Tag Archives: Goddess’s Honor series

December 25, 2015 · 12:39 pm

Merry Christmas! Pledges of Honor Chapter 4

Blogging about Christmas and all later on….for now, it’s Pledges of Honor Chapter 4. Just got a lovely review on Goodreads by someone who couldn’t put the book down. Oops, now I need to get cracking on Beyond Honor.

So here it is, Chapter Four, in which Katerin finally gets the remembrance spell lifted and she realizes the significance of Wickmasa….

And as always, if you want to read the whole thing, the books can be found at Amazon, Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and etc. Or if you’re not already signed up for my newsletter, do so today and you’ll get a chance at getting a free copy? I’m giving away two copies of Pledges of Honor and Netwalk’s Children as a part of my New Year’s newsletter. What a way to start out 2016! Message me or send an email to jrw at aracnet dot com.

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December 18, 2015 · 1:04 pm

Pledges of Honor–Chapter Three

So here’s Chapter Three of Pledges of Honor. Katerin gets to the Healing House, to find out that it is indeed as Imnari says…”Wickmasa has need” is all she has to say.

Interestingly, these chapters tend to run short while Netwalk’s Children runs long. I’ve never really paid attention to the different lengths of chapter before. Funny how that works.

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November 10, 2015 · 3:15 pm

A snippet from today’s work

I’m not nanoing this year, but nonetheless I’m getting my pre-Radcon release put together; a novella in the Goddess’s Honor series–Beyond Honor. As far as timing goes, it’s a prequel to Pledges of Honor.

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She shook her head. “Grandfather had been thoroughly enchanted by Zauril’s sweet words and bright toys from Daran, enough to speak of pursuing those who have fled Medvara’s grasp on this land. By the time Zauril acted, he had secured the support of the army and the Guards by speaking of invasion, conquest, and gold. None dared openly help me.” She gave her uncle a bitter smile. “Let us see how well he can run Medvara without its magic. That I was able to do once I crossed the borders. Even with a babe quickened in my womb, my curse held.”

“So the Empire-over-Sea now chooses to remember its exiles and harvest this colony.” Alame’s long fingers flickered in a quick ward at the mention of the great Empire that had once belonged to the house of Miteal. “Not that the Empire’s favor will do him much good if you withdrew the land’s magic.”

“I did the best I could considering everything that has happened. It is a long story, uncle, and Zauril may not have the support he claims. There are—things I learned about his connections to Daran while his prisoner.”

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November 9, 2015 · 10:18 pm

The first day of winter

Woke up to this today, and it kept on coming. However, because things were right at freezing, even though the snow kept falling at this level, it also wasn’t piling up above two inches. One of the first things I did was trek out to the barn to check on Miss Mocha because she hadn’t gotten her winter shoes yet. That appointment is scheduled for this Friday, and I had been hoping that this storm would be like the others and warm up. Nope. She came loping up with the herd so things weren’t too bad, though she was grateful for me picking out her hooves and spraying WD-40 in them to help stave off the worst of the ice balls. I thought she was shaking because of the cold for a moment but no, it’s because she’s been conditioned to equate getting caught with being fed grain. So she got a taste of grain (about a handful) and she settled with no shivering. Maybe she thought I was going to be crazy enough to try to ride her in this stuff. Nope, not if I don’t have to. Then, when I turned her out, she trotted over to one of her friends and they pressed foreheads together, then she trotted off to join the other one. That mare…sigh. She doesn’t like me taking Mocha away from her, so we Have Discussions. I suspect part of the issue is that this mare is still pretty lame (she’s there for a pasture layup) and Mocha being Mocha, she’s looking out for her. Or something.

Then it was back to home and prepping for book releases and an upcoming craft show. I laid out the plan for a novella in the Goddess’s Honor series and wrote enough of the opening to insert into the back of Pledges of Honor. Hubby went into the attic to install insulation and I turned to cranking out inventory. When I first planned to participate in the show, I had been thinking about designing stuff. Not inventory. Then I realized I needed inventory, not just flashy design stuff. So. Today was cranking out pretty hanging things, not necessarily Christmasy stuff but things meant to be pretty. No idea if they’ll fly, but I’m running several different lines for this show. Plus chapbooks. All of which needs to be done before Orycon, because we won’t get back until just before the show. Yikes. I do need to plan things better…

There’s so much that’s been going on and it’s been easier to throw a note up on Facebook than write about it. I interviewed for a long term temp job and didn’t get it, but it was a good interview and I know why I didn’t get the position (credentialing). That meant we had to adjust a Portland trip time for the flying trip back to do the interview. Then it was back to Portland and Clatskanie, to winterize the garden plus search out chanterelles. We ended up with three days of great mushrooming as well as piles of produce. For a first year garden it turned out pretty well, providing the bulk of vegetables for four households (all us old folks) from mid-July through the first part of November, as well as giveaways to others. And there’s still onions, carrots, beets, and chard left. We froze some of the produce but ate most of it fresh.

I also have two books launching, one in November and one in December. Netwalk’s Children drops the Monday before Orycon and Pledges of Honor in the first week of December. Production work is done on Children (hard copies will be available at Orycon) and work’s mostly done on Pledges. Now it’s just promotion (sigh).

Promotion and inventory creation. That’s what I’ve got to do here. But for the first day of winter, with snow flying, we’re settled in and stuff is happening.

And with that, I’m tired and off to bed.

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November 7, 2015 · 1:18 pm

An exercise in cover creation…Pledges of Honor

When I got the rights back to Pledges of Honor, one issue I ran into was the total lack of a budget to do cover work. Editing had happened long before I sent the MS to the publisher that I got it back from, so at least I had that factor handled. But. Cover.

Pledges is high fantasy that is, as I described on Facebook, set in an 18th century-esque alternative Pacific Northwest locale. Very alternative, though it’s still a colonial frontier, albeit one where the colonialists are fleeing active persecution and have to collaborate with local populations to survive (backstory). There are elements who want to do the traditional colonialist thing, and they’ve gained power in one nation. But. There’s also a pack of squabbling Gods and Goddesses, and the high politics of the divine pantheon affect magic and political power at the human level. Lots and lots of backstory that is only mildly referenced in Pledges, and to be honest I’m not certain how well I’ve pulled that off.

There will be more of the strife between colonialists and collaborationists in the next books, because, well, the original imperial power is now remembering their colony and That Does Not Bode Well. But when they show up, they’re going to find that Things Aren’t What They Thought. And, well, that would be telling more about the story, wouldn’t it?

Meanwhile. Cover. I posted several pictures yesterday and got some good feedback. Besides cover pix yesterday, I also browsed the fonts to find the look I wanted. However, when it came to the lighting and background color, the initial font I chose didn’t work. Didn’t matter what color the text was, what the color the drop shadow was…the font didn’t work. I wish I’d saved some interim pix for comparisons, but oh well.

So I chose a backup font, and it turned out better than I thought. Then it became an issue of alignment. At first I wanted the title across the top, but…well, that didn’t work with the picture. Played a bit more with colors and alignment, and came up with this:

I may have to play with it a bit more once I start submitting the ebook and I know the CreateSpace cover is going to be a challenge…but the cover is DONE.

Yeah, I know I could go to Deviant Art or Fiverr to get an artist, but I’ve yet to find someone who resonates with what I like. Plus at some point in the future I probably will update the covers and then change things out. For now, though…I like what I see, and thanks to all who helped me figure it out!

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