Tuesday, June 17, 2014

World Weaver Press: new logo and submissions!

new logo
WORLD WEAVER PRESS
UPDATES IMAGE WITH
NEW WEBSITE AND LOGO

NOW OPEN TO JUNE 2014 SUBMISSIONS!

Alpena, MI (June 17, 2014– World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) is celebrating a new phase of the company with the unveiling of their updated website and logo, now live! The new site can be found at www.worldweaverpress.com.

Not only have we streamlined content, but we now have the capability to take online orders directly through our site, including ebook orders with instant digital delivery,” commented Wiedbrauk. “We’re on track to make the leap from “small press” to “mid-size press” in 2014We continue to grow, to mature as a press, as editors and publishers. We’re watching our authors grow, and we’re so impressed with what they’re doing and the direction their novels and series are going. We’re bringing those books to you as fast as we can, and I hope you’re enjoying reading them as much as I am.
The new website offers readers the ability to purchase direct from the publisher for pre-orders and paperbacks, as well as ebooks with instant digital-download ability. 
World Weaver Press is now open to unsolicited queries for novels, novellas, serialized fiction, anthology proposals, and single author collections. World Weaver is open to submissions every February, June, and September. Full guidelines can be found at: www.worldweaverpress.com/submit-fiction.html.
In addition, World Weaver is planning two forthcoming anthology calls for 2014. Corvidae and Scarecrow will be edited by Niteblade Magazine editor Rhonda Parrish, whose anthology FAE will be released by World Weaver Press on July 22, 2014. Both anthologies will be open to submissions from July 1 – October 31, 2014. Full guidelines can be found at: www.worldweaverpress.com/submit-anthologies.html.
World Weaver Press recently announced the launch of their new imprint, Red Moon Romance. Red Moon is now accepting submissions to three big, sexy anthologies Too Alpha to Handle, Sexy Secret Santa, and Demons, Imps, and Incubi. For full submission guidelines and details, visit:www.redmoonromance.com/submit.

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

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@WorldWeaver_wwp

Monday, June 16, 2014

Guest Post: Amalia Dillin

When Eve Hits the 15th Century, The 15th Century Hits Back

Eve has lived countless lives: Yocheved, mother of Moses; Helen of Troy; Olympias, Queen of Epirus; Mary, mother of Jesus; and  hundreds of lives in between.  She is Spartan and Amazon, Princess, Queen, Slave and Pauper. And in 15th Century France, she is Anessa, the daughter of a poor Baron, betrayed by the sister she loved and accused of heresy by the Church.

I’ll be honest, I kind of hate the 15th Century. I hate the clothes and the utter nonsense and complete corruption of the Church. I hate the mad kings and the senseless bloodshed. I hate the burning of Joan of Arc and the witch hunts – not for witches, necessarily, but for heretics. The whole period feels incredibly stifling all the way around, not to mention lacking in awesome myths and gods and heroes.

For Eve, I can only imagine how much more frustrating it would have been. Everyone around her is worshipping a god she knows is dead, and the Church is profiting off their faith and their backs, taking lives in God’s name when, to her mind, they had no right to use it at all. Making matters worse, as a noblewoman of that time, she had no real freedom of her own, and that’s before she’s locked up in the Palace of the Popes to await interrogation by an inquisitor.

But Eve isn’t afraid. The Church can burn her, but they can’t kill her. And this is France! Home to her House of Lions, the family she founded with her first husband. Even if Avignon is a long way from them, when the right opportunity presents itself, she can always go home.

Of course, she didn’t count on her Lions finding her first. Or the fact that the Marquis DeLeon, for all his kind words and good-intentions,  is still just a product of his time.


If Eve thought being accused of heresy was the worst this lifetime had to offer, in TAMING FATE, she’s about to learn her 15th Century problems are only just beginning.

Also By Amalia Dillin:

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Spotlight: This is Sarah


About the book:
When Colin Leventhal leaned out his bedroom window on the night of May 12th and said goodbye to his girlfriend, he never expected it would be forever. But when Sarah Evans goes missing that night, Colin's world unravels as he is transformed from the boyfriend next door to the main police suspect. Then one year later, at her memorial service, Colin makes a phone call that could change everything. Is it possible that Sarah is still alive? And if so, what is Colin willing to do to bring her back?
And as Colin struggles with this possibility, across the street, Sarah’s little sister Claire learns how to navigate the strange new landscape that is life without her sister. Even as her parent’s fall apart, Claire is determined to keep on going. Even if it kills her.

THIS IS SARAH is a meditation on loss, love, and what it means to say goodbye.


Author Bio:
Ally Malinenko is the author of the poetry collection, The Wanting Bone (Six Gallery Press), and the children’s novel Lizzy Speare and the Cursed Tomb (Antenna Books). This Is Sarah is her first YA book. Ally lives in Brooklyn with her husband and a very ridiculous tabby cat. She blogs at allymalinenko.com and you can follow her on twitter at @allymalinenko.


This is Sarah will be Available on Amazon

Check out my Cover Reveal for This is Sarah

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Review: Fangirl

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Page Count: 445
My Rating: 4.5 TURTLES: A really great read, I highly recommend!
Synopsis:
Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.



For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review:

What a great book! Rainbow Rowell is definitely a master of the contemporary Bildungsroman. I'm not sure if this would fall under Young Adult or New Adult since content wise it is YA, but the characters are in college. I personally think it fits more into the YA category.

This is my first Rainbow Rowell book, and let me just say what a fantastic writer she is. Her characters and conflicts are so real and relatable, and maybe more for me since I am a twin like Cath and familiar with the world of the fangirl, but even if a reader did not have that in common, the family and personal struggles Cath faces throughout is something most of us can relate to whether personally or with friends. I found myself getting mad when Cath was and upset when Cath was, and a book being able to evoke emotions like that for me is a hallmark of great writing.

As I mentioned before, I am familiar with fandom and fan girls, and for those of you who aren't, let me say that the jargon from the book is not contrived at all! If you ever "fangirl" (yes, it is a verb) with another fangirl - or fanboy- they will use words like slash, squick, or AU and for me it was a hoot to read it in a work of fiction and not just on a social media site. Not only did Rowell catch the emotions of family turmoil and growing up beautifully, but she managed to capture the essence of what being part of a fandom is like. I also thought the addition of sections of Cath's fanfic and pieces of the work her fic is based off of was brilliant. I wish it were real!

The author also weaves the different weaves all the elements of the story together, from the subplots to the main characters to the minor characters. It felt more like I was reading about Cath's life than reading about an event where Cath was the center of it and I loved that. I would recommend this book to any fan of coming of age stories, contemporary YA, but especially any fan girls out there, you'll get a kick out of this book!

Quick audio note:
I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it for the most part. There was a British male voice that narrated the Simon Snow parts which worked amazingly, and a female narrator who did the rest of the story. I liked her interpretation for the most part, but her voice sounded very mature so at time it felt like a disconnect from Cath who is very young. Also, at times the dialogue was a bit hard to follow when there were not constant tags.

Check Fangirl out on Amazon

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Giveaway: The Golden Key Chronicles


The key would unlock his future and the safety of his kingdom,
but he never imagined the sorceress would unlock his heart…

When antiques restorer, Rowena Lindstrom, purchases an armoire containing a hidden key and a “magic” mirror, she believes the handsome warrior prince waiting on the other side is some sort of elaborate joke. Yet she cannot deny their connection seems bound by more than just the key and, as her love for Prince Caedmon grows, she agrees to join him in his realm. Prophecy intervenes in a way neither of them could have expected. Lost and alone in the Austiere Kingdom, Rowena struggles to find her place, and though she fights the heated advances of the dangerous Prince Caedmon, the attraction between them brings challenges much deeper than her troubled heart can recall.

After two torturous years held captive in the dungeons of Seviere’s Keep, Prince Caedmon returns home with more than just lash marks lacing his back. He now retains the secret behind the key, and is the only one who understands its grim connection to his beloved Rowena. Yet their enemies to the north are merely one of many obstacles determined to see them fail and, to escape the clutches of the evil Wizard Gaelleod, Rowena and Caedmon flee to the future—the one place Caedmon’s worst fears are confirmed. Though Rowena’s memories have returned, everything he loves stands to be ripped from his grasp.

Join Caedmon and Rowena as they embark on an epic journey bound by fate, and struggle to unravel the significance behind an age-old prophecy in The Golden Key Chronicles.

Bio:

I am a multi-published, award-winning author who lives in the middle of a cornfield in NW Indiana. My loving husband, two beautiful children and a bevy of spoiled pets have agreed to stay and, in exchange for three rations per day and laundry service, tolerate my lunacy. While I spend most days happily ensconced in crafting romance across a multitude of genres, an underground coup has been percolating. The dogs just informed me the cat is secretly vying for dictatorship.

Email: ajnuest@yahoo.com
Twitter:  @AJNuest


The Golden Key Chronicles Collection—which includes a FREE bonus read,
The Story of Helios and Selene, The Mythology Behind The Golden Key Chronicles:

Rowena’s Key:

Candra’s Freedom:

Caedmon’s Curse:

Braedric’s Bane:

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Review: Foreplay


Title: Foreplay (The Ivy Chronicles #1)
Author: Sophie Jordan
Page Count: 294
My Rating: 2.5 TURTLES: An okay read. It had its ups and downs, more downs though. Probably don't recommend.

Description:
Pepper has been hopelessly in love with her best friend’s brother, Hunter, for like ever. He’s the key to everything she’s always craved: security, stability, family. But she needs Hunter to notice her as more than just a friend. Even though she’s kissed exactly one guy, she has just the plan to go from novice to rock star in the bedroom—take a few pointers from someone who knows what he’s doing.

Her college roommates have the perfect teacher in mind. But bartender Reece is nothing like the player Pepper expects. Yes, he’s beyond gorgeous, but he’s also dangerous, deep—with a troubled past. Soon what started as lessons in attraction are turning both their worlds around, and showing just what can happen when you go past foreplay and get to what’s real

Review:
I was kind of going back and forth with what I should rate this one. At the time I was reading it, I enjoyed it enough to give it 3 or maybe even 3.5 stars, but after I finished and thought back on it, I realized that it was super trope-y and the nagging feeling I had about the main character the whole time was annoyance.

Now I know there has been some debates on the interwebs about the fact of reviewers dissing "unlikable characters", some parties saying that not all people are likable, that the purpose of literature is not necessarily to please the audience, etc., etc,. I don't disagree with this, I adore One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest even though I have never wanted to reach into pages and strangle a character as much as I wanted to strangle Nurse Ratched. Heck, the BBC's Sherlock Sherlock is a total a-hole a solid 90% of the time,and yet I still love the character and the show as I love the book The Great Gatsby even though I can't think of a single character in it that I "like". Despite all this I will say that part of the reason I didn't enjoy this book was because I disliked the main character, Pepper, so much. More than anything because it was the traits and decisions that made me not like her that drove the plot. Pepper struck me as extremely shallow and immature. She wants to learn some moves with a random guy, Reece, and once she knows what she is doing, she will go sweep the boy she's been in love with since childhood off his feet. She has this idea of what her perfect life will be and goes after it, even once she has fallen for Reece. The reason the author gives Pepper for this behavior is a troubled past and her need for safety and security, which makes sense. But what really made this a kicker though was the fact that Pepper was studying to become a therapist and yet she had extraordinarily little awareness or insight. She acknowledges that the reason she craved to be with Hunter, the man she'd known since she was twelve was his safety and functional family, but stops short of realizing that her fantasy of her perfect life with him is a fallacy and ultimately will not singlehandedly remove all her problems. The raging feminist in me didn't dig the whole "I need a safe man to make me feel like I've put my past behind me" thing. 
My second major complaint: N/A tropes everywhere


I haven't read a million New Adult Novels, but I bet it's safe to assume that if I've read 5-10 that have certain elements that are constant throughout, and if some of them have plots that are so similar that it is spooky, these similarities fall into the trope/formula category. Oftentimes the heroine has some sort of trauma and while being more innocent and quiet, the lead guy is drop dead gorgeous and the heroine can't figure out why the guy is so into her. Later it turns out the guy has a troubled past too. Something angsty happens that causes them to break up - sometimes more than once - but some event, whether the climax of the plot or not, brings them back together and they are madly in love. Add in a few quirky best friends of the heroine who generally have more relationship experience than she does and poof! you have your standard contemporary New Adult novel. The first time I read that story I enjoyed it, but if I read a repackaged version several times it starts to get old.

I really wanted to like this book, but when I finished I felt very meh. There were things that had bothered me throughout, but not enough to actively dislike the book. It was after I'd finished that I realized the extent of the issues I had with the it. I've enjoyed the majority of the N/A that I've read, so it is not the genre in and of itself. But it was a combination of Pepper annoying me and the feeling that I'd read the same book before as well as other smaller things that prevented me from really getting into it. If you love N/A I would recommend this book to you, but otherwise I might point you elsewhere. Needless to say I won't be reading the sequel.

Check this book out on Amazon

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Release Annoucement: Taming Fate

“TAMING FATE” / AMALIA DILLIN

Alpena, MI (June 3, 2014– World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced Taming Fate by Amalia Dillin, a novella in the “Fate of the Gods” series, and previously featured in A Winter’s Enchantment will be available in trade paperback and ebook Tuesday, June 24, 2014.

Praise for Forged by Fate (“Fate of the Gods” Book 1):

You won’t be able to deny that Miss Dillin is a genius … This story was absolutely amazing. It’s like nothing I’ve read before … a complete game changer.
— Parajunkee

An amazing fantasy world which succeeds in cleverly incorporating history, mythology and biblical figures. The seamless integration of Norse and Greek gods was inspired and I can’t wait to see where this series heads next.”
— Book Chick City

“One of the more fascinating and haunting books I’ve read in quite some time.
— JC Andrijeski, Allie’s War

“A beautiful, sweeping story that puts on display the power of every interpretation of love, and the truth of what can be accomplished when people choose peace over strife. I couldn’t put it out of my mind for days.”
— Trisha Leigh, The Last Year

For the first time in her many lives, Eve would rather be anywhere but home. In 15th Century France, Eve would have burned as a witch if it hadn’t been for the too-timely arrival of the Marquis DeLeon to save her skin. But Eve didn’t ask to be rescued, and their hasty marriage is off to anything but a smooth start. As tensions in the town grow and plague threatens, Ryam DeLeon knows if he and Eve cannot find common ground, their first Christmas may be their last.

Taming Fate will be available in trade paperback and ebook via Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Kobo.com, and other online retailers, and for wholesale through Ingram. You can also find Taming Fate on Goodreads.
 Amalia Dillin began as a Biology major before taking Latin and falling in love with old heroes and older gods. After that, she couldn't stop writing about them, with the occasional break for more contemporary subjects. Her short stories have been published by Daily Science Fiction and Birdville magazine, and she's also the author of the “Fate of the Gods” series and Honor Among Orcs, the first book in the Orc Saga. Amalia lives in upstate New York with her husband, and dreams of the day when she will own goats — to pull her chariot through the sky, of course.
World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction, dedicated to producing quality works. We believe in great storytelling.


Publication Date: June 24 • Romance

$9.95 trade paperback, 280 pages  • $3.99 ebook

ISBN: 978-0692232750

Publicity/Reviews: publicity@worldweaverpress.com

Information:


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