Author Guest Post: Richard Due and Carolyn Arcabascio

Gibbering Gnome Press Presents a Tale of Epic Fantasy 

For Lily and Jasper Winter, the Moon Realm began with a single secret bedtime tale. As the children grew older, Uncle Ebb enthralled them with thrilling tales of the Dragondain riding horse-sized, catlike Rinn; mysterious tales of peerin-wielding lunamancers manipulating the magic that lies just beneath the surface of reality; exciting tales of flying dragons, swimming merfolk, stomping giants, and troublesome faeries. But as the magic of their childhood faded, so too did the tales. Eventually, they were just . . . good stories. 

Or were they? 

Now, nine years after it all began, Uncle Ebb is missing. 

Lily and Jasper search for clues, but their uncle's mansion is full of distractions. A Tesla generator thrums in the basement. Prismatic electrimals flit around walls resembling underwater reefs. Then a most unexpected friend comes to their aid, leading them to a hidden room where they find a mysterious coin—the moon coin. Before the night is out, Lily is transported to the real Moon Realm. But the moons are in trouble. The Rinn of Barreth are under siege, and the lunamancers of Dain are beset by the very dragons they once loved. Most horrifying of all, the moon Darwyth has fallen to a villain named Wrengfoul, whose creeping evil now threatens to overshadow all the Realm. 

Are Lily and Jasper too late to save the Moon Realm, or will they have enough time to write an ending of their own? 

Featuring twenty-two stunning full-color illustrations by Carolyn Arcabascio. Volume One of the young adult fantasy adventure series The Moon Realm. 

***

For me, getting to work with Carolyn Arcabascio was a dream come true. On The Moon Coin, we worked from a master list of scene options, with Carolyn picking out scenes she liked and making sketches. For the prologue, Carolyn drafted three options. All three were great, but two in particular were spectacular. I first went with option 3 (one of my scene suggestions). I think we spent more time on this sketch and subsequent color drawing than on any other piece. But it never seemed right. At the eleventh hour, I asked Carolyn how hard she’d hit me if I suggested scrapping the thing and instead going with the pinky promise scene you see below (one of her scene suggestions).  Carolyn responded: "There would be no hitting involved!" and told me it wouldn't be a problem. You sure can't ask for better than that.

From the Prologue: Bedtime Tales.

Richard: Did you make all these sketches in the same location, Carolyn?

Carolyn: Yes, I do all of my work at a drafting table that's situated in a little nook of my apartment in Acton, Massachusetts. There's a bookshelf to my right and a wall of "inspiration" to my left, where I hang prints of other artists' and illustrators' work. On either side of my drafting table are drawers of supplies, and stacks of sketchbooks and old paintings. The drafting table faces a window overlooking a quiet street and the woods beyond it.

From Chapter Two: A Coin of the Realm.

Richard: Do you use models when you're sketching?

Carolyn: I use a combination of models and photo references. If I need to work out the nuances of a character's posture and really understand the perspective of it, I'll ask whatever friend or family member is handy to pose for a sketch. Often, I'll get into the position myself or mimic the facial expression I want to portray in order to get the feel of it. And sometimes, if there's a character being portrayed multiple times across scenes, I'll make a rough model of their head out of clay so I'll have it to refer to.

From Chapter Four: To Barreth.

Richard: When drawing fantastical creatures, do you use bits and pieces of real animals for inspiration, or have you actually seen a wirtle and you're just not telling us? ;)

Carolyn: No wirtles native to Massachusetts, fortunately! When figuring out the look of fantastical creatures, I use photo references of different animals to understand the way the anatomy might work, and then combine features as I see fit and as the story calls for. To understand the wirtle's legs and paws, for example, I referred to a series of photographs of show dogs leaping over hurdles. The severely arched, scruffy back was influenced by photos of hyenas on the prowl. The bone-structure of the face ended up being something of a cross between a cow and a warthog, and I wanted the snout to be bare—kind of gross and raw-looking. Add it all up and, voila! We have a wirtle.

The Moon Coin, by Richard Due, is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iBookstore for $2.99.

Author Guest Post: Paul McDonnold

Books:

-The Economics of Ego Surplus

-5 Pillars, 7 Sins

Goodreads * Amazon

Description of the book: 

Part action novel, part literary novel, part guidebook to economics, The Economics of Ego Surplus is the story of college instructor Kyle Linwood. Anticipating a relaxing summer with his girlfriend and his PhD dissertation, he gets recruited by the FBI to help with an obscure case of terrorist internet "chatter," which explodes into a shocking, mysterious assault on U.S. financial markets. As the economy melts down and a nation panics, Kyle follows a trail of clues from Dallas to New York City to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In his quest to discover the truth, he will be forced to confront the assumptions underlying his education as well as his life. But will it be enough to save America from the most brilliant terrorist plot ever conceived?

***

I’d like to thank Basma for letting me do this guest post to go along with her review of my novel The Economics of Ego Surplus. It’s a crime thriller that chronicles a terrorist attack on the economy from the point of view of the protagonist, Kyle Linwood. The book is my attempt to offer an entertaining story that also imparts a little education about how the economy works, and what happens when things go haywire.

Some readers have asked how plausible the scenario of a terrorist attack on the economy is. It’s a hard question to answer. In the novel, the leader of a large multinational bank decides to turn his organization into sort of a financial suicide bomb, in an attempt to destroy America’s economy. Nothing like that has ever happened in the real world, of course. But there are reasons we should be concerned about the possibility.

I loosely based the multinational bank in the novel, Emir Banc, on a real bank named the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).  On its surface, BCCI was a legitimate and successful international financial organization. Beneath the surface it was deeply criminal, involved in the financing of all sorts of underworld activities. Eventually, regulators and investigators from multiple countries uncovered BCCI’s dark side and shut the bank down in 1991.

The 2008 financial meltdown and the troubles we have been struggling with since show how much harm a faulty economy can bring to the lives of ordinary people. And that is when the only “culprit” in taking down the economy is human greed. If a well funded and technologically sophisticated group was intentionally trying to destroy the stock markets and the economy, the result might be much worse. It’s not something to panic over. Panic itself is the enemy of a healthy economy. But it is something I think our government needs to be concerned with, and taking steps to guard against. Hopefully that is already happening, behind the scenes, and the catastrophe in the story never becomes an example of life imitating art!

Author Guest Post: Mariam Maarouf

 Mariam Maarouf 

In life, nothing is the same as it seems. People create masks –identities – to hide who they really are –some for noble reasons, or nefarious ones, but only a tiny fraction because they must. 

Alessandra and Damien, or Rosalie and Daniel, were once the Princess and Prince of La Pacifica until they were forced out of the beautiful island. Eight months flew by, and they finally began to settle in Alexandria, Egypt, when they found out that they didn’t leave their past behind them, and that they were both wanted urgently. Dead

First of all, thank you so much, Basma, for having me here! I was thrilled to know that there’s an Egyptian book blogger active out there who’s interested in YA (since I’m Egyptian too!), so it’s a lot of pleasure having the chance to guest-post on your blog :)

Today I’m going to explore my journey in the publishing industry, and how I got to write and publish my debut, Rosie.

Well, in the beginning I’d like to mention that I come from a family that adores books and publishing. My grandfather, Ahmed Maarouf, established one of the biggest children publishing houses in the Arab world, with offices both in Egypt & Lebanon (and maybe in other countries, too!), and when he passed away, both my father and uncle established two different pub houses, specialized in textbooks and children books respectively. Later on, my cousin opened his own bookshop. So, basically, I’ve been involved in this industry since birth.

When I got older, at the age of twelve or thirteen, I was officially enrolled in father’s pub house as an intern, just generally observing the whole process. I took Photoshop courses, worked hard on my English language skills, and helped around with the minor tasks (like observing layout problems, making sure proof copies come in complete). Later on, I expressed interest in joining the editorial team, and so I did. At first, I did first-round revisions (read: spell & grammar checks), and then by the age of fifteen I was one of the senior editors of books made for the lower grades (kindergarten to grade four). Later on, I was given the task of translating a whole series of books from Arabic to English. Those books covered the Computer Science curriculum from the first, to the sixth grade.

During that time I started writing intensively at school (a writing task every day), in addition to free-time writing that involved short stories and poetry. I didn’t start writing novel-length stories except post the whole Twilight-phase a lot of us have went through. Rosie isn’t my very first novel – it’s actually the fifth – but it’s the first novel I thought of publishing seriously.

So, I started doing several rounds of revision and editing, then sent it to my 8^th-grade English teacher (who’s been a friend of mine ever since), who edited it further for me, and acted as a fresh eye to the whole thing. After I made the final round of revision, considering her thoughts and comments carefully, I sent it out to the editor at Alexandria Publishing (because here, in Egypt, we don’t have any agents in between) and he was extremely excited! Soon, I got my contract and a while later I even got a cover, and I made the trailer and we had a release date and were ready to go! Of course, that also involved even more rounds of revision, but by the end of last August we all agreed that no further revisions were required.

I have to say that the most interesting (and relaxed) part of my road to publishing was certainly post-contract! That was when I got to meet amazing bloggers and explore the whole community – and even make a book trailer for Rosie!

Nowadays, I’m a remote intern for the literary agent Weronika Janczuk, an editor at the same pub house, and somehow managing to prepare for university, haha. I’m also working on my first dystopian novel, Skyquake, which I wish to publish more widely than I did with Rosie.

 You can find out more about Rosie here.

Again, Basma, thank you so much!

Mariam Maarouf

***

Author's Bio:

Mariam Maarouf is a 17-year-old editor, translator, student and above all – just a teen. She lives in Alexandria, Egypt, writes articles for school magazines and has been working in a publishing house for a couple of years now. ROSIE is her debut novel. –Mariam's website

Twitter * Blog * Facebook Page* Amazon * Alef

Guest Post: Laura Kreitzer

HeyHiHello

Today the author Laura Kreitzer is guesting posting on my blog. She will be addressing the issue of human trafficking.  

Hello Literary-Folk!
    
    My name is Laura Kreitzer, and I’m the author of the Timeless Series and the Summer Chronicles. This week I would like to alert everyone on a colossal crisis that’s gone unnoticed in the world: human trafficking. That’s why I’ve asked hundreds of blogs to be involved with spreading the word on this issue that’s become close to my heart.
    
    

As an author, and someone whose life is put in the spotlight, I keep most people at a distance. Only a handful of my friends know the whole me and the events from my past. But this week I’d like to share with you a part of myself that the outside world doesn’t see (and a part of me I don’t like to share). I was emotionally abused for five years by someone I thought loved me, my mind beaten into submission. Though the turmoil I went through doesn’t penetrate as deep as someone forced into slavery on the worldwide market for human trafficking, I can sadly relate in some ways: imprisoned, my life dictated down to what I wore, ate, where I went, whom I spoke to, where I worked, when I slept, bending to his every whim. He did not sway, even when I cried through some of the more traumatic things he had me do. I was a slave in my own home. In my desperation for freedom, I held out a gun and asked him to just end my suffering. I was desperate.
    
    I can’t even imagine how many women (and men) in the world are in a similar situation. What’s even worse, I had it mild compared to the children that are sold for labor or sex. Surprisingly, the good ol’ U.S.A. is reported to be the host to two million slaves. Did you know this? Because I certainly did not; not until I was preparing to my newest novel: Phantom Universe. The main character, Summer Waverly, was stolen as a child and sold as a slave to the captain of a modern-day pirate ship. From a loved child who only knew “time-out” as punishment, to being whipped into silence was something I knew nothing about. So I researched deeply into human trafficking and the psychological effects of torture of various types that one would endure in these circumstances. I felt shaken at my findings and knew I had to tell Summer’s story. (Read a sneak peek here.

)

A storm began to brew in my mind; transforming, morphing, twisting, and expanding into this massive, black cloud. I had to bring this tragic atrocity to the forefront. My own emotional experiences, mixed with the research I did on human trafficking, made me feel an intense connection with Summer, and to all women who’ve been through this kind of brutality. The cloud ruptured and rained all over my computer one day. It took one month to write Phantom Universe, the first in the Summer Chronicles. I was so consumed by the story that I wrote nearly nonstop, only breaking for necessary tasks like eating, showering, and occasionally—very occasionally—sleeping.
    
    Though the book I’ve written would be classified as Science Fiction, or as I’d like to call it, Dystopian, the emotions and psychological aspects are not Science Fiction—they're real. Reviewers have said many amazing things about Summer, this character who is so real in my mind and who I cried along with as the words poured from my soul onto my screen.
    
“I admired Summer's strength and ability to adapt,” says CiCi’s Theories. “I felt tied to her emotions,” Jennifer Murgia, author or Angel Star admits. And Tahlia Newland, author of Lethal Inheritance, remarks, “Summer is strong and smart in mind [. . .]”
Through her overwhelmingly horrendous past, Summer goes on more than just a physical journey in Phantom Universe, she goes on a psychological one as well; growing beyond her mute state to persevere and survive in a new world beyond the whip she’s so frightened of.
    
    Now that the release date is here, I’m excited and terrified to share this story with everyone. I’m emotionally tied in every way to the words I’ve written, because they’re more than words. More than just a story on a page. Beyond the fictional aspects, there’s a real issue that needs to be addressed: human trafficking must be stopped. We shouldn’t sit idly by while this continues to plague us. Our world’s children—our nation’s children—are being affected. It’s time we take action!
    
    Earlier this month Phantom Universe hit Barnes and Noble’s top 100 Best Selling list. I’ve decided to donate 10% of my sales from Phantom Universe, until the end of February, to the DNA Foundation.
    
“DNA hopes to help abolish modern day slavery, deter perpetrators, and free the many innocent and exploited victims. We are committed to forcing sex slavery out of the shadows and into the spotlight.
    
    Freedom is a basic human right and slavery is one of the greatest threats to that freedom. No one has the right to enslave another person.”
    
    —From DNA Foundation’s Website
I ask that you spread the word to everyone you know. Look around on the DNA Foundation website and find a way to get involved in ending human trafficking. Take action today. Everyone has a voice—you have a voice. Will you have the courage to use it?

That was such a great post

Thanks to Laura Kreitzer for being on my blog today. 

Make sure to click on the links above and learn more about human trafficking.

Tata for now