Tag Archives: writer promo dance

New book day! KLONE’S STRONGHOLD

Well, release day was actually YESTERDAY…but I wasn’t feeling well, and I’ve learned that doing promo work while not feeling well is not always the best thing to do.

Anyway, it’s out! My first foray into long-form contemporary fiction, Klone’s Stronghold, is now available online!

In a world of supernatural beings, not knowing what you are is dangerous.
 
After Reeni Dutta’s ex-husband Karl attacks her at a music festival, she finds a refuge teaching cryptid construct children at Klone’s Stronghold in northeastern Oregon’s isolated Bucket Mountains. But things are not as they seem at the Stronghold, from the older proprietors of a nearby store and the Stronghold’s leader Alexander Reed Klone, to Reeni herself. She discovers it’s not just Karl who seeks to control who and what she is, but forces from her past that threaten her present. Can she learn the truth about herself and do what is needed in time to defend the Stronghold?
 
Available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and other places.
Books2Read link (takes you to Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and iBooks) https://www.books2read.com/u/m2vZDG

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Sense of place in the Goddess’s Honor series

I’ve been wanting to write this blog for a while, but every time I sit down to write about this subject my thinking points go careening off into the glaciated (well, these days not-so-glaciated) peaks of the Wallowas and I decide that maybe it’s a better use of my time to go ride the horse and then sew a quilt or work on a book. So I do that instead of writing the blog.

Then, later, as I’m drowsing off, the points come galloping back, demanding my attention. Granted, the sense of place in writing isn’t the only blog topic that wakes me up when I’m trying to drop off into sleep (or mugs me in the middle of a road ride), but sense of place in writing the topic I grabbed on today.

My recent visit to Portland slammed home hard that awareness of how I use sense of place when we went skiing. These days I don’t get up on the Mountain much, except to visit with my friend Phyllis or the occasional ski trip during the spring ski season. We’ve been holding out for the much less expensive spring ski passes the last couple of years, the ones that pay for themselves after two visits. Some years we go over Hood at least once during the summer to go back to Enterprise, or visit people in Bend before going to Enterprise, but last year wasn’t one of those times. So when we drove up the Mountain and we got into the big cedars near Tollgate Campground, I immediately had the flash of “This is Medvara” when I drove through that grove of old cedars around the rocky point protruding into the Zigzag River. Ever since I started working in the Goddess’s Honor world, that little section on Mount Hood has always been in the back of my mind when writing the Medvara sequences in the Goddess’s Honor books, just like the big Ponderosa pine forests bordering the great grassy ridgetop flats and deep river canyons of Wallowa country inspire the Keldara and Clenda settings.

That cedar grove has always meant Medvara, even when the nation had a different name. Alicira had a major confrontation with her nemesis Zauril there, nothing that’s been put into the books (yet). Further down the river is where Rekaré kills her father Zauril and becomes Medvara’s new Leader. Even though the grove had no influence or appearance in the new Goddess’s Honor book, Challenges of Honor, it’s still an influence.

Of course no one real-world inspiration of a fantasy world setting maps 100% on that fantasy world. Even authors working in realistic fiction with real-life settings will fudge small details of a location to make the story work, though less so than someone working in fantastic fiction. I’m no exception to that rule, though my sense of place can be a bit bizarre and weird when I’m putting together a story. While most of the settings in the first part of Pledges of Honor are drawn first from Northeastern Oregon/Southeastern Washington Wallowa/Palouse country, there’s one section with a hot spring that comes from a real-life hot spring visit in Southern Oregon many years ago, in similar rugged country. And the Dry Line is more than visible when you drive westward on Interstate 84 toward Portland, as you enter The Dalles.

The mosaic of place in the new Goddess’s Honor book, Challenges of Honor, is much more fragmented. While Challenges has some scenes in Keldara and Clenda, most of the action takes place in Medvara and then in the southern reaches of the Saubral lands between Medvara and Keldara. But most of the story takes place in Medvare-the-city, a location shaped not so much by places I’ve been as much as pictures. The Leader’s House in Medvara is a rambling edifice made of wood, with several wings and courtyards that probably owe something to McMenamin’s Edgefield Manor as much as anything else, perhaps with a nod to another McMenamin’s property, the Kennedy School. It has gardens (hello, Rose Test Garden and the Ladd’s Addition rose garden) and shrines as well as a Great Hall. Because it’s on the confluence of the Saktrin and Chellana Rivers, and Challenges is a summer book, it is hot, muggy, and smoky from forest fires (and I should have emphasized that element more but alas, I just don’t write summer settings well).

Then events take another swing, and we end up in a horseback pursuit through the sagebrush desert, culminating in a battle fought in a small river meadow at the bottom of a steep canyon. I recently made a trip down to the area that inspired that setting, and got several pictures of some of the settings as they would look in the spring. That said, I also found more settings that will be playing roles in future writings–not just in Goddess’s Honor but in my Oregon Country and other weird/alt-history Western fantasies.

I’ve tried to find an appropriate label for what I’m wanting to do with this world, because it’s definitely not classic faux-European setting. Ruling structures are one thing that I don’t want to play around with too much simply because those changes don’t fit the story I’m wanting to write. The settings, however, are flexible and fascinate me. I’ve been collecting settings and site impressions for years. They may not always come across in my writing, but I can travel somewhere that’s inspired a story and had that sudden sense of place–this is Medvara–flash across my awareness like driving through that grove the other day did.

Of all my works, I’d have to say that Goddess’s Honor is the one most driven by place impressions, with the Netwalk series running a close second (at least the early books). We’ll see what the books to come bring to the table.

I don’t know. What do you think?

Apologies for the shameless shilling below, but I’ve got more work coming out soon and book babies need pretty new covers!

Like my work and want to buy me a coffee? Ko-Fi link here: http://ko-fi.com/joycereynoldsward

New Releases Currently Available:

Fantasy:

Challenges of Honor: Change is coming eleven years after the events that transformed Katerin Healer into Katerin ea Miteal and catapulted Rekaré ea Miteal to the Leadership of Medvara. Katerin’s daughter Witmara grows stronger in magic while studying under Alicira, Katerin’s cousin and Rekaré’s mother. Rekaré struggles with her mixed feelings toward her leadership and her daughter Melarae. When a challenge to Rekaré arises from a recent Daran Empire exile, Chiral, as Alicira’s health fails, Katerin must choose between remaining obscure, or fully claim her role as a Miteal. The Seven Crowned Gods have their own agenda. What are the consequences of thwarting Chiral’s schemes, and why are the Gods meddling now? Katerin and Rekaré are faced with many challenging choices but not all are honorable—or wise.

Books to Read Universal Link: https://www.books2read.com/u/3L9PN7

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BYZZMSQ

Science Fiction:

Netwalk’s Children: NEW EDITION WITH NEW COVER! The mysterious war machine device known as the Gizmo is getting restless and trying to use Melanie’s daughter Bess and her nephew Richard as a means of escape from its confinement. Meanwhile, problems arise with potential rogue Netwalkers tied not just to Melanie’s past but to her parents and the original capture of the Gizmo. Can Melanie work with her estranged Netwalker grandmother Sarah as well as Bess to stop the Gizmo and deal with past shadows that threaten to dominate Bess’s future?

Books to Read Universal Link: https://www.books2read.com/u/b5nw63

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017UZE03A

Learning in Space: Bess and Alex: Bess Fielding and Alex Jeffreys are committed to a future in space with Bess’s family company, Do It Right. But that future comes with a steep learning curve in a place where the simplest mistake can be deadly…and not all those mistakes are naturally caused. Being a leader in new space technologies doesn’t stop sabotage from happening, however. As one of the leading production companies in space, Do It Right can be a target for the disgruntled and the ambitious. Nonetheless, Bess and Alex learn more about space and each other, until…good times come to an end….

Books to Read Universal Link: https://www.books2read.com/u/38gYVL

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077HDTPHP

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Happy Book Day, CHALLENGES OF HONOR!

And it’s here! Challenges of Honor is now available!  Here’s the details:

What challenges from the Gods are honorable…and right…to accept?

Change is coming eleven years after the events that transformed Katerin Healer into Katerin ea Miteal and catapulted Rekaré ea Miteal to the Leadership of Medvara. Katerin’s daughter Witmara grows stronger in magic while studying under Alicira, Katerin’s cousin and Rekaré’s mother. Rekaré struggles with her mixed feelings toward her leadership and her daughter Melarae. When a challenge to Rekaré arises from a recent Daran Empire exile, Chiral, as Alicira’s health fails, Katerin must choose between remaining obscure, or fully claim her role as a Miteal. The Seven Crowned Gods have their own agenda. What are the consequences of thwarting Chiral’s schemes, and why are the Gods meddling now? Katerin and Rekaré are faced with many challenging choices but not all are honorable—or wise.

Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BYZZMSQ

Also on Nook, Kobo, iBooks, and others (Books2Read Universal link here): https://draft2digital.com/book/320484

I started the Goddess’s Honor series after reading one too many fantasy novels set in a quasi-medieval European setting with yet again too many men and not enough strong women in leadership roles. I also wanted to examine what happens in a world driven by magic when the Gods overseeing it go to war against each other. At what point do the humans affected by the divine war step in and say “enough!”? Additionally, I wanted to write fantasy based in places I live and love, not partially visualized generic settings from a part of the world that my family hasn’t lived in for over two hundred years. Goddess’s Honor is loosely set in the Columbia Plateau and Willamette Valley environs with the Great River Chellana running through the lands of Keldara, Clenda, and Medvara. Magic comes from the land and manifests not just through human spells but in special breeds of horses, sheep, and plant species.

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Guests and Learning in Space

I missed writing yesterday for various reasons, including day job, housework and prepping for today’s guests–well, not entirely as I was also doing editorial work. No horse as by the time I got done with day job and other stuff, it was raining, getting close to dark, and not worth heading out to the barn. Today was bright and sunny but I had day job, guest prep, and…drumroll…prepping Learning in Space: Bess and Alex.

Learning in Space includes my three almost-winner stories: Tranquility Freeriders (Writers of the Future SemiFinalist), Too High to Fall (Anthology Builder Finalist), and Of Archangels and Fuzzy Green Mascots (Writers of the Future Honorable Mention as In Archangel’s Arms).

I’ve got almost everything finished for it except the front matter and a couple of other minor details, and then it’s going up wide. I’ve got a tentative blurb but need to work on it yet:

Bess Fielding and Alex Jeffreys are committed to a future in space with Bess’s family company, Do It Right. But that future comes with a steep learning curve in a place where the simplest mistake can be deadly…and not all those mistakes are naturally caused. Being a leader in new space technologies doesn’t stop sabotage from happening, however. As one of the leading production companies in space, Do It Right can be a target for the disgruntled and the ambitious. Nonetheless, Bess and Alex learn more about space and each other, until…good times come to an end….

With this book I’m just about done with Netwalk Sequence publications, except for the Disruption Chronicles.

Besides book work we had friends over for snacks and a casual card game session. A pleasant afternoon for all. The house is nicely mucked out and reorganized as a result, just in time for the holidays. Not that we have many visitors, but one never knows. I took the explicitly Halloween decoration down but the fall decor will stay up through Thanksgiving. I’m really tempted by a big ski-themed decoration I saw in Safeway as it’s hard to find nice ski-themed stuff. OTOH, we’re winding down on the skiing, possibly, so we shall see.

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The two covers of Netwalking Space are now one

It wasn’t my intention to have two covers for Netwalking Space. But what happened was that I’d contacted my original cover artist, who had done the work on Netwalk: Expanded Edition and Netwalker Uprising to see if he could do this last cover. Which he did–the cover on the right side, with the title on the bottom.

It’s a gorgeous cover, and there’s nothing wrong with it–but. But! When I went to repackage it for the CreateSpace cover, nothing I did worked. I tried and tried, but I couldn’t get it to fit to CreateSpace specs. And he is busy at a day job, so…I turned to the designer of my fantasy series covers to have her do the paperback version. I decided to leave the ebook cover as is, and see if it sold.

Nothing.

So nothing was lost by switching the cover for the ebooks to match the paperback.

I think I’m going to eventually switch covers on the others, starting with the failed lousy cover I did for Netwalk’s Children. I do need to get to work on compiling the collection of the Bess and Alex novelettes (Tranquility Freeriders, Too High to Fall, and Of Archangels and Fuzzy Green Mascots). But this step is done.

We’ll see if it sells better now.

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Radcon 2017

So here’s my schedule right now…..

 

Friday February 17

2:00 PM Neurodiversity

3:15 PM Making your own way

6:15 PM Reading

Saturday February 18

12:45 PM The Many Ways of Plotting

3:15 PM Policing Space

5:45 PM Editing: the toughest part of writing

8:15 PM Home unSchooled

Sunday February 19

11:30 AM Missions of Gravity

 

Hope to see some of you there!

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Happy book day, NETWALKING SPACE

Netwalking full cover

0594-netwalking-space-cover

The paperback edition hasn’t quite cleared Createspace yet, but there’s the cover above! While the ebook cover was lovely, it just didn’t work in translation to hard copy. So the fantabulous Roslyn McFarland worked her magic, and lo…a hard copy cover! The woman on the front cover could be Bess, or Nora Achimade, or a couple of other characters…even Ekua the Netwalker.

But the ebook is out! Here’s all the information:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N33JCVZ

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/netwalking-space-joyce-reynolds-ward/1125476216

Apple iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1194878070

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/netwalking-space

The blurb:

78,954 alien devices appear just outside Pluto orbit, with a projected trajectory that ends at Earth…and the data shows they’re identical to the Gizmo war machine that destroyed ten Earth cities before it was captured and confined….

 

For four generations Bess Fielding and her family have led the battle to control the destructive Gizmo device that also allowed for the development of Netwalk, a digital virtual networking and communication system that allows personalities to upload at death. Bess, her mother Melanie, and her Netwalker great-grandmother Sarah have suspected Gizmo’s alien origin for years.

 

But when a fleet of Gizmo devices arrives at the Solar System, their focus on defending against this invasion is disrupted by disclosures of dark secrets from Sarah’s past. These revelations provoke a dangerous breakdown in Bess’s grandmother Diana, turning her into a Gizmo collaborator. Bess and her family must unite to save Diana and lead the fight to protect Earth—but who is trustworthy? Who is a betrayer? Who gets sacrificed to stop the invading fleet? Bess, Melanie, and Sarah are in a race against time and face tough choices…that will impact those they love.

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Orycon Schedule

So here’s the Orycon schedule for this coming weekend. BTW, I will be giving away a lanyard and an eyeglass chain at my reading at 5:30 on Friday–handmade by me!

How a Writer’s Workshop Changed My Life
Douglas Fir (3)
Fri Nov 18 3:00pm – 4:00pm
John Lovett, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Manny Frishberg, Sara Mueller
Joyce Reynolds-Ward Reading
Hawthorne (2)
Fri Nov 18 5:30pm – 6:00pm
Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Gardening in Fantasyland
Sunstone (3)
Sat Nov 19 10:00am – 11:00am
Anthony Pryor, ElizaBeth Gilligan, Esther Jones, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Kamila Miller
Science Fiction as a Tool for Social Change
Salon C (LL1)
Sat Nov 19 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Brenda Cooper, Guy Letourneau, Jennifer Rosenberg, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Peter Jones
Nuclear Power
Salon B (LL1)
Sat Nov 19 1:00pm – 2:00pm
G. David Nordley, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Peter Wacks, Robert McGown
Twisted History
Salon A (LL1)
Sat Nov 19 3:00pm – 4:00pm
David Weber, Guy Letourneau, Jim Fiscus, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Pat Macewen
The spirit of exploration
Salon B (LL1)
Sat Nov 19 5:00pm – 6:00pm
Ethan Siegel, Guy Letourneau, Hugh S. Gregory, Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Understanding Evolution
Salon B (LL1)
Sun Nov 20 10:00am – 11:00am
G. David Nordley, Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Manny Frishberg, Sean Robinson
Autograph Session 7
Autograph Area (LL1)
Sun Nov 20 1:00pm – 2:00pm
Blythe Ayne, Curtis Chen, David Dvorkin, Deborah Ross, Joyce Reynolds-Ward
Backyard Astronomy
Salon B (LL1)
Sun Nov 20 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Joyce Reynolds-Ward, Robert McGown, Roy Torley

 

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New Netwalk Sequence short up on Wattpad

Facing the aftermath cover

Got an outtake from the end of Netwalk’s Children up on Wattpad. I decided to write it as part of the prep for plotting Netwalking Space. Caution: spoilers for Children in the story itself. But if you want to find out what the Netwalk Sequence is about…check it out.

https://www.wattpad.com/user/joycemocha

 

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Beyond Honor now ready for pre-order!

Beyond Honor front cover

It is live on CreateSpace as well, and I have hard copies in my hands. It’s a gorgeous book (shout out to Roslyn McFarland for a lovely design).

What’s it about?

Aireii sorceress Alicira, last magician of the house of Miteal, has escaped the clutches of Zauril, murderer of most of her family and usurper of the Leadership of Medvara. She struggles to remain free of his control, especially since her unborn daughter, Zauril’s child, may have inherited his magic instead of hers. Will she be able to find a safe refuge to rear her child free from Zauril’s influence and wreak her vengeance on him, or will the Gods interfere? Her only surviving sibling swears such a place is in Keldara. But will she be able to reach Keldara without losing all she holds dear?

Release date: July 1.

Preorders now available on Kindle, Nook, Apple, and Kobo

 

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