Quests & Answers

I’m extremely proud to share with you the new anthology of short stories. I helped create this volume along with my husband Garth, and our friends Ren Cummins and Quiana Kirkland, aka, my partners in Talaria Press. 

The seven stories include new, original tales of our established worlds; Sekhmet’s Light, the Children of Divinity, and the Chronicles of Aesirium. There are also several featuring brand new, never before seen original stories. 

We’re all incredibly pleased with the stories and hope that you’ll check them out and enjoy them as much as we did creating them.

Akhet for Free?!

Yes, it’s true. As a KDP enrolled title, all Amazon Prime members have the option of ‘borrowing’ the book and reading it for free… However, that’s not what this post is actually about!

If, as a Kindle user, you’ve been pondering reading the first book of Sekhmet’s Light, or if you know someone who has, on February 1st, I’m offering Akhet for free! Yes, you can download it for yourself, or gift it to a friend for absolutely no money.

But why would you do this, Heather? Don’t you want to make money?! Well, yes, of course I do… believe me this is not something I’m doing purely out of the goodness of my heart. It’s my hope that when you’ve read the first novel, you’ll be willing to shell out the cash for Peret (book two) and Shomu (book three which will be available in the next couple of months!). So, please, if you’ve been on the fence or you know someone who’d like it, feel free to download it!

Thanks for reading! :D

Score: Four out of Five Stars

This is a well-researched book and you will learn some Egyptian words while reading it. I found this very interesting. 

The main character doesn’t look like me at all so I wasn’t able to imagine myself as her, but the author did a great job of in description.  All I can say is I’m not tall and lean with an angular face and dark hair long enough to brush the waistband of my pants when pulled back in a ponytail.  The research done shows in the work and was very thorough, while the descriptions are clear enough that this should be a graphic novel.  Even though the characters are adults, the way subject matter is handled well and this is safe for early teens. This story might help inspire a new generation of Indiana Jones wannabes.

I’ve been closely following the events surrounding the creation of Amazon’s KDP Select program. Because of my intense curiosity and my desire to embrace new tools and technologies to get my work noticed, I’ve decided to register my first novel, Akhet, for the program. 

What does this mean for you, the reader? Well, it means that in accordance with Amazon’s terms for the program, I’m pulling Akhet down from BN.com and Smashwords, at least until April 10, 2012 (the end of the three month period that Amazon wants).

Peret and Shomu (when it’s published in the next couple months) will still be available through these distributors. 

The hope of this experiment is, of course, that the ability to borrow the book for a month and read it will cause a nice spike in my sales and lead to more success. We shall see.

In the meantime, I appreciate your understanding and hope that you don’t hate me too much! :)

 2012. Is it just me or does it seem like time is speeding up? It seems like just yesterday, I was 18 years old and looking to take on the world.

 A lot has changed for me in the almost 20 years between then and now. My mother passed away, I met my husband, and relocated from the deserts of Arizona to the Pacific Northwest. Maybe it’s strange, but by and large, I have very few regrets about my life, and maybe that’s because I’m naïve, but I prefer to think it’s because I accept that even the bad things that happened have made me into the person that I am today… and, for the most part, I’m pretty happy with myself as a person.

 2011 was a pretty big year, both good and bad. I was laid off from my day job, which sucked… but I took it as an opportunity and ran with it. Between looking for jobs and the occasional interview, I wrote and published my second novel and banged out the third which is now in the thick of the rewrite process. I also helped edit my husband’s first novel, formatted said novel for both ebook and print formats, and helped him set up his blog and other social media promotional outlets. I also participated in breaking ground, so to speak, on a new small press with Garth, another fantastic author we know, Ren Cummins, and editor extraordinaire, Quiana Kirkland.

 So how does one follow up a year like 2011? You continue to turn the volume up to 11, that’s how!

 Here’s a sneak preview of what you can expect to see:

• Shomu: Sekhmet’s Light, Book Three
• The Sekhmet’s Light Trilogy Omnibus edition
• The Days Upon the Year (a collection of 5 short stories/novellas set in the Sekhmet’s Light universe to fill in some backstories that were alluded to but not explored in the series)
• The Talaria Press Founder’s Anthology which collects stories from me, Garth, Ren, and even Quiana in a single volume!
• Emerald City ComiCon appearances by me, Garth, and Ren
• And finally, I’m hoping to have time to break ground on a whole NEW series of supernatural thriller novels!

 Cripes, seeing it all spelled out like that, 2012 is going to be even busier than I expected, especially considering that I’m still looking for a new day job. Well, I guess all we can do is rip that volume knob right off and rock on! 

A lot of people like to look at books that people they know have written and try to figure out ‘who’s me in this book?’ I also know that a lot of people like to write friends and family into books… I’m not one of those people.

To me, the decision to base a character on a real person can be fraught with incredible peril. The chances that you’re going to have someone upset with you over the way they’re portrayed in your book are just too high. To date, there are only two direct character-to-loved-one correlations in my novels.

1. Garth-Kemsefet: Kemsefet is very much based on my husband’s personality. He’s very supportive and loving, but he’s also more than willing to look at me and tell me ‘no’ if I’m getting out of control… which is something I do need from time to time. He does a great job of balancing out my weaknesses with his strengths.
2. Jeannie Sue (the nurse who cares for Nicole when she’s injured in Peret)-My mom: Naming a caring, nurturing minor character after my mother was my way of honoring her. She was a major force in my life, always my biggest fan. Even though she didn’t really like or understand the genres I preferred to write, she always wanted to read my stuff and always expressed her utmost confidence that I would be writing books one day. 

I have no plans to put other friends or family into my books for the reasons stated above. Maybe that will change one day, but I don’t really see it happening.

    I’d like to take a moment to promote the work of some wonderful people who also happen to be incredibly talented. If you’re stuck for what to get that book-reader in your life for Christmas, this is a great post for you!

    Do you have a James Bond or superhero fan in your life? Then Garth Reasby’s Children of Divinity series is a great choice. The first book is now available, with book two coming soon!

• Awaken
• Evolve (coming 2012)

    For the steampunk or anime fan in your life, check out Ren Cummins’ Chronicles of Aesirium Series. It’s a fantastic read and suitable for all ages from about 10 on up!

• Reaper’s Return
• The Morrow Stone
• The City of the Dead
• Reaper’s Flight
• Into the Blink
• The Crook and the Blade (coming later this month!)

    Finally, don’t forget about my own Sekhmet’s Light series as well. The first two books are out with book three slated for release in early 2012!

• Akhet
• Peret
• Shomu (coming 2012)

    Oh, and one last thing… If you want to give a wonderful gift that costs nothing more than a moment or two of your time, please leave a review for a book you read this year. It doesn’t have to long, just a sentence or two to let the author and other readers know whether you enjoyed it or not is fabulous!

Thanks for reading!

    I’ve recently shared the fact that I’m an author with my guild in Rift (it came up when I had to log early for a meeting with my editor and people asked about it). One of my friends commented that it sounded like my books would be right up his oldest daughter’s alley so he would suggest them to her.

    I spoke to him again day before yesterday and he told me that his daughter already owns my first book and that he was planning on picking up the second one for her for christmas! Of course, this had me utterly tickled pink, particularly when he asked how much I’d charge to sign them for her.

    I told him I don’t charge for signatures and that if he wants to send me the cover price via paypal I’ll be happy to sign a copy of Peret and send it to her since I still have one on-hand from the last shipment I received.

    Having the opportunity to interact with people who’ve read my book is a huge thrill to me and if it means getting a dad some extra kudos in the process, I’m totally down with that!

As an author, I’ve been asked on multiple occasions if I have a specific appearance in mind for various characters in the series. Generally speaking, I tend to have actors and/or models picked out for characters as I create them which is immensely helpful for me when it comes to visualizing them.

And so, without further ado, here are the major men and women of Akhet: Sekhmet’s Light, Book One, in alphabetical order:

Dr. Alexander Hodges - Bruce Campbell!

Amir Haad - Oded Fehr (Yes, the character himself is a very small role, but he’s a major catalyst to the story so I’m including him.)

Atif, High Priest of Apep - Faran Tahir

Haifa Haad - Serine Abed Alnour

Imanekhet, High Priest of Horus - Erick Avari

Kemsefet, Blade Master of Horus - Dwayen “The Rock” Johnson: This one, I think probably deserves some explanation. I’ve really tried to stay away from casting non-Middle Eastern actors/models as the Egyptian members of my cast, but Kemsefet is a special case. For me, there was never anyone but Dwayne for the role, but not for the reasons that people might think (his role in the Mummy and Scorpion King movies). The fact is that there’s a LOT of my husband in Kemsefet’s personality and Garth looks a lot like Dwayne… to the extent that people who have actually worked with Dwayne have remarked on it.

Dr. Marcus Wright - Kevin McKidd

Meshrew, High Priestess of Sekhmet - Wafaa Ibrahim

And finally, Dr. Nicole Salem / NuruSekhmet - Daniela Ruah

So, there you have it, the men and women that I envision when I think of the characters in Akhet. Keep an eye out for the men and women of Peret!

Interviewed by Ren Cummins

Ren asks some really fun questions during this interview. Check it out!

New review of Akhet!

A brand new review was just posted on Amazon.com of Akhet, book one!

Hey, all.

My good friend, and faithful reader, Shannon brought it to my attention that she was having issues with purchasing Peret from BN.com for her NOOK. If you would like the book for your NOOK and are having problems, please shoot me an email at heather.reasby@gmail.com and we’ll make arrangements for you to get your copy.

To say that I’m displeased with the support provided for the PubIt service would be putting it VERY mildly.

So I was finally able to get the paperback edition of Peret into shape so it’s now up and available for purchase!

Currently, the Kindle edition is live on Amazon, and the Paperback is available through the Createspace store with Amazon picking it up in the next few days. Also, for those of you who love your Nooks, it’s available through BN.com.

Also, for those of you who regret that your kindle edition can’t be inscribed with a personal message like a paperback… well guess what! Now, it can! Both Akhet and Peret are available for service through KindleGraph.com!

So I dreamed last night that The Rock showed up at my house out of the blue, wanting to option the Sekhmet’s Light series for movies because he wanted to play Kemsefet.

Needless to say, my inner fan-girl was completely spastic.

Of course, my husband was all shades of amused upon hearing about this dream and told me “honey, you’re a professional writer now, you can’t freak out like that”. Yes, I do know that and I don’t know that I would completely freak out… I mean, I’ve managed to meet a lot of celebrities at this point in my life and not go all googly… But then again… it’s the freaking ROCK!

Anyway, it would definitely be cool to find out, doncha think?!

I have created a version of NuruSekhmet in the game Champions Online and, I’m happy to say, she has been kicking bad-guy butt and taking names. I absolutely love this game and highly encourage folks who like superheroes and comic books to check it out. You can not only create your heroes to run around beating up baddies, but you can also create their nemesis who will have minions that show up to mess with the hero… usually at bad times like when you’re in the middle of fighting someone else!

I’m inviting my readers to come fight alongside Nuru in their own superhero guises and gain some bonus experience points at the same time… (as well as some possible in-game goodies!) Just log into the game on Wednesday, June 8th and search for NuruSekhmet@NuruSekhmet in the game’s system and send me a friend invite. I plan on being online between about 4pm and 9pm, Pacific time. I have a device that grants me, and up to 4 teammates, a 20% boost to normal experience points gained during that time.

You might be saying at this point: But wait, I don’t have an account with Champions Online and I don’t have a lot of money to spare for that sort of thing..

That’s okay. CO offers a free-to-play format if you just want to try the game out or if you just don’t have money for a monthly subscription fee. Also, it has a sidekick feature which can allow me to fight at a lower level or for you to fight at Nuru’s higher level!

Millenium City is a big place and it needs heroes!

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