from read all the books of 2014, but of the bunch I have read, I've had some WONDERFUL reads.

I just wanted to jot some of my faves down. Of course, there are heaps more I enjoyed, but these are ones that particularly stuck out.

Some of the books are older ones that I only discovered this year, they are jotted down too.

I look forward to checking other people's favorites and adding them to my to-read list for 2015 as well . . .

So first . . . seems I was/am on a bit of a historical trip this year. A lot of faves have ended up from this genre.





Joanna Chambers was a fab discovery! I adored the books above and her Introducing Mr. Winterbourne in the Another Place in Time anthology.

Ms. Chambers is my surprise of the year, and has very quickly made herself an auto-buy author! :D

Another awesome author discovery, and definitely a fave author, is Cornelia Grey!
I LOVED:







Then there's the awesomely talented historical writer Tamara Allen . . .

I REALLY must just stop here and thank Another Place in Time for making me aware of all this talent! (Best anthology of the year!)

Back to Tamara Allen -- I really got into her stuff, I'm a big fan of Slow Burn stories, and all these books had that element!
The Only Gold


These created a very visercal mood! But my favorite read of hers was:


This one was simply so much fun, and I loved the fun mystery in there. My only nag with these wonderful books is the very limited sex scenes. I wouldn't have minded just a bit more--I love slow-burn, but there should be a payoff for the wait. ;)

K.J. Charles, discovered last year, is just getting better and better! One of my standalone faves of the year is her



which hit a lot of my YEAH reading spots. ;) I also really enjoyed The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh in (again)


(See how awesome this antho is!!!)

T.J. Klune-- keeps me emotionally nourished with his stories. I read and loved

Sigh, this was just beautiful and I relished every moment of it.


Aleksandr Voinov--WHOA, this guy can write. Like, wow. Often dark, edgy, and a little off the norm for MM romance, he fills his stories with such amazing, flawed, fascinating characters. (He also wrote Deliverance in the aforementioned anthology!)

is my fave story of his so far, and I have a bunch of his other stuff on my Kindle to gobble up soon!
I can't wait for his Bird Book next year!


Ohhhh Jay Bell. Like, yeah . . . I was late to the show (as always), but I only stumbled over his Something Like . . . series this year, but it's right up my alley. I love YA, and his writing clicks with me on many levels. I think I've read nearly everything of his so far! I love it all.
, ,





Eli Easton struck gold with

Another of my top reads of the year. :)


Another fave was

Sweet and tender and just right. Sigh. Loved this.


And then my Secret Santa (who I still don't know, but am very thankful to) knocked it out of the park with this gift:

This is such a me book--emotional and touching, and I recommend it so hard. Unless you are pregnant, then wait. ;)


Wow, lol, realizing how many good books I read this year--and this isn't all of them. Ha!

Olley White is new to the MM writing scene and is an author going places! I've REALLY enjoyed her stuff, and can't wait for more.
is so much fun. Sweet, sexy, and slow-burn!



-- this one got me teary and emotional, and I loved every minute of it. Rowan Speedwell is another new-to-me author that a friend of mine urged me to try and boy am I glad I did.


On the Fan Fic side . . . my fave read was
.
Snarky and funny and Stiles is unbelievably daft r.e. his sexuality, but it cracked me up.


As for other YA books: I really got into



As for books for kids, my fave read to my son this year was:



Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock keep producing good quality and fun reading books.


So many talented authors! So many wonderful books. And these are just a few.
But I can't end this list without mentioning Natasha Snow, who has designed some of the BEST book covers in the MM genre this year. Just WOW. Such quality! Such an eye for design.
I wish I could link right to all of the covers she's designed because there are so many and are so wonderful. I'll settle for showcasing just a couple though:




(I know the last two are my own books, but I really LOVE the covers. Thank you, Natasha Snow!)


And that's it for 2014 in books this year. ;)

Jace's perspective . . . (rock)

Boy Meets Boy Reviews turned 1 year old in November! There are so many awesome posts from authors and from the unicorn team--I urge you to check it out! I had some great laughs!!!

I was also lucky enough to join in with the celebrations with a guest post. :D

Thank you Boy Meets Boy for indulging my need to write a little something from Jace's perspective!

Here is another snippet of Cooper and Jace's journey. This takes place early on in their relationship . . .

Rock Release . . . :D

Rock.

Sometimes there are stories that you don’t ask to write, but that call to you, demanding to be written. This is how I felt with rock.
If I really think about it, Cooper and Jace have been lurking in my mind for a couple of years now. Slowly their story has been coming to me in bits and pieces, but nothing that really made sense. It was just . . . a feeling that one day, their story needed to be written.

And then I was listening to the radio and this song came on and everything crashed into place, and I couldn’t get to the computer fast enough.

Cooper and Jace are beautiful souls, and it was a privilege to write their story, I hope I gave it even a fraction of the love that these boys have for each other.



Big thank you to the following people for working with me to make the book shine.

Natasha Snow for the wonderful cover art. I cannot say how perfectly it captures the mood and romance of the book! Also thank you for the help reworking the end scenes of this story!

Teresa Crawford, thanks for working through the major plot kinks and how to work Cooper and Jace’s story so that it flows.

HJS Editing for going through and really scrubbing up the text. Big thanks, especially since the present tense isn’t your favorite to work with!

Lynda Lamb—cheers for proofreading the story, and for forgiving me for needing to write this book, when I have so many other books In Progress. ;)

Thank you my wonderful beta readers: Vicki, Sunne, Mishyjo, and Maria for text reading and catching slip-ups.

You guys are AWESOME. I’m so, so lucky that you put in your time and energy to help!

Rock is now available over Amazon.
In three months it will also be available via allromance/smashwords. If you would like to purchase an epub or PDF copy of the book before then, feel free to mail me at anytasunday (at) gmail.com. :D