Upcoming Release: Shadow’s Dissident

Hi all! Today, I want to share about my upcoming release, Shadow’s Dissident. This is part of the Children of Chaos series being hosted by INDIE/pendent Book Services. It will have a sequel, Light’s Insurgent. Now, I’ve had mixed feedback from BETA and ARC readers, so I wanted to take the time to provide a little insight into what to expect for those interested in reading it.

First of all, while it is YA, it is not your typical YA like Divergent, Hunger Games, or Twilight. The female lead doesn’t whine, rely totally on the guy for everything, or go from being a strong heroine to a weak one in the next book. I hate when authors write these sorts of female characters. Drives me up a wall, and it makes me want to quit reading. So I promise you I will not do that. Gwen does some seriously stupid things in the book because she’s young, inexperienced in life, and totally out of her depth in the situation she finds herself in. But she learns. She learns, and she grows as a character, but one thing she never lacks is courage, spunk, and strong moral fiber. She may sometimes do dumb things, but my goal in writing her was to give young adults and teens a role model in her. One that is admirable, strong, and relatable to young people. So yes, she does act like a teenager or a silly child at times because she is one.

Second, the book focuses mainly on setting the scene within Oblivion as it relates to Gwen and S, the main characters, and on the character development/relationship development. The pace is slower, and it is not packed with fight scenes and action. This is because, in order for the sequel to make sense, all of this set up has to be done. If you’re looking for a book that will delve into the character relationships and slowly unravel the secrets simmering under the surface, this will fulfill that. Book two is going to dive headlong into the plot to bring Oblivion down that begins at the end of book one and on the further unraveling of the secrets that started to come out at the end of the first book. It will also feature more of the various abilities, more action sequences, and a broader setting. With the set up and the relationships set down, the lines in the sand drawn, and the sides decided in book one, book two is free to really get into the rest of it. If I had dumped the readers into all of that from the get go, the dynamic between the two MCs would make no sense, their reasons for wanting Oblivion destroyed would be less clear/would require way more tedious set up and info dumping, and would generally not ring quite so true as it does once the reader has seen what these two went through to get to where they are by the opening of book two. I understand this will distance those readers unwilling to wait for the setup. Of course, we can list any number of classics that required this slower start to set everything up too, and it didn’t make them less successful. It just meant the groups that enjoyed it were going to be ones willing to take a slower journey to the end. So the decision to do this was intentional and done with an understanding that some readers would quit when they realized it wasn’t your stereotypical YA novel packed with fast paced romance and a whirlwind of action.

While this is YA appropriate, it does deal with difficult and sometimes dark themes. I approach all of my work with the concept that children should not be sheltered from evil’s existence. Instead, the goal should be to present it as evil and in a form that is appropriate to their age. This means that, depending on the age range I am aiming at, my work may include difficult subjects that can become very dark. But it also means that I strive to show only what is absolutely necessary and to avoid too much discussion of certain subjects that may not yet be appropriate for an age group if that age group is on the younger end of the YA spectrum. For Shadow’s Dissident and Light’s Insurgent, this means that while Oblivion runs escort/brothel services as a means of control over key political figures on planets they’re trying to control, does some horrific things to those in their training programs for soldiers and trainers, and is extremely evil, these things are only mentioned in brief but generally are not shown. With the exception of one brief section where one of the villains beats the female lead or a scene depicting the aftermath of the abuse meted out on S, most of it is never described or is only hinted at.

This is done intentionally because, as I said, while I don’t believe in sheltering teens and young adults from the reality of the evil that can go on in the world, I also don’t believe the best approach to helping them to realize that evil exists is to hand them writing with graphic descriptions of all the horrible things that could happen to a person. It is enough to establish that it exists, what brand of it is being dealt with, and why it is evil without going into lengthy descriptions of its manifestations. However, this does mean that some parents may not feel comfortable with giving the book series to their teens. I leave that decision in their hands; my goal is to provide them and you as readers with the information they and you need to make an informed decision on whether or not you want to read it. It is not my job or my concern to determine your decision or to decide if it is a good one or a fairly considered one. For those who have dealt with abuse before, this may not be the book for you. It isn’t graphic in its descriptions, where the abuse is described at all, but I understand that even the presence or mention of it may make those who have been through abuse uncomfortable. If that’s you, please, for your own mental health, don’t read this.

And finally, this first book–though it does develop the romantic relationship between S and Gwen–contains no sex (nor will the second one) and doesn’t even contain kissing. The second may contain kissing but will, as it is YA, contain nothing beyond that. The first book is, therefore, a pretty good indication of the sort of content that will be in the remaining book of the duology.

I hope this helps to bring some clarity to readers and to let you all know what to expect! Usually I don’t put this kind of thing out, but in this case, as I’ve noticed the mixed responses between readers who read a lot of YA and were a little surprised (and not always pleased) with the difference in approach and readers who don’t usually read YA and loved the different approach because they found the differences refreshing, I wanted to make sure I was giving readers all a fair heads up. So if you like the YA genre and you’re looking to this expecting a Hunger Games or Divergent-esque story…. Don’t. You’ll be disappointed. It’s nothing like that. It won’t ever be anything like that in any of my books. I don’t write what I don’t enjoy. I’m not saying the books are bad or that people can’t enjoy them, but the types of characters and the way these books approach themes throughout the arc of the series drive me nuts, which means I don’t want to write them. Doesn’t matter to me how many potential readers it loses. I won’t write what I don’t find interesting any more than I am willing to write books with main characters that I find obnoxious or without any admirable qualities. For those who appreciate the cleaner content in the YA genre but also dislike Hunger Games or Divergent-esque YA because the leads become progressively weaker and whinier throughout the books, this book will not do that. You’ll find that, while it sticks to YA appropriate content, it is oriented around the goal of providing young people with role models in the main characters, showing the multi-faceted aspects of people, and presenting a world true to human nature even though it’s set in a science-fantasy setting. If that sounds like something you’d like to see, then you’ll probably like this set of books.

Sunday and Monday’s Blog Tour Stops

Ariel Paiement

The last few days have been quite busy, so I didn’t have a chance to update you guys on the blog tour stops for them! Sunday, I was with Peter Younghusband on his blog Perspective by Peter talking about the themes in On Twilight’s Wings and how they reflect the overall themes of the rest of the series. You can find that here.

Yesterday, I did a video interview with Allen Steadham. This one’s more of a general author’s interview, so I answer questions about all kinds of things. Check it out on his blog or on his Youtube channel.

Today’s will be up once I have the link, but I’ll be on James Quinlan Meservy’s blog with another video interview, this time answering a different set of questions about me and the book. It was a ton of fun to do this interview with James, particularly since we recorded it with both of us talking back and forth. Allen’s was fun too, but that one was me just answering the questions he sent over. Overall, I’ve had a ton of fun with this blog tour so far, and I’m excited to share the last few stops through Saturday.

In case you guys don’t know, there’s a giveaway going on right now in celebration of the launch, and it’ll be running until March 7th. We don’t have many people signed up, so your chances of winning are high. We’ve got two possible winners. One will get an ebook bundle (which includes both the book I just released and Bane of Ashkarith in addition to six or seven other authors’ books), and the other will get a paperback copy of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones (Mortal Instruments series that the ShadowHunters TV series was based on). The paperback is US only just because of shipping. You can check the giveaway out here, and no purchase is necessary to enter.

Holiday Giveaway Announcement

Hey, everyone! I’m happy to announce that Port & Key has graciously offered to put up two ebooks for giveaway for this holiday giveaway. They’re offering a copy of the new anthology, The Mage’s Apprentice, and a copy of Amber D. Boyd’s, Howling at the Moon (if you’ve read my review then you already know I enjoyed it). As such, we’ll have two different winners for this competition.

The rules for this one are simple. If you aren’t already subscribed to my email list, subscribe to that. Everyone who subscribes between today and January 15th will be included in the random drawing for the ebooks. Please be aware that if you win, I will need an email address for Port & Key to email you your ebook copy through Bookfunnel. Amber and I both promise not to share the email with anyone. We hate spam as much as the next people, and we’re not about to contribute to it!

If you’re already subscribed to the email list, you can still join. Just shoot me a quick email at arielpaimenet@gmail.com so I know you’re already subscribed and would like to participate.

That’s it. Super simple, right? I hope so, anyway! I’m really excited for this giveaway, and there are lots of good stories in the anthology, not to mention Howling at the Moon, which is a great short story too.

Happy holiday season to you all!

Howling at the Moon – The Surprise Ending

Introduction

To start off with, let me say that Howling at the Moon is a short story, not a book. So my review on the writers’ end of things will be a little bit shorter than it would normally be since there wasn’t as much in the book to dig into. But we’ll still go over that section, so let’s just dive right in!

Reader’s Review

Amber offered me a copy of this story when I mentioned I did book reviews on The Fantasy Nook and was looking to build up the content in that area. This was an already published work she had out, and I’m so glad I took her up on the offer of a free copy to review! This short story was over way too fast. I loved it, and I was really sad to see it end. The story drew me in from the start and held my attention through to the finish. The ending is a little bit unexpected, or, at least, it was for me, so I was a bit surprised by it. I had mixed emotions as a reader on the ending side of things. A part of me was glad that things worked out how they did, but another part was worried it might end nowhere good for the characters in the future. But, hey, it’s a short story, so the beauty of the ending is that we don’t know either way what happens as a result. All in all, I would definitely recommend reading the story. You can get a copy through Port & Key’s website or use the Amazon and Kobo links posted there to grab a copy.

Writer’s Review

Okay, those of you who are still with me are probably here looking to see what you can learn. If you’re just interested in reading the story or, at the very least, want to read it before I spoil it, please don’t read any further! There will be discussion on the story’s techniques and specific details, so please take the time to read the short story if you don’t want it spoiled. Then come back here.

Still here? Okay, let’s get started then!

The main thing I saw that was done extremely well was the twist ending Amber gave the story. At the beginning of the story, we have our protagonist, a witch who bakes cakes and cupcakes, and a woman who comes into the shop. The woman ends up having a tarot reading done by our protagonist, claiming she wants to know if her husband is cheating on her.

At this point in the story, I’m assuming that the main character might somehow help this poor woman or, since I didn’t realize it wasn’t a full-length novel, that the woman was just part of scenes to set up the main story. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Turned out the guy our protagonist was dating was married to the woman who came in for a reading, and they’d split, so the woman was trying to kill him. Now, I’m not entirely sure if she did it because she wanted to make sure that if she couldn’t have him nobody would or if she just did it out of spite and anger. Who knows. But I wasn’t expecting her to actually kill him, using the spelled cake made by the protagonist to fulfill the woman’s wish. The protagonist’s sympathy was misplaced, apparently.

None of this was anything I expected, but I really didn’t expect the finale. The protagonist tries to bring her lover back from the dead, and Circe, the goddess of magic the witches are bound to in this story, agrees upon the condition that our protagonist becomes immortal and acts as her hand to remind the other covens who is really in control. Yup. She ends the story with a shade for a lover, whom she can only see during witching hour, and immortality for herself. Not at all what I was expecting to happen.

But, it worked really well. Amber set it up beautifully, and even though I never saw it coming, it made sense later after I’d finished the story. For those of us trying to achieve a similar effect with our endings, this is a good lesson in doing so. Set up the clues, make them subtle but still there, and then surprise the reader with the ending those clues led to. After you do that, you’ll have the certainty that most readers will understand why the ending was what it was, even if they didn’t expect it at first. 

Launch Celebration Wrap Up

Well, everyone, the launch for Bane of Ashkarith has gone well! Thanks to a great team of helping hands and some really amazing authors, I had a good blog tour and a successful launch party on Facebook.

If you’re curious about the book, you can find out more about it here on the blog or on Facebook and Amazon. The book is now live on Kobo and Amazon as either a paperback or ebook. The paperback is exclusively available on Amazon for now. In the future, I may also have the book available on other sites, but for now, it’s just available through Kobo and Amazon.

Be on the lookout for reviews from those who had ARC copies or acquired copies after the launch as those will be coming out in the days to come.

To everyone who celebrated with me, thank you! You guys made this lots of fun, and I know all the others authors who joined me had a blast too. I hope that you’ll pick up your copy of Bane of Ashkarith on Amazon or Kobo. If you do, consider leaving a review! It would really help me to know what you enjoyed and what you didn’t. I’m not perfect, and there’s always something I can improve!

Have a question about the book or want to know something particular about the launch and my journey? Feel free to drop me a comment below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!