Book Trailers...

I just made two new book trailers for my novels, Magical Redemption and Magical Gains.

As you can see from watching them, I had a bit of fun. I'm not at all sure they're worth the effort, but still whilst I'm being naughty and not studying and being even naughtier and not writing, I decided I should do something to improve publicity for this series.

This is the "Magical Redemption" Trailer

And this is the "Magical Gains" which is a little quirkier perhaps than Redemption's.

Anyway, I'm curious, do trailers affect your choice of book? Do you seek them out to watch?
I confess that I do not choose to view book trailers, except if I am totally in love with a series and gagging for the next release. Due to my own attitude towards watching trailers, I am sceptical of their usefulness for the lesser known author.

Still, they're fun to make!

What do you think?

Six Line Sunday II - "Magical Creations"

Coming 7th October!

“I saw you today,” she said softly with a watery sniff.

“You what?” he asked, a quizzical eyebrow floating high on his brow.
“I had a daydream about you, and, I don’t know... I saw you.”
“What was I doing?” he asked, amusement tugging the edges of his lips up.
“Push- ups and sit ups.” Air rushed from her lungs at the memory of his body, hard and pumping.
“And?” he pressed gently.

[excerpt is subject to editing]

Hope you enjoyed it!

The Manticore - my favourite mythological beast!

(image:Manticore from The History of Four-footed Beasts (1607)

The manticore (aside from a Genie) is one of my most favourite mythological creatures.

A manticore is of Persian/Indian/ Mediterranean origin and is also called the manticora/mantichora. With the head of a man, the body of an enormous red lion, viciously spiked tail and rows of sharp teeth - it is generally considered to be a malevolent mythological beast. It is sometimes related to Sphynx, but, a Sphynx does not have the spiked tail nor the three rows of teeth and is of Greek / Egyptian origin.

Phil the Manticore is a character I created for my novel "Magical Gains". I created him because I confess, I am a little bored with the abundance of were-creatures that inevitably appear in most paranormal romances. Phil the manticore is the body guard of another character. As you can imagine, a beast with human intelligence and the body of an enormous lion would be a better choice of guard than a puny human with a gun especially when your foes are other magical beings.

To develop Phil's personality I looked at the creature as a whole. A strange, quirky looking thing. Imagine a human face stretched over the skull of a lion - its a bit gross and scary really. How would a person be able understand a manticore? Could you follow their expressions? Would they behave like a person, lion or something in between? Who knows?! So to combat this, I made Phil a slightly comical personality. He is not human, so he doesn't have human manners and this tends to make him rude. He makes inappropriate (but humourous) jibes and states things as he sees them.

As a result, the personality I gave to Phil enlivens a potentially incomprehensible mythological creature and enables the reader to like and understand what is otherwise quite unlikeable.

Yay for Manticores!

[There aren't many images of good manticores available - this one is from wikipedia and I confess, is NOTHING like I envision Phil. If you google manticore images, you'll find a lot of manticores seem to be lions with wings... which isn't a how they were originally described. Mythological and Magical Creatures tend to evolve over time depending on how they are used in literature and cinema, and I think the Manticore's sudden wing development is one of these evolutions.]

Good girls don't talk to Satyrs...

(image: British Museum, komos douris,http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/KomosDourisBME768.html)

So, I've just written a short story - something I never do - and it's about Satyr's!
In "Magical Gains" there are a few Satyrs - I love them, I find them shocking but also very amusing. For those of you who do not know, a Satyr is half man with goat like legs - and originally were the followers of Bacchus/Dionysus in Greek/Roman mythology (however some Satyrs in Greek mythology merely had pointed ears and a horses tail - see the image!). In "Magical Gains" as in mythology, the chief Satyr is Silenus, but the focus of my short story is Priapus another Satyr from "Magical Gains" (and mythology).

"Good girls don't talk to Satyrs," is set in the same world as "Magical Gains" and "Magical Creations". In this world, Magical Beings are simply considered minority beings, but sometimes the very nature of that Being is problematic to human society. Enter the Satyr - with an insatiable lust for human women. Generally disliked and mistrusted by humans, they are often blamed for sex crimes... So when Kim Quinn (desperately single and insecure) blows caution to the wind and allows Priapus the Satyr to sit beside her on the bus - things are destined to get messy!

Postscript: I now have plans to make "Good Girls Don't Talk to Satyr's into a full length novel. As I've currently got two other works in progress, it unfortunately will be a while coming. But...watch this space for updates.

Magical Creations

I am currently deep into writing "Magical Creations" - a follow-on story from "Magical Gains" based on the sub character of Omar. I am loving it, and trying to get as much written before my revisions for "Magical Gains" come in.

As a general rule, I don't like to edit one story whilst working on another - I don't want to risk any character confusion - especially with my heroines.

Primrose (from MG) is a gauche and awkward character - who gets embarrassed easily. She's not one for long and lengthy arguments or conversations. Antigone (from MC) is the opposite. She is blunt and very frank - and will argue quite freely with almost anyone. So when I'm writing Antigone - Primrose is far from my mind and vice verser.

Anyway, enough for now, I'm hitting the writing - I've been chasing these scenes around in my head all night and am desperate to get them onto paper!

Magical Gains

Well, I am delighted to say, that "Magical Gains" has been contracted to Eternal Press (see the link) and is due for tentative release in March 2011!

More details soon!