Flash Fiction Friday #16 - Sapphire

This week's FFF piece developed out of my Black Earth series. Pearl is a character from that series who was created by hand by the witch, Evanescence, in the bowels of the Depths. Even though she was destined for destruction and malevolence, Pearl managed to escape and carve out her own destiny. This new character that I introduce in today's piece - Sapphire - seems to have been formed within the same circumstances. And much like Pearl, Sapphire wants nothing more than to get as far away from the Depths as possible.

Sapphire

They say that a rose by any other name is still a rose. I don’t believe that nonsense. A name has more impact than most people give it. At least, I would like to hope so.

I sit in my bone chair, the smell of death rising from the seat, filling the air with the putrid scent of decay. I’m not sure how much longer I can stand this place before I concede to madness. Looking around at the walls that imprison me, my stomach churns at the site of the splattered blood and the random skulls embedded within the walls. Hollow eyes searching me, wanting to know why I would despise a place such as this.

I was born here. Well, created here. My mother, Evanescence, pieced me together. She had high hopes that I would follow her and her army into darkness. But I will not. I cannot. Something else compels me not to. Something else pursues me. Something else is...drawing me from her.

I dart up from my bone chair, thoughts racing through my mind wondering where all of the bones came from. People. Dead people. Humans slaughtered by the army I am supposed to help command. I rush to the mirror framed by black-painted bone, and I look upon myself. My form is slender, my eyes are bright and beautiful with their cobalt hue. I want nothing more than to shed myself of this raggedy black gown. My hair, dark and flowing like oil, could be cut short and I would be happy. Very happy. I just want to be clean, to be rid of this filth.

Maggots crawl near my feet, scattering out of a rotten chunk of indiscernible fruit tucked away into the corner of the room. I leap backwards, frightened of the worms, terrified of the filth they carry.

I tuck myself into a different corner – the only clean corner in the room – and I work hard to stop my stomach from casting its contents across the cement. Suddenly, the skulls in the walls begin chattering, their jaws moving on their own accord, their hollow eye sockets looking upon me.

“Stop,” I whisper.

Their chattering increases, the annoying sound turning into words. My name. My old name.

“Sapphire. Sapphire. Sapphire.”

“Stop!” I scream.

Their chattering refuses to miss a beat in the steady rhythm of incessant droning. “Sapphire. Sapphire. Sapphire.”

“My name...my name is not Sapphire. It is Abigail. Abigail. Not Sapphire.”

“Sapphire. Sapphire. Sapphire.”

I rush to the nearest skull in the adjacent wall and grab hold of the bottom portion of its jaw. I break it free, scattering the fragments of bone across the floor. The rest of the skulls stop their chant.

“My name is Abigail. Not Sapphire. Sapphire does not exist. I exist. And my name is Abigail.”

I have to  wonder if Pearl went through this before she escaped this horrible place. 

The Spigot - Brand New Black Earth Story On The Untold Podcast

The Spigot is a story I recently wrote for Nathan Norman's Untold Podcast. Nathan turned the story into an audio drama, and I would love to have you all listen to it if you get a chance. The Spigot takes place after the events of my Black Earth series, but doesn't contain any spoilers really, so you can take a listen even if you haven't picked up any of the books in my series.

Flash Fiction Friday #0 - Valentine

It's here, folks! The first Flash Fiction Friday. Fridays are meant for winding down, goofing off, and getting ready for the weekend. That's why I picked Friday's to put out some new fiction for you to enjoy. The perfect start to your weekend.

Today's piece is entitled Valentine and involves a brand new character by the same name. The timing of this piece is a few months after the Black Earth series. The Dark War is over, the Earth is tattered and torn, and settlements are starting to pop up in different areas around the globe. One particular settlement has been erected out of the ruins of a city many fans of my Black Earth series will be familiar with - Providence.

So, without further ado, I proudly present the very first Flash Fiction Fridays piece....

Valentine
Her feet hurt from the thousand mile hike from Serentina to the dark valley that stood between her and the city on the other side. Or rather, what used to be a city. Providence - once a sanctuary for those wanting to flee the Dark Army - had been reduced to rubble once Evanescence and her forces of evil marched through the city months earlier. Valentine wished she could have been here to help defend against the witch, but Fate had given her another destiny to fulfill. One just as satisfactory. One involving killing – and lots of it.

Valentine pulled her crimson cloak tight in front of her, making a mental note to tailor a bigger sized cloak once she was finished with her business here. The cloak she wore now seemed to be shrinking, and soon her skin would be left exposed to the cold. 

With a final push of determination, she began her short trek through the valley. Her night vision – a gift bestowed upon her by the Sec – allowed her to maneuver around the dead bodies strewn across what was once a battlefield. Now it stood only as a graveyard to mark humanities darkest season. The stench of blood and entrails rose into her nostrils and she breathed it in as if it were enhanced oxygen meant to nourish her lungs, lending a metallic taste to the back of her throat, soothing her somewhat enraged mind.

When she reached what were once the tall gates of Providence – now a heap of stone and ash – she took a moment to observe the scattered candlelight, kept alight within small glass canisters that hung from different points throughout the city to give it its soft, orange glow. The scent of burning wood tickled the back of her throat, replacing the metallic blood fever, and she remembered campfires with friends before the Sec took hold of her, before she became who she was today – an assassin slave.

The sound of footsteps came at her from the right, but she did not flinch, nor did she pull out her ancient Scion blades to attack the individuals responsible. Instead, she held her head down, underneath the hood of her cloak, and folded her hands within each other. The less anyone could see of her, the better. She glanced down at her worn, brown boots and wondered if she could find a new pair of shoes in this place. It would require money or rummaging, neither of which she was willing to offer up. She would already have to expel her energy on crafting a new cloak from the special material she had acquired in the last place she had the chance to call home.

Four figures came out of the shadows, each holding a weapon: a chain link, a bat, a two-by-four, and a pistol. The fourth figure, the one with the pistol, was female. Valentine could deduce that from the individual’s simple hourglass shape, even though the woman could easily be mistaken for a man from the garb she wore. Each individual wore a patchwork of leather and metal pieces, giving them the appearance of bandits.

The man with the bat grunted, stopping a few feet in front of Valentine. “Look at this pretty specimen. I didn’t think cuties like you still existed.”

“Little Red Riding Hood!” the guy with the chain link squealed.

The third man and the woman both remained silent. Valentine decided to give them a chance to talk their friends out of doing anything stupid. Valentine wanted to fight, wanted to cast the blood of these four morons across the streets of Old Providence - as it had been called by some - but she would control herself if it meant she could complete her task and leave sooner rather than later.

“What brings you here?” the man with the bat asked.

Valentine said nothing. Her goal, the reason she was here in Old Providence, lay just up the street. She could sense the corpse.

The man with the bat stepped closer, cautiously attempting a peek under Valentine’s hood. “I asked you a question.”

Valentine moved her arms up, adjusting her sleeves, flashing the sun mark on her right hand, and then returned to her original position.

The man with the bat raised his weapon. “I asked you a question, Little Miss Red.”

The female with the gun grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “You don’t want to do that,” she whispered.

“Why the hell not? This is our city.” He turned to Valentine. “We don’t take kindly to trespassers.”

“Because,” the woman with the gun explained, “I’m pretty sure this is Valentine. The mark on her hand...the Sec owns her.”

The man’s eyes scanned Valentine, his teeth grinding loudly as he did it. “Impossible. The Sec died in the war.”

“She’s right,” the man with the two-by-four stated. “That cloak...see how it shimmers?”

The man with the bat took a closer look at the material that made up Valentine’s red cloak. “That doesn’t mean it’s blood. Could be silk.”

The man with the two-by-four nudged the man with the bat, moving him to the side. “Please,” he said to Valentine, “we don’t want any trouble. Get what you came here to get, and please be on your way.”

Valentine wasted no time in passing between the four individuals to continue into Old Providence.

“You’re going to let her in just like that?” the man with the bat grumbled. “She could be a thief.”

“We have nothing to steal,” the sensible man said. “Besides, I’m sure she’s Valentine. I recognize that cloak anywhere.”

“Soaked in the blood of her enemies,” the female added.

Valentine left them to their pointless discussion. Whether Valentine was a thief or not, she would have entered the city, either through peaceful means or by force. Bloody good force.

Walking down the street, Valentine looked up from beneath her hood at the rubble on both sides of her and attempted to match the layout with the pictures she had seen of what Providence looked like before the Dark War. She imagined the tall buildings, the beautiful lights, the little shops. She let her imagination run rampant, imagining horrific scenes of terror when Legion and the Dark Army entered the city. Chaos, Evanescence, Legion’s master entity. Nathan Pierce had fought them all. In the end, Evanescence took her army and ravaged the city. Then she went after those who had fled to the mountains, but by the time she reached them, everyone had found hiding places within the caves and forests. The witch wasted no time in setting the forests on fire, and sending her demon Hellhounds into the caves. Hundreds were slaughtered.

Valentine saw the massive black puddle of dragon’s blood shimmering across the concrete and then scanned the area for the corpse she was here to collect. Positioned on the sidewalk, encircled by clusters of various colored flowers and tea lights, a large mass of white sheets caught her attention. Valentine approached to examine the pile and found that the symbol of the Sec had been clumsily painted on the top sheet, telling her this was the body she was here to retrieve: the body of a hero. This was the body of a girl who had fought the dragon, Chaos. This was the body of a girl who had sacrificed her life for the one she loved, to give him a chance to battle the darkness, to give him a chance to escape.

Without ceremony, Valentine lifted the mass of sheets – all of which were wrapped tightly around the corpse – in her arms and began her long journey back to Serentina.

Zazzle Stores Now Open!

I am happy to announce the opening of the two Zazzle stores I've been working on. Each store is still a little rough around the edges, but I'll be working on them in the next few weeks to get them to 100%.

The first store is called Defiance Goods, and features products created around my Black Earth novel series. The second store is called Nokei Curiosities, and features products created around my Expired Reality novel series. Right now, I have a few basic items in each shop - like watches, medallions, keychains, and even an exclusive 2013 Christmas ornament, but my plan is to add new items and designs to each store each week.

Check out what I have going in both shops and order something for yourself or for someone you know who is a fan of my writing! All of it just in time for the holidays.

NaNoWriMo Update #2 - Over 22,000 Words So Far

This afternoon, I crossed the 22,000 word count line in my NaNoWriMo novel, The LZR Project. Out of the thirty-four episodes (short stories) I plan to write, I have at least nine full episodes sketched out. The amazing thing that I am encountering while I blow through this NaNo goodness is that my Black Earth series is pushing itself into my storylines, connecting the dots between both of my novel series (Black Earth and Expired Reality) and even answering some questions that readers of my Black Earth series may have had after reading the entire series - such as what happened to Ryn at the end of the series? And as always happens in my novels, certain surprise characters are begging (or forcing) their way into cameos or important roles in some of the stories.

Writing these episodes is so much fun, I almost don't want NaNo to end. But even when it does end, even after I do reach the 50,000 word count goal, I will continue writing because I would like to start releasing these episodes near the beginning of next year, and to do that, I want to have the entire series written out, edited, and with cover designs.

My goal now is to reach 25,000 words by the end of this weekend, and end next week with my ninth year of NaNo under my belt.

NaNo Prep - Side Character Story - Vector

Today's Writing.com October NaNoWriMo Prep Challenge is to write up a background story for one of the side characters in my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel, The LZR Project. In this short snippet, I go into a bit of detail about my character, Vector, who was originally introduced in my Black Earth series as a time-traveling heroine.

Vector

The rain fell like drops from a sprinkler system, drops she used to run through as a child on hot summer days. She could smell the sunshine in those memories, hear her siblings laughing as they ran through the grass. Her heart warmed with the thought and brought a rare smile to her face. But all too soon the memory faded, and she was faced with the reality of the cold wind and temperamental weather.

Vector didn’t bother pulling her soaked cloak closer to her flesh, as it had lost its ability to keep her warm with the storm’s precipitation. Instead, she braved the cold as she sat at the very top of the Eiffel Tower and marveled at the beauty of Paris. Lights scattered around the city shone like jewels, sparkling beneath the sheet of rain. She took a deep breath of humid air and forced herself to soak in the memory of this moment. Ever since she was a little girl, she had wanted nothing more than to visit Paris. And now, here she was, at the top of the Eiffel Tower, taking a break from time traveling. Taking a break from her blessed curse.

She opened her eyes and examined her hands, watching rain water carry the blood from her wounds. Each stream traveled down her fingers, to the tips, and then careened off of her and into the great expanse below. It had a cleansing affect, not only on her physically beat up form, but on her mind as well. Her ability to time travel was doing things to her mind – warping it, bending it, sabotaging it. She did her best to fight back, forcing herself to remember her younger years, forcing herself to remember who she was beneath the waterlogged cloak, beneath the bloody rags, beneath her scarred flesh.

That was why she had come to Paris – to remind herself of who she was. It had been one of her childhood dreams to come here. Now that she was here though, all she wanted to do was leap back into the timestream and do what she could for David Corbin. She had so much to warn him about, so many of Mr. Big’s tricks to alert him to, so many obstacles to hold his hand through. But even though there was so much she could do, it didn’t mean she would do it all. She wanted to help David stop Mr. Big. That was it. She didn’t want to dip her hands into history or the future too much. She had a gift (more a curse, sometimes) and she wanted to use it to save humanity. To save humanity, she would have to help David stop Mr. Big. Once that was done, she could die peacefully. Without regret. Without second thoughts. Without screwing up all of eternity with her meddling.
 

Vector felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she fought them away, telling herself it was just rainwater on her face. Now was not a time to be weak. Even though the timestream was tearing her body apart, she had to keep bandaging herself and keep moving forward. David needed her. Humanity needed her.
 

She felt for the ring on the middle finger of her left hand. The skin had long since melted and formed around the piece of radioactive jewelry, deforming her hand so badly that she hated to look at that particular finger. Instead of examining her shortcomings, she closed her eyes and thought of her next destination: Lysallis – that city of sin and grace.

Tiki-Toki and Timelines

A while back I published an interactive timeline that I created using Tiki-Toki, an absolutely brilliant online timeline creator. My struggle in the beginning was to figure out what to post on the timeline without spoiling the books in my series for those who haven't read them yet. I wanted to give the fans something unique to dive into, but not make it so in depth with plot information that I ruin things for new readers. So, I slapped together a basic chronology of events I felt could fill a small timeline and left things alone.

Lately, with me taking a harder look at the facets of my writing business, I've realized I've been throwing away a really great resource that can be used to draw new readers into my series as well as satisfy the sense of discovery most of my fans have. The timeline that Tiki-Toki allows you to create enables you to import images, write small stories according to what you want in the timeline entries, and even link to outside content - such as purchase links for my books, or character profiles on my own website. You can even put in audio and video files, neither of which I've had the time to mess with though.

Seeing how this has been a neglected resource for me, I've spent the last couple of days updating the timeline with some new images and background, and tweaking some of the settings here and there. And over the next couple of weeks, I will be writing out new entries and polishing up the ones that are already in there. I'm even going to be connecting the timeline to VRKA - once VRKA is live and functional on my website.

I still have a ton of additions and updates to do to the timeline, but for now you can browse what I have and explore the world of my Black Earth and Expired Reality series.

Anaisha

In today's post, I want to talk a bit about Anaisha - the planet my Expired Reality series takes place on. Anaisha's origins are a mystery, but the manner in which humanity built a civilization upon the planet is not. It is revealed through the Black Earth series (which is a prequel series to the ER series) that Strangeways Silver, owner of SilverTech Industries, 'founded' the planet and claimed it as humanity's next inhabitable world. For years, Mr. Silver sent teams of scientists, architects, builders, and other personnel to begin establishing a major city on the planet. This city is Lysallis.

Lysallis eventually stretched into outlying areas, and after some time the continent of Enera was colonized. During the events of the Black Earth series, Legion and the Dark Army invade Earth and humanity is forced to flee in SilverTech shuttles to Anaisha. The ER series takes place 80 years after this event, and by this time most of Enera is populated and under a government that mimics much of the government in our own United States, with a presidential elect, and a solid judicial system.

Anaisha has a sun much like Earth's, and a blue moon. The planet enjoys a steady pattern of four seasons. Anaisha's atmosphere is filled with an element known as rhodenine - possibly debris from a recently destroyed planet, and the continent of Enera is dotted with wedge-shaped machines called Anaishan Purifiers which were put in place to clear the air of the harmful chemicals that were released while SilverTech Industries colonized Enera.

Enera isn't the only continent on Anaisha though, and as the series unfolds, new areas of the planet will be revealed. So far the Far Lands has been mentioned. This is an area of extreme wilderness where very few venture and even fewer return from.

Fun fact: When I penned the first novel in the Expired Reality series - Endangered Memories - I had originally spelled the name of this planet ANASHA. My intent has always been for the middle 'A' to be pronounced the same way the 'A' is pronounced in the word 'Aim'. But when people started pronouncing it as it's spelled, I realized I needed an 'I' in there to correct things.

What To Expect...

As many of you know, my Black Earth series has come to its conclusion (in regards to full-length novels) with the release of Exodus. However that doesn't end the story of humanity's struggle against the alien force known as Legion or the Dark Army under Satan's command. Planets are still being engulfed in Legion's darkness, and the Great Witch Evanescence and her cohorts are still pushing  creation toward the brink of extinction.

The storyline that the Black Earth series set up continues in my other series, Expired Reality. Expired Reality is the series that I first began writing in when I was eleven - back in 1990. The characters, the plots, and the main feel of the series has gone through many revisions, but now that the Black Earth series has been established as a foundation for the master storyline, I know (for the most part) what direction I want to go with the Expired Reality series.

In the upcoming weeks, I'll be writing posts that give you more information about my Expired Reality series, including -

- An introduction post to get you acquainted with the series as a whole, including a brief intro to certain events and characters that carry over from the Black Earth series.

- Character introductions which will include background on many of the main characters of the ER series, including David Corbin, Carrie Green, Turquoise-Wedge, and Mr. Big.

- Posts that go into depth regarding the world structure of Anaisha (An-ā-sha) - the planet that the ER series takes place on (initially).

- Posts that go into the religious (or lack thereof) aspects of Anaisha.

- Other fun/interesting posts that come to mind.

I will also be cross-referencing my posts with the official Compendium, so if you ever want to reference the topics discussed in the future, they will be easily accessible from the official website. Additionally, I will be continually adding to the official timeline - a handy reference for those of you who are fans of both series and are interested in having a visual guide to where each of my books fits (chronologically) into the Black Earth/ Expired Reality universe.

I'm looking forward to bringing everyone up to speed on a series that has been close to my heart since I was a mere child. Stay tuned for the posts to begin next week!

A Quick Update

As you can all tell, I've been away from my blog for the last week or so. Don't worry, it's nothing any of you did. I've just been busy packing up our home for our upcoming move to San Francisco to take part in the Canvas church plant. I figured I'd drop in today and let you all know what I have planned on the horizon - things I'm aiming to get done in the upcoming months...

1. The Crossover Alliance Giveaway
The big giveaway via The Crossover Alliance is over, and I will be announcing the winners tomorrow, both through my usual social networking outlets and this blog.

2. Expired Reality Cover Design
Since I have moved the Expired Reality series out of the young adult market, I have some new cover designs I'll be working on. I already have basic groundwork set up for these, I just have to find some time to work on them.

3. The Black Earth/Expired Reality Timeline
This nifty timeline I created needs to be updated and improved upon. I have some ideas on linking character profiles to the timeline and maybe even some short fiction pieces, but it's another project that will take me some time to build out.

4. The Black Earth Quad Pack
I do have plans of combining the four novels in my Black Earth series into a digital four-pack, similar to my Black Earth Double Pack.

5. The 3rd Novel in the Expired Reality Series (Tentatively Titled: Dark Horizons)
This novel has been through many revisions over the last few years, but has yet to see daylight. This is the main manuscript I will be working on this year once I'm finally settled in San Francisco. The novel will serve as the groundwork to bring the Expired Reality series into the edgier feel that the Black Earth series contains.

6. More Goodies
I have some more side stories, novellas, and Black Earth/Expired Reality content I want to work on this next year, so keep your eyes peeled! For now, I'm heading back into my mess of an office to get this room packed up and ready for the Bay Area!

Saying Goodbye To Young Adult Fiction

I've been wrestling with something for quite some time now. For the past few years, I've had two running novel series - Black Earth and Expired Reality. The Expired Reality series has actually been around since I was a mere eleven years old because it was the capsule for some of my very first writing. It has also been marketed this entire time as Young Adult. The Black Earth series, on the other hand, began a few years ago and just recently came to a close at four novels. Black Earth was an experiment on mixing genres, finding my writing style, and thumbing my nose at convention. Okay, maybe those weren't the intended purposes of writing the series, but more like side effects of writing outside the lines of convention.

Over the course of this last decade, the Expired Reality series has been self-published, rewritten, self-published again, rewritten again, self-published again, put on hiatus - it all makes my head spin. Trying to find my voice in what I sought to form into an epic young adult series actually turned out to be a lesson in smacking my head against a wall until it bled.

And now I know why.

It's become increasingly difficult for me to put attention and passion into the Expired Reality series these past few years because I've wanted so bad for it to follow in the footsteps of my Black Earth series. Black Earth encompasses Christian themes with edgy content and speculative fiction. It's raised some controversy, it's received fairly good reviews, and it has helped me find my voice as a writer. And why shouldn't my Expired Reality series follow in its footsteps? The Expired Reality series takes place in the same universe, only 100 years later, with some of the same characters. But if you read through both series, you'll find that they each have a unique voice, and one is definitely edgier than the other.

A good friend of mine asked just the right question the last time I visited him. He asked me what my writing goals were now that I had finished the Black Earth series. And I answered by telling him that now it would be the Expired Reality series all the way. At least twelve novels, countless short stories and novellas, and even some side series. Of course, I have some plans to sketch out some side stories for the Black Earth series, but overall, my Expired Reality series is where the majority of my efforts will be put toward from here on out.

Then my friend asked me about the challenges I am going to face marketing the Expired Reality series as edgy Christian young adult fiction. To market something as edgy and Christian has been a bit of a challenge itself, but the Black Earth series has proven that it is a unique genre in its own right. But to label something as edgy, Christian, and young adult brings along some unwanted hurdles. Out of all fictional genres, I believe young adult has the most boundaries/rules/expectations surrounding it. Certainly every genre comes with reader expectations - when you pick up a mystery, you expect to dive into a whodunnit. When you pick up science fiction, you expect to travel to other worlds or encounter sentient life in far reaches of the galaxy.

When you pick up young adult fiction, the elements within it are only 'supposed' to reach a certain limit. Violence, sexual situations, language - all these things have caps on them in young adult fiction, and for good reason. Young adult fiction is targeted at just that - young adults. And we really don't want to be filling their head with all sorts of crap. That being said, I am well aware that there are young adult series - many of them - that center around edgy content, most particularly sex. But there's still a certain expectation as to what boundaries an author is to cross when penning in a young adult novel.

Tie 'Christian' to the young adult genre, to those expectations, and things become even more restricted.

One important question came to me through this discussion I had with my friend: Where was I going to be able to go with my ER series if I kept it under the young adult title? My friend then pointed out that he didn't think I really wanted to write young adult anymore. And he was the first of two people - different instances - who stated the same observation.

It's a hard fact to swallow, that I don't want to write young adult anymore. It's the genre I started out in, it's the genre I figured I'd be writing in throughout the majority of my life. But alas, I know it's time to turn away from the young adult title. Time to strip off the tag, break the chains, and move forward in the direction my Black Earth series set the foundation for.

In this regard, my Expired Reality series will no longer be marketed under the YA heading. Instead, I will collect it - all of it - under my edgy Christian speculative fiction label. The first two novels in the series, Endangered Memories and Lost Birth, will not be rewritten, neither will Picture Perfect, the first novella in the series. The stories and characters are exactly how I want them to be moving forward in the Expired Reality series. And as the series moves along, my readers can expect it to take on a slightly Black Earth feel in regards to edgy content. My Expired Reality series will still hold its own feel - I do want the Black Earth and Expired Reality series to stand separate from each other to some degree - but you'll be able to sense the Black Earth styling as the Expired Reality series moves forward.

Pulling away from the YA label and moving forward under the umbrella of edgy Christian speculative fiction brings about another change to the Expired Reality series - cover design. In the next week, you'll see the cover designs change for the Expired Reality books that are already on the market. Moving forward, every book in the series will hold a common design structure, but each will differ slightly from each other in color and other small details. I want to thank Jelani Parham - my good friend and writing buddy - for creating the covers that I've been using, and the fact that the cover art is going to be changed up in no way implies I have been unhappy with his work, simply that the look and feel of the books needs to not be specifically aimed at young adults.

I am really excited about these changes, and I hope you as my readers are as well. Collecting all of my writing under one common genre frees me up to make the characters, story lines, and themes more consistent with each other, and will allow me to experiment a bit more than I would have been able to having stayed under the young adult label.

The Crossover Alliance Giveaway

There is a big giveaway going on right now on the community that I run - The Crossover Alliance, and in it, you can win some great edgy Christian speculative fiction. Here's some info on the books being given away, along with the Rafflecopter entry form -

The Black Earth Series by yours truly -

On the evening of Nathan Pierce's high school graduation, the stars begin to fall from the sky, crashing into Earth at an alarming rate. With the world in panic, an unforgettable cast of characters come together to face off against a darkness that threatens to destroy our planet.







Running Black by Patrick Todoroff -
It's 2059 and the North Korean mercenary Tam Song heads up Eshu International: a private security team that will take any job for the right price, no questions asked. Based in the Belfast Metro Zone, they're the best black contract outfit on the planet.

Stable nano-technology: the melding of man and machine on a microscopic level. It's a break-through worth billions no one's been able to achieve. Until now. The Dawson Hull Conglomerate has finally developed a viable Nanotech Neural Network; an interface system that exponentially increases a person's cyber-capabilities. They're days away from unveiling the prototype to the world.

Eshu International just got hired to steal it.

The Maze by Jason Brannon -

A near death experience transports Jamie Burroughs into The Maze, a realm every bit as peculiar as Lewis Caroll's Wonderland, yet engineered with the moral intent of C.S. Lewis' Narnia. Built by angels and demons and filled with traps and riddles, The Maze gives whoever enters a face-to-face encounter with their sins.

For Jamie, The Maze becomes a terrifying journey through a world of darkness where his soul and the lives of those he loves hangs in the balance. With his family in danger and his soul in peril, Jamie is forced to reevaluate the kind of man he truly is as he struggles to escape The Maze before it’s too late.

The Age of Apollyon by Mark Carver -

Notre-Dame Cathedral lies in ruins. The mangled corpses of the possessed are scattered in the shadows beneath the pulverized Gothic towers. This is the aftermath of the Manifestation....

Satan has revealed himself to the world, which falls trembling at his feet. Religious genocide sweeps Europe and Asia, and the world's greatest fortresses of faith are smashed to the ground. The New World and Australia become safe havens for refugees fleeing Lucifer's wrath.

Heaven remains silent. The followers of Christ cry out: Where is God?

Patric Bourdon believes in himself. He claims to be a member of the Church of Satan, but in reality, it is his own hedonism that drives him. His zealous and pregnant fiancée waits patiently for him to "man up" and take responsibility for his impending family, but the lure of drugs and debauchery proves too strong....

Until Patric receives a command that he cannot refuse.

Tourec, his self-righteous half-brother, has begun a campaign of terrorism against the forces of darkness. The Church of Satan is paralyzed with fear as Tourec and his band of rogue assassins seek vengeance for the evils that Lucifer has wrought upon the earth, and Patric is commanded to seek out and neutralize his brother by any means necessary....

Or his fiancée and unborn child shall perish.

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2013 - A New Season

Well, 2012 is finally behind us. I can't say it was my favorite year, but it certainly wasn't a bad one. Challenging, yes, but not bad.There were many highlights to the year that made those challenges worthwhile. I published two novels - Black Earth: Dark Masquerade and Black Earth: Exodus. My wife and I celebrated our seven year wedding anniversary. My son turned one. It was a great year.

I learned a lot of things by the end of 2012, especially in terms of being a self-published author. I learned that edgy Christian speculative fiction can be a viable genre. I learned that FB can be a minefield of timesuck. I learned that all the rules that other authors give for self-published authors to follow aren't always the right ones for me - such as getting myself plugged into as many social networking outlets as possible, and taking five years to write a book. I learned that I am unique - both as an individual and as an author - and that I need to utilize this uniqueness in the public field.

2013 brings with it a slew of new challenges for me, both personally and professionally. My wife and I have plans to move to San Francisco early in the year to take part in a church plant called Canvas. I will resume writing in my young adult series, Expired Reality, and FINALLY get the third book in that series finished and published. Our son will turn two, and my wife and I will celebrate eight years of wedded bliss. This will be a fantastic year. I'm sure there will be ups and downs, I'm sure I'll laugh and cry, hurt and heal. But that is life.

Most of all, I will write. I have never been one to actually stick to a writing regime. I usually write when I 'feel like it', and a majority of my writing frenzy occurs during National Novel Writing Month. This year though I am committing to an hour of writing each day. This commitment will help me learn to separate my writing time from my editing time. Editing is not writing - necessarily.

I am also making a commitment to cut out a good portion of my social networking pursuits. I've already purged my FB friend list on my personal profile from over 1500 friends to 115. I'll use my actual author page to promote my work and interact with my fans, and my personal profile to interact with friends and family. I've also cut out Red Room, Writing.com, and some other sites, simply because I don't have to the time to dip my foot in all these swimming pools, and because I don't have a lot of time to interact with other authors. Readers are who I need to be interacting with, so I'll be spending some more time over in the Kindle and Nook forums, Goodreads, and my FB pages.

Another place I'll be spending more time in is The Crossover Alliance, an online community I built for readers/writers of edgy Christian speculative fiction. I have some more content I want to add to the site - reviewers/readers who enjoy this type of fiction, some giveaways, and more resources for those wishing to self-publish in this particular genre.

I will also be taking a serious look at what I want to accomplish with my blogging habits in this new year. I've had a difficult time coming up with new content for this blog simply because I've tried multiple times to streamline the content I put up here to topics relevant to self-publishing or my own writing experience. This strategy has hindered me in regards to being more 'unique', in that I haven't really delved too deeply into showing the world a lot about me per say. I have written posts regarding my hobbies or the things I like, but those posts have been few and far between. And they are probably some of my favorite posts to write.

2013 will be great! Not just good, but great! So as we venture into this new year together, keep your eyes peeled on this blog for a few minor changes in content, and look for me at the streamlined list of social networking hubs I'll be visiting from time to time.

Onward into 2013 I venture!

Photo Copyright Michal C. Alderman

Black Earth: Merry Christmas

Seeing how Christmas is just around the corner, I figured now was a good a time as any to release a collection of short stories I wrote a few years ago, all of which tie into my Black Earth series. The collection is named Black Earth: Merry Christmas, and each story gives a glimpse into the lives of Nathan Pierce, Alpha 1, and Evanescence during the holiday season before the first novel, End of the Innocence, begins.

Black Earth: Merry Christmas is available - for free - as a PDF download exclusively through my website. So head on over there and grab your copy now!

Start At The Beginning...

In celebration of the release of the fourth - and final - novel in my Black Earth series, Exodus, I've dropped the price of the digital (Kindle, Nook, etc.) edition of the first book in the series, End of the Innocence, to 99 cents through the month of December. Grab it for yourself, your friends, or anyone who's been wanting to check out some edgy Christian speculative fiction!

The End is Here

Today is the official release day for Black Earth: Exodus, the fourth and final full-length novel in my Black Earth series. The road to this momentous occasion has been a tough and trying one - both personally and professionally - but I'm very glad to present to all of you the final chapter in my edgy Christian speculative fiction series...

In the midst of the world's darkest nightmares, light shines the brightest...

In what began as a star falling in the distant Phoenix sky, Legion's invasion of Earth has led Nathan Pierce through the twisted depths of the human spirit in search of his family and truth. After a bloody and brutal confrontation with the President of the United States in Echo city, Nathan and his friends find themselves on a new path leading through the Broken Lands—toward the city of Providence, California, the battleground upon which humanity will make a stand against the Dark Army and Legion itself.

But as Nathan's group journeys through bomb-ravaged cities and demon-infested highways to reach Providence, those determined to put an end to Nathan's life enact a final plan to stop him, his friends, and humanity as a whole. An offer is made to rewind time and put back the wrongs that Professor Grey’s time travels have caused. Everything can be restored. But at what cost?

While war rages across the planet, the fragmented shards of Shadowbanish come together to form a weapon that can finally tip the scales in humanity's favor, but only if the hero can endure the trials of Earth’s final days.

Black Earth: Exodus can be purchased in paperback at:
Createspace
Amazon.com

and in ebook format at:
Amazon.com (Kindle)
Barnes and Noble (Nook)
Smashwords (Other Formats)

New Release Date For Black Earth: Exodus

The paperback proofing of Black Earth: Exodus went surprisingly well, with nearly no errors to speak of. To that end, I'm going to push up the release date for the ebook and paperback editions of the book to Tuesday, December 4th. I'm also going to be doing some giveaways shortly after the release, so stay tuned to this blog to find out more about that.

In other news, I completed NaNoWriMo! This was my eighth year in a row participating and completing the challenge. Some might say it's time for a break, but I say no way. I have many projects I've been wanting to work on that I haven't had time to mess with because of NaNo and Black Earth: Exodus, but now that both are sliding off my plate, I can focus on marketing for Exodus, building up The Crossover Alliance, and spreading word about my entire Black Earth series.

The Light At The End Of The NaNoWriMo Tunnel

We're in the last week of November (I know, time flies!) and that means we're in the last week of NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month for those who still don't know what that means. Last night I crossed the 45,000 word mark, meaning I only have 5,000 more words I need to write this week and I will have accomplished NaNoWriMo for the 8th straight year.

Finishing NaNoWriMo is always a great accomplishment for me - it helps me learn writing discipline, gives me an excuse to cut out distractions in November, and also gives me a draft for an upcoming self-published book.

At the same time, I'm always a bit relieved when NaNoWriMo is over with because it means I can move that off my plate and move onto other projects I've had waiting in line. This is particularly true of this year, because November has been mostly consumed with NaNoWriMo and the formatting and completion of the fourth (and final full-length) novel in my Black Earth series, Exodus. I just received the proof copy of the paperback version of Black Earth: Exodus in the mail yesterday and from what I've seen, it came out without needing anymore revisions to the formatting or cover - meaning the release is imminent.

So with NaNoWriMo and Black Earth: Exodus moving off my plate, I can start pushing some marketing out the doors for Exodus, the Black Earth series as a whole, and the rest of my writing. I also want to dive into creating some merchandise through Zazzle, and put some more time and effort into building The Crossover Alliance community.

Great things are on the horizon! But, one thing at a time. I still have 5,000 more words to write in my NaNo novel before I can claim victory, so I'll see you on the other side.

Black Earth: Exodus Release Date Announced

I just uploaded the cover and manuscript of Black Earth: Exodus to Createspace to gain approval so I can order a proof copy of the paperback. That means the release of the book is drawing near! I have set the release date for the final volume in the Black Earth series to be Thursday, December 13th. On that day, both ebook versions and the paperback version of the book will be available for purchase. The paperback will be set at $12.95 and the ebook version at $2.99.

Here's the novel's synopsis:

In the midst of the world's darkest nightmares, light shines the brightest...

In what began as a star falling in the distant Phoenix sky, Legion's invasion of Earth has led Nathan Pierce through the twisted depths of the human spirit in search of his family and truth. After a bloody and brutal confrontation with the President of the United States in Echo city, Nathan and his friends find themselves on a new path leading through the Broken Lands—toward the city of Providence, California, the battleground upon which humanity will make a stand against the Dark Army and Legion itself.

But as Nathan's group journeys through bomb-ravaged cities and demon-infested highways to reach Providence, those determined to put an end to Nathan's life enact a final plan to stop him, his friends, and humanity as a whole. An offer is made to rewind time and put back the wrongs that Professor Grey’s time travels have caused. Everything can be restored. But at what cost?

While war rages across the planet, the fragmented shards of Shadowbanish come together to form a weapon that can finally tip the scales in humanity's favor, but only if the hero can endure the trials of Earth’s final days. 

NaNoWriMo Update

Okay, so it's Day 13 of National Novel Writing Month and I'm actually a day behind in my word count. Instead of doing NaNo yesterday, I spent the evening watching The Avengers with my wife. Decent movie, but overhyped, I think. I didn't really care for any of the Marvel movies leading up to it - except the first Iron Man - but The Avengers turned out to be worth seeing at least once for me. I have more interest in the Batman movies and in the possibility of a Justice League movie.

Anyway, I'm at 20,008 words so far in NaNo. Almost halfway there. As I've mentioned in another post, I ended up changing my NaNo project a few days into the month. Even though I spent each and every day in October doing activities via the Writing.com NaNo Prep Challenge to get ready for NaNo, I just couldn't bring myself to try and squeeze blood from a rock. The original NaNo idea I had - Black Earth: Spectrum - just wasn't cutting it for me. The characters were hollow, the plot contrived, and trying to write through it was agony.

Instead, I've been working on a novella that takes place between my Black Earth and Expired Reality series, and will serve as a bridge between the two to sum up how one leads into the other. I don't want to give away many details right now because the final book in the Black Earth series - Black Earth: Exodus - will be released next month, and to give away what's going on in my NaNo novel right now will spoil much of what happens in Exodus.