Niall Teasdale's Blog, page 40

Proofreaders Day

Today is, apparently, Proofreaders' Day. My thoughts and appreciation go out to everyone who has sent me corrections for my writing, and especially to Ellen, who puts up with the first draft of my stuff and tells me when she thinks I've lost the plot.

Go Proofreaders!

Read an eBook Week Continues

Over on Smashwords, the Read an eBook Week continues and I'm going to plug it again here.

Besides the awesomeness of being able to pick up Thaumatology 101 FREE!!! you can also pick up all sorts of other glorious e-books by author authors, and maybe also pick up some of my other book which are there at half-price. You have until the 10th to pick up a book and get to the reading, so… get to the reading!

Disturbia Goes to Press

Disturbia, the fifth of the Thaumatology novels is now out.

It's currently available from Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/138316), use coupon RQ83D for 50% off for the first day or so, after which it will be available under their sale using code REW50.

I'll be updating this post with the links to the Amazon pages as soon as it gets through their publishing process.

When bodies start piling up under mysterious, violent circumstances, it's up to Ceri and Lily to discover who is doing the killing. As the link between the deaths becomes clear the couple have to delve into a world Lily thought she had left behind for good, digging through the ugly underbelly of London's night life to find a killer bent on revenge at any cost.

Tales for Free from Amazon

A couple of days ago, Tales from High Towers' Study began selling like moderately warm cakes over on Amazon.com. I'm in the UK so I couldn't figure out why, but it seems they've finally noticed it's available free at some of their competitors' sites. So it's available free there too. That's how I intended it to be, so enjoy!

If you just must grab your e-books from Amazon and want to try out the Thaumatology universe, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZAJ7TY

News and Reviews

A few things to post:

From the 4th to the 10th of March, Smashwords will be running "Read and Ebook Week." You'll be able to use special coupons to get many an eBook cheap or free. I've enrolled the Thaumatology books which are already on Smashwords; Thaumatology 101 will be available FREE!! for a week, with the others at $1.50 for the same period. Use coupon code RE100 for Thaumatology 101 and REW50 for the others, and don't forget, that's from the 4th. While you're at it, grab a few other cheap books!

Tera over at www.succubus.net has done another review, this time of Dragon's Blood. You can find her take on the fourth Thaumatology novel over at Smashwords (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/127324).

Hype-inactive

Hype. There's a lot of it about these days. The latest super-cool movie you must see, the latest novel by that oh-so-awesome author which you must read. I can't possibly be the only person who gets irritated when the media circus comes to town and all I see anywhere is adverts for some movie or other, but how many people finding themselves actively put off a product the more it's hyped by publishers, studios, and even fans?

It seems like the more people throw effusive praise for something at me, the less I want to see it. It's getting paralysing. So many things are hyped out the ying-yang these days that it's becoming difficult to find things to actually go see or read!

Harry Potter! J.K's stuff did not exactly fall into my reading bracket anyway, but the more it was hyped up, the less I wanted to touch it.

Twighlight. I have actually read (well, listened to) the first chapter or so of the first book (it was free) and I decided it wasn't for me. I've never seen any of the films however, even free on TV, because of the hype!

And now we have The Hunger Games. Another theoretically in my sector book series I won't touch, and the films can certainly go hang themselves (there will be more!) because I'm getting told from all over that they're awesome. Go away! Give me a well thought out review to persuade me to try them and then present me with a good read.

Stop the hype!

End rant-mode and start discussion… Well, if you'd like to discuss your reaction to hype. I don't want to over-hype anything here…

Book 6 Hits First Draft

As Book 5, Disturbia, gets ready for release on Saturday, Book 6 has been through initial proof-reading and sanity checking. Apparently I still haven't lost it, 'it' being my mind rather than any talent I may have.

Disturbia will take Lily back to a time in her life she would rather forget as Carter Fleming is accused of murder.

Book 6 will be called Hammer of Witches and should be out in April. Ceri and Lily become involved in investigating a series of grisly deaths.

Book 5 Artwork and Release Date

Book 5 of the Thaumatology series, Disturbia, will be going out to Smashwords and Amazon on March 3rd, and here is a sneak peek at the cover art.

A Lily Pinup

Sometimes you see something you like and just have to see what you can do yourself. So one of RGUS' pinups (he does great pinups) prompted me to create a rather late Valentine's pinup of Lily. Except she looks less romantic and more predatory. Well, that's Lil.

The original, full sized, is viewable on my dA site: http://tharcion.deviantart.com/art/Heart-of-the-Matter-285621111

A Random Thought on Werewolves

So, here in the UK we're a little behind some places on Lost Girl and I'm watching episode 3 (I think) of season 2. Inside of thirty seconds, Dyson has his shirt off. He seems to be doing that a lot this season and I can't help but think of that terrible sounding spoof movie based on Twighlight.

Is it really true that werewolves have to take their shirt off every hour? I'm not saying it's wrong. Perhaps it's a racial trait. Mine tend to be naked most of the time, no shirt to take off, but perhaps the ones who spend more time in human form just have this sudden urge every sixty minutes or so. A compulsion to strip to the waist for no reason.

(This brought to you by "Random Thoughts from a Guy with a Cold.")