R.A. McCandless's Blog, page 55

Help Micheal and the Lazarex Foundation!

Running can teach you about yourself.
Turns out Micheal is really Batman!Please meet Micheal Huston, a friend who has been battling cancer over the last decade.  Like so many, he’s a helluva person and he's trying to make a difference.  Here's his story and please:
Nine years ago I was diagnosed with Astrocytomas Grade III Brain Cancer. I was written off by my doctors and set out to find my own treatment, or cure if you will. I spent over a month researching different therapies and cl...

A Lovely 5-Star Review for Tears of Heaven

Does size intimidate you?While perusing a friend’s review on another book (The Black Count by Tom Reiss), I came across the beautiful review by Maria Kay of Tears of Heaven which really made my day:
"All potholes lead to Rome!"
This fantasy adventure is filled with colorful characters, comedy, and it references all my favorite movies and television shows. Ok, most of them. This author has a brilliant sense of humor and a talented grasp of dialogue.
“By Hera’s toenails…”
This novel chronicles a lo...

Review—The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

Little, and broken, but still good.Patrick Rothfuss was extremely worried that fans and readers wouldn’t like “The Slow Regard of Silent Things”, a novella about Auri, previously a minor character in The Kingkiller Chronicle.  He was so concerned about this, he provided a warning in the beginning of the book, and then goes into some detail about the writing of the story at the end.  He need not have fretted.  As Auri would have noted (after washing her face, hands and feet) eve...

Dates for Hell Becomes Her

Han Solo hasn't read it either!It’s a special time in a writer’s life when, after all the ranting, raving, blood, sweat, and tears, after the beta team and the editor and the editor and the editor, you finally, finally get dates.
Dates are a very good thing.  They’re a thing of beauty in an otherwise cold, cruel and icy world.
So here’s the two dates that we’ve all been waiting for:
Cover Release—August 22ndBook Release—September 22nd
I’ll be looking for reviewers, folk willing to read the b...

Molly Dean: The Star Catcher

Thank you for hosting me at the ARe Café. I am honored and excited at the opportunity to share my book The Star Catcher.
I grew up for the most part in my grandmother’s house on a tree-shaded street in an older part of Atlanta. Reading and telling stories were important parts of my life. My grandfather loved to tell me evening tales, many about bears–and my mother, an English teacher, inspired me with her love of reading. Soon I felt compelled to create my own tales!
The Star Catcher is my seco...

Adventures in Potty Training

My three year old, and thankfully my last child, has entered the potty training stage.  Mostly, this has been something of a relatively painless process.  Sure, there’s a lot of “naked boy” running around the house, but the accidents have been manageable and generally close to the bathroom.
He’s been the easiest to potty train in that regard.
Of course, no child would be complete without something.

There’s always something.  Here's a few of our somethings:
Yes, that's his toilet se...

Cover Reveal - Teaser

In speaking with my friend Jeff (and being quite giddy, even through eight layers of being sick) there’s something about receiving the cover for your book that really solidifies the intangible into the concrete.
Not the cover you deserve, but the one you need right now.

This isn’t what you want to see, but we’re getting close.  So very close!

Cover Reveal Coming Soon

I'll take the curtain, Monty!Ladies and gentlemen, the long wait is almost over.  I just saw the first draft of the cover for Hell Becomes Her and I have to say it is gorgeous.  It’s exactly what I asked for.
It’s not finalized yet.  There are a few minor points to cover still, but I should be able to show you a small teaser in the next day, and the full cover, in glorious Technicolor, very, very soon.

Stay tuned!

Lucky's Promise

After years of searching for her mother’s killer, Felicia “Lucky” Fascino is finally on the right track. With the help of her family, and on-again off-again boyfriend, Kenji Zinn, Lucky is getting closer to fulfilling the unspoken promise she made to her adoptive father.
As the group continues to dig deep into the assassin’s network, and search for the elusive Quimby, ties to the past come back full circle, endangering everyone Lucky loves and cares for. It’s only a matter of time before their...

Rise and Fall and Fall and Rise

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no
basis for a system of government!Life is chaotic at best, and no time in our history shows this better than the Middle Ages of Europe.  Just look at how long those “Dark” times lasted (yes, Jamie, that’s aimed at you).  From the 5th Century through the 15th Century, Europe faced some rather tumultuous times.  It was born in calamity with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and featured such fun times as rapid depopulation,...