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Lurking Musings

~ Musings of a newly published writer

Lurking Musings

Tag Archives: mundania press

Get a free copy of Transitions for review

14 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Publicity

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Tags

Amazon, books, Give away, Goodreads, John Scalzi, Making Connections, mundania press, paranormal romance, reviews, Transition, writing


I’ve joined the Making Connections group in Goodreads. It is a community which Transitions-AuthorCopyprovides authors with a way to get in touch with readers who might want to write a review of one of their books.

With this in mind, I have set up a giveaway on that group:

Click here for a link to the Giveaway thread

There are ten free copies of Transitions (any ebook format) up for grabs in this giveaway. All you need do is express an interest on the thread above, leaving your email address and what format you want, and a copy will be sent to you.

In exchange for this, you agree to write a review of the book within 4-6 weeks of receiving it which can be posted anywhere you like (Goodreads is a good start but you can also post on the Amazon page or your own blog) and send me a link to tell me you have done it.

The first ten to post in the thread with the correct details get the free copies. Two of them have already gone out, leaving 8 to go… The group owners moderate everything to make sure it is all fair and above board.

The Making Connections group also has a lot of other cool books up for similar giveaways listed. They are always keen to get more reviewers on board so if you are a Goodreads member, pop along there and sign up.

In a related issue, this is also a reminder that you can now see me on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/DaLascelles

Those of you who use Facebook may want to go to this page and click like…

Wow, three posts in two days. At this rate I’ll be posting more than John Scalzi…

Location, Location, Location… Part Two: The University of Birmingham

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings

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#amwriting, BBW Romance writers, Birmingham, Birmingham UK, books, Isengard, J.R.R Tolkien, mundania press, Ninfa Hayes, Orthanc, paranormal romance, Photography, Publication, Sarehole Mill, Selly Oak, The Bristol Pear, The Curse, Transitions, University of Birmingham, writing


A few days ago, I posted about Marsden Beach and Arbeia Roman fort. Now it is time for part two of my blog posts about locations I used in Transitions.

The university is where the contemporary action of the story happens. It also happens

The blue plaque at Sarehole Mill

to be one of the (several) universities I attended and worked at in my time as a scientist. I needed a university for my characters to be attending and it seemed a convenient one to use because I knew it so well. There were other advantages too.

One was the association with J.R.R Tolkien. As pointed out in the story, Tolkien did live for some time in the West Midlands (Kings Heath, now a suburb of Birmingham), spent a lot of time visiting places like Clent and Lickey Hills (both places we used to walk our dog) and attended school at King Edward’s school. Said school is right next to the university and does indeed have a good view of the iconic tower which was potentially the inspiration for the tower of Orthanc in Isengard (Sarehole mill being another inspiration, not to mention the dark smoke of the nearby black country). This provided a wonderful opportunity for two of the characters to be pedantic geeks.

The clock tower of the University of Birmingham

The tower itself was also a great location to use for the above scene because it looks so awesome – a huge, red brick clock tower in the middle of a courtyard made from similar red brick university buildings. Ever since I arrived in Birmingham this tower, which is visible from quite a distance away, always struck me as an ideal place for an epic battle between two powerful beings.

Of course… I use it in Transitions for a fight between two students, one drunk the other possessed. It’s hardly epic, more comedic as the drunken student is hardly competent in combat and the possessed one does not care and it ends with a piece of pedantry (like all the best arguments). However, one day I will use the tower again and this time it will be even more epic…

In the university I namecheck a number of lecturers. None of these are based on lecturers I know, though some have traits which some lecturers I have had may have shared. The names of the lecturers are, however, those of friends of mine. Professor Abigail Bath is named after two friends, one a costume maker (who also took my profile photo on this site) and the other a Doctor of History (who is also acknowledged in The Curse due to her expertise in Witchcraft). Professor Hayes is also named from a friend of mine. Not, as you may think, Ninfa Hayes (who is a friend but one I hadn’t met when I was writing Transitions) but the man she married. Finally, Dr. Gallop is named after my father in law. I do feel I have to apologise to at least two of the people namechecked here as both of the lecturers they name are not shown as the best of the breed.

The final scenes of the book centre on Selly Oak which is a place with a lot of student accomodation just outside the university. Specifically, a pub called the Bristol Pear

The Bristol Pear Pub, Selly Oak

which was for a while the home of the University Goth Society’s infamous ‘Friday Night Goth Shite’ nights (or FNGS for short). I tried to portray one of these nights as accurately as possible, including the description of one of the DJs. Unfortunately, FNGS (which was later joined by SNGS, no prizes for guessing what that means) is no longer based at the Pear but when I left Birmingham it was still going strong at a cocktail bar closer to the city centre. It may still be going somewhere. I like to think that someone in Birmingham can still wander into a small pub or cocktail bar somewhere and still find a goth night run by a student society.

So, there is a short tour of some of the Birmingham locations used in Transitions. Next up will be Aqua Sulis.

Note, unlike the previous article, none of the photographs here were taken by me. All credit for them belongs with the original artists who took them.

Location, Location, Location… Part One: Arbeia Roman Fort

18 Tuesday Dec 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Musings, Photos, Publicity, Reaearch

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

BBW Romance writers, books, Locations, mundania press, Ninfa Hayes, Oblivion Storm, paranormal romance, Photography, Pirates and Swashbucklers, productivity, Publication, R.A Smith, Transitions, Virtual Tour, writing


A week ago I was at one of the somewhat irregular meetings of our relatively newlyformed writers’ group (which has yet to gain an official name but is sort of soldiering on under the name of ‘the Tea Society’). Among the many discussions and random witterings, including some interesting ideas regarding World Book Night which I will share with you later, we got onto a discussion about location photographs. Later that week, during the launch of Oblivion Storm, R.A Smith opened a thread which was a ‘virtual tour of London’ using Google Earth, Streetview and Panaramio to showcase locations from the book.

The reconstructed gatehouse of Arbeia Roman fort in South Shields

The reconstructed gatehouse of Arbeia Roman fort in South Shields

So this got me to thinking. When writing Transitions I used a few locations which were familiar to me and as part of the research for the book I took a number of photos to get a better feel for the locations. I was also, at the time, thinking about the cover of the book and what a cover artist may want with regards to inspiration if not actual images they could use to mock up a decent composition.

cave1

One of the many caves aong Marsden beach

I had largely considered that to be that. The photos I had taken were between me and my cover artist and have since been left on my Flickr account not doing much. However, during the aforementioned discussion of my writers’s group, Ninfa Hayes mentioned that readers often like to see such things. Thinking about it, I agreed with her so I decided to share some of these location shots with you. There are three main locations discussed in Transitions – Arbeia Roman Fort and the surrounding area, the Roman City of Aqua Sulis ( which became modern day Bath) and the University of Birmingham and surrounding area.

So, this first post is all about Arbeia. This was a fort built by the Romans in 120 AD to

A shot of Marden beach showing the lift that led down into the pub (which was closed at the time).

A shot of Marden beach showing the lift that led down into the pub (which was closed at the time).

act as a resupply depot for Hadrian’s wall. Since the fort was in my hometown it seemed an obvious place to base Gaius Lucius, my Roman character. Of course, there were a number of slight historical issues I had to contend with. Gaius Lucius, for example, is not Arabic like many of the soldiers at Arbeia would have been. Though to be fair, I don’t actually mention his origin so he could well be Arabic. However, throughout the writing of the story I did imagine him as being from Gaul. Another issue is the fact that the fort was founded in 120 AD and I had originally considered the story being set much earlier, perhaps 10 – 30 year after the death of Jesus. Instead, the timing of the fort meant I had to shift my timings to post 120 AD and opted for 123 AD as being not too long after this point. I also flanged over the fact that it is likely the fort in this period was not going to be as well established as is implied in the story. I hope you consider these to be minor issues and also points which you were likely not to have noticed until I pointed them out to you just now… 🙂

A close up of one of the deeper caves

A close up of one of the deeper caves

Of course, Gaius is never seen at the fort. Instead, he is first seen travelling along a beach to find a cave in which a mad old man lives. That beach, in case anyone is interested, was what is now known as Marsden beach. I am not aware of there ever having been mad old wisemen living in caves on Marsden beach but I accept there is a chance there could have been. There have always been rumours of smugglers there in the past , using the caves to hide goods and there is a pub, the Marsden Grotto, which popular rumour has was a place where these smugglers would hang out. I am currently drawing on this in another story which I am in the middle of writing – a sequel to Gods of the Sea. The pub is also said to be haunted (one of the ghosts being that of a notorious smuggler, as it happens) and has been the subject of one of those over the top ‘Britains most haunted’ style shows.  With all of these features, it struck me as a wonderful inspiration for a location where a Roman could meet a mad old Briton for a bit of supernatural advice.

So, there you have it. How Arbeia Roman Fort and Marsden beach inspired the first part of Gaius Lucius’s story in Transitions. In a later entry I will talk about the city of Bath and the University of Birmingham and how they are linked to the story.

Be gentle… it’s my first time…

03 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Publicity

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

#amwriting, Amazon, BBW Romance writers, books, Goodreads, mundania press, Pirates and Swashbucklers, productivity, Publication, Pulp Empires, reviews, writing


I was recently informed of a positive review of Transitions. Actually, I was informed of Transitions-AuthorCopythis review a few weeks ago, but am only just getting round to posting about it now. With an event to help organise (or at least provide moral support for), real world work to plan and my insane idea to do Nano this year (that’s a whole different post…) I was actually finding it hard to do much serious blogging last month. There was also the fact that the link I was sent to the review does not actually seem to go to a page that includes my review. I was not sure if this meant my review was yet to be published, was lost deep in an archive or was only visible during the third quarter of the full moon when the month has an F in it and is more than 28 days… So, I didn’t want to post anything about it until I got some form of confirmation.

But now November is over, the event was this weekend gone and Nano is also a thing of the past. I do still have real world work to do but my time is a little freer than it was. Ok, I still cannot find the actual review (if anyone can help, I’d appreciate it) but what the hell…

So, the lovely people over at Penumbra Press sometimes review books by other publishers and they decided to pick up mine (the full review is allegedly in their reviews section but I cannot find it). The fragment of the full review that was sent to me is fairly promising, however. It included:

“Throughout this story D. A. Lascelles artfully uses his skills with words to magically paint images in the reader’s head. Not only do places come into clear focus, but the seasons and atmosphere of the locations are also imbued with a descriptive clarity and realistic essence.

Written for paranormal romance fans of all ages, Transitions successfully marries modern day and roman Britain by interspersing the memories and history of roman officer Lucius Gaius with the ordinarily mundane lives of two university students…Transitions is a fair read that will keep you occupied, even if only for a day trip away.”

And the score was apparently ‘3 books’. I am assuming and hoping that this is out of 5 and not, for example, 500 🙂

This is, in fact, the first review I have ever had. For anything. By anyone who was not a friend or family member, anyway. So far both Transitions and Pirates and Swashbucklers have avoided reviews in places like Goodreads and Amazon though Pirates seems to have been marked as ‘to read’ by a lot of people. So, as a first go at the review wheel I am happy with this result. There will likely be bad ones out there too, not that I have found any yet, so it is good to start on a positive note. Plus, my ego is telling me that I should get that first paragraph printed on a T-shirt because I really like it. A lot.

Luckily, I rarely listen to my ego.

[Guest Post] What it feels like to be published by Julie Schriver

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bbw romance, BBW Romance writers, guest blogging, guest posts, Julie Schriver, Love by Proxy, mundania press, paranormal romance, Publication, romance writers, Shades of Love, writing


Today we have a guest post from Julie Schriver who is another of the authors contributing to the Shades of Love anthology and a member of the BBW Romance Writers group. Her story, Love by Proxy, is out now and available from this link. 

Hello, my name is Julie Schriver, and this is my very first  blog post. Hopefully, it won’t turn out to be just a confusing jumble of thoughts.

First off, I want to say thank you to David for allowing me a small voice on here.  You’re very kind to invite me to make a guest post, and I’ll do my best to not make myself look like an idiot.

As has been posted about previously, I am a part of the group of writers who has, with much hard work, frustration, and ultimately elation, finally realized the end goal of our endeavors.  Our paranormal romance anthology is being published by Mundania Press.  One story is being released per month, and later on all of the stories will be put together in one anthology.

For me, this journey has been an incredibly educational one.  I could fill a book with the things I have learned from the talented people I’ve come into contact with while being a part of this project.  I will be forever grateful for having known and worked with them, and I hope we will continue to remain friends even after this collaboration is behind us.

This will be the first time I’ve had anything published, (Thank you, Mundania!), but I’ve been writing, mostly for my own pleasure, since high school.  It’s always been something I’ve truly enjoyed, although I never dreamed I would actually write anything that other people would want to read.  The stories that I write are a part of me, not in a biographical sense, per se, but they have been wrung from my imagination.  For this reason, I was always too timid to share my “brain children” with anyone.  Joining the BBWRomanceWriters group and jumping into this project was a big step for me in overcoming my fears and putting myself out there.  Truly, it’s been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

My contribution to the anthology, Love By Proxy, is about a woman, Gwen, who’s always fought her ability to see and converse with spirits.  Everyone, even her own family, believed that she was mentally disturbed when she would try to talk to them about what she could see.  She was finally able to break away and build herself a new life far away from everything that she knew.  Armed with an art degree, she settled into a small town in Colorado and opened up a shop where she sells her own artwork.  She lives in an isolated, old farmhouse that she shares with a spirit named Rose, a saloon girl killed by a stray bullet over a hundred years ago.  It’s a unique friendship, but it works for both of them.

Gwen is finally happy, but that happiness is threatened when a developer, Evan, blows into town wanting to build a new residential subdivision right behind her home.  More people means more spirits will be attracted to the area, and she is terrified that she won’t be able to hide her abilities any longer.  Her fight to stop the development is a losing battle as the townspeople are very much in support of Evan’s ideas for the land.  It also doesn’t help that she’s beginning to have feelings for him.  She will eventually have to decide whether to stay and hope for the best or leave the place she’s come to love.

If you’ve read this far, thanks! I hope I haven’t bored you too much.  If you decide to take a gander at my story, I hope you enjoy it!

Transitions – Release information

20 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Productivity, Publicity

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

BBW Anthology project, BBW Romance writers, books, Cover design, Cover reveal, ebook release, mundania press, Novella, release date, Transitions


Well, it is finally here…. all the hard work has come together and my novella, Transitions, is finally about to be released.

Tomorrow, in fact… but you wonderful readers of this blog get the heads up a day early and a quick sneak preview of the cover and blurb.

Click here to go to the webpage for the upcoming release

Some time soon (hopefully over the next 24 hours) this page will change to a current release and links will be added to allow you to purchase this novella as an ebook. When that happens I will do another post and give you all the links I know about for places where you may purchase it.

Note, this is an ebook release. If you want to read this novella in a more old fashioned, olde timey format such as paper you will have to wait until all the novellas in the series have been released and we put together the paperback collection of all of them. Until then, I hope you enjoy the pixelatted version…

 

[Guest Post] Opposite Attraction by Judy Bagshaw

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by D.A Lascelles in Guest posts

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

bagshaw, BBW Anthology project, BBW Romance writers, books, ghost hunter, Ghosts, guest blogging, guest posts, mundania press, Paranormal, paranormal romance, parapsychology, Plus sized heroines, Publication, romantic suspense, writing


My name is Judy Bagshaw, and I am a Canadian author of romance and romantic suspense generally featuring plus-sized heroines. I’ve been published since 1999 and currently have three ebooks available through Fictionwise, two anthologies and a novel with Draumr Publishing, a short story collection and upcoming novel with Pearlsong Press, a short in an anthology with The Wild Rose Press, two novels with Mundania Press and one with their imprint, AweStruck.

A huge thanks to David for inviting me to guest post on his blog. I’m a little new at the whole blogging thing, so can’t promise that I’ll enlighten or amaze. I do hope I’ll interest you enough to consider checking out my upcoming paranormal romance, Opposite Attraction, coming out in ebook from Mundania Press, July 24. (www.mundania.com)

David told you a bit about our project in a recent post. Basically, to recap, several authors banded together to write romance novellas featuring ghosts. Five of us saw it through to completion. We took turns critiquing each other’s work, then did rounds of editing later. We polished them up as best we could, then started looking around for a home.

Finding a home was a five year journey filled with hope, disappointment, doubt, desperation, determination, and finally exaltation. We were thrilled when Mundania Press accepted our anthology for publication. They are releasing each story in ebook format first, giving each author a month to shine on their own, then the stories will be compiled into a print anthology…likely late in the fall.

The title, Opposite Attraction, nicely sums up my story. Serena McKay, my heroine, is a skeptic…someone who has made a career from exposing frauds and con artists in the field of paranormal activity. Carter Shehan, on the other hand, is a bona fide ghost hunter. He believes. And he has spent his adult life trying to find proof of the existence of the here-after and ghostly visitors to this plane. Both have written best selling books in their respective fields, and they have locked horns more than once, both adamant that they are right.

Challenged by Carter on a nationally broadcast television talk show, Serena agrees to spend the weekend with him at the famous “haunted” Shelbourne Manor, now a museum. It’s a ‘fish or cut bait’ situation, and Serena is determined to show Carter up as just one more charlatan, while he is determined to prove to her that ghosts exist.

But of course, as with any good romance story, something unexpected happens, and you’ll have to read the story to find out how it all ends up. Let’s just say that it doesn’t hurt that Carter finds the feisty Serena very attractive. And if Serena were being honest, she would admit to more than a passing interest in the laid back Carter.

I like the idea of bringing opposites together and seeing where fate leads them, and often my heroines and heroes are at odds with each other before finding their way into each other’s heart.

You can read more about my work, including excerpts and reviews, at www.judybagshaw.com

You can also find out more about our little writing group at www.bbwromancewriters.homestead.com

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