Olga Godim's Blog, page 39

Fantasy Character Interview #9

Meet Jess Bennett, a 78 years old protagonist of The Travelers, an urban fantasy novel by Keith Wayne McCoy.

1. Tell me a little about yourself—your name, profession, where you live, do you have a family, the usual.

My name is Jess Bennett and I am 78 years old. I was born and raised in a flat in London, England. World War II gave me an American GI named James to fall in love with and marry. After the war, we left England and my mother for New York on the ship of our destiny, the QUEEN MARY. We left Southampton with only each other but arrived in New York as a family after a North Atlantic encounter with an otherworldly, desperate mother and her two small children. My life began on that voyage.

2. What happened to you, so you ended up in this crazy adventure the novel talks about?

We began a life in southern Illinois in Jim’s ancestral Victorian farmhouse. It was heaven on earth, and I had never been happier. But when we lost our children just nine months apart, I fell off the path of the living and descended into the deathly world of bitterness and hostility. Losing just one of them would have been pain enough but both was simply too much, like a double amputation. My marriage disintegrated and despair leveled any hope of a normal existence and I became a recluse. Now, decades later, this young black filmmaker has brought Jim and I together again for a final reunion with that poor mother who has returned to shut doors all older mortals contemplate.

3. What is your biggest regret?

I lost the love of my life. I am happy Jim remarried but I absolutely hate his second wife because she has my man. I’ve never been with another man but have no one to blame for losing him except myself. I actually freed him because I knew I would never be the same. It was the hardest choice I’ve ever made, brave I tell myself, but it was necessary. But this young man has given me this final chance to find my way after all these decades and all I need before I die is to see that woman.

You can find more about Keith Wayne McCoy on his website.

Buy The Travelers:

• Amazon

• Burst Books

• Barnes & Noble

Cover Selection

I’m going to publish an urban fantasy collection of short stories united by the same protagonists: a young witch Darya and her familiar, squirrel Beatrice. Together, they kick butt of the bad guys and help friends in need. The stories are lighthearted, with a pinch of humor.

I have 3 covers to choose from. Covers 1 and 2 only have slight differences in decorations. Cover 3 is absolutely different from the first two. I’d appreciate your opinions. Which one do you like best?

Cover #1

Cover #2

Cover #3

Readers’ perception

I just joined the Insecure Writer’s Support Group. The members post every first Wednesday of the month, so this is my first post for them.

When a reader opens a book, in many cases he doesn’t see what the author envisioned when she wrote her story. He sees his own interpretation of the book through the lens of his personality. He filters the story through his own life experience. Sometimes the reader’s and writer’s versions are almost the same. Other times, they’re vastly different.

I recently had a review of my novel which really surprised me. It wasn’t a bad review, far from it. It was a nice review, but the reviewer mentioned a fact that made me open my mouth in surprise. What? Have I written it so badly that she didn’t see the main point of the novel? Did she even read it before writing her review?

Some writers engage in disputes with readers over the unwanted reviews or fling accusations around. I think it’s a pointless practice. But I ask myself: what should I do so the readers see the book the way I see it? Is it even possible?

There is a well-known axiom among writers: you can’t please everyone. I’d take it one step further: you can’t deliver the same version of your book to everyone, even though the words and grammar are exactly the same. People are bound to see it differently, to read different revelations into it. Every man and woman, when they open a book, are on a quest for a mysterious artifact, but no one searches for the same object or the same emotion.

Some try to find absolution. Others strive to prove their own worth. Still others long for a spiritual guidance or just want an escape from life worries. And the more people manage to achieve their goals through my book, the better writer I am, no matter what they perceive in my writing. I wish all my readers luck in their search.

Fantasy Character Interview #8

Today, my guest is Carina Tranquilli from Celia Breslin’s novel Haven, book #1 of her Tranquilli Bloodline Series. The novel’s genre is urban fantasy romance.

1. Tell me a little about yourself—your name, profession, where you live, do you have a family, the usual.

Hi Olga. Nice to be here for a visit! I’m Carina Tranquilli. My friends call me Rina. I currently own a dance club in San Francisco, located in the Castro district. You may have heard of it: Haven. It’s one of the top hot spots in the city. I live just up the hill from my club, with four of my friends.  I have family, too, three older brothers. No parents. They died when I was a kid.

2. What happened to you, so you ended up in this crazy adventure the novel talks about?

My birthday happened, LOL. My big day started with a witch attacking me in my own home (don’t worry–I beat her). Then some vampire relatives I didn’t know I even had show up and bam! I find myself a pawn in the middle of someone else’s game. Not fun. Well, there was one fun thing: I met this guy…Alexander. He makes me blush. I never blush!

3. Okay, Carina, last question. When you’re not working or fighting Team Evil, what do you do for fun?

Well, my job is fun, so I spend a lot of time at my club. I love to dance. I like to run, too. And kickboxing. Basically, activity keeps me in a good mood. Well, that, and Alexander. Man…I can’t stop talking about him, can I? I have it bad!

Thanks for the chitchat, Olga! Here are the book details, along with some info about my author, Celia. She’s good people!

Connect with Celia Breslin:

• Website

• Twitter

• Facebook

• Goodreads

Buy Links:

Amazon

Champagne

Barnes & Noble

Book cover contest

I entered my novel Almost Adept into a fantasy book cover competition.

If anyone wants to vote, my number is 81. There are over 100 books there.

Eagle En Garde on the way to release #1

My second fantasy novel Eagle En Garde is going to be released from Burst in May. I got the cover art by Christy Carlyle. Love it.

Fantasy Character Interview #7

Please meet Hope, the protagonist of Mike Reeves-McMillan’s fantasy steampunk novel Hope and the Patient Man, Book 3 of the Gryphon Clerks series.

1. Tell me a little about yourself—your name, profession, where you live, do you have a family, the usual.

My name is Hope at Merrybourne, because my parents work for the Countygold of the Western Isles at his Merrybourne estate. My mother is his estate manager and my father is his secretary. They… to say that they don’t get on is something of an understatement. I’m trying to work out why that is exactly, because I’ve met this man, and I’d like to build a life with him, but I’m afraid that whatever’s wrong with my parents’ bond might affect me too. And there are other considerations, which I’ll talk about in a minute.

I’m a mage, specializing in energy magic, though I earned my mage-minor bangles in mindmagic and lifemagic before… well, before I was forbidden to study them any more. That’s part of the other story too. I got to be a mage because I showed talent when I was young, and happened to discover some hidden writing in an old Elvish book that turned out to be a very useful spell. I live in Illene now, the university city where I trained. It’s a long way from the Western Isles, and very different, but I’m growing used to it.

I work for the Realmgold’s clever man, an eccentric inventor, and we developed magical devices together which allow people to communicate over long distances. We’re reliably informed that it helped shorten the recent Unification War and saved a good many lives. I met my friend, my gentleman-friend, at the ceremony where we were honored for our work with the farspeaker devices. He was injured in the war while doing something very brave, and he was there to be honored as well.

2. What happened to you, so you ended up in this crazy adventure the novel talks about?

Well, that’s rather embarrassing. You see, while I was at university I had a lover, and one evening I was unexpectedly off work and went to see him unannounced, and discovered him with someone else (someone who later became my best friend, but that’s another story.) So I cursed him with impotence. It seemed like the thing to do at the time.

But you can’t just throw curses around without any consequences, and it splashed back on me and prevented me from, you know, feeling anything for a man. Not to mention that it was against university regulations, and I had to take the curse off him, and nearly got expelled, and was forbidden from studying mindmagic and lifemagic any more, and lost my scholarship.

So now I have this curse, and I rather like my gentleman-friend but I’m afraid it won’t work out between us because of it.

3. So what are your current problems?

Well. The curse, obviously, and the mystery of what happened with my parents. The Master-Mage, my old mentor, wants me to teach the clever man’s mathematical-magical notation to other people, and he says if I do a good job he’ll make me a Senior Mage. That would be wonderful, but as a side effect of the curse I fell and hit my head, and I get these headaches and can’t seem to concentrate on anything, so I’m missing deadlines. It’s all rather difficult, and I’m not sure how it will all work out.

You can find Mike Reeves-McMillan on:

•  His blog

•  Google+

The novel is available on Amazon

News report from Almost Adept #1

Front page news from the world of my novel “Almost Adept”:

Sheep-headed Man: Magical Prank or Malicious Curse? http://shar.es/FtgLn

Join the Insect Army!

This a re-blog from John Scalzi’s wonderful post about indie writers and small publishers’ writers – in short, us.

 Join the Insect Army!.

I’m a soldier of John Scalzi’s army and proud of it. I’m a fantasy writer with a small Canadian publisher – a fantasy cockroach.

Sounds scary, doesn’t it?

Fantasy Character Interview #6

My guest today is Archos Terrian Stormrager, Lord of Tremellic, the hero of Alexandra Butcher’s adult fantasy romance The Light Beyond the Storm Chronicles, Book 1 and its sequel The Shining Citadel.

1. Tell me a little about yourself—your name, profession, where you live, do you have a family, the usual.

I am Lord Archos Terrian Stormrager, Lord of Tremellic, the Oncoming Storm and Archmage of the Arcane Realms, although I have many other names. My profession, I suppose, would be a scholar and teacher. More than that I am, what you might call, a man of many faces and many secrets. I am over three centuries old although after a while the years fade into a blur. My home is Tremellic Valley in the Western lands of Erana. It is apart from the main lands, separated by forest, mountains and river, it is very beautiful. We are largely left to ourselves, at least we were until the fall of the elven village of Szendro, since then life has become more dangerous and more interesting. I am wealthy enough to afford bribes, but they only go so far and soon the Order of Witch-Hunters will decide we are worthy of their notice. Erana is a dangerous place for our kind. Even I risk death at their hands, however one cannot run or hide forever.

A family? My father and half-sister are long dead and my brother was murdered in the civil war. My real mother I have met but a few times, she has…duties elsewhere. My family now are those who surround me; my wife the Lady Dii’Athella, Olek, my dear devoted Olek and his lady Ozena. Olek is like a brother to me, I trust him above all other men. There are others I care for, those who serve me and who’ve protected me. I have a daughter, it seems strange to say that as she was quite the surprise. A grown woman now, and powerful in her own right, she lives with the trolls in the mountains close to Tremellic. Troll women are very…independent, they do not need the support of a man and thus I knew not of her existence until recently, a child from an affair with the Lady Kherak of Varris.

2. What happened to you, so you ended up in this crazy adventure the novel talks about?

There is law in Erana, but it is a parody of justice. There is no freedom, magic is illegal and elves are enslaved. The Order of Witch-Hunters rules by fear and ignorance, those who defy them risk execution, and lies fill the world with their pernicious darkness. Olek and I have been…influencing matters for a while, albeit behind the scenes. There are those who seek to bring down the Order, and those who seek to bring justice to those who have none. My poor Dii’Athella was captured by Witch-Hunters, and we had to… extricate her, then there were the elves of Szendro. More recently events have revealed a lost elven Citadel. You understand the significance, elves are slaves, they have no culture, and what lore there is must be kept secret. The elves were once mighty, they were once great scholars but now hide in shadow or isolated communities. This Citadel, this lost lore will benefit all; so much knowledge, so much pride. Yet it is not that simple – the Order of Witch-Hunters would seek to destroy it, they cannot and will not let the elves and the users of magic hope. Their power is in keeping the populace afraid of each other, of the Order and of themselves. To reveal an elven city and one as majestic as the Shining Citadel would rock the foundations of society.

3. Do you have an item you prize above others?

Ah, now that is a good question. I have a staff which is inhabited by a demon, K’hlak. It, he is dear to me, and has oft returned to me when I thought him lost. Of course he is a demon, a very dangerous creature indeed for those who do not know how to deal with him. Demons are not like people, they do not abide by our laws or morals, although neither do I, if I am honest. They can be bargained with, if one is willing and able to pay the price, although they will take what they are owed either way. K’hlak has been with me many years, he has fought for me and I for him. The staff is magical, and sentient in its own right, as most of them are. It has a dark beauty, and a deadly power. If I had to choose another it would be my Mirror. I do not mean a mere looking glass. This one is old, for the knowledge to create such an artifact is long since lost to us. There are a few in existence, and they can find one another. They sing, the very song of the old, wild magics and they communicate with each other. Or at least they can. Each is unique, and it takes a lot of time and magic to find what it might be capable of. Mine allows me to move to the location of another Mirror, which is not actually as useful as it sounds as they are few. It also allows me to have some knowledge of the future, or current and near current but remote events. As with most powerful items they are sentient enough to be fickle, badly behaved and do as they please. They are captivating, like a beautiful but mysterious woman. Mine is exquisite, silver and enchanted glass. It is of course highly illegal.

You can find Alexandra Butcher on:

• Her blog

• Goodreads

• Twitter

• Facebook

The novel is available as an e-book:

• Amazon

• Smashwords

• Barnes & Noble

• iTunes

It is also available as a paperback at Barnes & Noble