SunHi Mistwalker's Blog, page 7

Book Review: “After The Darkness”

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As part of the Orangeberry Summer Splash, the first episode in my “After The Darkness” series was reviewed by Sarena Straus. Here’s an excerpt:

I really enjoyed Mistwalker’s writing style.  The perspective is of the omniscient narrator, but Mistwalker does the third person well, really getting into the personalities of her characters and quickly giving us a sense of their motivations.  The book starts off exciting and keeps a fast and interesting pace through the first episode, which is about 30 pages.  So far, there are aspects of this story that remind me of The Hunger Games, with some kind of sinister lottery taking place and A Handmaid’s Tale in that the focus of the lottery are females and by the end of Episode One, we know something will happen to them, but not what. Read more…

Stay tuned for episode 3 which will be published this month.

As part of my participation in the Orangeberry Summer Splash I’m discounting prices for the month of August.

After The Darkness
Episodes #1 and #2 are $2.99 $1.99 each

Prices effective August 9, 2012 – August 31, 2012

Tagged: after the darkness, book tour, dystopian, fiction, Obsummer book splash, Reviews

Why I Write About Bleak Dystopias

I’ve always had an obsession with real life dystopian societies. At the ripe old age of fourteen, I delved into the corrupt worlds of Hitler’s German, Stalin’s Russia and apartheid South Africa.  Dystopian novels such as 1984, Brave New World and Animal Farm kept me awake at night and during math class, sneaking in a few lines of reading.  But my obsession didn’t stop there; I began creating my own worlds – making them as corrupt and dark as possible.  I wanted to really “go there.” I’ve always wanted to go there. That’s just who I am. I don’t like limits and I will probably never accept them.  I don’t want to censor myself and I don’t want to pretend that the world is a nice place where the bad guys get their comeuppance — eventually. I know that’s not true.  That’s not to say that justice is never served – sometimes it is. And it’s not to say that every person is a low-life, corrupt scam bag – some of them really aren’t like that most of the time.  But it is to say that the world can be a dark place and it’s up to the individual to not only fight the darkness of the world; but to resist the darkness within their own heart if they want to live a life that creates more good than suffering.

Boxer, the loyal horse, is for me the most memorable character in “Animal Farm.” He believed in the system. He toiled away, breaking his back despite the fact that he never enjoyed the prosperity he helped to create. Even as they drove him away to the glue farm – he believed. By the time Boxer realized his true fate, it was too late.  When I wrote “After The Darkness” I wanted to ask the question, “What happens when the “loyal workhorse” realizes that they’ve been duped?”  I wanted to explore the choices people make and examine how they eventually become willing to face a Goliath of opposing forces. But I also wanted to show that heroism isn’t black and white. Heroes are flawed individuals who have decided to do something extraordinary despite their failings.

Bleak dystopias give us a chance to take a closer look into the darker side of our real world society. Maybe we don’t live in a frozen wasteland like the one in “After The Darkness” where people are categorized, branded and sold to the highest bidder; but we do live in a world where people without power find themselves imprisoned indefinitely, murdered for speaking out against injustice or sexually assaulted because of their gender. Maybe it’s not happening in the United States or the U.K. or Canada on a mass scale; but it is happening to our neighbors separated only by an imaginary border, an ocean or even a few thousand miles of roads and fields. When we see our neighbors facing oppression, will we be the loyal horse or will we choose differently?

After The Darkness on sale now $2.99 $1.99 for the month of August!

Part of the Orangeberry Book Tour. Special thanks to Book Connoisseur.

Tagged: dystopian, fiction, post-apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, science fiction

Hot August Fiction Sale

As part of my participation in the Orangeberry Book Splash I’m discounting prices for the month of August.

After The Darkness
Episodes #1 and # 2 are $2.99 $1.99 each

Prices effective August 9, 2012 – August 31, 2012

Tagged: after the darkness, book tour, dystopian, fiction, Obsummer book splash, post-apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, science fiction

Virtual Blog Tour For “After The Darkness”

 

Sending a big wave to everyone! I’ve been very busy writing this past month, that’s why I haven’t updated this blog regularly. However, I am participating in a virtual book tour that will take place August 1st – August 31, 2012. Here’s some of the schedule:

August 11 – Read my guest blog post  – Bunnys Review

August 19 – Explore the 9th page of “After The Darkness” -  Mommy Adventures

August 20 – Listen to the songs that inspired me while I wrote “After The Darkness” -  We Fancy Books

The Novel Is Finished

For those people who read and loved “The Shelter” you’ll be happy to hear that I’ve finished the follow up novel, “The Devil’s in New Hope City.” The novel is 50,000 words (approximately 250 pages).  The story follows the life of Sunni Brown after she leaves the shelter and moves to New Hope, a small southern city mired in poverty. Here’s the blurb:

“After four years of hellish cruelty in a sex trafficking gang, Sunni Brown moves to a southern city mired in poverty and despair. Her mom disappears and Sunni must fend for herself. But when the jaded teen meets a disillusioned cop, will hatred, rage and the burning desire for bloody revenge morph her from a helpless victim into raging vigilante?”

The novel is on schedule for it’s Fall 2012 release. Stay tuned for a cover reveal and sample chapters. To receive updates about the release date please sign up for the mailing list.

Tagged: dystopian, fiction, the novel, the shelter

What is After The Darkness? The Series Explained

What is After The Darkness?

After The Darkness is an ongoing fictional series set in a post-apocalyptic world. There are no zombies, werewolves or vampires.  It is a story about oppression, slavery and the will to stand up against the wrongs in the world despite the cost to a person’s life and livelihood. This story is set in a very real world that is in my opinion scarier than any supernatural one.

How many books are in the series?

Much like a television show, the books will be separated into “seasons.”  Each season will have six episodes which end on a cliffhanger. Seasons are self-contained. Central story questions will be resolved by the end of the six books.

Each season will be complied into an omnibus and a paperback edition will be available.

Thanks to Sean Platt for creating this “seasonal” format and giving me the inspiration to apply it to my work. Lots of hugs.

Pricing

New releases are priced at $1.99.

After 30 days the price goes up to $2.99

This will give readers an opportunity to get the books at a significant discount. Please join the mailing list so that you can be notified when an episode is released.

On July 15 and July 16, 2012 the second episode of this series will be FREE. So please pick up a copy at Amazon.  I will also do a limited time freebie for the third episode as a gift to readers. Please join the mailing list to be notified of the freebie.

Length

Each episode is a novelette, approximately 10,000 words – 40 pages.

How often will books be released?

Every 60 days. While I would like to release every month, my process requires a longer time frame. Once again, please join the mailing list to be notified of new releases.

If you have questions about this series, please post them in the comments section.

Tagged: after the darkness, faq, fiction, science fiction

I Made A Huge Mistake!

I want to send my apologies to everyone. I have made a huge mistake! I mistakenly uploaded the unedited version of the second episode in my After The Darkness series. Thanks to a gracious reader Jimbo the mistake was discovered.  I am fixing this error tonight.

The CORRECTED copy of this book will be available for FREE  from July 14th until July 16th.  Once again, I apologize.

Edited to add: I have decided to double check the correct version of this book just to make sure all of the edits are there. The edited version will be available July 14th.

Free Short Story On Smashwords

“The Shelter” is free on Smashwords for a limited time as part of a July summer sale. Use the coupon code: SSWIN to get your free copy now.

 

In other news…I’m still working on the edit of my novel. It’s the follow up to “The Shelter” and it looks like it may expand beyond the 40,000 words I originally planned.  It’s funny how these things happen. It’s grown quite a bit since I first began my edit. But the additions are definitely improvements. I can’t wait to share with you guys!

Tagged: the novel, the shelter, writing life

Surviving The Apocalypse When You’re A Girl

The Girl’s Guide To The Apocalypse has an interesting article — well kind of a short fiction peice that I found intriguing.  Since I’ve taken up the promotional cross (and it is like a cross) I’ve discovered more of my fellow post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction writers. Many of these guys are awesome!  So anyway, after reading “Shoot To Kill And Can ‘Em Up” I got to thinking…what really does a girl need to survive the apocalypse?  In my series After The Darkness: Episode One, my main character Nadia is a teenager who has fallen out of grace with the upper-classes. The world is a frozen, dark hell and citizens are controlled by the rich, powerful and well connected. So let’s take a look at what someone like Nadia needs to survive after the world ends as we know it:

1. Smarts. Crappy futures definitely don’t reward the bold, beautiful and dumb. If you’re a girl and you want to survive, you better put your critical thinking cap on and leave the Cover Girl makeup at home. I figure that the smarter you are and less beautiful you are, the more likely you’ll survive when the shit hits the fan.

2. Social skills — the real kind. And you thought your 1million Facebook friends had your back. Don’t count on it.  Any girl wanting to survive the apocalypse will need to build social bonds so that when you’re down to your last can of beans your fellow tribe members won’t start envisioning you on a skewer.

3. Useful skills. If you’re living in a technology void wasteland your C++ programming skills won’t mean diddly squat . Try your hand at something real. Can you grow food, fix stuff, sew, crotchet? I can…well kind of. If you show up to the gates of that closed post-apocalyptic community with no useful skills, you can forget about getting in. A matter of fact, don’t be surprised if you end up on the wrong end of “Look what we’re having for dinner” (see tip #2).

Tagged: fiction, post-apocalypse, post-apocalyptic, science fiction

2012 Dystopia Challenge

Join me for the 2012 Dystopia Challenge. How many dystopian books can you read this year?  Well, I’m going for five. If you’re a reader of my books, you know that both The Shelter and After The Darkness are dystopian.  The latter is a cross between environmental post-apocalypse and dystopia.  Feel free to visit the Dystopia 2012 Challenge page and if you feel so inclined, make one of my books part of your list to review.  You don’t need a blog to join, you can join the challenge on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Shelfari or any other social media site you want.

My Dystopia Challenge Book List

1. The Unbelievers

2.

3.

4.

5.

I will periodically update this page, so please check back.