Tag Archives: books

Release day–Burning Bright!

Burning Bright front coverToday marks the release of my latest book, BURNING BRIGHT. It’s an alternate history Regency-era adventure, with magic and pirates–how’s that for a mouthful! I wrote this book on a personal dare, challenging myself to write historical fiction, and I think it turned out pretty well. The magic system is one I had constructed for a modern-day fantasy, but that story just wasn’t coming together, so I’m glad it could find a home in the Extraordinaries series. I hope you enjoy Elinor’s adventures in a world where the Napoleonic Wars are fought with magic and telepathy, teleportation, and telekinesis are all part of everyday life.

BURNING BRIGHT is available as an ebook at Amazon.com and will be available in print soon. The book is free for Kindle Unlimited users.

Burning Bright available for preorder!

Burning Bright front coverYou can get it here. For now, BURNING BRIGHT will only be available through Amazon, but if you’re interested in getting it for a different format, contact me and I’ll see what I can do. No preorders for print, alas, but it should be available on release day, August 15.

Cover Reveal–BURNING BRIGHT!

Burning Bright front cover

This is it–the cover of my new book, BURNING BRIGHT, which is an alternate history Regency adventure with magic and pirates! Here’s what it’s about:

In 1812, Elinor Pembroke wakes to find her bedchamber in flames—and extinguishes them with a thought. At 21, she is old to manifest magical talent, but the evidence is unmistakable: she not only has the ability to start fires, but the far more powerful ability to control and extinguish them. She is an Extraordinary, and the only one in England capable of wielding fire in over one hundred years.

As an Extraordinary, she is respected and feared, but to her father, she represents power and prestige for himself. Mr. Pembroke, having spent his life studying magic, is determined to control Elinor and her talent by forcing her to marry where he chooses, a marriage that will produce even more powerful offspring. Trapped between the choices of a loveless marriage or living penniless and dependent on her parents, Elinor takes a third path: she defies tradition and society to join the Royal Navy.

Assigned to serve under Captain Miles Ramsay aboard the frigate Athena, she turns her fiery talent on England’s enemies, French privateers and vicious pirates preying on English ships in the Caribbean. At first feared by her shipmates, a growing number of victories make her truly part of Athena’s crew and bring her joy in her fire. But as her power grows and changes in unexpected ways, Elinor’s ability to control it is challenged. She may have the power to destroy her enemies utterly—but could it be at the cost of her own life?

The release date is 8/15/16, and preorders will be available soon!

 

 

A note about Sesskia’s Diary

Today’s entry was the 112th in my ongoing serial story. It’s been a lot of fun to write, and I hope you’re enjoying it.

I intend to publish all of Sesskia’s Diary as a trilogy called Convergence someday, which will be available for purchase. Entry #111 marks the end of the first volume, though Sesskia hasn’t reached the end of the “book” she’s currently writing in. In the next several months, she’ll explore the new world created by the convergence, meet new friends, encounter new villains, and discover that she’s no longer the only mage of her kind. Keep watching for the announcement that volume one of Convergence, The Summoned Mage, has been published!

 

Failure is Sometimes an Option

lightbulbsFrom May of 2013 to the end of August 2015, I completed thirteen books. It wasn’t so much that I had a system, or anything like that; I just had plenty of time on my hands and a burning drive to use that time for writing. The point here is not to brag, because fast writing is not a guarantee of quality writing. The point is I had reached a state where I was confident in my ability to finish what I started.

Then things changed. In August of 2015, I was having trouble with the middle of the Willow North novel (which will probably be a trilogy, in the end), so I decided to work on something else for a while. I’ve done that before, writing an entire novel while giving my subconscious time to work out problems with a different one. And I’d had plenty of people ask me what happened to Zara after the end of Servant of the Crown. So I thought it would be interesting to tell that story. I worked out the bones of a plot, created a new culture for the continent south of Tremontane, and dug in.

It fought me the whole way. I made it to about 85,000 words before realizing it was a really stupid book. There were some great characters, but Zara herself was dull. My husband insisted that she didn’t read like an 86-year-old woman, which I think now is true–at the time I resisted that feedback because I couldn’t face the fact that the problem was with the whole book. But the 85K mark represents the point where, having written the same chapter three different ways, I realized the book was a dud. That none of the endings I’d forced into existence–and it took force–had any resonance.

Thirteen novels is enough to make you feel invincible. I was incredibly demoralized by this setback, not least because I had no idea what had gone wrong. Later analysis suggested that I’d written myself into a corner and that Jacob was right about Zara not behaving like an old woman, but at the time it was just frustrating. And I admit to being prideful. Most authors have at least one trunk novel–the kind you finish and lock away in a trunk because for whatever reason, it’s not good enough to see the light of day–and there was no reason I should be different. So I locked Voyager of the Crown in its own file (I am too superstitious to just delete it) and went on to write the four interrelated short stories that became Exile of the Crown.

But I couldn’t get the idea of a Zara novel out of my head. Willow was still giving me trouble, the only other idea I had was stalled out, and I got to a point where I hadn’t written anything in weeks, which was a nightmare. So in January of 2016 I started planning a new book. It was an exciting opportunity to explore Veribold and to finally allow Zara to reunite with her family, and I was looking forward to it.

It was worse than the first one. At 47,000 words I had to admit it was another failure. Once again Zara didn’t behave like an old woman, and the plot was just stupid. This time I was quicker to realize the problem, but it was every bit as demoralizing. I wanted to tell this story and it was clear it wasn’t working out.

At this point, there should probably be some kind of revelation. After all, if I wanted it badly enough, I should be able to figure out the problem, right? Problems are just opportunities in disguise, right?

In this case–no.

For someone who depends heavily on outlines, I’m also remarkably dependent on instinct. I can feel when the shape of a story is working and when it isn’t. And I could tell these were not books I was going to be able to save, no matter how much I wanted to, because they were fundamentally broken. I had to admit to failure. And then I had to move on.

So what makes the difference between a total loss and a temporary setback? I’m still not sure. Wondering Sight, my alternate-Regency-era fantasy with psionics, had a very rocky start where I was working with the wrong plot, but I fixed that and the book turned out fine. Willow North’s book, which I’m currently working on, turned out to have trouble related to the balance between the three plotlines–also fixable. So it’s not as if a problem with writing is always a sign that you should give up. With Zara’s books, I eventually realized that a major part of the problem was that Zara was never intended to be a POV character. When I created her, I was experimenting with ways to make side characters powerful, and part of that experiment was not letting any of the story be told from her perspective. The final story in Servant of the Crown, “Long Live the Queen,” was a departure from that, as were the stories in Exile of the Crown, but Zara was not meant to carry the weight of a novel.

The other problem was that much as I liked Zara, I didn’t actually want to write her story. I was doing it because I felt it would be popular. And that’s not the best reason for writing–trying to game the system. There’s a fine line between having an audience in mind when you write and writing not because you love something, but because you think it will sell. The latter is perfectly acceptable if you’re that kind of writer. Turns out I’m not.

Nobody sets out to fail. I’d rather either one of those books had worked out. But if the alternative was ending up with an awful but completed book, I’d rather take the failure.

Valentine’s Day Giveaway!

  How would you like to win one of four $200 AMAZON GIFT CARDS? That’s right, $200! Just click on this link to go to The Kindle Book Review’s giveaways, running Feb. 8-22. There are a lot of authors sponsoring the giveaway (including me!) and this is a great time to discover new favorite reads and get some spectacular discounts. For the duration of the giveaway, I’ve discounted SERVANT OF THE CROWN to just $2.99, and my fellow authors have similar deals going on. You even get bonus points for every purchase! So go ahead and enter, and good luck!

New release 12/17–EXILE OF THE CROWN

ExileoftheCrown-eBook (2)I never imagined, when I wrote the first three books of Tremontane, that Zara North would be so popular. In response to all the questions about what happened to her after SERVANT OF THE CROWN, I wrote a novella touching on a few events of her life over the fifty years (fifty years!) following her “death.” Titled EXILE OF THE CROWN, it’s available for preorder at Amazon.com–and it’s only 99 cents! I hope you’ll read it and enjoy it!

In other news, the third novel, AGENT OF THE CROWN, will be out early in 2016, and the fourth novel, VOYAGER OF THE CROWN, is due to be published by June of 2016. AGENT is the story of Elspeth and Owen’s daughter Telaine, and VOYAGER is Zara’s own novel. Following that is a trilogy about Willow North, the first North Queen, release date to be determined later.

 

Release day–RIDER OF THE CROWN!

Release day! I’m so excited for people to read RIDER OF THE CROWN. You can purchase it for the Kindle here , in print here, and at other retailers very soon.

I’m also having a Rafflecopter giveaway for an ebook of RIDER OF THE CROWN plus a $25  Amazon gift card to celebrate. It ends October 27, so enter soon!

 

On tour with Prism Book Tours.
Release Day Blitz for
Rider of the Crown
By Melissa McShane

 

We’re spreading the word about this newest fantasy release with an
exclusive excerpt and giveaway. Read more and enter to win below!

 

Excerpt from Rider of the Crown

 

Imogen, warrior of the Kirkellan tribes, marries the King of their long-time enemy the Ruskalder. Her obedience is the price of her people’s safety, but she can be pushed only so far:
     Hrovald slammed his fist down on the high table. “You will do as I command!”
     Imogen stared the King down. Her fear for Dorenna and for Elspeth had drained her ability to fear anything else. “Think again, husband,” she said softly. “You have no right to force me. I am your wife because I choose to be. I follow your rules because I choose to do so. You may think of me as a Ruskalder wife, but I swore oath to a Kirkellan husband, and no Kirkellan husband has the right to insist I not follow my conscience when someone’s life is at stake. So, husband, I intend to return to that room and continue caring for Elspeth North, and you should think very carefully about how far you’re willing to go to stop me.”
     Hrovald glared furiously at her. His fingers curled into a fist, and briefly Imogen remembered the treaty, and the Kirkellan, and Ruskalder warriors slaughtering her people. If she didn’t back down, what might he decide to do? Enough, she thought. I’m not going to be a hostage anymore. If he breaks the treaty, it’s on his head, and we Kirkellan will just have to endure. As we always do. She straightened her spine. She wasn’t some frail Ruskalder woman. She was a warrior of the Kirkellan, and she would show this man no fear.
Rider of the CrownRider of the Crown

 

(The Crown of Tremontane, #2)
by Melissa McShane

Adult Fantasy

Paperback & ebook, 385 Pages
October 22nd 2015 by Night Harbor Publishing

 

 

 

Imogen, warrior of the Kirkellan tribes, has never wanted to be anything else. But when the long war between the Kirkellan and the country of Ruskald ends, the terms of the peace treaty require Imogen to be married to the vicious King of Ruskald for five years. Confined to his freezing city, forbidden to fight, Imogen sees nothing but darkness in her future—until the arrival of Elspeth North, heir to the Crown of Tremontane, brings three countries to the brink of war and sets Imogen free.Now, sent to be the ambassador of her people to Tremontane, Imogen faces new challenges as she struggles to maintain her warrior’s identity in a world of glittering ballrooms and foreign customs. As a diplomat, Imogen discovers skills she never knew she had—as well as a forbidden attraction to the handsome and charismatic King Jeffrey North. But when war once again threatens not only Tremontane but her own people, Imogen must decide: is she the warrior, the diplomat—or something greater?

 

 

Also in the Series

Servant of the CrownServant of the Crown

 

(The Crown of Tremontane, #1)
by Melissa McShane
Adult Fantasy Paperback & ebook, 405 Pages
July 15th 2015 by Night Harbor Publishing

 

 

Alison Quinn, Countess of Waxwold, is content with her bookish life—until she’s summoned to be a lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Tremontane’s mother for six months. Even the prospect of access to the Royal Library doesn’t seem enough to make up for her sacrifice, but Alison is prepared to do her service to the Crown. What she’s not prepared for is Prince Anthony North, Queen Zara’s playboy brother, who’s accustomed to getting what he wants—including the Countess of Waxwold.
When the fallout from an unfortunate public encounter throws the two of them together, Alison has no interest in becoming the Prince’s next conquest. But as the weeks pass, Alison discovers there’s more to Anthony than she—or he—realized, and their dislike becomes friendship, and then something more—until disaster drives Alison away, swearing never to return.
Then Alison is summoned by the Queen again, this time to serve as Royal Librarian. A threat to Tremontane’s government, with her treasured Library at stake, draws Alison into the conflict…and into contact with Anthony once more. Can they work together to save the Royal Library and Tremontane? And can she open her heart to love again?

 

 

 

Melissa McShaneMelissa McShane grew up a nomad, following her family all over the United States, and ended up living in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains with her husband, four kids, and three very needy cats. Her love of reading was always a constant during those uncertain years, and her love of writing grew out of that. She wrote reviews and critical essays for many years before turning to fiction, and was surprised at how much she liked it. She loves the fantasy genre and how it stretches the imagination.

Website – Blog – Goodreads – Pinterest

Blitz Giveaway

 

 

$25 Amazon Gift Card & ebook of Rider of the Crown Open internationally

Ends October 27tha Rafflecopter giveaway

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Tackle Your TBR Read-a-Thon update

So far, I’ve made little progress on my stack of books, but I’ve loved what I’ve read:

Welcome to Vietnam, Zack Emerson

Hill 568, Zack Emerson

and a draft of a good friend’s new novel, Desert Rains.

Total books read since 9/14: 3

Total pages read: 640

The first two are part of a wonderful YA series about the Vietnam War that, honestly, I’m surprised Scholastic was willing to publish–it’s as gritty and profane as you’d expect a war story for adults to be. I’m loving it.

Comfort Reading

It’s time to Tackle Your TBR Pile! http://www.wishfulendings.com/2015/09/tackle-your-tbr-read-thon-its-kick-off.html

I admit it—my TBR pile is enormous. I buy a lot of books I fully intend to read sometime, honestly, or at the very least loan out to people, or keep on hand in case someone needs a book for a school assignment. So why do I so often, when I’m in need of something to read, return to old favorites instead of making a dent in the teetering pile?

Some days, when I’m tired or feeling a little low, reading is the perfect activity. But it’s those days when I’m least capable of tackling something new—when I really need an old favorite that’s worn grooves in my brain over the years. Sometimes it’s books I loved as a teen: Heir of Sea and Fire by Patricia McKillip, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. Sometimes it’s more recent favorites, like Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (sequel coming out next year!), Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon, Sylvester by Georgette Heyer. I can slip into those worlds easily, knowing what to expect and matching the book to my mood. Comforting, and restful.

But there’s more to it than that. I may be reaching for these old friends for comfort, but I’m not the same person I was when I read a book the first time, or even the fifth or the twentieth time. Every time, I see something new, and in that sense even an old favorite is a brand new book. Sometimes that backfires: I’ve gone back to a book only to discover I’ve changed enough that I no longer love it, and that’s a horrible feeling. But mostly I find my comfort reads don’t change much over the years, and I’m grateful for it.

So here’s my challenge: what are your comfort reads? What stories do you come back to even though you’ve got fresh, new, potentially wonderful books at your fingertips? Leave your comments below from now until September 23, and one random commenter will receive their choice of one of my books—Emissary, The Smoke-Scented Girl, or Servant of the Crown. I look forward to seeing your titles—and would love it if some of them are the same as mine.

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