Category: - Mell Eight's Writing Blog

The Oracle Series Flash Sale

4/23/2015

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.

Cover Reveal: The Oracle, Volume One

1/1/2015

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!

2014 Goals Results

12/30/2014

One of the things I started doing in 2014 was posting my monthly goals. It's worked really well, so I figured I might try doing the same thing for the entire year. Here is how I did in 2014. Look for my 2015 goals to come out in a few days!

Book Releases:

Paint, Guns, Money, and Love came out in February and ran as a serial story with LT3. It came out in ebook and print few months later in June.
The Oracle's Hatchling, book two in The Oracle Series, came out in ebook in March.
Wings of the Stars, part of LT3's A Loose Screw collection, came out in ebook and print in April.
Heart's Tournament, part of LT3's Won't Back Down anthology, came out in ebook and print in May.
Heartbeat, part of LT3's Satisfaction Guaranteed anthology, came out in ebook and print in September.

Books Ready for Release:

Road to Home is edited and ready to to arrive in stores in January.
The Oracle's Golem, book three in The Oracle series, is also ready to be released in January.

Submitted Manuscripts:

The Oracle's Sprite, book four in The Oracle series, has been submitted to LT3.
Dragon Consultant, book one of my new Supernatural Consultant series, was also submitted to LT3.

Completed Manuscripts:

Thunderbird, my submission for LT3's Intertwined collection call, is back from a beta reader and almost ready to be submitted.
Ground of Insurrection, my submission for LT3's Devil's Land collection call, is in edits.
Dragon Deception, book two in my Supernatural Consultant series, is completed and in need of editing.
Magnified, the longest story I've ever written at 60k words, was also completed. I want to finish writing the sequel, Justified, before getting Magnified ready to submit.

Writing Progress:

Dragon Detective and Dragon Spy, the next books in my Supernatural Consultant series are growing daily.
The Oracle's (Water) and The Sentinel's Prophesy, the next books in The Oracle series, are also taking form.
Kelpie Blue wins the award for the most progress made this year. It's only reached 20k words, but it took the most research and planning of any of my stories to get there.

Other Accomplishments:

I started posting monthly goals to keep myself on task and have had a fair amount of success with it so far.
I created a monthly newsletter to help keep readers and fans informed.

News: The Oracle's Series is Growing

11/3/2014

11/3/14

The Oracle's Sprite is done! My November goal is complete!!! I've given it a quick read through and started formatting it for submission. The plan is to set it aside until December at which point I'll pull it back out for a more thorough edit. The Oracle's Sprite will be submitted to LT3 before the end of the year.
There's even more exciting news about The Oracle Series: the planning for the print versions is underway. You read that plural correctly! The Oracles Flame, The Oracle's Hatchling, and The Oracle's Golem will be in volume one. The Oracle's Sprite and The Oracle's (Water) will comprise volume two. I have no idea when volume one might be released, but I will let everyone know as soon as I learn more.
I hope everyone has had the chance to see the beautiful cover for The Oracle's Golem. If you missed that post, or if you want to see it again, go HERE to have a look.
Don't forget to pre-order your copy of The Oracle's Golem today. It's available for a 15% discount until January 20th. Road to Home is also available for pre-order. Don't miss out on these opportunities.

The Oracle Series: Progress Report

5/3/2014

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!

News:

3/10/2014

3/10/14

The Oracle's Hatchling is selling well and everyone I've heard from seems to really like it! Thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed.
The last three books in The Dragon's Hoard Series should be arriving in audiobook stores in just a few days. I'll keep everyone posted on when they come out!
LT3 has very kindly agreed to take on Third Time's The Charm. I'm very grateful for their help getting my short story ready for everyone to enjoy. Of course, they just sent me back some edits and at first glance it looks like I might end up rewriting the entire thing! The comments and suggestions are amazing and very detailed, which means I have a lot to do to get it fixed up. I'm looking forward to the challenge!
Kelpie Blue is really starting to take shape. I'm trying to figure out just how fast I want the romance to go, especially since there are going to be some time skips. I also need to solidify the overarching plot that will carry the story through to the end. I would say I've never worked on something this complicated before, but Magnified and If A Butterfly Don't Fly are both as challenging. I'm kicking myself a little bit for working on all three at the same time.
Riptide Publishing has posted new anthology prompts. Without an invitation or an agent, being accepted for an anthology call is the only way to become one of their authors. I have ideas for three or four of their calls so I'm going to give it a try! Keep an eye on my Current Projects section for all the info on what I'm working on. LT3 also has a new call out that I'm interested in writing for, so I have lots to work on! I really hope I can do it!

Out Now: The Oracle's Hatchling

3/5/2014

Ling is hated because his birth killed his mother. He hopes that testing will ease his troubles—either his rank will be so low that everyone forgets about him, or it will be so high they'll be forced to respect him. What he doesn't expect is to walk out of the testing chamber with an egg emblazoned on his back. Laughed out of the Monastery, Ling hides himself in Altnoia, where he becomes embroiled in a plot to overthrow King Edan and the Oracle who supports him.

The ringleader behind the plot is Prince Damarion, son of the evil despot who forced King Edan to flee in the first place—but his motives are not anything that Ling could have anticipated. Neither could he anticipate a friendship, or what that friendship could become, and the choices it would force him to make.

News: Coming Soon and Writing

2/28/2014

2/28/14

There's only a few more days left to preorder The Oracle's Hatchling. It comes out next week!
My next book to come out is Wings of the Stars, part of the Loose Screw anthology LT3 put together for their existing authors. I'm working on the copy edits right now, which is the last step in LT3's editing process. I expect it will be available for preorder in the next few weeks! Be sure to also check out all the other stories in the collection.
I'm still plugging away at all my stories. I'm trying to work out a timing issue in Kelpie Blue, so that story has stalled for the moment. Is it okay to jump an entire year in one chapter? I may have to add another chapter between what is currently planned for chapters two and three to make the time skip less jarring. I'm thinking of titling it, When Water Freezes and Kelpies Mope, but since I don't really have more plot than that title implies I can't say for certain how the story will work just yet.

I've also been working on If A Butterfly Don't Fly. It's a story with lots of bands and music, so I've been trying to figure out the lyrics for two songs. In My Truest Love, my last musically inclined story, I got away with snippets of lyrics from a chorus, an abbreviated song, or just a song title. If A Butterfly requires a full length song, which is darned hard to write!

Magnified is currently being stubborn. I think the muse in charge got offended that he was so rudely shoved aside by his brothers to make way for Out of Underhill. I'm not sure who the evil villain is just yet or what his/her motivations are, which makes it difficult to set up the foreshadowing I need. The romance portion of the book is starting to take shape, which is a plus, but it isn't quite enough to force the story to move forward.

Instead of working on The Oracle's Golem, I started writing book four. Book four doesn't have a title or more plot than just the prologue. It's also contingent on the ending of Golem, which I haven't written yet. Why it decided that now was a good time to pull my attention was beyond me. I'll get Golem finished soon, I hope. I know exactly how the book is supposed to go, so it's really a matter of finding the motivation to sit down and write it.

News: Release Dates and Writing

2/22/2014

2/22/14

I have an official release date for Road to Home! July 2, 2014. That's almost exactly a year since Road to Revenge came out. The date is contingent on how well the editing and formatting for publishing process goes, of course, but I'm super excited anyway. I'll keep you updated on Road to Home's progress as the release date quickly gets closer!
The Oracle's Hatchling is available for pre-order at LT3! If you buy it now you'll get a 15% discount. It's also up for a giveaway in LT3's March Giveaways section. Make sure you take advantage of these great opportunities before Hatchling comes out on March 5th!
I'm still working hard on my Out of Underhill series. I currently have three chapters of Kelpie Blue planned out and I thought you might enjoy seeing the tentative chapter headings:
1) Blue and Stealing the Diary. And Eating Yummy Cucumbers. 2) Brin Gets a Job. Blue Gets Bored. 3) Can Blue Run? …and not eat the other horses in the race?
As you can tell, I'm having a lot of fun with Blue. In a way he's a more mature version of Tori, my child-like dragon from Stealing the Dragon. Blue is his own unique character, of course, but he likes to have fun in much the same way Tori does. It's so interesting working with creatures who might look human, but because they very much aren't can behave in ways none of my other characters can. Tori can play with his rubies and Blue can--actually I don't want to give it away. You'll have to wait for Kelpie Blue to come out first! ;p

News: February Plans

2/2/2014

2/2/14

January was a pretty good month in terms of writing! I finished writing Road to Home and now it's somewhere in LT3's editing queue. Heartbeat was also accepted for their Satisfaction Guaranteed anthology. I've finished the edits for The Oracle's Hatchling, due out in March, and Heart's Tournament, due out in May.

Magnified has exploded in terms of size and depth this past month, with no signs of slowing down any time soon. I've also started work on a new paranormal fantasy about fae and singing called If A Butterfly Don't Fly.
My goals in February are simple enough: write a lot! I would like to finish Magnified and The Oracle's Golem. I would also love to finish all the research I need for Butterfly and Kelpie Blue. At some point I would also like to get my Trickster's Eye series going, but that's on the bottom of my to-do list.

February also has some exciting releases to keep an eye out for! Rocking Hard Volume 2 is already available for pre-order. If you buy it now you can get 15% off. It arrives in stores on February 12. Paint, Guns, Money, & Love will begin running in LT3's weekly serial section on February 12. If you have a serial subscription be sure to check it out! On February 15 Finding the Wolf will come out in audiobook, which is amazing. I'm really looking forward to hearing the finished product. As always I will post more February news as I learn it!