Out of the Storm

This is my podcast for the Wicked Women Writing competition. I read the story myself. My assignment was to write a story about a Super Storm. The location I was in was a haunted hotel, I had the disadvantage of being alone, and my useful item was a piece of rope. It was difficult combining these things into one story, but the worst was making the story fit in 10 minutes. I had to be careful with my words. You can find this story in my collection 'DEEPLY TWISTED'. 

Coming Soon!! DEEPLY TWISTED

Main manuscript?

Check

Book Cover? (And look how pretty it turned out… wooot)

Check

Publisher doing his thing?

Check!

It’s that time again, the time of the pre-publishing jitters. Only a little piece of the puzzle needs to be added, and we are ready to rock and roll… or something. Hopefully by October 31^st we’ll have a finished e-book version of my new horror collection ‘DEEPLY TWISTED’. On November 8^th I’m hoping to put the paperback version out into the world, and we’ll turn it into a bit of an online party again. *puts on a party hat*

Made a t-shirt design again, and the lovely Leslie (our hostess) will get her friend to make more gorgeous trinkets (which I always want to keep for myself, I have to admit) to spoil the party goers with. It’ll be a hoot, it was last time!

Some of the stories in this collection have seen the publishing light of day before, but I like having all my work bundled together. A lot of work has never before been published, so don’t worry if you think you’ll have read them all. Even the work that’s been in anthologies has been revamped (no Halloween pun intended)

I loved working on this collection, I think it shows a lot of *me*. Some stories were written especially for certain themes, which was challenging.

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine, and she told me she was happy that I was going to publish something horror themed. She told me that she loved Coyote, but that horror was where my strength lies. It made me think.

I like horror, and I always call it my ‘go to genre’. It’s true, I can always come up with a horror story (not always in the theme people give me, but that’s beside the point). Of course the challenge is to stay original, if there is anything that is still truly original. Personally I am very creeped out by scary little girls, so they will often be the central monster in my stories – it’s important that I don’t just write the same story over and over again, with different characters.  
  Scary is a little like funny, it’s very personal. What scares me enough to want to hide under the covers of my bed might bore another person to tears. So if I try to impress people with my monsters, they might not find them that interesting. Rather than trying to be scary, I try to write a ‘good’ story, that way if people aren’t scared they’ll still like it. I’ve had reactions of people who were freaked out by some of the things I wrote, and that does my ole heart some good. Having an effect on people is what I long for. If one of my stories evoked emotion or made people think, I’m a happy woman.

October 31^st is coming up fast, and I’m excited to share my collection with the world. I hope the readers will like it. Coyote was a little easier for me to promote through my artwork, because it had set characters that were more accessible for drawing. I made a few little doodles. It’ll be more difficult for me to make very specified games for the book party too, but I’ll think of something, I’m sure.

After this book launch I’ll be focusing on my next two projects. One will be my NaNoWriMo project, which will be an epic fantasy novel, and the next will be my “EVEN HELL HAS STANDARDS” series, which might turn out to be my most provocative piece up to now. I’m looking forward to both.

 

Some minor fears

The first story I ever published was “Only Forgotten,” which was a short story about Hell, and most

of all ‘redemption’. The idea behind it is something that is really close to me, and when I wrote ‘Tiffany’s Model Affair’ for a Hell anthology, I knew I wanted more with these two stories. The concept of redemption and Hell appealed to me, and I thought it would be nice to turn this into a series. I decided it would be nice to incorporate the seven sins in this series, which would be a good excuse to write seven separate stories. After talking to my friend April, she came up with a great title for the series ‘Even Hell Has Standards’, and thus the idea was born.

Enthused I began to jot ideas down for the different sins. Adolf Zakerny, the main character from Only Forgotten will play a larger role in the first book, and his sin is Pride. Tiffany will get a different name and her sin is Envy. Soon other ideas followed, and one of the tortured souls in Hell in Only Forgotten will get her own story.

As I write, I have to admit, I’m worried about how the world receives these stories. I plan to make them controversial, because I believe those are the stories that need to be told. I know that there will be people that will hate them, because I don’t plan to tell nice little stories. Topics I want to use are abuse, murder and pedophilia for a start. I don’t mean to glorify them, but they’re not the typical horror topics. Now I know not everyone can like what you write, but the thing that bothers me most is that I will probably offend a lot of people. I don’t like offending, I don’t mock other people’s beliefs or lifestyles. Yet at the same time, it’s hard not to offend with a topic like this. My version of Hell is not exactly the same as most other versions. That’s what I like about it too. I like that it’s different and that it makes you think. To provoke thoughts and discussions in readers is something I like to strive for. I would love for my work to make an impact on someone. That’s the stuff I dream about.

So I am going to write this series. And all I can do is hope that I won’t offend too much. That people won’t decide my writing isn’t worth it because of this. It’s a pretty scary risk for a beginning writer like myself. We’ll have to see where it goes.  

Blog swap

I like to try new things, and one of the things I hadn't tried before is a blog swap! I haven't read the novel myself yet, but I'm sure to do so, because it looks very cool!

Without further ado (who wants to hear me waffle on anyway) I would like to introduce you to Tara Mara. In fact, I'll let her talk about her book herself: (enjoy!)

The Unfinished Song (Book 1): Initiate by Tara Maya

 

BLURB

DEADLY INITIATION

 

A DETERMINED GIRL...

Dindi can't do anything right, maybe because she spends more time dancing with pixies than doing her chores. Her clan hopes to marry her off and settle her down, but she dreams of becoming a Tavaedi, one of the powerful warrior-dancers whose secret magics are revealed only to those who pass a mysterious Test during the Initiation ceremony. The problem? No-one in Dindi's clan has ever passed the Test. Her grandmother died trying. But Dindi has a plan.

 

 

AN EXILED WARRIOR...

Kavio is the most powerful warrior-dancer in Faearth, but when he is exiled from the tribehold for a crime he didn't commit, he decides to shed his old life. If roving cannibals and hexers don't kill him first, this is his chance to escape the shadow of his father's wars and his mother's curse. But when he rescues a young Initiate girl, he finds himself drawn into as deadly a plot as any he left behind. He must decide whether to walk away or fight for her... assuming she would even accept the help of an exile.

 

 

EXCERPT

Blue-skinned rusalki grappled Dindi under the churning surface of the river. She could feel their claws dig into her arms. Their riverweed-like hair entangled her legs when she tried to kick back to the surface. She only managed to gulp a few breaths of air before they pulled her under again.

 

She hadn't appreciated how fast and deep the river was. On her second gasp for air, she saw that the current was already dragging her out of sight of the screaming girls on the bank. A whirlpool of froth and fae roiled between two large rocks in the middle of the river. The rusalka and her sisters tugged Dindi toward it. Other water fae joined the rusalki. Long snouted pookas, turtle-like kappas and hairy-armed gwyllions all swam around her, leading her to the whirlpool, where even more fae swirled in the whitewater.

 

"Join our circle, Dindi!" the fae voices gurgled under the water. "Dance with us forever!"

 

"No!" She kicked and swam and stole another gasp for air before they snagged her again. There were so many of them now, all pulling her down, all singing to the tune of the rushing river. She tried to shout, "Dispel!" but swallowed water instead. Her head hit a rock, disorienting her. She sank, this time sure she wouldn't be coming up again.

 

"Dispel!" It was a man's voice.

 

Strong arms encircled her and lifted her until her arms and head broke the surface. Her rescuer swam with her toward the shore. He overpowered the current, he shrugged aside the hands of the water faeries stroking his hair and arms. When he reached the shallows, he scooped Dindi into his arms and carried her the rest of the way to the grassy bank. He set her down gently.

 

She coughed out some water while he supported her back.

 

"Better?" he asked.

 

She nodded. He was young--only a few years older than she. The aura of confidence and competence he radiated made him seem older. Without knowing quite why, she was certain he was a Tavaedi.

 

"Good." He had a gorgeous smile. A wisp of his dark bangs dangled over one eye. He brushed his dripping hair back over his head.

 

Dindi's hand touched skin--he was not wearing any shirt. Both of them were sopping wet. On him, that meant trickles of water coursed over a bedrock of muscle. As for her, the thin white wrap clung transparently to her body like a wet leaf. She blushed.

 

"It might have been easier to swim if you had let go of that," he teased. He touched her hand, which was closed around something. "What were you holding onto so tightly that it mattered more than drowning?"

 

 

LINKS

Tara’s blog http://bit.ly/12dFdNy

Tara’s Twitter http://bit.ly/162sCtE

The Unfinished Song on Facebook http://on.fb.me/1400mMq

Amazon http://amzn.to/15ciwYc

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/13yM5Dr

Kobo http://bit.ly/1aFhg1P

iTunes http://bit.ly/1baddhN

Smashwords http://bit.ly/17zK8Xn

 

Initiate is free everywhere except on Barnes and Noble (where it’s $0.99). You can download a free .epub version via Smashwords.