Category Archives: Resurrection

Announcing a Dark, Decadent, and Deadly Giveaway from Tanith Frost!

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Iiiiiit’s giveaway time! If you like your vampires predatory but relatable, your urban fantasy dark enough to thrill (with some hot romance and a few laughs along the way), Immortal Soulless might be just the thing for you. Books 1-5 are available now on most retailers, but one lucky reader is going to win something really special in just a few weeks!

One lucky winner is going to receive the following Immortal Soulless-themed prizes:

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  • One signed paperback copy of Resurrection (Immortal Soulless Book One)click here for details
  • One Paperblanks vampire-themed notebook. PLEASE NOTE: This is a gorgeous journal filled with to-die-for paper, but it arrived with its elastic closure strap broken. I can’t replace it, but the damage is barely visible and it’s fantastic enough that I want someone to have it. Just know it’s a little broken (but I mean, so are some characters in the book, so…?)
  • Three Newfoundland word stickers. If you’ve read Resurrection, you know ‘skeet’ already.
  • One bag of Dark Tickle Partridgeberry Tea to enjoy while you’re cozying up to read.
  • One piece of grey Labradorite. This takes us a little further ahead in the series, to Sanctuary (book two). Could it connect you to energies beyond mortal awareness? You just never know.
  • Snowy Pine scented candle (do we have tons of evergreen trees in Newfoundland? Does Aviva see one practically every time she turns around? Yes. Also, it just smells AMAZING.)
  • Bookmark: ‘She needed a hero, so she became one’. Enough said.

So that’s the prize for now. I’ll keep you updated here if anything gets added, which I’ll do if entry numbers get high enough. The giveaway is open internationally (see terms and conditions on the Rafflecopter page for details).

How do you enter? Glad you asked! Follow this link to find several options for entering. Do one, do them all… some can get you entries if you repeat them on another day, so don’t forget to go back and do that. Likes and shares are not required for the Facebook entry, but are certainly appreciated.

Good luck!

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COVER REVEAL- Resurrection (Immortal Soulless Book One) by Tanith Frost

Coming June 27, 2017

COVER1WITHTEXT

Her gifts will be her salvation… or her downfall.

No one gave Aviva a choice about becoming a monster. Since the night of her murder she’s been forced to accept a new reality—burned by sunlight, dependent on the blood of the living, searching for her place in a dark world she didn’t believe existed until she awoke as a vampire.

She’s still struggling to accept her fate and master her dark powers when the news arrives: rogue vampires are torturing and killing human residents of the city, threatening the secrecy and uneasy peace of the supernatural world.

As the hunt begins, Aviva’s deliciously distracting trainer, Daniel, helps her seek out her unique strengths. The gifts she discovers are shameful in the eyes of vampire society—and they may be the only thing standing between a pack of ruthless paranormal killers and the unsuspecting humans they prey on.

(New Adult Urban Fantasy)

Available June 27, 2017 via Amazon (free to read with Kindle Unlimited)

To receive four free sample chapters of Resurrection plus release news, giveaways, advance review copy offers, and more, join Tanith Frost’s mailing list!

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Coming Soon from Sparrowcat Press…

I know some of you have been waiting. I’ll have the cover/description reveal here on June 1. In the meantime, check out TanithFrost.com for details, and sign up for her newsletter to get a generous four chapter sample of Resurrection! If you’re a fan of Urban Fantasy, vampires, steamy romance, and a whole lot of blood-spattered suspense, you’ll want to check this one out.

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WIPpet Wednesday: Crime Scene

Hi again! It’s time again for me to stumble into the WIPpet Wednesday party and wander around greeting everyone, pretending I have some idea of what’s going on with the folks who post serial-style.

Dropping in every few weeks means missing a lot. O.o

WIPpet Wednesday is, of course, the day when the WIPpeteers post a snippet of a work-in-progress that relates in some way to the day’s date. As Sworn is still with its first readers and I probably won’t get back to it until we’re at least somewhat settled in a new home, we’re sampling from the vampires again today.

The good news is that I got beat sheets done for the whole series yesterday (though #5 still needs work), which means that I can get down to scene outlines soon if I can find time around house stuff.

The better news is that this is going to be SO MUCH FUN to write that I’m shaking a little.

You may be a writer if this makes you do a happy dance.

Today we’ll do our snippet from chapter nine of Resurrection (2+7 for the 27th). Shivva and Daniel are at a crime scene, which we’ve seen a few of on Wippet Wednesdays past. Shivva’s job is just to see what she can figure out without direction. Kind of a test, and an important one.

The kitchen is a mess, with uncapped soda bottles all over the table next to stacks of plastic cups, some of which are tipped and scattered across the floor. Bowls of chips and party mix sit on the counters, along with an array of cheap booze. The sharp stink of it would be enough to mask the scent of blood if we were limited to living senses. Not for us, though. Underneath our stylish-yet-understated clothing, Daniel and I are monsters. Even spoiled, dead blood calls to us.

I move toward the basement door without any direction from Daniel, and he follows a few steps behind. This is my show now.

Death chokes the air down here, as though its heaviness has dragged it all underground. The basement is finished and separated into a rec room and a few smaller, enclosed rooms off of it. Probably a furnace room, maybe a bathroom. The walls look solid, but the carpet is cheap. Couches upholstered in worn cloth in clashing patterns cluster around a big TV in the corner, and the tables between them are scattered with plates of half-eaten pizza. In the open space in the centre of the room lies an empty wine bottle. I pull on gloves before I pick it up, even though our investigation should be over. No point sending the human police on a snipe hunt if they do show up.

I hold it out to Daniel. “Spin the bottle?”

He shrugs. “We thought maybe. I didn’t know kids these days still did that.”

I didn’t think they did, either. “You’d think there would be an app for that.”

I’m guessing high schoolers. Old enough that someone’s parents left them home alone, and they had friends over. More than a few, judging by the number of cups scattered over the floor. Maybe college age kids acting goofy, but I’d like to think that anyone who can legally drink would have better taste than what’s indicated by the open bar upstairs.

So there we go. Yeah, cutting it off before the gore again. I don’t think anyone stumbling on my blog for the first time is going to want to see what these two are dealing with. *waves*

And I’d say that’s it for me for a while regarding WIPpet Wednesday. I’ll still be blogging, still doing the Bound A-Z series on Thursdays, but I likely won’t be posting on Wednesdays until I’m back to work and have a lot more new material to share. I’ll still pop in on other WIPpeteers’ posts when I can. If you’d like to do the same, you can find them here.

Big thanks as always to our host KL Schwengel, who just alpha read Sworn for me and is either making notes or plotting my death. I’m not scared. Nope.

*shiver*


WIPpet Wednesday: Welcome Back, Vampires

Yep.

Sworn is off to alpha readers, which means two things.

One: I feel like puking (a lot), because sending a story out to be critiqued for the first time is terrifying. Actually, sending it out for the last time is also terrifying.

Two: Yes, I’m supposed to be focusing on getting ready to move (more on that another day), but I still need something writing-related to work on so I don’t go crazy. This means I blew the dust off of Resurrection (an urban fantasy project that some of you may remember), printed it out, and will be reading it over this week.

It got rave reviews from readers before… I just have to decide whether I’m still happy with it, and what comes next. It’s a novella. A satisfying story on its own, but definitely leading into more. I have plans for the series. I’m just not 100% sure what they are yet, whether we’re looking at a 4-5 book story arc or something more episodic like Nancy Drew Sookie Stackhouse. Either way, 5 books max.

Released at 2-3 month intervals.

YAY.

I’ve got planning to do.

Anyway, it’s officially a work in progress again, and WIPpet Wednesday is when we share a snippet from a WIP. It has to relate in some way to today’s date. I was going to give you something from chapter 13, but there is no chapter 13.

I’m not superstitious, it’s just that compact.

So let’s go with chapter 4 (1+3), 5 paragraphs for the 5th month.

Trixie, Shivva, and Daniel just came back from a tough crime scene involving slaughtered humans and rogue vampires, and Daniel’s not talking to anyone*. This snippet gives a reasonable idea of how they feel about us.

All scenes in this one are from Shivva’s POV. Weird…

“I don’t know what crawled up his ass,” Trixie says. She squeezes a lemon wedge, watching the juice roll off her fingers into her tea. “He’s not just being overprotective, either. He was fine until right before we left. Maybe he didn’t get a good feed in.”

I flop back on the bed. “Maybe he’s sick of my issues.”

“Probably. You’ve got to let it go, Shivva. We’re not human. It’s not our job to protect them.”

“But we need them.”

“We need our stock,” she clarifies, and stirs her tea with a dainty silver teaspoon. “The feeders. That’s it. Even then, one’s pretty much like any other. It’s no big loss if something happens to one of them. But keeping them safe gives them incentive to trust us and saves us trouble.”

Nice, eh?

For more WIPpet Wednesday fun, click this here link. To join in, just post on your own blog space, link back there, and stop by to comment on everyone else’s posts. Easy peasy, and a great way to meet some wonderful writer-type peoples. Big thanks to our host, KL Schwengel!

Hope you’re all having a great week!

*Daniel is Shivva and Trixie’s trainer. He’s… eh, you’ll have to read it.


…And Now For The Fun Bits

Not those fun bits. Get your mind out of the gutter.

No, this is the annual post where I make big, ridiculous plans and you can all laugh at me next December. Hooray! We’ll make it a huge event: The Chastisement of the Over-Ambitious and Obviously Deluded Author.

Tickets available now. Get ’em while they’re hot!

Let’s make it good.

*drumroll*

There’s a short story coming as soon as e-book distribution thingies are back from the holiday break. That is, if anyone’s interested in something set almost 20 years before Bound… nothing important happened back then, right? Nah.

We’re going to have a novel that one or two of you have been waiting for. Some kind of a sequel… thing. Torn something something? Yeah, that one.

That’s going to be coming in March. My priority is always going to be quality over speed, but I feel like we can at least have the e-book out by then. I’ll keep you posted.

I will be a giant ball of nerves and stress. You might not see much of me through February.

Then there will be a cover reveal, a first chapter reveal, pre-orders, a launch party on Facebook, giveaways, guest posts, and a whole bunch of other fun stuff.*

So that’ll take us through March.

After Torn is out, it’s back to work for me. Book 3 is drafted, but I’ve just had a bunch of ideas on how to improve it, and this means minor-to-major rewrites. And then there’s everything else that comes after that: beta readers, revisions, editing, etc.

But I’m going to go out on another limb here and say that it’s going to be out before the end of 2015. November. Early. Possibly sooner, but October seems like a terrible month to release a book. We’ll see how it goes.

Does that seem like a long way off to you? Trust me, it doesn’t from where I’m standing. It seems like a huge, crazy goal that’s going to require me to somehow break my distraction addiction.

And in the times when that one is resting or with readers or in editing, I’ll be working on a completely different project. I want four novellas starring a certain vampire that you’ve met before ready to go (or at least ready for editing) by the end of the year. I’m planning a big release of the whole shebang in 2016. But more on that later next year.

I’d tell you what I’ll be working on while those are being published, but it’s too nebulous, too uncertain, and quite frankly too exciting to share right now.

This post is, after all, about 2015.

So, to recap:

  • short story
  • publish Torn
  • party party party party
  • publish ______ (almost said it!)
  • party party party party
  • write a handful of novellas in another genre
  • more partying and/or anxiety

And of course we’ll continue to have fun here. There’s a 95% chance I’ll be moving in the spring, and even if it’s hell for me, I’ll share whatever adventures we encounter along the way in the most amusing way possible. In the summer we’ll take some more trips (Fogo Island was fun, right? Guys?), and along the way we’ll have more promotions and cover reveals for Authors Who Are Not Me.

And the mini aquarium! So fun.

And the mini aquarium! Remember? So fun.

On a serious note… I can’t even begin to tell you guys how thankful I am to have had you all in my life this past year. Those of you who have been around for a while gave me the encouragement and kind words I needed to actually push my little project out the door. Some of you went ahead of me and weren’t afraid to talk about your writing and publishing journeys, and I thank you for that. Those of you who have come more recently are the readers I’m doing this for, and your messages, comments, and enthusiasm mean everything to me.

I’m going to stop before I get sniffly. Somebody must be cutting onions over here.

So there we go. Maybe my goals don’t sound like a lot. Maybe they sound insane. But this is what they are.

There are other things in the works… top secret things. But we’ll discuss those another time.

*evil laugh*

*more evil laugh*

*coughing fit*

 

—-

*If you have a blog and would like to help host the cover reveal, release news, an interview, or just about anything else that relates to the book and does not involve embarrassing photos or videos of me**, please let me know! kate.sparkes (at) live (dot) ca

**We can totally post them of you, though.


WIPpet Wednesday- Feline Photobomb Edition

I just wanted to take a picture of my new, autographed paperback copy of Evensong for you guys, because I was SUPER excited when it came in the mail this morning. Harriet said, “Nope. PHOTO ME AND LOVE ME AND PET ME.”

And then she purred, and I can’t argue with that. So here you go. Book and cat. Add a cup of tea and you’ve got a perfect afternoon.

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I apologize for the hugeness of the image. Apparently WordPress is no longer letting us edit photos down by percentage. Huh.

Note to self.

Aaaaaaanyway…

Let’s get this final ROW80 Update out of the way first, because I’m ending this round on a bit of a cliffhanger.

My editor started working on my book this morning. I have no idea what’s going to happen with that. Could be a wonderful experience, or it could leave me deciding that my leisure hours would be better spent playing Minecraft because writing is just wasting my time and my money. I’m expecting something in the middle, with lots of work to be done at the end but me still feeling like this is a thing I can do.

We’ll see. Right now I feel like I can handle pretty much anything.

In other news, I read Rayne Hall’s Writing Fight Scenes this week, and it was quite informative. I picked it up because I knew mine were lacking something, and I discovered lots of ways to punch things up. Lots of tips, lots of links to videos* demonstrating fighting styles and weapons, and it’s a quick read at a good price. Recommended.

Also still reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I’m FINALLY at the actual story, and am finally enjoying it. I have no problem with the author’s writing style– it’s gorgeous, and I think he’ll be one of few Fantasy authors who won’t make me want to throw the book across the room because I want to skip all of the descriptions (see: A Song of Ice and Fire and ALL THE FOODS). I mean, there are tons of descriptions, but at least they’re interesting. It just took forever to get past the framing. I know, I’m a terrible reader. Maybe “get to the action” has just been drilled into my head so often as a writer that I’m no longer willing to slog through chapters of Not Much Happening to get to the good stuff.

I hate feeling like I don’t have time to just enjoy a long, drawn-out story anymore, but that’s kind of where I am. My attention span is HEY LOOK, A MARMOSET.** That, and my TBR list is so huge that I find myself putting books down and moving on to something else if I’m not hooked right away.

New resolution to work on next round: try to get over that. Slow down, smell the marmosets roses, try to give books a chance.

WIPpet Wednesday

26 (short) sentences from Resurrection for the 26th. We’re heading for the climax here (and the reason I needed that book on fight scenes). Shivva (the vampire) is on the run, trying to solve a mystery of sorts, and trying not to hurt any innocent humans while she does so.

A bell tinkles as I enter the restaurant, a greasy little diner with plastic menus and  probably a filthy kitchen. The decor hasn’t been updated since the sixties. That, or it’s a convincing retro set-up. I don’t even care.

“Bad night to be out walking,” says the short guy leaning against the counter. He doesn’t seem to care that his boots are leaving a puddle on the chipped linoleum.

“Yeah.” I count out my buck seventy-five and accept the white paper cup of steaming heaven.  The coffee’s shit, of course, but it’s hot, and it helps.

“I’ve got an umbrella in my car, if you want it,” the guy says.

I shoot him an irritated glance. “No, thanks. I’m fine.”

“Not made of sugar, are you?”

“Excuse me?”

He shrugs. “You… you’re not worried about melting in the rain. So you must not be made of sugar.” I roll my eyes, and I feel him watching me as I turn to leave. “You sure look sweet, though.”

I flip him the bird without looking back.

Three blocks later, I’m in an industrial area, enjoying the quiet. A long, high-pitched whistle sounds behind me. I don’t stop, and I don’t turn back, even at the sound of several sets of footsteps splashing over the asphalt. Humans. Bring it on.

Oy. I’ve heard worse pick-up lines, but not by much.

So there you go. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to beta read and/or rip my work to shreds. I’ll try to have that out next week.

For more WIPpet Wednesday fun, swing by our host KL Schwengel’s blog to say hi, click on the link, and be transported to a world of… um… well, I don’t know. I have to go check that out myself.

*Useless on my PaperWhite, but good to have available for another time.

**That’s… actually kind of weird.

 


The Good News and The Bad News (call for beta readers)

The good news is that Resurrection is finished.

Pretty much.

The problem is that I don’t have a last line. It’s been so easy for other stories (much easier than first lines, certainly), but this one is giving me NOTHING. So I’m going to have to stew on that.

I’m going to try something different with this one and let people see it before it’s been in revisions for years. I know, crazy. But I know now that I can take criticism, and I’m thinking that it might actually be easier to take when I know there’s still work to be done. Fear not, dear betas. I’m not sending rough draft crap. This thing is in good shape, as far as I can tell, and I’ve enjoyed reading it over. It’s just that I know there’s work to be done.

I need to get this last line in, go over the last few chapters to get them out of “first draft” and into “revised draft” state, maybe improve some fight scenes, and get her out.

Annnnd I have to remember who volunteered to read it.

#ImSoOrganized  #MarthaStewartRightHere

*cough*

So anyone who’s not put off by a little blood, dead bodies*, and maybe a little undead sexytimes and fighting, who likes the WIP snippets I shared here and here and here… comment or drop me a line at kate.sparkes (at) live.ca. I’m just looking for impressions, thoughts, places you think it drags or could use more of something. It’s short (30,000 words), so there is room for more… whatever. I might throw this one up on Wattpad, too. We’ll see.

This one’s been a lot of fun to write. I’l be waiting anxiously to see whether it’s fun to read…

*Seriously, not for people with really weak stomachs, or who are going to hate me for killing children. I DIDN’T DO IT. It was the rogues.


Welcome Back to Vampireland, Population Me. Kind Of.

In which I’m somewhat incoherent and write in the least-formal manner possible because I’m getting a cold and am kinda woozy-like. Don’t judge me. I’m a good writerer, really.

So, you might remember the story on what’s happening with that whole vampire thing. Good stuff, but I’m not back at it yet, as I had a brilliant idea regarding another project that I had to take care of, and then I had no time for anything.

Maybe not brilliant so much as fixing what ain’t broke, but that’s what happened. And I had to plan this other thing, and write a book review, and… you know. Stuff.

So for WIPpet Wednesday, here’s five sentences for the fifth of February, from the last scene I wrote in Resurrection before I was a big stupid poopy head and didn’t finish it. *kicks past me in the hypothetical nards*

Shivva (vampire) and Daniel (also a vampire, who you might remember from here and here) just fed at the club, and are looking for somewhere to be alone together.

I’m used to being here with Daniel my trainer, not Daniel who’s amazing in bed. And shower. And floor. And… oh, a meeting room. That’ll do.

Whatever works, Shivva.

Want more from the WIPpeteers? Mosey on over to the linkie and check them out. Just don’t go dragging them into any meeting rooms (or showers, or…). I can’t guarantee you’ll make it out alive.

Oh, and say hi to our host, KL Schwengel, will you? I sort of convinced her to sign up for Pinterest. We might need to pull her out of that black hole.

ROW80

Wednesday also means updates on A Round of Words in 80 Days, the writing challenge that likes to pretend that I have a life. HA!

I got nuthin’. I mean, I’m doing stuff, but nothing worthy of AN OFFICIAL UPDATE.

So… Yeah, we’ll catch up on Sunday.

 


ROW80 Update: WTF, Past Me? Edition

Well, I figured out what to do with myself. I started reading over Resurrection, and had happy times all over the place. And then I got the the part where it stopped RATHER abruptly, and screamed at Past Me for not just finishing it so Present Me could ENJOY IT IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?

Apparently, yes.

So I’m going to have to finish that up, if only to satisfy myself (and anyone who wants to volunteer to beta read approximately 40,000 words of vampires, addicted victims, gory crime scenes, snappy banter, betrayals and sex. No fun at all, really. First chapter’s here, BTW)

I think that Cinderella story just got them back into my blood.

ROW80 Update:

WRITING

  • New goals as of last Wednesday: Plan out the rest of Resurrection. COMPLETED.

Oh, I planned it. It took an hour, five pages in my notebook, a lot of work on my dry-erase board and a few slams of my head into a wall to clear it, but I did it. Guys… it was so good I wanted a cigarette after. Then I remembered that I’ve never smoked, so I settled for a Fruit Roll-Up instead*. It was fantastic.

I always knew how this one was going to end, but didn’t know how to get there. I do now.

  • New goal as of today: Finish first draft of Resurrection by the end of February. I only have two hours per weekday day to work this month, but that’s okay. I should be able to do this. My husband might lose me for a few evenings, but this is going to happen.

Oh, and this week I also kinda sorta found a cover designer for Bound and got that information sent off so she can start in March, NO BIG DEAL.

READING

Read “Under the Empyrean Sky” by Chuck Wendig. SO GOOD. The concept (agricultural dystopia, creepy-ass GMO corn, oppressed people and flying cities) is fantastic, and the story lives up to its ideas. I’ll get a review up on Goodreads soon.

LIFE- Goes on. I can’t talk about it. I have vampires in my head.


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