Urban Fantasy and Other Plans for 2018

Posted under A Writer's Life on October 17th, 2017 by

I’m always really surprised when I look up from my computer and find myself staring at the end of another year.

Somehow or other I always approach the end of the year with a bit of a haze around my head and the idea that there’s still months and months ahead in the year. Then NaNoWriMo hits and I’m so busy trying to swim instead of sink that I forget about things like end of year and what day it is and what those things called eating and drinking actually are…

It’s not until December arrives and it’s almost too late to plan for the coming year, that I remember the end of the year is tapping on my shoulder. So this year, I’m pretty pleased to find myself ahead of the curve; I’ve remembered now! Mostly this is because I’ve been planning ahead what I want to do for 2018. I’ve got a publication schedule set up that should see me through to the end of the year and maybe beyond.

So what do I have planned for publication in 2018? I’m so glad you asked!

2018 is looking pretty exciting for me: early in the year, the newest Two Monarchies book, Staff and Crown, should be out.

Barring unforeseen circumstances, Staff and Crown should be available at the end of January, continuing the journey of Annabel and Melchior, and including the indomitable Isabella. So if you were wanting to know what happened while Annabel and Isabella were at school, your curiosity will soon be satisfied.

By June, Lady of Weeds should be out!

I’ve been wanting to release the 2nd book in the Lady series after Lady of Dreams, but I wanted to get Memento Mori and Staff and Crown published first, not to mention getting something else off the ground. (I should mention here that if you want to read each chapter of Lady of Weeds as it’s written, you’ll have to sign up to my newsletter; the first newsletter of every month will have a chapter exclusively for those on the list. Otherwise, you’ll be waiting until June 2018…)

September or October should see the publication of the 3rd Time Traveller’s Best Friend book, for the scifi lovers out there (and can I say how much I’m looking forward to travelling with Kez and Marx again?)

You might be wondering why there’s a gap of four months between Staff and Crown and Lady of Weeds.

This is because I’m in the process of a New Project.

If you’ve been keeping up with my Facebook Author Page and my Twitter account, you’ll probably already have seen that this new project is an Urban Fantasy series set in Hobart, Tasmania. I’m hoping to have the first book finished during NaNoWriMo, the second by the end of the year, and the third in the series done by February. Once the first three books are done, I’ll have a nice quick-fire release for that series. If all goes well, you should expect to see the first City Between book in March or April…

Keep your eye out at the end of this blog post for a blurb and excerpt for the first book, Between Jobs.

Last but not least, I want to hear from you guys. What do you want to see me publish in 2018? Do you have any requests? Anything you want first? Or does the lineup sound good just the way it is? Let me know!

–oOo–

Between Jobs (blurb & excerpt)

She’s orphaned, struggling to make a living, and technically homeless. The last thing she needs is a murdered guy outside her window. Things like that tend to draw the attention of the local police, and when you’re squatting in your parents’ old house until you can afford to buy it, another thing you can’t afford is the attention of the cops.

Good thing she isn’t used to things going her way, because a hanging corpse outside her window is just the beginning of it all. Now two fae and a vampire have moved into her parents’ old house, and they’re not too thrilled to find her there.

Oh well, at least only one of them wants to kill her.

–oOo–

They didn’t offer me a seat in the kitchen. Well, maybe I wouldn’t be offering a seat to someone I’d just found hiding in my house, but they didn’t try to call the cops, either. And if you think that’s a good sign, you’re even madder than they are. I sat down anyway; jumped myself up on the kitchen counter and crossed my legs under me while they all stared at me in varying degrees of hostility—and, in Athelas’ case, outright amusement.

He seemed to be the least dangerous one of the three, so I looked at him when I said, “It was my house first.”

“What are we supposed to do with it?” he asked, and at first I thought he was talking to me even though the question made no sense.

It wasn’t until Zero said, “We’re not keeping it,” that I realised I was the it Athelas was talking about.

“Oi!” I said.

JinYeong flicked my knee. When I looked at him, he put one finger over his lips, and there was a dark liquidity to his eyes. I shut my mouth.

“Where are its parents?”

“Maybe they abandoned it?” suggested Athelas.

“Yes, but then how did it crawl in here?”

“I didn’t crawl,” I said, since it seemed like they were actively looking for information. “I was already here.”

Zero’s eyes turned on me with a suddenness that made me jump. “You said that before. Is that why you wouldn’t tell me anything when I stopped you on the street?”

I’d assumed he didn’t remember me. “No,” I said. “I wouldn’t tell you anything when you stopped me on the street because you’re a stranger, and you choked me. Why would I tell you where I live and work?”

Athelas smiled faintly. “It’s got good instincts. What are we going to do with it, though?”

“We’ll give it back to its parents,” said Zero shortly.

“My parents are dead.”

“We’ll find someone else to give it to.”

JinYeong spoke, a questioning lilt to the end of it. There was still that dark liquidity in his eyes, and I could see the pointed tip of one incisor through his lips.

My toes curled defensively inside my socks. I edged a little closer to Zero; he hadn’t actually strangled me, after all.

“That’s a very good point,” Athelas said mildly. “What if it does talk?”

“We can’t keep it!”

I sat up straighter. I knew that tone of voice. It was the one mum used when dad was just about to talk her into one of his daft, fun schemes. Zero was really thinking about me staying there.

“I’m quiet,” I said. “You won’t know I’m here. Well, you didn’t know I was here until now—”

JinYeong said something indignant, and I glared at him. He mouthed a word at me that I took to mean “what?” by the tilt of his chin.

“I can make really good coffee.”

Zero blinked. I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d startled him, like the first time we met, or if it was because he was weakening.

“I can cook, too.”

JinYeong’s lips made a thoughtful moue. He tucked his chin back in and folded his arms. Well. He was ready to listen, too.

“We haven’t had a pet in a while,” Athelas said thoughtfully. “And if you expect me to put up with your cooking, Zero—”

“Most stewards,” remarked Zero, unoffended, “cook for their masters.”

“Most of them don’t kill for their masters,” Athelas responded. “I’m able either to cook or kill. I find it inimical to success to try for both.”

Wait, what now?

“I never asked you to kill for me!” Zero said in exasperation. Yes. In exasperation. Not horror, or disbelief, or disgust. Exasperation.

“If it can cook, we should let it stay and cook.”

“What if it gets hurt?”

“What if it does? It’s a pet.”

–oOo–

Interview: C.J. Brightley

Posted under Awesome Authors on October 7th, 2017 by

Hey guys! We’re at the end of the Luminous Blog Tour of Authors, and I’m lucky enough to have the amazing C.J. Brightley on my blog today to answer a few questions! (You can check out the other blog posts in order here). Don’t forget to read through ’til the end and enter the rafflecopter giveaway!

C.J. is one of the authors in the Luminous boxed set, with her book The Lord of Dreams; moreover, she was the first person I ever heard talking about ‘noblebright’.

So it’s fitting that my first question for C.J. is, what is Noblebright to you?

 I’ve loved noblebright fantasy since before I had a name for it. I think noblebright is about “the good guys” and the hope that we can choose to be the good guys. In a noblebright story, kindness, courage, integrity, and generosity make a difference. The characters can change their lives, and the lives of the people around them, for the better. The world may be full of darkness, but noblebright characters choose to be light.

I think the idea that kindness, courage, integrity, and generosity can make a difference, is one of my favourite things about noblebright as a genre–the other favourite being that truly good characters aren’t mocked or seen as weak and naive. It’s probably why I’ve enjoyed every book in Luminous that I’ve read so far. And speaking of the books in Luminous, which is your favourite book in the Luminous collection; and why?

That’s an impossible question! I invited each of the authors to contribute to the boxed set because I loved something about their writing.

JA Andrews’s A Threat of Shadows deals with a good man, plagued by his own sin, finding a kind of redemption in generosity and sacrifice, both his own and that of others. I loved the hope in it, the idea love can make a difference, even when we think we’re too far gone.

Intisar Khanani’s Sunbolt was magnificently noblebright and fun; I loved Hitomi’s thoughtless impulse toward doing the noble thing. She didn’t mean to be noble and selfless, exactly; it just came naturally to her. I love that sort of character, and I haven’t read that many of them, although I tend to write them myself! Her writing is so vivid and sharp. I’ve already finished the second book, Memories of Ash, and am anxiously awaiting the final book in the trilogy.

Christopher Bunn’s The Hawk and His Boy enthralled me with beautiful prose. There was a cliffhanger, which I normally wouldn’t like, but I couldn’t even resent it because every sentence was so enjoyable. I’ll be continuing this series as well.

W.R. Gingell’s Wolfskin is a beautiful, clever, funny fairytale retelling. I love all her characters; they rarely get into trouble because they’re foolish or stupid, but they might because they’re naïve. They’re bright and wise and brave, and they do the noble, courageous thing even when they’re terrified.

And… well, I could go on, but you really ought to read them all yourself!

 Aw! *blushes* thanks for my share in that reel of praise! I totally agree about Intisar’s Hitomi, and I’m really looking forward to A Threat of Shadows, as well. Characters are a huge part of whether or not I’ll enjoy a book, and a huge part of which books I choose to pick up. What is your favourite kind of character?

I love courageous, kind, generous characters, especially if they have a sense of humor. And when I say courageous, I mean both moral and physical courage. Many books have physically courageous heroes; the ones I love are the ones with the moral courage to stand against evil, even when it seems the whole world is against them. 

Do you have plans for a sequel to your novel included in Luminous? (Like, please? Because I want to read it!)

I don’t exactly have plans, but I could be persuaded to write a sequel! I have a few other books I need to write first.

How would you like your persuasion? Chocolate form? Coffee? I know–lots and lots of stationary, if you’re anything like me…

Important question: how do you like to write? Longhand (shorthand?), typewriter, computer, blood, nail scratches on the walls? (Or with the bribery stationary…?)

I brainstorm over email with my father and in several disorganized notebooks scattered around the house. Then I draft in Scrivener. I often write out of order, so being able to easily reorder scenes is important to me. I also don’t have distinct drafts; I tend to just poke at it until it’s done. I share the story with alpha readers when it’s quite rough but mostly coherent (albeit with missing scenes all over the place), then again when it’s nearly done. If I’m really stuck, I’ll go back to the notebooks for a while. I’ll probably lose my notes, but the process of writing out ideas will help jostle something loose. 

Oh, wow! That’s great that you can do that with your dad! My father isn’t at all creative and he still struggles with how exactly it is I can write. Fortunately, he’s provided everything else I needed to grow into the writer I am today. Also, I’m glad to hear that there’s someone else who writes out of order! (I thought I was the only one).

What is your perfect writing day? 

In my imaginary perfect writing day, I’d get up around 5:00am and eat a light breakfast while reading over brainstormed notes and ideas. Then, coffee in hand, I’d write for a few hours (taking short breaks to read or surf the internet every hour or so). Around 9:00am, I’d take a break and go for a run or the gym for a hard workout. Then I’d shower, eat a snack, and write until a late lunch. After lunch I’d probably take a break and read, maybe take a power nap and/or a walk, and then write some more! I’d probably stay up way too late, snacking on increasingly ridiculous things, and end up writing 14 words in the last two hours of the day. It would be fun!

In reality, I homeschool my two young children (6 and 3) and I write during their nap/quiet times and after they’re in bed. A few times a year I manage to get a whole day to myself, breakfast to dinner, and I go a local café for a few hours, then migrate to the library for a few more hours. 

I have such huge respect for women who not only write but raise children. I can’t imagine having to work so hard! With that said, I guess the question of whether you’re a speed writer or a turtle writer is an easy one!

I’m a turtle writer. I’m slower than molasses in a blizzard in January at the North Pole. It’s a miracle I’ve ever finished anything, honestly.

One reason I’m slow is that I’m a homeschooling mom with two small children; partly that’s a time limitation, but mostly it’s a mental energy limitation. The larger reason is that I process story in a way that doesn’t often result in quick drafts. As I write out of order, it feels a bit like uncovering pieces of dinosaur bones. I have to put a dozen or so aside before I even know exactly what sort of dinosaur I have, and then I have to fit the next few dozen pieces into that concept in a way that makes sense, then I have to fill in the missing pieces. 

Now for the big one…tea or coffee?

Coffee with lots of flavoured creamer and whipped cream. I tend to put lots of creamer in at the beginning, then keep topping up my cup with coffee as I drink it, so that by the end, it’s not very sweet at all and I wonder why I drink such yucky stuff. 

I have no sympathy for coffee drinkers…*sniffs*Music or no music?

I’d like to listen to music while I write, but I find it too distracting. I’ve recently been listening to brain.fm, which I really like. My favorite is the Thunder Focus option – anything that sounds too musical distracts me, but the thunderstorm sound is relaxing.

Sometimes when I have a scene pretty well in mind (rather than making it up as I go), I’ll listen to instrumental movie soundtracks. The soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings is one of my favorites.

Ah, The Lord of the Rings OST! Yes, I’ve got all of those on cd, along with about 50 other OSTs…The playlist I created with all the OSTs for The Pirates of the Caribbean movies is one of my favourite playlists for writing.

Thanks, C.J.!

Discover C.J. Brightley’s writing, and nine more noblebright reads in Luminous… You can also check out the full line-up of Luminous author interviews at http://noblebright.org.
And don’t forget to scroll all the way down to the giveaway!

Amazon  |  B&N  |  Kobo  |  iTunes  |  Smashwords  |  Google Play

 

Dare to step into lands of myths, magic, and monsters, because there is light to be found in even the darkest of places.

Now, ten fantasy authors have come together to offer this epic boxed set of noblebright fantasy! Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to explore ten unique worlds, fall in love with gallant heroes and heroines, and discover the chinks in the darkness where the light shines through.

 

What is Noblebright fantasy?

Set apart by a sense of hope, noblebright fantasy includes at least one character who, although flawed, still deliberately pursues goodness. And that goodness has the power to make a difference. In a noblebright story, even villains are not without hope. Their redemption isn’t guaranteed, of course, but it is a possibility.

 

This boxed set includes:

The Lord of Dreams by C. J. Brightley

When a fairy king grants a human wish, there’s more at stake than dreams.

 

A Threat of Shadows by JA Andrews

Haunted by his past and surrounded by companions carrying their own dark secrets, Alaric grasps at one last chance to save his dying wife. 

 

Heir of Iron by J.S. Bangs

Family secrets. Forbidden Love. An empire on the brink of collapse.

 

The Hawk and His Boy by Christopher Bunn

You can run as far as you can, but you can never escape the Dark.

 

Chronicles of Steele: Raven: The Complete Story by Pauline Creeden

Just when Raven tries to leave the life of a Reaper, she’s pulled right back in. 

 

The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doué

After discovering a secret underground kingdom and a mysterious sorcerer-prince, Princess Lily must free herself and her sisters from a dangerous curse or face a lifetime of darkness.

 

Wolfskin by W.R. Gingell

Sometimes the little girl in the red hood doesn’t get eaten, and sometimes the wolf isn’t the most frightening thing in the forest…

 

Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani

A street thief with a dangerous secret, Hitomi finds herself betrayed to the dark mage who killed her father.

 

Rachel and the Many-Splendored Dreamland by L. Jagi Lamplighter

Magic school can be a lot more dangerous—and wondrous—than expected.

 

The Pygmy Dragon by Marc Secchia

Now, the courage of the smallest will be tested to the utmost. For Pip is the Pygmy Dragon, and this is her tale.

 

Amazon  |  B&N  |  Kobo  |  iTunes  |  Smashwords  |  Google Play

A LUMINOUS Giveaway!

For a chance to win this awesome Lord of the Rings book tote, Harry Potter journal, plus swag from LUMINOUS authors, enter here:

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

Bad Influences in Time and Space

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend, Favourite Authors on September 25th, 2017 by

I mentioned last time that I don’t write scifi—as such—and that even my scifi books are more in the way of fantasy to me than actual scifi. And over on the Amid the Imaginary blog I talked about a few of the influences that brought me to write A Time Traveller’s Best Friend and Memento Mori in the format they’re in. AKA, not in chronological order and with some of the stories from Vol 2 ducking in between some of the stories from Vol 1. 

Today, I’m going to talk more about the influences that led to the skewed, oddball way in which the Time Traveller’s Best Friend series was written.

Specifically, I’m going to talk about the biggest influence.

For those of you who haven’t read the ARC of Memento Mori—but are, I will presume, frothing at the mouth to read it—this is the dedication:

For Steven Brust.

It was through reading his Vlad books out of order—and thoroughly enjoying the intricate story structures therein—that I came to realise how much I enjoy reading stories told in a non-linear fashion.

In my Time Traveller’s Best Friend series, I am forcing my readers to share that particular pleasure.

So, if you’re confused with Kez and Marx’s adventures and frustrated by the lack of a linear storyline—

Please feel free to blame Steven Brust.

I mean, Steven Brust isn’t the only influencer for this series, but his amazing story structures have always stirred up a spirit of emulation in me—in fact, I’ve written about them before here on The WR(ite) Blog. If you’re familiar with Steven Brust’s work at all, you should also find a nod to him in one particular character’s name.

Guys, you GOTTA read it. This is still my favourite Steven Brust book, though all of the Vlad books are fantastic.

It was by reading the Vlad Taltos series out of order (unavoidably, at first, and then on purpose when I found out how much fun it was to read them that way) that I came to realise that things don’t necessarily have to happen in chronological order for a reader to be able to connect events and characters. Moreover, the truly amazing story structure of several of the books (like Dragon, which jumped from past to present and somehow met in the middle in the most satisfying way) proved that things don’t necessarily have to be told in exact chronological order within the confines a book, either. And since I was already writing time travel fiction…

The rest, as they say, is history. I mean, “they” probably weren’t talking about a tiny indie author and her books, but whatever. This is my blog. If I want to indulge in shameless self-aggrandisement, who’s going to stop me?

Oh! And one last thing: A Time Traveller’s Best Friend has a 99c sale going on at the moment. So, yanno; get it while it’s cheap, and don’t forget to grab Memento Mori before its new release price jumps from $2.99 to $3.99 on the ‘Zon…

Thanks! (and Have an Excerpt!)

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend on September 18th, 2017 by

It’s so close, guys! Just a week and 2 days until Memento Mori comes out! That being the case, I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to my awesome beta readers, the people who cheered for me over these last couple of months, and that one guy who actually kicked me into finally writing the 2nd book in the Time Traveller’s Best Friend series.

First, the beta readers. Thank you so much! You continue to surprise and delight me with the stuff you find, the things you love, and the typos you correct before its too late. In particular, thank you to Dinah, Carly, Elizabeth, Anna, and Martina; you guys gave such useful feedback and one or two of you were even kind enough to love Marx and Kez as much as I do.

Second, thanks to the people who’ve encouraged me in some way over the last couple months. It’s been a rough couple of months due to a lot of sickness, pain, and general too-much-to-do-ness. So thanks to Josh, who has been there from the start with Kez and Marx and always encourages me (also, check out his art, guys!), to Sarah, who talks to me about Kdrama, squees over favourite authors with me, and sends the occasional cat pic (especially for the cat pic 😀 ), and to Intisar Khanani, who always seems to know the stuff I don’t and is always willing to help out.

Thirdly and finally, thanks to the guy who gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get going on the 2nd Time Traveller’s Best Friend book. I don’t know his name or what he looks like, but the owner of one of the bookstores I deliver books to said every time he was in, he was asking for the next book. You guys have no idea how much I needed to hear that. I loved Kez and Marx but I wasn’t sure they were resonating and I had to get going on my fantasy series. So thanks, man. I don’t know who you are, but there’ll be a free new-cover copy of A Time Traveller’s Best Friend in the A Bit Curious store for you when I get the shipment.

Now for an excerpt! (And don’t forget to preorder for next week, guys!)

–oOo–

“We’d better synchronise our timepieces, sir.”

“We have a time limit?” asked Mikkel, his brows rising in surprise.

“Not as such,” said Arabella. “But there are certain things that need to happen at exactly the right time. If they don’t…well, let’s just say that we really, really want them to happen at the right time.”

“Are we fixing events in time?”

“Something like that.”

“That’s going a bit overboard, isn’t it?” Mikkel said, frowning. Time and synchronicity were reasonably flexible: so long as a few major things remained fixed, smaller changes didn’t ripple too far forward. River-like, time had a way of falling back into its previous course, flooding around obstacles and back into its accustomed bed. “Even if we’re here to help Kez and Marx—! I mean, they can’t do too much damage running around the Time Stream; it is self-repairing, after all.”

Arabella gave a small, prim cough.

“It fixes itself.”

Arabella’s mouth pursed in a pained sort of way.

“Good grief! They broke the Time Stream?”

“They are trying to fix it, sir,” Arabella said excusingly. 

–oOo–

The Fantasy of Writing SciFi

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend, Sci-Fi on September 12th, 2017 by

I don’t write scifi.

That probably sounds weird, given that I’m publishing the 2nd book in my Time Traveller’s Best Friend series this month. Don’t worry, you didn’t imagine it; Memento Mori really does exist.

I don’t write horror, either; but I’ve published a short ghost story.

Nope, I’m not schizophrenic (not that you can prove, anyway); I just have a different world view.

Aliens, time travel, ghosts…

…those things don’t exist in my paradigm. I’m a Christian writer, so I believe in God. Any other supernatural or alien creatures other than angels or demons? I don’t believe in ’em.

So when I write about them, I’m writing fantasy. And I am a fantasy writer.

I came to this conclusion a few years ago when I first wrote A Time Traveller’s Best Friend–why it was that I found it so easy to switch to writing scifi when it wasn’t something I’d ever considered writing. Why I felt so much at home there with Kez and Marx. I’ve always been more interested in characters than genre (it’s the reason I read so widely across genres) and when Kez and Marx showed up there was no other setting for them than a Scifi one. They were time travellers, and could never have been anything else. I just wrote them into the fantasy world that was right for them.

So next time you read one of my scifi books–psych! You’re not really reading Scifi. It’s all in your imagination. You’re reading Fantasy.

A Preorder, a Sale, and an Excerpt Walk into a Bar…

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend, Book Recommendations on September 2nd, 2017 by

Well, not really.

But I really do have a preorder, a sale, and an excerpt to share.

Memento Mori is now officially up for preorder, and looks absolutely GORGEOUS with its cover from Seedlings Design Studio.

To celebrate that, I’ve put A Time Traveller’s Best Friend at 99c for this weekend, over all store-fronts.

Amazon||Kobo||Smashwords||iBooks||B&N||Google Play

(It will be a part of Patty Jansen’s 100 99c SciFi/Fantasy books promo, too, so check out the others! I can particularly recommend Suzannah Rowntree’s Pendragon’s Heir, and A.K.R. Scott’s Inharmonic—both of which I own).

Memento Mori will be out September 26th, so don’t forget to preorder! And finally—have an excerpt!

–oOo–

“Good news, sir!”

Mikkel looked up warily. Arabella sounded cheerful, which was nothing out of the ordinary, but her idea of good news and his were often so radically different that he couldn’t help feeling the first dragging tendrils of dread close around his chest.

“Don’t look like that, sir; you’ll like this.”

“Will I? Is it something that’s likely to get me arrested?”

Arabella appeared to think about that. “I shouldn’t think so, sir. Actually, it’s Marx and Kez who’ve been arrested.”

Mikkel sat bolt upright. “When? Where? And who managed it?”

“A small Time Corp cruiser. They were making their normal patrol to show a few new ensigns the ropes and stopped to investigate something fishy. They’re requesting help because, and I quote: ‘This is too big for us and we don’t want to make a mess of it.’”

“Wait.” Mikkel’s eyes flicked to Arabella’s face. There was no sign of the prim smile that meant mischief, but he was still suspicious. “What about being hit on the head? Am I likely to be hit on the head?”

“No, sir,” Arabella said, slightly reproachfully. “Didn’t I promise I wouldn’t let them hit you on the head?”

“Only because you said you’d knock me out first. I don’t like this.”

Arabella blinked. “Really? I thought you’d be pleased!”

“Marx and Kez managed to be captured by a glorified baby-sitting cruiser?”

“Ah. I see what you mean.”

Mikkel sighed and brought up the vector controls on the pad beside his chair. “We’d better get down there before they scar the new ensigns beyond repair…”

***

“I don’t like this job, Marx.”

“Whose fault is it that we’ve got to do it?”

“Ain’t mine!” instantly said Kez. “An’ I don’t wanna be messin’ wiv stuff Marcus wants!”

“Marcus is dead.”

“Yeah, well, ’e’s got an ’abit of turning up when you don’t expect ’im. Wot if he’s in this time as well?”

“I checked in the Core,” said Marx patiently. “No, shut up, kid; I checked. I killed him thousands of Relative Year Units ago, and the Core says he’s safely in the Institute this year. He won’t travel out for another year.”

“Yeah, well—”

“Shut up, kid,” Marx said again. “He’s not here. And if he shows up, I’ll blast his flamin’ head off again. Happy?”

Kez sounded gruff. “Yeah. Orright. You better.”

“Then get a wriggle on. That cruiser’ll be by in a few RMUs; we want to be done before it shows up.”

“Oi. Shove over. This is my bit.”

“What does it matter who does what bit?”

“It don’t, but this is my bit.”

“I should have left you in the Upsydaisy.”

Kez blew a raspberry at him, showering him with a fine mist of spit. “Yeah? How you gonna get this done wivout me, then?”

–oOo–

Enjoy! And if you want to know what job it is that Kez and Marx are currently engaged upon…well, you’ll have to preorder, won’t you?

 

Cover Reveal: MEMENTO MORI (A Time Traveller’s Best Friend Vol 2)

Posted under A Time-Traveller's Best Friend on August 30th, 2017 by

I’ve been waiting for this day for so long!

Last week on Friday I got the email containing Memento Mori‘s comp cover from Jenny at Seedlings Design Studio.

Something that implies impending doom, I said. Something that suggests the end of the world. Well, as usual, Jenny has more than delivered.

Feast your eyes, lovers of humorous scifi!

And for those of you who may have missed the updates as they happened, below is the blurb and a rundown of the story titles included in Memento Mori.

–oOo–

Even time travellers can run out of time.

Marx and Kez have been skipping through the known Twelve Worlds, keeping one step ahead of certain capture by the seat of their trousers, and the vastness of time and space is feeling a tad too small.

Kez has always been a bit crazy, but now it’s Marx who is getting mad. Someone is trying to kill them, and that’s the sort of thing he takes personally.

To add to their difficulties, there are Fixed Points in time that are beginning to look a little less…fixed.

Between Time Corp, WAOF, Uncle Cheng, and the Lolly Men, it’s beginning to look like there’s nowhere safe in the known Twelve Worlds for Kez and Marx.

Here be monsters…

–oOo–

In this Volume of A Time Traveller’s Best Friend:

First World Problems

Death Notice: Worlds Wide Press

A Stitch(up) in Time

Shipboard News, TCC Umber

The Box that Travels Through Time and Space

Absent for Duty List, 4th World Orbiting WAOF Station

By the Sea

Notice of Enrolment: Group 23, Time Corp Ensigns

Nine Tenths

Core Memo: Breach Investigation, Final Notes

Everybody Needs Someone

Local News

Produced to Infinity (and Beyond)

External Communications: Holstrom Institute

Time Out

Internal Communications: Murpak City Zoo

Here Be Monsters

Worlds Wide News Article

–oOo–

Keep your eyes out, guys! You’ll be able to preorder Memento Mori before you know it!

(Plus there will be excerpts and blog posts over the next couple of weeks, so don’t miss out…)

 

Recommendations: Namesake, Misaeng (미생), and Day6

Posted under KDrama, KDrama Reviews, These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things on August 21st, 2017 by

This is technically a Favourite Things post. So I guess, have the proper pic?

Here ya go:

The problem is, I have about three new favourite things I want to share with you.

The first, as you might have guessed from the name of the post, is Kate Stradling’s new book, NAMESAKE.

Somehow I managed to miss both the tweet announcing its publication AND the blog post (I blame the flu. I am sick, and tired, and incredibly stupid) so I was hugely excited when a random Amazon search showed up Namesake.

I’ve now finished reading Namesake, and have joined in a discussion of its linguistic and thematic excellencies over on Kate’s blog in the comments section, where she announced the release.

I would normally do a proper review here, but the fact is that I was reading and reviewing Kate’s books before I actually knew her, and then I discovered that she had in fact read and reviewed mine, which makes things awkward. (I don’t review under my author name, and it was a mistake far too easy to make.)

So now I don’t so much review her books as scream “BUY THIS BOOK IT’S FLAMIN’ FANTASTIC AND YOU’LL NEVER WANT TO STOP READING IT”.

(For the record, I’ll have it be known that I was her fan first.)

(Also, read Namesake. It’ll be the best book you read this year.)

Misaeng. Ah, Misaeng!

Ah, those iconic Misaeng terrace scenes…so many…so good!

You guys probably know by now how much I love puppy dog heroes. I love being able to cheer wholeheartedly for characters, and I can thoroughly cheer for Jang GuRae. I was a little unsure at first, because the actor is the slender, pretty type that I don’t necessarily care for–but that character! Guys, the character! He’s a Baduk player (think a Korean sort of Chess) who at the age of 26 has been unable to continue playing Baduk from a necessity to earn money. He joins a company instead, sponsored by a mysterious benefactor–something that earns him the immediate ire and disdain of his coworkers.

This is basically Sales Team 3 in a nutshell. Mr Oh is wild-haired and mad, Mr Kim is slightly concerned, and GuRae has no idea what’s going on but lots of enthusiasm…

I love seeing the world through GuRae’s wide, idealistic eyes; and more, I love seeing how this drama shows the way the world sees GuRae. I love the changes he brings about because people come to see the world through his eyes–or themselves through his eyes. And it’s not just puppy GuRae; the rest of the characters are wonderful to watch. Because although I love Jang GuRae the best, I relate best to flawed, twisted, wrong-minded characters who stand on the knife’s edge of ruin. I know how hard it is to see yourself as you are, and how much harder it is to change when the change needs to come from within yourself. I know how easy it is to give up and blame anyone but yourself.

And this is pretty typical of all the interns. I love them all.

This drama does everything right character-wise, and it has one of the most beautiful ways with metaphor that I’ve seen since watching Beautiful Office. The episodes have flown by, though I’ve been trying to eke them out, and now I only have 7 left to go…

This one is going to be one I buy after I watch it on Netflix.

Okay, so the last thing that I discovered this week and immediately loved is the Korean group Day6.

Guys, I try really hard not to discover new Korean groups. I’m very happy with Jung Yonghwa, CNBLUE, B.A.P., and a smattering of BTS and GOT7 with assorted, much older faves. I don’t have the time or the energy (or the money) to be buying more Korean music. But somehow I ended up on the Twitter of Day6’s Jae–I don’t remember how, maybe it came up in my reccs–and there was Dwight’s face (yup, the Office’s Dwight) staring at me and a feed that I found pretty amusing. Which of course meant that when I went to Youtube and found a clip of Day6 mixed with other stuff, I thought, well, why not give it a listen.

I’m so glad I did. That first clip was Congratulations, which I loved the first time I heard it. Loving a song straight up is really unusual for me, because when I find a new group it usually takes a few songs for me to warm to them, and a few repeats for me to thoroughly love the music. I dunno. Maybe something’s broken in my music centre. Then I went on to 좋은걸 뭐 어떡해 (which translates roughly to ‘What can I do?’) and which I loved even more than Congratulations. So now I have a new band to listen to. I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS, GUYS. I DON’T HAVE THE TIME. On the other hand, Day6’s music is a great addition to my writing playlist, so there’s that…

Last but not least–and nothing to do with Favourite Things but more in the way of a general update–the cover for Memento Mori will be done in another week or two, after which there will be excerpts, cover reveals, special blog posts, giveaways, and other awesome stuff in preparation for Memento Mori‘s publication month!

I’ll have preorder links to share, too, so keep an eye out. And let me know about your Favourite Things discoveries this week!

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