New Release -- Cursed (Legends of Winatuke Book 2) by Sarah J. McNeal

When Hawk McKnight’s younger brother falls to his death in the mystical Lake of Sorrows, Hawk blames himself. The discovery that Peregrine is actually alive is a double-edged sword—for Perry remembers nothing of his former life, and has taken up a new beginning with a band of Gypsies. The only woman who can heal Peregrine is someone Hawk loves deeply…someone who has rejected him. But if there’s a chance that Doctor Emma Dawson can help his brother, Hawk will swallow his pride and ask for her help.

Emma Dawson carries her own emotional baggage. The only survivor of a horrendous family tragedy, she is a burned-out doctor with no time for a personal life, holding on to the dreams of what she once believed her medical practice should be. She knows the secrets of Hawk’s family, and the beings who live in a dimension called Winatuke, a place of magic and evil creatures. Though she and Hawk were once deeply in love, after the hand life has dealt her, she believes sending him away is the only way to protect him.

But when Hawk turns to Emma to help him save Perry, what choice does she have? She must face her fears and go with him to Winatuke if there is the slightest possibility of saving Hawk’s brother. Can they break the curse that holds Peregrine in its grip? Or will the secrets hidden within the depths of the Lake of Sorrows drag them all into an evil enchantment?

EXCERPT

     A messenger drew Hawk from his morose thoughts.  

     "My liege, I do not wish to disturb you, but Domingomae has delivered a message for you from Prince Raphael." Mericet entered the tent with a sealed parchment in his hand.

     Hawk took the message and noticed that the boy's hair was wet and his clothes damp. "Water's scarce out here, Mericet. Mind you don't waste it by bathing in the middle of the day."

     "Yes, my liege." Mericet nodded his head obediently and waited respectfully by the opening of the tent for further instructions.

     Pulling the dagger from his wide leather belt, Hawk cut the seal from the parchment and began to read. The first words grabbed his attention immediately. "My God," he gasped aloud, "Peregrine is alive." He glanced at Mericet. "My brother is alive."

     Mericet nodded. "That is good, my liege. I am glad for you."

     Hawk leaped from his chair and paced as he continued to read aloud. Your brother is living among the Gypsies, playing his violin, and performing his water show twice a day. But he is altered, Hawk. You must come to Vel’ka Mulano with all due haste.

     He stopped pacing. "Altered? What could he mean?" He shrugged his shoulders. "It's enough that he's alive. When that fiend, Inx, threw him into the Lake of Sorrows, we were all certain Peregrine was dead. I thought I would never see him again."

     Emotion choked at the back of his throat. He stared at the parchment as if he held the Declaration of Independence in his hands. A weight that had pressed upon his heart for months lifted, and he felt as if he could breathe again. The torment of guilt he bore for his inability to save Peregrine withdrew from his spirit.

     

Fantasy by Michael E. Gonzales

I recently finished a fantasy novel, my second actually, and I have been thinking about the distinctions between fantasy and fiction, specifically Science-Fiction.

In SyFy the writer must adhere to the basic tenets of science as much as possible. In HARD Sci-Fi the only thing an author can get a pass on is time travel and FTL (Faster Than Light) travel. All else must have a firm scientific foundation.

In so called “soft” SyFy the Author is allowed considerably more latitude, but the hard-Sci-Fi fans will not look sideways at your stories. Nevertheless, in all SyFy there are certain rules that must be followed. I have not found these rules restrictive of my imagination, however. They just insure you remain in the genre.

Not that these rules can’t or haven’t been bent. In my novel, Across a Sea of Stars, I have blended SyFy and fantasy in a rather seamless manner, if I do say so myself, and I’m far from the first to do so.

Fantasy, on the other hand, presents the author a limitless canvas upon which to allow his imagination to explode, to explore its own vast depths.

Having said that, there are a few rubrics an author should operate within. In the world of fantasy, as in every genre, there are canon one should, generally adhere to, i.e.:  should you bring a dragon into your story the reader will expect you to present that dragon as he exists in popular thought. 

Oh, don’t get me wrong, you can take considerable license, but should you describe a mouse with bat wings who is able to spit ice cold rainbows he’s not going to be generally accepted as a dragon, accept in children’s book, of course.

I have discovered  there is a very large segment of the fantasy readership out there who are dragon devotees.  They will seldom accept anything short of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Smaug as a dragon. Unless of course you are very, very good with your winged mouse.

And there is also sacred canon to be observed. If you should invoke any part of the Arthur myth into your story be prepared to plunge in to vast amounts of research long before you even open Word, or prepare to burned on the spit of public rejection.

In fantasy there are certain “must haves” such as magic, wizards and witches (in some form or another) and creatures from legend, or from the legends you create.

So, it would appear that the limitless canvas has its signposts, its roads and paths, some seldom trod. Regardless, fantasy writing, for me, has been a great deal of fun. I will linger in this genre a while, I think.

I do hope those who have read my SyFy stories will follow me...down the yellow brick road.

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Dark Moon Rising, Battle of Broken Moon, Across a Sea of Star, The Vampires of Antyllus, The Blue of Antyllus, Action, Action Adventure, Alien worlds, Aliens, battle, Dark Moon Rising, FireStarPress, Michael E. Gonzales, mikegonzalesauthor.com, NewRelease, Romance,science fiction, syfy

What's Next?

Last month I mentioned my plan to use National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November to pound out a rough draft for my first inspirational romance, Finding Faith. I guess the other story ideas in my head were listening in and at least one of them, Blood Lines (a fantasy romance), got jealous.

Like most writers I have dozens of story ideas swirling around in my brain. Not all ideas will become books. Some ideas have already been absorbed into other story lines, some just don't have enough substance - at least not yet - to make it on their own. Prioritizing what I plan to work on next has never really been an issue. I pick a project and work on it until completion making brief detours along the way to make notes on which ever story is threatening to hold is breath until it turns blue in order to get my attention. Recently, Blood Lines has become that whiny child. (Mommommommommom. Look at me mom! Dances with Werewolves is your favorite; you never pay me any attention.)

So now, instead of knowing what story I'm going to be working on next month I find myself staring at two very different story ideas that I love in different ways. The facts:

Finding Faith will be the first story in a three-book series.

Blood Lines is a stand-alone - at least for now. There is a minor character that may demand her own story at some point.

I suspect that Finding Faith and its sister books will be somewhat emotionally draining to write. These three books will have the most of "me" in them by far.

Blood Lines calls to me because of its sense of humor and pop culture references. It also has the type of cocky hero that always wins my heart in books and video games.

So now, at the last minute, I'm kind of changing my mind and leaning toward working on Blood Lines. The past couple of years have been an emotional roller coaster and I think it would be a blast - and maybe even a little healing - to write something that's just fun.

Image courtesy of www.123rf.com

Decisions, decisions. What do you think? Fellow writers, how do you choose your next project?

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What's in a Category?

In an earlier post I wrote about how the need to know my genre led to my discovery that I am a romance author. However, knowing my genre was just the tip of the iceberg.  As authors, we must also categorize our stories within our chosen genres. Why are categories important? Well, if we plan to submit our stories to publishers, we need to know what categories they are looking for and their requirements for each. Submitting an erotic romance to a publisher of inspirational romances is not going to have good outcome.
 

I don’t know about other genres, but romance has a mind-boggling number of sub-genres.  Not only are the number of categories seemingly never ending (dino erotica anyone?) the lines between them are constantly blurring. In years past, paranormal romances involved vampires, werewolves, ghosts and various other paranormal creatures and was not to be confused with fantasy romance. Fantasy romances generally had a medieval setting and featured magic-wielding characters, dragons, etc.  The lines between the two categories are now completely blurred with many authors using them interchangeably, resulting in much frustration on the part of readers looking for a magical, medieval romance and not one populated with various alpha shape-shifters.
 

I, for one, have always considered sweet romances and clean romances to be the same thing. My experiences over the last few months have taught me that they are not. It seems that the most widely accepted definition of a sweet romance is one that contains no explicit sex; any sex between the characters takes place behind closed doors. Clean romances, it seems, are those that contain no foul language. This category is made even more difficult by the fact that the definition of foul language is going to vary greatly from person to person.
 

My short story, Saved by the Belle, was recently published in a collection advertised as “sweet, clean” romances. The collection has received a couple of lower-starred reviews due to the language used. This surprised me. One of the harshest words used in the collection is probably “asshole,” which is used in my story when the hero and heroine are trying to decide how to describe a male diva. While there are swear words that I find vulgar and would never use myself, “asshole” is not one of them. After raising two sons and spending much of my adult life swimming in a sea of testosterone, my profanity tolerance may be a little higher than that of others. Regardless, the “clean romance” label has been removed from the collection; hopefully, this will be less confusing to our target audience.
 

My novel, Dial V for Vampire, is scheduled for publication by Fire Star Press later this year. I categorize it as a sweet, humorous, paranormal romance. Why did I choose those categories? Well, the story contains no sex (although it is not-so-subtly implied at the end), it is humorous and it contains both vampires and werewolves (although they prefer the term ‘shifter’).
 

In short, or maybe not so short (my posts tend to be on the longer side) in writing, as in life, it is not possible to please everyone. So we must write the stories that are on our hearts and categorize them as best we can based on our knowledge of the publishing world at that time. If our publisher – or our reviews – reflect that we chose poorly, all we can do is step back, take a deep breath, and try again.
 

How important are categories to you when choosing your next read? Have you noticed any blurring between categories when searching for new books to try?
 

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