Imaginary Friends Release Day!

Kindle | Goodreads

HAPPY THOR'S DAY! Celebrate with a fun Thor-ish read from me!

Grab your much-easier-to-read copy of Imaginary Friends for kindle, and enjoy it as a perfect waiting-room-read the next time you're trying not to get coughed on at the doctor's office! Or, you know, wherever!

And don't forget to add it on Goodreads, too!

This month's Newsletter went out today, also, with a sneak peek behind the scenes of Orc 3 (yes! A full scene that I had to cut while drafting! Because sometimes it takes me a few chapters to figure out where I'm supposed to have started!), and a giveaway for an e-edition of Facets of Fate. Which might be another reason to get your subscribe on to The Amaliad, because those Newsletter giveaways have phenomenal odds for the people entering--so few of you do!

Also, while I've got you here, just another reminder that FORGED BY FATE is still FREE pretty much everywhere. So if you haven't dipped your toe in to my Fate of the Gods trilogy, now really is a great time to give it a go. And of course if you're already a fan, I'd super appreciate any honest reviews you want to throw Amazon's way! Particularly for Facets of Fate, Beyond Fate, and Fate Forgotten!

Kindle | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | Scribd | Playster

What else?

Oh, just noodling around with a variety of just-for-fun projects. Like a Paris of Troy epilogue to By Helen's Hand because watching Troy: Fall of a City frustrated me so much--you can find my spoileriffic live-tweeted feelings on that over yonder:

Today I am going to put on my couch-sitting pants and start watching BBC and Netflix's Troy mini series with el husband! LET'S DO THIS THING.

— Amalia Carosella (@AmaliaCarosella) April 8, 2018

But the timing is actually pretty good because this month, HELEN OF SPARTA and BY HELEN'S HAND are both on sale for just $1.99 each (kindle only), so if like me, you found Paris to be suuuuper annoying in TROY: FALL OF A CITY, allow me to humbly suggest that you might find my interpretation a little more to your liking!

Buy Now!

That should catch you all up pretty well--but don't forget to subscribe to The Amaliad to stay even MORE up to date and get peeks at what I'm working on, here and there. Especially your favorite Orc Saga!

And if you've enjoyed THE QUEEN AND HER BROOK HORSE while you wait for Orc3--please do toss it a review, as well! Because ultimately: Reviews=More Sales=I get to keep writing more books for you, and I'm pretty sure that's an end result we all want to support!

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Forged by Fate is **FREE** for Kindle!

Tuesday BY HELEN'S HAND released, under my Amalia Carosella name, and if you've subscribed to my newsletter The Amaliad, you already heard the news of how I'm celebrating--

FORGED BY FATE is FREE for Kindle until the 14th! 

This is the first time I've offered FORGED for free, and I'm not sure when it will happen again, so take advantage while you can -- or let your myth-loving friends know, if you've already got it! And of course please do check out BY HELEN'S HAND, as well -- it's a pretty sweet two-for-one, if you ask me, and those of you who received the newsletter got a little behind the scenes look into why I'm so excited to promote these books side by side!

If you missed the first issue -- you can find out what you missed HERE, but you'll still want to subscribe if you want to read the HELEN OF SPARTA series prequel short story Ariadne and the Beast!

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#NAMEthatSUITOR to enter my Audiobook Giveaway for BY HELEN'S HAND!

I know guys, I know -- I'm the worst blogger these days. But you'll find more regular posts over at blog.amaliacarosella.com right now as I ramp up for the release of BY HELEN'S HAND on May 10th, including a giveaway for a copy of the audiobook edition AND an owl pendant to match the bracelet/necklace my fabulous cover artist gave Helen on both her covers!


Klikky Klikky to head over and check it out -- and please do enter to win! It's no fun playing #NAMEthatSUITOR by myself. :P There's also a link to the goodreads giveaway which is happening NOW and I hope you'll throw your hat in that ring as well!

In other news: I finally and at last wrapped the draft for The Manuscript of Doom, which will be an Amalia Carosella title, and I hope to have more information for you guys soon on that project. But readers of Amalia Dillin!me I think will be particularly interested! I'm destroying the developmental edits with the best editor in the world as we speak. (And when it gets closer to the big day, I'll definitely be talking about why that manuscript was such a beast to write!) I've also got another bronze age historical (my Hippodamia and Pirithous book) in the final stages of production, release date TBA! I'll let you know when I have it pinned down!

Next up is Orc 3, and I'll be throwing myself into that head-first as soon as the Manuscript of Doom edits are wrapped. Believe me, I want to get Orc 3 out to you guys as much as you guys want to read it. But be on the lookout for an HONOR AMONG ORCS promotion in June, around the release of Warcraft the movie. It just seemed fitting.

Finally: Do definitely subscribe to The Amaliad and I'll deliver behind the scenes book stuff as well as the most important updates about Authors!Me directly to your inbox!

I think that's a wrap for now!

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Second Books Aren't First Books

I've written 3 second books in 3 different series now, and barring FATE FORGOTTEN*, they've all felt impossibly more difficult than the book that came before. First books build relationships, they weave together the tapestry of characters and create the threads of plot and conflict and challenge. First books, it seems for me, are more about character and relationships, rife with internal conflicts more than external -- Arianna and Bolthorn, Eve and Garrit/Eve and Thor/Eve and Adam, Helen and Theseus. For me, that's the easy part. The part I love most. I love bringing these characters together and watching them figure things out, building relationships and finding the support they need to conquer the troubles they're forced to face.

But second books are about the pressures of the outside world upon these characters after they've had their taste of happiness and found their strength. The tension and conflict is less present BETWEEN them, and more focused AGAINST them as a unit. There are still tender moments, still challenges that drive them apart, but the story ultimately isn't about their relationship with one another anymore. It's about how, with the support of one another, they will face the future, and all the challenges and conflict entailed. In second books, my characters aren't saving each other anymore -- they're saving the(ir) world.

For Bolthorn and Arianna, this means turning back. Returning to Gautar to face the growing threat they left behind, to save the friends and family who took grave risks for their sake, and protect both their peoples. For Helen, it means struggling, still, to face her fate without the hope of peace she had thought within her grasp. Bolthorn and Arianna, Theseus and Helen -- they have very different paths to walk, but the struggle of writing the book wasn't much different at all!

For me, writing the external conflict, the world-saving and the battle-scenes -- it's a frustrating challenge. And three books in, it hasn't gotten any easier.

*FATE FORGOTTEN builds a different relationship along side the external conflict, so it was less problematic for me to write. I also originally wrote FORGED BY FATE and FATE FORGOTTEN as one book, which was then belatedly broken into two parts, so it wasn't the same experience at all.

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Helen of Sparta's Blog Tour is Happening Now!

For those of you who might be interested in following along with the adventures of HELEN OF SPARTA in the wild, here's the run down of the blogtour, happening now! So far we've had some really great interviews and reviews, and there are more to come, so check it out!

Wednesday, April 1
Review at Unshelfish
Review at Let Them Read Books
  Thursday, April 2
Review at Flashlight Commentary

Friday, April 3
Interview at Flashlight Commentary

Saturday, April 4
Review at History From a Woman’s Perspective

Monday, April 6
Review at Curling Up By the Fire
Spotlight at A Literary Vacation

Tuesday, April 7
Spotlight at www.leeanna.me

Wednesday, April 8
Review at Historical Reads and Views

Thursday, April 9
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book!

Friday, April 10
Review at With Her Nose Stuck in a Book

Monday, April 13
Interview at Book Babe
Spotlight at Historical Fiction Obsession
  Tuesday, April 14
Review at Forever Ashley

Wednesday, April 15
Review at Just One More Chapter
Spotlight at CelticLady’s Reviews

Thursday, April 16
Review at 100 Pages a Day

Friday, April 17
Review at Impressions in Ink

Saturday, April 18
Spotlight at Passages to the Past

Monday, April 20
Review at Book Lovers Paradise
  Tuesday, April 21
Review at Broken Teepee

Wednesday, April 22
Review at Ageless Pages Reviews
HELEN OF SPARTA is now up to a rockin' 450+ reviews on Amazon, too, for which I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who read and reviewed and posted! Keep on being awesome! And if you haven't grabbed your copy of Helen of Sparta yet, it's available to order in paperback wherever books are sold, and the you can find the ebook on Amazon.com!

B&N | IndieBound | Goodreads

In Non-Helen news -- did you see Honor Among Orcs on BuzzFeed's list of 21 Types of Romance Novels You Have To See To Believe?

And now I'm diving back into the writer cave -- 30K more words to write before the month is out!

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