Archive
Daily Archives: February 10, 2014
- by Tara Maya
Tara’s February Update
Update on Mask
I have good news and bad news.
Awhile ago, I finished the draft of Mask, Book 7 in The Unfinished Song series. That’s the good news….
The bad news is that I loathed it.
Now, most writers hate the book they are working on by the time they finish it. This is a perfectly natural stage of writing, so I set it aside, to get some distance from it. This week, I re-read it, hoping that when I came to it with fresh eyes, I’d realize it was not so bad.
No such luck.
The draft has serious flaws, my friend. It’s not so much that what it includes is bad, as that it doesn’t include enough FANTASTIC. As you know, I never want to publish a book that is merely, “meh.” Okay, I realize tastes differ, and even if you love all the books in the series so far, you have your favorites, and that’s fine. But for me, as the author, I must love my book and genuinely believe it is absolutely awesome before I will put it out there. My rule is this: No book can be the Perfect and Best Book Ever, compared to all other possible books in the universe… having that kind of standard means a book will never be finished, never mind published.
All I ask is that each book be the best that book can be. Be the best version of itself. Fulfill the promise of its reason for existing.
And I’m sorry, but Mask isn’t there yet. IT CAN BE BETTER.
There were a lot of fun scenes that were meant to go into Mask, and somehow, they didn’t get included. Instead, some merely “blah” scenes were there, hogging all the wordcount. Not acceptable! Those boring scenes need to step aside, so the sizzling scenes can step into the spotlight where they belong. Sure, I could let you read Mask now, but would you really want to slog through a bunch of yawnage? Nah. You deserve better than that. Dindi and Kavio deserve better than that too.
I am working on revisions now. So if you are wondering, “When is Book 7 going to be published?” the answer is still, “As soon as possible!”
Update on the rest of The Unfinished Song series
While I was letting the draft of Mask cool off so I could re-evaluate it, I did move forward on three other projects. Actually, one of those projects was just an extension of my work on Mask, i.e. planning and doing detailed outlining on Mirror and Maze, which will be books 8 and 9, and are part of the same trilogy as Mask. Just as there are flaws in Mask, there are flaws in the outlines for these books. I hope that when I fix Mask, I can fix those flaws as well.
By the way, the detailed outline for the final trilogy is also complete, everything except the actual blow by blow accounts of the final battle in Book 12. (I need to consult my military adviser to block those out on the map before I know exactly what will go into that). And, hot damn, I CANNOT WAIT to write the final trilogy! (Every time you get mad at me for making you wait on the next book, just realize that I feel the same way! I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t read the book until I write it either!)
The final trilogy is going to take the series to a darker place than any of the previous books, so I hope you’re okay with that, but there’s a rainbow at the end of the night…. I can’t tell you any more than that without spoilers, but if you could see me now, I’m jumping up and down with excitement.
Update on Other Projects
The second project is my upcoming Urban Fantasy series, The Daughters of Little Red Riding Hood. I am only on the world-building stage of that series. I also worked a bit on beat sheets, but have not yet completed full outlines. I also wrote a few seed scenes, though they probably won’t appear in any of the published books, just to get a feel for the voice of the main character. It’s going to be fun. First person, cynical and sarcastic, saucy and sexy… quite a different main character than Dindi, I think, but I hope you’ll like her too.
The third project I worked on was a Paranormal Romance series that I’ll be working on with a co-author (I will reveal who later on), probably to be called: Tarot Temptations. So far, it’s going really well, although it’s early stages yet. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do a series based on Tarot Cards and this is my chance. There are potentially 78 novels we could write! It’s intimidating, but the way we’re going to tackle it is to divide the deck (grin) and create individual series within our larger “Tarot world.” So the first series will be a modest quartet, based upon the Royal House of Cups.
Princess of Cups
Prince of Cups
Queen of Cups
King of Cups
Each of those books will be related to one another, but completely stand-alone, with their own Heroine and Hero and HEA. Yes, this will be a bit departure for me, with my love of Cliff-hanger endings. None of that here, Tara! Behave yourself! Heh.
All of this is still In The Works, so series names and book title might change, everything might change… but that’s where things are headed for now.
Reading
To get in shape for my new series and also to help me spice up the romance in Mask-Mirror-Maze, I’ve been reading great examples of the Paranormal Romance genre. I read about 20 novels a month, and this month, it’s been almost all Paranormal Romance or Urban Fantasy. I only started two new epic fantasies, Garden of Stones last month and The Iron Elves this month. (Both great as well!) Last year, I read a ton of Young Adult, including a lot of the books featured on this blog, but so far 2014 has been all adult fantasy. I also haven’t read much non-fiction lately. Usually, I read non-fiction to research new books, and I do have a few such books on my To Be Read list, but I haven’t gotten around to them yet. Basically, I have a budget for books and I ran out of money! Not to mention, it DOES take me longer to read nonfiction than fiction, and, as you may have noticed, I’ve been pretty busy. So many books, so little time! But there’s always next month…. 🙂
Some of these books might make you scratch your head. What?! You’ve never read that before, Tara?! Nope, every one of these is a First Time Read for me, even those I should have read a long time ago. Unless otherwise noted, I read kindle version on my beloved Paperwhite. Here’s my January reading list:
Urban Fantasy
- Shapeshifted by Cassie Alexander
- Storm Front by Jim Butcher
- Guilty Pleasures by Laurel Hamilton
- Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison
- The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu (paperback)
- Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn
- Priceless by Shannon Mayer
- Beahrly Breathing by Elizabeth A. Reeves
- Dead Spots by Melissa F. Olson
- Trail of Dead by Melissa F. Olson
- What’s a Ghoul to Do by Victoria Laurie
- Realm Walker by Kathleen Collins
- Crimes Against Magic by Steve McHugh
Paranormal Romance
- Prophecy: Child of Light by Felicity Heaton
- Night Pleasures by Sherrilyn Kenyon
- Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison
- Knight After Night by Jackie Ivie
- Dark Wolf Rising by Rhyannon Byrd
- Once Upon a Tiger by Kat Simons
- Wolf Protector by Milly Taiden
- Deal With A Demon by Celeste Easton
- The Scribe by Elizabeth Hunter
Epic Fantasy
- Garden of Stones by Mark T. Barnes
Ebooks: 22
Print: 1
Total
23 books
- by Tara Maya
Mother’s Curse by Thaddeus Nowak
Discover Thaddeus Nowak’s fantasy series, Heirs of Cothel. The first two in the series, Mother’s Curse and Daughter’s Justice, are out now, with the third novel, Daughter’s Revenge, coming soon.
The Heirs of Cothel series is about Stephenie, a young woman, whose father and brother are fighting in a war two countries away. Stuck at home in the castle with her mother, the Queen, Stephenie realizes her mother is plotting something and must to try to escape if she is to save her father and brother.
Born a witch, Stephenie’s powers are believed to be a curse against her mother for sins that were committed against the gods. It is a curse that would fall upon her mother if Stephenie were to die.
Always fearful of discovery and execution by fire, Stephenie has concealed her powers her whole life. However, in order to disrupt her mother’s plans and save her father and brother, she may be forced to learn what she truly is and make use of the powers everyone believes comes from the Demon god, Elrin.
With the help of some soldiers and an unlikely friend, Stephenie sets out on a personal quest that even if successful, could lead to her destruction.
Daughter’s Justice, the second book in the series, resumes the story and deals with the aftermath that is left in the wake of her mother’s plots. With the revelation to the world that she is a witch, she has to find a way to survive, keep her family’s control of the throne, and avoid tearing apart the country in a civil war.
Download Mother’s Curse from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes. Download Daughter’s Justice from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes.The much anticipated Daughter’s Revenge is scheduled to be released before the end of March 2014.
Excerpt from Mother’s Curse
It was dark and Stephenie ached all over. Her arms burned with what felt like hundreds of little cuts and scrapes. Her knees and ankles were throbbing as much as her head. She tried to look around, but there was absolutely no light. She smelled a pungent combination of urine, blood, and oil.
Below her was something cold and somewhat squishy. Slowly she tried to sit up and had to toss off several pieces of wood. As memories of what happened returned, she realized she was laying on top of a dead soldier. Scrambling away from the body, she stumbled over the debris of the walkway that had given out beneath their weight.
“Hello,” she called out and heard her trembling voice echo back to her. Fear of being caught was pushed away by the fear of being trapped alone in the dark forever. “Hello!” she called again much louder.
After several moments, she neither heard, saw, or sensed anything around her. Shivering from fear as much as the chill that had settled into her body, she searched with her hands in all directions to see what was around her. She felt a wall to one side, but nothing on the other sides.
“Damn it. I need light.”
She sighed. Feeling disoriented, she crouched down, uncertain if perhaps she was on a ledge, and taking a step in any direction would lead to her tumbling away into more darkness. After a few moments to build her confidence, she felt further around her immediate area.
Among the remains of the rotten walkway, she felt a sticky substance. Bringing her fingers to her nose, she identified it as lamp oil. “So, no light. Thanks for nothing Elrin.”
She knew the dead soldier was close by. Since she wasn’t wet with urine, it was likely that the soldier had soiled himself when he died. “Unless I happened to land in a waste pit,” she added ruefully.
Carefully, she searched around, hoping to find the dagger she had lost in the fall. She found the broken remains of the lamp, but not the weapon. She also realized the floor was mostly level with mortar joints. “So I won’t be falling off a cliff? Unless this is just the ledge they use to push people to their deaths.” Slowly she expanded her search, but did not find the dagger.
Eventually, apprehension of touching the dead man lost out to the apprehension of being alone in the dark with no weapons. After a brief moment, when she realized she had become disoriented in her prior searching, she found the body of the soldier. She found another dagger and removed it. His sword had become bent when he landed on it and she could not draw it from the scabbard. “Elrin, you really want to play with me before I die.”
To read the rest of Mother’s Curse, download it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and iTunes.
To find more from Thaddeus, visit his website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and Google+.