Cary Caffrey's Blog, page 5

STRANGER SKIES: Cover Reveal & Contest Giveaway

Cover Reveal & Contest Giveaway!STRANGER SKIESBook One of The Borderlands Saga, by Katje Van Loon

Available October 4th. Pre-orders September 20, 2013


Synopsis
A goddess' fall from grace leaves her on an alien world, devoid of her followers, trapped in a mortal body. Should she strive to regain her godhood or accept her mortality and find love?

Silva, Queen of Wolves, Lady of the True Woods, seeks her only friend Etan, who, along with other deities of the Council of Divinity, has gone missing for reasons unknown. Her search traps her on a world where the wolves have lost faith in her; she becomes a mortal woman whose remaining powers could brand her as a witch.

Through the chaos of war and the turmoil in her own heart, Silva can't escape a persistent feeling: that her fall was not an accident. 


Excerpt
Heart’s Blood Tavern had indoor plumbing which, according to Scoas, made it a rare building in the town. The toilets were composting toilets, however, and so the scent of human waste combined with peat overwhelmed Silva’s sensitive nose. She entered the stall and did her business quickly, trying to ignore the pong of the room. There was one sink and a small mirror of that same polished stone — while she washed her hands, she noticed she was more fleshed out than she had been the day before. Minae food worked quickly.

She turned to leave, and then stopped dead, horror making her veins run ice cold. Above the door was another animal head as ‘decor’.

Its muzzle was posed open in a silent snarl, its ears were flat back on its head, and it was made to look vicious around the eye’s epicanthic folds — but this was all a lie. She reached her hand up to touch the soft fur, but it was too high up, and she couldn’t reach.

She’d found her first Minae wolf.

The scent of fear and death hit her then; it had been masked before, but now that she gazed upon the source it was so clear she reeled. She ran back into the stall and vomited what was left of that morning’s breakfast.

This wolf had died in fear and pain, and she hadn’t been here to help.

She hadn’t been able to help so many of her children on Terra, too. The mortal humans had shot them from planes, poisoned them, hunted them near to extinction. The only thing that had saved them from that fate had been constant fighting — from Silva herself, and her one or two human followers. Mortals who lived with wolf-hybrids and knew about her existence, and who wanted to help save her children. Silva had petitioned the Twins to save her cubs, and they had finally listened and moved all the wolves off-planet. She didn’t think they would have had it not been for the strengthening arguments of a few other gods who had a soft spot for wolves — the Morrigan, Hecate, and Odin were the big three who had argued on Silva’s side. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever properly expressed her gratitude to those deities.

On Tau Ceti, the wolves had been placed far enough away from human settlements so as to be relatively safe. But when humans expanded outwards, as they invariably did?

If she never got home, the Cetian wolves might meet the same fate. And this time she wouldn’t be around to stop them from going extinct completely.

She shook with helplessness and fear. There was nothing she could do. She was trapped here in mortal form, and her children might all die. The thought made her sick again.

When finally she exited the bathroom, after having rinsed her mouth thoroughly, she felt scrubbed out, hollowed, empty. A gourd left in the rain after All Hallows Eve; burned on the inside, destined for the compost heap to rot away in ignominy.

She tried to hide her distress when she got back to the table. Their food had arrived by that point, and a man she’d never seen before stood beside the table and chatted with Scoas and Natai, and occasionally giving Brinna a predatory smile. Brinna seemed less than pleased with the man’s attentions, but she was unfailingly polite.

Silva instantly disliked the man. He smelled wrong, and his bearing positively screamed his arrogance.

Scoas noticed Silva’s return, then, and made introductions before Silva could escape.

The man’s name was Kaz, and he gave Silva an exceptionally oily smile. He was a hunter — the best in Heartpin, apparently. “You must have seen my prize trophy,” he said to her, folding his arms over his chest. Silva politely raised her eyebrows even as her stomach churned with dread. “The wolf’s head hanging in the privy. Got that bastard over a year ago. Scoas bought the pelt.”

Silva felt like fainting. She barely heard what Scoas said: “It’s a very nice pelt, too; we simply love it.”

“There’s a secret to get the best pelts, Scoas my man,” Kaz said, winking at Scoas. “Would you like to know it?”

“Excuse me,” Silva said, brushing past Kaz and heading for the door. She knew the secret for the best pelts, and if she heard Kaz tell them exactly how he’d tortured the young wolf whose head hung in the bathroom, she might kill him right there in the tavern.

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FOG LIT SCIENCE-FICTION WORKSHOP

On October 5th, I'll be doing a Science-Fiction Writing workshop for the Fog Lit Festival in St. John, New Brunswick. This is a 'free to attend' sponsored event, so if you're in the area and want to talk Science-Fiction, by all means, come on down. Space is limited, so I urge you to sign up to guarantee a seat.
This workshop will focus on the pitfalls and challenges of writing genre fiction -- in this case Science-Fiction Adventure. Together, we'll discuss typical story elements, world building, and the challenges of dealing with real science in a fictional world.
Participants will be asked to bring in a synopsis or blurb of their current or planned project so that we can spend as much time talking about your characters and ideas as possible.

Ages: All Ages

Date: Saturday, October 5th

Time: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Venue: Saint John Free Public Library

Author: Cary Caffrey (The Girls from Alcyone)Pre-Register Here

NOTE: Later that day (same location), I'll also be participating in the panel discussion on Indie vs. Traditional Publishing. With me on the panel will be Chad Pelley and Laurie Lewis. I'm really looking forward o this. Should be interesting and informative.

Date: October 5, 2013
Time: 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Venue: Saint John Free Public Library – Central Branch, Multi Purpose Room
Cost: Free
Pre-Register Here

SETTING GOALS AND HITTING MILESTONES

Interesting news? (Kinda. Maybe.) 

I woke up to realize that I'd sold my 10,000th book last night. I suppose whether or not this is 'big news' is a case of perspective. 10k in book-sales is hardly going to send a ripple through the publishing world. On the other hand, as someone who's doing this all by themselves, I'm pretty darn proud! I may even twerk - maybe (I'll post videos, I promise).

Ten-K is a bit of a milestone (for me). It's the sales goal I set for myself when I decided to try my hand at writing and publishing. Like anyone who's tried writing, I know I got a lot of funny looks from friends when I told them I was doing this - more so, when I announced how many I wanted to sell, so yes, hitting that mark is pretty cool.

The funny thing about targets though, is once you reach them (maybe even before you reach them), you're already thinking about the next target. What's my next goal? That's easy. Add a zero. I've marked my calendar: 100,000 books sold by 2018. People thought I was off my nut when I said 10k by 2014, so I'm sure a few more of you will think I'm crazy or half-baked, but that's my goal.

Is this goal possible? It's hard to say. The marketplace is changing week to week. There's more and more Indy-books out there crowding the web, and rumours abound that Amazon has changed the nature of its search-bots to draw attention away from Indy Books like mine, so who knows. I also haven't helped my cause by taking so long to get my second full-length novel out. Writers who sell produce lots (way more than me). But I'm still learning, and this experiment is definitely a work in progress.

Check back in 2018 and I'll let you know how it's all working out!

FREELANCER COVER POSE/CONCEPT

COVER CONCEPT:

As we inch toward the release of TGfA II: Freelancer, I thought I'd share this latest pose/concept for the cover (Sigrid & Suko, of course). This is by the very talented Anne Pogoda who did the cover for Merchantman.

FACEBOOK: 

As a side note, I seem to be spending more time on Facebook these days. Stop by and give my page a like and stay in touch!

SIGRID & SUKO: JUST BECAUSE

Sigrid & Suko by Miriam Williams

RISE OF THE FREELANCER

As I'm on the last stretch of prepping FREELANCER for launch, I'm hunkering down in the bunker, so I won't be posting or interacting much (too distracting) until this book is "in the can."


In the mean time, enjoy this awesome bit of concept art from the cover (hey, come on! It's Suko!). If you're in need of more of a fix, I've posted the first three (unedited) chapters here: Freelancer.

Cary

UP AGAINST IT (posting from Freelancer): SciFiFanSat

Posting from my WiP
THE GIRLS FROM ALCYONE: Freelancer

The Girls From Alcyone is the continuing story of two very special young women who find themselves at the heart of a conflict spanning more than forty worlds.


THIS WEEK: I've decided to forgo the usual setup and just post the snippet. Sure, it's out of context, and, sure, you won't know what's going on, but this way there's no evil spoilers! And, hey, it's Sigrid. :)


They were troop carriers, Thunderhawks, and they were moving fast, closing on their position, and the rooftop offered little in terms of cover. Twin cannon mounts extended from their sides, swinging into firing position and taking aim."Ms. Novak—Sigrid," the agent implored, pulling on her sleeve. "We need to move!"Sigrid's scanned the area quickly; they were outnumbered and the situation was deteriorating quickly, but the CTF agent was wrong about one thing. These mercenaries might not be the men she was looking for, but they were still men, and they still hunted them."If you have a plan," Suko said, her eyes fixed on the incoming carriers, "now's the time to share it.""Plan?" Sigrid unholstered her twin 18 mm sidearms. "We kill them all."

Oh, and don't forget to check out snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.ca! SciFi Fantasy Saturday is a web-ring of fab SciFi & Fantasy writers and posters. All are welcome to join and participate. In fact, join and participate! Ten sentences every Saturday is all it takes.


Cheers, Cary!

OF SWORDS AND SUKO II (posting from Freelancer): SciFiFanSat

Posting from my WiP
THE GIRLS FROM ALCYONE: Freelancer

The Girls From Alcyone is the continuing story of two very special young women who find themselves at the heart of a conflict spanning more than forty worlds.

LAST WEEK: Sigrid came home

Sigrid continues her inspection of Suko's sword.






Carefully, Sigrid withdrew the blade. The steel was now fully restored by Suko; oiled, polished and powdered, it gleamed in the dark. Suko had taken care to repair the leather handle and restore the gold inlay that had worn away, returning some of its lost majesty. She swung the sword now, felt its weight in her grip, and marvelled at the balance. It was a weapon that begged conflict, deadly in the hands of one trained to use it."Now, there's something you don't see every day."Sigrid spun about, nearly dropping the sword; Suko stood behind her, leaning in the doorway--Sigrid realized how silly she must appear swinging Suko's sword about dressed only in her undergarments.
Walking toward her, Suko took the sword from her hands and placed it back on the shirasaya."You want to be careful with that. My girlfriend gave it to me."



Oh, and don't forget to check out snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.ca! SciFi Fantasy Saturday is a web-ring of fab SciFi & Fantasy writers and posters. All are welcome to join and participate. In fact, join and participate! Ten sentences every Saturday is all it takes.


Cheers, Cary!

The Girls from Alcyone: Merchantman Release Date

It's taken a while, but The Girls from Alcyone: Merchantman is finally ready for release. It will launch on Monday, July 15 on Amazon.

Merchantman is a short story (11.5k words - not quite novella length) set in the the world of Alcyone just after the events in Book One.

I hope you check it out. The full sequel (Freelancer) is due out soon.

OF SWORDS & SUKO (Posting from Freelancer): SciFiFanSat

Posting from my WiP
THE GIRLS FROM ALCYONE: Freelancer

The Girls From Alcyone is the continuing story of two very special young women who find themselves at the heart of a conflict spanning more than forty worlds.

THIS WEEK: I'm leaving Merchantman behind. Many of you have read the whole story by now. If anyone else is curious to see what happens, you can read the whole thing here.

So, I'm moving back, or forward, into Freelancer. Here, Sigrid has just arrived back at her home on New Alcyone. It's late, she's very tired, looking forward to seeing Suko, and she's still very preoccupied with what happened with the Merchantmen.




Sigrid undressed in the quiet of their sitting room, removed her holsters and pistols and placed them on the weapons rack next to Suko's. Suko's collection of katanas sat mounted on the shirasaya above the mantle. Two of the swords were new, unsullied, pristine in their composite scabbards. But it was the other blade that caught Sigrid's eye. She reached for it, caressing the smooth lacquered surface of its simple wooden saya. This weapon seemed odd, out of place, an antique lost in the sea of advanced armaments that littered their home. The katana was very old, that was certain; some might consider it obsolete, only worthy of being discarded. But Sigrid knew better. For this was the very same katana she had found on Vincenze, bought for Suko with the first of her earnings as Mercenary. The sword and Suko would not soon be parted.

Oh, and don't forget to check out snippets from other SFFS authors here: scififansat.blogspot.ca! SciFi Fantasy Saturday is a web-ring of fab SciFi & Fantasy writers and posters. All are welcome to join and participate. In fact, join and participate! Ten sentences every Saturday is all it takes.

Cheers, Cary!