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Woot! For Karen Elizabeth Brown! She launches her debut book, Medieval Muse. Congratulations Karen!

 

Medieval Muse

What happens when Victoria Budroix receives a cameo that promises to give her the desires of her heart? Since she doesn’t know what that would be, a trip to medieval times, intrigue, threat of war and an overbearing lord are on the list for her to choose from. Or could it be meeting her one true love? Sir William of Conrad has escorted a stranger home to be under his protection. He discovers this woman speaks her own mind and melts his heart. He faces his father’s outrage and a broken alliance with the neighboring clan by falling in love. Medieval 

Muse is available as a free read from Smashwords.com.

Karen Elizabeth Brown’s passion for writing is what fills her entire life with exhilarating inspiration. She spends her days writing, doing research and studying about the subjects of her stories.

When she’s not writing, she enjoys music and reading, especially medieval fantasy. Born in Southern California, she migrated to Southern Oregon in 1974 where she now resides in the Rogue Valley with her family and friends. Find out more about the author at her official website: www.karenelizabethbrown.com
 
I'm still madly scrambling to finish up The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear. I'm on the polished draft, but still have a lot of work to do. After pretty much rewriting the first eight chapters, I freaked most of this week about my slow progress. But it seems to have smoothed out, and the polishing is picking up speed. So, I feel pretty good about where I'm at and how much time I have left. I can do it! You know what I say ... never give up, never surrender. 

Because my publisher is such a slave driver, that damned M. Pax, I'll only be up at the observatory Saturday instead of both nights. I just can't afford two late nights right now. There's a lot of moon again anyway. So I won't miss much. Here's a moon shot from last Saturday:

I took this one using my special eyepiece I call, "Precious." An 11 mm Nagler. I know that means nothing to most of you, but it's a very, very nice eyepiece which gives me lovely, lovely views through my 8" Dob. Some of which rival the 24" scope under the dome. Had the polarizing filter on, too. Helps me get a better shot, because I can control how much glare is bouncing off the moon.

Other than those few hours of astronomizing Saturday night, I'm working, working, working. Unless the kitties need a hug, which they often do. What are your plans for the weekend? Going to read some Medieval Muse?

NOTE: This is the final post at this URL. This blog has moved to http://mpaxauthor.com./blog/

Category for $??

 Photo taken by moi last Friday night at Pine Mountain through my 8" dobsonian telescope. 25mm eyepiece. Polarizing filter on the eyepiece. Creative Commons -- meaning you may use my photo as long as you credit M. Pax. Click on it to blow it up. It came out awesome. Honest.

Please Note: This blog has moved to http://mpaxauthor.com/blog/ Please join me and your other bloggy friends there. This coming Friday will be the last simultaneous post.

Happy IWSG. Every month writers gather around the blogosphere to offer encouragement and garner support. Hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, it's not too late to join in. Go on! You know you want to.


I was tagged some time ago by the lovely Tara Tyler with the magic eight ball meme. Maybe I'm getting this wrong, but I'm supposed to ask all of you to be my magic eight ball. My current dilemma isn't with writing [although I could use two more of me to finish up the manuscript by August 13th, gah!], it's with the marketing. So my first question is about categories and genres ...

I don't know how many of you read, Plantgirl [free read LINKS]. The Renaissance of Hetty Locklear centers around some similar elements -- a rather sad gal with a rather sad life, searching for a way to make herself better. There's some ghosts, invisible people, cloaks, DNA experiments, Renaissance Faires, and more. Although I do use some contemporary science fiction with the cloaks and experiments, I don't want to market this series as science fiction.

I wrote this one more for women and it's women I want to target. So, I don't want to sell under sci-fi this time. The most accurate description is speculative fiction -- a combination of contemporary fantasy, contemporary sci-fi, and plain strange. The focus is more on Hetty and her issues. While she's trying to figure herself out, she encounters a lot of strange, including her parents. However, no site lets you choose speculative fiction as the genre.

Some sites will let me select general fiction, which I've noted Margaret Atwood sells under, but others won't let me be so vague.

Basically, my main character gets pulled farther and farther into a hidden world on our world which is cloaked. There's an Area 52. There will be superhero-ish elements. Can I market it as fantasy? Or what would you do with it?

OK, that was a bit long for one question.

Second question, much shorter: This is the first in a new series. It'll end up around 70,000 words. My local crit group insists it's too good not to sell. They say it's my best work yet. But it's targeted to a different audience than Backworlds. And I still need to be seen and discovered. At what price would you sell it?

Any thoughts on my marketing quandries welcome.

  Announcements:            

Fight Club Begins! Hosted by the talented, DL Hammons. I signed up so I can vote. Best of luck to the contestants.

Tyrean of Tyrean's Writing Spot has a poem published. Congrats Tyrean!

Stephen Tremp is having a blurb bloghop on August 15th, where we work on blurbs and tweet each other. Fabulous idea, Stephen.

L. Diane Wolfe is sponsoring the Supportive Blogger Extraordinaire Contest. Nominations are open until August 5th for whoever you'd like to nominate. It was tough coming up with just one for me. You've all been so incredibly supportive. I'd rain riches and praises on all of you. Anyway, it's a great way to pay forward acts of kindness and support that make you all warm and fuzzy inside.

And keep September 17th open! A first for me, into which I'm dragging a few other blogging writers. I hope to say what next week. :D

OK, thanks for listening to me ramble. Time to get back to work. The clock's ticking and Hetty and the invisible people are waiting ...