Happy Thursday, squiders. I had a lovely birthday yesterday, but today’s been a mess.
One of the things I did yesterday, though, was sit and finish The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, which was a lovely book that I enjoyed very much.
(The copy I read had a blurb on the front cover, which says “A warm and witchy hug of a book” – Tasha Suri, which is an accurate description of the story.)
The book reminded me very much of The House by the Cerulean Sea, in that it involved the main character finding their place, love, and a family where they least expected it (in both cases, involving orphaned magical children in a house by the sea). That’s not a bad thing; I very much enjoyed The House by the Cerulean Sea as well.
I’ve taken to calling these types of stories Cozy Fantasy–and I’m not alone. (I checked Goodreads, and 32 people had shelved The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches as cozy fantasy, and another 32 had just shelved it under “cozy.”) These stories are typically contemporary, with some fantasy elements, and the focus is on healing–finding yourself, finding a place to belong, finding people to call your own.
They’re comforting. And I like them.
Back in the depths of lockdown I found a list somewhere on line, and I think it was something like “The Top 10 Non-stressful Manga” or something like that. From that, I found one called Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu. I’d consider this cozy fantasy too. In manga/anime, this is a Isekai story, which roughly translates to “portal fantasy” (a staple of fantasy in general, and a subgenre I’m rather fond of myself).
The basic premise of Otherworldly Izakaya (izakaya is like an inn, or a pub) Nobu is that someone found a portal between Tokyo and a fantasy realm, and decided to open an izakaya right next to the portal in the fantasy realm. So basically it’s just fantasy people wandering into the izakaya and having their problems solved by food.
It’s more interesting than it sounds.
With the world as unstable as it feels–impending wars, climate change, diseases, crime, and the list goes on–sometimes it’s good to read something that isn’t going to cause more anxiety.
Have you read anything in this genre, squiders? What were your favorite? (I’d love to read more of this, so please share!)
Good morning, squiders! Today I’ve got a very interesting-sounding fantasy novel based on angel mythology (something near and dear to my heart *coughcoughShardscoughcough*). Check it out!
Stairway to Heaven
by Alex Stevens
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Fantasy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Corporal Jack Graven should be dead. Murdered by a vengeful angel at his own father’s funeral, Jack is resurrected and returns to life carrying a terrible secret: he is the Archangel Gabriel reincarnated.
Jack’s not the only one with secrets. His older brother, Lieutenant Colonel Tyler Graven “Demon of Kyoto”, has just inherited his father’s fortune and legacy as Lord of War, with no intention of stopping there: Tyler will someday rule the world.
The brothers reunite their elite military unit, “The Four Horsemen,” with Tyler’s longtime flame Colonel Diana Levitas and the mysterious Lance Corporal Jin Xialong. Together they seek to uncover the truth of Jack’s past life and propel Tyler to his impossible destiny.
Thrust into a supernatural war, the Gravens find salvation through the Black Muramasa, a cursed black katana and the only weapon that can destroy immortals. As they uncover more mysteries behind the ancient blade, they come face to face with the Devil himself, but in the most familiar of faces. Their pasts, presents, and futures all linked, the Four Horsemen must end the war once and for all to survive with their souls intact. Failing could mean the end of the world.
A follow up to the explosive first book in the Ballad of Fallen Angels series, “Sympathy for the Devil,” Book 2 is an action-packed, gun-slinging adventure that packs the punch of a military thriller with high-stakes supernatural intrigue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“Make no mistake about it,” I continued. “You and your companions are caught in the middle of a war, a war of immortals. You need me just as much as I need you. As my disciples, the only change is your indebtedness to me. I would in essence be your master, and in return I will continue to offer my advice and protection. As it stands, I would say the two of you are quite indebted to me already.”
“What will we gain from this?” Jack asked. “I’ve never even considered the thought of pledging myself in return for information.”
“You gain an identity for yourself, and Tyler perhaps his soul. It will make sense once I’ve finished, this is for certain. You will also gain intimate knowledge regarding the immortals after your lives, but not without the assurance that I have my followers.”
Jack and Tyler faced each other then, seemingly sharing a silent moment of contemplation.
“Better the devil you know, little brother,” Tyler said at last.
“I tried walking away once, and it didn’t end well. He knew my name, a name I haven’t shared with anyone here,” Jack stated, turning in his chair to face Tyler. “I’m still alive, so I’d like the truth.”
“I guess we’re in, then.”
“Two,” I counted, displaying both fingers in the air. “Very well, then, my disciples. I will reveal everything you wish to know and more. The greatest story ever told.”
“Who are you really?” Jack asked.
“I am the fallen one,” I responded. “I am Lucifer.”
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Alex Stevens is a Marine Corps Veteran with two deployments and a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Interdisciplinary Studies program, a unique undergraduate degree that caters to students with various interests of study. He is also an advent traveler and philosophy enthusiast who has spent a lifetime studying religions, with a focus on Non-denominational Christianity. Alex spends most of his time going for walks, spending time with loved ones, and when the juices are flowing, writing. Fantasy fiction is his great escape from the mundane and he likes to create fantastical realities that are blended with non-fictional people, places, and events.
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/DemonofKyoto
Amazon Book link:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Anything with caramel.
Which mythological creature are you most like?
Phoenix
First book you remember making an indelible impression on you.
A (Kit’s note: Unfortunately it seems the rest of the answer was cut off, and I don’t have a way to access the author directly. I’m sure it was a good one!)
How do you develop your plot and characters?
I just write and whatever happens, happens. I often times write several stories that don’t really fit together and part of the challenge for me is to make it all make sense.
Describe your writing space.
Everywhere. Usually on a couch in the living room or in bed, but I’ve written on beaches, porches, in cars, everywhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
A $50 Amazon/BN GC will be provided to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Here’s the prompt from WriYe: Share your favorite books, courses, or websites you like to visit to grow your writing!
I’m firmly of the belief that there’s always more to learn about just about anything, and so I do periodically take classes, go to webinars, and read books about writing. Sometimes these books are specific to a genre or an area of writing, and sometimes they’re not.
I have found, though, that a lot of the stuff goes over the same ground, most of which is not helpful at this point (because I already know it). So something does need to be a little more unique these days.
ANYWAY though.
One of my very favorite writing books is Story Engineering by Larry Brooks. Pacing was long an issue for me, with many very badly jacked up first drafts (and some second drafts) in my past. This is the book that fixed all that for me.
Do you know how many pacing issues I had in my first draft of Hallowed Hill? NONE. This is hugely different than when I had to completely reconstruct the pacing on Shards to make the story make any sort of logical sense. I am cured, and this book is the cause.
(Seriously, this is the only note I got from the editor about my pacing for HH: “The pacing is good throughout, with a nice balance of Martie in problem-solving mode, moments of terror and despair, and enough support from expected and unexpected sources to keep her going.”)
The other thing that was very influential on me was Holly Lisle’s How to Revise Your Novel class. This taught me how to effectively revise, and it’s done in such a way that the steps are fairly easy to copy and use yourself, and I have used this on every book since I went through the class. (Including Hallowed Hill!) I have modified the procedure a bit, but this is a wonderful class if you’re having issues figuring out how to edit your own stuff.
(Holly also has a free class, How to Write Flash Fiction, which is also quite useful and has actually gotten me a number of sales on my flash fiction.)
There are a ton of other resources out there–so many great ones, really. It’s overwhelming, and you can (and I have) spent a ton of time (perhaps too much time) looking at stuff. You have to remember to balance your learning with your doing.
Oh, all right, one more. My favorite writing website is Fiction University. Janice Hardy runs this site (and also has a number of How To writing books and workbooks) and it’s been a go-to of mine for years. I don’t read every post, but there’s a lot of good stuff in there.
All right, well, those are my favorites! Any thoughts? What has worked best for you?
Squiders, Hallowed Hill is out! It looks beautiful and I’m really proud of it.
And I got all my marketing work done–all the reviewers emailed, copies sent out to those who requested it, promos set up on subsequent days to maximize release week pricing and whatnot, etc.
And…I’ve run into technical issues.
The paperback version on Amazon got stuck in some sort of publishing limbo. It’s supposed to go live in three days or less, but it was stuck on “Publishing” (so past being reviewed, in theory just a short status while the book went live on the website) for over two days. Which put the paperback into some sort of weird pre-order limbo, where people could order the book, but they never got any sort of delivery date or anything like that.
It took Amazon over 24 hours to figure out why the paperback had gotten stuck and to make it go live, and people I know who had ordered the paperback in the weird limbo phase are telling me, as of a few hours ago, that they’ve finally got delivery dates and all that jazz.
Now, though, sales aren’t showing up in my reports. I know of at least a couple of people who’ve bought the paperback, and I have talked to Amazon about it, but basically they’re not worried about the sales missing yet, and I’ve been so frustrated and worn out from trying to deal with the technical issues that I don’t have the energy to push anything right now.
But, it’s like–I put all that work into the marketing, and the promos, and the timing, and everything, and to have it all go sideways because of random technical issues is so frustrating. Like, why did I bother? Maybe the solution, in the future, is to get the book all the way published, and THEN run the promotions.
Or, I don’t know, turn to octopus husbandry and teach the octopuses how to conduct bank heists.
Anyway, the smaller, mobile one and I made chocolate zucchini bread last night, and it’s really good.
Now that Hallowed Hill is out and is no longer consuming 100% of my attention (aside from technical issues and frustrations), I can go back to other projects. It will be nice to do something else for a bit. But I am running into issues with too many choices–where I can’t decide what to do next.
I saw an add for an app where you put everything that you need to do into it, and then it prioritizes stuff for you. Might look more into that.
Anyway, I should be back to my normal posting schedule. How have you been?
Well, squiders, we’re about 10 days out from Hallowed Hill‘s release.
And I am EXHAUSTED.
There’s been so much to do. So much to coordinate. So much to check.
So far I’ve:
Finalized the book draft
Done all necessary book formats (this is fun, I love book formatting)
Made various versions of the cover (including a wraparound for print form)
Gotten the ebook pre-order live on all platforms
Updated aspects of my website
Chosen an excerpt and had it put up on the Turtleduck Press website
Fought with Goodreads (I’m not the default Kit Campbell so all my books always go on the other profile)
(I asked if I could be the default since the other Kit Campbell hasn’t published in over a decade and I have new stuff come out fairly regularly, and the answer was no)
Emailed a couple dozen reviewers (and have been sending out review copies as they get back to me)
Set up some email newsletters
Set up some promotions
Sent announcements to various groups
I still have some promotions I need to do, and I need to finalize some print stuff (Amazon is putting in random blank pages, so I need to go poke that a bit), and a couple more things for release day.
Ye gods.
I think it’s going pretty well, though! Things are in good shape, and the book’s rankings are already looking pretty decent. (Last I checked, it was #25 in Teen & Young Adult Ghost Stories.)
But I’m definitely starting to feel a little burnt out.
The last few days, I tried to record my SkillShare class, as a break from marketing and release work, but Tuesday my computer super crashed, and yesterday no matter what microphone I used, I got a low hum that I couldn’t get rid of. So in the end that was more stress instead of being a respite. Yay.
On top of the release stuff, all the MileHiCon stuff came out this week–panel assignments, programming, signing tables, etc. I love MileHiCon! But having all that in the middle of the release stuff has been really overwhelming. And they put me on FIVE PANELS this year. I’m normally on 2 or 3. And unfortunately I can’t do one of them because it overlaps the Critter Crunch and the bigger, mobile one isn’t allowed to be on his own for another year. (It was about DINOSAURS. I am distraught.)
Still, it’s only another week and a half, and then things will calm down a bit, I think. Or at least be less stress, fingers crossed.
I really appreciate your guys’ support through this.
I’m starting to think about what to do after the book is out. Take a week off and play video games, maybe. Except I’ll need to get going on MileHiCon stuff–prep for panels, make sure I have books to sell, get a new card reader that actually works, etc. And I’ll need to probably do some class work, assuming I can ever get that hum to go away.
But, maybe, I can finally get back to Book 1. That would be amazing. Especially if we start getting somewhere, since all the momentum we had got eaten when I had to shift gears for the novella.
Right now, though, I mostly just want to sleep.
How are you, squiders? How are you destressing these days?
Sorry for the radio silence, squiders. Turns out I’m having a hard time keeping on top of everything with the release, and some of the other things in my life are getting neglected. So I’m going to go ahead and say that updates here are going to be spotty for the next two weeks til the book is out, and potentially a few weeks after that depending on how reviews/promotions are going.
(Also, just a reminder that the ebook version is $1.99 during the pre-order time period, and then the price goes up once it’s released. Pre-orders, cover, description, and an excerpt are here.)
Today we’re going to talk about a book I found at a garage sale around the corner from my house, rather than a library book sale book. I picked up this book because I suspect that I spent a lot of my childhood watching British mystery series on Masterpiece Theater on PBS. At least, it feels like I did.
I have many vague memories of different shows, but I remember Rumpole. He was my dad’s favorite. He was a large, loud, unapologetic man married to someone he called She Who Must Be Obeyed. I admittedly don’t remember anything other than that.
But when I saw this book at the garage sale, I remembered how much my dad liked Rumpole, and I picked it up for, like, a quarter.
(Also, I’ve talked to my dad, and he’s going to take this book off my hands next time I see him.)
Title: Rumpole a la Carte Author: John Mortimer Genre: Mystery short story collection Publication Year: 1990
Pros: Rumpole is very much a character, and despite the age of the book it ages fairly well Cons: I don’t understand how the British court system works and so I found some bits confusing
Each short story is almost exactly 40 pages long, which I like in an OCD sort of way.
So, while I remembered my dad liking Rumpole (Rumpole of the Bailey, I believe the TV show was called) I didn’t actually remember the set up of the show. Rumpole is a defense lawyer (Defence barrister, in the British, I suppose) whose main goal seems to be getting his clients–who are always innocent, at least in these shorts–off in court. He does do some investigation on his own and does tend to figure out what really happened, but he only uses this information to clear his own client. He never does anything beyond that.
Despite being set in the Bailey (which I assume is some sort of…law office? Hold on, searching–it’s a criminal court. My questions are not answered) and often on the floor of a court case, there is a definite element to these stories which is almost cozy mystery-esque. The stories involve the case at hand, but they also spend a lot of time on the antics of Rumpole’s fellow Bailey denizens, or on Hilda’s (that’s She Who Must Be Obeyed’s name, but in the stories she’s more often referred to by her name) relations or friends.
And the stories have aged well. I find sometimes, with older mysteries, that sometimes they come across misogynistic or sexist or racist or whatever, in a way that was acceptable at the time. But Rumpole literally does not care about any of that, so it’s all pretty minor.
Overall, I enjoyed the collection. The stories were a good length, the cases varied, and the characters interesting.
On a side note, before I let you guys go, I apparently had some issues as a child telling the time period of said British mystery shows. Part of that was probably the variety of shows in many different time periods, and part of that is probably the fact that lawyers wear robes and wigs at court in the UK, and so throws childhood perception off. From this book at least, it seems like Rumpole was contemporary to when he was being published.
Anyway! Did you guys watch the Rumpole of the Bailey tv show? Read any of the other books? Have thoughts of other good mystery short story collections?
Hooray! Squiders, I’m so pleased to present to you the cover for my Gothic horror novella Hallowed Hill.
Maybe you should look a gift horse in the mouth.
After the sudden loss of her parents, 16-year-old Martie Torsney receives a surprise scholarship from a prestigious boarding school. This is the opportunity she needs to leave the heartbreak and echoes of her parents behind.
Greyson Academy sits deep in the forests of Vermont, high on a hill overlooking the trees. The school has a long history of helping its students succeed in life. If Martie excels here, she’ll be set.
But all is not well at Greyson. Scholarship students are very rare, and none has ever completed their time at Greyson. And, now, someone wants Martie gone too. Her things are moved, cryptic messages are left, and the school is vandalized in her name. But is it the living trying to scare her away–or the dead?
Martie is determined to stay, for herself and for her parents’ memory. But staying may cost her more than she ever imagined.
If you love ghost stories and mysteries, check out Hallowed Hill now!
The book will be released on October 1 (just in time for Spooky Season) and is currently available for pre-order in ebook form.
Good morning, squiders! Today I’ve got a promo for you. Take a look and see if it sounds interesting!
Horror / Suspense / Thriller
Date Published: July 14, 2022
Leigh Ramos is a woman on the run from her own life. After barely escaping
from a toxic relationship with a drug dealer, emotionally codependent Leigh
decides to start her life over somewhere far from the hills of Kentucky. She
feels inexplicably drawn to Hawaii, where she manages to land a job in an
exclusive resort. At first, it almost seems too good to be true, and of
course, it is.
Supernatural horrors start manifesting all around Leigh and her new
co-workers, and soon she starts having disturbing nightmares of impossible
creatures calling out to her. To make matters worse, Leigh’s violent
ex-boyfriend is close on her tail, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.
Now trapped in the midst of all these dangers, Leigh can’t help but fall
back on old habits. She finds comfort in the arms of her new boss, an upbeat
hospitality manager who seems almost too perfect.
In order to survive paradise, Leigh will need to learn from her past
mistakes or she will be doomed to repeat them.
About the Author
Jon Cohn has been giving himself nightmares reading horror books ever since
he was a small child, and he revels in the opportunity to do the same to
others. When he is not busy writing spooky stories, Jon is a professional
board game designer and publisher. He specializes in games that– you
guessed it– focus on horror, and hopefully a few laughs. He lives in San
Diego, CA with his wife and two little monsters, Luna and Gizmo.
“There’s some catharsis in just going through the motions—loading up everything I own into one bag and pretending like that’s all it takes to leave. Most times, it’s enough to soothe the itch for a while, like a cortisone cream for the soul.”
“First of all, this is not a hotel. This is an exclusive resort for members and their guests only. Anyone you see on this property not wearing an orange shirt is not just rich—they’re obscenely rich.”
“I move a little closer to get a better look at the dead whale. The entire flank of the behemoth has been eaten away. Its guts splay out across the beach, presented like a buffet for maggots.”
“I reach back into my bag, fumbling around for anything I can use as a weapon. My fingers find purchase on the paper-wrapped base of a snow globe, and a white-hot surge of energy pours into me. I hold my family memory tightly as I smash it into Ricky’s temple.”
“I squint at its features and vaguely recognize its face, even though it’s distorted and deformed beyond human proportions. Its jaw opens, revealing an overstuffed mouth lined with long, thin teeth, curving like the ribs of the dead whale. Without moving its lips, it whispers a message. ‘It’s you.’”
“I can’t help it, but the more anxious I get about my choices, the more desperately I want to lie back and curl into Kai’s warm body. Jesus, I can’t even panic about my codependency issues without being codependent.”
“Ohana means family. Family means fishing a dead rat out of a pool to keep things running smoothly for everyone else.”
Thanks, squiders! I’ll see you Thursday when I have a cover reveal for you guys!
Well, squiders, we’ve reached the end of our summer series. We’ve looked at SO MANY plot archetypes. 7 basic plots, 20 master plots, whatever the 36 plot list was called.
So, we’ve done them all, right?
You would be WRONG.
We’ve mentioned this before, but the whole plot archetype thing is really subjective, and where people draw the differences varies wildly. The three sets we went through are the most popular delineations, but they’re far from being the only ones.
So, to finish up our summer series, I thought I’d give you a quick look at some of the other plot archetype lists.
The Hero’s Journey
Perhaps the most classic of all plot archetypes is the Hero’s Journey, which was created by Joseph Campbell. There are 12 stages:
1. The Ordinary World
2. The Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting the Mentor
5. Crossing the Threshold
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
8. The Ordeal
9. Reward (Seizing the Sword)
10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return with the Elixir
Kurt Vonnegut’s 6 Archetypes
Vonnegut’s archetypes are based on the main character’s arc through each story.
1. Rise, or “Rags to Riches
2. Fall, or “Riches to Rags”
3. Fall Then Rise, or “Man in a Hole”
4. Rise Then Fall, or “Icarus”
5. Rise Then Fall Then Rise, or “Cinderella”
6. Fall Then Rise Then Fall, or “Oedipus”
The Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index
This is a classification system that was developed for European folklore, and divides those stories up into seven categories with subcategories.
1. Animal Tales
Example subcategories:
Wild Animals
The Clever Fox (And Other Animals)
Wild Animals and Domestic Animals
Wild Animals and Humans
Domestic Animals
2. Tales of Magic
Example subcategories:
Supernatural Adversaries
Supernatural or Enchanted Relative
Supernatural Tasks
Supernatural Helpers
Magic Objects
Supernatural Power or Knowledge
3. Religious Tales
Example subcategories:
God Rewards and Punishes
The Truth Comes to Light
Heaven
The Devil
4. Realistic Tales
Example subcategories:
The Man Marries the Princess
The Woman Marries the Prince
Proofs of Fidelity and Innocence
Good Precepts
Clever Acts and Words
Tales of Fate
Robbers and Murderers
5. Tales of the Stupid Ogre/Giant/Devil
Example subcategories:
Labor Contract
Partnership between Man and Ogre
Contest between Man and Ogre
Ogre Frightened by Man
Man Outwits the Devil
Souls Saved from the Devil
6. Anecdotes and Jokes
Example subcategories:
Stories about a Fool
Stories about Married Couples
Lucky Accidents
Jokes about Clergymen and Religious Figures
Anecdotes About Other Groups of People
Tall Tales
7. Formula Tales
Example subcategories:
Cumulative Tales
Chains Based on Numbers/Objects/Animals/Names
Chains Involving Death
Chains Involving Eating
Catch Tales
Man vs. ?
You probably remember these from school. These focus on the challenges that the main character is confronting. (Also, most modern lists have changed this to Person vs. or Character vs.)
Character vs. Character(s)
Character vs. Society
Character vs. Nature
Character vs. Technology
Character vs. Supernatural
Character vs. Fate
Character vs. Self
And these are just some of what comes down to many, many different archetype breakdowns.
So, now that we’ve talked about the varying plot archetypes–what good are they? What can we do with them?
Well, a lot of this is all academic. But, arguably, you can use them as a starting point when plotting out your story. If you know what story you want to tell, or if you know the archetype of stories like the story you want to tell, you can use the same beats as the archetype to make sure you’re hitting all the right notes. Or you can use an unexpected archetype if you want to try giving your story more punch.
Or you can try all sorts of things. Or none of them. Do what you want, man.
Well, squiders, that’s that! I’ll have a cover reveal and an excerpt for you from Hallowed Hill really soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Let’s just pretend this was posted last week like it was supposed to be.
So, continuing on our master plot archetype discussion we come to the ninth of Booker’s seven plots, and his final one. (As mentioned in previous weeks, despite the book being called The Seven Basic Plots there are actually nine plots.) The final plot is called Rebellion Against the One.
As the name implies, this plot involves the main character rebelling against a greater power. Almost all dystopias fall into this archetype.
There are two ways this type of story goes. One, the greater power eventually breaks the main character, resulting in the main character being integrated back into the status quo and nothing really changing. Think 1984 or Brazil. Like the Mystery archetype, Booker doesn’t approve of this archetype because there is a disconnect between the internal character arc and the story itself. With this type of story, basically everything the main character does is all for naught, so what’s the point? (Says Booker, not me.) The powerless remain powerless and the “evil” (though not always) system stays in place.
That all being said, there is a second type of Rebellion Against the One stories. The set-up is the same, where the main character is fighting against the powerful system, except now the character is successful, and the society changes through their actions. The Hunger Games, The Matrix, Scott Westerfeld’s Pretties series, etc.
How do you feel about this sort of story, squiders? Again, I do think it’s kind of funny that Booker just ignored two perfectly reasonable archetypes just because he didn’t like them. What’s your favorite dystopia?
