Amanda Meuwissen's Blog - Posts Tagged "sidhe"

I finished the end of Incubus during the holidays.

I finished Incubus.

I’m surprised I didn’t burst into tears, though maybe that’ll happen when book 3 releases.

Of course there will still be edits throughout the running of season 12 on BigWorldNetwork, and then a complete overhaul of seasons 9-12 which comprise book 3 before it starts getting put together…but it is written and waiting for that process, so close, dear readers, from being in your hands.

To all of you who have expressed impatience, and ‘do we really have to wait until August!?’, my apologies and endless gratitude for your support. I am so happy you love this story as much as I do. Book 3 is coming soon!

So today, as a little treat, I wanted to share with you how Nathan got his name. I actually put it out to my readers at the time to help me decide. Grier actually came first, then Jim’s name. I have always loved the name Greer for a girl, after Marvel’s Tigra, and lived right next to Grier Lane at the time. Plus I wanted them to have Gaelic roots.

But Nathan’s name was tough. I wanted an easy, common one-syllable name that could be yelled out and still sound good. They call out ‘Nate’ quite a bit after all, so I was amenable to names that were longer but that had a single syllable nickname. A few fans mentioned ‘Nathan’, which was on my personal list as well.

I’d included ‘Nathan’ with the potentials…after Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse (which I love) and Nathan Detroit from Guys and Dolls (which I was in senior year of high school). This melds Nathan’s love for rock/metal with his slightly more secret love for musicals and Sinatra.

Nathan was almost ‘Dexter’. THIS close. That was my second choice, first choice for a while, but it just didn’t sound as good screamed. ;-) And I don’t like ‘Dex’ as a nickname.

Sasha’s name is harder for me to pin down origin wise, since his first incarnation came to me in early 2007, but he was partially named after female redhead ‘Sasha’ from Kindred: The Embraced…and wow, am I dating myself now!

Stay tuned for the coming end of Incubus, folks, for it is nigh, but as I’ve been teasing, I have something very fun lined up for you with my vampire story. Time to get writing again…

While exploring more of what I can do with Goodreads, I’ve opened up questions from anyone about The Incubus Saga, now that it is nearing its end. Sidhe should be out sometime in June, I believe, but I’ll keep you posted, so until then, fire away on my author page! I’ll try and answer questions as I have time.

I'm about halfway through final edits on Sidhe, and discovered a glaring plot hole I’d missed, but that a reader had pointed out and I’d foolishly thought they were mistaken about until I encountered it while reading. All fixed now, and wow, is editing important. It’s amazing how much you can realize about a story simply by reading everything back to back.

I had a wonderful editorial review of Incubus recently that has helped spur on many new readers for the start of the series, and I hope everyone continues on into books 2 and 3, especially since things get spicier as the tale develops. ;-)

“Incubus by Amanda Meuwissen is a riveting science fiction saga with a little romance on the side. Meuwissen has created an intriguing world of magic and mystique. Her characters are more than they appear, with a depth of layers that continue to reveal themselves as the story unfolds. The devotion and brotherly love between Nathan and Jim is heartwarming and sincere. Sasha is a funny and sexy character. The initial awkward scenes between Sasha and Nathan are exactly how I would picture someone like Nathan responding in the real world. Their budding relationship adds a bit of drama and suspense to the tale.”

Want to know more about The Incubus Saga? Fire those questions at me, and look forward to more as the release date for book 3 nears!

Here we are, today, marking the airing of the very last episodes of Incubus.

Three years of running it on BigWorldNetwork, nearly eight since I first started writing it. It has been an amazing ride, and I cannot wait to get this last finished book out to you.

I've changed so much from what is posted on the site, fixed so many things, most of which because some of my amazing readers took the time to point something out that I looked at more carefully when doing final edits.

THAT is why I love BWN's serialized method, because telling a good story becomes a community project that evolves and changes and becomes something even better when the final book is ready for purchase.

Today I want to say thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my evil, cliffhanger-happy heart. I nearly forgot what day it was until it hit me, and stopped me short, causing my heart to beat loud and wild as I stopped what I was doing and listened to the audio of the very last episodes, the very last words...

So before I start weeping all over my keyboard...til next time.

Once again I will be attending Wizard World Minneapolis, and you can find me (and my books) in Artist Alley. The convention is this coming weekend, May 1-3 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I’ll have copies of both Incubus and Changeling, and will happily sign any copies purchased.

I will also be on the lookout for artists as I continue my tradition of purchasing an art commission at the convention. As The Incubus Saga is coming to a close this year, with the final book out in July (I think I may have said June somewhere at some point, which is incorrect) my goal is to get something Incubus related…but I don’t know what I want!

I have had SO MUCH Incubus fanart over the years, provided for me, and that I commissioned myself, so it’s tough to decide what to get.



I suppose I don’t have anything of Jim. Maybe something simple of the three boys all together?

Help me decide, folks! I’d love some suggestions, and of course I’ll scan and share the art as soon as I have it.

And if you’re in the Minneapolis area, please consider stopping by the con and seeking me out. I’ll be at the BigWorldNetwork.com table.

In the end I should have known who I would commission to draw my anniversary finale fanart for The Incubus Saga, as she stayed with me for Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con this year, along with other friends:

Comic author/artist Katie Shaw, creator of Dragon Child.

Katie and I attended college together, and one of my most cherished pieces of art is a picture she did back then of me glomping on my favored character at the time, Valykrie (his story is a screenplay, but I might write it as prose someday).

So after scouring Artist Alley on day one of the con, I realized that night that what I would really love is a recreation of that art but with Sasha and Nathan.



It's perfect, and has the extra weight of also being an ode to that long ago art from Katie as well. Now all that remains is to prepare for the release of book 3, Sidhe, and to continue writing my next story.

Thank you again, all of you, so much for being a part of this journey with me, and thank you to Katie for this beautiful art.

For more on Wizard World, check out the BWN recap for details, and this awesome image of part of our giant Game of Thrones cosplay group which was featured on The Escapist. I love being Margaery Tyrell.

I've already gotten a little teary-eyed several times just looking over the final interior and working with artist Mario Hernandez on the cover design, and finally, with less than a week before the release of the last book in my trilogy, The Incubus Saga, I am ready to share this beauty with all of you.

Stay tuned for the official release July 2nd, and get your preorder copy of the eBook now!

It happened. Yesterday the final book in my series went officially live, and is now available for purchase. It's already up here on Goodreads with the inaugural review offered by my good friend and fellow author, Meagan Hedin.

Amazingly enough, I didn't cry. Though I've gotten teary eyed several times. In honor of this occasion, and how excited I am for various events and blog tours planned over the next few months, I'd like to share with you all the final author's note from the back of the book.

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At last we come to the end of this tale 8 years and over 450,000 words in the making.

I’d like to leave you all with just one of the amazing stories that happened during the last few days of finalizing this book.

Many years ago when I was first posting this story online, when I got to the end, a good friend of mine, Steph, who you know better as Ula the shapeshifter, wrote a continuing ending for me. Just a sweet little story of backyard BBQs and family fun, with the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” as a theme throughout the tale. To this day, it is one of the many songs I think of when imagining an Incubus soundtrack, though I seldom hear it on the radio.

Reading through some of the last chapters while also listening to my Pandora, I simultaneously received a message from Steph while “Lookin’ Out My Back Door” began to play over my headphones, and it stopped me so cold, I nearly teared up—serendipity.

So many other similar coincidences and cosmic nods have happened while working on this story, and I feel truly blessed for each one, and for all the ways “Dave” has been present as I wrap up this important chapter in my life…with the last chapters of The Incubus Saga.

To happy endings. Wherever we may find them.

-Your Friendly Neighborhood Authoress

Today marks the start of my blog tours, and the first stop is with the host herself, at Roxanne's Realm for an author interview and book spotlight. Through the stops for my Bewitching Blog Tour, you have a chance to win a copy of all three eBooks in the series, so please help share and comment for your entry!

"Who designed the cover of your latest book?

My good friend and coworker at BWN, Mario Hernandez, who does everything for the publisher, and is just too talented for words. He has worked tirelessly with me on perfecting each of the covers for my series, and they have all turned out exactly as I imagined."

Read the full Interview here!

And here you can see reviews and spotlights for all three books from Paranormal Romance and Authors that Rock!

"The third book of the series is just as the two before it; it sucks you in and keeps you turning pages wondering what the three [main characters] have to face again and if they can still stand the test of time. I loved this series and Sidhe was the perfect ending."

Stay tuned for more!

While one tour draws to a close today with an interview at Deal Sharing Aunt and a guest blog at Fang-tastic Books, another begins, starting with the kickoff and full listing of stops with I Heart Reading for my Enchanted Book Promotions tour.

But to top off all of that excitement, blogger Kristen Burns had a treat for me this weekend, having read and reviewed the entirety of The Incubus Saga, with perhaps some of the most heartfelt words offered toward my work that I have ever received, and I was just thrilled to go through each of her comments and that her final review for the series as a whole was 5 stars.

Definitely check out her thoughts on the series HERE with some snippets for you below.

"The thing about these books is, I didn’t read them for the action or the mystery or even the plot (though I did enjoy those things, don’t get me wrong). I read them for the characters, the emotion, and the depth. And they never disappointed, especially this third book. The author has this way of describing things, of showing-not-telling, of making you feel, of imbuing such depth into everything that I often found myself tearing up, frowning, smiling from ear to ear, reacting in all these different involuntary ways to what seemed like the smallest and most insignificant of moments because she made sure to give them significance and write in a way that portrayed that significance. And she made sure it didn’t stop with Nathan–I was feeling things for all the characters, everyone from main characters, like Jim, to side characters that weren’t introduced until the last book."

Today I came online to discover that Kris from Joyfully Jay, who has read and reviewed all of The Incubus Saga so far, had the review up, and I cannot beam any brighter.

"This is the last book, the one where it’s all been leading. And after the set up in the first two books, it had to be epic. And it was. It is an action-packed tale, one event happening right after another with only a little time to stop, breathe, and explain thrown in. We got to see and hear from characters that appeared earlier. The author did a great job of tying up loose ends, and of showing us the seeds she planted early on that are now coming to fruition. It had everything, absolutely everything, a final book should. That alone makes this a worthwhile read."

Read the full review over at the Sidhe page here on Goodreads, or here.

I've also had a TON of great blog tour stops happening. Remember to stay tuned to my social pages for each of those for some excerpts, guest blogs, and interviews. Currently running is my tour with Enchanted Book Promotions.

You can also watch the full author interview I had recently with my publisher, BigWorldNetwork, here.

And hey, just for fun, if any of you are fans of The Flash on the CW, and enjoy slash fanfiction...my current obsession and distraction while I work up toward diving into my next book is a little ColdFlash fic I've been working on called Out Cold - that means pairing up The Flash with his nemesis Captain Cold, FYI. It's been a blast from the past to be part of a budding fandom and enjoy blogging and gushing with some amazing folks. Never lose the little things. They can mean so much.