Sorrel Snowbound takes flight!

Sorrel Snowbound has launched! It is finally on Amazon in paperback, here (for the UK) and here (for the US).

The kindle version is here (if you're in the UK) or here (in the USA).

There will be versions at Lulu and DriveThruFiction, but they haven't appeared yet - I'll post when they appear.



It seems to have been a long haul to get Sorrel to this stage in her adventures, but I think it's been worth the wait (of course, I would say that, wouldn't I? ;-))

Sorrel Snowbound starts shortly after the end of Sorrel in Scarlet.  The city of Daryan is under attack by the lloruk, and Sorrel and Wrack have travelled there from Tolgrail to offer support and aid. In the midst of the struggle Wrack is captured and transported to Luthvara, a lloruk city. Sorrel is determined to get him out of there - but fears the sophisticated sorcery of the lloruk. She needs an edge  - something that the lloruk have not faced before. Her best chance is to return to the surface and gather knowledge and hardware the lloruk will not expect.

But the lands of the surface are (in their own way) even more dangerous than the scarlet depths of the Chasm...

Sorrel Reviewed by Black Gate

Black Gate magazine has reviewed Sorrel in Scarlet!

The full review is here - it gives a thorough and entertaining description of the novel, and positive praise for it.

I shall wait with bated breath to see what reactions it generates...

Be careful what you wish for...

A friend on a forum I frequent casually wished that she could just sit down and write.

I slid into "evil genie" mode, and responded:

Granted.
The muse grabs you and won't let go. You write until your fingers bleed... until the words writhe upon the paper... until the ink stains your skin into tattooes... until the paper is shredded into crumbled dust... until the pen is worn to a stub... and still you write. 

The words grip at your thoughts and will not let go, breeding and multiplying in non-Euclidian patterns, and the muse still holds you in her thrall. 

When you try to rise and escape, the stories rise within your soul, compelling you to express them and give them life. And still you write. The lamp gutters... the sun sank below the ground a thousand years ago... your body demands sleep... and still you write.

And the stories keep flowing through you. They are stronger than you. A compulsion you cannot resist. And the stories continue to grow and fester and engulf you. 

And you will never, never, never stop writing, even when your fingers are bone and the wind that hisses around you whispers that it is the end of the world...


Sometimes I scare myself.

And the really frightening thing is that I wish I could spend tomorrow writing...

 

Sorrel Snowbound re-covered

I posted the intended cover for Sorrel Snowbound a few weeks ago. The novel itself is in the last stages of editing - my target is to publish it by the beginning of September. My editor, Laurel Kriegler, tells me she likes it - so I must have got something right!

I've revised the cover again - more crisp colour, and a more dramatic angle for the triplane, flying out of the cover almost straight at the reader. I think this is the definitive version that I am going to use. All I need now is a back cover, completed text, and Sorrel can take to the skies!

New header!

And I have a new header image for the blog - now my dragon is breathing fire, and the triplane is at a more dramatic angle!

Book Signing at Niche Comics

 I spent this evening at Niche Comics, who were holding a books, comics and art event. A fascinating range of attendees, including Ian Whates, Mike Lancaster and Alison Bruce.

 I was gleefully able to sign and sell more copies of Sorrel in Scarlet. One, in particular, I was very pleased to sign was to Bob Pugh, who was the Doctor in Empress of Othernow.

 I was also pleased to get a photograph with the Mayor of Huntingdon, Bill Hensley.

Thanks to Angela Makey and to everyone at Niche Comics in Huntingdon for a really good evening!

Dubious minotaurs...

Not really apropos anything, but I liked the image - created courtesy of Poser Pro 2014.  Yes, I'm playing with a new toy...