The Remnant Blog Tour

Hey everyone! Today, I'm welcoming William Michael Davidson to the Five Year Project as part of his blog tour.

William Michael Davidson lives in Long Beach, California with his wife and two daughters. A believer that "good living produces good writing," Davidson writes early in the morning so he can get outside, exercise, spend time with people, and experience as much as possible.

A writer of speculative fiction, he enjoys stories that deal with humanity's inherent need for redemption.

For more on Davidson and his writing, connect with him on Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, and Amazon Author’s Page.

Welcome to the Five Year Project, William. Since I'm all about goals on this blog, I was wondering about five-year goal. Tell me about it? 

My five year-goal is fairly simple.  Assuming The Remnant does well, I would like to finish the trilogy.  I have finished the first draft of the next novel, Mass Exodus, which is the sequel to The Remnant.  It’s going to take me several months to edit it and clean it up.  I would also like to write the third book in the trilogy.  In addition to finishing this series, I would like to publish another novel I recently finished, Storm Taken, and write an additional novel I have an idea for that is a bit larger (maybe 120,000 words or so).  So all in all, lots of writing and publishing in the next five years.

Colton Pierce apprehends Abberants—those who display symptoms of faith—and quarantines them on a remote island to ensure public safety.  Years prior, the government released a genetically-engineered super flu that destroyed the genes believed to be the biological source of spiritual experience in an effort to rid the world of terrorism. As an extractor with the Center for Theological Control, Colton is dedicated to the cause.

But Colton's steadfast commitment is challenged when he learns his own son has been targeted for extraction. An underground militia, the Remnant, agrees to help Colton save his son in exchange for his assistance with their plan to free the Aberrants on the island.

Colton is faced with the most important decision of his life. Remain faithful to the CTC? Or give up everything to save his son?

THE REMNANT is available to order in eBook form at the following sites:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iTunes

The print format of the book is available at these sites:

Amazon 

Barnes & Noble

Chapters-Indigo

Book Depository

Foyles

Mediander

Fiction DB

Thanks for stopping by, William! What do you guys think of the cover? Cool, isn't it? 

Hello from the new year!

I can't believe it, but this is my first post for the year 2016. Which, in a sense means that this is really the first day of my new year too.

As such, I've decided to start rough drafting again. Good idea in theory. Except it turned out that the heat and lack of use of my fountain pen resulted in it totally clogging up. Which means I'm currently sitting with a jug of water next to my laptop, submersing the pen's tip to unclog it. It'll probably take a few more hours before I'll be able to use it again. But hey, at least in this heat (fourth day in a row where temperatures were higher than 40 degrees Celsius), the tip will dry quickly. 

In the meantime, I decided that it's time to update my blog a bit. I actually made the back-ground myself, and maybe I'm biased, but it's giving me the warm-and-fuzzies to look at. It just feels so clean and light and different. 

Then, I also decided I'm going to bring back two regular features on Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

On Tuesdays (possibly starting next week), I'll be sharing news snippets. This'll be everything from cool posts, to blogfests/hops, books being released etc. So if you have a piece of news you'd like for me to share, please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with News in the subject line. This is especially important if you want to make sure your news is shared here, because with the amount of blogs I visit, I might not spot your particular piece of news on a given day. Also, you can let me know someone else's good news if you don't think I know about it yet.

On Thursdays I'd like to host other bloggers. You don't HAVE to have a book to sell. You can just advertise your blog this way if you want. (Also, please note that if you're trying to arrange a blog-tour you don't have to post on Thursdays. This is just a nice open day for everyone to use regardless of publishing status.) For more information or to book a guest post date (all Thursdays are currently open), please mail me at mishagericke(AT)gmail(DOT)com with Guest Post in the subject line. Please note that this offer is not open to copywriters looking to write samples. 

Other that, I'll basically be writing about writing and my experiences as a writer. (As always.)

To 2016! Charge!

Have you changed anything to your blog for the new year? Any news to share? Feel like signing up for a guest post? 

Ellie Garratt on Spec Fic Mash-ups

Hey all! I was supposed to do this update on Friday, but see, I was writing. So I just want to let you know that yes, I have managed to work through my issues. At least enough so that I'm still on course to complete my Camp NaNo goal.

Also, I hope all my American friends had a wonderful 4th of July. 

Anyway, today I'm welcoming spec fic writer extraordinaire and Untethered Realms co-writer, Ellie Garratt. She's here to share her love of mash-ups with us.

Thank you for having me here today, Misha. I'm **waving** hello to you and all your followers.

Time for a confession. I have a weakness for literary mash-ups, where normally polar opposite genres are mixed together. There's something refreshing about taking an old classic such as Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and adding zombies into the mix. I'm not sure how Austen would have felt about her novel being re-written in such a way, but I loved Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

There are more mash-ups - Android Karenina, Sense and Sensibility, and Jane Slayre are just a few examples. Then there are mash-ups involving characters from books, such as Mr. Darcy,Vampyre.

Another style of literary mash up is taking a famous historical figure and giving them an alternative speculative fiction story. One of the most well known examples of this is Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. A genius idea of re-writing the history of the iconic President Lincoln to include vampires. Or how about Henry VIII: Wolfman or Queen Victoria Demon Hunter? I wonder if their Majesties would have been amused?

Then there are mash-ups which involve an iconic film or television series such as Star Trek. Night of the Living Trekkies is a favourite of mine. It doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is - a gory and funny mixing of the Trek Universe and zombies. It's also a great read, though I should warn you quite a few Star Wars fans meet with a grisly fate.

There are many more I haven't read, such as The Undead World of Oz or Wuthering Bites. The number of literary mash-ups has grown significantly since the publication of the first, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. There are many to choose from, should they appeal to you.

Have you read any mash-ups? How do you feel about them, especially those re-working a classic book or character? Have you ever considered writing one yourself? I'd love to know your thoughts.

Author Bio

A life-long addiction to reading science fiction and horror meant writing was the logical outlet for Ellie Garratt’s passions. She is a reader, writer, blogger, Trekkie, and would happily die to be an extra in The Walking Dead. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and online. Her first short story collection, Passing Time: Nine Short Tales of the Strange and Macabre, was published in March 2013 and contains nine previously published stories. Her second, Taking Time and Other Science Fiction Stories, followed shortly after.

 You can find Ellie here: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads.

Thanks for visiting, Ellie! Anyone else want to do a guest post? Please see here for more details. 

Who else adores reading and/or writing mash-ups? 

Rossandra White on How She Found Her Writer's Voice

Hey all. Just want to say a quick thanks to everyone who left messages of support and encouragement to yesterday's post. It really meant a lot to me. Today, I'm welcoming Rossandra White to my blog, so she can talk about her early days in writing. Her memoir, Loveyoubye: Holding Fast, Letting Go, and Then There's The Dog, is available now. 

I didn’t start writing until I was in my 40s. It was one of those middle of the night decisions. I figured maybe it was just time to finally record all those stories about growing up in a small Zambian copper mining town as well as all those trips we took up to the Congo, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania. The time an elephant chased our car for five miles, forcing my dad to reverse down an excuse for a dirt road before the elephant gave up. The time we spent in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro with a crazy Belgian who kept wild animals for filmmakers’ use. What I didn’t realize was that I intuitively chose writing, “to take fuller possession of the reality of my life,” to paraphrase Ted Hughes. But it was hard.

The poor volunteer reviewer from National Writer’s Association who tried to help me with my 500-page manuscript penciled in the margins: “Oh nooo, not another flashback.” I started over with a library of how-to books. I took classes and learnt about structure, plot, conflict, pacing, and theme. I joined critique groups.

I started with the time I was poisoned by rebels as a six-year old in Zimbabwe and turned my messy tome into a young adult novel and sequel with two teenage protagonists: a black boy and a white girl. The story had political and spiritual overtones, lots of action, but the white girl and her family were essentially me and my family. The black protagonist represented Africa and her people.

Trotting it out to agents, I learnt that I hadn’t found the heart of the story. I kept writing. And then discovered that I hadn’t connected in any meaningful way to my characters. I had plot points, I had a climax. I had my people say words that revealed character and furthered the plot. But I didn’t know how they felt about all the conflicts they were going through. I didn’t know how they felt about each other—not in any meaningful way. That was because I had avoided my own feelings from the past. It was too painful. But in order to find the heart of my story I had to dig deep.

I immersed myself in the past and all those feelings I had suppressed. The white girl became more vulnerable, a little less reactive and rebellious, her mother more loving and sympathetic than my own distant mother had ever been, the father more fallible than I’d believed my own father to be. Overall every character grew, including Africa, a country with which I’ve always had a love-hate relationship. In the end, what I managed to produce was a fully realized coming-of-age story. Both for the protagonists, but especially for me. Through the power of words, I had set down roots in time and explored my own personal myths, uncovered their purpose and grounded myself in a way I might not have been able to do otherwise.

Bio: 

I'm a fourth generation South African, raised in Zambia until I was twenty-two when I emigrated to America. My memoir, Loveyoubye: Holding Fast, Letting Go, and Then There's The Dog, published April 2014, is my third book. The other two are YA novels: Monkey's Wedding and Mine Dances, which take place in Zimbabwe and Zambia. I've received many writing awards and my short stories have been published in Writer's Digest and Interstice, among others.  I live in Laguna Beach, California where I hike the hills and canyons with my Staffordshire Bull Terriers, Fergie and Jake. More information can be found on my website and blog at http://rossandrawhite.com/

Terry W. Ervin on Five Strategies for Self-Editing

Editing, especially self-editing, is an important component in the writing process. Realizing there are different layers of editing, ranging from structural concerns down to catching typos, effective strategies are important to a novel’s potential success.

One of the banes of an author self-editing is failing to catch what would be easily identified in the work of another writer. The author’s mind knows what was intended. The character voices and narrative are playing out in the author’s head, masking mistakes. Below are five methods an author might employ to overcome this, especially as a manuscript nears the end of the editing process.

Time Between Edits. 

Time away from a manuscript, hopefully working on another project, allows an author to return with fresh eyes and a mindset more attuned to catch errors at all levels. The distance of time, be it several weeks or months, offers a better perspective. 

Reading Orally. 

An author reading their work out loud, while slower than reading silently, will enable the catching of errors, especially missing words or dialogue that just doesn’t sound right. The author may not need to vocalize. Often just moving the mouth and engaging the voice box is enough. 

Changing Font. 

Many authors have a favorite font to write and even edit in. Switching fonts is a trick that makes the manuscript appear a bit foreign and new. It also resets the end of lines at the margins where mistakes are often overlooked as the eye shifts down to the next line. 

Using Text Speak Programs. 

Again, this is a time-consuming process, but the programs are free and improving. While they lack inflection and occasionally mangle pronunciation, it’s like having someone read a novel back to the author. It may even be more effective than reading orally in catching missing words, switched tense or subject/verb agreement, or dialogue that is somehow off. 

Print out the Manuscript. 

Probably the last step, and a costly one in paper and ink. This tactic steps up the changing of font, as it adds a new medium, even a tactile sense that alters the reading experience and engages the critical eye from a new angle. It’s more like ‘reading a book’ old school. 

Yes, having someone else edit and proof a manuscript is invaluable. And the better prepared the manuscript is ahead of time, the better the end product, as the editor won’t be distracted by what the author could’ve addressed.

Terry W. Ervin II is an English teacher who enjoys writing fantasy and science fiction. 

His First Civilization’s Legacy Series includes FLANK HAWK, BLOOD SWORD and SOUL FORGE, his newest release from Gryphonwood Press. Terry’s debut science fiction novel RELIC TECH is the first in the Crax War Chronicles and his short stories have appeared in over a dozen anthologies and magazines. The genres range from SF and mystery to horror and inspirational. GENRE SHOTGUN is a collection containing all of his previously published short stories.

To contact Terry or learn more about his writing endeavors, visit his website or his blog, Up Around the Corner. 

Soul Forge: 

Young Enchantress Thereese lays stricken and silent, her vital essence sapped by the Shard Staff, edging ever closer toward death. Supreme Enchantress Thulease refuses to allow her daughter to fade beyond recovery.

To that end, Enchantress Thulease recruits Mercenary Flank Hawk to accompany her as she seeks the legendary Sleeping Sage, and confronts the secretive Svartálfar, known only for their magical prowess and for their menacing cruelty. 

But first, the mercenary and enchantress, and their stalwart company, must survive brutal beasts and ruthless nomads roaming the Southern Continent’s harsh desert. Then, the untamed wilds of the Northern Mountains must be traversed in a final bid to reach their ultimate goal—the Soul Forge.
Even if Flank Hawk and Thulease reach the mythical forge in time, can its magic revive the ailing young enchantress, the one whose life is somehow tied to the Kingdom of Keesee’s ultimate fate?

Amazon US

Amazon Print US

Amazon UK

Amazon Print UK

Smashwords

Mark Murata on Using Excel in Writing

Hey all! Welcome to another Monday Feature. Today, Mark Murata is visiting to show us how he uses Excel in writing. 

If anyone else wants to sign up for a guest post feature, please click here for more information. 

And now, let's see what Mark has to say. 

Excel in Writing

Get the pun in this entry’s title? For the first time, I’m using an Excel workbook as part of my writing. In my mashup of The War of the Worlds, I have the cylinders from Mars landing near different cities around the world, not just London, so their invasion has to advance consistently on each day. 

I also have three groups of characters in three locations. Their actions have to be coordinated, so I need to track who is doing what on each day. 

I’ll also have to track the positions of Mars and Venus, as well as phases of the moon. J.R.R. Tolkien once remarked something to the effect that he could not have Aragorn look up one night and see a full moon, then have Gimli look up a couple nights later and also see a full moon. He kept charts on phases of the moon, and also the speed of Gandalf’s horse Shadowfax.

Learn from the greatest.

Anyone else use Excel when you're writing? 

A Letter from Far Far Away

Greetings,

I join you today from Misha's tavern. She has very kindly dedicated her Mondays to writers, authors and compedium compilers such as myself and for that I would like to extend my thanks.

Firstly, please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Far Far Away, and I have been finding out about the comings and goings of my world. I wrote to all the inhabitants asking them to keep me up to date with their daily lives and I was amused by the responses I got. I am now releasing these letters every Monday and Friday at my tavern.

As a thank you to Misha for publishing this letter, I have some exclusive information for her readers about one of the characters that wrote to me: Huntsman.

The first tale of my compendium is entitled The Apple Princess and it is Huntsman's letter that kicks off the tale. He features heavily throughout the story as we follow his progress as an employee of the Queen.

He comes from one of the oldest families in the kingdoms and is descended from a long line of men that were gifted in using tools. His brother is a lumberjack known as Axeman, and his father worked down in the mines until the dwarven "uprising" (which we more commonly call the "downfalling", due to the mines being underground). Very little is known about the female members of his family, although it is generally accepted that they were just as skilled as the men when it came to wielding weapons. Frankly, and I say this quietly in case they are reading, they all sound like a bunch of nutters.

Like the rest of his family, Huntsman has a fetish for medieval fashion and is never seen without a blade. Unlike the rest of his family, he does not perform civic duties as a farmer, miner or lumberjack, but instead has self-declared himself as a killer and is often found stalking game in the forests around the kingdom.

At heart though, Huntsman is a sap. He chose work under the Queen as he figured it would please his proud family heritage while allowing himself to get close to the girl he has become enamoured with - Princess Snow. While he has no qualms in slaughtering innocent animals, he has found himself on the wrong side of the Queen on more than one occasion where he refuses to carry out her dirty work in the proper manner. It appears that under his brutish exterior he may have a heart after all.

I hope you enjoyed this brief character background. If you would like to find out more, please drop by my tavern.

Yours,

Far Far Away.

You can read more about Tales from Far Far Away at his tavern.

Opening Blog-tour

Hi all! Today I welcome Stephen Tremp to MFB. He's here to tell us about exploding stars, black holes and Opening, his newly released novel.

Thanks for stopping by, Stephen.

Thank you Misha for hosting me on this, my final stop on the Grand OPENING Tour! I’m honored. I thought we would close things out with a bang, and what bigger bang can we imagine than an exploding star.

A Supernova: is an explosion of a massive supergiant star. It shines with the brightness of up to ten billion suns and is one of the most energetic explosions in the universe. Scientists believe supernovae happen in our Milky Way galaxy about once or twice a century. Supernovae are classified as a Type I Supernova or Type II supernova depending on the shape of their light curves and the nature of their spectra. In less than a second, a neutron star or a black hole is born. Supernovae explosions are not merely the death of a star. These massive explosions seed the universe with heavy elements (muy importante) that help to make up new stars, planets, and everything on earth, including you and me.

Black Hole: Any object whose escape velocity exceeds the speed of light. With each black hole there is a point of no return called the event horizon. Picture Niagara Falls. You see someone caught in the river heading toward the falls. If he is far enough away he can swim to the shore. But there is a point where the current is too strong and the swimmer cannot escape. He is going over no matter how much energy he expends to swim to the shore. This is similar to the Event Horizon of a black hole. Even light cannot escape a black hole. That's what makes it black.

Fun Theories (no fun facts here as we have yet to actually observe a black hole): There are two types of black holes. Stellar Black Holes form from collapsed stars. It is possible for black holes to collide and form larger black holes. It is believed by many physicists and astronomers that super massive black holes, called Galactic Black Holes, reside at the center of each galaxy. These can be as large as hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses.

Fun Theory: Physicists also believe there may be rogue black holes cruising (not stationary) around the universe. I hope one doesn't cross our solar system. That would be a bad day for us.

Fun Theory: Some believe you can enter a Black Hole and emerge out the other side in another place and time. Black Hole = Time Machine. But in all probability, you would die before going through.

Fun Theory: Mini black holes are theoretically possible, but have yet to be created in a laboratory. At least, that the general public is aware of. Recently a lawsuit was brought against CERN for fear their research could bring about the end of the world, possibly by man-made mini-black holes. Thank again to Misha for hosting me today. And thank you all for supporting me on the Grand OPENING Tour. I could not have done this without you!

Insert Cheesy Self Promotion: Finally, tomorrow’s my birthday, or today, depending on which day you’re reading this. It’s March 22nd. If you feel so inspired to get me something, outside of a brand new 2012 souped-up turbo 3000 Wormhole with racing stripes, you can download either or both my books BREAKTHROUGH and OPENING at Amazon Kindle. At a buck ninety-nine each, you can’t beat it with a stick! They're also available for download at SMASHWORDS Thanks again everyone. You’ve been great! Next up is the Grand OPENING Tour Roundup on Friday, then the A to Z Challenge. Remember to visit me at Breakthrough Blogs!

A guest a guest, my kingdom for a guest!

Hi all! I've been checking up on my calendar just now and got struck by a terrible realization. In three weeks, I have no one to post on Friday.

For those of you who are new and have no idea what I'm talking about, Guest Post Friday is a feature where followers on this blog can guest post about any writing/literary world related topic.

Now I must ask... Do you guys enjoy and/or appreciate Guest Post Fridays? Because I know that it attracts hits. But do you really enjoy it?

If you guys aren't all that keen in it anymore, I'll have to end the feature (but I will put up the few guest posts that have been booked for the rest of the year). So please let me know what you think.

Stories for Sendai Blog Tour

Hi all! Today I have the honor of welcoming J.C. Martin to My First Book. She's here on a blog tour to market Stories for Sendai, a charity anthology where the proceeds will go to the victims of Japan's tsunamis. So please click here for more details.

In the mean time, here's J.C. on writing short stories.





Big thanks to Misha for hosting a leg of the Stories for Sendai Blog Tour de Force!

As some of you may know, Stories for Sendai is a charity anthology containing twenty uplifting and inspirational short stories. Despite many major publishers being reluctant to publish short story anthologies, claiming that they just don’t sell, they have remained alive thanks to the efforts of smaller publishing houses.

Personally, I adore short stories. They are short enough that I can complete one or two stories on my commute to work. While a novel is one long story from beginning to end, a collection of short stories gives me lots of different stories for the price of one book—now how awesome is that? Plus, most writers I know of started their writing career with short stories before they wrote full-length novels: Stephen King, Ernest Hemingway...Edgar Allan Poe is famous predominantly for his short stories.

Short story writing can be an art form in itself; because of the restriction in length, every word needs to count, to deliver maximum impact. While I have written a number of short stories, with a few in print, I don’t profess to be an expert in the art of writing the short story. However, I am willing to share with you what I know.

By classic definition, a short story is a work of fiction that can be read all in one sitting. The actual definition, by word count, is shady, but anything below 7,500 words is safely in short story territory. Any longer, and it strays into the gray limbo of the novelette...

Unlike novelists, short story writers do not have the luxury of a generous word count to indulge in much back story and world-building. This does not mean that there is no character development in a short story—far from it. Rather, the challenge is to be able to convey this change in as few words as possible.

Most of the following advice can be applied to writing fiction of any length, but I feel they are particularly important in a short story:

Leave out unnecessary details

Have you ever noticed that in a well-written short story, you very rarely read a description of the characters, yet somehow get a vivid image of what they look like in your mind? In a way, a short story is a more interactive read than a novel. We rely on the reader’s imagination to picture the scene. There is no room to wax lyrical about wavy blond hair, striking blue eyes or dimpled, chiseled jaws. Let the reader cast their own actors in the story. By all means, include a feature if it is integral to the plot, but omit all unnecessary descriptions—leave them to your readers’ rich imagination.

Start close to the end

A novel could involve a series of different events, but a short story revolves around just one key event. So start as close to the thick of action as possible to grab readers’ attention, and end it at the earliest logical point.

Have a beginning, a middle and an end

Follow the basic steps of a story: have an inciting incident (call to action), a climax (turning point), and a resolution. A graph of the action as your story progresses should follow a bell curve. Many short stories have an open ending, for readers to draw whatever conclusion they wish. That is fine, as long as there is some attempt at a resolution.

Show, not tell

Short stories, more than any other form of prose, requires a lot of ‘showing’ rather than ‘telling’. Infer what is going on rather than coming right out and saying it. This helps draw the reader into the story, put them into the thick of action rather than making your reader feel like an outsider looking in.

Stick to only one or two scenes

Since a short story centres around just one event, it should not involve anything more than one or two different scenes. If you find your story moving from scene to scene to scene, perhaps it would work better being expanded into something longer, like a novella or novel.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of things to bear in mind when writing a short story. What else should you consider? Have I missed anything important out?

Once again, thanks to Misha for hosting this, and thanks to everyone for reading! Stories for Sendai will be on sale by June 30^th. For more details, including purchase links, the blog tour schedule and details of an awesome prize draw, click here!

Blog Tour Featuring Maria Zaninni

Hi all! I'm giving the blog over to Maria today as part of her blog tour to market her new book: Apocalypse Rising. Without any further ado, I'll let Maria's words do the talking.

Subtle World Building

I think the hardest thing for a writer to do when world building is remaining invisible. When I read, I don’t want to feel the author over my shoulder. I don’t want to see the footprints of the creator.

Have you ever read a scene where your eyes start to glaze over and you found yourself skimming ahead to the ‘good parts’? Whenever that happens to me, I ask myself: Why did I skip ahead? What did the author do to lose me here?

  

Often times, it was too much narrative, description, introspection or dialog. It forced me as the reader to become aware of the author and what s/he was trying to accomplish.

As the author, I don’t want you to know I exist. I don’t want to be on your radar. If you’re not immersed in the story, then I’ve left too many of my footprints and failed you.

When an author intrudes on the story, it makes the reader feel as if the author doesn’t trust him to ‘get it’. I’d rather err on the side of caution and say too little to keep you intrigued, than say too much and destroy the fantasy.

Every once in a while I come across a complex scene in my books where I want to explain more, but I try to resist the urge to intervene. Though I’ll run the risk that some readers won’t get it, I’m betting most will. And those are the people I’m writing for.

So what makes the author obvious in his world building?

• Describing too deeply—or too often.

Solution: Tell the reader only what he needs to know at that moment in the story.

• Authorial intrusion—where the author explains something the character knows so well that it would never come up in a normal conversation or narrative.

Solution: Whenever you need to explain a bit of world building to the reader, use lateral moves. In the first Harry Potter book, many times the reader learns about Hogsworth at the same time Harry does. We are moving through the story together.

• Explaining something the character wouldn’t know, but the reader needs to understand.

Solution: Say I want to explain a device that sends subliminal messages. Rather than delivering a long physical account, show the effects. The character could start perspiring, his eyes will flare and he’ll rub his temples vigorously as if he were trying to rub something out. Little by little the reader will start to piece things together—without the dreaded info-dump.

Aim for the art of subtle narrative, to be so invisible that you leave no footprints—only clues.

Do you ever skim when you read? Can you recall why you did?

Bio: Maria Zannini used to save the world from bad advertising, but now she spends her time wrangling chickens, and fighting for a piece of the bed against dogs of epic proportions. Occasionally, she writes novels. 

Apocalypse Rising blurb: The only place to hide was in the past. Leda and Grey have one chance to escape a madman and that’s through a portal to a time before the apocalypse. But nothing has prepared them for 21st century culture, and every misstep draws them closer to the End Times. The world is teetering on extinction, and they may very well be the cause of it.

Warning: Dark demons, Elementals, witches, and a hero with one woman too many. 

Apocalypse Rising is the sequel to Touch Of Fire. I hope you’ll try them both.

Follow me on my blog: http://mariazannini.blogspot.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mariazannini



Thanks again, Maria. Best of luck with the rest of your blog tour!

Anyone have issues when describing your worlds? How do you solve them?