What About Me?

Does that title sound like a country song?  I want to thank the four fine authors I featured this week on my blog.  I hope their interviews sparked your interest in some of their exciting books already released and some yet to come.  Today I want to talk about me. 

All of my romance books are available on Fictionwise.  I have two romance series, The Chronicles of Solonia and The Tigers of Salubria. 
The Chronicles of Solonia is a complete series, starting with The Greater Good and continuing with The Lesser Evil, A Ruthless Good and ending with One Good Woman.  Every book in this futuristic romance series received excellent reviews. 
The Tigers of Salubria is a fantasy tale of a group of legendary warriors and opens with To Tame a Tiger.  The second book, Tiger's Mate will be published sometime in 2011. 
Most readers of this blog are more familiar with my fantasy series, The Futhark Chronicles.  The Keepers of Sulbreth is available at most retail bookstores, big and small, in print and ebook.  It also has received nothing but excellent reviews as the first book in an epic fantasy series or as a YA title.  The second book, Beyond the Gate, is due for release tomorrow.  Amazon has been a little slow getting it up on their website but Barnes and Noble has it available as do some other ebook sellers. 

So load up those eReaders with some great reading.  I hope you enjoyed meeting my friends and perhaps visited their blogs as well.

So what books have you read during the Christmas break? Have you shrunk the size of your TBR shelf or grown it higher?  (Is that correct grammar? LOL)  At least with my eReader, my TBR shelf is invisible to all but me.

Write Faster!

What really gets the engine fired up for a writer? A new contract, the light at the end of a book, a new contract? For me a lot of different things will keep my butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.

Last week it was receiving the new cover for my second book in my fantasy series, The Futhark Chronicles. You already heard me squeal about Beyond the Gate. Then I received an unexpected royalty check. Is anything better than that?

Then a member of CPRW, shout out to Joyce, had a great period of writing. Later another member, Elizabeth, had her first sale of a short story. They inspire me.

Today I finally received my print copies of the fourth book in The Chronicles of Solonia, One Good Woman. I've been waiting forever for those to arrive.

All these things, including the light at the end of a book, have kept my word count adding up. One of my students at school told me her mom bought my book and she asked me if I would sign it if she brought it in to school. So I've been writing faster. I have until Saturday to reach my month's goal of 35,000 words. I'm close but I've needed all those little nudges from my colleagues and the mail.

Do you set goals and make them public? Do you usually reach them? What inspires you to write faster?

Love Coffee Time

Not only do I love to drink that dark brew with all its healthy benefits, I love the review site, Coffee Time Romance. They gave me my first review ever for my first romance novel, The Greater Good.

The Greater Good is the first book in The Chronicles of Solonia. The Lesser Evil and A Ruthless Good followed that first book and this past December I ended the series with One Good Woman. And this week Coffee Time Romance blessed the book with a five cup rating of excellence.

It's sad to end a series I've loved and especially this one. The idea behind this series was the nagging need that drove me to try my hand at writing. Thank you, New Concepts, for believing in me and all the readers who bought the books and proved their faith.

Thank you, Coffee Time, for the wonderful words and support. And thank you, Lotoya, for your excellent review.

Read it here.

Is Coffee Time a place you go to read reviews? If not there, what sites or sources do you visit to check out a book before you invest?

Lovely review for One Good Woman

What a pleasant surprise today when the author liaison from my publisher contacted me about a new review for One Good Woman from TwoLips Reviews. I didn't even know they had my book on their list to check out and there it was.

Not only did the reviewer, Merrylee, say wonderful things about One Good Woman, her words made it obvious she had read the previous three books in the series and loved them also. She put into words many of my own feelings about the ending of The Chronicles of Solonia Series.

In a few short paragraphs she summed up the goals I had with this last book of leaving my loyal readers satisfied with not only the outcome of the relationships in the various books but also the future of the societies depicted in the series.

Romance writers always talk about the HEA, happily ever after, and how it is an intricate part of a romance. I'm positive this book and the ending of this series has provided a very HEA even if the characters suffered some torment to get there.

Have you ever read a romance series loyally only to be disappointed not because it ended by how it ended?

One Good Woman Released in Print

Woohoo! My publisher released One Good Woman in print two days before Christmas. I'm thrilled to have it out so soon after the e-book releases. Even more, I hope there's hundreds of thousands of new owners of e-readers out there.

One Good Woman is the culminating novel of The Chronicles of Solonia, a futuristic series published by New Concepts Publishing. Two recurring but much loved characters from the first three novels, The Greater Good, The Lesser Evil and A Ruthless Good find their own happiness in a destiny determined from when they first met. I think readers of the first three books will be completely satisfied with the answering of questions raised by the first three tales.

I know of several of my readers who always wait for the print book but I'm really hoping some of the lucky people received their new Sony or other reader for Christmas decide to give one of my books a try.

How about you? Did you receive an e-reader for Christmas or did one of your friends? Did you buy one for someone? If you did get one, are you going to purchase some authors you might not have tried on print?

One Good Woman

My publisher, New Concepts Publishing, presented me with an early holiday gift. For whatever reason, they were able to move my futuristic romance novel, One Good Woman, up in the publishing schedule. Instead of being released next February, it is now available in ebook format from my publisher's site.

One Good Woman continues and completes my futuristic romance series, The Solonian Chronicles. Not only does this novel bring together two favorite characters with their own story, it wraps up the entire series with a message of hope and courage.

For those of you not familiar with this series, Solonia is a small colony composed of all women set in a future earth. The world has been sent back to a pre-technological era after an asteroid strikes the earth. Humans survive in small colonies and everyday is a struggle. Solonia believed they were the only survivors for centuries. When a wasting sickness devastated their male population, many of their men turned to a steroid like plant product and turned into vicious sub-human beasts. With their population slowly dwindling, the Solonia women turn to a band of shipwrecked colonists newly arrived on their continent. The Realm is composed of courageous adventurers. The blending of the two people strikes sparks as the cautious, distrustful women of Solonia dare to fall in love with the risk taking, heroic men of the Realm.

Each book starts with a historical account of the time as recorded in the work from one of the rebirthed universities of the time. Read the histories for all four books here.

My publisher as offered the first chapter free on their website and I've added another excerpt to my website.

If you've been a fan of the first three books, I know you'll love this one. I'm sad to see this series end. The Greater Good was the first book I ever wrote. After many revisions it found a home at New Concepts. I thank them for taking a chance on a new author and all the readers who also risked trying out an unknown.

My Book is Featured

I'm so happy with my publisher, New Concepts today. My very first book with them, The Greater Good, is being featured on their front page this month. Even though it was released a while ago, this exposure will hopefully boost its sales and that of the other books in the series. You've heard me rant about ebook pirates and what they've cost me. I admit to being depressed and discouraged by seeing my books being stolen but this has really cheered me up.

If you've never read one of the books in my Solonian Series let me give you a short over view. The series takes places in a furturistic Earth after an asteroid strike has sent the humans survivors back to a state of pre-technology when every day is a struggle to live. Humans have settled in small isolated colonies one of which is Solonia. Solonia is a dying settlement. Dying because all their men have succumbed to a wasting disease and only the women remain. In desperation they reach out to a newly settled colony. The Realm is composed of adventurers and warriors determined to explore and civilize their new settlement. In each novel in this series, one couple is followed on their uneven, rocky road to love.

Please visit my website to learn more or my publisher to read the first chapter. I have great hopes for ramping up the interest in this series especially since the fourth book will be out early next year.

Still Feels Good

Yesterday I finally received the print copies of my latest release, A Ruthless Good. I was busy doing some major cleaning in a spare bedroom and didn't even realize the books had been delivered. I took a break to get my mail and there were the boxes on the front porch. I didn't open them right away but went back to my cleaning.

Then when I was ready to sit down and get back to my WIP, I finally opened the boxes. There it was, my work in print again. A book in my hands, everyword my own. The dedication in the front and bio in the back, all my own creation. I have three books already released and four more under contract. Will it ever get old? Will the thrill of holding those books in my hands go away? I hope not. Even if I eventually sell over a hundred books, I hope I still get excited to open those boxes and lift out the first, perfect shining copy.

My romance books sell more in ebook format than they do in print and maybe someday all books will be ebooks. I don't think that will happen during my writing career. I expect to savor more boxes of books and the scent that wafts up when I cut away that packing tape. Now all I have to do is figure out what I'll do with this cover during booksignings. I'm not sure how it would go over in a library.