Good To Begin Well, Better To End Well: Imaginary Friends

Showing posts with label Imaginary Friends. Show all posts

Thursday, April 19, 2018

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!

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!

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Friday, March 23, 2018

Imaginary Friends Available for Pre-Order

Goodreads | Kindle Pre-order

Remember that short story I wrote and serialized for the blog? It's finally getting repackaged for kindle, and you can pre-order it for 99 cents! It'll still be available to read for free on the blog, (because it seems like a lot of bother to delete it from everywhere I put up links, mostly) so if you're happy to read it that way, you still can--but if you'd rather get it in a more easily digestible format, it releases on THOR'S DAY April 19th!

And credit again goes to Caitlin Greer for the fab cover art!

Quick reminder to newsletter subscribers--March's issue of The AMALIAD is in your inboxes, and you only have until April 15th to follow the link inside and download your FREE pdf edition of The Queen and her Brook Horse! Soooooo. Now or never!!!

If you're NOT a newsletter subscriber, The Queen and her Brook Horse is available as a kindle ebook for just 2.99, or in paperback for 9.95!

However you go about enjoying this Orc Saga novella, please do consider dropping a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads after you've finished reading!

As far as other updates go, I've been double-sick with a double-ear-infection so mostly I have just been binge-watching Gilmore Girls from the discomfort of my bed, volume turned up to a million because my ears have been plugged like whoa and I've only just recovered my hearing finally and at last in ONE ear. I feel like this pretty much sums up March for me right now, but I have a few Gilmore Girls thoughts:

LOL LOL LOL LOL Super quick and easy half hour commute from Hartford to New Haven.
LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL Super quick and easy 1 hour 20 minute commute from New Haven to NYC by CAR. I don't know if you've ever tried to get ANYWHERE in the NYC direction by car on a Sunday afternoon from the Connecticut direction but. It deffffffffinitely takes longer than an hour and a half. Especially if you're on the wrong side of the Q bridge. Which somehow no one ever gets stuck on or has to harriedly merge across in this show and that is flat out unrealistic in every respect.
Where is the Luke and Lorelei fanfic filled with all their small intimate romantic domestic moments because I need that in novel form like yesterday.

So that's me!

Wishing you all a lovely Passover/Easter/belated Equinox!

Amazon | Barnes&Noble

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Imaginary Friends (I)

After my musings regarding imaginary friends on twitter recently, I decided it was time to share a (longer) short story I'd written exploring the idea of the imaginary when it blurs with something... less so.

After 4 years as a free read, and an extended period in wide release as an ebook, I've decided to move this novelette into Wide Release! Head on over to Amazon to read or buy it for just 1.99! Or find it on pretty much any other e-tailer of your choice!

But here's a teaser/sample for you to whet your appetite!

Six.
I woke to a creak of floorboards and pulled the blanket up over my head, holding my breath while I listened hard. My mind whirled with men in black, faces masked, creeping through the house. Daddy, why did you leave me alone? He’d come home and find me gone, stolen away with the furniture and the television and the oven and all my toys.

I hiccupped on a sob and everything swam with tears. I wanted my daddy. I wanted my mommy, who was never coming back. I wanted someone, anyone, to keep away the noises in the night. I didn’t want to be stolen away!

“Shh,” a voice said, low and soothing. “I’m here. It was just the house settling, nothing more.”

I peeked out from underneath the blanket and the mattress groaned softly as a weight settled beside me. A warm hand touched my shoulder and I saw the shape of a man. Donar. My hero. My protector. My friend. The tightness in my throat eased and I pulled the blanket down, gasping for fresh air.

“Go back to sleep, Anna,” the shape said, a finger brushing the tears from my cheek, making my skin tingle. “You’re not alone.”

Even though it was a lie, I believed him. Donar was always right.

Nine.
“I’ll be back to take you to school in the morning,” Daddy said, tucking me into bed. “If you need anything, you call Mrs. Philips next door, all right? The number is right here, next to the phone.” He held up the receiver, then set it down on my nightstand. “Sleep tight.” He kissed my forehead. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

“Good night, Daddy.” I hugged his neck. “See you in the morning light.”

He turned out the lamp and pulled the door shut behind him, leaving only the whirling rainbow glow of the nightlight. Footsteps shifting from carpet to linoleum, the jingle of his keys, the door opening, then closing, and the click of the lock. I threw off the blanket and went to the window, watching him back out of the driveway, the headlights flashing in the rain.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” Donar asked.

I made a face at his reflection in the glass. “I just wanted to see Daddy.”

He ruffled my hair. “Now you’ve seen him off, back under the blankets.”

I sighed and crawled into my bed. “Will you tell me a story, at least?”

“Of course.” He tucked the blankets under my chin and sat down at the foot of the bed. “Which story would you like to hear?”

This was our ritual, Donar’s and mine, and I couldn’t sleep without it on the nights that Daddy left me to work. He had two jobs now, since Mommy died, and I saw more of Mrs. Philips than I did him. And Donar of course, but he didn’t count because nobody saw Donar but me.

I’d told Mrs. Philips about him once, but she said I was too old for imaginary friends, and if I didn’t stop seeing him, she was going to tell my daddy to take me to the doctor. Donar and I talked about it later and we decided it would be better if I didn’t say anything to anyone else. I asked him why I’d have to go the doctor, and he got real quiet and sad and I wished I hadn’t said anything at all before he answered.

“To make you stop seeing me,” he said. “With tests and medicines, if necessary. But I promise you, if you don’t want to see me anymore, you only have to tell me so, and I’ll go away without any of that. All right?”

“Why would I want you to go away?” I asked him.

He half-smiled. “One day you’ll realize that no one else has any friends like me, and you’ll want to be like them, maybe. Or else you just won’t remember me anymore, because you don’t need someone to keep you safe at night.”

I thought the whole thing was silly. How could I forget Donar? Who would tell me stories until I fell asleep? Who would get me water in the middle of the night, after I dreamed the house burned down, and Mommy was still inside? And I was sure I didn’t want anyone else making me forget him, so when Mrs. Philips asked about him a few weeks later, I told her he’d gone away, back to his stone palace with his magic goats.

“Tell me about the princess who can turn into a bird and fly away,” I said to Donar. “Don’t her cats ever try to catch her and eat her? Mrs. Philips has a cat and it’s always trying to catch birds.”

Donar smiled, the rainbow nightlight turning his beard purple. It was almost orange in daytime. “She becomes a very large bird. So large the cats worry she’ll eat them instead. Do you remember how she turns into a bird?”

...

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Writerly Goals for 2015

Amazon | B&N | Goodreads

So I know I'm two weeks behind on posting about this -- and I don't normally post about this stuff anyway, but this year is going to be busy for me. SUPER busy. I've got HELEN OF SPARTA's release April 1st, and I've lined myself up to attend two conferences already: The Historical Novel Society's conference in Denver, and the World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs.

And that's not all! On top of the travel, and the book releasing, I've got books to write, and I thought you might be interested to know what's on my docket for 2015 -- and not just because it might help me to stay on task if I make it public, though I'd be lying if I said that wasn't PART of why I was writing this post.

Let's do this in list form!

New Words, New Manuscripts:

Another Bronze Age historical (which I will leave vague for the moment though I do know exactly what I'm writing and I'm looking forward to diving in!)
Orc Saga 3
Finish my PNR novella featuring Ullr, Thor's stepson (it's about 2/3rds done)
Finish my Fate of the Gods novella featuring Ra and Athena (it's about... 1/4th done. maybe.)
Finish Marcus's story, whatever that turns out to be (another Fate of the Gods potential novella)
And if I can finish all that, then I'll work on the next Bronze Age historical, which may or may not have to do with Theseus and Antiope. We'll see!

Editing/Revising/Releasing:

Orc Saga 2 needs a round of revisions -- though the cover art is well on its way, and I am super stoked to share it.
Hippodamia and Pirithous aka TAMER OF HORSES, the bronze age historical I wrapped up in 2014 as part of NaNoWriMo will need some revisions, too.
And of course, HELEN OF SPARTA is hitting shelves!
I'm tentatively hoping to release BLOOD OF THE QUEEN (Orc Saga: Book Two) in the fall/winter!
And an Audiobook of FORGED BY FATE is coming!

Yeah. Basically I've got my hands full and if I can manage to finish all of this before 2016 blows through town, I'll be shocked and amazed, but I might as well dream big! As long as I get one of the Fate of the Gods novellas done along with my two full length novels, I think I'll be pretty pleased with myself, and any progress made in the others will put me ahead next year.

And I have a fun FICTION interlude for you blog readers coming up next, before I get back into the bronze age/myths/Helen/Theseus business again for Helen's release -- it's called Imaginary Friends, and Part I posts on Thursday!