I have to repeat that title, just because it’s so long: “How I Stole the Princess’s White Knight and Turned Him to Villany”. Yes. It is a mouthful, and it’s actually the title for the entire series.
It is a good thing those books are on Kindle Unlimited. They are short, and basically, it’s one, single story broken into six books. Fair warning – you will want to read them all at once.
Just like the Mage’s Human Familiar books by J. A. Sherwood, this one is hilarious. It makes me laugh all the time. I guarantee it will make you laugh.
But first things first, so let’s talk about the main characters.
The Princess’s White Knight
That would be Devante Salvino, upright First Knight of the realm, devoted to protecting the land of Goodwine. He does not, actually, protect the Princess. This is an important distinction.
He is also strong, fast, good-looking and has an intelligent horse called Dan. (Dan loves apples, cherries and roses. In that order. He doesn’t matter much otherwise.)
The Villan
Let me present Tanawat Ritthirong Shinawatra, Black Sorcerer of Grimslock, Tan to his friends. He has done a multitude of terrible things, such as creating The Void, killing a Narwhal and stealing from the Royal Treasury (that one is open to discussion). He can also annihilate entire groups of knights with one spell.
As you can see, Tan is powerful. The court mages hate him, of course. But Tan has a reputation of not killing everyone outright – which is why Devan seeks him out when he desperately needs a powerful sorcerer.
What the good knight doesn’t know is that Tan has a crush on him. And a plan.
Hilarity ensues. Serious, explosive, portal-hugging, snuggling hilarity. I love every page of it.
I absolutely adore this wry humor, and I very much envy A. J. Sherwood’s ability to write like this. (Some of it might have infused Sky with his… irreverent behavior. Maybe. Possibly. I will deny it.)
Here’s another example of that humor, so if you look up the series, make sure to expand the descriptions and read the tags.
Tags: Black sorcerer, white knight, evil princess, oh my!, this whole story is crack, technically an enemies to lovers, with light angst, mostly as an excuse for cuddles, Tan is suffering from SCD-Severe Cuddle Deficiency, being adopted by a black sorcerer is like being adopted by a cat, you get no say in the matter, basically Tan took one look at Devan and went MINE, author no longer in control of this train wreck, I’m along for the ride like you are, Tan is a walking disaster, that we love anyway, Devan needs a hug, Tan volunteers himself as tribute, no forests were harmed in the making of this story, just a few hundred barbarians, magical shenanigans shall commence!
“How I Stole the Princess’s White Knight and Turned Him to Villany – Miracle 1” by A. J. Sherwood
So go and grab the book with that Princess’s White Knight. Even if you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, they are reasonably priced. And a good laugh is priceless, right?
Newsletter Popup – without a Princess’s White Knight, alas
Yes, this is my annoying Newsletter Popup. Just like you, I hate the real ones, so instead, I blab about my newsletter at the end of every post. Sorry, not sorry.
I will inflict an email on you once a month, on the 13th. Yes, I love that number. *clears throat* The newsletter will contain a greeting, a writing update, deals both of my books and others, and an Ember Tale.
Ember is my little red dragon familiar, just as prone to shenanigans as Tan. You’ll get one of her adventures in every newsletter – and only there. Highly exclusive.
In order to subscribe, just fill in the form below. You’ll get some freebies as a welcome gift, too.
Once again, it’s time for a progress report on my writing.
Of course, November is NaNoWriMo, and that means I’m putting a bit (or a lot) more effort into actually getting words down. Writing 2,000 words per day is not really that hard, and it doesn’t really take that much time. However, it makes me stay up later than I like, simply because I find it so hard to get started. Late at night, the barriers seem to be lower.
No, that is not a good thing.
It means my entire schedule has been thrown out of whack, I’m getting up later to compensate for the late bedtimes, and that means I lost my morning walk in the park, because I still need to log into work on time.
(More or less, we have something called “Gleitzeit” in Germany, which describes that we have fairly flexible work hours as long as we get the time in. Boss does prefer us being around at the same hours habitually, but I can talk to them about work hours if something comes up. </German Work Lecture>)
Anyway, not having a good schedule for my days is bad because my neurodivergent brain frets over any change and lack of structure. So I’m struggling to find a better way to go through my day, and I need a lot of self-care and self-soothing to stay productive. Not a good use of time, but right now, that’s what it takes.
Wind of Destiny Progress Report
First of all, “East Roars” is now published and available in all stores and in print. I formatted it with Atticus, and I’m giving you a nice preview of the first chapter.
Doesn’t it look gorgeous?
Pillars of the Empire Progress Report
In addition to getting the books ready in the Winds Series, I’m working hard on the books for the Pillars. I’m almost done with “Earth Splits”, but I put it to the side for now, since I started writing “Sky Falls” for NaNoWriMo. It’s fun getting to know him, but he’s hard to keep as the lucky-go-happy kind of guy I want him to be. That kind of character doesn’t come easily to me.
In December, I’ll finish Earth, revise North, and then finish Sky. I have so much more to write, it’s not funny.
Social Media Progress Report
The biggest news first: I’m on Mastodon now. And to be honest, I love it.
It’s just as text based as Twitter, but it’s much less of a dumpster fire, especially now. There are no algorithms to please, so what you see is who you follow, plus the federal and local server timelines. It’s about conversations and connections, not about screaming loudest.
A very nice change.
Screen Writing Progress Report
Not much happening. I finished the class and didn’t continue. I think I have dialog down fairly well and the final class was about marketing my script, which didn’t feel right because my first ever script is so far from being done it’s not funny.
So I’m stalled out on that for now.
Proofreading Progress Report
I’m filled up for November with two stories from an awesome author and friend. In fact, I’ll probably take a bit of a break for December, but I’m open for more manuscripts in January. If you want to work with me, fill in the form on my Proofreading Page here on the website.
And please, be honest. I had to turn down one person who only wanted some feedback on their manuscript and had no intention of paying me for any work. That’s not how it works, folks.
The Newsletter Pop-Up
Yes, this is my version of it. I know you’re just as fed up with pop-ups as I am, so I won’t inflict them on you. I still would love to see you on my newsletter so you can join in on the fun.
What you’ll get: I’m sending out my newsletter once a month, on the 13th, because that’s an awesome number. In it, you’ll find writing news, book recommendations, new releases and of course, the charming Ember tale that you will find nowhere else.
Sounds good? Fill in this. You’ll have to confirm your subscription, though, fair warning.
First, you need to know that “A Mage’s Guide to Human Familiars” by AJ Sherwood is an M/M/M romance. Which I don’t usually read.
Having said that, this tale is so unbelievably cute that I just *had* to read it. I had to glomp on and breathe it all in. And review it. And read it again. Seriously.
But first things first:
Bel is a mage, blessed (or cursed) with demon eyes. That means most of his magic goes to protect his body from his eyes – which can see everything. And yes, really, everything.
Of course, a mage like that, who can’t really protect himself while looking at *everything*, needs a familiar to help out. In this case, a human one.
Enter Nico di Rocci, Army Ranger, one of those high-energy, danger-loving adrenaline addicts, bouncing, running, looking for fun. He becomes Bel’s familiar and rolls with it, easy peasy. But he’s not really a good bodyguard, preferring to go on the offensive, and so he brings in his former boyfriend Garen, Secret Service, who is one.
From that moment on, they are rolling, except everyone has baggage and worries and libido, and there are ROUS in a mine, and skeletons in a cave, and poor Bel is getting more and more frustrated.
Now back to why I love this book so much: It is CUTE. The voice is hilarious, the characters are quirky, the magic fun, and the story itself is much less important than the relationships. There are also so many quips and jokes and movie quotes (and lightsabers!) and did I say CUTE? And watch what you drink while you read, because that’ll be a danger to anything nearby. One example:
“Password must contain a symbol, a number, an emotional arc, a centralized theme, an epic soundtrack, a male lead struggling with inner demons, and a strong female character.”
(A Mage’s Guide to Human Familiars, by AJ Sherwood)
Seriously, even the sex is cute and not porn-y. Once they get there, that is. Ahem.
Want to grab A Mage’s Guide to Human Familiars? It’s on Kindle-Unlimited, even: Amazon Link
Newsletter Pop-Up
Yes, sorry, not sorry. This is what you get instead of a Pop-up, so no moaning, all right?
If you like what I do, write and share, please consider signing up to my newsletter. It goes out once a month, always on the 13th, because that’s an awesome number right there. You’ll get book news, book deals and fun stuff.
It also has a cheeky little dragon familiar, Ember, and her adventures that can be found nowhere else. Feel like checking it out? Newsletter-Signup.
Alternatively, sign up right here. You won’t regret it. Promise.
Bookplates are the best thing right after physically signed books.
Unfortunately, sending physical books all over the world has become an expensive exercise in frustration. Much as I love giving you books signed by yours truly, it’s no longer really an option.
So I asked my awesome brother what he knew about creating stickers that I could send out – commonly known as bookplates or ex libris – so I could have some printed. He’s working in graphic design making flyers and handling websites and such, and he’s good. (Shameless plug.)
Well… before I even knew it, he came up with a complete design when I was just thinking of getting my little horsie on there somehow. And I took it! As you can see above.
How can I get my Bookplates?
You’ll have to ask me. Nicely. (#joke)
They are included for free in the upper tiers on my Patreon, where you can get one per month. You’ll still have to tell me (I need your mail address, for example) and let me know what you want on it in addition to my signature.
I can also send one out on request for a fee. Right now, I’m thinking about $4, and I need to set up something for that. Maybe Kofi or such, I’ll let you know. This is merely an announcement, to be honest, testing the waters for this.
Of course, a book with a special signature by me might make a nice present, and the season is fast approaching. Just saying…
Bookplates and my Newsletter
Yes, sorry, not sorry. This is my alternative to the ugly pop-up that everyone hates.
If you want to never miss a new book by me, if you want updates, book recommendations, links to awesome sales of even more fantasy books, and last but not least the monthly Ember tale – *takes deep breath* – then sign up to my newsletter!
Unveiled is the first book in the Raven Daughter series by Audra Trosper, a fast-paced adventure with a slow-burn enemies to lovers trope. The series – a trilogy – is complete and ready for binging.
What happens in Unveiled
Jo (never call her Josephine) is rather shocked when she finds out that she’s not entirely human, that in fact, her absent (and criminal) father was an angel. And that there’s a world beyond the Veils that’s actually her home.
However, that world not just populated by the descendants of angels. That realm contains demons, soul eaters, monsters, and a lot more between Hell and Heaven… and nothing is as it seems.
Jo ends up as a Reaper and gets to wear a black cloak, among other things. Her job is to escort souls and defend them against attacks. So far so good, and she’s not bad at it either. In fact, she’s shockingly good.
Then things go south. (Yes, Audra said so herself.) Of course, they do, or there would be no story, right? And Jo ends up in a team with Caius, a half-demon, both of them tasked to find out what is going on with all those souls getting Lost. His good looks are not lost on Jo, but as a demon, he’s her sworn enemy. Until the situation gets beyond desperate…
Why I liked Unveiled
I really enjoyed this book (and series) because Jo is such a no-nonsense character with an indomitable sense for the absurd. She pushes herself way beyond her own limits, she’s snarky, she’s reliable, and she remains undaunted even by gods. But even she has to learn that she cannot do everything.
I also liked how different this series is from all those angels and fallen angel books. Here, the world is messy, gritty and often gray. There are demigods and even gods (later on). And not all of them are on the same side, either. Audra plays with the tropes and then twists them upside down.
Often enough, the plot takes a sharp turn to the left and tears off into uncharted territory. This is definitely not your usual angel stuff, and not your usual romance, either. If you like action and adventure with a dash of ancient lore and a pinch of sweet love, this book is for you.
What is special about Unveiled?
The book is told strictly from the Point of View of Jo. However, Caius does get a say, in the shape of a little quote at the end of each chapter. This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like this in a book, and it’s charming, wonderful and sometimes… foreboding. It’s very well done.
Where can I get Unveiled?
Audra likes to make her books available for everyone, so you can get Unveiled and the entire series through many different distributors. Here’s a link where you can choose your favorite store: Unveiled by Audra Trosper
(Books2Read links are very useful, and you can set them to remember your preferred store. They will also take your to the store in your country. I love using them because they offer options to all readers, even audio and print. You’ll see them for my own books, as well.)
Newsletter
Yup, you’ll find this not-a-pop-up-paragph on every post I make. So here it goes:
If you don’t want to miss any review or new release of my books, sign up through the form below. You’ll receive a newsletter on every 13th of the month, together with an Ember tale, a story about my little red dragon sidekick. And you’ll get a free ebook as a gift, too.
Have a random ArtBreeder landscape for decorative purposes.
Time for the October Progress Report, and it’s a good thing I always do these for my newsletter so I post at least once in a while.
Thing is, there is little to report.
I’m struggling with writing, getting a few hundred words every day. It’s frustrating that I’m not nearly close to the 2k I used to be able to write last year. I’m trying to add to the marketing, and that’s working to a degree – I gave away over 2,000 free books last month. Remember, three of my first in series are free (Dorelle’s Journey, Decoy, and A Wolf’s Quest).
Oh, here is something fairly awesome to share, after all. My book “A Wolf’s Quest” hit some bestseller lists in the free Kindle ratings in October, so that was rather fun. Have some visual proof:
Ranking from October 2nd, 2022
And even better, my dragon book “Dorelle’s Journey” made #1 in two categories in September. I’m very proud of that, although I’m not sure whether that entitles me to calling myself a best”selling” author, since it’s a free book. But take a look here:
Ranking Screenshot from September 10th, 2022
Sorry about geeking out like that. This is author candy, you know. I’m also rather pleased by the many ratings and the awesome averages. So feel free to grab the books and see for yourself whether it’s worth your time. (And if you keep reading the sequels, you’ll have my gratitude.)
Winds of Destiny Progress Report
I’m getting East ready for formatting and publication, but right now, I’m going through feedback from an awesome beta reader, Mette Holm. She really puts me on my toes.
Even so, I will be able to make the release date on November 10th. I also hope I can share the new cover with you soon. My awesome cover designer is on it.
And well… East is the polar opposite of West in many ways. He’s angry, and it takes him a while to turn that anger into something productive. And when tragedy strikes again and again, that anger almost destroys him.
I still love him. I love his strength, his determination and his basic goodness. I’m really glad he decided to come back to me and share screentime in the Earth book.
Pillars of the Empire Progress Report
I’m still writing Earth, book 1 of the follow-up series to the Winds of Destiny. It’s slow going, but with help from a friend, I figured out the big, final showdown and how it’ll work out. It’s going to be fun to write, but for now, I’m working hard to even push them on the road. They feel much more comfortable hiding out in Holy City. (Idiots!)
Here’s a funny little tidbit: I took a voice lesson yesterday, and suddenly had an inspiration for Moon (book 4 of the Pillars/ book 8 in total). No, I won’t spoil it, but yes, it has something to do with voice. She’s going to be so cool. But it’ll be a while before I can write her story.
Screen Writing Progress Report
I finished the class and learned a lot. Seriously.
Unfortunately, my mind has been wrenched into dealing with a lot of administrative stuff (including a real struggle to simply get some signed books into the mail!) and that stress has left me with little energy for my Wolf screenplay. It’s waiting for me to come back to it and fix the beginning, the character descriptions and the formatting.
Do you know anyone in the business? Drop me an email and help me connect with them. Because I already know that a nobody from Germany will have a hard time even finding a reader for the screenplay.
Newsletter
Yes, this is my pop-up that’s not a pop-up.
If you want to get regular updates, release news and Ember tales, fill in the form below and sign up to my newsletter. It comes out once a month, on the 13th. Oh, and you get a free ebook as a gift for signing up.
In this article, I want to compare Amazon vs Google Play Store with a view to what they offer to indie authors. But let me get a few things out of the way before we dive into details:
You probably know that I’m an indie-author, i.e. a writer who self-publishes her books (yes, even though they mention a publishing house, which I run in my name for my books only). You might have seen that my books are available on Amazon (of course!), but also on Google, Apple, Barnes&Noble and several other stores, including the Tolino.
That is called “being Wide”.
Now, I’m Wide mostly because of principle. I dislike being beholden to one store or one source of income. I also prefer giving my readers lots of options. It is possible I’m leaving money on the table because of that, but you know, never put all your eggs in one basket and all that.
Why I only compare Amazon vs Google
All of this gives me ample opportunity to compare the stores, with an important limitation:
Amazon and Google Play Store are the only vendors I go direct with – which means I go through their interface and upload my books into their system directly. For everything else, I use a distributor called Draft2Digital.
All right, now we can take a closer look at what those two stores do for authors.
All of us know Amazon, of course. By launching the Kindle, they single-handedly created an ecosystem for authors that made self-publishing possible. Without that, we’d still be stuck with practices of traditional publishing that are stuck in the 1940s or worse.
The Google Play Stores developed much later, and for quite a while it was basically unusable for indie-authors because they played free and wild with the prices, triggering endless price-matching wars with Amazon. Once they stopped doing that, things got a lot better, and now they are quite a good alternative to the big river.
So here’s what I want to look at and show how each store handles it:
Pricing and Royalties Amazon vs Google
Amazon long ago decided that ebooks are best priced between 2.99 and 9.99, in either US Dollar or Euro. They reward authors who price their books within that bracket by paying 70% of the price in royalties. Outside that bracket, they only pay 35%. Oh, and if someone from a third country (let’s say, someone from Panama ordering from the COM store) buys your book in an Amazon store, you only get 35% regardless of how you set your price.
Google doesn’t care about a price range, making things extremely simple. They give authors 70% royalties, no matter what the price or where the books sell. That means that I earn more than double on a 99ct book on Google than I do on Amazon. And Google allows me to set a book free, which leads me to the next aspect.
Free books Amazon vs Google
I will admit that this is a very sore point for me right now, which I’ll explain a bit further in.
You see, Amazon does not truly allow authors to give books away. In the pricing interface you cannot set a price lower than 99ct.
So how do we indies set up free books on Amazon?
There are two options: Either your books are in Kindle Unlimited and you use those 5 promotion days you get every 90 days to give away your book, or you email KDP support and ask for “price-matching” after setting the book free in competitor stores (aka Apple, Kobo, B&N, or Google). Because Amazon WILL price-match your book with other vendors rather aggressively (except for free, you have to ask for that).
If you want offer your readers a free book through Amazon, you have to work for it.
Even worse, their algorithms will revert that book to full price (99ct, at the very least) about every two months. The exceptions are the US and the UK stores, but even that is not guaranteed. They did so in the middle of a paid promotion for a free book I ran last week. (Yes, I’m still miffed. *grumbles*)
Now Google just gives you the option for pricing your book at 0.00 in whichever currency you want, no questions asked, no judgment. Easy peasy.
Giveaways on Amazon vs Google
I already mentioned those 5 days where you can give away your book on Amazon, if – and that’s a big if – your book is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. Five days in a period of three months (90 days, to be precise). If your book is not enrolled, you cannot do free, except by asking for a price-match, as I explained above.
Google on the other hand took an idea that Smashwords originally pioneered and now offers Coupons (Draft2Digital is working on those as well, now). You choose if a coupon covers the full price of a book or allows only a reduction. That means you can give away your books to people and choose exactly who gets them. Or how many you want to give away.
Even better, those coupons do not trigger the price-matching algorithm of Amazon. (Yes, they have web crawlers that look for your book on other vendors. Better believe it.)
Worldwide Reach Amazon vs Google
We all know that Amazon has stores set up all over the world, best known are those in the US and the UK, but also in several European nations. In addition, there are stores in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and India. That’s not really bad, considering this is an American business. (You also need to know that authors often only earn 35% of royalties in those “exotic” stores.)
Google doesn’t really do stores. They just offer my books in their Play Store, and I’ll simply take a screenshot showing where my books are available through them, because I’m too lazy to type it all up. Yes, they even sell in Africa. And the royalties are the same everywhere, 70% of the net price.
E-Readers Amazon vs Google
Okay, this is where Amazon still wins. Their Kindle is a very comfortable E-Reader, one that I actually like taking to bed with me to read on.
Google offers their reading App for phones and tablets (and PCs?), and that’s great. But I don’t enjoy reading on my phone (I’m getting old and my eyes aren’t what they were…) and I really don’t want to take a tablet to bed with me. So there’s that.
It does make me wonder if and when Google comes up with a cooperation for a dedicated E-Reader. Care to make a bet?
Subscription Service Amazon vs Google
Amazon does have Kindle Unlimited, and yes, that is a very good deal for avid readers. I’m almost ashamed to say that I caved earlier this year and signed up for it.
Now, Google does not have a subscription service for books, and I haven’t heard of anything in the works, either.
Having said that, subscription services are usually great for a reader and less than great for authors. The biggest drawback for Kindle Unlimited is the exclusivity – i.e. your books must not be available anywhere else. (Which is why I will not put my books into KU, sorry, readers. But I price mine low.)
It also took Amazon a few years to actually create a system that doesn’t allow massive scamming, and it’s far from perfect even now. Hardworking authors finance scammers even to this day.
This is it so far with direct comparisons. Below, I’ll go into some pet peeves of mine where I believe Amazon is absolutely failing me as an author and you as a reader and customer.
Sideloading books on Amazon looks awful now
I need to take you on a little side-tour here, because you may have heard of “sideloading” books to Amazon, maybe through a service called BookFunnel or by actually dropping them into your Kindle (or the App) on your computer, phone or e-Reader. That has become much easier since Amazon stopped using the mobi-format and switched over to epub, which everyone else had been using anyway.
Since then, those side-loaded books have started to look absolutely terrible on the Kindle, because Amazon strips away their cover. Instead, they get this cute graphic that looks like a Word document, with the title written below. This is how they appear like in my library in the Kindle App on my PC (and they look the same on my Kindle reader):
It makes me very angry because those authors have gone to the trouble of finding and paying (!) for a cover for their give-away books, and Amazon makes them look like drab documents, killing any hope of branding or recognition. It’s just awful.
The infamous Amazon Delivery Surcharge
Now this is something that Amazon can get away with because they are still the biggest seller of ebooks. And maybe this is something you didn’t know about because it only affects authors behind the scenes.
You see, Amazon charges every author money for “delivering” the ebook to the customer who bought it, when they essentially just send a copy to another server, if at all. The actual amount depends on the file size for the ebook, and especially for those of us who price books low, it can wipe out a part of our royalties. At least they don’t charge it for those books earning only 35% of royalties.
Google doesn’t do that nonsense. And honestly, I believe it’s just a way for Amazon to make more money from authors, and they do it because they can.
Those famous Amazon search algorithms? No longer good.
Ah, but we all know that Amazon is best at giving customers what they want, right?
Not anymore. Now I get handbags and jewelry in my search results, even when I tell Amazon to search for a specific book in Kindle books. And if there’s even one typo in the author name? Forget it.
Now, Google’s back bone is the search algorithm – and they do really well in putting books in front of people’s eyes. You do the math… ahem.
Conclusion Amazon vs Google
At this point in time, I’m starting to believe that Amazon is no longer the best opportunity for authors. It costs us more to do business on Amazon than on Google. The reach is less. Amazon hobbles our marketing. And the restrictions are much worse. Alas, Amazon is still the biggest store.
So, I don’t believe Amazon will go away anytime soon, nor will authors stop selling books through them. All I’m saying is that there might finally be competition around that possibly could impact Amazon.
In fact, I am hoping that the competition that Google is shaping up to be could actually force Amazon to abandon some of their business choices that are actively hurting indie authors now. Only stiff competition can do that, and for the first time ever, I can see it on the horizon.
Newsletter Sign-up!
Yes, I’m putting this at the bottom of every article because I hate pop-ups. So I won’t shove one into your face, but I’m still going to offer you the opportunity to hear about my writing, my books, my reading recommendations and my (maybe somewhat famous) little dragon sidekick called Ember once a month (on the 13th, because I love that number).
It’s time for another Progress Report, and yes, I do have quite a few things to talk about. Stuff happened, life went on and stories grew.
And I need you, dear Readers. More about that below.
Winds of Destiny Progress Report
West Flows, Book 2 of the series is out, and this pleases me a lot.
What would please me even more (actually, it would make me cry happy tears, really!) would be finding some readers for this tale. Because I love my West to bits.
The other day, I looked up what a “Cinnamon Roll” hero is because a friend of mine uses it all the time to describe her hero. Well, turns out that describes a good guy, someone possibly a tad naive and definitely somewhat emo (like me).
That’s West.
He does something rather inane and very emotional at the beginning of his book, escaping his fate of being sacrificed on top of a nasty black pyramid. Yes, he expects to die. No, he doesn’t, because clearly, there wouldn’t be a story if he did. Or at least not the kind of story I write.
After surviving (much to his own surprise), he decides to find a mentor. There actually is someone (South, from book 1, to be precise) and so he sets out to get to her. Not an easy task, as you’ll find out – and then Madu kicks him out.
Now West is between a rock and a hard place and makes a fateful decision. And yes, I am mean enough to make you find out what he does on your own. (Hey. Don’t look at me like that. I’m a little meany deep down, or I wouldn’t be able to torture my chars as much as I do.)
Anyway, West Flows is now up in all stores and you can grab the book here:
In further news about the Winds (and the Pillars), I’m currently working on Book 5 (or book 1 of the Pillars). This one is called Earth Splits, and to be honest, it’s a difficult one. It needs more action or at least tension, but I’m in the process of setting up a nasty trap for my heroes.
I’ll torture East a bit more… or, hey, why not Earth? (This is me having a plot inspiration as I’m writing this. It happens.)
Anyway, there is progress and I will finish the series. I’m already getting glimpses of Sky, who will be the hero of Book 2. He’s a trickster, escaping an endless number of impossible situations. I will have much fun with him – and he will challenge me in different ways. I’m hoping to make him my NaNo project. (Book Title: Sky Falls)
Screen Writing Progress Report
Yes! I finally have something to report, after not looking at the Wolf script for months. It’s not that I don’t want to work on it, it’s that so many things keep coming up – and that my brain has been on a bit of a burn out and demanded a Romance spree.
But! I bought a screen writing class and as soon as I post this report, I’ll go and take care of the first assignment.
I dream of creating a series of Mini-Series (does that make sense to you?) for a streaming service from my Wolf books. And I need a bit of your help.
If you read my Wolf books and found them to your liking, can you leave a review? Or at least a rating? Here’s a link to the first one, which is free. (But you really should read on, the series gets better and better. And leave reviews.)
Okay, so you get this rather than an annoying pop-up. (Because I hate pop-ups, even though they are known to convert.)
If you never want to miss another release, if you want to get alerted to more rambling… er, progress reports or book reviews or stuff, sign up to my newsletter. And get to know Ember, my little dragon familiar.
You see, in this book, children are tortured and killed, there are several worlds full of horror, and even the sunny world of Lysena is very much not what it seems.
Tria is an accomplished thief at a young age, yet her considerable ability is barely enough to survive what the Magician throws at her. She has to fight for her life time and again – never knowing why. She suffers endlessly, but she also grows stronger and learns to defend herself, on several levels. And she never loses her center, her innermost desire to be free.
This story is also full of mystery which won’t be resolved even at the end. That’s because The Warrior is merely the beginning of a huge tale, a story so complex and convoluted that it takes more than one book to show it all. In fact, it takes almost an entire series.
If you pick up The Warrior you must trust the author, M.H. Milrem. (And me, a little, maybe.) It is very much worth it, even if this first book leaves you feeling confused and upset.
The Memorian Prophecies are not an easy series. The books are disturbing, mysterious and difficult. And they are so much worth it.
So go and pick up The Warrior. If you have the fortitude for dark tales, this is a perfect read.
Newsletter
Never want to miss a review or a new book? Want to learn about book deals? And best of all, do you want to read about the adventures of Ember, my little dragon familiar?
I’ve been seeing images that list keywords for a review with the cover. So I made a keyword image for South Breaks, just for the fun of it.
And because I’m not a fan of all those graphics apps (and could never use them on my phone!), I play with GIMP. This first one took me hours, but it was also a great learning curve. (It even led me to install a bunch of new brushes in GIMP, but don’t ask me how I did that.)
Lesson learned: Never draw those arrows in the gradient layer. Ever. *sigh* Make a new layer instead.
Here’s how it came out:
Keyword Image for South Breaks
I find the gradients tricky, admittedly. I’m planning on making another one for West (I made one for him in Canva, after all, but the background is too busy for me).
I haven’t found a nice brush for arrows yet, so those are hand-drawn. To be honest, they don’t have all those curly flourishes you find in apps, but I find them more personal. Drawing with a mouse isn’t easy, though.
Keyword images for the series
There is something that gives me a happy bubble in my heart:
I plan on making the mules a running gag in all the keyword images I’ll create for the series. *snicker*
Because they are in books 1-3, but there are none in book 4. I don’t know about books 5-9 since I still have to write them, but I can guarantee a certain mule will appear in some of them. (Okay, you’ll need to read West Flows to get the full meaning here, but hey, it’s coming out on September 10th, this year.)
Now, I find that I enjoy these graphics, but I don’t know about you. Tell me, please. Looking forward to your comments.
Never miss a new book
And yeah, sorry, but you get this instead of an annoying pop-up: my newsletter plug.
So if you want to know when I publish a new book, if you’re curious about how that old writing goes, if you want to get a glimpse of what I’m reading (not as much as I would like) and receive tips for book deals, and finally, if you enjoy tales about a cute, little dragon plushie, sign up below. (How’s that for a run-on sentence?)
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