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Operation Chimera Pre Order
Operation Chimera is now available for pre-order on Amazon (here) for 99 cents. The official release date is 10/20. I had a lot of fun writing this with Tony Healey, author of the Far From Home series. Awhile ago, Curiosity Quills contacted me because Tony was looking for someone to collaborate with on a spinoff of his successful deep-space series, and they thought I’d be a good fit.
When they pitched it to me, the phrase “Star Trek meets Wing Commander” got bandied about, and I couldn’t resist. I used to be a big fan of the Wing Commander games (perhaps less so the film), and it seemed like an exciting little project. Working with Tony was great; he’s got that wicked Brit sense of humor I like, and had the decency to tell me he thought Keg (the android) was funny.
The story follows the crew of the Manhattan, an enormous starship/fighter carrier as it sets off on its maiden voyage into an uncharted region of space. The action splits between one of the groups of rookie fighter pilots (Green Wing) and the command crew of the Manhattan. The untested crew deals with first-mission-jitters as well as the unexplained effects of the Chimera nebula, all the while wondering if the mission is as risky and suicidal as everyone said it was.
Blog Tour | Charming – by Krystal Wade
They say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and that’s great . . . as long as you don’t die. Sixteen-year-old Haley Tremaine had it all: top-notch school, fantastic family, and a bright future, but all of that changed when an accident tore her family apart. Now, an alcoholic father, a bitter younger sister, and a cold headstone bearing her mother’s name are all she has left.
Chris Charming has it all: a powerful CEO for a father, a prestigious school, and a fortune at his fingertips, but none of that matters when he lands a reputation as a troublemaker. Struggling to follow in his father’s footsteps, he reaches out to the one person he believes truly sees him, the one person he wants: Haley.
Little do they know someone’s determined to bring the two together, even if it means murder.
Available at: Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Amazon
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Many months ago, I had the good fortune to be involved with the publication of CHARMING, by Krystal Wade. It doesn’t feel like all that long ago I was typing up proofreading notes and plot commentary to send back to Curiosity Quills. I would have reviewed this, but it felt like a conflict of interest due to my (however minor) involvement in its creation.
Nonetheless, this was a great book. It’s Young Adult, but the pacing was perfect, Krystal keeps the reader guessing at who the bad guy is right up until the end when everything simultaneously blows up and comes together to make perfect sense. The characters are well-portrayed, believable and emotional in a way that brings you right into the story. Without further ado, here is the interview that Krystal was generous enough to answer, as well as an excerpt from the book.
Interview
1. Did you draw on anything in the real world for inspiration for Charming?
Absolutely. I used a lot of personal experiences or things I witnessed to build the characters. Everything one of the characters went through is something that me or someone I know went through.
2. Are you an outliner or a pantser?
Both. This totally depends on the book, but the more books I write, the more I tend to outline. Very detailed outlines at that. Charming’s was 20,000 words long!
3. What was the most interesting part of conceiving/writing/publishing Charming?
Most interesting? Well, I’d have to say that this story, more than any other, wouldn’t let me go until it was finished. I wrote Charming in two weeks (after research and outlining). Two weeks! And while I still went through a normal editing process, I’d never put anything to paper that fast before.
4. If you could wave a magic wand and change anything about Charming with no effort, would you change anything, and what?
I wouldn’t change a thing. That story is exactly how I want it to be. People will like it while other people may not. But for me? I’m absolutely thrilled with it, and that’s really all that matters.
5. Do you see the character of Haley’s father as a villain or a victim?
Ooh. That’s a tough question. He’s a bit of both, a victim of addiction and a villain to his daughter. I imagine if he’d had an intervention earlier in life, maybe he wouldn’t have been such a villain. In the long run, though, he is a bad guy and will remain so until he and Haley come to some sort of acceptance of each other.
6. Do you have any current projects? What’s next?
Well, yes, yes I do. Do you know any authors who don’t have projects going on? I’m working on a book called The Unraveling of Willard Hill. It’s a magical realism novel, but mostly thriller, and I hope to release it in October of 2015. I’m also working on Shattered Secrets 2, which I’m hoping to release in the spring of 2015!
7. What authors do you consider your greatest influences?
That would be writer, not writers. When I need inspiration or to be reminded of great storytelling, I reach out to Maggie Stiefvater. I love her voice. It’s in everything she puts out, and it’s magical and enchanting and inspiring!
8. What was the most surprising thing to happen/be said to you regarding Charming?
Hmm. There’s something I want to say and something I should say here. I’m kind of struggling with what’s going to be okay. 🙂 Let’s just say that initially it wasn’t received well by people I needed to receive it well. And it’s also a book my beta reader, who reads ALL THE TIME AND OFTEN, said is the best book she’s read in a long, long time. In fact, she’s read it several times–and not because I’ve asked!
Excerpt:
“Come with me?” Chris pulled his face back but kept his body perfectly aligned with hers, perfectly touching.
“Where?”
“My room.”
Haley took a step back. “Chris—”
“To talk, away from the watchful eyes of Deerfield’s best gossipers.” Chris shrugged and looked pointedly around, guiding Haley to do the same.
“Oh.”
Everyone had their eyes glued to Chris and Haley, new CEO’s son, former CEO’s daughter. Very juicy gossip.
Keeping his fingers laced with hers, he led Haley up the deck stairs and into the two-story den. Windows spanned the length of one wall, and a fire burned in the brick fireplace. A few people sat on the sofa, close and cuddling, flirting. Chris inclined his head when they said hello, then kept walking with her up the wide, wooden staircase, along the catwalk and into his room. He led Haley through the wide open and bright space—such a clean, neat space—and to the couch in a little nook created by slants in the roof, a half-octagonal shape.
She took a seat on one of his huge, overstuffed beanbags—not childish things, but soft leather, cool at first but instantly warming. Chris grabbed a remote, pressed the power button, then tossed the thing to his bed and took a seat next to Haley as soon as the music drifted from unseen speakers.
“How do you do it?” he asked.
“Do what?” Haley played with the hem of her dress, careful not to turn into him too much and give him the wrong idea.
Chris took her hand again and placed it on top of his, then used his index fingers to draw little circles. “Anything, everything. Your mom was CEO of Berkshires; people loved you. Your mom’s been away for two years; they still love you. You attend that school—”
Haley slipped her hand free and balled it in her lap. “People don’t love me there.”
“I doubt that very much.” Stretching out, Chris turned on his side.
“How is the school?”
“Boring.” Boring and packed with bodies and not challenging enough to hold her attention. “But fine.”
“Guys?”
“Are you asking me if the school has guys, or are you asking something else?”
He scooted a little closer, his body heat reaching across the few inches between them and assaulting her with desire. “Something else.”
Krystal Wade is happily married to the love of her life (don’t gag) and raising three beautiful children in the gorgeous state of Virginia. They live just outside Washington, D.C., and every day she wakes up to find herself stuck in traffic trying to get there. When she’s not working, commuting, or chasing after her three children (four if you count the man), you can usually find Krystal outside talking to her chickens like they’re the cutest things in the world (they are), or training her amazing dogs how to herd said chickens (which they love), or curled up on the sofa with a good book (why can’t that be 100% of the time?).
Tour Schedule:
Sept 29th: Fresh Fiction (Guest Post) and Reader Girls (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Sept 30th: Coffee Books & Art (Guest Post) and A.K. Morgen (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 1st: Katie’s Stories (Guest Post), Obsessed by Books (Spotlight w/Excerpt & Review), and The Power of 3 Readers (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 2nd: Sated Faery (Interview) and BBS Book Reviews (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 3rd: Matthew Cox Books (Interview & Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 4th: Indie Authors, Books, and More (Review)
Oct 5th: The Writer’s Block (Interview & Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 6th: RomanceJunkies.com (Interview) and Sharon Bayliss (Review)
Oct 7th: The KariAnnAlysis (Review) and Bookcrastinators in Wonderland (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 8th: Reese’s Reviews (Spotlight w/Excerpt & Review)
Oct 9th: Vicki Keire (Interview)
Oct 10th: A Creative Mind (Review) and Bending The Spine (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 12th: Elizabeth Seckman, Author (Guest Post)
Oct 13th: Paranormal Book Club (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 15th: Kindle and Me (Spotlight w/Excerpt & Review) and Eliza Tilton (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 16th: Summer Weir (Spotlight w/Excerpt)
Oct 17th: Lisa’s Book Lair (Guest Post ) and Epic Narrative Book Reviews (Guest Post)
A story that almost wasn’t
World War Three has plunged the Earth into a new dark age. Citizens live carefree lives in gleaming cities, safe from the worry of The Fade. The vicious alien infection drains its victims to slow, painful deaths. Ascendant Pharmaceuticals has a cure, but charges an exorbitant amount per dose. Nine-year-old Maya Oman is the heir to an empire built on suffering, and the key to a risky plan.
—
Today I finally got to see the interior artwork for my short story Innocent Deception, which is due out later this year in November, as part of the Curiosity Quills Primetime Anthology. I couldn’t be happier with the way the artwork came out… the artist, Ricky Gunawan, did an amazing job with it – as well as the rest of the header images. This anthology has quite a few stories from many talented authors, including one by Piers Anthony.
I can’t get over how this story almost wasn’t written… Early in 2014, CQ put out an internal call to their authors looking for submissions for the next upcoming yearly charity anthology. It had been some time since I wrote a short story, but for no particular reason I can think of, I got hit with about six ideas all at once. So, being the indecisive waffler I am, I wrote them all and sent them in for consideration. Upon receiving the barrage, they raised the idea of putting out a separate anthology of my short stories (the count of short stories has since grown to ten) which I was quite grateful for.
While waiting to hear if one of my submissions got chosen, I got around to sending some of the shorts to other people to read and give feedback on. One person (Looking @ you Tiffany) rather liked the MG Fantasy short “Banderwigh”, and complained that it was over too fast. I pondered this for a bit, and after getting some more encouragement from CQ, decided to expand that into a novel-length story (Emma & The Banderwigh), which (/snoopydance) CQ has signed.
So, this left me with a conundrum of sorts. I had a full length version of it and a short story version of it, which, during the editing process would be a bear to keep consistent. For several days, I waffled back and forth on whether or not to keep them as two separate things or just drop the Banderwigh short from my anthology. Of course, if I dropped it, I’d want to do something to replace it with to keep the story count up. So, I spent a few days thinking about what I could replace it with and if I should replace it at all.
During this time, the idea that would become Innocent Deception popped into my head and wouldn’t go away. While Banderwigh was a fantasy story (set in a world of magic and creatures), I kept circling back to a cyberpunk/apocalyptic setting where a group of desperate individuals attempt to kidnap the little daughter of the head of the powerful Ascendant Corporation in effort to extort money (and other things). [No, I didn’t know what I’d call it at the time]. Perhaps a part of my brain wanted to replace a child protagonist with a child protagonist despite the setting being drastically different, and the tone elevated. I don’t consider Innocent Deception MG, despite being from the POV of a nine year old.
So, anyway, there I was with “maybe i’ll replace it” rattling around in my head and bits and pieces of this story refusing to go anywhere. After about a week I said ‘to heck with it’ and worked up an outline. I had a lot of small details I needed to keep straight, and I am an outliner at heart. I outlined about 4k words for a short story that’s about 14,500.
Honestly, at this point, I wasn’t even thinking of the CQ anthology, I figured the door for submissions was closed already and I wanted to replace Banderwigh in my anthology. Given it was so late sent to them, and almost didn’t even happen, you can imagine my (rather pleasant) surprise when I found out CQ had selected it to be part of the Primetime anthology as well.
It feels like one of those videos where a cop has stopped someone on the side of the road and as they are walking up to the other car a truck screams by and almost hits them… but doesn’t. I have a similar “holy crap that was close” feeling here, though I don’t need clean underwear like that cop must have.
It is both an honor and a thrill to share the company of the other authors whose work is included in Primetime. I am keeping my fingers crossed it reaches a lot of people, and hope if you are reading this, you might feel inclined to pick up a copy when it comes out. Ten percent of the proceeds are going to benefit no-kill animal shelters.
Favorite Character Blog Hop
I got tagged by Jori Mierek in a blog hop about favorite characters. I can’t say it was an easy choice, but I would have to say Althea from Prophet of the Badlands is my favorite by a smidge. Writing from Althea’s POV is fun because of how different the world is to someone with her upbringing. What is everyday and mundane to most people is full of magic to her. For example, old skyscrapers falling open aren’t buildings made by men, but giant nests constructed by unimaginable insects―because mere men couldn’t possibly have built something so massive.
1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
Althea is a fictional character in The Awakened series. She is painfully innocent, to the point of tolerating horrible treatment so long as she can continue to help others. Her world is one of harsh rules, where the strong take what they want unless someone stronger can stop them. She is able to control the energies within a person and speed up their rate of healing such that even the most grievous of wounds vanish in moments. For this, she has become well known, and everyone in the Badlands wants to own her.
I think she’s my favorite due to her combination of resilience, innocence, and compassion. Also, of all “powers” I’ve always been fond of healers. While I was writing Division Zero, I had Althea standing behind me tapping her foot waiting her turn. While writing Prophet of the Badlands, I had some plans in the outline about 65% of the way through that she rather didn’t approve of. When I hit that scene, she tapped me on the shoulder and shook her head. I wound up changing the story in a major way at that point, a tweak that rippled throughout the rest of the series. I am hoping her combination of inner strength, innocence, and plain horrible luck endear her to readers who (like I did) will want to reach into the story and pull her out to a safe place.
2) When and where is the story set?
Prophet of the Badlands is set in the year 2418. For the most part, the story takes place in the Badlands, which is basically most of central North America. Due to war involving cybernetic-enhanced gene-tweaked mutants as well as chemical/biological and small nuclear weapons, most of the interior of the continent has been abandoned. Modern cities line both coasts, but those who live in the middle are unaware of them, believing a curtain of fire marks the end of the world.
3) What should we know about him/her?
Althea is somewhere between eleven and twelve years old, and has been kidnapped over and over again since she was six. All she knows of her mother is from a faint story she heard of being abandoned at a small village by a lake. Her blue eyes emit bright light, a side effect of her Awakened nature, a visible manifestation of her ability to see in the dark. Her strongest psionic power is healing; she can command a person’s body to mend itself at a touch, sensing sickness and injury as distortions in the body’s “shapes.” Her second strongest power is telempathy (the ability to manipulate and read emotions). She is also capable of psionic suggestion, allowing her to force short commands on people, though she is far weaker (due to lack of practice) with that gift. Like most psionics, she possesses a degree of telepathy, able to listen to the surface thoughts of others, as well as communicate with a mental voice.
Since she was six, she has been repeatedly abducted by everyone from well-meaning villagers to marauding gangs. Everyone in the Badlands has heard the stories of the Prophet, and in a world without medical technology, they all want her to be theirs.
She has little reaction to the sight of gore, but cringes at violence–even balking at the idea of hurting people who keep her captive. She starts off desperate to help everyone she can while being terrified that one wrong move could turn the people’s adoration into hatred. Badlanders are notorious for their superstitions, and she tolerates captivity because she is afraid of how they would treat her if they knew she could do more than heal. Her reputation as The Prophet affords her a degree of protection, as those who hold her prisoner handle her as gentle as bloodthirsty marauders can―well aware of the legends which claim bad things happen to those who mistreat her.
4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Not all of her “owners” are the same degree of cruel. When the story starts, she belongs to a group of primitive tribals who have come to trust her promise that she will not attempt to flee. She is allowed to exist among them out of her cage, and forms a friendship with Den, a boy a few years older than her who is also the son of the chief. Her gifts let her see through the gossip, that he only wants her for prestige-to have the Prophet as his pet-and she knows he genuinely cares for her. For years, she has gone through an endless series of abductions, not caring too much about being taken because she had lost nothing. When raiders take her away from the little village, she remembers what it feels like to hate being kidnapped.
5) What is the personal goal of the character?
Althea’s personal goal is primarily to help others. She doesn’t care what happens to her as long as she is able to ease the suffering of everyone around her. As the story progresses, and she develops emotional connections of her own, her goals change to one of protecting the people she cares about as she finds the courage to do so.
6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
PROPHET OF THE BADLANDS is complete, and will be released next year. Althea also reappears in other books in The Awakened series. Click HERE for more information on Prophet of the Badlands.
7) When can we expect the book to be published?
The current date for publication is April 27 2015.
I was tagged by : Jori Mierek
https://www.blogger.com/profile/06875274426197309249
I’m tagging the following authors: (If you are up for it, post your answers to these questions and tag more writers.)
James Wymore (Theocracide, The Actuator, Exacting Essence, Salvation) – http://jameswymore.wordpress.com/
Vicki Weavil – (Crown of Ice) http://vickilempweavil.com/
Sam Hunt – (Whirlwind in the Thorn Tree, The Law of the Wolf, Ten Thousand Devils) http://www.theusualmadman.net/
Matthew Graybosch – (Without Bloodshed – Starbreaker I) http://www.starbreakerseries.com/
Tony Healey – (Far From Home Series, Edge of Oblivion – Anthology, The Bloody North) http://tonyhealey.com/
Evan Hourihan – (Bent, Time Lapse) http://ethourihan.com/
Sometimes, delay is good.
What a difference ten novels make. I recently got the manuscript for Prophet of the Badlands back from Curiosity Quills’ proofreader. For some reason, it took an abnormal amount of time to make its way through the process – but I can’t say it was a bad thing. In fact, I am confident it will result in a stronger work. Prophet was the third full-length novel I wrote, following Virtual Immortality and Division Zero 1. After I had finished Virtual Immortality (around self edit 2) I had a bit of a conundrum as to which to do next, Division Zero or Prophet. I wound up writing Division Zero first, but always with the feeling that Althea (the protagonist of Prophet) was standing behind me, tapping her foot and impatiently waiting her turn.
Almost two years, and ten novels later, I am looking at Prophet with new eyes. It’s frightening and amazing at the same time to peek into the (albeit not-too-distant) past, at the style and manner in which I wrote at the time. Minor mechanical flaws that either escaped notice or knowledge back then now stand out to me as plain as if I’d left a light on during a blackout. The opportunity to remove myself from it for over a year while focusing on other stories, as well as working with a myriad of editors, has been a boon.
There are a handful of quotes floating around regarding writers and a million words. If you count a 400,000 word monstrosity that I attempted a long time ago, and buried deep somewhere, I’m probably getting close to two at this point. Given the the contrast with which I can now view something I wrote almost two years ago, I agree there is something to be said for the idea that a writer must write. While I may be an unusual example of focus (if I am not at the day job or sleeping, I’m writing or editing), the end result of this process is indeed something tangible.
I suppose the message in all of this to other writers is not to dwell on where you are at the moment. Someone once commented to me something along the lines of: “A poor writer writes crap and thinks it’s good, while a skilled writer writes something good they think is crap.” Write for the sake of writing. Tell a story, and worry later on about making sure none of the mortar is showing through your bricks. Two, three, or six books from now, you’ll see the difference.
I know I have.