Author: melaradark

Reboot is live!

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Hey everyone! Hope you had a great weekend!

I didn’t post this yesterday because we were out at my Dad’s house all day, but Reboot successfully went live yesterday, and is now available for purchase!

Until September 15th, the ebook is exclusive through Amazon KS/KU. After the 15th the ebook will be launching on pretty much every platform ebooks can be purchased (Kobo+, Apple, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, etc).

Paperback and hardcovers are also on sale through Amazon. Check out the new ‘Available Now’ page for a free preview, share, and purchase link.

Next Saturday is the launch party!

In the mean time I’m still hard at work on several new books and *fingers crossed* hope to have at least one published in 2025, fingers crossed for more! Most likely Vhantalya will be going out in 2025, but not sure yet which of the others is going to make the cut to join her out in the wild. We’ll have to see!

I did learn a lot from this process and hopefully the next launch will be far smoother. Until then, stay wonderful everyone!

It’s the final countdown….

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One thing I don’t think people tell you about when it comes to publishing a book is that there are a trillion and one little details that need seeing to. Not the least of which is updating your blog to keep people appraised of your mad spins as you chase your own tail!

My website is going to be going through some small growing pains in the next week or two to prepare for launch.

So, amazing news first! Reboot has been doing fantastic in ARCs, with an overall rating (out of 11 so far) of 4.25 stars! I still can’t believe it!

Reboot is officially up on Goodreads (with some reviews already there), and I’m working on Storygraph. It’s is up for ebook preorder through Amazon KU/Select here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D4KHP81W.

It will be up exclusively on Amazon through KU/Select until September 15th, when the ebook version will no longer be exclusive through Amazon (though still there through KDP) but available pretty much everywhere you can get an ebook: Kobo+, Smashwords, Apple, etc. I will have direct links where you can purchase up on this site by launch.

It will also be available in paperback and hardcover June 16th! I’m debating whether I’m going to leave the physical copies exclusively on Amazon or if I’m going to also have them available through Ingram Spark. More to come on that!

So little to do and so much time!

Wait…strike that. Reverse it.

You may have also noticed that my ‘works in progress’ page has disappeared. That’s because I’ve been shuffling things around so much its getting to the point I almost need to update it once a week. So its been scrapped. Right now, I’m working very hard on getting Vhantalya publish ready, and finishing up my first drafts of Ink in a Black Sea, So My Grandma Summoned a Demon, the new Tree Y’Edenel duology, and The Human Heart.

I also seem to be over the frustration and heartbreak of losing my entire manuscript of Scarlett and having to start over from scratch, and I may just pull that back out to finish earlier than I expected.

More, as always, to come! Thank you to everyone, and Happy Pride!

We’re FINALLY here!

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Hey everyone!

Couple big announcements today!

Reboot is now officially in the ARC stage and now has an official launch date!

Reboot will finally be published and available for purchase on Sunday, June 16th!

I know, doing a book launch on a Sunday is a little unorthodox, but without spoiling the book for those who didn’t have a chance to beta read, the date was too good to pass up. Add in the bonus that it is also Father’s Day, and I just couldn’t resist.

For those who don’t know, ARCs are Advance Reader Copies, or Advance Review Copies. They’re uncorrected proofs of the book (physical and/or e-book) sent out pre-publication in the hopes of generating hype and reviews for launch day. They are not the sale copy, and while they should be fundamentally complete ARC books are still subject to change up until launch day. Netgalley is a free to use site for professional and amateur reviewers both small and large.

If you are interested in signing up for an account and reviewing Reboot, I have links added both to the Coming Soon! page as well as the main page. The link will take you directly to Reboot’s listing.

Thank you everyone for all your help and support. I can’t believe we’re finally here!

Cover Reveal!

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We’re screaming into the home stretch now. I’m hard at work putting the final touches on Reboot, running full tilt at my hoped-for launch date of mid-May, 2024. I’ll post an exact date as soon as I have it. Doing final edits, setting up pre-orders, getting an ARC account set up to get those underway…there are a lot more fine details than one would think!

You may have noticed I updated the front page of the site! That’s right, Reboot now has an official cover! Despite repeated efforts and several false starts, I had to step back from doing my own cover for this title. It’s clear that while I am an artist, I am *not* a designer, and that’s okay. Thanks and credit goes to Betibup33 Design for the cover.

And keep an eye on this space, I’ll have ARC and pre-order information (as well as a solid launch date) up here hopefully in the next couple of weeks!

The thing about being the worst, it’s only up from there!

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Hey everyone, and welcome to 2024!

I am the literal *worst* it seems about updating the blog posts here and keeping you appraised of what’s what. You may have noticed, especially if you’re a beta of mine, that although I had three stories on my works in progress to finish in 2023, every single none of them actually got completed.

So yeah, about that…

I did quite a lot of work this year. Had a couple of firsts. And by firsts, I mean drafts of course!

*crickets*

Ahem. So, anyway, once I start writing a first draft, I’ve never wiped it and started over from scratch. I’ve certainly never wiped it *twice* and started over…but that’s exactly what I did with The Tree Y’Edenel. I got about 90k into the first draft and realized I wasn’t even a third of the way through. I like a big meaty book, but a 500k word MS was probably a *bit* much. I was also waffling over the direction it was going, so I set that original draft aside and began fresh.

Then, about 60k into that version, I stopped again. Though I liked a few nuggets of this new draft, for the most part it felt even more wrong footed then the first and wasn’t going to be any shorter unless I completely rushed the characters through it. That wouldn’t serve the characters, the book, or my readers.

I read back over the original 90k, approaching it with a bit of a fresh perspective, and ultimately decided to merge the two. I also realized that no matter which approach I took, this story was going to be much too long for just a singular book.

So I made the hard choice to split one book into a duology. The first draft for part 1 now stands at 105k and I am within spitting distance of wrapping it up. I’m also launching directly into part 2, which I expect will round out the first draft at about a similar word count.

Of course this means I had to rearrange a few things. The Rose of Fire, the next book in this same saga, has been bumped now to next year to make room for the duology, which bumped every subsequent book back a year as well. But I’d rather take more time and give you, dear friends, a better quality read.

I haven’t been idle on the other two stories that were slated for 2023 either. I have made good and rather satisfying progress on both So My Grandma Summoned a Demon, and Ferry Tail, and I will continue to work on these even as I start to tackle 2024’s first draft list. I’ve also rearranged (again) and added to (also again) my WIP list. There are also some title changes, most notably to the Willem series that I am starting this year.

And good news! The first draft of one of the stories slated for this year, the Human Heart, is already done! I need to give it some edits, of course, and rearrange the ending a little bit, but it should be up and about and ready to toddle to beta readers here in a month or two.

Even better news: the finishing line for Reboot is now in sight! I’m doing a few more quick edits now based on beta feedback, and then Reboot will be going to the editor. I’m nearly done with the cover as well, just need to give it a final spit and polish. As of this writing, I am bound and determined to at least have ARCs out and a firm launch date set by the beginning of May this year, just in time for BookNetFest!

So exciting! At least, I’m excited, and I hope that a few out there are a little tiny bit excited as well.

Happy New Year, and may yours be filled with joy, love, and wonderful books to read!

Writer’s Workshop!

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Hello everyone!

So this past weekend I attended my first writing workshop and I have to say, it was a lot of fun! I learned a lot, had a few nice chats with some lovely writers, got the first ten pages of Reboot critiqued (it’s a thumbs up!) and had an all around good time!

As some of you know, I have more than a few WIPs and many of them I need to Indie publish due to having burned my first publication rights years ago. However I have been very strongly considering seeing if I can’t get some of my newer fiction, such as Reboot, published traditionally.

I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of both Indie and Trad publishing and just finding myself in kind of a ‘should I, shouldn’t I?’ back and forth that has gone on an embarrassing amount of time.

However after attending the workshop I find myself leaning very strongly one direction over the other, and I have finally come to a decision.

I’m going to make a serious go at Indie publishing my works. All of them. Including Reboot.

That’s not to say in the future on some wacky unreal day if my stuff is doing well enough and I get approached by an agent I won’t consider transferring some works into trad publishing (hey, it worked for Andy Weir, right?) but for now, this is my path.

So now all my professional research time is going to go into that, making sure I have the whyfors and the wheretos in place.

Along those lines my writing schedule hadn’t changed so far as my new projects list, however the *publishing* schedule is going to alter a bit. For Vhantalya, I want to wait until I have a few of the sequels done before I release it, that way I can put them out at a decent pace and people won’t have to wait forever for the sequels to be done. So though Vhan is a gnat’s wing away from being ready to go up and in print, as soon as I finish this last polish it’s going into my Dark Vault (I just now decided to make this a thing LOL) until its younger siblings catch up. So, bad news, you’ll have to wait a bit longer for that but good news! Once its here you won’t have to wait an eternity for the sequels!

Which is a natural seqway into my next note: the second book in the Immortal Elements series, the Tree Y’Edenel, I have been chipping away at and working diligently on the book cover. I had a not-insignificant portion of the first draft done before I realized it was going to end up an unwieldy monster and not the best written as I was trying to pigeonhole myself into an outline. As a consummate pantser (no offense to plotters!) my creative mojo just doesn’t work that way, and I end up grinding to a halt and struggling to put words on the page *just* to put words on the page. This doesn’t make for a happy writer, a happy book, or happy readers in the end.

About eighty thousand words in I did the computer equivalent of dramatically tearing off a notebook sheet, balling it up, and throwing it into my ‘save but don’t use’ folder, and started again. I am now 25,000 words in and things are not entirely smooth yet but definitely going far more smoothly than before.

“But Mel!” you might say, eyeballing the date. “You said you’d have it ready for betas by now!”

Why yes. Yes I did. Apologies for that, clearly that won’t happen. The best I can say at this moment is that it will get to betas sometime this year. As promised, I am starting my official first draft of So My Grandma Summoned a Demon today, and I will be writing both. I expect SMGSAD will be on time for beta reads but the goal of my schedule is not necessarily to write, polish, and put out a finished work in that time frame (that would be insane, and anyone actually writing a book from scratch and putting it out so quickly likely is not putting out well-written or professional level content) but to get three of my books written (first draft, start to end) done each year. And I’m still confident all three of 2023’s projects will accomplish that by the time 2024 rings the bell.

And though I am not yet ready to commit to a release date, it’s looking pretty good that Reboot will at least be have a release date, if not be released, by the time that happens as well. So far the reception has been excellent, beta edits are underway, and I am tweaking the cover now that I am 100% sure it *will* be the cover since I am going the Indie route now. So watch for more news on that!

Let’s see, what else. Ah!

On the reading front! I found an awesome series called ‘Liches Get Stitches’ by H.J. Tolson that I am having just a lot of fun reading. I’m on the third book of four, ‘Lich, Please’, and for any humor fantasy lovers out there I highly suggest it. It’s light, it’s fun, it’ll give you a few giggles, it won’t weigh you down, and I identify with the main character, Maud, on a *visceral* level, especially in book 1.

I am also reading Deathborne (Dragon Seer #1) by S. Kay Lanphear. Lanphear is an Indie author and this is their debut. If you like fantasy that isn’t slapped in just a rehash of medieval England, and a book you can sink your teeth into, this might be your poison. This was just released so there isn’t a ton yet in the way of reviews, and I’m currently only 20% of the way through it, but so far I am quite enjoying the setting, characters, and the world that Lanphear has built for us. Check it out, and support Indie authors!

I think that’s it for now! If you have any thoughts or comments or Indie books you really enjoyed and want to support the author, please let me know!

This is My Pen

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This is my pen. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My pen is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my pen is useless. Without my pen, I am useless.

Hello everyone! My pen and I are here to say we are still working away diligently! Here’s a quick update:

I am about to break 60k on my first draft of the Tree Y’Edenel, which concerns me a little because I’m not yet a quarter of the way through the story I want to tell in this book. At the rate I’m going this may end up over five hundred pages and that’s….well, as much as I like a big meaty book, I think that’s a bit much. I’m still going and will until I get the whole first draft done, but then the red pen is going to come out and I’m going to be cruel with myself and cut a lot of it down. So wish me luck on that!

For a quick refresher, the Tree Y’Edenel is the second in my twelve book Immortal Elements high fantasy clockpunk series, after Vhantalya.

Speaking of, I’m finishing up my current round of edits with Vhantalya, and on the 8th it goes to my copyeditor! I’ve added quite a few more scenes based on feedback from the last round of betas and it will be going to out again to a couple of new betas at the same time it goes to the editor. If you have beta’d on Vhan before you probably will not get this final round-it’s nothing personal, but most of you first betas have read it about two or three times now and I really just want a couple of new perspectives on it. If you are a previous beta and REALLY want to read it again on this round, let me know and I’ll make it hap’n, cap’n.

I still have some surprises coming along with it as well that have started to arrive, but I want to wait until all are accounted for before I open that box for y’all, so stay tuned for that! Hopefully it won’t be a long wait.

My first round of betas for Reboot have started to trickle in, and I have to say, I’m very excited about what I’m seeing in the feedback already. I’m really looking forward to everyone’s thoughts. Friday is the deadline to have your beta feedback returned! If you are a beta and need more time to finalize please let me know!

I’m continuing to work on this year’s book covers. I have scrapped the Tree’s cover at least twice, just not happy with the direction it was going. I’ve also had some hand pain so it’s going a little more slowly than I would like. I think the one I’m working on now is gonna be a winner though! As soon as I get it done I’ll update the front page.

Let’s see, let’s see, what else? Ah yes! Book pimping time!

As many of you know I’m trying to carve out time in my day to make sure I keep up on my reading. Since last I posted I have finished three books:

On Kindle AU: Under the Whispering Door, by TJ Kline: I highly recommend. I thought it was a whimsical, well done story that had me crying at more than one point. Fun characters, a queer romance, and just the right touch of humor…how can you go wrong? I’d never heard of TJ Kline before but I am looking forward to reading more from them!

Boots: A Puss in Boots Retelling, and the Wolf and the Hawk, both by Julian Greystoke. I really enjoyed both of these, though there were a few typos that snuck into my copy. Julian writes very sweet, compelling character driven novels that are decent length, but are so fun that they feel much shorter. Her new novel Adventurer Mage is on my list, and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite character driven writers!

For Audio Book: I listen to audio books while I do my arting. I finished Stephen King’s Fairy Tale (always a fan of Stephen King for reasons, so I won’t gush too much here except to say, long slow burn in a meaty book which I *adore*) and am now on Babel, by RF Kuang. Guys. Guys. Babel is *excellent*. I’m about to the halfway point. It is an amazingly written commentary on racism and colonialism set in an alternate London where the science of language makes magic. It is not a fast or a light read, and it digs deep into some very charged political realities on race, poverty, inequalities of education, and the deep intricacies of linguistics and the very real spoken art of language. The audiobook is done superbly but if you listen a bit of a head’s up. There are more than one voice actor, and it took me a minute to realize the additional voice was for the footnotes. So bear that in mind!

Lastly, my bedside book is still Billy Summers, also by Stephen King. This one is going to take me the longest to get through because my bedtime is usually taken up still with writing and/or rereading what I’ve written, but I’m still chipping away at it. I’m just about to the halfway point. Again, Stephen King, so I won’t gush except to say that I’m enjoying it, and if you like a bit more crime novel thriller than horror it might be worth checking out.

Okay, back to editing! I hope everyone’s 2023 so far is going well, and thank you for following!

Welcome to 2023!

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As you may or may not have noticed, the site has gone through a slight revamp. I’ve moved the books for last year onto a new page, Coming Soon!, and updated the front page with the three books on schedule for this year.

Covers will be updated as soon as I get them done!

I’ve also updated the Future Projects page.

Current, tentative timeline for this year is as follows:

The Tree Y’Edenel starts today with plans to go to betas on May 1st.

May 1st I start So My Grandma Summoned a Demon, which should be ready for betas on September 1st.

Which is the day I start Ferry Tail, with plans for betas by EOY.

Meanwhile, I am still intent on Vhantalya debuting this Summer! As soon as I have her last edits back from betas I’ll get those done, then she goes to an actual copy editor. I’ll have an official debut date out when I have that feedback in hand and know what I’m working with final edit-wise. I’ll keep you posted!

Special thanks to all my betas and everyone who took the time to help me reach my goal last year. I’m looking forward to this one being even better!

If you want to beta any of my three books this year, please email me with the title of the book you want to read and ‘beta read’ in the subject line and I’ll get you on my list.

In the meantime, Reboot went out to betas on the 30th! If you wanted to beta for Reboot and didn’t get a chance to raise your hand, or if I missed you somehow, please let me know ASAP and I’ll get it to you.

For those beta reading Vhantalya’s final round I’m hoping to hear from you very soon! Let me know if you need more time, I’ve already talked to one or two who will and gotten feedback on a couple more already.

Thank you, and may everyone have a wonderful, unforgettable (in a good way) 2023!

Happy New Year!

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I hope everyone who celebrates holidays in December had wonderful ones. We’re closing in fast on the New Year!

I updated my book order yet again to make sure that I am doing one book in each series with no more than a year between them. That means that I will be starting the second in the Immortal Elements series, the Tree Y’Edenel, in just a couple of days!

The first book, Vhantalya, is on track for a summer release this year, so more to come on that!

Speaking of which, I have gotten a couple of the final betas back already but still need a few more. Only a few more days, my betas! Please let me know if its going to take you a bit longer: with the holidays I know people are busy and may need some more time.

Reboot is going out in two days! If you have already signed up to be a beta you will see that in your various inboxes Friday afternoon. Please let me know if you haven’t gotten it by Saturday morning and I’ll make sure I didn’t miss someone. If you are interested in beta reading for Reboot, please email me right away from the email address you want it sent to, and I’ll add you to the list.

If you are interested in beta reading for any of the three books coming up this year; The Tree Y’Edenel; So My Grandma Summoned a Demon; and Ferry Tail, please email me with the title of the book you’re interested in and ‘beta read’ in the subject line and I’ll get you on the list. For my standing betas (you know who you are), you will get each one by default unless you tell me differently, so please let me know.

2023 is going to be an exciting year writing wise! Stay tuned!

Like a deck of cards

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Hello everyone out in TV…uh, Book Land!

The home stretch is in sight! Both for the year, and for my book Reboot getting to beta readers! Nine days left until I send this bad boy out. If you haven’t already and you have any interest in beta reading for this book (or any other!) please send me an email with the subject line Reboot Beta Read to get on the list. Or if you want to beta for another book, swap the title out for whichever one you’re interested in. The more feedback the better!

As for Vhantalya, I have some exciting things brewing in that arena that you’ll hopefully see soon. Now some good news and some bad news.

The bad news: when indie publishing a series or part of a series, I have come to learn that it is best in gaining a readership if the second in the series comes out as close to the first one as possible. Since I am now taking this tack with Vhan and likely book 2 and 3 of the Immortal Elements series as well (at least), I’m having to shuffle things again. Right now, I didn’t have book 2 scheduled to write until 2024, but that isn’t going to fly if I want a relatively quick release date for that on the heels of Vhan. So, I’m sad to say (really sad, I really want to write this one!) So My Grandma Summoned a Demon is getting bumped back to mid 2023, and Ferry Tail is getting bumped back to EOY 2023. As You Witch will take The Tree Y’Edenel’s spot in 2024.

The good news: That means that my first revision draft of the Tree Y’Edenel will be starting January 1st! I am aiming for a summer release of Vhantalya, and if I can keep the same writing timeframe for Y’Edenel that means book 2 will release summer 2024. I will keep on the schedule of doing at least one of the Immortal Elements books per year at minimum going forward, so that readers will not have to wait forever for the next installment.

I’ve uh…also added a couple more books to my overall list and schedule, which I will update on the site soon. I’ll post again when that’s done.

For any Stephen King fans or fans of slow-burn fantasy, I am currently reading both Fairy Tale (the slow burn portal fantasy) and Billy Summers. I recommend both, but then I’m a sucker for King.

Till next time! And remember, get those Reboot beta read requests in if you haven’t yet!

Happy Holidays to everyone!