![]() Introducing Fransisa, the formidable Source-priestess from Source-Breaker. 1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? I am Dama Fransisa Cortadella, of the duchy of Cortadella Fira in the Kingdom of Pacetino, one of the Independent Kingdoms. In my capacity as a priestess of Source Chaitrasse, I am known as Sera Fransisa. 2. How old are you? They say that one should not ask a lady her age. That being said, I am forty years old. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? My father is a duke of the second degree; however, my family is more highly connected, to a ducal family of the first degree, through my sister's marriage. I also have three brothers. I have seen my relatives less than once a year since I came to Source Chaitrasse, and we are no longer close, if we ever were. Still, I have done my best to do my familial duty and be a credit to them. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? Now that is definitely not a question one should ask a lady. Anyway, I prefer not to remember it, for various reasons. 5. What is your occupation? I am the senior priestess, after the High Priestess Sera Valara, at Source Chaitrasse. As Sera Valara is quite elderly and in frail health, I am also the acting managing priestess. I had expected to be the next High Priestess, until a young girl came to Chaitrasse less than a year ago, who is Chosen of the Source and therefore the natural heir to the position of High Priestess. Among my responsibilities are to teach and train her, to prepare her to step into the position. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? I have an aptitude for organization and administration, which allows me to keep everything running smoothly at Chaitrasse. I'm quite skilled in magic. I know that many people think of me as a harridan, a battle-axe. I suppose I do have a tendency to be stern, strict, overbearing, and impatient. I do what's necessary to ensure that the affairs of Source Chaitrasse are conducted in the proper manner. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? As an avowed servant of Source Chaitrasse, I am under a lifelong vow of celibacy. But were I free to marry and had the opportunity, I would prefer a man of excellent breeding, manners, and education, of intelligence and refinement, who would attend to his duties in a conscientious manner and be a credit to our families. As long as I'm daydreaming, I suppose I will add that if he were kind and honest and did not trifle with my feelings, I would appreciate that very much. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? There have been times when I have felt discontent with my lot in life, and using Chaitrasse's magic is a great source of happiness and comfort. 9. What is your greatest fear? Being useless and unwanted; having no place where I belong. 10. What is your most treasured possession? My ability to use magic and my affinity to the magic of Source Chaitrasse.
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![]() Introducing Kaniev the Source-Fixer, one of the main characters in Source-Breaker: 1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? Kaniev Orvig's-son. (It's pronounced KAHN-yev) 2. How old are you? Old enough to know better, too old to care :-D Seriously, though, I'm 40. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? I have a mother and a father and several brothers and sisters. The men in my family have been fishermen going back generations. I haven't seen my family since I left to begin my apprenticeship when I was 13, but I had a happy childhood in the fiords and have fond memories of them. The only thing I didn't like was the prospect of being a fisherman like my father and grandfather and great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather and so on. I thought it sounded boring. Right about now, though, the way things are going, a little boredom sounds pretty good. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? Her name was... It's been so long, I don't remember. Pretty girl in my village. I was 12, she was a little older, maybe had already turned 13. It was the first of many kisses, and I've loved every single one of them. 5. What is your occupation? I'm a Source-Fixer. Or, THE Source-Fixer, since I'm the only one. I repair magical Sources that aren't working right. Or try, anyway; lately, I haven't been having much luck. It's hard to believe I'm getting too old for this and my skills are starting to slip. My master was 60 when he found me and nearly 70 when he finally retired. But something's wrong, and I need to figure out what before I run out of money. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? I'm very good at what I do. Or was, anyway. I'm pretty easygoing and even-tempered; I suspect some people think I'm annoyingly cheerful. I tell good stories. And I've kept myself in good shape, which comes in handy if I'm trying to get to a hard-to-reach Source, and the ladies certainly appreciate it. On the other hand, I have a bad habit of flirting with every female who crosses my path - only the ones of age, of course. I'm not that shameless. But there have been a few women who thought I was after something more serious than a good time together, and I ended up disappointing them. I do feel bad about that. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? I love all kinds of women. But I'm especially drawn to strong, smart, spirited women who can challenge me to keep up with them. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? Ah. Well. Reading the answers to some of these questions, you can probably guess. But also, I love my work. I love using magic and my unique talents to figure out what's wrong with malfunctioning Sources and put them back the way they should be. It's always interesting and challenging, and every Source and problem is different, a puzzle to figure out, and putting them right again is almost a work of art. 9. What is your greatest fear? Losing my magical abilities. They're part of me; I wouldn't be who I am without them. Even when I was a young boy, before my master found me and took me on as his apprentice, working magic came as easily to me as breathing. Which got me in trouble more than once and is why my parents were so willing to let me go. I also worry about failing to fix a Source I've been hired to fix, which has been happening a little too often lately, and someone getting hurt or killed or some sort of serious damage occurring as a result. Fortunately, that hasn't happened. Yet. 10. What is your most treasured possession? My magical talents. My good old horse, Mai. My Source lodestone, handed down through generations of Source-Fixers; it's the only one in the world and I couldn't do my job without it. And my freedom. Other than my responsibility for keeping the Sources functioning properly, I have no obligations, no duties, no one I have to answer to. Source-Breaker, coming soon! For release news and news about special promotions, sign up for my email alerts.
Time for one of my favorite things to do, reveal a new cover! I just got the final version of the Source-Breaker cover art the other day, and I have been so excited to show this off! This is from the full wraparound cover for the paperback, showing the spine area with the left side of the arch. The back of the cover is just dark because there isn't really anything over in that direction to show. The ebook cover will look like this: I just love this. I've been having the hardest time visualizing Kaniev (the dude with the sword and the handful of magic), and the artist, Mominur Rahman, and I went over a bunch of different reference photos, different poses of the same model, and this is the final result. When I saw it, I went, Wow, that's Kaniev! Mominur has this knack for capturing my characters perfectly, and it's always exciting to see how he brings them to life.
Here's the short blurb for Source-Breaker (needs work; I'll come up with a better one in time for the release): Kaniev, a repairman of magical Sources with a series of failures behind him, and Fransisa, a Source priestess who is being displaced by a new Chosen, come up against a wizard conducting dangerous experiments with Source-power that could damage all the world's Sources. And here's a peek at an early version of the scene where Kaniev and Fransisa first meet: http://www.kyrahalland.com/blog/sneak-peek-source-breaker I'm hoping for a mid-December release for Source-Breaker. I've become frustrated with how long my revising and editing process takes, so I'm going to try streamlining it without sacrificing quality, and hopefully can get this book out the door in less than another month. To make sure you don't miss out on the release and the special limited-time low introductory price, sign up for my email alerts! So I said I've got some cool stuff coming up, and here's the first one: A new cover for Chosen of Azara! Here's the ebook version: And the full wraparound: Like I said, it was a really tough decision to get a new cover for Chosen of Azara. Katt of Design by Katt did a fantastic job with the previous two covers, and she was wonderful to work with. I highly recommend her for beautiful photomanip covers. But with two more books coming out soon in the Estelend world, I wanted to tie all three of them together with similar cover styles that would also go with the cover of The Warrior and the Holy Man, another Estelend book. Matching all those covers would be really hard to do when working with photo-based covers, especially since it's also really hard to find stock photos that work for my particular brand of romantic high fantasy. So I commissioned Mominur Rahman, who did the amazing covers for Daughter of the Wildings and the Warrior and Holy Man cover, to do the covers for the new Estelend books and also the new cover for Chosen. I think he did a wonderful job of capturing Sevry and Lucie, and Juzeva too, up there in the corner, and also in nailing the genre and the type of story. The previous covers will remain on display on the book page for Chosen; in the meantime I'll also start getting the updated files uploaded. It might take a few days for them all to go live and for me to get all the images on the site updated.
Chosen will be going on promo for a few days early in September, and the collection of companion stories, The Brilliant Career of Sajur Golu and Other Tales of Azara, will be out in the next couple of weeks. So watch for those; to make sure you don't miss out on these and other new releases and special offers, sign up for my email alerts. Anyway, that's cool thing #1. Cool thing #2 is coming up in just a few days, and I am so excited about this! I'm like a little kid on Christmas Eve; I can hardly wait. Stay tuned! ![]() Time for another monthly progress report, one week into August. July was busy with family reunion/vacation and some other stuff, so I didn't get as much writing done as I hoped I would. I did finally figure out the follow-up Wildings series, which now also has a name, Defenders of the Wildings. I solved the story problems (I think); the events of book 1 make the most sense coming in the middle of book 2, which means I'm splitting book 2 in half and putting book 1 in the middle, with much attendant reworking of the two books. The story seems to be working better now, but what it means for the series is that this series won't be structured in nice, neat novel-length episodes like Daughter of the Wildings. I can't tell yet if it's going to be one large, disjointed book (my least favorite option), two short and somewhat less disjointed books, or a series of shorter serial-style episodes. Right now I've got book 1 (now the second episode) rewritten and I'm constructing episode 1 out of the first part of the old book 2. The whole thing is roughly outlined, and I added a concluding episode which wasn't in the original plan, to tie up the story in a more satisfactory fashion. (I also had to do this with Daughter of the Wildings, which first I thought would be five books, then I realized I needed a sixth book.) I'm also getting ideas for another follow-up set of books, called Children of the Wildings, starring, well, I'll let you guess! I've also been working on edits of Tales of Azara, now titled The Brilliant Career of Sajur Golu and Other Tales of Azara. See my hopefully-not-too-lame cover I made for it above. If you've read Chosen of Azara, you may remember Sajur Golu as the evil, corrupt priest. This collection of short stories contains the story of his rise to the position of High Priest of Source Dar and of the Madrinan Empire, along with other background stories, character vignettes, and alternate points of view of scenes in the book. I'm looking at releasing it sometime before the end of August, in conjunction with the debut of a new cover for Chosen of Azara. Getting a new cover for Chosen of Azara was a very difficult decision; I love the current cover but it just isn't quite right for the genre and while it represents the characters of Sevry and Lucie very well, it doesn't really convey a sense of the story. None of this is the fault of the artist; I love Design by Katt's work and highly recommend her for beautiful photomanipulation covers. Rather, it's the difficulty in finding base photos to work with that are right for the book. Also, with two more novels in the Tehovir world scheduled to come out later this year and early next year, I wanted to re-brand the Chosen cover to fit with the others and with The Warrior and the Holy Man, which is also set in Tehovir. So I commissioned Mominur Rahman, the artist who did the amazing Daughter of the Wildings covers and also the new covers for Urdaisunia and Warrior and the Holy Man, to do these next three covers. I got the final art for Chosen today, and it's gorgeous. Watch for the cover reveal, coming soon! So I've hinted at some exciting things coming up, and new cover art is one of them. The others I still can't talk about, but they're really cool. Stay tuned for news! And finally, since it's Music Monday, here's a video for you. This is "My Therapy" from the album Haven by Kamelot, which is the theme song for my character Davreos from Heir of Tanaris, one of my upcoming Tehovir books. I haven't done a character interview in a while, so here's one with Elspetya Lorentius from Daughter of the Wildings. I don't have a picture of her, so here are Silas and Lainie's first encounters with her in City of Mages:
1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name?
My name is Elspetya Lorentius. I chose that name myself to represent the life I aspired to among the highest levels of mage society. It is modeled after Island names, since mages of Island descent are the elite of the elite among mages. 2. How old are you? It's bad manners to ask a woman her age. But I will admit to having achieved a certain maturity of years, and that I am old enough to have adult grandchildren. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? My father was a mage of high standing and considerable power. Unfortunately, my mother was a Plain servant girl, and because of the undesirable circumstances of my birth, I was raised and lived my earlier life as a Plain. I married a Plain man and had five children before my power developed when I was around thirty years old. Of course, I left my Plain life and family behind when I went to be trained as a mage, and ever since then I have taken my proper place in mage society. Shortly after I began training in magic, I entered into a close connection with a gentleman from the highest levels of mage society, a member of the Mage Council. Our connection is highly gratifying to both of us, though, for various reasons, we have never seen the need to marry. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? That's really none of your business, as well as being something I don't care to remember. My life before I was acknowledged as a mage means nothing to me. 5. What is your occupation? At the moment, I am pursuing certain plans regarding the Wildings, the large, sparsely-settled region west of Granadaia. I am discontent with the Mage Council's hands-off approach to the Wildings and its resources, and have decided it is necessary to take control of the situation myself. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? I am highly intelligent, and gifted in magic, and very focused on achieving my goals. I have the ability to organize and lead. I have a large number of men working for me on my current project, and none of them have ever objected to taking commands from a woman. Some might say I am cold and selfish. But I see those as being merely offshoots of my drive and ambition. One cannot achieve great things if one is easily overcome by emotion and sentimentality. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? Ah. [smiles] My gentleman companion embodies all those qualities I require. He is intelligent, talented, and ambitious, and willing to place all of those at the service of my plans. As well, he is extremely wealthy and has placed a large portion of his funds at my disposal. He is also handsome, and has the vigor of a man one-third his age. And he is quite devoted to me, although from time to time circumstances have required him to keep his devotion a secret from society. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? I wish to do everything I can to raise the wealth, status, and influence of mages in the world. I enjoy making plans to do so and carrying them out. 9. What is your greatest fear? I've worked hard to secure my place in mage society. It has not been easy, as the bastard child of a Plain servant girl. My greatest fear is that something, whether it be foreign interference or Plains not keeping to their proper place, or any other catastrophe, will undermine all I've worked for, both my own position and the high status that mages enjoy in this world. 10. What is your most treasured possession? [holds out her right hand to display a gold ring set with a deep purple stone] My mage ring. It represents everything I've hoped and worked for, the things I've achieved since leaving behind the degraded circumstances of my earlier life.
Another Music Monday and a new project means it's time to make a new playlist! Part of the fun of working on a new novel is putting together a playlist for it. I wrote the first draft of The Source-Fixer without really having a playlist in mind, but now as I'm planning the revision, it's started to come together.
The Source-Fixer (this may graduate from working title to actual title) is about two people in the middle of life (Kaniev is forty; Fransisa won't admit to her age but, just between you and me, she's also forty) who lose everything that's given meaning and purpose to their lives up until now, then find new life and hope in a place they never expected. And yes, it's a fantasy-romance (I am who I am), but kind of different. So with that in mind, here are my songs for the book:
For your listening enjoyment, here's the playlist on Spotify. (click link to listen directly on Spotify) ![]() The wedding of the century (at least until our younger son gets married) is over, and it was lovely, and now I'm back hard at work on the final edits of To the Gap. In the meantime, here's an interview with Brin Coltor, the wealthy rancher from The Rancher's Daughter. Coltor is notable in being one of the few secondary characters who appears again later in the series. If you have other questions for him, feel free to ask them in the comments. (Same goes for all my other character interviews!) 1. What is your full name? Is there anything significant about your name? The name I've chosen to be known by is Brin Coltor. 2. How old are you? I am 37 years old. 3. Tell us about your family. What do you like and not like about them? My family lives in Granadaia. I've been out of touch with them for many years. Our values, the things we want out of life, are not the same. I've also been estranged from my wife for many years. She was not an easy person to live with. I'm not sure why I'm still married to her; I really ought to man up and resolve the matter one of these days. I think the only reason she hasn't divorced me by now is because of my family's money, and because she doesn't have specific evidence of grounds for divorce. But I'd like my freedom, and I'm sure she would, too. I do have a young daughter here in the Wildings, but the union that produced her was... unconventional. I don't want her to be the target of misunderstandings and prejudice, so I keep her existence a secret. Don't know how long that can last, though. 4. Who was your first kiss, and what did you think of it? Ah. I believe it was a young lady at my thirteenth birthday party. I'd rather not reveal her name, but she was charming. It's a fond memory. 5. What is your occupation? I own and operate the BC Crown Ranch in the Bentwood Valley. It's one of the largest ranches in the Wildings, if not *the* largest. 6. What are your best and worst qualities? I'm a good businessman. I deal fairly and generously with my workers and the people in my town. And I love my daughter dearly. I do have a short temper, and I'm not particularly good at managing my personal life. 7. What quality do you value most in a romantic partner? I want a strong, intelligent woman who can stand beside me as an equal partner in business and in life without trying to henpeck me. I do know a woman who would be my ideal partner, but... Well, I'm afraid I burned that bridge years ago. I couldn't offer her what she wanted, a respectable marriage, and now, well, I'm afraid it's too late. 8. What is your favorite thing to do? I love my work, both managing the business affairs of my ranch and being in the outdoors, working hands-on with the stock. The Bentwood Valley is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I also, well, I do have a bit of a reputation as a skirt-lifter, and I'm afraid it's well-earned. 9. What is your greatest fear? My daughter coming to harm. 10. What is your most treasured possession? My daughter and my ranch. ![]() I missed the Friday 5 last week because I couldn't think of anything. This week, as I've been working on edits on To the Gap (Daughter of the Wildings book 4), I noticed five (possibly) interesting things readers will learn about in the book: 1. What happens if you don't mind your manners in Lainie's kitchen. 2. How Silas gets the nickname "Shark". 3. How to make a mage ring. 4. Silas's "first time". 5. Cows can swim. Still working hard to get the book ready for release. We had a pre-wedding event to go to last week out of town, and the wedding is late next week, if all goes according to plan. But I'm finding that with plenty of rest and carefully limiting any other demands on my energy, I'm not falling too far behind. Stay tuned for details as the release date draws near; to make sure you don't miss the announcement, sign up for my email alerts. (Don't worry; I won't spam you or share your info with anyone else.) ![]() Well, what do you know, it's a week into June already and I still haven't done the monthly wrap-up and look ahead. Basically, most of what I'm doing is still working on edits of To the Gap, book 4 of Daughter of the Wildings. It's going really well, and so far everything's on track for a release in the first part of July. I know I've blogged about this before, but here's a rundown of my writing/editing workflow: 1. first draft 2. deep, major revision 3. out to test readers 4. 2nd major revision 5. refine dialogue, descriptions, action, pacing, flow 6. fix mistakes, awkward sentences 7. proofread on paper 8. proofread on Kindle A lot of times, if the manuscript is really a mess, I do a second copy edit between steps 6 and 7. But so far, on step 5 on To the Gap, I'm not finding a whole lot of changes to make. So hopefully I won't have to do that extra step. On days when I finish my editing quote on time, I've been working on outlining the Healing Tree, a novel set in my world of Estelend. Should be ready to start writing soon. I found the perfect soundtrack for it, the new album Haven by Kamelot. Here's a video of one of the songs from the album: I'm still reading from A to Z. Up to V now; the end is in sight! For a while there I kept finding books that I couldn't finish. I'm not going to say what they are; this indie author gig is tough, and taste is subjective, and I don't want to be the one putting down a fellow author. Instead I'll just focus on the books I do read all the way through. I've been discovering some amazing reads; watch for another roundup soon!
I keep telling myself I need to start thinking about what comes after Daughter of the Wildings. At the moment I have three novels in draft awaiting revision, a fourth about ready to be written, and a binder full of short stories related to Chosen of Azara and The Source-fixer. And I've started developing ideas for a follow-up series to Daughter of the Wildings; I know the basic series conflict and the basic plot of the first book. I've been so deeply absorbed in Daughter of the Wildings it's hard to focus on anything else. But at least I know I won't be running out of things to work on any time soon! |
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