Wednesday, April 1, 2020

IWSG: April 2020 & Dragon's Heart

I can't believe it's April. And all I hope for this month is for all of you and your family and friends to be safe and healthy. Thanks to the administrators of IWSG for all the work they do and to Alex J. Cavanaugh for starting this group.  Find all the entire list of participants here.

The question this month: How are things in your world?

All fine, so far. My husband and I are staying home except for a few careful trips to the grocery store. My granddaughter's parents are teachers, so they're working from home. I'm only watching her a few hours per week while they attend various Zoom meetings. I like being at home so the order to remain there doesn't bother me even a bit. I live in the country, so going outside for a walk doesn't bring me into social contact.

One bit of stress that I mentioned last month has now been relieved. My Pennwriters Conference that was supposed to be in May was being held hostage by the hotel. Even though we were supposed to hold any large gatherings, they wanted to hold us to the cancellation penalty of many thousands of dollars and wouldn't let us invoke the national emergency clause. Finally, last week they gave in, but only after we contacted a lawyer. I get that they're losing lots of money, but geez....


That said, there are many people I'm worried about. I have a number of older relatives and many, many older friends. Four of my five sons still have to go to work. My daughter is far away in Boston. My one sister lives in Washington State in a small town not far from Seattle. She might have been safely out of it until the Seattle residents invaded their town and wiped out all the little stores of supplies. I have a sister who lives outside New Orleans, and we know how dangerous that piece of real estate has become. So many of my former students are in the medical field and a number are police officers. I'm worried about them. I'm worried about small business owners. I'm worried about all those people who live paycheck to paycheck. I can't even imagine what is happening in some parts of the world.

I'm  not going sleepless. It's more like a constant low-level feeling of something wrong that is with me all the time. Please stay home and stay safe.

On the writing front, all this force time at home has given me time to get back to writing. Five thousand words last week and hope for the same this week. And in other good news, today is the release day for Dragon's Heart by David P. King. Read all about it.

Dragon’s Heart 
  
Blurb:

A princess. A dragon. Their quest.

Terrible things happen whenever Princess Celesia falls in love—she blacks out and attacks her suitors, which makes an alliance with a more powerful nation impossible. Believing that she’s cursed, Celesia is given two choices: marry without love, or be responsible for her kingdom’s demise. Instead, she sneaks off in search of a remedy.

She doesn’t make it far when she encounters a dragon who bears a curse of his own—he is a prince, desperate to reclaim his humanity before the dragon takes over. He's heard of a stone that can lift both of their curses, but neither of them can find it alone, and they’re not the only ones after it. An evil alchemist is intent on using it to steal the land’s magic and dominate the realm. Only together, with the help of an even greater magic, can Celesia and the dragon stop this evil, or be bound forever by their curses.

Review:

“King has gifted us an immersive world, filled with memorable characters. What an adventure! All fantasy novels should have this kind of momentum.”
                               - Carrie Butler, author of the award-winning Mark of Nexus series






About the author:

David was born in beautiful downtown Burbank, California where his love for film inspired him to write. His works include the internationally published YA Fantasy Woven and The Undead Road: My Zombie Summer. An avid fan of science fiction and fantasy, David also has a soft spot for zombies and the paranormal. He now lives in the mountain West with his wife and four children.





Are you staying home? Do you have to go into work? Are you finding writing easy or difficult during this time? How cool is David's cover? I love a quest to break a curse.