I’m incredibly proud to announce that my third novel and the culmination of the Sekhmet’s Light Trilogy, Shomu, has gone live in Kindle format. For those of you that have been reading for the last couple years, it means finding out what I’ve been keeping to myself for a while now: how Nicole’s story ends.

It’s kind of surreal knowing that her story has been told, but gratifying at the same time to know that I’ve actually completed the trilogy. I hope that you’ll agree that the ending fits nicely with the mythology I’ve established.

As of right now, I’m looking forward to what comes next. There will be one last touch on the SL universe, possibly before the end of the year. A collection of stories that I’m titling The Days Upon the Year to continue the calendar theme of the titles.

As readers will know, Ancient Egyptians had a three-season calendar, each containing four 30-day months. That 360 day calendar, however, leaves us with 5 rogue days unaccounted for. These are the epagomenal days, or Days Upon the Year. Each of these days is said to be the ‘birthday’ of the most powerful gods in the panthon (Osiris, Horus the Elder, Isis, Set, and Nephthys). They’re also said to occur outside of normal time and people believe that strange things happen on them.

For my purposes, each “day” will present a story that ties in with the Sekhmet’s Light trilogy or was touched upon in the novels, but wasn’t shared in its entirety to avoid bogging down the main narrative. You’ll get to see things like the story of the first NuruSekhmet, Aramair’s story, and others. They’re things that add flavor to the universe, but aren’t absolutely necessary to Nicole’s story.

I’ve also plotted out my next novel, the first in my as yet untitled supernatural thriller series and was blessed with the idea for the second of that one as well. I’m also producing some short stories for the next Talaria Press Founder’s Anthology which has a fairy tale theme to it which should be fun, in addition to helping with proof-reading/editing my husband’s second novel.

Factor in my efforts to find a new day job and I’m on massively busy girl!

Ahem.

So, I hope that you’ll pick up Shomu, if you’ve been reading along. If you haven’t, I have a treat for you. In celebration of the completion of the series, I’m offering the first novel, Akhet, for your kindle Sunday through Tuesday this week. This is a great opportunity to grab it and start on the series, knowing that the whole story is there just waiting to be read!

Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to break out the ‘tasty adult beverages’ to celebrate!

Yesterday afternoon, SyFy Channel published a press release on their Blastr news feed, announcing the various projects they’re developing for the coming year. Anyone who knows me is well aware that SyFy has been a source of frustration, consternation, and downright infuriation for me.

Since it debuted (as the Sci-Fi Channel, back in the day), it’s gone from exclusively science-fiction and fantasy oriented programming (reruns of classic shows, movies, miniseries…) to a channel that features wrestling and tons of reality programming. Like many fans, I’ve lamented this change in orientation, and have come to largely ignore the channel I once adored.

In the last few years, there have been bright spots: Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, and Alphas, I’m looking at you! However, BSG ran its course,Eurekahas been cancelled, and we have no word on when the new season of Alphas will start airing again.

Now, that said, this new press release gives me a glimmer of hope that they’re starting to come back to the sort of programming that I, and other sci-fi fans want to see.

The full content of the article can be found here, but here are the items I’m actually interested in:

New Scripted Series

Defiance – 2013 -Defiance is in collaboration with Trion Worlds, with the Syfy series and Trion’s multi-platform shooter MMO poised to debut simultaneously. The series stars Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Fionnula Flanagan, Mia Kirshner and Oscar-nominee Graham Greene. Set in the near future, Defiance introduces a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the survivors of a universal war. Forced to co-habitate, the disparate group struggles to build a new society among the devastation. The dramatic tapestry of the series and the intense action of the game will exist in a single universe where their respective narratives will inform one another and evolve together into one overall story. Defianceis directed by Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest) and written/executive produced by Rockne O’Bannon (Farscape), Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica, Hellcats) and Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica). Kevin Murphy serves as showrunner. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

Scripted Development/Drama

Rewind – Rewind revolves around a team of military field operatives and civilian scientists who must use untested technology to travel back in time to alter events and change the future—and avoid a devastating terrorist attack. Shane McRae stars as Sean Knox, ex-Special Forces who ranks as a field operative in a special division of the Department of Homeland Security. The pilot also stars Jennifer Ferrin, Academy Award nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Robbie Jones and Keon Mohajeri, and is currently in production inToronto. Jack Bender (Lost, Alphas) is directing the pilot, written by Justin Marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li), who will also executive produce with Tom Spezialy, Gail Berman, Lloyd Braun and Gene Stein. A production of BermanBraun and Universal Cable Productions.

The Adjustment Bureau – In this drama, based on the hit movie starring Matt Damon, guardian angel-type agents work to keep the world according to The Plan. They create everything from plane crashes to coffee spills in order to steer people to realize their true destiny. But there is one thing the operatives and their Chairman can’t control—free will. Writers: Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer (Melrose Place, Smallville). Executive producers: George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau, The Bourne Ultimatum), MRC, Slavkin and Swimmer. A production of Universal Cable Productions.

High Moon – Based on the novel, The Lotus Caves, by John Christopher, this imaginative, out-of-this-world series explores a world where the countries of Earth have established colonies to mine the Moon’s resources. When a new life form is discovered, chaos erupts as various factions race to uncover its powerful secrets. Executive producer: Bryan Fuller (Hannibal, Pushing Daisies). Co-executive producer: Jim Danger Gray (Pushing Daisies). Writers: Bryan Fuller and Jim Danger Gray. Executive producer: Granat Entertainment. A production of Universal Cable Productions.

Untitled Booster Gold Project – Based on the best-selling DC Entertainment Comic, this is the story of a washed-up athlete from the future who travels back to the present in hopes of becoming the greatest superhero of all time. But instead of chasing criminals, his main priority is chasing fame and money. Booster Gold discovers that being a hero takes more than just a megawatt smile. Writer: Andrew Kreisberg (Arrow, Warehouse 13). Executive producers: Greg Berlanti (Green Lantern, Arrow) and Andrew Kreisberg. Producers: Greg Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Horizon Television. The Booster Gold comic book series is published by DC Entertainment, which will also act as an executive producer.

Grave Sight – From the best-selling author of True Blood, this Charlaine Harris book series follows Harper Connelly—a young woman with a unique gift. After being struck by lightning as a teenager, Harper can sense the location and last memories of dead people. She teams up with her protective stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, to help find a missing teenage girl—only to uncover a network of lies and murders throughout a small town in the Ozarks. Writer: Kam Miller (Law and Order: SVU). A production of Universal Cable Productions.

Seeing Things – Based on the comic Grey Legion from Platinum Studios, after a cop meets his violent demise, he returns as a ghost to close his last case. But the only person who can help him is a socially awkward man who is realizing for the first time that his hallucinations may not be all in his head. Writers: David Slack (Person of Interest, Lie To Me) and Gabrielle Stanton (Haven, The Vampire Diaries). Executive producers: David Slack, Robert Cort and Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. A production of Fox Television Studios.

Defender – In the aftermath of an intergalactic war between humans and transhumans, the starship Defender, populated by a combustible mix of former enemies, is sent on a seemingly simple goodwill mission, which turns into a fight for their lives and for the safety of the Universe at large. Executive producer/writer: Robert Hewitt Wolfe (Alphas). A production of Universal Cable Productions.

The Family – For generations, an alien family has hid amongst humans in plain sight using their advanced intellect to carve out a life for themselves as their family grew. But when the family patriarch that kept peace amongst the factions dies, a war begins to brew with some members believing the time has come to reveal themselves, and their superior power, to the inferior human race. Writer: Dan Harris (Superman Returns, X2). Executive producers: Neal Moritz (21 Jump Street, Total Recall), Mark Verheiden (Falling Skies, Battlestar Galactica). A production of Sony Pictures TV.

Longform Scripted Development:

Eyes Of The Dragon – Based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel. A kingdom is in turmoil as the old king dies and his successor must battle for the throne. Pitted against an evil wizard and a would-be rival, Prince Peter makes a daring escape and rallies the forces of good to fight for what is rightfully his. Writers: Michael Taylor (Defiance, Battlestar Galactica) and Jeff Vintar (I, Robot). Executive producers: Michael Taylor and Bill Haber. A production of Universal Cable Productions and Ostar Productions.

Darkfall – When, without warning, modern forms of power and technology become a thing of the past,Los Angeles, and the world at large, becomes a place where magic rules and life as we know it is turned upside down. Writers: Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris (Kung Fu Panda, Sleeper Cell). A production of The Jim Henson Company and Universal Cable Productions.

One Mile Straight Down – When a powerful earthquake hits California and opens up a chasm bigger than the Grand Canyon, it reveals an enormous hidden ocean lying deep beneath the earth’s crust. Billionaire adventurer James Exeter works with the government to take an advanced nuclear submarine down to explore it and discovers more than he ever could have imagined. Writers: Skip Woods (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Naren Shankar (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation) and Deran Sarafian (CSI: NY). Executive producers: Skip Woods, Naren Shankar and Deran Sarafian. A production of Universal Cable Productions.

As you can see, there are some really interesting ideas that they’re looking to develop and that, I hope, will turn into some great programming. The thing we as fans need to remember is that high quality science-fiction and fantasy programming ain’t cheap to produce and channels like SyFy are businesses. If they don’t get ratings (and advertising dollars that accompany those ratings), they aren’t going to produce the sort of programming we want to see.

What we need to do is prove to them that there’s an audience for these shows, movies, miniseries, etc. When they premier, we need to tune in. We need to tweet about them. We need to blog about them. And when we do that, we need to tag SyFy, include their twitter handle, and hashtag them so we get them trending.

I believe that we can reclaim SyFy for SciFi, but we have to put in the effort. And hey, if they want someone with tons of great ideas, they can send me and my husband an email! We’d love to get some of our stories up on the screen.

That’s it for now. Happy viewing!

Emerald City ComiCon Public Relations Director Joe Parrington welcomes authors Ren Cummins andH.L. Reasby to the stage.

H.L. Reasby talks about her Sekhmet’s Light Series while Ren listens with some amusement.

H.L. Reasby and Ren Cummins tell the crowd about Talaria Press’ free anthology offer during Emerald City ComiCon.

As Joe bids the authors farewell, Ren bows to the crowd, thanking them for their attention.

H.L. and Ren were blown away by how warm and friendly the crowd was, and had great fun speaking to everyone who came by the table following the Phelps twins’ panel. We’re already planning for next year’s ECCC and look forward to a long and happy partnership with the convention!

The first novel, Akhet, was written via the ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ method. I knew basically what I wanted to have happen during the book, and where I wanted things to end up, but didn’t have much of a blueprint aside from that. I muddled through, but it was definitely more challenging than it really needed to be. When I started work on the second book in the Sekhmet’s Light Series, Peret, I realized that I needed to do something different to make the process easier.

I’ll be honest here; I’ve never been a fan of working from an outline. When I was in school and was assigned a writing project that required an outline, I would typically write the paper first, then go back and toss together an outline after the fact. For some reason, my brain just refused to wrap itself around the concept. With that in mind, the idea of working from an outline for something as major as a novel was daunting.

I started working on several traditional style outlines, but discarded them after a quarter or less of the story had been laid out. Then I tried something different: instead of a traditional outline, I created a new Excel spreadsheet. I set it up with columns for chapter #, events, and word count. I then put each chapter on its own row and started adding a sentence or two for each event that occurs in that chapter.

EUREKA!

Having the chapters laid out like this allowed me greater flexibility in how I tracked the action. I could look at several chapters on a single page and see how things were progressing. By including word counts for each chapter, I was able to see if a chapter was way too long or way too short compared to the others around it and adjust the flow accordingly. It also allows me to properly seed in bits of foreshadowing information to tease the readers and keep them hungry to know more!

Here’s an example of what I mean, using a very early outline for Peret (the actual novel is very different, so I’m not worried about spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t read it yet!):

You can get a better look by clicking the image. It’s certainly not conventional, but it made the process of writing the second novel so much easier that it’s likely to remain my go-to method of plotting out my books for the foreseeable future!

The book follows Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy Evie Chevalier who goes home to her hometown of Nighthawk, a small town, just east of the Cascade mountains, to investigate the disappearance of her childhood friend, David. However, Evie finds that the town isn’t as welcoming and friendly as she remembers. The townsfolk and animals are acting strangely. The police also don’t seem inclined to acknowledge that David is missing at all, claiming that David sent them a letter telling him he was relocating to Tacoma where Evie lives.

Although I found the first third of the novel to be a bit slow, once Evie returns to Nighthawk and starts her investigation, the story moves along at almost breakneck speed, daring the reader to try to keep up. Miss Frances has a very clear vision of the world that she’s weaving and just when you think you know what’s going on, she reveals the truth which is both shocking and incredibly satisfying.

Evie is a very believable character and the sort of strong female protagonist I enjoy reading. She’s not fearless, nor is she infallible, but she is also fiercely loyal and refuses to let fear keep her from helping her friends. Once Alastair is introduced in the second half, he quickly became my favorite character, however.

I highly recommend picking up Nighthawk if you have the opportunity. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air in a genre which is rapidly becoming cluttered with emo vampires and lovelorn were-wolves. Frances brings us a supernatural threat that is genuinely threatening with motivations that are difficult to fathom for the mere mortals impacted by them.

You can find Marie Frances on Twitter, on Facebook, and on her Blog.

Hello, everyone!

Emerald City ComiCon is in the books and it was a rousing success! To all of you who came out to visit and support us at the convention, we’re all incredibly grateful to you… and to our new friends that we made during the convention, you guys ROCK!

For those of you who didn’t get to see us, here’s a picture of our awesome table in the Artist’s Alley, courtesy of the inimitable Ren Cummins!

We also had the chance to go on stage in the big panel room at the convention, following Adam Baldwin’s panel, and preceding the Phelps twins (Fred & George Weasley from the Harry Potter movies for the uninitiated!). In front of a packed house of 3000+ sci-fi and fantasy fans, Ren and I got to give brief explanations of our books and invited people to visit us… and they did! I’m hoping to get a copy of the footage, and will post it here when I have it in hand.

The winners of our Talaria Press Complete Library Giveaway have been drawn and I will be emailing the winners in the next day or two to inform them of their incredible luck. If you didn’t win, we all still thank you all for signing up for the newsletter. We look forward to keeping you up to date with our new releases, author appearances, and other cool stuff!

Again, thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting your local and independent artists. We’re both humbled and incredibly gratified by the positive responses we got!

The Alchemy of Writing

H.L. Reasby

In many ways, writing is alchemy. At its core, we’re taking the base metals of our ideas and transmuting them into the gold that is our stories and our books.

A common question that writers get is ‘How do you come up with your ideas?’ The truth is that there’s no one answer to this question and what works for me is not always going to work for another person. With regard to my own ideas, I find that most of my best ideas spring from dreams I’ve had.

At a very young age (perhaps around 8 or 10), I realized that I had an ability that many find difficult to achieve: I was a lucid dreamer. Except on rare occasions, I was completely aware that I was dreaming. I also have always had extraordinarily vivid dreams with lots of ‘non-conventional’ events happening in them.

It was in my dreams that I first met NuruSekhmet.

Photo by Fritz Geller-Grimm

The night after our visit, I had a dream of a beautiful, ferocious woman in Egyptian armor, her face mostly hidden behind a mask depicting a snarling lioness. I was utterly enamored of her, but didn’t know how to tell her tale just yet so it remained filed safely away in the back of my mind.When I was around 20, I was in Chicago, and had visited the Field Museum of Natural History for the first time since I was a very little girl. If you’ve ever been to the Field, you know that they have an absolutely marvelous Egypt exhibit. It’s very interactive with mockups of primitive irrigation canals and pumps that you can play with, among other fun things, as well as literally tons of artifacts, all lovingly preserved. If you haven’t visited the Field, I highly recommend it. Not just for the Egyptian exhibit, but for all the other wonderful things they have to offer; the Lions of Tsavo (whose story was told in the movie The Ghost and the Darkness), Sue the T-Rex and the rest of her dinosaur brethren, and tons of Native American exhibits.

Nuru is the first of my dream characters to have her story told, but will not be the last, by any means.

I have an “idea file” where I keep gems that come to me while I sleep so that I don’t forget about them. Many people recommend keeping a notebook right next to your bed to write such things down. I’m fortunate in that I generally remember my dreams long enough to make my way to the computer and add it to my digital idea file.

The bottom line is, when it comes to ideas, there is, and should be, no one source for them. The best thing to do is to keep your eyes open, and make sure you have a collection of ideas that you can draw from, whether it be dream notes, newspaper clippings, notes from people-watching on the bus, what have you.

They’re not gold yet… but they’re a precious commodity even so, so take good care of them!

I read the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire saga, A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin in 2011. Yes, I know I’m a bit late to the party. I’ll admit, it was the initial trailers for the HBO produced television adaptation that first sparked my interest.

What I found in that first volume was a world with a marvelously dense history that felt very real and very true to the quasi-medieval society that Martin was portraying. The world itself is extremely interesting as well; seasons don’t follow a progression as ours do where each year has a spring, summer, fall and winter. Seasons can last for years, even decades. At the start of the first novel, Westros is in the midst of a lush summer that has lasted for a decade though many fear that an equally long winter that will be every bit as harsh as the summer has been gentle.

The novel follows several groups in the world of Westros: the Starks of Winterfell in the north, the Baratheons and the Lannisters in King’s landing and the respective houses of the reigning king and queen, and Targaryens, the exiled survivors of the former royal family. Everyone wants something and everyone uses different tactics to get what they want.

I could easily write several pages on the book alone, but that’s not what this post is about so I’ll sum up with saying that I thoroughly enjoy the intrigue and danger presented in the novel. My favorite character is hands-down Tyrion Lannister, followed closely by Daenerys Targaryen. These two characters are the most interesting to me; they undergo the most drastic evolution and provide the largest surprises. To me, their points of view provide the most entertaining challenges.

With regard to the show, I didn’t watch when it aired the first time as I don’t have HBO, but I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the series on BluRay. Thanks to my wonderful husband, I received it as part of my birthday celebrations this year!

From the moment we pushed play, I knew that this would be something really, truly special. The opening sequence with its views of the important places to that episode (and which continually evolves throughout the season!) and its ‘wheels within wheels’ imagery sets the tone magnificently.

Game of Thrones Intro

The casting of Sean Bean as Ned Stark was an absolute stroke of genius, in my opinion. He does a wonderful job of showing Stark as a hard, grim man who also has flashes of tenderness and warmth when interacting with his wife Catelyn and his six children.

The youngsters that they’ve cast to play those children as well, are wonderful performers. They look enough alike to be believed as siblings, and there’s a camaraderie among them that also lends realism to their performances as brothers and sisters.

Lena Heady is marvelously wicked as Queen Cersei Lannister and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is fantastic as Jaime “Kingslayer” Lannister. Jaime is the man who killed the former king (Mad King Aerys), clearing the path for Cersei’s husband, Robert, to take the throne for himself.

And then there’s Peter Dinklage. Oh my god, I absolutely adore Peter’s portrayal of Tyrion. He does such a wonderful job of bringing The Imp to life. A man of prodigious appetites (food, wine, women, anything that brings pleasure), Tyrion is a hedonist in many ways, but he’s also the intellectual of the Lannister siblings. He has several bon mots of wisdom that he shares with Jon Snow, Ned’s bastard son, that show the complexity of his character. When talking to Jon about the fact that he’s a bastard and himself a dwarf, he advises the young man “Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor, and it can never be used to hurt you.” Later, when Jon asks why he reads so much, he tells Jon that “A mind without books is like a sword without a whetstone.”

In the novel, his description is essentially monstrous, though for all his siblings’ physical beauty, their hearts are ugly and cruel whereas deep down, Tyrion is a kind and tender man. He has learned to keep people at arm’s length with razor-sharp sarcasm and wit, using his outward ugliness as a shield to protect his lonely and gentle heart.

Across the Narrow Sea, in the far land of Pentos, we find Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen. The surviving children of Aerys, they fled Westeros after “The Usurper’s” men sacked King’s Landing and fled across the sea. Taking refuge in the home of Magister Illyrio Mopatis, a wealthy merchant lord, Viserys hatches a plan to barter his sister’s innocence to Khal Drogo, a feared leader of the vaunted Dothraki warriors who are very much modeled on the Huns of central Asia.

Emilia Clarke plays Daenerys with an air of trusting vulnerability that makes the despicable Viserys’ (played with masterful malice by Harry Lloyd) ultimate fate all the more satisfying. Her marriage to Khal Drogo (played with savage complexity by Jason Mamoa) is very convincing and the chemistry between the two is clear to see.

I absolutely love this series and having now finished the second novel, A Clash of Kings, I’m really looking forward to seeing how dark they’re going to go on the next season. It’s going to be an amazing ride, I have no doubt! With kings springing up faster than rabbits, dragons in the world again, and the Others threatening from beyond the Wall, winter is, indeed, coming and it’s going to be a hard one!

The second season of Game of Thrones starts on April 1^st, 2012 at 9pm on HBO. If you’re in Seattle, come join us at Emerald City ComiCon and meet Khal Drogo, himself!

So, in conjunction with Emerald City Comicon, our first Founders Anthology, Quests & Answers, will be available as a free download at Amazon.com this Saturday and Sunday, March 31- April 1.

Stop by Artist Alley, Table C-22 at ECCC if you can and either way, enjoy Quests & Answers on us this weekend!

Quests & Answers on Kindle.

Talaria Press is collecting used books of all types to donate to Operation Paperback, at Emerald City ComiCon this weekend (March 30th through April 1st).

For those that are unfamiliar with Operation Paperback, it is a nonprofit that sends gently used books to soldiers serving overseas, to families of soldiers who’ve been left behind, and to wounded warriors who are recuperating in the various VA hospitals around the nation. In the 13 years they’ve been doing this admirable work, they’ve shipped a staggering 1.7 million books to our service men and women around the globe.

In terms of what kind of books they want, the answer is pretty simple: anything. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular requests are for action & adventure, spy-novels, murder mysteries, science fiction and fantasy. Romance tends to be donated a LOT so there’s less demand for those, unfortunately. What you might not expect, however, is that children’s books are very popular. This is both because some packages go to families and because some soldiers like to read to their children via webcam or recorded on dvd. Comics are also a very welcome inclusion for many soldiers.

In addition to book sales and signings, we’ll be collecting books for Operation Paperback all weekend in Artist Alley, table C-22.

And, just in case doing a good deed isn’t enough incentive, you can also enter our Talaria Press Library Giveaway. Each book donated will give you 1 additional entry into the contest! So, see? There’s no reason to keep those old books cluttering up your shelves!

Hope to see you at the show!