Release date may be around the end of August!

I then put in a bit of my short story ‘Arachne’s Labours’ and it said I write like Ray Bradbury. I’m a jack of all trades.

http://iwl.me/

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

There’s a tease of an excerpt for you and you can read more right here on the site and at GLBT Bookshelf or Manic Readers.

“Kilan!”

In response to his name, Kilan jumped, and spun, almost dropping the water container as he did. Fortunately, he’d just finished recapping the water skin. He’d run until the wind whistling down his throat had reminded him of his relentless thirst. He’d stopped to catch his breath and then taken a moment to savour the cool water, not thinking that Antal could possibly catch up with him in so short a time. He’d looked so unsteady. Antal wasn’t unsteady now as he eased from a run into what looked too much like stalking.

He was still naked.

Kilan couldn’t help himself. He took the time to cast his gaze down and then back up. If Antal noticed his open interest, he decided not to respond.

“I’m sorry!” Kilan managed to say, although somehow the words emerged sounding more like a complaint than an apology. “I’m sorry,” Kilan repeated more softly, trying not to compound the error.

“You will be.”

Kilan had heard that tone before. He’d heard it at the academy, from his father, and to a lesser extent Ryanac and Markis managed to convey the same warning. They’d never hurt him though, not physically. This time he wasn’t at all sure whether, despite their being of similar size and Antal being a few years older, he faced a good hiding.

Grabbing his pack, Kilan back-pedalled, straining to maintain distance between them. Fallen trees, deep puddles of mud, and precarious slopes all served to hinder him. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“What kind of fucking excuse is that?”

Uh-oh. Antal seemed truly mad. He seldom swore. Kilan opened his mouth to say he knew not what, just hoping some sort of sensible-sounding apology would emerge, when to his surprise, Antal veered to one side. He reappeared a moment later, closer than before. He’d somehow managed to avoid an obstacle rather than go over it. It didn’t matter. A medium-sized fallen tree lay between them, and by the time Antal had scrambled over it, Kilan would be on the run again.

Kilan blinked as Antal leapt. Damn but he was fit. So much for his imagining Antal scrambling over the obstruction. Poised on top of the tree, Antal paused. His braid had partly unravelled, and his hair fanned his face and body, lifted by the wind, the natural auburn catching the late rays of the sun. Fire flashed deep in his eyes and his hair.

“You look amazing,” Kilan whispered without intending to say so aloud. Whether Antal heard him was irrelevant. Kilan’s eyes widened, and he turned on his heel as Antal bounded after him. He dodged Antal’s grasp and might have got away, for he was a good runner, had not the ground fallen out from under his feet.

To purchase click the banner – available Tuesday, 13th July!

© Sharon Maria Bidwell, all rights reserved.

You can read more here on the SWITHIN CHRONICLES.

I guess I have something to um…crow about. Sorry! I couldn’t resist.

More details coming soon!

So, for anyone still wondering, the answer is…maybe. No, seriously, that’s the best I can do. The simpler answer is yes, because if all else fails ‘one day’ I will self-publish the book myself. The trouble with that is I cannot tell you how far away ‘one day’ may be.

It’s official and Snow Angel is a bestselling book, doing better than many conventional printed paperbacks, with its sequel closely following in the rear. So why hasn’t the publisher taken these titles to print? The reason an ePublisher chooses to produce a print book is long and convoluted, and as easy to answer as how long is a piece of string. There is one answer I can give and that’s because both books fall out of the range of the publisher’s ‘normally accepted’ length for a print book — one being too long, the other too short, and together being completely impossible. So will the current publisher ever likely take the book to print? The answer to that is no.

In fact, the print option in the contract has long since run out and there’s nothing to stop me trying to find a publisher that will print the book. This is difficult and unlikely. The markets most willing to print this book will likely want electronic rights too. Fine, if I can find someone to do that, but then I’d have to work to negotiate with the current publisher and remove the book from them at the first available time — a thing I can only do once a year when the contract comes up for renewal. When a title is still selling, it’s a fine balance to know when to pull a book from the existing market. I could, of course, inform them that I plan to put the book out in print myself, but they could then decide not to renew the electronic option, and once I self-publish it could though won’t necessarily make it more difficult should I wish to try another publisher in the future. Once upon a time books were forever, but nowadays many have a more immediate shelf life — a commodity just like a loaf of bread.

It’s not easy is the thing, and it’s a fine balancing act to know what to do and when to do it, and I’m a ditherer at the best of times.

No trip is perfect and it was tiring. Very tiring. We opted to go across country, which being as there have been so many problems with the ash cloud and BA strikes this year was probably a good idea, but in truth I just couldn’t face an airport this year. Also had one terrible meal among so many delicious ones. So the road was long, though not necessarily dusty. Saw snow in the Black Forest.

Have a couple of small announcements. Seems owing to scheduling, I’m getting a new editor at Loose-Id for future work. As my current work is at the line edits stage I presume my last editor will finish that. With some publishers you have a new editor on each work but with others you keep the same one and LI tend to lean towards that philosophy. Still, sometimes things have to change or an editor leaves. And I may have mentioned before but in case anyone missed it, LI want all US spelling now. Damn! Spelling was the one thing I’m very good at; my punctuation is the part that’s sometimes dodgy, although again, that’s because there are UK/US differences. I’m more confused now than when I started.
And lastly, something I ‘dusted’ off and submitted to Paragraph Planet can be viewed for your reading enjoyment. This slipped me by so it’s a late announcement and you’ll have to look in the archives: http://www.paragraphplanet.com/archive.htm

Search for April 2nd. It’s called: Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust.

Enjoy!
Sharon x

Think again. For a start most published authors still need to work on a part-time if not full-time basis. Even if they can write full-time, life isn’t all roses and champagne.

Sometimes I read something I wish I’d written myself. Usually it’s a book. This time it’s a blog. No one can express what a day in the life of a writer is like better than Kate Douglas has done so I’ll let her speak for herself:

http://lisapietsch.com/2010/04/20/kate-douglas-delivers-the-essential-author-101/

Sometimes even the universe has to step aside…

When called into her editor’s office, Gayle Winter imagines many scenarios, but not one of them involves an order to spice up her latest manuscript. Unknown to Gayle, the universe has decided a visit by her muse is just what’s needed, and having set eyes on her, the muse is only too happy to oblige. Gayle’s attractive, and it seems an easy assignment. All Gayle needs is to remember what it’s like to have a sex life… something Roeman can certainly work on.

Little does the muse expect her to have such an immediate and disastrous effect on him. Not only does he fall headlong in lust (and love), Gayle does the unimaginable. The one to be inspired inspires the muse so that he finally “discovers” his true name. Doing so changes his importance in the universe.

Only one question remains. Will Roeman have to leave Gayle forever to fully realise his potential and fulfill his destiny? Will either of them survive without the other if the universe refuses to step aside?

Available from Changeling Press.