2/23/20
It's been a very long February for me. Some unhappy family issues pulled me away from writing for about two weeks, and I'm only now caught up. That said, a lot has happened recently that I want to fill you in on, so I'm going to write another long post full of fun information. Read on: Submissions to NineStar Press:
That's it for news for February. I know there's a lot going on, and it's probably going to continue being a fire hose deluge of things to do until at least this time next year. I'm enjoying it, though, and I'm so glad you're all sticking through it all with me as we all patiently wait for all my books to become available again.
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1/31/20
I can't tell you how many blog posts I've written this month where, just before I was ready to post, I got more news and had to rewrite. I think this is my third or fourth attempt to get out a blog post, but there's so much to tell you I'm just going to post what I have, and I may end up writing another blog post tomorrow. Either way, this post is really long, but I promise there's exciting stuff inside. Read on: Submissions to NineStar Press:
2/28/18
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, but I have a good reason. The third round of edits for Kelpie Blue arrived and I had to focus on getting those done. There were a lot more edits than I expected for a third round and the due date came and went far too quickly. I have finally gotten the edits back to LT3. Kelpie Blue comes out in less than a month and I can't wait! Make sure you pre-order your copy today so you can get a 15% discount: lessthanthreepress.com/books... Heartbeat, a story I submitted to LT3 as a reprint, was accepted for republishing. It was previously published as part of LT3's Satisfaction Guaranteed anthology and is the prequel to my Trickster's Eye series. I don't know what the editing process will bring, but as of right now I can say nothing substantive has changed from before. I can't promise it will stay that way as edits always tend to be more involved than I expect. I will keep you updated as I learn more. I am in the process of renewing the contract for The Oracle's Flame, the first story in my Oracle series. It would have gone out of print next month, but now the run will be extended. There shouldn't be any changes to the cover and I don't know if there will be any edits completed. I recommended a round of edits for Road to Revenge when that contract was renewed, but I haven't heard anything about that happening. I don't know that it will happen for Flame either. I will let you know as I learn more. I don't have any news about any of my upcoming stories. I'm expecting the second round of edits for Ground of Insurrection and the first round of edits for If A Butterfly Don't Fly any day now. I also don't have any potential release dates to share, although I expect Insurrection to be scheduled for May or June, Butterfly for sometime from June to September, and The Coup and the Prince for fourth quarter 2018. I'm hoping LT3 will be able to give me more information soon. Today is the day for the Oracle Series flash sale as part of LT3's birthday party! The entire Oracle Series--The Oracle's Flame, The Oracle's Hatchling, and The Oracle's Golem--are all on sale for 50% off. If you're been waiting for the best moment to get your copy of any of those titles, now is that moment. Click here or on the covers below for more information about each story and for purchasing information.
The Oracle, Volume One is the print version of The Oracle Series. It will contain the first three books in the series: The Oracle's Flame, The Oracle's Hatchling, and The Oracle's Golem. It's yet another gorgeous addition to the covers for this series! As of this moment, the only information I have about this upcoming book is the cover and the fact that it actually exists. The second I learn more, including a release date, I will share it with you. Until then, please enjoy this beautiful cover!
11/3/14
I have been working on The Oracle Series for a year now. It's been a lot of fun creating the world of the Monastery and the magic of the Castes and the Dragons. Recently I've been trying to expand the world too. I've made a lot of progress and I thought I might share it with you:
The Oracle's Flame began as a story for an anthology call, but when LT3 asked me if it could be released as its own separate ebook I agreed. There was potential for a series there and I wanted to try writing it. This book introduced the world I was exploring and the magic of the Castes. The Oracle's Hatchling added depth to the post-war world of the Kingdom of Altnoia. It also introduced some of the major issues plaguing the Monastery. It was a bridging book which ended the plot leftover from Flame and introduced the plot for the rest of the series. The Oracle's Golem is the book I just finished writing. It tells the story of the Dragon of Earth, but it also shows a lot more of the Monastery than I've ever written before. There is some corruption that needs to be addressed as well. I think readers will really like learning more about the Monastery as a whole and about the difficult job the Oracle has. I don't want to give too much away, but I really enjoyed writing this book. The Sentinel's Prophesy is a side story that I have just started writing. It is set in the world of the Sentinel, a man set to watch over an ancient evil so he's able to protect the world from it returning. The magical powers of his followers are affiliated with light and dark. Its been interesting playing with it so far. It is set at the same time as Golem and can be read before or afterwards without any spoilers, although I would suggest reading Flame and Hatchling first. The Oracle's Sprite is the next book in the series. I'm currently planning it out in my head and I hope to start putting words to paper soon. This story will be focused on the Dragon of Air, but there will be a lot of flashbacks to the war in Altnoia that occurred between Flame and Hatchling. To those readers who complained that the fighting was missing, this story is why. I didn't want to ruin Sprite for you! The Oracle's (Water) will be the last book in The Oracle Series. I've actually written the prologue for it because the story itself has a bit of overlap with Golem and I needed to get (Water) organized in order for the events in Golem to make sense. I won't start working on (Water) until Sprite is done. The Sentinel's (Dark/Light) are two potential additional books I would like to write at some point as well. I barely have any plot planned for Prophesy and I have no idea what would go into either of these two books. I'm hoping something will come to me and these books will become a reality. Until then, they'll remain in my future maybe-to-write list. So that's The Oracle Series in brief. If you want more information please head to the series page on my website or my current projects section. Or, you could always buy Flame and Hatchling and find out firsthand! 4/3/14
There are two giveaways of my books that you should all check out! Good Luck!
I was writing a short story for LT3's If You're Reading This anthology call. The theme was a message in a bottle. My immediate thought was, what if I sent a message from beyond? As the plot began to unfold in my head I had images of the prophetess at Delphi, breathing in toxic fumes that made her high and possibly able to predict the future. That idea became the basic premise for the story I was writing. An Oracle receives a message from beyond the Veil of Time about a prince besieged by treachery in need of a little help to regain his throne. So I had a message received, which meant I had to figure out a way for the message to be answered. I turned again to Delphi, where heroes were given important quests to complete. Why couldn't I do the same? The Dragon of Fire was the perfect hero, a young man just coming of age with a thirst to prove himself. I added in a dash of magic, some pirates, and an evil king to give the story some depth, and voila The Oracle's Flame was born. I had written phrases like: "Message received" and "Message properly responded to" in order to fit with the theme and I submitted it to LT3. To my surprise, a few weeks later LT3 sent me back a rejection letter. I'm paraphrasing, but the email basically said they liked the story, but it wasn't a good fit for the anthology and they saw potential in it for a series or at least a longer work. I reread the email and I realized they were probably correct and my surprise was unwarranted. The added, theme based, phrases weren't doing much for the story and I did have a possible idea for a second story set in that world. So I agreed with LT3 that The Oracle's Flame should be released on its own, with no anthology connections. If The Oracle's Flame was supposed to be a series, then I thought I ought to start writing the second book, The Oracle's Hatchling. My fledgling idea began to take shape on the page--another quest dictated by the Oracle and another hero to bring justice to the world--but I realized that there wasn't any depth to the series as a whole. Flame and Hatchling were two disparate stories that just happened to be set in the same world, which doesn't really make a cohesive series. By that time I had an idea about book three, The Oracle's Golem, so I set aside Hatchling to start work on Golem while I thought about how to tie everything together. Then I got the first round of edits for The Oracle's Flame back from my editor. The first things that had to go in the editing process were those awkward "message in a bottle" phrases, but with those gone I didn't have any reason for the Oracle to send out her hero on a quest. As I was trying to figure out how to fix that rather glaring plot issue, a light bulb went on. The Oracle sent her Dragon of Fire out to combat evil, but what if his battle was only one fight in an entire war? What if Hatchling and subsequently Golem were other battles in that war, the fighting of which could carry the series to the end? So I started writing again. I eventually added an entire prologue to The Oracle's Flame and little tidbits here and there to really start building the series. With the plot-hole gone, The Oracle's Flame was ready for publishing. It arrives in stores on November 20th and is available for preorder right now. I hope you enjoy it!
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Coming Soon
Gifting a Dragon's Heart
March 19, 2024 Soul Bond
January 30, 2024 Twin Elements
October 17, 2023 Witch
April 15, 2023 AuthorMell Eight is an author writing with NSP. For more information about Mell and her writing, please visit her website: http://melleightfiction. Tags
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