Friday, August 28, 2015

Release Announcement: Skye Falling

“SKYE FALLING” BY ANNA KYLE
NOW AVAILABLE
FROM RED MOON ROMANCE

Alpena, MI (August 27, 2015– Red Moon Romance (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced Skye Falling, a novella in the “Wolf King” series by Anna Kyle, is available in trade paperback and ebook today, Thursday, August 27, 2015.
Skye, a Fae-shapeshifter halfing, could die if she doesn’t find out how to wake her dormant wolf, so mere rumors of the Wolf King’s return are enough to convince her to sneak through the portal between Faerie and Chicago in search of his aid. But the dizzyingly bright lights and sounds of the human realm are too tempting to ignore. So is the sexy shapeshifter wolf intent on capturing her—the one who stirs her sleeping wolf just long enough to bind the handsome stranger in a mate-bond. Lake is willing to do anything to protect the Wolf King, a man he also calls friend. So when he receives word that a Fae princess has slipped into Chicago, he suspects a plot to assassinate the Wolf King. He’s certain capturing her will be as easy as locating her—that was his first mistake. Not only is his wolf a little too interested in Skye, but the wolf accepts her mate-bond without any say-so from him. As he unravels the truth surrounding the smart-mouthed princess and whether she’s hunting his friend or being hunted by someone else, Lake’s mission changes: protect Skye at all costs. And keep her for himself.
Skye Falling is available in trade paperback and ebook via Amazon.comAll Romance eBooksWorldWeaverPress.comand other online retailers, and for wholesale through and Ingram. You can also find Skye Falling on Goodreads.
Anna Kyle wrote her first story at age 12 on an old manual typewriter, and though the technology has changed, she hasn’t stopped since. She lives in the Midwest surrounded by family and friends and dogs and horses. They’ve forgiven her (mostly) when they appear in her stories. She reads everything she can get her hands on, but romances, especially paranormals, are her favorite. Vampires, humans, Fae, shapeshifters, or demons, it doesn’t matter—Anna’s heart goes pitter-pat for the Happily Ever After. Hot heroes + strong, funny heroines = awesome. Find her online @SandsOfTime5050 and MeandersAndMuses.blogspot.com.
Red Moon believes in romance. We believe reading should be fun. We believe that at their core, romances are courtship stories, focused tightly on the emotions of the relationship. We don’t raise an eyebrow at any woman’s reading choices because we believe a woman deserves whatever fiction incites her passions. Whether a sweet fairy-tale ending or a scorching hot love affair, we believe in giving a woman what she wants. Hot romance, it's what we do.

World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, dedicated to producing quality works. We believe in great storytelling.


Publication Date: August 27, 2015 • Paranormal/Erotic Romance

$9.95 trade paperback, 110 pages  • $3.99 ebook
ISBN: 978-0692477762
Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.com

Information:


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Thursday, August 27, 2015

Review: Sapphire



Title: Sapphire
Author: Sarah Fay Olson
Page Count: 358
My Rating: 2 TURTLES: A so-so read. It had some redeeming qualities, but not enough to recommend.
*This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review
Amazon

Description:
In the kingdom of Asteria, Layla has dreamt of nothing but royal balls and falling in love. On her sixteenth birthday, she receives the invitation to the annual Autumn Ball and it doesn't seem like life could get any better when the Prince falls for her. But the fairy tale is short-lived as Layla soon learns the truth about her murdered parents and is given a sapphire that changes her life.

Review:
This book wasn’t my cup of tea. If done right, High Fantasy YA can be one of my favorite genres. Take Kristin Cashore’s Graceling trilogy, Janice Hardy’s Healing Wars series, or Richard Due’s Moon Coin series, for example, I love those books and hoped Sapphire might fall in a similar vein. The author clearly spent a lot of time figuring out the world of the book, and I appreciated the depth to which she was able to describe the land. Unfortunately, there were just too many issues I had for me to really enjoy this book or feel like I could recommend it to others.

One of the first things that started detracting from my enjoyment was the writing. There were multiple grammatical errors and as a writer myself I tend to pick out errors wherever they are. I really don’t like feeling like an editor when I’m reading a book. I also found it strange that at times the dialogue was almost stilted and uber-formal but the next minute there would be weirdly modern vernacular which seemed out of place in a medieval era fantasy world.
There was also some clunkiness to the writing that again made me feel like an editor. For example, the main character uses the line “for once in my life I knew what I wanted” more than once, and maybe other people wouldn’t have noticed that, but I did and it took me out of the book when I saw the repetition.

I also understand that since it is set in a medieval world that there wouldn’t be full women’s equality, but at the same time there were a few instances that rubbed me the wrong way. One of these things was that the main character has a child out of wedlock and a lot of people judge her for it, but instead of showing what a single mother princess could accomplish she says that she will set an example so other women don’t follow in her footsteps. One other thing I’ll mention is when the man she falls in love with after she has her child asks her to marry her she says no because she thinks that marrying him and losing him in the war would be more painful than not marrying him and losing him. I thought this logic was pretty faulty, but she was burned pretty badly by the last guy she was engaged with so I understood her reluctance. Her lover, despite knowing her previous history, gets very butt-hurt and doesn’t talk to her for several days. Layla then feels guilty because she was “being selfish” and not taking care of her man’s feelings. Because selfish is exactly what I would call a woman who says “I don’t know” to a marriage proposal when her last fiance tried to have her killed even after he knew she was pregnant *end sarcastic rant*.

The last thing I’ll say is that the book is called Sapphire because of a magical sapphire that glows when a true heir to the throne is wearing it. This could have been a really cool plot device if they didn’t know who the heir was. Young women could have lined up like men lining up to pull excalibur out of the rock to try it on, but since everyone already knew who the princess was, the sapphire didn’t really serve a purpose. I could have just as easily been a nonmagical family heirloom. Also, the sapphire’s ability to glow is obviously magical, but other than that and one other instance (a creek that glows) there was no mention of magic in the book. Why have a fantasy world with magic if you don’t go into the magic especially when the one magical object isn’t even really that integral to the plot? I would have been satisfied even if the general population didn’t know much about magic, but that one group of monks had mastered it and made the sapphire as a gift or something. It just seemed like a big wasted opportunity to me.


Of course, my voice is just one opinion, but from my time reading the book I don’t think I’d recommend it to others to read. From the other reviews some people really liked it and I’m glad, but I can’t say that I did so much. 



Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Guest Post: Hannah Fielding

Gemini: an inspiration for Masquerade
Gemini, Gemini … Deceptive Gemini.
You think you know them, blinded by their wit and charm, 
Today they love you, tomorrow they may harm.
Chameleons of the Zodiac, they’ll lead your mind astray,
Into their murky waters they’ll drag you as their prey.
One body, two people, one heart, one mind, one soul;
One total complete entity; two sides to the same coin,
Evil lurks in every shadow for mile and mile and mile,
Behind a friendly mask, behind the friendly smile.
Deceit is all around, the curse you cannot break.
And it will last forever because of the mistake.
Unless love and its power can repair and erase
The scalding pain of hatred, and good it will embrace.
Forever rid of malice, at last you will be free.
Dear child, the truth reflects in this duality.
So sings a gypsy fortune teller to the heroine of my new book Masquerade. Luz is, quite understandably, sceptical of the old crone’s insistence that Luz’s fate lies with a Gemini. And yet as the story unfolds, she finds the fortune teller’s words eerily canny.
Gemini was a major inspiration for me when writing Masquerade. I have always been interested in astrology, and most of all by the sign of Gemini, which symbolises the psyche of the human race – the duality in our personalities. We all have two sides: good and evil, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang describe how opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary – two halves that together complete the whole. For one reason or another, we all wear masks concealing our inner thoughts and feelings, our ‘other side’. 
The idea of ‘the mask’ hugely appeals to me because it spells mystery, adventure, excitement and, most of all, romance. Romance novels have frequently used disguised identity to enhance a story. Often the birth of a great hero is shrouded in mystery or he has a hidden past that has led him to separate himself from the present. For example, Sir Gawain is shrouded by typical Arthurian ambiguities and Sir Percy Blakeney dons an outlandish disguise to become the Scarlet Pimpernel. Byron created a model for the romantic hero in his long poem ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’, which is still compelling today. The ‘Byronic hero’, possessed of so many different characteristics, is sophisticated, slightly dangerous but, most of all, mysterious. 

Both heroes in Masquerade have some of those Byronic aspects and are shrouded in mystery, confusing Luz. On the one hand, Leandro, the fun-loving gypsy, comes from a world of danger, darkness and violence; on the other, the ambiguous, tenebrous Andrés was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, affording him a good education, wealth and an enviable place in society. With their striking physical resemblance but such fundamentally different characters, they embody the two faces of Gemini. Both are attracted to Luz: so whom will her heart finally choose, the gypsy or the hidalgo? 
Masquerade by Hannah Fielding


Blurb
A young writer becomes entangled in an illicit gypsy love affair, pulling her into a world of secrets, deception and dark desire.
Summer, 1976. Luz de Rueda returns to her beloved Spain and takes a job as the biographer of a famous artist. On her first day back in Cádiz, she encounters a bewitching, passionate young gypsy, Leandro, who immediately captures her heart, even though relationships with his kind are taboo. Haunted by this forbidden love, she meets her new employer, the sophisticated Andrés de Calderón. Reserved yet darkly compelling, he is totally different to Leandro but almost the gypsy’s double. Both men stir unfamiliar and exciting feelings in Luz, although mystery and danger surround them in ways she has still to discover.
Luz must decide what she truly desires as glistening Cádiz, with its enigmatic moon and whispering turquoise shores, seeps back into her blood. Why is she so drawn to the wild and magical sea gypsies? What is behind the old fortune-teller’s sinister warnings about ‘Gemini’? Through this maze of secrets and lies, will Luz finally find her happiness… or her ruin?
Masquerade is a story of forbidden love, truth and trust. Are appearances always deceptive

Hannah Fielding bio
Hannah Fielding is an incurable romantic. The seeds for her writing career were sown in early childhood, spent in Egypt, when she came to an agreement with her governess Zula: for each fairy story Zula told, Hannah would invent and relate one of her own. Years later – following a degree in French literature, several years of travelling in Europe, falling in love with an Englishman, the arrival of two beautiful children and a career in property development – Hannah decided after so many years of yearning to write that the time was now. Today, she lives the dream: writing full time at her homes in Kent, England, and the South of France, where she dreams up romances overlooking breath-taking views of the Mediterranean. 
To date, Hannah has published four novels: Burning Embers, ‘romance like Hollywood used to make’, set in Kenya; the award-winning Echoes of Love, ‘an epic love story that is beautifully told’ set in Italy; and Indiscretion and Masquerade (from the Andalusian Nights Trilogy), her fieriest novels yet. She is currently working on her forthcoming book, Legacy, the final title in the trilogy, which is due to be published in spring 2016.

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Saturday, August 22, 2015

Guest Post: Yordan Zhelyazkov

Escapism – A heavenly pill or an ordinary drug?

Well, a heavenly pill, of course – we’re in website about books after all, so what else could it be? Oh, wait – I think I should first explain a bit further what I’m talking about.
As a reader and writer of fantasy literature I’ve heard one thing quite often and I’m sure many of you have heard it too – “Reading fantasy is just a pathetic escapism for people who can’t deal with their own lives”.
Escapism? Yes. Those other things you just said? Sorry but, no.
Escapism as a whole has quite a bad reputation. It’s viewed as something that just people who can’t get their lives in order do so they can feel better for at least a while. We’ve seen and read countless sci-fi movies and books on the matter – a dystopian future where most of the population (particularly the young generations, which is silly because it is way in the future and all generations should be doing it) spends their entire lives in a virtual reality, while the world and the society crumble around them.
And there’s a grain of truth in this – there are people today who spend most of their time in front of the gaming monitor or the TV set or between towers of books and prefer to live lives that are not their own. However, saying that all escapism is bad because some loose themselves into such things is a gross overgeneralization, similar to any form of racism, sexism or telling me that because your neighbor’s cat is smelly, then mine’s surely smelly too, even though you’ve never seen it yourself (the worst kind of overgeneralization!).
And from people’s tendency for overgeneralization, we jump right to their often staggering inability to … well, generalize. Because, yes, fantasy (and some other-worldly sci-fi) literature provides escapism on a level that most other literature can’t reach. Much like video games, fantasy novels don’t just let you live someone else’s life – they let you live in someone else’s universe and reality. But still, it’s not just fantasy literature that provides escapism. I said about video games, movies and TV, but it’s far more than that – every form of entertainment is nothing more than escapism. Listening to/playing music, watching/playing sports, aimless browsing, going out, playing with your pet, cooking (for those that love cooking (something way beyond my comprehension (sorry))), etc, etc. Heck, even work is escapism if you’re a workaholic. And let’s not talk about drugs (even though I kind of put those in the title …).
If you think about it – even sleep is escapism. It’s your mind going “To hell with all this, I can’t take it anymore – I need to plug off for a while.” And here’s the thing – once your mind gets its craving for escapism satisfied (and after 2-3 coffees in the morning) it is once again on 100% and ready to rock! And that’s exactly what any other form of escapism does too. When I say “Pff, I can’t tackle this shi – err, “problem” – anymore, I’m going to read a couple chapters of X novel” I’m not “running away from my responsibilities” or “hiding from my hateful life” – I’m just taking a break. And much like with sleep, once I’ve had my break, I’m up and running again.
Also – you know those moments in movies when the main character’s been struggling with one problem for 60-90 minutes and then in a simple conversation on an unrelated subject he just “Gets it” (The one that’s on everyone’s “Top 3 movie clichés” list)? That’s escapism for ya – getting away from the problem and thus figuring it out. And that’s exactly what makes fantasy literature not just escapism, but the best of them all – by getting away not just from your life, but from your reality as well, you can see things that you couldn’t see before. Say someone is a racist – giving him a historical novel about a racism-based conflict near him is unlikely to do anything to his mindset because he’ll just think “those brown/red/yellow/white/black bastards!!” and move on. Giving him a fantasy novel about a (well-written) racism-based conflict between … “Annars” and “Tasals” for example has a much higher chance to invoke a “wait a minute” type of thought – a thought that happens way too rarely when you’re “in” your life and don’t step away from it every once and while.
Plus, in fantasy there be dragons. And elfs, dwarves and orcs. So there’s that too.


-YZ


Book description:

A character-driven fantasy novel, exploring the theme of loss and how we try to deal with it even when there is no way to do so.




Korsak Dryshore, a middle-aged war veteran, is being held directly responsible for the invasion of his home town of Seten. Everyone in Seten, including his family, blames him for losing the last ditch defense against the aggressors. Utterly defeated, and mourning the loss of his eldest son in the conflict, he has spent the last months following the battle away from home. Upon his return, he has to confront the animosity of the populace, made even worse by his bringing a heathen girl back with him.

Beaten, downcast and in despair, he is resigned to merely spending the remainder of his days in meek quietude. That would prove impossible, however, as he's soon implicated in an escalating political and religious conflict within the city. To make matters worse, his youngest son and the foreign girl are dragged deep into the whirlwind of the crisis.




And in the meantime, They are about to set over Seten."




While a standalone, “When They Shine Brightest” is also a first book in a new and vast fantasy world and gives the start of events that are yet to reach all of its corners.





Author’s bio



Yordan Zhelyazkov was born 1988 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Actively reading since he was 4 years old, he fell in love with fantasy and sci-fi later, in school, when he started going to the city library by himself. That love didn’t let him go and he had several attempts at writing while growing up, including game-books, short stories and even an encyclopedia. All of those were, of course, fiascos.

That changed in his early 20s when he decided to turn writing into a career, began his Creative Writing Masters degree in New Bulgarian University and also started working on his fantasy novel, “When They Shine Brightest”.

Soon after he finished his work on the novel, he signed a contract for its publication with publishing house "Enthusiast" in Bulgaria. In the meantime he also gave the book for translation into English to professional translator Alexander Gurovski and made a successful IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign with which he funded the enterprise. The book also went through intensive editing by the likes of famous Bulgarian SFF writer Luben Dilov-juniour and award-winner Tia Bach. “When They Shine Brightest” will be published in Bulgaria in October, 2015 and self-published in English on August 17, 2015.

At the moment Yordan is working on his next fantasy novel.


***




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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Review: Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets

Title: Mina Cortez: From Bouquets to Bullets
Author: Jeffrey Cook
Page Count: 156
4 TURTLES: A great read, I definitely recommend.
*This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review
Mina Cortez on Amazon

Description (Goodreads):
She'd never said, "I want to join the Secret Police when I grow up."

Of course, Mina Cortez hadn't known there were secret police. She just knew she'd rather be a ballerina than a florist. But in 2154, though the world has mostly recovered from the supervolcano, vocational education is still programmed based on aptitude testing. An implanted skill chip can give the recipient many things, but not longer legs. So Mina fully expected to end up inheriting her family's flower shop and landscaping business someday.

Like three generations before her, she had the nose for it.

She didn't expect one of her best friends to be kidnapped. She didn't expect to be inducted into a covert organization by desperate authorities. She didn't expect to have to be grateful for her other best friend's 'undead' Chevy. She didn't expect programmed spy information to come with the taste of aluminum on her tongue — or a burning sensation when she fought its impulses. She didn't expect fights, car chases, family secrets, bureaucrats acting as espionage cheerleaders, electro-magnetic pulses, or the frequent scent of gun oil.

She definitely didn't expect to still have to deliver flowers while figuring it all out.


Review:
I’d like to start by thanking the author, Jeffrey Cook, who gave me this copy for review at a backyard and gardening convention of all places!

Mina is the daughter of two Seattle florists. The book takes place several centuries in the future after a super volcano erupted and decimated the world as we know it. By the time we enter this world, much of the clean up has happened, but we see how this disaster steered scientific advancement. For example, there is a lunar colony, and everyone is given series of aptitude tests in school to determine their future careers. At the time they are to graduate and begin said career they have a chip implanted into their spine that has all the information needed to do their job effectively. The time of turmoil after the eruption also gave rise to the Secret Police which Mina is recruited for.

I loved this premise, it was well thought out and conveyed and even felt plausible to me. I really enjoyed how we got to see the parts of our world that poked through into the year 2154 and all the small details that filled out the picture of this future. I almost wish that this world had been filled out a bit more, but given that it is Young Adult it made sense that Cook didn’t go into detail of the geopolitics of all of it.

This book is short but it is packed full of non-stop action, plot twists, and developed characters. There was never a lull or dull moment. I particularly liked Amiko, Mina’s best friend, martial arts specialist, and self-proclaimed side-kick. Her spunky personality added great comic relief to the constant intensity of the story. The idea of chips also lead to a lot of interesting plot developments that really amped up the action. The only thing I would say detracted from my enjoyment was that at times phrases were worded confusingly and I’d have to go back and re-read them to understand what they were saying.

This book is really an entertaining read for Science Fiction and Young Adult fans alike. I’m not sure if there is a sequel in the works, but Cook definitely leaves the door open for one. I know I’d read it should it come into being. I’d definitely recommend this book!






Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Calling all Authors: Anthology Accepting Submissions


“SIRENS”
EDITED BY RHONDA PARRISH
OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS

Alpena, MI (August 18, 2015– World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced the anthology Sirens, volume four of Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries is open to submissions through November 15, 2015.

Praise for Rhonda Parrish’s Magical Menageries:

“Rhonda Parrish has assembled a stellar collection that runs the gamut of Urban Fantasy to Weird Fiction. Easily the most consistently satisfying anthology I've read in years.”
— K.L. Young, Executive Editor, Strange Aeons Magazine

“With fifteen talented writers and a theme subject that is both evocative and memorable, Rhonda Parrish’s new anthology Scarecrow, is no straw man. Like any good scarecrow, this anthology is truly outstanding in its field. Don’t be scared to pick this up and give it a read.” 
— Steve Vernon, author of Tatterdemon
Delightfully refreshing! I should have known that editor Parrish (who also edits the cutting edge horror zine, Niteblade) would want to offer something quite unique. I found it difficult to stop reading as one story ended and another began – all fantastic work by gifted writers. Not for the faint of heart, by any means.”
— Marge Simon, multiple Bram Stoker® winner
“What an amazing group of stories!”
— Tangent
“There’s no Disney-esque flutter and glitter to be found here — but there are chills and thrills aplenty.”
— Mike Allen, author of Unseaming and editor of Clockwork Phoenix
Greek mythology describes the Sirens as being charismatic monsters; part bird, part woman, with enchanting voices whose songs either lure men to, or foretell, their deaths. In Roman mythology they play a similar role but shift their domain to the sea and take the form of mermaid-like creatures. Mythological Sirens such as these come with a capital ess; there are only a small number of them, they have names, Godly parents and occupations. Those Sirens are welcome within the pages of this anthology, but so are their lower-case sisters.
In Sirens, we will honor and share stories of historical Sirens, but we’ve equal room for modern re-imaginings and will be giving matching space to both avian and aquatic varieties.
Whether from the sea or sky, sirens are beautiful, dangerous and musical, and we’re open to works that exemplify as well as those which defy those expectations. Sirens will be a book full of tales that evoke a vast spectrum of emotions toward these maidens, empathy, disdain, sorrow, awe and anger. I want stories of wretched and cursed sirens who fight against the roles imposed upon them and tales of those who revel in them. I’m hoping for pieces re-telling or playing upon the traditional myths and others which create their own mythologies, and all the little niches in between.
For full submission guidelines and details, visithttp://www.worldweaverpress.com/submit-anthologies.html
Rhonda Parrish is a master procrastinator and nap connoisseur but despite that she somehow manages a full professional life. She has been the publisher and editor-in-chief of Niteblade Magazine for over five years now (which is like 25 years in internet time) and is the editor of the benefit anthology Metastasis, as well as the World Weaver Press anthologies FaeScarecrow, and Corvidae. In addition, Rhonda is a writer whose work has been included or is forthcoming in dozens of publications including Tesseracts 17: Speculating Canada from Coast to Coast and Imaginarium: The Best Canadian Speculative Writing. Her website, updated weekly, is at rhondaparrish.com.

World Weaver Press is an independently owned publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction. We believe in great storytelling.

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Spotlight: When They Shine Brightest

Book description:

A character-driven fantasy novel, exploring the theme of loss and how we try to deal with it even when there is no way to do so.

Korsak Dryshore, a middle-aged war veteran, is being held directly responsible for the invasion of his home town of Seten. Everyone in Seten, including his family, blames him for losing the last ditch defense against the aggressors. Utterly defeated, and mourning the loss of his eldest son in the conflict, he has spent the last months following the battle away from home. Upon his return, he has to confront the animosity of the populace, made even worse by his bringing a heathen girl back with him.
Beaten, downcast and in despair, he is resigned to merely spending the remainder of his days in meek quietude. That would prove impossible, however, as he's soon implicated in an escalating political and religious conflict within the city. To make matters worse, his youngest son and the foreign girl are dragged deep into the whirlwind of the crisis.

And in the meantime, They are about to set over Seten."

While a standalone, “When They Shine Brightest” is also a first book in a new and vast fantasy world and gives the start of events that are yet to reach all of its corners.




Author’s bio:

Yordan Zhelyazkov was born 1988 in Sofia, Bulgaria. Actively reading since he was 4 years old, he fell in love with fantasy and sci-fi later, in school, when he started going to the city library by himself. That love didn’t let him go and he had several attempts at writing while growing up, including game-books, short stories and even an encyclopedia. All of those were, of course, fiascos.
That changed in his early 20s when he decided to turn writing into a career, began his Creative Writing Masters degree in New Bulgarian University and also started working on his fantasy novel, “When They Shine Brightest”.
Soon after he finished his work on the novel, he signed a contract for its publication with publishing house "Enthusiast" in Bulgaria. In the meantime he also gave the book for translation into English to professional translator Alexander Gurovski and made a successful IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign with which he funded the enterprise. The book also went through intensive editing by the likes of famous Bulgarian SFF writer Luben Dilov-juniour and award-winner Tia Bach. “When They Shine Brightest” will be published in Bulgaria in October, 2015 and self-published in English on August 17, 2015.
At the moment Yordan is working on his next fantasy novel.

***



Amazon:
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Sunday, August 16, 2015

Author Interviews: Scarecrow Anthology



Author Name: Holly Schofield
Social Media Links:

Please share a short excerpt from your story:
I pictured the scene as a crow might see it: the scarecrow high-stepping under the moon, tails flapping, twisting like the hepcat he would become. NBC’s Palmolive Hour alive with sweet jazz, the hopeful scent of ripening tomatoes, and the moonlight playing among the carrot fronds. The scarecrow tap dancing madly to “California, Here I Come” as it blared out the window of the farmhouse he was never, ever invited into.

What is it about scarecrows that inspired you to write about them?
Scarecrows held no appeal for me at all, the dusty, frumpy old things. That is, until I read Rhonda's suggestion of a _steampunk_ scarecrow. Then I was off and running, like a mouse across a cornfield.

Author Name: Katherine Marzinsky
Social Media Links:

Please share a short excerpt from your story/stories:
“So,” Rosa began, her voice the temperature of the water on the bedside tray, “you're still wandering around with that stupid straw-man of yours?”

“Yes,” Vicente replied with equal coldness, studying the IV line running into his wrist.  “He's my hermano de tinta.  Why wouldn't I be?”

“I'm just a little surprised.”  Rosa crossed one leg over the other.  “I thought you'd have scrapped him and run off with some new, half-baked story by now.”  She met Vicente's eyes.  “After all, that's what you did with us, your real brother and sister.”

Vicente looked away.

“… I wasn’t ready to handle all that nonsense.”

“We’re nonsense?”  Rosa’s eyes widened.  “Your family is nonsense?  And just what do you think that damn scarecrow is?”

“I needed time for myself.”

“All you ever think about is yourself.”  Rosa uncrossed her legs and braced her palms against her thighs.  “Mamá and Papá didn’t raise us to act that way.  Do you know how ashamed they’d be if they knew how you abandoned us?  Abandoned your life and their memory?  Luis is almost a teenager now, and he doesn’t remember anything except Mamá’s coffin and you walking away.”

“Shut up.”  Vicente knotted his fists around the bed sheets and squeezed until his veins bulged like worms.  “You don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.  You don’t know me; you never knew me.”

“Who does then?”

Feeling the pain rising from the IV needle on the back of his hand, Vicente let go of the sheets.  He closed his eyes for a moment, and then shrugged the best he could in his cocoon of linens, gauze, and plastic tubing.

“Strel’s the only one.  Not like you’d ever ask him though.”

“That’s bullshit, Vicente.  Your scarecrow can’t even talk.”

“Maybe you just don’t know how to listen.”  

 There’s a Japanese God who is represented as a scarecrow. It is all-knowing but cannot move. If you could know any one thing, what would it be?Would it be worth learning the answer if you were forever stuck in one place afterward?
I tend to be an extremely anxious person; I worry constantly about everything, and if there’s nothing to worry about, my brain will create something to worry about.  With that in mind, if I could know any one thing it would be the secret to perfect mental peace.  If I was forever stuck in one place afterward, then I’d be okay with that.  I would much rather be peaceful in one spot than a fearful and restless wanderer.

If you were a scarecrow, what would you look like? What would you be stuffed with?
For starters, I would be much thinner, and I would definitely want some kind of animal skull as a head.  I originally envisioned Strel, the scarecrow in my story, with a deer skull as his head, so I’ll go with that.  A ram skull might be pretty cool too, though.  As for my stuffing, I would love to be stuffed with crumpled up pages ripped from literature and art textbooks.  That way, I’d always know that I was beautiful on the inside, even if my outside got tangled in thorns and covered in bird droppings.  

Do you think you’d make a good scarecrow? Why?
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t make a good scarecrow.  I can’t stand the heat, and most crops are grown in the hotter months.  I could also see myself stressing about all kinds of potential catastrophes, like a plague of locusts, or a wild fire, or a devastating storm, or falling over and being unable to get back up… I’m sure the crows would learn pretty fast how to take advantage of my distraction. 

What is it about scarecrows that inspired you to write about them?
I think my affinity for scarecrows began after playing “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” when I was a kid.  The antagonist in that game is a creature called the Skull Kid, and although I don’t think he actually is a scarecrow, he certainly looks like one.  The combination of creepiness and vulnerability that his character, and scarecrows in general, represents has continued to fascinate me to this day.    


Author Name: Scott Burtness
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Please share a short excerpt from your story/stories:
Clots of mud and foliage stained with dark vital-fluid marked Scarecrow’s path from the airlock. Initiating a physical-assessment scan, it analyzed the extent of its injuries, categorizing them by degree of severity. Despite openly weeping vital fluid, none were terminal, nor were any severe enough to degrade its capabilities. Shifting its awareness, Scarecrow observed Jorry, the human wet-tech assigned as its Tin Man. The human’s posture, facial expressions and bio-signatures indicated that he also did not believe Scarecrow’s wounds to be severe. Applying the relevant pre-loaded decision matrix, it determined that updating the Dorothy took precedence, and established a communication link. 
“Scarecrow to mining site.” It formed the words slowly, hindered by facial muscles not well-shaped for Consortium Standard. “Mission accomplished.”
There’s a Japanese God who is represented as a scarecrow. It is all-knowing but cannot move. If you could know any one thing, what would it be?
How to eat hot pizza without burning the roof of my mouth.

Would it be worth learning the answer if you were forever stuck in one place afterward?
Only if I was stuck in a pizza joint.

If you were a scarecrow, what would you look like? What would you be stuffed with?
If I were a scarecrow, I’d look like Dean Koontz and be stuffed with Stephen King books.

Do you think you’d make a good scarecrow? Why?
I'd be a terrible scarecrow. One, I like crows. They're very clever and sound like Predator when they croak, which is awesome. Two, I have a short attention span. No way could I handle staring at a field for days on end. I'd totally lose focus and… Wait, what was the question? Oh, three, I think unicycles are way cooler than tandem bicycles.

What is it about scarecrows that inspired you to write about them?

All random humor aside, I think scarecrows are fascinating. They present a window into humanity's psyche. There’s a darkness in us, but also a desire to channel that darkness into a clear purpose. Scarecrows provide a focal point of our contradictory nature.


About the Book:
Hay-men, mommets, tattie bogles, kakashi, tao-tao—whether formed of straw or other materials, the tradition of scarecrows is pervasive in farming cultures around the world. The scarecrow serves as decoy, proxy, and effigy—human but not human. We create them in our image and ask them to protect our crops and by extension our very survival, but we refrain from giving them the things a creation might crave—souls, brains, free-will, love. In Scarecrow, fifteen authors of speculative fiction explore what such creatures might do to gain the things they need or, more dangerously, think they want. 

Within these pages, ancient enemies join together to destroy a mad mommet, a scarecrow who is a crow protects solar fields and stores long-lost family secrets, a woman falls in love with a scarecrow, and another becomes one. Encounter scarecrows made of straw, imagination, memory, and robotics while being spirited to Oz, mythological Japan, other planets, and a neighbor’s back garden. After experiencing this book, you’ll never look at a hay-man the same. 

Featuring all new work by Jane Yolen, Andrew Bud Adams, Laura Blackwood, Amanda Block, Scott Burtness, Virginia Carraway Stark, Amanda C. Davis, Megan Fennell, Kim Goldberg, Katherine Marzinsky, Craig Pay, Sara Puls, Holly Schofield, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, and Kristina Wojtaszek.

Scarecrow on Amazon



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