Jessica Rydill's Blog, page 23

Hello - it's my new cover art!

I have been splurging this all over the place, but Malarat now has a new cover, splendidly designed by artist Skylar Faith of Truenotdreams.com.

Stephen has a created a new version of the Kindle edition, incorporating the new cover art and also the amendments for typos and continuity errors suggested by +Phillip Berrie of the Fantasy Writers group.

So, for the first time, I'm offering the book for download free from the Kindle store on 4th September!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Malarat-ebook/dp/B00CL1ZH36

I love the new cover - it features the Spider, a key element from the story, which is used by the Inquisition to take out the shamans by neutralising their powers. It's made from iron, which is inimical to their magical powers.

I've also added a strap-line (?) 'A novel of love beyond death' since I have imagined people looking at the title and thinking 'Wot's this Malarat thing then?' I should say that it could be called 'A novel of love beyond death and a great deal else besides'.

Anyway, here is the picture, and a big thank you to Skylar, and Phil for the estimable copy-editing!

Transgressions by Phillip Berrie - my review

Transgressions by Phillip Berrie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I enjoyed reading this very much. I was introduced to it after reading one of Phillip Berrie's short stories set in the same 'verse, which piqued my interest.
The story deals with the plight of Wamzut, an elderly wizard who is fatally attacked while in the Golden Void (this is a good example of the arresting nomenclature in the book). Wamzut is left disembodied, but with the assistance of a Gifted priestess, his spirit is rehoused in the body of a half-elf, who has just been robbed of her soul by...what?
There's the rub! Wamzut finds himself in the body of a young woman. As he started out as an 88-year-old wizard, this is rather a shock for the poor man. The sexual aspect of the story is handled with wit and delicacy. In some ways, it reminded me of a wizardly version of 'Some Like it Hot' in which Wamzut, though still very powerful, experiences the advantages and disadvantages of the female sex he has suddenly been saddled with.
The story is a great page-turner. Wamzut has several mysteries to solve; who killed him (and his friend) in the Void, and who or what robbed the half-elf of her soul.
This part of the book is very well-paced and keeps the reader on their toes, following Wamzut through the mystery. I found it quite hard to put the book down (or the Kindle!) which is always a good sign. When it ended, I wanted more.
If I have any criticisms, they are that it ended too suddenly. I wanted to know what happened next, and I wanted a sequel! The main mystery was rounded off almost too neatly, but there were a number of loose ends - though as 'Transgressions' is the first book in a series, I hope these will be resolved in due course.
I was very taken with the characterisation, especially of the hero/heroine. I felt all the characters were engaging, and that the author had given equal attention to the detail of the minor characters.
The magic of the world or 'verse is carefully thought out and explored. The wizard's principal power is one of astral travel, and this was beautifully imagined.
I really enjoyed 'Transgressions'. To me it is a well-written traditional fantasy, without being hackneyed in any way. I look forward to reading more by this author and also hope that he will return to Wamzut's adventures in the future.



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Malarat on Goodkindles

The kindly folk at Goodkindles have given Malarat the top spot on their web-site today.



I hope the link has posted if you click on the image, but just in case, here it is again!

I've tried rather a different approach with the blurb. I'm quite preoccupied with blurbs at the moment. There is obviously an art to writing a good one, and I don't find it easy! It would be quite fun to have a blurb-writing exercise somewhere, maybe on an online group such as Fantasy Writers at Google +

(Does happy Dance!)

Malarat - a sequel?

My eBook, Malaratis now on sale here on Goodreads, as well as from Amazon.

Malarat is another link in the series that began with Children of the Shaman. The series now has a name: Mir, shamanworld 1-3.

Malarat is a bit gaslight, a bit steampunk, and also metaphysical fantasy. You don't have to know the story of the other books to read it.

I'm hoping to garner some reviews, whether good, bad or indifferent.

What's it about? A threat to the existence of all shamans! Who aren't the same as shamans in our world.

My new blurb!

I've been busy! I have started to scan Children of the Shaman and edit it in preparation to publishing it as an eBook.

Trying to market Malarat continues. I've been following several blogs, The Creative Penn, Jane Friedman and David Gaughran. All are excellent and stuffed with nuggets of interesting information. I also follow Duolit and am a fan of Writer Beware!

At the moment, my head is spinning slightly. But I am following the advice of the various bloggers, and have edited the blurb for my book, and updated my web-site, shamansland.

Here is the new version of the blurb as it appears on Amazon:

To be a shaman is to be both a healer and a warrior, and to visit the lands of the Dead.
Since she was a child, Annat Vasilyevich has had a foot in both worlds, learning her craft as apprentice to her father, the powerful Yuda Vasilyevich.
Now war has come to Lefranu, her native land, and her family is torn apart by a conflict that threatens their whole world.
Annat finds herself far from home, defending the city of Yonar against a mediaeval army. Her brother is a fugitive from justice, and Yuda, heading deep into enemy territory with his apprentice, Huldis of Ademar, finds himself hunted by the most deadly of enemies: the Domini Canes, knights of the Inquisition, armed with their new weapon – the Spider.
When it seems that only a miracle can save Lefranu, it is Annat herself who must enter the underworld to raise the dead.

In a couple of places, I have also added the following rubric:

Malarat is the third book in the series that started with Children of the Shaman, but can easily be read on its own.
It is a much darker work than my other books, with some strong language, and scenes of graphic violence and explicit sex.

Now to me, this looks faintly ludicrous. I'm worried that it will put some people off, while attracting others who will want their money back when there isn't enough (ahem) explicit sex. The idea of putting in a health-warning is alien to me, but I feel I have to do it since my first two books were sometimes read as YA fiction and even appeared in school libraries.

This probably isn't a YA book and it certainly isn't for children. It's quite dark in places, which reflects the period of my life in which it was written.

The one thing that still worries me is the cover. Not because it's poor quality, but because it doesn't much resemble other books in the fantasy genre.

I should add that I took the book down from Smashwords and have now released it with Lulu and Google Books. The latter offer a very good preview.

I'm also giving away a 100 copies free on Librarything for a limited time only - a week starting 4th July (Happy Independence Day to the US!)in exchange for reviews. I am eager to get more reviews, whether good or bad. I don't think it has started yet, as Librarything is based in the US. Link here: Librarything Member Giveaways

Why am I blogging when I should be writing?

I'm not going to answer that question at once. First of all, I'm going to continue my rant...er, discourse...on the topic of self-publishing and the perils thereof.

I am now a bit less of a clueless newbie. What they don't tell you when you embark on this self-publishing malarkey is that you, as a self-published author, are basically invisible. No-one apart from your friends knows you are there. Why should they? And your problem is that you want to let people know you are there, and get them viewing (and maybe even purchasing!) your book. There are excellent posts on this topic by Tobias Buckell, who is also a traditionally published author , and Toby Tate, a publisher .

I have in fact been very fortunate, as I have had two interviews - one with Keith Brooke of Infinity Plus on his blog here, and one on Jan Edwards's blog here. It was fantastic to have an opportunity to chat about the new book, what I'm writing, and what I'm reading.

If I have learned anything so far, it is that it is critical to get your book reviewed, and to try not to drive all your friends and acquaintance bonkers by self-promoting too much, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. There is a terrible temptation to tweet all the time saying 'Buy my book, BLAH, it's simply marvellous!' to which everyone can only answer 'Why?'

I have a tendency to check my sales (and sales rank) on Amazon obsessively (well I would, natch) and it is hard to resist the temptation to do exactly what I have counselled against. It is harder to secure traditional reviews as an Indie author because everybody is inundated - either with books from traditional publishers, or with requests and submissions from indie writers in ever-increasing numbers.

Some of the good advice - I think it may have been from Toby Tate, cited above - tells you to carry on writing. (Could that be the title of a film?) This brings me back to my heading. Here I am in front of the computer, writing a post about self-publication and my adventures so far, wanting to promote my book without becoming a bore...but what I really ought to do is to buckle under and get back to my WIP (work in progress).

Which is tricky. Morale is low at Rydill Towers. I need to make like those famous men (in the song) and pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again. I need to stop ruminating and move on to the next thing.

The next thing, which may be called Winterbloom, is being recalcitrant. I need to jump start it, because so far I have got no further than the opening episodes. This is partly due to self-doubt and the usual interruptions, and partly because I know where I want to go, but not how to get there. It's a bit like Google Maps which show point A and point B; I don't know how to get from one to the other.

Coming soon on Maniototo - photos of my old school, perchance.

What I wrote on Goodreads about Malarat - not quite a review but an introduction!

Malarat by Jessica Rydill




Malarat is something of a cross-genre beast in that I believe it has elements both of fantasy and alternate history.
The idea is that it is set in a parallel world where history is slightly divergent. But it's also a world where magic is part of everyday life.
In Lefranu, which is similar to 19th century France, they have levels of technology that include steam trains, dirigibles and other steam-powered forms of transport. But this is confined to the south of the country.
The planet has only recently emerged from a mini Ice-Age, and the northern half has been isolated since the Middle Ages. So large areas have effectively stayed stuck in the Mediaeval era.
These elements - magic, and the culture-clash between Mediaeval and steampunk technology, form the basis of all my books to date. The trouble starts when the steam-powered lot start building a railway north.
Magic is a key element, but the culture of the country is important, together with the fact that Christianity and Judaism both appear, only in a different format. A lifelong obsession with the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau and the Legend of Mary Magdalen (see the Da Vinci Code for the background) led me to introduce goddesses into the equation.
I love all that esoteric stuff and there is a small parallel with the Orphic Mysteries, in that somebody goes into the underworld to bring somebody back.
In common with many people, I read 'Holy Blood, Holy GrailHoly Blood, Holy Grail and found it a mine of fascinating myths and ideas. I was also heavily influenced by Robert Graves's The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth which I read when I was a teenager. Since then, I have come across more than one book linking Mary Magdalen to Goddess-worship. Graves's book gave rise to the idea that goddesses might be ambivalent, or even negative.
Several of the main characters in Malarat are goddess-worshippers, with the added complication that some of them have actually met the goddess.
Linking back to my first book, Children of the Shaman she is a two-faced (or dual-aspected) goddess called Artemyas/Nyssa.
Robert Graves was not a whole-hearted fan of the White Goddess, whom he identified with the Muse. In Malarat, the goddess's divine plan, or an element of her myth, moves in on the characters and re-arranges their lives, for good or ill. She moves from the background into the foreground, and calls in an outstanding debt that no-one else remembered.




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On self-publishing and the perils thereof

Malarat has now come out on Smashwords, so it should be available for all the other formats, not just Kindle. It's harder to tell what the sales figures are with Smashwords, but there have been some sales through Amazon.
Stephen put the book into epub format and we had a slightly hairy time uploading it. Until recently, Smashwords only accepted Word documents, which they then put their 'Meatgrinder', an unlovely name for an unlovely process. Now it is possible to upload an epub file, and they also provide you with a link to a validator to ensure that the file is free from errors. After a few hitches and glitches, Smashwords accepted the file, and then added it to their 'premium' catalogue, which is the one that gives you access to the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble and suchlike.

And now we wait.

I have sent a few emails to review blogs and Amazon top reviewers, which is what you are advised to do. So far, no-one has yet replied to my initial exploratory email. I started just before the book came out on 1st May, so I suspect that some of the earlier recipients are not going to reply.

Immediately one is struck by one of the disadvantages of self-publishing. Many of the bloggers and reviewers, who write professional and well-judged reviews, discourage or refuse submissions from people who are self-published. One can understand why because the sheer volume of self-published ebooks must make it nearly impossible to read all or any of them.

I do wonder though how in the great morass of self-published books (some of which are very good) there is any reason why someone should choose mine. The issue of visibility is the main problem. One wants the book to be visible, but also desirable. Why should anyone buy this book? There are so many books out there, and lots of them are wonderful. And time is short!

This is a rhetorical question. We have managed the publishing part, thanks in large part to the fact that my husband is a book-designer himself and was able both to sub and format the manuscript. The next part requires one to be good at publicity and marketing, two skills that take many years to acquire. People devote acres of print and whole theses to this topic. And yet I am presuming to send a tweet to the general public (or whoever) saying - 'Buy my book! 'Cos it's jolly good! I know it's good, so it must be!!!1!'

You get the picture. Everyone's doing it. Many hundreds and even thousands of self-published writers are venturing forth, publishing their ebooks and then looking for readers, sometimes with an air of palpable desperation. I'm beginning to understand why. Without the 'imprimatur' of a publishing house, whether one of the big guys or one of the many excellent small presses - how is any average reader to judge which of theses myriad books is any good?

Footnote: that blurb in full:

Young Annat Vasilyevich is a youthful shaman and an outcast Wanderer. No longer her father's apprentice, she watches enviously as he sets out into enemy territory with his new pupil, Huldis of Ademar, and their companions.
War has come to Lefranu and while Annat remains to defend the merchant city of Yonar, her father has claimed the most dangerous mission for himself. None of them realise that their world of steam and machines is about to be shattered from an attack by the most deadly of enemies - the mediaeval Duc de Malarat and his ally, the twisted but beautiful Inquisitor, Valdes de Siccaria.
Someone has set loose an ancient demon known only to the Wanderers, and in order to defeat it and win the war, they will have to make a terrible sacrifice... 

It's the great day! My new fantasy novel Malarat has...

It's the great day! My new fantasy novel Malarat has gone on sale on Amazon, a prospect I view with a mixture of delight and trepidation. Malarat for Kindle

Malarat  has taken a long time to come to fruition. I started to write it in 2003, not long after the publication of my second book, The Glass Mountain, but interrupted the process to pursue other ideas with my then publisher. I continued to work on Malarat at regular intervals, despite being distracted by discovering the Asian ball-jointed doll - BJD - hobby in 2003 and falling in love in 2005 (reader, I married him - apologies to Charlotte Bronte!).

I finished the book's first draft in 2009, the week before my father died. I won't rehash the events of the past few years in detail but between 2009 and 2010 we lost my father, my mother and my mother-in-law, and moved out of the family home.

Malarat has been on quite a journey, and so have I! It's not exactly a descent into hell, but it is much darker than my other books. The story is set in the same world as the earlier novels and has some characters in common with them, but it can be read as a stand-alone work.

I have included more detail about the world in which the action takes place, together with a map, a glossary and a list of characters. It's not a children's book, although one of the narrators is a child. The scale is more epic but it still involves a clash between Victorian and mediaeval cultures with a smattering of demonology and Kabbalah.

I've set up a couple of boards on Pinterest where I've pinned a random selection of images relating to places and themes in the book. Pinterest Malarat board I'm also going to try to blog a bit more about what inspired the novel, though I also have a WIP to return to soon, I hope.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of the Temple of Apollo at Stourhead, which appeared in Children of the Shaman as the Domain of the Goddess!

And it's New Year!As well as starting to think about my n...

And it's New Year!

As well as starting to think about my next book, I am hoping that my husband will resume work on type-setting Malarat. He has got about half way through, but he is a perfectionist and wants it to look good as well as being in the right format for epub and the other forms of ebook.

I have been struggling with Twitter. I am not convinced that, once the book is available, my various followers will be enthused by me deluging them with endless Tweets advising them to 'Buy Malarat - only $1.99 etc etc'. I am often in receipt of such promo Tweets. I feel for the people who post them because it is extremely difficult to sell one's work, even with the inclusion of brief teasers about the content of the book. But my first reaction is 'Oh no, spam' and I am sure that other people must react the same way.

What interests me on Twitter (apart from the occasional elliptical or witty comment) are Tweets with a link in them leading to an interesting article or news item. I almost always follow these links and read the article or blog if I can. I also like to re-tweet them because they are genuinely interesting.

I'm happy to re-tweet stuff for people I know - real friends - or people whose work I have read and enjoyed. What really worries me - and let there be a short pause for Mr OCD to enter the room - is re-tweeting and recommending books by people who follow me and whose stuff I have never read.

Where I know, or know of writers, I can be confident that their stuff is something I would be happy to read and therefore something I'm happy to re-tweet.  With complete strangers, who I don't know at all, I feel a certain reluctance. The trouble is, their books may be wonderful, well-written, imaginative - or at the very least, full of potential.

What I don't have is time. I need to write (oh that!) and there are other things I want to read, research to do, and indeed books by struggling writers I know that I want to read. And because of my circumstances there are times when I stop functioning that well. I stop keeping up with Facebook or Twitter and either pursue one of my other interests (Den of Angels, ball-jointed dolls, eBay) or else stop interacting online.

The people I admire most are these writers who manage to hold down a day-job, write and socialise online as well. I suppose that I'm on a different time-schedule to most - late till late - but there never seem to be enough hours in the day for everything!

I have followed various blogs and articles which give advice about how to promote your book using Twitter and other social media. My favourite so far is the following article from Indie Author News http://www.indieauthornews.com/2012/07/twitter-tips-for-authors.html Twitter Tips for Authors, which was posted back in July. I think they make a lot of good suggestions. Having said that, I don't tweet using my author name, and I certainly wouldn't tweet as Jessica Rydill, Author (or writer). I've noticed that several friends don't Tweet under their own names either.

These reflections haven't moved me much further on with how to promote my book, as and when it becomes available. At the moment, I'm more pre-occupied with the next book, which rather seems to have taken off on a frolic of its own. There is no question that if you are writing for a mainstream publisher and with an editor to supervise you, he or she will provide a brake on this tendency! Editors, after all, are there to edit, which is what they do best. They do it much better than I ever will, because I cannot stand apart from my writing to the same degree.

I wonder if I should post a promo excerpt from Malarat here. But in the past, when I've done similar things on Live Journal, nobody commented at all. In other words, you need someone to be actually reading your blog in order for it to be a meaningful exercise!

I rather fear they are all too busy blogging themselves, and indeed tweeting.