fantasy – The Fantasy Nook

Author’s Interview: Olive M. Creed

Hi everyone! Ariel here with another author’s interview. Today’s author is Olive Creed, the author of Fallen King, the first fantasy novel in the series Chronicles of Elyndia. Thanks for being here with me today, Olive! I’m so glad to have you. As we’re starting off the interview today, could you tell us all a bit about yourself?

I’m a homeschool graduate who lives on a homestead with my family. When I’m not chasing chickens or writing, I like to experiment in the kitchen, paint, and play around with graphic design!

That’s wonderful! I’m also a homeschool grad myself, and I grew up out in the country with chickens and a giant garden, so I can relate. It can be lots of fun, though it’s also a lot of work! So, as I noted in the introduction, you do write fantasy, but what type of fantasy do you write, and do you write any other genres? Then, as a follow up, can you tell us why you chose that style or flavor of writing?

I write Fantasy, and it ranges from what I call Cowboy Fantasy (historical fantasy that’s not really based on one specific time period) to Dystopian Fantasy. I love dabbling in different genres, but love the world building that comes with Fantasy. I’ve attempted writing Modern Day Fiction, but it always ends up Fantasy!

That’s really interesting. I’ve never heard the term Cowboy Fantasy before, so you’ve taught me something new. I love historical fantasy though, so I’m sure it would be right up my alley! I also know what you mean about things always ending up fantasy. I’ve dabbled with sci-fi, but somehow, I always end up with either pure fantasy or cross-genre fiction with fantasy as the main genre. Now, most authors are also readers. So tell us, what genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I read a lot of different genres when I have the time to sit down and focus. As long as there’s no sex (preferably very little romance) no gore, and no horrible language, I’ll give it a shot! Though, currently, most of my books in my meager collection is Fantasy, LOL.

That makes perfect sense. A lot of authors seem to mostly read the genres they write, I find. If we enjoy reading it, chances are high we’ll also like writing it, though that’s only a general rule. So besides reading and writing, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I like to Role Play with friends, paint, bake, and cuddle chicks. Sometimes I’ll read or watch something, but it’s usually too much to focus on when I’m trying to relax, LOL

I hear you there! I like to watch things to relax, but often I need something that’s not going to require a lot of focus if I’m really going to relax. Even better is an activity totally unrelated to work! As someone who edits and writes for a living, it’s not always relaxing to go sit down and write or edit my own projects off work hours! I definitely understand wanting something else, and these activities sound like awesome ways to take a break physically and mentally. So this is one of the fun questions! What can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

My current WIP is book three in my Chronicles of Elyndia series. It’s called Tainted Throne. I can’t say too much without spoiling the two previous books, but there’s lots of pirates in it!

Oh, how fun! I love pirates. They always make things more entertaining! So I kind of spoiled the answer to this question since I noted that you’re the author of the first book in the Chronicles of Elyndia series, but… I’ll ask anyway… If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience? If this is your first experience, what has that been like?

I’m indie published, published my first book in August. I…still have not quite grasped marketing yet!

It was a little overwhelming hiring out edits and formatting and all that, but at the same time, it’s very rewarding! My editor has been a tremendous help keeping me sane and helping me along, and I’m very thankful for her!

That’s great! Sounds like you found yourself an excellent teammate to work with from the start. Editors really can make or break the process of prepping a book for publishing, and I’m glad you found a good one, especially for a first experience! So for the next question, let’s talk about gaining inspiration. For your current series, what were your inspirations for writing?

I take a lot of experiences I’ve had, blow them up to Fantasy Proportions, and then throw them onto my characters, LOL. Book one in my series, Fallen King, was inspired by a random image that came to mind one day while I was doing homework with my best friend. It was a lone survivor, bleeding and more dead than alive, standing in the middle of a massacre.

Those are some interesting sources of inspiration! It’s really neat to hear about where other authors get their ideas from. I work a lot like you do from the sounds of it, since I also tend to grab experiences I’ve had, things I’ve observed, and random inspirations that hit while living life to inspire my work. So now that we know a bit about your writing and your process, can you tell us who got you into writing when you first started?

My mum really got me into it. She’s a book worm, and I’ve been a storyteller since I could talk. I would entertain my younger sisters at bedtime with the most outrageous stories in existence! As I got older, my mum started encouraging me to write down my stories and learn how to write an actual book. My first attempts will never see the light of day! (Especially since most were lost in a house fire, LOL)

Oh, no! That’s so sad. I know I always smile a bit looking back at old work because it really shows how much progress I’ve made up to now, so I can’t even imagine losing the ones I felt were worth keeping to a fire! But it’s great that you had the encouragement to start writing from your mom! It’s always nice when family comes alongside to support you as a writer. Speaking of support, was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

My two best friends. I would not still be writing today if it wasn’t for them. One has been my best friend since before I started writing, and has encouraged me the entire way. Even when book after book was a complete “failure”. My other best friend, I met almost two years ago as I was editing the Chronicles of Elyndia series (back when it was one ginormous book with no consistent plot and a complete overwhelming mess.) She helped me straighten everything out and encouraged me to keep going when I wanted to quit.

Wow! Sounds like you had really solid friends. I’m glad they kept you writing! In light of your own journey as a writer, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey?

The first book you write is likely not going to be the one you publish. And that’s okay! Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wasting your time. You’re learning and perfecting the art of writing, and that takes time! Just write, and write for yourself first.

And if you want to write the craziest, whackiest, weirdest story ever, then write it! One, if you don’t enjoy what you write, chances are, neither will anyone else. And two, people love weird, crazy stories.

Those are definitely good points to keep in mind. I know I didn’t publish my very first book, and I actually published one that I later unpublished because it really never should’ve seen the light of day. It happens, and when we’re learning, we’re going to learn in different ways and make mistakes as we go. And the weirder the story, the better in writing, just as long as it makes sense! Sometimes the weirdest stories are the ones that most hold attention as you’re reading. In the same grain as the last question, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Don’t take criticism from people who haven’t read your story. And, even if they have, just because they say something is wrong doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wrong. Use your Authorly Wisdom to discern what actually needs fixing, or what is just something they aren’t a fan of.

Oh, yes! That’s a great point. I don’t know that I ever did that because my earliest writing experiences were with family as readers and critics and then with critique groups. But everyone and their mother will have an opinion, even if they haven’t read it. The worst thing to do is work off an opinion from someone who has zero context to form an opinion with! So, we’ve come to the last question, and I’ve tried to make this a fun one, though I know it’s a tough one for a lot of authors! What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? Why?

My favorite book ever is Dare, from The Blades of Acktar series by Tricia Mingerink. Favorite character? Leith Torren from The Blades of Acktar! *cue the fangirling* He’s a sweet, adorable, tough-as-nails assassin, and I love him!

Sounds like my kind of character! Well, that’s all for today, folks. Thank you for hanging out with me and Olive for the interview, and thank you again for taking the time to answer the questions I had, Olive! Best of luck to you with the rest of your series and your future writing endeavors!

Readers, if you want to check out Olive’s first-in-series, Fallen King, you can find it here. You can also follow Olive on Instagram and Facebook to see any updates she may post. Once again, thank you for being here, and I hope you’ll take a moment to check out Olive’s book and social media pages!

Author’s Interview: Amanda Wrights

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Hi everyone! This is the final interview in the interview blitz I’ve been doing leading up to the release of Iron Walls, a new dystopian anthology I helped to format, layout, and publish. Tonight, I have with me Amanda Wrights. Welcome to The Fantasy Nook, Amanda! We’re glad you could join us! Let’s go ahead and jump right into the questions.

First, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a 19 year old writer, and have been writing stories since I was around 12 years old. I’ve always loved reading and at some point, when I decided not enough stories I wanted to read were being told, I decided to start making my own. I’ve since branched from writing novels into cooperative story telling through Dungeons and Dragons, and I very much enjoy both styles of story telling. I also love listening to music and enjoy drawing on occasion.

That’s great! Cooperative story telling can be a lot of fun when you have the right group of people. So, tell us, what kind of dystopian did you write for this anthology, and why did you choose that style or flavor of writing?

I wrote a more post-apocalyptic, government control dystopia. For the story that I wanted to write, and the world that I wanted to write it in, this ended up being the most sensible decision I could make. Because of the state of the world after the apocalypse struck, anyone who wanted power and knew how to take it could have, which led me to conclude that the most realistic way for things to have gone in the world was towards total government control, and ultimately, a fight against that.

Awesome! Nothing wrong with going with the basic staples of the genre. Now, let’s switch gears a bit… What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I tend to read a lot of fantasy, action and adventure, or thriller novels. For the thrillers, specifically, I prefer the Christian romance ones. Occasionally I’ll also read sci-fi. I wouldn’t say I write all of the same ones, as I’ve never written a thriller before. However, I do mix and match my writing with the other genres, almost exclusively. Typically most of what I write is in the fantasy adventure genre, but I’ll mix in sci-fi sometimes if I get a good idea for it.

Definitely a good blend there, and it sounds like it helps you to write better too if you enjoy mixing genres a bit! Besides writing or reading, what are some of the things you like to do to relax?

I enjoy listening to Dungeons and Dragons podcasts quite a bit. I’ll also listen to music pretty much whenever I’m not listening to something or someone else. I write to relax sometimes. Or just when I need to get an idea out of my head. I also play video games.

The D&D podcasts is one I haven’t heard on here before! But I like it. It’s a nice break from being the one to tell or create the story. Going back to writing, can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Currently I’m working on a fantasy novel that hopefully will become a set of two books. It takes place in the same world as my story in the anthology, and tells the story of the apocalypse, how it happened, and how some of the population survived it, all through the lens of a group of young adults who fought to stop it. They’re actually referenced somewhere in Defiant Flame, though I’ll let the readers find out where exactly that is.

Then it sounds like, at some point, readers who like this piece can enjoy more from this world. That’s great to hear! Now, let’s talk publishing. If you’ve published (self-published or traditionally published), can you tell us a little about the experience? If this is your first experience, what has that been like?

Unfortunately, I haven’t published anything yet. Defiant Flame will be my first published work. Overall, because I’ve not been in the main group of people doing formatting and fully publishing things, it’s been a simple process for me. I just had to write and edit my own work, and apply some simple formatting changes to make things a bit easier for the people in charge of everything else.

Well, on behalf of both myself and James, we’re glad your experience was a pain-free, easy one! That’s what we were aiming for. So, when it comes to the writing side of this story specifically, what were your inspirations for writing it?

It’s hard to fully pinpoint all of the things that have influenced the world that Defiant Flame and my other current project is set in. I got the idea for my current project years ago reading a manga that I thought had an interesting military structure which I wanted to implement in my own world. But past that, I think a lot of my main ideas, characters, and concepts came somewhat at random. Typically when I sit down and try to fully write out a character and story, what I come up with depends on the day. A lot of it is subconscious inspiration, or occasionally ideas from dreams I remembered and wanted to use.

It’s always great when your subconscious mind can grab onto ideas that are usable. I’m not much of a subconscious writer when it comes to my planning process, but once in a while, when I’m stuck, I do wish my subconscious could solve the problem with a little inspiration in the background! So, continuing more broadly on the trend of inspirations, who got you into writing when you first started?

My older sister, Abigail. She’d been writing for a few years before I started, and I figured if she could do it, surely I could too, and I could use that to get my own story ideas out into the world. Of course, I started partially out of pure determination to prove I could do it in the first place. But as it turned out, I enjoyed it too, and picked it up properly as a hobby quite quickly.

That’s great! I think we all have to have that moment when we move from determination to prove ourselves to someone else to doing it for ourselves, regardless of the reason. As you were working through this, there must’ve been some tough moments. Was there anyone who came alongside you at any point when you were struggling in your writing journey and made a real difference? If so, who and why?

I have a very good friend named Zoe who I met early on in my writing journey on Wattpad. She and I hit it off, exchanged story ideas, and became sound boards for each other. Whenever I was struggling to come up with ideas or hit writers block, she was there for me to help inspire me or get me writing again with a word sprint or something similar. Through all the times when I was writing and didn’t know where to go from someplace or got discouraged after being eliminated from a writing contest I was in, she’s always been around to build my confidence and encourage me to keep doing it. I’ll never forget that, and I’ll always appreciate it.

Friends are great! I’ve also met some of my best writing partners and friends through Wattpad, so I know how that goes. It’s a great place to connect with other authors, or at least, it was when I was active on the platform. So as a writer and author who’s just starting into a new phase of the journey, what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on this journey?

Find someone you can do it with. Writing is something I don’t believe is meant to be done without support. Even if it’s just one person who really believes in you and will give you constructive criticism to help you grow – find that person. It will help you stay on the path to becoming a great writer for more than any informational book or blog ever could. Though you should absolutely read those informational books and blogs, as well as other books in your genre too. It’ll give you ideas and more perspective on how to write your own novel.

That’s definitely a good point. Certainly, people can’t always be there or push us along, and writing is often a very solitary pursuit, but all of us need some support once in a while no matter how independent we are! So thinking back to when you started, what is one thing you wish someone had told you before you first began writing?

I wish I’d been told before I started that it’s a skill, not a talent. Because it’s so easy to believe when you fail in a contest or someone tells you that your writing isn’t that great that “Oh, I just don’t have the talent for it”. And if you do believe it’s a talent and not a skill, then that thought becomes far more discouraging, since a skill is something you can improve and a talent is something you have to start out good at.

So true! I know many people who view it as a talent and not a skill, and I’ve definitely found they tend to become discouraged about their work more easily than those who see it as a skill. Let’s close out our interview on a question every avid reader hates but all of us love to ask our favorite authors! What’s your favorite book, and who’s your favorite literary character? And can you tell us why?

It’s nearly impossible to pick out a favorite book or series, but I am a very big fan of Lord of the Rings series. It’s so well written and the characters are well developed. Plus, it’s a high fantasy epic adventure, which is a genre I particularly love. As for a favorite literary character, that’s also difficult to choose, because I can relate to and love reading the stories of so many different characters. My favorite character from LOTR specifically, though, is Sam, because he’s so incredibly loyal, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help Frodo reach Mount Doom and toss the ring in. One of my favorite parts is the scene where Frodo can’t go on, and rather than taking the ring from him to continue, Sam helps to carry Frodo up the mountain. It’s a really powerful scene of a friend helping a friend out, and I loved it.

It’s definitely a well-loved classic in the fantasy genre! Well, that’s it for tonight, everybody. Thank you again for being here, Amanda! If anyone wants to read Amanda’s story, you can grab a copy of Iron Walls and start reading it today here. For readers who have Kindle Unlimited, it is free through that program, so there’s nothing to stop you from picking it up and giving Amanda’s story or any of the others in the collection a read. All proceeds will go to Voice of the Martyrs. If you enjoy the stories in the collection, please leave a review to let us and other potential readers know you did! It takes just a few minutes, but it really helps to boost our visibility, which in turn puts the book in more readers’ hands and helps us to raise more funds for the charity.

Thank you for reading, everyone. Until next time!

Author’s Interview – Steven E. Scribner

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We’re back with another interview this week! Two in a row because I was sick last week and ended up off schedule, but next week we should be back on track for any remaining interviews with authors in Iron Walls that haven’t been spotlighted before. I’m hoping for one or two more before the release on October 26th! For today, we have Steven E. Scribner with us. He’s the author of “The Scapekite” in Iron Walls: A Burning Embers Dystopian Anthology. Steven, it’s a delight to have you on. Thank you for doing this! Let’s dive right into the questions.

First, could you tell us a little bit about yourself for readers who aren’t familiar with you?

I’m a high school teacher, amateur musician, part-time blogger and full-time nerd, living in the tree-y suburbs north of Seattle with my wife, Arleen.

That’s great! Sounds like you keep really busy with all of that. High school is a tough one for teaching too, so bravo for taking that on! So, tell us, what kind of dystopian did you write for this anthology, and why did you choose that style or flavor of writing?

My story is about a corporate dystopia; end-stage capitalism gone mad. This is a form of totalitarianism not as frequently seen in literature as world-wide political dystopias are.

Certainly an interesting take! My readers have probably gathered, if they’re reading both my blogs, that I’m extremely pro-capitalist, but I think we can all agree there comes a point where morals fail to properly restrain people and it can go too far. It’s important to remind people that no system is ever perfect or can fully restrain people’s behavior if they want to act badly. It’s definitely not the usual in dystopian tales though, so it’s great to see that so many of the authors in this group took on unique themes! Moving on from the type of dystopia for the anthology, let’s talk about genres in general. What genres do you read, and do you write the same ones?

I don’t have any particular genre that I choose to read; I like sci-fi, fantasy, “magical realist” fiction, realistic fiction, historical fiction, experimental fiction, and nonfiction about science, history, music and art. I mostly write fantasy and sci-fi because I find it fun to make up the worlds I write about.

Wow, that’s quite a range! I myself enjoy many of those genres, so it’s always nice to find fellow fantasy authors who enjoy reading a broad range of material. I think reading a broad array of writing actually enriches our writing regardless of what genre we choose, but I definitely find it helps when creating worlds for fantasy and sci-fi. Sounds like you’ve got a lot to pull from with what you enjoy reading. Now, besides writing, which some of us may find therapeutic and the rest of us wish we did… What are some of the things you like to do to relax?

Besides writing (really, I write for relaxation), I enjoy cooking, watching movies (sci-fi, drama, foreign films, animation, documentaries) and listening to music (classical, jazz, experimental, and musics from Asia, the Middle East, and Africa). I also like to go for long walks.

Ah, so someone who does find writing relaxing! That’s great. Music is at the top of my list for things to relax too! So going back to the writing stuff, can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?

Currently I’m working on the fifth book in my fantasy “Tond” series. The continent of Tond is located on earth but one has to go through a tesseract to get there. It’s been enjoyable inventing all the peoples, cultures, histories, languages, literature, music, and food of Tond. The first four books followed a large story arc; this fifth begins a new story with some new characters and a new (and maybe more subtle) villain.

That sounds really interesting. It also sounds like you’ve done a lot of work on the worldbuilding, which of course is a hallmark of a lot of fantasy and science fantasy! So obviously you’ve gone through the publishing process already, so I won’t ask what this experience is like if it’s your first! But could you share a bit about which publishing route you’ve gone and the pluses and minuses of that route?

My “Tond” series and one other novel are self-published. This has its plusses and minuses: I didn’t have to wait and re-submit over and over (authors often complain about the number of rejections), but it’s lacking in any kind of promotion so very few potential readers have heard of my books.

I’ve found the same myself. It’s definitely better in the sense that you have more control, but it’s certainly not easier with the lack of promotion to get your books out there! This next one’s probably one of my favorite interview questions. I absolutely love finding out where people started with writing and what got them hooked on it. So, tell us, what were your inspirations for writing?

I had written a few stories in school, but then one day in eighth grade, when I was walking in the hallway between classes, I started thinking about The Lord of the Rings (which I was reading for the first time). Out of nowhere, I said to myself, “I should write something like that someday.” I started writing fantasy. I finished the first version of the first “Tond” story a year later (I was in ninth grade). Over the years, my writing has changed quite a bit, but there are still threads from those early versions.

That’s great! Lord of the Rings was one of my absolute favorites as a kid. I probably read it six or seven times before my parents decided I needed to put my energy into reading new stuff and took the books away for a while! It’s definitely a great starting point for writers getting a handle on fantasy or those interested in the genre. So besides the inspiration Tolkien brought, who got you into writing when you first started?

I have to mention my high school creative writing teacher, and a professor in college, both who encouraged me to continue working on the “Tond” material.

It’s always wonderful to hear about teachers who encouraged writers to keep going. Sometimes that little push and a “well done” at the right moment is all we need to keep going. In light of that, writing can be hard, especially at first. It doesn’t necessarily become easier in every way, but what advice would you give to aspiring authors and writers just starting on the writing journey to help them out?

In the “Tond” books I make the metaphor: the universe is a song; add your own harmony. In the case of writing: it’s a story. Add your own chapter. This is more of a philosophy than concrete advice, but maybe someone needs encouragement to start writing.

Hey, sometimes the philosophy is the best starting point. Many of my favorite authors have given advice that has more to do with your mindset than the concrete aspects of the craft. You can learn the concrete stuff; your mindset is the one thing that will make you or break you early on, especially. I think it’s great advice. So one more question related to beginning authors and writers… What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you started writing?

Editing is a continuous process.

Absolutely! That’s probably up there on the list of things beginners need to be told. That and “you’re never going to get it perfect” are some of the most frustrating bits of advice to writers, but I think they’re the most needed ones. Now, moving away from the writing, let’s talk about you as a reader for a minute. Can you tell us what your favorite book is, and who is your favorite literary character? Why?

I have a lot of favorite books. The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ “Space Trilogy” are two that I’ve enjoyed reading several times over the years. Other authors I like are Nnedi Okorafor, Arthur C. Clarke, Ursula K. Le Guin, and YA author Jerry Spinelli. I also like Julian Barnes’ biography of Shostakovich (“The Noise of Time”), Richard Fortey’s ruminations on natural history, and experimental fiction like Italo Calvino and James Joyce.

Concerning favorite characters, I always enjoy the archetypal “wise fool”. Sam Gamgee from LOTR fits in this category, as does Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl, though otherwise they are very different characters. I suppose I like them because no matter how stupid I feel (don’t we all, sometimes?) I see that there’s still some wisdom to be gleaned from the situation.

Well, there are a few names on that list that I haven’t heard of, but they all sound interesting! Ursula K. Le Guin is one author I really enjoy when I have spare time to read. She’s an excellent author. So you’re hearing it from two fantasy writers and readers, everyone! Le Guin is another one of those solid fantasy authors worth checking out if you’re just starting to take a foray into fantasy. As for the characters, those are some great choices too. I’m not familiar with Spinelli’s Stargirl, but I loved Sam’s character in Lord of the Rings for the same reason you noted: he’s not the flashiest character, but he definitely has some of the wisest advice to offer. He’s probably the most underrated character in the book!

All right, everyone! That’s it for today. Thank you again for taking the time to do this interview, Steven! It was wonderful to have you on the blog, and I wish you the best of luck with your upcoming writing endeavors. Readers, you can check Steven’s work out on Amazon, and of course, if you haven’t already pre-ordered a copy of Iron Walls, you can pick up your copy here. There will be a paperback version for those who prefer a hard copy, but we’re currently going back and forth with Amazon over formatting issues, so the release is taking longer than anticipated. It may not be out until the release date of the ebook or after, depending on how long it takes to resolve the issues to Amazon’s satisfaction. In the meantime, the ebook goes live on the 26th of this month! All proceeds will go to Voice of the Martyrs.

Glimpses of Time and Magic: A Historical Fantasy Anthology

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Finally, we’ve come to the point with this anthology that we have both the pre-order link and the cover to share! Our reveal party for the cover happened yesterday and went very well. Now, myself and the other authors in the anthology are sharing the cover, blurb, and information on our sites so you all can find it easily!

So, to begin with, what is this anthology? It’s a collection of nine stories from nine authors, and the theme Joanna White and I gave everyone was history with a fantastical twist. We definitely got that! With stories ranging from Victorian England to Ancient Rome and Arthur, we’ve got stories with a fantastical twist to share with you all now! The best part? We wrote and organized this anthology as a way to raise money to donate to Feed My Starving Children, a charitable organization that uses donations and the time of their volunteers to pack and ship meals around the world to feed starving children for a year. Isn’t that great?

If you want to know more about the organization, you can check them out here. I’ve been to the location near me twice to help pack the food. It’s a great activity, especially if you want to take the whole family to do something. Be prepared to work hard, but it was a lot of fun and a great team building exercise for the groups I went with while also allowing us to be involved in helping feed these kids who would otherwise go hungry.

And now, the cover! This cover was created by illustrator_aesthetics (Anne Zedwick). You can see her blog and her Fiverr here if you’re interested in having her do cover art for you as well! She also does things like logo design, product branding, and more.

Blurb:

We know the stories from history we’ve heard since childhood, but what if, behind the tales, there were magical secrets desperate to be revealed?

Pompeii was a tragedy the world will never forget, but what really caused the volcanic eruption that ended it all? Why was the great sword Excalibur really destroyed? The rolling hills of Victorian England seem peaceful enough, but what secrets really lurk there?

And would it surprise you that there are darker secrets in Ancient Rome than people ever dreamed? If the Great Fog of London isn’t what it seems? You think you know Harry Houdini, but do you know the man behind all the tricks?

And what if the mystery of Roanoke runs deeper than you could ever imagine? Could Ireland’s potato famine really be caused by a mage gone mad? What if a ghost ship off the coast of England was more than a phantom?

If you like fantasy and history, then you’ll love this collection of nine fantastical stories. Buy Glimpses of Time and Magic now to find out what secrets really lurk behind the stories we’ve all been told.

Besides Buying a Copy, How Can You Help?

We need reviewers who will follow through on their word and review the book between July 14th and July 28th. If you’re a fan of historical fantasy and can promise a review, we’d like to have you in our ARC group! We’re not requiring much. Just your email so we can keep in touch closer to the review date. The author you sign up through (me, if you’re signing up on my blog) will get in touch with a friendly reminder about submitting reviews just before the first day when we’ll have the paperback live for reviews to be submitted. They will also follow up with you a few days after the 28th (to give reviews posted last minute time to process on Amazon) to check in if your review isn’t posted.

If you do sign up, please note that we’re not questioning your integrity if a review isn’t posted by July 28th. I’ve had issues with customers posting reviews on Amazon’s Australian website, say, and I’m not able to see them because I use Amazon.com for the US. Stupid? Yes, yes, it is. But with the issues I’ve had, let’s just put it this way… If I can’t see the review, I’m not assuming you didn’t post it. I’m just looking to see what happened in case there was an issue with posting that I need to hound Amazon about. (I still haven’t sorted out the issues with other books’ reviews not showing on all sites, but it doesn’t hurt to try.) Point is, if you don’t provide us with a link to the review after it’s posted and we’re not seeing it by end of July, we’re going to ask just to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

As such, if you’re interested in helping out with this, please get in touch! I can direct you to the form to fill out to join, give you more info if you like, and verify that I’m sending the book to the most convenient email address. You can contact me at arielpaiement@gmail.com. I’m friendly, and I love talking to new people, so don’t be shy! Get in touch if you want a review copy of Glimpses of Time and Magic. We’ll talk over it and get you signed up! 🙂

Thursday Technicalities: Marketing #2

Featured Ariel Paiement

Introduction

On to the next topic in this set of marketing discussions. Social media. Most of us have it, though I know there are some who really can’t stand it and would rather avoid it. But, if you’re a business, you can’t afford to ignore social media since that’s where most of your potential customers and clients congregate. However, figuring out how to appropriately utilize social media for your business as an author can get confusing. We see how all the bloggers with other types of businesses utilize it for marketing their business, and we think: I can’t do that because it doesn’t fit my business.

And, you’d probably be right. As an author and a freelance editor, I’ve used multiple social media platforms and gone to a lot of different master classes via webinars or in person to learn more about marketing and social media. Problem is, a lot of the action steps given are hard to apply to authors. So, I’m going to share with you my perspective on it and what I’ve found seems to work for me.

What Types of Social Media Work Best?

If you’re like me, you’d rather not worry about every social media platform on the planet. Instead, you’d prefer to figure out what works and scrap whatever doesn’t. After all, unless you’re paying someone to do it for you, how much time do you realistically have to manage this? If you don’t do anything besides writing for your day job and you don’t have kids, maybe you have the time to learn and figure it out on your own while managing five different social media accounts. It takes time away from writing, but if you have time to spare, fine.

But most of us don’t have that kind of time. I work a 8-5 job, and while I may have lapses where I have nothing to do and can, therefore, check my social media or work on handwriting my next blog post, I don’t have a bunch of free time during the day. So, I come home, already tired, and I only have so much time to write and manage my social media pages before I need to make sure I go to bed so I’m not too tired to do it all over again the next day. Sound familiar? Throw in needing some time to go read a book for a review or just get away from work, and I don’t have the time to manage things that don’t work.

So, what does work? For me, I’ve found that I have the most success with Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I rarely touch Instagram, though other authors have told me it works well, and I’ve not gone anywhere near SnapChat because I don’t have time for more platforms.

What Kind of Marketing Works Best with Each?

I find that Twitter works best for letting friends, fans, and prospective readers know what I’m up to throughout the day or for posting content I think will be helpful. I’ve had more success, on the whole, with finding ARC readers on Twitter and getting people to engage with me than I have on Facebook. People generally seem more engaged on Facebook, and I don’t have to go to random groups that will allow me to post my book link in order to hopefully gain some new readers. Lots of Twitter users will actually post things like #ShamelessSelfPromotionSaturday or #SupportIndieAuthors to ask for book links and new reads.

While you might not get any new readers from it, if you share it with your following and others are doing the same, there’s a better chance of your work being seen by someone than there is posting it in a group on Facebook where it’s going to be buried under thirty other similar posts within the next twenty-four hours (more if you’re unlucky).

What Facebook has on Twitter is the room to have a group to engage with your fans through playing games, doing author takeovers where other authors and yourself have scheduled time slots to post about your books and yourself as an author, sharing what you’re up to, and taking questions for Q&A type stuff. They make it far easier to do events where authors team up to bring readers new books, content, and even giveaways. Twitter isn’t set up for that because they impose a strict character limit on the tweets sent out and don’t have any way to easily organize everyone.

The Odd One In The Bunch

As for Pinterest? Well, Pinterest is the unique one out of the bunch. It isn’t technically social media, though you can use it similarly. Instead, Pinterest is a search engine. I like it most out of the three I use because it requires the least amount of activity. I can Pin one or two blog posts or writing prompts of my own and drive traffic to my blog, generate interest in my services, or guide people toward my books or others’ books that they might enjoy reading. But I don’t have to constantly post, try to run ads, or bother people asking them to share the content around.

It’s also nice that once you start to gain traction, Pinterest works with you. If your Pin is doing well in the related categories for search results, then they’ll put it higher up in the search so more people will see it. They don’t bury it, and those following the board or you will be notified of the newest Pin you created. Unlike Facebook, they’re not going to pick and choose whether or not to show it to the people who already said they were interested, and that alone makes it better.

If you’re looking for an easy platform to help drive traffic to your blog and to your products by extension, Pinterest is the way to go. Facebook and Twitter are far more time-costly than Pinterest to manage, and I’ve seen way less traffic to my blog from either as opposed to Pinterest. It’s worth learning the new platform. If you haven’t used it before, I’ve got some tips and will walk you through it in this post.

What Kinds of Marketing Content Work?

Obviously, this will be a little different for everyone depending on what sort of book you have and who you’re trying to reach. The starting point for everyone, however, is to know your audience. There are few directions you can go with social media to really build your brand: informative/expert in industry, humorous/light-hearted, a combination.

For Example… My Approach:

I’m not generally a very funny or light-hearted person. Unless sarcasm counts as funny… But most people would argue that poking fun at others isn’t the best way to build your brand unless satire is your brand. It’s not mine, so I went with informative/expert in industry. You can tell I have pretty easily because my blog and a lot of what I post on social media that isn’t related to my own books has to do with writing and editing. The content is geared toward educating and establishing the fact that I do know a thing or two about editing, writing, and publishing.

This was a choice I made before I even began the blog because I knew I wanted to appeal to both writers and readers of speculative fiction and, specifically, fantasy. As a freelance editor and an author, it can be hard to find an approach that will gain me new clients as well as new readers. This was my approach. It lets people know up front that if they come to me for editing or for advice of any sort on writing, I’m going to have an answer or I’ll find one that’s based on research and fact. Having this approach also has the added bonus of gaining me opportunities to guest post for things unrelated to my published books specifically. My article on Burning Embers Publications regarding editing and the other one regarding Pinterest are two good examples of that.

What Difference Does That Make?

To put it succinctly, a huge difference. My choice of approach affects the kind of marketing content I use. Granted, if I’m marketing my books, I’m probably going to market them about the same way anyone does (or wants to): with strong copy and information on how to get the book. But if I’m trying to market myself as an author, which is really what you’re doing whether you’re actively trying to sell a book or not, then my choice of direction changes what I’ll post about.

Sure, I post stuff that I just find amusing or interesting. But usually, those are shares or retweets of other people’s stuff, not my own marketing content. I strive to make my content reflect my goal: providing expertise on the industry and helping others to learn from what I know. Your content should do the same.

But Really… What Types of Marketing Content do I post?

For authors, it’s all about readers liking your writing and, ideally, liking you. It’s not just about them buying the book. It’s about whether or not they want to support the message you’re sharing. If they don’t buy into the message you’re trying to share, they’re not going to be very eager to share the work with others. But if they really like the book or series and your style and message, they’re going to be much more happy to tell all of their friends about you.

We all want to support businesses and brands that align with what we care about and the values we feel are important. If the content we’re reading, whether it’s on social media or in the book itself, doesn’t align with what we believe in and the core values we hold to, we’re not going to pass it along to others. Why would we? As a business, it’s our job to know what our message is and how the audience we’re targeting will perceive it. Then, we have to take that information and find a way to package it so that it’s interesting, palatable, and engaging for our target audience.

It’s like I said at the beginning. I can’t tell you exactly what kind of content will work for you because every individual brand and author will be different. But I can tell you that if you know your goals and the approach you want to take, you’ll be able to discern what content will fit that and post only what does. It’s not easy, but it is pretty simple.

Final Notes

Navigating social media is difficult. It poses all kinds of nuances, potential trip ups, and points of stress. Some people find it easier than others, but at the end of the day, none of us can avoid it if we want to utilize all the marketing tools available to us. If you know the angle you want to take and have goals to accomplish, it’ll make your journey easier.

In the end, my best advice regarding social media and marketing is this: be professional. That’s the number one thing you can do for your brand, no matter what direction you take. No matter what you’re posting, be professional. Act in a manner that is courteous, treat people with respect even if they’re not giving you that same courtesy, and make it about your reader and your audience, not you. It’s fine to talk about yourself and let them know you need help, but make sure that more of your content is focused on what they’re wanting and needing than it is on what you want and need from them.

This will go further than just about anything else in any area of your life. Treating others in a manner that’s kind and professional puts out a lot of fires. I’ve watched what happens when someone’s upset and the business or individual treated them with disrespect, condescension, and lack of compassion. It’s not pretty, and it doesn’t achieve anything except giving your business a bad reputation. It isn’t worth it. If you need to, scream about it away from the computer, phone, or person. But don’t let your frustration or anger out on them. Be polite and kind to a fault even if they’re not.

Conclusion

Professionalism and courtesy should be obvious parts of your marketing and branding strategy, but I’ve seen so, so many people screw this up, and it can make the difference between failure and success. Don’t let it be the reason you fail in your marketing and business goals! Use the tips I gave for platforms and content, and then add professionalism to it. You’re going to get much better responses from people that way, I guarantee. Best of luck to you in your marketing endeavors! Next week, we’ll talk some about your blurb, Amazon sales pages, and attracting readers.

Some Monsters Never Die: Bringing Fantasy To Life

Featured Ariel Paiement

Introduction

I recently finished reading Some Monsters Never Die by E.A. Comiskey, and let me say, I was impressed. More on that in a few. To start with, E.A. Comiskey is an author that I already know fairly well from working with her in our critique group. She’s awesome to work with, and when I put out the word that I was looking for fantasy books to review for The Fantasy Nook, she asked if I’d be interested in her book, Some Monsters Never Die. Boy, am I ever glad I chose to take her up on the offer.

Some Monsters Never Die: Reader’s Review

E.A. Comiskey really brought fantasy to life with this book. First off, it’s set in the real world in real (or fairly realistic) places, and that alone makes this piece seem more real than some. I loved the humor, magic, and larger than life events that moved the story along. The characters themselves were masterfully written. They’re also the most unlikely heroes and heroines. I mean, the female lead maybe works, aside from being a bookworm. But two old guys from a retirement home hunting demons and the unnatural?

Let’s just say it makes for quite the ride, and more importantly, it opens up all kinds of opportunities to grow on the parts of all the main characters. They set off on a quest all together and end it all together but as better, stronger people than they started out. Definitely worth the read!

Writer’s Review

Some books I’ve reviewed, like the Vine Witch, have done an excellent job of weaving magic into the world. Others have done a phenomenal job of world-building. But in this book, E.A Comiskey has managed to bring fantasy to life. Granted, most of the fantasy stuff she brought to life is the horrifying, monster side. The kind you never want to meet, right?

But, if it’s any consolation, her main characters are two old men and one bookworm woman. Not exactly the kinds of people you’d think would be able to handle things that belong in fantasy books as the antagonists coming to life, but hey. They manage.

And that’s part of what makes this book such a great piece. Comiskey took characters that seem so unlikely to succeed or even cope, with the exception maybe of the old guy who’s a hunter, and she threw them into a world where the horrors of a fantasy tale are all real. Skinwalkers? Check. Giant worm-like things that burrow in the ground and try to eat people? Also check. Dragons? Well… Stanley killed the last one a while ago, but beside the point.

Comiskey uses humor, unexpected heroes, and larger than life threats to really bring fantasy to life in this book. I’d label it as paranormal or maybe urban fantasy, but it’s by far one of the most unique takes on both genres that I’ve read in quite some time.

The Takeaway?

There’s lots to learn from and glean from reading this book, but for today’s focus, I have just one takeaway. Focus on how she weaves the monsters and their magic into every day life and then apply those techniques and principles to your own work. You may not be writing something that’s meant to be even a little bit funny. You may not intend to focus mostly on supernatural monsters and magic spells to kill them.

But if you’re writing fantasy, then there’s going to be some fantastical element you need to make real to your audience. And if you want to bring fantasy to life, especially if you want to do it in our world, Comiskey’s book will show you one way how, and it will do it well.

Don’t waste the opportunity!

The Vine Witch: Integration of Magic

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I recently finished listening to The Vine Witch on Audible. It was a great listen and a wonderfully written fantasy novel. This is the first fantasy novel I’ve reviewed on here that wasn’t by request too, actually. As always, I’ll start with the reader’s review and then go into the writer’s review. Don’t read the writer’s review if you want to avoid spoilers!

The Vine Witch – Reader’s Review

This book was a great listen! I got it from Audible and wasn’t at all disappointed. The characterization, imagination, and craft behind the story creates quite a bewitching tale. The only fault I had with it was that I didn’t like the way they brought actual words in for the spells here and there. They didn’t always do so, but I’m not fond of magic systems that use spoken incantations. While I don’t necessarily get too upset over being told a character chanted an incantation or spell, I dislike when actual words are used since I have no way to know what’s actually being said if it’s in a foreign language, which it sometimes was here.

The author clearly did her research on the darker side of the arcane arts, but I was pleased that she kept it clear that blood magic, demonic activity, and arcane/dark magic were considered evil and not to be meddled with. Whatever problems I had with the way she handled spells, this clear delineation between a magic that allows for things like crafting superb wine or creating pastries that allow one to realize the validity of love towards another and magic that kills, consorts with demons, and delves into darkness was something I greatly appreciated.

The other thing that I’ll note is that it’s fairly clean. No sex scenes, barely any heated kissing, and little that would cause me to say the book wouldn’t be okay for a younger audience. The only thing that might cause some parents to prevent their children from reading it would be the dealings with the darker, Satanic type of magic. I wouldn’t recommend the book for young children because of it, but it’s probably okay for thirteen and up.

The Vine Witch – Writer’s Review

As the sub-title of this post notes, we’re going to be looking at the integration of magic into the world within The Vine Witch. We’ve talked about magic in previous posts on Saturday Setups, with the most recent being on the consequences of it. Weaving it into the world can be difficult. However, Smith did a good job, and we can learn a lot from her techniques. So what were her techniques?

Spoken Spells

As I mentioned in the reader’s review, I didn’t like the use of spoken spells. Smith didn’t use them every time you turned around, which was good, but it still bothered me. That said, it did lend a certain sense of realism to the piece. Why do I say that? Well, not every type of magic that Smith had used spoken spells. Some did, but often, the spells used by the vine witches in the vineyards had more to do with remedies and unspoken communication with nature than it did spoken words.

Still, other kinds of witches, especially those dealing in hexes or curses, do use spoken spells. One interesting thing about how Smith chose to weave this into the story is that she uses rhymes. While some of the words used to activate spells weren’t English (And who knows what language they were. They didn’t sound familiar to me.), many of them were actually rhymes.

That part was quite interesting. Many of the spells the main character used were nursery rhymes she’d learned as a child. That isn’t something I’ve seen done much, but it gave the magic a unique flavor and served to blend it into the world more clearly.

Making Magic Indispensable

Worth noting is that this book is set in the real world somewhere in France (I believe). So while Smith didn’t have to create a new world, she did have to find a way to spin a tale where magic could fit in. In the case of The Vine Witch, people are actually quite open about the use of witches.

Everyone in the Chateau valley where the vine witches work knows about the witches who work the vineyards. In fact, the witches are revered because no one makes good wine without them. In this way, Smith makes magic an indispensable part of life. Usually, magic used on an Earth setting for a book tends to be less relied upon. Smith didn’t choose that path. She wove a tale where magic and life couldn’t be separated.

In fact, that was proved many times over in The Vine Witch because when the male lead tried to force the use of magic out of his vineyard, the vineyard constantly failed. He didn’t make good wine, and everything kept going downhill until he was willing to open up to a world he couldn’t see.

Differing Views on Magic

The other thing that Smith uses to bring the world to life is the difference in views on magic. Some view it as purely evil while others have a more complicated view of it. Even the witches themselves have areas of magic that they believe are absolutely foul and should never be touched (such as blood magic). The main character initially falls into the camp that magic is superstition at best and evil at worst.

He finally is able to reconcile magic with reason when one of the monks at the local church talks to him about it. The monk tells him that once upon a time, the ideas of bacteria, pasteurization, and cars would have all seemed like magic too.

Why? Because they were beyond the realm of human imagination and senses at the time. The monk notes that the vine witches are able to see a part of the world that normal human senses can’t but that being able to do so doesn’t necessarily make them evil. Magic, like any other tool, can be used for good or for evil.

I don’t necessarily condone that perspective of things as some of the magic used in the book is undeniably evil. The author doesn’t try to make it seem good either, but in moments like this, there is cause to question whether she really believes it’s evil in every case.

As a Christian speculative fiction author, I prefer more clarity here. However, each author and reader has to make that choice for themselves. My personal convictions won’t match everyone’s, and that’s fine. As I said earlier, there were things that bothered me about the book. However, it was a good read overall with a lot that authors can take away from it.

Conclusion

As both a reader and a writer, I found The Vine Witch to be an engaging and interesting read. I was pulled in to the story and kept enthralled until the very end. It had twists and turns I didn’t expect and characters I could relate to and bond with emotionally. I’d recommend this book to anyone who loves fantasy with the caution that if you’re staunchly against any kind of spell-based or spoken-word magic, you may want to steer clear.

Work-In-Progress #42

Featured Ariel Paiement

This week’s Work-In-Progress is from a short story that I’ve been working on here and there between working on my novella When All Else Fails for the Open Novella Contest. It’s from Enlil’s Royal, a short story that will be going into a collection I’m planning to release next year.

~~~

ENLIL ROSE INTO the sky, the sparks dancing around him and the winds picking up. He opened his mouth in a soundless scream of triumph, spread his arms and unleashed the storm inside. They thought they could beat him down? They thought that because he was of a lower class than they were that they could treat him like scum? Well, they’d learn. Because this so-called slave was their downfall, the perfect storm to bring reform. The princess was his, and they had denied him to her simply because he didn’t look like the one they thought she was pledged to.

Lightning arced out of his fingertips, and the thunderheads blew from his mouth as he howled his victory. Below, houses went up in flames, and torrents of rain washed away whatever the flames didn’t touch. Then the rain put out the flames in the other areas too, and everything was enveloped in a maelstrom of wind, rain, and lightning with the thunder booming over it to provide the final beat on the drum that announced that death had come.

He stretched his arms out further, tipped his head back and laughed into the sky. This was power. This was freedom. They would learn, and they would suffer just as everyone they had touched with their corruption had. Just as he had. This storm, he himself, were only the beginning. The beginning of devastation.

Only his betrothed would escape. But if she scorned him? His fingers twitched, shooting off more sparks and another bolt of lightning. If she scorned him, he would make her suffer more than all of her subjects. She had no right to refuse destiny, no right to look down on him because fate hadn’t chosen a more worthy object for her affection. So, if she thought him unworthy, he would show her how wrong she was. The vessel that housed him might be a slave, but he was no slave. He was far more ancient and powerful than any of them. He was storm. He was thunder. And he was destruction incarnate. He would have his way.

They would hear him thunder, and they would regret awakening his wrath. The gate to the castle grated upward, and Enlil paused in meting out his anger on the village. He squinted at the rising grate and watched a tiny figure exit. He waited, trying to make out who the figure was. In the gloom of the storm, he could only see that it was a girl with a slender build and a sword strapped to her waist. She made her way straight for him, so he crossed his arms and waited for her to reach him. Was it Ashurina, the girl he’d started this over?

She drew closer, and he waited with bated breath. Finally, she stood before him, and the painful wait was over. It was the girl he’d been dreaming of and waiting for. She was here, all grown up and ready for him. Only, she wasn’t ready because her family hadn’t prepared her and had then refused him his due. They knew who she was, but still they denied him to her. Rage boiled in his veins, and lightning sparked at the tips of his fingers. He’d blow them to pieces. That would teach the people around here not to go back on their word to their gods. He’d tested them, and they’d failed. He’d given them a chance, and they hadn’t taken it.

“Princess.” He smiled at her.

She shivered, but her grip remained firm on her sword, and she didn’t give any other visible sign of distress. “Who are you?”

“Enlil. The destroyer.”

She bit her lip and tightened her grip on her sword. “Why are you here?”

“To repay them for the vow they broke.”

She shook her head. “You can’t destroy them.”

He took a step closer and grabbed her wrist. “I can do whatever I please, particularly with you, Princess.”

Another tiny shake of her head. “You can’t.”

He ground his teeth and narrowed his eyes at her, wondering if she’d really just said he couldn’t. “I’m capable enough, I assure you.”

A shudder traversed through her body, and she looked near tears. Yet, somehow, he didn’t want to relent. He wanted to punish her. They had denied him what was his. Someone had to pay. Killing them would be one way to exact the price, but would it send the message he wanted? He released Ashurina and crossed his arms with a frown. Maybe not. Perhaps it would be better if he made sure her parents knew she was suffering for their crimes. Perhaps he would only kill the king and leave the queen to bear the guilt of what she and her husband had done to their daughter. Their only baby girl. He grinned and took another step forward so that his chest almost brushed Ashurina’s. Making her pay sounded good. He’d make her see reality, and he would crush her in retribution.

She was his, and her presence here sealed the deal. He wouldn’t leave without her. She was his Chosen, and she would remain by his side, lending him the strength only a Chosen could give, until she passed from this realm to the afterlife. A strange sense of exhilaration sang inside, the prospect of shaping her into the perfect instrument for his revenge and the perfect vessel for his use driving the sensation to a peak. Yes, undoubtedly, she was his, and there would be no escape for her.

~~~

That’s it for this week’s work-in-progress Wednesday. What are you guys up to this week? Working on anything new for your own work-in-progress or reading anything interesting? Feel free to share!

Flash Fiction Friday: Different than You Remembered

Featured Ariel Paiement

This week’s flash fiction is based on my most recent writing prompt on Pinterest. It was pretty popular over there, so I thought I’d write my spin on the story. To set the stage, the prompt is the featured picture for this post, and if you guys want to see more like it, you can check out my writing prompts board on Pinterest. There’s a little bit of everything over there, pretty much!

~~~

The girls hurried along the sidewalk past the alleys and storefronts. Jen listened to the chatter, but her mind wasn’t on it. Anna and Rianna didn’t seem to notice since they just kept talking. The streets became more and more familiar as they got closer to the restaurant, and she shivered. She pulled her cloak closer with a sigh. Last time she’d been here, she’d almost ended up being the victim of some guy looking for a little more than just a wad of cash, though he’d taken the cash and run in the end. The man who’d scared him off before he could truly do her any harm still lingered in the back of her mind.

Well, maybe man wasn’t quite the right word. He’d been young, and he certainly hadn’t seemed human. She wasn’t sure exactly what had scared the other guy off since she hadn’t actually seen her savior until after her attacker had gone, but for someone who was practically a boy to scare of an armed, grown man? She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

“Earth to Jen!” Anna waved a hand in front of her face. “You’re, like, a million miles away, girl. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

She winced. Anna didn’t know. Neither of the girls did. They hadn’t known her back then, and she’d agreed to come here because she wanted to move on. In fact, she’d been the one to suggest this location. “Sorry, guys. I’m just… My head’s somewhere else, is all. It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. Brings back memories, I guess.”

“Ooo… Memories. What kind?” Rianna grinned. “You have a fling with some really hot guy here?”

“She doesn’t do that kind of thing, Ri.” Anna scowled at their bubbly friend. “You’re the incorrigible flirt, remember? The rest of us aren’t guy crazy, and you’re well aware how Jen feels about guys.”

“Look, it’s not important. The memories aren’t that kind of memory, Ri.” Jen hugged herself and scuffed a shoe along the sidewalk. The street sign up ahead read Elmswood. She’d been attacked there and dragged into the alley in the dark. Was it really a good idea to come here? It was dark now. Would they be attacked like she had been all that time ago?

“Jeez, Jen. I’m sorry…” Ri cleared her throat. “That bad?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine. Really. Let’s just get to the restaurant and have a good time, okay?”

Anna linked her arm through Jen’s with a smile. “We’re going to make sure you have the night of your life, okay? You’ll have new, better memories of this place after tonight.”

A siren wailed nearby, cutting off her remark. People streaming past paused to watch the cop car rush past, followed by an ambulance. Someone slammed into her from the right, and she sucked in a breath to snap at them just as the stranger stopped and put a steadying hand on her arm. “Sorry. So sorry. Are you okay?”

She frowned and lifted her head to gaze up at the tall stranger. Dressed all in black, the man cut an imposing figure. But she recognized him immediately. The boyishness was gone, and whatever gentleness had lurked in his dark gaze back then had also fled to be replaced with sharp observation and a sly twinkle. He raised a brow at her, a glint of recognition lighting in his deep blue eyes. “Jen Ashton?”

She swallowed past a now dry throat. “D-do I know you?”

A smile lit up his face. “Maybe not. You might not remember.”

“Jen, who is this weirdo?” Anna tugged at her arm. “Just tell him to shove off and let’s go eat.”

Tall-dark-and-mysterious frowned. “Do you always address everyone so disrespectfully? One of these days, it might come back to haunt you. You never know who you’re speaking to.”

Ri laughed in that bubbly, light-hearted way she always did. “Are you the President or something? Because if not, I’m not that worried. If Jen won’t tell you to shove off, then I’ll tell you–“

Why did Ri just cut off? Unlike her. Jen frowned and turned to look at her friend. Ri stood frozen in mid-sentence, her mouth open, and everyone around them had frozen too. Her heart thudded loudly in her ears, and she stared until strong, warm fingers wrapped around her wrist and pulled her out of her daze.

“Now… With them temporarily indisposed, where were we?” His grin faded. “I know you remember me.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I… Yeah, I do. I never got the chance to thank you.”

“Oh, don’t thank me yet, darling.” He gave her a wry grin. “I’m not here to catch up, and I didn’t bump into you by accident. You’re coming with me.”

She tugged her wrist out of his grip. “No, I’m not! Unfreeze my friends and leave us alone. Otherwise I’ll call the cops.”

“They won’t come. The whole city’s suspended in this state, and no one will get to you soon enough.” He crossed his arms. “You are coming with me. I need your help, and unfortunately, I don’t have time for the nice way. I’m sorry. Truly, I am. But this is how it has to be.” He reached out and smoothed her hair out of her face.

A cool tingling spread over her forehead, and the world around her spun then tilted crazily. Everything went black, and she lost her balance, dizziness washing over her. His arms wrapped around her, and a feeling of calm and safety swept her off into oblivion before she had time to register just how terrified she should’ve felt.

~~~

What do you think happens to her? Why does he need her? Well, I’ll let you guys go wild coming up with your own endings. But that’s it for this week! I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I’ll see you next week for another flash fiction Friday.

Flash Fiction Fridays – Intergalactic Space Tours

Featured Ariel Paiement

My most recent writing post on Pinterest was a prompt about someone who goes on an intergalactic space tour only to discover there’s more to the guide assigned to them than meets the eye. Since it got a lot of views and attention, I thought you guys might enjoy seeing my spin on it. Here it is!

~~~

Elmora peeked around the corner of her bathroom door at the man sitting on her room’s couch. He didn’t notice her. Too engrossed in checking his personal holo while he waited for her to come out of the bathroom. He was supposed to take her to the ship’s dining hall for dinner and then out onto the surface of the planet they’d landed on. Shyn, was it? Or maybe Shryn? She couldn’t keep the places straight anymore. The things she’d seen just blended into a kaleidoscope of colorful cultures, new foods, and a few unpleasant surprises.

Unpleasant surprises were the reason she was now hiding in the bathroom. Thryen was one of the unpleasant surprises, to be more specific. Well, maybe not unpleasant. She couldn’t really decide if it was pleasant or unpleasant to run into him here. But she definitely didn’t like the fact that he’d lied to her about what he’d been up to the last few years. She sucked in a slow breath and pressed her back to the wall. Should she confront him about it? Ask him why he’d left a life of luxury and peace to be a tour guide, of all things, aboard the InterGalactic?

Well, it had to be faced at some point, didn’t it? Equally pressing was the small matter of his interest in her and the utter lack of subtlety he exercised in showing it. Heat rose in her cheeks. It wasn’t fair. She shouldn’t be assigned a guide that couldn’t hide his interest and kept secrets. To think she’d thought they’d be good friends when they’d first met during on of his assignments on Earth.

She shook her head and smoothed down her skirt before stepping out of the bathroom. Thyren looked up at her, and one of his rare smiles spread over his lips. “Ora, the dress looks lovely on you.”

The heat in her cheeks rose to the tips of her ears. “Thanks. I guess… Thyren?”

He shoved his holo into his pocket and raised a brow. “What? You look like you’re going to faint of fear. Is something wrong?”

She played with one dangling earring. “Maybe. I don’t know…”

“You don’t know?” Confusion flitted across his face. “What does that mean?”

“You lied to me,” she blurted out.

The color drained from his face. “I lied to you about what?”

“You said you were a nobody when we met. You told me you wanted a quiet life and that after your task on Earth was over, you were going to find a quiet place in the woods to have that life.” She bit her lip and held in the tears. “But you weren’t telling the truth. You knew how I felt about liars when you said it, and you still lied!”

“I… I may have left some things out,” he murmured. “But I wasn’t lying about what I wanted.”

“Then why are you here? I don’t get it! You grew up with a silver spoon in your mouth. The acclaimed half-breed child, the first half-human and half-alien that survived from a breeding between humans and your mother’s race. And you left it all to what?” She waved a hand at the room as a whole. “To do bounty hunting and then give tours to air-headed women and arrogant men who want to see all the galactic wonders?”

“I hated being there. Out here, I’m free to be me.” Thryen’s lips twisted into a bitter smile. “Out here, I don’t have people demanding that I be what I’m not just to suite their needs. I don’t have women of both races trying to trick me into marriage just in the hopes of having their own exotic baby.”

Her heart ached for him, but her rational mind only saw the lies. How could she excuse this? True, his secret wasn’t really bad or good. But it hurt that he hadn’t chosen to trust her during the entire time they were friends on Earth or even now, when she’d come under his protection and guidance for the duration of the tour. “And you didn’t think I’d get that?”

He sighed. “I wanted to leave it behind, Ora. I wanted you to see me for me and just enjoy our time together without thinking about everything back home. Is that so bad?”

She lowered her head with a half-hearted shrug. “I don’t know, Thyren. I really don’t. But I think I’d like to skip dinner. I’m not really hungry.”

“And the tour on Shyren?”

She shook her head. “I… I don’t want to go. I want you to leave me alone, please.”

“Ora…” He reached out and rested his hands on her shoulders.

She should shrug him off, but she didn’t have the energy.

“I know you’re mad. And I should’ve known you’d be upset if I didn’t tell you and you found out some other way. I’m sorry.” He pulled away and shuffled to the door. “If you change your mind about dinner, you know I’m just next door.”

She nodded but didn’t look up. The door banged closed, and she stood there, trying to understand everything that had just happened. Her heart hurt so badly that she wasn’t sure she could bear it another second, but since she couldn’t escape her own feelings, she just shambled to the bed and dropped onto it. Curling into a ball, she lay there and hoped sleep would put her out of her misery soon.

~~~

Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you all enjoyed and are having a great end of your week so far! See you next week.