Category: Dragon Soldier - Mell Eight's Writing Blog

Out Now: Dragon Soldier

3/8/2017

Dragon Soldier

The aftermath of the last battle has left Nickel weak in bed and grounded for the next decade. Despite being in trouble, Nickel wants to return to the battle as soon as he can, but thoughts of Platinum, the dragon helping to nurse him back to health, keep distracting him.

Platinum can't believe how much his life has changed. He went from being a lonely fugitive on the run to part of a family in only hours. The last few days have been his happiest, especially now that he's met Nickel. He knows it's only temporary, though. The enemy that kept him captive for most of his life isn't finished with him yet, and even Platinum and Nickel's combined powers might not be enough to save them.

News: Giveaway and Writing

2/26/2017

2/26/17

Dragon Soldier is coming out March 8th and right now you can get it for a 15% discount at LT3. It's also up for LT3's monthly giveaway on Goodreads. Just leave a comment to enter:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18498851-giveaway---dragon-soldier-by-mell-eight
In case you missed my earlier post, Dragon Soldier also has an excerpt up. It's a nice chunk from the first chapter and if you're aching over the semi-cliffhanger Dragon Detective ended in, this will alleviate that: https://www.lessthanthreepress.com/excerpt-dragon-soldier/
I'm still tapping away at The Sentinel's Prophesy. I've written about 1k words today and I think the story's coming along nicely. There's a repetitive section in the first chapter I need to go back and fix, but right now I'm trying to work on the future parts of the story. My main character has finally started growing, the romance is blossoming, and the set up for the big confrontation has begun. I still have at least 10k words more to write and am hoping the rest of the story comes along smoothly.
In order to push my stalled muse, I went and reread some of my older, languishing stories. One of the ones I reread was my superhero story. It's a weird sort of anti-hero story and I do like what I've written so far, except for one very important factor: the romance is a bit sudden, without what would normally be very necessary build-up. I'm trying to decide if I need to go back and rework it. Since it's an integral aspect to the story I can't move forward with the rest of the book until it's fixed. It's also possible that I don't need to rework the romance. I could add in a bit of drama about them jumping into bed so quickly instead, which will add an interesting bit of tension to the middle of the story, but I'm still worried that the choppiness of it in the beginning might throw some readers off.
The other story I looked at was Ink, and I really, really like what I've written. It's snarky with enough humor that it feels light despite some rather horrible history one of the characters experienced. I'm a little concerned that I might bother some religious folks, given that in the first scene Lucifer feels up Jesus. Since Jesus holds his own in a properly pious way, I'm hoping it's not too offensive. The problem with this story is I haven't figured out what's next. Inky and Lucifer have gone through the proper introductions, the bad guy has been foreshadowed, and I have absolutely no idea what the next step might be. I know there needs to be mayhem at Lucifer's court and the bad guy has to do bad things, but I'm blanking on how to get there. Only once I figure that out will this story begin moving forward again.

News: This Past Week

2/20/2017

2/20/17

The Sentinel's Prophesy is still growing. I'm just about finished with the difficult section that I've been stalled on. The next step is building up the romance while heading to the final confrontation with the bad guy. The stories in this series are designed to be only 20k words, so at 8k Prophesy is really in great shape.
Aside from Prophesy, I don't really have anything on my short-term to-do list. Of course I want to complete every story on my current projects list, but none of them are really jumping out a me. A story has to call to me with new ideas, and right now I'm drawing a blank. Something will start percolating soon, but it's nice to be able to exclusively work on Prophesy right now too.
I have received my author copies of Dragon Soldier, which means it is 100% ready for publishing. There's only a few short weeks before it comes out. March 8th can't come fast enough. Make sure you have your copy pre-ordered so you get it for a 15% discount: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...

News: Submissions, Editing, and Writing

1/31/2017

1/31/2017

Dragon Spy was accepted by LT3! I'm so excited! You have no idea how happy I am to finally be writing again and for the writing process to be bearing such wonderful fruit. More on that below. Spy is the start of the next arc (careful readers of the series will have some inkling of what the new arc might be because I have been hinting). Unfortunately, I'm still not sure what book I want to work on next for this series. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon because I definitely have some awesome plans for our favorite dragons!
The copy edits for Dragon Soldier have been returned to LT3. It's almost ready for release on March 8th, so make sure to get your pre-order in now: lessthanthreepress.com/bo oks...
And don't forget that Ge-Mi: Part One comes out next week! If you want it for a 15% discount, pre-order ASAP: lessthanthreepress.com/books...
Now that Dragon Spy is completed and accepted by LT3, and now that I've given up on forcing A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes to be completed this month, I don't have a story I'm focusing exclusively on. I really want to take this opportunity to shrink my to-list, which is far too massive. There are a number of stories on it that I have been slowly working on for years and years. Ge-Mi: Part One was a story that sat for a very long time, so seeing it finally be released is galvanizing. There are two stories on my to-do list that are just as old--if not older--than Ge-Mi: my Dragon's Hoard Short Stories and Kelpie Blue. I've been stuck on the Dragon's Hoard stories for a while. I know what I want to write, but the words just aren't coming. Every once in a while I pluck away at it, but it's not growing the way I want it to. Kelpie Blue, on the other hand, is huge. This story has taken so long to write because of the sheer amount of research it has needed. The mythology, horses, and everything else that's gone into it has required careful checking and double checking to make certain my facts were all correct, which has slowed the writing process down considerably. I would absolutely love it if Kelpie Blue were the next story I submitted.

In the last few days I've added over 10k words to Kelpie Blue. It's finally approaching the final fight scene/climax and every last bit of remaining plot has been completely planned out. I know exactly what's going to happen next. All I need to do is write it all down. That will still take time, of course, but I've been working on Kelpie Blue since 2013. A few more weeks or months won't hurt.

News: My Current To-Do List

1/25/2017

1/25/17

The final proof for Ge-Mi: Part One is completed and Ge-Mi is therefore ready to go for its February 8th release. You can read an excerpt and preorder for a 15% discount at LT3:
https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...
LT3 is also hosting a giveaway for Ge-Mi on their Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com...giveaway---ge-mi-by-mell-eight
I am working on the copy edits for Dragon Soldier. They're straightforward--fixing commas and smoothing sentences--and I hope to have it returned to LT3 this week. With the copy edits complete, all that's left to do for this story is the final proof and it will be ready for release on March 8th. You can also preorder for a 15% discount at LT3: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...
I unfortunately will not be able to finish my story, A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes, for LT3's For the Hoard call. I really like the story, but the plot has been fighting with me. The first draft only wanted to be 5k words--LT3 was asking for 20k--and my efforts to expand were only leading towards 10k. I think I finally have a good idea to get the story's length up, but I won't be able to finish it by the end of the month. I do have a few ideas for alternative ways to submit this story (maybe I'll combine it with some of my out of print books?) so I hope to have it completed soon.

Dragon Soldier's Release Date

12/17/2016

Some of you might have noticed that when Dragon Soldier was posted on LT3's website and on Goodreads, the release date was March 8, 2017. I noticed too, especially since I've been saying for months now that Soldier wasn't going to come out until April. I have investigated, and it turns out the new date is correct; LT3 decided to move the release ahead a month. That's great news for everyone anxiously awaiting the conclusion to Nickel and Platinum's two-part story.

I didn't mind the date change, except it now means that I will be releasing one book every month for seven straight months. Magnified started it off in September, then Dragon Detective in October, and Elemental Ride and Ner Li in November and December. I still have to complete The Case of the Wandering Wolves for January, Ge-Mi: Part One for February, and now Dragon Soldier in March. That's a heck of a lot of work to squeeze into the same time frame, but it's doable.

Then I found out why Dragon Soldier was pushed up a month: LT3 wanted to create some space between the release of Dragon Soldier and the release of Dragon Adventure, the next book in the series. Dragon Adventure is slated for a May release date (I don't know the exact date yet, but I have submitted an inquiry to LT3 to find out more). It was deemed that releasing Dragon Soldier in April was too close to the release of Dragon Adventure in May, so the solution was to move Dragon Soldier earlier. What this means is you will only have to wait two short months between books in this series, which I know is more great news for readers anxiously awaiting each subsequent book.

(On a side note, as of writing this blog post I only have approximately 10k words left to write in Dragon Spy. I have also started planning the story that comes after Dragon Spy, which will feature Nickel and Platinum again, and I am trying to decide if Alloy's story should be a full sized one or if it would be better suited as a short story like Adventure and Home. Needless to say, I'm really enjoying writing this series and I honestly hope you're enjoying reading it.)

The warning LT3 posts on every pre-order page on their website that release dates are subject to change is a very apt one in this case. Regardless of the change, I'm very excited about how things are going for this series and on March 8, 2017 I know you will be too! Until then, feel free to pre-order Dragon Soldier: https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...

News: Pre-Orders

12/12/2016

12/12/16

Ge-Mi: Part One is available for pre-order at LT3. Thanks to LT3's massive holiday sale, you can get it now for 28% off. Ge-Mi comes out on February 8, 2017. https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...
Dragon Soldier, book five in my Supernatural Consultant series, is also available for pre-order for a 28% discount. This book doesn't come out until March 8, 2017 (more on the new date in my next blog post), so there's still a while, but I know you're as excited for release day as I am.
https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...
Of course, you already know that Ner Li will be coming out in just a few short days. Make sure you can take advantage of the pre-order discount before it's too late.
https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...
And don't forget that The Case of the Wandering Wolves is also available for pre-order. This book comes out on January 11, 2017, which will arrive very soon!
https://lessthanthreepress.com/books...

Cover Reveal: Dragon Soldier

11/26/2016

Dragon Soldier is the second half of Nickel's story that began in Dragon Detective and it also concludes the first arc of the series. I had some second thoughts when I was thinking about what to do for the cover for Dragon Soldier. The story is about Nickel and Platinum, yet every time I reread the book one of my favorite scenes was one where Chrome and 'Ron knock down a tree in Dane's backyard. I liked the scene and the idea for the cover so much--and I know I won't be writing a book with Chrome and 'Ron as the main characters--that highlighting them here just worked for me. Let me know what you think!

Dragon Soldier comes out on April 5, 2017. I'll let you know when it becomes available for pre-order. Be sure to read Dragon Detective first, which is available right now.

The aftermath of the last battle has left Nickel weak in bed and grounded for the next decade. Despite being in trouble, Nickel wants to return to the battle against the enemy as soon as he can, but thoughts of Platinum, the dragon helping to nurse him back to health, keep distracting him.

Platinum can't believe how much his life has changed. He went from being a lonely fugitive on the run to part of a family in only hours. The last few days have been his happiest, especially now that he's met Nickel. He knows it's only temporary, though. The enemy that kept him captive for most of his life isn't finished with him yet, but even Platinum and Nickel's combined powers might not be enough to save them all.

News: I'm Still Here

9/10/2016

9/10/16

Despite my needing to take some time off from writing, things continue to progress with all my stories. Here's an update on how things are going:

Magnified was released on September 7th and so far has been getting great reviews. Thank you to everyone that purchased a copy. I really hope you enjoyed it!
Cinder-Elle, my fairytale short story from Fairytales Slashed Volume 4, is out of print. I have some plans for this story, so look for it to appear on my to-do list again.
Speaking of stories going out of print soon, Cleanly Wrong, my story from the Bestiary collection will be going out of print at the end of September. I'm hoping to polish and resubmit this story, but it may be a while before I can get my act together and make that happen. Bloody Kiss, my story from the Proud to be a Vampire collection and Jack O'Lantern's Grin, my story from the Halloween Rentboy's collection will both be going out of print in October. Bloody Kiss might return as part of a larger series, but don't hold me to that. Jack O'Lantern's Grin will not be returning, so get your copies before they're gone.
I have also been getting a lot of editing accomplished. The first round of edits for Ner Li and Ge-Mi: Part One and the second round for The Case of the Wandering Wolves and Dragon Soldier are back with LT3, as well as a final proof read for Dragon Detective (out on October 19th). I have the second pass of edits for Elemental Ride sitting in my inbox that I will start working on soon.

News: Lots of Edits

7/8/2016

7/8/16

This past week has been all about the edits. First, I finished the overdue edits for Dragon Soldier. I was a few days late getting them back, but it wasn't bad enough to cause any problems with the release. I'm hoping the editor can save me, since I couldn't quite figure out the issue they wanted me to fix. I made an honest attempt, but it still needs some help. I'll let you know how it goes when the editor finishes the second round of edits and LT3 sends them back to me again.
As I was finishing up with Dragon Soldier, I started getting emails from LT3 with more edits. First, the second round of edits for The Case of the Wandering Wolves appeared. The edits look fairly straightforward. I needed some clarification and advice in a few spots that the editor helped me with. Once I get those spots smoothed out, this story will be awesome.
Next, the first round of edits for Elemental Ride appeared. There was one big issue, but it was a fairly easy fix. Aside from that, there wasn't really much else to do. I fixed the issue, read through the story, and have already returned it to LT3 for a second round of edits. The editor, I have to say, absolutely loved the story and I have to concur. Elemental Ride is easily one of the favorite stories that I've written.
After that, LT3 informed me that the first round of edits for Ge-Me: Part One were complete. However, the file was corrupted so they had to figure that out before sending them to me. I'm hoping to receive them soon.