Summer Book Recs!

Summer is winding down where I’m at—the fields of corn and beans are yellowing, the garden is slowing, and a few leaves have fallen. But we’re clinging on to the last bits of hot sun this week with our topic: Summer Promo! 

I don’t have anything new to share with you, but I have read some great books recently! In the beginning of August I shared a couple of sci-fi recs, which you can find here, Recoil and The Blighted Stars. And I can’t not put another science fiction book on the list, and this one has a heavy dose of romance to compliment the exemplary tech! Book three in the Starlight’s Shadow series:

Capture the Sun

by Jessie Mihalik

Acclaimed author Jessie Mihalik returns with the thrilling conclusion to her Starlight’s Shadow trilogy. An intergalactic thief must join forces with the charming teleporter who stole her last job—and may now be her only hope for saving her former crew. As a recovery specialist, Lexi Bowen’s jobs typically require more trickery and thievery than honest work. Her former captain might not approve of her flexible morals, but stealing artifacts for rich assholes pays the bills, and Lexi’s had enough of war and death. The FHP left her to die once; she doesn’t plan to give them a chance to finish the job. Unfortunately, her latest contract takes her to Valovia itself—and right back into the orbit of Nilo Shoren, a Valovian teleporter who already cost her one payday and nearly stole her heart. Armored against his clever charm, Lexi plans to get in, get the job done, and get out. But when her former crew goes missing in Valovian space, Lexi will have to work with Nilo to figure out what happened—and stop it—before the galaxy’s two superpowers can use the disappearance as an excuse to return to war.

If you’re in the mood for some fantasy on the high seas I highly suggest:

Dark Water Daughter

by H.M. Long

A stormsinger and pirate hunter join forces against a deathless pirate lord in this swashbuckling Jacobean adventure on the high-seas.

Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas. Faced with servitude to pirate lord Silvanus Lirr, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival in exchange for protection - and, more importantly, his help sending Lirr to a watery grave. But her new ally has a vendetta of his own, and Mary's dreams are dark and full of ghistings, spectral creatures who inhabit the ancient forests of her homeland and the figureheads of ships.

Samuel Rosser is a disgraced naval officer serving aboard The Hart, an infamous privateer commissioned to bring Lirr to justice. He will stop at nothing to capture Lirr, restore his good name and reclaim the only thing that stands between himself and madness: a talisman stolen by Mary.

Finally, driven into the eternal ice at the limits of their world, Mary and Samuel must choose their loyalties and battle forces older and more powerful than the pirates who would make them slaves.

And one last, fantastic read. The magic system and all their rules is so good and the relationships will suck you in, proving you can run but you can’t hide—book two in the Renegades of Magic series!

Rogue Familiar

by Jeffe Kennedy

He left to save her from herself… But who will save him from her?

When Lady Seliah Phel wakes from a drugged sleep to find herself abandoned by her newly bonded wizard, she vows revenge—and to hunt him down. Tracking him through the familiar wilds of the marshlands of her home is the easy part; learning to use her nascent magical skills is something else entirely. So is facing the vast, uncaring society of the Convocation in a time of brewing war.

Jadren El-Adrel is not known for doing the right thing, but getting as far away from Seliah as possible before he drains her dry will be his one noble gesture. So what if she weeps a few tears. Better than her dying in his service—or enabling him to become the ravenous beast that crawls beneath his skin. Unfortunately, in his self-imposed exile, and without the power of his familiar, Jadren quickly runs afoul of the enemy.

As her vengeful quest for recapture becomes a rescue mission, Selly faces all she still doesn’t know about the greater world of wizards and familiars. And Jadren, once determined to walk his own path and stay far, far away from the idealistic fools of House Phel, finds himself aligning with them against the house of his birth. War is coming to the Convocation, which means a clever wizard should pick the side most likely to win.

Sadly, Jadren has never been all that clever…

I’ve shared some of mine, do you have any book recs for me?

Book Cover Blurbs

As a reader, what do you first do when you pick up a book? Droll over the cover art….soooo. Readers, when you pick up a book what do you do second? Read the blurbs!

I said blurbs plural for a reason. Jeffe did an excellent job describing blurb differences, and there are differences, even though most readers wouldn’t differentiate them. 

The back cover copy, BCC, blurb is one of the groan inducing aspects of being an author. This consists of the few paragraphs on the back of the book, or the inside front-flap of a hardcover, that tease the reader with the drama contained within. Yes, that means you must condense your entire novel into a few paragraphs. Ah-ha, there’s the groans! 

But hey, it’s more verbiage than your elevator pitch!

Then there are the fellow author blurbs on the cover. These glowing, one sentences are there to entice the reader to pick up the book and read the back. How do these come about? 

If you’re a traditionally published writer your agent or publishing house will help get an ARC, advanced readers copy, of your book into the hands of some (hopefully) well-known authors. Then you cross your fingers that they actually have the time to read it, and as writers we all know how precious reading time is, and give a blurb. 

Talk about pressure! How do you write a sentence to sum up a book you loved that’s more articulate than: I-loved-this-so-much-you’ve-gotta-read-it-right-now!! You basically do what you need to do when you’re writing your own BCC. Pinpoint the heart of the story and add in how it made you feel or an aspect that gripped you so hard you couldn’t stop reading. 

As with everything, it takes some practice. A great way to do that is to write book reviews. If you are staring a blurb request down, have written some, or are dreaming of the day you’re asked to provide one, reading will help you build this skill. 

With that, happy weekend and may your reads be great!

Book Club Love

I miss my book club. If you know me, you know my book tastes don’t run with the typical book club types. Which was why I started my own with the goal to read fiction and introduce a wide variety of genre fiction to our members: Fictively Reading!

One of my favorite book club reads was Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik. Only one other person out of our group of eight had ever read science fiction before. It was one of the best discussions because they were all blown away by how much they got into the story and the characters, which also meant I got to geek out about space operas and what they are and why this one hooked us all so well. 

I think being in my self-created book club was such a good fit because I picked a few books and let everyone else vote on which one they wanted to read next. Had I actually read some of them before hand? Yes, but I wanted to be sure they were really good! There’s nothing better than suggesting a book to someone and they fall in love with it, come back to you and gush about it. And in our book club we all got to do that together! 

Another huge plus of being in a book club: you get out of the house and actually talk to people. As writers we don’t get a lot of face time IRL. And as introverted as I am, I still need connections with people. Meeting for book club was in part excuse to introduce SFF and romance to new readers, but also for our group to get together and catch up on everything that is life. 

*sigh* The good ol’ days. Unfortunately, the pandemic put an end to our book club meetings since we couldn’t actually meet in person. I have been asked by a few of the members if we’ll ever start back up. And you know what, we really should! 

Are you in a book club? 

Presidential or Kingly worldbuilding?

It’s no secret that my heart…or rather, my head, belongs in the clouds. Particularly clouds shaped like dragons and castles. So, it stands to reason that my fantasy books are centered around monarchies. 

Kings and queens, heirs to the thrones, lords and ladies, some of whom have magical powers or may be wizards. It’s all dramatic, and oh so much fun to read and write. 

What makes it fun? Honor. Honor goes hand in hand with knights and royalty. They’re supposed to be stuffed full of honor, right? Except when they’re human like us and make mistakes, or succumb to the lure of the wrong side of magic such as the True Father in the Earthsinger Chronicles by L. Penelope.

Honestly, the honor concept is also how I formulate my science fiction governments. They're all based on honor or the lack thereof. You can have space royalty, Jessie Mihalik’s Consortium Rebellion series is a great example of ruling families in space. There can also be galactic governments, has anyone heard of Star Wars? So many varieties of government, but they have a common thread.

Presidential or kingly, it all comes down to honor and how you build the rules around it. Then you’ll know if your spells, or blasters, will be pointed at the castle, or outwards, at the invaders. Even if the focus of your story isn’t centered on political upheaval, the laws of the land, the honor code, it still has to be there.

If you’re world building right now, are you wearing a crown or holding a gavel?