Brian Beam's Blog, page 9

Alinor's Shard Release!

After a couple delays, Alinor's Shard, my new novelette is out!  For now, the e-book is available for Kindle on Amazon for $0.99, but it will be available for free on Monday 12/30!  Before the week's end, I'll be posting a couple more free days and getting the print version put together.  Updates on those two things will be posted on my Facebook page(www.facebook.com/brianbeamauthor).

So, a little bit about this novelette.  It started out as one of four short story ideas that I hoped to get on paper and release in a compilation.  However, once I became entrenched in The Forgotten King and nearly rewriting the entirety of The Dragon Gem, those plans kind of fell to the wayside.

One day, I was looking back at Alinor's Shard (titled Aftermath at the time) and another short work I'd written for my abandoned short story collection.  Slightly longer than a short story, something about Alinor's Shard kept me from just filing it away for  future use.  As I went back through it, I realized just how proud I was of it, as well as how much fun I had writing it.  Yet, as such a short work, I didn't really want to release it by itself.  Though I have paid for and read a lot of shorter works from short stories to novellas, I just didn't feel comfortable releasing something that could be breezed through in an afternoon.

But then I had an idea.

I contacted Janette Ramos(the cover artist for my Korin's Journal novels) to see if she'd be interested in doing some interior artwork for Alinor's Shard in addition to the cover.  The protagonist, Fillon, is an artist, and I felt that it would be neat to have some sketch-type drawings peppered throughout the story in connection to that (despite the fact that in all truthfulness, he wouldn't have been the one to draw them due to his place in the story).  Anyway, having this addition to the story gave it that little extra something to make it suitable for a stand-alone release.

Story-wise, Alinor's Shard wouldn't exist if it not for Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy.  In this trilogy, Sanderson's world is one in which the typical fantasy adventure hero actually failed to save the world from the evil that threatened it in the past, putting the reader immediately into a ruinous world suppressed by that evil.  I LOVED the concept, and if you like fantasy and haven't read the Mistborn trilogy, please, please do.  They single-handedly turned Sanderson into my all-time favorite fantasy author.   The point is, Alinor's Shard takes place in the world of Yalis, similarly lorded over by an evil god.  Yalis has become a dark, ruined world under this evil god, its peoples broken and enslaved under his oppressive rule. The story revolves around Fillon, once an artist and now a slave, and his opportunity to help free Yalis from its decaying state.  It's a darker story than I would typically write - not necessarily in the way of violence, but the overall tone.

Now, I'm a little late on releasing this.  I made the idiotic assumption that putting some finishing touches on it after JJProofing's proofread and formatting it for its Kindle release would be an easy thing to do over nearly a week of traveling home for the holidays(my wife and I live about 8 hours away from our families).  Of course, this didn't work out so well.  I was going to get it out before the weekend . . . then on Friday with hopes of offering it free on Saturday and Sunday.  Instead, thanks to my awesome wife allowing me a 45 minute stop at a Starbucks to use their wifi on our way home, I got it submitted Saturday afternoon.  Since it went live that evening, I planned to still offer it free Sunday.  Of course, when I tried to do so from my phone, I kept getting an error message every time I tried to set up the free day.  When we got home after midnight, I wasn't allowed to use Sunday as a free day(which is really kind of strange since I'm on Eastern time and the Amazon promotions follow Pacific . . . ).

So, now it's free on Monday with a couple more days to be announced soon.  Also, I hope to get the print version together as soon as I can.

I'm really proud of Alinor's Shard and would love to get some feedback, so if you pick it up, please let me know what you think.

And, I know I tend to ramble with some of these blog posts, but in this case, I've been on the move almost constantly for the past week, spending countless hours in a car, 8 hours today alone.  So forgive me if this is peppered with poor grammar, rambling nonsense, or any other such drivel.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!

Brian Beam

A Word of Thanks

Wow.

My two days of having The Dragon Gem available for free on Amazon was A LOT more successful than I'd hoped.  I had double the downloads of my most successful free days with the first edition.  I didn't do a lot of advertising about the free days - $10 bucks to boost the Facebook post.  I'm sure the new cover art deserves most of the credit (Another thank you to Janette Ramos for that!)

Anyway, The Dragon Gem had never been the # 1 anything.  Until now.  Well, the #1 free fantasy book on Amazon.de (Germany).  Still . . . # 1!  In the US, #21 in Fantasy, #3 in Fantasy/Epic, and #3 in Fantasy/Swords and Sorcery at its peak.  I know tons of people snatch up freeD e-books, but still, I was stoked to see those numbers.

Now, I'm not so delusional as to think that all these downloads will be read.  Not even half.  Maybe not even a quarter.  But for those who do give The Dragon Gem a read, thank you for giving it a chance.  I sincerely hope you enjoy it and would love to hear your thoughts(good and bad).  For those who don't, thank you for helping bring up The Dragon Gem in Amazon's free Kindle downloads rankings so that more people could see it. To the one person in Japan and the one India who downloaded it, congrats, you are theoretically the only people in your respective countries to own The Dragon Gem :).  That goes for the three in Australia as well.

And to the few that also picked up The Forgotten King, thank you for the vote of confidence.

I would also like to announce that the print version of The Dragon Gem is available for purchase now as well.  It's also a couple dollars cheaper than it used to be.  I was forced into a higher price the first time around due to having it available in expanded distribution.  I forwent that route this time.  I'd rather it be available for less.  Yes, doing so comes with sacrifices, but again, for now, I'd rather it be cheaper.  For any who pick up print versions of The Dragon Gem or The Forgotten King on Amazon, you get the Kindle download for free!

Thanks again to each and every person who downloaded The Dragon Gem and/or The Forgotten King this weekend.  It means the world to me.

Now my next project is getting the Alinor's Shard novelette finished.  I'm now 84% finished with my initial revisions before having it all sent to the proofreader.  Still hoping for a pre-January release, but with the holidays coming up, it may get pushed into early January.  As of this moment, though, I think the pre-January thing is most likely.  I'll be having some free days with its release as well.  I also plan on having some giveaway offers shortly after.

All right, back to Alinor's Shard editing.  Woo!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Brian

Finallly!

Whew!  It took me the better part of a year, but the 2nd edition of The Dragon Gem is finally complete!

Lessee . . . there's been a bunch of changes:

New Cover ArtMajor grammatical editingMajor rewriting(though no significant plot changes)About 10 - 15,000 words of new-ish content, much of it tying the book in to the sequel a bit moreRestructuring of chapters and adjustment of chapter breaksThis one is due to my personal distaste for extremely long chapters, something I was highly guilty of in the first release of this book.  With no major story changes, the chapter count has gone from 26 to 47!So, my plans for spending a couple months doing a thorough grammatical edit kind of veered into vastly different territory.  However, I am incredibly happy with the results!
Now, the update has been submitted to Amazon, and is currently for sale in ebook format.  I have contacted Amazon to ensure the update becomes available for previous buyers.  The process for that can take up to 4 weeks (hopefully shorter, though).  Should they deem the changes significant enough, an email will be sent out to anyone who downloaded the book before.  If not, the update will be available, but you'd have to A) manually update it by going  "manage your kindle" under your Amazon account options, find The Dragon Gem, click actions on the right side of the screen, and then hit update, or B)set your kindle up under "manage your kindle" to automatically update books.  I'll let you know the moment I hear back about how they plan to handle it.
For anyone who has not downloaded the book before, it will be free for download on Amazon on Saturday and Sunday (December 14/15) to celebrate its release.  Besides, who needs monetary compensation for a labor of love . . . Hm . . . actually, maybe I need to revisit the price point on the ebook.  
I have submitted everything for the print copy on CreateSpace tonight, so as long as the proof copy looks okay when I receive it in the coming weeks, it'll be up on Amazon soon as well.  I'm hoping to have some giveaways once all is said and done, probably in January.  
As for what's next on my plate, I am working on my Alinor's Shard novelette, giving it a good run through before sending it JJProofing  and will hopefully have it available for download before Jan. 1 with print copies shortly after.
I plan on using January as my NaNoWriMo (since  November was dedicated to my rewrite of The Dragon Gem ) to get the first 50K words down on the first draft of Book 3 of Korin's Journal.  My wife and I are expecting our second son in March, so no telling if I'll be able to pull this off or not.  We'll have a lot going on in the beginning of the year!
For now, though, with the rewrite out of the way, I can get back to writing without it feeling like  chore.  I've almost forgotten what that feels like in the past couple months.
I'll update soon on the availability of print copies of The Dragon Gem, when those who have downloaded the Kindle version already can get the update, info on giveaways, and info on Alinor's Shard's release. 
So, to end this up-way-too-late-at-night/too-early-in-the-morning post, I give you the front and back cover for The Dragon Gem rewrite, as well as the front cover and a sneak peak of one of the illustrations for Alinor's Shard.  Enjoy!
 

Brian Beam

Writing is hard

Writing a book is hard.

Rewriting a book is-as I've experienced over the past several months-damn near impossible.  Okay, not impossible, but really really difficult.

After releasing The Forgotten King, I realized that I was more than a little unhappy about the quality of The Dragon Gem.  As I've mentioned at some point in this blog before, The Dragon Gem was not written to be published.  It was a pet project done in secret while I was a stay-at-home dad to surprise my wife.  At some point, when looking for a print on demand company to get a few copies printed for my wife, friends, and family, I came across Amazon KDP and thought, "What the hell?  Why not publish it on there so that my friends can download it if they want?"

And then, people started downloading it-some free, some not.  Not a ton of people necessarily, but way more than expected.  And that's when I started to treat it as a true, published book.  So, when I went into The Forgotten King, it was with a completely different mindset.  And thus, I was much happier with the results.  The only problem is that I became unhappy with The Dragon Gem.

That's when I decided to do a major edit.  After only a couple chapters, that major edit turned into a major rewrite.  I was naive enough to think it would be simple.  I mean, the entire story was there.  I just had to make it sound better.  Easy, right?

Wrong.

Thinking it would be a semi-quick process, I thought I could release it with the release of The Forgotten King in May.  Nope.  Maybe July, then.  Nope.  Surely August.  Nope.  September.  Nope.  Okay, surely I can get it out by October 31 so I can devote NaNoWriMo to the first 50K words of book 3.  Sadly, nope.



Now, I'm not going to be too far from the newest deadline of October 31.  The Dragon Gem Reloaded(okay, that's not the name, but it just sounds cool in true cliche Hollywood fashion) will be out by November 7th, barring any unexpected diversions.   And still, it will be released as an update so that anyone who has downloaded it before can just get the update once I've gone through the process of emailing Amazon to get it set up for prior purchasers do so.

The point of this whole rambling mess of a blog is that even though it's taking a ridiculously long time, The Dragon Gem will be out semi soon, and I'll be giving up a chunk of NaNoWriMo to make sure it is.  It'll be worth it.  I promise.  I'm still going to try to get my novelette out by the end of the year, but it may be pushed into early 2014(January early), but I'll post about that later.  Although, I do have all the artwork for it now, and am excited to get it all put together.

So, to end this blog, I must first apologize for its rambling nature, as well as the probable lack of proper grammar(gonna put the time it would take to read over it into working on The Dragon Gem).  Also, for those who do not know, my wife and I are expecting our second child in March. I've posted about that here before, but now we know what we're having and it's gonna be a ....  Boy!  I'm sure I'll be getting plenty of good story idea during the sleepless nights to come :).

Hope anyone reading this is doing well, and I hope to have The Dragon Gem Reloaded(I promise that won't be on the new - and incredibly awesome - cover) out soon!  Happy Halloween!


Brian

Book Review: Old Bony Blue Eyes

Book Review

Old Bony Blue EyesA Clockpunk Wizard Story
Lita Burke's Old Bony Blue Eyes is an entertaining story set in a richly inventive fantasy world. Though this is the third entry in Burke's Clockpunk Wizard series, it is admittedly the first I have read. Thankfully, Burke has done a wonderful job of making the story accessible to newcomers to the series.

The story starts by plunging the reader into an exciting fight between Bright, wizard Kadmeion's half-elf clockworks magician assistant, and a Goon sent by Lady Betrayal to collect on a favor owed her by Kadmeion herself. After traveling by airship to meet with Betrayal, Kadmeion, Bright, Furgo(Kadmeion's weredog), and the airship's crew(including a host of fey)are sent on a quest that will pit Kadmeion against Death himself, Old Bony Blue Eyes, in a game of chance. Will Kadmeion win access to the item Betrayal has sent him for, or will he spend the next five years of his life in servitude to Death?

The story moves at a brisk pace with very few lulls along the way. Burke displays a mastery of witty humor and dialogue, giving her writing a fun, lighthearted feel. However, she also proves she can adeptly pull a complete 180 and go straight for the heart when necessary. I especially enjoyed all dialogue involving Kadmeion. His personality bears a perfect blend of sarcasm, wit, and obliviousness. For having no concept of how humor works, Kadmeion provides plenty of laughs.

Burke also is amazing at keeping the story from becoming bogged down by details, giving the reader just what they need to imagine the world she has created, a trait highly lacking in many modern fantasy books. That's not to say that she hasn't created a fully realized world; Burke has obviously taken her time to create a unique world full of interesting characters and proves to have a solid grasp on how things work in it. She just has the whole "show, don't tell" concept down pat.

When I first started Old Bony Blue Eyes, I felt it mainly targeted younger readers, namely young adult. However, the further I got into the story, I began to see many of the more adult themes and concepts woven throughout Burke's prose, making the story appropriate for a wide variety of ages while still keeping it entertaining for adults(well, for me, at least).

There are a lot of unique ideas in this story. Casting magic through song is a novel spin on typical fantasy magic systems. I love the concept of an island-filled world that is traveled by airship, though I wish there were more instances of exploring this aspect(to be fair, maybe the first two books have more of this).

I feel that the end of the story could've used a greater sense of danger for the protagonists, especially after the deadlier threats faced earlier on in the book. Part of this is because Kadmeion has a tendency to recognize opportunities that may present themselves if things do not go as planned. The climax is clever and fun, but it lacked a little in tension for me.

But don't get me wrong, Old Bony Blue Eyes is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to any fans of the fantasy genre looking for a fun, exciting adventure. Burke has created an amazing world that I will definitely be visiting again soon when I have time for the first two entries in the series.


5/5
You can find out more about Lita Burke on:
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News, Reviews, Woos, and a New Muse

Hello everyone,
First off, I believe the title of this blog post just may deserve an award for "most lame attempt at cleverness through elementary rhyme scheme."  If you happen to know of any blog awards with this category, please keep me in mind.
Okay, with that out of the way, I suppose I should offer an update or two, given I haven't written a blog post in . . . *runs out of fingers* a while.
So, news.  Still chugging along on the edit/rewrite of The Dragon Gem.  Hoping to be done at the end of the month(currently at 75%).  That pushes my novelette, Alinor's Shard, into October-ish.  November's NaNoWriMo will then be dedicated to beginning the final volume of the Korin's Journal trilogy.    
I'm hoping to do some giveaways around both the re-release of The Dragon Gem and the release of Alinor's Shard, so be looking out for news about that.  I'll also be letting you know when Amazon has the updated 2nd edition of the Dragon Gem available for those who have already downloaded the original book.  In my experience, that process takes a little bit of time, but I'd rather go about the 2nd edition as an update as opposed to a separate release.  I don't expect anyone to read The Dragon Gem 2nd ed if they've read the original, but it'll be worth updating your digital copy for Janette Ramos's amazing cover art alone(though, the book's content will have a much higher level of polish). 
On to reviews!  There's a couple reviews of The Forgotten King out there.  Feel free to give them a look (warning: SPOILERS) at http://www.paranormalromanceguild.com... and at http://readersfavorite.com/book-revie....
Hmm.. and the woos(because I needed a word to rhyme, though it does kinda fit), here's the cover art for Alinor's Shard: 
Woo!
And the biggest news(in my lil' ol' opinion) is the announcement of my yet-to-be-titled-sequel to 2010's highly praised Jonas Beam, coming March-ish 2014!  Or, in less confusing terms, my wife and I are expecting baby #2 next March!  Hence, a new muse :).  
Our lil' peanut
And with that, I wish everyone a wonderful week!
Brian Beam

The Dragon Gem: Chapter Four Commentary

Alright, Chapter 4 of the Dragon Gem, How I Met My Magic Talking Wizard Cat(an obvious play off a popular sitcom you may or may not have heard of) further introduces the character of Max, my absolute favorite character to write.

*Possible Spoilers*

I had several goals for Max's purpose in the series.  If you have already read the current edition of The Dragon Gem and/or The Forgotten King, you know he plays a MASSIVE role in the story.  Aside from plotting aspects, though, Max serves many functions.  He balances Korin's impulsiveness,  helps keep Korin grounded(and generally just lets him know when he's being stupid), provides comic relief, adds a bit of mystery to the story, and kicks some ass when warranted.  And honestly, being a tad sarcastic myself, I absolutely love writing his dialogue.  Max doesn't care what anyone else thinks, pretty much always believes he is right, and has very little patience for stupidity(of which his standards on intelligence are a bit unrealistic). 

For anyone wanting to know why I chose for him to be a cat(all zero of you), it's because I like cats :-P

*Definite, MAJOR Spoiler*







And, as for his real name, he's named after my son.


*End MAJOR Spoiler*

So, usually I make a list of fun facts about the chapters, but this chapter really just serves as an introduction to Max and Korin's history together. Progress is going well on the rewrite, and I hope to have it out by mid-Septemberish(finger's crossed). 

Book Review: The Veil and the Void

Book Review


The Veil and the Void
Book 3 of Hollenguard
The third entry in the Hollenguard series is an engaging adventure that will certainly please fans of the fantasy genre. With an amazing talent for world building, action, and dialogue, S.Arthur Martin once again has crafted an incredible story that grabs hold of you early on, and doesn't let go until the last word.

The story picks up right after the events of Half of Forever, introducing us to a couple of interesting new characters and catching us up on the fate of Kamil and co. after the end of the last book. After these introductions, the action picks up, and it doesn't let up until the end. Along the way, several new allies and villains are introduced, each completely unique. I especially enjoyed the complexity of Picket and her character growth, as well as Pensato, the Cadence hunter(I also had fun learning why he is called a Cadence hunter)

Just as with Hollenguard and Half of Forever(the first two books in the series), S.A Martin has a way of bringing the lands Valice and Denshire to life, drawing you into the world he has created. The desolate lands beneath the veil were vivid in my mind throughout the story. S.A. Martin has proven his skill at writing exciting action scenes that can literally get the reader's heart pumping. I did feel a little removed from the story on a couple of occasions due to the plethora of action scenes, but given that The Veil and the Void involves a massive clash between the Roukon and those striving to bring life and light back to the world, there's obviously going to be a lot of action involved.

I can only recommend starting this series from the beginning. Though The Veil and the Void does a decent job of catching the reader up on prior events, newcomers to the series would probably find themselves lost during several portions of the book. However, those who have read the first two entries in this series are in for an exciting read that will leave you wanting more. S.Arthur Martin mentions in a note at the end of the book that this is the conclusion to the story, but he has created a world that begs to be further explored, and I hope that we get to see more of Kamil and his friends, as well as the lands of Valice and Denshire in the future.
5/5
You can find out more about S.Arthur Martin on:
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Alinor's Shard Cover Teaser

So, the always incredible Janette Ramos has sent me the first sketch of the cover for the Alinor's Shard novelette I'll be releasing later this year.  As I've mentioned in a previous blog, there will also be a couple sketch-like drawings peppered through the story as well.

Let me know what you think!

 
Brian Beam  

The Dragon Gem: Chapter Three Commentary and Novelette Announcement

Sorry, this has been a long time coming.  I've been busy chipping away at The Dragon Gem 2nd edition and injuring myself one body part at a time(sometimes even two!).   Anyway, this blog post will mainly focus on a couple fun(or not so fun depending on how you look upon such things) facts for Chapter Three of The Dragon Gem 2nd ed: Walk of Shame.  Or, if you want to hear about the novelette(read: really long short story) I'm planning on releasing this year, just skip to the bottom (and I'm just putting this here because apparently I'm all about parenthetical notations today). 

*Possible Spoilers ( Unless you've already read The Dragon Gem)

*Chapter Two: Counts and Contracts was the first chapter of the rewrite to have a name change, but this is the first to not only have a name change, but exist where a chapter did not before. This is actually what used to be the second half of Chapter Two.  It's been a goal of mine to cut down these chapter lengths.  Without altering the overall length of the book, the 2nd ed. is nearly ten chapters longer so far, and that's with me only about 48% through!

*This is actually my least favorite chapter of the book, just as it was in the original release.  The main reason is it comes off as a major info dump.  Sometimes a little info dumping is necessary, particularly in sci-fi and fantasy books where entire worlds are being created, but it doesn't mean I have to be happy about writing one!

*The main reason behind the thorough explanation of Contracts is that they were originally going to be a driving plot device when Korin's Journal was still planned to be a series of novellas.  *spoiler* If you've read The Forgotten King, you know that after playing a small role in the first third of the book, Korin's Contract has absolutely no role in the story(though its history does . . . ).  Book 3 won't even have the word Contract in it.  It's amazing how different Korin's Journal has become compared to my original vision!

*For a VERY brief time, I considered making Caralys a bigger character. She was going to be one of those cliche sheltered-her-entire-life-and-now-wants-to-join-an-adventure characters.  I'm not against cliches(I know I use them as much as the next writer), but for a main character, I thought it would make her a little boring. 

*I'm a cat lover, which is the sole reason Max was written as a cat.  He is my favorite character to write dialogue for.  It's fun to write the words of a smart-ass.  I tried to find a good balance between his sarcasm and his serious, caring nature.  Hopefully I pulled that off. 

*Max was originally short for Maxus.  First of all, it seemed a little unnecessary, and also, it would've needed an apostrophe as Til's and Sal's names.  At some point in these commentaries(probably when Til' is first mentioned) I'll explain the (probably overcomplicated) use of an apostrophe after certain names.  For now, the point is that had I left Max as Maxus, he would've been Max' throughout the story.

Now, onto my novelette announcement.  You may have noticed a new progress bar on here for Alinor's Shard.  Originally, I planned to have a collection of short stories that I'd release this year.  I already had two stories written, both of which fell into more of the novelette category than short story.  However, with the decision to do a massive edit/rewrite/cover art change for The Dragon Gem, I knew I wouldn't get to work on short stories for a good while. 

However, I really liked Alinor's Shard(at one point called Aftermath) and wanted to have it available for readers.  As a small work, though, I wanted to do something a little more with it.  So, right now, Janette Ramos(the artist who did The Forgotten King's and The Dragon Gem's(for the 2nd edition)'s covers is working on not only cover art for Alinor's Shard, but a couple of illustrations that will be placed within the story. 

I'll put up some more info about the story  in the very near future, but it will be my focus after The Dragon Gem 2nd ed. and a short story for an anthology being put together for an awesome cause (Bikers Against Child Abuse).  It will definitely be out well before the end of the year, though. 

Have a wonderful week, everyone!


Brian Beam