I made friends with author Thea Atkinson awhile ago… over a year, apparently, although it feels like both forever and yesterday. Her new book, Water Witch, is out, which means… she had to stop in for a Featured New Release!

A few years ago, my brain threw out two words to me: water witch. I thought at the time it came from the fact that my Father-in-law was able to divine for us the best place to put our well by using an old apple branch. I’d heard of divining water, and was always intrigued by the idea.

As a writer, I felt compelled enough that the two words together spoke to me. I just couldn’t understand the language until a number of years later when I had to write a fantasy/paranormal type flash fiction piece for a blog. Right then, this character who had been unnamed before and whose story had eluded me, began to solidify.

The result of that is Water Witch: a short novel in a series called Elemental Magic. The release has proven to be both exciting and anxiety ridden, as YA is a departure for me. Would folks like the Alaysha character as much as I did? Would they compelled to hear her story?

While I wrote, like I always do, I had a soundtrack that played to keep my fingers moving over the keys in some sort of trancelike rhythm, trying to harness those creative brain waves. I find music, whether it’s lyrics or the sound, spurs the firing of those beta/theta waves as easily as dreams.

One song I played over and over for the pure enjoyment and for the metaphor within was a Dave Matthews Band song: Don’t Drink the Water.

I encourage you to read the flash that inspired the translation of the water witch codec and allowed me tap into the character in a way that became more clear with each word. And I encourage you, if you like what you read, to go sample it from Amazon.

***

Let the Rain Fall
By Thea Atkinson

The scene was a sickening one, and in her early days, she would have been bothered by such gruesome images of war. Now, 40 years after she’d ridden her first beast to battle, she was hardened to all the death. Hardened like the blade she carried on her back — not that she needed a blade to take a life.

A water witch needed nothing to aid her in killing.

She could draw the fluid from a man’s body in three seconds, count the time with barely a breath between each before they collapsed into a pile of leathered skin with bones so brittle she knew they crumbled to sand inside the left over husk. The eyeballs turned to blackened raisins that fell from the sockets and plopped onto the earth.

When she was young, she thought they were the seeds of a man’s soul, that some god would rejuvenate them. She expected to see another body sprout from where they had fallen.

They never did.

So she hardened herself to all those deaths she’d caused — all those seeds left unspent in the ground. All for the safety of a runt of a man who had never bothered to learn her name.

“Witch,” he called her. “Witch, I need you,” he’d say when he wanted to vanquish an enemy. And there were many enemies.

I need you. I want you. I want you and need you to kill, and so she had without question for years. A girl always obeyed her father, after all.

She remembered her first battle. All of those images that she stored away from her spot in a hanging basket slung like a saddlebag from her father’s war beast. She was young — just seasons old, but a water witch had a long memory to go along with the gift — a necessity if she was to draw water from a vessel. There would need to be a vivid account of pathways and exits. And so she could still see that first pore, that first tear duct, that sweat gland — and deeper, that cell membrane that protected the precious water. She found that if she was significantly hungry, she could speak to those portals and pull fluid from them with an ease that almost hurt her.

Killing was ugly business for a soldier let alone a two-year-old. Her father assumed such ugliness was part of her nature.

“Will it,” he told her. And she did. So strong was her power over fluid that men dropped to their knees in droves, the raisins from their sockets plomping onto the ground like raindrops on thirsty earth: seeds waiting for nourishment.

Storm clouds gathered as the last enemy fell and pelted those left standing–those behind her father–with hail, but no new men sprouted to replace those she’d taken. A hunger rumbled with a terrible ache in her belly and left it feeling like one black cavern that food could never fill — not ever again after that.

She lived in fear that one of those seeds would trail like a pumpkin’s stem into a man’s arm that would sneak forward through the years to reach her finally and strike her down.

And then she wished for it.

And then she prayed for it.

So this scene, nearly 40 years after that first battle was especially gruesome. She sat her beast instead of being side-bagged on it. Her father, furious at his serfdom for a rebellion gone horribly wrong, yelling, weeping, spitting his revenge at their audacity.

“Will it,” he told her.

She drew water from them — each of them — soldiers, peasants, men, women — and yes, even children. She watched every living thing from plant to bird to man in this her father’s serfdom become petrified in an instant. All that remained were stones of different sizes and sand of different piles, and a hundred thousand little raisins peppering the arid earth as if it was a spicy bannock for a meal never to be eaten.

And in that moment she knew some men should never come back. That, that was the secret the gods kept from her. Those seeds, those raisins, should never sprout for they’d had their season.

The storm clouds gathered above her. Her father grunted his anger; it wasn’t enough, this revenge. They deserved worse, not this quick, painless death he’d ordered. He should have done more; she should have drawn the water slower, made them suffer.

She looked at him, felt the drops of water from the clouds plop onto her shoulder. The rain on her cheeks felt hot, then cold as it evaporated. The clouds sucked back into themselves, afraid of the power of the witch that could thirst the water from the very sky.

“I’m hungry,” she said to him as she climbed down from her beast. The earth felt good on her bare feet. She’d never been allowed to have shoes.

“Eh?” Her father gave her a sharp look. She’d never deigned speak to him except to answer yes to his whims.

“I hunger.”

Even as his mouth opened to deny her, he spilled from his beast, so many particles of sand running into his boots as they hit the ground, dumping into the sidesaddle she’d spent so many months in while they were at war. His ice green eyes shriveled and fell as tiny raisins to the earth.

She knelt to one knee and scooped them up, giving them a quick study, making sure they were indeed the seeds of his soul.

And then she popped them into her mouth, chewed. And for the first time in her forty years, she felt satisfied.
-30-

Pick it up at Amazon.

Smashwords

I’ve had a crush on Machine Head’s Phil Demmel since the first time I met him, back in the early ’90s. Back when he was in Bay Area band Vio-Lence. What a classy dude, always kind to the cool-assed radio chick. My sort of hot, too.

I’ve also totally been jamming to the new Machine Head single, Darkness Within. LOVE, love, LOVE that song! It’s about music as religion and it reminds me of an essay I wrote in college (that was good enough, my prof entered it in the college-wide essay-writing contest. The winner? Something with some long, dry, academic title. Of course) about the first time I saw Alice in Chains. It was the Limelight in New York City, a long-since-shuttered nightclub that had a long and fruitful previous life as … a church. Layne Stayley up on that old altar…

Yeah. In a setting like that, you get the idea of music as religion.

I’ve also been drooling on this here blog over the wordsmithing magic that is Joel McIver.

Phil Demmel + Joel McIver = Susan in HEAVEN.

If you can’t figure it out, Joel’s penned the first-ever biography of Machine Head. Okay, so Phil shares the spotlight with the rest of the band. I can deal.

What I can’t wait to do is read.

No Kerri’s Diary this weekend. I’m off to Boy Scout Leader Training, hoping I won’t be called home early; it looks like I can do Wood Badge in the autumn if I make it to the end.

So. That means you should go visiting. I have been — join me!

At Novel Publicity, I’ve dropped in with a guest blog to talk about the value of a paid review. Now that I’m getting paid by a big, well-established company to write reviews, I’ve got a different perspective on what you’ll get out of it. And I’m not talking about a soaking for the fees, either.

Necromancy Never Pays has a thought-provoking review of King Trevor.

Another King Trevor review can be found at Shayna Gier’s blog. It’s interesting to compare the two.

Giveaways!

Shayna’s giving away e-copies of Trevor’s Song and King Trevor, so stop in and enter to win.

Want another contest? Laurie J at Laurie’s Non-paranormal Thoughts and Reviews is giving away an e-copy of Trevor’s Song. Since he’s gotta have a song before he can be crowned King, don’tcha know…

Yeah. I live outside of Pittsburgh. Outside enough to not have to send the kids to the Pittsburgh Public Schools (with apologies to my friend who teaches in one of them), but near enough to consider myself a Burgher, proud and true.

So I sorta want to gag when I envy the music lovers of Cleveland. I mean, hello? CLEVELAND??? The city that set its river on fire???

Yeah, and to add personal insult to the decades-long rivalry between the cities, I’ve got family in Cleveland.

Here’s what’s making me say such gag-inducing words as, “Oh to be in Cleveland on April 13… the day after King Trevor’s release!”

It’s Duff McKagan. I might have fallen a bit in love with him during the escapade that prompted this post… but, maybe I didn’t.

Either way, hearing that he’s going to be in Cleveland the night before the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions, where he’ll be honored as a member of Guns ‘n Roses, made me drool. Oh, it’s not because of Axl, who intrigues the hell out of me. It’s because on the 13th, Duff took over the House of Blues (the only House of Blues I’ve ever been in, coincidentally — a fact that MUST be changed before I perish) for a one-off musical tie-in performance to his book, It’s So Easy (and other lies).

It’s a multi-media book reading, complete with music and … oh, hell. It’s some form of really avant garde performance art that will probably make perfect sense and make me swoon with the sheer creativity of the project. And when I’m done swooning, I’ll be sad I wasn’t part of it.

Except… I wasn’t be there. Couldn’t be. But man, do I want to be…

Yes, in case you missed it: ShapeShifter is a band name. It came from the desire of a young Trevor Wolff to shapeshift into his namesake and rip out the throat of the man who claimed to be his father.

That’s why I’ve stopped in at Laurie’s NON-paranormal Thoughts and Reviews today, for an interview and spotlight of Trevor’s Song. There’s an excerpt, too.

Why Trevor’s Song and not King Trevor? Because with the hullabaloo over here that I hope you’ve known nothing about (but if you’ve clicked through recently, you’ve seen it first-hand), I couldn’t get it together for King Trevor in time. Which means it’s been worse than crazy over here.

Stop in. See what’s going on. Click through to the give for Smashwords coupons for BOTH Trevor’s Song and King Trevor.

While you’re out and about, stop in at JC Cassels’ Gotta Name My Blog. I’m talking about heroes over there.

I got all excited when I saw the title of MaryLynn Bast’s new book. No Remorse.

Metallica alert!

But… nope. Here’s what song makes Mary think of her book:

Pink is my favorite female singer. I love her bad kick ass attitude and she reminds me of Amber, and her song “Perfect”, is actually a perfect for description of Amber’s life up until she meets back up with Blake.
“Made a wrong turn once or twice.
Dug my way out, blood and fire.
Bad decisions, that’s alright.
Welcome to my silly life.
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood!
Miss “No way, It’s all good”, it didn’t slow me down.
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated!
Look, I’m still around…”

Ahh, Pink’s a favorite around here. It probably doesn’t have the Family Friendly alert that the other song I linked to does…

So what’s Mary’s No Remorse about, anyway?

Due to her unusual birth, Amber has abilities no other werewolf has ever possessed. On the run since childhood, the lone wolf avoids contact with other werewolves at all cost, continually moving, constantly looking over her shoulder and always alone.

Everything changes when Amber saves a werewolf from the mere brink of death, Blake, the only werewolf to ever protect her. Love blossoms, but not without tribulations when Amber realizes she must help her new pack rescue a member who is being held hostage by a rival pack.

Warring with emotions of going from lone wolf to the pack leader’s mate, Amber must decide if she is willing to risk Blake’s life to know true family and friendship despite the fact that the Council is hell bent on locating her and will stop at nothing until she is found. Will Amber’s special abilities be enough to keep everyone safe?

Links you’d like to have:
Amazon
Book Trailer
Website
Facebook
Facebook (author page)
Twitter

Since 2009, my first birthday after the publication of Demo Tapes: Year 1, I’ve been saying that all I want for my birthday is book royalties. Well, okay, I wanted iTunes gift cards as well.

It didn’t get off to a good start.

Then it dawned on me that I needed to make it easier. Give you an incentive. Last year, I released Mannequin. It’s still 99c, if you haven’t picked it up yet.

This year?

Well, I’ve been working hard on the follow-up to Trevor’s Song. So it made sense to, on my birthday, crown the king.

King Trevor. Available today at Smashwords, Kindle, CreateSpace, and Amazon. The other retailers, like B&N and Sony and Apple, are still pending.

And check out all the folk who are celebrating with me by posting about the release:
Mary at BookHounds
Me, over at the #Amwriting site
Nimrodiel at Confessions of a Literary Persuasion
JC Cassels is teasing everyone about my upcoming appearance.

Here’s a follow-up to a book I’d blogged about over a year ago (see? Publishing DOES work slowly!).

An excerpt to Zakk Wylde’s Bringing Metal to the Children is now available. It’s a Facebook page and you’ll have to like it in order to gain access to the excerpt, but it’s a lot easier than some other sites I’ve been to…

The entire book went on sale April 10 — that’s yesterday! I still think you should save your money for King Trevor tomorrow, but that’s just me…

Yep, I really HAVE been working on expanding this series. I hope you’re having fun with it; everyone picks such varied music. Personally, I’m having a ball.

Today I’ve got Renee Pawlish, who’s got a new YA novel out, The Emerald Quest. I asked what song makes her think of her book and she said…

When I hear the song Miserlou by Dick Dale I think of The Emerald Quest because Miserlou reminds me of the ocean, surfing and fun in the water, and The Emerald Quest is all about boats, the ocean, treasure hunting, scuba diving and fun in the water.

There ya go. Boats, the ocean, treasure hunting, scuba diving, and fun in the water. Can’t go wrong with THAT combo, can you? And the song??? Be sure to click through… this is old guitar work that still resonates today. You may even recognize shades of songs YOU grew up with (assuming you’re an old bat like me).

How’d you like the more formal book blurb?

A long-lost emerald, a missing treasure map, and a wealthy villain combine for an action-packed adventure!

Thirteen-year-old Noah Winter, the son of sea-exploring treasure hunters, dives the San Isabel shipwreck with his parents in search of a mysterious treasure map lost in the murky depths off the Florida Keys over a century ago. The map reveals the hiding place of the priceless De La Rosa emerald. But before the Winters can find the map, a wealthy treasure-hunting rival kidnaps Noah’s parents. Now Noah must match wits with a dangerous adversary, not only to discover the treasure map first, but to rescue his mom and dad before it’s too late.

Get your own copy!

Kindle

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Or
Facebook

blog

Goodreads

I’ve been putting out calls to authors who aren’t necessarily my friends (yet). Why leave them out of the Featured New Book fun? Why miss out on a potential new friend?

Today’s guest is author Angela Scott, who’s got a new one out called Wanted Dead or Undead.

What song makes her think of her book?

I had to think on the song for a bit, but I would have to say Christina Perri’s ARMS works.

Hmm. Can’t say I knew that one before now. It’s a pretty song. I sorta dig it. I like the refrain: You put your arms around me and I’m home. (If I’m hearing that wrong, holler. Won’t be the first time.)

Book blurb:

Trace Monroe doesn’t believe in luck. He never has. But when a fiery-headed cowgirl saunters through the saloon doors, wielding shotguns and a know-how for killing the living dead, he believes he just may be the luckiest man alive.

Trace wants to join “Red’s” posse, but she prefers to work alone—less messy that way. In order to become her traveling companion, Trace has to agree to her terms: no names, no questions, and if he gets bit, he can’t beg for mercy when she severs his brain stem. He agrees, knowing only that Red is the sharpest shooter he’s ever encountered. The fact she’s stunning hasn’t escaped his attention either.

What he doesn’t know, is that Red has a very good reason to be on top of her game. She not only has the answer for how they can all outlive the plague taking over the wild, wild west, she is the answer.

Buy link (Hey, you fellow non-Kindle people, speak up if you want to read this but can’t due to lack of Kindle stuff. I’m there with you.)

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

It was just a few days ago (okay, a couple weeks now. Whatever) when I posted about Shinedown’s song, Bully.

Now I’ve got MORE Shinedown news (and no, it has nothing to do with my current lust for Brent Smith, which is really odd ’cause he’s not my type, which means it’s all about the lyrics, baby. Maybe I ought to take a page from Ginny and start self-uniting with some of these men. I’m allowed to dream, no?)

Ahem.

Shinedown. Books.

Yeah. That’s the topic of the day.

I pulled this one off Brave Words:

Mashable.com reports that Atlantic Records has taken an uncommon approach to using Apple’s iBooks Author — touted as a creation platform that will “reinvent the textbook” — by building an interactive eBook for SHINEDOWN\\\’ next album, Amaryllis.

The 75-page iPad ebook will be available March 27th, coinciding with the Amaryllis album release. The eBook visually tells the story of the multi-platinum rock band’s new songs, creative process and cover art.

Frontman Brent Smith says the eBook, titled For Your Sake: Inside The Making Of Shinedown’s Amaryllis, revives the complete album experience, which changed when CD booklets and liner notes became less prevalent.

Hmm. Think they’re past the editing stage? If not, if I promise not to self-unite, can I have the gig?

The world works in funny ways. I think I first really became aware of Ash Krafton through Triberr. When she released her new book, Bleeding Hearts, I realized she’s also a Pennwriter.

Triberr friends are cool. But to be BOTH a Triberr AND a Pennwriter? Well, Pennwriters… I consider Pennwriters to be MY people, you know? These are the people who (by and large) know me in real life. Many of them know what my face looks like — and the rest of me. And they suffer my often big, opinionated mouth. (Who, me? Hell, yeah!)

So when Ash announced the release of her first book, you KNOW I had to have her come by. I pretty much put it to her in those terms, too. It seems, though, that our favorite question wasn’t so easy when placed in Ash’s capable hands. Read on…

I’m sure you weren’t being mean when you asked this question, Susan. How were you to know the book was written, not with a single song in mind, but rather an entire playlist?

That means it’s going to be tough to answer this question.

Most of the songs on the Bleeding Hearts Soundtrack (not available in any store because, apparently, copyrights are ridiculously tricky things) aren’t by mainstream artists. How many readers are familiar with Lacuna Coil, Type O Negative, and Blind Guardian? Didn’t think there’d be many. And how many of you are devoted Rush fans? Yep. Thought so. (I won’t tell Geddy, though. He’d just be hurt.)

So answering this question is a lot harder than it should be. After all, if nobody’s heard of the song, then nobody’s going to relate to the book for the purpose of this article. What a failed promotional jig this would turn out to be!

Then I remembered—there *was* a band that got lots of radio play, that had Billboard-Chartable hits, that was mainstream despite their not wanting to be mainstream. There *was* a band that produced several emotional songs that really affected me in a creative way…songs like “My Immortal” and “Going Under”…and “Bring Me To Life.”

That’s it. That’s the song.

“Bring Me To Life” by Evanescence reminds me of the book every time I hear it. However, in my head, it’s not Amy Lee singing—it’s my hero, Marek.

Marek is a Demivampire who is dangerously close to Falling. If that happens, he’ll evolve into a vampire and will be lost forever. There’s slim hope for a demivamp who gets that close to the edge…unless they are found and Saved by one of the Sophia, a group of mystical oracles who are able to undo the spiritual damage responsible for a demivamp’s evolution.

Marek believes he’s too far gone to save. But that’s when Sophie finds him—and she’s not going to give up on the man she loves.

The song “Bring Me To Life” begins with the words:

How can you see into my eyes
Like open doors?
Leading you down into my core,
Where I’ve become so numb.

Without a soul,
My spirit’s sleeping somewhere cold,
Until you find it there and lead it back
Home.

Marek’s sure he’s beyond redemption when he meets Sophie. Neither of them realizes what she is at first, but he knows she’s something special. Her quirky little spurts of wisdom never fail to catch him off guard and he’s determined to find out.

As their love story progresses, Marek tells Sophie no one has ever touched his heart the way she does. It’s echoed by this line:

Frozen inside without your touch,
Without your love, darling.
Only you are the life among the dead.

Marek is desperate to rejoin the living and is confident Sophie can lead him back.

Evanescence performs the song with a haunting mixture of fierce determination and desperation, two sentiments that drive the soul of Bleeding Hearts. If the group ever re-records the song, reversing the male/female vocals, I think it would be a perfect match.

Even as it plays, “Bring Me To Life” takes me to my book every time I hear it. And, while a lot of music played in the background while I wrote Bleeding Hearts: Book One of the Demimonde, giving plenty of emotional fuel to create the character of my empathic heroine, this one seems written especially for her hero.

I’d like to dedicate this song to you, Marek.

WHAT, Ash?? MY readers not know Lacuna Coil? To not still mourn the loss of the (warped but) creative genius who was Peter Steele?

You need to hang out here more often. You just do.

But Evanescence?? Still holds a high place of regard on my iPod. Have you heard Ben Moody’s spinoff band, We are the Fallen, yet? Sounds a lot like Evanescence, but the songwriting shows who in the band has/had the chops… I may be a bigger Ben Moody fan than an Amy Lee fan, and that’s saying a lot…

Anyway, back to the book.

Hey, how’d you like the blurb?

About BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde

Saving the world one damned person at a time—shy advice columnist-turned-oracle must find a way to save her dangerous demivampire lover from the fate that threatens each of his race: evolution and the destruction of his soul.

When advice columnist Sophie meets dark and alluring Marek, she learns life-changing secrets about them both—he’s a demivampire struggling to avoid evolution and she’s an empathic oracle destined to save him. Sophie possesses the rare ability to reduce the spiritual damage that causes a demivamp to Fall, making her the only thing that stands between a DV and evolution.

However, as Marek’s dangerous past propels him toward his desperate fate, his enemies make darker plans for him: once vampire, powerful Marek would be second only to the Master himself. The vamps want to cause Marek’s Fall and they intend to use Sophie to do it….

Hook up with Ash at these places:

Facebook
Twitter
Home page
Blog
GoodReads
Amazon Author Central

Buy links!!
Pink Narcissus Press
Amazon
B&N

In my quest to see what happens when books and music collide, I decided to expand the Featured New Book spot here at West of Mars. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m having a ball with it. We have yet to have a repeat song, and the choices all these various authors are making are endlessly fascinating.

Like this one. Ernie Laurence Jr. is our guest today, and man, he blew me away with the song that makes him think of his book, Islands of Loar Sundered.

What song makes me think of my book/series? There is an old spiritual entitled “Wayfaring Stranger” that fits this book (and the Islands of Loar series). The song is set in a minor key. It is my favorite song, ever. [Note from Susan: here’s another version, one that Ernie likes.]

vs 1- I am a poor, wayfaring stranger while traveling through this world of woe.
vs 2 – I know dark clouds will gather round me. I know my way is rough and steep.
vs 3 – I’ll soon be free of every trial. My body sleep in the graveyard.

These are the first lines of all three verses. Each verse opens with loneliness, weariness, and a desire for rest. That is the perfect image of what I want Loar to look and feel like to the reader: the remnants of a shattered planet orbiting its star. Its inhabitants have been abandoned by their deities and know nothing of any life beyond their world. This makes them feel alone, vulnerable, and causes most to despair. Now, numerous enemies outside of Loar seek to finish off all life in the Islands. The populace is trodden under by the tyranny of the elite Aeromancers and there is rebellion fomenting that threatens to tear the civilization apart from within. The rest are wearied with merely surviving. Even the plant life has weakened and looks like it is giving up.

vs 1 – Yet there’s no sickness, toil, nor danger in that bright world to which I go.
vs 2 – But golden fields lie out before me where God’s redeemed shall ever be.
vs 3 – I’ll drop the cross of self denial and enter on my great reward.

The second phrase of each verse speaks of rest, of an end to labor, and coming to a place where all those who have achieved this rest come together in peace and comfort. These phrases represent the heroes of the tale. Doogan, whose unwavering goodness is matched only by his desire to see the people of Loar lifted out of their misery and do more than just survive. In him is the potential to heal the civil strife. Spenciel, who puts others first and denies himself in all instances to bring justice and peace to the Islands. He is set on a path to understand the power of the departed gods. Thean, who has great faith, endurance, and love for all the people of Loar and comes to desire to bear their burdens on his own shoulders. His path seems to be to stand between the monsters and the people as one of the true Chosen of the Prophecy. There are a lot of them, but they all seek to overcome not just the enemies without: monsters, demons, and so forth, but the most powerful enemy of all: the despair and despondency within.

The song ends with an affirmation of success in all three verses:

vs 1- I’m going there to see my Father. I’m going there no more to roam.

vs 2 – I’m going there to see the Spirit. He said He’d meet me when I come.

vs 3 – I’m going there to see my Savior, to sing His praise for evermore.

all – I’m only going over Jordan. I’m only going over home.

There is another character in the story that we only see twice. Though he only has a small part in the story, in a way, he plays the largest role. I won’t reveal too much here, but I will say that he epitomizes the song as no other character I have written or ever will write again. This character introduces Loar in a very subtle way to a much grander perspective, including the concept of what “God” really means.

There are certainly some faint religious undertones to the story and some not quite as subtle political ones. For those who do not share my own very strong conservative religious or political views, this might cause a twinge of controversy, but hey…that sells too, eh? However, overwhelmingly this is an epic fantasy and those who enjoy the genre will hopefully enjoy the story regardless.

Whew, huh? Like… wow. Ernie definitely wins for the most detailed explanation.

Bring it, folks. I am eating this stuff up!

Need more?

Synopsis (from my wiki):

Surviving fragments of civilization left over from a sundered planet eke out a life in an environment sustained entirely by elemental magic. A few disparate groups of teens and young adults from different species and backgrounds attempt to find adventure and meaning to their bleak existence, or hopelessly search for a remedy to their decaying situation.

An increasingly oppressive government and the growing threat of a veiled enemy will throw some of these groups together while viciously tearing others apart. There are hints of the return of one of the missing gods, but it is one that may finish the Islands of Loar for good unless these young heroes can stop him in time.

So. How do you hook up with Ernie and Islands of Loar Sundered? Well, via these links of course!
Links:

Amazon

Smashwords

Website (My online appendix for all my novels essentially)

Facebook

Blog/Author Page

I haven’t done a Featured New Book in awhile, so I put a call out for some blog fodder. The first person to respond was Jonathan Grant, so here we go…

Jonathan, what song makes you think of your book?

Answer: “One of Us” written by Eric Bazilian, performed by Joan Osborne, inspired me to write Brambleman the way I did. In other words, it actually
made me think of the book. (And they are listed in the Acknowledgments.) Brambleman’s theology is based on the song. Supernatural beings rely on public transportation, and buses are vehicles of both salvation and terrible (and sometimes random) justice. The book attempts to answer the musical question:

“What if God was one of us

Just a slob like one of us

Just a stranger on the bus

Trying to make his way home?”

Wait. WHAT?? Eric Bazilian?? As in … The Hooters????

Yep.

I never knew that! Remind me to tell you guys my Hooters story one day. Or don’t; it’s not terribly exciting.

Back to Jonathan, ’cause he’s got me right curious about this Brambleman book of his…

The book blurb:

Brambleman. a novel by Jonathan Grant

Down-and-out Atlanta writer Charlie Sherman has no idea what madness awaits
him when a mysterious stranger convinces him to finish a dead man’s book
about a horrific crime that’s gone unpunished for decades. Charlie becomes
convinced he’s been chosen by a Higher Power to wreak vengeance on those who
profit from evil. Either that, or he’ll die trying. Eventually, he realizes
the deal is an otherworldly setup.

Sounds good, no? I bet this will be the sort of book I wished I got to edit — not that it’s bad (perish the thought!) but because I’d have gotten to get my eyeballs on it before most others.

Yeah, I bet you never thought that was one of the perks of being an editor!

Anyway, pick up your copy/copies (books make great gifts!) at …

The book is still in the process of coming out, but Barnes and Noble has
listings for both eBook and for pre-ordering the paperback.

Can I tell you guys how much I like Jonathan, already? He’s a B&N dude, just like I’m a B&N chick, if I can’t go indie, that is…

Stop in at his website, too!

We all have one spot, one place, one moment, one band who is so integral on our musical journeys that without them, life would be so utterly different, we can’t even begin to get our brains around it.

Such as it is for me with Bon Jovi.

I know! Me. Your favorite Metallica fan. The woman who swoons at the honey in David Draiman’s voice. Who has this strange pull and compulsion to the new Machine Head single.

It all began for me with Slippery When Wet. It really did.

Now comes word of a new book, Let it Rock. It’s going to detail the making of this seminal record (seminal for myself and many), and yeah. I’m quite sure it’ll come with a whole slew of memories and flashbacks to high school and beyond, when my only drive and desire was to write books while working for a record label.

Yep. Blame all my Rock Fiction on Bon Jovi. For me, that’s where it began.

Read more here. I’ve got memories to sort through…

It’s Danny Lilker!

Oh. Sorry. He goes by Dan now. Back when I knew him, back in the early days of Brutal Truth, he was Danny. Me, I was just another radio chick, presumed to be eager to meet an honest-to-goodness star! (Truthfully? I wanted to meet this dude my friends kept talking about ’cause he was cool in the good way, and nice, and a doll and … and … damn. Did I just blow the man’s image?)

Anyway, Dan’s the subject of a biography, and it’s going to be released this summer via a publisher I’ve never heard of (Paper + Plastick Records).

Maybe it’s an ominous sign that the press release says the author, Dave Hofer, isn’t “classically trained in long-form writing,” but I for one hope it’s more of a challenge — one that Hofer has risen to.

Of course, with the book not due out until summer, a certain Rock Fiction expert who is also a freelance editor could take a pass through the book and make sure it’s as good as it could be… just an idea…

Hey, it’s one way to read the book before its release date. And to bump it ahead of the stack of other Rock Fiction (and non-fiction, of course) sitting here, waiting for me.

Can’t blame a girl for trying…

Yep, it’s that time of year again, gang.

Read an E-Book Week.

And to celebrate, I’m doing my usual: Mannequin, Demo Tapes (Year 1), and Demo Tapes (Year 2) are all being offered at Smashwords (ONLY) for free.

Trevor’s Song and Demo Tapes (Year 3) are 50% off, or $1.50 each.

Go. Pick up the books if you haven’t yet, or if you have, gift them to a friend. Remember: King Trevor is coming out on April 12. Now’s the time to join the Trevolution.

Remember when I mentioned Steven Adler’s mother was writing a tell-all about her kid? Well, more information has been released. The book will be called Sweet Child of Mine (of course!) and the release date is April 5.

Just a reminder if you’re doing your book budgeting for April… King Trevor comes out April 5.

Now, back to Mama Adler… the press release I saw says:

an honest and revealing look into a life beset by abuse and betrayal and what it was like raising a child who became a member of one of the greatest rock bands in history, and a heroin addict of equally epic proportions. The book emotionally and enthrallingly details a mother’s love for her infamous son, whose phenomenal success is surpassed only by his astounding capacity for self-destruction.

There’s more, but this is the jist of it.

You know, as a mother, we want fame and fortune and all sorts of good things for our kids. But not at this price…

Speaking of price, you can pre-order for $15 (and autographs from Steven and Deanna). This is a 40% savings off the on-sale price.

No, this isn’t the editor in me raising her head, teeth bared in a snarl. It’s just that word came down earlier this month that there’s going to be ANOTHER definitive biography of Metallica.

Anyone mind if I yawn?

Maybe there’s hope for this one, as it’s purported to be penned (like my alliteration there?) by Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood. According to the article at Blabbermouth, these two have been permitted “unparalleled” access. No word on ugly sweaters and not-so-camouflaged attempts to join the band.

They’re also promising never-before-told stories, but … c’mon. We’ve heard THAT before, too. And this is Metallica. Am I really supposed to drool at the thought of tales of hard drinking? Bed-hopping? Drugs? Fist fights?

I’m jaded. I’ll admit it. I’ll hold my drool until the reviews start rolling in. Unless I’m asked to write one of those reviews, at which point I’ll be drooling more over the opportunity than over the book itself.

Yawn.

Pardon me. I feel a nap coming on.

This is the third time*, now, that I’ve had reason to talk about Joel McIver on this blog. It took me a long time to work up the nerve ’cause I really respect the guy’s work and his contacts, but now that the dam’s been broken and he and I have even e-mailed a time or two, I’m over myself.

Which means I’m fairly drooling over word that Glenn Hughes wasn’t McIver’s stopping point.

Nope, now comes word that he’s writing a book about someone I’ve actually interviewed. Hung out with, too, if memory serves (and if not, it was his brother Igor who came with us to record stores that day in New York, but I really do think it was Max).

Max?

Yes, you Sepultura and Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy fans. Max Cavalera.

McIver himself, in the interview, says it’s a big change for him, particularly to go from Deep Purple to Sepultura/Soulfly/Cavalera Conspiracy.

Regardless, I still fully expect it to be every bit as amazing as the rest of his body of work.

If I’m not careful, I’m going to work myself back into a state of awe and jealousy…

*You can read the first and second times I’ve mentioned Joel via these links. Have fun!