WordPlay

Back before I was published, I would turn the last page of my favorite books with the fierce yearning that one day my stories might make other readers feel as deeply as these authors made me feel.  Fantasy, mystery, romance…the genre doesn’t so much matter to me.  It’s all about the feeling, and about giving people a place to go outside their own world.

Right now, for so many, many reasons, we all need that escape.  So along with a selection of other authors–all traditionally published, but all now with the option to present our fiction our own way–I’m offering a gift to readers.

The authors playing this game believe that if we want a thriving book community, we need lots of options.  We need print, we need ebook, we need choice.  Over at Backlist eBooks, that’s exactly why we provide links to all of a book’s available retailers–including Book View Cafe, to which many of the participating treasure hunt authors belong.

But while there are a lot of book promotions out in the big wide Internets, not many of them are for Nook devices (as we Nook owners don’t need to be told!).

Today, we remedy that.  Until December 31st, we’re offering a meme game to those who would like a little bit of fun–and to earn free EPUB (the Nook format) books for playing.  (Although *cough* DRM-free EPUB files can readily be converted to MOBI for the Kindle.  Like I said, we’re all about choice!)

It’s easy to play!  Just show me a picture of you–or your four-footed friend–with a NOOK!  It doesn’t have to be your Nook, if you’ve a hankering for the book.  8)

(Keep it clean, people…no confusing “Nook” with “Nookie!”)

You can post your photo on my FaceBook Author Page.  You may have to “Like” the page, but that only takes a moment.

As soon as I see the picture (this could take minutes or an entire day), I’ll send a message to your Facebook account with the URL for a free download of Barrenlands, the first book of the Changespell Saga.

First Released: Baen Books, 1998

Before there was Dun Lady’s Jess…

Magic, betrayal, and a twice-cursed exile–only one man’s determination can untangle the deadly intrigue that binds them together.

When Ehren’s sovereign and friend was killed, Ehren, First of the King’s Guard, was far away — sent on a wild goose chase by the First Level Ministry, whose number he now believes must contain at least one traitor.

When a First Level wizard orders him to stop searching for the assassins and instead to find and neutralize the dead king’s distant family, his suspicions deepen to near certainty.

And Ehren is determined to find those exiles – if only so that he may guard them with his life.

(The other titles in this series are Dun Lady’s Jess, Changespell, & Changespell Legacy and I expect them all to be available in mid-January.)

This link is a gift to you in Nookish solidarity, but isn’t meant to be shared.  It’s all about playing the game, right?

Also, if you’re a cross-genre reader like me, the treasure hunt goes on!  The following authors are also playing Show Me Your Nook–although the logistics may vary a bit.

• Cat Kimbriel:  Fires of Nuala  (Science Fiction)  FaceBook & LiveJournal
• Jeffrey A. Carver:  Eternity’s End  (Science Fiction)  FaceBook
• Phyllis Irene Radford:  Guardian of the Balance, Merlin’s Descendants #1  (Fantasy)  FaceBook & LiveJournal
• Mark Chisnell: The Defector  (Thriller)  FaceBook
• Brenda Hiatt:  Lord Dearborn’s Destiny (traditional Regency romance) FaceBook
• Phoebe Matthews:  Demonspell  (contemporary fantasy)  Web Site
• Lorraine Bartlett: Cold Case  (Mystery)  Blog
• Ruth Harris: Modern Women  (Fiction/Chick Lit)  Blog
• Jennifer Stevenson:  King of Hearts  (romantic comedy)  Web Site & FaceBook
• Vonda N. McIntyre: Starfarers, Book One of the Starfarers Quartet  (Science Fiction) Book View Cafe
• Lise McClendon:  All Your Pretty Dreams  (Adult Fiction)  FaceBook
• Melanie Jackson:  Moving Violation, Book 1 of the Chloe Boston Mysteries  (Mystery) FaceBook

And in case you’re wondering, this is how to sideload an EPUB file into your NOOK:

1) Download the epub file to your computer.
2) Attach your NOOK to the computer with its USB cable.
3) A “Nook” drive will appear in My Computer (PC) or Desktop (Mac).
4) Copy and Paste, or Drag and Drop downloaded EPUB (or even  PDF!) files into the My Documents folder on the Nook drive.
5) Go to My Library on the Nook, hit View My Documents, and then hit Check for New Content.
6) Choose one of the files you sideloaded into My Documents and press Select to open it.

You can also read EPUB on other devices! It’s a widely-used format with great convenience.

Be an explorer.  Show me your NOOK!

ConneryBeagle takes his reading seriously.

Obligatory disclaimer: All copyright to this free book is retained by the author. You may share this post in its entirety.  All pictures to my FaceBook page must be posted by 11:59 PM, December 31, 2012, MST. If anyone posts this EPUB to a torrent site, the URL goes 404 and we won’t have any more games.  This is a gift to those who play the game, not an invitation to set the book free forever.  If you post a picture that would be considered in bad taste, it will be deleted and you won’t get a coupon code.  Thank you for keeping things fun!

See, I’m so excited I’m incomprehensible.

COVERS COVERS COVERS!

In the spring, I finally regained the rights to Dun Lady’s Jess, and rubbed my hands in glee–finally, I can get the series out in backlist!

I immediately started work on the covers.  I’d found the right model months earlier, and I spent hours and hours (and HOURS) hunting up the right horse images, to the point of inquiring with prestigious breeders of breeds with the right color and body type.  (Think Rocky Mountain horse, or classic Morgan–Homestead was especially helpful.)

In the end I unearthed a photographer’s series with the same horse–so the covers have the same Jess, and the same Lady.  And a little more searching unearthed a verrry nice image for Ehren in Barrenlands, the Changespell series prequel.

Putting it all together was another thing.  You know…making it just special enough.  Pushing my wee little photoshopping skills to the limit, not to mention my brainpower.  So I spent a couple of weeks at it, came up with all four covers with matching visual theme, got some enthusiastic feedback, aaaaannnnd….

It just wasn’t quite perfect enough.  Not for Jess.

You know what I mean?  Have you ever been there?  Where it matters SO MUCH, it just has to be right?  Not just right, but Right?

So I sat on it.  All summer, I sat on it.  I pretended not to think about it.  I worked on other things (there was plenty of that), and I sparred with the Lyme.  Until this past weekend, when I pulled up the files, shuffled through images, and put my thinking cap back on.

Yes yes yes!

Oh, I’ll probably twiddle with some tiny details as the books go up, because I can’t stop myself.  Because it has to be perfect, right?  But still!  Lookie!

posted on Wednesday

Dun Lady’s Jess…Not my first book by far–you’d have to go back to age 12 to find that one–but still, the ONE. The one I knew had the chance to publish–the first one that did. I can still remember the frisson of writing it.

And where did it come from? The idea of it? Well, recently I had the most wondrous opportunity to work on a new edition of JESS with an equally wondrous editor/author, Julie Czerneda. We wanted this edition to have all sorts of goodies–an introduction, a forward, the most keen cover, lovingly drawn graphics inside…

(Those are mine, by the way. The little dingbat. And if anyone’s ever wondered what Lady’s snaffle bit looked like, the one in the book…well, there it is.)

Anyway. And the introduction. Here’s a peek at some of it–because here, finally, I had the chance to talk about where the book started, and what it means to me.
=======================

Once upon a time I had a dream.

No, seriously. I dreamt of a man on his horse, carrying important information and running for his life. Running for their lives. They triggered a spell and ended up…

Elsewhere. And entirely changed.

So I wrote it, and it became another sort of dream—the one where you’re so in love with the story and characters that you want to share. Need to share. Are obsessed about sharing—!

Jess sold to the second publisher who saw the manuscript; less than a year later the book was on the shelves. Dream come true? You betcha. And the next spring, when Jess won the Compton Crook award for the
best “first book” of the year, I realized that what I’d wanted so badly—to find others who as I do about Jess and her world—was now a reality….

…Now here I am, years later, and I’ve found an editor who loves Jess, who has offered her a home with Star Ink Books. A home that will allow me to share the story and the people with a whole new group of readers…to share Jess’ heart.

Because when you come right down to it, that’s what Jess has taught me. While exploring her story, how she reacts to the changes in her life and the people she encounters…while watching her grow from a baffled young woman into someone with destiny…I learned about heart. About having it, and staying true to it. That the lesson applies when it comes writing, to reading…and to life. Having heart is how we grow, how we live lives we’re proud of and happy with, and how we fill our lives with people who do the same. And if I ever forget that lesson in the detailed trappings of deadlines and assignments and bills, Jess is—thank goodness—always there to remind me.