Friday, July 31, 2015

I'll Be a Guest at River City Comic Con in Marietta, Ohio


Just a quick announcement that I'll be a guest at River City Comic Con in Marietta, Ohio.

It's a one day convention (Saturday, August 15th) from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm, located at the:

Quality Inn
700 Pike Street
Marietta, OH

More details will follow, including the panel on which I'll be participating.

Hope to see you there!


 

Thursday, July 30, 2015

My Novels on the Shelf

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Figured I'd add a quick shot of my novels on the shelf at Around About Books.


Too bad they're not face out, as I think the cover art is a feature that would draw attention--better than many other novels, but maybe I'm not fully objective on that ;)

Unfortunately, like at every bookstore, shelf space is very limited.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Hiero's Journey by Sterling E. Lanier--getting a replacement copy

Yes, Hiero rides a Moose
Hiero's Journey is a novel that I picked up used way back in the mid 1980s and enjoyed. The second novel (The Unforsaken Hiero) in the series not so much, and Mr. Lanier did not manage to write an anticipated third in the series.

Anyway, Hiero's Journey was out of print when I first came across it, and it still is. My initial copy is suffering from age and use, so when I came across better copy at Around About Books, of course I picked it up...actually I waited several visits to see if anyone else might want it...an odd way of 'sharing' a good book I suppose.

Anyway, if you come across this post apocalyptic fantasy novel (it's available in ebook, but I've heard the formatting is not quite up to snuff), consider giving it a try.

Back of the book description:

Per Hiero Desteen was a priest, a telepath -- and a highly trained killer. Together with his great riding moose and the young bear who was his friend, he was on that seemed beyond even his extraordinary powers.

For this was five thousand years after the holocaust known as The Death, and the world was greatly changed. Now the evil Brotherhood of the Unclean was waging all-out war against the few remnants of normal humanity, determined to wipe out all traces of its emerging civilization.

Hiero's task was to bring back a lost secret of the ancients that might save humans who were ruled by the Abbeys. But his path lay through the very heart of the unknown territory ruled by the Unclean and their hordes of mutated, intelligent, savage beast followers.

And the Unclean were waiting for him!

Friday, July 17, 2015

Art Affair on the Square: Where I (the Literary Tent) will be Located

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Just a quick follow up with respect to the 11th Annual Art Affair on the Square.

I will be one of a number of authors at the Literary Tent for Art Affair on the Square in Urbana, Ohio, sponsored by Main Graphics.

Literary Tent Location
Addie J. King, Linda Johnson and more will be there with me, meeting readers, talking about reading and writing in a host of genres, and signing copies of our books.

Looking forward to you all stopping by!

Basic Info:
*July 18th from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm.
*Located where US Rt. 36 and US Rt. 68 Intersect
(North of Monument Square)
*Artists of all Kinds
(Painting, Drawing, Sculpting, Sewing, Crafts, Writing, etc.)

Link for Additional Details: Art Affair on the Square.
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Friday, July 10, 2015

Another Great Review for Soul Forge

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Following on the heels of two positive reviews of Flank Hawk and Blood Sword, Soul Forge earned a 5 Star review:

"Another outstanding story concerning the hero character called Flank Hawk. It's great knowing that once the adventure ends, there will be a duel between Flank Hawk and the former guard captain, who is expected to kill our hero. Plenty of excellent action takes place throughout this entire book! I look forward to reading other adventures of Flank Hawk!" --Predator51 

If you've not had the opportunity to give the First Civilization's Legacy Series a try, now is a good time.

Link: Where Available
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Wednesday, July 8, 2015

11th Annual Art Affair on the Square in Urbana, Ohio

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I'll be participating in the 11th Annual Art Affair on the Square, July 18th from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm. (Located where US Rt. 36 and US Rt. 68 intersect).

I'll be one of a number of authors in the Literary Arts Tent being sponsored by Main Graphics of Urbana. Plus, there will be all manner artists, crafts, food, games and activities for kids, and more.

Plan to stop by and see what's available. I'd love to discuss writing and even sign a book or two for you.

I'll post a reminder for more details, but until then here's a link for more details: The 11th Annual Art Affair on the Square
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Monday, July 6, 2015

Two Great Reviews over the Weekend


Flank Hawk & Blood Sword each earned a great (5 Star) review over the weekend:

A Most Unusual War
"A superb action packed story about an individual who becomes a mercenary during a most unique war. Not only must the hero named Flank Hawk battle an evil army of the dead with a sword and spear, he must face weapons from over two thousand years in the form of German tanks and planes previous seen during World War II. It was so enjoyable to read that I went ahead and bought the next two books in the series!" --Predator51

Even Better than the First Book!
"Once again an outstanding adventure story! They are still at war but battling a different army. Due to the loss of manpower from the previous war to include magic users and dragons, An elite team of warriors to include Flank Hawk must make a long journey to retrieve a most powerful weapon to prevent defeat against an army lead by a so-called god. Plenty of superb action!" --Predator51


If you haven't given them a try, maybe you should?
Link: Where Available 

Friday, July 3, 2015

An Interview with Author Emma Lindhagen

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Welcome to Up Around the Corner, Emma. Please, please us a little about yourself and your writing.

First of all, thank you for giving me this opportunity! To tell you a little about myself, I’m 27, born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, where I live with my boyfriend. I work part time as an administrator and am currently studying towards a BA in Arabic with Middle Eastern Studies, with a focus on Arabic Linguistics. I love languages and learning in general, and I consider myself a bit of a geek. Outside of work, school and my writing, I enjoy hanging out with my friends and talking for hours on end, binging on TV shows, taking walks, drinking tea, playing The Sims 2, doing my nails and organizing things! Seriously, give me a bag of mixed beads and some containers and I’ll be happy as Larry.

I’ve liked writing for as long as I’ve known how to hold a pen, and I was 11 when I first decided I wanted to be an author “when I grew up”. During my adolescence I spent countless hours doing text based role playing, primarily in a Harry Potter fan-RP setting, and wrote dozens of first chapters that never got a second chapter. Eventually I started doing NaNoWriMo regularly, which led to finally learning how to write more than a chapter of the same story, but even so it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I really started taking myself seriously as a writer. Teaching myself that writing is something I’m allowed to put a lot of time and effort into, even when I have assignments to work on, rather than just a hobby was what led me to finally publishing my first book, a novella called Going Home in the winter of 2014. I am currently in the later stages of editing its sequel, which is called Dress Rehearsal Rag and will be available in digital formats in early-mid June. I write in a range of genres but, with some exceptions, my stories tend to fall somewhere under the “speculative fiction” umbrella.

You appear to be a quite busy person, Emma. How do you prioritize so that you manage to find time for writing?

I do tend to be happiest when I have a lot of projects going, though it does get a bit much at times. The two keys to finding time for writing, for me, are permission and planning. The first is mental and emotional. I’ve come to a point where I’ve realized that I’m permitted to prioritize my writing, as long as my bills are paid and nothing in the kitchen is sprouting legs. I’m allowed to put writing before schoolwork, social activities and other projects, when I feel that’s something I need to do. That perspective is becoming easier and easier to maintain, but I still need to remind myself at times.

The planning part is more practical. I use various apps and systems to keep track of my plans on a long term basis (months and years) and a short term basis (weeks and days), and I use to-do lists religiously to schedule all my projects, including writing, into my daily life. On Mondays I post an update on my blog about what I’ve been up to in the week before and what my goals for the coming week are, and usually once I’m done I’ll assign the goals on that list to different days of the week. Planning helps me keep focused and keeps me from losing track of my writing amid everyday activities.

In what languages do you write, and work to have your works published?

Although Swedish is my native language, I mostly write in English. I’ve always been very fond of the language and enjoyed expressing myself in it, so I started writing poetry and some fiction in English when I was about 13. Around that age I started spending time online, making friends in other countries and of course the lingua franca then was English. The people on online messaging boards or websites like deviantArt were my first audience, so it felt natural to produce things in English. I was also very into text-based roleplaying, and through that I was writing interactive (fan)fiction in English, sometimes for hours every day, for several years. I think that’s why at this point writing fiction in English comes more easily to me than writing it in Swedish; those muscles are just more toned.

And then there’s the question of the market and who to sell books to. There’s no escaping that you reach a larger audience with English. That’s not to say I never write in Swedish, but since it’s more practical from a market perspective to write in English and I find it as easy, or perhaps even easier than to write in Swedish, I have decided that I will only write longer works in Swedish if I have a concrete reason (such as a story being set in present-day Sweden). I plan to write a YA fantasy series in Swedish at some point, set in a small Swedish town, but that’s still in the “simmering” stage where the idea isn’t ready to be worked with yet.

Once in a very blue moon, I write something in Arabic, which is a different experience altogether because my level is obviously not as high in that language and my vocabulary is very small. It’s challenging, but a lot of fun.

What is one place in the world that you would like to visit and why?

Oh gosh, that’s a hard question! There are a lot of places I’d like to visit, but I think right now New Zealand is on top of my list. The main reason for that is that most of my closest writing friends happen to be there, the people I consider to be part of my writing “tribe”. These are people who have been very supportive of my writing, and great sources of inspiration and friendship and it would just be so lovely to be able to go on a writing retreat or something with them. I met most of them during Camp NaNo a couple of years ago, when I somehow became the one Sweden in a cabin full of people from NZ and Australia.
Second on my list are the mountains in Lebanon.

That sounds like a great choice, Emma. What works have you had published to date and what are you working on now?

I published my debut novella, Going Home, in December 2014 and my second one, Dress Rehearsal Rag, which is a sequel to the first, was released just a few days. They detail the lives of a group of people, particularly my main character Orryn, who live in a dystopian society where sameness is valued and originality is frowned upon. The books are very relationship-focused, however. So as you can see, I’m quite new at this! I did publish a poetry book in my teens, too, but that’s not currently for sale anywhere.

Everyone has to start somewhere and it appears that you’re on your way.

Final Question: If you could have one individual (famous, infamous, or otherwise) read one of your works who would that be and why?

That’s a tough one! I’d probably wait a few years until I’ve got more works to choose from. But if that’s not an option, I’d send a copy of Going Home to Leonard Cohen. Both books in this series are named after songs by him, after all.

Makes sense, Emma. Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and share your thoughts.


If you’d like to learn more about Emma Lindhagen and her works, check out these links:

Website/Blog: www.emmalindhagen.com
Twitter: @EmmaLindhagen

Books on Smashwords:

Books on Amazon: