#book ARC

[earlronove]

Are you interested in an ARC of my cool sci-fi space adventure with runaways and vampires, WHEREVER THE STARS CALL? Well, I got you covered, just Fill out the form below! Copies will go out August 6th.

🚀 https://forms.gle/EY5VprbWujKStNLg7 🚀

See you, space vampires!

[authorkrysejay]

Indie Author Update# 38

I broke through the wall! Woot woot! I knew it would happen eventually. It has been a more productive week than I've had in a while. I'm quickly tying up loose ends that I know will have to be rewritten again. But what's important is just to get it down on the page.

@author-a-holmes had some good advice on how to combat writers block, by doing 20 minute writing prompts. To keep working your creative/writing muscle without the added pressure of a fully written story. I do them on occasion to get out of Moira's mind set or just to dip my toes into a completely different genre. Last week I ended up writing an exploration piece about a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by monsters and government experimental super soldiers spliced with said monster's dna. Sci-fi meets dystopian fantasy.

I also finished setting up my ARC of Phoenix Caged's distribution. They will all be sent out via book funnel on Saturday. I'm excited for book two to reach more readers.

Next week I've gotta keep writing book 3 (fingers crossed i finish it), post more about the upcoming release of Phoenix Caged and go to bed earlier.

[inkcurlsandknives]

SAINTS OF STORM AND SORROW IS UP FOR REQUEST ON EDELWEISS!!

Go request an early copy! And reblog so your bookish, bookseller and librarian friends know!

It still feels unreal that this story I’ve poured so much into is going to be in reader hands so soon. My June release date feels SO far away and also frighteningly close. I’m feeling nostalgic, so here’s one of the earliest pitches I shared when I first started querying

Filipino EMPIRE OF SAND X POPPY WAR

Lunurin, a mestiza stormcaller, hides in a convent—from the Inquisition branding her a witch, and the Goddess of Storms, who sings of drowning colonizers. When she’s discovered, a marriage-of-convenience might save her from the Church, but not her Goddess. A typhoon is brewing in Lunurin’s bones. Freeing it will destroy the violent colonizers, but also the family she found in the convent and her new marriage.

I can’t wait for you to meet Lunurin. Remember. Go to a stormcaller for vengeance, for they do not heal, and they do not save.

Saints will be up on netgalley soon, so follow me if you aren’t already for so you won’t miss the announcement

[calming-chaos]

[thecasualbookreviewer]

⭐️⭐️

Through the midnight door, Katrina Monroe

Summary:

As emotional as it is haunting, Through the Midnight Door explores the sometimes-fragile bonds of sisterhood and the way deeply rooted trauma can pass from generation to generation.

The Finch sisters once spent long, hot summers exploring the dozens of abandoned properties littering their dying town--until they found an impossible home with an endless hall of doors...and three keys left waiting for them. Curious, fearless, they stepped inside their chosen rooms, and experienced horrors they never dared speak of again.

Now, years later, youngest sister Claire has been found dead in that old, desiccated house. Haunted by their sister's suicide and the memories of a past they've struggled to forget, Meg and Esther find themselves at bitter odds. As they navigate the tensions of their brittle relationship, they draw unsettling lines between Claire's death, their own haunted memories, and a long-ago loss no one in their family has ever been able to face. With the house once again pulling them ever-closer, Meg and Esther must find the connection between their sister's death and the shadow that has chased them across the years...before the darkness claims them, too.

Review:

I think I had too high expectations for this book and sadly they weren’t met 🙁 it felt a little like it was trying to do something good but it never quite reached it, and by the time the resolution came around it just felt like a let down instead of being satisfactory.

The pace is kinda slow so it made it feel even longer than it actually is, and around the 40% mark I was ready to dnf, but I pushed through and tbh wasn’t really worth it. Plus I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the characters, so with each page I was just waiting for it to get good and it never quite did.

Thank you to NetGalley and Katrina Monroe for an ARC in exchange on an honest review.

[pipperoni32-blog]

It was a small, awkward sort of castle - the two turrets were of different shapes and sizes, and there were a large number of windows but no door in sight. A great quantity of moss and ivy adorned the stonework, which contrasted spectacularly with the violent wasteland of wind and ice and gave off the impression of a flamboyantly dressed guest at a sombre wake.

“You made a castle,” I said faintly.

“An abomination of a castle,” he said…

… “Farris,” he called, and Rose returned, glaring ferociously, and seized my arm. I gave a cry of outrage as he dragged me up to the ridiculous castle, for I was furious with both of them, but particularly with Wendell. But as struggle would only pitch us off the mountain, I was forced to allow myself to be dragged inside whilst Wendell marched off with my pencil - now a curving sword - to confront the nightmarish clouds below.

— Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (unfinished proof)

I’ve yet to find a match to world building and storytelling quite as unique as Heather Fawcett’s, and Emily Wilde’s droll narration adds something even more to it.

[wheneverfeasible]

Y’all I got the ARC to Ruby Dixon’s new monsterfucker book where the chick bangs a Minotaur in rut and I’m so excited to start reading it.

Expected October 15 2024!

Having a Minotaur Boyfriend would be so fucking funny

Like imagine crying on the couch and you hear his thunderous, big body SUV built ass footsteps approach you.

"Baby, what's wrong," he says tenderly as he rubs your shoulder.

You look up to explain how bad your day was with tears in your eyes and you fucking see this:

I made a small drabble based on this

[bnrusso]

“𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚢, 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚕𝚢𝚜𝚖𝚒𝚌 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚌𝚌𝚞𝚛𝚜: 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎.”

I’m so looking forward to this one — a post-racial apocalyptic world following a father and daughter on a journey of connection, self-actualization, and a reckoning of what it means to be Black in America.

I’ve been overdue for a good post apocalyptic novel.

[miss-americanbi]

so glad that gravity falls is back so we can finally discuss how ford sees himself as the protagonist of every story while stan can’t see himself as anything but the antagonist

[handymanbill]

Family Fun Times Trip (part2)

[mlmopinionsblog]

BOOK REVIEW: ROSES IN DECEMBER BY MARK A. GIBSON

RATING: 📚📚📚📚📚 Let me start by saying I am so glad my journey with the Hamilton family is over. I don’t think I’ve ever said that about a book, but here we are. A Song that Never Ends and Roses in December are some of the best books I’ve ever read, but the Hamilton family broke my damn heart over and over to the point where I don’t think it even exists anymore. What heart, this book destroyed…

[authorkrysejay]

Indie Author Update #37

I have hit a wall. I'm not sure its writers block but more of the pressure to write well/ have it all be good on the first try which I know is ridiculous. But the stress of forcing myself to write is giving me massive headaches.

There's another heat wave hitting my area which doesn't help. And when the heat drops, it feels like fall which is my least productive season. No wins all around.

In the mean time, I've been focusing on creating content for posts and vetting/ going through those who applied for the ARC of Phoenix Caged. I've been seeing a lot of posts on instagram from other indie authors, talking about books being stolen and pirated online. So, I've been more cautious in selecting whose going to be receiving the ARC. Bookstagram accounts or those who post book reviews and have reviewed ARCs before are more likely to be chosen than personal accounts or those who are private.

This is my first ARC experience, with Phoenix Awakening having only two responses due to not knowing that boosting posts was a thing at the time. So it has been another learning process.

Fingers crossed, I'm able to break through this writing block in the upcoming week and get back into the groove of things.

[the-overanalyst]

unmatched ship dynamic: "i've done terrible things in the past" x "all i care about is who you are in the present"

[calming-chaos]

This book comes out March 14th. READ IT. You won’t be disappointed ♡

[verrixstudios]

Last Tribe A Day run cycle was today so I decided to combine them all to show the differences!

ID under the cut

[ID: Seven sketchy animated run cycles, all of the original dragon tribes from Wings of Fire. They alternate sides as they go down, starting with the top one on the left and the second on the right, and so on. The background is a blank white. Each dragon has shaded limbs to help see the differences while in movement. The right wing is the darkest shade, followed by the left wing (closest to the screen), the the right legs are the lightest shaded. Descriptions are in order from top to bottom:

Mudwing: Drawn in a dark red. The thickest dragon by far, opening is mouth in a smile as its front legs hit the ground. Its large wings have four toes as if they were a third set of talons, which is used as another set of legs while running. The wings lift off after the back legs. The entire body bobs with its weight while it runs, lunging with its back legs. One of its back legs disappears while it runs (oopsies) and its large tail flicks with the run.

Skywing: Drawn in a darker red. Much skinnier dragon with longer limbs and larger wings. Its large wings remain slight open above its border, slightly bobbing as it moves. The body itself doesn’t move up and down, instead just twisting with movement of its limbs. Its tail is a little stiff, again just moving up and down. As it runs, one foot touches and leaves the ground at a time.

Icewing: Drawn in a dark blue. Its body and shape is ridgid, its head swooping up and down like it lunges with every time its front talons land. Again, its wings are used as a third pair of legs, however they are mostly used after the other limbs are mid-air. Its talons are visibly sharper, as well as its wings. Sharp spines on the back of its neck and end of its tail are visible as well, which bobs with the movement.

Seawing: Drawn in a dark blue. A thicker, long dragon with short but thick limbs and webbed frills along its spine and sternum. It’s thick tail continues the up and down curve it’s body makes with every move, flicking the end of the frills as it does. Its wings are semi open above its body, bobbing with the running movement and tilting up and down as its spine curves.

Sandwing: Drawn in a warm brown. Long limbs but thicker than skywing. All four feet lift of the air when they’re closest during the run, each foot hitting the ground one at a time. It’s barbed scorpion-like tail bobs up and down at the end. Its wings are folded and stuff near its shoulders, tilted diagonally. A solid frill lines its spine, biggest at the back of its neck and above the back legs.

Nightwing: Drawn in a dark purple grey, and by far the stiffest run cycle. Thick body with short but thinner legs than mudwings or seawings. Spikes line the spine all along its body, longest at the back of the neck and back of the body. Its wings are held stiffly and slightly folded over its body. Other than the legs and tail, most of the nightwing barely moves as it runs, and its legs hit the ground in pairs, front legs then back legs. They don’t even cross between each other at the closest part in the run. Its mouth opens and closes as it runs, not in any particular expression, I was just bored.

Rainwing: Drawn in a muted dark green. By far the bounciest run. It has a thin body and a head I accidentally drew a little big. It’s three-toed wings are used as a third pair of legs, used most right before it’s front legs hit the ground. Its front legs hit the ground at different time, however the back legs hit and leave together. Its tail is by far the longest, curled at the end and slightly unraveling as it flicks up and down. Beneath the curved horns is a frill with two connections that slight opens and closes with the movement. It’s grin also opens and closes with the movement.

END ID]

[pipperoni32-blog]

He held out his hand. “Your cloak, ‘Em.”

I groaned, for i could guess what was coming. I unbuttoned the cloak and handed it over. He gave it a shake, then released it into the wind, which made it billow and twist until it somehow formed a tent, neatly tucked into the landscape and as ordinary as a tent could be, save that it was the precise shade of midnight-black as my cloak.

“How many enchantments did you put upon my poor cloak?” I grumbled.

“You will never reach the end of them,” he said with satisfaction.

— Emily Wilde’s Map to the Otherlands

(Quote from an unedited proof, may change)

He’s not like other faerie princes I know, but that Wendell! ❤️