Big Day for The Reckoning of Asphodel

Today has been a banner day--and there's not even a football game on. The first novel in The Asphodel Cycle--The Reckoning of Asphodel--is back on the bestseller list in its genre, which is always a good thing. 

But to make matters better, Reckoning is now available in paperback! Each month, as I release new digital books in The Black Dream on the 1st, I'll also roll out a paperback of an Asphodel Cycle novel. 

You can grab your paperback of The Reckoning of Asphodel here. 

Self-publishing and doing it the right way is not only difficult, but expensive. I approached this experience the same way  I approached the hundreds of books we published at Musa. Each book is professionally edited, copyread, formatted, and designed. Each book cover is original art, designed by a professional cover artist. Each book is produced in multiple formats. These aren't just word files slapped into a pdf. There's more to creating a good book than that technically. 

As soon as the craziness slows down around here, I'll blog about the entire process--most likely in tedious detail. But for today? 

Hurray! 

The Reckoning of Asphodel Release Day!

It's been ten years since my first book was published, but it doesn't matter. Even sixteen books later, release days are important. And scary. And fun...in a scary way. Because this is a reissue of a book that was rather successful it's a little more nerve-racking than most. Obviously, I couldn't change the voice of the original book even though my writing has matured since then. But I could--and did--go through it with a far more experienced red pencil and addressed some of the issues that should have been picked up on in its first incarnation. 

So this book is tighter, technically improved, and--since it's an author's cut--includes some scenes cut from the original version. 

Did I mention that it's free? 

Head on over to Amazon before May 7, and you can download a copy for free. After the promotion ends, the original sale price of $3.99 will go into effect. 

And four bucks isn't a lot to pay for six hundred pages of fantasy. 

As I write this, Asphodel has just cracked the top 100 sales list for epic fantasy, and is poised to do the same in sword and sorcery as well. 

Book release day is a good day. 

A New Excerpt From The Reckoning of Asphodel

This is the second excerpt from my upcoming novel The Reckoning of Asphodel, which will be released on May 3, 2016. For more information about Asphodel, check out my website, Goodreads page, or my Amazon page. 

Tamsen de Asphodel watched as her parents were killed—murdered by her sorcerer uncle. Raised by her Elven kin, Tamsen knows her destiny is to avenge them both.

 

Unfortunately, Tamsen’s destiny is complicated. She is the sole heir to her human father’s estate, but she is also the last remaining heir to the Elven throne. The Elves, especially the Scout Brial, are suspicious of her human ties and her magical power. Her magic is unique—neither human nor Elven, dangerous, and difficult to control. And when she and Brial fall in love, it is a relationship the Elves will not accept.

 

But when her uncle moves to destroy the Elves, war explodes across both kingdoms. Only Tamsen, with Brial at her side, can bring human and Elf together to fight against him. In the reckoning that is coming, she will need both sides of her conflicted nature…and the aid of a goddess.

****

Within an hour, it was impossible to see further than twenty feet. I had taken the lead, but Brial was close behind. I had pulled my cloak so far forward, however, that I didn’t see the men charging at us from the sides of the road. 

“Get down!” Brial shouted hoarsely. 

As I turned to see what was going on, someone jerked me out of the saddle. I landed on my back with the breath knocked from me. A large man hovered into my line of sight. He grinned, three blackened, broken teeth hanging precariously from his upper jaw. I lay there, trying to gasp air back into my lungs as he leered at me. 

“Gots us a purty gel here boys!” he roared, bending down and picking me up by the front of my cloak. I felt the fabric rip under his dirty fingers and a cold realization surged through me. My breath came back into my chest with a whoosh and I gulped in fresh air. 

Then my eyes narrowed. 

“I am giving you one chance to back away from me,” I said, my voice still a bit breathless. He laughed, throwing back his head, and the teeth teetered in his gums. Behind me, I heard steel on steel. Brial was fighting. The man swept me against him with one blow of his meaty arm. Try as I might, I couldn’t free myself. As I closed my eyes and reached for the magic, I felt his ugly face nuzzle into my hair. 

Two things happened next. As gorge rose in my throat at the man’s touch, an electric charge zipped out from me, blasting the ruffian back with an oath. Then a sword point thrust through the front of his beefy chest. I watched, stunned, as the outlaw slid down the cold steel edge, falling almost in slow motion to puddle at my feet. 

My mind flashed back. Blood on the snow. 

Flakes swirling in a howling wind, while the ground stained red with blood. The sickly sweet smells of cooked meat. The flash of a sword against a slender throat— 

Are you all right, Tamsen?” Brial was shaking me, his face white. 

I pulled back to the present, my gaze meeting his then sliding past him. There were two other bodies lying in the churned snow, already stained by a sluggish crimson flow. 

Brial swore. “You don’t have time to be faint now. I only drove the others away! They’ll be back, Tamsen.” He worked quickly, wiping the sword on the outlaw’s jerkin and driving it into its sheath. Turning, he whistled, and the horses trotted up. “Can you stay on?” 

“I’m fine, Brial.” I forced out the words from between numb lips. “Let’s just ride.” 

We turned our horses and fled into the teeth of the storm. It was only after we galloped away that I wondered: had I killed the man, or had Brial? I looked down at my hands in a daze. Surely, the shock I had released was only enough to stun the outlaw. 

The smell of roasted meat hung in my nostrils until several miles lay between the newly dead men and us. It took us two hours at a dismayingly slow pace to reach the next village. 

First Excerpt from The Reckoning of Asphodel

As promised, here's the first excerpt from my upcoming book release, The Reckoning of Asphodel, coming May 3, 2016!

We did not have long to wait. Less than a minute later, I saw the bobbing of torches through the trees. Thirty seconds after that, they thundered around the bend. The leader pulled up when he saw the flaming arrow burning merrily in front of him. Over my head, bowstrings sang as Mylan and Morrote fired two more flaming arrows to land near the first.

The leader’s horse reared and the man had all he could do to control it. I watched in cold silence while he struggled with his mount. Once the horse was calmed, I called out in a clear voice. “You have entered Asphodel without my permission, stranger. What is your name and affiliation?”

“Who in the hell are you?”

“I am Tamsen, Countess of Asphodel,” I retorted. “You did not answer my question, commander! The light is in your eyes, not mine, and I can see your uniforms and insignia.”

“Lord Spesialle ordered me to prepare this castle for occupation.”

“Spesialle has no claim to Asphodel. His claim is forfeit, as is due a regicide and traitor.”

A low murmur broke out among the troops, but the commander ignored it. “How do I know that what you say is true?”

“You don’t,” I said pleasantly. “However, I should inform you that I have a company of Elven archers behind my walls that are itching to use you for target practice.”

“I don’t believe the lies of any squatting peasant wench,” the commander growled. “My orders are to take this—”

Before I knew what was happening, the man screamed. Brial had notched and fired an arrow that pierced the man’s leg in the half-inch gap between the bottom of his mail shirt and the top of his high, thick leather boot. “If you speak one more word about my lady the next arrow will be through your throat!” he called in a clear, cold voice. “Any man that moves in this direction will die. Make your decision quickly. We want to have enough time to burn your corpses and get a good night’s sleep.”

“Good shot,” Glaucon noted with dispassionate approval.

“Easy shot,” Brial shrugged even as his voice grew tighter. “Even after Tamsen warned them, they kept their torches burning.”

The commander grimaced in agony as he removed the arrow from his leg. He examined the distinctive Elven fletching, and then said something low to the men at his back.

As he began to turn his horse’s head, I called out, “Take this message back to your master, dog: Asphodel is once again held by the heir of the house, and will remain so. On the day he enters my lands, I will kill him with my own hand. There is no succor in Asphodel for the man who killed our King.”

He glared at me silently, his face twisted with hatred. Then, his troop turned their horses and sped into the night.

“You should return to the castle, milady,” Anner suggested. I could just see his gray eyes glint in the moonlight. “They may try to double back. Glaucon and I will keep watch.”

Before I could respond, Brial gripped my arm and steered me back into the castle. Grimly, he marched me up the steps and into my room. Once there, he tossed his bow in a corner and glared at me.

“What?” I asked, confused.

“Why did you do that?” he grated. “What plausible excuse for such idiocy can you possibly have?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about.”

“The only reason this castle could be safe for you is if your uncle doesn’t know for certain that you are here!” Brial shouted. “Now he not only knows where you are, but you make matters worse by sending him a message that a man like him cannot ignore.”

“It doesn’t matter if he knows for certain or not.” I retorted, my own temper rising. “He’ll come here regardless, Brial. He needs Asphodel to act against the Elves.”

“You don’t know that.” Brial enunciated carefully, evidently trying to rein in his temper. “You are only guessing.”

“I know it. I don’t know how I know, but I do. Spesialle will be here within three months, Brial, and he will not come alone. He will bring his army.”

Brial opened his mouth and then shut it abruptly. We glowered at each other for a minute and then the breath left him in a loud exhalation. “If you ever do anything like that again, I swear to the gods I will throw you into the first room with a stout door and lock you in,” he said in a slow and carefully controlled voice. “Don’t fight me on this, Tamsen. If you will not behave in such a way as to protect yourself, I will not allow you to endanger yourself further. If I must, I will force you to listen to me.”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me.”

“Well then you’d better hope that the door consists of something other than wood,” I retorted spitefully. “If it isn’t, I’ll burn my way out.”

“I meant what I said, Tamsen.”

He kissed me, his fingers digging painfully into my arms. When he pulled back, he looked at my shocked face and laughed, not humorously, but with an ugly, ragged laughter. “I told you not to let yourself get involved with me, I told you it would interfere with my ability to protect you! You don’t listen to anyone, Tamsen, and your pride will be your undoing! You are not omnipotent, my lady.”

His tone was so furious I actually winced.

“If you will not attempt to protect yourself, then I will do it for you, You will not like my methods, but you won’t have any choice. I will not stand by and watch you get yourself killed, and by the gods, you will obey me!” He punctuated each word with a shake. “I love you, Tamsen, but at this moment I could break your neck.”

He kissed me again, and then pushed me away. “By the way, don’t go on thinking that you are the only one here who has magic,” he purred. “The Ka’breona element is metal; I can build a door that all your magic will not break.”

"I wouldn't count on that!"

He turned to leave and spotted Morrote standing grimly in the door, his nostrils flaring. For one long, tense second the two Elves stared each other down, then Brial said evenly, “Get out of my way, Ka’antira. I will take your watch tonight and you can remain here to guard her.”

“From whom?” Morrote growled.

“From me, Elflord!” Brial snarled at him. “Most particularly, from me!”

Without a look back, Brial stalked by the stunned Elf and disappeared into the blackness of the outer corridor. I exhaled slowly and sank into one of the chairs by the fire.

Morrote looked after the vanished Brial with an odd expression on his face. Then he snorted a short bark of laughter and stepped into the room.

“I’d really rather be alone, uncle,” I said sadly.

“I don’t think that’ll ever be an option for you, Tamsen,” the Elf said with a twinkle in his eye. “You two were meant for each other.”

Let's Get Ready for the Asphodel Cycle!

So I've jumped back into the world of Asphodel with both feet. Time to get this show on the road.

As my longtime readers--all five of you--may remember, from 2007-2009, my first fantasy series The Asphodel Cycle was published. The books did fairly well--top ten on multiple online retailers, great reviews, some fairly awesome awards and nominations, and lots of hate mail when I killed off an extremely important character that was, apparently, loved more than I realized. 

And then, of course, the publisher went defunct a few years later while I went on to bigger and better things. 

But the Asphodel world wouldn't shut up. I really like playing in the fantasy-mythology mash up sandbox. It combines all my favorite things. And while I went on and started delving into more literary fantasy, every once in a while I'd sneak into a secret file and write some Asphodel for fun. Then, last fall, the story suddenly took off on me--so that now I have an entire SECOND series set in the  Asphodel world, bringing the adventures of Tamsen and Brial to eight books total. 

And then I was stuck.

The first rights to the original series were gone, so that automatically killed off the chances of selling the second series with the same characters. And for the first time, I considered self-publishing. After all, I ran a publishing company. And that's when it came to me.

I decided I would reissue the first series in four consecutive months--and the second series in the four subsequent months. That means I will be releasing each book in the series a month apart. (A publishing plan I'd dearly love for George RR Martin to subscribe to by the way, and NO-- John Snow will NOT remain dead. Duh.)

Here's what you need to know to prepare yourself!

So--release schedule.

THE ASPHODEL CYCLE-- reissues

The Reckoning of Asphodel--May 3, 2016

The Redemption of Asphodel -- June 6, 2016

The Temptation of Asphodel -- July 5, 2016

The Apostle of Asphodel -- August 2--2016

The world of Asphodel lives again in the never-before published sequel series The Black Dream coming this fall!

Servant of Dis -- September 1, 2016

Prisoner of Death--October 1, 2016

Sorcerers of Hell --November 1, 2016

Gods of Rebellion --December 1, 2016

Cover art by KMD Designs

Blurb:

Tamsen de Asphodel watched as her parents were killed—murdered by her sorcerer uncle. Raised by her Elven kin, Tamsen knows her destiny is to avenge them both. Unfortunately, Tamsen’s destiny is complicated. She is the sole heir to her human father’s estate, but she is also the last remaining heir to the Elven throne. The Elves, especially the Scout Brial, are suspicious of her human ties and her magical power. Her magic is unique—neither human nor Elven, dangerous, and difficult to control. And when she and Brial fall in love, it is a relationship the Elves will not accept. But when her uncle moves to destroy the Elves, war explodes across both kingdoms. Only Tamsen, with Brial at her side, can bring human and Elf together to fight against him. In the reckoning that is coming, she will need both sides of her conflicted nature…and the aid of a goddess.    

Important sites/accounts

Writing website The Cache Vault

Amazon author's page

Facebook author's page

Facebook personal page

Twitter page

Pinterest Historical Research/Writing page

Tomorrow--excerpt from Reckoning. Later this week--cover art for Redemption of Asphodel. Also later this week--a basic series blurb for The Black Dream--another wild ride through classical mythology and traditional fantasy, where the stakes are greater, the cost is higher, and the death toll rising. 

Also, I will be creating an online lexicon for the world that will cross over between here and my website--the mythology, the language (yes, it's Latin-ish), the history, the families--all that good stuff. 

Did I mention my new website? The Cache Vault is now up and running--and will be getting bigger like pretty much anything I write. You might note some interesting news while there about my pseudonym. 

So find me on social media--friend me (I take a lot of Twitter and Facebook breaks) and get ready. Oh and the last thing--

Have a great week!

Turning Into a Self-Published Author--Part 1

Okay--I'll admit it. I've been spoiled. Throughout my career, I've always had a publisher who dealt with the cover art, the layout, the formatting, the uploading, some publicity. But now that I'm reissuing my first fantasy series The Asphodel Cycle, I have been forced to turn into a self-publishing author. 

And yes--I have a leg up because I've been a publisher--as in I published other authors' books. My experience first at AMP and then at Musa gives me a unique perspective on everything a self-published author has to do. 

The difficult part for me has been separating the authorial responsibilities from the publishing ones. 

Here's the deal: if your work is picked up by a small publisher or a big one, they are the ones spending money for all the things you need. And I know how expensive those things are because we were the ones paying people to design the cover or format the ebooks. As a self-publisher, you want your books to compete favorably with publisher-released titles. That means that you--and I--have to spend money to make that happen. And nothing is more important than cover art. 

Do yourself a favor. Unless you have a lengthy background as a book designer, don't try to make your own cover using Paint and Photoshop. Just...don't. Go to a reputable cover artist and just fork out the money you can afford to get a professionally designed cover. If you don't, you're just throwing your book away down a big black hole. Your cover art is the most important promotional tool your book has. It's the first thing a prospective customer sees, and is the deciding factor as to whether they click through to your blurb and sales page. Do not skimp on the cover design!  There are artists out there who will design a good cover for under $150-200. Go to self-published authors you know and find out who did their cover.  

Ditto and double that for interior layout, design, and formatting. If you want to spend a frustrating 48 hours trying to detangle the formatting directions each separate e-reader requires, knock yourself out--and consider yourself lucky if it ONLY takes 48 hours. Or, open up your wallet and go to a reputable design firm--I use KMD Designs, which is run by my former Musa partner Kelly Shorten. Not only are her designs incredibly solid, but mistake-free. And her prices are very, very reasonable--far less than I had originally anticipated. Check out their website, prices, and portfolio here.  Or find someone else that you are comfortable with who possesses the knowledge you do not. It's well-spent.

But all this notwithstanding, the biggest obstacle for many of us I think is on the promotional end. My first release, The Reckoning of Asphodel, comes out in a little over a month. So I am going to have to take the 12-15 hours a day I've been spending writing and use at least half promoting my books. And when the sequel series comes out this fall, I will probably have to spend more.  

The main thing you HAVE to do in order to promote your self-published books is to create an online presence. Yeah, I know--everyone tells you that. But it's essential--Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, blogging, participating in online activities, Goodreads, Amazon author page--all these things are cogs in the wheels that sell your book. I DO NOT MEAN to hop on Twitter 4-5 times a day and post a plug for your book. I'm an author, and I mute other writers who do that on my feed. So don't be an obnoxious 'buy my book' whore. Create daily content--like, say for example, a blog--and use your social media presence to promote THAT. That sends people to your blog, where all your book information should be prominently displayed. 

These preliminary steps should be fairly automatic for any writer about to launch onto the ocean of horror known as self-publishing. But if you do it right, if you invest in your books and create that online presence, you can at least get people to LOOK at your book. And if they don't look at it, they aren't going to buy it. So get busy! Get all those bits going before your book even hits the market. And then check back as I dig deeper into the process in a future post. 

It's Official! Asphodel Returns!

I've been toying with this decision for a while. 

When my partners and I founded Musa, my writing took a back seat. Hard to be a full time writer and a full time editor at the same time. But now that I'm done with the editorial side of the desk, writing is once again my full time gig. So even as I write my new novel, in the back of my mind the thought of Asphodel kept slapping me. 

After all, the series did quite well considering that it was released only as an ebook by a small publisher better known for erotica and romance. So why not give it another shot? 

And, of course, there were the OTHER books I'd written in the Asphodel world because the story just would NOT SHUT UP. In fact, I had a whole new series written after the original four books. Same characters, different story. So while I was debating the fate of Asphodel, that other bit of information was jabbing me in the skull. Repeatedly. So I had to factor that in as well. 

Did I want to go through all the effort of getting those additional books, at present unedited, ready for publication at a standard that I, personally, would require? 

Hell, yes I did. 

So, get ready! Asphodel returns with the re-issue of the four original titles in The Asphodel Cycle: The Reckoning of Asphodel, The Gift of Redemption, The Temptation of Asphodel, and The Apostle of Asphodel over the course of this summer, 2015. In the fall of 2015, the first book of the new series, The Asphodel Saga: Servant of Dis will be published. 

And that's all she wrote. 

For now.

Not Sure What This Post Is About Yet...

...so I'll just wing it.

I've been working a lot today--not on anything new (as I should be) but on the print galleys for The Reckoning of Asphodel. My very first book in the Asphodel Cycle will be available soon in trade paperback.  As soon as I have more particulars (release date, et cetera) I'll let you know.

But right now, I find myself in a peculiar position.  I haven't really sat down and read the first book since right after it was released (August 10, 2007--here's the link). So today, as I'm going through the print galleys, my editorial ren pencil finger is itching like there's been poison ivy on my keyboard. You know what I really want?

I want to revise the whole darn thing.

Now I realize I can't do that.  Doesn't make me want to do it any less. I actually spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to hack into the adobe program and fix things myself. (Didn't take long to dissuade me; I can turn on my computer and that's about it.) It's amazing how much a writer's voice can change in such a relatively short period of time.  I've noticed this with some of the writers I edit, but I was almost traumatized by how much my own voice has matured.  I mean think about it--Reckoning  came out a little less than two and half years ago and to my eyes the narrative voice is almost unrecognizable.  Removing the high narrative style I chose by design for the books (mostly so I could mature it throughout the course of the books) the differences between then and now are staggering.

I love adverbs now. I really loved them then.  Dialogue tags make me gag a little now; not the case back in the day.  And comma addiction? I had it. Not so much anymore.

Hell, I even used the Oxford comma back then whereas now I would rather gnaw off my arm at the shoulder.

Strange.

A lot of these changes, I attribute to my editors. The common usage mistakes I made, they've trained out of me by this point. Every manuscript presents some other new quirk they have to strive to eliminate.  And now, as I work with the authors that I edit, I contribute this new-found knowledge to correct the same mistakes in their writing. 

Kind of whacked.

For example, lately I've been harping on my writers that separate their readers from the action by using sensing verbs.  "I saw someone do something" as opposed to "someone did something"--basically, making the action more pertinent by sinking the reader deeper into the narrative point of view.  The reader knows whose point of view they're reading; if the narrative states that "someone did something" it's assumed that the narrator saw that.

Yep. You guessed it.  "I saw" and "I felt" and "I heard" litter that story like confetti in Times Square on New Year's Day.

So this has made me think about the role of the editor in the writing process, and I've realized that there's a quite definite and traceable chain of editing which sifts from editor to writer to editor.  Quirks that I identify in my writers' work will, in turn, become quirks they self-identify in their manuscripts or, if they become editors too, in the work of the writers they critique or edit themselves.  These quirks are essentially what instigates the ever-progressing evolution of language.

That's probably why passive writing became passe, why the exclamation point was poo-pooed and the ceaseless argument over the Oxford comma was begun in the first place.

Makes the role of an editor seem a lot more important when you look at it that way, doesn't it?  I'm not saying this to give myself a big ol' pat on the back, but as an observation of the inconstancy of the English language. The rules we have now are not the same rules that Faulkner followed, or Wilde or Dickens or Austen.  Each age of literature was different from the one that preceded it, and the next one will kill off some of the contemporary and fashionable quirks we employ today--quirks that future writers and editors will call cumbersome and old-fashioned.

(Jst plz--not txtspk, I bg u.)

I'm hoping this will give me a little more perspective as I move into a new year of both editing and writing. I'm also hoping that on these upcoming manuscripts, I'll remember to keep my quirks to myself so my editor will stay off my back.

Vain hopes, but what the hey?  I have to use all the ellipses I can before they go out of style, editorialized into oblivion...