"She sat in darkness.
Lost within a realm of perpetual night and enveloped by grief.
Her long hair flowed over her slender shoulders, sweeping the ground, her wraith-like form trembling as she wept bitter tears. Trickling down her cheeks and onto the rocks below, they formed a spreading lake that crept across the cavern floor.
Reason had long since faded, leaving only an inner tarn of sorrow. Too soon. Too young. Too soon.
Immersed in her long lament, she paid no heed as her womb slowly swelled. The birth spasms struck her unawares, the cavern resonating with her cries, as she expelled her newborn infant from her cold womb and into the dark depths of her sorrow’s tears…"
I have now released the first novel in my Gothic Fantasy series: The Taint: Sorrow's Child, through smashwords and amazon. To celebrate I've generated a coupon code to let my novel go free on smashwords, for one week (May 18th to May 25th). The coupon code is: RU28R. Please feel free to use it and to pass the code on to others!The link is: The Taint: Sorrow's Child
Here it is! The completed cover for: The Taint: Sorrow's Child. My thanks again to E.M. Lawrence for creating the exquisite image, and to my Mother, Heide Smith, for her expertise in the graphics layout!
Holy Crap? Gina, what choice of words, you're suppose to be a writer. Yes, perhaps I've had a couple of beers to celebrate. But this cover art for The Taint: Sorrow's Child, is exquisite. Thank you, E.M. Lawrence!
So I've sent my manuscript of Sorrow's Child, book one of the Gothic fantasy series The Taint, to my copy editor Tricia Kristufek. Now Tricia will work her magic to help me tighten the prose, and to polish the novel into a high sheen. Meanwhile my amazing cover artist E. M. Lawrence is busy working on the image. (The above image is a detail from an early cover sketch).
At this point I would have expected to feel excited about the coming release, but I don't, so this is what I thought I'd blog about.
I wrote Sorrow's Child several years ago and I've been working on the series for close to ten years. I've found that each and every time I've worked on a manuscript, it gets better.
I've recently been working on the recommended edits from my Developmental Editor, Teresa Edgerton. Her comments have been spot on and often humorous. The novel is 100% better for her input. The thing is, although I am satisfied with the stage I have reached with this novel, will I look back later and see all the things that I could have done differently? Are writers ever truly satisfied?
I suspect I have first novel jitters. Up to now I've released short stories, but Sorrow's Child is my baby. And so of course, as a parent, there's always the question: what if my baby is hideously ugly and repulsive to all that survey her, and I am blinded to her flaws due to my maternal love? (Yes, my manuscript is a female).
I know, I know, I should be pre-pitching my book not rambling on about pre-release jitters. But as the second book in The Taint series, Gods and Monsters, is due at the developmental editors in June, I won't be doing much pitching. I'll be too busy writing. In fact I'll probably bury myself in my writing to escape my nerves...
I'd love to hear what other writers think about writer satisfaction. Is this a first novel thing? Or is it lessened, but still present with each book you release?
Thank you, Bridget Bowers at Rants 'N' Ramblings for tagging me! This time it's the Lucky 7 meme. In this meme, you need to go to page 77 of your current manuscript and go to line 7 and copy 7 lines, sentences or paragraphs. Then you pass the tag along to 7 more bloggers.
So here's my excerpt from The Taint: Sorrow's Child, Book One of The Taint series. This novel is to be released in May 2012.
"A strange sensation seized Lilith as she stared at the glowing blue liquid; a growing compulsion to taste it, like a niggling voice in the back of her mind.
Lilith pulled out the crystal stopper and holding out her hand, she tipped a tiny droplet of the shimmering liquid onto her finger tip. The liquid tantalised her, the urge to taste it grew stronger.
Lifting her finger, Lilith licked the liquid with the tip of her tongue. Thick and oily, it slipped down her throat with a horrible, sinuous motion.
Nausea struck, sending her double, she retched, dizzy, disorientated…and felt raindrops, fine and soft, a mist-like shower, beading on her face and soaking into the thick wool of her cloak.
Lilith slid to the floor, clutching at the edge of the stone table as she fell…as the waves crashed against the rocky shore, sending up spray into the air, and the room was a spinning vortex, whirling madly and…she could taste the salty tang upon her lips…"
And here are my 7 chosen Authors, Poets and Bloggers:
Starr WestPatti Roberts Book BlogA Reader's Quest
Thea AtkinsonSplitters WorldD.A. BaleLove Hate Poetry
Good news from Smashwords this morning! I'm blogging the email I received and I'm about to celebrate the news with a glass of cold beer. Let's raise our glasses in a toast to free speech (and writing) and the power of people, united in cause.
It was a bit silly really, when you think about it, taking on indie writers and readers. We are an internet community who are not slow to express our thoughts. We find things out quickly, pass along the news and react. Personally I'm proud to be part of such a community.
So here is Mark Coker's email:
"Smashwords author/publisher update: PayPal Reverses Proposed Censorship
Great news. Yesterday afternoon I met with PayPal at their office in San Jose, where they informed me of their decision to modify their policies to allow legal fiction.
Effective last night, we rolled back the Smashwords Terms of Service to its pre-February 24 state.
It's been a tumultuous, nerve-wracking few weeks as we worked to protect the right of writers to write and publish legal fiction.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to Smashwords authors, publishers and customers. You stood up and made your voice known. Thank you to every Smashwords author and publisher who wrote me to express opinions, even if we disagreed, and even if you were angry with me. You inspired me to carry your cause forward.
Smashwords authors, publishers and customers mobilized. You made telephone calls, wrote emails and letters, started and signed petitions, blogged, tweeted, Facebooked and drove the conversation. You made the difference. Without you, no one would have paid attention. I would also like to thank the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). These three advocacy groups were the first to stand up for our authors, publishers and customers. Their contribution cannot be overstated. We collaborated with them to build a coalition of like-minded organizations to support our mutual cause. Special kudos to Rainey Reitman of EFF for her energy, enthusiasm and leadership.
I would also like to thank all the bloggers and journalists out there who helped carry our story forward by lending their platforms to get the story out. Special thanks to TechCrunch, Slashdot, TechDirt, The Independent (UK), Reuters, Publishers Weekly, Dow Jones, The Digital Reader, CNET, Forbes, GalleyCat & EbookNewser and dozens of others too numerous to mention.
I would like to thank our friends at PayPal. They worked with us in good faith as they promised, engaged us in dialogue, made the effort to understand Smashwords and our mission, went to bat for our authors with the credit card companies and banks, and showed the courage to revise their policies.
This is a big, bold move by PayPal. It represents a watershed decision that protects the rights of writers to write, publish and distribute legal fiction. It also protects the rights of readers to purchase and enjoy all fiction in the privacy of their own imagination. It clarifies and rationalizes the role of financial services providers and pulls them out of the business of censoring legal fiction.
Following implementation of their new policies, PayPal will have the most liberal, pro-First-Amendment policies of the major payment processors. Will Google Checkout and Checkout by Amazon be next now that the credit card companies have clarified their positions, and have essentially given payment providers the permission to adopt more enlightened policies? Finally, thanks to Selena Kitt of Excessica and Remittance Girl for helping me to understand and respect all fiction more than I ever have before.
This is a bright day for indie publishing. In the old world, traditional publishers were the arbiters of literary merit. Today, thanks to the rise of indie ebooks, the world is moving toward a broader, more inclusive definition of literary merit. Smashwords gives writers the power and freedom to publish. Merit is decided by your readers. Just as it should be.
Thanks,
Mark Coker
Founder
Smashwords"
I received an email from the Smashwords Forum this morning. So of course being a bit of a rabble rouser, I'm blogging it. Here's our chance to do something further about this whole bloody Paypal issue. Let's get motivated. We are the internet, it's all our voices combined.
"PayPal and credit card companies want to censor what you write and what you read.
Smashwords Forum post: http://z15.invisionfree.com/smashwords_f...
Will you take a moment to urge your friends to speak out as well? It’s as easy as posting this message on your social networking sites:
Twitter: Tell @PayPal: don't censor what we can read. https://eff.org/r.1Uy via @eff @ncacensorship & @freadom
Other social networks: Tell PayPal: don't censor what we can read. https://eff.org/r.1Uy "
I'm back into writing, so no heated blogs on the state of indie writing today. Instead I'm posting a sketch of my character Lilith, by my cover artist E. M. Lawrence.
Lilith, along with my Demigods Meng and Meabel, (whom you may have met in The Taint: Octavia) plays a starring role in my Gothic Fantasy series The Taint. I've lived with Lilith for so many years, it's wonderful to see her. Note the poppet tucked under Lilith's arms. I love the little details that bring her to life.
I remember as a child, when I first played the game 'Diplomacy' with my sister and parents. It proved to be a truly harrowing experience, an unwanted insight into the adult world.
With the revelation of secret deals and manipulations between people and nations, I discovered a stark truth of human behaviour. And I didn't like it. In fact I sobbed--for hours (strangely enough the same thing happened many years later when I watched the movie 'The Elephant Man' and for similar reasons, haven't seen it? David Lynch 1981).
You see, I saw then what I see now, that it all comes down to money. Who has it? Who wants to keep it? Who wants to make more?
So I'm weighing in a final time on the Paypal fiasco. Quite frankly I'm sick to death of it and I'm sure others are too. I just want to get back to writing, but this thing just won't leave my brain alone.
Certain words have been swimming around in my mind: Paypal, Ebay, Pierre Morad Omidyar, Bankcard, Visa, Credit Cards, Censorship, Wikileaks, Rupert Murdoch, Apple, and the EU Antitrust Probe that concerns three of the 'Big Six'.
My search for answers leads me to the same sinking conclusion that lies at the bottom of so many questions: it's all about the money.
So Paypal has a near monopoly on the internet in terms of our financial transactions, and they have been applying censorship, lately with indie books, and more infamously in 2010 when they pulled the plug on Wikileaks.
In my mind I pictured a righteous Mr Paypal Man, but it turns out he's Mr Ebay, an Iranian gentleman by the name of Pierre Morad Omidyar. He's the same age as me, he's a philanthropist, and from what I can gather an all-right kind of person. Of course a corporation is not based upon its founder, but Mr Omidyar has a dominant share-holding. So what's with the censorship?
Then I looked further, at Paypal's comments about the credit card companies and their requirements. Of course these credit card companies are comprised of many, many financial institutions, but to whom are they affiliated? Who are the powers to lie behind them and what are their agendas?
O.K Now we come back to Rupert Murdoch. This man is transparent in true Aussie style "What do ya bloody mean, I've been 'dodgy' in my dealings? I've just been doing a little 'close' investigation."
Transparent too the whole issue between Murdoch, Wikileaks and Paypal. Do we remember? Wikileaks had much to expose, Murdoch had much to lose. Then Paypal, pushed by the credit cards--the 'big money men'--toed the line and withdrew it's facility to Wikileaks, shafting them when they most needed it, depriving them of funding and donations. You see Murdoch didn't want Wikileaks giving away all his dirty little secrets. So he called in his friend$.
So what's this got to do with ebooks and indie writing?
Well, why don't you go and look at the EU Antitrust-probe of e-book publishers and Apple? That will give you an idea of where my thoughts are going.
This is a huge new market and it's growing by the second. People want in, and they want in in a big way. People who may have had major stakes in traditional publishing and in media in general.
For those people I suspect early positioning is going to be a huge agenda.
We indies have acted as free merchants, unrestricted in what, where and how we publish on the internet, but I think that's about to change. Regulation and control are coming. If money is to be made, then that money is going to be filtered through the old systems.
So as I intend to go back to my writing, and three blogs is definitely enough, considering that I'm a fantasy writer not a commentator on world wide events, I'm just going to drop these words into your heads. See what you make of them:
Paypal, Ebay, Pierre Morad Omidyar, Bankcard, Visa, Credit Cards, Censorship, Wikileaks, Rupert Murdoch, Apple, and the EU Antitrust Probe that concerns three of the 'Big Six'.
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