tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19802507178619022732024-03-25T02:10:18.288-04:00Marsha Altman's BlogAll Altman, all the time. Offer void where prohibited.Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-56813355464314289602016-09-05T18:45:00.002-04:002016-09-07T17:51:49.198-04:00Cherished Memories<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltcmx7liO_sB3XOJTi3JkmdWLZ0XMCxcQcLakvuUc2Gmz2SDmyzhmzus17253Oadrv9h-6bzOfXkKzfILzAyilBVBjIXSVEV-lfip64z_zlj990rsu95z6SZh_TaHfXxiegrwtHbv5XQ2/s1600/IMG_2040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiltcmx7liO_sB3XOJTi3JkmdWLZ0XMCxcQcLakvuUc2Gmz2SDmyzhmzus17253Oadrv9h-6bzOfXkKzfILzAyilBVBjIXSVEV-lfip64z_zlj990rsu95z6SZh_TaHfXxiegrwtHbv5XQ2/s400/IMG_2040.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
It's that time again - time that I shuffle from expensive Manhattan apartment to expensive Manhattan apartment offering me a new a lease. This means, for me, getting rid of a lot of books. I know that sounds like heresy, but it's actually quite hard to shlep around 800+ books from apartment to apartment if you move every 2-3 years.<br />
<br />
This time around, a lot of the old Pride and Prejudice sequels and prequels and rewrites and AUs and "variations" and general fanfic published in book form are going. I'll save my absolute favorites, but the rest I'm definitely never going to reread, and space is money.<br />
<br />
I have a general policy not to review or comment on other people's JAFF books. The reason is I don't like giving false reviews, but I don't want to give other others bad reviews, especially if I might know them. If I only reviewed the books I like, then one could infer which ones I didn't like from their absence on my Goodreads. There was a time - around 2006 to 2010 - when I tried to collect every single one, including all of the out-of-print PODs that were published around 1997 or 1998, inspired by the 1995 miniseries. Some were quite costly and I had to wait for them to be picked up and reprinted by Sourcebooks. I bought a few when I was in England. Oh, those were the days.<br />
<br />
Largely, I remember them being pretty boring. Published authors are - or were - more conservative than fanfic authors, and Pride and Prejudice fandom has to be <i>the</i> most conservative fandom I've ever been in, so people don't skew far from Austen's work in tone, style, or content. There were a lot of Darcy's version of the story, which followed the plot pretty exactly and even used most of Austen's dialogue. There were sequels were Darcy and Lizzy love each other <i>soooooo</i> much and mostly just ... hang out and host dinner parties. And then there were the ones where there was so much sex I was concerned about chaffing. Man, the Regency was a boring time period for rich people.<br />
<br />
But there were the magic ones - the ones I really loved, but also the ones I really hated, but loved because they were at least original, or downright bizarre, or missed the mark by so much that you just had to wonder. Without naming names (of authors), here are some of my favorites:<br />
- The one where Darcy's first name is spelled wrong.<br />
- The one where Elizabeth's first name is spelled wrong.<br />
- The one that outright implies that Darcy finds his sister hot, on like, the first page<br />
- The one where Darcy is married to someone who isn't Elizabeth and then has an affair with someone who also isn't Elizabeth. As far as I can tell, the Bennets are never involved.<br />
- The one where Darcy cuts out of a dinner party to avoid an orgy with Byron, Bingley, and the male servants.<br />
- The one where there is real life magic, for real, and you can't possible get around it but this shakes no one's worldview when they find out and it's pretty much never mentioned again<br />
- The one from the POV of Darcy's dog<br />
- The one where Darcy is molested in boarding school by his drama teacher<br />
- The one where Darcy and Elizabeth go to France and visit "the Effiel" because the author wanted them to visit the Effiel Tower but wasn't sure if it existed yet and didn't want to commit to it existing but also didn't want to look up when it was built (1889) - I mean I know it's a minor point, but come on, it took me right out of the book<br />
- The one where everyone's gay/bisexual<br />
- The one where Jane gets molested by Bingley's sisters<br />
- The one where Wickham has a purple spaceship<br />
- The one where the plot could have been cleared up in five minutes <i>IF YOU HAD JUST TALKED TO EACH OTHER YOU IDIOTS</i>. (actually that just describes <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>, too, so I have to give her a pass on that)<br />
<br />
And that doesn't include all the fanfic that wasn't published, thank G-d, but that's another story.<br />
<br />
So if you're in Manhattan in the next 10 days (before September 15th) and you want a lot of JAFF books, send me an email.</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-50211525563029124062016-06-21T16:35:00.000-04:002016-06-21T16:35:00.317-04:00Whoops! Email Problems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
While trying to clean up my different profiles to prepare for new postings, I discovered that yahoo.com stopped forwarding my mail some time ago (about 3 years) to my gmail account, meaning I missed <i>a lot </i>of people's emails. It still charged me for the forwarding, of course. So if you emailed me and never got a response, that's why. I sincerely apologize.<br />
<br />
In other news, I am offering the publishing service of reviewing people's query letters <a href="https://www.fiverr.com/djclawson/review-your-query-letter">on Fiverr</a>! If you're a JAFF author (current or past) I will offer you a pretty sweet deal to use my service. Check it out!<br />
<br /></div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-21173243054933534582016-06-16T19:51:00.001-04:002016-06-16T19:59:42.272-04:00Updates! Updates! Get your updates here!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Whew. I've been a very irresponsible blogger. Or just technically speaking, not a blogger at all, as I haven't been blogging for the last year at all. I'm probably going to be shifting this blog to a more all-in-one page for my collective works, not just the work I did as Marsha Altman. But at least let me update you on what's available for purchase now.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Last-Wine-Prejudice-Continues-Bingleys-ebook/dp/B0176JLHMW">The Last of the Wine</a> (Pride and Prejudice Continues Book 10) (Paperback and eBook)<br />
The path to true love is not always straight. Edmund Bingley is trying
to divorce at a time when it takes no less than an Act of Parliament and
even a king can’t acquire one. His brother Charlie is hopelessly in
love with someone he can never marry. And the last Darcy daughter is
giving her living legend of a protective father a run for his money. Can Edmund find a way out of his loveless marriage? Can the family
find the missing Cassandra Darcy before it’s too late? With the help of
old friends, former enemies, priests, monks, Romani, American diplomats,
and Tibetan lamas, they’ll have to find a way.
In Altman’s tenth and final installment of The Darcys and the
Bingleys, life has come full circle for the original clan, who has
watched its children grow, make mistakes, and take responsibility for
themselves.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Wayward-Pines-Precious-Novella-Gabriel-ebook/dp/B017USCIUO">Every Precious Word</a> (Book of Gabriel 2) (eBook only)<br />
As a storm descends on Wayward Pines, the fence that protects the town
is endangered, abbies attack the soldiers protecting it, and Gabe
Ramirez goes to the worst dinner party ever. This book is the sequel to <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Wayward-Pines-Redundant-Novella-Gabriel-ebook/dp/B00IZOG0PW">The Redundant Man</a>, a novella I wrote for Kindle World's Wayward Pines series.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Perseid-Collapse-Durham-Kindle-Novella-ebook/dp/B01GF3KD7A">The Lord of Durham Road</a> (The Perseid Collapse Series) (eBook only)<br />
As the Jakarta Pandemic destroys the US and the inhabitants of Durham
Road hunker down for a long winter of slow starvation, Alex Fletcher's
doomsday preparations pay off for him and his family. This is the story
of his neighbors, the ones he chose not to help, and the path they are
forced to take to survive. Will they lose their souls in the process?
(Hint: It'll probably be a toss-up) This is another Kindle Worlds book, based on the Jakarta Pandemic, though the book should be pretty readable to new people.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Upcoming</b></div>
<br />
I have a couple things in the pike, though whether they get published or not and how they get published (self versus traditional) will depend on people's responses and my own ability to finish and revise things.<br />
- a YA sci-fi book set in a futuristic Tibetan culture<br />
- a steampunk urban fantasy that's been shelved for a while<br />
- a comedy airport thriller<br />
- a book on Judaism and Tibetan Buddhism, which will probably take a few years of research<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>In Other News</b></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv67cLWGe9eAW5UB-78VY-vtGMI-47q7bLULB83bvpXbtPtlO0hfafAM4PA7UPqk4kv4-Q5N2mCW8zfWRoIM6nXFk2v8kQjxGThtNKA1KmdnQ1eeiko_-9RKgIH2hXVLf7TPkRIYpMDQ7L/s1600/FullSizeRender4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv67cLWGe9eAW5UB-78VY-vtGMI-47q7bLULB83bvpXbtPtlO0hfafAM4PA7UPqk4kv4-Q5N2mCW8zfWRoIM6nXFk2v8kQjxGThtNKA1KmdnQ1eeiko_-9RKgIH2hXVLf7TPkRIYpMDQ7L/s320/FullSizeRender4.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
This summer I'm completing a three-year Rabbinical program for Orthodox Jewish woman and will be receiving, instead of being ordained, a "Certificate of Halachic Mastery" from Rabbi Chaim Brovender and Web Yeshiva. The men in the program will be able to go on to an additional year and receive Rabbinic ordination. <i>Sigh</i>.<br />
<br />
Also, if anyone wants to hire a ghostwriter, I'm available.<br />
<br />
And I have a new hamster!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-18519980691599918172014-08-14T20:19:00.005-04:002014-08-14T20:23:40.470-04:00Final Blow-Out Sale<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm moving at the end of the month. These are the last of my Pride & Prejudice (and general Regency fiction) books that I'm not keeping. Please take them off my hands. A couple bucks each and price negotiable! Combined shipping! Just <a href="mailto:djclawson@gmail.com">email me</a>.<br />
<br />
LOOK JUST TAKE MY BOOKS<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1_3_BPl5W6imsdY6p7BabIS9UK8jTCQ4sDmznEslS27BQwbfuA2mqYOfpKRHCIG1gBtif1LZreg50hF2wNCP101rNtmNehfxcsD83HHDgGVXiyio5GjEnS12fuLZ2nKbDoA5mDY15exl/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1_3_BPl5W6imsdY6p7BabIS9UK8jTCQ4sDmznEslS27BQwbfuA2mqYOfpKRHCIG1gBtif1LZreg50hF2wNCP101rNtmNehfxcsD83HHDgGVXiyio5GjEnS12fuLZ2nKbDoA5mDY15exl/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFn0k-th2o00rOXjGn0DvVgeeyoD60uVyAZI2myfh1gYQTpkOdjiNvKjs304ox_x-PRquX1e4pExSKY8wfqGjDvhvin5Ql1ax5J9XYJtCJKNRhSLa6Egvg_pt6cjtKZVCRDQXAH8fCeWJz/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFn0k-th2o00rOXjGn0DvVgeeyoD60uVyAZI2myfh1gYQTpkOdjiNvKjs304ox_x-PRquX1e4pExSKY8wfqGjDvhvin5Ql1ax5J9XYJtCJKNRhSLa6Egvg_pt6cjtKZVCRDQXAH8fCeWJz/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-11383230391269514302014-07-26T22:56:00.005-04:002014-07-30T16:27:09.049-04:00Selling Some Books<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have to move, and I'm selling some books. Tons of books, actually. A very small portion of them in total, which means hundreds. Some of them are Jane Austen fanfic books. I'm willing to let them go for like $5 each plus shipping. Email me. First come, first served.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21ozg4o4Kwuy82Y01FVkfDBOw7cpJKtUfAaPDUKt3QcRK6RrYvSSk7TgSsDalVvhLhG5U2uZmhKy4B_x5WdhCFNazL_0afVi9HQsDgsJtg570H5yVcs9DDKwjIiudBZRqh0q6eN_jlMbm/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi21ozg4o4Kwuy82Y01FVkfDBOw7cpJKtUfAaPDUKt3QcRK6RrYvSSk7TgSsDalVvhLhG5U2uZmhKy4B_x5WdhCFNazL_0afVi9HQsDgsJtg570H5yVcs9DDKwjIiudBZRqh0q6eN_jlMbm/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4hCO2_LzlEqTuYXjglbO73SZzItb6kaJCDNypDomjpBDNrQtRYJj5Oaj6h3CrRRXjYFdgCoWv5xJdUgYnAnCxXxUMiM5MXUx9K4b-2JQyOnRFlcU7_3njysgI7mlkUDIAJH1BYcW6htW/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH4hCO2_LzlEqTuYXjglbO73SZzItb6kaJCDNypDomjpBDNrQtRYJj5Oaj6h3CrRRXjYFdgCoWv5xJdUgYnAnCxXxUMiM5MXUx9K4b-2JQyOnRFlcU7_3njysgI7mlkUDIAJH1BYcW6htW/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you can't see, that's Books 2-4 of the Rebecca Collins series, and all three books of the Pamela Aiden trilogy. <i>Charity Girl</i> is a Heyer book, not P&P, and <i>Regency Christmas Magic</i> is just a normal romance book with a hilarious cover. Prices negotiable. Payment accepted through Paypal. Shipping is media mail unless otherwise requested. I will ship abroad you have to pay for shipping.<br />
<br />
UPDATE: Impulse and Initiative, Austenland, and the three Rebecca Collins books are sold. So are th Pamela Aiden books and "Chance Encounters." I've also added one book that's very old and still shrink-wrapped.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMTOHwfPHPli42S4wbxAfGnrLeYb3mkUAopsuvWkKjNHSAxyJxaLGjxuoILM8JCJd6X3nLWm7jV0oLOUNR9g7uGyzDVas-JuY-3Yu34yvKSEcEuoy7Mri5biXX___SQPtBIQ71N6c_QHa/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnMTOHwfPHPli42S4wbxAfGnrLeYb3mkUAopsuvWkKjNHSAxyJxaLGjxuoILM8JCJd6X3nLWm7jV0oLOUNR9g7uGyzDVas-JuY-3Yu34yvKSEcEuoy7Mri5biXX___SQPtBIQ71N6c_QHa/s1600/photo.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
UPDATE: I found some more books. They are added to the pile.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP9f3byGqDauO9iIgCEB-_dTuO6YZbD5seqq6VQObDM0tY8OIJ3vaj2EIBLRlj81c07UO8ImJlEG8j-VobKiCKKMAlY4og3W9ubvjaWaS2xnyMo5p8xTv8Z79KmukwBsYGt5CMNnyAiwdW/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP9f3byGqDauO9iIgCEB-_dTuO6YZbD5seqq6VQObDM0tY8OIJ3vaj2EIBLRlj81c07UO8ImJlEG8j-VobKiCKKMAlY4og3W9ubvjaWaS2xnyMo5p8xTv8Z79KmukwBsYGt5CMNnyAiwdW/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
<br />
Email me <a href="mailto:djclawson@gmail.com">here</a> because my Marsha Altman email is having a little trouble.</div>
</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-29711134115265352812014-07-10T18:55:00.000-04:002014-07-10T18:55:00.812-04:00Book 9 is available on Kindle<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trials-George-Wickham-Younger-Prejudice-ebook/dp/B00LM3XMWW/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404890207&sr=1-3&keywords=george+wickham"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUo6Y5nghk_em7Er2nZdVkVd4liJJDzL1zyYJuuStNaGCpeyK4nU6J56RLlzjBOmI9tT1zT1APni12W3ySgdTne9FmkeZi60cD9Ihs2EW_b6eZCWrNjeKWxM09cqLn4Of__77bf4L6kUnc/s1600/final+cover.jpg" height="320" width="205" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Trials-George-Wickham-Younger-Prejudice-ebook/dp/B00LM3XMWW/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404890207&sr=1-3&keywords=george+wickham"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Go get it!</span></a></b></div>
</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-90228769717145950962014-07-08T15:45:00.003-04:002014-07-08T15:46:04.513-04:00First Look!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p64xjegbdbE" width="459"></iframe></div>
</div>
</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-88862717350877565192014-07-07T16:37:00.001-04:002014-07-07T16:37:10.366-04:00You're All Invited to a Virtual Release Party<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you'd like to be a supportive fan, you're invited to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1439388062996706/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming">this</a>, which is a time to buy Book 9 on Kindle. We're trying to do it all at once because it might affect how the book is ranked on Amazon. If you see it up on Kindle and can't possibly wait that long, I understand. Or just read the preview. It'll probably be pretty long.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/1439388062996706/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcKMXJsoP5IgklsNpqosI_Q9pWuZqDUvnPhsyHEj9019OE_SoZhByEGkj3uZOrmu19rg8Mw6obWfzWQSAQ0-g2oxtIzKSeSQIIRBw0qsznhcoZ_eAsqLrG1NHxDZtP9oTohkgJHKjonyf5/s1600/final+cover.jpg" height="320" width="205" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The print version should be out shortly after that. I'm not sure exactly when, but I'll post here when I see it up.</div>
<br />
Happy Reading!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-49279375791447792652014-07-03T17:50:00.002-04:002014-07-03T17:50:28.692-04:00And Here's What's Happening Now<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Smashwords sells eBooks in every format and supplies them to all major online stores (except Kindle, which is done separately).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnV_oWbAh0O_C09gch_Lx292zsuIA9dVGoC4Bgycy23xyAD_S-eukRa0THNPEz20D3yOQqCQ-h6Lln_hJ7sm90ip5MNyUEWqw31Wvb01BQWxxmJkVfUbrK35CLHdx8ZNDnc_0ZsUIafp9/s1600/smashwords+preview.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijnV_oWbAh0O_C09gch_Lx292zsuIA9dVGoC4Bgycy23xyAD_S-eukRa0THNPEz20D3yOQqCQ-h6Lln_hJ7sm90ip5MNyUEWqw31Wvb01BQWxxmJkVfUbrK35CLHdx8ZNDnc_0ZsUIafp9/s1600/smashwords+preview.JPG" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-6114061532233968312014-06-24T21:53:00.002-04:002014-06-24T21:53:52.384-04:00These are Things that Happened Today<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Over at Createspace's book-building website...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlDu1TKotEPMNd_rQGTKptOJosQsuGwQgCToMyconSM920ja2CmMtthWDWHZHHj14QAFL5fuYxDx1kchSx-FHY69n9MNl_mXD4z0azLbWTtexL6TJwWfy6XW_d2aQinHCp8Fogm0WsKNP/s1600/createspace1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlDu1TKotEPMNd_rQGTKptOJosQsuGwQgCToMyconSM920ja2CmMtthWDWHZHHj14QAFL5fuYxDx1kchSx-FHY69n9MNl_mXD4z0azLbWTtexL6TJwWfy6XW_d2aQinHCp8Fogm0WsKNP/s1600/createspace1.JPG" height="203" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1rEFgT1h2VHkL5JaQwzffGJvM8vq0T7nl0TNIdJRx3E_bWp5J-HV8u8xIxLhnI30j_wlgLzr5wAfmyuZN-i_aYY7Rax1smA0Vv9j3IkBJr1FcHhahhchb0ZOArWtaEHR15wzJvXOGirIt/s1600/createspace2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1rEFgT1h2VHkL5JaQwzffGJvM8vq0T7nl0TNIdJRx3E_bWp5J-HV8u8xIxLhnI30j_wlgLzr5wAfmyuZN-i_aYY7Rax1smA0Vv9j3IkBJr1FcHhahhchb0ZOArWtaEHR15wzJvXOGirIt/s1600/createspace2.JPG" height="344" width="640" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-9672660504411670612014-06-20T16:55:00.002-04:002014-06-20T16:55:34.710-04:00Upcoming Titles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7YEDx6R-ESIjXNxaew_SITa2wDJAXJgPImBnzvsKEIWurHrRPnpUhwI7GoT3j8mnbyOIe-xt3acvB-MmJtLyBf6Z1b2TK_oWDnLsDwkQ9TXbM6RZXBKhYKhAoDYlgQsY9UFeNr8ol4Ce/s1600/BOOK9.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX7YEDx6R-ESIjXNxaew_SITa2wDJAXJgPImBnzvsKEIWurHrRPnpUhwI7GoT3j8mnbyOIe-xt3acvB-MmJtLyBf6Z1b2TK_oWDnLsDwkQ9TXbM6RZXBKhYKhAoDYlgQsY9UFeNr8ol4Ce/s1600/BOOK9.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
The copy-editing is done for Book 9, and I'm busy implementing the various fixes. On average, my manuscripts go through at least three rounds of editing, one with a paid professional copy-editor, to get it up to the shape you see it in. Yes, there are still typos. I just try to keep them to a minimal.<br />
<br />
From here it goes to layout, where I get the eBook file ready and lay out the .pdf version for the print book. Both jobs are a little tedious, but I'm used to them. I also have to write the description on the back cover (that doesn't spontaneously appear on the back of books), any other inside material, and decide on a cover image with my graphic designer, which always takes way longer than we both think it should.<br />
<br />
Estimated publication date for Book, tentatively titled The Tribulations of George Wickham the Younger, is mid-July, which means the earliest you could actually get a paper copy in the mail is late July/East August. Book 10's roll out will hopefully be December.<br />
<br />
In the meantime you can buy and read my thriller novella, the Redundant Man, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wayward-Pines-Redundant-Novella-Gabriel-ebook/dp/B00IZOG0PW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1394762984&sr=1-1&keywords=the+redundant+man">here</a>.<br />
<br />
Updates on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/103316336373492/">Facebook Group Page</a>!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-64284087749791111302014-05-06T21:13:00.001-04:002014-05-06T21:13:14.797-04:00Radio Silence<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblWB-Mu5sF6MjnJ-y6vDRwqE5YqIqTe7x1AF6rwM0P3LOIfRBWAoP7-kFV9K4B2I9kJ78Zr5TiqWA1N7zKfWSeA48wQ2bOc-p-fAaRKUx9YS9Vf0NA1F6nPqK-hmBzBnQ2t2c_rYq_oRc/s1600/Asleep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhblWB-Mu5sF6MjnJ-y6vDRwqE5YqIqTe7x1AF6rwM0P3LOIfRBWAoP7-kFV9K4B2I9kJ78Zr5TiqWA1N7zKfWSeA48wQ2bOc-p-fAaRKUx9YS9Vf0NA1F6nPqK-hmBzBnQ2t2c_rYq_oRc/s1600/Asleep.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I apologized for my delayed post, but things have been pretty crazy for me. Book 9, tentatively titled, "The Trials of George Wickham the Younger," is on schedule for a July release. It is currently in copyediting. As usual, you can find active discussions and me being generally more responsive on the Facebook Group Page, where we currently have a contest open to submit a cover picture for book 9 and get your name in the book. So <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/103316336373492/">check it out</a>!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-91891281492636630762014-03-17T17:10:00.003-04:002014-03-17T17:10:51.503-04:00February Contest Winners<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I'm running a little behind, but the paperback contest winner is: SQ!<br />
<br />
The eCopy winner is: Everyone else!<br />
<br />
Video answers to your questions will be up as soon as possible.</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-4039251755109790162014-02-20T22:40:00.000-05:002014-02-22T19:02:45.104-05:00I Write (Other Things)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First, <a href="http://marshaaltman.blogspot.com/2014/02/new-contest-new-giveaways.html">go enter this contest</a>. Seriously. Why haven't you done it yet, just for the amusement of having me try to act on camera? <i>Just for that?</i><br />
<br />
I do other writing. Sci-fi/fantasy is my first love, though I've been recently getting into horror. Today I got my author copies of King David and the Spiders from Mars, which contains a short story I wrote under my real name!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOkrwbSjuUau4PNaZDUDvuBKmyRsAbUUKaxPBp7Y1WUEa2LwdvtpcRVW_fZriDsy5eKNNaSE7T0AnjMwX9dSE3qqQ8xx2FhA49bo-4ScYprYu7wxsUYIl0AaSNtyZuKPqhtO7DrW1-pnc/s1600/book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAOkrwbSjuUau4PNaZDUDvuBKmyRsAbUUKaxPBp7Y1WUEa2LwdvtpcRVW_fZriDsy5eKNNaSE7T0AnjMwX9dSE3qqQ8xx2FhA49bo-4ScYprYu7wxsUYIl0AaSNtyZuKPqhtO7DrW1-pnc/s1600/book+cover.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
<br />
It's a short story (about 13,000 words if I remember correctly) concerning a rabbi who runs into ancient creatures who secretly rule an evil town in Massachusetts. It's heavily based on H.P. Lovecraft's <i>Shadow over Innsmouth</i>, which is one of my favorite Lovecraft stories. Since it had a Jewish spin, it qualified for the anthology.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXuezbMtLzUioSGB6wwWTwJ5FUevxA47vssVwfhROxcYPXuuhn0Jxsm-qTwVLKL2C3wu3oIi3wHVwWNqeVyVwkol9RXBIWEtoGNPM7Zy8p47jnHFR25mJIIdu298Ya9UCiqL2LPAbpqbF/s1600/table+of+contents.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoXuezbMtLzUioSGB6wwWTwJ5FUevxA47vssVwfhROxcYPXuuhn0Jxsm-qTwVLKL2C3wu3oIi3wHVwWNqeVyVwkol9RXBIWEtoGNPM7Zy8p47jnHFR25mJIIdu298Ya9UCiqL2LPAbpqbF/s1600/table+of+contents.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I wasn't totally silly in my author bio. Not as silly as I could have been.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_CgtX9BI9XiCsdhw3asE1gHY1ZhKaXW3PtjVTxxmFvtOy76dsK63-pSxTaS-QIof52td_VXuBORHYO7Q8QqhtuNpvRxvVPlGJN9oKt_Pj_yB8kjaQts34Jx5AsRJuIY1XpgSteZuDpkz/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_CgtX9BI9XiCsdhw3asE1gHY1ZhKaXW3PtjVTxxmFvtOy76dsK63-pSxTaS-QIof52td_VXuBORHYO7Q8QqhtuNpvRxvVPlGJN9oKt_Pj_yB8kjaQts34Jx5AsRJuIY1XpgSteZuDpkz/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
<br />
But I'm still proud of it!<br />
<br />
You can buy the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/King-David-Spiders-Sonya-Taaffe/dp/0976654687/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392953956&sr=1-1&keywords=king+david+and+the+spiders+from+mars">here</a>.</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-932999270694761902014-02-09T15:19:00.003-05:002014-02-09T15:19:22.887-05:00New Contest! New Giveaways!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It seems that getting a copy of Book 8 was a pretty popular contest, so I'll be repeating it with eBooks.<br />
<br />
<u>How to enter:</u><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdTovUQTTBf8AETrPIzq5Or-yRKYTuIoMotj0yHQ8ZgzXfRi7MAwcGIOs0934dCopDDMsTjr1ctq0SwZ86eSJOA5nmGI-SURg_T1Aso1Zm47iD6hhNUAjBgt_807yKB5opTnK1yxTtRXm/s1600/Night_View_of_Matsuchiyama_and_the_San'ya_Canal_(Matsuchiyama_San'yabori_yakei)_LACMA_M.2007.152.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqdTovUQTTBf8AETrPIzq5Or-yRKYTuIoMotj0yHQ8ZgzXfRi7MAwcGIOs0934dCopDDMsTjr1ctq0SwZ86eSJOA5nmGI-SURg_T1Aso1Zm47iD6hhNUAjBgt_807yKB5opTnK1yxTtRXm/s1600/Night_View_of_Matsuchiyama_and_the_San'ya_Canal_(Matsuchiyama_San'yabori_yakei)_LACMA_M.2007.152.12.jpg" height="320" width="221" /></a>(1) Leave a comment on this blog post asking me a question. You can ask me any question you want. I literally mean anything. Of course if it's deeply personal (like where I live, what hours I am generally out, and where my jewelry is) I might not answer it, but it can be any question about my books, my other writing, my general career, and my general interests. You can ask what kind of toothpaste I use (Don't ask that. It's Crest Regular Paste. You already know the answer). There are only three<br />
exceptions to the rule:<br />
- You cannot ask what inspired me to write these books (I've answered that too many times)<br />
- You cannot ask what I find so intriguing about [<i>insert Pride and Prejudice character here</i>]<br />
- You <b>cannot repeat a question someone has already asked</b>.<br />
(2) Leave some valid way to reach you and say if you have a US postal address. If you fail to do this, you will not win. I might answer the question but I will not give you a prize.<br />
<br />
<u>Winning Conditions:</u><br />
<b>eBook:</b> If you successfully follow the instructions above, congratulations - you've won! I will email you asking what eBook format you want it sent in.<br />
<b>Paperback:</b> One person with a US postal address will be selected at random from the pool of entries. I cannot send the book abroad because it is seriously expensive to do. If you cannot get my book abroad and you want it, you can buy it directly for me and pay for shipping, and I will send it.<br />
<br />
<b>The contest is open until March 1st! </b>So get those questions in!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-86780589270336541982014-01-20T22:31:00.002-05:002014-01-20T22:57:01.239-05:00Contest Winners<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The winners of the Book 8 contest are Michelle Woods and Mary Anne. Please check your emails for a message from me to claim your prize!<br />
<br />
And yes, there were two winners. There were so many entries that I decided to pony up a second copy.<br />
<br />
Watch this blog for upcoming eBook giveaways!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-60074808387196329672014-01-16T02:20:00.000-05:002014-01-16T02:20:29.102-05:00Habitual Writers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First off, this is your last chance to enter the contest to win a paperback copy of Book 8! <a href="http://marshaaltman.blogspot.com/2014/01/win-paperback-copy-of-book-8.html">Go here</a> to sign up and do it before <b>January 20th</b>!<br />
<br />
Second, the offer to get a goodie in the mail if you post a review on Amazon is still open, and will continue to be open. So send me an email with your snail mail address if you posted a review, no matter what you said in the review, or how long or short it was, and I will send you some Asian charm and maybe a bookmark.<br />
<br />
Third, if you are in New York City on <b>February 9th</b>, there is a Book 8 launch party at Madras Mahal, a kosher Indian restaurant in Manhattan. I am doing it there because (a) it is fairly inexpensive (b) I want to eat there in general. So the Facebook group page and RSVP if you are interested. Bring a book if you want it signed, or tell me if you want a free copy of any of the books I wrote as Marsha Warner, because I have about 25 of each lying around my apartment and I need to get rid of them.<br />
<br />
Authorial Intent<br />
<br />
Writers have ticks. Hopefully not literal ticks. Check your legs after you come inside from playing in the woods, guys! No, the kind of ticks we don't see but show up in our writing. Because so many people have looked at my work, I've become aware of some of mine, though there's very little I can do to stop them. For example, I have a tendency to think faster than I write, so I'll put in a word that is supposed to appear in a sentence later and it won't get flagged because it's spelled correctly, and Brandy will have to call me up and say, "When you wrote soup, you meant boat, right?" I am also partial to characters meandering about, something my friend Alex picked up on my very first novel, <i>The Adventures of Joey</i>, which I wrote when I was in third grade and my handwriting was arguably slightly better than it is now. I'm more interested in characters than the arc of a plot, which is a problem for me, and I'm given to slow starts.<br />
<br />
Recently I've been doing research on two books that are a series and part of the Amazon Kindle Worlds program, Amazon's premiere site for published fan fiction. They have certain properties and you can write fan fiction about those properties and they will sell it as an eBook. My agent recommended it to me as a source of easy publication and I picked a series that looked like it would be relatively easy to write for, Blake Crouch's <i>Wayward Pines</i> series. In the last few weeks I've been re-reading both books, underlining every important character, place name, location, and important statistic, then recording them all in a handy word file. (Somewhere towards the end of my series, I finally learned to start keeping track of characters, but mostly because I was spurned on by Brandy) What I've discovered is ticks Crouch probably isn't aware of - his partiality to M and B names (out of about 30 characters there are 7 M-names), his inconsistencies with the date of certain events (they alternately take place in August or October, depending on the scene), and various minor mistakes in the timeline, mostly due to him not going back to book 1 a lot when he was writing book 2. Also, almost every store exists on "the corner of Main and [Some Avenue]." I'm not actually bashing the author here - these are very easily mistakes to make when you're caught up in the suspense of writing a thriller and trying to keep the reader on the edge of their seats. These decisions don't seem like a big deal at the time. If anything, you're trying to minimize these decisions and get back to describing the various guns the protagonist uses, a common thriller trope. Are there 800 or 600 people in Wayward Pines? You're writing something and you spit out a number that sounds good, then you move on to get the next scene done and maybe you completely forget you used that number. When it comes up later, you've forgotten it or you don't want to look it up because editing sucks. That's what copyeditors are supposed to be for, but publishers today are cutting way back on copyediting.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1281624949l/8048835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1281624949l/8048835.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I actually wrote this book.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was once at a panel at Worldcon and an author (I think it was Richard Sawyer) was lamenting that some fan had written him to say he'd changed the color of a character's eyes, describing them as blue in one chapter and green in a much later chapter. "Is this really important? Seriously," he said, which I thought was reasonable. Of course, I write in historical fiction, where I get hit for much worse things than that, or I used to in the first couple books before people either gave up on the series or decided to just go with the flow. (Also my research got better) But when you're writing fanfic for pay, it's actually very important that you have all these things right about the original content, so it's frustrating when there's mistakes. I remember when I was writing the second Greek book (<i>Best Frenemies</i>) I was called out because I'd mentioned that someone's bedspread was a floral print, which it wasn't, and I had to go rewatch two episodes and figured out that they'd actually changed the sets around between seasons of the show even though only 8 hours had passed in the narrative (the new season picked up the morning after the finale of the previous season), but clearly no one told the set designer that this was important and she changed the comforter and sheets of said person's bed. I corrected my mistake and moved along, but man, what a crazy contract job that was. If you ever think that those crummy tie-in books to TV shows and movies are not written by authors who work hard for their paycheck, you're wrong. The books may not be classics of literature but hey, we do what we're paid to do, and we're given very little time to do it (I turned over the second book in 3 weeks). If offered, I would take one of these contract jobs again. I hated doing it, but the money was good, and I'm a working writer. I have to be realistic. </div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-52047954338210015172014-01-06T12:24:00.004-05:002014-01-06T12:24:40.167-05:00Win a Paperback Copy of Book 8!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BWwA3YhkXkHGnsZYKzA8HCSaVVFolPhnyNSXaTZvRd4Q12LW9xooCbNWEax8FMi4UypYVB87b7ZFvZdSD30fRezy85psMG9pa1hdfioBnFdV22-taX0sg6tYoe62cITzwcicIIbIMlru/s1600/Devil_Priest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2BWwA3YhkXkHGnsZYKzA8HCSaVVFolPhnyNSXaTZvRd4Q12LW9xooCbNWEax8FMi4UypYVB87b7ZFvZdSD30fRezy85psMG9pa1hdfioBnFdV22-taX0sg6tYoe62cITzwcicIIbIMlru/s1600/Devil_Priest.jpg" height="320" width="184" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A tengu.This will make more<br /> sense when you read the book</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Contest! </b>Win a paperback copy of The Chrysanthemum and the Rose by entering before January 20th.<br />
<br />
What is it?<br />
- it's a book<br />
- it's big<br />
- it's thick<br />
- it's 748 pages<br />
- it will be signed by the author<br />
<br />
I'm not giving too many of these away - and by that I mean any - because they're expensive to obtain and ship, so this is your chance!<br />
<br />
<b>How to Enter:</b><br />
(1) Have a US postal address.<br />
(2) Leave your name and CONTACT INFORMATION in a comment to this post.<br />
<br />
<b>How <i>Not</i> to Enter:</b><br />
(1) Do nothing.<br />
(2) Reply to this post<i> without entering your contact email </i>and assume that because you are signed into blogger I magically know your email address.<br />
(3) Be a member of my family with more disposable income then me. Don't be a cheapskate.<br />
<br />
Want an eBook? That contest is coming soon!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-62433168860277251272013-12-20T14:48:00.001-05:002013-12-20T14:48:08.000-05:00Publication!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyg_1eE-ozx2tHr9GVAKrVq8lMLJyPSjVoJuD8uYEko59sNmxfUv_xi79M7PikmQCubahuG26FxjQs4ZI4lgvvqfc8W2ZKdmJ45oxjShDC5Utsix21Me8b76V0H2xhEkm9SKDL0VyhgqC/s1600/covermedium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyg_1eE-ozx2tHr9GVAKrVq8lMLJyPSjVoJuD8uYEko59sNmxfUv_xi79M7PikmQCubahuG26FxjQs4ZI4lgvvqfc8W2ZKdmJ45oxjShDC5Utsix21Me8b76V0H2xhEkm9SKDL0VyhgqC/s320/covermedium.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
The Chrysanthemum and the Rose (Book 8) is now available!<br />
<br />
Buy it in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chrysanthemum-Rose-Prejudice-Continues-Bingleys/dp/1494346400/ref=la_B001JS3R1Q_1_9_bnp_1_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387568426&sr=1-9">paperback or on Kindle</a><br />
Buy it on <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-chrysanthemum-and-the-rose-marsha-altman/1117667675?ean=2940045492676">the Nook</a><br />
Buy it on <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/386181">other eReader devices</a><br />
<br />
From the back cover:<br />
<br />
<i>There is peace in Derbyshire as a new generation of the Darcy family
begins, but the younger Mr. and Mrs. Darcy set their sights far away, to
Japan, an island nation closed off to all but a few foreigners. There
they will travel to find Georgiana Darcy’s elusive former teacher, the
wandering thief Mugin, so that she can finally complete her training
before settling down to married life in the English countryside. <br /> <br />But
getting into Japan, a country hostile to Westerners and controlled by
the Tokugawa shogun, won’t be easy, and finding Mu Gin will be even
harder. Is the young couple up to the challenge?<br /> <br />In Altman’s
eighth novel, we travel far abroad to the dangerous world of
19th-Century Asia, where political tensions are high and danger is very
real. </i> <br />
<br />
Review Policy:<br />
<br />
If you have reviewed most or all of my past books on Amazon, you are eligible to receive a paperback copy for review.<br />
<br />
If you have reviewed at least one of my other books on Amazon, you are eligible to receive ab eBook copy on any format for review.<br />
<br />
If you post a review of your own volition and give me a US postal address, I will send you a little Asian good luck charm thingy.<br />
<br />
If any of these apply to you, <a href="mailto:djclawson@gmail.com">contact me</a>.<br />
<br />
Contests:<br />
<br />
There will be some contests. I will be giving away only one copy of the paperback (it is expensive to buy and ship because it is so large) so you should look for that. I will also be giving away prizes and numerous eBook copies, so stay tuned!<br />
<br />
Otherwise, happy reading!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-47587627635273648052013-12-15T18:46:00.001-05:002013-12-15T18:46:30.609-05:00I don't know what to write in people's books<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://milestonemotivation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/book-signing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://milestonemotivation.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/book-signing.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't even know how to use this type of pen</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yesterday I was asked to autograph a book I have a short story published in (it's coming out officially later - I'll post about that then) and I wrote, "Keep on truckin'!" Because seriously, I have no idea what to write in these things. I'm not famous enough to write nothing except my name if the person is standing in front of me. Famous authors either only put their name in or only put their name and the person's name in. I'm supposed to come up with something.<br />
<br />
For book 1 I pretty much universally wrote, "Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the book" or something to that effect, even though some of them were not going to read the book because they were friends or family members. I actually personalized one a little too much to give to one of Grandma's friends and my mom ended up cutting something I said (about loaning a car to someone?) right out of the page, leaving a little cut at the bottom. Then for a little while I tried, "It is a universal truth that a good author must be in want of a loyal reader" which ended up being <i>way</i> too long for my awful handwriting.<br />
<br />
I'm just going to think out loud in this post about possible things to put in the book:<br />
<br />
"Thanks for reading!"<br />
<br />
"Keep on truckin'" (not valid if person is a trucker)<br />
<br />
"If someone steals this book, may they be punched to death by wolves" (I actually put this in one of the books I assigned for Brandy but I misspelled wolves, which is why I need Brandy to edit everything I write in the first place)<br />
<br />
"There's a spider on your back."<br />
<br />
"[Insert witty comment here]"<br />
<br />
"Thx! My handwriting is terrible."<br />
<br />
"[Insert personal, moving comment here]"<br />
<br />
"Catchphrase!"<br />
<br />
"Welcome to Night Vale" (I love this show)<br />
<br />
In other news, Book 8 is now available <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chrysanthemum-Rose-Darcys-Bingleys-ebook/dp/B00H9MIJSW/ref=la_B001JS3R1Q_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1387063631&sr=1-10">for Kindle</a> and for <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/386181">all other eBook formats</a>. It will be available in print when we finally get Createspace to not mess up the cover alignment, which will hopefully be this week. Then I'll do the "it's officially published" post and start doing some contests. One of them will be to win a paperback copy of the book, which is very heavy and expensive and therefore will only be open to US residents or people with a US mailing address. You probably want to enter that one. </div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-11280220354265986792013-12-10T15:59:00.001-05:002013-12-10T15:59:55.798-05:00Motherhood<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQFMyZJ7RhuPvaCYApMV2hGLHEb6fFu5B1wKRJq3C4vxeDv0k2iPKfbXdrveAsCaCDUAAJ5AJgznX3JjtaWcDXpHTvubui1jbOcc2jNw20f2YS5NvTIHiK5k-S7YWT30O5I7snJEBn3Ag/s1600/covermedium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEQFMyZJ7RhuPvaCYApMV2hGLHEb6fFu5B1wKRJq3C4vxeDv0k2iPKfbXdrveAsCaCDUAAJ5AJgznX3JjtaWcDXpHTvubui1jbOcc2jNw20f2YS5NvTIHiK5k-S7YWT30O5I7snJEBn3Ag/s320/covermedium.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
Book 8 is almost ready! The copyediting is done, most of the formatting is done, and there's just some processing over at Createspace before it can released on all formats, which will hopefully be late next week or early the following week. Remember that Book 7 is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Young-Darcy-Love-Darcys-Bingleys-ebook/dp/B00DREJHH8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-2&qid=1372910800">still on sale</a> until December 15th for the Kindle, and books 1-3 are on sale for some unknown amount of time (Sourcebooks decides these things, not me) so if you don't have them on Kindle but you can't go anywhere without them you'll want to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Marsha-Altman/e/B001JS3R1Q/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1">scoop them up</a>.<br />
<br />
The print version of Book 8 will be a little pricey. There is nothing I can do about this; Amazon has a minimum price to print the book. I will just say this: You will be getting a lot of book for your money. Lots and lots of book.<br />
<br />
Anyway. Motherhood.<br />
<br />
In the romance/historical romance genre that I started out in, motherhood isn't addressed a lot. Usually the story is about the man and woman meet, usually under less than perfect circumstances, and then by the end of the book they're together, or by chapter 3 if it's regular romance and they need to get to the sex before the reader gets bored. With a lot of Pride and Prejudice sequels you need to have some plot before that (or don't) because Darcy and Elizabeth are already together, but unless there's something wrong with Elizabeth's child-bearing abilities and that's the plot (I have yet to see one where the problem was on Darcy's end), they usually pop out a kid within a year and all is well. And they are perfect parents. Darcy may be cold and Elizabeth independent, but G-ddamn if they aren't the best parents ever because any other possibility would be horribly depressing to us.<br />
<br />
In certain instances in my large cast I decided "this relationship is going to be like this" and this relationship is going to be like that" and there were occasions were I just let the text flow as the characters acted like I thought they would. In real life, there are all different kinds of parents, and in real life once kids get older their relationship with their parents cannot be described as "perfect" unless things are creepy and weird and the kid needs a life. After the kids are about age 3 you need to start seeing a push-and-pull for both the mother and the child to be real.<br />
<br />
One of the more awkward situations I got into with my fans was that people thought Georgie (Georgiana Bingley) was not really a good parent, which is a subject that comes up a lot in Book 8, but I think it's because her relationship with her daughter is harder to understand than the typical Regency "I love my kid to bits and now that they popped out of me my whole life is dedicated to tickling them or whatever" thing you see in fiction which certainly wasn't true to life. Mothers were expected to have servants take care of their children for the first three years, even to send them to another house if the current house was crowded to be raised by a wet nurse. Hanging around babies was not a Regency rich people thing to do, but Georgie also connects to her child (and her mother) differently than the original cast in that she's not outpouring with visible affection all the time, which is how a "good mother" acts in romance fiction. Just like you don't treat your child like you would a puppy doesn't mean you don't have a deep emotional connection that is the strongest thing in your life; it was just very hard for me to express it the way I felt was true to her character. At this point in the series I was more interested than being true to characters than genre norms, which you probably figured out by the fact that they also go to Japan.<br />
<br />
Of course I'm probably preaching to moms to know way more than I do about the subject, but oh well. ;) That's right. It's 2013 and I'm finally into smilies. I'm a late bloomer.</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-23130642240114013962013-11-24T16:59:00.000-05:002013-11-24T16:59:19.128-05:00Historical Accounts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
First of all, SALE! There's a sale on Book 7 (Young Mr. Darcy in Love) on Kindle, now going for $2.99 until December 15th in honor of the release of Book 8, so <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Young-Darcy-Love-Darcys-Bingleys-ebook/dp/B00DREJHH8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-2&qid=1372910800">go pick it up </a>at this low-low price before it's too late.<br />
<br />
Moving on, I'm going to give away a small plot point for Book 8 here, but during the course of the book, the younger Darcys (Geoffrey and Georgiana) meet the shogun of Japan. This was a pretty difficult thing for foreigners to do in 1828, but it did happen occasionally. I pulled historical for that scene adn the scenes leading up to it from a real source: Charles MacFarlane's book, <i>Japan: An Account, Geographical and Historical from the Earliest Period at Which the Islands Composing This Empire Were Known to Europeans Down to the Present Time and the Expedition Fitted Out in the United States, etc</i>, which was published in 1852, a time in which apparently you got paid by word in the title? Anyway, it gives detailed description of European interactions with the Japanese government in the Tokugawa period, prior to Japan opening its ports to foreigners.<br />
<br />
I noticed something interesting about the book. The original compay I found was in the City College library and dated from probably the 1920's. When I went to order the book oline, I got a new reprint with a cover like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiyMMhd0cprn87PLrq17Q2BEp94HEHncEGAJWweaAcIvkz7xIjuN8TpnF1TfagO7wuYIMJndzg8wnIVf2WKpWSFCFqAFIrm51bSDhusRGVl2NWW7i8-4TdyOlAwOFpUks22ApMZXjaw2Y/s1600/41BS073Q08L.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiyMMhd0cprn87PLrq17Q2BEp94HEHncEGAJWweaAcIvkz7xIjuN8TpnF1TfagO7wuYIMJndzg8wnIVf2WKpWSFCFqAFIrm51bSDhusRGVl2NWW7i8-4TdyOlAwOFpUks22ApMZXjaw2Y/s320/41BS073Q08L.jpg" width="184" /></a></div>
<br />
Now you probably didn't notice this, but there's a blank circle at the top of the book. Here's what the original cover looked like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHAou5di81HApe-oUtTVyUaMYHJt9hGSx0MzdwQmoMil4Xvy4tJ9_stFYN2Xph2sLxwdQ-AiQC7D6GuIAjA78qyLm9mqNrxPHmh_sxhIaRl0XnV3H69L_hhYkFHUCdaB6800nXsY2sCbN/s1600/books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMHAou5di81HApe-oUtTVyUaMYHJt9hGSx0MzdwQmoMil4Xvy4tJ9_stFYN2Xph2sLxwdQ-AiQC7D6GuIAjA78qyLm9mqNrxPHmh_sxhIaRl0XnV3H69L_hhYkFHUCdaB6800nXsY2sCbN/s1600/books.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Notice something there? A Swastika. Now the Swastika has <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika">a number of different meanings</a>, most of them originating from Asia either as a symbol of the mythic Aryan race that had/has nothing to do with Hitler, or a good luck symbol which became particularly popular in Buddhism. In Buddhism (the official religion on the Tokugawa regime, even though the Emperor himself was a Shinto priest) it also represents the symbol for eternity and is often drawn on the Buddha's empty chest. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
When the book was published it was entirely harmless, even in Europe. Obviously since then it's become one of the most negatively-associated symbols on earth to Westerners, something that still baffles people in the East. Clearly, when Elibron Classics went to reprint the old edition in 2005, they decided to wipe it from the cover and hope no one noticed. The original image is actually still in the book, opposite the cover page, as it probably appeared in 1852, as that's where prints were placed. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm usually against censorship, but this is a rare example of when I'm not. India is loaded with swastikas, though the Hindu swastika goes in the other direction and sometimes has dots between the lines. I remember flinching in front of my guide on my first night in New Delhi when we stopped in front of one, and him rolling his eyes with frustration. Obviously he's had a lot of customers do this. But I didn't apologize for it either.</div>
<br /></div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-1045256758895316262013-11-18T21:39:00.000-05:002013-11-19T15:50:43.809-05:00How A Cover Comes Together<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSx5i85EVlLt17IZQ64uGscCzsrjmVUF8vtRZRS4YpMlte3DGsKcfiEV0cJK8OmyKC92HtfPNt2Dq4tKsodwVCzJVCFMykRmD_d83TyV-6ujRt3Z7a18h220KhIOLo0beIjdc8n-ipCnse/s1600/1426398_362120367257229_1514153080_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSx5i85EVlLt17IZQ64uGscCzsrjmVUF8vtRZRS4YpMlte3DGsKcfiEV0cJK8OmyKC92HtfPNt2Dq4tKsodwVCzJVCFMykRmD_d83TyV-6ujRt3Z7a18h220KhIOLo0beIjdc8n-ipCnse/s320/1426398_362120367257229_1514153080_n.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rejected cover (with the old template on the <br />
bottom) because of lack of color</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The official cover of Book 8 (<i>The Chrysanthemum and the Rose</i>) isn't done yet, though I'll explain why in a minute. It's fair to say it's almost done, thanks to fans over at my Facebook group page (seriously, that is the best way to be part of the conversation, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/103316336373492/628761277162326/?comment_id=632631663441954&notif_t=group_comment">go check it out</a>). A lot goes into the cover art, which is why so many self-published books look really crummy. People either don't know how, think they know how but <i>actually</i> don't know how, or don't care, which is fair if it's only an eBook. My Kindle doesn't even show the cover page - it just loads the first page of the first chapter every time. But if you're putting out a pint book, you should really put time into the cover.<br />
<br />
First of all, I don't do the cover alone. I do most of the conceptual work but have a graphic artist put it together and give it a nice polish. It's cheaper since he's not starting from scratch, but I know I need a professional to make sure everything lines up and people are getting a quality product.<br />
<br />
(1) Load template. The template we use is based on Sourcebook's layout for books 2 and 3. It's a good layout, with a clear title and image and has a nice all-about look. The changes will be largely cosmetic between books. Books 5-8 all have the same fonts and the same general layouts. Most of them have the same pattern on the bottom half, though we changed it for book 6 and we'll change it again for book 8 because of the Japanese theme.<br />
<br />
(2) Find public domain image to use. There's a ton of it online dating from the Regency period. Sometimes it's actually hard to find an image that hasn't been used for another edition of Pride and Prejudice or another published fan fiction. Some people prefer static images of say, a house or trees or something, but I prefer to have a scene of characters even if they don't look exactly like the characters in my books and never well. It's also important to be consistent with what my two previous publishers have done. I see a lot of people reusing the same images because they're popular so I try to avoid those. I also need the image to be a high-quality scan and large enough to fit neatly on the cover, and the image has to work as a square. This is the most difficult part of the process. I went through 4 hours worth of Japanese images for Book 8 before settling on the one I found in the first five minutes because I am a crazy person.<br />
<br />
(3) Color scheme selection. At this point we've used most of the basic colors that look good on books (Book 1 is green, Book 2 is blue, etc). We don't want to directly re-use any colors. At this point Dave (my graphic designer, say hi to Dave everybody!) usually picks a color based on what we can't use and also what goes well with the image we picked, which is why Book 7 is orange, a color I normally would have thought would never work.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqsOSSExbYKqWcY1YnGN5zJIPLF622E2wJL3zrAdzhjREQ8bwDkUagC83VMSOlb0pifmskptwNX5Lme5aWpiHAoX6E3YkkyYmc9uIFnqXAt7Hr4u15_xtgN2IXzHitp-emLbA0qjYAJmB/s1600/1395173_363235020479097_1339319280_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXqsOSSExbYKqWcY1YnGN5zJIPLF622E2wJL3zrAdzhjREQ8bwDkUagC83VMSOlb0pifmskptwNX5Lme5aWpiHAoX6E3YkkyYmc9uIFnqXAt7Hr4u15_xtgN2IXzHitp-emLbA0qjYAJmB/s320/1395173_363235020479097_1339319280_n.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rejected cover (old template). Was not a square <br />
enough picture and only featured one person.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
(4) Get the trim size. This can only occur when I go to format the book, which can only happen after ALL the editing is done. I upload it to Createspace and they tell me how many pages the book is going to be. Based on that number, we can calculate the size of the image we need because we know how wide the spine is going to be. It's actually one long image - the back cover, the spine, and the front cover - that they stamp onto the cardboard material that will be wound around the book to create a cover. As of today Dave can't go forward because I haven't done this yet. There is still some editing and layout to be done. The trim size is very difficult to change so I have to know <i>exactly</i> how many pages the book is going to be and I can never ever change that once the cover image is created. This is why, for formatting reasons, there are sometimes empty pages at the end of the book. They're there because I did some last-minute formatting that changed the amount of pages I needed but it was too late to change the number of pages in the book because the cover was done, so I had to leave a bunch blank to get back to that exact number.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjdhH2ZYkEv4R9GG76mLRGGm0BS1ORZAH0vmkaFMCcKI8WEyAlIWFr6S4KjzW0zBrEDwzpn6cEl5nD9HfxdH84W1EO85x1vHNe4MWAedoxTksk1fd3nmSw7TgsxbyekFo4txGe44ikl7i/s1600/1468581_363235080479091_1575483500_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjdhH2ZYkEv4R9GG76mLRGGm0BS1ORZAH0vmkaFMCcKI8WEyAlIWFr6S4KjzW0zBrEDwzpn6cEl5nD9HfxdH84W1EO85x1vHNe4MWAedoxTksk1fd3nmSw7TgsxbyekFo4txGe44ikl7i/s320/1468581_363235080479091_1575483500_n.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final cover choice for the image;<br />
The old template is still in place<br />
because we haven't gotten around<br />
to changing it yet.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
(5) Createspace tells me something is wrong with the image, even though nothing is. Createspace likes to do this to us. We submit exactly what they say they want and they say something's wrong and then we submit the same file and say it's fine. The system is automated so I don't know what they're picking up.<br />
<br />
(6) I order a "proof" copy, which comes and the spine image is like 1 mm wrong and Createspace says it's my problem and/or their system isn't perfect, and I fret about things I can't change for a while. So it goes.<br />
<br />
I'm shooting for a December 15th publication date for Book 8. <i>That is not in any way a hard date</i>. My roommate is doing a last-minute final check on the text while I put everything into layout, finish the glossary, and try to find a way to pay my copy-editor. I hope she takes plasma or packages of Chrystal Light Lemonade. But I do hope for a mid-December publication. The eBook will almost certainly be available first because of technical things like shipping times and ordering proofs for the paperback. Watch this space for giveaways and deals coming up soon! I will discount Book 7 in the two weeks leading up to Book 8's release so people can get caught up.<br />
<br />
In other news, I'm in Rabbinical school now, so there are additional reasons for me to be crazy these days.</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-33610276596665228882013-11-10T19:44:00.000-05:002013-11-10T19:44:10.102-05:00Cover Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvyHf7jpPveKog77IAqY4mrM68JYoDn2h__XZLEUkrVgwjNjPd0Za_AeeXy1mcb54aYOJQhFpCOTTQa_wlPgsgxsaWLJIO_qWA_1T7zkcktvxFTPiqJ-OPEUHZpFD8g5SEeaja7-xNLtq2/s1600/Estampe_rituel_the.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvyHf7jpPveKog77IAqY4mrM68JYoDn2h__XZLEUkrVgwjNjPd0Za_AeeXy1mcb54aYOJQhFpCOTTQa_wlPgsgxsaWLJIO_qWA_1T7zkcktvxFTPiqJ-OPEUHZpFD8g5SEeaja7-xNLtq2/s320/Estampe_rituel_the.jpg" width="137" /></a></div>
Let me say this outright: Book 8 is the best book in the series. Some fans of it don't particularly agree with me (they are partial to 4 or 5 or 10) but I think it's the best book because I had the most fun researching it and the most fun writing it so it is the best. To me. You can decide for yourselves.<br />
<br />
I am having an issue finding the perfect cover image, as I want a perfect cover image for this one, and because it mainly takes place in Japan I have a whole different avenue of period art open to me. You can go to the album of potential covers on the Facebook group page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.628761057162348&type=1">here</a> to put your 2 cents in, which is bad saying because your opinion is worth more than 2 cents to me. I know you're at a slight loss because you don't know what happens in book 8, but let me just say this: Japan, fight scenes. Lots of both of those. That should start you in the right direction. And of course if you want to submit a public domain image to me as a suggestion based on what's already up, I am open to that. I am SUPER open to other people doing work for me.<br />
<br />
There will be swag for this book. Little Japanese keychains or whatever. I haven't made the trip to Chinatown yet but whatever they are, they will be very light and easy to mail. Watch this space for ways to get some (picking the winning photo is one of them).</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1980250717861902273.post-18965266201772256012013-11-08T14:05:00.001-05:002013-11-08T14:05:25.025-05:00In Which I Emerge from Hibernation Like a Bear in Spring<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Book 8 should be rolling out next month, so it's time to start posting on this thing again. Book 8 is called <i>The Chrysanthemum and the Rose</i>. Yes, I know that's not super spellable, but look, we're eight books in. If you're even reading this you definitely have found my Amazon page or my website or my Facebook group page and you know how to follow a link I'll be posting when it goes up on Amazon. I'm aiming for December 15th, but there have been some copyediting delays that were out of my hands, so I don't know yet.<br />
<br />
What have I been up to:<br />
- Finding a new literary agent for my graphic novel (found!)<br />
- Starting Rabbinical school<br />
- Writing other books, mostly horror<br />
<br />
There's plenty to look forward to! Book 7 will be on sale for Kindle prior to the release of Book 8 in case you need to catch up, and there will be all kinds of contests with great prizes and rewards for loyal fans. So watch this space!</div>
Marsha Altmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11883498633271314765noreply@blogger.com3