My original cover for Undrastormur has needed an update for quite some time. I designed it myself using an inexpensive stock image, an average font, and a basic cover design tool. It wasn't terribly eye-catching and, without the subtitle, could just as easily been a foreign language story about dangerous weather. All of this added up to a cover that looked okay but could've been better.
After years of muttering to myself about my lack of design skills, I finally decided to do something about it.
Enter talented cover designer Keith Robinson. He not only redesigned my tired original cover, but is designing brand new covers for Undrastormur, Part 2: The Great Tree (coming very soon), and Undrastormur, Part 3: The Revenge of the Giants (coming in early 2018).
Here's his new cover:
Big improvement, eh? It features Eirik, the main character, and Hilde, a strong supporting character. Even without the subtitle, we can reasonably assume there's an adventure involved. Closer examination will hopefully lead potential readers to guess it's a sword and sorcery story since Eirik holds a wizard's staff and Hilde sports a serious-looking sword.
I'm very pleased with this new cover and can't wait to reveal the next two.
If you're in need of a cover, I heartily recommend contacting Keith by clicking on his highlighted name above. He's smart, intuitive, and easy to work with.
CLICK HERE to reach the Undrastormur Amazon page.
Friday, December 8, 2017
Saturday, December 2, 2017
Blog Tour: Druid Warrior Prince by Juli D. Revezzo
Author Juli D. Revezzo has a new book called Druid Warrior Prince. It's full of Celtic mythology, which I groove on, so I think it looks interesting and I'm guessing you will too. She tells us all about her book in this guest post. Check out the post and then check out Druid Warrior Prince! -- RE
**
Druid Warrior Prince is the third in my urban/historical
fantasy series, Celtic Stewards Chronicles. If you haven’t been introduced to it
yet, the series is about a family who owns a patch of land on which the Irish
gods of the Tuatha dé Danann, their druids,
and a special squad of elite warriors fight an ancient, magical battle against
mythic evil for the fate of the world, every 500 years.
In the first book,
Passion’s Sacred Dance, the heroine (Stacy) receives an old diary from the last
overseer, who takes the overseer’s title of “Steward”. While Stacy lives in
modern-day Florida, the previous steward oversaw the battle in 1513 on the
family’s original homestead in Ireland.(The whole story of which is told in
book 2, Druid Warrior’s Heart). That
information only furthered Stacy’s curiosity about the family, so after her own
battle in 2013, she’s gone digging for more
information on how her family has dealt with this war, seeking clues to,
perhaps, end it, once and for all.
The third volume, lately released, entitled Druid Warrior Prince continues the story, from the point of view of
Gwenevieve, the steward who lived 1500 years ago, revealing to Stacy a little-known
episode in the family history, taking place is 6th Century Ireland.
The progression down through Stacy’s history, to Gwen’s is why I can’t say the
series is purely historical fantasy;
it is, but it’s not, due to the modern setting of Passion’s Sacred Dance. Why
did I decide to that? Because I’m mad? No. :)
If I am, there’s a method to the madness. For me, the
combination of myth, fantasy, and history is something that has intrigued me
for a long time, especially Celtic mythology. I have been studying up on it
ever since I first found the King Arthur tales. A decade or so ago I fell into
Irish mythology, and have barely resurfaced since. That’s where the world and war
of the Celtic Stewards Chronicles came from. There’s a tale in the myths that
says the evil god Balor one day did the unthinkable and refused hospitality to
a druid of the Tuatha dé Danann. Well, the withholding of said hospitality was
a major slight, in the eyes of the Celts, and so this druid did what you’d
expect. He told tales of this king’s snub to his kin, and they decided to go to
war with the king over it. (As I said, major slight!) That story, got me
thinking, what if the war didn’t just end at the end of the tale we have
written down? What if the uppity king kept poking at his enemies, by way of
threatening humanity, or otherwise causing trouble so the Tuatha dé Danann
would have no choice but to defend people from the king’s potential destructive
wrath?
That thought gave rise to a war fought every 500
years under the watchful eye of one family, as ancient Celtic wars were fought
with a druid on hand to oversee it all, and from there to my three books (so
far) in the Celtic Stewards Chronicles,
the third of which, Druid Warrior Prince, just released.
The official synopsis is as follows:
Gwenevieve Macken’s well-ordered world falls into
chaos as encroaching interlopers scheme to possess both her and her land.
Although she’s been trained to spot the signs of inhuman evil in men, the
amassing armies take on guises she never expected.
When a foreign guardian presents himself as her only option for salvation, Gwenevieve must make a choice between her desires, and fulfilling the mythic fate to which she was born. A forced marriage to a Tuatha dé Danann warrior isn't part of her plan.
When a foreign guardian presents himself as her only option for salvation, Gwenevieve must make a choice between her desires, and fulfilling the mythic fate to which she was born. A forced marriage to a Tuatha dé Danann warrior isn't part of her plan.
**
Should you like to check it out, it’s available at Amazon,
in ebook and paperback.
The entire Celtic Stewards Chronicles can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KK77N5
I hope you will enjoy them. And before I go, I’d like to say
thank you to Roger for allowing me to come here and tell you about the series.
Juli D. Revezzo loves fantasy and Celtic mythology and
writing stories with all kinds of fantastical elements. She is the author of
the historical romances, House of Dark
Envy, Watchmaker's Heart, and Lady of the Tarot, the Antique Magic paranormal mystery series
and Celtic Stewards Chronicles series
and more. She is also a member of the Independent Author Network and the Magic
Appreciation Tour.
To learn more about this and future releases, visit her at: http://www.julidrevezzo.com
Sign up for her newsletter at: http://bit.ly/SNI5K6
Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julidrevezzo
or follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julidrevezzo
Monday, November 20, 2017
GHOST STAR: Kindle Press Announces Publication Date!
Just got the announcement...GHOST STAR will be published by Kindle Press on January 9,
2018 at 12:00 AM EST! Woo hoo!
The link below is to my book's brand new Amazon page. Those who nominated GHOST STAR during its Kindle Scout campaign are eligible for a free Kindle copy.
Those who missed out on that crazy fun time (YIKES!) can pre-order their very own copy too. The paperback edition will come out around the same time and will be published through CreateSpace.
Hope you enjoy GHOST STAR, and thank you for your support!
To go to GHOST STAR'S Amazon page, click HERE.
The link below is to my book's brand new Amazon page. Those who nominated GHOST STAR during its Kindle Scout campaign are eligible for a free Kindle copy.
Those who missed out on that crazy fun time (YIKES!) can pre-order their very own copy too. The paperback edition will come out around the same time and will be published through CreateSpace.
Hope you enjoy GHOST STAR, and thank you for your support!
To go to GHOST STAR'S Amazon page, click HERE.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Chugging Along: Ghost Star Update #3
I submitted my publish-ready manuscript to Kindle Press yesterday. This draft was based on the excellent notes I got from my KP editor. I also had "David," the Microsoft Word robot voice, read Ghost Star back to me one more time after I had done the changes. I'm always amazed at how many errors he helps me catch. If you're not using TTS (Text to Speech) as a proofing tool, I highly recommend that you do so.
I got a note back from KP this morning. My author revised draft has "passed the final stages of review." Because of the quick turnaround, I'm guessing their approval is based on some sort of auto-scan.
The rest of the note goes on to say:
I got a note back from KP this morning. My author revised draft has "passed the final stages of review." Because of the quick turnaround, I'm guessing their approval is based on some sort of auto-scan.
The rest of the note goes on to say:
Super cool! That's it for now. More to come."Currently, the Kindle Press production team is working on converting your Word doc into a MOBI e-book file for publication on all Kindle devices. We’ll let you know when this stage is complete and we establish a detail page for your title. This process typically takes around 1-2 weeks."
Monday, October 16, 2017
Getting Schooled: Ghost Star Update #2
I received my Kindle Press editor's notes on GHOST STAR a few days ago and started working on them today. Woo hoo!
How it works: The editor sends you, the KS-selected author, an edited manuscript (where the author can accept or reject the changes using the Track Changes feature). Working from the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) for grammar, punctuation, and style guidelines, and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate (M-W) for spellings and hyphenations, she found tons of, shall we say, "deviations" from those rules. The suggested changes are all of a minor nature (no "Chapter 13 sucks, chuck it!"), but there are lots of little things that need to be fixed. The cool thing is that my editor made a lot of the little changes (punctuation, sentence structure, naming continuity, etc.) herself, so all I have to do is accept or reject.
My editor's tone is supportive and upbeat. I really get the feeling she likes the book and is on my side. I can tell she only wants the book to be as good as it can be, but she leaves no doubt about the proper way to do things. For example, it was pointed out the names of the spacecraft should be italicized as in Ghost Star. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure.
Along with the edited manuscript came a Editorial Letter (Line Editing) where GHOST STAR gets what amounts to a critique on things like Structure/Plot Flow, Characterization, and Tone and Style. Again, tons of great info here including awesome suggestions about how to heighten the impact of key scenes with some well-placed foreshadowing.
My first pass through the notes will be for the basic Accept/Reject notes (punctuation corrections, etc.). Then I'll address my editor's comments in the manuscript. Finally, I'll go through the Editorial Letter and make the suggested changes. I'm about halfway through the first pass and loving every minute of it. It's exciting!
How it works: The editor sends you, the KS-selected author, an edited manuscript (where the author can accept or reject the changes using the Track Changes feature). Working from the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) for grammar, punctuation, and style guidelines, and the Merriam-Webster Collegiate (M-W) for spellings and hyphenations, she found tons of, shall we say, "deviations" from those rules. The suggested changes are all of a minor nature (no "Chapter 13 sucks, chuck it!"), but there are lots of little things that need to be fixed. The cool thing is that my editor made a lot of the little changes (punctuation, sentence structure, naming continuity, etc.) herself, so all I have to do is accept or reject.
My editor's tone is supportive and upbeat. I really get the feeling she likes the book and is on my side. I can tell she only wants the book to be as good as it can be, but she leaves no doubt about the proper way to do things. For example, it was pointed out the names of the spacecraft should be italicized as in Ghost Star. Who knew? Not me, that's for sure.
Along with the edited manuscript came a Editorial Letter (Line Editing) where GHOST STAR gets what amounts to a critique on things like Structure/Plot Flow, Characterization, and Tone and Style. Again, tons of great info here including awesome suggestions about how to heighten the impact of key scenes with some well-placed foreshadowing.
My first pass through the notes will be for the basic Accept/Reject notes (punctuation corrections, etc.). Then I'll address my editor's comments in the manuscript. Finally, I'll go through the Editorial Letter and make the suggested changes. I'm about halfway through the first pass and loving every minute of it. It's exciting!
Monday, October 9, 2017
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Ghost Star Update
As promised, new details! Just received the following from my Kindle Press editorial team:
"We're pleased to let you know that editorial work on your Kindle Press manuscript Ghost Star has begun. An editor will review your manuscript using the Microsoft Word Track Changes feature and provide recommendations.When the editor has completed work on your manuscript, we'll send you another e-mail letting you know your manuscript is ready for review, along with a link so you can download your manuscript, review all the editorial suggestions, and decide which changes you'd like to make before submitting your edited document to the Kindle Press team.Your manuscript should be ready for you to review by October 20, 2017."
How cool is that? Needless to say, I'll jump on the recommendations right away. Not sure what the schedule is after I submit the revised manuscript, but I'll let y'all know as soon as I know.
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