R.M. Ridley's Blog, page 6
August 8, 2015
Cover Release – The Bookminder
Knowledge, the most dangerous magic
It isn’t out just yet but I’m teasing you with the cover art
Check out M. K. Wiseman’s Amazon Page
You can Follow her and then you’ll know when you can grab this Fantasy novel
You can also find her online
Twitter – @FaublesFables
Filed under: Book Release, Publishing Tagged: cover reveal, fantasy, M. K. Wiseman, novel, The Bookminder, Xchyler Publishing
August 4, 2015
Book Release – The Story’s End
Coming October 13, 2015
For Gant-o’-the-Lute, “ever after” has been less than happy. With the last of Carillon’s charm over him gone, the minstrel-king puts royalty behind him in pursuit of the music he once knew and the lifelong dream he let slip through his fingers. But dark whispers on the wind warn that time is running out – not only for Lute and the apprentice in his shadow, but the whole of earth and Sky.
The Story’s End
Book Seven of The Wilderhark Tales
An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; a princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – all within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.
You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea. Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.
Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s.
Danielle E. Shipley’s first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself. …Or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: Packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words; lots of them. She’s also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble. When she’s not living the highs and lows of writing, publishing, and all that authorial jazz, she’s probably blogging about it at www.EverOnWord.wordpress.com.
Find Danielle on line: Web, Blog, Facebook, Twitter
Available to add to your Goodreads shelf = https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25958863-the-story-s-end
Future availability = Paperback (Amazon and CreateSpace) and e-Book (Kindle and Nook)
Filed under: Book Release Tagged: 2015, Book Release, Book Seven, Danielle E. Shipley, fairytale novella, October 13, The Story's End, The Wilderhark Tales
August 1, 2015
Cover Release!
Sigil of the Wyrm
You can’t get your hands on this book just yet but you can admire the incredible art!
(However, the ebook is already available for preorder – hint, hint)
The release date is August 25th.
The release date is August 25th but you can preorder your copy Today!
Filed under: Book Release, Publishing Tagged: A. J. Campbell, Book One, cover reveal, Into the Weirding, Sigil of the Wyrm, Xchyler Publishing
July 30, 2015
Book Release – Forte
Order Your Copy
Today
Spero’s debut novel, Catcher’s Keeper,
was chosen as a Finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Book Awards
You Can Pre-Order Forte by JD Spero Now!
Johannah Davies (JD) Spero was born near a pristine lake in the Adirondacks and has lived in various cities such as St. Petersburg (Russia), Indianapolis, Dallas, and Boston. She has pursued her love of narrative through degrees in English, Russian, and teaching—and has worked as an actress, a yoga instructor, a web design entrepreneur, freelance writer, and a high school English teacher. She lives in the Northeast with her husband and three young sons.
Drawing on her experience as a high school teacher—this time with a social concern, Spero infuses the rites of passage for the teenager—cliques, first kisses, peer pressure, and bullying—with magic. This stresses how tenuous and critical this time is for young people in a new, fascinating way. Written from Sami’s point of view, Spero’s narrative puts the reader into the mind of a fifteen-year-old who must navigate the tumultuous waters of being the new girl—the underdog who starts to win and is intoxicated by it. Truly a page-turner, this action-packed story will have readers of all ages eager to see what happens next.
Spero’s debut novel, Catcher’s Keeper, was chosen as a Finalist in the 2014 Indie Excellence Book Awards contest and also made the top 5% out of 10,000 entries in the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.
Facebook, Twitter: @jdspero, Goodreads
The Author
Visits
Author Top Ten Favorite Things
– Quote: My favorite quote is also my protagonist’s. “Music was my refuge. I could crawl into
the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” – Maya Angelou
– TV show: Seinfeld for making me laugh. Friday Night Lights for making me cry.
– Comic book character: Wonder Woman
– Movie: Billy Elliot
– Candy bar: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!
– Junk food: Doritos! (original nacho cheese, of course)
– Place you visited: Our honeymoon destination was the Amalfi Coast in Italy. Can’t beat that. Ever.
– Restaurant: One of my old favorite stand-bys when I lived downtown: The Parrish Café on Boylston
Street in Boston
– Island: My parents have a cozy, rustic cabin on Elizabeth Island on Lake George, New York. It’s one
of my favorite places on the planet.
Official Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/569741183164962/
Blog Schedual:
July 26
http://sweet-n-sassy-book-a-holics.blogspot.com
http://hessupcomingbooks.blogspot.com/
July 27
http://thequeekiegirl.blogspot.sg/
July 28
http://thewritersrevolution13.blogspot.com
July 29
http://taliasreviews.blogspot.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Triple-T-TotsTweens-and-Teens/1513585588875355?fref=ts
July 30
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=423333517841340&ref=bookmarks
http://www.melsshelves.blogspot.com
http://thenaughtlibrarianplayground.blogspot.com/
July 31
Aug 1
http://singinglibrarianbooks.weebly.com/
http://thepleasureofreadingtoday.blogspot.com/
Filed under: Book Release
July 28, 2015
All Alone-ish
Tonight my wife leaves me.
At least she gave me warning – I suppose that was nice of her.
On the other hand, she sort of had to since I’m the one driving her into the city – how else would she catch her flight?
She’s off to Virginia to visit her father for just over a week. Leaving me all alone … with the dog, cats, and fowl. With the sheep now gone, there is little work involved with maintaining the homestead. I don’t even really need to get up early – sure the swam of feathers will be cross with me if they don’t get feed at the usual time, but they will live.
So what will I do with myself during this time? I will do what I have been doing for the past week – work on getting a number of projects done. I have made the rams horn into an instrument – but I still have to finish making it pretty. I have a ring that needs finishing up, and I have a number of tokens to complete. I also have to put together a class on how to make a pennebular brooch from twisted copper wire. Those are just the projects with a deadline – there are a number more waiting.
I will also spend time watching Netflix shows and movies, just not with my wife beside me on the couch. The puppy will need a bit more attention – she always does when one of us is away but I can live with that burden.
The time will both crawl and fly, like a wounded wyvern. I’m trying to look at it as a time to buckle down and get serious amounts of work done, altering my schedule some to get more hours of work in. If I fail, well it’s really no big deal. This is my time schedule, my projects, I owe nobody nothing but my own desire to see things accomplished.
I’m going to try and enjoy the time, and try not to miss my wife too much – there is no way to not miss her, but I might be able to limit it by keeping busy.
Filed under: MIscellaneous
July 19, 2015
No Really, That Was An Important Trip
So today is the second day of owning my new vehicle. I can say, without hesitation, that I am a very happy camper… as is my better half.
We now own a 2014 Dodge Caravan Crew. It has many whistles and a number of bells. It is also still under warranty. I had to look up the meaning of that word, as we’ve never owned a vehicle with such a thing. In fact, as my wife likes to point out, this is the first time since we have been together, that we own a vehicle newer than our marriage.
This is the exact same vehicle as I borrowed from my parents to go on the camping trip, and I do mean exact – even the exterior and interior colour is the same. The only way to tell them apart would be that ours will be covered in dust from the county roads.
I’m sad to no longer be driving my big beauty. But with the sheep gone and now playing in the SCA once more, the f250 was no longer the optimum vehicle for our lifestyle.
Getting over the guilt of abandoning my truck is helped by the fact that, the van is a dream to drive, and the gas mileage is – well, frankly, quite astounding. We learned that from borrowing the van, as well as how immense the cargo capacity truly is. So we are quickly falling head over heels for this new means of transportation.
My wife was scanning the users guide book this morning while I drank my coffee, and she said she wanted to drive somewhere just to have a chance to play with the stereo set up. So I came up with the very valid, and not in any way spur of the moment, decision that I needed to go see if there were any great deals on fruit brushes and also check the pricing on getting floor mats for the van.
So now one of our favourite CD’s is downloaded into the stereo systems memory, my wife’s phone is blue tooth synced with the van, and I’m rather certain she did something else she’s not admitting to.
I didn’t get any fruit bushes.
Filed under: MIscellaneous, SCA
July 16, 2015
Book Release – For The Love Of Temperance
Title: For The Love Of Temperance
Series: The Adventures of Ichabod Temperance, Book Three
Author: Ichabod Temperance
Genre: Steampunk/Paranormal
Number of Pages: (paperback) 228 (Kindle) 218
Synopsis:
“Golly, Miss Plumtartt, the Earth is getting pummeled with meteorites!”
“I say, if only these projectiles were organically based, Mr. Temperance, I would not be of such a troubled mind, but I fear that the flaming flotsam are revealing themselves to be warcraft from the planet Mars. Their weapons are uncanny and easily defeat the greatest of Terras resources. These invaders wish to strip our beloved planet of her native sovereignty!”
“Holy Red Planet Invaders, Miss Plumtartt, you’re right! I reckon it’s gonna be up to you, me, and this charming cast of characters to save the Earth in this War betwixt the Worlds.”
ADD TO GOODREADS
Purchase Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
About The Author:
Ichabod Temperance is a silly little fellow living in picturesque Irondale Alabama, USA, along with his lovely gracious patient and kind muse, Miss Persephone Plumtartt and their furry pack family.
Find Ichabod on these social media sites:
Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads Author Page
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/classic/26655a3/main.html
Blog Tour Brought To You By: Bit’N Book Tours
Filed under: Book Release Tagged: For The Love Of Temperance, Ichabod Temperance, paranormal, Steampunk
July 14, 2015
I want to copy Sally Field
“…you like me, right now, you like me”
So yesterday the Amazon ranking of my novel, Tomorrow Wendell, was sitting around 955 000 – today it is 263 000.
Yesterday, ranking in ‘Magic Realism’ was 1200 – today it is 414. Yesterday, 1300 in Metaphysical & Visionary – today460. 3460 in Dark Fantasy – now 1326!
These are huge jumps up. They are dramatic – perhaps bigger than I’ve sen before – and even if it doesn’t last, knowing this happened means more eyes on my prize. More people checking out my words and hopefully falling in love with my world.
Did this happen out of the blue? Maybe… but it I spent the last two days pushing my works on social media platforms, especially Twitter, and I think it might be more than coincidence. I already had some adverts made, like the one below, and had posted them occasionally.
But I made new ones, linking the novel and anthology,
and pushed them along with the previous ones.
They got liked, retweeted, shared. Then this morning… well, the novel shot up the charts. I noticed the same effect (and I saw it reflected in my quarterly sales) when I did a big push for Tomorrow Wendell and Blondes, Books, & Bourbon just before the 2015 Ad Astra, where I gave away free e-copies on the anthology.
So I think it is safe to say, that this social media thing that I do every morning, must bear some fruit. This is good news and something that I need to be reminded of sometimes. This was a very positive reminder!
But it is not just about pushing my writing. I also share/retweet/repost as often as I can – Not just the people know, but people I don’t, whose writing looks interesting, whose bylines catch my eye. I tweet things going on in my life, my mental state, and writing anecdotes. I try to find balance and not just be a self promotion machine.
And so, in the end, it’s just nice to see being nice might have paid off
Filed under: Publishing, Writing
July 13, 2015
At least It doesn’t usually last long
Oh I am SO in cycle!
My fingers twitching, my thoughts not coalescing, no patience for anything, and the urge to run away (as if that would work).
Welcome to July!
The one consolation I carry with me is that this cycle though notorious for hitting me hard and fast – is that it usually goes out as fast as it comes. Two weeks is the average time of the symptoms that get in the way of having a ‘normal’ day.
I can get things done – I just have to be careful not to work on projects too long, or too determined. Sometimes focusing past the effects of my brain, can be just as bad as not giving them the attention needed. Forcing myself into deep focus – for too long – can become a trance like state where I’m no longer really seeing the picture on a whole only the minute dots that make it.
I have little social skills right now – so I guess it’s good that I can go anywhere…right?
Filed under: Mental Health
July 11, 2015
Change of Lifestyle Leads to Envy
We are now – already – quite active in the Society for Creative Anachronism. It has become, in many ways, the focus of our life. I see nothing wrong with this and have, in fact, seen many positive changes, especially in my wife. Because of participating in the SCA, we are getting rid of our sheep, so we have the freedom to travel and be away from the house. These things combined make for quite a lifestyle change all told.
One way that it has recently affected the way I think is our means of transportation. I love our big old truck, but we got her for farm life. We got something that had the capacity, and strength, to do things like carry two large round bales of hay, which kept the sheep feed for months. She’s not too bad on fuel, considering she’s a big old beast and being diesel helps. But for long drives, every couple weekends, she might not be the best choice. She holds a lot, but being a pickup means the cargo is exposed to the elements.
The truck is currently out of commission and was for the last event we went to, our first camping event since being back in the SCA. We borrowed my father’s minivan to attend the event (I owe a huge debt to my family, and especially my father, for everything connected to that event – from him watching and taking care of the animals – to letting us use his van – to him getting power to our workshop while we were gone).
Taking his van to the event, was kindness that I didn’t think much about beyond the lending of his wheels so we could travel. However, I have not been able to get out of my mind, just how nice a vehicle it is. I have driven it before while cat sitting for my sister, but driving it about the city on errands isn’t the same as driving it to an event. Driving it to an event taught me some things I wouldn’t have believed before.
First off, the gas mileage – I was astounded how good the gas mileage was. This is an important aspect when you are traveling every couple weekends to places all over south-western Ontario – often just for the day.
Secondly, the storage capacity – I fit all of our camping gear in the back, behind the second set of seats. We could have carried another person and possibly their gear and I would have probably still been able to see out the rear window! (and, honestly, it’s more like ‘glamping’ gear what with the banners, pretty chairs, sunshades, lanterns, totes of garbs, canvass tent, poles ….)
This vehicle, I borrowed, crept into my heart and mind and made me suspect that it was actually created by a scadian for scadians! It is really the perfect SCA vehicle and now that our home life has changed, now that the sheep will be gone, the need for a big, strong pick up sort of just dries up.
This comes more to the forefront of my mind today because we just talked to the mechanic who has our truck with it’s… ‘some issue in the transmission’ – what, we just don’t know yet. The next steps as far as the mechanic is concerned, is either just replace the transmission, or take it apart and see if there is just one bad part in it that can be replaced. Neither option is appealing, as neither is going to be cheap. It’s a ‘pick your poison’ situation.
If this wasn’t happening, I probably wouldn’t be dwelling on the benefits owning such a vehicle as my father has, would be to my new lifestyle. It is an unfortunate connected set of events. However, it does go to sow how much can change, and be affected, by choices in life. Turn a corner, instead of going straight, and everything can change, some – like my wife’s improved mindset – are so much for the better, others – like how I view the question of ‘which way do we proceed on the truck’ – cause trip ups and second guessing.
I’m not complaining, not really, this is how my life goes. My outlook might also be skewed, as I’m just starting to enter my July cycle (time to up the meds again, me thinks). Either way, it’s a funny old world and you have to take what happens in it, and roll with the punches. Sometimes you windup face first in bullshit, other times you’re standing on a mountain top with clean air caressing your cheeks. I guess you appreciate the one more for having experienced the other. Unfortunately you can’t choose which one you get as it’s happening and I got to say…right now the smell isn’t quite so sweet.
Filed under: Homesteading, Mental Health, MIscellaneous, SCA
