Mary Newman's Blog

Favorite Reads for March 2019

I've been listing my favorite reads for each month on my blog. This month, EJ Russell, BA Tortuga, Darien Cox, Kade Boehme, and Hannah Walker, all had awesome books.

https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

Guest Author - Katze Snow

Katze Snow is on my blog today to tell you about her Demons and Wolves series. Here is the info for book one: Broken In Silence


Blurb:
Tannerian Wulfric is a leader—a strong alpha who bows to no-one, especially those who try to undermine his authority.
 
When an opportunity arises, he grabs it with both hands and lets nothing get in his way. Trouble is, his brother has been caught in the crossfire of glorious retribution, and Tanner is in need of assistance...

https://wordpress.com/post/marynewman...

Free Read

I've been posting a free read on my blog. It's a scifi/fantasy story, and of course, there's going to be romance. The working title is Dionay, and here's the link for
Chapter One:
https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

and Chapter Two: https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

New Release: Let There Be LIght

I'm so excited and happy to finally be announcing the release of the second book in the After the Coming series. I was wondering if this day would ever come. Talk about characters not wanting to communicate!

Let There Be Light is Mick and Arnie's story and is available on Amazon as both an eBook and a paperback, as well as through KU.






Here's a little excerpt for your reading pleasure:

We rode through the night for maybe half an hour or a little more. I wasn’t sure since I spent a lot of the trip with my eyes closed, praying as hard as I’d ever prayed I would be able to keep my promise to Joseph, Micah, and Garrett. Not that I believed in God. I mean, where the hell was God when my mom and dad were being murdered? Where was he when Preacher Jonah made all of his crazy decrees? And, where the hell was he when I’d tried to escape one hell and ran straight into another one? Yeah, God and I weren’t on speaking terms, at the moment.
The bike stopped and I opened my eyes. They opened even wider when the hill we were sitting in front of split and became a huge entry into the side of it. We rode into this giant maw and I knew I was descending into an even worse part of hell. I’d never been so petrified, and I could barely breathe for the panic choking me. The moon had been nearly full outside, but inside the tunnel it was pitch black. Brock switched on the headlamp at the front of his dirt bike and it didn’t seem to do much other than illuminate the walls and a path going downward. We eventually came to a stop and the lights came on to reveal a bunch of trikes, dirt bikes, a pickup, a red sports car, and the missing Jeep. Brock pulled me off the bike, and directed me to a door with a big wheel on it.
Evan, the other guy with us, input a code or something on a little square pad with push buttons, turned the wheel, and the door opened with a whoosh. I was pushed inside a foyer of some kind, and right into a whole bunch of people who were staring at me with expressions ranging from amused to distrustful.
“Who’s this, Brock?” a guy at the front asked.
“Not sure, Olly,” Brock responded. “Evan and I caught him running away from the town we were watching. Thought Flint and Lily should know.”
“Go get Lily,” Olly ordered one of the men.
We just stood there waiting, my knees knocking in fear, until a slender woman who was almost as tall as I was came into the room.
“I’m here,” she said. “What’s this?”
“Kid we found running away from the town, Boss Lady,” Brock said. “Actually, he found us. Ran right into me.”
“How old are you, Kid?”
“I… I… Not sure,” I stammered. “Sixteen?”
“You got a name?”
“M… M… Matt… Uh, M… Mickey.”
The woman laughed, kind of rueful-like. “Well Matt/Mickey, you look like you’ve been through hell and back. Brock, take him to Zeke’s office. Evan, head over to Rhett’s and tell Zeke we’ve got a visitor he needs to see. You hungry Matt/Mickey?”
I was, but I didn’t think I could eat anything without throwing it all back up, so I shook my head.
“Suit yourself,” the woman said. “My name’s Lily, by the way, and you can consider yourself our prisoner until we tell you different.”
I nodded because what else could I do? I’d run to save my life and try to save my friends, and I’d messed it up so bad, I didn’t even have an idea of how I was going to get out of this place. Brock pushed me in front of him down a hallway and into a big room with a huge desk and black leather furniture. He told me to sit in one of the chairs and I just kind of sunk into it. At least hell had comfortable seating.
A bottle of cold water was put in my hand and I simply stared at it. Brock huffed a laugh, took it back, opened it and shoved it back towards me.
“Drink, kid. You look like you need it.”
I followed orders and drank the entire bottle before carefully sitting it on the glass and metal table in front of me. We waited for some time, and I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I was too scared to relax, though, and if I had fallen asleep, it would have been due to sheer exhaustion. I heard footsteps, murmuring voices and then the door opened. I looked up to see the same tall, red-haired man I knew I’d seen lying dead in a field only a week or so ago.
Oh, God! I was in hell! “You’re dead!” I croaked and everything went dark.

New Direction - Book Reviews

Sometimes it just feels as if your entire life has gone off track. It can be any number of things or a combination of a lot of little events that can cause this. That's the case for me. It's just a lot of little things happening, along with a couple of major events that seems to have taken my voice. It seems to have started with reading one too many opinions on what was and wasn't acceptable if I wanted to write M/M romance. Illness played a huge part, as I was seriously sick with an upper respiratory infection from hell that just wouldn't go away. Add to that my feelings over this past election and BOOM! I just felt like 'no more, please!'

I'm not going to call this writer's block because I still have ideas floating through my head and characters speaking to me, I just don't have the will to put most them down into a cohesive story. At least, not right now. And not for publication. Don't get me wrong, I've not stopped writing. I just don't want to share any of it, at the moment, with the exception of this blog, which I haven't posted in a lot, lately, with the exception of the guest authors.

I've really been enjoying the guest author posts, and they've given me an idea to still keep my hand in the publishing world, while not necessarily contributing original content in the way of my own stories. Sunday posts are now going to be reviews of some of the many, many, many books I've been reading.

Read the full post on my regular blog here: https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

Guest Post - Aidee Ladnier

Author Aidee Ladnier is guesting on my blog today talking about disappearing places and her new book






Check it out:
https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

Guest Post - Annabeth Albert

The talented Annabeth Albert is a guest on my blog today, talking about things that help her write.

Read all about it:
https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

Guest Authors Scheduled

I've got something new and fun happening on my Wordpress blog.


Read more about it: https://marynewmanauthor.wordpress.co...

"Let There Be Light" Snippet

This is a repost from my Wordpress blog:

I've been working on the second book of the After the Coming series, with a working title of Let There be Light. I'm hoping to release it sometime in September. This is an unedited snippet:

“Go away!”

I glanced over at Arnie, who had his back to a tree that was almost as big around as he was. That had been the voice of a kid, not an adult. No telling if the kid had missed us on purpose as a warning, or what. Arnie had his thinking face on, so I didn’t say anything. Another bullet hit the tree I was hiding behind.

“I don’t think whoever is firing has bad aim, Arnie,” I said quietly. “Those were warning shots.”

“Yep.”

A twig snapped, bringing my attention back to the trees around us. Arnie was watching the cabin around the edge of his tree, so I started looking in the surrounding bushes and trees. I caught sight of movement about twenty feet away and focused on it.

“Got an adult, guessing male, about twenty feet to our right.”

“Armed?”

“Can’t tell. He’s hid pretty good.”

“Watch him.”

“I said, go away! Next bullet will take out your trike.”

“You take out my trike and we won’t be going anywhere!” Arnie called back.

I wasn’t real worried about the trike. Arnie had armor plating covering most of the engine and the front tire was solid rubber. It wasn’t going flat. I saw the barrel of a rifle around the edge of the tree where I’d seen the man hiding. I grabbed my bow, nocked an arrow and let it fly. It glanced off the barrel, jarring it enough the bullet I was sure had been aimed for Arnie missed him.

“Damn it!”

“You always shoot first and ask questions later?” I yelled.

“When them’s as not invited are doing the showing up,” a male voice called back.

“Well, put your damn gun away,” Arnie huffed. “We didn’t come here to steal or hurt anyone. We’re traders, not thieves.”

“Don’t know you. Never seen you around these parts.”

“Haven’t been in a couple of years. You gonna shoot if we come out?”

“Louis! They got guns?”

“Not that I saw, Jake! Just bows and knives, I think.”

“Come out, then.”

“Put the damn gun away first,” Arnie said. “I’ve no mind to get shot this far away from help.”

“Nothin’ doin’ since I don’t know you.”

I watched the figure move out from the tree slightly and nocked another arrow. I let it fly and this time the rifle dropped to the ground. I’d been careful not to actually hit the man, just the stock of the gun. I was up and running as soon as the arrow left my bow. I tackled the guy and kept him from reaching the gun, sitting on him and drawing my knife to end his struggles.

“Jake!”

The door to the cabin opened and a boy, maybe twelve years old, came flying out towards me and Jake. Arnie ran over and quickly got hold of the kid and I got off Jake and picked up his rifle. I held the barrel down, so he’d know I wasn’t aiming to shoot him, just as I hadn’t wanted to use my knife for anything other than defense.

“Let me go! Jake! Let me go, you big oaf! Jake are you okay?”

“Stop your damn struggling,” Arnie put his big arms around the kid and hugged him tight. “I’m not going to hurt you and Mick didn’t hurt Jake.”

I walked over and retrieved both arrows and slipped them back in the quiver after examining them for breakage. When I straightened up I took a good look at the pair whose cabin we’d apparently happened on. The man was barely that, my age or slightly younger, and was nowhere near my height. Both he and the boy Arnie held had dark hair and eyes and were most likely related since their features were similar.

“You stop kicking and struggling or I’m not letting go,” Arnie stated.

“Settle down, Louis,” Jake said and sighed. “I told you don’t come out of the cabin. What were you thinking?”

“He was gonna hurt you, Jake.”

“And what if he had? Then you would have been hurt or killed, too. Then who would take care of Emelia?”

“Emelia!”

Louis had stopped struggling and took off for the cabin as soon as Arnie released him.

“Tell him not to shoot,” Arnie sighed. “I’m Arnie and this is Mick. We’re not going to hurt any of you.

What I’ve Learned as a Self-publishing Author

This is a repost of the blog on my website:

I’ve been self-publishing since 2012, so that’s about four years, most of that time writing MF fantasy romances. The past year or so, I began writing in the MM fantasy romance genre. I think I’ve made every newbie mistake at least once, sometimes twice. The romance writing community can be some of the most giving and kind people out there – at their best. Or, they can rival a school of piranha during a feeding frenzy, at their worst. I’ve seen things I can’t unsee, as well as enjoyed the online friendship of some really great people. This is merely a recording of my experiences and the things I’ve observed, since I began publishing. These are my experiences; others might never come across any of this, and still others will say “that’s not how it really is.” So, I’ll reiterate, these are MY observations and experiences, no one else’s. If you see yourself, join the club *shakes hand* welcome to my world.

1. Develop a thick skin. A really, really thick skin. Think you have one? Can you deal with someone telling you your writing sucks big green donkey dicks and you should never bother to sit at a keyboard again for the rest of your life? No? Get a thicker skin because somewhere, sometime, someone is going to detest your writing to the extent they call your parentage into question and decry your writing abilities as non-existent.

2. Learn how to market yourself and your work. I’m a lousy marketer. I think I’ve tried just about every route to get my books out there and read every helpful guide there is. I suck at it. I keep hoping someone will award a “world’s worst marketer” trophy to me just so I can say I succeeded in something in regards to marketing. I have no good advice for you on this front other than don’t write in the fantasy/science fiction genre.

3. Never, never, never put down another author or blogger. I’ve not done this, but I’ve seen it and it ALWAYS backfires in an absolutely spectacular way. I don’t care if you think they’re the biggest hack or cheat you’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing. Don’t. Do. It. You’ll come off sounding petty and unprofessional. Hand in hand with this observation is don’t ask your readers to not read another author’s work or go give them one star reviews. It’s petty and demeaning. If you’re willing to do it to someone else, they’ll be happy to return the favor, someday.

4. Just because another author promos for you one time does not mean they’re obligated to ever do so again. Seriously. Unless you’re paying for promo, you don’t get to count on others to do it for you. You CAN put out a request for bloggers and authors to host you on their blog, share your book, etc., but you CAN’T expect them to do it. You want promo, pay for it.

5. Don’t offer ARCs for reviews and then get upset because A) you get a bad review out of the deal, or B) your book shows up on a pirate site. Nor should you be surprised when all those reviews you meticulously requested and received on Amazon suddenly disappear. No, it’s not fair. Yes, it’s probably going to happen because Amazon is rather arbitrary at enforcing their own rules. I much prefer a review on someone’s personal blog or Goodreads. I simply don’t ask for reviews on Amazon any longer, nor do I give them often. That’s just me, personally, though.

6. Accept that at some point you’re going to be pirated or plagiarized. Handle it with composure and class. Don’t scream and yell all over Facebook and Twitter. Just make note of it, notify whoever you need to in order to get it taken care of and go on with your life. Less stress that way and I have to admire those authors I see who handle this issue with calm. The others I honestly just scroll right past because who needs the drama.

7. For the love of God, edit your work before you release it. If you’re unsure, hire a good editor. It will be money well spent. Nothing ruins a great story more than misplaced or missing punctuation or words that don’t mean what you thought they did. Wonder and wander are not interchangeable, neither is you’re or your. I’m not the grammar police, but one too many mistakes in a book and I’ll put it on my DNF pile.

8. Don’t engage if you get a bad review. Akin to this is receiving an email from a “fan” that says you suck and so does your book. I don’t care what they say about you or your book. Don’t. Engage. I mean it. Don’t thank them for their kind words. Don’t tell anyone you think their review was unfair or someone sent you a mean email, not even in a private group you’re sure they are not a member of. Don’t email and ask them specifically what they didn’t like. Don’t respond. If you feel the need to say something to them, just don’t. You’ll regret it during this lifetime and the next.

9. If someone disagrees with you about something, don’t call them names on FB or Twitter. Don’t call them names on your blog. Don’t even call them names under your breath within the hearing of another person. This is another one of those issues that will explode into something horrific you don’t want to see. If you need to say something to them, just tell them while you understand their point of view, you don’t agree. And walk away.

10. Don’t ever “borrow” another author’s work. If you think something you’ve written might overlap or be iffy, private message them and let them read it or ask them what they think. The couple of times I’ve inadvertently borrowed and felt my writing was iffy, I emailed the author in question and asked, and I didn’t get the stink eye for doing so. At least, not to my face. If they are uncomfortable with what you’ve written, you can rewrite it or scrap it. If they’re cool with it, you’re good to go. It’s easy enough to accidently borrow when you read as much as I do. An idea comes to you and you’ve got a hundred pages written before you realize where you’ve seen that idea before. If you’re doing it on purpose, though, don’t. If the words aren’t yours, don’t claim them. You can’t get back trust if the reading public or other authors feel you’ve plagiarized someone.

11. This last one is an absolute pet peeve of mine, so I’m going to include it. If you’re in a writing group and someone asks for advice. That’s what you offer. CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is a gift, flat out criticism isn’t. It’s mean and only makes someone feel bad. If you’ve got something to add to the conversation that will help the one asking for advice, do so, but if you’re just doling at negativity, don’t.

For what it’s worth, that is the benefit of my observations since I became a self-published author. I don’t know it all and I’m still going to make mistakes that are cringe-worthy. If you’re ever unsure about something, join a writer’s group and ask. Speak up. You’ll get honest answers and points of view that will, hopefully, save you from making a mess of things.