If you've been following my blog for any amount of time, You probably know that I'm a huge fan of Jaye L. Knight (Formerly Molly Evangeline.) In fact, she was the only person I managed to do the IndieFan thing that I tried to do at the beginning of this year. (Need to get back to that though, I know who I want to do next, I just need to contact her.)
Anyways, I told you on Monday that I'd be participating in the cover reveal for Book two of her Ilyon Chronicles, The King's Scrolls, and today is that glorious day.
But, you guys know me, I'm not going to give you the cover that easily. First of all, I'm going to point you over to her blog, where she's holding a giveaway for a 5$ Amazon Gift card and one of the gorgeous necklaces she makes:
And now I'm going to share the book blurb and author info:
About the Book
Following the harrowing events that
brought them to Landale Forest, Jace and Kyrin have settled
comfortably into their new lives and the mission of protecting those
under the emperor’s persecution. The fast approach of winter brings
with it the anticipation of a quiet few months ahead. That is until
the arrival of four mysterious, dragon-riding cretes who seek aid in
a mission of great importance—not only to their own people, but to
all followers of Elôm.
Hidden in the vast mining valley north
of Valcré, a faithful crete has spent years sharing his knowledge
with the destitute miners and their families and is known to possess
what may be Arcacia’s last surviving copies of the King’s
Scrolls—the Word of Elôm. Joining the cretes, those in Landale
must find the crete teacher and bring him to safety, but it is a race
against time. Should Daican’s men find him first, execution and the
destruction of the Scrolls is certain.
When disaster strikes, all seems lost.
Could Elôm have a plan even in the enemy’s triumph?
About the Author
Jaye L. Knight is a homeschool
graduated indie author with a passion for writing Christian fantasy
and clean new adult fiction. Armed with an active imagination and
love for adventure, Jaye weaves stories of truth, faith, and courage
with the message that even in the deepest darkness, God’s love
shines as a light to offer hope. She has been penning stories since
the age of eight and resides in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.
And folks, I almost squealed when I found this in my inbox earlier this week. It is gorgeous, and I can't wait to read the story it'll cover.
Now, one more thing: a lovely little excerpt from the book itself!
Excerpt
The other younger crete took a swig of
his coffee and set his eyes past her. Kyrin peeked over her shoulder
at Kaden who, of course, was staring at the dragon. The female
creature stared back in mutual interest.
“Go ahead,” the crete said
suddenly. “You can touch her. She loves attention, and she’ll
only attack if I tell her to.” A sly glint sparkled in his
spring-green eyes.
Besides Jace, Kyrin had never seen
anyone with such bright and colorful eyes as these cretes.
Kaden looked at him, his brows rising.
“You can do that?”
The crete nodded. “Dragons are highly
intelligent. You can teach them almost any command. Storm here is
young, but she learns fast.”
Kyrin smiled at the delight in her
brother’s eyes as he stepped closer to the dragon and ran his hand
over her bluish-gray neck scales. A grin split his face.
“She’s so smooth. Kyrin, come and
feel it.”
Kyrin stepped to his side and laid her
hand on the dragon. The scales were indeed very smooth, reminding her
of the polished marble stair-railings in Auréa Palace, but they
weren’t cold. Warmth radiated through them. The dragon, still
watching them, let out a little rumble, almost like a giant cat’s
purr.
“I told you she liked attention,”
the crete said, grinning.
Kyrin chuckled and glanced at Jace to
see if he wanted to touch the dragon, but he made no move to come
closer. This certainly had more to do with the crete than the dragon.
He was very fond of any type of animal. She faced the crete again.
“So they can breathe fire?”
“For short bursts, but that’s
usually all it takes to deter any threat.”
“That’s incredible,” Kaden
breathed.
While he continued admiring Storm,
Kyrin observed the dragon’s rider. He appeared to be in his early
to mid-twenties—about ten years younger than Captain Darq—though
his exact age was impossible to guess. Cretes were said to mature
faster than humans, so he could be anywhere from seventeen to
twenty-five. He too wore a sleeveless jerkin. Brown tattoos, a little
darker than his skin, marked both shoulders. Darq and the other
cretes had them as well, but Kyrin hadn’t taken a good look at them
until now. This man’s were a complicated pattern of spirals and
dots, but the shape of a fox stood out in the center of his right
shoulder.
Though she tried to be discreet, he
must have caught her studying him and suddenly extended his hand to
her. “I’m Talas, by the way. Talas Folkan of the Fox Clan.”
All right, first of all, I've passed 50,000 on Saturday, and I finished part 2 on Sunday. That means that my bar on the sidebar has changed color again! Now it's dark blue. I was going to go with silver, for The Mountain, but then I decided I didn't like it, so I went with dark blue instead. I like it.
At my current typing rate, I should finish NaNo by the twenty-first, but since I've hit the part of the book where have the clearer road map (i.e. the notebook version was better written) I should be speeding up. Today, I get to write the scene where Clara and Andrew meet, and I seriously can't wait.
Now, onto the topic of my post.
As ya'll know, I'm going to be publishing the third book of my Bookanias in February. At the moment, I think I'm going to hold the cover reveal on the 31st of December, though I haven't talked to my cover artist about that deadline. (And I still need to send her the back cover blurb.) If you're interested in showing off my cover on your blog that day, email me at kendraeardnek@gmail.com, and I'll add you to my list.
But I was thinking that it was about time to hold something of a contest. A predictions contest.
I've posted a lot of hints round and about my blog and the rest of the internet about what's going to happen in this book. Now, I want to hear what you think is going to happen, or what you want to happen, that sort of stuff. You can make a list on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, you may post your predictions in the comments section.
For every prediction you get right (or close to right, I'm generous) I'll enter a point for you into a contest to win a free paperback version of Kingdom. If you predict something that will happen in the series, though not in this book, you get half a point. If you post an idea I think is really good, and I decide to use it, you also get half a point. (And also a mention in the acknowledgement of the specific book)
For an example so you guys have an idea of what I'm talking about, I'm going to post a list of predictions for a book I've been really looking forward to: King's Scrolls by Jaye L. Knight, book two of her Ilyon Chronicles. (Partially because the cover reveal is this Friday, and it's gorgeous.)
1. Kyrin and Jace will grow closer. I happen to know already that they are a potential couple (and their first kiss is in book 3!), but I expect to see some depth added to their relationship in this book. 2. Kaden will ride a dragon. I mean, there are going to be dragons in this book and Kaden, so if Kaden doesn't get to ride one, I (and he, I'm sure) will be terribly disappointed. 3. Epic worldbuilding, especially into the society of the Cretes. In book one, most of the focus was on the humans, with some appearances from the Talcins, but we have Cretes in this book, and from what I can tell, they're most of the focus, so yeah. I'm eager to learn about their society. 4. Jace will struggle with the soul issue. I think that this will be something he faces throughout the series, especially since there wasn't enough closure for it in book one. I expect to see at least one relapse for them. 5. A dungeon escape. Not much of a prediction here, since Jaye let slip on facebook that every book except either four or five (don't remember which, exactly) has one. So I'm going to take a step further and say that Jace will be the one in prison. Reason? He's one of the few characters who didn't end up there in book one. I expect that this may be where we see his soul struggle.
You get the idea.
Also, I'll also like to remind ya'll that anyone who has read and reviewed both Sew and Take is eligible to beta read Kingdom. So if you have, feel free to contact me (email above) and let me know that you want to read it. I'll be sending it out in December, after I give it one last comb over. Feedback will be needed before January 20th.
I'm linking up to the Beautiful Books hosted by Cait and Skye (see image).
The book is Water Princess, Fire Prince, the story of two teens, Clara and Andrew who fall into another world and (surprise, surprise) become the Water Princess and Fire Prince and that they'll have to fight Amber, the Lady Dragon.
I am going rebel this year, so I had 30,000 (exactly) already when NaNo started, and it's also a rewrite of a book that took me five years to write and I finally finished this summer.
1. Be honest: how is your writing going?
Not bad. If you'll on my sidebar, you'll see a meter that says I'm at 41,000 words. So that means that I'm at 11,000 total that I've written for NaNo - and I haven't even started accumulating for today!
(And just for the record, I am trying to stay ahead this NaNo, since I believe that the last day I'll have a chance to Validate will be the 27th, so I'll need to have 50,000 by then.)
I have hit a slower part of the story, but I'll get into this in a later question. 2. What’s your first sentence/paragraph? I'm going to share the first conversation from both part one and part two, since they introduce the two main characters: Part 1 (Which was written back in July):
“It is a fact universally acknowledged that a short girl, in
the procession of something above her head must be in want of some young man to
get it down for her,” Clara stated, as she and her two best friends headed to
the pool. “And no matter how far from the case it may be, if it just so happens
that her mom has told her to get something that just so happens to be on a
shelf above her head, and some guy just so happens to be walking by and sees
her, he's going to offer his help."
“Is that so?” Rhoda asked. "You know, you could just
let them help you. It would save you a lot of time."
Clara rolled her eyes. "I had it handled. I didn't even
need to be on tiptoe to get it. He only offered to help me so that he could be
a dashing hero."
"Maybe he was just trying to be nice?" Rhoda
suggested.
"You're a pretty girl," Kath added. ''And we know
that you're against the thought of boys liking you and all that, but they don't
know, so…"
Clara tossed Kath a glare. “I’m not against boys liking me,
it’s just that …”
“Was he a redhead?” Kath continued, seemingly oblivious.
“Because I do know that you are especially against them if they’re not.”
“Redheads have nothing to do with it,” Clara insisted, with
a roll of her eyes. “I’m only fifteen, and I’m not ready to be thinking about
things like that, and he was being an unnecessary dashing hero. That’s what I
don’t like.”
“That and the fact that he probably wasn’t a redhead.”
Rhoda rolled her
eyes, “What is its with you and redheads when it comes to Clara?” And Part 2 (written this month):
“Yes Kyle, you may take Josh and Parker for a hike before we
leave,” said Andrew, without looking up from the map he was examining. “Just
don’t push them off of any cliffs. We don’t have time to call 911 right now.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to ask, Andrew,” said Kyle,
with a groan. “I –”
“Well, it happens to be what I just gave you permission to
do, unless you want to stay and help me pack up the tent. On second thought …”
“I’ll take them hiking,” Kyle quickly amended, before Andrew
could finish the thought.
“Good. Make sure they’re both wearing proper climbing gear.”
“We’re not babies anymore, Andrew!” protested Josh, who was
apparently in earshot. “We know how to prepare for a hike.”
“Good, then do so.”
3. Do you have a book cover, and/or pictures that reflect your book? I have a mock cover (Three versions of it, actually) but I don't have a picture of it on my computer, besides which I'm considering taking my idea a different direction. Something along the lines of this picture I found on Pinterest:
5. What scene are you most excited to write?
The scene where Clara and Andrew finally meet, which happens in part 3. Because they have some of the best conversations, and I can't write those conversations until they've met.
Sigh. So I want to get to that point as soon as possible, but I probably have somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 words before I get there. 6. Share a snippet or a scene that you really enjoyed writing.
Surveys 41,000 words' worth of delicious scenes. Maybe I should narrow this down to the 11,000 I wrote this month? Let's go with the scene where Andrew arrives in Klarand, I enjoyed that.
Just when he was about to lose all hope, he felt a hand grab
his arm, and he was pulled out of the fire. His skin collided with icy cold,
and his eyes flew open.
The fire was gone. He knelt in a strange pink substance that
felt like snow, though there was still heat coming from behind him.
“Are you all right, Fire Prince?”
Andrew looked up from the strange snow to find a bearded man
standing over him – his rescuer? The man was dressed in a strange green outfit,
with a knife in his belt and a bow strapped to his back.
Closing his eyes and shaking his head in an attempt to clear
it, Andrew pushed himself to his feet before his legs and hands could freeze.
Had he somehow ended up at a renascence festival? ‘Cause that was certainly
what the man looked like he was dressed for.
“Where am I?” he asked.
“Three feet from the Firefall in Lower Klarand,” the man
replied.
“Right.” Andrew didn’t recognize those names at all. “So …
do you mind if I could use your cell phone. I should probably call my dad and
let him know I’m all right and where I am. He must have seen that fire from
where he was.”
“My … cell phone, Fire Prince?”
“You know, the phone you use when you’re not at home,”
Andrew explained, feeling very annoyed. “I know you’re in character and all
that, but I need to let my dad know I’m okay. I need to get back to them!”
But the look on the man’s face was as innocent and confused
as though he had never heard of a cell phone before in his life.
“What is a phone?”
“A telephone. You use it to talk to people from far away,”
Andrew explained. Frustrated, he turned away from the man and tried to take in
his surroundings. It was apparently winter here … and it had been summer just a
few minutes ago. Not only was there pink snow on the ground, but most of the
trees were bare. Those that weren’t were … purple? And that one was blue.
He shook his head again, trying to convince himself that he
was seeing things. He opened his eyes again, and they fell on the source of the
heat – a rushing river made of fire.
Heart hammering against his chest, he knelt down to get a
closer look. It certainly wasn’t water – it was smoke, not steam that rose off
of it. And it wasn’t lava either. Andrew had seen lava – and many forms of it.
His dad was a scientist who studied many things, and took their family pretty
much everywhere. There wasn’t much in the natural world that Andrew hadn’t
seen.
But red snow, blue trees, and fire that flowed like water
were new to him.
“Are you all right, Fire Prince?”
Andrew pushed himself to his feet and spun back around to
face the man. “My name’s Andrew.”
The expression on the man’s face didn’t change. “Yes.”
“Andrew Stevenson,” he added.
“Yes. You are the Fire Prince.”
“But …”
“Fire Prince, if you are trying to tell me your true name, I
don’t think it’ll work,” the man informed him. “The prophecy states that we
shall only ever know you by your title.”
The words swirled around in Andrew’s head and frustrated him
all the more. His eyes traveled back to the river of fire, traveled to its
source. He and the man stood at the foot of a cliff made of black rock, and the
fire spewed from a hole in it about three hundred feet up.
“The Firefall, you said this was?” Andrew asked.
“Yes, Fire Prince.”
“Stop calling me that!” Today was crazy enough without
adding a man from his history books insisting on calling him this strange name.
He needed to find a way home!
“It is who you are, you cannot deny it,” said the man,
calmly. “The fact that you tried to tell me your real name and I still heard
only your title confirms it.”
“I don’t care – stop calling me it!” He gestured wildly
towards the fire river. “This isn’t scientifically possible.”
“Perhaps not in your world, but you’re in Rizkaland now.”
“I thought you said something about Lower Klarand.”
“Klarand is one of the islands,” the man explained. “And
you’re in the lower part of it. If it makes you feel any better, this is the
only place in all of Klarand where fire flows like this.”
7. Now that you're writing, have any of the plot details, or the process itself, turned out different from what you planned or imagined?
I usually keep a loose hand on my plot idea, willing to let it weave and dip wherever it goes, even when rewriting, which is what I'm doing. So yes the crystallized words across the page form differently than the cloudy thoughts within my head, but I've come to expect that as I write, and I cannot give any specific example. 8. Is there a character or aspect of your plot that's difficult to write?
(Please refer to question 1 where I mentioned that I hit a slow spot, I will now explain.)
Part 2 has no girls in it. Nil. Nada. Well, Laura has shown up once, for a few paragraphs so that she could send Andrew into Rizkaland, but for the most part, the cast is decidedly male.
And I'm not a guy. Nor do I really know very many guys. So it's been harder to push through Andrew's scenes. However, I've still been able to manage at least a thousand words a day, so I've been surviving, but it's been difficult. I've actually been focusing on worldbuilding though, since my men are out in nature, and Andrew, being the son of a scientist, is one to ask questions. 9. What’s your favorite aspect of this novel so far? Favorite character?
My favorite part is the world of Rizkaland. I love worldbuilding, and Rizkaland is my favorite world of all I've built. But even as much as I know about the world, I'm still being surprised at every turn!
As for favorite character? Let's see ...
Clara/Andrew/Jasmine/Jill Anna/Karlos/Leaf Princess/Laura/Jakob/I can't decide! 10. Have you drawn off of any life experiences or people you know to create your novel and your characters?
Contrary to popular belief, I've never actually fallen into another world and be asked to get rid of some sort of scary evil oppressor, so in truth, the book doesn't really resemble my own life. Unlike the characters, I've never touched a real sword in my life, and I've only ever messed with a kid's bow.
Except for the fact that I gave Amber my own physical description and one of my weaknesses, so ... yeah. That's me for you. 11. Do you have a playlist or certain song for your novel and/or characters?
Usually I'll plead innocent on music-related questions, but I actually have one for Clara and Andrew: King and Lionheart.
It just really describes their relationship once they decide to work together in part 5. He's very much a King, while she's the one with the heart of a lion. They're beautiful together. 12. Let’s have some fun for a moment: imagine you are somehow transported into your book’s world. Which character are you most likely to be found hanging out with?
I'd probably hang out with Jasmine or Karlos, since I get along with kids really well and I love these two. 13. How do you keep yourself motivated to finish your daily wordcount? (Pinterest? Internet breaks? Chocolate?)
At the moment, my chief motivation is my calculator. Yeah, I'm interesting like that. 14. What inspiring quote keeps you writing?
I don't know if there's any one particular quote, but here's one that describes me right now:
Except that I'm typing this book. It's the sequel that's being written by hand at the moment. 15. How does this book make you feel so far? Are you laughing? Crying? Frustrated?
I'm excited. Honestly, the energy buzz that I'm getting off of this book is almost frightening.
About a year and a half ago, I participated in some critique swaps. One of them, with a girl who went by Eowyn,
Now both of us kinda fell down on the job, neither sending the other any actual critique, but I really enjoyed her story. And now, on December 8th, she's going to publish it!
Today, I'm taking part in the cover reveal.
What would you do if you were given the opportunity to rebuild a broken relationship?
Alec and Nikki Scott are the perfect ice dancing duo, executing flawless technique and brilliant performance abilities each time they compete. No one doubts their camaraderie, not even their closest friends.
But looks can be deceiving. Off the ice, their relationship is in shambles. Ice dancing is the only thing they have in common anymore... and Alec wants to quit.
Just as Nikki feels like their relationship can't get any worse, an unexpected tragedy crashes into her life. She's left struggling with a difficult choice as her opinion of her brother slowly starts to change.
Whatever she decides, she knows her life will never be the same.
What's this madness? I'm actually giving you the cover right off the bat? Well, since I'm a bit late with the posting (it was supposed to go up three hours ago, though I was still sound asleep, and I forgot to schedule it last night ... was fighting a bit of writer's slow with Andrew), I decided I'd be uncomplicated today.
But anyways, this is going to be a really good book. I've read it, and truth be known, it's one of the best contemporaries I've ever read. This isn't something ya'll are going to want to miss.
And it is that time again. If you're like me, you were up past midnight last night trying to get a head start on your NaNo. I got about 800 words, 300 of them in the first ten minutes, and then went to bed at one.
I finished Part 1, as well, which means I'm now working with Andrew instead of Clara. And ... no girls. Laura is hinting that she might pop in once or twice though, so I can look forward to those.
Here's the opening scene for Andrew (since I posted Clara's back in July):
“Yes Kyle, you may take Josh and Parker for a hike before we
leave,” said Andrew, without looking up from the map he was examining. “Just
don’t push them off of any cliffs. We don’t have time to call 911 right now.”
“That wasn’t what I was going to ask, Andrew,” said Kyle,
with a groan. “I –”
“Well, it happens to be what I just gave you permission to
do, unless you want to stay and help me pack up the tent. On second thought …”
“I’ll take them hiking,” Kyle quickly amended, before Andrew
could finish the thought.
“Good. Make sure they’re both wearing proper climbing gear.”
“We’re not babies anymore, Andrew!” protested Josh, who was
apparently in earshot. “We know how to prepare for a hike.”
“Good, then do so.”
And onto the Character Encounter. As you may be aware, this year's theme for Encounters is fictional worlds, so which Fictional world will we be visiting this month?
Middle Earth
I feel it to be only fitting that in this, the most epic month of the writer's year, shall be the one in which we visit the most epic world to have ever been created. I don't care where or when in Middle Earth you visit, just have fun. Only rule is that, if you're doing NaNo, use one of your NaNo characters. (Not that hard of a rule, after all.)
