Talaria Press Complete Library Giveaway

We’re giving away a complete set of our Talaria Press books! WOOHOO!

Two interviews in as many days? Yes, indeed! I love getting the chance to meet other authors and talk writing with them. I’m very pleased and excited to introduce another new friend from the Superhero Hype! Forums, Steve Sims.

Steve has published his first novel, Marlsbeth, an epic fantasy chock full of adventure and magic.

H – Hello, Steve. Thank you for talking with me today! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

S – I’m a 37 year-old IT professional, and proud father of two girls (4 and 8).

H – What inspired you to write your first book?

S – My inspiration came from a lifelong passion for the arts; concept art is a passion; I’ve always loved comic books (The Avengers/HULK/Batman), and superheroes. I remember watching the Hobbit cartoon back when I was a kid, and I’m a movie buff, so many movies inspired me as well… Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Legend, Dragon’s Lair, Star Wars. My dad was a good storyteller as well.

H – That’s a pretty heady brew. How did you come up with the title?

S – Originally it just came to me… I went deeper as I wanted everything to have substance. Breaking down the root words I would define Marl and Beth and determine it to loosely mean ‘God’s house of fresh soil’.

H – That definitely seems an appropriate name for a land inspired by the likes of Tolkien! What prompted you to write epic-style fantasy over other genres?

S – I would say that my love of poetic words and fantastic stories converged. I just started writing it with no real plan, and it grew from there. I know, really not the way it is done, but I studied and everything blossomed quite organically!

H – That’s one of the beautiful things about writing, it’s very individual and there’s really no “right” way to go about it, in my experience. Tell us about Marlsbeth. What makes it different from all the other fantasy novels out there?

S – To me what really makes Marlsbeth stand out is that it wasn’t written with preconceived notions of what fantasy was or is. I had a movie playing in my head, and it wasn’t based off of one or two writers, as I just let all of my influences converge. I also think it has a classic feel to it! Even though I did my research, I tried to write the story passionately, with a poetic overtone, rather than being overly cerebral.

H – Oh, yes, passion is definitely a must when it comes to writing. Putting your passion on the page is what makes simple words resonate with people. Which of your characters is your favorite?

S – It has to be the main character Banion. Virtuous, passionate, devoted, honorable. The traits of a real hero!

H – Which of your characters would you most/least to invite to dinner, and why?

S – That would most likely have to go to General Geldik of the Dark Armies, a.k.a. Bloodhunter… nuff said!

H – With a nickname like that, I can’t blame you! What motivates you to write?

S – My brain can only hold so much before stuff starts spilling out!

H – Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

S – I love the parables of Robert Plant in Led Zeppelin, and the figurative lines of Scott Stapp of Creed. King David wrote some beautiful Psalms.

H – I also love the imagery in many of Creed’s songs. Where do you get your ideas?

S – Most of my ideas are spawned from images, and music is very inspirational. I put the ingredients in my brain, and cook them up! For Marlsbeth I have a whole Excel workbook FULL of the characters (some aren’t even in the book), places, etc.

H – Best to hold on to those characters, you never know when you might decide you want to write about them. What are your current projects?

S – Just the Marlsbeth website http://www.marlsbeth.com content is enough right now! Appendices, and downloads… the facebook page as well. Check it out! I had an amazing professional concept artist out of Norway do the artwork on the website, which is some of the main characters.

H – So, in terms of technical aspects of your work, do you work with an outline, or just write?

S – I just wrote Marlsbeth, but I have started an outline of part 2.

H – What was the hardest part of writing your book?

S – Keeping transitions seamless. Following along on the map… The map is a free download on the website to accompany the book!

H – Transitions do seem to be the bane of many an author. Do you ever experience writer’s block?

S – No, not really. Perhaps shrinking down what I see in my head, but no writers block yet!

H – Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

S – I’ve just written the one book for now, but yes indeed! It is a little difficult though — the notion of putting a piece of your soul out there for people to examine… but it’s worth the risk! I would let it influence my writing a little I guess, but to change solely to make others happy wouldn’t make any sense.

H – How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?

S – That is certainly a work in progress, but just talking to people and handing out cards is a good start. You have to have a web presence! Get out in the community too.

H – So, for my final question: Do you have any advice for other writers?

S – See it through! Push yourself toward finishing… It won’t finish itself, so do what you need to do to see it through to the end!

Steve, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today, and I wish you the best of luck in your writing!

As my regular readers will know, I’m a huge fan of comics and superheroes. I find the concept of super-powered heroes and villains to be intriguing, particularly with regard to the struggles of morality that such beings would inevitably encounter. I also tend to prefer seriously flawed characters. It’s probably why I consider the X-Men to be my favorite team (seriously, if you look at their personalities, they’re all messed up in the head!).

So, knowing my predilection for loving heroes, combined with the distinctly super-heroic undertone of my own Sekhmet’s Light series, I joined the Superhero Hype forum and found several other writers there!

And so, it was my very great pleasure to sit down with one of my new friends from SHH, Kevin Rau!

H – Hi, Kevin. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

K – By day I’m a giant squid under a small corporation’s ship. E.g. The InformSation Technology manager, who does everything from software programming, to web development, to server administration, network administration, and database programming. I’ve been in the computer industry my entire career, only branching out into writing in the last few years.

    My history as to more interesting things lies more with comic books, role-playing games, MMORPGs and reading a great quantity of science fiction and fantasy novels. I’ve been into (non-computer) tabletop gaming and reading for over 30 years. Comics and computer games were a little later. I collected comics very heavily for about 15 years.

    I’m overweight, but weight lift/workout 5-7 days a week. (Love the oh-so-tasty, but unhealthy food.)

    I like cats, but primarily because they are a tiny bit like the large predator cats, such as tigers. I’m very independent and driven - this is part of what drives me to do my own cover art.

H – Well, I know I’ll never be able to deal with an IT department without having that image in my head! *chuckles* What inspired you to write your first book?

K – I completely quit online gaming for a while, and read about 30 books in December 2008. I remember getting irate about so many stories ending. I wanted to know what the characters would get into next. I wanted MORE. I realized the only way that would occur is if I wrote my own series, and in January 2009 I began writing H.E.R.O. - Metamorphosis.

H – I’m sure you’re far from the only writer who’s ever felt that way. How did you come up with the title?

K – I knew I wanted to call the primary organization in my series “H.E.R.O.” and had to come up with an acronym that would work for it. (Thus was born the Homeland Extraordinary Response Organization.) I like being able to tell in an instant that numerous books are part of a series, and thus chose to use that at the beginning of every novel’s title. The second part has to do with the story in that one novel - for that first book, Metamorphosis has to do with the three main characters changing into supers and dealing with those changes.

H – What prompted you to write about superheroes?

K – My history with comic books. I also love superhero movies. I’m not restricting myself to this genre long-term, however. At some point, I’ll start a fantasy series, and will likely go back and forth creating a novel for each. I’m not sure how many H.E.R.O. novels I’ll get out before I hit that point - probably 7-10.

H – That’s a pretty ambitious long-term plan. Do you work with an outline, or just write?

K – Both. I come up with a batch of core plot points that will interweave through the story, as well as a “to-do” list of things that need to come about in various characters’ lives. Then I’ll write out from one sentence to a paragraph for the first 10-15 chapters of a novel. Often, strange things will occur while writing, and the plot takes a wild turn on me, changing everything. I generally work out a rough idea of the forthcoming chapters to work on and use that as a guide after that point.

H – What motivates you to write?

K – As I mentioned above, I want to see what else happens to my characters. A character’s story doesn’t just *end* (unless they die - and even then, things can occur….). I’m interested in finding out what happens as much as everyone else might be.

H – Where do you get your ideas?

K – Wild binges at the local tavern? Just kidding! Some have come about because of a single keyword/phrase (H.E.R.O. - Dark Research was an example, as was H.E.R.O. - Horde). Others I’ll look around and pick out words and phrases off random things as I drive around (the slave market idea in H.E.R.O. - New Markets happened this way). A few others I knew I wanted to do something to a character, picked one, and forced them through it (such as what happens with Chrome in H.E.R.O. - Rise and Fall).

    Smaller ideas, such as a few random events that occur in Metrocity I’ve used some software I created quite a while back for use in a superhero gaming campaign to do the very same thing. I’ll randomly generate a bunch and pick out an idea that ought to be interesting to work with in the story.

H – That software sounds like it might be a pretty handy thing to try to market as a sideline! What are your current projects?

K – I’m going through my edit phase of H.E.R.O. - Paragon (Book 6). Once I complete my own edits, I’ll hand that off to my editors and begin the 3D work on a few new characters that came up in H.E.R.O. - Paragon. Then I’ll create the cover for it. After that will be the initial idea phase of Book 7 until my editors come back to me with their revisions and suggestions.

H – Writing is rarely easy. With that in mind, what was the hardest part of writing your books?

K – Choosing to write in third or first person. (I prefer first person to give the reader the opportunity to experience things along with the heroes.) Getting past the occasional mental block can be rough. Not that the ideas don’t come to me, rather I’ll come to a crossroads where a decision can make significant changes to both the story and the characters, and having to select one can be a challenge.

H – Which of your characters is your favorite?

K – Oh, wow, that’s a tough one. Diva’s got to be one of my top choices. She’s dumb, but has common sense. (The boneheadedness can be fun to write.) She wants to be liked so much, yet believes she’s never good enough. She’s quick to react and to help people - a hallmark of a good hero. Oh, and she’s flirty.

H – Which of your characters would you most/least to invite to dinner, and why?

K – I’d love to meet and chat with many of my heroes. It’d be a fun party, barring the potential broken furniture from the bricks. Rayna might be one of the neatest, assuming one could get her to make some lifeforms to give away.

    Least … hmm. If you include villains, then I’d not want to invite any of them. Either they are jerks, greedy, wouldn’t mind killing you or making you a mind slave, etc. Of the heroes, probably Watermane - she’s way too serious. She hasn’t had a lot of time in the novels, so that might not have come out yet. Of the heroes who’ve had a little face time, I’d say Psycom. He’s stuck up, and only does things when they benefit him. (He’s good at what he does, and he knows it.) Of the heroes who’ve had a lot of face time, I’d go with Black Tiger. I like the character, but I’m not sure I’d enjoy sitting around talking with him.

H – Sounds like it really would be a heck of a party! Do you ever experience writer’s block?

K – Yes. Normally, only in terms of choosing one of several paths to take with the storyline. There have been a few times where I’ll argue for days or up to a week with myself over the ramifications.

H – I once had a character who refused to work with me to the point I had to stop trying to tell her story entirely, so I can definitely sympathize. Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

K – Laurel K. Hamilton is probably my favorite. The thing that probably sticks out to me is the ongoing storyline of her Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series.

H – Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

K – I haven’t had a great number to compare against, but I do read them. At times I’ll try to pick out issues people are bringing up to work on. Some people become fixated on the way they believe a story ought to occur, and hold it against you if it doesn’t. So these need to be read while expecting a skewed viewpoint.

H – How do you market your work? What avenues have you found to work best for your genre?

K – My website (http://www.kevinrau.com) is one way. The Facebook page I created for my characters is another (http://www.facebook.com/pages/HERO-Superhero-Novels/312142538816826?sk=app_4949752878). Otherwise I put notices of each new book on a few forums. I’m certainly no marketing expert - quite the opposite, I’m fairly bad at that side of writing. I’ve tried advertising via Google and Facebook - both were horrible, expensive failures. I’ve given out promotional copies of my novels, although that has had minimal (if any) success as well.

H – So, before I send you back to tormenting your heroes, do you have any advice for other writers?

K – Find something you enjoy writing about, because for most writers the success is minimal. Study grammar. Get multiple editors to review your work. Use a thesaurus.

    And there you have it! Kevin’s books are available for Kindle via Amazon.com and in paperback both through most major online retailers.

H.E.R.O. – Metamorphosis

H.E.R.O. – New Markets

H.E.R.O. – Rise and Fall

H.E.R.O. – Dark Research

H.E.R.O. – Horde

    I, myself, just picked up Metamorphosis, and am looking forward to delving into the world of H.E.R.O.!

    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!

The Scorpion's Lair: One Small Step

thermalscorpion:

It’s with much excitement and exuberance I write this blog post.

I’m a published author.

What does that mean? It’s hard to put into words if you haven’t been there but let me give it a go. Imagine that you’ve just won the lottery, found out you got that promotion you wanted, and met your…

Awaken on CreateSpace estore

For those of you who prefer paperback, but don’t want to wait for amazon, Awaken is available direct from its CreateSpace estore!

Awaken on Smashwords

My husband’s, Garth’s, first novel is now available for all ebook formats through Smashwords.com!

The Scorpion's Lair: Back At It!

thermalscorpion:

I’m going to be honest. I haven’t done crap with this blog. I’ve been working on getting my book done as well as some short stories, researching for a second trilogy, doing book covers, starting a company, and working the day job. Oh, and let’s not forget being married.

Now that the excuses are…

Looking for a good book?

Check out my friend Michael Hicks’ website… you may even score a free copy of one of his books!

Book Review: The Name of the Wind

My review of the fantastic novel The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss!

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Aetheros is a very different sort of world compared to ours; it’s a world where the air is filled with the hiss of steam, the smell of soot from the fires which are constantly stoked to keep heat and power flowing, and with the crushing knowledge that no matter how hard you work, you will only ever get so far in the world. Welcome to Oldtown-Against-The-Wall, where the dregs of the society of Aesirium, the city encircled by the wall that Oldtown nestles up to, were banished generations ago.

Although Oldtown sounds like a rather bleak place, all is not as it seems, for even as the steam rises from the pipes, there is magic here as well for those few gifted enough to hear its music.

The first book of an intended trilogy, The Morrow Stone centers on an unlikely trio of heroes: Rom, the youngest and most unusual with her snow-white hair, crystalline blue eyes, and affinity for animals, Kari who is a mechanical genius, possessing an almost instinctive grasp of concepts which should be far advanced for her, and Cousins, the eldest, who seems to know (or be related to) just about everyone in Oldtown-Against-The-Wall. From the humble beginnings of Rom and Kari living in an orphanage in the shadow of the wall, the trio must use all their considerable courage and cunning as they take the first steps to discover their respective destinies as Sheharid, Smith, and Seer, meant to rebuild the world.

Although the Morrow Stone is by no means a perfect book, it is a very good book. The prose flows well and the heroic trio are very likeable which makes it easy to engage with them and want them to succeed… not for the sake of the world, but because they’re good kids and failure would be a devastating blow. The world of Aetheros feels like a real place with a history that we have only just begun to see unfolding, populated with intriguing characters that hold the reader’s interest and make the minor flaws of the novel ultimately forgivable.

Suitable for children as young as 7 or 8 years old, The Morrow Stone is a great read for fans of Harry Potter or other fantastic children’s literature. It is available both in paperback via Amazon or Barnes & Noble and there is also a Kindle edition, which is great news for those of us who love our Kindles!