Seeds of Immortality – the cover

Well, Seeds of Immortality is done, pre-edited, and off to my beta readers. So I took a bit of time to work on the cover, and here it is:

Here is the back cover blurb:

With the demon lords stepping up their bid for world domination, Templar commander Ryan Chamberlain knows that the Templars and Arcanists will have to learn to work together. But thousands of years of animosity are not easy to wipe away in just a few months. In a bid to smooth over the transition from enemies to allies, Ryan agrees to partner with Salina Fry, one of the most powerful Arcanists. But it only takes one mission to convince him that the sexy sorceress might just be the death of him.

Salina knows she can’t trust the Templars. Especially their leader, Ryan Chamberlain, no matter how good looking the man is and if that pompous wind-bag thinks he gets to run everything in their new little partnership, he’s got another thing coming. Maybe batting those dreamy eyes at other women gets Ryan what he wants, but if he gets in Salina’s way, she just might have to kill him.

The war escalates as the demons rise to power, and just when mankind needs them most, Gaia and the High Lord have gone missing. Only the Seeds of Immortality hold any hope for mankind, but can Ryan and Salina put aside their differences long enough for the Seeds to blossom?

Seeds of Immortality is the third book in the Demons Rising Saga. It’s a tale of love, tragedy and triumph in a very dangerous world.

 

I’m pretty excited about this book. it completes the Demons Rising Saga and sets up a whole new dark future for me to adventure around in. You can rest assured I’ll be returning to the story line, though I’m not sure when my writing schedule will allow me.

Coming up next? Edits on Son of Thunder, and diving into the sequel, Daughter of Darkness.

Until next time,

Steve

Winter projects

It’s shaping up to be a great winter for writing. This morning I sent the newly formatted and pre-edited copy of Son of Thunder off to Soul Mate Publishing. I am so looking forward to working with one of their editors to really polish my baby.

My next goal will be to finish Seeds of Immortality, the third book in my Demons Rising series. I am very close to the end and hope to have it done, edited and to my beta readers before Thanksgiving.

After that I plan to concentrate on Daughter of Darkness, the sequel to Son of Thunder.

On top of all that, I have two very exciting projects in the works. I was discussing a concept I had with a couple of my fellow RWA romance writers. The idea is that I co-write a novel with one of them. They would write the female perspective in the book and I would write the male perspective. We would alternate chapters and see if anything materialized. Two of the ladies said they’d be interested in the project so about the middle of September, one of them and I started writing a paranormal-erotic-thriller we’re calling Mind Games. We’re 20 chapters in and I think the story is fantastic. A few weeks ago the second author jumped on board and we began a YA action-adventure novel. It’s been a fun challenge for me to jump between the two stories and I am excited about what we’re producing. I will bring you more information on these projects as they move forward.

Now, that should be plenty to occupy me right through the end of the year and beyond, however certain characters, from the other novels I have on the back burners, have started calling to me lately. They really want to tell their stories.

It looks like my New Year’s Resolution this year will be to be prolific.

Stay tuned,

Steve

 

New year, new novel(s)

Happy New year!

I ended 2011 and the first draft of Amulet of the Fallen God on the same day. I’m very happy with the story. It ended up at 95,823 words, a bit short of my goal of 100,000 words, but the story is complete and solid. I just sent it out to my beta readers, and their comments and input often lead to me adding more words so I might still make that. In any case I am happy with the result.

My resolutions for 2012 include writing 2 new novels and getting at least one more thing published (even if I have to self-publish it). I am in the process of tweaking Cheetah and Zoom and will probably play around with self-publishing this novella.

I already have the plot and main characters for my next novel. I’ve entitled it Hearts in Orbit. It will be a futuristic, space romance. I plan on diving into this within the next few weeks to see where the characters take me. I think the second novel of 2012 will be one I started last year entitled Destiny: Cloud Fist, a Dystopian Science Fiction story which also takes place on a space ship and distant planet. So it looks like I will be spending next year in outer space. People who know me will be asking: “…and this is different how?”

Anyway, I have a bright new year ahead, and much to accomplish. When it’s ready I’ll be using Amulet of the Fallen God to search for a new agent, hoping to find one that deals with Fantasy, Science Fiction and Romance. I will also look at shipping Son of Thunder around for a second time, hoping to get some interest in it.

Busy, but busy the way I like it.

I hope you all have a safe and fun year, and will stay with me as I venture out to a galaxy (or 2) far, far away.

Steve

It’s really done now!

I put the finishing touches on Son of Thunder today, and sent it out to my beta readers. The final word count came in at 86,434, a bit under what I had hoped, but still within the word count needed for submission. I’m extremely happy with the book.

Next on tap: Some time off, then I’ll work a little on my fantasy Amulet of the Fallen God while I wait on my betas.

It’s been an interesting experience, and I did prove to myself that I can write a whole novel in about two months. It also tells me that setting a goal of three novels a year is not out of line.

Anyway I’m pumped and ready for the future. Can I get something published? Only time will tell.

Steve

New year. New project.

I’m waiting on a bit of last minute beta input on There’s no such thing as Werewolves, but for the most part it’s ready to send out to my agent. I wrote up the summary this morning and I am quite excited on how it all turned out.

My plan has been to jump over to my Fantasy Novel at the start of the year, but that has all changed. A new story has been growing in my mind lately and I just have to get it down. I made a trip to the library yesterday to pick up some books on Norse Mythology. My hero is going to be the son of Thor, and I’ll be working in lots of Norse gods and myths. Think  Sherrilyn Kenyonish romance, Percy Jackson all grown up, and a dash of Lefse for spice. (“…dash of Lefse for spice.” that’s probably the first time that line has ever been used 🙂 )

Anyway, I am naming the project Son of Thunder and really looking forward to jumping into it.

Happy Holidays.

Steve

Beta Break

Well, I did get the revised version of There’s no suuch thing as werewloves out to my beta readers before Thanksgiving. I’ve already started to get some responses, but I’ll wait for a few more before I go in for revisions. I had a great Thanksgiving break. Lots of food, family and fun.

So during the break, while I wait for my betas to report back, I am working on my novel, Amulet of the fallen god. It’s at around 40,000 words right now and I’d like it to finish right around 100,000 words, so there is lots to go.

It’s a very busy time of year, even for an old, retired guy, but I’m hoping I can push the story ahead a bit in the next two weeks, then return to Werewolves and shore it up before Christmas, to give my agent a nice present.

Happy holidays,

Steve

Alpha ready.

Today I feel like a writer. I was up at around 3:30 this morning feeling like I just had to finish the rough draft of my current WIP,  There’s no such thing as werewolves. This is what I call the Alpha version, and as I compose this post it just finished printing out on my printer.

As I write I sometimes leave holes in the story that I need to go back and plug, because I just cant wait to write the next scene, or a section is giving me some problems. Eventually I have to go back and plug those holes in the document. This is for me the hardest part of writing.

The concept through the initial run through is the fun/exciting part of writing for me. I rush ahead, and discover the story as it unfolds. I get to know my characters, run them up a tree, and throw rocks at them. Fun! I jump forward and avoid the parts I’m just not sure of, or am not ready to write. Then comes clean-up time, and it becomes really easy to avoid writing entirely, which I have been guilty of, quite a bit, over the past few weeks. It’s also why I haven’t posted here lately. (Sorry)

Anyway, as of this morning the hard work on this story is done. Now comes the polish, where first I go through a printed out (Alpha) version looking for obvious errors/problems/stuff-I-really-thought-was-good-when-I-wrote-it-but-in-reality-sucks. From this beast will emerge the Beta version of the story, which will be sent to a group of friends that I trust to be brutally honest with me about how much the story stinks. I’ll have a couple of weeks where I won’t look at the story at all. In fact I’m planning on writing something completely different during the time the story is at my Betas.

Eventually these wonderful people will get back to me with comments, corrections, and input on the story which I will go through and accept or reject, before the final phase of the project, where I will put together a summary of the story and send it off to my agent.

It is my hope that this story will be in my agents hands before Christmas, and I will be starting the new year off, up to my chin in my fantasy novel I’ve titled Amulet of the Fallen God. It should be about 4 to 5 times longer than the Templar stories, and be a bit of a change from that line. There is at least one more Templar story to tell, but I’m not quite ready to write it yet.

So, the Alpha awaits me. A break and Lunch comes first. Then a quiet corner, a cup of tea…and revision.

Look out Betas, here it comes….

Steve

Oh, the distractions of life.

Between home renovations and repairs, traveling, and a rather nasty sinus infection it’s been a pretty busy couple of weeks, but I’m happy to announce that today There’s no such thing as werewolves went over the 20,000 word mark. I expect the story to end up at around 25,000 words so I’m closing in on the finish of the rough draft. I have to admit this story has been fun to write, and there have been quite a few surprises along the way.

I tend to write straight through a story, without any outline and only a vague idea of where the story will end up. As usual this one got sidetracked, and taken over by the characters on a regular basis, but I’m starting to believe that my characters write a better story than I do. So it’s all to the good.

I have coming up, toward the end of the month, two weeks where I will be on the road. I’m sure my writing will be spotty and my blogging nonexistent during that time, so I’m hoping to finish up the rough draft and have a good start on the first edit before I leave. I would like to have the work in the hands of my beta readers by mid November, and in the hands of my agent before Christmas.

I do plan on having an interview with my Agent here soon, so you can get to know her a bit. It’s in the works, I promise.

Until next time,

Steve

Settling in

It is a wonderful Sunday morning. Rain is dripping off the roof and I am just about to jump into a two to three hour editing session on Templars Gate. Over the past week I have been settling in to a routine that seems to be working. Being a morning person anyway, I have begun to carve out a two to three hour block of writing time starting right around 8:00AM. I feel I’m making good progress on my projects.

I have to send out big Thank You‘s to my Templars Gate beta readers. Tammi, Mickey, Don and my wonderful wife have all given me some great insights into the weaknesses and short comings of the story as it stands so far. My wife, of course, has been pointing out my weaknesses and short comings for years, so she is a natural at this.

In any case, I am very grateful for all the input. I am hoping to pull apart and rebuild two to three chapters this morning. The goal is to have the story ready to submit by the end of the month.

Onward…

Steve

Work continues

Just time for a quick update today. I have started to receive input from my Beta Readers of Templars Gate. I hope to have the editing done in the next two weeks and have it into my agent. Thanks again to my wonderful Betas.

A personal note to my ex-co-workers. There’s a pass around copy of Templars Gate floating around Social Services. You are more than welcome to read it if you can find it, and if you have any comments I’d love to hear them. Just send me an email.

I also posted an additional part of Dark Awakening on the Absolute Write boards. Their comments there caused me to change the entire story from 3rd person to 1st person. To get a look at my writing process, more of the story and comments I got there go to: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=184889

WARNING: This was to get some input on the story’s sex scene and may not be ‘work friendly’. Hopefully you’ll find it hot and steamy.

Until next time…

Steve