A.L. Butcher's Blog, page 26
May 18, 2024
Meet the Kitchen Imps
Ever wondered where your socks go in the laundry, or why you can’t find your keys? The Kitchen Imps have the answer.
The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales – six short tales of mayhem and mischief.
Winner of the 2018 best fantasy on NN Light Book Heaven.
Naughty imps, missing socks, cunning thieves and baffled gods feature in this collection of short fantasy fiction.
Universal Link https://books2read.com/KitchenImps
May 17, 2024
The Her Instruments Trilogy Blog Tour #ScienceFiction #Adventure
Dive into a universe of friendly aliens, glamorous space elves, insane pirates… and the gutsy human merchant who’s just trying to hold it all together…
Earthrise
Her Instruments Book 1
by M.C.A. Hogarth
Genre: Science Fiction Adventure, Space Opera
“The thrills are nonstop, the alien cultures and races are well developed and fascinating, and there’s just the right amount of humor to keep the whole thing fizzing.” — Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Reese Eddings has enough to do keeping her rattletrap merchant vessel, the TMS Earthrise, profitable enough to feed herself and her crew. So when a mysterious benefactor from her past shows up demanding she rescue a man from slavers, her first reaction is to run for the hills. Unfortunately, she did promise to repay the loan. But she didn’t think it would involve tangling with pirates over a space elf prince…
Book 1 of the Her Instruments trilogy is a rollicking adventure set in the expansive Pelted universe, and kicks off an epic space opera series where the fate of worlds hangs in the balance. Fans who enjoyed Firefly or Andromeda will like this series.
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Rose Point
Her Instruments Book 2
Reese is only just getting used to running the Earthrise in the black—and with an Eldritch in her crew—when a trip to a colony world gives rise to a whole new problem: Hirianthial is showing powers that even the Eldritch rarely have, and that only in legend. He badly needs training, support and advice, and the only place he can find them is… at home.
To see the world of the Eldritch is a once in a lifetime opportunity, a thing of fantasies and rumor. And to finally meet the Eldritch Queen, the author of so many of Reese’s windfalls! You’d have to twist her arm to get her to admit it, but Reese can’t wait to go. But a court out of fantasy and a breathtaking land aren’t enough compensation when they come packaged with a rabidly xenophobic species whose world is falling apart. The last thing they want any part of is some mortal interloper.
Is Reese ready for the Eldritch world? Better to ask: are they ready for her?
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Laisrathera
Her Instruments Book 3
The Queen of the Eldritch has offered Reese Eddings a life out of a fairy tale, one beyond the imagination of a poor girl from Mars who’d expected to spend her life eking out a living with a rattletrap merchant vessel. Unfortunately, the day Reese reached out to accept Liolesa’s offer, Hirianthial’s enemies betrayed him–and his entire planet–to a race of sociopathic shapeshifters with dreams of conquest. Now the only thing between Reese and a castle of her very own is a maniacal alien despot, his native quisling and all the Eldritch dead-set on preventing the incursion of aliens at any cost, including the ousting of their current usurper, who happens to be an alien himself…
Reese, Hirianthial and the crew of the Earthrise have been battling these pirates since Hirianthial’s capture inspired their fateful meeting, but to beat them Reese will have to own the power she’s always denied herself, and Hirianthial must make peace with his bloody past and uncertain future.
The stakes have never been higher, and this last time will count for all. The final battlefield awaits.
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
A Rose Point Holiday
Her Instruments Book 4
With the Eldritch civil war over, a castle to renovate, and a wedding to prepare for, the last thing Reese is thinking about is taking a break. But the new year is coming and the Eldritch take their holidays very seriously, so Reese decides it can’t hurt to observe the local proprieties. Who knows? Maybe it’ll make good practice for what Felith is calling the wedding of the century. Of course, that was before Reese realized it was going to involve gifts. And decorating. And a town full of recalcitrant Eldritch tenants who have no reason to trust her…
“A Rose Point Holiday” is a short, pastoral novel set during the last days before Reese becomes Theresa Laisrathera Eddings, lady of Rose Point Castle and the surrounding lands of Firilith. The Eldritch have never seen a holiday quite like this one!
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
Daughter of two Cuban political exiles, M.C.A. Hogarth was born a foreigner in the American melting pot and has had a fascination for the gaps in cultures and the bridges that span them ever since. She has been many things—-web database architect, product manager, technical writer and massage therapist—-but is currently a full-time parent, artist, writer and anthropologist to aliens, both human and otherwise.
Her fiction has variously been recommended for a Nebula, a finalist for the Spectrum, placed on the secondary Tiptree reading list and chosen for two best-of anthologies; her art has appeared in RPGs, magazines and on book covers.
Website * Linktree * X * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Signed and Doodled copy of Earthrise,
$20 Amazon giftcard
– 1 winner each!
May 15, 2024
Check out the Legacy of The Mask Series
Award-winning #historicalfantasy based on the #PhantomoftheOpera.
Echoes of a Song:
A dozen tumultuous years after the dramatic events at the Paris Opera House Raoul, Comte de Chagny is still haunted by the mysterious Opera Ghost – the creature of legend who held staff at the Opera House under his thrall, kidnapped Raoul’s lover and murdered his brother. In Raoul’s troubled imagination the ghosts of the past are everywhere, and strange and powerful music still calls in his dreams.
Madness, obsession and the legacy of the past weave their spell in this short, tragic tale based on the Phantom of the Opera.
Best fantasy 2019 on reviewer site NN Light Book Heaven!
Available on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and many other stores on the link below.
Universal Link https://books2read.com/Echoesofasong
Tears and Crimson Velvet
Madame Giry finds herself embroiled in the tragedy unfolding at the Opera house; mystery and murder stalk the corridors and, it is said, a ghost haunts the place. Giry knows the truth, for she recalls the caged man she met so many years ago. This is her story, their story.
When murder and mystery begin at the Opera House one woman knows who is behind it, and what really lies beneath the mask. Secrets, lies and tragedy sing a powerful song in this ‘might have been’ tale.
Winner of the 2020 Best Short Story award on NNLight Book Heaven
A short, tragic tale based on characters from Phantom of the Opera.
A Legacy of the Mask Tale.
https://books2read.com/TearsandCrimson
May 14, 2024
The Ghost of Seagull Cottage – Blog Tour #Supernatural #Romance
A haunting tale of love, loss andfinding one’s place in the world inspired by The Ghost and Mrs Muir.
The Ghost of Seagull Cottage
TheGuernsey Novels Book 9
byAnne Allen
Genre:Supernatural Romance
A haunting tale of love, loss andfinding one’s place in the world
Widowed artist Annabelreturns to Guernsey seeking a fresh start for herself and her youngdaughter away from her late husband’s controlling family. SeagullCottage appears perfect, by the sea and with a low rent. Thesnag is it comes with a resident ghost, Daniel, a sea captain whodied 70 years ago in 1946. He built the cottage and objectsto anyone not family living there. He and Annabel have to come toterms with sharing what he still considers to be his home.
Aftera difficult start they begin to share their pasts and an unlikelyfriendship blooms, becoming deeper as they spend more timetogether. Annabel realises she’s falling for him but wouldshe truly prefer a ghost to a real live man?
Blendingelements of romance, mystery and the supernatural into a compellingtale about the power of human connection which presents a moderntwist on R.A. Dick’s novel The Ghost and Mrs Muir and theclassic movie of the same name.
Amazon* Apple* B&N* Google* Kobo* Bookbub* Goodreads
**Don’t miss the rest of TheGuernsey Series!**
Find them on
Anne Allen lives in Devon in the UKbut originates from Rugby, the home of Rugby football. Finding earlyon in life that she loved the sea she has spent most of her adultyears moving from one coast to another, the furthest being theSpanish coast of Costa Blanca. Her happiest time was spent inGuernsey where she lived for nearly 14 years and her books are allset on this beautiful island. By profession Anne was apsychotherapist but has now retired and fills her time with writingand painting. To date she has published eight standalone stories inThe Guernsey Novels series, focusing on love, mystery, drama andrelationships, and with a touch of historical influence. Some titlesare dual-time or time-slip. The ninth in the series, The Ghost ofSeagull Cottage, is due to be published in May 2024 and was inspiredby the classic movie, “The Ghost and Mrs Muir”, itself based onthe book by R A Dick.
Website* Facebook* X* Instagram* Bookbub *Amazon* Goodreads
Followthe tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$10 Amazon giftcard,
ebookof The Ghost of Seagull Cottage
1winner each!
What is the Secret of Blossom Rise?
When a young nurse takes a job at an old military hospital she finds the answers to an old family question – what is the secret of Blossom Rise Hospital? Who is the long-dead man who walks the grounds?
#Ebook #Audiobook #Paranormal #Ghoststory
May 11, 2024
Legacy of the Fallen – Blog Tour #YA #Fantasy
A dangerous quest risks the return of an ancient evil. Legacy of The Fallen is a thrilling fantasy adventure for fans of Empire of Sand, The City of Brass, and This Woven Kingdom.
Legacy of the Fallen
The Fallen Mages Book 1
by Jane Shand
Genre: YA Epic Fantasy Adventure
A dangerous quest risks the return of an ancient evil. Afshaneh spends her life looking over her shoulder, waiting for her grandparents to send someone to take them back. She might have grown up in luxury, but it was a prison. Now she and her mother live a simple life in the eastern slums of Mahariz. She hides her identity and her forbidden magic. But when she takes on a dangerous quest, will her secrets be revealed? Her close band of friends know she can be reckless and impulsive, so they are not surprised when she agrees to reclaim a lost artefact for a stranger. She could not refuse; he offered enough money to keep her and her mother safe forever. However, she soon learns that this artefact and the one who seeks it could be the most dangerous things in the land. Her quest will take her to the ominous ruins of a castle once occupied by evil mages: The Fallen. She will begin to understand their legacy and will be faced with a choice. Should she destroy the artefact – become the heroine everyone believes she can be – and so attract the wrath of an evil mage, or should she claim the reward and risk the return of The Fallen? Legacy of The Fallen is a thrilling fantasy adventure for fans of Empire of Sand, The City of Brass, and This Woven Kingdom. If you enjoy vivid worlds, complex characters, and tales of reluctant heroines/chosen ones then join Afshaneh on her quest and discover which choice she makes…
Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Smashwords * Books2Read * Bookbub * Goodreads
**Coming Soon in August!**
Curse of the Fallen
The Fallen Mages Book 2
Jane Shand has always been an avid reader of fantasy and mystery and is an author of YA Fantasy.
She got hooked on fantasy after reading ‘Lord of the Rings’ at a young age and was determined to write books full of magic and adventure.
Her books always have magic, adventure, and some mystery. They are full of friendship and co-operation as well as danger and enemies. There will be a happy/satisfactory ending and some clean romance. Her books are all set in the same ‘world’ though on different continents and there is a thread/item that ties all the books together.
She lives in Hampshire, England with her family and two cheeky cats who would love to help her write.
Website * Facebook * X * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
$20 Amazon
May 9, 2024
Guest Post – How to Write a Successful Book Blurb
How to Write a Successful Book Blurb – Rose Atkinson Carter
Around 4 million books are published each year, so how can you make yours stand out? In addition to composing a stellar manuscript and coming up with an exciting cover and title, another important element to consider is your book’s blurb. Often up to 200 words long, blurbs — which are typically found on a book’s back cover — present what happens in a story in an engaging and captivating way.
In this post, I’m going to share some tips on how to write an effective book blurb that’ll help you hook readers in seconds.
1. Pay attention to the first linesImagine this: you’re at a bookstore with just enough money to purchase one book. You see a table of recently released titles in your favorite genre and read their blurbs to help you determine your top choice. Would you be more likely to choose a book with a simple blurb and typical story structure, or a carefully crafted blurb that piques your interest with a bold first statement or question?
If you want to quickly hook your readers, you’ll have to intrigue them from the very start. While blurbs are usually short, most people don’t end up reading every single word, so don’t save your most interesting sentences for the end!
Let’s pretend you’re writing a genre-bending mystery series that combines elements of fantasy, romance, and cozy mysteries. Which first lines do you think a potential reader would find more riveting?
“Jenny Cutts’ The Invisible Body is the first book of The Falling Awake Mysteries” or “A strange ability. A discovered corpse. But will his supernatural sleuthing skills lead him into a killer’s trap?”
The Falling Awake Mysteries by Jenny Cutts. Cover design by Mark Swan
The former would help the reader understand that this title is part of a multi-book series, but the latter would more likely compel them to keep on reading and find out more. What exactly is this aforementioned strange ability? Who was murdered, and who found the body? Who is the killer, and what trap have they laid out? Consider writing something just as compelling at the start of your own book’s blurb!
2. Less is moreEven if your book has 10 plot twists, a cast of 12 complex characters, and multiple POVs, your book’s blurb needs to be around 150 to 200 words long. It’s easy to get carried away while writing a description — especially if it’s for a book you care deeply about — but if your blurb is too wordy, that could turn potential readers away.
After your blurb’s compelling first lines, include a synopsis of your book with the most important details about its setting, protagonists, primary conflict, and stakes. Make sure you avoid including anything a reader might consider a spoiler, such as a shocking revelation or character death.
If you want to make your blurb easier to read, try breaking it up into more than one paragraph. Instead of composing a huge chunk of words, structure your blurb so that each paragraph has a different purpose. For example, the first paragraph can hook your reader, while the second paragraph and third paragraphs can focus on conflict and major stakes.
The blurb of Heather Fawcett’s bestselling novel Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, for example, uses a three-paragraph structure:
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party — or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, get in the middle of Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones — the most elusive of all faeries — lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all — her own heart.
3. Make your blurb’s tone match your bookTo help potential readers get a better sense of what to expect from your book, don’t forget to get your blurb’s tone right! If you write fantasy with prose that’s dark and gritty, having a comedic, pun-filled blurb probably isn’t the best idea.
While writing, also make sure to avoid using a neutral voice. A simple, straightforward book description is useful when you’re writing a cover letter for a literary agent, but for potential readers, having exciting language and word choice is the way to go.
Let’s take a quick look at the first paragraph of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved novel The Hobbit: “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”
The book’s blurb reflects this fairytale-like quality and tone, while also hinting at the protagonist’s unwillingness to step outside of his comfort zone: “Whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in his hobbit-hole in Bag End by Gandalf the wizard and a company of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon…”
Writing an engaging blurb will take lots of time and practice, but it’s definitely worth all the effort, especially if you want your work to reach a wider audience! Remember, it could just be the very thing that convinces a potential reader to choose your book over similar titles.
Best of luck, and happy writing!
Rose Atkinson-Carter is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace and blog that helps authors with everything from learning about the best writing apps to finding helpful creative writing classes and more.
May 5, 2024
What is the Secret of Blossom Rise?
When a young nurse takes a job at an old military hospital she finds the answers to an old family question – what is the secret of Blossom Rise Hospital? Who is the long-dead man who walks the grounds?
#Ebook #Audiobook #Paranormal #Ghoststory
May 3, 2024
New Release – Monsters in Hell – #DarkFantasy #Fantasy
I’m delighted to be involved with the latest Heroes in Hell volume – Monsters in Hell published by #Perseid Press.
In the Heroes in Hell series, Monsters in Hell continues existing plot lines and relates new stories with characters from all epochs of human history as they struggle against torment and even more common problems derived from their unique personalities and backgrounds. But wait, things are changing, even for the Devil and his subordinates, in ways that will cause exciting change, if not outright liberation . . .
Dare you join the war to end all wars? Dare you pick a side in the monstrous regiments rampaging through the underworlds?
Dare you walk with the Pied Piper of Harmelyn as you’ve never seen him before?
Be warned – fairytales in hell do not have a happy ending!
April 27, 2024
Inspiration – A strange and fickle mistress – part 1 #Writing #AWritersLife
People sometimes ask me – where do you get inspiration for your stories and poems? Often the people who ask that aren’t creatives (but not always). I’d assume other creatives would know, or at least understand what a fickle mistress the muse is.
Inspiration is strange, at least for me. Either it comes, and I get poked by stories, scenes, characters, ideas, words until I write, or nothing. Nada. Zilch. And it can pop up any time – often just when I’m not in a position to write (in the bath, in bed, at work) and I have to jot something down or hope I remember it for later. There’s not one specific thing that inspires me – everything, nothing, nature, news, other stories, random thoughts zinging about in a neurodiverse brain.
There are a few pointers though – mostly chatting with my best friend, whose also creative and loves storytelling. We laugh or grumble about something and one of us will say, there’s a story in that… and sometimes there is.
I recall, several years ago, we had a conversation about all those times random socks appear or disappear in the laundry, why I can never find things, why some days stuff gets dropped or broken and you can’t remember doing it. Thus was born the Kitchen Imps.
My late father was a teller of dark fantasy tales (although he probably wouldn’t have classed them as fantasy) and I think, a lot of the shorter stories I write come from his influence. Plus fairy tales, mythology, news, history, music, art, nature…. See what I mean.
The excerpt featured below was one such story born from the ‘there’s a story in that’.
The Secret Kitchen – from The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales (c) A. L. Butcher
The strawberries cackled in their glass jar, around them were other, older condiments – sweet pickles, jams and spreads. Snickering, they shuffled forward, moving close behind a jar of elderly pickles. The pickle jar shuffled forward to make room, butting up against the sugar tin, which refused to move.
“I get used every day, thus I need to be within easy reach,” said Sugar, rather arrogantly.
Pickle grunted and edged further forward. “It not be me, it be the jam,” it sighed. “It be shoving.”
The strawberry jam hopped sideways along the shelf, looking for an easier target, and spied an old jar of sauce, dusty and forgotten. The lid was crusted with elderly tomato, dribbled along the glass and faded to musty brown, with a little sheen of furry mould. Untouched and unloved, it cowered next to an empty salt cellar and a dried-up mustard pot.
The shelf was narrow and overcrowded, and the strawberry jam looked down with a wicked gleam. It was much narrower here than the Big Shelf in the place where it had lived before the Hand had plucked it from its comfortable repose. The jam vaguely remembered the huge Mother Vat, from which it had been born, and many others with it, until the God Spoon had appeared and housed it in the Glass Jar so it could look out upon the world. The strawberries did not question what had been given to them; life in the field before this was not life, merely an existence. Jam! Jam was true life! Jam was purpose!
Shuffling and shoving, the jar slid in the grease which coated the shelf. With a mighty push it toppled the unfortunate sauce down to the flagstones far below, a gleeful chuckle shaking its lid. The bottle smashed and the elderly sauce splodged out its life upon the floor. As the wicked guffawing echoed in the quiet, midnight kitchen the other jars and tins shuffled closer to one another, hoping for protection.
The giant door opened, and the owner of the Hand entered the world of the Kitchen, seeing the poor sauce all over the floor. She looked around to find the culprit, for this was not the first ‘accident’ in recent weeks. The strawberries in the jar looked innocent and nodded towards the sugar, laying blame where none was due.
Once the remains of the sauce had been removed, the Hand grabbed the sugar and angrily deposited it at the back, leaving a nice space for the jam to move into. As soon as the owner of the Hand had gone, the jam, who was young and new, speedily pushed aside the other jars and settled triumphantly into the empty space, where it could see the world it was planning to conquer. Such a sweet, sweet world it was too.
The Kitchen Imps and Other Dark Tales – six short tales of mayhem and mischief.
Winner of the 2018 best fantasy on NN Light Book Heaven.
Naughty imps, missing socks, cunning thieves and baffled gods feature in this collection of short fantasy fiction.
Universal Link https://books2read.com/KitchenImps
