Jessica Rydill's Blog, page 22

June 11, 2014

New posts in the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop

The Speculative Fiction Blog Hop - latest posts!

There are new blogs from RJ Crayton and Cherise Kelley.

RJCrayton: Speculative Fiction Writing Method Blog Hop

Cherise Kelley: Speculative Fiction Blog Hop

Main site: Speculative Fiction Showcase

List of forthcoming author posts:

June 2nd     RJCrayton
June 9th      Cherise Kelley
June 16th      TBA
June 23rd      David Pagan
June 30th      Nicolas Wilson
July  7th      TBA
July 14th       Jamie Maltman
July 21st       Jessica Rydill
July 27th       TBA
...
August 11th   Ceinwen Langley
August 25th Sheila Guthrie
(I will update this list as I get new info).

Previous posts:
Heidi Garrett: http://www.heidigwrites.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-writing-process-blog-tour.html#blog
Cat Amesbury: http://catamesbury.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/the-writing-process-blog-hop/
Michael Patrick Hicks: http://michaelpatrickhicks.com/2014/05/05/the-writing-process-blog-tour/
Elle Chambers: www.indiespiritpress.com/2014/05/12/the-writing-process-blog-hop/
Bill Richards: http://blog.williamdrichards.com/2014/05/the-writing-process-blog-tour.html
S. Elliot Brandis: http://selliotbrandis.com/2014/05/18/the-speculative-fiction-blog-hop/
Sandra K. Williams: http://www.sandrakwilliams.net/writing/2014/writing-process-blog-tour/ 
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on June 11, 2014 06:39

May 25, 2014

The Speculative Fiction Blog Hop!

I've edited this post because I'll probably be trying to sell my short story, Camilla's Chance. Watch this space!

I have created book profiles for Malarat and Children of the Shaman.

I have also created a Pinterest Board for all my books, though the first edition of Children of the Shaman is no longer available. But once all three books are out as eBooks, I'm planning to make them available as printed on demand (POD) paperbacks.

Follow Jessica Rydill's board Jessica Rydill's novels and short stories on Pinterest.

Speculative Fiction Blog Hop

In July, I'm very much looking forward to taking part in the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop, which you can read about here at the Speculative Fiction Showcase.

The blog is hosting both the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop, on the topic of the writing process, and new releases by indie authors of Spec-Fic.

So far, the blog features new releases by Heidi Garrett, S. Elliot Brandis and Jennifer Ellison, together with a post on the writing process by Jason Gurley.

The first blogs about the writing process can be found here:
Cat Amesbury: www.catamesbury.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/the-writing-process-blog-hop/
Michael Patrick Hicks: www.michaelpatrickhicks.com/2014/05/05/the-writing-process-blog-tour/
Elle Chambers: www.indiespiritpress.com/2014/05/12/the-writing-process-blog-hop/
Bill Richards: http://blog.williamdrichards.com/2014/05/the-writing-process-blog-tour.html

These are really fascinating and worth reading, as every one is different! I will be writing one in July, and there are many more interesting contributions to come (see updating list below).

As well as the various new releases, every month the Speculative Fiction Showcase will be hosting a giveaway, starting on 1st July. This will include a collection of eBooks donated by KBoards authors.

Forthcoming author posts:
May 19th      S. Elliot Brandis
May 26th      Sandra K. Williams
June 2nd      -
June 9th      Cherise Kelley
June 16th      TBA
June 23rd      David Pagan
June 30th      Nicolas Wilson
July  7th      TBA
July 14th       Jamie Maltman
July 21st       Jessica Rydill
July 27th       TBA
...
August 11th   Ceinwen Langley
August 25th Sheila Guthrie
(I will update this list as I get new info).
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on May 25, 2014 07:44

A new story - Camilla's Chance - on Amazon - and the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop!

I've been working flat out to get this short story published, whilst dallying with the possiblity that I have gallstones, after a rather nasty episode of stomach pain a few weekends ago.

All of a sudden, I'm on a low fat diet, which is rather a shock to the system.

In the mean time, Camilla's Chance, my new short story, is now live on Amazon.

Here is a link to the book profile with an except and all the information you could possibly need: http://www.kboards.com/book/?asin=B00KJRBCAG

Blurb
Camilla Carnwallis fears she is having hallucinations. Either that or the Virgin Mary has appeared to her in the gardens of her parents' country house. Is grief causing her to lose her mind, or do her visions have another, more eerie explanation?

I have also created book profiles for Malarat and Children of the Shaman.

I have also created a Pinterest Board for all my books, though the first edition of Children of the Shaman is no longer available. But once all three books are out as eBooks, I'm planning to make them available as printed on demand (POD) paperbacks.

Follow Jessica Rydill's board Jessica Rydill's novels and short stories on Pinterest.

In July, I'm very much looking forward to taking part in the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop, which you can read about here at the Speculative Fiction Showcase.

The blog is hosting both the Speculative Fiction Blog Hop, on the topic of the writing process, and new releases by indie authors of Spec Fic.

So far, the blog features new releases by Heidi Garrett, S. Elliot Brandis and Jennifer Ellison, together with a post on the writing process by Jason Gurley.

The first blogs about the writing process can be found here:
Cat Amesbury: www.catamesbury.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/the-writing-process-blog-hop/
Michael Patrick Hicks: www.michaelpatrickhicks.com/2014/05/05/the-writing-process-blog-tour/
Elle Chambers: www.indiespiritpress.com/2014/05/12/the-writing-process-blog-hop/
Bill Richards: http://blog.williamdrichards.com/2014/05/the-writing-process-blog-tour.html

These are really fascinating and worth reading, as every one is different! I will be writing one in July, and there are many more interesting contributions to come.

As well as the various new releases, every month the Speculative Fiction Showcase will be hosting a giveaway, starting on 1st July. This will include a collection of eBooks donated by KBoards authors.
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on May 25, 2014 07:44

March 27, 2014

Derring-do and the Empire if the Dead by David Wake

The Derring-Do Club and the Empire of the Dead The Derring-Do Club and the Empire of the Dead by David Wake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The first book I read by David Wake was 'I, Phone'. I enjoyed that, but this is much more up my street. It's an alternate history, steampunk take on late Victorian Europe. With zombies. It's great fun, and I really liked the central characters, three redoubtable girls who have an irrepressible urge to adventure.
It's very funny at times, but I also found it disturbing and upsetting (in a good way!). I was rather apprehensive as zombies aren't my thing, but this was an ingenious take on the trope.
I'm looking forward to subsequent outings. Write on!



View all my reviews
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on March 27, 2014 14:28

December 9, 2013

Truenotdreams does it again - fab cover art!

I have already sung the praises of Truenotdreams Design. The site looks inactive but it's all there! http://truenotdreams.weebly.com/about.html

Here is her cover design for the new eBook edition of The Glass Mountain, due to be published in the New Year.


I really love this cover! I think the central image of the mirror and the mountain is quite haunting.


 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on December 09, 2013 16:06

November 20, 2013

Doll hobby meets novel

As well as being a writer, I collect BJD - or Asian Ball-Jointed Dolls. These are not children's dolls; they can cost a lot of money, are cast from resin and measure between 57 and 70cm tall. (Though there are many more variations in size from tiny up to lifesize.)

The Doll Hobby started in Japan in about 1998 when Japanese kit-maker Volks started to produce customisable resin dolls called Super Dollfie. Since then the hobby has exploded with manufacturers in the Far East, Europe and North America.

I stumbled upon Super Dollfie in 2003 while searching eBay for a Barbie Doll Japanese Skipper. To begin with, it was more like an addiction than a hobby.

Most of my resin residents are SD- or 60cm sized. And most are based on characters from my imaginary world, the one I write about in my fantasy novels. From time to time, I sell or modify the dolls because resources are finite, and occasionally a new one comes along that I 'have' to have!

At the moment, the doll family includes Yuda and Yuste Vasilyevich, Annat, Malchik, Huldis Sorel and Eugenie de Bouget. We also have Sarl and Colonel Carnwallis, though they don't get let out much.

The only bjd that are not my characters are Febe, who is one of my oldest dolls and originates from Souldoll in Korea, and my recently acquired Sherlock head, who has a temporary body.

I should hasten to say that I don't believe the dolls have souls in any mystical sense. But I am fond of them, especially those that represent my original characters.

Photography is an important aspect of the doll hobby, as are customisation and dress-making. I am not a very good photographer but I do try to photograph the dolls 'in the wild' from time to time.

At the moment, my Huldis-doll is getting a new body and is just a disembodied head, poor thing. (Non-doll friends can be unnerved by 'floating' heads and random doll eyes about the place.) And Yuda is getting some radical modifications from doll artist CitronRouge, a process that involved sending his body to Marseille.

(If you have read Children of the Shaman, The Glass Mountain, or Malarat, you will know that Marseille is one of the most important places in the book, though it is known as Masalyar because this is a parallel world).

Plans for the future? I'd love to reify Sergei Govorin, not to mention Casildis. And I have my eye on a particular, elusive doll made by Iplehouse of Korea. His name is Elchanan and he is a dead ringer for my new character El Shur.

This isn't a very good photo but here are Yuda and Annat in Normandy (that is his old body!)

I took this photo using my iPad, and there was too much light (or that could be Yuda's durmat messing up the photo.)
CitronRouge's blog spot is here at Pretty Decay. Dark and macabre themes!
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on November 20, 2013 06:03

November 6, 2013

Children of the Shaman rides again! With shiny new cover art...

This is only a short update as I'm feeling yucky due to the second bug of the winter.

However, I've been hinting for some time that we would be re-issuing my first novel, Children of the Shaman, as an eBook.

I have finished scanning and editing the novel and now it goes over to my husband to be turned into a Kindle file.

I haven't got a launch date as such since husband has other things on his mind, such as very high blood sugar, argh.

But it's looking good and in the mean time here is a preview of the fabulous cover art for the Kindle edition from Skylar Faith of Truenotdreams design! (Skylar also designed the new cover for Malarat).


Children of the Shaman was originally published as a paperback by Orbit in the UK and by Penguin Putnam in the USA. The new edition is slightly revised to correct a few solecisms and typos.
Once Children of the Shaman is out we will then produce an eBook version of The Glass Mountain, which was never published in the States.
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on November 06, 2013 16:22

September 20, 2013

I'm a pirate!

My pirate name is:Iron Bess Rackham
A pirate's life isn't easy; it takes a tough person. That's okay with you, though, since you a tough person. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 20, 2013 13:30

September 15, 2013

Review of 'I, Phone' by David Wake and an update on the new book

I, Phone I, Phone by David Wake

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Readers will doubtless notice the reference to the Asimov classic `I, Robot' - and the pun. This is a witty Science Fiction story somewhat in the tradition of Douglas Adams, in which the narrator is a smart phone called Jeeves - referencing the smooth and intelligent valet who ministers to the hapless Bertie Wooster.
The phone's owner, Alice Wooster, lives in a future where virtual reality has taken over from real life, and most of England has been drowned by global warming. It is also an adventure story, as the heroine is framed for murder by persons (?) unknown.
The narrative follows her attempts to stay one step ahead of the law, and the bad guys. At the same time, Jeeves desperately tries to comply with the conflicting instructions from his programming - to protect Alice and to obey the law.
The result is engaging and funny. My only problem is that I found the phone a more likeable character than the human heroine. But in a sense, given the society she had grown up in, it's hardly surprising - and she does grow in the course of the story, as she has to run and fight for her life.
Whether or not you agree with the serious predictions inherent in the science fiction aspect of the story, the whole is a tour de force, with a nice twist at the end.
(This review also appears on amazon.co.uk)



View all my reviews

I'm currently reading 'Wind Follower' by Carole McDonnell and a book about near-death experiences, but got interrupted over the summer by the usual suspect - my head.

I'm currently working on 'Winterbloom' though I should add that that is only its working title. Writing it has been rather like trying to herd cats. It also has a sub-title, which may be something like: 'Sherlock Holmes and the mystery of the mmf mmf' but as I'm not Conan Doyle of Steven Moffat (alas) I'm not sure I've got it right.

What I really want to do is write a humongous fan-fic with Sherlock and John (Cumberbatch and Freeman) interacting with my world, but I'm honestly not sure I can do it. Never mind the problems inherent in writing fan-fic, I'm dubious about my technical skills. You have to immerse yourself so completely in the world you are writing about - and also I'm definitely in the 19th century not the 21st, regardless of whatever world I'm writing about.

I should also add that the worlds in my 'verse have now expanded to three (not counting the one that Semyon Magus was carrying around in his suitcase). The newest world is rather more indeterminate than the others.

As usual, I am throwing in everything bar the kitchen sink. My passion (!) for the legend of Rennes le Chateau continues, and while Dan Brown (my hat's off to him) has probably done the definitive version of the legend (or whatever it is) I am still intrigued by the story and what, if any, foundation it has in reality.

I'm a huge fan of Patrice Chaplin's take on the legend, which centres on Girona. As this account involves a powerful, Kabbalistic ritual, it started me thinking...and off I went!
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 15, 2013 11:19

September 5, 2013

My first free day with Kindle - results

It was quite jolly. I got featured on the Kboards blog, Freebooksy, Ereader Utopia, Ereader Perks and The Kindle Book Review.
I'm a featured author at Freebooksy
The results were: 1084 on Amazon.com, 21 on Amazon.co.uk and a few in Germany and France. At various points on 4th September, the book was #1 Free in Fantasy Metaphysical & Visionary and Genre Fiction > Metaphysical.

Today (5 September) I also sold three books in the Kindle store.

It was quite fun and boosted my morale.



Thank you to everyone who downloaded the book. I do hope you enjoy it!
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 05, 2013 16:26