Guy Antibes's Blog, page 16

Moonstone | Magic That Binds Arrives in 2015

Looks like that December arrival trickled over into January.  Moonstone is now published and available at all major ebook outlets and as a trade paperback at Amazon.

It’s three companions in The Warstone Quartet should be coming out every few months.

Editing continues on Moonstone

I ended up in a stall getting Quest of the Wizardess out.  It needed a few more edit passes.  I tried to generate an acceptable epub for iBooks, but failed.  So I’ve got it out on every outlet except iBooks.  That will come in January after I get some epub editing software.

I have a proof copy of Moonstone in my aged, wrinkled hands and am over halfway through.  It looks like it will emerge into the world in the first few weeks of January.  Then it’s on to Sunstone.  It’s been a while since I have touched the draft, so it will be fun to edit.

Moonstone | Magic That Binds due for release in December

Following on Bellia’s heels, the first Warstone book will release in December.  The proof will arrive after Thanksgiving and then it will go up.  Here is the cover.  A change from these pages is that I put a tag line on all of the Warstone books.  Book 1 is Moonstone | Magic That Binds, Book 2 is Sunstone | Dishonor’s Bane, Book 3 is Blood Stone | Power of Youth and Book 4 is Darkstone | An Evil Reborn.

Each cover will be a derivation of the Moonstone cover, the gem behind some illustration.  This one has the Moonstone in the pommel of the sword.  It sure is easier to create a cover without people.

 

Quest of the Wizardess Released in November

The Quest of the Wizardess is in proofing and should be ready for release by the end of this month.  The cover looks much the same, with a few tweaks and the Gleaneran God’s War series was removed.  If I get around to turning this into a trilogy, then I’ll put on a new cover.

The proof is coming from Createspace and I’ll get through that Thanksgiving Weekend and debut the book on Amazon.

A Cover and New Title among Other Things

My Bellia novel has a new title:  Quest of the Wizardess.  I also have a new cover.

Quest of the Wizardess Cover

The girl comes from an ad I saw on the web.  I totally modifed her face, but her pose was exactly what I wanted.  I used the red robes to bring the color out in the otherwise drab cover.  I had to draw in much of the robes, the hand and the sword.  The building in the background is the Temple of the Blind God.  It’s in the book and I used the dome of St. Paul’s cathedral in London along with part of the cathedral at Bourges, France.

I have a few edits to go before this gets published.

This month I have been continuing to work on the Sara Featherwood Adventures.  I input the wrong file for the first book and have had to re-edit it.  I’ll have trade paperbacks out with the new edits in October.

Warstones is out dipping its collective toes in the water at some agents, then I’ll get to work on those books.  I’ve got a chunk of editing done, but there’s more to do on the quartet’s 1200+ pages.

As for new writing, I have a mystery novel in mind for NaNoWriMo.  This year’s NaNoWriMo will give me the motivation to get it done in November.  I think that will come in around 70,000 words.

Bellia novel

I don’t have a title for this epic fantasy novel yet.  It stands alone, but there are all kinds of hooks for a trilogy.  It’s about the daughter of a family of wizardly hermits.  They are all killed and she has to leave their home to avoid the same happening to her. Typical sword & sorcery stuff.  It has a unique magical system and Bellia, the main character, gets involved in gods that used to live on their world, but have left.  Lots of action and Bellia does her best to defend herself.

I’m planning on self-publishing this sometime in October.  It’s ready for a proof edit.

Warstone Update

I’m still mulling over how to pursue Warstone Quartet.  I’ve gone through the manuscript three more times since the May post so it’s ready for final review (proofing in print).  No major changes arose through the rewrite process.

I’ll probably do a little traditional publishing queries and then if the interest isn’t there, I’ll self publish.

Rebranding of Sara Featherwood Series

I haven’t had much traction with my Sara Featherwood series:  Daughter Bereaved, Daughter Disinherited, Daughter Betrayed.  It has always been an uneasy kind of a genre bender.  So I’ve come up with new titles and a bit of a re-edit, adding in a magical element so I can call it a fantasy and fantasy readers will see some magic.  I’ve also changed the series name (there were two – The Shattuk Downs novels and the Sara Featherwood novels) to Sara Featherwood Adventures.

The plot is still the same except in some of the key action sequences, Sara will use a little bit of magic.  I’ve gone through all three books and made some edits to typos and filled in a few minor plot holes.  The big difference will be the new covers.  I tweaked the illustrations for the last two books, but the first book has a totally new cover and more in matching with the genre.

As for genre, it will be Fantasy – YA/College, and Literature – Women’s Adventure

Here is the cover for the first volume:  Knife & Flame

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The other titles are Sword & Flame and Guns & Flame.  These should be up on Amazon and then to general distribution in the next few weeks.

WarStone Quartet Progress

I found an author’s site that had progress indicators.  Perhaps I should install one on this site.  Here is an update on my current project:  The WarStone Quartet.

 

Moonstone:  Drafted and two revisions.  This is the first volume and needs to be read first.  I’ve added some continuity with the other books.  I wrote this one first before the others were done, so some of the sequencing of the events had to be updated.  Most of the plot remained intact from my first draft.

Sunstone: Drafted and one revision.  I increased the  number of words in this book to over 100,000 by increasing some character interaction and filling in some plot holes.  I changed a few relationships to make the mercenary phase of the plot work better and a section of the book needed to be redone for continuity.

Bloodstone: Drafted and one revision.  This volume has the most vivid romantic element and I reworked the romantic arc a bit.  There still needs to be some more tweaks on the part of one of the characters.  The stakes need to be raised a bit.  This has a lot of battles and I might need to choreograph them with more action.

 

Darkstone:  Drafted and one revision.  This still needs some more content. This is the last volume and I’m somewhat pleased how it came out.  This volume contains the end of the romantic arc started in the Bloodstone.  I had to work on a number of elements in the rewrite to extend a sparsely written first draft.  More internal thoughts on the part of the MC and I reworked the exciting climax a bit. I might need some more slam bang action.  The ending was reworked a little, but came out pretty much as intended.

I intend on one more revision to each volume to add some additional character and some color (description).  Then I run them through a grammar/spell checker for a final perusal. They should be ready for book production and proof edits and then RELEASE!

I’m currently cogitating over what approach to take on the covers.  All four of them need to be coordinated

Anthologies Promotions

Sorry I didn’t mention about the free promotion for The Purple Flames.  It went free for about a week.  The next free promotion will be in June.  Angel in Bronze will be free on Amazon for one week.  It’s scheduled for June 4th through June 10th.  It’s a good time to see what the three anthologies are like before you buy the other two.

I’m still looking for contest participants.