Reblog- Ink and Sage Podcast

Episode 006: The Fruitful Heist and Renewal of Spirit— As ever, I’m not an expert, my intention is to be positive and helpful, and my opinions do not reflect the authors’ worth as people or as writers. Please ensure adequate sodium intake with this podcast.

I (and one of my Nano friends!) got featured on a podcast! This lovely lady, Sage Gordon Davis, is accepting first paragraphs, sentences, or the first line of stories from anyone willing to submit. She dissects them with a reader’s eye, telling what caught her fancy or what wasn’t her cup of tea.
Her podcast is great, take a look!

Book Spotlight: The Emperor's New Concerto

Today, we have a book spotlight: The New Emperor's Concerto!

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Summary

The year is 2228 and the world is on the cusp of World War Four. London is rife with anarchists and secret plots. It looks like dark days are coming for the British Empire. Darker than any that have been seen for decades.

But luckily England has some help.

Sir Lysander is the King's Righteous Man-and all that entails. He's the king's right hand, and a red one at that, the man who stands in the shadows and does what needs to be done for the protection of his country. 

Eidolon is a phantom, the anarchist group Apophis's top retrieval expert. They need something, he gets it, no matter the consequence. Even though he'd secretly prefer to be in his flat with his cat and a good book.

They've been butting heads for a while but in times like these, loyalties are known to change and right now, any help is good help. They just didn't count on being the only thing standing between England and the start of the next world war.

Cover

 

Author Bio

I'm an Indie writer, book lover, coffee connoisseur and history buff and folklorist. On a normal day you'll either find me reading, writing or on Goodreads talking to other writers. Author of On a Foreign Field, The Modern Tales of Na Fianna series and others.

Find her online at:

Blog

Ko-Fi

Goodreads

Instagram

Author Interview: Claire Banschbach

Today, as part of the blog tour, we have an interview with Claire Banschbach!
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Have you read anything that made you think differently about fiction?

I feel like it happens rarely that I’ll find a book that just completely captures me and hits that bittersweet spot where you’re just so immersed in the story and simultaneously wishing it was all real but knowing it’s not. Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater was that for me the first time I read it.

What is your favorite childhood book/fairy tale?

We had a St George and the Dragon book (by Margaret Hodges) with the story adapted from Edmund Spencer’s The Faerie Queene. It was my favorite book because A) dragons, B) knights on epic quests, and C) amazing illustrations. It’s still a favorite to this day!

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

I feel like I’m a fairly boring writer! :D I will say that I’ve never cried while writing an emotional scene or character death. I usually like trying to wring emotion from words, so I’m always oddly eager to get those scenes to see if I can get them out on paper like they’re playing in my head. (I’m a monster, it’s fine.)

What was/is your favorite part, and your least favorite part, of the publishing journey? 

My favorite part is usually the drafting process, where I’m discovering the story and the characters and being surprised by the twists and turns the story takes! Least favorite part is all the prep work to get everything set up and ready to go and then be brave enough to let your book baby out into the world. It’s one thing to just talk about it, but having people actually read it is something else! 😉

What do you hope your readers take away from this book?  

That it’s okay to be scared, but to try your best anyway. Change is scary, but you come out better for it. That everyone has something amazing about them. You just need to find your own magic.

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There's also a rafflecopter giveaway for an ebook and swag pack! Also, see here for the rest of the tour schedule.

Author Bio

Claire M. Banschbach is a native Texan and would make an excellent hobbit if she wasn’t so tall. She’s an overall dork, pizza addict, and fangirl. When not writing fantasy stories packed full of adventure and snark, she works as a pediatric Physical Therapist where she happily embraces the fact that she never actually has to grow up.

She writes New Adult/Adult fantasy as C.M. Banschbach.

Find her online at:

Facebook  

Instagram

Website

Author Interview: Hazel West

A note: I've been having some problems with Blogger lately, in regards to font (mostly changing mid-post, and I can't find anything in the HTML that could be causing it) and images (being super big or super small), so if anything looks wonky, it's because I haven't figured out how to fix it yet. -_-

This month, donate any amount or subscribe to Hazel through her Ko-Fi account and get an exclusive sneak peek of the next book in the Concerto universe, Requiem in Red!
Also check out this Rafflecopter giveaway!

For now, here's an interview with Hazel!

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1. How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

I’m not really sure it did change my overall process. I think I’ve always written stories for myself first which is what I would advise all aspiring writers to do. Whether people want like what I write or not doesn’t really worry me. If people enjoy my books, that makes me happy, but if they don’t that’s okay too. I guess if anything, it has made me more conscious of editing by writing, haha.

2. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

I actually tend to read a lot of under-appreciated books because I kind of have an allergy to things that are super popular. Two that come to mind are the Knight and Rogue series by Hilari Bell and The Secret Journeys of Jack London by Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon. Both of which are very good, but people hardly know they exist.

3. What kind of research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before beginning a book?

This can change depending on the book. Like, with Concerto, the conception to finished first draft was about three and a half months. I wrote this one really quickly. Typically, I will spend about a month researching and outlining a book, which I still did for this one pretty much, though this was one of those books that I wasn’t entirely sure what sort of research I would need so ended up doing a lot of it during the writing process. If I’m doing a historical novel, I will typically start gathering information and spending a couple months immersing myself in the time period and stuff. I feel like I always end up researching the most random things, especially for books like this.

4. Since you write a lot of alter-earth/fantasy-history (futuristic in this case), what would you say are the ethics of writing about historical figures?

Well, I have written historical figures into several of my books. I feel like as long as you keep them true to what we know about them, then I don’t personally have a problem with changing up the storyline a little bit. There’s been some really good alternate history stories. Like, I kind of liked Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith because I think he did a great job of keeping Lincoln in character. NOT a fan of revisionist history. There’s a difference between good historical fiction and revisionist history. Revisionist history is when you for some reason change a figure’s ethnicity to prove some sort of point. Like a certain story about a founding father with a musical inclination. Then you have historical fiction, like Peaky Blinders, where the historical person gets killed off so the original main character can rise to power. I don’t really have a problem with this as it’s still fiction. (Sorry about the long answer! XD)

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Author Bio

I'm an Indie writer, book lover, coffee connoisseur and history buff and folklorist. On a normal day you'll either find me reading, writing or on Goodreads talking to other writers. Author of On a Foreign Field, The Modern Tales of Na Fianna series and others.

Find her online at:
Blog
Ko-Fi
Goodreads
Instagram

Book Spotlight: Winter Spell

Claire Banschbach. That name--while very cool--is way easier to say in my head than aloud. XD
She's coming out with the third book in her series, The Faeries of Myrnius! I'm here today with a book spotlight. Read to the end for links to some giveaways, and be sure to check out the live Q&A with Claire and Hazel West.

Summary

A half-breed faery. A war-weary princess. A quest to free three kingdoms from the deadly winter spell. 

Constantly doubted by her ocean faery kindred, Tonya Freyr-dottir only wants to untangle the dormant ice and water magic within her. Then a strange attack makes her unleash a fierce winter on the land and sea. And she has no idea how to stop it.

Princess Diane serves faithfully at her brother’s side, trying to restore their kingdom of Myrnius after the devastating Dark War. Now with brutal winter wreaking havoc, everything they have worked for might be lost to famine and destruction.

Desperate to help, Tonya travels to the far north to unlock her magic, aided by Diane, as well as two land faeries: Dorian, a reckless healer and August, a mischievous warrior. But the north brings fresh dangers, unearths old wounds, and offers more questions than answers.

With doom threatening human and faery alike, Tonya must find a way to trust her new friends and release her magic before all fall to the fury of winter’s spell.

Cover

Author Bio

Claire M. Banschbach is a native Texan and would make an excellent hobbit if she wasn’t so tall. She’s an overall dork, pizza addict, and fangirl. When not writing fantasy stories packed full of adventure and snark, she works as a pediatric Physical Therapist where she happily embraces the fact that she never actually has to grow up.

She writes New Adult/Adult fantasy as C.M. Banschbach.

Find her online at:

Facebook  

Instagram

Website

Tour Schedule

Monday 4/20: 

        Abigail Leskey – book spotlight

Rachael Ritchey – book review

MH Elrich – author interview

Tuesday 4/21:

Rachael Ritchey – author interview

E Paige Burkes – book spotlight

Kelsey Bryant – book spotlight

Claire B – Winter Spell as gifs

Wednesday 4/22: 

E Rawls – book spotlight

Hazel West – character interview/book spotlight

MH Elrich – character interview, Diane

        Claire B – meet the characters!

Thursday 4/23 – RELEASE DAY!

CB Cook – book spotlight

Marlene Simonette – book spotlight

Claire B – Release Day!

INSTAGRAM LIVE Q&A WITH HAZEL WEST – 7:30 PM CST on @cmbanschbach

Friday 4/24

        Marlene Simonette – author interview

Deborah O’Carroll – book review

Claire B – tour wrap-up

Reblog- The Art of Being an Artist

Stephen McCranie: The Art of Being an Artist- They are true craftsmen, navigating their art with deftness and poise. I want to create as they do, but there is yet so far for me to go.

What the How-To Books DON'T Tell You About Mastering Your Craft

I'm only on Episode 11, and I've already gotten so much out of it. (Which I find funny, because I just finished reading a self-help book that I got nothing out of...)

Book Spotlight: Rose's Wrath

As is evidenced by the title (I just can't seem to get creative with blog post titles), I'm here today with a book spotlight! If you'd like to see my review, check it out here.
This fairy tale retelling has plenty of twists, interesting characters, and dark backstory, so let's get right into it.

Summary

"Have you ever heard Red Riding Hood howl at the moon?"

When Cerise, Verre, Blanca, and Aura are forced to complete a near-impossible task, it seems as if their loved ones’ lives are as good as over.

"Or seen Cinderella kill a man with just a shard of glass?"

And despite meeting a dragon, internal disputes, and the fact that they’re all most likely going to die, the young women grow close. Too close.

"Snow White has vanquished more with her poisoned breath than her beauty."

For secrets will come to light that have the power to change everything. There is a traitor in their midst, one who could potentially save or destroy them.

"And Sleeping Beauty? She will bring slumber with but a touch of her hand." 

Cover

Buy it. Buy it now.

Author Bio

Oceane McAllister is a fangirl-supreme, tea-drinking, novel-writing, thunder storm-obsessed indie author from New England. First and foremost a Christian, she tries to glorify her Lord and Savior in all that she does. Oceane also has a passion for writing YA fiction and believes it possible for them to be both quality and clean at the same time. With a tendency to wear only black, she is a staunch defender of the Oxford comma, abhors love triangles, and may or may not be obsessed with black olives.

Most days you can find her curled up on the couch typing away furiously on her computer. She is most definitely a Slytherin, Enneagram 3w4, and has convinced herself that she could win the Hunger Games. Some of her biggest inspirations are C. S. Lewis, Brandon Sanderson, Marissa Meyer, Jennifer A. Nielsen, and Suzanne Collins.

Find her online at:
Blog
Goodreads
Instagram

Tour Schedule:

March 27th: Blog tour intro

March 28th: Abigail Harder--book review

March 29th: Shine--character interview

March 30th: Kate Willis--book spotlight

March 31st: Merie Shen--author interview

April 1st: Juliette Dunn--book review

April 2nd: Marlene Simonette--book spotlight; you're already here!

April 3rd: Ian Wilson--author interview

April 4th: Grace Morris--book spotlight, review, and author interview