Veinglory

Yay! A review from Mrs. Giggles. A 74 overall and here are some excerpts:

"One look at the beautiful cover art of Father Of Dragons and the first thing that enters my head is, "Oh dear, it's all so emo!""

"...I know I have to read it twice before what I am reading finally sinks in. I say out loud to myself, "Cool!" because I really don't know what else to say."

"The main characters don't particularly annoy me but unfortunately they don't stand out to me either..."

" If you are looking for a gay version of something like Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders Of Pern books ... Father Of Dragons may just hit the right spot."

Overall a very accurate review I think. The book is high fantasy with a gay romance subplot that will only really get going in the sequel. I am finding the reviewer/reader reactions to the whole (non-explicit) dragon boinking scene very interesting.

Labels: father of dragons, Mrs. Giggles, new review

Yay. despite being off the main page now Father of Dragons has clawed its way back up to #10 on the Samhain best seller list again. Some people might hold off on a celebration for a #1 spot but I celebrate every change I get. That is the key to being a happy small press author.

I also hope it will mean a pick up in my earnings. Because, boys and girls, this is what happens to the earnings of a ebook writer who hasn't released anything new in a while. (More metaphorical depiction available at the top right). ;)



...now I must go write my 500 words for the day.

Labels: habeus greenus

I have started working away on a novella I promised to Cobblestone a while ago. 'To Love in Fall' is (shock, horror) an MF romance. It is told from the point of view of the male in the relationship who regains consciousness after an accident to find he has apparent commit ed a bank robbery. Confused he seeks shelter in the house of a beautiful widow. Now amnesia and beautiful widow may set off some cliche alerts but trust me this is not you standard romance. It is proposed as part of the RUNE series. I am aiming for 500+ words a day and currently at 2000.

T A Chase has been pimping 'King of Dragons' :)

One of the side effects of my recent shift to a rather more serious kind of employment is less internet time. I use a hooked up work computer but internet use is monitored so anything more than an occasional fleeting visit to a recreational sites is probably a very bad idea indeed—especially anything with ‘erotic’ in the title. I am still waiting to see if there is any response to my use of work-related blogs as sources of information.

I still generally have time to write blog posts on my non-networked and hence completely private laptop during my union-mandated break times. But some of you may have noticed that I am not doing so well on reciprocal visits of checking out the other participants of the poem-train and other such community endeavours. Hopefully I will get some catch up time but even weekends just don’t seem as long as they once were!

In the mean time I see that Father of Dragons has ascended to the dizzying heights of #9 on the Samhain best seller list! Dare we hope for #8? I expect the batch of new releases will knock it off this perch shortly but I am still enjoying appearing on the list at all :) I do hope for another reader review. The one I have in fair enough but does seem to praise the book with faint damn. Still, I am encouraged enough to start outlining the sequel: Lover of Ghosts.

Hmm, yes--another haiku. Blame it on my short attention span.






in rythm and dance
black branches crochet the storm --
the stars are unmoved



[poemtrain]

p.s. as of right now (it may not last) Father of Dragons made it into the top ten bestsellers at Samhain (see left column)

Labels: poemtrain, poetryMONDAY

When I started writing my part for the Collector, 'GraveHeart', I had in mind this feeling of unease and foreboding and I immediately thought of Vancouver as a setting. This might seem odd because Vancouver is a bustling and beautiful city but from the very first moment I moved there it it also seemed to have a sinister edge. Vancouver, to me, is like the first scene in a horror movie where everyone is polite and beautiful but you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop--somewhere a monster is hidden and watching.

In my first few days I strayed accidentally a few blocks from the boutique downtown to the EastSide where hypodermics lay on the crack sidewalks and a palpable despair hangs over broken down hotels and stores. Beneath the cultural and natural wealth of Vancouver there is a world of illegal clubs, organised crime, and at the time I was there dozens of missing women. These victims were only just being recognised and counted and it was by journalists, not the police who seemed not very interested in fates of women whom they saw as addicts and sex workers whose disappearance was considered 'normal'. This event echoed into my story with the fate Keiran's missing mother. She left him when he was very young and no one seems to have bothered to ever track down exactly what happened to her, not even Keiran. But this missing woman was the hollow heart of his life. Despite his outward success and wealth Keiran is desperately unhappy.

I was living in Vancouver as people began to speculate: the killer was a trucker, the killer was a vacationing American (as Canadian presumably just do not do this sort of thing), the killer was... it should have been obvious for a long time who the killer was as one of his victims had in fact escaped his attack and tried to report the assault to police but no one had listened to her. The killer was Robert William Pickton and the reasons they body was never found was that Mr Pickton was a pig farmer. There was very little of the bodies left to find.

Mr Pickton was only ever charged with 26 murders and as far as I know has yet to be convicted even now. A lot of women who went missing in Vancouver were not his victims, they just drifted away from friends and family and died namelessly of drugs, illness or at the hands of some other, less prolific killer. The trial dragged over many years and residents main response was that it should be reported less often and with less detail. Even now, nobody wanted to hear the stories of these women, not so much missing as lost and discarded.

The victims, nobody knows exactly how many beyond those whose fragments of bone were sifted from the soil of the 17 acre pig farm, each left a hole in some one's life. Those broadsheet pages totally filled with snapshots of women whose fates were unknown will always be connected to the bright and glistening mountains and coloured skyscrapers of Vancouver. And GraveHeart gives some small voice to the void left by a lost love ones and the healing role of learning the truth and finding love, in living on.

Excerpt: "He stood from the workstation and walked across his open-plan apartment to stand before the window that took up most of one wall. A few low buildings obscured a calming view of the ocean, but he could feel the sullen buzz of the city behind him. Vancouver city, it was the perfect place for a man who specialized in delving below the polite surface into the seedy underbelly of business, and occasionally personal, affairs. A city that thrived upon a sparkling image of nature at its most beautiful and architecture at its most ugly, where courtesy was as ubiquitous as deceit."

Previous stop #7
Next stop #9
Question: What animal did Robert Pickton farm?

Labels: GraveHeart

Although print release is not scheduled until October 16th King of Dragons, King of Men is now availabe for pre-order on Amazon.com.

Meanwhile on Samhain's bookstore Father of Dragons has its first reader review.

Labels: father of dragons

So I have a generous offer from a good romance-oriented website to display an advertising banner for me. My question is, what should I advertise? Samhain Books? Loose Id books? Just me and my website? I am thinking perhaps this one should be for Loose Id as they currently publish most of my work and send me my largest cheques.

Hmm. As I type the word ‘cheques’ I am reminded of a recent issue I have been thinking about. I write most of my work for US presses but they all, especially Loose Id, accommodate my New Zealand writing conventions to a great extent. Which dialect do you think I should write the blog in, the one most readers are familiar with of my native voice? Currently it’s kind of a random mix of the two…..

A review already from the inimitable elisa!

"As always Emily Veinglory surprises me... and as aways it's a good surprise."

"Father of Dragons is absolutely a wonderful reading. It has everything, humor, adventure, love. I can't put down this book until I have finished it..."

Father of Dragons is also now up on fictionwise. Am I the only one who hangs out to see the first reader ratings?

Labels: father of dragons, new review

Father of Dragons is on sale now!

Those of you who--for whatever reason--have been reading this blog regularly will know that a few weeks ago I became infatuated with my new bicycle. Now don't get me wrong, me and the bicycle are still going out. I mean how many friends will carry you to the mall on their back and then wait outside patiently til you are done? The bicycle is very cool.

But then, while the bicycle was loitering outside in the garden, I met Lindah. Lindah is a chaise. That's not quite a chair, not quite a sofa and not even a chaise lounge--but a combination of all three with a whole lot of buttons on it. Picture a posh single bed folded into an approximation of a couch. Needless to say I had to have it. Ah, the fickleness of love.

The second meeting of my new writer's group was today. We were down to four but still promising. I am meant to post the first chapter of my new novel for them by Tuesday.

I have this weird pattern in my head right now:

I spent most of the last few days in meetings, hence no bloggage. Normal service will be returning soon....

For those of you who thought I was kidding about the rat shape shifter MM story, it has been accepted by Aspen Mountain Press. :)

So I think you should all celebrate by buying a copy of the last Aspen Mountain Press anthology I appeared in -->

Labels: aspen mountain press

The Call is now up on Amazon. I see there is a great customer review which says: "Son of a bitch (no pun intended) by Emily Veinglory is really good and has a most original plot ... I wish this story is longer." :)

Labels: son of a bitch, torquere

cricket in the stairwell
calling to the EXIT sign
hieroglyphic moon



[poemtrain]

Labels: poemtrain

So I decided to try and start a writers group. I posted it on the Meetup website and five people say they are coming. Um, is it really that easy?

My apartment has been bought as an investment property. The letter informing me of this doesn't seem to mention eviction. So I guess I can stay? Who knows. Either way I had to spend the evening cleaning so I can have people come and doing something referred to as "upgrades". (?)

I am still not writing much. All I did today is think of changing the title of one of my partials. It was first called 'Whom the Gods Destroy', then 'The Goldiamond Paradox'. I kind of liked that second one if only because the Goldiamond paradox does in fact exist, but is unknown to Google. How 'bout that?

But it is, therefore, a pretty obscure reference so I think I will replace it with 'Passing Strange'.

Not all book reviews are all rainbows and kittens but the prospective readers should get all the opinions out there. So, in the interests of full disclosure here is the first review for The Call.

Reminds Me of You

If anything will remind me of you it is this;
the brief life of snow in this climate
and its beauty while it lasts



[poemtrain]

I hear a lot of writers talk about their desk or even their office. My apartment is a studio. Which is to say, a car park with carpet and an en suite. So this is my office. (Quote from Isaac Bashevis Singer). So here is my half arsed attempt at a meme. Show me you work space, writing quotation optional, and I will link back to it :)

I've been Simpsonised :)

Seriously though, what is with all those promo. They think we haven't heard of the Simpsons or the Simpsons Movie? (She says, while participating in said promo like a true hypocrite)