Aimee Easterling's Blog, page 22

Recommended reading for May

It’s been about a month since my last book recommendation post, and I’ve racked up four new titles that startled me with their brilliance and/or delightfulness. As usual, I’ll start with the urban fantasy and work my way toward genres further afield. (And, yes, all of these titles are enrolled in Kindle Unlimited.)

Fire Song by Val St. Crowe hooked me right from the start since I love dragon-shifter books that actually have a plot. The world-building is extremely good, with unique twists on the popular mythology. The characters are equally enticing — flawed but hero-like in their need to protect the weak. Then there’s the mystery, which is well done without turning into one of those plodding whodunnits that throw in so many red herrings they never end. Overall, this is the most solid urban fantasy with a light side of romance that I read all month.

The Seventh Hour by Tracey Ward is a top-notch young adult post-apocalpytic adventure with a very unique premise. Sure, the science of the apocalypse is pretty out there…but the genre is also full of zombies, so how can I complain? Once I told myself it was simply a LeGuin-style fantasy novel, I fell into the fascinating world with a vengeance and enjoyed every minute of it.

Artistic License by Elle Pierson is understated but oh-so-true for at least this introvert. Layered on top of a realistic love story is an interesting setting (New Zealand), an art theft, and a sculptor heroine — all major selling points in my book and hopefully in yours too.

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata looks like a run-of-the-mill sports romance that you should run very far from. But it reads as smooth as honey with intense character development, a sweet slow courtship that’s more about inter- and intra-personal growth than dates and misunderstandings, and then a perfect payoff at the end.

How about you? Read any perfect books this month that you want to shout about from the mountaintops?

First draft complete!

I’m pleased to say that I wrote the last word of the first draft of Lone Wolf Dawn today. Time to bask in that warm glow of accomplishment for a little while before I dive into the seemingly endless edits.

Alpha Ascendant is on sale (May 13-19)

For the first and possibly last time, the third book in the Wolf Rampant series is on sale for a mere 99 cents. This is also a great opportunity to borrow a copy if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited since the book will be bowing out of the program and going up for sale on other retailers early next month.

(Yes, if you borrow the book now, you can read it any time you want even if it pops out of Kindle Unlimited before you reach that spot on your reading list. Just be sure to keep Alpha Ascendant in your borrow library rather than returning it if you want to save the read for a rainy day.)

I hope you enjoy this final installment in Terra’s adventure!

Wanna connect on facebook?

I’m a Luddite; I admit it. I was actually an early internet adopter, coding my first website by hand in html. But times changed and I stayed stuck in my ways, unwilling to adapt to newfangled human interaction like social media. I mean, why did we leave ytalk behind anyway?

Ahem…. Rant aside, this post is meant to inform you that I did finally decide to come up to speed and create a personal facebook page…mostly so I could join this fun group for urban fantasy readers and writers. If you enjoy facebook, I hope you’ll come over and check both sites out!

Urban fantasy or paranormal romance?

Have you ever wondered what the big distinction is between paranormal romance and urban fantasy? This fun blog post breaks it down in librarian fashion — it’s all about the proportion of romance (emphasis on the relationship and the happily ever after) versus fantastical world-building.

That’s all well and good, but deep down inside I’m a chart-lover. So what I really got a kick out of was the bestselling books lined up visually with high fantasy appeal on the right side and high romance appeal on the top side.

Although I have quibbles with the placement of a few books, the chart made it abundantly clear that I really prefer my books to have a romance level of at least four while I’m apparently willing to put up with world-building in the two range if the characters are good. So even though I call myself an urban fantasy writer, maybe I’m more of a paranormal romance reader?

How about you? Do all of your favorite books cluster on the same part of the chart? And do you believe in the distinction between urban fantasy and paranormal romance, or do you think it’s all a matter of semantics?

Lone Wolf Dawn cover reveal

Book two in the Alpha Underground series, Lone Wolf Dawn, will go live on Amazon in late June or early July. I’m about 70% of the way through writing the first draft, so I figured I deserved a cover to keep me pounding away at the keyboard a little longer.

Enter Rebecca Frank‘s amazing rendition of Fen’s growing powers. What do you think?

And while I have your attention, I’d be curious to hear your feedback on book three’s title. Would you be intrigued enough to pick up a book called Wolf Landing? If you love it or hate it, I hope you’ll share your thoughts in the comments below.

Wolf Rampant reading order

Since adding a prequel serial to the Wolf Rampant series, I’ve had several readers ask, “Which do I read first? The serial or Shiftless?”

I remember having the same problem with Narnia series. There, and here, I ended up deciding it made the most sense to read the books not chronologically by the standards of the fantasy world, but chronologically by the standards of the author. In other words, I recommend reading Shiftless first.

On the other hand, you’ll definitely see Terra’s world through different eyes once you’ve spent a while hanging out within Wolfie’s mind. In fact, I had one reader email that she read the trilogy then the serial then wanted to go back and read the trilogy again because the whole story looked a bit different after our favorite bloodling alpha had his say. So if you want to slide The Complete Bloodling Serial in between Shiftless and Pack Princess, I don’t think that’s a wrong decision.

But, yes, probably read Shiftless first…which is easy since it’s free.

Science fiction and fantasy cross-promo (and giveaway)

I hope you guys aren’t thoroughly sick of these multi-author cross-promos I’ve been participating in. They seem to be a fun way to try out new authors (for me too!), and some come with bonus giveaways.

The current event, for example, not only contains dozens of free or sale books, but also offers the opportunity to win a Kindle Paperwhite if you live in the US or UK. May the best reader win!

Going wide with the Wolf Rampant series

As some of you may know, indie authors have a major decision to make each time they upload a book to Amazon. Do we commit to keeping the book on Amazon only, with the perk that our book is then eligible to be borrowed by Kindle Unlimited subscribers? Or do we go “wide” — meaning we upload our book at other retailers too…but lose the right to have our book borrowed?

My books have done very well with borrows in the past. But now that Shiftless is free on all retailers, I decided to try my hand at going wide. This is an experiment, meaning that if sales on the other retailers don’t make up the income I lose from Amazon borrows within the next few months I’ll throw my hat back into the Kindle Unlimited ring. (Gotta pay the bills so I can keep writing Fen’s series!)

What does it mean to you? Pack Princess is now available at the following locations:

Amazon
Apple
Nook
Kobo
Google

Shiftless is available wide as well:

Amazon
Apple
Nook
Kobo
Google

And Alpha Ascendant will be hitting wide distribution in early June. (I’m as yet undecided about whether to make The Complete Bloodling Serial wide. For now, though, you can always snag a copy by signing up for my email list.)

If you want to help me out, I can use reviews on all of those retailers. (Copying and pasting your existing review from Amazon or Goodreads is entirely legit.) Or snag a copy on one of the non-Amazon sites now if you prefer reading in a non-kindle format. Thanks in advance for your help!

Interpack politics

Those of you who enjoyed the Tribunal in the Wolf Rampant series will be glad to hear the shifter governing body is making a reappearance in Lone Wolf Dawn.

I’m not going to include any spoilers in this post, but you may recall that the Wolf Rampant series all involved members of the Appalachian Packs. The Tribunal covers not only those packs, but also four other subgroups scattered across the southeast: the independent-minded Florida Packs, the urban City Packs, the family-based Mississippi Packs, and the hidebound Coastal Packs. Here’s hoping Fen doesn’t get into too much trouble as she wanders through the territories of the latter….