M.R. Graham's Blog, page 4

A Writing Meme – 1

1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.

To be honest, my favourite is usually whatever shiny new thing I happen to be working on currently, and my various projects are different enough that it’s a bit apples-to-oranges trying to compare them.

I love my Lost Knowledge world, because it’s flexible enough to incorporate almost any new folklore I come across, and I have fun working with monsters who are basically just screwed-up people.

I love dipping into the Victorian world of Sherlock Holmes in the Morrigan Holmes serial I’m working on. I love the contrast between the glittering upper classes, the stolid middle class, and the starving, tubercular masses upon whose backs the other two build their lives. It’s all very pretty, but only until you actually start paying attention.

I  love the classic horror world in which I’ll be playing with The Van Helsing Legacy, based in part on my deep and painstaking folklore research and in part on the old Hammer films. The post-war attitudes of absurdity and cynicism will be tough, but I welcome the challenge.

And there’s one more on the back burner that I won’t discuss too much too soon, except to say that it’s had me reading lots and lots of old gothic fiction, and I’m very excited.

2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?

There are 832 documents in my combined “Character Profile” folders. It’s possible I have a problem.

I don’t have a real preference. There’s a roughly equal number of males and females in the work I’ve published so far. The Liminality Series follows two women and two men, all of whom are pivotal. Women are outnumbered in No Cage for a Crow, but it’s written from a female perspective. Women will far outnumber men in The Van Helsing Legacy (also written from a female perspective), as a result of the dent World War One made in Europe’s male population.

There certainly needs to be more female-driven literature. I may as well contribute.

3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?

I keep a list of names I like, with a connotation analysis and etymology, if I can find one. It’s sorted by gender and origin.

For real-world fictional places, I research trends in place-naming by time period and geography. For instance, a near-future project will take place partly at Blackeagles in Cumbria. There are no eagles in the area, “-eagles” being a corruption of “-eccles”, referring to a church. Blackeagles is named for the burnt-out ruin of a monastery outside the town.

For invented-world fictional places… Boggle.

4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!

The first I can remember was a ‘novel’ that spanned something like ten or fifteen black-and-white composition notebooks, begun in… second grade? Third? It was horrible. A girl named Sabrina got sucked into a magical world and was made their princess for no particular reason, and she was the best at magic and had beautiful eyes that changed colour and beautiful hair that changed colour and a magic ring that did I-forget-what, and there were unicorns, and I believe she was able to turn into one at will (though this was never a useful skill). It didn’t really have much of a plot.

5. By age, who is your youngest character? Oldest?

Chronologically, Aaron Margolis, from In the Shadow of the Mountains, is youngest in Lost Knowledge, being fourteen when the story starts. He’s recently been beaten out by Snail, of No Cage for a Crow, who is nine.

Oldest is tough, since I have a few who have technically existed since the beginning of the universe. But I guess they only halfway qualify as characters, so I’ll have to go with Signe the Swarm, first introduced in The Wailing. She’s forgotten how old she is, but the prevailing opinion in the wizard community is that she’s old enough it’s possible she was never human at all.

I came across this interview on DeviantART and couldn’t trace it down to an original post. If you know where this originally came from, please let me know so I can give appropriate credit.

Virtual Book Fair Booth: The Medium by M.R. Graham

I am a participant in The Virtual Book Fair. The event is live November 12-21. For more information, check out the event at https://www.facebook.com/events/927569970656592/ or just head over to The Virtual Book Fair page right here on the blog!

Welcome, and thanks for visiting. I’m M.R. Graham, author of the Liminality Series: The Medium, The Mora, and at the end of this month, The Mage. I’m a strange bird, an academic, a collector of books and umbrellas, and a lover of tea and hats. I write about things that go bump in the night, both of the supernatural and early varieties.

Liminality follows a cast of characters trapped between, because that is what liminality means. Betweenness. Between life and death, between dreaming and waking, between family and friends, between guilt and repentance. In The Medium, Lenny, a defective vampire unable to take a life, is kidnapped by a creature far worse, a vicious abuser determined to turn him into what a vampire ought to be. Even a gentle monster has his breaking point. Kim is a wizard with a unique perspective, one of the very few who believes you don’t have to be human to be a person. Perhaps she can save Lenny from his captor and from the spark of violence growing inside him…

For a limited time, both published titles are discounted in anticipation of the release of The Mage.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE MEDIUM for only USD0.99.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE MORA for only USD1.99.

Connect with me on social media!

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Scavenger Hunt Number 5.

Check out more booths at the Virtual Book Fair.

The shades of autumn encroach.

Each autumn day is growing shorter, the evening shadows are longer, and the wind mutters secrets in the cracks around closed doors. It is time to mull wine, light a candle, and remember days long past. A perfect time for a good book.

A Halloween in costume, as Doctor Varanus, protagonist of G.D. Falksen’s The Ouroboros Cycle.

Let me reintroduce myself.

I started this blog as a neophyte flailing wildly around on the internet, without any particular objective or direction. I rambled about daily life, about books, about food, existential mumbling, assorted roadtrips, miscellaneous lists…

A lot has changed in the four years since I started this journey. I’m still a mumbler – no hope of ever getting over that! – but at least I mumble with a purpose, now.

So, salutations. I am M.R. Graham, author and academe, lover of literature and learning.

I believe…

…that knowledge is one of the highest and most worthy pursuits of humankind.

…that books are sacred.

…that beautiful words, poetry, and stories – particularly the fantastical – subtly build the framework of understanding that gives meaning to fact and theory.

Here you can expect from me…

…poetry.

…hints and excerpts of my fiction.

…scholarly musings centered on literature, history, culture, folklore, and education.

…the more interesting tidbits I uncover in my research.

VISIT MY UPDATED ‘ABOUT’ PAGE.

I am pleased to make your acquaintance. If you’d like to know anything more, please ask and reintroduce yourself to me in the comments.

I am not dead.

Although, given the rapid approach of Halloween, I suppose a certain amount of dead-ness would be appropriate.

No, I’m just embroiled in term paper season.  Huzzah for online submissions, because if I had to haul all this grading around, I’d need a forklift. Don’t get me wrong; I welcome the warm and slightly sticky embrace of academia.

But I also have this recurring nightmare in which everyone I know is judging me for having enough free time to eat and sleep, so I’ve decided to remedy that problem by tackling NaNoWriMo once again, starting Tuesday.

You can support the madness (and get early access to chapters, ARCs, and exclusive extras) by contributing on my spanking-new Patreon page. If you’re not familiar with Patreon, it’s a bit like Kickstarter, except that the contribution tiers are smaller, and the pledge is monthly rather than one-time. My current goal is 125USD, or enough to purchase an ISBN for eventual paper copies of that NaNo project.

What’s that NaNo project going to look like? Well, I’ve been teasing it for some time, now.

Amidst the gin-soaked aftermath of the Great War, the next generation of vampire hunters contends with evil returned and the sad darkness of shell shock. Meg is a bluestocking, a book girl who loves research and learning. But van Helsing blood flows through her veins, and the ancient curse of Dracula did not die among the wicked peaks of the Carpathians.

Tuesday Teaser #34

Golly, I seem to have missed two whole Tuesdays in a row! Terribly sorry. In my defense, it was prep week, then first week of classes, plus gearing up for… (tada!) the release of Part 1 of No Cage for a Crow! Why, yes, it’s out, now. So I guess I better get my act together and start teasing again. Here goes.

Every Tuesday (in theory), I post a teaser for one of my current works in progress. I invite all of my writer buddies to join in!

The rules:

Post a link, image, quote, or excerpt related to or taken from your current WIP.

State the name of the WIP.

Do NOT explain yourself! Resist the urge to wax poetic. This is a hint, not an outline.

No Cage for a Crow

Surprised? Well, it’s not done, yet, so I get to consider it still “in progress”! Anyway, this isn’t so much a “teaser” as useful information.

Click that link above. Go ahead, click it. Notice anything? Such as a distinct dearth of paper options?

Well… yes. And no. There is a paperback. It exists. It is sitting on my shelf right now.

Pardon the dust.

But here’s the kicker: You can only get it from me. (Bwahahahaha.) Not from Amazon, not from Barnes & Noble, not from arcane rites. (Prove me wrong on that last one.) You can get it from me through giveaways (typically through Goodreads), or in person at conventions and events, or here on the website. It’ll be appearing soon under my Shop tab up there, but if you need a copy right now, you can hit the Contact button, and I’m sure we can work something out through Paypal.

The result is that every copy in existence will be signed. By both authors. Nifty, eh?

Incredible upcoming box set – FALL INTO MAGIC

 

 
Fall into Magic with 20 Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Reads! 
 
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Prepare to be swept away by 20 paranormal romance and urban fantasy tales from today’s NY Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors! In this limited edition collection, you will find everything from witches to mages, shifters to vampires, demons, faeries, and much more!
 
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2bg4z7q
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2b8rSwH
iBooks: http://apple.co/2bhavdg
 Nook: http://bit.ly/2b3zh2X


Preorder for $0.99!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Including:





NY Times bestselling author Rebecca Hamilton & USA Today bestselling author Conner Kressley
International bestselling author Lia Davis
USA Today bestselling author JC Andrijeski
USA Today bestselling author Rainy Kaye
NY Times bestselling author Laxmi Hariharan
USA Today bestselling author Joanne Wadsworth
USA Today bestselling author J.E. Taylor
NY Times bestselling author SC Green writing as Steffanie Holmes
USA Today bestselling author April Aasheim
NY Times bestselling author K. de Long
USA Today bestselling author L.B. Gilbert
NY Times bestselling author Susan Stec
USA Today bestselling author Noree Cosper
USA Today bestselling author Angela Fristoe
International bestselling author AR DeClerck
International bestselling authors Gina Kincade & Kiki Howell
USA Today bestselling author LJ Swallow
NY Times bestselling author Calinda B
Award Winning author Kristin D. Van Risseghem

USA Today bestselling author Angel Lawson

 

 
 

Tuesday Teaser #33

Every Tuesday, I post a teaser for one of my current works in progress. I invite all of my writer buddies to join in!

The rules:

Post a link, image, quote, or excerpt related to or taken from your current WIP.

State the name of the WIP.

Do NOT explain yourself! Resist the urge to wax poetic. This is a hint, not an outline.

No Cage for a Crow

Our intrepid heroine

Tuesday Teaser #32

Every Tuesday, I post a teaser for one of my current works in progress. I invite all of my writer buddies to join in!

The rules:

Post a link, image, quote, or excerpt related to or taken from your current WIP.

State the name of the WIP.

Do NOT explain yourself! Resist the urge to wax poetic. This is a hint, not an outline.

No Cage for a Crow

Wha-hey!

Tuesday Teaser #31

Every Tuesday, I post a teaser for one of my current works in progress. I invite all of my writer buddies to join in!

The rules:

Post a link, image, quote, or excerpt related to or taken from your current WIP.

State the name of the WIP.

Do NOT explain yourself! Resist the urge to wax poetic. This is a hint, not an outline.

Liminality

So, I’ve been considering reorganizing the Liminality series at some point. Right now, this is just an idea.

Hear me out.

I’ve noticed a trend in feedback I’ve received on Liminality. The general consensus seems to be that The Medium is… dark. Dark and twisted. And it’s supposed to be, and plenty of people have liked that. But it’s losing people, too.

I’ve been thinking that, maybe, probably after the series is complete, I may make The Medium a supplemental volume, a prequel, and put The Mora first. This would require some rewriting as well as reordering.

Thoughts would certainly be welcome, either in the comments here or through my contact page.