Name my book!

Hey everyone – here’s an opportunity you don’t get every day. I’m going to spend a week or two asking people what I should call the final volume of the Embodied trilogy. Books 1 and 2 are titled Silent Symmetry and Starley’s Rust, and I’m polling friends and fans to choose one of three options for book 3:

Diamond Spheres

Diamond Splinters

Diamond Scars

If you haven’t read any of the other books in the trilogy, no problem! I need a title that will appeal to casual browsers in the Amazon store. Yes, I have a personal fave, but I thought it would be fun to collect some other opinions. And as we all know in this social media age, everyone has an opinion.

So either write your choice of title in the comments below or click on this link to use the online poll I just set up (it’s one click, takes about 5 seconds).

I really appreciate your help with this. By all means share this post or the link to the poll.

John

PS – The book is in the editing process right now and should be out by spring, followed by a compendium version of all three books!

Books 1 and 2 in the Embodied trilogy.

The fantasy mega-novel

I just took a break from writing the final book in the Embodied trilogy to read an interesting article by Damien Walter in last Friday’s Guardian: Fantasy must shake off the tyranny of the mega-novel, and the response by Natasha Pulley that appeared in the same newspaper this Wednesday: Fantasy cannot build its imaginary worlds in short fiction. At issue is the length of fantasy novels and whether it’s the result of pressure from publishers or the necessary outcome of fantasy world-building.

A very literary doorstop.

It’s interesting stuff (even the comments are readable for a change!) and I find myself somewhere in the middle on this issue. Because the Embodied books are urban fantasy slash science fiction that are set in modern-day New York City, Paris and Wisconsin, I don’t have to spend pages and pages building a world of sorcerers and dragons. Each book is therefore between 60-70,000 words, which makes them a much quicker read than the Game of Thrones novels. BUT my novels do feature a dragon, as well as several other mythical creatures, so I need to constantly decide how much information I reveal about their world, the Dark Universe, and why they exist in ours.

What this means is that although I’m telling Kari Marriner’s story in this trilogy, I can continue writing other works (stories, novels, even graphic novels) set in other periods and/or places that explore and build the world of the Embodied in greater detail. And as an indie author, I’m definitely not being forced into writing books of a certain length by a publisher. Does fantasy necessarily require books that can also be used as doorstops? Probably not, but I truly admire authors like George R. R. Martin who are able to craft their world and characters in such extensive detail that 400 pages becomes the norm. I’d love to expand the universe (in fact, both universes) of the Embodied. Is that a fantasy? We’ll see…

Photo credit: TheeErin / Foter / CC BY-SA

Last chance to win a signed paperback!

Time’s running out to win an autographed copy of Starley’s Rust. Panic!! Or click on the ad:

 

Starley’s Rust signed paperback giveaway!

That headline is well worth an exclamation point. Goodreads is giving away ten signed copies of my new urban fantasy novel Starley’s Rust (book 2 of the Embodied trilogy) and to enter all you have to do is click on the image below then follow the instructions. The contest is open until April 8th and it’s a random draw, so good luck!

 

Character quote: Starley on art

Starley’s Rust, chapter 3. Starley helps Kari begin telling her story at the Ancient Grains cafe.

My first author reading now on YouTube

After trying on several different tee-shirts, different camera angles, and moving the plant around, I finally shot a video of myself reading an excerpt from chapter two of Starley’s Rust that I’m happy with. But really, what is happy? Ask Pharrell…

Please add a comment, thumbs-up or (if you’re really mean) thumbs-down.

Starley’s Rust on NetGalley

My wonderful publicist Kendell and her lovely boss Sandy have extended the NetGalley presence of Starley’s Rust so if you’re a reviewer, go get it!

 

Silent Symmetry on Wattpad

For those of you who don’t know, Wattpad is a website and app where authors can upload works in progress or chunks of books. Wattpad is a great way to reach new readers, so I’ve begun publishing book 1 of the Embodied trilogy, Silent Symmetry, on it. Right now, the first three chapters are available to read for free (which is about the same amount as can be read for free in online stores like Amazon and Smashwords) so click on the image below to take a look.

I’ll be publishing more of Silent Symmetry and the sequel, Starley’s Rust, over the coming weeks, as well as a sneak peek of a new YA sci-fi short story I’m working on. It’s called Breath Less and I’m very excited to get it out there for fans of the Embodied trilogy.

Starley’s Rust joins Silent Symmetry in the Google Play store

Just a quick post to announce that as of today, both books in the Embodied trilogy are available for Android users in the Google Play store.

STARLEY’S RUST IS OUT TOMORROW! I’M CAPS-LOCK EXCITED!