My phone's address book was hacked Thursday. If you see a funny email from me just delete it. Sorry about the technical difficulties.
-Liana
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
LORE OF FEI-a YA fantasy novel by Kathleen S. Allen
Greetings All!
I have been asked to do a guest post about my upcoming Young Adult fantasy novel, LORE OF FEI to be released in April, 2012 by Muse It Up Publishing and I am happy to do so.
I first became interested in faeries when I read A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare in the third grade. Yes, I was an early reader. I stared reading at the age of three so by the time I was eight I was reading pretty much anything I wanted. I was fascinated with the faeries and especially with the mischievous faerie, Puck or Robin Goodfellow. In fact I was so taken with him I named a bicycle I had after him. Anyway, that started me on the path of faeries. When I was getting a Master’s in Children’s Literature from Eastern Michigan University I took a class called Ballads, Legends and Folktales with Dr. G.B. Cross. I learned so much in that class! I wanted to write a different faerie book so I first wrote a faerie book about a banshee (AINE and the sequel, FAERIE FOLK-both are now in one volume called THE FAERIE CHRONICLES). I got interested in doing NaNoWriMo in 2009 so I began to write LORE OF FEI for the international writing competition (a 50,000 word novel in one month, or as the WriMo’s say: Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon). I made the word count, it was just over 50K at the end of November. After editing it and rewriting and editing some more I finished it in March, 2010 with a word count just over 84,000. I got a contract for it in April, 2010 with Muse It Up Publishing.
I have just finished the last edit on it and am awaiting the galleys. Galleys are the final proofs before publishing. I am also waiting for the cover design. Once it is done, I’ll make a book trailer for it and post it to You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. I’ll also put it on my website.
Meanwhile I am querying a couple of other books I finished. The NaNoWriMo book I did this year is about vampires and I am thinking of putting that up on Kindle because vampires are not “in” right now. I have another book about werewolves and selchies I am querying and a contemporary YA I will be sending out soon. I am working on a YA zombie book but I have stalled with the plot and have to rethink some things before I finish it. I think I have put too many subplots in it. I started out with one idea and now it’s morphed into something entirely different. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s not the direction I want to go with it. So, I’m letting it marinate.
I do have a publisher interested in the werewolf-selchie book with some revisions so I will do that as soon as I finish with LORE OF FEI.
Someone once asked me—okay lots of someones ask me----where do I get my ideas from? I wish I knew. They come to me from the aether I guess. Or maybe a faerie brings them.
Speaking of faeries---wait, we were, weren’t we?---I have to tell you a true story. When my daughter was four we were walking in the park right after a rain. I was holding her hand and she was skipping merrily along next to me. Suddenly, she stopped. I stopped, too, of course. She pointed to the ground. There on the grass in front of us was a perfect ring of mushrooms. Her eyes got big.
“A faerie ring,” she breathed.
“We must’ve interrupted their meeting,” I said. I took a step and went to put my food down inside the ring but my daughter yanked on my hand.
“No, momma, don’t.”
“What’s the matter,” I asked.
“If you step inside the faerie ring you’ll be lost in faerieland forever.” She started crying.
I gathered her up in my arms.
“Okay, honey, I won’t step inside it. Come on.” I put her down and we walked around the ring to run our errands. A few hours later we came back the same way on our way home and the faerie ring was gone.
“The faeries went back to faerieland,” my daughter said.
“I guess they did,” I said.
I hope you’ll check out my books, trailers and website at http://www.gaelicfairie.webs.com
Thanks again,
Kathleen S. Allen
I write YA and other stuff.
Blurb for LORE OF FEI:
I have been asked to do a guest post about my upcoming Young Adult fantasy novel, LORE OF FEI to be released in April, 2012 by Muse It Up Publishing and I am happy to do so.
I first became interested in faeries when I read A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare in the third grade. Yes, I was an early reader. I stared reading at the age of three so by the time I was eight I was reading pretty much anything I wanted. I was fascinated with the faeries and especially with the mischievous faerie, Puck or Robin Goodfellow. In fact I was so taken with him I named a bicycle I had after him. Anyway, that started me on the path of faeries. When I was getting a Master’s in Children’s Literature from Eastern Michigan University I took a class called Ballads, Legends and Folktales with Dr. G.B. Cross. I learned so much in that class! I wanted to write a different faerie book so I first wrote a faerie book about a banshee (AINE and the sequel, FAERIE FOLK-both are now in one volume called THE FAERIE CHRONICLES). I got interested in doing NaNoWriMo in 2009 so I began to write LORE OF FEI for the international writing competition (a 50,000 word novel in one month, or as the WriMo’s say: Thirty Days and Nights of Literary Abandon). I made the word count, it was just over 50K at the end of November. After editing it and rewriting and editing some more I finished it in March, 2010 with a word count just over 84,000. I got a contract for it in April, 2010 with Muse It Up Publishing.
I have just finished the last edit on it and am awaiting the galleys. Galleys are the final proofs before publishing. I am also waiting for the cover design. Once it is done, I’ll make a book trailer for it and post it to You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. I’ll also put it on my website.
Meanwhile I am querying a couple of other books I finished. The NaNoWriMo book I did this year is about vampires and I am thinking of putting that up on Kindle because vampires are not “in” right now. I have another book about werewolves and selchies I am querying and a contemporary YA I will be sending out soon. I am working on a YA zombie book but I have stalled with the plot and have to rethink some things before I finish it. I think I have put too many subplots in it. I started out with one idea and now it’s morphed into something entirely different. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s not the direction I want to go with it. So, I’m letting it marinate.
I do have a publisher interested in the werewolf-selchie book with some revisions so I will do that as soon as I finish with LORE OF FEI.
Someone once asked me—okay lots of someones ask me----where do I get my ideas from? I wish I knew. They come to me from the aether I guess. Or maybe a faerie brings them.
Speaking of faeries---wait, we were, weren’t we?---I have to tell you a true story. When my daughter was four we were walking in the park right after a rain. I was holding her hand and she was skipping merrily along next to me. Suddenly, she stopped. I stopped, too, of course. She pointed to the ground. There on the grass in front of us was a perfect ring of mushrooms. Her eyes got big.
“A faerie ring,” she breathed.
“We must’ve interrupted their meeting,” I said. I took a step and went to put my food down inside the ring but my daughter yanked on my hand.
“No, momma, don’t.”
“What’s the matter,” I asked.
“If you step inside the faerie ring you’ll be lost in faerieland forever.” She started crying.
I gathered her up in my arms.
“Okay, honey, I won’t step inside it. Come on.” I put her down and we walked around the ring to run our errands. A few hours later we came back the same way on our way home and the faerie ring was gone.
“The faeries went back to faerieland,” my daughter said.
“I guess they did,” I said.
I hope you’ll check out my books, trailers and website at http://www.gaelicfairie.webs.com
Thanks again,
Kathleen S. Allen
I write YA and other stuff.
***
Blurb for LORE OF FEI:
All Ariela wants is for her wings to grow in, but her Age of Maturity arrives, and she’s still wingless. Not only is this disappointing, it’s also dangerous. Her parents struggle to hide her deformity, but rumors spread to the ears of Kel, Warlord of Kel’s Lair. In one horrific night, Kel’s warriors murder her parents and take her away from Fei, the land of the faeries to be enslaved by the humans.
The Veil of Enclosure, a mist-like substance conjured by the Ancient Ones to separate and protect the land of the faeries from Hege, the land of the humans is dissolving. This allows the humans to enter Fei and steal faerie children to make them their slaves. In the faerie Book of Lore there is a legend that a silver-winged faerie will be born to repair the Veil. But no such faerie has been born. Ariela’s deformity allows her to pass among the humans as one of them. She is the last hope of the faerie race. The Faerie Council is relying on her to rescue the faerie children and restore the Veil of Enclosure. All she has to do is figure out how.
Monday, February 13, 2012
The Science Behind The Vows
About a year ago I did a series on the Science Behind Love (feel free to go read - I'll wait), and in honor of the 11th anniversary of my first date with my husband (February 13th), and the upcoming debut of EVEN VILLAINS FALL IN LOVE I thought it would be fun to look at the science and psychology behind marriages.Cards on the table, I'm pro-marriage. Done right, I think it's the best setup for a relationship. Done wrong, marriage is a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare. That's my point of view, you are free to have your own opinion (always!). Thing two... I'll be using husband/wife terminology here but feel free to substitute any combination of genders that works for your situation. Keep in mind that the dynamics of a menege/polyamorous/polygamous situation are going to be very different. We'll get to the whys of that later...
Moving on!
What Is Marriage Anyway?
Before we can have an open discussion on the science behind marriage we need to normalize the definition. Marriage is a committed, consensual, adult relationship between two people. Remember, without commitment it isn't love.
This is where Common Law Marriage verse Living Together gets complicated and the first place people get lost when talking about love. If you aren't having the ceremony because you want to bail if things get hard, you aren't committed it's a Stage 2 relationship and your chances for a happy marriage are significantly depressed. If, on the other hand, you have decided you don't need a formal ceremony or paperwork for your relationship and it is committed you might be living in sin according to some religions, but you are in the right mindset for marriage. Good for you!
Isn't Marriage Just a Religious Thing?
Considering all major religions I've heard of have some very firm ideas on marriage you'd think this is just a cultural concept, maybe a way of controlling reproductive capabilities of the young before The Pill was invented. As it turns out though, The Vows are actually a formalization of a biological adaptation.
Mammals are - with a few exceptions - social creatures. Troops, packs, pods, prides... mammals get together for survival. Granted, in most cases humans can survive with basic civilization around them. Marriage, then, becomes a function of survival during the child-bearing and child-rearing years. There are arguments that marriage isn't necessary [reference], and that works on the chemical timeline of love. Once the children are old enough to not need two parents for survival it makes sense to split, yes?
Not really. In the long run a healthy marriage is actually healthier for you [reference]. Of course... you have to have a happy, working, and healthy marriage for that to work for you. Welcome to the Marriage Paradox!
What Is A Happy Marriage?
Quick! Describe your "How We Met" story... Go on, describe your relationship.
If you start with the word "we" or use the inclusive terms - we, our, us - frequently you're probably happier than if you use the exclusive terms - I, me, mine - and the more of a positive spin you put on your "how we met" story is a good indicator of how healthy the relationship is now [reference].
I admit, that fact grabbed my attention. Especially since EVFIL is about a married couple. There is a back story to how Evan and Tabitha met. Evan tells his part of it during the course of EVFIL, but I wondered what Tabitha's view was. Naturally, the only thing to do when you have a question like that is to get writing!
So I did... the opening for the new story from Tabitha's POV is up on my FaceBook Author Page. Go ahead and give me a like, read the snippet, and let me know what you think.
Later this week...
How to Ruin a Perfect Thing -- because Evan is an expert at ruining relationships and there is a science to how this works.
How to Make Love Last -- we'll let Tabitha teach this one because she's got a better handle on what makes marriage.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)