Wednesday, June 22, 2022

ROGUE'S PAWN, Rights Reversion, Hybrid Authors, Dear Hollywood and Gateway Drugs

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Things have been busy in my part of the world...

So much so that I missed posting for the last two weeks - and I'm posting late in the day today. Madness!

This is my brilliant (one hopes) catch-up post. 

In book news, I got the rights reverted on the ten (10!) books I did for Carina Press. I started with my first dark fantasy romance trilogy, Covenant of Thorns, which meant new covers and new back cover copy (BCC). Done and done, times three. (What about the other seven books, you ask? I'M WORKING ON IT, OKAY?) I'll be re-releasing these three books over the next several months. 

Here's for Book #1, ROGUE'S PAWN:

Be careful what you wish for…

When I walked out on my awful boyfriend, wishing to be somewhere—anywhere—else, I never expected to wake up in Faerie. And, as a scientist, I find it even harder to believe that I now seem to be a sorceress.

A pretty crappy sorceress, it turns out, because every thought that crosses my mind becomes suddenly and frighteningly real—including the black dog that has long haunted my nightmares.

Now I’m a captive, a pawn for the fae lord, Rogue, and the feral and treacherous Faerie court, all vying to control me and the vast powers I don’t understand. Worse, Rogue, the closest thing I have to a friend in this place, is intent on seducing me. He’s the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen, enthralling, tempting, and lethally dangerous. He’s as devastatingly clever as he is alluring, and he tricks me into promising him my firstborn child, which he intends to sire…

I don’t dare give into him. I may not have the willpower to resist him. He’s my only protection against those who would destroy me

Unless I can learn to use my magic.

Exciting milestone, to be re-releasing these!

As for the actual topics I'm supposed to address:

What do you see in your crystal ball for publishing? Will the Big 5 become the Big 4 and what would that trickle down cause throughout the industry?

I doubt that the merger that would make the Big 5 become the Big 4 will be approved. Even if it does, there are still other publishing houses that aren't the "big" ones. Also, traditional publishing is only one part of the market and one that's no longer at the forefront of everything. I think there's value to trad publishing still, but I also think most authors will become hybrid, since we want to be able to pay our bills.

Dear Hollywood: Which of your works would you most like to see made into a movie or miniseries What makes it stand out above the rest?

My Twelve Kingdoms and Uncharted Realms series. I really want to see these books as an ongoing miniseries, primarily because I'd love to write the other POVs that are going on simultaneously with the 1st Person POV of these books.

Your gateway drug: the book that made you love SFF

DRAGONSONG by Anne McCaffrey. I found it in my school library in 5th grade and it opened up a whole new world to me. Possibly also the first time I glommed an author's backlist. 


Tuesday, June 21, 2022

My SFF Gateway Author: Morgan Llywelyn

 My gateway drug: the book that made me 💖SFF

As a wee ankle biter, I learned to read using the Oz books by L. Frank Baum. My dad read them to me until I got old enough to try to read to him (the fact that he napped through most of my efforts while remaining alert enough to help me sound out a word is a testament to his training as a soldier, I reckon). 

Then, I went through my Horatio Hornblower (series by C.S. Forester) phase. ~waves to the Indy~ Oh, and Poe. Can't forget the guy who wrote The Bells, which I imagine is a giant FU to his critics and debt collectors.

Then, school happened with its mandatory reading lists, which, blerg.

The books that finally brought me back into the fold of SFF were anything by Morgan Llywelyn. The Lion of Ireland, Red Branch, The Bard, Epona: The Horse Goddess, Grania, etc, etc. Sure, her Celtic works are typically classified as historical fiction, but stories dealing with magic and gods on earth are also fantasy. So, yeah, I credit her historical fantasies as my gateway, a divine door that's always unlocked and ready to welcome the world-weary to the time of legends and mythology. 

Saturday, June 18, 2022

Dear Hollywood, what the hell?


 

Dear Hollywood,

What the hell?

It's been a while, and, to be honest, I'm feeling a bit disappointed. 

In the last ten years, CGI (3D Rendering) has come leaps and bounds. Compare Avatar (2009), and The Avengers: End Game (2019). For months now, I have been wondering...

Where are the dragons?!

I mean, yes, we had Game of Thrones. But I want a blockbuster movie with dragons. I want to feel the roars in my bones with that sweet surround sound, and have my heart soar to the heavens when they fly up through the clouds. I want to see the scales so up close and personal, I can see my reflection in the movie theater seats.

I'm serious. Where are the dragon riders? My dragon shifters? Dragon eggs with their golden ridges and pearlescent coating?

You can't make me sit through two hours of epic superhero battles and monsters from other dimensions and tell me that there isn't space for an epic battle involving a winged friend or foe with a penchant for fire breathing and burning down towns. 

Obviously, this is a problem that needs to be remedied sooner rather than later. So... without further ado, here is my pitch for one of my novels, Lady of the Primordial Tree.


Betrayal, vengeance, forbidden love, and dragons. 


Sofia spent the first twenty years of her life in a quiet, isolated place where she was taught to do one thing: help women and avenge them.

She attributed the death of her mother to her father, and his mysterious past. So what does she do?

Why, only what any logical maiden in a high fantasy world would do! She runs away from home, goes on an epic quest, and meets the love of her life while fighting a sand dragon that bursts forth from the depths of a desert. Later, she meets a sea dragon, and then we find a beast so large and fearsome that she has to escape before the entire mountain palace she is currently locked up in is destroyed.

Don't tell me that would take an audience's breath away. 

I mean, people liked Dune, didn't they?

I'm just saying, it might be time we pass the baton to a woman writing some highly enjoyable high fantasy romance so we can give the other blockbusters a run for their money.

Frank Herbert decided that the most exotic name he could give his bat-like messenger creatures was  "cielagos", and I hate to break it to you, but that's just short for the Spanish word for bat, "Murcielago." You want some unoriginal Spanish to make things seem more "exotic" I'm bilingual, my name is Daniela


We want something new, and we want something good.


Dragons are in their renaissance. Strike the iron while it's hot! Dragon Shifters are also coming in hot and heavy, so there is huge earning potential for hundreds of thousands of Fantasy Romance readers. Please don't let us leave the dragon movies in the Eragon Era. I want to see the hues of red light as light shines through the wings, and the glimmer of scales as they slither through the moonlight. Show me the razor sharp teeth with bits of their last meal. Give me a wicked drake making friends with the misfit young adult who just so happens to be the Chosen One.

There are numerous books who have taken these creatures, and curated entire plots around them. Take your pick, and make it happen.

But please, for the love of all that is holy, GIVE ME A DRAGON, NOT A WYVERN.

(Since The Hobbit could not tell the difference, that movie does not count.)

Sincerely, 

A Concerned Reader and Highly Imaginative Author


Daniela A. Mera is an educator by day and writer by night. Her life has revolved around creating new worlds since infancy, when her mother used to turn down the lights and read from fantastical books til she could hardly keep her eyes open. She lives between Nevada, USA and Hidalgo, Mexico, living out her own fantastical dreams one day at a time. 

Sign up for her newsletter to get updates and free novellas or extra book chapters at www.Danielaamera.com 

Friday, June 17, 2022

The Future Is Near


Anyone else enjoy reading the book before seeing the movie? If I know there's a print version I'll definitely look it up before seeing the flick—and yes, the books are better than the movies, but I love seeing the differences in what played out in my mind vs. the theatrical release. 

When I read, I see the story in my head. Happens when I write too. Which is why I get giddy when someone listens to my audiobook and tells me they could see it happening like a movie! That was my goal as I pried this found-family, second-chance romance, sci-fi thriller from my brain! 

So naturally, The Mars Strain would be my top pick for book-to-movie. There would be shots of Jules and her team in the lab, Zia directing the colony on Mars and trying failing to keep Gates and Hannah in line, Jake sneaking around Kennedy Space Center, under the radar, basically going wherever he wants to go because when you know everyone you can, and also heart pounding action as Jake and Jules transport the Strain to the CDC. It would be amazing

It's still a possibility. Never say never! 

What's your favorite book-to-movie?

Thursday, June 16, 2022

If Wishes Could Make Movies of Books

 Ooo. Books made into movies. What a double-edged sword. We've all seen books turned into movies, some done badly, a bunch done marginally, and precious few done brilliantly well. So as a reader, I have such mixed emotions about books adapted into movies. As an author who'd like to have a book adapted into a movie, I STILL have mixed emotions. Part of this is because one of my SFR idols had a book optioned. The script was written and approved. Shooting started. (Somewhere in there, I hope she got paid.) She even brought the cast to conferences with her to help hype the production. 

I've never seen it. I don't know for sure what happened, but I can guess the production fell apart somewhere. From what tiny bit I know about the business of making films and TV - lots of projects die before being bought. Tons more get bought and never made. The ones that get made might make it into the can, but never again see the light of day. Who knows where that SFR movie died? What I'm trying to say is that while authors might dream of the money that might come with a movie deal, there's more investment than cash and knowing that it could crash and burn at any time is -- hard.

All of that said, if I could see a single book turned into a movie, it would be the first one, Enemy Within. It's just the book I saw most clearly. The plot feels super focused and the romance tight and to the point. It would be tough, though. The CGI would have to be on point for my bad guys. Of course the technology exists to do the job. Witness Star Wars, the MCU, etc. It's the price point that might be an issue. But yes. That book. It's a fun book and a fun story. If you don't count the dead bodies. 

I mean. Space pirates. Enemies to lovers. Everyone out to get the heroine and not even she knows why? What's not to like out here among the spaceships and bug-eyed monsters?

Tuesday, June 14, 2022

New Fantasy Romance Release: The Storm Princess & The Raven King by Jeffe Kennedy

📚💖As temperatures rise, so does the steam in Jeffe's 4th book in the Heirs of Magic Fantasy Romance Series. Out Now! 💖📚


The Storm Princess & The Raven King


A Broken Heart

Princess Salena Nakoa KauPo thought she was over her broken heart. She’d put her first love and childhood sweetheart, Rhyian, firmly in the past where he belonged. His bitter betrayal of her was locked away deep inside, along with her foolishly innocent hopes and dreams. Now Lena has been thrust together with him, the prince of shadows, the one man she could never resist, on a mission to save the world from a terrible cataclysm. Worse, Rhyian refuses to believe her when she says there’s no hope for them.

An Irresistible Longing

Rhyian is rather accustomed to being a failure. Goddesses know, he’s not magical enough for his sorcerous mother and not alpha enough for his father, the King of Annfwn. It hasn’t helped that he’s spent the last seven years trying to drown his sorrows—and to forget the one woman he ever loved, whose heart he carelessly shattered in a moment of weakness. Rhy knows he has to change to win back Lena’s trust, but how?

A Love That Can’t Die

As Lena and Rhy struggle to overcome the wounds of the past, they and their friends approach the final confrontation with the strange intelligence intent on rending apart the very fabric of their world. And it looks like it will come down to the pair of them to strike the final blow.

But only if they can build a new trust on the bitter past.

BUY IT NOW: Amazon | Apple | Nook | Kobo

Start the Series Here 

Sunday, June 12, 2022

On the Big Screen

 

Happy Sunday! This week's topic at the SFF Seven is Dear Hollywood: Which of your works would you most like to see made into a movie or miniseries? And what makes it stand out above the rest?

Every writer I know has entertained the idea of what it would be like to see their written work translated into film. We create dream casts, envision set pieces, and imagine watching our words and characters come to life. It's a goal that few writers of fiction get to explore.

My choice is pretty obvious: The Witch Walker series. I would love to see it played out on the big screen, expanding the off-the-page scenes and fleshing out all the characters. It would be pretty cool to show the viewer all the tidbits that go missing in many novels.

It's my top choice because it's my first full-length work, and for right now, it's my baby. I adore this world and characters, and I would love to step into Tiressia's broken empire via a movie, show, or miniseries. I don't think I'd be picky ;)

And, come on. Can we give Henry Cavill some really dark, long hair and some matching scruff and call him Alexus Thibault??? Please?? And Harry Styles as Colden Moeshka? 

A girl can dream ;)

~ Charissa

Saturday, June 11, 2022

What do you see in your crystal ball for the future of book publishing?


Better not tell you now. 

As a practicing witch, I’ve got more than my share of crystals and other divinatory tools laying around my house. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned during my tenure in publishing for the last 12 years, it’s that the future of this industry can’t be seen in a crystal ball. 


Its infamous cousin the Magic 8 Ball with its dependable twenty different answers, though… Well, that’s a different story. 


Cannot Predict Now. Concentrate And Ask Again.

Depending on the day, week, year, or time zone you’re in, anyone you talk to in the industry is going to have a different take on where the future of publishing lies as a whole, and what the next big thing is going to be. Break it down further to different genres and their sub-genres and niches, and you’ve got yourself a debate that’s been happening since the dawn of clay tablets with cuneiform 5,500 years ago. 


But for the sake of my argument here, I’ll stick to the last two centuries. 


It Is Certain. Without A Doubt. Yes.

Change is pretty much the only thing you can count on in publishing. In 2013, the “Big 6” became the “Big 5” with Random House and Penguin merging. And most recently, in 2020, Penguin Random House announced their plans to purchase Simon & Schuster, which would have turned the Big 5 into the “Big 4.” 


Buuuuut thanks to the US Department of Justice tossing in an unexpected plot twist, the future of the “Big 5” is anything but certain. How’d they do that? Oh, ya know, just by suing them to block the merger, stating if the biggest publisher in the world Penguin Random House (PRH) was to acquire Simon & Schuster (S&S), the fourth largest publisher in the US - “the proposed merger would eliminate this important competition, resulting in lower advances for authors and ultimately fewer books and less variety for consumers.” 


Very Doubtful. My Sources Say No. 

Less variety and fewer books, you say? Respectfully, I’m calling bullshit. 


Before the pandemic hit, self publishing was up 40% in 2018 alone according to a report published by Bowker in 2019. So when the larger publishers came to a screeching grinding halt with book releases thanks to the ‘Vid in 2020, they left quite the vacuum for readers out there, who were hungry for books while under lockdown. 


And suddenly, readers were discovering more self-published authors and their works. Not only that, they were finding that the stigma surrounding books that are self-published, or only available on Amazon are “less than,” “poorly edited,” etc. - is and has always been - inaccurate AF. 


Reply Hazy, Try Again. 

Think about it this way, with change as the only constant when it comes to publishing wouldn’t it be correct to say that if the industry is worried “about a merged company that publishes perhaps 33 percent of new books, then surely it’s correct to worry more about the fact that Amazon now sells 49 percent of them.”? 


Honestly, this self-published author isn’t so sure. Considering past experiences with the “Big” publishing houses, they’ve proven time and time again that their ability to adapt to any sort of shift in the industry, has been at the breakneck speed of a glacier. 


So do I think the merger of two of the “Big 5” companies is going to have a negative effect on self-published authors? See below. 


My Reply is No. Don’t Count On It. 

If anything, I think despite their less than agile and at times overly obvious “for the sake of it” moves to join this century with efforts toward inclusion of new genres and diversity in both books and the authors who pen them, the fact remains that we’re in an era where consumer consumption is at an all time high. And when all it takes is the click of a button to turn any plan - no matter how long in the making - into complete and utter chaos… Watching large corporations try to keep up with self-published authors' ability to turn on a dime when trends change, is somewhat akin to watching a bear attempt ballet.


For those of us who make our living creating fantasy worlds, it’s certainly an experience to watch as former formidable foes tremble at the thought of authors no longer being dependent upon them to release their works to the masses. 


Until next time…


Stay Wicked, 

Graceley Knox 


Author Bio: 

Graceley Knox is a USA Today bestselling author of over 35 novels featuring wicked paranormal and fantasy romances, and the founder of Paper Myths Media. Graceley has been in the publishing industry for over twelve years in some way or another, wearing pretty much every hat other than that of editor and cover designer. She’s also 100% addicted to coffee and snarky mugs, and is determined to one day have a library that would make Belle cry. As a self-professed book-obsessed word witch, Graceley is fascinated with witchcraft, mythology, lore, and, of course, fantasy worlds! When she’s not caught up in her current hyper-fixation (shout out to her fellow ADHD Warriors!) she’s either writing books or reading them… Or talking about them, or taking photos of them for her bookstagram. Graceley is also a Ravenclaw who’s been known to binge-watch tv-shows featuring strong female leads while cuddling with her fur-babies. 

You can connect with Graceley here: https://linktr.ee/authorgraceleyknox